Open Culture: “A melting glacier in Iceland…Trees scorched by a wildfire in AustraliaAs the effects of climate change become increasingly dire, we’ve grown accustomed to such grimly sobering visions.Some look away. Others work to heighten awareness of these clear and present environmental dangers. And some strive to implement innovative solutions before it’s too late: Solar… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Environmental Law
The Fifth National Climate Assessment
“The Fifth National Climate Assessment is the US Government’s preeminent report on climate change impacts, risks, and responses. It is a congressionally mandated interagency effort that provides the scientific foundation to support informed decision-making across the United States. The more the planet warms, the greater the impacts. Without rapid and deep reductions in global greenhouse… Continue Reading
Latest US climate assessment shows the extreme toll taken by climate change
The Verge: “Climate disasters are costing the US billions of dollars a year, and the damage isn’t spread out evenly, according to a new national climate assessment. The assessment, produced about every four years, lays out the toll climate change is taking across every region in the United States. This is the fifth one —… Continue Reading
ParrotNet
ParrotNet “is a European network of scientists, practitioners and policy-makers dedicated to research on invasive parrots, their impacts and the challenges they present. Our network is working to better understand why parakeets are highly successful invaders, how we can predict their agricultural, economic, societal and ecological impacts across Europe, and the means to mitigate them,… Continue Reading
Two million species are at risk of extinction
A multi-taxon analysis of European Red Lists reveals major threats to biodiversity, PLOS One, Published: November 8, 2023 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293083 “Biodiversity loss is a major global challenge and minimizing extinction rates is the goal of several multilateral environmental agreements. Policy decisions require comprehensive, spatially explicit information on species’ distributions and threats. We present an analysis of… Continue Reading
Climate data can save lives. Most countries can’t access it.
Grist: “Earth just experienced one of its hottest, and most damaging, periods on record. Heat waves in the United States, Europe, and China; catastrophic flooding in India, Brazil, Hong Kong, and Libya; and outbreaks of malaria, dengue, and other mosquito-borne illnesses across southern Asia claimed tens of thousands of lives. The vast majority of these… Continue Reading
We count lights, because the night counts
“Satellite images of the Earth at night are taken after midnight, when most people are sleeping. They therefore do not provide a correct picture of light use in the early evening. Our group of citizen scientists and researchers has previously developed an app to count light sources along street segments – from illuminated windows and… Continue Reading
Winners of the 2023 Nature Conservancy Photo Contest
The Atlantic [no paywall]: “The winning and honored images in this year’s Nature Conservancy photography competition were just announced. Entries from more than 80,000 individual photographers in 191 different countries and territories were judged across 12 different categories. Contest organizers were once again kind enough to share some of their top images with us. The… Continue Reading
New Environmental Justice Playbook for Federal Agencies
White House: “When President Biden signed Executive Order (E.O.) 14096 on Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All, he called on the federal government to bring clean energy and healthy environments to all, and to recognize, undo, and mitigate harms to those who have suffered from pollution and the cumulative impacts of other… Continue Reading
Space junk is out of control. Here’s why and what to do about it
Washington Post: “The word “space” implies a lot of it: a near-infinite expanse of emptiness above the atmosphere of this crowded planet. Yet it turns out that the orbits along which rockets fly and from which satellites beam internet connectivity to Earth are a limited resource — and they’re becoming more crowded every day. The… Continue Reading
You can drink the tap water in these 50 countries maybe
Big Think: According to the CDC, 50 countries worldwide have drinkable tap water. But look closer, and the picture is more nuanced…So, which 50 countries are in the CDC’s clean tap water club? There’s most of Europe, excluding most of the Balkans, as well as most of the former Soviet states. Notable exceptions in the… Continue Reading
How Americans View Future Harms From Climate Change in Their Community and Around the U.S.
“A new Pew Research Center survey finds a majority of Americans think climate change is causing harm to people in the United States today and 63% expect things to get worse in their lifetime.When it comes to the personal impact of climate change, most Americans think they’ll have to make at least minor sacrifices over… Continue Reading
