“We are pleased to share the Oxford Insights Trustworthy AI Assessment tool. This self assessment tool is designed to help policymakers in government understand how prepared their government is to use AI in a trustworthy way in the public sector. Why did we create this tool? Governments are increasingly using AI in their public services.… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Environmental Law
Climate Equality: A planet for the 99%
Climate Equality: A planet for the 99%, 20 November 2023, Oxfam – The world faces twin crises of climate breakdown and runaway inequality. The richest people, corporations and countries are destroying the world with their huge carbon emissions. Meanwhile, people living in poverty, those experiencing marginalization, and countries in the Global South are those impacted… Continue Reading
AI is outperforming our best weather forecasting tech, thanks to DeepMind
ZDNET: “Climatologists have spent decades amassing data on how the weather has changed at points around the globe. Efforts such as ERA5, a record of climate back to 1950, developed by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), are a kind of simulation of the earth over time, a record of the wind speed,… Continue Reading
2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map
“The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which perennial plants are most likely to thrive at a location. The map is based on the average annual extreme minimum winter temperature, displayed as 10-degree F zones and 5-degree F half zones. A broadband internet connection is recommended… Continue Reading
Oil and Gas Companies Spill Millions of Gallons of Wastewater in Texas
“An exclusive Inside Climate News analysis found companies have spilled nearly 150 million gallons of toxic, highly saline wastewater in Texas over the last decade… Inside Climate News has conducted the first-ever public analysis of produced water spills in Texas, working from data provided in response to open records requests to the Railroad Commission. Over… Continue Reading
Open Planet Lets You Download & Use 4,500 Free Videos That Document Nature & Climate Change
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
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
