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Category Archives: Environmental Law

Sail & Explore Association Partnership Expands Microplastics Database

“The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) archives data collected by a variety of scientists and institutions. The partnership between NCEI and nonprofit organization Sail & Explore Association has improved and expanded the Marine Microplastics database. The goal of this partnership is to not only expand the database, but to establish a diverse international community… Continue Reading

IBM selling The Weather Channel and the rest of its weather business

CNBC: “IBM said Tuesday it’s selling its weather unit, including The Weather Channel mobile app and websites, Weather.com, Weather Underground and Storm Radar. IBM will sell The Weather Company and its assets to Francisco Partners, a tech-focused private equity firm, for an undisclosed sum; as part of the deal, IBM will retain access to the… Continue Reading

How Do We Inventory the Materials Needed To Build Wind and Solar Farms?

New Database Quantifies What the Country Needs To Meet Its Big Clean Energy Goals – Wind and sun may be nearly infinite resources. But the materials needed to build wind turbines and solar panels are not always common. Take the rare earth metals—neodymium, dysprosium, and praseodymium—for example. Chances are those names are just as unfamiliar… Continue Reading

How Geology Shapes History

Library of Congress, By M. Amelia Raines, Reference Librarian, Geography and Map Division: “Many of the most important cities in the eastern United States owe much of their history to a geological phenomenon which began 250 million years ago. The results of the processes which shaped the Earth itself can be seen on modern maps… Continue Reading

Environmental users abandoned Twitter after Musk takeover

Trends in Ecology, Environmental users abandoned Twitter after Musk takeover. Published: August 15, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2023.07.002 – “In our sample of 380,000 environmentally oriented users, nearly 50% became inactive on Twitter after it was sold in October 2022, a rate much higher than a control sample. Given Twitter’s importance for public communication, our finding has… Continue Reading

EWG’s 2023 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce

“Nearly 75 percent of non-organic fresh produce sold in the U.S. contains residues of potentially harmful pesticides, EWG’s 2023 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™ finds. In this year’s guide, blueberries and green beans join our Dirty Dozen™ list of the 12 fruits and vegetables sampled that have the highest traces of pesticides. Any exposure… Continue Reading

City maps show how much hotter it is from neighborhood to neighborhood

The Verge: “A new analysis ranks 44 major cities that altogether are home to a quarter of the country’s population. More than half of the population in these cities live in census tracks that can feel at least 8 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than surrounding areas, according to the analysis published yesterday by the nonprofit Climate… Continue Reading

Climate & Conflict

Climate & Conflict: The interplay between climate and conflict has received increasing attention from researchers and policymakers over the last two decades. There is significant overlap between countries most affected by climate change and those most at risk of violent conflict. Evidence for adverse effects of climate factors on conflict exists predominantly for internal conflict.… Continue Reading

The world’s infrastructure was built for a climate that no longer exists

Foreign Policy: On the Highway to Climate Hell – “Countries have spent decades building critical infrastructure that is now buckling under extreme heat, wildfires, and floods, laying bare just how unprepared the world’s energy and transportation systems are to withstand the volatility of climate change. These vulnerabilities have been on full display in recent weeks… Continue Reading

Advancing global NWP through international collaboration

“ECMWF is the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. We are both a research institute and a 24/7 operational service, producing global numerical weather predictions and other data for our Member and Co-operating States and the broader community. The Centre has one of the largest supercomputer facilities and meteorological data archives in the world. Other… Continue Reading