Rare-earth mining. “Shuang-Liang Liu et al. have compiled a dataset of 146 mining projects targeting rare-earth elements, which serve as “critical raw materials in many low-carbon technologies.” The dataset lists each project’s name, company, location, status, deposit type, estimated tonnage of deposits, element composition, and other details sourced from “company annual reports and public presentations,… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Environmental Law
New Research Sparks Concerns That Ocean Circulation Will Collapse
Yale Environment 360: “Scientists have long feared that warming could cause a breakdown of ocean circulation in the North Atlantic. But new research finds the real risk lies in Antarctica’s waters, where melting could disrupt currents in the next few decades, with profound impacts on global climate. It is being hailed as a sea change… Continue Reading
Plastic Recylcing is a Scam
Plastic Recycling is an Actual Scam | Climate Town / YouTube Plastic Legislation to get involved with: Depending on where you live, there’s a lot you can do. NCSL Overview: https://www.ncsl.org/research/environ… Earth Day Plastic Action: https://www.earthday.org/act-on-plast… Cleveland Preemptive Ban: https://www.cleveland.com/open/2019/0… Nat Geo breakdown: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/en… CIF: https://www.clf.org/blog/the-truth-ab… WSJ: https://www.wsj.com/articles/plastic-… NRDC: https://www.nrdc.org/stories/single-u… Follow Climate Town on Instagram:… Continue Reading
Two new scientific papers break down how the rich are destroying Earth
Salon: “As the climate crisis becomes more acute — exemplified in interminable wildfire “seasons”, intense drought and extreme weather — it’s becoming clear that saving the planet will involve more than politely asking consumers to recycle their yogurt cups. Indeed, many of climate change’s effects are largely spurred by resource hoarding and inequality via the… Continue Reading
America needs clean electricity. These states show how to do it.
Washington Post: “If humans escape climate scientists’ gloomiest projections, if we buy ourselves time to adapt to higher seas and fiercer heat waves, we will likely use more electricity than we do now, and we will make it without emitting greenhouse gases. Today, the United States is running a natural experiment in electricity generation, with… Continue Reading
Primer – Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law
The Alan Turing Institute and the Council of Europe: Primer – Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law: “…It is a remarkable fact that rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven technologies over the last two decades have placed contemporary society at a pivot-point in deciding what shape the future of… Continue Reading
Groundwater Gold Rush
Bloomberg [no paywall]: “Banks, pension funds and insurers have been turning California’s scarce water into enormous profits, leaving people with less to drink…Some of the world’s largest investment banks, pension funds and insurers, including Manulife Financial Corp.’s John Hancock unit, TIAA and UBS, have been depleting California’s groundwater to grow high-value nuts, leaving less drinking… Continue Reading
Visualizing California’s Wildflowers
Center on Data Innovation – “The Wall Street Journal has created a visualization tracking wildflower observations in southern California from 1876 to 2023 [subscription req’d – right click on photo to open in new window w no text]: The visualization shows poppies as orange dots, suncups as yellow dots, lupins as blue dots, pincushions as… Continue Reading
Parking Lot Map
Parking Reform Network Parking Lot Map: “Explore how much land cities dedicate to parking in over 50 cities included on the map below. Click the drop-down icon in the upper right corner to select a city and use the popup info card on the right to learn more about the city and its parking reform… Continue Reading
Study raises fears that glaciers may retreat quickly
ClimateWire: “Researchers found that old glaciers retreated more than a quarter-mile a day. That’s worrisome for today’s sea-level rise. Melting glaciers may be capable of shrinking much faster than scientists previously thought, according to a new study that adds to concerns about rapidly melting Antarctic ice, including the massive Thwaites Glacier, often called the “Doomsday… Continue Reading
‘Bees are sentient’
The Guardian: inside the stunning brains of nature’s hardest workers…This March, Stephen Buchmann [a pollination ecologist] released a book that unpacks just how varied and powerful a bee’s mind really is. The book, What a Bee Knows: Exploring the Thoughts, Memories and Personalities of Bees, draws from his own research and dozens of other studies… Continue Reading
Best Buy’s new recycling program will let you mail in your old electronics
Engadget: “Best Buy announced today that it’s extending its gadget recycling program to include a new mail-in option. The retailer will now sell you a box for your used electronics that you can ship back for recycling, saving a trip to the store. Best Buy says it’s recycled 2.7 billion pounds of electronics and appliances… Continue Reading
