Financial Stability Board: “One year after the G20 endorsed the FSB Roadmap to address climate-related financial risks, policy action to address such risks is more urgent than ever. The increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather and climate-related events, and the intense debate about current and future energy policies in many jurisdictions, highlights that financial… Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Category Archives: Environmental Law
Light pollution is disrupting the seasonal rhythms of plants and trees
Ars Technica: “City lights that blaze all night are profoundly disrupting urban plants’ phenology—shifting when their buds open in the spring and when their leaves change colors and drop in the fall. New research I co-authored shows how nighttime lights are lengthening the growing season in cities, which can affect everything from allergies to local… Continue Reading
This climate action tracker shows exactly where we are on the path to net zero
Fast Company: “Last year, global electric-car sales more than doubled compared to the year before. Solar and wind power are cheaper in most countries than fossil fuels. The world is now spending record amounts on clean energy. New technology is emerging to cut emissions in hard-to-decarbonize industries like steel and cement and aviation. At the… Continue Reading
More Than Pony Patrol: The Park Rangers of Assateague Island
The Bitter Southerner: “The six full-time rangers of the Maryland island’s state park wrangle a hell of a lot — 85 horses, 2 million tourists, and innumerable moments of magic. If you take Maryland Route 611 south from its outset near Ocean City as it winds eight or so miles past a few small farms,… Continue Reading
Webb Space Telescope First Image Gallery
“About the Telescope – The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier infrared space observatory of the next decade. Orbiting far beyond Earth’s moon, Webb’s sensitive instruments will detect infrared radiation from Solar System planets, exoplanets, stars, nebulae, and galaxies. These observations will help us to better understand the early universe, how galaxies and… Continue Reading
National Parks Log Plastic Litter
Gizmodo“: You’re hiking through glorious nature when you see it—a dirty, squished plastic water bottle along the trail. Instead of picking it up and impotently cursing the litterer, you can now take another small helpful step—you can report the trash to a new data project that aims to inspire policy change. Environmental nonprofit 5 Gyres… Continue Reading
How are cities planning for heat? Analysis of United States municipal plans
V Kelly Turner and Emma M French and John Dialesandro and Ariane Middel and David M Hondula and George Ban Weiss and Hana Abdellati, How are cities planning for heat? Analysis of United States municipal plans, Vol 17, No 6 Environmental Research Letters,2022. UCLA Newsroom: “…To assess heat planning, the researchers — from UCLA, Arizona… Continue Reading
Microplastics seep into our water and our bodies. These products may help
Fast Company – Microplastics are ubiquitous in our environment, but experts say we can take steps to reduce our exposure. ” The microplastics crisis is far worse than we first thought. For half a century, humans have incorporated plastic into every aspect of our lives, from kids’ toys to food packaging. Yet 91% of plastic… Continue Reading
US water likely contains more ‘forever chemicals’ than EPA tests show
UK Guardian: “A Guardian analysis of water samples from around the United States shows that the type of water testing relied on by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is so limited in scope that it is probably missing significant levels of PFAS pollutants. The undercount leaves regulators with an incomplete picture of the extent… Continue Reading
Waste from thousands of old industrial sites may be released by floods
Ars Technica: “As sea levels rise, coastal areas face a growing risk of flooding. But humans and environments near urban centers and the ocean may face issues beyond rising water. These areas have also been home to a large number of manufacturing facilities. Over the years, many of them may have left toxic chemicals in… Continue Reading
A Crisis Historian Has Some Bad News for Us
The Atlantic: “America and the world are living through what Adam Tooze, the internet’s foremost historian of money and disaster, describes as a “polycrisis.” As he sips a beer at a bar near Columbia University, where he is the director of the European Institute, Tooze talks through a long list of challenges: War, raising the… Continue Reading
California takes bold step to reduce truck pollution
California Air Resources Board: [June 25, 2022], “the California Air Resources Board adopted a first-in-the-world rule requiring truck manufacturers to transition from diesel trucks and vans to electric zero-emission trucks beginning in 2024. This bold and timely move sets a clean-truck standard for the nation and the world, and marks the Newsom administration’s most important air… Continue Reading
