Sci-News: “The BirdNET app is a free bird sound identification app for Android and iOS that includes over 3,000 bird species. Ornithologists hope this app will reduce barriers to citizen science and generate tens of millions of bird observations globally…” The ubiquity of smartphones combined with the power of new machine learning algorithms presents an… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Environmental Law
The Norwegian library with unreadable books
BBC Future – “One recent Sunday morning, in a forest north of Oslo in Norway, more than 200 people gathered to watch a ceremony. They had walked in a procession – some with their dogs, others their children – along gravel trails, directed by arrows on the ground made from sprinkled wood shavings. The air… Continue Reading
US weather, climate forecasting is about to get way better
ZDNET: “US weather and climate forecasting is about to get a major upgrade. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) this week turned on two new supercomputers that are three times faster than the agency’s former supercomputing system. By this fall, the new HPE Cray supercomputers should deliver an improvement to the US Global Forecast… Continue Reading
US only has 6,000 fast charging stations for EVs
MIT Technology Review – Here’s where they all are. “The United States has around 150,000 fuel stations to refill its fleet of fossil-fuel-burning vehicles. Despite the rapid growth of all-electric vehicles in America—400,000 of them were sold in 2021, up from barely 10,000 in 2012—the country has only 6,000 DC fast electric charging stations, the… Continue Reading
Winners of the 2022 BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition
The Atlantic: “Entrants in this year’s contest were invited to submit images showcasing life on Earth, and illustrating some of the many threats that our planet faces. Images from this gallery were originally published in bioGraphic, an independent magazine about nature and conservation powered by the California Academy of Sciences, and media partner of the… Continue Reading
Urban Wildlife Photography Awards 2022: in pictures
Discover Wildlife: “An amateur photographer who works in digital advertising has won the inaugural Urban Wildlife Photography Awards for his image of two Coyotes on a dimly-lit suburban street in Ontario. London-based photography platform Picfair organised the free-to-enter competition, which pays homage to the wild creatures living in urban spaces, which proliferated during Covid lockdowns.… Continue Reading
Google makes Earth Engine available to all businesses and governments
ZDNet: “For the past decade, researchers in academia and the nonprofit world have had access to increasingly sophisticated information about the Earth’s surface, via the Google Earth Engine. Now, any commercial or government entity will have access to Google Cloud’s new enterprise-grade, commercial version of the computer program. Google originally launched Earth Engine for scientists… Continue Reading
Why 99% Of Smithsonian’s Specimens Are Hidden In High-Security
Open Culture: “For many of us natural history museums are emblematic of school field trips, or rainy day outings with (or as) children. There’s always something to be gleaned from the reconstructed dinosaur skeletons, dazzling minerals, and 100-year-old specimens on display. The educational prospects are even greater for research scientists. [This YouTube video via] Business… Continue Reading
Who will be most impacted by rising temperatures in California?
New online mapping tool helps the state prepare for extreme heat: “Last summer was the hottest in California’s history. And as this summer kicks off, we’re bracing for more record-breaking temperatures. Heat is the deadliest effect of climate change in California. While it affects everyone, it disproportionately impacts low-income residents and communities of color. “Heat… Continue Reading
Do you live close enough to a small US airport to have lead exposure? Check our maps
Quartz – At in the heart of Silicon Valley filled up their tanks with a heavy metal most Americans assumed was banished long ago: lead. Reid-Hillview was not unusual in this respect. Virtually every small airplane in the US burns fuel containing tetraethyl lead (TEL), an additive introduced in the 1920s to boost octane levels.… Continue Reading
Tools and Strategies for Pollinator Protection
EPA – “There are many ways to minimize the exposure of bees and other pollinators to pesticides. This page describes some pollinator protection strategies used at the local, state, and federal level to preserve pollinators and their habitats. These strategies include Best Management Practices (BMPs), Managed Pollinator Protection Plans (MP3s), and mitigation measures to reduce… Continue Reading
Most of the World Breathes Unsafe Air, Taking More Than 2 Years Off Global Life Expectancy
Air Quality Life Index, June 2022 Annual Update By Michael Greenstone, Christa Hasenkopf and Ken Lee: “During the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, the world’s economy slowed. Yet, the global annual average particulate pollution (PM2.5) was largely unchanged from 2019 levels. At the same time, growing evidence shows air pollution—even when experienced at very… Continue Reading
