Stay Current Archive 2024

2024-10-27. First Images of the Sun’s Flares Released From a New Space Telescope. By Katrina Miller, The New York Times. Excerpt: Before the northern lights fill the night sky on Earth with their eerie neon glow, a blast of electrified gas flares up from the sun’s surface. And scientists are now getting a powerful new view of how those ejections move through the corona, the sun’s tempestuous outer atmosphere. On Tuesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration unveiled the first imagery from its newest telescope in space. Meteorologists will use pictures from the device to help them better forecast space weather, including when you can expect to see auroras. The new instrument is called the Compact Coronagraph, or CCOR-1. It launched in June aboard GOES-19, the newest of NOAA’s fleet of weather satellites. The coronagraph can continuously monitor the sun, and it will send data to scientists on the ground every 15 minutes. …Earlier this month, NASA and NOAA announced that the sun had reached a peak in activity, which fluctuates in an 11-year cycle. A heightened number of solar storms could continue for the next year. That makes it ever important for space weather forecasters to stay prepared, lest a particularly powerful blast of solar material knock out systems across a large portion of the world…. Full article with movie of coronal mass ejection at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/27/science/solar-flare-telescope-sun.html. For GSS Energy Flow chapter 4

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2024-10-24. The fastest-growing and most destructive fires in the US (2001 to 2020). By Jennifer K. Balch et al, Science. Abstract: The most destructive and deadly wildfires in US history were also fast. Using satellite data, we analyzed the daily growth rates of more than 60,000 fires from 2001 to 2020 across the contiguous US. Nearly half of the ecoregions experienced destructive fast fires that grew more than 1620 hectares in 1 day. These fires accounted for 78% of structures destroyed and 61% of suppression costs ($18.9 billion). From 2001 to 2020, the average peak daily growth rate for these fires more than doubled (+249% relative to 2001) in the Western US. Nearly 3 million structures were within 4 kilometers of a fast fire during this period across the US. Given recent devastating wildfires, understanding fast fires is crucial for improving firefighting strategies and community preparedness…. Full article at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adk5737. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-10-07. Protection efforts have resulted in ~10% of existing fish biomass on coral reefs. By Iain R. Caldwell et al, PNAS. Abstract: The amount of ocean protected from fishing and other human impacts has often been used as a metric of conservation progress. However, protection efforts have highly variable outcomes that depend on local conditions, which makes it difficult to quantify what coral reef protection efforts to date have actually achieved at a global scale. Here, we develop a predictive model of how local conditions influence conservation outcomes on ~2,600 coral reef sites across 44 ecoregions, which we used to quantify how much more fish biomass there is on coral reefs compared to a modeled scenario with no protection. Under the assumptions of our model, our study reveals that without existing protection efforts there would be ~10% less fish biomass on coral reefs. Thus, we estimate that coral reef protection efforts have led to approximately 1 in every 10 kg of existing fish biomass…. Full article at https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2308605121. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 7.

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2024-10-TEMPLATE. . By . Excerpt: . Full article at URL. For GSS chapter .

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2024-10-24. The U.N.’s Verdict on Climate Progress Over the Past Year: There Was None. By Brad Plumer, The New York Times. Excerpt: One year after world leaders made a landmark promise to move away from fossil fuels, countries have essentially made no progress in cutting emissions and tackling global warming, according to a United Nations report issued on Thursday…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/24/climate/un-climate-change-global-emissions-report.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 9.

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2024-10-23. Manufacturer finds innovative solution to solve major solar panel challenge: ‘It’s been a long time coming’. By Robert English, TCD—The Cool Down. Excerpt: Heliene, a solar panel manufacturer based in Ontario, is making big strides in the solar energy industry by using recycled solar panel materials in its new ones, according to Electrek. Partnering with solar panel recycling company Solarcycle, Heliene will use recycled solar glass in its solar panels manufactured in its two factories, in Ontario and Minnesota. Over the next four years, Solarcycle plans to deliver approximately 20 million square meters (about 215 million square feet) of recycled glass to Heliene for use in its products…. Full article at https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/recycled-solar-panel-materials-manufacturer-heliene/. See also Heliene will make solar panels using SOLARCYCLE’s recycled glass and it’s a big deal and New report finds one major energy source breaking records worldwide: ‘Growing faster than people expected’ For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-10-23. Tech companies want small nuclear reactors. Here’s how they’d work. By Emily Conover, Science News. Excerpt: Last week, both Google and Amazon announced agreements with companies that are developing small modular reactors. Last week, both Google and Amazon announced agreements with companies that are developing small modular reactors. …Commercial reactors in the United States typically produce around a billion watts of electrical power. Small modular reactors would produce less than a third of that. …Commercial reactors in the United States typically produce around a billion watts of electrical power. Small modular reactors would produce less than a third of that…. Full article at https://www.sciencenews.org/article/small-modular-nuclear-reactors-amazon. See also Youtube video The Canadian Reactors that can Burn Nuclear Waste and The Big Lie About Nuclear Waste. For GSS Energy Use chapter 4.

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2024-10-23. Capturing Carbon From the Air Just Got Easier. By Robert Sanders, UC Berkeley Research News. Excerpt: …direct air capture, or DAC, is being counted on to reverse the rise of CO₂ levels, which have reached 426 parts per million (ppm), 50% higher than levels before the Industrial Revolution. Without it, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we won’t reach humanity’s goal of limiting warming to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) above preexisting global averages. A new type of absorbing material developed by chemists at the University of California, Berkeley, could help get the world to negative emissions. The porous material — a covalent organic framework (COF) — captures CO₂ from ambient air without degradation by water or other contaminants, one of the limitations of existing DAC technologies. “We took a powder of this material, put it in a tube, and we passed Berkeley air — just outdoor air — into the material to see how it would perform, and it was beautiful. It cleaned the air entirely of CO₂. Everything,” said Omar Yaghi, the James and Neeltje Tretter Professor of Chemistry at UC Berkeley and senior author of a paper that will appear online Oct. 23 in the journal Nature.… Full article at https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/news/capturing-carbon-air-just-got-easier. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-10-22. A Radical Approach to Flooding in England: Give Land Back to the Sea. By Rory Smith, The New York Times. Excerpt: In September, a month’s rain fell in a single day in some parts of England. The 18 months to March 2024 were England’s wettest in recorded history. Even on an island that has built at least part of its identity around tolerating inclement weather, it has been impossible to ignore the deluge. Flooding has submerged fields, ruined homes, and at times, cut off whole villages. As sea levels rise and extreme weather becomes more common, experts say that Britain’s traditional defenses — sea walls, tidal barriers and sandbanks — will be insufficient to meet the threat. It is not alone: in September, deadly floods in Central Europe led to the deaths of at least 23 people. …But on a tendril of land curling out from the coast of Somerset, in southwestern England, a team of scientists, engineers and conservationists have embraced a radical solution. …In a project costing 20 million pounds (around $26 million), tidal waters were allowed to flood the Steart Peninsula in 2014 for the first time in centuries. Rather than attempting to resist the sea, the land was given back to it. It was, in the words of Alys Laver, the conservationist who oversees the site, a “giant science experiment.” A decade on, its results might offer a blueprint for how some parts of Britain — and the rest of the world — might adapt to the reality of climate change…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/22/world/europe/uk-steart-marshes-carbon-climate-change-flooding.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-10-21. An Ancient Asteroid Impact Both Harmed and Helped Life. By Douglas Fox, SciAm. Excerpt: Sixty-six million years ago a 10-kilometer-wide space rock fell out of the sky over what is now the Yucatán Peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico. …Yet the event’s infamous impactor was nothing compared with the asteroid that struck Earth 3.26 billion years ago, amid what scientists call the Archean eon of our planet’s 4.5-billion-year history. The Archean space rock in that impact, dubbed “S2,” was 50 to 200 times larger—big enough to blast at least 10,000 cubic kilometers of vaporized rock into the skies that then recondensed into molten droplets and rained back to Earth. Unsurprisingly, those circumstances would have been “really disastrous for early life,” says Nadja Drabon, a geologist at Harvard University. But her latest research suggests that—much like the more celebrated dino-killing space-rock impact—this vastly greater and more ancient collision also had an upside, giving Earth’s early biosphere a powerful boost. …her scrutiny of rock layers in South Africa showed that besides generating world-burning volumes of vaporized rock, the S2 impact triggered massive tsunamis and boiled away the ocean’s uppermost layer. But it also pumped phosphorus and other bioessential elements into the world’s nutrient-starved seas—triggering a bloom of life…. Full article at https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-earths-early-life-thrived-amid-catastrophic-asteroid-impacts. For GSS Life and Climate chapter 6.

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2024-10-18. Years in the Making, New Satellite Offers Breakthrough in Global Methane Emissions Tracking. By Gwyneth K. Shaw and Judith Katz, Berkeley Law News. Excerpt: A satellite launched in August by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has close ties to Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment (CLEE) from the project’s origin to groundbreaking methane emissions research for years to come. The Tanager-1 satellite is part of the broader Carbon Mapper initiative, which aims to detect and quantify methane emissions with unprecedented accuracy. In tandem with MethaneSAT, launched by the Environmental Defense Fund, it can detect both large area methane emissions and leaks within a few meters of their source. …Methane — a powerful greenhouse gas responsible for about a third of global warming — has been difficult to track. …Importantly, Carbon Mapper and the Environmental Defense Fund will make the methane data publicly available, allowing nongovernmental organizations, governments, and the general public to access the information — ideally enhancing accountability and encouraging action from companies and jurisdictions to reduce their emissions…. Full article at https://www.law.berkeley.edu/article/center-for-law-energy-and-the-environment-tanager-1-satellite-global-methane-emission-tracking/. For GSS Climate Change chapter 9.

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2024-10-18. Global rise in forest fire emissions linked to climate change in the extratropics. By Matthew W. Jones et al, Science. Editor’s Summary: Anthropogenic climate change has made wildfires bigger, hotter, and more common. Jones et al. used a machine learning approach to break down the “why” and “where” of the observed increases. The authors identified different forest ecoregions, grouped them into 12 global forest pyromes, and described their differing sensitivities to climate, humans, and vegetation. Their analysis shows how forest fire carbon emissions have increased in extratropical pyromes [global regions of fire with similar fire characteristics], where climate is the major control, overtaking emissions from the tropical pyromes, where human influence is most important. It also illustrates the increasing vulnerability of forests to fire disturbance under climate change. —Jesse Smith. Full article at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl5889. For GSS A New World View chapter 6.

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2024-10-17. Are diamonds Earth’s best friend? Gem dust could cool the planet. By Hannah Richter, Science. Excerpt: …proposals to cool the planet through “geoengineering” tend to be controversial. …In a modeling study published this month in Geophysical Research Letters, scientists report that shooting 5 million tons of diamond dust into the stratosphere each year could cool the planet by 1.6ºC—enough to stave off the worst consequences of global warming. The scheme wouldn’t be cheap, however: experts estimate it would cost nearly $200 trillion over the remainder of this century—far more than traditional proposals to use sulfur particles…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/are-diamonds-earth-s-best-friend-gem-dust-could-cool-planet-and-cost-trillions. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-10-17. Consumer biodiversity increases organic nutrient availability across aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. By J. Ryan Shipley, et al, Science. Editor’s Summary: Across many ecosystems, declining biodiversity leads to lower biomass and loss of other ecosystem functions. Much of the research in this area has focused on plant communities, with less attention paid to consumers, who play the important role of accumulating and synthesizing organic nutrients. Shipley et al. investigated how the diversity of insects and spiders affects community-level concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), one type of essential nutrient. They found higher biomass and higher PUFA mass in more diverse communities in both terrestrial and aquatic systems and in different land uses. In human-dominated systems, both predator biomass and PUFA biomass were lower at a given level of species richness than in natural systems, suggesting a negative shift in function. —Bianca Lopez. Full article at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adp6198. See also this Science article – Countries in the Global South have more biodiversity than countries in the North. Databases used to study species don’t always reflect that. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 1.

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2024-10-17. Parachutes Made of Mucus Change How Some Scientists See the Ocean. By Veronique Greenwood, The New York Times. Excerpt: The ocean is filled with microscopic creatures that thrive in the sunshine. These bacteria and plankton periodically clump up with detritus, like waste produced by fish, and then drift softly downward, transforming into what scientists call marine snow. In the inky depths of the ocean that the sun can’t reach, other creatures depend on the relentless fall of marine snow for food. Those of us living on land depend on it, too: Marine snow is thought to store vast amounts of carbon in the ocean rather than letting it heat Earth’s atmosphere. Once those particles of marine snow arrive at the ocean bottom, their carbon stays down there for untold eons. …Researchers …found that gooey, transparent parachutes considerably slow the snow’s descent…. These findings are described in a paper published last week in the journal Science. …The bigger the mucus gob, the scientists found, the slower the particle’s fall. …“We already know that our representation of marine snow in climate models needs revising,” Dr. Cael said. “This study elucidates a way to making one of those necessary revisions. That should improve the accuracy of projected changes in Earth’s carbon cycle.”… Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/17/science/mucus-parachutes-ocean-marine-snow.html. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 5.

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2024-10-15. Microbe Preferences Drive Ocean Carbon Pump. By Grace van Deelen, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Just a spoonful of ocean water is home to millions of microbes—tiny, single-celled organisms that play crucial roles in the ocean’s biogeochemical processes. A new study in Science illuminates which organic particles these microbes prefer to munch on, aiding scientists’ understanding of how carbon moves through the ocean on a larger scale. …The movement of carbon from the surface of the ocean to depth, known as the biological carbon pump, helps control the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. Microbes are key to this system, as they degrade organic particles as they consume them. That process releases carbon. …The study investigated how microbes break down lipids—carbon-containing molecules that make up around 20% of organic particles in the ocean. Scientists know that some lipids reach the deep ocean, whereas others are degraded along the way. The team wanted to learn what factors might influence lipids’ fate. …The team also found that bacteria’s lipid preferences affected how quickly a lipid was degraded, which determines how deep the particles can sink into the ocean. A particle that is quickly degraded doesn’t sink very far, whereas a particle that is slowly degraded, or not degraded at all, sinks farther…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/microbe-preferences-drive-ocean-carbon-pump. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 5.

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2024-10-11. Mega El Niño May Have Led to Major Mass Extinction 252 Million Years Ago. By Rebecca Owen, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Every few years, the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a seasonal climate phenomenon, disrupts global weather for periods of 9–12 months at a time. During an ENSO event, trade winds die down, allowing warmer water to circulate through the Pacific Ocean and creating unpredictable, extreme weather patterns around the world. While some locations experience heavy rainfall, others experience extreme drought and heat waves. …About 252 million years ago, however, El Niño–like conditions may have persisted for decades at a time, a new study suggests. The volatile climate and extended ocean warming associated with this climate pattern may be pieces of the puzzle of what caused the largest mass extinction in Earth’s history, the Permian-Triassic extinction event, also known as the “Great Dying.” During this period, it would have been impossible for plants and animals to endure decades-long swings in climate conditions. Most life on land and sea was wiped out within tens of thousands of years…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/mega-el-nino-may-have-led-to-major-mass-extinction-252-million-years-ago. For GSS Life and Climate chapter 8.

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2024-10-11. Environmental and societal consequences of winter ice loss from lakes. By Stephanie E. Hampton, et al, Science. Editor’s Summary: More than half a billion people live near lakes that freeze over in the winter. However, lakes are rapidly losing winter ice cover in response to warming, and the rate of loss has accelerated over the past 25 years. Hampton et al. reviewed the state of seasonal ice cover on lakes and discuss some of the consequences of its disappearance. Ice loss will affect culture, economy, water quality, fisheries, and biodiversity, as well as weather and climate. —Jesse Smith. Full article at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl3211. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-10-11. Clipper Sets Sail for an Ocean Millions of Miles Away. By Kimberly M. S. Cartier, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Europa Clipper launched at 12:06 pm EDT on 14 October from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Clipper successfully deployed its solar panels and communicated with mission control once in space. …NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft…will head to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa and determine whether it’s a hospitable place for life. …There will be 49 flybys of Europa to study the moon from pole to pole …The craft is set to arrive at Jupiter in April 2030. …Europa is one of Jupiter’s four Galilean moons. Past missions to the Jovian system discovered that Europa, along with fellow icy moons Ganymede and Callisto, have vast liquid water oceans sloshing around beneath icy shells. “Ocean worlds have been considered potentially habitable environments for a while,” said Monica Vidaurri, a doctoral student in planetary modeling at Stanford University in California. “This is the first time we’re really dedicating a spacecraft to [exploring] it.” Europa Clipper aims to measure the thickness of the ice shell, analyze the composition of the surface and any outgassed material, and characterize the geology. The craft is equipped with nine scientific instruments that will work together to answer these questions…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/setting-sail-to-explore-an-ocean-world. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 2.

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2024-10-10. Unexpected westward range shifts in European forest plants link to nitrogen deposition. By Pieter Sanczuk, et al, Science. Abstract: Climate change is commonly assumed to induce species’ range shifts toward the poles. Yet, other environmental changes may affect the geographical distribution of species in unexpected ways. Here, we quantify multidecadal shifts in the distribution of European forest plants and link these shifts to key drivers of forest biodiversity change: climate change, atmospheric deposition (nitrogen and sulfur), and forest canopy dynamics. Surprisingly, westward distribution shifts were 2.6 times more likely than northward ones. Not climate change, but nitrogen-mediated colonization events, possibly facilitated by the recovery from past acidifying deposition, best explain westward movements. Biodiversity redistribution patterns appear complex and are more likely driven by the interplay among several environmental changes than due to the exclusive effects of climate change alone. Full article at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado0878. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 4.

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2024-10-10. Ecological speciation in Darwin’s finches: Ghosts of finches future. By Jeffrey Podos and Katie M. Schroeder. Science. Editor’s summary: When we think of a species adapting to environmental change, we mostly think about one trait. However, changes in one trait will likely affect others. In Galápagos finches, it has been shown that drought can lead to a change in bill size and shape in response to shifts in seed resources. However, birds do not just eat with their bills, they also sing with them. Podos and Schroeder predicted how bill size would change in response to a series of droughts and forecasted the songs that they would produce. They found that, after a series of simulated droughts, the songs differed enough that territorial male birds no longer recognized them. —Sacha Vignieri. Full article at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adj4478. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 3.

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2024-10-09. Fifteen Years Later, Scientists Locate a Lunar Impact Site. By Nathaniel Scharping, agu. Excerpt: In 2009, NASA intentionally crashed a spacecraft into the Moon …The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) was designed to search for frozen lunar water and other volatiles in the lunar regolith by knocking them off the Moon. …The LCROSS impact kicked up a cloud of regolith containing plenty of water (5.6% by mass), …But it did so in a permanently shadowed area of the Moon, leaving scientists unable to directly observe the crater after its formation. …Fassett et al. …researchers …see the LCROSS crater directly…. The LCROSS impact crater is about 22 meters across, the researchers report, slightly smaller than the LCROSS team originally estimated. …the volatiles themselves are young and came from outside the Moon—perhaps from comets, asteroids, or the solar wind—rather than from volcanic eruptions early in the Moon’s history. …These data could be complemented by future missions, such as the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER). (Geophysical Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL110355, 2024). Full article at https://eos.org/research-spotlights/fifteen-years-later-scientists-locate-a-lunar-impact-site. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 7.

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2024-10-09. The Ocean Has Massive Energy Reserves. Scientists Just Learned How to Take Advantage of Them. By Darren Orf, Popular Mechanics. Excerpt: …a new electrode produced by the U.S. company Equatic can safely extract oxygen and hydrogen from seawater while leaving the salt, which usually produces deadly chlorine gas. As a bonus, this method uses direct air capture to remove carbon from the atmosphere. And the anodes are recyclable—they only need a recoating of catalysts (made from abundant materials) every three years. …Producing hydrogen via seawater electrolysis has the nasty habit of also producing toxic chlorine gas, so current hydrogen production relies on pure water—a resource that’s becoming more and more precious as the world warms. Now, the carbon removal company Equatic—thanks to funding support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)—has successfully developed “oxygen-selective anodes” (OSAs) that will hopefully help scale up hydrogen production via seawater electrolysis. …The process does produce acidic and alkaline streams. According to New Scientist, Equatic raises the pH of the acidic stream by flowing the material over silica-rich rocks, and the alkaline stream simply reacts with carbon dioxide to form stable minerals. This is two-birds-one-stone innovation, as the process uses direct air capture technology to trap atmospheric CO₂ into solid minerals…. Full article at https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a62501592/seawater-electrode/. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-10-11. Dramatic images show the first floods in the Sahara in half a century. By Eromo Egbejule and agencies, The Guardian. Excerpt: More than year’s worth of rain fell in two days in south-east Morocco, filling up lake that had been dry for decades. Dramatic pictures have emerged of the first floods in the Sahara in half a century. …flooding in Morocco killed 18 people last month…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/11/dramatic-images-show-the-first-floods-in-the-sahara-in-half-a-century. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-10-11. New Hampshire’s low-income community solar program is finally nearing the starting line. By Sarah Shemkus, Energy News Network. Excerpt: More than seven years after New Hampshire regulators first approved the idea of using community solar to create savings for low-income households, electric bill discounts are finally on the horizon for the first batch of participants. …Community solar is widely considered an important strategy for extending the benefits of renewable energy to people unable to take advantage of rooftop solar. Nationally, some two-thirds of households can’t install solar panels, generally because they don’t own their home, don’t have a suitable roof, or can’t afford the cost of the array, said Kate Daniel, Northeast regional director for the Coalition for Community Solar Access…. Full article at https://newhampshirebulletin.com/2024/10/11/new-hampshires-low-income-community-solar-program-is-finally-nearing-the-starting-line/. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-10-10. El Niño fingered as likely culprit in record 2023 temperatures. By Paul Voosen, Science. Excerpt: For the past year, alarm bells have been going off in climate science: Last year’s average global temperature was so high, shooting up nearly 0.3°C above the previous year to set a new record, that human-driven global warming and natural short-term climate swings seemingly couldn’t explain it. …Now, a new series of studies suggests most of the 2023 jump can be explained instead by a familiar climate driver: the shifting waters of the tropical Pacific Ocean. The combination of a 3-year-long La Niña, which suppressed global temperatures from 2020 to 2022, followed by a strong El Niño could account for the unexpected temperature jump, the work suggests…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/el-ni%C3%B1o-fingered-likely-culprit-record-2023-temperatures. For GSS Energy Flow chapter 8.

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2024-10-10. ‘Alarming’ decline of seed-dispersing animals threatens Europe’s plants. By Erik Stokstad, Science. Excerpt: Without birds to spread their seeds, the diversity of fruit-producing plants declined, illuminating the critical importance of seed dispersal for ecosystem health. …Today in Science, a team reports that at least one-third of European plant species could be in trouble because most of the animals that move their seeds are threatened or declining. …The decline in seed dispersers—not just birds, but also mammals, reptiles, and ants—could jeopardize the ability of plants to expand their range to cope with climate change or recover after wildfire, he adds, especially in Europe’s highly fragmented landscape…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/alarming-decline-seed-dispersing-animals-threatens-europe-s-plants. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 6.

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2024-10-10. This may be one of Germany’s most sustainable cities. So what is Freiburg doing right? By Alisha McDarris, Adventure.com. Excerpt: …transforming Freiburg into the sustainable beacon it is—with its passive homes (homes designed to make the most of natural light and heat), solar plants, and emphasis on public transportation—has been very intentional…. it’s been a destination driven toward innovation, from championing renewable energies like solar and wind, to reducing vehicular traffic with functional public transit and encouraging cycling—Radstation near the central transit station houses hundreds of bikes in an automated storage center—all of which has earned it the nickname, ‘Green City’. …In Freiburg, the public transit system, consisting of trams and buses, is designed so that no residence is more than 400 meters from any public transport stop—it makes the car I drove into town feel utterly irrelevant. Indeed, I didn’t use it again until it was time to leave the city and return home. And that’s the point. …there are incentives which encourage citizens to make more sustainable choices, for example encouraging parents to use cloth diapers instead of disposables, and offering discounts for residents who compost their green waste—which is often sent to wood-fueled heat and power stations where it’s fermented and converted into electricity…. Full article at https://adventure.com/freiburg-germany-blueprint-sustainable-city/. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-10-10. The Staggering Price You’re Paying for America’s Nuclear Makeover. By W.J. Hennigan, The New York Times. Excerpt: The U.S. Navy has put in an order for General Dynamics to produce 12 nuclear ballistic missile submarines by 2042 — a job that’s projected to cost $130 billion. …Along with the subs, the military is paying for a new fleet of bomber jets, land-based missiles and thermonuclear warheads. Tally all that spending, and the bill comes to almost $57 billion a year, or $108,000 per minute for three decades…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/10/10/opinion/nuclear-weapons-us-price.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 4.

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2024-10-09. Some Floridians choose to stay despite warnings of life risk: ‘We have faith in the Lord’. By Richard Luscombe, The Guardian. Excerpt: Most left when they were told to. But some chose to stay, even though officials warned Hurricane Milton would turn their homes into coffins. …most people were heeding the warning. This time around people noticed the intensity and started taking it seriously when they saw 180mph winds being talked about. It opened their eyes.”…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/09/hurricane-milton-florida-stay-evacuate. [GSS note: this reminds us of the song, The Preacher & The Flood by Joel Mabus.] See also the Guardian article Trump continues to deny climate crisis as he visits hurricane-ravaged Georgia. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-10-09. What causes the windless doldrums that strand sailors? Find upends previous thinking. By Hannah Richter, Science. Excerpt: Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink. …Although Samuel Taylor Coleridge encapsulated the phenomenon [doldrums] in the poem quoted above, 1834’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” scientifically, doldrums have largely been ignored and the textbook explanation for them taken at face value. …Julia Windmiller, an atmospheric physicist …mapped the tropical wind speeds and rainfall recorded by the buoys and analyzed how doldrum events evolved over hours, days, and weeks. The result, published recently in Geophysical Research Letters, revealed a big flaw in the conventional explanation: Averaged over long timescales of days or weeks, the doldrums appear to coincide with big rainstorms. But in reality, over short, hourlong timescales, the rain and windless episodes occur separately. It turned out a clue had been hiding in Coleridge’s poem all along. Stranded sailors were usually dry, not wet: That means the standing theory for the doldrums is backward, Windmiller says. Although rainfall generally depends on rising parcels of moist air, she explains, the doldrums are better described by sinking masses of air…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/what-causes-windless-doldrums-strand-sailors-find-upends-previous-thinking. For GSS Energy Flow chapter 7.

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2024-10-06. A Changing Climate Is Scorching the World’s Biggest River. By Ana Ionova, The New York Times. Excerpt: The world’s largest river is parched. The Amazon River, battered by back-to-back droughts fueled by climate change, is drying up, with some stretches of the mighty waterway dwindling to shallow pools only a few feet deep. Water levels along several sections of the Amazon River, which winds nearly 4,000 miles across South America, fell last month to their lowest level on record, according to figures from the Brazilian Geological Service. In one stretch in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, the river was 25 feet below the average for this time of year, according to the agency, which began collecting data in 1967. …Starting this month, the country plans to begin dredging sections of the river with the aim of ensuring that, even in times of drought, people and goods can keep moving through the rainforest. …The remarkable drop in water levels has left boats struggling to shuttle children to school, rush the sick to hospitals or deliver medicine and drinking water to distant villages…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/06/world/americas/amazon-river-climate-change-brazil.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-10-06. Cement Is a Big Polluter. A Plant in Norway Hopes to Clean It Up. By Stanley Reed, The New York Times. Excerpt: As Mr. Houg toured the site, workers were fine-tuning equipment that held chemicals designed to absorb vast quantities of the carbon dioxide emitted through cement production. More than half a ton of the gas arises from every ton of cement that a plant like this turns out. …Early next year, carbon dioxide from the facility will be chilled to a liquid, loaded onto ships and carried to a terminal near the city of Bergen, farther up the Norwegian coast. From there, it will be pumped about 70 miles offshore into rocks a mile and a half below the bottom of the North Sea. …It helps that the Norwegian government is underwriting 85 percent of the up to 400-million-euro cost of what will be the first large, commercial-scale effort to strip carbon dioxide from cement and bury it. …Cement production, which accounts for nearly 7 percent of energy-related emissions, presents one of the knottiest problems for emissions reduction…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/06/business/cement-pollution-carbon-capture-norway.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-10-04. Exported gas produces far worse emissions than coal, major study finds. By Oliver Milman, The Guardian. Excerpt: Exported gas emits far more greenhouse gas emissions than coal, despite fossil-fuel industry claims it is a cleaner alternative, according to a major new research paper that challenges the controversial yet rapid expansion of gas exports from the US to Europe and Asia. …amid a glut of new liquefied natural gas (or LNG) terminals, primarily in the US. …the research, which itself has become enmeshed in a political argument in the US, has concluded that LNG is 33% worse in terms of planet-heating emissions over a 20-year period compared with coal. …Howarth’s paper finds that as much as 3.5% of the gas delivered to customers leaks to the atmosphere unburned, much more than previously assumed. Methane is about 80 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, even though it persists for less time in the atmosphere, and scientists have warned that rising global methane emissions risk blowing apart agreed-upon climate goals…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/04/exported-liquefied-natural-gas-coal-study. For GSS Climate Change chapter 3.

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2024-10-04. Marine Heat Waves Make Tropical Storm Intensification More Likely. By Roberto González, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Rapid intensification of hurricanes is 50% more likely to occur during marine heat waves in the Gulf of Mexico and northwestern Caribbean Sea …according to a study published in August in Communications Earth and Environment. These types of hurricanes are more dangerous as they make landfall because their intensity is harder to predict…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/marine-heat-waves-make-tropical-storm-intensification-more-likely. See also other Eos articles on heat waves – https://eos.org/tag/heat-waves. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-10-04. These Are Boom Times for ‘Degrowth’. By Ephrat Livni, The New York Times. Excerpt: There’s long been one mantra in mainstream economics: Growth is good. Gross domestic product — the monetary value of a country’s goods and services — is used to measure the economic health of a country or region, and a line that slants upward and to the right is typically what national leaders want to see. But recently, an alternative term has begun taking root in popular culture and policy: “degrowth.” Degrowth challenges the capitalist pursuit of growth at all costs and “focuses on what is necessary to fulfill everyone’s basic needs,” said Kohei Saito, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Tokyo and author of “Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto.” …Societies should be striving to create “a different kind of abundance,” he says, offering free education, medical care and transportation instead of continuously making more goods for consumption. …Mr. Saito believes part of the reason degrowth has had increasing appeal is because “younger generations are not enjoying the fruits of economic growth” and are suffering from stagnating wages, unstable employment, rising rents and climate change. The idea is not entirely new. The first documented use of degrowth in the economic and ecological context was in 1972, when the French social philosopher André Gorz asked whether production should be scaled back for environmental balance. He used the French term, “décroissance.”…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/04/business/degrowth-climate-gdp.html. For GSS Population Growth chapter 8.

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2024-10-04. First sighting of salmon in 100 years marks key milestone for California dam removal. By Kurtis Alexander, San Francisco Chronicle. Excerpt: In an early victory for the nation’s largest dam-removal project, the first salmon in more than a century is believed to have pushed up the Klamath River this past week into waters formerly blocked by dams. Scientists with the nonprofit California Trout told the Chronicle that their sonar camera captured what was almost certainly a chinook salmon migrating upstream Thursday past the site where Iron Gate Dam once stood, just south of the California-Oregon border. The roughly 2½-foot-long fish is thought to be part of the Klamath River’s fall run, the first and largest run of salmon expected to benefit from the recent removal of four hydroelectric dams on the 250-mile waterway…. Full article at https://www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/first-salmon-century-spotted-waters-blocked-19816572.php. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 7.

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2024-10-03. We’re one step closer to finding out why Siberia is riddled with exploding craters. By Sascha Pare, LiveScience. Excerpt: A new physical model suggests meltwater from thawing permafrost on Russia’s Yamal Peninsula can unlock methane sources at depth, triggering explosions that open enormous craters at the surface. …craters measure 160 feet (50 meters) deep and up to 230 feet (70 m) across, and first appeared on Russia’s northern Yamal and Gydan peninsulas in 2014. Chunks of rock and ice strewn across the landscape around the craters indicated they were caused by giant explosions. These strange craters have never been found elsewhere in the Arctic. …the explosions could trigger a climate feedback loop leading to huge releases of the powerful greenhouse gas methane…. Full article at https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/we-re-one-step-closer-to-finding-out-why-siberia-is-riddled-with-exploding-craters. For GSS Climate Change chapter 3.

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2024-10-03. U.S. clean energy careers are booming—but you wouldn’t know it if you look at the monthly jobs report. By George Sakellaris, Fortune. Excerpt: Clean energy currently employs 3.3 million Americans, or one in 50 workers nationwide, according to a report from E2. That’s more than the total number of nurses, cashiers, elementary and middle school teachers, and waiters or waitresses. Jobs in the renewable energy industry also grew by 10% from 2021 to 2023, faster than the growth rate for overall U.S. employment. However, if you’ve taken a look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) latest jobs report, you would be excused for not knowing about the massive opportunity and growth the clean energy sector represents. While we’ve seen a host of renewable energy and climate-friendly legislation come out of Washington over the last two years, including the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which have been widely and rightfully applauded, the monthly jobs report is one area of the federal government’s output that seems to be lagging. Although monthly jobs reports include some tangentially related industries, such as mining and logging, construction, and utilities, failing to highlight renewable energy as a standalone category is a missed opportunity, due to the outsized impact the field is having on our economy, as well as on the present and future of our everyday lives…. Full article at https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-clean-energy-careers-booming-152850334.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-10-03. Adani Group to supply clean energy for Google’s India cloud operations. By Reuters. Excerpt: India’s Adani Group will supply clean energy to power Google’s  cloud services and operations in India, the ports-to- power conglomerate said on Thursday. The group, owned by billionaire Gautam Adani, will supply energy from a new solar-wind hybrid project located at its 30 gigawatt (GW) Khavda renewable energy park in the western state of Gujarat…. The solar-wind hybrid project will start commercial operations in the third quarter of 2025. Google powers most of its cloud operations and services with electricity from the grid and plans to run them entirely through clean energy by 2030…. Full article at https://www.reuters.com/world/india/adani-group-supply-clean-energy-googles-india-cloud-operations-2024-10-03/. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-10-02. Georgia program gets $156M from feds to increase access to solar power. By Riley Bunch, The Atlantic Journal-Constitution. Excerpt: Tens of thousands of Atlantans lost power last week when Hurricane Helene swept through the south, causing heavy flooding in parts of the city and devastation throughout other areas of the state. …Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens…announced a massive chunk of federal money, $156 million, coming to Georgia to help increase access to solar power for Atlanta’s low-income residents. Atlanta is one of three cities in the state that will benefit from the funds doled out through a renewable energy initiative tucked within the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. In total, the Environmental Protection Division announced $7 billion in “Solar for All” grants to 60 applications across the country, as part of a $27 billion pot aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions…. Full article at https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/georgia-program-gets-156m-from-feds-to-increase-access-to-solar-power/YDACUOHYSRBGXNXBFBO73MRY2I/. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-10-02. Hurricanes Kill People for Years after the Initial Disaster. By Andrea Thompson, Scientific American. Excerpt: More than 160 people have lost their lives to the ferocious winds and catastrophic flooding wrought by Hurricane Helene. But the true death toll will take years—likely more than a decade—to unfold. A new study published on Wednesday in Nature found that the average tropical cyclone in the U.S. ultimately causes about 7,000 to 11,000 excess deaths (those beyond what would typically be expected), compared with the average of 24 direct deaths reported in official statistics. The study’s authors estimated that, between 1950 and 2015, tropical storms and hurricanes caused between 3.6 million and 5.2 million excess deaths—more than those caused by traffic deaths or infectious diseases. And such storm-related deaths involve people from some groups more than others, marking an “important and understudied contributor to health in the United States, particularly for young or Black populations,” the authors wrote. …The biggest risk was found to be for infants under the age of one, with almost all of these deaths occurring within less than two years after a storm. Young says that this effect could be influenced by people’s inability to afford prenatal care in a storm’s wake, as well as stress or other factors. The risk of death was also higher among Black people than it was among white people, even though the white population that was exposed to storms was much larger than the exposed Black population…. Full article at https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hurricanes-kill-people-for-years-after-the-initial-disaster/. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-09-28. As Florida Storms Worsen, Some in Tampa Bay Wonder: Is Living There Worth It? By Isabelle Taft, Elisabeth Parker, Valerie Boey Ramsey, and Patricia Mazzei, The New York Times. Excerpt: A rash of Gulf storms in recent years, culminating with Hurricane Helene on Thursday, has given way to a new reality for the booming region’s residents: Hurricanes that remain hundreds of miles away are likely to wreak havoc on the Tampa Bay region, as are smaller storms. Helene, a Category 4 hurricane, made landfall near Perry, Fla., some 200 miles north of Tampa. It followed a path similar to Hurricane Idalia in August of last year and Hurricane Debby last month. All three storms put wide swaths of the Tampa Bay region underwater, though none more than Helene, which brought storm surge into neighborhoods that had not seen such flooding in decades — or ever. …More residents are wrestling lately with how — or whether — to keep living in a beautiful place that has become vulnerable to more frequent and intense storms as well as rising sea levels. …The storm surge broke records in a number of spots around the Tampa Bay region, including in St. Petersburg, where it reached 6.31 feet, and Old Port Tampa, where it rose to 6.83 feet…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/28/us/hurricane-helene-tampa-bay-florida-worries.html. See also What to Know About Homeowners Insurance After Hurricane Helene. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-09-28. At Least 104 Die as Monsoon Rains Inundate Nepal. By Bhadra Sharma, The New York Times. Excerpt: At least 104 people have died in Nepal, the authorities said, after three days of incessant monsoon rains unleashed flooding and landslides across the small Himalayan nation, which has been increasingly pummeled by the effects of climate change. …Nepal, with a population of about 30 million, is the fourth-most-vulnerable country to climate change, according to UNICEF. In recent years, the frequency of disasters — including the bursting of glacial lakes as temperatures rise — has increased, claiming more lives…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/28/world/asia/nepal-floods.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-09-27. How rapid intensification spawned two monster hurricanes in one week. By Carolyn Gramling, Science News. Excerpt: One of the widest hurricanes on record slammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast on September 26 as a powerful Category 4 storm, inundating Florida’s coast with meters-high storm surge and sending tropical storm–force winds as far as 500 kilometers from its eye. …Just three days earlier, it was a disorganized cluster of thunderstorms off the eastern coast of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. A mere “tropical disturbance,” it was dubbed PTC9 for tracking purposes. …Within just 60 hours…PTC9 would intensify…from winds less than 35 knots (about 65 kilometers per hour) to hurricane-force winds of at least 100 knots (185 kilometers per hour). It was the fastest predicted spin-up from disturbance to major hurricane in the NHC’s history. …Rapid intensification is becoming a new normal for hurricanes. NHC defines rapid intensification as when a storm’s maximum sustained winds jump by at least 56 kph (35 miles per hour) in less than a day…. Against a backdrop of ongoing, record-breaking tropical water temperatures, numerous storms in the last few years have met and even surpassed this definition…. In 2023…Atlantic hurricanes Idalia and Lee ratcheted up their intensity by about 58 kph within 24 hours. …Helene’s fury was fueled by record-hot temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico. …forecasters were reeling from the sudden intensification of another tropical cyclone, Hurricane John, which made landfall September 23 on Mexico’s southern Pacific coast…two full days earlier than researchers had predicted. …the storm had spun up into a Category 3 hurricane just a few hours after being classified as a tropical storm…. Full article at https://www.sciencenews.org/article/rapid-intensification-hurricanes-helene. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-09-25. New solar cells break efficiency record – they could eventually supercharge how we get energy from the Sun. By Sebastian Bonilla, Associate Professor of Materials, University of Oxford. Excerpt: …surge in solar is fuelled by two key developments. First, scientists, engineers and those in industry are learning how to make solar panels by the billions. Every fabrication step is meticulously optimised to produce them very cheaply. The second and most significant is the relentless increase in the panels’ power conversion efficiency – a measure of how much sunlight can be transformed into electricity. The higher the efficiency of solar panels, the cheaper the electricity. This might make you wonder: just how efficient can we expect solar energy to become? And will it make a dent in our energy bills? Current commercially available solar panels convert about 20-22% of sunlight into electrical power. However, new research published in Nature has shown that future solar panels could reach efficiencies as high as 34% by exploiting a new technology called tandem solar cells. The research demonstrates a record power conversion efficiency for tandem solar cells…. Full article at https://theconversation.com/new-solar-cells-break-efficiency-record-they-could-eventually-supercharge-how-we-get-energy-from-the-sun-239417. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-09-24. Europe’s Heat Pumps Put America’s to Shame. By Bryn Stole, The Atlantic. Excerpt: In the United States, home heat pumps have been gaining traction (and government subsidies) as highly energy-efficient replacements for gas-fired boilers and furnaces. They vary in size, but most of the units being hyped by environmentalists and installed nationwide measure just a few square feet. In Stockholm’s Hammarbyverket plant, which is by some measures the world’s largest heat-pump plant, each of the seven electric-powered heat pumps is the size of a two-story house…. Full article at https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2024/09/europes-heat-pumps-district-heating/680007/. For GSS Energy Use chapter 8.

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2024-09-23. California is banning plastic grocery bags — again. Here’s what’s new this time. By Jessica Roy, San Francisco Chronicle. Excerpt: Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law on Sunday that closes a loophole in the state’s landmark 2014 plastic bag ban that contributed to an increase in plastic bag waste. And the state is suing ExxonMobil, saying the oil company deceived consumers about the recyclability of plastic. …In 2014, California passed SB270, which banned single-use bags at grocery stores. Those thin, filmy bags were made of low-density polyethylene, or LDPE. But the law allowed stores to sell thicker, heavier bags made of a different type of plastic: high-density polyethylene, or HDPE. …the outcome was a loss for the environment: A Los Angeles Times investigation…in 2023 found that Californians were generating more plastic bag waste per person by weight than they were before the ban was in effect — from about 8 pounds per year to 11 pounds per year. The thicker bags were meant to be reused. But a 2023 survey …and a similar one from CalPIRG in 2024 found that the vast majority of grocery shoppers simply got new bags every time. The thicker bags were also meant to be recyclable. But plastic recycling has broadly ceased to exist as an industry since China stopped buying our plastic waste in 2017. Municipal recycling centers in California do not accept plastic bags — if you throw them in your home recycling bin, …they go to the landfill. And for the few who collect them and bring them to the special recycling bins at stores, think again: Almost all of those meet that same fate. Jan Dell, the founder of environmental nonprofit The Last Beach Cleanup, put 15 trackers in plastic bag recycling bins in stores around Southern California. Not one ended up at a recycling center. …The new law goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2026. It functionally bans all plastic bags from grocery store checkouts. If you’re one of the few shoppers who bring their own bags to stores, nothing changes. If you get new bags when you shop, you will only be able to buy recycled paper bags for at least 10 cents apiece. The new law does not apply to produce bags or other plastic bags intended to contain loose items or prevent contamination…. Full article at https://www.sfchronicle.com/personal-finance/article/california-plastic-bag-ban-2024-19786683.php. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 7.

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2024-09-27. Breakthrough sun-powered tech pulls lithium from seawater, redefining energy. By Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering. Excerpt: Researchers have developed a sustainable method to efficiently extract lithium from seawater, addressing the growing demand for renewable energy. The Solar Transpiration-Powered Lithium Extraction and Storage (STLES) device harnesses sunlight to extract and store lithium from brine. …According to researchers from Nanjing University and the University of California, Berkeley, the approach offers a cleaner alternative to traditional lithium mining, which often involves harmful chemical processes and significant land disruption. The work is similar to research done by a University of Chicago team using iron phosphate particles to efficiently extract lithium from seawater, groundwater, and flowback water. …Long-term tests have shown the device’s stability, compatibility, and scalability. Operating passively without extra energy input, the system is both cost-effective and eco-friendly. It can also integrate with existing evaporation ponds, reducing installation costs and enabling the treatment of hypersaline brines with high osmotic pressure…. Full article at https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/sun-powered-tech-pulls-lithium-from-seawater. For GSS Energy Use chapter 9.

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2024-09-26. Burying wood in ‘vaults’ could help fight global warming. By Saima Sidik, Science. Excerpt: The discovery of an eastern red cedar log, buried in eastern Canada for millennia and nearly perfectly preserved, illustrates the potential of a new kind of carbon storage scheme in the fight against climate change: wood “vaults.” The log shows how burying wood—rather than letting it decay on the surface—could keep billions of tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO₂) out of the atmosphere, advocates say. The unusual conditions that preserved the log, described today in a paper in Science …they discovered a 78-centimeter-long piece of eastern red cedar. Using carbon-14 dating, they found it was 3775 years old; other lab tests revealed the log had retained some 95% of its carbon. The log was buried in an impermeable, water-logged layer of clay deposited by a sea that has since retreated. The clay, the researchers believe, prevented the delivery of any fresh, oxygen-rich water to the log and kept it from decomposing…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/burying-wood-vaults-could-help-fight-global-warming. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-09-23. Advanced conductors provide path for grid expansion. By Mathew Burciaga, Berkeley Rausser College of Natural Resources. Excerpt: Utility companies in the United States could double electric transmission capacity by 2035 by replacing existing transmission lines with those made from advanced materials, according to a new study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. …the first-of-its-kind study details a faster and more cost-effective way to expand the grid and connect the more than 1,200 gigawatts of renewable energy projects awaiting approval…. Full article at https://nature.berkeley.edu/news/2024/09/advanced-conductors-provide-path-grid-expansion. For GSS Energy Use chapter 5.

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2024-09-23. They’ve Got a Plan to Fight Global Warming. It Could Alter the Oceans. By Brad Plumer and Raymond Zhong. The New York Times. Excerpt: In a quiet patch of forest in Nova Scotia, a company is building a machine designed to help slow global warming by transforming Earth’s rivers and oceans into giant sponges that absorb carbon dioxide from the air. When switched on later this year, the machine will grind up limestone inside a tall green silo and release the powder into the nearby West River Pictou, creating a chalky plume that should dissolve within minutes. …adding limestone converts some of that carbon dioxide into a stable molecule that instead stays underwater and washes into the sea, where it should remain trapped for thousands of years. …Toying with ocean chemistry also carries unknown risks. Some environmental groups worry that even early experiments with these techniques could threaten fish and other aquatic life. …In the 1970s and ’80s, industrial pollution made rainfall more acidic, which poisoned lakes and streams around the world. Some of the hardest-hit countries, including Norway, Sweden and Canada, began adding limestone to their waterways to restore the pH balance and help fish populations recover. It worked. …adding limestone also helped rivers sequester more carbon…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/23/climate/oceans-rivers-carbon-removal.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-09-23. Scientists successfully ‘nuke asteroid’ — in a lab mock-up. By Jonathan O’Callaghan, Nature. Excerpt: Experiment shows that, in a worst-case scenario, humanity could use a nuclear explosion to save the planet from a deadly impact. A blast of X-rays from a nuclear explosion should be enough to save Earth from an incoming asteroid, according to the results of a first-of-its-kind experiment. The findings, published¹ on 23 September in Nature Physics [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-024-02633-7], “showed some really amazing direct experimental evidence for how effective this technique can be”, says Dawn Graninger, a physicist at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. “It’s very impressive work.” Full article at https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03128-4. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 1.

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2024-09-20. Who’s the Dodo Now? A Famously Extinct Bird, Reconsidered. By Franz Lidz, The New York Times. Excerpt: The dodo was a flightless bird about the size of a male turkey that had a long, hooked beak and the goofy charm of an emperor penguin. Its ancestor first appeared on Earth more than 25 million years ago, and by 1662, because of humans, it had vanished from Mauritius, a remote island in the Indian Ocean, the only place it ever existed. The dodo has since become fixed in society’s imagination as the very emblem of ineptitude, an evolutionary clown …seemed to have been invented for the sole purpose of becoming extinct. …Neil Gostling, a paleobiologist at the University of Southampton in England, listens to these aspersions and laughs. “Eighty-three years later, the idea persists that dodos were slow, fat, useless balls of feathers that blundered into their own demise,” he said. “The fact is that the birds were fast, agile and, before being wiped out, had been doing their thing and doing it incredibly well for about 12 million years.” …The dodo was the first recorded extinction directly caused by humans and witnessed in real time…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/20/science/archaeology-dodo-extinction.html. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 1.

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2024-09-19. Arctic Warming Is Driving Siberian Wildfires. By Nathaniel Scharping, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Wildfire activity in central Siberia, Russia, has doubled in the past 2 decades, scorching vast areas of forest and releasing carbon stored in the rich soils and permafrost underneath. The Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the world, and scientists already know that the effects of climate change can exacerbate wildfires. …In new research, Huang et al. demonstrate that the rise in Siberian wildfires is related to drought, drying soils, and decreased rainfall caused by Arctic warming. In addition, they identify a potential feedback loop in which wildfires suppress precipitation in the region, further drying soils and making fires even more likely. Water vapor in the atmosphere typically condenses around aerosol particles to form droplets, which come together as clouds and can fall as rain. But droplets formed around aerosols in wildfire smoke are smaller—often too small to form raindrops…. Full article at https://eos.org/research-spotlights/arctic-warming-is-driving-siberian-wildfires. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-09-20. Three Mile Island nuclear reactor to restart to power Microsoft AI operations. By Richard Luscombe, The Guardian. Excerpt: A nuclear reactor at the notorious Three Mile Island site in Pennsylvania is to be activated for the first time in five years after its owners, Constellation Energy, struck a deal to provide power to Microsoft’s proliferating artificial intelligence operations. The plant was the location of the most serious nuclear meltdown and radiation leak in US history, in March 1979 when the loss of water coolant through a faulty valve caused the Unit 2 reactor to overheat. More than four decades later, the reactor is still in a decommissioning phase. Constellation closed the adjacent but unconnected Unit 1 reactor in 2019 for economic reasons, but will bring it back to life after signing a 20-year power purchase agreement to supply Microsoft’s energy-hungry data centers, the company announced on Friday. The restart, the first time a nuclear reactor in the US has been recommissioned after closure, will send an additional 835 megawatts of power to the Pennsylvania grid, create 3,400 jobs and contribute at least $16bn to the state’s economy, Constellation said. …Tech giants including Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta and Apple are consuming ever-greater amounts of energy to power the boom in artificial intelligence. According to Goldman Sachs, demand will grow 160% by 2030, when data centers are expected to account for 8% of the power generated in the US. With the spike in demand, however, comes rising concerns over the impact on the environment…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/20/three-mile-island-nuclear-plant-reopen-microsoft. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-09-20. ‘You basically have free hot water’: how Cyprus became a world leader in solar heating. By Helena Smith, The Guardian. Excerpt: Cyprus has outstripped all other EU member states in embracing hot-water solar systems, with an estimated 93.5 % of households exploiting the alternative energy form for domestic needs. EU figures show the eastern Mediterranean island exceeding renewable energy targets set in the heating and cooling of buildings thanks to the widespread use of the solar thermal technology. …Increasingly, the country’s vibrant tourist industry has also resorted to the green solution with solar-powered hot water systems deployed in, they say, close to 100% of hotels…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/20/cyprus-solar-thermal-heating-water-rooftop-renewable-energy-climate. For GSS Energy Use chapter 8.

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2024-09-19. Ice skater. By Robin George Andrews, Science. Excerpt: …Jupiter’s moon Europa …NASA hopes will greet its Europa Clipper spacecraft, which will begin its journey to the Jupiter system next month. …Something extraordinary is concealed beneath the ice: a liquid saltwater ocean, potentially as clement and welcoming to life as Earth’s. …Equipped with a battery of nine science instruments, Clipper will swoop past Europa in a series of nearly 50 ice-skimming flybys, remotely probing the ocean in hopes of finding a chemistry that could support life. …“We’re not a life search mission. We’re a habitability mission,” says Robert Pappalardo, Clipper’s project scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which manages the mission. But even Pappalardo, a cautious scientist who is constitutionally averse to hyperbole, says finding a hint of life is “not out of the question.”… Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/nasa-spacecraft-probe-possibility-life-europa-s-salty-ocean. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 7.

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2024-09-19. Doomsday may be delayed at Antarctica’s most vulnerable glacier. By Paul Voosen, Science. Excerpt: Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier isn’t called the Doomsday Glacier for nothing. Were the Florida-size ice sheet to melt away, it could raise global sea levels by 65 centimeters. And because it is a keystone that holds back other ice sheets from flowing into the ocean, its disappearance could unlock a total of more than 3 meters of global sea level rise. In 2018, U.S. and U.K. funders created the 100-person International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC) to probe the ice—and its future…. …one conclusion is that some of the worst-case scenarios—such as the runaway collapse of the iceberg-calving front of the glacier, which juts into the ocean as an ice shelf—are unlikely this century, says Robert Larter, a BAS marine geophysicist and co-lead of the project. That worry, he says, “is not the huge monster it might have been 10 years ago.” …preliminary results from one of ITGC’s modeling groups suggest that in coming decades Thwaites will steadily retreat but not collapse, contributing up to 6 centimeters of global sea level rise by century’s end. …Longer term, the outlook is still grim. Under a worst-case scenario for emissions, Thwaites and many of the ice sheets it buttresses could collapse by 2300, adding more than 4 meters to sea level, according to an estimate published this month in Earth’s Future by a large collaboration of modelers, including ITGC members…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/doomsday-may-be-delayed-antarctica-s-most-vulnerable-glacier. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-09-19. The Hidden Environmental Costs of Food. By Lydia DePillis, Manuela Andreoni and Catrin Einhorn, The New York Times. Excerpt: …our grocery bills would be considerably more expensive if environmental costs were included, researchers say. …For years, economists have been developing a system of “true cost accounting” based on a growing body of evidence about the environmental damage caused by different types of agriculture. Now, emerging research aims to translate this damage to the planet into dollar figures. By displaying these so-called true prices, sometimes next to retail prices, researchers hope to nudge consumers, businesses, farmers and regulators to factor in the environmental toll of food. The proponents of true cost accounting don’t propose raising food prices across the board, but they say that increased awareness of the hidden environmental cost of food could change behavior. We asked True Price, a Dutch nonprofit group …to provide a window into some of their research. They came up with a data set that compares the estimated environmental costs of common foods produced in the United States, divided into three categories: Climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions, water usage, and ecosystem effects from land use, including loss of biodiversity….
Beef $5.34/lb retail + Environmental cost $22.02 = Total: $27.36
Cheese $3.74/lb retail + Environmental cost $3.76 = Total: $7.50
Chicken $2.20/lb retail + Environmental cost $1.83 = Total: $4.03
Tofu $2.42/lb retail + Environmental cost $0.21 = Total: $2.63
Chickpeas $1.46/lb retail + Environmental cost $0.74 = Total: $2.20
Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/09/19/climate/food-costs-protein-environment.html. For GSS Population Growth chapter 5.

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2024-09-19. Hot and cold Earth through time. By Benjamin J. W. Mills, Science. Excerpt: What was Earth’s temperature tens to hundreds of millions of years ago? The planet has gone through different periods, some with extensive polar ice caps and others being completely ice-free. …there have been major disagreements about whether there has been an overall decline in Earth’s temperature over time. …Judd et al. [in A 485-million-year history of Earth’s surface temperature] report a new reconstruction of Earth’s temperature over the last 485 million years by combining climate models with geological data. …Earlier studies using only tropical oxygen isotope ratios predicted a long-term decline in temperature over the last 500 million years, proposing that earlier greenhouse periods were warmer than more recent ones…. The new reconstruction of Judd et al. disagrees and instead predicts that greenhouse periods had similar temperature ranges. …Direct comparison of a possible future greenhouse climate to the past ones remains difficult because those warm periods were established gradually over millions of years. However, they are the only evidence available for what greenhouse climates look like, and they are vital for testing the accuracy of climate models…. Full article at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ads1526. For GSS Life and Climate chapter 8.

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2024-09-18. Earth Is Temporarily Getting a Second ‘Moon’. By Rebecca Schneid, Time. Excerpt: Starting next week, the moon, Earth’s closest celestial body, will be joined by a new neighbor: a second moon. From Sept. 29 until Nov. 25, astronomers calculate that 2024 PT5— which is what scientists think is an asteroid but have dubbed a “mini-moon”—will be looping around Earth. It will eventually break free of the planet’s gravitational orbit. Sadly, at just about 10 meters, the mini-moon will be extremely hard to see from Earth, but its presence will be there nonetheless for almost two months. The asteroid, which was discovered on Aug. 7 by NASA, originated from the Arjuna asteroid belt, where it will likely return once it leaves Earth’s orbit. “Earth can regularly capture asteroids from the Near-Earth object (NEO) population and pull them into orbit, making them mini-moons,” researchers Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos wrote in their published research…. Full article at https://time.com/7022535/earth-second-moon-temporary/. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 7.

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2024-09-17. This country is now the world’s first to have more EVs than gas-powered cars. By Nicolás Rivero, The Washington Post. Excerpt: Norway is the first country in the world with more electric vehicles than gas-powered cars on the road, according to vehicle registration data the Norwegian road federation, known as OFV, released Tuesday. Of the 2.8 million passenger cars registered in the country, 26.3 percent are fully electric, just edging out the share of gas vehicles. Diesel remains the most common vehicle type, making up more than a third of Norwegian vehicle registrations. …OFV Director Oyvind Solberg Thorsen … predicted EVs will outnumber diesel cars by 2026…. Full article at https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2024/09/17/norway-electric-vehicles-exceed-gasoline/. For GSS Energy Use chapter 9.

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2024-09-14. What Scared Ford’s CEO in China. By Mike Colias, The Wall Street Journal. Excerpt:
What the Ford Motor chief executive [Jim Farley] found during the May visit made him anxious: The local automakers were pulling away in the electric-vehicle race. …The Chinese carmakers are moving at light speed, he told Thornton, a former Goldman Sachs executive who spent years as a senior banker in China. They are using artificial intelligence and other tech in cars that is unlike anything available in the U.S. These Chinese EV makers are using a low-cost supply base to undercut the competition on price, offering slick digital features and aggressively expanding to overseas markets. …
Chinese brands have so far been kept out of the U.S. by steep tariffs, geopolitical tensions and regulatory hurdles. But some have established a toehold in Mexico, where China-built vehicles—both EVs and combustion-engine vehicles—now account for about 20% of sales…. Full article at https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/ford-china-ev-competition-farley-ceo-50ded461. See also chart of worldwide electric car sales – https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/electric-car-sales-2012-2024. For GSS Energy Use chapter 9.

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2024-09-13. This Type of Home Generator Is Gaining Popularity. By Sandi Schwartz, bob villa. Excerpt: As more people experience extreme weather events that knock out power, the demand for home backup generators is booming. Homeowners experienced 16 percent more power disruptions in 2022 than in 2013, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. And those power outages can last more than a day at a time, putting a strain on daily living. While backup generators provide convenience and peace of mind, the problem with more generators running, especially during periods of record heat and lengthy power outages, is the pollution they create. Various factors are driving the increase in demand for more sustainable options to muscle through a power outage, particularly solar backup generators. …Although buying a solar backup generator might require more up-front investment than a traditional generator costs, over time you are likely to save money compared to using other types of generators. As for other advantages, solar backup generators are quieter, safer, and odorless; require minimal maintenance; and increase energy independence from fossil fuels. …From dealing with hurricanes to ice storms, more people are looking for ways to keep the lights on during a blackout that are both sustainable and reliable. The global solar generator market size was valued at about $551 million in 2023 and is projected to grow to more than $1 billion by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights…. Full article at https://www.bobvila.com/exterior/solar-home-generator-demand/. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-09-12. Strong El Niños primed Earth for mass extinction. By Paul Voosen, Science. Excerpt: Some 250 million years ago, more than 80% of marine species and two-thirds of those on land died off in the end-Permian mass extinction—the closest life ever came to annihilation. Most scientists think massive volcanic eruptions in what is now Siberia triggered the event by spewing carbon dioxide (CO₂) and warming the planet. But according to a modeling study published this week in Science, the Great Dying was primed by a mega–El Niño pattern in the global ocean of the time, leading to weather extremes that killed off forests and kicked off the extinctions. …Geological evidence suggests that before the eruptions, atmospheric CO₂ levels were likely about 400 parts per million (ppm), similar to the present day. As they began to tick up, the model showed profound El Niño events began to occur, says Alexander Farnsworth, a study co-author and paleoclimate modeler at the University of Bristol. …Chaotic weather would have been unleashed worldwide, as happens during today’s El Niños. As CO₂ levels rose to 800 ppm and beyond, the El Niños grew more fearsome than any in history, lasting up to 7 years. “You’re seeing this incredible heat buildup, which just persists,” Farnsworth says. …The study raises the disturbing prospect that today’s rising greenhouse gas levels could trigger Permian-like mega–El Niños…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/strong-el-ni%C3%B1os-primed-earth-mass-extinction. For GSS Life and Climate chapter 8.

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2024-09-12. Wind and solar have risen to ‘new highs’ in the EU overtaking fossil fuels for the first time ever. By Rosie Frost, EuroNews. Excerpt: Renewables have broken electricity-generating records in the EU this year, according to the European Commission. Newly published data has revealed that in the first six months of 2024, half of the bloc’s electricity came from renewable sources, outperforming fossil fuels. …It says that wind power has now overtaken gas as the EU’s second-largest source of electricity behind nuclear power for the first time. The EU also set another record with 56 GW of new solar energy installed in 2023, beating the previous record of 40 GW from 2022…. Full article at https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/09/12/wind-and-solar-have-risen-to-new-highs-in-the-eu-overtaking-fossil-fuels-for-the-first-tim. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-09-09. Environmental stress reduces shark residency to coral reefs. By Michael J. Williamson et al, Science. Abstract: Coral reef ecosystems are highly threatened and can be extremely sensitive to the effects of climate change. Multiple shark species rely on coral reefs as important habitat and, as such, play a number of significant ecological roles in these ecosystems. …on average …increased stress on the reefs significantly reduces grey reef shark residency, promoting more diffuse space use and increasing time away from shallow forereefs. Importantly, this impact has a lagged effect for up to 16 months. This may have important physiological and conservation consequences for reef sharks, as well as broader implications for reef ecosystem functioning. As climate change is predicted to increase environmental stress on coral reef ecosystems, understanding how site-attached predators respond to stress will be crucial for forecasting the functional significance of altering predator behavior and the potential impacts on conservation for both reef sharks and coral reefs themselves…. Full article at https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-024-06707-3. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 4.

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2024-09-06. ‘Nasty’ microorganisms need saving, too. By Hannah Richter, Science. Excerpt: Nearly half of all animal species on Earth live inside other animals as parasites. There are an estimated 1 trillion bacterial and viral species that call other creatures home. Yet these critters are often left out of conversations about habitat loss and the value of biodiversity. In an article published last week in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, biologists say it’s time for conservationists to include in their efforts the planet’s microorganisms—especially when they have evolved alongside their hosts. Doing so will provide a more well-rounded picture of the threats to biodiversity, they argue, and help preserve all species, great and small. …We know we live in a microbial world. We know sometimes they make us sick and then we kill them, but that is actually the minority that are very harmful. Most of them are just there, and many of them are actually beneficial for us. It’s remarkable how often we just think of microbes as something we have to get rid of, as opposed to how often these things can be a part of the solution. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/nasty-microorganisms-need-saving-too. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 1.

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2024-09-05. Highways prevent pumas from reclaiming their eastern U.S. range: Study. By Bobby Bascomb, Mongabay. Excerpt: Pumas are unlikely to recolonize much of their historical range in the eastern U.S., a new study finds. It’s not a lack of habitat or food keeping out the pumas, also known as cougars or mountain lions. It’s the highways. Historically, pumas (Puma concolor) ranged coast to coast across nearly all of the Americas… from the northern reaches of Canada… all the way south to Patagonia. But by the late 1800s, a combination of habitat loss and hunting wiped them out from the eastern half of the U.S. Researchers used a model to predict …that pumas are likely to reclaim just 2.1% of their North American historical range by 2100, mostly in boreal Canada. …Hunting in western states is part of the problem, but the lion’s share of the issue is a combination of human development and highways that create a fragmented landscape that pumas simply can’t break through, the study found. An earlier study found one to two pumas are killed on highways each week in California alone. Pumas are …not at risk of extinction as a species, but they’re not performing their ecological function for roughly half the U.S., researchers say. Pumas are crucial for healthy ecosystems and forest resilience, Mark Elbroch, co-author of the study and puma program director with global wildcat conservation NGO Panthera, told Mongabay by phone…. Full article at https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2024/09/highways-prevent-pumas-from-reclaiming-their-eastern-u-s-range-study/. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 6.

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2024-09-05. How young is volcanism on the Moon? By Yuri Amelin and Qing-Zhu Yin, Science. Excerpt: Analyses of rocks and soils delivered by the Apollo and Luna missions have established that the Moon is ancient, dry, and depleted of volatile elements. Studies also have indicated that early in its history, the Moon was covered with molten rock. This magma ocean eventually cooled and produced a compositionally diverse surface crust (1). How long the Moon produced magma has been an open question. On page 1077 of this issue, Wang et al. (2) report that volcanism on the Moon occurred as recently as 120 million years ago (Ma). This implies that the Moon may still be able to produce magma. …Determining the time range of lunar volcanism can be expanded by studying volcanic glass beads produced by lava fountains (eruptions) and preserved in lunar regolith (surface rock and debris) (11). These beads, despite sizes of only a few tens of micrometers, can be dated with argon (⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar) and uranium-lead (U-Pb) radioactive isotope decay methods (12, 13)…. Full article at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adr9336. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 7.

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2024-09-TEMPLATE. . By . Excerpt: . Full article at URL. For GSS chapter .

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2024-09-06. President’s announcement Thursday is just one piece of a big clean energy picture. By Erik Gunn, Wisconsin Examiner. Excerpt: On Thursday afternoon, President Joe Biden stood in front of a solar panel array on the grounds of Vernon Electric Cooperative in Vernon County to announce $7.3 billion that will go to expand clean power sources for rural electric co-ops across the country. It was …just a slice of what has been a major economic priority for Biden since he took office in January 2021: pushing the U.S. toward more clean and renewable sources of energy. Provisions in two of the Biden administration’s signature pieces of legislation have sought to address climate change on several fronts, but with an emphasis on hastening the country’s conversion to solar, wind and other forms of power that advocates hope can supplant the fossil fuels blamed for accelerating climate change. …Biden’s announcement Thursday focused on just one clean energy avenue — power generation in rural America. Wisconsin-based Dairyland Power Cooperative will receive $573 million, a grant combined with a loan, to increase its supply of solar and wind power. The co-op will combine those funds with private investment for the $2.1 billion project. Dairyland is one of 16 rural energy co-ops serving 23 states that will participate in the $7.3 billion Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program operated through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The White House has compared the effort to bring renewable power to places like western Wisconsin to the federal rural electrification program that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt instituted in the 1930s…. Full article at https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2024/09/06/presidents-announcement-thursday-is-just-one-piece-of-a-big-clean-energy-picture/. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-09-05. University funding from fossil fuels slowing switch to green energy – report. By Dharna Noor, The Guardian. Excerpt: Fossil fuel companies’ funding of universities’ climate-focused efforts is delaying the green transition, according to the most extensive peer-reviewed study to date of the industry’s influence on academia. For the study, published in the journal WIREs Climate Change on Thursday, six researchers pored over thousands of academic articles on industries’ funding of research from the past two decades. …During the past two decades, non-profits, campus organizers and a small group of scholars have sounded the alarm about oil companies’ influence in academia, drawing parallels to tobacco, pharmaceuticals and food producers who have also funded scholarship. In the new study, researchers found that out of roughly 14,000 peer-reviewed articles about conflicts of interest, bias and research funding across all industries from 2003 to 2023, only seven mentioned fossil fuels. …“We find that universities are an established yet under-researched vehicle of climate obstruction by the fossil fuel industry,” the authors write. The analysis found that oil companies have long influenced universities to focus on climate efforts that would enshrine a future for fossil fuels, despite experts’ repeated warnings that the world must stop burning coal, oil and gas to avert the worst climate impacts…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/sep/05/universities-fossil-fuel-funding-green-energy. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-09-05. Fire Panic: Blazes May Lead to Bans on Batteries Key to Renewable Energy Commitments. By MacKenzie Elmer, Voice of San Diego. Excerpt: After a couple of fires at renewable energy battery storage sites in San Diego, a growing number of leaders in the county want to suspend the building of new ones.  But that would undermine the county’s soon-to-be and legally binding commitment to run on 100 percent renewable energy by 2045 via a new Climate Action Plan. …batteries are key to keeping the lights and A/C on when the sun goes down. The County Board of Supervisors will decide on Sept. 11 whether to ban building battery storage until stricter fire safety restrictions are in place. Such a moratorium …makes it harder for the county to transition away from fossil fuels because batteries store the sun and wind’s energy at night when it’s in high demand. …Two large battery projects caught fire recently elsewhere in the region: One at Gateway Energy Storage in Otay Mesa earlier this year, and another in September of 2023 at the Valley Center Energy Storage Facility operated by Terra-Gen. These …are notoriously difficult to put out and typically can’t be doused by conventional firefighting methods. …Joe Rowley, a former Sempra executive who built gas-fired and renewable projects across North America, says he’s against the Seguro project because it’s too close to homes and says large battery projects like Seguro should be placed 1,000 feet away from existing residences.  “Batteries are not going away. …But what’s missing here is any kind of recognition in zoning regulations that these are a whole different animal and need to be addressed specifically,” Rowley said…. Full article at https://voiceofsandiego.org/2024/09/05/fire-panic-blazes-may-lead-to-bans-on-batteries-key-to-renewable-energy-commitments/. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-09-05. ‘My jaw dropped’: Bat loss linked to death of human infants. By Erik Stokstad, Science. Excerpt: In 2006, bats throughout New England began dying en masse from a mysterious and incurable fungal disease called white nose syndrome. Over the next decade, their populations plummeted—and humans living nearby suffered, according to a new study. With fewer predators around, insect numbers increased, leading to farmers spraying about 31% more pesticides, researchers report this week in Science. At the same time, infant mortality in counties increased by 8%. The authors link those deaths to the rise in the use of insecticides, which are known to be dangerous, especially for fetuses and infants. …Bats are good to have around a farm. They provide free pest control, with some species consuming 40% of their body weight each night in insects. The value of this service has been estimated at between $4 billion and $53 billion per year…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/my-jaw-dropped-bat-loss-linked-death-human-infants. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 1.

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2024-09-05. Solar Farms Have a Superpower Beyond Clean Energy. By Catrin Einhorn, The New York Times. Excerpt: As solar projects unfurl across the United States, sites like this one in Ramsey, Minn., stand out because they offer a way to fight climate change while also tackling another ecological crisis: a global biodiversity collapse, driven in large part by habitat loss. …Solar farms could blanket millions of acres in the United States over the coming decades. So developers, operators, biologists and environmentalists are teaming up with an innovative strategy. “We have to address both challenges at the same exact time,” said Rebecca Hernandez, a professor of ecology at the University of California, Davis, whose research focuses on how to do just that. Insects, those small animals that play a mighty role in supporting life on Earth, are facing alarming declines. Solar farms can offer them food and shelter by providing a diverse mix of native plants. Such plants can also decrease erosion, nourish the soil and store planet-warming carbon. They can also attract insects that improve pollination of nearby crops…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/05/climate/solar-power-pollinators-wildlife.html. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 7.

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2024-09-04. Climate Change Is Making ‘Last Chance Tourism’ More Popular, and Riskier. By Austyn Gaffney, The New York Times. Excerpt: …as temperatures increase, the recession and disappearance of glaciers has popularized a new form of adventure travel called “last chance tourism.” As more people rush to see glaciers before they melt, places like Iceland have benefited from a booming tourism economy. Half a million people now visit Iceland for glacier tours every year, according to Elin Sigurveig Sigurdardottir, chief of operations for Icelandic Mountain Guides, an agency that leads trips on a separate glacier within Vatnajokull National Park…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/04/climate/climate-change-iceland-glacier-tourism.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-09-03. BepiColombo faces 11-month delay on journey to Mercury. By Dennis Normile, Science. Excerpt: The BepiColombo mission is now scheduled to arrive at the tiny and little-studied planet in November 2026, 11 months behind schedule. The European Space Agency (ESA), which developed the $1.8 billion BepiColombo in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), said in a 2 September statement that the mission’s scientific objectives will not be affected by the delay. Meanwhile, the revised trajectory has the craft passing 165 kilometers from Mercury’s surface on 4 September during a gravity assist flyby. The encounter, 35 kilometers closer than originally planned, provides an opportunity to test instruments and study the interaction between the solar wind and the planet’s magnetic field. Scientists are planning to make the most of the flyby, starting up 10 of the mission’s 16 instruments. …Launched in October 2018, BepiColombo is carrying two probes, ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter, with 11 instruments, and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetosphere Orbiter, with five. The two spacecraft are stacked aboard the mission’s transfer module for the trip to our Solar System’s smallest planet. Upon arrival, they will detach and enter separate orbits. BepiColombo has so far completed one flyby at Earth, two at Venus, and three at Mercury…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/bepicolombo-faces-11-month-delay-journey-mercury. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 7.

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2024-09-02. Birds’ responses to climate change. By Montague H. C. Neate-Clegg, Benjamin A. Tonelli & Morgan W. Tingley, Nature, Ecology & Evolution. Abstract: Terrestrial species can respond to a warming climate in multiple ways, including shifting in space (via latitude or elevation) and time (via phenology). …we used two continental-scale monitoring databases to estimate trends in the breeding latitude (311 species), elevation (251 species) and phenology (111 species) of North American landbirds over 27 years, with a shared pool of 102 species. …Species shifted poleward (1.1 km per year, mean shift ratio 11%) and to higher elevations (1.2 m per year, mean shift ratio 17%), while also shifting their breeding phenology earlier (0.08 days per year, mean shift ratio 28%). These general trends belied substantial variation among species, with some species shifting faster than climate, whereas others shifted more slowly or in the opposite direction. Across the three dimensions (n = 102), birds cumulatively tracked temperature at 33% of current warming rates, 64% of which was driven by advances in breeding phenology as opposed to geographical shifts. A narrow focus on spatial dimensions of climate tracking may underestimate the responses of birds to climate change; phenological shifts may offer an alternative for birds—and probably other organisms—to conserve their thermal niche in a warming world. Full article at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-024-02536-z. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-08-29. New process vaporizes plastic bags and bottles, yielding gases to make new, recycled plastics. By Robert Sanders, UC Berkeley News. Excerpt: A new chemical process can essentially vaporize plastics that dominate the waste stream today and turn them into hydrocarbon building blocks for new plastics. The catalytic process, developed at the University of California, Berkeley, works equally well with the two dominant types of post-consumer plastic waste: polyethylene, the component of most single-use plastic bags; and polypropylene, the stuff of hard plastics, from microwavable dishes to luggage. It also efficiently degrades a mix of these types of plastics. The process, if scaled up, could help bring about a circular economy for many throwaway plastics, with the plastic waste converted back into the monomers used to make polymers, thereby reducing the fossil fuels used to make new plastics. …“We have an enormous amount of polyethylene and polypropylene in everyday objects, from lunch bags to laundry soap bottles to milk jugs …,” said John Hartwig, a UC Berkeley professor of chemistry who led the research. …Hartwig, graduate student Richard J. “RJ” Conk, chemical engineer Alexis Bell, who is a UC Berkeley Professor of the Graduate School, and their colleagues will publish the details of the catalytic process on Aug. 29 in the journal Science (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq7316)…. Full article at https://news.berkeley.edu/2024/08/29/new-process-vaporizes-plastic-bags-and-bottles-yielding-gases-to-make-new-recycled-plastics. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 7.

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2024-08-30. Alarm as Australia records ‘gobsmacking’ hot August temperatures. By Graham Readfearn, The Guardian. Excerpt: Australia’s winter runs from June to August, but swathes of the country have felt like summer the past week with temperatures topping 40C and records tumbling…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/aug/31/australia-heatwave-weather-sydney-melbourne-august-heat-record-temperatures. For GSS Climate Change chapter 4.

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2024-08-29. Sinking seaweed. By Warren Cornwall, Science. Excerpt: …the potential benefits and risks of a controversial idea: growing seaweed to fight climate change. The concept has generated enthusiasm among entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and some scientists. They envision vast seaweed farms floating in the open ocean, where plants such as kelp would be grown and then sunk thousands of meters to the ocean floor, entombing the carbon for centuries. ompanies looking to feed the growing market for carbon credits have hatched a variety of strategies. …But the strategy faces daunting, unanswered questions about how much carbon it might actually sequester, potential ecological effects, and whether coastal seaweed can thrive in the open ocean. …some ocean scientists have called for a moratorium on the practice. It is unlikely to work as promised, they say, and threatens to upend ocean ecosystems…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/can-dumping-seaweed-sea-floor-cool-planet-some-scientists-are-skeptical. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-08-28. Restaurants loved this plan to end takeout waste. Why did it fail? By Cecilia Seiter, Berkeleyside. Excerpt: At the height of COVID-19 lockdowns, when restaurants survived off takeout and delivery and residential trash bins were brimming with discarded to-go containers, Dispatch Goods launched a reusable container restaurant service that, many hoped, would be the long-awaited elegant solution to the scourge of ballooning restaurant refuse. …But customer confusion and complicated logistics proved to be stubborn problems, and the company sunset the program at the close of 2022.  Despite an alleged growing demand for the service, the blog post cited complicated logistics, challenging unit economics and low lifetime value of the products — all of which contributed to significant financial hurdles for the early-stage startup. …container standardization is key to the viability of large-scale reusables rollouts. For now, large-scale reusable container standardization is still a work in progress, but many beverage containers are already quite standardized in some parts of the world. …In Germany, for example, customers pay a small deposit when purchasing bottled beverages. They drop the empty bottles into a collection machine (found in most major supermarkets) and receive their original deposit back. …COVID-19 turbocharged growth in both takeout and delivery and the market continues to rapidly expand. A report from Research and Markets found the North American online food delivery market, which reached $29.8 billion in 2022,  could more than double to nearly $65 billion by 2028. A 2023 DoorDash study found in a typical month 77% of consumers ordered delivery and 76% picked up takeout…. Full article at https://www.berkeleyside.org/2024/08/28/dispatch-goods-restaurant-waste-reusable-containers. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 7.

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2024-08-28. Canada’s Wildfires Were a Top Global Emitter Last Year, Study Says. By Manuela Andreoni, The New York Times. Excerpt: The wildfires that ravaged Canada’s boreal forests in 2023 produced more planet-warming carbon emissions than the burning of fossil fuels in all but three countries, research published on Wednesday has found. Only China, the United States and India produced more emissions from fossil fuels than the Canadian fires, according to the study, which was published in the journal Nature. The wildfires last year call into question how much carbon the forests will absorb in the future, scientists said…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/28/climate/canada-wildfires-emissions-carbon.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-08-27. Blue Bird Delivers its 2,000th Electric School Bus. By Bluebird—press release. Excerpt: MACON, Ga. – Blue Bird Corporation (Nasdaq: BLBD), the leader in electric and low-emission school buses, has delivered its 2,000^th electric, zero-emission school bus marking an industry-leading milestone. Clark County School District (CCSD) in Nevada received Blue Bird’s 2,000^th electric vehicle (EV) to help the nation’s fifth largest school district transition its school bus fleet to clean student transportation…. Full article at https://www.blue-bird.com/blue-bird-delivers-its-2000th-electric-school-bus/. For GSS Energy Use chapter 9.

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2024-08-27. Bumble bees lose their sense of smell after heat waves. By Rodrigo Pérez Ortega, Science. Excerpt: Increasingly common extreme temperatures are a rising threat to many around the world, but humans are not the only ones imperiled. In a study out today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, researchers show heat waves may severely jeopardize bumble bees’ ability to smell the flowers they feed on. The finding could foretell how climate change may affect the pollinators’ populations—and human industries that rely on them. …if these bees cannot find their food effectively, the impact on the crops they pollinate can be disastrous. …We have bumble bees to thank for many of the vegetables, fruits, nuts, and legumes that show up on our tables; bees pollinate crops that make up about one-third of our food supply. Yet bee populations have been declining for years, and most researchers think there are two main reasons: habitat loss and climate change. …Researchers have correlated some effects of climate change with bee decline. Droughts can reduce flowers’ production of pollen and nectar that bees rely on to stay healthy. Extreme heat may also diminish flowers’ scent and nectar output. …It makes sense that bumble bees, which evolved to live in high altitudes and latitudes and are adapted to cold regions, such as the Arctic and the Alps, might struggle in warmer temperatures…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/bumble-bees-lose-their-sense-smell-after-heat-waves. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-08-27. Alaskan snow crab fishery, walloped by climate change, may never fully recover. By Erik Stokstad, Science. Excerpt: Billions of snow crabs disappeared from the Bering Sea in 2021 after a marine heat wave cooked the area for several years. Alaskan fishing vessels returned to ports dismayed, and the next year state regulators closed down the lucrative fishery—which had regularly yielded an annual harvest worth $200 million or more—for the first time in history. Many hope the fishery will reopen in the coming years because the water has cooled and young crabs are becoming more plentiful. But the longer term outlook for the fishery is stormy, according to a paper published last week in Nature Climate Change. Snow crabs do worse in years when conditions more closely resemble a boreal, or subarctic, climate, rather than an arctic one. And those conditions are 200 times more likely to occur today than in the mid-1800s, the study indicates…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/alaskan-snow-crab-fishery-walloped-climate-change-may-never-fully-recover. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-08-27. JWST found rogue worlds that blur the line between stars and planets. By Leah Crane, NewScientist. Excerpt: Astronomers have found six new worlds that look like planets, but formed like stars. These so-called rogue worlds are between five and 15 times the mass of Jupiter, and one of them may even host the beginnings of a miniature solar system. …From their observations, the researchers determined that planetary mass brown dwarfs make up about 10 per cent of the objects in NGC 1333. That is far more than expected based on models of star formation, so there may be extra processes, such as turbulence, that drive the formation of these rogue worlds. …One of the brown dwarfs is particularly unusual – it has a ring of dust around it just like the one that formed the planets in our solar system. At about five Jupiter masses, it is the smallest world ever spotted with such a ring, and it may mark the beginnings of a strange, scaled-down planetary system around a failed star…. Full article at https://www.newscientist.com/article/2445279-jwst-found-rogue-worlds-that-blur-the-line-between-stars-and-planets/. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 8.

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2024-08-27. Salmon will soon swim freely in the Klamath River for first time in a century once dams are removed. By HALLIE GOLDEN, AP. Excerpt: For the first time in more than a century, salmon will soon have free passage along the Klamath River and its tributaries — a major watershed near the California-Oregon border — as the largest dam removal project in U.S. history nears completion.
…The work will allow the river to flow freely in its historic channel, giving salmon a passageway to key swaths of habitat just in time for the fall Chinook, or king salmon, spawning season. …As of February, more than 2,000 dams had been removed in the U.S., the majority in the last 25 years, according to the advocacy group American Rivers. …“Now the healing can really begin as far as the river restoring itself,” said Joshua Chenoweth, senior riparian ecologist for the Yurok Tribe, which has spent decades fighting to remove the dams and restore the river. …The Klamath was once known as the third-largest salmon-producing river on the West Coast. But after power company PacifiCorp built the dams to generate electricity between 1918 and 1962, the structures halted the natural flow of the river and disrupted the lifecycle of the region’s salmon, which spend most of their life in the Pacific Ocean but return up their natal rivers to spawn. …the dam removals won’t be a major hit to the power supply. At full capacity, they produced less than 2% of PacifiCorp’s energy — enough to power about 70,000 homes…. Full article at https://apnews.com/article/klamath-dam-removal-oregon-california-salmon-7fb51916375df492049670c6b2a61760. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 7.

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2024-08-26. Hungry for Clean Energy, Facebook Looks to a New Type of Geothermal. By Brad Plumer, The New York Times. Excerpt: Big tech companies across the United States are struggling to find enough clean energy to power all the data centers they plan to build. Now, some firms are betting on a novel solution: harvesting the heat deep beneath the Earth’s surface to create emissions-free electricity, using drilling techniques from the oil and gas fracking boom. On Monday, Meta, the company that owns Facebook, announced an agreement with a start-up called Sage Geosystems to develop up to 150 megawatts of an advanced type of geothermal energy that would help power the tech giant’s expanding array of data centers. That is roughly enough electricity to power 70,000 homes. Sage will use fracking techniques similar to those that have helped extract vast amounts of oil and gas from shale rock. But rather than drill for fossil fuels, Sage plans to create fractures thousands of feet beneath the surface and pump water into them. The heat and pressure underground should heat the water to the point where it can be used to generate electricity in a turbine, all without the greenhouse gases that are causing global warming…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/26/climate/meta-facebook-geothermal-fracking-energy.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 4.

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2024-08-26. Near-Identical Dinosaur Tracks On Separate Continents Reveal Seismic Split 140 Million Years Ago. By Francesca Benson, IFLSCIENCE. Excerpt: racks of near-identical dinosaur prints have been found across two continents, demonstrating how the dinosaurs that made them 120 million years ago were among the last to be able to complete their journey. That’s because this was when the supercontinent Gondwana broke off from Pangea, severing the geological connection. The prints were discovered in Brazil and Cameroon, amounting to over 260 prints in total. When they were laid down in the mud and silt of ancient rivers and lakes, they left behind ichnological evidence of the very different lay of the land that existed during the Early Cretaceous. At that time, South America and Africa were so close together that terrestrial dinosaurs could walk freely between them. Now, such a journey would encompass a 6,000-kilometer (3,700-mile) swim across deep waters. “One of the youngest and narrowest geological connections between Africa and South America was the elbow of northeastern Brazil nestled against what is now the coast of Cameroon along the Gulf of Guinea,” Southern Methodist University paleontologist Louis Jacobs said in a statement. “The two continents were continuous along that narrow stretch, so that animals on either side of that connection could potentially move across it.”…. Full article at https://www.iflscience.com/dinosaur-tracks-on-two-separate-continents-reveal-seismic-split-140-million-years-ago-75694. For GSS Life and Climate chapter 7.

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2024-08-24. Houston’s Plastic Waste, Waiting More Than a Year for ‘Advanced’ Recycling, Piles up at a Business Failed Three Times by Fire Marshal. By James Bruggers, Inside Climate News. Excerpt: HOUSTON—…deliveries of hundreds of thousands of pounds of plastic waste from residents’ homes have piled up over the last year and a half. Satellite and drone images reveal bags, bottles and even a cooler spread about, some of the plastic heaped high in bales next to strewn cardboard and tall stacks of wooden pallets. The expanding open-air pile at Wright Waste Management, on the edge of an office park 20 miles northwest of downtown Houston, awaits what the city of Houston and corporate partners including ExxonMobil call a new frontier in recycling—and critics describe as a sham. …Exxon and the petrochemical industry call this “advanced” or “chemical” recycling and heavily promote it as a solution to runaway plastic waste, even as environmental advocates warn that some of these processes pump out highly toxic air pollution, contribute to global warming and shouldn’t qualify as recycling at all. But the Houston effort illustrates a different problem: Twenty months into collection, ongoing tracking by environmental groups indicates the household plastic waste people have dropped off still isn’t getting chemically recycled…. Full article at https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24082024/houston-advanced-recycling-plastic-waste-piles-up/. See also Woman Disgusted When She Uses Tracker to See Where Her Plastic Recycling Really Ends Up. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 7.

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2024-08-22. Atmospheric Effects of Hunga Tonga Eruption Lingered for Years. By Rebecca Owen, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: On 15 January 2022, the underwater volcano Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha‘apai erupted, unleashing a powerful tsunami that destroyed homes and caused four deaths throughout Tonga. Another lasting effect of this event—the largest underwater explosion ever recorded by modern scientific instruments—was the huge amount of aerosol and water vapor plumes it launched skyward.
Schoeberl et al. examined how Hunga’s eruption affected climate in the Southern Hemisphere over the following 2 years. They found that in the year following the eruption, the cooling effect from the volcanic aerosols reflecting sunlight into outer space was stronger than the warming caused by water vapors trapping heat in the atmosphere. But most of the volcano’s effects had dissipated by the end of 2023…. Full article at https://eos.org/research-spotlights/atmospheric-effects-of-hunga-tonga-eruption-lingered-for-years. For GSS Energy Flow chapter 2.

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2024-08-22. Manufacture and testing of biomass-derivable thermosets for wind blade recycling. By Ryan W. Clarke et al, Science. Abstract: Wind energy is helping to decarbonize the electrical grid, but wind blades are not recyclable, and current end-of-life management strategies are not sustainable. To address the material recyclability challenges in sustainable energy infrastructure, we introduce scalable biomass-derivable polyester covalent adaptable networks and corresponding fiber-reinforced composites for recyclable wind blade fabrication. …Overall, this report details the many facets of wind blade manufacture, encompassing chemistry, engineering, safety, mechanical analyses, weathering, and chemical recyclability, enabling a realistic path toward biomass-derivable, recyclable wind blades…. Full article at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adp5395. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-08-23. Hot days or heat waves? Researchers debate how to count deaths from heat. By Vivian La, Science. Excerpt: More than 47,000 Europeans died from heat-related causes last year, the warmest on record globally, a study published this month found. The number was surpassed only by the 60,000 Europeans who died of heat-related causes in 2022. Another study this month found that the toll in Europe could triple by the end of the century if Earth continues to warm to 3°C or 4°C degrees above preindustrial levels. The numbers, though shocking, almost certainly understate the toll of hot weather, worsened by global warming. But scientists aren’t sure how to do better. Some argue the best way to understand the impact of heat is to track how death rates vary with fluctuations in temperature, as the European studies did. But others say a truer measure is to rely on officially declared heat waves and count excess deaths—those above the expected number—each day. …Proponents of using heat waves to measure how temperature increases those risks say these events are the deadliest, worst-case scenarios, so understanding them is paramount for preparedness. …Counting deaths during heat waves also captures the cumulative health impact of multiple hot days in a row, a nuance that studies focused on daily temperatures can miss. But limiting the scope of studies to heat waves likely undercounts deaths because there is no universal definition of a heat wave, says epidemiologist Vijendra Ingole of the U.K. Office for National Statistics. Heat waves are declared when temperatures exceed the historical average in an area. However, because of climate change, a hot spell that would once have been considered a heat wave might not be today, he says—yet remains deadly…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/hot-days-or-heat-waves-researchers-debate-how-count-deaths-heat. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-08-22. Computer models overestimate how many fish it’s safe to catch. By Erik Stokstad, Science. Excerpt: Preventing overfishing is a bit of a guessing game. To balance commercial interests with ecological health and sustainability, scientists and resource managers must estimate how many fish are left in the water and how many it is prudent to catch. Now, a study of 230 fisheries—a term for catching a species in a particular place—suggests computer models often overestimate the size of fish populations, meaning greater caution may be needed when setting catch limits. The analysis, published today in Science, suggests 85% more fish populations, or stocks, have collapsed than is recognized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). “Traditional single species management is flawed,” says Graham Edgar, a marine ecologist at the University of Tasmania, who led the study. “Most fisheries scientists and managers are locked into a failing cycle of business as usual.” …Counting ocean life is tricky. Populations fluctuate from year to year; food availability goes up and down, as does the amount of seafood eaten by predators. “Someone has compared fishery stock assessments to estimating the number of jelly beans in a jar at 100-meter distance in the dark, with the beans moving,” Edgar quips…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/computer-models-overestimate-how-many-fish-it-s-safe-catch. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 7.

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2024-08-21. ‘Worst-Case’ Disaster for Antarctic Ice Looks Less Likely, Study Finds. By Raymond Zhong, The New York Times. Excerpt: For almost a decade, climate scientists have been trying to get their heads around a particularly disastrous scenario for how West Antarctica’s gigantic ice sheet might break apart, bringing catastrophe to the world’s coasts. …Once enough of the ice sheet’s floating edges melt away, what remains are immense, sheer cliffs of ice facing the sea. …Great chunks of ice start breaking away from them, exposing even taller, even more-unstable cliffs. Soon, these start crumbling too, and before long you have runaway collapse. As all this ice tumbles into the ocean, and assuming that nations’ emissions of heat-trapping gases climb to extremely high levels, Antarctica could contribute more than a foot to worldwide sea-level rise before the end of the century. This calamitous chain of events is still hypothetical, yet scientists have taken it seriously enough to include it as a “low-likelihood, high-impact” possibility in the United Nations’ latest assessment of future sea-level increase. Now, though, a group of researchers has put forth evidence that the prospect may be more remote than previously thought. …“We’re not saying that we’re safe,” said Mathieu Morlighem, a professor of earth science at Dartmouth College who led the research. “The Antarctic ice sheet is going to disappear; this is going to happen. The question is how fast.” …Dr. Morlighem and his colleagues’ results were published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/21/climate/antarctic-ice-cliff-collapse.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-08-19. Coal Power Defined This Minnesota Town. Can Solar Win It Over? By Ivan Penn, The New York Times. Excerpt: The past and the future of electricity in America are perhaps most visible in a Minnesota town surrounded by potato farms and cornfields. Towering over Becker, a community of a little more than 5,000 people northwest of Minneapolis, is one of the nation’s largest coal power plants. It is being replaced — to the dismay of some residents — with thousands of acres of solar panels and a test of long-duration batteries. Becker is one of the first of a group of seven Minnesota municipal areas, called the Coalition of Utility Cities, making the change from a fossil-fuel-based economy to clean energy. …When the Sherburne County Generating Station, known as Sherco, completes its renewable project on adjacent land, it will stand as the largest solar farm in the Upper Midwest — replacing three coal units in Becker with three solar sites on the town’s outskirts along the Mississippi River. …Becker crystallizes part of the legacy of the administration of Gov. Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, and his commitment to Minnesota’s goal of 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2040. And it tests how the energy transition could unfold on a nationwide scale for jobs at decades-old fossil fuel facilities, local tax revenues and agricultural businesses. President Biden’s climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, aims to cut U.S. emissions at least 52 percent below 2005 levels by the end of this decade, and his administration is counting on solar power to play a significant role in decarbonizing electricity production…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/19/business/energy-environment/coal-solar-power-minnesota.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-08-17. The Electric Grid Is a Wildfire Hazard. It Doesn’t Have to Be. By Michael E. Webber, Opinion piece for The New York Times. Excerpt: One year after the deadly wildfires on Maui and a few weeks after Hurricane Beryl knocked out power to millions of Houston-area residents, it has become abundantly clear that our electricity grid is dangerously vulnerable. …wildfires and sustained blackouts may be a preview of how an aging grid could falter spectacularly as weather becomes more extreme and demand for electricity continues to rise. …This past spring, a decayed utility pole broke in high winds in the Texas Panhandle, causing power wires to fall on dry grass and igniting the largest fire in the state’s history. Two people died and more than one million acres burned. The Maui wildfire that killed more than 100 people and destroyed the historic town of Lahaina last year began after winds knocked down power lines, also igniting dry grass. The 2018 Paradise fire in California started when a live wire broke free of a tower that was a quarter-century past what the utility Pacific Gas & Electric considered its “useful life.” Eighty-five people died and nearly 14,000 homes were destroyed. …Solutions exist to reduce the risk of wildfires, such as burying power lines, inspecting every mile of the system, installing modern sensors for early detection of wildfire risk, and controls that allow for the remote disconnection of vulnerable sections of the grid. Granted, these fixes are expensive. To bury transmission lines can easily cost $3 million to $5 million a mile. But research from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab concluded that these overhauls also save money in lives protected and damage avoided in storm-prone areas…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/17/opinion/electric-grid-wildfires-outages.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 5.

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2024-08-14. Tree Mortality May Lead to Carbon Tipping Point in the Amazon by 2050s. By Rebecca Owen, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: The Amazon rainforest is home to a diverse cast of plants and animals. This vital, verdant landscape also plays a crucial role in managing the effects of climate change by storing significant amounts of carbon and helping regulate temperatures and rainfall both regionally and globally. But as drought conditions, extreme weather, and deforestation in the Amazon increase, trees, which absorb carbon via photosynthesis when they are living, are dying—and releasing carbon into the atmosphere as they decay. These drought-induced tree deaths may turn the rainforest from a carbon sink to a carbon source. Using models that predict tree mortality and the subsequent changes in carbon balance, Yao et al. suggest in a new study that certain regions of the Amazon rainforest may pass a tipping point by the middle of the 21st century…. Full article at https://eos.org/research-spotlights/tree-mortality-may-lead-to-carbon-tipping-point-in-the-amazon-by-2050s. For GSS A New World View chapter 5.

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2024-08-15. Wind Beat Coal Two Months in a Row for U.S. Electricity Generation. By Minho Kim, The New York Times. Excerpt: Wind turbines generated more electricity than coal-burning power plants across the United States in March and April, outstripping the dirtiest fuel for two consecutive months for the first time, according to the Energy Information Administration. The crossover in wind and coal generation is the latest milestone in the country’s energy transition as renewables rise and coal declines. In recent years, breakthroughs in technology have lowered the cost of building new wind turbines, solar panels and battery storage, helping renewable energy replace coal as the cheapest power source in many places. Renewable energy has also gotten a boost from tax credits awarded under the Inflation Reduction Act, the climate law Congress passed in 2022. And states have passed regulations mandating that utilities transition away from fossil fuels, particularly coal. More than 20 states — including Minnesota, North Carolina and Nebraska — have enacted legislation that requires utilities to get all their electricity from clean, carbon-free sources by 2050 or before…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/15/climate/wind-power-coal.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-08-14. The Colorado River delta is showing signs of life after U.S.-Mexico deal to restore water. By Roberto González, Science. Excerpt: A decade-old effort to restore the once parched Colorado River delta in northwestern Mexico appears to be succeeding. Since the United States and Mexico agreed to restore some water to the delta in 2012, populations of native birds and plants have begun to rebound after decades of decline, researchers report in two recent studies. …in 2014 the U.S. began to release relatively small but critical flows of water into the delta. At the same time, Mexican and U.S. nonprofit groups launched a restoration effort called Raise The River, which has been working with local communities to restore riverside vegetation and monitor how delta ecosystems are responding to the water’s return…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/colorado-river-delta-showing-signs-life-after-u-s-mexico-deal-restore-water. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 2.

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2024-08-14. Will regulators OK controversial effort to supercharge ocean’s ability to absorb carbon? By Warren Cornwall, Science. Excerpt: Geoengineering study that would disperse alkaline chemicals off Cape Cod draws environmental opposition. Adam Subhas …has spent much of his career as a chemical oceanographer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), quietly studying how seawater can naturally offset global warming by absorbing carbon dioxide (CO₂). Now, Subhas has been thrust into a heated public debate. Next month he and his colleagues want to dump tons of caustic chemicals off the coast of Massachusetts to see whether they can boost the ocean’s uptake of CO₂. They’re seeking what would be the first-ever regulatory approval for such a study from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). But some nearby residents and environmental groups, worried about safety, have pressed EPA to delay or halt the study. “It’s been a new journey to interact with reporters and the public and everyone at this level and at this intensity,” Subhas says. …The natural alkalinity of the ocean already allows it to absorb 10 billion tons of CO₂ every year, equivalent to roughly one-quarter of society’s annual CO₂ emissions from burning fossil fuels. Alkaline molecules contained in rocks such as limestone erode into the ocean, where they react with dissolved CO₂ to form relatively inert chemicals such as bicarbonate, which can persist unchanged for millennia. Depleted of CO₂, the ocean can then absorb more out of the atmosphere. Adding more alkaline chemicals or rocks to the ocean would boost this process. But the approach has major unanswered questions, including whether tweaking ocean chemistry might affect ecosystems, how much CO₂ would really be captured, …. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/will-regulators-ok-controversial-effort-supercharge-ocean-s-ability-absorb-carbon. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-08-14. How Extreme Heat Is Threatening Education Progress Worldwide. By Somini Sengupta, The New York Times. Excerpt: The continued burning of fossil fuels is closing schools around the world for days, sometimes weeks at a time, and threatening to undermine one of the greatest global gains of recent decades: children’s education. It’s a glimpse into one of the starkest divides of climate change. Children today are living through many more abnormally hot days in their lifetimes than their grandparents, according to data released Wednesday by Unicef, the United Nations Children’s Fund. Consider the scale of some recent school closures. Pakistan closed schools for half its students, that’s 26 million children, for a full week in May, when temperatures were projected to soar to more than 40 degrees Celsius. Bangladesh shuttered schools for half its students during an April heat wave, affecting 33 million children. So too South Sudan in April. The Philippines ordered school closures for two days, when heat reached what the country’s meteorological department called “danger” levels. And in the United States, heat days prompted school closures or early dismissal in districts from Massachusetts to Colorado during the last school year. …one recent estimate suggests that the numbers are increasing quickly, from about three days a year a few years ago to double that number now, with many more expected by midcentury…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/14/climate/extreme-heat-floods-education-schools.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-08-14. To Save the Panama Canal From Drought, a Disruptive Fix. By Peter S. Goodman The New York Times. Excerpt: In the wake of a drought that hampered shipping, the Panama Canal’s overseers are eager to expand water storage. Climate change leaves them no choice. …Last year, a drought dropped the lake to critical levels, prompting canal authorities to limit traffic. At the worst point, in December, only 22 ships a day were allowed to pass through the canal, down from the usual 36 to 38. More than 160 ships were stuck at anchor at both ends. Rains that began in May have allowed the lifting of most restrictions, and 35 ships a day on average have made the journey in recent weeks. But canal authorities know that this is merely a respite in a new era influenced by climate change and frequent periods of El Niño, when ocean temperatures rise and rainfall decreases. They are consumed with expanding water storage…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/14/business/panama-canal-drought.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-08-12. Spain Is Thirsty. Here’s How It Gets Water. By Stanley Reed and Rachel Chaundler, The New York Times. Excerpt: …tourists filled the cafes and hotel rooms along Spain’s Mediterranean coast, including in Torrevieja, a small city of tightly stacked apartment blocks running along a curved beach. …low-slung structures house a vast network of pipes, pumps and tanks in a plant that performs a kind of alchemy crucial to the economy of this part of Spain: drawing huge volumes of water from the sea, removing the salt and creating more than 60 million gallons of fresh water a day. Acciona, a Spanish company that built the plant, says the facility can supply water for 1.6 million people through the process known as desalination. For much of the year, though, the output is largely used to nurture oranges, lemons and other crops for consumers in Northern Europe. The Torrevieja plant is the largest of its kind in Europe, and similar plants dot the Spanish coastline. …With nearly 100 big plants, Spain is the largest user of desalination in Europe and one of the world’s largest. In many other countries, including Australia, China and Israel, reliance on desalination for drinking water and other needs is increasing. …the costs of operating the energy-intensive desalination technology — called reverse osmosis, which is standard at large plants including the one at Torrevieja — are being brought down by pairing water purification with cheap solar energy, encouraging the building of new plants…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/12/business/spain-water-desalination.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-08-12. Liquid water in the Martian mid-crust. By Vashan Wright, Matthias Morzfeld, and Michael Manga, PNAS – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Abstract: Large volumes of liquid water transiently existed on the surface of Mars more than 3 billion years ago. Much of this water is hypothesized to have been sequestered in the subsurface or lost to space. We use rock physics models and Bayesian inversion to identify combinations of lithology, liquid water saturation, porosity, and pore shape consistent with the constrained mid-crust (∼11.5 to 20 km depths) seismic velocities and gravity near the InSight lander. A mid-crust composed of fractured igneous rocks saturated with liquid water best explains the existing data. Our results have implications for understanding Mars’ water cycle, determining the fates of past surface water, searching for past or extant life, and assessing in situ resource utilization for future missions. Full article at https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2409983121. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 7.

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2024-08-11. Nights in Las Vegas Are Becoming Dangerously Hot. By Ronda Kaysen and Aatish Bhatia, The New York Times. Excerpt: Each year, heat kills far more Americans than hurricanes, floods, tornadoes or the cold. When it’s hot, our hearts work hard to cool us, redirecting blood to the surface of our skin. But when nights are hot, our hearts don’t get a break, working on overdrive and depriving other organs of blood. In July, Las Vegas recorded its hottest ever temperature at 120 degrees. Even more alarming: For three straight nights, the mercury never dipped below 94 degrees. “Everybody looks at the high temperatures, but the overnight lows kind of sneak up on you,” said Matt Woods, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Las Vegas. This June and July, nights in Las Vegas stayed above 79 degrees for all but seven days. …hot nights are something more people are experiencing: No American major metro area has grown as much as Las Vegas has over the last three decades. …That growth has translated to more roads, more cars, more houses — across a sprawling area — creating one of the most intense urban heat island effects in the United States. At night, the heat trapped inside asphalt and buildings exhales back into neighborhoods, making the city 20 to 25 degrees hotter than the surrounding desert…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/08/11/upshot/las-vegas-hot-nights.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-08-11. How Close Are the Planet’s Climate Tipping Points? By Raymond Zhong and Mira Rojanasakul, The New York Times. Excerpt: For the past two decades, scientists have been raising alarms about great systems in the natural world that warming, caused by carbon emissions, might be pushing toward collapse. These systems are so vast that they can stay somewhat in balance even as temperatures rise. But only to a point. Once we warm the planet beyond certain levels, this balance might be lost, scientists say. The effects would be sweeping and hard to reverse. Not like the turning of a dial, but the flipping of a switch. One that wouldn’t be easily flipped back. …Mass Death of Coral Reefs. …Abrupt Thawing of Permafrost. …Collapse of Greenland Ice. …Breakup of West Antarctic Ice. …Sudden Shift in the West African Monsoon. …Loss of Amazon Rainforest. …Shutdown of Atlantic Currents…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/08/11/climate/earth-warming-climate-tipping-points.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-08-10. Can Dirt Clean the Climate? By Somini Sengupta, The New York Times. Excerpt: Across 100,000 acres in the vast agricultural heartland of Australia, an unusual approach is taking root to slow down the wrecking ball of climate change. Farmers are trying to tap the superpowers of tiny subterranean tendrils of fungus to pull carbon dioxide out of the air and stash it underground. It’s part of a big bet that entrepreneurs and investors around the world are making on whether dirt can clean up climate pollution. They are using a variety of technologies on farmland not just to grow food but to also eat the excess carbon dioxide produced by more than a century of fossil fuel burning and intensive agriculture. Why fungus? Because fungi act as nature’s carbon traders. As they sow their crops, farmers are adding a pulverized dust of fungal spores. The fungus latches on to the crop roots, takes carbon that is absorbed by the plants from the air and locks it away in subterranean storage in a form that may keep it underground for much longer than the natural carbon cycle. The fungal venture, the handiwork of an Australian company called Loam Bio, is among several start-ups to have mobilized hundreds of millions of dollars in investments in efforts to use soil to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/10/climate/climate-change-fungus-carbon-australia.html. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 5.

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2024-08-08. Solar Panel Arrays May Affect Soil Carbon Levels. By Emily Dieckman, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: On a recent spring afternoon, I joined a group of people to tour Jack’s Solar Garden, an agrivoltaics farm in Longmont, Colorado. Agrivoltaics describes the colocation of solar panels and agricultural land. The solar panels can provide shade to crops, the crops’ transpiration can help keep the solar panels cool, and the idea is for it to be a win-win situation. Allison Jackson, the education and policy manager at the Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center …touched on something called ecovoltaics. Ecovoltaics is less focused on agriculture and more concerned with coprioritizing energy production and ecosystem services. This could be providing shady space for animals to graze, offering habitats for pollinators, or—according to some research—even increasing the amount of carbon stored in soil. …Jackson spoke about an experiment at the garden that was focused on how simply growing perennial grasses under solar panel arrays can affect carbon soil levels…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/solar-panel-arrays-may-affect-soil-carbon-levels. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-08-09. Milky Way may escape fated collision with Andromeda galaxy. By Daniel Clery, Science. Excerpt: For years, astronomers thought it was the Milky Way’s destiny to collide with its near neighbor the Andromeda galaxy a few billion years from now. But a new simulation finds a 50% chance the impending crunch will end up a near-miss, at least for the next 10 billion years. …It’s been known that Andromeda is heading toward our home Galaxy since 1912, when astronomer Vesto Slipher noted that its light is blue-shifted…. …It wasn’t until the era of orbiting observatories that astronomers could judge Andromeda’s overall velocity in 3D…. It was, they calculated, heading pretty much straight at the Milky Way at a speed of 110 kilometers per second. …A study from 2008 suggested a Milky Way–Andromeda merger was inevitable within the next 5 billion years…ending up in…the resulting elliptical, which the researchers dub “Milkomeda.” The Milky Way, seen today as a bright band across the sky, would be replaced by a “milky blob” marking the dense core of the new galaxy…. …even if the two galaxies escape collision this time, it is gravity that will eventually have the last word. All the galaxies in the Local Group are bound together gravitationally, and so over tens of billions of years, they will all end up piling on top of each other into a single giant elliptical galaxy. Meanwhile, if the accelerating expansion of the universe continues unabated, all other galaxies will disappear beyond our cosmic event horizon, leaving Milkomeda as the sole occupant of the visible universe…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/milky-way-may-escape-fated-collision-andromeda-galaxy. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 9.

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2024-08-07. Warm Air and Warm Oceans Power Storms Like Debby. By Raymond Zhong, The New York Times. Excerpt: Tropical Storm Debby’s time back at sea on Wednesday was helping it recharge somewhat before it was expected to drift back onto the South Carolina shore overnight, according to the National Hurricane Center. The ocean provides storms like Debby with two key ingredients they need to pack a wallop: warm water and moist air. There’s plenty of moisture in the air off the Southeastern coast right now because both the seawater and the air above it have been unusually warm. The warmer the water, the more it evaporates, sending moisture into the air. And the warmer this air is, the more moisture it can take up. Bottom line: Warm seas and warm air help make for stronger storms. …Worldwide, the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere has increased by about 2 percent per decade since the early 1990s, according to a study published in May…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/07/climate/warm-air-oceans-power-storms.html. For GSS Energy Flow chapter 7.

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2024-08-07. Waves rippling under continents could explain mysterious plateaus around the world. By Hannah Richter, Science. Excerpt: In the early 1900s, when German meteorologist Alfred Wegener first proposed ideas that would later be developed into the theory of plate tectonics, his peers ridiculed him. How could masses of rock as huge as the continents drift around the planet? Geologists now know the continents float buoyantly on the hot rocks in Earth’s mantle, which behave like a thick ooze. Today in Nature, researchers are proposing a sort of addendum to the theory of plate tectonics. They say the ancient breakup of tectonic plates creates churning waves in the mantle that tumble in slow motion under the continents for tens of millions of years, sculpting topography deep within continental interiors. The researchers are getting a better reception than Wegener did. “It’s a paradigm shift,” says Jeroen van Hunen, a geodynamicist at Durham University. “It’s not as big a paradigm shift as discovering plate tectonics … but it’s still quite a remarkable finding.” …The researchers think mantle waves could explain more than just plateaus and diamond eruptions. Gernon is close to publishing a paper that examines how wave-driven uplift could help explain biogeochemical cycles in the geologic past, with increased erosion bringing sediments into the ocean that consumed oxygen, leading to marine extinctions. His team also thinks the waves could influence the timing and location of major climatic events such as ice ages, by increasing the exposure of rocks that absorb carbon dioxide…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/waves-rippling-under-continents-could-explain-mysterious-plateaus-around-world. See also The New York Times article Ship Brings Rocky Clues to Life’s Origins Up From Ocean’s ‘Lost City’ and Science article Record-breaking trove of mantle rocks hints at how magma feeds seafloor volcanoes. For GSS Energy Flow chapter 3.

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2024-08-07. Energy Vault to deploy gravity battery inside 1640-feet-deep mine shafts in Italy. By Abhishek Bhardwaj, Interesting Engineering. Excerpt: Two firms, Energy Vault, and Carbosulcis, have announced a collaboration to build a 100-megawatt hybrid gravity energy storage project to accelerate the carbon-free technology hub at Italy’s largest former coal mining site in Sardinia. …The collaboration is to develop a 100MW Hybrid Gravity Energy Storage System, a solution designed by Energy Vault for underground mines, pairing their modular gravity storage and batteries. According to a press release by Energy Vault, the energy storage solution will be deployed 1640 feet (500 meters) deep mine shafts. …According to the press release by Energy Vault, the project is essential for the Sardinia government’s targeted conversion of the coal mine to a carbon free technology hub. …The solution’s design will be optimized to fully benefit from the mine shaft’s area and location, especially the 1640 feet depth at which it is planned to be constructed…. Full article at https://interestingengineering.com/energy/energy-vault-gravity-battery-storage. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-08-06. The next world’s tallest building could be a 3,000-feet-high battery. By Amy Gunia, CNN. Excerpt: One of the biggest hurdles to a power grid dominated by clean energy is the intermittency of some renewable sources. Sometimes clouds roll in when solar energy is needed, or the wind stops blowing, and turbines can’t generate power. Other times, the sun and wind produce more electricity than is required. …Enter battery skyscrapers. At the end of May, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the architecture and engineering firm behind some of the world’s tallest buildings, announced a partnership with the energy storage company Energy Vault to develop new gravity energy storage solutions. That includes a design for a skyscraper that would use a motor powered by electricity from the grid to elevate giant blocks when energy demand is low. These blocks would store the electricity as “potential” energy. When there is demand, the blockswould be lowered, releasing the energy, which would be converted into electricity. …SOM and Energy Vault’s superstructure tower, which could range from 300 to 1,000 meters (985 to 3,300 feet) in height, would have hollowed out structures resembling elevator shafts for moving the blocks, leaving room for residential and commercial tenants. (The firms are also looking at integrating pumped storage hydropower into skyscrapers, using water instead of blocks)…. Full article at https://www.cnn.com/style/skyscraper-batteries-som-energy-vault-spc/index.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-08-07. Terraforming Mars could be easier than scientists thought. By Hannah Richter, Science. Excerpt: One of the classic tropes of science fiction is terraforming Mars: warming up our cold neighbor so it could support human civilization. The idea might not be so far-fetched, research published today in Science Advances suggests. Injecting tiny particles into Mars’s atmosphere could warm the planet by more than 10°C in a matter of months, researchers find—enough to sustain liquid water. Although the scheme would require about 2 million tons of particles per year, they could be manufactured from readily available ingredients found in martian dust…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/terraforming-mars-could-be-easier-scientists-thought. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 7.

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2024-08-06. 4 lessons from Melbourne on how cities can build neighborhood batteries that people love. By Michael Shank, Fast Company. Excerpt: Fossil fuel enthusiasts, when defending their carbon emitting industry, love saying that the wind doesn’t always blow, and the sun doesn’t always shine. …They frame it as an obstacle to the green transition and a reason to not fully rely on renewable energy.  Anyone working in the transition, however, knows full well that we can store that wind and solar power for later use. …Now, cities around the world are getting into the storage game, rolling out batteries across neighborhoods and communities. Batteries that charge during the day, when renewable energy is shining and blowing, and then release that stored energy when and where it’s needed most. Melbourne, Australia, is approaching this process collaboratively with the community, as both a teaching tool and a way to ensure that any battery designs, locations, and uses have neighborhood buy-in. It’s all part of a campaign called Power Melbourne that’s helping to aid in the city’s transition to 100% renewable energy by 2030. And while the council’s operations are already powered by 100% renewable energy, the city facilitates energy power purchase agreements for businesses to also tap into abundant local renewable energy, like wind power. …communities aren’t just supportive of neighborhood batteries but have some great ideas for how to design, locate, and make multiple uses out of them. …Support for these batteries is overwhelming. In early surveying of residents and businesses, 89% agreed that community batteries are an important part of the solution in transitioning to more renewable energy. Another 77% of respondents were supportive of a community battery in their local area…. Full article at https://www.fastcompany.com/91167911/4-lessons-from-melbourne-on-cities-can-build-neighborhood-batteries-that-people-love. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-08-06. Rich countries drain ‘shocking’ amount of labor from the Global South. By Phie Jacobs, Science. Excerpt: If you live in the United States or another wealthy nation in the Global North, workers in distant countries touch many parts of your daily life. Your car may include parts made in Mexico and run on oil drilled in Nigeria. You might drive to receive a vaccine manufactured in India, checking in for your appointment with a smartphone designed by engineers in China. It’s no secret this flow of goods and services is highly imbalanced. But last month in Nature Communications, researchers put a number on it: The Global South’s workforce provides a staggering 90% of the labor to power the world economy, yet gets only 21% of global income. …wages in the South are between 87% and 95% lower for work of equal skill. …Although it’s often assumed that the South is somehow “catching up,” Hickel notes, the new research reveals the gap is getting wider, with wages in the Global North increasing 11 times more than wages in the Global South did between 1995 and 2021. …As the climate warms, however, the plight of workers in the Global South will become even more dire. Prince notes that the need to work long hours for minimal wages when combined with rising temperatures will put workers in many sectors at increased risk of heat-related illnesses. “It’s not just that they’re being exploited,” he says. “They’re literally being worked to death.”…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/rich-countries-drain-shocking-amount-labor-global-south. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-08-02. The Hidden Ways Extreme Heat Disrupts Infrastructure. By Meghan Bartels, Scientific American. Excerpt: Infrastructure across the U.S. is struggling under the climate crisis. Dramatic examples include torrential rains turning New York City’s subway entrances into waterfalls, record cold temperatures shutting down Texas’s power grid and the rising Pacific Ocean eating away at coastal highways. Extreme heat is leaving its own, more subtle mark on the built environment. Roads, power lines, transportation systems and hospitals are being harmed. For some types of infrastructure, researchers are just beginning to understand what heat is doing. …roads across the U.S. are made with several different asphalt recipes, depending on climate conditions. No matter the recipe, when a road faces hotter temperatures than it can handle, the asphalt softens. Heavy vehicles can then push down into the asphalt as if it were mud, leaving behind ruts; overheated asphalt can also crack. …Overheated train rails can kink and bridges can buckle or lose the ability to operate as they should. For example, a New York City swing bridge got stuck open last month. Airlines struggle because it’s more difficult for planes to generate lift in thinner air, and they need extra runway. They are also more likely to encounter turbulence. …Power lines at full capacity can sag in high heat, which becomes a fire risk if the wire touches a tree or other impediment…. Full article at https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-extreme-heat-harms-planes-trains-water-mains-and-other-crucial/. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-08-01. Size of tropical glaciers at lowest point in at least 11,000 years. By Robert Sanders, UC Berkeley News. Excerpt: Glaciers are retreating around the world as the planet warms, but scientists have debated how severe the shrinkage is compared to periodic glacial advances and retreats since the end of the Ice Age about 12,000 years ago. A new study of four glaciers dotting the high Andes in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia shows that, at least in the tropics, the retreat is unprecedented. The glaciers are smaller than they have been in more than 11,700 years, the beginning of a warm interglacial period geologists refer to as the Holocene. According to Andrew Gorin, a University of California, Berkeley, graduate student and first author of the study, published today (Aug. 1) in Science, this likely means that the glaciers are smaller than they have been in the past 125,000 years, before the most recent glacial era began 120,000 years ago. The data, however, aren’t precise enough to allow extrapolation that far into the past…. Full article at https://news.berkeley.edu/2024/08/01/size-of-tropical-glaciers-at-lowest-point-in-at-least-11000-years/. For GSS Life and Climate chapter 10.

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2024-07-29. Germans Combat Climate Change From Their Balconies. By Melissa Eddy, The New York Times. Excerpt: At a Berlin trade fair for sustainability, a new gadget caught Waltraud Berg’s eye — a solar panel small enough to be easily installed on the side of a balcony and then plugged into a wall socket to feed energy produced by the sun directly into her home. “I was absolutely thrilled to learn that such a thing even existed, that you can generate your own power and be more independent,” said Ms. Berg, a retiree who installed several panels on the south-facing balcony of her Berlin apartment by herself. …in homes across Germany, they are powering a quiet transformation, bringing the green revolution into the hands of people without requiring them to make a large investment, find an electrician or use heavy tools. “You don’t need to drill or hammer anything,” Ms. Berg said. “You just hang them from the balcony like wet laundry in Italy.” More than 500,000 of the systems have already been set up across Germany, and new laws that relaxed rules around solar panel installation have contributed to a boom in use. In the first six months of the year, the country added nine gigawatts of photovoltaic capacity, …. As part of its push to move away from dependence on Russian natural gas, the European Union is looking to quadruple the amount of power generated through photovoltaic sources by 2030, to 600 gigawatts. Germany aims to reach a third of that amount by the same year…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/29/business/germany-solar-panels-climate-change.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-07-09. The Petaluma Reusable Cup Project: Starbucks, The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo Lead Brands Launching City-Wide Reuse System in California City. By Closed Loop Partners. Excerpt: Starbucks, The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Peet’s Coffee, Yum! Brands and other global and local brands and restaurants are partnering in The Petaluma Reusable Cup Project from the NextGen Consortium, led by the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners, to activate an unprecedented collaboration to drive reuse. Starting August 5, more than 30 restaurants in the City of Petaluma, CA, will swap their single-use cups for to-go reusable cups to all customers at no cost, and widespread return points will also be available across the city. This program marks a significant milestone for reuse, as the first initiative of its kind that makes reusable to-go cups the default option across multiple restaurants in a U.S. city, with the opportunity to drive more customers to reuse and displace hundreds of thousands of single-use cups. The Petaluma Reusable Cup Project is focused on supporting customers to create return habits, a key factor to the success of reuse…. Full article at https://www.closedlooppartners.com/the-petaluma-reusable-cup-project-starbucks-the-coca-cola-company-pepsico-lead-brands-launching-city-wide-reuse-system-in-california-city/. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 7.

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2024-08-02. How Does Your State Make Electricity? By Nadja Popovich, The New York Times. Excerpt: America isn’t making electricity the way it did two decades ago. How the United States made electricity from 2001 to 2023 [state by state]. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/08/02/climate/electricity-generation-us-states.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 4.

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2024-08-02. Why Africa is on the brink of solar power revolution. By Verity Bowman, The Telegraph. Excerpt: The continent’s tremendous potential could soon be unlocked by a widespread shift to renewable energy. …Making perishable harvests last is the key to surviving periods of hardship, but without access to electricity it can be extremely difficult. An unassuming white shipping container adorned with solar panels may be the solution. These solar-powered mobile cold-stores are popping up across Africa, from Kenya to Ghana and Nigeria, allowing farmers to protect their harvests from the elements and stave off hunger. …With access to electricity soaring and the cost of solar panels falling rapidly, experts say the continent is on the brink of an energy revolution similar to the one that transformed the Gulf States in the 1970s. …Last year, a record number of solar panels were installed in Africa, and in April the World Bank and African Development Bank launched an initiative to expand electricity access to 300 million more people by 2030. It’s part of a global shift towards solar power. …Over the past four decades, the price of solar panels has plummeted by a staggering 99 per cent, a development heralded as a triumph for renewable energy…. Full article at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/climate-and-people/why-africa-is-on-the-brink-of-solar-power-revolution/. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-08-02. China sees highest number of significant floods since records began. By Helen Davidson, The Guardian. Excerpt: Halfway through the peak flood season, China has already experienced the highest number of significant floods since record keeping began in 1998, and the hottest July since 1961, authorities said on Friday. This year so far it has recorded 25 “numbered” events, which the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources defined as having water levels that prompt an official warning…. At a press conference this week, authorities said 3,683 river flood warnings and 81 mountain flood disaster warnings had been issued, state media reported. Almost 5,000 reservoirs had been put into operation diverting 99bn litres of floodwater to prevent the relocation of more than 6.5 million people. China has been hit by wild weather this summer, including heatwaves, drought, an early start to the annual flood season, …. Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been forced to evacuate after floods and landslides across several provinces. Thousands of homes have been damaged and crops and livestock wiped out. …The national meteorological administration said the climate had “deviated from the norm” in China this year, driving the natural disasters. The national rainfall average was 13.3% higher than average, with 30 weather stations recording record highs. …China is the world’s largest producer of carbon emissions, which are driving the climate crisis. It has pledged to peak emissions by 2030 and bring them to a net zero by 2060, with ambitious state-backed renewables projects. Research released last month showed that China is building almost twice as much wind and solar energy capacity than every other country combined…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/02/china-flooding-record-weather. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-07-30. Robots Are Coming, and They’re on a Mission: Install Solar Panels. By Brad Plumer, The New York Times. Excerpt: The companies racing to build large solar farms across the United States are facing a growing problem: Not enough workers. Now, they’re turning to robots for help. On Tuesday, AES Corporation, one of the country’s biggest renewable energy companies, introduced a first-of-its-kind robot that can lug around and install the thousands of heavy panels that typically make up a large solar array. AES said its robot, nicknamed Maximo, would ultimately be able to install solar panels twice as fast as humans can and at half the cost. …After months of testing, AES will put Maximo to work in the California desert later this year to help install panels at the largest solar-plus-battery project under construction, meant to help power Amazon data centers. If all goes well, the company aims to build hundreds of similar A.I.-powered robots…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/30/climate/solar-panels-robots-maximo-construction.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-07-26. Giant clams, iconic and imperiled, may get U.S. endangered species protection. By Erik Stokstad, Science. Excerpt: The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) proposed yesterday to add 10 species of the giant clam family to the list of federally protected species. The slow-growing and colorful animals include the largest shelled mollusks on the planet, some growing more than 1 meter wide and weighing as much as an upright piano. In many places, the clams have been overfished for their meat and shells, and the smaller species among the 10 are highly coveted for home aquariums. “Many of the living giant clam species are seriously in peril,” says Julia Sigwart, a marine biologist at the Senckenberg Research Institute and Museum who specializes in mollusks. “Having this recognition from the U.S. government is definitely another tool that can help protect these species.” In addition to legal protection for three species in U.S. waters, the proposal could also help direct U.S. aid and biological expertise to countries trying to boost local clams…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/giant-clams-iconic-and-imperiled-may-get-u-s-endangered-species-protection. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 7.

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2024-07-26. Extreme Wildfires Are Getting More Extreme and Occurring More Often. By Erin Martin-Jones, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: With near-constant reports of wildfire catastrophes in the media, it seems like extreme fires are occurring more regularly. And a recent study in Nature Ecology and Evolution confirms it—showing that intense wildfires are now twice as common as they were 2 decades ago…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/extreme-wildfires-are-getting-more-extreme-and-occurring-more-often. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-07-24. The Southern Ocean is soaking up more emissions than we thought. By Yuanxu Dong et al, Science. Summary: It’s no secret that the ocean is a big help when it comes to curbing climate change, absorbing carbon and locking much of it away in its deep, dark depths. And that’s especially true of the waters around Antarctica. Now, a study  published in Science Advances suggests that the Southern Ocean may be pulling  25% more carbon dioxide from our atmosphere than previously thought. “Accurate quantification of the Southern Ocean CO₂ sink is essential for the assessment of the Earth’s climate,” said Yuanxu Dong, lead author on the new paper, in a statement. Unfortunately, it’s the part of the globe we’re least certain about, as conditions often make sampling difficult. …The new data indicate far more carbon absorption than expected during summer—and suggest  previous estimates that relied on indirect methods were thrown off by temperature…. Full paper at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adn5781. For GSS Climate Change chapter 7.

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2024-07-26. Green economy could generate 3.3m jobs across Africa by 2030 – report. By Caroline Kimeu, The Guardian. Excerpt: A greener economy could bring millions of jobs to some of the largest countries in Africa, according to a new report. Research by the development agency FSD Africa and the impact advisory firm Shortlist predicts that 3.3 million jobs could be generated across the continent by 2030. Forecasting Green Jobs in Africa predicts that 60% of the roles, mainly in the renewable energy sector, will be skilled or white collar positions that can “spur the growth of the middle class in countries with high-growth sectors” such as renewable energy, e-mobility, construction and manufacturing. The report was based on forecasts from five countries – the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa – that the study says will see more than a fifth of the jobs expected from the green transition over the next six years…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/article/2024/jul/26/green-economy-could-generate-33m-jobs-across-africa-by-2030-report. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-07-26. Pioneering project to cover canals with solar panels nears finish: ‘Allows for greater power production per land size’. By Leslie Sattler, Yahoo! TCD. Excerpt: America is about to get its very first solar-covered canal — a huge win for clean energy innovation. This groundbreaking project, nearing completion on tribal lands in Arizona, will generate solar power while also helping preserve precious water resources, according to Canary Media. The Casa Blanca Canal project aims to tackle two urgent issues at once: the need for more renewable energy and the importance of water conservation, especially in hot, arid regions. By covering a portion of the extensive canal network with solar panels, the installation will produce clean electricity for local communities while reducing water evaporation. This concept has been deployed successfully in India, inspiring U.S. engineers to design a solution tailored for American infrastructure. …The 1.3-megawatt pilot project was funded by the Inflation Reduction Act and has also received support from the Department of Energy and California Energy Commission…. Full article at https://www.yahoo.com/tech/pioneering-project-cover-canals-solar-040000444.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-07-25. ‘When it rains, it pours’ is more true than ever, and we only have ourselves to blame. By WENXIA ZHANG et al, Science. Summary: As climate change continues, warming of the atmosphere allows it to hold more water and thus produce more precipitation. A corollary to more rain is the amplification of precipitation variability, a behavior easier to predict than to observe. Zhang et al. used global records of daily precipitation to show that this expected increase in precipitation variability is in fact detectable in the data over the past century. This trend, which is most prominent over Europe, Australia, and eastern North America, will make adaptation more difficult for societies and ecosystems. —Jesse Smith. Full article at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adp0212. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-07-25. Can scientists help corals by killing starfish? By SOFIA QUAGLIA, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: The problem began in the 1960s, when biologists who study Australia’s Great Barrier Reef began to notice an uptick in crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci), a spiny, voracious eater of the live polyps of hard corals that can decimate entire reefs. Four successive 10- to 15-year outbreaks of the starfish have since swept through the sprawling reef system, leaving authorities perplexed about how to stop the carnage and save coral that’s also struggling to cope with climate change. In 2012, scientists stepped in with a radical solution: a yearslong program to systematically cull starfish across hundreds of the Great Barrier’s reefs. The action wasn’t without critics. But research published earlier this year in PLOS ONE indicates it was effective, allowing an expansion in coral cover—even on reefs where culling didn’t directly occur. …A 2012 study looking at the 27-year decline of coral populations on the Great Barrier Reef blamed crown-of-thorns for about 40% of coral mortality…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/can-scientists-help-corals-killing-starfish. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 7.

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2024-07-24. The Sahara Desert helps keep hurricanes in check—for now. About research by LAIYIN ZHU et al, Science. In the Atlantic, …Warm air from an ordinary thunderstorm has absorbed heat from tepid seawater and begun churning—the birth of a hurricane. But, whether the storm will be a sprinkle or deluge when it makes landfall depends largely on how dusty it is, according to a new study. Wind strips dust from the Sahara Desert, bringing it westward across the Atlantic. These plumes of dirt-laden air provide marine life with nutrients and can affect air quality half a world away. And they’re known to be a wet blanket for growing hurricanes—or, more accurately, a dry one . The lack of moisture, shearing winds, and even the dust itself—by reflecting warming solar rays—can squelch a would-be storm. But it turns out that’s only true if there’s enough dust. When there’s too little, the particles act as nucleation seeds for clouds, boosting the storm’s deluge and the damage it causes when it comes ashore, researchers reported this week in Science Advances. “Surprisingly, the leading factor controlling hurricane precipitation is not, as traditionally thought, sea surface temperature or humidity in the atmosphere. Instead, it’s Sahara dust,” said study co-author Yuan Wang in a statement…. Paper at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adn6106. For GSS Energy Flow chapter 7.

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2024-07-23. ‘This is not a blip’: A quiet movement grows on San Francisco’s streets. By David Curran, SFGATE. Excerpt: “They love it,” my neighbor Ali Schneider tells me of her two sons, ages 3 and 7. “And we do, too. They don’t mind cars, but they love the bike. Pretty much all the kids on the block really like it.” At least three other families on our block also use electric cargo bikes to transport their kids. …In terms of competing with a car, the electric assist has allowed the cargo bike — first introduced in the U.S. by Xtracycle in 1998, Allen explains — to become a more mainstream product. And while the early years presented numerous challenges, a huge breakthrough came in 2015, when the German manufacturing giant Bosch produced a breakthrough battery for these bikes. …“with this motor you could put two kids on a bike and climb any hill in San Francisco.” And that has made all the difference. In their first year with the Bosch-powered bikes, the number of e-cargo bikes the New Wheel sold jumped to 61, then to 221 in 2018. Last year, they sold 479. And, just as important to Wiener, after the pandemic when the overall bike market tanked, sales of e-cargo bikes stayed strong…. Full article at https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/transportation-changing-families-lives-san-19532740.php. For GSS Energy Use chapter 9.

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2024-07-23. New record daily global average temperature reached in July 2024. By Copernicus Climate Change Service. Excerpt: The Earth has just experienced its warmest day in recent history, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) data. On 22 July 2024, the daily global average temperature reached a new record high in the ERA5 dataset*, at 17.16°C. This exceeds the previous records of 17.09°C, set just one day before on 21 July 2024, and 17.08°C, set a year earlier on 6 July 2023.… Full article at https://climate.copernicus.eu/new-record-daily-global-average-temperature-reached-july-2024. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-07-23. Scientists Find Clues to Atlantic Current’s Future in Ancient Iceberg Debris. By Elise Cutts, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: New research shows that present-day iceberg loss from Greenland stacks up to some of the most dramatic iceberg-slinging episodes in recent geological history. Such events involved the disintegration of an ice sheet over North America and coincided with the weakening or failure of vital ocean currents in the North Atlantic—as well as severe climate swings. Despite this concerning parallel, there’s reason to think that modern iceberg loss from Greenland won’t disrupt ocean circulation within the next few decades, according to authors of the study, published in Science. …The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, flows northward along the east coast of North America before veering east toward Scandinavia. Along the way, evaporation leaves behind water that’s increasingly cool and salty and therefore dense. In the Arctic, this dense, cold water sinks to join deepwater currents headed south to the Antarctic. Shutting down the AMOC would wreak climate chaos. …The AMOC has shut down multiple times, most recently during a period called the Younger Dryas that began some 13,000 years ago. This cold snap came right at the tail end of the last glacial period. For 1,300 years, it returned the defrosting world to a climate echoing that of the Last Glacial Maximum. …“If a sufficient amount of fresh water is added to the northern Atlantic, the AMOC could collapse,” said climate physicist Peter Ditlevsen of the University of Copenhagen. “The big research question for the present climate situation is, How much fresh water is needed for a shutdown?”…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/scientists-find-clues-to-atlantic-currents-future-in-ancient-iceberg-debris. For GSS Life and Climate chapter 10.

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2024-07-TEMPLATE. . By . Excerpt: . Full article at URL. For GSS chapter .

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2024-07-17. Amtrak Passengers Face Record Delays From Extreme Weather. By Minho Kim, The New York Times. Excerpt: On June 20, after millions of Americans had suffered through a sweltering heat wave for three days, Amtrak sent an ominous warning over social media: Trains connecting the largest cities in Northeast could face up to an hour of delay from high temperatures. Later that afternoon, after the temperature peaked at 96 degrees in Newark, Amtrak lost electricity near the New Jersey side of the Hudson River tunnels. The power failure soon shuttered a 150-mile stretch of the busiest rail corridor in the United States for more than three hours. …Extreme weather events bogged down Amtrak trains for more than 4,010 hours in the 2023 fiscal year, which began in October 2022 and ended in September 2023, according to a Times analysis of more than 313,000 individual train delay data dating to September 2003. …The biggest contributor has been intensifying heat waves. …Railways made from steel are prone to deformities when exposed to direct sunlight during heat waves. The changes, known as sun kinks, occur when the steel overheats and buckles, creating wobbly and dangerous curves that require railroads to drastically reduce the speed of their trains to avoid derailments…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/17/us/politics/amtrak-delays-heat-extreme-weather.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-07-17. We Mapped Heat in 3 U.S. Cities. Some Sidewalks Were Over 130 Degrees. By Raymond Zhong and Mira Rojanasakul, The New York Times. Excerpt: We usually talk about summertime heat in terms of how hot the air is, but there’s another metric that matters: the temperatures of roads, sidewalks, buildings, parking lots and other outdoor surfaces. Hot surfaces can make the places people live and work more dangerous, and can increase the risk of contact burns. …Around noon on July 10, huge parts of [Phoenix] were 120 degrees Fahrenheit, about 49 Celsius, or hotter to the touch. Had you been unlucky or unwise enough to actually touch it with bare skin, it could have caused injury within minutes. …So far this summer, the Arizona Burn Center, which serves Phoenix and the broader Southwest, has admitted 65 people for severe heat-related burns, according to Dr. Kevin Foster, the center’s director. Six of these people died from their injuries. Last summer, the center recorded 14 such deaths. …645 heat-related deaths that were identified last year in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix. That was the highest number on record for the county. …Phoenix…is trying to plant more trees and increase shade. The city’s “Cool Pavement” program has treated 120 miles of asphalt to help it reflect more sunlight and stay cooler as a result…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/07/17/climate/heat-map-phoenix-sacramento-portland.html. See also New York Times article, In Extreme Heat, Do You Need More Electrolytes? For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-07-16. California’s grid passed the reliability test this heat wave. It’s all about giant batteries. By ARI PLACHTA, Sacramento Bee. Excerpt: California’s power grid emerged from a nearly three weeklong record-setting heat wave relatively unscathed, and officials are crediting years of investment in renewable energy — particularly giant batteries that store solar power for use when the sun stops shining…. Full article at https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article290009339.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-07-16. A Giant Offshore Wind Turbine Blade Breaks, Prompting Beach Closures. By Brad Plumer, The New York Times. Excerpt: Debris from a damaged wind turbine blade has been washing up on the shores of Nantucket, Mass., prompting the closure of several beaches to swimmers and spurring an investigation into what caused the mishap. The damage to the blade occurred on Saturday evening at Vineyard Wind, the country’s second large-scale offshore wind farm, which is 14 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. It’s still under construction but the first turbines began generating electricity in February. The companies behind the project…plan to install a total of 62 turbines by the end of the year that could, at full strength, produce 800 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power more than 400,000 homes. The turbines being installed at Vineyard Wind are enormous, featuring 351-foot-long blades that can reach heights taller than the Eiffel Tower. …the developers of Vineyard Wind said that while the fiberglass debris was not hazardous to people, they recommended that beachgoers not try to pick up pieces on their own. …The incident comes at a turbulent time for the nascent offshore wind industry. Several proposed wind farms off the coasts of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York have been canceled or postponed over the past few years as inflation and rising interest rates have upended the economics of the projects. While many Northeastern states are still trying to build offshore wind farms, seeing the technology as their best option for generating emissions-free power, the projects have sometimes faced intense opposition from fishing groups and local homeowners…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/climate/wind-turbine-breaks-nantucket.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-07-16. How incredibly simple tech can supercharge the race to net zero. By Roger Harrabin, New Scientist. Excerpt: Some 450 kilometres north of Helsinki, Finland, lies a decommissioned mine. Despite its remote location, it is being keenly watched because it looks set to play a role in revolutionising our energy systems – though not for the reasons you might suspect. The Pyhäsalmi mine used to yield wealth from zinc and copper, but it is about to monetise the power of gravity. As the deepest metal ore mine in Europe, it is an ideal spot for what’s known as a gravity vault. UK-based company Gravitricity plans to dangle a heavy weight down a mine shaft and connect the mechanism to a generator. It will store power as potential energy by pulling up the weight, then generate it again by letting it plummet. If that sounds surprisingly simple, that is exactly the point. Governments are wrestling with the epic challenge of the intermittency of renewable power: how to keep the lights on when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. So far, they have largely focused on expensive technologies like hydrogen, nuclear power and lithium-ion batteries. But what if we could solve the problem of intermittency – and cut bills and emissions too – with far more rudimentary methods? …. Full article at https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26335002-500-how-incredibly-simple-tech-can-supercharge-the-race-to-net-zero/. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-07-16. 5,000 feral pigs were killed to save a California national park. By Erin Rode for SFgate. Excerpt: Today, the major islands of Channel Islands National Park appear dominated by tiny foxes. …until recently, the unique species was considered endangered, driven nearly to extinction by the introduction of nonnative animals on the islands. At one point their numbers plummeted to just over a dozen foxes each on San Miguel and Santa Rosa Islands. The island fox was listed as endangered in 2004, facing near “certain extinction” — until park officials came up with a drastic solution: They hired contractors to systematically kill more than 5,000 feral pigs. …The fox population swiftly recovered once the pigs were eliminated, and the fox was removed from Endangered Species Act protections in 2016, the fastest a mammal has ever been delisted. The quick comeback is just one example of the ways that Channel Islands National Park’s flora and fauna are recovering following more than a century of ranching and nonnative species invasion on the islands, showing how quickly introducing or removing a species can impact biologically isolated islands. …Pigs were brought to Santa Cruz Island as farm animals around the 1850s. Some swine escaped, then exploded in population over the years to form a huge feral population that dominated the island…. Full article at https://www.sfgate.com/la/article/channel-islands-feral-pigs-fox-19549631.php. For GSS Population Growth chapter 1.

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2024-07-15. Yes, there are probably caves on the Moon. By Leonardo Carrer et al, Nature Astronomy. Excerpt: Beneath the islands of Hawaii, there are systems of underground tunnels forged by fire: lava tubes or ‘pyroducts’ created by the islands’ volcanoes. …New analyses suggest similar cavern networks born from moving magma exist on the Moon, and someday, …may host life—ours. …armed with newer analytical methods, researchers decided to re-examine data the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s miniature radio-frequency instrument collected a decade and a half ago. The pattern in the radar reflections from the Mare Tranquillitatis pit—one of the best contenders for a cave entrance discovered to date —indicate that a network of caves does indeed lie below. “The most likely explanation for our observations is an empty lava tube,” said co-author Leonardo Carrer in a statement. …Given that the lunar surface is blasted by solar and cosmic radiation, anyone spending time on the Moon will need a base that’s well-shielded—and an empty lava tube might just fit that bill…. Full article at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02302-y?et_rid=40179168&et_cid=5284173. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 7.

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2024-07-12. Our last common ancestor lived 4.2 billion years ago—perhaps hundreds of millions of years earlier than thought. By ROBERT F. SERVICE, Science. Excerpt: The last ancestor shared by all living organisms was a microbe that lived 4.2 billion years ago, had a fairly large genome encoding some 2600 proteins, enjoyed a diet of hydrogen gas and carbon dioxide, and harbored a rudimentary immune system for fighting off viral invaders. That’s the conclusion of a new study that compared the genomes of a diverse range of 700 modern microbes and looked for commonalities to identify which features arose first. Although the analysis doesn’t reveal how life got its start, it suggests a complex cellular organism somewhat similar to modern microbes evolved only a few hundred million years after Earth’s formation. …The study is also published today in Nature Ecology & Evolution. …It’s not the first attempt to sketch the identity of the hypothetical last universal common ancestor, or LUCA. …other efforts pinned LUCA’s existence to about 3.8 billion years ago…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/our-last-common-ancestor-lived-4-2-billion-years-ago-perhaps-hundreds-millions-years. For GSS Life and Climate chapter 4.

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2024-07-15. Loss of India’s vultures may have led to deaths of half a million people. By VIVIAN LA, Science. Excerpt: Vultures …serve an important role in protecting human life, a new study finds. The near-extinction of the birds across India in the 1990s led to the spread of disease-carrying pathogens from an excess of dead animals, killing more than a half-million people from 2000 to 2005. The study, currently online as a working paper that will be published in an upcoming issue of the American Economic Review, puts the monetary damage from the related public health crisis at nearly $70 billion a year…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/loss-india-s-vultures-may-have-led-deaths-half-million-people. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 1.

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2024-07-10. Can humanity address climate change without believing it? Medical history suggests it is possible. By Ron Barrett, Professor of Anthropology, Macalester College. Excerpt: Strange as it may seem, early germ theorists could tell us a lot about today’s attitudes toward climate change. While researching for a new book about the history of emerging infections, I found many similarities between early debates over the existence of microbes and current debates over the existence of global warming. Both controversies reveal the struggles of perceiving an unseen threat. Both reveal the influence of economic interests that benefit from the status quo. But most importantly, both reveal how people with different beliefs and interests can still agree on key policies and practices for tackling a global problem…. Full article at https://theconversation.com/can-humanity-address-climate-change-without-believing-it-medical-history-suggests-it-is-possible-230936. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-07-TEMPLATE. . By . Excerpt: . Full article at URL. For GSS chapter .

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2024-07-11. BP-owned company is selling carbon credits on trees that aren’t in danger, analysis finds. By Luke Barratt and Miranda Green, The Guardian. Excerpt: Some forest carbon offsets sold by the biggest offsetting company in the US offer little or no benefit to the climate, a satellite analysis has found. Finite Carbon, created in 2009 and bought by British multinational oil and gas giant BP in 2020, is responsible for more than a quarter of the US’s total carbon credits, which it says it generates from protecting more than 60 “high credibility, high integrity projects” across 1.6m hectares (4m acres). However, experts at the offsets ratings agency Renoster and the non-profit CarbonPlan analyzed three projects accounting for almost half of Finite Carbon’s total credits, with an estimated market value of $334m, according to analysis by market intelligence company AlliedOffsets. Renoster found issues, including trees in a project in the Alaska Panhandle that were probably never in danger of being cut down in an already extensively logged area. Of the credits Renoster looked at, they found that about 79% should not have been issued…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/11/finite-carbon-forest-offsets-analysis. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-07-11. Medieval wine tasting fills in gaps. By PAUL VOOSEN, Science. Excerpt: When it comes to understanding the medieval climate of Europe, scientists face a daunting issue: Europeans loved to chop down their oldest and biggest trees. …[making] it difficult for researchers to obtain records of tree rings, a standard paleoclimate tool, leaving gaps where most Europeans actually lived. …climate scientists are now turning to a far more abundant historical resource: wine. Records of grape harvests found in the cellars and monasteries of Europe stretch back to the 1400s and can provide a powerful resource for teasing out past temperatures. “Compared with the average tree ring, it’s really excellent,” says Stefan Brönnimann, a paleoclimate scientist at the University of Bern. …Several years ago, Brönnimann and co-authors showed that the date of grape harvests was an excellent indicator of past temperature in the growing season. Now, in a new study published last month in Climate of the Past, they’ve shown that another measure—the reported sweetness of grape juice before fermentation—can also chart temperatures. …The expert sugar ratings continue to this day, though now with modern tools, and Brönnimann’s team found they similarly do a good job charting modern-day global warming. Starting around the late 1980s, ratings of sugar content began to rise steeply, to the point where the record resembles the famed “hockey stick” spike in global temperature records. …Studies suggest excessive drought and frequent heat waves could eventually kill off vineyards, especially in southern Europe. But for now, global warming has been good for European wine harvests, Brönnimann says. “From 2003, it’s been just good years.” Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/medieval-wine-tasting-fills-gaps-about-europe-s-climate. For GSS Climate Change chapter 7.

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2024-07-10. As Climate Toll Grows, FEMA Imposes Limits on Building in Flood Plains. By Christopher Flavelle, The New York Times. Excerpt: The Federal Emergency Management Agency will take new steps to ensure that the structures it funds — including schools, hospitals, police stations, libraries, sewage treatment plants and bridges — are protected from flooding. The agency said Wednesday that projects constructed with FEMA money must be built in a way that prevents flood damage, whether by elevating them above the expected height of a flood or, if that’s not feasible, by building in a safer location. The rule also makes it clear that building decisions must reflect risks now and also in the future, as climate change makes flooding more frequent and severe…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/10/climate/fema-flooding-construction-rules.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 9.

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2024-07-10. Rat Poison’s Long Reach. By DINA FINE MARON, Science. Excerpt: red-tailed hawk …appeared dehydrated and anemic, and veterinarian Sarah Sirica suspected the bird had been poisoned by eating mice or rats that had consumed powerful compounds known as second-generation rodenticides. The substances block the body’s ability to clot blood, and the resulting internal bleeding can cause death within days. When predators or scavengers eat the poisoned rodents they, too, can ingest a dangerous dose. …Around the world, second-generation rodenticides have been implicated in the deaths of predatory birds and the many other kinds of animals that feed on living or dead rodents, including wolves, foxes, skunks, and coyotes. …Last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded in a draft evaluation that rodenticides including second-generation compounds threaten dozens of species, and recommended new restrictions. But industry groups are pushing back, arguing the chemicals are essential to effectively control widespread pests that do costly damage to crops and property and spread disease…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/really-scary-rat-poisons-wreaking-havoc-raptors-wildlife. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 7.

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2024-07-05. Four decades of data indicate that planted mangroves stored up to 75% of the carbon stocks found in intact mature stands. By CARINE F. BOURGEOIS et al, Science. Abstract: Mangroves’ ability to store carbon (C) has long been recognized, but little is known about whether planted mangroves can store C as efficiently as naturally established (i.e., intact) stands and in which time frame. Through …models compiled from 40 years of data and built from 684 planted mangrove stands worldwide, we found that biomass C stock culminated at 71 to 73% to that of intact stands ~20 years after planting. Furthermore, prioritizing mixed-species planting including Rhizophora spp. would maximize C accumulation within the biomass compared to monospecific planting. Despite a 25% increase in the first 5 years following planting, no notable change was observed in the soil C stocks thereafter, which remains at a constant value of 75% to that of intact soil C stock, suggesting that planting effectively prevents further C losses due to land use change. These results have strong implications for mangrove restoration planning and serve as a baseline for future C buildup assessments…. Full article at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adk5430. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-07-04. ‘Chemical recycling’: 15-minute reaction turns old clothes into useful molecules. By Helena Kudiabor, Nature. Excerpt: Researchers have developed a chemical-processing technique that can break down fabrics into reusable molecules, even when they contain a mixture of materials. The process, outlined in a Science Advances paper on 3 July, shows that chemical recycling can give old textiles a new lease of life. If scaled up, it could help to tackle the growing mountain of waste generated by the fashion industry, says study co-author Dionisios Vlachos, an engineer at the University of Delaware in Newark. Estimates suggest than less than 1% of textiles are recycled, and nearly three-quarters of used garments end up incinerated or dumped into landfill. “A good third or more of the microplastics that end up in the ocean” come from clothing, says Vlachos. “Our ability to develop technology to be able to handle all this waste and remove them from the environment, landfills and the oceans is very important.” Miriam Ribul, who researches sustainable materials at the UKRI Textiles Circularity Centre, says that although recycling should be regarded as a last resort after repairing and reusing old clothes, the industry would welcome “investment in these new processes and technologies to be able to scale up”…. Full article at https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02210-1. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 7.

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2024-06-13. A ‘liquid battery’ advance. By Stanford Report. Excerpt: …Robert Waymouth, …is leading a Stanford team to explore an emerging technology for renewable energy storage: liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs). Hydrogen is already used as fuel or a means for generating electricity, but containing and transporting it is tricky. “We are developing a new strategy for selectively converting and long-term storing of electrical energy in liquid fuels,” said Waymouth, senior author of a study detailing this work in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. “We also discovered a novel, selective catalytic system for storing electrical energy in a liquid fuel without generating gaseous hydrogen.” …Daniel Marron, lead author of this study …developed a catalyst system to combine two protons and two electrons with acetone to generate the LOHC isopropanol selectively, without generating hydrogen gas. He did this using iridium as the catalyst. A key surprise was that cobaltocene was the magic additive. …a chemical compound of cobalt, a non-precious metal, has long been used as a simple reducing agent and is relatively inexpensive. The researchers found that cobaltocene is unusually efficient when used as a co-catalyst in this reaction, directly delivering protons and electrons to the iridium catalyst rather than liberating hydrogen gas, as was previously expected. Cobalt is already a common material in batteries and in high demand, so the Stanford team is hoping their new understanding of cobaltocene’s properties could help scientists develop other catalysts for this process. For example, the researchers are exploring more abundant, non-precious earth metal catalysts, such as iron, to make future LOHC systems more affordable and scalable…. Full article at https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2024/06/a-liquid-battery-advance. For GSS Energy Use chapter 9.

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2024-07-TEMPLATE. . By . Excerpt: . Full article at URL. For GSS chapter .

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2024-07-02. Water Scarcity Likely to Increase in the Coming Decades. By Katherine Kornei, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: …accessing clean water is an issue for a significant swath of the population, and the situation is only apt to worsen in coming decades, new modeling work reveals. About 55% of the world’s population currently has trouble accessing clean water at least 1 month out of the year, and by 2100, that number could rise above 65%, researchers calculated. Minimizing water scarcity now and into the future will rely on curbing water use, reducing pollution, and mitigating the effects of climate change, the researchers suggest. …Edward Jones, a hydrology and water quality modeler at Utrecht University in the Netherlands …Researchers were surprised to find that the worst-case scenario they considered—RCP 8.5 and SSP 5—didn’t result in the largest number of people being exposed to clean water scarcity. The researchers attributed that finding to the increased economic development and heightened water use efficiency built into that particular SSP. The scenario defined by RCP 7.0 and SSP 3 yielded the largest population experiencing clean water scarcity, the team reported in Nature Climate Change. …There’s a trifecta of challenges to tackle, and each is nothing short of a major undertaking: limiting climate change, reducing water use, and minimizing pollution in the environment. “These three aspects are really key,” Jones said…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/water-scarcity-likely-to-increase-in-the-coming-decades. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-07-02. Study Finds Alaskan Ice Field Melting at an ‘Incredibly Worrying’ Pace. By Raymond Zhong, The New York Times. Excerpt: One of North America’s largest areas of interconnected glaciers is melting twice as quickly as it did before 2010, a team of scientists said Tuesday, …published on Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. …Last year, researchers issued projections of how every glacier on Earth will evolve depending on what humankind does, or fails to do, about global warming. …roughly half of the world’s glaciers, 104,000 of them or so, could be gone by 2100…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/02/climate/alaska-juneau-icefield-melting.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-06-28. If Betelgeuse Explodes, Just How Bright Will It Get? By RHETT ALLAIN, Wired. Excerpt: Betelgeuse, …red supergiant has dimmed repeatedly in the past few years, which could mean that it’s ready to go full supernova quite soon—and by “soon” we mean within the next 10,000 years. …If Betelgeuse does blow, it will be the brightest supernova ever witnessed by humans. …A supernova that was observed in 2015 (ASASSN-15h) had a peak luminosity of around 2 x 10³⁸ watts. That’s more power output than 500 billion suns. It’s crazy. Oh, you didn’t see that one? Yeah, because it was in a different galaxy. Betelgeuse is in our back yard, astronomically speaking. …to a Betelgeuse supernova… start with a luminosity of 2 x 10³⁸ watts, like that supernova in 2015. For the distance, I’m going to use 500 light-years. …With that, the intensity of the light received by Earth would be 0.711 watts per square meter. …Crunching the numbers gives me a brightness magnitude of –18.5—which …will be by far the brightest object in the night sky. For comparison, a full moon has a magnitude of –12.6, so this supernova would also be easily visible even during the day. With the naked eye, the supernova would still look like just a single point of light—because, hey, it’s pretty close for a star, but it’s still far away. You wouldn’t see a disk as with our own sun or moon, but it would be by far the brightest dot you’ve ever seen in the night sky, and it would probably last for weeks. But is it dangerous? Well, this is still a lot lower than the brightness of the sun, which has a magnitude of –26.8…. Full article at https://www.wired.com/story/if-betelgeuse-explodes-how-bright-will-it-get/. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 6.

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2024-06-28. In Hot Water and Beyond: Marine Extremes Escalate. By Sarah Stanley, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Marine life …depends on the right combination of water temperature, acidity, and oxygen levels, so creatures such as fish and plankton can be hard hit by large regional fluctuations in any of these parameters. When two, or even all three, are off-kilter, the environment can become uninhabitable for many species. Because climate change has generally been heating the ocean, boosting its acidity, and lowering its oxygen levels, concerns over these regional multithreat events—known as column-compound extremes—are growing. Now, Wong et al. report that since the early 1960s, column-compound extremes have been intensifying: growing larger in volume, lasting longer, and occurring more often. …The analysis suggests that triple column-compound extremes—events involving the convergence of extreme temperatures, high acidity, and low oxygen levels—occupied 39 times more ocean volume, lasted 3 times longer, and were 6 times more intense by 2020 than in the early 1960s. …The simulation also showed that in general, double- and triple-threat column-compound extremes last 10–30 days and reduce the amount of habitable space in the affected water column by up to 75%. Climate change caused by anthropogenic activities is the primary driver of these escalating extremes. … (AGU Advances, https://doi.org/10.1029/2023AV001059, 2024)…. Full article at https://eos.org/research-spotlights/in-hot-water-and-beyond-marine-extremes-escalate. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-06-27. Radar Data Show Thwaites Gets a Daily Bath of Warm Seawater. By Anupama Chandrasekaran, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Daily tides bring warm ocean water farther in beneath West Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier than previously thought, potentially causing ice to melt faster than expected, according to a new study. The finding could help scientists make better predictions about the fate of one of the world’s most closely watched glaciers. Thwaites …is about the size of Florida. It currently contributes about 4% to global annual sea level rise. … recent research on Thwaites and other glaciers has shown that these boundaries between floating ice and ice that is grounded on the seafloor shift with the daily tide. …The team found that the ice rose and sank in sync with the tides. The data suggested that the grounding line migrated up to 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) inland during an average high tide. …The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. …Their results showed that seawater affects a larger area under glaciers than previously thought…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/radar-data-show-thwaites-gets-a-daily-bath-of-warm-seawater. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-06-28. Supreme Court ruling may threaten role of science in U.S. rulemaking. By JEFFREY MERVIS, Science. Excerpt: In a much-anticipated decision that many scientific groups had feared, the U.S. Supreme Court today overturned a 40-year-old doctrine that gave federal agencies considerable leeway in interpreting laws passed by Congress. The 6-to-3 ruling means judges should no longer defer to the scientific expertise of those agencies on a vast range of technical questions and, instead, should make such decisions themselves. “Agencies have no special competence in resolving statutory ambiguities. Courts do,” Chief Justice John Roberts said in the majority opinion in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, a case involving environmental regulations affecting herring boats. …But in a stinging dissent, Justice Elena Kagan …gave several examples of technical questions that she feels judges are ill-equipped to answer. The Food and Drug Administration must decide what qualifies as a protein in regulating biological products, she notes. And the Fish and Wildlife Service is required to determine what constitutes “distinct population segments” of imperiled plants or animals to enforce the Endangered Species Act. “That is what a typical Chevron question looks like,” she wrote, and scientists at those agencies have the knowledge and experience to answer them. “It is a role this Court has now claimed for itself, as well as for other judges,” she asserted…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/supreme-court-ruling-may-threaten-role-science-u-s-rulemaking. For GSS Climate Change chapter 9.

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2024-06-28. Chinese utility announces opening of large-scale battery storage facility: ‘The battery tech will continue to improve’. By Jon Turi, TCD. Excerpt: Large-scale battery storage systems are a no-brainer to handle the ever-growing influx of renewable energy without letting it go to waste. Since China has taken a global lead in using greener energy sources, it’s no surprise that one of its latest major storage systems to go online is using a less toxic approach. As Electrek reported, the Fulin Sodium-ion Battery Energy Storage Station began operating in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in southern China this May. The initial storage capacity is said to be around 10 megawatt-hours (MWh), but it expected to grow to 100 MWh at full capacity…”enough to power 35,000 households and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 50,000 tonnes [about 55,000 tons] annually,” according to Electrek. …”The energy conversion efficiency of its sodium-ion battery energy storage system exceeds 92%. It’s comparable to the efficiency of common lithium-ion battery storage systems, at 85% to 95%.” Sodium-ion batteries are outside the norm in the storage industry, but they’ve gained attention due to lower costs and sustainability. The main ingredient is said to be 500 times more abundant than lithium and can easily be harvested from seawater. It’s also environmentally friendly and safer to transport than lithium. …Another interesting thing about sodium-ion batteries is that they can charge much faster than their lithium competitors. The utility shared with Electrek that the particular battery cells they use “charge to 90% in a mindblowing 12 minutes.”…. Full article at https://www.yahoo.com/tech/chinese-utility-announces-opening-large-120000696.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 9.

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2024-06-26. C.D.C. Warns Doctors About Dengue as Virus Spreads to New Regions. By Stephanie Nolen and Teddy Rosenbluth, The New York Times. Excerpt: Federal health officials warned that the risk of contracting dengue in the United States has increased this year, a worrying sign as global cases of the mosquito-borne disease hit record numbers. In the first half of this year, countries in the Americas reported twice as many cases as were reported in all of 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday in an alert to health care providers. The region has seen nearly 10 million cases of the virus so far in 2024, most of which originated in outbreaks in South American countries like Brazil and Argentina. …climate change is bringing the mosquito to new places, where it is flourishing. “Aedes mosquitoes thrive in warm and humid environments, so definitely climate change and rising temperatures and also extreme weather events are helping extend their habitat range,” said Dr. Gabriela Paz-Bailey, chief of the dengue branch at the C.D.C.’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/article/what-is-dengue-fever.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-06-26. The Vanishing Islands That Failed to Vanish. By Raymond Zhong, The New York Times. Excerpt: The very existence of low-slung tropical islands seems improbable, a glitch. …when the world began paying attention to global warming decades ago, these islands, which form atop coral reefs in clusters called atolls, were quickly identified as some of the first places climate change might ravage in their entirety. As the ice caps melted and the seas crept higher, these accidents of geologic history were bound to be corrected and the tiny islands returned to watery oblivion, probably in this century. Then, not very long ago, researchers began sifting through aerial images and found something startling. They looked at a couple dozen islands first, then several hundred, and by now close to 1,000. They found that over the past few decades, the islands’ edges had wobbled this way and that, eroding here, building there. By and large, though, their area hadn’t shrunk. In some cases, it was the opposite: They grew. The seas rose, and the islands expanded with them. …The seas had risen an inch or so each decade, yet the waves had kept piling sediment on the islands’ shores, enough to mean that most of them hadn’t changed much in size. Their position on the reef might have shifted. Their shape might be different. Whatever was going on, it clearly wasn’t as simple as oceans rise, islands wash away…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/06/26/climate/maldives-islands-climate-change.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-06-25. China Becomes First Country to Retrieve Rocks From the Moon’s Far Side. By Katrina Miller, The New York Times. Excerpt: China brought a capsule full of lunar soil from the far side of the moon down to Earth on Tuesday, achieving the latest success in an ambitious schedule to explore the moon and other parts of the solar system. The sample, retrieved by the China National Space Administration’s Chang’e-6 lander after a 53-day mission, highlights China’s growing capabilities in space and notches another win in a series of lunar missions that started in 2007 and have so far been executed almost without flaw…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/25/science/change-6-china-earth-moon.html. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 2.

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2024-06-25. Decades after mass deforestation, scientists encounter ‘miraculous’ new plant species. By ASHLEY STIMPSON, Science. Excerpt: To botanists, there is perhaps no story more infamous than that of Centinela, an isolated 40-square-kilometer ridge on the western slope of the Andes Mountains. …the area’s lush cloud forests were written off by conservation biologists in the 1990s after extensive deforestation wiped out much of the native vegetation. The tragedy inspired a new phrase, “Centinelan extinction,” to describe the disappearance of a species before it could be described by scientists. But recent announcements have provided a glimmer of hope amid the gloom. This month, scientists published a description of a species new to science that persists in small remnant patches of forest…. Roads and agriculture crept across western Ecuador and untold tracts of forest were bulldozed to make way for cacao, coffee, and banana plantations on the fertile slopes. In 1991, two influential biologists, Cal Dodson and Alwyn Gentry of the Missouri Botanical Garden, published a seminal paper describing the habitat destruction in the region, focusing on the Centinela Ridge. …“an undetermined number of …species are now apparently extinct.” …With Centinela back in focus, scientists and conservationists are making up for lost time. Schaefer’s land trust is in the process of purchasing tracts of land containing primary cloud forest. Scientists have started their own campaign, called Viva Centinela, to promote research and the preservation of the area’s unique biodiversity. And two full-time botanists are working to document the species that persist. If their work is successful, the forest that was once the poster child for deforestation and loss could someday become a symbol for conservation and resilience…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/decades-after-mass-deforestation-scientists-encounter-miraculous-new-plant-species. For GSS A New World View chapter 5.

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2024-06-25. Wildfires increasingly threaten oil and gas drill sites, compounding potential health risks, study says. By Jason Pohl, UC Berkeley News. Excerpt: More than 100,000 oil and gas wells across the western U.S. are in areas burned by wildfires in recent decades, a new study has found, and some 3 million people live next to wells that in the future could be in the path of fires worsened by climate change. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, said their analysis, which was published last week in the journal One Earth, is the first to examine historical and projected wildfire threats on oil and gas facilities in the U.S. While the public health effects of scorched and damaged drill sites are unclear, researchers said the study is a necessary step toward understanding the potential compound hazards and could help inform policy about future drilling. …In the past, fires in oil and gas fields not related to wildfires have caused blowouts, and leaks from gas storage tanks in Los Angeles have resulted in explosions that damaged buildings. Near Bakersfield, dozens of wells have been found to be leaking natural gas, some at explosive levels…. Full article at https://news.berkeley.edu/2024/06/25/wildfires-increasingly-threaten-oil-and-gas-drill-sites-compounding-potential-health-risks-study-says/. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-06-25. Three Ideas to Beat the Heat, and the People Who Made Them Happen. By Somini Sengupta, The New York Times. Excerpt: An app that helps people find relief from the heat. A tiny insurance policy that pays working women when temperatures soar. Local laws that help outdoor workers get water and shade on sweltering days. As dangerous heat becomes impossible to ignore, an array of practical innovations are emerging around the world to protect people most vulnerable to its hazards. …The World Meteorological Organization has said that heat now kills more people than any other extreme-weather hazard…. …Iphigenia Keramitsoglou is an atmospheric physicist who …led a team that built a cellphone app to give users real-time information about how to stay cool. Put your location into Extrema Global and it will show the outside temperature, air quality and color-coded levels of heat risk. It will populate a map with places to cool down: parks, pools, fountains and air-conditioned public buildings like libraries. Tell the app where you want to go — say, from an apartment to a museum — and it will offer three options: the fastest route, the coolest route and the coolest route with places to rest. …Greece has been on the front lines of heat and wildfire for the past several years. This month, as temperatures soared past 100 degrees Fahrenheit …several tourists around the country are thought to have died from heat-related causes. In Athens, the authorities closed the Acropolis, a tourist magnet, out of caution. …Edgar Franks …organized farmworkers to press Washington State to put in place new rules to protect farmworkers’ health. When temperatures reach 80 degrees Fahrenheit, farmworkers are entitled by law to ask for shade, water and paid breaks. …Washington is one of only five states in the country to have outdoor worker protection rules in place…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/25/climate/heat-insurance-cooling-app.html. See also San Francisco Chronicle article, ‘She nearly made it out’: Calif. hiker dies during heat wave. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-06-22. Piping Up at the Gates of Dawn. By Dennis Overbye, The New York Times. Excerpt: Since the James Webb Space Telescope began operating two years ago, astronomers have been using it to leapfrog one another millions of years into the past, back toward the moment they call cosmic dawn, when the first stars and galaxies were formed. Last month, an international team doing research as the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey, or JADES, said it had identified the earliest, most distant galaxy yet found — [JADES-GS-z14-0] a banana-shaped blob of color measuring 1,600 light-years across. It was already shining with intense starlight when the universe was in its relative infancy, at only 290 million years old, the astronomers said. …the wavelength of light from JADES-GS-z14-0 had been stretched more than 15-fold by the expansion of the universe (a redshift of 14 to use astronomical jargon), similar to the way a siren’s pitch becomes lower as it speeds away. That means light has been coming toward us for 13.5 billion years, since shortly after the universe began. (The universe is about 13.8 billion years old, according to cosmological calculations.) …In a blog post, Dr. Carniani and Kevin Hainline of the University of Arizona, another member of the JADES team, wrote: “It is likely that astronomers will find many such luminous galaxies, possibly at even earlier times, over the next decade with Webb. We’re thrilled to see the extraordinary diversity of galaxies that existed at Cosmic Dawn!” Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/22/science/space/webb-telescope-cosmic-dawn.html. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 9.

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2024-06-20. Could super-Earths or mini-Neptunes host life among the stars? By DANIEL CLERY, Science. Excerpt: Living on one of the seven Earth-size planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system would be strange…. Looming ominously in the sky is an enormous red star, prone to fiery outbursts and appearing several times bigger than the Sun. Hours of the day don’t exist; each planet is tidally locked to the star so that one side is forever scorchingly hot, the other eternally frozen. Along the margin dividing the day- and nightsides—the only place with a tolerable climate—a ceaseless wind blows and the star hangs on the horizon, in perpetual sunset. A short stroll into the dark side brings your planetary companions into view. Every few days one or more passes overhead like a floating lantern, larger than the Moon. …the quest to learn whether one of the TRAPPIST-1 planets could make a comfortable home for our imaginary observer has been an exercise in frustration. When the seven known planets around TRAPPIST-1 were revealed in 2017, they were …the best place to look for a habitable planet with JWST, NASA’s 2-year-old orbiting observatory. …JWST’s ability to peer into exoplanets’ atmospheres in the infrared, where life-friendly molecules such as water and carbon dioxide leave their fingerprints, is unique. …four of the seven are reckoned to sit in a habitable zone where liquid water could exist on their surfaces. …transits are a boon to observers, because if there is an atmosphere, some of the starlight will pass through it…selectively absorb the light at specific wavelengths, creating troughs in the starlight’s spectrum. Astronomers have used the technique to find evidence for carbon dioxide, methane, and water in the atmospheres of large, hot, uninhabitable planets. …By the end of its third year, JWST will have lavished 175 hours of observing time on TRAPPIST-1. However, JWST has yet to find any firm evidence of an atmosphere around TRAPPIST-1’s planets…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/could-super-earths-mini-neptunes-host-life-among-stars. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 8.

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2024-06-21. Well Beyond the U.S., Heat and Climate Extremes Are Hitting Billions. By Somini Sengupta, The New York Times. Excerpt: People all over the world are facing severe heat, floods and fire, aggravated by the use of fossil fuels. The year isn’t halfway done. …Extreme heat killed an estimated 489,000 people annually between 2000 and 2019, according to the World Meteorological Organization, making heat the deadliest of all extreme weather events. Swiss RE, the insurance-industry giant, said in a report this week that the accumulating hazards of climate change could further drive the growing market for insurance against strikes and riots. “Climate change may also drive food and water shortages and in turn civil unrest, and mass migration,” the report said…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/21/climate/heat-deaths-floods-drought.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-06-20. Rural America Lags Cities in Helping People Beat the Heat. By Dionne Searcey, The New York Times. Excerpt: Large parts of the nation were boiling this week as temperatures climbed in Maine and other areas that are not accustomed to mid-June heat waves. In many cities, residents cooled off in shady parks, jumped in public pools, or hydrated with cold water handed out by paramedics and police officers stationed at busy intersections or inside public transportation hubs — all tactics health officials encourage to help avoid heat-related illnesses. These kinds of strategies are common in countless cities because they are effective in areas with large populations. In more rural areas, however, people are far more spread out and much harder to reach. “We’re missing a large swath of our society, and a swath that typically has higher levels of chronic disease, older populations and lower income,” said Kevin Lanza, an assistant professor of environmental science at UTHealth Houston in Austin. “All three are factors increasing the serious risk on rural communities in the face of climate change.”…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/20/climate/heat-wave-rural-america.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-06-20. Youth activists win ‘unprecedented’ climate settlement in Hawaii. By Dharna Noor and Lois Beckett, The Guardian. Excerpt: Hawaii officials have announced a “groundbreaking” legal settlement with a group of young climate activists, which they said will force the state’s department of transportation to move more aggressively towards a zero-emission transportation system. …Under what legal experts called a “historic” settlement, announced on Thursday, Hawaii officials will release a roadmap “to fully decarbonize the state’s transportation systems, taking all actions necessary to achieve zero emissions no later than 2045 for ground transportation, sea and inter-island air transportation”, Andrea Rodgers, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the case, said at a press conference with the governor…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/20/hawaii-youth-climate-activists-win. For GSS Climate Change chapter 9.

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2024-06-20. This Revolutionary New Observatory Will Locate Threatening Asteroids and Millions of Galaxies. By Dan Falk, Smithsonian Magazine. Excerpt: The casual observer may envision the night sky as being static: When we look at Orion …or the stars that make up the Big Dipper, our view is very similar to what our grandparents, or even their grandparents, would have seen…. But …when astronomers look at the sky more closely, countless “transient” phenomena come to light …variable stars, …supernovas…; and thousands of objects too faint to see with the unaided eye, like asteroids, move steadily across the sky. …The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, nearing completion …in northern Chile, …with a primary mirror 28 feet across and a 3.2-gigapixel camera, will sweep across the sky night after night, requiring a mere five seconds to reposition itself after each 15-second exposure. …its large field of view—encompassing an area equivalent to 40 full moons—and its ability to move swiftly, the telescope will scan the entire visible sky every three days. …The camera, together with the telescope’s optics, will have enough resolving power to see an object the size of …the White House on the moon. …Recording images is just the first step. Every time a particular patch of sky is photographed, computer algorithms will automatically compare the view to what was seen when the same patch was previously imaged, flagging anything that’s changed. “Every night we’ll see about ten million things change in brightness or position,” says Mario Jurić, an astronomer at the University of Washington in Seattle. “Out of those ten million, you want to select a handful that may be worth following up.” That process, Jurić explains, will be highly automated, given that the camera will be recording more than six million gigabytes of data per year. Researchers are still developing the algorithms that will ultimately be used to sift through the enormous volumes of data. “When it [the observatory] starts in 2025, it’ll be a gold rush to figure out what’s the best algorithm to find the most interesting objects,” says Jurić. “So that’ll be super fun.” …. Full article at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/this-revolutionary-new-observatory-will-locate-threatening-asteroids-and-millions-of-galaxies-180984514/. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 2.

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2024-06-19. Climate change could make fungi more dangerous. By YKAI KUPFERSCHMIDT, Science. Excerpt: Scientists have long worried Earth’s rising temperatures could make fungi more dangerous to humans. Now, researchers in China may have stumbled on evidence to support that idea. In a survey of fungal infections in Chinese hospitals, the researchers discovered a fungus not previously reported in humans sickening two patients. The pathogen was already resistant to the two most common antifungal drugs—and when they exposed it to higher temperatures, it quickly developed resistance against a third, leaving it essentially untreatable with current medicines. The finding “supports the idea that global warming may contribute to the evolution of this fungal pathogen or other new fungal pathogens,” says Linqi Wang, a microbiologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’s Institute of Microbiology and co-author of a study on the fungi published today in Nature Microbiology…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/climate-change-could-make-fungi-more-dangerous. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-06-18. Vermont Will Be Hotter Than Miami This Week—Blame the Heat Dome. By ANDREA THOMPSON, Scientific American. Excerpt: This Wednesday it will be hotter in Burlington, Vt., than in Miami—by a whopping 10 degrees Fahrenheit (5.5 degrees Celsius). This topsy-turvy weather comes courtesy of a heat dome, a particularly intense and persistent area of high atmospheric pressure that creates heat waves. This week’s heat dome is expected to cause record-breaking temperatures in some places, particularly in northern New England, where certain areas could see the warmest temperatures in 30 years…. Full article at https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/intense-heat-dome-will-bring-record-breaking-temperatures-to-the-east/. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-06-18. Is It Climate Change? Americans Mostly Say Yes. By Grace van Deelen, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Attribution science aims to determine the extent to which climate change causes natural hazards and extreme weather such as hurricanes, wildfires, floods, and heat waves. But how comfortable is the public in making these connections? Pretty comfortable, as it turns out. A new study published in Climatic Change shows that 83% of Americans have some confidence in attributing at least one type of extreme weather to climate change. However, the public’s views varied among hazards and didn’t always line up with scientists’ confidence. The results point out some important considerations for climate scientists looking to communicate their work to the public. …The public’s confidence in attributing events aligned with climate scientists’ understanding of how extreme weather and climate change are linked about 40% of the time, according to the researchers. The scientists’ views came from a 2016 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The public was least aligned with scientists when it came to wildfires and, on average, overattributed these events to climate change. That makes sense to Zanocco—though the public may see visceral images of Earth on fire and make a strong link to climate change, scientists tend to understand that the reasons for wildfires are highly complex, and climate change isn’t always the primary cause, he said…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/is-it-climate-change-americans-mostly-say-yes. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-06-17. What Happens in the Troposphere Doesn’t Stay in the Troposphere. By Rebecca Owen, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: In the final decades of the 20th century, stratospheric ozone depletion—often called, not quite accurately, the ozone hole—was a widespread concern. Halocarbons, including chlorofluorocarbons used as coolants in refrigerators and aerosol spray cans, were linked, beginning in the mid-1970s, to a severely thinning ozone layer. However, global efforts to reduce halocarbon use have since led to a slow but steady recovery of the stratospheric ozone layer. About 90% of Earth’s ozone is in the stratosphere, where it protects humans, plants, and animals from the Sun’s most damaging ultraviolet rays. …the 10% of it that is in the troposphere—the atmospheric layer between Earth’s surface and the stratosphere—can be damaging to human health and the environment. Tropospheric ozone is the primary component of smog, for example…. …as Prather writes in a new paper, “what happens in the troposphere doesn’t stay in the troposphere.” Some of these molecules travel up into the stratosphere when the two atmospheric layers exchange air. The author suggests that this upward migration of ozone may make it difficult to assess the recovery rate of the depleted stratospheric ozone layer accurately and may also affect how researchers interpret the results of a worldwide reduction in halocarbon use. …about 20% of the observed stratospheric ozone recovery may be attributable to increasing levels of tropospheric ozone. …future studies of ozone depletion should be adjusted accordingly. …(AGU Advances, https://doi.org/10.1029/2023AV001154, 2024)…. Full article at https://eos.org/research-spotlights/what-happens-in-the-troposphere-doesnt-stay-in-the-troposphere. For GSS Ozone chapter 10.

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2024-06-12. More than a Third of Coastal Alaska Structures May Be at Risk of Flooding by 2100. By Grace van Deelen, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: As climate change continues to spur sea level rise and increase hurricane intensity, mapping possible future flooding is crucial. A new study, published in Scientific Reports, used community accounts of past floods to show how sea level rise is likely to make future floods worse. The work adds to scientists’ understanding of how climate change could affect Alaska’s coastal communities as part of a broader effort to improve flood modeling in the state. …In the new study, researchers used the historical accounts to estimate current and future flood exposure. They compared record flooding to topography and the locations of buildings in 46 communities under two scenarios: 0.5 meter (1.6 feet) and 1.0 meter (3.3 feet) of sea level rise by 2100. NOAA estimates that global sea level will rise between 0.3 meter (1 foot) and 2 meters (6.6 feet) by 2100.  The team found that currently, 22% of structures in coastal Alaskan communities are located within the record high floodplain, putting them at risk of flood damage. Under the 0.5-meter scenario, that number rose to 30%. But under the 1.0-meter scenario, the proportion of structures at risk grew to 37%. In each scenario, more than half of the structures at risk from flooding were residential…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/more-than-a-third-of-coastal-alaska-structures-may-be-at-risk-of-flooding-by-2100. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-06-12. WHAT MARTIAN GULLIES MEAN FOR WATER ON MARS. By EMILY LAKDAWALLA , Sky & Telescope. Excerpt: Martian gullies have been the center of a debate about whether Mars ever has flowing water. Now, a comprehensive study examines the question. Lots of Mars’s hillslopes have gullies, steep ravines that grow when we’re not looking. They look so much like Earth’s own gullies, formed when water and debris carve into steep slopes, that it’s easy to think that water must be involved on Mars, too. But physics says water shouldn’t ever be liquid anywhere on the Martian surface today. Many scientists therefore think gully formation must be triggered by some kind of dry process, involving ice (either water ice or carbon dioxide ice) that sublimates directly from solid to gas. In a new study, published in the August 2024 issue of Icarus, Axel Noblet (University of Western Ontario, Canada) and colleagues amass data on nearly 8,000 gullied slopes and come up with an answer to the “wet or dry” question: It’s both, and it depends. …The correlation with some ground ice strongly suggests that gullies have formed in places at the edges of ice deposits. That suggests they formed during a transition from a wetter period, favoring the formation of ground ice, to the present-day, dry period. …But what about the gullies that have been seen to expand on Mars today,…. And what about the gullies near the poles? …A plausible answer to these questions involves carbon dioxide. While dry ice doesn’t expand as it freezes, like water does, condensation of dry ice can fill all the pores in the ground and glue particles together. If that ice suddenly goes away — say, when sunrise on a spring day lights up the ground for the first time in months — the sudden withdrawal of support can collapse the ground, and the rush of expanding gas can “fluidizing” the soil, reducing friction and encouraging flow even though no liquid is present…. Full article at https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/what-martian-gullies-mean-for-water-on-mars/. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 7.

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2024-06-11. Agricultural Lands Are Losing Topsoil—Here’s How Bad It Could Get. By Nathaniel Scharping, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Good topsoil does not accumulate quickly. Less than a tenth of a millimeter of soil forms per year in some places, though the amount can vary depending on the environment. Compare that to the rate of topsoil erosion in agricultural regions of the United States: around half a millimeter per year, or 5 times as much, according to a recent study in the journal Catena. That imbalance is imperiling our ability to grow food in large swaths of America’s breadbasket. …Croplands see far higher rates of soil erosion than other places, often because tilling leaves soil exposed. It’s in croplands that erosion is most impactful, however. Past studies estimated that erosion costs the United States about $8 billion each year and that globally, it reduces agricultural food production by 33.7 million metric tons per year. Rates of soil erosion have likely worsened over the past decade, and climate change will probably make that trend worse. …Researchers have suggested potential strategies for reducing soil loss. Increasing the use of cover crops, which Basso said act as “an umbrella” for soil by reducing the impact of raindrops, is one. Alley cropping, or planting rows of trees and shrubs in fields to shield soil and hold it in place, is another strategy…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/agricultural-lands-are-losing-topsoil-heres-how-bad-it-could-get. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 5.

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2024-06-08. Q&A: As Temperatures in Pakistan Top 120 Degrees, There’s Nowhere to Run. Interview by Steve Curwood with Rafay Alam, an environmental lawyer and a member of Pakistan’s Climate Change Council, Living on Earth. Excerpt: An environmental lawyer’s frightening report from on the ground in Lahore: animals crumpling, waters rising, crops collapsing, an economy on the brink and millions displaced with nowhere safe to go. Last year was the hottest summer on record in the Northern Hemisphere, and 2024 seems likely to top it, with torrid temperatures already sizzling the Southwest U.S., North Africa, South Asia and much of the Middle East. …And right now, Pakistan is in the grip of yet another extreme heatwave, …as some cities reached more than 120 degrees Fahrenheit. …In 2022, we had historic floods, and we’re talking 400 percent to 800 percent of monthly averages falling within a couple of weeks. …Just a few days ago, Mohenjo-daro, the home of an ancient civilization, recorded 53 degrees Centigrade, so in excess of 125 degrees Fahrenheit. It was the hottest place on Earth last week. …In Punjab, which is the province that I live in, school timings were changed so that schools wouldn’t be let off in the mid afternoon. They were being let off by 12, one o’clock. And then as temperatures rose, schools were shut down throughout Punjab…. Full article at https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08062024/pakistan-heat-wave-emergency/. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-06-07. A Splashy Meteorite Was Forged in Multiple Collisions. By Damond Benningfield, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: The Winchcombe meteorite splashed into headlines on 28 February 2021, when it streaked above Gloucestershire, England, and broke apart in the atmosphere. Its largest chunk hit a driveway in the village of Winchcombe and splattered into thousands of pieces. …Analysis of the meteorite and video of its descent revealed that its parent meteoroid was probably 20–30 centimeters in diameter when it hit the atmosphere, with a mass of about 13 kilograms. …The research team’s analyses revealed that the meteorite contains eight rock types, all of which show evidence of having been altered by water. …In addition to revealing the asteroid’s history, the lab work also supported the suggestion that CM and other carbonaceous chondrites supplied young Earth with water and organic compounds…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/a-splashy-meteorite-was-forged-in-multiple-collisions. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 7.

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2024-06-05. How Soil Symbionts Could Unlock Climate-Smart Agriculture. By Uta Paszkowski, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Rising temperatures and more extreme weather are exacerbating inequalities in global food systems. More than enough food is already produced to feed the global population, but roughly 783 million people worldwide currently experience hunger as a result of systemic inequalities related to gender, geography, conflict, and resources. Warming of 2°C will drive an estimated 189 million additional people into hunger. …Farmers in predominantly high-income countries (and elsewhere, when possible) apply vast amounts of inorganic fertilizers to their fields to ensure high yields. Perversely, however, the synthetic fertilizer supply chain is contributing to the very changes in climate that are acutely harming food production worldwide. For example, synthetic fertilizer application and livestock production together are responsible for up to 70% of emissions of nitrous oxide—a greenhouse gas that is almost 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Thankfully, nature offers a solution that is of increasing interest to scientists. This solution—crop-fertilizing soil microbes—could help to break the cycle of synthetic fertilizer use and its attendant environmental impacts and usher in more sustainable food production systems…. Full article at https://eos.org/opinions/how-soil-symbionts-could-unlock-climate-smart-agriculture. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 5.

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2024-06-TEMPLATE. . By . Excerpt: . Full article at URL. For GSS chapter .

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2024-06-06. UN Secretary-General Calls for Ban on Fossil Fuel Advertising, Says Next 18 Months Are Critical for Climate Action. By Keerti Gopal, Inside Climate News. Excerpt: In a special address, António Guterres called out fossil fuel industry greenwashing and highlighted a new report showing the world will likely pass the 1.5 degree Celsius warming threshold within five years. …“Climate change is the mother of all stealth taxes paid by everyday people and vulnerable countries and communities,” Guterres said in his address, delivered on the United Nations’ World Environment Day at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. “Meanwhile, the godfathers of climate chaos—the fossil fuel industry—rake in record profits and feast off trillions in taxpayer-funded subsidies.” Comparing the fossil fuel industry to the tobacco industry, Guterres also called on public relations and advertising firms to “stop acting as enablers to planetary destruction,” by dropping fossil fuel clients from their rosters. …Pointing out that the oil and gas industry invested just 2.5 percent of its total capital spending in renewable energy, he also called on fossil fuel companies to use their “massive profits” to lead the clean energy transition…. Full article at https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04062024/massachusetts-geothermal-heating-cooling-system/. For GSS Climate Change chapter 9.

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2024-06-06. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are surging “faster than ever” to beyond anything humans ever experienced, officials say. By Li Cohen, CBS News. Excerpt: Carbon dioxide, the gas that accounts for the majority of global warming caused by human activities, is accumulating “faster than ever,” scientists from NOAA, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of California San Diego found. …The researchers measured carbon dioxide, or CO₂, levels at the Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory. They found that atmospheric levels of the gas hit a seasonal peak of just under 427 parts per million in May …50% higher than it was before the Industrial Revolution. …”Not only is CO₂ now at the highest level in millions of years, it is also rising faster than ever,” Ralph Keeling, director of Scripps’ CO₂ program, said in the release. “Each year achieves a higher maximum due to fossil-fuel burning, which releases pollution in the form of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Fossil fuel pollution just keeps building up, much like trash in a landfill.” …The news from NOAA comes a day after the European Union’s climate change service, Copernicus, announced that Earth has now hit 12 straight months of record-high temperatures…. Full article at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/carbon-dioxide-levels-surging-faster-than-ever-noaa-scientists/. For GSS Climate Change chapter 6.

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2024-06-05. How Electric Car Batteries Might Aid the Grid (and Win Over Drivers). By Jack Ewing, The New York Times. Excerpt: Electric cars are more expensive than gasoline models largely because batteries cost so much. But new technology could turn those pricey devices into an asset, giving owners benefits like reduced utility bills, lower lease payments or free parking. Ford Motor, General Motors, BMW and other automakers are exploring how electric-car batteries could be used to store excess renewable energy to help utilities deal with fluctuations in supply and demand for power. Automakers would make money by serving as intermediaries between car owners and power suppliers. Millions of cars could be thought of as a huge energy system that, for the first time, will be connected to another enormous energy system, the electrical grid, said Matthias Preindl, an associate professor of power electronic systems at Columbia University. …Mobility House, a firm whose investors include Mercedes-Benz and Renault, …buys power when solar and wind power is abundant and cheap, storing it in electric vehicles that are part of its system and plugged in around Europe. When demand and prices climb, the company resells the electricity. It’s a classic play: Buy low, sell high…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/05/business/energy-environment/electric-car-batteries-grid.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 9.

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2024-06-04. First-in-the-Nation Geothermal Heating and Cooling System Comes to Massachusetts. By Phil McKenna, Inside Climate News. Excerpt: FRAMINGHAM, Mass.—After years of planning and months of drilling, a first-in-the-nation, neighborhood-scale geothermal heating and cooling project came online here on Tuesday. Geothermal energy—using the steady temperature below ground—to heat and cool buildings is nothing new. What’s new in Framingham is the fact that climate advocates and a utility company, Eversource, devised the plan together. …Rather than build individual systems, the Framingham project ties together 31 residential and five commercial buildings that now share the underground infrastructure needed to heat and cool them. …it may offer a new lease on life for gas utilities without squeezing low income individuals. …air-source heat pumps that pull heat out of the surrounding air, like an air conditioner run in reverse …can be costly…. “If we only have the people who can afford it, who have the know-how transitioning, it’s kind of spotty,” said Ania Camargo, thermal energy networks manager at the Building Decarbonization Coalition, a nonprofit working to eliminate fossil fuels from buildings. “It …creates a negative feedback loop with fewer and fewer people left on the gas system to cover all of the fixed costs. …the price of gas goes way up and you have what they call a utility death spiral.” Geothermal heating built and maintained by utility companies could offer a future for the companies, and their employees, without leaving low income families on the hook for maintaining an aging gas system…. Full article at https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04062024/massachusetts-geothermal-heating-cooling-system/. For GSS Energy Use chapter 8.

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2024-06-04. As Solar Power Surges, U.S. Wind Is in Trouble. By Brad Plumer and Nadja Popovich, The New York Times. Excerpt: Solar panel installations are indeed soaring to record highs in the United States, as are batteries that can store energy for later. But wind power has struggled, both on land and in the ocean. …Some factors behind the wind industry’s recent slowdown may be temporary, such as snarled supply chains. But wind power is also more vulnerable than solar power to many of the biggest logistical hurdles that hinder energy projects today: a lack of transmission lines, a lengthy permitting process and a growing backlash against new projects in many communities. …wind power is much more sensitive to location. Wind turbines in a gusty area can generate eight times as much electricity as turbines in an area with just half the breeze. For solar power, the difference between sunny spots and less sunny spots is considerably smaller. That means developers can’t just build wind farms anywhere. …wind turbines provide very cheap electricity, and they often ramp up at night, when solar power is unavailable…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/06/04/climate/us-wind-energy-solar-power.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-06-03. ASTRONOMERS DISCOVER NEW EARTH-SIZE WORLD ONLY 40 LIGHT-YEARS AWAY. By ARIELLE FROMMER, Sky & Telescope. Excerpt: In the search for planets around other stars, astronomers often seek worlds that are most like our own. The discovery of Gliese 12b — the closest, transiting, temperate, Earth-size planet found to date — promises possibilities for understanding how terrestrial planets become habitable. Gliese 12b orbits a cool red dwarf star around 40 light-years away — practically neighborly compared to other exoplanets — with a period of 12.8 days. Its distance from its host star means that its surface might be temperate enough for life, with a temperature of 107°F (42°C). …Gliese 12b was initially detected by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a mission that searches for changes in stellar brightness and records transits that occur when a planet passes in front of its host star. …Red dwarf stars, or M stars, have small masses and radii and low luminosities, which means any planets orbiting in the “habitable zone” (the orbital space where a rocky planet might host liquid water on its surface) transit more deeply and more often. Gliese 12b’s orbit is a mere 0.07 astronomical unit from its host star. Yet even though it would be well inside Mercury’s orbit around the Sun, its star’s low luminosity means the planet could be comfortable for life…. Full article at https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/astronomers-discover-new-earth-size-world-only-40-light-years-away/. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 8.

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2024-06-03. Deadly one-two punch may have driven the woolly rhino to extinction. By DARREN INCORVAIA, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: …the woolly rhinoceros proved a formidable beast for millions of years as it roamed northern Eurasia. Then, roughly 10,000 years ago, it went extinct. Its sparse fossil record left few clues to its disappearance. But according to a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that pulls together fossil data, ancient DNA, and paleoclimate models, the ferocious beast likely met its end for the same reason that many other giant ice age animals died out: a combination of climate change and human hunting. …an interdisciplinary team of collaborators simulated what the world was like for woolly rhinos in the 52,000 years leading up to their extinction. …After running this simulation 45,000 times,…the scientists landed on a model that closely matched the extinction pattern reflected in the fossil record and recorded by ancient environmental DNA. The simulation shows that about 52,000 years ago, during the last ice age, woolly rhinos ranged widely across Eurasia. When the planet began to cool more dramatically about 30,000 years ago and glaciers began to encroach from the North Pole, the rhinos were pushed south—into the path of more and more humans…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/deadly-one-two-punch-may-have-driven-woolly-rhino-extinction. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 1.

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2024-05-31. Geothermal spa helped temperate plants survive the last ice age. By JAN HOŠEK et al, Science. Summary: Around 20,000 years ago, the land we now call Europe was almost entirely encased in ice. It was near the end of what scientists refer to as the last glacial maximum (LGM). Species not well suited to such chilly conditions either moved south to more temperate areas near the Mediterranean or were simply wiped out. Or, so many scientists thought. Now, fossils in the Czech Republic suggest there was an ‘oasis’ of sorts in the region, warmed by hot springs, which kept temperate plants alive during the global winter. …we present the first unequivocal proof that thermophilous trees such as oak (Quercus), linden (Tilia), and common ash (Fraxinus excelsior) survived the LGM in Central Europe... Full article at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ado6611. For GSS Life and Climate chapter 10.

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2024-05-30. For early mammals, slow and steady evolution lost the race
By IGNACIO QUINTERO, NICOLAS LARTILLOT, AND HÉLÈNE MORLON , Science. Summary: The asteroid that struck our planet 66 million years ago brought the age of the dinosaurs to an explosive end, but did it also mark an explosive beginning for the age of the mammals? Until recently, many scientists believed that the mass extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous period created new ecological opportunities, resulting in a rapid “burst” of speciation among mammalian species. According to new research, however, early mammals didn’t diversify with a bang—instead, some slower-evolving lineages simply went out with a whimper. …When the asteroid hit Earth, some groups couldn’t evolve quickly enough to keep up with the major environmental changes. …a handful of isolated, fast-speciating lineages—rather than bursts of diversification spread across many groups—are responsible for the extraordinary variation seen in modern mammals…. See paper at https://ww.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adj2793. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 4.

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2024-05-30. ‘Devastating’: Tiny insects are killing giant sequoias in California national parks. By Eric Brooks, SFGATE. Excerpt: [Bark beetles] are black and about 2 millimeters long. They are tiny, but represent a grave threat: They’re responsible for the deaths of 40 giant sequoia trees, and counting, at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. While the bark beetle and the giant sequoias previously coexisted successfully, climate change is transforming their relationship to one with significant consequences. …The beetles, native to the Sierra, have literally made their mark on the giant sequoias for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The two have peacefully co-existed that entire time, until recently, when climate change-related stressors have been introduced into the equation. The two biggest challenges? Intense wildfire and drought. Both have the power to severely weaken even the most resilient of trees. The giant sequoias, known for their ability to harness fire for better reproduction, are no exception to that test. So while the beetles have always been around, they’re only now beginning to damage and kill giant sequoias, as other climate-driven elements are making the treasured trees’ mortality possible…. Full article at https://www.sfgate.com/california-parks/article/bark-beetles-killing-giant-sequoias-19482665.php. For GSS A New World View chapter 6.

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2024-05-29. “Unbearable” heat in India is testing limits of human survival. By Karishma Mehrotra and Dan Stillman, The Washington Post. Excerpt: DELHI — India’s capital territory of Delhi experienced some of its hottest weather on record Tuesday and Wednesday, with highs in some neighborhoods near the landmark threshold of 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). The exceptional heat has closed schools, endangered outdoor workers, stressed water supplies and infrastructure, and reached levels that would test the limits of human survival if sustained. The searing temperatures in northern India are part of a broader heat wave across much of Southeast Asia, which is one of multiple heat waves occurring around the world because of a combination of short-term weather patterns and long-term warming trends fueled by human-caused climate change…. Full article at https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/05/29/record-heat-delhi-india-climate-survival/. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-06-01. Nitrogen-using bacteria can cut farms’ greenhouse gas emissions. By DIANA GITIG, Ars Technica. Excerpt: Microbes in soil convert nitrogen fertilizer into nitrous oxide, and the more nitrogen fertilizer they have to work with, the more nitrous oxide they make. Agriculture also leaks plenty of the excess nitrogen into waterways in the form of nitrate, generating algal blooms that create low-oxygen ‘dead zones’ where no marine life can live. One way to reduce nitrogen emissions from farms would be to simply use fertilizer more efficiently. But—as we’ve seen with fossil fuels (and antibiotics and plastics)—when humans have a miraculous substance on our hands, we just can’t seem to use it at levels that minimize its impact. …But even if we were to start using less fertilizer now, we are past time to choose a single technique to curb greenhouse gas emissions; we need to put them all into action. …instead of trying to promote the growth of any denitrifying bacteria that might happen to already be in soil, researchers decided to grow them externally and then add them in. Their source was partially treated sewage, called digestate, that was destined as organic fertilizer anyway. Keeping the digestate in oxygen-free conditions enriched their levels of one strain of nitrogen-respiring bacteria. …When this digestate was mixed into soil, fertilizer-induced emissions were reduced by 50–95 percent, depending on the pH and organic carbon content of the soils. The effect lasted over the entire growing season…. Full article at https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/06/nitrogen-using-bacteria-can-cut-farms-greenhouse-gas-emissions/. For GSS Climate Change chapter 3.

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2024-05-30. Corporations invested in carbon offsets that were ‘likely junk’, analysis says. By Nina Lakhani, The Guardian. Excerpt: Delta, Gucci, Volkswagen, ExxonMobil, Disney, easyJet and Nestlé are among the major corporations to have purchased millions of carbon credits from climate friendly projects that are “likely junk” or worthless when it comes to offsetting their greenhouse gas emissions, according to a classification system developed by Corporate Accountability, a non-profit, transnational corporate watchdog. Some of these companies no longer use CO₂ offsets amid mounting evidence that carbon trading do not lead to the claimed emissions cuts – and in some cases may even cause environmental and social harms. …The fossil fuel industry is by far the largest investor in the world’s most popular 50 CO2 offsetting schemes. At least 43% of the [81 million] CO₂ credits purchased by the oil and gas majors are for projects that have at least one fundamental flaw and are “probably junk”, according to the analysis…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/30/corporate-carbon-offsets-credits. See also Guardian article, Market value of carbon offsets drops 61%, report finds. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-05-28. As the Ferry Building shakes off the pandemic, major uncertainties surround its future. By John King, San Francisco Chronicle. Excerpt: Throughout its 125-year history, there have been times when the formidable elegance of San Francisco’s Ferry Building was shadowed by uncertainties — from fears early on that it wouldn’t survive a major earthquake to the question, after the opening of the Bay Bridge, of whether it should be torn down. …The most ominous element, though, is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ desire to elevate the huge structure by at least 3½ feet as part of a larger multi-decade effort to protect the bay shoreline from floods and sea level rise…. Full article at https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/ferry-building-business-pandemic-19462543.php. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-05-27. Evidence of ongoing volcanic activity on Venus revealed by Magellan radar. By Davide Sulcanese, Giuseppe Mitri & Marco Mastrogiuseppe, Nature Astronomy. Abstract: The surface of Venus has undergone substantial alterations due to volcanic activity throughout its geological history, and some volcanic features suggest that this activity persisted until as recently as 2.5 million years ago. Recent evidence of changes in the surface morphology of a volcanic vent has been interpreted as a potential indication of ongoing volcanic activity. To investigate more widespread alterations that have occurred over time in the planet’s surface morphology, we compared radar images of the same regions observed from 1990 to 1992 with the Magellan spacecraft. We found …evidence of new lava flows related to volcanic activities that took place during the Magellan spacecraft’s mapping mission with its synthetic-aperture radar. This study provides further evidence in support of a currently geologically active Venus. Full article at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02272-1. See also New York Times article Rivers of Lava on Venus Reveal a More Volcanically Active Planet. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 7.

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2024-05-27. This Island Wants to Round Up Its Wild Goats. Catching Them Won’t Be Easy. By Elisabetta Povoledo, The New York Times. Excerpt: Come June, a crack team of wildlife experts plans to swarm the volcanic cliffs and natural caves of a small island in the Mediterranean to ensnare what has become an out-of-control species: goats gone wild. It is the first step in a mission to rid the Aeolian island of Alicudi, just north of Sicily, of hundreds of feral goats that are crowding out the island’s 100 or so year-round human inhabitants, so that the animals can be adopted elsewhere. …The goats arrived about 35 years ago, when an islander sought to supplement food supplies from the mainland. …It did not take long for the ruminants to outnumber humans, delighting tourists by photobombing their summer memories. But locals grew irritated as the goats encroached on their gardens and fruit trees, and leaped along the traditional dry stone walls that once terraced the island, knocking down many. Emboldened over the years, the goats moved from the crest of the island into the lower, inhabited areas in search of ever-decreasing food supplies — “even people’s homes,” said Ms. Barnao, the council member, whose mandate for animal rights includes overseeing the goat giveaway. Although Alicudi is a nature reserve, the ballooning goat population has also put the island’s biodiversity at risk. …Last year, a census counted 600 goats, a six-to-one goat-to-human ratio, but Mr. Lo Cascio suspects that it is even higher…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/27/world/europe/alicudi-island-goats.html. For GSS Population Growth chapter 1.

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2024-05-25. ‘New Territory’ for Americans: Deadly Heat in the Workplace. By Coral Davenport and Noah Weiland, The New York Times. Excerpt: For more than two years, a group of health experts, economists and lawyers in the U.S. government has worked to address a growing public health crisis: people dying on the job from extreme heat. In the coming months, this team of roughly 30 people at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is expected to propose a new rule that would require employers to protect an estimated 50 million people exposed to high temperatures while they work. They include farm laborers and construction workers, but also people who sort packages in warehouses, clean airplane cabins and cook in commercial kitchens. …Last year was the hottest in recorded history, and researchers are expecting another record-breaking summer, with temperatures already rising sharply across the Sun Belt. The heat index in Miami reached 112 degrees Fahrenheit last weekend, shattering daily records by 11 degrees. …An estimated 2,300 people in the United States died from heat-related illness in 2023, triple the annual average between 2004 and 2018. Researchers say all those figures are probably undercounts, in part because of how causes of death are reported on death certificates…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/25/climate/extreme-heat-biden-workplace.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-05-18. Mexico City Has Long Thirsted for Water. The Crisis Is Worsening. By James Wagner, Emiliano Rodríguez Mega and Somini Sengupta, The New York Times. Excerpt: A system of dams and canals may soon be unable to provide water to one of the world’s largest cities, a confluence of unchecked growth, crumbling infrastructure and a changing climate. The groundwater is quickly vanishing. A key reservoir got so low that it is no longer used to supply water. Last year was Mexico’s hottest and driest in at least 70 years. And one of the city’s main water systems faces a potential “Day Zero” this summer when levels dip so much that it, too, will no longer provide water. …Mexico City, once a water-rich valley that was drained to make way for a vast city, has a metropolitan population of 23 million, among the top 10 largest in the world and up from 15 million in 1990. It is one of several major cities facing severe water shortages, including Cape Town; São Paulo, Brazil; and Chennai, India…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/18/world/americas/mexico-city-water.html. For GSS Population Growth chapter 5.

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2024-05-24. Stripey stick insects show evolution can repeat itself—predictably. By CATHERINE OFFORD, Science. Excerpt: Does evolution repeat itself? The answer to this long-standing question may be one step closer thanks to research on the crawly living twigs known as stick insects. Based on an analysis of decades of data from tens of thousands of walking sprigs in California, researchers report today in Science Advances that the prevalence of certain camouflage patterns rises and falls in predictable cycles across different populations. Some research has indeed found organisms evolving the same traits over and over. Studies of sticklebacks, for example, have shown that different populations that moved from salt to freshwater consistently underwent the same morphological and physiological changes to organs such as their kidneys, with genetic changes to match. Lab experiments in bacteria have found that microbes exposed to certain antibiotics hit on the same genetic changes to help them survive. …“It’s really observing evolution before our very eyes.” Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/stripey-stick-insects-show-evolution-can-repeat-itself-predictably. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 3.

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2024-05-24. New Dutch right-wing coalition to cut research, innovation, and environmental protections. By MARTIN ENSERINK, Science. Excerpt: The far right’s stunning victory in the Netherlands’s parliamentary elections last fall will upset far more than the country’s immigration policies. An agreement by the four parties aiming to form a new government, presented on 16 May and debated in the House of Representatives on 22 May, also calls for cuts in science and innovation funding, rollbacks of environment and climate policies, and restrictions on the influx of foreign students. …[Geert] Wilders, who ardently denies climate science, called in his election platform for putting all climate policies and agreements “through the shredder,” but he conceded in Parliament that won’t happen. The governing agreement leaves most climate “nonsense” in place, he said. A proposed carbon dioxide tax for industry and a plan to speed up the introduction of heat pumps in homes have both been abandoned, however…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/new-dutch-right-wing-coalition-cut-research-innovation-and-environmental-protections. For GSS Climate Change chapter 9.

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2024-05-24. These Teens Adopted an Orphaned Oil Well. Their Goal: Shut It Down. By Delger Erdenesanaa, The New York Times. Excerpt: As many as 3.9 million abandoned and aging oil and gas wells dot the United States, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The reasons for abandonment vary, but at least 126,000 of these wells are orphans, meaning there’s no longer an owner or company that state regulators can hold responsible for them. And many of the wells leak methane, a greenhouse gas that’s nearly 30 times as powerful as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere over a period of 100 years, …. The E.P.A. estimates that abandoned wells collectively released 303,000 metric tons of methane in 2022, roughly equivalent to how much carbon dioxide 23 gas-burning power plants might release in one year. …The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act allocated $4.7 billion to states, tribes and federal agencies to plugorphaned wells, but given their sheer number and the enormous geographic area they cover, these federal funds will not be enough. …After completing his Advanced Placement environmental science class, Mr. De La Rocha, 18, said he realized that the methane from these abandoned wells was an issue in which individual people could potentially make a difference. He invited his friends and classmates Sebastian Ng and Lila Gisondi to join him. They call themselves the Youth Climate Initiative. …When a well is no longer being used to pump oil and gas, it’s supposed to be closed off with cement in a process called capping or plugging. But many have been left open, often in disrepair, polluting groundwater and leaking toxic gases like hydrogen sulfide into the air. The wells can be extremely dangerous for people nearby. After more research, the trio connected with a nonprofit organization called the Well Done Foundation that plugs orphaned wells. The organization was founded by Curtis Shuck, a veteran of the oil and gas industry who came across his first abandoned well in 2019. The students in North Carolina agreed to sponsor the 45th, an orphaned oil well on the horse farm in Ohio, near Cuyahoga Valley National Park…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/24/climate/orphan-wells-capping-methane-leaks.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 3.

2024-05-24. Virginia Has the Biggest Data Center Market in the World. Can It Also Decarbonize Its Grid? By Sarah Vogelsong. Inside Climate News. Excerpt: This March, Loudoun County, a suburb of Washington, D.C. in Northern Virginia that is home to the greatest concentration of data centers in the world, made an unexpected move: It rejected a proposal to let a company build a bigger data center than existing zoning automatically allowed.  “At some point we have to say stop,” said Loudoun Supervisor Michael Turner during the meeting, as reported by news site LoudounNow. “We do not have enough power to power the data centers we have.” County supervisors would later reverse the decision, approving a smaller version of the project. But the initial denial sent ripples throughout Virginia, where concern over the rapid growth of data centers and what that means for the state’s ambitious decarbonization goals is growing. …said Tim Cywinski, a spokesperson for the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club, …“The data center industry is about 2 percent of global carbon emissions….” …Dominion Energy, Virginia’s largest electric utility, has …pledged it will decarbonize its Virginia grid by 2045, in line with the Virginia Clean Economy Act passed by the state legislature in 2020, …. “We are 100 percent committed to achieving the goals of the VCEA. We are not taking our foot off the accelerator with renewables,” said Aaron Ruby, a spokesperson for Dominion. But, he added, “…The inescapable reality is we are experiencing unprecedented growth in electric demand.” …Companies have also set their own goals: Google aims to operate its data centers on carbon-free energy by 2030, while Amazon is pushing for net-zero carbon emissions by 2040…. Full article at https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24052024/virginia-data-center-market-electricity-demand/.

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2024-05-24. ‘Kitty cat’ storms hitting US heartland are growing threat to home insurance. By Jake Bittle, The Guardian. Excerpt: The rising cost of homeowner’s insurance is now one of the most prominent symptoms of the climate crisis in the US. Major carriers such as State Farm and Allstate have pulled back from offering fire insurance in California… and dozens of small insurance companies have collapsed or fled from Florida and Louisiana following recent large hurricanes. The problem is fast becoming a crisis that stretches far beyond the nation’s coastal states. …insurers have raised premiums higher than ever and dropped customers even in inland states such as Iowa. …so-called “severe-convective storms” are large and powerful thunderstorms that form and disappear within a few hours or days, often spinning off hailstorms and tornadoes as they shoot across the flat expanses of the central United States. The insurance industry refers to these storms as “secondary perils” – the other term of art is “kitty cats”, …smaller than big natural catastrophes…. Losses from severe convective storms increased by about 9% every year between 1989 and 2022, according to the insurance firm Aon. Last year these storms caused more than $50bn in insured losses combined…. No single storm event caused more than a few billion dollars of damage, but together they were more expensive than most big disasters…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/24/hail-storm-tornadoes-midwest-home-insurance. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-05-20. Earth’s Subduction May Have Been Triggered by the Same Event That Formed the Moon. By Rachel Fritts, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: The giant impact that formed the Moon may also have led to extrastrong mantle plumes that enabled the first subduction event, kick-starting Earth’s unique system of sliding plates. In a new study, Yuan et al. find evidence tracing the first subduction event to the same impact that created our Moon. …Yuan’s team explored postimpact mantle convection using both 2D and 3D thermomechanical modeling. They found that the increase in temperature at the core-mantle boundary after the giant impact could have led, over time, to strong mantle plumes—phenomena still seen today that can sometimes lead to volcanic activity far from plate boundaries…. Full article at https://eos.org/research-spotlights/earths-subduction-may-have-been-triggered-by-the-same-event-that-formed-the-moon. For GSS Energy Flow chapter 3.

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2024-05-20. Warm ocean tides are eating away at ‘doomsday glacier’ in Antarctica. By ELI KINTISCH, Science. Excerpt: Ocean tides are burrowing beneath a thick sheet of Antarctic ice—dubbed the “doomsday glacier” for its threat to global sea levels—and melting it from below. The daily intrusions of seawater, detected by satellites, mean the Thwaites Glacier may be disintegrating “much faster” than previously thought, scientists say in a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Melting at Thwaites, an expanse of ice bigger than Florida that stores enough water to raise sea levels by 0.6 meters, already accounts for 4% of global sea level rise. Because the glacier rests on bedrock that dips inland into a deep basin, its underbelly is vulnerable to relatively warm seawater, which melts the ice and, by loosening it from bedrock, hastens its flow into the ocean. And because other West Antarctic glaciers drain into the same basin, scientists believe Thwaites acts as a keystone. Its removal could accelerate the other glaciers’ collapse, potentially unleashing more than 3 meters of global ocean rise in coming centuries. In 2021, researchers noticed fissures on the floating ice at the ocean foot of the glacier, suggesting its crackup may already be underway…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/warm-ocean-tides-are-eating-away-doomsday-glacier-antarctica-satellites-detect-daily. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-05-20. Carbon Offset Programs Underestimate the Threat of Hurricanes. By Sierra Bouchér, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: New England is one of the most heavily forested areas in America: Roughly 15 million metric tons of carbon is stored there every year. These projects account for disasters that can kill trees and release their stored carbon. However, a new study published in Global Change Biology suggests that they may be underestimating the destructive power of hurricanes. A single hurricane in New England could release at least 121 million metric tons of carbon from downed trees, the study showed, the equivalent of the energy use of almost 16 million homes in 1 year. Many carbon offset programs reforest in the region. …When a company buys a carbon credit, it buys a slight surplus of offset, allowing offset programs to plant slightly more trees to take in more carbon than is being emitted. That way, if trees are lost to drought, fire, disease, or other disasters, the program stays carbon neutral. …As of 2020, 7% of California’s Cap-and-Trade Program carbon was stored in New England forests, and 3% of that carbon was set aside for storm damage. A single storm could take out that buffer pool…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/carbon-offset-programs-underestimate-the-threat-of-hurricanes. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-05-17. Climate Change Is Likely to Slash Global Income. By Katherine Bourzac, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: A new study estimates that climate change could cost $38 trillion per year, but emissions mitigation and adaptation strategies could limit future damages. Worldwide income may fall by 19% by 2049 because of changes in climate… according to a new study published in Nature. Poorer countries in the tropics that have historically contributed the least to greenhouse gas emissions will experience the greatest economic burden, researchers said. The “huge” $38 trillion annual price tag of climate-related damages is 6 times greater than the cost of mitigating emissions to meet the targets in the Paris Agreement, said Anders Levermann, a climate scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and one of the study’s authors. …Poorer countries will experience 61% more income loss than richer countries will. And the effects will also fall disproportionately on those that have contributed relatively little to climate change: Countries with historically low emissions will face 40% more lost income than those whose emissions have been high…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/climate-change-is-likely-to-slash-global-income. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-05-16. Distant Stars Spotlight Mini Moons in Saturn’s Rings. By Katherine Kornei, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Using data from the Cassini spacecraft, researchers studying one of the rings recently uncovered gaps just a few tens of meters wide that they believe surround unseen mini moonlets. …In addition to capturing more than 450,000 images of the Saturnian system, the spacecraft inadvertently tracked distant stars poking through Saturn’s rings. …The researchers spotted dozens of places in Saturn’s C ring—one of its innermost rings—that appeared to be 100% transparent. …Their elongated geometry was a tip-off to their potential identity—similarly shaped structures, albeit much larger, have been spotted in the outer regions of Saturn’s A ring. Known as propellers [resembling airplane propellers], those features are big enough to show up in Cassini imagery rather than just occultation data, Jerousek said. …Scientists believe that propellers exist because of unseen moonlets measuring, at most, several hundred meters in diameter…. Full article at https://eos.org/articles/distant-stars-spotlight-mini-moons-in-saturns-rings. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 7.

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2024-05-17. Clean Energy Is Driving ‘a New Era in American Manufacturing’ Across the Midwest. By Kristoffer Tigue, Inside Climate News. Excerpt: The Midwest is emerging as a major manufacturing hub for the clean energy transition as federal incentives and falling prices for renewables spur companies to invest tens of billions of dollars into new factory operations across the country. In August 2022, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which provides generous tax credits for projects and purchases related to clean energy. Since then, Midwestern states have received about $30 billion dollars in private investments to boost domestic production of electric vehicles, batteries and equipment for solar and wind farms, according to a monthly tally of funding announcements kept by energy think tank E2. Michigan, Indiana and Ohio have received $11.6 billion, $7.8 billion and $7 billion respectively, the E2 analysis said, placing them among the top 10 states nationwide to receive the most private investments for clean energy projects between August 2022 and April of this year…. Full article at https://insideclimatenews.org/news/17052024/midwest-clean-energy-manufacturing/. For GSS Climate Change chapter 9.

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2024-05-17. Economic damage from climate change six times worse than thought – report. By Oliver Milman, The Guardian. Excerpt: The economic damage wrought by climate change is six times worse than previously thought, with global heating set to shrink wealth at a rate consistent with the level of financial losses of a continuing permanent war, research has found. A 1°C increase in global temperature leads to a 12% decline in world gross domestic product (GDP), the researchers found, a far higher estimate than that of previous analyses. The world has already warmed by more than 1°C (1.8°F) since pre-industrial times and many climate scientists predict a 3°C (5.4°F) rise will occur by the end of this century due to the ongoing burning of fossil fuels, a scenario that the new working paper, yet to be peer-reviewed, states will come with an enormous economic cost. A 3°C temperature increase will cause “precipitous declines in output, capital and consumption that exceed 50% by 2100” the paper states. This economic loss is so severe that it is “comparable to the economic damage caused by fighting a war domestically and permanently”, it adds. “There will still be some economic growth happening but by the end of the century people may well be 50% poorer than they would’ve been if it wasn’t for climate change,” said Adrien Bilal, an economist at Harvard who wrote the paper with Diego Känzig, an economist at Northwestern University…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/17/economic-damage-climate-change-report. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-05-15. Sunlight-trapping device can generate temperatures over 1000°C. By Chen Ly, NewScientist. Excerpt: Engineers have developed a device that can generate temperatures of over 1000°C (1832°F) by efficiently capturing energy from the sun. It could one day be used as a green alternative to burning fossil fuels in the production of materials such as steel, glass and cement. …“About half of the energy we use is not actually turned into electricity,” says Emiliano Casati at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. “It’s used to produce many of the materials that we need in our daily lives and our industries.”…. Full article at https://www.newscientist.com/article/2431224-sunlight-trapping-device-can-generate-temperatures-over-1000c/. See also original article Solar thermal trapping at 1,000°C and above. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-05-15. Human ancestors may have hunted cave bears 300,000 years ago. By ANDREW CURRY, Science. Excerpt: For Stone Age hunters armed with little more than wooden spears, cave bears must have been a daunting foe. Adult members of Ursus spelaeus weighed upward of 750 kilograms, half again as big as modern grizzly bears. Standing upright, they towered more than 3 meters. …paleozoologist Susanne Münzel found …a stone spear tip embedded in a cave bear vertebra, evidence of a hunt 29,000 years ago. …Münzel and her colleagues have found dozens of additional signs pointing to cave bear hunting across Germany, as they report in the June issue of Quaternary Science Reviews. …At site after site, beginning about 300,000 years ago, the researchers found similar patterns: slice marks on paw bones and skulls where hides would have been cut free, bones cracked open to extract nutritious marrow, and scrapes on long bones showing they were carefully and thoroughly stripped of every last scrap of meat. …In the earliest caves, bones with marks made by Neanderthals and their immediate predecessor, known as Homo heidelbergensis, were often found intermingled with untouched cave bear bones—a sign that plenty of these bears died natural deaths. That may mean early hominins hunted cave bears only occasionally, not routinely. …Starting 40,000 years ago, things changed. Almost all the cave bear bones in caves occupied by modern humans were modified, suggesting hunting had become more systematic. During the last glacial maximum—an intense cold spell that began about 27,000 years ago and lasted more than 7000 years—cave bears would have been an especially tempting target. The animals could dependably be found hibernating in caves, making them a reliable and vulnerable food source during frigid winters. …This rise in cave bear hunting may have played a role in their eventual extinction—but it wasn’t the only factor. Humans weren’t just hunting these animals, they were competing with them for habitat, particularly the caves both species relied on for winter shelter. That put U. spelaeus on a collision course with Homo sapiens, particularly as human populations grew along with warming temperatures about 20,000 years ago…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/human-ancestors-may-have-hunted-cave-bears-300-000-years-ago. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 1.

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2024-05-15. As sea levels rise, DeSantis signs bill deleting climate change mentions from Florida state law. By Ella Nilsen, CNN. Excerpt: As Florida copes with rising seas and record temperatures, lawmakers are going to exceptional lengths to delete many mentions of climate change from state laws in a new bill that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law on Wednesday, according to his official X account. The wide-ranging law makes several changes to the state’s energy policy – in some cases deleting entire sections of state law that talk about the importance of cutting planet-warming pollution. The bill would also give preferential treatment to natural gas and ban offshore wind energy…. The bill deletes the phrase ‘climate’ eight times – often in reference to reducing the impacts of global climate change …or directing state agencies to buy ‘climate friendly’ products when they are cost-effective and available. The bill also gets rid of a requirement that state-purchased vehicles should be fuel efficient. …DeSantis and state lawmakers have poured over $1.1 billion into increasing community resilience to flooding and storms…. Florida has also accepted millions of dollars in federal funding to help reconstruct a state highway in Miami Beach – elevating the pavement and installing new pump stations to help clear the road of water during flooding events. When it comes to other federal climate and clean energy funding, however, the state hasn’t been eager to accept. DeSantis vetoed over $29 million dollars in federal energy rebates and energy efficiency grants from the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Florida was one of five states that declined to compete for $4.6 billion in federal climate grants…. Full article at https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/15/politics/desantis-bill-climate-change-florida/index.html. For GSS Climate Change chapter 9.

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2024-05-14. New Rules to Overhaul Electric Grids Could Boost Wind and Solar Power. By Brad Plumer, The New York Times. Excerpt: Federal regulators on Monday approved sweeping changes to how America’s electric grids are planned and funded, in a move that supporters hope could spur thousands of miles of new high-voltage power lines and make it easier to add more wind and solar energy. The new rule by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission …which was two years in the making, requires grid operators around the country to identify needs 20 years into the future, taking into account factors like changes in the energy mix, the growing number of states that require wind and solar power and the risks of extreme weather. Grid planners would have to evaluate the benefits of new transmission lines, such as whether they would lower electricity costs or reduce the risk of blackouts, and develop methods for splitting the costs of those lines among customers and businesses…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/13/climate/electric-grid-overhaul-ferc.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 5.

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2024-05-14. 2023 summer warmth unparalleled over the past 2,000 years. By Jan Esper, Max Torbenson & Ulf Büntgen, Nature. Abstract: Including an exceptionally warm Northern Hemisphere (NH) summer, 2023 has been reported as the hottest year on record. Contextualizing recent anthropogenic warming against past natural variability is nontrivial, however, because the sparse 19^th century meteorological records tend to be too warm. Here, we combine observed and reconstructed June-August (JJA) surface air temperatures to show that 2023 was the warmest NH extra-tropical summer over the past 2000 years exceeding the 95% confidence range of natural climate variability by more than half a degree Celsius. …Although 2023 is consistent with a greenhouse gases-induced warming trend that is amplified by an unfolding El Niño event, this extreme emphasizes the urgency to implement international agreements for carbon emission reduction. Full article at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07512-y. For GSS Climate Change chapter 7.

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2024-05-13. The biggest disturbance of Earth’s magnetic field in more than 20 years dazzled onlookers the world over. By MICHAEL GRESHKO, Science. Excerpt: Earth got its bell rung this past weekend, sucker-punched by the Sun itself in the biggest geomagnetic storm in more than 2 decades. The storm—triggered when the magnetic fields in blobs of plasma from the Sun collided with Earth’s magnetic field—not only yielded once-in-a-generation aurorae at latitudes as low as the Florida Keys, but also took scientists’ breath away with its power. …This weekend’s fireworks began with Active Region 3664, a giant cluster of sunspots, more than 15 times wider than Earth, where the Sun’s magnetic field is highly concentrated. The magnetic field lines twisted and eventually snapped, causing the cluster to fling off a series of enormous, billion-ton blobs of plasma toward Earth, each embedded with strong magnetic fields. The detection of at least five of these expulsions, known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), caused U.S. forecasters to issue a “severe” G4 watch—its first since 2005—on 9 May, the day before the blobs struck Earth. …as they moved toward Earth, they coalesced into a single complex mass. …The storm was upgraded to an extreme G5. …Geomagnetic storms that approach this weekend’s severity occur about four times per 11-year solar cycle, according to the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The last G5 resembling this weekend’s event, the so-called “Halloween storms” of 2003, caused power outages in Sweden and blew out transformers in South Africa. Another G5 storm in 1989 knocked out power for 6 million people in Quebec in Canada….. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/extreme-solar-storm-generated-auroras-and-surprise. For GSS Energy Flow chapter 4.

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2024-05-12. Solar storms made GPS tractors miss their mark at the worst time for farmers. By Wes Davis, The Verge. Excerpt: Farmers had to stop planting their crops over the weekend as the strongest solar storms since 2003 battered the GPS satellites used by self-driving tractors, according to 404 Media. And the issues struck just days ahead of a crucial date for planting corn, one of the US’s biggest crops. …Organic farmer Tom Schwarz …said he uses the centimeter-level accuracy of the GPS system to plant his rows so close to his tractor’s path that a human being can’t “steer fast enough or well enough to not kill the crop.” …The recent storms are some of the worst to hit the Earth since 2003, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), having reached G5, the NOAA’s highest severity rating. That can mean major power grid and communications disruptions…. Full article at https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/12/24154779/solar-storms-farmer-gps-john-deer. See also New York Times article, Solar Storm Crashes GPS Systems Used by Some Farmers, Stalling Planting. For GSS Energy Flow chapter 5.

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2024-05-10. A (mostly) scientific ranking of takeout containers – from worst to best for the environment. By Amanda Schupak, The Guardian. Excerpt: …Here’s our (mostly) scientific ranking, from worst to best. 7. [worst] Compostable serveware. …6. Some plastic and paperboard packaging …Some plastics used in food service containers, such as number 6 (polystyrene), generally are not recyclable. Nor aresoft plastics, like film labels and straws…. 5. Clear, rigid plastic boxes, cups and clamshells The same goes for classic Chinese takeout boxes and similar containers, since they’re coated with plastic to prevent leaking. …But among different types of plastics, those with a number 1 (PET or PETE) or 2 (HDPE) inside the chasing arrows …are more valuable to recyclers than plastics with higher numbers. Widely used number 5 (polypropylene or PP) plastics are becoming more recyclable and valuable, too. …4. Recycled containers …Containers made from recycled materials are better than ones that aren’t. …3. Aluminum boxes …there’s a robust market for recycled aluminum …The tops add a trickier dimension. Number 1 or 2 plastic lids are recyclable, whereas a cardboard lid that’s white on top and metallic on the bottom probably isn’t, by dint of being made of two materials that are impossible to separate. …2. Paper and foil wraps, pizza boxes …(Pro tip: if your [pizza] leaked a lot of oil, rip off the top for recycling and put the greasy [cardboard] in the trash.) …1. Reusable containers …The break-even point could be as little as two uses, or more than 100…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/10/best-sustainable-food-containers. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 7.

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2024-05-09. What are the most powerful climate actions you can take? By Damian Carrington, The Guardian. Excerpt: …the most effective action individuals can take …Most experts (76%) backed voting for politicians who pledge strong climate measures, where fair elections take place. …The second choice for most effective individual action, according to the experts, was reducing flying and fossil-fuel powered transport in favour of electric and public transport. …Globally it is a small minority of people who drive aviation emissions, with only about one in 10 flying at all. Frequent-flying “super emitters” who represent just 1% of the world’s population cause half of aviation’s carbon emissions, with US air passengers having by far the biggest carbon footprint among rich countries. …Meat production has a huge impact on the environment. Most people in wealthy countries already eat more meat than is healthy for them and more than 60% of the scientists said they had cut their own meat consumption. Almost 30% of the experts said eating less meat was the most effective climate action, while a similar proportion backed cutting emissions from heating or cooling homes, by installing heat pumps…. Having fewer children was backed by 12% of the experts but many made further suggestions. …Shifting savings or pension funds away from fossil fuel investments and towards green ones was also mentioned by multiple experts…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/09/what-are-the-most-powerful-climate-actions-you-can-take. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-05-08. A meta-analysis on global change drivers and the risk of infectious disease. By Michael B. Mahon et al, Nature. Abstract: Anthropogenic change is contributing to the rise in emerging infectious diseases, which are significantly correlated with socioeconomic, environmental and ecological factors. Studies have shown that infectious disease risk is modified by changes to biodiversity, climate change, chemical pollution, landscape transformations and species introductions. However, it remains unclear which global change drivers most increase disease and under what contexts. Here we amassed a dataset from the literature that contains 2,938 observations of infectious disease responses to global change drivers across 1,497 host–parasite combinations, including plant, animal and human hosts. …reducing greenhouse gas emissions, managing ecosystem health, and preventing biological invasions and biodiversity loss could help to reduce the burden of plant, animal and human diseases, especially when coupled with improvements to social and economic determinants of health. Full article at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07380-6. See also New York Times article, Environmental Changes Are Fueling Human, Animal and Plant Diseases, Study Finds. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-04-30. Megadrought forces end to sugarcane farming in parched Texas borderland. By Lela Nargi, The Guardian. Excerpt: …In February, the [Rio Grande Valley Sugar Growers] cooperative announced that it would close its 50-year-old sugarcane processing mill, the last remaining in the state, by the end of this spring. …Ongoing megadrought meant there wasn’t enough water to irrigate co-op members’ 34,000 acres of sugarcane, and that effectively puts an end to sugarcane farming in the south Texas borderlands. …In 2022, drought decimated Texas cotton and forced California growers to idle half their rice fields. Water disputes are also on the rise as decreased flows in the Colorado River and other vital waterways pit state against state, states against native nations and farmers against municipalities…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/30/texas-sugarcane-farming. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-05-11. The latest on the massive solar storm. By Angela Fritz, Elise Hammond and Chris Lau, CNN. Excerpt: A series of solar flares and coronal mass ejections have created dazzling auroras that may be seen as far south as Alabama and Northern California — but could also disrupt communications on Earth over the weekend…. [See photos too.] Full article at https://www.cnn.com/weather/live-news/geomagnetic-solar-storm-northern-lights-05-10-24/index.html. For GSS Energy Flow chapter 5.

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2024-05-10. Renewables are meeting 95% of Portugal’s electricity needs. How did it become a European leader? By Euronews Green. Excerpt: Portugal has made huge progress in renewable power, up from 27 per cent in 2005 and 54 per cent in 2017. Portugal generated an ‘historic’ 95 per cent of its electricity from renewables in April, according to the network operator REN. …Solar might not have been the star of the show in REN’s new stock take. A third of the way through the year, the renewable made up 7 per cent of Portugal’s electricity mix, behind wind at 30 per cent and hydroelectric plants at 48 per cent. However, “the solar component continues to grow substantially,” REN says. April saw the “highest monthly significance ever recorded” for solar – when it covered 10.5 per cent of the country’s electricity consumption. …Portugal had the third highest share of wind energy in its electricity mix last year at 29 per cent, behind Ireland (36 per cent) and Denmark (58 per cent)…. Full article at https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/05/10/renewables-are-meeting-95-of-portugals-electricity-needs-how-did-it-become-a-european-lead. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-05-10. This country has become the first in modern history to lose all of its glaciers. By Angela Symons, Euronews.green. Excerpt: Venezuela has lost its last glacier, making it the first nation in modern history to hold this unenviable record. At least five other glaciers have disappeared in the South American country within the last century as climate change drives up temperatures in the Andes. The country lost 98 per cent of its glacial area between 1952 and 2019, research shows. …Temperatures are warming faster at the Earth’s higher elevations than in lowlands. This has caused Venezuela’s last glacier to decline more quickly than anticipated. Back in 2019, scientists predicted that the Humboldt could be gone within two decades, but it has already reportedly shrunk to less than two hectares…. Full article at https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/05/10/this-country-has-become-the-first-in-modern-history-to-lose-all-of-its-glaciers. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-05-10. First New U.S. Aluminum Smelter in 45 Years Could Cut Production Emissions by 75%. By Maddie Stone, Grist. Excerpt: Aluminum is a crucial raw ingredient in the fight against climate change. But to ensure the transition off fossil fuels is a clean one, the industry needs a serious makeover. A new federally funded “green smelter” could help make that happen. …aluminum manufacturers are responsible for about 1.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year. …In March, the agency announced $6 billion in funding for “industrial demonstration” projects that showcase promising strategies for reducing the climate impact of heavy industry. …The beneficiaries of the government’s cleanup effort include Century Aluminum Company, which could receive up to half a billion dollars to build the nation’s first new aluminum smelter in 45 years. The facility, dubbed the Green Aluminum Smelter, could double the amount of virgin, or primary, aluminum the country produces while emitting 75 percent less CO2 than older smelters, thanks to increased efficiency and the use of renewable electricity…. Full article at https://gizmodo.com/first-new-u-s-aluminum-smelter-in-45-years-could-cut-p-1851469454. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-05-07. Cracking Soils Could Accelerate Climate Change. By Elise Cutts, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: …Researchers already knew separately that drought can enhance soil cracking, that soil cracks can enhance greenhouse gas emissions, and that climate change is predicted to make drought more intense and frequent in many arid parts of the world. “What this paper does is put all that together,” said soil scientist Kelly Caylor of the University of California, Santa Barbara, who was not involved in the new study. It shows how drought-driven changes to the physical structure of soils—in this case, cracking—could contribute to climate change, too, he added. …Soils are the planet’s greatest stockpile of terrestrial carbon. …Vahedifard and his colleagues published their study in Environmental Research Letters.… Full article at https://eos.org/articles/cracking-soils-could-accelerate-climate-change. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-05-07. Giant Batteries Are Transforming the Way the U.S. Uses Electricity. By Brad Plumer and Nadja Popovich, The New York Times. Excerpt: They’re delivering solar power after dark in California and helping to stabilize grids in other states. And the technology is expanding rapidly. …Solar power is plentiful during the day but disappears by evening, just as people get home from work and electricity demand spikes. …Since 2020, California has installed more giant batteries than anywhere in the world apart from China. They can soak up excess solar power during the day and store it for use when it gets dark …Between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. on April 30, …batteries supplied more than one-fifth of California’s electricity and, for a few minutes, pumped out 7,046 megawatts of electricity, akin to the output from seven large nuclear reactors. …Over the past three years, battery storage capacity on the nation’s grids has grown tenfold, to 16,000 megawatts. This year, it is expected to nearly double again, with the biggest growth in Texas, California and Arizona…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/05/07/climate/battery-electricity-solar-california-texas.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 4.

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2024-05-06. Deadly Pacific ‘blobs’ tied to emission cuts in China. By WARREN CORNWALL, Science. Excerpt: Starting in late 2013, the first in a handful of record-shattering heat waves struck the north Pacific Ocean near Alaska. Temperatures in these warm “blobs,” which have occurred four times in the past decade, sometimes reach more than 2°C above normal. …Research has implicated climate change, which can supercharge natural fluctuations in ocean heat. But now, scientists are pointing to another surprising contributor: China’s success in stemming air pollution. A steep decline in aerosols—tiny airborne particles such as sulfates—emitted by Chinese factories and power plants in the 2010s appears to have amplified a string of extreme heat waves on the other side of the Pacific, driving up to 30% of the temperature increase during these heat waves, scientists report today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. …Aerosols can act like tiny mirrors, reflecting sunlight back into space and reducing the amount that reaches Earth’s surface. Eliminate them and the world warms. Scientists last month reported that cleaner air might be responsible for 40% of the increase in heat driving global warming between 2001 and 2019…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/deadly-pacific-blobs-tied-emission-cuts-china. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-05-06. Hellish Venus may have lost its water quickly. By JONATHAN O’CALLAGHAN, Science. Excerpt: With surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead, Venus today is a veritable hellhole, despite being similar in size to Earth and orbiting in the habitable zone of the Sun. Yet studies suggest the planet may have once hosted oceans and even conditions suitable for life. Explaining how all that water disappeared has been a problem. A study published today in Nature offers a solution, identifying a new water-loss mechanism operating high in Venus’s atmosphere that could have doubled the rate of water loss. Speedier drying could have allowed oceans to exist until later in Venus’s history—implying the planet might have been habitable for longer. …At 96% carbon dioxide, its atmosphere traps so much heat that surface temperatures reach more than 450°C. Yet spacecraft and telescopes have seen faint hints of water vapor in the atmosphere, and in the late 1970s, NASA’s Pioneer Venus orbiter detected a sign of long-vanished oceans: an enrichment of heavy hydrogen, deuterium. …The authors of the new study say they have identified new water-loss chemistry that can resolve the problem. …some 150 kilometers above the surface, sunlight would not only split water vapor but also carbon dioxide, creating hydrogen and carbon monoxide that would combine into an unstable ion called HCO⁺ …[that] would break apart to shed excess energy. …“The hydrogen uses the carbon monoxide molecule as a launchpad to escape to space,” explaining how the last “dregs” of venusian water could have been lost even after hydrodynamic loss ceased. …Venus may have held onto its oceans until much more recently, perhaps 2 billion to 3 billion years ago…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/hellish-venus-may-have-lost-its-water-quickly. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 7.

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2024-05-02. How Mantle Movements Shape Earth’s Surface. By Rachel Fritts, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: The movement of tectonic plates shapes the rocky features of Earth’s surface. Plates’ convergence can form mountain ranges or ocean trenches, and their divergence can form oceanic ridges. But it’s not just the plates themselves that influence Earth’s topography. The mantle layer underneath exerts its own subtle influence, which can be seen even in places located far from tectonic plate edges, and is referred to as residual topography. …To better understand how the mantle affects topography, Stephenson et al., building on previous work focused on the oceans, created two new databases. One compiles 26,725 measurements of crust thickness around the globe, the largest such database to date, along with estimates of seismic velocity. The other contains laboratory analysis of seismic velocity as a function of temperature, density, and pressure. …The researchers found that differences in the temperature and chemical structure of the mantle can cause swells and basins in the landscape distinct from those that form at the edges of tectonic plates. These features can rise or fall by up to 2 kilometers and stretch for hundreds to thousands of kilometers—all within the interior of plates. Some of the highest swells (about 2 kilometers), which are thought to correspond to locations where the mantle is particularly hot, can be found in the Afar–Yemen–Red Sea region, western North America, and Iceland. Some of the deepest basins (deeper than about 1.5 kilometers), where the mantle is thought to be cooler, are in areas near the Black, Caspian, and Aral seas, as well as in the East European Plain. Full article at https://eos.org/research-spotlights/how-mantle-movements-shape-earths-surface. …Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JB026735, 2024. For GSS Energy Flow chapter 3.

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2024-05-03. Florida sees thriving future if climate resilience managed, research finds. By Richard Luscombe, The Guardian. Excerpt: Climate predictions in Florida, for the most part, make pretty grim reading. Rising oceans threaten to submerge most of the state by the end of the century, and soaring temperatures could make it too hot to live here anyway. But new research by a coalition of prominent universities paints a more upbeat picture of Florida’s future as a thriving state for humans and wildlife, with natural resources harnessed to mitigate the worst effects of the climate emergency generally, as well as extreme weather events such as hurricanes and floods. Such a prosperous tomorrow, the authors say, can only follow essential preparatory work today. One key element, an 18m-acre swath of protected land called the Florida wildlife corridor, is already mostly in place, and will spearhead Florida’s climate resilience if properly managed and allowed to evolve, the researchers believe…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/03/florida-climate-future. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-05-03. What a Philippine court ruling means for transgenic Golden Rice, once hailed as a dietary breakthrough. By DENNIS NORMILE, Science. Excerpt: Golden Rice seemed to be on the cusp of fulfilling its promise. Decades ago, researchers created the genetically modified (GM) rice variety to combat vitamin A deficiency, a scourge of the developing world that can cause blindness and even lead to death. But for more than 20 years activists opposed to GM crops kept Golden Rice confined to laboratories and test plots. But in 2021, the government of the Philippines granted a permit allowing the commercial planting of Malusog Rice, a Golden Rice variety tailored for local conditions and tastes. Farmers began to grow limited amounts of the grain in 2022. Officials hoped to have the variety comprise 10% of the nation’s rice harvest within 8 years, enough to meet the needs of all vitamin A deficient households. On 17 April, however, a Philippine Court of Appeals revoked the permit, bringing that plan to a halt. Ruling on a lawsuit brought by Greenpeace and other groups, the court concluded that in the absence of a scientific consensus on the safety of Golden Rice it should not be commercially cultivated. The nation’s constitution, the judges found, required the government to follow the so-called precautionary principle of waiting to approve new crops and activities until scientists reach a consensus that they are safe for humans and the environment. …the decision also blocks new field testing in greenhouses or open fields, crimping research until an approved monitoring scheme is in place. …Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States have all approved Golden Rice for consumption although there is little if any cultivation of the crop…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/what-philippine-court-ruling-means-transgenic-golden-rice-once-hailed-dietary. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 4.

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2024-05-03. Nuclear energy continues to help power N.Y. grid as renewables lag. By Molly Burke, Times Union. Excerpt: New York’s four reactors generate 22 percent of the state’s electricity, while fossil fuels continue to power nearly 50 percent. …The energy the plant produces — which does not emit any greenhouse gasses — will not contribute toward New York’s fast-approaching goal to transition 70 percent of the electrical grid to renewable sources by 2030 under mandates by the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Nuclear energy, while low-carbon, is produced from finite materials and is nonrenewable. …While renewable energy projects have faltered, including two offshore wind projects off the coast of Long Island being scrapped in mid-April, nuclear energy in New York has continued steadily for a number of years. The cancellations of the wind projects …underscore the variables and cost challenges facing efforts in New York and the nation to develop coastal wind as a major energy source. Full article at https://www.timesunion.com/state/article/new-york-renewables-face-climb-reach-approaching-19420209.php. For GSS Energy Use chapter 4.

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2024-05-02. Court strikes down youth climate lawsuit on Biden administration request. By Dharna Noor, The Guardian. Excerpt: The lawsuit, Juliana v United States, was filed by 21 young people from Oregon who alleged the federal government’s role in fueling the climate crisis violates their constitutional rights. The Wednesday order from a panel of three Trump-appointed judges on the ninth circuit court of appeals will require a US district court judge to dismiss the case for lack of standing, with no opening to amend the complaint. …[said Julia Olson, attorney and founder ofOur Children’s Trust, the non-profit law firm that brought the suit] “…the full ninth circuit can correct this mistake.”…. Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/02/youth-climate-lawsuit-juliana-appeals-court. For GSS Climate Change chapter 9.

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2024-05-02. Cheap catalyst could help turn carbon dioxide into fuels. By ROBERT F. SERVICE, Science. Excerpt: Molybdenum compound offers an efficient way to make carbon monoxide—a building block of chemicals and fuels. Imagine if carbon dioxide (CO₂)—the primary cause of global warming—could be collected from smokestacks and turned back into fuel. Now, chemists report the discovery of a potentially cheap and stable catalyst that can efficiently split CO₂ into carbon monoxide (CO), a molecular starting point for plastics, diesel, and jet fuels. Because renewable electricity can power these reactions, the catalyst could help make commodity chemicals without burning fossil fuels. It could also help create a market for the vast amounts of CO₂ that companies are planning on capturing not just from smokestacks, but from the ocean and air…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/cheap-catalyst-could-help-turn-carbon-dioxide-fuels. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-05-02. Can Forests Be More Profitable Than Beef?. By Manuela Andreoni, The New York Times. Excerpt: The residents of Maracaçumé, an impoverished town on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, are mystified by the company that recently bought the biggest ranch in the region. How can it possibly make money by planting trees, which executives say they’ll never cut down, on pastureland where cattle have been grazing for decades? …The new company …is a forest restoration business called Re.green. Its aim, along with a handful of other companies, is to create a whole new industry that can make standing trees, which store planet-warming carbon, more lucrative than the world’s biggest driver of deforestation: cattle ranching. …About a fifth of the great rainforest is already gone. And scientist warn that rising global temperatures could push the entire ecosystem, a trove of biodiversity and a crucial regulator of the world’s climate, to collapse in the coming decades unless deforestation is halted and an area the size of Germany is restored. …Re.green plans to restore native trees in deforested areas and sell credits that correspond to the carbon they lock away. …many conservationists worry that carbon credits could easily be abused by companies that want to appear environmentally conscious while sticking with fossil fuels. …A brutal drought fueled by climate change and deforestation has recently dried out much of the grass that ranchers there use as feed. And, after decades of pounding by hooves, millions of acres across the region have become so degraded they can’t nourish much of anything. …fewer than half of the ranches registered with the city have any cattle on them…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/02/climate/amazon-reforestation.html. For GSS A New World View chapter 5.

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2024-05-01. Steel industry emissions are a big contributor to climate change. Can it go green? By WARREN CORNWALL, Science. Excerpt: Steelmaking, the fiery process that undergirds modern life, comes with a huge cost to the climate. Greenhouse gases gush from the burning fossil fuels that drive 1600°C blast furnaces and melt raw iron ore. Purifying the molten ore by mixing it with refined coal, or coke, releases a second, bigger surge of carbon dioxide. A third stream comes when the resulting pig iron is turned into steel by cooking it a bit further—baking off most of the remaining carbon—and alloying it with additives such as chromium or titanium. In the end, the emitted greenhouse gases weigh roughly twice as much as the steel itself. Nearly 2 billion tons of steel is produced worldwide each year, accounting for about 7% of human greenhouse gas emissions, more than Russia or the entire European Union. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is now hoping to change that. In March, DOE announced $1.5 billion in grants for low-carbon ironmaking, and last month, the agency’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) announced another $28 million in grants for more cutting-edge, speculative approaches…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/steel-industry-emissions-big-contributor-climate-change-can-go-green. For GSS Energy Use chapter 6.

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2024-05-01. China’s Electric Cars Keep Improving, a Worry for Rivals Elsewhere. By Keith Bradsher, The New York Times. Excerpt: Better batteries and falling costs underpin China’s push in electric cars. CATL, based in southeastern China and the world’s largest manufacturer of electric car batteries, announced last week at the Beijing auto show that a 10-minute charge of its newest battery would give a range of 370 miles. A 30-minute full charge would give a range of 620 miles, the company said…. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/01/business/china-electric-vehicles.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 9.

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2024-04-30. Ancient crystals suggest early Earth had land and freshwater. By ELISE CUTTS, Science. Excerpt: Hardy zircon minerals found in Australian rocks suggest conditions for life existed 4 billion years ago …“We found evidence for two things: There was land above sea level and, at the same, that this land interacted with freshwater,” says Hamed Gamaleldien, a geochemist at Khalifa University who presented the results this month at a conference of the European Geosciences Union. “This means you start to have the hydrological cycle, and you started to have the recipe for the start of life.” If Gamaleldien and his colleagues are right…the late Hadean might have been habitable long before the appearance of the first fossils. Not all hypotheses for the origins of life require dry land. But some invoke freshwater hot spring environments. Gamaleldien hopes his discovery will spark renewed interest in a search for life before 4 billion years. “Whether there’s life or not, we don’t know,” he says. “But you had the recipe.”…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/ancient-crystals-suggest-early-earth-had-land-and-freshwater. For GSS Life and Climate chapter 4.

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2024-04-29. Where Seas Are Rising At Alarming Speed. By Chris Mooney, Brady Dennis, Kevin Crowe and John Muyskens, The Washington Post. Excerpt: One of the most rapid sea level surges on Earth is besieging the American South, forcing a reckoning for coastal communities across eight U.S. states, a Washington Post analysis has found. At more than a dozen tidegauges spanning from Texas to North Carolina,sea levels are at least 6 inches higher than they were in 2010 — a change similar to what occurred over the previous five decades. …The Gulf of Mexico has experienced twice the global average rate of sea level rise since 2010, a Post analysis of satellite data shows. …As waters rise, Louisiana’s wetlands — the state’s natural barrier against major storms — are in a state of “drowning.” Choked septic systems are failing and threatening to contaminatewaterways. Insurance companies are raising rates, limiting policies or even bailing in some places,casting uncertainty over future home values in flood-prone areas. …Roads increasingly are falling below the highest tides, leaving drivers stuck in repeated delays, or forcing them to slog through salt water to reach homes, schools, work and places of worship. In some communities, researchers and public officials fear, rising waters could periodically cut off some people from essential services such as medical aid…. Full article at https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2024/southern-us-sea-level-rise-risk-cities/. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-04-29. Climate modelers grapple with their own carbon emissions. By PAUL VOOSEN, Science. Excerpt: Over the decades, supercomputer simulations of Earth’s climate have yielded unprecedented insights into how the interplay of atmosphere, ocean, and land shapes the planet’s response to rising levels of greenhouse gases. But as these climate models have grown in complexity, researchers have started to worry the simulations have a substantial climate footprint of their own. Running them can take weeks or longer on a supercomputer, consuming megawatts of electric power—some of it likely from fossil fuels. …Nearly 50 modeling centers worldwide contributed to the last round of [Coupled Model Intercomparison Project], which ended in 2022, simulating hundreds of thousands of years and creating 40 petabytes of data. …centers accounted for nearly 1700 tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) released to the atmosphere, according to a study published this month in Geoscientific Model Development led by Mario Acosta, a climate modeler at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/climate-modelers-grapple-their-own-carbon-emissions. For GSS Climate Change chapter 7.

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2024-04-23. A hunk of space junk crashed through his roof in Florida. Who should pay to fix it? By Bill Chappell, NPR. Excerpt: Alejandro Otero was out of town on vacation last month when his son called from their house in Naples, Fla., to tell him …he heard an extremely loud crash — and realized it came from inside the house. …the object wasn’t a meteorite. It was cylindrical, and while one end was melted by the heat of reentry, the other had a smooth round shape with a circular indentation. …[It was] a large battery pallet from the International Space Station that NASA released for an uncontrolled reentry, three years ago. …”The location of the reentry was predicted by the 18th Space Defense Squadron to be in the Gulf of Mexico,”. …”We are in the process of sending NASA our claim which will include the insurance and non-insurance damages,” he says, adding that his lawyer has been in touch with NASA’s legal counsel. …”It will depend on whose module of the space station that came from,” said Sundahl, who is the director of the Global Space Law Center at Cleveland State University. “We have an international convention on liability for damage caused by outer space objects …from 1972. …But, Sundahl added, if the object in question turns out to be part of a U.S. module, “then the international law no longer applies. It becomes a domestic legal issue, and a homeowner would have to bring a tort action against the federal government.”…. Full article at https://www.npr.org/2024/04/23/1243676256/space-station-junk-hits-florida-home-liability. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 7.

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2024-04-25. New rule compels US coal-fired power plants to capture emissions – or shut down. By Associated Press/The Guardian. Excerpt: Coal-fired power plants would be forced to capture smokestack emissions or shut down under a rule issued on Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). …The power plant rule marks the first time the federal government has restricted carbon dioxide emissions from existing coal-fired power plants. The rule also would force future electric plants fueled by coal or gas to control up to 90% of their carbon pollution. The new standards will stave off 1.38bn metric tons of carbon pollution through 2047, equivalent to the annual emissions of 328m gas cars, the EPA said, and will provide hundreds of billions of dollars in climate and health benefits, measured in fewer premature deaths, asthma cases, and lost work or school days. …Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association, said that through the latest rules, “the EPA is systematically dismantling the reliability of the US electric grid”. …Coal provided about 16% of US electricity last year, down from about 45% in 2010. Natural gas provides about 43% of US electricity, with the remainder from nuclear energy and renewables such as wind, solar and hydropower…. See article at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/25/new-rule-compels-us-coal-fired-power-plants-to-capture-emissions-or-shut-down. For GSS Energy Use chapter 4.

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2024-04-24. America’s plastic catastrophe – China stopped taking our plastic waste. Now we’re drowning in it. By Taylor Dorrell, Business Insider. Excerpt: …what do we do with the 40 million tons of plastic waste we produce annually? …For years, the answer was simple: Make a lot of it, dump most of it in the landfill, and make the rest of it someone else’s problem — the US regularly exported 7 million tons a year to China alone. Some of it was melted into lesser plastic; the rest was incinerated or buried. But then, in 2018, China cut off plastic imports. Now, America is coming to terms with a hard truth: Plastic was never designed to be recycled and there’s no profitable way to recycle 91% of it. The environmental impacts have been disastrous. About 430 million tons of plastic are produced globally every year, accounting for 14% of global oil demand. …While the US, the UK, and other European countries responded to China’s ban by sending their waste to places like Thailand and Malaysia, those countries then followed China in cutting off waste imports. The message was clear: The Global South would no longer be a dumping ground for the West. …America is now scrambling to find alternatives. One approach peddled by oil corporations like Chevron and Exxon has been to turn plastic into crude oil, which they say extends the life of plastic that would’ve otherwise ended up in a landfill. …Plastic went from being practically nonexistent in 1940 to being consumed at a rate of 30 pounds a person each year by 1960. …A 2022 report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development found only 9% of all plastic ever produced had been recycled; 72% ended up in landfills or the environment. …In the plastic-recycling industry, pyrolysis is seen as a well funded but failing experiment. … See article at https://www.businessinsider.com/plastic-recycling-problem-america-waste-pyrolysis-big-oil-china-2024-4. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 7.

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2024-04-23. IRA’s Solar for All Program Will Install Nearly 1 Million Systems in US. By Dan Gearino, Inside Climate News. Excerpt: For people who have spent their careers trying to expand access to rooftop solar energy, the announcement on Monday of $7 billion worth of project support from the Biden administration is almost unfathomable in its size and scope. Money from the Solar for All program, which is part of the Inflation Reduction Act, will go to 60 recipients that include state and Tribal governments and nonprofit organizations. Its goal is to help lower-income and otherwise disadvantaged households obtain the financial and environmental benefits of solar. “It’s a good day,” said Erica Mackie, CEO and co-founder of GRID Alternatives, an Oakland, California-based nonprofit that will receive two grants totaling more than $310 million and is involved with a third grant of $62.3 million. …GRID Alternatives started in 2004 with the installation of two solar systems and has grown to about 500 employees who provide job training for solar installers and set up solar systems for qualifying low-income households…. Full article at https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23042024/inflation-reduction-act-solar-for-all/. For GSS Climate Change chapter 9.

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2024-04-22. Oldest ever ice offers glimpse of Earth before the ice ages. By ELISE CUTTS, Science. Excerpt: Samples of eerie blue glacial ice from Antarctica are a staggering 6 million years old, scientists announced last week, doubling the previous record for Earth’s oldest ice. The ice opens a new window on Earth’s ancient climate—one that isn’t exactly what scientists expected. The ice opens a new window on Earth’s ancient climate—one that isn’t exactly what scientists expected. The results are preliminary, stresses Ed Brook, a geochemist at Oregon State University (OSU) and leader of the U.S. Center for Oldest Ice Exploration (COLDEX), which presented the discovery last week here in multiple talks at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly. But if even a tiny drop in CO₂ can kick off a major climate change, Brook adds, “you know, we probably care about that.”…. Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/oldest-ever-ice-offers-glimpse-earth-ice-ages. For GSS Life and Climate chapter 10.

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2024-04-22. Three Places Changing Quickly to Fight Climate Change. By Delger Erdenesanaa, The New York Times. Excerpt: To mark Earth Day (and to try to reach young, environmentally-minded voters) President Biden is promoting a new national program to train and employ people in climate-related jobs, and reminding voters of the clean-energy investments underway following the Inflation Reduction Act. …Uruguay, a nation of 3.4 million people wedged between Argentina and Brazil, generates nearly all its electricity from renewable sources. In 2008, the government set a goal of transforming the electric grid, which had come to depend on imported oil. …Between 2013 and 2018, wind generation grew sharply from almost nothing to about a quarter of Uruguay’s electricity mix. By the end of 2022, the most recent year data is available, Uruguay generated more than 90 percent of its power from renewables, with wind and solar growing even as hydropower declined. …Transportation is the second biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Electric car sales have grown exponentially over the past decade, and China is by far the largest market for these vehicles. About 7.3 million battery electric vehicles were sold around the world in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency. More than half of these cars, about 4.4 million, were sold in China. …The most popular electric car in China is currently the Hongguang Mini, a tiny two-door model that costs about $5,000. …In 2021, officials in Paris announced a plan to make their city “100 percent cycle-friendly” in the next five years. …Between 2001 and 2018, the number of car trips taken in Paris fell by 60 percent. Over that same period, public transit trips increased by 40 percent and bicycle trips by 20 percent…. See article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/22/climate/earth-day-climate-change.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-04-18. Swift Quakes Caused by Stomping Feet, Not Booming Beat. By Carolyn Wilke, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: When 70,000 fans bounced up and down to Taylor Swift last year, the ground pulsed with them, making distinct spikes in seismic signals that many referred to as Swift quakes. Scientists have now analyzed the tremors to learn about their source. …Tepp jumped up and down next to the sensor and the speaker. “It gave a very nice harmonic signal,” she said, suggesting that the motion of jumping fans produced the curious seismic signals. The researchers published their findings in Seismological Research Letters. …The concert data also revealed that the most intense seismic signals came during Swift hits “Shake It Off,” “You Belong with Me,” and “Love Story.”… See article at https://eos.org/articles/swift-quakes-caused-by-stomping-feet-not-booming-beat. For GSS Energy Flow chapter 2.

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2024-04-17. How Are Deep Soils Responding to Warming? By Fabrizzio Protti Sánchez, Avni Malhotra, Michael W. I. Schmidt, Cornelia Rumpel and Margaret S. Torn, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Soil ecosystems play fundamental roles in sustaining food and fiber production, improving water quality and availability, sequestering carbon, and providing other societal needs. Climate warming affects the ability of soils to provide these ecosystem services, likely posing broad consequences for food security and the stability of ecosystems belowground and aboveground. To predict and manage these consequences effectively, it is crucial to understand how soil processes respond to rising temperatures. Scientists worldwide have been conducting deep-soil-warming experiments, in which soil layers are deliberately heated to observe how plants, soils, and microbes respond. Recently, though, researchers have recognized the importance of comparing and integrating findings from these experiments to help reveal new insights. The global DeepSoil 2100 network emerged from conversations among soil scientists convened in 2020 by one of us (M.W.I.S.) in response to this need for coordination…. See article at https://eos.org/science-updates/how-are-deep-soils-responding-to-warming. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 5.

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2024-04-18. Controversial wolf killing appears to help caribou, but concerns persist. By WARREN CORNWALL, Science. Excerpt: Some worry the findings will stall efforts to halt logging—the root cause of declining caribou populations. Since 2015, a slaughter has unfolded in the mountains of British Columbia, all in the name of saving southern mountain caribous, classified as threatened in Canada. Each winter, sharpshooters hired by the provincial government kill hundreds of wolves from low-flying helicopters, sometimes using a tracking collar attached to a “Judas wolf” that leads them to other pack members. Nearly 2200 of the predators have been killed, including 248 in the most recent winter. The policy has provoked lawsuits and protests from conservation groups and dueling papers in scientific journals about whether the carnage benefits caribou herds. This week, in Ecological Applications, a research team looking at 51 years of population trends and conservation actions offers the most complete analysis yet of the divisive issue. Even critics of the culling say it offers compelling data that, at least in the short term, killing wolves is one of the few actions that aids ailing caribou populations. …There is little disagreement about the root cause of the caribou’s plight. Logging of old growth forests has cut away at habitat preferred by southern mountain caribou—a type of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) that occupies swaths of south and central British Columbia and Alberta and, until recently, parts of northern Idaho and Washington state. The shrubs that grow back in these logged mountainous areas attract moose and deer, which in turn draw more wolves. The numbers of southern mountain caribou in North America have dwindled from roughly 10,000 animals in 1991 to a little more than 4700 in 2023…. See article at https://www.science.org/content/article/controversial-wolf-killing-appears-help-caribou-concerns-persist. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 1.

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2024-04-18. Drilling on the Edge. By CHRISTIAN ELLIOTT, Science. Excerpt: The helicopter hovered overhead, whipping up snow. …One trip down, 17 more to go, thought [Peter] Neff, a polar glaciologist at the University of Minnesota (UM) Twin Cities. …Neff and his team would have just 10 days to drill ice cores on Canisteo, a peninsula on the west coast of Antarctica—and a blizzard was already looming. …Scientists usually target sites deep in the continent’s interior, where the weather is calmer and they can spend years collecting kilometers-long ice cores that record hundreds of thousands of years of climate history. Neff needed just a couple hundred years of history, and he only needed to drill 150 meters deep to get it. But his chosen location was exceptionally remote and stormy. He was there because of …the Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers, which jut into the Amundsen Sea as frozen shelves tens of kilometers wide. These glaciers act as corks in the bottle of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which …stores enough water to raise sea level by 3 to 5 meters. Global warming is loosening the corks. Because Pine Island and Thwaites rest on bedrock that sits below sea level, incursions of warm seawater are melting their foundations, undermining them and speeding their flow. Around the end of the century, if global warming continues unabated, “we’ll see a big increase in the flow of ice delivery to the ocean and the pace of sea level rise: the beginning of a total collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet,” says Ted Scambos, principal investigator for the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration…. See article at https://www.science.org/content/article/daring-james-bond-mission-drill-antarctic-ices-cores-could-reveal-future-sea-level-rise. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-04-17. Where did Earth’s oddball ‘quasi-moon’ come from? Scientists pinpoint famed lunar crater. By DANIEL CLERY, Science. Excerpt: Astronomers suspect an unusual near-Earth rocky object is not a typical escapee from the Solar System’s asteroid belt, but is instead a chunk of the Moon blasted into space eons ago by a spectacular impact. Now, a team of researchers has modeled what sort of lunar impact could have ejected such a gobbet of Moon and deposit it in a stable, nearby orbit. Surprisingly, only one strong candidate emerged: the asteroid strike that created the famous Giordano Bruno crater, the youngest large crater on the Moon, the group reports today in Nature Astronomy. …The odd asteroid, known as 469219 Kamo‘oalewa, was discovered in 2016 …measures between 40 and 100 meters across and rotates particularly fast—once every 28 minutes. It follows an elliptical orbit around the Sun that moves in sync with Earth, giving the impression that the asteroid orbits Earth, even though it is outside the planet’s gravitational influence. The asteroid’s curious orbit and small size led to it being chosen as the first target for China’s sample return mission Tianwen-2, set for launch in 2025. …Interest in the asteroid heightened in 2021, when studies by the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory in Arizona first suggested its composition more closely resembles a Moon rock than a typical asteroid. The spectrum of the light reflected off Kamo‘oalewa revealed silicates more typical of a lunar sample…. See article at https://www.science.org/content/article/where-did-earth-s-oddball-quasi-moon-come-scientists-pinpoint-famed-lunar-crater. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 7.

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2024-04-16. Giant planets ran amok soon after Solar System’s birth. By PAUL VOOSEN, Science. Excerpt: In its youth, the Solar System underwent a momentous upheaval: Gravitational tugs between the giant planets threw them off track, causing Jupiter’s orbit to jump closer to the Sun, while Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune were flung outward. The gravity of the rampaging giants scattered Pluto and other icy bodies to the Kuiper belt, shepherded the asteroid belt into its current location, and sent countless bodies crashing into the inner Solar System. For many years, researchers believed this “giant planet instability” occurred 600 million years after the Solar System’s birth 4.57 billion years ago, based on the ages of impact craters mapped on the Moon. Recently, evidence has mounted that it occurred much earlier. And now, some researchers are homing in on a more precise date, just 60 million years after the Solar System’s formation, based on an analysis of rare meteorites derived from an ancient asteroid family, published today in Science. Other recent work seems to corroborate the date: the impact history captured in common meteorites, the formation history of the icy dwarf planet Haumea, and the earliest known mineral crystals found in Moon rocks retrieved by Apollo astronauts. “When you put it all together, that’s a lot of evidence for impacts all right around 60 million years,” says Steven Desch, an astrophysicist at Arizona State University…. See article at https://www.science.org/content/article/giant-planets-ran-amok-soon-after-solar-system-s-birth. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 7.

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2024-04-15. Methane Emissions from the Oil and Gas Industry Are Triple Current Estimates. By Nathaniel Scharping, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: The U.S. oil and gas industry is responsible for emitting 3 times more methane than current government estimates, according to a new study. Those emissions cost $9.3 billion annually because of their effects on global warming and air quality, the authors estimated. The study, published in Nature, used aerial surveys to track methane emissions from oil and gas fields, pipelines, processing facilities, and more in six fossil fuel–producing regions of the United States. It adds to a growing body of evidence indicating that methane emissions are far higher than previously thought.. See article at https://eos.org/articles/methane-emissions-from-the-oil-and-gas-industry-are-triple-current-estimates. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, often calculated to be 28 times more powerful than carbon dioxide (though some studies say it could be even more powerful), and is responsible for around a third of human-caused global warming to date. Curtailing these emissions has been a focus of recent regulatory efforts, such as the Global Methane Pledge, signed by more than 150 countries that agreed to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030. The U.S. EPA also recently unveiled new rules, set to take effect in May, that aim to cut 58 million tons of methane emissions over the next 15 years…. See article at https://eos.org/articles/methane-emissions-from-the-oil-and-gas-industry-are-triple-current-estimates. For GSS Energy Use chapter 3.

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2024-04-15. Northern Permafrost Region Emits More Greenhouse Gases Than It Captures. By Saima May Sidik, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Permafrost underlies a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere. A comprehensive analysis shows that the area may have shifted from a sink to a source of greenhouse gases, bringing a longtime prediction to fruition. Permafrost underlies about 14 million square kilometers of land in and around the Arctic. The top 3 meters contain an estimated 1 trillion metric tons of carbon and 55 billion metric tons of nitrogen. Historically, the northern permafrost region has been a sink for carbon, as frozen soils inhibit microbial decomposition. But rising temperatures contribute to thawing permafrost and enhance the biogeochemical activities that exacerbate climate change by releasing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), and nitrous oxide (N₂O). …Ramage et al. synthesized greenhouse gas measurements of the northern permafrost region between 2000 and 2020 to provide a carbon balance for the region, as well as the first comprehensive assessment of the quantities of greenhouse gases the area takes up and emits. The researchers’ work, done as part of the Regional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes (RECCAP2) project, used a bottom-up approach, focusing on estimating emissions based on specific source categories. Their results suggest that the area has already shifted from a sink to a small source of carbon…. See article at https://eos.org/research-spotlights/northern-permafrost-region-emits-more-greenhouse-gases-than-it-captures. For GSS Climate Change chapter 3.

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2024-04-15. Deadly marine ‘cold spells’ could become more frequent with climate change, scientists warn. By WARREN CORNWALL, Science. Excerpt: In March 2021, a grisly scene materialized on the beaches of South Africa. Giant bat-winged manta rays sprawled belly up on rocks. Hulking bull sharks lay dead in the sand. Puffer fish littered shorelines like deflated footballs. Such fish kills are usually triggered by hot water, low oxygen, or toxic algae blooms. But this time it was a surprising culprit. In the middle of the southern summer, these fish died of cold—a phenomenon that may be linked to climate change, according to a new paper. At a time when global warming is driving ocean temperatures to record-setting highs and marine heat waves are striking around the globe, it might seem paradoxical that climate change could be linked to the underwater equivalent of a cold snap. But researchers now say that in some parts of the world, incidents like the 2021 cold spell appear to be getting more common as currents change, with potentially lethal consequences for marine life…. See article at https://www.science.org/content/article/deadly-marine-cold-spells-could-become-more-frequent-climate-change-scientists-warn. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-04-14. Why Heat Pumps Are the Future, and How Your Home Could Use One. By Hilary Howard, The New York Times. Excerpt: Heat pumps, which both warm and cool buildings and are powered by electricity, have been touted as the answer to curbing greenhouse gas emissions produced by homes, businesses and office buildings, which are responsible for about one-third of the emissions in New York State. …A heat pump moves heat. …During warm weather, a pump works just like an air-conditioner by rerouting indoor heat outdoors. When it’s cold outside, the process is reversed: Heat from the chilly outdoor air is extracted and delivered indoors with the help of refrigerants and a compressor. …The devices are highly efficient, which should help limit the growing burden on the grid, said Rohit T. Aggarwala, the [New York] city’s climate chief. …In New York City, Con Ed customers have completed more than 30,000 installations since 2020. And across the state, nearly 23,000 heat pump projects were installed in 2022, a threefold increase from the year before…. See article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/14/nyregion/heat-pumps-climate-change.html. For GSS Energy Use chapter 8.

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2024-04-14. Should We Change Species to Save Them? By Emily Anthes, The New York Times. Excerpt: Australia has also become a case study in what happens when people push biodiversity to the brink. Habitat degradation, invasive species, infectious diseases and climate change have put many native animals in jeopardy and given Australia one of the worst rates of species loss in the world. In some cases, scientists say, the threats are so intractable that the only way to protect Australia’s unique animals is to change them. Using a variety of techniques, including crossbreeding and gene editing, scientists are altering the genomes of vulnerable animals, hoping to arm them with the traits they need to survive. …in this human-dominated age — in which Australia is simply at the leading edge of a global biodiversity crisis — the traditional conservation playbook may no longer be enough, some scientists said…. See article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/14/science/australia-wildlife-assisted-evolution.html. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 4.

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2024-04-12. The EV Battery of Your Dreams Is Coming. By Christopher Mims, The Wall Street Journal. Excerpt: In the next five years, significant upgrades to the batteries in electric vehicles should finally hit the market. In the works for decades, these changes are likely to mean that by 2030, gas vehicles will cost more than their electric equivalents; some EVs will charge as quickly as filling up at a gas station; and super long-range EVs will make the phrase “range anxiety” seem quaint. …a new kind of battery which will hold more than 20% more energy than the previous type, and charging speed and range will also improve by up to 30%, says a BMW spokesman. …In theory, a [solid] lithium metal anode can hold 10 times as many lithium ions as a graphite one [that’s in today’s lithium-ion batteries]. All other things being equal, this means the energy density of a battery using lithium metal in place of graphite could be up to 50% higher. … engineers aim to deliver to automakers a battery that can add 100 miles of range in just 3 minutes…. Source – https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/ev-battery-developments-five-years-d306be44. For GSS Energy Use chapter 9.

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2024-04-00. . By . Excerpt: . See article at URL. For GSS chapter .

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2024-04-11. Explosive levels of methane have been detected near a Berkeley landfill-turned-park. [https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2024-04-11/explosive-levels-of-methane-detected-at-cesar-chavez-park-berkeley] By Tony Briscoe, Los Angeles Times. Excerpt: Brimming with wildlife and offering panoramic views of San Francisco Bay, César Chávez Park welcomes visitors who might never suspect this stretch of shoreline was built atop a municipal landfill. But beneath the sprawling grasslands and charming hiking trails, decomposing waste continues to generate methane gas. That’s why the city of Berkeley operates an underground system that collects this flammable gas and torches it at a large mechanical flare near the center of the park. In recent years, environmental regulators have grown increasingly concerned that this equipment has fallen into disrepair and released landfill gases. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has fined Berkeley after finding explosive levels of methane leaking from at least two cracked gas collection wells in the park. Both have since been repaired. …The agency warns that ignitable levels of methane have been observed in shallow soil surrounding a nearby hotel and the Berkeley Marina…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 3.

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2024-04-10. An Oil Company Is Trespassing on Tribal Land in Wisconsin, Justice Dept. Says. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/10/climate/line-five-pipeline-amicus-brief.html] By Rebecca Halleck and Dionne Searcey, The New York Times. Excerpt: The Department of Justice has weighed in on a court battle over an oil and gas pipeline in Wisconsin, saying that a Canadian oil company has been willfully trespassing on tribal lands in the state for more than a decade…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 3.

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2024-04-10. Ocean Heat Has Shattered Records for More Than a Year. What’s Happening? [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/10/climate/ocean-heat-records.html] By Delger Erdenesanaa, The New York Times. Excerpt: The ocean has now broken temperature records every day for more than a year. And so far, 2024 has continued 2023’s trend of beating previous records by wide margins…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 4.

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2024-04-09. In Landmark Climate Ruling, European Court Faults Switzerland. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/09/world/europe/climate-human-rights.html] By Isabella Kwai and Emma Bubola, The New York Times. Excerpt: Europe’s top human rights court said on Tuesday that the Swiss government had violated its citizens’ human rights by not doing enough to stop climate change, a landmark ruling that experts said could bolster activists hoping to use human rights law to hold governments to account. In the case, which was brought by a group called KlimaSeniorinnen, or Senior Women for Climate Protection, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, said that Switzerland had failed to meet its target in reducing carbon emissions and must act to address that shortcoming…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 9.

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2024-04-09. Bacteria is the new black: Scientists create microbes that make self-dyeing textiles. [https://www.science.org/content/article/bacteria-new-black-scientists-create-microbes-make-self-dyeing-textiles] By MADELINE REINSEL, Science. Excerpt: For sustainability-minded fashionistas, materials made by fast-growing, eco-friendly bacteria offer an appealing alternative to leather or faux plastic replacements such as “pleather.” Yet coloring or adding patterns to these bacterial textiles can still mean working with environmentally harmful dyes. A study published last week in Nature Biotechnology may offer a solution: genetically engineering bacteria to produce melanin pigment so the material can dye itself. …says Sara Molinari, a synthetic biologist at the University of Maryland who was not involved in the study. Bacteria-generated textiles are “a completely new approach in material manufacturing.” The leather substitute is made of cellulose, an essential structural material in plants that is also produced by several species of bacteria. In recent years, researchers and designers have started to produce textiles from bacterial cellulose as an alternative to leather and pleather, some of which are already on the market. …although bacterial cellulose textiles have fewer environmental impacts than leather or plastic, they are naturally beige. That means they are typically colored using traditional dyeing processes, which can use large amounts of water and release harsh chemicals into the environment. …Researchers from Imperial College London (ICL) …genetically engineered a cellulose-producing bacterium, Komagataeibacter rhaeticus—the same bacterium that helps ferment kombucha—by adding a gene from another bacterium that produces black melanin pigment. Melanin is what gives color to tissue throughout the natural world, including human skin, eyes, and hair…. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 4.

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2024-04-09. The U.S. Urgently Needs a Bigger Grid. Here’s a Fast Solution.. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/09/climate/electric-grid-more-power.html] By Brad Plumer, The New York Times. Excerpt: One of the biggest obstacles to expanding clean energy in the United States is a lack of power lines. Building new transmission lines can take a decade or more because of permitting delays and local opposition. But there may be a faster, cheaper solution, according to two reports released Tuesday. Replacing existing power lines with cables made from state-of-the-art materials could roughly double the capacity of the electric grid in many parts of the country, making room for much more wind and solar power…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 5.

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2024-04-08. Can Green Hydrogen Production Help Bring Oceanic Dead Zones Back to Life? [https://hakaimagazine.com/news/can-green-hydrogen-production-help-bring-oceanic-dead-zones-back-to-life/] By Brian Owens, Hakai Magazine. Excerpt: Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau had met with Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, in nearby Stephenville, Newfoundland…in August 2022, the two leaders locked in Canada’s commitment to supply Germany with hydrogen gas. …Stephenville…is the site of the proposed World Energy GH2 project, a facility that will use wind power to produce hydrogen gas …reducing Germany’s reliance on Russian oil. …[Douglas] Wallace, an oceanographer at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, was tracking how dissolved oxygen moves from the Atlantic Ocean through the gulf into the St. Lawrence River, and how the dearth of oxygen in some places can lead to the development of low-oxygen dead zones. …So when he heard that Canada was set to ramp up hydrogen production—achieved by electrically splitting water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen—he wondered: could all of that spare oxygen help bring the dead zone back to life? …As the world warms, the oceans are losing their oxygen. Since the 1950s, they’ve already lost about two percent—a figure that could hit four percent by the end of this century. …Too little oxygen in the water can reduce the diversity of marine life as animals either leave the area or die. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence—where the size of the dead zone has grown nearly sevenfold since 2003 to encompass roughly 9,000 square kilometers—dropping oxygen levels are already affecting many commercially important and at-risk species, such as cod, halibut, and northern shrimp, Wallace says. …Maybe, thought Wallace, he could take the oxygen created during hydrogen production and somehow pump it into the gulf. His calculations suggest that it could work…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-04-05. Tatooine, Trisolaris, Thessia: Sci-Fi Exoplanets Reflect Real-Life Discoveries. [https://eos.org/articles/tatooine-trisolaris-thessia-sci-fi-exoplanets-reflect-real-life-discoveries] By Kimberly M. S. Cartier, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Astronomers have discovered more than 5,000 extrasolar planets since the 1995 discovery of 51 Pegasi b. When the discoveries started pouring in, astronomers quickly realized that few exoplanets resembled anything in the solar system. …A new study led by Puranen examined how the discovery of real exoplanets has influenced portrayals of fictional ones. The researchers showed that as scientists discovered that real-life exoplanets rarely resembled Earth, sci-fi exoplanets became less Earth-like, too. …The analysis showed that “fictional exoplanets from after the real-life discovery of exoplanets were less likely to have intelligent native life and less likely to have established populations of non-native humans,” Puranen said. Sci-fi exoplanets became less Earth-like and more likely to feature nonintelligent native biospheres. These results were published in the Journal of Science Communication in March. …Star Wars familiarized folks with Tatooine decades before the 2005 discovery of HD 202206 c, the first known exoplanet orbiting two Sun-like stars…. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 8.

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2024-04-05. Clearer skies may be accelerating global warming. [https://www.science.org/content/article/clearer-skies-may-be-accelerating-global-warming] By PAUL VOOSEN, Science. Excerpt: When 2023 turned out to be the hottest year in history, it underscored the warnings of some prominent climate scientists, including James Hansen, that the pace of global warming was accelerating and had entered a dangerous new phase. A new study, published Wednesday in Communications Earth & Environment, suggests one reason for such an acceleration: Earth’s skies are getting clearer and letting in more sunshine. …a set of NASA instruments in space [the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES)] since 2001 have tracked the delicate balance of energy entering and leaving the planet…have detected a marked rise in the amount of solar energy the planet has absorbed—well beyond the warming expected from rising greenhouse gases. The readings show the planet has become less reflective, as if it recently put on a darker shirt. One reason is a drop in light-reflecting pollution because of power-plant scrubbers and cleaner fuels, the researchers say. They calculate that cleaner air could account for 40% of the increased energy warming the planet between 2001 and 2019. …However, falling pollution may not be the only reason for the brighter skies detected by CERES…. The models were unable to explain up to 40% of the extra absorbed light, and the CERES data show reflectivity falling in both hemispheres, whereas pollution has fallen the most in the north. Both of those observations suggest other factors might be reducing Earth’s reflectivity: Melting snow and ice expose darker land, and warming can cause low marine clouds to dissipate, revealing a dark ocean…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 7.

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2024-04-04. Africa’s Carbon Sink Capacity Is Shrinking. [https://eos.org/research-spotlights/africas-carbon-sink-capacity-is-shrinking] By Rachel Fritts, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: The population of Africa, the second-largest continent in the world, currently sits at about 1.4 billion, but is set to exceed 2 billion by 2040. This means greater swaths of land than ever before are being used for agriculture, and livestock numbers are increasing. A new estimate of Africa’s greenhouse gas budget between 2010 and 2019 quantifies just how much these changes in land use have affected Africa’s role in the global carbon cycle. …To make their estimates, Ernst et al. …took a comprehensive look at all major potential carbon sources, including human sources such as agriculture and fossil fuel emissions and natural sources such as termites and wildfires. They also considered natural sinks: the grasslands, savannas, and forests that still cover much of the continent. The team found that between 2010 and 2019, Africa transitioned from being a slight net carbon sink to a slight net carbon source. …likely to increase if current trends continue…. For GSS Population Growth chapter 5.

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2024-04-04. White House Awards $20 Billion to Nation’s First ‘Green Bank’ Network. [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04042024/biden-administration-green-bank-network-disadvantaged-communities/] By Kristoffer Tigue, Inside Climate News. Excerpt: The Biden administration on Thursday announced it was creating the nation’s first “green bank” network, an historic $20 billion investment aimed at making clean energy affordable to low-income and rural residents. …Under the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund—also known as the country’s first national green bank—eight community development banks and nonprofit organizations will receive that federal funding to go toward rooftop solar installations, energy efficiency upgrades and other projects that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Inflation Reduction Act created the green bank in 2022 with an initial federal investment of $27 billion. …The groups, which consist of Coalition for Green Capital, Power Forward Communities, Appalachian Community Capital, Climate United, Justice Climate Fund, Opportunity Finance Network, Inclusiv and Native CDFI Network, have committed to spend $7 in private investment for every $1 of government funding. …At least 70 percent of those funds will go to low-income and disadvantaged communities, the administration said, while 20 percent will go to rural communities and more than 5 percent will go to tribal communities…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 9.

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2024-04-03. Satellite signals can measure a forest’s moisture—and its ability to survive. [https://www.science.org/content/article/satellite-signals-can-measure-forest-s-moisture-and-its-ability-survive] By SEAN CUMMINGS, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: The same radio signals that enable your smartphone to pinpoint your location may also reveal how much water a forest holds within its foliage. By measuring how much GPS satellite signals weakened as they passed through a forest canopy, researchers were able to estimate the canopy’s water content. Experts say the technique, which uses a simple setup of two GPS receivers, could provide a simple and affordable way to track a forest’s water content. …it could provide useful data to researchers trying to figure out how forests will fare under climate change…. For GSS A New World View chapter 6.

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2024-04-05. New York is suing the world’s biggest meat company. It might be a tipping point for greenwashing. [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/05/letitia-james-jbs-meat-lawsuit-greenwashing] By Whitney Bauck, The Guardian. Excerpt: When the office of the New York attorney general, Letitia James, announced that it would be suing the world’s largest meat company, JBS, for misleading customers about its climate commitments, it caused a stir far beyond the world of food. That’s because the suit’s impact has the potential to influence the approach all kinds of big businesses take in their advertising about sustainability, according to experts. It’s just one in a string of greenwashing lawsuits being brought against large airline, automobile and fashion companies of late. “It’s been 20 years of companies lying about their environmental and climate justice impacts…,” said Todd Paglia, executive director of environmental non-profit Stand.earth. …Research suggests that citizens are increasingly demanding more sustainably produced goods, and big businesses are taking note. But rather than actually changing their practices, many instead turn to messaging that falsely implies their products are better for the Earth than they actually are in order to keep customers happy. …The legal complaint notes that “the JBS Group has made sweeping representations to consumers about its commitment to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, claiming that it will be ‘Net Zero by 2040.’” But those claims aren’t grounded in reality, the complaint goes on to argue, not only because JBS isn’t taking concrete steps toward those goals, but because as recently as September 2023, the CEO admitted in a public forum that the company didn’t even know how to calculate all of its emissions. It follows that what can’t be measured won’t be mitigated…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 9.

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2024-04-05. It’s Never Too Late to Take Climate Action. [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-never-too-late-to-take-climate-action/] By JAMES K. BOYCE, Scientific American. Excerpt: It’s official: this February was the hottest one on record. You may have noticed something odd when you stepped outside your door and winter was missing. It turns out the weather weirdness was worldwide. In case you missed it, this comes on top of the news that January was the hottest ever, too, and that 2023 was the hottest year we’ve experienced so far. Again and again, climate activists have warned that we have only so much time left to head off catastrophe. Soon, we are told, it will be “too late” to save the planet and ourselves. Their message rests on the assumption that fear is the most potent spur to action. This communication strategy is deeply flawed. Politically, it leads many to despair that all is lost. When the climate apocalypse fails to arrive on schedule, it leads others to seek comfort in the parable of the boy who cried wolf. Scientifically, the depiction of the climate crisis as a cliff—once we fall off the edge, it’s game over—is nonsense. Climate change does not end with a grand finale. Instead, it unleashes a cascade of mounting damages that will escalate exponentially over time…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-04-03. Here’s why the Bay Area has the perfect weather for a first-of-its kind geoengineering study. [https://www.sfchronicle.com/weather/article/geoengineering-cloud-research-alameda-19368199.php] By Anthony Edwards, San Francisco Chronicle. Excerpt: In Alameda [CA], scientists are embarking on a novel attempt to cool the Earth — by spraying salt into clouds. The work, known as marine cloud brightening, is controversial and is just one method of geoengineering — which describes interventions meant to slow Earth’s warming. But proponents say the technology may be needed to mitigate climate change. To brighten clouds, researchers spray microscopic sea salt into the air over the ocean to boost clouds’ reflectivity. This means less sunlight is absorbed, leading to a planetary cooling effect. …Scientists hypothesize that by manually increasing the number of particles in the atmosphere, clouds will reflect more sunlight back to space, causing Earth to cool. …Scientists like Russell say that before more drastic solutions are deployed, the focus should be on reining in greenhouse gas emissions and making further investments in solar and wind power.  “Emitting particles to offset global warming is not the smartest idea … but it may be better than doing nothing,” Russell said. “Given the point we’re at with warming and climate change, we feel it’s important to know what our options are.”…. See also article in the New York Times. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-04-03. CALIFORNIA LEADS U.S. EMISSIONS OF LITTLE-KNOWN GREENHOUSE GAS. [https://hub.jhu.edu/2024/04/03/california-leads-us-emissions-of-little-known-greenhouse-gas/] By Hannah Robbins, Johns Hopkins University. Excerpt: California, a state known for its aggressive greenhouse gas reduction policies, is ironically the nation’s greatest emitter of one: sulfuryl fluoride. As much as 17% of global emissions of this gas, a common pesticide for treating termites and other wood-infesting insects, stem from the United States. The majority of those emissions trace back to just a few counties in California, according to a new study led by researchers at Johns Hopkins University. …60-85% of sulfuryl fluoride emissions in the U.S. come from California, primarily Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties…. First approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for use as a pesticide in 1959, sulfuryl fluoride gained popularity after countries around the world agreed to phase out more reactive fumigants that were depleting the ozone layer, the researchers said. …the team was able to attribute the vast majority, roughly 85% of the state’s sulfuryl fluoride emissions, to structural fumigation—the practice of sealing an infested structure with an airtight tent, pumping gas into the tent to eradicate the pests, and afterward venting the gas directly into the atmosphere. Roughly 15% came from agricultural and commodities fumigation. …Once emitted, the gas spreads and stays for more than 40 years in the atmosphere, where it contributes to global warming…. …humans have been emitting the man-made gas for decades at a rate faster than it can break down naturally….. For GSS Climate Change chapter 3.

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2024-04-02. Population tipping point could arrive by 2030. [https://www.science.org/content/article/population-tipping-point-could-arrive-2030] By TYLER SANTORA, Science. Excerpt: Two point one: That’s how many children everyone able to give birth must have to keep the human population from beginning to fall. Demographers have long expected the world will dip below this magic number—known as the replacement level—in the coming decades. A new study published last month in The Lancet, however, puts the tipping point startlingly near: as soon as 2030. It’s no surprise that fertility is dropping in many countries, which demographers attribute to factors such as higher education levels among people who give birth, rising incomes, and expanded access to contraceptives. The United States is at 1.6 instead of the requisite 2.1, for example, and China and Taiwan are hovering at about 1.2 and one, respectively. But other predictions have estimated more time before the human population reaches the critical juncture. The United Nations Population Division, in a 2022 report, put this tipping point at 2056, and earlier this year, the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, a multidisciplinary research organization dedicated to studying population dynamics, forecasted 2040…. For GSS Population Growth chapter 4.

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2024-04-02. [San Francisco] Ferry Building pushes back against plan to fortify the landmark from sea level rise . [https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/s-f-ferry-building-sea-level-rise-19380061.php] By Laura Waxmann, San Francisco Chronicle. Excerpt: An ambitious government plan to protect San Francisco’s Ferry Building from flooding and sea level rise by lifting it up as much as 7 feet has at least one powerful skeptic: the developer that’s set to operate the iconic building for another four decades. San Francisco and Army Corps of Engineers officials are considering raising the 126-year-old building as part of a $13.5 billion proposal intended to protect the city’s waterfront in the coming decades. …But the Ferry Building, with its 245-foot clock tower, is more than a landmark — it’s also a “working building” that would likely see its operations interrupted for years if the plan is executed as proposed, said Hudson Pacific Properties, which runs the Ferry Building under a long-term lease with the Port of San Francisco…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-03-31. Can We Engineer Our Way Out of the Climate Crisis? [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/31/climate/climate-change-carbon-capture-ccs.html] By David Gelles, The New York Times. Excerpt: On a windswept Icelandic plateau, an international team of engineers and executives is powering up an innovative machine designed to alter the very composition of Earth’s atmosphere. If all goes as planned, the enormous vacuum will soon be sucking up vast quantities of air, stripping out carbon dioxide and then locking away those greenhouse gases deep underground in ancient stone — greenhouse gases that would otherwise continue heating up the globe. …Global temperatures are now expected to rise as much as 4 degrees Celsius, or more than 7 degrees Fahrenheit, by the end of the century. That has given new weight to what some people call geoengineering, though that term has become so contentious its proponents now prefer the term “climate interventions.” …Many of the projects are controversial. A plant similar to the one in Iceland, but far larger, is being built in Texas by Occidental Petroleum, the giant oil company. Occidental intends to use some of the carbon dioxide it captures to extract even more oil, the burning of which is one of the main causes of the climate crisis in the first place…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-03-28. AI in Africa: Basics Over Buzz. [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado8276] By ROSE M. MUTISO, Science. Excerpt: When Buti Manamela visited Lengau, one of Africa’s fastest supercomputers, he had more prosaic technology in mind: electricity. South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology was at the Center for High Performance Computing in Cape Town for what should have been a showcase tour of a facility providing the country with the computing power needed to run and analyze the kinds of complex models and huge datasets that underpin artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). But Manamela was there to better understand the impact of South Africa’s rolling power blackouts on the center’s operations. Lengau, which means “cheetah” in Setswana, is one of the most important outposts in Africa’s AI infrastructure landscape; yet, it is struggling to operate at full capacity because of unreliable power. …I’ve written before on the following connection: no power, no internet, no digital transformation. The entire digital ecosystem, from home internet connections to the base stations that underpin cellular networks to the data centers that store the internet’s content, is powered by electricity. AI is just the latest manifestation of the long awaited digital revolution in Africa, only vastly more power hungry…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-03-28. Quantifying methane emissions from United States landfills. [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi7735] By DANIEL H. CUSWORTH  et al, Science. Abstract: Methane emissions from solid waste may represent a substantial fraction of the global anthropogenic budget, but few comprehensive studies exist to assess inventory assumptions. We quantified emissions at hundreds of large landfills across 18 states in the United States between 2016 and 2022 using airborne imaging spectrometers. Spanning 20% of open United States landfills, this represents the most systematic measurement-based study of methane point sources of the waste sector. We detected significant point source emissions at a majority (52%) of these sites, many with emissions persisting over multiple revisits (weeks to years). We compared these against independent contemporaneous in situ airborne observations at 15 landfills and established good agreement. Our findings indicate a need for long-term, synoptic-scale monitoring of landfill emissions in the context of climate change mitigation policy…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 3.

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2024-03-27. Sinking Coastal Lands Will Exacerbate the Flooding from Sea Level Rise in 24 US Cities, New Research Shows. [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27032024/sea-level-rise-flooding-coastal-cities/] By Moriah McDonald, Inside Climate News. Excerpt: In the affected cities, as many as 500,000 people and one in every 35 properties could be impacted by the flooding, and communities of color face disproportionate effects. Flooding could affect one out of every 50 residents in 24 coastal cities in the United States by the year 2050, a study led by Virginia Tech researchers suggests. The study, published this month in Nature, shows how the combination of land subsidence—in this case, the sinking of shoreline terrain—and rising sea levels can lead to the flooding of coastal areas sooner than previously anticipated by research that had focused primarily on sea level rise scenarios. …The study combines measurements of land subsidence obtained from satellites with sea level rise projections and tide charts, offering a more holistic projection of potential flooding risks in 32 cities located along the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts. …Marsh restoration, coral reefs and dunes can provide a natural barrier, said Andra Garner, an assistant professor at Rowan University…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-03-27. Black hole at center of Milky Way may be blasting out a jet. [https://www.science.org/content/article/black-hole-center-milky-way-may-be-blasting-out-jet] By DANIEL CLERY, Science. Excerpt: The supermassive black holes at the centers of many galaxies generate powerful jets, blasting particles thousands of light-years into space. This new image of the Milky Way’s black hole, known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), suggests it may have one, too, but perhaps of a more modest nature. The image—taken with polarized light—was released today by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a worldwide array of radio telescopes that in 2019 produced the first ever image of a black hole. The new image shows light that is oriented in a particular direction, revealing magnetic field lines around the black hole. Although jets would not be visible in such a zoomed-in image, strong magnetic fields are thought to be essential in launching them…. See also European Southern Observatory press release. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 6.

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2024-03-26. When Natural Gas Prices Cool, Flares Burn in the Permian Basin. [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26032024/permian-basin-methane-flaring/] By Martha Pskowski, Inside Climate News. Excerpt: As the new federal methane rule enters the home stretch, stranded gas in the Permian Basin could contribute to more flaring this year. [Sharon] Wilson documented widespread flaring, venting and other methane releases during a week in the Texas Permian Basin this month. Natural gas prices in the Permian Basin fell below zero during March. When natural gas prices are low, companies are more likely to vent or flare methane. Pipeline capacity to transport the gas out of the Permian Basin is currently limited, which can also result in more flaring. That’s bad news for efforts to fight climate change. Natural gas is mostly made up of methane and the Permian Basin is the single-largest source of methane emissions in the U.S. oil and gas industry. As a greenhouse gas, methane is about 80 times more potent at warming the atmosphere than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. …The quantity of this gas in the Permian has nearly tripled since 2018, according to the Energy Information Administration. …The Environmental Protection Agency issued its final rule to reduce methane emissions under the Clean Air Act in December. The new rules, as written, will eventually prohibit routine flaring, which is currently allowed in Texas. However, the attorneys general of Texas and another two dozen states have challenged the federal rule. The legal challenges may delay implementation…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 3.

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2024-03-26. Startups aim to curb climate change by pulling carbon dioxide from the ocean—not the air. [https://www.science.org/content/article/startups-aim-curb-climate-change-pulling-carbon-dioxide-ocean-not-air] By ROBERT F. SERVICE, Science. Excerpt: …one long gray barge docked at the [Port of Los Angeles] is doing its part to combat climate change. On the barge, which belongs to Captura, a Los Angeles–based startup, is a system of pipes, pumps, and containers that ingests seawater and sucks out CO₂, which can be used to make plastics and fuels or buried. The decarbonated seawater is returned to the ocean, where it absorbs more CO₂ from the atmosphere, in a small strike against the inexorable rise of the greenhouse gas. After a yearlong experiment with the barge, which is designed to capture 100 tons of CO₂ per year, Captura is planning to open a 1000-ton-per-year facility later this year in Norway that will bury the captured CO₂ in rock formations under the North Sea. Equatic, another Los Angeles–based startup, is launching an even larger 3650-ton-per-year ocean CO₂ capture plant this year in Singapore, and other companies are planning demos as well. …Proponents say capturing CO₂ from the ocean should be easier and cheaper than a seemingly more direct approach: snagging it directly from the air. Direct air capture, which relies on fans to sweep air past absorbent chemicals, currently costs between $600 to $1000 per ton of CO₂ removed, largely because atmospheric CO₂ is so dilute, making up less than 0.05% of the air by volume. Earth’s oceans, in contrast, hold the gas at a concentration nearly 150 times higher, and absorb roughly 30% of all CO₂ emissions each year…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-03-25. Statement on the historic $6 billion for industrial decarbonization in the U.S. [https://climateworks.org/press-release/statement-on-the-historic-6-billion-for-industrial-decarbonization-in-the-u-s/] By ClimateWorks Foundation. Excerpt: Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) took a huge step to accelerate industrial decarbonization and transform polluting heavy industries to clean production. The $6 billion investment is the largest ever made in industrial climate solutions. …In the U.S., the industrial sector emits 30% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. This funding will accelerate emissions reductions in all of the most polluting industries: steel, cement, chemicals, aluminum, and food processing. The new technologies that come out of these investments will be used across the country and around the world. In addition, heavy industry is a leading cause of health-harming air and water pollution. Many of the projects receiving DOE funding will also dramatically reduce this pollution and improve the health of all Americans…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 6.

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2024-03-25. US awards record $6 billion to back industrial emissions reduction projects. [https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/sustainable-finance-reporting/us-awards-record-6-bln-back-industrial-emissions-reduction-projects-2024-03-25/] By Andrea Shalal and David Shepardson, Reuters. Excerpt: The U.S. Energy Department on Monday announced $6 billion in federal funding to subsidize 33 industrial projects in 20 states to cut carbon emissions, saying the investment would support well-paying union jobs and boost U.S. competitiveness. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will unveil the awards during a visit to a Cleveland-Cliffs Steel Corp (CLF.N), opens new tab facility in Middletown, Ohio, which will receive up to $500 million to install two new electric arc furnaces and hydrogen-based technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1 million tons. …Together, the projects are expected to eliminate 14 million metric tons of pollution each year, equivalent to taking some 3 million gas-powered vehicles off the road, she said. The Portland Cement Association, an industry group, said the funding “is a welcome acknowledgement from the government that America’s cement manufacturers are taking ambitious and significant steps toward reaching carbon neutrality.” …Production of cement, the main ingredient of concrete, accounted for 7% of global CO2 emissions in 2019, the International Energy Agency estimates. …Granholm said the projects would slash emissions from industries such as iron and steel, cement, concrete, aluminum, chemicals, food and beverages, pulp and paper, which account for about a third of U.S. carbon emissions…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 9.

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2024-03-22. How Do You Paddle a Disappearing River?. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/travel/texas-big-bend-rio-grande-boat.html] By Daniel Modlin, The New York Times. Excerpt: The Rio Grande is in peril: Its water is being depleted by farmers and cities, while a climate-change-induced megadrought that has desiccated the American Southwest for more than two decades is threatening hopes of its recovery. In 2022, the river ran dry in Albuquerque for the first time in four decades. In the same year, the picturesque Santa Elena Canyon, one of the most popular sights in Big Bend, also ran dry for the first time in at least 15 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. …For the West Texan river guides, it’s simply another precarious reality of life in the Chihuahuan Desert. “In my lifetime, I expect river trips to no longer be feasible,” said Charlie Angell of Angell Expeditions, a tour guide service based in Redford, Texas. …“We think the river has changed, but really, we have changed the river,” Dr. Sandoval-Solis, the U.C. Davis associate professor, told me months later, when I was back home among my creature comforts, adding that he believed it was still possible to return the river to its once powerful state through proper water management practices. “The river has a much better memory than we do.”… For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-03-06. ‘Explosive growth’ in petrochemical production poses risks to human health. [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/06/increase-fossil-fuel-pollution-health-risk-report] By Carey Gillam, The Guardian. Excerpt: Chemical pollution tied to fossil fuel operations poses serious risks to human health, warns a new analysis published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday. Citing data from dozens of studies, the report points to an alarming rise in neurodevelopmental issues, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and certain cancers in young people taking place amid what the paper’s author calls “explosive growth” in the petrochemical industry. Between 1990 and 2019, rates of certain cancers in people under 50 increased dramatically. Meanwhile, fossil fuel use and petrochemical production have increased fifteen-fold since the 1950s, according to the report…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-03-19. The heat index — how hot it feels — is rising faster than temperature. [https://news.berkeley.edu/2024/03/19/the-heat-index-how-hot-it-feels-is-rising-faster-than-temperature] By Robert Sanders, Berkeley News. Excerpt: Texans have long endured scorching summer temperatures, so a global warming increase of about 3 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 Celsius) might not sound like much to worry about. But a new study concludes that the heat index — essentially how hot it really feels — has increased much faster in Texas than has the measured temperature: about three times faster. That means that on some extreme days, what the temperature feels like is between 8 and 11 F (5 to 6 C) hotter than it would without climate change. The study, using Texas data from June, July and August of 2023, highlights a problem with communicating the dangers of rising temperatures to the public. The temperature alone does not accurately reflect the heat stress people feel. Even the heat index itself, which takes into account the relative humidity and thus the capacity to cool off by sweating, gives a conservative estimate of heat stress, according to study author David Romps, a professor of earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley. …This leads people to underestimate their chances of suffering hyperthermia on the hottest days and of their chances of dying. Texas is not an outlier. …”I mean, the obvious thing to do is to cease additional warming, because this is not going to get better unless we stop burning fossil fuels,” Romps said. “That’s message No. 1, without doubt. …additional burning of fossil fuels…that’s gotta stop and stop fast.”…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 4.

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2024-03-19. Barren Fields and Empty Stomachs: Afghanistan’s Long, Punishing Drought. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/19/world/asia/afghanistan-drought-photos-climate-change.html] By Lynsey Addario and Victoria Kim, The New York Times. Excerpt: In a country especially vulnerable to climate change, a drought has displaced entire villages and left millions of children malnourished…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-03-18. Wind turbines have little effect on US property values. [https://nature.berkeley.edu/news/2024/03/not-my-backyard-wind-turbines-have-little-effect-us-property-values] By Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Excerpt: The values of houses in the United States within a wind turbine’s viewshed drop only slightly and temporarily due to the disrupted view, a new study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) shows. The effect is smaller the further away the recently installed turbines are and fades over time. …“The impact of wind turbines on house prices is much smaller than generally feared: In the U.S., it’s about one percent for a house that has at least one wind turbine in a 10 km radius,” explains Maximilian Auffhammer, a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ARE) at the University of California, Berkeley and co-author of the study. …scientists from the German Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), the Italian Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC) and the University of California, Berkeley analyzed the majority of home sales in the U.S. in the last 23 years. The researchers statistically analyzed data from more than 300 million home sales and 60,000 wind turbines from 1997 to 2020 to discern the impact of wind turbine visibility on home values…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-03-18. Storing Renewable Energy, One Balloon at a Time. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/18/science/renewable-energy-storage-climate.html] By Amos Zeeberg, The New York Times. Excerpt: Central Sardinia …in Ottana, …, a new technology is taking shape that might help the world slow climate change. …Energy Dome, a start-up based in Milan, runs an energy-storage demonstration plant that helps to address a mismatch in the local electricity market. …Energy Dome uses carbon dioxide held in a huge balloon… as a kind of battery. During the day, electricity from the local grid, some produced by nearby fields of solar cells, is used to compress the carbon dioxide into liquid. At night, the liquid carbon dioxide is expanded back into gas, which drives a turbine and produces electricity that is sent back to the grid…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-03-18. California proposes rule that would change how insurers assess wildfire risk. [https://www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/home-insurance-wildfire-risk-19021575.php] By Megan Fan Munce, San Francisco Chronicle. Excerpt: A newly proposed regulation aims to draw insurers back to the state by allowing them to anticipate future wildfire risks when raising their rates. The proposed rule change…would allow companies to submit catastrophe models for wildfires, floods and terrorism to the California Department of Insurance for approval. If approved, insurers could then use predictions from those models when requesting rate hikes for commercial or homeowners insurance…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-03-15. Three-dimensional printing of wood. [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adk3250] By MD SHAJEDUL HOQUE THAKUR, CHEN SHI, LOGAN T. KEARNEY, M. A. S. R. SAADI, MATTHEW D. MEYER, AMIT K. NASKAR, PULICKEL M. AJAYAN, AND MUHAMMAD M. RAHMAN, Science Advances. Abstract: Natural wood has served as a foundational material for buildings, furniture, and architectural structures for millennia, typically shaped through subtractive manufacturing techniques. However, this process often generates substantial wood waste, leading to material inefficiency and increased production costs. …Here, we demonstrate an additive-free, water-based ink made of lignin and cellulose, the primary building blocks of natural wood, that can be used to three-dimensional (3D) print architecturally designed wood structures via direct ink writing. The resulting printed structures, after heat treatment, closely resemble the visual, textural, olfactory, and macro-anisotropic properties, including mechanical properties, of natural wood. Our results pave the way for 3D-printed wooden construction with a sustainable pathway to upcycle/recycle natural wood…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 8.

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2024-03-15. The Zombies of the U.S. Tax Code: Why Fossil Fuels Subsidies Seem Impossible to Kill. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/15/climate/tax-breaks-oil-gas-us.html] By Lisa Friedman, The New York Times. Excerpt: As a candidate in 2020, Joseph R. Biden Jr. campaigned to end billions of dollars in annual tax breaks to oil and gas companies within his first year in office. It’s a pledge he has been unable to keep as president. …Mr. Biden’s wish is opposed by the oil industry, Republicans in Congress and a handful of Democrats. …The oil and gas industry enjoys nearly a dozen tax breaks, including incentives for domestic production and write-offs tied to foreign production. …The Fossil Fuel Subsidy Tracker, run by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, calculated the total to be about $14 billion in 2022. …The oldest, known as “intangible drilling costs,” was created by the Revenue Act of 1913 and was aimed at encouraging the development of U.S. resources. The deduction allows companies to write off as much as 80 percent of the costs of drilling, …. Another subsidy, dating from 1926 and known as the depletion allowance, initially let oil companies deduct their taxable income by 27.5 percent, a number that seemed strangely specific. “We could have taken a 5 or 10 percent figure, but we grabbed 27.5 percent because we were not only hogs but the odd figure made it appear as though it was scientifically arrived at,” Senator Tom Connally, the Texas Democrat who sponsored the break and who died in 1963…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-03-14. Python farming as a flexible and efficient form of agricultural food security. [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-54874-4] By D. Natusch, P. W. Aust, C. Caraguel, P. L. Taggart, V. T. Ngo, G. J. Alexander, R. Shine & T. Coulson, Nature – Scientific Reports. Abstract: Diminishing natural resources and increasing climatic volatility are impacting agri-food systems, prompting the need for sustainable and resilient alternatives. Python farming is well established in Asia but has received little attention from mainstream agricultural scientists. We measured growth rates in two species of large pythons (Malayopython reticulatus and Python bivittatus) in farms in Thailand and Vietnam and conducted feeding experiments to examine production efficiencies. …In terms of food and protein conversion ratios, pythons outperform all mainstream agricultural species studied to date. The ability of fasting pythons to regulate metabolic processes and maintain body condition enhances food security in volatile environments, suggesting that python farming may offer a flexible and efficient response to global food insecurity…. For GSS Population Growth chapter 5.

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2024-03-00. . [template] By . Excerpt: . For GSS chapter .

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2024-03-11. Amazing diversity of today’s ants tied to rise of flowering plants. [https://www.science.org/content/article/amazing-diversity-today-ants-tied-rise-flowering-plants] By ELIZABETH PENNISI, Science. Excerpt: As spring’s first buds emerge in the Northern Hemisphere, there’s fresh evidence of the evolutionary importance of angiosperms, better known as flowering plants. Their rise some 150 million years ago, a study concludes, powered the amazing diversification and spread of ants, helping more recent ant species survive, while changing conditions drove earlier forms to extinction. The research, reported today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, combines extensive ant fossil and DNA data to validate a nearly 2-decade-old idea that flowering plants had been central to the insects’ success. …As the climate changed and ferns and conifers declined the specialist stem ants began to go extinct, but the models suggest the generalists could tap new food sources provided by flowering plants. “The rise of angiosperms shaped ant diversity in two ways, by favoring diversification and buffering against extinction,” says Rachelle Adams, an evolutionary biologist at Ohio State University…. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 3.

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2024-03-09. Rains Are Scarce in the Amazon. Instead, Megafires Are Raging. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/09/climate/amazon-rainforest-fires.html] By Ana Ionova and Manuela Andreoni, The New York Times. Excerpt: By this time of the year, rain should be drenching large swaths of the Amazon rainforest. Instead, a punishing drought has kept the rains at bay, creating dry conditions for fires that have engulfed hundreds of square miles of the rainforest that do not usually burn. …The fires in the Amazon, which reaches across nine South American nations, are the result of an extreme drought fueled by climate change, experts said. …If deforestation, fires and climate change continue to worsen, large stretches of the forest could transform into grasslands or weakened ecosystems in the coming decades. That, scientists say, would trigger a collapse that could send up to 20 years’ worth of global carbon emissions into the atmosphere, an enormous blow to the struggle to contain climate change…. For GSS A New World View chapter 5.

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2024-03-07. Can the Belt and Road Go Green? [https://eos.org/features/can-the-belt-and-road-go-green] By Mark Betancourt, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: China’s global infrastructure investments could tip the scales on climate change, but its relationship with partner countries is complicated. …The Cauchari Solar Plant, which came online in 2019, can generate up to 300 megawatts of power at a time, making it the largest solar park in South America. …China has emerged as a dominant force behind Argentina’s engineering infrastructure, partly because Western banks have been hesitant to support the country, …. China, on the other hand, has poured more than $26 billion into Argentina’s infrastructure since 2005. …the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) …Xi announced that China would no longer build new coal power plants abroad, signaling a major shift to green infrastructure that could bend billions of dollars toward slowing climate change. …It remains to be seen how aggressively China will pursue renewable power, but more than 40% of the country’s investment in BRI energy projects was in wind and solar during the first half of 2023, up from only 20% in 2021. …Because China also brought its considerable manufacturing might to bear on scaling up the industry, streamlining the mass production of renewable technology from solar cells to wind turbines, …China dominates the global market, supplying more than 80% of solar power equipment worldwide. Its investments in research and development have made solar cells both cheaper and more efficient…. See also New York Times article How China Came to Dominate the World in Solar Energy. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-03-07. Peering into the past to identify the species most at risk from climate change. [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adj5763] By Erin Saupe, Cooper Malanoski, et al, Science. Excerpt: A polar bear floating on a tiny piece of sea ice has become the iconic image of the extinction risks of climate change. But not all threats to species from our warming planet are so easy to see. That’s why paleobiologist Erin Saupe, Ph.D. student Cooper Malanoski, and their colleagues turned to the fossil record. By understanding which species fell victim to climactic fluctuations in the past, they aimed to get a better sense of which organisms might be most vulnerable now. “Despite the threat that climate change poses to biodiversity, we do not yet fully understand how it causes animals to go extinct,” Saupe and Malanoski explain in an article for The Conversation. So, the team examined data from nearly 300,000 marine invertebrate fossils from the last 485 million years, using statistics to examine how traits of the animals and their environment link to their likelihood of extinction. “Alarmingly, our research has, for the first time, identified climate change as a significant predictor of extinction,” the pair write. Species that experienced local climate changes of 7°C or greater were more likely to perish, regardless of any specific traits, they report in the most recent issue of Science. [Climate change is an important predictor of extinction risk on macroevolutionary timescales] …The best predictor of extinction was a small geographic range, but smaller bodies and a narrow temperature tolerance added to a species’ odds of dying out. For GSS Life and Climate chapter 6.

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2024-03-07. Australia’s Great Barrier Reef hit once more by mass coral bleaching. [https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/07/australia/mass-coral-bleaching-event-great-barrier-reef-intl-hnk-scn/index.html] By Helen Regan, CNN. Excerpt: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is suffering another mass bleaching event, the reef’s managers confirmed Friday, the result of soaring ocean temperatures caused by the global climate crisis and amplified by El Niño. This is the seventh mass bleaching event to hit the vast, ecologically important but fragile site and the fifth in only eight years…. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 7.

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2024-03-03. It Just Got Easier to Visit a Vanishing Glacier. Is That a Good Thing? [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/03/travel/chamonix-france-glaciers-climate-change.html] By Paige McClanahan, The New York Times. Excerpt: …The term last-chance tourism, which has gained traction in the past two decades, describes the impulse to visit threatened places before they disappear. Studies have found that the appeal of the disappearing can be a powerful motivator. But in many cases, the presence of tourists at a fragile site can accelerate the place’s demise…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-03-03. Out with the animal cruelty. In with … mushrooms? These farmers are leaving factory farming behind. [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/03/factory-farming-transition-mushrooms-vegetables] By Whitney Bauck, The Guardian. Excerpt: [Tom] Lim’s predicament is an increasingly common one for farmers in the US, where about a quarter of all farm operations are in debt and family farms are increasingly bought up by large agribusinesses. Many of the small farms that do remain are like Lim’s, running operations where growers take their orders from multinational agriculture companies, which often prioritize the bottom line over the health and wellbeing of growers, their animals, and the water and land they depend on. …Lim is one of a number of farmers transitioning away from industrial animal agriculture in favor growing vegetables and mushrooms. …Lim and his wife, Sokchea, are currently in the process of converting their former chicken barns into greenhouses where they can grow vegetables, and they’ve already converted an old refrigerated truck bed into a specialty mushroom-growing chamber. …Lims had help through an organization called Transfarmation, which provides farmers with technical support and small grants of $10,000 to $20,000 on their journey to transition away from factory farming. …Transfarmation is a project of the animal rights advocacy group Mercy for Animals, and arose from the relationship of its president, Leah Garces, with farmer Craig Watts, a whistleblower who made national news after 20 years of contract poultry farming for Perdue…. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 7.

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2024-03-06. New Data Details the Risk of Sea-Level Rise for U.S. Coastal Cities. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/06/climate/sea-level-rise-east-coast-sinking-land-flooding.html] By Mira Rojanasakul, The New York Times. Excerpt: A new study of sea-level rise using detailed data on changes to land elevation found that current scientific models may not accurately capture vulnerabilities in 32 coastal cities in the United States. The analysis, published Wednesday in Nature, uses satellite imagery to detect sinking and rising land to help paint a more precise picture of exposure to flooding both today and in the future. Nearly 40 percent of Americans live along the coasts, where subsidence, or sinking land, can add significantly to the threat of sea-level rise. While the Gulf Coast experiences many of the most severe cases of subsidence — parts of Galveston, Texas, and Grand Isle, La., are slumping into the ocean faster than global average sea levels are rising — the trend can be found all along the United States shoreline…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-03-05. The Anthropocene is dead. Long live the Anthropocene. [https://www.science.org/content/article/anthropocene-dead-long-live-anthropocene] By PAUL VOOSEN, Science. Excerpt: …a panel of two dozen geologists has voted down a proposal to end the Holocene—our current span of geologic time, which began 11,700 years ago at the end of the last ice age—and inaugurate a new epoch, the Anthropocene. …Few opponents of the Anthropocene proposal doubted the enormous impact that human influence, including climate change, is having on the planet. But some felt the proposed marker of the epoch—some 10 centimeters of mud from Canada’s Crawford Lake that captures the global surge in fossil fuel burning, fertilizer use, and atomic bomb fallout that began in the 1950s—isn’t definitive enough. …The Anthropocene backers will now have to wait for a decade before their proposal can be considered again. ICS has long instituted this mandatory cooling-off period, given how furious debates can turn, for example, over the boundary between the Pliocene and Pleistocene, and whether the Quaternary—our current geologic period, a category above epochs—should exist at all…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-03-04. Why It’s So Challenging to Land Upright on the Moon. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/04/science/moon-landing-sideways-gravity.html] By Kenneth Chang, The New York Times. Excerpt: When the robotic lander Odysseus last month became the first American-built spacecraft to touch down on the moon in more than 50 years, it toppled over at an angle. …Just a month earlier, another spacecraft, the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, sent by the Japanese space agency, had also tipped during landing, ending up on its head. …people pointed to the height of the Odysseus lander — 14 feet from the bottom of the landing feet to the solar arrays at the top — as a contributing factor for its off-kilter touchdown. …Philip Metzger, a former NASA engineer who is now a planetary scientist at the University of Central Florida, explained the math and the physics of why it is more difficult to remain standing on the moon. …“The side motion that can tip a lander of that size is only a few meters per second in lunar gravity.” …Odysseus was supposed to land vertically with zero horizontal velocity, but because of problems with the navigation system, it was still moving sideways when it hit the ground…. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 2.

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2024-03-02. Why Mainers Are Falling Hard for Heat Pumps. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/02/climate/heat-pumps-maine-electrification.html] By Cara Buckley, The New York Times. Excerpt: Unlike a space heater, a heat pump extracts heat from outside air, even in subzero temperatures, and then runs it through a compressor, which makes it even hotter, before pumping it indoors. In the summer, it can operate in reverse, pulling heat from inside a building and pumping it outside, cooling the indoor spaces. In 2023 heat pumps outsold gas furnaces in the United States for the second year running, a climate win. Electrical heat pumps are the cheapest and most energy efficient ways to heat and cool homes, and they do not emit the carbon pollution that is overheating the planet. No state has adopted them faster than Maine. That northeastern place of hardy types and snowbound winters is quickly going electric, installing electric heat pumps three times faster than the national average, according to Rewiring America, a nonprofit that promotes widespread electrical adoption. Last September, Maine met its goal of installing 100,000 heat pumps in households two years ahead of schedule, and is aiming to install another 175,000 by 2027. Maine’s rapid adoption is being spurred by a combination of state rebates on top of federal incentives and a new cadre of vendors and installers, as well as mounting frustrations over the high cost of heating oil…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 8.

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2024-02-29. Recycling process produces microplastics. [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado1473] By MICHAEL J. STAPLEVAN AND FAISAL I. HAI , Science. Excerpt: Potentially harmful microscopic plastics (microplastics) have been identified in flora, fauna, and humans (1, 2), and their volume and impact in the environment are difficult to quantify. The most effective microplastics mitigation strategy is to pinpoint their sources and prevent their release. Many industries, including textiles, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals, have been linked to the release of microplastics into the environment (3–5). However, one counterintuitive source has been overlooked: the plastic recycling industry. …Researchers need to work with the recycling industry to find ways to effectively contain the microplastics that facilities emit. In addition, environmental regulatory agencies should implement and enforce wastewater emission standards that specifically target microplastics as a contaminant of concern, similar to the policies the European Commission has proposed (12)…. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 7.

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2024-02-27. Our Breathing Earth: A Review of Soil Respiration Science. [https://eos.org/research-spotlights/our-breathing-earth-a-review-of-soil-respiration-science] By Aaron Sidder, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: The ground beneath our feet is exhaling. Steadily and without pause, through a process called soil respiration, plant roots and microbes release carbon dioxide (CO₂) into the atmosphere. The amount of CO₂ that passes from the soil to the air is significant—almost an order of magnitude greater than human emissions. Computing this flow for the whole planet, and understanding how it may be changing, is complicated and uncertain because of gaps in observational data. Yet the calculation is essential for understanding the global carbon cycle and climate change feedbacks. In a new review paper, Bond-Lamberty et al. summarize the past 2 decades of progress in soil respiration science. In one cited study, researchers evaluated how respiration responds to soil wetted by rainfall. In another, researchers girdled trees, or removed their outer layers, to mimic the effects of insects and tracked how tree stress influenced respiration…. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 5.

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2024-02-22. The Paradox Holding Back the Clean Energy Revolution. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/22/opinion/vegas-sphere-energy-efficiency.html] By Ed Conway, The New York Times guest essay. Excerpt: In the 1990s, when multicolor LED lights were invented by Japanese scientists after decades of research, the hope was that they would help to avert climate catastrophe by greatly reducing the amount of electricity we use. It seemed perfectly intuitive. After all, LED lights use 90 percent less energy and last around 18 times longer than incandescent bulbs. Yet the amount of electricity we consume for light globally is roughly the same today as it was in 2010. That’s partly because of population and economic growth in the developing world. But another big reason is …Instead of merely replacing our existing bulbs with LED alternatives, we have come up with ever more extravagant uses for these ever-cheaper lights, …. As technology has advanced, we’ve only grown more wasteful. …There’s an economic term for this: the Jevons Paradox, named for the 19th-century English economist William Stanley Jevons, who noticed that as steam engines became ever more efficient, Britain’s appetite for coal increased rather than decreased…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-02-29. A.I. Frenzy Complicates Efforts to Keep Power-Hungry Data Sites Green. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/29/business/artificial-intelligence-data-centers-green-power.html] By Patrick Sisson, The New York Times. Excerpt: Artificial intelligence’s booming growth is radically reshaping an already red-hot data center market, raising questions about whether these sites can be operated sustainably. …The carbon footprint from the construction of the [data] centers and the racks of expensive computer equipment is substantial in itself, and their power needs have grown considerably. …Just a decade ago, data centers drew 10 megawatts of power, but 100 megawatts is common today. The Uptime Institute, an industry advisory group, has identified 10 supersize cloud computing campuses across North America with an average size of 621 megawatts. …The data center industry has embraced more sustainable solutions in recent years, becoming a significant investor in renewable power at the corporate level. Sites that leased wind and solar capacity jumped 50 percent year over year as of early 2023, to more than 40 gigawatts, capacity that continues to grow. Still, demand outpaces those investments. …A.I. is only a small percentage of the global data center footprint. The Uptime Institute predicts A.I. will skyrocket to 10 percent of the sector’s global power use by 2025, from 2 percent today…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-02-28. These Cities Aren’t Banning Meat. They Just Want You to Eat More Plants. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/28/climate/plant-based-treaty-climate.html] By Cara Buckley, The New York Times. Excerpt: Amsterdam … Los Angeles …are signatories to the Plant Based Treaty, which was launched in 2021 with the aim of calling attention to the role played by greenhouse gases that are generated by food production. …Anita Krajnc …and other activists modeled the Plant Based Treaty after the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, which calls on governments to stop new oil, gas and coal projects. …The first municipality to sign on was Boynton Beach, Fla., in September 2021…. Twenty-five other municipalities have since joined, including Los Angeles, Amsterdam and more than a dozen cities in India. …Globally, food systems make up a third of planet-heating greenhouse gasses, with the environmental toll of the meat and dairy industries being particularly high. Livestock accounts for about a third of methane emissions, which have 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide in the short term. It’s also a water intensive industry. It takes 2,110 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef, 520 gallons of water to produce one pound of cheese and 410 gallons of water to produce one pound of chicken. By comparison, protein-rich lentils require 190 gallons of water per pound. …A 2023 study from the University of Oxford found that, compared to diets heavy in meat, vegan diets resulted in 75 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions, 54 percent less water use and 66 less biodiversity loss…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-02-26. El Niño May Have Kicked Off Thwaites Glacier Retreat. [https://eos.org/articles/el-nino-may-have-kicked-off-thwaites-glacier-retreat] By Grace van Deelen, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier is currently losing significant mass, contributing to around 4% of all global sea level rise. Now, new research suggests that the start of Thwaites’s current retreat aligns with that of the nearby Pine Island Glacier, which is also losing mass rapidly. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, indicate that the mass loss was more likely spurred by regional conditions, such as an El Niño event, …. Scientists have observed accelerating ice loss from Thwaites since the 1970s, mostly via satellite data. …Thwaites likely began to retreat around the 1940s, coinciding with the beginning of a retreat phase at neighboring Pine Island Glacier that had been determined by previous research. …a prolonged El Niño that occurred from 1939 to 1942 could have spurred the retreat of both glaciers, according to the authors. El Niño events tend to bring warmer-than-average temperatures to the Southern Ocean and cause warm water to flow onto the continental shelf upon which the Thwaites Glacier sits, according to the authors. …Why the glaciers did not quickly recover from the 1940s perturbations is an open question, according to Wellner. …said Wellner… “Because we know these two glaciers are retreating in conjunction with each other, we are looking for external drivers. And the external drivers that happen around the right time are increased anthropogenic warming,” she said. But directly pinpointing the cause of the retreat is a “step farther” than what the new paper shows, she said…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-02-26. Tired of diesel fumes, these moms are pushing for electric school buses. [https://apnews.com/article/electric-school-buses-diesel-exhaust-environmental-justice-4263455c7d55e34acd6f35dceb6db7c0] By ALEXA ST. JOHN, Associated Press. Excerpt: Areli Sanchez’s daughter, Aida, used to be one of 20 million American kids who ride a diesel bus to school each day. Aida has asthma. When she was little, she complained about the smell and cloud of fumes on her twice-daily trip. “When she would come home from school or be on the bus, she got headaches and sick to her stomach. …Research shows diesel exhaust exposure can cause students to miss school and affect learning. …Diesel exhaust from school buses potentially affects one-third of U.S. students… according to federal data. It’s a known carcinogen plus it contains harmful nitrogen oxides, volatile gases and particles that exacerbate lung issues. It also contributes to global warming. …A few years after her daughter started having problems, Sanchez saw the opportunity to get involved in the nascent movement for electric buses. They don’t smell. They aren’t noisy. They cost more up front, but cost less to run and can meaningfully reduce emissions, making them a climate change solution. …a national field manager for the grassroots group Moms Clean Air Force…, [Liz] Hurtado appeals to school districts to buy electric buses. She schedules events for community members to see and drive electric vehicles, hosts webinars and meetings and teaches others how to reach out to legislators…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 9.

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2024-02-19. Los Angeles Just Proved How Spongy a City Can Be. [https://www.wired.com/story/los-angeles-just-proved-how-spongy-a-city-can-be/] By MATT SIMON, Wired. Excerpt: …A long band of moisture in the sky, known as an atmospheric river, dumped 9 inches of rain on the city over three days—over half of what the city typically gets in a year. It’s the kind of extreme rainfall that’ll get ever more extreme as the planet warms. The city’s water managers, though, were ready and waiting. Like other urban areas around the world, in recent years LA has been transforming into a “sponge city,” replacing impermeable surfaces, like concrete, with permeable ones, like dirt and plants. It has also built out “spreading grounds,” where water accumulates and soaks into the earth. With traditional dams and all that newfangled spongy infrastructure, between February 4 and 7 the metropolis captured 8.6 billion gallons of stormwater, enough to provide water to 106,000 households for a year. …Long reliant on snowmelt and river water piped in from afar, LA is on a quest to produce as much water as it can locally. …Centuries of urban-planning dogma dictates using gutters, sewers, and other infrastructure to funnel rainwater out of a metropolis as quickly as possible to prevent flooding. Given the increasingly catastrophic urban flooding seen around the world, though, that clearly isn’t working anymore, so now planners are finding clever ways to capture stormwater, treating it as an asset instead of a liability…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-02-22. Dramatic shift in ice age rhythm pinned to carbon dioxide. [https://www.science.org/content/article/dramatic-shift-ice-age-rhythm-pinned-carbon-dioxide] By PAUL VOOSEN, Science. Excerpt: Roughly 1.5 million years ago, Earth went through a radical climatic shift. The planet had already been slipping in and out of ice ages every 40,000 years, provoked by wobbles in its orbit. But then, something flipped. The ice ages began to grow stronger and longer, with durations of 100,000 years, and overall, the planet grew cooler. And nothing about Earth’s orbit could explain it. The cause of this Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT), as it’s known, has been a major mystery for decades. A new compilation of global temperatures covering the past 4.5 million years, published this week in Science, points a finger at a familiar molecule: carbon dioxide. It suggests that a strengthening of an ocean pump in the waters around Antarctica sucked carbon dioxide out of the air and sent it plunging to the abyss, cooling the planet and intensifying the ice ages. The study even suggests the climate, then and now, could be more sensitive to carbon dioxide than modelers expect. “The power of the [carbon dioxide] control knob on the climate system really comes out of this work,” says Ruth Mottram, a climate scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute…. For GSS Life and Climate chapter 10.

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2024-02-22. Stellar remains of famed 1987 supernova found at last. [https://www.science.org/content/article/stellar-remains-famed-1987-supernova-found-last] By DANIEL CLERY, Science. Excerpt: When a nearby star exploded in 1987, it created the first supernova visible to the naked eye in 4 centuries and became one of the most intensely studied objects in space. Now, after more than 35 years of searching, researchers have finally discovered the cinder left behind. Using NASA’s new giant space telescope JWST, astronomers spotted glowing gas at the center of the blast that can only have been energized by something hot and compact inside it, they report this week in Science. They believe a neutron star, all that remains of the shattered star, is responsible…. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 6.

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2024-02-19. Return of Trees to Eastern U.S. Kept Region Cool as Planet Warmed. [https://e360.yale.edu/digest/eastern-us-reforestation-climate-change] By YaleEnvironment360. Excerpt: Over the 20th century, the U.S. as a whole warmed by 1.2 degrees F (0.7 degrees C), but across much the East, temperatures dropped by 0.5 degrees F (0.3 degrees C). A new study posits that the restoration of lost forest countered warming, keeping the region cool. “This widespread history of reforestation, a huge shift in land cover, hasn’t been widely studied for how it could’ve contributed to the anomalous lack of warming in the eastern U.S., which climate scientists call a ‘warming hole,’” said lead author Mallory Barnes, of Indiana University. “That’s why we initially set out to do this work.”…. For GSS A New World View chapter 6.

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2024-02-17. In Wyoming, Sheep May Safely Graze Under Solar Panels in One of the State’s First “Agrivoltaic” Projects. [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/17022024/in-wyoming-sheep-may-safely-graze-under-solar-panels-in-one-of-the-states-first-agrivoltaic-projects/] By Jake Bolster, Inside Climate News. Excerpt: The elevated photovoltaic panels can actually improve grazing conditions, a novelty that could help make solar projects more land-efficient and accepted in the ranching-heavy state. Converse County is one of the most welcoming areas in Wyoming when it comes to clean energy. For roughly every 20 residents, there is one wind turbine, the highest ratio in the state. At a recent County Commissioners meeting, it took another step in diversifying its energy infrastructure, signaling its intent to issue its first solar farm permit to BrightNight. The global energy company has proposed to build more than 1 million solar panels, a battery storage facility and a few miles of above-ground transmission lines on a 4,738 acres of private land run by the Tillard ranching family near Glenrock. The Dutchman Project, as it is called, is notable neither for its generation nor its storage capacity but for the creatures moseying beneath its panels. The base of each sun-tracking panel will be several feet off the ground, allowing enough room for the Tillard’s sheep to continue grazing. In a state whose ranching industry predates its inclusion in the union, pairing solar generation with livestock grazing or other agricultural practices, a technique called “agrivoltaics,” could forge an unlikely alliance between two industries—one ancient; the other, high tech— that typically compete for resources…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-02-15. Broadwater County judge rules against developers in ‘landmark’ water ruling. [https://montanafreepress.org/2024/02/15/judge-rules-against-developers-in-landmark-water-ruling/] By Amanda Eggert, Montana Free Press. Excerpt: A Broadwater County judge ruled this week in favor of a small coalition of landowners and water rights holders who challenged a subdivision proposed for an area already grappling with water supply and quality issues. In a sprawling, 85-page order, Broadwater County District Court Judge Michael McMahon chastised the Broadwater County Commission for authorizing preliminary plat approval of the Horse Creek Hills subdivision near Canyon Ferry, despite an “abjectly deficient” environmental assessment that failed to take into account impacts to water quantity, water quality, public safety and wildlife…. For GSS Population Growth chapter 5.

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2024-02-15. Conflation of reforestation with restoration is widespread. [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adj0899] By CATHERINE L. PARR , MARISKA TE BEEST, AND NICOLA STEVENS, Science. Excerpt: Across Africa, vast areas of nonforest are threatened by inappropriate restoration in the form of tree planting. …To understand the potential scale of tree planting in savannas and grasslands, we examined restoration pledges under the African Forest Restoration Initiative (AFR100) and on-the-ground projects, finding that tree planting is widespread across nonforest systems. …Our analysis revealed that for 18 out of 35 countries, the pledged area exceeds that of forest area … nearly a fifth of the total area pledged for forest landscape restoration (25.9 million ha) covers eight countries with no forest cover (Burkina Faso, Chad, Lesotho, Mali, Namibia, Niger, Senegal, The Gambia)…. Many countries that have forest cover have pledged an area greater than forest area available…. For GSS A New World View chapter 6.

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2024-02-15. What Does a Solar Eclipse on Mars Look Like? New, Breathtaking Images, Caught by NASA’s Perseverance Rover, Give Us an Idea. [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/what-does-solar-eclipse-mars-look-like-new-breathtaking-images-caught-nasa-perseverance-rover-idea-180983795/] By Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine. Excerpt: The robot recently observed each of the Red Planet’s moons passing across the sun in the Martian sky [see photo in this article]. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 7.

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2024-02-14. The United States Has an Updated Map of Earthquake Hazards. [https://eos.org/articles/the-united-states-has-an-updated-map-of-earthquake-hazards] By Caroline Hasler, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Almost 15% of the U.S. population is “somewhat likely” to experience a damaging earthquake in the coming decades, according to the recently published U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM). The model, created by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), synthesizes seismic and geological data to identify which regions of the country are at risk of strong shaking. …First, earthquakes induced by mining, wastewater injection, or other human activities were removed from the catalog; the hazard map depicts only natural hazards. Aftershocks were also removed because they occur as a result of a main shock and cause a particular hazard to be overrepresented. The researchers used the resulting data set to estimate the rate at which earthquakes occur across the United States. They calculated the strength of ground shaking for all earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 5.0, which are likely to cause damaging shaking.… For GSS Energy Flow chapter 2.

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2024-02-14. A Collapse of the Amazon Could Be Coming ‘Faster Than We Thought’. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/14/climate/amazon-rain-forest-tipping-point.html] By Manuela Andreoni, The New York Times. Excerpt: Up to half of the Amazon rainforest could transform into grasslands or weakened ecosystems in the coming decades, a new study found, as climate change, deforestation and severe droughts like the one the region is currently experiencing damage huge areas beyond their ability to recover. Those stresses in the most vulnerable parts of the rainforest could eventually drive the entire forest ecosystem, home to a tenth of the planet’s land species, into acute water stress and past a tipping point that would trigger a forest-wide collapse, researchers said. While earlier studies have assessed the individual effects of climate change and deforestation on the rainforest, this peer-reviewed study, published on Wednesday in the journal Nature, is the first major research to focus on the cumulative effects of a range of threats…. For GSS A New World View chapter 5.

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2024-02-14. A new satellite will use Google’s AI to map methane leaks from space. [https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/02/14/1088198/satellite-google-ai-map-methane-leaks/] By James O’Donnell, MIT Technology Review. Excerpt: A methane-measuring satellite will launch in March that aims to use Google’s AI to quantify, map, and reduce leaks. The mission is part of a collaboration with the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, and the result, they say, will be the most detailed portrait yet of methane emissions. It should help to identify where the worst spots are and who is responsible. With methane responsible for roughly a third of the warming caused by greenhouse gases, regulators in the United States and elsewhere are pushing for stronger rules to curb the leaks that spring from oil and gas plants. MethaneSAT will measure the plumes of methane that billow invisibly from oil and gas operations around the globe, and Google and EDF will then map those leaks for use by researchers, regulators, and the public…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 3.

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2024-02-15. Seeking clear skies and quiet, astronomers put telescopes on U.S. Moon lander. [https://www.science.org/content/article/seeking-clear-skies-and-quiet-astronomers-put-telescopes-u-s-moon-lander] By DANIEL CLERY, Science. Excerpt: Small scopes on IM-1 mission would be first optical and radio observatories on the lunar surface. …Astronomers have long eyed the Moon as a good spot to do their work. Its far side, protected from Earth’s hectic radio noise, is perfect for picking up faint signals from the distant universe. To see infrared signals … Put the telescope into one of the deep craters at the lunar poles that never receive any sunlight and its sensors will benefit from the crater’s permanent chill…. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 2.

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2024-02-15. A River in Flux—Amazon River may be altered forever by climate change. [https://www.science.org/content/article/amazon-river-may-altered-forever-climate-change] By DANIEL GROSSMAN, Science. Excerpt: Extreme flooding and droughts may be the new norm for the Amazon, challenging its people and ecosystems. MANAUS, BRAZIL …In the previous 4 months, only a few millimeters of rain have fallen in this city of 2 million at the confluence of the Negro and Amazon rivers. Normally it gets close to a half a meter during the same period. …Making matters worse, the drought coincided with a series of weekslong heat waves. In September and October, withering conditions persisted across the Amazon, and temperatures here peaked at 39°C, 6°C above normal. …Schöngart and other researchers expect such changes to intensify as global climate warms. The current drought provided a grim preview, killing river dolphins and fish, and threatening livelihoods for communities along the river…. For GSS A New World View chapter 5.

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2024-02-15. New biosecurity group aims to prevent biotech disasters. [https://www.science.org/content/article/new-biosecurity-group-aims-prevent-biotech-disasters] By ROBERT F. SERVICE, Science. Excerpt: Biosecurity experts today launched a new international nonprofit designed to prevent modern biotechnology from causing harm. Known as the International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science (IBBIS), the group aims to develop technological and policy guardrails to reduce the risk that biotech tools, such as the ability to synthesize and edit DNA, are accidentally or deliberately used to create deadly toxins and pathogens. …in recent years, researchers have also shown they can build dangerous viruses and other microbes from scratch…. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 4.

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2024-02-15. After Shutting Down, These Golf Courses Went Wild. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/15/climate/golf-courses-conservation-nature.html] By Cara Buckley, The New York Times. Excerpt: Most defunct golf courses get paved over, but a number are getting transformed into ecological life rafts for wildlife, plants — and people…. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 5.

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2024-02-12. The Escalating Impact of Global Warming on Atmospheric Rivers. [https://eos.org/research-spotlights/the-escalating-impact-of-global-warming-on-atmospheric-rivers] By Saima May Sidik, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Climate change is set to intensify atmospheric rivers and exacerbate extreme rainfall worldwide. …Zhang et al. used a suite of climate models called Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) to examine how the prevalence of atmospheric rivers has already changed and will continue to change in a warming world from 1980 to 2099. Rising surface temperatures will continue to increase moisture content in the air, leading to a rise in atmospheric rivers overall, …these events will increase by 84% between December and February and 113% between June and August under continued heavy fossil fuel use…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-02-11. The Planet Needs Solar Power. Can We Build It Without Harming Nature? [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/02/11/climate/climate-change-wildlife-solar.html] By Catrin Einhorn, The New York Times. Excerpt: For pronghorn, those antelope-like creatures of the American West, this grassland north of Flagstaff is prime habitat. …But for a nation racing to adopt renewable energy, the land is prime for something else: solar panels. …Animals need humans to solve climate change. …The good news for wildlife is that there are ways for solar developers to make installations less harmful and even beneficial for many species, like fences that let some animals pass, wildlife corridors, native plants that nurture pollinators, and more. …“We’re faced with two truths: We have a climate change crisis, but we also have a biodiversity crisis,” said Meaghan Gade, a program manager at the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-02-10. How One of the Nation’s Fastest Growing Counties Plans to Find Water in the Desert. [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/10022024/how-one-of-the-nations-fastest-growing-counties-plans-to-find-water-in-the-desert/] By David Condos, KUER (NPR Utah). Excerpt: Like many places across the West, two things are on a collision course in Utah’s southwest corner: growth and water. Washington County’s population has quadrupled since 1990. St. George, its largest city, has been the fastest-growing metro area in the nation in recent years. …The region has essentially tapped out the Colorado River tributary it depends on now, the Virgin River. …The district’s 20-year plan comes down to two big ideas: reusing and conserving the water it already has…. For GSS Population Growth chapter 5.

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2024-02-09. Atlantic Ocean circulation nearing ‘devastating’ tipping point, study finds. [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/09/atlantic-ocean-circulation-nearing-devastating-tipping-point-study-finds] By Jonathan Watts, The Guardian. Excerpt: …researchers developed an early warning indicator for the breakdown of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc), a vast system of ocean currents that is a key component in global climate regulation. They found Amoc is already on track towards an abrupt shift, which has not happened for more than 10,000 years and would have dire implications for large parts of the world. Amoc, which encompasses part of the Gulf Stream and other powerful currents, is a marine conveyer belt that carries heat, carbon and nutrients from the tropics towards the Arctic Circle, where it cools and sinks into the deep ocean. This churning helps to distribute energy around the Earth and modulates the impact of human-caused global heating. But the system is being eroded by the faster-than-expected melt-off of Greenland’s glaciers and Arctic ice sheets, which pours freshwater into the sea and obstructs the sinking of saltier, warmer water from the south. Amoc has declined 15% since 1950 and is in its weakest state in more than a millennium, according to previous research that prompted speculation about an approaching collapse. The new paper, published in Science Advances, has broken new ground by looking for warning signs in the salinity levels at the southern extent of the Atlantic Ocean between Cape Town and Buenos Aires…. See also Washington Post article Why this is one of the planetary shifts scientists are most worried about. For GSS Climate Change chapter 7.

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2024-02-08. Rat poison threatens Italy’s growing wolf population. [https://www.science.org/content/article/rat-poison-threatens-italy-s-growing-wolf-population] By GENNARO TOMMA, Science. Excerpt: …results, published online last month in Science of the Total Environment, revealed that the rodenticide threat could be “far higher than previously thought,” the authors write. Overall, 61.8% of 186 wolf carcasses recovered from 2018 to 2022 and tested carried traces of at least one poison, and 42% carried traces of two or more. The testing couldn’t reveal how a wolf had ingested the chemicals or whether they had caused its death. But some animals showed signs of internal bleeding, a hallmark of rodenticides. A statistical analysis indicated wolves living closer to urban areas faced a greater risk…. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 6.

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2024-02-08. Gusher of gas deep in mine stokes interest in natural hydrogen. [https://www.science.org/content/article/gusher-gas-deep-mine-stokes-interest-natural-hydrogen] By ERIC HAND, Science. Excerpt: Researchers have discovered a massive spring of hydrogen, bubbling out of a deep mine in Albania. Although it may not be economical to exploit, the surprisingly high flow of the gas is likely to raise interest in the emerging field of natural hydrogen, the overlooked idea that Earth itself could be a source of the clean-burning fuel…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-02-08. Jury rules for climate scientist Michael Mann in long-running defamation case. [https://www.science.org/content/article/jury-rules-climate-scientist-michael-mann-long-running-defamation-case] By PAUL VOOSEN, Science. Excerpt: A jury found today that Michael Mann, a prominent climate scientist, was defamed by the writers of two blog posts 12 years ago that compared his work on global warming to child molestation. …At the heart of Mann’s lawsuit are two 25-year-old scientific papers that he led. The studies combined historical records with tree rings and other temperature proxies going back 1000 years to show that temperatures stayed largely flat until the past century, when they rose sharply. A key chart from the papers, dubbed the “hockey stick” because of its shape, was used in a 2001 U.N. climate report. …One of those attacks was written in 2012 by Simberg, then a blogger at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, following the arrest of Penn State’s Jerry Sandusky, a serial child molester who coached football at the school. Simberg likened the case to the university’s investigation of Mann, saying Mann “molested and tortured data” to reach his conclusions on the hockey stick. Steyn then quoted Simberg’s post in a blog hosted by the National Review, calling Mann’s work “fraudulent.”… For GSS Climate Change chapter 4.

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2024-02-07. European Parliament votes to ease regulation of gene-edited crops. [https://www.science.org/content/article/european-parliament-votes-ease-regulation-gene-edited-crops] By ERIK STOKSTAD, Science. Excerpt: Europe has long been a bastion of skepticism about genetically engineered organisms, but today the European Parliament voted to lessen regulatory oversight of crops created through one type of DNA manipulation: gene editing. …[Oana] Dima says several factors have lessened the resistance recently. The success of messenger RNA vaccines for COVID-19 has improved the reputation of biotechnology, she notes. …Although the Parliament is now supportive of greenlighting gene-edited crops, some members want to prohibit patents on NGTs, arguing this would help keep costs low for farmers. Conventionally bred plants in Europe cannot be patented in Europe. Dima says the issue of patent protection should be discussed apart from the NGT legislation, and within the EU’s patent regulatory framework. …The Parliament also wants all NGT plants to be labeled when sold to consumers, whereas the Commission thinks biotech crops exempt from the GMO regulation should only have seeds labeled, so that farmers can be sure of what they are planting…. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 4.

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2024-02-07. After mass coral die-off, Florida scientists rethink plan to save ailing reefs. [https://www.science.org/content/article/after-mass-coral-die-off-florida-scientists-rethink-plan-to-save-ailing-reefs] By WARREN CORNWALL, Science. Excerpt: Four years ago, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) unveiled a $100 million coral moonshot. Over 2 decades, nearly half a million hand-reared coral colonies would be planted on seven ailing reefs in southern Florida, in a bid to revive them. …Today, the project looks as ailing as the coral it was meant to save. A record-breaking underwater heat wave that swept the Caribbean and southern Florida in 2023 killed most of the transplanted colonies…. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 7.

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2024-02-07. Does Saturn’s Deathstar Moon Harbor an Ocean? [https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/does-saturns-death-star-moon-harbor-an-ocean] By MONICA YOUNG, Sky & Telescope. Excerpt: Mimas, the moon that orbits just clear of Saturn’s rings, …looks suspiciously like the “Death Star” from Star Wars. Fittingly, this Death Star moon also appears geologically dead. Unlike Saturn’s other icy moons, whose surfaces are slashed with cracks and fissures that spew evidence of subsurface oceans, Mimas is covered in craters. Now, in the February 8th Nature, Valery Lainey (Paris Observatory) and colleagues report evidence that Mimas does have a subsurface ocean after all. It’s just that it’s so new, having formed only between 2 and 25 million years ago, that it hasn’t had time yet to impact the surface…. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 7.

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2024-02-06. Poorer Countries Face Heavier Consequences of Climate Change. [https://eos.org/articles/poorer-countries-face-heavier-consequences-of-climate-change] By atherine Kornei, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Forest biomes are on the move because of climate change, and nations from Albania to Zimbabwe will experience shifts in economic production and ecosystem-provided benefits as vegetation cover relocates—or disappears entirely. …An ongoing poleward shift in vegetation, likely to persist into the future, has implications for natural resources such as timber, said Bernie Bastien-Olvera, a climate scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. “As forests migrate towards higher latitudes, many countries are losing forest cover.” …“Tropical forests will replace temperate forests, temperate forests will replace boreal forests, and boreal forests will grow where there is right now only permafrost.” …Bastien-Olvera and his collaborators furthermore showed that poorer countries were harder hit: The poorest 50% of countries shouldered 90% of GDP losses…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-02-06. Massive solar farms could provoke rainclouds in the desert. [https://www.science.org/content/article/massive-solar-farms-could-provoke-rainclouds-desert] By PAUL VOOSEN, Science. Excerpt: The heat from large expanses of dark solar panels can cause updrafts that, in the right conditions, lead to rainstorms, providing water for tens of thousands of people. “Some solar farms are getting up to the right size right now,” says Oliver Branch, a climate scientist at the University of Hohenheim who led the work, published last week in the journal Earth System Dynamics. “Maybe it’s not science fiction that we can produce this effect.”…. For GSS Energy Flow chapter 6.

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2024-02-05. Oceans May Have Already Seen 1.7°C of Warming. [https://eos.org/articles/oceans-may-have-already-seen-1-7c-of-warming] By Kimberly M. S. Cartier, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Sponges from the Caribbean retain a record of ocean temperatures stretching back hundreds of years. These newly revealed paleoclimate records suggest that sea surface temperatures (SSTs) began rising in response to industrial era fossil fuel burning around 1860. That’s 80 years earlier than SST measurements became common and predates the global warming start date used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). On the basis of these new sponge records, scientists think that temperatures are currently 1.7°C warmer than preindustrial levels. The study’s researchers argue that the world has already surpassed the goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit atmospheric warming to less than 1.5°C above preindustrial temperatures and that we could reach 2°C of warming before 2030. …These results were published in Nature Climate Change…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 4.

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2024-02-05. We’ve Already Seen Category 6 Hurricanes—Now Scientists Want to Make It Official. [https://eos.org/articles/weve-already-seen-category-6-hurricanes-now-scientists-want-to-make-it-official] By Grace van Deelen, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Five tropical cyclones in the past 9 years have hit wind speeds far above the category 5 threshold, causing thousands of fatalities and billions of dollars of damage. Such ultrastrong, highly destructive hurricanes are becoming more likely as climate change increases the amount of energy available to storms. In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, scientists suggest that the growing intensification of tropical cyclones may necessitate adding a sixth category to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Doing so could be one useful tool not only to indicate hurricane risk but also to convey the increasing dangers of climate change…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-02-05. The Fingerprints on Chile’s Fires and California Floods: El Niño and Warming. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/05/climate/california-floods-chile-wildfires-global-warming.html] By Somini Sengupta, The New York Times. Excerpt: Two far-flung corners of the world, known for their temperate climates, are being buffeted by deadly disasters. Wildfires have killed more than 120 people as they swept the forested hillsides of Chile, and record-breaking rains have swelled rivers and triggered mudslides in Southern California. Behind these risks are two powerful forces: Climate change, which can intensify both rain and drought, and the natural weather phenomenon known as El Niño, which can also supersize extreme weather. In California, …rains began over the weekend and several counties were under a state of emergency. By Monday, officials warned that the Los Angeles area could be deluged by the equivalent of a year’s rainfall in a single day. In the southern hemisphere, Chile has been reeling from drought for the better part of a decade. That set the stage for a hellish weekend, when, amid a severe heat wave, wildfires broke out. The president has since declared two days of national mourning and warned that the death toll from the devastating blazes could “significantly increase.” Both the floods and the fires reflect the extreme weather risks brought on by a dangerous cocktail of global warming, which is principally caused by the burning of fossil fuels, and this year’s El Niño, a cyclical weather phenomenon characterized by an overheated Pacific Ocean near the Equator…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-02-05. An electrifying new ironmaking method could slash carbon emissions. [https://www.science.org/content/article/electrifying-new-ironmaking-method-could-slash-carbon-emissions] By ROBERT F. SERVICE, Science. Excerpt: Making iron, the main ingredient of steel, takes a toll on Earth’s delicate atmosphere, producing 8% of all global greenhouse gas emissions. Now, a team of chemists has come up with a way to make the business much more eco-friendly. By using electricity to convert iron ore and salt water into metallic iron and other industrially useful chemicals, researchers report today in Joule that their approach is cost effective, works well with electricity provided by wind and solar farms, and could even be carbon negative, consuming more carbon dioxide (CO₂) than it produces. …The world mines 2.5 billion tons of iron every year, and reducing it to iron emits as much CO₂ as the tailpipes of all passenger vehicles combined. So, scientists are looking for economically viable ways to produce metallic iron that don’t generate greenhouse gases. …If it all works out, ironmaking could someday put a little less burden on the climate…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-02-05. Lightning during volcanic eruptions may have sparked life on Earth. [https://www.newscientist.com/article/2415697-lightning-during-volcanic-eruptions-may-have-sparked-life-on-earth/] By Michael Le Page, New Scientist. Excerpt: An analysis of volcanic rocks has revealed large quantities of nitrogen compounds that were almost certainly formed by volcanic lightning. This process could have provided the nitrogen required for the first life forms to evolve and thrive. …nitrogen-fixing bacteria didn’t exist when life first evolved, says Slimane Bekki at Sorbonne University in Paris, so there must have been a non-biological source early on. …The lightning from thunderstorms is one possible origin. This produces a relatively small amount of nitrates today but might have been important early in Earth’s history. …Bekki and his colleagues have shown that another source could have been the lightning that occurs in ash clouds during some volcanic eruptions. When they collected volcanic deposits from Peru, Turkey and Italy, the researchers were initially surprised to find large quantities of nitrates in some layers. An isotopic analysis of these nitrates showed that they were atmospheric in origin and hadn’t been emitted by the volcanoes. But Bekki says that the quantities were too large to have been created by lightning during thunderstorms. “It was the amount that was really surprising,” he says. “It is really massive.” That means the nitrates were probably generated by volcanic lightning…. For GSS Life and Climate chapter 4.

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2024-02-02. Could a Giant Parasol in Outer Space Help Solve the Climate Crisis?. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/02/climate/sun-shade-climate-geoengineering.html] By Cara Buckley, The New York Times. Excerpt: The idea is to create a huge sunshade and send it to a far away point between the Earth and the sun to block a small but crucial amount of solar radiation, enough to counter global warming. Scientists have calculated that if just shy of 2 percent of the sun’s radiation is blocked, that would be enough to cool the planet by 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 Fahrenheit, and keep Earth within manageable climate boundaries. …To block the necessary amount of solar radiation, the shade would have to be about a million square miles, roughly the size of Argentina, Dr. Rozen said. A shade that big would weigh at least 2.5 million tons — too heavy to launch into space, he said. So, the project would have to involve a series of smaller shades. They would not completely block the sun’s light but rather cast slightly diffused shade onto Earth, he said. …The sunshade idea has its critics, among them Susanne Baur, …. A sunshade would be astronomically expensive and could not be implemented in time, given the speed of global warming, she said. In addition, a solar storm or collision with stray space rocks could damage the shield, resulting in sudden, rapid warming with disastrous consequences…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-02-01. The Coral Chronicles. [https://www.science.org/content/article/remote-pacific-island-clues-el-ninos-future-preserved-ancient-reefs] By PAUL VOOSEN, Science. Excerpt: …The El Niño event, now at its peak, is driving weather extremes not just in Vanuatu, but all over the planet. Drought has struck Australia, as well as the Amazon, where intolerably hot waters have suffocated endangered pink dolphins. Rains have drenched Peru, spreading dengue, while warm waters intruding near its coast have disrupted the world’s largest anchovy fishery and forced the nation to cancel a lucrative fishing season. Those same warm waters accelerated Hurricane Otis, which devastated Acapulco and Mexico’s Pacific coast in October 2023. The effects have been truly global: By suppressing the Pacific’s ability to absorb heat from the atmosphere, El Niño helped make 2023 the hottest year in history by a huge margin. …TWENTY THOUSAND YEARS AGO, at the peak of the last ice age, Earth was 6°C cooler than today. Glaciers buried the northern continents. But in the tropical Pacific, things wouldn’t have looked so different, with one exception: Every island would have been much, much taller. With the planet’s water locked up in ice sheets, sea levels were 120 meters lower. .Corals continued to grow around these towering islands, capturing the swings of El Niño and La Niña events as chemical signals within their skeletons much like tree rings. Later, when the ice sheets melted, the reefs at Vanuatu and elsewhere were submerged, putting their ancient records of El Niño and La Niña out of reach. …Ancient corals can capture the climatic effects of El Niño and La Niña events that occurred thousands of years ago. But most reefs from the last ice age are submerged by more than 100 meters of water. On the island of Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu, however, tectonic forces have lifted ancient corals back to the surface…. For GSS Energy Flow chapter 8.

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2024-01-31. Planets around dead stars offer glimpse of the Solar System’s future—after the Sun swallows us up. [https://www.science.org/content/article/planets-around-dead-stars-offer-glimpse-solar-system-s-future-after-sun-swallows-us] By JONATHAN O’CALLAGHAN, Science. Excerpt: In about 5 billion years the Sun will balloon up into a red giant, consuming Mercury, probably Venus, and maybe even Earth. But even if the outer planets avoid being swallowed up, they might eventually get pulled in or ejected from the Solar System. A new discovery suggests they can survive intact. Using NASA’s JWST space telescope, astronomers have for the first time directly imaged planets on Solar System–like orbits around white dwarfs, the dead stars left after Sun-like stars swell into red giants and subside. The planets follow orbits resembling those of the giant planets in the outer Solar System—big enough for them to have escaped the inferno…. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 1.

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2024-01-31. Is the world 1.3°C or 1.5°C warmer? Historical ship logs hold answers. [https://www.science.org/content/article/world-1-3%C2%B0c-or-1-5%C2%B0c-warmer-historical-ship-logs-hold-answers] By PAUL VOOSEN, Science. Excerpt: Last month’s announcement that 2023 was the hottest year in history was no surprise. But it came with one: No one knows exactly how much the world has warmed. One group of climate scientists found the planet has warmed 1.34°C over the 1850–1900 average, whereas another found temperatures had risen 1.54°C. …the current disagreement is not over present temperatures, but rather the past. The warmth of the ocean in the late 19th century is a key part of the baseline against which the warming of the planet is measured—and figures are at odds. …No estimate of global temperature is possible without including the oceans, which cover 70% of the planet’s surface. …But ocean temperature records in the 19th century were few and far between. A global record began in the 1850s thanks to a controversial figure, Matthew Fontaine Maury, a superintendent at the U.S. Naval Observatory who avidly supported slavery and would go on to serve the Confederacy. …he encouraged merchant sailors to collect weather observations, including measurements of water temperature from buckets heaved to the deck; if captains shared the data with the government, they would receive naval charts in return. …Today, two organizations maintain these historical sea surface temperature records: the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.K.’s Met Office. They both catalog the same underlying data, but differ in how they approach a key question. “How to correct the bucket temperature?” …. NOAA does so by cross-checking the bucket temperatures with air temperatures taken at the same place and time, whereas the Met Office relies on a “bucket model” to estimate the water’s temperature before it was scooped up. …after the 1930s, temperature measurements from Japanese ships tended to be 0.35°C colder than those from other countries. This wasn’t because of any oddity in Japanese data collecting. Rather, when the U.S. Air Force was digitizing these records after World War II, putting them on punch cards, it dropped the decimal to save space. “They floored everything to the whole degree,” Chan says. A staggering number of logbooks have yet to be digitized, says Ed Hawkins, a climate scientist at the University of Reading. The U.K.’s National Archives has 6 million pages that are so far untouched, for example. “We could at least double the quantity of data we have available,” Hawkins says…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 4.

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2024-01-31. Unlikely Allies Want to Bar a Brazilian Beef Giant From U.S. Stock Markets. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/31/climate/jbs-ipo-nyse.html] By Manuela Andreoni and Dionne Searcey, The New York Times. Excerpt: A giant Brazilian meatpacking company is facing persistent opposition to its plans for a listing on the New York Stock Exchange because of concerns about corruption settlements, accusations of Amazon deforestation and its growing market share in the United States. The proposed listing by JBS, the world’s biggest meatpacker, has brought together American beef producers, environmentalists and politicians from both major parties in a rare common cause. …a dozen British lawmakers urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to reject the share listing to “send a clear message that the United States stands firm in its commitment to combating climate change.” …Research suggests about 80 percent of deforestation in the Amazon is connected to the beef industry. Global meat consumption is expected to grow 14 percent by 2030 as the world’s population grows and incomes generally rise, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, which has called for eating a more plant-based diet to help reduce carbon emissions…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 9.

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2024-01-29. Shallow Seawater Chemistry May Make Reefs More Resistant to Ocean Acidification. [https://eos.org/research-spotlights/shallow-seawater-chemistry-may-make-reefs-more-resistant-to-ocean-acidification] By Sarah Stanley, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: …As carbon emissions increase, the ocean absorbs more carbon dioxide. This causes a chain of chemical reactions that results in the formation of carbonic acid and overall ocean acidification. …Now, research from Palacio-Castro et al. sheds new light…. The researchers analyzed the carbonate chemistry of seawater collected at 38 different locations within the Florida Coral Reef system multiple times per year from 2010 to 2021. They found that seawater acidity increased …, specifically in reefs located somewhat deeper and farther from shore. …shallower inshore reefs, however, …often coexist with seagrass beds, and the new findings align with prior research suggesting that the effects of seagrass on carbonate chemistry could help protect reefs from acidification…. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 7.

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2024-01-29. How Dangerous Is Mexico’s Popocatépetl? It Depends on Who You Ask. [https://eos.org/features/how-dangerous-is-mexicos-popocatepetl-it-depends-on-who-you-ask] By Katherine Kornei, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: The stratovolcano in central Mexico presents a rich case study of risk perception, science communication, and preparedness surrounding natural hazards. …Reports frequently use words and phrases such as “threatening” and “booming eruptions” to describe the active stratovolcano 70 kilometers southeast of Mexico’s capital. …A research team led by Ivan Sunyé Puchol recently estimated that the volcano has erupted explosively more than 25 times over the past 500,000 years. …Popocatépetl’s last explosive eruption of significant size occurred roughly 1,100 years ago. However, the volcano rumbled to life again in late 1994 with a series of small eruptions …that produced a 7-kilometer-high column of ash. …light brown ash has repeatedly dusted nearby towns like Tetela del Volcán and even more outlying cities like Puebla and Mexico City. Mudflows of pumice and ash known as lahars have coursed down the volcano’s nearly vertical slopes. Pyroclastic density currents, clouds of hot gas and volcanic debris that race downslope at hundreds of kilometers per hour, have also been reported at Popocatépetl. “Ash falls, lahars, and pyroclastic density currents are, in my opinion, the real hazards today,” said Sunyé Puchol…. For GSS Energy Flow chapter 2.

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2024-01-26. Measuring Methane Stemming from Tree Stems. [https://eos.org/research-spotlights/measuring-methane-stemming-from-tree-stems] By Aaron Sidder, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Wetland tree stem emissions have emerged as a significant contributor to the global methane budget. A new study tracks how they vary by season, location, and hydrological conditions. The recent rise in atmospheric methane (CH₄) has drawn increased attention to the potent greenhouse gas, which is approximately 45 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. About 60% of global methane emissions are anthropogenic, primarily from fossil fuel burning and other activities in the transportation and agriculture sectors. The remainder of the methane budget comes from natural ecosystem processes. Tropical wetlands are the largest natural source of methane, …. For GSS Climate Change chapter 3.

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2024-01-24. Trump, Haley Tell Voters: Economic Prosperity Requires Fossil Fuels. [https://eos.org/articles/trump-haley-tell-voters-economic-prosperity-requires-fossil-fuels] By Grace van Deelen, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Both Republican front-runners promise a better economy via oil and gas production. But crude and natural gas production reached record numbers under the Biden administration, and ties between fossil fuel production and economic prosperity are less clear than the candidates make them seem, said energy policy experts…. For Climate Change chapter 9.

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2024-01-19. New type of water splitter could make green hydrogen cheaper. [https://www.science.org/content/article/new-type-water-splitter-could-make-green-hydrogen-cheaper] By ROBERT F. SERVICE, Science. Excerpt: To wean itself off fossil fuels, the world needs cheaper ways to produce green hydrogen—a clean-burning fuel made by using renewable electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Now researchers report a way to avoid the need for a costly membrane at the heart of the water-splitting devices, and to instead produce hydrogen and oxygen in completely separate chambers. As a lab-based proof of concept, the new setup—reported this month in Nature Materials—is a long way from working at an industrial scale. But if successful, it could help heavy industries such as steelmaking and fertilizer production reduce their dependence on oil, coal, and natural gas. …Any successes in eliminating electrolyzer membranes could be a boon to efforts to decarbonize parts of industry most dependent on fossil fuels, he says. “I can not overstate how big of an advantage that is.”…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-01-26. Panama Canal Drought Slows Cargo Traffic. [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/01/26/climate/panama-canal-drought-shipping.html] By Mira Rojanasakul, The New York Times. Summary: The lake that allows the Panama Canal to function recorded the lowest water level ever for the start of a dry season this year, which means that vastly fewer ships can pass through the canal. The extreme drought, exacerbated by an ongoing El Niño that is affecting Gatún Lake and the whole region appears likely to last into May. The Panama Canal Authority has reduced daily traffic through the narrow corridor by nearly 40 percent compared with last year. Many ships have already diverted to longer ocean routes, which increases both costs and carbon emissions, while the global shipping company Maersk recently announced they will shift some of their cargo to rail. …In previous droughts, weight restrictions were imposed because heavier boats risk running aground in the shallower water. The canal typically handles an estimated 5 percent of seaborne trade, including 46 percent of the container traffic between the East Coast of the United States and Northeast Asia. But last summer, the Panama Canal Authority began taking the drastic measure of reducing traffic. Toll revenues have dropped by $100 million per month since October. …Panama’s population has quadrupled since the 1950s, and more than half the country relies on the canal’s reservoirs — Gatún Lake and the smaller Alajuela — for clean drinking water. “Before it was a very small percentage of total water use, and now it’s the equivalent of four or five lockages per day,” said Gloria Arrocha Paz, a meteorologist at the Panama Canal Authority…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-01-25. Water Batteries. [https://www.science.org/content/article/how-giant-water-batteries-could-make-green-power-reliable] By ROBERT KUNZIG, Science. Excerpt: The machines that turn Tennessee’s Raccoon Mountain into one of the world’s largest energy storage devices—in effect, a battery that can power a medium-size city—are hidden in a cathedral-size cavern deep inside the mountain. But what enables the mountain to store all that energy is plain in an aerial photo. The summit plateau is occupied by a large lake that hangs high above the Tennessee River…. At night, when demand for electricity is low but TVA’s nuclear reactors are still humming, TVA banks the excess, storing it as gravitational potential energy in the summit lake. The pumps draw water from the Tennessee and shoot it straight up the 10-meter-wide shaft at a rate that would fill an Olympic pool in less than 6 seconds. During the day, when demand for electricity peaks, water drains back down the shaft and spins the turbines, generating 1700 megawatts of electricity—the output of a large power plant, enough to power 1 million homes. The lake stores enough water and thus enough energy to do that for 20 hours. Pumped storage hydropower, as this technology is called, is not new. Some 40 U.S. plants and hundreds around the world are in operation. …Pumped storage, however, has already arrived; it supplies more than 90% of existing grid storage. China, the world leader in renewable energy, also leads in pumped storage, with 66 new plants under construction, according to Global Energy Monitor. …In the Alps, where pumped storage was invented in the late 19th century, Switzerland opened a plant in 2022 called Nant de Drance that can deliver 900 megawatts for as long as 20 hours…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-01-25. Industry reports drastically underestimate carbon emissions. [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adj6233] By MEGAN HE et al, Science. Excerpt: The Athabasca oil sands in Alberta, Canada represent the world’s largest deposit of crude bitumen—a dense, extremely viscous form of petroleum. Extracting oil from these deposits generates harmful carbon emissions, which have a significant impact on air quality. Although companies are often required to monitor and report these emissions, new research suggests these reports contain major gaps—and that the true amount of pollution is much higher than previously thought. …Using an aircraft belonging to the National Research Council of Canada, scientists directly measured carbon concentrations in the air above multiple facilities in the Athabasca oil sands. Their analyses suggested that the region emits more carbon than all the cars in Los Angeles each year—and the same amount as all other Canadian emission sources combined. Most notably, the aircraft-based measurements exceeded industry-reported values by 1900% to over 6300%, which implies that current methods of monitoring emissions are in desperate need of an overhaul…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 3.

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2024-01-24. Multicellularity came early for ancient eukaryotes. [https://www.science.org/content/article/microbes-gave-rise-all-plants-and-animals-became-multicellular-1-6-billion-years-ago] By ELIZABETH PENNISI, Science. Excerpt: A new study describing a microscopic, algalike fossil dating back more than 1.6 billion years supports the idea that one of the hallmarks of the complex life we see around us—multicellularity— is much older than previously thought. Together with other recent research, the fossil, reported today in Science Advances, suggests the lineage known as eukaryotes— which features compartmentalized cells and includes everything from redwoods to jellies to people—became multicellular some 600 million years earlier than scientists once generally thought…. For GSS Life and Climate chapter 4.

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2024-01-24. Plan to allow wolf hunting in Europe to spare livestock could backfire, some scientists say. [https://www.science.org/content/article/plan-allow-wolf-hunting-europe-protect-livestock-could-backfire-some-scientists-say] By GENNARO TOMMA, Science. Excerpt: Late last month, the European Commission released a proposal to weaken protections for wolves living in the 27 nations of the European Union, drawing criticism from environme On 20 December 2023, the Commission responded by releasing a proposal to downgrade the wolf’s protection status from “strictly protected” to “protected.” The change would allow EU nations to cull wolves at scale for the first time in 4 decades, although countries would still be obligated to ensure that wolves maintain a “favorable” conservation status. ntal groups. Just days later, environmentalists persuaded a court in Switzerland, which is not a member of the EU, to partially block a new government plan to kill up to 70% of the nation’s wolf population. After centuries of hunting, only small and scattered populations of wolves survived in Europe by the 1970s, but recent studies estimate some 20,000 animals now roam the continent. The rebound is largely due to protections provided to wolves and other large carnivores under the Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, a 40-year-old conservation agreement. As the number of wolves has increased, however, so has predation on domestic livestock. Every year wolves kill 65,000 farm animals, mainly sheep, according to the Commission. Although this amounts to just 0.07% of the continent’s sheep, farm groups across Europe have lobbied officials to weaken rules against killing wolves…. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 6.

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2024-01-24. Zapping ‘red mud’ in plasma turns mine waste into valuable iron. [https://www.science.org/content/article/zapping-red-mud-plasma-turns-mine-waste-valuable-iron] By ERIK STOKSTAD, Science. Excerpt: Over the years, mining for aluminum has left behind billions of tons of the caustic sludge called red mud. But today in Nature, scientists report that a simple chemical process can extract another useful metal, iron, from this waste and render the remainder into a mostly benign substance useful for making concrete. If the process can be scaled up and proves cost-effective, it could help manufacturers convert waste into climate-friendlier steel, the researchers say…. For GSS Ecosystem Change chapter 7.

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2024-01-23. To Slash Carbon Emissions, Colleges Are Digging Really Deep. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/23/climate/geoexchange-climate-colleges-heat.html] By Cara Buckley, The New York Times. Excerpt: …Princeton University … is using the earth beneath its campus to create a new system that will keep buildings at comfortable temperatures without burning fossil fuels. The multimillion dollar project, using a process known as geoexchange, marks a significant shift in how Princeton gets its energy, and is key to the university’s plan to stop adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere by 2046. …the more than 2,000 boreholes planned for the campus will be undetectable, despite performing an impressive sleight of hand. During hot months, heat drawn from Princeton’s buildings will be stored in thick pipes deep underground until winter, when heat will be drawn back up again. The change is significant. Since its founding in 1746, Princeton has heated its buildings by burning carbon-based fuels, in the form of firewood, then coal, then fuel oil, then natural gas. …Among the colleges where geoexchange or geothermal systems are being tested, installed or are in use: Smith, Oberlin, Dartmouth, Mount Holyoke and William & Mary. Cornell University has dug a two-mile test geothermal borehole at its Ithaca campus, and is using geoexchange at one of its buildings on Roosevelt Island in New York City’s East River. Brown University drilled test boreholes to gauge heat conductivity this past fall, and Columbia University secured a special state mining permit to drill an 800-foot test bore on its New York City campus…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-01-22. Is NASA too down on space-based solar power?. [https://www.science.org/content/article/nasa-too-down-space-based-solar-power] By DANIEL CLERY, Science. Excerpt: This month, NASA cast a shadow on one of the most visionary prospects for freeing the world from fossil fuels: collecting solar energy in space and beaming it to Earth. An agency report found the scheme is feasible by 2050 but would cost between 12 and 80 times as much as ground-based renewable energy sources. Undaunted, many government agencies and companies are pushing ahead with demonstration plans. Some researchers say NASA’s analysis is too pessimistic…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-01-21. As Switzerland’s Glaciers Shrink, a Way of Life May Melt Away. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/21/world/europe/switzerland-glaciers.html] By Catherine Porter, Photographs and Video by George Steinmetz, The New York Times. Excerpt: For centuries, Swiss farmers have sent their cattle, goats and sheep up the mountains to graze in warmer months before bringing them back down at the start of autumn. Devised in the Middle Ages to save precious grass in the valleys for winter stock, the tradition of “summering” has so transformed the countryside into a patchwork of forests and pastures that maintaining its appearance was written into the Swiss Constitution as an essential role of agriculture. It has also knitted together essential threads of the country’s modern identity: alpine cheeses, hiking trails that crisscross summer pastures, cowbells echoing off the mountainsides. In December, the United Nations heritage agency UNESCO added the Swiss tradition to its exalted “intangible cultural heritage” list. But climate change threatens to scramble those traditions. Warming temperatures, glacier loss, less snow and an earlier snow melt are forcing farmers across Switzerland to adapt. …Switzerland has long been considered Europe’s water tower, the place where deep winter snows would accumulate and gently melt through the warmer months, augmenting the trickling runoff from thick glaciers that helped sustain many of Europe’s rivers and its ways of life for centuries. Today, the Alps are warming about twice as fast as the global average, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In the past two years alone, Swiss glaciers have lost 10 percent of their water volume — as much as melted in the three decades from 1960 to 1990…. For GSSClimate Change chapter 8.

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2024-01-18. The global distribution of plants used by humans. [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg8028] By S. PIRONON et al, Science. Abstract: Plants sustain human life. Understanding geographic patterns of the diversity of species used by people is thus essential for the sustainable management of plant resources. Here, we investigate the global distribution of 35,687 utilized plant species spanning 10 use categories (e.g., food, medicine, material). Our findings indicate general concordance between utilized and total plant diversity, supporting the potential for simultaneously conserving species diversity and its contributions to people. Although Indigenous lands across Mesoamerica, the Horn of Africa, and Southern Asia harbor a disproportionate diversity of utilized plants, the incidence of protected areas is negatively correlated with utilized species richness. Finding mechanisms to preserve areas containing concentrations of utilized plants and traditional knowledge must become a priority for the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework…. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 1.

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2024-01-10. Small solar sails could be the next ‘giant leap’ for interplanetary space exploration. [https://engineering.berkeley.edu/news/2024/01/small-solar-sails-could-be-the-next-giant-leap-for-interplanetary-space-exploration] By Marni Ellery, Berkeley Engineering. Interview excerpt: …a team of Berkeley researchers […proposed] to build a fleet of low-cost, autonomous spacecraft, each weighing only 10 grams and propelled by nothing more than the pressure of solar radiation. These miniaturized solar sails could potentially visit thousands of near-Earth asteroids and comets, capturing high-resolution images and collecting samples. …They describe their work, the Berkeley Low-cost Interplanetary Solar Sail (BLISS) project, in a study published in the journal Acta Astronautica. The BLISS project brings together researchers from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and the Department of Mechanical Engineering, as well as the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center and the Space Sciences Laboratory. Their work builds on other small spacecraft projects, including CubeSats, ChipSats and the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative, while seeking to improve solar sail maneuverability and further reduce fabrication costs by using low-mass consumer electronics. …Solar sails use a non-consumable propulsion force. They are propelled by sunlight, similar to how a sailboat is propelled by wind. So, unlike other spacecraft, solar sails can travel around the galaxy, or, more specifically, our solar system, without having to carry any fuel or worry about refueling. …this lightbulb went off in my brain. All the work we do in my group is focused on miniaturizing things, and I thought we could miniaturize a solar sail spacecraft. Seeing that you can tack against light pressure made me realize that we could make spacecraft [weighing] 10 grams with almost all off-the-shelf technology. And our latest study provides evidence that this is feasible…. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 2.

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2024-01-00. . [template] By . Excerpt: . For GSS chapter .

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2024-01-19. New type of water splitter could make green hydrogen cheaper. [https://www.science.org/content/article/new-type-water-splitter-could-make-green-hydrogen-cheaper] By ROBERT F. SERVICE, Science. Excerpt: To wean itself off fossil fuels, the world needs cheaper ways to produce green hydrogen—a clean-burning fuel made by using renewable electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Now researchers report a way to avoid the need for a costly membrane at the heart of the water-splitting devices, and to instead produce hydrogen and oxygen in completely separate chambers. As a lab-based proof of concept, the new setup—reported this month in Nature Materials—is a long way from working at an industrial scale. But if successful, it could help heavy industries such as steelmaking and fertilizer production reduce their dependence on oil, coal, and natural gas. …Any successes in eliminating electrolyzer membranes could be a boon to efforts to decarbonize parts of industry most dependent on fossil fuels, he says. “I can not overstate how big of an advantage that is.”…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-01-19. JAPAN’S “SNIPER” MISSION PINPOINTS LANDING ON THE MOON. [https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/japans-sniper-mission-pinpoints-landing-on-the-moon/] By DAVID DICKINSON, Sky & Telescope. Excerpt: Today, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon (SLIM) spacecraft pitched over in its lunar orbit, and began its long descent to the Moon’s surface. Touchdown occurred at 10:20 a.m. EST / 15:20 UT; NASA’s Deep Space Network in Madrid picked up the lander’s signal shortly afterward, but problems have ensued. …SLIM was designed to test the innovative “smart eyes” landing technology, which involves image-matching to aid navigation. The mission was also designed to demonstrate a pinpoint landing, that is, within 100 meters of the target, on a 6- to 8-degree slope. SLIM has a Multi-Band Camera camera on board and, if it is able to, it will deploy two baseball-size rovers on the lunar surface named Lunar Exploration Vehicle 1 and 2. These will hop and roll along the lunar surface, imaging with cameras of their own. If the solar cells are able to charge, SLIM could last about 11 days on the lunar surface. The Sun will set over the landing site on January 30th…. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 7.

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2024-01-17. Dogged by climate change and human hunters, a mammoth’s life is written in her tusks. [https://www.science.org/content/article/dogged-climate-change-and-human-hunters-mammoth-s-life-written-her-tusks] By MICHAEL PRICE, Science. Excerpt: …the 14,000-year-old woolly mammoth whose tusks were found in 2009 near Fairbanks, Alaska, …, Elma (for short) needed a life story, which a detailed analysis of the tusks has now provided. Her travels are giving Combs and colleagues a rare glimpse into the ways of her species at the end of the last ice age—and insight into how pressure from a changing climate as well as hunting by early humans may have helped spur mammoths’ extinction…. For GSS Life and Climate chapter 10.

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2024-01-17. Are You a Super Driver? Some States Want to Help You Go Electric. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/17/climate/electric-vehicles-high-mileage-drivers.html] By Brad Plumer, The New York Times. Excerpt: A small share of motorists [who drive, on average, about 110 miles per day] burns about a third of America’s gasoline, a study found. If more of those drivers switched to electric vehicles from gasoline-powered models, it would make a major dent in greenhouse gases from transportation, which have so far been slow to decline, according to a new analysis published on Wednesday by Coltura, an environmental nonprofit group based in Seattle. While the average American driver travels about 13,400 miles per year, people who buy electric vehicles today tend to drive them less than that, limiting the climate benefits of switching to a cleaner car. By contrast, the top 10 percent of motorists in the United States drive an average of about 40,200 miles per year and account for roughly one-third of the nation’s gasoline use. Persuading more of these “gasoline superusers” to go electric would lead to a much faster reduction in emissions, the Coltura report found. …That includes people like Pedro Jimenez, 40, who …can “easily” travel around 150 to 200 miles per day to different job sites…. He …typically spends around $200 to $300 per week on gas…a quarter or more of his pay. …Mr. Jimenez said he recently started thinking about buying an electric pickup truck as a way to save money. …Around 21 million Americans account for 35 percent of the nation’s gasoline use from private light-duty vehicles — cars, pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles, vans and minivans. That’s more gasoline than is burned each year in Brazil, Canada and Russia combined…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 9.

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2024-01-16. Can Submerging Seaweed Cool the Climate? [https://eos.org/features/can-submerging-seaweed-cool-the-climate] By Saima May Sidik, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Running Tide is one of many organizations asking whether submerging seaweed could be part of an effective strategy for mitigating climate change. When these algae photosynthesize, they turn carbon dioxide from the upper ocean into biomass. In some parts of the ocean, submerging that biomass below thousands of meters of water could lock its carbon away for hundreds or even thousands of years, drawing down levels of carbon in the atmosphere. …But major questions remain. For example, if growing seaweed depletes the pool of nutrients available for other forms of ocean life, then will it actually increase the ocean’s net carbon storage? What happens to ocean bottom ecosystems if humanity creates giant, underwater seaweed landfills? And how will companies monitor the effects of sending tons of seaweed to a watery grave?…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-01-15. Can foreign coral save a dying reef? Radical idea sparks debate. [https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00102-y] By Heidi Ledford, Nature. Excerpt: Corals in the Caribbean have been dying off for decades — and a devastating heatwave there last summer made matters worse. Researchers are now considering something that was once unthinkable: is it time to give up on native species, and transplant hardier corals from other oceans to struggling Caribbean reefs? It is a radical proposal that could leave the region forever changed. But it is important to explore the possibility now, because the region’s reefs are running out of time, said coral geneticist Mikhail Matz in a presentation at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology annual meeting in Seattle, Washington, on 4 January. …In the oceans of the Indo-Pacific region, many corals are continuing to thrive. Several coral species there are considered ‘super-recruiters’ because of how readily their larvae attach to and colonize reefs. Dominant coral species in the Caribbean, by contrast, are poor recruiters, hindering their ability to recovery from calamity¹. …For years, conservation groups have focused on restoring barren reefs by planting thousands of young, native corals in the hope that they would flourish. For the most part, they have not, says Carlos Prada, a coral evolutionary biologist at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston…. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 7.

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2024-01-12. Scientists “Astonished” at 2023 Temperature Record. [https://eos.org/articles/scientists-astonished-at-2023-temperature-record] By Grace van Deelen, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: NASA’s and NOAA’s analyses, as well as a report from climate research nonprofit Berkeley Earth, all released Friday, concur that 2023 was a scorcher. NASA and NOAA scientists found that average temperatures were 0.15°C–0.16°C (0.27°F–0.29°F) warmer than temperatures in 2016, the previous hottest year ever recorded. That’s a huge jump, because most records are set on the order of hundredths of degrees Celsius, said Russell Vose, a climate scientist at NOAA and an author on the agency’s analysis, at a press conference. …“We’re still continuing to put greenhouse gases into the atmosphere,” Schmidt said. “As long as we continue to do that, temperatures will rise.”…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 7.

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2024-01-11. Comprehensive conservation assessments reveal high extinction risks across Atlantic Forest trees. [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq5099] By RENATO A. F. DE LIMA et al, Science. Editor’s summary: Efforts to set conservation priorities and evaluate protection activities often depend on assessments of species’ conservation statuses, such as the International Union for Conservation’s Red List of Threatened Species. Assessments require detailed data, considerable time, and expertise. de Lima et al. used an automated, quantitative method to assess species based on the Red List criteria and applied it to nearly 5000 tree species from the Atlantic Forest, a relatively data-rich biodiversity hotspot in South America. They classified over 80% of endemic species as threatened and 13 species as possibly extinct. Data to estimate population reductions, which are not available in many tropical areas, were key to assessing threatened status for many species. —Bianca Lopez. For GSS A New World View chapter 5.

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2024-01-10. Scientists Investigate How Heat Rises Through Europa’s Ocean. [https://eos.org/research-spotlights/scientists-investigate-how-heat-rises-through-europas-ocean] By Rebecca Owen, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Europa, one of Jupiter’s many moons, may be capable of supporting life because its icy surface likely obscures a deep, salty ocean. Europa’s ocean is also in direct contact with its mantle rocks, and interactions between rock, water, and ice could provide energy to sustain life. Lemasquerier et al. examined the way heating from Europa’s mantle could drive ocean circulation under the icy crust. The researchers modeled Europa’s ocean to further understand how heating patterns from deep inside the moon may affect the thickness of its icy surface. …Mantle heat …comes in two forms. Radiogenic heating is caused by the decay of radioactive materials in the mantle, and tidal heating is caused by the deformation Europa undergoes as it orbits Jupiter and experiences its strong gravitational pull. Tidal heating is uneven; it’s higher at Europa’s poles and lower at the points of the moon that are opposite and facing Jupiter. …if tidal heating is dominant in the mantle, …affecting ice thickness and leaving it thinnest at the poles. However, if radiogenic heating is the dominant type of heating in the mantle, then the ocean would have a relatively small impact on ice thickness. The 2024 Europa Clipper mission could help confirm these model findings…. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 7.

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2024-01-08. US to invest $1bn in plan to move from diesel to electric school buses. [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/08/us-school-buses-diesel-electric] By Aliya Uteuova, The Guardian. Excerpt: The US has announced nearly $1bn in grants to replace diesel-powered school buses with electric and lower-emitting vehicles. The Environmental Protection Agency will disburse funds to 280 school districts serving 7 million children across the country in an effort to curb harmful air pollution and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. …Diesel emissions have been linked to higher rates of asthma, cancer and school absenteeism. Communities of color and people living in low-income neighborhoods are more likely to suffer from higher rates of air pollution. Eighty-six per cent of grant recipients are in school districts that serve low-income, rural and tribal communities, according to the EPA. The new funds mean so far nearly $2bn has been awarded to add about 5,000 clean buses to schools across the country. The program draws from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law that carved out $5bn to equip schools with clean buses over five years, andis part of a broader federal strategy that aims to spend 40% of investments in environmental justice communities…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 9.

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2024-01-11. Shark kills rise to more than 100 million per year—despite antifinning laws. [https://www.science.org/content/article/shark-kills-rise-more-100-million-year-despite-antifinning-laws] By SEAN CUMMINGS, Science. Excerpt: Two decades ago, public outrage boiled over around shark finning—the practice of cutting off shark fins for traditional medicine and cuisine and casting the mutilated animals back into the water to die. A global onslaught of legislation followed to limit shark catch-and-eliminate finning, widely regarded as a cruel and wasteful fishing method. But fishing-related shark deaths have continued to climb since then, reaching more than 100 million per year in 2019, researchers report today in Science—a trend that could spell trouble for the already-imperiled marine animals…. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 1.

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2024-01-11. Shark kills rise to more than 100 million per year—despite antifinning laws. [https://www.science.org/content/article/shark-kills-rise-more-100-million-year-despite-antifinning-laws] By SEAN CUMMINGS, Science. Excerpt: Two decades ago, public outrage boiled over around shark finning—the practice of cutting off shark fins for traditional medicine and cuisine and casting the mutilated animals back into the water to die. A global onslaught of legislation followed to limit shark catch-and-eliminate finning, widely regarded as a cruel and wasteful fishing method. But fishing-related shark deaths have continued to climb since then, reaching more than 100 million per year in 2019, researchers report today in Science—a trend that could spell trouble for the already-imperiled marine animals…. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 1.

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2024-01-11. Pattern found in world’s rainforests where 2% of species make up 50% of trees. [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/11/pattern-found-in-worlds-rainforests-where-2-of-species-make-up-50-of-trees] By Patrick Greenfield, The Guardian. Excerpt: Just 2% of rainforest tree species account for 50% of the trees found in tropical forests across Africa, the Amazon and south-east Asia, a new study has found. Mirroring patterns found elsewhere in the natural world, researchers have discovered that a few tree species dominate the world’s major rainforests, with thousands of rare species making up the rest. Led by University College London researchers and published in the Nature journal, the international collaboration of 356 scientists uncovered almost identical patterns of tree diversity across the world’s rainforests, which are the most biodiverse places on the planet. The researchers estimate that just 1,000 species account for half of Earth’s 800 billion trees in tropical rainforests, with 46,000 species making up the remainder. “Our findings have profound implications for understanding tropical forests. If we focus on understanding the commonest tree species, we can probably predict how the whole forest will respond to today’s rapid environmental changes,” said the lead author, Declan Cooper, from the UCL centre for biodiversity and environment research. “This is especially important because tropical forests contain a tremendous amount of stored carbon, and are a globally important carbon sink.”…. For GSS A New World View chapter 5.

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2024-01-11. Take a Look at the First Major Offshore Wind Farm to Power U.S. Homes. [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/01/11/nyregion/ny-wind-farm-south-fork.html] By Patrick McGeehan, The New York Times. Excerpt: More than 30 miles out in the Atlantic Ocean, the first colossal steel turbines have started spinning at South Fork Wind, turning offshore breezes into electricity that lights homes on Long Island. The rest of the wind farm’s 12 towering turbines are set to be assembled and connected to New York’s power grid early this year. The arrival of this moment in the nation’s transition to renewable energy may seem sudden. But it has come after more than 20 years of contentious debates over its cost, appearance and effect on wildlife…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-01-11. Drought Touches a Quarter of Humanity, U.N. Says, Disrupting Lives Globally. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/11/climate/global-drought-food-hunger.html] By Somini Sengupta, The New York Times. Excerpt: Olive groves have shriveled in Tunisia. The Brazilian Amazon faces its driest season in a century. Wheat fields have been decimated in Syria and Iraq, pushing millions more into hunger after years of conflict. The Panama Canal, a vital trade artery, doesn’t have enough water, which means fewer ships can pass through. And the fear of drought has prompted India, the world’s biggest rice exporter, to restrict the export of most rice varieties. The United Nations estimates that 1.84 billion people worldwide, or nearly a quarter of humanity, were living under drought in 2022 and 2023, the vast majority in low- and middle-income countries. …The many droughts around the world come at a time of record-high global temperatures and rising food-price inflation, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, involving two countries that are major producers of wheat, has thrown global food supply chains into turmoil, punishing the world’s poorest people…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-01-10. US oil lobby launches eight-figure ad blitz amid record fossil fuel extraction. [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/10/oil-ads-lights-on-energy] By Dharna Noor, The Guardian. Excerpt: The American oil lobby has launched an eight-figure media campaign this week promoting the idea that fossil fuels are “vital” to global energy security, alarming climate experts. “US natural gas and oil play a key role in supplying the world with cleaner, more reliable energy,” the new initiative’s website says. The campaign comes amid record fossil fuel extraction in the US, and as the industry is attempting to capitalize on the war in Gaza to escalate production even further, climate advocates say. Launched Tuesday by the nation’s top fossil fuel interest group, the Lights on Energy campaign will work to “dismantle policy threats” to the sector, the American Petroleum Institute (API) CEO, Mike Sommers, told CNN in an interview this week…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 7.

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2024-01-10. Why Humans Are Putting a Bunch of ‘Coal’ and ‘Oil’ Back in the Ground. [https://www.wired.com/story/why-humans-are-putting-a-bunch-of-coal-and-oil-back-in-the-ground/] By Matt Simon, Wired. Excerpt: Startups are processing plant waste into concentrated carbon to be buried or injected underground. It’s like fossil fuels, but in reverse. In a roundabout way, coal is solar-powered. Millions of years ago, swamp plants soaked up the sun’s energy, eating carbon dioxide in the process. They died, accumulated, and transformed over geologic time into energy-dense rock. This solar-powered fuel, of course, is far from renewable, unlike solar panels: Burning coal has returned that carbon to the atmosphere, driving rapid climate change. But what if humans could reverse that process, creating their own version of coal from plant waste and burying it underground? That’s the idea behind a growing number of carbon projects: Using special heating chambers, engineers can transform agricultural and other waste biomass into solid, concentrated carbon. Like those ancient plants captured CO₂ and then turned into coal, this is carbon naturally sequestered from the atmosphere, then locked away for (ideally) thousands of years…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-01-09. California grizzlies weren’t as giant and threatening as people once thought. [https://www.science.org/content/article/california-grizzlies-weren-t-giant-and-threatening-people-once-thought] By RODRIGO PÉREZ ORTEGA, Science. Excerpt: More than a century ago, grizzly bears roaming California’s coasts and forests had gained a fearsome reputation for attacking European settlers’ livestock. In 1912, for example, a rancher in Kern County claimed a grizzly bear killed some 200 sheep in a single night. The conflict grew so tense some counties offered bounties to kill the bears. Eventually, California grizzlies—a subspecies of brown bear—were hunted, poisoned, and trapped to local extinction. A new study, however, shows that people’s perceptions of these iconic predators didn’t always match reality: In fact, these bears were mostly herbivores, and weren’t as big or dangerous as many once believed. The work, published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, compared historical descriptions of the size and diet of California grizzly bears with new paleontological data of these traits. …The last California grizzly bear (Ursus arctos californicus) was seen in the wild in 1924…. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 1.

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2024-01-09. How CRISPR could yield the next blockbuster crop. [https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00015-w?et_rid=40179168&et_cid=5059475] By Michael Marshall, Nature. Excerpt: In the space of just a few years, Jiayang Li is trying to achieve something that once took people centuries. He wants to turn a wild rice species into a domesticated crop by hacking its genome. And he is already part of the way there. …Li and his co-workers sequenced the [Oryza] alta genome and compared it with that of domestic rice, searching for genes similar to those that control important traits in the conventional crop, such as stem diameter, grain size and seed shattering. They then targeted these genes with customized gene-editing tools, trying to recapitulate some of the genetic changes that make domesticated rice easy to farm¹. All the traits improved to some degree, says Li, although the plants still drop their grains too soon. …The modification of this rice is one of a growing number of efforts to rapidly domesticate new crops using genome editing. Through this process, known as de novo domestication, transformations that took the world’s early farmers millennia could be achieved in just a handful of years. The work might improve the resilience of the global food supply: many wild relatives of staple crops have useful traits that could prove valuable when climate change puts stress on global agriculture. …But the technical challenges of de novo domestication are immense. …Targeted gene editing, using tools such as CRISPR–Cas9, is a powerful approach, but it cannot fully replicate the thousands of mutations that have fine-tuned modern domestic crops for growing and harvest…. For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 4.

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2024-01-09. 2023 was the hottest year on record—and even hotter than expected. [https://www.science.org/content/article/even-warmer-expected-2023-was-hottest-year-record] By PAUL VOOSEN, Science. Excerpt: …2023 was the hottest year in human history. Average surface temperatures rose nearly 0.2°C above the previous record, set in 2016, to 1.48°C over preindustrial levels, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reported today. …Humanity’s unabated burning of fossil fuels is the dominant driver of the long-term trend, but it is insufficient to explain 2023’s sudden spike, says Michael Diamond, an atmospheric scientist at Florida State University. …One exacerbating factor was the end of a La Niña climate pattern, which from 2020 to 2022 stirred up an increased amount of deep cold water in the eastern Pacific Ocean that absorbed heat and suppressed global temperatures. In 2023, the pattern flipped into an El Niño event, which blanketed the equatorial Pacific with warm waters and began to boost global temperatures. …But the flip is not enough to explain 2023’s record, Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, wrote in a blog post last week. …Perhaps the best explanation for the extra warming is the continued drop in light-blocking pollution as society shifts to cleaner sources of energy, says Tianle Yuan, an atmospheric physicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. In 2022, satellites began to detect this decrease from space. In 2020, new regulations from the International Maritime Organization added to the effect when ships began to cut sulfur pollution—and inadvertently curbed the light-reflecting clouds that the sulfur particles help create. …Regardless, the long-term warming pattern is certain to continue, as it has for decades—until fossil fuel burning ends…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 4.

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2024-01-09. The New Space Race Is Causing New Pollution Problems. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/09/science/rocket-pollution-spacex-satellites.html] By Shannon Hall, The New York Times. Excerpt: In the past few years, the number of rocket launches has spiked as commercial companies — especially SpaceX…and government agencies have lofted thousands of satellites into low-Earth orbit. …Satellites could eventually total one million, requiring an even greater number of space launches that could yield escalating levels of emissions. …scientists worry that more launches will scatter more pollutants in pristine layers of Earth’s atmosphere. …Already, studies show that the higher reaches of the atmosphere are laced with metals from spacecraft that disintegrate as they fall back to Earth. …By the time a rocket curves into orbit, it will have dumped in the middle and upper layers of the atmosphere as much as two-thirds of its exhaust, which scientists predict will rain down and collect in the lower layer of the middle atmosphere, the stratosphere. The stratosphere is home to the ozone layer, which shields us from the sun’s harmful radiation …is extremely sensitive: Even the smallest of changes can have enormous effects on it — and the world below. …scientists are concerned that black carbon, or soot, that is released from current rockets will act like a continuous volcanic eruption, a change that could deplete the ozone layer and affect the Earth below. …any hydrocarbon fuel produces some amount of soot. And even “green rockets,” propelled by liquid hydrogen, produce water vapor, which is a greenhouse gas at these dry high altitudes. “You can’t take what’s green in the troposphere and necessarily think of it being green in the upper atmosphere,” Dr. Boley said…. For GSS Ozone chapter 9.

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2024-01-08. Researchers Develop Mexico’s First Comprehensive Greenhouse Gas Budget. [https://eos.org/research-spotlights/researchers-develop-mexicos-first-comprehensive-greenhouse-gas-budget] By Rachel Fritts, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Mexico’s greenhouse gas emissions are the second highest among Latin American countries, trailing only Brazil according to the World Bank. But until now, no one had leveraged the full spectrum of available scientific data to make an estimate of sources (such as fossil fuel burning and agriculture) and sinks (such as healthy forests and soils) of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Calculating the country’s greenhouse gas budget could help policymakers develop effective emissions reduction strategies. Murray-Tortarolo et al. calculate Mexico’s first comprehensive greenhouse gas budget based on estimates from multiple data sources of greenhouse gas fluxes in the country between 2000 and 2019. …different sources of data broadly told the same story about anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions from sources including fossil fuel burning and agriculture. However, there were discrepancies when it came to natural emissions sources such as wetlands and natural sinks such as forests and soils. In particular, the researchers found that studies may be overestimating the role that land ecosystems play in removing carbon from the atmosphere…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 9.

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2024-01-08. Strong monsoons may have carved a path for early humans out of Africa. [https://www.science.org/content/article/strong-monsoons-may-have-carved-path-early-humans-out-africa] By BRIDGET ALEX, Science. Excerpt: More than 140,000 years ago, East Asia was a much colder, drier place than today—a landscape that likely deterred many African creatures, humans among them, from venturing into the region. Then, some 100,000 years ago, roving members of our species may have reached East Asia and found a rain-soaked, verdant landscape. What changed? According to a new study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a strengthening monsoon—and the lushness it lent—helped attract the region’s first Homo sapiens. …Evidence from fossils, artifacts, and DNA has established that H. sapiens evolved in Africa by roughly 300,000 years ago. About 60,000 years ago, the lineage that led to people alive today began to disperse across all of Earth’s habitable lands. …One climatic phenomenon that would have impacted early migrants is the Asian monsoon. Today, this seasonal shift in winds dumps torrential summer rain that nourishes forests and farms across Asia. In winter, Siberian winds bring dry, cold conditions. Paleoclimate records …indicate the monsoon’s intensity has waxed and waned over the millennia, but …. How wet Asia gets, the researchers learned, varies with multiple factors, including greenhouse gas concentrations, the amount of ice covering the Northern Hemisphere, and the intensity of sunlight reaching Earth, ultimately governed by the planet’s tilt, wobble, and solar orbit. Between 125,000 and 70,000 years ago, …East Asia had spells of 27.5°C summers with more rain than the present day—an enticing environment for mammals and the hunter-gatherers tracking them. …Meanwhile, over the same time span, climate in southeastern Africa worsened, the authors found, perhaps pushing humans to find new homelands. For GSS Life and Climate chapter 11.

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2024-01-06. Can $500 Million Save This Glacier?[https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/06/magazine/glacier-engineering-sea-level-rise.html] By on Gertner, The New York Times. Excerpt: …a glacier on Greenland’s west coast…referred to by its Danish name, Jakobshavn…situated on the edge of Greenland’s massive ice sheet, that moves 30 billion to 50 billion tons of icebergs off the island every year. …Glaciologists have identified it as one of the fastest-deteriorating glaciers in the world. …Jakobshavn alone was responsible for 4 percent of the rise in global sea levels during the 20th century. It probably contains enough ice to ultimately push sea levels up at least another foot. …at the bottom of the bay’s entrance…the warm water flows over a sill, a ridge rising several hundred feet above the ocean floor …akin to a threshold that crosses the floor of a doorway between two rooms. [British glaciologist John Moore] and his colleague Michael Wolovick published an article that proposed looking into building a sea wall 100 meters high…on the floor of Disko Bay. Raising the sill, using gravel and sand, could reduce the warm water in the fiord and allow Jakobshavn to thicken naturally and stabilize. …If the idea proved workable in the Arctic, it could be translated to Antarctica, where much larger glaciers in the Amundsen Sea, especially one known as Thwaites, threaten to raise sea levels substantially. …geoengineering seeks to reduce the impacts of climate change and to buy us more time as we transition to a zero-carbon world. …A number of glaciologists…view Moore’s idea for protecting glaciers as technically or ethically problematic. …geoengineering, in general terms…only addresses — at best — some of its impacts. Of more direct concern…seabed curtains in the Arctic might affect ecosystems and fisheries…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-01-05. Protecting and connecting landscapes stabilizes populations of the Endangered savannah elephant. [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adk2896] By RYAN M. HUANG , CELESTÉ MARÉ, ROBERT A. R. GULDEMOND , STUART L. PIMM, AND RUDI J. VAN AARDEA, Science. Excerpt: African savannahs cover …almost half of the continent, of which 10% is protected (1) and …16% sustain globally Endangered savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) (2). These savannahs are also home to half a billion people, leading to high levels of human-wildlife conflict. …conservation “fortresses,” creates relatively small, isolated habitat islands that keep elephants in and humans out. This separation reduces human-wildlife conflict (3) but limits dispersal since fences or adjacent human-dominated landscapes prevent movement. An alternative solution found throughout southern Africa is clusters of well-protected areas …that form a core area connected to less-protected buffer areas …that allow for human activities (4). …Elephant population growth rates across southern African protected areas follow several patterns: …Across sites, more strictly protected areas…hold populations that typically grow and are much less likely to show sharp declines than populations in buffer areas…. In regions with historically high incidences of poaching, protection appears to prevent population declines. Protected sites also show more consistent changes in numbers from year to year than buffer areas…. For GSS Population Growth chapter 3.

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2024-01-04. Mapping the Moon to Shield Astronauts from Radiation. [https://eos.org/articles/mapping-the-moon-to-shield-astronauts-from-radiation] By Sierra Bouchér, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: In October 1989, the Sun spit a blast of high-energy particles into the solar system. Earth’s protective magnetic field kept us safe, but the Moon received an intense dose: More than 8 times the radiation received by plant workers during the Chernobyl nuclear disaster scorched the barren lunar surface. As NASA’s Artemis III mission prepares to return explorers to the Moon in 2025, scientists are working to protect them from this kind of unpredictable outburst from the Sun and other radiation from deep space. To do this, they’re turning to the Moon’s natural barriers. By mapping the topography of the lunar surface, researchers have calculated the shielding potential of each mountain range, crater wall, and shadowed slope near the south pole—Artemis III’s target. Their work will guide decisionmaking for the landing location of this mission and beyond…. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 3.

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2024-01-03. Human activity is powering ‘a new industrial revolution’ at sea, say experts. [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/03/human-activity-is-powering-a-new-industrial-revolution-at-sea-say-experts] By Karen McVeigh, The Guardian. Excerpt: Researchers using AI and satellite imagery find 75% of industrial fishing is not being publicly tracked, while wind turbines now outnumber oil platforms. For GSS Energy Use chapter 10.

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2024-01-04. Canada’s Logging Industry Devours Forests Crucial to Fighting Climate Change. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/04/world/canada/canada-boreal-forest-logging.html] By Ian Austen and Vjosa Isai, The New York Times. Excerpt: Canada has long promoted itself globally as a model for protecting one of the country’s most vital natural resources: the world’s largest swath of boreal forest, which is crucial to fighting climate change. But a new study using nearly half a century of data from the provinces of Ontario and Quebec — two of the country’s main commercial logging regions — reveals that harvesting trees has inflicted severe damage on the boreal forest that will be difficult to reverse. Researchers led by a group from Griffith University in Australia found that since 1976 logging in the two provinces has caused the removal of 35.4 million acres of boreal forest, an area roughly the size of New York State. While nearly 56 million acres of well-established trees at least a century old remain in the region, logging has shattered this forest, leaving behind a patchwork of isolated stands of trees that has created a landscape less able to support wildlife, according to the study…. For GSS A New World View chapter 6.

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2024-01-05. Why are France, Germany and England flooded – and is climate change to blame? [https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/01/05/why-are-france-germany-and-england-flooded-and-is-climate-change-to-blame] By Angela Symons with AP. Excerpt: El Nino, sea level rise and outdated defences have exposed European communities to devastating flooding. Heavy rains have pummelled Germany, France and the Netherlands over the last two weeks, causing persistent flooding and even one death in France. …Above-average ocean temperatures – partly due to the El Nino weather pattern – are causing evaporation and therefore more rain in low-lying regions. And sea level rise is causing rivers to burst their banks more frequently. In recent days, low-lying communities in northern France have faced power cuts, flooded streets and evacuations due to heavy rainfall. Rising sea levels have likely contributed to this: between 1957 and 2017, sea levels at Dunkirk rose by 9 cm. From 1966 to 2018, Calais saw a 4.4 cm rise…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 8.

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2024-01-04. In Juneau, Alaska, a carbon offset project that’s actually working. [https://grist.org/energy/in-juneau-alaska-a-carbon-offset-project-thats-actually-working/] By Taylor Kate Brown, Grist. Excerpt: When Kira Roberts moved to Juneau, Alaska, last summer, she immediately noticed how the town of 31,000 changes when the cruise ships dock each morning. Thousands of people pour in, only to vanish by evening. As the season winds down in fall, the parade of buses driving through her neighborhood slows, and the trails near her home and the vast Mendenhall Glacier no longer teem with tourists. …But Mendenhall is shrinking quickly: The 13-mile-long glacier has retreated about a mile in the past 40 years. Getting all those tourists to Juneau — some 1.5 million this summer by cruise ship alone — requires burning the very thing contributing to its retreat: fossil fuels. …In an effort to mitigate a portion of that CO2, some of those going whale watching or visiting the glacier are asked to pay a few dollars to counter their emissions. The money goes to the Alaska Carbon Reduction Fund, but instead of buying credits from some distant (and questionable) offset project, the nonprofit spends that cash installing heat pumps, targeting residents like Roberts who rely upon oil heating systems. Heat pumps are “a no-brainer” in Juneau’s mild (for Alaska) winters, said Andy Romanoff, who administers the fund. Juneau’s grid relies on emissions-free hydropower, so electricity is cheaper and less polluting than oil heat. They also save residents money — Roberts said she was paying around $500 a month on heating oil, and has seen her electricity bill climb just $30…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 10.

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2024-01-01. China Auto Giant BYD Sells More Electric Vehicles Than Ever. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/01/business/byd-2023-sales.html] By Claire Fu and Rich Barbieri, The New York Times. Excerpt: The Chinese corporate giant BYD said Monday that it sold three millionbattery-powered cars in 2023, its most ever, capping a turbulent year for China’s electric vehicle industry. …BYD last year sold 1.6 million fully electric vehicles and another 1.4 million hybrids, which are powered by both batteries and gasoline. Together that is a 62 percent increase over 2022. BYD is also making money, tripling its profit to $1.5 billion in the first half of last year. …the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers… said it expected sales in 2024 to rise again, to 11.5 million. …companies are pouring money into factories and research, often fueled by loans from state-owned banks and assistance from municipalities…. For GSS Energy Use chapter 9.

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2023-12-26. Is climate change speeding up? Here’s what the science says. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/12/26/global-warming-accelerating-climate-change/] By Chris Mooney and Shannon Osaka, The Washington Post. Excerpt: In a paper published last month, climate scientist James E. Hansen and a group of colleagues argued that the pace of global warming is poised to increase by 50 percent in the coming decades, with an accompanying escalation of impacts. …University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann has argued that no acceleration is visible yet: “The truth is bad enough,” he wrote in a blog post. …Between 1880 and 1969, the planet warmed slowly — at a rate of around 0.04 degrees Celsius (0.07 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade. But starting around the early 1970s, warming accelerated — reaching 0.19 degrees C (0.34 degrees F) per decade between 1970 and 2023. That acceleration isn’t controversial. …some scientists believe that the temperature data is simply not yet showing an impending acceleration…. For GSS Climate Change chapter 7.