Donald Trump gets everything wrong about the climate crisis. The results of the vote in November could reverberate for a million years
Here is the biggest thing happening on our planet as we head into the autumn of 2024: the earth is continuing to heat dramatically. Scientists have said that there’s a better than 90% chance that this year will top 2023 as the warmest ever recorded. And paleoclimatologists were pretty sure last year was the hottest in the last 125,000 years. The result is an almost-cliched run of disasters: open Twitter/X anytime for pictures of floods pushing cars through streets somewhere. It is starting to make life on this planet very difficult, and in some places impossible. And it’s on target to get far, far worse.
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09/06/2024 - 07:36
09/06/2024 - 06:07
Authorities in Dutch capital launch ‘Operation plant pot’, saying excessive pot placement threatens accessibility
Residents have reacted with bemusement at plans by authorities in Amsterdam to crack down on what it sees as a plague of messy plant pots.
In an approach named “Operation plant pot” by the local media, the Dutch capital’s central district is limiting residents to two pots with footprints no larger than 50cm by 50cm, made of “sustainable” material and placed against their front wall. Rogue gardens of pots in parking spots and under trees will be confiscated, according to the policy memo.
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09/06/2024 - 05:39
Activists says EU court ruling on transparency makes mockery of laws to protect the environment
Campaigners have said that the EU is failing to enforce rules on illegal fishing, and allowing member states to conceal information that could help uncover breaches of fishing law.
The court of justice of the EU ruled on Thursday that member states could keep vital details of their implementation of fishing rules under wraps, in a blow to environmental campaigners hoping to use the information to show whether the regulations are working.
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09/06/2024 - 05:00
Research says outdoor light exposure in evening increases prevalence of the disease, especially in people under age 65
New research claims that exposure to outdoor light at night may increase the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease, especially in people under the age of 65.
The researchers who conducted the study, funded by a National Institutes of Health grant and published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience on Friday, said they have found correlations between areas of the US with excessive exposure to artificial light at night and the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease.
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09/06/2024 - 02:00
Exclusive: Reliance on fossil fuels fell in August to less than one-fifth of all electricity generated across country
Great Britain’s electricity system has recorded its greenest ever summer after growing numbers of wind and solar farms cut the need for gas power plants to fresh lows.
Analysis of energy generation data, commissioned by the Guardian, revealed that Britain’s reliance on fossil fuels fell in August to less than one-fifth of all electricity, or 4 terawatt hours (TWh), its lowest ever level for a one-month period.
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09/06/2024 - 02:00
The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world
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09/06/2024 - 01:00
The third edition of Yeast looks at how human food consumption and production affects the social sphere and contributes to climate catastrophe
• Yeast photo festival: From Planet to Plate, is in Matino and Salento, Italy, from 19 September to 3 November
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09/05/2024 - 13:18
New research shows that cases of valley fever, which in rare cases can be fatal, have risen dramatically in recent years
At least 19 people contracted valley fever, a fungal infection that in rare cases can be fatal, after attending an outdoor music festival in southern California in May, public health officials have reported.
The number of illnesses associated with the five-day Lightning in a Bottle event has almost quadrupled over the last month. Valley fever is caused by inhaling Coccidioides, a fungus endemic to the soil of the US south-west. New research shows that cases of the illness have risen dramatically in recent years.
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09/05/2024 - 13:00
Because bats feed on crop pests, their disappearance led to a surge in pesticide use. Research found a rise in infant mortality in areas where the bats had been wiped out
In 2006, a deadly fungus started killing bat colonies across the United States. Now, an environmental economist has linked their loss to the deaths of more than 1,300 children.
The study, published in Science on Thursday, found that farmers dramatically increased pesticide use after the bat die-offs, which was in turn linked to an average infant mortality increase of nearly 8%. Unusually, the research suggests a causative link between human and bat wellbeing.
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09/05/2024 - 07:00
Study’s authors say integrity of higher education ‘at risk’ upon finding lack of attention to role of oil and gas firms
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. Just a handful of them focused on oil and gas companies, showing a “worrying lack of attention” to the issue, the analysis says.
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