Student-led analyses raise concerns of conflict of interest at six universities, including Columbia and Cornell
Prestigious US universities are raking in millions of dollars from fossil fuel interests, raising concerns about conflicts of interest. And one university even appears to have owned a petroleum company from which it has earned millions of dollars, according to a spate of new reports produced by student organizers.
The six analyses, released Wednesday, focus on American University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Princeton University, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and University of California, San Diego. They were written by campus organizers at each respective institution and released by Campus Climate Network, an international student-led coalition that is pushing colleges to cut ties with big oil.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
09/19/2024 - 14:00
09/19/2024 - 12:00
Around the US, policies empower school staff to view an unpaid food tab as proof of possible abuse
Earlier this year, administrators at South Mebane elementary in North Carolina sparked outrage – and a rushed community fundraising effort – after they issued a terse warning to parents in a school newsletter: students with lunch debt would not be allowed to attend an upcoming dance.
Community members donated more than $4,000 in three days to ensure no students were excluded. But while the newsletter raised worries that students in the Alamance-Burlington school system might be singled out for money problems, the district’s meal policy contains a far more serious warning to families: repeated failure to pay for school meals can result in a referral to child welfare services for neglect.
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09/19/2024 - 10:00
Ken Done, Jonathan Zawada, Blak Douglas and more created their own companion pieces to kids’ works celebrating sharks and rays – and they’re on display at the Australian Museum now
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09/19/2024 - 10:00
Victoria is home to perhaps the largest population and the only mainland state with ‘legislative relic’ of protections
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Land holders and managers along with landcare and environment groups want Victoria to remove protections for feral deer, as booming populations wreak havoc on agriculture and the local environment.
Jordan Crook, from the Victorian National Parks Association, said recognising deer as pests – alongside foxes, rabbits and pigs – would bring Victoria in line with the rest of mainland Australia.
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09/19/2024 - 10:00
In West Africa, Pygmy hippos are said to carry a diamond in their mouths, which they use to light their way through the forest
The thing to know about the pygmy hippopotamus named Moo Deng is that she is angry, but also she is sweet. In photographs, she is often blurry and at all times, she is shiny. She secretes something known as “blood sweat” which is actually her sunscreen.
She is a hippopotamidae. She is stout. She runs like a piglet and has a snout like a very, very new puppy’s. She is very fast.
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09/19/2024 - 10:00
Opposition disputes costings in study and accuses authors of cherrypicking ‘worst-case scenario projects’ from around the world
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The Coalition’s plan for seven nuclear power plants would lift power bills for average households by $665 a year based on estimated costs of six overseas nuclear projects, according to an Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis report.
The Ieefa findings built on the CSIRO’s GenCost studies that have shown nuclear energy to be the most expensive form of new power generation. It assessed recent construction costs at plants in the US, UK, Finland and France, and two proposed plants – one in the Czech Republic and an abandoned small modular reactor in the US.
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09/19/2024 - 08:30
Campaigners criticise decision to scrap tax introduced in 2018 amid rise of ‘flight shame’ movement
Campaigners have accused the Swedish government of doing “everything in its power to stop climate action” after it cut a tax on flying, despite admitting that it would increase emissions.
The flight tax, aimed at cutting pollution from aviation, was introduced in 2018, amid the rise of the “flight shame” (flygskam) movement popularised by Greta Thunberg.
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09/19/2024 - 07:48
Automotive lobby group warns ‘multibillion-euro fines’ will punish manufacturers without relaxation of rules
Europe’s car industry has called for the relaxation of EU emissions targets after sales of electric cars stalled further in August, adding to growing political pressure that threatens to slow the transition away from fossil fuels.
The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), a lobby group, said that its members could face “multibillion-euro fines” because the shift to electric production has not been quick enough to meet the EU targets.
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09/19/2024 - 07:10
Measure one of a number that Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health says will help curb air pollution
Wood burners in urban family homes should be phased out to protect children’s health, leading paediatricians have said.
A new position statement from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) calls for tougher government action to curb air pollution.
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09/19/2024 - 06:24
Meloni government accused of lacking will to confront climate crisis as floods cause havoc in Emilia-Romagna
Two people are missing and about 1,000 people have been evacuated from their homes after devastating floods and landslides hit the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, prompting accusations that Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government lacks the will to confront the climate crisis.
The flooding was brought on by Storm Boris, which had earlier wreaked havoc in central and eastern Europe, killing at least 24 people. Several major cities in central Europe were bracing for swollen rivers to peak on Thursday but defences generally appeared to be holding.
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