EU should ban space mirrors and other solar geoengineering, scientists say

The Guardian 09.12.25

There should be a total evaluation of all geoengineering endeavours that have started decades ago. Spraying barium and aluminium over the planet, which may have resulted in a huge bonfire effect for forests, and now trying to mess with sun rays is at best, is a demented, unknowable and unregulated folly:

‘Monday’s report, authored by the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors to the European Commission, found the “deep uncertainties” of solar geoengineering were inconsistent with the EU’s precautionary principle and its responsibility to do no harm. The group’s top recommendation was to cut greenhouse gas pollution as the main way to avoid “dangerous” levels of climate change. But it also called on the EU to negotiate a global system to regulate the future use of SRM – with a moratorium on its use “for the foreseeable future” – and ensure research into it was rigorous, responsible and ethical. It recommended ensuring that public funding does not take away from the money being spent to cut greenhouse gas pollution and adapt to a hotter planet.’

Geoengineering Could Alter Global Climate. Should It?

Undark 03.12.24

Efforts at taming weather patterns have been so obfuscated for decades that my answer to the title above is absolutely not! In a deregulated environment, the impact of these ventures are still unknown and recording of aluminium on the soil after chemtrail emissions has been noted, which this article is trying to denigrate:

‘The concept of using technology to change the world’s climate, or geoengineering, has been around for a couple of decades, although so far it has been limited to modeling and just a handful of small-scale outdoor experiments. Throughout that time, the idea has remained contentious among environmental groups and large swaths of the public. “I think the very well-founded anxiety about experiments like this is what they will lead to next and next and next,” said Katharine Ricke, a climate scientist and geoengineering researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the School of Global Policy & Strategy at the University of California San Diego… Talk of solar geoengineering has become so widespread that people on the fringe, like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Donald Trump’s pick to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, have even espoused the conspiracy theory that the government, or Bill Gates, is already funding such experiments, through airplanes’ “chemtrail” emissions (which have always been of water vapor, not secret chemicals).’

Monumental Victory for the Ocean': Norway Halts Plans for Deep-Sea Mining

Common Dreams 02.12.24

Brilliant news. A postponement is indicative of the environmental catastrophe which is sure to ensue if such action is given free reign:

‘Environmental organizations cheered as Norway's controversial plans to move forward with deep-sea mining in the vulnerable Arctic Ocean were iced on Sunday… Norway sparked outrage in January when its parliament voted to allow deep-sea mining exploration in a swath of its Arctic waters larger than the United Kingdom. Scientists have warned that mining the Arctic seabed could disturb unique hydrothermal vent ecosystems and even drive species to extinction before scientists have a chance to study them. It would also put additional pressure on all levels of Arctic Ocean life—from plankton to marine mammals—at a time when they are already feeling the impacts of rising temperatures and ocean acidification due to the burning of fossil fuels. "The Arctic Ocean is one of the last pristine frontiers on Earth, and its fragile ecosystems are already under significant stress from the climate crisis," Trent said. "The idea of subjecting these waters to the destructive, needless practice of deep-sea mining was a grave threat, not only to the marine life depending on them but to the global community as a whole.”'

‘Protect the climate for whom?’: Palestinians highlight Gaza at Cop29

The Guardian 23.11.24

Wars are the biggest culprit in ecocide:

‘Temperatures in Palestine are increasing faster than the global average, and it is highly vulnerable to floods, heatwaves, droughts, and storms. But environmental work is complicated because of the ongoing war, Thaher said. Some advocates have called the crisis in Gaza an “ecocide”, saying the war has made its ecosystems unliveable. “What’s going on in Gaza is completely killing all the elements of life,” said Abeer Butmeh, a coordinator of the Palestinian NGOs Network and Friends of the Earth Palestine who had travelled to Cop29 from the West Bank… More than 80,000 explosives have been dropped on the area, leaving three-quarters of agricultural land damaged and already exhausted water systems contaminated, Butmeh said. “It’s a catastrophic situation,” she said. The majority of Gaza’s access to resources has been cut off by Israel, leaving the entire populationof about 2.2 million people with crisis levels of food insecurity, research has shown. Energy is also scarce. “Israel controls more than 90% of our energy, so it is not an easy situation,” Thaher said… Thanks in large part to pressure from the US, reporting military emissions to the UNFCCC, the body that convenes the annual climate talks, is not required. Only a handful of countries report that data to the body on a voluntary basis. But the carbon footprint of conflict is massive. Military conflicts account for about 5.5% of global emissions, one study found.'

Chile's 'seed guardians' grow and protect forgotten food varieties

Reuters 19.11.24

A brilliant idea all countries should embrace:

‘An emerging group of farmers and growers in Chile, known as seed guardians, aim to protect the traditional crops of their ancestors, keeping them safe from industrial agriculture and genetic modification. The guardians collect, trade and plant hundreds of seeds to preserve forgotten varieties of tomatoes, corn and other vegetables that were historically farmed by the indigenous Mapuche people. One such guardian, Ana Yanez, said the varieties the guardians aim to save are dwindling due to changing environments or farmers opting for higher-yield varieties. "We are rescuing the seeds and knowledge of our ancestors," said Delfin Toro, another guardian. "How they harvested, how they sowed, the dynamics of the moon, when to plant, when to harvest.”'

Gaza faces one of largest cases of ecocide in recent history

Middle-East Monitor 08.10.24

There is nothing more harmful to the planet than wars:

‘Ecocide is recognised as a crime under the category of war crimes in the Rome Statute, the establishing treaty of the International Criminal Court, which defines attacks that cause wide, long-term and serious damage to the natural environment in the context of war or conflict as criminal acts… In the first four months of the attacks, Israel dropped 70,000 tons of bombs on the region, including phosphorus bombs, which are prohibited under the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW)… According to the UN, munitions classified as incendiary weapons, including white phosphorus bombs, can cause significant damage to infrastructure and the environment. Highly dangerous, white phosphorus ignites upon contact with air and cannot be extinguished as long as there is oxygen present. When it comes into contact with water, white phosphorus can remain hidden for years and poisons aquatic life. It spreads through water sources into watersheds, and then into the soil and air. When it comes into contact with plants, it kills them… Prof. Mazin Qumsiyeh, head of the Biodiversity and Sustainability Centre at Bethlehem University, told Anadolu that some of the environmental damage in the region is now irreversible. Urging that more studies should be conducted on this issue, Qumsiyeh said that the available research indicates that about 70 per cent of the agricultural land in the region has been damaged. He noted that the water aquifers in the region have suffered significant damage and may not recover; if they do, it could take decades. He pointed out that there is no international legal authority to assess the ongoing ecological destruction, and due to the veto power held by certain countries in the UN Security Council, these crimes remain unpunished.’

After a year of war, Gazans wonder how to deal with tonnes of rubble

Reuters 06.10.24

The IDF has turned Gaza into a wasteland through its collective punishment and the cost of clearing the mess they produced will be gigantic. Not only should they pay for clearance and compensate every single civilian for losses incurred, but they should take the rubble into their own territory for safe disposal:

‘The United Nations estimates there is over 42 million tonnes of debris, including both shattered edifices that are still standing and flattened buildings. That is 14 times the amount of rubble accumulated in Gaza between 2008 and the war's start a year ago, and over five times the amount left by the 2016-17 Battle of Mosul in Iraq, the U.N. said. Piled up, it would fill the Great Pyramid of Giza - Egypt's largest - 11 times. And it is growing daily… The United Nations Environment Programme said an estimated 2.3 million tonnes of debris might be contaminated, citing an assessment of Gaza's eight refugee camps, some of which have been hit... Gaza, which had a pre-war population of 2.3 million crammed into an area 45 km (28 miles) long and 10 km wide, lacks the space needed for disposal, the UNDP says. Landfills are now in an Israeli military zone. Israel's COGAT said they were in a restricted area but that access would be granted.’

The thousands of shipping containers lost at sea waiting to burst open

The Independent 04.10.24

Regulation and transparency is needed to contain this growing environmental disaster:

‘Cargo ships can lose anywhere from a single container to hundreds at a time in rough seas. Experts disagree on how many are lost each year. The World Shipping Council, an industry group, reports that, on average, about 1,500 were lost annually over the 16 years they’ve tracked — though fewer in recent years. Others say the real number is much higher, as the shipping council data doesn’t include the entire industry and there are no penalties for failing to report losses publicly… This year’s summer winds washed thousands of plastic pellets ashore near Colombo, Sri Lanka, three years after a massive fire aboard the X-Press Pearl burned for days and sank the vessel a few miles offshore. The disaster dumped more than 1,400 damaged shipping containers into the sea — releasing billions of plastic manufacturing pellets known as nurdles as well as thousands of tons of nitric acid, lead, methanol and sodium hydroxide, all toxic to marine life.’

US Militarism a Lead Driver of Climate Catastrophe

Consortium News 13.09.24

Climate change rhetoric has never discussed the detrimental contributions of wars. It’s high time we wake up and smell the ‘burnt’ coffee:

'“The U.S. military is the single largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels in the world,” Taylor Smith-Hams, U.S. senior organizer at 350.org, a global climate justice organization, said at a workshop on the Impact of Current Wars on Climate Crisis at the Veterans For Peace (VFP) Convention on Aug. 17. “Militarism and war are key drivers of the climate crisis,” she added, citing fighter jets, warships and the U.S.’s massive constellation of military bases throughout the world… “The role of the U.S. in the human and environmental destruction of Gaza cannot be overstated,” said Patrick Bigger, coauthor of the study and research director at the thinktank Climate + Community Project (CCP). During the VFP workshop, Bigger called it an “environmental Nakba.” David Boyd, U.N. special rapporteur for human rights and the environment, said, “This research helps us understand the immense magnitude of military emissions — from preparing for war, carrying out war and rebuilding after war. Armed conflict pushes humanity even closer to the precipice of climate catastrophe, and is an idiotic way to spend our shrinking carbon budget.” “From an ecological perspective, there is no such thing as an ‘effective’ or ‘green’ technology or military,” Neimark, Belcher, Ashworth and Larbi, coauthors of the concrete blast wall study, found.'

Anger mounts over environmental cost of Google datacentre in Uruguay

The Guardian 01.08.24

Data centres must come up with a different model other than one deleterious to the environment:

‘Based in Canelones, southern Uruguay, the datacentre is predicted to release 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year and generate 86 tonnes of hazardous waste, including “electro-electronic residues”, oils and chemical packaging, according to the government’s environmental assessment report. It will provide internet services for Google’s users worldwide. However, Pena said: “For Uruguay, it will provide nothing except toxic waste and greenhouse gases.” The datacentre would be in a tax-free zone, he added, the company not pay tax.’

Conspiracy theories swirl about geo-engineering, but could it help save the planet?

BBC 21.07.24

In a highly clumsy article in which ‘conspiracy’ and ‘geo-engineering’ appear, nothing is written about how the decades of chemtrails’ use have exacerbated weather patterns worldwide:

'As the industry grows, so have conspiracy theories. BBC Weather has seen a large increase in social media comments around geo-engineering since January, accusing us of covering up secret projects and wrongly blaming geo-engineering for the cool and wet weather we’ve recently had. Worldwide, there have been twice as many mentions of geo-engineering this year on X, formerly known as Twitter, than over the last six months of 2023… Dr Ramit Debnath, an assistant professor at the University of Cambridge, says “a lot of funders are very sceptical of funding research” because they are wary of being targeted by conspiracists. He has analysed almost 2 million tweets with the hashtag #GeoEngineering and found that over 70% expressed negative sentiments about solar radiation management with the majority tapping into conspiracies. One of these is to do with ‘chemtrails’, a widely debunked conspiracy theory about an alleged secret plot to spray people with dangerous chemicals, suggesting the white streaks in the sky that come out the back of planes is evidence of this. These are actually condensed water vapour trails - known as contrails - that come from the jet engines of planes.’

NATO SUMMIT: Alliance Emissions Fuel Climate Breakdown

Consortium News 11.07.24

Wars are very bad for the planet:

‘The militaries of North Atlantic Treaty Organization member countries emitted an estimated 233 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2023, a sharp uptick that exacerbates climate breakdown and serves only to enrich weapons manufacturers, according to a briefing issued Monday by the Transnational Institute, a research and advocacy organization, and several other nonprofits.  The 32 national militaries together emitted more carbon than the country of Colombia, which has a population of about 52 million people, the briefing says. NATO countries’ military spending increased from about $1.21 trillion in 2022 to $1.34 trillion in 2023, thanks in part to the conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine. TNI used a spend-emission conversion factor to estimate the carbon cost of the spending. The briefing’s authors warn that NATO’s spending targets must be abandoned or its emissions will continue to rise significantly in the next few years — despite a pledge to reduce emissions by 45 percent by 2030. Member countries have pledged to spend at least 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense, and many have have already met or surpassed the target.’

Lebanese farmers dig for answers on Israel's white phosphorus use

Reuters 03.07.24

Ecocide is a result of banned weapons’ use:

‘According to the Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research, there have been 175 Israeli attacks on south Lebanon using white phosphorus since then, many of them sparking fires that have affected over 600 hectares (1,480 acres) of farmland. White phosphorus munitions are not banned as a chemical weapon and can be used in war to make smoke screens, mark targets or burn buildings - but since they can cause serious burns and start fires, international conventions prohibit their use against military targets located among civilians. Lebanon is a party to those international protocols, while Israel is not.’

The Hidden Environmental Impact of AI

Jacobin 20.06.24

With intense lobbying from tech companies, this gnawing problem is only set to grow until we all realise that it’s too late. Perhaps a moratorium should happen until we can generate water and energy in a highly sustainable way?:

‘Each time you search for something like “how many rocks should I eat” and Google’s AI “snapshot” tells you “at least one small rock per day,” you’re consuming approximately three watt-hours of electricity, according to Alex de Vries, the founder of Digiconomist, a research company exploring the unintended consequences of digital trends. That’s ten times the power consumption of a traditional Google search, and roughly equivalent to the amount of power used when talking for an hour on a home phone... “AI companies have strong financial incentives to avoid effective oversight,” a group of former OpenAI employees wrote in a recent open letter, “and we do not believe bespoke structures of corporate governance are sufficient to change this.” They also say these companies can’t be relied on to share information voluntarily, and that they require independent regulation… No one wants to think of their internet habits as stealing someone else’s drinking water. Looking at your monthly power bill, the link between Apple’s latest AI announcement and your rate increases isn’t necessarily obvious. And technology companies are currently spending a lot of money to make it harder to say that’s happening. But it’s difficult to escape the sinking sense that the benefits of AI are being accrued by a small number of powerful companies, while the physical harms are borne by people out of sight.’

Gaza conflict has caused major environmental damage, UN says

Reuters 18.06.24

This particular ‘conflict’ has come with a seriously high price:

‘The conflict in Gaza has created unprecedented soil, water and air pollution in the region, destroying sanitation systems and leaving tons of debris from explosive devices, a United Nations report on the environmental impact of the war said on Tuesday… Explosive weapons have generated some 39 million tons of debris, the report said. Each square metre of the Gaza Strip is now littered with more than 107 kilograms (236 lbs) of debris. That is more than five times the debris generated during the battle for Mosul, Iraq, in 2017, the report said… Water, sanitation, and hygiene systems are now almost entirely defunct, the report found, with Gaza's five wastewater treatment plants shut down. Israel's long-term occupation had already posed major environmental challenges in the Palestinian territories with regards to water quality and availability, according to a 2020 report by the U.N. Development Programme. Over 92% of water in the Gaza Strip was then deemed unfit for human consumption. The Gaza Strip had one of the highest densities of rooftop solar panels in the world, with the U.S.-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies estimating in 2023 some 12,400 rooftop solar systems. But Israel has since destroyed a large proportion of Gaza's burgeoning solar infrastructure, and broken panels can leak lead and heavy metal contaminants into the soil.’

The ugly truth behind ChatGPT: AI is guzzling resources at planet-eating rates

The Guardian 30.05.24

The rise of technological advances is detrimental to the planet’s resources:

‘In 2018, for instance, the 5bn YouTube hits for the viral song Despacito used the same amount of energy it would take to heat 40,000 US homes annually. This is a hugely environmentally destructive side to the tech industry. While it has played a big role in reaching net zero, giving us smart meters and efficient solar, it’s critical that we turn the spotlight on its environmental footprint. Large language models such as ChatGPT are some of the most energy-guzzling technologies of all. Research suggests, for instance, that about 700,000 litres of water could have been used to cool the machines that trained ChatGPT-3 at Microsoft’s data facilities. It is hardly news that the tech bubble’s self-glorification has obscured the uglier sides of this industry, from its proclivity for tax avoidance to its invasion of privacy and exploitation of our attention span. The industry’s environmental impact is a key issue, yet the companies that produce such models have stayed remarkably quiet about the amount of energy they consume – probably because they don’t want to spark our concern.’

Genocide triggers ecological disaster

Electronic Intifada 26.04.24

Until authorities are ready to discuss the impact of war on the environment (and their decades’ long geoengineering tests), I want to hear nothing more about climate change:

‘The Israeli military accounts for most of the decimation of Gaza’s woodland and farmland, and the extent of the damage Israel has wrought has caused an ecological disaster.

In just one corridor of land, satellite imagery reveals that Israel has cleared more than 17,400 square meters of land of trees and other plant life… The clearing of agricultural land by warring parties is “strictly forbidden” under the laws of war, the group quoted a Human Rights Watch spokesperson as saying.’

Debt From Above: The Carbon Credit Coup

Unlimited Hangout 04.04.24

Carbon credit and its discredited use refuses to go away. Under obfuscation, governments would be tied to this imperialist tokenisation of nature;

‘Sweeping across the shores of Latin America comes a scheme from some of the most predatory figures in the venture capital ecosystem of the United States. It is a brazen attempt to assert foreign influence across Latin America and threatens to reshape the very fabric of the region and the day to day lives of its people. At its core is a serpentine set of contractual obligations, held at the municipal level, cast throughout Central and South America, upheld by an intelligence-linked satellite company, and controlled by a private se­ctor consortium of green-washed financiers aiming to turn the region’s forests into equity and carbon credits. At the same time, it obliges local governments to spend “conservation” funds on projects that further financialize nature and aid the construction of an inter-continental “smart” grid… Upon further observation, GREEN+’s connections reveal a disturbing narrative of financial interests melding with geopolitical ambitions. The backers of the satellite company share ties with former members of the highest offices of US financial policy and regulation alongside the key architects and profiteers of private capital creation, aiming to consolidate control over monetary flows in Latin America within the redistribution of distressed government debt from the public to the private sector. As this two-part series will show, this concerted effort is not merely about surveillance – it’s a calculated move towards further dollarization, tightening the grip of corporate and technological monopolies over the economic landscape of the Americas.’

Just 57 companies linked to 80% of greenhouse gas emissions since 2016

The Guardian 04.04.24

No doubt the lobby machine will soon going into overdrive to quash this finding:

‘A mere 57 oil, gas, coal and cement producers are directly linked to 80% of the world’s global fossil CO2 emissions since the 2016 Paris climate agreement, a study has shown.

This powerful cohort of state-controlled corporations and shareholder-owned multinationals are the leading drivers of the climate crisis, according to the Carbon Majors Database, which is compiled by world-renowned researchers… During this period, the biggest investor-owned contributor to emissions was ExxonMobil of the United States, which was linked to 3.6 gigatonnes of CO2 over seven years, or 1.4% of the global total. Close behind were Shell, BP, Chevron and TotalEnergies, each of which was associated with at least 1% of global emissions.

The most striking trend, however, was the surging growth of emissions related to state and state-owned producers, particularly in the Asian coal sector.’

‘Ecocide in Gaza’: does scale of environmental destruction amount to a war crime?

The Guardian 29.03.24

The tiny strip of land is actively being made uninhabitable by a genocidal regime. Wars are bad for the planet and ecocide charges should be pursued at the highest levels:

'The full extent of the damage in Gaza has not yet been documented, but analysis of satellite imagery provided to the Guardian shows the destruction of about 38-48% of tree cover and farmland.

Olive groves and farms have been reduced to packed earth; soil and groundwater have been contaminated by munitions and toxins; the sea is choked with sewage and waste; the air polluted by smoke and particulate matter.

Researchers and environmental organisations say the destruction will have enormous effects on Gaza’s ecosystems and biodiversity. The scale and potential long-term impact of the damage have led to calls for it to be regarded as “ecocide” and investigated as a possible war crime.’

Deep-sea miner wants Greenpeace out of UN

The Guardian 18.04.24

Destroying billions of years’ of ecosystem’s evolution must be opposed:

‘The metals the companies want to exploit have built up over tens of millions of years into potato-sized lumps, known as polymetallic nodules. Mining companies say the copper, cobalt, nickel and manganese they contain are crucial battery metals. The International Energy Agency forecasts demand for these metals will soar as the world continues the effort to transition towards a low-carbon economy… Green campaigners say there are sufficient supplies of the metals on land and no ocean mining should be allowed until the deep-sea environment, and the impact mining will have on it, are much better understood… "Deep-sea mining is not a climate solution," says the organisation's lead oceans campaigner, Louisa Casson. "I think it is clear that to protect the climate, we need to be restoring our oceans, protecting them, not destroying them further by adding new pressures.” Greenpeace maintains it was justified in disrupting The Metals Company's research because it was "tick-box science by a company with a commercial interest in the outcomes of that research”.'

Microsoft Is Draining an Arizona Town's Water Supply for its AI

Futurism 02.03.24

The AI revolution will be costing us dearly:

‘According to the Atlantic, Microsoft has been incredibly shady about its Goodyear center's water use, even redacting exact figures in city records on grounds that its water consumption is "proprietary" information. But in estimates commissioned by Microsoft itself, the 279-acre campus, which currently houses two buildings and is on track to host a third, would consume an annual 56 million gallons of drinking water once the final building is completed. To put that in perspective? Per the Atlantic, that's approximately the amount that a total of 670 Goodyear families would consume in a year combined. And though that's a lot of water anywhere, it's especially material in a place like southern Arizona's Sonoran Desert, where a drying Colorado River and property development loopholes have led to an increasingly dire water crisis… This is one of Microsoft's many data centers worldwide. And again, data centers anywhere, particularly those fueling AI efforts, are resource-heavy. But as the Sonoran Desert only gets hotter, that this facility continues to power forward paints an especially striking picture of where the AI industry's priorities seem to lie.’

How Israel’s flooding of Gaza’s tunnels will impact freshwater supply

Al Jazeera 03.02.24

The flooding of seawater into tunnels and soil will erode building structures as well as ensuring that no agricultural cultivation would be possible. It is a heinous crime:

‘According to The Wall Street Journal, the Israeli army installed the pumps north of the Shati refugee camp, a beach settlement that housed previously displaced Palestinians located in the northern Gaza Strip. The machines, the report said, could pump thousands of cubic metres of seawater… Environmental analysts warn that flooding the tunnels could damage the aquifer that holds Gaza’s groundwater which the strip’s 2.3 million people largely depend on. Mark Zeitoun, a professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute, told Al Jazeera that pumping seawater into hundreds of kilometres of tunnels embedded in Gaza’s sandy and porous soil is highly likely to see saltwater seep into water sources, destroying water that’s usually used for drinking, cooking and irrigation. Zeitoun, who once worked as a water engineer in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, said Israel is weaponising water in a “dark” way. The engineer is among many who have been warning since December that there could be “catastrophic” consequences, should the Israeli military’s plans be confirmed… “What we see happening in Gaza is beyond the pale,” Zeitoun said. “With the definition of the Genocide Convention in mind, I think salinating the aquifer, which is the main source of water, will bring about its partial destruction. Part of it could collapse and become unusable.” Just last week, the International Court of Justice ruling in South Africa’s landmark genocide case against Israel, ordered Tel Aviv to take all measures to prevent genocidal acts – but there have been little to no changes in Israeli military’s scorched-earth tactics in the strip.’

The climate costs of war and militaries can no longer be ignored

The Guardian 09.01.24

The sense of entitlement and exceptionalism from the West is truly sickening. Wars MUST end:

‘While some militaries have set vague emissions reduction goals, they are often short on scope and detail, and on accountability. For example, while Nato has drafted a methodology for counting emissions, it does not apply to its members, and it explicitly excludes emissions from Nato-led operations and missions, training and exercises. Amplified by the ongoing destruction of Gaza, Cop28 saw unprecedented attention on the relationship between the climate crisis, peace and security. But while visible in side events and protests, military and conflict emissions were again absent from the formal agenda.’

Norway to approve controversial deep-sea mining

BBC 09.01.24

This is a very disappointing stance taken by Norway. We have plundered the earth and have encouraged slavery to retrieve these so-called essential minerals to run a ‘green’ economy, which frankly, does more harm than good:

‘Environmental scientists have warned it could be devastating for marine life. The vote concerns Norwegian waters, but agreement on mining in international waters could also be reached this year. The vote is expected to pass without hindrance after it secured cross-party backing at the end of 2023… Martin Webeler, oceans campaigner and researcher at the Environmental Justice Foundation, said it would be "catastrophic" for the ocean habitat. "The Norwegian government always highlighted that they want to implement the highest environmental standards," he said. "That is hypocritical whilst you are throwing away all the scientific advice.” He said that mining companies should focus on preventing environmental damage in current operations, rather than opening up a whole new industry.'

‘Elephant in the room’: The US military’s devastating carbon footprint

Al Jazeera 13.12.23

Wars should be made illegal as they only benefit a tiny few psychopaths on a precarious planet:

‘The US military is vast in scale, with a carbon footprint larger than any other institution on earth. But when it comes to disclosure of its emissions of greenhouse gases, it’s been kept off the books – and has been let off the hook. “It’s the elephant in the room,” said David Vine, author of, Base Nation: How US Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World. “It operates with this kind of cloak of invisibility despite having a long track record of very serious damage.” The environmental impact of the US military machine was documented in two 2019 reports, which revealed it to be the world’s largest institutional consumer of hydrocarbons, belching out more emissions than industrialised nations like Portugal and Denmark… As a whole, militaries are among the world’s biggest consumers of fuel, accounting for 5.5 percent of global emissions, according to a recent report, published by CCP and UK think tank Common Wealth.’

The 1% generates as much carbon pollution as two-thirds of the planet

The Independent 19.11.23

Nothing surprising there and I’m still hopeful that wars get declared the biggest polluters on the planet:

'The carbon emissions of the world’s richest 1 per cent are equal to those of five billion people, or two-thirds of the global population, a new report has found. The 1 per cent - comprising 77 million individuals globally - were responsible for a staggering 16 per cent of global emissions in 2019, according to a report from Oxfam on Monday… “The super-rich are plundering and polluting the planet to the point of destruction and it is those who can least afford it who are paying the highest price,” said Chiara Liguori, Oxfam’s senior climate justice policy adviser. The authors said it would take about 1,500 years for someone in the bottom 99 per cent to produce as much carbon as the richest billionaires do in a year… The carbon emissions of the richest 1 per cent are set to be 22 times greater than the level compatible with the 1.5C goal of the Paris Agreement in 2030. By contrast, the emissions of the poorest half of the global population are set to remain at one-fifth of the 1.5C compatible level. Every year, emissions of the 1 per cent cancel out the carbon savings coming from nearly one million wind turbines. The death toll from floods is seven times higher in the most unequal countries compared to more equal ones. The richest 10 per cent accounted for half (50 per cent) of emissions.’

Malaysia prepares to make rain, close schools as haze worsens

Reuters 03.10.23

Nip horrid commercial tactics in the bud and you won’t have to ‘control’ the weather. Indonesia is seeding its own climate degradation:

‘Malaysia will try to make rain by seeding clouds and prepare to shut schools as the quality of air in various places deteriorates, the Department of Environment said, raising fears of a new round of pollution from forest fires. Almost every dry season, smoke from fires to clear land for palm oil and pulp and paper plantations in Indonesia clouds the skies over much of the region, bringing risks to public health and worrying tourist operators and airlines.’

Critics Furious Microsoft Is Training AI by Sucking Up Water During Drought

Futurism 27.09.23

A price too high to pay for tech evolution:

'Microsoft's data centers in West Des Moines, Iowa guzzled massive amounts of water last year, the Associated Press reported earlier this month, to keep cool while training OpenAI's ChatGPT-4, the Microsoft-backed company's most advanced publicly available large language model… "It's a recipe for disaster," Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement organizer Jake Grobe told Futurism. "ChatGPT is not a necessity for human life, and yet we are literally taking water to feed a computer.”… Microsoft increased worldwide water consumption by a whopping 34 percent — up to almost 1.7 billion gallons annually — last year, which outside researchers told the AP is most likely due to increased AI training. That's dwarfed by Google, which used 5.6 billion gallons last year, a 20 percent jump that's also likely attributable to machine learning. And you'll recall that ChatGPT wasn't even publicly released until the end of November, with AI use spiking enormously this year — so those figures are likely only the tip of the iceberg… That's all even more worrisome in the context of a 2021 study, spearheaded by Virginia Tech researchers, which found many American data centers depend on stressed water systems.’

Shocking Failures of Climate and Covid Science Highlighted by Critical New Report

Daily Sceptic 12.09.23

In this ‘Improving Science Advice to Governments’ paper, which is referenced within, it is heartening to see some unafraid scientists speak out against the politicisation of science:

‘We present suggestions for improvement of scientific advice to government, aiming to minimize risks of unintended consequences such as loss of life, cost, and ecological damage. Key improvements would be: maximizing diversity of advice including crowd-sourcing; rapid challenge to the advice through red teams and crowd-review; ensuring reasonable accountability of scientists to discourage hype; and protection of scientists from career damage if they rationally disagree with mainstream views. The precautionary principle needs to be balanced against the opportunity costs incurred by 'playing safe'. Institutions such as universities, scientific academies and journals should not take official positions on scientific issues since this stifles diversity of thought, freedom of speech and the reliability of advice…

Climate models have become a cause celebre in their own right. It is noticeable that the most recent report of the IPCC (AR6, 2022) does not rely strongly on climate models for climate prediction, and for good reason. They have been consistently running too hot by a factor of 2-3 in terms of their predicted temperature rise compared with emerging data over recent decades. This gap is not narrowing, as should be the case if the models are actually modelling the evolving climate. This gap is a major embarrassment that would not be tolerated in any other field of science, and certainly not in engineering. If our knowledge of fuel burn in aeroplanes were as faulty as the climate models, we would place enough fuel to get to New York but find ourselves running out over Iceland. Separation of human-induced warming from the natural temperature rise from the Little Ice Age is far more difficult than that portrayed by IPCC, since experimentation and replication is simply not possible. So why are the models not taken out of the public discourse until they are fit for purpose? That would be the correct thing to do in the context of proper science. The inability to model clouds or the biota and the need to subjectively ‘tune’ the models to get consistency with observations are both fatal flaws in any system that is supposed to be predicting future climate change…

The United Nations, the IPCC (The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and IPBES (The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) and the World Health Organisation are by construction inherently political bodies, who offer scientific reports under their aegis. There are many recorded instances where dissenting voices have been overlooked, ignored or silenced. Conscientious scientists have dissociated themselves from the processes used for political massaging of the messages (particularly egregious in the case of the IPCC’s ‘Summary for Policy Makers’). The lack of transparency of the WHO’s expert investigation into the source of the outbreak in China of the Covid pandemic greatly weakens the authority of that organisation and undoes the credibility of any science that it sponsors or chooses to use. There is no evidence of ‘red team’ action as an integral part of their processes…

In all the branches of science we are familiar with, progress is rarely linear, but one seldom hears any report from the academies which concludes that the future climate may not be as bad as the prevailing predictions. Humans, their crops and other species have thrived in warm periods of the early Holocene, the Roman Warm Period and the Medieval Warm Period. The species-rich tropical regions are relatively stable in temperature historically (and in model predictions), and thus are very unlikely to witness climate-related extinctions. There is evidence of warmer periods in the Holocene when coral atolls such as the Maldives were being formed underwater up to about 4000 years ago. Moreover, the temperate regions evidently become less habitable for most life in cooler periods and ice ages. This bias against 'beneficial scenarios' strongly suggests a pervasive form of censorship.’

Unconventional Grey (VIDEO)

August 2023

The only man-made climate crisis, is one that is geo-engineered.

Why does Norway want to mine the seabed?

Reuters 14.09.23

What a horrible prospect. To further desecrate the ocean is a very bad idea:

‘The Labour-led minority government has proposed to open about 280,000 square km (108,000 square miles) of ocean areas between Jan Mayen island and the Svalbard archipelago. Its proposed plan follows similar principles to the opening of offshore areas to oil and gas exploration. From the overall area on offer, smaller zones, or blocks, would be offered to companies to explore and produce from.’

Microsoft Is Using a Hell of a Lot of Water to Flood the World With AI

Gizmodo 11.09.23

With everything digital being thrown around the world, the real crisis of environmental costs are rarely talked about:

'Microsoft’s latest sustainability report revealed that the software giant’s water usage saw a tremendous spike between 2021 and 2022. In 2021, the company used up 4,772,890 cubic meters of water. In 2022 that went up to 6,399,415—which is around a 30 percent increase from one year to the next. That’s almost 1.7 billion gallons of water in just one year, which is enough to fill more than 2,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Why did Microsoft draw so much freaking water? Data centers that run AI supercomputers are hot. Equipment heats up, and if a center overheats, those computers can shut down. The increase in water use is directly tied to the company’s investment and development of AI. Microsoft has backed OpenAI, which has a data center in Des Moines, Iowa. During the summer months, the center has to use a ton of water to keep equipment cool, especially as Iowa experiences rising temperatures due to climate change. The water is drawn from nearby watersheds including the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers to cool the supercomputer that develops AI systems, the Associated Press reported...

Google, another tech giant that has heavily invested in AI products, has also seen a spike in water usage. An environmental report released this July outlined that the company’s water usage increased about 20% from 2021 to 2022. “We’re working to address the impact of our water consumption through our climate-conscious data center cooling approach and water stewardship strategy,” a spokesperson told Gizmodo in an email this July… Other tech companies have experienced challenges with keeping their centers online during especially hot weather. Last September, equipment at then Twitter’s data center in Sacramento shut down during a heat wave. Increased instances of heat waves due to the climate crisis have also plagued data centers overseas. Last July, Google and Oracle’s London-based data centers went offline as England baked through sky-high temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).’

Japan to release Fukushima water into ocean starting Aug. 24

Reuters 22.08.23

Seriously disappointing decision. If the water was safe, Japan should be using it for their national consumption, and not treat the ocean as a toilet:

‘Japan said on Tuesday it will start releasing more than 1 million metric tonnes of treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant on Aug. 24, putting into motion a plan that has drawn strong criticism from China.’

Google Is Using a Flabbergasting Amount of Water on AI

Futurism 28.07.23

In this race to digitise everything and make AI reign supreme, the cost to humans is huge:

‘According to the tech giant's 2023 Environmental Report, the company used an astronomical 5.6 billion gallons of water last year. That's a 20 percent increase over its 2021 usage, which can likely be attributed in large part to Google's growing AI efforts. Training these algorithms in massive data centers consumes immense amounts of energy, plus huge amounts of water for cooling. And the majority of this water isn't even being pulled out of streams — it's clean enough to be used as drinking water… The situation has gotten so bad, Google's planned data center in Arizona switched to "air-cooled technology" due to water shortages in the area, according to Insider. And in its report, Google does claim that 82 percent of its freshwater use last year came from regions with "low water stress.”'

Fukushima: Japan gets UN nuclear watchdog approval for water release

Reuters 04.07.23

Disappointing news:

‘Japan won approval from the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog on Tuesday for its plan to release treated radioactive water from the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima plant into the ocean, despite fierce resistance from Beijing and some local residents. After a two-year review, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Japan's plans were consistent with global safety standards and that they would have a "negligible radiological impact to people and the environment”.'

As the AI industry booms, what toll will it take on the environment?

The Guardian 09.06.23

Natural resources are being sacrificed for yet another tech hype:

‘By contrast, limited publicly available data suggests about 500 metric tonnes of CO2 were produced just in the training of ChatGPT’s GPT3 model – the equivalent of over a million miles driven by average gasoline-powered cars, the researchers noted. “For ChatGPT’s latest model, GPT4, [OpenAI] hasn’t said anything about either how long it’s been trained, where it’s trained, or anything at all about the data they’re using,” said Luccioni. “So essentially, it means it’s impossible to estimate emissions.” Meanwhile, newer AI models are getting bigger – and more energy intensive. Bigger models require the use of more and more powerful graphics processing units (GPUs), and take longer to train – using up more resources and energy, Luccioni said. Even more unclear is the amount of water consumed in the creation and use of various AI models. Data centers use water in evaporative cooling systems to keep equipment from overheating. One non-peer-reviewed study, led by researchers at UC Riverside, estimates that training GPT3 in Microsoft’s state-of-the-art US data centers could potentially have consumed 700,000 liters (184,920.45 gallons) of freshwater… After a protracted legal battle with the Oregonian, the city of Dalles, Oregon, released data showing that Google data centers used a quarter of the town’s water supply… And last month, Google announced that it would be incorporating generative AI into gmail and search – using exponentially more complex and energy-intensive technology to accomplish essentially the same tasks. Companies have suggested using similar tools for bank fraud detection, dispute statistical models that are already pretty good at detection. “It’s frustrating because actually there are so many low-impact, efficient AI approaches and methods that people have developed over the years, but people want to use generative AI for everything,” said Luccioni. “It’s like using a microscope to hammer in a nail – it might do the job but that’s not really what this tool is meant for.”’

'Thirsty' AI: Training ChatGPT Required Enough Water to Fill a Nuclear Reactor's Cooling Tower, Study Finds

Gizmodo 11.03.23

The gargantuan amounts of water needed to cool down data servers around the world must be urgently addressed. With most nations salivating over digital governance, this spells a catastrophic and ill-thought out scenario:

‘Popular large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard are energy intensive, requiring massive server farms to provide enough data to train the powerful programs. Cooling those same data centers also makes the AI chatbots incredibly thirsty. New research suggests training for GPT-3 alone consumed 185,000 gallons (700,000 liters) of water. An average user’s conversational exchange with ChatGPT basically amounts to dumping a large bottle of fresh water out on the ground, according to the new study… Researchers from the University of Colorado Riverside and the University of Texas Arlington published the AI water consumption estimates in a pre-print paper titled “Making AI Less ‘Thirsty.’” The authors found the amount of clear freshwater required to train GPT-3 is equivalent to the amount needed to fill a nuclear reactor’s cooling tower... Water consumption issues aren’t limited to OpenAI or AI models. In 2019, Google requested more than 2.3 billion gallons of water for data centers in just three states. The company currently has 14 data centers spread out across North America which it uses to power Google Search, its suite of workplace products, and more recently, its LaMDa and Bard large language models. LaMDA alone, according to the recent research paper, could require millions of liters of water to train, larger than GPT-3 because several of Google’s thirsty data centers are housed in hot states like Texas; researchers issued a caveat with this estimation, though, calling it an “ approximate reference point.” Aside from water, new LLMs similarly require a staggering amount of electricity.’

Climate Engineering Must Stop or Humanity is Finished

USA Watchdog 11.03.23

Couldn’t agree more!:

‘Wigington explains, “We know the technology exists and is being used to steer upper-level wind currents and, thus, steer moisture currents, and they are directing moisture into where they have engineered back-to-back snow storms.  There is no question that it is being engineered. . . . People act like this is some sort of fringe theory, and it’s hard science.  We can test the snow and find the same things in climate engineering patents.  We find aluminum, barium, manganese, polymer fibers, graphene and surfactants as well.  All of these are found in our snow. . . . The directing of this moisture flow without chemical nucleation on top of this chemically frozen nucleated material is creating flooding right now as we speak.  This is not debatable. . . . Whatever a person’s perspective is, can there be any legitimate discussion about the climate without addressing climate engineering first and foremost?  The answer is patently NO.”…  Wigington says, “. . .Ecosystem collapse is happening all over the globe.  At GeoEngineeringWatch.org, our mission is to expose this biggest hole in the bottom of the boat. . . . Critical mass of awareness is the only way out. . . .Climate engineering is pounding nails into all of our collective coffins.  We have to plant the seed of awareness. . . . When you arm yourself with credible data and you wake those people around you, they begin to wake others.  Now, they realize they do have power if they focus what is in their power. . . . they can move this fight forward.”’

We are ‘greening’ ourselves to extinction

Al Jazeera 29.01.23

An interesting article outlining the financial motives behind conservation ‘efforts’:

‘More than a decade ago, investment experts James Altucher and Douglas Sease wrote a book for the Wall Street Journal called Investing in the Apocalypse. They argued that the end of the world is a profitable opportunity for those who know how to “fade the fear”, as everyone else panics…  Today, it seems many have followed Althucher and Sease’s advice. Under the guise of taking action on the pandemic, billions of dollars have been poured into big pharma, instead of public health and policies aimed at preventing another global outbreak. The supposed energy transition that has been undertaken has seen renewable energy production expanded, but there has been no indication that oil and gas are being substituted and ultimately phased out.  What is worse, governments and corporations have teamed up to turn the apocalypse into a money-making opportunity. They have rushed to put forward false solutions to the climate crisis: from the push to replace fuel-engine vehicles with electric ones, to so-called climate-smart agriculture, to protected areas for nature conservation and massive tree planting projects for carbon offsets.  All this trickery is called “greening” and it is designed to profit off of climate fears, not stop climate change. While guaranteeing high returns, this deception is tantamount to the genocide of the hundreds of millions of people who will perish from the effects of climate change within the next century because things are that bad…  A recent investigation into the world’s largest carbon standard found that 94 percent of its rainforest offset credits did not actually contribute to carbon reduction. Worse still, it exaggerated the threat to forests included in its projects, while its conservation activities – which yielded some of these credits – involved serious human rights violations, including forced evictions and home demolitions of local people… 

What often hides behind these “green” labels is the large carbon footprint their production generates. Furthermore, “greened” technological solutions often just shift the environmental damage they do to another sector or a distant location.  For example, the growing electric vehicle industry may help reduce carbon emissions but it will also cause a massive jump in the demand for lithium and other minerals. Scientists are already warning about the grave environmental impact the rush for mining lithium may have, including water pollution and loss, toxic waste spills, biodiversity loss and soil contamination… 

In the Republic of the Congo, the Indigenous Baka people have been brutally oppressed by the guards of a conservation project supported by the UNDP, WWF, the EU, the US and logging and palm oil companies. A UNDP investigation found that members of the community were routinely beaten, some imprisoned, tortured or raped.  In the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo, the guards of a national park funded by the US and German governments have also engaged in violent attacks on the Indigenous Batwa people living in its territory. A 2022 report by Minority Rights has produced evidence that at least 20 members of the community have been killed and at least 15 women raped during forced eviction campaigns.  There are countless horror stories like these ones; according to estimates, some 14 million people have been evicted in this manner in Africa alone. That is why the news that a new conservation scheme was approved at the UN conference on biodiversity (COP15) held in Montreal in December was met with much dismay by Indigenous people across the world…  The new Global Biodiversity Framework – also called the 30×30 target – aims to turn 30 percent of the planet into protected areas by 2030. In a letter to COP15 participants, Indigenous peoples stated that the policy “may be the biggest land grab in history and further threaten the physical and cultural survival of Indigenous people worldwide”…  Making the “green” choice then leaves us satisfied that we are “doing something” about climate change. But driving an electric car, putting your organic produce in a tote bag and turning down your heating or air-conditioner by one degree is not going to save the planet. Let’s have the courage to face this fact.  What would make a difference is developing mass transport and substantially reducing car ownership; closing coal mines and ending oil and gas exploration; promoting decentralised and community-managed renewable energy systems; doing away with industrial-scale monoculture farming; and supporting smallholder and Indigenous-led agroecological systems that have been shown to enhance nutrition, biodiversity and quality of life.’

Watts Up With That?

What’s Up With That 19.01.23

For anyone experiencing climate anxiety, please look at impeccably-referenced sources below to chill out:

'Here are some facts for the folks that think that the climate is a real danger to humanity.  Let me begin with the fact that the IPCC itself doesn’t think that there is a “climate crisis” or a “climate emergency”. In the IPCC AR6 WG1, the single mention of a “climate emergency” is a far-too-gentle chiding of the media for using the term, viz:  Some media outlets have recently adopted and promoted terms and phrases stronger than the more neutral ‘climate change’ and ‘global warming’, including ‘climate crisis’, ‘global heating’, and ‘climate emergency’.  SOURCE  And it’s no surprise that the IPCC doesn’t think there’s an emergency. To start with, deaths from climate-related phenomena are at an all-time low. If you think deaths from climate-related catastrophes are an emergency, please point in the graph below to the start of the “emergency”.’

Revealed: more than 90% of rainforest carbon offsets by biggest provider are worthless, analysis shows

The Guardian 18.01.23

Why has this corporate scam taken so long to be unmasked?:

‘The research into Verra, the world’s leading carbon standard for the rapidly growing $2bn (£1.6bn) voluntary offsets market, has found that, based on analysis of a significant percentage of the projects, more than 90% of their rainforest offset credits – among the most commonly used by companies – are likely to be “phantom credits” and do not represent genuine carbon reductions…  The investigation found that:  Only a handful of Verra’s rainforest projects showed evidence of deforestation reductions, according to two studies, with further analysis indicating that 94% of the credits had no benefit to the climate.  The threat to forests had been overstated by about 400% on average for Verra projects, according to analysis of a 2022 University of Cambridge study.  Gucci, Salesforce, BHP, Shell, easyJet, Leon and the band Pearl Jam were among dozens of companies and organisations that have bought rainforest offsets approved by Verra for environmental claims.  Human rights issues are a serious concern in at least one of the offsetting projects. The Guardian visited a flagship project in Peru, and was shown videos that residents said showed their homes being cut down with chainsaws and ropes by park guards and police. They spoke of forced evictions and tensions with park authorities… 

The two studies from the international group of researchers found just eight out of 29 Verra-approved projects where further analysis was possible showed evidence of meaningful deforestation reductions.  The journalists were able to do further analysis on those projects, comparing the estimates made by the offsetting projects with the results obtained by the scientists. The analysis indicated about 94% of the credits the projects produced should not have been approved.  Credits from 21 projects had no climate benefit, seven had between 98% and 52% fewer than claimed using Verra’s system, and one had 80% more impact, the investigation found.’…  Barbara Haya, the director of the Berkeley Carbon Trading Project, has been researching carbon credits for 20 years, hoping to find a way to make the system function. She said: “The implications of this analysis are huge. Companies are using credits to make claims of reducing emissions when most of these credits don’t represent emissions reductions at all.  “Rainforest protection credits are the most common type on the market at the moment. And it’s exploding, so these findings really matter. But these problems are not just limited to this credit type. These problems exist with nearly every kind of credit.’

Fukushima nuclear disaster: Japan to release radioactive water into sea this year

BBC 13.01.23

So tragic that alternative plans could not be found:

‘"We expect the timing of the release would be sometime during this spring or summer," said chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno on Friday, adding that the government will wait for a "comprehensive report" from IAEA before the release.  Every day, the plant produces 100 cubic metres of contaminated water, which is a mixture of groundwater, seawater and water used to keep the reactors cool. It is then filtered and stored in tanks.  With more than 1.3 million cubic metres on site, space is running out…  The water is filtered for most radioactive isotopes, but the level of tritium is above the national standard, operator Tepco said. Experts say tritium is very difficult to remove from water and is only harmful to humans in large doses.’

Controversial Proposal to Reduce Global Warming Could Threaten Ozone Regeneration

Science Alert 10.01.23

Happy to see published a claim that chemtrails may deplete the ozone layer:

‘Since the mid-1970s, certain industrial aerosols have led to the depletion of ozone in the stratosphere, 11 to 40 kilometers (7 to 25 miles) above Earth's surface…  With emissions continuing to rise and time running out to avoid some of the worst impacts, controversial geoengineering schemes are moving to the center of climate change policy debates.  These include proposals to blunt global warming by depositing sulfur particles into the upper atmosphere.  But the report cautioned this could sharply reverse the recovery of the ozone layer.’

US approves world’s first vaccine for declining honey bees

BBC 05.01.23

Rather than limit the use of deadly pesticides and harmful electromagnetic frequencies which have been shown to kill off bee colonies, the US has approved the burning of large bee populations and the use of antibiotics to regulate their ‘disease’:

‘The US has approved use of the world's first vaccine for honey bees.  It was engineered to prevent fatalities from American foulbrood disease, a bacterial condition known to weaken colonies by attacking bee larvae…  The USDA says many, sometimes overlapping, factors threaten honey bee health, including parasites, pests and disease, as well as a phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder, which occurs when worker bees abandon a hive and leave behind the queen.’

Can geoengineering fix the climate? Hundreds of scientists say not so fast

The Guardian 25.12.22

Outrageous plans to overburden the planet with unforeseen consequences:

‘It is “not new research, but a report that highlights some of the key knowledge gaps and recommendations of priority topics for relevant research”, said a spokesperson for the White House’s office of science and technology policy, adding Joe Biden’s administration wants “effective and responsible CO2 removal” as well as deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions.  Several American researchers, somewhat reluctantly, want to explore options to tinker with the climate system to help restrain runaway global heating, even as they acknowledge many of the knock-on risks aren’t fully known…  

This prospect horrifies opponents of solar geoengineering. An open letter signed by more than 380 scientists demands a global non-use agreement for SRM; it also says that growing calls for research in this area are a “cause for alarm”, due to an unknown set of ramifications that will have varying consequences in different parts of the world and could scramble “weather patterns, agriculture and the provision of basic needs of food and water”…  The debate over how much we should meddle with the climate is likely to intensify as the fallout from global heating worsens. For now, opponents won’t back down. To Biermann, solar geoengineering should be considered by governments as being akin to landmines or biological weapons and blacklisted internationally.  “This is just another one on this list,” he said. “People talk about the freedom of research, but you don’t have the freedom to sit in your back yard and develop a chemical bomb.”’

Our contaminated future

Aeon 15.12.22

Nuclear energy is bad news.  Full stop.:

‘Contamination isn’t going away. Radiation will continue to travel through the landscape, pooling in rice paddies, accumulating in mushrooms and forests, and travelling in the bodies of migrating boar. Some areas remain so irradiated that they’re still bright red on the government maps. These are the prohibited ‘exclusion zones’, known in Japanese as kikan konnan kuiki (literally, ‘difficult-to-return zones’). They may not be reopened in our lifetimes.’

The dirty road to clean energy: how China’s electric vehicle boom is ravaging the environment

Rest of the World November 2022

If I didn’t stress it enough before, I’ll do so again: EVs are NOT the answer to a sustainable future:

‘But while Indonesia dreams of being a key player in the EV industry, villagers like Anton are left to face the environmental destruction caused by the nickel-processing industry involved in making EVs — much of which is still fueled by coal — as well as threats to their lands and livelihoods.   In the Kurisa shop, one woman adjusted the baby cradled in her arms. “We don’t eat fish anymore,” she said bitterly. “We eat coal.”  In recent years, more than 40 governments around the world have pledged to transform their internal combustion engine-driven (ICE) fleets into electric cars before 2050. The European Union has officially banned the sale of new gas-powered vehicles from 2035, and Canada, Japan, South Korea, and many others have made similar promises. Norway and Iceland are leading the way when it comes to phasing out ICE fleets.   On roads around the world, EVs are hitting the mainstream. Adoption in many countries is skyrocketing. Plug-in cars, including full EVs and hybrid models, account for around a quarter of new vehicles bought in China this year. Across Europe, 18% of new cars registered in 2021 were electric or hybrid. In the first half of 2022, 5% of new cars sold in the U.S. were fully electric, a figure that Bloomberg’s analysis claims marks a “tipping point” for adoption…  

The materials that go into today’s batteries, such as nickel, lithium, and cobalt, are in extreme demand. Prices for these minerals are soaring. For the countries in which these elements are buried, the EV boom promises profits.   But it also means massive extraction efforts — and the environmental and social issues that these cause. In Chile, huge evaporation pools draw lithium out of the salt flats of the Atacama Desert, spawning arguments over water use and the rights of Indigenous people. In Congo, cobalt-mining operations blast the earth with such disruption that locals are forced to relocate. In Indonesia, the scramble for nickel has never been more urgent…  According to a report by German policy lobby group Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung (RLS), the nickel-processing factories at IMIP pollute the air by spewing out sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and coal ash — particles that are “finer than beach sand and can be extremely harmful when inhaled.”  Data shared with Rest of World by the community health center of Bahodopi shows that, since 2018, upper respiratory infections have been at the top of the list of diseases in the district — nearly 7,000 cases in total — with health workers claiming that the dust from the industrial complex is the main culprit. There were 928 upper respiratory infection cases in 2021, higher than the 855 cases reported the year before. Health workers told Rest of World that in 2018 and 2019, as IMIP expanded to add more steel factories and coal-fired plants, the construction had led to even more dust. In those two years combined, they counted a total of 5,153 respiratory infections.’

A Building Material That Consumes CO2 Has Finally Come to the US

Reasons To Be Cheerful 10.11.22

Hemp cultivation was outlawed in the twentieth century so that petrol companies could thrive:

'It requires three times less heat to create than concrete, weighs about one-eighth as much as concrete (leading to fewer transport-related emissions), and actively sequesters CO2 — according to one Cambridge University researcher, hemp absorbs between eight to 15 metric tons of carbon per hectare, significantly more than the two to six metric tons typically captured by forests.  Research by IsoHemp found that a single cubic meter of its hempcrete removes 75 kilograms of CO2 from the atmosphere over its lifetime — worth a few years of car use, depending on home size. It also has approximately as much thermal resistance as a double-glazed window (1-5 W/m²•K), and its honeycombed structure offers about enough soundproofing to block out the noise of a washing machine (44 decibels). “Zero carbon buildings are a possibility,” says De Bellefroid. “But we have to act really quick.”’

Germany calls for ‘precautionary pause’ before deep-sea mining industry starts

The Guardian 02.11.22

Thank you Germany, but a total ban on ocean mining would be better:

'Germany’s call for a “precautionary pause” in the emerging industry, which has not yet begun mining for commercial purposes, follows demands by Spain and New Zealand to halt any exploitation of seabed metals until further research on the environmental impact has been carried out, and until regulations with strict environmental standards are in place…  The country’s environment minister, Steffi Lemke, said: “Deep-sea mining would put even more pressure on the oceans and irreparably destroy ecosystems. That is why, as a first step, we are calling for a pause to prevent any rash decisions at the expense of the marine environment.  “Together with our international partners, we now have the opportunity to avert another looming environmental crisis and prioritise nature conservation and its exploration. Only a healthy ocean will help us fight the biodiversity and climate crisis.”'

I sold the rights to my Groove Armada songs to buy a farm – now I hope to revolutionise food production

The Guardian 05.08.22

Pesticide-driven monoculture has to be terminated.  With new challenges on the horizon, only regenerative agriculture can feed us:

‘Postwar farming practices have played a significant role in getting us here. Soil is by far the Earth’s biggest carbon store outside the oceans – it holds more than all the world’s plants and forests combined. Since the beginning of agriculture, soil has lost about 8% of its carbon, creating up to 20% of human-made CO2 emissions. Soil carbon is crucial for the retention of water. According to the US Department of Agriculture, this loss in carbon can translate to a loss of 800,000 litres per hectare of water storage. This makes crops prone to drought and increases devastation from flooding for communities downstream. Biodiversity loss, most visible on our bug-free windscreens and documented in endless falling graphs of insects, birds and life of all kinds, is a crisis as dramatic as the changing climate. It is inevitably linked to agriculture because farming covers 71% of UK land.  Done differently, farming has the potential to store carbon, house diverse wildlife and provide ample, nutritious food. Yet since the mid-20th century, western policy has pushed farmers in the opposite direction. Government-funded research, education and subsidies have been used to drive chemically intensive production over ever-larger acreages. Short-term yields had their most famous spokesperson in Nixon’s secretary of state for agriculture, Earl Butz, who ordered farmers to “get big or get out”.’

The US government is developing a solar geoengineering research plan

Technology Review 01.07.22

Not content with having caused massive wildfires, geoengineering pundit scientists want to further their manipulation of planetary weather by using the most powerful star there is:

‘The basic idea is that we might be able to deliberately tweak the climate system in ways that release more heat into space, cooling an otherwise warming planet.  The move, which has not been previously reported on, marks the first federally coordinated US effort of this kind. It could set the stage for more funding and research into the feasibility, benefits, and risks of such interventions. The effort may also contribute to the perception that geoengineering is an appropriate and important area of research as global temperatures rise.  Solar geoengineering encompasses a range of different approaches. The one that’s gained the most attention is using planes or balloons to disperse tiny particles in the stratosphere. These would then—in theory—reflect back enough sunlight to ease warming, mimicking the effect of massive volcanic eruptions in the past. Some research groups have also explored whether releasing certain particles could break up cirrus clouds, which trap heat against the Earth, or make low-lying marine clouds more reflective.’

Unilever’s Plastic Playbook

Reuters 22.06.22

So many empty words when facing the reality of profit:

‘Two years ago, Unilever plc Chief Executive Alan Jope said his company would get rid of the tiny plastic packets it uses to sell single servings of shampoo, toothpaste and other basics because of the widespread pollution this packaging creates…  Yet even as Unilever executives have publicly decried the environmental harm done by this packaging, the multinational has worked to undercut laws aimed at eliminating sachets in at least three Asian countries, Reuters has learned…  Reuters revealed last year that dozens of chemical recycling projects worldwide promoted by the plastics industry and consumer goods firms have either closed down or stalled at the pilot stage over the last decade because they were not commercially viable, including a Unilever project in Indonesia.  At Unilever’s annual general meeting this May, CEO Jope said the company still believed in chemical recycling.  “We just haven’t cracked that particular solution yet,” he said.’

NEW Controlled Food System Is Now In Place And They Will Stop At Nothing To Accelerate Their Control

Corey’s Digs 27.04.22

The state of farming worldwide seems to be changing into a vertical, controlled, robotic landscape.  Interesting investigation by Corey Lynn with plentiful references:

‘The National Young Farmers Coalition estimates that two-thirds of farmland will change hands over the next decade due to farmers retiring. With all of the regulations, inflation, and supply issues, all of which has been manufactured, there is a heavy burden on U.S. farmers, and the globalists have carefully calculated their moves to bring in the vertical indoor farms and lab grown meat in typical savior style.  Forbes estimates over $20 trillion in investments are following ESG and socially responsible investment style factors, while BlackRock CEO Larry Fink insists that “it’s time to force people’s behavior to change,” to expand ESG investments even further. Despite the LED lighting, robotics, computer data analysis, and ventilation systems required to power vertical growing facilities of this magnitude, since water is being saved and less of Bill Gates’ land mass is being used, investments are flowing into these alleged sustainable and environmentally friendly facilities, as well as massive greenhouses…  National Geographic believes that gene editing is the next food revolution, explaining that hundreds of research and development labs are testing CRISPR’s potential to produce faster growing food with all sorts of benefits. According to their 2018 article, they state that U.S. federal regulators are not requiring strict regulations and years of testing like they did with GMOs because the plants won’t contain foreign DNA. However, the European Union’s high court ruled to regulate gene-edited plants the same as GMOs.  Genetics, synthetics, and digital citizenry is marching its way forward and people are going to need to take a stand where they can, be aware of what they are buying, ingesting, and signing up for. Support and help farmers and ranchers as much as possible during these times. Building ones own small scale vertical indoor farm or greenhouse might be a wise idea. Families and communities growing food, building a homestead, and collaborating is a great step in the right direction. FarmMatch connects people with local farmers, and Seeds for Generations offers great heirloom seeds as well as free webinars and resources for building and growing your own food. The Solari Food Series and Food Risk Tracker also provide a wealth of helpful information.  There is no way to sugarcoat this system they are implementing. Whereas vertical farming is brilliant in many ways, and could be beneficial on a smaller scale in communities, the fact that this is the global agenda to remove farms and control all produce by the globalists themselves, makes is incredibly concerning. Imagine, in the not too distant future, going for a drive in the countryside (in your mandated electric vehicle) and observing dried up farmland replaced by giant turbines. It’s a very dystopian image that no one wants to experience.’

National responsibility for ecological breakdown: a fair-shares assessment of resource use, 1970–2017

The Lancet Planetary Health 01.04.22

Planetary resources parasites are the rich countries of today:

‘High-income nations are responsible for 74% of global excess material use, driven primarily by the USA (27%) and the EU-28 high-income countries (25%)…  In conclusion, a fair-shares assessment of resource use shows that high-income nations bear the overwhelming responsibility for global ecological breakdown, and therefore owe an ecological debt to the rest of the world. These nations need to take the lead in making radical reductions in their resource use to avoid further degradation, which will likely require transformative post-growth and degrowth approaches.’

The World’s First Deep Geological Nuclear Vault Will Store Radioactive Waste in Finland for 100,000 Years

Singularity Hub 25.03.22

My soul is screaming at this project:

‘Here’s the basic premise: spent fuel rods from nuclear reactors will be encased in layers of various materials before being lowered into tunnels 430 meters (1,411 feet, right around the height of the Empire State Building counting its spire) underground, where they’ll safely decompose over the course of 100,000 years—the amount of time for which nuclear waste remains toxic.  It’s all admittedly pretty difficult to wrap your head around.  The project has been in the works for over 25 years, ever since Posiva, the company spearheading it, started searching for an adequate site in Finland in the mid-1990s. Olkiluoto was chosen because of its position halfway between two geological fault lines (not that there’s much probability of an earthquake occurring; geologists assert that the bedrock on which the region lies “has been mostly stable for the past billion years”), and because that bedrock is composed of a type of rock called gneiss that’s nearly impossible for water to permeate.'

Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest hits record January high

Reuters 11.02.22

By 2030, the Amazon rainforest will be nothing but a soya-growing landscape.  If it really is the world’s lungs, why don’t all governments chip in to buy it off then declare it a Unesco Heritage Site?:

‘Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon totalled 430 square kilometers (166 square miles) last month, five times higher than January 2021, according to preliminary satellite data from government space research agency Inpe.  That's the highest for January since the current data series began in 2015/2016, equal to an area more than seven times the size of Manhattan.  Environmental researchers said they were not surprised to see destruction still rising and pointed to right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro's weakening of environmental protections since he took office in 2019.’

What if, instead of a movie, I got flung in jail? This lawyer who fought Chevron was

The Guardian 08.02.22

Underhanded practices from powerful litigation firms undermine justice:

‘What if I told you that a multinational oil company allegedly polluted the Amazon for almost three decades? And that the oil company has spent even more years refusing to accept liability? Or that a US attorney who agreed to represent thousands of Ecuadorian villagers in a lawsuit against that oil company has lost his law license, income, spent hundreds of days under house arrest in New York, and in 2021 was sentenced to six months in prison?  From 1964 to 1990, Texaco, which merged with Chevron in 2001, allegedly spilled more than 16m gallons of crude oil – “80 times more oil than was spilled in BP’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster”, according to Gizmodo – and 18bn gallons of polluted wastewater in the Amazon rainforest. The pollution allegedly contaminated the ground and waterways with toxic chemicals that the plaintiffs – mostly Indigenous people and poor farmers – say has caused cancer, miscarriages, skin conditions and birth defects. (Chevron has said that Texaco’s operations were “completely in line with the standards of the day” and told the New Yorker, in 2012, that “there is no corroborating evidence” for the health allegations.)…  Instead of accepting the legal outcome and the responsibilities that come when you acquire a company (see Dupont-now-Chemours or Monsanto-now-Bayer), Chevron “made clear that it would not be paying the judgment”, according to the Intercept, and “moved its assets out of the country”.’

Nuclear energy not feasible way to tackle climate crisis, former regulators say

The Independent 26.01.22

Couldn’t agree more, but UK ministers are all for it:

'In their statement this month, the former regulators said nuclear energy was “neither clean, safe or smart” and was “extremely costly”.  The group - which includes the former chair of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the ex-chief of the French Agency for Energy Management - added: “Perhaps most importantly nuclear is just not part of any feasible strategy that could counter climate change.”  This was because this form of energy was “too costly” to make a relevant contribution to global energy supplies, “inherently risky” due to the potential for accidents and “unsustainable due to the unresolved problem of very long-lived radioactive waste”, they said.’

This Recyclable Boat Is Made From Wool

Wired 19.01.22

Anything to slow down and hopefully one day, eradicate the use of polymers, is great news:

‘Williams has pioneered a method of adding processed strong wool to polymers, including bio-based PLA (polylactic acid), typically made from corn starch. The result is a material that not only uses less plastic but is lighter and stronger—and, crucially, this wooly plastic can be processed by existing plastic-forming machinery…  But no matter what base material is used, the pellets will reduce the amount of plastic in circulation. A standard kayak usually weighs 20 kilgrams, but by adding wool it drops to 18 kg, which equates to a saving in the region of around 2,000 plastic bags. Yes, it’s a drop in the proverbial ocean compared to the 9 million tons dumped in the oceans each year, but Williams is hoping that an innovation that benefits supplier, manufacturer, and planet will catch on to the extent that the numbers really do start to make a difference.’

Scientists Say It Should Be Illegal to Fight Climate Change by Blocking Out the Sun

Futurism 18.01.22

Yes, geo-engineering should be banned outright:

‘As climate change continues to wreak untold havoc across the world, many are starting to take the idea of geoengineering — the process of artificially changing the Earth’s climate — more seriously than ever…  That’s why a group of more than 60 scientists and policy experts have signed an open letter calling on governments to ban solar geoengineering. They argue that the practice could have massive unintended consequences for much of the world.   “We contend, in particular, that solar geoengineering at planetary scale is not governable in a globally inclusive and just manner within the current international political system,” reads the letter, which was published in the journal WIREs Climate Change…    The letter lays out a variety of unintended consequences that could occur if solar blocking techniques were employed. Its authors believe that solar geoengineering is still an underresearched topic — and could pose a grave threat if implemented.  “Impacts are likely to vary across regions, as artificial cooling will affect some regions more than others,” the letter said. “There are also uncertainties about the effects on regional weather patterns, agriculture, and the provision of basic needs of food and water.”’

Bees will die as ministers approve toxic banned pesticide for second time, warn experts

The Independent 15.01.22

What an idiotic move from the UK government:

‘Ministers have given the go-ahead for farmers to use a banned bee-harming pesticide in England for the second year running.  The government went against the advice of its own scientific advisers, who said they did not see the justification for applying the neonicotinoid to sugar beet this year.  A single teaspoon of thiamethoxam is toxic enough to kill 1.25 billion bees, according to biology professor and insect expert Dave Goulson, and wildlife chiefs warned the decision could devastate already-struggling bee populations…  Neonicotinoids are considered so harmful that they were banned by the UK and the EU in 2018, but since then 12 countries, including France, Denmark and Spain, have also granted emergency permits for neonicotinoid treatments to go ahead…  The government also says work on gene editing will help develop crops that are more resistant to aphids.’

‘Everything Living Is Dying’: Environmental Ruin in Modern Iraq

Undark 12.12.21

War is dirty business all round:

‘As far back as 2005, the United Nations had estimated that Iraq was already littered with several thousand contaminated sites. Five years later, an investigation by The Times, a London-based newspaper, suggested that the U.S. military had generated some 11 million pounds of toxic waste and abandoned it in Iraq. Today, it is easy to find soil and water polluted by depleted uranium, dioxin and other hazardous materials, and extractive industries like the KAR oil refinery often operate with minimal transparency… “Little priority has historically been given to the environmental dimensions of armed conflict, yet damage to the environment often echoes long into the future,” says Wim Zwijnenburg, who works for the Dutch peace organization PAX and has studied and written about the impact of war on the environment. He has investigated contamination in Iraq and says additional research is needed to clean up harmful toxins and mitigate health risks to people living in post-conflict regions.’

Researchers Find Evidence That Fracking Can Trigger an All-New Type of Earthquake

Science Alert 11.12.21

Something to bear in mind when the much-touted carbon capture into the soil is discussed:

‘The study follows mounting concerns that fracking is "generating larger and larger maximum magnitude earthquakes," Harrington and colleagues write in their paper, which was published with funding from an open science initiative… Much of this research has been spurred on by a dramatic increase in seismic activity in the midwestern United States in the past few decades, along with observations of tremors that linger months or even years after extraction. What's more, a 2013 study showed that oil and gas fields stressed by wastewater disposal are prone to mid-sized earthquakes triggered by other large earthquakes thousands of kilometers away, with epicenters under other continents. While some seismologists argue that a better understanding of earthquakes caused by fracking helps to manage and mitigate associated risks, and that induced earthquakes are rare, the question on many people's minds is whether fracking should be happening at all, given the trajectory our planet is on – a path to catastrophic global heating which can only be averted if we phase out fossil fuels… On that point, this body of research investigating earthquakes triggered by fracking also has some serious ramifications for already-contentious carbon capture and storage technologies, which are not yet proven at scale and similarly involve injecting captured carbon deep below ground. "An earthquake-induced rupture of an artificial carbon dioxide reservoir would nullify costly efforts to keep the gas out of the atmosphere, as well as posing health risks to local residents – so understanding how to manage such risks is imperative in the development of such technology," Foulger wrote. The study was published in Nature Communications.'

China ‘modified’ the weather to create clear skies for political celebration

The Guardian 06.12.21

Chemtrails and geo-engineering are set to flourish in China. From weddings to political rallies, their use seems to be growing:

‘On 1 July the Chinese Communist party marked its centenary with major celebrations including tens of thousands of people at a ceremony in Tiananmen Square, and a research paper from Tsinghua University has said an extensive cloud-seeding operation in the hours prior ensured clear skies and low air pollution. The Chinese government has been an enthusiastic proponent of cloud-seeding technology, spending billions of dollars on efforts to manipulate the weather to protect agricultural regions or improve significant events since at least the 2008 Olympics.’

‘Deluge of plastic waste’: US is world’s biggest plastic polluter

The Guardian 01.12.21

Deaf to rising concerns, the US leads the way from the fossil fuel industry angle:

‘Plastic waste has increased sharply in the US since 1960, with the country now generating about 42m metric tons of plastic waste a year, amounting to about 130kg of waste for every person in America. This total is more than all European Union member countries combined. The overall amount of municipal waste created in the US is also two to eight times greater than comparable countries around the world, the report found…  Worldwide, at least 8.8m tons of plastic waste enters the marine environment each year, the equivalent of dumping a garbage truck filled with plastic into the ocean every single minute. If current trends continue, scientists have estimated this total could leap to 53m tons annually by 2030, which is roughly half of the weight of all fish caught from the oceans globally each year.  “Plastic waste is an environmental and social crisis that the US needs to affirmatively address from source to sea,” said Margaret Spring, chief conservation and science officer at Monterey Bay Aquarium. Spring chaired a committee of experts who compiled the congressionally mandated report for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine…  The fossil fuel industry, meanwhile, is considering a huge expansion in plastic production as it sees its primary business squeezed due to concerns over the climate crisis.’

A French company is using enzymes to recycle one of the most common single-use plastics

Technology Review 06.10.21

It’s a question of actually recycling plastic rather than breaking it down. Good news though:

‘Right now, only about 15% of all plastics worldwide are collected for recycling each year. Researchers have been trying since the 1990s to find new ways to break down plastics in the hopes of recycling more of them. Companies and researchers have worked to develop enzymatic processes, like the one used at Carbios, as well as chemical processes, like the method used by Loop Industries. But only recently have enzymatic and chemical processes started to go commercial.   Carbios’s new reactor measures 20 cubic meters—around the size of a cargo van. It can hold two metric tons of plastic, or the equivalent of about 100,000 ground-up bottles at a time, and break it down into the building blocks of PET—ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid—in 10 to 16 hours… Its process relies on enzymes to chop up the long chains of polymers that make up plastic. The resulting monomers can then be purified and strung together to make new plastics. Researchers at Carbios started with a natural enzyme used by bacteria to break down leaves, then tweaked it to make it more efficient at breaking down PET… Eventually, enzymatic recycling may be able do things that mechanical recycling can’t, like recycle clothes or mixed streams of plastics. But for now, both methods face many of the same problems, like the fact that so few single-use plastics are collected for recycling in much of the world. And enzymatic recycling would be only one in a range of solutions necessary to meaningfully reduce the emissions and environmental impacts of plastics.’

Bee-harming pesticides exported from EU after ban on outdoor use

The Guardian 18.11.21

If you can’t profit from pesticides at home, you get to sell them to outsiders:

‘Data obtained by Unearthed, the investigative arm of Greenpeace, shows that 3,900 tonnes of banned neonicotinoid pesticides were destined to leave the EU and UK for low- and middle-income nations with weaker environmental regulations in the three months after the ban came into force. The insecticides, which contain the active ingredients thiamethoxam, imidacloprid or clothianidin, were mostly destined for Brazil (which was due to receive almost half of the exports), Russia, Ukraine, Argentina, Iran, South Africa, Indonesia, Ghana, Mali and Singapore… A European Commission health and food safety official said: “Neonicotinoids are particularly toxic for bees and contribute significantly to the decline in pollinator populations. We would not find it acceptable that the production of food for import into the EU leads to or poses a threat of serious adverse effects on pollinator populations.” Most of the exports were notified by subsidiaries of Syngenta, the Swiss-headquartered, Chinese-owned pesticide multinational, and its German counterpart Bayer.’

Bill Gates' $4 bln high-tech nuclear reactor set for Wyoming coal site

Reuters 17.11.21

How anyone could get to define nuclear as clean energy is a bit beyond me:

‘TerraPower's Natrium plant will be built in Kemmerer, a remote western Wyoming town where the Naughton coal plant is due to shut in 2025. Pending permits, the 345 megawatt plant will open in 2028, which is the timeline mandated by Congress. The project will get about $1.9 billion from the federal government including $1.5 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure bill that President Joe Biden signed this week. The bill included about $2.5 billion for advanced nuclear reactors… Advanced reactor proponents say the plants are safer and create less waste. Gates had initially hoped to build an experimental nuclear plant near Beijing with state-owned China National Nuclear Corp. But TerraPower was forced to seek new partners after the administration of Donald Trump restricted nuclear deals with China. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the plant would give hope to a town where a coal plant will shut. "The energy communities that have powered us for generations have real opportunities to power our clean energy future through projects just like this one.”'

COP26: how the world’s militaries hide their huge carbon emissions

The Conversation 09.11.21

Yes, war is a seriously dirty business:

‘In other words, the US military is a more consequential climate actor than many of the industrialised countries gathered at the COP26 summit in Glasgow… One reason we know so little is due to militaries being one of the last highly polluting industries whose emissions do not need to be reported to the United Nations. The US can take the credit for that. In 1997, its negotiating team won a blanket military exemption under the Kyoto climate accord. Speaking in the Senate the following year, the now special presidential envoy for climate, John Kerry, hailed it as “a terrific job”... Military emissions reporting by the many countries that do not have to report annually to the UNFCCC is even worse. This includes countries with massive military budgets, such as China, India, Saudi Arabia and Israel.’

How the humble battery can help save the world (VIDEO)

BBC 04.11.21

The video does mention that extracting cobalt is not environmentally-friendly but in reality, the way our world is structured it would take a very long time for them to be entirely green. An electric car for example would have to have travelled 125,000km before it achieves that next to one powered by a diesel engine. Are we really stuck with rare earth minerals’ plunder with a terrible recycling reputation?

As for the COP26 list of attendees, is it any surprise that the ‘fossil fuel industry has the largest delegation at the climate summit’? If we’re to move forward and present alternative energy solutions, surely the lobbyists of the most powerful energy sector should be banned and those of the most affected should be encouraged?

Nations make new pledges to cut methane, save forests at climate summit

Reuters 02.11.21

The (Circus of Politics) COP26 is in town with more-of-the-same political promises as showcased at the last Paris Agreement. Russia and China leaders were not in attendance, the US one was filmed sleeping and that of the UK as well… India declared that the country be net zero by 2070, China, by 2060, the US, we’ll just have to see, and Australia is not interested. In the meantime, every two minutes in the world, a staggering 135,042 square metres of rainforests disappear (as modelled on the rate of the 2019 destruction and applied to a stretch of forested land). Circus indeed:

‘The Global Methane Pledge, launched on Tuesday after being announced in September with just a few signatories, now covers countries representing nearly half of global methane emissions and 70% of global GDP, Biden said. Methane is more short-lived in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide but 80 times more potent in warming the planet. Cutting emissions of the gas, estimated to have accounted for 30% of global warming since pre-industrial times, is one of the most effective ways of slowing climate change. Among the signatories is Brazil - one of the five biggest emitters of methane, generated in cows' digestive systems, in landfill waste and in oil and gas production. Three others - China, Russia and India - have not signed up, while Australia has said it will not back the pledge… In another deal signed on Tuesday, Britain and India launched a plan to improve connections between the world's electricity power grids to help accelerate the transition to greener energy. read more But there was scant sign of shared resolve by the world's two biggest carbon polluters, China and the United States, which together account for more than 40% of global emissions but are at odds on numerous issues. Biden has singled out China and leading oil producer Russia for failing to step up their climate goals in Glasgow, while Beijing has rejected Washington's efforts to separate climate issues from their wider disagreements.’

Carbon-neutral fuel made from sunlight and air

ETHZurich 13.06.19

Why wasn’t this much more talked about two years ago? Absolutely brilliant new tech:

'Researchers from ETH Zurich have developed a novel technology that produces liquid hydrocarbon fuels exclusively from sunlight and air… The next project goal is to scale the technology for industrial implementation and make it economically competitive. “A solar plant spanning an area of one square kilometre could produce 20,000 litres of kerosene a day,” said Philipp Furler, Director (CTO) of Synhelion and a former doctoral student in Steinfeld’s group. “Theoretically, a plant the size of Switzerland – or a third of the Californian Mojave Desert – could cover the kerosene needs of the entire aviation industry. Our goal for the future is to efficiently produce sustainable fuels with our technology and thereby mitigate global CO2 emissions.”’

Concrete is a climate disaster. It’s time to clean it up

Wired 01.10.21

Hemp, which was ‘outlawed’ to favour the petroleum industry, is not being mentioned these days, yet not only would it produce effective biofuel, but could create manifold utilities favourable to the environment, ie., hempcrete:

‘Concrete is made from materials such as sand, rocks and aggregate glued together by cement, and for the last 200 hundred years that's largely meant Portland cement, an English invention that changed how we build. But there's a problem: to produce Portland cement, limestone is heated to 1,450 degrees Celsius, sparking a chemical reaction that drops a carbon dioxide molecule from the limestone, also called calcium carbonate.  "The inherent chemical reactions in this process release huge amounts of carbon dioxide – there's no way to get away from that," says Brant Walkley, lecturer in chemical engineering at University of Sheffield. He adds that half of the emissions from producing cement come from this process. "For every molecule of limestone that is used to make Portland cement, a molecule of carbon dioxide is released.”'

Apple and Disney among companies backing groups against US climate bill

The Guardian 01.10.21

The hypocrisy from global groups is staggering:

‘“Major corporations love to tell us how committed they are to addressing the climate crisis and building a sustainable future, but behind closed doors, they are funding the very industry trade groups that are fighting tooth and nail to stop the biggest climate change bill ever,” said Kyle Herrig, president of watchdog group Accountable.US, which compiled the analysis.’

Brexit paves the way for gene-edited crops

BBC 29.09.21

Agritech businesses to flourish in the UK:

‘But Dr Helen Wallace, of the campaign Group Genewatch, described the changes as a "weakening of standards meant to protect human health and the environment”.  "People won't be fooled. GM crops are GM crops. Whether they are made with new or old techniques, they can lead to unintended consequences.  "GM crops that withstand climate change have been promised for more than 40 years, but have never been delivered. 90% of GM crops that are grown today are engineered to withstand blanket spraying with weedkillers that are harmful to butterflies and frogs. New gene-edited crops won't be any different and will cause the same environmental problems."  Liz O'Neill, director of GM Freeze, said the government "wants to swap the safety net of proper public protections for a high-tech free-for-all”.'

Small farmers have the answer to feeding the world. Why isn’t the UN listening?

The Guardian 23.09.21

It’s beyond ridiculous that present solutions are being swept aside for ‘amazing tech’ by the likes of Bill Gates:

‘Hundreds of social movements and civil society groups across the world representing small-scale and subsistence food producers, consumers and environmentalists are protesting about the summit for being undemocratic, non-transparent and focused only on strengthening only one food system: that backed by the big corporations…  Even the scientific community is walking out on this farcical effort to address the urgent challenges facing our food systems. It is especially concerned about the summit creating a new scientific agency to justify its agenda, undermining existing UN bodies already responsible for this work…  So why is the summit facing such widespread opposition? The main reason is that organisers have given agribusiness a lead role in the process and largely ignored the social movements and small farmers’ organisations around the world that produce a third of all food. As a result, the summit will unavoidably push for an industrialised and corporate-driven food system, undermining the future of the millions of small-scale farmers, fishers, herders, food vendors and processors across the world.’

I highly recommend everyone to read ‘The Deep, The Hidden Wonders Of Our Oceans And How We Can Protect Them’, a book by Alex Rogers’

‘Larger than usual’: this year’s ozone layer hole bigger than Antarctica

The Guardian 16.09.21

Lazy journalism at its best.  The satellites and rocket launches that have exponentially increased in just the last five years are the main culprits for ozone depletion:

‘Scientists accept that the depletion in the ozone layer is caused by human-made gases called CFCs, which were first developed in the 1930s for use in refrigeration systems and were then deployed as propellants in aerosol spray cans. The chemicals are stable so can travel from the Earth’s surface to the stratosphere. But then, at the altitude where stratospheric ozone is found, they are broken down by high-energy UV radiation. The ensuing chemical reactions destroy ozone. CFCs have been banned in 197 countries around the world.’

Exxon and BP called to testify on climate after ‘troubling’ new documents

The Guardian 16.09.21

The lobbying industry allowed in certain governments should be completely dismantled:

‘US congressional investigators say they have uncovered “very concerning” new documents about ExxonMobil’s disinformation campaign to discredit climate science.  ‘Representative Ro Khanna, a leading critic of the petroleum industry on the House oversight committee, said the documents came to light ahead of a hearing next month to question the heads of large oil companies about their industry’s long history of undermining the evidence that burning fossil fuels drove global heating.’

Firm raises $15m to bring back woolly mammoth from extinction

The Guardian 13.09.21

This wins the most idiotic climate change idea for this week (or month!) alone.  Killing trees and resurrecting mammoths to help the permafrost in the arctic region…  Even a single £ towards this endeavour is a total waste:

‘Ten thousand years after woolly mammoths vanished from the face of the Earth, scientists are embarking on an ambitious project to bring the beasts back to the Arctic tundra…  The scientists have set their initial sights on creating an elephant-mammoth hybrid by making embryos in the laboratory that carry mammoth DNA. The starting point for the project involves taking skin cells from Asian elephants, which are threatened with extinction, and reprogramming them into more versatile stem cells that carry mammoth DNA. The particular genes that are responsible for mammoth hair, insulating fat layers and other cold climate adaptions are identified by comparing mammoth genomes extracted from animals recovered from the permafrost with those from the related Asian elephants…  Gareth Phoenix, a professor of plant and global change ecology at the University of Sheffield, said: “While we do need a multitude of different approaches to stop climate change, we also need to initiate solutions responsibly to avoid unintended damaging consequences. That’s a huge challenge in the vast Arctic where you have different ecosystems existing under different environmental conditions.  “For instance, mammoths are proposed as a solution to help stop permafrost thaw because they will remove trees, trample and compact the ground and convert landscapes to grassland, which can help keep the ground cool. However, we know in the forested Arctic regions that trees and moss cover can be critical in protecting permafrost, so removing the trees and trampling the moss would be the last thing you’d want to do.”’

Meat accounts for nearly 60% of all greenhouse gases from food production, study finds

The Guardian 13.09.21

Just stop that damn eating habit!:

‘The entire system of food production, such as the use of farming machinery, spraying of fertilizer and transportation of products, causes 17.3bn metric tonnes of greenhouse gases a year, according to the research. This enormous release of gases that fuel the climate crisis is more than double the entire emissions of the US and represents 35% of all global emissions, researchers said.  “The emissions are at the higher end of what we expected, it was a little bit of a surprise,” said Atul Jain, a climate scientist at the University of Illinois and co-author of the paper, published in Nature Food. “This study shows the entire cycle of the food production system, and policymakers may want to use the results to think about how to control greenhouse gas emissions.”’

Record number of environmental activists murdered

BBC 13.09.21

It used to be the naturopaths who defied big pharma who were killed wholesale in the last decade:

'227 people were killed around the world in 2020, the highest number recorded for a second consecutive year, the report from Global Witness said.  Almost a third of the murders were reportedly linked to resource exploitation - logging, mining, large-scale agribusiness, hydroelectric dams and other infrastructure.’ 

Google promises better ‘water stewardship’ as its data centers’ guzzle crucial supplies amid historic droughts

RT 10.09.21

Helen Buyniski goes into the sucking-dry systems from the tech giant:

‘The giant company has clashed with farms, conservation groups, and even some local politicians as mammoth droughts leave no water to spare and mandatory cuts loom in 2022.   Google’s solution, as laid out in a Thursday blog post by chief sustainability officer Kate Brandt, is to become ultra-sustainable, replenishing 120% of the water it consumes – by 2030. In the meantime, locals will just have to suck it up, assuming they can find anything to suck up, that is.  Google has explained that using water to cool its servers uses less electricity than attempting to air-condition them, but such calculations don’t take into account the ways in which communities might prefer to use their water. This is especially true in 2021, a year of unusually prolific natural disasters in which droughts, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes have all menaced the nation’s food supply – which is itself already imperiled by the economic disruption wrought by ill-thought-out Covid-19 shutdowns…  Yet even while farmers in Arizona could see their water supply reduced by as much as 65%, local governments have been rolling out the red carpet for companies like Google to build their sprawling data centers on cheap desert land.  Worth over a trillion dollars, Google is much more powerful than any local government and, while it tries to avoid excessive muscle-flexing in public – that way lies antitrust lawsuits – local farmers don’t stand a chance in battle against Google’s Goliath.’

World’s biggest factory to suck carbon from the sky turns on in Iceland

The Independent 09.09.21

An interesting concept but one which doesn’t explore the ramifications for storing gas deep underground:

‘According to Climeworks, every year the factory has a capacity to capture 4,000 tons of CO2, which is safely and permanently stored via a chemical process developed by Carbfix, an academic-industrial partnership in Iceland.  In this process, CO2 captured from the atmosphere is mineralised underground and converted into stones.’

20 meat and dairy firms emit more greenhouse gas than Germany, Britain or France

The Guardian 07.09.21

Something is decidedly wrong here:

‘Between 2015 and 2020, global meat and dairy companies received more than US$478bn in backing from 2,500 investment firms, banks, and pension funds, most of them based in North America or Europe, according to the Meat Atlas, which was compiled by Friends of the Earth and the European political foundation, Heinrich Böll Stiftung.  With that level of financial support, the report estimates that meat production could increase by a further 40m tonnes by 2029, to hit 366m tonnes of meat a year.’

Fukushima operators to build undersea tunnel to dump contaminated water

The Guardian 26.08.21

And there goes the Pacific ocean…  At a time when we are full of talks of environmental protection due to climate (man-made) change, this decision reeks of absurdity:

‘Operators of Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear plant have unveiled plans to construct an undersea tunnel to release more than a million tonnes of treated water from the site into the ocean.’

LED streetlights decimating moth numbers in England

The Guardian 25.08.21

Just because it’s cost-effective, it doesn’t mean that it’s ‘eco-friendly’:

‘“Eco-friendly” LED streetlights produce even worse light pollution for insects than the traditional sodium bulbs they are replacing, a study has found.  The abundance of moth caterpillars in hedgerows by rural roads in England was 52% lower under LED lights and 41% lower under sodium lights when compared with nearby unlit areas…  Reports of plunging insect populations have alarmed scientists, with the destruction of wild places, pesticides and the climate crisis being major causes. Light pollution is increasing globally and was described by a recent review as an “important but often overlooked bringer of the insect apocalypse”, as it makes insects more visible to predators and disrupts feeding and reproduction.  The study is the first to examine the impact of LEDs in a real-world setting and the first to show the direct impact of light pollution on caterpillars. The caterpillars are less mobile than adult moths, and therefore show more precisely the local losses caused by light pollution.'

Oil firms made ‘false claims’ on blue hydrogen costs, says ex-lobby boss

The Guardian 20.08.21

Oil firms that are getting subsidies to produce a polluting fuel, blue hydrogen as opposed to green hydrogen, are being criticised:

‘Jackson resigned from the UK Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association on Monday, saying he could “no longer in good conscience” remain in a role in which he would be expected to hold a neutral stance.  “I believe passionately that I would be betraying future generations by remaining silent on that fact that blue hydrogen is at best an expensive distraction, and at worst a lock-in for continued fossil fuel use that guarantees we will fail to meet our decarbonisation goals,” he wrote in a post on LinkedIn.  He is the chief executive of Protium Green Solutions, which plans to develop green hydrogen projects. These will be “an essential part of the UK story towards net zero emissions”.  “The UK has all the ingredients to be a world leader in green hydrogen, which is an essential net zero technology – we just need the will and support from government to make that happen,” he said.’

Days of wine and olives: how the old farming ways are paying off in Spain

The Guardian 10.08.21

Soil erosion is incredibly bad for climate, health and biodiversity.  If we follow regenerative practices, that would go a long way towards restoring some balance:

‘In the world’s largest study on olive grove biodiversity, researchers from the University of Jaén and the higher council for scientific research (CSIC), partners in the Olivares Vivos project, found that in three years, the bee population in the regenerative olive groves increased by 47%, birdlife by 10% and woody shrubs by 172%, compared with 20 control groves. As rabbits thrived on the grass, birds of prey have reappeared.  It was also discovered that herbicides were killing those insects that eat the larvae of the olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae), one of the crop’s principal pests…  While tree planting is at the forefront of the fight against the climate crisis, if the world’s 7.4m hectares of vineyards adopted the regenerative model the impact would be huge, Torres says.’

In-depth Q&A: The IPCC’s sixth assessment report on climate science

Carbon Brief 09.08.21

The sixth international climate report is not very positive:

‘The chapter’s executive summary leads with the conclusion that it is an “established fact” that human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases “have led to an increased frequency and/or intensity of some weather and climate extremes”.  The term “established fact” is not one of the “likelihood statements” in the IPCC’s calibrated language around uncertainty. As the IPCC explains in its guidance, “in some cases, it may be appropriate to describe findings for which evidence and understanding are overwhelming as statements of fact without using uncertainty qualifiers”… For context, AR5 concluded (pdf) that this was very likely.   Reflecting the findings of recent attribution studies, the report notes that “some recent hot extreme events would have been extremely unlikely to occur without human influence on the climate system”.  On heavy rainfall events, the report concludes that their frequency and intensity “have likely increased at the global scale over a majority of land regions with good observational coverage”. Human influence is likely the main driver, it says.  The report suggests that observed changes in flooding and drought are less clear-cut, not least because there is more than one way to define these events and they both involve “a complex interplay of hydrology, climate and human management”.  Nonetheless, the authors conclude with medium confidence that climate change has “contributed to decreases in water availability during the dry season over a predominant fraction of the land area due to evapotranspiration increases”.   

For flooding, the report says “confidence about peak flow trends over past decades on the global scale is low”, but it notes that “there are regions experiencing increases, including parts of Asia, southern South America, the north-east US, north-western Europe and the Amazon, and regions experiencing decreases, including parts of the Mediterranean, Australia, Africa and the south-western US”.  On tropical cyclones (TC) – powerful storms that develop in the warm ocean waters of the tropics – the report says “it is likely that the proportion of major TC intensities and the frequency of rapid intensification events have both increased globally over the past 40 years”.   This compares to AR5, which concluded (pdf) that “confidence remains low for long-term (centennial) changes in tropical cyclone activity, after accounting for past changes in observing capabilities”.’

From Pollution to Performance Wear: Fair-Trade Clothes Made From 100% Ocean Plastic

Ecowatch 06.08.21

This is such a cool idea but it would be way better if somehow the final product, the garment, would not need polyester to make it work:

'Pound-for-pound, Sea Threads is making a difference for our ocean ー literally. The new clothing venture is the first to make clothing from 100% Certified Ocean Plastic, with each performance shirt made from one pound of plastics pulled out of our ocean.   Globally, we produce around 335 million metric tons of plastic each year, the Smithsonian Ocean reported. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, plastic waste pollution is a "major environmental problem of global concern" that has reached "epidemic proportions." The global body estimated that 100 million tons of plastic are now in the oceans, 80-90 percent of which comes from land-based sources…  Performance wear clothing has traditionally been made using virgin plastic materials. This material is often moisture wicking, UV protective and breathable, making it ideal for use during exercise. Unfortunately, it also requires the new production of 60 million tons of virgin polyester each year for the sake of textiles, Cross said.’

For a Clean Ocean, Just Add Oysters

Reasons To Be Cheerful 06.08.21

It’s a drop in the ocean, literally, but anything helps:

‘The project, which launched in the Corsican city Bastia last September and is now in the second of three phases, will see a total of around 150,000 juvenile Ostrea edulis, commonly known as the European flat oyster, deployed to help depollute the port.  “We wanted to see what would happen if we introduced oysters, what pollution would be cleaned from the water and what would remain in the oysters’ shells,” says Sylvia Agostini, lead of the project for Stella Mare. “Normally, you can’t treat PCBs [an industrial chemical known as polychlorinated biphenyls]. But it’s proven to be a revolutionary method.”'

Environmental impact of bottled water ‘up to 3,500 times greater than tap water’

The Guardian 05.08.21

I seem to have missed the point of this article.  If tap water is carcinogenic, how do you expect people to keep on drinking it?  Why not enact worldwide water legislations that would ensure it is harmless?:

‘Research led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) found that if the city’s population were all to drink bottled water, this would result in a 3,500 times higher cost of resource extraction than if they all drank tap water, at $83.9m (£60.3m)a year.  Researchers also found the impact of bottled water on ecosystems is 1,400 times higher than tap water.  The authors concluded that the reduction in environmental impacts more than offset the small risk of bladder cancer associated with drinking tap water. The process of treating drinking water generates low levels of trihalomethanes (THM), which have been associated with a higher risk of bladder cancer. THM levels in drinking water are regulated in the EU.  The lead author of the study, the ISGlobal researcher Cristina Villanueva, said: “Health reasons don’t justify the wide use of bottled water. Yes, strictly speaking, drinking tap water is worse for local health, but when you weigh both, what you gain from drinking bottled water is minimal. It’s quite obvious that the environmental impacts of bottled water are higher compared to tap water.”’

Spanish engineers extract drinking water from thin air

Reuters 04.08.21

That’s a technology worth supporting and if the electricity used is through sustainable methods, even better:

‘A Spanish company has devised a system to extract drinking water from thin air to supply arid regions where people are in desperate need…  The machines use electricity to cool air until it condenses into water, harnessing the same effect that causes condensation in air-conditioning units.  While other water generators based on similar technology require high ambient humidity and low temperatures to function effectively, Veiga’s machines work in temperatures of up to 40 Celsius (104F) and can handle humidity of between 10% and 15%.  A small machine can produce 50-75 litres a day, and be easily carried on a trolley, but bigger versions can produce up to 5,000 litres a day.’

Reforestation hopes threaten global food security, Oxfam warns

The Guardian 03.07.21

Offsetting carbon emissions by global companies must surely rank amongst the stupidest ideas:

‘For instance, four leading energy companies would require an area twice the size of the UK for their offsetting. Shell would need about 28.6m hectares by 2050, according to Oxfam’s estimates, while TotalEnergies plans to offset about 7% of its emissions, needing about 2.6m hectares by 2050. Eni, another energy company, has plans for 8m hectares of forestry, but Oxfam calculates that double this could be needed. BP has not set out its plans in detail, but is likely to require as much as 22.5m hectares for offsetting as much as 15% of its emissions, Oxfam estimated.  Danny Sriskandarajah, chief executive of Oxfam GB, called for companies and governments to cut their emissions drastically rather than relying on offsets. He said: “Too many companies and governments are hiding behind the smokescreen of ‘net zero’ to continue dirty business-as-usual activities. A prime example of the doublethink we are seeing is the oil and gas sector trying to justify its ongoing extraction of fossil fuels by promising unrealistic carbon removal schemes that require ludicrous amounts of land.”’

How the billionaire space race could be one giant leap for pollution

The Guardian 19.07.21

Time to put a lid on the space tourism trend:

‘Closer to the ground, all fuels emit huge amounts of heat, which can add ozone to the troposphere, where it acts like a greenhouse gas and retains heat. In addition to carbon dioxide, fuels like kerosene and methane also produce soot. And in the upper atmosphere, the ozone layer can be destroyed by the combination of elements from burning fuels.  “While there are a number of environmental impacts resulting from the launch of space vehicles, the depletion of stratospheric ozone is the most studied and most immediately concerning,” wrote Jessica Dallas, a senior policy adviser at the New Zealand Space Agency, in an analysis of research on space launch emissions published last year…  A new market report estimates that the global suborbital transportation and space tourism market is estimated to reach $2.58bn in 2031, growing 17.15% each year of the next decade.  “The major driving factor for the market’s robustness will be focused efforts to enable space transportation, emerging startups in suborbital transportation, and increasing developments in low-cost launching sites,” the report says.’

Impact of nuclear energy needs more study before getting green label, EU told

Reuters 02.07.21

This has become ridiculous.  Just because the industry does not emit much carbon in the atmosphere, this does not mean it could be labelled as ‘green’ and not ‘potentially catastrophic’ to the planet:

‘Brussels is mulling a decision on whether to include nuclear energy in its sustainable finance taxonomy, a list of economic activities that will from next year define which can be labelled as green investments. The EU's science arm said in March that nuclear power should get a green label.  However, given disagreement among other experts over whether its low CO2 emissions make up for a lack of analysis on the environmental impact of radioactive waste disposal, two expert committees were later tasked with scrutinising its findings.  On Friday, environment experts on the Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) said they backed many of the initial report's findings, but were concerned about others.  To be considered green, activities must "do no significant harm" to specific environmental aims, yet SCHEER said the original report had instead considered whether nuclear would "do less harm" than other energy technologies.  "It is the opinion of the SCHEER that the comparative approach is not sufficient to ensure 'no significant harm'," it said in its report, posted on the Commission's website.’

Analysis: When do electric vehicles become cleaner than gasoline cars? 

Reuters 29.06.21

Apart from the difficulties of recycling ‘green’ components, it looks like the electric dream is nowhere near its idealistic fulfilment:

‘Jarod Cory Kelly, principal energy systems analyst at Argonne, said making EVs generates more carbon than combustion engine cars, mainly due to the extraction and processing of minerals in EV batteries and production of the power cells.  But estimates as to how big that carbon gap is when a car is first sold and where the "break-even" point comes for EVs during their lifetime can vary widely, depending on the assumptions…  If the electricity to recharge the EV comes entirely from coal, which generates the majority of the power in countries such as China and Poland, you would have to drive 78,700 miles to reach carbon parity with the Corolla, according to the Reuters analysis of data generated by Argonne's model.  The Reuters analysis showed that the production of a mid-sized EV saloon generates 47 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) per mile during the extraction and production process, or more than 8.1 million grams before it reaches the first customer.  By comparison, a similar gasoline vehicle generates 32 grams per mile, or more than 5.5 million grams…  University of Liege researcher Damien Ernst said in 2019 that the typical EV would have to travel nearly 700,000 km before it emitted less CO2 than a comparable gasoline vehicle. He later revised his figures down.  Now, he estimates the break-even point could be between 67,000 km and 151,000 km. Ernst told Reuters he did not plan to change those findings, which were based on a different set of data and assumptions than in Argonne's model.  Some other groups also continue to argue that EVs are not necessarily cleaner or greener than fossil-fueled cars.’

Cloud spraying and hurricane slaying: how ocean geoengineering became the frontier of the climate crisis

The Guardian 23.06.21

Long ridiculed for being the preserve of ‘conspiracy theorists’ when discussing chemtrails, geo engineering is being hailed as a solution for modern times.  In a world governed by market forces, throwing new science out to combat climate disintegration may not be the best solution as cause and effect scenarios are simplistically modelled:

‘The idea of using the sea to absorb excess carbon is not far-fetched, says Green. Ocean water can hold 150 times more CO2 than air, per unit of volume. “The ocean has already taken up about 30% of the excess carbon dioxide that we’ve emitted as a society,” he says. He and his colleagues are gearing up to test their process in two similar Caribbean coves, one acting as an untouched “control” in the experiment.  There remain many unknowns. Would such an intervention work? Who gets to decide if it should go ahead? Could there be side-effects? It is complex chemistry, and the natural process of weathering would be accelerated to an unnatural pace. Our understanding of the workings of the ocean is a mere drop in the proverbial. But with our race to mend the planet having taken on Sisyphean overtones, there is still hope that the vast, churning seas can be our lifeline…

Nobody knows if these concepts will work, or what consequences there could be. They all qualify as geoengineering – a dirty word for some environmentalists. Human intervention in the natural world has often gone awry: cane toads unleashed in Australia in the 1930s to protect sugar crops continue to decimate native fauna. And there is always the prospect of high carbon-emitting industries viewing such solutions as an excuse to dodge their emission-cutting commitments and maintain business as usual…  Yet Gattuso believes that, while blue-carbon ecosystems need to be conserved and restored anyway, their potential effects on climate is limited. Meanwhile, the other ocean-based measures that do not involve rewilding “are either at concept stage or risky”, he says.  “I wish that countries would put less emphasis on these approaches and return to the well-known, safe and most effective approach, which is to decrease sources of greenhouse gases,” he adds. “This is where the urgency is.”’

Court orders Royal Dutch Shell to cut carbon emissions by 45% by 2030

The Guardian 26.05.21

No longer protected by governments, shareholders and capitalist aims, this court verdict paves the way for fossil fuel companies owning up to the destructions they wrought on the planet:

‘A court in the Hague has ordered Royal Dutch Shell to cut its global carbon emissions by 45% by the end of 2030 compared with 2019 levels, in a landmark case brought by Friends of the Earth and over 17,000 co-plaintiffs. The oil giant’s sustainability policy was found to be insufficiently “concrete” by the Dutch court in an unprecedented ruling that will have wide implications for the energy industry and other polluting multinationals.’

Fewer, bigger, more intensive: EU vows to stem drastic loss of small farms

The Guardian 24.05.21

The EU must work harder at resisting agritech practices:

‘Célia Nyssens, policy officer at the European Environmental Bureau NGO, said: “EU farm policy is a juggernaut of public spending that could be transforming agriculture towards a sustainable future and turning the tide on catastrophic nature loss. Sadly, it looks like the deal this week will continue driving the tractor in the wrong direction. A majority of funds will continue flowing to the biggest, most polluting farms, with barely any green strings attached. In this crucial decade for climate and biodiversity, the lack of ambition of the new farm policy is downright disastrous.”’

Twenty firms produce 55% of world’s plastic waste, report reveals

The Guardian 18.05.21

ExxonMobil is the king of plastic:

‘ExxonMobil is the greatest single-use plastic waste polluter in the world, contributing 5.9m tonnes to the global waste mountain, concludes the analysis by partners including Wood Mackenzie, the London School of Economics and Stockholm Environment Institute. The largest chemicals company in the world, Dow, which is based in the US, created 5.5m tonnes of plastic waste, while China’s oil and gas enterprise, Sinopec, created 5.3m tonnes. Eleven of the companies are based in Asia, four in Europe, three in North America, one in Latin America, and one in the Middle East. Their plastic production is funded by leading banks, chief among which are Barclays, HSBC, Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase.’

We can 3D-print wood now https://www.fastcompany.com/90632358/we-can-3d-print-wood-now

Fast Company 06.05.21

3D printing is super versatile:

'Two years ago, pioneers in the 3D printing industry started exploring new materials. “We realized really quickly that wood waste is a material that could be transformed for 3D printing,” says Virginia San Fratello, chair of the design department at San Jose State University and one of the founders of Forust, a startup that is now launching as part of Desktop Metal, a larger 3D printing company. The new process can print wood with a grain that mimics any type of tree, from ash to mahogany. The technology uses two byproducts from the wood industry. “A tree is made of lignin and cellulose,” says Ric Fulop, CEO of Desktop Metal. “When you make things out of trees, whether it’s furniture or paper, you’re essentially dematerializing the tree…what we’re trying to do is put that back together.” The process spreads thin layers of sawdust, and inkjets a nontoxic binder (including lignin, the part of natural wood that helps hold it together) to recreate the grain of wood layer by layer.’

Bring your old clothes and this in-store recycling machine will turn them into something new

Fast Company 04.05.21

This is a good recycling tech:

‘The machine, called Looop, developed by Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel in collaboration with the nonprofit H&M Foundation, cleans and shreds old fabric, spins it into yarn, and then knits into a new product that the customer can pick up the next day.’

Farming without disturbing soil could cut agriculture’s climate impact by 30% – new research

The Conversation 27.04.21

Heavy soil-tilling creates dust bowls and erodes topsoil for decades:

‘In newly published research from farms across the UK, we discovered that an alternative approach called no-till farming, which does not disturb soils and instead involves placing seeds in drilled holes in the earth, could slash greenhouse gas emissions from crop production by nearly a third and increase how much carbon soils can store…. Farms using the no-till method could produce less food at first if seeds struggle to germinate in the harder, less-oxygenated, uncultivated soil. This can be a problem in the early years of no-till farming. But evidence suggests that earthworms and roots can help restore a natural soil structure which reduces these problems over time. One study found no consistent differences in yield over the first ten years after a farm converted to no-till agriculture. Such a shift is within reach for the agricultural sector in Europe, where the no-till method is still marginal, as the technology has been well-tested elsewere. If governments can incentivise farmers to switch to no-till agriculture, our soils will have a chance to resume their natural function and lock carbon away for decades.’

Why the world should pay attention to Taiwan's drought

BBC 20.04.21

Crazy that food should be the sacrifice at tech’s altar:

‘At the Baoshan No. 2 Reservoir in Hsinchu County, the primary water source for Taiwan's $100bn semiconductor industry, the water level is at the lowest it's ever been - only 7% full. If this and other reservoirs in Taiwan dry up, it could be detrimental for the global electronics sector, because so many of the products people use are powered by semiconductors - computer chips - made by Taiwanese companies. Around 90% of the most advanced microchips are manufactured in Taiwan… The sector is a big contributor to the island's overall economy, but it requires a lot of water to clean the wafers that go into many tech devices. Struggling to ensure supplies, the government stopped irrigating more than 74,000 hectares of farmland last year… "We also think about our country's economy, but they shouldn't completely stop providing water. You can give us water for two days a week or one day. Farmers will find a way. But now they've completely cut our water, farmers can't find a way out. You're focusing entirely on semiconductors," Mr Chuang says.’

Japan to release contaminated Fukushima water into sea after treatment

REUTERS 13.04.21

This cannot be allowed to happen and stricter regulations must be put in place:

'The first release of water will take place in about two years, giving plant operator Tokyo Electric Power time to begin filtering the water to remove harmful isotopes, build infrastructure and acquire regulatory approval… Nearly 1.3 million tonnes of contaminated water, or enough to fill about 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools, is stored in huge tanks at the Fukushima Daiichi plant at an annual cost of about 100 billion yen ($912.66 million) - and space is running out… Tepco plans to filter the contaminated water to remove isotopes, leaving only tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen hard to separate from water. Tepco will then dilute the water until tritium levels fall below regulatory limits, before pumping it into the ocean. [nL4N2HS1MT] Tritium is considered to be relatively harmless because it does not emit enough energy to penetrate human skin. Other nuclear plants around the world routinely pump water with low levels of the isotope into the ocean.’

'Wall Street Is a Primary Villain' in Climate Crisis, Report Concludes

EcoWatch 08.04.21

Rhetorics from global governments are seriously vacuous unless they follow the money trail:

‘That's how Bank on Our Future — a UK-based network pressuring financial players to align their business practices with tackling the climate crisis — responded Wednesday to a new DeSmog analysis revealing that a majority of directors at major banks worldwide are connected to polluting companies and organizations.  "This is a ginormous and superb piece of work by the talented sleuths" at DeSmog, said Beau O'Sullivan, a campaigner at the Sunrise Project in Australia. He added that the report "contains findings that readers may find offensive and deeply disturbing.”  Even a global #ClimateEmergency hasn't triggered rapid defunding of the industries responsible for driving climate… https://t.co/ogg5ZHjvRP  — Greenpeace Canada (@Greenpeace Canada)1617819304.0

…  Alec Connon, coalition coordinator at Stop the Money Pipeline, responded similarly to the revelations in an email to Common Dreams.  "It should surprise no one that Wall Street boards are brimming with executives with close ties to climate-damaging companies," he said. "Since the Paris agreement was signed in 2015, Chase, Wells Fargo, and their Wall Street ilk have loaned more than $1 trillion to the fossil fuel industry. In the climate crisis, Wall Street is a primary villain.”  "Perhaps if they had fewer fossil fuel executives on their boards," Connon added, "that would begin to change.”  Remember the military-industrial complex? Meet it's equally nasty twin, the fossil fuel-finance complex https://t.co/dAUlDtmrcK  — Bill McKibben (@Bill McKibben)1617799338.0'

Bill Gates and His Fake Solutions to Climate Change

Children’s Health Defense 04.06.21

Sensible report to offset Gates’ tech-driven vision:

‘The latest report from Navdanya International, “Bill Gates & His Fake Solutions to Climate Change,” details the reasons behind Bill and Melinda Gates’ attempts to focus the debate on miraculous technologies and the real interests behind its propaganda…  The companies funded by Breakthrough are riddled with ex DuPont, Monsanto, PepsiCo and Microsoft executives, revealing how the same corporations which precipitated our health and ecological crisis are now selling us back equally risky solutions to the problems they created in the first place….  Fake food is advertised as a solution to climate change and environmental degradation, but in reality, fake food has a carbon footprint seven times larger than less-processed plant proteins. Cell-based meat also emits more GHG than some animal products and recent research even suggests that over the long-term, its environmental impact could be higher than that of livestock. Far from ending climate change or world hunger, fake food still relies on an industrial agricultural model, based on monocultures, toxic pesticides and GMOs, that is destroying our ecosystems and threatening our health.  The report also shows how the patenting of these artificial food growing techniques has become an instrument for corporate and billionaire profit-making, shifting power away from farmers and toward biotech companies, while completely ignoring the solutions offered by the regenerative agriculture movement.’

Residential Proximity to Pesticide Application as a Risk Factor for Childhood Central Nervous System Tumors

Science Direct 31.04.21

How many more studies are needed to stop harming humans?:

‘Our study suggests that exposure to certain pesticides through residential proximity to agricultural applications during pregnancy may increase the risk of childhood central nervous system tumors.’

Geoengineering researchers have halted plans for a balloon launch in Sweden

Technology Review 31.03.21

Hopefully, this Gates’ funded crazy experiment gets completely axed:

'In an unexpected move, the advisory committee for a Harvard University geoengineering research project is recommending that the team suspend plans for its first balloon flight in Sweden this summer…  In recent weeks, several environmental groups and geoengineering critics have called on Swedish government officials and the heads of the Swedish Space Corporation to halt the project.   Solar geoengineering “is a technology with the potential for extreme consequences, and stands out as dangerous, unpredictable, and unmanageable,” read a letter issued by Greenpeace Sweden, Biofuelwatch, and other organizations. “There is no justification for testing and experimenting with technology that seems to be too dangerous to ever be used.”’

Century-old olive trees felled as Spain's farmers try to cut costs

The Guardian 12.03.21

Very sad to hear that traditional olive-oil making is going the intensive farming method.  What happened to the much-touted laws of protecting the environment?  Surely intensive farming is a non-starter..?:

‘In recent years the sector in Spain has been left reeling; a plunge in global olive oil prices was followed by a punishing 25% tariff levied by the US on Spanish olive oil. After prices sank to levels that left many struggling to break even, the industry has slowly recovered, though prices remain shy of 2018 levels.  The volatility has left some uprooting the trees that have fuelled olive oil production for generations. “It’s a pity about these century-old olive trees,” Juan Antonio Galindo, the owner of a 40-hectare farm near Seville recently told the broadcaster RTVE. “But I have to cut them down to switch to intensive farming … the difference is huge.”'

Nuclear technology’s role in the world’s energy supply is shrinking

Nature 09.03.21

The world needs to ditch nuclear energy:

‘In addition to the deaths and health risks, the cost of the damages caused by Chernobyl is thought to exceed US$200 billion, and the Japan Center for Economic Research estimates the costs of decontaminating the Fukushima site to be between $470 billion and $660 billion. In the wake of the disaster, 12 of Japan’s reactors have been permanently shut; a further 24 remain closed pending ongoing safety reviews, which are adding to the costs…  Most countries will baulk at the idea of setting up a nuclear power plant if the total bill could run to hundreds of billions of dollars.  By contrast, although renewable-energy technologies are still in their relative infancy, their costs are falling and their regulation is much more straightforward. This is important: the technology used to turn on lights or charge mobile phones shouldn’t need to involve national or international defence apparatus.’

Mining magnets: Arctic island finds green power can be a curse

REUTERS 02.03.21

The reality of the green revolution is that it’s very dirty:

‘The Greenland sites are less than 16 km (10 miles) from each other at the southern tip of the island, near a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Debate on them has triggered a political crisis in the capital of Nuuk, forcing a general election on the island of 56,000, due in April. Many Greenlanders, while concerned about pollution, feel mining is key to develop their fragile economy. In a 2013 poll, just over half said they want raw materials to become the country’s main source of income.  The country may ultimately back either project, both, or neither, but for those Greenlanders open to mining, the two proposals boil down to a choice between one mine that would not produce radioactive material, and another that would…  Neither of the Greenland projects would be pollution-free. Both plan for mined rock to be locally crushed and separated into concentrates to send for final processing.  Tanbreez’s mining waste will be piped to a lake which, while it does not contain fish, feeds a river with a large population of Arctic char. Turbid water could impact the char, according to the company’s environmental report, which says it plans to dump some 550 tonnes a day of waste material into the lake and will dam it to prevent disruption downstream.’

Monsanto owner and US officials pressured Mexico to drop glyphosate ban

The Guardian 16.02.21

The agro-pharma giant may lose out in Mexico.  I sincerely hope it gets stamped out in all parts of the world:

'“We’re seeing more and more how the pesticide industry uses the US government to aggressively push its agenda on the international stage and quash any attempt by people in other countries to take control of their food supply,” said Nathan Donley, a biologist with the CBD conservation group…  The records show alarm starting to grow in the latter part of 2019 after Mexico said it was refusing imports of glyphosate from China. In denying a permit for an import shipment, Mexican officials cited the “precautionary principle,” which generally refers to a policy of erring on the side of caution in dealing with substances for which there is scientific concern or dispute over safety…  Throughout the months of email correspondence, industry executives told US government officials that they feared restricting glyphosate would lead to limits on other pesticides and could set a precedent for other countries to do the same. Mexico may also reduce the levels of pesticide residues allowed in food, industry executives warned.  “If Mexico extends the precautionary principle” to pesticide residue levels in food, “$20bn in US annual agricultural exports to Mexico will be jeopardized”, Novak wrote to US officials.’

Solar geoengineering: Could reflecting away the sun’s rays help to tackle global heating?

The Independent 12.02.21

If given the go-ahead the ramifications would be enormous.  I vote on ditching it:

'Though the SCoPEx experiment would have little physical impact on the planet, it is still seen as highly controversial among some environmental and campaigner groups. These groups have argued that, if the first test flight goes ahead, it could lead to a “slippery slope” towards more – potentially risky – research into solar geoengineering.    There are other ethical and social concerns that have been raised about solar geoengineering through releasing aerosols. One is, if the technology were to be developed, it could be perceived as a “quick fix” to the climate crisis, leading to countries stalling on their commitments to cutting their greenhouse gas emissions…  “There are some very challenging governance questions,” Janos Pasztor, executive director of the Carnegie Climate Geoengineering Governance Initiative and former UN assistant secretary-general on climate change, tells The Independent.  “The big challenge is that it would be the most global thing humanity would have ever done. So, if it's so global that means that everybody will be impacted one way or another, positively or negatively. And therefore, one has to find a way that everybody's voice is heard when making decisions about whether or not to do it.”’

Balloon test flight plan under fire over solar geoengineering fears 

The Guardian 08.02.21

SAIs (stratospheric aerosol injections), the new chemtrails, are being considered to offset radiation in a warming climate but their consequences could well doom us for a long period of time:

’The letter to Per Bolund, the Swedish minister for environment and climate, from the environmental groups, reads: “While the first stratospheric flight proposed for Kiruna intends to test the balloon and gondola equipment, the stated purpose of the flight is to prepare for the release of aerosols into the stratosphere later in the year.  “Since the goal of the initial flight is to enable the subsequent release of particles, the social and environmental impacts of this test cannot be evaluated in isolation from the overall purpose of the SCoPEx project. The balloon flight must be viewed as integral to the project’s intention of conducting open-air testing and particle releases.  “We appeal to the Swedish government to oppose the SSC’s involvement with SCoPEx’s proposed tests, as they are fundamentally incompatible with the precautionary principle, in breach of international norms, and inconsistent with Sweden’s own climate policy framework as well as its reputation as an international climate leader.”  They go on to argue that: “SAI is a technology with the potential for extreme consequences, and stands out as dangerous, unpredictable, and unmanageable. There is no justification for testing and experimenting with technology that seems to be too dangerous to ever be used.”’

Cacophony of human noise is hurting all marine life, scientists warn

The Guardian 04.02.021

Noise pollution is incredibly disruptive, for both sea and land dwellers: 

’The review, published in the journal Science, analysed more than 500 studies that assessed the effects of noise on sea life. About 90% of the studies found significant harm to marine mammals, such as whales, seals and dolphins, and 80% found impacts on fish and invertebrates. “Sound is a fundamental component of ecosystems, [and noise] impacts are pervasive, affecting animals at all levels,” the analysis concluded.  The most obvious impact is the link between military sonar and seismic survey detonations and deafness, mass strandings, and deaths of marine mammals. But many uses of sound can be harmed, such as the hums that male toadfish use to attract females and the honks that cod use to coordinate spawning...  However, over the past 50 years, increased shipping has raised low-frequency noise on major routes by 32 times, the review said. Fishing vessels use sonar to find shoals of fish and bottom trawlers create rumbling noise. The construction and operation of oil rigs and offshore windfarms also cause noise pollution, as does the detonation of second world war bombs in the North Sea…  “Underwater noise is a serious concern and it is growing,” said Prof Daniel Pauly at the University of British Columbia in Canada, who was not part of the review team. “The level of noise marine mammals are exposed to is devastating … Underwater sound waves are far more violent than sound waves in air.”’

Economics of biodiversity review: what are the recommendations?

The Guardian 02.02.21

To saliently point out that GDP markers should be abolished as they do not reflect a country’s wealth is music to my ears:

‘Biodiversity is declining faster than at any time in human history and the review aims to create a new economic framework, grounded in ecology, that enables humanity to live on Earth sustainably. “Our demands far exceed nature’s capacity to supply us with the goods and services we all rely on. We would require 1.6 Earths to maintain the world’s current living standards,” says Prof Sir Partha Dasgupta in the review, which was commissioned by the UK Treasury.  “Humanity faces an urgent choice,” he says. “Continuing down our current path presents extreme risks and uncertainty for our economies. Choosing a sustainable path will require transformative change, underpinned by levels of ambition, coordination and political will akin to, or even greater than, those of the Marshall Plan [under which Europe was rebuilt after the second world war]”…  The use of GDP “is based on a faulty application of economics” because it measures the flow of money, not the stock of national assets. Introducing natural capital into national accounting systems would be a critical step.’

Outdated carbon credits from old wind and solar farms are threatening climate change efforts

The Conversation 14.01.21

Carbon credits should have been scrapped ages ago:

‘The carbon offset market looks set to grow: our report projects that by 2050 the carbon offsets market will probably be worth more than US$90 billion (£67 billion) and maybe as much as US$480 billion – at least a 200-fold increase on the US$0.4bn spent in 2020.   The bad news is that the expansion may not actually reduce emissions because, at the moment, 600 million to 700 million tonnes of old carbon credits could be claimed in the carbon offset market – seven to eight times the current annual demand. Were these all to be claimed it would swamp the market, meaning companies buying cheap credits from projects with little or no additionality, and so little or no climate benefit.’ 

Top scientists warn of 'ghastly future of mass extinction' and climate disruption

The Guardian 13.01.21

I can only agree that GDP barometers need to be profoundly altered:

‘Dealing with the enormity of the problem requires far-reaching changes to global capitalism, education and equality, the paper says. These include abolishing the idea of perpetual economic growth, properly pricing environmental externalities, stopping the use of fossil fuels, reining in corporate lobbying, and empowering women, the researchers argue…  An estimated one million species are at risk of extinction, many within decades, according to a recent UN report.  “Environmental deterioration is infinitely more threatening to civilisation than Trumpism or Covid-19,” Ehrlich told the Guardian.’ 

This hydrogen-powered dreamboat is here to clean up the seven seas

WIRED 12.01.21

It would be amazing to have this technology perfected:

‘The marine industry is one of the dirty secrets of climate change: we hear about cars, the cloud and even cows contributing to emissions, but marine transport emits 940 million tonnes of CO2 annually and is responsible for 2.5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, thanks to the dirty oil and diesel that's burned for propulsion. "If international shipping was a country, it would be the fifth or sixth highest in the world [for greenhouse gases], between Germany and Japan," says Simon Bullock, a researcher at the University of Manchester's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research…  If DFDS and its partners can successfully build the hydrogen-powered Europa Seaways, the company says it will cut 64,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually. But it will also give travellers a quieter ride without a smokestack spewing fumes. DFDS asked customers on its social media channels what should take the place of the iconic smokestack on the new hydrogen ship, and one suggestion was a fountain using the clean water produced by the hydrogen fuel cells. "When you push the throttle down, it'll be a big nice fountain – it would be a good way for us to communicate what this is about: that you can actually propel a 200m ship and the only exhaust is clean water," Steffensen says. "I would love to show my kids that.”'

Why traditional knowledge — not external tech — is the key to truly sustainable agriculture

Ensia 10.07.19

Old article that delineates the importance of surviving food calamities:

‘If sustainability is the true objective, we need to focus, not on new technological fixes, but on the recovery of local, time-tested agroecological practices. We need to empower those who hold traditional knowledge, support local groups, and introduce new techniques only when easily appropriable and harmonious within surrounding nature and customs.  Only when this happens will we see a shift from the problems that come when external actors, actions and products disrupt farmers’ traditional ways of land stewardship. Only when we once again start valuing agriculture as a system that is part of a larger social system, with all the history and tradition that comes with it, will we see a shift to truly sustainable agriculture.’

Scientists Observe Cells Responding To Magnetic Fields For First Time

Forbes 08.01.21

What should remain to be seen is how magnetic radiations from millions of wireless signals are affecting both the animal and the human receptors:

‘In human cells, cyrptochromes act as a molecular clock, using sunlight to synchronize the body's function with the solar day. In species of migratory birds, cyrptochromes levels are especially high in specialized cells found in the retina, the light receptive part of the eye. Biologists already suspected that these cells react to changes in the electromagnetic field, and birds use the variability and orientation of Earth's magnetic field to navigate. This new study provides first direct evidence on how birds and other migratory species may do it. How magnetic fields could indirectly affect other biological processes, or even humans, remains to be seen.’

Government to let farmers use bee-killing pesticide banned in EU

The Independent 09.01.21

With Brexit done, environmental measures take a deep dive.  A real hypocritical stance from the UK government with regards to protecting biodiversity:

‘A bee-killing pesticide so poisonous that it is banned by the EU may be used on sugar beet in England, the government has announced…  Setting out conditions for the “limited and controlled” use of the pesticide, officials said the minister had agreed an emergency authorisation of it for up to 120 days. British Sugar and the National Farmers Union had applied to the government to be allowed to use it.  But the Wildlife Trusts said neonicotinoids pose a significant environmental risk, particularly to bees and other pollinators…  The trusts added that evidence suggests the world has lost at least 50 per cent of insects since 1970, and 41 per cent of insect species were now threatened with extinction.  “We need urgent action to restore the abundance of our insect populations, not broken promises that make the ecological crisis even worse.”’ 

'He's a risk-taker': Germans divided over Elon Musk's new GigaFactory

The Guardian 05.01.21

Musk is acting like a true US pioneer and razing the ground before him irrespective of the cost:

‘Klink is a member of the Grünheide’s citizens’ initiative, a group of locals who are campaigning to stop the project. Construction projects in Germany, he says, usually take time “due to all the permits you need and regulations you must abide by before you even put a shovel in the ground”. Musk has instead chosen the very un-German route of starting the work first and then securing the permits.  “Even if they told him he would not be allowed to continue, he will have already caused so much damage there’s no way he can take the site back to its original state,” Klink argues. “Immense, irreversible harm has been done to the nature, potentially to the groundwater, to the forest, the flora, fauna.”  One hundred hectares of pine trees (the equivalent of approximately 26 football fields) have already been felled, and a further 86 hectares are likely to follow, after a court ruling last month.’

Child labour, toxic leaks: the price we could pay for a greener future

The Guardian 03.01.21

The drive towards a green economy by rich nations is at the expense of poorer ones.  That profits are being considered as a main engine is absurd.  A whole new way of grappling with economics will have to be spelt out soon if we are to survive and an array of considerations have to be reexamined as these environmental models sound stupid and harmful:

‘Harrington said it was inevitable that there would an expansion in mining and in providing energy for refining ores which, combined, would have real environmental impacts. “We are going to have to do that in a way that creates profits but also serves people and the planet.”  In addition to these issues, the proposed expansion of nuclear power in the UK – to satisfy demand no longer met by coal or gas plants – is likely to lead to the creation of increased amounts of nuclear waste…  One solution put forward to these green technology problems would be to limit the exploitation of resources on land and turn instead to the sea to gather the materials we need.’

China biodegradable plastics 'failing to solve pollution crisis’

BBC 17.12.20

It’s all good having biodegradable plastic but with no facilities to turn it into compost the project is moot:

‘"In the absence of controlled composting facilities, most biodegradable plastics end up in landfills, or worse, in rivers and the ocean," said Greenpeace's East Asia plastics researcher Dr Molly Zhongnan Jia.  "Switching from one type of plastic to another cannot solve the plastics pollution crisis that we're facing," she said…  "Unless there is clear infrastructure for what we call 'end-of-life' - whether that's recycling or incineration or landfill or biodegradation in some way - then that is still a single-use plastic," said Dr Rachael Rothman, the co-director of the Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures at the University of Sheffield.   "Just because a plastic is biodegradable, that doesn't mean it is not single use," she said.’

New Material Can Store Energy From The Sun For Months or Even Years

Science Alert 12.12.20

Very promising news:

‘While the material still needs some work to be made commercially viable, it could eventually be used to de-ice car windscreens, or supply additional heating for homes and offices, or as a heating source for off-grid locations. Photoswitches like this also have applications in data storage and drug delivery.  "It also has no moving or electronic parts and so there are no losses involved in the storage and release of the solar energy," says Griffin. "We hope that with further development we will be able to make other materials which store even more energy.”'

UN warns new water futures may spark bubble for vital resource

BNNBloomberg 11.12.20

A human right to be traded on the stock exchange.  How seriously flawed is this?:

‘The United Nations said Wall Street’s new water futures risk an essential public good being treated like gold and oil, leaving the market vulnerable to a speculative bubble.  CME Group Inc.’s new contract -- which debuted this week -- could lure interest from hedge funds and banks alongside farmers, factories and utilities looking to lock in prices, said Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, the UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation. That risks a price run-up for a resource that “belongs to everyone” and is a vital tool in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.  “The news that water is to be traded on Wall Street futures market shows that the value of water, as a basic human right, is now under threat,” Arrojo-Agudo said in a statement. “It is closely tied to all of our lives and livelihoods, and is an essential component to public health.”’

Secretive ‘gold rush’ for deep-sea mining dominated by handful of firms

The Guardian 09.12.20

A Greenpeace report highlights the foundations for a deeply destructive scenario:

‘Deep sea mining is deeply destructive. Excavation of mineral nodes, for example, is done by giant tractors that chew through the sea bed.  The oversight organisation, ISA, has no environmental or scientific assessment group. Instead, applications are vetted by a legal and technical commission, which is dominated by lawyers and geologists. Only three of the 30 members of the commission are biologists or environmental specialists.  ISA has not rejected any of the 30 exploration applications it has received. It has potential conflict of interest because it receives $500,000 (£374,000) for each licence.  Seabed resources are supposed to benefit all of humanity and promote sustainable development, but just three companies from wealthy nations have a hand in eight of the nine contracts to explore for minerals in the Pacific Clarion-Clipperton zone that have been awarded since 2010: Canadian-registered DeepGreen, Belgian corporate Dredging Environmental and Marine Engineering NV (Deme), and a UK-based subsidiary of the US arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin.  The role of these companies is opaque. None of these parent companies are listed by the ISA in its list of contractors. Many operate through subsidiaries or by taking shares in partners in small island states, often in conjunction with national governments. This leads to concerns about accountability in the event of an accident – the subsidiaries are often small, which could leave poor nations with huge liabilities.  Corporate influence on some governments is so great at ISA that DeepGreen executives temporarily stood in for Nauru delegates in a February 2019 session of the ISA council, where Deme executives also spoke on behalf of Belgium.  Ties between the UK government and the industry have also been unhealthily cosy. Cabinet-office officials have worked for Lockheed Martin after retirement. Former prime minister David Cameron used Lockheed Martin estimates of the potential value of the deep-sea mining industry, rather than independent analysis.’

The curse of 'white oil': electric vehicles' dirty secret

The Guardian 08.12.20

The ‘green revolution’ is full of environmental pitfalls:

‘If all goes to plan, European electric vehicle ownership could jump from around 2m today to 40m by 2030… The urgency in getting a lithium supply has unleashed a mining boom, and the race for “white oil” threatens to cause damage to the natural environment wherever it is found. But because they are helping to drive down emissions, the mining companies have EU environmental policy on their side.  “There’s a fundamental question behind all this about the model of consumption and production that we now have, which is simply not sustainable,” said Riofrancos. “Everyone having an electric vehicle means an enormous amount of mining, refining and all the polluting activities that come with it”…  The extra materials and energy involved in manufacturing a lithium-ion battery mean that, at present, the carbon emissions associated with producing an electric car are higher than those for a vehicle running on petrol or diesel – by as much as 38%, according to some calculations. Until the electricity in national grids is entirely renewable, recharging the battery will involve a degree of dependence on coal or gas-fired power stations.’ 

Amazon: 400 global politicians demand Jeff Bezos pay more tax, increase wages, and protect the environment

The Independent 04.12.20

Let’s hope Bezos has his glasses on when he reads that letter:

‘The letter also claimed that Amazon’s carbon footprint was greater than two-thirds of the world’s countries. The shopping giant’s carbon footprint did increase by 15 per cent last year, despite the company’s apparent efforts to alleviate its impact.  Amazon’s greenhouse gas emissions were about 85 per cent of the emissions of Switzerland or Denmark, according to Gregg Marland, a professor at the Research Institute for Environment, Energy and Economics at Appalachian State University.  "[Mr Bezos’] plan for emissions reduction is both insufficient to stay within the environmental boundaries of our planet and difficult to trust given Amazon’s record of broken promises on sustainability and financial contributions to climate change denial,” the letter states.  “Your monopolistic practices have squeezed small businesses, your web services have disrespected data rights, and you have contributed a pittance in return.” The letter also highlights the fact that Amazon paid no US federal taxes in 2018 and 2019.'

Nestle to invest 3.2 billion Swiss francs to cut carbon emissions

REUTERS 03.12.20

About time!  I hope more multinationals follow suit:

'As first steps, it wants to halve its emissions by 2030 and use 100% renewable electricity at its 800 global sites by 2025, the world’s biggest food company said in a statement.  The maker of KitKat chocolate bars and Nescafe coffee, which produced 92 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2018, said it would finance these investments mainly through operational and structural efficiencies to keep the initiative earnings neutral.  The Swiss company will work with farmers and suppliers to promote regenerative agriculture practices - such as restoring soil health - saying it expects to source over 14 million tons of its ingredients from farmers using these techniques by 2030.’

China vows to boost 'weather modification' capabilities

The Guardian 03.12.20

Chemtrails keep getting new tech words:

‘China has frequently made use of cloud seeding technologies to relieve droughts or clear the air ahead of major international events.  It has also been building a weather modification system in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, Asia’s biggest freshwater reserve, with the aim of pumping large quantities of silver iodide into the clouds to increase rainfall.’

World is ‘doubling down’ on fossil fuels despite climate crisis – UN report

The Guardian 02.12.20

Whatever’s cheapest (in the short term) is the mantra:

‘The Production Gap report says G20 governments have committed more than $230bn (£173bn) in Covid-19-related funding to fossil fuel production and consumption to date, far more than the $150bn to clean energy. But it found that between 2020 and 2030, global coal, oil, and gas production must fall by 11%, 4%, and 3% a year respectively, to meet the 1.5C target.  The assessment of future fossil fuel production is based on the most recent published energy plans by eight key countries that produce 60% of the world’s fossil fuels: Australia, Canada, China, India, Indonesia, Norway, Russia and the US.’

Crisis, What Crisis? Hypocrisy and Public Health in the UK

Off-Guardian 18.11.20

Let’s imagine a ‘great reset’ in agro-industrial practices:

‘The Department of Health’s School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme (SFVS) has residues of 123 different pesticides that impact the gut microbiome. Obesity is associated with low diversity of bacteria in the microbiome and glyphosate adversely affects or destroys much of the beneficial bacteria. Roundup (and other biocides) is linked to gross obesity, neuropsychiatric disorders and other chronic diseases, which are all on the rise and adversely impact brain development in children and adolescents.  Moreover, type 2 diabetes is associated with being very overweight. According to NHS data, almost four in five of 715 children suffering from it were also obese.’

Green giants: the massive projects that could make Australia a clean energy superpower

The Guardian 13.11.20

Big strides are being considered for this large continent:

‘Called the Asian Renewable Energy Hub, its size is difficult to conceptualise. If built in full, there will be 1,600 giant wind turbines and a 78 sq km array of solar panels a couple of hundred kilometres east of Port Hedland in the Pilbara.  This solar-wind hybrid power plant would have a capacity of 26 gigawatts, more than Australia’s entire coal power fleet. The hub’s backers say the daytime sun and nightly winds blowing in from the Indian Ocean are perfectly calibrated to provide a near constant source of emissions-free energy around the clock…  This week alone there were a string of extraordinary announcements. The New South Wales government plans to underwrite 12GW of renewable energy and 2GW of storage over the next decade, Woolworths is promising to run its supermarkets and operations on 100% green energy within five years, and the country’s biggest super fund, AustralianSuper, dumped its shares in Whitehaven Coal as it set a path to a net-zero emissions investment portfolio by 2050.’

Tsunami-hit Japanese nuclear reactor gets restart approval

TechExplore 11.11.20

With all the clamour about reducing our carbon emissions, nuclear plants seem to be sprouting up (or resurrecting) in order to achieve carbon neutrality.  Is it the case that world leaders are just forgetful about Chernobyl and Fukushima?  A 3rd-time apocalyptic disaster might finally convince though it may be too late by then:

‘All of Japan's nuclear power stations were shut down after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident following a catastrophic tsunami, and most of them remain closed.  But the government has pushed to bring them back online, particularly with the pressure of a new 2050 deadline for carbon neutrality.  "Due to the shutdown of nuclear plants, Japan depends more and more on thermal power using fossil fuel," Murai told reporters.   "There's a concern over increasing emissions of CO2... We cannot expect to suddenly expand the use of safe and clean renewable energy to support demand."

… The Japanese public has turned against atomic energy, despite the government insisting the nation needs nuclear plants to power the world's third-largest economy.  In January, a high court ruled that a reactor at the Ikata nuclear plant near a fault line in western Ehime must remain shut because of the risk of its being struck by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.  The case was originally lodged by residents of a neighbouring region who complained the utility failed to properly evaluate the risks posed by a local volcano and seismic fault lines.’

UK energy plant to use liquid air

BBC 07.11.20

Good solution and way better than the nuclear route:

‘Work is beginning on what is thought to be the world's first major plant to store energy in the form of liquid air.  It will use surplus electricity from wind farms at night to compress air so hard that it becomes a liquid at -196 Celsius.  Then when there is a peak in demand in a day or a month, the liquid air will be warmed so it expands.  The resulting rush of air will drive a turbine to make electricity, which can be sold back to the grid.’

Federal Court Declares Genetically Engineered Salmon Unlawful

Centre for Food Safety 05.11.20

So glad that the Frankenfish production did not win approval:

'Today, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) violated core environmental laws in approving the genetically engineered salmon. The Court ruled that FDA ignored the serious environmental consequences of approving genetically engineered salmon and the full extent of plans to grow and commercialize the salmon in the U.S. and around the world, violating the National Environmental Policy Act. The Court also ruled that FDA's unilateral decision that genetically engineered salmon could have no possible effect on highly-endangered, wild Atlantic salmon was wrong, in violation of the Endangered Species Act. The Court ordered FDA to go back to the drawing board and FDA must now thoroughly analyze the environmental consequences of an escape of genetically engineered salmon into the wild.  "Today's decision is a vital victory for endangered salmon and our oceans," said George Kimbrell, CFS legal director and counsel in the case. "Genetically engineered animals create novel risks and regulators must rigorously analyze them using sound science, not stick their head in the sand as officials did here. In reality, this engineered fish offers nothing but unstudied risks. The absolute last thing our planet needs right now is another human-created crisis like escaped genetically engineered fish running amok.”'

New nuclear plant at Sizewell set for green light

BBC 31.10.20

There are no words to express my dismay.  Fukushima memory is still fresh and its radiated waters are due to be dumped in the sea within the next few years.  Nuclear must be ditched:

'The government is considering taking an ownership stake and consumers may see a small addition to their bills to pay for the project as it is being built, in order to drive down the costs of financing a project that may cost up to £20bn and take about 10 years to build.   The bigger the government stake, the smaller the call on consumers to "pay as you go" for the development and construction costs.  This funding model has been treated with suspicion before, as opponents say it transfers the risk of delays and budget overruns from the contractor to the consumer and the taxpayer.’ 

More here.

Mineral: Bringing the era of computational agriculture to life

Medium 12.10.20

Very promising work in ‘computational agriculture’ but it would be good to check on insights delivered by Netflix’s ‘Kiss The Ground’ documentary as well and say a definitive goodbye to conventional farming:

‘Over the last few years my team and I have been developing the tools of what we call computational agriculture, in which farmers, breeders, agronomists, and scientists will lean on new types of hardware, software, and sensors to collect and analyze information about the complexity of the plant world...  Our project started with the insight that in order to grow food sustainably on a global scale, new tools will be needed to manage the staggering complexity of farming. Alongside experts in the field — literally and figuratively — we’ve been developing and testing a range of software and hardware prototypes based on breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, simulation, sensors, robotics and more. From strawberry fields in California to soybean fields in Illinois, we’ve been learning about crops from sprout to harvest, so we can find new ways to help breeders and growers understand how plants grow and interact with their environment.’

500,000 Sharks Could Be Killed in the Race to Produce a Covid-19 Vaccine

Smithsonian Magazine 05.10.20

A potential working vaccine - but at what bloody cost?:

‘A shark conservation group estimates that 500,000 sharks could be killed in the race to produce an effective Covid-19 vaccine for the global population. Several vaccine candidates require an ingredient sourced from shark livers, and as the pressure to produce a vaccine intensifies, sharks could be caught in the middle, reports Gavin Butler for Vice News.  Pharmaceuticals are specifically after the sharks’ oily livers, which produce a compound called squalene. It’s a sought-after ingredient in cosmetics due to its moisturizing properties, but it’s also used in vaccines as an “adjuvant,” an agent that can elicit a stronger immune response, reports Katie Camero for the Miami Herald..'

Turns out dumping data centres in the ocean could be a good idea

WIRED 28.09.20

Could dumping data centres on the ocean floor be good for reducing carbon or will it have unintended consequences for marine life?:

‘Cloud expert Paul Johnston estimates that nearly two per cent of all the world’s carbon footprint comes from data centres. It’s an industry which grows year-on-year: there are approximately 18 million servers deployed in data centres globally; worldwide spending on hardware and software topped more than £125 billion in 2019.   That’s why there’s more to Microsoft’s experiment than simply producing reliable hardware.  Underwater data centres might actually be good for the planet. “Nearly 20 per cent of energy used by land data centres is keeping everything cool through air conditioning units and freshwater resources,” says Johnston, who is also a climate change and technology consultant. “What Microsoft has done is groundbreaking, with natural seawater acting as the coolant rather than air being artificially pumped. It could be an environmental win.”’

The daring plan to save the Arctic ice with glass

BBC 24.09.20

Safe for planktons (?) and very possibly lethal for polar bears:

‘One proposal put forward by the California-based non-profit Arctic Ice Project appears as daring as it is bizarre: to scatter a thin layer of reflective glass powder over parts of the Arctic, in an effort to protect it from the Sun’s rays and help ice grow back. “We’re trying to break [that] feedback loop and start rebuilding,” says engineer Leslie Field, an adjunct lecturer at Stanford University and chief technical officer of the organisation…  Many scientists frown upon such technological interventions in Earth’s planetary system, known broadly as “geoengineering”, arguing that fiddling with nature might cause further damage. However, “the utter lack of progress on climate mitigation is really opening up a space for all of these [geoengineering] things to be discussed,” says Emily Cox, who studies climate policy and public attitudes towards geoengineering at the University of Cardiff. That said, the urgency does not erase the uncertainty. “What do you do if something goes wrong… especially in the Arctic, which is already a fairly fragile ecosystem?”’

Mobile phone radiation may be killing insects: German study

PhysOrg 17.09.20

We’ve known this for a while but it’s nice to see some dedicated studies on the subject:

‘Radiation from mobile phones could have contributed to the dramatic decline in insect populations seen in much of Europe in recent years, a German study showed Thursday.   On top of pesticides and habitat loss, increased exposure to electromagnetic radiation is "probably having a negative impact on the insect world", according to the study presented in Stuttgart, which is yet to be peer reviewed.  The analysis of 190 scientific studies was carried out by Germany's Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) together with two NGOs, one from Germany and one from Luxembourg.  Of the 83 studies deemed scientifically relevant, 72 showed that radiation had a negative effect on bees, wasps and flies.  These effects ranged from a reduced ability to navigate due to the disturbance of magnetic fields to damage to genetic material and larvae.  Mobile phone and Wi-Fi radiation in particular opens the calcium channels in certain cells, meaning they absorb more calcium ions.  This can trigger a biochemical chain reaction in insects, the study said, disrupting circadian rhythms and the immune system.  "The study shows that we must keep our eyes open in all directions when analysing the causes of the dramatic insect decline," said Johannes Enssle, head of NABU in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.'

Why solar geoengineering should be part of the climate crisis solution 

Knowable Magazine 16.09.20

Chemtrails receive a revival under ‘solar geoengineering’.  Once the nom de guerre for conspiracy theorists, now a globally accepted technological solution for saving the planet from greedy corporations:

‘Keith founded a company that develops technology to remove carbon from the air, but his specialty is solar geoengineering, which involves reflecting sunlight away from Earth to reduce the amount of heat that gets trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases. The strategy hasn’t been proven, but modeling suggests it will work. And because major volcanic eruptions can have the same effect, there are some real-world data to anchor the idea…  But the idea of using a technological fix for climate change is controversial. Talking about — let alone researching — geoengineering has long been considered taboo for fear that it would dampen efforts to fight climate change in other ways, particularly the critical work of reducing carbon emissions. That left geoengineering on the fringes of climate research.’

Investors that manage US$47tn demand world’s biggest polluters back plan for net-zero emissions

The Guardian 14.09.20

Appeal from shareholders and investors of biggest polluters may have a chance of reducing some pollution:

‘Climate Action 100+, an initiative supported by 518 institutional investor organisations across the globe, has written to 161 fossil fuel, mining, transport and other big-emitting companies to set 30 climate measures and targets against which they will be analysed in a report to be released early next year.  It is the latest step in a campaign by climate-concerned shareholders to force business leaders to explain how their targets and strategies will help reach the goals of the 2015 Paris agreement.  The targeted companies are responsible for up to 80% of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions. They include mining giant BHP, which last week promised to reduce emissions from its operations by 30% over the next decade on a path to net zero by 2050 after sustained pressure from activist shareholder groups.  Others on the list include Exxon Mobil, PetroChina, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Rio Tinto, BlueScope Steel and major Australian energy companies AGL, Santos, Woodside and Origin.’

Tech giants are sucking the energy out of Ireland

RT 06.09.20

Will tech giants keep buying useless carbon credits or actually use a clean energy system?:

‘According to a report by an Irish grid operator, EirGrid, some of these giant data centers can use as much energy as entire towns. The report goes on to mention that data centers alone could account for nearly 30 percent of all of Ireland’s energy consumption by 2028.  And to make matters worse, some data center operators are relying on on-site gas plants, burning fossil fuels, due to shortages of capacity in the local electrical grid.  This conundrum is not without its own light at the end of the tunnel, however. The data center boom in Ireland has driven demand -and investment - for greener solutions. Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon and Google have all made lofty emissions commitments, putting big red targets on their backs. Microsoft, for example, has pledged to go carbon-neutral within the next ten years. And the other giants have made similar claims. This means the clock is ticking to build - or buy - the infrastructure needed to keep their data centers green.’

Mayor in Alpine Silicon Valley Wants France to Hit Brakes on 5G

Bloomberg 02.09.20

High environmental costs deter some countries from adopting 5G:

‘For Eric Piolle, the mayor of the Alpine city and a rising star in the country’s Green party, making sure these companies have access to 5G communication networks is not a priority.  “We shouldn’t just jump on a new technology for the sake of it,” Piolle told Bloomberg in an interview. “We need to pause, and look into the impact 5G will have on the environment.”.. Piolle and his allies see 5G as an excuse for a wasteful and unnecessary cycle of mobile phone upgrades. They’re alarmed by the potential climate impact of a technology that could soak up three times more power than current mobile infrastructure, and want to focus instead on improving patchy 4G coverage.’ 

High energy bills might also deter mobile phone companies.

Cloud gaming: Are game streaming services bad for the planet?

BBC 29.08.20

Nice to see some news outlets are talking about the rise of carbon emission from data centres.  Gaming and 5G will contribute much to planetary health depletion:

‘One recent study from Lancaster University estimated that if gamers moved to streaming over the next decade, carbon emissions could rise by 30%… The Lancaster University study looked at three scenarios - one where streaming remains niche, as now, a middle ground, and one where 90% of gamers end up gradually switching to streaming over the next decade.  After the decade-long transition, they estimated emissions would be 30% higher per year from 2030 in the high-streaming scenario compared to a low-streaming one.  Such estimates are a matter of debate, and some academics told the BBC the assumptions for some figures used are too high. 

The Lancaster team also tried to offset the emissions tally by accounting for the carbon savings of fewer plastic consoles being manufactured - another rough estimate.  They also point out that their assumptions are based on game streaming at modern standard 720p and 1080p resolutions.   "If streaming at 4K resolution becomes widespread, then it may well be game over," the study warns…  Microsoft says its cloud gaming servers "are more power efficient than a standard home console" and highlights that each server is shared by multiple users "which creates significant energy reduction”.  Google says its data centres - such as the ones that run its Stadia gaming product - are twice as energy efficient as the average data centre.   And both say all their data centres are carbon neutral.   Being carbon neutral is a complex topic, but most major companies achieve it by buying carbon credits - investing in "green" projects to offset their emissions.’

What Will 5G Mean for the Environment?

University of Washington 30.01.20

This study isn’t even talking about data centres’ energy consumption which will skyrocket for 5G:

‘While it is unrealistic to call for 5G to not become the new network norm, companies, governments, and consumers should be proactive and understand the impact that this new technology will have on the environment. 5G developers should carry out Environmental Impact Assessments that fully estimate the impact that the new technology will have on the environment before rushing to widely implement it. Environmental Impact Assessments are intended to assess the impact new technologies have on the environment, while also maximizing potential benefits to the environment.[40] This process mitigates, prevents, and identifies environmental harm, which is imperative to ensuring that the environment is sustainable and sound in the future.’

Florida Is Releasing Almost a Billion Gene-Hacked Mosquitoes

Futurism 20.08.20

Tech advocates throw caution to the air and discard previously disastrous experiments:

‘Local authorities in the Florida Keys just approved a plan for biotech company Oxitec to release more than 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes over the next two years, CNN reports.  The Environment Protection Agency approved the pilot project back in May after a years long approval process. The goal is to use mosquitoes that have had their genes altered so that female offspring die in the larval stage, meaning that populations could die off rapidly…  Previous trials using the mosquito have shown success in killing off populations, reducing as many as 95 percent of them during a trial in a Brazilian city.  But 18 months later the population bounced right back up, as New Atlas reported last year. Even worse, the new genetic hybrids turned out to be even more resilient to future population control attempts, according to a paper. Oxitec refuted these conclusions and the paper now has an editor’s note, reading “that the conclusions of this paper are subject to criticisms that are being considered by editors.”’

Negative-emissions tech helps, but it's no magic bullet for the climate crisis

The Guardian 20.07.20

So much new tech follows the futile and harmful geoengineering exercises:

‘Earlier this month, a study explored the possibility of sprinkling a mineral compound over the world’s fields to draw carbon dioxide from the air above. So far, so science fiction. But the compound is just volcanic basalt rock ground into dust, and the chemical reaction is weathering, which is a process as old as the Earth.  When carbon dioxide in the air dissolves into raindrops, it reacts with rocks when it falls, and the leftover compounds are washed into the oceans. These compounds are used to build shells and corals, and eventually bright-white limestone like the cliffs of Dover. Slowly, inevitably, this draws CO2 from the air and locks it up for hundreds of thousands of years.  Enhanced weathering is the name for accelerating this process to human timescales, by grinding the rocks into dust.’ 

The tech industry is terrible for the environment. These new carbon labels make it more transparent

Fast Company 17.0620

A transparent carbon-footprint label on tech gadgets may encourage producers to be more environmentally-aware:

‘Logitech, one of the biggest peripheral manufacturers in the world, is the first tech company to begin labeling its products with their total carbon footprint. Starting with its gaming mice, keyboards, and headsets, and then on all products by 2025, Logitech will be printing the kilograms of carbon that went into making that product on the product itself. Logitech has made considerable efforts on a path to go carbon neutral, and now, it wants its environmental impact to be as digestable as a set of Nutrition Facts—a challenge that will ultimately require other companies to get involved, too.’

Operators facing power cost crunch

MTN 27.03.20

Of course data will drive up energy consumption to an unprecedented degree:

‘We estimate that telcos spend on average 5-6% of their operating expense (opex) — excluding depreciation and amortization (D&A) — on energy costs, usually reported as “utilities”. With the shift to 5G mobile access networks, there will be upwards pressure on this ratio. A typical 5G base station consumes up to twice or more the power of a 4G base station. The disparity can grow at higher frequencies, due to a need for more antennas and a denser layer of small cells. Edge compute facilities needed to support local processing and new Internet of things (IoT) services add to overall network power usage. The bottom line is that, in an increasingly 5G world, telcos will face significant growth in their energy bills. To address this issue, telcos will need to take actions at the organizational, architectural, and site levels.’

Insect numbers down 25% since 1990, global study finds

The Guardian 23.04.20

Man-made pollution kills off insects worldwide.  Why they don’t question electromagnetic radiation as a contributing factor is a mystery to me:

‘Insects are by far the most varied and abundant animals, outweighing humanity by 17 times, and are essential to the ecosystems humanity depends upon. They pollinate plants, are food for other creatures and recycle nature’s waste.  The previous largest assessment, based on 73 studies, led scientists to warn of “catastrophic consequences for the survival of mankind” if insect losses were not halted. Its estimated rate of decline was more than double that in the new study. Other experts estimate 50% of insects have been lost in the last 50 years… 

The research, published in the journal Science, also examined how the rate of loss was changing over time. “Europe seems to be getting worse now – that is striking and shocking. But why that is, we don’t know,” said van Klink. In North America, the declines are flattening off, but at a low level.  Elsewhere, data is much more sparse. “But we know from our results that the expansion of cities is bad for insects because every place used to be more natural habitat – it is not rocket science,” said van Klink. “This is happening in east Asia and Africa at a rapid rate. In South America, there is the destruction of the Amazon. There’s absolutely no question this is bad for insects and all the other animals there. But we just don’t have the data.”  Van Klink said the research showed that insects were faring only slightly better in nature reserves than outside protected areas. “We found that very striking and a bit shocking – it means something’s going wrong there.”'

The secret on the ocean floor

BBC 20.04.20

Deep sea mining for electric industry will accelerate the ocean’s deteriorating health:

‘And with renewable power like wind and solar being installed at a frantic pace, every turbine and every panel also requires key metals. Add to that the boom in consumer electronics and there are real concerns about future supplies.   With cobalt, it’s estimated that by 2025 Volkswagen will need one-third of the current entire global supply for its electric cars.   Massive new battery factories are being constructed – like Tesla owner Elon Musk’s famous Gigafactory - and they too will be hungry for cobalt.   Bram Murton, a geologist with the UK’s National Oceanography Centre, says that if all the cars on Europe’s roads are electric by 2040, and if they use the same kind of batteries as the Tesla Model 3, that would require 28 times more cobalt than is produced right now…

We’ve drilled the ocean floor for oil and gas, scarred it with trenches for communications cables, poisoned it with old radioactive waste and chemical weapons, and polluted its remotest corners with a blizzard of discarded plastic. So, is mining a step too far? .  I put that question to Sir David Attenborough at the launch of his series Blue Planet II. When he sees our video of the giant machines being readied in Papua New Guinea, he is aghast. “It’s heartbreaking,” he says.   His greatest concern is for the hydrothermal vents, those delicate mineral-rich chimneys which act as oases for unusual creatures.   “That’s where life began, and that we should be destroying these things is so deeply tragic - that humanity should just plough on with no regard for the consequences, because they don’t know what they are.”’ 

Planned obsolescence: the outrage of our electronic waste mountain

The Guardian 15.04.20

Yes, consumer societies are drawn into buying planet-polluting products:

‘As we throw away machines and devices damned as out of date, the result is a growing mountain of e-waste. Last year alone, it was reckoned that more than 50m tonnes of it were generated globally, with only around 20% of it officially recycled. Half of the 50m tonnes represented large household appliances, and heating and cooling equipment. The remainder was TVs, computers, smartphones and tablets… 

The average time an individual keeps a smartphone is reckoned to be between two and three years. Astonishingly, according to EU research, the average lifetime of desktop printers is a mere five hours and four minutes of actual printing time. Ever-changing software spells the demise of fully functioning devices – which is why so many of us have household drawers filled with old ones, left behind – and often bricked – by the same companies that made them.’

Record-size hole opens in ozone layer above the Arctic

The Guardian 07.04.20

It’s like everyone’s forgetting that hundreds more satellites keep being launched:

‘The hole, which has been tracked from space and the ground over the past few days, has reached record dimensions, but is not expected to pose any danger to humans unless it moves further south. If it extends further south over populated areas, such as southern Greenland, people would be at increased risk of sunburn. However, on current trends the hole is expected to disappear altogether in a few weeks… 

New sources of ozone-depleting chemicals were not a factor in the hole observed in the Arctic, said Peuch. “However, this is a reminder that one should not take the Montreal Protocol measures for granted, and that observations from the ground and from satellites are pivotal to avoid a situation where the chlorine and bromine levels in the stratosphere could increase again.”’

Dirty streaming: The internet's big secret

BBC 05.03.20

So glad this is gaining traction:

‘With the launch of streaming services from Disney and Apple, the rollout of 5G and the growth in cryptocurrencies, experts are warning about the impact this huge rise in data use could have on the environment.

There are now hundreds of thousands of data centres around the world, storing everything from viral videos to doctors' notes and even bank account details. Many of them run on electricity generated by burning fossil fuels.’

Emissions possible: Streaming music swells carbon footprints

Al Jazeera 28.02.20

Streaming of films and music creates a huge increase in greenhouse gas emissions:

‘The greenhouse gas emissions of video-on-demand services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime are equivalent to the emissions of a country such as Chile, according to the Shift Project, a French think-tank which has published several reports advocating for digital sobriety. This body of research is starting to swell, as consumers and companies alike start to reckon with their environmental impact in other areas…
Data centres - which host servers that process and redistribute internet traffic - also require a huge amount of energy expenditure, and global data flows go through data centres around the world. They're estimated to account for about 0.3 percent of all global carbon dioxide emissions…
EU legislation has specified that servers in data centres must fit certain parameters but, other than a few cursory attempts, there is little regulation globally around the carbon footprint of streaming technologies. While there are some tweaks or fixes that can be made to minimise one's personal online environmental impact, it may all be for nothing without significant effort on the part of the companies and corporations responsible.’

As electric car sales soar, the industry faces a cobalt crisis

WIRED 20.02.20

A green economy plundering natural resources. Ironic, to say the least:

‘Global production of electric vehicles is predicted to top four million cars globally this year, rising to 12 million in 2025. In Europe alone, 540,000 electric cars will be sold this year, an increase from 319,000 last year. For that to happen, we don’t just need gigafactories to build the batteries but also need to get hold of the key materials, notably lithium and cobalt — and the gold rush on both has already begun… 

Among many concerns, there's evidence of widespread use of child labour, and last year tech companies were sued for their alleged role in the death and injury of children. Then there’s the harsh economics: cobalt is also one of the most expensive metals in EV batteries, costing between $33,000 and $35,000 per tonne. And we simply may not have enough supply. Research from MIT suggests there's not enough ability to mine and process the material to meet demand. The research suggests that demand could reach 430,000 tonnes in the next decade, which is 1.6 times today's capacity.’ 

SPACEX FALCON 9 LAUNCH: ROCKET CRASHES INTO THE SEA AFTER DROPPING INTERNET SATELLITES IN SPACE

The Independent 17.02.20

What doesn’t make it back to the launchpad gets dumped at sea:

‘It's not clear why the newest launch failed. "We clearly did not make the landing this time," said SpaceX engineer Lauren Lyons on a livestream. After a number of initial failures, the landings have been largely successful. The new landing is the first time since 2016 that the Falcon 9 rocket missed its drone ship, as SpaceX refers to the barges.’

Researchers Have Identified How Naval Sonar Is Killing And Beaching Whales

SeaVoice News 31.01.20

‘In new research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, they discovered that the sound emitted by sonar is so intense that marine mammals will swim hundreds of miles, dive deep into the abyss or even beach themselves to flee from the sounds that are literally unbearable to them’.

Bristol declares ecological emergency over loss of wildlife

The Guardian 04.02.20

Perhaps shutting down the huge 5G rollout in the city might help…  

‘Two years ago Bristol became the first UK authority to declare a climate emergency. Over the next few months a plan will be developed to tackle the ecological emergency, and the hope is that the eye-catching announcement will prompt organisations to take action.   Rees said: “It is not too late to start the recovery of our wildlife. We must work together to grasp this last chance and put things right for nature and wildlife in our city. This declaration will provide a focus for the whole city to come together and take positive action. “Our commitment to this will extend beyond parks and green spaces. We need our buildings, streets and open spaces to support wildlife and create a more nature-friendly city, and we need new developments to do the same.”’

Light pollution is key 'bringer of insect apocalypse

The Guardian 22.11.19

Light pollution aides insect extermination:

’Artificial light at night can affect every aspect of insects’ lives, the researchers said, from luring moths to their deaths around bulbs, to spotlighting insect prey for rats and toads, to obscuring the mating signals of fireflies.  “We strongly believe artificial light at night – in combination with habitat loss, chemical pollution, invasive species, and climate change – is driving insect declines,” the scientists concluded after assessing more than 150 studies. “We posit here that artificial light at night is another important – but often overlooked – bringer of the insect apocalypse.”’

Radiofrequency radiation injures trees around mobile phone base stations

PubMed 24.08.16

In a German study conducted between 2006-2015 it was found that for trees, electromagnetic radiation was the cause of death.  

‘Statistical analysis demonstrated that electromagnetic radiation from mobile phone masts is harmful for trees. These results are consistent with the fact that damage afflicted on trees by mobile phone towers usually start on one side, extending to the whole tree over time’.

Exposure of Insects to Radio-Frequency Electromagnetic Fields from 2 to 120 GHz

Nature 02.03.18

‘…future wavelengths of the electromagnetic fields used for the wireless telecommunication systems will decrease and become comparable to the body size of insects and therefore, the absorption of RF-EMFs in insects is expected to increase…  The insects show a maximum in absorbed radio frequency power at wavelengths that are comparable to their body size. They show a general increase in absorbed radio-frequency power above 6 GHz (until the frequencies where the wavelengths are comparable to their body size), which indicates that if the used power densities do not decrease, but shift (partly) to higher frequencies, the absorption in the studied insects will increase as well. A shift of 10% of the incident power density to frequencies above 6 GHz would lead to an increase in absorbed power between 3–370%.’

Electromagnetic Radiation of Mobile Telecommunication Antennas Affects the Abundance and Composition of Wild Pollinators

ResearchGate April 2016

‘Previous studies conducted on model species under laboratory conditions have shown negative effects of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) on reproductive success, development, and navigation of insects…  As EMR affected the abundance of several insect guilds negatively, and changed the composition of wild pollinators in natural habitats, it might also have additional ecological and economic impacts on the maintenance of wild plant diversity, crop production and human welfare.’

Anthropogenic radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as an emerging threat to wildlife orientation

ScienceDirect 15.06.15

‘As the high frequencies deployed pulse at billions of cycles per second (1GHz is 1 billion cycles per second), they won’t only affect the absorption of power density in bees, but will also affect their receptors. Current evidence indicates that exposure at levels that are found in the environment (in urban areas and near base stations) may particularly alter the receptor organs to orient in the magnetic field of the earth.’

Anthropogenic Electromagnetic Noise Disrupts Magnetic Compass Orientation in a Migratory Bird

Nature 07.05.14

‘… we show that migratory birds are unable to use their magnetic compass in the presence of urban electromagnetic noise. When European robins, Erithacus rubecula, were exposed to the background electromagnetic noise present in unscreened wooden huts at the University of Oldenburg campus, they could not orient using their magnetic compass… The disruptive effect of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields is not confined to a narrow frequency band and birds tested far from sources of electromagnetic noise required no screening to orient with their magnetic compass.’ 

An Overall Evaluation of the Impact of Electromagnetism on Bees, and Consequently an Attempt to Remedy

Marie-Claire Cammaerts published the above research paper. In it she argues that the CCD (colony collapse disorder) had appeared just after the proliferation of wireless communication.  

‘Another possible cause is an event which started at the same time the CCD stated and the extent of which increases days after days in every country: the existence of manmade electromagnetic fields. The wireless technology appeared just sometime before humans became conscious of the CCD; this technology progressed continuously, and is still increasing, just like the CCD’.  

Impacts of Radio-Frequency Electromagnetic Field (RF-EMF) from Cell Phone Towers and Wireless Devices on Biosystem and Ecosystem – a review

Research Gate January 2013

‘Based on current available literature, it is justified to conclude that RF-EMF radiation exposure can change neurotransmitter functions, blood-brain barrier, morphology, electrophysiology, cellular metabolism, calcium efflux, and gene and protein expression in certain types of cells even at lower intensities. The biological consequences of such changes remain unclear. Short-term studies on the impacts of RF-EMF on frogs, honey bees, house sparrows, bats, and even humans are scarce and long-term studies are non-existent in India. Identification of the frequency, intensity, and duration of non-ionizing electromagnetic fields causing damage to the biosystem and ecosystem would evolve strategies for mitigation and would enable the proper use of wireless technologies to enjoy its immense benefits, while ensuring one’s health and that of the environment.’

Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER)

European Commission 20.12.18

SHEER states that: 

‘5G networks will soon be rolled out for mobile phone and smart device users. How exposure to electromagnetic fields could affect humans remains a controversial area, and studies have not yielded clear evidence of the impact on mammals, birds or insects. The lack of clear evidence to inform the development of exposure guidelines to 5G technology leaves open the possibility of unintended biological consequences’.