Thursday, October 17, 2019

Urban humans

As the world sees the biggest wave of urban growth in history – with almost 70% of its population expected to be living in urban areas by 2050, up from 56% today – the task of making cities greener and safer is becoming more urgent.  https://packages.trust.org/urban-humans/index.html#Urban-humans-oDMBpzerY6
Article courtesy of The Daily Climate from Place by Zoe Tabary and Claudio Accheri

B

Appalachia is transitioning from coal. Here’s what it could learn from Germany.

Germany's transition away from coal is about more than reimagining a place. Significant environmental restoration throughout Ruhr was necessary to bolster economic efforts, and for those efforts to be meaningful, miners and their communities couldn't be left behind.
https://www.dailyclimate.org/appalachia-sustainable-transition-from-coal-2640987386.html
Article courtesy of The Daily Climate by Katherine Webb-Hehn

Using Old Cellphones to Listen for Illegal Loggers

Pakan Rabaa, Indonesia-This village in West Sumatra had a problem with illegal loggers.    So, residents asked a local environmental group for camera traps or some other equipment that might help. In July, they got more than they expected: A treetop surveillance system that uses recycled cellphones and artificial intelligence software to listen for rogue loggers and catch them in the act.  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/15/climate/indonesia-logging-deforestation.html  Article courtesy of The New York Times by Mike Ives






Shrimp and Chemicals: What You Need to Know

Whether farmed or wild caught, the cheaper the shrimp, the more likely it is to have been treated with chemicals, particularly sodium tripolyphosphate and sodium bisulfite.  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/15/dining/shrimp-additives.html
Article courtesy of the New York Times by Melissa Clark

Despite Their Promises, Giant Energy Companies Burn Away Vast Amounts of Natural Gas

When leaders from Exxon Mobil and BP gathered last month with other fossil-fuel executives to declare they were serious about climate change, they cited progress in curbing an energy-wasting practice called flaring — the intentional burning of natural gas as companies drill faster than pipelines can move the energy away.  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/16/climate/natural-gas-flaring-exxon-bp.html
Article courtesy of the New York Times by Hiroko Tabuchi



Friday, October 4, 2019

BIG CITIES GO GREEN TO FIGHT AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE

In 2018, New York became the first US city to require buildings to publicly display letter grades indicating their energy efficiency.
New York is also making efforts to increase the greenery dotting the city’s skyline through recent legislation that provides larger tax breaks to owners who install green roofs in locations where they can offer the most social and environmental value. These actions are part of a slew of urban initiatives to advance and strengthen environmental protections.
https://www.futurity.org/cities-climate-change-2176322/
Article courtesy of Futurity post by Jade McClain NYU

Radical warming in Siberia leaves millions on unstable ground

ON THE ZYRYANKA RIVER, Russia — Andrey Danilov eased his motorboat onto the gravel riverbank, where the bones of a woolly mammoth lay scattered on the beach. A putrid odor filled the air — the stench of ancient plants and animals decomposing after millennia entombed in a frozen purgatory.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/national/climate-environment/climate-change-siberia/
Article courtesy of The Washington Post by Anton Troianovski and Chris Mooney
Photo and video by Michael Robinson Chavez