Elon Musk to build 125 mph underground transit line serving Chicago O’Hare

Elon Musk has taken on a task perhaps more challenging than launching rockets into space: getting passengers from Chicago’s O’Hare airport to the Loop in 12 minutes, roughly three to four times as fast as the current taxi journey.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/06/14/tesla-in-a-tunnel-elon-musk-to-build-125-mph-underground-transit-line-from-ohare/?utm_term=.753484134c8f
Article courtesy of The Washington Post by Fred Barbash

Climate change: Five cheap ways to remove CO2 from the atmosphere

As well as rapidly reducing the carbon dioxide that we humans are pumping into the atmosphere in huge amounts, recent scientific assessments of climate change have all suggested that cutting emissions alone will not be enough to keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 or 2 degrees.    https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45967215 
Article courtesy of the BBC by Matt McGrath

Sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere, explained

In its most recent assessment, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that we may have as little as 12 years to cut our greenhouse gas emissions in half compared to today’s levels to limit average global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, a benchmark to avoid some of the worst impacts of climate change. It also reports that every scenario for doing this requires pulling carbon dioxide out of the air, also known as “negative emissions.”  https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/10/24/18001538/climate-change-co2-removal-negative-emissions-cdr-carbon-dioxide
Article courtesy of VOX by Umair Irfan

Paris Gets to Keep Its Car Ban

In Paris, the Seine Quays can stay closed to cars after all. That’s the verdict today from Paris’s Administrative Court, which has ruled that the city’s pedestrianization of the roads along its central river can remain in place.  https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2018/10/paris-car-ban-seine-mayor-anne-hidalgo/574021/
Article courtesy of CityLab by Feargus O'Sullivan

Hurtigruten orders third ice-strengthened hybrid-battery ship

Hurtigruten CEO Daniel Skjeldam says the new vessel will sail to the most spectacular areas of the planet in a more sustainable and eco-friendly way than ever seen before.
Among the innovative green features on the new ship are substantially larger battery packs to make expedition voyages sail even greener. The new hybrid-powered ship is expected to be delivered before the Arctic summer season 2021.  https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/travel/2018/10/hurtigruten-orders-third-ice-strengthened-hybrid-battery-ship
Article courtesy of The Barents Observer by Thomas Nilsen

Costs increase for biodigester turning Founders beer waste into energy

The city commission approved this week a $39.7 million bid package for the Water Resource Recovery Facility's biodigester, which will convert waste from Founders Brewing Co. and other local businesses into renewable energy. https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2018/10/costs_climb_for_biodigester_th.html
Article courtesy of MLive Michigan by Justin P. Hicks

How A Technology From Iceland Is Fighting Climate Change

 Carbon Recycling International (CRI) utilizes electricity and carbon dioxide emissions from the country's geothermal plants to produce methanol, which they produce and sell into the European fuel market. Their product is trademarked as Vulcanol.  https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2018/10/16/how-a-technology-from-iceland-is-fighting-climate-change/#739bb14e24bd
Article courtesy of Forbes by Robert Rapier

Here Are the Mediterranean Sites That Will Be Swallowed by the Sea

As waters rise across the world, they will swamp and destroy the things we humans have made. Bones will be disinterred from graveyards; buildings will rot and fall; ancient settlements will vanish.  https://www.citylab.com/environment/2018/10/here-are-mediterranean-sites-will-be-swallowed-sea/573235/
Article courtesy of City Lab by Jessica Leigh Hester

Never mow another lawn! Ten steps you can take to combat global warming.

Americans produce an average of 21 tons of carbon a year, about four times the global average, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. The decisions you make each day can make a difference, but there is a lot of noise out there that can make it hard to know where to start. How effective is forgoing the straw in your soda or carrying a reusable coffee cup in your car in a battle as massive as climate change?  https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2018/10/17/never-mow-another-lawn-ten-steps-you-can-take-combat-global-warming/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.176f7fa54f90
Article courtesy of The Washington Post by Tara Bahrampour

USA's infamous 'Tornado Alley' may be shifting east

The USA's infamous "Tornado Alley" may be shifting to the east, a new study reports.

Over the past four decades, researchers found that tornadoes have increased over a large swath of the Midwest and Southeast, including what's been referred to as "Dixie Alley." https://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2018/10/17/tornado-alley-shifting-east/1660803002/

Article courtesy of USA Today by Doyle Rice

Bill Gates launches effort to help the world adapt to climate change

In Bangladesh, low-lying and vulnerable to yearly flooding, farmers are shifting from raising chickens to raising ducks. Ducks can swim.

In the Philippines, where half the mangrove forests have been lost to development, biologists are replanting the trees to recreate nature’s protective coastal shield against deadly typhoons. The gnarled tangle of mangrove roots slows the movement of tidal waters, reducing the impact of storm surges and waves.  https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/10/bill-gates-world-bank-launch-climate-change-adaptation-fund/

Article courtesy of National Geographic by Laura Parker

Clean Water Act dramatically cut pollution in U.S. waterways

The 1972 Clean Water Act has driven significant improvements in U.S. water quality, according to the first comprehensive study of water pollution over the past several decades, by researchers at UC Berkeley and Iowa State University.  http://news.berkeley.edu/2018/10/08/clean-water-act-dramatically-cut-pollution-in-u-s-waterways/
Article courtesy of The Berkley New by Kara Manke

Combating Climate Change Can Produce Economic Gain

Countries that take ambitious action against climate change can benefit macroeconomically—if they prioritize the most economically efficient measures for mitigating emissions.  http://www.reverejournal.com/2018/10/05/combating-climate-change-can-produce-economic-gain/#
Article courtesy of The Revere Journal by journal staff

Solar on water, robots, and 2-sided panels, oh my: solar tech’s near future

In some growing solar markets, especially in East Asia, land is becoming a constraint. Much of the flat land is taken for agriculture. The land in and around cities is densely populated. Finding room for solar will only get more difficult.

One solution: Put it on the water! PV panels can be mounted on pontoons that float on freshwater lakes and reservoirs.

Floating PV has a few advantages: it can be built without traditional site preparation, pile driving, or fence and road construction; there’s less competition for the “land”; the panels stay cooler, which boosts efficiency; and floating systems can often be built closer to loads. 

Article courtesy of VOX by David Roberts

The ocean is brown, the crabs are dead and the smell is unbearable. Welcome to Florida

That’s our new reality and people are living it in this beach town. Naples beaches are known as some of the state’s best for their tidy white sands and pristine waters, but the toll of the toxic red tide invasion is relentless. No, the environmental disaster that appeared last fall — and kept us away all summer — hasn’t gone away even though your friends may be posting on social media pretty sunset pictures.  https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fabiola-santiago/article219330305.html
Article courtesy of Miami Herald by Fabiola Santiago

Bangladesh kids turn the tide on climate change aboard floating schools

But seven-year-old Mosammat is learning her ABCs aboard a boat fitted with a classroom and play equipment that is helping children thrive even as climate change alters the world around them.
"We can attend classes even during the rainy season, when our homes are barely above water," the seven-year-old told AFP aboard the vessel in Chalan Beel, some 175 kilometres (around 110 miles) northwest of Dhaka'
https://www.afp.com/en/news/205/bangladesh-kids-turn-tide-climate-change-aboard-floating-schools-doc-18y8y81
Article courtesy of AFP by Munir Uz Zaman.

Utilities have a problem: the public wants 100% renewable energy, and quick

Renewable energy is hot. It has incredible momentum, not only in terms of deployment and costs but in terms of public opinion and cultural cachet. To put it simply: Everyone loves renewable energy. It’s cleaner, it’s high-tech, it’s new jobs, it’s the future.  https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/9/14/17853884/utilities-renewable-energy-100-percent-public-opinion
Article courtesy of VOX by David Roberts

Will climate change turn Miami into a ‘future Atlantis’? Oct 3, 2018 6:30 PM EDT

The floodwaters are still receiving from Hurricane Florence. And the damage, which could total well over $20 billion, is still being assessed.

The flooding was far worse than the winds from this storm. And it has prompted a larger conversation once again about what could happen to other coastal cities.  https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/will-climate-change-turn-miami-into-a-future-atlantis

Article courtesy of PBS News Hour by  Judy Woodruff