Global warming?

[rbkwp]

power utility is bringing community groups to the table.

New York’s latest move toward achieving its aggressive decarbonization goals makes good on the promise of a more equitable transition away from fossil fuels. On Tuesday, the New York Power Authority (NYPA), a publicly owned power utility, announced an agreement to work with grassroots environmental groups on a plan to replace six “peaker plants” in New York City with cleaner technologies.

These power plants are designed to fire up only during times of peak demand, like hot summer days when New Yorkers are blasting their air conditioners — and air quality is already compromised. The facilities are disproportionately located in communities of color in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, areas that are simultaneously burdened with other health risks like heat vulnerability. In addition to emitting carbon dioxide that is heating up the planet, the plants release harmful pollutants like nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and tiny, easily inhalable particles that contribute to respiratory issues.

NYPA has agreed to share all data and analysis with the PEAK Coalition, an alliance of five leading environmental justice groups, as it studies replacement options. It will even hire an independent consultant to help PEAK interpret technical details, giving the coalition the tools to push back on proposals they don’t agree with.

NYPA is aiming to have a final report with recommendations by next June, at which time it and PEAK will discuss next steps.

— Emily Pontecorvo

More Grist for your mill

Outside Biden’s town hall, middle school activists demand climate action

New Sunrise Movement recruits rally for Biden, but they still want a Green New Deal.

These 4 toss-up Senate races might determine the fate of the planet

Maine, North Carolina, Iowa, and Montana could decide whether Congress takes action.

I think my dad’s girlfriend might become a climate denier

It’s 2020 and everyone is tired. But it can be a relief to talk through beliefs offline.

Trump has made fracking an election issue. Has he misjudged Pennsylvania?

The swing state is threatened by pipeline projects and supportive of climate action.

New York says goodbye to 6 dirty power plants and hello to working with communities

"They always have the advantage of having information that we don't have access to." Now that will change.

Support Grist’s work

 

[rbkwp]

a quiet HAKAI weekend
why not

Peckish Seabirds and Turkey Snoozes


Thanksgiving has come and gone here in Canada, and in this odd year it meant Zoomed table spreads, socially distanced side dishes, and not flying home to see family.

I’ll admit it: in these pandemic times, I miss planes. Not just the thrill of travel or visiting my far-flung family, but actually flying. I’m cognizant of the environmental footprint and fly only if I have to, but I truly love the acceleration of takeoff, watching the ground drop away, and being above the clouds.

Which is why I felt inordinately lucky to live in a coastal city this past weekend, when I climbed a local peak only to discover that the autumn fog had rolled in off the sea and turned the world below me into a sea of cloud.

For a moment, I imagined I was 10,000, not 400, meters above sea level, perhaps en route to see my parents, grandmother, and newborn niece. I imagined I was chasing a story somewhere I’d never been before. I imagined I was heading somewhere secluded for a week with my phone turned off.

So, this year I’m thankful for the ocean. For its wonders, for its many stories still to be discovered and told, and this strange Thanksgiving, for its reminder that soon we’ll be above the clouds again.

Amorina Kingdon
Staff researcher and writer

This Week’s Stories

The Race Against Catastrophe

In Arctic waters, researchers are scrambling to record baseline environmental data, while communities brace for the inevitable—shipping disasters.

by Cathleen O’Grady • 2,300 words / 11 mins

Protection for the Rich, Retreat for the Poor

How the United States’ implementation of climate change adaptation programs is exacerbating inequality and breeding a new form of climate gentrification.

by Michael Allen • 1,000 words / 5 mins

Peck by Peck, Seabirds Are Eating Live Whales

Giant petrels see surfaced whales as a swimming snack bar.

by Chloe Williams • 550 words / 2 mins

One Great Shot: Packing Stingers

Don’t mess with the aggregating anemone.

by Patrick Keeling • a quick read with one great photo




What We’re Reading

In a project called Mermaid Tears, photographer Gianmarco Maraviglia turns a macro lens on the humble nurdle: the lentil-sized building block of our plastic lives. As many as 53 billion of the buoyant little pellets pollute the oceans—and more are accumulating as the rate of cheap plastic production ramps up in places like the United States. (Washington Post, Audubon)

As plastic waste threatens to overwhelm our world, you may be relieved to hear that scientists have linked two bacterial enzymes to make a “super enzyme” that can break down plastic much faster than before. Within a few years, researchers say, the technique could be used in recycling. (The Guardian)

Fifty years after beaches were desegregated in South Carolina, many descendants of enslaved Gullah Geechee people are still cut off from the ocean by an intergenerational fear of water, limited access to swimming lessons, and the increasing privatization of the seashore. (The State)

For the ultrarich, however, the allure of an exclusive beach is stronger than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic has supercharged the private island real estate market, and wealthy buyers are overwhelming brokers in their search for a “safe haven.” (New York Times)

In southern Nova Scotia, opposition to a Mi’kmaq nation’s small-scale lobster fishery is becoming increasingly vicious. On Tuesday, hundreds of non-Indigenous people torched and vandalized Mi’kmaw-owned vehicles, trashed two lobster buying facilities, and destroyed the catch. (APTN, CBC)

Letters to the Editor

Since publishing Sarah Gilman’s luminous feature, “The Island That Humans Can’t Conquer,” we’ve received an outpouring of admiration from readers. Read the story on our site, or at Smithsonian, The Atlantic, or High Country News, where it’s been republished with permission, then reply to this newsletter to tell us what you think.

I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed Sarah Gilman’s article on St. Matthew Island. Her writing is amazing. I could “feel and smell” everything she wrote. The history, people, desolation, growth, abandonment, and regrowth all came through in her words. You are fortunate to have someone of her caliber writing for you.

Michael Maggio
Wynnewood, Pennsylvania

Thank Sarah Gilman and your whole enterprise for the remarkable, beautifully crafted article on her visit to St. Matthew Island. Poetry, scientific observation … wonderful!

Eric Berman
Fayetteville, Arkansas



A Bit of Fun, Just for the Halibut

by Liz Climo • thelittleworldofliz.com • www.facebook.com/LizClimo

 

[rbkwp]

echo w,as well,mybe

Friday, October 16, 2020

Climate Change Likely Drove Our Ancestors to Extinction, Study Finds

Large Methane Leaks Soar 32% Despite Lockdowns and Green Pledges

Global Climate Campaigners Want Public Banks to Fund Just Recovery and Green Transition

Roadmap Points Europe Toward Safer, Sustainable Chemicals

Panera Bread Becomes First National Chain to Use Climate-Friendly Label

COVID-19, Cold or Flu Symptoms?

 

[rbkwp]

yet again,another lot
so common.,so sad


Rescue mission underway for pod of Pilot Whales at risk of stranding in Coromandel
12 MIN AGO • SOURCE: 1 NEWS
A rescue mission is underway for a pod of Pilot Whales at risk of stranding near Colville in the Coromandel Peninsula this morning.

Waitete Bay, Coromandel Peninsula Source: istock.com
It comes after Project Jonah received multiple calls from concerned locals about the Pilot Whales, a member of the dolphin family, that were swimming in "very shallow, muddy water", the marine mammal protection organisation said on Facebook.

Project Jonah said part of the pod had avoided stranding, while others were in the shallows.

The Department of Conservation and Project Jonah medics are now onsite to help.

Colville is a relatively remote part of the country, and Project Jonah said the rescue effort could take all day.

I has advised the public that a mass response is not needed.

"If any of you decide to go (we do not need a mass public response), then please consider the following to be safe and self sufficient: Wetsuit, warm clothes, food and drink are all a requirement. Follow all instructions given. Please stop and rest if you feel tired or cold," the organisation said on Facebook.

 

[rbkwp]

the usual monday NZ repeat
in case yu missed some

'The Arctic Ocean Is Dying': Grim Conclusion as Biggest North Pole Mission Returns

Cougar Follows Jogger for Nearly Six Minutes in Harrowing Video

IKEA to Buy Back Used Furniture This Black Friday in 27 Countries

‘My Octopus Teacher’ Stuns Audiences, Reinforces Power of Nature

Cargo Vessels Are Killing More Whales — A New Effort Aims to Save Them

'Uninhabitable Hell:' UN Report Warns of Planet's Future for Millions Without Climate Action

Where Can You Move to Avoid the Climate Crisis?

Roadmap Points Europe Toward Safer, Sustainable Chemicals

These 12 Books Surrounding Election Add Perspective to Climate Crisis

Nigerian Radio Program Is Encouraging Locals to Embrace Gorilla Conservation

 

[ActionBuddy]

If recycling plastics isn’t making sense, remake the plastics:
New catalytic approaches convert plastic into liquid fuels, nanotubes.

JOHN TIMMER - 10/18/2020

Workers sort plastic waste as a forklift transports plastic waste at Yongin Recycling Center in Yongin, South Korea.

A/B

 

[deleted15807]

Sir David Attenborough is the latest to sound the alarm that will undoubtedly be ignored. Saving the world isn't profitable.

 

[deleted15807]

If only humanity understood "Ecosystem over economy". It's too busy feasting on the planet.

 

[rbkwp]

The biggest fight over cap and trade isn’t about what you think it is

Did California's landmark legislation help or hurt the state's most vulnerable?

Support Grist.org’s newsletters

Donate today

This radiant model wants you to stop worrying and love nuclear energy

The world’s first nuclear influencer is not a shill.

Rewild to mitigate the climate crisis, urge leading scientists

Restoring degraded natural lands highly effective for carbon storage and avoiding species extinctions.

‘We don’t have any choice’: The young climate activists naming and shaming politicians

As the election nears, young Americans are calling on U.S. politicians to take action on climate, police brutality and immigration.

Outside Biden’s town hall, middle school activists demand climate action

New Sunrise Movement recruits rally for Biden, but they still want a Green New Deal.

Dig it? If this email was forwarded to you, sign up here.

These 4 toss-up Senate races might determine the fate of the planet

Maine, North Carolina, Iowa, and Montana could decide whether Congress takes action.

I think my dad’s girlfriend might become a climate denier

It’s 2020 and everyone is tired. But it can be a relief to talk through beliefs offline.

 

[rbkwp]

Sir David Attenborough is the latest to sound the alarm that will undoubtedly be ignored. Saving the world isn't profitable.

thanks sarge
the importance of sharing
my most favoured person,know i would have missed that
93 yo,how about that
very few deserved of such
brilliant human,from the ouset

NewSir David Attenborough is the latest to sound the alarm that will undoubtedly be ignored. Saving the world isn't profitable.

so true SO TRUE!

It's easier to fool people than to convince them they've been fooled.
#5147sargon20, Today at 4:50 AM
Tools

 

[rbkwp]

NEWS OF THE DAY
Monday, October 19, 2020

New York Will Finally Enforce Its Plastic Bag Ban

Air Pollution Linked to Alzheimer's and Parkinson’s Damage in Young Brains

3 Ways COVID-19 Has Changed Youth Activism

Could Asbestos Become the Next Best Weapon Against the Climate Crisis?

Sea-Level Rise Takes Business Toll in North Carolina's Outer Banks

Missing Maki: Was Endangered Lemur Stolen From San Francisco Zoo?

 

[rbkwp]

shame
INDIA in particular was not or rather is,so pigheaded and stuborninrefysing to get Chinas knowhow for such
imagine how much that countrty/its people would benefity with solar even

Hello Nature readers,
Today we explore how China could reach its ambitious goal to be carbon neutral by 2060, spot a giant cat that was hiding among the iconic Nazca lines and go deep into the science of migraine headaches.

China will have to massively increase its solar and wind capacity to become carbon neutral by 2060. (Li Zongxian/VCG/Getty)
How China could be carbon neutral by 2060
When Chinese President Xi Jinping announced his country’s ambitious target to become carbon neutral before 2060, it came as a surprise even to many in China. It’s the country’s first long-term climate goal, and will require China to rein in CO2, and probably other greenhouse-gas emissions, to net zero. Several influential research groups that work closely with the government tell Nature how China might get there via cleaner power, carbon-capture technologies and carbon offsetting.

Nature | 6 min read

 

[rbkwp]

Elizabeth Warren blasts the EPA for neglecting environmental justice

If the Environmental Protection Agency won’t do its job, these think tanks say they will.

How the US could go from climate laggard to climate leader — in 8 simple steps

These popular policies could make America green again.

How did we get here? Four years of climate change in eight minutes

One presidential term, as told through climate change.

The cheapest climate solution? Return half of the planet to nature, this scientist says.

Visionary conservationist Eric Dinerstein on why a bold proposal to protect half the earth’s landmass is totally doable.

More indigenous land victories like ours will cool the warming planet

"When communities like mine get full rights to our forests, we protect them, preserve huge stores of carbon, and help mitigate climate change


Wednesday, October 21, 2020

U.S. Suffered Almost 300,000 Excess Deaths During Coronavirus Pandemic, CDC Reports

Trump Calls Fauci 'a Disaster,' Tries to Blame Science and Medical Experts for Failed Coronavirus Response

Judge Denies Trump Effort to Slash Food Stamps for 700,000 Americans

Indigenous Women to Financial CEOs: Stop Abetting 'Climate-Wrecking' Tar Sands Industry

Bottle-Fed Babies May Consume Millions of Microplastic Particles a Day

Flying Squirrel Poaching Ring Broken up by Florida Wildlife Investigators

 

[rbkwp]

not suggesting a red cap,may look better on him,election year

Check out the breathtaking winners of the 2020 Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest

 

[rbkwp]

not impressed

as usual both dickheads debate duh climate
overall,no matter who gets in,there will be fuck all action that will keep the world happy or satisfied,by the most poowerful country/leader in the world

lets face it,looking negatively even,the world is fucked

 

[rbkwp]

no one would/could deny me my weekly oceanic huh
in coonjunction with akai

Shark Babies and Sea Bugs

For the past five and a half years, I’ve worked for the Tula Foundation as Hakai Magazine’s social media voice. But after this month, I’ll part with the editorial “we,” regain my “I,” and move on. Though I’m neither a journalist nor a scientist—merely a silent observer, a fly on the beach—I offer some takeaways from my time on the job:

• The ocean is awesome. Weird, unknown stuff still lurks down there.

• Our journalists are amazing, and we’re always looking for more.

• People are great at pretending “death by a thousand cuts” doesn’t apply to the environment.

• It’s unfathomable that our art director will ever run out of puns.

• The answers are often already there—waiting—in traditional knowledge.

• Our articles pass through dizzying layers of editing. Watching this is like being hypnotized by those mesmerizing factory videos on YouTube … which I promise I didn’t watch on company time.

• People will never stop rebuilding stuff too close to the ocean. Ever.

• Though our oceans and coasts are in heaps of trouble, a massive army of science undergrads and grads is coming online—hundreds more each day—full of fresh ideas, energy, and passion, with a desire to work together. Hang in there, all is not lost.

It’s going to be difficult for me to unplug from all of this. The Tula Foundation has been my family; it’s been a joy to work there.

Though I won’t be far away, I’m going to miss you all terribly.

Tobin Stokes
Social media and marketing manager




This Week’s Stories

A Bug’s Life at Sea

A new study probes how sea skaters survive on the open ocean.

by Sabrina Imbler • 650 words / 3 mins

Finding Unity in the Great Bear Rainforest

How corporations, conservationists, and First Nations came together to share the rainforest.

by Andrew MacLeod • 2,000 words / 10 mins

This Mommy Shark Has a Unique Way of Making Babies

Baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo.

by David Shiffman • 450 words / 2 mins

What Would a British Columbia Seal and Sea Lion Cull Actually Entail?

Proponents are calling for the deaths of at least 75,000 seals and sea lions in the first year.

by Larry Pynn • 1,200 words / 6 mins

The Long, Expensive Fight For First Nations’ Fishing Rights

The controversy surrounding the Mi’kmaw moderate livelihood fishery suggests a lack of understanding of First Nations’ fishing rights. So what are those rights, exactly?

by Vanessa Minke-Martin • 2,300 words / 11 mins

This Week’s Audio

Death of a Modern Wolf

Once feared, vilified, and exterminated, the wolves of Vancouver Island face an entirely different threat: our fascination, our presence, and our selfies.

Listen to this 2017 story, then check out Larry Pynn’s investigation of one such wolf next week.

by J. B. MacKinnon • 22 mins • Listen here or with your podcast app

 

[rbkwp]

More Grist for your mill

The aptly named East Troublesome Fire brings red skies, evacuations to the Rocky Mountains

The fire grew by 140,000 acres within 24 hours.

Hot real estate tip: An all-electric home will probably save you money

In 7 cities with different climates and electric grids, new all-electric homes saved money and CO2

Apple is aiming for ‘zero climate impact.’ The iPhone 12 won’t help.

The most sustainable iPhone is the one that's already in your pocket.

Trump goads Biden into saying he’ll ‘phase out’ fossil fuels at final debate

At a press pool after the debate, Biden amended his stance on phasing out fossil fuels, saying: "We're not getting rid of fossil fuels. We're getting rid of the subsidies for fossil fuels, but we're not getting rid of fossil …

‘Probably like 50-50’: Trump privately admitted climate change fueled California’s fires

Off-camera, the president dialed back his science denial.

Cities tried to lead the charge on climate action. Most of them are behind.

A new climate action report card found cities struggling to live up to their ambitions.

 

[rbkwp]

admit
my other personallike,of factual,DESMOG

This Massive Facebook Solar Project Will Power Shell’s Fracking Operations in Texas
— By Justin Nobel (10 min. read) —
In the heart of the Permian oil patch in West Texas, a massive $416 million solar array began converting sunshine to electricity this summer. One of the project’s main financiers has a very familiar name — Facebook.

The social media corporation helped make possible the 379-megawatt Prospero I solar array, located about 18 miles west of the city of Andrews and covering an area five times larger than New York City’s Central Park. The project represents a model initiative for Facebook, which is striving to become a leader on climate change. A June 2019 Associated Press article about Prospero I repeatedly implies its energy will power Facebook’s data centers, where photos, videos, and other information is stored. The article quotes CEO Mark Zuckerberg in saying that, “These new solar projects will help us reach” a goal “for all our data centers and offices to use 100% renewable energy by 2020.”


READ MORE

Texas Regulators Failing to Act on Pollution Complaints in Permian Oilfields, New Report Finds
— By Sharon Kelly (10 min. read) —
Over the past five years, environmental advocates with the nonprofit Earthworks have made trips to 298 oil and gas wells, compressor stations, and processing plants across the Permian Basin in Texas, an oil patch which last year hit record-high methane pollution levels for the U.S. During those trips, Earthworks found and documented emissions from the oil industry's equipment, and on 141 separate occasions, they reported what they found to the state’s environmental regulators.

However, in response to those 141 complaints, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) took action to reduce pollution — by, for example, issuing a violation to the company responsible — just 17 times, according to a new report published today by Earthworks, which describes a pattern in which Texas regulators failed to address oilfield pollution problems, allowing leaks to continue in some cases for months.


READ MORE

Hurricane Delta Compounds Oil Pollution Left By Hurricane Laura in Louisiana’s Wetlands
— By Julie Dermansky (7 min. read) —
Hurricane Delta made landfall in Creole, Louisiana, on October 9 — 13 miles east of where Hurricane Laura struck 43 days before. It touched down in an area packed with oil and gas wells, pipelines, and rigs.

An assessment of how much oil was spilled after Laura had not been made when Hurricane Delta created a new round of destruction along a similar track, from Port Arthur, Texas, to Baton Rouge.


READ MORE

Polling Shows Growing Climate Concern Among Americans. But Outsized Influence of Deniers Remains a Roadblock
— By Dana Drugmand (9 min. read) —
More Americans than ever before — 54 percent, recent polling data shows — are alarmed or concerned about climate change, which scientists warn is a planetary emergency unfolding in the form of searing heat, prolonged drought, massive wildfires, monstrous storms, and other extremes.

These kinds of disasters are becoming increasingly costly and impossible to ignore. Yet even as the American public becomes progressively more worried about the climate crisis, a shrinking but vocal slice of the country continues to dismiss these concerns, impeding efforts to address the monumental global challenge.


READ MORE



From the Climate Disinformation Database: Turning Point USA

Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is a youth conservative activist organization founded by Charlie Kirk in 2012. The nonprofit, which has ties to the fossil fuel industry and Koch-funded organizations, says its mission is working to “promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government.” Individuals affiliated with TPUSA have downplayed the climate crisis, and while maintaining it is nonpartisan, the organization has close ties to the Trump administration. The group recently made the news when Facebook announced it was banning a marketing firm that it says was running fake accounts for Turning Point USA, although the nonprofit says the firm was working with its separate 501(c)(4) entity, Turning Point Action.

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database or our new Koch Network Database.

 

[rbkwp]

The Deepest, Darkest, Most Frigid Depths of the Ocean Are Warming
Thermometers anchored to the seafloor revealed that even the deep sea is impervious to rising global temperatures

To get a glimpse of what's happening in the deep blue, scientists deployed instruments to measure changes on the sea floor. This hydrothermal vent exists at 3,300 meters deep. (MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY 4.0)
By Rasha Aridi
SMITHSONIANMAG.COM
OCTOBER 23, 2020 12:35PM



Scientists have mountains of data that show just how dramatically temperatures are warming on land and at the ocean's surface, but what's happening in the darkest, nearly unreachable depths of the ocean has been shrouded in mystery. A new study suggests that even temperatures at the seafloor are rising, reports Maria Temming for Science News.


To get a glimpse of what's happening in the deep blue, a team of scientists deployed thick, glass spheres anchored by barbell plates in four spots at the bottom of the Argentine Basin, off the coast of Uruguay. The instruments continuously collected data on the seafloor by logging measurements every hour from 2009 to 2019.


The Deepest, Darkest, Most Frigid Depths of the Ocean Are Warming | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine

and so say all of us

 

[rbkwp]

the importance of
wonder what 2021 will bring us/undeserved huh
dont mind saying,truth


— Anton Chekov

The Plastic Myth and the Misunderstood Triangle

'The Arctic Ocean Is Dying': Grim Conclusion as Biggest North Pole Mission Returns

Will a $26M Robot Dolphin Replace Captive Animals in Aquariums and Theme Parks?

Sea-Level Rise Takes Business Toll in North Carolina's Outer Banks

CO2 Emissions Caused Earth’s Largest Mass Extinction, Study Confirms

Turtle Doves: Bringing Back the UK's Fastest Declining Bird

‘My Octopus Teacher’ Stuns Audiences, Reinforces Power of Nature

3 Ways COVID-19 Has Changed Youth Activism

14-Year-Old Girl Wins $25,000 for Work on Possible COVID Cure

Mouthwash Can Inactivate Human Coronavirus in a Lab, but What Does This Really Mean?