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Sinkhole appears in soccer field above an Illinois mine: ‘out of a movie’
No one was present when the sinkhole, 100ft wide and 30ft deep, suddenly collapsed the field
A vast sinkhole has dramatically appeared in middle of an Illinois soccer pitch that was laid above a limestone mine, just days after amateur teams stopped using the grounds for practice.
The collapse happened at Gordon Moore Park in Alton, Illinois, about 18 miles (30km) north of St Louis, Missouri, on Wednesday. The sinkhole appeared to be 100ft (30m) wide and 30ft (9m) deep. No injuries have been reported but all sports have been cancelled.
Continue reading...AI will be help rather than hindrance in hitting climate targets, Bill Gates says
Microsoft co-founder says efficiencies for technology and electricity grids will outweigh energy use by datacentres
Bill Gates has claimed that artificial intelligence will be more of a help than a hindrance in achieving climate goals, despite growing concern that an increase in new datacentres could drain green energy supplies.
The philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder told journalists that AI would enable countries to use less energy, even as they require more datacentres, by making technology and electricity grids more efficient.
Continue reading...Biden vs. Trump on Climate Policy
Republicans Used to Love Wind and Solar. That Romance Has Cooled.
Will Extreme Heat Hold Back Saudi Arabia and Other Gulf States?
A Surprising Climate Find
Visualized: the parts of the US where summer heat has risen the most
More than a third of Americans endure summers at least 1.5C hotter than the 1895 average, analysis shows
An onslaught of record-breaking heat across much of the US has provided yet another indicator of a longer-term issue – summers are progressively getting hotter for Americans in all corners of the country.
The US climate scientist Brian Brettschneider has analysed almost 130 years of federal data and it shows that from New York to Los Angeles there are hotspots where summers have got significantly hotter in that time compared with the average levels of warming brought about by the burning of fossil fuels.
Continue reading...Sharp rise in number of climate lawsuits against companies, report says
About 230 cases filed against corporations and trade associations around world since 2015
The number of climate lawsuits filed against companies around the world is rising swiftly, a report has found, and a majority of cases that have concluded have been successful.
About 230 climate-aligned lawsuits have been filed against corporations and trade associations since 2015, two-thirds of which have been initiated since 2020, according to the analysis published on Thursday by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
Continue reading...Islands in the Maldives Were Expected to Vanish. Climate Science Tells Another Story.
El calor mata a miles sin que los eventos masivos se adapten
Global Warming is Having a Big Effect on Our Oceans
As the Coalition goes nuclear, Labor is free to ensure fossil fuels are burned with abandon and little scrutiny | Greg Jericho
How can Australia get to net zero by 2050 while approving projects that will run for decades beyond that date?
The sham of Australia’s climate change policy has been made clear in the past two weeks. No, not nuclear power. Last Friday, while everyone was racing down nuclear-powered rabbit holes, the environment department (led by the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek) approved a coal seam gas pipeline in Queensland. This approval “has effect until 30 June 2069”. And on Tuesday the department approved the Atlas stage 3 gas project in Queensland out to June 2080.
Those dates are rather beyond 2050 when we’re supposed to be at net zero emissions. They are also when temperatures will be well over 2C above the preindustrial average.
Continue reading...If You Give a Frog a Sauna, It Might Fight Off a Deadly Fungus
Trump Says Clean Energy Is a Scam. That Could Benefit China, Experts Say.
Lawyers could charge big oil with homicide after 2023 Arizona heatwave
Charges are reasonable after July 2023 extreme weather event, prosecutors write in new memorandum
Prosecutors in Arizona could reasonably press homicide charges against big oil for deaths caused by a July 2023 heatwave, lawyers wrote in a new prosecution memorandum.
“[T]he case for prosecuting fossil fuel companies for climate-related deaths is strong enough to merit the initiation of investigations by state and local prosecutors,” the document says.
Continue reading...Flatulent livestock to incur green levy in Denmark from 2030
World’s first emissions tax on agriculture will require farmers to pay for greenhouse gas pollution from livestock
Farmers in Denmark will have to pay for planet-heating pollutants that their cattle expel as gas, after the government agreed to set the world’s first emissions tax on agriculture.
The agreement – reached on Monday night after months of fraught negotiations between farmers, industry, politicians and environmental groups – will introduce an effective tax of 120 kroner (£14) per ton of greenhouse gas pollution from livestock in 2030, which will rise to 300 kroner per ton in 2035.
Continue reading...Air freight greenhouse gas emissions up 25% since 2019, analysis finds
Boom in air cargo due to shoppers’ expectations of speedy delivery and shift in post-pandemic economy, researchers say
Air freight operators have increased their greenhouse gas emissions by 25% compared with 2019, analysis has found.
In 2023, air freight operators ran about 300,000 more flights than in 2019, an increase in flight volume of almost 30%. The US accounted for more than 40% of global air freight emissions, according to the report by campaign group Stand.earth.
Continue reading...German activists take government to court over climate policy
New law is too weak and has been made harder to enforce, while transport ministry has not taken sufficient action, groups say
German climate activists are taking the government to court for “unconstitutional” climate policy, seeking to build on a landmark victory three years ago that they had hoped would force Europe’s biggest polluter to clean up quickly.
The activists argue that the new climate law is too weak, that a recent update makes it harder to enforce, and that inaction from the transport ministry, which has repeatedly failed to meet its emissions targets, will force tough measures on poor groups in the future.
Continue reading...Sarah Finch: climate activism ‘early adopter’ behind supreme court win
UK campaigner who fronted lawsuit on future impact of fossil fuel projects says she fears for future despite ruling
Sarah Finch considers herself an early adopter of environmentalism, even if she is not quite sure what the initial spark was. “I was only ever interested in the environment,” she says. “That’s all I wanted to do.”
She never expected her name to become part of legal history. Last week, the supreme court handed down a landmark ruling in a lawsuit that Finch fronted, ruling that the climate impact of burning coal, oil and gas must be taken into account when deciding whether to approve projects. It set an important legal precedent and threw doubt on the approval of new fossil fuel projects in the UK.
Continue reading...‘You’re letting our generation down’: the green activists warning of a bad deal for young people under Labour
Green New Deal Rising is backing six of party’s candidates but says leadership cares more about business than climate
Rachel Reeves talks to business executives. She met some in December, after a £150,000 donation to Labour from a financial services firm. She met more in January, at capitalism’s annual jamboree in Davos. And just this week she told a meeting of City bankers their “fingerprints are all over” Labour’s manifesto.
But she does not talk so much to young people worried about the climate emergency. Or so 23-year-old Zak found when he tracked Reeves down to a cafe where she was campaigning on Wednesday morning. “I’m a young person with Green New Deal Rising,” he said, approaching her.
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