The storm’s winds increased 35mph in 24 hours – something that global heating is only making more common
Hurricane Francine may now be weakening after pummeling Louisiana but the storm’s rapid and surprise intensification into a category 2 storm is one that scientists say is only getting more common due to global heating.
Francine crunched into Terrebonne parish, in southern Louisiana, on Wednesday, bringing sustained winds of about 100mph (160km/h) as it came ashore from the Gulf of Mexico, causing flash flooding and power outages for hundreds of thousands of people. New Orleans got a month’s worth of rain within just a day.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
09/12/2024 - 08:52
09/12/2024 - 08:38
Rollout of pylons in countryside is a cheaper, quicker way to integrate green electricity, energy adviser says
The government has ruled out burying electricity cables underground as part of its energy strategy, which will involve the unrolling of hundreds of pylons across the British countryside, Ed Miliband’s clean energy adviser has said.
Chris Stark, the former leader of the Climate Change Committee, now heads the government’s “mission control” department for decarbonising the grid by boosting renewable energy and building connections across the country.
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09/12/2024 - 08:18
Wildfires east of Los Angeles threaten tens of thousands of homes since accelerating during weekend heatwave
Firefighters battling three major wildfires in the mountains east of Los Angeles took advantage of cooler weather as they slowly gained the upper hand, but not before dozens of homes were destroyed and thousands of people were forced to evacuate.
California is only now heading into the teeth of the wildfire season but already has seen nearly three times as much acreage burn than during all of 2023. The wildfires have threatened tens of thousands of homes and other structures across southern California since they accelerated during a triple-digit heatwave over the weekend.
The Airport fire in Orange county, which has burned more than 35 sq miles (91 sq km). The fire was 5% contained on Wednesday night and was reportedly sparked by heavy equipment operating in the area.
The Line fire in the San Bernardino national forest, which was 18% contained on Wednesday and had charred 57 sq miles (148 sq km). The blaze has injured three firefighters. Authorities said it was caused by arson in Highland. A suspect was arrested on Tuesday.
The Bridge fire east of Los Angeles, which grew tenfold in a day and has burned 78 sq miles (202 sq km), torched at least 33 homes and six cabins and forced the evacuation of 10,000 people. The cause of the fire is not yet known. It remained 0% contained on Wednesday night.
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09/12/2024 - 08:00
As increasingly explosive fire seasons ravage the country, federal firefighters say their employer is exacerbating exhaustion by misclassifying their jobs
Firefighters are feeling the strain of another long and intense season, with months to go before the highest risks subside. But as they battle the flames, the thousands of people working for the US Forest Service (USFS), the largest federal employer of firefighters, are also fighting for changes within the agency to tackle issues they say have made the work even harder.
Federal firefighters have been waiting for years for revisions to outdated job descriptions, which have forced them to do more for less. Many have opted to leave altogether.
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09/12/2024 - 05:53
Owners confirm site will become fuel import terminal and distribution hub, in blow to Scotland’s industrial base
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The owners of the Grangemouth oil refinery have confirmed it will shut by the end of June next year, in a blow to Scotland’s industrial base and the site’s 500 employees.
Britain’s oldest refinery will close in the second quarter of 2025 to become a fuels import terminal and distribution hub, according to Petroineos, a joint venture between the Chinese state-owned oil firm PetroChina and Ineos, the petrochemicals empire of the British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
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09/12/2024 - 05:00
Language in Senate defense bill is probably first step to shield widely used toxic F-gases from regulation
US lawmakers and the military are pushing for a new definition of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” that would exclude a subclass of toxic compounds increasingly used across the economy and considered to be potent greenhouse gases.
Language included in the defense bill by the Senate armed services committee asks the military to detail how it uses fluorinated gases, or F-gases, stating that the committee is “interested in learning more about how the [department of defense] may or may not be impacted by the definition” of PFAS.
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09/12/2024 - 05:00
Communities, states and advocacy groups push to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for role in climate crisis
Big oil is facing a soaring number of climate-focused lawsuits, a new analysis has found. It’s a sign that more communities are demanding accountability for the industry’s contributions to the climate crisis.
For the report, published on Thursday, Oil Change International and the climate research organization Zero Carbon Analytics pulled data from a Columbia University database, focusing on cases in which the world’s 25 largest fossil fuel producers were named as defendants.
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09/12/2024 - 02:00
Bivalve veganism is built on the philosophy that molluscs such as mussels and oysters feel no pain. But some say the scientific jury is still out
Alex Karol is fantasising about the next time she gets to slurp up some freshly shucked oysters. “I’ll have them with lemon juice, shallots, and a couple of drops of hot sauce. Sometimes, I have a couple with a splash of vodka,” says the London- and Toronto-based publicist. Cost curbs her craving for oysters to one meal a month, and so even just talking about them makes her hungry. “I really, really enjoy them – like, properly enjoy them. I wish that I had oysters every single day of my life.”
Oysters are not to everyone’s taste but Karol’s enthusiasm for the filter-feeding bivalves comes as a surprise – because she is vegan. She is otherwise strict: she does not even consume honey. But a few years back she found she was struggling to get certain nutrients in suitable quantities from plants alone, and someone tipped her off to the idea that you could eat oysters and still be vegan. It was called “bivalve veganism” – and Karol was sold.
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09/12/2024 - 02:00
Grand schemes, many backed by governments, masquerade as positive action on the environment. They should be disowned
Let’s talk about perceptionware. Perceptionware is technology whose main purpose is to create an impression of action. Whether it will ever work at scale is less important, in some cases entirely beside the point. If it reassures the public and persuades government not to regulate damaging industries, that’s mission accomplished.
Managing perceptions is an expensive business. Real money, especially public money, is spent on fake solutions. Take carbon capture and storage: catching and burying carbon dioxide emissions from power stations, oil and gas fields, and steel and cement plants. For 20 years, it has spectacularly failed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, its only clear successes involve enhanced oil recovery: carbon dioxide is used to drive oil out of geological formations that are otherwise difficult to exploit. With astonishing chutzpah, some oil companies have claimed the small amount of carbon that remains trapped in the rocks as a climate benefit. Though it is greatly outweighed by the extra oil extracted, they have, as a result, received billions in government subsidies.
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09/12/2024 - 00:00
UK government urged to change regulations so new homes incorporate solar panels, heat pump, high-grade insulation and battery storage
Building new homes to low-carbon standards would save the occupants thousands of pounds, new research has shown, as experts urged the government to change the regulations on housing development.
People living in a typical three-bedroom, semi-detached newly built house would save an average of £1,341 a year if it was equipped with solar panels, a heat pump, high-grade insulation and battery storage.
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