https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/29/world/un-advisory-opinion-vanuatu-climate-change/index.html By Rachel Ramirez , CNN.  Excerpt: Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu on Wednesday won a historic vote at the United Nations that calls on the world’s highest court to establish for the first time the obligations countries have to address the climate crisis — and the consequences if they don’t. Vanuatu has long faced the disproportionate impacts of rising seas and intensifying storms. And in 2021, it launched its call for the  UN International Court of Justice  to  provide an “advisory opinion”  on the legal responsibility of governments to fight the climate crisis, arguing that climate change has become a human rights issue for Pacific Islanders. Although the advisory opinion will be non-binding, it will carry significant weight and authority and could inform climate negotiations as well as future climate lawsuits around the world. It could also strengthen the position of climate-vulnerable countr

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/30/melting-antarctic-ice-predicted-to-cause-rapid-slowdown-of-deep-ocean-current-by-2050 By Graham Readfearn , The Guardian.  Excerpt: Melting ice around  Antarctica  will cause a rapid slowdown of a major global deep ocean current by 2050 that could alter the world’s climate for centuries and accelerate sea level rise, according to scientists behind new research. The research suggests if greenhouse gas emissions continue at today’s levels, the current in the deepest parts of the ocean could slow down by 40% in only three decades. This, the scientists said, could generate a cascade of impacts that could push up sea levels, alter weather patterns and starve marine life of a vital source of nutrients. ...Prof Matt England, of the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales and a co-author of the research  published in Nature , said the whole deep ocean current was heading for collapse on its current trajectory. “In the pa

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/30/what-is-carbon-capture-usage-and-storage By Jillian Ambrose and  Fiona Harvey , The Guardian.  Excerpt: The components of CCS [carbon capture and storage] have been around  for decades  now: it’s a group of technologies that can capture the carbon dioxide produced by major factories and power plants – preventing them from reaching the atmosphere and contributing to global heating – then transport them, bury them or reuse them. The key aim is to stop the CO 2  escaping into the atmosphere and exacerbating the climate crisis. In most versions, the preliminary step involves fitting factory chimneys with solvent filters, which trap carbon emissions before they escape. The gas can then be piped to locations where it can be used or stored. Most carbon dioxide will be injected deep underground – where fossil fuel gas comes from in the first place – to be stored where it cannot contribute to the climate crisis. ...But some of the CO 2  could

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/29/plastics-cause-wide-ranging-health-issues-from-cancer-to-birth-defects-landmark-study-finds By Melissa Davey , The Guardian.  Excerpt: Led by the Boston College Global Observatory on Planetary  Health  in partnership with Australia’s Minderoo Foundation and the Centre Scientifique de Monaco, the review found “current patterns of plastic production, use, and disposal are not sustainable and are responsible for significant harms to human health … as well as for deep societal injustices”. “The main driver of these worsening harms is an almost exponential and still accelerating increase in global plastic production,” the analysis,  published in the medical journal Annals of Global Health , found. “Plastics’ harms are further magnified by low rates of recovery and recycling and by the long persistence of plastic waste in the environment. Coalminers, oil workers and gas field workers who extract fossil carbon feedstocks for plastic product

https://eos.org/articles/supercharged-el-nino-could-speed-up-southern-ocean-warming By Erin Martin-Jones , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: When easterly winds weaken over the tropical Pacific Ocean, a string of weather extremes unfolds all over the globe, with impacts ranging from flooding in South American deserts to reduced monsoon rains in Indonesia and India. This shift in wind and water currents, known as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), will become more intense if global temperatures continue to rise. Research now has revealed that projected changes to this global weather maker will also influence the remote Southern Ocean. Using the latest climate models, scientists have shown that enhanced El Niño events will likely speed the heating of deep-ocean waters around Antarctica, with the potential for accelerated melting of the continent’s land-held ice. Scientists are concerned about how stronger El Niño events could affect the Antarctic because of the potential for sea level rise. The A

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/23/cargo-ships-powered-by-wind-could-help-tackle-climate-crisis By Jeremy Plester , The Guardian.  Excerpt: Cars, trucks and planes get plenty of blame for helping drive the climate crisis, but shipping produces a large portion of the world’s greenhouse gases, as well as nitrogen oxides and sulphur pollution because ships largely use cheap heavy fuel oil. ...one solution is to use wind-powered ships. ...new hi-tech wind-propulsion can be fitted to existing ships to cut fuel use, supplying between 10% and 90% of a ship’s power needs.... Wind is free, blows harder at sea than on land and weather-routing software uses sophisticated algorithms to plot the fastest and most fuel-efficient voyage. A wide range of wind-powered devices for ships have been designed, using sails, kites or rotors that look like vertical cylinders. ...Already more than 20 commercial cargo ships use wind power to cut their fuel use....

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/22/beijings-population-falls-for-first-time-since-2003-as-china-battles-low-birthrate By Helen Davidson , The Guardian.  Excerpt: In 2022 there were more deaths than births in the Chinese capital, home to more than 21 million people, resulting in a natural population growth of minus 0.05 per 1,000 people. It is the first time the population has gone backwards since 2003....“Given the high living and education cost and education levels in Beijing, it is very normal that the birthrate of permanent residents is low,” said Xiujian Peng, senior research fellow at the Centre of Policy Studies at Victoria University in Australia. China’s Communist party government is  striving to reverse the trend  and stave off the economic impacts of an ageing population. ...Last year official data showed China’s birthrate had fallen to 6.77 births per 1,000 people, the lowest on record. ...“It is too difficult to marry and have children to live a stable life,” sai

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/21/methane-to-food-waste-eight-ways-to-attempt-to-stay-within-15c By Fiona Harvey , The Guardian.  Excerpt: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published  the “synthesis report” of its sixth assessment report (AR6)  on Monday. Eight years in preparation, this mammoth report encompasses the entire range of human knowledge of the climate system, compiled by hundreds of scientists from thousands of academic papers, and published in four parts, in August 2021, February and  April 2022 , and March 2023. ...key measures that governments and countries must take immediately if we are to avoid climate catastrophe: Reduce methane ...Stop deforestation ...Restore other degraded land, and stop it being turned to agriculture ...Change agriculture, and change the way we eat ...Solar and wind power ...Energy efficiency ...Stop burning coal ...Put climate at the heart of all decision-making....

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/21/urban-food-forest-dunbar-spring-tucson-arizona-climate-crisis-drought By Samuel Gilbert , The Guardian.  Excerpt: Near downtown Tucson,  Arizona , is Dunbar Spring, a neighborhood unlike any other in the city. The unpaved sidewalks are lined with native, food-bearing trees and shrubs fed by rainwater diverted from city streets. One single block has over 100 plant species, including native goji berries, desert ironwood with edamame-like seeds and chuparosa bushes with cucumber-flavored flowers. This urban food forest – which began almost 30 years ago – provides food for residents and roughage for livestock, and the tree canopy also provides relief to residents in the  third-fastest  warming city in the nation. It has made Dunbar Spring a model for other areas grappling with increased heat, drought and food insecurity caused by the climate crisis. “We’re creating a living pantry,” said Brad Lancaster, a resident and co-founder of the  D

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2023/03/20/epa-california-waiver-electric-trucks/ By Anna Phillips , The Washington Post.  Excerpt: The Biden administration will approve new California rules to cut tailpipe pollution and phase out sales of diesel-burning trucks, according to three people briefed on the plans, a move that could jump-start the nation’s transition to  electric-powered trucks  and help communities harmed by diesel pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency intends to grant California “waivers” to enforce environmental rules that are significantly tougher than federal requirements and that state regulators have already approved, said these individuals, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the announcement was not yet public. The new policies could have a profound effect on the air Californians breathe. Heavy-duty trucks account for nearly a third of the state’s smog-forming nitrogen oxide and more than a quarter of its fine particle pollution

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/20/us/carbon-dioxide-ethanol-underground-midwest.html By  Mitch Smith , The New York Times.  Excerpt: For more than a decade, the Midwest was the site of bitter clashes over plans for thousand-mile pipelines meant to carry crude oil beneath cornfields and cattle ranches. Now high-dollar pipeline fights are happening again, but with a twist. Instead of oil, these projects would carry millions of tons of carbon dioxide from ethanol plants to be injected into underground rock formations rather than dispersed as pollutants in the air. What is playing out is a very different kind of environmental battle, a huge test not just for farmers and landowners but for emerging technologies promoted as ways to safely store planet-warming carbon. ...Supporters... say the pipelines... would lower carbon emissions while aiding the agricultural economy through continued ethanol production. ...opponents are concerned about property rights and safety, and are not convinced o

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/03/19/us/carbon-capture.html By Eden Weingart, The New York Times.  Excerpt: ...Carbon capture is an umbrella term for technologies, some of them first proposed in the 1980s, that aim to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere or catch emissions and store them before they are released into the air. ...Encouraged by tax incentives included in the Inflation Reduction Act, some companies have proposed projects in the United States to capture CO 2 and either use it or store it deep underground. Those proposals have been met with skepticism, though, by some environmentalists who say carbon capture could distract from efforts to reduce emissions in the first place. ...Efforts to plant trees and  other small-scale experiments  are happening around the country. And two larger-scale methods are being developed: post-combustion capture and direct air capture....

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/14/business/mass-timber-universities.html By  Lisa Prevost , The New York Times.  Excerpt: Mass timber, an engineered wood product that offers durability and sustainability benefits, has become increasingly prominent at colleges across the country, where it is included not only as a concept in the curriculum but also as a material in campus buildings. Experts say universities are helping to increase awareness of mass timber — layers of wood bonded with glue or nails — by demonstrating its potential as a low-carbon alternative to steel and concrete. ...Long used in Europe, cross-laminated panels are so strong they are suitable for walls, roofs and flooring. And they have a number of other benefits: They capture carbon, keeping it out of the atmosphere; they are more sustainable than other construction materials, like steel and concrete; and they are exposed, adding aesthetic appeal.... 

https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/ By Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).  The  Summary for Policy Makers  (draft) [ https://report.ipcc.ch/ar6syr/pdf/IPCC_AR6_SYR_SPM.pdf ] is marked as "Approved" but "Do Not Cite, Quote or Distribute". That said, there are many many aspects of interest. E.g.:  "A.4.2 Several mitigation options, notably solar energy, wind energy, electrification of urban systems, urban green infrastructure, energy efficiency, demand-side management, improved forest- and crop/grassland management, and reduced food waste and loss, are technically viable, are becoming increasingly cost effective and are generally supported by the public. From 2010– 2019 there have been sustained decreases in the unit costs of solar energy (85%), wind energy (55%), and lithium ion batteries (85%), and large increases in their deployment, e.g., >10x for solar and >100x for electric vehicles (EVs), varying widely across regions. The mix of polic

https://eos.org/articles/ice-cores-record-long-ago-seasons-in-antarctica By Caroline Hasler , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: Researchers used ice core data to reconstruct seasonal temperatures throughout the Holocene. The results link especially hot summers with patterns in Earth’s orbit. ...In January, a team of scientists presented a seasonal temperature record dating back 11,000 years. The ice revealed a connection between intense solar radiation and hot summers in Antarctica. ...“[This] is the first record of its kind,” said  Tyler Jones , a polar climatologist at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) and lead author of the  study . Seasonal temperature data help researchers understand Antarctica’s natural rhythm, which is critical for anticipating the polar regions’ responses to warming. ...The data showed that summer temperatures in West Antarctica were higher when the region received a more intense dose of sunlight. This deceptively simple o

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/17/global-fresh-water-demand-outstrip-supply-by-2030 By Fiona Harvey , The Guardian.  Excerpt: The world is facing an imminent  water crisis , with demand expected to outstrip the supply of fresh water by 40% by the end of this decade, experts have said on the eve of a crucial UN water summit. Governments must urgently stop subsidising the extraction and overuse of water through misdirected agricultural subsidies, and industries from mining to manufacturing must be made to overhaul their wasteful practices, according to  a landmark report  on the economics of water. ...Many governments still do not realise  how interdependent they are when it comes to water , according to Rockstrom. Most countries depend for about half of their water supply on the evaporation of water from neighbouring countries – known as “green” water because it is held in soils and delivered from transpiration in forests and other ecosystems, when plants take up water

https://eos.org/articles/tonga-eruption-may-temporarily-push-earth-closer-to-1-5c-of-warming By J. Besl , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: The underwater eruption of Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha‘apai sent megatons of water vapor into the stratosphere, contributing to an increase in global warming over the next 5 years. When Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha‘apai (HTHH) erupted in January 2022, it shot the standard volcanic cocktail of ash, gas, and pulverized rock into the sky. But the eruption included one extra ingredient that’s now causing climate concerns: a significant splash of ocean water. The underwater caldera shot  146 metric megatons  of water into the stratosphere like a geyser, potentially contributing to atmospheric warming over the next 5 years, according to a new study published in  Nature Climate Change .... Source:    

2023-03-15.  Schizophrenia pinpointed as a key factor in heat deaths . [ https://www.science.org/content/article/schizophrenia-pinpointed-key-factor-heat-deaths ] By Warren Cornwall, Science. Excerpt: ...more than 600 people died from the heat in British Columbia, as temperatures topped 40°C for days, shattering records in a region better known for temperatures usually half as high. Now, new research has zeroed in on one of the hardest hit groups: people with schizophrenia. Epidemiologists combing through provincial health records found that, overall, those with mental health conditions seemed to have an elevated risk of a heat-related death. That was most severe for people with schizophrenia—a 200% increase compared with typical summers. ...schizophrenia can affect the brain’s hypothalamus, which helps regulate temperature through sweating and shivering. Some antipsychotic medications can raise body temperature, which can have deadly effects when coupled with extreme heat. The disease

https://www.science.org/content/article/splitting-seawater-provide-endless-source-green-hydrogen By Robert F. Service, Science.  Excerpt: ...“Green” hydrogen, made by using renewable energy to split water molecules, could power heavy vehicles and decarbonize industries such as steelmaking without spewing a whiff of carbon dioxide. But because the water-splitting machines, or electrolyzers, are designed to work with pure water, scaling up green hydrogen could exacerbate global freshwater shortages. Now, several research teams are reporting advances in producing hydrogen directly from seawater, which could become an inexhaustible source of green hydrogen. ...Md Kibria, a materials chemist at the University of Calgary, says for now there’s a cheaper solution: feeding seawater into desalination setups that can remove the salt before the water flows to conventional electrolyzers. ...Today, nearly all hydrogen is made by breaking apart methane, burning fossil fuels to generate the needed hea

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/14/business/volkswagen-electric-vehicles-batteries-investment.html By Melissa Eddy , The New York Times.  Excerpt: Volkswagen said on Tuesday that it would spend $193 billion on software, battery factories and other investments as it aimed to make every fifth vehicle it sold electric by 2025. The automaker, the world’s second biggest after Toyota, will also focus on expanding its presence in North America, where it has struggled for years, and becoming more competitive in China, one of its most important markets, said Oliver Blume, Volkswagen’s chief executive....

https://eos.org/articles/rivers-in-the-sky-are-hindering-winter-arctic-sea-ice-recovery By Rachel Fritts , Eos/AGU. \\Excerpt: Atmospheric rivers are reaching farther north with greater frequency than they were 4 decades ago, according to new research. These lofted highways of water vapor are dumping rain on recovering Arctic sea ice during the winter, when ice should be at its peak. At any given time,  multiple atmospheric rivers  are moving more than a Mississippi River’s worth of water from the equator to higher latitudes. When researchers first described the phenomenon several decades ago, it was seen as a midlatitude event, associated with  flooding in California  and  snowmelt in the Pacific Northwest . But recently, atmospheric rivers have been snaking their way to the poles as well. A  new study  definitively links these extreme weather events with broader trends in Arctic sea ice loss....

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/12/climate/silicon-valley-bank-climate.html By  David Gelles , The New York Times.  Excerpt: As the fallout of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank continued to spread over the weekend, it became clear that some of the worst casualties were companies developing solutions for the climate crisis. The bank, the largest to fail since 2008, worked with more than 1,550 technology firms that are creating solar, hydrogen and battery storage projects. According to  its website , the bank issued them billions in loans. ...Community solar projects appear to be especially hard hit. Silicon Valley Bank said that it  led or participated in 62 percent  of financing deals for community solar projects, which are smaller-scale solar projects that often serve lower-income residential areas. ...There are signs that, when the dust settles, the climate tech industry will have a new lender of choice.... 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/11/climate/green-hydrogen-energy.html By  By  Max Bearak , The New York Times.  Excerpt: this remote parcel of the Australian Outback for an imminent transformation. A consortium of energy companies led by BP plans to cover an expanse of land eight times as large as New York City with as many as 1,743 wind turbines, each nearly as tall as the Empire State Building, along with 10 million or so solar panels and more than a thousand miles of access roads to connect them all. But none of the 26 gigawatts of energy the site expects to produce, equivalent to a third of what Australia’s grid currently requires, will go toward public use. Instead, it will be used to manufacture a novel kind of industrial fuel: green hydrogen. ...the biggest problem that green hydrogen could help solve: vast iron ore mines that are full of machines powered by immense amounts of dirty fossil fuels. Three of the world’s four biggest ore miners operate dozens of mines here.... 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/10/climate/biden-willow-oil-alaska.html By  Lisa Friedman , The New York Times.  Excerpt: ...the Biden administration is planning to greenlight an enormous $8 billion oil drilling project in the North Slope of Alaska.... ...Willow would be the largest new oil development in the United States, expected to pump out 600 million barrels of crude over 30 years. Burning all that oil could release nearly 280 million metric tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. On an annual basis, that would translate into 9.2 million metric tons of carbon pollution, equal to adding nearly two million cars to the roads each year. The United States, the second biggest polluter on the planet after China, emits about 5.6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. Environmental activists, who have labeled the project a “carbon bomb” have argued that the project would deepen America’s dependence on oil and gas at a time when the International Energy Agency said nations m

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/03/10/climate/buildings-carbon-dioxide-emissions-climate.html By Brad Plumer, The New York Times.  Excerpt: On cold mornings in New York City, boilers in the basements of thousands of buildings kick on, burning natural gas or oil to provide heat for the people upstairs. Carbon dioxide from these boilers wafts up chimneys and into the air, one of the city’s biggest sources of global warming emissions. ...At the Grand Tier, a 30-story apartment tower on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, the carbon dioxide from its two giant gas boilers is captured, cooled to a liquid and then trucked to a concrete factory in Brooklyn. There, the carbon is mixed with cement and sealed into concrete blocks, where it can’t heat the atmosphere. “This is the first carbon capture system on a building that we’re aware of anywhere in the world,” said Brian Asparro, the chief operating officer of  CarbonQuest , the company behind the system. “And we expect that it won’t be the

https://www.science.org/content/article/zimbabwe-drought-driving-hydropower-crisis-and-search-alternatives By Andrew Mambondyani, Science.  Excerpt: ...a prolonged drought has plunged Zimbabwe into a severe energy crisis. Water levels behind Zimbabwe’s main hydropower dam, which produces nearly 70% of the nation’s electricity, have dropped too low to reliably generate power, forcing utility managers to impose rolling blackouts that last for up to 20 hours per day. ...The crisis, researchers say, has highlighted the growing threat that an increasingly dry and erratic climate poses to African nations that rely on hydropower. In Zimbabwe, it is prompting the government and researchers to step up the search for more dependable energy supplies for the nation’s 16 million people. ...by 2030 “new hydropower dams will no longer be an attractive option across most of Africa.” ...the nation’s government is moving to  expand coal-fired power plants . But it is also examining sources of energy tha

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/06/revealed-1000-super-emitting-methane-leaks-risk-triggering-climate-tipping-points By Damian Carrington , The Guardian.  Excerpt: More than 1,000 “super-emitter” sites gushed the potent greenhouse gas methane into the global atmosphere in 2022, the Guardian can reveal, mostly from oil and gas facilities. The worst single leak spewed the pollution at a rate equivalent to 67m running cars. Separate data also reveals 55 “methane bombs” around the world – fossil fuel extraction sites where gas leaks alone from future production would release levels of methane equivalent to 30 years of all US greenhouse gas emissions. Methane emissions cause 25% of global heating today and there has been a “scary” surge since 2007, according to scientists. This acceleration may be the biggest threat to keeping below 1.5C of global heating and seriously risks triggering catastrophic climate tipping points, researchers say....

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/06/meat-dairy-rice-high-methane-food-production-bust-climate-target-study By Damian Carrington , The Guardian.  Excerpt: ...Climate-heating emissions from food production, dominated by meat, dairy and rice, will by themselves break the key international target of 1.5C if left unchecked, a detailed study has shown. ...the scientists said the temperature rise could be cut by 55% by cutting meat consumption in rich countries to medically recommended levels, reducing emissions from livestock and their manure, and using renewable energy in the food system. ...The research,  published in the journal Nature Climate Change , treated each greenhouse gas separately for 94 key types of food, enabling their impact on climate over time to be better understood. Feeding this emissions data into a widely used climate model showed that the continuation of today’s food production would lead to a rise of 0.7C by 2100 if global population growth was low, an