https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/31/climate/jbs-ipo-nyse.html By Manuela Andreoni  and  Dionne Searcey , The New York Times.  Excerpt: A giant Brazilian meatpacking company is facing persistent opposition to its plans for a listing on the New York Stock Exchange because of concerns about corruption settlements, accusations of Amazon deforestation and its growing market share in the United States. The proposed listing by JBS, the world’s biggest meatpacker, has brought together American beef producers, environmentalists and politicians from both major parties in a rare common cause. ...a dozen British lawmakers  urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to reject the share listing  to “send a clear message that the United States stands firm in its commitment to combating climate change.” ... Research suggests  about 80 percent of deforestation in the Amazon is connected to the beef industry. Global meat consumption  is expected to grow 14 percent by 2...

https://www.science.org/content/article/world-1-3%C2%B0c-or-1-5%C2%B0c-warmer-historical-ship-logs-hold-answers By PAUL VOOSEN , Science.  Excerpt: Last month’s announcement that 2023 was the  hottest year in history  was no surprise. But it came with one: No one knows exactly how much the world has warmed. One group of climate scientists found the planet has warmed 1.34°C over the 1850–1900 average, whereas  another found temperatures  had risen 1.54°C. ...the current disagreement is not over present temperatures, but rather the past. The warmth of the ocean in the late 19th century is a key part of the baseline against which the warming of the planet is measured—and figures are at odds. ...No estimate of global temperature is possible without including the oceans, which cover 70% of the planet’s surface. ...But ocean temperature records in the 19th century were few and far between. A global record  began in the 1850s  thanks to a controvers...

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/01/26/climate/panama-canal-drought-shipping.html By Mira Rojanasakul , The New York Times.  Excerpt: The lake that allows the Panama Canal to function recorded the lowest water level ever for the start of a dry season this year, which means that vastly fewer ships can pass through the canal. The extreme drought, exacerbated by an ongoing  El Niño  that is affecting Gatún Lake and the whole region appears likely to last into May. The Panama Canal Authority has reduced daily traffic through the narrow corridor by nearly 40 percent compared with last year. Many ships have already diverted to longer ocean routes, which increases both costs and carbon emissions, while the global shipping company Maersk recently announced they will shift  some of their cargo to rail . ...In previous droughts, weight restrictions were imposed because heavier boats risk running aground in the shallower water. The canal typically handles an estimated...

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adj6233 By MEGAN HE et al, Science. Intro/summary: The Athabasca oil sands in Alberta, Canada represent the world’s largest deposit of crude bitumen—a dense, extremely viscous form of petroleum. Extracting oil from these deposits generates harmful carbon emissions, which have a significant impact on air quality. Although companies are often required to monitor and report these emissions, new research suggests these reports contain major gaps—and that the true amount of pollution is much higher than previously thought. ...Using an aircraft belonging to the National Research Council of Canada, scientists directly measured carbon concentrations in the air above multiple facilities in the Athabasca oil sands. Their analyses suggested that the region emits more carbon than all the cars in Los Angeles each year—and the same amount as all other Canadian emission sources combined. Most notably, the aircraft-based measurements exceeded industry-r...

https://www.science.org/content/article/how-giant-water-batteries-could-make-green-power-reliable By ROBERT KUNZIG , Science.  Excerpt: The machines that turn Tennessee’s Raccoon Mountain into one of the world’s largest energy storage devices—in effect, a battery that can power a medium-size city—are hidden in a cathedral-size cavern deep inside the mountain. But what enables the mountain to store all that energy is plain in an aerial photo. The summit plateau is occupied by a large lake that hangs high above the Tennessee River.... At night, when demand for electricity is low but TVA’s nuclear reactors are still humming, TVA banks the excess, storing it as gravitational potential energy in the summit lake. The pumps draw water from the Tennessee and shoot it straight up the 10-meter-wide shaft at a rate that would fill an Olympic pool in less than 6 seconds. During the day, when demand for electricity peaks, water drains back down the shaft and spins the turbines, generating 1700 ...

https://eos.org/articles/trump-haley-tell-voters-economic-prosperity-requires-fossil-fuels By Grace van Deelen , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: Both Republican front-runners promise a better economy via oil and gas production. But  crude and natural gas production reached record numbers  under the Biden administration, and ties between fossil fuel production and economic prosperity are less clear than the candidates make them seem, said energy policy experts.... 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/23/climate/geoexchange-climate-colleges-heat.html By Cara Buckley , The New York Times.  Excerpt: ...Princeton University ... is using the earth beneath its campus to create a new system that will keep buildings at comfortable temperatures without burning fossil fuels. The multimillion dollar project, using a process known as geoexchange, marks a significant shift in how Princeton gets its energy, and is key to the university’s plan to stop adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere by 2046. ...the more than 2,000 boreholes planned for the campus will be undetectable, despite performing an impressive sleight of hand. During hot months, heat drawn from Princeton’s buildings will be stored in thick pipes deep underground until winter, when heat will be drawn back up again. The change is significant. Since its founding in 1746, Princeton has heated its buildings by burning carbon-based fuels, in the form of firewood, then coal, then fuel oil, then natura...