Green Mission News – May, 2023
Discussing systems changes and the circular economy with Dr Anna Birney (5:39 minutes video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU-1Jnlg5V4
What Has the Pandemic Taught Us About Vaccines?
Should Covid-19 vaccines be judged by how well they prevent disease or how well they prevent death? Anna Durbin, a public health expert and vaccine researcher, talks with Steven Strogatz about the science behind vaccines.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-has-the-pandemic-taught-us-about-vaccines-20230405/
15 community-based conservation opportunities to help people and the planet
Purpose Over Profit: Locking in our mission forever — Biohabitats
Meet the Indigenous Engineer Upcycling Tequila Waste into Sustainable Housing
Lost Decade: How Shell Downplayed Early Warnings Over Climate Change
Newly discovered documents from the 1970s and early ’80s show that Shell knew more about the “greenhouse effect” than it let on in public.
‘Festival of Climate Resistance’: Tens of Thousands Celebrate ‘The Big One’ in UK on Earth Day
“As the government continues to fan the flames of the climate and biodiversity crisis it’s clear that only a collective effort can put it out,” said the head of Greenpeace UK.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/day-2-the-big-one-climate-protest-uk
Regenerative Industry Landscape
https://howgood.com/regenerative-industry-landscape
Boom and Bust Coal 2023
TRACKING THE GLOBAL COAL PLANT PIPELINE
Globally, the operating coal fleet grew by 19.5 GW in 2022. More than half
(59%) of the 45.5 GW of newly commissioned capacity was in China. Out-
side China, the global coal fleet continued to shrink, although at a slower
rate than in previous years.
https://globalenergymonitor.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Boom-Bust-Coal-2023.pdf
Cultivating Resilient Farms and Communities: How Practical Farmers of Iowa Is Diversifying the Agricultural Landscape
Could biodiversity be a key to better forest carbon storage in Europe?
Meet the Dumpster-Diving Chef Who Turned Food Waste Into Jam
https://modernfarmer.com/2023/04/meet-the-dumpster-diving-chef/
Why the Brain’s Connections to the Body Are Crisscrossed
In all bilaterally symmetrical animals, from humans down to simple worms, nerves cross from one side of the body to the opposite side of the brain. Geometry may explain why.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-the-brains-connections-to-the-body-are-crisscrossed-20230419/
‘Festival of Climate Resistance’: Tens of Thousands Celebrate ‘The Big One’ in UK on Earth Day
“As the government continues to fan the flames of the climate and biodiversity crisis it’s clear that only a collective effort can put it out,” said the head of Greenpeace UK.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/day-2-the-big-one-climate-protest-uk
Climate Campaigners Stage Blockade at White House Correspondents Dinner
“We disrupted the rich and powerful because Joe Biden’s approval of deadly new oil and gas projects is killing the planet,” said the campaign group Climate Defiance. “We will continue to disrupt until we end fossil fuels.”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/climate-blockade-whca-dinner
The Metabolism of Cities
https://theecologist.org/sites/default/files/2023-03/Megamorphosis-Cities-FINAL.pdf
Give and Go program finds new purpose for tons of unwanted items
The Give & Go program run by Stanford’s Residential & Dining Enterprises has helped to divert nearly 500 tons of material from landfills.
https://news.stanford.edu/report/2023/04/27/waste-not-want-not/
How to Be More Sustainable in Suburbia
https://www.ecowatch.com/suburban-sustainability-tips-ecowatch.html
Saving forests to protect coastal ecosystems: Japan sets historic example
The Supreme Court Just Unleashed a Flood of Lawsuits Against Big Oil
Climate court cases are about to get a lot more interesting.
https://grist.org/accountability/supreme-court-unleashed-climate-lawsuits-against-big-oil/
THINKING ABOUT A HEAT PUMP? HERE ARE A FEW THINGS TO CONSIDER.
One consumer’s quest for a climate-friendly heating system yields useful information for those poised to take advantage of Inflation Reduction Act credits.
https://ensia.com/features/heat-pump-inflation-reduction-act-tax-credit/
Beyond East Palestine, report finds widespread toxic vinyl chloride pollution
Your water may be full of “forever chemicals” — and the EPA isn’t even testing for many of them.
The compounds used in nonstick pans and water-resistant coatings do nasty things when they get in your blood
https://www.salon.com/2023/04/14/your-water-may-be-full-of-forever-chemicals–and-the-epa-isnt-even-testing-for-many-of-them/
Oceans Have Reached Warmest Levels in Modern History. Scientists Are Worried.
Oceans have absorbed some 90 percent of the heat caused by human-induced climate change — at a devastating cost.
https://grist.org/extreme-weather/a-record-warm-streak-in-the-oceans-has-scientists-worried/
Scientists Create Self-Healing Wearable Mycelium Leather
https://www.ecowatch.com/mycelium-leather-self-healing-science.html
Counterintuitive conservation: Fire boosts aquatic crustaceans in U.S. savannas
A SOLAR SOLUTION TO THE WEST’S CHANGING CLIMATE?
Growing crops beneath solar panels can shrink agriculture’s thirst for irrigation while providing food and electricity, too.
https://ensia.com/features/solar-panels-agriculture-agrivoltaics-climate/
Microplastics 101: Everything You Need to Know
https://www.ecowatch.com/microplastics-facts-ecowatch.html
Algae Growing Under Arctic Sea Ice Found Contaminated by Microplastics
https://www.ecowatch.com/microplastics-arctic-algae.html
Waste Not? Some States Are Sending Less Food to Landfills