Science and Technology:
¶ “Birds Are Dying Off At An Alarming Rate. Here’s How You Can Help From Your Own Backyard” • An alarming study says that since 1970 the US and Canada have lost almost a third of their bird population. Habitat loss, collisions with glass, hunting by cats, and pesticides are the biggest threats, the American Birding Conservancy said. [CNN]
Western Meadowlark (Matthew Pendleton, Cornell University)
¶ “Tesla Model 3 vs. Mercedes C-Class And Audi A4: 5 Year Cost of Ownership Comparisons” • Given reasonable assumptions, Tesla’s Model 3 has a far lower 5 year cost of ownership than the Mercedes-Benz C-Class or Audi A4. In fact, the Model 3’s cost in these comparisons is about 60% that of the popular Mercedes and Audi models. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Microplastics: Premium Teabags Leak Billions Of Particles – Study” • Some premium tea bags might be leaving billions of microscopic plastic particles in your cup, new research suggests. Canadian researchers found that some plastic tea bags shed high levels of microplastics into water. Microplastics have widely been found in the environment. [BBC]
Tea (Getty Creative Stock)
¶ “Fifth Of World’s Calories Threatened As Climate Scientists Sound Alarm Over Wheat” • Droughts caused by global warming could devastate up to 60% of the world’s wheat fields by the end of the century, and the world must prepare for “unprecedented” shocks to the production of the crop, a paper published in the journal Science Advances warns. [Malay Mail]
World:
¶ “Telford And Wrekin Council Switch To Renewable Electricity” • In Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Council has switched to a new environmentally-friendly energy contract, Pure Green, which is provided by WME. This decision is part of the Council’s commitment to ensure all its activities and operations are carbon neutral by 2030. [Shropshire Live]
Solar array
¶ “EirGrid: 70% Of Ireland’s Electricity Will Be Renewable By 2030” • EirGrid Group in planning for 70% of all Irish electricity to come from renewable sources by 2030, as part of a €2 billion, five-year strategy to transform Ireland’s electric system. Energy will come from a combination of onshore and offshore wind and solar sources. [TechCentral.ie]
¶ “South Africa’s Renewables Sector Growth May Be Driven By Coal’s Collapse” • South Africa’s switch to green energy may come sooner than later as its coal-based energy utility continues to implode. The opposition in parliament, the Democratic Alliance, published a warning that coal stocks are running out and blackouts are inevitable. [The National]
Traffic in a blackout (Waldo Swiegers | Bloomberg)
¶ “No More Pipelines, It’s Time For Renewables: Green Party” • Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada, reaffirmed a party pledge to cancel the $13 billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and redirect the funds to implementing a National Grid Strategy to transmit cheap, clean, renewable energy from coast to coast to coast. [Net Newsledger]
¶ “Offshore wind lifts UK renewables to ‘best ever Q2′” • New installed offshore wind capacity has help propel renewables share of UK electricity generation to record production in the second quarter of 2019. The UK’s electricity generation rose to over 35.5% in the second quarter of 2019, up from 32% in the same quarter of last year. [reNEWS]
Offshore wind farm (SSE image)
¶ “Macquarie Reveals Five-Year Plan For Massive Investment In 20 GW Renewables” • Australian based Macquarie Group has announced plans to develop a massive portfolio of clean energy projects, with a goal of investing in 20 GW of new projects across the globe and will be channeled through a subsidiary, the Green Investment Group. [RenewEconomy]
¶ “Latin America Pledges 70% Renewable Energy, Surpassing EU” • At the United Nations Climate Action Summit, Latin American countries have set a collective target of 70% renewable energy use by 2030, more than double what the EU plans, Colombia’s energy minister said. Her country has a renewables tender scheduled for October. [NBCNews.com]
Climate Strike in Bogota (Luisa Gonzalez | Reuters)
¶ “Kansai Electric Execs Allegedly Got ¥180 Million From Ex-Deputy Mayor Of Town Hosting Nuclear Plant” • Kansai Electric Power Co’s top executives have received payoffs totaling ¥180 million from a former deputy mayor of a town hosting one of the company’s nuclear power plants, sources close to the matter said. [The Japan Times]
US:
¶ “US War On California Emissions Standards Gets Approval From Republicans, Opprobrium From Democrats” • In a survey by Autolyst about California’s ability to set its own emission standards, 61% of Republicans responding said they agreed with the administration’s climate policies, while 70% of Democrats disagreed. [CleanTechnica]
Downtown Los Angeles (Coolcaesar, Wikimedia Commons)
¶ “The Second-Largest Gift To A US University Was Pledged To Caltech. It’s Being Used For Climate Research” • Stewart and Lynda Resnick, owners of The Wonderful Company, pledged $750 million, the second-largest gift to a US academic institution, to the California Institute of Technology to support cutting-edge research into environmental sustainability. [CNN]
¶ “Fired EPA Scientists Band Together To Continue Their Work” • Last October, the EPA disbanded an advisory panel of scientists whose mission was to advise it on air pollution standards. Many of those same scientists will meet this year where they always met in the past to carry on their work as private citizens rather than public employees. [CleanTechnica]
Have a certifiably merry day.
geoharvey 