Petaluma, California, has voted to outlaw new gas stations, the first of what climate activists hope will be numerous cities and counties to do so. From a report: The movement aims to accelerate the shift to electric vehicles. “This is not a ban on the existing gas stations, which are providing all the gas currently needed,” Matt Krogh, U.S. oil and…
Tag: oil
Mysterious oil spill covers Israel’s coastline in toxic tar balls
Israel’s Mediterranean coastline has been littered with tar as the result of an oil spill off the coast, putting marine life and those cleaning it up at risk. Source: https://www.livescience.com/tar-washes-up-on-israel-beaches.html
Are Texas Blackouts a Warning About the Follow-on Effects of Climate Change?
This week in America, “continent-spanning winter storms triggered blackouts in Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and several other states,” reports the New York Times. But that was just the beginning… One-third of oil production in the nation was halted. Drinking-water systems in Ohio were knocked offline. Road networks nationwide were paralyzed and vaccination efforts in 20 states were disrupted. The crisis carries a…
Fossil Fuels Caused 8.7 Million Deaths Globally in 2018, Research Finds
Air pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil was responsible for 8.7 million deaths globally in 2018, a staggering one in five of all people who died that year, new research has found. From a report: Countries with the most prodigious consumption of fossil fuels to power factories, homes and vehicles are suffering the highest…
Nature and tech create a ‘tree of life’ at Australia’s Lake Cakora
This amazing image, taken using a drone in Lake Cakora, Australia, shows tea tree oil seeping into the lake’s drainage channels to create an arboreal pattern Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24933201-900-nature-and-tech-create-a-tree-of-life-at-australias-lake-cakora/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Physicists finally figured out why food sticks to a frying pan
Uneven heating in a frying pan causes variance in the surface tension of cooking oil and leads to dry patches that can make food to stick to pans Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2266479-physicists-finally-figured-out-why-food-sticks-to-a-frying-pan/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Electric Cars Would Save America Huge Amounts of Energy
An anonymous reader shares an opinion piece from Bloomberg, written by Liam Denning and Elaine He: Electrifying U.S. vehicles wipes out the equivalent of our entire current power demand. The U.S. consumes a lot of energy; last year, about 100 quadrillion BTUs (equivalent to 17 billion barrels of oil; which, we’ll admit, is only marginally less abstract). But only about a…
BP Slashes Its Oil Exploration Team by 85%, Starts Switching to Renewables
Reuters reports on big changes at BP (the company formerly known as British Petroleum):
Its geologists, engineers and scientists have been cut to less than 100 from a peak of more than 700 a few years ago, company sources told Reuters, part of a climate change-driven overhaul triggered last year by CEO Bernard Looney. “The winds have turned very chilly in the…
Opinion: Biden administration must act fast to save migratory birds
On Trump’s way out of the White House, his administration demolished a law that protects migratory birds, putting over 1,000 species at risk. The Biden administration can still salvage it, but only if they act swiftly. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/biden-administration-migratory-bird-treaty-act…
Are We Slowing Global Warming?
This week New York Magazine featured a new article by journalist David Wallace-Wells about the state of the fight against global warming. He warns that “Already, the planet is warmer, at just 1.2 degrees, than it has ever been…” But there’s also some good news:
Just a half-decade ago, it was widely believed that a “business as usual” emissions path would bring…