Author: Ranveer Kumar
The Civilian Climate Corps would put people to work preparing the nation for hotter heat waves and fiercer storms. They’ll need a lot more money to succeed. YESTERDAY PRESIDENT JOE Biden unveiled his long-awaited American Jobs Plan, a sweeping wishlist for fixing the country’s crumbling infrastructure, revitalizing manufacturing and research, and tackling the climate crisis. The United States would make the biggest jobs investment in itself (self-care—so hot right now) since the postwar era—$2 trillion—creating millions of positions to rebuild the post-pandemic economy. Hidden deep in the American Jobs Plan is a single sentence that calls for mobilizing an army of a uniquely…
Plastic in America will continue invading our landfills, floating in our oceans, and contaminating our bodies as long as we are stuck in the 20th-century linear economic mindset of “take-make-waste.” What the 21st-century needs is an intersectional approach to the plastics crisis. In March, the Break Free from Plastic Act of 2021 (BFFPA) was reintroduced to Congress, targeting the chemicals and plastics industries for their role in pollution and landfilling. The bill argues for increasing recycling rates, shifting financial responsibility for recycling and waste management systems to upstream producers, and bans an expanded list of petroleum-based, single-use plastic products. This is a…
India’s prime minister on Wednesday told U.S. Special Presidential Envoy on Climate John Kerry that New Delhi is committed to meeting its pledges under the 2015 Paris climate change agreement and that it is on track to meet them. Kerry said the U.S. officials will support India’s climate plans by helping the country with affordable access to green technologies and financing, a statement by India’s External Affairs Ministry said after Kerry met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Under the Paris agreement, India has committed to cut greenhouse gas emissions intensity of its gross domestic product 33% to 35% by 2030,…
April 7 (UPI) — Scientists found rat poison in the systems of 82% of the few hundred dead eagles examined for a multiyear survey between 2014 and 2018. The survey results, published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One, are a reminder of the lurking threats that face even the most well-protected animals. “Generally, bald eagle populations have been thriving in the United States. This is great news and a conservation success story,” corresponding author Mark Ruder told UPI in an email. “However, as wildlife health researchers, we are always concerned about the health of wildlife, including eagles. We live in a changing…
There’s a $1 million prize for anyone that can design a room air conditioner that costs no more than twice what a standard one costs and produces five times less greenhouse gas One of the great ironies of climate change is that as the planet warms, the technology that people need to stay cool will only make the climate hotter. By 2050, researchers expect the number of room air conditioners on Earth to quadruple to 4.5 billion, becoming at least as ubiquitous as cell phones are today. By the end of the century, greenhouse gas emissions from air conditioning will account…
A leading group of genocide scholars led by prominent Turkish academic Taner Akçam has warned that billions of people could die as a result of climate and ecological collapse. “The effects of the climate emergency on today’s most marginalized human communities should be ringing deafening alarm bells,” they said. A leading group of genocide scholars has warned that billions of people could die as a result of climate and ecological collapse. A statement published on Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) by 24 leading genocide scholars and human rights practitioners led by prominent Turkish academic Taner Akçam posits that over and beyond soaring…
Findings from a new report prompt calls for proper recognition and sustainable funding of end of life care and bereavement support. A new report published today shows how palliative and end of life care in the UK was compromised by shortages of PPE, essential medicines, and equipment, because these services were not seen as ‘frontline NHS’ in the pandemic. Better End of Life – a collaboration between Marie Curie, King’s College London Cicely Saunders Institute, Hull York Medical School, University of Hull, and the University of Cambridge – is a new research programme that will examine evidence on the current…
Molecules from unique species similar in structure and function to human skin molecules Scientists from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterial Science (ACES) and University of Wollongong (UOW), in partnership with their seaweed bioinks collaborators Venus Shell Systems, have discovered that a molecular species known as ulvan aids wound healing in humans. Their research paper is the cover story on the latest issue of Biomaterials Science. Titled ‘3D bioprinting dermal-like structures using species-specific ulvan’, the new findings outline how ulvan contained in green seaweed can play a key role in wound healing with its structure resembling the biomolecules found in humans. The team…
LONDON (Reuters) – One in three COVID-19 survivors in a study of more than 230,000 mostly American patients were diagnosed with a brain or psychiatric disorder within six months, suggesting the pandemic could lead to a wave of mental and neurological problems, scientists said on Tuesday. Researchers who conducted the analysis said it was not clear how the virus was linked to psychiatric conditions such as anxiety and depression, but that these were the most common diagnoses among the 14 disorders they looked at. Post-COVID cases of stroke, dementia and other neurological disorders were rarer, the researchers said, but were…
Like rings in a tree trunk, a narwhal’s tusk provides a window into changing conditions in the Arctic In the Arctic, climate change and pollution are the biggest threats to top predators like narwhals. Studying the animals’ tusks reveals that diet and exposure to pollution have shifted over the past half century in response to sea-ice decline. Human emissions have also led to a sharp rise in the presence of mercury in recent years, according to an international team of researchers. “Our research shows that climate change is having substantial impacts on Arctic ecosystems, with consequences for exposure to toxic…