"NGOs filed a criminal complaint against French oil giant #TotalEnergies and its top shareholders in Paris on Tuesday, seeking a trial for involuntary manslaughter and other consequences of #ClimateChange "chaos".
The case targets the company's board, including chief executive Patrick Pouyanne, and major shareholders that backed its climate strategy, including US investment firm BlackRock and Norway's central bank, Norges Bank."
"A U.N. tribunal on maritime law said Tuesday that countries are legally required to reduce #GreenhouseGas pollution, delivering a long-awaited opinion sought by small island nations that are on the front lines of #ClimateChange.
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea found that carbon #emissions qualify as marine pollution and said countries must take steps to mitigate and adapt to their adverse effects."
"Unfortunately, we have gotten to a point of no return. It's sad, but that's what it is. Global warming is a serious problem," Francis replied. "Climate change at this moment is a road to death."
@pvonhellermannn All Catholics, and actually Christians in general too, should read his Enzyklika laudato si. You can agree or not with the Church’s position on many issues but that paper produced by Francis is accurate in its evaluation of the current state of our planet.
It's been such an active season, which feels really wonderful.
We've finished cleaning up the West side of the house, allocating last year's compost. We also built framing for, sewed, and hung custom shade sails that make the house cooler -- summer is officially here in the high desert -- as well as which make that previously underutilized space another communal/hosting/patio type area just by virtue of being there and creating spacial separation.
My gardens are doing okay, something keeps eating my potato plants' leaves. I thought the birds that nest in the honey mesquite tree at first, but it keeps happening despite the chicken wire I've hung over the infiltration basin. My hunch is some insect, though I've yet to see the culprit in action. My white, black, and violet sages I replanted into the infiltration basin are doing great, though, as are the green onions and garlic I planted. Our nopales are slowly coming back, also, now that we've dug them infiltration basins and moved them to the shade of one of our mesquite trees.
We now have a water storage tank, a critical step in enabling us to get bigger livestock. It creates water resilience if the power goes down and our well pump doesn't work, and enables us to take some pressure off of our aquifers for minor irrigation projects.
A straw bale and adobe bunk house for guests and guest bathrooms are in the works, which will add to our capacity for hosting. A good thing, since we're grateful to be booked with visitors and loved ones from now until January.
We're planting five new trees to attract pollinators, some of our date palms are fruiting (despite being too immature to eat this year), and the infiltration basins on the North side of the property that were on hold are in progress again.
Our broody hen got confused when I moved her to her own coop the first time and abandoned her first clutch (that was my fault) but has successfully been sitting in the broody coop on a fresh clutch for a week now, so we're expecting teeny cluckers soon!
There are other projects that are set to begin soon, as well, but I'll have to update on those later on!
A reminder that if you ever want to support what we're doing here at the ranch, my Kofi directly funds projects like these and contains some sustainable goodies and unique art in return 🤍
The balance of phytoplankton populations in the sea is shifting as a result of human-induced climate change, altering the oceans in profound ways.
When you picture the ocean you might imagine sparkling turquoise waters – but recent research suggests swathes of our world's oceans may in fact be turning greener. #ClimateChange
"Unfortunately, we have gotten to a point of no return. It's sad, but that's what it is. Global warming is a serious problem. Climate change at this moment is a road to death."
Pope Francis: "Climate change at this moment is a road to death"
Pope Francis says the climate crisis has "gotten to the point of no return" as the planet continues to see the effects of global warming and world leaders have an even greater responsibility to take action. #ClimateChange
I’m probably starting an argument by replying to a faculty listserv thread about “good” uses of #AI with estimates of the environmental costs of AI usage:
Having a single 10-50 question text conversation uses about as much energy as charging a smartphone [1]
Generating a single image uses about 500 mL freshwater [2]
"Study Shows Majority Would Opt for Active Transportation with Dedicated Bike Lanes"
"Notably, 68% of respondents indicated that their frequency of bike trips would increase if dedicated infrastructure were available, while 62% pointed out the lack of safe infrastructure for active transportation in their cities."
Blair has an interesting video (and article) discussion efficiency paradox.
36 min video (I think blair posted its companion article on his website)
Another angle on why energy efficiency and renewables are not quite the way to adopt to climate change. It’s the mode of basic subsistence that is most urgently needed, all that ecological restoration and green (biomass in cities) stuff because it’s different kind of efficiency.
I am going to be pondering this quote for a long while:
"She fears that present-day deforestation might result in the loss of that traditional knowledge.
"'The forests have always been our pharmacy, but they’re killing them as if they were people,” Pachaka said of the nearby settlers." #ClimateChange
"While belief in #ClimateChange has waned a bit nationally, 90% of Floridians still believe it’s real, according to a recent survey by #Florida Atlantic University.
Most Floridians — nearly 70% — want both the state and federal governments to do more to address climate change, the study found."
"#Florida meteorologist goes after DeSantis over climate change rollback
“Please keep in mind, the most powerful #ClimateChange solution is the one you already have in the palm of your hands: the right to vote. And we will never tell you who to vote for, but we will tell you this: We implore you to do your research and know that there are candidates that believe in climate change and that there are solutions, and there are candidates that don’t,” MacLaughlin said."
"When asked if climate is playing a role in the state’s #elections, longtime political consultant and Florida Politics editor Peter Schorsch said, “No, no one is saying that word. But when you ask voters what their top issues are, it’s property insurance, which is directly impacted by the #ClimateChange impacting #Florida.” He added, “I say that not just as a politico, but as someone who has had their home flooded three times in the last year!”"