fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
FOUR WEEKS TO SAVE THE WORLD!
By: Larry Langdon
Tags: Climate Change, Greta Thunberg, Global Warming, Climate, Climate Crisis

Everything depends on the Georgia runoff election January 5, 2021.

The Biden/Harris administration is set to implement a world-changing “build back better” vision to cure the global trifecta-plus-one: COVID-19, Economic Disaster, Climate Crisis, and Racial Injustice. Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry is primed to spread the gospel of global climate remediation. The Biden/Harris administration is set to engage it’s comprehensive vision to, as Climate Activist Greta Thunberg puts it, “change everything.”

However. If the Senate persists in Republican hands, Grim Reeper McConnell will likely continue his destructive reign and torpedo any major constructive legislation. Consequently, The stakes in the January 5th Congressional runoff election are astronomical. Fail to elect two Democratic Senators, and we will have missed the last train away from global climate disaster. U.S. plans to tackle climate issues will be defanged, and the U.S. will be unable to function as a credible global climate leader. Sadly, without U.S. leadership and commitment, successful global action is unlikely. While many experts already feel we’ve past the point of no return, four more years of something less than an all-out global war against global warming will surely put us past the climate tipping point.

If you haven’t yet reached this conclusion, you need to pay attention. Whole global regions are now on fire. Polar ice melt is accelerating. Weather extremes such as hurricanes, tornados, floods, and temperature extremes are increasing. Coral reefs are bleaching. Species are becoming extinct in record numbers. I’d suggest you start with Wikipedia’s ”Climate Change” article, but the evidence is everywhere. Try #climatechange on twitter. Try this Greta Thunberg article https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/10/greta-thunberg-we-are-speeding-in-the-wrong-direction-on-climate-crisis?CMP=share_btn_tw “We need to stop focusing on goals and targets for 2030 or 2050,” she said. “We need to implement annual binding carbon budgets today.”

With Mitch blocking meaningful climate funding, envoy Kerry can never amass the legitimacy to lead the World Climate War needed immediately. And so it ends — with a whimper.

Don’t let that happen. Do what YOU can in the next four weeks to save the world. Join a phone or text bank to urge Georgians to vote, donate to one of the flip the Senate campaigns, or directly support the Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock campaigns. When we look back at this moment, please be able to say you stepped up and helped do what it took to save the world during those four weeks over the 2020–2021 holiday season. If you need additional ideas of how to participate, see my twitter account at http://twitter.com/USA2_0.
Miami might be underwater by 2100, but what can we do?
By: Aimee Reyes
Tags: Ground Zero, Climate Change, Global Warming, Miami, South Florida

Miami might be underwater by 2100, but what can we do?

It is getting warmer and warmer month after month, and it does not seem to stop anytime soon.

Temperatures are not the only indicator that global warming is more than a threat, it’s already a reality. The area covered by sea ice has shrunk every year for the past 30 years, with an average decrease of 3.2% per decade.

Glaciers, an essential source of water for many regions are also retreating at an alarming pace. Glacier National Park only has 25 of the estimated 150 glaciers that existed in the 1800s. The amount of heat absorbed by the oceans have increased over the past two decades which threatens the livelihoods of coral reefs and marine ecosystems. Warmer air near the oceans has triggered stronger and more frequent precipitations and hurricanes. The increase of global temperatures has also led to sea levelrising at a rate of 0.04 to 0.1 inches per year since 1990 and according to NASA, the current rate of 0.13 inches per year is accelerating.

Scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forecast a rise in temperatures of 2.5 to 10 degrees over the next 100 years.

Added water from melting land ice and the expansion of sea water could potentially result in high tides and flooding in regions already at risk.

The connotations of climate change are numerous. With limited natural resources, such as water, crops, livestock and even human lives are unlikely to survive. Scarcity can also lead to conflict between communities and trigger displacement patterns. Locally speaking, America saw more fires, more heat and more storms in 2020 than in any other year. As fires were ravaging the West Coast, Hurricane Laura destroyed the coast of Louisiana killing 25 people and becoming the 12th named storm to form by that point in the year.

Scientists estimate that by 2070 some 28 million people across the country could experience megafires the size of Manhattan. Eight of the nation’s 20 largest metropolitan areas, New York, Boston and Miami among them can be completely underwater by 2100 affecting around 50 million people.

Despite increasing awareness of climate change, our emission of greenhouse gases continues to increase. The two main approaches scientists prefer to adapt are:

The reduction of emissions and stabilizing the levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere also known as mitigation.

And adaptation to the climate change already in the pipeline.

Only 20 percent of cities around the globe have developed adaptation strategies according to a study conducted by the MIT including New York City and Chicago.

South Florida has always been vulnerable to hurricanes, storm surge and flooding, but how are we responding to climate change?
Global warming : Causes and Preventions
Tags: Writing, Pollution, Global Warming, Essay, Globalization

The global warming is controversial issue, scientists and experts are in contradiction until now many of their predictions are still uncertain. AS result, they are scientists who argue that global warming is just a phenomenon that taken place before, and still Will take place again. However, before going any further, first let look at the overall aspect of global warming at it description; many scientists has targeted 2 degree Celsius as the unexpected temperature degree but the target still a contest subjects. Global warming is an increase of the earth’s atmospheric and ocean temperature widely predicted to occur due to an increase in the greenhouse gases effect resulting especially to pollution.

According to intergovernmental panel on climate change( IPCC), scientists and all experts on the earth’s climate concluded that human activities are the cause of climate pollution these include: fossil fuel extraction, deforestation, consumption and land use (agriculture)

Global warming is a critical issue that concerns not simply public persons but also each individual and political support as human is mostly exposed to the worse. The greenhouse gases, air and water pollution are the effects of global warming resulting on human health problems and causes death and disease such as: lung cancer, neurological disorders, Asthma, gastrointestinal, etc…

On the other hand, global warming is due to the economic factors (industrialisation and technologies) has accumulated amount of chemical substances to increase the profits and productions and these results in air pollution, carbon dioxide; substances that are coming from cars factories and power plants.

Finally, the best way to save humanity to global warming catastrophe would be preventions as the impacts are hard to predict in advance. They say prevention is better than cure. These solutions will include:
Nature’s Battle With CIVILIZATION
By: Sabana Grande
Tags: Short Story, Global Warming, Blue Insights, Life, Environment

The first story begins with me trudging through heavy snow up to my waist to get to school, alone. It was a lovely, blisteringly cold morning and I had several layers of pants and tops and an overcoat. My boots were insulated with fur and my giant hat almost obscured my eyes.

My school was maybe a 10-minute walk away for an adult, however, my little feet found it much longer.

Nobody had removed all the snow so it was like an obstacle course. This was when snow still existed back where I lived.

I still remember the stinging of your red cheeks when you entered the warm classroom. It made it a joy to be in school.

Now:

Last winter, I walked outside for several days in a t-shirt in the same location. The fashion of keeping your ankles bare while wearing tight jeans and cool runners has survived in the winter months, even though I didn’t partake in it.

“You’ll get arthritis when you’re old!” my grandfather would say. I don’t know if that’s accurate, but civilization has changed the seasons. There is no more snow.

It will now be “Endless Summer” until we all die out.

The Hope:

The earth has become greener this year. Civilization is moving more and more to cities and agriculture is the most automated it has ever been. We are getting more efficient at producing our food.

My hope is that one day, nature will have reclaimed most of what we have taken and we will have learned to live in our cities in a sustainable way.

This is so that when I’m old, I’ll be able to play with snowballs with my son or daughter too, as my parents did with me when I was little.
Eat Your Greens 🥦
Tags: Climate Change, Business, Global Warming, Economy

Climate change and global warming is just one of those things that are constantly being addressed from every possible angle. You’d think at some point, people will finally run out of ideas on how to proactively reduce carbon emissions and properly execute on a few of them, right? Think Again.

The World Economic Forum has recently published a couple of articles on their website talking about some “creative” ways to reduce CO2 emissions. You will not believe what they have in store this time around. Eat Weeds, Eat Bugs and To Drink? Sewage Water.

On the World Economic Forum’s official website, Douglas From published an article saying: “Finding new plant-based foods is becoming increasingly urgent with the world’s population forecast to grow by two billion in the next 30 years. Farming animals for meat generates 14.5% of total global greenhouse emissions, weeds capture carbon from the atmosphere and can therefore help to control climate change.”

For Broom, this means we should slap away the steaks and go dig at our lawn for dinner. The man says that “Weeds can be nutritious and tasty” and are even easy to grow.

When I wake up and think about what delicious meal I am going to have today, not once did the idea to hop in the garden to grab a few dandelions ever crossed my mind. Is this a question of habit? Or is there some logic behind this. More importantly, would you ever eat weeds?

I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.
This is an accurate, beautiful and succinctly written article about the systemic facts of pathogens…
By: Sherman Moore
Tags: Covid-19, Global Warming, Identity, Apocalypse, Individuality

This is an accurate, beautiful and succinctly written article about the systemic facts of pathogens and their inevitable interplay (or potentially checkmate) for biology on this planet. Politicians, pundits and serious scientists spray the words “existential threat” like graffiti regarding atmospheric change (mostly global warming) as well they should — it’s a legitimate concern. There are, in fact, numerous “existential” threats to life and intelligence on this planet. Shall we start a list? Nuclear holocaust, substantial solar radiant aberration from our star, collision of the planet with an large asteroid, significant shift of planetary axis/magnetism/lunar inter-relationship, unintended runaway bio/nuclear or chemical processes, extraordinary dystopia generated by even elementary formulaic machine learning, the list goes on.

What is my point in both complimenting this Medium Article and going on to list just the non-black swan possibilities for apocalypse? To plead a case that goes along the lines somewhat with some of Jordon Peterson’s arguments. We have real stuff to be concerned about. Tribalism, demonizing, stereotyping and non-cooperative intolerant non-compromising ideological animosity is the last thing we need if we are to make progress in learning to deal with inevitable true “existential” challenges. Be an individual, the real “resistance” is to exit the temptation to simply blend to intolerant and intransigent far left or far right ideological identity and be a part of solution to our tenuous progress as human beings and spiritual ambassadors to this tiny space time spot amidst an infinite sea of cosmos.
Ek bangla banei nyara ( lets make one beautiful house)
By: Shrantuni Moon
Tags: Climate Change, Global Warming, Concrete, Inspiration, Environment

So after that degree ,internships,job placements and that years of saving most of us go for that one big dream — Home.A lot of us find making our own home as an important leveling up in life. The more houses one owns , stronger is considered their economic hold .

And their is absolutely nothing wrong with that as everyone wants to measure their happiness ,sometimes in materialistic things.

The question is how do you build your houses ,

Is your dream of building a house in some way ruining your child’s future. Let us take a look

STATEMENT

If cement -concrete were a nation, it would be the third largest emitter of CO2 after US and China.

HOW

Concrete is made of limestone. Limestone is a fossil carbon made of millions of sea shells of tiny creatures over eons of time.We break apart these chemical bonds by burning fossil fuels , allowing them to achieve super high temperature and release CO2 in the air.

SOLUTION

Clays produce very reactive material when heated to around 800°C ,significantly lower than 1450°C ,used in previous method to produce cement (plus there is no CO2 emission from decomposition of limestone)

Now we take this heated clay(Calcined clay) ,add a bit of limestone without heating(so no CO2) and some cement and we call this. - "LC3"

This substance is equally strong as cement and produce 40% less CO2.

WHY

We have 10 years to flip this climate change story to save our civilization. Global pollution contributions by cement -concrete is 8% .If we continue our old ways of functioning in association to CO2 emission, we not will damage our lungs tissues and create serious threat to asthmatic patients but will also pose threat to national security, food security which in turn can lead to resource conflict.

Now i know that you are thinking that one person cannot change the entire market functioning and its not just housing but almost everything that is build around us , sure ,but if you just start demanding , asking question,

We will eventually start this change — first in thought process and then in our surroundings.
The Consequences of Global Warming
Tags: Consequences, Global Warming

Global Warming is no laughing matter. This is a term that almost everyone is familiar with, However it’s meaning is still not getting to most of us as not much is being done about this. Sure, we feel the temperature getting hotter. We know that things are changing for the worst yet a lot of us still do nothing about this. Global Warming is rapidly melting our ice glaciers which is extremely harmful to not only our planet, but to the human race as well. The biggest climate catastrophe in the world today is air pollution. What can we do to save our world?

This image as shown above is a time lapse photo of how much global warming is affecting our planet. Pretty big difference huh? Global Warming is not happening because of a single cause but several as a matter of fact. The causes are both manmade and natural. One of the natural causes we have are our volcanos. Every time a volcano erupts it releases tons of carbon dioxide which contributes to global warming. Air pollution caused by cars, trucks, planes, trains and factories is another problem. We also have many outbreaks of wildfires that too causes air pollution. What can we do to stop this, and if it can’t be stopped then how can we slow it down? What is it that our world leaders are doing to solve this problem. So far I've seen very little done. We have already seen more violent storms, sea levels rising due to partly of melting ice etc.

Flooding

Lets think, if our sea levels continues to rise what does that mean for our coastal cities? As you may have already guessed, it will cause our coastal cities to be threatened by flooding. One other problem that we have going on is something called “positive feed back” which in fact is not positive at all. Here’s an example: Artic ice reflects sunlight back into space keeping the planet cool but as the ice melts, the reflective ice is replaced by dark ocean which absorbs the sunlight causing the suns heat to make more ice melt. The less ice we have to reflect our suns rays the warmer our planet seems to get. Also lets not forget that as the water level rises people will soon move closer inland causing less land for farming.

Heat, Crops, and Solutions

We need our crops to supply our daily food, and not only crops but our livestock as well. I understand that many of us love the warm weather but remember warm weather won’t just stay warm it will continue getting hotter to the point where it becomes unbearable to step outside. However that makes us want to stay inside but guess what? We will be using fossil fuels to run our A.C. unit causing more pollution. In this article these are just a few of the issues we and our planet are dealing with. It is up to us to solve this problem. If each of us work together by doing our part we can see this great change. Some examples to help our world would be by recycling, planting more trees, educating people about this everyday. How about maybe taking a bicycle ride to work instead of a car two times out of the week, stuff like that could help improve our world. Our planet needs our help just as much as we need our planet.
Muncul Wacana Meredupkan Matahari, Tidak Cukup untuk Menanggulangi Pemanasan Global
By: Haryadi Prawiratama
Tags: Nature, Lifestyle, World, Global Warming, Indonesia

Ex-reporter and writer enthusiast. Writes in English and Indonesian. Queer and quirky
The Ecological Revolution
By: David Nnacheta
Tags: Climate Change, Pollution, Global Warming, Convenience, Revolution

Image Source

We don’t need personal or sports vehicles that are setting newer and faster records. What we need is to start afresh by setting electric- and solar-powered vehicle records.

Yes, things will be slower at first, but they will be the “new normal” and eventually, just “normal”.

Other than the benefits to the planet’s health and the future of our children, everyone now gets the opportunity to design something that has never been created, set records that have never been set, and set a precedent of caring for humanity in a way that has never been felt.

It’s better to get on board now, and be the people who are credited with the “ecological revolution” than to be the ones who were opposed to a better future.

PS: If you don’t care about the planet’s or your children’s future, do it simply because YOU’LL STILL BE RICH.

Something to consider:

There’s the saying that there’s nothing new under the sun, but we have yet to see the #nascar, #formula1, or #sportscar that is fully electric and can drive at over 500 mph. We’ve yet to see a world where only lazy people don’t have a source of income, and go days without eating as a result.

More can be done. More should be done. More must be done.
Climate Change Is Impacting The Food We Eat
By: Priya Aggarwal
Tags: Climate Change, Sustainability, Global Warming, Agriculture, Food

Therefore, it is important for everyone to realize that climate change is not a far-off or a distant future thing where all glaciers will someday melt. While they have already started melting, climate change for most people will come in the form of these changes in life where our food and lifestyle will be impacted and we will be forced to pay a premium to retain it as before.

The choice we make with our food and lifestyle will, in turn, impact the climate.
Solar Energy
By: Manuela Gomez
Tags: Solar Panel Installation, Global Warming, Solar Panels, Solar Power, Solar Energy

Have you ever experienced hot weather? Have you ever felt unbearable hotness? Well this is global warming. Global warming is a long-term rise in the average temperature of the Earth’s climate system, an aspect of climate change shown by temperature measurements and by multiple effects of the warming.

The system of energy we have at this moment, fossil fuels, is not easily renewed because they take a very long time to form and we use them each time more. Instead, solar energy doesn’t really need to be renewed because as long as the sun continues shining there will always be energy.

What is solar energy?

Solar energy is the energy that is captured from the sun. Solar Energy is used for capturing sunlight to create photovoltaic power (PV) or concentrated solar power (CSP) for solar heating. This energy conversion allows solar energy to be used to power automobiles, lights, pools, heaters, and gadgets.

Photo by Science in HD on Unsplash

However, solar Energy stops working when there is no more sun, but there is an expensive way that could store the energy for night use. The lithium battery would store the energy and would be easily charged for night use. The energy in the solar panels travels throughout the semi-conductors that are in the solar panel, and with the flow of electrons, the energy would be produced.

Photo by Zbynek Burival on Unsplash

The solar panels are comprised of many small photovoltaic cells, photovoltaic meaning they can convert sunlight into electricity. These cells are made of semi-conductive materials, most often silicon, a material that can conduct electricity while maintaining the electrical imbalance needed to create an electric field.

Solar energy capacity has increased each more in the past five years, yet fabricating the panels can affect the environment in a bad way. Panels require destructive chemicals such as sodium hydroxide and hydrofluoric acid. The process of manufacturing panels uses water and electricity at the same time creating waste. These problems can weaken solar’s ability to fight climate change and reduce environmental toxins.

Photo by Science in HD on Unsplash

Process
Global Warming: Why It Matters
By: Detroit C. Kellogg
Tags: Climate Change, Global Warming

But yet it seems that our leaders don't cair about that most of the time. Why is that? I think it has to with them caring more about money than the people who they are opposed to serving. And that would be our fatal mistake. With the loss of this ice caps and rising methane, and carbon dioxide levels we risk losing everything we worked as humans to accomplish.

It all starts simply enough with rising temperatures. If these temperatures keep rising then animals die due to loss of habitat. If these animals die then we lose food sources, and without enough food, we would die due to hunger and famine. But it sadly probably would get way worse. The methane and carbon dioxide would build up making the seas harder to survive in and so on and so forth. If this sounds familiar to some of you I would not be surprised. The Devonian Extinction was basically the same thing. However, now we are to cause of this, not trees as in the Devonian Mass Extinton were three-fourths of all species went extinct. So well we have this Covid 19 Pandemic going on and are bracing for a surge in cases, hospitalizations and sadly deaths we need to remember not just the big news, but the omnipresent threats that face all of us each day.

The good news is we all can help stop this grim possibility from happening or at least make it less dangerous by doing some simple steps. First, spread the word, use social media or platforms like this, or tell your parents the grocer at the store, your kids please make your voice heard. Second wright a letter to your elected officials or bye solar panels or something. Take advantage of renewable energy or get a more fuel-efficient car, or bike or walk. Or you could simply turn off the lights in a room you're not using when you leave. It's that simple you can stop global warming and climate change, so once again who do you want to be remembered as?

Chiras, Daniel D. “Global Climate Change.” Scholastic GO!, go.scholastic.com/content/schgo/L/article/043/263/0432632–00.html. Accessed 1 Dec. 2020.

https://www.thestatesman.com/supplements/science_supplements/measuring-global-warming-1502748561.html
Today is Antarctica Day
By: Samantha Hodder
Tags: Antarctica, Climate Change, This Happened To Me, Global Warming, Travel

Today is Antarctica Day

It’s not a date that jumps out on everyone’s calendar. Antarctica is that cool place, really really far away, that most people haven’t been to.

Photo credit: Adriana Humanes

Many think they want to go but really don’t; Or dream of going and never get there.

By some strange set of coincides, and a lot of hard work, I went there in 2018, aboard a ship that was carrying am 80-women passenger crew, all of them with a STEMM background. I was there as a podcaster-in-residence, to be part of this expedition, and then share these stories.

It was an experience of a lifetime, and it became the catalyst for me to see things just a bit differently.

Back in 2018, I was one of 42,711 people who had the privilege to on the frozen continent of Antarctica.

But this isn’t something I take lightly. This privilege comes with responsibility…to share this experience and all that I’ve learned from it.

There’s more on this horizon, but for now, I was compelled to make this short episode. Consider it a virtual social distancing walk. It’s the ultimate escape from wherever you live right now.

Episode link for This Is Our Time podcast

Today is a day to celebrate …to recognize that even in 1959, at the height of the cold war, Russia and the US singed this historic agreement, along with Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, United Kingdom.

The entire continent was dedicated to Peace and Science.

And in a time when we could use some celebrating…some release from the tight grip we all have on life right now.
Nuclear Power will become the No.1 Energy Source
By: Jaden Lee
Tags: Nuclear Energy, Energy, Global Warming, Renewable Energy

In recent years, global warming has been a hot issue around the world. It is commonly known that the sea levels are rising a few centimeters a year and the earth’s temperature is rising due to greenhouse gases. Many people know that the solution to global warming is reducing use of fossil fuels and developing other methods of obtaining energy. Some people say Solar and Wind energies are the future while some say Hydrogen fuel, Nuclear power or Biological Fuels. This is where many people are perceived incorrectly. Many people assume solar power wil be the best future energy source. But this is not true. Actually, the most effective source of energy in the future will be Nuclear power.

First, Nuclear power has the edge over every other energy source in consistency. Solar and Wind energies depend heavily on daily weather which makes the energy production vary from time to time. On the other hand, Nuclear power can produce energy at any time since Nuclear Energy only depends on the existence of Nuclear fuel which they can refuel only once every few years.

Another reason is because Nuclear energy produces less pollution than other sources of energy. According to recent data, France had half as much carbon emissions than Germany last year when France got 75% of their total energy from Nuclear power while Germany used no Nuclear power and increased Solar and Wind energies. Also, many people do not consider the toxic elements used to create the solar panels and wind turbines. Although the process of creating the energy might be clean in solar panels, it is not true for the production of the solar panels. On the other hand, Nuclear power plants can be built once and can be used for many years.

Some people argue that Nuclear power creates nuclear waste that is harmful to the environment but consider the following statement. Nuclear power is the only energy that contains its toxic waste away from the rest of the world. Fossil fuels have caused toxic gases to be released into the atmosphere and wastes from Solar and Wind energies are also released into the environment causing much harm and damage to the environment around them. For people who think Nuclear power is unsafe, we experience radioactive rays everyday as we stay on earth. Also, the worst Nuclear accident, the Chernobyl disaster, caused less than 30 deaths due to extreme radiation. On top of that, recent Nuclear power plants have way more sophisticated and organized safety measures which ensures that such accidents like Chernobyl won’t happen in the future.
Performing Analysis of Meteorological Data
By: Aadesh Baral
Tags: Global Warming, Data Analysis, Climate Change, Data Visualization

In this blog, we are going to Analyse the influence of global warming on temperature and humidity using Numpy, Pandas, Matplotlib, and Seaborn. For this, we are going to use the data from the Weather data-set of Finland, a country in Northern Europe. You can find the data-set on Kaggle (https://www.kaggle.com/muthuj7/weather-dataset).

The dataset has hourly temperature recorded for the last 10 years starting from 2006–04–01 00:00:00.000 +0200 to 2016–09–09 23:00:00.000 +0200.

Let's start importing the necessary libraries.

Let's look at how our data looks like.
Gods of planet Earth
By: Eslin Defcioglu
Tags: Writing, Climate Change, People, Global Warming, Blog

We think we’re Gods of planet Earth, but our inhumane attitude towards this planet is substantially devastating.

Our intellectual knowledge has enabled us to create the most innovative societies. It gave us the power to build up nano-robots, decode DNA, invent Artificial Intelligence, construct biometric systems, and even launch spacecrafts beyond Earth’s orbit. But, what’s the point of this far-fetched power if we’re killing what makes us alive?

Nature. This charming wonderland was never mankind’s property. And life on Earth never belonged to Homo sapiens. It’s funny how humans are actually killing the planet and calling it “climate change”. It’s foolish how companies are destroying forests, warming the climate and polluting oceans, yet naming themselves “successful firms”. It’s fatuous how people that govern nations are stealing their own countries’ futures, and naming themselves “leaders”. Just, funny.

Instead, we should comprehend a fact. Climate change isn’t the climate changing. Global warming isn’t the globe suddenly deciding to raise its temperatures. It’s humans. It’s the people focused on their personal benefits. It’s the policies, the emissions, the consumption, the governments, the companies, the CEO’s, the presidents, and the nations. Stop blaming the climate. Because it’s us.

The selfishness burdened within our hearts has transformed our unblemished genes into the cruelest beings. Because now, we’re uncontrollably dismantling all that our home embraced. Scary, right? Millions of creatures with extreme power, killing what gave them life. The species, the oceans, the seas, the rivers, the animals, the plants, the sky, the soil, and the people.

In the 21st century, we’ve mastered the science of demolishing.
The Problems of Plastic Pollution | Climate
Tags: USA, Climate Change, Pollution, Plastic Pollution, Global Warming

Plastic waste can be defined as the collection of plastic particles and organic matter. The amount of plastic we produce in our modern society and the level of pollution from plastic objects is staggering. Plastic pollution has devastating effects on humans, animals, plants, and the entire ecosystem. The first period of rapid plastic growth began in the 1950s. Since then, until 2015, annual plastic production has increased nearly 200 times to 381 million tons.

Plastic usually comes in the form of packaging but is also contained in many other products of our daily lives. Even on our garments, plastic comes in the form of polyester that is widely used in the fashion industry. In addition, our drinking water is often sold in plastic bottles. Plastic shows an easy way for companies to produce and sell products to a customer. However, this leads to the excessive use of plastic. Plastic is inexpensive Plastic is also relatively inexpensive compared to other building materials.

When manufactured in large quantities, plastic is the cheapest material for packaging or other purposes. So, as industries tend to sit down in cheap ways to increase profits, many of the products of our daily lives contain plastics. Improper dumping in many countries, especially in developing countries, improper or illegal plastic dumping is a major problem. People and industries often do not care much about the negative consequences if the plastic is not properly disposed of. Industries can simply dump their waste in nearby rivers or lakes and thus contaminate these water systems with plastic materials.

Disposal problems in order to remove plastic waste, it may have been burned or dumped in landfills. Both methods have advantages and disadvantages. The heat of the plastic causes the release of many toxic substances. It also contributes to global warming as large amounts of CO2 are released into the air through the combustion process. Disposal of plastic in landfills also poses a threat to the environment because, with rain, the soil can become contaminated with harmful plastic substances that can eventually reach our groundwater.

Overfilling is a major cause of plastic pollution. As the world’s population continues to grow steadily, so does the amount of garbage. Since much of this waste is made of plastic, the increase in population also means an increase in the problem of plastic pollution. To make matters worse, the problem is likely to get worse in the future.

Summary:

Since people often want to buy cheaper items, plastic items are often bought instead of things made of more durable materials. It is important for countries around the world to share new discoveries and insights into ways to protect people from the effects of natural disasters. If we all pay attention to the problem and make our contribution, plastic pollution and its negative effects can be effectively reduced.
Hydrogen: Key ingredient to achieve Net Zero.
By: Akshay Jamdade
Tags: Climate Change, Renewable Energy, Paris Agreement, Global Warming, Hydrogen

With carbon emissions set record high, countries are setting up targets and working towards keeping the rise in temperature below 2 degree celsius to limit the rate of climate change as proposed in the Paris Agreement.

VREs (Variable Energy Sources) are playing a key role in advancing technologies for maximum capitalization of available resources to deploy in combating rise in temperature, one key ingredient being Hydrogen.

Hydrogen are of various types based: few of them being Grey, Blue, Turquoise and Green.

In summary, Grey hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels majorly Coal, Blue is generated via coal or methane but carbon capture technology is deployed. Turquoise is generated in a way where no emission can be observed however the most preferred is the Green Hydrogen which is produced from Renewable Energy Sources and hence is the strongest combat tool in this context for lowering the GHG emissions.

Capitalization of these types of hydrogen is essential, direct shift to green hydrogen will put a pressure on installation of REs, hence a model should be proposed with a tight timeline of phasing hydrogen one by one leading to Green Hydrogen

Source: IRENA 2020, Green Hydrogen: A guide to policy making, International Renewable Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi
Why you need to start composting now
By: Cal Pla
Tags: Lifestyle, Climate Change, Gardening, Global Warming

Photo by Sippakorn Yamkasikorn from Pexels

Why compost?

Photo by Gabriel Kuettel from Pexels

It helps the environment. Composting is one small way you can help slow down climate change. Kitchen waste or food scraps end up in the land fills where they don’t decompose fast enough and end up producing methane. Methane is about 28 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at warming the Earth according to the National Geographic. Composting helps avoid those waste from ending up in the landfills, therefore less methane is produced.

Composting also reduces the need for synthetic chemical fertilizers, which have negative impact on the environment, killing organisms when they pollute water bodies for example. Making the fertilizers also require intensive fossil fuel energy.

Enhancing water retention and remediating contaminated soil are also some example of how composting can be beneficial to the environment.

Other than that, the compost will also be great nutrients for your garden.

How to start off

If you’ve got a backyard, that would be a great place to make your compost. However, for those living in apartment-ish places, using a bin does the job. You could go buy a compost bin (it can range from around $40 to $400), but using a container lying around at home is good enough (like trash bins that aren’t used).

What to put in

Greens and browns

Greens (nitrogen/protein-rich matter) include food or vegetable scraps, grass/green plant cuttings and coffee grounds

Browns (carbon-rich matter) include dry leaves, newspaper shreds, and saw dust (make sure to not put too much saw dust so it doesn’t clump up)

To create a good balance of these two types, you need to have more brown/carbon-rich matter than greens. Ratio wise, 30:1 by weight, 30 parts of browns and 1 part of greens.

There’s a great list that I came across with 100 things you can compost, and spotted things that I would never had thought of (yes, it includes nail clippings and hair from hairbrushes…). I recommend you go check it out: https://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/100-things-you-can-compost

What to NOT put in

Meat, fish or bones- some people do recommend putting them in your compost, but most are against it due it attracting pests.

Fatty/cooked foods- it may also attract pests.

Diseased or poisonous plants (black walnut leaves)- for obvious reasons; you don’t want to spread it into your compost.

Glossy or bleached paper- newspaper is fine, but glossy and bleached paper can be harmful.

Some things to take note of

Don’t plant in pure compost. Mix your compost with your usual soil as pure compost doesn’t hold water well and isn’t stable. Using too much compost can also kill the plant.

Its good to put waste and food scraps in different sizes, some small some larger, to leave space for air pockets for decomposition.

You can water it once in a while, but make sure you don’t over do it.
THE Point Of No Discussion Needed Anymore DOCUMENT
By: Slavinka Mila Smilaz, Slavomila Zachova
Tags: Vaccines, Climate Change, Global Warming, Climate Action, Crisis

In the shortest and most simple terms.

Since restoring all the soils of our planet is all it takes to get rid of much more than "just" the carbon that we produce ourselves, in other words solve our issues of global warming.

And since this includes getting completely and totally rid of all toxic chemicals, such as pesticides, to achieve this great effect, which means that we also get rid of, because we can not use and therefore will not support, but instead actually stop all such things as Monsanto, and that of the Gates foundation, and all such influences. This all then means, that as the carbon issue goes away with healthy soils absorbing the carbon, then global warming subsides, also meaning that there will no longer be any excuse to think of any depopulation strategies, so that we don't even have to pass vaccine 10-15years before it's ripened from its testing, ~ we actually can as we in all reality should, allow the normal time it takes to see all the side effects and needed adjustments before releasing any vaccine into people's vains and surely damaging their health, and risking the cause of irreversible suffering and premature death.

In other words, our main issue is solved with healthy soils, and on top of that, we do also have enough of other environment improving solutions being made. Finally after all, we do actually live on a planet that provides us with everything, and in fact so much more abundance than we can ever truly consume. All we have to do is keep it whole, keep it nourished.
New Zeland elected one of the most diverse parliaments as Apple cuts App store fees for most developers
By: Lakshya Jain
Tags: Apple, Global Warming, Boeing 737 Max, New Zealand, China

1. New Zeland elected one of the most diverse parliaments

Diversity among lawmakers around the world — CNN

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was reelected in a landslide last month. After her victory, she set up the most diverse and inclusive parliament. Almost half the members are female, 11 percent are LGBTQ, and Indigenous people like the Māori are also represented. Ardern’s 20 strong cabinet, the highest-ranked lawmakers in New Zealand, consists of 8 women, and 5 are Māori. Women in the Parliament have increased by 10% while LGBTQ lawmakers have increased by 4%. Māori representation went down from 23% to 21% but that number is still higher than the percentage of Māori in New Zealand’s population. 15% of their population consists of Asians but they currently only have 7% of the seats in Parliament. 25% of New Zealanders have a disability and they have no representation. The country has one of the highest proportion of LGBTQ and female lawmakers. But Rwanda has the highest proportion of female lawmakers in the world. 61% of the seats in Rwanda’s lower house are occupied by women due to the 1994 genocide which killed thousands of men. Women in Rwanda decided to fill important key leadership roles in the country and they have been there ever since.
Fever
By: J. Lee Graves
Tags: Creative Writing, Climate Change, Global Warming, Fiction

Fever

“Mother isn’t doing well,” the doctor rubbed sanitizer over her hands and shook her head, “but she’s a fighter.”

“How long.” It was meant as a question but the words came out flat, unemotional, and sounded more like a statement.

Those gathered stood around the bed and simply watched, eyes fixed on the woman racked with fever. Her daughters Flora, Fauna, and Terra stood huddled in a clutch beside a curtain-drawn window, silently weeping; her sons Caelum and Mons, stone-faced at the foot of the bed.

“It depends,” the doctor walked towards the door where a chair had been awkwardly placed in the corner of the room. Sitting in the soft chair her body sank into its shape. Crossing her left leg over her right, she brought her hands together, fingertips touching. Bringing her hands to her face she pressed them against her lips, her thumbs pushed up to her chin, elbows resting on the arms of the chair. Her eyes closed, the physician looked as if she was praying. When she finally spoke it was in hushed, gentle tones, but honest and serious. “She’s infested with parasites. An infection like this can kill her but she’s fighting it,” she inhaled, with a long exhale she continued. “Her fever is slowly rising, maybe it will kill off the parasites.”

“What can you do for her?” Flora’s voice was low and pleading.

Dropping her forearms, her fingers gripping into the chair the doctor opened her eyes and looked at each of Mother’s children in turn. “Nothing. She has to do this herself.” The doc made a helpless gesture with her hands, “I’m afraid anything I do could make it worse. This is a persistent infection and letting this fever run its course is likely the best course of action.”

She paused and stood, it seemed like an eternity before she made her way toward her patient. Looking down she pressed her wrist against Mother’s forehead, “anything else threatens the balance she’s trying to achieve internally.”

“But she’s suffering.” It was Caelum who stepped forward, his brow furled in frustration.

Mother’s body shivered, the shape of her weakening body sweat-plastered to the thin sheet draped over her. Her skin, covered with sore-like scabs, glimmered at night with an eerie illumination the color of yellow puss.

“Yes she is,” the doctor nodded, “and all we can do is try to make her comfortable.”

“How easily can this parasite spread?” Fauna covered her mouth with her right hand, her hand trembling with dread.

The doctor exhaled, her breath long and steady. “I’m not sure. It’s evolving but I don’t believe it can survive outside the host body for an extended period of time,” she paused again looking at each in turn before setting her eyes back on Mother. “Yet.”

Fauna buried her face in Terra’s shoulder and began to quietly weep.

Mons spoke up this time, his voice trembling. “What’s this parasite called?”

The doctors spoke with an ominous tone. “Homo sapiens.”

Mother’s temperature continued to rise.
How Ice Caps Melting Will Change Everything
Tags: Ice Caps, Global Warming

Back in 2013 National Geographic reported that it would take about 5000 years to melt, but in 2020 research has shown that the summer heat has increased a lot almost to 2012 levels of heat. It is said that if we stop all greenhouse gases emissions the ice caps will still continue to melt. Back in 1910 President Taft created the Glacier National Park and had about 150 glaciers, now it has fewer than 30 glaciers. Ice is changing everywhere through out Earth, on Kilimanjaro the snow has melted more than 80 percent since 1912. When glaciers melt the water rises, there are many cities that will be affected when the ice caps melt such as Miami in North America, The Hague in Europe, and Shanghai in Asia. Asian cities such as Osaka, Hong Kong, and Shanghai will be the worst affected, the water will affect four out of five people living in Asia. The water rising will also cause a lot of problems such as destroying salt water and fresh water barriers which will affect faming in some areas such as Egypt. Droughts are becoming more intense but the opposite effect for cold waves. Temperatures are continuing to rise and rise, scientists have researched that by the end of the century extreme heat days are to occur every two or three years which use to have occurred every 20 years. When the ice caps melt there will be a lot of weather changes and affects, such as hurricanes and their frequency have increased. Hurricanes are becoming more intense, its estimated that when the ice caps melt it will cost governments billions of dollars.
Το μέλλον της κλιματικής αλλαγής: ένα τρέιλερ
By: Οδυσσέας Λυδάκης
Tags: Climate Change, Global Warming, Ελληνικά, Environment, Περιβάλλον

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We use the cultural assumptions that are embedded in capitalism as we have come to understand it…
Tags: Sustainability, Climate, Naomi Klein, Doughnuteconomics, Kate Raworth

We use the cultural assumptions that are embedded in capitalism as we have come to understand it and feel limited by its parameters.

As others have hinted in the comment thread, actually that’s part of the problem. How about we set new parameters and expectations? We need a cultural change around our economics and a politics that supports this. Whether we think of it as revamping capitalism or doing away with it altogether, something has to change. The most agreeable philosophical argument I’ve come across is Kate Raworth’s ‘Doughnut Economics’, which argues for an economy which is regenerative and sustainable, where growth is neither here nor there. And she includes examples of businesses built on such principles. It’s a vision which opposes exploitation but doesn’t go back in the nineteenth century or mid-twentieth to ask if Marx or Hayek or Friedman had it all right. Instead it looks at where we are now, the problems of the present and future and proposes a flexible, relevant approach forward.