VEN – Good News on Climate Action – Blog

Graphic: Increasing insurance (un)natural disaster events, Source: Gallagher Re Let’s hope so. Shrinking coverage and rising temperatures are a risky combination. By Mark Harris A Financial Storm Is Brewing 1. A growing protection gap. Adding up losses from Nat Cats and subtracting the amount that was insured gives your “protection gap.” This intuitive interactive tool…

Article from We Don’t Have Time – Paid partnership with AgniTerra Accelerating the energy transition: Why next-generation geothermal is essential for a sustainable future The next generation of geothermal energy is cheap, clean, and effective – and can be implemented almost anywhere on earth. The problem? It’s not scaling nearly as quickly as needed. AgniTerra,…

Image: the cost to society from a ton of CO2—termed the social cost of carbon (SCC) – measures the economic and social effects of a change in climate. (from below article from UHN – University Health Network – Toronto, Canada. 2019) Date: December 17, 2024 Source: University of California – Davis Summary: The social cost…

From: Andrew J. Wilson, R. Daniel Bressler, Catherine Ivanovich, Cascade Tuholske, Colin Raymond, Radley M. Horton, Adam Sobel, Patrick Kinney, Tereza Cavazos, Jeffrey G. Shrader. Heat disproportionately kills young people: Evidence from wet-bulb temperature in Mexico. Science Advances, 2024; 10 (49) High heat is preferentially killing the young, not the old, new research finds In…

Image from Rakesh R. Nair et al. Leaftronics: Natural lignocellulose scaffolds for sustainable electronics. Sci. Adv. 2024. Fig. 1. Lignocellulose quasi-fractals and their coating. (A) Magnolia LS quasi-fractal structure at different magnifications. Scale bars from left to right: 20 mm, 5 mm, 1 mm, and 200 μm [scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image]. (B) Fabrication process…

Image: Developing countries now account for about 75% of emissions, and an overwhelming 95% of global emissions increases, according to the Climate Leadership Council. The answer isn’t as obvious as you might think. It depends on whether your priority is climate justice or cutting carbon. By Mark Harris December 8, 2024 in Anthropocene c It’s…

Image: Why did our emissions stop dropping in 2020? … its because the only really big cuts so far have happened in the land sector — by felling fewer trees, and planting more. These six charts tell the story of Australia’s (slow) progress on climate change By national science and environment reporter Michael Slezak in…

Image: US States making laws against peaceful protest by climate activists Nina Lakhani 12 dec 2024 in Guardian Down to Earth Newsletter Back in early August, I reported on the arrest of two climate activists outside the New York headquarters of Citibank, one of the world’s largest fossil fuel financiers and target of a campaign…

“Ripping off customers:” Energy utilities force households to pay more than double than business Sophie Vorrath Dec 12, 2024 in Renew Economy POLICY & PLANNING New research based on the annual reports of AGL and Origin Energy claims to reveal a “clear case of price gouging” by Australia’s two biggest energy retailers, where households pay…

The Coalition’s numbers are not a comparison of the cost of nuclear versus the cost of firmed renewables, economist Stephen Hamilton says. “They are the difference in cost between renewables and doing nothing for the next 15 years,” he said. From Climate Council CEO Amanda MacKenzie: Renewable power is reliable, clean, safe, and already provides…

Guardian graphic. Source: Keys, et al., 2024, “Property Insurance and Disaster Risk: New Evidence from Mortgage Escrow Data”. Note: In 2023 dollars. How climate risks are driving up insurance premiums around the US – visualized ‘Tight correlation’ between premium rises and counties deemed most at risk from climate crisis, experts say Oliver Milman with graphics…

Image: Conclusion and Call to Action for Ensuring Food Security for All – Food Security: Ensuring Global Food Security (see below main article) Wake up and smell the coffee: rising food prices show destabilising impact of climate crisis Heather Stewart in The Guardian Policymakers must act as extreme weather events put more pressure on food…

Image: Albedo is the word to describe the amount sunlight that bounces, or reflects, off of the Earth. The concept of albedo is a very important one in discussions of Earth’s climate, because it relates to how much heat is absorbed by various parts of the Earth. Earth’s albedo is influenced by the physical properties…

Figure 1. Overarching hydrogen supply chain (with production via electrolysis as an example). 4 Dec 2024  CSIRO A new report from Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, has projected Australia’s hydrogen electrolyser manufacturing (HEM) sector could generate $1.7 billion in revenue and create nearly 4000 jobs by 2050. The Hydrogen Electrolyser Manufacturing report highlighted a significant…

Graph: Evolution of key regional natural gas prices, June 2021-October 2022 Open How the energy crisis started, how global energy markets are impacting our daily life, and what governments are doing about it from the International Energy Agency What is the energy crisis? What is causing it? What is being done? Energy saving tips What…

Image: from Farmers for Climate Action report, A state-by-state breakdown of expected revenue to farmers and local communities from renewables.  (Supplied: Farmers for Climate Action) Farmers for Climate Action finds most regional residents impacted by renewables are supportive By Warwick Long and Timu King on abc.net Fri 29 Nov DOWNLOAD THE REPORT A new survey…

Graph: Our World in Data You can’t scale green power without scaling gray industry. By Mark Harris November 17, 2024. in Anthropocene magazine In June, The Economist published a feature called “The exponential growth of solar power will change the world,” noting that the planet’s installed solar capacity doubles about every three years. Five months…