The Biden administration is investing $20 million in a program to use the GOES-R satellite for wildfire detection. The hope is that the satellite will spot blazes before 911 calls start, and see through a haze of smoke to point to where a fire ignited. That could help officials and firefighters respond more quickly and give them a leg up on fighting the fire.
It shows carbon dioxide pollution moving through Earth’s atmosphere. We can’t usually see the pollution causing climate change, but NASA was able to illustrate it using a a high-resolution weather model and supercomputers. It incorporates data from billions of ground and satellite observations.
That’s according to preliminary data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. The world has been smashing records lately thanks to climate change: 2023 was the hottest year on record. Last summer was the hottest in the Northern Hemisphere in at least 2,000 years. And there’s still time to break more records this summer.
Mining companies want to harvest polymetallic nodules — which are rich in metals that can be used to make batteries — from the deep sea. But scientists just discovered that these so-called “batteries in a rock” might be creating oxygen through seawater electrolysis. It’s a wild revelation that poses new questions about the consequences of mining the deep sea before fully understanding what’s down there.
[Scientific American]
High hopes and security fears for next-gen nuclear reactors
Fuel for advanced reactors is raising nuclear proliferation concerns.
Trump’s new running mate went from saying “we have a climate problem” in 2020 to being “skeptical of the idea that climate change is caused purely by man,” The New York Times reports. (Research shows greenhouse gas emissions from human activity are to blame.) Vance suddenly threw his support behind Trump, pushed to repeal EV tax credits and rollback pollution regulations.
[The New York Times]
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Plastic bins: better than boxes
Renting bins is convenient, slightly more sustainable, and not once did I miss cardboard boxes.
Emissions from nearly 6 million of its vehicles were about 10 percent higher on average than GM said they were on its greenhouse gas emission compliance reports, an EPA investigation found. GM will retire 50 million metric tons of carbon credits to make up for the excess tailpipe pollution. It’ll also pay $145.8 million in penalties.
[The Washington Post]
The Environmental Protection Agency updated its climate change indicators, a comprehensive report on extreme weather, shifting seasons, ocean impacts, and greenhouse gas emissions in the US.
Heatwave season is 46 days longer for Americans now than it was in the 1960s, for instance.
“The climate crisis is affecting every American right now and with increasing intensity,” EPA administrator Michael Regan said in a press release.
What SCOTUS just did to broadband, the right to repair, the environment, and more
From net neutrality to H-1B tech workers to cellphone unlocking, much of tech policy revolves around the administrative state.
Supreme Court ruling kneecaps federal regulators
SCOTUS overrules Chevron deference, completely changing how environmental and consumer protections will be decided.
He says he had the best. He tried to roll back more than 100 environmental protections while in office. Is that what he’s bragging about in the debate?
The GOES-U satellite launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday.
It’s one of four National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites equipped with powerful new tools to monitor weather in space and on Earth. They’ll provide advanced imagery to inform forecasts, map lightning activity in real time, and detect solar flares.
How to make an EV tire that won’t pollute the environment
Tire pollution is becoming the front line of our next war on car emissions, and Enso is ahead of the curve.