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— There is no consensus on when this is likely to happen. The sixth assessment report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), expressed "medium confidence that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation will not collapse abruptly before 2100". However, the signatories of the open letter to the Nordic Council argued that new research indicated that the risk had so far been "greatly underestimated", and the "passing of this tipping point is a serious possibility already in the next few decades."
— Even if a storm surge does reach the second level, the living space is also equipped with vents to let floodwaters pass through the house instead of getting trapped inside. Every Hunters Point home is also held down by steel-reinforced straps that run from the foundation to the roof. Even the solar panels are fixed to the roof so they are protected from extreme winds and highly resistant to being blown off.
— Homes are available in Hunters Point, but they are listed between $1.4 million and $1.9 million, roughly two to three times the average home price for the area.
— Of the 5,500 domed and rounded homes Deltec has constructed, only one has sustained damage from high winds, according to its records, despite facing some of the country's most powerful hurricanes on record, including Irma, Michael, Katrina, Dorian and, most recently, Milton. Deltec says it has heard from dozens of homeowners and none have reported damage from Hurricane Milton.
— A circular shape means the home is more aerodynamic, with Deltec president Steve Linton claiming the round design leads to significantly less pressure building up on the outside of the home. The design means the home can absorb and distribute the energy better than a traditional house, regardless of the direction of the wind force, he adds. "This works much like the spokes on a wheel," Linton says.
— The domed form also has an advantage, Landolf Rhode-Barbarigos, an associate professor in the University of Miami's civil, architectural and environmental engineering department and associate director of the Climate Resilience Institute, explains, because the homes don't resist the flow of the wind around them. "A regular house with edges like a box, and a flat roof, that creates a certain obstacle to the flow of the wind," he explains. "When you have a house that's round, by default it receives less force from the wind. It's not only the engineering but also the architecture that can affect the [wind] load. "[These homes] are resistant. They're not affected by the strong winds that we have with hurricanes," says Rhode-Barbarigos.
— In the past, Deltec houses were only available in custom designs. A new line of pre-designed models are "hurricane ready", designed to withstand wind speeds up to 190 miles (307km) per hour, and 25% cheaper than the custom builds. Deltec provides the "shell" of the house, while the site prep, roof shingles, insulation and drywall are completed by the buyer's own builder. The shells cost, on average, one-third of the total house cost, and ranges from $45,900 (£35,000) for a 515 sq ft (48 sq m) home to $132,500 (£101,000) for a 2,070 sq ft (192 sq m) home.
— Five years after the House of Representative's Environment Committee voted in favour of better protection for insects, Swiss NGO Birdlife has criticised the government's hesitant action. The loss of valuable habitats continues, it says. Overall, almost 60% of insect species are threatened or potentially threatened in Switzerland; 59 wild bee species (9.6%) have already disappeared, according to the 2024 red list.
— According to the rankings, the most climate-conscious canton is Basel City. Appenzell Inner Rhodes lags furthest behind.
— The massive shelves that make up the surface of our plane will eventually merge together to form one massive supercontinent, Pangea Ultima.
"The newly-emerged supercontinent would effectively create a triple whammy, comprising the continentality effect, hotter sun and more CO2 in the atmosphere, of increasing heat for much of the planet."
Typical temperatures will hover between 40 and 50 degrees Celsius, combined with high levels of humidity. Somewhere between eight and 16 per cent of the overall landmass of Pangea Ultima would be habitable, the study says.
— The report by the International Trade Centre (ITC) shows BSOs in developing countries how to engage meaningfully with businesses in the agricultural value chain on climate change issues and offer services that are better targeted, better designed and more effective. The report identifies climate-smart practices and technologies, alternative land uses and value-added products as market opportunities. It lists many of the potential goods and services that support climate resilience.
— Summer days exceed 40 degrees in London and 45 degrees in Delhi, as extreme heat waves are now 8 to 9 times more common. These high temperatures prompt widespread blackouts, as power grids struggle to keep up with the energy demands needed to properly cool homes. Ambulance sirens blare through the night, carrying patients suffering from heatstroke, dehydration, and exhaustion. The southwestern United States, southern Africa, and eastern Australia experience longer, more frequent, and more severe droughts.
The Philippines, Indonesia, and Japan face more frequent heavy rainfall as rising temperatures cause water to evaporate faster, and trap more water in the atmosphere. As the weather becomes more erratic, some communities are unable to keep pace with rebuilding what’s constantly destroyed.
— "With an investment of 1260 CHF/year per capita in local energy communities, districts can produce about half of the total energy needs of Switzerland by using around 60% of the available roof surface."
— Jobs held by managers, professionals, and technicians exhibit minimal vulnerability to automation, with only a small fraction of tasks at high risk and around a quarter at medium risk.
High-income countries face the potential automation of about 5.5% of total employment, whereas low-income countries encounter automation risks affecting a mere 0.4% of employment. But, the potential for augmentation appears nearly equal across countries, implying that with the right policies, AI could offer substantial benefits to developing nations.
— Accumulated schedule slips and budget overruns threaten to make it the most delayed — and most cost–inflated–science project in history. As late as early July 2022, ITER's website announced that the machine was expected to turn on as scheduled in December 2025. Afterward that date bore an asterisk clarifying that it would be revised. Now the date has disappeared from the website altogether.
In January 2022 the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) put a stop to ITER assembly entirely. ASN is unconvinced that, among other issues, the planned amount of radiation shielding around the machine will be adequate, and the authority won't let the assembly go forward until ITER can prove that it can keep personnel safe.
Adjusted for inflation, its price is about the same as that of the Manhattan Project, which made the first atomic bombs — and is almost certain to get larger.
Climate change is NOT our main problem, says TV science star (LINK)
Diana Budds: "I'm struck by how much of this public-health crisis is being framed as a matter of individual responsibility — of vaccine status, of shopping for the right mask, of being able to afford the time and money to get a test. City and state officials have neglected that the circumstances in which there really isn't much individual control — where you live, your employer's policies, and how you get around — matter a whole lot as well. Health [has become]another luxury marketing tool. Thinking about healthy cities as a system looks a lot like the Green New Deal. Housing is health care. Jobs are health care. Climate justice is health care."
"We believe this to be a landmark in the global voluntary carbon credit market. MCO2 has already been used by more than 300 companies around the globe." Moss's innovation consists in backing in blockchain a real green asset generated by environmental projects in the Amazon Rainforest and which can be traded on exchanges or used to neutralize gases in the atmosphere.
"The most obvious changes to the workplace will also likely be the shortest lasting. Think: UV lights, Covid-19 test vending machines, and constant deep cleanings."
"Scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the German Development Institute have developed a new integrated strategy that combines ambitious climate action with dedicated policies for development, food and energy access, global and national equity, and environmental sustainability. It sheds new light on bottlenecks, but also synergies for boosting progress towards climate and sustainable development targets."
"The global urban population facing water scarcity is projected to increase from 933 million (one third of global urban population) in 2016 to 1.693–2.373 billion people (one third to nearly half of global urban population) in 2050, with India projected to be most severely affected. [But] More than two thirds of water-scarce cities can relieve water scarcity by infrastructure investment."
"It's [...] unclear whether a future decline can be expected to be moderate or sharp, but both scenarios indicate society will run into limits in the medium term. [...] It is not too late to change course. [...] A deliberate trajectory change is still possible." (PDF)
Many older persons struggle to access essential goods and services — from online vaccination appointment registrations, to pensions, food and medication during lockdowns — if they cannot access them online.
"Support our people outside of the "nine to five" "Increase the minimum wage." "Well-funded and quality universal healthcare." "Support our people outside of 'nine to five'." "Promote more transparent and accountable systems." "Address the basic fundamentals of knowledge creation and collaboration." "Increase public investments in the formal and informal care economies." "Don't use the pandemic as a justification to discriminate and exclude."
"A new generation of regulatory policies, based on five proposed principles, is needed to create a foundation that will balance BigFintechs' commercial interests with sustainable development and public interests, particularly in developing countries, as well as the rest of the world."
Coronavirus pandemic recovery efforts should provide comprehensive social protection, fight climate change and ensure vaccines reach the poorest people quickly.
"Singapore has applied nature-based solutions to achieve climate, ecological and social resilience with innovative modern technology."
"Respondents to the World Economic Forum's most-recent Chief Economists Survey see the growth rate for 2021 about 6%, and most expect a recovery of global GDP to its pre-COVID-19 level by the first half of 2022. And yet, behind these numbers, some countries are experiencing dramatic new waves of the virus; people are still processing 18 months of ill health, grief and stress; millions of workers have dropped out of the global labor force; job openings are going unfilled across high-income economies; and a number of risk factors could yet delay or derail even the aggregate rebound."
The number of entry-level jobs posted in the US decreased by 68% in 2020 due to COVID-19. However, this was a continuation of a trend that began following the last recession. Graduates often don't have all the skills required to jump straight into a tech-driven knowledge economy. Higher education and employers need to provide the di literacy training needed so that more young people can find jobs.
Several northern European economies are cited as doing well – Denmark, Finland, Germany and Norway. The report's authors describe Turkey's recovery spending as a "commendable outlier" which is "not accurately represented" on their graph due to visual limitations.
The report suggests that in Europe, recovery spending has missed a number of potential green investment opportunities and that more could certainly be done. "Only 2.5% of all spending and 18% of recovery spending is likely to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," it states.
— unctad —
23 April 2021"About 80% of the goods we consume are carried by ships, but we easily forget this." By early 2021, freight rates from China to South America had jumped 443% compared with 63% on the route between Asia and North America's eastern coast. UNCTAD has provided A 10-point action plan to keep ships moving, ports open and trade flowing during the pandemic.
— epfl —
23 April 2021 — yahoo —
22 April 2021 — theverge —
15 April 2021 — source —
11 April 2021 — nature —
17 March
2021 — ourworldindata —
15 March 2021 — worldbank —
12 March 2021 — europa —
11 March
2021 — thewire —
11 March 2021 — nature —
10 March 2021 — nature —
8 March 2021"In 24 cases with economic estimates of services, conservation or restoration benefits (for example, greenhouse gas regulation, flood protection) tend to outweigh those private benefits (for example, profits from agriculture or logging)."
— swissinfo —
2 March 2021 — yahoo —
24 February 2021 — nytimes —
23 February 2021 — gizmodo —
23 February 2021 — cnn —
19 February 2021 — genevasolutions —
11 February 2021 — thecvf —
11 February 2021 — engadget —
11 February 2021 — axios —
11 February 2021 — theguardian —
8 February 2021 — reuters news trust —
2 February 2021 — yahoo —
27 January 2021 — weforum —
26 January
2021 — cryptonews —
25 January 2021 — time —
22 January 2021 — dw/ecowatch —
15 January 2021 — unctad —
7 January 2021 — weforum —
19 January 2021 — qz —
31 December 2020 — niemanlab —
23 December 2020 — devdiscourse —
22 December 2020 — wef —
16 December 2020Countries with advanced digital economies and digital skills have been more successful at keeping their economies running while their citizens worked from home. The Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, Estonia, and the United States have performed well on this measure.
Countries with robust economic safety nets, such as Denmark, Finland, Norway, Austria, Luxembourg and Switzerland, were well placed to support those who could not work. Similarly, countries with strong financial systems such as Finland, the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore, could more easily provide credit to SMEs to prevent insolvency.
Countries that could successfully plan and integrate health, fiscal and social policies have been relatively more successful in mitigating the effects of the crisis, including Singapore, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Austria and the United Arab Emirates.
— swissinfo —
15 December 2020 — mashable —
7 December 2020 — vice —
4 December 2020 — france24 —
2 December 2020 — theverge —
2 December 2020 — undp —
2 December 2020 — upi —
2 December 2020 — climateactiontracker —
1 December 2020 — weforum —
1 December 2020— article updates the original "World Scientists' Warning to Humanity" document released in 1992.
— Since 1992, CO2 [carbon dioxide] emissions have jumped 62 percent and the global temperature is up 29 percent, while the abundance of vertebrate wildlife has plunged 29 percent. Plus: