Deepak works on enviro360 as a senior content editor. He reports on the latest events and changes in the technology, climate, and entertainment industry. Moreover, he is quite interested in knowing every single piece of information about celebrity's lifestyles and daily updates. In his spare time, he enjoys playing and watching a variety of sports, as well as spending time with his family.
Crude oil prices went down today in Asian trade, after making small gains on Monday when news came out that President Biden and House Speaker and top Republican Kevin McCarthy had reached a deal to raise the debt limit.
But now, Reuters is saying that some Republican “hardliners” in Congress won’t back a deal that raises the debt ceiling. This could make it harder for the deal to pass.
At the time this was written, a barrel of Brent oil sold for close to $76.50, while a barrel of West Texas Intermediate sold for just over $72 per barrel. Both were down a little bit when trading started today.
In the last two weeks, oil prices have changed a lot because of how Republicans and Democrats in Congress can’t seem to agree on how to raise the federal government’s spending limit.
Early stories about the tentative deal between Biden and McCarthy say that spending will stay the same over the next two years and that unused Covid funds will be used again.
But it looks like this is not good enough for some Republicans in and out of Congress. “It’s not worth it. Rep. Chip Roy said on Twitter, “$4 trillion in debt for, at best, a two-year spending freeze and no major policy changes.”
“After this deal, our country will still be careening toward bankruptcy,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on Fox News.
This means that getting the deal through would be hard, but not impossible. Democrats and Republicans have always been able to put aside their differences to avoid a debt default, so this shouldn’t be a problem.
Aside from the problems with the U.S. debt cap, another thing that has been putting pressure on prices is that Saudi Arabia and Russia, the leaders of OPEC+, may be sending messages that are at odds with each other.
Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman is said to have suggested more cuts, but Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said there was no need for more cuts.
A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) says that investment in clean energy is significantly outpacing fossil fuel spending and will surpass it this year, with solar projects expected to exceedgas-development-global-warming.html’ >oilproduction expenditures for the first time.
According to the World Energy Investment report, the global energy crisis that followed Russia s invasion of Ukraine, as well as the growing affordability of renewables, has given rise to more sustainable alternatives, sparking a rise in investments.
Clean energy is moving fast faster than many people realize. This is clear in the investment trends, where clean technologies are pulling away from fossil fuels, said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol in an IEApress release. For every dollar invested in fossil fuels, about 1.7 dollars are now going into clean energy. Five years ago, this ratio was one-to-one. One shining example is an investment in solar, which is set to overtake the amount of investment going into oil production for the first time.
In 2023, approximately $2.8 trillion will be invested in energy globally, the report said. More than $1.7 trillion of that amount is projected to be invested in green energy technologies like electric vehicles(EVs), renewables, power grids, nuclear energy, heat pumps, low-emissions fuels, and improvements in energy efficiency. The remaining more than $1 trillion will be invested in gas, oil, and coal.
Yearly investments in renewables are predicted to increase by 24 percent from 2021 to 2023, while fossil fuel investments are expected to rise just 15 percent. Advanced economies, as well as China, are responsible for more than 90 percent of the growth, which could jeopardize global energy equality if green energy investment increases aren t seen in other parts of the world.
Weak grid infrastructure is a limiting factor for renewable investment in many developing economies, and here too current investment flows are highly concentrated. Advanced economies and China account for 80% of global spending and for almost all of the growth in recent years, the report said.
Renewable energy technologies are projected to make up nearly 90 percent of power generation investment this year, led by solar energy.
Investments in solar are expected to reach more than $1 billion per day this year, for a total of $382 billion in 2023, reported Reuters. Oil production investment is projected to be $371 billion.
This crowns solar as a true energy superpower. It is emerging as the biggest tool we have for rapid decarbonization of the entire economy, said Dave Jones, an energy think tank Ember s head of data insights, as Reuters reported.
EV sales are projected to rise by one-third in 2023, following a jump last year, the press release said. Since 2021, sales of heat pumps worldwide have also grown by double digits.
New initiatives like the U.S.Inflation Reduction Act and policies in Europe, China, Japan, and other countries, as well as phases of vigorous economic growth coupled with unstable fossil fuel prices, have helped prompt investments in clean energy.
Oil and gas upstream spending is projected to increase by seven percent this year, primarily by large Middle Eastern national oil companies.
New fossil fuel investments will increase by six percent to $950 billion this year, according to the IEA report.
The increase in fossil fuel investments will lead to levels this year that is more than twice where they need to be in 2030 to be on track for the Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario laid out by the IEA, the press release said.
Last year, demand for coal was at a record high. In 2023, investment in coal is on a trajectory for a six-fold increase over the levels forecast to reach net zero goals for 2030.
Investment in coal supply is expected to rise by 10% in 2023 and is already well above pre-pandemic levels. Investment in new coal-fired power plants remains on a declining trend, but a warning sign came in 2022 with 40 GW of new coal plants being approved the highest figure since 2016, the report said.
The largest green energy investment deficiencies were found to be in developing and emerging nations. Higher interest rates, weak grid infrastructure, high capital costs, obscure policy rules, and strained utilities have hampered investments in renewables in those countries.
The irony remains that some of the sunniest places in the world have the lowest levels of solar investment, Jones said, as reported by Reuters.
Following months of talks concerning the severe drought conditions in the Colorado River Basin, the U.S. Department of the Interior has proposals>announcedthat representatives from sevenColorado RiverBasin states have agreed to the submission of a proposal by representatives of three Lower River Basin states California, Nevada, and Arizona to take billions fewer gallons of water from the dwindling river.
The three Lower Basin states will reduce their water intake by three million acre-feet equal to 13 percent of their allotment from the river through 2026.
In a statement from The White House, President Joe Biden said the agreement between the Department of the Interior and seven Colorado River Basin states on a consensus-based approach marks an important step forward in our efforts to protect the stability of the Colorado River System in the face of climate change and historic drought conditions.
Millions of people depend on the river for their drinkingwater including residents of Phoenix, Las Vegas, and LosAngeles and it is used to generate power and irrigate swaths of farmland.
There are 40 million people, seven states, and 30 Tribal Nations who rely on the Colorado River Basin for basic services such as drinking water and electricity, said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland in a press release from the U.S. Department of the Interior.
If an agreement had not been reached, cuts may have been levied by the federal government, likely leading to a succession of legal actions, reported Reuters.
Federal funds from the Inflation Reduction Act(IRA) will be used to provide $1.2 billion in grants for the reductions.
However, the IRA will not compensate states for 700,000 acre-feet of the water reductions, CNN reported. Of those, JB Hamby, California s lead Colorado River negotiator, said most of California s share would come from the supply of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Los Angeles water provider.
The water district said that, following record-breakingrainfallandsnowpacklevels, it would t need to take as much water from the Lake Mead reservoir.
While officials from Arizona were t sure where they would get more uncompensated cuts, they said solid winter snowpack had helped state reservoir levels.
The good winter helped us in a way that we could take advantage of that good hydrology, but we’re not relying upon that good hydrology, said Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke, according to CNN. We started to see that we could protect the system, we could build elevation in the system, and that we did t have to have an outcome in which anybody needed to have additional costs imposed against them.
The agreement between the River Basin states still faces a federal environmental review. It also does not include Native American Tribes and Mexico, two major recipients of water from the river, reported Reuters. The Tribes hold water rights that entitle them to an estimated one-fourth to one-third of its supply, and, under a 1944 treaty with the U.S., Mexico gets 1.5 million acre-feet annually.
Beginning in 2027, the seven states will need to start work on a deal for the long haul that does t rely too much on federal funding or particularly wet years ahead, especially considering the effects of climate change.
There are significantly more difficult things in the future that are going to have to be agreed to, said John Entsminger, Nevada s representative and general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, as Reuters reported.
The U.S. and Canada have announced the Binational Electric Vehicle (EV) Corridor, a network of charging stations, including DC fast-chargers, from Kalamazoo, Michigan to Quebec City, Quebec to help travelers going between the two countries.
The corridor will feature charging stations about every 50 miles (80 kilometers), according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The project is supported by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which on its own has allocated $7.5 billion in federal funding for a national network of 500,000 public EV chargers as well as the CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act in addition to about CA$1.2 billion in funding from Canada, CleanTechnica reported.
Canada and the United States have built the world s largest market-based energy trading relationship, which provides a firm foundation as we strive to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, Canadian Minister of Transport Omar Alghabrasaid in a statement.
This first cross-border alternative fuel corridor will help drivers to travel across the border and charge or refuel worry-free. It contributes to bringing us another step closer to making our air cleaner while helping people save money on traditional fuels.
The corridor will include 215 charging stations, with 154 stations along highways from Toronto to Quebec City and 61 stations along highways from Detroit to Toronto. The stations will be within 6 kilometers (about 3.7 miles) of the highways to make them more convenient for travelers.
The EV charging network will be the first cross-border corridor of its kind, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said, as reported by Detroit News. But this is not Michigan s first collaborative charging network. It has also worked with other states to build a 1,100-mile circuit of EV charging stations around Lake Michigan.
The Binational EV Corridor is meant to help both nations boost jobs, strengthen supply chains, and further encourage the transition to electric vehicles. It will also help Canada reach its goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 as well as the U.S. goal for half of all new vehicle sales to be electric by 2030. In Canada, about 10% of new vehicles currently sold are electric.
With historic investments in EV infrastructure from the Biden-Harris Administration and the Canadian government, we are creating a new generation of good-paying manufacturing jobs, making it possible for drivers everywhere to reap the benefits and savings of these vehicles while helping us fight climate change, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said.
The biggest fossil fuel companies in the world owe at least $209 billion in yearly climate reparations to communities that suffered the brunt of the calamities caused by the climate crisis, a new study has concluded.
While substantial, the researchers consider theirs to be a conservative cost estimate, as it did not put a price tag on the loss of lives or income, additional well-being considerations, or extinction of species and other types of biodiversity depletion not reflected in gross domestic product calculations, reported The Guardian.
The study said the 21 biggest polluters have collectively caused $5.4 trillion in sea level rise, drought, wildfires, glacial melt, and other climate-related disasters. They include ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, TotalEnergies, and Saudi Arabia s state-oil company, Saudi Aramco.
Human-caused climate change has long been acknowledged as essentially an ethical issue that threatens humanity and ravages the planet. While the Global North s historical carbon emissions have exceeded their fair share of the planetary boundary by an estimated 92%, the impacts of climate breakdown fall [disproportionately] on the Global South, which is responsible for a trivial share of Africa, Asia, and Latin America contribute only 8% of excess emissions, the authors wrote in their analysis.
The research is the first time the economic burden of companies that have made exorbitant profits from climate-damaging fossil fuels has been assessed.
The paper, Time to Pay the Piper: Fossil fuel companies reparations for climate damages, was published in the journalOne Earth.
The researchers said fossil fuel companies’ history of misinformation and climate denial has stymied global efforts to mitigate the climate crisis and that they have a moral responsibility to right the climate damage they have caused with their legacy of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions, Climate Change News reported.
The argument presented by the paper calls on the fossil fuel companies to use some of the tainted wealth they have accumulated to compensate those who have suffered the most, reported The Guardian.
Fossil fuel companies have a moral responsibility to affected parties for climate harm and have a duty to rectify such harm. Moral theory and common sense as well as international environmental agreements through the polluter pays principle embodied in article 16 of the 1992 Rio Declaration, which calls for the internalization of environmental costs demand that historical wrongdoing must be rectified, the authors wrote in the study.
The authors used the carbon majors database as the platform for their study. The database has been keeping track of the emissions of gas and oil companies since 1988, which was the year the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established. Following the foundation of the IPCC, claims of scientific uncertainty concerning the climate crisis no longer held water.
As increasingly devastating storms, floods and sea level rise bring misery to millions of people every day, questions around reparations have come to the fore, said Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at Climate Action Network International, a group of almost 2,000 civil society groups across 130 countries, as The Guardian reported. This new report puts the numbers on the table polluters can no longer hide from their crimes against humanity and nature.
Economic damages from the climate crisis worldwide from 2025 to 2050 are projected to be about $99 trillion. More than 700 climate economists have said that emissions from fossil fuels are the cause of $69.6 trillion of that amount.
According to the study, about a third of these predicted climate costs can be attributed to governments, a third to the fossil fuel industry worldwide, and a third to consumers, which means the fossil fuel industry is responsible for at least $893 billion annually, or $23.2 trillion total, for the next quarter-century.
About 50 percent of global warming to date has occurred since 1988, when James Hansen, a NASA scientist, testified before the U.S. Senate on humanity s role in climate change.
It is a widely held view that the richest one percent of the global population is responsible for double the greenhouse gas emissions of the poorest half of the world, which suffer the lion s share of climate harm.
According to the study, if the largest fossil fuel corporations were made to pay reparations, Saudi Aramco, which produced the most emissions of any state-owned company, would owe $43 billion per year, or a little more than a quarter of its profits from last year. ExxonMobil, which had profits of $56 billion last year, would be liable for $18 billion annually. BP and Shell, which made $68 billion combined in 2022, would have to pay $30.8 billion each year.
Four companies from low-income countries were exempt, and the liability for six fossil fuels companies in middle-income countries was cut in half under the moral reasoning that it would allow them to be able to afford more in taxes in order to contribute in other forward-thinking ways.
The proposed framework for quantifying and attributing reparations to major carbon fuel producers is grounded in moral theory and provides a starting point for discussion of the financial duty owed by the fossil fuel industry to climate victims, said Marco Grasso, a professor at the University of Milano-Bicocca, who was a co-author of the study, as The Guardian reported.
Erika Lennon, a senior attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law s energy and climate program, said the framework could also be useful for courts in ascribing responsibility for these climate harms and in assessing damages.
The case is clear for oil and gas companies to pay reparations for the harm their fossil fuels have caused. Not only has their dirty energy wrecked the climate, but they have also [in many cases] spent millions of dollars on lobbying and misinformation to prevent climate action, said Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa, a climate and energy think tank based in Kenya, as reported by The Guardian.
Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland is an upcoming British James Bluemel documentary series. Keep reading to find out the premiere date, plot, and all the other important details you may be looking for, but also details on streaming the episodes online free from anywhere.
The powerful new documentary series combines unfiltered personal accounts with archive footage to tell the story of the people and communities living with violence daily and are still dealing with its legacies today.
With this said, let’s see where, when, and how to effortlessly watch Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland online from anywhere in the world, even on the go or while traveling abroad.
When and Where to Watch Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland
Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland will premiere in the UK on Monday, May 22, 2023. The series will air on BBC TwoandBBC Northern Ireland at 8 pm local time and stream on the BBC iPlayer service (UK only).
The series has5 episodes, each one hour long, and you will be able to stream the full series via player for free, while one new episode will air weekly on TV.
How to Watch Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland Online for Free from Anywhere
Nowadays, it s super easy to watch content online via a streaming service in your home country, but geo-restrictions may be an issue. BBC iPlayer is blocked outside the UK, so you’ll need a workaround while abroad, and that is to use a VPN to watch Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland online on iPlayerfrom anywhere since it lets you change your IP address.
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The yearly option has a huge discount when subscribing to ExpressVPN (49% discount and getting 3 months FREE). It only takes a few minutes to create an account, so fill in the signup form and pay. Next, download and install the native app for your device. Then, launch and run your VPN app via a UK server. Lastly, load the platform to stream Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland.
How to Watch Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland for Free in the UK
In the UK, the docuseries airs on BBC Two Northern Ireland on May 22, and you will be able to stream Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland on BBC Player for free as long as you log in with your free BBC account credentials.
There are several other fan-favorite BBC titles on iPlayer, such as MasterChef, Peaky Blinders, Shetland, Gentleman Jack, Call the Midwife, The Gold, and Eastenders.
This streaming service is geo-restricted, so you will need to lean on a safe and capable VPN toolset to a UK server while traveling outside the UK.
How to Watch Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland in the US
In the US, you can stream Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland on the PBS app and website on May 22, 2023, at 5 pm ET. The docuseries will have its broadcast premiere later, on August 28-30, 2023, on PBS.
PBS is only available in the US and Canada, so you will need to lean on a trustworthy and capable VPN app to access this title while being outside these countries. This will work as long as you use a server located close to your hometown area.
Can I Watch Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland Online in Canada and Australia?
Unfortunately, we have no way for you to stream this title online in Canada and Australia. This is why we recommend you use a capable VPN toolset to a UK server to unblock BBC iPlayer and stream Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland for free in Canada, Australia, and anywhere else.
Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland Cast
Episode 1
Billy is a teenager living in a working-class Catholic area of Londonderry. He joins the civil rights protests and eventually the IRA.
Jeanette grows up in a working-class Protestant area of Londonderry. She s terrified by the outbreak of violence sparked by the civil rights marches.
James is from a working-class Protestant background. He joins a loyalist paramilitary organization and, by the age of 17, is in charge of their guns.
Ricky is born into a Belfast Republican family. He joins the IRA and is jailed for armed robbery, later playing a pivotal role in the 1981 hunger strike.
Richard remembers the rioting and street battles with the British Army from the perspective of a schoolboy in Catholic Derry.
Fiona is a young child when the British Army arrives in Derry. She recalls that her Republican family was regularly subjected to terrifying house searches by soldiers looking for hidden IRA weapons.
Kate is a carefree teenager from a large Catholic family. Her brother is shot dead, and her father is wounded by British Paratroopers.
Tom is deployed to Northern Ireland as part of the British Army. He s 19 years old.
Episode 2
Dawn remembers the devastating impact of Bloody Friday on her Protestant, working-class community.
Terri is a legendary Belfast figure who sets up a record shop at the height of the troubles in the 1970s. He is at the heart of the punk music scene which brings young Catholics and Protestants together in defiance of the conflict around them.
Greg grows up in a middle-class Protestant suburb of Belfast and becomes the lead singer of the Outcasts, a Belfast punk band.
Yvonne is a young Catholic girl who starts going to the Harp Bar where the Belfast punk scene played out. It s there that she meets and falls in love with her future husband, Greg.
Bronagh is the granddaughter of Jean McConville, a widowed mother of 10 who was kidnapped, murdered, and secretly buried by the IRA as one of the Disappeared.
Michael McConville is Bronagh s father. He remembers his mother being forcibly taken from the family home. He had to wait 30 years for the IRA to reveal where his mother was buried.
John grows up on a working-class Protestant loyalist estate believing all Catholics to be his enemy. He later discovers a family secret that causes him to rethink his beliefs.
Episode 3
Bernadette (1) is 18 and has just married her boyfriend Ricky in Catholic West Belfast. Her new husband is arrested and jailed for armed robbery.
Bernadette (2) is just 10 years old when she s told that her father Joe, an IRA prisoner, is going to be the next man to go on hunger strike. She travels to the United States and appears on US TV appealing to President Regan to intervene to save her father s life.
June grows up in a predominantly Protestant village in rural Northern Ireland and marries her teenage sweetheart Johnnie, but his decision to join the police force (RUC) has devastating consequences.
Episode 4
Denise, her mother, and her brother live on an interface in constant fear of attack by their Catholic neighbors and is terrified of the consequences if her family secret is revealed.
Jean is Denise s mother. She joins the Ulster Defence Regiment, part of the British Army.
Billy (2) grows up in a Catholic working-class community in South Belfast. His father is murdered when loyalist gunmen storm into a betting shop and shoot indiscriminately.
Anne Marie witnesses a loyalist attack on an IRA funeral and agrees to plant firebombs in Belfast shops for the IRA. When her ex-partner turns informer on her she is sent to jail.
‘Brian’ is an ex-Special Branch (police) officer who worked at a high level with informers and agents for decades. He believes his life is still at risk from paramilitaries seeking revenge, so is filmed anonymously.
Episode 5
Alan is widowed after a bomb blows up his young wife’s father s fish shop. The bombers were targeting the loyalist paramilitary UDA headquarters upstairs.
Patrick is one of Northern Ireland s most successful comedians, but comedy was actually an outlet for his grief; his father had been shot dead by loyalists paramilitaries a year earlier.
Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland Episode Guide
Season 1 Episode 1: It Was t Like a Movie Anymore (May 22, 2023) – When tensions between Catholic and Protestant communities explode, the British Army is deployed. When 13 unarmed Catholics are shot dead in Derry by British Paratroopers, the world looks on in shock. Known as Bloody Sunday, it has far-reaching political consequences and is seen by some as a recruitment drive for the Provisional IRA.
Season 1 Episode 2: Do Paramilitaries Lay Awake at Night? (May 22, 2023) – In 1972, there s a deeply segregated society, with many Catholic and Protestant working-class communities policed by paramilitary organizations. Six months after Bloody Sunday, the IRA exploded 19 bombs across Belfast in an hour, killing nine and injuring 130 others. But punk music emerges as a unifying force for some young Catholics and Protestants, who defy the chaos and segregated world around them.
Season 1 Episode 3: So Many Broken Hearts (May 22, 2023) – The devastating impact of the conflict is explored through the stories of three women as IRA prisoners begin their hunger strike in protest against Margaret Thatcher s policies. Tit-for-tat killings, car bombs, and assassinations are now part of everyday life in Northern Ireland. Fatigue, from a population desperate for a respite from the violence, is creeping in.
Season 1 Episode 4: The Dirty War (May 22, 2023) – By the late 1980s, the news in Northern Ireland is a daily list of the dead, but 14 bloody days in March 1988 marked a new level of harrowing savagery. The conflict also becomes an intelligence war, as the move to prevent further terrorist violence is concentrated on infiltrating paramilitary organizations. Trust nobody is the mantra as fear and suspicion permeate all parts of everyday life.
Season 1 Episode 5: Who Wants to Live Like That? (May 22, 2023) – In 1994, President Bill Clinton controversially invites Gerry Adams to the United States. For some, it s a symbol of international support for peace talks, but others are horrified. An IRA ceasefire was announced, and a loyalist paramilitary ceasefire followed 6 weeks later. There is widespread joy when the Good Friday Agreement is finally announced in 1998, but peace comes at a cost.
Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland Official Trailer
Since 1970, the chasing arrows symbol has been an iconic marker of recyclability. But now, President Joe Biden s administration is considering if the symbol has become misleading.
The symbol was first designed by Gary Anderson, who was studying at the University of Southern California and submitted the logo for the International Design Conference in 1970. It was designed to address Earth Day and the growing awareness of sustainability and caring for the environment.
The logo features three arrows chasing one another in a triangular loop. The first arrow is meant to represent items being collected for recycling, the second arrow represents the manufacturing of recyclable materials into new materials, and the third loop represents the consumption of the materials once again.
But today, the symbol is used on many materials that are not easily or commonly recycled.
As the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) considers updating its Green Guide for the first time in over a decade to address greenwashing, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted a letter to comment on greenwashing and current recycling systems within the country. It noted that part of the necessary improvements to recycling includes clearer labels that are more transparent and accurate to consumers.
Plastics are a significant problem that needs to be addressed. Categorizing plastics by resin identification code coupled with chasing arrow symbols does not accurately represent recyclability as many plastics (especially 3-7) do not have end markets and are not financially viable to recycle, the EPA said in its letter to the FTC.
The EPA has noted that the arrow symbols, combined with the resin numbers on plastics, have been a major source of confusion for consumers, with many people reaching out for clarification on what can and cannot be recycled, as reported by The Guardian.
In the U.S., only23.6%of all generated municipal solid waste is recycled, according to the EPA. While plastic recycling was around 8.7% in 2018, a 2022 report from Beyond Plastics found that post-consumer plastic recycling rates were actually only around 5% to 6%.
The plastics industry must stop lying to the public about plastic recycling. It does not work, it never will work, and no amount of false advertising will change that. Instead, we need consumer brand companies and governments to adopt policies that reduce the production, usage, and disposal of plastics, Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics and former U.S. EPA regional administrator, said in a statement about the 2022 report.
In recent years, states have already targeted the label of the chasing arrow, with California being the first to restrict the logo on items that are not routinely recycled.
In addition to calling for changes to the recycling symbol, the EPA also recommended that the FTC restrict the use of several terms, including biodegradable and degradable, on products that are typically sent to landfills, recycling facilities, or incinerators.
In the letter, the EPA wrote that products labeled with terms such as degradable, biodegradable, etc., should always provide clear instructions for consumers on how to dispose of the product in a way that it will decompose in a safe and timely manner.
In contrast to rising carbon dioxide levels, which cool Earth’s upper atmosphere, rising carbon emissions heat the atmosphere close to the planet’s surface. According to scientists, this phenomenon may affect satellites, and the ozone layer, and lead to changes in the local weather.
The proof of humanity’s role in climate change has been strengthened by a recent study that was published in PNAS. The troposphere, where the majority of Earth’s weather occurs, and the lower stratosphere have been the subject of previous studies, but the mid- to upper-stratosphere, which is located between 30 and 50 kilometers (18.6 and 31.1 miles) above Earth’s surface, has received less attention.
As a result of researchers discovering temperature variations in the upper atmosphere, humanity’s influence on the climate is now five times more discernible. The study concludes that natural explanations for developments in the thermal structure of the Earth’s atmosphere observed by satellites are now essentially unachievable.
The upper atmosphere’s cooling patterns give rise to further worries. High winds and air that can quickly rise and fall inside and beyond each layer characterize the stratosphere as well as other outer layers of the atmosphere, such as the mesosphere and thermosphere. The current worry is that changing carbon dioxide emission patterns could affect these patterns.
This research refutes assertions that recent atmospheric and surface temperature fluctuations are a result of internal climate system cycles or of the Sun. Benjamin Santer, the study’s lead author and an adjunct scientist in the Physical Oceanography Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
(WHOI) in Massachusetts, said in a statement that a natural explanation is essentially impossible for what is being studied here: changes in the structure of the atmosphere’s temperature. This study disproves the myth that climate change is purely natural and doesn’t require serious consideration.
According to Yale Environment 360, there was a 1.7 C cooling in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere between 2002 and 2019. The upper atmosphere might cool by 7.5 C if carbon dioxide concentrations double as predicted later this century.
Furthermore, a 2022 research discovered that these same areas had shrunk by 1,333 meters (or 4,373 feet) between 2002 and 2019, with 342 meters (1,122 feet) of that shrinkage being due to rising carbon dioxide levels. The stratosphere has shrunk as well; according to one study, by the year 2080, the stratosphere will have shrunk by 1.3 kilometers (0.81 miles).
These modifications may enable space debris to stay in the atmosphere for an extended period of time and may impede the ozone layer’s recovery, which was previously anticipated to occur by 2040. They might also bring more frequent, abrupt, and dramatic weather changes closer to the surface of the Earth.
These findings deeply concern me as someone who attempts to comprehend the kind of world that the next generations will live in. Santer stated that there is no satisfaction in realizing that we are fundamentally altering the thermal structure of the Earth’s atmosphere.
The world and the United States must now make crucial decisions over what to do about climate change, Santer continued. I sincerely hope that those choices are supported by the most up-to-date scientific knowledge about the existence and gravity of anthropogenic climate change.
According to a recent study led by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), at least one-third of the total land burned by wildfires in the western United States and Canada since 1986 may be attributed to 88 major fossil fuel and cement corporations and their carbon emissions.
The study discovered 88 companies in the fossil fuel and cement industries that are a part of the world’s Carbon Majors, or companies responsible for the vast majority of harmful greenhouse gas emissions globally, were responsible for about 19.8 million acres of burned forests in the western U.S. and southwestern Canada, or about 37% of all areas burned by wildfires since 1986.
According to Kristina Dahl, a lead climate scientist at UCS and author of the research, typical Western wildfires have evolved into extraordinarily devastating events over the past few decades due to human-caused climate change. Livelihoods are being destroyed when towns burn to the ground.
According to UCS, emissions from these major producers of fossil fuels and cement may also be responsible for nearly 50% of the region’s increasing drought and high fire risk circumstances since 1901.
The vapor pressure deficit (VPD), a measurement of how air takes water from plants and the soil, allowed scientists to pinpoint the main polluters responsible for the emissions. The team then looked at variations in VPD, discovering that emissions from businesses were responsible for around 48% of the increase in VPD between 1901 and 2021 and that this increase was associated with more fires and megadroughts.
The study adds to previous research that has connected these major polluters’ emissions of carbon dioxide and methane to climate change, sea level rise, and ocean acidification. According to DeSmog, this rising corpus of research serves as an illustration of attribution science, which links polluters to their climate impacts.
The main contribution of this work is to draw a direct line from certain human-related carbon emission sources to recent increases in the frequency of forest fires across a substantial area of western North America. According to Philip Higuera, a fire ecologist at the University of Montana, the majority of the connections have been well-known for a long time, but this is the first time all the dots have been joined quantitatively.
Communities of color and low-income areas, which also have less access to resources to recover from wildfires, are said to face the greatest health hazards from smoke pollution and wildfires. According to Jos Pablo Ortiz-Partida, a senior bilingual water and climate scientist at UCS, these communities must be given top attention when thinking about solutions like holding Carbon Majors accountable and investing in fire preparedness.
The new report is intended to inform policymaking and hold polluters accountable for the increasingly harmful and devastating effects of climate change.
According to Dahl, our study provides fact-based responses to the concerns of who is accountable for this horrible destruction. We believe that with the new information at their disposal, policymakers, elected officials, and legal professionals will be better able to hold fossil fuel businesses liable in the public, political, and legal spheres.
Despite the enormous amount of plastic pollution in the world, the United Nations Environment Programme has discovered that by 2040, it is still possible to cut it by up to 80%. Major adjustments would be necessary, yet undertaking these efforts would still be practical and even economical.
In a recent report titled Turning off the Tap: How the world can eliminate plastic pollution and Build a circular economy, the UNEP discussed the potential for significant reductions in plastic pollution. The research highlights other measures to limit pollution through reuse, recycling, reorientation, and diversity strategies in addition to lowering plastic manufacture.
Reuse and recycling are concepts that are widely known. The paper underlines the need for better systems and policies to support both. Additionally, the reorienting and diversification strategies aim to substitute compostable or paper-based goods for single-use plastics.
Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP, said in a statement that the production, use, and disposal of plastics are degrading ecosystems, posing threats to human health, and disrupting the climate. By using a circular strategy that keeps plastics out of ecosystems, our bodies, and the economy, this UNEP research lays out a roadmap to drastically minimize these hazards. We may achieve significant economic, social, and environmental gains if we adhere to this road map, including during talks on the plastic pollution deal.
The authors estimate that these initiatives might reduce the amount of improperly managed plastic pollution to roughly 41 million metric tons. There would be 227 million metric tons of improperly managed plastic pollution under the status quo. Other forms of plastic pollution would also be reduced further, including:
149 million metric tons of fossil fuel-based plastics compared to 380 million metric tons in the business-as-usual scenario;
95 million metric tons of landfilled plastics compared to 129 million metric tons in the business-as-usual scenario; and
216 million metric tons of total plastic waste was generated compared to 408 million metric tons in the business-as-usual scenario.
The UNEP reported that even with an 80% decrease in plastic pollution, 100 million metric tons of plastics would still need to be managed annually by 2040. Ghost gear and microplastics will need to be addressed, and waste management and disposal methods will need to be improved.
The paper claims that these changes might result in an additional 700,000 jobs, especially for low-income countries. Changes could cost more initially, but they would be less expensive than carrying on as usual, saving $1.27 trillion in direct costs and $3.25 trillion in avoided externalities.
After 193 nations agreed to take part in a legally binding agreement to reduce plastic pollution worldwide, the study acts as a road map for future plastic treaty negotiations. Without the accord, Back to Blue found that plastic usage may double by 2050.
