environment
Previously: Both #Austin and #Dallas passed laws mandating rest breaks for construction workers, as protection from dangerous heat. Then the lege overruled them, and banned future laws like it.
Cities plan climate action but it's blocked by the state. https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-cities-climate-plans-preemption/
Advance of the far right threatens the Amazon
"The far right is moving in on the Amazon. Outsider and attorney Abelardo de la Espriella's win in Colombia, Keiko Fujimori's triumph in Peru, and the state of emergency in Bolivia point to an increasingly hostile future for the planet's largest rainforest.
Added to this scenario is the alarming fact that Venezuela is a ward of the United States.
If Flávio Bolsonaro comes out on top in Brazil’s October elections, nearly the entire Amazon will be held hostage to a project based on the limitless exploration of Nature, along with most of the countries in Latin America."
#farright #environment #climate #climatecrisis #rainforest #Amazon #Colombia #Peru #Bolivia #Venezuela #Brazil #LatinAmerica #Latam #elections
https://sumauma.com/en/o-avanco-da-extrema-direita-nas-americas-ameaca-a-amazonia-e-reduz-as-chances-de-sobrevivencia/
This afternoon I drove about 120 km to a customer's site, carrying roughly 50 kg of equipment.
One of their younger guys, I'd say around 20, was talking about the trips he'd taken this summer, all by plane. He also mentioned that he'll be flying somewhere again in two weeks, hoping that "compared to last year they'll turn the air conditioning up a bit at the hotel. It was actually 25 degrees in the room!"
His colleagues, around the same age, were talking about their own trips too, showing each other short videos from TikTok.
I unloaded everything, put it in place, then called the customer over to explain a few things, and he called the guys as well.
When I switched the server on, one of them asked how much power it used. I hadn't measured it, so I couldn't really answer, although I don't think it's particularly high.
He smiled and said, quite amicably: "Well, your generation is the one that destroyed the environment anyway. You people never cared much about these things."
I smiled. It's not the first time I've heard our generation blamed for all of this.
So I replied, still smiling: "Really? I actually think ours was the first generation that at least tried to do something about it. Emissions regulations, reducing consumption, improving efficiency... If you really want to look for generations that didn't care at all, you'd probably have to go further back. But we can't go back. What matters is what we do now."
His answer was also something I've heard more than once from people of his generation:
"We won't do anything. Our generation has stopped doing anything. It's too late. You ruined our future."
I smiled and left it there. There was no point continuing.
Or at least that's what I thought.
A little later, one of his colleagues picked up the subject again, this time rather dismissively:
"So all this equipment... how much power is it going to use? What's its environmental impact?"
I lost a little of my patience.
"In a year? Less than the air conditioning in your hotel will use to keep your room one degree cooler than the 25 degrees you were complaining about."
The subject ended there, helped by a look from my customer, and everything remained friendly.
When I was leaving, the first guy followed me outside to ask a couple of technical questions. Then he saw me getting into my car and smiled.
"Ah, the car too... that pollutes, you know. You really don't care, do you? God forbid anyone takes your car away."
I smiled too.
"I came here for work, from 120 km away, carrying about 50 kg of equipment, to an industrial area nowhere near a railway station. How exactly was I supposed to get here?"
We said goodbye amicably.
And as I drove away, I kept thinking that it would actually be interesting to do the maths properly: the kilometres I've driven for work, flights, hotels, air conditioning, and everything else.
I have a feeling the result would be rather less obvious than he thought.
It's always much easier to notice the environmental cost of somebody else's choices.
Now westlin winds, and slaught’ring guns
Bring Autumn’s pleasant weather;
And the moorcock springs, on whirring wings,
Amang the blooming heather…
—Robert Burns, “Song, Composed in August”
First published in POEMS, CHIEFLY IN THE SCOTTISH DIALECT (Kilmarnock, 1786)
Pages digitised by the National Library of Scotland
#Scottish #literature #poetry #song #folksong #RobertBurns #18thcentury #nature #environment
From ballot integrity in Memphis to the air Black families breathe in Boxtown, this week's stories connect the systemic pressures Black communities face across voting, health, and environment.
#BlackMastodon #USPol #environment
https://atblackmedia.leaflet.pub/3mslxeu5xec23
#theBeeAt3
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.
14.
It is often thought that hummingbirds have the highest metabolic rate (energy used per unit of time) of all animals however the metabolic rate of #bumblebees is 75% higher.
‘I love not man less, but Nature more’
- Byron
#bees
#nature #Friday
#environment #wildlife
#education #science
#biodiversity #pollinators
California produced over half its May electricity from solar, a world record https://www.bocvip.com/1411756/california-produced-over-half-its-may-electricity-from-solar-a-world-record/ #environment
Lets get real.
For starters, anything 'disposable' should be illegal.
And the marketing of disposability as a 'feature' should be a crime punishable by death.
Because that's what the flesh dripping ghouls profiting on deliberately-designed waste are doing to humanity.
Burn them.
Hang them.
Tar and feather them.
An example has to be made.
Before they make one of us, the first species to knowingly hasten its own extinction.
Deep Sea Mining in American Samoa: What You Need to Know
So, what’s actually going on with deep sea mining in American Samoa?
The US is looking at opening up more than 31 million acres of ocean around American Samoa for possible deep sea mining.
But what does that actually mean? What are they looking for at the bottom of the ocean? Who could make money from it? And what could it mean for the people, culture and marine life that rely on those waters?
For many Pacific Islanders, this debate is not about minerals, it is about protecting the ocean that sustains livelihoods, traditions and culture. As pressure to exploit the deep sea intensifies, so too does the call for precaution, transparency, and the right of American Samoa’s community to shape the future of their own waters.
Here's everything you need to know: https://www.thecoconet.tv/coco-talanoa/coco-news/deep-sea-mining-in-american-samoa-what-you/
#DeepSeaMining #AmericanSamoa #NationalMarineSanctuary #NOAA #USA #environment #SouthPacificOcean
Trump 2.0 has deleted or altered nearly 400 US datasets, endangering public health, education and more ~
Health data appears to be most affected by administration’s attempt to wipe findings that don’t align with its priorities, tracker shows
#USA #USpol #USgovernment #trump #TrumpAdmin #data #datasets #health #PublicHealth #education #environment #labor #police #veterans #immigration
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/aug/18/trump-federal-data-deleted-altered
How can someone claim to have "made a deal" for the oil after having literally Invaded the country, Illegally Abducted its president, and Stolen its oil reserves? 🤔
#DTRegime #Corruption #Lawlessness #News #USPol #NoKings #Fascism #ClimateChange #Environment
1/ It was 20 years ago that I first heard of the devastating health impacts and cancer cluster in Fort Chipewyan, home of the Mikisew Cree First Nation downstream from oil sands tailings "ponds”.
(Scare quotes justified because even 20 years ago those toxic lakes were so vast they could be seen from space.)
Dr. John O’Connor, a physician who worked in the community, became a whistleblower - and was vilified and targeted for that work.
Today, according to the First Nation, cancer rates in the community are at least 25% higher than the rest of Alberta, but we don’t know exactly how much because the UCP government stopped publicizing that vital public health data in 2022.
And now the Alberta Energy Regulator, clearly captured by the industry, is going to let Suncor release oil sands tailings directly into the Athabasca river, without environmental assessment.
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/09/04/news/alberta-oilsands-tailings-suncor-regulator
This is the government of Canada’s scientific finding.
It is true.
It is also a terrible message. Here’s what’s also true:
Every tenth of a degree of global warming matters.
Every fraction of temperature rise we avoid saves lives, reduces disease, food and water shortages, disasters.
That means:
Every wind turbine and solar panel deployed
Every heat pump installed
Every energy efficiency retrofit
Every electric bus and vehicle
Every job created from all these things…
It all matters! It all counts.
But so do new pipelines, the LNG boom, and the Carney government’s dismantling of Canada’s climate policy.
Folks, it’s not too late. We can change course and choose a healthy, safer future.
We just need the right kind of nation-building projects.
(And that includes engaging First Nations first.)