Environment

Environment

January 26 marks the International Day for Clean Energy, an initiative aimed at raising awareness and mobilizing action for an inclusive transition from fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, to power generation systems with lower greenhouse gas emissions and fewer pollutants. The term "clean" signals a fundamental shift away from extractive, finite, and exhaustible energy sources toward systems based on renewable resources or on capturing energy embedded in natural processes.

Editor's Note: We received this intriguing question from a Scouting leader, how do you recycle a flag while respecting it appropriately. When an American flag is worn, faded, or tattered, it should be retired with respect. But what happens next? Most modern flags are made from synthetic materials like nylon and polyester, which release toxic fumes if burned. Textile recycling offers a respectful way to honor both the flag and the environment.

Established in 2007, the Enduimet WMA lies adjacent to Kilimanjaro National Park and the Kenyan border. It involves 11 Maasai villages in a community-based system that has long been presented as a model of conservation in Tanzania. Under its rules, around 2533% of revenue from tourism and hunting goes directly to village members through an elected representative body, in contrast to the 3% allocated in game reserves.

Nobody wants a landfill in their backyard, which is exactly why the companies that own them print money. The waste management industry is an oligopoly disguised as a utility. Garbage never stops, permits for new landfills are nearly impossible to obtain, and the handful of players controlling North America's disposal infrastructure enjoy pricing power that makes telecom companies jealous. These stocks compound predictably through recessions, inflation cycles, and regulatory shifts.

The City of Milpitas has cleared a path for homeowners to build or legalize accessory dwelling units (ADUs). With funding from the Community Investment Fund and allocation approved by the Milpitas City Council, the Office of Building Safety will cover permit fees for eligible ADU projects. The move is estimated to save homeowners an average of $5,000, depending on ADU size and other factors.

This is a very serious set of weather conditions, said Emergency Management Commissioner Tim Wiebusch on Sunday. We haven't seen heatwave conditions like this in Victoria for almost 20 years. It was 2009, ahead of the [Black Saturday] bushfires where we saw those prevailing conditions.

After four shark attacks in New South Wales in less than 48 hours, authorities on Tuesday urged beachgoers just go to a local pool instead. Sydneysiders have heard similar warnings before in the past, they've been issued for beaches polluted with faecal matter after heavy rains. The city's unique, outdated sewage management system has been linked to debris balls which have been washing up with increased frequency on Sydney beaches, including again last week at Malabar.

Waterways across Contra Costa County are increasingly threatened by invasive plant species that engulf canals and drains, decreasing biodiversity and reducing safe habitats for wildlife. In an effort to address and restore the environment, the Contra Costa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District is working to reverse that trend. The district hosted its recent 12th annual Giving Natives a Chance event at the Clayton Valley Drain near Concord's Hillcrest Community Park, inviting volunteers from across the county to plant native species around waterways and drains.

Polymarket bettors correctly predicted nearly the entire slate of Golden Globe winners last week, prompting a celebration from Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan. "We have a long way to go to educate the public on the value of market-based forecasts, but you can't deny its accuracy," Coplan wrote. "People have more clarity about the world because Polymarket exists."

Its ancient bedrock dates back four billion years or more, metamorphic rocks were transformed by volcanic activity that has concentrated metal ores in southern Greenland, and sedimentary rocks in northern areas are rich in lead and zinc. Almost half the periodic table can be found in a large, underexplored landmass like Greenland with such a complex geological history, says Diogo Rosa, an economic geologist at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland.

The site in question is the subject of a legal challenge raised by tech justice non-profit Foxglove in collaboration with environmental charity Global Action Plan, who claimed the government was wrong to grant planning permission for the project without conducting an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) first. The project, known as the West London Technology Park (WLTP) development, is being overseen by developer Greystoke, which wants to transform the former landfill site (located within an area of green belt land) into a hyperscale datacentre.

Within a few minutes of moving down the estuary from Jack London Square, it started looking like something out of Pirates of the Caribbean. Boats, big and small, sank or half-sunk along the length of the estuary. Spicer pointed out a large sailboat listing on its side, which neighbors say has been disabled for months. "It was actually anchored in the center of the channel for quite some time. A lot of our community members reported it," she said.

If you're a typical American, you get home from work and start flipping switches and turning knobs-doing laundry, cooking dinner, watching TV. With so many other folks doing the same, the strain on the electrical grid in residential areas is highest at this time. That demand will only grow as the world moves away from fossil fuels, with more people buying induction stoves, heat pumps, and electric vehicles.

A record-breaking snowfall event unfolded in far eastern Russia last week when the town of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, located on the Kamchatka peninsula's east coast, received more than 1.8 metres (6 feet) of lying snow in places. Strong winds accompanying the snowfall caused extreme drifting of more than 3 metres against buildings and cars. Two key ingredients combined to cause such an extreme snowfall event. Strong Pacific low pressures dragged moist air from the tropics northwards, which clashed with cold Arctic air already over the region. Conveyor belts of tropical air are called atmospheric rivers and often bring heavy rainfall to places such as California.

When compared with places such as Norway and Sweden, the UK has relatively warm winters, and we get large numbers of migratory birds from all over Europe, which travel here seeking shelter, food and water. But numbers change every year depending on what the weather is like there and here with the recent cold spell you may see some surprise migratory visitors outside your window

Paper milk and juice cartons are great for starting seeds because they are waterproof and strong enough to hold soil. You can cut the carton in half or make a window on one side, fill it with potting mix, and plant your seeds. Home Baked Bliss recommends cartons for bigger or fast-growing plants. When you're ready to move your seedlings, just cut off the bottom and plant the whole carton in the ground to protect the roots from pests.

In a Berkeley National Lab report published last year that looked at trends in electric rates from 2019 to 2024, researchers found that states that had the biggest growth in electricity demand-from customers like data centers-actually saw costs go down. That's because the electricity market isn't just about supply and demand; it's expensive to maintain equipment, and if costs can be spread out among more customers, everyone pays less.