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"Trade frictions and increasing tension between the US and China won’t affect climate negotiations between the two superpowers if he can help it, the US climate chief has pledged."
"Wind turbines and solar panels have overtaken fossil fuels to generate 30% of the European Union’s electricity in the first half of the year, a report has found."
"The Biden administration has set aside billions of dollars for new hydrogen energy. But does the industry need better safeguards?" "But researchers and community advocates warn that unless the federal government’s so-called hydrogen earthshot has adequate safeguards, it could worsen air pollution in vulnerable communities and aggravate a warming climate. They’re also concerned that specifics of the emerging efforts remain stubbornly secret from people who live near shovel-ready projects."
"California health officials are urging people who attended the Kern County music festival Lightning in a Bottle to seek medical care if they are experiencing respiratory symptoms or a fever."
"Around the world, an estimated 20 million people make a living by collecting discarded plastic, aluminum, and other refuse from dumpsites and landfills and selling it to recyclers. They’re called “waste pickers,” and though their work is essential — they round up nearly 60 percent of all the postconsumer plastic waste that gets collected for recycling — it is often unacknowledged, unremunerated, and underappreciated."
"As global temperatures rise and seasons shift, bees and other pollinators are missing critical connections with flowers and crops."
"In the Senate, Kamala Harris backed an expansive climate plan. Young activists want her to embrace it again, but so do Republicans."
"Forests and other land ecosystems failed to curb climate change in 2023 as intense drought in the Amazon rainforest and record wildfires in Canada hampered their natural ability to absorb carbon dioxide, according to a study presented on Monday."
"A common part of free trade agreements helps fossil fuel companies force big payouts from governments phasing out oil and gas projects. The United States narrowly avoided a $15 billion claim over the shuttered Keystone XL pipeline."
"This spring, Democrats wrapped up a nearly three-year investigation into the fossil fuel industry’s role in climate disinformation, and asked the Department of Justice to pick up where they left off. In House and Senate Democrats’ final report and hearing, investigators concluded that major oil companies had not only misled the public on climate change for decades, but also were continuing to misinform them about the industry’s preferred climate “solutions”— particularly biofuels and carbon capture."
"In the weeks before California lawmakers left Sacramento for their summer recess, more than a dozen environmental bills died amid heavy industry opposition in a Legislature overwhelmingly controlled by Democrats."
"How climate-change-driven drying of the air is leading to tree deaths the world over".
"In 2019, Washington adopted legislation requiring electric utilities to go carbon-neutral in a decade. Yet lawmakers continued to promote the growth of energy-guzzling data centers with generous tax incentives."
"Over the weekend, the Park Fire grew to more than 360,000 acres, prompting evacuation orders and warnings around Chico, Calif. in Butte, Plumas, Shasta and Tehama counties. In the days ahead, Cal Fire will seek to contain the blaze to reduce harm to people, structures and the environment. However, months from now when the rains come and the fires are extinguished, a hidden threat could put communities at risk once again."
"When Jackie’s 9-year-old son came down with a low-grade fever in October, she chalked it up to a typical back-to-school bug. But his illness worsened over the next couple of days. “His skin tone looked gray,” she said, and near-constant diarrhea left him unable to sleep and too weak to stand."
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