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Generally great apes are animals that live in community. Indeed, one of the reasons that great apes developed such large brains is as a result of their need in social situations. Great apes (along with lesser monkeys, dolphins, bears and wolves, with a few more) require a large brain to remember things about the many individuals that they socialize with, and how each has behaved, who is nice.
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China is planning 100 new coal PowerStation. Given their drive to reduce carbon emissions, and the fact that China manufactures many of the worlds solar panels, this seems to be a foolish step.
China is leaping into carbon neutral power, with around 1/3 green, up from just 28.8% in 2020.
A drought last year has apparently spooked the managers, as they didnt get as much hydropower as was expected.
What is the result? Perhaps China will want all these plants online by2030 when their emissions are supposed to peak, that way the issue is pushed back, with their net zero target of 2060.
Will it happen? I suspect if the Chinese people started to complain it might happen fast. Certainly, it is foolish, as it has already been clearly demonstrated that green electricity generation is cheaper than any fossil fuel creation.
The UK, and England in particular has a continual growing population. At the current time, and for much of the last few decades, this population growth is mostly as a result of immigration.
The government has laid out plans to build 300,000 new homes a year in order to handle the growing population. The problem with this plan, is the fact that house building is a carbon intensive activity, which means that we would use up all of the current carbon budget (in order to stay below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
What does this mean? Well, frankly, there are 2 choices. Either we do not build the houses, or we need to cut our emissions elsewhere, so that we can have the carbon budget for this.
I would like to see the transportation industry and electricity generation to move to green sources faster. Another thing that is essential, is to increasingly build ground based thermal and other expensive carbon neutral heating systems, and then send this heat into peoples homes.
Finally, the government needs to increase the rules on new build homes, so that they are as close to carbon neutral as is possible.
As if to underline this issue, the British high court has recently ruled that the UK government has acted unlawful in its climate strategy. The case was brought by ClientEarth, Friends of the Earth and Good Law Project, The chief judge (Mr Justice Holgate) finds that the Net zero Strategy which sets out plans to decarbonize the economy, does not meet the governments obligations under the Climate Change Act. This will require the government to update its plans. During the court proceedings, it was discovered that calculations showed that it would fall 5% short from what was promised. While 5% does not sound big, in actual fact this is 75 million tonnes of carbon emissions.
Will the government correct this? we all need to be writing to our MPs on this matter.
It is back in the 1940s that wolves were last resident in the Grand Canyon national park. This is why it was so exciting that a grey wolf is roaming the northern rim of the grand canyon.
2200 polar bears live on the west coast of Greenland. It is unknown how many live on the east coast, but this group appears to be living in a place where they were formerly thought incapable of surviving.
Increasingly, young people are taking to court to make governments listen. The scientific evidence for climate change has been known by many people for at least 70 years (and suggested far earlier).
It does seem reasonable for children to sue their parents generation, for the costs that their short sightedness will cost.
Alarmingly, the trial comes shortly after the states legislature (republican majority) passed a new rule that the fossil fuel industry wanted, which blocks local government from encouraging renewable energy, and at the same time, increases the cost to challenge the fossil fuel industries.
It is not expected to have a big effect in the Montana state, but over the 2 weeks laid out devastating evidence for both the audience in the house and those outside.
Lawyers for the Montana Attorney General (a republican) tried repeatedly to get the case thrown out over procedural issues.
The state has a 1972 protective constitution which requires officials to maintain a “clean and healthy environment” which is only included in a few other states laws.
Unfortunately the state district judge, has already narrowed the case, as a result if they win, show would not order officials to formulate a new approach to climate change. Instead, she would issue “declaratory Judgement” stating that officials violated the state constitution.
It is thought that if the plaintiffs win, even if there is little direct action as a result, it could cause ripples which might well cause the change needed. The trial ended 2 days ago, and we are just waiting for the ruling.
Until last year, in many of the states in the USA, there was little to stop people from keeping big cats as pets.
I wonder what proportion of the country would recognize the name Chris Packham? He has been one of the lead presenters for the BBCs natural history unit for decades. Why is people like this important? Without people like this, all sorts of threats to our world, including things like climate change would be less well known in the public.
These people are essential for disseminating information which might allow us to deal with these challenges without leaving a dystopian world to our children. Naturalists are important, as they give us the knowledge to deal with many problems far cheaper than any manmade solution.
Continue reading “Chris Packham was awarded £90,000, so?”Oil, is increasingly recognized as an asset that is likely to be worth very little in the future. Does this mean it has no value now? no of course not. Still, it is likely to move in that direction soon.
