Just one small idea to clean up a lot of everlasting waste and pollution and to reduce our use of dirty old fossils:


YouTube - TED: A radical plan to end plastic waste | Andrew Forrest
wrote:

Plastic is an incredible substance for the economy -- and the worst substance possible for the environment...

Really, can we get the buy-in to shift the tipping point to eliminate all fossil-fueled plastic?

I suspect that all that is needed is the removal of the subsidies that fuel (mis)using old oil...


All on our only one planet,
Martin

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How dirty is mining and refining it?

Very.

Follow up, A once-powerful Montana mining town warily awaits final cleanup of its toxic past

A 2006 photo taken from space of Butte, Mont., and the surrounding region shows the dark waters of the Berkeley Pit, center, and the growing parameters of the terraced Continental Pit copper mine, upper right. The big blue-gray area on the left is the Yankee Doodle Tailings pond, which holds waste from the Continental Pit behind a 750-foot-high dam. (NASA)

The Berkeley Pit, a toxic vestige of copper mining in Butte, Mont., is the centerpiece of the nation’s largest Superfund complex. Further cleanup of it and other sites in the city has been under negotiation for years. (Janie Osborne for The Washington Post)

I'll take this one with a pinch of salt, until they work out the technology.
BBC - Climate change: Fertiliser could be used to power ocean-going ships

i also want to point a fuel waste that people don't talk about.
straight roads/rails.
we have to make them with bends and twist. if you added that up its millions of miles of wasted time and fual we burn.
if we can get ai t take over that part we pollute a lot less.

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i also want to point a fuel waste that people don't talk about.
straight roads/rails.
we have to make them with bends and twist. if you added that up its millions of miles of wasted time and fual we burn.
if we can get ai t take over that part we pollute a lot less.

No 'AI' needed... The Romans showed us how to make straight roads and a designed integrated road network, all over 2000 years ago!

What happened since then?...


All a wasteful game of short-termism and corrupt greedy profit and our world be damned?...

All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

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Not a solution but another nudge in a better direction?...


Climate campaigners win Heathrow expansion case wrote:

... The government's decision to allow the expansion was [judged] unlawful because it did not take climate commitments into account, the Court of Appeal said.

Heathrow said it would challenge the decision, but the government said it would not appeal.

The judges said that in future, a third runway could go ahead, as long as it fits with the UK's climate policy.

The case was brought by environmental groups, councils and the Mayor of London...

A hard won case with interesting ripples for the rest of the world to follow...

All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

i also want to point a fuel waste that people don't talk about.
straight roads/rails.
we have to make them with bends and twist. if you added that up its millions of miles of wasted time and fual we burn.
if we can get ai t take over that part we pollute a lot less.

No 'AI' needed... The Romans showed us how to make straight roads and a designed integrated road network, all over 2000 years ago!

What happened since then?...


All a wasteful game of short-termism and corrupt greedy profit and our world be damned?...

All on our only one planet,
Martin

Yes the Romans did build straight roads. But usually only where it could be done easily, in most cases the roads take the line of least resistance and minimal cost.

They also built walls around the city center and ensured the gates were not opposite each other. This had the effect of restricting the winds that blew through and all the harm high winds can cause.

the reason why we have them now and their not straight.. we found out the hard way. is it makes people sleepy. if you driving straight . this was all the way back in the 40 and 50s

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Not a solution but another nudge in a better direction?...


Climate campaigners win Heathrow expansion case
wrote:

... The government's decision to allow the expansion was [judged] unlawful because it did not take climate commitments into account, the Court of Appeal said.

Heathrow said it would challenge the decision, but the government said it would not appeal.

The judges said that in future, a third runway could go ahead, as long as it fits with the UK's climate policy.

The case was brought by environmental groups, councils and the Mayor of London...

A hard won case with interesting ripples for the rest of the world to follow...

One small immediate local ripple is:


New roads face Heathrow-style court action threat
wrote:

Plans for a £28.8bn roads programme could be challenged in the courts for breaching the UK's laws on climate change.

The plans, due to be published next month, don't take into account commitments on reducing emissions...

All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

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Greta keeps the political pressure updated:


Greta Thunberg Bristol climate strike: 'The world is on fire'
wrote:

Greta Thunberg has warned "those in power" she will "not be silenced when the world is on fire".

The teenager was welcomed by chants of "Greta, Greta" as she addressed some 15,000 people at the Bristol Youth Strike 4 Climate (BYS4C) event.

She accused politicians and the media of ignoring the climate emergency and "sweeping their mess under the rug".

"We are the change, and change is coming whether you like it or not,"...

... But will those with the power to act usefully and positively be motivated to take positive action?...

All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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Is this a good idea?...

Free transport in Luxembourg, but what's the cost?
wrote:

... With a population of only 614,000, it may be one of Europe's smallest countries and the idea is not unprecedented.

But the "free mobility" drive has captured the imagination. Buses, trams and trains are now free to ride on and you don't need a ticket...

... The total cost of running the service is more than €500m so the government sees the lost fare revenue as relatively small. Transport staff will not lose their jobs, they will merely spend less time checking tickets...

All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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I kinda doubt it.... They haven't even lifted a little finger so far.

We need more idea's like this, NYT - Down on the Farm That Harvests Metal From Plants

Some of Earth’s plants have fallen in love with metal. With roots that act practically like magnets, these organisms — about 700 are known — flourish in metal-rich soils that make hundreds of thousands of other plant species flee or die.

Slicing open one of these trees or running the leaves of its bush cousin through a peanut press produces a sap that oozes a neon blue-green. This “juice” is actually one-quarter nickel, far more concentrated than the ore feeding the world’s nickel smelters.

The plants not only collect the soil’s minerals into their bodies but seem to hoard them to “ridiculous” levels, said Alan Baker, a visiting botany professor at the University of Melbourne who has researched the relationship between plants and their soils since the 1970s. This vegetation could be the world’s most efficient, solar-powered mineral smelters. What if, as a partial substitute to traditional, energy-intensive and environmentally costly mining and smelting, the world harvested nickel plants?

At last, a total myth-busting of one of the fossils' promoted all-too-often-repeated propaganda:


Electric car emissions myth 'busted'
wrote:

Fears that electric cars could actually increase carbon emissions are a damaging myth, new research shows.

Media reports have questioned if electric cars are really “greener” once emissions from manufacture and electricity generation are counted.

The research concludes that in most places electric cars produce fewer emissions overall - even if generation still involves fossil fuels.

Other studies warn that driving overall must be reduced to hit climate targets...

More of a question is whether we can go clean enough and soon enough... All a question of political will and corruption?

All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

This makes for a very interesting comparison:


Coronavirus: Lockdown prompts clear fall in UK air pollution
wrote:

Air pollution has started to fall in many UK cities in response to the lockdown measures introduced as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

The trend mirrors that seen across continental Europe as people have spent less time in vehicles, offices and factories and more time at home. ... And the falls look set to continue...

Indeed, can that continue with our 'newly discovered ways' of not commuting to work?...

Can that continue yet further by removing the need for (destructively unsustainable) perpetual financial growth?


All on our only one planet,
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Can that continue yet further by removing the need for (destructively unsustainable) perpetual financial growth?

NO. No one has yet shown a business model that is sustainable in contraction. All of them seem to require expansion. More population, consuming ever more goods. When there are periods of contraction, they are called things like "The Great Depression." They simply are not long term solutions. While there are a few examples around to prove the rule, we tend to call these examples "Indigenous Peoples."

Can that continue yet further by removing the need for (destructively unsustainable) perpetual financial growth?

NO. No one has yet shown a business model that is sustainable in contraction.

Then we need to switch to a social - societal - model which isn't dominated by the needs of business. Business should serve the people, not the other way round.

Despite the cringe worthy news title, this is a very good advancement to run with:


'Bath sponge' breakthrough could boost cleaner cars
wrote:

A new material developed, by scientists could give a significant boost to a new generation of hydrogen-powered cars.

... the product is able to hold and release large quantities of the gas at lower pressure and cost.

Made up of billions of tiny pores, a single gram of the new aluminium-based material has a surface area the size of a football pitch. The authors say it can store the large volume of gas needed for practical travel without needing expensive tanks...

All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Quickly going clean, all by natural forces:

Wind Blows By Coal To Become Iowa's Largest Source of Electricity
wrote:

... Iowa is now generating more than 10,000 megawatts of wind energy, accounting for more than 40% of the state's electricity. Wind became the leading source of electricity in both Iowa and Kansas this year...

Way to go, cleanly away from coal.

And all despite ridiculous corrupt politics...


All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)