Another project to tackle that septic tank, but I hope that it doesn't interfere with with the other other.

Scientists will unleash an army of crabs to help save Florida’s dying reef.

With giant pincers and rough, spider-like legs, Caribbean king crabs don’t look like your typical heroes. Yet these crustaceans may be key to solving one of the world’s most pressing environmental problems: the decline of coral reefs.

In recent decades, warming seas, diseases, and other threats have wiped out half of the world’s corals and 90 percent of those in Florida. And this past summer, the problem accelerated. A devastating heat wave struck the Caribbean, pushing the reef in the Florida Keys — the largest in the continental US — closer to the brink of collapse.

The decline of coral reefs is an enormous problem for wildlife and human communities. Reefs not only provide habitat for as much as a quarter of all marine life, including commercial fish, but they also help safeguard coastal communities during severe storms. Simply put, we need coral reefs.

Coral reefs, meanwhile, need crabs.

Lucky for them, help is on the way. Scientists are in the process of building a crab army — hundreds of thousands of crustaceans strong — that they’ll unleash on Florida’s reefs, giving this ailing ecosystem a tool to fight back.......

....For the study, Spadaro compared typical reefs in the Florida Keys to those he had stocked with Caribbean king crabs at a density of about one animal per square meter. After a year, the crab-filled reefs had about 85 percent less algae compared to reefs he left alone. A follow-up experiment found similar results.......

Yep, cow farms can be carbon neutral and in this case quite negative.

Queensland carbon-negative soil project issued record number of credit units.

They look like any other cattle strolling through a grassy paddock in Queensland, but beneath their hooves the soil is doing more than producing feed. It is helping to fight climate change.

At Bonnie Doone Beef, 500 kilometres north of Brisbane, Carly and Grant Burnham have been working for nearly a decade to change how they farm to improve their soil and their sustainability.

Despite dry years, bushfires and disease attacking their pasture, their efforts to sequester carbon have paid off, generating a record number of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) for an individual soil carbon farming project.

At a time when the meat industry is reassessing its carbon goals, the couple hopes the 94,666 units, worth about $2.8 million, will help consumers understand how agriculture can be a part of the climate solution...

....For every tonne of livestock they carry, 6.6 tonnes of carbon is buried in their soil, after accounting for all emissions. ...

So it can be done.

1.5m doses of seaweed ready to go, but time is running out for the methane busting batch that could dose 1.5m burping cows.

Sam Elsom's bold seaweed solution to tackle climate change, one cow at a time.

Will these two big public names have a positively influential effect to save us all?


Climate change: Pope Francis warns world 'may be nearing breaking point'
wrote:

Pope Francis has warned the world is "collapsing" due to climate change and may be "nearing breaking point".

The pope criticised global decision-making bodies for being ineffective, as well as calling out climate deniers...

Chris Packham to challenge Rishi Sunak over net zero policy delays
wrote:

... Rishi Sunak said he intended to delay the phase-out of new gas boilers, along with petrol and diesel cars.

If the prime minister does not reverse the changes, Mr Packham said, he will apply to the High Court for a judicial review...

... Mr Packham, who is a well-known for presenting nature programmes, said he believed the prime minister was "acting illegally" in changing the policy, and it contravened the UK's commitments under the Climate Change Act, which says the government must be clear on how it will meet its carbon budget plans.

He said the decision had been made without any public consultation, and without informing Parliament or the Climate Change Committee - which advises the government on how to meet is carbon budgets.

Alongside a video posted on social media site X on Wednesday, Mr Packham wrote: "I believe the timeline for the UK to meet net zero cannot be changed at will by the PM - I contend that he does not have the legal right."...

Can we change for the better sooner?

Will those with the power agree?


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)

A good move forward is being made here as some of these test cars here (mainly in the ACT) are getting over 1000kms (if driven properly) per refill and the long distance trucking industry really needs it to happen. We know that we can make the green stuff (not that other coloured stuff).

Toyota announces plan to expand hydrogen refuelling infrastructure.

..Australia’s favourite car brand is betting big on hydrogen power.

Toyota has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hyundai Australia, Ampol and leading hydrogen technologies specialist Pacific Energy to help develop hydrogen refuelling infrastructure.

Toyota head of sales and marketing Sean Hanley says this is a really positive first step in developing hydrogen infrastructure but there is a long way to go.

“We’ve always said that to build hydrogen infrastructure you need to bring together governments, energy companies and we need to work together,” says Hanley.

Ampol boss Matt Halliday says: “Hydrogen can play an important role in delivering decarbonisation benefits for transport and developing the right infrastructure to support a successful rollout is key.”

No money has been invested and no ground has been broken on new refuelling stations but Toyota Australia wants it to happen.

Currently Toyota and Hyundai have a small fleet of their Mirai and Nexo hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in Australia that have been leased to companies and governments keen to trial the zero-emissions technology.....

We know that we can make the green stuff (not that other coloured stuff) with renewables alone here. The test stations are not much more than a wind turbine and/or solar bank with a shipping container and a battery.

A better and more healthy way to go! And this will also help to save our planet from ourselves:


Eat plants and go electric: how to break food TV’s bad climate habits
wrote:

From product placement for unnecessary gadgets to meat-centred cooking, TV can make us think unsustainable is normal...

... While there’s not enough data to pinpoint precisely what effect TV and film has on our behavior, experts say that what we see on screen can help shape our sense of what’s normal – and therefore acceptable. Unfortunately, what we’re shown on TV is rarely a great guide for how we might begin reducing the climate impacts of food, which accounts for somewhere between 25% and 33% of the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions...

... So how do we change the way we eat? Here are some climate pitfalls commonly showcased in your favorite cooking shows – and what you can do to avoid them and up your kitchen sustainability game...

All on the only one planet that we have,
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)

Moving into a cleaner direction:


British Steel set to cut up to 2,000 jobs in furnace closure plan
wrote:

British Steel has confirmed it plans to close down its blast furnaces in Scunthorpe, putting up to 2,000 jobs at risk.

They will be replaced with two electric arc furnaces - one at Scunthorpe and one at Teesside.

The company said its £1.25bn proposal would make British Steel "a clean, green and sustainable business". But it said the plans were still "subject to appropriate support" from the UK government.

The business, which is owned by China's Jingye Group, said the new furnaces could be in operation by late 2025. Chief executive Xijun Cao said the firm was not able to keep the blast furnaces and meet environmental commitments...

... A spokesperson said the government had offered "a generous support package including more than £300m of investment".

Earlier this year, British Steel's larger rival, Tata, announced it would close its two blast furnaces in Port Talbot and replace them with electric arc furnaces, with an expected loss of up to 3,000 jobs. It will receive £500m of government support...

... Government sources claim that the blast furnace plants are not economic - they are losing £1m a day, they say - and are not "green", therefore making them unsustainable on financial and environmental grounds.

The government conceded that the plan to close the blast furnaces at Scunthorpe and Port Talbot will leave the UK without the ability to make "virgin steel". But it insisted that there were limited domestic cases where that kind of steel was needed, and that the output from electric arc furnaces covered most of the UK's needs...

World shift to clean energy is unstoppable, IEA report says
wrote:

The world is on an "unstoppable" shift towards renewable energy but the phase down of fossil fuels is not happening quickly enough, a new report says.

The International Energy Agency, the global energy watchdog, predicted renewables would provide half of the world's electricity by 2030.

But it warned that emissions were still too high to prevent temperatures rising above a key threshold of 1.5C. And the report said investment in fossil fuels needed to be cut in half...

"... It's not a question of 'if', it's just a matter of 'how soon' - and the sooner the better for all of us,"...

All 'just' a question of emphasis and urgency?...

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)

China's Jingye Group

Talk about selling your soul to the devil. 100% that any reduction, real or imaginary, will be counted both by the UK and China.

Is this enough of a solution soon enough?


China’s carbon emissions set for structural decline from next year
wrote:

Emissions by world’s most polluting country could peak this year after surge in clean energy investments...

All by the economic might of the renewables now out-competing the dirty old fossils?...


We still have a planet to save, sooner...
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)

Emissions by world’s most polluting country could peak this year after surge in clean energy investments...

All by the economic might of the renewables now out-competing the dirty old fossils?...

...and the power density of nuclear energy, independent if we like it or not... There will be a day, in the not so distant future, that China will point fingers to other countries urging them to protect the climate.

What a beautiful idea to interestingly and usefully move away from dull and cheapest brutalist?


Can electricity pylons ever be beautiful?


Just add a touch of Antony Gormley?

One aesthetically good way to go!


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)

For a very good healthy way to go!


280 million e-bikes are slashing oil demand far more than electric vehicles
wrote:

E-bikes and scooters displace 4x as much demand for oil as all of the EVs in the world.

We hop in the car to get groceries or drop kids at school. But while the car is convenient, these short trips add up in terms of emissions, pollution, and petrol cost...

... So what’s the best solution? You might think switching to an electric vehicle is the natural step. In fact, for short trips, an electric bike or moped might be better for you—and for the planet. That’s because these forms of transport—collectively known as electric micromobility—are cheaper to buy and run.

But it’s more than that—they are actually displacing four times as much demand for oil as all the world’s electric cars at present, due to their staggering uptake in China and other nations where mopeds are a common form of transport...

... Their sheer popularity is already cutting demand for oil by a million barrels of oil a day—about 1 percent of the world’s total oil demand...

... So EVs are much cheaper to run. But they are expensive to buy...

... The electric transport revolution is a great chance to rethink how we move through our cities—and whether we even need a car at all. Cars, after all, often have only one occupant. You’re expending a lot of energy to transport yourself. By contrast, electric mopeds and bikes use a lot less energy to transport one or two people. They’re also a lot cheaper to buy and run than electric cars...

... As petrol prices increase and battery prices fall, the cheaper running costs of electric vehicles and even cheaper running costs of electric mopeds, bikes, and scooters will keep eating away at the demand for oil. Global oil demand is now projected to peak in 2028 at 105.7 million barrels per day—and then begin to fall, according to the International Energy Agency.

Electric vehicles will play a role in cutting oil demand. But it may well be that electric micromobility cuts demand faster...

... Or even better, walk!

Except... The walking bit is a big 'dificulty' to be overcome in our slipshod incremental random city design...


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)

... Or even better, walk!

Except... The walking bit is a big 'dificulty' to be overcome in our slipshod incremental random city design...

Take your bicycle! And convince your local mayor to spend at least 10% of the money to build and maintain roads instead for separate bicycle lanes and pathways. Such a policy, pursued for decades, leads to an infrastructure like that in Copenhagen, Denmark or everywhere in the Netherlands. Cyclist's paradise.

In Germany we have 'usable' cycle paths everywhere in the cities. But when I was in the Netherlands for the first time and saw their bike paths in a large provincial town in Friesland, I was completely overwhelmed. Even after hours, I couldn't believe what they had built there in decades. Bicycle highways, multi-lane, with fast lanes, safely separated from car traffic everywhere, separate roundabouts outside car roundabouts for cyclists only. Not just in Amsterdam... also everywhere in the province.

Take your bicycle! And convince your local mayor to spend at least 10% of the money to build and maintain roads instead for separate bicycle lanes and pathways. Such a policy, pursued for decades, leads to an infrastructure like that in Copenhagen, Denmark or everywhere in the Netherlands. Cyclist's paradise.

A great idea, but many cities in the UK have streets that are very far from bike friendly for a whole basketful of reasons. Perhaps the most notable of which is the steepness of many of the roads, the city being built on the banks of a river, and not the gentle slopes we see in say Netherlands, but 25% grades with many bends around ancient buildings. It is such a shame that the "Boris Bikeway" was scrapped and not carried through to fruition as it would have provided a good cycle & walking route across a large part of the central area of London.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

... Or even better, walk!

Except... The walking bit is a big 'dificulty' to be overcome in our slipshod incremental random city design...

Take your bicycle! And convince your local mayor to spend at least 10% of the money to build and maintain roads instead for separate bicycle lanes and pathways. Such a policy, pursued for decades, leads to an infrastructure like that in Copenhagen, Denmark or everywhere in the Netherlands. Cyclist's paradise.

In Germany we have 'usable' cycle paths everywhere in the cities. But when I was in the Netherlands for the first time and saw their bike paths in a large provincial town in Friesland, I was completely overwhelmed. Even after hours, I couldn't believe what they had built there in decades. Bicycle highways, multi-lane, with fast lanes, safely separated from car traffic everywhere, separate roundabouts outside car roundabouts for cyclists only. Not just in Amsterdam... also everywhere in the province.

But probably only possible because it is flat.

Where I live we do have cyclists, but they are the wannabe hill climbers, using the same routes that Bradley Wiggins used during his professional career.

I did cycle around Bradford - briefly - almost 50 years ago. But Bradford is built in a bowl in the hills, nearly 300 metres from top to bottom. Great fun on the way back, but no fun at all on the way out to the suburbs.

Admittedly, bicycles cannot be a means of everyday transport in a hilly urban landscape. E-bikes (probably) can. In Germany, like Denmark or the Netherlands, most of the cities are in the lowlands. There are no steep climbs in Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, Munich... and most other of our larger cities. Since car-friendly expressways have hardly been built here since the 1960s, one can often travel faster by bike than by car over short to medium distances within cities. It's just not safe, due to the lack of good cycle paths like in NL, DK. The risk of accidents for cyclists is much higher. A dozen cyclists are killed each year e.g. in Berlin, often by turning trucks. A bicycle lobby then places an old white-painted "ghost" bicycle (de, en) near the scene of each deadly accident, an idea that came from the USA.

It's just a shame that this couldn't have happened 50yrs ago, but will they really come to the party or is it just another snow job?

At COP28, an Oil CEO Persuades His Industry to Control Methane, a Powerful Greenhouse Gas.

In an early climate win at the United Nations COP28 negotiations in Dubai, some of the world's largest oil and gas companies committed to controlling their emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that plays a major role in the planet's warming.

COP28 officials announced Saturday that 50 oil and gas companies committed to virtually eliminating the emissions of methane from their oil and gas production by 2030. The list includes several giant government-owned national oil companies. Collectively, the companies joining the agreement represent more than 40 percent of global oil production. The companies also agreed to monitoring by independent groups to verify the emissions reductions.

The agreement is a victory for COP28 President Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, who has faced intense criticism for helming the climate talks while also being an executive with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.

In his opening remarks Thursday, Al Jaber touted the developing methane deal as evidence that oil companies can be part of climate solutions.

"I am grateful they have stepped up to join this game-changing journey," Al Jaber said. "I know they can do much more.".......

Yes, they certainly can do more, but will they?

I don't believe Russians care about how much methane is escaping from their gas pipelines or natural gas fields, accelerating global warming. They don't care about people or nature. They still have far too much of both.

A better way to go:


Greater Manchester Clean Air Zone: Mayor rejects driver charges
wrote:

Investing in cleaner transport will help reduce air pollution in Greater Manchester quicker than charging drivers who enter a zone...

... More emissions would be cut by spending £86m on electric buses, taxi upgrades and traffic measures...

... modelling had shown that "only the investment-led plan" could meet the legal pollution target by 2026, rather than a charging zone. Investment in an integrated public transport system and upgrading taxis to cleaner technology could improve air quality faster than "causing hardship to our residents or businesses"...

Hopefully, that will not get gutted or abused as has happened with HS2...?

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)