Interesting Ideas

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

In this week’s newsletter: We began writing Down to Earth in 2021, but the global political, economic and environmental landscape has changed drastically in the past five years

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The Cop26 UN climate summit in Glasgow in 2021 represented a high-water mark in climate diplomacy, and in hope for global unity. Two weeks in Scotland that year resulted in all countries affirming they would strive to limit global heating to 1.5C, with most setting net zero goals and national plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions, halt deforestation, protect nature and boost renewable energy.

It wasn’t perfect: the plans would still result in about 2.8C of heating, though they agreed to work on strengthening them, and a commitment to phase out coal was weakened at the last minute to a phase down instead. But the direction of travel was clear: the whole world agreed on how to fight the climate crisis. The Paris agreement of 2015 bound countries to keep temperatures “well below” 2C above preindustrial levels, with 1.5C as an aspiration, but at Glasgow the 1.5C limit – in line with scientific advice, which warns of dire consequences beyond that threshold – was adopted as the clear goal.

‘It’s getting hotter and it’s not stopping’: dealing with the heat in five of Europe’s capitals

‘My head spins with the heat’: India’s gig workers battle exhaustion amid soaring temperatures

Climate crisis is accelerating antibiotic resistance across world, study says

Ian Hughes is boosting one of the continent’s most at-risk species with science, his sons and some homemade T-shirts

Ian Hughes and his son, Ben, are driving through the hills of north Wales with an array of homemade animal artefacts rattling around their car: diagrams, plaster casts, hand-printed T-shirts. They finally reach Llyn Tegid – Bala Lake in English – where, knee-deep in the water, Ian brandishes two glutinous snails.

It is a mollusc the size of a fingertip. It is also one of Europe’s most endangered species, which Ian has dedicated himself to protecting. “It’s beyond passion,” he says. “It’s an obsession.”

Temperatures across parts of continent around 10-15C above average for this time of year, while thunderstorms strike eastern Australia

Europe has experienced an exceptional heatwave this week, with temperature records broken across multiple countries under a persistent area of high pressure, commonly referred to as a “heat dome.” The UK surpassed its May maximum temperature record on Tuesday, with 35.1C recorded at Kew Gardens, London.

This broke the record set only the day before, with 34.8C recorded in London on Monday. Previously, the maximum May temperature record was 32.8C, recorded in 1922 and then matched in 1944. Ireland also broke its May maximum temperature, with 28.8C recorded at two weather stations – in Killarney in the south-west and Clonmel in the south.

The Marches, Shropshire: You never know what kind of parasites you might find lurking in an old tree

“Oak apple day, the 29th of May,” is a rhyming reminder of the public holiday ordered by Charles II to celebrate the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. After his escape from parliamentarians by hiding in an oak tree at Boscobel in Shropshire, it is no great leap of imagination to associate a hidden king with oak apples: parasitic galls are strange, uncanny fruit that encourage satire at least.

A month ago, the oak galls on this ancient tree were as shiny as cherries. Today they are bigger, browner and mottled, like weird little apples. They were formed when an agamic, wingless, female oak apple gall wasp, Biorhiza pallida, burrowed out from a gall in the oak’s roots, climbed the tree and injected a cluster of eggs and a drop of venom into a leaf bud. The hatched grubsthen produced substances that caused a tumour-like effect on the oak cells, forming the apple, inside which the larvae fed in their chambers.

In the week when the hottest May days were recorded, environment editor Fiona Harvey examines a new Climate Change Committee report on how the UK can better withstand extreme heat

Temperatures across the UK and Europe this week have shattered May heat records. As the environment editor Fiona Harvey points out: we might expect heatwaves in July and August – but 30C in spring?

Fiona talks to Nosheen Iqbal about a report from the Climate Change Committee warning that the UK is unprepared for extreme heat – the new normal – and explores a range of possible solutions to help keep the country cool, from tree-planting to heat pumps and scaling up renewables.

Last year, 92 EV chargers were installed at a San Francisco Bay Area apartment complex. It probably is not too much of an overgeneralization to say most apartment and condo complexes don’t have enough, or in some cases any, onsite EV chargers. Large charger installations at these multi-family complexes help ... [continued]

The post 92 EV Chargers Installed At Bay Area Affordable Housing Community appeared first on CleanTechnica.

China’s auto industry grew like gangbusters for several years, and its electric vehicle industry did the same in the past few years. However, the era of hyper-fast growth may well be over in the country’s auto industry. That’s not a grumpy outsider saying so, but the CEO of NIO, a ... [continued]

The post “Golden Era” of Chinese Auto Industry Probably Over, NIO CEO Says appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Heading to BusWorld Indonesia, I sat beside an automotive and finance expert from Petronas. He requested to remain anonymous because he said he cannot represent his company in this chat, but he gave deep insights into how Malaysia’s Malacca state is rapidly emerging as a manufacturing base for Chinese electric ... [continued]

The post Malacca’s EV Ambitions Shift from Promise to Production appeared first on CleanTechnica.

VinFast has appointed Pham Nhat Quan Anh as chairman of the company’s board of directors, placing the son of founder Pham Nhat Vuong in one of the most influential positions at the Vietnamese electric vehicle maker as it faces growing competition and mounting pressure to deliver on its global ambitions. ... [continued]

The post VinFast Appoints Chairman’s Son to Top Post Amidst Global Expansion appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Rather than dreaming of restoring past glory, some are advocating for a future with a lighter footprint. And there are signs of renewal

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Kerry Outerbridge motored his powerboat through coral reef ringing the lush, tropical island and alighted upon white sand.

Catamarans and jetskis lay strewn about the beach. Nothing but quiet emerged to greet him from the bungalows scattered among a grove of coconut trees. A plate of food sat on a kitchen table, mouldering.

In the last century, industrialized farming has killed off delicious food – but a brigade of chefs, breeders and farmers are fighting to bring it back

Bill Tracy is clearly not one to brag, but after a while, it seems he just can’t help himself. “I did come up with something absolutely amazing actually,” he says softly. “Really quite amazing.”

Tracy has spent the last 40 years in the fields of Wisconsin as one of the US’s leading sweetcorn breeders, tasting up to 300 ears a day in search of the perfect corn that might one day sizzle on barbecues across the country.

Researchers find breathing more air pollution can slow lung development all the way up to early adulthood

Research shows that air pollution is slowing the lung growth of children in the UK. Scientists tracked the lung function of more than 5,000 peoplewho were born in and around Bristol in the 1990s. The health of the Children of the 90s cohort was assessed from birth onwards and their lungs were tested as they grew up, at eight and 15 years old and then as adults, aged 24, when their lung function should have reached its maximum.

Prof Anna Hansell, of the University of Leicester, who led the study, said: “Much of the evidence on health effects of air pollution relates to adults or pregnancy, but we think it’s highly plausible it has impacts on growth and development of children.

A new era of high-performance electric driving has officially landed in the local automotive market with the debut of BYD’s latest flagship, the BYD Sealion zero-emission SUV. Distributed by ACMobility, the automotive arm of Ayala Corporation, the highly anticipated model made its premiere at a public event in Makati City, ... [continued]

The post BYD Updates Philippine Lineup with Sealion 7 appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Beijing, China — NIO officially launched its flagship executive SUV, the NIO ES9. The Executive Premium Edition starts at RMB 498,000, or RMB 390,000 with the Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) subscription plan. The Executive Signature Edition starts at RMB 558,000, or RMB 450,000 with BaaS. The Horizon Edition starts at RMB 628,000, ... [continued]

The post Flagship Executive SUV NIO ES9 Officially Launched appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The US startup Quilt is making its indoor and outdoor heat pumps more accessible to homeowners on a budget, in a new partnership with the energy platform Palmetto.

The post An Easier Path To Heat Pumps: Monthly Payments, No Up-Front Cost appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Despite Public Concern, State and Federal Agencies Continue to Shield Details from the Public CHARLESTON, W.Va. — In the past month, 304 West Virginians have submitted comments to Governor Patrick Morrisey expressing concerns over a $1.44 billion U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) loan to West Virginia utilities to refurbish six ... [continued]

The post Over 300 West Virginians Voice Concerns Over $1.44B DOE Coal Bailout to Governor appeared first on CleanTechnica.

ATLANTA — Today, despite the efforts of two commissioners, the Georgia Public Service Commission agreed to allow Georgia Power to continue automatically passing along all of its fuel costs to ratepayers rather than creating an incentive for the utility company to better manage fuel costs. The commission approved a proposed ... [continued]

The post Public Service Commission Passes Georgia Power’s Costs to Ratepayers appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Researchers are working to create new drought-resistant varieties of the ingredient that gives Czech pilsner its character

It is the country that drinks more beer per capita than any other but in the last few years Czechia has been hit by droughts and heatwaves, which make it harder to grow the Saaz hops, one of the key ingredients that goes into the country’s world famous beer.

At the Hop Research Institute, however, scientists are working to create new, climate-resilient hop varieties that have shown promise in overcoming Czechia’s heat and its strict traditionalism.

I was going to write this story last night. I put the title in there, but it was very late and there was a high chance I’d fall asleep in the middle of writing it, so I pushed it off. The top story on Google News today is US Vice ... [continued]

The post Iran Deal Coming Soon — Because Exxon Is Running Out of Oil appeared first on CleanTechnica.