“Europeans got more of their electricity from renewable sources than fossil fuels for the first time last year,” CNN reported on Sunday, January 24, 2021, adding, “The shift comes as other sources, such as wind and solar power, have … nearly doubled since 2015.” That&#[...]
Archive for the ‘Environment’ Category
Biden’s first executive actions
Requires masks and physical distancing in federal buildings, on federal lands, and by government contractors; urges state and local governments to do the same. Rejoins World Health Organization; appoints Dr. Fauci as head of U.S. delegation Creates a Covid-19 Response Coordinator, reporting directly[...]
Whither climate policy?
With the impending change in U.S. administrations, we can look forward to a more rational science-based climate policy (I say “more” because Republicans in Congress will throw up impediments), but will it — will anything — be enough? In these extracts from an article original[...]
December 25th, 2020 - 1:03 pm § in Environment
Deer rescue (video)
A passing motorist stopped to push a stranded deer off a frozen Wisconsin pond while his friend filmed. Read story here. Return to The-Ave.US Home Page[...]
December 23rd, 2020 - 12:27 pm § in Environment
Oil train derails near Bellingham
An oil train derailed and caught fire near Custer, Washington, on Tuesday, December 22, 2020 (photo below). Read story here. Various news outlets said the derailment occurred near where two people were arrested last month for tampering with railroad signals (see, e.g., story here), but authorities h[...]
Biden’s pick of a Native American for Interior Secretary is a sea change
Joe Biden, fresh from his Electoral College victory, and now officially president-elect, named Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM, photo left) as his choice for Interior, the federal agency that oversees federal lands and Native American affairs. Obama’s first interior secretary, Ken Salazar, called her &[...]
Cloud waterfall (video)
Read story here about Australian tourists witnessing a rare atmospheric phenomenon. Return to The-Ave.US Home Page[...]
December 12th, 2020 - 3:35 am § in America, Donald Trump, Economics, Environment, Foreign Affairs, Health, Law and Courts, Politics
By the numbers: Quantifying Trump’s presidency
From Atlantic magazine (read original article here): More than a quarter of a million Americans have died from COVID-19 so far; 2.3 million Americans lost their health insurance before the pandemic, and millions more during the pandemic. Trump pulled the U.S. out of 13 international organizations, a[...]
50 Years Ago: The dynamited whale
In November 1970, a dead whale washed up on an Oregon beach and began to stink. As Newsweek says, “the Oregon Department of Highways determined it was too large to bury. Instead they blew it up, using 20 cases of dynamite.” The results were, shall we say, not exactly as planned. Now, a p[...]
November 22nd, 2020 - 8:39 pm § in Environment, Misc.
Car lanes to bike lanes
Car drivers may hate it, but more cities are converting car lanes into bike lanes, and Covid-19 is accelerating the trend. “Tabitha Combs, a lecturer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been crowdsourcing data on local actions affecting walking and cycling during the pande[...]