Rolling Stone: Jimmy Carter: America’s Greatest Environmental President
On June 20, 1979, President Jimmy Carter invited reporters up to the White House roof for a ceremony to inaugurate the installation of 32 solar water-heating panels. America was in the midst of an energy freak-out, with long lines at gas stations and not-crazy fear that the U.S. economy was going to be starved by its dependence on foreign oil. And Carter was paying the price: his approval rating was 28 percent, the lowest of his presidency. On that summer day, Carter acknowledged that “some few Americans have reached a state of panic.” But instead of pandering to Americans and promising more oil and gas, he challenged them, insisting that “America was not built on timidity or panic.” Carter announced that he was committed to spending more than $1 billion “to stimulate solar and other renewable forms of energy,” in the expectation that within two decades 20 percent of the nation’s energy would be generated by solar power.
“In the year 2000,” Carter told the crowd on the rooftop that day, “this solar water heater behind me… will still be here supplying cheap, efficient energy.” Then he added, prophetically, “A generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken, or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people.”
Guardian: ‘Ironic’: climate-driven sea level rise will overwhelm major oil ports, study shows
Rising sea levels driven by the climate crisis will overwhelm many of the world’s biggest oil ports, analysis indicates.
Scientists said the threat was ironic as fossil fuel burning causes global heating. They said reducing emissions by moving to renewable energy would halt global heating and deliver more reliable energy.
Thirteen of the ports with the highest supertanker traffic will be seriously damaged by just 1 metre of sea level rise, the analysis found. The researchers said two low-lying ports in Saudi Arabia – Ras Tanura and Yanbu – were particularly vulnerable. Both are operated by Aramco, the Saudi state oil firm, and 98% of the country’s oil exports leave via these ports.
They are found in high concentrations in fruits and vegetables with deep or vivid colours such as beetroot, blackberries, black olives, very red tomatoes and dark, leafy greens. As well as protecting the plant, phytonutrients – including polyphenols – also provide it with a strong pigment. The same is true for strong tastes: the more cough-inducing an extra virgin olive oil, the higher the likely concentration of polyphenols. Tea, coffee and dark chocolate are excellent sources.
NPR: Jurassic footprints are discovered on a ‘dinosaur highway’ in southern England
It began last June, when a worker at a limestone quarry in southeast England felt “unusual bumps” as he was digging up clay.
Now a team of over 100 researchers from the Universities of Birmingham and Oxford have determined that the mysterious bumps found at Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire were in fact dinosaur tracks dating back to the Middle Jurassic period, around 166 million years ago.
Paleontologists say the some 200 footprints discovered along five different trails offer new insights into certain dinosaurs' size and speed.
Electrek: Farmrobo iMog brings autonomous tractor to hobby farms
Developed by Indian company Farmrobo Technologies, the iMog is a fully autonomous, multipurpose electric farm tractor designed to be a cost-effective solution to support small-scale farming operations and hobby farms.
In constant development since 2019, the Farmrobo iMog weights in at “just” 550 lbs., and is just two feet wide and four feet long. That’s small enough to allow it to easily fit between tightly-packed rows of crops without damaging them. The robot’s small size also makes it pretty efficient – its 8 HP electric motor can run for up to 5 hours on its relatively small 90 AH LFP battery (about 4 kWh, assuming a 48V system).
Last Updated: 04.Jan.2025 23:51 EST
