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WWW.CNN.COM

Experts are eyeing a promising solution to reduce planet-warming emissions: your neighborhood big-box stores and shopping malls.
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Big-box stores and shopping centers have enough roof space to produce half of their annual electricity needs from solar, according to a report from nonprofit Environment America and research firm Frontier Group.

Leveraging the full rooftop solar potential of these superstores would generate enough electricity to power nearly 8 million average homes, the report concluded, and would cut the same amount of planet-warming emissions as pulling 11.3 million gas-powered cars off the road.

The average Walmart store, for example, has 180,000 square feet of rooftop, according to the report. That's roughly the size of three football fields and enough space to support solar energy that could power the equivalent of 200 homes, the report said.

"Every rooftop in America that isn't producing solar energy is a rooftop wasted as we work to break our dependence on fossil fuels and the geopolitical conflicts that come with them," Johanna Neumann, senior director for Environment America's campaign for 100% Renewable, told CNN. "Now is the time to lean into local renewable energy production, and there's no better place than the roofs of America's big-box superstores."

 

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20 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

Big box and some manufacturing roofs may not be able to handle the load of the very non trivial weight of the panels. Parking lots however you can use solar panels as a shelter for cars and are typically a greater acreage than the store itself

 

My office does this. It powers the building and then some. There's a dashboard on a screen when you go in showing the power consumption of the building and the output of the panels. Keeps my car cooler too.

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I feel like big box stores always have leaky roofs, so I’m not sure putting more anchors into the roof is a great idea even if the roof systems could support the weight

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19 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

I feel like big box stores always have leaky roofs, so I’m not sure putting more anchors into the roof is a great idea even if the roof systems could support the weight

Now just imagine the floor not needing to be seen by paying customers (only need to protect equipment and employees) and you’ve got an mfg plant

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WWW.MSN.COM

Catastrophic climate outcomes like human extinction 'not being taken seriously': study
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In 2022, the rising effects of climate change are really being felt now globally — from massive heat waves in Europe to Australia's historic bushfire season and the recent extreme flood events in the U.S. A group of top climate scientists have come forward to argue that more in-depth research is urgently needed into worst-case scenarios — including human extinction — which they call a "climate endgame."

"Climate Endgame: Exploring catastrophic climate change scenarios" was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and is authored by eleven researchers from around the world. They propose a research agenda into the consequences of global warming, specifically the worst-case scenarios they claim have been understudied.

 

Most current climate models are based on an increase of up to 2°C. Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions to hold the global average temperature to well below 2°C with a goal to limit the temperature increase to only 1.5°C.

 

Many scientists now think this target is unrealistic. The scientists include four main areas of concern -- what the authors termed the "four horseman" of climate change: famine and malnutrition, extreme weather, conflict, and vector-borne diseases.

 

The paper provides a range of plausible ways in which climate change could tip society into more precarious outcomes than what has previously been presented to the public, and proposes a rigorous academic research agenda for conducting an “integrated catastrophe assessment.”

 

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WWW.FORBES.COM

Climate change could become "catastrophic" for humanity if temperature rises are worse than many predict or cause consequences we have yet to consider.
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Global heating could become "catastrophic" for humanity if temperature rises are worse than many predict or cause consequences we have yet to consider. The world needs to start preparing for the bad-to-worst-case scenarios according to a study by an international team of researchers led by the University of Cambridge.

 

Modeling done by the team shows areas of extreme heat (an annual average temperature of over 29 degrees Celsius), could cover two billion people by 2070. These areas not only some of the most densely populated, but also some of the most politically fragile.

 

"By 2070, these temperatures and the social and political consequences will directly affect two nuclear powers, and seven maximum containment laboratories housing the most dangerous pathogens. There is serious potential for disastrous knock-on effects," he said.

 

Co-author Professor Kristie Ebi from the University of Washington said: "We need an interdisciplinary endeavor to understand how climate change could trigger human mass morbidity and mortality."

"Climate Endgame: Exploring catastrophic climate change scenarios"

 

 

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ABCNEWS.GO.COM

The Great Salt Lake has lost two-thirds of its size due to rising temperatures and scientists say this is already causing a dangerous ecological ripple effect.
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The water body, which is approximately 75 miles long and 30 miles wide, is known to be the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and feeds into nearby rivers, but it's now one-third its usual size and still shrinking.

Ecologists who have been watching this climate change-induced trend told ABC News that the dry-up is already affecting Utah's fauna, flora and human populations, and the problem is only going to get worse without outside help.

As the water goes down, its salinity goes up which kills algae, a food source for brine shrimp, he said. The shrimp is food to more than 10 million birds that depend on the lake during migrations, according to Stone.

"They've got to get from central Canada to central Argentina or southern Mexico without a stopover point," Stone told ABC News. "You just can't do it. You've gotta refuel somewhere."

Birds that do stop in the area are now prone to attacks from coyotes or other predators who have more land to traverse, according to Stone.

When the lake dries up harmful particulates that are at the bottom of the lake, both ones that occur naturally and ones that formed from decades of mining in the area, are exposed and kicked up in the wind, according to the state's Department of Natural Resources.

 

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WWW.PBS.ORG

A report by the United Nations top body of climate scientists estimates that over the next 30 years, 143 million people will likely to be uprooted by rising seas, drought, searing temperatures and catastrophes caused or exacerbated by climate change.
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Worsening climate largely from the burning of coal and gas is uprooting millions of people, with wildfires overrunning towns in California, rising seas overtaking island nations and drought exacerbating conflicts in various parts of the world.

Each year, natural disasters force an average of 21.5 million people from their homes around the world, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. And scientists predict migration will grow as the planet gets hotter.

 

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WWW.MSN.COM

Around the world, climate change has brought higher temperatures, extreme weather events and melting ice caps. Soon, climate change could show up in your freezer. Popular ice cream flavors are now endangered. At the factory where Ben and Jerry’s makes its ice cream, those include Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Coffee Toffee Bar Crunch, and Chocolate Fudge Brownie. Cheryl Pinto is known as the “sorceress” at Ben and Jerry’s because she sources...
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Cheryl Pinto is known as the “sorceress” at Ben and Jerry’s because she sources all the raw ingredients. She says cocoa, coffee, vanilla and nuts are harder to grow in a hotter world. Sixty percent of the world’s chocolate comes from West Africa where poor farmers are facing the effects of deforestation. “Eighty to ninety percent of the trees are gone,” Pinto explains. “A lot of people don’t recognize when you start removing the forest you actually impact regional weather patterns.”

Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast 90 percent of the area of West Africa currently used for cocoa cultivation won’t be able to grow the crop by 2050. NOAA also reports type of coffee bean used in 70 percent of worldwide coffee production can not tolerate temperatures over 73 degrees.

 

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WWW.BBC.COM

Meltwater flows from the glaciers, which may be set for their highest mass losses in 60 years.
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Melting glaciers in the Alps are on track for their highest mass losses in at least 60 years, according to data seen by Reuters.

The area saw two early summer heatwaves and little snowfall last winter.

 

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WWW.AZOCLEANTECH.COM

If countries throughout the world are successful in fulfilling the climate targets stated in the Paris Agreement, the disastrous impacts of global warming on the greatest ice sheet in the world may be avoided.
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“We understand the Moon better than East Antarctica. So, we don't yet fully understand the climate risks that will emerge from this area,” Professor King states.

To determine the impact of varying levels of future greenhouse gas emissions on the ice sheet by the years 2100, 2300 and 2500, the researchers looked at how the EAIS responded to warm periods in Earth’s past and examined projections produced by previous studies.

The latest research from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was released last year, states that since pre-industrial times, human activity has already elevated the average global temperature by around 1.1 °C.

By keeping global warming far below 2 °C, according to Professor Abram, it is possible to avert the worst-case scenarios of global warming and even avert significant losses from the EAIS.

Professor Abram adds, “We used to think East Antarctica was much less vulnerable to climate change, compared to the ice sheets in West Antarctica or Greenland, but we now know there are some areas of East Antarctica that are already showing signs of ice loss. This means the fate of the world's largest ice sheet very much remains in our hands.”

The study was headed by Durham University in the United Kingdom and is a collaboration between scientists from Australia, France, the United States and the United Kingdom.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
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WWW.BBC.COM

Campaigners say it is a missed opportunity to protect species like sharks at risk of extinction.
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Their Senior High Seas Advisor, Kristina Gjerde, explained why this treaty was so important: "The high seas are the vital blue heart of the planet.

"What happens on the high seas affects our coastal communities, affects our fisheries, affects our biodiversity - things we all care so much about."

The negotiations focused on four key areas:

Establishing marine protected areas

Improving environmental impact assessments

Providing finance and capacity building to developing countries

Sharing of marine genetic resources - biological material from plants and animals in the ocean that can have benefits for society, such as pharmaceuticals, industrial processes and food

More than 70 countries - including the UK - prior to the meeting had already agreed to put 30% of the world's oceans into protected areas.

This would put limits on how much fishing can take place, the routes of shipping lanes and exploration activities like deep sea mining.

Deep-sea mining is when minerals are taken from the sea bed that is 200m or more below the surface. These minerals include cobalt which is used for electronics, but the process could also be toxic for marine life, according to the IUCN.

 

Sharks and rays are among the species set to lose out from the failure to pass the treaty.

According to the IUCN they are facing a global extinction crisis - and are one of the most threatened species groups in the world.

Sharks and other migratory species such as turtles and whales move through the world's oceans interacting with human activities like shipping which can cause them severe injuries and death.

All species of sharks and rays are also overfished - leading to rapid population decline.

Such reduction in animal numbers have been observed across most major marine groups.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
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WWW.WSJ.COM

Yvon Chouinard says nearly 50-year-old outdoor clothing brand will be owned by trust and nonprofit, rather than sell or go public
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“It’s been nearly 50 years since we began our experiment in responsible business, and we are just getting started,” said Mr. Chouinard, a world-class mountain climber who started importing rugby shirts and other apparel in the 1970s for his friends to wear. “If we have any hope of a thriving planet—much less a thriving business—50 years from now, it is going to take all of us doing what we can with the resources we have. This is another way we’ve found to do our part.”

 

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