News Feeds | ecology.iww.org (2024)

Utility Dive - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 07:20

Categories:

Skeptical Science - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 07:13

This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientistDr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any).

2023 shattered global temperature records, as climate change coupled with El Niño raised temperatures to sweltering levels. This new marker of global warming drove devastating extreme weather disasters across the planet, from heatwaves to floods to wildfires to droughts. But now climate scientists are predicting 2024 could be even hotter, potentially even 1.5°C of warming for the first time. So what's driving these temperatures, how can we already know what this year holds, and what can we do to combat climate change?

Support ClimateAdam on patreon: https://patreon.com/climateadam

Categories: I. Climate Science

Green European Journal - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 06:58

Die zunehmende Präsenz des Klimawandels in den schwedischen Medien verhalf der rechtsextremen Partei Schwedendemokraten zu ihrem neuen Fokus. Obwohl der Klimawandel auch in Dänemark immer häufiger erwähnt wurde, konnte dank der integrativen und positiven Umweltagenda der Dän*innen vermieden werden, dass sich die Rechtsextremen das Thema zunutze machten – aber die Medien stehen den Klimazielen des Landes im Weg.

Die zunehmende Präsenz des Klimawandels in den schwedischen Medien verhalf der rechtsextremen Partei Schwedendemokraten zu ihrem neuen Fokus. Obwohl der Klimawandel auch in Dänemark immer häufiger erwähnt wurde, konnte dank der integrativen und positiven Umweltagenda der Dän*innen vermieden werden, dass sich die Rechtsextremen das Thema zunutze machten – aber die Medien stehen den Klimazielen des Landes im Weg.

Schwedische Medien: Futter für den Krisenhunger der Rechtsextremen

Die Popularität der Schwedendemokraten in Schweden begann dank ihrer Anti-Einwanderungspolitik nach den massiven Immigrationswellen der 2010er Jahre exponentiell zu wachsen. Doch als dieses Thema von der politischen Agenda zu verschwinden begann, rückte ein neues in den Vordergrund: der Klimawandel.

Dieses Phänomen tauchte ab 2015 immer häufiger in den schwedischen Medien auf. Im Jahr 2019 erreichte das Thema einen historischen Höchststand und war das meist behandelte Thema des Jahres. „Im Sommer 2018 wurde der Klimawandel in Schweden durch die Rekordhitzewelle und die schweren Waldbrände spürbar“, erklärt Kjell Vowles, Doktorand mit Spezialisierung auf Medien und Klimawandel an der Technischen Hochschule Chalmers in Göteborg. Die globale Erwärmung war nicht länger ein wissenschaftliches und schwer fassbares Konzept, sondern die Menschen spürten die direkten Folgen.

Im selben Jahr wurde die jugendliche Aktivistin Greta Thunberg nicht nur in Schweden, sondern weltweit zur Anführerin der Bewegung gegen den Klimawandel. All dies geschah im Jahr der schwedischen Wahlen. Das Thema rückte schnell in den Mittelpunkt der Tagesordnung der traditionellen Medien. Sie begannen, über Themen wie die Rechenschaftspflicht von Unternehmen und deren Maßnahmen zu berichten. Aber das Thema, das im Mittelpunkt stand, war der Klimaaktivismus. Dies gab der extremen Rechten eine neue Front, um ihren Anti-Establishment-Diskurs aufzubauen und neue Anhänger*innen zu gewinnen. „Die Rechtsextremen machten die Einwanderung zum ersten großen polarisierenden Thema, und jetzt ist es der Klimawandel. Es ist derselbe Anti-Establishment-Diskurs einer globalistischen Elite, die die Art und Weise, wie wir leben, verändern will“, sagt Vowles.

Photo: Verschiedene Schlagzeilen aus Svenska Dagbladet und Sveriges Television, den beiden wichtigsten und beliebtesten Zeitungen in Schweden. Von 2018 bis Oktober 2023 haben sie insgesamt 1.452 Mal Artikel veröffentlicht, die sich mit Klimaaktivist*innen befassen oder diese erwähnen. Das sind seit dem 1. Januar 2018 fast 6 Artikel pro Woche, die über Umweltaktivist*innen berichten.

Fünf Jahre später ist der Klimawandel immer noch in den Medien präsent, wenn auch nicht mehr in demselben Ausmaß, nachdem die Pandemie im Jahr 2020 ihn von der Spitze der Medienagenda verdrängt hat. Dennoch „wird die Polarisierung rund um den Klimawandel immer deutlicher“, sagt Vowles.

Der rasante Aufstieg des Klimawandels in den Mainstream-Medien und seine Fokussierung auf den Aktivismus ebneten den Weg für die Einführung des Themas in alternativen, rechtsextremen Medien. Der Klimawandel war vor Greta Thunberg kaum präsent. Sie wurde ein leichtes Ziel für die extreme Rechte und die Schwedendemokraten. Sie argumentierten, dass die schwedische Politik infantilisiert werde, indem man sich an den Aussagen eines 15-jährigen Mädchens orientiere und nicht an den Aussagen von Expert*innen zu den jeweiligen Themen. Im Wesentlichen lautete ihr Argument, dass „Schweden sich von einer rationalen zu einer emotionalen Gesellschaft entwickelt“, sagt Vowles.

Obwohl Vowles einräumt, dass diese neuen alternativen Medien im Zentrum der wachsenden Polarisierung Schwedens in Bezug auf den Klimawandel standen, trugen auch die traditionellen Medien zu dieser bei. Ihre ausführliche Berichterstattung über Aktivist*innen und die alarmistische Art und Weise, in der sie das Thema darstellten, anstatt sich auf die Wissenschaft und die nächsten Schritte zu konzentrieren, führte zu einer immensen Gegenreaktion, die durch eine Übersättigung des Themas und Angst ausgelöst wurde.

Was die dänische Politik richtig gemacht hat und was die Medien falsch gemacht haben

Der Trend in der Klimaberichterstattung in Dänemark ist ähnlich wie in Schweden. Sie erreichte 2018 ihren Höhepunkt. Im selben Jahr gingen Aktivist*innen auf die Straße und übten einen enormen politischen Druck auf die Wahlen 2019 aus, während die Medien das Thema immer wieder aufgriffen. Dies führte jedoch weder zu einer Gegenreaktion der Rechtsextremen, noch wurde es zu einem polarisierenden Thema.

Eine 2022 von CONCITO, Dänemarks grünem Think Tank, durchgeführte Studie ergab, dass 88 % der Dän*innen den Klimawandel als ernstes Problem betrachten. Außerdem gaben „66 % der Befragten an, dass die Bemühungen der Politiker*innen zur Bekämpfung des Klimawandels Einfluss darauf haben werden, wen sie bei den nächsten Parlamentswahlen wählen werden“.

Mads Ejsing, Postdoktorand am Center for Applied Thinking an der Universität Kopenhagen und Spezialist für Umweltpolitik, erklärt, dass sich die dänische Bevölkerung aus zwei Gründen für den Klimawandel interessiert. Der erste Grund ist ihre Ausbildung, die einen starken Fokus auf Umweltthemen richtet. Der zweite ist die Art und Weise, in der die Ressourcen- und Klimapolitik entwickelt wurde. Die Klima-Initiative in Dänemark begann in den 1990er Jahren mit der Einführung von Windturbinen und neuen Arten von erneuerbaren Energien. Ländliche Gebiete, in denen rechtskonservatives und den Klimawandel leugnendes Gedankengut vorherrscht, profitierten ebenfalls von den Veränderungen, die diesen Gebieten ein hohes Einkommen bescherten.

Der Klimawandel ist seit mehr als drei Jahrzehnten Teil der dänischen politischen Landschaft und hat sich auf alle Bereiche der Gesellschaft ausgewirkt, sowohl positiv als auch negativ. Der Diskurs über das Thema ist nicht nur in typischen städtischen Gesprächen verwurzelt, sondern ruft auch zu Maßnahmen in anderen Bereichen der Gesellschaft auf. Das eint die dänische Bevölkerung und vermeidet auch den klassischen Diskurs der rechtsextremen Parteien, die den Klimawandel als ein von der Elite geschaffenes Problem bezeichnen.

Ejsing erklärt, dass die Medien eine Rolle dabei spielen, das Thema Klimawandel auf der dänischen Agenda ganz nach oben zu rücken, und dass es regelmäßiger als in anderen Ländern auftaucht. Dennoch ist er der Meinung, dass die Berichterstattung über die Klimakrise in Dänemark relativ brav ist und die Gespräche nicht in dem Maße vorangetrieben hat, wie es Bewegungen und Aktivist*innen getan haben. Bewegungen wie „Fridays for the Future“, „Extinction Rebellion“ und die „Grüne Jugendbewegung“ haben entscheidend dazu beigetragen, der dänischen Öffentlichkeit das Ausmaß der Umweltkrise vor Augen zu führen.

Categories: H. Green News

Utility Dive - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 06:52

Categories:

Green European Journal - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 06:50

Lo spazio sempre maggiore che i media svedesi hanno riservato al cambiamento climatico ha dato al partito di estrema destra Democratici Svedesi un tema da sfruttare a loro vantaggio; in Danimarca, invece, una politica più “positiva” ha permesso di mantenere la questione più aperta.

Lo spazio sempre maggiore che i media svedesi hanno riservato al cambiamento climatico ha dato ai Democratici Svedesi (Sverigedemokraterna, SD. Partito nazionalista conservatore, ndr) un nuovo argomento su cui focalizzarsi: la crescita esponenziale dello spazio riservato ai temi ambientali e la rappresentazione “spaventosa” della crisi alimentano, paradossalmente, la narrazione conservatrice sulla nostalgia del passato.

Anche in Danimarca dopo il 2015 l’argomento ha avuto più spazio nei mezzi di informazione per poi seguire uno schema simile. Ma il modo in cui il cambiamento climatico e le politiche ambientali sono visti in Danimarca è riuscito a non diventare un nuovo punto di convergenza per l’estrema destra. Invece di essere una “realtà terrificante, difficile e spaventosa” da concepire, il cambiamento climatico è diventato un invito all’azione e all’orgoglio nazionale. Ciononostante, attiviste e attivisti chiedono ai media di essere più duri, descrivendo la copertura troppo leggera e non commisurata all’urgenza della situazione.

I casi della Danimarca e della Svezia sono due esempi di come i media non riescano a trattare della crisi ambientale.

I media svedesi alimentano la “fame di crisi” dell’estrema destra

La popolarità dei Democratici Svedesi è cresciuta in modo esponenziale grazie alle loro politiche anti-immigrazione, adottate in risposta alle massicce ondate migratorie degli anni 2010. Ma quando quella tematica ha cominciato a scomparire dall’agenda politica, i riflettori sono stati puntati su un’altra: il cambiamento climatico.

La questione climatica ha iniziato a comparire più regolarmente nei media svedesi nel 2015, raggiungendo il massimo storico nel 2019, anno in cui è stato l’argomento più trattato. “Quello che è successo nell’estate del 2018 è che in Svezia si è effettivamente sentito il cambiamento climatico, con l’ondata di caldo record e gli intensi incendi boschivi”, spiega Kjell Vowles, dottorando dell’Università Chalmers che si occupa di media e cambiamento climatico. Il riscaldamento globale non era più un concetto scientifico e vago: le persone ne sentivano le dirette conseguenze.

Quello stesso anno l’attivista adolescente Greta Thunberg è diventata leader del movimento per il clima, in Svezia, e in tutto il mondo. E tutto questo è successo nell’anno delle elezioni svedesi. L’argomento è rapidamente passato al centro dell’agenda dei media tradizionali, che hanno iniziato a parlare di questioni come la responsabilità delle aziende e il loro comportamento. Ma la questione al centro della scena è stata l’attivismo per il clima che ha fornito all’estrema destra un altro fronte sul quale costruire il suo discorso antisistema e attrarre nuovi sostenitori. “L’estrema destra ha fatto dell’immigrazione il primo grande tema divisivo, e ora è il turno del cambiamento climatico. È la stessa retorica antisistema di un’élite globalista che vuole cambiare il nostro modo di vivere”, afferma Vowles.

Foto: Un mosaico di titoli di Svenska Dagbladet e Sveriges Television. Dal 2018 all’ottobre 2023 hanno pubblicato articoli che riguardano o accennano gli attivisti per il clima un totale di 1452 volte. Si tratta di quasi sei articoli a settimana dall’1 gennaio 2018.

Oggi, cinque anni dopo, i media parlano ancora di cambiamento climatico, anche se non nella stessa misura, dopo che la pandemia del 2020 lo ha spodestato dall’alto dell’agenda. Tuttavia Vowles afferma che “le divisioni in materia di cambiamento climatico stanno diventando più evidenti”.

La rapida ascesa del cambiamento climatico nei principali mezzi di informazione e la loro attenzione per l’attivismo hanno aperto la strada all’inserimento della questione anche nei media alternativi e in quelli di estrema destra. Di cambiamento climatico si parlava a malapena prima di Greta Thunberg. L’attivista è diventata un facile bersaglio per l’estrema destra e i Democratici Svedesi, che sostenevano che la politica del paese si stesse “infantilizzando” seguendo le parole di una ragazzina di 15 anni, invece che quelle di esperti in materia. In sostanza, la loro argomentazione era che “la Svezia stava passando da una società razionale a una emotiva”, dice Vowles.

Sebbene l’esperto riconosca che questi nuovi mezzi di informazione alternativi sono stati al centro della crescente divisione della Svezia sulla questione del cambiamento climatico, anche i media tradizionali vi hanno contribuito. Anziché concentrarsi sui dati scientifici e le azioni da intraprendere, hanno dato grande spazio agli attivisti e presentato la questione con allarmismo, e ciò ha portato a un profondo contraccolpo causato da un’eccessiva saturazione del problema e dalla paura.

Cosa ha fatto bene la politica danese e cosa hanno fatto male i media

La copertura mediatica della questione climatica in Danimarca è simile a quella della Svezia. L’apice è stato raggiunto nel 2018, quando attiviste e attivisti sono scesi in piazza e hanno esercitato un’enorme pressione politica sulle elezioni del 2019, mentre i media insistevano costantemente sulla questione. In questo caso non si è verificato un contraccolpo da parte dell’estrema destra, né è diventato un tema divisivo.

Uno studio condotto nel 2022 dal think tank ambientale CONCITO ha dimostrato che l’88 per cento della popolazione danese considera il cambiamento climatico un problema serio e “il 66 per cento afferma che gli sforzi della politica per affrontare la questione ne influenzeranno il voto alle prossime elezioni generali”.

Mads Ejsing, ricercatore e post-dottorato presso il Centro per il pensiero ecologista applicato (Center for Applied Thinking) dell’Università di Copenaghen, specializzato in politica ambientale, spiega che ci sono due motivi per cui la popolazione danese si interessa al cambiamento climatico. Il primo è la sua istruzione, che ha una forte attenzione per le questioni ambientali. Il secondo è il modo in cui sono state sviluppate le risorse e la politica climatica: l’iniziativa per il clima in Danimarca è cominciata negli anni Novanta con l’introduzione di turbine eoliche e nuovi tipi di energia rinnovabile. Anche le aree rurali, in cui tendono a emergere idee conservatrici di estrema destra e negazioniste del cambiamento climatico, hanno beneficiato di questi cambiamenti ricevendo diversi finanziamenti.

Il cambiamento climatico fa parte del panorama politico danese da più di trent’anni e ha influenzato tutti i settori della società, in positivo e in negativo. Il discorso intorno alla questione non è solo radicato nelle conversazioni quotidiane, ma anche frequenti inviti all’azione in altri settori della società. Questo unisce il popolo danese evitando anche di creare la classica dialettica adottata dai partiti di estrema destra, che lo bollano come “problema creato dall’élite”.

Ejsing spiega che i mezzi di informazione contribuiscono a portare la questione del cambiamento climatico in primo piano nell’agenda danese e che la questione compare con più regolarità che in altri paesi; Ejsing ritiene tuttavia che le informazioni sulla crisi climatica in Danimarca siano relativamente blande e non abbiano portato ad avere queste conversazioni tanto quanto i movimenti e l’attivismo. Movimenti come Fridays for the Future, Extinction Rebellion e il Green Youth Movement sono stati fondamentali per far conoscere al pubblico danese la portata della crisi ambientale.

FOTO: Un mosaico di titoli tratti da Ekstra Bladet e B.T., due dei giornali danesi più importanti e popolari. Questi articoli trattano del cambiamento climatico, ma non dal punto di vista della crisi ambientale: si concentrano su argomenti di tendenza come l’opinione delle celebrità sulla questione, le emozioni e la sensibilità di Greta Thunberg, l’aumento delle allergie e il modo in cui il cambiamento climatico può influenzare i programmi per le vacanze.

Dopo le elezioni nel 2019 e la pandemia nel 2020, il dialogo sul clima si è assopito ed è stato sostituito da altri argomenti. Oggi si avverte un senso di urgenza, poiché non si sta raggiungendo l’obiettivo intermedio di ridurre le emissioni entro il 2025. Per di più, in una società in cui il negazionismo climatico è condannato, si stanno cominciando a tollerare altre forme di inazione climatica. “Lo scetticismo climatico non è popolare, ma i discorsi sul ritardo climatico sì. È questo che allontana gli obiettivi e il senso di urgenza”, afferma Ejsing.

Attiviste e attivisti stanno iniziando a trovare il modo di far passare il mercato responsabile per il mancato raggiungimento di questi obiettivi e a fare pressione sui media affinché presentino il cambiamento climatico come una crisi e un’emergenza urgente. Un movimento chiamato Clear the Agenda si sta mobilitando per cambiare la narrazione mediatica sul riscaldamento globale, da una copertura perlopiù blanda a una che mostri effettivamente la serietà e l’urgenza della situazione. Ejsing aggiunge: “Direi che molte persone si preoccupano dell’agenda [sul cambiamento climatico], ma non è la stessa cosa che sostenere le politiche climatiche di cui abbiamo bisogno. E non è la stessa cosa che capire e sentire l’urgenza della situazione in cui ci troviamo”.

Capire le circostanze

Il cambiamento climatico e la politica ambientale saranno in prima linea alle prossime elezioni europee del 2024. Potrebbe essere un momento di svolta per l’ambiente, non solo in Europa ma nel mondo. Svezia e Danimarca sono casi di studio molto diversi ma perfetti per osservare come i media non si stiano dimostrando all’altezza della causa per l’ambiente e il clima.

L’aumento rapido e improvviso degli argomenti legati al cambiamento climatico riportati nei mezzi di informazione svedesi nel 2018 e nel 2019 ha creato un contraccolpo automatico. Dipingere la questione come una crisi spaventosa e totalizzante e concentrarsi principalmente su attivisti e movimenti in un momento in cui l’ideologia conservatrice è estremamente popolare non ha aiutato la causa ambientalista. Questo allarmismo, di cui i media sono responsabili e che dà più risalto agli attivisti che ai responsabili, ha senza volere alimentato la retorica e i sostenitori dell’estrema destra svedese.

La Danimarca è un’anomalia in un momento in cui i partiti di estrema destra stanno guadagnando consensi in Europa e lo scetticismo climatico è ai massimi storici: il Partito Popolare danese, di estrema destra, sta perdendo consensi e la maggior parte della popolazione è favorevole all’azione per il clima. Ma la dialettica piuttosto noiosa e inefficace dei media non sta determinando il cambiamento che la gente vorrebbe vedere. Le idee che ritardano l’azione sul clima stanno diventando più popolari e gli obiettivi che la Danimarca dovrebbe raggiungere nel 2025 sono ancora lontani. I media danesi non stanno approfittando delle condizioni fortunate della Danimarca, un paese in cui i cittadini vogliono vedere un cambiamento nell’ambiente e usare la scienza e i dati per premere per un cambiamento più radicale nella società.

Tradotto da VoxEurop.

Categories: H. Green News

Resilience - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 06:43

Categories: B5. Resilience, Third Nature, and Transition

Pittsburgh Green New Deal - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 06:41

สล็อตเว็บตรง ค่ายเกมดัง PGSLOT โบนัสเกมแตกดี

สล็อตเว็บตรง ค่ายเกมดัง PGSLOT โบนัสเกมแตกดี สำหรับค่ายเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ยักษ์ใหญ่คุณภาพดี โบนัสกมแตกง่าย จ่ายเงินรางวัลสุดคุ้ม และได้รับความนิยมสูงสุดในตอนนี้ ต้องขอยกให้ ค่าย PG SLOT ค่ายเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ที่มีการพัฒนา อัพเดทเกมใหม่ๆ มาบริการ ให้ผู้เล่นได้ร่วมสนุกกันอย่างต่อเนื่อง ระบบเกมคุณภาพดีมาตรฐานสากล ทันสมัย เล่นง่าย จ่ายเงินรางวัลสุดคุ้ม

โดยค่าย PG เป็นค่ายเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ ที่เปิดให้บริการมาตั้งแต่ปี 2015 เป็นอีกหนึ่งค่ายเกมที่มีความมั่นคงสูง โดยในปัจจุบัน ผู้เล่นทุกท่าน สามารถเลือกลงเดิมพันเล่นเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ จากค่าย PG SLOT ได้มากกว่า 100 เกมเลยทีเดียว สนุกสุดคุ้ม เล่นได้อย่างเพลิดเพลินไม่มีเบื่อ ที่สำคัญ ยังมีเบทเดิมพันในการเล่นเกมที่ผู้เล่นสามารถเข้ามาร่วมสนุก ร่วมลงเดิมพันกันได้อย่างครอบคลุม

ร่วมสนุก ลงเดิมพันเล่นเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ได้อย่างมั่นใจ การันตีถอนเงินรางวัลได้จริง บนเว็บไซต์ที่ดีที่สุด มั่นคง ปลอดภัย และมีใบเซอร์การันตีการเปิดใช้งาน 1688upx ผู้ให้บริการรายใหญ่ ที่มาพร้อมการบริการเกมสล็อตออนไลน์แบบครบวงจร มีเกมให้เลือกเล่นหลากหลายทุกค่ายเกม พัฒนาระบบการเข้าใช้งานให้ดียิ่งขึ้นอย่างต่อเนื่อง ให้อิสระในการลงเดิมพันเล่นเกมของผู้เล่นอย่างเต็มที่ ไม่จำกัดทุน ถอนเงินได้ไม่อั้น

ความพิเศษ และความสนุกของค่ายพีจี สล็อตเว็บตรง ค่ายเกมดัง PGSLOT โบนัสเกมแตกดี

หากทุกท่านกำลังมองหาค่ายเกมสล็อตออนไลน์คุณภาพดี พัฒนาเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ที่มีรูปแบบเกมที่ตอบโจทย์ผู้เล่นยุคใหม่ได้เป็นอย่างดี มีให้เลือกเล่นหลากหลายแนวเกม ต้องห้ามพลาด เกมสล็อตออนไลน์ จากค่าย PG SLOT ค่ายเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ที่เปิดให้บริการมาอย่างยาวนาน และมีผู้เล่นเข้ามาร่วมสนุก ร่วมลงเดิมพัน รับเงินรางวัลสุดคุ้มกันอย่างต่อเนื่อง

พร้อมทั้งยังมีการพัฒนาเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ใหม่ๆ มาบริการ ให้ผู้เล่นทุกท่านได้ร่วมสนุกกันอย่างสม่ำเสมออีกด้วย สำหรับผู้เล่นมือใหม่ ผู้เล่นทุนน้อย ที่ต้องการชนะรางวัลของเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ได้อย่างผู้เล่นมืออาชีพ ต้องห้ามพลาด เกมสล็อตออนไลน์จากค่ายเกมดังชั้นนำยอดนิยมอันดับ 1 อย่าค่าย PG SLOT ไม่ผิดหวังแน่นอน

ความพิเศษของเกมสล็อตค่ายPG

• รูปแบบเกม

สำหรับความพิเศษ ที่ทำให้ผู้เล่นหลายๆท่าน เลือกที่จะเข้ามาร่วมสนุก ลงเดิมพัน เล่นเกมสล็อตออนไลน์จากค่ายPG เริ่มต้นด้วยรูปแบบเกม ความสนุก ที่มีความแปลกใหม่ และไม่ซ้ำใคร ตอบโจทย์ผู้เล่นยุคใหม่ได้เป็นอย่างดี โดยแต่ละเกม จะมีธีมเม เรื่องราวการสร้างสรรค์เกมที่มีความสนุกแตกต่างกันออกไป

ซึ่งทุกท่าน จะสามารถเลือกเล่นเกมได้หลากหลายแนวเกม ไม่ว่าจะเป็น เกมสล็อตออนไลน์แนวแอคชั่น แฟนตาซี การ์ตูน หรือจะเป็นแนวเกมธีมความเชื่อ สามารถเลือกเล่นได้หลากหลายรูปแบบ หลากหลายความสนุกไม่ซ้ำใครได้อย่างเพลิดเพลิน

• การจ่ายรางวัล

นอกจากธีมเกม แนวเกม ที่มีความพิเศษ และแตกต่างกันออกไปแล้ว แต่ละเกม ก็จะมีสัญลักษณ์ การจ่ายรางวัล และวิธีการเล่นที่แตกต่างกันออกไปอีกด้วย โดยแต่ละเกม จะมีสัญลักษณ์การจ่ายรางวัล และมีสัญลักษณ์พิเศษ ที่จะช่วยเพิ่มโอกาสในการชนะรางวัล ให้กับผู้เล่นทุกท่านอีกด้วย การันตีเกมสนุก จ่ายเงินรางวัลตอบแทนคุ้มค่าต่อการลงเดิมพันแน่นอน

• ลงเดิมพันเล่นเกมเริ่มต้น 1 บาท

ค่ายเกมที่ผู้เล่นทุนน้อย เข้ามาร่วมสนุกสูงที่สุด และการันตีได้เงินรางวัลสุดคุ้ม ด้วยการลงเดิมพันขั้นต่ำ ที่ผู้เล่นสามารถเข้ามาร่วมสนุกกันได้อย่างครอบคลุม โดยมีเบทเดิมพันในการเล่นเกม เริ่มต้นเพียงแค่ 1 บาทเท่านั้น ซึ่งผู้เล่นทุกท่าน จะสามารถปรับเพิ่มลดเบทเดิมพันในการเล่นเกมได้ตามต้องการได้ตลอดเวลาอีกด้วย

• ซื้อฟีเจอร์ฟรีสปิน

พิเศษยิ่งกว่าใคร กับเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ จากค่าย PG SLOT ที่จะเพิ่มโอกาสในการชนะรางวัล ให้กับผู้เล่นทุกท่าน สามารถชนะรางวัล จากการเล่นเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ได้ง่ายมากยิ่งขึ้น กับการซื้อฟีเจอร์ฟรีสปินของเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ เพื่อเข้าไปลุ้นรับโบนัสรางวัลแจ็คพอตได้ทันที สำหรับการซื้อฟีเจอร์ฟรีสปิน จะเริ่มต้นเพียงแค่ 50 บาทเท่านั้น การันตีการชนะรางวัล ลุ้นรับโบนัสรางวัลแจ็คพอตได้แน่นอน

โดยผู้เล่นทุกท่าน จะสามารถปรับเพิ่มลดเบทเดิมพัน เพื่อเลือกซื้อฟีเจอร์ฟรีสปิน ที่มีมูลค่า และการจ่ายรางวัล ที่แตกต่างกันออกไปได้ตามต้องการอีกด้วย

แนะนำเกมสุดฮิต โบนัสแตกดี การันตีได้เงินไม่อั้น

สำหรับท่านใด ที่สนใจ ร่วมสนุก ลงเดิมพัน เล่นเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ จากค่าย PG SLOT แต่ยังเลือกเกมที่ถูกใจยังไม่ได้ ในวันนี้ เรามี 5 เกมดังสุดฮิต ที่นักเดิมพันออนไลน์ต้องห้ามพลาด มาแนะนำให้ทุกท่านได้ลอง เกมสุดฮิต การันตีโบนัสแตกดี ชนะรางวัลได้รัวๆ มีทุนน้อยก็เล่นได้ เป็นผู้เล่นมือใหม่ ก็ชนะรางวัลได้อย่างจุใจ ดังนี้

1.สล็อต Mahjong Ways 2

2.สล็อต Lucky Neko

3.สล็อต Fruity Candy

4.สล็อต Lucky Clover Lady

5.สล็อต Fortune Rabbit

ร่วมสนุกได้อย่างเพลิดเพลิน ไม่ผิดหวังแน่นอน รับรองได้เลยว่า ใครที่เข้ามาร่วมสนุก ร่วมลงเดิมพันเล่นเกมที่เราแนะนำ จะต้องชื่นชอบและกลับมาเล่นซ้ำแน่นอน

Credit สล็อตเว็บตรง

อ่านบทความน่าสนใจเพิ่มเติม

The post สล็อตเว็บตรง ค่ายเกมดัง PGSLOT โบนัสเกมแตกดี appeared first on climateworkers.org.

Categories: B3. EcoSocialism

Utility Dive - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 06:07

Categories:

Mining.Com - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 06:06

The expansion of fossil fuel and low-carbon energy infrastructures is predicated upon direct state-sanctioned violence to facilitate land acquisition in India, a recent study in the journal Climate and Development states.

According to the article’s author Mukul Kumar, assistant professor of urban planning and public policy at the University of California, Irvine, although India has pledged to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, not only does it rely on coal to fuel its economy, it is fighting a coal war.

To illustrate this, Kumar mentions how police were deployed to block villagers from protesting a power plant on coastal wetlands in India 14 years ago, shooting at protesters, killing three and injuring hundreds. Two years later on the other side of the country, a Buddhist monk was killed in resistance to the construction of a hydroelectric dam project.

“Debates concerning energy transitions in India have begun to pose questions of justice, drawing upon ‘just transition’ policy frameworks rooted in the Global North,” the researcher said in a media statement. “The Indian Ministry of Coal, for instance, has recently announced that it will establish a World Bank-financed Just Transition Division. Thus far, energy policymakers and researchers in India, including proponents of ‘just transition’ policy frameworks, have not paid adequate attention to the relationship between state-sanctioned violence and land expropriation, issues which disproportionately impact Indigenous and frontline communities.”

In addition to the two iconic examples, Kumar also examined 121 coal and hydropower projects in India. He concluded that the country is in the midst of a transition toward increased coal production, even though the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has declared that all coal extraction must be phased out by 2050 to avoid dangerous levels of global warming.

“Coal production fuels 70% of the country’s electricity-generating capacity,” the researcher said. “At the same time, the country is also set to expand low-carbon infrastructures by an unprecedented 500 GW by 2030. The government of India is offering substantial financial incentives to develop hydroelectric dams to speed India’s ‘green’ energy transition.”

The Himalayas, for instance, have been reframed as a site for the development of more than 100,000 MW of hydroelectric dams to mitigate carbon emissions.

“Both fossil fuel and low-carbon transitions, however, draw upon forms of state violence and land expropriation to expand extractive industries,” Kumar said. “Peaceful, nonviolent movements that challenge the expansion of extractive energy industries are far too often criminalized or subjected to police violence. India is in the midst of multiple violent energy transitions toward both increased fossil fuel and low-carbon energy extraction that further marginalize Indigenous (Adivasi) and frontline communities of Dalits, landless farmers, and artisanal fishers.”

Categories: J2. Fossil Fuel Industry

Utility Dive - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 06:00

Categories:

Yale Environment 360 - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 05:37

A careful study of satellite imagery has revealed four previously unknown colonies of emperor penguins along the edges of Antarctica, a promising discovery in a region increasingly endangered by climate change.

Read more on E360 →

Categories: H. Green News

Mining.Com - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 05:25

Denison Mines (TSX: DML) (NYSE: DNN) and joint venture partner Orano Canada said on Wednesday they will restart the McClean Lake mine, located in the uranium-richAthabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan, amid improving project and commodity economics.

Operations at McClean Lake, owned by the namesake JV (MLJV) in which Orano is the operator and has a 77.5% stake, were suspended in 2008 in response to weak uranium prices.

The partners continued to explore the licence and invested in proprietary mining method named SABRE, which is designed to selectively extract high-grade uranium ores from surface.

Mining is planned to restart at the McClean North deposit in 2025, with a target of about 800,000 pounds of uranium that year,the partners said. Activities this year focused on readying the site and equipment for continuous commercial operations, they noted.

MLJV will also install eight pilot holes for the first mining cavities planned for excavation.

“The successful mining test of the SABRE method in 2021 provided the MLJV with important information about the productivity and cost of the operation,” Denison’s president and chief executive David Cates said.

“This information suggests an incentive price meaningfully lower than current uranium prices, which has provided the JV with a strong basis to make a restart decision for mining,” Cates added.

The companies noted they have identified the availability of around 3 million pounds of yellow cake for potential additional production from a combination of the McClean North and Caribou deposits during the 2026-2030 period.

BMO Capital Markets uranium analyst Alexander Pearce said in a note on Wednesday the decision to restart McClean Lake was positive for Denison as it could help with modest near-term cash flow as it develops Wheeler River.

“The announcement also demonstrates that current spot prices are supportive of brownfield restarts,” he said, adding that a sizable near-term supply deficit is still expected considering the time it takes to bring restarts on.

Orano Canada’s President and chief executive, Jim Corman, said the JV’s current ability to capitalize on the strengthening uranium and nuclear markets is the result of a long-term investment in research and development to secure continued activities at McClean Lake.

The property, about 750 km north of Saskatoon, consists of four mineral leases covering an area of 1,147 hectares and 13 mineral claims over an area of 3,111 hectares.

Uranium prices have hit their highest in more than 16 yearsin recent days after the world’s largest miner of the nuclear fuel, Kazakhstan’s Kazatomprom (LON: KAP), highlighted production risks. The commodity’s bonanza is likely to continue prompting the restart of mothballed capacity.

Categories: J2. Fossil Fuel Industry

The Revelator - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 05:00

It’s 6 p.m. in the lowland tropical rainforest; darkness and the drone of insects descend upon two camouflage-clad individuals. They hunker on an elevated wooden platform to conceal their scent from a potential passerby. For the next 12 hours, their senses will remain fixed on a pile of mangoes, bananas and a dash of molasses below — a powerful animal attractant.

The two women —wildlife veterinarian Priscila Peralta-Aguilar and biologist Sarah Wicks — take turns, one attempting to sleep and the other standing guard. Even the scuttling sound of a raccoon excites the weary observers sitting quietly amongst the famously biodiverse forests of Southern Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula.

“Around 1:30, I heard a noise — something very soft,” Peralta-Aguilar tells me later as she recounts the night. “I thought — is it the raccoon again? I turned my red light in the direction of the sound.”

Her anticipation is understandable. She’s been holding this nightly vigil for four months. And as a media fellow working for the same nonprofit, Osa Conservation, I sometimes joined her arduous efforts to track and await a notoriously elusive creature. But on this night, the gentle giant now illuminated by her headlamp induces an adrenaline rush.

She stares the giant in the face: the largest mammal in the Neotropics. In a single motion — for which she has practiced well — Peralta-Aguilar grabs the tranquilizer, darting a Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii) on the forest floor. Vets and biologists arriving at the prompt of a late-night call work in methodical silence to fit the female with a GPS collar, take biomorphic measurements, and collect biological samples that will help them understand the endangered animal’s health and genetics. Mere minutes after administering a reverser drug, the tapir awakes and departs nonchalantly; the team finally breathes a sigh of relief.

While passing months of insect-infused nights on a trying schedule may seem peculiar, the animal for whom these biologists patiently wait is more peculiar yet. Weighing in at an average of 660 pounds, the Baird’s tapir’s physical enormity has yet to confer its recognizability.

This GPS collar, lasting around 2-3 years, produces a location data point every two hours using satellite-enabled GPS location and VHF radio-frequency monitoring systems. Photo: © Galdric Mossoll

“As humans we tend to value more what we miss than what we have,” says Esteban Brenes-Mora, senior Mesoamerica associate at the conservation nonprofit Re:Wild and referred to colloquially as the “tapir guy.” He has dedicated his career to studying Baird’s tapirs, a species for which scant published research exists. We know shockingly little about the animal’s natural history and ecology; one is more likely to know of its two closest relatives, the rhino and horse, than this neotropical megafauna.

But here’s something we do know: We’d miss tapirs if they disappeared. And once before, they nearly did.

A Fragile Existence

Baird’s tapirs are currently listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, with population estimates of around 4,500 remaining individuals — fewer than their critically endangered and popular cousin, the black rhino. Despite that troublingly low number, things would have been worse without efforts by conservationists, over the past 30 years, to expand and enforce protected areas.

Costa Rica is the only place where Baird’s tapir populations have recovered —a success largely owed to a socioeconomic model adopted in the 1990s to disincentivize destructive industries while incentivizing forest protection and restoration. This restructuring fueled forest recovery and fostered livelihoods conducive to human-wildlife coexistence. The country successfully maintains a network of protected areas where conservation groups, local communities and governments work together to prevent and mitigate threats to the species.

But problems remain across the animal’s range, which stretches through Mexico and Central America. One of the biggest threats is habitat loss, which has reduced the tapir’s distribution by as much as 50% in three decades. At least 70,000 square miles of forested habitat were lost between 2001 and 2010.

The largest mammal to survive the Pleistocene will require large, well-connected and diverse areas to continue its existence.

But areas for living and finding food have an alarming lack of connectivity and suitability. Half of the Baird tapir’s remaining habitat lies within protected areas, and even in these conserved regions, poaching, deforestation and wildlife trafficking further reduce populations.

Tapirs will need to make use of human-dominated landscapes, too, but the scientific community still lacks information on the species’ movement ecology within unprotected areas, which makes their study so important.

Friends of the Forest

“If we start imagining a planet without tapirs,” Brenes-Mora says, “we’d see a cascade effect down through the whole trophic net.”

Tapirs are a seldom-recognized backbone of neotropical ecosystems. Often described as “gardeners of the forest,” they eat seeds that smaller animals can’t, making them an essential dispersal agent for larger tree species once consumed by now-extinct megafauna. It’s likely tapirs have played a key role in keeping large-fruited species alive.

And while the Baird’s tapir is smaller than its vanished predecessors, it doesn’t skimp on meals. A 2015 study found one animal in Corcovado National Park consumed an average of 26 pounds per day. Its fecal matter, meanwhile, is essential for seed and plant-microbe dispersal.

An endangered Baird’s tapir and her calf feed from an orange grove in Bijagua Springs Paradise, Costa Rica. Photo: © Dr. Andrew Whitworth for Osa Conservation

Tapirs also provide another critical service: Their abundant dung-making increases a forest’s carbon capacity. The tree species that tapirs disperse also tend to be those that sequester more atmospheric carbon. Tropical forests store 55% of the forest carbon stock globally, so we need tapirs’ ecosystem-stabilizing services to maintain one of our planet’s most critical carbon sinks.

Their diet is diverse, and so are the landscapes they inhabit. Where other species of conservation concern, such as jaguars, remain constrained to the most stringently protected habitats, Baird’s tapirs roam from the deepest reaches of protected national parks to regions as unexotic as a cucumber field.

But those same cucumber fields illustrate a problem: Humans and tapirs don’t always get along. The successful recovery of tapir populations in Costa Rica, thanks to stringently enforced protected areas, has caused increased interactions between tapirs and farmers, where tapirs raid crops and cause significant losses.

Jorge Rojas-Jiménez, a wildlife veterinarian, works with the Baird’s tapir in northern Costa Rica’s Bijagua. It’s an area where successful habitat protection and community-led conservation have ushered the return of these notoriously elusive animals to areas where they now exist more conspicuously, like people’s backyards.

“They are an adaptable species — they can shape any ecosystem and feed from any plant that isn’t necessarily inside a primary forest,” he says. Recent studies show Baird’s tapirs to be more resilient and capable of utilizing available habitat in fragmented corridors than previously suggested; the species commonly uses secondary forest tracts to move between primary forest patches.

Tapirs’ ability to utilize human-disturbed landscapes should be heeded for three main reasons. Firstly, the Baird’s tapir demonstrates that we shouldn’t discount deforested or human-modified habitat patches —critical to fostering connectivity in a fragmented Mesoamerica — for their potential to become protected areas. Secondly, tapirs’ magic dung may be just the natural restoration strategy needed in a world of conservation limited by resources and time. Finally, and importantly, tapirs aren’t just sowing trees but the seeds of social change, too. Their readiness to move into human-disturbed landscapes means these alluring animals have profound potential to be a “flagship species” for Central American biological corridors.

“Tapirs have become an icon for ecotourism and income,” Brenes-Mora says. “People have seen that one hectare with cows is less profitable than a hectare with a nice forest and a couple of trails.”

On the Move

Large mammals often generate public support for biodiversity protection — tigers, elephants and rhinos have been lauded for supercharging conservation and sustainable tourism. Tapir recovery in areas like the Tenorio-Miravalles Biological Corridor in Costa Rica represents a living example of community-fueled species recovery seldom witnessed in the age of extinction. But we can’t take this heartwarming tale for granted — endangered megafauna and communities living in harmony results from decades-long, dedicated efforts to create and rigorously enforce habitat areas.

Given adequate protection, we know tapirs will, albeit slowly, creep outside the bounds of protected areas into habitat corridors and human-dominated landscapes, where similarly imperiled yet more disturbance-sensitive species like jaguars remain out of the public’s eye. Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica’s largest national park in the country’s south Pacific region, demonstrates precisely the effectiveness of creating and enforcing protected areas to recover endangered species populations.

Biologist Sofía Pastor-Parajeles, Don Jorge, a local farmer, and veterinarian Jorge Rojas-Jiménez are deploying a camera trap where an electric fence will be installed around crops to monitor tapir activity. Photo: © Michiel van Noppen

Eleanor Flatt, an ecologist at Osa Conservation, has lived adjacent to this biologically intense, protected ecosystem for nearly a decade. She’s witnessed Baird’s tapirs recover within the park’s bounds and move willingly into secondary forested areas and landscape matrices. As an author on a 2021 study investigating tens of thousands of camera trap photos from the region, Flatt can testify to both the rebound of the species and the excitement with which local landowners describe hosting endangered species on their properties.

“People don’t know much about tapirs, even those who live in the area, because they wouldn’t have seen them for the past 30 years,” she says. “As soon as you learn about their importance, they can be a definite key flagship species for conservation.”

That’s why researchers have spent countless hours trying to tag and track the animals in the hope of learning more about them — and protecting them. Baird’s tapirs harbor massive conservation potential, both ecologically and socially, yet we still lack a complete picture of their movement and range requirements outside protected areas and within biological corridors. Transmissions from a GPS collar will produce precisely this valuable information.

“For conservation, we need to know how species move in unprotected areas,” says Flatt. “That’s where our efforts are needed most, to guide how you manage, improve and establish functional biological corridors regarding habitat connectivity and climate change.”

More GPS-toting tapirs mean more data from which conservationists can accurately pinpoint and protect priority landscapes, designate corridors critical to the species’ survival, and predict where and when local extinctions may occur. Live-tracking technologies also enable scientists to understand where and when wildlife-human conflicts arise, allowing negative interactions between wildlife and humans to be settled with participative and sustainable solutions co-created between conservationists, communities and farmers.

“This is the largest collaring and movement ecology project done with the tapir — it is the most extensive study of the species so far,” says Brenes-Mora. “Costa Rica is in a stage where we must start looking at how people-dominated landscapes can feed into wildlife conservation.”

Wild animals will require not only refuge within protected areas but also the space, resources, and ability to migrate offered by human-dominated landscapes. Tapirs exemplify the possibility of sharing in our planet’s riches, how human-wildlife coexistence can, and must, be central to social and economic systems. Tapirs show us the way of the future.

Camera trap footage from the secondary forests surrounding Osa Conservation’s wilderness preserve —landcompletely devoid of both trees and tapirs just 40 years ago — recently revealed a female Baird’s tapir with a small, dappled calf in tow. By enforcing protected areas, we’ve already saved the species from extinction once — efforts that paid dividends ecologically and socially.

Now, in the face of changing climate patterns, land use, and reduced wildlife populations, it’s imperative that we expand conservation beyond protected areas. Tapirs show that a conservation model premised on coexistence can come at little or no cost to human livelihoods. If the tireless platform-sitting biologists are any testament, tapirs are an indispensable species, their size a metaphor for their sheer potential to spearhead novel conservation models. Brenes-Mora summed it up poignantly — “Tapirs need us to save them,” but “we need them more.”

If we give tapirs what they need —first protected areas, and next the ability to inhabit and move through human-disturbed landscapes — they’ll be sure to reciprocate. A simple fecal gift, rich with potential, maybe the only favor required in return.

Previously in The Revelator:

All the World’s a Camera Trap

The post Could Baird’s Tapirs Be a New Conservation Ambassador? appeared first on The Revelator.

Categories: H. Green News

Renew Economy - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 05:00

Province Resources is promising a Fortescue-sized project on a threadbare budget.

The post W.A. green hydrogen project expands to 12GW, and 4.5 GWh battery storage appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Categories:

Mining.Com - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 03:45

Ghana’s state-owned investment fund has secured a 3% stake in Australia’s Atlantic Lithium (ASX: A11), which is building theEwoyaa lithium project in the West African country, set to be the nation’s first battery metal mine.

The move is part of Ghana’s Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF)’s total $32.9 million allocated to support the project development all the way to production.

MIIF move also grants it a 6% in Ewoyaa, which is slated to produce an annual average of 3.6 million tonnes of spodumene concentrate, or 350,000 tonnes, over its 12-year mine life. That would make it the world’s 10th-biggest project, according to Atlantic Lithium.

“Our strategy is to invest across the entire mining value chain of every mineral, with lithium not being an exception,” the MIIF chief executive, Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng, said. “[We are] prepared to invest in line with the Government of Ghana’s energy transition plan, including becoming the EV hub for Africa”

The company, which was granted a 15-year permit in October, will now apply to list its shares on both the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

Atlantic Lithium said it expected its admission to the AIM, LSE’smarket for small and medium size growth companies, will become effective on Jan. 30.

Funds from the MIIF will also be use to develop the company’s broader Cape Coast lithium portfolio in Ghana, it said.

The strategic investment is expected to enhance Atlantic Lithium’s cash balance as its reduces its share of the total $185 million development expenditure.

Half of the lithium produced at Ewoyaa will be sent to a refinery of US-based Piedmont Lithium (NASDAQ, ASX: PLL), which is the Australian firm’ssecond-largest shareholderand has agreed to also provide financial aid for building the mine.

Categories: J2. Fossil Fuel Industry

Resilience - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 03:31

Categories: B5. Resilience, Third Nature, and Transition

Resilience - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 03:20

Categories: B5. Resilience, Third Nature, and Transition

Mountain Association for Community and Economic Development - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 03:14

Eastern Kentucky farms may be eligible to receive money for energy projects from the Kentucky Office of Agricultural Policy’s Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund (KADF).

The KADF On-Farm Energy Efficiency IncentivesProgram provides incentives for Kentucky farm families to increase the energy efficiency of existing equipment or facilities.

For example, Lazy Eight Stock Farm in Garrard County received over $23,000 for a wood fired boiler with $10,000 from the On-Farm Energy Efficiency Program and the remainder from the USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). As a result, they are saving an estimated $3,160 per year in avoided energy use. The Mountain Association worked with them to complete their required third-party energy audit, and assist them in packaging their applications.

We have also worked with numerous farms on applications for solar grant funding. We again worked with Lazy Eight, as well as Southdown Farm, a maple syrup producer in Letcher County on successful On-Farm applications for solar. Each was granted $10,000 plus $150 to cover energy audits.

In recent years, we have also assisted Sustainable Harvest Farm in Laurel County, HomeGrown HideAways in Madison County, Salamander Springs in Rockcastle County, and Tree of the Field in Madison County in successful program applications.

Someexamples of eligible reimbursem*nts include:

• Energy efficient building components & renewable energy projects:
  • Lighting
  • Insulation
  • Windows, doors, skylights, roofing, or other Energy Star building components
  • Programmable thermostats and controllers
  • Fans
  • Cool Roof system
  • Tankless, solar, or water heaters
  • Biomass fired boilers, hydronic furnaces, heaters and stoves
  • Solar powered watering system, as well as equipment, structures or other supplies necessary to harness available solar to offset ag. related energy expenses
• Energy free or low energy waterers
• Equipment upgrades:
  • New installation of, or conversion to, energy efficient grain drying / poultry / dairy systems
• Timers for tractor engine block heaters
• NEMA labeled premium efficiency motors
• Low pressure irrigation systems, conversion from sprinkler to drip irrigation, or variable frequency drives for well pumps

Applicants must receive either at least $25,000 in Gross Farm Income, or 20% of gross income from farming for the previous two years. The 2024 deadlines are April 26, August 30 and December 20.

Successful applicants may receive up to 50% reimbursem*nt of a qualified energy saving item (up to $10,000). Farms can put in additional applications even if they have received funding in the past (one application can be submitted per calendar year). Note: Though the program funds no more than 50% of your total project cost, the Mountain Association has affordable financing options which may cover any remaining portions.

A third‐party audit is required with the application (applicants may be reimbursed an additional $150 for the audit, though the Mountain Association’s energy audits are currently free thanks to the Kentucky Office of Energy Policy and other funders). Renovations recommended by the audit and any installation expenses may also be considered.

The Mountain Association is available to conduct your energy audit, as well as help you with your grant application. If you are interested in working on your farm’s energy needs, contact Carrie at carrie@mtassociation.org or 859-544-0023. To find out more about the program, please visit the Kentucky Office of Agricultural Policy website here.

Categories: B5. Resilience, Third Nature, and Transition

Rocky Mountain Institute - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 03:00

There is increasing urgency to immediately address the climate impacts of oil and gas, a major yet easy-to-abate source of methane worldwide. Following a year of mounting climate catastrophes, methane — and especially methane satellite data — took center stage in shaping COP28 negotiations.

Improved inventories and advances in emissions monitoring are playing a growing and important role in making emissions visible and actionable. Climate TRACE is a perfect example. At COP28, Climate TRACE unveiled updates to its open emissions database — an inventory that includes every country and territory in the world, every major sector of the economy, and nearly every major source of greenhouse gas emissions encompassing more than 352 million assets.

This data, which is free and publicly available, is designed to help enable action and accountability at a massive scale. One way Climate TRACE makes this possible is by providing data at different layers of granularity. This allows decision makers to gather the intelligence that they need to make more informed choices — from a statesman who can use emissions data to shape bilateral climate negotiations to a corporation that wants to reduce emissions across their entire supply chain.

As a member of the Climate TRACE coalition, RMI leads data and analysis in the oil and gas sector, utilizing direct observations and multiple sources of data plus advanced modeling to break down emissions across oil and gas production and transport, refining, and —new this year — petrochemicals to advance the visibility of emissions in this historically obtuse and currently expanding sector.

In this post, we’re covering some of our key takeaways from the Climate TRACE emissions inventory this year from the oil and gas industry, starting with a wide lens then zooming in closer to explore how different layers of data reveal useful and actionable insights.

Global: A small fraction of oil- and gas-producing countries have an outsized impact on emissions from oil and gas production.

According to the Climate TRACE inventory, just five countries are responsible for nearly 60 percent of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from oil and gas production and transport.

Exhibit 1: Climate TRACE screenshot of GHG emissions by country.

Country: The United States and Russia have a particularly disproportionate methane impact.

In 2022, these two countries were responsible for 43 percent of the world’s emissions from oil and gas production and transport when looking at CO2e on a 20-year time horizon.

One reason for these countries’ high absolute emissions is the sheer volume of production. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the United States and Russia account for 31 percent of the world’s oil and gas production, jointly producing on average over 30 million barrels per day. While these two countries couldn’t be more different in their political structure, political climate, operations, and global commitments to address oil and gas GHGs, digging into the data reveals some surprising similarities that underlie their emissions.

But that’s just half of the story. These two countries also have high gas leakage that results in excessive methane emissions from the oil and gas sector.

Exhibit 2: Methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, US and Russian emissions highlighted.

Source: Climate TRACE 2023, https://climatetrace.org/explore/oil-and-gas-production-and-transport-oil-and-gas-refining-other-e8b357e8266a1c48772a233d286ca1ed

The remainder of methane from oil and gas sources comes from sources around the globe as indicated in the map above. Thanks to advances in remote sensing technologies like satellites, emissions that were previously ‘out of sight and out of mind’ are more visible. This data can help shape policies and regulations to target super-emitters in these areas and hold producers more accountable for methane leaks.

Field: More granular data reveals near-term priorities

If you zoom into the United States where RMI has the most granular data, you’ll see that the oil and gas produced, processed, and transported from various fields from the Permian Basin in New Mexico and Texas to the San Joaquin Valley in California to the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania varies significantly in its climate impacts. The figure below shows that the industry’s share of methane intensity of US oil and gas assets can vary more than six-fold (excluding end uses). This can be due to a variety of factors including — but not limited to — equipment, technology, and operational and management practices.

Exhibit 3: The wide variation in the methane emissions intensity of U.S. oil and gas fields, sorted for industry methane emissions from production, processing, and transport.

Notes: The lightest bars represent methane leakage from appliances and other end uses; green bars represent majority oil assets and yellow-orange bars represent gas assets.

Source: RMI, OCI+, updated 2023, https://ociplus.rmi.org/supply-chain?metric=methane

In gas supply chains, recent RMI analysis has shown that methane leakage is far greater and more frequent than assumed in certain regions, and that super-emitter events like major pipeline leaks that release tons of methane per hour are not being accounted for in self-reporting on emissions. But many methane releases go unnoticed unless a methane-detecting satellite or sensor happens to make them visible. Once we know about them, interventions to cut methanein the gas supply chain are relatively simpleand cost-effective, like prohibiting venting androutine flaring,and incorporating routine equipment fixes and upgrades into maintenance plans can significantly cut methane emissions from production sites.

Explore Climate TRACE

We encourage you to explore Climate TRACE and dig into the data to see what insights you can glean! In future posts, we’ll dig into further insights on oil and gas refining and petrochemicals.

The post From Global to Local: Climate TRACE Helps Prioritize Emissions Reductions from the Oil and Gas Industry appeared first on RMI.

Categories:

Rocky Mountain Institute - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 03:00

This article was originally posted on The Energizing Agriculture Programme’s website on December 21, 2023.

One Acre Fundfield officer Kabiru Adamu spends his days bumping his motorbike along the dirt roads surrounding his home in Gwam Village, Nigeria, stopping to inspect maize crops and advise farmers on how to make the most of their harvest. Since the removal of the federal government’s petrol subsidy, the fuel cost of reaching rural farmers with a fossil-fueled motorbike has risen threefold. Not only is fuel expensive in rural areas, it can also be hard to find: the nearest fueling station is an hour round trip from Gwam Village, and independent retailers closer to home add an additional margin on more convenient petrol. For One Acre Fund’s agriculture extension officers, daily petrol expenses have surged to NGN 1,600–2,000 today from NGN 400–600 in July 2022.

One Acre Fund field officer Kabiru Adamu on his electric motorbike after charging at the solar minigrid in Gwam Village, Niger state, Nigeria.

For decades, petrol motorbikes have been the tool of choice for plying Nigeria’s rutted and unforgiving rural roads, but the status quo is more costly to drivers in the post-subsidy era andemits more noise and pollution per mile than passenger cars.Although the rollback of the petrol subsidy and recent currency reformscould spur longer-term growthin Africa’s largest economy,Nigerians from Lagos to rural farmsare feeling the effects of higher transportation costs. Data from theNigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authoritysuggests that petrol consumption has fallen by about 35 percent in the months since the subsidy removal.

Interest in electric mobility as a cheaper, greener alternative to fossil fuels is climbing with pump prices. Nigerian federal and state governments are looking to electric and compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles to reduce fuel costs and greenhouse gas emissions. President Bola Tinubu announced aplanto deploy 100 electric buses at COP28. The Ogun State government hastransitioned their bus fleet to CNGin the past year and is setting its sights on electrifying two- and three-wheeled vehicles next.

Renewably charged electric vehicles are saving drivers money and bolstering rural electricity system economics

Since May 2023, Adamu has reduced his fuel costs by 75 percent with a new electric motorbike charged by the solarminigridpowering his community. Adamu received his MAX M3 EV through a pilot project supported by theREA-RMI Energizing Agriculture Programme(EAP). It is an early proof point in the broader conversation Nigeria is having about how to solve the fuel price crisis crippling the economy.

The project is based on a collaborative business model forged in the EAP’s Agriculture-Energy Innovation Accelerator. The vehicles were developed and manufactured byMAX, a Nigerian mobility company. In Gwam Village, One Acre Fund offered two drivers the EVs on a lease-to-own basis, andSolmenz Engineering Limitedprovides pay-as-you-go charging via their preexisting minigrid system. A similar model is being tested in parallel with field officers employed byBabban Gona, who charge at minigrids operated byACOB Lighting Ltd.andKonexa.

Adamu conveniently charges his electric two-wheeler (E2W) at a station near his home that is metered by the minigrid company. He saves time and money, and the electricity sales to the minigrid also support the energy system powering his community. The EAP Accelerator is piloting similar symbioses between energy providers and energy users in minigrid-connected communities across Nigeria.

EVs are charged at a secure charging station provided by minigrid operator Solmenz Engineering.

RMI analysisshows that minigrid-charged two- and three-wheeled electric vehicles can compete with fossil-fueled alternatives at a range of energy costs, provided that the EVs drive enough miles per day for their operating cost advantage to overcome their higher upfront price compared with conventional vehicles. Adamu and his peers are driving the vehicles about 40 kilometers per day on average, a significant increase over the roughly 10 kilometers per day observed in a previous pilot where the EVs were rented out daily to local taxi drivers. In addition, the availability of a daytime discount on minigrid electricity not only enables Adamu to save more, but also directs his charging activities to coincide with hours when the minigrid’s solar panels are at peak production. Daytime charging both enhances the utilization of the minigrid’s solar capacity and ensures that the electric vehicle is charged with carbon-free electricity.

In addition to lower costs and easier refueling, Adamu is enjoying a quieter ride, with significantly less noise than internal combustion engines (ICEs), along with the convenience of a digital dashboard and the absence of gear shifts. “I do not see myself riding petrol bikes anymore, the E2W is easy to ride and more affordable to maintain”, he says. “In fact, I spend about 30–40 percent of what my colleagues riding ICE bikes spend on maintenance.”

By charging his EV at the local solar minigrid, Adamu is supporting the electricity system that serves his community. This is just one example of how electric mobility can have broader economic impacts. The E2W components were partially assembled by MAX and One Acre Fund technicians, thus building their capacity and demonstrating the potential to assemble locally at a larger scale in the future. In the parallel pilot featuring Babban Gona extension officers, the EAP helped a local entrepreneur set up a battery charging station in his shop. Leveraging reliable minigrid electricity, the entrepreneur now generates additional income from battery swap services.

A 50 kWp solar array powers the Gwam Village minigrid.Scaling benefits of e-mobility requires collaboration between public and private stakeholders

The removal of petrol subsidies in Nigeria has had a profound impact on rural farming households and agribusinesses, leading to increased transportation costs and reduced income due to heavy reliance on costly fossil fuels. EAP pilots are providing one example of how electric mobility can address these challenges in rural areas, presenting lower operation costs and environmental benefits. Prioritizing e-mobility can directly improve rural economies while positioning Nigeria to achieve Sustainable Development Goals 1, 2, 7 and 13. Deploying electric motorbikes in rural communities will empower field officers to deliver enhanced inputs and impart valuable agronomic practices to a larger number of farmers, thus improving livelihoods and contributing to increased food security in these areas (SDG 2).

To catalyze a vibrant e-mobility sector, implementing innovative models for charging and deploying EVs is crucial. Scaling up the success of Kabiru’s experience and testing other use cases require resolving challenges in several areas:

• Import logistics and duties.EV suppliers interviewed by RMI have cited customs value added tax and sundry duties at up to 36 percent of the value of vehicle components. Imported vehicles or parts are routinely stuck in Nigerian ports for weeks.
• Charging infrastructure.EV rollout must be accompanied by reliable charging infrastructure despite unreliable or nonexistent grid supplies.
• Financing the higher upfront costs of EVs:Tailored financial products are required to alleviate the heavy burden of the initial upfront cost faced by customers.
• After-sales service.Common ICE models are readily fixed by local mechanics with access to spare parts. EVs will be more difficult to fix until spare parts are readily available.

If accompanied by supportive policy, federal funds saved by discontinuing the petrol subsidy could enable significant progress toward each of these challenges fostering both environmental sustainability and economic growth. For instance, the government can invest in charging stations and supporting infrastructure including power and roads to facilitate the local assembly of EVs. In addition, the government can invest in bulk procurement for government fleets and provide vehicle financing or subsidies, thereby improving the EV landscape.

This is a call to action for stakeholders to support and scale initiatives such as the EAP that improve the well-being of rural communities and help achieve important development goals. The EAP team is actively tackling scaling challenges and testing novel models in rural and urban settings. Partners are invited to connect via email:eap@rmi.org.

This pilot is one of many that are testing energy-agriculture business models around Nigeria through the EAP’sAgriculture-Energy Innovation Accelerator. Read more atenergizingagricultureprogramme.org/insights

The post As Petrol Prices Climb, Nigerian Agriculture Extension Officers Cut Fuel Costs with Electric Motorbikes appeared first on RMI.

Categories: