109 posts
Latest Posts by valerie00diamond - Page 4
Bucket List Food Society
Wild Foraged Foods
Garden
Community Gardens
Farm Markets
All predominantly Native Plant Species
June 16, 2024 - Hundreds of students, many wearing keffiyehs and waving Palestinian flags, walked out of Stanford University's graduation ceremony in protest of Stanford's ties with Israel and its genocide of the Palestinian people. [video]
"A net-zero power system is closer than we think.
New research, published by RMI, indicates that an exponential surge in renewable energy deployment is outpacing the International Energy Agency’s most ambitious net-zero predictions for 2030.
That’s right: Surging solar, wind, and battery capacity is now in-line with net-zero scenarios.
“For the first time, we can, with hand on heart, say that we are potentially on the path to net zero,” Kingsmill Bond, Senior Principal at RMI, said. “We need to make sure that we continue to drive change, but there is a path and we are on it.”
And that’s really good news.
Exponential growth in renewable energy has put the global electricity system at a tipping point. What was once seen as a wildly daunting task — transitioning away from fossil fuels — is now happening at a faster pace every year.
Based on this new research, conducted in partnership with the Bezos Earth Fund, RMI projects that solar and wind will supply over a third of all global electricity by 2030, up from about 12% today, which would surpass recent calls for a tripling of total renewable energy capacity by the end of the decade.
Global progress in the renewable energy sector
China and Europe have been leading the way in clean energy generation, but the deployment of renewable energy has also been widely distributed across the Middle East and Africa.
Research from Systems Change Lab shows that eight countries (Uruguay, Denmark, Lithuania, Namibia, Netherlands, Palestine, Jordan, and Chile) have already grown solar and wind power faster than what is needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C, proving that a swift switch to renewable energy is not only feasible — it’s entirely achievable.
In order to make that switch, globally, wind and solar need to grow from 12% to 41% by 2030. Denmark, Uruguay, and Lithuania have already achieved that increase in the span of eight years.
Meanwhile, Namibia, the Netherlands, Palestine, Jordan, and Chile have grown solar and wind energy at sufficient rates for five years...
The economic impact of climate progress
Not only is this an exciting and unprecedented development for the health of the environment, but this rapid transition to clean energy includes widespread benefits, like jobs growth, more secure supply chains, and reductions in energy price inflation.
This progress spans both developing and developed countries, all driven to accelerate renewables for a number of different reasons: adopting smart and effective policies, maintaining political commitments, lowering the costs of renewable energy, and improving energy security.
And with exponential growth of clean energy means sharp declines in prices. This puts fossil fuels at a higher, uncompetitive cost — both financially and figuratively.
RMI suggests that solar energy is already the cheapest form of electricity in history — and will likely halve in price by 2030, falling as low as $20/MWh in the coming years. This follows previous trends: solar and battery costs have declined 80% between 2012 and 2022, and offshore wind costs are down 73%."
-via Good Good Good, July 12, 2023
Let me repeat that:
For the first time in history, we are on an actual, provably achievable path to net zero emissions
75% of People Worldwide Want Single-Use Plastics Banned, According to New Global Survey
Live as a zero waste society
Endangered Species -- KnowBC - the leading source of BC information
"ENDANGERED SPECIES are species of plants, animals and plant communities considered to be in imminent danger of extinction or extirpation in BC."
"These include road building and other forms of access and disturbance; LOGGING, MINING, urban, recreational and HYDROELECTRIC developments; grazing and AGRICULTURE; the introduction of exotic or alien species that displace native species (see KNAPWEED, for example); poaching; human-caused fires; widespread air and water pollution; and CLIMATE change. Provincial wildlife authorities consider access and loss of habitat to be the 2 most important factors in the decline of wildlife populations."
Building a Sustainable City | Paving the Way for a Greener Future
What is sustainable city?
A sustainable city is an urban area that prioritizes environmentally-friendly practices, social inclusivity, and economic prosperity. It focuses on reducing carbon emissions, promoting renewable energy, efficient resource management, and creating a high quality of life for residents. Sustainable cities aim to balance development with environmental preservation, social equity, and long-term sustainability.
Greta Thunberg Detained In Copenhagen Yesterday During Protest Against The War In Gaza
[image description: a digital art rendered in a semi realism style depicting a brown skinned, fancy shawl pow wow dancer. they sit down with their left knee propped up and their left arm resting on their knee. They have dark blue, black, and yellow colored regalia. They wear thin blue hair wraps around their braids, a yellow beaded choker, a yellow beaded headband, and blue beaded earrings with yellow accents. Their under dress has medium sleeves and is a shiny, dark fabric that glitters blue and purple in the light. a yellow shawl with a multicolored heart design rests on their right leg, with black fringes. a circular cropped image of an eastern tiger swallowtail resting on green leaves is overlaid next to the fancy shawl dancer, who's regalia and beadwork designs mimic the butterfly wings. end image description.]
"send me a butterfly or moth species and I'll draw a fancy shawl dancer inspired by it" art request series is back up & open again!
Eastern Tiger swallowtail fancy dancer for @crowtoed!
I’ll teach you to jump on the wind’s back and then away we go.
- J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
‘Those who don’t jump will never fly’ is a dictum drilled into me from an early age. It’s one I took literally when I learned when parachuting and then later dabbled in sky diving, well before I went into the British army as a combat pilot.
Skydiving provides a unique combination of adrenalin-fuelled exhilaration and perfectly calm tranquillity. While in free fall it’s all about the rush - but once the parachute opens and your heart rate steadies, you’ll take a moment to gaze around you and see the whole world in a new light. It’s beautiful up there, and the experience is about as close to actual flying as humans can actually get.
To the skydiver, ‘flying’ in a plane is akin to ‘swimming’ in a boat. As someone who has flown helicopters I would quible with that simple characterisation but eventually I’m okay to acknowledge there is some truth behind it.
As someone who used to parachute and sky dive as a recreational past time, I can empathise with those skydivers who live for the wind whipping past as they plummet toward the earth during free fall, and the thrill of floating on the air currents once their ‘chutes are safely open. They live on the edge, though not in danger - amid the elements, but not at their mercy.
In skydiving, it is the fear response that gradually weakens. During the precipitous descent, the amply tested parachutist can savour the thrill rather than endure the panic. You may never get rid of the butterflies, but you can teach them how to fly in formation.