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#gasemissions
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Every fraction of a degree matters.
Rising temperatures put marine life and coastal ecosystems at risk of irreversible loss.
Urgent #ClimateAction is needed to #SaveOurOcean.
'Ice melted beneath our feet': Dramatic photo of huskies running through water reveals Greenland's rapid melting
"In 2025, AI and climate change, two of the biggest societal disruptors we're facing, will collide.
The summer of 2024 broke the record for Earth’s hottest day since data collection began, sparking widespread media coverage and public debate. This also happens to be the year that both Microsoft and Google, two of the leading big tech companies investing heavily in AI research and development, missed their climate targets. While this also made headlines and spurred indignation, AI’s environmental impacts are still far from being common knowledge.
In reality, AI’s current “bigger is better” paradigm—epitomized by tech companies’ pursuit of ever bigger, more powerful large language models that are presented as the solution to every problem—comes with very significant costs to the environment. These range from generating colossal amounts of energy to power the data centers that run tools such as ChatGPT and Midjourney to the millions of gallons of freshwater that are pumped through these data centers to make sure they don’t overheat and the tons of rare earth metals needed to build the hardware they contain."
https://www.wired.com/story/true-cost-generative-ai-data-centers-energy/
WIRED · Generative AI and Climate Change Are on a Collision Course
"Since 2018, carbon emissions from data centers in the US have tripled. For the 12 months ending August 2024, data centers were responsible for 105 million metric tons of CO2, accounting for 2.18% of national emissions (for comparison, domestic commercial airlines are responsible for about 131 million metric tons). About 4.59% of all the energy used in the US goes toward data centers, a figure that’s doubled since 2018.
It’s difficult to put a number on how much AI in particular, which has been booming since ChatGPT launched in November 2022, is responsible for this surge. That’s because data centers process lots of different types of data—in addition to training or pinging AI models, they do everything from hosting websites to storing your photos in the cloud. However, the researchers say, AI’s share is certainly growing rapidly as nearly every segment of the economy attempts to adopt the technology.
“It’s a pretty big surge,” says Eric Gimon, a senior fellow at the think tank Energy Innovation, who was not involved in the research. “There’s a lot of breathless analysis about how quickly this exponential growth could go. But it’s still early days for the business in terms of figuring out efficiencies, or different kinds of chips.”
Notably, the sources for all this power are particularly “dirty.”"
MIT Technology Review · AI’s emissions are about to skyrocket even further
Recap | Seventh eruption in a year for Iceland volcano – stunning pictures https://www.byteseu.com/569584/ #Eruption #fissure #Gallery #GasEmissions #Grindavik #Iceland #images #Lava #november #parts #region #ReykjanesPeninsula #town #VolcanicEvent #warnings
Eating #Seaweed Makes #Cows Dramatically Less Gassy
A new study finds that feeding seaweed pellets to #grazing #beef #cattle reduces their #greenhouse #gasemissions by 40 percent.
https://www.onlygoodnewsdaily.com/post/eating-seaweed-makes-cows-dramatically-less-gassy
Only Good News Daily · Eating Seaweed Makes Cows Dramatically Less Gassy | OGN DailyA new study finds that feeding seaweed pellets to grazing beef cattle reduces their greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent.
"As part of the U.S. pledge to cut its total greenhouse gas emissions in half by the end of the decade, compared to 2005 levels, President Joe Biden has vowed to eliminate all power grid emissions by 2035.
But there are 220 new gas-burning power plants in various stages of development nationwide, according to the market data firm Yes Energy. Most of those plants are targeted to come online before 2032. Each has a lifespan of 25 to 40 years, meaning most would not be fully paid off — much less shut down — before federal and state target dates for transitioning power grids to cleaner electricity.
The trend may continue. President-elect Donald Trump and his advisers have repeatedly vowed to scrap rules on power plant emissions, which could unleash even more fossil plant construction and delay retirements of existing plants.
In several parts of the nation, data centers are the largest factor behind the building boom, according to analysts and utilities, but the precise percentage of new demand attributable to data centers is not known. Power companies have also been bracing for other new demands, including a proliferation of new factories across the country and the transition to electric vehicles and home appliances such as heat pumps."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/11/19/ai-cop29-climate-data-centers/
The Washington Post · AI’s hunger for electric power is threatening U.S. climate goals
It's crumbing.
We *must* urgently ...
️Stop using damaging technologies ️Reduce per-head consumption️Reduce the number of us
This is so sad 
Our glaciers are literally melting before our eyes.
WHEN will world leaders WAKE UP and start protecting nature?!
Addressing climate change is too expensive, they said. “Spain’s apocalyptic floods show two undeniable truths: the climate crisis is getting worse and Big Oil is killing us”
Agreed. What shall we do stop this happening?
"The world is striving to reach net-zero emissions as we try to ward off dangerous global warming. But will getting to net-zero actually avert climate instability, as many assume?
Our new study examined that question. Alarmingly, we found reaching net-zero in the next few decades will not bring an immediate end to the global heating problem. Earth’s climate will change for many centuries to come.
And this continuing climate change will not be evenly spread. Australia would keep warming more than almost any other land area. For example if net-zero emissions are reached by 2060, the Australian city of Melbourne is still predicted to warm by 1°C after that point.
But that’s not to say the world shouldn’t push to reach net-zero emissions as quickly as possible. The sooner we get there, the less damaging change the planet will experience in the long run."
The ConversationEarth’s climate will keep changing long after humanity hits net-zero emissions. Our research shows whyAlarmingly, Earth’s climate will change for many centuries to come. But we must still push to reach net-zero emissions as quickly as possible.
At least 63 people have died in Spain after flash flooding smashed a large area in the south and east of the country.
#UK #ClimateChange #CarbonCapture #CCS #FossilFuels #GasEmissions #GlobalWarming: "This will be Keir Starmer’s HS2: a hugely expensive scheme that will either be abandoned, scaled back or require massive extra funding to continue, after many billions have been spent. The government’s plan for carbon capture and storage (CCS) – catching carbon dioxide from major industry and pumping it into rocks under the North Sea – is a fossil fuel-driven boondoggle that will accelerate climate breakdown. Its ticket price of £21.7bn is just the beginning of a phenomenal fiscal nightmare.
There might be a case for a CCS programme if the following conditions were met. First, that the money for cheaper and more effective projects had already been committed. The opposite has happened. Labour slashed its green prosperity plan from £28bn a year to £15bn, and with it a sensible and rational programme for insulating 19m homes.
The government boasts that its CCS scheme will be “the equivalent of taking around 4m cars off the road”. But at far lower cost, through a rational transport policy, it could remove millions of real cars from the roads, while improving our mobility, cutting air pollution and releasing land for green spaces and housing.
It could also launch a programme for the mass restoration of nature in the UK. The rewilding of land and sea would draw down vast amounts of carbon from the atmosphere while simultaneously reversing our ecological catastrophe. All these are cost-effective ways of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions. And all of them, unlike CCS, have “co-benefits”: they achieve more than one good thing."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/11/labour-carbon-capture-climate-breakdown
The Guardian · Labour’s carbon-capture scheme will be Starmer’s white elephant: a terrible mistake costing billions
Climate change isn’t a tragedy, it’s a crime.
In the 1970s, Exxon scientists predicted global warming with “shocking accuracy,” but the company went on to spend millions lobbying against climate action.
