Los Angeles wildfires rage out of control, testing firefighting resources

A U.S flag flies as fire engulfs a structure while the Palisades Fire burns during a windstorm on the west side of Los Angeles, California, U.S. January 7, 2025. REUTERS/Ringo Chiu

By Jackie Luna, Joe Brock and Matt McKnight

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Raging wildfires in Los Angeles killed at least two people, destroyed hundreds of buildings and stretched firefighting resources and water supplies to the limit on Wednesday, as more than 70,000 people were ordered to evacuate.

Fierce winds were hindering firefighting operations and fueling the fires, which have burned unimpeded since they began on Tuesday.

A lack of water also hampered efforts, particularly in Pacific Palisades, an upscale coastal enclave where a wildfire has consumed nearly 12,000 acres (4,856 hectares).

The municipal water system there relies on three large tanks that hold approximately a million gallons (3.78 million liters) each, Janisse Quinones, chief executive of the city’s water and power department, said at a press conference. The demand for water to fight fires at lower elevations was making it difficult to refill water tanks at higher elevations.

The third and final tank hit empty around 3 a.m., she said, causing some hydrants to run dry. With winds and smoke limiting the ability to offer air support, firefighters were left without enough water to battle the flames.

“We pushed the system to the extreme,” Quinones said. “We’re fighting a wildfire with urban water systems, and that is really challenging.” Officials urged residents to limit water usage.

The fire in the Palisades, a picturesque neighborhood in west Los Angeles County home to many film, television and music stars, has burned more than 1,000 structures, making it one of the most destructive fires in Los Angeles history. The wildfire had quadrupled in size between early Wednesday and midday.

Another blaze, the Eaton fire, east of Los Angeles near Pasadena, has also spread explosively since it was sparked on Tuesday evening, covering more than 10,000 acres (4,047 hectares) as of late Wednesday morning. Two fatalities were reported there, though officials did not have further details.

The Hurst fire, in Sylmar in the San Fernando Valley northwest of Los Angeles, had exceeded 500 acres. All three fires were 0% contained, officials said.

Officials said they were starting to run short of personnel.

“There are not enough firefighters in LA County to address four separate fires of this magnitude,” said Marrone, referring to a smaller fourth fire that has been contained.

Shaun Tate, 45, said he fled his home in Altadena, a Los Angeles suburb in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, at 4:15 a.m. when he saw flames rolling towards his house.

“I came out of the house because I heard something fly off the roof,” Tate said at an evacuation center in Pasadena.

“We packed up the SUV and drove down here,” he said. “I chose to save my laptop, my diabetic medication and a little bit of food.”

Officials warned that the gusty winds were forecast to persist throughout the day.

“We are absolutely not out of danger yet, with the strong winds that continue to push through the city and the county today,” Los Angeles City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said.

The skies above Los Angeles glowed red in some areas and were blanketed by thick smoke.

As the flames spread and residents began evacuating after the fires broke out on Tuesday, roads were so jammed that some people abandoned their vehicles to escape the fire. Emergency responders were going door to door to press evacuation orders.

California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Tuesday. President Joe Biden planned to visit a Santa Monica fire station for a briefing from fire officials on Wednesday, the White House said.

President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office in two weeks, blamed Newsom‘s environmental policies for the disaster in a post on his Truth Social website.

The Los Angeles region had been ripe for fire going into the fall, when seasonal winds arrive in the region, after consecutive wet winters created an abundance of grass and vegetation that turned to fuel during an intensely hot summer, climate scientists said.

‘THIS CLOSE’

Approximately 100 of the 1,000 public schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District were shut down, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho told the press conference.

Pacific Palisades resident Cindy Festa said that as she evacuated, fires were “this close to the cars,” demonstrating with her thumb and forefinger.

“People left their cars on Palisades Drive. Burning up the hillside. The palm trees – everything is going,” Festa said from her car.

David Reed said he had no choice but to leave his Pacific Palisades home when police officers showed up at his door.

“They laid down the law,” Reed said.

He gathered his most important possessions and accepted a ride from officers to the evacuation center at the Westwood Community Center.

“I grabbed my trombone and the latest book I’ve been reading, which is my Jack Kerouac anthology here, because I’m a beatnik,” he said, adding that he could see flames approaching his home.

Pacific Palisades is one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the country. A typical home was valued at $3.7 million as of the end of 2023, according to Zillow, more than all but four other zip codes in the United States.

The fleeing evacuees included Hollywood celebrities such as Jamie Lee Curtis, Mandy Moore and Mark Hamill.

Hand weights rest lined up amid debris at the remains of a burnt structure, as powerful winds fueling devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area force people to evacuate, in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles, California, U.S. January 8, 2025. REUTERS/Daniel Cole

‘HISTORIC NATURAL DISASTER’

In the Pasadena area, the Eaton fire engulfed homes, a synagogue and a McDonald’s restaurant.

Almost 100 residents from a nursing home in Pasadena were evacuated, CBS News said. Video showed elderly residents, many in wheelchairs and on gurneys, crowded onto a smoky and windswept parking lot as fire trucks and ambulances attended to them.

Around 400,000 homes and businesses in southern California were without power on Wednesday, data from PowerOutage.us showed.

“We’re facing a historic natural disaster. And I think that can’t be stated strong enough,” Kevin McGowan, director of emergency management for Los Angeles County, said at the press conference.

The fire singed some trees on the grounds of the Getty Villa, a museum loaded with priceless works of art, but the collection remained safe largely because nearby bushes had been trimmed as a preventive measure, the museum said.

Before the fire started, the National Weather Service had issued its highest alert for extreme fire conditions for much of Los Angeles County from Tuesday through Thursday.

With low humidity and dry vegetation due to a lack of rain, the conditions were “about as bad as it gets in terms of fire weather,” the service said.(Reporting by Joe Brock and Matt McKnight Pasadena, California; Jackie Luna in Pacific Palisades, California; Jorge Garcia and Mike Blake in Los Angeles; and Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Jonathan Allen, Jackie Luna, David Ljunggren, Shubham Kalia, Gursimran Kaur and Kanjyik Ghosh; Writing by Joseph Ax; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Angus MacSwan, Mark Porter and Sandra Maler) Los Angeles wildfires rage out of control, testing firefighting resources

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How air pollution is contributing to cancers in India

New Delhi, (IANS): Increased exposure to carcinogens in the air is increasing the incidence of cancers of the lungs, bladder, breast, prostate, and blood, said health experts on National Cancer Awareness Day on Thursday.

National Cancer Awareness Day is observed on November 7 every year in India to raise awareness about the growing cancer burden in the country and inspire action towards prevention, early detection, and treatment.

India is home to over 1.4 billion people. Lifestyle changes, tobacco use, poor dietary habits, and inadequate physical activity are leading to a rapid surge in cancer cases.

About 800,000 new cancer cases are expected each year, with tobacco-related cancers accounting for as much as 35-50 per cent of all cancers in men and 17 per cent in women, According to estimates from the Health Ministry.

“Cancer rates are rising in India and have seen an upward trend in annual incidence rate. Currently, India records more than 14 lakh new cancer patients every year, and close to 9 lakh people die of it annually,” Dr. Abhishek Shankar, Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, Dr BR Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital at AIIMS, Delhi, told IANS.

He attributed this rise to an increase in the "use of tobacco, alcohol, infections like HPV, Hepatitis virus and Helicobacter pylori, lifestyle changes, environmental factors, poor diets, and sedentary lifestyles".

While lifestyle factors play a major role, environmental changes -- particularly rising air pollution -- are also significant.

“India’s high levels of air pollution, especially PM2.5 exposure, are linked to rising lung cancer rates, including cases in non-smokers. Water and soil contamination from industrial pollutants increase risks for various cancers, impacting communities in industrial areas,” Shankar said.

The air quality in Delhi-NCR remained alarmingly poor on Thursday. As per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the average Air Quality Index (AQI) in the city was recorded at 362.

There is also substantial evidence from studies of humans and experimental animals as well as mechanistic evidence to support a causal link between outdoor (ambient) air pollution, especially PM 2.5 in outdoor air, with lung cancer and breast cancer incidence and mortality.

“It has a risk for other cancer types, such as bladder cancer, prostate cancer, leukaemia (blood cancer) but in limited numbers. Outdoor air pollution may also be associated with poorer cancer survival, although further research is needed,” Shankar said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified outdoor air pollution as a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning there is sufficient evidence to conclude that it causes cancer in humans.

Air pollution in India is primarily caused by emissions from vehicles, industrial activities, and burning of biomass.

Dr Sajjan Rajpurohit, Senior Director - Medical Oncology, Max Super Speciality Hospital, told IANS that these pollutants contain carcinogenic substances such as benzene, formaldehyde, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Prolonged exposure to these substances can lead to cellular mutations and the development of cancer.

“Particulate Matter (PM2.5) is also one of the most harmful components of air pollution. The tiny particles can penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream,” Rajpurohit said.

The health expert noted that children, the elderly, and individuals with pre-existing health conditions are particularly vulnerable to the effects of air pollution. Their increased susceptibility can lead to higher cancer rates in these groups, exacerbating the public health crisis.

Shankar called for a healthy lifestyle, including a balanced diet, regular exercise, and avoiding tobacco and alcohol along with reducing PM-2.5 exposure.

Dr. Sachin Trivedi, Director- Medical Oncology, HCG Cancer Center, also stressed the need for early detection for better treatment outcomes.He called for “regular screenings for breast, lung, colorectal, and oral cancers to help effectively manage cancer”. How air pollution is contributing to cancers in India | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com

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Global carbon emissions inch upwards in 2024 despite progress on EVs, renewables and deforestation

Susan Santa Maria, Shutterstock Pep Canadell, CSIRO; Corinne Le Quéré, University of East Anglia; Glen Peters, Center for International Climate and Environment Research - Oslo; Judith Hauck, Universität Bremen; Julia Pongratz, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich; Pierre Friedlingstein, University of Exeter, and Robbie Andrew, Center for International Climate and Environment Research - Oslo

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from fossil fuels continue to increase, year on year. This sobering reality will be presented to world leaders today at the international climate conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Our latest annual stocktake shows the world is on track to reach a new record: 37.4 billion tonnes of CO₂ emitted from fossil fuels in 2024. This is an increase of 0.8% from the previous year.

Adopting renewable energy and electric vehicles is helping reduce emissions in 22 countries. But it’s not enough to compensate for ongoing global growth in fossil fuels.

There were also signs in 2023 suggesting natural systems may struggle to capture and store as much CO₂ in the future as they have in the past. While humanity is tackling deforestation and the growth in fossil CO₂ emissions is slowing, the need to reach an immediate peak and decline in global emissions has never been so acute.

The Global Carbon Project

The Global Carbon Budget is an annual planetary account of carbon sources and sinks, which soak up carbon dioxide and remove it from the atmosphere.

We include anthropogenic sources from human activities such as burning fossil fuels or making cement as well as natural sources such as bushfires.

When it comes to CO₂ sinks, we consider all the ways carbon may be taken out of the atmosphere. This includes plants using CO₂ to grow and CO₂ being absorbed by the ocean. Some of this happens naturally and some is being actively encouraged by human activity.

Putting all the available data on sources and sinks together each year is a huge international effort involving 86 research organisations, including Australia’s CSIRO. We also use computer models and statistical approaches to fill out the remaining months to the end of the year.

Fossil fuel emissions up

This year’s growth in carbon emissions from fossil fuels is mainly from fossil gas and oil, rather than coal.

Fossil gas carbon emissions grew by 2.4%, signalling a return to the strong long-term growth rates observed before the COVID pandemic. Gas emissions grew in most large countries, but declined across the European Union.

Oil carbon emissions grew by 0.9% overall, pushed up by a rise in emissions from international aviation and from India.

The rebound in international air travel pushed aviation carbon emissions up 13.5% in 2024, although it’s still 3.5% below the pre-COVID 2019 level.

Meanwhile, oil emissions from the United States and China are declining. It’s possible oil emissions have peaked in China, driven by growth in electric vehicles.

Coal carbon emissions went up by 0.2%, with strong growth in India, small growth in China, a moderate decline in the US, and a large decline in the European Union. Coal use in the US is now at its lowest level in 120 years.

The United Kingdom closed its last coal power plant in 2024, 142 years after the first one was opened. With strong growth in wind energy replacing coal, the UK CO₂ emissions have almost been cut in half since 1990.

Changing land use

Carbon emissions also come from land clearing and degradation. But some of that CO₂ can be taken up again by planting trees. So we need to examine both sources and sinks on land.

Global net CO₂ emissions from land use change averaged 4.1 billion tonnes a year over the past decade (2014–23). This year is likely to be slightly higher than average with 4.2 billion tonnes, due to drought and fires in the Amazon. That amount represents about 10% of all emissions from human activities, the rest owing to fossil fuels.

Importantly, total carbon emissions – the sum of fossil fuel emissions and land-use change emissions – have largely plateaued over the past decade, but are still projected to reach a record of just over 41 billion tonnes in 2024.

The plateau in 2014–23 follows a decade of significant growth in total emissions of 2% per year on average between 2004 and 2013. This shows humanity is tackling deforestation and the growth of fossil CO₂ emissions is slowing. However, this is not enough to put global emissions on a downward trajectory.

Annual CO₂ emissions continue to increase, reaching a record high in 2024. The shaded area around each line shows the uncertainty in the estimates. Global Carbon Project, CC BY

More countries are cutting emissions – but many more to go

Fossil CO₂ emissions decreased in 22 countries as their economies grew. These countries are mainly from the European Union, along with the United States. Together they represent 23% of global fossil CO₂ emissions over the past decade (2014–23).

This number is up from 18 countries during the previous decade (2004–13). New countries in this list include Norway, New Zealand and South Korea.

In Norway, emissions from road transport declined as the share of electric vehicles in the passenger car fleet grew – the highest in the world at over 25% – and biofuels replaced fossil petrol and diesel. Even greater reductions in emissions have come from Norway’s oil and gas sector, where gas turbines on offshore platforms are being upgraded to electric.

In New Zealand, emissions from the power sector are declining. Traditionally the country has had a high share of hydropower, supplemented with coal and natural gas. But now wind and particularly geothermal energy is driving fossil generation down.

We are projecting further emissions growth of 0.2% in China, albeit small and with some uncertainty (including the possibility of no growth or even slight decline). China added more solar panels in 2023 than the US did in its entire history.

Individual country emissions vary widely, but there are some signs of progress towards decarbonisation. Global Carbon Budget 2024/Global Carbon Project, CC BY-ND

Nature shows troubling signs

In the 1960s, our activities emitted an average of 16 billion tonnes of CO₂ per year globally. About half of these emissions (8 billion tonnes) were naturally removed from the atmosphere by forests and oceans.

Over the past decade, emissions from human activities reached about 40 billion tonnes of CO₂ per year. Again, about half of these emissions (20 billion tonnes) were removed.

In the absence of these natural sinks, current warming would already be well above 2°C. But there’s a limit to how much nature can help.

In 2023, the carbon uptake on land dropped 28% from the decadal average. Global record temperatures, drought in the Amazon and unprecedented wildfires in the forests of Canada were to blame, along with an El Niño event.

As climate change continues, with rising ocean temperatures and more climate extremes on land, we expect the CO₂ sinks to become less efficient. But for now, we expect last year’s land sink decline will recover to a large degree as the El Niño event has subsided.

About half of the CO₂ emissions were removed from the atmosphere by forests and oceans. When we tally up all of the sources compared to the sinks, the budget should balance. We find a slight imbalance of 1.6Gt/year due to limitations of the data. Global Carbon Budget 2024/Global Carbon Project, CC BY

Looking ahead

Our latest carbon budget shows global fossil fuel emissions continue to increase, further delaying the peak in emissions. Global CO₂ emissions continue to track in the middle of the range of scenarios developed by the Intergovenmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). We have yet to bend the emissions curve into the 1.5–2°C warming territory of the Paris Agreement.

This comes at a time when it’s clear we need to be reducing emissions, to avoid worsening climate change.

We also identified some positive signs, such as the rapid adoption of renewable energy and electric cars as they become cheaper and more accessible, supporting the march toward a net-zero emissions pathway. But turning these trends into global decarbonisation requires a far greater level of ambition and action.

Pep Canadell, Chief Research Scientist, CSIRO Environment; Executive Director, Global Carbon Project, CSIRO; Corinne Le Quéré, Royal Society Research Professor of Climate Change Science, University of East Anglia; Glen Peters, Senior Researcher, Center for International Climate and Environment Research - Oslo; Judith Hauck, Helmholtz Young Investigator group leader and deputy head, Marine Biogeosciences section at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Universität Bremen; Julia Pongratz, Professor of Physical Geography and Land Use Systems, Department of Geography, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich; Pierre Friedlingstein, Chair, Mathematical Modelling of Climate, University of Exeter, and Robbie Andrew, Senior Researcher, Center for International Climate and Environment Research - Oslo

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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2024 on track to be hottest year on record

Baku, (IANS) The year 2024 is on track to be the warmest year on record after an extended streak of exceptionally high monthly global mean temperatures, according to a report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The report, released during the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP29, noted that the ambitions of the Paris Agreement are “in great peril.”

The January-September global mean surface air temperature was 1.54 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average, boosted by a warming El Nino event, according to an analysis of six international datasets used by WMO.

The report also noted that 2015-2024 will be the warmest 10 years on record, with the accelerating loss of ice from glaciers, sea-level rise and ocean heating.

WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said it is important to note that monthly or annual data "does not mean that we have failed to meet the Paris Agreement goal," Xinhua news agency reported.

"However, It is essential to recognize that every fraction of a degree of warming matters... every additional increment of global warming increases climate extremes, impacts and risks," Saulo added.Paris Agreement aims to keep the long-term global average surface temperature increase to well below two degrees above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the warming to 1.5 degrees. 2024 on track to be hottest year on record | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com

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Pacific leaders call for greater focus on sea-level rise

Suva, (IANS): The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders have agreed to elevate the issue of sea level rise politically, including at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), and strongly called for the inclusion of sea-level rise as a standalone agenda item in the UNGA and other relevant UN processes, according to a communique issued by the PIF.

The five-day 53rd PIF Leaders' Meeting concluded on Friday in Nuku'alofa, the capital of Tonga, with climate change and resilience at the top of the agenda.

The final forum communique noted that regional leaders had discussed the "broad-ranging nature of climate change" and recognized that sea level rise is a "severe manifestation of climate change that threatens Pacific communities, especially in low-lying nations."

Leaders reaffirmed their support for and commitment to the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF), which will help vulnerable Pacific people exposed to climate change and disaster risks. They recognized the PRF as the first Pacific-led, member-owned and managed, and people-centered climate and disaster resilience financing facility, with an initial financing target of 500 million U.S. dollars by 2026, the document said, Xinhua news agency reported.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a "global SOS" in Tonga on the sidelines of the PIF Leaders' meeting, urging governments to step up climate action, including slashing global emissions, phasing out fossil fuels and boosting climate adaptation investments, to "save our seas" and "protect people from current and future risks."

The secretary-general also expressed his full support for the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, saying he will do his best to help mobilize international resources for the PRF to combat sea-level rise.

According to the communique, the 54th PIF Leaders' Meeting will be held in Solomon Islands in September next year. Source: https://www.morungexpress.com/pacific-leaders-call-for-greater-focus-on-sea-level-rise

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World records hottest August with 2024 poised to be warmest year

Brussels, September 6 (IANS): August 2024 has tied with August 2023 as the hottest August on record globally, with the average surface air temperature hitting 16.82 degrees Celsius, 0.71 degrees Celsius above the average August temperature from 1991 to 2020, according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).

The data also showed that August 2024 was 1.51 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial (1850-1900) levels, marking the 13th time in the past 14 months that the global average surface air temperature has surpassed 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a critical threshold set by the Paris Agreement, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, year-to-date data indicates 2024 is on course to become the hottest year on record, as the global average temperature for January to August was 0.7 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average, the highest on record for this period.

C3S stressed that the average temperature anomaly for the remainder of the year would need to drop by at least 0.3 degrees Celsius to avoid surpassing 2023 as the hottest year -- a highly unlikely scenario based on historical data.

"During the past three months of 2024, the globe has experienced the hottest June and August, the hottest day on record, and the hottest boreal summer on record. This string of record temperatures is increasing the likelihood of 2024 being the hottest year on record," said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of C3S.

Burgess emphasised that the temperature-related extreme events seen this summer foreshadow more severe and destructive climate impacts unless urgent measures are taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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India made significant progress on climate action: Economic Survey

New Delhi, (IANS) Recognising its position as one of the most climate-vulnerable countries, India has made significant progress on environmental protection, according to the Economic Survey 2023-24, tabled in Parliament on Monday.

The document was tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, a day ahead of the Union Budget presentation.

The Survey showed that the country’s energy needs are expected to grow 2 to 2.5 times by 2047.

The country has “successfully reduced the emission intensity vis-a-vis its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 33 per cent between 2005 and 2019, thus achieving the initial Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) target for 2030, 11 years ahead of scheduled time”.

The country has “also committed to increasing the share of non-fossil fuel-based electricity to 40 per cent and enhancing forest cover to absorb 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2030”.

It showed that the country’s GDP grew with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of about seven per cent between 2005 and 2019. On the other hand, the emissions grew at a CAGR of about four per cent, that is, “the rate of emissions growth is lower than the rate of growth of our GDP”.

“This shows that India has successfully decoupled its economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions, reducing the emission intensity of its GDP,” the Survey said.

As per the Survey, India’s primary energy needs in 2022-23 were met with almost “84 per cent from coal, oil and natural gas combined”.

With the addition of renewables, “the share of non-fossil power capacity increased to 45.4 per cent as of May 2024 from around 32 per cent in April 2014”.

The Survey attributed these to recent initiatives such as PM-Surya Ghar Yojana, launched in February 2024, harnessing India’s 7,600 km long coastline for wind energy; and the Green Hydrogen Mission which targets five MMT of green hydrogen by 2030.

Meanwhile, India has also led several international initiatives towards climate change mitigation and building resilience. These include the International Solar Alliance (ISA), One World, One Sun, One Grid, The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, The Infrastructure for Resilient Island States, and the goal of Net Zero, the Leadership Group for Industry Transition.

To sustain its economic growth rate over a quarter century and do it sustainably, India needs to keep “the environment and climate in mind”, said the Survey.

It also called for “the integration of climate change strategies into national development policy and planning as not merely an environmental imperative but more, as it impacts socio-economic stability, public health, banking, and public finances.

The Economic Survey is prepared by the Economics Division of the Department of Economic Affairs of the Finance Ministry under the guidance of India's Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) India made significant progress on climate action: Economic Survey | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com

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YouTuber ‘MrBeast’ Just Removed 17,000 Tons of Ocean Trash by Harnessing Social Media Influencers and Fans

MrBeast announcing his TeamSeas milestone

The world’s most influential YouTuber has accomplished an incredible feat of crowdfunding after leading dozens of the world’s top influencers to drive donations and volunteering toward the goal of cleaning up the oceans.

34 million pounds of trash and plastic were removed from oceans and rivers all across the globe, with each dollar donated verified by an independent third party as going directly to removing one pound of trash.

Partnering with the Ocean Conservancy and the Ocean Cleanup, the famous YouTuber MrBeast, aka James Donaldson, launched the TeamSeas initiative, which brought together hundreds of voices with large followers on social media to channel their channels for the good of the ocean.

In January 2022, it was announced by MrBeast and his partner on the project, YouTuber Mark Rober, that they had actually raised $30 million, and that the mammoth cleanup project would begin.

Much of the money was needed for hiring organizers to train volunteers, equip them with supplies, and hire specialists, boats, and even robots.

On July 16th, MrBeast uploaded a video announcing the trash removal was a success, and some of the participation figures were staggering.

Fundraising, volunteering, awareness raising, and various forms of digital content like videos and video games from over 200 countries and territories all worked to turn the internet’s gaze to the TeamSeas website where people could donate and select how many pounds of trash they wanted removed from the oceans.

Their content generated 1.3 billion views cumulatively across 40,000 social channels. When the months of clean-up began 170,000 people from dozens of countries volunteered.

MrBeast routinely engages in philanthropy, and GNN reported on July 4th he had succeeded in building 100 homes and giving them away for free to disaster-stricken families all across Central and South America.

YouTuber ‘MrBeast’ Just Removed 17,000 Tons of Ocean Trash by Harnessing Social Media Influencers and Fans

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Researchers link hot weather with increased headaches for people with migraines

New Delhi, (IANS) Scientists have found a link between increased headaches and hot temperatures for individuals with migraines, saying that as temperatures rise, so do chances for migraine attacks.

Weather change is one of the most common trigger factors for migraine, said Vincent Martin, director of the Headache and Facial Pain Center at the US-based University of Cincinnati.

The study looked at the use of Fremanezumab drug and whether it could prevent headaches caused by high temperatures.

Fremanezumab is administered by injection under the skin and is part of a set of monoclonal antibodies that have hit the market in the past six years to treat migraine in patients.

Researchers cross-referenced 71,030 daily diary records of 660 migraine patients with regional weather data and found that for every temperature increase of 0.12 degrees Celsius, there was a 6 per cent increase in the occurrence of any headache.

However, during the periods of Fremanezumab treatment, the association completely disappeared.

"This study is the first to suggest that migraine-specific therapies that block Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (CGRP) may treat weather-associated headaches," said Fred Cohen, a study co-author and assistant professor of medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.

If the results are confirmed in future studies, the drug therapy has the potential to help many people with weather-triggered migraine.

Hippocrates, the father of medicine, believed that weather and medicine were intimately linked.

"A couple thousand of years later, we are proving that weather matters in human health," said Al Peterlin, who retired as chief meteorologist at the US Department of Agriculture and co-author of the study.The findings from the study were set to be presented at the American Headache Society's 66th annual scientific meeting in San Diego, California, over the weekend. Researchers link hot weather with increased headaches for people with migraines | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com

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Snowstorm hits US: 2,000 flights canceled, more than 2,400 delayed

Chicago: America was affected by snow storm. Many flights in the Midwest and South had to be canceled while many were delayed. Due to which thousands of passengers were stranded at the airport itself. According to information, flight tracking website statistics revealed that more than 2,400 flights have been delayed so far while more than 2,000 flights have been canceled due to the storm. About 40 percent of the 36 percent of flights departing Chicago's O'Hare International Airport were canceled, and about 60 percent of the flights departing Chicago Midway International Airport were canceled. Meanwhile, other affected airports include Denver International and Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport. More than 200 United and Alaska Airlines flights were canceled each day this week due to the Federal Aviation Authority's forced grounding. The FAA and Boeing are still trying to agree on an inspection protocol that would allow those flights to resume flying.અમેરિકામાં બરફના તોફાનનો કેર: ૨૦૦૦ ફલાઇટ રદ, ૨૪૦૦થી વધુ મોડી પડી

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UK SMBs could save 280m tonnes of CO2e by hitting 2030 targets

22 April 2024: This Earth Day, BT is announcing a new partnership with the UK Business Climate Hub (UKBCH) that aims to help UK small & medium businesses (SMBs) halve CO2e emissions by 2030 and empower them to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. It comes as research suggests UK SMBs would stop 280 million tonnes of CO2e emissions from reaching the atmosphere if they hit this near-term goal*.

There are 5.5 million SMBs in the UK, making up more than 99% of all businesses nationwide. Collectively they account for almost half (44%**) of non-household emissions, making their role in tackling the climate crisis critical to the UK’s chances of hitting net zero by 2050.

Nine in ten (90%) of SMEs would like to address climate change at their business, but find it challenging to get started and identify the right tools to mitigate their environmental impact.*** To help them map out a path to net zero, the UKBCH, a shared endeavour between industry and government, has welcomed BT as a key industry partner and member of its Advisory Board, and has developed ‘Seven Steps to Sustainability’ to empower SMBs to get started today.

The new partnership aims to bring together BT’s expertise in supporting more than one million small business customers with the UK Business Climate Hub’s free resources to help businesses reduce their carbon footprint and their energy bills. Businesses can take the first step today by checking out the available, free resources from the UKBCH on its website. They can also work towards the SME Climate Commitment, by making a pledge to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, achieve net zero emissions before 2050, and report progress on these goals annually.

Chris Sims, Managing Director, Small and Medium Business at BT, says: “BT set its first carbon reduction target more than 30 years ago, and we’ve had a strong track record of hitting our sustainability goals ever since. But we have size on our side – and from speaking to our small business customers we know that with limited resources, many of them struggle to find the time, the funding, or the guidance to help them prioritise sustainability. With the UK Business Climate Hub we are beginning our journey to reach more businesses with free tools and practical support to help them set the foundations for a greener future, and ultimately, reach Net Zero.”

Chris Taylor, Net Zero Programme Director at the Broadway Initiative – which manages the UK Business Climate Hub – adds: “We’re delighted to partner with BT and are energised about the impact we will make together. The UK Business Climate Hub works closely with the government and our industry partners to produce essential guides for SMBs across multiple sectors, with practical advice on how to reduce carbon emissions and save on energy bills. Whether it’s a tailored net zero plan for individual SMBs, free carbon footprint calculators or an online training course on cutting emissions, with our tools and support, SMBs can reduce both costs and emissions and transition to a greener economy – the ultimate win-win.”

Seven steps to Sustainability: Practical tips for all sectors

The UKBCH has charted a course for SMBs to build and achieve a greener future. The ‘Seven Steps to Sustainability’ break down key actions so that businesses can create an achievable plan. These include:

1. Understand the basics: An overview of net zero and how to reduce your business’s carbon footprint and any legal requirements on reducing carbon emissions.

2. Involve your team: Engage staff across the business to develop carbon reduction and energy saving initiatives. This could include an internal working group or hiring an external consultant.

3. Make the SME Climate Commitment: Commit to halving business emissions by 2030, reach net zero by 2050, and report yearly on progress towards these goals.

4. Make a plan: Measure current emissions from fuel consumption and electricity use. Taking stock of current business activities that contribute to overall carbon emissions will enable businesses to identify key focus areas.

5. Take action: Deploy technologies and new approaches to save energy and reduce carbon. Businesses can get sector-specific information here, and learn about specific actions that can be taken here.

6. Find finance and support: Businesses across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales can identify specific programmes or initiatives to help them to finance their sustainability journey.

7. Look beyond your business: Identify opportunities across the business’s entire value chain to reduce its impact, including creating a greener supply chain, using electric vehicles and transport, and get low carbon product labels and certifications.SMBs can visit the UKBCH website to access an entire library of free resources, tools and advice to cut carbon, reduce energy use, and chart a course to net zero: https://businessclimatehub.uk/ UK SMBs could save 280m tonnes of CO2e by hitting 2030 targets | Total Telecom

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It’s time to strike an environmental grand bargain between businesses, governments and conservationists – and stop doing things the hard way

jenmartin/Shutterstock Peter Burnett, Australian National University

April has been a bad month for the Australian environment. The Great Barrier Reef was hit, yet again, by intense coral bleaching. And Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek delayed most of her Nature Positive Plan reforms.

True, Plibersek did reject the controversial Toondah Harbour proposal, but only after a near decade-long grassroots campaign to save the wetland from an apartment and retail development deemed clearly unacceptable by her own department.

Rather than fall back into old patterns of developers versus conservationists, we have a rare chance to find a compromise. Labor’s embrace of “Nature Positive” – a promising new environmental restoration approach – opens up the possibility of a grand bargain, whereby developers and business get much faster approvals (or rejections) in exchange for ensuring nature as a whole is better off as a result of our activities.

Sustainable development was meant to save us

First, a quick recap. We were meant to have put the era of saving the environment one place at a time to bed a long time ago. Around 1990, governments worldwide took to the then-novel idea of sustainable development. We even had a special Australian variant, ecologically sustainable development, which our federal and state governments backed unanimously. This led to a national strategy and incorporation into well over 100 laws, including flagship laws like the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, passed in 1999.

The basic idea was, and is, sound: encourage development to improve our quality of life, while maintaining the ecological processes on which life depends.

But it’s not what ended up being legislated. The 1990’s laws did not require developers to make their projects sustainable. Typically, sustainable development was watered down into principles ministers only had to “consider”.

Meanwhile, our ecosystems have continued to go downhill. And in a 2020 review of the laws, Graeme Samuel pronounced the EPBC Act a failure.

Nature, positive?

When Labor was elected in 2022, it promised a new goal: “Nature Positive”.

This idea is no mere slogan. Nature positive is a serious policy idea. Think of it as the biodiversity counterpart to net zero emissions.

The goal is ambitious: stop the decline by 2030 and set about restoring what has been lost for a full recovery of nature by 2050. Rather than ticking boxes on whether principles had been considered, regulators would answer a much more basic question: will this development deliver a net positive outcome for nature?

Measuring progress is core to nature positive. We would take an environmental snapshot at the outset and track the gains and losses from there.

Like sustainable development before it, nature positive has been adopted with gusto by the Australian government, internationally and domestically.

In 2022, Plibersek committed to “stop the slide” and to “bake [the Nature Positive reforms] into law”.

Now, suddenly, we have lost momentum. The crucial part of the reforms – embedding nature positive in stronger environment laws – has been kicked down the road.

Plibersek has blamed complexity, extensive consultation and the need to get it right. Others see political concerns.

Could we strike a grand environmental bargain?

By pushing these laws back, Plibersek has effectively turned the already extended consultation process into an open-ended negotiation. Given consultation will keep running indefinitely, we’re now in the realm of regulatory co-design, previously only on offer to First Nations representatives for new cultural heritage protection laws.

Co-design implies proceeding by consensus. It would be politically embarrassing to run a consultation over years only to bring down the policy guillotine.

Consensus in turn raises the possibility of a grand environmental bargain, built around nature positive. Could this work? Might environment groups settle for a limited form of nature positive? Might business, in return for much faster approvals or rejections, support much stronger legal protection, especially for particularly vulnerable or important ecosystems?

Samuel certainly thinks so. At a recent Senate Inquiry, he recounted telling a meeting during his review:

If you each stick to your aspirations 100%, you’ll end up getting nothing. If you’re prepared to accept 80%-plus of your aspirations, you’ll get them, and that will be a quantum leap forward from the abysmal failure that we’ve had for two and a half decades

What might an 80% agreement look like?

If we are to turn decline into recovery, we need to ensure each natural system is intact. That is, it retains the minimum level of environmental stocks (such as animals, plants and insects) and flows (such as water, nutrients) needed to sustain ecological health.

If flows of water into wetlands drop below a certain threshold, they’re not wetlands any more. AustralianCamera/Shutterstock

Such thresholds for ecological health are everywhere. For example, keeping the platypus off the endangered list would involve maintaining its population close to current levels and working out how much of its riverbank habitat should be conserved.

For policymakers, this suggests environmental laws should define minimum viability thresholds. Some thresholds would be absolute; others would be crossable in one location provided equivalent restoration was done in another.

Environmental groups could take satisfaction that thresholds would be maintained in most cases. Ecosystems would function, rivers would flow. But governments would still override thresholds for important economic and social reasons, say to approve a critical minerals project.

What’s in it for corporate Australia? Business would gain upfront certainty about what can be approved and quicker approvals for projects. Environmental litigation would fall. But development options would be narrowed and offsets would become more expensive.

The government would achieve a key goal: major environmental reform. But it would have to say no more often, and be transparent about crossing environmental thresholds.

It would have to finance the science and planning needed. And it would need to boost investment in environmental restoration, to compensate for using override powers and for the cumulative impact of smaller-scale activities.

A grand bargain along these lines would not deliver nature positive in full. We’d still be losing nature due to climate change. But it might go close enough to offer hope of long-term recovery.

Is such a deal feasible? It depends on how players read the incentives for compromise. For example, business will not want to be locked out of prospective development areas, but will also be worried about the possibility of a minority Labor government dependent on the Greens next year.

Nature positive in Australia is down – but opportunity remains.

Peter Burnett, Honorary Associate Professor, ANU College of Law, Australian National University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Heat Wave Turns Very Severe In Some Parts Of Bangladesh

Respite from the prevailing heat wave condition across Bangladesh is unlikely and it has turned very severe in Rajshahi, Chuadanga and Pabna districts, said a regular bulletin of Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) on Saturday.

The BMD predicted that the ongoing very severe to severe, and mild to moderate heat wave that is sweeping over different parts of Bangladesh is likely to continue.

At least 12 people have died of suspected heat stroke in the last couple of days in different parts of Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh government has announced the reopening of primary school and its academic activities starting Sunday, April 28 and guidelines with outlined operational adjustments to accommodate the sweltering conditions, issued on friday.

Amid severe heatwave, hospitals across Khulna division of Bangladesh are struggling to accommodate an influx of heat stroke affected patients. Key healthcare facilities, including Khulna Medical College Hospital, have reached full capacity, forcing patients to occupy floors, corridors, and even stairways due to a lack of available beds.

In the latest heat wave alert Meteorologist M Shaheenul Islam said that due to increased moisture incursion, the discomfort may increase. The BMD meteorologist further said in the next 2-3 days, the temperature in some areas may drop up to 1 degree. As of now, the current temperature trend may continue for the next 2-3 days.

This announcement follows earlier alerts issued on April 19 and April 22, as the BMD continues to monitor and respond to the challenging weather patterns affecting the region.

Bangladesh’s highest temperature was recorded at 42.7 degrees Celsius in Chuadanga in West Bangladesh, near the Indian border on Friday while the season’s highest temperature in the capital Dhaka was recorded at 40.4 degrees Celsius on Saturday, said the meteorologist.

Meanwhile, rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind is likely to occur at one or two places over Chattogram and Sylhet divisions with hail at isolated places. https://www.newsonair.gov.in/heat-wave-turns-very-severe-in-some-parts-of-bangladesh/

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Taiwan Hit By 10 Earthquakes Of Varying Magnitudes, With Strongest Reaching 6.1

Taiwan was hit by a series of at least 10 earthquakes of varying magnitude in the early hours today, with the strongest reaching 6.1 magnitude.

According to the island’s Central Weather Administration, the earthquakes occurred around 40 kilometers from Hualien City on the east coast, at a depth of 18.9 kilometers.

Taiwan’s National Fire Agency said there were no immediate reports of damage. Media reports said, no tsunami warning reports followed the earthquakes, which triggered mobile phone alarms in capital Taipei, and came just several days after dozens of quakes shook the island. The government said they were aftershocks from a deadly 7.4 magnitude quake that hit the island more than two weeks ago, which Taiwan said was the strongest in 25 years. At least 17 people were killed after the quake triggered landslides that blocked roads and severely damaged buildings around the main Hualien city. Source: https://www.newsonair.gov.in/taiwan-hit-by-10-earthquakes-of-varying-magnitudes-with-strongest-reaching-6-1/

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Climate warrior Bhumi Pednekar recognized as a Young Global Leader by World Economic Forum

Bhumi Pednekar as a climate warrior has been recognized as a Young Global Leader. Photo: YRF

Climate warrior and thought leader Bhumi Pednekar is being recognized as a Young Global Leader (YGL) by World Economic Forum. She will be inducted into the prestigious YGL’s class of 2024 at Geneva later this year. Bhumi’s contribution towards raising awareness on sustainability and climate change along with her work to save lives during the COVID-19 pandemic has been hailed by all.

The Young Global Leaders community, initiated by the esteemed World Economic Forum, aims to recognize and honor outstanding individuals under the age of 40 for tackling some of the world’s most urgent challenges. The objective of the program is to empower these individuals who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and commitment to shaping a more sustainable and inclusive future.

This recognition highlights Bhumi’s commitment to raising awareness and driving impactful change in the fight against climate change. As a passionate advocate for environmental conservation and sustainable living, Bhumi has utilized her platform to champion various causes, such as waste segregation, rainwater harvesting, recycling, upcycling, conscious fashion choices and many more.

In response to being selected as a Young Global Leader, Bhumi Pednekar expressed her joy by saying, “I am deeply honored and humbled to be recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader. Through my work, I have strived to ignite conversations, inspire action and foster tangible change in the realm of sustainability and climate change.”

She says, “I aspire to cultivate a diverse portfolio as both an actor and entrepreneur, and I look forward to realizing these ambitions through World Economic Forum’s YGL program. This validation also reaffirms my belief in the power of collective action. I am committed to continuing my efforts and I look forward to collaborating with fellow Young Global Leaders to drive positive change.”

Bhumi has worked with climate change activists across the nation, lending her voice to their outstanding work. Through her advocacy and support, numerous initiatives focusing on environmental preservation and climate action have been initiated across India and beyond. https://www.newsindiatimes.com/climate-warrior-bhumi-pednekar-recognized-as-a-young-global-leader-by-world-economic-forum/

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Volcano erupts again on Iceland peninsula

GRINDAVIK - Icelandic police declared a state of emergency Saturday as lava spewed from a new volcanic fissure on the Reykjanes peninsula, the fourth eruption to hit the area since December.

A "volcanic eruption has started between stora Skogfell and Hagafell on the Reykjanes Peninsula," said a statement from the Icelandic Met Office (IMO). Live video images showed glowing lava and billowing smoke.

Iceland's Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management announced it had sent a helicopter to narrow down the exact location of the new fissure. The authority also said the police had declared a state of emergency due to the eruption.

According to the IMO, it occurred close to the same location as a previous eruption on February 8. Lava appeared to flow south towards the dykes built to protect the fishing village Grindavik, it said.

Just after 2200 GMT, "the southern lava front was just 200 metres from the barriers on the eastern side of Grindavik and moving at a rate of about one km per hour," it added.

Lava was also flowing west, as it had on February 8, and the length of the fissure was estimated to be 2.9 kilometres, said the IMO.

"From initial assessments of web camera imagery and aerial photographs from the helicopter flight, the eruption is thought to be the largest (in terms of magma discharge) of the three previous fissure eruptions from the Sundhnukur crater row," IMO said, stressing the assessment was based on the first hour of "eruptive activity."

Minutes before the eruption, the agency had issued a statement saying that seismic activity indicated that there was an increased chance of an eruption."The pre-eruptive warning phase was very short," the IMO said. Volcano erupts again on Iceland peninsula

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11 hikers dead after Indonesia volcano erupts, dozen still missing

Eleven hikers were found dead Monday and another 12 were missing after a volcano erupted in Indonesia, with rescuers racing to carry injured and burned survivors down the mountain on foot.

Rescuers worked through the night to find dozens of hikers stranded on Mount Marapi on the island of Sumatra after it spewed an ash tower 3,000 metres -- taller than the volcano itself -- into the sky on Sunday.

The dead hikers were found near Marapi's crater after the 2,891-metre volcano rained ash on nearby villages, according to a local rescue official.

Twelve were missing, three more were found alive and 49 had safely descended from the crater, some with burns and fractures, the official said.

"Until now I have not received any information," said Dasman, father of missing hiker Zakir Habibi, who made a two-hour drive from Padang city to the base of the mountain last night in hope of good news.

"I will stay here until I hear some news," said Dasman, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

Neither the three survivors nor the 11 dead bodies had reached the bottom of the mountain as of Monday afternoon, local rescue agency chief Abdul Malik told AFP, as heavy rain and poor visibility hampered rescue efforts.

"It slowed the evacuation team", said Malik, adding that about 120 rescuers were involved in the response.

"The search will be conducted for seven days. Let's pray they all survive," he said.

Rescuers had been carrying the survivors down by hand, since an air retrieval had been deemed impossible with the eruption still ongoing, Malik said.

A video clip shared with AFP showed a rescue worker with a flashlight strapped to his head piggybacking a hiker, who moans in pain and says "God is greatest" as she is carried to safety in the darkness.

- 'Tremendous trauma' -

At a centre for information about the missing hikers, family members waited anxiously for any news, with the view of Marapi blocked by smoke.

Forensic workers were preparing to identify the dead through their dental and fingerprint records, or based on marks such as birthmarks and tattoos, said Eka Purnamasari, an official from the West Sumatra police medical unit.

AFP | John SAEKI

Local rescue agency spokesperson Jodi Haryawan said the rescue efforts had been broken up by sporadic eruptions but the search was still going despite the risks.

At least eight survivors had suffered burns, one had burns and a fracture and another had a head wound, according to a list of those found from Basarnas, a national search and rescue agency, seen by AFP.

Marapi is on the second alert level of Indonesia's four-step system and authorities have imposed a three-kilometre exclusion zone around its crater.

The Indonesian archipelago sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.

The Southeast Asian country has nearly 130 active volcanoes.

As the search went on for the missing 12 hikers, the family of Zhafirah Zahrim Febrina told AFP of their relief she was one of the lucky ones.

Good news arrived in the form of a livestream on video app TikTok by a member of the rescue services on which the 19-year-old could be seen.

Febrina had suffered burns and was visibly shaken, but still her mother Rani Radelani felt relieved.

"It felt incredible, praise God she has been found," she said.

Febrina is now in a nearby hospital after being trapped on the mountain on a hiking trip with 18 school friends.

"If she asks me to allow her to climb a mountain, I'll say no," Radelani said.By Irwanda Saputra. 11 hikers dead after Indonesia volcano erupts, dozen still missing

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World needs nuclear for net zero, says John Kerry : Energy & Environment

Kerry addresses the summit on 18 September.

Nuclear will be essential for the world to accelerate its transition away from fossil fuels, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry said at a New York summit this week. He also praised the recently launched Net Zero Nuclear Initiative - which has now welcomed GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) as its first corporate partner. Kerry was addressing the first day of Nuclear Energy Policy Summit 2023: Accelerating Net Zero Nuclear, an inaugural event organised by the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center in partnership with the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation on the sidelines of New York Climate Week and the United Nations General Assembly. Extreme weather events are only going to increase as the world falls behind on its climate targets, Kerry said, as he called for science-based decision-making. "The reality is that this year it's going to be worse than last year, and next year is going to be worse than this year, no matter what we do - for the simple reason that we're way behind," he said. "We're currently heading towards something like 2.4 degrees, 2.5 degrees of warming on the planet and everything that you see happening today is happening at 1.1 degrees Celsius of warming," he said. "We have to recognise a reality here. We have to transition away from unabated burning of fossil fuel," Kerry said. "Most scientists will tell you … we can't get to net zero 2050 unless we have a pot, a mixture, of energy approaches in the new energy economy. And one of those elements which is essential in all the modelling I've seen, is nuclear." The magnitude of the challenge will require commitment, he added. "Even if you had a quintupling of renewable energy, you will not alter the current course of 2.4 degrees - it's that big a challenge right now." This needs commitment firstly "not to keep making the problem worse" by supporting the use of fossil fuels which remain unabated, and secondly to accelerate all zero emissions or extremely low emissions approaches to energy, transportation and ultimately heavy industry: "We don't have the luxury of unilaterally disarming ourselves … with respect to any decarbonisation technology when we're facing the urgency of this crisis - it's all of the above we need on the table." The USA is now committed, "based on experience and based on reality", to trying to accelerate the deployment of nuclear energy, he said. "It's what we believe we absolutely need in order to win this battle and we believe we still can win this battle". Net Zero Nuclear: The COP28 climate conference - which takes place in Dubai from 30 November until 12

Sama Bilbao y Léon announces that GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy has become Net Zero Nuclear's first corporate partner

December - is an opportunity to try to galvanise more action, and Kerry said he was pleased to see the launch of the "pioneering" Net Zero Nuclear platform. This initiative was launched in early September by World Nuclear Association and the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC), with support from the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Atoms4NetZero and the UK government, and aims to ensure that nuclear energy’s potential is fully realised in facilitating the decarbonisation of global energy systems by promoting the value of nuclear energy and removing barriers to its growth especially in the run-up to COP28. Speaking after Kerry's address to Nuclear Energy Policy Summit 2023, World Nuclear Association Director General Sama Bilbao y Léon announced that GEH has become Net Zero Nuclear's first corporate partner. "We do want to make sure that this initiative brings the entire global nuclear industry together," Bilbao y Léon said. GE's decision to join the initiative clearly shows that the company - which works in a number of clean energy technologies - "sees nuclear as a key component of any serious energy transition towards clean energy processes," she added.Researched and written by World Nuclear News. Source:  World Nuclear News

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5.1 magnitude earthquake jolts Jammu-Kashmir

An earthquake of magnitude 5.1 jolted on Monday at 7.32 am (local time) in Jammu & Kashmir, according to the Indian National Center for Seismology. No damages have been reported.

The tremor was felt across Kathmandu valley. However, no damage was reported in the incident so far. The seismological department said the tremor was an aftershock of the 2015 earthquake in which over 9,000 people were killed.The epicenter of the earthquake was at a depth of 5 kilometers in northeast of Kangra”s Kareri. Tremors were also felt in adjoining areas, he said. Most parts of Himachal Pradesh fall in a high seismic zone and mild quakes are a regular feature in the region. Source: https://www.daily-bangladesh.com

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Powerful 6.3 magnitude quake jolts Croatia

A strong earthquake in central Croatia has killed at least one person – a girl, injured many and caused considerable damage to buildings in Petrinja, a town southeast of the capital Zagreb.

The earthquake was felt throughout the country on Tuesday, as well as in neighbouring Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and as far away as Graz in southern Austria.

Croatian state broadcaster HRT confirmed the girl died in the earthquake. The child’s age or other details were not immediately available.

“The centre of Petrinja as it used to be no longer exists,” HRT said in its report. “One girl died and there are injuries and people inside collapsed buildings.”

Petrinja Mayor Darinko Dumbovic said in a statement broadcast by HRT TV: “My town has been completely destroyed, we have dead children.

“This is like Hiroshima – half of the city no longer exists.”

Petrinja is about 60km (37 miles) from Zagreb.

Al Jazeera reported a boy and his father being pulled from a car buried in the rubble.

The European Mediterranean Seismological Center said the 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit 46km (17 miles) southeast of Zagreb. The same area was struck by a 5.2 quake on Monday.

Blanka, a resident of Sisak city, about 8.5 miles (14km) from Petrinja, was inside a shop when the earthquake struck.

“Everything collapsed, all of our things are inside,” she told Al Jazeera. “I don’t know what to expect. I am still shaking, I can still feel the earthquake.”

Croatian Red Cross said it was responding to a “very serious” situation in Petrinja following the earthquake.

Croatian media said people were injured by the quake, but could not initially say how many amid the confusion and downed phone lines.

Croatian seismologist Kresimir Kuk described the earthquake as “extremely strong”, far stronger than another one that hit Zagreb and nearby areas in spring.

He warned people to keep out of potentially shaky, old buildings and move to the newer areas of the city because of the aftershocks.

In Zagreb, people ran out into the streets and parks in fear. Many reportedly were leaving the city, ignoring a travel ban imposed because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Stephen Hicks, a seismologist at Imperial College in London, tweeted: “We can probably expect a quite strong shaking and hence some damage to buildings from this earthquake.”

Slovenia’s Krsko nuclear power plant was shut down as a precaution, the plant’s spokeswoman said Tuesday.“I can confirm the preventive shutdown,” spokeswoman Ida Novak Jerele told AFP. Source: https://www.daily-bangladesh.com

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