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“A piece of your soul will be in our show forever—and you’ll never get it back!”
“Robot Boris has already learned to dance and he’s not that bad.”
Read time: 2 mins
Activists interrupted a keynote address by a gas industry lobbyist to demand the European Union do more to prove itself as a climate leader, and stem the flow of gas across the continent.
Around 30 activists conducted a “symbolic walk out” during a talk by Marco Alvera, president of lobby group GasNaturally. The campaigners rose from their seats as Alvera declared that the industry “fully supports the Paris Agreement” and said there was an opportunity for the gas industry to “capitalise” as other fossil fuels are phased out.
Read time: 8 mins
As Canadian oil-by-rail numbers reach record new volumes (and expected to rise), Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB) announced recently that it would no longer list shipping the hazardous material by rail as a top safety concern.
Just a month later, the Alberta provincial government — where the majority of tar sands oil is produced — announced plans to bail out the tar sands industry by getting into the oil-by-rail business.
Here’s why that’s bad news for the communities in both Canada and the U.S. where this influx of oil train traffic will pass.
Turns out the Canadian actor really, really likes Eminem’s latest record.
With such a high bar to clear, movies that take new approaches to similar questions about subtle racism are struggling to find a warm reception.
Read time: 3 mins
Dozens of delegates from four countries that forced the UN climate negotiations to weaken language around the acceptance of a major climate science report have ties to the oil, gas and mining industries.
At least 35 delegates from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Russia and the US are either currently employed or used to work for companies and organisations involved in the petrochemical and mining industries or lobbying on behalf of those industries.
On Saturday, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) “noted” the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) landmark 1.5 degrees report at the annual talks in Katowice, Poland. Poor and undeveloped countries, small island states, Europeans and many others called to change the wording to “welcome” the study, Climate Home reported.
Read time: 2 mins
Australian Cardinal George Pell has been removed from his role as one of the Vatican’s key advisors as Pope Francis moves to distance himself from the controversial figure.
Pell last year took an indefinite leave of absence from his job as the Vatican’s economy minister to defend himself from prosecution for historical child sexual offences.
Canadian are into Stormy Daniels, BBC (not the broadcaster), ASMR (lol), anime, and Overwatch (nerds).
Calls to abolish tipping do not consider the social and economic value of the practice.
After a year of record-breaking fires, the state is bracing for what comes next.
Read time: 7 mins
What do Adidas, Hilton hotels, and the World Surfing League all have in common?
They’re all climate champions, apparently.
They also have a lot of customers and fans. Much more than most climate activists – just take a look at their Twitter followings – which could explain why this year’s annual UN climate talks welcomed them with open arms.
But are the industries serious about addressing the problem, or are they simply following a greenwash playbook rolled out by the fossil fuel industry each year at the talks?
As has been my tradition, in December I repost old favourites from years gone by. This year am looking back to 2015.
I come across it all the time. Angry folks who claim that when it comes to weight and/or health, calories don’t matter at all and that what really matters is the quality or types of foods, or the folks who claim that the quality or types of foods don’t matter at all, it just comes down to calories.
It’s both of course.
The currency of weight is certainly calories, and while we all have our own unique internal fuel efficiencies when it comes to using or extracting energy from food or from our fat stores, we still need a surplus of calories to gain and a deficit to lose.
But foods matter too. Choice of food matters in terms of health, but also in terms of how many calories our body expends in digesting, and more importantly, upon satiety, which in turn has a marked impact upon how many calories, and which foods, we choose to eat.
So if you do come across a zealot from either camp that claims one or the other doesn’t matter, feel free to ignore them.
Brother, I’ve made a lot of macaroni. Yes, for a four-year period back in college I became a regular kitchen whiz at cracking open that flimsy cardboard box of thin, rock-hard noodles, boiling them up to a perfect al dente, and stirring in that magical ratio of milk, butter, and pre-packed cheesy powder to get […]
The post #624 Hidden flavor pockets appeared first on 1000 Awesome Things.
Two brutal murders rocked the town of Ada, Oklahoma to its core. But Netflix’s new true crime series reveals how police undermined the whole notion of justice to resolve them.
Over 2,300 people have been murdered in 2018 thus far, an increase from 1,647 homicides in 2017.
The singer behind hits like “Como La Flor” and “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom.”
Chika Ezeanya-Esiobu (second from left) and her colleague Vedaste Ndungutse (far right) sample banana wine with locals in Musanze, Rwanda, in 2016. Rural women in Rwanda are now producing such beverages using long-neglected Indigenous knowledge. (Ph…
They’re short and there’s nothing they can do about it except learn to live with their shortness. For this reason, we respect them and think they’re cool. If you’re really, really short, you feel it, because this is your life: • Forget seeing anything at concerts. Sure, everybody loves being behind you, but at what […]
The post #625 Really, really short people appeared first on 1000 Awesome Things.
Read time: 7 mins
This week, a Trump official at the U.S. government’s pro-fossil fuel event at the United Nations climate talks made clear that the idea of burying carbon emissions from coal plants is still alive.
Wells Griffith, an advisor to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), said at the event: “For the U.S. energy policy, it’s not about keeping [fossil fuels] in the ground but about using them cleanly.”
Griffith added: “Alarmism should not silence realism. This is a forum for fact science-based discussions on climate realities.”
His conclusions make for great talking points, but they’re far from reality. After more than a decade of failed demonstration projects, a recently rescinded $1.1 billion DOE research program, and the Trump administration’s move to roll back requirements that all new coal plants have “carbon capture and storage” (CCS) capabilities, the promise of so-called “clean coal” technology is dead.
Gatineau, QC – Justin Trudeau, Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, will deliver remarks to supporters at the Laurier Club Holiday Reception, an annual donor appreciation event, in Gatineau on December 11, 2018. The Liberal Party of Canada has committed to the strongest standards in federal politics for openness and transparency, and is challenging […]
Read time: 6 mins
Campaigners disrupted a US event promoting “greener and cleaner” fossil fuel energy at the UN climate talks, calling it “a farce” that had no place within the global climate negotiations process.
Minutes after the start of the event on the fringe of the climate conference in Katowice, Poland, dozens of youth activists, indigenous campaigners and community leaders burst out laughing and stood up in front of the panel chanting “keep it in the ground”.
A large banner with the “keep it in the ground” was deployed in a way to hide the panel from the audience.
As has been my tradition, in December I repost old favourites from years gone by. This year am looking back to 2015.
Who wouldn’t want to both save money and improve their health? If you’re looking for some ways to do so, here are some quick thoughts:
Now of course there will be readers who spend more and less on various aspects of those points, but if there are readers where all 5 apply, making these changes might save them between $1,950 and $10,500 dollars.
As far as what to do with that windfall?
(And sure, some of your own personal numbers and mileages will vary.)
Pepperoni fumes fill the air as you swerve and curve your way home. Yes, that hot bulky square of cardboard filled with zesty sauce and bubbling mozzarella heats your legs and gets your stomach rumbling for a delicious dinner that nobody needs to cook. AWESOME! Photo from: here — Subscribe to my Youtube channel —
The post #626 Riding home with a steaming box of pizza on your lap appeared first on 1000 Awesome Things.
Read time: 7 mins
A Harvard research team recently announced plans to perform early tests to shoot sunlight-reflecting particles into the high atmosphere to slow or reverse global warming.
These research efforts, which could take shape as soon as the first half of 2019, fall under the banner of a geoengineering technology known as solar radiation management, which is sometimes called “sun dimming.”
However, less than two weeks after the announcement, the climate science and policy institute Climate Analytics took aim at these ambitions in a new briefing titled ”Why geoengineering is not a solution to the climate problem,” which goes as far as recommending a global ban on solar geoengineering.
Sure, sure, we’re all honest people here. You and me, we’re driving the speed limit, crossing at crosswalks, and never double parking. But that doesn’t mean we don’t like bonus fries, extra-scoopy ice cream, or double cheese on our subs, people. Yes, when the gal behind the smooth orange counter wearing the paper hat and […]
The post #627 When your friends working in fast food restaurants give you a little something extra appeared first on 1000 Awesome Things.
Read time: 4 mins
By Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch. Reposted with permission from EcoWatch.
Bernard McNamee, a climate change denier who helped write the Trump administration’s failed coal and nuclear bailout plan, was confirmed Thursday as a commissioner on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
The Senate approved the nominee on a straight party-line vote of 50-49 after Sen. Joe Manchin, the pro-coal Democrat of West Virginia, withdrew his support due to his concerns about McNamee’s stance on climate change.
President Trump’s nomination of the fossil fuel lawyer as one of the FERC‘s five commissioners was strongly opposed by environmentalists, public health groups and elected leaders.
Read time: 8 mins
For the first time, the future of coal workers and communities across the world has become one of the most pressing issues of the global climate negotiations — infusing a sense of social reality within what is otherwise a very technical and political process.
“We have been waiting for this for 30 years,” said Brian Kohler sustainability director for IndustriALL, a union representing 50 million workers across 140 countries.
In the corridors of the UN climate talks in Katowice, Poland, Kohler is “delighted” that the topic has found its way high on this year’s agenda. It couldn’t have come soon enough.
One of the first to have coined the term “just transition” in the 1990s, Kohler is well aware of challenges facing workers and communities relying on fossil fuels extraction for their livelihoods and the necessity to ensure the energy transition will leave no-one behind.
Read time: 5 mins
More than a thousand people marched amidst heavy police presence to demand negotiators and ministers attending the UN climate talks in the southern Polish city of Katowice take more ambitious action on climate change.
Campaigners and activists from around the world took part in the March for Climate, which marked the end of the first of two weeks of global climate negotiations in Katowice.
Protesters chanted “keep the coal in the hole”, urged negotiators to “wake-up”, and demanded “climate justice now” while waving colourful banners and flags. Some were also wearing pollution masks to highlight Katowice’s heavily polluted air due to local coal mining.
Stephen Senn, in Nature, on the statistical pitfalls of personalized medicine
Dan M. Kahan, in Scientific American, on why smart people are vulnerable to putting tribe before truth.
Joan Didion, in The New Yorker (back in 1993), with the trouble in Lakewood
Skip the shock. People, we’ve chatted before about how bad your feet have it. Face it, they’ve been through a lot today so there’s no need to nail them with a blast of cold air before bed. Instead, just tuck them in tightly, tuck them in rightly, and peel off your socks using only your […]
The post #628 Peeling your sweaty socks off under the sheets appeared first on 1000 Awesome Things.
Read time: 7 mins
After three landowners filed a legal challenge against Bayou Bridge Pipeline, LLC’s right to build a pipeline on their land — which it did without their permission — the case concluded this week with a very small fine for the company.
On December 6, Louisiana State Judge Keith Comeaux fined the pipeline company $450 for trespassing during construction before properly obtaining permission. The judge also granted the company the permission it sought to expropriate the land it had already built on.
Read time: 6 mins
Short days and frequent snows can make Maine winters seem gloomy. But for renewable energy companies and supporters, the gloom has persisted for the last eight years under a governor openly hostile to solar and wind energy. With the 2018 election, a pro-environment Democratic governor and Democratic majorities in both chambers of the state legislature were swept into power.
“One of the more frustrating things over the last eight years has been the inability to have a conversation around a shared goal that is based in reality,” said Jeremy Payne, executive director of the Maine Renewable Energy Association (MREA). He said they’re now looking forward to having “a positive, fact-based discourse around energy policy.”
Users have no choice when it comes to lethal fentanyl in street drugs
Take a photo of your nails to find out if you’re anemic
3D printing moon dust could be the way to colonize the moon
How the octopus got their intelligence
Why the prevailing theory for the cause of Alzheimer’s may be wrong
Impossible, but the heat would build up and possibly separate continents
Cavers on the Bisaro Plateau near Fernie, B.C. (Photo: Jérôme Genairon)
A group of cavers from across the country ventured once again to the Bisaro Plateau near Fernie, B.C. in August 2018. This time, the 22 members of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s 2018 Expedition of the Year weren’t focused on explorations inside the Bisaro Anima Cave, the deepest in Canada as of January 2018. Instead, they set their sights on the surface, hoping to find new entrances that connect to the known cave system.
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