Tootfinder

"The Hidden Environmental Cost of Our Digital Lifestyle"
#Environment #Technology #Emissions

The Hidden Environmental Cost of Our Digital Lifestyle | Happy Eco News
The Metaverse industry is booming around the globe, with countries like the US, Japan, China, Canada and New Zealand leading the way in terms of user

Dust bunnies may be toxic: Researcher advises vacuuming often https://www.sciencenorway.no/dust-environmental-contaminants-household/dust-bunnies-may-be-toxic-researcher-advises-vacuuming-often/2…

🎵 "Toxic waste and plastic fish, we're digging holes to hide our trash." ♫
Minimalistic music video for "Environmental Anxiety" by #Raye
https://rayeofficial.com/environmental<…

Environmental Anxiety.
RAYE official website. Music, videos, tour dates, mailing list and more!

My latest blog post rounds up a selection of positive environmental articles I have shared since the start of the year.
#PositiveEcoNews #Environment

Positive Environmental Stories – Spring 2024
As someone who shares and reads daily climate news, it is understandable how the constant changes or lack of them can grind us down. A study by the Lancet, featured in Harvard Health Publishing, fo…

Dust bunnies may be toxic: Researcher advises vacuuming often https://www.sciencenorway.no/dust-environmental-contaminants-household/dust-bunnies-may-be-toxic-researcher-advises-vacuuming-often/2…

Two competing populations with a common environmental resource
Keith Paarporn, James Nelson
https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.01437 https://…

Two competing populations with a common environmental resource
Feedback-evolving games is a framework that models the co-evolution between payoff functions and an environmental state. It serves as a useful tool to analyze many social dilemmas such as natural resource consumption, behaviors in epidemics, and the evolution of biological populations. However, it has primarily focused on the dynamics of a single population of agents. In this paper, we consider the impact of two populations of agents that share a common environmental resource. We focus on a sce…

Never missing an opportunity to make life easier for extractive industries,
House Republicans passed a suite of bills this week to boost development and dismantle environmental protections across millions of acres of federal land.
The bills stand little chance of passing in the Democratic-controlled Senate,
but they give GOP industry allies something to tout heading into the 2024 elections.
And since several of the measures closely mirror priority actions found in P…

House GOP Passes Bills That Attack Environmental Protections, Benefit Oil And Mining Companies
The bills will give GOP industry allies something to tout heading into the 2024 elections.

🫥 A web of front people conceals environmental offenders in the Amazon
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/a-web-of-front-people-conceals-environmental-offenders-in-the-amazon/

A web of front people conceals environmental offenders in the Amazon
A paper trail left by a notorious land grabber reveals how he used relatives and an employee as fronts to evade environmental fines and lawsuits, shedding light on this widespread practice in the Brazilian Amazon.

I think this is •really• good news:
https://minnesotareformer.com/2024/02/28/environmental-groups-cities-find-compromise-at-the-capitol-to-end-2040-plan-lawsuit/
The Minneapolis 2040 plan…

Environmental groups, cities find compromise at the Capitol to end 2040 Plan lawsuit - Minnesota Reformer
Environmentalists and city governments say they’ve found a legislative compromise that would allow the city of Minneapolis to move forward with the city’s 2040 comprehensive plan, which spurred new housing development and stabilized rents  from 2020 to 2022 before it was blocked by environmental lawsuits last year. Legislation (HF2048/SF4183) led by two Minneapolis DFL lawmakers, […]

House GOP Passes Bills That Attack Environmental Protections, Benefit Oil And Mining Companies (Chris D'Angelo/HuffPost)
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/house-republicans-pass-bills-attack-environmental-protections_n_66329b33e4b0fc2b95281927
http://www.memeorandum.com/240501/p68#a240501p68

EPA unveils environmental justice ‘clearinghouse’ with hundreds of resources
#RealEstate #UrbanDevelopment #SmartCitiesDive

A peaceful atom held hostage by war apologists: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/03/a-peaceful-atom.html

"Meet the champions of the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize​"
#Environment
https://www.dailyclimate.org/meet-the-cham

Meet the champions of the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize​
The Goldman Environmental Prize celebrates its 35th year by recognizing seven environmental leaders who have made significant impacts in their regions.Liz Kimbrough reports for Mongabay.In short:Seven environmental activists, including two Indigenous leaders from Africa, received the Goldman Environ...

Sinking of UK-owned ship off #Yemen coast is “an unprecedented environmental disaster”. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68457445

Learn more about our fundraising priorities and our successes in funding programs in New Testament, Environmental Ethics, Black Church Studies, Social Justice Internships, Prison Ministry, and student support. https://wearecalled.yale.edu/#numbers

It's a very big elephant. And it’s not just energy. Generative AI systems need enormous amounts of fresh water…
#butitissomuchFUN

Generative AI’s environmental costs are soaring — and mostly secret
First-of-its-kind US bill would address the environmental costs of the technology, but there’s a long way to go.

"Meet the champions of the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize​"
#Environment
https://www.dailyclimate.org/meet-the-cham

Meet the champions of the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize​
The Goldman Environmental Prize celebrates its 35th year by recognizing seven environmental leaders who have made significant impacts in their regions.Liz Kimbrough reports for Mongabay.In short:Seven environmental activists, including two Indigenous leaders from Africa, received the Goldman Environ...

Intelligent Optimization of Mine Environmental Damage Assessment and Repair Strategies Based on Deep Learning
Qishuo Cheng
https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.01624

Intelligent Optimization of Mine Environmental Damage Assessment and Repair Strategies Based on Deep Learning
In recent decades, financial quantification has emerged and matured rapidly. For financial institutions such as funds, investment institutions are increasingly dissatisfied with the situation of passively constructing investment portfolios with average market returns, and are paying more and more attention to active quantitative strategy investment portfolios. This requires the introduction of active stock investment fund management models. Currently, in my country's stock fund investment marke…

🫥 A web of front people conceals environmental offenders in the Amazon
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/a-web-of-front-people-conceals-environmental-offenders-in-the-amazon/

A web of front people conceals environmental offenders in the Amazon
A paper trail left by a notorious land grabber reveals how he used relatives and an employee as fronts to evade environmental fines and lawsuits, shedding light on this widespread practice in the Brazilian Amazon.

Environmental cosmic acceleration from a phase transition in the dark sector
{\O}yvind Christiansen, Farbod Hassani, David F. Mota
https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.00668

Environmental cosmic acceleration from a phase transition in the dark sector
A new degravitation mechanism within the framework of scalar tensor gravity is proposed. The mechanism eliminates all constant contributions from the potential to the Friedmann equation, leaving only the kinematic and the dynamic terms of the potential to drive cosmic acceleration. We explore a scenario involving a density-triggered phase transition in the late-time universe, and argue that the resulting effective energy density and equation of state parameter can explain late-time cosmology wh…

"Faulty sewage spill monitors spark accusations of 'environmental cover up' by water firms"
#UK #UnitedKingdom #Sewage

Faulty sewage spill monitors spark accusations of 'environmental cover up' by water firms

"For too long, too few have worried about Earth’s remotest continent and its largest refrigerator, while attention focused on the fires that burned, literally and figuratively, on more populated shores. Antarctica was variously portrayed as an explorer’s playground, a utopian land of scientific co-operation or a poster child for environmental protectionism. The exceptionalism is misguided"
Brilliant and essential reporting on #Antarctica from @…
🎁
https://www.economist.com/interactive/science-and-technology/2024/03/27/antarctica-earths-largest-refrigerator-is-defrosting?fsrc=core-app-economist

Grave consequence of the farmers' protests:
European ministers reduce half the CAP environmental measures to voluntary options.
This will accelerate soil loss, desertification, loss of fertility, biodiversity loss etc.
They, and our ministers need to make environmental protection pay for farmers.
Las protestas de los agricultores consiguen anular medidas contra la desertificación que amenaza España

Las protestas de los agricultores consiguen anular medidas contra la desertificación que amenaza España
Con los tractores bloqueando carreteras desde hace semanas, los ministros de Agricultura europeos decidieron este lunes “flexibilizar” varias exigencias ambientales a la hora de que los agricultores reciban fondos públicos. Se trata de “convertir en voluntarias casi la mitad de las obligaciones ambientales de las ayudas de la Política Agraria Común”, según traduce la Coalición Por otra PAC. Las medidas que se rebajan tienen que ver con el barbecho, la cobertura vegetal de los campo…

First complete draft of my Environmental Economics - Lecture Notes now available for comment https://github.com/rtol/Environmental-Economics

GitHub - rtol/Environmental-Economics
Contribute to rtol/Environmental-Economics development by creating an account on GitHub.

An environmental analysis of public #UAP sightings and #sky view potential: #UFOs: https://www.newswise.com/articles/the-west-is-best-to-spot-ufos - researchers identified environmental factors that explain why reports of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena are more common in certain regions of the country.

Sinking of UK-owned ship off #Yemen coast is “an unprecedented environmental disaster”. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68457445

Continual Learning for Robust Gate Detection under Dynamic Lighting in Autonomous Drone Racing
Zhongzheng Qiao, Xuan Huy Pham, Savitha Ramasamy, Xudong Jiang, Erdal Kayacan, Andriy Sarabakha
https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.01054

Continual Learning for Robust Gate Detection under Dynamic Lighting in Autonomous Drone Racing
In autonomous and mobile robotics, a principal challenge is resilient real-time environmental perception, particularly in situations characterized by unknown and dynamic elements, as exemplified in the context of autonomous drone racing. This study introduces a perception technique for detecting drone racing gates under illumination variations, which is common during high-speed drone flights. The proposed technique relies upon a lightweight neural network backbone augmented with capabilities fo…

“It is entirely possible for housing to be dignified, durable, beautiful and adaptable, and made available for all, as a common good, in ways that are affordable, valuable and environmentally sustainable” - discussion paper by Dan Hill and Mariana Mazzucato

Modern Housing: an environmental common good | Updates | Council on Urban Initiatives
Authored by council member Dan Hill and co-chair Mariana Mazzucato, this discussion paper argues that our current housing systems prioritise the needs of investment funds and construction companies over people and the planet. The paper sets forth a bold rethinking of housing as a common good.

So former PM Brian Mulroney has died.
This is damning with faint praise, but it is a statement of just how far "Conservatism" has fallen when you consider he was the host for the signing of the Montreal Protocol which banned Ozone hole creating CFCs and he led Canada as an Environmental leader in the 90s.
Unthinkable for today's Conservatives....
He's also our Reagan... and corrupt... so there's that....

While I'm happy to see this, I wonder if it will matter. It seems like a #fatwa to do something positive never gets as much attention - or action - as the ones to do something negative...
(Obviously, this is not unique to #Islam)

MUI: Damaging the Environment is Haram
The Ulama Council of Indonesia (MUI), has declared that all actions leading to environmental damage and contributing to the climate crisis are considered haram.

New Houthi attack risks ‘environmental disaster,’ US says – POLITICO
https://www.politico.eu/article/new-houthi-attack-on-british-vessel-risks-environmental-disaster-says-us/

New Houthi attack risks ‘environmental disaster,’ says US
The attacked ship’s cargo of fertilizer could spill into the Red Sea, U.S. defense officials said.

New York suing major beef producer over environmental impact of products (Lauren Irwin/The Hill)
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4495492-jbs-new-york-state-beef-environmental-lawsuit/
http://www.memeorandum.com/240228/p91#a240228p91

AdapTics: A Toolkit for Creative Design and Integration of Real-Time Adaptive Mid-Air Ultrasound Tactons
Kevin John, Yinan Li, Hasti Seifi
https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.19275 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2404.19275
arXiv:2404.19275v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Mid-air ultrasound haptic technology can enhance user interaction and immersion in extended reality (XR) applications through contactless touch feedback. Yet, existing design tools for mid-air haptics primarily support creating tactile sensations (i.e., tactons) which cannot change at runtime. These tactons lack expressiveness in interactive scenarios where a continuous closed-loop response to user movement or environmental states is desirable. This paper introduces AdapTics, a toolkit featuring a graphical interface for rapid prototyping of adaptive tactons-dynamic sensations that can adjust at runtime based on user interactions, environmental changes, or other inputs. A software library and a Unity package accompany the graphical interface to enable integration of adaptive tactons in existing applications. We present the design space offered by AdapTics for creating adaptive mid-air ultrasound tactons and show the design tool can improve Creativity Support Index ratings for Exploration and Expressiveness in a user study with 12 XR and haptic designers.

Grave consequence of the farmers' protests:
European ministers reduce half the CAP environmental measures to voluntary options.
This will accelerate soil loss, desertification, loss of fertility, biodiversity loss etc.
They, and our ministers need to make environmental protection pay for farmers.
Las protestas de los agricultores consiguen anular medidas contra la desertificación que amenaza España

Las protestas de los agricultores consiguen anular medidas contra la desertificación que amenaza España
Con los tractores bloqueando carreteras desde hace semanas, los ministros de Agricultura europeos decidieron este lunes “flexibilizar” varias exigencias ambientales a la hora de que los agricultores reciban fondos públicos. Se trata de “convertir en voluntarias casi la mitad de las obligaciones ambientales de las ayudas de la Política Agraria Común”, según traduce la Coalición Por otra PAC. Las medidas que se rebajan tienen que ver con el barbecho, la cobertura vegetal de los campo…

First complete draft of my Environmental Economics - Lecture Notes now available for comment https://github.com/rtol/Environmental-Economics

GitHub - rtol/Environmental-Economics
Contribute to rtol/Environmental-Economics development by creating an account on GitHub.

Numerical investigation of three-dimensional effects of cavitating flow in a venturi-type hydrodynamic cavitation reactor
Dhruv Apte, Mingming Ge, Olivier Coutier-Delgosha
https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.00831

Numerical investigation of three-dimensional effects of cavitating flow in a venturi-type hydrodynamic cavitation reactor
The concept of Hydrodynamic Cavitation (HC) has emerged as a promising method for wastewater treatment, bio-diesel production and multiple other environmental processes with Venturi-type cavitation reactors showing particular advantages. However, numerical simulations of a venturi-type reactor with an elucidated explanation of the underlying flow physics remain inadequate. The present study numerically investigates and analyzes the flow inside a venturi-type reactor from both global cavity dyna…

Crypto Miners that keep fossil fuels running and cause other environmental damage should be prevented from doing so. https://slashdot.org/story/24/03/27/0130229/crypto-miner-pennsylvania-hit-with-lawsuit-over-pollut…

Crypto Miner, Pennsylvania Hit With Lawsuit Over Pollution From Bitcoin Mine - Slashdot
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: An environmental community group on Tuesday sued Stronghold Digital Mining claiming the company's bitcoin mine in northeastern Pennsylvania that burns waste coal and old tires for energy is polluting nearby communities with dangerous chemicals. The l...

Defining Problem from Solutions: Inverse Reinforcement Learning (IRL) and Its Applications for Next-Generation Networking
Yinqiu Liu, Ruichen Zhang, Hongyang Du, Dusit Niyato, Jiawen Kang, Zehui Xiong, Dong In Kim
https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.01583

Defining Problem from Solutions: Inverse Reinforcement Learning (IRL) and Its Applications for Next-Generation Networking
Performance optimization is a critical concern in networking, on which Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) has achieved great success. Nonetheless, DRL training relies on precisely defined reward functions, which formulate the optimization objective and indicate the positive/negative progress towards the optimal. With the ever-increasing environmental complexity and human participation in Next-Generation Networking (NGN), defining appropriate reward functions become challenging. In this article, …

Tropical cyclone genesis potential using a ventilated potential intensity
Daniel R Chavas, Suzana J Camargo, Michael K Tippett
https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.01572

Tropical cyclone genesis potential using a ventilated potential intensity
Genesis potential indices (GPIs) are widely used to understand the climatology of tropical cyclones (TCs). However, the sign of projected future changes depends on how they incorporate environmental moisture. Recent theory combines potential intensity and mid-tropospheric moisture into a single quantity called the ventilated potential intensity, which removes this ambiguity. This work proposes a new GPI ($GPI_v$) that is proportional to the product of the ventilated potential intensity and the …

From David Suzuki Foundation
Add your name in support of environmental justice in Canada.
Join me in signing the petition for a Canadian environmental justice law. Canada needs to tackle environmental racism and environmental injustice.
https://nwmd.io/s/email/ZBc7CzjEHQ==/r

Support a Canadian environmental justice law
Environmental justice is a gap in Canadian law and governance. Tell Senate to move forward with Bill C-226.

🔥 Report links H&M and Zara to major environmental damage in biodiverse Cerrado
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/report-links-hm-and-zara-to-major-environmental-damage-in-biodiverse-cerrado/

Report links H&M and Zara to major environmental damage in biodiverse Cerrado
Clothing giants H&M and Zara have been linked to large-scale illegal deforestation, land-grabbing, violence and corruption in the Brazilian Cerrado, according to an investigation by Earthsight. Using satellite images, court rulings, shipment records and by attending undercover global trade shows, the U.K. NGO tracked nearly a million tons of tainted cotton going from companies in […]

Russian attacks on Dnipro hydroelectric plant caused $3.5 million in environmental damage: https://benborges.xyz/2024/03/28/russian-attacks-on.html

Deep Learning for Cross-Domain Data Fusion in Urban Computing: Taxonomy, Advances, and Outlook
Xingchen Zou, Yibo Yan, Xixuan Hao, Yuehong Hu, Haomin Wen, Erdong Liu, Junbo Zhang, Yong Li, Tianrui Li, Yu Zheng, Yuxuan Liang
https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.19348

Deep Learning for Cross-Domain Data Fusion in Urban Computing: Taxonomy, Advances, and Outlook
As cities continue to burgeon, Urban Computing emerges as a pivotal discipline for sustainable development by harnessing the power of cross-domain data fusion from diverse sources (e.g., geographical, traffic, social media, and environmental data) and modalities (e.g., spatio-temporal, visual, and textual modalities). Recently, we are witnessing a rising trend that utilizes various deep-learning methods to facilitate cross-domain data fusion in smart cities. To this end, we propose the first su…

White House announces opposition to slew of House GOP bills targeting environmental regulations
The Biden administration announced that it “strongly opposes” a group of Republican-backed bills expected to be considered by the House this week that will target its environmental regulations.
The White House office of management and budgeted targeted six bills proposed by Republicans,
including measures to remove gray wolves from the list of endangered species,
open up land…

Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) and the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ).
“The Intersections of Press Freedom and the Environment,” a virtual discussion and Q&A on Thursday, May 2, 12 p.m. ET
https://www.sej.org/calendar/sej-webinar-i

SEJ Webinar: The Intersections of Press Freedom and the Environment
Join Freedom of the Press Foundation and SEJ for a virtual discussion on obstacles U.S. journalists face when reporting urgent climate change and environmental issues for their communities — whether violence or arrest when covering environmental protests or denials of access and legal obstructions when investigating centers of political and corporate power. Q&A to follow. 12pm ET/9am PT.

This https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.01277 has been replaced.
initial toot: https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_…

Star formation efficiency across large-scale galactic environments
Environmental effects on the evolution of galaxies have been one of the leading questions in galaxy studies for decades. In this work, we investigate the relationship between the star formation activity of galaxies and their environmental matter density using the cosmological hydrodynamic simulation Simba. The star formation activity indicators we explore include the star formation efficiency (SFE), specific star formation rate (sSFR) and molecular hydrogen mass fraction ($f^*_{H_2}$) and the e…

Here's an ethical question. My investment advisor is recommending a fund that invests in biotech and #AI. Biotech fine, but AI? Is that ethical to invest in?
Its no oil or guns. And AI has potential legit highly valuable uses in medical and environmental research, so it's more legit than blockchain or metaverse nonsense. But it'd also bring used for seriously scary shit, like underminin…

“[Sam] Altman [CEO OpenAI] warned that the next wave of generative AI systems will consume vastly more power than expected, and that energy systems will struggle to cope.”
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00478-x

Generative AI’s environmental costs are soaring — and mostly secret
First-of-its-kind US bill would address the environmental costs of the technology, but there’s a long way to go.

Enhancing Robot Navigation Efficiency Using Cellular Automata with Active Cells
Saleem Alzoubi, Mahdi H. Miraz
https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.01885 https://

Enhancing Robot Navigation Efficiency Using Cellular Automata with Active Cells
Enhancing robot navigation efficiency is a crucial objective in modern robotics. Robots relying on external navigation systems are often susceptible to electromagnetic interference (EMI) and encounter environmental disturbances, resulting in orientation errors within their surroundings. Therefore, the study employed an internal navigation system to enhance robot navigation efficacy under interference conditions, based on the analysis of the internal parameters and the external signals. This art…

Quantum Cloud Computing: Trends and Challenges
Muhammed Golec, Emir Sahin Hatay, Mustafa Golec, Murat Uyar, Merve Golec, Sukhpal Singh Gill
https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.19612

Quantum Cloud Computing: Trends and Challenges
Quantum computing (QC) is a new paradigm that will revolutionize various areas of computing, especially cloud computing. QC, still in its infancy, is a costly technology capable of operating in highly isolated environments due to its rapid response to environmental factors. For this reason, it is still a challenging technology for researchers to reach. Integrating QC into an isolated remote server, like a cloud, and making it available to users can overcome these problems. Furthermore, experts …

Silica: Microsoft's research on archival data storage on glass.
- 1,000 year durability without bitrot
- Zero resources used when data is at rest, except physical space
- Environmental impact largely restricted to time of manufacture, not constantly scaling through time of use
https://www.youtube.co…

Good point:
"The industry could prioritize using less energy, build more efficient models and rethink how it designs and uses data centres. As the BigScience project in France demonstrated with its BLOOM model, it is possible to build a model of a similar size to OpenAI’s GPT-3 with a much lower carbon footprint. But that’s not what’s happening in the industry at large."

Generative AI’s environmental costs are soaring — and mostly secret
First-of-its-kind US bill would address the environmental costs of the technology, but there’s a long way to go.

Graphically, #FinalFantasyVIIRebirth #PS5 is a fascinating production graphically.
For a lot of environmental micro detail, such as rocks, grass, and the like, they’ve taken what looks like an asset-driven approach, which holds up at medium distance, but is often pixelated up close.…

Oooh look, the lovely folks at CCCB published my blog post about the workshop I did last month: investigating the material basis of "AI" as a controversy that can help us better understand both its environmental effects and its claims to 'intelligence':
On Knowing Matter: https://lab.cccb.org/en/on-knowing-mat…

On Knowing Matter | CCCB LAB
A speculative cartography of the material ecology of Artificial Intelligence.

Want to improve your transit system’s sustainability? A relaunched FTA program can help.
#RealEstate #UrbanDevelopment #SmartCitiesDive

"Maine environmental regulators [will vote today] to decide whether the state will join a growing number of states adopting new standards designed to grow the use of electric vehicles.
"The rules, which originated in California, would require an increasing percentage of new light-duty vehicles to be zero emission vehicles every year. The new standards would start with 51% in 2028 and grow to 82% by 2032."

Maine to decide on stricter electric vehicle standards
Maine environmental regulators are set to decide whether the state will join a growing number of states adopting new standards designed to grow the use of electric vehicles. The rules originated in California and would require an increasing percentage of new light-duty vehicles to be zero emission vehicles every year. The new standards would start with 51% and grow to 82% by 2032. The Maine Board of Environmental Protection is set to vote on the proposal on Wednesday in a vote that has been ant…

Interesting article from Kate Crawford for #nature on energy use by #GenAI: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024

Generative AI’s environmental costs are soaring — and mostly secret
First-of-its-kind US bill would address the environmental costs of the technology, but there’s a long way to go.

👎🏿 US court blocks EPA order to eliminate PFAS in plastic containers
https://www.thenewlede.org/2024/03/us-court-blocks-epa-order-to-eliminate-pfas-in-plastic-containers/

US court blocks EPA order to eliminate PFAS in plastic containers
By Shannon Kelleher A US appeals court has vacated an action by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  ordering a company to stop producing plastic containers that leach toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) into pesticides, household cleaners, condiments, and many other products. The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals on March 21 ruled that the EPA exceeded its statutory authority when it issued orders to Texas-based Inhance in December prohibiting the company from manufactur…

This https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.10344 has been replaced.
initial toot: https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_mat…

Uncertainty over Uncertainty in Environmental Policy Adoption: Bayesian Learning of Unpredictable Socioeconomic Costs
The socioeconomic impact of pollution naturally comes with uncertainty due to, e.g., current new technological developments in emissions' abatement or demographic changes. On top of that, the trend of the future costs of the environmental damage is unknown: Will global warming dominate or technological advancements prevail? The truth is that we do not know which scenario will be realised and the scientific debate is still open. This paper captures those two layers of uncertainty by developing a…

So former PM Brian Mulroney has died.
This is damning with faint praise, but it is a statement of just how far "Conservatism" has fallen when you consider he was the host for the signing of the Montreal Protocol which banned Ozone hole creating CFCs and he led Canada as an Environmental leader in the 90s.
Unthinkable for today's Conservatives....
He's also our Reagan... and corrupt... so there's that....

Russian attacks on Dnipro hydroelectric plant caused $3.5 million in environmental damage: https://benborges.xyz/2024/03/28/russian-attacks-on.html

"UN member states are meeting to plan how to tackle the world’s environmental crises"
#UN #UnitedNations #Environment

UN member states are meeting to plan how to tackle the world's environmental crises
Talks to shape global environmental policy started on Monday in Nairobi, where governments, civil society groups, scientists and the private sector met to plan collective environmental action. The meeting in Nairobi is the sixth session of the U.N. Environment Assembly, the world’s top decision-making body on the environment. This year, it’s focusing on how governments can work together to tackle environmental crises such as climate change, pollution and loss of biodiversity. Countries will…

EnCoMP: Enhanced Covert Maneuver Planning using Offline Reinforcement Learning
Jumman Hossain, Abu-Zaher Faridee, Nirmalya Roy
https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.20016

EnCoMP: Enhanced Covert Maneuver Planning using Offline Reinforcement Learning
Cover navigation in complex environments is a critical challenge for autonomous robots, requiring the identification and utilization of environmental cover while maintaining efficient navigation. We propose an enhanced navigation system that enables robots to identify and utilize natural and artificial environmental features as cover, thereby minimizing exposure to potential threats. Our perception pipeline leverages LiDAR data to generate high-fidelity cover maps and potential threat maps, pro…

This https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.14563 has been replaced.
initial toot: https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_csHC_…

Exploring Algorithmic Explainability: Generating Explainable AI Insights for Personalized Clinical Decision Support Focused on Cannabis Intoxication in Young Adults
This study explores the possibility of facilitating algorithmic decision-making by combining interpretable artificial intelligence (XAI) techniques with sensor data, with the aim of providing researchers and clinicians with personalized analyses of cannabis intoxication behavior. SHAP analyzes the importance and quantifies the impact of specific factors such as environmental noise or heart rate, enabling clinicians to pinpoint influential behaviors and environmental conditions. SkopeRules simpl…

Cantors from the Ethiopian Orthodox church performed poetry and sung prayer that introduced their tradition’s celebration of nature and the spiritual significance of trees.
“Within the landlocked nation of Ethiopia, the mighty Blue Nile emanates from Lake Tana, the country’s largest lake.
Radiating outward from this sacred source, a scattering of forest islands dot the arid highlands, like a handful of emeralds strewn across the parched terrain,” Dodds explained in his audio guide…

This https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.01855 has been replaced.
link: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=a

Modular Control Architecture for Safe Marine Navigation: Reinforcement Learning and Predictive Safety Filters
Many autonomous systems face safety challenges, requiring robust closed-loop control to handle physical limitations and safety constraints. Real-world systems, like autonomous ships, encounter nonlinear dynamics and environmental disturbances. Reinforcement learning is increasingly used to adapt to complex scenarios, but standard frameworks ensuring safety and stability are lacking. Predictive Safety Filters (PSF) offer a promising solution, ensuring constraint satisfaction in learning-based co…

Chemours and DuPont Knew About Risks But Kept Making Toxic PFAS Chemicals, UN Human Rights Advisors Conclude - Inside Climate News
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26022024/un-chemours-pfas-north-carolina/

Chemours and DuPont Knew About Risks But Kept Making Toxic PFAS Chemicals, UN Human Rights Advisors Conclude - Inside Climate News
A UN human rights panel calls on the UN Environment Assembly to take on “forever chemicals” at a meeting in Nairobi, citing a North Carolina PFAS plant as an example of environmental negligence.

West Coast Environmental Law is on the lookout for a Community Outreach Coordinator to join the West Coast team this summer. The Community Outreach Coordinator supports outreach at fun events across the Lower Mainland & engages communities to act for environmental & climate justice.
This role is a great fit for those looking to channel their skills for good and gain experience at an organization on the pulse of the most pressing environmental issues facing BC and Canada

Good point:
"The industry could prioritize using less energy, build more efficient models and rethink how it designs and uses data centres. As the BigScience project in France demonstrated with its BLOOM model, it is possible to build a model of a similar size to OpenAI’s GPT-3 with a much lower carbon footprint. But that’s not what’s happening in the industry at large."

Generative AI’s environmental costs are soaring — and mostly secret
First-of-its-kind US bill would address the environmental costs of the technology, but there’s a long way to go.

This https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.04551 has been replaced.
initial toot: https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_csCE_…

Earth Observation based multi-scale analysis of crop diversity in the European Union: first insights for agro-environmental policies
To understand the resilience of farms and the agricultural sector, as well as the provision of ecosystem services, we need to characterize and quantify crop diversity. Using a 10m resolution satellite-derived product, we created datasets of crop diversity across spatial and administrative scales for 27 EU countries and the UK in 2018. We define local crop diversity, or $α$-diversity, at a 1km scale, corresponding to large or clusters of small-to-medium-sized farms. $α$ crop diversities range …

An afternoon of environmentally themed events centered around “‘Nature’s Sanctuary’: Ethiopian Church Forests and the Interplay of Religion and Ecology.”
The focal point of “Nature’s Sanctuary” is a month-long exhibition of photographs by Scottish non-fiction photographer Kieran Dodds, depicting a story of ecological crisis and of hope, as a local nonprofit partners with communities to preserve some of the last remaining ancient forests of the Ethiopian highlands
"Within the…

Some misinformation here, but at least people are starting to think about this issue. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00478-x

Generative AI’s environmental costs are soaring — and mostly secret
First-of-its-kind US bill would address the environmental costs of the technology, but there’s a long way to go.

"Maine environmental regulators [will vote today] to decide whether the state will join a growing number of states adopting new standards designed to grow the use of electric vehicles.
"The rules, which originated in California, would require an increasing percentage of new light-duty vehicles to be zero emission vehicles every year. The new standards would start with 51% in 2028 and grow to 82% by 2032."

Maine to decide on stricter electric vehicle standards
Maine environmental regulators are set to decide whether the state will join a growing number of states adopting new standards designed to grow the use of electric vehicles. The rules originated in California and would require an increasing percentage of new light-duty vehicles to be zero emission vehicles every year. The new standards would start with 51% and grow to 82% by 2032. The Maine Board of Environmental Protection is set to vote on the proposal on Wednesday in a vote that has been ant…

This https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.01855 has been replaced.
link: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=a

Modular Control Architecture for Safe Marine Navigation: Reinforcement Learning and Predictive Safety Filters
Many autonomous systems face safety challenges, requiring robust closed-loop control to handle physical limitations and safety constraints. Real-world systems, like autonomous ships, encounter nonlinear dynamics and environmental disturbances. Reinforcement learning is increasingly used to adapt to complex scenarios, but standard frameworks ensuring safety and stability are lacking. Predictive Safety Filters (PSF) offer a promising solution, ensuring constraint satisfaction in learning-based co…

Looking for some mid week #positivity? I have recapped 44 notable #positive #environmental and #ClimateChange

H=121 https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AjZwhtwAAAAJ&hl=en

Richard S J Tol
University of Sussex; Vrije U Amsterdam; Tinbergen Institute; CESifo; Payne Institute; Abu Dhabi U - Cited by 54.155 - Environmental Economics - Energy Economics - Economics - Climate Change - Scientometrics

Multi-Robot Collaborative Navigation with Formation Adaptation
Zihao Deng, Peng Gao, Williard Joshua Jose, Hao Zhang
https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.01618 https…

Multi-Robot Collaborative Navigation with Formation Adaptation
Multi-robot collaborative navigation is an essential ability where teamwork and synchronization are keys. In complex and uncertain environments, adaptive formation is vital, as rigid formations prove to be inadequate. The ability of robots to dynamically adjust their formation enables navigation through unpredictable spaces, maintaining cohesion, and effectively responding to environmental challenges. In this paper, we introduce a novel approach that uses bi-level learning framework. Specifical…

Opinion: Green recovery in Ukraine is a strategic imperative for the EU: https://benborges.xyz/2024/02/28/opinion-green-recovery.html

#Colombia vows to put nature at the heart of global environmental negotiations | #Biodiversity | The Guardian

Looking for some mid week #positivity? I have recapped 44 notable #positive #environmental and #ClimateChange

This https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.04551 has been replaced.
initial toot: https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_csCE_…

Earth Observation based multi-scale analysis of crop diversity in the European Union: first insights for agro-environmental policies
To understand the resilience of farms and the agricultural sector, as well as the provision of ecosystem services, we need to characterize and quantify crop diversity. Using a 10m resolution satellite-derived product, we created datasets of crop diversity across spatial and administrative scales for 27 EU countries and the UK in 2018. We define local crop diversity, or $α$-diversity, at a 1km scale, corresponding to large or clusters of small-to-medium-sized farms. $α$ crop diversities range …

Some misinformation here, but at least people are starting to think about this issue. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00478-x

Generative AI’s environmental costs are soaring — and mostly secret
First-of-its-kind US bill would address the environmental costs of the technology, but there’s a long way to go.

"‘Revolutionary’: EU Parliament votes to criminalise most serious cases of ecosystem destruction"
#EU #EuropeanUnion #Ecocide

EU to introduce 10-year prison sentences for environmental crimes
Countries will have two years to put the updated directive, which covers crimes 'comparable to ecocide', into national law.

☀️ Eating light: Finnish startup begins making food ‘from air and solar power’
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/apr/19/finnish-startup-food-air-solar-power-solein

Stunning police brutality will ignite a student anti-war movement in America
There's a chilling pattern between state violence and movement participation.
For example, Indigenous activists have organized for environmental issues for decades,
but the general public only became aware of what was going down in Standing Rock after Democracy Now shared footage of protesters being attacked by officers with guard dogs and pepper spray.
That catalyzed several hundred so…

‘Russia doesn’t care’: Sweden sounds alarm over unsafe oil fleet https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/18/swedish-foreign-minister-tobias-billstrom-unsafe-russian-oil-fleet-baltic-…

"Top banks with strong climate rhetoric show low sustainability performance, research finds"
#Banks #Finance #Sustainability

Top banks with strong climate rhetoric show low sustainability performance, research finds
Environmental organisation Bank Green has ranked more than 100 banking institutions in the UK based on their climate impact, uncovering that some of the banks prominently advertising their environmental concerns are among the most detrimental offenders.

Polish farmers stage mass protest in Warsaw against Ukrainian imports, EU Green Deal: https://benborges.xyz/2024/02/27/polish-farmers-stage.html

♻️ By-Product Valorization as a Means for the Brewing Industry to Move toward a Circular Bioeconomy
#sustainability

By-Product Valorization as a Means for the Brewing Industry to Move toward a Circular Bioeconomy
Beer production consumes significant amounts of water, energy, and raw materials, and results in the production of various by-products, including wastewater, brewers’ spent grain, yeast and hop. To lower its environmental footprint, by-products may be reclaimed or valorized in agro-food, cosmetic, material, chemical industries, etc. According to most recent research, breweries have the potential to become biorefineries, as they can extract diverse valuable plant-based compounds such as carboh…

This https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.14831 has been replaced.
initial toot: https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_csRO_…

The Machine Vision Iceberg Explained: Advancing Dynamic Testing by Considering Holistic Environmental Relations
Machine Vision (MV) is essential for solving driving automation. This paper examines potential shortcomings in current MV testing strategies for highly automated driving (HAD) systems. We argue for a more comprehensive understanding of the performance factors that must be considered during the MV evaluation process, noting that neglecting these factors can lead to significant risks. This is not only relevant to MV component testing, but also to integration testing. To illustrate this point, we …

"Colombia vows to put nature at the heart of global environmental negotiations"
#Colombia #Environment #Conservation

Reactive Temporal Logic-based Planning and Control for Interactive Robotic Tasks
Farhad Nawaz, Shaoting Peng, Lars Lindemann, Nadia Figueroa, Nikolai Matni
https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.19594

Reactive Temporal Logic-based Planning and Control for Interactive Robotic Tasks
Robots interacting with humans must be safe, reactive and adapt online to unforeseen environmental and task changes. Achieving these requirements concurrently is a challenge as interactive planners lack formal safety guarantees, while safe motion planners lack flexibility to adapt. To tackle this, we propose a modular control architecture that generates both safe and reactive motion plans for human-robot interaction by integrating temporal logic-based discrete task level plans with continuous D…

The US government has suspended its effort to survey #cryptocurrency #mining operations over their ballooning energy use following a lawsuit from an industry that has been accused by environmental groups of fueling the climate crisis.
A federal judge in Texas has granted a temporary order

This https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.18225 has been replaced.
initial toot: https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_csRO_…

Quadruped robot traversing 3D complex environments with limited perception
Traversing 3-D complex environments has always been a significant challenge for legged locomotion. Existing methods typically rely on external sensors such as vision and lidar to preemptively react to obstacles by acquiring environmental information. However, in scenarios like nighttime or dense forests, external sensors often fail to function properly, necessitating robots to rely on proprioceptive sensors to perceive diverse obstacles in the environment and respond promptly. This task is unde…

"What is the UN Environment Assembly and how is it tackling the triple planetary crisis?"
#UN #UnitedNations

Why the world parliament for the environment is meeting in Kenya
Every two years, all 193 UN Member States come together to address critical environmental issues facing the planet.

"Escape the vapes: Scientists call for global shift to curb consumer use of disposable technologies"
#Vapes #EWaste
h…

Escape the vapes: Scientists call for global shift to curb consumer use of disposable technologies
Scientists have called for a concerted global effort to stem the tide of disposable electronic technologies—such as vapes—contributing to international waste accumulation and environmental degradation.

Transformer-Enhanced Motion Planner: Attention-Guided Sampling for State-Specific Decision Making
Lei Zhuang, Jingdong Zhao, Yuntao Li, Zichun Xu, Liangliang Zhao, Hong Liu
https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.19403

Transformer-Enhanced Motion Planner: Attention-Guided Sampling for State-Specific Decision Making
Sampling-based motion planning (SBMP) algorithms are renowned for their robust global search capabilities. However, the inherent randomness in their sampling mechanisms often result in inconsistent path quality and limited search efficiency. In response to these challenges, this work proposes a novel deep learning-based motion planning framework, named Transformer-Enhanced Motion Planner (TEMP), which synergizes an Environmental Information Semantic Encoder (EISE) with a Motion Planning Transfo…

"IKEA blamed for Romanian forest destruction"
#Romania #IKEA #Environment

IKEA blamed for Romanian forest destruction
IKEA is under scrutiny over its wood sourcing practices after two reports linked the furniture giant to destructive logging in some of Europe’s last ancient forests. The recent investigations, conducted separately by Greenpeace and fellow environmental groups Agent Green and the Bruno Manser Fonds (BMF), focus on IKEA’s procurement of wood from ecologically sensitive areas […]

"Hydrogen fuel cells and eliminating ‘forever chemicals’: Ofwat allocates fresh tranche of green innovation funding"
#UK #UnitedKingdom #ForeverChemicals

Hydrogen fuel cells and eliminating ‘forever chemicals’: Ofwat allocates fresh tranche of green innovation funding
Next-gen hydrogen fuel cells and a technology that could ‘zap’ away forever chemicals are among the innovations which UK water regulator Ofwat is financially supporting in the hopes of reducing the industry’s environmental footprint.

"EPA sets strict emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks and buses in bid to fight climate change"
#US #USA #America #Emissions

EPA sets strict emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks and buses in bid to fight climate change
The Environmental Protection Agency has set strict emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks, buses and other large vehicles. EPA officials say Friday's action will help clean up some of the nation’s largest sources of planet-warming greenhouse gases. The EPA says the new rules will take effect for model years 2027 through 2032 and will avoid up to 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the next three decades. EPA Administrator Michael Regan says the new standards will especially ben…