They were claiming peak back in the early 2000s. That turned out to be complete bullshit. BTW, we are nowhere near depletion. France actually got something right. This is what the future of energy looks like. I know you are all butt hurt about it, but deal with it.
Drought threatens England’s fruit and vegetable crop next year, says report Scorching summer left reservoirs depleted and unlikely to recover, as growers warn of supply chain collapse in leaked meeting Low water levels at Colliford Lake in Cornwall. Consistent above-average rainfall is needed in autumn and winter to end the drought in England. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images Helena Horton Farmers have warned they will not be able to grow crops next year if predictions that the drought will last until next summer prove accurate. Leaked slides from a national drought group meeting, seen by the Observer, show there are concerns that because reservoirs are still empty due to record dry conditions, the fruit and vegetable supply chain could collapse. They read: “If reservoirs cannot be filled during the winter 2022/23, which it is felt could be a possibility, this would have serious implications for businesses, the supply chains and those employed within them. “Confidence is needed by the sector to have access to water to enable cropping plans to be enacted. Where confidence is not available, cropping rotations are being reviewed and reductions in areas of irrigated crops/water hungry crops are being undertaken.” At the meeting, attended by the Environment Agency, water companies, farmers and other groups, there were warnings that it was unlikely that there would be enough rainfall to refill reservoirs and enable normal river flows by next year. On Friday, the government announced that the drought in England was expected to last for many months, with further restrictions on water use under consideration. Though rainfall levels were average across most of the country in September, this was not enough to dampen the soil and refill reservoirs after a dry and scorching summer. Consistent above-average rainfall is needed throughout the autumn and winter to bring England out of drought, and this is not likely. This could spell disaster for the agriculture sector, which has already faced reduced yields for crops including potatoes and barley. NFU deputy president Tom Bradshaw. Photograph: Tim Scrivener/Alamy The National Trust, also at the meeting, warned that its sites were running out of water. It said that this would impact its aims to meet net zero carbon emissions as tree planting was a large part of the strategy. It said there would probably be fewer flower displays in its gardens next year. Tom Bradshaw, the National Farmers’ Union’s deputy president, said: “As the irrigation season is coming to a close and attention is turned to winter abstraction for storage reservoir fill, we have been working with the Environment Agency to further support the industry through these challenging times, with flexible abstraction measures being provided. “However, more needs to be done to provide short-term certainty that water will be available for food production for the next growing season.” Reservoirs across the country are currently at exceptionally low levels. Only one major reservoir in the country is assessed to be at normal water level for this year, with most others notably or exceptionally low. Drought threatens UK government’s mass forestry scheme Read more The situation is particularly bad in Devon and Cornwall. South West Water drought director Jo Ecroyd told the BBC that the region had experienced some of the driest weather for 130 years. Currently, the water levels at Colliford Lake in Cornwall are at about 20%, according to the South West Lakes Trust. Roadford Lake, which can store up to 34,500 megalitres, is currently at 38% capacity. Overall the company’s water storage is at 31.5% capacity. Millions in the London and Oxfordshire areas could be placed under severe restrictions in coming months because the data also revealed that Thames Water is considering non-essential use bans.
Brazil's election is of significance to the sustainability of the rain forest. I smell shenanigans afoot... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-biggest-state-forces-urgent-campaign-rethink
In a surprise, global greenhouse gas emissions seem to be on the decline Global greenhouse gas emissions are improving, but the world depends heavily on fossil fuels. https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2022/10/19/france-iea-co2-birol-ev-renewables/4051666197766/ The increase in global emissions of carbon dioxide could've been triple what it was from last year if not for major deployments of renewable energy technologies and electric vehicles, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday. The Paris-based IEA estimated that global CO2 emissions are on pace to reach 33.8 billion tons this year, an increase of nearly 300 million tons should forecasts prove accurate. That's substantially lower than the 2-billion-ton increase from 2020 levels last year. Some of that can be attributed to the move toward electric vehicles. The agency has estimated that nearly 7 million electric vehicles were sold in all of 2021. In just the first quarter of 2022 alone, however, that reached 2 million, a 75% increase year-over-year. U.S. consumers were awarded heavy subsidies that would support the purchase of an electric vehicle under President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act. The Energy Department, meanwhile, estimated that gasoline consumption is trending lower because of efficiency improvements for conventional vehicles. For renewables, the IEA said solar and wind power are on pace to hit a record in terms of capacity this year. Without those gains, global CO2 emissions would be 600 million tons higher than 2021 levels. Fatih Birol, the executive director of the IEA, said the global energy crisis triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused major economies to keep looking for fossil fuels. Russia is a major supplier of crude oil and natural gas and importers are searching desperately for alternatives. The encouraging news, he said, is that some of the Russian void is getting filled by wind and solar energy. "This means that CO2 emissions are growing far less quickly this year than some people feared -- and that policy actions by governments are driving real structural changes in the energy economy," he said. All this suggests that some of the momentum for clean energy technology that was lost during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is starting to return. Nevertheless, the IEA said oil demand is on pace to accelerate more than any other fossil fuel this year, contributing some 180 million tons to global CO2 emissions.
Novel entities. Exposure to environmental toxins may be root of rise in neurological disorders Doctors warn exposure to omnipresent yet poorly understood chemicals such as microplastics could play a role in dementia Microplastics, pesticides and other toxins could be causing increase of neurological disorders. Photograph: David Kelly/Photograph David Kelly/The University of Queensland Nina Lakhani in New York The mystery behind the astronomical rise in neurological disorders like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s could be caused by exposure to environmental toxins that are omnipresent yet poorly understood, leading doctors warn. At a conference on Sunday, the country’s leading neurologists and neuroscientists will highlight recent research efforts to fill the gaping scientific hole in understanding of the role environmental toxins – air pollution, pesticides, microplastics, forever chemicals and more – play in increasingly common diseases like dementias and childhood developmental disorders. Humans may encounter a staggering 80,000 or more toxic chemicals as they work, play, sleep and learn – so many that it is almost impossible to determine their individual effects on a person, let alone how they may interact or the cumulative impacts on the nervous system over a lifespan. Some contact with environmental toxins is inevitable given the proliferation of plastics and chemical pollutants, as well as America’s hands off regulatory approach, but exposure is unequal. In the US, communities of color, Indigenous people and low income families are far more likely to be exposed to a myriad of pollutants through unsafe housing and water, manufacturing and agricultural jobs, and proximity to roads and polluting industrial plants, among other hazards. It’s likely genetic makeup plays a role in how susceptible people are to the pathological effects of different chemicals, but research has shown higher rates of cancers and respiratory disease in environmentally burdened communities. Very little is known about impact on brain and nervous system disorder, but there is growing consensus that genetics and ageing do not fully account for the sharp rise in previously rare diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) – a degenerative disease more likely in army veterans and neighborhoods with heavy industry. Neurologists and their surgical counterparts, neuroscientists, will spotlight the research gap at the American Neurological Association (ANA) annual meeting in Chicago. “Neurology is about 15 years behind cancer so we need to sound the alarm on this and get more people doing research because the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] is absolutely not protecting us,” said Frances Jensen, the ANA president and chair of the Department of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania. Scores of well-known dangerous toxins such as asbestos, glyphosates, and formaldehyde continue to be used widely in agriculture, construction, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics in the US, despite being banned elsewhere. Earlier this week, the Guardian reported on corporate efforts to influence the EPA and conceal a possible link between the popular weed killer Paraquat and Parkinson’s. Jensen added: “It’s like dark matter, there are so many unknowns … it’s truly going to be an epic exploration using the most cutting edge science we have.” Neurology is the branch of medicine focused on disorders of the nervous system – the brain, spinal cord and sensory neural elements like the ears, eyes and skin. Neurologists treat stroke, multiple sclerosis, migraines, Parkinson’s, epilepsy, and Alzheimer’s, as well as children with neurodevelopmental disorders like ADHD, autism and learning disabilities. The brain is the most complex and important organ in the body – and likely the most sensitive to environmental toxins, but was largely inaccessible to researchers until sophisticated imaging, genetic and molecular techniques were developed in the past 20 years. Going forward, research could help explain why people living in neighborhoods with high levels of air pollution have a higher risk of stroke, as well as examine links between fetal exposure and neurodevelopmental disorders. Rick Woychik, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, said: “It’s not just about pesticides. PFAS chemicals are ubiquitous in the environment, as are nanoplastics. And there are trillions of dollars’ worth of demand for nanomaterials, but it’s sobering how little we know about their toxicology.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...-neurological-disorders-parkinsons-alzheimers
From: How the Great Plains Dust Bowl Drought Spread Heat Extremes Around the Northern Hemisphere in @SciReports