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On April 22, 1970, the world marked the first Earth Day. As we physically separate ourselves by necessity, we can still collectively appreciate the wondrous beauty of our planet. The 11 facts you want are below, and the sources for the facts are at the very bottom of the page.
Plans to shift Europe’s coal plants to burning wood pellets instead could accelerate rather than combat the climate crisis and lay waste to woodland equal to half the size of Germany’s Black Forest a year, according to campaigners.
The climate thinktank Sandbag said the heavily subsidised plans to cut carbon emissions would result in a … Read the rest
A pre-eminent think tank in the United Kingdom, Chatham House, issued a seminal report last week challenging a fundamental assumption underlying European renewable energy policy: that burning forest biomass to produce electricity is “carbon neutral.” The report, Woody Biomass for Power and Heat: Impacts on the Global Climate, finds that many forms of forest-derived … Read the rest
The tiny house movement is an environmentalist dream’s come true — less space means you need less stuff and you consume less energy. The problem is you have to live in a cramped space and dedicate yourself to the Marie Kondo credo of only having a few objects in you home that spark joy.
Moving … Read the rest
It’s remarkable that as bad as the fast-deteriorating coronavirus situation in New York’s jails and prisons is, it could have been much worse. Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio have each been dangerously slow to let people go free, leaving thousands of vulnerable prisoners to weather the pandemic’s ravages, particularly on Rikers Island, where the … Read the rest
Uncertainty has been the trademark of both the economic and public-health crises caused by the coronavirus. Occasionally that’s not a bad thing — like in the emerging consensus that the initial models for case fatality rates and ICU beds needed were too high. But over the last few days, several new reports on the nature … Read the rest
The small-business bailout — otherwise known as the “Paycheck Protection Program” (PPP) — was arguably the most ambitious provision of the $2 trillion stimulus bill that Congress passed last week.
Under the policy, any business (or nonprofit, veterans organization, or tribal concern) with 500 or fewer employees is eligible for a government-backed loan … Read the rest
At around the same time Facebook was working out its News Feed issues, an upstart messaging app called Snapchat — led by the brash Stanford graduate Evan Spiegel — built a feature called Stories, which let people share photos and videos with friends that disappeared in a day. Snapchat’s users loved how Stories gave them
While many Maryland businesses have been forced to close or cut back on staff due to restrictions implemented to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, some say the medical marijuana industry in the state is thriving. There are 774 confirmed cases of the virus in Maryland as of Friday morning, according to the governor’s office.… Read the rest