Biodiversity conservation and climate change

0 This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own. Politics & Government Mayors Seek 100% Reductions by 2050 David Ormsby , Community Contributor Posted Reply (Broadview, IL) – The Village of Broadview was among 14 west suburban Cook County communities to sign an agreement last week with the Cross Community Climate Collaborative (C4) pledging to cut greenhouse gas emissions 45% by 2030 from 2010 levels and 100% reductions by 2050 within their towns. “Governments – big and small – must act aggressively to blunt climate change to avoid climate calamity in our communities,” said Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson, one of the signatories to the memorandum-of-understanding. “West suburban Cook County mayors have witnessed, first-hand, the increasing frequency and damaging force of climate change-driven storms that now routinely batter our communities, and we have committed ourselves to … [Read more...] about Broadview among 14 Suburbs Pledging 45% Greenhouse Gas Cuts by 2030

In 2017, five great white shark carcasses washed ashore in four months in South Africa. Four of them were missing livers, and one had its heart removed. Now, scientists have zeroed in on the suspects: a pair of male orcas named Port and Starboard with a taste for energy-rich shark liver. The attacks have continued, and the pair are probably not the only orcas terrorizing great whites in the area. A study published in the peer-reviewed African Journal of Marine Science on Wednesday found that orcas are displacing great whites as the top predator in Gansbaai, a popular shark viewing destination about 75 miles east of Cape Town. With great whites increasingly absent, smaller predators can multiply unchecked, threatening prey species and destabilizing the entire ecosystem. Similar responses when a new top predator arrives in a land ecosystem have been well-studied, but documenting the same phenomenon in the ocean is rare, according to Alison Towner, a marine biologist at the Dyer … [Read more...] about Orcas are eating great white sharks’ livers off South Africa’s coast

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 SLAUGHTER BEACH, Del. (AP) — As many Delawareans flock to Rehoboth and Dewey beaches this time of year, one of the state’s lesser-known coastal towns is experiencing revived tourism. For some, Slaughter Beach’s horseshoe crabs, red knots and other wildlife win out over shopping, the boardwalk and nightlife. A town with only two businesses, the northern Sussex County spot is experiencing an uptick in visitors interested in ecotourism, according to Mayor Bob Wood, who said its popularity is unlike anything he has seen since he’s lived there. Mayor Wood, originally from Baltimore, bought a Slaughter Beach house with his wife in December 1999, vacationing at the home before moving there permanently in 2016. He said that, though the town has been gentrified over the years, the recent boost of ecotourists mirrors an early boom in the area’s history. He hearkened back to … [Read more...] about Slaughter Beach reaches ecotourism enthusiasts

Dennis Wang lost money on his first try, but then he learned from his mistakes. On his second effort as an electric vehicle flipper, Wang made $4,000. On his third, he hit what he considered the sweet spot, a $7,000 profit. All the deals involved Teslas that Wang bought and resold, flipping them like tickets to a hot concert. “I have a Model S currently that I’m probably going to sell within another three months, pending the market,” Wang said. “I also have another Model Y and a Model X on order.” Buying and reselling stuff is as old as commerce itself, complete with cautionary tales and questionable legality. House flipping has become so alluring that multiple reality TV shows hype the process and personalities involved . Now a new breed of flipper has emerged hoping zero emissions equal big profits. Helping them is an unusual confluence of factors plaguing EV manufacturers (supply chain problems, semiconductor shortages, unmet production goals, an emerging scarcity of … [Read more...] about EV demand is so hot that Tesla owners are flipping their cars like houses

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 8 NEW YORK (AP) — Kevin Jennings is CEO of the Lambda Legal organization, a prominent advocate for LGBTQ rights. He sees his mission in part as fulfilling that hallowed American principle: “All men are created equal.” “Those words say to me, ‘Do better, America.’ And what I mean by that is we have never been a country where people were truly equal,” Jennings says. “It's an aspiration to continue to work towards, and we're not there yet.” Ryan T. Anderson is president of the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center. He, too, believes that “all men are created equal.” For him, the words mean we all have “the same dignity, we all count equally, no one is disposable, no one a second-class citizen." At the same time, he says, not everyone has an equal right to marry — what he and other conservatives regard as the legal union of a man and woman. "I don't … [Read more...] about The long, ongoing debate over ‘All men are created equal’

Jeff Bezos is on a mission to conquer aging . He has just recruited Hal Barron from GlaxoSmithKline to help lead Altos Labs, the ambitious new anti-aging company with billions of investment. So what does science really say about this? Could we beat aging? Aging isn’t just a change in how we feel or look, aging happens at a cellular level. In a lab culture dish, adult skin cells divide roughly 50 times before stopping. But skin cells from a newborn baby can divide 80 or 90 times. And on the flip side, cells from someone elderly divide only around 20 times. Aging is also evident in our genes. Our genetic material is modified over time—chemicals can be attached that change which genes are switched on or off. These are called epigenetic changes, and they build up as we age. Another kind of change takes place at the ends of our cell’s DNA. Repeating segments of DNA called telomeres act like the plastic tip of a shoelace, preventing the twisted coils of genetic material from fraying … [Read more...] about Jeff Bezos Wants to Stop Aging. What Does That Even Mean?