European heat wave 2003

Most New York City construction projects will have to use power sources other than gas or oil in a few years after the City Council passed new legislation Wednesday restricting the use of natural gas, pending Mayor Bill de Blasio 's expected signature, CNBC reported . Once signed, the measure will enact for the country's most populous city a climate-change policy that is both encouraged and decried across the U.S. The legislation will require most construction projects submitted for approval after 2027 to forgo natural gas in favor of electricity or other more climate-friendly sources for heating, hot water and cooking. Some smaller buildings may be subject to the restriction as early as 2024. Hospitals, commercial kitchens and some other types of facilities will not be required to follow the rule. The heating, cooling and powering of buildings in the sizable city accounts for almost 70 percent of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gas emissions. A transition from … [Read more...] about NYC to prohibit new buildings from using natural gas in fight against climate change

LONDON — Boris Johnson , Britain’s new foreign secretary, has a quality unusual for a nation’s top diplomat: He can be spectacularly undiplomatic. Mr. Johnson has suggested that President Obama had an “ancestral dislike of the British Empire,” written a poem insinuating that Turkey’s president had sexual relations with a goat, and likened the European Union — which he helped lead the campaign for Britain to leave — to Hitler’s Third Reich. And that was only this spring. In December, he compared Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, to Dobby the House Elf , a “Harry Potter” character. In 2007, he wrote that Hillary Clinton looked like “a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital.” In 2002, he referred to Africans as “flag-waving pickaninnies.” So it was with no little shock that the world reacted to the news Wednesday evening that Britain’s new prime minister, Theresa May, had named Mr. Johnson to lead the rarefied Foreign and Commonwealth Office , which employs … [Read more...] about 7 Times Boris Johnson, Britain’s New Foreign Secretary, Was Anything but Diplomatic

After traveling nearly one million miles, the James Webb Space Telescope arrived at its new home on Monday. The spacecraft’s arrival checks off another tricky step as scientists on Earth prepare to spend at least a decade using the observatory to study distant light from the beginning of time. The telescope launched to space on Dec. 25, with astronomers all over the world holding their breaths. But the $10 billion telescope still needed to power through the first leg of its setup phase. Earlier this month, astronomers resumed breathing when the observatory unfurled its heat shield and deployed its mirrors and other instruments with few surprises — a remarkable feat given the telescope’s novel design and engineering complexity. And on Monday around 2:05 p.m. Eastern time, engineers confirmed that the James Webb Space Telescope successfully reached its final destination. The telescope arrived at a location beyond the moon after a final, roughly five-minute firing of the … [Read more...] about After Million-Mile Journey, James Webb Telescope Reaches Destination

Today is Monday. Welcome to Equilibrium, a newsletter that tracks the growing global battle over the future of sustainability. Subscribe here: thehill.com/newsletter-signup . A Lima zoo is scrambling to save more than 40 seabirds , including protected Humboldt penguins, after waves from a volcanic eruption in the South Pacific splashed 6,000 barrels of crude oil along Peru’s coastline, Agence France-Presse reported . A team of veterinarians is caring for the birds, who were brought to the Parque de Las Leyendas zoo after being rescued from the polluted beaches, according to the AFP story. The vets are bathing the animals in special detergent to remove the suffocating oil. ADVERTISEMENT "We have never seen anything like this in the history of Peru," biologist Liseth Bermudez told AFP. Today we’ll take a look at another fossil fuel crisis — a natural gas shortage in Europe that could escalate amid a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine — and what the U.S. is … [Read more...] about Equilibrium/Sustainability — Seabirds covered in oil after volcanic eruption

The astonishing spread of the Omicron variant could help set the stage for the pandemic to transition from overwhelming to manageable in Europe this year, a top health official said on Monday, potentially offering the world a glimpse at how countries can ease restrictions while keeping the virus at bay. That hint of hope came with a heavy dose of caution: Immunity from the surge of infections will probably wane, and new variants are likely to emerge, leaving the world vulnerable to surges that could strain health systems. In the United States, where vaccination rates are lower and death rates are considerably higher than in Western Europe, there are bigger hurdles on the path to taming the pandemic. Dr. Hans Kluge, the director for the World Health Organization’s European region, warned in a statement released Monday that it was too early for nations to drop their guard, with so many people unvaccinated around the world . But, he said, between vaccination and natural … [Read more...] about Omicron Offers Hope Pandemic Could Stabilize, W.H.O. Official Says.

In October, we invited students to submit short, powerful stories about meaningful life experiences for our second annual personal narrative writing contest . Three months, 60 judges and nearly 9,000 entries later, we have selected seven winners, as well as 130 additional finalists, that stood out for their superb storytelling, moving messages and artistic use of language. These 600-word essays offer us a peek into the lives of teenagers and the moments that have shaped them: a meal from a mother’s home country; a father’s terminal illness; a sexual assault; an unexpected first love. And while these essays struck us because of their uniqueness, underneath they were stories that almost anyone, anywhere could relate to — stories about family and belonging, about claiming one’s identity, about seeing the world (and oneself) anew, about cherishing life in the face of death. Below, we are publishing the seven winning narratives in full. We hope that, like our judges, you’ll admire … [Read more...] about The Winners of Our 2nd Annual Personal Narrative Contest

The Colleyville synagogue hostage-taking was a nightmare, a vicious, antisemitic attack on a vulnerable Jewish community. It is tempting to obsess on the antisemitism, to see it as the great, sole evil. But if we want change, we must recognize that Colleyville was about more. Especially since the 2018 shooting that killed 11 people and injured more at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life, synagogues and other Jewish institutions have been ratcheting up their security. Guards, often armed, are commonplace, as are bulletproof glass, “buzz-in” entry systems and strategically placed panic buttons. This is a consequence of a rise in antisemitism. We’re scared. A 2020 Pew Study found that most American Jews think there is more antisemitism today than there was five years ago. More than half of those surveyed say that, as a Jew, they personally feel less safe than they did five years ago. Opinion Op-Ed: The Texas hostage-taking was a symptom of conspiracy theories run amok … [Read more...] about Op-Ed: Attacks like the one in Colleyville are about more than antisemitism

This coming week could be rich in weather metaphors. Dark clouds hover over Ukraine and the markets for oil and natural gas. In fact, let me be the first to say it: It could be a “perfect storm.” The Ukraine crisis may appear to be all about President Putin of Russia and his outsized ego, but his big stick isn’t just his 100,000 troops and armor near the border. Rather, it is natural gas, on which Ukraine depends upon Russia to supply, along with several other European countries that buy gas from Russia delivered by pipelines running across Ukraine. In fact, about 40 percent of natural gas consumed in Europe comes from Russia. And this dominance is enhanced by the major customer being Germany, which explains why it is being marked “absent” from most of the diplomatic pressure that is aimed at Moscow. By all means, allow yourself a wry smile about Berlin’s history, but the result is that British military transports avoided flying through German air space last week to deliver … [Read more...] about The Russia-Ukraine crisis is creating an energy predicament

Sparkling reflections on Mars that led to hopes of water on the planet might actually have just been an illusion, scientists have said. In 2018, researchers spotted bright reflections under the Martian south pole. They speculated that they were seeing water, leading to hopes that there might actually be stable liquid water on the planet’s surface. But new research suggests that it is actually an illusion, and the reflections are seen in volcanic plains right across Mars. The reflections are more likely to be from volcanic rock, buried under ice, according to a new study by scientists at the University of Texas at Austin. The current temperature and pressure makes stable liquid water unlikely at the planet’s surface, researchers have said. Lead author, Cyril Grima, a planetary scientist at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG), said: “For water to be sustained this close to the surface, you need both a very salty environment and a strong, locally … [Read more...] about Mars reflections that suggested there is water on surface of red planet may be just an illusion, scientists say

The Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) in the SF Bay Area where we live, announced on Tuesday that it was planning on "transitioning all students and staff" to KN95 respirators. If worn properly, such respirators filter 95 percent of particles the size of those that carry the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The BUSD has proposed this measure as a means to slow the spread of COVID-19 and keep schools open. These respirators would be required for the entire school day, including outdoors during gym and recess. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of respirators is vastly overestimated, and there is scant evidence that they stop community transmission. Moreover, NIOSH-approved respirators are tight, uncomfortable, and can impede breathing. OSHA requires both fit testing and a medical evaluation before workers can wear them. We've all seen images of health care workers with bruised faces from properly worn respirators. The truth is, the burdens of these masks outweigh their benefits for kids. … [Read more...] about We’re a physician and mathematician and a data scientist. N95s won’t work for kids | Opinion