Jul 9, 2023 | Salon.com
On the heels of several consecutive record-breaking “hottest days ever,” it has become increasingly clear that there is an urgent need to address human-caused climate change. After all, a recent study published in the scientific journal PNAS revealed that the types of so-called compound drought and heatwaves that humanity is currently experiencing — these are known as CDHW events — are projected to become what co-author Dr....
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Jul 7, 2023 | Salon.com
The hottest day in recorded history was charted earlier this week. The record was broken the next day. Then again on Thursday. The planet Earth has likely experienced warmer days in its long history, but for humanity, this is uncharted territory. Experts agree that the primary culprit is human-caused climate change....
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Jul 7, 2023 | Salon.com
Wasps are some of the most misunderstood creatures on the planet, but you definitely do not want to harass them. Although the ubiquitous insects are quite pretty — northern paper wasps, for example, sport various shades of black, yellow, brown and gold on their exoskeletons — these particular wasps are also quite aggressive if they believe their colonies are being threatened....
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Jul 6, 2023 | Salon.com
Greta Thunberg — the internationally famous climate change activist who was awarded Time Magazine “Person of the Year” in 2019 —was arrested on Wednesday after Swedish law enforcement officials charged her with disobeying their orders. Prosecutors in Sweden allege that Thunberg and other activists stopped traffic at an oil terminal in the port in Malmö on June 19, according to the local newspaper Sydsvenskan....
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Jul 5, 2023 | Salon.com
For Americans, the 4th of July is associated with fireworks, flag-waving, festivities and family time. Yet July 4, 2023 is going to enter the history books for a different reason: The United States National Centers for Environmental Prediction discovered that it was the hottest day in recorded human history, maxing out at 17.01 degrees Celsius (62.62 degrees Fahrenheit)....
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Jul 5, 2023 | Salon.com
Imagine a future in which one-fifth of the planet is regularly subjected to boiling heatwaves and blistering droughts. In addition to the unbearable discomfort of the constant heat, people in those regions will struggle to breathe. The air is going to be filled with smoke, even if the massive fires that cause the smoke are destroying civilizations and wilderness thousands of miles away....
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Jul 4, 2023 | Salon.com
The famous blockbuster movie “Armageddon” introduces the audience to its hero, Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis), by showing him bully a group of climate change protesters, assaulting them with golf balls, swinging away in his massive oil rig while they demonstrate against fossil fuels from a tiny boat below.
“I asked Michael [Bay] why it was easier to train oil drillers to become astronauts than it was to train astronauts to become oil drillers, and he told me to shut the f**k up.”
Jul 3, 2023 | Salon.com
From the “Little Mermaid” character Sebastian to pet hermit crabs, people think crabs are wonderful — but some experts believe the way we treat crabs is downright barbaric.
“If crustaceans screamed when they were dropped into boiling water, I doubt we’d still be having these kinds of discussions.”
Like many other decapods (the class that also includes lobsters, shrimp, crayfish and prawns), crabs are a popular food item....
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Jul 2, 2023 | Salon.com
Whether grilled, on sushin or mixed into stir fry or ceviche, there are many ways to consume octopus. But given their well-known, almost human-like intelligence, it begs the question: is it ethical to eat eight-legged cephalopods?
“You can’t draw a sharp line of saying, ‘Well, I would eat a clam, but I never eat an octopus, and neither should anyone else,’ because there’s a continuum there.”
Jul 1, 2023 | Salon.com
Teflon is probably the most famous of the “forever chemicals,” but it is far from alone among them. Although one would hope that governments would heavily regulate a product linked to serious health issues like cancer, high blood pressure and infertility, chemicals known as PFAS (short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are largely able to slip under the radar....
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