A Spanish company is aiming to factory farm octopuses for their meat, contending that it would help conserve the creatures in the wild. But critics argue that caging these highly sensitive mollusks, whose intelligence science is still revealing, would be cruel and inhumane.
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INTERVIEW
At 11,500 Feet, a ‘Climate Fast’ to Save the Melting Himalaya
Sonam Wangchuk has long worked to help people in India’s Ladakh region adapt to climate change. In an e360 interview, he explains why he fasted for 21 days to pressure the government to grant legal protections to the region’s fragile ecosystem and its life-giving glaciers.
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Climate
Nations Are Undercounting Emissions, Putting UN Goals at Risk
Because of lax rules, national inventories reported to the United Nations grossly underestimate many countries’ greenhouse gas emissions. The result, analysts say, is that the world can not verify compliance with agreed emissions targets, jeopardizing global climate agreements.
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Solutions
As Carbon Air Capture Ramps Up, Major Hurdles Remain
Aided by tax breaks and carbon credits, scores of plants are being developed or are now operating that remove CO2 from the air. Such facilities are considered necessary to limit global warming, but critics have questions about the high costs and where the captured carbon will go.
ANALYSIS
How China Became the World’s Leader on Renewable Energy
China has achieved stunning growth in its installed renewable capacity over the last two decades, far outpacing the rest of the world. But to end its continued dependence on fossil fuels, it must now move ahead with planned reforms to its national electricity system.
E360 Digest
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This Map Shows Where Planting Trees Would Make Climate Change Worse
Though oft touted as a fix for climate change, planting trees could, in some regions, make warming more severe, a new study finds. More about This Map Shows Where Planting Trees Would Make Climate Change Worse →
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In Our Age of Fire Suppression, Only the Biggest Blazes Survive
While forest managers have proved adept of stamping out small wildfires, they have been less successful at suppressing larger, more devastating burns. The result is that the average wildfire is more severe than it would be without human intervention. More about In Our Age of Fire Suppression, Only the Biggest Blazes Survive →
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In Texas, the Heat Index Is Rising Faster Than the Temperature
A new study of summer weather in Texas finds the heat index — an indicator of how hot it feels outside — is rising much faster than the temperature. More about In Texas, the Heat Index Is Rising Faster Than the Temperature →
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Food & Agriculture
How a Solar Revolution in Farming Is Depleting World’s Groundwater
Farmers in hot, arid regions are turning to low-cost solar pumps to irrigate their fields, eliminating the need for expensive fossil fuels and boosting crop production. But by allowing them to pump throughout the day, the new technology is drying up aquifers around the globe.
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Biodiversity
As Flooding Increases on the Mississippi, Forests Are Drowning
Ever-worsening floods are killing trees at an increasing rate along the upper Mississippi River, and invasive grasses are taking over. The Army Corps of Engineers has launched a project to restore forest and boost tree diversity, and to improve habitat for fish and birds, too.
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Climate
In Mongolia, a Killer Winter Is Ravaging Herds and a Way of Life
Mongolia’s nomadic herders are facing a savage “dzud” winter, with more than 2 million livestock frozen to death so far. Scientists say this lethal phenomenon — extreme cold and heavy snow following summer drought — is occurring more frequently and is linked to climate change.
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Energy
In Rush for Lithium, Miners Turn to the Oil Fields of Arkansas
The Smackover Formation in southern Arkansas was once a major oil producer. Now, companies hope to extract lithium — a key metal for electric vehicle batteries — from its underground brines using technologies they say could reduce mining’s carbon emissions and water use.