Hacker News with Generative AI: Environmental Issues

Finland is painting deer antlers with reflective paint (2014) (smithsonianmag.com)
Every year, about 4,000 reindeer lose their lives on Finnish roads in car accidents, causing 15 million Euros of damage every year. And now, the Finnish Reindeer Herders Association is testing out a new way to make the large mammals more visible to drivers: reflective paint.

Wildlife, Traffic Safety, Finland, Environmental Issues, Animal Welfare

97 points by andrewfromx 5 days ago | 117 comments

VW engineer jailed for emissions scandal (2017) (bbc.com)
A former Volkswagen engineer who helped develop a device that enabled cars to evade US pollution rules has been sentenced to more than three years in prison and ordered to pay $200,000.

Automotive, Law, Environmental Issues

6 points by georgecmu 6 days ago | 1 comments

NOAA Scientists Are Cleaning Bathrooms After Contracts for Basic Services Expire (propublica.org)
Federal scientists responsible for monitoring the health of West Coast fisheries are cleaning office bathrooms and reconsidering critical experiments after the Department of Commerce failed to renew their lab’s contracts for hazardous waste disposal, janitorial services, IT and building maintenance.

Government, Science, Environmental Issues, Labor, Politics

9 points by petethomas 8 days ago | 1 comments

Elon Musk's xAI powering its facility in Memphis with 'illegal' generators (theguardian.com)
KeShaun Pearson took a seat in front of the Shelby county board of commissioners in Memphis, Tennessee, on Wednesday morning. In the gallery behind him, a small group of people held up signs that said “Our air = our lives” and “Our water, Our future.” With a manner-of-fact demeanor, Pearson addressed the commissioners.

Elon Musk, xAI, Environmental Issues, Legal Disputes, Tennessee

10 points by zekrioca 9 days ago | 0 comments

Scientists pioneer chemical process to repurpose rubber waste (phys.org)
Every year, millions of tires end up in landfills, creating an environmental crisis with far-reaching consequences.

Science, Sustainability, Environmental Issues, Waste Management

43 points by PaulHoule 12 days ago | 15 comments

Keystone Pipeline spills estimated 3,500 barrels of crude oil (cbsnews.com)
An estimated 3,500 barrels of crude oil spilled into an agricultural field in North Dakota after a Keystone Pipeline employee heard a "mechanical bang" from the system early Tuesday morning, managing company South Bow said.

Oil Spills, Pipelines, Environmental Issues, North Dakota

35 points by geox 13 days ago | 19 comments

NOAA Scientists Clean Bathrooms, Reconsider Lab Experiments as Contracts Expire (propublica.org)
Federal scientists responsible for monitoring the health of West Coast fisheries are cleaning office bathrooms and reconsidering critical experiments after the Department of Commerce failed to renew their lab’s contracts for hazardous waste disposal, janitorial services, IT and building maintenance.

Science, Government, Environmental Issues, Labor

16 points by impish9208 15 days ago | 1 comments

Elon Musk's xAI powering its facility in Memphis with 'illegal' generators (theguardian.com)
KeShaun Pearson took a seat in front of the Shelby county board of commissioners in Memphis, Tennessee, on Wednesday morning. In the gallery behind him, a small group of people held up signs that said “Our air = our lives” and “Our water, Our future.” With a manner-of-fact demeanor, Pearson addressed the commissioners.

Elon Musk, xAI, Environmental Issues, Generators, Legal Disputes

12 points by c420 16 days ago | 0 comments

Federal cuts disrupt repairs to iconic U.S. trails (apnews.com)
Storms tore up two of America’s most iconic trails. Federal cuts have disrupted repairs.

Federal Funding, National Parks, Trails, Environmental Issues

192 points by geox 20 days ago | 188 comments

Amid NOAA Cuts, Scientists Warn of Weather and Climate Risks (undark.org)
In 1807, President Thomas Jefferson founded the nation’s first scientific agency. It was tasked with surveying the coasts of the United States. Roughly 60 years later, a national weather bureau was created, and a fish and fisheries commission soon followed. The focus of these three agencies was eventually brought together in 1970 as part of the new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. Today, agency staff study the ocean and atmosphere, share knowledge, and conserve coastal and marine ecosystems.

Climate Change, Science, Government Funding, Environmental Issues

16 points by rntn 20 days ago | 0 comments

What's in that bright red fire retardant? No one will say, so we had it tested (laist.com)
An LAist investigation found toxic heavy metals in samples of fire retardant collected from the Palisades, Eaton and Franklin fires. Here's what that means.

Environmental Issues, Fire Safety, Chemical Analysis, Public Health, Journalism

193 points by littlexsparkee 22 days ago | 127 comments

Bees have died this year. "the worst bee loss in recorded history," (cbsnews.com)
The U.S. beekeeping industry is in crisis over the shocking and unexplained deaths of hundreds of millions of bees over the last eight months.

Bees, Environmental Issues, Agriculture, Climate Change

11 points by mindracer 25 days ago | 2 comments

Trump's 'climate' purge deleted a new extreme weather risk tool. We recreated it (theguardian.com)
The Guardian has recreated a searchable climate future risk tool developed by Fema but then deleted

Climate Change, Politics, Data Visualization, Environmental Issues, Government

16 points by nickcotter 30 days ago | 0 comments

UK tyres meant for recycling sent to furnaces in India (bbc.co.uk)
Millions of tyres being sent from the UK to India for recycling are actually being "cooked" in makeshift furnaces causing serious health problems and huge environmental damage, the BBC has discovered.

Environmental Issues, Recycling, International Trade, India, UK

9 points by sarreph 32 days ago | 0 comments

We got rid of acid rain. Now something scarier is falling from the sky (vox.com)
In the 1970s, acid rain was one of the most serious environmental threats in North America and Europe.

Environmental Issues, Climate Change, History, Science

7 points by thebeardisred 36 days ago | 1 comments

Court Imposes over $1.6B in Penalties on a Toyota Subsidiary for Emissions Fraud (justice.gov)
Today, U.S. District Court Judge Mark A. Goldsmith for the Eastern District of Michigan accepted Hino Motors, Ltd.’s guilty plea to a one-count criminal information charging it with having engaged in a multi-year criminal conspiracy to defraud both the U.S. government and American consumers and illicitly smuggle goods into the country.

Legal Issues, Automotive Industry, Environmental Issues, Fraud

13 points by impish9208 36 days ago | 4 comments

'Don't call it zombie deer disease': infections spread across the US and globe (theguardian.com)
The contagious, fatal illness in deer, elk and moose must be taken seriously, say experts as it takes hold in the US and reaches other countries. While it has not infected humans yet, the risk is growing

Wildlife, Diseases, Public Health, Science, Environmental Issues

9 points by mindracer 36 days ago | 2 comments

Art the Whale (ejournals.sierracollege.edu)
A body floats up on the beach. It is discovered, identified, and found to have eight aliases. The body is dismembered, crudely jammed into dirty barrels, roughly tossed into the back of a truck, and buried in the dead of night by the light of automobile headlamps. Neighbors hear strange noises, and smell even stranger odors. Vats of unidentified liquid boil ominously at the site. Multinational corporations and government officials are involved. Eleven months pass. The body is exhumed and reassembled.

Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Environmental Issues

14 points by OptionOfT 39 days ago | 3 comments

Amazon forest felled to build road for COP30 (bbc.co.uk)
A new four-lane highway cutting through tens of thousands of acres of protected Amazon rainforest is being built for the COP30 climate summit in the Brazilian city of Belém.

Deforestation, Climate Change, Brazil, Environmental Issues, COP30

9 points by kerrsclyde 45 days ago | 0 comments

Trump withdraws new pipeline rules based on CO2 leaks in Mississippi, Louisiana (veritenews.org)
Nearly five years after a pipeline spewed poison gas across a Mississippi town, federal regulators appeared ready in recent weeks to institute new safety rules aimed at preventing similar accidents across the U.S.’s fast-growing network of carbon dioxide (CO2) pipelines.

Politics, Environmental Issues, Pipelines, Climate Change

7 points by rntn 47 days ago | 0 comments

First analysis finds America's butterflies disappearing at "catastrophic" rate (apnews.com)
America’s butterflies are disappearing because of insecticides, climate change and habitat loss, with the number of the winged beauties down 22% since 2000, a new study finds.

Environmental Issues, Climate Change, Insects, Biology, Conservation

10 points by lelandfe 50 days ago | 0 comments

Half of world’s CO2 emissions come from 36 fossil fuel firms, study shows (theguardian.com)
Half of the world’s climate-heating carbon emissions come from the fossil fuels produced by just 36 companies, analysis has revealed.

Climate Change, Environmental Issues, Fossil Fuels, Business, Research

15 points by giuliomagnifico 52 days ago | 8 comments

PFAS in fertilisers blamed for killing livestock in Texas and wreaking havoc (chemistryworld.com)
The mystery of why farmers had started falling ill in Johnson County, Texas and what killed the fish in their ponds and livestock on their ranches may have been solved.

Environmental Issues, Agriculture, Chemicals, Texas, Livestock

107 points by chiffre01 54 days ago | 38 comments

Federal Firings Threaten Great Lakes' $5B Fishery (insideclimatenews.org)
Sweeping layoffs of federal employees have struck the program responsible for controlling the invasive sea lamprey that threatens fish across the Great Lakes, the earth’s largest freshwater ecosystem.

Government, Environmental Issues, Invasive Species, Great Lakes, Fisheries

33 points by rntn 56 days ago | 2 comments

Environmental Protection Agency Will Lose 65 Percent of Staff, Trump Says (nytimes.com)
During his cabinet meeting on Wednesday, President Trump casually mentioned that Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, intended to fire 65 percent of employees, an incision so deep that officials said it would hobble the E.P.A.

Politics, Environmental Issues, Government, Staff Reductions, Trump Administration

28 points by insane_dreamer 58 days ago | 4 comments

These park rangers oversaw Florida's only manatee refuge. Then they were fired (tampabay.com)
The Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to the federal workforce are impacting the only national refuge created specifically for threatened manatees.

Environmental Issues, Politics, Florida, Endangered Species, National Parks

10 points by howard941 63 days ago | 2 comments

Brazilian city in Amazon declares emergency after sinkholes appear (theguardian.com)
Authorities in a city in the Brazilian Amazon have declared a state of emergency after huge sinkholes opened up, threatening hundreds of homes.

Brazil, Amazon Rainforest, Natural Disasters, Environmental Issues, Emergency Response

7 points by tosh 63 days ago | 0 comments

'Triangle of death': will Italy tackle mafia's toxic waste dumping? (theguardian.com)
Cancer rates have soared in Casalnuovo di Napoli, Italy, where burying or burning of waste has poisoned water and land

Mafia, Environmental Issues, Italy, Crime, Health

4 points by rntn 66 days ago | 0 comments

'Honestly terrifying': Yosemite National Park is in chaos (sfgate.com)
Yosemite National Park is in trouble. Hamstrung by President Donald Trump’s hiring freeze, hundreds of rescinded job offers and the threat of coming layoffs, the park is poised to enter its busiest months of the year severely short-staffed.

National Parks, Politics, Environmental Issues, Tourism

116 points by tzs 67 days ago | 48 comments

Worst avian flu crisis ever recorded spreads across Antarctica (elpais.com)
The highly pathogenic avian influenza virus, which has caused the death of hundreds of millions of birds in the last five years around the world, is spreading across Antarctica, a pristine paradise for wildlife.

Avian Flu, Antarctica, Wildlife, Environmental Issues, Global Health

9 points by belter 68 days ago | 0 comments