Hacker News with Generative AI: Environmentalism

Bill Gates Is Playing Both Sides of the Climate Crisis (jacobin.com)
Bill Gates presents himself as a climate champion, but his trust has actually increased its fossil fuel investments since his divestment pledge. It's just the latest example of the billionaire appointing himself to solve problems he helps perpetuate.
Climate Change, Environmentalism, Billionaires, Capitalism
16 points by zdw 4 days ago | 0 comments
World Is Burning. Here's What You Can Do About It (joanwestenberg.com)
Everything hurts right now.
Climate Change, Environmentalism, Activism
12 points by vednig 6 days ago | 2 comments
Waste Wars: The Afterlife of Trash (nytimes.com)
In the closing years of the Cold War, something strange started to happen.
Recycling, Environmentalism, Misinformation
10 points by mgav 7 days ago | 5 comments
Dark Money Groups Want the Government to Bet Big on Crypto (jacobin.com)
Right-wing dark money groups are lobbying for the US and state governments to invest billions of dollars in Bitcoin reserves, jeopardizing public funds and the environment alike.
Cryptocurrency, Politics, Finance, Environmentalism
23 points by PaulHoule 10 days ago | 2 comments
'social network' attacking pesticide critics shuts down after investigation (theguardian.com)
A US company that was secretly profiling hundreds of food and environmental health advocates in a private web portal has said it has halted the operations in the face of widespread backlash, after its actions were revealed by the Guardian and other reporting partners.
Social Media, Advocacy, Environmentalism, Journalism, Transparency
67 points by rguiscard 11 days ago | 18 comments
Botanical gardens have reached peak capacity (cosmosmagazine.com)
In an analysis of a century’s worth of data on botanical gardens and arboreta, researchers reveal that global living plant collections have reached capacity, impacting their ability to meet scientific and conservation goals.
Science, Botany, Conservation, Environmentalism, Research
9 points by geox 12 days ago | 0 comments
Why it is important not to have children (2012) (stallman.org)
The most important thing you can do, avoid global heating disaster and make a positive contribution to the world, is avoid having children. The numbers, which were calculated for modern America, say that having a child equals roughly 36 round-trip transatlantic flights per year.
Climate Change, Overpopulation, Environmentalism, Ethics
11 points by likeabatterycar 13 days ago | 10 comments
One Child's Outsized Influence on the Debate over Plastic Straws (2018) (npr.org)
People are talking a lot about plastic straws these days — how international corporations like Starbucks and Marriott International are banning them, and the deleterious impact they have on the environment.
Environmentalism, Plastic Pollution, Social Impact
8 points by Jimmc414 13 days ago | 4 comments
AI narrows our vision of climate solutions and reinforces the status quo (anthropocenemagazine.org)
AI-powered chatbots tend to suggest cautious, incremental solutions to environmental problems that may not be sufficient to meet the magnitude and looming time scale of these challenges, a new analysis reveals.
Artificial Intelligence, Climate Change, Environmentalism, Status Quo
8 points by devonnull 17 days ago | 0 comments
Bioaccumulation of microplastics in decedent human brains (nature.com)
Rising global concentrations of environmental microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) drive concerns for human exposure and health outcomes.
Science, Environmentalism, Health, Human Body
20 points by perfunctory 17 days ago | 1 comments
Overshoot: How the World Surrendered to Climate Breakdown (lrb.co.uk)
Climate Change, Environmentalism, Books, Sustainability
7 points by mitchbob 21 days ago | 1 comments
Signs Of Life In A Desert (noemamag.com)
In the dry and fiery deserts of Central Asia, among the mythical sites of both the first human and the end of all days, I found evidence that life restores itself even on the bleakest edge of ecological apocalypse.
Science, Nature, Environmentalism, Ecology
69 points by mindingnever 22 days ago | 12 comments
When industry manipulates science to prevent a PFAS ban (lemonde.fr)
Environmentalism, Science, Industry, Politics
9 points by domofutu 31 days ago | 0 comments
Superabundance Is Coming – But Only If Humanity Commits to Protecting the Planet (ageoftransformation.org)
Superabundance is within reach. But ironically, the precondition to getting it is by giving it up. It sounds paradoxical, but this is actually the key to the next great leap in human evolution. I set this out with a rigorous scientific framework in my new paper on the Planetary Phase Shift.
Sustainability, Environmentalism, Human Evolution, Science
12 points by noahbergamasco 32 days ago | 3 comments
A Woman Has Restored Dry Desert Rivers into Green Oasis Flowing with Water [video] (youtube.com)
Environmentalism, Water Conservation, Deserts, Sustainability, Video
20 points by ciconia 34 days ago | 3 comments
Rewilding the Self (worldsensorium.com)
We are rapidly losing the natural world—the very foundation of our existence—and many of us fail to notice. The intricate connections between humanity and the wild are fading from our awareness. We no longer see, hear, touch, or smell the vibrant ecosystems that once surrounded us; we have forgotten their importance in this disconnection.
Environmentalism, Rewilding
147 points by dnetesn 40 days ago | 65 comments
Fears of 'rogue rewilding' in Scottish Highlands after further lynx sightings (theguardian.com)
For a brief moment this week, lynx have been roaming the Scottish Highlands once again. But this was not the way conservationists had hoped to end their 1,000-year absence.
Wildlife Conservation, Scotland, Lynx, Ecology, Environmentalism
4 points by rntn 41 days ago | 0 comments
Inconvenient truths about the fires burning in Los Angeles from two fire experts (latimes.com)
For decades, Jack Cohen and Stephen Pyne have studied the history and behavior of wildfires. The magnitude of destruction this week in Los Angeles and Altadena, they argue, could have been mitigated. Society’s understanding and relationship to fire has to change if the conflagrations like these are to be prevented.
Wildfires, Climate Change, Los Angeles, Environmentalism, Fire Safety
34 points by andsoitis 41 days ago | 63 comments
Who would have won the Simon-Ehrlich bet over different decades? (ourworldindata.org)
In 1980, the biologist Paul Ehrlich agreed to a bet with the economist Julian Simon on how the prices of five materials would change over the next decade.
Economics, Environmentalism, Predictions, History, 1980s
75 points by sien 44 days ago | 74 comments
2024: A Record-Breaking Year for the Ocean Cleanup (theoceancleanup.com)
In 2024, The Ocean Cleanup made significant progress toward ridding the world’s oceans of plastic. From scaling up our work in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) to expanding river cleanup efforts globally, every milestone brought us closer to solving this critical environmental challenge.
Environmentalism, Ocean Cleanup, Plastic Pollution
57 points by ksec 47 days ago | 28 comments
Redwood Materials recycled a record 20 GWh of batteries in 2024 (twitter.com)
Recycling, Battery Technology, Sustainability, Environmentalism, Business
3 points by peterisza 49 days ago | 1 comments
Morgan Stanley Follows Citi, BofA in Quitting Climate Group (bloomberg.com)
Morgan Stanley terminated its membership of a major climate-banking group, joining a wave of Wall Street firms that recently quit a global alliance intended to aid the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions.
Finance, Climate Change, Environmentalism
71 points by richrichie 50 days ago | 92 comments
Limits to Growth (1972) (bit-player.org)
"Computation and the Human Predicament," in the May–June issue of American Scientist, discusses the World3 computer model, introduced in the 1972 book The Limits to Growth. As a way of better understanding the inner structure of the model, I have been working to re-implement it as a web application. The current state of this project is on exhibit here.
Modeling, Environmentalism, Sustainability
99 points by Tomte 53 days ago | 87 comments
We don't know how many birds die in structural collisions (robertvanwey.substack.com)
A widely-touted argument against windmills is their alleged propensity to cause the rampant deaths of avian species.
Environmentalism, Wind Energy, Wildlife
25 points by chmaynard 65 days ago | 64 comments
When Two Hemispheres Collide: Where to Now for Rewilding in Ireland? (worldsensorium.com)
When Two Hemispheres Collide: Where to now for rewilding in Ireland?
Rewilding, Ireland, Conservation, Environmentalism, Geography
81 points by dnetesn 65 days ago | 21 comments
The Engineering of Wildlife Crossings (practical.engineering)
This is the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing under construction over the 101 just outside Los Angeles, California. When it’s finished in a few years, it will be the largest wildlife crossing (*of its kind*) on the planet. The bridge is 210 feet (64 meters) long and 174 feet (53 meters) wide, roughly the same breadth as the ten-lane superhighway it crosses. Needless to say, a crossing like this isn’t cheap.
Engineering, Wildlife, Construction, Environmentalism
61 points by impish9208 66 days ago | 6 comments
How to Repair the Planet? One Answer Might Be Hiding in Plain Sight (nytimes.com)
We tend to look at environmental problems in isolation. A holistic approach would be more effective, a new report says.
Environmentalism, Sustainability, Climate Change, Science, Reports
8 points by zeristor 66 days ago | 3 comments
Consider the Shipwreck: Ten Books on Maritime Disasters and Ecological Collapse (lithub.com)
I am a nature writer during ecocollapse. I have an incurable genetic kidney disease, polycystic kidney disease (PKD), inherited from my father, that has tracked down our family for more than one hundred and fifty years, and killed most of us before we reached fifty. After facing those twin tragedies, you’d think I’d be reading cat mysteries, romances, books about gardening. Instead, I find myself in indie bookstores looking for books about shipwrecks.
Nature Writing, Environmentalism, Literature, Maritime History
29 points by anarbadalov 67 days ago | 6 comments
Has nuclear power entered a new era of acceptance amid global warming? (latimes.com)
When Heather Hoff took a job at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, she was skeptical of nuclear energy — so much so that she resolved to report anything questionable to the anti-nuclear group Mothers for Peace.
Nuclear Power, Climate Change, Environmentalism
4 points by PaulHoule 70 days ago | 3 comments
As Wolf Populations Rebound, an Angry Backlash Intensifies (e360.yale.edu)
The reintroduction of endangered wolves to Yellowstone National Park 30 years ago was a major conservation victory. But as wolves have spread across the West, anger and resentment at the apex predator has escalated, with hunters in some states increasingly targeting them.
Wildlife, Conservation, Environmentalism, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Politics
10 points by chmaynard 71 days ago | 8 comments