"The US government’s own scientists on Thursday questioned whether corn-based ethanol is better for the environment than traditional petroleum-based fuels, nearly two decades after Congress first mandated its use."
When nations converge this fall for the latest round of annual talks on harnessing climate change, they meet at a crucial juncture. Will the increasingly dramatic impacts of global warming, and the prospects of worse, focus their attention enough to bring about progress? In this sweeping analysis, Backgrounder assesses the varied pressures at play at the coming COP28, along with tips for covering it, from up close or afar.
"The state of California filed a lawsuit against some of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, claiming they deceived the public about the risks of fossil fuels now faulted for climate change-related storms and wildfires that caused billions of dollars in damage, officials said Saturday."
"ExxonMobil issued its first public statement that burning fossil fuels contributes to climate change in 2006, following years of denial. ... Yet behind closed doors, Exxon took a very different tack: Its executives strategized over how to diminish concerns about warming temperatures, and they sought to muddle scientific findings that might hurt its oil-and-gas business ... ."
"A new court settlement will put the Environmental Protection Agency on track to regulate pesticides more tightly."
"Call it a win for the little species, though all kinds of endangered animals and plants stand to benefit.
A sweeping legal settlement approved this week has put the Environmental Protection Agency on a binding path to do something it has barely done before, by its own acknowledgment: Adequately consider the effects on imperiled species when it evaluates pesticides and take steps to protect them.
"Earth is exceeding its “safe operating space for humanity” in six of nine key measurements of its health, and two of the remaining three are headed in the wrong direction, a new study said."
"Beijing’s influence campaign using artificial intelligence is a rapid change in tactics, researchers from Microsoft and other organizations say."
"When wildfires swept across Maui last month with destructive fury, China’s increasingly resourceful information warriors pounced.
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