Via The Land Desk, an essay on water in the U.S. West – where values, math, and the “Law of the River” collide: This spring, I had the pleasure to sit on a panel on water in the West with Paolo Bacigalupi and Heather Hansman, two writers I’ve long admired. During the question & answer period, […]
Via KOSA, a look at one Texas farm’s efforts to protect its aquifer amid growing water export concerns: Located 99 miles from Midland, Belding Farms, a 60-year-old pecan orchard in Fort Stockton, is making significant strides to safeguard its groundwater supply. The farm recently petitioned the local groundwater district to create a mitigation fund. This […]
Courtesy of Wired, an article on South Sudan where protracted flooding has engulfed the country’s Sudd region due to more water entering the Nile upstream, which is driving conflict and disease and is potentially leaving the region uninhabitable: Enormous floods have once again engulfed much of South Sudan, as record water levels in Lake Victoria flow downstream […]
Via The Economist, a report on how Vladimir Putin hopes to transform Russian trade, aiming his country’s future towards China and India: Vladimir Putin is spending big on his war in Ukraine. The Russian president has disbursed over $200bn, or 10% of GDP, on the invasion, according to America’s Department of Defence. He now plans to invest […]
Via The Diplomat, a report on the need for the Taliban government to acknowledge the potential loss of international aid and cash shipments next year, and focus on identifying alternative ways to support livelihoods: The evolving political landscapes and priorities of the United States and other donor nations may pose a threat to the ongoing […]
Via Dialogue Earth, an article on how – despire recent attacks in Pakistan’s Balochistan province and shifting project dynamics, both countries remain committed to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: More than 50 people were killed in late August during multiple attacks in Pakistan’s impoverished southwestern province of Balochistan. Despite extensive infrastructure investments made in the region, mostly through […]
Via Grist, a look at how one company’s pledge to conserve water at its data centers doesn’t account for the thirsty power plants that keep them running: Earlier this year, the e-commerce corporation Amazon secured approval to open two new data centers in Santiago, Chile. The $400 million venture is the company’s first foray into locating its data facilities, […]
Via Water Education.org, a look at the increasing use of solar-powered canopies over canals: A solar-paneled canopy now under construction over the Casa Blanca Canal near Phoenix is on track to be the first project of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. Source: Tectonicus Constructs LLC An intensifying but unseen force is stealing precious water […]
Via Bloomberg, a report on China’s advances in pumped hydro: Fengning station in Hebei province fully operational on Sunday Nation seeking to expand capacity to 120 gigawatts by 2030 State Grid Corp. of China has completed the world’s biggest pumped hydro plant as the nation ramps up its green energy capabilities. The ast of 12 […]
Via High Country News, a look at how engineering for flood resilience can address storms heightened by climate change. The living roof of the H2 Hotel in Healdsburg, California, both cools the building and mitigates rainwater runoff.John D. Ivanko/Alamy Stock Photo In early February, meteorologists warned Southern Californians that a supercharged storm was headed their way, […]
Via The Economist, a report on grid-scale batteries: Decarbonising the world’s electricity supply will take more than solar panels and wind turbines, which rely on sunshine and a steady breeze to generate power. Grid-scale storage offers a solution to this intermittency problem, but there is too little of it about. The International Energy Agency (IEA), an […]
Via PERC, a look at how water markets could be utilized to help rescue Great Salt Lake: When the sculptor Robert Smithson began laying down rocks at a place called Rozel Point, a nub of shoreline encircling the Great Salt Lake, he had no idea that one day his twisting, turning creation called Spiral […]
Via Middle East Research and Information Project, a report on The Gulf’s ‘new scramble for Africa’: In early November 2023, shortly before the COP28 summit opened in Dubai, a hitherto obscure UAE firm attracted significant media attention around news of their prospective land deals in Africa. Reports suggested that Blue Carbon—a company privately owned by […]
Via Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP), a new report on extractive agribusinesses used to help ensure food security in the Arab region: Between 2014 and 2021, the total number of Arabs suffering from moderate to severe food insecurity increased from 120 million to 154 million.[1] This insecurity, however, was not distributed evenly across the […]
Via The Economist, a look at why U.S. politicians are obsessed with mythical Chinese land grabs There was a time when Kim Reynolds, the governor of Iowa, had no problem with Chinese investment. In 2012, when she was the state’s lieutenant governor, she met Xi Jinping, then China’s vice-premier, on a visit to Beijing. In 2017, as governor, she […]
Via the Wall Street Journal, a report on Electronic Arts’ use of new tech to scan photos for its videogame after securing players’ likeness rights for the first time A character artist works on the new ‘EA Sports College Football 25.’ PHOTO: EA SPORTS It has been over a decade since Electronic Arts released a college football videogame. To […]
Via MIT’s Technology Review, a report on how how AI-powered NPCs that don’t need a script could make games—and other worlds—deeply immersiv First, a confession. I only got into playing video games a little over a year ago (I know, I know). A Christmas gift of an Xbox Series S “for the kids” dragged me—pretty easily, […]
Via Sports Business Journal, a look at how Gym Class VR is building on its popularity with the addition of NBA logos and venues: The mid-range jumper may be a lost art in the NBA game, but I sank one from just inside the free-throw line at the TD Garden, as the PA announcer called out the basket. […]
Via Green Roofs.com, a report on another green roof in Boston: This month, Recover Green Roofs celebrated the opening of Newmarket Farm at Boston Medical Center (BMC) at 960 Mass. Ave. The green roof design process highlights a critical collaboration between BMC, Recover Green Roofs, and Higher Ground Farm. Recover completed the installation in the Spring of 2024. Each organization […]
Via The Cool Down, a report on Tesla’s ‘solar roof’: Solar power is an excellent way to ease the pain of rising electricity bills. Solar panels on roofs are becoming a popular option for homeowners looking to save money on their energy bills. Tesla’s Solar Roof takes it one step further and is actually creating income for some people. The […]
Via AquaTech, a look at the potential of blue-green roofs: Blue-green roofs have the potential to solve four urban problems in one go: increased water collection and reuse; sustainable energy production; building insulation and thriving eco-systems. What to do with roof space in urban environments The potential uses for rooftops in urban environments tend to […]
Via Forbes, a look at how Markel’s Chief executive Thomas Gayner has quietly turned insurer Markel into a mini-conglomerate. Meet Richmond’s answer to the Oracle of Omaha: Thomas Gayner gets a kick out of telling the story. It was 1983. He had just graduated from the University of Virginia with a plan to return home to Salem, […]
Via The Economist, a look at a firm which many consider as technology’s Berkshire Hathaway: For older startups these are tough times. The weak recent stockmarket debuts of Arm, a British chipmaker, Instacart, a grocery-delivery group, and Klaviyo, a software firm, have dampened enthusiasm for initial public offerings. Venture capital (vc) has dried up. Data […]
Via Bloomberg, interesting commentary on how many – such as crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried couldn’t survive the comparison – but others who actually invest somewhat like the Berkshire Hathaway chairman fare better: A couple of months ago, crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried was peering out from the cover of Fortune magazine above the words “The Next Warren Buffett?” Now he’s at […]
Via Science.org, a look at how software trained to identify fences from aerial images could help wildlife managers prevent pronghorn from getting stuck and starving: As many as 1 million kilometers of fence may crisscross the western United States, enough to stretch to the Moon and back. Erected over the past century, largely to contain […]
Via Terra Daily, a look at how tech-enabled sea lions are helping uncover ocean habitats: The world’s seabeds remain largely unexplored, with current knowledge being inconsistent. Utilizing remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) to study seabeds can be costly, dependent on weather conditions, and challenging in deep, remote areas.To address these obstacles, Australian researchers have turned […]
Via Hakai Magazine, a look at how scientists are working on a machine learning tool that could, one day, identify individual animals from photographs of their footprints: Some wild animals are relatively easy to study. Certain penguin populations, for instance, are so unaccustomed to large predators that they barely fear humans and will often wander right up […]