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Observers on a boat using acoustic equipment reported four unidentified "gloops" but then realised their recording device wasn't plugged in.

Long but a good read. The fascinating life of Joseph Weizenbaum, the creator of ELIZA.

Mr Sunak's record on environmental issues has come under scrutiny in recent months after he said he would take a "proportionate approach" to climate change that balances net zero ambitions with the need to keep consumers' bills down.

That has drawn fury from climate protesters who have stepped up their campaigns, disrupting high-profile sporting events, classical music concerts and political speeches.

In response, Mr Sunak's ministers have introduced new laws to clamp down on "eco-mob" protester tactics including slow walking in busy roads and "locking-on" to buildings or infrastructure.

Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said protesters should "stop the stupid stunts".

120mA draw on 5V with camera support.

Fears of declines in food production, together with other climate-related calamities such as rising sea levels, have also raised the alarm as millions in South Asia are being internally displaced.

A report published by activist group ActionAid in 2020 estimated the region could see up to 63 million people become migrants by 2050 as a result of extreme weather events.

Huq said displacement from human-induced climate change was further adding to economic migration from rural to urban areas – a continuing phenomenon worldwide – with South Asia being a major “hotspot”, with the greatest displacement taking place in low-lying coastal areas.

“Climate change … is exacerbating the ‘push factor’ – the motivation to migrate away from place of residence – for people who are living in places where they can no longer continue to have livelihoods that they used to have, whether it’s farming or fishing,” he said.

By 2030, average annual losses from climate-change-related disasters are forecast to reach 15.4 billion Canadian dollars ($11.69bn), according to the federal government.

The Canadian Climate Institute also estimates that climate effects will slow Canada’s economic growth by 23.7 billion Canadian dollars ($18bn) annually by 2025, equal to 50 percent of projected gross domestic product growth.

video report from local source.

China battling extreme weather as rains take toll

July 5, 2023

China is making ongoing efforts to battle extreme weather, as rain-triggered floods wreak havoc in southern and central parts of the country.

The latest round of torrential rains since Monday had killed 15 people and left four others missing in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, as of 7 a.m. Wednesday, local authorities said.

Transcription (English): YANG SHIYAN, Xinhua correspondent "Now I am at Wanzhou District, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. Continuous heavy rainfall hit regions including southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, causing heavy casualties and property losses. Now authorities at all levels have given top priority to ensuring people's safety and property, and strived to minimize various losses in the work regarding flood prevention and disaster relief.The city's emergency response headquarters office has raised the relief response to Level III, allocating more than 29,000 items of disaster relief supplies, including tents, blankets and folding beds, to Wanzhou District, the hardest-hit area, where record-high rainfall was seen.China earmarked 320 million yuan (about 44.46 million U.S. dollars) on Wednesday from its central natural-disaster relief funds to support flood and geological disaster relief work in regions including Chongqing and Sichuan."Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Chongqing, China.

Last Saturday, June 24, 20 environmental activists gathered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in a demonstration against the increasingly harsh punishments facing climate protestors.

The group, made up of members from Extinction Rebellion and Rise & Resist, painted their palms red and black and formed a circle around Edgar Degas’s bronze sculpture Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (1878–81)—effectively recreating a protest staged by activists Joanna Smith and Tim Martin at the National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, D.C. earlier this year.

Smith and Martin, who belong to the Declare Emergency climate group, were arrested for splattering paint on the protective plexiglass surrounding a wax version of the same Degas sculpture at the NGA on April 27. The duo’s demonstration was among the first staged in an American institution after waves of similar protests rocked European museums last year.

The action caused $2,400 worth of damage, but the artwork was not harmed.

“It's a lot easier to pack a heavy battery into a vehicle if you don't have to lift it off the ground,” said Gernot Wagner, a climate economist at Columbia University.

That means sustainable aviation fuel has become the industry's best hope to achieve its promise of net zero emissions by 2050. Aviation produces 2% to 3% of worldwide carbon emissions, but its share is expected to grow as travel increases and other industries become greener.

Sustainable fuel, however, accounts for just 0.1% of all jet fuel. Made from sources like used cooking oil and plant waste, SAF can be blended with conventional jet fuel but costs much more.

Suppliers are “going to be able to kind of set the price," Molly Wilkinson, an American Airlines vice president, said at the air show. "And we fear that at that point, that price eventually is going to trickle down to the passenger in some form of a ticket price.”

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