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New Intel chip factory raises questions about sustainability 
Economy, Featured, Kent State University

New Intel chip factory raises questions about sustainability 

By Grace Springer Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announces the new Intel factories. Photo via Ohio.gov Since the explosion of sustainability movements across the world, companies have released corporate responsibility reports often with a section on how they plan to protect the environment for future generations.  Intel has outlined several sustainability goals for the two new factories. These goals include aiming to run on 100% renewable energy, meeting exceptional water conservation standards and sending zero waste to landfills by 2030.  “I’m not saying that Intel cannot do it — definitely they can if they wanted to. The problem is, at the end of the day, it kind of gets back to money,” Omid Bagheri, Ph.D., professor of economics at Kent State University told Climate360....
Lithium: Not as clean as we thought
Economy, Energy, Loyola Marymount University, Technology

Lithium: Not as clean as we thought

 By Alex Kim All Electric Ford F-150 Truck at LA Car Show, 2021. Photographed by James Turner.  While electric cars reduce fossil fuel emissions once they are on the road, the production of the lithium-ion batteries that power them causes more displacement and CO2 emissions than the production of regular gas-powered cars. Disposal of the batteries at the end of their life cycle is also a growing concern. “There are carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions that come with the process of extraction,” said Zeke Hausfather, a scientist at climate research nonprofit Berkeley Earth told Climate360. “[It's] not like CO2 comes out of the lithium, but it does take energy to mine things — today many of those systems involve emitting CO2.”&nbs...
Thanksgiving’s 400 million pound footprint on climate change
Economy, Loyola Marymount University, Science, Video

Thanksgiving’s 400 million pound footprint on climate change

By Genesis Jefferson, Brandon Lang https://youtu.be/6TApGoc2KEQ After generous amounts of turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pie where do all those leftovers end up? And where do all those ingredients come from in the first place? Dr. Ermias Kebreab, associate Dean and professor of Animal Science at the University of California Davis, explains how food production affects climate change and what you can do this Thanksgiving to help limit your climate footprint. This Thanksgiving, Climate360News encourages you to reflect on the history of colonialism in the United States. Visit native-land.ca to learn more and join the conversation today.
COP26 Week 2: Summit “heats up” as representatives struggle to finalize plan
Economy, Loyola Marymount University, Policy

COP26 Week 2: Summit “heats up” as representatives struggle to finalize plan

By Alex Kim The second week of COP26 focused on drafting a global climate accord by the end of the summit, as criticisms continued to swirl around pledges that were made. Day Eight: Sunday, Nov. 7 A counter climate summit began on Sunday, Nov. 7, because of the “greenwashing” and inaction from investors and world leaders of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26). The purpose of The People’s Summit for Climate Justice is to bring attention to ideas and solutions which, it believes, have not been effectively addressed at COP26. Some of the key points that the counter-summit advocated for were the Global Green New Deal – a UN proposition from 2009 that has never been passed – and corporate liability for th...
COP26 Week 1: Catalyst for change or performative gesture?
Economy, Energy, Loyola Marymount University, Policy

COP26 Week 1: Catalyst for change or performative gesture?

By Alex Kim The first week of COP26 was packed with action. From new agreements to failings of old ones the first week leaves us with a lot to discuss. Day One: Sunday, Oct. 31 The opening days of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) brought out representatives and activists from the global community to discuss climate change and find ways to mitigate its effects on the planet. Though not formally invited, climate activist Greta Thunberg was swarmed by hundreds of people concerned with climate change upon her arrival to the convention in Glasgow, Scotland. Representatives from around the globe were calling on world leaders to take direct action to prevent the global climate from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above  “pre-industrial levels....
What is COP26?
Economy, Loyola Marymount University, Policy

What is COP26?

By Ashley Buschhorn Image ©No10 Crown Copyright . 04/02/2020. London, United Kingdom. Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson with Sir David Attenborough talk to school children at the Science Museum for Launch of the UK hosting of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26). Picture by Andrew Parsons / No10 Downing Street COP26 is the 26th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in Glasgow, Scotland, from Sunday, Oct. 31, through Friday, Nov. 12. This could be a pivotal event for the future of climate change. The Conference of Parties, the COP, consists of world superpowers such as the U.S., U.K., China and Russia. Two of the world’s largest pollutants, Russia and Brazil, will participate in COP, but their presidents will not be in attendance. China, ...
Carbon capture presents opportunities in industry-dominated states, experts say. But climate activists remain skeptical
Economy, Energy, Louisiana State University, Policy

Carbon capture presents opportunities in industry-dominated states, experts say. But climate activists remain skeptical

Photo by Chris LeBoutillier on Pexels.com By Sydney McGovern BATON ROUGE, LA – The holy grail of stopping climate change is to reduce carbon emissions across all sources to zero. One solution that holds promise is to capture carbon dioxide – the lead cause of global warming – before it’s emitted from refineries and other industrial sources. The practice, called carbon capture, utilization and storage, or CCUS, can be accomplished in many ways. Some are feasible but expensive. Others will require years of research and investment before being implemented. The technical challenges divide some researchers and advocates. Spend now to do what’s possible today, or wait for better CCUS technologies? Or jettison CCUS approaches altogether as too easy on big carbon emitters? “There’re...
By embracing sustainability, Louisiana farmers make their farms more efficient
Economy, Louisiana State University

By embracing sustainability, Louisiana farmers make their farms more efficient

Agricultural producers learn about conservation practices like cover crop management in the Louisiana Master Farmer certification program. Photo courtesy of Louisiana Master Farmer program By Sydney McGovern BATON ROUGE, LA – Mead Hardwick is a fourth-generation farmer. His family still lives and works off the same 20,000-acre plot of land that his great-grandfather purchased. He doesn’t fit the conventional image of a salt-of-the-earth agricultural farmer surrounded by dust and dressed in overalls. Hardwick moved to Dallas, earned a bachelor’s degree and worked in real estate finance for 11 years before finding his way back to the farm in Northeast Louisiana. “I grew up on the farm. I mean I literally, physically grew up here, and so that's always kind of with you,” Hardwick s...
‘We consume too much and we toss it too quickly’: Palomo-Lovinski encourages a circular fashion economy
Economy, Kent State University, Loyola Marymount University

‘We consume too much and we toss it too quickly’: Palomo-Lovinski encourages a circular fashion economy

Photo via Kent State University. By Kennedi Hewitt and Connor Fallon Before she was a beloved professor at Kent State University, Noël Palomo-Lovinski was a sustainable fashion designer in New York City. Ahead of her time, she got into sustainability as a new mom searching for more organic foods and products for her family. Over time it became a lifestyle.  “Once you start learning some facts about climate change you go down a deep rabbit hole and develop a passion,” said Palomo-Lovinski.  As a professor in the early 2000s, she used her experience to encourage her students to curate their fashion sustainably. She was met with backlash and told that she was destroying and limiting their creative practices. Despite this pushback, nearly 20 years...