[GWSG] Worried meat merchants; battery-powered trains; reefs in IC; a reassuring survey

[Tilley, Al]

1. The meat industry is worried about plant-based meat substitutes, and with good cause. Over half the people in the US are eating more plant-based foods and beverages, as are about two-thirds of the global population. The shift to a plant-based diet is healthier for people, cheaper (at least for more affluent nations, and potentially for everyone), and necessary for the health of the planet. https://cleantechnica.com/2021/11/22/are-alternative-proteins-worrying-the-meat-industry/

2. Diesel-electric trains (and essentially all those in the US are diesel-electric) can be retrofitted economically to become entirely electric, and should be. The conversion ordinarily means adding battery cars (“battery tenders”) and leaving the diesel engine in the train as a backup. The trains with their powerful batteries could double as emergency sources of backup power.  https://phys.org/news/2021-11-battery-electric-environmental-justice-resilience.html

3. US manufacturer Wabtec introduced the first all-electric freight locomotive last month. The linked article summarizes the Department of Energy’s Berkeley Lab report behind the item above and adds some thoughts on the electrification of US rail. https://cleantechnica.com/2021/11/29/battery-electric-freight-trains-could-happen-sooner-than-you-think/

4. Coral reefs are in decline as sea temperatures and pollution rise. Restoration of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef depends on controlling emissions from fossil fuels, management of environmental stressors such as the crown-of-thorns starfish and water quality, and a program to speed up the natural genetic adaptation of corals to water temperature. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/26/great-barrier-reef-how-a-spectacular-coral-spawning-event-is-helping-to-breed-heat-tolerant-corals

5. A Cambridge U survey finds a reassuring consensus globally, among people in a range of governments from dictatorships to democracies, on such fundamental issues as the desirability of democracy, the necessity to cease burning fossil fuels, hostility to racism, and approval of equal rights for women. Some persistent differences also emerge--British conservatives don't much like liberals, and liberals really don't like conservatives. But if we talked about basic values we would find that we are more alike than we think we are—including in our attitudes on climate. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/26/world-divided-black-lives-matter-climate-feminism

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