[GWSG] Water battery; battery map; adapting fungi; insects decline; just and sustainable; WAPO program; AirCrete domes; Solar Decathlon

[Tilley, Al]

1. A new area of battery research is the water battery with polymer cathodes and anodes. Such batteries can increase energy storage capacity as much as 1000% over Li-ion batteries. And, no fires, no rare and expensive materials. https://electrek.co/2023/03/31/storage-capacity-water-based-batteries/

2. Groups organized by fossil fuel corporations are attempting to obstruct construction of new battery facilities. The story features a map of operational and announced US battery gigafactories. https://climatecrocks.com/2023/04/03/fossil-fueled-right-wing-adds-new-front-to-anti-clean-energy-battle-battery-facilities/

3. Humans are generally immune from internal fungal infections because our body temperature is a bit too high for them to survive. However, as the ambient temperature rises, fungi are capable of adapting to the increase, and in India a human has contracted a fungal infection ordinarily restricted to plants. https://climatecrocks.com/2023/04/03/in-india-new-instance-of-fungal-infection-jumping-from-plant-to-humans/
The Center for Disease Control warns that candida auris poses a nationwide threat. https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/cdc-warns-dangerous-fungus-infection-poses-nationwide-threat-167952965644  I am familiar with candida as a problem infection in hospitals and nursing homes among people already weakened by poor health; it now appears to be spreading in some general populations. I do not know whether its new virulence is due to an adaptation to a heating climate, but it is a possibility new to me.

4. A majority of insect species are declining in forests as well as in cities and agricultural areas. The decline is greatest in larger and more abundant species; managed forests experience more decline than unmanaged and protected forests. https://phys.org/news/2023-04-insect-decline-forests.html

5. What action has been taken to deal with sea level rise among the cities of the US SE coast usually protects the homes and concerns of the wealthy. A heritage of racism makes those plans especially unjust, but we can imagine and should choose more equitable adaptation plans that can lead to viable and even desirable communities. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/04/charleston-south-carolina-racist-mistakes-rising-sea-levels

6. The Washington Post today offered a live program on Sustainable Cities in its Climate Conversations series. The last 20 minutes is an interview of Brenda Mallory, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. The topic throughout the hour and twenty minute program is how to deal successfully with a heritage of structural racism as we build sustainable communities. (You must put up with a representative of 3M, the sponsor, who believes that if we attend to science we will approve of hydrogen as a fuel; we hope she has not yet heard that it is a secondary greenhouse gas.) Since the past programs are available for viewing on the linked page, I assume that this one will soon be as well; since it was open access, I hope that the tape will be open too.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/climate-conversations/

7. If you have some land and a nostalgia for Fuller’s domes (but resistance to their leaks), AirCrete may be your dream material. 10% of the cost of conventional construction, self-insulating, and capable of taking any shape you can imagine. Equipment for building a new sustainable community? https://www.treehugger.com/diy-dome-homes-made-aircrete-affordable-ecofriendly-option-4858759?hid=32e98be45af0c3a04424ac172ca1406ef3120015&did=8771145-20230405&utm_source=treehugger&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=treehugger-daily_newsletter&utm_content=040523&lctg=32e98be45af0c3a04424ac172ca1406ef3120015

8. For other sustainable home ideas, the 2023 Solar Decathlon features eleven teams whose houses will be open for viewing in the next two weeks. If you would like to take tours virtually, click the Solar Decathlon link at the bottom of the page. https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/visit-solar-decathlon-zero-energy-home-near-you-april-4-18

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.unf.edu/pipermail/gwsg/attachments/20230405/e296f484/attachment.htm>