University funding from fossil fuels slowing switch to green energy – report

Stephan: 

The corporations that are destroying Earth’s ecosystems are trying to corrupt university science departments the same way they have corrupted U.S. politics. I find it weird actually. Many of these corporate scum seem to think they are not going to be affected by the damage they are doing to our world. Making their short-term profit seems to be the only thing they care about.

BP funneled more than $2m to Princeton’s Carbon Mitigation Initiative between 2012 and 2017, new research has found. Composite: Bloomberg / Getty / the Guardian

Fossil fuel companies’ funding of universities’ climate-focused efforts is delaying the green transition, according to the most extensive peer-reviewed study to date of the industry’s influence on academia.

For the study, published in the journal WIREs Climate Change on Thursday, six researchers pored over thousands of academic articles on industries’ funding of research from the past two decades. Just a handful of them focused on oil and gas companies, showing a “worrying lack of attention” to the issue, the analysis says.

But even that small body of research shows a pattern of industry influence: “The academic integrity of higher education is at risk,” they write.

During the past two decades, non-profits, campus organizers and a small group of scholars have sounded the alarm about oil companies’ influence in academia, drawing parallels to tobaccopharmaceuticals and food producers who have also funded scholarship.

In the new study, researchers found that out of roughly 14,000 peer-reviewed articles about conflicts of interest, bias and research funding […]

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US election 2024: How Kamala Harris and Donald Trump differ starkly on energy and climate

Stephan: 

If you want to continue to live on an Earth that resembles the one you have known all your life, you better vote only for Democrats. It is that simple

On 5 November, US voters will elect either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump as their next president.

The election, in a nation that is the largest oil producer and second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, will be highly significant for climate politics both in the US and around the world.

Harris, a Democrat who is currently serving as vice president under Joe Biden, is part of a government that has passed the most ambitious climate legislation in US history.

US fossil-fuel production has surged during the Biden administration. However, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has set the nation on a course to slash its domestic emissions by offering billions of dollars in subsidies and tax credits for clean energy and electric vehicles.

Trump, the Republican candidate, is a climate sceptic who rolled back many environmental regulations during his 2017-2021 presidential term. He has dismissed climate policies as a “scam”, pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement and called for yet more oil production by repeating the mantra […]

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Biden-Harris Admin to Invest $7.3B in Rural Clean Energy Projects Across 23 States

Stephan: 

Here is some good news about transitioning out of the carbon era. It is from Democrats, of course, the MAGAt Republicans don’t even mention climate change in their Project 2025 book. Traitor Trump never mentions doing anything to promote the transition. so it you want to prepare for climate change the only choice is voting for Democrats.

Webb Farm Solar Systems Inc. in Humboldt, Tennessee received assistance from the USDA to purchase and install a solar array, seen on April 4, 2024. Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture

On a visit to Wisconsin Thursday, President Joe Biden announced $7.3 billion in financing for 16 rural clean energy projects to be directed by rural electric cooperatives through the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program.

The combination of New ERA and other Inflation Reduction Act-funded rural green energy projects comprise the biggest rural electrification investment since the 1936 Rural Electrification Act, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of the New Deal, a press release from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) said.

“The Inflation Reduction Act makes the largest investment in rural electrification since FDR and the New Deal in the 1930s,” said John Podesta, President Joe Biden’s senior advisor for international climate policy, in the press release. “Today’s awards will bring clean, affordable, reliable power to rural Americans all across our nation.”

The 16 selections funded by the president’s […]

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The first silent wind turbine is the end of solar panels: 1500 kWh from your garden and free electricity

Stephan: 

This is some good news about home energy. It is the latest development in wind power and it looks very interesting. The cost to set it up is about $5,500. We can’t do solar here, because it is too cloudy in the winter, but this might work and I am going to look into it. You might too.

Credits: newatlas.com

Self-consumption has traditionally been linked to solar panels, with power output skyrocketing across the country. However, a team of engineers has just turned this trend on its head and shown that there are even more viable options. Not enough hours of sunshine in your city? Not enough space in your backyard? Don’t worry, this is the first silent wind turbine that will revolutionize the way you produce clean, free electricity with skyrocketing efficiency.

Have you thought about installing solar panels? Now, you have a better option at home

Liam F1 wind turbine, that was recently unveiled into the market by the Dutch Archimedes company, is a new generation wind energy innovation developed by a startup company. And this type of turbine is intended to be nearly noiseless, highly efficient and compatible with the cityscapes.

Taking its cue from the nautilus shell with its fronds resembling the golden ratio in shape, the Liam F1 represents a fresh design concept for wind turbines that addresses the challenges of the traditional systems. The type of wind […]

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Why fascists hate universities

Stephan: 

Here is some good international news about citizens pushing back against fascist governments. But I picked this story because it also makes a second point explaining why fascists, in the U.S. the MAGAt Republican Party, don’t like citizens to be educated. This is why the MAGAts in Congress have blocked the Biden – Harris attempt to forgive student college debt. If you know someone in college or about to go to college I urge you to look at this week’s SR podcast Some Good News About Student Debt because there have been some very good news developments that I cover.

‘Hungary’s autocratic prime minister, Viktor Orbán, started a political campaign with an attack on Central European University in Budapest.’ Credit: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty 

In Bangladesh, something remarkable has happened. Initially in response to a quota system that reserved the majority of government jobs for specific groups, university students initiated large-scale non-violent protests. Bangladesh’s increasingly autocratic prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, responded essentially with “let them eat cake.” Instead of calming the protests down, Hasina’s response made the protests grow nationwide.

In mid-July, the government responded with extreme violence, with police gunning down hundreds of students and shutting down the internet across the country. Scenes of extreme police brutality flooded social media. By the end of July, the protests had grown into a nationwide pro-democracy movement. Eventually, the military joined the students, and Hasina fled the country. A nationwide student-led democracy movement successfully challenged a violent autocratic leader, and, at least for now, appears to have won.

Bangladesh’s non-violent student movement has not gone unnoticed in neighboring countries. In Pakistan, the popular former prime minister and leader of the opposition party, Imran Khan, was jailed a […]

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Gaza officials reveal 70 percent of Palestinians killed by Israel are women, children

Stephan: 

I find it disgusting and amazing that the Biden administration continues to ship billions of dollars of weapons to Israel to carry out what is clearly a genocide. Over 17,000 children have been murdered while this has been going on. I think Kamala Harris should be challenged repeatedly by citizens and the media on what she intends to do about this war crime.

Palestinian children after an Israeli attack. Credit: AA

The majority of the victims of Israel’s war on Gaza have been women and children, according to data released by the strip’s Government Media Office on 5 September. 

The data reveals that “69 percent of the victims are children and women.” The number of dead children alone stands at 16,715, while the number of women killed stands at 11,308. 

Marking “335 days of the genocide,” the media office highlighted that 3,556 massacres have been committed by the Israeli army against Palestinians in Gaza since the start of the war. 

The overall death toll now stands at 40,878, while another 10,000 are missing, either still under the rubble or in Israeli detention. 

The media office statement adds that nearly 1,000 medical workers and civil defense workers have been killed by Israeli forces. The number of journalists killed is now 172.

Additionally, seven mass graves have been found inside hospitals in the Gaza Strip.

Over 170 displacement shelters have […]

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