A Consumer Choice Gap in the Computer Market — And a Simple Fix [ 11-Feb-26 1:41pm ]AI is advancing fast. Digital education is expanding. Skills training, technical work, small business digitization, and creator economies are growing across the world — especially across Global South markets. But all of these futures share one very practical dependency: affordable computing devices. Phones connect people. Computers enable them to build, ... [continued]
The post A Consumer Choice Gap in the Computer Market — And a Simple Fix appeared first on CleanTechnica.
Plastic Fantastic (documentary review) [ 11-Feb-26 12:11pm ] On A Lark [ 11-Feb-26 11:50am ] Crazy Town: Episode 119. Getting Real about Resiliency with Emily Schoerning [ 11-Feb-26 11:05am ]
Op-Ed: VinFast is Refocusing on Asia, Planning to Sell 300,000 Vehicles [ 11-Feb-26 12:28pm ]VinFast's Retreat From America Was Inevitable A recent Nikkei Asia report said that Vietnamese carmaker VinFast was targeting a 300,000 annual vehicle sales in the coming years, with India and Southeast Asia positioned as core growth markets. That global total still has Europe and North America in mind, and underscores ... [continued]
The post Op-Ed: VinFast is Refocusing on Asia, Planning to Sell 300,000 Vehicles appeared first on CleanTechnica.
'The normal should be darkness': why one Belgian national park is turning off 'pointless' streetlights [ 11-Feb-26 12:00pm ]The radical project is an attempt to preserve wildlife in one of Europe's most light-polluted countries, but can they persuade local people they will still feel safe?
Two yellowing street lamps cast a pool of light on the dark road winding into the woods outside Mazée village. This scene is typical for narrow countryside roads in Wallonia in the south of Belgium. "Having lights here is logical," says André Detournay, 77, who has lived in the village for four decades. "I walk here with my dog and it makes me feel safe and gives me some protection from theft."
Belgium glows like a Christmas decoration at night, as witnessed from space. It is one of the most light-polluted countries in Europe, with the Milky Way scarcely visible except in the most remote areas.
Continue reading...
Excerpt:
submitted by /u/GravelySillyThe Federal Judicial Center has been established by statute as the "research and education agency of the judicial branch of the United States Government." As part of that role, it prepares documents that can serve as reference material for judges unfamiliar with topics that find their way into the courtroom. Among those projects is the "Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence," now in its fourth edition. Prepared in collaboration with the National Academies of Science, the document covers the process of science and specific topics that regularly appear before the courts, like statistical techniques, DNA-based identification, and chemical exposures.
When initially released in December, the fourth edition included material on climate change prepared by two authors at Columbia University. But a group of attorneys general from Republican-leaning states objected to this content. At the end of January, they sent a letter to the leadership of the Federal Judicial Center outlining their issues. Many of them focus on the text that accepts the reality of human-driven climate change as a fact.
"Nothing is 'independent' or 'impartial' in issuing a document on behalf of America's judges declaring that only one preferred view is 'within the boundaries of scientifically sound knowledge,'" the letter complains, while ignoring many topics where the document does exactly that. But the objections are only about one specific area of science: "The Fourth Edition places the judiciary firmly on one side of some of the most hotly disputed questions in current litigation: climate-related science and 'attribution.'"
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Recently I learned of the Late Neolithic Collapse and think it has some interesting similarities with the current and near-future human situation. The wikipedia pages of Neolithic decline, 4.2-kiloyear event and the papers 'Repeated plague infections across six generations of Neolithic Farmers' and 'Emergence and Spread of Basal Lineages of Yersinia pestis during the Neolithic Decline' are some interesting sources.
I summarise the similarities as:
General technological slowdown and stagnation. The Neolithic Revolution slowed down or completely stopped in the Late Neolithic period, while the Moore's law failed around 2015. Since 2015, technological advance has become more marginal, speculative and much less paradigm-shifting. SpaceX just delayed Mars mission in February 2026.
Rise of a non-productive 'priest' class who discourage innovation and try to monopolise knowledge and power. The priest class dominated Late Neolithic city states and monopolised power by controlling knowledge and written material. Unfortunately we have a rising techno-feudalism who strives to achieve similar goals. They have been fairly successful in manipulating popular opinion by social media and algorithms.
Potential global crisis of climate and plague. Bubonic Plague spreaded through Late Neolithic Europe and Middle East and wiped out the majority of Anatolian Neolithic Farmers aka Early European Farmers. The 4.2-kiloyear event of global cooling was the final nail in the coffin of EEF, Longshan and Liangzhu culture. We seem to be safe from another devastating global plague but the antivax movement has gained momentum. The 2025 Texas measles outbreak can be partially blamed on decreasing vaccination rates.
Idiocracy: dumbing down of population due to significantly higher fertility rate of Ultra-religious and anti-science people. The plagues caused more devastation in the more educated Late Neolithic cities than the countryside, because the cities had higher population density and more foreign contact. The Bolivian Mennonites and Israeli Haredim have fertility rates of 6-7 and they mostly refuse to learn modern science or serve in the military. Places like Inner Melbourne have 1.0 fertility rate. The conversion rates of these Ultra-religious groups actually decreased so we can't count on them gradually assimilating into the urban population.
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Plans by the Donald Trump administration to fund right-wing groups in Europe have been slammed by policymakers and campaigners as an effort to "usurp European democracy".
According to the Financial Times, the U.S. State Department plans to bankroll think tanks and charities in the UK and Europe which share President Trump's agenda, with particular focus on blocking attempts to regulate U.S. social media platforms.
Daniel Freund, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Greens, told DeSmog that the funding had "one clear aim: to divide and destabilise Europe."
"We must clearly name, criticise, and reject such foreign interference," he added.
Sarah Rogers, U.S. under secretary of state for public diplomacy, is leading this effort, having visited the UK, France, and Italy in early December.
Her visit coincided with the publication of a new U.S. national security strategy, which called for "cultivating resistance" in Europe to liberal, democratic politics.
"The U.S. has a long history of covert manipulation of politics across the globe. But to see it happen in Europe is new, and we should be worried," said Kenneth Haar of the transparency watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory. "Big Tech regulation is set to be the first testing ground of the new American way of imposing their will on Europe."
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Email Address What content do you want to subscribe to? (check all that apply) All International UK Sign Up (function($){ $('.newsletter-container .ijkidr-us').click(function() { $('.js-cm-form').attr('data-id', '2BE4EF332AA2E32596E38B640E905619D07B21962C5AFE16D3A2145673C82A3CEE9D9F1ADDABE965ACB3CE39939D42AC9012C6272FD52BFCA0790F0FB77C6442'); $('.js-cm-email-input').attr('name', 'cm-vdrirr-vdrirr'); }); $('.newsletter-container .ijkidr-uk').click(function() { $('.js-cm-form').attr('data-id', '2BE4EF332AA2E32596E38B640E905619BD43AA6813AF1B0FFE26D8282EC254E3ED0237BA72BEFBE922037EE4F1B325C6DA4918F8E044E022C7D333A43FD72429'); $('.js-cm-email-input').attr('name', 'cm-ijkidr-ijkidr'); }); })(jQuery);The new U.S. fund would be the latest attempt by Trump and his allies to thwart EU regulations. DeSmog last week reported on a gathering of pro-Trump groups in the European Parliament, during which they turned their fire on the EU's Digital Safety Act, which aims to tackle the harms caused by social media.
Trump was re-elected in November 2024 following a $270 million donation from the owner of social media platform X Elon Musk, and received $1 million each from the heads of Meta, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon for his inauguration fund.
The event in Brussels was attended by the Heritage Foundation, the radical right-wing think tank which drafted Project 2025 - the authoritarian, anti-climate blueprint for Trump's second term.
The Heritage Foundation has been one of the key MAGA ("Make America Great Again") groups attempting to influence European politics since Trump's re-election.
As reported by DeSmog, the group gathered hardline conservative groups last year to discuss ideas for dismantling the EU. It also attempted to influence Albania's election in favour of its conservative candidate in May 2025.
The group has been joined by the Heartland Institute, which has been leading the campaign to spread climate science denial across the UK and EU. The group claims to be advising Nigel Farage's anti-climate party Reform UK, while it has been forging alliances with far-right parties and campaigners in an attempt to gain a foothold in Europe.
Both groups lobbied aggressively - and successfully - for the dilution of EU laws designed to hold large companies, including U.S. firms, to account for their environmental impacts. They also forcefully oppose the EU's digital safety laws.
Raphael Kergueno, senior policy officer at Transparency International, said that the new pro-Trump fund adds to growing concern about MAGA's influence over EU laws.
"Transparency loopholes are allowing the MAGA movement's illiberal organisations to usurp European democracy from the inside," he said. "As a matter of urgency, the rules must be changed to compel them to register on the EU's lobby register and declare their funding, so that their blatant attempts to bring authoritarianism to Europe can be scrutinised, and thwarted."
Patrick ten Brink, secretary-general of the European Environmental Bureau, added: "The reporting in the Financial Times confirms what many civil society organisations have been warning about for some time: there is a coordinated effort to import US-style culture-war politics into Europe, using funding, think-tanks and so-called 'charitable' fronts to weaken democratic safeguards.
"Europe's response should be clear-eyed and proportionate. Defending transparency, independent NGOs and evidence-based policymaking is essential to the EU's democratic resilience and its ability to govern in the public interest. EU policymakers should take care not to weaken environmental and social protections or undermine public well-being in ways that ultimately serve external deregulation agendas."
MAGA UKMAGA's influence is also being felt in the UK, where climate and digital safety regulations are likewise under fire.
Farage is a close Trump ally, stating repeatedly that he is the "bravest man".
The Reform leader has also been helping to import the architects of Trump's agenda into the UK, having urged the Heartland Institute to set up a branch in the UK and Europe.
As revealed by DeSmog, Farage has received £150,000 from his donors to attend pro-Trump events or cheerlead for his agenda since he was elected to Parliament in July 2024.
A new Reform-linked think tank, the Centre for a Better Britain, was launched last year by James Orr, a close friend of U.S. vice president J.D. Vance and now a senior Reform advisor. The Centre for a Better Britain, set up by Reform donors, is reportedly seeking to raise millions from Trump backers.
Jordan Peterson speaks with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage at ARC. Credit: Marc Fawcett-Atkinson
During her visit to the UK in December, head of the new U.S. fund, Sarah Rogers, was hosted at an event by the Prosperity Institute (formerly Legatum Institute). The conservative think tank is run by UAE-based investment firm Legatum Group, which co-owns right-wing broadcaster GB News, Farage's principal employer.
The event related to the UK's Online Safety Act (OSA), which requires U.S. social media companies to remove illegal content such as child pornography. Along with the EU's DSA, the OSA has been attacked by the Trump administration for what it calls the "censorship" of Americans' free speech.
Rogers spoke at the event alongside Zia Yusuf, Reform's head of policy, and Conservative peer Toby Young, who runs the Free Speech Union, a conservative pressure group.
It is not clear which groups Rogers met with in France or Italy. In Washington D.C. in December she hosted Markus Frohnmaier, a Member of the German Parliament for the far-right Alternative für Deutchland (AfD) party, according to a post she shared on social media platform X.
The Legatum Group also helps to run the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC), a radical right-wing network group led by Canadian activist Jordan Peterson. ARC has been a key platform for MAGA figures and far-right European politicians, with its latest London conference planned for this summer.
Speakers at ARC events have included U.S. energy secretary Chris Wright, Republican House speaker Mike Johnson, and Republican donor and Palantir founder Peter Thiel. Last year's ARC event in London was also attended by several oil and gas executives.
"It is time to consider what can be done legally," Haar of Corporate Europe Observatory said. "When it comes to China or Russia, there are measures in place to defend the public from undue influence. We really need to figure out quickly how the American threat can be handled effectively.
Dieter Plehwe, an academic at the Berlin Social Science Center likewise called for stronger transparency laws, stating: "It would be wise to increase the opportunities for investigative journalists, academic researchers and the public at large to understand who is behind think tank and media campaigns."
The post Trump Accused of Trying to 'Divide and Destabilise' Europe Through New MAGA Fund appeared first on DeSmog.
The Trump administration just employed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Clean Air Act to discourage coal plant closures in Colorado — repurposing measures initially intended to safeguard public health and prevent pollution to reboot the dirtiest, deadliest fossil fuel.
Michael Hiatt, deputy managing attorney at the environmental legal nonprofit Earthjustice, told DeSmog that the EPA's action was not what the Clean Air Act intended. "In our view, it's plainly illegal," he said.
Furthermore, Hiatt said the EPA's move may have implications beyond Colorado, indicating that the agency could take similar actions that affect coal and gas plants elsewhere.
"It's clearly EPA indicating a policy preference," he said. "They are communicating that they're not going to look favorably on future state plans that include coal or gas plant closures."
As aging, inefficient coal plants barrel toward obsolescence across the U.S., the Trump administration seems dead-set on coming to their rescue. In 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy issued orders to keep five coal plants online past their planned retirement dates. The orders often came against their operators' wishes and cost customers millions in the process. Federal officials, including Energy Secretary Chris Wright, frequently cited increasing energy demands, including for artificial intelligence. Now, the EPA has stepped in.
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Email Address What content do you want to subscribe to? (check all that apply) All International UK Sign Up (function($){ $('.newsletter-container .ijkidr-us').click(function() { $('.js-cm-form').attr('data-id', '2BE4EF332AA2E32596E38B640E905619D07B21962C5AFE16D3A2145673C82A3CEE9D9F1ADDABE965ACB3CE39939D42AC9012C6272FD52BFCA0790F0FB77C6442'); $('.js-cm-email-input').attr('name', 'cm-vdrirr-vdrirr'); }); $('.newsletter-container .ijkidr-uk').click(function() { $('.js-cm-form').attr('data-id', '2BE4EF332AA2E32596E38B640E905619BD43AA6813AF1B0FFE26D8282EC254E3ED0237BA72BEFBE922037EE4F1B325C6DA4918F8E044E022C7D333A43FD72429'); $('.js-cm-email-input').attr('name', 'cm-ijkidr-ijkidr'); }); })(jQuery);In late January, the EPA issued its final published rule rejecting Colorado's Regional Haze State Implementation Plan, filed as part of longstanding Clean Air Act rules intended to increase visibility in national parks and wilderness areas. As part of the plan, Colorado had outlined its goal of closing its six remaining coal plants by 2031. Coal plants release multiple smog-forming pollutants that threaten the state's outdoor recreation industry and harm human health. The utilities involved had voluntarily agreed to this target over the past decade.
It could have been a routine approval. But at some point in 2025, Colorado Springs' city-owned utility told the EPA it no longer wanted to shut down the lone coal-fired generator at the Ray D. Nixon Power Plant, as initially proposed.
The EPA used that development to justify throwing out the entire plan, jeopardizing pollution controls and retirement timelines for industrial sites across the state — from fossil fuel plants and the state's only oil refinery to the Denver International Airport. In its final rule, the EPA argued the single "forced closure" of a coal-fired unit showed Colorado hadn't been careful to make sure its plan respected the constitutionally enshrined private property rights of energy providers.
"The state did not properly consider and explain whether the nonconsensual closure of Colorado Springs Utilities' Nixon Unit 1 power plant would be an act of taking private property without compensation," the agency wrote in a press release explaining its decision. "EPA legally cannot approve Colorado's [plan].
Critics took issue with that assessment.
"Colorado had done such a very thorough job working with utilities, and those retirements were voluntarily proposed," said Ulla Britt-Reeves, clean air program director at the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association. "So for EPA to come in and essentially say that Colorado was forcing those retirements is simply not true."
Earthjustice's Hiatt told DeSmog that the EPA's decision was "unreasonable, irrational, and illegal under the Clean Air Act."
He added that, "What this EPA action shows is this Trump administration taking an ideologically motivated stance that it is not going to do anything that might prove or even allow a coal plant to retire under its watch."
RELATED: These 15 Coal Plants Would Have Retired. Then Came AI and Trump.
Hiatt hopes the EPA's broad disapproval in Colorado won't impact the many other agreed-upon plant closures and pollution controls covered by the plan. But he expressed worry that the EPA's action gives the state's utilities and industrial operators an opportunity to "backtrack" on environmental commitments in the coming years.
In a proposed rule issued in July, the EPA initially emphasized a different rationale for its pending decision: that closing the coal-fired unit at Nixon would threaten grid reliability — in large part due to a supposed surge in electricity demand, including from artificial intelligence. The agency accused Colorado of not taking grid reliability seriously. Under President Trump, the EPA has listed artificial intelligence (AI) development as one of the top priorities guiding its strategy, as well as restoring "American Energy Dominance," which Trump has tied specifically to oil, coal, and natural gas.
"This Administration has found as a matter of national interest, national security, and energy policy that power generated from coal resources is critical to addressing this surging demand," it wrote.
Throughout 2025, Trump administration officials, including DOE Secretary Wright, used a purported rise in energy demand driven by AI to justify fossil fuel expansion, and prevent scheduled coal plant retirements. A December 2025 analysis by DeSmog found that at least 15 coal plants pushed back their retirement dates since Trump took office — with plants often remaining open voluntarily due to projected data center demands, but sometimes due to DOE executive orders. After DeSmog's story published, the DOE issued a flurry of new executive orders forcing additional coal generators to remain online, including plants in Indiana and Washington that were targeted for the first time.
RELATED: Q&A: Tech Billionaires' AI Space Empire Fantasies Are 'An Insidious Form of Climate Denial'
In its public comments, the State of Colorado argued it had in fact assessed reliability, in conjunction with utilities statewide, and that planned closures weren't projected to contribute to an energy shortfall.
"EPA cites nothing in the record regarding this alleged 'rise in electricity demand' or 'resurgence of domestic manufacturing' or even the 'construction of artificial intelligence data processing centers," the state's Air Pollution Control Division wrote." The record before EPA … provides no basis to conclude that these issues materially affect Colorado or are impacted by the specific units with Closure Dates."
The EPA backtracked slightly in its final rule in January, insisting that grid reliability was not part of its legal determination — only private property considerations. And yet it seemed to warn Colorado against including power plant closures in any future plan, citing the rise in domestic manufacturing and "the construction of artificial intelligence data processing centers."
"Power generated from coal resources is critical to addressing this surging demand and a matter of national interest, national security, and energy policy," it wrote. "The EPA does not encourage electric generating facilities to close in the face of this energy demand."
It added that "the EPA does not expect any state to encourage or force an electric generating facility to close in order to comply with the [Clean Air Act's] regional haze second planning period requirements."
Earthjustice's Hiatt said that statement shows EPA going beyond its disapproval of Colorado's regional haze plan. "It's difficult to say how this will play out," he said, "but it does clearly indicate EPA's policy preference — they do not want to see coal or gas closures in regional haze plans."
"There are a lot of still outstanding haze plans that this EPA needs to act on," Britt-Reeves, of the National Parks Conservation Association, said. "Are they going to let good plans that actually reduce pollution be approved? That would a great place to go from here — but I don't expect that that's where this administration is heading." She said the language in the final rule indicates that EPA may have "its sights on deregulating the rule itself, which is extremely concerning."
An EPA spokesperson declined to provide comment or arrange an interview for this story. In a press release announcing its decision on Colorado's haze plan, EPA cited "turning the United States into the Artificial Intelligence capital of the world" as part of its rationale.
But though EPA spoke of a "forced closure" of the Nixon plant, Colorado Springs Utilities had in fact voted to retire the plant voluntarily by December 31, 2029 — which Colorado had simply noted in its plan. In comments to DeSmog, Danielle Nieves, a spokesperson for Colorado Springs Utilities, confirmed that the utility had reversed course and asked EPA for "non-enforcement" at some point in 2025, years after the plan had been filed.
Matt Gerhart, a Sierra Club attorney, questioned whether it was appropriate for the EPA to disapprove an entire state plan based solely on an 11th-hour change of heart — a precedent that he said could give EPA an excuse to sit on plans it doesn't like until it found some grounds for dismissal.
"There's nothing in EPA guidance that says what the state was supposed to do to guard against the hypothetical possibility that, five years later, a source might change its mind about a retirement," he said. "I think EPA is really faulting the state for following the agency's own guidelines here."
Jeremy Nichols, a senior advocate for the environmental nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, expressed concern that the EPA's actions would set a troubling precedent, undercutting the legality of environmental regulation itself.
"What's next? Is any kind of clean air regulation going to be deemed to infringe upon a private property right by virtue of making it more costly and potentially forcing a company to have to shut down?" he said. "I mean, it's a very dangerous and scary slippery slope."
In a statement to DeSmog, Colorado's Senior Director of Air Quality Programs Michael Ogletree said the EPA's ruling would damage environmental protections in Colorado, which already has some of the worst air quality problems in the nation, and that the state was exploring next steps.
"Coal plant retirement dates remain in state regulation, and many facilities have already closed or are on track to retire voluntarily because cleaner energy is more affordable and makes economic sense for consumers," he wrote. "Colorado has demonstrated that it is possible to protect public health, reduce pollution, and maintain a reliable energy system at the same time."
The post Trump's EPA Just Used the Clean Air Act to Prop up Coal Power appeared first on DeSmog.
Kincraig, Badenoch: The Loch Insh Old Kirk is a compelling place, and yet, like the copious wildlife here, it is on the edge of existence
The snow has retreated to the tops of the Cairngorms and the last fragments of ice are crumbling at the edges of Loch Insh. In a muddy landscape, an old white church rises on a knoll on the northern shore. The simple stone building with its bell tower and arched windows dates to 1792, though the site was established by early monks from Iona, probably as far back as the seventh century. Indeed, some sources claim this as the site of longest continuous Christian worship in Scotland.
Those early monks would have built a stone cell here as a dwelling and a base for evangelising. A later chapel was dedicated to St Adamnan - the ninth abbot of Iona and Columba's biographer - and a rough granite font remains from that time. The monks rang a bell to announce worship and the kirk still holds a bronze bell dating to AD900, one of only five left in Scotland. Resonant with legends, the bell was believed to have the power of healing and was once stolen and carried to Scone Palace - but it flew home, tolling the chapel's name all the way over the Drumochter Pass.
Continue reading...
An article title caught my attention today for a couple of reasons. The title of the article is: "Major Automakers Have Written Off $55 Billion After Overestimating EV Demand." Hmm…. First of all, the thing that jumped out to me was $55 billion. That's a lot of freakin' money! The ... [continued]
The post Why Have Automakers Written Off $55 Billion In EV Investments? appeared first on CleanTechnica.
The following article was published yesterday by the University of Sitrling.
Reforestation is a noble endeavor but it seems to come with a lot of practical issues. As much as I want to rant about monoculture and the death of old growth forests, the article is actually talking about the loss of carbon-storing soil.
Soil stores roughly 2,500 gigatons of carbon - compared to 800 gigatons in the atmosphere and nearly 600 gigatons in terrestrial vegetation. But you can't see it happening, not really, so it is often ignored by climate models and even environmentalist groups.
Collapse related because our tree planting schemes are failing - to say nothing of fancier methods of CCS - and this is likely to cause major environmental problems for future generations.
submitted by /u/Fast_Performer_3722[link] [comments]
Toyota City, Japan — Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) announced that it will expand its battery electric vehicle (BEV) lineup in North America as part of its multi-pathway approach toward achieving a carbon-neutral society. As part of this effort, Toyota Motor North America (TMNA), Toyota's North American business entity, premiered a ... [continued]
The post Premiere of 3-Row Highlander BEV in North America appeared first on CleanTechnica.
NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Combining all-electric convenience for daily commutes with the familiar flexibility of a gasoline engine for longer journeys, the 2026 Nissan Rogue Plug-in Hybrid will reach dealerships in February with a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price1 starting at $45,990 for the SL grade. The 2026 Nissan Rogue Plug-in Hybrid offers an estimated ... [continued]
The post 2026 Nissan Rogue Plug-in Hybrid Pricing Starts at $45,990 appeared first on CleanTechnica.
Waymo is hitting so many milestones these days that it's not even highlighting some of them. It keeps entering city after city, scaling up different stages of testing and commercial rides there, and then becoming many residents' favorite mode of transport in those places. The news today is that Waymo ... [continued]
The post Waymo 100% Driverless in Nashville appeared first on CleanTechnica.
Huge thanks to my February sponsor, John Rember, author of the three-book series Journal of the Plague Years, a psychic survival guide for humanity's looming date with destiny, shaped by his experiences living through the pandemic in his native Idaho. Thoughtful, wry and humane, Journal 1 is a pleasure.
"Global economy must move past GDP to avoid planetary disaster, warns UN chief…
"For decades, politicians and policymakers have prioritised growth - as measured by GDP - as the overarching economic goal. But critics argue that endless, indiscriminate growth on a planet with finite resources is driving not only the climate and nature crisis but increasing inequality."
"Climate risk threatens credit ratings for dozens of countries.
"Developing nations face a growing financial crisis due to climate change. Countries least responsible for pollution are most vulnerable to disasters. High debt and poor credit ratings make it harder to secure funds for protection and clean energy."
"Weaponizing the dollar: Could Trump's trade war backfire on American prosperity?
"Tariffs help no one. They have nudged supply chains away from US, dented their reputation as a reliable partner, triggered an affordability crisis, and created virtually no jobs…"
"Gilt yields soar again as No10 turmoil rocks the markets… sparking fears of a Liz Truss-style financial crisis.
"The boss of one of Britain's biggest banks has called for 'stability' and 'certainty' as doubts over Sir Keir Starmer's future wreaked havoc on the bond markets."
"Lower-income families face 137-year wait for living standards to double, says UK thinktank…
"A two-decade stagnation in disposable incomes has created a "mood of unease" across the country, the Resolution Foundation says, warning of the risk of "further political disruption" unless pay growth accelerates."
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/feb/10/lower-income-families-living-standards
"French President Emmanuel Macron said in remarks published on Tuesday that Europe is facing a serious political and economic crisis.
"Speaking to several newspapers ahead of a European Union (EU) leaders meeting on Thursday, the French president said the bloc risks being "swept aside" in the face of competition from the United States and China."
https://www.dw.com/en/macron-warns-europe-faces-political-and-economic-crisis/a-75890865
"Dark fleet expansion looms as EU seeks to cut maritime lifelines for Russian oil.
"Russia's shadow tanker fleet faces greater pressure, although it is forecast to rise in numbers, if the European Commission's proposed a 20th sanctions package gets voted through later this month."
"Ukrainian Strikes Take a Heavy Toll on Russia's Oil Refineries.
"Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries cost Russia's oil and gas sector as much as $12.9 billion (1 trillion Russian rubles) last year, according to a local insurance broker."
"In Ukraine, deaths from hypothermia rise as Russia attacks energy system…
"Dozens of attacks since 2022 have deprived millions of people throughout Ukraine of heat, power and running water as winter temperatures have dropped far below minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit), covering roads and the Dnipro, Europe's fifth largest river, with thick ice."
"China Urges Banks to Curb Exposure to US Treasuries…
"Communicated verbally to some of the nation's biggest banks in recent weeks, the guidance reflects growing wariness among officials that large holdings of US government debt may expose banks to sharp swings, the people said. The worries echo those made by governments and fund managers elsewhere…"
"China property sales forecast cut by S&P as market slump deepens.
"S&P Global Ratings has downgraded its forecast for China's property sales in 2026, now predicting a 10% to 14% decline compared to its earlier October estimate of a 5% to 8% drop."
"China steps up dangerous air encounters near Taiwan.
""It is not the behaviour you expect from a professional fighter pilot but more resembles a gangster swinging his gun around as they walk down the street," said one person familiar with the incidents."
https://www.ft.com/content/66a59c7c-5a22-482c-9363-71cb016ceb01
"Beware of 'right-wing spiral' driven by interaction between Japanese politics and internet rightwingers…
"Among the many factors contributing to Takaichi and the LDP's victory in the House of Representatives election, a core strategy was leveraging the online right-wing group and releasing even more right-wing rhetoric and adopting populist practices."
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202602/1355129.shtml
"Internet shutdown in Manipur's Ukhrul for 5 days following arson, communal unrest [India].
"The Manipur government on Tuesday suspended internet and data services across Ukhrul district for five days, citing a volatile law and order situation following fresh violence in the area."
"Early warning report flags emergency hunger risk in parts of Afghanistan…
"Poor households in these provinces have exhausted food stocks from their own production and are expected to rely almost entirely on markets, despite extremely weak purchasing power…"
"Turkey Says It Could Be Dragged Into Nuclear Arms Race Over Iran.
"Turkey would consider joining a regional nuclear arms race over concerns about Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said late Monday."
"Turkey's army chief says 'no plans to withdraw' from Syria…
"The precise figures remain undisclosed by Turkey, but at least 10,000 Turkish troops are believed to be deployed across northern Syria. Last year, the pro-government Daily Sabah estimated the number of Turkish soldiers in the country at 20,000."
https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2026/02/turkeys-army-chief-says-no-plans-withdraw-syria
"Lebanese group accuses Israel of abducting its leader in raid…
"The al-Jamaa al-Islamiya accused Israel on Monday of seizing its official Atwi Atwi from his home in the Hasbaiyya district and taking him to an unknown location."
"Ethiopia hosts covert training base for Sudan's RSF fighters: Reports.
"Ethiopia is reportedly hosting a covert camp in its western Benishangul-Gumuz region to train thousands of Rapid Support Forces fighters for Sudan's civil war, with sources alleging UAE funding and support."
"Algeria accuses the UAE of interference in elections…
"Algeria and the UAE have faced off against each other in North Africa repeatedly in recent years, with Tebboune accusing the Emiratis of playing a destabilising role in a number of countries in the region."
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/algeria-accuses-uae-interference-elections
"US seizes Venezuela-linked oil tanker in Indian Ocean.
"The Pentagon said on Monday that it captured the tanker as part of a campaign by US President Donald Trump to cut off Venezuela's oil exports, which critics have slammed as "theft" and international piracy."
https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2026/2/9/us-seizes-venezuela-linked-oil-tanker-in-indian-ocean
"Cuba's capital airport declares jet fuel unavailable as energy crisis deepens.
"Cuban authorities have formally notified that the island nation's main airport has run out of aviation fuel. "Havana airport has issued a NOTAM effective 10 February which states that Jet A-1 fuel is "not available"."
"Alphabet Embarks on Global Bond Spree to Fund Record [AI] Spending…
"It's also planning debut deals in Switzerland and the UK, including a rare sale of 100-year bonds — marking the first time a tech company has tried such an offering since the dotcom frenzy of the late 1990s."
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/alphabet-looks-raise-15-billion-133028283.html
"AI Doesn't Reduce Work—It Intensifies It…
"In an eight-month study of how generative AI changed work habits at a U.S.-based technology company with about 200 employees, we found that employees worked at a faster pace, took on a broader scope of tasks, and extended work into more hours of the day…"
https://hbr.org/2026/02/ai-doesnt-reduce-work-it-intensifies-it
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You can read the previous "Economic" thread here. Panopticon hopes to be back tomorrow with a "Climate" thread.
The post 11th February 2026 Today's Round-Up of Economic News appeared first on Climate and Economy.
Emissions have plunged 75% since communist times in the birthplace of big oil - but for some the transition has been brutal
Once the frozen fields outside Bucharest have thawed, workers will assemble the largest solar farm in Europe: one million photovoltaic panels backed by batteries to power homes after sunset. But the 760MW project in southern Romania will not hold the title for long. In the north-west, authorities have approved a bigger plant that will boast a capacity of 1GW.
The sun-lit plots of silicone and glass will join a slew of projects that have rendered the Romanian economy unrecognisable from its polluted state when communism ended. They include an onshore windfarm near the Black Sea that for several years was Europe's biggest, a nuclear power plant by the Danube whose lifetime is being extended by 30 years, and a fast-spreading patchwork of solar panels topping homes and shops across the country.
Continue reading...Vast flocks of birds return to Somerset and a rare grebe turns an ordinary walk into something special
After weeks of heavy rain, Cheddar reservoir in Somerset is finally full again - of water, and of birds. Thousands of coots, hundreds of gulls and ducks, and dozens of great crested grebes crowd the surface, some already moulting into their smart breeding plumage, crests and all.
They feed almost constantly, building up energy reserves for the breeding season. Among the throng are some less familiar visitors: a flock of scaup, the males bulkier than the nearby tufted ducks, with pale grey backs that catch the light. Flocks of goosanders dive frequently for food, the colourful males looking like a cormorant in extravagant drag.
Continue reading...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Trump administration's Department of Transportation announced a new proposal to repeal an existing waiver and dramatically raise the domestic content requirement for electric vehicle charging stations-from 55 to 100 percent-for federal-aid highway projects, including the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program (NEVI). NEVI is a $5 billion federal ... [continued]
The post Trump Administration's 100% "Buy America" EV Charging Requirement Is Anti-EV Policy appeared first on CleanTechnica.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Sierra Club appealed the EPA's approval of South Carolina's do-nothing plan to reduce air pollution at our country's most wild and scenic national parks and wilderness areas. The Congressionally-approved Regional Haze program of the Clean Air Act is intended to reduce air pollution, including from coal ... [continued]
The post Sierra Club Appeals EPA Approval of South Carolina's Do-Nothing Pollution Plan appeared first on CleanTechnica.
NASHVILLE, Tennessee — In an extremely disappointing reversal, the Tennessee Valley Authority announced it is planning to keep its Kingston and Cumberland coal plants operating for the foreseeable future, blowing by its upcoming deadlines to close the polluting facilities. The nation's largest federal utility had previously committed to shutting down these ... [continued]
The post Tennessee Valley Authority Goes Back on Commitment to Retire Dirty Coal Plants appeared first on CleanTechnica.
Continuing the theme of complete idiocy and mass human harm, the Donald Trump administration is on the verge of making climate change denialism US national policy. Why? Because we are apparently a petrolstate being run by a mixture of Homer Simpson and Mr. Burns. Steve Hanley will write a much ... [continued]
The post Trump Admin To Make Climate Denialism US National Policy appeared first on CleanTechnica.
For years we have known that pollution is making us dumber, extreme heat is making us more violent and we can directly connect several historical revolutions to the price of grain.
Now a new study has been shared by Afro Barometer and the results are not encouraging. The researchers found that increasing drought in Africa is linked to a similar rise in intimate partner violence and eventually child abuse. This is collapse related because climate change is causing a ripple effect of violence throughout the world, from the individual to the societal scale, and often going quietly unnoticed, comfortably hiding in the privacy of the home. The most oppressed group in all of this is, and always has been, children.
For once I can ask the question without the slightest bit of sarcasm - won't someone actually think of the children?
submitted by /u/Fast_Performer_3722[link] [comments]
The photographs I kept of you have blurred—
Not from the water damage or the years—
I handled them so often they're interred
Beneath the sediment of touch and tears.
I used to trace the landscape of your face,
The weight of you, the scent your neck had spelled—
But touch leaves no archive, keeps no trace;
The body can't recall what it once held.
Your voice was something I could almost hold,
A living thing that curled inside my ear,
But I've listened until listening went cold—
Now when I replay, I hear it disappear.
Perhaps it's mercy, this soft erasure—
Or so I say, as if the mind were kind.
But kindness would not smile while taking pleasure
In leaving me with nothing left to find.
I should have memorized you while I could,
Read every freckle, translated your terrain,
But I took love for granted, understood
Too late. Now grief bleeds out through every vein.
And so I hold what's left: a fading blur,
Some muscle memory of how you felt,
A static hiss where once I heard you stir.
I hold on anyway—to what I held.
In Zach's recent article, he states that "Electric Cars Are Simply Better." That's the overall truth. In most cases, EVs are more convenient for regular use and drive better. Many models also offer more power, comfort, technology, and agility — in China, increasingly at a lower price than legacy ICE ... [continued]
The post BYD Challenges EV Range Assumptions With 1000 km Denza Z9 appeared first on CleanTechnica.
If all US single-family homes adopted heat pumps, it would equal taking 32 million cars off the road. But we need to 10× the current adoption pace by 2030. In this latest episode of CleanTech Talk, Quilt CEO Paul Lambert explains how his team from Google, Apple, and Nest is ... [continued]
The post Quilt's Paul Lambert on Making Heat Pumps Cool (and Smart) appeared first on CleanTechnica.
Will Nissan Quietly Lead the Path to Autonomous Public Transport in Japan? The question surrounding autonomous mobility in Japan is no longer whether the technology works, but which companies are structuring it in a way that cities, regulators, and passengers can realistically adopt. On that front, Nissan has emerged as ... [continued]
The post Nissan Silent & Measured Path Toward Autonomous Public Transportation in Japan appeared first on CleanTechnica.
The recent case in Bielefeld, where seven hydrogen garbage trucks sit idle because they cannot legally refuel at a nearby hydrogen station for buses, is a small story that exposes a large and structural problem. The vehicles were purchased with public funds, the refueling station was built with public funds, ... [continued]
The post Parked German Hydrogen Garbage Trucks Show The Limits Of Pilot-Driven Infrastructure appeared first on CleanTechnica.
There has been a lot of bellyaching among right wing extremists about the NFL's decision to make Puerto Rican musician Bad Bunny the headline attraction of this year's Super Bowl halftime show, claiming he was "not an American artist." That dismissive attitude offers insight into the fraught relationship between the ... [continued]
The post Bad Bunny Put A Spotlight On The Special Relationship Between The US & Puerto Rico appeared first on CleanTechnica.
Richard M Lee/ShutterstockSupermarket shelves can look full despite the food systems underneath them being under strain. Fruit may be stacked neatly, chilled meat may be in place. It appears that supply chains are functioning well. But appearances can be deceiving.
Today, food moves through supply chains because it is recognised by databases, platforms and automated approval systems. If a digital system cannot confirm a shipment, the food cannot be released, insured, sold, or legally distributed. In practical terms, food that cannot be "seen" digitally becomes unusable.
This affects the resilience of the UK food system , and is increasingly identified as a critical vulnerability.
Look at the consequences, for example, when recent cyberattacks on grocery and food distribution networks disrupted operations at multiple major US grocery chains. This took online ordering and other digital systems down and delayed deliveries even though physical stocks were available.
Part of the problem here is that key decisions are made by automated or opaque systems that cannot be easily explained or challenged. Manual backups are also being removed in the name of efficiency.
This digital shift is happening around the world, in supermarkets and in farming, and has delivered efficiency gains, but it has also intensified structural pressures across logistics and transport, particularly in supply chains which are set up to deliver at the last minute.
Using AIAI and data-driven systems now shape decisions across agriculture and food delivery. They are used to forecast demand, optimise planting, prioritise shipments, and manage inventories. Official reviews of the use of AI across production, processing, and distribution show that these tools are now embedded across most stages of the UK food system. But there are risks.
When decisions about food allocation cannot be explained or reviewed, authority shifts away from human judgment and into software rules. Put simply, businesses are choosing automation over humans to save time and cut costs. As a result, decisions about food movement and access are increasingly made by systems that people cannot easily question or override.
Extreme weather such as Storm Chandra can cause food shortages, but there are other factors as well.This has already started to happen. During the 2021 ransomware attack on JBS Foods, meat processing facilities halted operations despite animals, staff, and infrastructure being present. Although some Australian farmers were able to override the systems, there were widespread problems. More recently, disruptions affecting large distributors have shown how system failures can interrupt deliveries to shops even if goods are available.
Getting rid of humansA significant issue is fewer people managing these issues, and staff training. Manual procedures are classified as costly and gradually abandoned. Staff are no longer trained for overrides they are never expected to perform. When failure occurs, the skills required to intervene may no longer exist.
This vulnerability is compounded by persistent workforce and skills shortages, which affect transport, warehousing and public health inspection. Even when digital systems recover, the human ability to restart flows may be limited.
The risk is not only that systems fail, but that when they do, disruption spreads quickly. This can be understood as a stress test rather than a prediction. Authorisation systems may freeze. Trucks are loaded, but release codes fail. Drivers wait. Food is present, but movement is not approved.
Based on previous incidents within days digital records and physical reality can begin to diverge. Inventory systems no longer match what is on shelves. After about 72 hours, manual intervention is required. Yet paper procedures have often been removed, and staff are not trained to use them.
These patterns are consistent with evidence from UK food system vulnerability analyses, which emphasise that resilience failures are often organisational rather than agricultural.
Food security is often framed as a question of supply. But there is also a question of authorisation. If a digital manifest is corrupted, shipments may not be released.
This matters in a country like the UK that relies heavily on imports and complex logistics. Resilience depends not only on trade flows, but on the governance of data and decision-making in food systems, research on food security suggests.
Who is in control?AI can strengthen food security. Precision agriculture (using data to make decisions about when to plant or water, for instance) and early-warning systems have helped reduce losses and improve yields. The issue is not whether AI is used, but who is watching it, and who manages it.
Food systems need humans to be in the loop, with trained staff and regular drills on how to override systems if they go wrong. Algorithms used in food allocation and logistics must be transparent enough to be audited. Commercial secrecy cannot outweigh public safety. Communities and farmers must retain control over their data and knowledge.
This is not a risk for the future. It already explains why warehouses full of food can become inaccessible or ignored.
The question is not whether digital systems will fail, but whether we will build a system that can survive its failure.
Mohammed F. Alzuhair does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
S is HTF in Johannesburg
SS: No water in large neighbourhoods for weeks; tankers are running out before everyone gets water even after waiting hours; water employees striking for not getting paid in full; protesters closing road, and unrest building up. We are witnessing a political failure leading to infrastructure collapse.
All of these articles are from today or the last few days:
https://allafrica.com/stories/202602100415.html
>•WaterCAN says Johannesburg residents already live in Day Zero conditions, with areas experiencing outages lasting close to 20 days.
>•The group calls on the government to declare Johannesburg a national disaster area and demands daily updates from Johannesburg Water.
>Johannesburg has run out of water, civil society group WaterCAN warns, as extreme heat makes the city's water crisis worse.
>Johannesburg Water has been hit by an unprotected strike by members of Cosatu-affiliate, the SA Municipal Workers' Union (Samwu), over performance bonuses not fully paid in December, as the city's water crisis deepens.
>"This is not a drought issue; it is a failure of infrastructure planning and accountability. Everyone has to take responsibility for the situation we're in right now. People are now queuing for tankers, fighting for water, and the vulnerable are being left with nothing."
SS:
https://www.joburgetc.com/news/midrand-water-outage-protest/
>Officials point residents to water tankers, but accessing them is far from simple. Without a car, collecting water can mean hours of waiting or relying on neighbours and friends. Some residents say they arrive at advertised tanker points only to find no trucks, no water and no updates.
>On the ground, even Joburg Water officials admit the problem. Tankers refill from fire hydrants in Midrand, but there simply aren't enough trucks to serve the growing population.
>On social media, anger has spilled over. Residents have shared images of long queues, empty buckets and even illegally opened fire hydrants a risky but desperate move by people who say they've been left with no alternatives.
https://allafrica.com/stories/202602100548.html
>Families in RDP housing in Arla Park Extension 2 and 3 of Nigel shut down the busy Balfour Road on Tuesday, demanding water be restored to the community immediately.
>Residents gathered from 7am. They were monitored by a large police contingent, and a few warning shots were fired. However, protesters said they would not leave until a representative of the Ekurhuleni mayoral office addresses them.
>According to residents, water supply has been unreliable for the past five years.
submitted by /u/IntoTheCommonestAsh[link] [comments]
In Lancashire, I met people living with dangerous levels of Pfas, including in their food. The government is failing them
Last week, on the morning the government published its Pfas action plan, I got a worried phone call from a woman called Sam who lives next door to a chemical factory in Lancashire. Sam had just been hand-delivered a letter from her local council informing her that after testing, it had been confirmed that her ducks' eggs, reared in her garden in Thornton-Cleveleys, near Blackpool, are contaminated with Pfas.
Pfas - per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as "forever chemicals" due to their persistence in the environment - are a family of thousands of chemicals, and I have been reporting on them for years. Some, including those found in the eggs Sam and her family have been eating, have been linked to a wide range of serious illnesses, including certain cancers.
Continue reading...
When I worked at an energy efficiency organization, a manager once said, "There are metrics and there are meaningful metrics." Some measuring yields numbers that may not be useful or applied productively. Lately while writing about electric vehicle chargers, one metric that stood out from the others was the fact ... [continued]
The post 200 Electric Trucks Can Be Charged At One Depot In A Day? appeared first on CleanTechnica.
Tesla used to absolutely dominate brand loyalty surveys in the United States, and elsewhere. The vast majority of Tesla buyers said they'd buy a Tesla again or buy a Tesla as their next vehicle. However, recent research has shown that Tesla brand loyalty has dropped a lot in the past ... [continued]
The post Tesla Buyer Loyalty Drops a Ton, But Still 3rd in USA appeared first on CleanTechnica.
US courts, scholars and Democrats are pushing back against the president's aggressive drive to boost fossil fuels
Donald Trump's aggressive drive to boost fossil fuels, including dirty coal, coupled with his administration's moves to roll back wind and solar power, face mounting fire from courts, scholars and Democrats for raising the cost of electricity and worsening the climate crisis.
Four judges, including a Trump appointee, in recent weeks have issued temporary injunctions against interior department moves to halt work on five offshore wind projects in Virginia, New York and New England, which have cost billions of dollars and are far along in development.
Continue reading...
