Read more from My DIY climate hack, a new series on everyday people’s creative solutions to the climate crisis
Neil Wiesblott, 69, swapped bustling Los Angeles for a quiet island off the coast of Seattle more than 30 years ago and never looked back. Among Vashon Island’s many charming features, perhaps its most beloved is a vast “tool library” that lends out more than a thousand items to residents for DIY projects and home improvements – from saws to ladders to power washers.
Established nearly a decade ago, the library is believed to be the largest rural tool library in the US. These libraries have been around since the 1940s but have taken on new relevance in an age of mass production and hyper-consumption. With an estimated 80 such libraries across the country, the Vashon tool library where Neil volunteers is part of a growing movement that’s helping people live more sustainably while fostering a sense of community.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
06/03/2024 - 09:00
06/03/2024 - 08:29
Willie Walsh, now boss of Iata, also calls for more investment in sustainable aviation fuels
Green aviation policies should be abandoned if the costs outweigh the benefits, the head of the world’s most influential airlines body has said.
Willie Walsh, the director general of the International Air Transport Association (Iata) and a former British Airways boss, said achieving net zero by 2050 was “existential, not optional”.
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06/03/2024 - 06:00
Opponents of bills argue ‘offramp’ to keep gas or coal plants running will be triggered if energy-heavy centers are built
Michigan Democrats are poised to pass legislation aimed at attracting big-tech data centers, but opponents say the bills would destroy nation-leading climate laws the same legislators approved in November because the centers consume massive amounts of electricity.
The November climate bills included an “offramp” that would keep gas or coal plants running if renewable sources could not handle the energy grid’s load, and the stipulation would almost certainly be triggered, opponents say.
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06/03/2024 - 05:30
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse calls audacious request ‘definition of corruption’ amid investigation into Mar-a-Lago meeting in April
Donald Trump’s brazen pitch to 20 fossil-fuel heads for $1bn to aid his presidential campaign in return for promises of lucrative tax and regulatory favors is the “definition of corruption”, a top Democrat investigating the issue has said.
“It certainly meets the definition of corruption as the founding fathers would have used the term,” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said in an interview about Trump’s audacious $1bn request for big checks to top fossil-fuel executives that took place in April at his Mar-a-Lago club.
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06/03/2024 - 01:00
Campaigners have written to broadcasters expressing concern that climate is not a more prominent discussion topic
The climate crisis must be discussed as a key priority in the TV debates between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, say green groups.
A number of NGOs have written to the TV networks expected to host the live debates, the first of which is on Tuesday at 9pm on ITV.
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06/02/2024 - 23:00
Exclusive: level at highest in more than 30 years, say campaigners, who want ‘rapid and effective’ relief scheme
Debt payments by the 50 countries most vulnerable to the climate crisis have doubled since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and now stand at their highest level in more than three decades, campaigners have warned.
The Debt Justice charity said countries at the highest risk of being affected by global heating were paying 15.5% of government revenues to external creditors – up from less than 8% before Covid-19 and 4% at their lowest recent point in 2010.
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06/02/2024 - 21:44
Claude the koala was caught eating 4,050 food tree seedlings at Eastern Forest Nursery near Lismore in 2023. The bandit has been captured returning for a meal at the nursery, as workers look on. Conservationists say Claude's behaviour is part of a bigger problem as heavy land clearing has meant that there isn't enough food in the local area for koalas to eat
Daylight robbery: Claude the ‘leaf thief’ koala caught munching seedlings
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06/02/2024 - 21:30
Koala became online hit after sampling wares at NSW nursery, but conservationists say increasingly brazen behaviour highlights serious issue
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Claude the koala became Australia’s cutest thief and a viral sensation when he was filmed munching on seedlings at a nursery near Lismore last September.
But fame has only made him more brazen, with the hungry marsupial now helping himself to a weekday feed in front of staff at Eastern Forest Nursery.
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06/02/2024 - 11:48
Writer tells Hay festival about his new book, Blossomise, and his hopes to inspire people to preserve the natural world
Poets can help fight climate breakdown by making us “spellbound, full of wonder and beguiled” by nature, the poet laureate has said.
Simon Armitage, who pledged to dedicate his writing and thinking to environmental issues when he was appointed poet laureate in 2019, has written a new book of poems called Blossomise, which he hopes will remind readers of the beauty of nature.
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06/02/2024 - 10:03
Heavy rain that trapped people in their homes and reportedly caused a train derailment is forecast to continue
A volunteer firefighter died during a rescue operation during heavy rain and flooding in the south of Germany, local police said on Sunday.
Four emergency workers were attempting to reach people trapped by the flood waters near Pfaffenhofen in the region of Bavaria when their boat capsized.
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