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EcoUniv Weekend Reads: Jan 2021
EcoUniv Weekend Reads #47
3 Jan 2021
Pollution: From a book that talks about the public health emergency due to air pollution in India.
Technology: What does the termination of an AI researcher from Google have to do with the environment? Think of carbon footprint of large AI models.
A more in-depth article on related data: https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/06/06/239031/training-a-single-ai-model-can-emit-as-much-carbon-as-five-cars-in-their-lifetimes/
Man & Wildlife: We are getting Covid-19 under control after it caused severe damage to our ‘advanced’ civilization. But what were the root causes and what’s the guarantee that zoonotic diseases won’t recur?
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/22/africa/drc-forest-new-virus-intl/index.html
Environmental Education: In the “Understanding the Learner” series, this week we focus on eleven-year olds (sixth grade).
EcoUniv Weekend Reads #48
11 Jan 2021
Climate Change: Uttarakhand may see forest fires last through the year.
Research – Pollution: Air pollution in S. Asia is causing increased risk of pregnancy loss, miscarriage, and stillbirth.
Paper: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(20)30268-0/fulltext
Energy: The changing dynamic of drilling for fossil fuels in the Alaska region.
EcoUniv Weekend Reads #49
18 Jan 2021
Animal Behavior: ICARUS, a technology-based project to track animal movements in great detail.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/12/magazine/animal-tracking-icarus.html
Research – Climate: Most land-based ecosystems are becoming less and less efficient in absorbing atmospheric CO2.
Paper: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/370/6522/1295.full
EcoUniv Weekend Reads #50
26 Jan 2021
Today is Republic Day in India and this is a special on the concept of nation-states and environment.
Nation-States and the environment in the 20th century
Paper 1: This article reviews the global institutional process led by nation-states in the 20th century to respond to environmental challenges. However it acknowledges the crisis is far from over.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247933020_The_Nation-State_and_the_Natural_Environment
Paper 2: This article points out that while the concept of a nation-state is not threatened by the environmental crisis, it is certainly being stress-tested, and this will continue.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24089815_Global_Environmental_Change_and_the_Nation_State
Collapsing nation states: A book chapter exploring the failure of nation-states. Most thought so far has seen collapse of nation-states in binary terms. However I feel more nuanced, multi-dimensional yardsticks are needed. A nation-state may do well on some parameters (e.g. technology or lack of corruption) while fail on some others (equity or care of natural resources).
http://assets.press.princeton.edu/chapters/s7666.pdf
EcoUniv Weekend Reads #51
31 Jan 2021
Environmental education: An urgency for environmental action sweeps across elite college campuses in France…and new ideas emerge.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/30/world/europe/france-elite-universities-environment.html
Green business: Tesla, whose market value is more than the 12 largest car companies combined, does not make profits selling electric cars. It makes more money selling regulatory credits to other companies.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/31/investing/tesla-profitability/index.html
Environmental justice: Plenty of environmental injustice exists even in a developed nation like the US, and things can change for the better with Biden as president.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/01/26/biden-environmental-justice-climate/
Climate and species: How whales impact the carbon cycle and keep the earth cool.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210119-why-saving-whales-can-help-fight-climate-change