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<ul class="summary-list"><li>President-elect Donald Trump has questioned the reality of the climate crisis.</li><li>He's expected to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement, which he also did in his first term.</li></ul>President-elect Donald Trump has long questioned the reality of the climate crisis, describing it as a "scam" and accusing policies to tackle the crisis of destroying US jobs.Many expect him to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement to limit emissions upon taking power in January, as he did in his first term.But his hostility to green policies conflicts with another of his priorities — challenging the rise of China."A second US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement would present a significant opportunity for China to expand its leadership role in multilateral climate issues," Herbert Crowther, an analyst with the Eurasia Group in New York told Business Insider.Trump's victory is overshadowing this week's UN climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, where pledges from Biden administration officials are tempered by the fact they won't be around for long.And China is already positioning itself to fill the power vacuum and build its global influence."In the week since the election, we're already seeing China try to claim the mantle of global climate leadership and portray itself as the more "responsible" actor in this space," Lily McElwee, fellow in the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, told Business Insider."Beijing is out in force at COP29 calling for the United States under Trump to engage in 'constructive dialogue' and highlighting China's contributions to decarbonization through major investments in electric vehicles and other greentech industries."<div type="image" title="Chinese solar power station" height="576" width="1024" msid="115335201" hostid="261" sizebytes="137800"></div><h2 id="f89b9ca3-aa4a-4bb2-a5bf-27324f610f4d">The green tech superpower</h2>China has a curious position as both the world's largest polluter, and a powerhouse of green technology.It tops the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/the-carbon-brief-profile-china/index.html#">rankings for greenhouse emissions</a>, which helped power its huge economic growth in recent decades. In 2020, President Xi Jinping pledged that China would become <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://chinaeucn.com/carbon-neutrality-china/#:~:text=In%20September%202020%2C%20president%20Xi,carbon%20neutrality%20to%20the%20world.">carbon neutral by 2060,</a> and it's on track this year to record its first drop in greenhouse <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-meeting-us-climate-solar-panels-coal-power-energy-security-2024-5">emissions since 2016.</a>At the same time, China has pushed harder to produce its own green technology — and sell it to the rest of the world.It is the world's largest producer of electric vehicles and solar panels, and the percentage of its energy coming from renewable sources <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.iea.org/reports/renewables-2023/executive-summary#">is rapidly growing.</a>That work brings practical and economic benefits. Analysts also point to other motives for Beijing's green push: influence and power."Where the Trump administration sees renewable energy as a threat to jobs, China is leveraging clean energy as part of a long-term strategic gambit," wrote <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/chinas-belt-and-road-initiative-is-poised-to-transform-the-clean-energy-industry/">Daniel Araya of the Brookings Institute in Washington, DC, in 2018.</a>China, as part of its "Belt and Road" initiative to grow its global influence, has provided developing countries with renewable energy technologies, including wind farms."Green tech plays a critical role in Xi's economic vision. While China has spent a decade trying to catch up to the United States and other advanced economies in existing tech (like semiconductors), it is increasingly focused on securing leadership in emerging industries like cleantech," said McElwee.The strategy is paying off, with global demand for renewable energy production technologies predicted to surge, and China set to account for 60% of installed global renewable energy capacity by 2030, according to an <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.iea.org/news/massive-global-growth-of-renewables-to-2030-is-set-to-match-entire-power-capacity-of-major-economies-today-moving-world-closer-to-tripling-goal">October report by the International Energy Agency.</a>The US lags China as a clean tech economic power.Trump has been explicit about his plans to repeal and otherwise roll back climate policies from the Biden administration.That included <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/05/trump-inflation-reduction-act-00177493">a pledge</a> just before the election to "rescind all unspent funds" from President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, which provided billions in funding for clean tech.<h2 id="d064aeb1-2497-4d9c-b893-7e2c1b98241d">Will China step up? </h2>There are also doubts over how much China is willing to take an international leadership role on climate issues.It's been wary of international agreements to tackle climate change in the past, and last year was accused by European officials of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/china-denies-reports-it-obstructed-g20-climate-discussions-2023-08-02/#:~:text=China%20denies%20reports%20it%20obstructed%20G20%20climate%20discussions%20%7C%20Reuters">obstructing G20 efforts </a>to tackle the climate crisis, Reuters reported. Assuming a leadership role would likely require China to send money to other countries, said Crowther. "The key question for officials in Beijing will now turn to whether China wants to deepen its financial commitments to helping other countries—particularly emerging markets—accelerate their own energy transitions," he said.Crowther said the run up to next year's COP30 summit in Brazil would provide clues of China's intentions. Ultimately, Xi may be more interested in cementing China's economic advantages than in concrete diplomatic pledges. "Although Beijing will try to boost its image as a global leader on climate change, I don't know how much substance will follow," said McElwee.

Trump called the climate crisis a scam. It could prove a gift to China.

We might be a few months too late but we congratulate Tesla CEO <keyword id="19903807" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Elon-Musk" source="keywords">Elon Musk</keyword> on the birth of his 12th child; our felicitations extend to Neuralink executive <keyword id="22138173" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="shivon-zilis" source="keywords">Shivon Zilis</keyword> as well. It is no doubt a happy occasion for the parents, but when a person with as much street cred as Musk has his third child with one of his employees through IVF, we can hardly let the event slide without so much as wondering why the tech mogul keeps having children. Now, we do not want to go into the details of Mr Musk’s personal life or discuss his relationships with all the mothers of his children so far — Justine Wilson, Grimes and Zilis (we have a separate <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/personalities/news/elon-musks-12-kids-all-about-musks-dozen-kids-and-their-moms/articleshow/111280167.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">story</a> for that). But we can’t help but be interested in what is driving the owner of X (formerly Twitter) to expand his family at this rate given how committed he seemed to support climate action. Before you come at us with pitchforks for being child-haters, we’re merely stating what studies have already shown: having kids is possibly among the greatest contributors to a person’s carbon footprint. Though the extent of impact has been debated in the scientific community, no one can deny that there is a substantial burden on the planet’s finite resources as the population spikes further. Mr Musk has fathered a dozen children already. And there’s no telling when baby No. 13 would make an appearance. But we do suspect that the entrepreneur thinks his heart is in the right place. If Musk’s plethora of controversy-evoking tweets and speeches are anything to go by, it seems like the billionaire believes that he’s actually doing humanity a favour by having kids. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="What he thinks of the fertility crisis" comment="subhead" text="What he thinks of the fertility crisis">What he thinks of the <keyword id="22186484" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="fertility-crisis" source="keywords">fertility crisis</keyword> </cmsannotation>The global birth rate is dropping, nearing the point where populations stagnate or decline. This could lead to economic and social problems in the long run. Mr Musk feels very, very strongly about this, and the majority of his children were conceived through IVF. “If people don’t have more children, civilisation is going to crumble,” he said at an event. “Mark my words.” Not only does he encourage people to have bigger families, but he’s allegedly said that he wants more ‘smart people’ to have kids (that explains it). He has also joked about doing his best to help the underpopulation crisis around the time news broke that he had secretly welcomed twins with Zilis in 2021. But was he really joking? <div type="twitter" handle="elonmusk" handlename="elonmusk" favoritecount="0" retweetcount="0" id="1545046146548019201"></div>And when he welcomed his third child with Grimes a month later, Musk tweeted about it again. This time, he lamented that population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilisation than global warming. <div type="twitter" handle="elonmusk" handlename="elonmusk" favoritecount="0" retweetcount="0" id="1563020169160851456"></div>We’re almost certain he fully meant what he said too, given how unserious he has seemed in his intent of curbing the <keyword id="20212385" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="climate-crisis" source="keywords">climate crisis</keyword> in recent times. And climate activists allege that all the baby-making is probably just another smidge of uncredible-ness to his already dwindling imagery as a climate champion. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Does Elon Musk care about climate change or not?" comment="subhead" text="Does Elon Musk care about climate change or not?">Does Elon Musk care about climate change or not? </cmsannotation>At this point, nobody can tell for sure. His brave choices to start Tesla have undoubtedly revolutionised the electric vehicle industry, offering a path towards cleaner transportation. On multiple occasions in the distant past, he has said that climate change is the biggest crisis facing humanity and he aims to address it through his work. Elon Musk has even proposed carbon taxes to incentivise a shift away from fossil fuels. However, his own lavish lifestyle paints a different picture. Musk's frequent private jet trips generate enormous carbon emissions, directly contradicting the environmental objectives of Tesla. Not to mention, since his acquisition of X, the platform has witnessed a rise in climate denialism, many climate scientists have left the platform frustrated, accusing it of becoming a breeding ground for misinformation. This directly undermines Musk's image as a champion for a clean energy future. Further muddying the waters are Musk's political leanings. His support for Republican politicians who downplay climate change raises questions about his own convictions. Clearly, this is hardly the first time we have reason to question Mr Musk’s motives for the planet through the lens of climate change. But if the SpaceX founder has changed his allegiances from the climate crisis to the fertility crisis, the world's richest man is putting his money (and genes) where his mouth is. Whether Elon Musk is having all these children due to the convoluted notion of saving human civilisation or simply because he adores kids or a little bit of both, is something only he — and probably the mothers of his children — know for sure. But this could just be the right time to ponder further about how individual choices can impact global discourse and vice versa.

Understanding Elon’s 12: Has Musk switched allegiances from climate to the fertility crisis for good?

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Wall Street giants like JPMorgan, State Street, and Pimco recently exited Climate Action 100+.</li><li>Other finance firms have walked back climate-friendly pledges and initiatives.</li></ul>Some Wall Street giants, many of which have spent the last few years pledging to fight climate change through corporate responsibility, are now retreating from some of their environmental initiatives.Large financial institutions including investment bank JPMorgan, asset manager State Street, and investment management firm Pimco have in the last few days pulled out of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-action-100-gets-energy-giants-to-commit-to-sustainbility-2019-5">Climate Action 100+</a>, a group of hundreds of institutional investors that collectively push large companies to address climate issues.The departures are a stark change for finance firms that have previously spent years working to improve their public images by loudly championing the fight against climate crisis, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/19/business/climate-blackrock-state-street-jpmorgan-pimco.html">The New York Times reported</a>.Indeed, big banks and asset managers previously <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sustainable-investing-esg-under-scrutiny-2022-7">built up teams</a> in a bet that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing was a good bet — both morally and economically.In recent months, however, many financial intuitions have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-still-doing-esg-work-despite-politics-criticism-2023-11">come under more fire </a>from Republicans criticizing their climate work, framing it and other ESG initiatives as "woke capitalism," <a target="_blank" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/10/house-gop-treads-lightly-in-culture-war-on-wall-street-00104991">Politico reported</a>. Regulators, meanwhile, have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sec-cracks-down-on-esg-funds-to-curtail-greenwashing-2022-5">begun looking more closely</a> at firms offering ESG products.Other concerns included that clients may disapprove of the work and sue, or that this many large companies working together to pressure change in other companies could fly in the face of antitrust regulations, the New York Times said.Founded in 2017, Climate Action 100+ initially launched as a five-year initiative that in 2022 was extended until 2030. The coalition brings together more than 700 members with more than $68 trillion in assets under management to persuade public companies to increase shareholder value by improving climate crisis governance, cutting emissions, and strengthening climate-related financial disclosures, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.climateaction100.org/about/">according to its website</a>.In its new phase <a target="_blank" href="https://www.climateaction100.org/news/climate-action-100-announces-its-second-phase/">launched in 2022</a>, Climate Action 100+ shifted its focus from pushing companies to improve their financial disclosures to pushing companies to introduce more climate-friendly business operations and reduce their net carbon emissions.Following the departures of JPMorgan, State Street, and Pimco, financial investors including Neuberger Berman, William Blair Investment Management, and Wellington Management remain members of Climate Action 100+, whose targeted companies include American Airlines, Chevron, and Procter &amp; Gamble.Other finance giants have similarly stepped back from previous environmentally friendly initiatives, The New York Times reported. They include BlackRock, which scaled back its participation with Climate Action 100+ in recent weeks, as well as Bank of America, which <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/03/climate/bank-of-america-esg.html">walked back a pledge</a> to stop financing coal.

Wall Street giants like JPMorgan and Pimco are walking back their environmental pledges after years of outspoken support for fighting climate change

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Khosla Ventures was the first investor in OpenAI when it switched to a "capped-profit" model in 2018.</li><li>Khosla is concerned there is too much doom and gloom about AI from "Luddites."</li></ul>Billionaire Vinod Khosla, 69, one of the most successful venture capitalists in Silicon Valley history, first <a target="_blank" href="https://techcrunch.com/2012/01/10/doctors-or-algorithms/?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc2VtYWZvci5jb20v&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANLl2PWugta1lfnCFrt3GkHXdnkck_gg-kvJXUtnKyljAFaIU9aGE2SemIXml-WfgP1c9aGoU3V0EM9kIS1mmGYCRsNgiqL6g5jDhOlOZl5X9RuHI3nfadsTEeLnF5jUKMFmW5WuaU5KJr8IoOTUQEGHG2fdxm5d712uJQiZySph">blogged</a> about the tremendous potential of AI in 2012. When OpenAI switched from a non-profit to a "capped-profit" company in 2018, he put his money where his mouth was when Khosla Ventures stepped forward with the first check.Now, Khosla believes we are in a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vinod-khosla-ai-startups-overvalued-2023-10">frothy "hype cycle" of AI,</a> but one company he does not think is overhyped is OpenAI, which announced last week it <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cathie-wood-ark-venture-openai-funding-2024-10">raised $6.6 billion at a $157 billion</a> valuation. While some notable earlier investors sat out this round, such as Sequoia Capital, sat out this round, Khosla Ventures <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-investors-latest-funding-round-2024-10">doubled down.</a>"There's plenty of companies in the public markets that have higher revenue multiples with much lower growth than OpenAI," Khosla said during an interview this week. "It appears likely we will continue to have very, very rapid growth."Khosla says he is undaunted by the string of high-level departures at OpenAI, which include <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mira-murati-exits-openai-venture-capitalist-startup-2024-9">Mira Murati</a>, chief technology officer, as well as three members of the founding team: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-execs-worried-company-collapse-ilya-sutskever-left-report-2024-9">Ilya Sutskever</a>, Andrej Karpathy, and John Schulman."I think a number of people who left recently really want to start something of their own, but the organization is also being rationalized for agility and speed," Khosla said. "Sam [Altman] is a big fan of speed. I'm a big fan of speed. I support him in that, and we should move to organizations that result in more speed. You've seen some competitors not have the same kind of speed."OpenAI has reportedly <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/openai-tells-investor-not-invest-five-ai-startups-including-sutskevers-ssi-2024-10-02/">asked its investors not to back five companies</a> it views as close competitors, including <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/man-who-revolted-against-sam-altman-just-started-research-lab-2024-6">Safe Superintelligence, which Sutskever founded.</a> However, Khosla says he would be open to backing the startups of OpenAI alums."Absolutely, we would back them if the plan was good," Khosla said. "It depends on the plan."<h2 id="2fd8e25e-5e7e-43c2-8dec-bc8c4f68c95f">AI's PR problem</h2>Khosla is concerned there is too much doom and gloom about AI from "Luddites" and says we are not focusing enough on its upside for humanity."It definitely has a PR problem," Khosla said. "People are afraid of it."Khosla is trying to change the narrative, recently publishing a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.khoslaventures.com/ai-dystopia-or-utopia/#02-d">10,000-word essay on the broader societal benefits of AI</a>, from reducing crime to eliminating the need for most menial labor."Most jobs today are not jobs, they're servitude," Khosla said. "You work on a farm in a hundred-degree heat for eight hours a day your whole life, or you work on the GM assembly line doing the same assembly job for eight hours a day for 30 or 40 years."Over the next 25 years, Khosla predicts AI will replace 80% of the work in 80% of jobs, from doctors to salespeople."If we can free humans from that servitude, then it's a good thing," Khosla said. "As long as we take care of their needs."<h2 id="2faf11b6-8871-4393-a629-20990917eb60">Khosla thinks X has become like 4chan</h2>Khosla has been a vocal opponent of Donald Trump, which has <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-vinod-khosla-openai-investor-joe-biden-donald-trump-2024-7">attracted the ire of Elon Musk on X,</a> formerly known as Twitter."Most people are too afraid to disagree with somebody like that," Khosla said. "I guess I can't get fired."Khosla credits Musk for having a positive impact on climate change by popularizing electric cars. But he is critical of the nastiness that has profiled X since Musk acquired it."Twitter is becoming like 4Chan," Khosla said, referring to the anonymous message board that is known for being a haven for hate speech. "It's not a place to dialogue with people. It's a particular kind of extremist group of people."

OpenAI backer Vinod Khosla on why all the executive departures may be a good thing, taking on Elon Musk, and fixing AI's image problem

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The seabed of the <keyword id="12683576" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="southern-ocean" source="Orion">Southern Ocean</keyword> around <keyword id="12266096" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="antarctica" source="Orion">Antarctica</keyword> is still poorly understood. </li><li>A large international study has been piecing together sonar data to scan the ocean floor. </li></ul>Scientists have published a map showing the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/national-geographic-adds-fifth-southern-ocean-to-maps-2021-6?r=US&amp;IR=T">Southern Ocean</a> floor in unprecedented detail.The new images, generated from sonar data that took years to collect, show canyons, ridges, and mountains deep under the water.The map was <a href="https://rdcu.be/cO8h2">published in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Data on Tuesday</a>. It is part of the Nippon Foundation <a href="https://seabed2030.org/faq">General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) Seabed 2030 project</a>, which aims to map the entire ocean floor by 2030.<div type="image" title="A picture of the Southern Ocean seafloor shows the relief of formations deep underwater." height="2000" width="2000" msid="92089187" hostid="261"></div>About 21% of the world's seabeds have been precisely mapped so far, the foundation said."The map is so important as it provides the most accurate knowledge on the shape of the seafloor," Boris Dorschel lead author of the paper, told Insider in an email. Dorschel is a senior scientist at the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Germany and head of the regional center southern ocean of the seabed 2030 Project."It is a visual extension of the terrestrial world we know below the waves. We now can see canyons, channels, and mounts in great detail in many places," Dorschel said.<div type="image" title="A zoom of the southern ocean map from the The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project" height="1306" width="1741" msid="92089188" hostid="261"></div>The map was drawn by compiling measurements taken by ships navigating the waters around Antarctica, a practice called bathymetry.It provides crucial information that can improve climate-change models by giving better information about how the world's oceans move.The shape of the seabed changes the way the ocean water mixes, and hence its temperature, in turn influencing temperatures around the world.<div type="image" title="A zoom of the southern ocean map from the The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project" height="1306" width="1741" msid="92089189" hostid="261"></div>Better mapping could also help efforts to conserve marine life, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-61723806">per the BBC.</a> Fish and other animals tend to congregate around underwater mountains, so knowing where those are can help people find the right areas to conserve."Personally I cannot stop moving over the map and enjoying the sight," said Dorschel, the project leader.

Hi-res images show the ocean floor around Antarctica in unprecedented detail

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A global map of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sinema-proposal-methane-emissions-fee-greenhouse-gas-emissions-2021-11">methane emissions</a> reveals that <keyword id="13098504" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="pipelines" source="Orion">pipelines</keyword> release tons of the potent <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/supply-chain-crisis-causes-highest-carbon-emission-rate-since-2008-2021-12">greenhouse gas</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lightning-megaflash-over-us-south-is-longest-ever-recorded-2022-2">Satellite images</a> captured large <keyword id="12459827" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="methane" source="Orion">methane</keyword> plumes from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/congress-democrats-with-fossil-fuel-stocks-investments-2021-12">fossil-fuel</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/houston-based-oil-company-indicted-southern-california-oil-spill-2021-12">infrastructure</a> on a daily basis.</li></ul>A new map of global <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/methanes-warming-power-spurs-sustainability-solutions-in-agriculture-2021-10">methane</a> plumes reveals pipelines are spilling far more of the powerful pollutant — possibly twice as much — than countries are reporting.Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, with a heat-trapping capacity 30 times higher than carbon dioxide, even though it doesn't last as long in the atmosphere. It's one of the main gases driving global warming.An estimated one-quarter of humans' methane <keyword id="12152918" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="emissions" source="Orion">emissions</keyword> come from extracting coal, oil, and natural gas for fuel. Occasionally, the wells and pipelines that carry that fuel will experience a major leak.But a new planet-wide map, based on thousands of <keyword id="12292571" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="satellite-images" source="Orion">satellite images</keyword>, reveals that fossil-fuel operations are secretly leaking far more methane than researchers thought, and they're doing it on a daily basis.<div type="image" title="satellite image show green methane plume in the southern united states" height="1874" width="2499" msid="89332853" hostid="261"></div>"We didn't realize initially that every day we would find these giant emitters around the globe," Thomas Lauvaux, a researcher studying greenhouse-gas emissions at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), who led the mapping effort, told Insider."It's leaking everywhere," he added, "and we're not doing a good job."Lauvaux led an international team of researchers to analyze two years of daily data from Europe's Sentinel-5P satellite, from 2019 through 2020. The view from space revealed 1,800 methane plumes. Most of these hotspots — 1,200 of them, primarily in the US and western Asia — are linked to fossil-fuel extraction operations, like oil and gas pipelines.<div type="image" title="world map shows oil gas pipelines with clusters of orange dots representing major methane emissions" height="4005" width="5341" msid="89332855" hostid="261"></div>"We thought it would happen once in a while, and they were very specific events in specific places, accidental mostly," Lauvaux said, adding, "Not at all. They're very systematic. They come back a lot along the infrastructure: pipelines and compressor stations and wells."He suspects that many of these methane plumes come from routine maintenance."They open the valves, and the methane and natural gas blow out, and in the meantime, they can fix whatever they have to fix," he said.Lauvaux's team consists of researchers from CNRS, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), and the data-analytics company Kayrros. Their <a href="http://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm1676">study</a> was published in the journal <keyword id="11896083" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="science" source="Orion">Science</keyword> on Thursday.Based on this and a <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22042020/permian-basin-methane-emissions-texas-new-mexico/">series</a> of <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.0c04117">prior</a> <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aar7204">studies</a> that have <a href="https://research.noaa.gov/article/ArtMID/587/ArticleID/2474/Airborne-research-shows-East-Coast-cities-emitting-twice-as-much-methane-as-estimated">measured methane</a> at particular sites, Lauvaux roughly estimates that human activities could be emitting twice as much methane as governments report.<h2>The methane map is 'scary,' but it represents a big opportunity</h2><div type="image" title="yellow gas pipeline above worker in blue jumpsuit in snow" height="1549" width="2065" msid="89332856" hostid="261"></div>The methane plumes in the new map have a warming effect on Earth's atmosphere that's comparable to 20 million additional vehicles on the road for one year, according to the study."It's a little scary," Lauvaux said, adding, "Very few leaks are responsible for a huge amount of methane."But it also presents an opportunity: If governments and fossil-fuel companies stop these few major leaks, it will make a big dent in their emissions. It's low-hanging fruit, Lauvaux said, and stopping routine leaks could even save companies money.In the US, ultra-emitters could save $250 per ton of methane if they eliminate routine leaks, the researchers calculated.The US, Turkmenistan, Russia, and Iran are some of the biggest culprits on Lauvaux's map. He was surprised to find relatively few methane flares in oil states like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq. He's not sure why — that's a subject for future research. Still, Lauvaux's team estimated that their map represents just one-tenth of the fossil-fuel industry's total methane emissions. These are just the biggest plumes, releasing more than 25 metric tons of methane per hour. There are surely many smaller plumes that the satellite can't detect.What's more, Lauvaux had to leave the Permian Basin — a major US gas field — out of his analysis, because the baseline methane levels there were too high to detect individual plumes."We have more work to do than we imagine," Lauvaux said, adding, "That's for sure."

Views from space reveal huge methane leaks in the US and Asia. They could be easy spots to cut emissions and save money.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A new <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac2e6bhttps://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac2e6b">study</a> describes what would happen to global <keyword id="12343639" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="landmarks" source="Orion">landmarks</keyword> under various degrees of sea-level rise.</li><li>In the best-case scenario, sea levels would rise nearly 10 feet in the next 200 to 2,000 years.</li></ul>Several times each year, the tide in Venice, Italy, rises more than 2 feet above the average sea level. Sometimes, this results in mild <keyword id="11919825" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="flooding" source="Orion">flooding</keyword> - inconvenient puddles along the sidewalk. But in certain years, like 2019, floods can swallow the city, damaging infrastructure and costing lives.More cities will need to prepare for that reality as global temperatures climb, and sea levels rise along with them. A recent report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on <keyword id="11896311" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climate-change" source="Orion">Climate Change</keyword> (IPCC) found that human-caused emissions have already led the planet to warm by 1.1 degrees Celsius in the last 170 years. When global temperatures rise, ice sheets and glaciers melt, sending water into the ocean. Water also naturally expands as it warms, which raises the average sea level.The IPCC report warned that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-impacts-to-last-millennia-ipcc-report-2021-8">sea levels will continue to rise for centuries to millennia</a>, no matter what happens next. A <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac2e6bhttps://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac2e6b">new study</a> from Climate Central, a nonprofit research group, suggests that 4 degrees of warming could lead to nearly 30 feet of sea-level rise over the next 200 to 2,000 years. In that worst-case scenario, according to the researchers, the resulting flooding would force at least 50 major cities to either start emptying out or mount unprecedented defenses against the water. High tides could encroach on land hosting 15% of the global population (about 1 billion people).If the world continues on its current emissions path, global temperatures are projected to climb 3 degrees, which would cause seas to rise nearly 21 feet. In that case, more than 800 million people could be vulnerable to sea-level rise - and many the world's most important landmarks could be submerged in water.Some of that can still be avoided, though. Under the best-case scenario, global temperatures would climb just 1.5 degrees Celsius over the next 200 to 2,000 years, leading to around 10 feet of sea-level rise. But that would require major systemic changes to cut emissions, since the world is currently on track to exceed 1.5 degrees of warming in the 2030s, according to the IPCC. Plus, even under that limited amount of warming, the Climate Central researchers estimate that 510 million people would be vulnerable to sea-level rise.The graphics below show how landmarks such as the Burj Khalifa and Statue of Liberty would look under 3 degrees of warming.<h2>Rising seas pose a particular threat to Asian landmarks</h2>The Climate Central study estimates that Asian countries - particularly China, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam - are most vulnerable to sea-level rise.The Temple of Literature in Hanoi, Vietnam, wouldn't experience any flooding under 1.5 degrees of warming, but it would under 3 degrees. Toggle back and forth on the image below to see the difference. Floods would swallow the entrance to the Lungshan Temple in Taipei, Taiwan, if global sea levels rose nearly 21 feet.The streets below the Lujiazui skyscrapers in Shanghai would also be covered in water. The study estimates that 83% of Shanghai's population is vulnerable to flooding under 1.5 degrees of warming, and 94% is vulnerable under 3 degrees.If emissions continue on their current path, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai could wind up wading in water, too.And the Lalbagh Fort in Dhaka, Bangladesh would no longer be accessible on foot. Half of Dhaka's population is vulnerable to flooding under 1.5 degrees of warming. Under 3 degrees of warming, that figures rises to 82%.<h2>Landmarks in the US, Europe, and South America are also vulnerable</h2>In the US, coastal cities like New York are particularly vulnerable to flooding. Based on the level of warming (1.1 degrees Celsius) alone, nearly 4% of New York City's population will experience flooding over the next 200 to 2,000 years . That figure could rise to 19% under 3 degrees of warming, which would leave the base of the Statue of Liberty inundated. On the opposite coast, the Santa Monica Pier in California could disappear underwater if sea levels rose nearly 21 feet globally.The UK's Buckingham Palace could get partially swallowed. The warming we've already seen means around 5% of the UK's population will be vulnerable to flooding over the coming centuries. With 3 degrees of warming, that share would jump to 11%.If emissions continue on their current path, pedestrians would no longer be able to stroll through Aristotelous Square in Thessaloniki, Greece.Nor would they be able to enter the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.Under 3 degrees of warming, water could form a moat around the Plaza de España in Seville, Spain. Nearly 4% of Spain's population is vulnerable to flooding under 1.5 degrees of warming, according to the study. That figure rises to 8% under 3 degrees of warming.A few landmarks, like the Plaza de la Catedral in Havana, Cuba, could get swallowed up entirely.But there's still time: The study estimates that cutting emissions in half by 2030 could limit warming to just 1.5 degrees. In that case, the authors write, widespread flooding "may be limited to a handful of locations."

Before-and-after images of landmarks around the world show the devastating sea-level rise that's coming

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-show-bathtub-ring-along-a-parched-los-angeles-reservoir-2021-7">California</a>'s <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/western-us-extreme-heat-drought-leads-to-wildfires-power-failures-2021-6">drought</a> is so severe right now, you can see it from satellites.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/grocery-stores-battle-record-heat-wave-2021-6">Heat waves</a> make <keyword id="46472" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="drought">drought</keyword> even worse. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-show-how-people-are-handling-extreme-heat-in-west-2021-6">Two</a> of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walk-outs-mcdonalds-jack-in-the-box-over-heat-wave-2021-7">them</a> struck the western US in June.</li><li>A climate emergency is <a href="https://www.insider.com/brutal-heatwave-in-pacific-northwest-sending-people-to-hospital-2021-6">raising temperatures</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/historically-low-california-reservoirs-threaten-power-grid-photos-2021-6">depleting reservoirs</a>, and priming the land for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/canada-wildfire-heat-generating-pyrocumulonimbus-storm-clouds-2021-7">wildfires</a>.</li></ul>The climate crisis is bearing down hard on the western US.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/western-us-extreme-heat-drought-leads-to-wildfires-power-failures-2021-6">Historic drought and heat</a> are converging on western states to create the perfect storm for depleted reservoirs, strained power grids, and rampant <keyword id="394841" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="wildfires">wildfires</keyword> later this summer. The effects are so stark, you can see them from space.<keyword id="21340" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Satellite-images">Satellite images</keyword> show that the hills outside Los Angeles are significantly more parched, brown, and dry than they were this time last year. Drag the slider back and forth on the below image to see the difference."I'm worried about this summer," Kathleen Johnson, a paleoclimatologist at the University of <keyword id="2379" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="California">California</keyword>, Irvine, told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/18/us-heatwave-west-climate-crisis-drought">The Guardian</a>. "This current drought is potentially on track to become the worst that we've seen in at least 1,200 years. And the reason is linked directly to human-caused <keyword id="6361617" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climate-change">climate change</keyword>."In the US Drought Monitor's 20-year history of tracking drought, the West and Southwest are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/western-us-extreme-heat-drought-leads-to-wildfires-power-failures-2021-6">drier than they've ever been</a>. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has now declared drought emergencies in 41 of the state's 58 counties, encompassing 30% of California's population.Shasta Lake is the largest reservoir in California and, like many western lakes, it has receded significantly over the past few months. NASA satellite images below show a bathtub ring - white layers of calcium carbonate and other minerals exposed when the water level drops - along the lake's shorelines.The reservoir is at just 38% of its full capacity - 48% of the historical average, according to <a href="https://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=RES">California's Department of Water Resources</a>.California's second-largest reservoir, Lake Oroville, has fallen to historically low levels, too. Normally, the lake's water pumps through the Edward Hyatt Power Plant to generate electricity for 800,000 homes. But officials told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/17/us/california-drought-oroville-power/index.html">CNN</a> that they expect the low water levels will force the plant to close in late summer.<div type="image" title="lake oroville full june 2019 and dry receding june 2021" height="1500" width="2000" msid="84083108" hostid="261"></div>"A lot of the slack in our system has already been used up," Roger Pulwarty, a senior scientist in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/07/california-drought-oregon-west-climate-change">The Guardian</a>.<h2>A climate emergency is raising temperatures, straining power grids, and sparking fires</h2>An ever-growing body of research shows that drought events are becoming more common and more severe as human activity fills the atmosphere with heat-trapping pollutants like carbon dioxide and methane. Rising global temperatures are changing the western US profoundly: Warmer air causes more moisture to evaporate, drying out soil. That raises the risk of drought and leaves forests full of tinder-dry foliage, primed for wildfires.<div type="image" title="wildfire smoke plumes over dry hills and a highway road" height="1512" width="2016" msid="84083111" hostid="261"></div>Heat waves only make the situation worse. They're occuring three times more often and lasting about a day longer than they did in the 1960s, according to <a href="https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-heat-waves">records</a> of such waves across 50 US cities. They also start earlier and continue later into the year - the heat-wave season is 47 days longer than it was in the 1960s.Two record-shattering heat waves struck western states in June. The first one washed over the Southwest and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-power-grids-are-straining-as-sweltering-heatwaves-persist-2021-6">strained California's power grid</a>. Temperatures reached 116 degrees Fahrenheit in Las Vegas, Nevada; 115 degrees in Phoenix, Arizona; and topped 110 degrees for eight days straight in Tucson, Arizona.<div type="image" title="heat map shows heat wave across US southwest" height="539" width="719" msid="84083114" hostid="261"></div>The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walk-outs-mcdonalds-jack-in-the-box-over-heat-wave-2021-7">most recent heat wave</a> rolled over the Pacific Northwest last weekend and sat there for several days.Many of the cities that were hit hardest, including Seattle and Portland, have never experienced such temperatures - in some cases breaking their previous records by double digits. Temperatures in Lytton, a town in British Columbia, hit 116 degrees Fahrenheit - the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada. The town broke that record the following day, when temperatures climbed to 118 degrees.It's not yet clear how many people <a href="https://www.insider.com/heat-wave-canada-sudden-deaths-record-heat-2021-6">died from heat-related illness</a> during the Pacific Northwest <keyword id="55544" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="heat-wave">heat wave</keyword>, but <a href="https://apnews.com/article/canada-heat-waves-science-health-government-and-politics-ea770a153d84b8774190a96affe2c2e3">the Associated Press reported</a> that the death toll is likely in the hundreds.<div type="image" title="Fire department helps man in Oregon amidst heat wave" height="2655" width="3540" msid="84083116" hostid="261"></div>"Much of the western United States will continue the trend of hot and dry weather, much like the summer of 2020," Brandon Buckingham, a meteorologist at AccuWeather, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/western-us-extreme-heat-drought-leads-to-wildfires-power-failures-2021-6">told Insider last month</a>. "Each and every western heat wave throughout the summer will only heighten wildfire risks."Heat waves also prompt people to crank up air conditioners, causing energy demand to spike. This can strain the <keyword id="6368906" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="power-grid">power grid</keyword> and lead to rolling blackouts.

Images from space show California's forests and lakes drying out in a record mega-drought

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-crisis-could-turn-around-this-decade-ipcc-report-2022-4">major UN report</a> offers a playbook for averting the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-crisis-endangers-women-girls-pregnant-people-2022-3">worst</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/allergy-season-may-last-longer-with-double-the-pollen-study-2022-3">effects</a> of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/Antarctica-ice-shelf-previously-thought-stable-collapses-2022-3">climate change</a>, if the world acts now.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-estimate-9000-tree-species-are-still-unknown-to-them-2022-1">Forests</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-solar-power-plan-clean-energy-by-2050-2021-9">solar</a> farms, and compact <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-investing-green-infrastructure-manage-climate-change-2022-3">cities</a> with electric buses can make a huge difference this decade.</li></ul>We only have three years left to avert the worst <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mass-animal-extinctions-climate-change-un-ipcc-report-2022-3">consequences</a> of <keyword id="11896311" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climate-change" source="Orion">climate change</keyword>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-crisis-could-turn-around-this-decade-ipcc-report-2022-4">a sobering report from the United Nations</a> warned on Monday.Human activities are releasing heat-trapping gases, like carbon dioxide and methane, into the atmosphere. That's caused global temperatures to rise 1.1 degrees Celsius in the last 170 years, and the planet is on track to warm roughly 2 more degrees by the end of the century, catastrophically endangering humans' physical health, our food and water supply, the availability of safe places to live, and the survival of animal species.However, there is still time to change our ways. That's the focus of the new report from the UN's <keyword id="11911245" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="intergovernmental-panel-on-climate-change" source="Orion">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</keyword> (<keyword id="6941656" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ipcc" source="Orion">IPCC</keyword>), authored by hundreds of scientists from across the globe."As long as you want to keep temperatures below about 3 degrees, we needed to peak emissions immediately, as soon as possible — ideally five to 10 years ago — and the latest, before 2025," Edward Byers, an energy and climate researcher at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, and a lead author on the report, told Insider.<div type="image" title="farmer walks through field of dried brown soybean plants" height="1666" width="2222" msid="90694521" hostid="261"></div>If global emissions of heat-trapping gases peak by 2025, plummet to half their current level by 2030, and drop to zero by 2050 — there's a chance the planet won't warm past 1.5 degrees. In nearly 3,000 pages, the report lays out a playbook to meet that ambitious timeline.Many of the measures in the IPCC's roadmap are cheap, quick, and doable with current technology. Some, like improved mass-transit systems, offer additional benefits, like creating new jobs and addressing socioeconomic inequity."The global benefits of climate action exceed the cost," Stephanie Roe, a lead author on the report and a climate scientist at the World Wildlife Fund, told Insider."It's still possible," Byers said.Here are five straightforward climate actions that governments and businesses of all sizes can tackle right now.<h2>Retrofit cities for electrified transit, biking, and walking</h2><div type="image" title="electric buses lined up inside factory" height="1667" width="2500" msid="90694523" hostid="261"></div>Cities and urban areas make up two-thirds of all global emissions, according to the new IPCC report. Redesigning urban transportation could cut about one-quarter of those emissions by 2050.That means building housing near workplaces, so that residents have short commutes, and designing streets that encourage biking, walking, or taking shared public transit instead of driving personal vehicles. The IPCC also recommends running public buses, trams, and other transit vehicles on electricity rather than oil.The report found that these measures would ultimately save money. They would likely improve local air quality, too.<h2>Ditch <keyword id="11970530" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="fossil-fuels" source="Orion">fossil fuels</keyword> for solar and wind power</h2><div type="image" title="wind turbines and church silhouetted against sunset" height="1667" width="2500" msid="90694525" hostid="261"></div>Electric buses and trains won't drive down emissions much if their energy comes from coal-fired power plants. Fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas release lots of carbon dioxide and methane when we burn them for energy.For that reason, the energy sector is a far bigger greenhouse-gas polluter than sectors like agriculture or transport. In 2019, energy suppliers produced about 34% of all human-driven emissions worldwide, according to the IPCC report.Climate scientists' core message: We must stop using fossil fuels as quickly as possible.Every pathway to limit warming to 1.5 or even 2 degrees requires almost eliminating fossil-fuel use by the 2050s, Byers said.<div type="image" title="worker in yellow hard hat standing amid field of solar panels spraying water" height="1666" width="2222" msid="90694527" hostid="261"></div>The good <keyword id="11893589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news" source="Orion">news</keyword> is that <keyword id="12265703" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="wind-turbines" source="Orion">wind turbines</keyword> and solar panels have become significantly cheaper to install and operate in the last decade. Now, renewable energy is often competitive with fossil fuels. Governments, businesses, and households should draw energy from wind and solar farms whenever possible, the report recommends."Renewables can be done rapidly and very cheaply nowadays," Byers said, adding, "The electricity sector has made lots of progress on this."<h2>Cut methane emissions by patching leaks</h2><h2><div type="image" title="flames black cloud rising from flarestacks natural gas facility" height="1666" width="2222" msid="90694529" hostid="261"></div></h2>Nearly one-fifth of all the energy sector's emissions are methane — a powerful gas with 30 times the heat-trapping potential of carbon dioxide.Most of that methane comes from "fugitive emissions," meaning leaks from fossil-fuel transportation and processing facilities. An analysis of satellite images from 2019 and 2020 found <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/space-imagery-reveals-methane-pouring-from-the-us-russia-daily-2022-2">more than 1,800 methane plumes along gas pipelines</a> all over the globe. Altogether, the study calculated, those leaks' emissions were comparable to 20 million additional vehicles on the road for a year.Because the gas has such a potent heating effect in the atmosphere, a drop in methane emissions can help rapidly reduce the speed of global warming. Patching gas leaks would probably save energy companies money, too."That is a really low-hanging fruit, I think, that can be easily addressed," Roe said.<h2>Stop wasting food</h2><div type="image" title="volunteer carries bags of potatoes at drive-thru potato handout" height="1666" width="2223" msid="90694532" hostid="261"></div>Methane also comes from livestock and waste facilities, as cows belch and garbage decomposes. Landfills are the third-largest source of methane emissions in the US, and food waste is the largest category of garbage, according to the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/sustainable-management-food-basics">Environmental Protection Agency</a>. The <a href="https://www.usda.gov/foodlossandwaste/why">Department of Agriculture</a> estimates that 30-40% of the US food supply is wasted.Wasting less food would mean fewer methane emissions at the landfill and could also reduce emissions upstream in food production. Using food that previously would have gone to waste could allow us to produce less of it, which would mean fewer emissions from fertilizer, farming, and food-processing machinery.<div type="image" title="field of plowed lettuce" height="1666" width="2222" msid="90694535" hostid="261"></div>That's a lifestyle change that individuals and families can make in developed countries. According to the IPCC report, 61% of the world's food waste came from households in 2019."That is an easy way to both increase efficiencies and reduce your own costs as a consumer, reduce the cost down the supply chain, and make a big, big difference in terms of reducing emissions, but also limiting and reducing pressure on land," Roe said.<h2>Protect <keyword id="13075240" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="forests" source="Orion">forests</keyword> and grow more of them</h2><div type="image" title="man with binoculars surveys rainforest canopy green trees" height="1998" width="2664" msid="90694537" hostid="261"></div>Trees thrive by absorbing carbon dioxide from the air and storing it in their tissues. That's why forests can be a powerful tool to slow global warming.The IPCC report calls for protecting forests across the planet from deforestation, or the die-off of trees from changing climate conditions, fires, or humans cutting them down. It also points to afforestation, meaning planting new trees where there are none."Afforestation is something that can be deployed today," Byers said.Growing trees takes time, he added, but "it can be done in every country in the world."In this decade, the IPCC's plan could cost $100 or less for every ton of carbon dioxide emissions it prevents. More than half of those mitigation strategies cost just $20 or less per ton, the report estimates. Many of them would ultimately save money.But relying on just one solution isn't enough."There are no silver bullets. We need to do it all," Roe said.

Scientists say climate solutions like solar power and walkable cities are cheap, doable, and can make a dent in the crisis

<ul class="summary-list"><li>This image of a napping polar bear won an international photography contest.</li><li>Amateur photographer Nima Sarikhani took the image to inspire "hope" for the planet's future.</li></ul>An image of a young polar bear napping on an iceberg is focusing minds on vanishing polar habitats.The image won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People's Choice Award, hosted by London's Natural History Museum.Amateur photographer Nima Sarikhani took the photo during a three-day expedition off Norway's Svalbard archipelago."This photograph has stirred strong emotions in many of those who have seen it. Whilst climate change is the biggest challenge we face, I hope that this photograph also inspires hope; there is still time to fix the mess we have caused," Sarikhani said in a press release.The image is a vivid illustration of the threat to polar wildlife, which scientists say is a consequence of the climate crisis.The small iceberg offers only fleeting shelter for the bear — a microcosm of how polar habitats keep shrinking as the world heats up.The Natural History Museum's director, Dr Douglas Gurr, called the photo a "visual representation of the detrimental impacts of climate warming and habitat loss.More than 50,000 images were entered into the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/press-office/Wildlife-Photographer-of-the-Year/ice-bed--stunning-image-of-a-young-polar-bear-drifting-to-sleep-.html">competition</a>. Sarikhani's photo won in a public vote among <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/wpy/peoples-choice">a shortlist of 25 images</a>.It got 75,000 votes, the museum said, a record.The interest surrounding Sarikhani's image comes at a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mass-animal-extinctions-climate-change-un-ipcc-report-2022-3">critical period</a> for polar bears.The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/wildlife/polar-bears">WWF</a>, says there are 22,000 polar bears left in the wild.The species is classified as vulnerable — a category less severe than endangered. The WWF said the bears are under pressure from the impact of the climate crisis on the Arctic, which is warming at around twice as fast as the global average.Although the US has a conservation plan in place, it's unclear what progress has been made in protecting the species since it was first granted protective status in 2008, according to Dr. Flavio Lehner, chief climate scientist at Polar Bears International."The next 15 years will close out what the U.N. defined as the critical decade to act on climate change," Lehner said in a <a target="_blank" href="https://polarbearsinternational.org/news-media/articles/polar-bears-listed-as-threatened-15-years-ago/">press release </a>published in May 2023.

An amazing photo of a polar bear napping on an iceberg is driving a conversation about the climate crisis

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Oregon's <keyword id="13679265" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="sedona-prince" source="Orion">Sedona Prince</keyword> has become as well-known for her activism as she is for her athletics.</li><li>The Ducks player and TikTok star famously unveiled the weight room discrepancies at the 2021 NCAA tourney.</li></ul>Sedona Prince is everywhere: on the court, in the classroom, at the Final Four and WNBA Draft, and on TV screens and For You Pages across the country.But no matter where she goes, the 6-foot-7 <keyword id="12832957" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="oregon-ducks" source="Orion">Oregon Ducks</keyword> basketball player and TikTok star puts her values at the forefront. It follows, then, that Prince — who uses she/they pronouns — would lead with their advocacy as they venture into the boardroom, too.The 21-year-old Liberty Hill, Texas, native is teaming up with Riff — a brand reimagining <keyword id="11909377" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="coffee" source="Orion">coffee</keyword>'s environmental impact — as an equity partner and its Chief Community Officer. She'll work on building out Riff's branding alongside the likes of Super Bowl champion Vernon Davis, while furthering the Oregon-based company's goals of reducing coffee's environmental footprint and championing smallholder coffee farmers.<div type="image" title="Sedona Prince." height="1666" width="2500" msid="91006861" hostid="261"></div>"I've always been very passionate about activism and advocacy, so the fact that I'm able to do that now with such a large platform and actually make a difference is really, really cool," Prince told Insider. "It's impactful. And, you know, I'm just happy that I have a space to do this and that people actually listen and respond to it because it's how we're making change.""It's pretty dope," they added.A relatively small company located "down the road" from campus, Riff has differentiated itself by harvesting the full coffee plant — not just the beans — to eliminate significant amounts of environmental waste. Using the beans for cold brew and the usually discarded cascara — the nutrient-rich fruit component of the plant — to create America's first carbon-neutral energy drink, Riff has managed to help the planet while creating new revenue streams for coffee farmers who often struggle to earn fair wages.<div type="image" title="Basketball player Sedona Prince." height="2000" width="3000" msid="91006864" hostid="261"></div>For Prince, who "always had a lot of passion for the environment" and grew up "wanting to be a zoologist," Riff's initiatives to combat <keyword id="11896311" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climate-change" source="Orion">climate change</keyword> immediately sparked her interest. And as an outspoken champion for equality — especially after they famously shined a light on disparities between the men's and women's NCAA tournaments — Prince wanted to be part of the brand's efforts to help small farmers increase their earnings."Sedona obviously sent a massive wave throughout the country over the statement that she was brave enough to make [at the 2021 NCAA tournament]," Riff CEO Paul Evers told Insider. "And at Riff, our whole thing is about integrity and being willing to tell the truth about what we call 'coffee's dirty not-so-little secret'... The big coffee brands aren't willing to tell the story. So [we're] calling it out — not only the negative environmental impact, but also [the fact that] 80% of the world's coffee is grown by smallholder farmers who are struggling to make a living.""Sedona's got such a powerful voice and is willing to challenge things," he added. "But she's also a ton of fun. It's a great fit. There's a really strong cultural alignment there."<div type="image" title="Sedona Prince and Riff CEO Paul Evers." height="1280" width="1920" msid="91006867" hostid="261"></div>While activism was a major force driving Prince's partnership with Riff, the opportunity to truly immerse herself on the business end helped draw her in, too.While many college athletes have capitalized on the NCAA's loosened Name, Image, and Likeness rules by posting on social media on behalf of a brand, only a handful are "really doing things like investing and becoming a part of companies that they believe in," she said.With Riff, Prince is one of the lucky few."These partnerships where I get to be a part of the company, where I get to help grow it, and they can also mentor me, was something that I really, really wanted to do," she said. "And especially for something that I had such passion in, which was environmental conservation."<div type="image" title="Sedona Prince." height="1878" width="2500" msid="91006871" hostid="261"></div>"Hopefully I get to be a part of it as much as I can, and then travel around and visit these farms where we can see what's going on firsthand," Prince added.Prince knows that, at this point, they're just as well-known for their activism as they are for their athletic prowess. She kicked off the nationwide reckoning that forced the NCAA to reevaluate its approach to gender equity, and ever since, she's been seen as a symbol of progress in the world of <keyword id="11893855" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="sports" source="Orion">sports</keyword>.Just last month, while <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3tz9WTI0vw&amp;list=PLipK_ff4NIl3JdE6UtYE2f9V43POSLU-z&amp;index=2">filming a video</a> for <a href="https://www.insider.com/sue-bird-togethxr-womens-sports-startup-2021-3">women's sports media brand Togethxr</a> at the Final Four in Minneapolis, Prince had an on-camera interaction that encapsulated their powerful role as a sports advocate. A father-daughter duo ran into the larger-than-life star, and the dad explained through tears that his 14-year-old daughter found the courage to come out as gay to their family after taking inspiration and comfort in the life Prince leads and the example she sets.<div type="image" title="Sedona Prince at the 2022 WNBA Draft." height="1878" width="2500" msid="91006873" hostid="261"></div>Prince knows that this level of influence "comes with a lot of responsibility." They view their <keyword id="12467960" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nil" source="Orion">NIL</keyword> work in a similar way; partnering with purpose-driven brands is just a natural extension of their activist role."I try to speak up for people who can't necessarily have a voice, or their voices can't be heard," Prince said. "And so it's a big responsibility to try to be well-spoken in every single aspect of advocacy, which is not the easiest thing all the time.""But with that, it's so cool," she added. "I get to show people that student athletes can speak up. They can use their voice on things that aren't just about sports, which is super cool. And I just want to break the barriers and help other athletes use their platforms, build their platforms and then, you know, find the best ways to use them for things that they're passionate about."

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