🐤 Avoid carbon bombs, save the world

Remember Heroes? "Save the cheerleader, save the world." If the international community avoids carbon bombs, we save the world. Find out more about what a carbon bomb is.

Tuesday | September 13th, 2022
Early Chirp

Welcome to Tuesday, chirpers. Come out and play, chirpers (Shout out to The Warriors). We're back again after an exciting start to the week with another amazing edition of Early Chirp.

Want to know what we have in store for you today? We're going to look at how avoiding 'carbon bombs' can help the world keep its emission promises.

What else does the Early Chirp have in store? Keep reading to find out.

-Walter Yeates

World

The Breakdown

A quick look around the world.

Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images

First NFL Sunday in the books. The first Sunday of the NFL season has come and gone, with several teams in good places and others...not so much. Jimmy Garoppolo might be the biggest winner of all, Trey Lance, whom the 49ers pushed him to the side for, struggled in a shocking 49ers loss to the Chicago Bears. Dallas Cowboys fans also inquired about Garoppolo after Dak Prescott struggled and is prime to miss six weeks after a hand industry.

Could ancient islands of folklore actually exist? A new study of coastal geography finds lost islands mentioned in Welsh folklore may have existed. The study, inspired by the Gough Map, the oldest surviving map of Grea Britain, believed to have originated in the thirteenth century, depicts two lost islands in Cardigan Bay in west Wales. Geological evidence from the seafloor and shoreline explains how both islands could have been 'lost.'

The US bans 'advanced tech' firms from building factories in China for 10 years. New guidelines from the Biden administration were unveiled as part of a US $50 billion plan to expand the US semiconductor industry. Many US businesses have pushed for more government support to reduce reliance on China. The new guidelines come as the US and China continue disputing over trade and technology.

US government fears Russian energy manipulation could fracture European resolve on Ukraine. Early Chirp reported yesterday on how the European Union is attempting to combat an ultimatum from Vladimir Putin (read that story; here, or open yesterday's email from us). Last Thursday, United States President Joe Biden met with nearly a dozen Western leaders to discuss the war in Ukraine and to keep pressure on Putin by continuing sanctions against Russia. Analysts believe Putin's goal is to wear down the resolve of the US, Europe, and the Ukrainian economy while absorbing catastrophic losses on the frontline in order to win the war.

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environment

Time to defuse those carbon bombs

425 carbon bombs? A look at how to stop these environmental disasters.

George Frey/Getty Images

What is a carbon bomb?

A carbon bomb is a fossil fuel extraction project, like coal mines (which are quickly becoming a thing of the past) which can cause over a gigatonne (a billion tonnes) of CO2 emissions during its lifetime. For comparison, the United Kingdom's annual emissions are less than twice that amount.

According to research, roughly 80% of all carbon bombs are concentrated in 12 countries: China, the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Qatar, Canada, Iraq, India, Brazil, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.

There's still time to stop the carbon bombs. Lead research Kjell Kuhne, whose research was published in The Conversation, claims that 40% of the identified list of carbon bomb projects across the world haven't begun production. Kuhne suggests there is enough time to scare investors from new carbon bombs through campaigning and lawsuits, which have already halted some projects.

In total, Kuhne and a team of researchers found 425 carbon bombs, meaning there is an opportunity for environmental activists to stop projects and put efforts into green energy projects which could replace fossil fuels in the immediate future.

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nature

Colorado River nearing a crisis point

The Colorado River crisis is a math problem.

Colorado River (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

What is causing the Colorado River crisis?

The Colorado River crisis seems to come down to a simple math problem. More people depend on the river for their water needs (40 million) than flows through the Colorado banks each year.

The Colorado River Compact, which was signed approximately 100 years ago ( November 24, 1922), didn't seem to balance who gets what amount of water -- meaning this problem was eventually going to happen without intervention.

Daryl Vigil, water administrator for the Jicarilla Apache Nation in New Mexico explains how the original compact made life difficult for native tribes. "In 1922, my tribe was subsistence living. The only way we could survive was through government rations on a piece of land that wasn’t our traditional homeland. That’s where we were at when the foundational law of the river was created."

Anne Castle, a senior fellow at the Getches-Wilkinson Center at the University of Colorado Law School commented on the compact to the Associated Press, "The framers of the compact — and water leaders since then — have always either known or had access to the information that the allocations they were making were more than what the river could supply."

A drought, which scientists believe is the driest 22-year stretch in the past 1,200 years in the southwestern part of the United States, is exacerbating the situation. Also, more people are moving to Arizona, Utah, and Nevada -- all of which rank in the top 10 fastest growing states according to US Census data.

Several concessions and creative solutions will be necessary to rectify the issues created by the compact and climate change.

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us politics

Biden signs Executive Order to secure US Bioeconomy

An in-depth look at the newest Executive Order.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

What is an Executive Order?

According to the American Bar Association, an Executive Order is, ' a signed, written, and published directive from the President of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. They are numbered consecutively, so executive orders may be referenced by their assigned number, or their topic.'

Executive Orders are typically signed by the President of the United States when they feel a bill would not pass through Congress, or the executive wants to ensure action is taken on an issue quickly. Today President Joe Biden signed the Executive Order on Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Sustainable, Safe, and Secure American Bioeconomy.

The following are several key aspects of the latest Executive Order.

Section 1 lists the desire to 'coordinate a whole-of-government approach to advance biotechnology and biomanufacturing towards innovative solutions in health, climate change, energy, food security, agriculture, supply chain resilience, and national and economic security.' Regarding the use of biotechnology to achieve wide-reaching goals, The Executive Order lists the need for the US to 'invest in foundational scientific capabilities.'

Section 2 - Section 7 lists how the United States will attempt to implement the details of the goal in Section 1. With Section 3 detailing, 'Within 180 days of the date of this order, the heads of agencies specified in subsections (a)(i)-(v) of this section shall submit the following reports on biotechnology and biomanufacturing to further societal goals related to health, climate change and energy, food and agricultural innovation, resilient supply chains, and cross-cutting scientific advances.' Section 4 outlines how President Biden and his administration would like to development of the United States bioeconomy.

Section 11 details how the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) will lead a 'comprehensive interagency assessment' to understand what future threats to United States national security from 'foreign adversaries' could arise against the bioeconomy. The DNI will also work with the Department of Defense to ensure future programs are implemented and utilized in a way to ensure national security is maintained.

Section 12 details how the Department of State and other agencies that work with international partners will work with those partners to 'promote and protect both the United States and global bioeconomies.'

If the bioeconomy replaces fossil fuels with sustainable agriculture, fishing, forestry, aquaculture, and other aspects of society -- the impact on the environment will be monumental. The Executive Order stops short of programs suggested in the Green New Deal, but it is a significant measure if measures are implemented.

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Early Chirp

Written by Walter Yeates

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