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Daily Archives: February 19, 2020

You want to reduce the carbon footprint of your food?

Focus on what you eat, not whether your food is local – “Our World in Data presents the empirical evidence on global development in entries dedicated to specific topics. This blog post draws on data and research discussed in our entry on the Environmental impacts of food and CO2 and Greenhouse Gas Emissions.”People across the world are becoming increasingly concerned about climate change: 8-in-10 people see climate change as a major threat to their country. As I have shown before, food production is responsible for one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.There is rightly a growing awareness that our diet and food choices have a significant impact on our carbon ‘footprint’. What can you do to really reduce the carbon footprint of your breakfast, lunches, and dinner? ‘Eating local’ is a recommendation you hear often – even from prominent sources, including the United Nations. While it might make sense intuitively – after all, transport does lead to emissions – it is one of the most misguided pieces of advice. Eating locally would only have a significant impact if transport was responsible for a large share of food’s final carbon footprint. For most foods, this is not the case. GHG emissions from transportation make up a very small amount of the emissions from food and what you eat is far more important than where your food traveled from…”

See also this related chartFood: greenhouse gas emissions across the supply chain

Global Tailings Dam Portal Project

Press release, 24 January 2020: World’s first public database of mine tailings dams aims to prevent deadly disasters – “The team at GRID-Arendal has built the Global Tailings Portal, a public, searchable database with detailed information on more than 1,700 mine tailings dams around the world. The data is based on disclosures provided by mining… Continue Reading

Fighting Disinformation Online

RAND Corporation – Kavanagh, Jennifer, Samantha Cherney, Hilary Reininger, and Norah Griffin, Fighting Disinformation Online: Building the Database of Web Tools. Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License, 2020. “Today’s information ecosystem brings access to seemingly infinite amounts of information instantaneously. It also contributes to the rapid spread of misinformation and disinformation to millions of… Continue Reading

LC Webinars on Legal Research – US Case Law and Comparative Law

Via Emily Carr – “The Law Library of Congress will be offering the following webinars in the next three weeks.  Please join us! Orientation to Legal Research Webinar Series: U.S. Case Law, Thursday, February 20, 2020 – The Orientation to Legal Research Series of webinars reflect the content in the in-person series of classes, and… Continue Reading

Freaked Out? 3 Steps to Protect Your Phone

The New York Times: “Your smartphone is one of the world’s most advanced surveillance tools. This week, Times Opinion is reporting on a huge trove of location data showing the precise location movements for millions of Americans. Once your location is shared with the companies, there’s no way to delete that information or get it… Continue Reading

Carnegie Mellon built ‘opt-out’ system for nearby tracking devices

engadget: “It’s getting easier to control what your smart home devices share, but what about the connected devices beyond your home? Researchers at Carnegie Mellon’s CyLab think they can give you more control. They’ve developed an infrastructure and matching mobile app (for Android and iOS) that not only informs you about the data nearby Internet… Continue Reading

Ring now requires two-factor sign-ins for its home security devices

engadget: “Ring is continuing its bid to improve privacy and security after facing criticism. As of today, the Amazon brand will start requiring two-factor authentication for all users when they sign into their Ring accounts. When the feature reaches you this week, you’ll always get a six-digit code sent to either your email or (less… Continue Reading