Author archives

Governments’ planned fossil fuel production remains dangerously out of sync with Paris Agreement limits

UN – The Production Gap:”Governments still plan to produce more than double the amount of fossil fuels in 2030 than what would be consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5°C, in stark contrast to increased climate ambitions and net-zero commitments.  This report first introduced and quantified the “production gap” in 2019, finding that the world’s governments planned to …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Environmental Law, Government Documents

Humans did not cause woolly mammoths to go extinct climate change did

Phys.org: “For five million years, woolly mammoths roamed the earth until they vanished for good nearly 4,000 years ago—and scientists have finally proved why. The hairy cousins of today’s elephants lived alongside early humans and were a regular staple of their diet—their skeletons were used to build shelters, harpoons were carved from their giant tusks, …

Subjects: Climate Change

Rising Arctic Temperatures Mean Migrating North No Longer Worth It for Many Species

Yale Environment 360: “As temperatures rise in northern regions, migrating species are seeing less benefit from migrating north for the summer months, according to scientists who reviewed 25 recent studies. In the warm months, birds, mammals, and insects head north to access food, escape predators, and avoid diseases made worse by summer heat. But with …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law

Librarians and Professional Labeling: What’s in a Name?

InfoToday / Dave Shumaker: At a recent professional meeting, I was dismayed to find myself witnessing yet another discussion on whether those present should call themselves “librarians.” The program that hosted this discussion opened with the observation that library spaces are shrinking in the post-pandemic world and the question of whether the participants might stop …

Subjects: Knowledge Management, Libraries, Marketing

People in the Eastern U.S. might be nearly as susceptible to the dangers of wildfire smoke as those in the Western U.S.

Estimated Mortality and Morbidity Attributable to Smoke Plumes in the United States: Not Just a Western US Problem, First published: 21 August 2021, GeoHealth, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GH000457 – “The pollutants from landscape (wild, prescribed, and agricultural) fires are expected to have an increasing impact on air quality and health in the United States (US) across the current …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law, Health Care

Facebook is planning to rebrand the company with a new name

The Verge: “Facebook is planning to change its company name next week to reflect its focus on building the metaverse, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter. The coming name change, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to talk about at the company’s annual Connect conference on October 28th, but could unveil sooner, …

Subjects: E-Commerce, Economy, Internet, Legal Research, Marketing, Social Media

Savvy Negotiation Skills A Toolkit for Law Librarians

Paul Martin Law Library, University of Windsor: “Savvy Negotiation Skills – A Toolkit for Law Librarians – Presented by Annette Demers, BA, LLB, MLIS, CALL/ACBD October 14, 2021 [h/t Library Boy] Resources CALL/ACBD Vendor Relations Committee, “Librarian-Vendor Relations: Best Practices” (March 8, 2017). Handouts Electronic Resources Negotiation Form New Product Checklist Renewals Checklist Cancellations Checklist …

Subjects: Economy, Education, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries

Cyber Criminals Using Spoofed Unemployment Benefit Websites to Defraud US Public

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation is issuing this announcement to alert and help the public recognize and avoid spoofed, or fake, unemployment benefit websites. Cyber criminals have created these spoofed websites to collect personal and financial data from US victims. These spoofed websites imitate the appearance of and can be easily mistaken for legitimate websites …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Government Documents, ID Theft, Internet

Brave ditches Google for its own privacy-centric search engine

Bleeping Computer: “Brave Browser has replaced Google with its own no-tracking privacy-centric Brave Search as the default search engine for new users in five regions. Brave is an open-source Chromium-based browser that focuses on user privacy by automatically blocking ads and tracking scripts and removing the privacy-invasive functions built into Chromium. Historically, Brave used Google …

Subjects: E-Commerce, E-Records, Internet, Privacy

A People’s Archive of Sinking and Melting

“A PEOPLE’S ARCHIVE OF SINKING AND MELTING is a growing collection of items contributed from places that may disappear owing to the combined physical, political, and economic impacts of climate change, including glacial melting, sea level rise, coastal erosion, and desertification. THE CONTRIBUTED MATERIALS together form an archive of the future anterior; what will have …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Environmental Law, Government Documents