* 2020 was likely tied for the hottest year on record, and the increases in the past decade have been striking. At least as dangerous, hot temperatures in arctic regions released more CO2 as permafrost continues to melt, making it likely that the effects continue to compound over time: "[T]he world is seeing an increase in heat waves, storms and other extreme weather as the planet warms, and in disasters like droughts, floods and wildfires that result. Last year offered no respite, with record fires in Australia and California, and severe drought in central South America and the American Southwest."
* More on the difficulty of recycling plastic. This is just a post by an anonymous Reddit user but it talks about the various types of plastic, the need for great cleaning and sorting, etc.
* From a little more reliable source: Ford (and also eventually Volkswagen?) have electric vehicles coming out. They are eligible for government rebates and otherwise match characteristics of Tesla.
* Wind power and batteries are on the rise in Texas: "Since 2015, the amount of wind-generated electricity has more than doubled in Texas, and last year 23 percent of the state’s power came from wind turbines...Battery storage capacity in Texas is expected to grow more than seven-fold this year, from 215 megawatts of available battery storage last year up to over 1,500 by the end of this year...."
* Are organic foods better for you? No question that they are better for the environment, but I didn't think that it mattered much for people. Articles like this one, while stating the case for organics mostly on environmental grounds, in my opinion undercut their own case with their aggressive language- they recognize that the evidence is not strong but they insist on drawing strong conclusions anyway. However this peer-reviewed article concludes that although conclusions are tentative, there is some evidence that organic foods do help with a variety of conditions. (The preceding link is a meta-study putting together data from lots of studies like this one to draw a bigger conclusion.) I'm skeptical, but this evidence is definitely food for thought!
