Posts Claim Students Walked Out of Duke Graduation Because Jerry Seinfeld is Jewish. Here's What We Found

Nur Ibrahim

SNOPES
Tue, May 14, 2024 

David Shankbone/Wikimedia Commons

On May 12, 2024, dozens of Duke University's graduating students staged a walkout as the ceremony's guest speaker, comedian Jerry Seinfeld, stepped up to the lectern. They chanted "Free, free Palestine" as other students appeared to jeer them. (Duke's student newspaper described the number of students walking out as about 100.)

The walkout prompted many people online to claim the students were protesting because Seinfeld is Jewish, and those who participated in the walkout were antisemitic. A post by former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, stated, "So students at Drake [sic] walk out because the speaker, Jerry Seinfeld, is Jewish? This is antisemitism, cloaked in concern for Gaza."

Another post, from Democratic U.S. Rep Daniel Goldman of New York, said: "Jerry Seinfeld is a Jewish American who has nothing at all to do with Israel's foreign policy or military defense. Holding an American Jew responsible for the actions of the Israeli government is quintessential antisemitism."

However, the organizers of the walkout stated a number of reasons for their protest, and none of them had to do with Seinfeld's religious identity. They included Seinfeld's vocal support for Israel, protesters' calls for Duke University to disclose its investments in Israel as well as divest from companies with ties to Israel, and calls for a cease-fire.

Snopes found no documented evidence that the organizers were walking out due to the speaker's Jewish identity, nor did we come across footage or slogans in which protesters used antisemitic language. We also cannot fully determine the intentions of each and every student participating in the protest. We have reached out to a student organizer behind the walkout and will update this story if we receive more information.

Seinfeld and his wife expressed their support for Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in which Hamas militants killed approximately 1,200 people in Israel and took hundreds of hostages. In December 2023, he visited hostages' families in Tel Aviv, and posted on his Instagram page, "I will always stand with Israel and the Jewish people."

His wife, Jessica Seinfeld, said she donated to support counterprotests to the pro-Palestine demonstrations at the University of California, Los Angeles. A group of counter-protesters swarmed the UCLA Palestine solidarity encampment, attacked the protesters, tried to break down barricades and shot fireworks into the camp, according to the Los Angeles Times. Jessica Seinfeld reportedly condemned that violence. (It is unknown whether the counter-protesters were affiliated with the fundraiser she contributed to.)

In 2018, Jerry Seinfeld and his family visited the so-called "Anti-terror Fantasy Camp" in the West Bank's Gush Etzion bloc — which is made up of numerous Israeli settlements, illegal under international law. At the camp, they experienced what Israeli news outlet Haaretz described as a counterterrorism and security training academy with programs for tourists seeking a taste of the Israeli military experience.

In their comments to the media, student protesters at Duke repeatedly drew attention to the crisis in Gaza, where Israeli military operations have killed around 35,000 people.

Skijler Hutson, one of the student organizers, told The Chronicle, Duke's student newspaper, that the university's decision to have Seinfeld as commencement speaker "only solidified what has long been obvious: Duke University is more concerned with the interests of its donors than with taking action against genocide."

Zella Hanson, another organizer described in the story as an anti-Zionist Jew, told The Chronicle that — in addition to the university's decision to invite Seinfeld to speak, despite him being "an avid supporter of the Israeli military … [that] is committing genocide in Gaza" — students were protesting how "every university in Gaza has been destroyed."

(In May 2024, Reuters reported, according to Palestinian data, all 12 of Gaza's higher-education institutions were damaged or destroyed. More than 350 teachers and academics have been killed, and around 90,000 students were left stranded without any educational institutions, according to the data.)

Shreya Joshi, another organizer of the protest, told The New York Times the students began to plan the walkout after Seinfeld was selected as the guest speaker. She said the pain of missing out on graduation paled in comparison to what people in Gaza were experiencing.

She added they tried to leave without creating disruption while Seinfeld received his honorary degree because "none of us particularly wanted to listen to Seinfeld."

Joshi told The Chronicle that the protesters felt an obligation to act as their class graduation "takes place as the genocide of the Palestinian people enters its eighth bloody month."

Other students said the walkout would have happened regardless of who was speaking. One senior, Jen Gobaira, said to The Chronicle that they left as Seinfeld began talking about how he was brought in for "light entertainment." Gobaira said they thought, "Actually, that's not what I need right now," and left.

In advance of the ceremony, the organizers distributed flyers with their demands to the university, which included Duke disclosing any investments in Israel, divesting from holdings in companies "profiting from the occupation of Palestine," boycotting academic partnerships with Israeli universities and demanding an immediate cease-fire.

Footage from the event showed protesting students leaving while holding up the Palestinian flag, with others wearing the kaffiyeh scarf, historically described as a symbol of solidarity with the Palestinians.

Some students who did not participate in the protest supported the walkout, saying it did not disrupt the event and allowed students to voice their opinions. Others said they simply wanted to enjoy graduation and did not support the protest.

Sources:

Alkas, Dawoud Abu, et al. "Gazans Strive to Study as War Shatters Education System." Reuters, 13 May 2024. www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gazans-strive-study-war-shatters-education-system-2024-05-13/. Accessed 13 May 2024.

Briquelet, Kate. "Jessica Seinfeld and Bill Ackman Fund Pro-Israel Counterprotests at Colleges." The Daily Beast, 1 May 2024. www.thedailybeast.com, https://www.thedailybeast.com/jessica-seinfeld-and-bill-ackman-fund-pro-israel-counterprotests-at-ucla. Accessed 13 May 2024.

"Duke Students Walk out of Jerry Seinfeld Graduation Speech in Gaza Protest." The Guardian, 13 May 2024. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/13/jerry-seinfeld-duke-university-graduation-protest. Accessed 13 May 2024.

"Duke Students Walk out of Jerry Seinfeld Graduation Speech in Gaza Protest." Guardian, 2024. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aE7i22MiGY. Accessed 13 May 2024.

Flegenheimer, Matt, and Marc Tracy. "Jerry Seinfeld Can No Longer Be About Nothing." The New York Times, 4 May 2024. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/04/us/politics/jerry-seinfeld-antisemitism-jewish-identity.html. Accessed 13 May 2024.

"Gush Etzion Junction: The Deadly Roundabout." BBC News, 27 Apr. 2016. www.bbc.com, https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36102449. Accessed 13 May 2024.

"Israel's Settlements Have No Legal Validity, Constitute Flagrant Violation of International Law, Security Council Reaffirms." United Nations, 23 Dec. 2016. https://press.un.org/en/2016/sc12657.doc.htm. Accessed 13 May 2024.

"Jerry Seinfeld and Family Visit Anti-Terror Fantasy Camp in West Bank." Haaretz, 8 Jan. 2018. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2018-01-08/ty-article/.premium/jerry-seinfeld-and-family-visit-anti-terror-fantasy-camp-in-west-bank/0000017f-e56e-d97e-a37f-f76fe60f0000. Accessed 13 May 2024.

Medina, Eduardo, and Emily Cataneo. "As Seinfeld Receives Honorary Degree at Duke, Students Walk Out in Protest." The New York Times, 12 May 2024. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/12/us/jerry-seinfeld-duke-students-walk-out-protest.html. Accessed 13 May 2024.

PerryCook, Taija. "Timeline: The Oct. 7 Hamas Attack and Israel's Retaliatory War on Gaza." Snopes, 20 Nov. 2023, https://www.snopes.com//articles/465623/oct-7-hamas-attack-and-israeli-retaliation/. Accessed 13 May 2024.

"Pro-Palestinian Graduates Stage Walk-out during Commencement, Host Alternative Ceremony and Advocate for Divestment from Israel." The Chronicle, https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2024/05/duke-university-class-of-2024-commencement-walk-out-jerry-seinfeld-genocide-in-gaza-pro-palestine-divest-boycott-sanction-speak-alternative-graduation-ceremony-covid-19-pandemic-october-7-attacks-pro-israel-chapel-languages-building-national-movement. Accessed 13 May 2024.

"'Unacceptable': Why It Took Hours for Police to Quell Attack at UCLA pro-Palestinian Camp." Los Angeles Times, 1 May 2024, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-05-01/why-did-it-take-police-so-long-to-end-the-violent-clashes-at-ucla. Accessed 13 May 2024.

"Nearly Three Dozen Students Walk out on Jerry Seinfeld's Duke Graduation Speech." WRAL, 2024. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2yBfrLlCcU. Accessed 13 May 2024.

Serbia leases ex-army HQ in Belgrade to Trump son-in-law's firm

Reuters
Wed, May 15, 2024 

U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One beside first lady Melania Trump at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland

BELGRADE (Reuters) - The Serbian authorities and Jared Kushner's U.S.-based investment firm Affinity Global Development, signed a 99-year lease deal on Wednesday, allowing the company to overhaul two buildings which housed the headquarters of the former Yugoslav People's Army.

The Serbian construction ministry said in a statement that the "reputable American company" connected to Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. former President Donald Trump, was chosen for the work it described as "revitalisation of the compound."

"Everything ... will be in line with the Serbian laws, in cooperation with the government and relevant institutions ... that are responsible for urban planning and the protection of cultural heritage," the statement said.

It did not specify the value of the investment, nor the deadline for its completion.

In March, Kushner announced that a wider investment by his Affinity Partners in the Balkans would include projects in Albania and in Belgrade at the site of the headquarters buildings, where it would include a hotel, apartments, shops and office spaces.

Kushner, a former top aide to Trump when he was president, set up the investment firm after stepping down from the job in 2021. Affinity did not immediately respond to request for comment.

The two buildings were damaged in 1999 during the NATO bombing of the former Yugoslavia launched to force the then strongman Slobodan Milosevic to end his bloody crackdown against Albanians in Kosovo.

The statement said that the investor agreed to return the land without compensation if it fails to complete the investment in time and to build a memorial center dedicated to all the victims of the NATO bombing.

The statement also quoted Asher Abershera, the CEO of the Affinity Global Development as saying that Serbian architects and designers would be invited to submit ideas for the memorial center.

Over 22,000 people in Serbia have so far signed a petition calling for the buildings to be preserved. The buildings designed by Serbian architect Nikola Dobrovic were built between 1957 and 1965.

Their design is meant to resemble a canyon of the Sutjeska river in Eastern Bosnia, where one of the major World War Two battles against the Germans in the Balkans was fought in 1943.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Diane Craft)

Gov. DeSantis signs bill cutting mentions of climate change from state law, bans wind turbines

William Clayton
Wed, May 15, 2024


Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made waves on Wednesday as he signed into law a contentious energy bill that would remove mentions of the words “climate change” in state statutes, and ban power-generating wind turbines off the state’s coastline.

The proposed bill would remove over 50 lines in state law established in 2008 by then-Republican Gov. Charlie Crist addressing climate change and promoting renewable energy.

READ: Proposed Florida bill could remove majority of mentions to climate change from state law

The energy bill, HB 1645, includes provisions repealing parts of state law mentioning “the potential of global climate change” as a state and energy policy; banning offshore wind energy generation; easing regulations on natural gas pipelines; and eliminating the requirement for Florida state agencies to consider a list of “climate-friendly” products before making purchases.

In a social media statement, DeSantis stressed the bills’ significance, saying they would “keep windmills off our beaches, gas in our tanks, and China out of our state.”

“We’re restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots,” DeSantis stated in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

The bill would also require the Florida Public Service Commission to develop a “cost-effective” energy infrastructure “resilient to natural and manmade threats.”

Currently, pipelines within Florida that are 15 miles or longer require certification under the Natural Gas Transmission Pipeline Siting Act. The bill proposes to change this requirement so it applies to pipelines 100 miles or longer.

The Florida Natural Gas Association reportedly applauded the bill in a news release stating it will “maintain and encourage reliable fuel sources for public utilities, remove federal and international control over Florida’s energy policies, and allow consumers to choose their energy source.”

“This law strengthens natural gas infrastructure resiliency and reliability, which are critical to the state’s economy, the ability to recover from natural disasters and the health, safety, welfare and quality of life of Floridians,” Dale Calhoun, the association’s executive director, said in a prepared statement.

Florida utilities rely heavily on natural gas to fuel power plants, with nearly 74% reliant on power electric generation according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

However, the legislation has faced criticism from Democrats and environmental groups, particularly concerning its approach to greenhouse gas emissions.

For example, the bill would eliminate part of the current Florida law that states, “The Legislature finds that the state’s energy security can be increased by reducing dependence on foreign oil. The impacts of global climate change can be reduced through the decrease of greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, the implementation of alternative energy technologies can create new jobs and employment opportunities for many Floridians.”

The information will be partially replaced by sentences stating, “The purpose of the state’s energy policy is to ensure an adequate, reliable, and cost-effective supply of energy for the state in a manner that promotes the health and welfare of the public and economic growth. The Legislature intends that governance of the state’s energy policy be efficiently directed toward achieving this purpose.”

Senator Tina Polsky (D-Boca Raton) raised concerns in February, highlighting Florida’s vulnerability to climate disasters due to its coastal geography.

“We are surrounded by water, and the effects are showing,” Polsky said.

Despite ongoing concerns about rising sea levels and flooding in Florida, DeSantis’ approach has shifted since he first took office, when Republicans began publicly addressing the effects of climate change.

While campaigning for president in 2023, DeSantis promoted the use of fossil fuels and criticized the “concerted effort to increase fear” of issues such as “global warming and climate change.”

“This is driven by ideology, it’s not driven by reality,” DeSantis said during a September appearance in Texas. “In reality, human beings are safer than ever from climate disasters.”

The DeSantis administration in 2023 additionally turned down over $350 million in federal funding for lowering the cost of making Florida homes more energy efficient.

Another part of the bill will prohibit the construction or operation of offshore wind turbines in Florida-controlled waters and on property within one mile of coastlines. Currently, it is not considered feasible to locate wind turbines in those areas and none currently exist.

Senate bill sponsor Jay Collins (R-Tampa) stated the ban on wind turbines was designed to help protect wildlife and ecosystems and to prevent additional noise.

“Overall, the risk to our flora and fauna, our whales, the ecosystem around there, that’s concerning,” Collins said. “And then the tourism and noise aspect as well is also concerning.”

The bill signing occurred one day after a poll of 1,400 Floridians revealed that 68% of respondents believe the state government should take more action to address climate change. Of those surveyed, 58% attributed climate change to human activity, a decrease from the previous year. The survey also indicated that only 40% of Republicans attributed climate change to human activity.

The governor was supposed to sign the bill in Clearwater Beach, Pinellas County. However, a spokesperson informed the assembled crowd 15 minutes before the scheduled appearance that he would not be there in person due to concerns about the weather.

As sea levels rise, DeSantis signs bill deleting climate change mentions from Florida state law

Ella Nilsen, CNN
Wed, May 15, 2024 

As Florida copes with rising seas and record temperatures, lawmakers are going to exceptional lengths to delete many mentions of climate change from state laws in a new bill that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law on Wednesday, according to his official X account.

The wide-ranging law makes several changes to the state’s energy policy – in some cases deleting entire sections of state law that talk about the importance of cutting planet-warming pollution. The bill would also give preferential treatment to natural gas and ban offshore wind energy, even though there are no wind farms planned off Florida’s coast.

The bill deletes the phrase ‘climate’ eight times – often in reference to reducing the impacts of global climate change through its energy policy or directing state agencies to buy ‘climate friendly’ products when they are cost-effective and available. The bill also gets rid of a requirement that state-purchased vehicles should be fuel efficient.


“Florida rejects the designs of the left to weaken our energy grid, pursue a radical climate agenda, and promote foreign adversaries,” DeSantis said in a post on X, posting a graphic that said the law would protect the state from “green zealots.”

“What Florida is really doing is saying we’re going to deemphasize any policies that would help mitigate climate change,” said Emily Hammond, a professor of law at George Washington University.

It’s certainly not the first time Republican politicians have deleted the phrase ‘climate change’ – erasing the phrase from government websites was a commonplace activity during the Trump administration. But experts said few other states have passed bills to move away from clean energy and erase climate mentions from their laws.

“It goes further than any other state has gone in repealing its existing climate laws,” Michael Gerrard, founder of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, told CNN.

Last year was the hottest year on record for Florida, breaking yet another heat record in the state. South Florida in particular observed scorching heat index temperatures that reached as high as 113 degrees Fahrenheit. Sea levels have risen as much as eight inches higher than they were in 1950, already leading to increased flooding from storms and tides alike.

“Florida is one of the most vulnerable states in the country,” Gerrard said. “All of South Florida is at great peril from sea level rise. They should be the last state to stand in the way of fighting climate change.”

Even as Florida politicians are erasing mentions of climate change from their laws, they are also increasingly focused on helping a storm and flood-prone state withstand climate impacts.

DeSantis and state lawmakers have poured over $1.1 billion into increasing community resilience to flooding and storms, according to a 2023 news release from the governor’s office. In 2019, DeSantis appointed the state’s first chief resilience officer Julia Nesheiwat – who explicitly referenced climate change and sea level rise as a “significant challenge” to the state. (Nesheiwat has since left her post and replaced by the state’s current chief resilience officer Wesley Brooks).

Florida has also accepted millions of dollars in federal funding to help reconstruct a state highway in Miami Beach – elevating the pavement and installing new pump stations to help clear the road of water during flooding events.

When it comes to other federal climate and clean energy funding, however, the state hasn’t been eager to accept. DeSantis vetoed over $29 million dollars in federal energy rebates and energy efficiency grants from the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Florida was one of five states that declined to compete for $4.6 billion in federal climate grants, although numerous Florida metropolitan areas including Jacksonville, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Tampa have raised their hands for the funding instead.

Hammond and Gerrard said this approach from Florida politicians to fund programs dealing with climate impacts without acknowledging its root cause isn’t surprising. Hammond called focusing on adapting to climate change and hardening infrastructure without attribute it to a warming planet “consistent to the conservative approach.”

“They don’t want to acknowledge that climate change is happening; they acknowledge they have flooding,” Gerrard said. “If it’s about moving away from fossil fuels, they don’t like it.”



Opinion

Ron DeSantis Makes “Climate Change Isn’t Real” Official Florida Law

Hafiz Rashid
Wed, May 15, 2024 


Ron DeSantis thinks that if the words “climate change” are removed from Florida state law, nobody has to worry about it.


The Florida governor signed legislation Wednesday that would eliminate climate change as a priority in the state’s energy policies set to go into effect July 1. The legislation also takes out most of the references to climate change in Florida law, bans offshore wind, and weakens regulations on natural gas pipelines.


“The legislation I signed today [will] keep windmills off our beaches, gas in our tanks, and China out of our state,” DeSantis told Florida’s Voice, an outlet friendly to the Florida governor. “We’re restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots.”

What’s the point of such a bill? Florida faces many threats from a warming climate, including severe hurricanes, higher temperatures, and rising sea levels and flooding. In many cases, the bill is largely symbolic: the state doesn’t have any offshore wind thanks to low wind speed and its severe hurricanes. Instead, it seems to be just the latest example of DeSantis attempting to gain attention from Republicans nationally through embracing the culture wars.


Previously, DeSantis has passed anti-LGBTQ legislation as well as book bans, and he even banned lab-grown meat despite the industry still being in its infancy. All the while, his popularity has waned in Florida, particularly after he dropped out of the presidential race. This latest bill could put Florida residents at risk from increased weather disasters, while also putting more pressure on the state’s already struggling insurance industry. But DeSantis seems more concerned about his image beyond Florida, and is likely thinking ahead to 2028.

DeSantis, amid criticism, signs Florida bill making climate change a lesser state priority

The Associated Press
Wed, May 15, 2024 

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Climate change will be a lesser priority in Florida and largely disappear from state statutes under legislation signed Wednesday by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that also bans power-generating wind turbines offshore or near the state’s lengthy coastline.

Critics said the measure made law by the former Republican presidential hopeful ignores the reality of climate change threats in Florida, including projections of rising seas, extreme heat and flooding and increasingly severe storms.

Florida strip clubs: Gov. DeSantis signs bill requiring strippers to be at least 21

It takes effect July 1 and would also boost expansion of natural gas, reduce regulation on gas pipelines in the state and increase protections against bans on gas appliances such as stoves, according to a news release from the governor’s office.

DeSantis, who suspended his presidential campaign in January and later endorsed his bitter rival Donald Trump, called the bill a common-sense approach to energy policy.

“We’re restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots,” DeSantis said in a post on the X social media platform.

Florida is already about 74% reliant on natural gas to power electric generation, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Opponents of the bill DeSantis signed say it removes the word “climate’ in nine different places, moves the state’s energy goals away from efficiency and the reduction of greenhouse gases blamed for a warming planet.

“This purposeful act of cognitive dissonance is proof that the governor and state Legislature are not acting in the best interests of Floridians, but rather to protect profits for the fossil fuel industry,” said Yoca Arditi-Rocha, executive director of the nonprofit Cleo Institute, which advocates for climate change education and engagement.

No rainbow lights: Sunshine Skyway Bridge goes dark for Pride 2024

The legislation also eliminates requirements that government agencies hold conferences and meetings in hotels certified by the state’s environmental agency as “green lodging” and that government agencies make fuel efficiency the top priority in buying new vehicles. It also ends a requirement that Florida state agencies look at a list of “climate-friendly” products before making purchases.

In 2008, a bill to address climate change and promote renewable energy passed unanimously in both legislative chambers and was signed into law by then-Gov. Charlie Crist, at the time a Republican. Former Gov. Rick Scott, now a Republican U.S. senator, took steps after taking the governor’s office in 2011 to undo some of that measure and this latest bill takes it even further.

The measure signed by DeSantis would also launch a study of small nuclear reactor technology, expand the use of vehicles powered by hydrogen and enhance electric grid security, according to the governor’s office.

Why cheap renewables are stalling

The Conversation
Wed, 15 May 2024

Last summer, the northern hemisphere was the hottest it has been for 2,000 years.

The warnings of climate scientists are at fever pitch: halt the burning of coal, oil and gas or risk catastrophic warming of at least 2.5°C. With solar and wind energy plentiful and supposedly cheap to harvest, why is ditching fossil fuel so hard anyway?

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Renewable sources generate nearly a third of the world’s electricity – and a handful of new studies suggest that rapidly decarbonising the remainder is possible.

In fact, some evidence suggests the transition needn’t be all that painful.

Read more: Summer 2023 was northern hemisphere's hottest for 2,000 years, tree rings show

Shovels at the ready

“Over half of Africa’s people – about 600 million – lack access to even the bare minimum of electricity,” say Christiane Zarfl and Rebecca Peters, environmental systems analysts at the University of Tübingen.

“The tough question to answer is how access can be extended without adding to global warming by relying on fossil fuels.”

When Zarfl and Peters analysed publicly available data on hydro, solar and wind energy in Africa, they found that enough was in the pipeline in Nigeria and Zimbabwe to make fossil power obsolete in both countries by 2050.

Even more encouraging was their conclusion that 76% of Africa’s power needs in 2040 could be met by renewables if existing plants work at full capacity and all planned projects are built.

Read more: 76% of Africa's energy could come from renewable sources by 2040: here's how

The pair acknowledge that hydropower, Africa’s leading renewable source to date, is not expected to turn a profit after 2030. Happily, wind and solar can make use of existing dams – with floating photovoltaic panels on reservoirs, for instance.

Hybrid projects could see solar and hydropower plants combine. Supawit.S/Shutterstock

Solar and wind power can generate electricity on almost any surface sufficiently exposed to the elements (your roof could be a good candidate).

Andrew Blakers, a professor of engineering at Australian National University, calculated how much space was needed to build the panels, turbines and power lines necessary for decarbonising Australia’s electricity and was startled by the result.

Read more: No threat to farm land: just 1,200 square kilometres can fulfil Australia's solar and wind energy needs

“All we need is 1,200 square kilometres,” he says.

“That’s not much. The area devoted to agriculture is about 3,500 times larger at 4.2 million square kilometres. The area of land that would be taken away from agriculture works out at about 45 square metres per person – about the size of a large living room.”

Renewable energy can be generated on land reserved for another purpose. Panels and turbines that are spaced out to maximise how much sun and wind each one catches offer room for crops to grow and livestock to graze, Blakers says.

The mix of shade and rainfall exposure created by solar panel arrays could even have ecological benefits according to Matthew Sturchio, a PhD candidate in plant and ecosystem ecology at Colorado State University.

“In some cases, mixed conditions like these, with varying levels of light and water, can be a good thing. A well-tested concept in restoration ecology – the science of restoring damaged ecosystems – is that environments with more variety support more diverse mixes of plants and animals.”

Read more: Solar power occupies a lot of space – here's how to make it more ecologically beneficial to the land it sits on
Not so fast…

If the technical barriers to zero-carbon power are falling then the economic ones appear more stubborn.

The growth of the US offshore wind industry, which began sending power to north-eastern states earlier this year, has stalled due to rising costs.

“Several big hitters, including Ørsted, Equinor, BP and Avangrid, have cancelled contracts or sought to renegotiate them in recent months,” says Christopher Niezrecki, director of the Center for Energy Innovation at UMass Lowell.

“Altogether, projects that had been cancelled by the end of 2023 were expected to total more than 12 gigawatts of power, representing more than half of the capacity in the project pipeline.”

Read more: Why US offshore wind power is struggling – the good, the bad and the opportunity

You’ve probably read how cheap it is to generate electricity from the sun and wind. These estimates tend to be averaged over the entire lifetime of a project, which may be 20 years for the average wind turbine.

This obscures how expensive (and laborious) it is to get approval for and build a solar or wind farm in the first place.

“One of the largest contributors to the cost of generating renewable energy is the upfront cost of raising investment,” says Matteo Gasparini, a DPhil candidate in climate and finance at the University of Oxford.

“Banks tend to lumber riskier investments with higher interest rates, and so these rules could make it more expensive to finance the construction of wind and solar farms.”

Investors baulk at putting their money into anything that might later be buffeted by unforeseen costs. According to Gasparini’s research, European banks see renewables as a bigger liability on their balance sheets than fossil fuels.

Read more: Why banks consider renewable energy to be a riskier investment than fossil fuels

“Our analysis showed that the average estimate of risk among EU banks for high-carbon sectors of the economy was 1.8%, compared with 3.4% for low-carbon sectors (calculated as Euros a bank expects to lose with each unit of lending).”

Oil and gas: still a better bet for banks. 

Sean Hannon acritelyphoto/Shutterstock

The transformation of our climate-damaging energy system doesn’t have to be at the whim of banks and investors. If the fate of humanity is at stake, shouldn’t people have more control over the process?

“Publicly owned systems for generating electricity could restore and expand the capacity for democratic control of a sector that provides a vital public benefit”, argue Vera Weghmann and David Hall, researchers in public services at the University of Greenwich.

Read more: A publicly owned energy industry could help tackle energy poverty and increase renewables

“After all, the job of the public sector is to serve public interest, so taxpayers’ money doesn’t get diverted to benefit private shareholders.”

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Ancient trees unlock an alarming new insight into our warming world

Rachel Ramirez, CNN
Tue, 14 May 2024 

Last summer, marked by deadly extreme heat and devastating wildfires, was the warmest in at least 2,000 years, according to new research, which analyzed weather data and tree rings to reconstruct a detailed picture of the past.

The findings offer a stark insight into the “unparalleled” warming the world is experiencing today thanks to humans burning vast amounts of planet-heating fossil fuels, according to the authors of the study published Tuesday in the Journal Nature. And it’s an alarming signal as some scientists warn 2024 is on track to be even hotter still.

Global warming is currently tracked by comparing temperatures to the “pre-industrial era,” before humans started burning large amounts of fossil fuels, widely defined as the period between 1850 to 1900. Under the Paris Agreement in 2015, countries agreed to restrict global warming to 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

Last summer, the world temporarily breached this threshold, according to the report. Using data taken from temperature instruments during this period, the scientists found the Northern Hemisphere summer in 2023 was 2.07 degrees Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial period.

But observational data from this period is sparse, uncertain and skews warmer. So, for a fuller picture of how the climate varied naturally before the start of the pre-industrial era, the study authors looked much further into the past.

To do this, they used detailed sets of tree ring records from thousands of trees across nine regions of the Northern Hemisphere, including North America and Scandinavia, but excluding the Tropics which lack good tree data.

Trees act as time capsules. The patterns of their rings – affected by sunlight, rainfall and temperature – provide a climate history for each year of their lives, going back centuries or even thousands of years.

This complex tree ring data allowed the scientists to reconstruct annual temperatures for Northern Hemisphere summers between the years 1 and 1849 and compare them to last summer’s temperatures.

They found the summer of 2023 was warmer than any other summer during this period.

It was at least 0.5 degrees Celsius warmer than the warmest summer during this period, the year 246 – when the Roman Empire still ruled over Europe and the Mayan Civilization dominated Central America.

At the other end of the scale, last summer was nearly 4 degrees Celsius warmer than the coldest summer the study identified, the year 536 – when a volcanic eruption pumped out vast amounts of planet-cooling gases.

A tourist cooling down in a fountain amid a heatwave in Barcelona, Spain, on July 19, 2023. - Bruna Casas/Reuters

Using this 2,000-year data set, they calculated that the summer of 2023 was 2.2 degrees Celsius hotter than the long-term pre-industrial average, before robust networks of instruments could measure the weather.

The study follows a report published in November, which found humanity lived through the hottest 12-month period in at least 125,000 years. The study, and others like it, rely on data extracted from other proxies, such as ice cores and coral reefs, which don’t give the same detailed yearly evidence as tree rings.

People use umbrellas and parasols to seek relief from the heat in Tokyo on July 30, 2023. - Richard A. Brooks/AFP via Getty Images

This makes it hard to compare individual days or even years with those in the past, said Jan Esper, lead author of the study and professor of climate geography at Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany.

It is possible – even likely – last year was the hottest in at least 125,000 years, he added, but “we don’t have the data” to say for certain.

The deep dive into the year-by-year temperatures of Northern Hemisphere summers is a “worthwhile endeavor,” said Kim Cobb, a climate scientist at Brown University who was not involved in the study.

What’s impressive, she told CNN, is “we have enough temperature reconstructions from enough places around the world to document the exceptional nature of a single year of large-scale temperature extremes.”

This “treasure chest of data” can be used to “sharpen our projections of future climate extremes,” she added.

While the study can place the extraordinary Northern Hemisphere heat into historical context, it cannot be applied on a global scale, Esper said. There simply isn’t enough tree ring data from the Southern Hemisphere and the Tropics, he said.

The study’s findings are deeply worrying, Esper said. “There are potential irreversible processes in the system, and I am afraid not of myself. I’m old,” he added. “I’m concerned for the kids.”

CNN’s Laura Paddison contributed to this report.

Researchers warn climate change is likely to aggravate brain conditions

Nina Massey, 

PA Science Correspondent
Wed, 15 May 2024 



Climate change, and its effects on weather patterns and adverse weather events, is likely to negatively affect the health of people with brain conditions, researchers have warned.

The scientists argue that in order to preserve the health of people with neurological conditions, including Alzheimer’s and stroke, there is an urgent need to understand how climate change affects them.

As an example, they say that higher temperatures through the night can disrupt sleep, which could have a negative effect on some brain conditions.


Following a review of 332 papers published across the world between 1968 and 2023, the team, led by Professor Sanjay Sisodiya of UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, said they expect the scale of the potential effects of climate change on neurological diseases to be substantial.

Professor Sisodiya, who is also director of genomics at the Epilepsy Society and a founding member of Epilepsy Climate Change, said: “There is clear evidence for an impact of the climate on some brain conditions, especially stroke and infections of the nervous system.

“The climatic variation that was shown to have an effect on brain diseases included extremes of temperature (both low and high), and greater temperature variation throughout the course of day – especially when these measures were seasonally unusual.

“Nighttime temperatures may be particularly important, as higher temperatures through the night can disrupt sleep.

“Poor sleep is known to aggravate a number of brain conditions.”

The researchers considered 19 different nervous system conditions, chosen on the basis of the Global Burden of Disease 2016 study, including stroke, migraine, Alzheimer’s, meningitis, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis.

They also analysed the impact of climate change on several serious but common psychiatric disorders including anxiety, depression and schizophrenia.

According to the findings, there was an increase in hospital admissions, disability or death as a result of a stroke in higher ambient temperatures or heatwaves.

The researchers also suggest that people with dementia are susceptible to harm from extremes of temperature and weather events such as flooding or wildfires, as their condition can impact their ability to adapt behaviour to environmental changes.

Writing in The Lancet Neurology, the researchers say: “Reduced awareness of risk is combined with a diminished capacity to seek help or to mitigate potential harm, such as by drinking more in hot weather or by adjusting clothing.

“This susceptibility is compounded by frailty, multimorbidity and psychotropic medications.

“Accordingly, greater temperature variation, hotter days and heatwaves lead to increased dementia-associated hospital admissions and mortality.”

The researchers say it is important to ensure that research is up to date and considers not only the present state of climate change but also the future.

Professor Sisodiya added: “The whole concept of climate anxiety is an added, potentially weighty, influence: many brain conditions are associated with higher risk of psychiatric disorders, including anxiety, and such multimorbidities can further complicate impacts of climate change and the adaptations necessary to preserve health.

“But there are actions we can and should take now.”

Funded by the Epilepsy Society and the National Brain Appeal Innovation Fund, the research is being published ahead of The Hot Brain 2: climate change and brain health event, which is led by Professor Sisodiya and jointly organised by UCL and The Lancet Neurology.

Extreme weather is harming our brain health, scientists say

Stuti Mishra
Wed, 15 May 2024 

Extreme weather can harm brain health and make several neurological conditions worse, researchers have found.

There is a concerning correlation between environmental changes and neurological health, researchers from University College London wrote in The Lancet Neurology after reviewing hundreds of studies spanning over half a century.

They analysed the impact of extreme weather on 19 nervous system conditions, including stroke, Alzheimer’s, meningitis, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis. They also looked at serious but common psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, depression and schizophrenia.

The researchers found “clear evidence for an impact of the climate on some brain conditions, especially stroke and infections of the nervous system”.

“The climatic variation that was shown to have an effect on brain diseases included extremes of temperature, both low and high, and greater temperature variation throughout the course of day, especially when these measures were seasonally unusual,” Professor Sanjay Sisodiya, director of genomics at University College London’s epilepsy society, said.

Dr Sisodiya said nighttime temperatures may be “particularly important” as hotter nights can disrupt sleep. As heatwaves become more frequent and longer, billions of people around the world are sleeping through higher than normal temperatures.

The researchers noted an increase in hospital admissions, disability or mortality from stroke in higher ambient temperatures or heatwaves.

Studying and understanding how extreme heat affects our health has become urgent as rising temperatures shatter records around the world.

In the past few weeks, Asia has been gripped by heatwaves that scientists have now attributed to the climate crisis.

This April was the hottest on record. A study found that 2023 was the hottest year ever and last summer was the hottest in 2,000 years.

Studies have shown that the body’s temperature needs to drop slightly for a person to fall asleep.

“Poor sleep is known to aggravate a number of brain conditions,” Dr Sisodiya said.

The impact extends beyond the realm of sleep.

The researchers found that people with dementia are at risk of more harm from extreme temperatures, both hot and cold, as cognitive impairment can limit their ability to adapt behaviour to environmental changes.

"Reduced awareness of risk is combined with a diminished capacity to seek help or to mitigate potential harm, such as by drinking more in hot weather or by adjusting clothing,” Dr Sisodiya said.

“This susceptibility is compounded by frailty, multimorbidity, and psychotropic medications.”

The researchers warned that greater temperature variation and heatwaves can lead to increased hospital admissions and deaths related to dementia.

They also said that the additional burden of climate anxiety can make things especially harder for people with existing anxiety and similar conditions. This can make it tricky to deal with the effects of the climate crisis and the changes we need to make to stay healthy.

As more people are exposed to extreme climate, the researchers said, many of the existing studies may be insufficient to fully understand the impact on brain health. They called for more studies taking current and future climate into account.

“This work is taking place against a worrying worsening of climatic conditions and it will need to remain agile and dynamic if it is to generate information that is of use to both individuals and organisations,” Dr Sisodia said.

UK

Revealed: people with cancer, arthritis and amputations among 40% denied disability benefits

Chaminda Jayanetti

THE GUARDIAN
Sun, 12 May 2024 

A high number of applications for personal independence payments from people with arthritis, MS, cancer and cerebral palsy are being rejected.Photograph: Jack Sullivan/Alamy

The government is rejecting more than 40% of applications for disability benefit from people with multiple sclerosis (MS), cerebral palsy and arthritis – and one in four applications from amputees, the Observer can reveal.

Analysis of personal independence payment (Pip) disability benefit data for England and Wales shows that thousands of applicants with illnesses such as cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and emphysema were turned down by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) between August 2023 and January 2024.

The Pip assessment is based on applicants’ ability to perform specific activities. The figures highlight the enduring difficulties faced by people with fluctuating conditions when applying for Pip, at a time when the government has focused on rising claims based on anxiety, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), announcing plans last month to curtail spending on Pip.

“These statistics show that Pip is not an easy benefit to get, contrary to the current government rhetoric, which says that too many people claim benefits and that they are undeserving,” said Rensa Gaunt of disabled people’s group Inclusion London.

“The high rates of Pip decisions overturned at tribunal with no additional information needed show that many disabled people are turned down for benefits they are eligible for.”

The Observer’s analysis shows that 45% of Pip applications based on MS were rejected – almost 1,100 out of the 2,451 decisions made during the six-month period.

“The Pip assessment has been failing people for over a decade,” said Charlotte Gill, head of campaigns and public affairs for the MS Society.

“Living with MS can be debilitating, exhausting and unpredictable. Pip is essential to help people manage the extra costs of MS and supports them to be more independent for longer.

“Instead of looking at cost-cutting measures, the government urgently needs to improve the Pip process so it accurately reflects the reality of living with unpredictable conditions.”

A particularly striking figure is that one in four applications from people with amputated limbs are rejected, with 207 applications turned down in six months.

“Often [Pip] assessors believe that a prosthesis can be worn constantly and do not account for rubbing, inability to wear due to discomfort, and heaviness and pain,” said Michelle Cardno, a welfare benefit lawyer and founder of Fightback4Justice, which helps people appeal against benefit refusals. “We win all [appeal] cases where a client is an amputee.”

Among the other rejection rates uncovered by the Observer were 40% of applicants with osteoarthritis and more than 40% of those with inflammatory arthritis, 40% of applications based on PTSD and 30% of applicants with Huntington’s disease or Parkinson’s.

Also rejected were half of all applications based on cerebral palsy, nearly half of those with spina bifida and nearly 40% of those with muscular dystrophy.

The data also shows nearly one in five applicants with cancer are rejected, including nearly half of those with testicular cancer, a third of those with prostate cancer and 30% of those with bladder cancer.

“Usually, it is lack of evidence of functional restriction that makes the claims fail in these cases,” said Cardno. “We submit diaries, statements from people who help and occupational therapy reports. Most of these things people would not think of or know they can get help with until they speak to us, so lack of understanding is one of the reasons many also fail.”

One of the highest rejection rates is for endometriosis, which can cause severe pelvic pain among women but often takes years for the NHS to diagnose. Just over 70% of Pip claims based on the condition are rejected.

Related: The Guardian view on disability benefit reform: the latest proposals are dangerously out of touch | Editorial

“Living with endometriosis and in chronic pain can have a devastating effect on both physical and mental health, impacting people’s careers, finances and much more, so having the option to apply and be considered for Pip can be crucial to those with endometriosis,” said Claire Kelleher of Endometriosis UK.

Across all applications for Pip during the six-month period, 54% were accepted and 46% rejected.

A DWP spokespersonsaid: “We are modernising our disability benefit system to better target it towards those who need it most and ensure people with health conditions and disabilities are receiving the right support.

“We’re encouraging everyone to have their say and respond to our consultation, which includes questions on how the Pip assessment process can be changed.”