Pure fluorinated gases are fortunately not harmful to the ozon layer like FCKWs; however they are super greenhouse gases. Sulfurhexafluorid SF6, used as isolation gas in the distribution of electrical current is 24,000 times more harmful than CO2 and the most aggressive greenhouse gas of the world. Nonetheless natural alternatives like CO2, ammoniac or propane exist. The EU prescribes a stepwise exit from F-gases. Many producers go for hydrofluorinated lefines which are unsaturized organic fluorine compounds. HFO freezing agents have a low greenhouse potential and do not harm the ozone layer. However they have persistent breakdown products like trifluorine-acetic-acid TFA which are accumulating in the environment. They can already be detected in beer and wine. Health impacts unknown. The use of these substances, which are likely harmful, does thus violate the precautionary principle as established in the EU. The europe-wide exit from F-gases until 2030 can save 100 million tons of CO2 equivalents. A worldwide changeover to unharmful, natural alternatives would be desirable. Heat pumps as needed for the fight against climate change should also do without the saturized, greenhouse effective FKWs.
The EU is placing “green bonds” since October. A total of 37% of the investment volume is dedicated to the achievement of climate goals. Overall, the bonds make up 30% of the Corona Aid Package of the EU. On the other side the remaining 63% may also includes investments in fossil gas. However it is not even clarified yet, whether nuclear power or fossil gas shall be considered sustainable at all. Although gas pipelines are easily retrofitted for hydrogen, their initial purpose is always the carriage of a fossil fuel. Nuclear power can not be considered green at all. The technology is neither CO2-neutral, because from mining up to final disposal greenhouse gases are emitted, thus at least CO2-low, nor can nuclear power be considered economic in any way without public subsidies. Every euro for nuclear power is missing for renewables. … Aging nuclear power plants provide an increasing danger, the problem of final disposal can not be managed unharmful, while uranium mining contaminates whole landscapes. France is for a revival of nuclear power and even wants to see it as issue at the global climate conference. In Europe France seeks for allies like Poland and the Czech Republic to influence the EU Commission. However it meets a decisive resistance by Austria and now after coming green government participation in full extent also by Germany.
Environmentalists from Allrise, Austria have filed a lawsuit at the international criminal court in The Hague and accuse Bolsonaro of crimes against humanity because of his policy of destroying the rainforest. Deutsche Umwelthife supports the lawsuit because of the devastating effects on the climate (Artikel auf n-tv.de, DUH, German Environment Help: Petition auf change.org).
The bloatware browsers Google Chrome, Firefox, MS Edge and Safari being widely in use are a security nightmare. Desillusioned developers speak out at the debian-security mailing list. More bugs are moved in every day than can ever be found by security personnel. With an arbitrary code execution bug an attacker can take full control over the victim's computer (privilege escalation presupposed). That is why we wanna present a selection of small and beautifuly web browsers for Linux that do not implement unnecessary things: surf, midori and epiphany. Those who like it very secure can also test one of the textmode browsers. Qutebrowser should also be worth a recommendation to us.
The world's forests are shrinking faster and faster. Their preservation would be vital for our survival to protect the climate and the immense variety of plants and animals that they house. A German supply chain law was passed in June and will come into force in 2023, but it does not cover environmental issues unless they are also directly related to human rights violations. After all, risks have to be determined in the case of direct suppliers, and in the case of indirect suppliers action must be taken at “substantial knowledge” of human rights violations. The EU legislative proposal on the supply chain law, which is still being drawn up, should nonetheless also work against imported deforestation. Unfortunately, the EU Regulatory Control Council has now questioned the proportionality of the law, after massive pressure from industry lobbyists and the German federal government, which had previously been lobbyed by the Federal Association of German Industries (BDI), the automotive industry (VDA) and have exerted strong pressure with the economic wing of the CDU/CSU and Minister of Economic Affairs Altmaier. An EU legislative proposal against deforestation is under attack likewise. Specifically, deforestation concerns are about imported palm oil, soy, meat, leather and rubber, which are important for the automotive industry, as well as coffee and cocoa. At EU level, the proposed law is no longer subordinate to Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders exclusively, but also to Commissioner for Internal Markets and Growth Thierry Breton. Leather for car seats is one of the main drivers of deforestation in the Amazon and shall be removed from the list of products at risk of deforestation. 80% of global deforestation is due to the expansion of agriculture.
