Author name: Steven Edwards

Sea levels are expected to rise as much as 12 inches (30 centimeters) by 2050, according to a report led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. While the amounts vary according to region, the inundation will lead to more coastal flooding and make tidal and storm surge more severe, the multi-agency report said.
“Sea levels are continuing to rise at a very alarming rate,” Bill Nelson, administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, said Tuesday in a conference call with reporters. “And it’s endangering communities around the world.”
Rising waters are threatening coastal cities including New York, Boston and Miami, which already commonly experience flooding during high tides that occur with full and new moons. Homes, businesses, highways and other infrastructure along coastlines are vulnerable to damage from flooding and rising sea levels. Nearly 8 million homes, with a reconstruction cost of $1.9 trillion, are at risk of storm surges, according to a 2021 CoreLogic report.

By Howard Lee July 21, 2020

Faint Young Sun
Magnitude: No net temperature effect
Time frame: Constant
Though the sun’s brightness fluctuates on shorter timescales, it brightens overall by 0.009% per million years, and it has brightened by 48% since the birth of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago.
Scientists reason that the faintness of the young sun should have meant that Earth remained frozen solid for the first half of its existence. But, paradoxically, geologists have found 3.4-billion-year-old rocks that formed in wave-agitated water. Earth’s unexpectedly warm early climate is probably explained by some combination of less land erosion, clearer skies, a shorter day and a peculiar atmospheric composition before Earth had an oxygen-rich atmosphere.
Clement conditions in the second half of Earth’s existence, despite a brightening sun, do not create a paradox: Earth’s weathering thermostat counteracts the effects of the extra sunlight, stabilizing Earth’s temperature (see next section).

The Green Party says that the government is promoting an “anti-cycling narrative that is making things far more dangerous for cyclists” in response to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps’ call earlier this week for people on bikes to be required to display number plates, carry third party insurance cover and be subject to the same speed limits as motorists.
The cabinet minister’s comments, initially made to the Mail in an article published on Tuesday evening, made for prominent headlines in both print and broadcast media yesterday, and are in direct conflict with repeated assurances from his own ministers and from civil servants at the DfT.

The Chief Scientist at the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory has written that “demonising cyclists is pointless” in response to current headlines related to comments made by the Transport Minister Grant Shapps.
Shapps yesterday was quoted by the Daily Mail as having proposed insurance and licensing for cyclists, only for the comments to later be retracted somewhat in a piece the appeared in The Times.
“I’m a keen cyclist, I’m very proud of the big expansion in the number of miles being cycled. I’m not attracted to the bureaucracy of registration plates. That would go too far,” Shapps said in the Times, clarifying earlier comments.

Peter Walker

Transport groups and opposition parties have reacted with bafflement to a proposal by Grant Shapps to look at mandatory insurance and registration for cyclists, something previously rejected by the Department for Transport (DfT) as impractical and counter-productive.
In an interview with the Daily Mail that appeared to surprise his own officials, the transport secretary said he “absolutely” wanted to extend speed limits to cyclists, adding: “I see no reason why cyclists should break the road laws and be able to get away with it.”
He added: “That obviously does then lead you into the question of, well, how are you going to recognise the cyclist, do you need registration plates and insurance and that sort of thing? So I’m proposing there should be a review of insurance and how you actually track cyclists who do break the laws.”

• Ownership costs are up 11% from last year.

• Vehicle prices are also up as manufacturers struggle to keep up with demand.

The average cost to own and operate a new car in 2022 has soared about 11% since last year to $10,728 per year (just under $900 per month), according to AAA’s annual “Your Driving Costs” report.
The report factors in costs such as fuel, depreciation, insurance and maintenance to find total annual operating expenses. 
“You’re usually focused on the purchase price and that is not the whole story. Not even close,” said Greg Brannon, director of automotive engineering for AAA. “I think ($10,000 is) a number that will surprise a lot of people.” 

Rhodri Clark 11 August 2022

All trains from Bristol Temple Meads to Wales terminate in Cardiff, but the Welsh Government plans direct services to West Wales 
Direct rail services between West Wales and Bristol, hydrogen-fuelled long-distance buses and possible road charging feature in the Welsh Government’s National Transport Delivery plan for the next five years.
When Transport for Wales was procuring the 15-year Wales and Borders rail franchise in 2017 and 2018, the UK Government forbade it from specifying services to Bristol Temple Meads until a capacity improvement scheme at the east end of the station was completed.

The roll-out of 20mph speed limits across Edinburgh has resulted in a “substantial reduction” in road traffic collisions and casualties, according to new analysis by the city council.

Speed data of 65 streets where the limit was reduced from 30mph to 20mph also showed a widespread drop in average speeds, said Edinburgh City Council.
The 20mph roll out was undertaken in four phases, starting in May 2016 and completing in early March 2018. Road Traffic Collision data was analysed for a 36-month period before the scheme was implemented, and for 36 months after.
Data for the 36 months after the scheme showed a 30% drop in collisions – a reduction of 1,015, from 3,384 to 2,369 – compared with the 36 months before. This resulted in a 31% fall in casualties – a reduction of 1,227 from 3,969 to 2,742. Comparing data for the 36 months ‘before’ and ‘after’ revealed a drop in collision severity levels, with four fewer fatalities, 22 fewer serious injuries, and 989 fewer slight injuries.

Active Travel England has begun sending all England’s councils guidance on how to plan, obtain funding and build quality infrastructure as part of the ambition to see 50% of short trips undertaken either walking or cycling by 2050.
Writing today on the long road ahead, Active Travel England has asked councils to begin grading themselves against benchmarks it has created to measure “local leadership, supportive transport policy and their track record on delivery.”
Pairing the self-assessment with track record and performance data already held by the Department for Transport used to inform current funding allocations, the newly-formed body will now rank authorities on a grade of one to four, four being the metric for high levels of leadership, ambitions and delivery. The active travel org expects most councils at the present time to rank at one out of four, though reassessments will be undertaken on an annual basis in order that progress is fairly measured.

Daniel Rayneau-Kirkhope and Arianna Casiraghi, accompanied by their dog, Zola, have just finished 4,500-mile (7,250km) bike ride across Europe to draw a giant GPS-plotted bicycle across seven countries to raise awareness of how cycling can help tackle the climate emergency. It is believed to be the world’s largest GPS drawing. You can see photos of their trip on their Instagram account.
We really, really love cycling. Like everyone, we’ve become more aware of climate change, and we wanted to add our voices to what should be a bigger chorus. We think using the bike as a form of transport is a wonderful thing, and wanted to do something.