Photo: Arvind Vallabh/Unsplash (CC0)
We’re wrapping up the week at Squirrel News talking about the Paris activists taking a greenwashing oil giant to court and winning, the global drop in deforestation over the past thirty years, and the scream clubs emerging as a new kind of “third space” for Londoners.
TotalEnergies, which this month said it aimed to “ramp up production of gas”, was found on Thursday to have probably misled consumers with claims about its climate policies. The case, brought by NGOs including Greenpeace France and Friends of the Earth France, is the first time the country’s greenwashing laws have been applied to a fossil fuel company.
Source: Reuters
Although almost 500 million hectares – or 750 million football pitches – of forest have been lost since 1990, deforestation has slowed down in every region of the world in the past decade.
Source: UN News
In September, a combination of solar, wind, hydro and biomass overtook coal as a power source for the first time. Last month, renewables produced 8.48 terrawatt hours – the second highest number ever – to claim a record share of generation of 48.8%. That eclipsed coal for the first time, which accounted for 47.6% over the month.
Source: Renew Economy
Back in 2020, only one in eighteen new cars sold within China was electric. By 2024, this had increased to one in two. This fast growth has pushed down sales of fossil-fuel powered vehicles, with sales of these cars peaking in 2017 and declining ever since.
Source: Our World In Data
The injection of Amivantamab targets cancer three ways: by blocking a protein that helps tumours grow, closing a pathway cancer cells use to escape treatment, and activating an immune system response to attack the cancer.
Source: The Guardian
Elly Savatia describes Terp 360 as “Google Translate for sign language, that takes speech and text input and outputs photorealistic avatars signing”. The web-based app uses 3D avatars to provide sign language translations from speech in real time, letting users communicate without relying on human interpreters.
Source: CNN
With dyslexia affecting roughly one in ten adults in the UK, traditional book layouts can create invisible barriers to reading. Bloomsbury’s new editions of bestsellers use evidence-based design principles to reduce visual stress and make books more accessible, including opting for clear fonts, increased spacing, and ragged-right alignment.
Source: The Bookseller
With book bans on the rise under the Trump administration, many states are facing a myriad of legal challenges concerning literary content that is deemed unacceptable under new guidelines. In response, three Iowa City West high schoolers decided to create a place where students form friendships around stories that challenge them to think critically.
Source: Iowa Public Radio
The bi-monthly Mental Health Is Real Wealth group is just one of the few Black male-founded safe spaces for men to fully let their guard down. According to data, suicide is the third leading cause of death for Black male adolescents and young adults, and Black boys and men make up an overwhelming majority of suicides within the Black population.
Source: The Guardian
What began as a viral trend has quickly evolved into a new kind of “third space” that some in the group say they have been searching for: a setting that doesn’t revolve around alcohol or spending money. London Scream Club is one of several gatherings across the UK where people meet to scream into the open air as a form of release.
Source: The Guardian
