All posts by media-man

Climate

Top Heat Pump Water Heater Rebates Available Nationally

A Heat Pump Water Heater (HPWH) is an energy-saving, utility-bill-lowering champion, but its upfront cost can sometimes be a barrier. Standard gas and electric water heaters can cost half to a third as much as a HPWH. Incentives are key to reducing this initial cost, making it affordable for families ... [continued]

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Climate

Volvo Expands Operations at its Charleston Plant and Updates the 2026 EX90

Volvo’s manufacturing plant just outside Charleston, South Carolina, is the company’s first in the US and exclusively produces its fully electric EX90 as well as the Polestar 3. The factory opened in 2015, with Volvo investing $1.3 billion in the plant over the last decade. This week, the company announced ... [continued]

The post Volvo Expands Operations at its Charleston Plant and Updates the 2026 EX90 appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Climate

Sinkhole swallows part of street in front of Bangkok hospital – video

A large sinkhole opened up outside a hospital in the Thai capital on Wednesday. Social media footage shows power lines being pulled down into the 50-metre-deep hole and vehicles teetering on the edge. Officials said there were no casualties.

Suriyachai Rawiwan, the director of Bangkok's disaster prevention department, told the news agency AFP that the collapse, which forced streets to be evacuated, was likely to be linked to recent heavy rain and a leaky pipe

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Climate

Why Did ESG Have To Die?

We’ve come to a moment in time in which businesses and governments seem to be lying to themselves about sustainability. Information about the risks and opportunities arising from a company’s interactions with its stakeholders, society, the economy, and the natural environment is essential to economic and investment decisions — never ... [continued]

The post Why Did ESG Have To Die? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Climate

Vanuatu working toward UN vote aimed at fighting fossil fuel industry influence

Ralph Regenvanu, minister of climate change for the Pacific island nation said the step was on ‘behalf of everybody’

Vanuatu is working on securing a UN vote to turn a landmark ruling on the climate crisis by the international court of justice (ICJ) into concrete political action that will fight the influence of the fossil fuel industry and protect the globe from environmental catastrophe.

In an effort spearheaded by the tiny Pacific island nation, the ICJ issued a rare unanimous advisory opinion in July, which clarified that all states are required under international law to protect the climate, prevent further harms and have a duty to cooperate.

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Climate

Fossil fuel burning poses threat to health of 1.6bn people, data shows

New interactive map tracking PM2.5 air pollution reveals 900m people in path of ‘super-emitting’ industrial facilities

Fossil fuel burning is not just damaging the world’s climate; it is also threatening the health of at least 1.6 billion people through the toxic pollutants it produces, data shows.

Carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas from fossil fuel burning, does not directly damage health, but leads to global heating. However, coal and oil burning for power generation, and the burning of fossil fuels in industrial facilities, pollute the air with particulate matter called PM2.5, which has serious health impacts when breathed in.

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Climate

Could These ‘Deepfake’ Whales Aid Conservation Efforts?

Ecologists are increasingly tapping into artificial intelligence to help aid conservation, but many are grappling with how to use these energy-hungry systems without fueling future environmental problems.

By Kiley Price

It’s a hyper-modern problem on social media: A video or image of an animal doing something seemingly unbelievable in the wild pops up on your feed, only for you to realize it is, in fact, unbelievable. That’s because many of these images and videos—from wolves befriending house cats to brown bears jumping on a trampoline—are fabricated using artificial intelligence.

Climate

Can Pollution From Industrial Animal Agriculture Be Controlled?

The third installment in our special Climate Week video series.

Most of the meat we eat in the United States isn’t raised on small farms or fenced fields, as it was decades ago. Today it comes from large concentrated animal feeding operations, also known as CAFOs. These industrial facilities house thousands of animals in close quarters—generating tremendous amounts of manure, climate-polluting methane and a host of issues for neighbors.

Climate

Geology could crush hopes of extracting all North Sea’s oil and gas

The remaining fields tend to be smaller, more remote and more technically challenging to drill into

North Sea oil is becoming a hot topic. During his recent state visit, US president Donald Trump urged UK prime minister Keir Starmer to “drill, baby, drill”. Meanwhile, Conservative party leader, Kemi Badenoch, has promised to “maximise extraction” and Reform UK has said drilling for more North Sea oil and gas would be a “day one” priority. The appeal of reducing dependency on foreign energy imports is strong, but relying on the North Sea fields filling the energy gap has one big problem: there is not enough oil and gas down there.

Oil and gas production in the North Sea peaked in 1999 and has since more than halved. The easy discoveries have gone and the remaining fields tend to be smaller, more remote and more technically challenging to extract. Writing in the Conversation, the energy expert Dr Mark Ireland, from Newcastle University, said: “Even if a future government relaxes exploration licensing rules, geology will remain the bigger constraint.”

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Climate

Hyundai Motor & Kia Expand Use of Wearable Robot in Agriculture with Korea’s Rural Development Administration

Hyundai Motor and Kia sign an MoU with Korea’s Rural Development Administration (RDA) to introduce the wearable robot X-ble Shoulder to agriculture Collaboration focuses on improving farmers’ health, safety, and operational efficiency through wearable robot Both parties will collaborate on testing, promoting and scaling the use of wearable robots in ... [continued]

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Climate

Estonian President Karis Highlights Estonia’s Role as Climate Innovation Testbed at NYC Climate Week

Showcasing clean energy and resilient building solutions as part of growing U.S.–Estonia climate cooperation. New York, NY — Estonia, one of the world’s most digitally advanced nations, is bringing its fast-growing climate technology sector to New York Climate Week under the leadership of President Alar Karis. President Karis will highlight ... [continued]

The post Estonian President Karis Highlights Estonia’s Role as Climate Innovation Testbed at NYC Climate Week appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Climate

BYD Ready To Electrify Philippine Bus Services, If The Philippines Is Ready

“We are ready to address the public transport requirements in the Philippines,” Liu Xueliang, General Manager of BYD Asia Pacific’s Auto Sales Division, said, responding to a question from CleanTechnica on the availability of solutions for decarbonizing bus services in the country. The bustling thoroughfares of the Philippines, particularly Metro ... [continued]

The post BYD Ready To Electrify Philippine Bus Services, If The Philippines Is Ready appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Pubmedia

Podcast #345 – Catching up with Community Radio at the Grassroots Radio Conference and NCRC

Jennifer Waits reports back from the Grassroots Radio Conference, held in Spokane Washington from September 11 to September 14, 2025. We recap FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez’s keynote address, in which she spoke forcefully about recent actions by the FCC that threaten freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Gomez talked about the importance of community radio, as a place that inherently provides a diversity of view points.

Also on the show, we hear a bit about the National Campus and Community Radio Conference, which was held in Nanaimo, BC, Canada in June 2025. Plus, Jennifer digs into the latest “best college radio stations” list from Princeton Review.

Show Notes:

Show Credits:

  • This episode was produced by Jennifer Waits
  • Hosted by Jennifer Waits and Eric Klein
  • Edited by Eric Klein

The post Podcast #345 – Catching up with Community Radio at the Grassroots Radio Conference and NCRC appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Climate

2026 Nissan LEAF Named to Wards 10 Best Engines & Propulsion Systems

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — As the model prepares to go on sale in the U.S., the all-new 2026 Nissan LEAF’s propulsion system has been named a winner of the Wards 10 Best Engines & Propulsion Systems award for 2025. This prestigious annual evaluation recognizes the top powertrains in the U.S. market ... [continued]

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Journalism

Dallas Morning News shareholders vote to deny the hedge fund Alden Global Capital

How about some good news? Could you use some good news today?

A newspaper transaction doesn’t always have to go horribly. The worst possible outcome isn’t always predestined.

Today, shareholders of DallasNews Corporation, owners of The Dallas Morning News1, voted overwhelmingly to make a lot of money by being acquired by the Hearst Corporation. (Hearst has been generous enough to describe this process as a “merger” rather than an acquisition, but when a company that makes $13 billion a year buys one that makes $125 million a year, it’s hardly a merger of equals.)

At one level, it was an easy decision: A share of DallasNews stock was trading at $4.39 when Hearst offered to buy it this summer; after today’s vote, shareholders will get $16.50 a pop. Few people will turn down a 275% return on investments. But the matter was complicated by Alden Global Capital, a rival chain, making a set of counteroffers that eventually reached $20.00 a share. Accepting that should have been an even easier decision.

But there were two complications. One: Alden Global Capital is well known as the worst possible newspaper owner for anyone who cares about journalism, a hedge fund that has gutted newsroom after newsroom across the country. And two: The fate of DallasNews Corporation would, to a great extent, be up to a single man, not the vox capitalis of the shareholder class. And that one man had no interest in Alden setting his life’s work on fire.

As I’ve written about three times recently, DallasNews has a once-common share structure where there are two classes of stock — one that trades on the open market and one that’s tightly controlled by the family that has long controlled the paper, the descendants of founder G. B. Dealey, he of the plaza. The most important of those descendants is Robert Decherd, who has been the company’s CEO for most of the past five decades. Decherd controls nearly all of the family’s shares, and that meant a sale of DallasNews couldn’t happen without his approval. And Decherd has been consistent that he does not want to feed his life’s work into Alden’s wood chipper:

The internet changed all that. The wreckage in newspapers became such a drag on those conglomerates that they spend the 2000s and 2010s splitting off their TV arms and…figuring out what to do with their print remains. Some sold to bigger chains, figuring they might have the extra capacity to figure out a solution. Some tried their best before selling to a hedge fund. Some, like DallasNews, held out as long as they could, trying to match budget cuts to revenue declines in a way that respected the work of their (usually) fathers and grandfathers. The number of major newspapers still controlled by the multi-generational families these two-class structured supported has dwindled. The Sulzbergers of The New York Times don’t have many peers left. Maybe the class of billionaires that’s swept up many important papers over the past decade will spawn new legacies of multi-generational ownership; color me doubtful. Most major papers are now controlled by hedge funds or chains that view them as financial instruments rather than community assets.

If all goes according to plan, 140 years of control by G. B. Dealey and his descendants will come to an end tomorrow. If your last name isn’t Murdoch or Sulzberger, the days of family control of publicly traded newspaper companies is over. But as the old model breathes its last, it was able to serve the public interest one final time.

Photo of the State Fair of Texas in Dallas’ Fair Park via Adobe Stock.

  1. Disclosure: I worked as a reporter at The Dallas Morning News from 2000 to 2007. I don’t own any DallasNews stock.
Climate

Trump Takes His ‘Green Energy Scam’ Talk to the UN

The U.S. president promoted himself and criticized a wide variety of targets, including renewable energy.

By Dan Gearino

In a rambling address Tuesday, President Donald Trump told the United Nations General Assembly that the international organization has failed on a range of crucial issues, which he said contrasts with his administration’s successes, including his support for fossil fuels and opposition to renewable energy.

Climate

$55 Million EV Fast Charging Program For California Announced

The California Energy Commission recently announced $55 million in funding to expand the Golden State’s public EV fast charging infrastructure. California is the leading electric vehicle and EV charging state in the US by far. Of course, this status has a lot to do with public policy. The state of ... [continued]

The post $55 Million EV Fast Charging Program For California Announced appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Journalism

From Denmark to Finland to Norway, Zetland bets its model can travel well (and Germany’s up next)

The Nordic countries are good places to launch news outlets. Trust in news is very high, and people are willing to pay for news subscriptions.

Zetland, the membership-driven news site launched in Denmark in 2012, now counts 50,000 paid subscribers, and the publication has begun expanding its model to other countries.

Last year, Zetland — whose cofounder and international director is Jakob Moll, a 2022 Nieman Fellow — lent its support, tech stack, and playbook to Uusi Juttu, in Finland. The site launched in January and now has more than 18,000 paying members.

Now, Zetland has set its sights on Norway. On Tuesday, it announced its next project: Demo, a startup that aims to bring Norwegians news in new ways. Demo will be run by Norwegian journalists and will rely on Zetland for initial financial support.

“Norwegian journalism is dominated by publishers that have existed for decades,” Demo cofounder and journalist Ingrid Tinmannsvik told me via email. “The past few years we have seen a few new niche media outlets enter the market, but few are targeting a broader audience, and they are traditional in their way of reporting. We believe there is a need for something new.”

Tinmannsvik said Norwegians (like residents of plenty of other countries) are overwhelmed by the news cycle. They’re tired of breaking news and want to see more explanatory and analytical journalism, she said. In order to define Demo’s editorial vision and strategy, Tinmannsvik and her fellow co-founders (documentary filmmaker Bendik Mondal and community organizer Helle Hoås) will embark on a listening tour this fall, asking Norwegians what’s missing from the media landscape and what news they want to see more of.

Before joining Demo, Tinmannsvik led the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK’s “constructive journalism” initiative focused on solutions-oriented reporting and combatting news avoidance. She became increasingly convinced that journalism in Norway needed a new direction, especially after seeing how the press covered the recent parliamentary election.

The election was “dominated by debates about the wealth tax instead of our time’s most pressing issues,” Tinmannsvik said. “Media played a big role in that. Along the way, we forgot to listen to the people we are here for.”

Tinmannsvik met Zetland’s Moll at a conference in 2024. After Uusi Juttu launched, Moll was keen to expand to a third market and Norway — where 42% of people have paid for news, more than any other country in the world — seemed like a natural next step.

“Norwegian journalism is famously vibrant and there is the highest willingness to pay in the world,” Moll said. “At the same time, news in Norway tends to be very traditional, and the industry faces the same threats as in the rest of Europe. Young men especially are gravitating away from traditional outlets.”

One of the main challenges, Tinmannsvik said, will be to “hold people’s attention long enough for them to realize we are different from traditional media.” Per the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, trust in news in Norway is particularly high (54%) and Norwegians much prefer digital news sources (87%) over social media (41%) to get informed. The most trusted outlet is NRK (81%), followed by regional and local newspapers (77%).

Norwegians seem to be loyal to their current preferred news sources, but the lesson from Uusi Juttu, Moll said, is to include the public from the very beginning.

“It is possible to build excitement around journalism if you reach out and invite engaged citizens to help and guide you,” Moll said. “Humility can be a powerful force, especially if it’s the last citizens expect of the media.”

But Zetland isn’t sticking to Nordic countries. Its next expansion, Moll said, will be to Germany, where he’ll begin assembling a team of founders later this year.

Demo co-founders Helle Hoås, Ingrid Tinmannsvik, and Bendik Mondal. Photo courtesy of Demo.

Journalism

A look inside the AI strategies at The New York Times and The Washington Post

Digiday held the most recent edition of its Digiday Publishing Summit in Miami last week, and it’s been rolling out highlights from many of the sessions. You’ll be shocked to learn that one big area of focus was AI. Two of them make for interesting paired reading — peeks into the AI strategies of The New York Times and The Washington Post, the country’s two top general interest newspapers.

First, the Times, where my old Nieman Lab colleague Zach Seward is editorial director of A.I. initiatives.

Using AI for research and investigations is “by far the biggest use of our resources and I think the biggest opportunity right now when it comes to AI in media,” Seward said. His team mostly works by helping a reporter use AI technology for one project, and then creating a repeatable process from that experience for others in the newsroom to use.

The New York Times also has an open Slack channel that anyone from the newsroom can join to ask questions and share use cases — ranging from “How can I get Gemini?” to one bureau chief inspiring another across the world with an idea for how they’re using AI technology.

“We’re not trying to be AI boosters. In fact, quite the opposite. I think there’s a lot of caution. A lot of time we spend cautioning people about uses of AI, both [in the] legal and editorial senses,” he said. “But if we can have you leave a session saying, ‘I’m still pretty concerned about this whole environmental issue and maybe like destroying humanity thing – but in the meantime, it’s going to let me transcribe handwritten notes in Arabic that I took messy iPhone photos of while I was on a reporting trip, and that’s pretty cool.’ And no reporter is going to say no to a competitive advantage, which I think is the theme of what we’re trying to build for them.”

At the Post, Sam Han was named chief AI officer in June after spending eight years in related roles. One of his team’s areas of focus has been on building an AI-powered paywall that can adjust to an individual reader’s usage patterns to optimize when to ask for payment. He said the AI paywall delivers “a 20% increase in customer lifetime value” over its predecessor.

“The best benefit of having that is no more meetings to decide what rules [to set as the basis for the paywall]. Thanksgiving sale’s coming up — how should we change the paywall rules to accommodate more subscription during the sales price? We will have meetings after meetings after meetings, and then the executive with the largest voice will win, right? That’s all gone now. It’s all driven by machine learning.”

“Our subscription marketing team created flexible access products, [such as] weekly pass, daily pass. We are experimenting with pay-per-article now. We want to bring all those into the paywall decision. It’s not just showing a paywall. It’s a paywall containing which products.”

“We have very strict guidelines saying, if it’s business-critical, sensitive information, use a language model hosted by us internally. Otherwise, you can use enterprise version of ChatGPT and so on. If documents are in Google Docs already, it’s already safe, we have correct classification of document and so on, so then you’re allowed to use Gemini to do certain tasks.”

Photo of the U.S. Eastern Seaboard at night — with Washington just left of center and New York the large metropolis on the right — via NASA.

Climate

Extreme weather and extreme politics go hand in hand – billionaires like Musk are pushing both

Rabble-rousing of far-right demagogues is a reminder that the battle for a fair and habitable planet cannot be fought alone

If it were not clear already, the biggest far-right protest in UK history is a reminder that the battle for a fair and habitable planet cannot be fought solely in the silos of science or environmentalism.

That may be a source of dismay for anyone who still believed the argument for a cleaner, safer, more equitable future can be won by reason alone. But there is also an upside to the alarming scenes recently witnessed in London: the alliance between billionaires, thugs and other opponents of change has come out of the shadows.

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Climate

Coalition MPs say Australia’s emissions are a fraction of the world’s total. What kind of argument is that?

Australia’s emissions are only about 1.1% of the global total. But it is scientifically wrong to say half a billion tonnes of CO2 don’t matter, experts say

What do you think would happen if you decided that because the amount of tax you owe the government was only a barely perceptible percentage of overall tax revenue, you weren’t going to bother paying?

Aside from the ATO laughing at you before sending you a bill, your friends would probably call you a freeloader, telling you everyone has to do their bit.

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