Nearly 5,000 solar panels added to longest dam in Switzerland & more environmental news.

[View this email in your browser]( Wednesday, February 8, 2023 "We don't need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly." – Anne-Marie Bonneau Baltimore County Bans Plastic Shopping Bags Baltimore County is the latest local government in the U.S. to ban [plastic]( shopping bags. The Baltimore County Council voted five-to-two Monday to approve the “Bring Your Own Bag Act,” following in the footsteps of the [City of Baltimore]( which passed its [plastic bag]( ban in 2019. [Read More]( Related: [Ocean Plastic: What You Need to Know]( Nearly 5,000 Solar Panels Added to Longest Dam in Switzerland Switzerland’s longest dam — also the highest dam in Europe — has now been adorned with nearly 5,000 [solar panels](. The added solar panels help provide additional energy, particularly during the winter months. The 2.2 megawatt project, called [AlpinSolar]( will provide about 3.3 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year, with half of that energy provided during the winter. AlpinSolar is expected to generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of [700 households]( as reported by Electrek. [Read More]( Related: [Solar Power Will Become 10x Cheaper Than Gas in Europe, Study Predicts]( Study Using AI Warns We Are 10 to 15 Years From Breaching 1.5°C Paris Agreement Goal A new [study]( using [artificial intelligence]( (AI) to forecast global warming timelines has found that Earth will exceed the target of limiting warming to [1.5 degrees]( Celsius above pre-industrial levels within about 10 to 15 years, according to a press release from Stanford University. [Read More]( Related: [‘We Need to Do So Much More’: Social Change Moving Too Slowly for 1.5 Goal]( Deep Seabed Mining Plans Pit Renewable Energy Demand Against Ocean Life in a Largely Unexplored Frontier As companies race to expand renewable energy and the batteries to store it, finding sufficient amounts of rare earth metals to build the technology is no easy feat. That’s leading mining companies to take a closer look at a largely unexplored frontier – the deep ocean seabed. A wealth of these metals can be found in manganese nodules that look like cobblestones scattered across wide areas of deep ocean seabed. But the fragile ecosystems deep in the oceans are little understood, and the mining codes to sustainably mine these areas are in their infancy. [Read More]( Related: [UN Agency Approves Controversial Deep-Sea Mining Tests]( Rare Earth Minerals Are Abundant Enough to Fuel Green Energy Shift, Study Says There are enough [rare earth minerals]( to make the transition from [fossil fuels]( to [renewables]( a new [study]( has concluded. The study allays the concerns of some that the world doesn’t have enough key elements for all the [wind turbines]( [solar panels]( and other components needed to make the switch to green [energy]( and limit global heating. [Read More]( Related: [Europe’s Largest Rare Earth Deposit Found in Swedish Arctic]( Do you get this newsletter daily? If not, [sign up here]( or forward to a friend. [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Website]( [Instagram]( Copyright © 2023 EcoWatch, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up for EcoWatch Top News of The Day Our mailing address is: EcoWatch 1122 Oberlin RoadRaleigh, NC 27605 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](. [Mailchimp Email Marketing](