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Review: Is Discover it® Balance Transfer the Best Credit Card for You? Discover it Balance Transfer Card RewardsThe card offers a generous cash-back rewards structure. With the 0% intro APR on balance transfers, there's an intro balance transfer fee of 3% of the amount of each transfer that post to your account by September 10, 2023. Yes, the Discover It Balance Transfer Credit Card allows balance transfers. Yes, the Discover It Balance Transfer Credit Card has an an intro balance transfer fee of 3% of the amount of each transfer.

Persons: you've, you’ve, Cardholders, It's, cardholders, you'll Organizations: Discover, Reading Chevron, Wholesale, PayPal, American Cancer Society, Children's Miracle Network, Diabetes Research Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, JCB, U.S, Bank Locations: Japan, skylines

☆ A critically endangered rat-sized marsupial that looks like a mini kangaroo is returning to parts of Australia for the first time in a century
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Brush-tailed bettongs are thriving in Southern Australia after being reintroduced in 2021. These cute, kangaroo-looking marsupials have been critically endangered for decades. Scientists say it could be the first successful reintroduction of the species in Australia. According to the results of their monitoring of 85 bettongs, 40% of them were newborns, according to the release. A woylie also known as a brush-tailed bettong (Bettongia penicillata) is an extremely rare, small marsupial and is endemic to Australia.

☆ Pro Take: Can Nickel, Cobalt and Other Battery Metals Be Sourced Sustainably?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Yusuf Khan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Lockheed Martin and Norway’s Storebrand also have recently sold their interests in deep-sea mining companies. Others including German luxury carmaker BMW have said that, given environmental concerns, they won’t use battery metals sourced from the deep sea. More than a dozen countries are concerned about the environmental impact of the practice and are calling for a moratorium on seabed mining. A nickel mining site on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. Proponents of deep-sea mining say the nascent practice is a less harmful way to extract nickel than how the mineral is currently sourced in Indonesia.

☆ World's longest bridge could transform Sicily. But not if the Mafia and earthquakes get in the way
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Since then, various plans, including a short-lived idea for a tunnel, have come and gone – like water under the bridge. If built, the bridge across the Straits of Messina would span two miles (3.2 kilometers) and would be the longest suspension bridge in the world. When Salvini became transport minister, he made it his priority, betting his legacy on the bridge. “The bridge over the Strait of Messina is a project that can break ground immediately. The recent arrest of Cosa Nostra boss Matteo Messina Denaro after 30 years on the lam in Sicily represented a victory.

CNN —A female bear that was sentenced to death for the fatal mauling of jogger in Italy has been given a stay of execution until May 11, officials in Trento have said. Andrea Papi, 26, was attacked and killed last week while jogging in a public nature reserve in the Trentino–Alto Adige region of northern Italy. In the last 15 years, several bear attacks have been reported, including the nearly fatal attack of a mushroom farmer in 2014 and the 2020 attack of a father and his son while they were hiking. This time, after the fatal attack on Papi the World Wildlife Fund, which had previously petitioned to keep JJ4 alive told CNN they agree that the bear should be put down. There are now four bears, including JJ4, with judicial orders to be culled.

☆ These organizations are trying to tackle plastic pollution and poverty at the same time
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Katie Brigham | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

"All the plastic we've ever produced since the inception of the material is still here," said David Katz, CEO of Plastic Bank, a company that's trying to implement plastic recycling systems in developing nations. It's usually because it's not economically feasible to collect, clean and sort plastic waste — at least not in the U.S., where new plastic is cheaper. Asis Wijayanto and his wife Atmawati support themselves and their daughter by collecting plastic with Plastic Bank. Plastic creditsBut only about 20% of Plastic Bank's partners are actually buying recycled plastic for use in new products. The other 80% are buying plastic credits, meant to help offset their new plastic production by funding recycling efforts in the countries where Plastic Bank operates.

☆ A deadline looms for rules governing deep-sea mining, but a rushed decision may be risky
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

Proponents say that deep-sea mining there is a less damaging way to gather metals like nickel, copper, manganese and cobalt. Opponents of deep-sea mining say there is not enough information to make that kind of decision. Critics of the idea of deep-sea mining have said the process is being rushed. That's what's behind the drive for diversity of supply on land-based mining, as well as exploration of alternatives such as deep-sea mining." Finding consensus for the Wild West of the seaOpponents of deep-sea mining want to tap the brakes.

Review: Is the Discover it Cash Back the Best Credit Card for You? For example, you could look at a no-annual-fee card that offers a flat cash rewards rate on all purchases, like the Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card, which earns 2% cash rewards on spending. Insider's Featured Cash Back Credit Cards Discover it® Cash BackCiti® Double Cash CardWells Fargo Active Cash® Card Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. How to Earn Rewards With the Discover it Cash Back CardTo earn the most cash back with the Discover it® Cash Back, you'll have to activate the rotating bonus categories each quarter through your online Discover account. How to Use Discover Cash Back RewardsThe best way to redeem your Discover it® Cash Back rewards is usually as a statement credit, which lowers your balance, or simply take the cash as a direct deposit to your bank account.

☆ A guide to climate buzzwords and what they say about corporate promises
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Thousands of companies with climate goals use confusing jargon like "carbon neutral" and "net zero." Corporate climate pledges are rife with terms like "carbon neutral," "net zero," and "carbon negative," leading to confusion among consumers and investors, among others, about what it all means. Some companies, including ExxonMobil, also have net-zero goals that only cover direct operations. Why 'carbon neutral' can be misleadingThe UN's concerns about carbon offsets are why claims of an organization or product being "carbon neutral" can also be worrisome. "I think there is rightfully some skepticism around climate neutral," Fischweicher said.

☆ Bill Gates on why he'll carry on using private jets and campaigning on climate change
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Anmar Frangoul | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

During a recent interview with the BBC, the billionaire said rich countries needed "to get their emissions down to zero as fast as they can." Bill Gates does not agree that using a private jet and campaigning on the issue of climate change represents a contradiction open to allegations of hypocrisy. It says it "uses a technology called 'direct air capture' to capture carbon dioxide directly from the air." Gates has previously spoken about using Climeworks to "pay for direct air capture." "So a new way of making cement or steel, you know, electric passenger cars, that's all in the rich countries."

☆ The US is bad at recycling. Making businesses pay could boost the rate to 75% in some states, a study found.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Recycling rates in US states could hit 75% if companies bear the costs, a study found. Recycling rates are high there, and taxpayers don't cover the bill, unlike in the US. The Recycling Partnership said it examined these states because they had the best available data. In most cases, recycling rates could get as high as 75%, de Thomas said. At least 11 others have either introduced legislation or plan to, according to a tally by The Recycling Partnership.

☆ This startup that connects conservation projects with funders just raised $8 million. Check out the 30-slide pitch deck Lemu used to secure the fresh capital.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A startup hoping to channel more cash into conservation via its app just raised $8 million. Chilean startup Lemu is developing a marketplace that ranks conservation projects on priority and impact. A Chilean startup connecting conservation projects with funders just raised $8 million. It plans to list and rank high-priority and high-impact conservation projects in the hope that the app's users will donate money, or "invest," in them. It will have two ranking features: LemiImpact, a local-level impact ranking based on potential project outcomes, and LemuRank, which is a global ranking of high-priority conservation efforts.

☆ Amazon is shutting down its charity program amid massive companywide layoffs, claiming its 'ability to have an impact was often spread too thin'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon announced that it would "wind down" its AmazonSmile program in February. "After almost a decade, the program has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped," the email read. "With so many eligible organizations — more than 1 million globally — our ability to have an impact was often spread too thin." Amazon plans to fully close the program by February 20 and focus its philanthropic efforts elsewhere, per the email. Through the program, Amazon shoppers could visit smile.amazon.com allocate 0.5% of their purchase to a participating organization of their choice for no extra charge.

Zambia has become a test case for the G20-led 'Common Framework' restructuring vehicle launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, but differences with some of its main creditors about the debt relief required means progress has been slow. Its vast swathes of national parks are home or migration routes for some of Africa's most impressive wildlife including lions and elephants. "We will be considering all debt restructuring options that are in the framework (G20 Common Framework)which falls within the DSA (debt sustainability analysis) parameters... and that are acceptable to all parties," the ministry's response added. KAZA conservation areaCOMMON FRAMEWORKWWF's Zambia country head, Nachilala Nkombo, told Reuters that the most recent talks with the government took place last month. Sri Lanka, another Common Framework restructuring country, has said that it would like to do a debt-for-nature swap and with Zambia still hoping to wrap up its deal this year it would likely set a precedent.

☆ Analysis: U.N. nature deal can help wildlife as long as countries deliver
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Conservationists praised the deal's ambition, saying it amounted to a Paris Agreement for nature in setting out 23 specific targets against which countries can measure their progress. "This is equivalent to the 1.5 degrees Celsius global goal for climate," said Marco Lambertini, director-general of World Wildlife Fund International. "Otherwise, there is a big risk that the cheapest areas are protected rather than those that matter most for biodiversity." During the talks, delegates discussed whether protected areas should be entirely off-limits to human settlement and development, or if some resource extraction should be allowed if managed sustainably. Canada, one of the world's largest nations, is expanding protected land and marine areas in the Arctic.

[1/3] Members of WWF protest during COP15, the two-week U.N. Biodiversity summit, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada December 7, 2022. REUTERS/Christinne MuschiMONTREAL, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Climate campaigners waved placards and chanted pro-nature slogans on Wednesday as a U.N. summit kicks off in Montreal, bringing together global negotiators for a "once-in-a-decade opportunity" to protect nature. Negotiators hope the two-week event delivers an agreement that ensures there is more "nature" — animals, plants, and healthy ecosystems — in 2030 than what exists now. Global Land Outlook assessment. ($1 = 1.3651 Canadian dollars)Read more:Businesses want COP15 nature summit to deliver clarityU.N. chief urges strong global nature deal to end 'orgy of destruction'Reporting by Allison Lampert and Gloria Dickie in Montreal; Editing by Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Rolls-Royce uses hydrogen produced with wind and tidal power to test jet engine
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Anmar Frangoul | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The test used a converted regional aircraft engine from Rolls-Royce, with hydrogen produced at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney. LONDON — Plans to reduce the significant environmental effects of aviation took a step forward this week after Rolls-Royce and easyJet said they had carried out the ground test of a jet engine that used hydrogen produced from tidal and wind power. The test, which was carried out at an outdoor site in the U.K., used a converted regional aircraft engine from London-listed Rolls-Royce. "This is a true British success story, with the hydrogen being used to power the jet engine today produced using tidal and wind energy from the Orkney Islands of Scotland," Shapps added. Using hydrogen to power an internal combustion engine is different to hydrogen fuel cell technology, where hydrogen from a tank mixes with oxygen, generating electricity.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Beyond the headlines from the annual U.N. climate conference, progress in advancing the global climate agenda relies on the behind-the-scenes efforts of technocrats over years. Offsets allow countries or companies to pay others to cut greenhouse gas emissions to make up for their own. But discussions on how to curb those emissions are relatively new within U.N. climate negotiations. The work also deals with food security and the economic impacts of global warming. As the initial mandate expired, countries at COP27 authorised the KJWA work to continue for another four years.

☆ Analysis: COP27 does little for next month's global agenda: nature loss
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Many environment ministers and campaigners have said the climate talks should underline the importance of protecting nature to help to limit climate change. The "landmark" target of the draft Montreal deal proposes protecting 30% of the world's land and sea by 2030 - known informally as 30-by-30. The world's wildlife crisis is largely driven by habitat loss, with wild spaces turned into agricultural fields and cities, or degraded by pollution. But climate change poses an increasing threat as temperatures climb, pushing species out of their comfortable ranges. It encouraged parties to "consider, as appropriate, nature-based solutions or ecosystem-based approaches" to climate change.

[1/3] Egyptian Foreign Minister and Egypt's COP27 President Sameh Shoukry attends an informal stocktaking session during the COP27 climate summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 18, 2022. But with several other sticking points dogging this year's U.N. climate talks, host country Egypt said a final deal was still not expected before the weekend. But it was unclear Friday if all of those countries would accept the EU's offer of a fund to aid only "the most vulnerable countries", rather than all developing countries as they had requested. On Friday morning, the U.N. climate agency published a first official draft of the final summit deal. Some countries, including the EU and Britain, have pushed for the overall deal in Egypt to lock in country commitments for more ambitious climate action.

☆ COP27 climate talks seen as key to success at next month's U.N. nature summit
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"Climate change is one of the big drivers of biodiversity loss," said David Cooper, the deputy chief of U.N.'s Convention on Biological Diversity. "If we don't have successful outcomes in the climate process, then we cannot halt biodiversity loss," Cooper said. "You cannot have a dream of coping with climate change only through the emissions," Virginijus Sinkevičiu, European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, told Reuters. "If ecosystems are not able to cope, you don't have a success story" in fighting climate change. President Xi Jinping has not attended the climate talks in Sharm el-Sheikh and is also not expected to attend COP15.

For more than 70 days this summer, a marine heatwave cooked the waters of the western Mediterranean. "We've been witnessing marine heatwaves during the last 20 years," said Garrabou, who's also coordinator of the T-MEDNet marine monitoring network. A 2016 marine heatwave along Chile's southern coast caused huge algae blooms that wiped out fish farms and cost the aquaculture industry some $800 million, said scientist Kathryn Smith with the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. As the world warms, marine heatwaves are expected to become more frequent, according to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Though economists have yet to account fully for the impacts of marine heatwaves, recent experience has many concerned.

☆ Taxation is a blunt instrument, IATA chief Willie Walsh says: 'The carrot is far more effective than the stick'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Anmar Frangoul | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

watch nowThe aviation industry requires more carrot and less stick going forward to become more sustainable, according to the director general of the International Air Transport Association. "Quite honestly, all of the evidence that we have available shows that the carrot is far more effective than the stick," Walsh replied. Among other things, this would see both maritime and aviation fuels taxed. "So for us, the key to our goal is the use of sustainable aviation fuels — the science there is proven." "What we've got to do is turn what is very low levels of production of sustainable fuels into widespread availability."

☆ Palm oil is in almost everything, and it's devastating rainforests. This Bill Gates-backed company used microbes to create an alternative
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Palm oil grows best in the regions right around the equator, so palm oil producers chop down rainforest and clear that felled vegetation by burning it, making it a prime target of conservation organizations like the Rainforest Rescue and the World Wildlife Fund. Palm oil trees grow at the Cikasungka palm oil plantation, operated by PT Perkebunan Nusantara VIII, in Bogor Regency in West Java, Indonesia, on Monday, June 20, 2022. To make its palm oil alternative, C16 Biosciences uses a wild yeast microbe that makes a functional equivalent to palm oil with a kind of fermentation process. Photo courtesy: Cat Clifford, CNBCChemically, the palm oil that C16 Biosciences makes is not identical to the palm oil that is grown in industrial agriculture farms. However, "it contains the same fatty acids, which are the molecular fingerprints of fats and oils, that palm oil does," Heller told CNBC.

☆ Global wildlife populations have sunk 69% since 1970 - WWF report
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report, which used 2018 data from ZSL on the status of 32,000 wildlife populations covering more than 5,000 species, found that population sizes had declined by 69% on average. One population of pink river dolphins in the Brazilian Amazon plummeted by 65% between 1994 and 2016, the report said. Its findings were broadly similar to those in WWF's last assessment in 2020, with wildlife population sizes continuing to decline at a rate of about 2.5% per year, Terry said. "Nature was in dire straits and it is still in dire straits," said Mark Wright, director of science at WWF-UK. Still, the wide-ranging declines have prompted desperate pleas for increased support for nature.

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