Climate change and economics: three farmers’ legal battles in a climate law challenge the Swiss government to act decisively against climate change when they become unviable

Last year, a group of farmers took to the courts in an attempt to force the Swiss government to act on climate change before their farms become unviable. The case is yet to be settled, but lawsuits from farmers might have stronger sway with governments than previous climate cases from social activist groups, say three climate law experts, because agriculture holds a central role in Swiss politics. A win would change the legal landscape in Europe and beyond, write the trio. “The world cannot afford to leave farmers in climate limbo, just as farmers cannot afford to turn their backs to the changing climate.”

So far, agriculture has also been exempted from the strictest regulations on climate and environmental protection, owing to its economic and cultural importance9,10. For example, the Global Methane Pledge, launched in 2021 at the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference, focuses mainly on cutting emissions of this potent greenhouse gas from the oil, gas and waste sectors rather than from food systems. In 2023 at COP28, parties to the Paris climate agreement signed a non-binding pledge on sustainable agriculture, but only in relation to adapting current practices, not mitigating climate change.

Changes in pests and changes in weather are some of the effects of rising temperatures and extreme weather on agriculture. These effects differ widely from region to region, from crop to crop and from farm to farm, depending on local climate, terrain and soil types, access to water and the type of farming7.

The infinite optimism of the polymath Gottfried Leibniz: A study of climate change in Europe and its impact on avian influenza

Extreme heat will kill millions of people in Europe without rapid action on climate change. Also, the polymath who dreamed up ways to make the world better.

An extra 2.3 million people in European cities could die as a result of extreme temperatures — both hot and cold — by the end of the century if decision makers don’t act to mitigate climate change. Researchers analysed temperature and mortality data from urban areas in 30 European countries to model various warming scenarios and the possible temperature-related deaths associated with them between 2015 and 2099. The results suggest that heat-Related deaths will surpass cold deaths in even the most optimistic scenarios and that there could be a half a century increase in temperature-related deaths.

At least 68 people in North America have become ill from the H5N1 avian influenza virus and one person has died. Most of these illnesses were mild, but emerging data indicate that variants of the virus can cause severe disease and death, especially when passed directly to people from birds. There are two main variants that are carried mainly by birds and cows but the numbers of human infections are not enough to decide which is more dangerous. The evolution of theviruses is related to their adapting to cows and to go into human cells. This is the first step for a virus that has the potential to jump to humans.

Source: Daily briefing: The infinite optimism of polymath Gottfried Leibniz

Gottfried Leibniz and his quest for a better world: Ivan Di Terlizzi’s recipe for cacio e pepe

Toca do Tatu — the Armadillo’s Den — is a spectacular cave in southern Brazil that might have been carved by generations of giant ground sloths. The ice-age megafauna went extinct more than 10,000 years ago. Scientists think that the cave is the largest example of an iwchnofossil, a mark left by prehistoric organisms, because of large scratches on the walls and ceiling.

Gottfried Leibniz was a tireless polymath who covered ground in everything from philosophy to geology — as well as inventing versions of calculus and binary arithmetic. He also got the mickey ruthlessly taken out of his ‘best of all possible worlds’ religious philosophy in “the best of all possible parodies” — Voltaire’s Candide. In a rollicking overview of Leibniz’s life of relentless intellectual exploration, historian of thought Anthony Gottlieb says that the bewigged boffin “couldn’t stop dreaming up ways to make the world better”.

Ivan Di Terlizzi and his team were going to scientifically improve the recipe for cacio e pepe. Their solution involves adding only one ingredient to the traditional combination of pasta, black pepper and pecorino cheese: cornstarch. (The New York Times | 3 min read)