XPost: alt.global-warming   
      
   Big Oil hit by record losses from pandemic and clean fuel   
   Derek Brower and Anjli Raval, Financial Times via Carbon Brief   
   Following a "brutal" 12 months for the oil industry, some of the   
   world's largest energy companies have reported record annual losses,   
   according to the Financial Times. It adds that ExxonMobil made losses   
   of more than $20bn in 2020, the first annual loss in its history,   
   while BP's reached $5.7bn, its first annual loss since the Deepwater   
   Horizon disaster more than a decade ago. On top of the "devastation"   
   to their revenue resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic and last year's   
   associated price crash, "investors and environmental activists have   
   also assailed the sector with demands that it step up efforts to   
   reduce carbon emissions", the article notes. The New York Times says   
   such years are likely to become "more commonplace" for the industry,   
   amidst growing concerns about climate change and the rise of electric   
   vehicles, with General Motors "rais[ing] the stakes" last week by   
   declaring it aimed to sell only electric cars by 2035. According to   
   the newspaper, European oil companies are investing "considerable   
   resources" in offshore wind and solar energy, while their American   
   counterparts have been slower to begin moving away from fossil   
   fuels. Even the oil companies that are making the transition are   
   unlikely to see their investments pay off "for years", it   
   notes. Despite the news, the fossil fuel majors have taken an   
   optimistic tone, with BP chief executive Bernard Looney - who last   
   year made a commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 -   
   telling staff that following a successful vaccine rollout his company   
   "will be ready to really take off", the Times reports. The Financial   
   Times' Lex column asks why Looney's strategy has not yet received   
   approval from the market, noting that since announcing the net-zero   
   goal "the stock market has given him little credit" and "BP's share   
   price has trailed its rivals in Europe for the past year".   
   Meanwhile, according to the Financial Times, there is currently a   
   sustained campaign by "activist investors" at Exxon for the company to   
   "cuts costs and overhaul a strategy that is focused on increasing oil   
   and gas supply". BusinessGreen reports that as the company faces this   
   "barrage" of criticism, it has pledged to invest $3bn into carbon   
   capture and other "lower emission" energy projects over the next five   
   years. There is another Financial Times Lex column looking at Exxon,   
   which says that, while you could blame its significant losses on last   
   year's recession, the "reality is that 2020 was a milestone year for   
   action on climate change". It says efforts so far "have not been   
   enough to repel climate-focused activist investors who want more   
   radical action". Finally, DeSmog UK has an "exclusive" story reporting   
   that the fossil fuel giant "may be understating the financial damage   
   to its assets", according to a former Exxon employee turned   
   whistleblower. Franklin Bennett has accused the oil major of   
   overvaluing its assets in a practice he describes as "fraudulent and   
   defiant behaviour" in a 31 Jan supplement to a whistleblower   
   complaint he filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission,   
   DeSmog UK reports.   
      
   --   
   BREAKING (3 Feb): Vic Prem Andrews has announced a case of community   
   covid has been detected in a quarantine worker.  In a late night press   
   conf he announced a long list of sites the man has visited in the past   
   few days and called on people that have symptoms or were at any of the   
   shopping centers or clubs at the times given to go for testing.  It's   
   not known if the virus is one of the new more dangerous variants.   
      
   [Exhibit A:]   
   Travellers at Perth's COVID outbreak hotel say guards not wearing masks   
   ABC News, 02 Feb 2021 22:01Z   
   Returned travellers who have had their quarantine period at a Perth hotel   
   extended raise concerns over security guards not wearing masks and say they   
   have been kept in the dark about changes to their stay.   
      
   [Exhibit B:]   
   Australia's on high alert for new COVID-19 variants. Here's what we know   
   about them   
   ABC Health & Wellbeing, 02 Feb 2021 22:28Z   
   The recent emergence of several new coronavirus variants has triggered a   
   fresh wave of concerns over how quickly the virus is changing, and new   
   questions about whether COVID-19 vaccines will be able to keep up.   
      
   [Data Science!]   
   Scientists Can Predict Breakups From Unrelated Internet Posts 3 Months   
   Before It Occurs   
   IFLScience, 02 Feb 2021 15:30Z   
   A study looking at the language people use when they are going through   
   breakups has found that markers of an impending breakup can be seen 3   
   months ...   
      
   Victorian authorities investigating possible transmission of UK COVID strain   
   in hotel quarantine   
   ABC News, 03 Feb 2021 05:46Z   
   Victorian authorities investigate the possible transmission of COVID-19   
   within the state's hotel quarantine system after 2 groups of travellers on   
   the same floor test positive for the same UK variant of the virus.   
      
   Westpac faces tens of mns of dollars in fines after High Court ruling   
   ABC News, 03 Feb 2021 05:45Z   
   Westpac is facing mns of dollars in fines after the High Court ruled it   
   overstepped financial advice laws in promoting superannuation services to   
   its customers.   
      
   Morrison publicly reprimands Kelly over coronavirus vaccine misinformation   
   ABC News, 03 Feb 2021 05:44Z   
   Prime Minister Scott Morrison offers his first public rebuke of Liberal   
   backbencher Craig Kelly for spreading misinformation about COVID-19.   
      
   'Not scientifically possible': Victoria accused of overinflating kangaroo   
   numbers to increase harvest   
   ABC Goulburn Murray, 03 Feb 2021 06:44Z   
   The Victorian Government is accused of "massively overinflating" kangaroo   
   numbers in order to support a 65 per cent increase in the state's commercial   
   harvest quota.   
      
   Study challenges ecology's 'Field of Dreams' hypothesis   
   Phys.org, 02 Feb 2021 18:45Z   
   If you build it, they might not come. That's the key finding of a new study   
   on habitat restoration practices that challenges a commonly accepted   
   principle in ...   
      
   Antarctica Is Melting in a Way Our Climate Models Never Predicted,   
   Scientists Say   
   ScienceAlert, 03 Feb 2021 04:44Z   
   The Antarctic ice sheet is not melting in the linear way our climate models   
   predicted it would. Instead, a more detailed model shows that while the rate   
   of ice loss ...   
      
   The Wisconsin pharmacist who sabotaged 500 vaccine doses believes the Earth   
   is flat and that the sky is a shield to stop us seeing God, according to FBI   
   documents   
   msnNOW, 02 Feb 2021 11:05Z   
   Steven Brandenburg, the Wisconsin pharmacist who destroyed COVID-19 vaccines,   
   told law enforcement he reads lots of conspiracy-theory books.   
      
   Study: Pandemic's cleaner air added heat to warming planet   
   Yahoo News, 02 Feb 2021 21:04Z   
   Earth spiked a bit of a fever in 2020, partly because of cleaner air from   
   the pandemic lockdown, a new study found. For a short time, temperatures in   
   some places ...   
      
   Chickens were the first species to be diagnosed with coronavirus more than   
   90 years ago   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)