Pickup trucks block Tesla charging station in strange aggression called ICE-ing
A trend has begun to appear across the US in which pickup truck drivers are blocking access to Tesla Superchargers. The act is called ICE-ing, which stands for “internal combustion engine.” The first incident took place in Hickory, North Carolina when 3 pickup truck drivers blocked a Supercharger station next to a Sheetz while chanting “f*** Tesla.” The offenders left when confronted by a Sheetz employee. Since the incident, reports of ICE-ing in other states have spread across the Internet. ICE-ing has been compared to ‘rolling coal,’ in which truck owners rig their diesel engines to consume more fuel and emit large clouds of black smoke.
NC equestrian center fined over water quality violations
The Tryon Equestrian Center in Mill Spring, NC has been issued a $64,436 civil penalty by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality over eight water quality violations. The Tryon Equestrian Center stepped up to host the World Equestrian Games last year when the original host in Canada pulled out. Facilities were constructed in less than half the normal time and the haste, combined with excessive rainfall, led to the water quality issues. Environmental advocacy group Mountain True monitored water quality at the site and says that last summer the site had some of the highest rates of pollution ever recorded at a construction site in Western North Carolina. A spokesperson for the Tryon Equestrian Center says that the center disagrees with the fines but will pay them and that the problem has been remediated, inspected and improved. The center’s chief operating officer says it plans to appeal.
A new study warns that 2018 was the hottest year on record
A new study in the journal Science warns that last year was likely the hottest on record. Authors of the study examined multiple lines of evidence from four independent groups measuring ocean heat and concluded that ocean warming is speeding up. Researchers found that the rate of warming for the top 2,000 meters of ocean has increased by more than 50 percent since 1991. The study explains that while many people think of global warming as surface air temperature, ocean heat content is actually a better measure of global warming because the oceans take up “about 93 percent of the Earth’s energy imbalance created by increasing heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere from human activities.” Oceans are also not very affected by weather fluctuations that affect surface temperatures. Researchers say that when the data show that 2018 has set the record for ocean heat content, it means that 2018 set the record for the hottest year, too.
