University of Cambridge scientists identified a new way for recycling cement from demolished concrete buildings, which might reduce emissions from one of the world’s most polluting industries. Cement, the cornerstone of contemporary construction, accounts for a considerable share of worldwide CO2 emissions due to its energy-intensive manufacturing process. What’s the environmental impact of cement? Cement manufacture is a major cause of climate change. It accounts for 7.5 percent of human-caused CO2 emissions, making it the third highest source of emissions if it were a country, following China and the United States. The principal culprit is the chemical reaction that occurs when limestone is heated to high temperatures, which is typically accomplished by burning fossil fuels. The production method entails heating limestone to around 1600 degrees Celsius in massive kilns, which not only consumes a considerable amount of energy but also emits large amounts of CO2. For every tonne of cement produced, approximately one tonne of CO2 is released. The breakthrough: electric cement The Cambridge researchers devised a method to revive spent cement by subjecting it to high temperatures again. This procedure, which was previously performed in cement kilns, can now be powered by electric arc furnaces used in steel recycling. These furnaces, fueled by renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, have the potential to eliminate the CO2 emissions connected with cement manufacture. Cyrille Dunant, the lead scientist, stated, “We have shown the high temperatures in the furnace reactivate the old cement and because electric arc furnaces use electricity they can be powered by renewable power, so the entire cement-making process is decarbonized.” Combining cement and steel recycling The novel approach takes advantage of the chemical similarities between used cement and steel recycling slag. Slag, a byproduct of steel manufacture, occurs when chemicals are introduced to molten metal to avoid impurities. The Cambridge team realized that spent cement may serve a similar purpose in electric arc furnaces. Mark Miodownik, Professor of Materials and Society at University College London, applauded the concept, calling it “genius.” He stressed the possibility of considerable emission savings if the technology can be developed profitably. “Can it compete against the existing infrastructure that is very unsustainably going to keep pumping cement into our lives?” He asked. “Cement is already a billion-dollar industry. It’s David and Goliath we are talking about here.” The researchers successfully tested the method on a small-scale electric arc furnace at the Materials Processing Institute in Middlesbrough. The first high-quality Portland cement manufactured using this process was nicknamed “electric cement.” Celsa, a Spanish business, plans to reproduce the process in a full-scale electric arc furnace in Cardiff, to demonstrate its industrial viability. Dunant highlighted the dual environmental benefits: “It also makes steel recycling less polluting because making the chemicals currently used as slag has a high carbon cost too.” A vision for global impact This innovation has a tremendous potential impact. Given current steel recycling rates, the Cambridge team believes that their low-carbon cement may cover up to a fourth of the UK’s needs. As the usage of electric arc furnaces expands globally, the manufacturing of electric cement may increase, resulting in a significant reduction in cement-related emissions worldwide. The expectation is that electric cement will be not only more ecologically friendly but also less expensive to make by utilizing waste heat from steel recycling processes. If properly expanded, this technology has the potential to revolutionize the cement industry by drastically decreasing its carbon footprint and contributing to global efforts to battle climate change.  The post Creative cement recycling breakthrough promises to slash emissions first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.

On My Shelf helps you get to know various writers through a behind-the-scenes glimpse into their lives as readers. I asked Hans Madueme—professor of theological studies at Covenant College and author of Defending Sin: A Response to the Challenges of Evolution and the Natural Sciences—about what’s on his bedside table, his favorite fiction, recommended books on creation, the last great book he read, and more. What’s on your nightstand right now? I’m rereading Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business in preparation for an essay I was asked to write on the post-truth turn in the U.S. I’m also working through Andrew Wilson’s Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West. In terms of fiction, I recently finished James McBride’s engrossing The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, and I’m currently reading Fredrik Backman’s whimsical Anxious People. What are your favorite fiction books? There are too many to answer in any meaningful way! Maybe I’ll mention a few spanning different genres that I’ve enjoyed in recent years. Anything by David Mitchell or Lee Smith. Cixin Liu’s trilogy The Three-Body Problem was magisterial (and I’m avoiding the Netflix adaptation because it can’t possibly match the genius of the books). I have fond memories of reading Anthony Doerr’s brilliant Cloud Cuckoo Land. I would also mention William Kent Krueger’s Ordinary Grace, which isn’t a “religious” novel (despite its title) but just a fantastic story; his follow-up, This Tender Land, is also captivating and reminiscent of Leif Enger’s classic Peace like a River. Finally, I recently discovered Peter Heller’s novels, especially The River and The Guide—I’m not an outdoorsy guy, but Heller is unmatched in delivering rip-roaring thrillers with nature as the main setting. What biographies or autobiographies have most influenced you and why? It’s been years since I read a good biography. The ones that come to mind are of Jonathan Edwards. While several fine biographies of Edwards have come out over the past decade or so, as a younger Christian I was influenced by Iain Murray’s Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography and later by George Marsden’s Jonathan Edwards: A Life. It’s cliché to say this, but Edwards inspired me to pursue spiritual depth and seriousness in the Christian life. I should also mention Murray’s two-volume biography of Martyn Lloyd-Jones—everyone recommended those volumes back when I left medicine to pursue seminary training. It helped to know that someone of his stature didn’t think it was a crazy thing to do! What are some books you regularly reread and why? I often revisit Klaus Scholder’s The Birth of Modern Critical Theology: Origins and Problems of Biblical Criticism in the Seventeenth Century (translated from the original German). The story he tells uncovers much of what I find unsatisfying about modern theology. And when I want to read dogmatic theology written beautifully and pastorally, it’s hard to surpass Herman Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics. What books have most profoundly shaped how you serve and lead others for the sake of the gospel? When I was first learning how to preach, John Piper’s 1990 book The Supremacy of God in Preaching was immensely helpful. His notion of “expository exultation” transformed my sense of what preachers are trying to do in the pulpit (I gather he published a book with that title in 2018). And when it comes to the actual work of shepherding the people of God, I’m thankful for my friend Bill Massey who had me and other elders at our church read Timothy Witmer’s book The Shepherd Leader: Achieving Effective Shepherding in Your Church. While I will always fall short of what Witmer calls us to, his book woke me up to what it really looks like for elders to serve the church. What’s one book you wish every pastor would read? Rather than trot out one of the usual suspects, I nominate Bo Giertz’s little-known Hammer of God. It’s a Lutheran novel with an unusually perceptive understanding of the gospel. If you know it, you probably remember the first time reading this remarkable book. What’s the last great book you read? Abigail Favale’s The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory comes to mind. I read this book with my students in a course I recently taught at Covenant College. We devoured it; we discussed it; we debated it—in short, we loved it. Favale’s book is a well-written and insightful work, illuminating many baffling features of today’s upside-down world. What books on creation and evolution have you found helpful or insightful? For me, most of the books in this category are written by historians. For example, I’ve enjoyed David N. Livingstone’s scholarship on historical perspectives on evolution and human origins. Here I would mention his Darwin’s Forgotten Defenders: The Encounter Between Evangelical Theology and Evolutionary Thought and, more recently, his Adam’s Ancestors: Race, Religion, and the Politics of Human Origins. Similarly, I highly recommend the definitive monograph on the Old Princetonians and evolution: Bradley Gundlach’s Process and Providence: The Evolution Question at Princeton, 1845–1929. I have also appreciated the work by the Australian historian Peter Harrison, especially The Fall of Man and the Foundations of Science. Speaking of Harrison, one of his students wrote an excellent book on the early chapters of Genesis: The Days of Creation: A History of Christian Interpretation of Genesis 1:1–2:3. While I don’t always agree with these historians, I’m grateful to them for giving us a deeper and wider context to creation-evolution debates. On the theological front, I should mention one monograph that significantly shaped my thinking. It came out decades ago from an obscure publisher: Nigel M. de S. Cameron, Biblical Higher Criticism and the Defense of Infallibilism in 19th Century Britain (1987). This essay was Cameron’s published dissertation. Don’t be put off by the book’s ugly font; its insights still apply to current debates about evolution and Scripture. What are you learning about life and following Jesus? As I get older, I keep coming back to the patience of our Heavenly Father, that he puts up with blockheads like us—like me! As it says in Lamentations 3:22–23 (NIV), “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (see also Ex. 34:6). The Lord’s patience with me is beyond reckoning. I’m ashamed to say I don’t have enough of that patience with people in my own life, but I need it. And I pray that the Holy Spirit will keep producing more of that fruit in me.

Even those who live by faith experience doubt, but it doesn’t have to end your faith. Drawing from years of guiding Christians through doubt and disillusionment, Joshua Chatraw combines pastoral care and intellectual rigor to address the emotional journey of doubt, offering a new perspective on living a life of faith alongside it. In this breakout session from TGC23, Chatraw and Jack Carson discuss these themes based on their book, Surprised by Doubt.

What is MSNBC’s The ReidOut if not a vehicle for some of the most unhinged race rants on cable TV? Tonight’s bitter rant, delivered by host Joy Reid and contributor Elie Mystal, also had a dash of hypocrisy along with its usual unhingement. Watch as Elie Mystal suggests that Clarence Thomas, Tim Scott, Byron Donalds and Candace Owens “exist” because “there’s a lot of money in telling white folks what they want to hear”:  JOY REID: So at this point, Elie, I guess they just take all the 30-year-old right wing college graduates from Liberty University and send them on fancy trips and then (unint).  ELIE MYSTAL: Yeah, right? I mean, look. I think it's important for people to ask what are these people paying for, right? What are they getting for their $4 million they have given to Clarence Thomas over the past 20 years? And what they're getting, just to link your last segment together, what they're getting is what Byron Donalds wants. What they're getting is Jim Crow, right? What they're getting is a guy like Clarence Thomas who like Byron Donalds' entire judicial philosophy is that, well, there- some Negroes are magic, right? No matter what the white man does to us, we can just rise above as long as they don't shoot us or kill us or rape us or drown us, right? And if you tell people that, if you're black, if you're Donalds, if you're Thomas and you tell white people that, they will give you money. And that is what's happened to Clarence Thomas for 20 years. He has told white folks exactly what they want to hear, ruled exactly as they would like him to rule. And done it as their black friend, and so the money is just pouring out, and you see it in these reports where, again, Clarence Thomas -- in the figures that we saw today, you know, Sam Alito made like $200,000 disclosed gifts over the past- you know, disclosed gifts over the past 20 years. Antonin Scalia, the hero of their movement, again around $200,000. Clarence Thomas, $4 million. REID: It's wild. MYSTAL: That's why Tim Scott exists. That's why Byron Donalds exists. That's why Candace Owens exists, because the grift is good. There's a lot of money in telling white folks what they need to hear. Pot, meet envious kettle. What is MSNBC, if not a vehicle for liberal white people to be told what they want to hear (albeit by a diverse collection of talking heads)? And who exactly reads The Nation? Is there some vast, multiethnic readership coalition that we’re unaware of? The hypocrisy of these two seriously unself-aware individuals is amazing to behold. In addition to bashing minority conservatives by trotting out disgusting tropes, the segment served to further the left’s ongoing campaign to intimidate and pressure sitting Justices of the Supreme Court into recusal ahead of two important opinions on obstruction and presidential immunity, which will have an effect on the ongoing lawfare against former President Donald Trump. In so doing, they promote the work of “Fix the Court”, a leftwing dark money pit that wants to lecture the Supreme Court on ethics while engaging in its own ethics lapses. Fixers, fix thyselves. Beyond the bitter race banter, which reasonable people could conclude is a grift wherein big money is made by telling white (liberal) people what they want to hear, this segment constitutes an attack on a free and independent judiciary. Keep that in mind ahead of the next lecture on Democracy™. Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned segment as aired on MSNBC’s The ReidOut on Thursday, June 6th, 2024: MSNBC THE REIDOUT 6/6/24 7:38 PM JOY REID: Today was yet another day that the Supreme Court chose not to issue key rulings on abortion access, guns, or presidential immunity. And it's been roughly two weeks since we learned that the Alitos foisted an inverted flag and an Appeal to Heaven flag, both of which were carried by insurrectionists outside the capitol on January 6th, 2021. Recently, we’ve received regular reminders of how Donald Trump and Leonard Leo, a long time pal of Clarence Thomas, have successfully built a conservative federal judiciary with a deep bench and feeder system supported by a big donor network that regularly wines and dines these judges. Leo's stated goal with all of this corrupt, incestious behavior is to defeat unchurched and vile, immoral current day barbarians, secularists whom the devil is moving to use society away from its natural order. Unquote. Huffington Post uncovered the latest example of that rotten playbook in action. Down in Florida back in 2022, during the tail end of the Covid pandemic, an underqualified Trump-nominated judge issued a ruling against mask mandates. This judge used a weird never-used legal theory that you could word-search, like, key phrases and apply the old-timey meanings to provide legitimacy to the ruling. And guess where this judge got this legal theory? At a Koch-funded all expenses paid luxury trip where the primary mission was persuading federal judges to adopt this arcane theory. And guess who the judge clerked for? You guessed it, Clarence Thomas. Today, Fix The Court reported that according to their tally, Justice Thomas has received the most gifts of any, dating back to the Antonin Scalia era during his time on the Court, by a mile- with 193 gifts totaling more than $4 million. I'm joined by Elie Mystal, justice correspondent for The Nation. So at this point, Elie, I guess they just take all the 30-year-old right wing college graduates from Liberty University and send them on fancy trips and then (unint).  ELIE MYSTAL: Yeah, right? I mean, look. I think it's important for people to ask what are these people paying for, right? What are they getting for their $4 million they have given to Clarence Thomas over the past 20 years? And what they're getting, just to link your last segment together, what they're getting is what Byron Donalds wants. What they're getting is Jim Crow, right? What they're getting is a guy like Clarence Thomas who like Byron Donalds' entire judicial philosophy is that, well, there- some Negroes are magic, right? No matter what the white man does to us, we can just rise above as long as they don't shoot us or kill us or rape us or drown us, right? And if you tell people that, if you're black, if you're Donalds, if you're Thomas and you tell white people that, they will give you money. And that is what's happened to Clarence Thomas for 20 years. He has told white folks exactly what they want to hear, ruled exactly as they would like him to rule. And done it as their black friend, and so the money is just pouring out, and you see it in these reports where, again, Clarence Thomas -- in the figures that we saw today, you know, Sam Alito made like $200,000 disclosed gifts over the past- you know, disclosed gifts over the past 20 years. Antonin Scalia, the hero of their movement, again around $200,000. Clarence Thomas, $4 million. REID: It's wild. MYSTAL: That's why Tim Scott exists. That's why Byron Donalds exists. That's why Candace Owens exists, because the grift is good. There's a lot of money in telling white folks what they need to hear. REID: It is- it is amazing because when I looked at the chart, it was like, I thought that Clarence Thomas' was the total because it was so much bigger. Antonin Scalia, like you said, is six figures. He's in the two, the three, the four -- this guy, you're right, it is a thing that the right is willing to pay extra to get women and especially black people to tell them what they want to hear about women and black people. Tell them that black people don't want to be able to have a Fearless Fund. They shouldn't be able to give 20-- I wanted if I had time to ask if he supported the Fearless Fund being not able to give grants out. I'm sure he does because that's what he's supposed to say. MYSTAL: It makes me some- look, I looked at that chart today. I look at people like Donalds and think, man, I made the wrong financial choices in my life. Right? Because there's money out there for these people, but always remember, and I just want folks to remember this. They're getting something for their money. REID: Yes, they are. MYSTAL: This isn't charity, right? They're getting rulings. They're getting opinions. They're getting the kind of return to not 1950s, but to the 1850s that they want for their funds. And if we, the rest of us who are not making -- the other funny thing is that you saw the liberals like Sotomayor had like a bunch of guests but they were all like $5. Like, here's a flower, Sonya. Like that's what she was getting, right? So all of us who don't have the money to buy our own Supreme Court justices, what we need to do is use what power we have, the power we didn't have during the Jim Crow South, and go out and vote for people who are going to hold the Supreme Court justices to heel through ethics legislation and other reforms. Hank Johnson, congressman from Georgia, my man, he’s got an ethics bill right now on the House floor. We need to vote for people who are going to support that bill and ask our political leaders when we go to vote- are you going to support ethics reform? REID: Yes. MYSTAL: No more nice letters, all right? No more, like, oh, we’re not- no more of that stuff. Are you going to support the bills to stop these people from graft? REID: Amen, my brother. Elie Mystal, who understands what Jim Crow was and also what the grift looks like ‘cause the grift is good for Clarence and them. Thank you very much, Elie Mystal.   

The CCP thinks that China, under its rule, should be the political center of the world. That’s not an exaggeration or speculation but fact.Professor and China expert Christopher Balding wrote a commentary piece…