Sat.May 13, 2023 - Fri.May 19, 2023

article thumbnail

Who Said Recycling Was Green? It Makes Microplastics By the Ton

Inside Climate News

A study finds one plastics recycling plant in the U.K. produces as much as 3 million pounds of microplastics a year—and that’s with filtering. By James Bruggers Research out of Scotland suggests that the chopping, shredding and washing of plastic in recycling facilities may turn as much as six to 13 percent of incoming waste into microplastics—tiny, toxic particles that are an emerging and ubiquitous environmental health concern for the planet and people.

Recycling 145
article thumbnail

U.S. Investing $11 Billion in Rural Clean Energy Projects

Environment + Energy Leader

President Biden's Investing in America agenda is pushing to boost U.S. competitiveness, rebuild infrastructure, strengthen supply chains, and implement clean energy.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

The Winding Path of Australian Climate Policy

Legal Planet

On a per capita basis, Australia’s carbon emissions are even higher than the United States. A decade ago, Australia had a climate tax. That was repealed in 2014, and the ensuing period saw little progress. In the past two years, however, the things have started trending upward after years of inaction by conservative governments. More is needed, but hopefully the tide has turned.

2030 258
article thumbnail

Ask a Scientist: Calling Out the Companies Responsible for Western Wildfires

Union of Concerned Scientists

The US wildfire season used to last about four months, beginning in late summer or early autumn. These days, it stretches six to eight months, according to the US Forest Service, and in some places it’s now a year-round affair. In just five years, from 2018 through 2022, wildfires scorched 38.3 million acres across the country. That’s nearly 60,000 square miles, slightly bigger than the state of Georgia.

article thumbnail

How to Drive Cost Savings, Efficiency Gains, and Sustainability Wins with MES

Speaker: Nikhil Joshi, Founder & President of Snic Solutions

Is your manufacturing operation reaching its efficiency potential? A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) could be the game-changer, helping you reduce waste, cut costs, and lower your carbon footprint. Join Nikhil Joshi, Founder & President of Snic Solutions, in this value-packed webinar as he breaks down how MES can drive operational excellence and sustainability.

article thumbnail

The Upper Atmosphere Is Cooling, Prompting New Climate Concerns

Yale E360

A new study reaffirming that global climate change is human-made also found the upper atmosphere is cooling dramatically because of rising CO2 levels. Scientists are worried about the effect this cooling could have on orbiting satellites, the ozone layer, and Earth’s weather.

Cooling 364
article thumbnail

ABB Partners to Build an Offshore Wind Farm to Create Green Hydrogen

Environment + Energy Leader

The ABB Energy Industries is driving the move toward renewable hydrogen with an offshore wind project: SoutH2Port – a project that has two key hurdles, which include the cost of making hydrogen from wind and solar and building offshore wind farms.

More Trending

article thumbnail

California’s Water Rights System is Inequitable, Inadequate, and Possibly, About to Change

Union of Concerned Scientists

During a California State Assembly informational hearing earlier this year, there seemed to be consensus that California’s 19 th century water rights system is not well suited to the social context and climate of the 21st century. Change is necessary and may be coming.  This outdated water rights system is based on historic and continued disenfranchisement and dispossession.

article thumbnail

Environmental Law Again Front-and-Center at California Supreme Court

Legal Planet

Monterey County Oil Field (credit: Monterey County Weekly) For the first two decades of this century, and under the able leadership of former Chief Justices Ronald George and Tani Cantil-Sakauye, the California Supreme Court was quite active in interpreting and shaping California environmental law. That trend had abated in the last few years–coincidentally or not during the height of the COVID epidemic–with only a couple of relatively minor environmental law decisions being issued b

Law 242
article thumbnail

WWF Proposes Global Ban on ‘High-Risk, Unnecessary’ Single-Use Plastics

Environment + Energy Leader

Research on plastic pollution done by WWF and Eunomia will present the feasibility of banning certain plastics from circulation at the UN plastic pollution treaty talks later this month.

Recycling 342
article thumbnail

Anishinaabe Tribes Work to Save a Fish Significant to Their Culture and an Important Source of Protein

Circle of Blue

Refresh A Great Lakes News Collaborative series investigating the region’s water pollution challenges. This series explores the Clean Water Act’s shortcomings in the Great Lakes, and how the region can more completely address water pollution in the next 50 years. The collaborative’s four newsrooms — Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now, and Michigan Radio — work collaboratively to report on the most pressing water issues in the Great Lakes region.

article thumbnail

The Key to Sustainable Energy Optimization: A Data-Driven Approach for Manufacturing

Speaker: Kevin Kai Wong, President of Emergent Energy Solutions

In today's industrial landscape, the pursuit of sustainable energy optimization and decarbonization has become paramount. ♻️ Manufacturing corporations across the U.S. are facing the urgent need to align with decarbonization goals while enhancing efficiency and productivity. Unfortunately, the lack of comprehensive energy data poses a significant challenge for manufacturing managers striving to meet their targets. 📊 Join us for a practical webinar hosted by Kevin Kai Wong of Emergent Ene

article thumbnail

April Heat Wave in South Asia Made 30 Times More Likely by Climate Change

Yale E360

Deadly heat and humidity across India, Bangladesh, Laos, and Thailand in late April was made significantly more likely by climate change, scientists say.

article thumbnail

New York’s New Environmental Justice Law

Legal Planet

New York has enacted what may be the country’s most stringent environmental justice law. The state deserves credit for its commitment to remedying the unfair pollution burdens placed on disadvantaged communities. The law is so broadly worded, however, that it may have the potential to prevent economic development that would aid those communities, or even new facilities like hospitals that are urgently needed by the community.

Law 236
article thumbnail

Global Electronics Council Releases New EPEAT Climate Criteria

Environment + Energy Leader

The new criteria will contribute to supply chain decarbonization and Scope 3 emission reductions and will allow suppliers as well as consumers to make informed decisions on the products they produce.

Recycling 278
article thumbnail

EPA Must Protect Communities from Cancer-Causing Ethylene Oxide

Union of Concerned Scientists

Earlier this month, I provided testimony to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at a public hearing on the proposed rule on sterilization facilities that emit ethylene oxide (EtO), a cancer-causing gas. These facilities use EtO to sterilize medical equipment, as well as some dried spices and herbs. About half of all sterile medical equipment in the US is sterilized with EtO.

2016 260
article thumbnail

Implementing D.E.J.I. Strategies in Energy, Environment, and Transportation

Speaker: Antoine M. Thompson, Executive Director of the Greater Washington Region Clean Cities Coalition

Diversity, Equity, Justice, and Inclusion (DEJI) policies, programs, and initiatives are critically important as we move forward with public and private sector climate and sustainability goals and plans. Underserved and socially, economically, and racially disadvantaged communities bear the burden of pollution, higher energy costs, limited resources, and limited investments in the clean energy and transportation sectors.

article thumbnail

New York City Sinking Under Weight of Skyscrapers

Yale E360

New York City is sinking under the weight of its massive buildings, leaving it more vulnerable to rising seas, a new study finds.

226
226
article thumbnail

THINK SME MANUFACTURING. THINK MATERIAL SCIENCE

Cleannovate

I sat still in the lab waiting for the synthesis I was working on to come through. My tools of trade were a basic… A burette (remember from high school titration experiments?)… Some conical flasks, beakers etc – I won’t bore you with chemistry. What was my mission here?

130
130
article thumbnail

Emirates Commits $200 Million Toward Sustainable Aviation

Environment + Energy Leader

With airlines trying to meet sustainability goals, many are allocating funds for sustainability and carbon impact reductions, such as finding efficient means to obtain SAF.

article thumbnail

Farmers Can Adapt to Alternating Droughts and Floods—Here’s How

Union of Concerned Scientists

Farmers like predictable weather, and this past year in California has been anything but. After the state suffered through the worst drought in modern history, a series of atmospheric rivers starting last December brought recurring deluges of heavy rain and snow that caused widespread and extensive damage, forcing people to evacuate in many areas across the state and resulting in multiple deaths.

article thumbnail

Shaping a Resilient Future: Climate Impact on Vulnerable Populations

Speaker: Laurie Schoeman Director, Climate & Sustainability, Capital

As households and communities across the nation face challenges such as hurricanes, wildfires, drought, extreme heat and cold, and thawing permafrost and flooding, we are increasingly searching for ways to mitigate and prevent climate impacts. During this event, national climate and housing expert Laurie Schoeman will discuss topics including: The two paths for climate action: decarbonization and adaptation.

article thumbnail

Can Fish Breathe Air?

Ocean Conservancy

All animals—whether fish, dog, snail or human—need to breathe. We take in oxygen and process it through tiny mitochondria (also known as the power houses of the cell) and expel carbon dioxide—a method that powers the rest of our bodies and gets rid of waste. How exactly animals take in that oxygen can vary, though. (Side note—scientists recently discovered the first animal that doesn’t breathe oxygen at all, a parasitic “blob” called Henneguya salmincola.

Ocean 138
article thumbnail

President Biden Celebrates Pebble Veto: “The Mine Will Not Be Built.”

NRDC

In the Rose Garden celebration of conservation achievements, President Joe Biden elevates the Pebble Mine veto—calling the Bristol Bay fishery “a marvel,” citing scientific consensus of unacceptable risk from large-scale mining, and thanking Alaska Natives and the broad-based coalition for their 20-year opposition to the proposed mine.

article thumbnail

Brattle Group Finds Virtual Power Plants Are As Reliable as Conventional Ones?

Environment + Energy Leader

According to the Brattle Group, which prepared a study for Google, a virtual power plant (VPP) is as reliable as a conventional one, costing 40% to 60% of alternatives.

article thumbnail

Mens Sana, Sana Mundi: Healthy Minds for a Healthy Planet

Union of Concerned Scientists

If there’s one thing I’m hearing over and over again from the activists, teachers, counselors, and fellow parents in my life, it’s that our kids aren’t all right. This observation is backed by the U.S. Surgeon General, who issued a warning in late 2021 that today’s challenges—including climate change, racial injustice and more—are wreaking “devastating effects” on our young people’s mental health.

article thumbnail

Sustainability at Retail

Sustainability impacts every nation, company, and person around the world. So much so that, in 2015, the United Nations (UN) issued a call for action by all countries to work toward sustainable development. In response to this and as part of a global Sustainability at Retail initiative, Shop! worked collaboratively with its global affiliates to address these critical issues in this white paper.

article thumbnail

Indigenous Leaders, Environmental Groups, and Concerned Citizens Call on Canada to Shut Down Enbridge’s Line 5 Pipeline

Enviromental Defense

ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE, WOMEN’S EARTH AND CLIMATE ACTION NETWORK Indigenous Leaders, Environmental Groups, and Concerned Citizens Call on Canada to Shut Down Enbridge’s Line 5 Pipeline Ottawa | Traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg People – Today, Indigenous, civil society, and environmental groups from the Great Lakes region delivered a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau and members of his cabinet, calling for Canada to withdraw its use of the 1977 pipeline treaty and

2011 116
article thumbnail

DEP Posts 61 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In May 20 PA Bulletin

PA Environment Daily

Highlights of the environmental and energy notices in the May 20 PA Bulletin -- -- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - May 13 to 19 [PaEN] -- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - May 20 [PaEN] -- The Department of Environmental Protection published notice in the May 20 PA Bulletin inviting comments on draft changes to the NPDES General Permit for Discharges from Petroleum Product Contaminated Groundwater Remediation Systems (PAG-0

article thumbnail

Developing Commercial Rate Design for EV Charging Infrastructure

Environment + Energy Leader

Rate design is a complex challenge, but utilities across the country have started implementing commercial EV rates to accelerate transportation electrification in their regions.

246
246
article thumbnail

Both Utilities and Fossil Fuel Companies Are to Blame for Western Wildfires

Union of Concerned Scientists

Today, the Union of Concerned Scientists released a study that really caught my attention. I usually try to stay in my cozy power sector bubble, plugging away on electricity grid decarbonization. But this new study from my colleagues working on climate change and fossil fuel accountability couldn’t be ignored. The reason: the findings of this study could ultimately have significant consequences for western electric utilities and the communities they serve.

article thumbnail

Warming and Drying Climate Puts Many of the World’s Biggest Lakes in Peril

Inside Climate News

A new global study of lakes shows water levels falling and finds a global warming fingerprint. By Bob Berwyn Water storage in many of the world’s biggest lakes has declined sharply in the last 30 years, according to a new study, with a cumulative drop of about 21.5 gigatons per year, an amount equal to the annual water consumption of the United States.

article thumbnail

Foreign Ownership of Agricultural Land: A Legislative Roadmap Primer

National Law Center

Ownership of U.S. land, specifically agricultural lands, by foreign persons or entities has been an issue that traces to the origins. The post Foreign Ownership of Agricultural Land: A Legislative Roadmap Primer appeared first on National Agricultural Law Center.

Law 105
article thumbnail

Advancing Recycling Rates: NLCRC’s Role in Transitioning to a Circular Economy

Environment + Energy Leader

Increasing recycling rates in the United States presents a significant opportunity to address the growing issue of plastic waste.

Recycling 263
article thumbnail

8 Invasive Animals You Didn’t Know Were Invasive

Cool Green Science

There are some invasive species that get a lot of press. Many others, though, are more mundane. And you might not realize they're invasive. The post 8 Invasive Animals You Didn’t Know Were Invasive appeared first on Cool Green Science.

Cooling 104
article thumbnail

Fossil Fuel Companies and Cement Manufacturers Could Be to Blame for a More Than a Third of West’s Wildfires

Inside Climate News

A new study from the Union of Concerned Scientists links emissions from the world’s largest carbon producers to nearly 20 million acres of forests burning in Western North America since 1986. By Wyatt Myskow The climate-warming emissions from the world’s 88 largest fossil fuel companies and cement manufacturers are behind more than one third of the wildfires that have increasingly plagued Western North America in recent decades, according to new research.

article thumbnail

Lost presumed dead: The search for the most wanted birds in the world

New Scientist

The Search for Lost Birds project has already tracked down two species on its top 10 list. But is this focus on a handful of potentially extinct birds really good for conservation?