Articles include: Greens: Divided on ‘clean’ energy? Or closer than they appear?; Check these pieces on the diseases of summer; Tropical Cyclone Tauktae is fifth-strongest cyclone on record in the Arabian Sea; What is a ‘just transition,’ and why do we need one?; California’s volunteer ‘Climate Action Corps’ helps fight climate change; Increases in extreme precipitation cost the U.S. $73 billion over three decades; Bladeless wind turbine generates electricity by vibrating with air movements; The moral imperative behind the ‘Big Bold Jewish Climate Fest’;
Renovations put Seattle hockey arena closer to its goal of zero carbon emissions.
Tag: Environmental and Racial Justice
Yale Climate Connection, May 14, 2021
Articles include: Silent calamity: The health impacts of wildfire smoke; White House adviser and environmental justice advocate Catherine Coleman Flowers; Climate change increases renters’ risks; Why are there so many Atlantic named storms? Five possible explanations; Heavier downpours strain septic systems in some rural areas; Devastating disease in dolphins linked to extreme downpours, researcher says; Santa Fe women built homemade air purifiers to help protect people from wildfire smoke; Hundreds of coastal airports at risk from flooding, sea-level rise, study finds; Historic Portsmouth Village under threat from hurricanes and rising seas.
Yale Climate Connections, May 7, 2021
Articles include: ‘Which climate change jobs will be in high demand in the future?’; Most newspaper editorials mum on Biden 50% by 2030 pledge; Revitalized U.S. urgency on climate change and national security; Empire State Realty Trust agrees to buy 300 million kilowatt hours of wind energy; Affordable housing could be hit hard as sea levels rise; Environmental engineer launches group for Latinos in sustainability; New tool called ‘Vulcan’ could help cities better estimate their carbon dioxide emissions; Women scientists launch ‘Science Moms,’ a climate campaign aimed at mothers.
Studies: NY Times Climate FWD: May 5, 2021
Study: Deadly air pollutant ‘disproportionately and systematically’ harms Americans of color
Washington Post: Deadly air pollutant ‘disproportionately and systematically’ harms Americans of color, study finds. Black, Latino and Asian Americans face higher levels of exposure to fine particulate matter from traffic, construction and other sources.
Nearly every source of the nation’s most pervasive and deadly air pollutant disproportionately affects Americans of color, regardless of their state or income level, according to a study published Wednesday. The analysis of fine-particle matter, which includes soot, shows how decisions made decades ago about where to build highways and industrial plants continue to harm the health of Black, Latino and Asian Americans today.
The findings of researchers from five universities, published in the online journal Science Advances, provide the most detailed evidence to date of how Americans of color have not reaped the same benefits as White Americans, even though the country has made major strides in curbing pollution from cars, trucks, factories and other sources.
The Daily Climate, April 26, 2021
Articles include: wood pellet loophole in Paris Accord; bike licensing and justice; hydrogen and the grid; California oil spillers and the law; jobs; US and China and Clean technology; electric trucks; Canada’s melting permafrost; Report: halting methane emissions.
Groups ask Virginia environmental officials to reopen Chickahominy Power permit
Virginia Mercury: Groups ask Virginia environmental officials to reopen Chickahominy Power permit.
Three groups are asking Virginia to reopen an air permit issued to Chickahominy Power in 2019 for a proposed natural gas plant in Charles City County, contending that the state’s analysis of the facility’s environmental justice impacts “contains many of the same defects” of a state air permit struck down by a federal court in January 2020.
“The similarities are just so shocking,” said Taylor Lilley, an attorney with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which penned the letter along with the Southern Environmental Law Center and Concerned Citizens of Charles City County. “It seems the process was just repeated. And that process was found to be faulty.”
Above the Fold – Children’s News, April 22, 2021
Articles include: Report: Lead in Pennsylvania water; tougher air pollution limits needed; Report: climate’s impact on children’s health and justice; Report: dogs and human fertility; Study: father’s drinking and children’s health; North Pole pollution; lead pipes in Buffalo, NY; climate change guide for kids; Study: forever chemicals and the immune system; school in Portland, OR, and munitions facility; PCBs in Vermont school; Study: tap water research; Study here and here: toxic nanotech graphene face masks.
The Fed Faces Criticism as It Wades Into Climate and Equity Issues
New York Times: The Fed Faces Criticism as It Wades Into Climate and Equity Issues. The Federal Reserve is proudly politically independent. That makes key discussions around climate change and racial inequity a balancing act.
In mid-2019, Jerome H. Powell fielded a question from reporters that he often faced in those days: Were politics, and particularly a pressure campaign coming from Donald J. Trump’s White House to cut interest rates, influencing the Federal Reserve’s policy stance?
Mr. Powell, the central bank chair, tried as he had for months to convince the public that he and his colleagues were not bowing to the Republican administration. “We never take into account political considerations,” he said.
Above the Fold – Week’s Best & Covid
Environmental Health News puts out weekend ‘summary’ emails, in addition to their daily emails.
EHN Week’s Best: April 16, 2021: forever chemicals on paper straws; Piney Point pollution; jails and environmental justice; DDT; PFAS; drought’s impact on farming water; rechargeable batteries – real cost; Mexico and coal; heavy metals in children’s food; Japan dumping Fukushima’s radioactive water into the ocean.
EHN Covid: April 16, 2021: facemask garbage; underserved communities & J&J vaccine halt; green spaces & housing justice; loosing women scientists; how to stop a pandemic.