Today’s articles include (there are a few others):
NY Times: U.S. to announce rollback of auto pollution rules, a key effort to fight climate change
Outside Online discusses the importance of talking about climate change now. Is it tone-deaf to talk about climate right now? Or is this an opportunity to tackle major global problems in tandem?
On Tuesday I woke up to an email in my inbox: “We’re thrilled to hear you’ve signed up for Sunrise School’s Green New Deal & Coronavirus crash course!”
While stress-scrolling through the internet the day before, looking for signs of hope amid the pandemic news, I’d registered for Sunrise Movement’s webinar series about the overlap between climate organizing and the novel coronavirus. The youth-led group is known for organizing climate actions in the U.S. in solidarity with Greta Thunberg’s international strikes; but when the pandemic struck, it pivoted to address the burgeoning global health crisis.
The Allegheny Front discusses why some analysts question the viability of an Appalachian plastics hub.
Shell has suspended construction of its ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, Pennsylvania to protect the health and safety of the thousands of workers on site from the coronavirus. Even before the collapsing economy due to the pandemic, analysts were concerned about the viability of a larger Appalachian petrochemical hub for the region.
The Allegheny Front’s Kara Holsopple and Julie Grant discuss what analysts are saying.
Investigate West discusses how the coronavirus will affect those who fight wildfires.
The state’s ability to fight wildland fires this summer could be seriously hampered by the coronavirus outbreak.
For one thing, Washington Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz said in a recent interview, agencies that usually plan for fires and recruit firefighters in early spring are instead helping organize Washington’s response to the global pandemic.
Fast Company discusses How America’s least sustainable city learned to love recycling. Phoenix used a combination of programs to reduce waste, boost recycling, and change its citizens’ behavior. From Arlo Guthrie, who wrote a seven-minute song about taking out the garbage, to Shel Silverstein’s Sarah Sylvia Cynthia Stout, who drowned in her own garbage, our society has long struggled with the excesses of its own existence. Today, Americans hold the title of biggest trash producers in the world, at 6.5 pounds per person, per day. This problem is perhaps no more evident than in Phoenix, the fastest-growing city in the country.
Thompson Reuters Foundation discusses how zero-carbon water pumps turn Pakistan’s barren mountains green. Running only on fast-moving water, the pumps are cheap and easy to maintain, enabling farmers to grow fruit and vegetables.
Shovel in hand, Naila Shah regularly walks two miles from her home to a newly planted apple orchard, high in the mountains of Khyber village in northern Pakistan.
Only two years ago, it would have been practically impossible to grow apples in this part of Pakistan, 2,500 metres (8,200 feet) up in Gilgit-Baltistan region’s Gojal Valley.
Although the Khunjerab River provides plenty of water to those living in the valleys below, local farmers used to have no efficient way to get it up the mountain-sides.
The Barents Observer discusses why Kittiwakes flee bird cliffs to resettle in urban spaces. For humans they are noisy and messy neighbours, but they come for a reason. Stronger storms and wilder weather by the coast give fewer surviving chicks in their natural bird cliff habitat.
It is late March and the first kittiwakes have started to look for suitable places to nest. In northern Norway, the noisy seabirds are becoming more and more urbanized.
“The kittiwakes are suffering highly from climate change,” explains Tone Kristin Reiertsen, a researcher with the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA). Her department in Tromsø is part of the Fram High North Research Centre for Climate and the Environment.
How kittiwakes try to adapt to climate changes is something Tone Kristin Reiertsen literally can see from the windows of the Fram Centre.
A public office building across the street has turned out to be ideal for breeding chicks.
Forbes Magazine discusses how a dirty Economic Restart Could Kill More People Than The Coronavirus.
The coronavirus lockdown hasn’t just slowed the march of COVID-19, it has reduced lethal air pollution and the associated mortality risks we usually take for granted. But when the lockdown lifts, those risks of the status quo might not just return to normal—they might worsen—as governments weaken environmental regulations and pour billions of dollars into polluting industries.
“I think that in the long run this crisis will be a disaster for the climate,” said Francois Gemenne, director of The Hugo Observatory, a Belgium-based research center. “Of course there are short-term effects on the environment: a substantial drop in air pollution, a fall in greenhouse gas emissions, etc. But in the long term, these temporary effects will probably be insignificant.”
BBC discusses Antarctica: A place that makes you ask the questions that really matter. Visitors to Antarctica are often awed and humbled by its size, and its extreme climate. But it also caused the BBC’s Justin Rowlatt to reflect on the human ability to solve problems together – and to feel hope for the future.
This week’s articles include:
Louisiana’s Cancer Alley Community At Increased Risk of COVID-19
Coal Industry Group Asks Federal Lawmakers to Cut Funding for Black Lung Program, Citing COVID-19
Yet Another Study Confirms: Electric Cars Reduce Climate Pollution The study is here.
Federal Judge Tosses Dakota Access Pipeline Permits, Orders Full Environmental Review
Why Public Health Experts Support These Youth Suing the US Government Over Climate Change
As Coronavirus Worsened, Trump Admin Pushed Offshore Drilling and Gas Exports