Month: May 2020

LESS THAN 10% OF ALL PLASTIC TRASH EVER PRODUCED HAS BEEN RECYCLED. IS THIS THE BREAKTHROUGH WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR?

Ensia discusses how little plastic is recycled. But there may be a breakthrough. A process known as chemical recycling offers a promising way to turn used products into new ones with a minimum of waste.

Plastic. It’s not hard to see how anyone who is appalled at the despoliation of the environment could think that the world would be better without it. Nearly 10% of the world’s oil is used in making it. It has enabled the proliferation of cheap goods — cramming closets, landfills and otherwise-unspoiled places where it could remain for decades, if not centuries.

Yet, because it’s so much lighter than the steel and glass it has replaced in vehicles and elsewhere, plastic has massively reduced fossil fuel emissions. And in the midst of a global pandemic, the need to securely protect food and personal items with impermeable packaging is essential.

Like it or not, plastic is going to be with us for a while. Can we learn to get along?

Conventional recycling, in which waste plastic is collected, sorted, cleaned, shredded, and then melted down and pelletized to be reused, has the potential to ameliorate the problem — except that it isn’t working. Less than 10% of all the plastic trash ever produced has been recycled. There are a lot of reasons for this, but most of them come down to the question of value. That’s because every time plastic is recycled in this manner, it loses value.

But there is good news on this front: chemical recycling. Sometimes known as advanced recycling, it’s a process that decomposes plastics to basic components called monomers, or even further into simpler compounds, removing impurities, then reassembling these ingredients into virgin plastic that is indistinguishable from new. With chemical recycling, items that previously were being downcycled can now be turned into constituent materials that can be recycled indefinitely with no loss in clarity, quality or performance.

Study: Fracking linked to rare birth defect in horses

Environmental Health News discusses a study showing that fracking is linked to a rare birth defect in horses.

A new study has uncovered a link between fracking chemicals in farm water and a rare birth defect in horses—which researchers say could serve as a warning about fracking and human infant health.

The study, published this month in the journal Science of the Total Environment, complements a growing body of research linking fracking to numerous human health effects, including preterm births and high-risk pregnancies. This is believed to be the first study to find fracking chemicals in farm water linked to birth defects in farm animals.

In 2014, veterinarians at the Cornell University Hospital for Animals in Ithaca, New York, realized that they’d diagnosed five out of 10 foals born on one farm in Pennsylvania with the same rare birth defect. The birth defect, dysphagia, involves difficulty swallowing caused by abnormalities in the throat. Dysphagia causes nursing foals to inhale milk instead of swallowing it, which often results in pneumonia if milk gets into their lungs.

Yale Climate Connections, May 29, 2020

This week’s articles include:

Coronavirus is a ‘sliding doors’ moment. What we do now could change Earth’s trajectory

The Conversation discusses why the Coronavirus is a ‘sliding doors’ moment. What we do now could change Earth’s trajectory.

The numbers of people cycling and walking in public spaces during COVID-19 has skyrocketed. Cities from Bogota to Berlin and Vancouver have expanded bike lanes and public paths to accommodate the extra cycling traffic. In Australia, the New South Wales government is encouraging councils to follow suit.

Mandatory social distancing under COVID-19 is disrupting the way we live and work, creating new lifestyle patterns. But once the crisis is over, will – and should – the picture return to normal?

hat’s one of many key questions emerging as the precise effect of the pandemic on carbon emissions becomes clear.

Reevaluating fish consumption advisories during the COVID-19 pandemic: Analysis

Environmental Health News discusses reevaluating fish consumption advisories during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our current crisis reaffirms the importance of weighing the health benefits of eating fish against chemical exposure risks.

Even in the best of times, spring’s long days, warming temperatures, greening landscapes, and sunshine represent a time of growth and optimism—a time to open windows, go outdoors, perhaps even try one’s hand at gardening or fishing.

This spring, during a moment in history that will be remembered for its uncertainty, the arrival of spring feels especially welcome and fishing is among the activities that people will be engaged in as the weather warms.

For some, fishing is a means of outdoor recreation. For others, it is a livelihood. And for others, it represents an affordable way to meet their nutritional needs—especially pressing now, given the economic hardship and potential supply-chain disruptions brought on by the novel coronavirus virus.

Since the pandemic began, grocery store fish and shellfish sales in the United States have risen and the consumption of self-harvested fish and shellfish may also increase as a result of this pandemic.

Study: World carbon pollution falls 17% during pandemic peak

AP News discusses a study showing that world carbon pollution falls 17% during pandemic peak.

The world cut its daily carbon dioxide emissions by 17% at the peak of the pandemic shutdown last month, a new study found.

But with life and heat-trapping gas levels inching back toward normal, the brief pollution break will likely be “a drop in the ocean” when it comes to climate change, scientists said.

In their study of carbon dioxide emissions during the coronavirus pandemic, an international team of scientists calculated that pollution levels are heading back up — and for the year will end up between 4% and 7% lower than 2019 levels. That’s still the biggest annual drop in carbon emissions since World War II.

For a week in April, the United States cut its carbon dioxide levels by about one-third. China, the world’s biggest emitter of heat-trapping gases, sliced its carbon pollution by nearly a quarter in February, according to a study Tuesday in the journal Nature Climate Change. India and Europe cut emissions by 26% and 27% respectively.

Coronavirus Wipes Out 5 Years of US Solar Job Growth

Green Tech Media discusses how the Coronavirus has wiped out 5 Years of US Solar Job Growth. The American solar industry is losing jobs at a faster rate than the broader economy, SEIA says.

The U.S. solar sector has lost 65,000 jobs due to the COVID-19 crisis, erasing five years of job gains, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

According to a new SEIA analysis, the American solar industry now employs around 188,000 people, down from 250,000 at the beginning of the year. Many of those jobs could come back in an economic rebound. Still, it’s a stark reversal for what had been one of the country’s fastest-growing industries, forecast by SEIA to reach more than 300,000 jobs by June of this year before the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic.

The solar industry is now losing jobs at a faster rate than the broader American economy, SEIA says. Federal relief looks uncertain.

Rockingham County Stream Exclusion Pilot Study – March 31, 2020

The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation published a study on Rockingham County Stream Exclusion on March 31, 2020.

Purpose
The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) sought to quantify the proportion of livestock operations that have successfully excluded livestock from perennial (a stream or river (channel) that has continuous flow in parts of its stream bed all year round during years of normal rainfall) streams in Rockingham County within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The Rockingham County Stream Exclusion Pilot Study was conducted to evaluate a proposed methodology for the development of a spatial dataset that could help achieve this goal. The resulting dataset identifies all parcels located in Rockingham County which contain pasture within 200 feet of a perennial stream and classifies these parcels based on the presence of: 1) evidence that a perennial stream is flowing through the pasture, 2) evidence that livestock are present on that pasture, and 3) evidence that livestock are being successfully excluded from all areas within 35 feet of a perennial stream.

States Sue to Block Trump From Weakening Fuel Economy Rules

The New York Times discusses how some States are suing to block Trump from weakening fuel economy rules. At stake in the lawsuit is the single biggest effort by the United States to fight the climate crisis.

Led by California, nearly two dozen states sued the Trump administration on Wednesday over its reversal of fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks, arguing that the move is based on erroneous science, and endangers public health.

The lawsuit escalates a standoff between President Trump, who has moved to undo a long list of environmental regulations since taking office, and a coalition of Democratic states, which have gone to court to stop him.

Study: Loss of Louisiana marsh lands highly likely as sea levels rise

The Hill discusses how the Loss of Louisiana marsh lands highly likely as sea levels rise.

The marshlands on the coast of Louisiana could disappear in the next 50 years as sea levels continue to rise due to global warming, according to a study published in Science Advances Friday.

The wetlands at the base of the Mississippi River have crossed a “tipping point,” according to the study, which is based on hundreds of measurements of the Mississippi Delta.

According to the study, the Louisiana wetlands have survived when the sea levels rise 3 millimeters per year over long periods of time.