ENVIRONMENT – Page 5

Can A ‘Green Amendment’ Deliver Environmental Justice?

5Sep

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT

Can A ‘Green Amendment’ Deliver Environmental Justice?

The Supreme Court curbed the EPA’s ability to restrict emissions, so states are looking to enshrine rights to “healthful environments” in their constitutions. According to locals, two different types of odors emanate from the 366-acre High Acres Landfill, which sits just outside Rochester, New York. “There’s the gas odors, and then there’s the garbage odors coming from when they open the landfill and are actually dumping, or the trains unloading from New York City,” Gary McNeil told City, a local news site. “That gets a little worse in the summer, you’ll smell a much more pungent waste odor.” McNeil heads Fresh Air for the Eastside, a nonprofit that has been organizing against the landfill, which residents say emits foul, noxious odors. The organization has sued the town in which the la...

Heat Waves Plus Air Pollution Can Be A Deadly Combination: The Health Risk Together Is Worse Than Either Alone

30Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT

Heat Waves Plus Air Pollution Can Be A Deadly Combination: The Health Risk Together Is Worse Than Either Alone

On the morning news, you see the weather forecast is for high heat, and there is an “excessive heat watch” for later in the week. You were hoping the weather would cool down, but yet another heat wave is threatening human health and increasing the chance of wildfires. On top of these warm days and nights, air quality data has been showing unhealthy levels of pollution. Sound familiar? This scenario is increasingly the new normal in many parts of the world. High heat and air pollution are each problematic for human health, particularly for vulnerable populations such as older adults. But what happens when they hit at the same time? We examined over 1.5 million deaths from 2014 to 2020 registered in California – a state prone to summer heat waves and air pollution from wildfires – to find...

During Heat Waves Conditions In Prisons Pose Deadly Threats To Incarcerated People And Prison Staff

24Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT

During Heat Waves Conditions In Prisons Pose Deadly Threats To Incarcerated People And Prison Staff

Extreme heat is taking an increasing toll across the U.S. in summertime. People who are incarcerated are among society’s most vulnerable groups and have been especially affected. More than a dozen states do not have air conditioning in all of their prison units, including Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. In Texas, where I work, only about 30% of prisons are fully air-conditioned. Many of these states also face some of the highest heat risks in the U.S., according to recent studies. Prisons concentrate hundreds or thousands of people in buildings that were designed without planning for extreme heat and heat waves. Prison building materials and designs can increase exposure to heat...

Boosting Renewable Energy Use Can Reduce Harm To Low-Income People If Done Thoughtfully – And Can Happen Quickly

10Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT

Boosting Renewable Energy Use Can Reduce Harm To Low-Income People If Done Thoughtfully – And Can Happen Quickly

With many nations making efforts to transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy, SciLine interviewed Erin Baker, a professor of industrial engineering and operations at UMass Amherst. Baker discussed the technological, political and regulatory efforts needed for this transition, as well as ways that our fossil fuel-dependent system disproportionately harms poor communities and communities of color. The Conversation has collaborated with SciLine to bring you highlights from the discussion, which have been edited for brevity and clarity. How is our country doing at making the transition to renewable energy? Erin Baker: There has been amazing technological change over the past 15 years. Offshore wind costs 50% less than it did six years ago. Solar has had a sixfold decrease in ...

How Not To Solve The Climate Change Problem

24Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT

How Not To Solve The Climate Change Problem

When politicians talk about reaching “net zero” emissions, they’re often counting on trees or technology that can pull carbon dioxide out of the air. What they don’t mention is just how much these proposals or geoengineering would cost to allow the world to continue burning fossil fuels. There are many proposals for removing carbon dioxide, but most make differences only at the edges, and carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have continued to increase relentlessly, even through the pandemic. I’ve been working on climate change for over four decades. Let’s take a minute to come to grips with some of the rhetoric around climate change and clear the air, so to speak. What’s causing climate change? As has been well established now for several decades, the global climate is changin...

Heat + Humidity Gets Dangerous Faster Than Many People Realize – So How Hot Is Too Hot For The Human Body?

12Jul

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ENVIRONMENT

Heat + Humidity Gets Dangerous Faster Than Many People Realize – So How Hot Is Too Hot For The Human Body?

Heat waves are becoming supercharged as the climate changes – lasting longer, becoming more frequent and getting just plain hotter. One question a lot of people are asking is: “When will it get too hot for normal daily activity as we know it, even for young, healthy adults?” The answer goes beyond the temperature you see on the thermometer. It’s also about humidity. Our research shows the combination of the two can get dangerous faster than scientists previously believed. Scientists and other observers have become alarmed about the increasing frequency of extreme heat paired with high humidity, measured as “wet-bulb temperature.” During the heat waves that overtook South Asia in May and June 2022, Jacobabad, Pakistan, recorded a maximum wet-bulb temperature of 33.6 C (92.5 F) and Delhi t...

To Help Combat The Urban Heat Island Effect Satellites Zoom In On Cities’ Hottest Neighborhoods

15Jun

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT

To Help Combat The Urban Heat Island Effect Satellites Zoom In On Cities’ Hottest Neighborhoods

Spend time in a city in summer and you can feel the urban heat rising from the pavement and radiating from buildings. Cities are generally hotter than surrounding rural areas, but even within cities, some residential neighborhoods get dangerously warmer than others just a few miles away. Within these “micro-urban heat islands,” communities can experience heat wave conditions well before officials declare a heat emergency. I use Earth-observing satellites and population data to map these hot spots, often on projects with NASA. Satellites like the Landsat program have become crucial for pinpointing urban risks so cities can prepare for and respond to extreme heat, a top weather-related killer. Among the many things we’ve been able to track with increasingly detailed satellite data is that...

Despite Some Economists’ Best Attempts – The Cost Of Climate Change Can’t Be Boiled Down To One Right Number, Here’s Why

26May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT

Despite Some Economists’ Best Attempts – The Cost Of Climate Change Can’t Be Boiled Down To One Right Number, Here’s Why

A group of economists has issued a new estimate of the future cost of climate change that is grabbing headlines. The consultancy Deloitte estimates that unchecked climate change could cost the global economy US$178 trillion over the next 50 years. While climate change does harm economies, there are a lot of problems with long-term estimates like this. New technologies arrive and evolve. Human behaviors shift. For example, who would have thought before the COVID-19 pandemic that a large percentage of the population would stop driving to the office and work from home instead? I am a microeconomist who investigates the causes and consequences of climate change. When I think about the climate change challenge in 2040 and beyond, I anticipate many “known unknowns” about our future. Thus, I a...

Because of Climate Change Landfills Among Many Things Burning

22May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT

Because of Climate Change Landfills Among Many Things Burning

Extreme heat over 110°F in India and Pakistan continues to shatter records, threaten human health, cause landfills to combust, threaten power outages, and imperil Indian wheat crops struggling to make up for shortfalls caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Why is it exceptionally warm this year? The only reason is global warming,” Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, told Bloomberg. Meanwhile, in the southwestern U.S., wildfires are ripping across drought-dried landscapes, especially in New Mexico. A million acres across the U.S. have burned already this year as, “Climate change is taking a situation that would be bad for us normally,” University of Arizona climatologist Gregg Garffin told The Guardian, “and turning the dial up.” (India...

Why Aren’t More Companies Reducing Methane, It’s Crucial For Protecting Climate And Health, And It Can Pay For Itself

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT, VIDEO REELS

Why Aren’t More Companies Reducing Methane, It’s Crucial For Protecting Climate And Health, And It Can Pay For Itself

Methane, the main ingredient in natural gas, is a larger climate problem than the world anticipates, and cutting its emissions will be crucial to slow global warming, a new United Nations report warns. The greenhouse gas is many times more powerful than carbon dioxide at warming the planet, and its concentration in the atmosphere is increasing faster than at any time since record keeping began in the 1980s. Methane is much more than a climate problem, though, and this is where the report gets interesting. As methane emissions are reduced, the world reaps several benefits quickly, for health as well as the climate. In most cases, the benefits of taking action far outweigh the cost – in fact many of them make money. The report’s lead author Drew Shindell, a climate scientist and physicist,...