Green Cities
EDN Week in Review: Environmental News for the Week of July 29
August 4, 2018
Acting on Climate
The Trump Administration and EPA intend to roll back clean vehicle regulations in place to protect us, and replace them with weak rules that will result in more carbon emissions and unhealthy air quality. (Brad Plumer, New York Times). Related: EDN’s action alert for citizens to demand this decision be reconsidered.It’s no longer possible to ignore the fact that wildfires are worsening as a result of climate change (Ron Gong-Lin II and Ruben Vives, LA Times)Acting under this authority, CA led the nation in setting tough regulations for #cleanercars that drove innovative vehicle technology & drastically cut #smog over the next 5 decades pic.twitter.com/Qjoq4qdqWL
— Mary Nichols (@MaryNicholsCA) August 2, 2018
“The regional temperatures in the western U.S. have increased by 2 degrees since the 1970s,” said Jennifer Balch, director of Earth Lab at the University of Colorado, Boulder. “You’re seeing the effect of climate change.” More…Longform Read of the Week: “Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change” (Nathaniel Rich, New York Times)
Ending Plastic Pollution
A researcher found that plastic pollution is a source of methane emissions. (Matt McGrath, BBC)Dr. Royer found that the most widely-used plastic, the stuff used to make shopping bags, is the one that produces the greatest amount of these warming gases. At the end of the study, after 212 days in the sun, this plastic emitted 176 times more methane than at the start of the experiment…. More…A clever invention and a good way to draw attention to the plastic pollution crisis: a water bike that collects plastic pollution. (CNN)
This man built a floating bicycle so he could clean trash from a river in order to raise awareness about plastic pollution https://t.co/mDBoeU1Rsz pic.twitter.com/gaQSRFWu0z
— CNN (@CNN) July 29, 2018
Protecting the Environment and Species
See the story about the female orca carrying her dead calf in mourning? More on why this is such a heartbreaking story. (Yessenia Funes, Earther)A June survey revealed the Southern Resident killer whale population is down to just 75. No calves have been born since 2015. And in the eight years before then, 69 percent of the 35 individual pregnancies failed… More….Pesticides in parks? (Chris D’Angelo, Huffington Post)
The Trump administration has scrapped an Obama-era policy that banned the use of genetically modified crops and controversial insecticides on national wildlife refuges across the country…. More…August 1 was this year’s Overshoot Day, when when have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year.
