EWG
Twitter
InstagramPostcard from California: Close California’s last nuclear power plant
The last nuclear power plant in California, vulnerable to earthquakes and priced out of the energy market by cheaper renewables, is slated to close in three years.
climate
House vote on Inflation Reduction Act sets stage for big climate gains
With the US House of Representatives positioned to approve on Friday the largest investment by the US government to combat climate change, some analysts are projecting the measures contained in the landmark Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) could reduce greenhouse gas emissions even more than the government has projected.
The measure, which passed the US Senate on Sunday, contains $369 billion earmarked for a range of energy and climate investments over the next decade.
The bill could slash emissions from the electricity sector by as much as 75% below levels seen in 2005 by 2030, according to Kevin Rennert, a fellow at Resources for the Future, based on an initial analysis. Absent the new investment, their forecast predicted that current policies would cut emissions more modestly — about 48.5%. Rennert shared these numbers during a seminar this week sponsored by Resources for the Future.
The US government has said the measures would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030.
The bill expands a tax credit for carbon capture, incentivizes the production of sustainable aviation fuel, provides for grant programs aimed at decarbonizing emissions-heavy sectors, and includes a methane reduction program for oil and gas facilities, among other provisions.
Protecting homes in a world “increasingly on fire”
Homeowners and home builders in California and other US states at risk from wildfires must work harder to create “fire-resistant” homes as wildfire seasons grow in length, frequency, and severity, according to a new report.
Drier and hotter conditions associated with climate change, along with poor forestry management practices and other factors, are allowing for a denser, more fire-prone landscape even as residential and commercial development continues to encroach on wilderness spaces. It all exacerbates the risks and costs caused by raging wildfires, such as the cluster burning this week through Trinity County, California.
Preparing for and mitigating the costly consequences of wildfires requires an approach that centers home ignition as the main problem, and not the wildfire itself, stated a recent report by Headwaters Economics and the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety.
“Increasing home loss and growing risks require reevaluating the wildfire crisis as a home-ignition problem and not a wildland fire problem,” the report states. “A home’s building materials, design, and nearby landscaping influence its survival. Together with the location, arrangement, and placement of nearby homes, constructing a wildfire-resistant home is critical in light of increasing wildfire risks.”
Biden’s Justice40 initiative picking up speed after slow start
More than a year and a half after the Biden administration unveiled a sweeping commitment to bring opportunities and aid to disadvantaged communities, environmental justice advocates are calling on the White House to move faster with its implementation of its Justice40 Initiative.
Advocates fear some programs targeted in the initiative could be jeopardized if Democrats lose the White House in the 2024 presidential elections; and that some programs could be impacted even sooner if mid-term elections this November hand control of the House of Representatives to Republicans.
“My big hope is that the administration prioritizes and senses the urgency that we have to capture this opportunity to redirect investments,” said Ana Baptista, associate director of the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School in New York. Her research focuses on climate and environmental justice issues.
The Justice40 initiative, which President Joe Biden initiated through a January 2021 executive order, calls for delivering 40 percent of overall benefits of certain types of federal investments to disadvantaged communities around the country.
After decades of broken promises, Texas “donut hole” community to get running water
By Shannon Kelleher
Growing up in south Texas, 25-year-old Joaquin Duran always wondered what it would be like to have running water. Before he was born, Duran’s parents moved from Juarez, Mexico to a small community called Cochran that lies within El Paso County. They hoped the enclave of Mexican-American families would be a safe place to raise their children and offer advantages not easily attained in Mexico.
The plot of land Duran’s parents purchased in Texas lacked running water when they settled in, but they were promised service was coming – only a year or two away. The family decided the wait would be worthwhile and they made the plot their home. During the day, Duran’s mother would scrub old concrete off the cinder blocks her husband retrieved from demolition work through his construction job. At night, they built their house from the salvaged materials.
Now, a quarter century later, water still has not arrived – for the Durans or for anyone else in the dry, dusty community of Cochran.
“My parents would protest and go to water district meetings,” said Duran. “They would be told, ‘Yes, you’re getting the water soon.’ All these promises. But in the end, nothing would happen.”
The long wait may be about to end.
Guest column: Farmers Need Safe, Effective Pesticides, Including Chlorpyrifos
Our food supply needs pesticides – it’s as simple as that. Without access to these tools, US and global agriculture could not sustainably feed the world. Furthermore, attempts to do so would likely lead to environmental catastrophe. It is true that some production methods, such as organic, may use fewer pesticides than conventional agriculture—although, even organic producers can and do use some pesticides.
Dubbed a “climate haven,” a North Carolina community braces for change
From wildfires racing through the drought-stricken west, to heavy flooding in the central and eastern regions of the United States, extreme weather events are spurring many Americans to seek refuge in more environmentally stable cities, so-called “climate havens.”
On top of a list of identified ideal destinations is the town of Asheville, North Carolina, a community of roughly 100,000 people located in the western part of the coastal state amid the Blue Ridge Mountains.
The climate haven label implies that the city is relatively more resilient to climate change than other places across the country, a reassuring safe space in the face of uncertainty.
And indeed, Asheville’s location in a mountainous region of North Carolina does make it less vulnerable to extreme heat impacts, and it is sufficiently inland to avoid hurricane winds and oceanside erosion issues.
There is great interest in growth in and around Asheville, according to Amanda Martin, chief resilience officer of the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency.
How going green, diet and communities of color intersect
As climate change and environmental pollutants create harsh conditions that threaten not only planetary health but also human health, a chorus of voices is calling for recognition of the benefits associated with reductions in meat consumption and a shift to more plant-based dietary patterns.
Going “green” is a concept that is taking root in myriad measures, from efforts to reduce the burning of greenhouse gases to vertical farming practices that grow crops in urban and indoor settings. And healthy, plant-based diets are at the center of many of the moves.
For certain populations, the shift is seen as particularly urgent. Many serious diet-related health problems, including heart disease and diabetes are top causes of death for Black and Latino populations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
But pushes for dietary changes in the general U.S. population are also creating concerns about the potential for ever sharper divides between those who have the financial means and access to move to healthier diets, and those who do not.
“You can’t just implement one policy and expect a lot of these historic patterns to change, there needs to be multiple different shifts to the way that our economy works,” said Nicole Wong, climate resilience program manager at The Greenlining Institute, an organization aimed at helping “communities of color” become “ready to meet the challenges posed by climate change.”
Guest column: When climate is a “damn emergency,” can California move fast enough?
In September 2020, California Gov. Gavin Newsom stood amid the devastation of a wildfire that ultimately burned more than 300,000 acres, incinerated entire towns, and killed 16 people. His voice hoarse in a ghastly gray air, the governor spoke angrily.
As “red tides” bloom, citizen scientists help map ocean danger zones
Nearly every day, Florida resident Pradeepa Siva goes paddle boarding through Doctors Pass in Naples. The thin passageway between Moorings Bay and the Florida Gulf of Mexico is home to a couple of friendly dolphins, which Siva often sees on her outings.
But the journey is about more than exercise and wildlife sightings, because when Siva paddle boards she is also participating in a government-funded science project aimed at protecting public health as climate change brings warming ocean waters that contribute to rising incidences of a dangerous phenomenon known as the “red tide.”
Red tides occur when warming water and other factors spur the growth of a type of rust-colored algae known as Karenia brevis. The algae produces toxic compounds that can be harmful to humans as well as marine mammals and other sea life. Exposure to the algae can cause respiratory illnesses and other problems for people who are exposed, and, in rare occasions, be debilitating or even fatal.