pollution

American Beauties

October 12, 2018 By Rebecca Altman, Topic.com Educate! Plastic, pollution

The story of the plastic bag—the kind that is so ubiquitous in grocery stores, in gutters, in the branches of trees—is a story of persuasion, one that began with a battle between paper and plastic in the hearts of the American people. “People are fond of the old paper bag,” Peter Bunten explained to the New York Times in 1984. “It’s as American as the flag and apple pie and all those other red, white, and blue clichés.” At the time, Bunten worked for American Paper Institute, and the plastic bag, first introduced to grocery stores in 1979, was ready to challenge the paper bag’s supremacy over how people carted home groceries—a $600 million market at the time.

How Trump’s New Trade Deal Could Prolong His Pollution Legacy

October 5, 2018 Nicholas Kusnetz, Insideclimatenews.org Educate! pollution, Trade Deal, Trump Administration

President Donald Trump's new trade deal with Canada and Mexico makes no mention of climate change, but it's likely to have lasting implications for North America's energy future. In many ways, the deal extends features of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that environmentalists say promote fossil fuel development and polluting practices. But it also contains new provisions that could make it easier for corporations to challenge climate and environment regulations in the three countries even before they're adopted. In this way, the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) has the potential to enshrine the Trump administration's anti-regulatory agenda into one of the country's most important trade agreements, environmental advocates said.

What London’s Great Stink Has To Do With Us

October 5, 2018 By Eleanor Goldfield, Medium.com Educate! pollution, United Kingdom (UK)

By the 1600s, London residents were already voicing concern over the pollution in their most famed river. Unfortunately, the matter was neither easily solved nor considered serious enough. So the public’s concerns went unheeded, and dumping continued. By the 1800s, thanks to unfettered dumping and industrialization, the Thames was the most polluted river in the world. In 1855, celebrated scientist Michael Faraday took a boat down the Thames to assess the levels of pollution. The conclusion in his letter to The Times Newspaper called “Observations on the Filth of the Thames” says it all, and rings familiar alarm bells as we stand at our own modern-day environmental precipice.

Flint Water Crisis Ongoing: ‘We Are Still Suffering’

September 15, 2018 Ashley Curtin, Nationofchange.org Educate! Flint, pollution, Water

The water, which was insufficiently treated, “leached lead from service lines and contaminated the city’s water, exposing 100,000 people,” AlterNet reported. On top of that disaster, there was an outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease killing at least 12 people, which resulted in felony charges brought against many state officials. While the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality insists the lead levels are within acceptable limits today, residents don’t trust using the water in their homes. And scientists back the residents’ suspicion saying “many of the lead service lines that originally contaminated the water supply are still in use, and will not be replaced until 2020,” AlterNet reported.

Act Out! [174] – How A Small Town Went From Toxic Lakes To Europe’s Greenest City

September 6, 2018 Eleanor Goldfield, Occupy.com Resistance Report Environment, Europe, pollution

In the 70s, Växjö was a polluted town nestled in the thick forests of southern Sweden. Today, this small town has been recognized by the EU as the greenest city in Europe. So, what happened? What did - and what are community members and politicians still doing to make their home more sustainable? And how could we emulate some of this work in our own American communities? Answers to all this and more, this week on Act Out!

5 Ways Trump’s Clean Power Rollback Strips Away Health, Climate Protections

August 22, 2018 John H. Cushman Jr., Insideclimatenews.org Educate! Clean Energy, Climate Change, health, pollution, Trump Administration

The Trump administration has proposed to replace the nation's landmark climate regulations with a watered-down version that would do next to nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and wouldn't even set a specific national goal. If the new plan survives legal challenges, it would fulfill a campaign pledge to abort the Obama-era Clean Power Plan. And in combination with the freezing of automotive emissions standards announced a few weeks ago, it would gut any attempt to achieve through federal regulations the goals of the Paris climate agreement, which the Trump administration has also renounced. Given that the new rule does not challenge the finding that greenhouse gas pollution from coal-fired power plants causes global warming and endangers people and the planet, nor court rulings that the Clean Air Act requires the Environmental Protection Agency to bring it under control, the proposal is breathtaking in its embrace of apathy.

Cleanwashing: How States Count Polluting Energy Sources As Renewable

August 1, 2018 Staff, Foodandwaterwatch.org Educate! Fossil Fuels, pollution, Renewable Energy

Our new report finds that poor definitions of "renewable" and weak targets are undermining states' efforts to avoid climate change. Are burning tires clean energy? We don't think so. Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have mandatory programs to encourage renewable electricity generation. These Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) programs set renewable electricity goals and determine which energy sources qualify as renewable. Such programs can be part of the energy policy portfolio to create powerful incentives to shift to renewable energy. Unfortunately, most RPS programs have not been robust enough to foster a rapid transition to clean, renewable energy About half the states aimed to achieve only up to 25 percent renewable power. Almost all states allowed combustion-based energy sources including wood burning and the burning of waste methane (so-called biogas) to meet RPS goals.

Scientists Accidentally Develop ‘Mutant’ Enzyme That Eats Plastic

April 24, 2018 Lorraine Chow, Ecowatch.com Create! Plastic, pollution, Science

Researchers in the UK and the U.S. have inadvertently engineered an enzyme that eats up plastic. The enzyme is able to digest PET (polyethylene terephthalate)—the same material used in the ubiquitous plastic bottle that's clogging up landfills, coastlines and oceans around the world. Amazingly, this discovery only happened by chance. Scientists from the University of Portsmouth in the UK and the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) were examining the structure of a natural enzyme, Ideonella sakaiensis, found in 2016 at a Japanese waste recycling center. This enzyme could already break down PET plastic—it just doesn't do it very quickly. To understand how Ideonella sakaiensis evolved, the research team "tweaked" the structure of the enzyme by adding some amino acids, according to John McGeehan, a Portsmouth professor who co-led the work.

I Kept All My Plastic For A Year – The 4,490 Items Forced Me To Rethink

April 20, 2018 Laura Barton, Theguardian.com Resist! Environment, Plastic, pollution

We all know, in theory, that we ought to use less plastic. We’ve all been distressed by the sight of Blue Planet II’s hawksbill turtle entangled in a plastic sack, and felt chastened as we’ve totted up our weekly tally of disposable coffee cups. But still, UK annual plastic waste is now close to 5m tonnes, including enough single-use plastic to fill 1,000 Royal Albert Halls; the government’s planned elimination of “avoidable” plastic waste by 2042 seems a quite dazzling task. It was reported this week that scientists at the University of Portsmouth have accidentally developed a plastic-eating mutant enzyme, and while we wait to see if that will save us all, for one individual the realisation of just how much plastic we use has become an intensely personal matter.

Globalization’s Deadly Footprint

February 27, 2018 By Alex Jensen, Localfutures.org Educate! Capitalism, Globalization, pollution

That pollution is bad for our health will come as a surprise to no one. That pollution kills at least 9 million people every year might. This is 16 percent of all deaths worldwide – 3 times more than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined, and 15 times more than all wars and other forms of violence. Air pollution alone is responsible for 6.5 million of these 9 million deaths. Nearly 92 percent of pollution-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. All this is according to the Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health, a recent report by dozens of public health and medical experts from around the world. This important report is sounding the alarm about a too-often neglected and ignored ‘silent emergency’ – or as author Rob Nixon calls it, ‘slow violence.’

Junk Planet: Is Earth the Largest Garbage Dump in the Universe?

February 24, 2018 Robert J. Burrowes, Popular Resistance Educate! Earth, Environment, pollution

Is Earth the largest garbage dump in the Universe? I don’t know. But it’s a safe bet that Earth would be a contender were such a competition to be held. Let me explain why. This article provides reasonably comprehensive summary of the types of garbage being generated (focusing particularly on those that are less well known), the locations into which the garbage is being dumped and some indication of what is being done about it and what you can do too. As noted by Baher Kamal: ‘Though some forms of pollution have been reduced as technologies and management strategies have advanced, approximately 19 million premature deaths are estimated to occur annually as a result of the way societies use natural resources and impact the environment to support production and consumption.’ And that is just the cost in human lives.

Your Pipeline Fights; Polluting Along Race Lines & Invading White Spaces

February 22, 2018 Eleanor Goldfield, Occupy.com Resistance Report Pipelines, pollution, Race, Racism

This week on Act Out! big oil and gas pay a small fine so they can keep on polluting. Next up, YOUR solidarity is needed in an upcoming week of action against the Bayou Bridge Pipeline. Not in the bayous? Well, you don't need to be. This affects us all. Finally, the impact of dirty energy on black and brown communities plus community organizer Maurice Cook joins us to talk white supremacy, the importance of battling racism, of recognizing black history and how to organize TOGETHER in our place and time.

German Cities To Trial Free Public Transport To Cut Pollution

February 20, 2018 Philip Oltermann, Theguardian.com Create! Cities, Germany, pollution, Public Services, Transportation

“Car nation” Germany has surprised neighbours with a radical proposal to reduce road traffic by making public transport free, as Berlin scrambles to meet EU air pollution targets and avoid big fines. The move comes just over two years after Volkswagen’s devastating “dieselgate” emissions cheating scandal unleashed a wave of anger at the auto industry, a keystone of German prosperity. “We are considering public transport free of charge in order to reduce the number of private cars,” three ministers including the environment minister, Barbara Hendricks, wrote to EU environment commissioner Karmenu Vella in the letter seen by AFP Tuesday. “Effectively fighting air pollution without any further unnecessary delays is of the highest priority for Germany,” the ministers added.

China Reassigns 60,000 Soldiers To Plant Trees In Bid To Fight Pollution

February 15, 2018 Samuel Osborne, Independent.co.uk Create! China, Environment, Military, pollution

China has reportedly reassigned over 60,000 soldiers to plant trees in a bid to combat pollution by increasing the country's forest coverage. A large regiment from the People's Liberation Army, along with some of the nation's armed police force, have been withdrawn from their posts on the northern border to work on non-military tasks inland. The majority will be dispatched to Hebei province, which encircles Beijing, according to the Asia Times which originally reported the story. The area is known to be a major culprit for producing the notorious smog which blankets the capital city. The idea is believed to be popular among members of online military forums as long as they can keep their ranks and entitlements. It comes as part of China's plan to plant at least 84,000 square kilometres (32,400 square miles) of trees by the end of the year, which is roughly equivalent to the size of Ireland.

Citizens In Cancer Alley Vow To Ramp Up Battle Against Industrial Pollution In 2018

January 31, 2018 By Julie Dermansky, Desmogblog.com Resist! Cancer, Industrialization, Louisiana, pollution

This past year in Louisiana’s St. John the Baptist Parish, a small group of residents began organizing their community to compel the state to protect them against an invisible menace: the air they breathe. Their parish, the Louisiana equivalent of a county, is situated in what’s known as Cancer Alley, an industrial corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans that hosts more than 100 petrochemical factories. At the helm of the battle is the Concerned Citizens of St. John, a diverse group of parish residents pushing back against the area’s historically bad — and worsening — industrial pollution. “One thing we all have in common is a desire for clean air,” the group’s founder, Robert Taylor, told me. Next year, the burgeoning group plans to get political and broaden its reach by banding together with similar groups in the region.

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