The Air Resources Board has launched a series of stakeholder engagement workshops to inform the next update of California’s Climate Change Scoping Plan, the regulatory framework guiding the state’s policy priorities. While the plan will not be finalized until the end of 2022, frustrations have already risen among dairy and bioenergy interests over an apparent shift away from dairy digesters and biomass plants for agricultural and forest waste.
“I was really concerned with the presentation from the California Energy Commission, particularly the exclusion of any new biomass and no mention whatsoever of biogas,” said Julia Levin, executive director of the Bioenergy Association of California, during an overview webinar for the scoping plan last week.
In its presentation, the commission did not project an increase in bioenergy in California. She called that troubling, since the state is trying to develop a plan with “critically needed but aggressive climate change goals.”
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Photo Credit: Dairy Cares
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Toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” are widely used in cosmetics produced by major brands in the US and Canada, a new study that tested for the chemicals in hundreds of products found.
The peer-reviewed study, published in Environmental Science & Technology, detected what the study’s authors characterized as “high” levels of organic fluorine, an indicator of PFAS, in over half of 231 makeup and personal care samples. That includes lipstick, eyeliner, mascara, foundation, concealer, lip balm, blush, nail polish and more.
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Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
A retired special education teacher from Louisiana who led a successful grassroots campaign to stop construction of a toxic plastics plant in America’s Cancer Alley has won the 2021 Goldman prize for environmental defenders.
Sharon Lavigne, 68, organised marches, petitions, town hall meetings and media campaigns after elected officials gave the green light to the construction of another polluting factory in St James parish – a majority-Black community already blighted by heavy industry and exorbitant cancer rates.
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Photo Credit: The Goldman Environmental Prize
I have fond childhood memories of going to dollar stores with my mom. It was what we could afford.
We’d pick-up the few items we needed and sometimes I’d get to pick out a toy, make-up, or a food item as a treat. Little did we know that some of those low-cost products may have contained toxic chemicals.
This was my norm growing up, as is it the norm of many children today.
Over the years I became more aware of the systematic environmental injustices that people of color and low-income families face every day. I grew up more likely to be exposed to poor air quality because of my zip code. My family was often only able to afford highly processed foods or lower quality products that may have contained harmful chemicals.
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Photo Credit: Dollar Tree, Inc.
By almost every measure, the drought in the Western U.S. is already one for the record books.
Almost half the country’s population is facing dry conditions. Soils are parched. Mountain snowpacks produce less water. Wildfire risk is already extreme. The nation’s largest reservoir, Lake Mead, is headed to its lowest level since it was first filled in the 1930s.
The past year has been the driest or second driest in most Southwestern states since record keeping began in 1895. Farms and cities have begun imposing water restrictions, but Western states are facing a threat that goes deeper than a single bad year. The hotter climate is shrinking water supplies, no matter what the weather brings.
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Photo Credit: Noah Berger/AP Photo[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
There are many definitions of environmental justice; however, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) definition is the most used by state legislatures:
The EPA defines environmental justice “as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.”
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Photo Credit: Getty Images
Birth rates are decreasing worldwide. In all European countries they’re even dropping below population replacement levels, which refers to the number of children needed per woman to keep a population stable. While these decreases might be due to many adults intentionally postponing when they have their first child – or actively choosing not to have children – an increasing number of studies suggests these don’t fully explain decreasing birth rates. Some research also indicates that decreasing fertility is a major contributing factor in this decline.
One factor linked to decreased fertility is the presence of industrial chemicals found in our environment. Much is known about the impact of these chemicals on male fertility, but little research has looked into how they affect women. This is what our recent study sought to do.
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Photo Credit: Peakstock/Shutterstock
The global auto industry has begun a historic shift from gasoline- and diesel-fueled cars to electric vehicles. President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan seeks to speed up this transition by requesting billions of dollars to modernize the electric grid and build 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations.
Evidence shows that many Americans are eager to transition to EVs and participate in a clean energy economy. In a recent nationally representative consumer survey, 71% of drivers surveyed said they were interested in getting an electric car. But 48% said that lack of access to public charging infrastructure was holding them back, and 43% cited vehicle cost as a disincentive.
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Photo Credit: Eric Risberg/AP Photo
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Photo Credit: Eric Risberg/AP Photo
Sandy Saeteurn grew up in Richmond, California, where Chevron’s massive 3,000-acre oil refinery reigns supreme. She’s no stranger to the refinery’s chemical flares, and she spent many of her childhood days home sick. She’s not the only one who has learned to link the refinery and the presence of illness in her community: A 2008 study (co-authored by Grist board member Rachel Morello-Frosch) found that almost half of all homes in the area had indoor levels of refinery-related particulate matter pollution that exceeded the state’s air quality standards.
Every day for nearly 120 years — longer than the city has existed — the refinery has processed thousands of barrels of oil. Its flares regularly paint the sky burnt orange before thick grey clouds of smoke cover the city. Chevron’s influence stretches beyond its pollution and the 3,500 refinery jobs it provides as the city’s largest employer — it also showers money on local elections and even runs a local newspaper, the Richmond Standard, which has been known to cast a positive light on the company.
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Photo Credit: Asian Pacific Environmental Network