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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Atmospheric CO2 Levels

(Weekly Averages)

Jan. 16, 2022: 418.23 ppm
This time last year: 415.08 ppm
10 years ago: 388.93 ppm
Pre-industrial base: 280 Safe level: 350

Page Updated:
January 24, 2022

• • What the Future Looks Like for Natural Gas

  New York City Puts it to the Test

  Jan. 18, 2022, (Energy Central) -On December 15, 2021, the New York City Council voted to ban natural gas heating and cooking appliances in some new construction buildings under seven stories in 2023, while others determined to be unfeasible by permitting authorities as well as taller buildings will need to comply in 2027. Hospitals, commercial kitchens and laundromats will be exempt from the ban.

  This makes New York the largest city in the country to pass such a ban, and the governor of New York state has already expressed interest in extending the ban state-wide.

• • British Government Admits: Climate Change Curbs Inadequate

  Its Efforts to Insulate the
  UK From Climate Change Impacts
  Don't Tow the Mark

  Jan. 17, 2022, (BBC NEWS)-The costs of climate change to Britain are "high and increasing", it says, and could reach many billions of pounds a year.

  Ministers say they'll have to go much further and faster to curb the worst impacts.

  It means climate change must be built into all long-term decisions, such as new housing or infrastructure.

• • Work Continues on Removing Lead Water Lines in Benton Harbor

  More than 400 Water Service
  Lines Have Been Replaced or
  Verified to be Free of Lead

  Jan. 16, 2022, (AP NEWS)-City officials also are reviewing bids from contractors for removal of an estimated 3,900 lead service lines, Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services said this week in a release.

  Accelerated work is expected to start in March. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has directed that all of the city’s lead lines be replaced by spring 2023, officials said.

  Service lines connect city water mains to homes and businesses. Lines made of lead are a source of lead contamination in drinking water.

• • 315,000-Gallon Diesel Spill Kills Thousands of Animals in Louisiana

  Regulators Were Aware that the
  Pipeline Was Seriously Corroded
  More Than a Year Before the Spill.

  Jan. 14, 2022, (Earther GIZMODO)-A decades-old pipeline spilled 315,000 gallons (1.2 million liters) of diesel into an environmentally sensitive area in Louisiana last month, killing thousands of animals, the AP reported Thursday. The spill happened a little over a year after a safety inspection found that the pipeline was severely corroded—but the pipeline’s owners chose to delay repairs and keep it operational.

• • Microplastic Fibers From Your Electric Dryer

  Clean Clothes, Dirty Environment

  Jan. 13, 2022, (ZME Science)-We know washing machines release thousands of microfibers (a common type of microplastics) into the water. But tumble dryers are also a problem. A new study found that dryers are the main source of microfiber pollution into the atmosphere, with each dryer responsible for releasing up to 120 million microplastic fibers into the air each year.

• • Air Pollution Contributed to 1.8 million Excess Deaths in 2019

  It Was the Unseen Pandemic

  Jan. 10, 2022, (ZME Science)-If you’re living in a city, the air you breathe is almost certainly affecting your overall health. A new study found that 86% of the people living in cities worldwide (about 2.5 billion) are exposed to levels of fine particulate matter that largely exceeded the suggested guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO). Overall, almost air pollution claims almost 2 million lives a year, a figure that may yet increase.

• • Global Heating Could Lead to an Increase in Kidney Stone Disease

  This According to Children’s
  Hospital of Philadelphia

  Jan. 10, 2022, (The Guardian)-Rising temperatures due to the climate crisis will lead to a rise in people suffering from kidney stones – a painful medical condition exacerbated by heat and dehydration, according to a new study.

• • An Imported Tree Fuels Patagonia’s Terrifying Summer Fires

  Pine Trees and Climate Change
  Transform the Region’s Fire Patterns

  Jan. 4, 2022, (National Geographic)-In Patagonia, that ultimate wild frontier at the end of the world, the arrival of summer used to come as a blessing. Snow receded. Lakes filled with fresh, clear snowmelt. The landscape came alive with color.

  Recently, though, summer has become a cause for fear. A series of fires last March nearly devoured La Comarca Andina, a fairy-tale forest in the Patagonia Mountains of Argentina. Along the 42nd parallel, the fires burned through more than 54,000 acres in just a few days. Three people died. Three hundred houses burned.

• • Scotland’s Peat Bogs Breathe Again

  Satellite Technology Will Monitor
  the Health of These Vital Carbon
  Sinks and Help Restore Them

  Jan. 4, 2022, (The Guardian)-Flanders Moss bog is slumped on the flat, farmed landscape of the Carse of Stirling in Scotland like a jelly fungi. It wobbles when you walk on it, and a metal pole goes down eight metres before reaching hard ground. This lowland-raised bog is a dome of peat fed mainly by rainfall and it acts like a single organism – the whole thing has to be looked after for any part to be in really good shape. If it is drained in one area it will affect the water level across the entire bog.

• • Cereal Offenders: Potentially Harmful
  Ingredients in ‘Healthy’ Breakfast Food

  What's Healthy and What Isn't?

  Jan. 3, 2022, (EWG)-Many breakfast cereals claim to be a healthy way to start the day. Their boxes feature cute, colorful characters and catchy slogans that attract children, and their promise of a “complete” breakfast with whole grains, fiber and vitamins captures adults’ attention.

  Cereal can be part of a balanced and nutritious breakfast. But many contain excess sugar, potentially harmful additives like food dye and added nutrients that undermine their nutritional value.

• • France Bans Plastic Wrapping for Most Fruits and Vegetables

  All Plastic Will be Gradually Phased Out

  Jan. 3, 2022, (ZME Science)-A new law banning plastic wrapping for a large number of fruits and vegetables has come into force in France with the New Year, hoping to end with what the government has described as the “aberration” of overwrapped apples, bananas, and carrots. The move is part of a country-wide effort to gradually phase out all single-use plastics by 2040 and establish France as a leader in this field.

• • Burninig Our Trash in a Volcano?

  There are Good Reasons
  Not Use that Method

  Jan. 3, 2022, (ZME Science)-It’s true that lava is hot enough to burn up some of our trash. When Kilauea erupted on the Big island of Hawaii in 2018, the lava flows were hotter than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,100 Celsius). That’s hotter than the surface of the planet Venus, and hot enough to melt many rocks. It’s also as hot as waste incinerators, which usually burn garbage at 1,800 to 2,200 F (1,000-1,200 C).

• • Massive Sewage Spill Closes California Beaches

  Two to Four Million Gallons
  of Untreated Sewage into
  a Canal, in Carson, California

  Dec. 31, 2021, (REUTERS)-A massive spill of raw sewage in California on Friday forced the city of Long Beach to close all swimming areas at nearby beaches, officials said.

  7.6 million to 15 million liters of raw sewage leaked into the Dominguez Channel, which empties into the Los Angeles harbor, it was discovered on Thursday, according to a press release from the City of Long Beach.

• • Paris Has an In-Seine Idea

  They Want to Make the Seine Swimmable

  Dec. 21, 2021, (Bloomberg CityLab)-A new project launched in Paris might help the city finally achieve a long-held but elusive goal: making the River Seine clean enough to swim in.

  Paris may have one of the most beautiful urban rivers in the world, but attempts to render the Seine safe to enough to plunge into have been falling short since as far back as 1988, when then-Mayor Jacques Chirac made a never-fulfilled promise to swim in it within five years.

• • Walmart Illegally Dumps 1m Toxic Items in Landfills Yearly, Lawsuit Claims

  Cal. Attorney General Accuses Walmart
  of Failing to Properly Dispose
  of Items Including Batteries,
  Cleaning Supplies and Electronic Waste

  Dec. 20, 2021, (The Guardian)-Walmart illegally dumps more than 1 million batteries, aerosol cans of insect killer and other products, toxic cleaning supplies, electronic waste, latex paints and other hazardous waste into California landfills each year, state prosecutors have alleged.

• • Another Good Reason to Go Organic

  An Organic Diet Can
  Flush Out Pesticides

  Dec. 18, 2021, (ZME Science)-To feed the almost 8 billion people around the world (and furthermore, ensure rich and diverse diets for the richer countries), we’re spraying our crops with an impressive amount of pesticides. In one way, this is extremely helpful, drastically reducing the negative impact of pests and diseases that have plagued our crops for millennia. But there’s a downside to pesticides as well: we may end up ingesting them, and they could be harmful to our health.

• • Sorry, Lead Pipes: Hate to See you Go

  US Planning to Replace All Lead
  Water Pipes from Coast to Coast

  Dec. 17, 2021, (THE CONVERSATION)-The Biden administration has released a plan to accelerate removal of lead water pipes and lead paint from U.S. homes. As a geochemist and environmental health researcher who has studied the heartbreaking impacts of lead poisoning in children for decades, I am happy to see high-level attention paid to this silent killer, which disproportionately affects poor communities of color.

• • The Orca Carbon Capture Plant

  What’s It Like to Capture CO2?

  Dec. 17, 2021, (greener ideal)-In September 2021, the Swiss company Climeworks opened the first carbon capture plant in Iceland. Named Orca after the Icelandic word for energy, this plant permanently removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and securely stores it underground.

  This technology has exciting implications for environmental health and sustainable industry. Here’s everything you need to know about the Orca carbon capture plant.

• • Toxic PFAS Chemicals Have ‘Made a Mockery of Our Environmental Regulations’

  Students and Professors at a Vermont
  College have Taken their Research Skills
  into Communities to Spur Action

  Dec. 17, 2021, (The Revelator)-Wherever you look for PFAS, you’ll find them.

  “They’re on Mount Everest; they’re in the Mariana Trench; they’re in polar bears; they’re in penguins; and they’re in just about every human population on Earth,” says David Bond, a cultural anthropologist and professor at Bennington College, who’s been investigating the “forever chemicals.”

• • Stricter Regulation of Lead in Drinking Water

  It’s a Biden Administration Promise

  Dec. 16, 2021, (NY Times Climate Forward)- The EPA on Thursday will announce its intention to propose stricter limits on the amount of lead allowable in drinking water and to begin replacing millions of lead pipes that snake throughout the country and pose a significant public health threat.

  Lead is a neurotoxin that can damage the brain and kidneys and interfere with red blood cells that carry oxygen to all parts of the body. It poses particular dangers to children, whose nervous systems and brains are still developing.

• • Amazon Has a Big Plastic Problem

  And it’s Getting Worse

  Dec. 16, 2021, (ZME Science)-The plastic packaging waste produced by Amazon last year soared by almost a third amid the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a report by the marine NGO Oceana, Amazon generated about 599 million pounds of plastic waste, a 29% increase from 2019 estimates, stemming from the many packages delivered during the pandemic.

• • Bus Are Evolving to Eat Plastic

  Humans Can’t Seem to Stop
  This Pollution, But Maybe Bugs Can>?

  Dec. 14, 2021, (The Guardian)-Microbes in oceans and soils across the globe are evolving to eat plastic, according to a study.

  The research scanned more than 200m genes found in DNA samples taken from the environment and found 30,000 different enzymes that could degrade 10 different types of plastic.

• • Virginia’s Governor-Elect Wants Abandon Cap-and-Trade.

  Youngkin's Plan to Ditch Regional CO2-
  Cutting Program Could Hit a Roadblock

  Dec. 13, 2021, (Grist)- Last year, during the height of summer temperatures and under the eye of a Democratic governor, Virginia became the latest state to join a program to cut greenhouse gas emissions from coal, gas, and other power plants.

  Now, however, Republican Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin has vowed to yank Virginia out of the agreement by executive action, arguing that the program — known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI — costs the state too much money.

• • Mississippi Tests Floating Trash Traps in Coastal Bayous

  All Other Methods Have Been Unsuccessful

  Dec. 12, 2021, (AP NEWS)- Mississippi is using BP oil spill money in a test to see whether floating trash traps placed in coastal waterways can make a big reduction in the amount of litter in the Mississippi Sound.

  The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality wants to learn “if these traps can substantially reduce the amount of litter which enters the Mississippi Sound from upland areas,” executive director Chris Wells said.

• • EPA Takes Steps to Curb Methane Emissions

  A New Rule Could Keep 41 Million
  Tons of Methane Out of our Environment

  Dec. 10, 2021, (ENVIRONMENT AMERICA)-On Nov. 2, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed new rules that would significantly reduce methane emissions. Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases, warming the Earth 28 times faster than carbon dioxide.

  When methane regulations were weakened under the previous administration, more than 17,000 supporters of Environment America and our national network spoke up to restrict this gas, slow climate change and preserve the quality of our air.

• • The Navy Water Crisis in Hawaii

  EPA Called Upon to Lead Tests

  Dec. 10, 2021, (AP News)- A U.S. senator called on the Environmental Protection Agency to take the lead in testing to determine whether it’s safe to drink water that the Navy provides to and around Pearl Harbor.

  U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said the EPA should step in after the Navy disputed the Hawaii Department of Health’s analysis of fuel contamination at a well that provides drinking water to the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam’s water system.

• • ‘Zero Day’ for California water?

  Unprecedented Water Restrictions
  Send a Sharp Warning

  Dec. 10, 2021, (THE CONVERSATION)-On Dec. 1, 2021, California triggered headlines heard around the world when officials announced how much water suppliers would be getting from the State Water Project. “California water districts to get 0% of requested supplies in an unprecedented decision,” one headline proclaimed. “No state water for California farms,” read another.

• • Company Fined After Exposing Montana Workers to Arsenic

  Illinois-based U.S. Minerals Is the Culprit

  Dec. 10, 2021, (AP News)-• A company that turned mining waste into roofing materials at a Montana plant was fined and ordered to conduct medical monitoring of workers on Friday, after pleading guilty to a criminal charge that it exposed employees to arsenic.

• • Cambo Oil Field Development Off Shetland to be Paused

  Shell Has Dropped Out

  Dec. 10, 2021, (BBC News)-• Siccar Point Energy's decision comes a week after Shell pulled out of the North Atlantic development.

  The move has been welcomed by climate change campaigners who have long been critical of the project.

• • Car & Gas Industries - 100 Years of Poisoning the Planet

  They Knew the Dangers,
  But That Didn’t Stop Them

  Dec. 8, 2021, (THE CONVERSATION)- On the frosty morning of Dec. 9, 1921, in Dayton, Ohio, researchers at a General Motors lab poured a new fuel blend into one of their test engines. Immediately, the engine began running more quietly and putting out more power.

  The new fuel was tetraethyl lead. With vast profits in sight – and very few public health regulations at the time – General Motors Co. rushed gasoline diluted with tetraethyl lead to market despite the known health risks of lead. They named it “Ethyl” gas.

• • Plastic Use in Farming Threatens Food Safety

  Food and Agriculture
  Organization Says Most Plastics are
  Burned, Buried or Lost After Use

  Dec. 7, 2021, (The Guardian)-The “disastrous” way in which plastic is used in farming across the world is threatening food safety and potentially human health, according to a report from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

• • New Ammonia Production Method
  Could Cut 2% of Greenhouse Gas Global Output

  Certain Salts Can Be Turned
  into Precious Ammonia Without
  Any Fossil Fuel Input.

  Dec. 7, 2021, (ZME Science)-About 50% of the world’s food production relies on ammonia fertilizer, an important source of nitrogen that is essential for plant growth. In some fields, it is not uncommon to see 90 kg (200 pounds) of ammonia per acre for each growing season.

  Elsewhere, ammonia is a valuable ingredient used to make pharmaceuticals, plastics, textiles, explosives, and much more. In other words, ammonia provides an essential service to modern society. There’s just one problem: ammonia production is hugely taxing on the environment, being responsible for about 2% of the global CO2 output. Its carbon footprint is equivalent to all the greenhouse gas emissions released by South Africa.

• • The Scourge of Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers

  We Don’t Need to Sacrifice our
  Mental and Physical Health Blowig Leaves

  Dec. 5, 2021, (Sierra Magazine), By Michael Shapiro -On a sunny autumn morning, our neighbor and her woodwind quintet were rehearsing in her backyard. I was outside with our two black cats, enjoying the crisp fresh air and the uplifting rendition of Mozart’s Divertimento No. 14. Then, in a yard a couple of houses down the street, leaf blowers roared to life, fortissimo, their ear-splitting cacophony drowning out all other sounds. Propelled by the leaf blowers’ 200-mph winds, noxious exhaust drifted down the block.

• • Paris Plans to Make the Seine Swimmable

  With the 2024 Summer
  Olympics Looming, a New Plan Could
  Curb Sewage Pollution for Good

  Dec. 4, 2021, (Bloomberg CityLab) -A new project launched in Paris might help the city finally achieve a long-held but elusive goal: making the River Seine clean enough to swim in.

  Paris may have one of the most beautiful urban rivers in the world, but attempts to render the Seine safe to enough to plunge into have been falling short since as far back as 1988, when then-Mayor Jacques Chirac made a never-fulfilled promise to swim in it within five years.

• • Ecuador: Nature (Not Corporations) Have Have Rights

  Ecuador's Highest Court Enforces
  Constitutional ‘Rights of Nature’

  Dec. 2, 2021, (Center for Biological Diversity)-In an unprecedented case, the Constitutional Court of Ecuador has applied the constitutional provision on the “Rights of Nature” to safeguard the Los Cedros cloud forest from mining concessions. The court voted seven in favor, with two abstentions.

  In the wake of the ruling, which was published Dec. 1, the Constitutional Court will develop a binding area of law in which the Rights of Nature, the right to a healthy environment, the right to water and environmental consultation must be respected.

• • Mail-In Lead Tests - Will They Work?

  Can They Assure
  People Their Water Is Safe?

  Dec. 1, 2021, (Bloomberg CityLab)- An ad on a bus shelter in downtown Newark, New Jersey, tells passersby to watch their mail for a free at-home kit to test their water for lead.

  The campaign — and tests — are the final step in the city’s push since 2016 to clean up drinking water after lead levels were found to be among the highest of any major city in the U.S. Similar to the crisis in Flint, Michigan, Newark has had to repair and replace aging infrastructure, and then rebuild trust with residents to convince them the water coming out of their taps is safe.

• • The Best Ethical Sneakers

  Some Brands Are Much
  More Ethical than Others

  Dec. 1, 2021, (greener ideal) - Most of the popular sneaker brands are far from ethical and repeatedly buying from these brands doesn’t help our environment in the least.

  The hazardous pollution and sweatshop labor characteristic of the fast-fashion industry takes a huge toll on our ecological systems. As consumers, we owe it to the environment to make more sustainable choices and help reduce the burden on it.

• • Transforming One of NYC’s Dirtiest Freeways Into Green Space

  The Noxious Cross Bronx
  Expressway Could Get an Upgrade
  Thanks to New Fed. Funding

  Nov. 30, 2021, (The Guardian) -It’s an appalling freeway. It’s loud, congested, and contributes to some of the nation’s highest asthma rates.

  But now, after years of organizing from community groups and state lawmakers, there’s federal funding to develop a plan: cover portions of the highway with green space and reconnect neighborhoods separated by the structure.

• • The Worst Toxic Waste You’ve Probably Never Heard of

  Nurdles Now Plague Our Oceans

  Nov. 29, 2021, (The Guardian) -When the X-Press Pearl container ship caught fire and sank in the Indian Ocean in May, Sri Lanka was terrified that the vessel’s 350 tonnes of heavy fuel oil would spill into the ocean, causing an environmental disaster for the country’s pristine coral reefs and fishing industry.

  The biggest impact was not caused by the heavy fuel oil, nor the hazardous chemicals on board, which included nitric acid, caustic soda and methanol. The most “significant” harm, according to the UN, came from the spillage of 87 containers full of lentil-sized plastic pellets: nurdles.

• • Deadly Fungal Disease Found in California Salamanders

  Scientists Fear Unchecked Wildlife
  Trade Will Increase Disease Spread

  Nov. 29, 2021, (GoldRushCam)- A scientific study published today revealed the emergence of a deadly fungus in two terrestrial salamander species in California, signaling a need to end the dangerous wildlife trade. This is the first study to document the disease in these species.

  The findings, published in the academic journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science, showed that arboreal salamanders and Santa Lucia Mountains slender salamanders suffered high mortality rates when infected with the chytrid fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, or Bd.

• •  Greenpeace: a Half Century on the Frontline of Environmental Photo Activism

  Check Out the Photo Library

  Nov. 29, 2021, (The Guardian) -Fifty years ago, a ship named the Greenpeace set out to confront and stop US nuclear weapons testing at Amchitka, one of the Aleutian Islands in south-west Alaska.

  Two years later a small boat called the Vega, crewed by David McTaggart, Ann-Marie Horne, Mary Horne and Nigel Ingram sailed into the French nuclear test site area at Moruroa, French Polynesia in the southern Pacific Ocean. Photographers had been using their images for years to publicise situations around the world.

• • A Green Ammonia Electrolysis Breakthrough

  The Process Could
  Finally Kill Haber-Bosch

  Nov. 29, 2021, (NEW ATLAS)- Scientists at Australia's Monash University claim to have made a critical breakthrough in green ammonia production that could displace the extremely dirty Haber-Bosch process, with the potential to eliminate nearly two percent of global greenhouse emissions.

  Click now to read or listen to the story.
• • Senegalese Women Are Protesting a Ban on Plastic

  Restrictions on Single-Use
  Bags are Expected to Disproportionately
  Impact Women-Owned Businessess

  Nov. 29, 2021, (Bloomberg CityLab)- Discarded plastic is hard to ignore in Senegal. The litter can’t go unnoticed on a boat ride to the Unesco World Heritage Site Goree Island or on the shoreline of la Baie de Hann in the capital of Dakar.

  The Senegalese government has responded by becoming one of the latest African countries to expand a ban on single-use plastics starting Dec. 31.

• • Carbon Offsetting: a Beginner’s Guide

  A General Introduction to Becoming
  More Involved in Environmental Preservation

  Nov. 29, 2021, (greener ideal) -Individuals are responsible for roughly 5% of all carbon emissions. However, human activities account for almost all the increases in global green house emissions in the last 150 years. It doesn’t sound like much. In fact, you could argue, if you as an individual contribute that little to greenhouse gas emissions, what’s the point of cutting back or even offsetting?

• • Rally in Belgrade Demands End to Alarming Air Pollution

  Serbia’s Autocratic President and His
  Populist Government have Dismissed the
  Environmental Protests As Political

  Nov. 28, 2021, (AP)- Thousands of people rallied in Belgrade on Sunday to demand an end to Serbia’s alarming levels of air pollution. The rally came a day after another environmental protest in which demonstrators blocked bridges and roads in different parts of the country and scuffled with riot police.

• • Sweden Calls For Crypto Mining Ban to Protect its Climate

  Bitcoin Alone Produces Emissions Comparable to a Medium-Sized Country

  Nov. 25, 2021, (ZME Science)- Swedish government officials are asking the European Union (EU) to impose a blanket ban on energy-intensive cryptocurrency mining, so the EU can deliver on its climate targets. The call was made in an open letter signed last week by the directors of Sweden’s Environmental Protection Agency and the Financial Supervisory Authority.