Cheap oil, lower investment in renewables and a post-virus rebound will likely offset the emissions drop, but there are climate lessons in the response to the virus.
by Neela Banerjee, Inside Climate News Highlights Air pollution, mainly from burning fossil fuels, reduces life expectancy worldwide by an average of 2.9 years and has led to 8.8 million premature deaths according to a new study in Cardiovascular Research. In North America, lives were shortened by 1.4 years on average due to air pollution. … Read more
By David Herbling and Samuel Gebre, Bloomberg Highlights: Swarms of desert locusts are devastating farms throughout East Africa. The outbreak is due to an increased amount of cyclones and sudden rainfall after a long dry spell, resulting in the perfect breeding conditions for locusts Further increases in climate change effects will cause more cyclones and … Read more
by Mark Olalde and Ryan Menezes, LA Times Highlights: 35,000 wells have been sitting idle for years because of suspended production, which can contaminate the water supplies and cause fumes to leak Fossil fuel companies are required by law to set aside bonds for the clean up and remediation of oil well sites but the … Read more
by Craig Welch, National Geographic Highlights: Abrupt thaw, the accelerated melting of permafrost, is releasing GHGs in the arctic: New studies on abrupt thaw suggest that permafrost will play a more significant role in GHG emissions than previously believed . However, it’s affects are small compared to the burning of fossil fuels throughout the world … Read more
by Arys Aditya and Yoga Rusmana, Bloomberg Highlights: Wildfires in Indonesia prompted school closures and disruptions to ocean and air travel last year, which may have cost Indonesia $5.2 billion in economic losses An estimated 709 million tons of carbon dioxide was released due to last years fire season Indonesian President Jokowi ordered a permanent … Read more
by Nick Mott, NPR Highlights: An estimated half of wetlands across the country and 18% of streams will not have federal protection with the new rollback of water regulation The wetland mitigation industry fears their jobs could be lost due to these new environmental rollbacks Many wetlands have been restored with the help of “mitigation … Read more
by Sami Kent, The Guardian Highlights: 90% of the tree saplings planted during November 2019 in the northern Anatolian city of Çorum have died due to an insufficient amount of water The Turkish ministry revoked the claim by stating more than 95% are healthy and growing, though many critics doubt this claim Mass tree-plantings have … Read more
Highlights: “Scientists are replacing crops and livestock with food made from microbes and water. It may save humanity’s bacon.” Natural disasters are threatening our food supply. “The UN forecasts that by 2050 feeding the world will require a 20% expansion in agriculture’s global water use.” RethinkX shows that proteins from precision fermentation will cost ten … Read more
As the nexus between public health and climate impacts comes into sharp focus, public health officers are convening to share their challenges and strategies for addressing the climate crisis. On September 26th at the Westin Sacramento, the Health Officer Association of California (HOAC) met for their bi-annual gathering to discuss climate change as a public … Read more
