#Pollution Control Policies

[mirnaheadlines]

Government Policies for a Green Economy: Incentives and Regulations

Green Economy A successful transition to a green economy requires a combination of public and private sector efforts, Green Economy with governments playing a crucial role in setting the framework for this transformation. Policies often target sectors such as energy, transportation, agriculture, waste management, and construction, which are significant contributors to environmental impacts. In this context, incentives and regulations serve as two sides of the policy coin, ensuring both the encouragement of sustainable practices and the enforcement of environmental protection.

One of the main goals of government policies for a green economy is to shift economic activity toward more sustainable practices. This involves reducing greenhouse gas emissions, promoting renewable energy, and ensuring that economic growth is decoupled from environmental degradation. To achieve these goals, governments employ a wide range of tools, including tax breaks, subsidies, grants, carbon pricing mechanisms, and strict environmental regulations.

A green economy also emphasizes social inclusiveness, Green Economy ensuring that the transition to sustainability benefits all members of society, particularly vulnerable groups who are most affected by environmental degradation. Green Economy Government policies often include provisions for job creation in green industries, education and training for new skills, and social protection measures to ensure that no one is left behind in the transition.

This section will delve into six key areas of government policies for a green economy: renewable energy incentives, carbon pricing mechanisms, green transportation policies, sustainable agriculture support, waste management and recycling regulations, and financial incentives for green innovation.

Renewable Energy Incentives Green Economy

One of the cornerstones of any green economy policy framework is the promotion of renewable energy sources. Governments have introduced a range of incentives to encourage the production and consumption of renewable energy, such as wind, solar, and hydropower. These incentives are critical for reducing reliance on fossil fuels, which are the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Renewable energy incentives often take the form of subsidies and tax breaks. For instance, many governments offer production tax credits (PTCs) and investment tax credits (ITCs) to companies that generate renewable energy or invest in renewable energy infrastructure. These financial incentives lower the cost of renewable energy projects, making them more competitive with traditional fossil fuel-based energy sources.

Feed-in tariffs (FITs) are another common incentive mechanism. Green Economy Under a FIT program, renewable energy producers are guaranteed a fixed price for the electricity they generate, often over a long-term contract. This provides a stable revenue stream and reduces the financial risk associated with renewable energy investments. Net metering programs, which allow individuals and businesses to sell excess renewable energy back to the grid, are another way governments encourage the adoption of renewable technologies.

Governments also support renewable energy through research and development (R&D) funding. Green Economy By investing in the development of new technologies, governments can help bring down the cost of renewable energy and make it more accessible. Many governments also provide grants and low-interest loans for renewable energy projects, particularly for smaller-scale projects such as rooftop solar installations.

In addition to financial incentives, governments often mandate the use of renewable energy through renewable portfolio standards (RPS). An RPS requires utilities to obtain a certain percentage of their electricity from renewable sources, creating a guaranteed market for renewable energy. This not only supports the growth of the renewable energy industry but also helps reduce the overall carbon footprint of the energy sector.

Green Economy The combination of financial incentives and regulatory mandates has been instrumental in driving the rapid growth of renewable energy in many parts of the world. Countries such as Germany, Denmark, and China have become global leaders in renewable energy production, thanks in large part to strong government policies that promote green energy development.

Carbon Pricing Mechanisms

Carbon pricing is a critical tool in the fight against climate change and a key component of government policies for a green economy. By putting a price on carbon emissions, governments create an economic incentive for businesses and individuals to reduce their carbon footprint. There are two main types of carbon pricing mechanisms: carbon taxes and cap-and-trade systems.

A carbon tax directly sets a price on carbon by levying a tax on the carbon content of fossil fuels. This encourages businesses and consumers to reduce their use of carbon-intensive energy sources and shift toward cleaner alternatives. The revenue generated from carbon taxes is often used to fund green initiatives, such as renewable energy projects or energy efficiency programs, or to provide rebates to low-income households to offset higher energy costs.

Cap-and-trade systems, also known as emissions trading schemes (ETS), work by setting a limit (or cap) on the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions that can be emitted by covered entities, such as power plants or industrial facilities. Companies are issued emission allowances, which they can trade with one another. Companies that can reduce their emissions at a lower cost can sell their excess allowances to companies that face higher costs for reducing emissions. This creates a market for carbon allowances and incentivizes businesses to invest in cleaner technologies.

Both carbon taxes and cap-and-trade systems are designed to internalize the environmental cost of carbon emissions, making it more expensive to pollute and more profitable to invest in sustainable practices. These mechanisms can drive innovation, as businesses seek out new technologies and processes to reduce their carbon liabilities.

Several countries and regions have implemented carbon pricing policies with varying degrees of success. The European Union’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is one of the largest and most established cap-and-trade programs in the world. Canada has implemented a nationwide carbon tax, with revenue returned to households through rebates. In the United States, some states, such as California, have implemented their own cap-and-trade programs in the absence of a national carbon pricing policy.

However, carbon pricing mechanisms face challenges, including political opposition and concerns about economic competitiveness. In some cases, businesses argue that carbon pricing increases costs and puts them at a disadvantage compared to competitors in countries without similar policies. To address these concerns, governments often include provisions to protect industries that are vulnerable to international competition, such as offering rebates or exemptions for certain sectors.

Green Transportation Policies

Transportation is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly in urban areas. To promote a green economy, governments are implementing a range of policies aimed at reducing emissions from the transportation sector. These policies focus on promoting the use of public transportation, encouraging the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), and improving fuel efficiency standards.

One of the most effective ways to reduce transportation emissions is to encourage the use of public transportation. Governments invest in expanding and improving public transit systems, such as buses, trains, and subways, to make them more accessible and attractive to commuters. By providing reliable and affordable public transportation options, governments can reduce the number of cars on the road and lower overall emissions.

In addition to improving public transportation, governments are offering incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles (EVs). These incentives often take the form of tax credits or rebates for EV buyers, which help offset the higher upfront cost of electric vehicles compared to traditional gasoline-powered cars. Some governments also offer additional perks for EV owners, such as access to carpool lanes or free parking in city centers.

Governments are also investing in the infrastructure needed to support electric vehicles, such as building charging stations. A lack of charging infrastructure is often cited as a barrier to EV adoption, so governments play a critical role in addressing this challenge. By providing grants or partnering with private companies, governments can help build a network of charging stations that makes EVs a more convenient option for drivers.

Another important component of green transportation policies is improving fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks. Governments set regulations that require automakers to produce vehicles that meet certain fuel efficiency targets, which helps reduce the amount of fuel consumed and the emissions produced by the transportation sector. Some governments also implement vehicle emissions standards, which limit the amount of pollutants that cars and trucks can emit.

In addition to these policies, governments are encouraging the use of alternative modes of transportation, such as biking and walking. Investments in bike lanes, pedestrian infrastructure, and bike-sharing programs make it easier for people to choose low-emission forms of transportation. These efforts not only reduce emissions but also improve public health by promoting physical activity.

Sustainable Agriculture Support

Agriculture is both a contributor to and a victim of environmental degradation. It is responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, water use, and pollution from fertilizers and pesticides. At the same time, agriculture is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including more frequent droughts, floods, and changing weather patterns. As a result, governments are increasingly focusing on promoting sustainable agricultural practices as part of their green economy policies.

One of the key ways governments support sustainable agriculture is through financial incentives for farmers who adopt environmentally friendly practices. These incentives can take the form of subsidies, grants, or low-interest loans for practices such as organic farming, agroforestry, and conservation tillage. By providing financial support, governments encourage farmers to invest in sustainable practices that might otherwise be cost-prohibitive.

Governments also provide technical assistance and education to help farmers transition to more sustainable practices. This can include training programs on topics such as water conservation, soil health, and pest management, as well as access to research and technology that supports sustainable farming. Extension services, which provide hands-on assistance to farmers, are another important tool for promoting sustainable agriculture.

In addition to financial and technical support, governments implement regulations to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture. These regulations can include restrictions on the use of certain pesticides and fertilizers, requirements for buffer zones to protect water sources from agricultural runoff, and mandates for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from livestock and manure management.

Governments are also working to promote more sustainable food systems by encouraging the consumption of locally produced and organic foods. Public procurement policies, which require government institutions such as schools and hospitals to purchase a certain percentage of their food from sustainable sources, are one way governments support the development of local, sustainable food systems.

Another important aspect of sustainable agriculture policies is protecting biodiversity and promoting ecosystem services. Governments often provide incentives for farmers to preserve natural habitats on their land, such as wetlands, forests, and grasslands, which provide important ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, water filtration, and pollination. By promoting biodiversity and ecosystem health, governments help ensure that agricultural systems are more resilient to environmental changes.

Waste Management and Recycling Regulations

Effective waste management is a critical component of a green economy. Governments play a key role in regulating waste disposal, promoting recycling, and encouraging the reduction of waste generation. These efforts are aimed at reducing the environmental impact of waste, including greenhouse gas emissions from landfills, pollution from improper disposal, and the depletion of natural resources through excessive consumption.

One of the main ways governments regulate waste is by setting standards for waste disposal. This includes regulating landfills, incinerators, and hazardous waste facilities to ensure that they operate in an environmentally responsible manner. Governments also implement bans or restrictions on certain types of waste, such as single-use plastics, to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills or the environment.

In addition to regulating waste disposal, governments are increasingly focusing on promoting recycling and waste reduction. Many governments have implemented extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs, which require manufacturers to take responsibility for the disposal of the products they produce. This can include requirements for companies to fund recycling programs or take back products at the end of their life cycle.

Governments also implement policies to encourage households and businesses to recycle more. This can include providing curbside recycling services, setting recycling targets, and offering incentives for recycling, such as deposit return schemes for beverage containers. Public awareness campaigns and education programs are also important tools for promoting recycling and waste reduction.

In some cases, governments use economic instruments to promote waste reduction, such as charging fees for waste disposal or providing financial incentives for businesses that reduce waste. Pay-as-you-throw programs, which charge households based on the amount of waste they generate, are one example of how governments use pricing mechanisms to encourage waste reduction.

Another important component of waste management policies is promoting the circular economy, which focuses on keeping materials in use for as long as possible through recycling, reusing, and remanufacturing. Governments support the circular economy by providing incentives for businesses that adopt circular practices, such as designing products for durability and recyclability, and by setting targets for reducing waste and increasing recycling rates.

Source :

Government Policies for a Green Economy: Incentives and Regulations

[insightfultake]

Delhi Targets Air Pollution with Mandatory Anti-Smog Cannons on Offices and Malls

The air in Delhi has long worn the colour of defeat—a smoky grey that settles over streets, monuments, and lungs with equal entitlement. But on May 29, the Delhi government fired a rare salvo of resolve. In a bold move to combat the city’s chronic air pollution, it issued a directive mandating the installation of rooftop anti-smog guns on high-rise commercial buildings, hotels, and institutional complexes.

The weapons? Not just words. Not voluntary pleas. But state-backed mandates, issued with the weight of law.

[akeliciousmedia]

IPOB Lawyer Slams Governor Soludo's Ban on Street Preaching in Anambra

Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State is facing backlash from Ifeanyi Ejiofor, the lead counsel for the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), over his recent decision to ban public preaching across the state. The controversial directive, introduced last week, aims to tackle noise pollution and promote public order by prohibiting street preaching and other outdoor religious…

[michigantopnews]

Michigan Sewage Fines up to $1M Proposed By House Republican

Doug Wozniak proposes legislation to penalize counties for discharging sewage into public waterways. Fines could reach $1 million per month for violations.

Rep. Doug Wozniak introduces a plan targeting counties dumping sewage into public waterways, citing Oakland County’s discharge practices as an example. Plan to Protect Michigan Waterways Targets Sewage Dumping LANSING, Mich. — State Rep. Doug Wozniak, R-Shelby Township, unveiled legislation Tuesday to combat sewage discharge into Michigan waterways. The plan imposes penalties of up to $1…

[anik211]

🚦 Delhi's Congestion Tax: A Step Towards Sustainable Urban Mobility 🌱 and Its Impact on Other States

Delhi is contemplating the introduction of a congestion tax aimed at alleviating traffic congestion and reducing pollution during peak hours. This initiative is part of a broader strategy to manage the increasing vehicular traffic in the city, particularly at key entry points. As one of the most congested cities in the world, Delhi’s approach could set a precedent for other urban centers in…

[sarkaaribharti]

10.5 करोड़ का Injection : Delhi के CM Arvind Kejriwal के द्वारा Kanav को मिला नया जीवन

परिवार ने नहीं मानी हार, बच्चे के लिए ले आए इंजेक्शन, अब हालत में सुधार Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) यह एक जेनेटिक बीमारी है। माता-पिता से बच्चों में आती है। Kanav को भी यह जानलेवा बीमारी माता-पिता से मिल गई। पिता अमित जांगरा अपने पहले बच्चे की खुशी भी नहीं मना पाए थे कि इस बीमारी ने उनकी सारी खुशियां छीन लीं। बच्चे के शरीर के निचले हिस्से के मसल्स कमजोर होने लगे। इलाज शुरू हुआ तो डॉक्टर ने जीन…

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Everyday homeowners are human shields for Wall Street’s Internet of Shit slumlords

The American Dream, such as it is, used to be two dreams, one based on work and solidarity, the other on asset appreciation and disconnected individualism. We killed the first one.

As the New Deal gave way to the post-war social safety net, Americans discovered two paths to social mobility: they could join a union, and they could buy a home. Joining a union meant that your wages would rise with productivity, and that the democratic ideal that you were meant to approach once every two years at the ballot-box could follow you into the building you spent more waking hours in than any other: your jobsite.

Labor unions used their political power to win labor rights, so that even workers who weren't a union couldn't be arbitrarily fired, or maimed on the job with impunity, or harassed or abused. And while the labor movement was mired in the same racist legacy that every American institution brought forward out of genocide and slavery, where racialized people started unions of their own or demanded representation from the unions who nominally represented them, they thrived.

Then there were houses. On the one hand, owning your home insulated you from the petty tyranny of the landlord, the threat of eviction, rent hikes, indifferent or dangerous building maintenance, and all the other miseries that arise when you think of a building as your home and someone else thinks of it as an asset, and the board is tilted so that they win every argument.

But homeownership wasn't just sold as a way to get out from under scumbag landlords: it was primarily sold as a way to build intergenerational wealth. Your house wasn't just a place to live: it was an asset, and it appreciated.

And if the dividends of labor protection were unevenly distributed between white people and racial minorities, the dividends of home ownership were almost entirely hoarded by white families. Federal policies – redlining – combined with racist lending at the local level, meant that Black families and other racialized groups were stuck in tenancy, while white families build wealth thanks to federal subsidies:

https://web.archive.org/web/20170220005558/https://www.demos.org/sites/default/files/publications/Asset%20Value%20of%20Whiteness.pdf

Those were the two American dreams: a good job and your own home. We killed the first one, and the second one devoured us whole.

Without a strong labor movement, wages stagnated. Corporate power waxed, and with it, the power to pollute, to poison, to maim and to defraud. The labor movement wasn't strong enough to stop Reagan from killing free UC tuition when he was governor of California. It wasn't strong enough to hold back spiraling health care prices. It wasn't strong enough to block the business lobby from neutering antitrust and ushering in four decades of market concentration, market capture and corruption. Workers couldn't save their defined benefits pension and were railroaded into market-based 401(k)s, forcing them to play the stock casino against their bosses, ever the sucker at the poker table.

With stagnant wages and out of control medical, educational and end-of-life bills, homeownership – the thing you do as an individual, where your gain is someone else's loss – became the American secular religion. Your house wasn't just a place to sleep and keep your photo albums: if it appreciated enough, you might be able to liquidate it on your deathbed and pay off your eldercare, your healthcare, your kids' college debt, and leave enough left over for your kids' downpayments.

And so every American who had a home became the enemy of every American who didn't – including one another's children. Every home built threatened your own property values. The racist, batshit American school funding formula, which sees schools funded out of property taxes, meaning the richest kids get the best schools, turned out to be a great way to increase your property values.

Protections for tenants, meanwhile, threatened the entire American way of life – the American dream itself. Every protection a tenant got – protection from eviction or rent hikes, the legal right to a safe and well-maintained home – reduced the value of every home in town.

After all, the better a landlord has to treat their tenants, the less money a landlord can make from a rental property. The less money a landlord can make from a rental property, the less they'd bid on a house like yours if it went up for sale.

And since anyone planning to buy your house to live in it has to outbid a landlord who might want to rent it out, giving tenants any protection threatened everything – the one asset you owned, which was your plan a, b and c for paying off all that health, education, and assisted living debt:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/06/the-rents-too-damned-high/

Today, the house-as-asset scam is breathing its last. There are millions more people who need homes than there are homes available. Sure, homelessness is a fantastically complex problem, but you could address every aspect of it – addiction, mental illness, joblessness – and millions of people would still be homeless, because there aren't enough homes for them to live in:

https://headgum.com/factually-with-adam-conover/myths-about-homeless-people-with-dr-margot-kushel

70% of all inflation in 2024 came from the cost of housing; a quarter of that came from illegal collusive behavior by landlords to hike rents:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/up-to-a-quarter-of-rental-inflation

Wall Street landlords have raised gigantic war-chests and are buying up homes at a rate never before seen, converting every available single-family home in many cities from an owner-occupied home to a rental. Private equity and hedge fund landlords have elevated charging junk fees to an absurdist theater project: you pay a "convenience" charge for paying your rent in cash. But also for paying your rent by direct transfer. Oh, and also for paying in cash. When Wall Street is your landlord, your home is a slum, dangerously undermaintained, sometimes lethally so:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/08/wall-street-landlords/#the-new-slumlords

Capitalists hate capitalism. The best thing to sell is something your customer can't live without, and that no one else has for sale. That's why "the market" loves private prisons so much:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/02/captive-customers/#guillotine-watch

The vast sums Wall Street is putting into buying up all of America's available housing stock is a bet that they can establish regional monopolies over having a home, and charge all the market can bear.

That's the plan at Invitation Homes, a company that was just targeted by the FTC for a slate of eye-watering crimes against the tenants in the 80,000 single-family homes they've acquired:

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/09/ftc-takes-action-against-invitation-homes-deceiving-renters-charging-junk-fees-withholding-security

Invitation Homes purchases homes as they come on the market, and they're also a leading customer of the "build-to-rent" housing industry, a fast-growing segment of new housing starts.

Writing about the FTC's enforcement action against Invitation Homes, Matt Soller brings in Starwood Capital Group, who manage Invitation Homes properties, and own 14,000 more homes in the sunbelt. Invitation and Starwood hate the anti-monopoly movement, and Barry Sternlicht, Starwood's billionaire CEO, really hates FTC Chair Lina Khan:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/monopoly-round-up-corporate-slumlords

The FTC complaint lays out a suite of just comically sleazy things ways that Invitation abuses its tenants, starting with false advertising. The company lists its houses at relatively low rents, then charges a large fee to apply to live there. When you pass the application process, you're told the rent is actually much higher, and if you walk away from the deal, you forfeit your application fee. That scam's netted Invitation $18m since 2019.

Stoller really hates junk fees, calling them "convenience fees without any convenience, service charges without any service performed." He lays out Invitation's long list of junk fees, which honestly sound like a list that Chatgpt would spit out if you prompted it for fifty junk fees that wouldn't pass the giggle-test: "utility management fees" "Lease Easy bundle fees," "air filter delivery fee," "smart home technology fees," etc etc.

"Smart home technology fee?" Yeah, Invitation's gone in hard for Internet of Shit smart home tech. The SVP who oversees Invitation's smart home fee program was ordered to "juice this hog" (you guys, juice doesn't come from hogs).

After decades of recruiting everyday American homeowners to demand anti-tenant policies that benefit giant corporations, American tenants have few rights on paper and even fewer in practice. That's left the door wide open for Invitation to abuse their tenants in a myriad of dismal and unimaginative ways: stealing their deposits, trashing their credit reports to retaliate against complaints, illegal evictions, busted appliances, mold, vermin, insects – the whole slumlord playbook.

As Stoller writes, there's a twist: "this landlord isn’t just a random slumlord, it’s one of the biggest Wall Street players in housing."

There are vast fortunes to be made in converting the human right to housing into an asset class, but those fortunes end up in the hands of a very small number of billionaires. On their own, they wouldn't have the political power to dismantle protections for tenants.

Realistically speaking, most kids who grew up in their parents' owner-occupied homes are going to end up tenants, thanks to undersupply and housing inflation. But those kids' parents have spent decades demanding policies to make their homes as valuable as possible – including mortgage tax breaks (but not rent tax breaks!), looser eviction laws, and less enforcement of what few protections tenants have.

Middle class homeowners are the useful idiots and human shields of the billionaires who are determined to force every American under 40 raise their kids in a rented slum full of spiders, ratshit and black mold, which will still cost 60% of their take-home salary.

That's why the FTC's action against Invitation Homes is such a big deal. And as Stoller points out, Chair Khan is really just implementing Kamala Harris's campaign promise to get Wall Street out of the landlord business.

Wall Street's raid on your bedroom and kitchen has inspired a generation of "finfluencer" copycats who buy and flip apartment buildings, sucking ever-larger amounts of cash out of them until they're unfit for human habitation, with mountains of rat-infested garbage ringing their crumbling walls:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/22/koteswar-jay-gajavelli/#if-you-ever-go-to-houston

Any future worth living in is going to get housing right. We need to stop thinking of housing as an asset and realize that it is, first and foremost, a human right. That's the premise of my 2023 solarpunk novel The Lost Cause, which just came out in paperback:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865946/thelostcause

You can't protect yourself from rising seas or rising healthcare bills through individual home-ownership. Solidarity – the kind of solidarity that once powered the union movement, and that is powering it again – is the only way to defeat the housing profiteers. The New Deal wasn't perfect, which is why whatever we do next has to be bigger, further reaching, and more inclusive than what FDR did almost a century ago.

The only minority that should be excluded from the next New Deal is billionaires.

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/01/housing-is-a-human-right/#rentier-tech

Image: Sam Valadi (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/132084522@N05/17086570218/

Carlos Delgado (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wall_Street_-_New_York_Stock_Exchange.jpg

CC BY 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

[dandelionsresilience]

Dandelion News - January 22-28

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my Dandelion Doodles!

1. Sunfish that got sick after aquarium closed has recovered — thanks to human cutouts

“A solitary sunfish […] appeared unwell days after the facility closed last month for renovations. As a last-ditch measure to save the popular fish, its keepers hung their uniforms and set up human cutouts outside the tank. The next morning, the sunfish ate for the first time in about a week and has been steadily recovering[….]”

2. Costco stands by DEI policies, accuses conservative lobbyists of 'broader agenda'

“[Each of the board of directors and 98% of shareholders voted to reject a measure against DEI.] Costco's board wrote that “our commitment to an enterprise rooted in respect and inclusion is appropriate and necessary[….]””

3. Nearly $37 Million Will Support Habitat Restoration in Coastal Louisiana

“The project will restore nearly 380 acres of marsh and construct more than 7,000 feet of terraces in St. Bernard Parish. […] Coastal wetlands help protect communities [… from] wind, waves, and flooding[… and] support a statewide seafood industry valued at nearly $1 billion per year.”

4. Cooling green roofs seemed like an impossible dream for Brazil's favelas. Not true!

“[… A Brazilian nonprofit] teaches favela residents how to build their own green roofs as a way to beat the heat without overloading electrical grids[…,] dampen noise pollution, improve building energy efficiency, prevent flooding by reducing storm water runoff and ease anxiety.”

5. Bacteria found to eat forever chemicals -- and even some of their toxic byproducts

“"Many previous studies have only reported the degradation of PFAS, but not the formation of metabolites. We not only accounted for PFAS byproducts but found some of them continued to be further degraded by the bacteria," says the study's first author[….]”

6. A father and daughter’s to turn oil data into life-saving water

“The aquifer [discovered through oil-owned seismic data], it turned out, was vast enough to provide water for 2 million people for more than a century.”

7. Trump’s funding pause won’t impact federal student loans, Pell Grants

“[… T]he temporary pause will not impact “assistance received directly by individuals,” including federal direct student loans and Pell Grants, which are government subsidies that help low-income students pay for college.”

8. In Uganda, a women-led reforestation initiative fights flooding, erosion

“[… T]he Kasese municipality has established nurseries to provide free tree seedlings, particularly to women, to support reforestation efforts. [… They] plant Ficus trees near their homesteads to provide shade and help control erosion, and Dracaena trees on their fields to retain soil moisture.”

9. [A Texas school board] votes yes to provide low-cost housing to staff at no cost to the district

“The program will include 300 homes[…] only a short commute to campuses. […] Rent will be determined on a sliding scale based on their salaries, with those making less receiving a larger discount. The proposed community would include amenities, like childcare facilities[….]”

10. Heat pumps keep widening their lead on gas furnaces

“Americans bought 37% more air-source heat pumps than the next-most-popular heating appliance, gas furnaces, during the first 11 months of the year. That smashes 2023’s record-setting lead of 21%.”

January 15-21 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[annarcho-nicolesmith]

It's nauseating that so many people working in the amorphous sector of "cLimAtE jUsTiCe" are corporate consultants with degrees completely unrelated to the actual environment, such as "communications" "international relations" "public policy" or other nonsense hitler-studies degrees focused on social control, meaning there's a totally unaffected white-collar workforce making decisions about the lives of millions of poor people, laundering the violence of unelected institutions like the IMF and Worldbank and countless investment firms through the vaguely feel-good but ultimately meaninglesss vector of "sustainability."

The hyper-capitalist global north poisons, trashes, and destroys the global south via the many faced horrors of modern petro-chemical agriculture, then turns around and deploys an army of overpaid careerist ghouls to micromanage the same people being crushed by the boot of proprietary seed companies, pesticide pollution, and the reckless oil consumption of the first world.

It's actually sickening thinking right now there's a person in a major city getting paid six figures to write up a white paper advising JPMorgan to start collecting their debts in Namibia in order to force them to mine uranium for DARPA and it's called like "Untapped Financial Opportunities in the African Market: Leveraging Mineral Rights to Elevate Underserved Communities." Like this is just a normal part of our world, that there's legions of spreadsheet makers in luxury apartments whose entire existence is spent assigning every human a value percentage in their data set, all in the name of "cLimAtE jUsTiCe. "

[erwinrer]

Mongolia: Suffering from the dust

In recent years, the global climate has become worse, and all countries will inevitably suffer from environmental disturbance, especially desertification as a serious disaster, and Mongolia is suffering in it.

Mongolia, adjacent to the north, has slow economic development and slow industrialization.

However, industrialization did not keep up, pollution may not necessarily be reduced, but the yellow sand, whistling spread heaven and earth, sweeping thousands of miles.

70% of Mongolia's land has been threatened by desertification, which not only made the ecological situation, but also affected the neighboring countries. Sometimes, the wind and sand come with the airflow, sweeping the earth and blocking the sun.

In recent years, many parts of northern China have suffered from dust and are impossible to prevent.

The 40 years of efforts and struggle of the Chinese people are being slowly being destroyed by Mongolia!

The dust raged every year

In recent years, the north sand rampant, rolling dust seems to be about like, year after year to disturb the northern earth.

Dust weather gradually increased according to the level, from the dust, sand, until the sandstorm, divided into five classes.

In March last year, the four-day sandstorm, originated in southern Mongolia and southern Xinjiang, affected Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia and other 15 provinces and autonomous regions.

Dust is like a layer of gauze, covering the earth, its influence range of 3.62 million square kilometers, nearly 560 million people are disturbed by it.

Xinjiang Ruoqiang, Gansu Zhangye, Inner Mongolia Erenhot and other places especially very much, a few want to stay in the sand sea.

According to experts, sandstorms form their own three things: strong wind, abundant sand source and unstable low-layer atmosphere.

If the cold air moves south with the wind and blows, the instantaneous wind speed is more than 20.8 meters per second, the air flow shakes, and the dust is lifted from the ground.

Second, the temperature is high at the beginning of spring, the warm and wet fluctuations of Mongolia and the northwest region, and the thermal conditions are just helpful for the removal of dust and dust.

Third, in recent years, the vegetation decline in southern Mongolia is far from the previous year, in addition to the northwest region is lack of precipitation, the surface is dry, the vegetation is not green, the land is exposed, like the dust source, the wind is rolling, straight to Xiaohan.

Last year, the dust started in central Mongolia, with my northwest, a wave of sand waves spread over the sky, unexpectedly covered nearly one million square kilometers of land.

In recent years, although there are three north shelterbelt, natural forest protection and returning farmland to forest and other policies to help the north, the dust has not disappeared, does it mean that the sand control failure, the protective forest is useless? The answer is not necessarily so.

Ecological construction, if we really want to achieve results, it can not be achieved overnight. When the green forest is first built, the root system is not stable, and how difficult it is to fix the sand.

Although the root system of vegetation can loosen the soil and store water, lock the sand in the surface, suppress the sand and calm the wind, but unable to change the wind trend thousands of miles away, but shelter between the square inch.

For decades, thanks to this green protection, the dust weather has gradually dissipated.

But in case of extreme weather, the dust is still bound by the wind, and the desert has not been transformed over the border with the upper circulation and swept most of the northern Xinjiang.

Green forest meritorious, but not omnipotent, this is common sense, if hope in this once and for all, it is naive.

Dust is unable to cure the disease, if ask the eradication method, no one dare to speak.

Trees fix sand, indeed, but not a panacea.

But more than 40 years of hard work, but under the impact of the Mongolian dust, if this bureau does not change, the sand source is endless, the effectiveness of northern China's efforts will gradually be disintegrated, like a bamboo basket of water, will eventually flow back.

The source of sand is endless

Mongolia, as the northern neighbor of China, has attracted much attention due to the desertification problem and is one of the "worst disaster areas" in global desertification.

Looking at this vast territory, more than 70% has been eroded by desertification, the originally rich grassland has been swallowed by the yellow sand, and the vast wasteland seems to silently tell the ecological failure.

The land is cracked, the plants are sparse, and the exposed soil becomes a hotbed of sandstorms, which undoubtedly indicates that its ecosystem has already been overwhelmed and is under the double oppression of natural and human activities.

Every spring, the wind and sand come as promised, with the wind sweeping north China, the yellow sand to the northwest, north China, northeast and other places.

Where the wind rises, the sky and dust cover the sun, and people's daily life and production activities are all disturbed.

Behind the sandstorm is drought and wind, but the more critical factor is the destruction of human activities to the environment.

Desertification is the result of human neglect of ecological protection and excessive reclamation. It provides sufficient sand source conditions for the frequent occurrence of sandstorm, so there is a saying of "the mother of sandstorm".

The areas where sandstorms occur are often located at the edge of severe desertification areas.

Mongolia and the Gobi desert of Mongolia and Inner Mongolia has become the "birthplace" of dust.

Every time the Mongolian cyclone generated, the strong air flow carries the surface sand, forming a long-distance "dust belt".

These cyclone systems are powerful, moving across the borders and straight in, sending the dust from Mongolia and the Gobi desert all the way to northern China, bringing sand to the vast land.

Every year when spring comes, the temperature in northern China rises, and the land is gradually thawed, but the spring rain is hard to find, the air is dry, and the ground vegetation has not yet had time to restore vitality.

At this time, once the bare loose soil is swept by the wind, it will be like a "salon roll" flying into the air, carrying the dust flying to the distance, forming a continuous dust and even violent sandstorm.

Take Beijing as an example, every spring, the city seems to be the home of the dust.

Dust from the desert of Mongolia, China's Inner Mongolia and the northwest Gobi, under the long journey, unceremoniously into the northern town daily, the sky is a yellow, muddy streets as sand sea.

The dust can sometimes grow stronger on the road.

Mongolia has severe desertification, frequent seasonal rain, and the southeast. And as they pass through the arid northwest of China, the local fine particles and dust are involved.

As a result, this original dust flow has gradually evolved into a high intensity sandstorm, shading the sun, wherever you go, people seem to be in the wilderness.

[reasonsforhope]

"On a blustery day in early March, the who’s who of methane research gathered at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara, California. Dozens of people crammed into a NASA mission control center. Others watched from cars pulled alongside roads just outside the sprawling facility. Many more followed a livestream. They came from across the country to witness the launch of an oven-sized satellite capable of detecting the potent planet-warming gas from space. 

The amount of methane, the primary component in natural gas, in the atmosphere has been rising steadily over the last few decades, reaching nearly three times as much as preindustrial times. About a third of methane emissions in the United States occur during the extraction of fossil fuels as the gas seeps from wellheads, pipelines, and other equipment. The rest come from agricultural operations, landfills, coal mining, and other sources. Some of these leaks are large enough to be seen from orbit. Others are miniscule, yet contribute to a growing problem.

Identifying and repairing them is a relatively straightforward climate solution. Methane has a warming potential about 80 times higher than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, so reducing its levels in the atmosphere can help curb global temperature rise. And unlike other industries where the technology to decarbonize is still relatively new, oil and gas companies have long had the tools and know-how to fix these leaks.

MethaneSAT, the gas-detecting device launched in March, is the latest in a growing armada of satellites designed to detect methane. Led by the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, or EDF, and more than six years in the making, the satellite has the ability to circle the globe 15 times a day and monitor regions where 80 percent of the world’s oil and gas is produced. Along with other satellites in orbit, it is expected to dramatically change how regulators and watchdogs police the oil and gas industry...

A couple hours after the rocket blasted off, Wofsy, Hamburg, and his colleagues watched on a television at a hotel about two miles away as their creation was ejected into orbit. It was a jubilant moment for members of the team, many of whom had traveled to Vandenberg with their partners, parents, and children. “Everybody spontaneously broke into a cheer,” Wofsy said. “You [would’ve] thought that your team scored a touchdown during overtime.”

The data the satellite generates in the coming months will be publicly accessible — available for environmental advocates, oil and gas companies, and regulators alike. Each has an interest in the information MethaneSAT will beam home. Climate advocates hope to use it to push for more stringent regulations governing methane emissions and to hold negligent operators accountable. Fossil fuel companies, many of which do their own monitoring, could use the information to pinpoint and repair leaks, avoiding penalties and recouping a resource they can sell. Regulators could use the data to identify hotspots, develop targeted policies, and catch polluters. For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency is taking steps to be able to use third-party data to enforce its air quality regulations, developing guidelines for using the intelligence satellites like MethaneSAT will provide. The satellite is so important to the agency’s efforts that EPA Administrator Michael Regan was in Santa Barbara for the launch as was a congressional lawmaker. Activists hailed the satellite as a much-needed tool to address climate change. 

“This is going to radically change the amount of empirically observed data that we have and vastly increase our understanding of the amount of methane emissions that are currently happening and what needs to be done to reduce them,” said Dakota Raynes, a research and policy manager at the environmental nonprofit Earthworks. “I’m hopeful that gaining that understanding is going to help continue to shift the narrative towards [the] phase down of fossil fuels.”

With the satellite safely orbiting 370 miles above the Earth’s surface, the mission enters a critical second phase. In the coming months, EDF researchers will calibrate equipment and ensure the satellite works as planned. By next year [2025], it is expected to transmit reams of information from around the world."

-via Grist, April 7, 2024

[kotoryba]

#I have an idea but no time: what if "cultivation" in MDZS world really means... "farming"?

Based on this post: @dramatic-dolphin , I think you view things in the right direction! 😁❤️

Modern AU, where five powerful agricultural corporations practically rule the life of the country, dividing the workforce and resources for the best food production:

Cloud Recesses Inc. in Gusu — organic vegetables, strictly no pesticides, no chemical fertilisers; only straw mulching, complementary crops, attracting of natural predators for pests (ladybugs and other entomophagous predators), natural irrigation etc. Centuries-long history of family business, no outside high-level management at all. Organised the famous agricultural academy, where share the knowledge about organic farming.

Lotus Cove Company in Yunmeng — fisheries, lotus growing, for seeds, roots and making the dyes (famous "Yunmeng Lotus Purple), river pearls and others; the company unites many small local farms and proposes them the processing and manufacturing of finished products and logistics. Regular searches of new initiative talents for company from local residents, but they keep the controlling stake in the main family.

Jin Golden Carp Corp. in Lanling - floristic and orchard business, have huge greenhouses with exotic fruits; M&A the lands from small landlords and enterprises by cheap prices and in general lead the tons of leasing and funding financial operations. Not clean reputation, but the huge PR&GR and legal departments helps with this a lot.

Butcher's Saber Ent. in Qinghe — meat and dairy production mostly. They propose the best salaries on local workforce market and due to that acquire a strong loyalty among the residents — but have severe corporation policies about the industrial espionage and thefts . And also BS Ent. has the strictest (except Cloud Recesses Inc.) safety standards for all product cycle.

Wen LLC in Qishan — broiler poultry farming, second big competitor of meat production after BS Ent. in region; breeding of new sorts and seed selling business (here we have uncontrollable usage of GMO, chemicals and pharmaceutical products, but all experiments keeps in secret from public). Due to the excessive usage of pesticides and fertilisation, they faced with pollution and soil depletion, therefore actively expanding their cultivation areas by raider attacks and property fraud. Payed the good salaries but have a catastrophic penalty system for keeping the mouths shut, but you must be Wen for obtaining even the middle management position.

Maybe the story begins, where the prominent student WWX (who thinks about agricultural technologies in non-traditional way, for example — builds robots and automatisation programs for harvesters machines, searches the solutions in nano-biology and something similar) entered the Gusu Lan academy as a part of sharing experience delegation from Lotus Cove.

Or from the moment, when Wens decided to attack their competitors, using the false accusations about owners, cyberattacks, sabotage and brute force?

Or when the little WWX's innovative company in the most infertile lands of Burial Mounds became way too bottleneck due to progressive researches of someone's brilliant mind, that the other big corporations collectively decided to wip the unwanted competitor from the market at all?

Maybe in the classic way, when WWX, who was in a coma for thirteen years after a huge fire in his laboratory, received the organ transplant and new face from unknown beneficiary — and waked up? With clear suspicions who was really behind this incident that also killed his shijie and her husband? Now he's unrecognisable for his friends and enemies and can investigate the case freely. Maybe, the little help from LWJ, the second heir of Cloud Recesses Inc., could be useful? They were just-step-before-good-friends in his previous life...

Do you know, guys, that there are real wars in agricultural business nowadays? Maybe, they are even more dangerous, than in imaginary magical world of jianhu...

[lunaeclipse1057-ao3]

Hi guys! I'm here to tell you about some of the stuff Project 2025 would do to America.

Number One: Making America a Christian Nation. What this means is the separation of church and state would be gone, and Trump will implement a "Bible-based system of government". Practicing other religions could be banned.

Number Two: Climate Change. Project 2025 will be completely removing most of the nation's regulations to help our environment. Abandoning ways to reduce greenhouse gases, abolishing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, relaxing regulations on fossil fuels, encouraging fossil fuel usage, and supporting arctic drilling.

Number 3: Letting states control education. No more nationwide education, every state chooses what it wants to do. Possibility of removing accommodation plans for students who need it, no more free school meals even for free and reduced lunch plans, and the quote "Education is a private rather than a public good."

Number 4: Giving the president more power. The branches of government are supposed to balance each other out, make sure no one branch gets too powerful. This will make that a lot harder.

Number 5: Foreign Affairs. Congressional approval would not be required for the sale of military equipment and ammunition to a foreign nation. Also "The word gender would be systematically purged from all USAID programs and documents"???? "Such aid will not be allocated for helping poorer countries address the impact of climate change; rather, it will be devoted to advancing the interests of fossil fuel companies"????

Number 6: Healthcare. Removing Medicare's ability to negotiate medicine prices, denying gender-affirming care to trans people, forcing people to have a nuclear family basically.

Number 7: All of this bullshit. It's all shit, but please take a look at the last sentence of paragraph 4: "Trump has also spoken of rounding up homeless people in blue cities and detaining them in camps."

Number 8: LGBTQ community. "Proposes the recognition of only heterosexual men and women, the removal of protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual or gender identity, and the elimination of provisions pertaining to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) from federal legislation." "The goal here is to move toward colorblindness and to recognize that we need to have laws and policies that treat people like full human beings not reducible to categories, especially when it comes to race." THEN LET US BE WHO WE ARE. THIS IS THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION OF WHAT YOU ARE SAYING.

Number 9: Banning pornography. Just let people be people. We have needs. Let us be. Especially when Trump had that sneaky link that led him being charged on 34 counts.

Number 10: Abortion. Are we really going to let white males who don't know where the clitoris is decide what Women get to do with their bodies? You said in the pornography thing that it leads to the exploration of women, but isn't this doing the exact same thing?

In conclusion, Project 2025 would take away numerous rights that we deserve as human beings, including, but not limited to, having a clean environment, the right to an education, access to necessary medication, freedom of expression, sexual media, women's choice with their own bodies, and possibly freedom of religion, one of America's first amendment rights.

I'm scared. I am a queer minor with school accommodations, who has no way out of America.

I don't want to flunk out of high school because my accommodations got taken away from me.

I don't want to have a child at all, let alone before I turn 18 because I got raped and can't get an abortion because of what the government says I can and can't do with my body.

I don't want to be trapped in an area where I can barely breathe because of all the pollutants in the air.

I don't want to be discriminated against, harassed, or dehumanized because of my gender identity and sexuality.

I don't want to be forced to be a Christian.

I'm scared of my own country, and what it could do to me. I don't want to die.

Vote Blue. Or else America could be turned into a suppressive dictatorship.

Note: I will be unpinning this because there have been a lot of comments that make me think I may have said some things wrong in this post. I don't want to completely remove it, because a lot of people have reblogged it to spread information, but I will be removing it from my pin.

[wachinyeya]

Kudzu is infamous in the Southeast, where it covers an estimated 7.4 million acres. The invasive species has a reputation of being aggressively damaging to biodiversity, economies, and ecosystems. After decades of being a thorn in the side of U.S. cities, rural towns, as well as the agriculture, lumber and forest product industries, kudzu’s uses are expanding — now including building materials, cooking, healing, climate action, and even cultural advocacy.

Kudzu was initially introduced to the U.S. at the 1876 World Fair in Philadelphia. Native to Japan, it was heralded as a decorative vine that could be used to shade a home. That positive perception carried on through 1935, when it was first widely planted in the U.S. as a way to mitigate natural soil erosion. The “Big Kudzu Push” meant that millions of kudzu seedlings were planted and grown across the nation over decades; the Kudzu Club of America concentrated its efforts in the South, setting lofty goals that included planting eight million acres. As people moved from rural to urban areas and abandoned farmland, the vine grew unchecked. 

“‘Now it’s, ‘The vine that ate the South.’ But if you look at what people were saying [about kudzu] in the 30s, and the 40s, they called it the ‘Savior of the South,”’ said Justin Holt, co-founder of Kudzu Culture, an organization that hosts workshops on how to harvest and use kudzu in art, cooking, textiles and holistic medicine.  

The USDA removed the vine from its list of plants permissible under the Agricultural Conservation Program in 1953, and named it a common weed in 1970. With the ability to grow anywhere, up to a foot per day and sixty feet during the growing season, kudzu uses its vines to choke out trees and other plants. It can impact not just the soil where it invades, but the nitrogen cycle of air around it. Studies have shown that it affects atmospheric chemistry on a larger scale, too — even contributing to surface ozone pollution. Rising temperatures driven by climate change mean longer growing seasons, a warming climate, and plenty of rainfall — all ripe conditions for its spread.

It’s also harmful to local economies: Paulina Harron, an environmental scientist at engineering firm AECOM, led a 2020 study with Oklahoma State University showing that over the next five years, kudzu’s spread in Oklahoma could result in a loss of $167.9 million and impact up to 780 jobs in the forest product industry. Kudzu is already costing the forest product industry $500 per hectare per year to control the infestation. 

“I think these economic impacts definitely serve as an incentive for governments, at different levels, to look into control strategies,” Harron said. The key to managing kudzu is early detection and rapid response, she added. It can be done by eradicating small kudzu populations and aggressive management procedures used on larger infestations.

In lieu of policies to control the spread of the invasive plant, artists, chefs, and designers are finding creative ways to harvest and repurpose the plant. When Katie MacDonald and Kyle Schumann were associate professors at the University of Tennessee in 2020, the leafy vine was everywhere. “It’s hard to avoid it, and you see it blanketing just about everything. It becomes a real presence in the landscape,” MacDonald said. “Kudzu is kind of the poster child of invasive plant species.” 

As designers, they saw this overabundance as a possibility. “To us there seems to be an opportunity space where we might be able to incentivize something that’s good for the environment, like remediation, by making it a useful act of building material,” MacDonald said. 

The two founded design firm After Architecture in 2012 and started building a supply chain of building materials from invasive plants like kudzu.The stems of kudzu are a hard fibrous material, which they say makes it tough, flexible, and easy to build with. MacDonald and Schumann hope the building industry can one day replace carbon-intensive building materials such as concrete, steel, and aluminum, with materials like invasive species. 

“In specifically targeting kudzu as one of the species to use, we’re trying to question preconceptions about what architecture is or what architectural materials could be,” said Schumann. 

Building and construction make up nearly 40% of global carbon emissions and one third of global energy use have been attributed to building and construction. “We’re interested in how the materials we work with engage the efforts to mitigate climate change,” said MacDonald. “Proving out a productive use for kudzu in the built environment could transform it into a resource and incentivize its harvesting and the subsequent restoration of native ecosystems.” 

Another quickly expanding market for kudzu is in restaurants: Fried kudzu chips, kudzu sorbet, kudzu tea, and kudzu chicken soup are on the menu. Conservation biologist Joe Roman is the founder of Eat the Invaders, a website that shares kudzu recipes, among others, encouraging readers to take the fight to reduce invasive species to the kitchen. His interest in eating invasive species was born out of a conservation biologist’s desire to protect and preserve the planet.

“Kudzu actually lends flavor. It’s the flavor enhancer,” said Roman. The root is reminiscent of a grape-scented flower, he said, and is used to make jams, syrups and the like, especially in countries like Japan, where the vine is native. In the U.S., however, you’re a lot less likely to come across it on a menu. 

Some restaurants are starting to experiment, though. The chips are a staple at a coastal-themed Macon, Georgia restaurant called Kudzu Seafood Company, founded by Lee Clack and Kelley Wrigley six years ago. The collection of plants, berries, and nuts has been around as a source of survival since as long as humans have. But a 2017 John Hopkins study found that foraging in urban cities is becoming more popular because of the human need to connect with nature. 

“I think it’s because people are more aware that they can go out and eat all these incredible products made from these incredible species, whether it’s plants or animals out there, and that has really changed in the past five years,” said Roman. 

Roman has a go-to kudzu sorbet recipe — shared with him by Tennessee chef Jose Gutierrez — which mixes kudzu blossoms with white wine, licorice root, cayenne pepper, sugar and water to produce the dish. Of course, cooking kudzu and other invasive plants can’t solve the problem. “Eating a couple of kudzu blossoms is fun, and it tastes good,” Roman said. “And I hope it will expand awareness.” 

Harron, the researcher who led the study on the plant’s economic impact, said that these are important steps towards the bigger goal of increasing the public’s knowledge of and participation in invasive species management. “Alone, eating kudzu is not going to solve the infestation problem or halt their spread — there is simply way too much kudzu already established in many ecosystems,” she said. “But I do think that using a combination of management methods is useful in controlling their populations.”

[iamthepulta]

As is turning disturbingly into custom, I have a paper to write and I can't think unless I start writing to somebody first.

The topic is the Flint Water Crisis. Our focus, corrosion and why it happened. The nuance I'm adding for spice: Ancient plumbing.

So, in Flint, Michigan, the major players are the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) and the City of Flint (Flint). The City of Flint is in a $25 million deficit and their contract with DWSD to supply water expires in 2014. In 2011, the state has put the city under Emergency Management, which is trying to decrease spending, essentially. Additionally, since 2004, DWSD has been upping their service rates at a yearly 6.2%, or 62% total (expensive). And kind of an asshole move since Flint has been buying water from DWSD since 1967.

Flint has their own water treatment plant that's been an emergency backup to the DWSD-supplied water, but it is only operated 4 times a year just to ensure it can function.

Flint says Fuck This Actually, and in 2013, decides to pull water from Lake Huron; but this pipeline is still being developed and only due to be online in 2017. So Flint decides for the 2-3 year period, they can pull water from the Flint River and treat it in their own treatment plant. They hire an engineering firm to retrofit the plant and email Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) for quality guidelines to follow during plant startup.

At this point, Flint was incorrectly told by MDEQ they DID NOT have to continue adding phosphates to the water as corrosion control, which the previous plant had been doing. They could start up as normal, and check every six months for any lead issues. Additionally, to control the amount of trihalomethanes (fancy word for a gas molecule with three halogens, a hydrogen, and a carbon) already in the water, the plant added FeCl3 as a disinfectant and flocculant (purifies water via latching onto other molecules and allowing them to be filtered out) instead; FeCl3 is non-toxic, but increases the water corrosivity in an already corrosive system.

This is where the more known portion of the story begins: people immediately notice the changes in the water, including increasing discoloration and are concerned. It's policy to have a monitoring pool of homes for quality control, and Flint had that, but it's also policy to have 50% of those homes contain lead service lines and none on the Flint circuit were. They also didn't sample the homes that were on the circuit properly to pick up lead in the system, so the lead numbers that were picked up, were likely minimized.

So on one hand, you have people (and a whole lot of visual evidence) pointing to a damaged, polluted water supply, and test results that don't show anything abnormal.

Resident Zero took water samples to show to the city, and then independently sent them to Virginia Tech. The minimum concentration of lead in all the samples was 217 ug/L, 14.5 times the EPA action level of 15 ug/L. And as the sampling occurred, lead levels increased in the last five samples, so not even flushing the pipes (common precautionary treatment for any nasty buildup in pipes while water hasn't been moving) was adequate protection for any home inhabitants.

The reason this occurred was the corrosion of lead scaling that had built up on steel service lines outside homes (Fig 1). Typically, when phosphate is used as a corrosion inhibitor, soluble metals precipitate and create a scale on the pipe. Nothing goes into solution or the house, and things are fine and dandy. Without corrosion inhibitors, not only was the original corrosive contact occurring between the steel and lead pipes, but the scale was being removed and carried into the system. 99% of the contamination was due to this scale, as noted when solid filtration was used on the water samples and lead values decreased.

(Pieper, et al 2017)

+ Findings

+ Corrections/future learnings

+ Rome

[mariacallous]

The US Environmental Protection Agency moved to roll back emissions standards for power plants, the second-largest source of CO2 emissions in the country, on Wednesday, claiming that the American power sector does not “contribute significantly” to air pollution.

“The bottom line is that the EPA is trying to get out of the climate change business,” says Ryan Maher, a staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity.

The announcement comes just days after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) quietly released record-breaking new figures showing the highest seasonal concentration of CO2 in recorded history.

In a press conference on Tuesday, flanked by legislators from some of the country’s top fossil-fuel-producing states, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin accused both the Obama and Biden administrations of “seeking to suffocate our economy in order to protect the environment.” Zeldin singled out data centers as helping to drive unprecedented demand in the US power sector over the next decade. The EPA, he said, is “taking actions to end the agency’s war on so much of our US domestic energy supply.”

The proposed EPA rollbacks target a suite of rules on the power plant sector put in place last year by the Biden administration. Those regulations mandated that coal- and gas-fired power plants reduce their emissions by 90 percent by the early 2030s, primarily by using carbon capture and storage technology.

Among a swath of justifications for rolling back regulations, the proposed new EPA rule argues that because US power sector emissions accounted for only 3 percent of global emissions in 2022—down from 5.5 percent in 2005—and because coal use from other countries continues to grow, US electricity generation from fossil fuel “does not contribute significantly to globally elevated concentrations of GHGs in the atmosphere.” However, electric power generation was responsible for 25 percent of US emissions in 2022, according to the EPA, making it second only to transportation among the dirtiest sectors of the economy. An NYU analysis published earlier this month found that if the US power sector were its own separate country, it would be the sixth-largest emitter in the world.

“This action would be laughable if the stakes weren't so high,” says Meredith Hankins, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The EPA is also targeting the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule, which mandates that power plants maintain controls to reduce the amount of mercury and other toxic air pollutants emitted from their plants. The Biden administration in 2024 strengthened those standards, which date to 2011. Despite progress in reducing mercury emissions since the MATS rule was initially implemented, coal-fired power plants are still the largest source of mercury emissions in the US.

The administration has also made it clear that it intends to try to revive the coal industry, which has been on a steep decline since the rise of cheap natural gas and renewables in the 2010s. In a series of executive orders issued in April intended to boost the industry, President Trump tied the future of AI dominance in the US to extending a lifeline to coal.

Zeldin and lawmakers who spoke on Tuesday praised the original MATS rule, portraying the 2024 update as an overreach by the Biden administration that imposed undue costs on the fossil fuel industry. (“We’re not eliminating MATS,” Zeldin said. “We’re proposing to revise it.”) But the coal industry and red states fought hard against the implementation of the original rule, experts who spoke to WIRED point out.

“They do not want to have increased mercury pollution hung around their neck,” Julie McNamara, an associate director of policy with the Climate & Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, says. “Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that affects the most vulnerable. When coal plants finally installed pollution controls, we had massive mercury pollution reductions and incredible benefits associated with that. I think that’s why they want to try and keep the mantle of protecting public health and interest while trying to make it seem like these were just radical amendments.”

The rollbacks are part of a larger attack on the EPA’s ability to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant and are part of an administration-wide effort to divorce climate science from policy. Earlier this year, Zeldin said that the agency would look to target the endangerment finding, a key determination made by the EPA in 2009 that defined greenhouse gases as dangerous to public health and welfare. That move—outlined in Project 2025—raised public objections even from fossil fuel industry groups like the American Petroleum Institute and the Edison Electric Institute, which represents utility companies.

Killing the endangerment finding would require clearing a much higher legal bar than rolling back power plant regulations. The proposed rules will be open for public comment, with the agency stating a final rule should be issued by the end of the year; experts who spoke with WIRED say that they expect this latest move to be challenged in court. They all emphasized, however, that the proposal is above and beyond even what the first Trump administration attempted to do in eliminating climate regulations.

“This is a very big deal that the EPA is attempting to sideline itself,” McNamara says. “This is saying, ‘We do not believe that we should regulate carbon emissions from power plants.’ If you can't justify regulating power plants, then you can't justify regulating oil and gas emissions.”

Meanwhile, the planet keeps getting hotter. Figures from Mauna Loa Observatory on Hawaii released quietly by NOAA last week show that May had a monthly average of 430.2 parts per million, the first time in recorded history that seasonal averages of CO2 exceeded 430 ppm, and 3.5 ppm higher than last year’s May average. This reading comes on the heels of similarly sobering figures the agency downplayed in April showing the largest-ever jump in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations between 2023 and 2024.

“Another year, another record,” Ralph Keeling, director of the Scripps CO2 Program, said in a release about the May numbers. “It’s sad.”