The Urban Institute’s walkability report: “When the District of Columbia launched its Vision Zero initiative in 2015, a pedestrian or cyclist had been dying on the city’s streets every 21 days. Now, seven years into an initiative intended to eliminate traffic-related deaths by 2024, the District has gone backward: in 2021, a pedestrian or cyclist… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Environmental Law
Revealed: the ‘carbon bombs’ set to trigger catastrophic climate breakdown
The Guardian, Exclusive: “The world’s biggest fossil fuel firms are quietly planning scores of “carbon bomb” oil and gas projects that would drive the climate past internationally agreed temperature limits with catastrophic global impacts, a Guardian investigation shows. The exclusive data shows these firms are in effect placing multibillion-dollar bets against humanity halting global heating.… Continue Reading
62 world-changing ways companies are addressing the climate crisis
Fast Company: “The climate category of Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards recognizes projects designed to mitigate the impacts of climate change, limit emissions, help build resiliency to climate disasters, or otherwise help solve issues of climate crisis. See the finalists and honorable mentions below, and read about the winner, a startup helping turn old… Continue Reading
The massive, unregulated source of plastic pollution you’ve probably never heard of
Recode: “We’re making these nurdles and basically spilling oil, just in a different form.” NEW ORLEANS — On an overcast day in April, on the edge of Chalmette Battlefield, a few miles outside the city, Liz Marchio examined a pile of broken twigs and tree branches on the bank of the Mississippi River. “Usually I… Continue Reading
Unchecked global emissions on track to initiate mass extinction of marine life
Princeton University: “As greenhouse gas emissions continue to warm the world’s oceans, marine biodiversity could be on track to plummet within the next few centuries to levels not seen since the extinction of the dinosaurs, according to a recent study in the journal Science by Princeton University researchers. The paper’s authors modeled future marine biodiversity… Continue Reading
World’s reptiles comprehensively assessed – IUCN Red List
“Comprehensive Study of World’s Reptiles: More Than One in Five Reptile Species are Threatened with Extinction. Many Likely Benefit From Efforts to Save Other Animals: Conservation efforts for other animals have likely helped protect many reptile species, according to a new study led by NatureServe, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and Conservation… Continue Reading
Plastics Recycling ‘Does Not Work,’ Environmentalists Stress as U.S. Recycling Rates Drop to 5%
EcoWatch: “A new report shows that U.S. plastic recycling rates have declined from about 8.7% to between 5% and 6%, revealing the challenges and shortcomings of the country’s waste management infrastructure and policies. Environmental organizations Last Beach Clean Up and Beyond Plastics issued the report, which found a decline in recycling rates since 2018, the… Continue Reading
2022 World Changing Ideas Awards
“Every year, Fast Company’s World-Changing Ideas Awards honor the innovative ways businesses and organizations are tackling the biggest challenges of our time. Amid the seemingly endless stream of disastrous news, these awards provide more than 1,000 reasons to feel some hope. One thousand fifty-three, to be exact. That’s the total number of honorees that our… Continue Reading
The Power of Parks to Address Climate Change
“As a warming planet leads to worsening risks and impacts, American cities are taking matters into their own hands. Cities are not only pledging to slash carbon emissions in the coming decades. They are also figuring out how to be more resilient. Because one thing is clear: disadvantaged communities that have been historically neglected will… Continue Reading
The Pandemic Gave Scientists a New Way to Spy on Emissions
Wired – “Researchers have struggled to quantify in real time how much carbon dioxide humans spout. Lockdowns presented a unique opportunity to get a clearer picture…But now the Covid-19 pandemic has, oddly enough, helped give scientists a better top-down tool for estimating minute changes in fossil fuel emissions. A team of researchers used the UK’s… Continue Reading
The Power of Big Oil
“FRONTLINE examines the fossil fuel industry’s history of casting doubt and delaying action on climate change. This three-part series traces decades of missed opportunities and the ongoing attempts to hold Big Oil to account.” See also – The Guardian – ‘”In a powerful new three-part docuseries, the oil industry is put on trial as the… Continue Reading
Massive wildfires helped fuel global forest losses in 2021
Forest Loss Remained Stubbornly High in 2021 – “The tropics lost 11.1 million hectares of tree cover in 2021, according to new data from the University of Maryland and available on Global Forest Watch. Of particular concern are the 3.75 million hectares of loss that occurred within tropical primary rainforests — areas of critical importance… Continue Reading
