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Los Angeles kids finally get a breath of fresh air

by Jana9324cuf Posted on March 5, 2015

Los Angeles kids finally get a breath of fresh air

By on 5 Mar 2015commentsShare

Good news about air pollution! No, really: According to a new study published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine, kids in Los Angeles are breathing easier than they used to, thanks to a decline in local air pollution.

The story started in 1994, when a group of researchers at the University of Southern California began tracking the lung function and development of little Los Angelinos as they went from pubescent 11-year-olds to borderline cool-but-not-really 15-year-olds — a crucial period for lung development in both girls and boys. Then the researchers started over with new groups of kids in 1997 and 2007 to see if anything changed as L.A. began the dirty work of cleaning up its pollution problem. Between 1994 and 2011, when the study ended, the city reduced its levels of both nitrogen dioxide and certain tiny airborne particles, by about 40 percent.

Here’s what the scientists found: Kids in the last group showed 10 percent more lung growth than those in the first group, and only 3.6 percent of the last group had abnormally low lung function at the end of the four years compared to 7.9 percent of the first group. These results account for differences in gender, race, ethnicity, tobacco use, secondhand smoke exposure, parental education, and other potentially important factors — meaning the changes in air quality are the best explanation for the improvements in lung function.

Here’s a nice little rundown of the study from its lead researcher W. James Gauderman:

Now, don’t get cocky, L.A. This doesn’t mean you’re off the hook, as Gauderman emphasized in this press release from USC:

“We can’t get complacent, because not surprisingly the number of vehicles on our roads is continually increasing. Also, the activities at the ports of L.A. and Long Beach, which are our biggest polluting sources, are projected to increase. That means more trucks on the road, more trains carrying cargo.”

Okay. So maybe this is more like “good news about air pollution, with some caveats.” And speaking of caveats, here are a few more: Pollution is still a huge problem all around the country, and it’s doing more than just hindering lung development. A recent study published in PLOS Medicine shows how pollution can hurt cognitive development in children. That, in turn, could lead to problems later in life. Oh, and we also know that air pollution can mess with our genes and mental health.

But remember that thing about the kids in L.A.? That’s still a win.

Source:
L.A. Story: Cleaner Air, Healthier Kids

, University of Southern California.

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Los Angeles kids finally get a breath of fresh air

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Care about global climate change? Then fight local air pollution

by LaraeMcDonagh Posted on February 26, 2015

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The dirty fuels that cause pollution also cause global warming. hxdbzxy/Shutterstock Leaders of developing countries should take a look at a new study by professors and researchers at Harvard, Yale, and the University of Chicago, and keep it in mind when they go to Paris to discuss a global climate agreement this December. According to the study, published in the journal Economic & Political Weekly(EPW), “India’s population is exposed to dangerously high levels of air pollution.” Based on ground-level measurements and satellite data, the paper estimates that 660 million Indians live in areas exceeding the Indian government’s air quality standard for fine particulate pollution. The causes are the same as they are everywhere: cars, industrial activity, and electricity generation. Coal is India’s primary source of power, accounting for more than half of its energy portfolio. Car ownership is rapidly becoming more widespread, and Indian cars often run on diesel, which generates more particulate pollution than gasoline. While diesel emits less carbon, it may cause just as much global warming because the soot it creates is also a contributor to climate change. It’s not new news that India’s air pollution is terrible. The 2014 Yale Environmental Performance Index found India had the fifth worst air pollution out of 178 countries, and the World Health Organization ranked 13 Indian cities among the 20 in the world with the worst fine particulate air pollution. As The New York Times noted in a 2014 editorial, “According to India’s Central Pollution Control Board, in 2010, particulate matter in the air of 180 Indian cities was six times higher than World Health Organization standards.” Here’s why this matters for climate change: The dirty fuels that cause particulate pollution are the same dirty fuels that cause global warming. Cracking down on local air pollution will not only save lives, it will shift the economics of energy toward cleaner sources that produce less carbon. The willingness of India and other populous developing countries such as China, Brazil, and Indonesia to adopt such policies may determine the fate of the Earth. Read the rest at Grist.

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Care about global climate change? Then fight local air pollution

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Airpocalypse Now: Beijing’s Toxic Smog Measures “Beyond Index” Levels

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Care about global climate change? Then fight local air pollution

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Breathing Air Shouldn’t Be This Dangerous

by MarcoMcAlroy Posted on January 22, 2015

Mother Jones

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Looking at China’s recent surge of toxic smog, it’s clear the nation’s air pollution crisis isn’t going away any time soon. Now we have some fresh statistics that reveal the extent of the problem.

New rankings released today by Greenpeace reveal that 90 percent of Chinese cities that report their air pollution levels are failing to meet China’s own national standards—the latest indication of the monumental challenges facing the Chinese government in cleaning up the air breathed by tens of millions of people. It’s a worry that has become a political thorn in the side of the Communist Party, intent on maintaining its power in the face of growing public restlessness over environmental degradation.

The analysis comes at a time when large swaths of the country suffer under thick layers of toxic smog—usually worse in winter, as demand for central heating increases coal-fired power production. The smog persists despite the government’s self-declared “war on pollution” in 2014, which includes measures to curtail coal use in big cities like Beijing, and limit heavy industries.

The statistics, derived from China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, measure a city’s yearly average concentration of PM2.5, shorthand for the toxic airborne particles from coal burning and industrial exhaust. In 2014, just 18 cities out of a total 190 met what’s known as China’s “Class II” standard of 35 micrograms per cubic meter of air, considered within the healthy range. (The US standard is about half that number). A quarter of the cities recorded levels more than double the national standard.

The most polluted places are among the most populous. Of the 10 cities with the worst PM2.5 air pollution, seven of them were in Hebei, the coal belt province neighboring Beijing. In the top five worst offenders is heavy industry hub Baoding (ironically home to the world’s largest solar manufacturing plant, which is trying to wean the country off coal) and the notoriously polluted Shijiazhuang, where, last year a local man attempted to sue the local government over air pollution. Both cities recorded average levels more than 3.6 times China’s limit, which came into effect in 2012. Life spans in China’s north, where coal plants are ubiquitous, are thought to be five years shorter than those in the south of the country, according to a 2013 study.

Average rates of pollution, of course, don’t provide a clear picture of the off-the-charts spikes experienced regularly across major cities, such as in mid-January this year, when concentration of PM2.5 exceeded 500, according to the US Embassy in Beijing, or in 2013, when some instruments recorded levels of over 1000 in the northern city of Harbin.

Greenpeace’s latest campaign is accompanied by the release of a short film by famous Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke, the critically acclaimed director of 2013’s “A Touch of Sin“. The film shows scenes from daily life in China, under the pall of smog:

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Breathing Air Shouldn’t Be This Dangerous

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Airpocalypse Now: Beijing’s Toxic Smog Measures “Beyond Index” Levels

by Myrna Posted on January 16, 2015

Again. No matter what desperate steps the Chinese government takes—banning coal burning plants within the city limits, shuttering more than 300 factories, wiping out old vehicles and boilers, forcing heavy trucking to go nocturnal—this just keeps happening: Beijing’s smog has yet again soared off the charts. On Thursday local time, Beijing measured “beyond index” levels of the dangerous airborne particulate matter known as PM2.5—considered hazardous to human health because the tiny particles can embed deep in a person’s respiratory system. Those sky-high levels have been measured several times since the US began measuring the city’s air using a device installed atop its embassy in Beijing in 2008, most notably during a “crazy bad” incident in 2010, and 2013′s “airpocalypse”. Thursday’s levels indicated the concentration of PM2.5 exceeded 500 on an “Air Quality Index” (AQI) measured from the embassy. The Beijing municipal government maintains its own index, always notably lower than the US readings, which reported an AQI of 430—still hazardous. (Anything above 150 is considered unhealthy for the general population). Today’s levels are generally regarded as more than 20 times the limit recommended by the World Health Organization. There you have it. We are now “Beyond Index” in terms of Beijing air pollution pic.twitter.com/lJgQR5X7hR — Peter Schloss (@peterschloss) January 15, 2015 Another sunny day in #Beijing. #AQI over 600, i.e., “beyond index”. Well beyond. pic.twitter.com/fCb04H9rvY — Nicholas P Manganaro (@NicholasXPM) January 15, 2015 Air in Beijing is “beyond index.” Off the charts & beyond hazardous. CCTV Tower invisible from NYT office. pic.twitter.com/8fpDahRE1E — Edward Wong (@comradewong) January 15, 2015 Beijing pollution off the charts today pic.twitter.com/ng3TLe3MSi — ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) January 15, 2015 Despite the frigid mass of putrid air, this week’s levels don’t come close to records set in 2013, when the AQI surged to over 755. Then, expats gave it a nickname: “airpocalypse.” It covered 1 million square miles (2.7 million square kilometers) of the country with a pall of smog that impacted more than 600 million people. I made this chart then to show what exactly was in Beijing’s air, a lethal combination of particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and ozone. It also gives you a sense of how the Air Quality Index works: One reason it’s so hard to control the air quality in Beijing is that the smog problem sweeps in from neighboring provinces, known as the “black triangle”—Shanxi, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia. Prevailing wind patterns in that area of China pick up the pollution from at least 38 coal-fired power plants and send it straight into Beijing, which is landlocked and tends to trap the smog. Click map to see how prevailing winds sweep pollution into Beijing from neighboring provinces. As I’ve reported previously, the smog is the main thing driving so much of China’s push to tackle climate change (reducing CO2 emissions will also cut pollution) and its exploration of natural gas through a major fracking push in the southwestern province of Sichuan. It’s worth noting that China continues to be the world’s biggest investor in clean energy technologies. But so long as smog continues to blanket cities like Beijing, home to 21 million people, the government will continue to face mounting political pressure amongst an uneasy population that was promised, along with economic prosperity and greater freedoms associated with opening up to the rest of the world, a better quality of life. View original article –  Airpocalypse Now: Beijing’s Toxic Smog Measures “Beyond Index” Levels ; ; ;

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Airpocalypse Now: Beijing’s Toxic Smog Measures “Beyond Index” Levels

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California’s cap-and-trade program now covers cars

by GrantBramlett Posted on January 2, 2015

California’s cap-and-trade program now covers cars

By on 2 Jan 2015commentsShare

After a long PR battle between oil industry lobbyists and California’s regulatory agencies, the state’s cap-and-trade program was extended on Jan. 1, on schedule, to cover companies that sell fuel to drivers. That means fuel retailers will have to either provide lower-carbon fuels or buy permits for the pollution their products put into the air.

Industry front groups have been labeling this new extension of the cap-and-trade program a “hidden gas tax.” Citing calculations based on outdated figures, these groups have been threatening that, starting this month, prices at the pump will go up for Californians by as much as $0.76 per gallon.

That’s not true, say the California government and independent economists. Yes, some of the cost — something in the neighborhood of 9 or 10 cents per gallon — could be passed on to consumers. But with gas prices across the U.S. falling ever lower, California drivers likely won’t notice much of a difference. Furthermore, as the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Simon Mui points out, AB 32 — the California climate change legislation that led to the creation of the cap-and-trade program — takes steps to encourage fuel efficiency and to promote alternatives to gasoline-powered cars, from electric vehicles to high-speed trains. Those initiatives, NRDC estimates, could end up saving families hundreds of dollars in transportation costs each year.

So why is the industry warning of a major hike in fuel prices even when independent analysts are saying Californians can expect to pay only an additional dime a gallon? Some consumer advocates worry it’s a sign that the industry may try to have the last word by artificially hiking prices in protest of the program. For instance, the oil industry might pull one or more of the state’s 14 refineries offline, causing prices to spike. So last month, Consumers Union, the policy arm of Consumer Reports, sent a letter to the state agency that oversees fuel markets warning it to watch for market manipulation from a spiteful industry.

“Oil companies launched a ballot initiative, backed a number of failed bills to dismantle clean energy efforts and have spent $70 million lobbying Sacramento politicians” to undermine the state’s climate law, said Shannon Baker-Branstetter, policy counsel for Consumers Union, in a press release put out with the letter. “Through it all, consumers have been steadfast in their support of clean energy and energy efficiency.” Baker-Branstetter noted that even as oil prices are falling, industry-backed groups “continue to claim that gas price spikes are coming starting in January 2015. … We want to make sure that California consumers are protected against possible market manipulations.”

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that, perhaps in response to these concerns, California’s Energy Commission appointed new members to the state agency that monitors how regulations affect fuel prices — including the head of antitrust operations in the state attorney general’s office.

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Do You Know Where Your Old iPhone is Going?

by SebastiGoloubev Posted on September 29, 2014

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Do You Know Where Your Old iPhone is Going?

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Behind Toledo’s Water Crisis, a Long-Troubled Lake Erie

by Myrna Posted on August 4, 2014

Pollution concerns persist about tides of phosphorus in the Great Lakes and in waterways across the United States. View article: Behind Toledo’s Water Crisis, a Long-Troubled Lake Erie Related ArticlesLifting Ban, Toledo Says Its Water Is Safe to Drink AgainEconomic View: Shattering Myths to Help the ClimateDeal Struck in Colorado Over Vote on Drilling

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Behind Toledo’s Water Crisis, a Long-Troubled Lake Erie

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How Our Jeans Are Damaging the Rivers Around Us

by Charmai90K Posted on July 30, 2014

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How Our Jeans Are Damaging the Rivers Around Us

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Nicotine-like pesticide blamed in bee deaths widespread in Midwestern rivers

by EddyAtfxhxwqthx Posted on July 29, 2014

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If you’re ready to get started learning about growing and using herbs, herbal remedies and recipes, this book is for you. This book is a herbal beginner’s essential friend. Packed with detailed information about herbs, their history and why they’re important, a beginner’s guide to growing herbs, drying herbs, buying herbs, storing herbs – and an extensive lo

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White Dwarf Issue 25: 19 July 2014 – White Dwarf

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Travels With Casey – Benoit Denizet-Lewis

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Nicotine-like pesticide blamed in bee deaths widespread in Midwestern rivers

Posted in alo, eco-friendly, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, LG, Monterey, ONA, organic, solar, solar power, Uncategorized, Vintage | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Nicotine-like pesticide blamed in bee deaths widespread in Midwestern rivers

California’s cap-and-trade program will fund environmental justice

by Julienne2739 Posted on June 27, 2014

Please, sir, may I have some more?

California’s cap-and-trade program will fund environmental justice

By

Jason Holmberg

Neighbors of refineries such as this one in Richmond will benefit from California’s cap-and-trade program.

Have poor Californians hit the environmental-health jackpot?

The money raised through the sale of carbon credits under the state’s young carbon-trading program is earmarked for projects that help the climate and the environment. And under a law passed a couple of years ago, SB 535, 25 percent of that money must go to programs that provide benefits to disadvantaged communities, with 10 percent to be spent on projects located directly within those communities. Disadvantaged communities are determined by the state based on pollution levels and socioeconomic factors. They are typically poor neighborhoods of color, where health is compromised and lives are cut short by pollution from the refineries and power plants whose greenhouse gas emissions are being capped.

A $156 billion budget signed recently by Gov. Jerry Brown (D) outlines how the state will spend $872 million expected to be raised over the coming year through the sale of carbon credits. (Note that the $832 million figure in the chart below excludes a $40 million emergency appropriation to help manage the drought.)

California Department of Finance

A quarter of $872 million is $218 million. That money will be spread across projects that benefit disadvantaged communities, such as efforts to reduce pollution from trucks that pass through them. The 10 percent, or $87 million, that must go toward projects inside those communities will help plant trees in cities, provide affordable housing near transit lines, and improve energy efficiency in homes.

Which is great. But, despite its sunny reputation as an environmental and social leader, California remains plagued by income inequality and environmental injustices, and these funds will go only a small way toward addressing those problems. As Vien Truong, an official with the Berkeley-based nonprofit Greenlining Institute, which helped draft the SB 535 bill and implementation plan, notes in a recent Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review article:

Although there is a rising environmental movement — with corresponding social and financial investments in being “green” — the benefits of clean technology have been available and accessible almost entirely to the wealthy few who can afford them. Many in low-income communities are economically locked out of these resources, even though it could be argued that those areas are in greater need of the energy and cost savings from emerging, clean technologies.

As the wealth gap widens, there is a growing disparity between the effects of environmental policies on the ecological haves and have-nots. …

The passage of SB 535 is an example of a policy effort that is paying more attention to the resource gaps and needs of low- income communities. It is a start, but woefully insufficient. Greater efforts must be made to persuade all environmental policymakers and advocates — even those who are “mainstream” and not necessarily representing low-income communities and communities of color — to develop policies that are similarly responsive to the nation’s highest need communities.

So, no, California’s poor have not hit a jackpot. But at least the state’s high-profile carbon-trading program is paying some dividends for those who are hurt the most by polluters.


Source
Calif. Budget to Make Historic Climate Investments in Low-Income Communities, Greenlining Institute
Addressing Poverty and Pollution: California’s SB 535 Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review
Calif. Earmarks a Quarter of Its Cap-and-Trade Riches for Environmental Justice, Inside Climate News

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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