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Our Daily Planet: Trump Blows Off Air Quality, Migratory Birds too, Plus Did You See the Signs?
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By: Monica Medina and Miro Korenha

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Monday, April 16th, 2018

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Thanks for starting your day with ODP!  This week we will be featuring special stories in the run-up to Earth Day, which is this Sunday, April 22nd.  Look for our special coverage starting on Wednesday.  

 Air

The Salt Lake City skyline, obscured by dense fog as an inversion settles over the valley in December 2017.    Photo: Steve Griffin, Salt Lake Tribune 
Trump Blows Off Air Quality Standards

In an Executive Order he issued quietly on Thursday, President Trump made a breathtaking decision -- literally - with the stroke of a pen.  This order reverses a 2015 decision by the Obama Administration that allowed the EPA to force states that fail to meet National Ambient Air Quality Standards to adopt federal regulatory plans to reduce ozone and other toxic air pollution that generally comes from cars, power plants and refineries.  Right now, air quality standards are set by federal scientists with human health in mind.  States are required to come up with plans to meet the standards for six basic pollutants.  Some states, like Utah, were struggling to come up with plans that would achieve these standards, but now, with this new order in place, the state plans will get a quick review and they will be given deference to do the best they can. And on top of that, the states can take cost into consideration when deciding how strictly to comply with the federal standards.  

Federal standards are important because air pollution moves across state lines -- the downwind states often bear the brunt of the pollution from their neighbors.  Similarly, poorer areas will be more heavily impacted by air pollution going forward because the order allows polluters to pollute even more in the places that are already suffering the most as long as they are cutting back on pollution somewhere else.  

Why This Matters:  The Administration issued this new executive order without any notice or opportunity for the public to commentIt is most likely illegal under the Clean Air Act but states and environmental groups will have to challenge them in court.  In the meantime, polluters can keep on polluting and states can look the other way.  
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 Climate Change

A First: The Shipping Industry Agrees to Reduce Its GHG Emissions

On Friday the UN's International Maritime Organization announced its first ever strategy to address the shipping industry's contribution to climate change. The IMO is a specialized United Nations agency consisting of 173 member states who cooperate to create universally adopted industry regulations for international shipping, including setting pollution standards.

From The Post's coverage: The strategy embraced by a committee of the International Maritime Organization would lower emissions from container ships, oil tankers, bulk carriers and other vessels by at least 50 percent by the year 2050 vs. where they stood in 2008. The group also said that emissions from shipping should reach a peak, and begin to decline, as soon as possible. Currently, the shipping industry is responsible for 800 million tons of annual GHG emissions which if you counted it as a country would make it the sixth largest source of emissions in the world. 

Why This Matters: Large container ships burn heavy fuel oil which not only creates CO2 emissions but also black carbon--or soot--which is a short-lived but powerful climate-change driver. While some groups (such as island nations who face the most immediate risks from climate change-caused sea level rise) said the IMO strategy wasn't aggressive enough, the UN said that this was an "initial strategy." Hopefully, this first step can create the necessary momentum because decarbonizing the shipping industry is difficult as ships rely on energy-dense fuels which allow ships to travel across vast oceans without stopping. For this reason, a primary emphasis of the strategy will focus on more energy-efficient designs to maximize the work performed by current fuels.
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 Oceans

Atlantic Ocean Currents Downshifting

The giant ocean current conveyor belt, that the Gulfstream in the Atlantic is a part of, appears to be slowing down, according to two new reports that came out at the end of last week.  The Washington Post's Chris Mooney, who is always on top of this stuff, reports that the Atlantic ocean's currents have not been this sluggish in a millennium.  How much slower?  According to one study, published in the journal Nature, it's a decrease of 3 million cubic meters of water per second, the equivalent of nearly 15 Amazon rivers, a new record low since scientists started measuring it.  This study says climate change is to blame.  

But, but, but -- a second study, also published in the journal Nature, paints a more complex and nuanced picture.  The second study suggests the slowdown probably began for natural reasons around the time of the Industrial Revolution in 1850, rather than being spurred by human-caused climate change, which fully kicked in later.   Either way, the studies agree that Atlantic circulation is weaker than ever and has weakened greatly during the current era of a warming climate.  

Why This Matters:  As with all changes, there are winners and losers as a result of the Atlantic current's slow down.  We have often written in ODP about the warming off the coast of New England and the changes in fisheries there as a result.  The circulation is likely a contributor to the New England cod fishery's collapse but is also responsible for the lobster populations' boom off the Maine coast.  And, it's not just fisheries that will be impacted.  If the slowdown trend continues, it is expected to drive strong sea-level rise against the Eastern SeaboardPrevious research has already shown that from 2009 to 2010, sea level in the region suddenly shot up five inches, thanks in part to a brief slowdown of the circulation. Uh oh!  Not good.  
Graphic: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
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 Sustainability

Photo: Andrew Sutton/Central Studio
The Commonwealth Addresses Plastic Pollution

Later this week British Prime Minister Theresa May will urge Commonwealth countries to ban single-use plastics and microbeads when she announces the UK government's £60m drive to clean up oceans. May will make the environmental appeal to 52 fellow leaders when she chairs the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in London and Windsor and encourages them to sign onto the Commonwealth Clean Oceans Alliance which helps developing Commonwealth nations research and improve waste management. New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Vanuatu, and Ghana have already joined the UK in the Commonwealth Clean Oceans Alliance.

May said: “As one of the most significant environmental challenges facing the world today, it is vital that we tackle this issue so that future generations can enjoy a natural environment that is healthier than we currently find it."

Why This Matters: This initiative is focusing on helping developing nations study their entire trash and recycling infrastructure to create lasting measures that reduce plastic in oceans. Hopefully, this more holistic approach can affect lasting change. Also noteworthy, this action was inspired by the recent release of BBC's  Blue Planet 2--which goes to show the profound influence the documentary and its focus on plastic pollution had on viewers. 

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 Animals

Interior Undermines the Migratory Bird Treaty Act

The Trump administration announced last week its position to significantly rollback protections for migratory birds--going against 100 years of public policy. 

As the Washington Post reported, the opinion issued last Wednesday to federal wildlife police who enforce the rule, the Interior Department said “the take [killing] of birds resulting from an activity is not prohibited by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act when the underlying purpose of that activity is not to take birds.” For example, the guidance said, a person who destroys a structure such as a barn knowing that it is full of baby owls in nests is not liable for killing them. “All that is relevant is that the landowner undertook an action that did not have the killing of barn owls as its purpose,” the opinion said.

The MBTA will no longer apply even after a catastrophic event such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that destroyed or injured up to a million birds. The act was a way to fine oil companies for harm to non-endangered birds when spills occurred.

Why This Matters: The 1918 law was enacted after several species of common birds became extinct; the Audubon Society and other organizations named 2018 the year of the bird in honor of the MBTA’s centennial. The new interpretation reverses decades of action by Republican and Democratic administrations to protect the animals as they navigate the globe. The law covers such disparate birds as eagles, red knots, Canada geese, and vultures.

Oil companies are the greatest beneficiaries of the new interpretation, according to an analysis by the Audubon Society. They were responsible for 90 percent of incidental takes prosecuted under the act, resulting in fines of $6,500 per violation.Two disastrous oil spills, the Deepwater Horizon off Louisiana in 2010 and the Exxon Valdez oil tanker wreck off Alaska in 1989 accounted for 97 percent of the fines.

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 People

One Funny Thing: March for Science Signs

This past Saturday was the second March for Science. While it wasn’t as well-attended as last year, according to CNNover 200 demonstrations took place across the globe, from cities throughout the US to Europe, India, and Africa. Take a look above at some of the funniest signs from DC and New York. 

(Check out Buzzfeed Science reporter Zahra Hirji's Twitter for more awesome signs.)
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