 Climate Change
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High Cost of Being Cool
A new report out this week describes the growing challenge of keeping cool in the face of global warming. Keeping people cool is only one problem. Keeping work environments and food and medical supply chains cool will also be a growing challenge. The report assessed the risks to humans and found that more than a billion people face "cooling access risks." Moreover, the report explains that as cities expand in China, India, Indonesia, and Brazil, energy demand is forecast to rise more than 33-fold by 2100 and much of that will be for cooling. The authors conclude that global cooling demand, if not better managed, is a huge climate threat.
To put this in perspective, consider this: the population in the U.S. of 328 million consumes approximately the same amount of electricity for air conditioning alone than the total electricity used for all needs by 1.1 billion people in Africa. Where are the risks the highest? There are nine countries with the biggest populations facing significant cooling-related risks.
- India has the largest number of people facing risks across all dimensions.
- India, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Sudan, and Mozambique have the most significant rural populations facing health risks, food, and nutrition security, as well as challenges to human productivity.
- China, India, Nigeria, Brazil, and Pakistan have the most significant slum-dweller populations facing risks.
- India—followed by Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Brazil—has the largest population at risk of buying the least efficient appliances.
This news comes as a new public opinion survey finds the number of people in the U.S. who believe that climate change is real is at its highest ever -- 73% of people now think there is solid evidence of global warming and 60% now believe that it is caused by human activities. Seeing is believing -- the Weather Channel reports that all-time heat records have been set on four continents in recent weeks.
Why This Matters: We need to begin to aggressively plan ahead to deal with heat-related issues beyond fires and drought. Clean power and lots of it will be needed in our future. We need to work to stop overheating the planet by burning less fossil fuel, and then we need to figure out how to efficiently and effectively cool many parts of the planet that will need it, particularly cities. The report recommends that we in the developed world can learn from cities that have already begun to take drastic steps, such as Ahmedabad, India, and many others.
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 Air
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Trump Declares War on Poverty Won, It's Far From It
Last week President Trump's Council of Economic Advisors released a new report and declared that the War on Poverty started by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964 is "is largely over and a success." The Council claimed that only around three percent of Americans are really poor and the best way to help them is to boost the economy as a whole. Adding that "Today, many non-disabled working-age adults do not regularly work, particularly those living in low-income households. Such non-working adults may miss important pecuniary and non-pecuniary benefits for themselves and their households, and can become reliant on welfare programs."
Revered Dr. Barber, leader of the Poor People's Campaign (whom we wrote about previously) responded by saying that "the War on Poverty is far from over. There are currently 140 million poor and working people in our country, and 37 million without health care. Of those 140 million, 41 million are living below the poverty line. Going further, one of the biggest traps that keeps people in cycles of poverty (especially minority communities) is environmental injustice--largely caused when regulatory mechanisms allow polluters to pollute without consequence. As Vox noted, studies have shown that black and Hispanic children are more likely to develop asthma than their white peers, as are poor children, with research suggesting that higher levels of smog and air pollution in communities of color being a factor. In fact, Trump EPA that wanted to gut the Office of Environmental Justice which was started by President Clinton in 1994--exemplifying their lack of commitment to pollution driving poverty.
Why This Matters: In America, your area code and level of income largely determine if you have to breathe polluted air or drink contaminated water. Vulnerable communities live in places where their environment is making them and their children sick, forcing them to miss days of work and spend more of their income on healthcare. Air pollution also limits the ability of poor children to learn in school as cash-strapped authorities have routinely placed schools on the cheapest available land, which is often beside busy roads, factories or on previously contaminated sites. If the Trump Administration was genuinely committed to helping Americans living near the poverty line and not just demonizing the poor to justify further eradicating aid, they would take environmental protection seriously instead of doing all they can to allow polluters to keep poisoning Americans--including his own son-in-law.
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 People
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Lime bike sharing at Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, Nevada. Photo: Stacey Montooth via Motherboard
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Bike-sharing Pilot on Tribal Lands Gaining Traction
Two months ago, Lime, a dockless bike sharing company, started a pilot project with thirty bikes at the Reno-Sparks Reservation in Nevada. At the outset, many on the reservation were skeptical that it would work because there are few roads and there was no real experience of biking there. However, just like in big cities, the bikes are growing in popularity because they are a cheap, accessible way to get around, and they protect the environment. Plus there are other benefits -- biking has given youth on the reservation a new sense of mobility and freedom, it reconnects them with the land since they can ride on trails, and it is great exercise.
Aaron Brukman, Lime’s operations manager in Reno, told Motherboard reporter Tracey Lindeman that, "[s]o far we’ve been able to do right by the community while running a successful business,” noting that Lime pays a small fee per bike to operate on Reno-Sparks Indian Colony.
Why This Matters: It is great that bike sharing is being tested in underserved, rural communities like the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony. With success, perhaps this pilot can spread to other similar Native American reservations and rural communities. And the secondary health and empowerment benefits are great for these communities too.
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 Oceans
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Iceland Whaler Claims Slaughtered Whale is a Hybrid Blue/Fin Whale
The Icelandic whaling company that was criticized globally for killing a highly endangered blue whale now claims that the whale was a "hybrid" of a fin whale and a blue whale, according to CNN. Blue whales, which are the largest of the whale species, are globally protected and have not been hunted and killed since 1978, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Though the owner of the whaling ship, Kristján Loftsson, admitted that it would be wrong to kill a blue whale, he said, in this case, it was hard to distinguish between this hybrid whale and a fin whale, which is the type his ship was hunting at the time. Experts, however, disagreed.
- Adam A. Pack, researcher and professor of biology at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, told CNN that by looking at photos ,that it appeared to be a blue whale rather than a mixed breed based on "the way the dorsal fin is hooked, the pointed pectoral fins, and the size of the animal."
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"From the photos, it has all the characteristics of a blue whale," Dr Phillip Clapham, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Alaska Fisheries Science Centre, said in a statement. "Given that, notably the coloration pattern, there is almost no possibility that an experienced observer would have misidentified it as anything else at sea."
It is illegal under Icelandic law as well as international law to kill a highly endangered blue whale. The government of Iceland has required Loftsson to conduct DNA testing of the whale to determine its type. If it is an extremely rare blue/fin whale hybrid, then the law is silent and the sale of its meat will likely be allowed.
Why This Matters: Only Japan, Iceland, and Norway hunt whales and sell their meat in commercial markets. The whaling company owner would like to sell this whale's meat to Japan, which is one of a few countries that will accept the meat -- most countries abide by a treaty banning international trade in whale meat if this whale is a blue, then this meat can't be legally shipped anywhere because of its highly endangered status. Conservationists argued to the BBC that this is why commercial whaling should be banned entirely -- because it is nearly impossible to ensure that whalers kill the type of whales that are less endangered.
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 Food
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We Work Goes Meat-Free
In an email to about 6,000 employees on Friday, the $20 billion office rental company WeWork announced that it will no longer reimburse employees for meals that include red meat, poultry, or pork and will stop serving meat at company events. As Bloomberg reported, employees who need medical or religious allowances are being referred to the company's policy team. Co-founder Miguel McKelvey explained that "New research indicates that avoiding meat is one of the biggest things an individual can do to reduce their personal environmental impact, even more than switching to a hybrid car."
WeWork’s decision follows the company’s recent move to reduce plastic use, and redistribute leftover food from its events to those in need. Founded in 2010, WeWork was most recently valued at about $20 billion and is thus the biggest company to make such a commitment.
Why This Matters: Tech Crunch put it best: "Scientists have been warning for years that the meat industry is a massive generator of greenhouses gases — although the topic often gets bypassed in mainstream environmental discussions and overlooked by corporate social responsibility policies, so it’s interesting to see WeWork stepping up to the plate (ha!) and putting its policies where its environmentally conscious soundbites are."
While some on the Twitterverse called the move a PR ploy, New Republic staff writer Emily Atkin had a more optimistic outlook:
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 Animals
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One Funny Thing: Fox in a Box
Australian writer Helen Dale tweeted this sweet photo of a sleepy fox enjoying a nap in her planter box and started an entire thread of people posting photos of animals napping in various containers. If you're in need of an "aww" moment we highly recommend you check out this adorable thread!
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