 Water
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Government Report Faults EPA Oversight of School Drinking Water
The federal government's internal auditors, the General Accounting Office (GAO), surveyed public schools in the U.S. and found that roughly 13 million American school kids attend schools with an elevated level of lead in their school drinking water.
- The GAO found many schools -- 41 percent serving 12 million students -- did not test at all.
- Only 43 percent of school districts, which serve 35 million students, tested for lead in school drinking water in 2016 or 2017.
- Of those that did test the water, there was an elevated lead finding (lead at levels above their selected threshold for taking remedial action) in 37% of the schools.
The school districts that admitted to having elevated lead in drinking water reported that they were taking steps to reduce or eliminate exposure to lead, including replacing water fountains, installing filters or new fixtures, or providing bottled water. Lead can leach into drinking water from rusted or old pipes.
EPA provides guidance to schools but does not mandate lead testing -- it is only required in 8 states around the country. The GAO faulted EPA because some aspects of the EPA's guidance, such as the threshold for taking remedial action, were misleading and unclear. And worse yet, many school districts were not at all familiar with the guidance since they work with the Department of Education routinely, but not the EPA. The Department of Education and EPA were faulted for not doing a better job of collaborating to support state and school district efforts on lead in drinking water.
Why This Matters: Simply issuing guidance on testing for lead in school drinking water is not good enough. Lead exposure even at low levels is really harmful, especially for kids. According to the World Health Organization, "at lower levels of exposure that cause no obvious symptoms, and that previously were considered safe, lead is now known to produce a spectrum of injury across multiple body systems. In particular lead can affect children’s brain development resulting in reduced intelligence quotient (IQ), behavioral changes such as reduced attention span and increased antisocial behavior, and reduced educational attainment...The neurological and behavioral effects of lead are believed to be irreversible." What more do we need to say?
To Go Deeper: You can read the full GAO Report by clicking here.
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 Air
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Extreme Heat Hits Japan
Temperatures have soared to dangerous in Japan as the country was still recovering from the worst flooding it has seen in decades. Over the past week, at least 14 people have died from heat-related deaths and over 2,000 were taken to hospitals for heatstroke or heat exhaustion as daytime highs reached 38.8 degrees Celsius (101.84 F) in places like Fukuchiyama. Temperatures in parts of western Japan hit by deadly floods reached a high of 34.3 Celsius by midday on Tuesday, creating dangerous conditions for military personnel and volunteers clearing mud and debris.
The Diplomat added that the Japan Meteorological Agency said there isn’t any relief in sight, with blazing heat predicted for at least another week as two high-pressure systems circulating over east and west Japan block moisture from the atmosphere. Adding insult to injury for desperate survivors, private bathing facilities and water to clean clothes remains a luxury in many areas. In Kurashiki city in Okayama, residents celebrated the return of tap water, which was disrupted when the torrential downpours began 12 days ago. However, a large section of Hiroshima is still suffering from water shortages and residents are capped at 12 liters of water per person at municipal water collection points.
Why This Matters: We've been reporting about extreme heat stories for the past several days and this is yet another example of exceedingly difficult it will become for humans to cope with extreme weather. Our bodies are not made to withstand the type of relentless heat that is becoming all too common.
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 Climate Change
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Cycling Races Make Great Climate Data
With the Tour de France in full force, there's a lot of video footage of cyclists zipping through mountains, valleys, and past lush trees. While many don't give the stunning views much more of a thought after the camera pans, Pieter De Frenne, an ecologist at Ghent University in Belgium, noticed that there was a stark difference in the trees and shrubs framing many of the roads that have been part of the course for years. As HuffPost reported, the landscape had morphed from totally bare to lush with greenery.
“There is a remarkable difference visible in video images,” said De Frenne. “If you watch old cycling videos, the trees are often still bare, with no leaves whatsoever, whereas in recent editions, the trees are largely green with leaves or with flowers.” Decades of footage showed that climate change had altered the trees, shrubs and other plants along the course. It also demonstrated the immense value of video material from annual sporting events, which could provide a rich trove of data about the impact of our changing climate. While early leafing can be great for some species, for others like pollinators that rely on flowers under the trees, the added shade might make it more difficult for them.
Why This Matters: Since televised cycling races typically take place on the same courses year after year throughout the world they provide an excellent tool with which to examine a diverse range of species and locations that are currently understudied. “It can be an invaluable, still underexploited resource for climate change research and other types of biological research,” added DeFrenne.
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 Energy
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A blue-lit row of servers in a Google data center Photo: Google
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Batteries at Data Centers Could Fill Important Renewable Energy Gap
Tech companies like Google and Amazon are increasingly looking at lowering their carbon footprint (or eliminating carbon all together at their facilities) by purchasing wind and solar power. Now they are taking this innovation one step further and working to determine if they can house battery storage facilities at their data centers. E&E News reports Microsoft is currently conducting tests to determine if extensive battery systems installed at data centers can be used to help grid operators smooth out the small spikes and drops in electric demand that occur throughout the day. If it works, the implications for the electric system are profound -- power companies might not need to build new natural gas power plants which currently smooth out the supply and demand issues in the system.
"In the future, you don't have a data center or a power plant. It's something in the middle. A data plant, for example," said Sean James, Microsoft director of energy research told E&E News. This would provide an important short-term source of power during demand spikes. This experiment began when scientists at the University of Washington studied a Microsoft data center to see whether its battery system could be used for dual purposes like data center backup and grid services. They found that Microsoft could trim its annual electric costs by more than 10% and also add revenue by offering short-term backup power to the grid.
Why This Matters: A data center's backup batteries can only dispatch power for a matter of minutes -- thus they are not a long-term storage option. But as more and more data storage companies -- like Amazon and Google -- push for solar and wind facilities, there will need to be greater potential to fill in the short term gaps in power caused by spikes or losses at peak times. Batteries are a much more efficient and effective means of filling the gaps than a natural gas power plant because a battery can dispatch power instantaneously.
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 Sustainability
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First Straws, Now Cups!
McDonald's and Starbucks -- two of the biggest coffee retailers in the country and fierce competitors for your caffeine fix -- are joining forces to build a better cup! Using their massive ability to scale, these two giants are working with Closed Loop Partners to provide a platform to develop a global recyclable and/or compostable cup solution. Over 600 billion paper and plastic cups are used every year worldwide (combined McDonald's and Starbucks account for 4% of them) and most are not recyclable or compostable. Mc Donald's "is committed to using our scale for good to make positive changes that impact our planet and the communities we serve,” said Marion Gross, Senior Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer, McDonald’s USA. “We are excited to join Starbucks and Closed Loop to help solve this pressing challenge as collaboration is key to finding a scalable, lasting global solution.”
Since this is a challenge, its success will depend on how many people/groups submit ideas. This is how it will work:
- The NextGen Cup Challenge will be open to supply chain leaders, innovators, solution providers and anyone with promising solutions to recover single-use cups.
- The initial focus of the challenge is on the fiber-based hot and cold cup, starting with identifying solutions for a fully recyclable and/or compostable cup system in North America.
- Awardees will receive acceleration funding up to $1 million based on key milestones.
- Up to seven of the awardees will enter a six-month accelerator program to help scale their solutions.
- There will be a NextGen Cup Challenge website so the public can watch the companies' progress by clicking here.
Why This Matters: Plastic and waste is the number one environmental concern of McDonald's customers. In January, the company announced new packaging and recycling goals. Starbucks made news last week (as reported here) by promising to eliminate plastic straws by 2020 in its stores. McDonald's is the largest restaurant chain in the world. They are now leading both the coffee and the restaurant sectors to revolutionize packaging. This should drive the rest of the market. Let's go Burger King and Dunkin Donuts! Time to step up and meet this challenge! And innovators -- get to work and submit your proposed solutions!
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 Food
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One Cool Thing: Baking Cookies in the Car
It's been so hot that some people with a sweet tooth decided to try baking cookies on their dashboards and it turns out this works! Take a look at Buzzfeed's roundup of delectable dashboard cookies for a good laugh.
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