 Air
|
|
Air Pollution a Threat to Our Intelligence
A new study published by Chinese researchers this week is the latest evidence to prove that air pollution hinders human cognitive ability. The Guardian reported that the research was conducted in China but is relevant across the world, with 95% of the global population breathing unsafe air. It found that high pollution levels led to significant drops in test scores in language and arithmetic, with the average impact equivalent to having lost a year of the person’s education. Older people were shown to be affected more than younger people and men were harmed more than women, as researchers said this may result from differences in how male and female brains work. Previous research has shown that air pollution damaged learning capability in children but this recent study is the first to examine people of all ages and the difference between men and women.
The BBC added that the study – which includes researchers from Beijing’s Peking University and Yale University in the US – was based on measurements of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulates smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter where participants lived. It is not clear how much each of these three pollutants is to blame.
Why This Matters: The World Health Organization believes that air pollution is responsible for about 7 million premature deaths around the world each year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections. While most pollution-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, more than 40 percent of Americans live in counties with unhealthy levels of air pollution, according to the American Lung Association. Mother Jones added that, earlier this month, President Trump announced plans to dramatically relax fuel efficiency standards, a move that would flood American communities with more dangerous airborne particulates from vehicles. Additionally, the administration’s new rules for coal power plants would cause more than 1,400 deaths per year by their own calculation. Policies like this are not just stupid themselves but will make us literally stupider while they’re at it (and unnecessarily cost lives!). |
|
 Land
|
|
|
Grand Teton National Park Photo: National Park Service
|
|
Improving National Parks Through Better Data
Attendance at National Parks is way up in recent years, and the National Park Service is hoping to use mobile data to improve the visitor experience and their ability to manage and conserve the natural resources in parks, Nextgov reports. The Park Service believes that with this data, they can find the best way to keep visitors moving efficiently through the parks — particularly using geolocation data and other information from mobile devices to better manage large volumes of visitors and to plan long-term infrastructure projects.
According to a request for information published last month by the Park Service, “[b]alancing visitor access with the preservation of resources and visitor experience is likely the most important issue facing the NPS in the coming decades, Increasing visitation creates a fair amount of urgency for many park units to collect data regarding visitor use patterns.” By the numbers, a whopping 331 million recreational visitors entered national parks in both 2016 and 2017, and attendance grew by 46% over the last five years in the popular intermountain region parks —which includes Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain, Zion and Grand Canyon national parks. The biggest challenge they face is mobile connectivity, which can vary heavily based on the geography and topography of different regions.
Why This Matters: National Parks are a national treasure for all Americans to enjoy, but its hard to enjoy them when they are overcrowded. And the maintenance backlog in parks is HUGE and unfortunately funding is not so plentiful — the Parks Service will have to be selective in the use of its resources for maintenance. So better data is important to ensure that the money they have is well spent. These parks are our common national heritage and we need the best possible high tech tools to protect them for future generations.
|
|
|
|
This story was brought to you by the National Wildlife Federation. To learn more about how the National Wildlife Federation can help you connect your family with the outdoors, click here.
|
|
 Energy
|
|
|
Abengoa’s Solana solar thermal power plant in Gila Bend, Arizona. Photo: DOE
|
|
It’s Always Sunny in Arizona
On Monday an Arizona Superior Court Judge ruled to allow a clean-energy initiative to go on the November ballot despite opposition from Arizona’s utilities. As the Arizona Republic reported, The Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona measure, now called Proposition 127, would require electric companies such as APS and Tucson Electric Power Co. to get half their power from renewable sources like solar and wind by 2030. The existing state standard, set by the Arizona Corporation Commission, requires those companies to get 15 percent of their power from renewables by 2025, and the utilities are on track to meet that. The goal increases annually and is 8 percent this year.
Proponents of the measure said that Prop 127 contrasts with APS’s plan to build over 5,000 Megawatts of new gas plants by the year 2032 while building zero utility-scale solar. A recent poll by the Center for Western Priorities found that 75% of Arizonans want to prioritize investment in solar power over the next ten years. Despite public support for renewable energy Arizona’s utilities argue that building utility-scale solar farms will be too costly and force electricity bills to rise and have vowed to appeal the ruling to the Arizona Supreme Court.
Why This Matters: As Inside Climate News explained, Arizona is one of the top states for solar power—ranked second for utility-scale solar and third for rooftop—and prices have been dropping fast. Despite this, solar power only made up 5 percent of Arizona’s power in 2016, with renewables as a whole making up 12 percent. While climate activists and solar companies have pushed for more reliance on renewable energy within the state, they have been met with fierce opposition by the state’s politically powerful utilities. In fact, recently the state’s Republican lawmakers set very low penalties for utilities failing to meet renewable energy mandates and then introduced a nearly identical bill to Prop 127 but with an added provision that would make it easy for state officials to abandon that 2030 target altogether.
|
|
 Oceans
|
|
Artisanal Squid Fishery in Peru Hoping For Government Permitting
Overfishing is a huge global problem. But getting a grip on it is much more complicated than just busting illegal fishing vessels on the high seas. In an insightful piece by Allison Guy of the non-profit Oceana, the complexity of ending the race for fish is described through the prism of the Peruvian artisanal squid fishery where the road out of poverty for small fishing towns on the northern coast of Peru is “paved in squid.” The fishery is highly profitable — bringing in an estimated $400M each year — with a few fishers raking in big profits and building small fishing empires. But all of it is traded locally and the fishery is not under a formal management regime by the government — there are no permits or licenses.
The one thing all these relatively small-scale fishers fear is that bigger industrial fishing operations with government licenses will come in and begin to catch all the squid. The lack of licenses prevents these small-scale fishers from selling into the expanding international market — where traceability and sustainably are increasingly required for entry — including in the U.S. And that is why for years, as Allison Guy explains, the fishermen in the region have pleaded with the government for the vessel and fishing licenses that would legalize their work. Unfortunately, very few have received them.
Why This Matters: In the U.S., government regulation gets a bad name but it can often be a critical component of functioning markets. For fishermen in Peru, the kind of regulatory oversight and government management we take for granted here would open more markets, bringing more money and a better life. Just this week, a bill was introduced in the Congress by Republican Senator Roger Wicker and Deomcratic Senator Chris Coons — a rare thing these days — to require more accountability for fish being imported in the U.S. This is a great step forward for combatting illegal fishing. But we also need to provide technical and financial assistance to countries like Peru to ensure that artisanal fishers and small fishing communities can compete. They are much more likely to take care of the resource for future generations than large industrial fishing operations.
To Go Deeper: We recommend reading the entire piece by Allison Guy – just click here. You can practically taste the squid.
|
|
 Food
|
|
|
Photo: Jennifer Chase/Wahington Post
|
|
Number of Vegetarians Stays the Same Despite Increase in Veggie Options
The number of Americans identifying as vegan or vegetarian has remained fairly steady over the past 20 years according to new data from Gallup. The Washington Post dove into the stats and reported that 5 percent of Americans identify as vegetarian, a rate that has remained unchanged since the previous survey in 2012. In 1999, when the first survey was taken, as well as in 2001, 6 percent of Americans identified as vegetarian. Rates of veganism have followed a similar trajectory. This year, 3 percent of respondents identified as vegan, a slight increase from 2 percent in 2012.
What’s most interesting is that despite countless social media resources for #MeatlessMonday recipes, streamable food industry documentaries and a serious increase in meat-free products available in grocery stores the number of vegan and vegetarian Americans has largely remained unchanged.
Why This Matters: The Gallup survey didn’t account for how many people are eating less meat overall despite not adhering to an entirely vegan or vegetarian diet. Americans are consuming nearly one fifth less beef than they were in 2005 and according to Gallup sales of plant-based food grew 8.1% in 2017 alone and exceeded $3.1 billion last year. Semi-vegetarianism or Flexitarianism focuses on mostly consuming plant-based food with the occasional meat. The Post noted that studies have found that semi-vegetarian diets have a positive effect on weight loss, diabetes prevention and blood pressure. And even though some vegetarians might classify flexitarianism as cheating, the label may help people adhere to a more plant-based diet without feeling as though they are failing if they slip up.
Go Deeper: Some men experience social shame for ordering the vegetarian option and feel as if it’s not masculine to do so. This type of thinking is literally unsustainable so to all our male readers, if you want the veggie option be bold about it–there ain’t no shame!
|
|
 Cosmos
|
|
One Amazing Thing: The World’s Disasters From Space
Sometimes you have to step back to get perspective. Forbes published yesterday this image from the latest NOAA/NASA polar satellite — the image was captured by a very special instrument called the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). It shows with great clarity all the major environmental events taking place across the globe simultaneously:
- smoke plumes billowing from western North America and southern Africa as fires rage
- fierce winds from Hurricane Lane and tropical cyclones Soulik and Cimaron blow sea salt into the atmosphere as they approach land
- in the dry desert of Sahara, windblown dust is carried across the African continent
All I (Monica) can say is, wow. This type of satellite imagery helps scientists and governmental agencies understand how land use impacts the broader environment and atmosphere. During my time at NOAA, I worked to get this satellite completed and launched — I was part of a huge interagency effort and attended many meetings where I candidly struggled to understand what made this one instrument was so important. And in this one image, I can now see clearly why it was.
|
|
|
|
