Migratory Barnacle Geese Threatened by Rapidly Rising Arctic Temperatures

24.07.2018

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Migrating barnacle geese that lay their eggs in the Arctic zones of northern Russia are becoming confounded by earlier springs in their traditional nesting grounds, according to a study published in Current Biology. The rising temperatures in the Arctic circles caused by global warming are threatening the survival of this species, which travels more than 3,000 km, or 1,800 miles, to reach their nesting territory.

The research, released in May 2018, noted that the geese habitually make the month-long journey from parts of northern Germany and the Netherlands based on a biologically coordinated schedule now jeopardized by human activity. Rapid environmental changes have caused the animals to speed up their flight plans.

Bart Nolet, member of the research team from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology and the University of Amsterdam, told NPR, “They actually depart from the wintering areas around the same date regardless of whether it’s early or late spring in the Arctic,” because they “cannot predict what the weather is or what the season is up there from 3,000 kilometers distance.” This causes the geese to speed up their inherent migration pattern mid-flight, after they realize that the temperature is too warm. They complete the arduous expedition in only a week, leaving them exhausted.

Originally, the birds used to arrive and lay their eggs just as the winter snow melted. By the time their goslings hatched, plants began to grow, resulting in a “food peak” for the animals. Now, both adult and baby barnacle geese must bear the hardships of malnourishment.

Despite rushing their migration and flying “nearly nonstop from the wintering areas to their breeding grounds,” according to Nolet, the 10 days needed after migration to find food and recover from exhaustion still puts the birds behind schedule. The geese cannot lay their eggs straightaway. Instead, after their expedited journey, they must rest and forage for food to ensure their own survival and the vitality of their offspring — ultimately the determining factor in the continuance of their species.

Source: Inhabitat

Most Popular Energy Source? Everyone Loves Solar

23.07.2018

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A recent survey shows yet again that solar panels (and wind turbines) have a level of bipartisan popularity that would be the envy of any politician. That means we’ll have something safe to talk about at the next barbecue after all.

The survey, from the Pew Research Center, had a lot of fascinating findings about the surprisingly high levels of agreement among Americans on a range of environmental issues, with strong majorities saying that the federal government is doing too little on water quality, air quality and climate change.

Nine out of ten adults in the US agree that more solar farms would be a good thing. And 8.5 out of 10 feel the same way about wind farms.

The survey report calls “[r]obust support for expanding solar and wind power … a rare point of bipartisan consensus in how the U.S. views energy policies.”

Earth’s Resources Consumed in Ever Greater Destructive Volumes

23.07.2018

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Humanity is devouring our planet’s resources in increasingly destructive volumes, according to a new study that reveals we have consumed a year’s worth of carbon, food, water, fibre, land and timber in a record 212 days.

As a result, the Earth Overshoot Day – which marks the point at which consumption exceeds the capacity of nature to regenerate – has moved forward two days to 1 August, the earliest date ever recorded.

To maintain our current appetite for resources, we would need the equivalent of 1.7 Earths, according to Global Footprint Network, an international research organization that makes an annual assessment of how far humankind is falling into ecological debt.

The overshoot began in the 1970s, when rising populations and increasing average demands pushed consumption beyond a sustainable level. Since then, the day at which humanity has busted its annual planetary budget has moved forward.

Thirty years ago, the overshoot was on 15 October. Twenty years ago, 30 September. Ten years ago, 15 August. There was a brief slowdown, but the pace has picked back up in the past two years. On current trends, next year could mark the first time, the planet’s budget is busted in July.

While ever greater food production, mineral extraction, forest clearance and fossil-fuel burning bring short-term (and unequally distributed) lifestyle gains, the long-term consequences are increasingly apparent in terms of soil erosion, water shortages and climate disruption.

The day of reckoning is moving nearer, according to Mathis Wackernagel, chief executive and co-founder of Global Footprint Network.

“Our current economies are running a Ponzi scheme with our planet,” he said. “We are borrowing the Earth’s future resources to operate our economies in the present. Like any Ponzi scheme, this works for some time. But as nations, companies, or households dig themselves deeper and deeper into debt, they eventually fall apart.”

The situation is reversible. Research by the group indicates political action is far more effective than individual choices. It notes, for example, that replacing 50% of meat consumption with a vegetarian diet would push back the overshoot date by five days. Efficiency improvements in building and industry could make a difference of three weeks, and a 50% reduction of the carbon component of the footprint would give an extra three months of breathing space.

In the past, economic slowdowns – which tend to reduce energy consumption – have also shifted the ecological budget in a positive direction. The 2007-08 financial crisis saw the date push back by five days. Recessions in the 90s and 80s also lifted some of the pressure, as did the oil shock of the mid 1970s.

But the overall trend is of costs increasingly being paid by planetary support systems.

Separate scientific studies over the past year has revealed a third of land is now acutely degraded, while tropical forests have become a source rather than a sink of carbon. Scientists have also raised the alarm about increasingly erratic weather, particularly in the Arctic, and worrying declines in populations of bees and other insect pollinators, which are essential for crops.

Source: Guardian

Is Your Popcorn Laced With Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals

22.07.2018

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No one should be exposed to toxic chemicals in their food, particularly children. But that’s exactly what the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) found in tests of microwave popcorn bags sold in Dollar Stores. These stores are frequented by communities of color and millions of poor Americans.

In fact, every single bag that was independently tested contained toxic per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs)—chemicals linked to developmental problems, hormone disruption, organ damage and more. These findings are particularly alarming for children’s health, as their bodies are still developing, making them more vulnerable to the effects of hormone disruptors.

In response to these findings, CEH released a video featuring the Oakland rapper Mystic and a local kindergarten class to educate families about dangerous toxic chemicals put in microwave popcorn bags. Shot at Roses in Concrete Community School in East Oakland, the fun and engaging educational video also includes a supporting fact sheet that teaches families how to make their own safe, toxic-free microwave popcorn.

PFASs confuse our bodies’ hormones and damage the liver and kidney. There are hundreds of PFAS chemicals, yet there is no publicly available information about which ones are used in microwave popcorn products. In 2008, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determined that certain PFAS chemicals could migrate out of microwave popcorn bags and contaminate popcorn. A 2007 publication from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tested 17 types of microwave popcorn from eight different brands and detected PFAS in the air from just-heated popcorn bags, suggesting people might also inhale these chemicals when eating microwave popcorn.

Unfortunately, it’s not just microwave popcorn we need to worry about. Families may be exposed to a wide array of hazardous chemicals in a variety of products, most of which are under-regulated by authorities. PFASs or their chemical cousin perfluorochemicals (PFCs) are used for stain, water and/or grease resistance. They are not just in microwave popcorn bags but also in many household items, including furniture, carpet and carpet cleaners, textiles, floor waxes and outdoor apparel. A 2017 study by CEH—Kicking the Can?—found that 38 percent of the cans tested from Dollar Stores contained the hazardous chemical BPA, another hormone disruptor. Numerous other studies have also shown that toxic chemicals are commonly found in Dollar Store products (summary and report, BPA in canned food).

The video is part of a larger effort by the Campaign for Healthier Solutions (CHS) to convince discount retailers including Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Dollar General, and 99 Cents Only to embrace greater corporate responsibility and protect the health of customers and their families.

The seriousness of the threat posed by PFAS to consumers makes this more than just a toxic chemical issue, but a social justice one. Dollar Stores are often located in communities of color and poor neighborhoods that are already exposed to chemical hazards at higher levels. Frequently, Dollar Stores are the only store selling food and household products for miles, and they don’t typically provide plain popcorn kernels as other retailers have, which are needed for making safer popcorn. Adding to this problem, Dollar Stores have committed to doing almost nothing beyond their minimum legal requirements to protect people who have no other shopping options.

CEH, CHS and a broad coalition of community groups, public health advocates, environmental justice organizations and consumers are urging Dollar Stores to adopt comprehensive, transparent hazardous chemical policies; to encourage microwave popcorn manufacturers to stop selling food products which contain hazardous chemicals; and to offer safer alternatives—like popcorn kernels—in their stores until they do.

Source: Eco Watch

Even Polar Bear Cubs Can’t Escape Plastic Pollution

22.07.2018

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Plastic bags are often stamped with an all-caps warning: This bag is not a toy. Unfortunately, polar bear moms don’t have much control over their kids’ playthings.

British wildlife photographer Kevin Morgans recently spotted this polar bear and her boisterous cubs while sailing through Liefdefjorden, a fjord in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago. The furry twins played tug-of-war with a black plastic bag, chewing it to bits. For Morgans it was a “bittersweet moment,” with the thrill of observing bears up-close tempered by the ugly intrusion of trash.

Morgan’s sighting was a glimpse into a deepening crisis. Roughly 8 million metric tons of plastic junk wind up in the ocean each year. Much of it, like the plastic bag the cubs had found, is designed to be used just once and thrown away. Plastic is thought to persist for centuries in the environment, breaking down into ever-smaller pieces instead of biodegrading.

These tiny scraps, beads and fibers might pose an even more pernicious threat than the plastic we can easily see, like bags and bottles. Plankton and filter-feeding fish often mistake so-called “microplastics” for food. Once swallowed, plastics can release industrial chemicals into the critters’ bodies. Fat-soluble poisons accumulate with each step up in the food chain, eventually posing grave dangers to long-lived predators like polar bears and orcas.

Scientists are still in the early stages of understanding the full scope of the ocean plastic crisis. But one thing’s for certain: As the Svalbard cubs’ world melts around them, the last thing they need is a sea—and prey—full of trash.

Source: Eco Watch

Will Climate Change Make the Next World Cup Too Hot to Handle

21.07.2018

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After four weeks of fanfare, the 2018 World Cup has come to a close. France’s victory in Sunday’s final marked the end of a summer filled with thrilling victories, surprise defeats, national pride (and disappointment), penalty kick-induced panic and many other emotions associated with soccer.

Fans, unfortunately, will have to wait longer than usual to experience it all over again. That’s because the next FIFA World Cup in 2022 will be held in winter, not summer, due to the sweltering climate of the next host country, Qatar.

Located on the Persian Gulf, Qatar sees an average high temperature of 108 degrees F in the summer, and temperatures close to 123 degrees F have been recorded in the capital Doha. For a sport that requires players to run continually for 90 minutes, this poses a huge health hazard. And even without the physical strain of playing soccer at the highest level, extreme heat threatens significant health problems, including dehydration, exhaustion and stroke.

Past sporting events demonstrate the danger of extreme heat. The 2014 Australian Open continued play through temperatures of 108 degrees F, which caused the Canada’s Frank Dancevic to grow faint and hallucinate, seeing the cartoon character Snoopy. Dancevic later said that it was “inhumane” to make competitors play tennis in that heat.

Due to the dangers associated with extreme heat, FIFA’s executive committee decided to move the 2022 World Cup from its typical June to July timeframe to late November and December, when high temperatures reach above 80 degrees F. This forces soccer fans to wait an additional six months to see their team on the world stage, but it will be significantly safer for players who take part in the tournament.

A winter tournament is particularly important given the effect of climate change. Qatar is likely to be warmer in 2022 than it is today, and research has shown that in the Middle East, unlike the rest of the world, temperatures are rising faster in the summer than in the winter. Each year, the region sees a new heat record broken. On June 26, Quriyat, Oman set a stunning record for highest low temperature. That day, the mercury did not fall below 108.7 degrees F. If global warming continues at its current pace, scientists project that, by 2100, the Arabian peninsula and surrounding areas could be too hot and humid for humans to survive outdoors.

Qatar organizers are fully aware of the heat concerns, not just for the players but for millions of expected visiting fans as well. In May 2017, the country finished construction of Khalifa International Stadium, its first World Cup stadium and the world’s largest air-conditioned open-air arena. The advanced cooling technology will keep the field and stands around 79 degrees F.

While prioritizing the health of players and fans, organizers have neglected to safeguard construction workers, who are building stadiums, hotels and other infrastructure ahead of 2022. Following reports of hundreds of migrant laborers in Qatar dying as result of working long hours in extreme heat, including many working on World Cup buildings, critics called on organizers to instate better labor protections. Human Rights Watch Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson said that “as Qatar scales up its FIFA World Cup construction projects, authorities need to scale up transparency about worker deaths that could be heat related, and take urgent steps to end risks to workers from heat.”

Organizers’ apparent disregard for hot, humid working conditions fits a pattern of systematic abuse and exploitation, according to Amnesty International. “My life here is like a prison,” a worker from Nepal told the organization. “The work is difficult, we worked for many hours in the hot sun.”

Unfortunately, the sweltering temperatures making life difficult in Qatar today will only get worse in the years ahead. Climate change is making the world hotter by the day, with consequences for athletes, fans and, in particular, workers, who have to contend with extreme heat.

Source: Eco Watch

Hydrogen Trains on Track for Low Carbon Freight Sector

21.07.2018

Hydrogen could prove a highly effective low carbon fuel technology for powering trains.

That’s according to Polish coal mining company JSW and PKP Cargo, a national rail freight operator, which are working together to research, analyse and potentially produce new types of shunting locomotives and freight wagons powered by hydrogen fuel.

The main goal is to lower the consumption of energy and reduce the emissions currently produced by commercial and industrial trains.

JSW is also looking at the possibility of using hydrogen extracted from coke oven gas, a by-product of the industrial coke production process.

PKP Cargo president, Czeslaw Warsewicz, said: “The use of hydrogen to drive our locomotives will increase the competitiveness of our services.”

Source: Energy Live News

How Coca-Cola and Climate Change Created a Public Health Crisis in a Mexican Town

20.07.2018

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A lack of drinking water and a surplus of Coca-Cola are causing a public health crisis in the Mexican town of San Cristóbal de las Casas, The New York Times reported Saturday.

Some neighborhoods in the town only get running water a few times a week, so residents turn to soda, drinking more than half a gallon a day on average.

“Soft drinks have always been more available than water,” Maria del Carmen Abadía, a 35-year-old security guard, told The New York Times.

Abadía and her parents are some of the many in the town who suffer from diabetes as a result of their limited drinking options. The mortality rate from diabetes in Chiapas, the region of Mexico where San Cristóbal is located, has increased by 30 percent from 2013 to 2016. It follows heart disease as the region’s second leading cause of death, killing 3,000 a year.

Scientists say that part of the town’s water woes is due to climate change.

“It doesn’t rain like it used to,” Ecosur research center biochemist Jesús Carmona told The New York Times. “Almost every day, day and night, it used to rain.”

The lack of rain means the artesian wells that supplied the town in the past don’t get enough water.

But residents also blame a local Coca-Cola factory, both for the product it sells and the water it diverts. The factory has a deal with the federal government allowing it to extract more than 300,000 gallons of water a day at the extremely cheap rate of 10 cents for every 260 gallons.

“When you see that institutions aren’t providing something as basic as water and sanitation, but you have this company with secure access to one of the best water sources, of course it gives you a shock,” clean water nonprofit Cántaro Azul director Fermin Reygadas told The New York Times.

Part of the problem is that the deal between the plant, owned by Femsa, a company with the rights to bottle and sell Coca-Cola in Latin America, and the federal government benefits both at the expense of the town itself.

“Coca-Cola pays … money to the federal government, not the local government,” Kettering University social scientist Laura Mebert told The New York Times, “while the infrastructure that serves the residents of San Cristóbal is literally crumbling.”

Anger at the company led to protests in 2017 demanding the plant shut down. Demonstrators marched on the building wearing masks and holding crosses that said “Coca-Cola kills us.”

Tensions also derailed attempts by Femsa to build a wastewater plant last year, something San Cristóbal still lacks.

Coca-Cola released a statement in response to The New York Times article, saying the bottling plant paid market rate for the water it used and that the company had worked with locals for a decade to build water tanks, rooftop rain collectors and develop water conservation projects.

“We also agree too much sugar isn’t good for anyone, and that is why we are taking actions around the world to help people drink less sugar from our beverages,” the statement said, adding that 45 percent of their Mexican product portfolio was low or no sugar.

The company, however, has a history of presenting misleading information about the health benefits of its products.

As recently as 2015, it was uncovered that Coca-Cola funded the Global Energy Balance Network (GEBN) to argue that exercise, not limiting calorie intake, was the best way to lose weight and stay healthy. In documents uncovered in March, the company even said it saw the GEBN as a “weapon” in a “growing war” over the causes of weight gain.

Similarly manipulative tactics are partly responsible for the proliferation of Coca-Cola in Chiapas.

In the 1960s, Coca-Cola and Pepsi put up billboards in indigenous languages often showing people in the traditional dress of the native Tzotzil people.

Coca-Cola has since been integrated into local culture and religion. In the nearby town of San Juan Chamula, worshipers in local churches pray over chickens and bottles of soda. Many Tzotzil people even believe the beverage has healing powers.

“Coca-Cola is abusive, manipulative,” local activist Martin López López told The New York Times. “They take our pure water, they dye it and they trick you on TV saying that it’s the spark of life. Then they take the money and go.”

Source: Eco Watch

Every Cotton T-Shirt Costs the Environment $3.40

20.07.2018

Ma Earth is paying through its nose for the clothing we produce, according to a study that quantifies, for the first time, the price we exact from the ecosystem for our clothing. Case in point? Factoring in the use of water, fertilizer, and energy along the entire supply chain, a single cotton T-shirt can cost the planet more than 20 Danish kroner, or $3.40, in financial terms. Extrapolated across the industry, clothing consumption in Denmark alone plunders the environment of more than DKK 3 billion ($510 million) every year. This toll is much too high, says Kirsten Brosbøl, head of Denmark’s Ministry of the Environment, which partnered with the IC Group, operator of brands like Tiger of Sweden and Peak Performance, to commission the report.

Cost and effect

“Everything, from the enormous amounts of fertilizer and water consumption on cotton fields to carbon-dioxide emissions from leather and zip manufacture, impacts the environment,” Brosbøl says in a statement. “Now we can see what this actually costs, and even though all our clothes are produced abroad, we still have a responsibility. I call on the industry to make things better and to use these accounts to reduce their environmental footprint.”

Although Denmark hosts several well-known brands that operate both domestically and abroad, garment manufacturing within the country itself is limited. (Despite a number of cut-and-sew factories and finishing plants, it doesn’t farm cotton or produce polyester or other textiles.) In fact, more than 80 percent of Danish apparel is imported as finished product, which means that most of the industry’s impact stems from activity outside of the country, in places such as China, India, and Turkey.

“We in the clothing industry are well aware that we have some hefty environmental challenges,” says Morten Lehman, corporate responsibility manager for IC Group. “These accounts provide IC Group with a tool to further qualify our work on sustainability and to set specific targets for our sustainability efforts in our value chain.”

The report is already changing the way IC Group operates, Lehman adds. “We’ve already used the accounts to discuss CO2 emissions with factories in China; emissions we have previously considered as a problem primarily arising from raw materials production rather than at factories,” he says.

This isn’t the first time “natural capital accounting” has been used to calculate the impact of business activities on natural resources and ecosystem services. Puma popularized the concept when it released its first Environment Profit & Loss Account in 2011.

Source: Ecouterre

Asthma Deaths Rise 25% amid Growing Air Pollution Crisis

20.07.2018

A record number of people are dying of asthma, and experts have warned growing air pollution and a lack of basic care could be to blame.

In England and Wales 1,320 people died of asthma last year, a sharp rise of more than 25% over a decade, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

The findings come amid growing concern about the air pollution crisis in the UK and mounting evidence of its impact on people’s health – particularly children and the elderly.

Earlier this month a medical expert said the hospital admissions of a nine-year-old girl who died during an asthma attack showed a “striking association” with spikes in illegal levels of air pollution around her home in London.

Last week an A&E doctor wrote in the Guardian about how her ward in London was overwhelmed by terrified children struggling to breathe because of dangerous levels of pollution. A separate report revealed that illegal levels of air pollution were driving up hospital admissions and GP visits.

Jonathan Grigg, a professor of paediatric respiratory medicine at Queen Mary University of London and a British Lung Foundation medical adviser, said: “These figures add to the growing body of evidence that air pollution is damaging everyone’s health. The case to clean up our air couldn’t be clearer, but the government has not yet showed the courage to deliver a credible nationwide plan.”

Today’s findings from the ONS showed that 1,320 people died in 2017 compared with 1,237 in 2016 and 1,033 in 2007. There has been an increase of 43% in asthma deaths in those aged 55-64 since 2016.

Kay Boycott, the chief executive of Asthma UK, described the surge as shocking. “This is devastating for the families who have lost a loved one and highlights the urgent need to improve basic care for people with asthma,” she said.

Sonia Munde, head of helpline and nurse manager at Asthma UK, said the top trigger for asthma attacks was pollution. “On days where pollution levels are high, it can leave people with asthma struggling for breath, increasing their risk of a life-threatening asthma attack,” she said.

Munde added that people who have asthma triggered by pollution should make sure they take their preventer inhaler as prescribed as this will help reduce inflammation in their airways, making them less likely to react to asthma triggers.

ONS data showed that 17 children aged 14 and under died from an asthma attack in 2017, up from 13 in 2016.

Overall air pollution has been linked to an estimated 40,000 premature deaths in the UK and labelled a public health emergency by the World Health Organization. It is known to be a major risk factor for childhood asthma.

The UK government has lost three times in the high court for failing to deal effectively with the crisis and is now being taken to Europe’s highest court. Earlier this year MPs from four select committees said serious concerns remained over the government’s commitment to reducing the impact of air pollution on public health.

Boycott said that alongside rising levels of toxic air, asthma deaths could be also be linked to inadequate basic care for an estimated 3.5 million people.

She said people were entitled to a follow-up appointment with their GP after they had been admitted to hospital with asthma. “Two thirds of people with asthma do not receive this within two working days of their discharge from hospital,” she said. “We are urging the NHS to ensure that people with asthma receive basic care to prevent avoidable deaths.”

Source: Guardian

The Arctic Is Burning: Wildfires Rage from Sweden to Alaska

20.07.2018

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There are currently 11 wildfires blazing in the Arctic circle, The Guardian reported Wednesday.

While fires are also raging in Russia, Norway and Finland, Sweden has seen the most extensive Arctic fires, which have forced four communities to evacuate, according to The Guardian.

Two Italian water-bombing planes that answered Sweden’s call for help will begin operating Wednesday, but Sweden’s Civil Contingencies Agency has requested even more planes and helicopters from the EU, The Local Sweden reported.

“This is definitely the worst year in recent times for forest fires. Whilst we get them every year, 2018 is shaping up to be excessive,” university researcher and Uppsula resident Mike Peacock told The Guardian.

This year’s fires in Sweden cover a much larger area than fires in past years, The Guardian reported.

The fires come as a consequence of a heat wave that is bringing unusually hot, dry weather to much of Europe, conflagrations far outside of Europe’s Mediterranean firezone, EU officials said, according to The Guardian.

The European Forest Fire Information System has warned that fire conditions will persist in central and northern Europe over the next few weeks.

Scientists say the increase in northern fires is another sign of climate change.

“What we’re seeing with this global heatwave is that these areas of fire susceptibility are now broadening, with the moors in north-west England and now these Swedish fires a consequence of that,” professor of global change ecology at the Open University Vincent Gauci told The Guardian.

“Both these areas are typically mild and wet which allows forests and peatlands to develop quite large carbon stores,” he said. “When such carbon-dense ecosystems experience aridity and heat and there is a source of ignition—lightning or people—fires will happen.”

The European Arctic isn’t the only part of the far north seeing increased fire activity.

Two fires that started Tuesday brought the total number of fires in Alaska’s Galena Zone up to 35, The Brookville Times reported. The fires have burned 44,000 acres to date.

The Alaskan fires and some of the Swedish fires were ignited by lightning strikes, which is in keeping with research published in 2017, which found that warmer temperatures were increasing thunderstorms over boreal forests and Arctic tundra, leading to more fires, Scientific American reported.

This year’s fires come a year after Europe had its worst fire season in recorded history, though 2017’s most devastating fires were in the more typical countries of Italy, Portugal and Spain, where they burned thousands of hectares of agricultural land and forests into November.

Source: Eco Watch

Adidas Will Use Only Recycled Plastics by 2024

19.07.2018

Adidas has long been committed to the fight against single-use plastics. Since 2015, it has partnered with Parley for the Oceans to respond to the plastic pollution crisis threatening marine life. In June, Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted announced the company had sold one million shoes made from plastic collected and recycled from the oceans.

Now, the company is stepping up that commitment with a vow to use only recycled plastics in all its products by 2024, CNN Money reported Monday.

This means the company will also abandon new polyester, a popular sportswear material that makes up around 50 percent of the material in Adidas products, Adidas global brands head Eric Liedtke told The Financial Times, according to The Huffington Post.

“We aim to use 100% recycled polyester in every product and on every application where a solution exists by 2024,” Adidas spokeswoman Maria Culp wrote in a statement to The Huffington Post.

To start, the company’s 2019 spring and summer line will contain around 41 percent recycled polyester, Culp said.

The company will also phase out “virgin” plastic from offices, warehouses, distribution centers and retail locations in a move expected to save 40 tons of plastic per year beginning in 2018, CNN Money reported.

Adidas already replaced plastic bags in stores with paper ones in 2016, according to The Huffington Post.

The company now also hopes to increase sales of its ocean-plastic shoes to 5 million in 2018, CNN Money reported.

The announcement comes amid growing backlash to the proliferation of plastic in the natural environment. Last week, Starbucks announced a ban on plastic straws and two Australian states began July with the implementation of a plastic bag ban in major retailers.

Plastic use has increased by 20 times in the last 50 years and is projected to double again in the next 20, but only 14 percent of it is collected to be recycled, according to CNN Money.

Head of “Detox My Fashion” at Greenpeace Kirsten Brodde said that Adidas’ announcement was a step in the right direction, but did not go far enough to address the waste endemic to the fashion industry.

“To truly be sustainable, companies like Adidas need to produce less, more durable and repairable products,” Brodde told The Huffington Post. “To solve our plastic waste problem, we need to stop producing so much plastic from the start, and in order to make fashion more sustainable, rethink a fashion system that hypes new trends every week.”

Source: Eco Watch

Smart LEDs to Light Up Edinburgh Streets

19.07.2018

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Smart controls are to be deployed for around 64,000 LED lights that are being rolled out in the city of Edinburgh.

Telensa is installing a wireless central management system that enables centralised remote control of the lighting, providing real-time monitoring to identify and track faults.

It will also measure actual energy usage and submit information directly to the meter administrator, helping increase the accuracy of billing.

The system is expected to pay for itself in reduced energy and maintenance costs.

The project is part of Edinburgh Council’s wider energy efficiency and sustainability programme, which aims to cut carbon emissions by 42% by 2020 through better use and generation of energy.

Its Sustainable Energy Action Plan hopes to transform energy use by reducing demand, more efficient transmission and use as well as encouraging local generation.

Justene Ewing, VP Consulting Services and Partnership Director for CGI at the City of Edinburgh Council said: “We are delighted to be working with Telensa to unlock the efficiency gains and smart city potential of connected street lighting. This project is another step in our long term digital transformation of public services throughout Edinburgh.”

The project is expected to be completed by 2020.

Source: Energy Live News

Meat and Dairy Emissions Could Surpass Those from Largest Oil Firms

19.07.2018

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The largest meat and dairy producers could surpass major oil companies as the largest contributors to environmental pollution.

That’s according to a new report from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and non-profit GRAIN, which says the five largest meat and dairy corporations are already responsible for more annual greenhouse gas emissions than energy giants ExxonMobil, Shell or BP.

Only four of the top 35 meat and dairy companies provide comprehensive emissions estimates – the report shows the rest either do not disclose emissions or exclude their supply chain’s carbon footprint, which in some cases accounts for up to 90% of greenhouse gases created.

It claims if the growth of the global meat and dairy industry continues as projected, the livestock sector could consume four-fifths of the global greenhouse gas budget each year by 2050.

The US, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, China and the EU nations are responsible for more than 60% of the sector’s emissions, roughly twice the rest of the world on a per capita basis.

Devlin Kuyek, Researcher at GRAIN, said: “There’s no other choice. Meat and dairy production in the countries where the top 35 companies dominate must be significantly reduced.

“These corporations are pushing for trade agreements that will increase exports and emissions and they are undermining real climate solutions like agroecology that benefit farmers, workers and consumers.”

Source: Energy Live News

Sea Level Rise Could Sink Internet Infrastructure

19.07.2018

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Sea level rise may be coming for your Internet.

The first ever study to look at the impact of climate change on the Internet found that more than 4,000 miles of fiber optic cable in U.S. coastal regions will be underwater within 15 years and 1,000 traffic hubs will be surrounded, a University of Wisconsin (UW)—Madison press release reported.

“Most of the damage that’s going to be done in the next 100 years will be done sooner than later,” senior study author and UW–Madison professor of computer science Paul Barford said in the release. “That surprised us. The expectation was that we’d have 50 years to plan for it. We don’t have 50 years.”

The study, conducted by researchers at UW–Madison and the University of Oregon and presented for the first time Monday at the 2018 Applied Networking Research Workshop in Montreal, mapped National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) sea level rise projections over the Internet Atlas, which shows the location of the net’s physical infrastructure. It found that the most vulnerable U.S. cities to sea level-based Internet disruption were Seattle, New York and Miami, but, since most data converges on fiber optic strands leading towards major population centers, the effects could ripple out across the country and around the world.

The study is one example of how public infrastructure must rapidly learn to adapt to climate change.

“We live in a world designed for an environment that no longer exists,” climate risk modeling company Jupiter Intelligence co-founder Rich Sorkin told National Geographic in response to the study.

Buried cables were designed to be water resistant, but not entirely waterproof the way ocean-crossing cables are. They were also often laid alongside existing rights of way like highways or coasts.

“So much of the infrastructure that’s been deployed is right next to the coast, so it doesn’t take much more than a few inches or a foot of sea level rise for it to be underwater,” Barford told National Geographic. “It was all was deployed 20-ish years ago, when no one was thinking about the fact that sea levels might come up.”

One example is that the transoceanic cables that run between continents usually come ashore in major coastal population centers. Barford said in the press release those landing points would be underwater relatively soon.

The study did offer some suggestions for climate-proofing Internet infrastructure, from installing back-up lines to building protective layers around existing cables. The study also recommended having a protocol in place to give emergency workers priority access to working lines during disasters. But the researchers said these were temporary fixes; long-term solutions would require more innovation, Motherboard reported.

Some Internet service providers told NPR they already do take climate change and associated risks into account.

AT&T, for example, uses submarine cables in areas like beaches or subways expected to be frequently inundated.

Some actions were taken in response to extreme weather events that are expected to become more frequent as the planet warms. When Superstorm Sandy flooded some of its cables and disrupted service in New York City, Verizon worked to make more of its infrastructure flood proof.

“After Sandy, we started upgrading our network in earnest, and replacing our copper assets with fiber assets,” Verizon spokeswoman Karen Schulz told NPR. “Copper is impacted by water, whereas fiber is not. We’ve switched significant amounts of our network from copper to fiber in the Northeast.”

Schulz said most of the company’s risk mitigation was designed around flooding generally, not sea level rise specifically, except when it came to the landing stations for transoceanic cables. “For cable landing stations that are very close to the oceans and that have undersea cables, we specifically assess sea level changes,” Schulz told NPR.

Source: Eco Watch

How Helsinki Arrived at the Future of Urban Travel First?

18.07.2018

helsinki-3242656_960_720 — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Harri Nieminen decided it was time to replace his car with an app.

He had owned a car in Helsinki for the past nine years but recently found he’d lost the patience for parking on crowded city-center streets, especially in snowy months. His almost-new Opel Astra had been sitting mostly idle, so he decided to get rid of it. This lifestyle shift came about with the help of an app offering unlimited rides on public transit, access to city bikes, cheap short-distance taxis and rental cars—all for one monthly fee.

“I downloaded Whim in the fall, and it was around New Year’s when I decided I would sell my car,” said Nieminen, 34, who also uses car-sharing app DriveNow, operated by Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Finnish financial conglomerate OP Group. “It’s made moving about easier. I can switch modes of transport as needed, and I no longer need to worry about where I’ve left the car or the bike, or about driving it home.”

The concept that reshaped Nieminen’s transportation life has an unwieldy name in the industry: mobility as a service, or MaaS. It may become the biggest revolution in personal travel since Ford Motor Co.’s Model T popularized private ownership of motor vehicles a century ago.

The elements of mobility-as-a-service products are already familiar digital services—trip planning, ride hailing, car sharing—alongside the seamless booking, ticketing and payment common to every kind of mobile app. Instead of using one app for rides and local government apps for public transport, Whim offers a single app with a single fee. Users get to pick the most efficient way to get between any two places.

The aim is to eventually make personal cars obsolete by offering people a superior experience. “Your mobile operator can get you all your calls and all the mobile data you need,” said Sampo Hietanen, chief executive officer of MaaS Global Oy, the company behind Whim. “We’re trying to solve the big question in transportation: What do we need to offer to compete with car ownership?”

The cost of cars accounts for as much as 85 percent of personal transportation spending, according to Hietanen, even though the average car is used only 4 percent of the time. That implies a great potential for more efficient allocation: fewer cars shared by a larger group of part-time users. If apps such as Whim can add enough users, optimized trips and increased ride sharing could cut down on single-occupant vehicles and help reduce carbon emissions.

Mobility-as-a-service businesses are booming globally, as ride-hailing giants such as Silicon Valley-born Uber Technologies Inc. and China-based DiDi Chuxing Inc. expand offerings to include bike sharing and public-transit payments. Carmakers are keen to partake in the trend, with the world’s biggest manufacturers investing in and testing various subscription services. Private investments in the field have surpassed $70 billion since the start of 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Even so, all-inclusive transportation apps aren’t yet widely available, and what is now becoming reality in Finland’s capital remains a distant future in many trend-setting cities. But why is this happening in Helsinki, of all places?

The Finnish city, home to the world’s first three-dimensional zoning plan that extends underground, has a habit of thinking outside the box. It’s where the idea of mobility-as-a-service was born, a place where life without a privately owned car is conceivable with help from a well-functioning public transport network spanning the wider metropolitan area. With the city center on a peninsula hemmed in by the Baltic Sea on three sides, Helsinki has limited space for parking or traffic jams.

It’s a small market, said Hietanen, but that makes it a good test site. The ecosystem and legislation were ready very early on, with mobility-as-a-service part of the Finnish transport ministry’s strategy since 2011. Combine that with public transport operators sharing data via APIs and developing mobile tickets, and you have the prerequisites for developing futuristic transportation services.

After its first big marketing push about six months ago, Whim has grown to more than 45,000 users in the Helsinki region, of whom 5,100 pay monthly fees. There are two subscription packages: an all-inclusive 499 euros ($582.65), and a more modest 49 euros that gets you unlimited bus travel and short city bike rides, as well as cheaper taxis and rental cars. A pay-per-ride option also exists for those who want to try out the service.

To become financially viable, Whim needs from 3 to 5 percent of the area’s population to subscribe to a monthly package, according to Hietanen. That critical mass—almost 60,000 users in the Helsinki area—would allow the startup to buy transport services in bulk from the providers and turn a profit as it packages the options for its individual clients.

Sari Siikasalmi, a 37-year-old management consultant, is becoming a convert. She’s tried out Whim and is now weighing giving up the car. Her family, with two kids under the age of 10, uses public transport inside Helsinki but needs a larger sedan for ski trips.

To actually go through with the switch, Siikasalmi “would have to be sure that the type of cars we need are always and easily available nearby when we need them.” That’s not always the case yet.

Service providers are still growing their offerings and mapping out what investments will pay off in the future. And so, mobility-as-a-service will grow only as fast as transport operators are willing to grow. After two funding rounds, Whim’s raised about 16.5 million euros ($19.3 million) from a number of transport companies, including Toyota Financial Services and Transdev SA.

That money will help bring Whim beyond its Helsinki roots. The company is also active in the Birmingham area in the U.K. and in Antwerp, Belgium. Cities in the pipeline include Amsterdam, Vienna, Berlin and Munich. In North America, potential locations include Miami, Seattle and Vancouver.

“The U.S. is where the pull is the strongest at the moment,” Hietanen says. “Look at New York City. If you need 20 different apps to get around … then my guess is that people are going to be quite ready for this.”

Source: Bloomberg

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