Lemon water looks so clean and healthy, so fresh and bright. It's got a crisp, tart edge that makes you feel like it MUST be good for you—and it is.
Everyone knows drinking plenty of water is a good thing. It's probably the most beneficial, low-calorie (no calorie!) thing you can drink. But sure, it can be boring, and adding a zingy twist of lemon can brighten it up. You're still close to virtually no calories (an entire lemon contains less than 20), and that splash of lemon adds so many other benefits too.
1. Lemon, like all citrus fruits, is packed with vitamin C. That's an antioxidant that repairs cell damage, helps slow aging diseases, including cardiovascular diseases and cancer, and keeps your eyes healthy.
2. It also helps fight the effects of aging on the skin. And coupled with that hydrating swig of water, it's like a double dose of the fountain of youth.
3. We're not sure we buy into the whole thing of body "cleanses," but lemon most likely does help flush toxins from your body.
4. Lemon can help settle your stomach and improve your digestion, especially when paired with warm water or maybe a little mint, which is known to settle queasy stomachs and suppress nausea.
5. Lemon contains anti-inflammatories and anti-bacterial properties that can help strengthen your immune system to fight off those colds and flu bugs that float around in the winter. It can diminish the scratchy feeling of a sore throat too.
6. Lemon can make your breath feel and smell fresher. Don't believe the hype about it causing damage to your enamel. In small quantities in water, there's little risk.
Keep in mind, we're talking about adding a squeeze of fresh lemon to your water, not buying a bottled lemon water which may have added sugars and preservatives. That kind of spoils the entire idea, and the bottle contributes to the trash that's piling up on our planet. Just mix up a pitcher and keep it chilling in your fridge.
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"Now that we are spending more time at home, we are noticing the large number of delivery vans and lorries driving through cities," said Netherlands environment minister Stientje van Veldhoven, announcing plans to ban all but zero-emission deliveries in 14 cities.
"The agreements we are setting down will ensure that it will be a matter of course that within a few years, supermarket shelves will be stocked, waste will be collected, and packages will arrive on time, yet without any exhaust fumes and CO2 emissions," she added.
She expects 30 cities to announce zero emission urban logistics by this summer. City councils must give four years' notice before imposing bans as part of government plans for emission-free road traffic by 2050. The city bans aim to save 1 megaton of CO2 each year by 2030.
Help to Change
To encourage transport organizations to go carbon-free, the government is offering grants of more than US$5,900 to help businesses buy or lease electric vehicles. There will be additional measures to help small businesses make the change.
The Netherlands claims it is the first country in the world to give its cities the freedom to implement zero-emission zones. Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht already have "milieuzones" where some types of vehicles are banned.
Tilburg, one of the first wave of cities imposing the Dutch ban, will not allow fossil-fuelled vehicles on streets within its outer ring road and plans to roll out a network of city-wide electric vehicle charging stations before the ban comes into effect in 2025.
"Such initiatives are imperative to improve air quality. The transport of the future must be emission-free, sustainable, and clean," said Tilburg city alderman Oscar Dusschooten.
Europe Takes Action
Research by Renault shows that many other European cities are heading in the same direction as the Netherlands, starting with Low Emission Zones of which Germany's "Umweltzone" were pioneers. More than 100 communes in Italy have introduced "Zonas a traffico limitato."
Madrid's "zona de baja emisión" bans diesel vehicles built before 2006 and petrol vehicles from before 2000 from central areas of the city. Barcelona has similar restrictions and the law will require all towns of more than 50,000 inhabitants to follow suit.
Perhaps the most stringent restrictions apply in London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), which charges trucks and large vehicles up to US$137 a day to enter the central area if they do not comply with Euro 6 emissions standards. From October, the ULEZ is being expanded.
Cities are responsible for around 75% of CO2 emissions from global final energy use, according to the green thinktank REN21 - and much of these come from transport. Globally, transport accounts for 24% of world CO2 emissions.
The Rise of Online Shopping
Part of the reason for traffic in urban areas is the increase in delivery vehicles, as online shopping continues to grow. Retailer ecommerce sales are expected to pass $5billion in 2022, according to eMarketer.
The World Economic Forum's report The Future of the Last-Mile Ecosystem, published in January 2020, estimates that e-commerce will increase the number of delivery vehicles on the roads of the world's 100 largest cities by 36% by 2030.
If all those vehicles burn fossil fuels, the report says emissions will increase by 32%. But switching to all-electric delivery vehicles would cut emissions by 30% from current levels as well as reducing costs by 25%, the report says.
Other solutions explored in the report include introducing goods trams to handle deliveries alongside their passenger-carrying counterparts and increased use of parcel lockers to reduce the number of doorstep deliveries.
Reposted with permission from the World Economic Forum.