Fire Continues at Texas Petrochemical Plant as Company's History of Violations Gets Renewed Scrutiny
A fire erupted Sunday at a petrochemical plant in Deer Park, Texas. NowThis News / YouTube screenshot
By Andrea Germanos
A petrochemical plant near Houston continued to burn for a second day on Monday, raising questions about the quality and safety of the air.
The Deer Park facility is owned by Intercontinental Terminals Company (ITC), which said the fire broke out at roughly 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Seven tanks are involved, the company said, and they contain naptha, xylene, "gas blend stocks" and "base oil."
"It's going to have to burn out at the tank," Ray Russell, communications officer for Channel Industries Mutual Aid, which is aiding the response effort, said at a news conference. It could take "probably two days" for that to happen, he added.
PETROCHEMICAL FIRE IN TEXAS: A fire at a fuels storage company has spread to eight massive petrochemical storage ta… https://t.co/09nGy5xSZv— NowThis (@NowThis)1552927856.0
ITC Terminal fire still throwing up a tremendous plume. Dominating the Houston skyline at dawn. https://t.co/pMYTyoPB6O— Tracy Hester (@Tracy Hester)1552911539.0
No injuries were immediately reported.
"Although the risk of explosion is minimal, we continue to take precautions to further reduce this possibility," the company said in a statemnt.
An order to shelter in place for the city of Deer Park was lifted Monday morning.
Filming outside the plant on Monday, local ABC13 reporter Miya Shay said that despite the assertion by the city, informed by results from a private air monitoring contractor, that the air quality was safe, it is "hard to believe it's all fine."
I am at the ITC plant fire, where company officials insist the air quality is within limits. Fire May take two more… https://t.co/jbYdCYAwFc— Miya Shay (@Miya Shay)1552926034.0
As Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas, pointed out, "Intercontinental Terminals estimates the fire has already resulted in 3.1 million pounds of unauthorized emissions. That's more than all the facilities in the Houston area put out during Harvey."
What's more, he said, the company "has a history of violations. For example, the company discharged cyanide into the impaired Tucker Creek eight times above permitted levels — once as high as 1138 percent above the permit."
Intercontinental Terminals estimates the fire has already resulted in 3.1 million pounds of unauthorized emissions.… https://t.co/uw2NqFIxia— Luke Metzger (@Luke Metzger)1552930294.0
Intercontinental Terminals Company, which has 8 tanks on fire right now, has a history of violations. For example,… https://t.co/gFiH1O4kTH— Luke Metzger (@Luke Metzger)1552916996.0
The Deer Park incident erupted just one day after a fire broke out roughly a dozen miles away at ExxonMobil's massive refinery in Baytown. That fire has been contained.
The Texas arm of advocacy group Public Citizen pointed to the recent incidents as evidence that the U.S. Environment Protection Agency and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality should do a better job at protecting public health:
In 2016, a @houstonchron investigation found a chemical incident in the Houston area every six weeks. We've seen tw… https://t.co/CMCqSXsDKH— Public Citizen Texas (@Public Citizen Texas)1552934146.0
'Unseen dangers' of Harvey: Petrochemical plants release 1 million pounds of harmful air pollution. https://t.co/dE8abfrhrx— EDF (@EDF)1504133653.0
Reposted with permission from our media associate Common Dreams.
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Danny Choo / CC BY-SA 2.0
By Olivia Sullivan
One of the many unfortunate outcomes of the coronavirus pandemic has been the quick and obvious increase in single-use plastic products. After COVID-19 arrived in the United States, many grocery stores prohibited customers from using reusable bags, coffee shops banned reusable mugs, and takeout food with plastic forks and knives became the new normal.
<p>Despite recent scientific evidence that <a href="https://storage.googleapis.com/planet4-international-stateless/2020/06/26618dd6-health-expert-statement-reusables-safety.pdf" target="_blank">reusables don't transmit the virus</a>, the plastic industry has <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-06-08/is-plastic-the-coronavirus-hero-the-plastics-industry-thinks-so" target="_blank">lobbied hard</a> for a return to all things disposable plastic. Inevitably, a lot of that plastic will continue to flow into our environment.</p><p>While COVID-19 has certainly thrown a wrench into the hard-earned progress we'd been making in reducing waste, eliminating plastic pollution entirely was always going to be challenging — with or without a pandemic. The jarring rise of single-use plastics is an expedited version of a familiar trend. Plastic production has been <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/07/plastic-age/533955/" target="_blank">steadily increasing</a> for quite some time.</p><p>As a zero-waste advocate, I've seen how the tsunami of plastic continuously being produced and flooding our planet has made achieving zero-waste goals incredibly difficult. The sheer amount makes it hard to safely and efficiently dispose of plastic, no matter how hard we try.</p>
<p>But as I examine the problem, and search for solutions, I keep coming back to one noteworthy example.</p><p>In 2003 the small Japanese town of Kamikatsu set an ambitious zero-waste declaration, aiming to be 100% waste-free by 2020. The goal was to produce no trash, meaning everything from food packaging to unwanted clothing to yesterday's newspaper should be reused, repurposed into new goods, or recycled.</p>
<div id="b7811" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="909a9d9b34be97cbd835be64fb59c05c"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1181178899704639489" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#DYK decorative leaves adorning Japanese dishes create jobs? Seniors in #Kamikatsu, Tokushima, grow & collect them,… https://t.co/XP1d96tG47</div> — The Gov't of Japan (@The Gov't of Japan)<a href="https://twitter.com/JapanGov/statuses/1181178899704639489">1570449969.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Now that 2020 has arrived, we can see the result: In the 17 years since establishing its goal, Kamikatsu transitioned from openly incinerating all its trash to reusing and recycling 80% of its waste.</p><p>While the town made incredible progress, it ultimately fell short of its 100% goal. Its main issue? Unrecyclable plastic packaging and mixed materials still end up in the trash.</p><p>As <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-06-japan-town-recycle.html" target="_blank">one resident explained</a> to the AFP news agency last year, "Our lifestyle depends mainly on plastic. Consumers can reduce plastic waste to a certain extent, but we'll still have waste if producers keep making plastic products."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU0MjYzOC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1OTUyNDMxM30.n_UVlEF30a9o3Q-BOJj3vViY7YVKv7d-I3EeulDxWnQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="4df79" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e10cd8a3bc3c98e43ec7b68464d35cc1" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Kamikatsu, Japan. Yuki Shimazu / CC BY-SA 2.0
<p>This reveals a worldwide truth: Even products made mostly from easily recyclable materials like paper, aluminum or cardboard can't be sorted and recycled if they contain plastic components that can't be separated.</p><p>The truth is, some materials simply aren't recyclable, and <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/7/e1700782" target="_blank">only 9%</a> of all the plastic ever created has <em>been </em>recycled. As Kamikatsu's residents have painstakingly proven, no matter how many categories consumers sort their waste into or how diligently they scrub down their plastic food containers, most plastics <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Greenpeace-Report-Circular-Claims-Fall-Flat.pdf" target="_blank">cannot be recycled</a>.</p><p>Meanwhile we keep hearing the <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/504091-the-insanity-of-plastic-recycling" target="_blank">industry-driven narrative</a> that recycling can stop plastic from choking our marine life or littering our natural places. That's intentionally misleading.</p><p>Around the world, as in Kamikatsu, plastic is everywhere. With excessive amounts of plastic products and packaging stocked on store shelves, it's clear that zero-waste goals cannot be achieved by consumers alone. Plastic is not a "zero waste" material, so in order to achieve zero waste, companies must stop making so much plastic.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU0MjY0MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxOTExMDAxNX0.YpMVEj2xK5D4TDypbZJGuJXnjMa17zprUVWxexuy5mk/img.jpg?width=980" id="a5cff" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2db1e7aa34db8c561ecab63c8ee06ff2" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Marine debris collected at Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. NOAA
<p>We can achieve that. The first steps include banning some of the worst and most polluting single-use plastics, placing a pause on the development of new plastics facilities, and protecting state and local governments' ability to enact more stringent regulations.</p><p>We must also shift the paradigm by holding producers responsible for the waste they create. By requiring new plastic products to contain recycled plastic and making producers fund the collection and recycling of plastic products, producers would be incentivized to design longer lasting products that can <em>actually</em> be reused and recycled.</p><p>These goals — outlined in numerous scientific studies and advocacy reports — have some forward motion. In the United States, a federal bill was recently introduced in both the House and the Senate, the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/5845" target="_blank">Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act</a>. If passed this bill — or others like it on the local, state or national levels — could help move the world beyond single-use plastics and make that needed systemic change a reality.</p><p>The bill hasn't moved forward since it was introduced this past February, but the world is still on a deadline. A recent study published in the journal <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/07/22/science.aba9475" target="_blank"><em>Science</em></a> looked at rising levels of plastic production and said "coordinated global action is urgently needed to reduce plastic consumption, increase rates of reuse, waste collection and recycling, expand safe disposal systems and accelerate innovation in the plastic value chain."</p><p>Requiring producers to stop making nonrecyclable products designed to be thrown out is the first step toward achieving that goal. Only then will Kamikatsu and other towns, cities and countries around the world finally be able to eliminate plastic pollution and reach 100% zero waste.</p><p><em>The opinions expressed above are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of </em>The Revelator<em>, the Center for Biological Diversity or their employees.</em></p><p><a href="https://therevelator.org/author/oliviasullivan/" target="_blank">Olivia Sullivan</a> <em><em>is a zero waste associate with the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) working on a campaign to move the United States beyond plastic.</em></em></p><p><em><em><span></span>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://therevelator.org/cities-zero-waste/" target="_blank">The Revelator</a>. </em></em></p>From Your Site Articles
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A mostly empty 110 freeway toward downtown Los Angeles, California on April 28, 2020. Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The shelter in place orders that brought clean skies to some of the world's most polluted cities and saw greenhouse gas emissions plummet were just a temporary relief that provided an illusory benefit to the long-term consequences of the climate crisis. According to new research, the COVID-19 lockdowns will have a "neglible" impact on global warming, as Newshub in New Zealand reported.
<p>The severe measures that were taken on a global scale to stem the tide of the novel coronavirus pandemic did curb pollution in the atmosphere, but the researchers found the impact will cut global heating by just 0.01 degrees Celsius by 2030, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/07/covid-19-lockdown-will-have-negligible-impact-on-climate-crisis-study" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported.</p><p>"The direct effect of the pandemic-driven [lockdown] will be negligible," said the researchers, whose analysis was led by Piers Forster at the University of Leeds in the UK, as The Guardian reported. "In contrast, with an economic recovery tilted towards green stimulus and reductions in fossil fuel investments, it is possible to avoid future warming of 0.3C by 2050."</p>
<p>The study was published in <em><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-0883-0" target="_blank">Nature Climate Change</a></em>. To figure out the impact of the lockdowns, the researchers looked at mobility data from Google and Apple in 123 countries that covers 99 percent of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuel</a> emissions. The information gives real-time information on travel and work patterns, which allows researchers to use advanced computations to estimate emissions levels, according to The Guardian.</p><p>Professor Keith Shine, at the University of Reading and not part of the study team, told The Guardian: "It is deeply impressive to get such a near-real-time analysis of the climate impact [of the lockdowns]."</p><p>What they found was that emissions from people using transportation was at its lowest in April, with nitrogen oxide levels falling by 30 percent and carbon dioxide levels dropping by 25 percent, according to Newshub.</p>
<p>Professor Dave Reay, chair of carbon management at the University of Edinburgh who was not involved in the study, told Newshub that the results are not surprising "given the long lifetime of carbon dioxide and the massive pool of fossil carbon already swilling around in our atmosphere."</p><p>The declines show that swift and decisive changes in how people behave have the potential to dramatically impact the environment in the short term. That was evident in the cleaner skies and the suddenly visible animals in Venice's canals and the streets of various cities. In Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak, air quality improved so much that NASA satellite imagery showed the average density of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide – a toxic chemical that reduces immunity – dropped significantly below normal levels, as Newshub reported.</p>
<p>Of course, those lockdowns came with a steep economic price as people were put out of work and supply chains and distribution were severely disrupted. In other words, lockdowns of that scale are so damaging that they are impossible to maintain. Furthermore, once the lockdowns lifted, emissions levels started to rise again. That phenomenon means the world needs to transition to a zero-emissions economy by investing in <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/">renewable energy</a> and burying CO2, according to the researchers, as The Guardian reported.</p><p>"It is now make or break for the 1.5 Celsius target," said Forster, as The Guardian reported. "This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to really change the direction of society. We do not have to go back to where we were, because times of crisis are also the time to change."</p>
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Centrosaurus apertus was a plant-eating, single-horned dinosaur that lived 76 to 77 million years ago. Sergey Krasovskiy / Stocktrek Images / Getty Images
Scientists have discovered and diagnosed the first instance of malignant cancer in a dinosaur, and they did so by using modern medical techniques. They published their results earlier this week in The Lancet Oncology.
<p>In 1989, a badly-deformed lower leg bone of a <em>Centrosaurus apertus</em> was found in Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada. One end of the fossilized fibula was enlarged and warped, leading scientists to originally presume a healed fracture.</p><p><em>Centrosaurus apertus</em> was a plant-eating, single-horned dinosaur about 20 feet long. The particular animal that the fossil comes from lived 76 to 77 million years ago and likely died in a flood that killed its entire herd.</p>
<p>After the bone was excavated, it sat in a museum until 2017, when a team led by David Evans, a paleontologist at the Royal Ontario Museum, and Mark Crowther, a professor of pathology at McMaster University, looked at it with fresh eyes.</p><p>"We basically went on a hunt for dinosaur cancer," Evans told <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/08/04/899060875/scientists-discover-malignant-cancer-in-a-dinosaur" target="_blank">NPR</a>.</p><p>On a mission to find signs of cancer, the scientists searched through hundreds of injured or partially healed fossils before they found the malformed leg bone. The team invited multidisciplinary specialists and medical professionals from many fields, including pathology, radiology, orthopedic surgery and paleopathology, to help diagnose the suspected tumor, the news report said.</p>
<p>"The approach we took in this case was very similar to how we approach a patient that comes in with a new tumor, and we don't know what kind of tumor it is," said Seper Ekhtiari, an orthopedic surgery resident on the team, reported NPR.</p><p>The team performed high-resolution CT scans and examined thin sections of bone cells under a microscope, according to a <a href="https://www.rom.on.ca/en/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/rare-malignant-cancer-diagnosed-in-a-dinosaur" target="_blank">Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) press release</a>. This allowed them to visualize the progression of cancer through the bone, discounting the initial hypothesis of a fracture and leading to the diagnosis of osteosarcoma, Evans told <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-science-dinosaur-cancer/gnarly-tumor-shows-dinosaurs-got-cancer-too-idUSKCN24Z2QU" target="_blank">Reuters</a>.</p><p>Osteosarcoma generally occurs in rapidly growing bones, and is found in children and young adults, said Mark Crowther, the study's co-author and a professor of medicine, pathology and molecular medicine, Reuters reported. The tumor destroys the bone and can spread to other tissues. Dinosaurs presumably would also be at risk because they grew at enormous rates, he added.</p>
<p>"One of the ways they got to such massive sizes is that they grew extremely rapidly from the time when they were born," Ekhtiari told <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/08/04/899060875/scientists-discover-malignant-cancer-in-a-dinosaur" target="_blank">NPR</a>. "So finding this in a dinosaur is not surprising." He also noted that bone cancer "is probably more common than we think, or more common than we have found so far."</p><p>The findings suggest that dinosaurs likely suffered from other diseases that affect bones, like tuberculosis and osteomyelitis, Crowther said, NPR reported.</p><p>To confirm the diagnosis, the scientists compared the fossil to a healthy <em>centrosaurus </em>fibula as well as to a human fibula confirmed with osteosarcoma, the <a href="https://www.rom.on.ca/en/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/rare-malignant-cancer-diagnosed-in-a-dinosaur" target="_blank">ROM release</a> explained.</p>
<p>"It is both fascinating and inspiring to see a similar multidisciplinary effort that we use in diagnosing and treating osteosarcoma in our patients leading to the first diagnosis of osteosarcoma in a dinosaur," Ekhtiari said in the ROM release. "This discovery reminds us of the common biological links throughout the animal kingdom and reinforces the theory that osteosarcoma tends to affect bones when and where they are growing most rapidly."</p><p>Evans, an expert on <em>centrosaurus</em>, told <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/08/04/899060875/scientists-discover-malignant-cancer-in-a-dinosaur" target="_blank">NPR</a>, "We often think of dinosaurs as sort of mythical, powerful creatures, and I think this discovery really underscores that they can be afflicted by diseases that we see around us today, even horrible fatal cancers. I think in an odd way it brings them even more back to life."</p>
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Twitter Posts Show That People Are Profoundly Sad – and Visiting Parks to Feel Happy
23h
Health + Wellness
Parks keep people happy in times of global crisis, economic shutdown and public anger. NPS
By Joe Roman and Taylor Ricketts
The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is the deepest and longest period of malaise in a dozen years. Our colleagues at the University of Vermont have concluded this by analyzing posts on Twitter. The Vermont Complex Systems Center studies 50 million tweets a day, scoring the "happiness" of people's words to monitor the national mood. That mood today is at its lowest point since 2008 when they started this project.
<p>They call the tweet analysis the <a href="https://hedonometer.org/timeseries/en_all/" target="_blank">Hedonometer</a>. It relies on surveys of thousands of people who rate words indicating happiness. "Laughter" gets an 8.50 while "jail" gets a 1.76. They use these scores to measure the mood of Twitter traffic.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU0MDk2OC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5OTE2NTE0MH0.r5pybtrk3Hbw6T563Ocywomubq61WtEpw3Q44HVUITs/img.png?width=980" id="c7ac9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="76b7770b6cc9fd69f3e395f74864a776" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
The Hedonometer measures happiness through analysis of key words on Twitter, which is now used by one in five Americans. This chart covers 18 months from early 2019 to July 2020, showing major dips in 2020. hedonometer.org
<p>These same tweets also indicate a potential salve. Before pandemic lockdowns began, doctoral student <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=0P0ZYbIAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank">Aaron Schwartz</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10045" target="_blank">compared tweets before, during, and after visits to 150 parks, playgrounds and plazas</a> in San Francisco. He found that park visits corresponded with a spike in happiness, followed by an afterglow lasting up to four hours.</p><p>Tweets from parks contained fewer negative words such as "no," "not" and "can't," and fewer first-person pronouns like "I" and "me." It seems that nature makes people more positive and less self-obsessed.</p><p>Parks keep people happy in times of global crisis, economic shutdown and public anger. Research has also shown that transmission rates for COVID-19 are <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Is-risk-of-coronavirus-transmission-lower-15287602.php" target="_blank">much lower outdoors than inside</a>. As scholars who study <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yFzb2EUAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank">conservation</a> and how nature <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=CCnUeN8AAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank">contributes to human well-being</a>, we see opening up parks and creating new ones as a straightforward remedy for Americans' current blues.</p>Park Visits Are Up During the Pandemic
<p>According to the Hedonometer, sentiments expressed online started trending lower in mid-March as the impacts of the pandemic became clear. As lockdowns continued, they registered the lowest sentiment scores on record. Then in late May, effects from George Floyd's death in police custody and the following protests and police response once again could be seen on Twitter. May 31, 2020 was the saddest day of the project.</p><p>Recent surveys of park visitors around the University of Vermont have shown people <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/sd3h6" target="_blank">using green spaces more</a> since COVID-19 lockdowns began. Many people reported that parks were highly important to their well-being during the pandemic.</p><div id="4c7e4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bc0ac146ab2a94228f32d973fc2ab272"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1289428912879964160" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#Goldengatepark #sf #quarantinemood https://t.co/9l3ufnbkt6</div> — Suvd (@Suvd)<a href="https://twitter.com/Suvd19486406/statuses/1289428912879964160">1596258783.0</a></blockquote></div><p>The powerful effects of nature are strongest in large parks with more trees, but smaller neighborhood parks also provide a significant boost. Their impact on happiness is real, measurable and lasting.</p><p>Twitter records show that parks increase happiness to a level similar to the bounce at Christmas, which typically is the happiest day of the year. Schwartz has since expanded his <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2006.10658.pdf" target="_blank">Twitter study</a> to the 25 largest cities in the U.S. and found this bounce everywhere.</p><p>Parks and public spaces won't cure COVID-19 or stop police brutality, but they are far more than playgrounds. There is growing evidence that parks contribute to mental and physical health in a range of communities.</p><p>In a 2015 study, for example, Stanford researchers sent people out for one of two walks: through a local park or on a busy street. Those who walked in nature showed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2015.02.005" target="_blank">improved moods and better memory performance</a> compared to the urban group. And a team led by <a href="https://penniur.upenn.edu/people/eugenia-gina-south" target="_blank">Gina South</a> of the University of Pennsylvania showed in a 2018 study that greening and cleaning up blighted vacant lots in Philadelphia <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.0298" target="_blank">reduced local residents' feelings of depression, worthlessness and poor mental health</a>.</p>
Creative Strategies
<p>It isn't easy to create new parks on the scale of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park or the Washington Mall, but smaller projects can expand outdoor space. Options include greening vacant lots, closing streets and investing in existing parks to make them safer, greener and shadier and support wildlife.</p><p>These initiatives don't have to be capital-intensive. In the University of Pennsylvania study, for example, renovating a vacant lot by removing trash, planting grass and trees and installing a low fence cost only about US$1,600.</p><p>Urban green space is most needed in neighborhoods that have lacked funding for parks, especially given <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/nyregion/coronavirus-race-deaths.html" target="_blank">COVID-19's disproportionate impact on Black and Latinx people</a>.</p><p>Cities can also create parklike spaces by <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-fewer-cars-on-us-streets-now-is-the-time-to-reinvent-roadways-and-how-we-use-them-140408" target="_blank">closing streets to cars</a>. Many cities worldwide are currently retooling their transportation systems for the post-COVID-19 world in order to <a href="https://thecityfix.com/blog/bicycles-slower-speeds-livable-city-paris-mayor-anne-hidalgo-plans-ambitious-second-term-dario-hidalgo/" target="_blank">reallocate public space</a>, widen sidewalks and make more space for nature.</p><p>Urban designers, artists, ecologists and other citizens can play a direct role, too, creating pop-up parks and green spaces. Some advocates <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-15/a-brief-history-of-park-ing-day" target="_blank">transform parking spaces into mini-parks</a> with grass, potted trees and seating for just the time on the meter, to make a larger point about turning so much public space over to cars.</p><p>Or cities can invest a little more. Minneapolis, Cincinnati and Arlington, Virginia, have won <a href="https://www.tpl.org/parkscore" target="_blank">national recognition</a> for their ambitious investments in public park systems. These areas could serve as models for neighborhoods that lack access to parks.</p><div id="25fd0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="383f0d2df0237e9359c30dcce6cd6c42"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1276558744835379201" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Looking to safely get outside? Check out the best parks for social distancing in this year's top ten ParkScore citi… https://t.co/HJjEtDsrTD</div> — The Trust for Public Land (@The Trust for Public Land)<a href="https://twitter.com/tpl_org/statuses/1276558744835379201">1593190296.0</a></blockquote></div>
A New Park Deal?
<p>The United States has historically driven economic recovery with major infrastructure investments, like the New Deal in the 1930s and the 2009 <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/american-recovery-and-reinvestment-act.asp" target="_blank">American Reinvestment and Recovery Act</a>. Such investments could easily include nature-positive spaces.</p><p>Parks are not panaceas, as evidenced by the widely publicized <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/nyregion/amy-cooper-false-report-charge.html" target="_blank">racist confrontation between a white woman and a Black birder</a> in New York's Central Park in early July. But Hedonometer data add to a <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/7/eaax0903?utm_source=miragenews&utm_medium=miragenews&utm_campaign=news" target="_blank">growing body of evidence</a> that they provide <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1807504116" target="_blank">clear mental health benefits</a>. Creating and expanding parks also <a href="https://www.nrpa.org/contentassets/f568e0ca499743a08148e3593c860fc5/economic-impact-study-summary.pdf" target="_blank">generates jobs and economic activity</a>, with much of the money spent locally.</p><p>We believe investments in nature are well worth it, offering both short-term solace in difficult times and long-term benefits to health, economies and communities.</p>From Your Site Articles
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The ubiquity of guns and bullets poses environmental risks. Contaminants in bullets include lead, copper, zinc, antimony and mercury. gorancakmazovic / iStock / Getty Images Plus
New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced Thursday that she will attempt to dismantle the National Rifle Association (NRA), arguing that years of corruption and mismanagement warrant the dissolution of the activist organization, as CNN reported.
<p>The lawsuit specifically names the organization's top brass as corrupt and inept, accusing them of failing to follow numerous state and federal laws and mismanaging the organization so badly that it lost more than $64 million in just three years, according to a <a href="https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2020/attorney-general-james-files-lawsuit-dissolve-nra" target="_blank">press release</a> from James' office. James alleges that CEO Wayne LaPierre and his top lieutenants used the organization's coffers for personal gain, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/nra-lapierre-ny-attorney-general/2020/08/06/8e389794-d794-11ea-930e-d88518c57dcc_story.html" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported.</p>
<p>The overwhelming influence the NRA has had on American politics has enabled gun violence to proliferate into a public health crisis, according to the <a href="https://www.apha.org/topics-and-issues/gun-violence#:~:text=Gun%20violence%20is%20a%20leading,this%20growing%20crisis%20is%20necessary." target="_blank">American Public Health Association</a>. Furthermore, the ubiquity of guns and bullets poses environmental risks. As the <a href="https://www.theregreview.org/2018/10/08/williamson-choosing-guns-environment/" target="_blank">University of Pennsylvania</a> notes, contaminants in bullets include <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/lead">lead</a>, copper, zinc, antimony and even <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/mercury">mercury</a>, all of which can sink into the soil and sometimes leach into groundwater and surface water. Exposure to these contaminants through the soil or water can lead to illness and possibly death for those who spend significant amounts of time in contaminated areas.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/08/06/899712823/new-york-attorney-general-moves-to-dissolve-the-nra-after-fraud-investigation" target="_blank">NPR</a>, the maneuver to dissolve the NRA is the most aggressive sanction James could have sought against the organization, which she has jurisdiction over because has been registered as a 501(c) not-for-profit organization in New York asince 1871.</p><p>James has a wide range of authorities relating to nonprofits in the state, including the authority to force organizations to cease operations or dissolve.</p><p>"The NRA's influence has been so powerful that the organization went unchecked for decades while top executives funneled millions into their own pockets," James said in a <a href="https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2020/attorney-general-james-files-lawsuit-dissolve-nra" target="_blank">statement</a>. "The NRA is fraught with fraud and abuse, which is why, today, we seek to dissolve the NRA, because no organization is above the law."</p>
<p>Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the NRA who received millions in salary, also used the organization's money to fund an extravagant lifestyle. The suit alleges that LaPierre used NRA money to pay a personal travel consultant $13.5 million, largely on no-bid contracts. Private flights were chartered for LaPierre's wife and his niece. He took frequent trips to the Bahamas on the NRA's dime, where he often stayed on a 108-foot yacht called "Illusions" that was owned by an NRA contractor and included a chef and four staterooms. He bought gifts from Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman from his inner circle, and once put his niece up at a Four Seasons hotel for eight nights at a cost of more than $12,000, according to the complaint, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/06/us/ny-nra-lawsuit-letitia-james.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=New%20York" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p><p>"Given the breadth and depth of the corruption, the illegality and the brazen attempts to evade the law," said James, according to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/new-york-attorney-general-letitia-james-files-lawsuit-dissolve-nra-n1236009" target="_blank">NBC News</a>, it is necessary for the NRA to shut its doors to protect members and donors.</p><p>James said the suit would be forwarded to the IRS for investigation of potential violations of tax law, according to NBC News.</p><p>"If we uncover any criminal activity, we will refer it to the Manhattan district attorney," she said. "At this point in time, we're moving forward, again, with civil enforcement."</p>
<p>Also Thursday, District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine <a href="https://oag.dc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-08/NRA-Foundation-Complaint-Redacted.pdf" target="_blank">sued the NRA and the NRA Foundation</a>, its charitable arm, which is incorporated in Washington, DC, as NBC News reported. The lawsuit alleges that the NRA misused charitable funds "to support wasteful spending by the NRA and its executives," and seeks the return of money that it says was donated to the NRA Foundation but was improperly diverted to the NRA.</p><p>"Charitable organizations function as public trusts — and District law requires them to use their funds to benefit the public, not to support political campaigns, lobbying, or private interests," Racine said, as NPR reported. "With this lawsuit, we aim to recover donated funds that the NRA Foundation wasted. District nonprofits should be on notice that the Office of the Attorney General will file suit if we find evidence of illegal behavior."</p>
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Bystanders watch the MV Wakashio bulk carrier from which oil is leaking near Blue Bay Marine Park in southeast Mauritius, on August 6, 2020. Photo by Dev Ramkhelawon / L'Express Maurice / AFP / Getty Images
The Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, renowned for its coral reefs, is facing an unprecedented ecological catastrophe after a tanker ran aground offshore and began leaking oil.
<p>The 984-foot MV Wakashio ran aground on July 25 and began to break up due to rough waters, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/07/mauritius-facing-environmental-disaster-after-striken-bulk-carrier-leaks-oil?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco&fbclid=IwAR39uaSW-9_KYfuYZMv1Sqh66zFJLGtQqgCEv42JH6rs73MIOttQcD0iEds" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. It contained about 220.5 tons of diesel fuel and 4,189 tons of bunker fuel.</p><p>"We are in an environmental crisis situation," Mauritius' environment minister Kavy Ramano said according to The Guardian.</p>
<div id="3bdfb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6c8ea0ce2a9151f222fbc67584beda1e"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1291356236219387906" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">🇲🇺 The authorities in Mauritius have warned of a major oil spill after a Panama-flagged ship reported a "leakage".… https://t.co/C7irK1e9g8</div> — BBC News Africa (@BBC News Africa)<a href="https://twitter.com/BBCAfrica/statuses/1291356236219387906">1596718293.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The environment ministry announced the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-spill" target="_self">oil spill</a> on Thursday, according to an AFP story published <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/tourist-hotspot-mauritius-hit-oil-spill-ship-grounds-200807054651300.html" target="_blank">by Al Jazeera</a>. The ship ran aground at Pointe d'Esny off the southeast of Mauritius, which is considered a "wetland of international importance" by the <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/water/wetlands/ramsar" target="_blank">Ramsar Convention</a>. Mauritius depends on its <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans" target="_self">oceans</a> for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fish" target="_self">fish</a> and tourism. It is also a major exporter of tuna, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-africa-47639452?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=5f2bf24953c3fb067a7286fd%26Mauritius%20coast%20hit%20by%20oil%20spill%262020-08-06T12:13:14.186Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:b0a37ecf-3c2b-4848-a562-cb28e0403c11&pinned_post_asset_id=5f2bf24953c3fb067a7286fd&pinned_post_type=share" target="_blank">BBC News</a> reported.</p><p>"This is the first time that we are faced with a catastrophe of this kind, and we are insufficiently equipped to handle this problem," Fishing Minister Sudheer Maudhoo said, AFP reported.</p><p>Mauritius is currently receiving help from the French island of Reunion and has asked other international and regional organizations to assist, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-06/mauritius-bars-access-to-beach-as-oil-leaks-from-stranded-vessel" target="_blank">Bloomberg reported</a>.</p>
<p>The MV Wakashio sails under a Panamanian flag but is owned by the Japanese company Nagashiki Shipping, The Guardian reported. All crew members were evacuated safely.</p><p>Nagashiki Shipping said that rough weather had caused the spill and made cleanup more difficult.</p><p>"Due to bad weather and constant pounding over the past few days, the starboard side bunker tanker has been breached and an amount of fuel oil has escaped into the sea," the company told Bloomberg by email. "In view of poor sea conditions salvage efforts are currently on hold."</p>
<p>A floating barrier has been placed around the ship to contain the oil.</p><p>Oceanographer Vassen Kauppaymuthoo said this was the first time Mauritius had seen such a devastating oil spill.</p><p>"It may have caused irreversible environmental damage to the southeastern coast of Mauritius," Kauppaymuthoo told Bloomberg. </p><p><a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/africa/en/" target="_blank">Greenpeace Africa</a>, meanwhile, said the incident demonstrated another example of the dangers of using and transporting <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuels</a>.</p>
<div id="7eb49" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="83819841e380a7072ec66d3186c160e8"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1291705003984510977" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">🚨RESPONSE to #Mauritius #OILSpill 🚨 “Once again we see the risks in oil: aggravating the #ClimateCrisis, as well as… https://t.co/PBLioZat6X</div> — Greenpeace Africa (@Greenpeace Africa)<a href="https://twitter.com/Greenpeaceafric/statuses/1291705003984510977">1596801446.0</a></blockquote></div><p>"There is no guaranteed safe way to extract, transport and store fossil fuel products. This oil leak is not a twist of fate, but the choice of our twisted addiction to fossil fuels. We must react by accelerating our withdrawal from fossil fuels," Greenpeace Africa Senior Climate and Energy Campaign Manager Happy Khambule said in a <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/africa/en/press/11864/greenpeace-africa-response-to-mauritius-oil-spill/?utm_campaign=oil&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=post&utm_content=single-image&utm_term=mauritius-oil-spill-reactive" target="_blank">statement Friday</a>. "Once again we see the risks in oil: aggravating the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" target="_self">climate crisis</a>, as well as devastating oceans and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" target="_self">biodiversity</a> and threatening local livelihoods around some of Africa's most precious lagoons."</p>
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A mural honors the medics fighting COVID-19 in Australia, where cases are once again rising, taken on April 22, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. Robert Cianflone / Getty Images
By Gianna-Carina Grün
While the first countries are easing their lockdowns, others are reporting more and more new cases every day. Data for the global picture shows the pandemic is far from over. DW has the latest statistics.
What's the Current Global Trend?
<p>The goal for all countries is to make it to the blue part of the chart and stay there. Countries and territories in this section reported zero new cases both this week (past seven days) and the week before.</p><p>Currently, that is the case for 14 out of 209 countries and territories. </p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU0MDY4Ny9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMzc0MDAwM30.ZSsLzwTWoiEiCBH6RkYt_PochwwAyvViegJbDj21uzk/img.png?width=980" id="b7cbf" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6209b12a1c6732b279e1778374028cfa" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p><em>Please note: The number of newly reported cases highly depends on a country's ability to <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-numbers-in-india-are-low-but-so-is-the-testing-rate/a-52840933" target="_blank">conduct tests</a> and its <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-what-you-should-know-about-tests/a-53349363" target="_blank">strategy for administering tests.</a></em></p>
How Has the Covid-19 Trend Evolved Over the Past Weeks?
<p>The situation has improved slightly: 87 countries report more cases this week than last week. </p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU0MDY4OS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNzY4MzU4MX0.MzzvxPlKwUGWobBBFGpVwWXizOWZnLZVeTyV7OcWlIY/img.png?width=980" id="6c55a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a7bb4dee972b5132ac3d9920a6eb9b2c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><h3><strong></strong>What Is the Current Covid-19 Trend in My Country?</h3><p>Based on the newly reported case numbers – which can reflect local outbreaks as well as country-wide spread – in the past 14 days, countries and territories <a href="https://github.com/dw-data/covid19-trend" target="_blank">classify</a> as follows:</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU0MDY5My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNDA2MzI1N30.Elrh1JEKUlx_9aBhfzN9RvfW372HzRyMbAonLISlU_A/img.png?width=980" id="19485" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="dd593682ea783065b88832f321680b3d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>More than twice as many new cases this week as last week:</p><ul><li><strong>Asia</strong>: Cyprus, Philippines, Vietnam </li><li><strong>Africa</strong>: Benin, Djibouti, Gambia </li><li><strong>Americas</strong>: Aruba, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Turks and Caicos islands, US Virgin Islands </li><li><strong>Europe</strong>: Estonia, Finland, Greece, Jersey, Malta, Norway </li><li><strong>Oceania</strong>: Guam, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea </li></ul><p> <br>More new cases this week than last week: </p><ul><li><strong>Asia</strong>: India, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Lebanon, Maldives, Nepal, Singapore, Syria, Timor Leste, Turkey, Uzbekistan </li><li><strong>Africa</strong>: Angola, Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Libya, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Seychelles, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, Zimbabwe </li><li><strong>Americas</strong>: Argentina, Bahamas, Bolivia, Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba, British Virgin Islands, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela </li><li><strong>Europe</strong>: Albania, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, Poland, San Marino, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom </li><li><strong>Oceania</strong>: Australia </li></ul>
<p>About the same number of new cases in both weeks (no change or plus/minus seven cases):</p><ul><li><strong>Asia</strong>: Bhutan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Taiwan, Thailand </li><li><strong>Africa</strong>: Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Mali, Uganda </li><li><strong>Americas</strong>: Bermuda, Curacao, Nicaragua, Sint Maarten (Dutch part) </li><li><strong>Europe</strong>: Gibraltar, Monaco </li><li><strong>Oceania</strong>: Northern Mariana Islands </li></ul><p>Fewer new cases this week than last week: </p><ul><li><strong>Asia</strong>: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, China, Georgia, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Palestinian territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates, Yemen </li><li><strong>Africa</strong>: Algeria, Botswana, Cameroon, Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Togo, Zambia </li><li><strong>Americas</strong>: Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Panama, United States of America, Uruguay </li><li><strong>Europe</strong>: Andorra, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Faroe Islands, Hungary, Kosovo, Luxembourg, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia </li></ul><p> <br>Less than half as many new cases as last week: </p><ul><li><strong>Asia</strong>: Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Oman, Sri Lanka </li><li><strong>Africa</strong>: Burundi, Chad, Comoros, Cote dIvoire, Egypt, Eritrea, Mauritania, Mauritius, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Somalia </li><li><strong>Americas</strong>: Antigua and Barbuda, Greenland, Grenada, Saint Lucia </li><li><strong>Europe</strong>: Liechtenstein </li></ul><p> <br>Zero new cases this week as well as last week: </p><ul><li><strong>Asia</strong>: Brunei Darussalam </li><li><strong>Africa</strong>: Tanzania, Western Sahara </li><li><strong>Americas</strong>: Anguilla, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Saint Kitts and Nevis </li><li><strong>Europe</strong>: Guernsey, Holy See, Isle of Man </li><li><strong>Oceania</strong>: Fiji, French Polynesia, New Caledonia </li></ul><p><em>These charts and this article are updated every Friday between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. (UTC/GMT). </em></p><p><em>If you have questions regarding the analysis, please refer to the project's <a href="https://github.com/dw-data/covid19-trend" target="_blank">github repository </a> for code and methodology. For feedback regarding the charts, please contact data-team@dw.com </em></p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from </em><em><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-global-pandemic-trend/a-53954594?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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