Donald Trump and Joe Biden arrive onstage for the final presidential debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, on Oct. 22, 2020. JIM WATSON / AFP via Getty Images
Towards the end of the final presidential debate of the 2020 election season, the moderator asked both candidates how they would address both the climate crisis and job growth, leading to a nearly 12-minute discussion where Donald Trump did not acknowledge that the climate is changing and Joe Biden called the climate crisis an existential threat.
<p>In response to the question from moderator Kristen Welker, "How would you both combat climate change and support job growth?" Trump insisted that he loves the environment and wants clean air and water. He said that his administration has started to plant trees and there have been record drops in carbon emissions during his administration. </p><p>Trump then made a rambling remark about air pollution in India, China and Russia, before touting that he took the U.S. out of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement">Paris agreement</a>, giving a false version of what the Paris agreement requires of the U.S. and insisting that it would have sacrificed "tens of millions of jobs."</p>
<p><br></p><p>By contrast, Biden noted that the climate crisis and a warming planet are "an existential threat to humanity."</p><p>"We have a moral obligation to deal with it and we're told by all the leading scientists in the world we don't have much time," he said and then pointed out that scientists say we have 8 to 10 years to tackle the crisis before we pass the point of no return, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/10/22/climate-change-biden-trump-debate/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported.</p><p>He then went on to list infrastructure investments in charging stations to promote the use of electric cars, and retrofitting older buildings so they do not leak their heating and cooling. Biden said those upgrades will save millions of barrels of oil, help clean the environment and create more than 18 million jobs.</p>
<p><br></p><p>Trump, in his response, insisted that Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and three other female Democratic lawmakers "know nothing about the climate." Trump then claimed the plan would cost $100 trillion, even though Biden's website says his plan will cost $2 trillion.</p>
<p>Biden turned his attention to the support he has received from both environmental groups and labor unions.</p><p>The moderator then asked Trump why people of color, who are disproportionately affected by pollution since their communities are often up against oil refineries and chemical plants, should give him four more years in office.</p><p>"The families that we're talking about are employed heavily and they're making more money than they've ever made," Trump replied. He then went on to claim that he saved the oil industry.</p><p>Biden replied by talking about the effect of living next to a fence line and how important it is to keep people safe by imposing restrictions on pollution.</p><p>Trump then stopped Welker from asking her final question and asked Biden if he would close down the oil industry. Biden insisted he would stop federal subsidies of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuels</a> and usher in a transition to <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/">renewable energy</a>.</p><p>"We have to move towards a net zero emissions," Biden said.</p>
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Air Pollution Responsible for Over 6.6 Million Deaths Worldwide in 2020, Study Finds
21 October
Health + Wellness
Rashtrapati Bhavan engulfed in smog, at Rajpath, on Oct. 12, 2020 in New Delhi, India. Biplov Bhuyan / Hindustan Times via Getty Images
An annual comprehensive report on air pollution showed that it was responsible for 6.67 million deaths worldwide, including the premature death of 500,000 babies, with the worst health outcomes occurring in the developing world, according to the State of Global Air, which was released Wednesday.
<p>The <a href="https://www.stateofglobalair.org/sites/default/files/documents/2020-10/soga-2020-report.pdf" target="_blank">State of Global Air 2020</a> looked at the effects of air pollution on health outcomes in 2019 and found that conditions are getting worse, as it moved up from the fifth leading cause of death worldwide to the fourth leading cause. Only high-blood pressure, smoking and poor diet surpass air pollution.</p><p>The State of Global Air 2020 is a joint collaboration produced annually by the Health Effects Institute and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation's Global Burden of Disease project.</p>
<p>One reason that air pollution moved up in the list of leading causes of death is that this year's report was able to account for infant death due to air pollution. The report noted that roughly half a million babies died to due to poor air quality, with roughly two-thirds of those deaths due to poor indoor air from burning charcoal, wood and animal dung for cooking, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/21/polluted-air-killing-half-a-million-babies-a-year-across-globe" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>"We don't totally understand what the mechanisms are at this stage, but there is something going on that is causing reductions in baby growth and ultimately birth weight," said Katherine Walker, principal scientist at the Health Effects Institute, as The Guardian reported. "There is an epidemiological link, shown across multiple countries in multiple studies."</p>
<p>India was the worst hit country with 116,000 infant deaths linked to air pollution, while Sub-Saharan Africa saw 236,000 infant deaths due to poor air quality, according to the report, as <a href="https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-10-air-pollution-500k-newborns-global.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Agence-France Presse</a> (AFP) noted. Most of the complications were due to low birth weight and premature birth, which leaves a baby's lungs fragile.</p><p>It is not just babies that need to be protected. Recent studies have also noted that exposure to air pollution for mothers contributes to low birth weight and premature births, according to <a href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/air-pollution-contributes-to-more-than-1-16-000-infant-deaths-in-india-reveals-global-study-159013" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Tribune in India</a>.</p><p>"An infant's health is critical to the future of every society, and this newest evidence suggests an especially high risk for infants born in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa," said Dan Greenbaum, president of the Health Effects Institute, the AFP reported.</p>
<p>According to the report, the most smog or PM2.5 air pollution for 2019 was in India, followed by Nepal, Niger, Qatar and Nigeria. The report noted that India's air quality has been steadily decreasing since 2010. While most of the 20 most populous countries have decreased air pollution over the last decade, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Japan have seen air pollution increase, as <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-recorded-highest-air-pollution-exposure-globally-in-2019-report/story-oOH8OTQEf276Sy0vrYMXyH.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Hindustan Times</a> reported.</p><p>Long-term exposure to air pollution contributed to 1.67 million deaths in India last year.</p><p>"Given the high exposure and staggering health burden of air pollution, India must show urgency and recognize air pollution as a regional-scale problem," said Sagnik Dey, associate professor at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, to The Hindustan Times. "The National Clean Air Program should be expanded beyond the urban centers with an air-shed approach prioritizing the local and regional mitigation measures to achieve clean air goals for India."</p><p>Epidemiologists have compared the state of air in developing countries to Victorian London from 150 years ago.</p><p>"This is not the air pollution we see in modern cities [in the rich world] but that which we had 150 years ago in London and other places, where there were coal fires indoors," said Beate Ritz, professor of epidemiology at UCLA, to The Guardian. "Indoor air pollution has not been at the forefront for policymakers, but it should be."</p>
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Air Pollution Linked to Alzheimer's and Parkinson’s Damage in Young Brains
17 October
Health + Wellness
Children play near a non-ferrous metals plant in Copsa Mica in central Romania on Feb. 2, 2009. DANIEL MIHAILESCU / AFP via Getty Images
While it is well known that air pollution negatively harms lungs and hearts, it could also be affecting the brains of young people.
<p>Tiny air pollution particles make their way up to the brainstems of young people where they accumulate, new research published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935120310367?via%3Dihub#mmc1" target="_blank"><em>Environmental Research</em></a> showed. These same nanoparticles have been "intimately associated" with the molecular damage that serves as a hallmark for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/06/air-pollution-particles-in-young-brains-linked-to-alzheimers-damage" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported. That linkage could have global implications if confirmed because 90% of people currently live with toxic outdoor air, another <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2019/may/17/air-pollution-may-be-damaging-every-organ-and-cell-in-the-body-finds-global-review" target="_blank">Guardian</a> article reported.</p><p><a href="https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-dementia/risk-factors-and-prevention/air-pollution-and-dementia" target="_blank">Alzheimer's Society</a> defines air pollution as being made up of several different components including gases, chemical compounds, metals and tiny particles known as particulate matter. When we breathe and eat, these nanoparticles enter our bodies and circulate through our bloodstream to the brain, where they can accumulate in the brain stem, The Guardian reported.</p>
<p>The researchers found abundant pollution nanoparticles and evidence of nerve cell growths, plaque and tangles that are linked to neurological disease in the brainstems of 186 young people (ages 11 months to 27 years) from Mexico City who died suddenly, reported <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/health/exposure-of-young-population-to-air-pollution-may-increase-risks-of-alzheimers-parkinsons-other-neurodegenerative-diseases-8893021.html" target="_blank">First Post</a>.</p><p>"The iron-and aluminum-rich nanoparticles found in the brainstem are strikingly similar to those which occur as combustion- and friction-derived particles in air pollution (from engines and braking systems)," said Barbara Maher, part of the research team, reported <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/young-brains-exposed-to-air-pollution-show-damage-reminiscent-of-alzheimer-s" target="_blank">Science Alert</a>.</p><p>In addition to the high presence of particulate matter, the brainstems also showed signs of early and progressive neurovascular nerve damage, First Post reported. The way these particles reacted with brain cells could increase oxidative stress and eventually lead to death of neurons, the report said.</p>
<p>The participants had all experienced lifelong exposure to particulate pollution, <a href="https://www.studyfinds.org/young-people-brains-air-pollution-alzheimers-parkinsons-als/" target="_blank">Study Finds</a> reported. Brains of similarly-aged people from less-polluted areas did not display the same disease markers, The Guardian reported.</p><p>According to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/17/americas/mexico-city-pollution-in-photos-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>, Mexico City has struggled with dangerous air pollution levels for decades. <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1029122/mexico-air-pollution-city/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Statista</a> found that the capital city reported an average particulate matter concentration in 2019 more than double the World Health Organization's recommended maximum average concentration. Air pollution rates in the majority of major cities exceed the same safe level of pollution, Alzheimer's Society reported.</p><p>Other studies have linked higher pollution levels to increased rates of different mental <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/health-stories/" target="_self">health diseases and wellness</a> issues. One study similarly found that <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/young-people-alzheimers-2560595650.html" target="_self">living in cities with high air pollution put children at higher risk of Alzheimer's and suicide</a>. The researchers in that study also found that Alzheimer's disease started in the brainstem of young urbanites who'd been exposed to high levels of particulate matter and called high pollution levels "a serious health crisis."</p>
<p>Another study <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/air-pollution-childrens-mental-health-2640650546.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="_self">linked rising air pollution with increased rates of children's psychiatric diseases</a>.</p><p>This latest study takes the correlation one step further. According to The Guardian, it's the first time a physical mechanism, namely the accumulation of nanoparticles in the brain stem, has been observed that can possibly explain why brain damage increases as rates of air pollution go up.</p><p>"(O)ur new findings indicate that what air pollutants you are exposed to, what you are inhaling and swallowing, are really significant in development of neurological damage," Maher told Science Alert.</p><p>The next step for researchers is to show whether the nanoparticles cause the damage and whether that damage leads to disease later in life.</p><p>"We can't prove causality so far, but how could you expect these nanoparticles containing those metal species to sit inert and harmless inside critical cells of the brain?" Maher told The Guardian. "That's the smoking gun – it seriously looks as if those nanoparticles are firing the bullets that are causing the observed neurodegenerative damage."</p>
<p>Maher said that the findings provide a hypothesis that now can be tested by further research. This can be done, for example, by observing whether increased exposure to pollution nanoparticles correlates with brain stem damage that affects movement control and the gait of young people.</p><p>According to The Guardian, other experts are cautious about the findings, citing that many other factors can contribute to neurodegenerative diseases. While the scientists say it is still premature to say that the brain damage caused by air pollution directly leads to the development of these diseases, the findings provide a pathway for future research to confirm causation.</p>
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Criminal prosecutions for polluting the environment in violation of the Clean Water Act or the Clean Air Act have dropped to their lowest levels in decades under the Trump administration. Charles Cook / Lonely Planet Images / Getty Images Plus
A new report finds that criminal prosecutions for polluting the environment in violation of the Clean Water Act or the Clean Air Act have dropped to their lowest levels in decades under the Trump administration, as The New York Times reported.
<p>The <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3710109" target="_blank">report</a> was written by David Uhlmann, a law professor at the University of Michigan who worked for the Department of Justice for 17 years and served as its top environmental prosecutor from 2000 to 2007.</p><p>In the paper, the career prosecutor-turned-professor analyzed 14 years of cases and found that in the first two years of the Trump administration, criminal prosecutions for violations of the Clean Water Act dropped 70 percent. Similarly, prosecutions for violations of the Clean Air Act dropped 50 percent in the first two years since Trump took office.</p><p>"No matter what the future holds, the data from the first two years under President Trump reveals a dramatic departure from the non-partisan support for pollution prosecutions that had existed across administrations, which leaves Americans less safe and the environment less protected," Uhlmann wrote.</p>
<p>Uhlmann presented the paper at the American Bar Association's fall environmental conference. While the paper is available online now, it will be published in the Michigan Journal of Environmental and Administrative Law, according to The New York Times.</p><p>The paper noted that there were only nine criminal prosecutions under the Clean Water Act in 2018. "Under President Donald J. Trump the bottom fell out," Uhlmann wrote, as The New York Times reported.</p><p>Uhlmann told The New York Times that the numbers show a dramatic decline in both the quantity and the quality of the prosecutions that the administration is pursuing.</p>
<p>While the study looked at the first two years of the Trump administration and found a pattern that shattered the author's perception that law enforcement operated independently of political influence, recent data has shown the trend continued through 2019.</p><p>According to Justice Department <a href="https://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/crim/581/" target="_blank">data</a> analyzed by Syracuse University's <a href="https://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/crim/581/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse </a>(TRAC), the total number of environmental prosecutions in fiscal year 2019 was lower than any year during the administrations of the previous three presidents, which dates back to 1993, as <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/environmental-prosecutions-drop-to-lowest-level-in-decades/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Courthouse News</a> reported.</p><p>For that year, the percent of prosecutions for environmental violations was 64.5 percent lower than it was two decades earlier.</p><p>"There's a risk that unenforced violations could lead to fires, leaks, spills, and contamination," said Ethan Elkind, climate program director at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, as Courthouse News reported.</p>
<p>While criminal prosecutions have plummeted under Trump, so have civil prosecutions, according to The New York Times. Civil settlements are a powerful tool to ensure that polluters pay to clean up past mistakes and implement safeguards against future pollution issues.</p><p>A <a href="https://democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/SEPs-Complaint-10.8.20.pdf" target="_blank">lawsuit filed last week in Massachusetts</a> by the Conservation Law Foundation named Attorney General William Barr and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa">EPA</a> Administrator Andrew Wheeler as defendants for ending the practice that forces polluters to clean up for their actions and implement protections. The lawsuit notes that those violations tend to affect low-income and minority communities disproportionally, and the decision to abandon civil prosecutions and settlements, "runs directly counter to Congress' design when passing laws such as the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act."</p><p>Judith Enck, a former regional administrator at the EPA, told The New York Times that Uhlmann's paper is an accurate portrayal of an administration that "acts like our bedrock environmental laws are simply suggestions. This approach will result in more pollution and more damage to health."</p><p>She added that what the administration has done is "unconscionable."</p>
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A resident of Springdale, Pennsylvania looks out her front window at the smoke stack of the Cheswick coal-fired power plant on Oct. 27, 2017. Robert Nickelsberg / Getty Images
A three judge panel in the Court of Appeals in Washington, DC listened to arguments Thursday on a Trump administration rollback of regulations that limit the emissions that power plants are allowed to spew into the atmosphere, as The New York Times reported.
<p>Health and environmental activists sued the government, arguing that the new regulations inadequately address the threat of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" target="_self">climate crisis</a>. The American Lung Association and the American Public Health Association first filed the suit. Then dozens of other groups signed on and more than 170 amicus briefs were filed in the case revolving around the Trump administration's move to scrap the Clean Power Plan, as <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/health-environment-groups-clash-with-feds-over-clean-power/" target="_blank">Courthouse News</a> reported.</p><p>The new Trump rule, touted as the Affordable Clean Energy rule, "will result in some <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuel</a> plants running more often and delaying their retirement, which would mean increased emissions of dangerous pollution as compared to the Clean Power Plan," according to the American Lung Association, as Courthouse News reported.</p>
<p>In arguments held virtually that went all day, the panel of judges — two Obama appointees and one Trump appointee — fired questions at the lawyers on a range of topics from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" target="_self">EPA</a>) jurisdiction to how coal turns into electricity, as <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/d-c-circuit-goes-into-overtime-exploring-epas-climate-rules" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bloomberg Law</a> reported.</p><p>The plaintiffs contend that the administration's Affordable Clean Energy rule will not only allow power plants to make no effort to reduce carbon emissions, but will also allow them to increase other toxic pollutants emitted into the atmosphere. That consequence betrays the EPA's mandate and legal obligations, they argue, as The New York Times reported.</p>
<p>New York Deputy Solicitor General Steven C. Wu said the Affordable Clean Energy plan is unjustified and inadequate to make any significant impact in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.</p><p>The case may have far-reaching implications as the Trump administration is arguing that the EPA has an extremely limited amount of authority in the Clean Air Act. That limited scope, the administration argues, means the federal government has neither the authority to set national limits on greenhouse gas emissions, nor the jurisdiction to mandate that states move away from <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal">coal</a> power, according to The New York Times.</p>
<p>The plaintiffs in the case argued that the Trump administration's rollbacks were irresponsible.</p><p>"It's like choosing a squirt gun to put out a five alarm fire. EPA provides no reasoned explanation of how such a paltry remedy is appropriate given a record showing such an urgent problem," said Sean Donahue, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, in his argument for the health and environmental petitioners, as Courthouse News reported.</p><p>If the Trump administration is successful in the case, it will limit the scope that any future administration has to curtail the emissions from power plants, which are the nation's second largest source of greenhouse gases after transportation. If the administration loses the case, it's expected to appeal to the Supreme Court, making the potential appointment of Amy Coney Barrett high-stakes for environmental policy, according to The New York Times.</p><p>"The Trump administration has really taken a go-for-broke approach," said Joseph Goffman, executive director of Harvard University Law School's Environmental & Energy Law Program and a former EPA official under Obama, to The New York Times. He added that if the Trump administration wins, "Then they've really advanced a broader project that the Trump administration has been pursuing to not only repeal individual rules, but to narrow the foundation of the federal government in doing any kind of regulation."</p>
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The ozone hole over Antarctica on Oct. 6, 2020. NASA Ozone Watch
The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica is one of the largest and deepest in the past 15 years, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said Tuesday.
<p>The ozone hole over Antarctica usually starts to grow in August and reaches its peak in October, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/europe-antarctica-climate-change-archive-geneva-ec4eeb8da25ef7a7536c05105cf50550" target="_blank">The Associated Press explained</a>. This year, it peaked at 24 million square kilometers (approximately 9.3 million square miles) and is now at 23 million square kilometers (approximately 8.9 million square miles), the WMO said. This means the hole is larger than the average for the past decade and extends over most of Antarctica.</p><p>"With the sunlight returning to the South Pole in the last weeks, we saw continued ozone depletion over the area. <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/media/news/antarctic-ozone-hole-smallest-record" target="_blank">After the unusually small and short-lived ozone hole in 2019,</a> which was driven by special meteorological conditions, we are registering a rather large one again this year, which confirms that we need to continue enforcing the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/montreal-protocol" target="_self">Montreal Protocol</a> banning emissions of ozone depleting chemicals," Vincent-Henri Peuch, director of the EU's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) at ECMWF, said in the WMO press release.</p>
<div id="e533d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3148f785e224740722e9b973c1f73d13"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1313453354266382337" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The #ozone hole over the #Antarctic is one of the largest and deepest in recent years, per @CopernicusECMWF,… https://t.co/k8DUe65iqV</div> — World Meteorological Organization (@World Meteorological Organization)<a href="https://twitter.com/WMO/statuses/1313453354266382337">1601986657.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The ozone layer is important because it protects the earth from dangerous ultraviolet radiation, <a href="https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/monitoring-ozone-layer" target="_blank">CAMS explained</a>. In the late 20th century, that layer was damaged by the human release of ozone-depleting halocarbons, which the Montreal Protocol of 1987 sought to control.</p><p>But the size of the ozone hole every year is also impacted by specific weather conditions. This year, a strong polar vortex has chilled the air above Antarctica, and consistently cold air creates the ideal conditions for ozone depletion.</p><p>"The air has been below minus 78 degrees Celsius, and this is the temperature which you need to form stratospheric clouds — and this quite (a) complex process," WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis said at a UN briefing reported by The Associated Press. "The ice in these clouds triggers a reaction which then can destroy the ozone zone. So, it's because of that that we are seeing the big ozone hole this year."</p><p>Specifically, the ice can turn nonreactive chemicals into reactive ones, the WMO explained. Light from the sun then triggers chemical reactions that deplete the ozone layer.</p>
<p>The Montreal Protocol has been <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/montreal-protocol-ozone-climate-change-2641579082.html" target="_self">hailed</a> as an example of effective international collaboration on a major environmental problem. Last year's hole over Antarctica was the smallest it has been since the hole was discovered, but this was due to unusual weather, not emissions reductions, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/ozone-hole-antarctica-largest-deepest-years-researchers/story?id=73451987" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ABC News reported</a>.</p><p>"There is much variability in how far ozone hole events develop each year," Peuch said in the WMO release.</p><p>The 2018 hole was also on the larger side.</p><p>Still, the WMO and the UN Environment Programme determined in 2018 that the ozone layer was on the road to recovery and could return to pre-1980 levels over Antarctica by 2060.</p>
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Bees Face ‘a Perfect Storm’ — Parasites, Air Pollution and Other Emerging Threats
06 October
Animals
An endangered rusty patched bumble. Jull Utrup / USFWS
By Jodi Helmer
Bees are facing a pandemic of their own.
A collection of threats — habitat loss, pathogens, pesticides, pollution and poor nutrition — have led to widespread decline in bee health and pollinator populations.
<p>The threats add up: The number of commercial honeybee colonies declined by more than quarter million between April and June 2020, according to the latest <a href="https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-esmis/files/rn301137d/nc5819380/t148g6070/hcny0820.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">data</a> from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Native <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/bees" target="_self">bees</a> are at risk, too, with <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2017/bees-03-01-2017.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">1 in 4 native species in North America at risk of extinction</a>.</p><p>"Things are not going so well for bees," says Arthur Grupe, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Colorado. "There's been a lot of research looking into the causes, and usually, humans try and look for the magic bullet — what is the one thing causing this problem that we can stop? And the research has shown that it's actually a collection of things."</p>
<p>A single-cell fungal pathogen called <em>Nosema</em> is one of the latest threats.</p><p><em>Nosema</em> reproduces in the gut, where it ruptures, spreads out and then infects the cells of the digestive tracts. It leads to lethargy, reduced foraging ability, poor sense of direction and, often, death.</p><p>Although <em>Nosema apis</em> and <em>Nosema ceranae — </em>two strains of the fungi — have been regularly recorded in Europe, North America and Southeast Asia, the pathogen is now <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1008580" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">more widespread than ever</a>, according to recent research published in the journal <em>PLOS Pathogens. </em>Grupe was the lead author.</p><p>Grupe notes that <em>N. apis</em>, once the dominant strain affecting commercial bee colonies, was observed to be seasonal, which helped protect against total colony collapse. The increasing export of commercial beehives from Europe, however, has expanded the distribution of the problematic pathogen.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQ2OTM0OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMTE2MTA0Nn0.BxkSsIPMmi_7TSEndEhj6LhVosqvsZb6ErL19AMQRnY/img.jpg?width=980" id="38829" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="70b92e717ecbe5eac33e9ebcf78d79e8" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
USDA photo by David Kosling
<p>At the same time, reports of <em>N. ceranae</em> have increased dramatically — and it infects hives all year long.</p><p>"Historically, it was thought that <em>Nosema ceranae</em> wasn't so much of a problem because its spores can't survive freezing or near-freezing temperatures," he explains. "But as winters have become milder these spores are able to persist and then cause infection, and <em>Nosema ceranae </em>has overtaken <em>Nosema apis</em> as the predominant infect of European honeybees."</p><p>Once a bee is infected with <em>Nosema</em>, it can contaminate entire colonies — where social distancing is not an option — and spread that infection to the wild. Infected honeybees can leave spores on flowers, transmitting the pathogen to other susceptible pollinators, including native bees. This "community spread" has led Grupe and his co-author C. Alisha Quandt to declare it a "pandemic" in their paper.</p><p>Research published this July in the journal <em>Nature Ecology and Evolution </em>illustrates the threat. Field studies in upstate New York found that <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-020-1247-x" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">one in 11 flowers carried disease-causing parasites</a>, including <em>Nosema ceranae</em>, <em>N. bombi</em>, <em>Crithidia bombi</em>, <em>C. expoeki</em> and neogregarines that were linked to declines in bee populations. Social bees, including honeybees and bumblebees, were more likely to be infected with parasites than solitary bee species.</p><p>"Bees visit hundreds of flowers a day and act as a 'shared food source' between the other foraging bees in the area which will feed from the same flowers," explains study co-author Peter Graystock, now a research fellow at Imperial College in London. "If a bee has been in contact with parasites or is suffering from an infection, they may shed some contagious parasite cells on the flower when they visit it, and then when a subsequent bee visits the same flower, the bee may become infected with those parasite cells or spores."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQ2OTM1Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTU2MzE3MH0.4jODMmtj9TIY6COiJwSBZiWYAdZ62_8mktdicerzp-s/img.jpg?width=980" id="d6af2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ed34b1f1af2ab9506c81261bacc0268a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
An endangered rusty patched bumble. USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab
<p>Air pollution might also contribute to bee declines.</p><p>To understand more about that air-quality risk, Barbara Smith, associate professor at the University of Coventry, is working with beekeepers in the United Kingdom to set up sensors in their hives to record the level of air pollution and incidents of disease to determine whether there is a correlation.</p><p>"We know that air pollution is bad for humans and mammals, and we're interested to see if the same is true for invertebrates," Smith explains. "We have reason to believe that it could have an impact, because we know that we can record air pollution particulates in honey."</p><p>Indeed, previous research found that <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/5197/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pollutants lingered on the bodies of honeybees</a> in areas with high levels of air pollution; <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-41876-w" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">exposure to diesel exhaust</a> interfered with their foraging ability; and that air pollution may affect the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/117/34/20653" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">heart and immune systems of wild honeybees</a>.</p><p>Smith hopes her research, funded through the British Beekeepers Association, will provide more data about the impact of air pollution on bee health and population decline. Even if the results are conclusive, she knows it's just one of the issues that needs to be addressed to restore pollinator populations.</p><p>"I don't think that these declines in pollinators are down to one thing," she says. "It's about a suite of things that are happening. It's like a perfect storm."</p>
<h3>Addressing the Threats</h3><p>The fact that bees are facing multiple threats to their health and survival means that coming up with a single solution is impossible, especially when researchers are still trying to collect data.</p><p>Grupe notes that most of the research on <em>Nosema</em> infections has focused on European honeybees. The pathogen also affects native bees, but few researchers have done environmental surveys to capture wild bees from native ecosystems and screen them for <em>Nosema</em>.</p><p>"There's only a handful of studies that have documented <em>Nosema</em> infections in native bees and the problem that needs to be addressed in the future," he says. "More work needs to be done to understand <em>Nosema</em> infections in native bee species and the potential consequences to native ecosystems, and if native bees suffer a similar fate as honeybees when infected."</p><p>To complicate matters, the manufacturer that made a chemical control for <em>Nosema</em>, which the company called its "<a href="https://americanbeejournal.com/life-without-fumagilin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">bread and butter</a>," went out of business in 2018, leaving beekeepers without access to a treatment. Grupe cites a mix of high prices and a complex supply chain that led to the discontinuation of the product.</p><p>But the cost for bees could be higher.</p><p>"All of a sudden we have these pathogens that are globally distributed, that are negatively impacting agricultural crops and negatively impacting native plant communities, and we don't really have any way to treat it." This could further imperil native bees if the pathogens continue to spread from commercial hives.</p><p>In the absence of treatment, Graystock promotes prevention. Increasing floral abundance and diversity, he says, could offer some protection against parasite transmission. His research showed that the incidence of parasites was higher when floral numbers were low and decreased as the number of floral resources increased.</p><p>Diverse plant communities may be especially important in urban areas where <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204620302759?via%3Dihub" target="_blank">higher human populations</a> are linked with fewer species of wild bees, according to a 2020 study published in the journal <em>Landscape and Urban Planning.</em></p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQ2OTM2Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMTEzOTMzMX0.7vY6MqC25xx4ej89Kzb-OuhmB0XrFpwL9rl796Qlf0U/img.jpg?width=980" id="e5982" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="23aa1050808f8fe30e3e4c222eabc0e1" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Rick Brohn / USFWS
<p>Planting strips of native pollinator plants on farmland could even improve crop yields. Another study published this summer found that five out of seven crops in major crop-producing areas had <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2020.0922?af=R&" target="_blank">lower yields and production due to pollinator limitations</a>. Attracting wild bees and honeybees, especially in intensive production areas, could help bolster food security, the research showed.</p><p>All of this backs up Graystock's points.</p><p>"It's important to appreciate the vast diversity of our pollinator communities, not just in terms of bee diversity but also floral diversity," he says. "Frequently in ecology we find the solutions for maintaining the health of our wildlife are simply to support and promote our native wild communities above others."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://therevelator.org/bees-perfect-storm/" target="_blank">The Revelator</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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The Glass Fire in Napa County along CA-128 on Sept. 30, 2020 in Calistoga, California. Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The California wildfires set a record this year after burning more than 4 million acres in a season that is still going, according to the AP. Fire officials announced the grim new record Sunday, noting that the amount of land the fires have consumed this year is at least double that of any previous fire year.
<p>"Since CAL FIRE officially began recording state responsibility fire figures in 1933, all large fire years have remained well below the 4 million acre mark for acreage burned, until now," said the <a href="https://www.fire.ca.gov/daily-wildfire-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection</a>, the state's official fire agency, on <a href="https://twitter.com/CAL_FIRE/status/1312852574962241537" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Twitter</a> Sunday. "This year is far from over and fire potential remains high. Please be cautious outdoors."</p>
<p>On Sunday, CAL FIRE announced that this year the state has battled more than 8,200 blazes, which have damaged more than 8,000 structures. The fires have also resulted in 31 deaths. That does not include the damage caused by the fires that raged through Oregon and Washington. Currently, roughly 17,000 firefighters are still working to control and extinguish at least 23 major fires in the state, as <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/10/04/920154138/california-wildfires-have-burned-4-millions-acres-and-the-season-isnt-over-yet" target="_blank">NPR</a> reported.</p><p>"The 4 million mark is unfathomable. It boggles the mind, and it takes your breath away," said Scott McLean, a spokesman for CAL FIRE, as the AP reported. "And that number will grow."</p>
<p>The August Complex Fire is the largest blaze still burning in California. It is burning in Northern California as it has done since it started Aug. 16. It is currently 54 percent contained, according to <a href="https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2020/8/16/august-complex-includes-doe-fire/" target="_blank">CAL FIRE updates</a> from Sunday night. On Saturday, wind cleared some smoke. When that happened, high temperatures and low humidity fed oxygen to the fire, giving it new strength, according to the update.</p><p>Fortunately, rain is in the forecast for Northern California this week, which will provide some much needed aid in containing the region's ongoing blazes, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/05/us/california-wildfires-monday-weather-relief/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p>
<p>"A front is pushing through the Pacific Northwest today which is bringing cooler, drier air," CNN meteorologist Michael Guy said on Monday. The areas that are fighting the August Complex Fire, the Zogg Fire and the Glass Fire will all see significant rainfall on Friday, which will last through the weekend.</p><p>"Rain through this period will impact areas from San Diego to Seattle — however the bulk of the rain will occur from the Mendocino area in Northern California to the Canadian border," Guy said, as CNN reported. "This should be something to help the firefighters contain the blazes."</p>
<p>While there is some optimism about next weekend's weather prediction, the immediate forecast is for continued heat that will force firefighters to keep up their relentless efforts to contain the fire.</p><p>"We are seeing some relief in the weather, but it's going to be three of four days before it really makes a difference on the fire," said CAL FIRE meteorologist Tom Bird at a Sunday news briefing about the Glass Fire, as the AP reported. "The one good thing going forward, we're not expecting any wind events to push into the fire."</p><p>As of Sunday morning, the Glass Fire, which started in Napa last week, covered 63,885 acres and was 17 percent contained, as NPR reported.</p><p>The size of this year's fires is more than double the 2018 record of 1.67 million burned acres, or 2,609 square miles, in California, according to the AP. That meant that they affected people who were not in the path of the fires as air quality around the state plummeted and gave an eerie orange hue to the sky. The phenomenon of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution">bad air</a> that made its way into homes prompted a run on air purifiers across the state.</p>
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A new Trump administration rollback of EPA regulations could allow plants to emit two to ten times more hazardous air pollutants than before. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images
Trump's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has weakened yet another safeguard against air pollution in the midst of a respiratory pandemic.
<p>The agency finalized a rollback Thursday of the Clinton-era "once in, always in" policy that required major polluters like industrial plants and refineries to maintain the highest possible levels of pollution controls as long as they continued to operate, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-environment-airtoxics-idUSKBN26M7EU?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A%20Trending%20Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3DnYWkKalEHiFeBQRhFzRZPVWl2Z1Eb_F0rUc9czINsYwTV53qjgwLwDU" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>.</p><p>"This is a lawless action that will undoubtedly increase carcinogens and other deadly pollution in our air," Clinton EPA administrator Carol Browner said in a statement reported by <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/519181-epa-finalizes-rule-allowing-some-major-polluters-to-follow-weaker" target="_blank">The Hill</a>. "Taking this action during a global pandemic that preys upon people with existing respiratory ailments further confirms that for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/andrew-wheeler" target="_self">Andrew Wheeler</a> and the political leadership of the EPA the cruelty is the point."</p>
<p>The agency <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-clean-air-act-2528831006.html" target="_self">first proposed</a> reversing the rule in 2018, according to Reuters. The 1995 policy required that major polluters use maximum achievable control technology standards (MACT) throughout the lifetime of their operations. The new policy will allow these facilities to use less stringent standards after they reduce emissions. The so-called "major sources" that reduce their emissions of hazardous air pollutants (HAP) will be reclassified as "area sources," emitters like gas stations or dry cleaners that emit less than 10 tons of a single pollutant or 25 tons of multiple pollutants each year.</p><p>"This action reduces regulatory burden and provides a level of fairness and flexibility for sources that reduce HAP emissions below major source thresholds and reclassify as area sources," the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-pollution/documentation-reclassification-major-sources-area-sources-under" target="_blank">agency explained</a>.</p>
<p>EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler argued that the change would incentivize companies to invest in better technology to reduce emissions.</p><p>"Today's action is an important step to further <a href="https://thehill.com/people/donald-trump" target="_blank">President Trump</a>'s regulatory reform agenda by providing meaningful incentives for investment that prevents hazardous air pollution," he said in a statement reported by The Hill.</p><p>However, <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Natural Resources Defense Council</a> (NRDC) senior attorney John Walke said the reversal was entirely unnecessary. He said plants had already installed emission-reduction technology and had been maintaining the requirement that they reduce pollution 95 to 98 percent for decades.</p><p>"It's the triumph of extreme ideology over <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a>, common sense and the law," he told The Hill.</p><p>Walke further said <a href="https://twitter.com/NRDC/status/1311759616393572356" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">on Twitter</a> that the rollback would allow plants to emit two to ten times more hazardous air pollutants than before. This includes toxins like <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/mercury" target="_self">mercury</a>, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/lead" target="_self">lead</a>, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/arsenic" target="_self">arsenic</a>, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/asbestos" target="_self">asbestos</a> and benzene that can cause <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/cancer" target="_self">cancer</a>, brain damage, fetal damage and premature death.</p>
<p>The EPA itself acknowledged the new policy could cause as many as 1,258 tons of additional pollutants to enter the air every year.</p><p><a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2020/10/sierra-club-vows-fight-repeal-once-always-framework" target="_blank">The Sierra Club</a> pointed out that the change would disproportionately impact low income communities and communities of color that tend to live closer to polluting plants. It comes as scientists <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-air-pollution-fatality-2645656760.html" target="_self">warn</a> that exposure to air pollution might increase the risk of dying of the new <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a>, and Black and Hispanic Americans are <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/black--hispanic-americans-coronavirus-2645677258.html" target="_self">contracting and dying</a> of the new virus at higher rates.</p><p>"Despite … the renewed national focus on <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/environmental-justice" target="_self">environmental justice</a>, Wheeler is showing there is no level that he will not stoop to in order to placate polluters and carrying out the wishes of his disgraced predecessor, <a href="https://debbiedingell.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1315" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt</a>," <a href="https://twitter.com/maryannehitt" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">national director of campaigns for the Sierra Club</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/maryannehitt" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mary Anne Hitt</a> said in a statement. "Sierra Club, however, will continue to fight for the communities Wheeler has chosen to ignore. We will fight this reckless and unlawful rollback, in order to ensure that the American public is safe from dangerous air pollution."</p>The NRDC also <a href="https://twitter.com/NRDC/status/1311759521929453570" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">promised</a> to fight the change, and the <a href="https://www.edf.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Environmental Defense Fund</a> told Reuters it would sue to reverse the rollback.
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaks onstage at the event Fourth Annual Berggruen Prize Gala Celebrates 2019 Laureate Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in New York City on Dec. 16, 2019. Ilya S. Savenok / Getty Images for Berggruen Institute
The passing of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg means the nation's highest court has lost a staunch advocate for women's rights and civil rights. Ginsburg was a tireless worker, who continued to serve on the bench through multiple bouts of cancer. She also leaves behind a complicated environmental legacy, as Environment and Energy News (E&E News) reported.
<p>While it was often assumed that Ginsburg would decide in favor of environmental advocates in cases argued before the Supreme Court, the truth is that she often decided based on the nuances of the law rather than the decision that was best for the planet, according to E&E News.</p><p>She sided with the majority in the 5-4 decision of <em><a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ruth-bader-ginsburg-leaves-a-nuanced-legacy-on-environmental-issues/" target="_blank">Massachusetts v. EPA</a></em>. That case, argued before the court in 2006 and decided in 2007, found that the Clean Air Act gave the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" target="_self">EPA</a>) the authority to regulate greenhouse gases that are spewed from the tailpipes of cars, according to <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/19/ginsburgs-long-environmental-legacy-418324" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">POLITICO</a>.</p><p>That decision was instrumental in the Obama administration raising the tailpipe emissions standard to make new cars 5 percent more efficient annually until 2026. That rule was then rolled back by the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" target="_self">Trump</a> administration to make them just 1.5 percent more efficient, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-autos-emissions/trump-finalizes-rollback-of-obama-era-vehicle-fuel-efficiency-standards-idUSKBN21I25S" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Reuters</a>.</p>
<p>And yet, Ginsburg also wrote the opinion of the court in the 2011 decision of <em><a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/10-174.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">American Electric Power Company v. Connecticut</a></em>. That decision stripped the authority of the states and private companies to sue power companies for their contribution to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis">climate crisis</a> in federal court under a public nuisance law, as E&E news reported.</p><p>Ginsburg, in that decision, emphasized the EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gases, as POLITICO reported. That authority paved the way for the Obama administration to issue new rules for power plants that drastically reduced how much pollution they could spew into the air and waterways.</p><p>The decision, which on its face seemed to limit the rights of people and states to hold polluters accountable for their actions, actually empowered state attorneys general to sue in state court. This authority has been upheld, despite repeated attempts by the fossil fuel industry to move the cases to the federal courts, according to POLITICO.</p>
<p>Ginsburg did look to expand the authority of regulatory agencies to rein in polluters. She joined the dissent in two notable cases, <em>Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. Army Corps of Engineers</em> and <em>Rapanos v. United States</em>, both of which would have expanded the definition of the Clean Water Act, according to E&E News.</p><p>In 2014, Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion in a case that allowed the EPA to regulate coal plants where their emissions blew across state lines and affected the air quality of states that were downwind, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/court-upholds-epa-rule-on-cross-state-pollution/2014/04/29/7978fd14-cfce-11e3-b812-0c92213941f4_story.html" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>. That case is credited with putting an end to some of the country's filthiest power plants, according to POLITICO.</p><p>Gina McCarthy, the EPA administrator under Obama and now the president and CEO of the National Resources Defense Council, said in 2014 that the decision was "a resounding victory for public health and a key component" of the agency's attempts to "make sure all Americans have clean air to breathe," as The Washington Post reported.</p>
<p>In an NRDC <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/media/2020/200918" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">statement</a> on Friday, McCarthy praised Ginsburg's life work. "From her pathbreaking advocacy for gender equality to her relentless defense of democracy itself, Justice Ginsburg widened our vision of who we are, enlarged in law the values we share and raised, forever, the possibility of what we might become."</p><p>Other environmental advocates issued statements praising the late justice as well.</p><p>"Justice Ginsburg was a pioneer for gender equality, civil rights, and the right of citizens to sue to protect their environment. The legal community lost a champion for the underdog and the nation as a whole," said Trent Dougherty, general counsel for the Ohio Environmental Council, in a <a href="https://theoec.org/press-releases/rbg0920/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">statement</a>.</p><p>Michael Brune, Sierra Club executive director said in a <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2020/09/sierra-club-statement-passing-justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg" target="_blank">statement</a>, "As we mourn the loss of Justice Ginsburg, we should reflect on her words that 'Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time. Those of us who strive to make change for good in this world — whether it be fighting for racial justice, reproductive rights, or for a livable future — must continue the fight in her honor."<span></span></p>
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The Tyre Collective's patent-pending technology captures tire wear right at the wheel. The James Dyson Award
This year, the UK National James Dyson Award went to a team of student designers who want to reduce the environmental impact of car tires.
<p><a href="https://www.jamesdysonaward.org/2020/project/the-tyre-collective/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Tyre Collective</a> designed a simple device that collects microplastics as they fly off a car tire. As the group of designers explains it, their device helps on the path toward zero emissions by using electrostatic and airflow around the tire to capture the microplastics and other small particles that are shed over the lifetime of a tire.</p><p>As <a href="https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/james-dyson-award-given-device-reduces-tyre-emissions" target="_blank">Autocar</a> in the UK reported, the team says that their design is capable of catching up 60 percent of the particles shed by tires, which is significant considering that tires are one of the largest sources of ocean microplastics, according to a study in <em><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17201-9" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nature Communications</a></em>. That study found that tiny particles shed by tires and brake pads account for roughly 550,000 tons of microplastics that pollute the oceans annually. From that, over 80,000 tons rain down on remote areas covered in ice and snow, which helps accelerate the rate of melting, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/17/device-to-curb-microplastic-emissions-wins-james-dyson-award" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported.</p>
<p>"Everyone focuses on air pollution being directly from the engines themselves and coming out of the exhaust pipe but what people don't necessarily recognize is that tire wear is a huge contributor to that," said Hugo Richardson, one of the members of The Tyre Collective, as <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/years-dyson-award-winner-car-110041877.html" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>Richardson is one of a team of four students from Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art who make up The Tyre Collective. Richardson and the three other students, Siobhan Anderson, Hanson Cheng and M. Deepak Mallya, say they share a passion to use design in a way that advances environmental causes, according to The Guardian.</p><p>"As a team, our strength lies in our diversity," said Richardson, as The Guardian reported. "We come from all four corners of the globe and bring with us a wealth of knowledge in mechanical engineering, product design, architecture and biomechanics."</p>
<p>As the world moves toward more renewable energy and the technology of electric vehicles improves, a device like this may play an important role in making cars more environmentally friendly. That's due to the fact that electric vehicles do not solve the problem of tire pollution. In fact, they may make it worse since electric vehicles are usually heavier than cars with internal combustion engines, according to Autocar.</p><p>"We were unanimously drawn to The Tyre Collective for their creative innovation around this urgent issue of microplastic shedding from tires," said Sophie Thomas, one of the judges of the James Dyson award, according to Autocar. "This collaborative, multidisciplinary team questioned and challenged, building an approach that demonstrates the crucial role of design and enquiry when we search for solutions to these global problems."</p><p>The tiny particles that the designers created can be recycled to make new tires, ink or other materials, according to Autocar. Right now, the design is just a prototype, but the team hopes to use its £2,000 (approximately $2600) reward toward finding a way to scale up its product sustainably.</p><p>"In the future it could be integrated into the wheel arch or even into the mud flap behind the wheel," said Siobhan Anderson from the The Tyre Collective team, as Reuters reported.</p>
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A satellite image shows smoke spreading from wildfires in the Western U.S. on Sept. 11, 2020. NOAA / NASA
The smoke from the wildfires devastating the West Coast of the U.S. has reached as far away as Europe, officials said Wednesday.
<p>The EU's climate tracking body, the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), said it had detected smoke from the fires over Northern Europe, 8,000 kilometers (approximately 4,970 miles) away from its origin, as an <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20200916-smoke-from-us-fires-reaches-europe-satellite-data-shows" target="_blank">AFP story published by France24 reported</a>.</p><p>"The fact that these fires are emitting so much pollution into the atmosphere that we can still see thick smoke over 8000 kilometres away reflects just how devastating they have been in their magnitude and duration," CAMS senior scientist Mark Parrington said in a <a href="https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/cams-monitors-smoke-release-us-wildfires" target="_blank">press release</a>.</p><p>CAMS said smoke from the fires first reached Europe last week and is expected to do so again at the end of this week.</p>
<div id="88627" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2513ec46adc7536e0d71ac93d5aa7a0a"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1306128847017054208" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">🔥#Smoke from the unprecedented #USFires is moving back across #NorthAmerica from the #Pacific and is on its way to… https://t.co/rep440bkfN</div> — Copernicus ECMWF (@Copernicus ECMWF)<a href="https://twitter.com/CopernicusECMWF/statuses/1306128847017054208">1600240358.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Climate researcher Geert Jan van Oldenborgh <a href="https://twitter.com/gjvoldenborgh/status/1304478828476198912" target="_blank">tweeted Sept. 11</a> that the smoke had been observed in Holland.</p><p>"The smoke from the western US wildfires has even reached the Netherlands..., turning the sky [grey] instead of blue," he wrote.</p><p>In its report Wednesday, CAMS also gave an account of the scale of the fires themselves. It said fire activity was ten to hundreds times more intense this year than for the U.S. average from 2003 to 2019. Blazes in Oregon and California also emitted more carbon pollution this year than at any time since record-keeping began. So far, they have released more than 30 million tonnes (approximately 33 million U.S. tons) of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere since mid-August, AFP reported.</p><p>"The scale and magnitude of these fires are at a level much higher than in any of the 18 years that our monitoring data covers, since 2003," <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/16/weather/us-wildfires-smoke-europe-copernicus-intl/index.html" target="_blank">Parrington told CNN</a>.</p>
<p>The heaviest smoke from the fires was trapped over the Western U.S. for days, CAMS noted, choking Pacific cities with the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/west-coast-wildfires-air-pollution-2647637806.html" target="_self">worst air quality in the world</a>. But a change in the weather Monday began to move the smoke east along the jet stream, according to AFP. In the Eastern U.S., Boston, New York and Maine have all reported smoky, hazy conditions, the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-09-15/smoke-california-wildfires-reaches-east-coast-europe" target="_blank">Los Angeles Times reported</a>.</p><p>"Satellite images this morning show smoke aloft moving over much of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic," the Baltimore-Washington office of the National Weather Service <a href="https://twitter.com/NWS_BaltWash/status/1305857530283913217" target="_blank">tweeted Tuesday</a>. "This smoke is obscuring the sun, and will keep temperatures a few degrees cooler today than what would be observed if the smoke was not present."</p><p>But just because some of the smoke is moving doesn't mean the West Coast can breathe easy. Portland, OR still had the worst air quality in the world Wednesday morning, <a href="https://www.iqair.com/us/world-air-quality-ranking" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">according to rankings from IQAir</a>.</p>
<p>The fires themselves also continue to rage. There were 87 burning in 11 states as of Tuesday, CNN reported. So far, the fires have claimed 25 lives in California. In Oregon, as of Tuesday, 10 people had died and 22 were missing.</p><p>In California, fires have scorched more than 3.2 million acres, the most on record, burned at least 4,200 structures and displaced more than 60,000 people. Across the West, the flames have consumed nearly five million acres, an area roughly the size of New Jersey, AFP pointed out.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> makes larger, intense wildfires more likely because higher temperatures worsen the drought conditions that feed them.</p>
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Smoke covers the skies over downtown Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 9, 2020. Portland had the worst air pollution among major cities around the world due to the 37 active wildfires that have burned more than 800,000 acres throughout the state. Diego Diaz / Icon Sportswire
The wildfires raging across the West Coast have made the air quality so bad in several U.S. cities that they rank among the worst in the world. In fact, the air quality in Portland, Oregon was so bad on Sunday that it went off the charts when it passed 500 on an air quality index. Anything in the 300 to 500 range is hazardous to health, according to Oregon Live.
<p>Those staggering numbers put Portland squarely in the number one position as having the world's worst air quality.</p><p>"It's as bad as a place can be," said Dr. Jennifer Vines, a Multnomah County Health officer. Portland is in Multnomah County.</p><p>Other large cities on the West Coast also made the top 10, including Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, which ranked third, sixth and eighth, respectively, according to the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-09-13/north-complex-fire-weather-gusty-winds" target="_blank">Los Angeles Times</a>.</p>
<p>In Washington state, the air quality was so bad that the instruments used for reading air quality broke down, rejecting the numbers as unreliable, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/13/us/oregon-wildfires-california-washington-map.html?name=styln-california-wildfires&region=inline&block=storyline_latest_updates_recirc&action=click&pgtype=Article&impression_id=c5c5d1a0-f66f-11ea-9915-ef77d4beedcb&variant=1_Show&index=2#link-7bd23c61" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p><p>Andy Wineke, a spokesman for the Washington Department of Ecology, said on Sunday that a handful of reading points had ceased reporting data because automated quality control checks said the astronomical readings meant the data was unreliable, according to The New York Times.</p>
<p>"There's some trigger in the quality-control check that said the sustained readings were high," Wineke said. Officials were trying to change the system to allow the data so it could be included on the state's air-monitoring maps.</p><p>The smoke from the wildfires made the air extremely dangerous and life-threatening for people with respiratory conditions. In some places, residents said they could not see more than 50 feet in front of them, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/09/13/dense-smoke-smothers-pacific-northwest-shutting-residents-indoors-complicating-fire-response/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>. While residents were instructed to stay indoors, some were coughing and choking while inside. </p>
<p>"The sun doesn't seem to rise or set. The sky gets a little bit brighter and a little bit darker and that's how you know the day is starting or ending," said Eileen Quigley, founder and executive director of the Clean Energy Transition Institute in Seattle, as The Washington Post reported.</p><p>Vines told The New York Times that the health systems on the West Coast that are already strained by the coronavirus are seeing an uptick in people coming in who are having trouble breathing. Of course, the people most vulnerable to the insidious effects of the smoke are the most vulnerable to the coronavirus as well.</p><p>"It's just an unfortunate overlap," Vines said of the confluence of the virus and the fires, according to The New York Times.</p>
<p>Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley told <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg4eueVOp8s" target="_blank">ABC News</a> that he drove 600 miles up and down the Oregon coast and could not escape the smoke. In the same broadcast, Washington Governor Jay Inslee said, "We have a blowtorch over our states in the West, which is climate change."</p><p>The pall of smoke that has shrouded Portland and its surrounding areas has reduced visibility so much that it's dangerous to drive and difficult for rescue crews and fire services to navigate bridges and roads.</p><p>"Our challenges remain reduced visibility, limiting our aerial reconnaissance, and rapidly changing fire conditions," Clackamas County fire officials said in a statement Saturday, as The Washington Post reported.</p><p>Some moisture and rain is expected to bring relief Tuesday and dying winds raise hope that firefighters will soon be able to contain the blazes engulfing the West Coast, according to The Washington Post.</p>
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