'Dangerous Proposal': USDA Seeking to Replace Government Inspectors at Beef Slaughter Plants With Private Employees
USDA Food Safety Inspection Service inspector examines frozen meat in New Orleans. U.S. Department of Agriculture / Flickr
By Julia Conley
In an apparent effort to boost profits for meat manufacturers despite potential harms to food safety, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is reportedly planning to privatize inspections of beef slaughter plants.
Food and Water Watch reported Monday that the USDA is pursuing deregulation of the food inspection system that has been used for years at beef slaughterhouses. The information came from documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
The group released an application from beef, pork, and poultry manufacturer Tyson Foods, in which the company requested a waiver to allow Tyson employees to conduct more inspections at its beef plant in Holcolm, Kansas, instead of relying on USDA food safety inspectors.
"This dangerous proposal could rid beef slaughter plants of most government inspectors," Food and Water Watch said in a statement.
BREAKING: We have obtained documents that confirm the USDA is seeking to privatize inspections of beef slaughterhouses.
— Food & Water Watch (@foodandwater) June 10, 2019
This dangerous proposal could rid beef slaughter plants of most government inspectors. https://t.co/jNospAvLYn pic.twitter.com/cbx4fo6lHy
The documents were uncovered after many recent denials by USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) that it plans to privatize inspections of mass-produced beef, Food and Water Watch stated.
Tyson's proposal comes 21 years after FSIS first launched a pilot program in more than two dozen poultry and pork plants in which government food safety inspectors were replaced by the manufacturers' own inspectors, allowing the companies to regulate themselves.
In 2013, the USDA's inspector general found that the agency "did not critically assess whether the new inspection process had measurably improved food safety at each plant" that produced pork.
The following year, FSIS expanded the program to the entire poultry industry. The agency will not conduct an assessment of the new system's effects on food safety until 2022.
"The previous attempts at privatized inspection have led to weaker food safety performance and are a ploy by the industry to increase line speeds," said Tony Corbo, a senior lobbyist with Food and Water Watch.
Despite a lack of evidence that the privatized food safety inspection system is making food safer — and CDC data showing that foodborne illnesses from foods including chicken have been on the rise since 2015 — FSIS is weakening standards in order to increase the speed with which meat is processed, allowing for greater manufacturing profits.
"The Tyson plant in Holcomb, Kansas is approved to operate at the current maximum line speed allowable" said Corbo. "FSIS management has had difficulty meeting its inspection staffing requirements in the past in western Kansas, which has contributed to beef slaughter plants not being able to maintain maximum line speeds. Tyson's solution seems to be to get rid of the government inspectors."
Reposted with permission from our media associate Common Dreams.
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Tom Vilsack speaks on December 11, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware after being nominated to be Agriculture Secretary by U.S. President Joe Biden. Jim Watson / AFP / Getty Images
By Jessica Corbett
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday was the lone progressive to vote against Tom Vilsack reprising his role as secretary of agriculture, citing concerns that progressive advocacy groups have been raising since even before President Joe Biden officially nominated the former Obama administration appointee.
<p>The Senate <a href="https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=117&session=1&vote=00063" target="_blank">voted</a> 92-7 to confirm Vilsack, with Sanders (I-Vt.) and six Republicans opposing his appointment. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) was the only member who did not vote.</p><p>In a statement on his decision, Sanders first said that "I have known Tom Vilsack for many years and look forward to working with him as our new secretary of agriculture."</p><p>"I opposed his confirmation today because at a time when corporate consolidation of agriculture is rampant and family farms are being decimated, we need a secretary who is prepared to vigorously take on corporate power in the industry," Sanders explained. "I heard from many family farmers in Vermont and around the country who feel that is not what Tom did when he last served in this job."</p><p><em>The Hill</em> <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/540137-sanders-votes-against-biden-usda-nominee-vilsack" target="_blank">reports</a> Sanders made similar remarks about Vilsack to journalists after the vote, saying that "I think he'll be fine, but not as strong as I would like."</p><p>The progressive group RootsAction praised Sanders on Twitter for taking a stand against Biden's pick to run the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).</p>
Â
<div id="a420d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5369c498a5855fe2143b86fa07e23dff"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1364300806988652548" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">🚨🚨🚨 Bernie Sanders voted against Tom Vilsack's nomination. It's great to see the Senator stick to his principles a… https://t.co/u4XNU4viNC</div> — RootsAction (@RootsAction)<a href="https://twitter.com/Roots_Action/statuses/1364300806988652548">1614109634.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Fordham University law professor Zephyr Teachout also welcomed Sanders' move.</p><p>"This is the correct vote. Vilsack failed farmers, farmworkers, the land, and the public, and Shirley Sherrod," Teachout <a href="https://twitter.com/ZephyrTeachout/status/1364313747284705284" target="_blank">tweeted</a>, referencing the former Georgia state director of rural development at USDA who was ousted under Vilsack.</p><p>Sherrod, who is Black, recently <a href="https://19thnews.org/2020/12/shirley-sherrod-holds-no-ill-will-against-usda-nominee-who-ousted-her/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told</a> <em>The 19th</em> that "I have no ill will towards him, none at all," but added that if Vilsack returned as USDA chief, "he should be ready to get on the ground to make real change this time around. And we need to hold him to it. Black people need to see some real change."</p><p>As <em>Common Dreams</em> previously <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/12/08/sustainable-farming-advocates-warn-biden-vilsack-very-bad-pick-ag-secretary" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a>, Vilsack has faced criticism for the USDA's treatment of Black farmers when he headed the department during the Obama administration—among other critiques.</p>
<p>Center for Food Safety policy director Jaydee Hanson <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/12/08/sustainable-farming-advocates-warn-biden-vilsack-very-bad-pick-ag-secretary" target="_blank">said</a> in December that Biden's potential selection of Vilsack was "a huge step backwards in our urgent need to support agricultural systems that protect public health, the environment, and mitigate the ongoing climate crisis."</p><p>Early Tuesday, in anticipation of Vilsack's bipartisan confirmation, Food & Water Watch executive director Wenonah Hauter—whose group <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/12/08/sustainable-farming-advocates-warn-biden-vilsack-very-bad-pick-ag-secretary" target="_blank">has been raising alarm</a> about him for months now—<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2021/02/23/vilsacks-confirmation-usda-warning-sign-family-farmers-and-food-worker-safety" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">issued</a> a warning about what to expect going forward.</p><p>"We can confidently predict what Tom Vilsack's leadership of the Agriculture Department will look like, because he's led it before. And the prediction is grim," she said. "In his previous stint at USDA, Vilsack backed mass corporate consolidation of our food system at the expense of struggling family farmers. Similarly, he readily advanced industry-driven initiatives allowing companies to inspect their own poultry processing plants, dismantling federal oversight of food and worker safety."</p><p>"This administration needs to drastically shift course from the Trump era by supporting sustainable, independent farming, halting the toxic expansion of polluting factory farms, and ultimately, prioritizing consumer health and worker safety," Hauter added. "We have little hope that Tom Vilsack cares to undertake this effort, so we will be pressuring him doggedly to see the light."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/02/23/citing-concerns-about-corporate-power-bernie-sanders-votes-against-bidens-choice" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>
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A mix of public and private forests in Oregon's Coast Range. Beverly Law / CC BY-ND
By Beverly Law and William Moomaw
Protecting forests is an essential strategy in the fight against climate change that has not received the attention it deserves. Trees capture and store massive amounts of carbon. And unlike some strategies for cooling the climate, they don't require costly and complicated technology.
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<p>Yet although <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/one-trillion-trees-world-economic-forum-launches-plan-to-help-nature-and-the-climate/" target="_blank">tree-planting initiatives are popular</a>, protecting and restoring existing forests rarely attracts the same level of support. As an example, forest protection was notably missing from the $447 million <a href="https://www.energy.senate.gov/services/files/32B4E9F4-F13A-44F6-A0CA-E10B3392D47A" target="_blank">Energy Act of 2020</a>, which the U.S. Congress passed in December 2020 to jump-start technological carbon capture and storage.</p><p>In our work as <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=J2KWqAoAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank">forest carbon cycle</a> and <a href="https://fletcher.tufts.edu/people/william-moomaw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate change</a> scientists, we track carbon emissions from forests to wood products and all the way to landfills – and from forest fires. Our research shows that protecting carbon in forests is essential for meeting global climate goals.</p>
<p>Ironically, we see the U.S. <a href="https://www.energy.gov/fe/services/petroleum-reserves/strategic-petroleum-reserve" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Strategic Petroleum Reserve</a> as a model. This program, which was created after the 1973 oil crisis to guard against future supply disruptions, stores nearly 800 million gallons of oil in huge underground salt caverns along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. We propose creating strategic forest carbon reserves to store carbon as a way of stabilizing the climate, much as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve helps to stabilize oil markets.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTY4MzgzMi9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2OTg1ODQwMH0.JF8lhBwySz0BppVO069s8lOcNJCXwb_oaur7elED1TI/img.png?width=980" id="7f070" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a93dd3b614971259e1420df421cfb12b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1200" data-height="736" />
The U.S. has more than 800 million acres of natural and planted forests and woodlands, of which nearly 60% are privately owned. USDA / USFS
<h3>Carbon Stockpiles That Grow</h3><p>Forests pull about one-third of all human-caused carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere each year. Researchers have calculated that ending <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation">deforestation</a> and allowing mature forests to keep growing could <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature25138" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">enable forests to take up twice as much carbon</a>.</p><p>Half of a tree's stems, branches and roots are composed of carbon. Live and dead trees, along with forest soil, hold the equivalent of <a href="http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/ca9825en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">80% of all the carbon currently in Earth's atmosphere</a>.</p><p>Trees accumulate carbon over extremely long periods of time. For example, redwoods, Douglas firs and western red cedars in the coastal forests of the Pacific Northwest can live for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0901970106" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">800 years or more</a>. When they die and decompose, much of that carbon ends up in soil, where it is stored for centuries or millennia.</p><p>Mature trees that have reached full root, bark and canopy development deal with climate variability better than young trees. Older trees also store more carbon. <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-old-growth-forests/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Old-growth trees</a>, which usually are hundreds of years old, store enormous quantities of carbon in their wood, and accumulate more carbon annually.</p>
<p>There are many fallacies about forest carbon storage, such as the concern that wildfires in the American West are <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/California-wildfires-emitted-a-huge-amount-of-15775044.php" target="_blank">releasing huge quantities of carbon</a> into the atmosphere. In fact, fires are a relatively small carbon source. For example, the massive Biscuit Fire, which burned 772 square miles in southwest Oregon in 2002, emitted <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1720064115" target="_blank">less than 10% of Oregon's total emissions that year</a>.</p><p>Another false claim is that it's OK from a climate perspective to cut trees and turn them into furniture, plywood and other items because <a href="https://oregonforests.org/sites/default/files/2020-07/OFRI_CarbonSpecialReport_DIGITAL.pdf" target="_blank">wood products</a> can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1904231116" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">store substantial amounts of carbon</a>. These assertions fail to count <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s13021-016-0066-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cradle-to-grave emissions</a> from logging and manufacturing, which can be substantial.</p><p>The wood products industry releases carbon in many ways, from manufacturing products and burning mill waste to the breakdown of short-lived items like paper towels. It takes decades to centuries for newly planted forests to accumulate the carbon storage levels of mature and old forests, and many planted forests are <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-3691-2013" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">repeatedly harvested</a>.</p>
<p>In a review that we conducted with colleagues in 2019, we found that overall, U.S. state and federal reporting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab28bb" target="_blank">underestimated wood product-related carbon dioxide emissions by 25% to 55%</a>. We analyzed Oregon carbon emissions from wood that had been harvested over the past century and discovered that 65% of the original carbon returned to the atmosphere as CO2. Landfills retained 16%, while just 19% remained in wood products.</p><p>In contrast, protecting high carbon-density western U.S. forests that have low vulnerability to mortality from drought or fire would sequester the equivalent of about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2039" target="_blank">six years</a> of fossil fuel emissions from the entire western U.S., from the Rocky Mountain states to the Pacific coast.</p>
<h3>Focus on Big Trees</h3><p>In a recently published analysis of carbon storage in six national forests in Oregon, we showed why a strategic forest carbon reserve program should <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2020.594274" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">focus on mature and old forests</a>. Big trees, with trunks more than 21 inches in diameter, make up just 3% of these forests but store 42% of the above-ground carbon. Globally, a 2018 study found that the largest-diameter 1% of trees hold <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12747" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">half of all the carbon stored in the world's forests</a>.</p><p>Findings like these are spurring interest in the idea of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2019.00027" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">proforestation</a> – keeping existing forests intact and letting them grow to their full potential. Advocates see proforestation as an effective, immediate and low-cost strategy to store carbon. Older forests are more resilient to climate change than <a href="https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusb.v64i0.17159" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">young</a> tree plantations, which are more susceptible to drought and severe wildfires. Like the 2,000-year-old redwoods in California that have <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/2-000-year-old-redwoods-survive-wildfire-california-s-oldest-n1237949" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">survived recent wildfires</a>, many tree species in old forests have lived through past climate extremes.</p><p>Creating forest carbon reserves would also conserve critical habitat for many types of wildlife that are threatened by human activities. Connecting these reserves to other parks and refuges could help <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-climate-corridors-help-species-adapt-to-warming-world-61190" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">species that need to migrate</a> in response to climate change.</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d62ce8aea8387ee24ccbbae3571a37f5"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d67JPJETqxs?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<h3>Using Forests to Meet Climate Goals</h3><p>More than half of U.S. forested lands <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/nrs/pubs/inf/nrs_inf_31_15-NWOS-whoowns.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">are privately owned</a>, so strategic forest carbon reserves should be established on both public and private lands. The challenge is paying for them, which will require a major shift in government and societal priorities. We believe that transferring public investment in oil and gas subsidies to pay private land owners to keep their forests growing could act as a <a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detailfull/or/technical/cp/?cid=stelprdb1262209" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">powerful incentive</a> for private land owners.</p><p>Many researchers and conservation advocates have called for comprehensive actions to <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-solve-climate-change-and-biodiversity-loss-we-need-a-global-deal-for-nature-115557" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">slow climate change and reduce species losses</a>. One prominent example is the <a href="https://www.ncel.net/2020/02/27/30x30-land-and-water-conservation-in-the-states/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">30x30 initiative</a>, which seeks to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaw2869" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">conserve 30% of the world's land and oceans by 2030</a>. In an executive order on Jan. 27, 2021, President Biden directed his administration to develop plans for conserving at least 30% of <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">federally controlled lands and waters</a> by 2030.</p><p>Recent projections show that to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, governments will have to increase their pledges to reduce carbon emissions by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00097-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">as much as 80%</a>. We see the next 10 to 20 years as a critical window for climate action, and believe that permanent protection for mature and old forests is the greatest opportunity for near-term climate benefits.</p>
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<em>Beverly Law is professor emeritus of global change biology and terrestrial systems science at Oregon State University.<br/>
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<em><span style="background-color: initial;">William Moomaw is p</span>rofessor emeritus of international environmental policy at Tufts University.</em>
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<em>Disclosure statements: Beverly Law receives funding from U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. She is a Fellow of the Earth Leadership Program. </em><em>William Moomaw receives funding from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. He is affiliated with the Woodwell Climate Research Center, the Climate Group – North America, the Earthwatch Institute and the Nature Conservancy.</em>
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<em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/keeping-trees-in-the-ground-where-they-are-already-growing-is-an-effective-low-tech-way-to-slow-climate-change-154618" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em></p><script async="async" data-counter="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154618/count?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" id="theconversation_tracker_hook" src="https://theconversation.com/javascripts/lib/content_tracker_hook.js" type="text/javascript"></script>From Your Site Articles
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A car is seen driving in the snow in Dallas in Feb. 2021. Matthew Rader / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
By Matt Casale
There were many lessons to be learned from Texas' prolonged periods of lost power during its cold snap, which saw temperatures drop into the single digits. But one many people may not recognize is that electric vehicles, or EVs, can be part of a smart resiliency plan — not only in the case of outages triggered by the cold but in other scenarios caused by extreme weather events, from fire-related blackouts in California to hurricane-hit power losses in Puerto Rico.
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTY4MzUzMC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0ODE5NDUyNX0.HsCUIOHci2bS-YOU-V6mfoODWVeCapEzr1YbNdFqnig/img.jpg?width=980" id="b6c31" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1af172a4964aad443c982a094d7c85d9" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1080" data-height="720" />
A car driving in the snow in Dallas, Feb. 2021. Matthew Rader / CC BY-SA 4.0
<p>Experts recognize that electric vehicles are a central climate solution for their role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But EVs are also essentially batteries on wheels. You can store energy in those batteries, and if EVs are equipped with something called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle-to-grid" target="_blank">vehicle-to-grid</a> or vehicle-to-building technology, they can also be used to keep the lights on in emergencies. The technology allows the energy being stored in an EV battery to be pushed back into the grid or into buildings to provide power.</p><p>There are hurdles: The technology is still <a href="https://www.greenbiz.com/article/vehicle-grid-technology-revving" target="_blank">developing</a>, the vast majority of EVs currently on the road do not have this capability, and utilities would need regulatory approval before bringing it to scale. But done right it could be a great opportunity.</p><p>Electric car batteries can hold approximately <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/11/how-california-can-use-electric-vehicles-keep-lights" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">60 kilowatt hours (kWh)</a> of energy, enough to provide back-up power to an average U.S. household for two days. Larger electric vehicles like buses and trucks have even bigger batteries and can provide more power. The American company Proterra produces electric buses that can store <a href="https://www.proterra.com/press-release/proterra-launches-zx5-electric-bus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">up to 660 kWh of energy</a>. Electric <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/electric-trash-trucks-are-coming-quietly-to-your-town-11602098620#:~:text=Electric%20trash%20truck%20love%20is%20in%20the%20air.&text=A's%20program%20to%20reduce%20carbon,being%20primarily%20electric%20by%202023." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">garbage trucks</a> and even <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/business/electric-semi-trucks-big-rigs.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">big-rigs</a>, with bigger batteries, are becoming a reality too.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTY4MzUzNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2NTM2MzEwNn0.KL9N8R5wSAaHQUpJVAFdUkc4DyNAV3ERQSP6vhAxj1c/img.jpg?width=980" id="a2215" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f089d78a004c8cb279189d1c3f068bf5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="800" data-height="562" />
MTA New York City Transit / Marc A. Hermann / CC BY 2.0
<p>If equipped with vehicle-to-grid or vehicle-to-building technology, those cars, buses and trucks could prove invaluable during future blackouts. People could rely on their cars to power their houses. Municipalities, transit agencies and school districts could send out their fleets to the areas most in need. We could power homes, shelters and emergency response centers — and could keep people warm, healthy and comfortable until power could be restored.</p><p>But to add this great resiliency tool to our arsenal in times of extreme weather, we must significantly increase the number of EVs on the road. In 2019 electric cars accounted for only about <a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1136-june-1-2020-plug-vehicle-sales-accounted-about-2-all-light-duty" target="_blank">2%</a> of all light-duty vehicle sales in the country. Electric buses and trucks are becoming more common in the United States, but still only represent a tiny fraction of the fleet. As it stands now, the EVs currently on the road, even if equipped with vehicle-to-grid technology, would do little to help a broad swath of the population in need of power.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTY4MzU0OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMDM3MjIxOX0.7YMrPnmM94g_wIhBA7irS7WeIeHQJQUhkZ30nEsWEFY/img.jpg?width=980" id="15537" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="abb30f1e8d614f5aa8bf4fb5c4c14f7f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="799" data-height="533" />
A line of electric cars at charging stations. Andrew Bone / CC BY 2.0
<p>There are some signs that this is changing. <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/09/23/governor-newsom-announces-california-will-phase-out-gasoline-powered-cars-drastically-reduce-demand-for-fossil-fuel-in-californias-fight-against-climate-change/" target="_blank">California</a> and <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gasoline-car-sales-to-end-by-2035-in-massachusetts/" target="_blank">Massachusetts</a> have both announced intentions to explore a policy that would require all new cars after 2035 be electric. General Motors is the latest major automaker to announce an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/01/28/general-motors-electric/" target="_blank">intention</a> to move toward producing only electric cars. Several major transit agencies, including in <a href="https://www.capmetro.org/electricbus#:~:text=CapMetro%20has%20purchased%20a%20total,and%20more%20riders%20per%20bus." target="_blank">Texas</a>, are starting to switch to all-electric buses.</p><p>But we must move faster. If we <a href="https://uspirg.org/feature/usp/electric-buses-america-0" target="_blank">electrified the nation's transit and school bus fleets</a> by 2030, for example, we could have more than 500,000 large mobile batteries available across the country.</p><p>To support widespread adoption of electric vehicles, we need to invest in the <a href="https://uspirg.org/reports/usp/plugging" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">charging infrastructure necessary</a> to accommodate explosive growth. We also need to make sure that as EV adoption increases, the vehicles and infrastructure are set up to use the power-transfer technology. Nissan already does this with its <a href="https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1127590_nissan-leaf-as-home-energy-device-wallbox-will-soon-enable-it-in-the-u-s" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Leaf-to-home</a> system. <a href="https://www.proterra.com/press-release/proterra-introduces-new-high-power-interoperable-ev-charging-technology/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Proterra</a> offers transit buses equipped with the technology. <a href="https://www.dominionenergy.com/our-stories/electric-school-buses" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dominion Energy</a> in Virginia is working with school bus manufacturers to develop and operationalize a large-scale school bus vehicle-to-grid program.</p><p>To standardize the technology and make it accessible to everyone, utilities should seek regulatory approval to implement programs and invest in vehicle-to-grid capable infrastructure, and automakers should make it easy for consumers to install chargers that can send power both ways.</p><p>As that happens, governments at all levels should work to incorporate electric vehicles into their emergency response plans. Shelters, hospitals, emergency response centers and other buildings critical to crisis management should be equipped with the infrastructure necessary to pull power from EVs. Heavy-duty fleets like buses and trucks present particularly promising opportunities to provide power to people in need, but all the electric buses in the world won't do any good if we're not prepared to have them charged and ready to deploy to the areas that need them the most.</p><p>A <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7vyvk/texas-tesla-owners-are-drawing-power-from-their-cars-during-blackouts" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">few Tesla owners</a> in Texas were able to draw power from their cars to stay warm and keep the lights on this month, which is great. But this valuable resource shouldn't be limited to a few select people on a one-off basis. With more EVs on the road and careful planning and preparation, we could have millions of mobile batteries available to help keep the power on for <em>everyone</em> in emergencies.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://therevelator.org/author/casale/" target="_blank"><em>Matt Casale </em></a><em>is the transportation campaign director for U.S. PIRG, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the public interest and speaks out for a healthier, safer world in which we're freer to pursue our own individual well-being and the common good. Matt works on the local, state and federal levels to bring about policy changes that will reduce the need to drive, electrify buses and electrify cars — so the easiest, cheapest and most pleasant ways to travel are also the cleanest and healthiest. Matt lives in Boston with his wife and two daughters.</em></em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://therevelator.org/texas-blackouts-electric-vehicles/" target="_blank">The Revelator.</a></em></p>
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Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation safely returned 10 rescued orangutans to the wild on Borneo Island, Indonesia. Afriadi Hikmal / Getty Images
With lockdowns in place and budgets slashed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many environmental protections vanished this past year, leaving some of the world's most vulnerable species and habitats at risk. But conservationists at the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation were faced with an entirely different threat.
<p>Their beloved orangutans share a strikingly similar DNA to humans, making them susceptible to respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-orangutans/ten-rescued-orangutans-returned-to-the-wild-in-indonesia-idUSKBN2AN0R7" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>. So when it came time to reintroduce a group of rescued orangutans back into the wild, conservationists had to rethink their usual transportation methods to prevent potentially spreading the virus.</p><p>The solution? Reintroduce the critically endangered species via helicopter.</p><p>Last week, ten orangutans returned to the wild by taking a flight to the Indonesian portion of Borneo Island, Reuters reported.</p><p>"For an entire year, we have not been able to release orangutans due to the global pandemic, but we are still strongly committed to the orangutan conservation effort," Jamartin Sihite, CEO of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, said in a <a href="https://orangutan.or.id/press-release-bos-foundation-conducts-back-to-back-orangutan-releases-in-central-and-east-kalimantan/" target="_blank">statement</a>.</p>
<p>Prior to their release, the orangutans were held in rehabilitation centers, according to Reuters. They included five males, a mother and two babies and two other females.</p><p>"Using a helicopter is the best way to transport orangutans during the pandemic," Denny Kurniawan, BOSF program manager, told Reuters. Normally it would take three days to drive the orangutans to their drop-off area, adding to the risk of further exposure between humans and orangutans, Reuters noted. However, air travel reduced travel time and kept veterinarians and orangutans at a safer distance.</p><p>"Efforts to help curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus have hampered many conservation-related activities," Handi Nasoka, acting head of Central Kalimantan's conservation agency, told Reuters.</p><p>Orangutans are critically endangered, according to the <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/orangutan" target="_blank">World Wildlife Fund</a>, with about 104,700 Bornean orangutans remaining. While the decline in populations is partially due to the expansion of palm oil and other agricultural plantations, causing habitat loss, orangutans also fall prey to illegal hunting and trading. The latter has been on the rise since the pandemic started.</p>
<p><br>In Africa, for example, international travel restrictions caused the continent's $39 billion tourism industry to decline, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/science/coronavirus-poaching-rhinos.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The New York Times reported</a>. Highly visited areas have become empty, making it difficult for conservation groups to keep track of illegal activity across Africa's vast lands, The New York Times reported.<br></p><p>"These animals are not just protected by rangers, they're also protected by tourist presence," Tim Davenport, who directs Africa's species conservation programs at the Wildlife Conservation Society, told The New York Times. Since the March lockdown, South Africa had experienced a rapid increase in rhino poachings. Now poachers are taking advantage of unpatrolled lands, illustrating "the risks of relying too heavily on tourism to support conservation," Davenport added.</p><p>While the pandemic highlights the unique threat that economic struggle poses to endangered species, it also emphasizes the necessary role conservationists play in protecting them.</p><p>"We cannot afford to stop our work under any circumstance," Sunandar Trigunajasa, head of the East Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency, which helped with the orangutan release, <a href="https://orangutan.or.id/press-release-bos-foundation-conducts-back-to-back-orangutan-releases-in-central-and-east-kalimantan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said in a statement</a>. "What we must do is keep on innovating and adapting to the dynamic conditions and moving forward."</p>
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Flooding in Annapolis, Maryland after Hurricane Isabel, on Sept. 19, 2003. Michael Land / Chesapeake Bay Program / Flickr
Annapolis, Maryland, is suing 26 oil and gas companies for deceiving the public about their products' role in causing climate change. The city is among two dozen state and local governments to file such a lawsuit.
<p>"The companies worked to deceive people of the danger, hiding their knowledge and engaging in an intentional campaign to mislead the public about the science proving the growing danger posed by fossil fuels," Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley told reporters. </p>
<p>The city seeks to force the companies to help cover the mounting costs of climate change, including severe <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding">flooding</a> that disproportionately harms communities of color. "We're looking at a price tag of almost $100 million," Jacqueline Guild, deputy city manager for resilience and sustainability, told reporters. "And that's just the tip of the melting iceberg, if you will."</p>
<p>The Annapolis lawsuit comes as state and local plaintiffs and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuel</a> industry defendants await a Supreme Court decision on <a href="https://nexusmedianews.com/top_story/baltimore-scotus-case/?swcfpc=1&utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=112702811&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9oCCRCsM6fMxlAnQky2IWZlz_EqiN1eBkbgHRoNLp0q5up6OkM5h8s2XaUx_352gLVkAp-JoYaa-ohHX86jT2bziGNbw&utm_content=112702811&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BP PLC v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore</a>, which could have major implications for states' and municipalities' lawsuits. </p>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong><br/></p><p>Annapolis: <a href="https://www.capitalgazette.com/maryland/annapolis/ac-cn-annapolis-fossil-fuels-lawsuit-20210222-20210223-vs2ff7eiibfgje6fvjwticys2i-story.html?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=112702811&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--9Fjm1KwJ7k4YF9C8fq_1ZXKgXdzY-lXaGeFFOzdwg-BqJoDR_o3pIpuiMviR7mpYvfap-VyNyjkovq7z_KoG0JH76Vw&utm_content=112702811&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Capital Gazette</a>, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/environment-lawsuits-maryland-annapolis-local-governments-e36dc272334a7ad7e12611f728212fe6?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=112702811&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_djMJPVFK_eTsJR5IRyS0SSw3s2WTLoq-enVHi9wbBrY_SHe-wrv6UDP0pCownPN4Um6EP-n_UH4f6ITzXvc7RDnAGCQ&utm_content=112702811&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">AP</a>, <a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2021/02/23/stories/1063725767?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=112702811&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--eVxS2QCegA6ero_CkueKoRI517DveIOSUakUO6ui9tmoK83WTj-0_GBQiORfRCTYAnO7P0HBYAaxKM1ea-XevZlbjcQ&utm_content=112702811&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">E&E</a>; SCOTUS: <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063725453?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=112702811&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9NfSxJcOA2Qr9IkzIWlv_A2xI9tZ_nt0eKrLVshEp389nHm45yAmkcs5yKd9Oxz30aArEnC0Dwd7spmuJnZ_cUbkIYGA&utm_content=112702811&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">E&E</a></p><p><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, sign up for daily </em><a href="https://www.linktrack.live/hot-news-sign-up" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>, and visit their news site, </em><a href="https://nexusmedianews.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Nexus Media News</em></a><em>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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