Without Passage of RESTORE Act, BP Could Get Sweet Settlement Deal
National Wildlife Federation
By BP could soon squirm its way to a sweet settlement deal this week for the Gulf oil disaster—a move that would allow the company’s pockets to continue to expand on the heels of their record profits, while leaving more uncertainty for restoring the Gulf of Mexico to an environmentally and economically healthy state.
News reports indicate that BP may be close to reaching a settlement for its part in the Gulf oil disaster. The proposed settlement allegedly requires BP to pay a mere 3 percent of the full amount of Clean Water Act (CWA) penalties it could be fined under the law. Reports suggest the agreement would require BP to pay only $142 per barrel of oil spilled into the Gulf, although CWA allows up to $4,300 per barrel to be assessed against a liable party. BP has reportedly set aside $3.5 billion in preparation for paying CWA fines, but this settlement deal would be significantly less.
The settlements do not stop there. MOEX Offshore recently settled to pay only $90 million for its part in the Deepwater Horizon blowout. The settlement would send $45 million to the federal government for penalties and restoration. In addition to paying $25 million in CWA penalty funds to the states, MOEX will acquire $20 million worth of properties containing habitat and natural resources worthy of conservation in perpetuity, and/or which will protect water quality in the Gulf of Mexico region.
According to the Department of Justice, there are no federal requirements for how the states use the penalty money.
“The states should use the $25 million in penalty funds to help the damaged Gulf ecosystems and the people in the Gulf that depend on those ecosystems for their livelihoods and quality of life,” said John Kostyack, National Wildlife Federation’s vice president for wildlife conservation, reacting to the initial MOEX settlement. “As far as the $20 million goes, we need a lot more transparency on where that money is going and what projects it will fund. It is hard to support this without knowing which properties will be acquired or restored and how they intend to restore water quality.”
Now is a critical time to get the RESTORE Act passed—it’s been nearly two years since the Gulf oil disaster. Last week Sens. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Richard Shelby (R-AL) introduced an amendment to the Senate Transportation bill (S.1813) that would ensure BP fines from the oil spill go to the Gulf where they belong. Unless Congress takes action now, before a settlement is reached, a significant portion of the funds BP pays could be used for unrelated federal spending, instead of helping the Gulf.
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A technician inspects a bitcoin mining operation at Bitfarms in Saint Hyacinthe, Quebec on March 19, 2018. LARS HAGBERG / AFP via Getty Images
As bitcoin's fortunes and prominence rise, so do concerns about its environmental impact.
<p>The process of mining the cryptocurrency is enormously energy intensive, so much so that it consumes more electricity in a year than Argentina or the Ukraine, according to the latest data from the <a href="https://cbeci.org/cbeci/comparisons" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index</a>. Its energy hunger even led to a warning from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen last week, as <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/22/yellen-sounds-warning-about-extremely-inefficient-bitcoin.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CNBC reported</a>.</p><p>"It's an extremely inefficient way of conducting transactions," Yellen said, "and the amount of energy that's consumed in processing those transactions is staggering."</p>
<p>Bitcoin's value rose past $50,000 two weeks ago, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/16/investing/bitcoin-50000-price-record/index.html" target="_blank">CNN Business reported at the time</a>. It was in part buoyed by the success of Elon Musk, whose electric car company <a href="http://tesla/" target="_blank">Tesla</a> made more than $900 million after buying $1.5 billion of the currency, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56215787" target="_blank">BBC News reported</a>. Its value has subsided somewhat since then, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/feb/27/bitcoin-mining-electricity-use-environmental-impact?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR32SsssuI2vJel6JIv35Rynz8rUuwDOjKG06vMdBGDQA0LuFQ389eE9B_g#Echobox=1614421164" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. But Musk's endorsement raised a concern: How did his support of the currency meld with Tesla's <a href="https://www.tesla.com/about#:~:text=Tesla's%20mission%20is%20to%20accelerate%20the%20world's%20transition%20to%20sustainable%20energy.&text=Today%2C%20Tesla%20builds%20not%20only,energy%20generation%20and%20storage%20products." target="_blank">goal</a> of moving the world towards a "zero-emission future?"</p><p>The question is larger than Musk, of course. Bitcoin mining is energy intensive by design. There are only 21 million bitcoins that can be mined, a process that involves solving complex math problems on a computer to release new coins. When bitcoin first started in 2009, it was possible to mine for bitcoin on a normal computer. However, the currency is designed so that the fewer bitcoins left to be released, the more complicated the problems become. Now that 18.5 million bitcoins have been mined, an average computer cannot handle the calculations.</p>
<p>As the price rises, more people are motivated to get in on the action.</p><p>"They want to get that revenue," University of Chicago economics professor Gina Pieters told BBC News, "and that's what's going to encourage them to introduce more and more powerful machines in order to guess this random number, and therefore you will see an increase in energy consumption."</p><p>Pieters is part of the University of Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF), which runs the bitcoin electricity use index. CCAF <a href="https://cbeci.org/" target="_blank">calculates</a> that bitcoin now uses 129.22 terawatt hours of electricity a year, according to its most recent update.</p>
<p>This doesn't necessarily mean that mining bitcoin is increasing <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/greenhouse-gas-emissions" target="_self">greenhouse gas emissions</a>. Bitcoin proponents say that the mining can be powered using <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/renewable-energy" target="_self">renewable energy</a> sources, according to The Guardian. However, the mining process does motivate miners to seek out cheap energy sources.</p><p>"The more machines a miner operates, the more likely he is to find the solution to the puzzle," the CCAF <a href="https://cbeci.org/faq/" target="_blank">explained</a>. "However, more machines also means that more electricity is needed to run and cool the equipment, which in turn results in higher costs for the miner in question. Miners are thus always searching for abundant electricity sources at the lowest possible price."</p><p>Seeking the cheapest electricity source may mean <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal" target="_self">coal</a> in many places, The Guardian pointed out. More bitcoin is mined in China than in any other country, and about two-thirds of its electricity still comes from coal.</p>
<p>The CCAF said it does not yet have the data to determine the cryptocurrency's carbon footprint, since this would require accurate assessments of the energy mix behind mining. However, it pointed out that even if all bitcoin mining was powered by coal, an unlikely scenario, it would still only account for 0.17 percent of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions. That doesn't mean bitcoin's growth isn't a concern for the attempts to combat the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a>, however.</p><p>"There are valid concerns that Bitcoin's growing electricity consumption may pose a threat to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in the future," the index wrote.</p><p>That threat increases the more bitcoin gains in popularity. Bitcoin expert and Digiconomist founder Alex de Vries told BBC News what would happen if bitcoin were adapted as a global reserve currency.</p><p>"[T]he Bitcoin price will probably be in the millions, and those miners will have more money than the entire [US] Federal budget to spend on electricity. We'd have to double our global energy production," he said. "For Bitcoin."</p>
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OR-93 traveled hundreds of miles from Oregon to California. Austin Smith Jr. / Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs / California Department of Fish and Wildlife
An Oregon-born wolf named OR-93 has sparked conservation hopes with a historic journey into California.
<p>A young male, OR-93 traveled hundreds of miles from an area southeast of Mount Hood, Oregon, to California's central Sierra Nevada mountain range, the <a href="https://cdfgnews.wordpress.com/2021/02/25/dispersing-gray-wolf-travels-from-oregon-to-the-central-sierra-nevada/" target="_blank">California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced Friday</a>. The agency said he traveled farther south into California than any previous collared wolf. His trek is also the longest tracked journey of any gray wolf during the last century, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/27/oregon-wolf-journey-california-wolves" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p><p>"OR-93's historic trek so far south into California's central Sierra Nevada is thrilling news for wolf recovery throughout the West – and underscores that species recovery is not isolated to separate states; what happens in the Northwest greatly affects the success of wolves in other states, and vice versa," California Program Director at Defenders of Wildlife Pamela Flick said in a statement emailed to EcoWatch.</p><p>OR-93 hails from Oregon's White River pack, according to the CDFW. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs fitted him with a tracking collar in June 2020 within his home territory. At some point he left the area, likely in search of new territory and a mate. He reached California's Modoc County by the beginning of February; by the end of the month, he had traveled to Alpine County, between trans-Sierra State Highways 4 and 108. He then passed into Mono County. This put him just east of Yosemite National Park and marks the first time a wolf has been known to approach the park in more than 100 years, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/travel-national-parks-california-animals-parks-143167309e434e3b26702550f9c4b1c3" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported</a>.</p><p>The wolf is the 16th one to travel into California, and most have hailed from Oregon. However, this journey is notable from a conservation standpoint for two reasons. For starters, OR-93 is the first wolf from the White River pack to enter the state, which is important for the population's diversity.</p>
<p>"As the first known member of the White River Pack from western Oregon to disperse into California, OR-93 also importantly brings the potential for increased genetic diversity to our state," Flick said. "We look forward to watching the journey of California's newest wolf, and we will continue to welcome gray wolves back to their historical home in the Golden State."</p><p>OR-93's epic journey also places him in a habitat with enormous potential for wolves.</p><p>"We're thrilled to learn this wolf is exploring deep into the Sierra Nevada, since scientists have said all along this is great wolf habitat," Amaroq Weiss, senior West Coast wolf advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), said in an email to EcoWatch. "He's another beacon of hope, showing that wolves can return here and flourish as long as they remain legally protected."</p><p>California's wolves were eradicated in the early 20th century following a concerted campaign by the livestock industry. The first wolf to return to the state in 2011 included another Oregon wolf, named OR-7. There are now fewer than a dozen wolves living in California, including the Lassen pack, which has produced pups every year between 2017 and 2020, according to CDFW. Another pair of wolves has also been spotted in Siskiyou County, and scientists think they will produce pups this spring.</p>
<p>While the Trump administration <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/gray-wolves-endangered-trump-2649746799.html" target="_self">removed federal Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves</a>, they remain listed as an <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a> within California. CDFW Spokeswoman Jordan Traverso told the <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Oregon-wolf-has-traveled-deeper-into-California-15984246.php" target="_blank">San Francisco Chronicle</a> that OR-93's incredible journey proved the protections were working.</p><p>"We have a burgeoning population," she told the Chronicle. "It's exciting."</p><p>However, not everyone shares her excitement. The presence of wolves in the state has concerned ranchers.</p><p>"There are diverse constituencies with varying viewpoints — we do our best to walk that tight rope," Traverso told the San Francisco Chronicle.</p><p>There have been some wobbles on that walk. The seven-member Shasta pack, the first wolf pack to be discovered in California in almost 100 years, disappeared months after being found in 2015, the CBD said. The disappearance followed the pack's implication in two livestock casualties, and there are concerns they may have been poached.</p><p>Defenders of Wildlife called for more strategies to reduce livestock and wolf conflicts as wolves' California presence increases. Meanwhile, OR-93's success in the state will likely depend on more personal matters.</p><p>"Given the time of year, we assume OR-93 has traveled such a long way in search of a mate," CBD's Weiss said. "I hope he can find one."</p>
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A plume of exhaust extends from the Mitchell Power Station, a coal-fired power plant built along the Monongahela River, 20 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, on Sept. 24, 2013 in New Eagle, Pennsylvania. The plant, owned by FirstEnergy, was retired the following month. Jeff Swensen / Getty Images
By David Drake and Jeffrey York
The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.
The Big Idea
People often point to plunging natural gas prices as the reason U.S. coal-fired power plants have been shutting down at a faster pace in recent years. However, new research shows two other forces had a much larger effect: federal regulation and a well-funded activist campaign that launched in 2011 with the goal of ending coal power.
<p>We studied the retirement of U.S. coal-fired units from January 2008 to September 2016 and compared the effects of various market factors, regulations and activism on their early closure. In all, 348 coal-fired units either retired or switched to natural gas during that time.</p><p>Among the many pressures on coal power that we reviewed, a federal regulation implemented in 2015 had the biggest overall effect. The <a href="https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2017/09/cross-state-air-pollution-rule-and-section-126-petitions/" target="_blank">Cross State Air Pollution Rule</a> requires states to reduce soot and smog pollution that blows across state lines, including from power plants. We estimate that it was responsible for reducing the expected production life of the coal power units that it affected by a total of 1,170 years.</p>
<p>Looking at coal units individually, however, we found that the <a href="https://coal.sierraclub.org/" target="_blank">Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign</a>, backed by <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2020/09/bloomberg-philanthropies-and-sierra-clubs-beyond-coal-campaign-reaches" target="_blank">over $174 million</a> to date from Bloomberg Philanthropies, had the most impact per targeted plant.</p><p>The campaign works by generating public pressure on utilities and state and local politicians to close down coal-fired units, often through targeted lawsuits. When the Beyond Coal campaign targeted a coal-fired unit, we found that the unit's life expectancy, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12618-3" target="_blank">normally 50-60 years</a>, was reduced by an average of just over two years.</p><p>The Cross State Air Pollution Rule was the second-biggest factor per individual plant, though it affected more plants. It reduced the expected life span of each coal-fired generating unit that it affected by an estimated average of about 21 months.</p><p>We were surprised to find that neither low natural gas prices nor the adoption of renewable energy significantly reduced the life of coal units. Both have been widely touted by politicians and business leaders as the market-based drivers of coal plant retirement.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcwMzM1Mi9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyOTE0NDY2OH0.YivSnJf8zxVGrZ-tqR5DKJBuXIvMU0sK9mvoE0zOnlE/img.png?width=980" id="5a990" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f93a313d8569c2cebd38ce041d696230" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1308" data-height="924" />
<p>However, while adoption of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/">renewable energy</a> alone did not reduce coal units' life spans, the average use of each source of renewable energy in an area did have a significant impact. Coal units operating in regions with high average renewable energy use retired an average of 15 months earlier.</p><p>It is important to note that a large number of coal plants were already nearing the end of their lifecycles during this period. But through statistical modeling, we were able to isolate the impact of each of these interventions on accelerating the retirement of a given unit.</p>
<h3>Why It Matters</h3><p>A rapid transition away from carbon-intensive energy sources such as coal is essential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet. Burning coal releases <a href="https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=73&t=11" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">nearly twice as much carbon dioxide</a> per unit of energy produced as natural gas does, and the natural gas contribution to global warming is significant.</p><p>From 2011 through 2018, coal-fired generating capacity in the U.S. contracted by 23%. We estimate that the emissions impact of the accelerated retirements we studied was equivalent to taking <a href="https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passenger-vehicle" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">38 million typical passenger cars off the road</a>.</p><p>The common narrative has been that <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2021/02/08/biden-coal-energy-industry-policy-renewables-natural-gas/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">market forces and economics have driven the demise of coal</a>. However, our research suggests that a continued focus on federal policy is a more effective route for reducing emissions.</p><p>The Biden administration has already <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/president-biden-takes-office/2021/01/27/960941799/biden-to-pause-oil-and-gas-leasing-on-public-lands-and-waters" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">halted new leases</a> for coal, oil and gas extraction on federal lands. And its climate task force – which includes the Cabinet-level department and agency heads – <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/02/11/readout-of-the-first-national-climate-task-force-meeting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">met in</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/climate/biden-climate-change.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">February</a> to start coordinating <a href="https://theconversation.com/biden-plans-to-fight-climate-change-in-a-way-no-u-s-president-has-done-before-152419" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">government-wide</a> climate change solutions. Those likely will include new regulations and could include a price on carbon.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcwMzM2Ny9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNjAzMTEwNn0.vvLRY5Hd-ZUC7v9FF7TAv4ea0jv2hS8gqJUzh15KJcM/img.png?width=980" id="a304a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9c74d6048af72ea038d4d550ca9f736b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1288" data-height="676" />
<h3>What's Next</h3><p>Our current work sheds light on where responsibility lies for the acceleration of coal-fired power unit retirements through late 2016.</p><p>Next, we are interested in expanding on our findings about differences between renewable energy use and initial adoption. Understanding how to increase use of renewable sources, while creating new businesses and jobs, is a critical research agenda for addressing climate change.</p>
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<em>David Drake is an assistant professor of strategy, entrepreneurship and operations management at the University of Colorado Boulder.<br/>
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<em>Jeffrey York is an associate professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado Boulder.</em>
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<em>Disclosure statement: </em><em>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</em>
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<em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-really-driving-coal-powers-demise-153868" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
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LumiNola / E+ / Getty Images
By Gwen Ranniger
Fertility issues are on the rise, and new literature points to ways that your environment may be part of the problem. We've rounded up some changes you can make in your life to promote a healthy reproductive system.
Infertility and Environmental Health: The Facts
<ul> <li>Sperm count is declining steeply, significantly, and continuously in Western countries, with no signs of tapering off. Erectile dysfunction is on the rise, and women are facing increasing rates of miscarriage and difficulty conceiving.</li><li>Why? A huge factor is our environmental health. Hormones (particularly testosterone and estrogen) are what make reproductive function possible, and our hormones are increasingly being negatively affected by harmful, endocrine-disrupting chemicals commonplace in the modern world—in our homes, foods, and lifestyles.</li></ul>What You Can Do About It
<p>It should be noted that infertility can be caused by any number of factors, including medical conditions that cannot be solved with a simple change at home.</p><p><em>If you or a loved one are struggling with infertility, our hearts and sympathies are with you. Your pain is validated and we hope you receive answers to your struggles.</em></p><p>Read on to discover our tips to restore or improve reproductive health by removing harmful habits and chemicals from your environment.</p>Edit Your Health
<ul><li>If you smoke, quit! Smoking is toxic, period. If someone in your household smokes, urge them to quit or institute a no-smoking ban in the house. It is just as important to avoid secondhand smoke.</li><li>Maintain a healthy weight. Make sure your caloric intake is right for your body and strive for moderate exercise.</li><li>Eat cleanly! Focus on whole foods and less processed meals and snacks. Studies have found that eating a Mediterranean-style diet is linked to increased fertility.</li><li>Minimize negative/constant stress—or find ways to manage it. Hobbies such as meditation or yoga that encourage practiced breathing are great options to reduce the physical toll of stress.</li></ul>Edit Your Home
<p>We spend a lot of time in our homes—and care that what we bring into them will not harm us. You may not be aware that many commonly found household items are sources of harmful, endocrine-disrupting compounds. Read on to find steps you can take—and replacements you should make—in your home.</p><p><strong>In the Kitchen</strong></p><ul> <li>Buy organic, fresh, unprocessed foods whenever possible. <a href="https://www.ehn.org/clean-grocery-shopping-guide-2648563801.html" target="_blank">Read our grocery shopping guide for more tips about food.</a></li><li>Switch to glass, ceramics, or stainless steel for food storage: plastics often contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals that affect fertility. <a href="https://www.ehn.org/bpa-pollution-2645493129.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Learn more about the dangers of plastic here.</a></li><li>Ban plastic from the microwave. If you have a plastic splatter cover, use paper towel, parchment paper, or an upside-down plate instead.</li><li>Upgrade your cookware: non-stick may make life easier, but it is made with unsafe chemical compounds that seep into your food. Cast-iron and stainless steel are great alternatives.</li><li>Filter tap water. Glass filter pitchers are an inexpensive solution; if you want to invest you may opt for an under-the-sink filter.</li><li>Check your cleaning products—many mainstream products are full of unsafe chemicals. <a href="https://www.ehn.org/how-to-shop-for-cleaning-products-while-avoiding-toxics-2648130273.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Check out our guide to safe cleaning products for more info</a>.</li></ul><p><strong>In the Bathroom </strong></p><ul> <li>Check the labels on your bathroom products: <em>fragrance-free, paraben-free, phthalate-free</em> and organic labels are all great signs. You can also scan the ingredients lists for red-flag chemicals such as: triclosan, parabens, and dibutyl phthalate. Use the <a href="https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/" target="_blank">EWG Skin Deep database</a> to vet your personal products.</li><li>Ditch the vinyl shower curtain—that new shower curtain smell is chemical-off gassing. Choose a cotton or linen based curtain instead.</li><li>Banish air fresheners—use natural fresheners (an open window, baking soda, essential oils) instead.</li></ul><p><strong>Everywhere Else</strong></p><ul><li>Remove wall-to-wall carpet. If you've been considering wood or tile, here's your sign: many synthetic carpets can emit harmful chemicals for years. If you want a rug, choose wool or plant materials such as jute or sisal.</li><li>Prevent dust build-up. Dust can absorb chemicals in the air and keep them lingering in your home. Vacuum rugs and wipe furniture, trim, windowsills, fans, TVs, etc. Make sure to have a window open while you're cleaning!</li><li>Leave shoes at the door! When you wear your shoes throughout the house, you're tracking in all kinds of chemicals. If you like wearing shoes inside, consider a dedicated pair of "indoor shoes" or slippers.</li><li>Clean out your closet—use cedar chips or lavender sachets instead of mothballs, and use "green" dry-cleaning services over traditional methods. If that isn't possible, let the clothes air out outside or in your garage for a day before putting them back in your closet.</li><li>Say no to plastic bags!</li><li>We asked 22 endocrinologists what products they use - and steer clear of—in their homes. <a href="https://www.ehn.org/nontoxic-products-2648564261.html" target="_blank">Check out their responses here</a>.</li></ul>Learn More
<ul><li>For more information and action steps, be sure to check out <em>Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race</em> by EHS adjunct scientist Shanna Swan, PhD: <a href="https://www.shannaswan.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">available for purchase here.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.ehn.org/st/Subscribe_to_Above_The_Fold" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sign up for our Above the Fold Newsletter </a>to stay up to date about impacts on the environment and your health.</li></ul>From Your Site Articles
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Seattle-based Community Loaves uses home bakers to help those facing food insecurity during the pandemic. Sol de Zuasnabar Brebbia / Getty Images
The irony hit Katherine Kehrli, the associate dean of Seattle Culinary Academy, when one of the COVID-19 pandemic's successive waves of closures flattened restaurants: Many of her culinary students were themselves food insecure. She saw cooks, bakers, and chefs-in-training lose the often-multiple jobs that they needed simply to eat.
<p>"The pandemic has leveled the most marginalized members of our society—the people working two, three jobs at minimum wage," Kehrli says. She knows the statistics by heart: FeedingAmerica.org says <a href="https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">50 million people may experience hunger and food insecurity this year</a>. "Its tendrils," she adds, "are nasty."</p><p>Kehrli knew she wouldn't be able to make the entire U.S. food system more equitable and just, but she did have an idea to help her local community. Six years before, after spending time in the culinary school's bake shop, she'd gotten hooked on the alchemy of flour, water, yeast, and salt. She took workshops with master bakers and built a library of cookbooks on bread. Kehrli even started a regional network of people who shared her hobby: Northwest Bread Bakers. She loved to bake, and during the pandemic, other homebound Americans were beginning to feed sourdough starters by the millions. Kehrli wondered: Could a trending private hobby help meet wider needs?</p><p>A little policy research showed that, in Washington, bread was one of the few homemade foods the state health department allowed to be donated to food banks without needing to be made in a licensed commercial kitchen. And so in April, from Kehrli's home—where giant bags of flour eventually displaced the family car from the garage—<a href="https://communityloaves.org/" target="_blank">the Community Loaves initiative</a> was born. She called on a hive of baking friends to develop a sandwich-friendly, easy-to-execute sourdough recipe, the "honey oat pan loaf." The group found a food bank in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland called Hopelink that agreed to take the bread if they could make and package it in a standardized way. That first batch, the initiative donated 19 loaves.</p><p>Ten months later, the numbers have mushroomed. Nearly 700 volunteer bakers, drivers, and flour packers have contributed to the donation of nearly 15,000 loaves to 11 food pantries around Seattle. Two Sundays a month, the individual bakers each make four loaves (three to donate, one to keep) that get distributed among 36 neighborhood hubs. Community Loaves is on track to give away more than 30,000 loaves before the end of 2021.</p>
<p>The initiative has already expanded to three locations in Oregon, and Kehrli expects to inspire other cities. She's already gotten calls from bakers in Connecticut, California, and Minnesota wondering how they can replicate the idea.</p><p>The proud but visibly fatigued founder is braced for more in early January when she beams in for a virtual interview. Kehrli had been up until 3:44 a.m. the night before, she reports wearily, then up again at 7 and back in action with no shower or makeup. "I can't sleep anymore," she says."I have stuff to do."</p><p>One of her two college-age sons slips in a veggie bowl for her to snack on, because she hasn't had time for lunch. Things will only intensify from here. The Today show is scheduled to air a <a href="https://www.today.com/food/seattle-bakers-donate-1-300-loaves-bread-local-food-bank-t205271" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">national segment on Community Loaves</a> in two days, and the project's new website needs to be ready. In the middle of it all, someone shows up at the door needing labels, which had been delayed in shipping. Kehrli's supportive, operationally involved husband, Tim, makes a quick decision: "I'm going to give her bags and twist ties," he declares, "because that's all I have."</p><p>The work continues, because demand isn't letting up.</p>
<h2>Inspiration and Limitations</h2><p>During the pandemic, mutual-aid societies have cropped up around the country, reviving an old concept with roots in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The idea was that everyone had something to contribute, and everyone had something they needed. By 1920, a presidential report estimated that one in three adult men in the U.S. was a member of a fraternal society. During the 1918 flu pandemic, <a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/06/mutual-aid-united-states-unions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mutual-aid societies organized by and for women also multiplied</a>. New Orleans, in particular, developed a strong mutual-aid tradition, with an estimated 135 organizations dedicated to supporting Black people, nearly one-third of them for women. </p><p>For today's mutual-aid societies, the <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/issue/coronavirus-community-power/2020/05/09/coronavirus-mutual-aid-low-income-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">catch line is often "solidarity, not charity</a>." </p><p>Community Loaves, too, draws on the model of neighbors helping neighbors. And Kehrli took inspiration from an earlier time as well. Her grandmother, Ruth Wiesen, was known for making cookies, pies, or fudge for every bake-sale fundraiser, neighborhood social, funeral luncheon, or other community need. And she participated in the interfaith CROP Walks against hunger for as long as she physically could. When Kehrli told Wiesen about Community Loaves, her grandmother said, "I would've loved to have [baked for] that." Wiesen died in 2020, at 105—but not before helping Kehrli put labels on Community Loaves bread bags, marshaling her frail 85-pound body and still-powerful will to help even from her nursing home.</p>
<p>Sourdough donation isn't widespread yet, but related efforts are out there. Kehrli drew on one Midwestern model, <a href="https://graincollaborative.com/neighbor-loaves/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Neighbor Loaves</a>, that uses commercial bakeries. And celebrated artisanal baker Guy Frenkel has started a similar initiative in L.A., <a href="https://www.castyourbreadlosangeles.com/#3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cast Your Bread</a>, that has inspired chapters in Baltimore and Israel. Kehrli gets calls from around the country—she logs them on a "New Cities Interest" spreadsheet—and she's expecting more. By April, she hopes to have expansion support in place, including a training session for others wanting to start something similar.</p><p>Still, Kehrli is dissatisfied with a food system that leaves people hungry—and is ever-conscious of her project's limitations. "It is just one piece of work on a scale that is extremely large in terms of what's needed," she says. "Yes, we're doing our part, and yes, I want us to feel good about it, and yes, it's still not enough."</p><p>Still, recipients who learn that volunteers are doing the baking appreciate the effort. Teresa, a Hopelink client in the Kirkland area who preferred that her last name not be used, says she was touched when she found out that fellow community members made the loaves. "This to me is the representation of community, people stepping in and learning and sharing love by trying to help the community," she says. "Baking is a special genre. There's no guarantees. But when the loaves are perfect, they're amazing."</p>
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<h2>Added Benefits</h2><p>Despite its limited scale, Community Loaves has a range of impacts, even beyond addressing hunger. One of them: expanding the market for locally grown, locally milled grains. The initiative uses high-extraction and whole grain flour. It's bought wholesale from two regional mills, Cairnspring Mills and Fairhaven Organic Flour Mill, and then purchased in smaller units by bakers as part of their contribution. "Flour has been relegated to the commodity market for a long time. Just like coffee and craft beer have gone through their days, flour is having its moment," Kehrli says. "We are helping to educate and share that not all flour is the same. I think we are helping support an improved foundation for choosing local ingredients that have been minimally processed."</p><p>The high-extraction flour has higher nutritional content, Kehrli asserts, including fiber and protein. People with celiac disease and gluten intolerance still can't eat bread—but anecdotally, many with gluten sensitivity have reported the Community Loaves iteration doesn't disagree with them. "We attribute that to the longer sourdough fermentation process and the quality of the flour," she says.</p><p>Then there's the effect on bakers, who not only give to others, but also benefit from connecting and contributing, safely and from home, during a pandemic. They come from a range of ages and backgrounds. Kinsley Ogunmola, for instance, a millennial software engineer, leads a hub in Seattle's Queen Anne neighborhood. Up to 20 volunteers, ranging from 20-somethings to retirement age, drop off their loaves with him biweekly (he wrote a special code to let them into the building). From there, he coordinates transportation to the food pantry. "Our lobby smells like a bakery every other Sunday," he says. "My neighbor keeps asking me about bread now whenever I see him. I hope it spreads."</p>
<p>Community Loaves starts volunteers off with an online introductory session, which Kehrli leads. She's done more than 50 to date. At one orientation, in September, the range of the bakers' experience was apparent. There was Diane Moore, who had celebrated her 50th birthday with a weeklong baking course in France. And there was Clare Chan, who had zero baking experience but wanted to volunteer along with her teenage sons Caelen Yoong, 16, and Lucien Yoong, 14.</p><p>By January, Moore and Chan were both still involved and loving it. Chan reported that her family hadn't missed a single bread-donation Sunday since they started. In her native Singapore, she used to volunteer in senior homes, but she loves that the whole family can be involved in this service, and she hopes they'll keep it up even after the pandemic. "It's a humbling and rewarding experience for us to put in the time to make the bread and know that it's going to families in need," she says. "When you take the loaves out of the oven, that's the best part."</p><p>Moore had thought she might get bored making a sandwich loaf over and over, but found that consistency is its own challenge. "It turns out it's hard to perfect the pan loaf. It's not as forgiving in some ways as an artisan loaf. I feel like each time I'm learning more," she says. "This project nourishes me. It's been a gift. I was just ready to hand off bread, but there's a lovely connection to a community of bakers who share resources and recipes. It's a joyful project, and rewarding."</p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/authors/lynn-freehill-maye/" target="_blank"><em>LYNN FREEHILL-MAYE</em></a><strong><em> </em></strong><em>writes about sustainability and related topics from her home in New York's Hudson Valley. Her work has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, CityLab, Civil Eats, and Sierra, among other publications.</em></em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/health-happiness/2021/02/25/bread-baking-mutual-aid/" target="_blank">YES! Magazine</a>.</em><br/><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/2650842254#/" target="_self"></a></p>
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