Planet Week: Biden rolls out $2 trillion climate plan
Welcome to Planet Week, where we highlight the last week of environmental news and what it means for our planet.
Welcome to Planet Week, where we highlight the last week of environmental news and what it means for our planet.
Last week, researchers cite “compelling evidence” that air pollution worsens COVID-19 cases. A new database found that most energy stimulus money has gone to fossil fuels, rather than renewables. And Russia had another huge oil spill.
In case you missed it, here’s what else happened around the planet:
Sunday, July 12–Monday, July 13
Torrential rains flood China
Since June, 433 rivers in China have risen, and up to 33 rivers have reached their highest levels in history, China’s ministry of water resources announced Monday. The torrential downpours and flooding have affected 27 million people, and 141 people have died or are missing, reports Aljazeera.
The rains caused the worst flooding in decades, making residents fear another flood season like 1998 — which affected one-fifth of China’s population and left 15 million people homeless. More storms are expected over the next few weeks.
Tuesday, July 14
Biden rolls out $2 trillion climate plan
Heavily emphasizing infrastructure and clean energy, Democratic presidential lock, Joe Biden, released a $2 trillion climate plan on Tuesday. The plan, laid out over four years, invests in infrastructure, smart agriculture, mass transit, and efficient buildings, while also calling for 100% carbon-free power generation by 2035, reports ABC News.
“We can live up to our responsibilities, meet the challenges of a world at risk of a climate catastrophe, build more climate-resilient communities, put millions of skilled workers on the job, and make life markedly better and safer for the American people all at once and benefit the world in the process,” said Biden in a speech last week.
The plan is much more ambitious than the one Biden unveiled in January, before he secured the democratic ticket. Case in point: His new plan incorporates the Sanders camp, prioritizes environmental justice, and lifts ideas directly from Jay Inslee, the O.G. climate candidate. Read more about Biden’s pivot to the left and aggressive climate policy in analysis by New York Magazine.
Trump rolls back bedrock environmental law
At the other end of the spectrum, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a “top to bottom overhaul” of one of the country’s oldest, most important environmental laws, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). For 50 years, NEPA has required federal agencies to consider environmental costs before starting major projects, such as highways, pipelines, and mines.
The new changes would streamline the regulation process, dropping the environmental review and narrowing the window for public comment. This would almost certainly disproportionately affect low-income people and communities of color, who have used the law for decades to prevent potentially harmful environmental projects.
“People have a right to weigh in before a highway project tears up their neighborhood or a pipeline goes through their backyard,” said NRDC President Gina McCarthy, in a statement. “Steamrolling their concerns will mean more polluted air, more contaminated water, more health threats and more environmental destruction.” Read more at NPR.
We hope the last two stories highlight the importance of voting this November.
Wednesday, July 15
Methane emissions reach record highs
Agriculture and fossil fuels have spewed record amounts of methane into the atmosphere over the last 20 years, according to two studies out Wednesday. During that time frame, annual methane emissions jumped 9%.
“It’s a mistake to ignore methane,” Rob Jackson, a professor at Stanford University and a co-author of both studies, told Grist. “If we can reduce methane emissions quickly, we could shave a half-a-degree Celsius off peak temperatures.”
If we don’t reduce our emissions, researchers say the planet could warm by 3–4 degrees Celsius — and leave us in an irreversible climate catastrophe. Meanwhile, Burger King, one of the largest beef processors in the world, tries to tackle its own methane problem with a new ad campaign. But, as we wrote this weekend, the BK campaign misses the mark.
Mayors release green, just recovery plan
On Wednesday, C40 cities released its Mayors Agenda for a Green and Just Recovery. The agenda focuses on building an inclusive economy, by creating new, green jobs; supporting essential workers; and training and upskilling workers.
Echoing policy by Paris’ mayor, Anne Hidalgo, the plan also highlights “15-minute cities,” where residents live within a 15-minute walk or bike ride from a city’s cultural, recreational, and professional offerings. Read more by Bloomberg CityLab.
Friday, July 17
Don’t touch the thermostat
Replacing harmful refrigerants in air conditioners and fridges could be key to fighting climate change, a new U.N. report said Friday. In fact, swapping out old units for greater efficiency ones could prevent the equivalent of four to eight years of current global greenhouse gas emissions over the next 40 years.
As the planet heats up, though, demand for these cooling appliances is expected to skyrocket. But nations can fight this growing need with energy-efficient buildings, tree-planting in cities, and district-wide cooling systems — or a government-mandated minimum temperature for the thermostat, like in India.
Planet Weekend
Heat waves sweep the U.S.
Speaking of A/C, severe heat waves are sweeping the United States, setting records in the South and Southwest, places already struggling with a recent surge of COVID-19 cases. The heatwave is straining resources, causing a sort of double whammy for already stressed communities, reports The New York Times.
Around 90% of the country’s population was set to see higher than 90 degree Fahrenheit temperatures this weekend, according to CNBC. Like other environmental impacts, heat waves disproportionately affect low-income communities and people of color, the same demographic most at risk of contracting COVID-19.
Bonus: Koalas offer hope for a chlamydia cure
Chlamydia can infect everything from frogs to fish to parakeets — and koalas get it bad. But this shared susceptibility has led some scientists to argue for saving and studying the small marsupials, in the hopes of finding a long-lasting cure for humans.
“[Koalas are] out there, they’ve got chlamydia, and we can give them a vaccine, we can observe what the vaccine does under real conditions,” Peter Timms, a microbiologist at the University of Sunshine Coast in Queensland, told The New York Times. “We can do something in koalas you could never do in humans.”
See you next week,
Brandon and Sam