Watch 1PM Weekly News - January 22, 2024
This week Anton covers six breaking news stories--from eco-friendly laundry detergent possibly being another greenwashed product to an oil lobby spending millions on positive ad campaigns.
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Oil Lobby Spends Millions on Positive Ad Campaign
Following a record-breaking year for fossil fuel extraction in the United States, the American oil lobby launched an eight-figure media campaign last week as part of an election-year blitz in the face of climate policy pressure from the Biden administration. The ad campaign is produced by Lights on Energy Campaign, the top fossil fuel interest group in the US which claims that the increased use of natural gas is the “key reason” that US carbon emissions have fallen. The ads did not mention the rise of methane emissions, a greenhouse gas that is 80 times more planet-heating than carbon dioxide. The ads also emphasize the “reliability” of gas-powered energy despite major gas system failures during weather emergencies such as 2021’s winter storm Uri and 2022’s winter storm Elliott. Mike Sommers, the CEO of the American Petroleum Institute said “Renewable sources have a role to play, but oil and natural gas will be needed for decades.”
Eco-Friendly Laundry Might Be Greenwashing Plastic
The latest iteration of laundry detergent is not everything it pretends to be. Manufacturers are marketing laundry sheets as the best way to avoid plastic packaging, while maintaining efficient transport and storage. What you’re not hearing is that virtually every brand of laundry sheets, including Earth Breeze includes a plastic known as polyvinyl alcohol, or PVA. A spokesman for the American Cleaning Institute says PVA is environmentally safe because it’s water-soluble and biodegradable in wastewater. Yet a research study conducted by a senior research scientist suggest that nearly 80 percent of the PVA in wastewater may not be biodegradable. That would be the equivalent to 8,000 tons of plastic annually, or 800 million plastic bottles. A petition was filed with the EPA to remove PVA from its list of safe chemicals, but the EPA denied the petition arguing insufficient evidence of risk.
Bird Flu Infecting More Than Just Birds
The Washington Post reports that a potent strain of H5N1 avian influenza has struck at least 320 types of birds and dozens of species of mammals globally in just the past few years. Since 2021, the death toll includes 20,000 Sandwich terns in Europe, 18,000 barnacle geese in Scotland, 12,000 black-legged kittiwakes in Norway, tens of thousands of gannets in Canada and millions of chickens at poultry farms in the U.S. Just this past July more than 500,000 birds died in South America that included approximately 41% of all Peruvian pelicans. The bird flu has also infected numerous species of mammals that include approximately 17,000 elephant seal pup seals in Argentina, 5,000 sea lions in Peru as well as coyotes, lions, tigers, grizzlies, raccoons, red foxes and for the first time this winter a polar bear. Now scientists are concerned that humans could be next. Jonas Waldenström, a disease ecology professor at Linnaeus University in Sweden said quote “It’s quite a distance from a gannet to a human, but from a seal to a human, we’re pretty much alike.”
Uranium Mines in US Could Be Detrimental
For the first time in eight years, uranium mines are in operation again in the United States. This is happening for two reasons. The first is an agreement at COP28 to triple nuclear energy production to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions globally by 2050. The second reason is that Russia has traditionally dominated the global uranium market, but because of the war on Ukraine, the US is seeking other ways to access uranium. The three uranium mines that are in operation now along the Arizona-Utah border are drawing fierce criticism from tribes and environmentalists. Since 2013, the mines have pumped over 49 million gallons of water that is contaminated with high levels of arsenic and uranium, despite the fact that local streams are the only drinking water source for some of the tribes. State regulators say the mines will not impact local water supplies, but environmentalist disagree strongly. Stay tuned.
Cultivated Meat Ban in France and Italy
Cultivated meat, or meat that is produced from cells as opposed to the slaughtering of animals is becoming big business throughout the world. Cultivated meat companies are raising large amounts of capital to produce and regulate the production of cultivated beef, pork, chicken and lamb. In response, Italy and now France have proposed legislation that would make it forbidden to produce, process or market cultivated meat in those countries, arguing that it goes against their food traditions and hurts livestock farming. Fines of up to 60,000 euros per violation are included in the legislation. Former French food and Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie said during a parliamentary debate. “Only a science without a conscience could consider laboratory, test-tube meat as a solution.”
Cold Snaps Zap Electric Vehicle Batteries
Plummeting temperatures across the country are proving to be a challenge for some electric-vehicle owners. Fully electric vehicles run exclusively on battery packs, and typically lose an average of 41% of their range when outdoor temperatures fall to 20 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. Electric batteries generate power from chemical reactions within the battery, but cold temperatures delay the reaction process that in turn reduces battery storage. The driving range for many of the most popular EVs in fact drop below 50% when in freezing temperatures. Also, gas-powered cars naturally generate excess heat that is used to warm the cabin of the car, but warming the cabin for an EV subtracts from the already limited range of the battery. Ways to combat these challenges include warming up your EV cabin while it’s still plugged in, and using heat pumps to warm the cabin without sucking energy from the battery.