Watch 1PM Weekly News - November 13, 2023
This week Shelby covers seven breaking news stories--from Michigan on track to use 100% renewable energy by 2040 to a seaweed packaging company called Notpla being certified plastic free!
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Electric Battery-Powered Planes Take Flight
Battery powered electric planes are beginning to populate the skies. The New York Times reports that short-distance electric air travel is becoming possible today because of a wave of significant investments and technological advancements that are being made. Because of the limited range and weight of these electric aircraft, they are expected to be used for trips under 150 miles that are typically managed by helicopters, trucks and cars. Expected applications for these aircraft include the ferrying of passengers for short distances, rescue missions, transportation of organs for transplant, and connecting rural areas that currently lack direct air services. Key funders behind electric aircraft development include Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Fidelity, Delta Airlines, Toyota, Airbus and Boeing among other corporations and large investment firms.
Roundup Weed Killer Loses in Massive Lawsuit
A Philadelphia jury delivered a verdict against Monsanto last week for $175 million dollars. The verdict favored a 52 year-old cancer patient with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, who blamed the company for not warning him about the carcinogens in the herbicide product Roundup.The active ingredient in Roundup is glyphosate, which has been linked to cancer, birth defects and neurological diseases. The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified the weed-killing chemical as “probably carcinogenic to humans.” The Environmental Protection Agency in the United States on the other hand has concluded that glyphosate is not a carcinogen, and is safe to use. A subsidiary company of Bayer AG, Monsanto has received a series of nine and ten figure judgments in the last few years that include $2 billion and $289 million dollars in 2019. According to AGDaily, there are over 30,000 outstanding glyphosate-related claims waiting against Monsanto.
- https://www.ehn.org/roundup-lawsuit-2666088361.html
- https://www.agdaily.com/news/soy-scholarship-will-award-7000-high-school-senior/
Michigan to Use 100% Renewable Energy by 2040
Michigan passed legislation last Wednesday that requires the state to generate all of its electricity from renewable energy sources and be carbon-free by 2040. Led by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, this bundle of bills includes more stringent efficiency requirements for electric utilities and broader access for residents to rooftop solar energy programs among other initiatives. An energy policy analyst from Resources for the Future says, “This puts Michigan at the top tier of states in pursuing the clean energy transformation.” The Inflation Reduction Act is expected to help ensure that Michigan residents and businesses won’t have to take on the additional cost that is associated with the energy transition.
Climate Change Impacting Entire Ecosystems
An analysis that was published last week in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution by a team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences suggests that climate change could be fundamentally reshaping ecosystems by altering the balance of native and non-native species. 443 studies were analyzed that examined the responses of native and non-native species across land, freshwater and marine habitats. It was determined that the non-native species were able to better withstand extreme weather than native species in part because of higher reproduction rates and a higher tolerance for disturbances. Giovanni Vemercati, an ecologist at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, provided the following advice: “Promoting recovery, avoiding disappearance, or helping native species that are known to be vulnerable to extreme events could give native species enough time to evolve and adapt to novel weather patterns.”
2023 Earthshot Prize Winners Unveiled in Singapore
In December of 2019, Prince William announced the Earthshot Prize, an annual award competition and ceremony that is to take place from 2021 to 2030. The name of the prize is inspired by former US President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 Moonshot challenge to land on the moon within ten years, which the United States did in 1969. The third Earthshot Prize ceremony just concluded in Singapore last week, and includes five accomplished winners who were chosen from 15 innovators named as the 2023 Earthshot Prize Finalists. The five categories in the competition include Protect and Restore Nature; Clean Our Air; Revive Our Oceans, Build a Waste-Free World and Fix our Climate. Each year, five winners who are considered to have the best chance of helping achieve success are awarded approximately 1.2 million dollars. The 2023 Earthshot Prize Awards are available for viewing on the Earthshot Prize YouTube channel.
- https://earthshotprize.org/the-2023-earthshot-prize-winners-unveiled-at-star-studded-awards-ceremony-in-singapore/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthshot_Prize
Notpla: Seaweed Packaging Company is Certified Plastic-Free
A British startup called Notpla that produces seaweed-based food containers has now been officially recognized by the Netherlands Environmental body as producing truly plastic-free products following a nine-month verification process. Notpla was one of the winners of the Earthshot Prize in 2022 and claims its plastic-free food containers can prevent 15 million single-use plastic packaging units from being produced in the Netherlands. Unlike conventional containers that contain petroleum-based coatings that release harmful toxins, Notpla uses a seaweed and plant-coated solution that can be recycled as compost. Food service operators and other businesses will be able to purchase Notpla’s food packaging in January 2024.
Banning Major Pollutant: Leaf Blowers
According to Grist, some 11 million leaf blowers are used every year across the US. In addition to the 200-mile-per-hour winds and the high decibel levels of noise, the leaf blowers issue large amounts of air pollution that mix oil and gasoline while spitting out unburned aerosol. The California Air Resources Board estimates that “operating a gas-powered leaf blower for one hour emits as much fog-forming pollutants as driving a Toyota Camry from Los Angeles to Denver.” In response, California is officially ending the sale of gas-powered blowers next summer, and further bans are to take place soon in Portland and Seattle. In fact there are more than 200 towns across the United States that have restrictions on leaf blowers. Most of the restrictions include limits on hourly and seasonal times that people can operate them. Beyond leaf blowers, bans have already gone into effect on gas-powered machines in Washington, D.C.; Miami Beach, and Evanston, Illinois.