Read the full story in The Guardian.
UK fashion designer backs Ellen MacArthur foundation campaign to stop the global fashion industry consuming a quarter of the world’s annual carbon budget by 2050.
Month: November 2017
ACEEE 2018 Energy Efficiency Finance Forum Call for Presentations
Join other energy efficiency finance experts in submitting ideas that cover topics on financing products such as green banks, on-bill financing, energy service agreements, and property assessed clean energy. We want to hear about your ongoing or upcoming initiatives, projects that have succeeded (or failed), new financing instruments, and other endeavors in the field of energy efficiency finance.
Submissions are due December 8.
Report: A garbage truck-worth of textiles are incinerated, landfilled every second
Read the full story at Waste Dive.
The equivalent of one garbage truck-full of textiles is landfilled or incinerated every second, according to a new report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
UPDATE: Lawsuits begin in Michigan sludge dumping case
Read the full story in Waste Dive.
The first round of lawsuits against Wolverine World Wide in Michigan have been filed, as reported by MLive. Attorneys who are representing four homeowners with contaminated drinking water say as many as 50 more cases may be filed soon.
The litigants are seeking unspecified monetary damages and cleanup of the main tannery-sludge dumpsite. The suits allege that Wolverine violated the law by not taking reasonable precautions against foreseeable outcomes like groundwater contamination, and by polluting groundwater when it left waste drums and other tannery debris on bare ground during the 1960s. The filings also allege that Wolverine knew the site was hazardous as far back as the 1970s, but took no action.
At a recent town hall meeting, an official with Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) said Wolverine has not provided any waste disposal records. DEQ staff said the Environmental Protection Agency has been acting as an advisor to the response team in Michigan.
Video: Modified sponge mops up oil but not water
Watch the video at Chemical & Engineering News.
In an effort to provide a cheap, reusable method to clean up water after oil and chemical spills, Tanmay Das and Debasish Haldar of the Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Kolkata, coated a polystyrene sponge with a compound that allows it to absorb a wide range of oil and organic solvents but not water (ACS Omega 2017, DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.7b01379).
Urbana Brewpub Prepares To Go Solar
Read the full story from Illinois Public Media.
Solar panels power some homes in central Illinois, and supplement the electricity for other buildings and facilities. Now, a small-production brewery and taproom in Urbana plans to make solar panels its primary source of electricity.
One of the country’s biggest oil fields just turned to an unexpected power source: Solar
Read the full story in the Washington Post.
The Belridge oil field near Bakersfield, Calif., is one of the largest in the country. It has been producing oil for more than a century and last year produced about 76,000 barrels a day, according to Aera Energy, its operator.
But the oil field is about to become even more remarkable. Its future production operations will be partly powered by a massive solar energy project that will make the oil extraction process more environmentally friendly, according to Aera and GlassPoint Solar, the firm that will create the solar project.
A Look at Sonoma County, Calif.’s Plan to Fight Food Waste
Read the full story at Waste 360.
The Sonoma County Food Recovery Coalition is working to divert what is salvageable and edible to feed the hungry.
A First Among States, California Plugs the ‘Carbon Loophole’
Read the full story in Governing.
The new Buy Clean California Act is the world’s first legislative effort to address supply chain carbon emissions.
Bombs in Your Backyard
Access the map at ProPublica.
The military spends more than a billion dollars a year to clean up sites its operations have contaminated with toxic waste and explosives. These sites exist in every state in the country. Some are located near schools, residential neighborhoods, rivers and lakes. A full map of these sites has never been made public – until now. Enter your address to see the hazardous sites near you, or select a state.
For more information
- Reporting Recipe: Bombs in Your Backyard
A guide for journalists on how to use these data to generate local stories - Open Burns, Ill Winds
The Pentagon’s handling of munitions and their waste has poisoned millions of acres, and left Americans to guess at the threat to their health. - How Military Outsourcing Turned Toxic
Fraud. Bribery. Incompetence. The military’s use of contractors adds to a legacy of environmental damage. - Kaboom Town
The U.S. military burns millions of pounds of munitions in a tiny, African-American corner of Louisiana. The town’s residents say they’re forgotten in the plume.
Europe gives controversial weed killer a 5-year lease on life
Read the full story in Science.
The world’s most popular herbicide can be used by European farmers for another 5 years. After several indecisive votes, a technical committee of the European Commission today approved a 5-year license renewal for glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Round-Up weed killer and similar products. The license was scheduled to expire on 15 December.
Glyphosate is less toxic to mammals than other herbicides. But it became highly controversial in 2015 after it was deemed probably carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization. The European Food Safety Authority and other regulators have concluded it is safe to use.
Grist Fellowship Program
Want to grow as a journalist while absorbing a universe of green knowledge? Apply for the Grist Fellowship Program.
The Grist Fellowship Program is an opportunity to hone your skills at a national news outlet and deepen your understanding of environmental issues. We’re looking for early-career journalists with a variety of skills, from traditional reporting to multimedia whizbangery. We will offer exposure to the leading sustainability thinkers and theories of our time, real-world experience at a fast-paced news site, and the occasional French bulldog in a Triceratops costume. Grist fellows have gone on to land jobs at Mother Jones, The New York Times, Pacific Standard, Oceana, Greentech Media, and The Stranger, among other outlets.
Grist is an independent nonprofit media organization that shapes the country’s environmental conversations, making green second nature for our monthly audience of 2.5 million and growing. At Grist, green isn’t about hugging trees or hiking — it’s about using humor and straight talk to connect big issues like climate change to real people and how they live, work, and play.
For the spring term, which begins in March 2018, we are offering three fellowships:
The inevitability of chemical substitutions
Download the document (free registration required).
It’s only logical that any time hazardous chemicals can be replaced by those potentially less dangerous that they should be.
However, because of increasingly stringent regulations, chemical substitutions are not only practical, but inevitable. Even so, many facilities struggle to implement these concepts, despite how essential they are.
In this white paper, you will learn more about ways that the industry can make changes faster, safer and more effectively, including:
- R&D labs selecting chemical products with greater care
- Manufacturing plants proactively identifying and eliminating risks
- R&D teams and plant managers collaborating on substitutions in a variety of ways
Kroger’s new private label floral line is about to bloom
Read the full story at Food Dive.
Kroger is introducing a premium and sustainable store brand floral line called BLOOM HAUS, which will debut in time for the holidays, according to a company statement. The new line carries the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal, which means plants have been grown and harvested using sustainable and socially responsible practices.
Tapping sewage as a source of useful materials
Read the full story in Chemical & Engineering News.
Sewage treatment plants are chemical factories in waiting. By combining engineering expertise with chemistry and biology, plant operators can convert the solid sludge they generate into an array of useful chemical products. Some wastewater treatment plants already make phosphate and cellulose. But this is no cake walk. There are major hurdles still to jump, and project failure is very much a reality.
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