Day: July 16, 2018

Air quality, Regulation, Transportation

EPA gives glider manufacturers a free pass at the expense of the American public

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Read the full post from ACEEE.

Just hours before Administrator Scott Pruitt’s departure on Friday, the US Environmental Protection Agency reportedly widened a loophole for manufacturers of high-polluting glider trucks — new tractor trucks with old engines. Starting immediately, the EPA will not enforce a per-manufacturer annual production cap of 300 gliders that do not meet current emissions standards. Although the cap went into effect at the beginning of this year, the EPA plans to ignore and eventually repeal it. This loophole will help glider companies like Fitzgerald Glider Kits, which produced 3,000 glider trucks in 2017, but at a steep cost to the American public.

Ecotoxicology, Flame retardant chemicals, Publications

Study raises concern about flame-retardant metabolites in bald eagles

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Read the full story at Phys.org.

Scientists have raised concerns for decades about toxic chemicals in the environment that accumulate in the tissues of birds, fish and other animals. New research from Indiana University that examined bald eagles suggests that’s only part of the story.

Food and beverage manufacturing, Food service and restaurants, Food waste

Food waste still a priority in latest Farm Bill

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Read the full story in Waste Dive.

The Senate’s latest Farm Bill draft — passed as the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 on June 28 — still contains multiple relevant items on food waste, according to analysis by the Harvard Food Law & Policy Clinic.

This includes $25 million in annual funding for composting and food waste reduction pilots with municipal governments in at least 10 states — with a 25% matching requirement. A new amendment would also create an Interagency Biogas Task Force to study a broad range of barriers and opportunities in the sector, including landfills and anaerobic digesters.

Other notable items for the industry include a USDA study on the volume and cost of food waste, with the provision that agency programs “do not disrupt existing food waste recovery and disposal by commercial, marketing, or business relationships.” Multiple other items regarding spoilage prevention, food recovery and donation liability protections are also included.

China, Recycling, Regulation

Breaking down recent China developments

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Read the full story in Resource Recycling.

The Chinese government has announced key policies in recent weeks, including a plan to ban all recovered material imports by 2020. In the U.S., Waste Management offered details on the impact of National Sword thus far.

The following is a roundup of the latest details from the Chinese government and other key stakeholders on China’s fast-evolving scrap import restrictions.

Libraries, Urban agriculture

Getting Your Hands Dirty at The City Library

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Read the full post from the Salt Lake City Public Library System.

Nestled between the Main Library’s curved north wall and 400 South is an oasis of green leaves, flowers, and ripening vegetables. This is The Plot, the Salt Lake City Public Library’s community garden. Stand in the The Plot and you’ll hear the expected sounds of downtown Salt Lake City: cars zooming up and down street, TRAX trains dropping off commuters, and children laughing and playing with their families or summer-camp groups. Take a deep breath and you’ll notice the unmistakable smell of a thriving garden. Come at the right time and you can say hello to Emma Wilson, the Library’s Community Garden Coordinator.

Circular economy, Fashion & beauty products

Factory tour: Eileen Fisher helps make the eco-fashion dream of circularity come true

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Read the full story at Fashionista.

An inside look at the brand’s “Tiny Factory,” where a meticulous sorting and record-keeping process transforms old clothes into new ones on a large scale.

Green building

Disney Acquires $650M Rights To Develop 4 Hudson Square

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Read the full story at GlobeSt.com.

Robert A. Iger, chair and CEO of the Walt Disney Company, and the Rev. Dr. William Lupfer, rector of Trinity Church Wall Street, announced Disney has purchased the rights to develop Trinity’s property at 4 Hudson Square in New York City. Disney will house its New York operations at the location for 99 years. The transaction was valued at $650 million.

Iger says Disney plans to build state-of-the-art facilities in the downtown Manhattan location, where employees will have all they need to do their best work and to lead the industry. In addition to being LEED-certified, Iger says the new building will also incorporate the latest technology and ability to adapt to the next generation of technological advances.

Hospitality industry

Meliá Latest Hospitality Company to Ban Single-Use Plastics

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Read the full story at Travel Agent Central.

Meliá Hotels International has become the latest major travel and hospitality brand to pledge to eliminate single-use plastics. In Meliá’s case, the company says that single-use plastics will be eliminated across the company’s portfolio by the end of this year.

The move includes plastic bottles, cups, bags, straws and coasters immediately replaced with reusable items in more than 370 hotels across 40 countries, which Meliá says will save more than 15 tons of CO2 emissions generated by waste disposal per year. Over 22 million plastic bottles were disposed of at Meliá Hotels International properties globally during 2017.

Communicating science, Workplace issues in STEM

Women Making Science Videos on YouTube Face Hostile Comments

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Read the full story in the New York Times.

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics are popular topics on YouTube. Some channels that stream videos on these subjects have millions of subscribers. Most are hosted by men.

“There is a lot of discussion about YouTube being an unpleasant environment for female creators,” said Inoaka Amarasekara, an Australian researcher in science communication. “I wanted to see if that affected science communication on YouTube, and if that was something I could corroborate.”

In fact it was.

“She so ugly I almost threw up. Ew.”

“I was just staring at your bbbooo…..i mean eyes.”

“Go back to the kitchen and make me double stack sandwich.”

These are some of the 23,005 YouTube comments that form the basis of a new paper by Ms. Amarasekara and Will Grant, a lecturer at Australian National University, published last week in the journal Public Understanding of Science. They found a tough environment for women who create YouTube videos centered on science, drawing both more comments per view than men and also a higher proportion of critical comments as well as remarks about their appearances.

Air quality, Environmental health, Publications

Air pollution is triggering diabetes in 3.2 million people each year

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Read the full story at Science News.

Air pollution caused 3.2 million new cases of diabetes worldwide in 2016, according to a new estimate.

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