Day: November 29, 2018

EPA Announces Availability of $1.5 Million in Environmental Justice Small Grants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of $1.5 million for Environmental Justice Small Grants (EJSG). These funds will be distributed to approximately 50 community-based organizations nationwide that will work to address environmental justice issues in local communities. Each recipient will receive up to $30,000 for one-year, community-driven projects that engage, educate, and empower communities to better understand local environmental and public health issues and to identify ways to address these issues at the local level.

As part of their projects, grant recipients will also collaborate with other stakeholders from across business, industry, local government, academia, and/or other grassroots organizations in an effort to realize project goals and build project sustainability.

Given projected increases in extreme weather events and the vulnerability of underserved populations, this opportunity will emphasize projects that address emergency preparedness and increase resiliency, as well as projects that include the needs of US military veterans and homeless populations.

The application period for the 2018 EJSG will remain open until February 15, 2019. All eligible organizations are encouraged to apply.

For more information about EPA’s Environmental Justice Small Grants program: https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/environmental-justice-small-grants-program

For a full description of the 2017 Environmental Justice Small Grant projects: https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/environmental-justice-small-grants-program-project-descriptions-2017

World’s first global vegetation database

Read the full story from the University of Adelaide.

Which plant species grow where – and why? An international research team, including from the University of Adelaide, has produced the world’s first global vegetation database which contains over 1.1 million complete lists of plant species for all terrestrial ecosystems.

Published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, the researchers say the database could help better predict the consequences of global climate change.

Closing the eco-design gap through corporate-academic partnerships

Read the full story in GreenBiz.

This year, I had the honor of leading a team of electronics industry volunteers in drafting an Eco-Design roadmap for the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative. Our team’s vision for 2038 is that 90 percent of global electronic products embed Eco-Design principles, which help to reverse global warming, eliminate e-waste and reduce costly inefficiencies throughout product life.

The 2019 iNEMI Eco-Design Team comprises volunteers from CALSTART, ECD Compliance, Flex, Green Electronics Council, Oracle, Presidio Graduate School and Thermo Fisher Scientific.

American Library Association names sustainability a trend in America’s libraries

Read the full story in the American Library Association’s State of American Libraries 2018 report.

“Sustainable thinking refers to the alignment of a library’s core values and resources,” writes Rebekkah Smith Aldrich, coordinator for library sustainability for the Mid-Hudson (N.Y.) Library System, “including staff time and energy, facilities, collections, and technology—with the local and global community’s right to endure, bounce back from disruption, and thrive by bringing new and energetic life to fruition through choices made in all areas of library operations and outreach.”

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions has formed an Environment, Sustainability, and Libraries Special Interest Group to address library sustainability.

Gender Differences in Public Understanding of Climate Change

Read the full story from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

While political views play a strong role in Americans’ opinions on climate change, there are many other individual, social, and cultural factors that influence public understanding of the issue. Here we explore how views on climate change differ between men and women. A large body of research shows a small—but consistent—gender gap in environmental views and climate change opinions. On average, women are slightly more likely than men to be concerned about the environment and have stronger pro-climate opinions and beliefs. Scholars have proposed several explanations for this gender gap, including differences in gender socialization and resulting value systems (e.g., altruism, compassion), perceptions of general risk and vulnerability, and feminist beliefs including commitment to egalitarian values of fairness and social justice. Some researchers also note that some of the strongest gender differences are found in concern about specific environmental problems, particularly local problems that pose health risks.

In our research, we find that, although a similar proportion of men and women think global warming is happening and is human-caused, women consistently have higher risk perceptions that global warming will harm them personally, and will harm people in the U.S., plants and animals, and future generations of people (Fig. 1). Also compared with men, a greater proportion of women worry about global warming, think that it is currently harming the U.S., and support certain climate change mitigation policies, specifically regulating CO 2 as a pollutant and setting strict CO 2 limits on coal power plants.

Dodge Data & Analytics Presents Latest World Green Building Trends

Read the full story at Metal Architecture.

The findings from the preeminent study on green buildings have been released and the results are both surprising and encouraging. Forty-seven percent of those participating in the World Green Building Trends 2018 SmartMarket Report expect to do the majority of their projects (more than 60 percent) green by 2021. Published today by Dodge Data & Analytics, the new industry report indicates that the international market for green construction projects has grown significantly in the last 10 years and demand for green building activity is poised to grow—to even double in some regions. In fact, the report found a 20 point projected jump from those who currently report a majority of green projects.

Aquatic species at risk map

Fisheries and Oceans Canada has compiled critical habitat and distribution data for aquatic species listed under the Species at Risk Act (SARA). This map is intended to provide an overview of the distribution of aquatic species at risk and the presence of their critical habitat within Canadian waters. The official source of information is the Species at Risk Public Registry.

 

Cities are sinking — and experts say we’re not doing enough to save them

Read the full story from the Australian Broadcasting Company.

The ever-expanding, online archive of natural disaster footage has produced some surreal and disturbing images.

Video of last month’s floods in Venice, however, seemed to reach a new level of dark absurdity.

Waiters in gumboots waded through knee-high water, serving sodden diners pizza, while elsewhere people in wetsuits swam laps through Piazza San Marco — the city and the surrounding sea, indistinguishable.

Of course the presence of water, floods and high tides in Venice is a historical reality, a fact woven into the fabric of the city itself.

That today Venice is only one of many sinking cities, the speed at which those cities are sinking and the threat to urban populations, is altogether new.

The map of the world, climate scientists tell us, will be radically redrawn by the end of the century.

New website maps California power plants, emissions, people

Read the full story from PSE Healthy Energy.

On the statewide view, users can zoom in to explore a region (left) or use of the many comparative views, such as ranking CalEnviroScreen scores for a particular type of plant. CREDIT: PSE Healthy Energy
On the statewide view, users can zoom in to explore a region (left) or use of the many comparative views, such as ranking CalEnviroScreen scores for a particular type of plant. CREDIT: PSE Healthy Energy

Which power plant in your region is the worst polluter and who lives nearby? A new interactive, map-based website launching today (November 15) allows users to explore and analyze data on power plants by viewing information such as location, operations and emissions — alone or in relation to other data, including local demographics and environmental justice indicators.

The free site, called the California Power Map, is designed to help users — especially public agencies, researchers, journalists, and citizen groups — access and analyze power-plant data based on their own questions. Physicians, Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy (PSE), an Oakland, California-based nonprofit energy science and policy research institute, built the site.

More Than $125 Million Poured Into Food Waste Startups In 2018

Read the full story in Forbes.

An influx of money is going to companies that prevent food from going to waste. A report released today by ReFED tallies $125 million of private investment in the space in the first 10 months of 2018 alone.