Read the full story from the Associated Press.
New York will require manufacturers to disclose the use of potentially dangerous chemicals in children’s products under a new law signed Friday.
The law, which goes into effect March 1, also creates a children’s product safety council that will advise state environmental regulators about which chemicals to restrict and how.
Read the full story at AndNowUKnow.
Major North American fresh berry producers recently partnered up in order to make the berry category more sustainable, announcing their commitment to use 100 percent recycle-ready packaging by 2025.
Read the full post at JD Supra.
For decades, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of several thousand synthetic compounds, have been viewed as “wonder chemicals” and their unique properties made them valuable in a variety of applications – nonstick cookware, waterproof coatings and stain-resistant fabrics, for example. In industrial settings, PFAS have been incorporated into additives used in the manufacturing of semiconductors, electronics, chemicals and textiles. PFAS are also commonly found in firefighting foams such as those used at manufacturing facilities and petroleum refineries.
However, their resistance to degradation also allows PFAS to bioaccumulate in the environment and the human body. As the growing body of scientific research raises potential health concerns associated with PFAS, states across the country are taking action. Regulatory thresholds for various media (drinking water, soil and groundwater) are now consistently being established in the parts per trillion range (picture a drop in an Olympic-sized swimming pool).
The best strategy to determine whether PFAS are a concern for you and your business is to engage with legal and technical experts and develop a focused RMP that tracks the rapidly evolving PFAS regulatory landscape, evaluates risks and liabilities associated with past and current operations at or related to your facility(ies), and identifies potential impacts to your future business operations.
Read the full story at Inside Climate News.
Two scientists argue that projections of how bad global warming can get do not take account of current emission trends.
Read the full story in the Washington Post.
Bumblebee populations in North America and Europe have plummeted as a result of extreme temperatures, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science.
Read the full story from the Texas Observer.
The Texas Observer, in collaboration with the Food & Environment Reporting Network and the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, spent four months investigating how fecal dust affects Texans and how TCEQ does little to stop it. Though the agency typically sends investigators to the site of a complaint, it appears the feed yards are mostly allowed to keep dusting their neighbors. The agency performs only perfunctory investigations of the complaints: From 2014 to November 2019, TCEQ took no enforcement action against large beef feedlots in the Panhandle. The agency levied no fines and issued no warnings, its own records show.
Read the full story in the New Yorker.
In a mansion built by the heir of an oil tycoon on New York’s Upper East Side, a group of financiers, philanthropists, and corporate executives recently gathered to discuss the climate crisis. The occasion was a new report, co-authored by an unlikely combination of McKinsey consultants and scientists from the Woods Hole Research Center (W.H.R.C.), on how physical climate risks will affect socioeconomic systems in the next few decades. During a presentation on the report’s findings, much of it in the preening language of fixed assets, liability risk, and flow charts, Spencer Glendon, an economist and senior fellow at W.H.R.C., was especially blunt with the crowd. He said that he tells decision-makers things such as “ ‘You know how many people in India are going to die from this, if you do nothing? Ignoring that now is on you.’ ” If investors and business leaders don’t account for these risks, “that will be unforgivable,” he said. “Because everyone knew they were coming.”
Read the full story at Plastics Recycling Update.
Under a newly inked deal, packaging company Berry Global will recycle PE film supplied by Georgia-Pacific into new film products.
Read the full story at Ensia.
Energy-conscious retrofits can dramatically reduce the carbon footprint of housing without the need to start from scratch
Read the full story at e360.
The U.S. approach to buying out properties vulnerable to flooding is rife with uncertainty and delays. Now, as climate change drives more extreme coastal storms and precipitation events, the system must undergo a drastic overhaul or risk stranding millions in flood-prone homes.
Environmental News Bits 