Read the full story at Hamburg News.
The states of Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Bremen and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have launched a new website on to raise the transparency of north Germany’s hydrogen strategy and to make it tangible and understandable, according to the Ministry of Economics. The cross-border strategy aims to seize the potential for synergy and use the geographical advantages offered by north German states to establish a vibrant green hydrogen sector.
December 8-11, 2021, Oklahoma City, OK
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The Brownfields Conference features a dynamic educational program of speakers, discussions, mobile workshops, films and other learning formats that are calibrated to provide you with case study examples, program updates, and useful strategies for meeting your brownfield challenges head on. The exceptional training offered by the Brownfields Conference has something for both beginners and seasoned professionals.
Oklahoma City was chosen for the site of the 2021 Brownfields Conference due to the exciting brownfields redevelopment happening in the city. The site of the conference, the brand new Oklahoma City Convention Center, was itself built on a redeveloped brownfield site.
The conference is also a premier stop for the private sector with a vibrant exhibit hall and other transactional activities that are catered towards companies doing the business of brownfields cleanup and redevelopment. The exhibit hall will feature federal agencies, engineering firms, developers, environmental cleanup companies, legal and financial expertise, nonprofits, and other types of organizations.
Brownfields 2021 will also feature special sessions on local economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read the full story at The Verge.
President Joe Biden is setting the US on a path to run entirely on clean electricity by 2035. That’s not an easy target, considering renewables only make up about 20 percent of the country’s power mix today. Luckily, Biden, and other state and city leaders with similar aims, have roadmaps from communities like Burlington, Vermont that are already ahead. The city offers a glimpse into what a clean energy future might look like for the rest of the nation, what it might take to get there, and which potential pitfalls it would be best to avoid.
Analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and the Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) finds that, not only it is possible to support coal workers in the shift to a low-carbon economy, but these comprehensive policies are affordable.
UCS and UWUA estimated the number of coal miners and coal-fired power plant workers at risk of losing jobs before reaching age 65 as the coal industry declines, and identified the number of US counties at risk due to their direct link to coal.
Comprehensive support for these workers would include five years of wage replacement, health coverage, continued employer contributions to retirement funds or pension plans, and tuition and job placement assistance.
In total, the analysis finds these supports would cost roughly between $33 billion over 25 years and $83 billion over 15 years—a fraction of the trillions of dollars of needed investments in the energy system in coming decades as we shift to a low-carbon economy.
As the energy mix changes—rather than offer false hope for reinvigorated coal markets—we must plan thoughtfully and offer support to the workers and communities that have sacrificed so much to build this country.
Read the full story at Fast Company.
A landfill in Ghana is the final resting place for many of our fast fashion purchases. When author Maxine Bedat visited, it was literally on fire.
Read the full story at Smart Cities Dive.
The combined health effects of ozone pollution and extreme heat disproportionately hurt poorer areas, according to a new study analyzing hospitalizations by ZIP code in California.
Wealthier ZIP codes and populations with better access to healthcare, lower stress levels and reduced car traffic faced were less vulnerable to negative impacts from heat and ozone, per research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal.
Researchers opted to look at statewide effects by ZIP code because studies typically cover a large region or individual cities, explained Kristen Hansen, co-author and biostatistics PhD student at the University of California, San Diego. The research team identified hotspots in the Central Valley and along the U.S.-Mexico border, outside of the urban ozone spots that typically get more attention.
Read the full story at Bloomberg Green.
With calls to address racism echoing around the profession, scientists are remaking institutions that have excluded people of color.
Read the full story in the New York Times.
As midcentury highways reach the end of their life spans, cities across the country are having to choose whether to rebuild or reconsider them. And a growing number, like Rochester, are choosing to take them down.
Read the full story at Illinois Newsroom.
After lying dormant for 17 years, billions of Cicadas – big insects with big wings are awakening in far eastern Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and other states.
Illinois Newsroom’s Reginald Hardwick talked with Katie Dana, the scientific specialist in entomology at the Illinois Natural History Survey. She says this year’s insect invasion is just a warmup for 2024.
Read the full story at Fast Company.
The growing sector of businesses working on environmental change can be hard to navigate. These tips will help you focus.
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