Day: March 18, 2022

Plastic supply pressures create market challenges and opportunities for recycled resins, analysts say

Read the full story at Waste Dive.

Oil price volatility from the war in Ukraine could drive up virgin resin prices, making recycled resins more competitive, according to analysts at the Plastics Recycling Conference.

EPA seeks comment on draft document “Modernizing the Process and Bringing Innovative Science to Evaluate New Chemicals Under TSCA”

In February 2022, EPA launched a new effort under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to modernize the process and bring innovative science to the review of new chemicals before they can enter the marketplace.

Through this effort, the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) is proposing to develop and implement a multi-year collaborative research program in partnership with the Agency’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) and other federal entities focused on approaches for performing risk assessments on new chemical substances under TSCA.

EPA is holding a virtual public meeting on April 20 and 21, 2022, from 1:00 PM to approximately 5:00 PM (EDT) to provide an overview of the TSCA New Chemicals Collaborative Research Program and give individual stakeholders an opportunity to provide input. Written comments on the draft document are due April 26, 2022.

This multi-year research program will refine existing approaches and develop and implement new approach methodologies (NAMs) to ensure the best available science is used in TSCA new chemical evaluations. Key areas proposed in the TSCA New Chemicals Collaborative Research Program include:

  • Updating OCSPP’s approach using data from structurally-similar chemicals to determine potential risks from new chemicals, also known as read-across. This will increase the efficiency of new chemical reviews promoting the use of the best available data to protect human health and the environment.
  • Digitizing and consolidating information on chemicals to include data and studies that currently only exist in hard copy or in disparate TSCA databases. The information will be combined with publicly available sources to expand the amount of information available, enhancing chemical reviews and enabling efficient sharing of chemical information across EPA. Safeguards for confidential business information will be maintained as appropriate in this process.
  • Updating and augmenting the models used for predicting a chemical’s physical-chemical properties and environmental fate/transport, hazard, exposure, and toxicokinetics to provide a suite of models to be used for new chemicals assessments. The goal of this effort is to update the models to reflect the best available science, increase transparency, and establish a process for updating these models as science evolves.
  • Exploring ways to integrate and apply NAMs in new chemicals assessments, reducing the use of animal testing. As this effort evolves, the goal is to develop a suite of accepted, fit-for-purpose NAMs that could be used by external stakeholders for data submissions under TSCA as well as informing and expanding new chemical categories.
  • Developing a decision support tool that integrates the various information streams specifically used for new chemical risk assessments. The decision support tool will more efficiently integrate all the data streams (e.g., chemistry, fate, exposures, hazards) into a final risk assessment and transparently document the decisions and assumptions made. Simply put, this will facilitate the new chemicals program tracking decisions over time and evaluating consistency within and across chemistries.

EIA projects that renewable generation will supply 44% of U.S. electricity by 2050

Read the full story from the Energy Information Administration.

In our Annual Energy Outlook 2022 (AEO2022) Reference case, which reflects current laws and regulations, we project that the share of U.S. power generation from renewables will increase from 21% in 2021 to 44% in 2050. This increase in renewable energy mainly consists of new wind and solar power. The contribution of hydropower remains largely unchanged through 2050, and other renewable sources of power generation, such as geothermal and biomass, collectively remain less than 3% of total generation.

Webinar: Storylines for 2022: Where Does Climate Journalism Hit the Wall?

Mar 24, 2022, 10:30 am CDT
Register here.

Climate journalism is at a turning point, as the day-to-day impacts of the climate crisis deepen and people everywhere search for the next, best thing they can do to make a difference.

The science says we have until 2030 to cut global greenhouse gas emissions by 45%. We know where the emissions are coming from. The solutions are practical, affordable, and ready for prime time. So the race is on.

But it isn’t that simple. Different groups across society—governments, industries, citizens—can influence different parts of the problem. The solutions aren’t always as easy as they seem. So getting the right information to people who need it most is one of the key ingredients of the climate response everyone is looking for.

That means climate journalism plays an essential role in getting the climate emergency under control. But it often hits a wall—when a news outlet can’t follow a story to its conclusion, or when focused knowledge in areas like climate finance, municipal climate action, or a decarbonized power grid doesn’t reach the audiences that can put it to use.

Join our expert panel of journalists and climate practitioners to learn how climate journalism can:

  • Tell the stories that help drive faster, deeper carbon cuts;
  • Spotlight the gaps that are slowing down the shift off carbon;
  • Assemble the audiences that can use timely, targeted information to make a difference.

German official says Ukraine war will boost low-emissions tech

Read the full story from Manufacturing Business Technology.

A senior German official predicted Tuesday that the war in Ukraine and its impact on fossil fuel prices worldwide will provide a “massive boost” for the means and measures needed to curb climate change.

A guide to writing accessible image captions

Read the full story at Mashable.

Making your social media profiles accessible to the majority of people stumbling across your posts is an intentional practice. From Instagram and Twitter photo descriptions to captioning audio on your TikTok videos, you have to consciously add these accessibility considerations. It’s something you should absolutely do to ensure your accounts are navigable by people with various disabilities. Don’t fret: You have most of the tools at your disposal.

Five ways AI is saving wildlife – from counting chimps to locating whales

Read the full story in The Guardian.

Artificial intelligence has been identified as one of the top three emerging technologies in conservation, helping protect species around the world.

Living near green areas reduces the risk of suffering a stroke by 16 percent, study finds

Read the full story from Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute.

The risk of suffering an ischaemic stroke, the most common type of cerebrovascular event, is 16 percent less in people who have green spaces less than 300 meters from their homes. The study took into account information on exposure to three atmospheric pollutants linked to vehicle traffic in more than three and a half million people selected from among the 7.5 million residents of Catalonia, over the age of eighteen who had not suffered a stroke prior to the start of the study.

NYC looks to environmentally friendly jobs in a cloudy economic climate

Read the full story at The City.

Creating more employment opportunities that also tackle climate change could be the way to a cleaner and more financially sound future for the city and many of its least privileged residents.

Offshore wind turbines could mess with ships’ radar signals

Read the full story in Wired.

A new study finds that turbines can muddle ships’ navigational systems, obscuring the location of smaller boats or creating misleading images on radar screens.