Read the full story from MSN.
The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) has announced the launch of an online portal to track various hazard hotspots as well as climate adaptation efforts across the Asia Pacific region, featuring up-to-date information from over 50 countries including the Philippines.
Read the full story in the Rockford Register Star.
Neighbors who were displaced for days after a Chemtool industrial plant exploded last week have filed a class action lawsuit in Winnebago County court.
Read the full story at Treehugger.
From the signing of the Kyoto Protocol to a surge of interest around An Inconvenient Truth, climate activists have had cause for fleeting bursts of optimism over the years. Yet so far, those bursts of good news have too often been tempered by backsliding, pushback, or at very least, inadequate levels of progress.
This isn’t simply a case of missed opportunities that can be “made up for” later. Each time we fail to act on climate, it dramatically steepens the scale of ambition at which later action will be necessary, limits what we can actually achieve, raises how much it will cost, and it narrows the window of time in which we can still make a meaningful difference…
The latest example comes from risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, whose 2021 Environmental Risk Outlook warns investors and policymakers alike that “disorderly transition” to a low carbon economy is now all but inevitable for G20 nations. Most strikingly, even better-than-most countries like the United Kingdom—which has cut emissions to Victorian-era levels, and recently upped its ambition—is still facing the prospect of a huge shortfall between its stated goals and the policies it is willing to enact…
Read the full story from the University of Missouri.
To help environmental agencies battle the toxic threats posed by landfills, researchers have developed a system that ranks the toxins present in a landfill by order of toxicity and quantity, allowing agencies to create more specific and efficient plans to combat leachate.
Read the full story from U.S. EPA.
The Tox21 10K Compound Library brings together a wealth of chemical testing methods, samples and data from EPA, partner agencies and other science institutions to help scientists evaluate chemicals for potential health effects. The 10K Compound Library is the largest of its kind, specifically intended to be used in high-throughput in vitro assay screens to advance the understanding of chemical toxicology.
The library is the result of a decade-long effort and acts as the foundation for Toxicology Testing in the 21st Century (Tox21). The Tox21 consortium is a federal collaboration between EPA, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) headquartered at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
A paper written by EPA researcher Dr. Ann Richard and colleagues, The Tox21 10K Compound Library: Collaborative Chemistry Advancing Toxicology, describes how the library has advanced scientific understanding of chemical toxicology. The paper was recognized as an American Chemical Society (ACS) Editor’s Choice in November 2020.
U.S. EPA recently completed final risk evaluations for trichlorethylene (TCE) and carbon tetrachloride under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
The next step in the process required by TSCA is risk management. EPA will propose and take public comments on actions to address the unreasonable risks identified in the risk evaluation. According to TSCA, the agency must finalize those actions within two years of completing the final risk evaluation. EPA’s proposed regulations could include requirements on how the chemical is used, or limiting or prohibiting the manufacture, processing, distribution in commerce, use, or disposal of this chemical substance, as applicable.
There will be additional opportunities for public participation. Just like the risk evaluation process, there will be opportunities for public comment as EPA works to propose and finalize risk management actions for TCE. You can stay informed by signing up for EPA’s email alerts or checking the public dockets at http://www.regulations.gov.
Read the full story from NPR.
A growing body of research suggests that the lack of transparency and growing flood risk due to climate change are leading millions of Americans to put their safety and their financial futures in jeopardy.
Sun, Y.; Bi, K.; Yin, S. (2020) Measuring and Integrating Risk Management into Green Innovation Practices for Green Manufacturing under the Global Value Chain. Sustainability 12, 545. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12020545 [Open access]
Abstract: How to solve the contradiction between economic growth and ecological environmental protection is a practical problem that should be solved urgently at present. The development of green technology in the manufacturing industry must rely on technology innovation. However, the process of implementing green innovation in the manufacturing industry is full of high uncertainty and risk. First, the green innovation risks were divided into global green R&D risk, global green manufacturing risk, global green marketing risk, and global green service risk from the perspective of the process. Then, this study established a management criteria system of green innovation risk identification in the manufacturing industry under the global value chain (GVC). Furthermore, three methods were applied to identify the green innovation risk of the manufacturing industry under the GVC. Finally, this paper put forward the countermeasures to the green innovation risk of the manufacturing industry under the GVC. The empirical research results of this paper are as follows: From the perspective of the green innovation process, four risks are classified in this study, namely, global green R&D risk, global green manufacturing risk, global green marketing risk, and global green service risk. Among the four stages of green innovation risk, green marketing risk is the highest, followed by green service risk, and green R&D risk and green manufacturing risk are the least. Global green service risk and green R&D risk can be reduced mainly through risk diversification and risk reduction. Global green manufacturing risk and green marketing risk can be reduced mainly through risk diversification and secondary through risk reduction.
As part of EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment, the agency has completed a final risk evaluation for HBCD under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). In the final HBCD risk evaluation, EPA reviewed 12 conditions of use, including as a flame retardant in building materials, solder paste, recycled plastics, and automobile replacement parts.
As part of EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment, the agency has completed a final risk evaluation for 1-bromopropane (1-BP) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). In the final 1-BP risk evaluation, EPA reviewed 25 conditions of use, such as a solvent in vapor degreasing, dry cleaning, spot cleaners, stain removers, adhesives, sealants, and automobile care products.
The 1-BP risk evaluation contains the agency’s final determinations on which conditions of use present unreasonable risks to human health or the environment based on a robust review of the scientific data. To prepare the final risk evaluation, EPA reviewed extensive scientific literature, conducted modeling and other risk assessment activities, and collected toxicity, exposure, and hazard information from many sources.
Releasing a final risk evaluation is the last step in the scientific evaluation process required by TSCA and will guide the agency’s efforts to reduce harmful human exposure to this chemical. EPA will now begin the process of developing ways to address the unreasonable risks identified and has up to one year to propose and take public comments on any risk management actions.
