Use of the super-potent greenhouse gas hydrofluorocarbon is rising rapidly, but we know how to contain it.

The major food companies were a little quieter this quarter, but vertical farms flamed out while Europe made some impressive steps forward.

Sponsored: We may never fully realize AI’s potential to solve profound global challenges if we don’t first address its environmental impact today.

Are you in the market for a new home? If you plan on installing solar…

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Many people don’t realize that washing our cars in the driveway is not environmentally friendly….

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Following a tense debate, the European Parliament has voted in favor of a Nature Restoration Law that establishes legally binding targets to restore degraded natural areas in the European Union (EU). It is the first major piece of legislation to protect biodiversity in the EU in 30 years.

Members of Parliament (MEPs) said the restoration measures must cover at least one-fifth of the land and sea areas in the EU and be in place by 2030, a press release from the European Parliament said.

“The Nature Restoration Law is an essential piece of the European Green Deal and follows the scientific consensus and recommendations to restore Europe’s ecosystems. Farmers and fishers will benefit from it and it ensures a habitable earth for future generations,” said MEP César Luena, a Spanish politician who was one of the biggest champions of the measure, in the press release.

The bill passed 336 to 300, with 13 abstentions, and will now pass to a committee of European representatives, reported The New York Times.

Restoring ecosystems is essential to battling biodiversity loss and climate change, as well as reducing risks posed to food security, MEPs emphasized. They added that the new law does not interfere with the creation of renewable energy infrastructure, and does not require new protected areas to be created in the EU.

With more than 80 percent of European habitats suffering, the continent was in desperate need of a binding law to restore the continent’s wild spaces.

“European nature is in a dire state, but this vote shows that there is still hope to restore and grow what’s left,” said Špela Bandelj, project manager for Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe Biodiversity, in a press release from Greenpeace. “So far governments and the EU have failed to act. The nature restoration law is a clear benchmark to judge them on their actions on the ground.”

Parliament said the new law must support international commitments by the EU, especially the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity framework, which was adopted at the 15th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in 2022.

“It’s a huge social victory,” Luena said, as The New York Times reported. “It’s good for everybody. Because if you have healthy ecosystems, then the economic systems which depend on these ecosystems are going to be healthy themselves.”

Before the law can take hold, EU countries must quantify the restoration area needed to achieve restoration goals for each type of habitat, and the European Commission must provide data on the conditions needed for long-term food security.

The possibility of restoration law targets being postponed in the event of exceptional socioeconomic circumstances was held open by Parliament.

Within a year of the law coming into force, assessments of any gap between available EU funding and the financial needs of restoration would have to be assessed by the Commission, and funds to make up the difference would need to be found.

The Commission has said that, for each euro invested in the new legislation, benefits of at least eight euros would be reaped.

Parliament will now begin negotiations on the final draft of the Nature Restoration Law.

“Our position adopted today sends a clear message. Now we must continue the good work, defend our ground during the negotiations with member states and reach an agreement before the end of this Parliament’s mandate to pass the first regulation on nature restoration in the EU’s history,” Luena said in the press release.

The post EU Backs First Major Nature Restoration Law in 30 Years appeared first on EcoWatch.

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing strict standards on lead paint that would prompt the removal of lead in millions of buildings, including homes, schools, and daycare centers. The move was set in motion by a lawsuit from environmental groups alleging that the EPA’s lead standards were too lax to protect public health.

Even after decades of efforts to reduce lead exposure from gasoline, pipes, and paint, half of children in the U.S. have detectable traces of lead in their blood, according to a study in 2021 that tested more than 1 million kids under the age of 6. Those who live in low-income neighborhoods and in older homes are at the highest risk.

“We know that no level of exposure to lead is good for our children. Zero,” said Janet McCabe, the EPA’s deputy administrator, at an announcement of the proposal in Newark, New Jersey, on Wednesday. The metal has been found to damage children’s brains, slow their growth, and cause developmental and behavioral problems, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While the United States banned lead paint nearly half a century ago, the rules didn’t require removing the toxic substance from existing buildings. An estimated 31 million houses built before the 1978 ban still have lead paint, and nearly 4 million of those homes are occupied by families with children younger than 6. The EPA’s new rule would virtually prohibit lead dust, reducing exposure for between 250,000 and 500,000 children under the age of 6.

Any sign of lead in a home or childcare center would classify it as a lead hazard. That would in turn trigger disclosures — say, to the families of kids attending the daycare or to prospective home buyers — and potentially require that the lead source be removed. The only exception is for contamination that existing cleanup methods can’t get rid of.

The plan was decades in the making. In 1992, after scientists found lead exposure was widespread among children, Congress passed a law requiring the EPA to establish the first hazard standard for lead in dust. But the agency was slow to create the standard, waiting until 2001 to do so, and it failed to tighten the rules when scientific evidence showed that lead was a health hazard even at the smallest levels of exposure.

Court battles ended up forcing the agency to revisit its lead standards — twice. The most recent lawsuit, filed 2019 by the Sierra Club, Earthjustice, and other public health and environmental groups, alleged that the EPA’s revised standards were still insufficient. In 2021, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the EPA to set its standards based on health effects, as opposed to factors like feasibility and testing capabilities — a decision that prompted the EPA’s new proposed rule. Before an EPA regulation becomes final, it has to move through a public comment period.

Environmental groups applauded the EPA’s new, stricter proposal but admonished the agency for decades of delay. “Today’s proposal, which finally acknowledges that any exposure to lead at any level is a hazard, is a gigantic leap forward in this country’s long-delayed efforts to eliminate, or at least significantly reduce, lead exposures,” said Eve Gartner, the director of Earthjustice’s Crosscutting Toxics Strategies program, at the EPA’s announcement on Wednesday.

Removing lead from buildings won’t necessarily erase the threat entirely. For example, a recent investigation from the Wall Street Journal unearthed a hidden source of lead contamination in the environment: a countrywide network of lead-coated cables laid by telecom giants such as AT&T and Verizon that have gone unnoticed by regulators. It’s another sign that removing lead, with its once-ubiquitous use in the country’s construction, remains a daunting task.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The EPA’s plan to eliminate lead in buildings is a ‘gigantic leap forward’ for public health on Jul 12, 2023.

Native to England, Wales and Scotland, the Eurasian beaver was hunted to extinction in the 16th century, according to The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. But they have been slowly returning to England and conservationists say they are now being reintroduced to the Nene Wetlands nature reserve in Northamptonshire, England, for the first time in 400 years.

Beavers’ gnawing behavior has a positive impact on their environment. By cutting back tree stems, homes for birds and insects are created from the regrowth.

“This is an exciting and unique opportunity to see this iconic species return to the Nene Valley, bringing back both its natural habitat restoration skills as well as providing an opportunity for the visitors to see beavers in the wild at our most visited reserve,” said Matt Johnson, Wildlife Trust in Northamptonshire conservation manager, in a press release from the Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs & Northants.

Conservationists are counting on the beavers being released in Nene to help manage its wet woodland habitat. They will help with the restoration of reedbeds in an enclosed area by Delta Pit. Their wetland work will be beneficial to a variety of species, as well as offer visitors the chance to observe them through the Rushden Lakes visitor center.

“We know that nature is critical for our wellbeing and for a secure future, and urgent action is needed to tackle the decline in nature and biodiversity,” said Mike Thomas, regional asset director of the Crown Estate, in the press release.

A feasibility study was successfully completed, and a license was procured by Natural England for the release of the beavers, which will be reintroduced to the wetlands next winter.

Beavers weren’t officially recognized as an English native species until October of 2022, when they also became a European protected species. Various Wildlife Trusts around England have been implementing beaver release programs, as they have been found to have a significant positive impact on wetlands as a keystone species.

Known as eco-engineers, beavers will be able to help with removing the growth of willows around lake edges at Delta Pit to the extent that not as much site management will be required. Their foraging will also diversify marginal vegetation. The restructuring by the beavers will not only benefit birds, but other species like bats and invertebrates.

Beavers only dine on plants, and love the non-native invasive species called Himalayan balsam that can interfere with the growth of native wildflowers, another added benefit to having them in the wetlands ecosystem.

The release of the beavers into the Nene Wetlands will be the first time beavers have been released onto Crown Estate land.

“These will be the first beavers to be reintroduced on our land and we are looking forward to welcoming them into our community,” Thomas said in the press release.

The post Beavers to Be Reintroduced to English Wetlands After 400 Years appeared first on EcoWatch.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has designated $27.5 million toward replacing buses at Grand Canyon National Park. The Grand Canyon National Park Shuttle Bus Fleet Replacement will add 10 new electric buses along with 20 compressed natural gas (CNG) buses.

According to the National Park Service, about 6 million people visit the Grand Canyon each year. Visitors rely on the free shuttle bus system to get to the various sites around this popular national park.

The new buses aim to provide reliable bus options as well as charging infrastructure for the battery-electric buses.

“Grand Canyon National Park is one of our most beloved national parks,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “This grant, made possible by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will help ensure safe and reliable bus service for park visitors for decades to come.”

Although some of the replacement buses will be electric, most will still be fueled with compressed natural gas. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), compressed natural gas may reduce tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions by around 20%. But CNG is primarily made up of methane, a greenhouse gas that is about 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. 

The U.S. Energy Information Administration noted that natural gas exploration can have negative environmental impacts, as exploring and drilling for natural gas will disrupt the plants and soil in an area. Producing natural gas also produces contaminated water that requires special handling or it could pollute environments.

Still, the new fleet will replace less efficient and outdated buses, and the project is one of seven to receive grants for transportation improvements. The seven grants total $130.5 million as part of the FHWA’s Nationally Significant Federal Lands and Tribal Transportation Projects Program. 

“The necessary replacement of the outdated shuttle bus fleet is an opportunity to upgrade to cleaner, quieter electric buses,” Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent Ed Keable said. “This project will address transportation challenges related to maintaining an aging fleet, and the NPS goal to achieve sustainable transportation alternatives.”

Some other projects that received grants include the US93 Dublin Gulch Road to Gunlock Road project in Montana, which will see construction of a new bridge and wildlife collision reduction infrastructure, and Ecusta Rail Trail, a 18.8-mile shared-use path in North Carolina. The funding was made available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which passed in 2021.

The post Electric Buses Are Coming to Grand Canyon National Park appeared first on EcoWatch.

The Inflation Reduction Act indelibly changed the climate tech marketplace as we know it. What will its impact look like by the end of the century?