Fall and spring are election seasons in the United States when citizens select their representatives…

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A new baby orca whale was spotted recently in Washington State’s Puget Sound with the southern resident orca whales’ J pod, reported The Seattle Times. According to researchers, the calf is likely only a few days old.

Brad Hanson, a wildlife biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told The Seattle Times that the calf — known as J60 — was seen near President Point.

“It’s really, really good news,” Hanson said. “It also comes with the trepidation of how they’re going to fare throughout the first few years of their life.”

The calf was spotted near an adult female named Suttles — also known as J40 — who the Center for Whale Research said in a post on social media seemed most likely to be the mother.

“Maya Sears shared a viewfinder photo with Dave Ellifrit of the underside of J60. Dave was able to confirm that J60 is a boy! We can’t wait to see this new J Pod baby firsthand,” the Center for Whale Research said on their website.

According to Donna Sandstrom, founder and director of The Whale Trail, Suttles is a 19-year-old female, as King 5 News reported. If she is the mother, J60 would be her first calf.

“Mark said the calf looked really healthy. He said it looked like it was trying to tail-slap. It was practicing tail slapping, which is just, so wonderful,” Sandstrom said, according to King 5 News.

The endangered J pod’s first new calf since September of 2020 was born last year, a female known as J59.

According to Orca Conservancy data, the birth of J60 brings the southern resident orca population — which consists of the J, K and L pods — up to 77. It also increases the J pod to 26 members and means there are now 10 southern resident calves less than five years of age.

Southern resident orcas are affected by pollution, shrinking populations of the Chinook salmon they feed upon and boat noise. The underwater noise makes it more difficult for the whales to hunt and communicate, reported The Seattle Times.

New legislation that goes into effect next year will require recreational boats to keep three times the distance they are currently asked to maintain from the whales, King 5 News reported.

“I am a little concerned with a new calf and the population. People are very tempted to go get photos of that adorable baby. That’s the wrong thing to do. Give them 1,000 yards away, and give that baby and its mom a chance to survive,” Sandstrom said, as reported by King 5 News.

The southern resident orca population peaked in 1995 at 98 members before declining by nearly 20 percent by 2001, The Seattle Times reported.

Hanson said they weren’t having many calves, and some were not living long enough to reproduce.

“In order for the population to grow, you really need them to have five or six successful calves. And that’s just not been happening in the population,” Hanson said, as reported by The Seattle Times.

According to researchers, lack of food causes two-thirds of southern resident orca pregnancies to be unsuccessful.

More recent studies have determined that southern resident females do not have as much success hunting as populations farther north. They also found that not only have southern resident orca numbers been falling, but that the population has become more and more inbred and could be headed toward extinction.

“One of the problems this population has had, is some pods — especially K Pod — has had a hard time even getting pregnant, or having pregnancies come to fruition. So anytime there’s a successful birth of a calf, everyone rejoices,” Sandstrom said, as King 5 News reported.

The post Newborn Southern Resident Orca Whale Spotted in Puget Sound appeared first on EcoWatch.

A 7.6-magnitude earthquake that struck Japan’s Noto Peninsula on New Year’s Day has killed at least 55 people, reported Reuters.

Freezing temperatures were making the efforts of approximately 3,000 rescuers to reach people trapped beneath demolished buildings in isolated coastal areas more difficult.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said access to the secluded northern portion of the peninsula had been cut off by a destroyed road, CNN reported.

“To secure the route there, we are to mobilize all the means of transport, not only on the ground but also by aerial and marine transport. We have been making an effort to transfer goods, supplies and personnel there since the last night,” Kishida said, as reported by CNN.

Helicopters carrying officials surveyed the peninsula and reported landslides, fires and damaged roads, buildings and infrastructure, according to Kishida.

Masuhiro Izumiya, the mayor of Suzu — a town of about 5,000 households near the epicenter of the earthquake — said about 5,000 households may have been demolished, Reuters reported.

“The situation is catastrophic,” Izumiya said, as reported by Reuters.

According to the country’s meteorological agency, approximately 200 tremors have been felt since the quake first hit.

“The government has deployed emergency rescue teams from the Self-Defence Forces, police and fire departments to the area and is doing its utmost to save lives and rescue victims and survivors, but we have received reports that there are still many people waiting to be rescued under collapsed buildings,” Kishida said, as Reuters reported.

Japan sits on the western part of the “Ring of Fire” — a string of sites of seismic activity and volcanoes partially surrounding the Pacific Basin. The tectonic belt produces roughly 20 percent of the planet’s earthquakes that are a magnitude six or stronger, with as many as 2,000 earthquakes each year that can be felt.

The quake is the deadliest in the country since 2016, authorities said.

Many flights and rail schedules have been suspended in the area. The airport in Noto was closed because of terminal building damage and cracks in its access road and runway.

Water, food and blankets were being handed out by the Japanese military to those who were forced to evacuate, reported the BBC.

About 100,000 were ordered to leave their homes Monday night, but nearly half had returned the following day after tsunami warnings were lifted, Reuters reported.

Approximately 33,000 households in Ishikawa prefecture still did not have power after a night of below-freezing temperatures, and more than 100,000 households had no water.

Aftershocks were being felt on Monday and Tuesday, and Yoshimasa Hayashi, the country’s chief cabinet secretary, warned residents to look out for further quakes “of an intensity of up to 7” during the next week, as reported by the BBC.

On Tuesday, authorities in several cities were rescuing people from buildings that had collapsed, as well as battling fires that had sprung up as a result of the quake, Reuters reported.

“I’ve never experienced a quake that powerful,” said 71-year-old Shoichi Kobayashi, a resident of Wajima, another city on the Noto Peninsula that was hit particularly badly, as reported by Reuters.

The post Japan Earthquake Kills at Least 55, Displaces Thousands as Rescue Efforts Continue appeared first on EcoWatch.

Five of the top Big Oil companies in the world were expected to pay shareholders over $100 billion for 2023.

The estimated 2023 payouts from BP, Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies were on track to surpass the dividend payments and share buybacks from 2022, which reached $104 billion, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

“At the current pace of distributions via share buybacks and dividends, these five super-majors could set a record for distributions to shareholders in 2023, topping the $104 billion spent during the 2022 calendar year,” Trey Cowan, an analyst at IEEFA, told The Guardian.

According to International Energy Agency (IEA), the entire oil and gas industry made $4 trillion in 2022, a record high. But the industry experienced a decline in profits for 2023, according to IEEFA. 

In 2022, ExxonMobil saw record-breaking profits of $56 billion. As of Q3 in 2023, the company’s profits had declined compared to its 2022 profits, The Associated Press reported. 

BP also made headlines in early 2023 following a year of record profits, as the company announced plans to expand oil and gas production through 2030 rather than work toward climate targets to reduce production. The company has increased dividend payouts by about 20% in 2023, after initially expecting to offer a 10% increase last year, despite a decline in profits compared to the previous year.

Shell, a company that also experienced a decline in profits, announced in November that it would offer payouts of at least $23 billion, a total more than six times the amount of money the company reserved for renewable energy in 2023, The Guardian reported.

Aside from criticism over spending far more in shareholder payouts than investing in clean energy, campaign groups have argued that these Big Oil companies are making massive profits from the Russia-Ukraine war and the high energy costs that have negatively impacted customers.

“The global energy crisis has been a giant cash grab for fossil fuel firms. And instead of investing their record profits in clean energy, these companies are doubling down on oil, gas and shareholder payouts,” said Alice Harrison, a campaigner at Global Witness, as reported by The Guardian.

Despite increasing payouts for shareholders in 2023, experts predict the industry will no longer hold the top spot for highest payouts in 2024.

Cowan told The Guardian that the oil industry “is beginning to empty its war chest used to pay shareholders faster than they can replenish it. Future distributions to shareholders of these companies appear likely to fall and not continue to ascend.”

In November 2023, Reuters reported that major U.S. investors in Big Oil Companies, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Vanguard, voted against Follow This climate resolutions, which are focused on reducing emissions by 2030 to limit warming to 2 degrees Celsius. Some of the top investors based in Europe voted in favor of the resolutions, the report found.

The post 5 Big Oil Companies Likely Gave Shareholders Record Payouts for 2023: IEEFA Estimate appeared first on EcoWatch.

What is the most used material in the world? Concrete, the basis for building most…

The post Best of Earth911 Podcast: Eco Materials Technology’s Grant Quasha on Cutting Cement’s Carbon Footprint appeared first on Earth911.

DVDs and DVD cases are recyclable, but if you have a working DVD, it is…

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A change to the federal EV incentive that took effect Monday could widen access for low and middle-income buyers who want to go electric but have been excluded by high prices. 

The clean vehicle tax credit, which offers up to $7,500 toward a new electric, hydrogen, or plug-in hybrid vehicle, and up to $4,000 for a used one, is now available as an instant rebate at approved dealers. Until now, buyers could not take advantage of the credit until they filed their taxes. 

EV-equity advocates said the change will put buying an electric vehicle within reach of more buyers. “It’s a huge help,” Irvin Rivero, e-mobility associate at the Bay Area nonprofit Acterra, told Grist. Rivero consults prospective buyers on how to apply for financial incentives, and said some clients either can’t afford the upfront cost or do not earn enough to owe taxes.

“A lot of people were getting the tax credit, but the people who didn’t have tax liability weren’t benefiting from this program,” Rivero said.

Consumers bought more than one million electric vehicles in the United States in 2023. The average new EV transaction price was $53,469 in July, about $5,000 more than the overall average car price. While some automakers dropped prices toward the end of 2023, rising interest rates are undermining those cuts.

Part of the Inflation Reduction Act, the clean vehicle tax credit is available to households making up to $300,000, depending on their filing status, and applies to cars costing no more than $55,000 and vans, pickup trucks, and SUVs costing up to $80,000. Used cars must be at least two years old and not cost more than $25,000.

Rivero said many of those he helps have been waiting for the change to go into effect before buying a car. “It’s going to get busy at the dealerships, I imagine.”

To get the rebate, consumers must go to a dealership that is registered with the IRS for the program. Dealers will either reduce the purchase price or provide cash to the buyer, and will be reimbursed by the IRS. 

Danny Connelly, the general sales manager at Tracy Volkswagen about an hour east of Oakland, California, said his dealership has already registered for the program. “We expect to sell a bit more cars from it,” he told Grist, adding that some customers have been waiting for the change to take effect before making a purchase. “It will be an easier customer experience and easier for us,” he said.

What may become less easy for customers, however, is finding a model that qualifies for the incentive. As part of the Biden administration’s efforts to promote a domestic supply chain for EVs, eligible vehicles must meet certain requirements for how much of their battery components and critical minerals are sourced or manufactured in North America. 

It’s still unclear how many cars will qualify, but Taylor Shively of the analytics firm CRU estimates that of the 17 available all-electric models, as few as 10 will get the full credit, and not all variants of a model may be eligible. Tesla, for example, has stated that certain versions of its most affordable offering, the Model 3, no longer qualify. 

Rivero has been telling clients to regularly check the Energy Department’s online tool that shows eligible vehicles.

It’s also not clear how customers will know which dealers are part of the program. The Internal Revenue Service did not respond to an emailed question about how customers will be able to find out which dealers are registered. 

While the list of qualifying cars is shorter in 2024, Rivero said the rebate creates opportunities for buyers previously priced out of buying an electric vehicle, especially if they “stack” it with local incentives available from their state, local government, or utility. 

Some of Rivero’s customers live in San Mateo County, where a resident buying a used car could also apply for a $4,000 rebate from their utility company, and get around $5,500 from a state program if they turn in an older car.  

“I try to help people stack as many as possible,” Rivero said. “They can pay less than $5,000 for an EV.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Buying an EV just got more affordable on Jan 2, 2024.

This story was supported by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.

As mobile home owners fight rising housing costs, some of them have hit upon a solution that also helps in the fight against climate change — by banding together and buying the land underneath their homes.

This model of collective ownership, also called resident-owned cooperatives or ROCs, is on the rise. In 2000, there were little more than 200. Today, there are more than 15,000, according to a 2022 study from researchers at the University of California Berkeley, Cornell and MIT. 

When residents own the land, they can move more quickly to upgrade infrastructure. That’s where climate change comes in. Renewables — especially solar —  work uniquely well with these types of places, according to Kevin Jones, director at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at the Vermont Law and Graduate School. 

“There’s nothing more perfect than these resident-owned communities because they already have a cooperative structure and, generally, commonly own the piece of land,” said Jones.  “[They] are just kind of natural communities to be able to bring the benefits of solar to more low to moderate-income people.”

Mobile home parks — often a misnomer because many homes are anchored to the ground — house more than 22 million Americans and provide a vital form of housing amidst a nationwide housing crisis. 

Often, private landlords will delay vital upgrades but continue to collect lot rents, which pay not for the actual property which the resident could rent or own but for the land underneath it. This can result in a system where many owners invest thousands of dollars into paying off their home, but are still beholden to the park owner for lot rents and other fees. 

The problem of displacement has been exacerbated in the past decades by private equity’s foray into mobile home park ownership, which often leads to higher increases for  rent, utilities, and other fees while conditions either stay mostly the same or worsen. 

Nonprofit organizations like ROCUSA have been essential to providing communities with resources such as low or interest-free loans, grants, and the essential planning knowledge needed to create a co-op. 

The organization does more than help individual co-ops, it also helps connect people in a vast network of co-ops so they can share resources and knowledge. This process can help immensely when considering for example, the prolonged process of acquiring a permit for a solar array or which contractors to use to install heat pumps in residences. 

Ronald Palmer knows all about the process of installing solar in a co-op. As board president for Lakeville Village in Geneseo, New York, he helped his community navigate the lengthy process. It was one of the first solar projects in the upstate town of Geneseo, with a population around 7,000 people.

That community, which comprises 50 homes for people 55 and older, has had a solar array for just over two years now. The benefits from it don’t just help Lakeville Village residents, but also local businesses and other sites.

A large majority of these co-ops are concentrated in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest. One of the reasons for the high number of them in states like New Hampshire is access to state-specific resources, according to Jones. 

“The Northeast, you know, clearly is an area where there’s a lot of interest in solar,” said Jones. “We don’t necessarily have the best solar resource in the country, but we have generally good public policies toward solar.”

This allows communities in those areas, including people who live in resident-owned mobile home co-ops to access the resources needed to set up solar. 

In New Hampshire, ROC-NH helps connect co-ops with state resources and helps prioritize the needs of co-op members. These needs are usually related to financial stability, according to Sarah Marchant, Vice President of ROC-NH. 

“Our goal when talking about community solar, with residential communities, is not just to reduce their carbon footprint,” said Marchant. “But the way this works is it has to reduce their costs and has to reduce their bills as well.” 

This is vital for communities where members might be working two or three different jobs just to stay afloat, according to Marchant. 

While the process of forming a co-op and investing in climate-friendly projects is time-consuming, there are many benefits.

In South Texas, a resident-owned cooperative called Pasadena Trails, located just outside of Houston, found a solution to chronic flooding. The predominantly Latino community installed drainage systems, which helped significantly when Hurricane Harvey hit and drenched the Houston-area in 60 inches of rain. In the wake of Harvey, Pasadena Trails fared better in comparison to neighboring areas. 

Back in New York state, the residents of Lakeville Village are pleased with their solar project, which reflects the values of the older residents, most of whom are grandparents. For them, this solar project was their way of taking care of their own and ensuring a small step in the right direction for future generations.

”We want to reduce our carbon footprint, and one of our concerns was for our grandchildren and their children,” said Jones. “And we saw this as a way of contributing to that and being responsible grandparents.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline How mobile home co-ops provide housing security — and climate resilience on Jan 2, 2024.

This coverage is made possible through a partnership with WABE and Grist, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.

The neighborhood near Savannah, Georgia, where rooftop solar installers Nicole Lee and Seth Gunning met up one fall afternoon was “ideal” for solar panels, they agreed. The houses were relatively new, and the one they were eyeing had a clear expanse of roof in perfect condition.

“This is an amazing candidate for solar because it is solar ready,” said Lee, the owner of Be Smart Home Solutions. “We know they have the newer upgraded electrical system. Plenty of sun because it is a newer neighborhood, so there are no mature trees.”

Lee and Gunning weren’t there to sell solar panels; they were evaluating the house for the new Georgia BRIGHT solar leasing program, funded by the national nonprofit Capital Good Fund. Available to households earning less than $100,000 annually, the program aims to reduce energy bills by making solar power affordable. This house, Gunning said, could expect a savings of about $400 a year.

Savings like that, along with other benefits of solar energy like avoiding fossil fuel emissions and relying less on the power grid, remain out of reach for many people in that income bracket because of the high upfront cost. While the median income of solar adopters has dropped from $140,000 in 2010 to $117,000 in 2022, their incomes still skew higher than most.

Buying solar panels and having them installed typically costs tens of thousands of dollars. While there’s a substantial federal tax credit to mitigate that cost, for individual households it can only offset a tax liability — if you don’t owe very much on your taxes, or you typically get a tax refund, you can’t benefit from the credit. 

But a recent law could change that. Under the Inflation Reduction Act, nonprofits like Capital Good Fund can now claim the tax credit as a direct refund, then pass those savings on to the customers who sign on to the Georgia BRIGHT program. It’s especially important to provide solar for the moderate-income households the program is seeking, organizers said, because those families often have to spend a greater share of their income on energy. 

“This program levels the playing field for those families who are facing those energy burdens to help them reduce their energy costs,” said Lee.

While solar leasing isn’t new, in the past it’s been offered mostly by for-profit companies. The change in tax law, however, has opened the field to nonprofits, who can often charge less, said Capital Good Fund founder and CEO Andy Posner.

“So if it’s a $10,000 system, and we’re gonna get a $3,000 refund check from the IRS, it costs us less to purchase the system,” he said. “Also because we don’t have the same requirements for return on investment as a for-profit.” 

Capital Good Fund’s Georgia BRIGHT program is in its pilot phase, aiming to add solar to around 200 roofs in the next few months. But the goal, Posner said, is to go nationwide.

“This pilot is about impacting 200 lives, but it’s also about creating a model for serving 200,000 over the next 10 years,” he said. “Both within Georgia and in other states, there’s a tremendous interest.” 

The initiative has already expanded to include churches and smaller nonprofits in Georgia, and Posner said the organization is in “various stages of conversation” with about 10 other states interested in a similar leasing program.

And more money is coming: In June, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it will dole out $7 billion in IRA funds to states, tribal governments, nonprofits, and others for programs that enable “low-income households to access affordable, resilient, and clean solar energy.” Grantees will be selected next spring.

“It’s going to enable a real scale-up of these programs, in Georgia and beyond,” Posner said of the grant funding.

For Savannah homeowner David Morgan, the pilot project in Georgia was a good fit. He bought his 1955 house a couple of years ago, and he’s been looking to install solar. Morgan works in disaster recovery, earning $65,000, so he said he sees a lot of places dealing with extended power outages and wants to be less reliant on the grid. He also pays a steep $270 a month for electricity.

“I’ll be into the solar panel program for $98 a month,” he said of his Georgia BRIGHT solar panels. “And I should be using between $60 and $70 a month from Georgia Power.”

In other words, once the solar is installed early next year, Morgan can expect a savings of about $100 a month. He said he’ll put that money toward retirement.

“Every little bit helps towards trying not to work when I’m old,” he said.

Morgan has opted for a system with battery storage, so he’ll have backup power when the sun isn’t shining, or when there’s an outage on the grid. And he said he’s also glad he’ll be doing his part to fight climate change.

He hopes more people will get on board with renewable energy. “This is one of those programs that anybody can actually get involved in,” he said.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline A change in tax law has some solar providers walking on sunshine on Jan 2, 2024.

The average American home produces 533 million microfibers annually, according to a 2019 study by…

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