This story is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation.

The art of maple syrup production flows through generations of Dan Potter’s family history.

His great-grandfather bought the family farm in rural Iowa in the late 1880s and cleared the land for strawberries, clay, and whiskey production. Eventually, he transitioned to making maple syrup to add to his whiskey. That started a 140-year-old tradition that has persisted through the Civil War, the Great Depression, and both World Wars.

Potter opened his own maple syrup company with his wife and three daughters in 2009. Great River Maple, in Garnavillo, Iowa, is now among the state’s most prolific syrup producers.

This year’s record-warm winter caused sap to flow early, bringing challenges for the family-run company. They tapped their first trees on Jan. 22 — more than three weeks earlier than ever before.

“When you take into account that the average season is somewhere around six-and-a-half weeks long,” Potter said, “you’re talking an incredible amount earlier.”

This year’s maple sap season began early for many producers in Upper Midwestern states, who experienced shorter seasons. Some credit those shifts to the year’s record-warm winter. Thanks to the El Niño effect, the season ranked among the top 10 warmest.

But Indigenous and non-Native experts say human-caused climate change also is having varied and unpredictable effects on the maple harvest. Farmers and Indigenous communities whose ancestors have tapped trees since time immemorial are altering their practices and planning for an erratic future.

“It seems like from year to year, the season gets a little bit earlier,” said Theresa Baroun, executive director of the Wisconsin Maple Syrup Producers Association. “But nothing, nothing, nothing like this year. If you talk to many older producers, they’ve never seen anything like this as well. This is just a different, weird year here in Wisconsin.”

Climate effects

Even amid increasingly earlier seasons, this year stood out, said Justin Cain, operations manager of Maple Valley Cooperative, of Cashton, Wisconsin, whose members include more than 40 farmers from Wisconsin, Michigan, New York and Vermont.

“Most of my farmers were kind of scrambling to get all their taps in and get their vacuums set up,” he said. “Typically, you don’t even think about that stuff till the end of February.”

As of mid-March, cooperative president and maple farmer Cecil Wright and his two business partners had collected about 90 percent of a normal crop — about 100,000 gallons of maple sap. Wright boiled his first barrel of syrup in early February, about three weeks sooner than normal.

“The weather patterns that we’re seeing are typical for the maple-producing areas in more southern areas like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana,” Wright said.

In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Indian Creek Nature Center tapped its first maple the second week of February, when temperatures already surpassed 40 degrees. The sap flowed. By March 1, though, their taps trickled to a stop. The season was already over — a month earlier than 2023.

Last year, the center collected nearly 2,000 gallons of sap and produced 46 gallons of syrup, one of its best years on record. This year, it collected 500 gallons, just enough to produce 12.

Sap production depends on temperature and microclimates, where just a few degrees difference can make or break a harvest. Flow depends upon freeze-thaw cycles, which generate the pressure to push the liquid up and down the trunk of the maple. As daylight increases and if the weather warms too quickly, tree buds open, ending the season.

“We’re all limited to what nature gives us,” Cain said. “The trees kind of do their own thing.”

New England and the Midwest dominate maple syrup production in the United States. Wisconsin — the fourth-largest producer in the country — netted about 400,000 gallons of syrup valued at $13.5 million in 2022.

Because temperature swings drive sap production, the increased variability might actually increase the harvest in the Upper Midwest.

Wright said the growing sophistication of weather forecasting makes it easier to plan ahead. But tapping too soon presents its own risks. Vacuum equipment and tubing, which can be used instead of buckets on maple farms, can freeze during an unexpected cold snap, and early-drilled tap holes will close over time. 

“We have to acknowledge that humans are affecting our environment, and we don’t totally understand everything that’s happening,” Wright said.

In Wisconsin, sugar maples populate the northern and western portions of the state. Experts expect the trees to persist as climate warms, but the sap is likely to contain less sugar. Experts also expect an earlier harvest, but the timing, which has always varied, is becoming increasingly unpredictable.

Additionally, a lack of snowpack, the spread of non-local species and long periods of drought intermixed with heavy rainfall events, could stress or damage maple trees to the detriment of future harvests.

Indigenous communities already are preparing.

Preserving lifeways into the future

The production of maple syrup began thousands of years ago when Indigenous peoples began transforming sap into syrup and sugar.

Ojibwe bands did so in the Upper Midwest, but in the mid-1800s, the federal government forcibly acquired their lands and waters through a succession of treaties. The bands retained hunting, gathering and fishing rights across what’s now called the Ceded Territory: millions of acres stretching across northwestern Michigan and its Upper Peninsula, northern Wisconsin, and northeastern Minnesota.

For Wisconsin tribes, tapping maple trees is a traditional lifeway, or bimaadiziwin in the Ojibwe language. In addition to exercising treaty rights, promoting food sovereignty and strengthening community ties, Ojibwe people harvest from nature as an act of stewardship. If they do not, the Creator will cease to provide those beings.

Climate change threatens those lifeways and in turn, identity.

Some tribes have developed climate adaptation plans to manage natural resources in a way that protects cultural practices and treaty rights, including the harvesting of maple sap.

Some options include tapping sugar maples in several locations rather than a concentrated gathering. Tree-planting efforts could utilize non-local seedlings from sources that are better adapted to future climate conditions or even related species like red maple.

A generous harvest

In Garnavillo, Potter of Great River Maple expected to collect less sap this year, but in some northern Wisconsin sugar bushes, it flowed comparatively freely.

The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa youth sugar bush, in northern Wisconsin, commenced about two weeks earlier this year, and although the season felt condensed, the trees gave generously. The youth collected 900 gallons of sap during the first two weeks of March, from which they produced almost 20 gallons of maple syrup, or Anishinaabe-zhiiwaagamizigan.

Maria Nevala, of Odana, Wisconsin, and her partner, JD Lemieux, assisted the program.

The two also have their own sugar bush, which they named Ozaawaa Goon, or “yellow snow.”

“We have a lot of little kids running around and every time they say, “I gotta go to the bathroom!’ and I’m like, ‘Go ahead,’” Nevala said.

At Ozaawaa Goon, which she has tapped for about 13 years, they began collecting sap in March, about 10 days earlier. The weather was so warm, Nevala didn’t have to wear snowshoes.

The two use their syrup in community demonstrations, turning it into sugar and candies, and gift much of the rest.

“It’s a real expensive hobby for us,” Lemieux said, jokingly.

As of mid-March, the maple buds hadn’t opened, and they had collected the same amount of sap as previous years, if not a little more.

“What is next year gonna be like?” Nevala said. “It’s unknown. And that could be a good thing or it could be a bad thing. Hopefully, it’s a good thing.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Midwest maple syrup producers adapt to record warm winter, uncertainty as climate changes on Mar 30, 2024.

The architect of the Grand Canyon — the Colorado River — is the lifeblood of the West. The river and its tributaries supply water to more than 40 million people in several major cities, including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego and Phoenix.

New research has found that more than half of the mighty river’s total annual water flow is being used to irrigate agricultural crops, depleting this essential water source.

“Persistent overuse of water supplies from the Colorado River during recent decades has substantially depleted large storage reservoirs and triggered mandatory cutbacks in water use,” the study said. “Barely a trickle of water is left of the iconic Colorado River of the American Southwest as it approaches its outlet in the Gulf of California in Mexico after watering many cities and farms. Despite the river’s importance to more than 40 million people and more than two million hectares (>5 million acres) of cropland… a full sectoral and crop-specific accounting of where all that water goes en route to its delta has never been attempted, until now.”

The study, “New water accounting reveals why the Colorado River no longer reaches the sea,” was published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

The Colorado River’s water levels have been at historic lows because of the ongoing megadrought in the West adding to perpetual overuse. But even though the region is ecologically and economically reliant on the river, a water budget had not been calculated, a press release from Nature Publishing Group said.

The researchers calculated the Colorado River basin’s water budget by looking at the river’s average yearly water use and losses from 2000 to 2019. They took into account all direct human uses — industrial, commercial, domestic and irrigation — as well as indirect losses such as evaporation from wetland vegetation and reservoirs.

“Irrigated agriculture is responsible for 74% of direct human uses and 52% of overall water consumption. Water consumed for agriculture amounts to three times all other direct uses combined,” the study said.

Grass hays like alfalfa grown for cattle feed made up 46 percent of the direct human water consumption from the 1,450-mile river.

The research team found that 32 percent of total water consumption was used to irrigate cattle feed crops.

Water used to irrigate agricultural crops accounted for roughly three times the amount used by cities, reported NPR.

“We consume every single drop,” said Brian Richter, lead author of the study and a World Wildlife Fund senior freshwater fellow, as NPR reported.

In the Upper Basin of the river, irrigation made up almost 90 percent of water usage.

“It is a fact that agriculture uses a lot of water,” said Sharon Megdal, director of University of Arizona’s Water Resources Research Center, as reported by NPR. “I think our ability to adapt is being tested and will continue to be. But I have some confidence that we will be able to.”

The team came up with the first complete Colorado River water budget that included never before reported factors such as Mexico’s overall water consumption — at seven percent — and the total water consumption for the Gila River basin in Arizona, one of the river’s main tributaries, at nine percent, the press release said.

The researchers said a significant reduction in use would need to be made to avoid shortages in the future. More water would also need to remain in the Colorado to support ecosystems along the river’s full length.

“We all need to become far more water literate because there are some hard choices ahead,” said Felicia Marcus, former California State Water Resources Control Board chair and a Stanford University Water in the West Program fellow, as NPR reported.

Negotiations regarding how the increasingly scarce water in the Colorado will be shared by the federal government, Native American Tribes and users in seven states are ongoing. Current guidelines are set to expire in 2026.

“Right now there’s very intense negotiations taking place over how the river’s water will be shared in the future,” said Richter, as reported by NPR. “We wanted those negotiators to have these data in front of them so those debates could be well-informed.”

The post Most of Colorado River’s Annual Flow Is Being Used for Agriculture, Study Finds appeared first on EcoWatch.

Methane is a heat-trapping greenhouse gas (GHG) that is 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Most methane comes from human activities — roughly 60 percent — such as agriculture, fossil fuels and the decomposition of waste in landfills.

According to a new study led by nonprofit Carbon Mapper, more than half the landfills in the United States are “super-emitters” of methane.

“Addressing these high methane sources and mitigating persistent landfill emissions offers a strong potential for climate benefit,” said Dr. Dan Cusworth, lead author of the study and a program scientist with Carbon Mapper, in a press release from Carbon Mapper. “The ability to precisely identify leaks is an efficient way to make quick progress on methane reduction at landfills, which could be critical for slowing global warming.”

The study, “Quantifying methane emissions from United States landfills,” published in the journal Science, is the largest measurement-based assessment of landfill methane ever conducted. It identifies major sources of emissions that have been absent from traditional accounting so that they can be given precedence for mitigation.

The research team — including scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, University of Arizona, Arizona State University, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and airborne atmospheric research company Scientific Aviation — assessed hundreds of the country’s landfills using airborne surveys and direct observations.

The study not only emphasized the enormous impact of landfill emissions, but highlighted potential gaps in traditional methods of model-based accounting that could benefit from direct measurements using air-, surface- and space-based monitoring.

Landfills are the third largest human-caused methane emissions source in the country. The EPA reported that, in 2021, landfills made up 14.3 percent of methane, emitting GHG equal to almost 23.1 gas-powered passenger cars, according to the press release.

Despite their climate impacts, landfill methane emissions have been largely under-addressed in comparison with methane from other big emitters like oil and gas.

“Traditional surface-based surveys with handheld methane sensors provide an incomplete picture of emissions. This is due to factors like limited access to many sections of active landfills as well as logistical and personnel safety reasons,” the press release said.

From 2018 through 2022, the research team used advanced aircraft direct measurements of municipal solid waste landfills. They looked at more than 200 active landfills participating in the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) — which makes up 20 percent of roughly 1,200 reported open landfills.

The team found methane plumes at more than half the landfills measured with airborne imaging spectrometers, reported CNN. This was much more than the detection rate of airborne studies of the oil and gas sector, the report said.

The researchers said the results indicated that GHGRP and other reporting systems were missing major sources of methane. They found that average landfill methane emission rates were 1.4 times those reported to GHGRP.

They also discovered that methane emissions from landfills were generally more constant than those of oil and gas — 60 percent lasted from months to years.

Another key finding of the study was that persistent emissions from landfills made up 87 percent of the study’s total quantified emissions. In comparison, most oil and gas methane super-emitters are short and irregular events.

The gaps in quantification protocols and leak detection at landfills in the U.S. were significant.

“Current walking surveys with hand-held sensors are ineffective in completely sampling the landfill surface and may miss high point source activity that can dominate the facility’s emissions while remaining undetected for extended periods,” the press release explained. “Advanced monitoring strategies, such as remote sensing from satellites, aircraft and drones, can provide a more accurate picture of landfill methane emissions. When combined with improved ground-based measurements, remote sensing can provide consistent, comprehensive measurements to better inform models, guide mitigation efforts and verify emission reductions.”

Rob Jackson, a Stanford University professor of environmental science who was not part of the study, called landfills “super-emitters,” CNN reported.

“Even in a future where there is not a reliance on fossil fuels, humans will likely still be generating waste. Even if we transition to cleaner fuels, we’re still going to be dealing with waste management,” Cusworth told CNN.

Due to its potent short-term heating effect, one of the best ways to mitigate climate change is to quickly reduce methane emissions, scientists have said.

“If we’re going to hit our climate targets, reductions in methane emissions can’t come from oil and gas alone. Landfills should be garnering a similar type of attention as oil and gas,” Cusworth said, as reported by CNN.

The post More Than Half of U.S. Landfills Are Methane ‘Super-Emitters,’ Study Finds appeared first on EcoWatch.

The Biden administration restored protections to threatened species in the U.S. on March 29 — protections that had previously been rolled back in 2019 by the Trump administration.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) finalized three rules to protect threatened species and their habitats, the Department of Interior announced.

The rules fall under the Endangered Species Act, which has been aimed at protecting and restoring populations of threatened and endangered species since 1973. As Reuters reported, the act is often considered why populations of vulnerable species, like bald eagles and California condors, have not gone extinct.

One of the rules ensures that listing and delisting decisions or deciding on critical habitats will be based on science, rather than the costs to industries.

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“As species face new and daunting challenges, including climate change, degraded and fragmented habitat, invasive species, and wildlife disease, the Endangered Species Act is more important than ever to conserve and recover imperiled species now and for generations to come,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams said in a press release. “These revisions underscore our commitment to using all of the tools available to help halt declines and stabilize populations of the species most at-risk.” 

One of the new rules restores protections for newly classified threatened species, so these species will quickly receive protections, rather than waiting for official plans to be put together, The Associated Press reported.

In total, the three new rules are set to improve interagency consultation on threatened species and habitats, clarify classification standards, align the habitat designation process with the Endangered Species Act, make decisions based on science over economic costs, and restore the “blanket rule” protections for threatened species.

“Working with our partners, NOAA Fisheries is improving the process for managing species under the Endangered Species Act with a focus on mitigation of ongoing threats such as altered ecosystems due to climate change,” said Janet Coil, NOAA Fisheries assistant administrator. “By leveraging the best available science, we ensure the law remains robust as we work to conserve and recover endangered and threatened species and their habitats.” 

The rules, first proposed in June 2023, received about 468,000 submissions during the public comment periods. 

Industry stakeholders and Republican politicians have argued that these rules limit economic growth, The Associated Press reported. Meanwhile, many environmentalists are satisfied to see these new rules established, but they are upset that it took so long. Some argue that the current administration has not gone far enough in reversing the former Trump administration’s rules that harm vulnerable species. 

The post Biden Administration Restores Protections for Threatened Species appeared first on EcoWatch.

Embracing the circular economy is vitally important for all industries, especially in the context of…

The post Guest Perspective: Embracing the Circular Economy Means Transforming Food Packaging for a Sustainable Future appeared first on Earth911.

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.

Georgia is enjoying an economic boom. Lured by tax breaks, high-tech data centers and manufacturers are flooding the state. It’s a trend state leaders are celebrating at every opportunity.

“We have seen over 171,000 new jobs come to our communities, we brought in over $74.5 billion of investment to the state,” Governor Brian Kemp told a gathering of lawmakers, business leaders, and other Georgia bigwigs earlier this year.  

But that growth has created a problem: all the new businesses need lots of electricity. 

The state’s largest electric utility, Georgia Power, now says it needs significantly more energy, significantly sooner than planned to meet the spike in demand. So the company is asking to buy and generate that electricity. Their plan calls for solar power coupled with battery storage, but it relies heavily on fossil fuels, including three brand new turbines to be powered with oil and natural gas.

Customers and clean energy advocates alike are decrying this plan. Large groups of students and medical professionals have dominated the public comment sections of hearings over Georgia Power’s request, pleading with the state’s Public Service Commission to reject it.

“Fossil fuels kill. They kill our ecosystems, they kill our people, and more importantly, fossil fuels will kill our future generations,” Emory University student Dakota Tauteeq told the commissioners.

A version of this is playing out all over the country, because for the first time in years, power demand is growing. Electricity-hungry data centers are popping up to serve everything from email and digital medical records to artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency. Federal policies that favor US-made versions of electric vehicles, solar panels, and other technology are bringing manufacturing back stateside. The fight against fossil fuels is driving people to electrify previously gas-powered cars and appliances.

All that is testing the heart of the Biden administration’s climate policy: making it cheaper and more attractive for utilities to use renewable energy instead of climate-warming fossil fuels.

The Inflation Reduction Act, passed in 2022, includes $125 billion in tax credits for electric companies that choose wind, solar, and battery storage. The idea is that incentive will tip the scales, so when a utility needs to make energy it will choose renewables over fossil fuels.

“It’s this great big pool of money, this game changing piece of legislation for them, with millions and millions of dollars that they can take advantage of,” said Sierra Club analyst Noah Ver Beek.

But it’s not clear that utilities are taking full advantage of that giant pool of money. Like Georgia Power, many utilities still want to expand fossil fuel plants, or build new ones. 

Ver Beek and his colleagues studied the energy plans of 50 utilities that have been submitted or updated since the law passed. They found that about a third failed to include the new clean energy provisions in their models at all, while many that did failed to account for the full potential of the incentives. For instance, many didn’t consider the bonuses that the IRA offers for locating projects in communities affected by the fossil fuel industry, offering competitive wages, or using U.S.-made technology.

“That, for one, is just a lack of ambition on the utilities,” Ver Beek said. “If you can get an extra 10 percent off the cost of your project, that’s a lot of money that is being left on the table.”

Even when utilities pursue tax credits for their clean energy projects, as Georgia Power said it will, many are still turning to fossil fuels as well.

That’s because the tax credits are running up against the nationwide jump in energy demand. Faced with so much demand, Bank of America utilities analyst Julian Dumoulin Smith said that utilities are falling back on their old standby: fossil fuels.

“What we’re seeing is a growing trend to go back to gas plants, mostly to effectively backstop the grid,” he said.

The idea, he said, is not to run new gas plants all the time, but to turn them on for limited periods when demand for energy is highest — think, when it’s very hot or very cold, so people start cranking their air conditioning or heaters.

This concept is known as a “peaker plant,” and it reflects how utilities plan. They base their plans not on the typical amount of power being used most of the time, but on those highest peak hours. That way, the utilities can guarantee they’ll have enough power without resorting to blackouts. Many utilities consider fossil fuel plants to be the only reliable way to meet demand peaks, because they can be turned on quickly to immediately meet the need. 

But that’s not true anymore, said Shelley Robbins, who works on the Phase Out Peakers project for the nonprofit Clean Energy Group.

“The good news is there are now alternatives,” she said.

Those other options are a bit more complicated than flipping the on/off switch at a power plant. They require utilities to run the grid more creatively, instead of solely making power and sending it out to meet demand.

Electric companies can reward people for using less energy during those hours of peak demand, an approach known as demand response. They can improve power lines so they can carry more electricity, called reconductoring. Utilities can even help a lot of homes and businesses install solar panels with battery backup, then draw on all those batteries when they need extra power, a concept known as a virtual power plant.

Various utilities around the country have tried all these methods and proven they can work. 

But, Robbins said, the regulators who approve utility plans and the lawmakers who set state energy policies, are used to turning to experts when they make decisions about complex issues like this — and the experts they trust are still in the fossil fuel industry.

“That voice is still there, that is still speaking to legislators and to utility regulators, and you know, whispering in their ear, that fossil is the only solution and it simply is not true,” she said.

Robbins says regulators, lawmakers, and utilities need education about these alternatives — and the fact that they’re now reliable solutions for climbing energy demand. The fate of U.S. climate policy and planet-warming emissions depends on making this shift.

Andy Posner, CEO of the climate-focused nonprofit Capital Good Fund, testified in the Georgia hearings:

“The commission should direct Georgia Power to develop and file a plan for expediting interconnection and witness testing of customer-sited solar energy and storage systems…”

That’s energy nerd speak for “more solar on homes and businesses, and batteries to go with it.” 

The idea here is that rooftop solar can be more than a way for an individual homeowner to save a little money and go green. It can also back up the energy grid. When demand for power peaks – say, on a hot day when everyone is maxing out their air conditioning – the utility could draw some power from a whole lot of individual customers’ batteries to cover any gaps.

That’s just one alternative to adding fossil fuels. Others have suggested beefing up transmission lines so they can carry more electricity at once, and incentive programs to lower the all-important energy demand peaks.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline With energy demand surging, utilities fall back on their old standby: Fossil fuels on Mar 29, 2024.

Puerto Rico declared a public health emergency this week as cases of dengue fever, a potentially deadly mosquito-borne infection, rise precipitously across the United States territory. In the emergency order, the commonwealth’s department of health said it had recorded 549 cases of the disease this year so far, a 140 percent increase over the same period a year ago. 

The numbers have “surpassed historical records,” health secretary Carlos Mellado López said. 

Puerto Rico’s health department is the latest government agency to mobilize its public health resources in service of controlling and treating large outbreaks of dengue. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka tried to tamp down unprecedented rates of dengue infections in the last year with varying degrees of success. Vast portions of Central and South America are battling months-long, record-breaking dengue crises. Some 5 million cases of the infection were reported worldwide in 2023, and the disease continues to spread. Already, an estimated 3.5 million cases of the infection and 1,000 deaths have been reported across the Americas in 2024 thus far — a rate of infection health officials predict will lead to a record-breaking number of dengue cases this year.

Epidemiologists and climate change researchers warn that warmer temperatures, intensifying storms, and more erratic and frequent rainfall events are contributing to outbreaks of mosquito-borne illnesses around the world. Research shows that over the past two decades, the environment in many regions of the world has become more hospitable to the Aedes genus of mosquito, the insect whose bite spreads dengue to humans. Warmer winters, hotter summers, and particularly milder springs and falls are allowing these mosquitoes to move into new areas and higher elevations that have historically been too harsh for their survival. 

“It’s a complex problem, but climate change, and most importantly consistently increasing temperatures, even in higher elevations,” said Manisha Bhinge, vice president of the Rockefeller Foundation’s health initiative, create “fertile ground for an outbreak.” 

Climate change is not solely responsible for the millions of dengue cases that have occurred since the beginning of 2023. The natural weather phenomenon El Niño, which produces warmer-than-average global temperatures and erratic changes in rainfall patterns across Latin America and other parts of the world, may play a role. Decaying and broken infrastructure, deforestation and urban sprawl, and underinvestment in sewage, water, and sanitation systems all contribute to disease surge by exposing more people to mosquitoes and creating pockets of standing water for the insects to breed in.

Warmer temperatures and extreme weather layered on top of these existing issues compound and exacerbate community vulnerability to dengue and other diseases spread by blood-sucking bugs.

Three in 4 people who get dengue — also known as breakbone fever — exhibit no symptoms, which means the true extent of the viral infection in Puerto Rico and other places is likely much higher than official reports indicate. Those who develop symptoms often report fevers of 104 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, muscle aches, and vomiting. Severe symptoms, such as intense stomach pain; bloody vomit, stool, or gums; and extreme fatigue, typically develop after the fever has passed. Individuals who contract the illness twice, from two different strains, are at a much higher risk of developing severe dengue or dying. The disease cannot be passed directly between people, but a person with dengue in their blood can pass the infection on to a mosquito, which can infect other people. 

Some 340 people have been hospitalized so far this year in Puerto Rico with severe dengue symptoms. More than half of the island’s dengue cases have occurred in San Juan, the territory’s capital, and surrounding municipalities. The Puerto Rican government did not restrict travel into or out of the island, but the department of health said the infection had reached epidemic levels. The emergency order, which will remain in effect for three months, allows the department of health to tap government resources more quickly as it works to detect and control mosquitoes.

Last year, a small but unusual number of locally acquired cases of dengue popped up in California, Texas, and Florida. The risk to people living in the contiguous United States still largely comes from travel to countries where rates of the illness are much higher, though that could change in years to come as temperatures continue to rise.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is currently advising Americans to take precautions against dengue when traveling to many countries in Central and South America, the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands. In Brazil, which has registered 1.5 million cases of dengue so far this year and recently became the first country in the world to launch a public vaccination campaign against the viral infection, 17 cities declared emergencies. 

There is no one solution to controlling mass outbreaks of dengue. Governments are trying out a multifaceted response that includes public education and vaccine campaigns, spraying mosquito-killing insecticides, draining swamps and puddles of standing water, and deploying new technologies. Brazil, for example, has had some success releasing mosquitoes that have been infected with bacteria that prevents them from carrying dengue in Rio de Janeiro and a handful of other urban centers across the country. Still, the best line of defense for people in affected areas is reducing exposure to mosquitoes by spending time indoors when possible, sleeping in mosquito netting, and frequently applying bug spray. 

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Puerto Rico declares an emergency as cases of dengue fever spike on Mar 29, 2024.

Sales of secondhand clothing are on their way to making up 10 percent of the fashion market worldwide, as environmental concerns and high prices inspire consumers to shop for pre-loved items, according to a 2024 Resale Report by online thrift and consignment shop ThredUp.

The 12th annual study, conducted by analytics firm GlobalData, includes projections through 2033. Its findings are based on a survey of 3,654 consumers in the United States, as well as a survey of 50 of the country’s top fashion brands and retailers, a press release from ThredUp said.

“The global secondhand apparel market continues to burgeon — a testament to the intrinsic value shoppers find in the secondhand experience and proof of the seismic shift towards a more circular fashion ecosystem,” said ThredUp co-founder and CEO James Reinhart in the press release. “As we celebrate this progress, we also recognize the powerful role the government can play in accelerating the transition to a more sustainable future for fashion. Now in its 12th year, the Resale Report shows some of the most promising signals of what that future could look like with increased levels of support. Until fashion is no longer one of the most damaging sectors of the global economy, we will continue to advocate for the government to help drive adoption and behavior change in fashion.”

The global secondhand clothing market is outpacing the overall retail sector and is predicted to increase at a 12 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to $350 billion by 2028.

The used apparel market in the U.S. outpaced the overall retail clothing market by seven times last year. By 2028, it is projected to reach $73 billion.

Within five years, the report expects to see online resale clothing more than double to $40 billion at a CAGR of 17 percent.

“Shoppers gravitate towards buying secondhand apparel online. For the first time ever, younger generations prefer buying online versus in a brick-and-mortar store,” ThredUp said.

In fact, 45 percent of younger people prefer buying secondhand clothing online, as compared to 38 percent who would rather visit a brick-and-mortar retailer.

“With more than half of all consumers shopping for secondhand apparel last year, it’s evident that resale is now firmly embedded in the fashion landscape. Secondhand buying transcends generations, with the role of resale changing throughout consumers’ lives. Younger shoppers turn to secondhand for self-expression and to help create their personal style; parents rely on secondhand to outfit their families in a cost-effective and eco-conscious way; and older generations turn to secondhand to snag affordable, higher-end brands and for the thrill of the hunt,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, in the press release. “Secondhand’s flexibility in meeting such varied needs is a key reason it’s become so popular and has such a promising growth trajectory.”

Nearly two out of three consumers who bought secondhand last year made at least one online purchase — a 17 point increase from the year before.

“Nearly 3 in 4 consumers say when it comes to apparel spend, value is king,” the press release said. While “60% of consumers say shopping secondhand apparel gives them the most bang for their buck” and “55% of consumers say they’ll spend more on secondhand apparel if the economy doesn’t improve.”

ThredUp’s Recommerce 100 said the 163 brands that now offer resale shops — including J. Crew and American Eagle — represent a 31 percent increase from 2022.

Where resale is offered, it will generate a minimum of 10 percent of a company’s overall revenue within five years, according to almost two out of three retail executives, the report said.

Most retail executives — 87 percent — who offer resale said it has furthered their sustainability goals.

More than a third of consumers said they purchase second hand to be able to afford higher-end brands — an increase of 11 points from 2022.

Voters expressed their support of candidates who support a circular fashion economy, with 42 percent of consumers saying the government needs to take legislative action to promote sustainable fashion.

Reinhart said upcoming legislation designed to curb fast fashion globally was inspiring brands to take action, reported The Guardian.

“It is hard not to believe that there will be some activity in that space in the next three to five years given how much of apparel ends up in landfill,” Reinhart said, as The Guardian reported.

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The United States Department of the Interior has announced a final rule to curb methane emissions from natural gas waste during oil and gas production on the country’s federal and Tribal lands.

The updated regulation modernizes rules that are more than four decades old. It will require oil and gas companies to stop wasteful practices, find and fix leaks and compensate Tribal mineral owners and taxpayers through the payment of royalties, a press release from the Interior Department said.

“This final rule, which updates 40-year-old regulations, furthers the Biden-Harris administration’s goals to prevent waste, protect our environment, and ensure a fair return to American taxpayers,” said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland in the press release. “By leveraging modern technology and best practices to reduce natural gas waste, we are taking long-overdue steps that will increase accountability for oil and gas operators and benefit energy communities now and for generations to come.”

It is expected that the final rule will generate additional royalty payments of more than $50 million annually from natural gas. At the same time, an enormous amount of gas — billions of cubic feet — that might have been flared, leaked or vented during oil and gas operations will be conserved. The conserved gas can then be used to power homes and industries across the country.

“This rule represents a common sense, fair, and equitable solution to preventing waste that provides a level playing field for all of our energy-producing communities,” said Tracy Stone-Manning, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) director, in the press release. “The BLM worked extensively with a wide range of stakeholders to modernize our decades-old regulations and help protect communities across the country.”

The development of oil and gas on public lands has expanded quickly since the 1980s. This growth has led to double the percentage of gas lost to venting and the burning of vented gas through flaring.

From 2010 to 2020, an average of roughly 44.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas was lost each year to venting and flaring, reported Tribal and federal onshore lessees — enough to power more than 675,000 residences.

Several states — including New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado and Pennsylvania — as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — have implemented measures to limit oil and gas venting, flaring and leaks in order to improve air quality or prevent waste.

The modernized BLM rule is different from the EPA rule. It ensures that oil and gas operators are able to comply with state, federal or Tribal rules while also meeting commonsense requirements.

“It requires operators of federal and Indian oil and gas leases to take reasonable steps to avoid natural gas waste from the very beginning of operations, carry out leak detection and repair across ongoing operations, and cut down on wasteful gas venting and flaring. Consistent with the Inflation Reduction Act, the rule also sets new limits on ‘royalty-free’ flaring, so that public and Tribal mineral owners are properly compensated through royalty payments for avoidable losses of natural gas,” the press release said.

Thousands of comments were received by BLM — from environmental groups, academics, landowners, oil and gas producers, industry experts and other stakeholders — that helped inform the proposed rule changes.

Environmental groups expressed support for the new policy.

“Taking action to limit methane waste on public lands offers a win-win-win for taxpayers, producers and communities harmed by this waste and associated pollution,” said Jon Goldstein, Environmental Defense Fund’s regulatory and legislative affairs senior director, as reported by Reuters.

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