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Why Climate Change Poses A Particular Threat To Child Health
Nurith Aizenman, NPR (Tweet)
Conditions for growing all sorts of crops around the world have become less favorable. The research team found that the yield potential for staple crops is now down as much as 6%. Which might not sound like much, but with reduced crop yields, "who is going to be the most vulnerable?" Watts asks. "Children." Particularly kids in poorer countries.
"They end up with these health impacts that stick with them through the rest of their life â gastrointestinal disease, cardiovascular disease, cognitive defects," Watts says. "And that has a really profound lifelong impact that is irreversible."
Another health-related effect of climate change: It's improving conditions for the spread of a bacteria called Vibrio. "It's a nasty bug. It causes all sorts of problems," Watts notes. Including cholera, wound infections and diarrhea, which in poorer countries is an especially big killer for kids.
U.S. Electric Bus Demand Outpaces Production as Cities Add to Their Fleets
Kristoffer Tigue, InsideClimate News (Tweet)
As cities and states across the country set ambitious mid-century climate change goals for the first time and as prices for lithium-ion batteries plummet, a growing number of transit agencies are stepping up efforts to replace dirtier diesel buses with electric ones. Nearly every state has a transit agency that now ownsâor will soon ownâat least one electric bus, according to a recent report from CALSTART, a clean transportation advocacy group.
The U.S. numbers are still small compared to the hundreds of thousands of electric buses in China, but they're growing. There are about 650 e-buses on U.S. roads today, but that's more than double the 300 that the clean energy research group BloombergNEF counted last year. And under current pledges by states, cities and urban transit agencies, at least a third of the nation's nearly 70,000 public transit buses will be all-electric by 2045, according to a separate report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG).
One Thing We Can Do: Balance Our Energy Demand
By Geneva Abdul and Hiroko Tabuchi, New York Times (Tweet)
Renewables, by their nature, can be sporadic. The wind isnât always blowing when you need those turbines spinning. Water levels in hydroelectric dams rise and fall.
But energy demand isnât sporadic: It tends to run in a predictable curve that peaks during the daylight hours.
That means renewables, so far, canât always fulfill demand reliably at peak times. Sure, weâve got solar power, but that, too, is subject to factors we canât control, like cloudy days. Thatâs why on-demand energy sources like fossil fuels, which generate plenty of greenhouse gas emissions, are still very important in our energy mix.
Daire McCoy, a fellow at the London School of Economicsâ Grantham Research Institute, called it âa very dumb system.â What could make the system smarter? Lowering the peaks in demand by shifting some of our consumption to off-peak hours, typically early mornings and overnight. That could go a long way toward lowering our reliance on fossil fuels. And, depending on where you live and the incentives in place, it might also lower your monthly bill.
A (Barely) Bipartisan Carbon Tax That Seems to Work
Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic (Tweet)
In Washington, the immaculate solution to climate change has a name: a bipartisan, revenue-neutral carbon tax.
The idea should have wide appeal. Under the plan, the government would charge companies for every ton of greenhouse gas they emit. Instead of spending that money, the government would immediately send it back to Americans as a tax cut or check. Over time, Americans would make greener choices (a win for Democrats) without growing the size of the government (a win for Republicans). And so climate change would slow (a win for everyone).
The research is promising. Last week, a study from economists at Columbia University found that the tax plan with the most support in Congress would slash American carbon pollution by almost 40 percent within a decade. It would outperform any Obama-era climate policy and go well beyond the United Statesâ 2015 commitment under the Paris Agreement.
Thereâs only one hitch: the politics. There is a popular, revenue-neutral carbon-tax bill in Congress, but it is only âbipartisanâ on a technicality. Dozens of Democrats support the plan. Its sole GOP backer is planning to leave politics.
This newsletter is not affiliated with NPR.