Rebecca Leber: SEAL Award Winner 2021
A selection of this year’s best environmental journalism
What’s in — and what’s out of — Biden’s latest spending proposal
“The framework outlines major investments in the fight against climate change, particularly in three of the country’s biggest polluting sectors: transportation, electric power, and industrial manufacturing. The White House outlined about $550 billion for climate spending, retaining most of the funds from its original plan — but in a different form.”
Source: Vox (Approx. 9 minutes)
Dirty air can be deadly. Here’s how to protect yourself.
“Although US air quality has improved over time due to legislation like the Clean Air Act, a recent report found that global air pollution reduces global life expectancy more than terrorism, alcohol and drug use, unsafe drinking water, HIV/AIDS, or malaria. Other research suggests wildfire smoke increases the chance of death from Covid-19: A recent study estimated that 17 percent of Covid-19 deaths in the US may be linked to long-term exposure to air pollution.”
Source: Vox (Approx. 11 minutes)
The devastating new UN report on climate change, explained
“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations’ climate science research group, concluded in a major report that it is “unequivocal” that humans have warmed the skies, waters, and lands, and that “widespread and rapid changes” have already occurred in every inhabited region across the globe. Many of these changes are irreversible within our lifetimes.”
Source: Vox (Approx. 14 minutes)
After four years of inaction, the EPA is finally regulating this superpollutant
“The United States is finally taking aim at an important type of these lesser-known superpollutants: hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, which are used in air conditioners and refrigerators. The Environmental Protection Agency announced a rule on Monday, first reported by the New York Times’s Lisa Friedman, that it will phase out the coolant’s use by 85 percent over the next 15 years. The EPA estimates the rule would cut down on the equivalent of 4.7 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from 2022 to 2050 — about equal to three years of US power sector pollution.”
Source: Vox (Approx. 5 minutes)
How Biden could actually deliver on his climate goals
“The experts agree that we don’t have to wait for technological breakthroughs to tackle three of the most polluting parts of the economy. “We have solutions readily available” to get to the 2030 target, explained Natural Resources Defense Council international program director Jake Schmidt. There’s also the much bigger, longer-term prize: Carbon neutrality by 2050. That’s going to be much harder because the country then needs to see major strides in challenging sectors we don’t have easy solutions for yet.”
Source: Vox (Approx. 8 minutes)
Read the SEAL Awards 2021 Environmental Journalism Award Announcement
