[Source: Press Telegram] The Port of Long Beach plans to put a price tag on the environmental damage it causes the community, a figure some residents say isn’t hardly high enough to cover the true cost. The body overseeing the port will vote Monday to pay $46.4 million to a compensation fund used to help Read More…
Month: July 2016
Poor at 20, poor for life
[Source: The Atlantic] A new study indicates that from the 1980s to the 2000s, it became less likely that a worker could move up the income ladder. It’s not an exaggeration: It really is getting harder to move up in America. Those who make very little money in their first jobs will probably still be Read More…
The port that fuels L.A.’s economy and fouls its air gets a pollution-reduction team
[Source: Los Angeles Times] Mayor Eric Garcetti on Tuesday announced the appointment of an advisory panel tasked with reducing air pollution from the Port of Los Angeles by expanding the use of zero-emissions technology. The 10-member Sustainable Freight Advisory Board, made up of representatives from industry, environmental groups, labor, and air quality agencies, will advise the city-owned Read More…
California governor looks to extend climate-change efforts
[Source: Associated Press] California Gov. Jerry Brown has launched a campaign to extend some of the most ambitious climate-change programs in the country and ensure his environmental legacy when he leaves office in two years. The centerpiece of the push is a cap-and-trade program that aims to reduce the use of fossil fuels by forcing Read More…
Los Angeles continues to lose manufacturing jobs
[Source: Los Angeles Business Journal] Los Angeles continues to face decline in high-paying manufacturing jobs as workers flee the city, according to a recent report. The city has shed 20 percent of its manufacturing positions since 2007, a 2016 economic forecast released by the A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research at Chapman University said. Read More…
Southern California doesn’t have the money to buy its way to clean air
[Source: Los Angeles Times Editorial] The Southern California agency responsible for cleaning up the region’s smoggy air has a new strategy to cut pollution: Hope and plead for money to buy cleaner cars and trucks. To comply with federal law, the South Coast Air Quality Management District issued a blueprint last week outlining the rules, policies and Read More…
Here’s proof we can solve global environmental problems if we try
[Source: The Huffington Post] “We can now be confident that the things we’ve done have put the planet on a path to heal,” one scientist says. Nearly three decades ago, a group of alarmed policymakers, armed with data about a large — and growing — hole in the ozone layer, met in Montreal and agreed Read More…
Ozone hole over Antarctica is closing, reports Science
[Source: Reason.com] In the 1980s, researchers discovered that the protective stratospheric ozone layer over Antarctica was thinning. Since stratospheric ozone reduces the amount of damaging ultraviolet light from the sun that reaches the surface, this was potentially very bad news. Scientists quickly identified chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) widely used as coolants in refrigerators, air conditioners, and as Read More…
Antarctic ozone hole shows signs of healing
[Source: Science Recorder] Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Leeds have discovered that the ozone layer above Antarctica has been slowly healing, a recent study published in the journal Science reports. The ozone layer is a section of the Earth’s atmosphere that shields the planet from harmful ultraviolet rays. However, greenhouse gas Read More…