Tag: pollution

An Inconvenient Truth: EVs May Offer A “Negligible” CO2 Difference From ICE Vehicles

Are the carbon footprints of EVs really as drastically lower than that of internal combustion engine vehicles? When considering the amount of carbon and CO2 created from assembling lithium ion batteries, one firm thinks the difference could be “negligible”.

Such was the topic of a new blog post by natural resource investors Goehring & Rozencwajg (G&R), a “fundamental research firm focused exclusively on contrarian natural resource investments with a team with over 30 years of dedicated resource experience.”

The firm, established in 2015, posted a blog entry entitled “Exploring Lithium-ion Electric Vehicles’ Carbon Footprint” this week, where they call into question a former ICE vs. EV comparison performed by the Wall Street Journal and, while citing work performed by Jefferies, argue that there could literally be “no reduction in CO2 output” in some EV vs. ICE comparisons. 

Their analysis “details the tremendous amount of energy (and by extension CO2) needed to manufacture a lithium-ion battery.” Because a typical EV is on average 50% heavier than a similar internal combustion engine, the analysis notes that the “embedded carbon” in an EV (i.e., when it rolls off the lot) is therefore 20–50% more than an internal combustion engine.

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Researchers Say 4 Billion Masks Tossed Out Daily Could Cause Environmental Catastrophe

Around the world, every minute of every day, three million masks are tossed out. Let that sink in. THREE million masks are tossed out every MINUTE.

Every single day, on average, a little over four billion — with a “b” — masks are thrown out.

Every single month, 129 billion — again with a “b” — masks are tossed out.

And this does not include all the other protective equipment.

“Preventing masks from becoming the next plastic problem,” is the name of a research paper published this year and here’s the takeaway:

Recent studies estimated an astounding 129 billion face masks being used globally every month (3 million / minute) and most are disposable face masks made from plastic microfibers (Prata et al., 2020). With increasing reports on inappropriate disposal of masks, it is urgent to recognize this potential environmental threat and prevent it from becoming the next plastic problem.

Yes, there is a layer of plastic in all those disposable masks, and here’s a collection of photographs that bring the problem to life.

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Covid Face Masks Killing Wildlife, Study Says

Researchers are blaming “corona waste,” including disposable face masks and latex gloves, for a recent increase in wildlife deaths.

The researchers in the Netherlands say wildlife across the world is getting entangled in discarded face masks and other safety gear.

“Researchers note incidents of foxes in the United Kingdom and birds in Canada all becoming entangled in discarded face masks,” according to studyfinds.org. “Hedgehogs, seagulls, crabs, and even bats are all encountering the disposable plastics in the environment.”

“In some cases, study authors say animals are eating this debris.”

Informed readers will see the irony in that the very people pushing face mask mandates also claim to be concerned with “global warming” and the environment in general.

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US Military Ordered “Clandestine Burning” of Toxic Chemicals in Poor Neighborhoods

New research conducted by environmental justice scholars at Vermont’s Bennington College reveals that between 2016 and 2020, the U.S. military oversaw the “clandestine burning” of more than 20 million pounds of Aqueous Fire Fighting Foam in low-income communities around the country—even though there is no evidence that incineration destroys the toxic “forever chemicals” that make up the foam and are linked to a range of cancers, developmental disorders, immune dysfunction, and infertility.

“In defiance of common sense and environmental expertise, the Department of Defense (DOD) has enlisted poor communities across the U.S. as unwilling test subjects in its toxic experiment with burning AFFF,” David Bond, associate director of the Center for the Advancement of Public Action at Bennington College, said (pdf) in a statement earlier this week.

Noting that scientists, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and even Pentagon officials have warned that “burning AFFF is an unproven method and dangerous mix that threatens the health of millions of Americans,” Bond characterized the decision of the military to dump huge stockpiles of AFFF and AFFF wastewater into “a handful of habitually negligent incinerators” as a “harebrained” operation as well as a manifestation of environmental injustice.

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More than 50 new environmental chemicals detected in people

Researchers have detected more than 50 new environmental chemicals lurking in people’s bodies, the vast majority of which are little known or unknown compounds.

These chemicals — which have never been observed in people before — were discovered in a study of pregnant women and their newborns.

The findings are concerning given that very little is known about these chemicals and their potential health effects, researchers from the new study say. What’s more, pregnant women and their newborns are a particularly vulnerable population.

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