News items for June 9, 2023

Flats and houseplexes built on single lots, mixed in with detached homes. Source: Lanefab. 

• 1. Boise poised for first step towards more abundant, affordable housing

  The new zoning code legalizes more types of housing but creates new barriers to abundance.

  Sightline Institute ADU, Affordable housing

• 2. WA’s greenhouse-gas-allowance auction raises over $500M

  The state’s carbon-pricing program is the centerpiece of the state’s 2021 Climate Commitment Act. It sets a statewide cap on the amount of carbon pollution that can be emitted by certain industries and requires those businesses to buy allowances to cover their emissions.

  Seattle Times Carbon pricing, Environmental policy

• 3. The shipping climate crunch

  The global shipping industry is at a turning point that will determine whether it helps or hurts efforts to meet climate change goals, say BC researchers.

  The Tyee Emissions, Transportation

• 4. Wildfire smoke in the Northeast is the new abnormal

  Welcome to our weird new world. Out west, hazy, orange skies have become a feature of fire season from L.A. to Anchorage. Many west coast cities have earned the title: worst urban air quality in the world, beating out the usual suspects in Asia. Now it’s New York’s turn.

  Time Climate Change, Wildfire

• 5. Seattle’s tiny homes get a big upgrade

  Faced with a growing homelessness crisis, Seattle’s choices in how it uses scarce land and funding can mean the difference between hundreds of people sleeping inside or on the street.

  Seattle Times Homelessness

• 6. A CA bill could reveal corporate America’s climate secrets

  The bill has rankled the oil and gas industry, agricultural groups, and reportedly an iconic burger chain.

  Grist Environmental policy, Oil

• 7. Climate solutions need queerness

  Queer ecology embraces the plurality and paradox of nature, rather than forcing it into the binaries and categories that our society craves.

  Yes! Magazine Climate Action, Ecology

• 8. Mapping seagrass, the world’s forgotten underwater ecosystem

  Sometimes described as “the lungs of the sea,” seagrasses produce large amounts of oxygen essential for fish in shallow coastal waters.

  Washington Post Ecosystems, Marine Life

• 9. The climate crisis is colliding with the criminal justice system

  Often, those incarcerated and overpoliced come from neighborhoods where racism and divestment have caused environmental injustices, such as pollution exposure, and contributed to making severe weather events, like heat waves, more intense.

  Capital B Environmental Justice, Racism

• 10. Saying ‘I do’ to more sustainable celebrations

  Birthdays, weddings, and funerals: Why people who care about the climate are bringing those values into rites of passage.

  Grist Green burial, Sustainability

More News from June 9, 2023

• Hey New York, the west has survived decades of smoke. Here’s how

  Tips on staying healthy, keeping sane and getting through being socked in by smoke.

  High Country News Smoke, Wildfire

• Move to EVs could save nearly 90,000 lives in US by 2050

  A new report from the American Lung Association reveals that if gas-guzzling vehicles were replaced by zero-emissions vehicles like electric cars, trucks, and SUVs in the US by 2035, the nation could witness a significant reduction in premature deaths.

  Environmental Health News Electric Vehicles, Vehicle Emissions

• Marine protected areas, explained

  There’s nuance in how we protect our oceans; here are the details.

  Hakai Magazine Conservation, Marine protection

• Smoke bring a warning: There’s no escaping climate’s threat to health

  As plumes from Canadian wildfires move to the East Coast, officials and residents grapple with the worsening health risks of climate change

  Washington Post Climate Change, Wildfires