News items for May 7, 2021

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• 1. The quickest way to slow global heating? Cut methane emissions

  In 2020 there was a record rise in the amount of the powerful greenhouse gas emitted by the fossil fuel industry, cattle and rotting waste. Cutting it is the strongest action available to slow global heating in the near term, according to the UN’s environment chief.

  The Guardian Global warming, Methane

• 2. Tribes and NW researchers show viability of salmon above Upper Columbia dams

  Now, the Upper Columbia United Tribes are working together to prove salmon can be reintroduced, and can survive, in the waters above Grand Coulee. It’s something the tribes have always known.

  KLCC Dams, First Nations, Salmon

• 3. Listen: The Northwest Forest Plan needs to protect mature forests

  The health and vitality of forest ecosystems in the Northwest, and how much timber should be cut from those forests, is laid out in the Northwest Forest Plan. But that plan was created in the mid-1990s, and has not changed substantially since then.

  Oregon Public Broadcasting Forests, Sustainability

• 4. Inside the lithium gold rush

  A race is on to produce lithium in the United States to power electric vehicles, but competing projects are taking very different approaches to extracting the vital raw material. Some might not be very green.

  New York Times Electric Vehicles, Sustainability

• 5. EPA fails to protect communities for carcinogenic air pollution

  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Inspector General issued a report today taking the agency to task for its failure to protect communities from chloroprene and ethylene oxide. Both chemicals are carcinogenic air pollutants and pose particular risks to people living near plants that emit them.

  The Intercept Air pollution, Environmental policy

• 6. So small, yet so deadly

  Investors are forcing the world’s biggest plastic manufacturers to reveal how many harmful plastic pellets they are leaking into rivers, lakes and oceans worldwide.

  Canada's National Observer Plastics, Water pollution

• 7. Views: What happens when the nationwide eviction freeze is thrown out?

  Make no mistake: Most tenants who try to fight landlords in eviction court face next-to-impossible odds, and countless Americans are at risk of losing their homes as a result.

  Washington Post eviction moratorium, Renters

• 8. Biden’s infrastructure plan targets lead pipes

  Biden’s proposal includes US$45 billion to eliminate all lead pipes and service lines nationwide. The funding would go to programs administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

  The Conversation Lead, Water Quality

• 9. 600 communities in CA at risk of water system failures

  A new report puts into focus for the first time the scope of the state’s drinking-water problems and what it will take to fix them.

  The Revelator Water Quality

• 10. Antarctica’s ice approaching a scary threshold

  Antarctic ice melt could speed up dramatically around the middle of this century, triggering “rapid and unstoppable” sea-level rise for hundreds of years to come, a new modeling study has found.

  National Geographic Antarctic melting, Ocean warming

More News from May 7, 2021

• A bark beetle outbreak on the horizon

  Last year’s Labor Day fires have created ripe conditions for infestations of tree-killing bark beetles.

  Oregon Public Broadcasting Wildfires, Wildlife

• A remote work revolution is underway. But not for everyone

  During the pandemic, a new divide has emerged between those who have to show up to work and those who can log in to Zoom. Now, companies are looking ahead to life after the pandemic.

  KNKX disparities, Pandemic, Workplace Culture