globalbriefs
Smog Begone California Aims Even Higher on Emission Controls
California lawmakers have enacted a bill that aims to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. It extends previous efforts such as the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 instituted to reduce emissions by 2020, along with another piece of legislation that vows to boost legislative oversight of climate change programs organized by the
California Air Resources Board. Supporters say that emissions rules have created new jobs and led to billions of dollars of investment in California’s clean energy sector. Opponents argue that the strict targets have caused some job losses, particularly in oil manufacturing. The state, having the world’s eighth-largest economy, has further announced a goal of fi ghting climate change and improving air quality by putting 1.5 million zero-emission state cars on the road by 2025. Source:
MSN.com
Eat Safer Website Screens Packaging for Toxin
Although food manufacturers have pledged to voluntarily eliminate bisphenol A (BPA)— an endocrine disruptor linked to developmental problems in fetuses, infants and children—in their packaging materials, it’s still found in the lining of many canned goods. Recent testing by an advocacy group found BPA in 70 percent of nearly 200 samples, including products from Campbell and Kroger, which have joined the pledge. “It’s in beer, coffee, tea, energy drinks and aerosol cans for whipped cream...
it’s everywhere,” says Samara Geller, a database and research analyst with the Environmental Working Group (EWG). According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, BPA is safe at the levels people are exposed to via canned foods, but many consumers would rather not take the risk. Consequently, EWG created a new tool to help consumers avoid the 16,000 products that may have BPA in their packaging. The numbers listed on package UPC codes can be compared against the database at
Tinyurl.com/EWG-BPA-Lookup. “Our main goal was to get this out quickly to as many people as possible,” says Geller. “The UPC code is really your best defense to fi nding out what they’re talking about,” because product names can change.
Lobster Liberation Monks Free Creatures from Certain Doom
A handful of monks from the Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society living on Canada’s Prince Edward Island spent a day buying up all the live lobsters they could fi nd at the local fi sh market, and then chartered a boat. Once out to sea, they recited a brief prayer over their writhing cargo and set them loose in the Atlantic. “The whole purpose for us is to cultivate this compassion toward others,” says one of the monks. “It doesn’t have to be lobsters, it can be worms, fl ies, any animals; it can also be driving slower, so we don’t run over little critters on the street.” One participant, Victoria Fan, says, “It’s rethinking the way you normally see these creatures. Their happiness is as important as your happiness, their suffering is as important as your suffering.”
Source:
TheDodo.com 16 Central Florida natural awakenings
Protecting
Maryland is the fi rst state in the nation to pass strict restrictions on pesticides thought to be responsible for signifi cant
reductions in bee populations with enactment of its Pollinator Protection Act. Maryland lost more than 60 percent of its hives in 2015, each containing up to 20,000 honeybees, making it one of the states with the highest recorded declines. The national average is about 42 percent, yet across the country, farmers and gardeners are still using pesticides linked to colony collapse disorder. Globally, more than one-third of the world’s food supply could be a risk if these and other pollinators are lost. Neonicotinoids are one potent class of systemic pesticides introduced to agriculture in the 1990s that have been linked to bees’ demise. In recent years, pesticides such as Knockout Ready-to-Use Grub Killer, Ortho Bug B Gon, and All-In-One Rose & Flower Care have been made available to consumers and beekeepers have noticed a corresponding increase in bee deaths. The Maryland law bans the use of neonicotinoids by everyday consumers that have been spraying home gardens and trees with these deadly pesticides. Farmers and professional gardeners are exempt from the law. A similar law is awaiting the governor’s signature in Connecticut. Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture has not offi cially recognized the well-researched link, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing it.
Source:
BeyondPesticides.org
Pollinators Maryland Bans Bee-Killing Pesticides
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