Sustainability Weekly
Fridays are for…
Geomagnetic Storms, Clean Drinking Water, Wild Animals, and more!
by Alli DiGiacomo
Happy Friday! Hopefully you got to enjoy the Northern lights last night thanks to the geomagnetic storm happening! So cool!
Also this week was another devastating hurricane hitting Florida. St. Petersburg reported 16 inches of rain, which meteorologists say is a 1-in-1,000-year event. The storm also triggered more than 130 tornado warnings, possibly a new record. Studies undoubtedly link the severity of hurricanes Helene and Milton to climate change. A storm like Hurricane Helene is about two-and-a-half times more likely in the region today compared to what would be expected in a “cooler pre-industrial climate,” World Weather Attribution found. That means Helene, the kind of storm one would expect to see once every 130 years on average, is now expected to develop at a rate of about once every 53 years.
Separately, Climate Central looked at Hurricane Milton, which already has the distinction of being the fifth strongest Atlantic storm on record. Milton’s rapid intensification (one of the fastest and most powerful instances of the phenomenon in history) is primarily due to high sea surface temperatures in the weeks before Milton developed, which was made at least 400 times more likely by climate change and up to 800 times more likely.
If you want to directly help the hurricane victims in Tampa Bay and beyond, see this article for the best places to make a donation.
Keep reading for more of this week’s sustainability news…
T H I S W E E K ’ S T O P S T O R I E S
EPA NOW REQUIRING LEAD PIPES TO BE REPLACED WITHIN 10 YEARS
US regulators finalized rules this week requiring water utility operators to replace all lead pipes used in water lines within 10 years, as well as $116 million in funding to New York to provide clean water to schools and homes. The regulation also requires utilities to test all water systems used by elementary schools, the first-ever national requirement.
Lead replaced iron as the preferred metal for drinking water pipes in the US in the late 1800s due to its durability, malleability, and resistance to corrosion. The health effects of lead poisoning has been long known and include developmental issues in children and heart disease in adults. By 1900, roughly 70% of large cities used lead in water pipes, as well as in gasoline, paint, and more. Its usage in pipes in new construction was federally banned in 1986, but communities continued to be affected (most famously in Flint, Michigan's water crisis a decade ago).
The EPA estimates more than 9 million US homes are serviced water via lead pipes. Analysts say the cost of replacement could exceed $45B.
DOE ANNOUNCES $1.5 BILLION FOR TRANSMISSION PROJECTS
The Department of Energy (DOE) announced $1.5 billion in investments toward four grid transmission projects. The selected projects will “enable nearly 1,000 miles of new transmission development and 7,100 MW of new capacity throughout Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, while creating nearly 9,000 good-paying jobs,” the DOE said in a statement. The DOE also released a study looking at grid demands through 2050, finding that the U.S. will need to double or even triple transmission capacity by 2050 compared to the 2020 baseline to meet growing electricity demand.
One of the selected projects involves installing a 320-mile high-voltage direct current line across Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi that connects Texas’ ERCOT grid to the larger U.S. grid for the first time. Named Southern Spirit, this project “will enhance reliability and prevent outages during extreme weather events,” the DOE said. (Remember the 2021 Texas Power Crisis?) “This is a REALLY. BIG. DEAL,” wrote Michelle Lewis at Electrek.
WWF REPORT CHARTS SHOW STEEP WILDLIFE POPULATION DECLINE
CHART: WORLD WILDLIFE FUND
The World Wide Fund for Nature published its 2024 Living Planet Report, which tracks nearly 5,500 species of amphibians, birds, fish, mammals and reptiles all over the world. It found that wildlife populations plummeted by about 73% between 1970 and 2020. (See the chart.)
Latin America, which is home to some of the most biodiverse regions in the world, saw the worst losses at 95%. Freshwater species experienced the greatest decline at 85%. There are some success stories, such as a 3% increase in the mountain gorilla population, and the comeback of the European Bison, but generally the report is pretty heartbreaking. The report makes it impossible to deny the interconnectedness of the climate crisis and nature destruction and biodiversity loss.
MORE IN SUSTAINABILITY NEWS
Edison Electric Institute forecasts 80 million EVs on the road by 2035. All this growth will necessitate the installation of more than 42.2 million charge points by 2035, 325,000 of which will need to be public DC fast chargers.
Mobile home park transformed into net-zero energy affordable housing neighborhood: 'This project's benefits are multiple and long lasting'.
Massachusetts orders National Grid to set lower winter electricity rates for 1.3 million homes with heat pumps. This will help bridge the heat pump affordability gap and make heat pumps more accessible, as well as help the state reach their 2050 net zero goal.
Roofs of Mexico City’s massive food market will power public buses. The more than 30,000 solar panels at the iconic Central de Abasto market are intended to help kickstart the country’s clean energy policy.
New study confirms public pressure can lead to shifts in climate policy — even among anti-environmental officials.
Stormwater runoff can be beautiful, actually. Brooklyn’s Bergen project puts stormwater management in plain site with waterfalls and permeable gardens.
Why We Need a Strong Global Agreement on Plastics Pollution.
Opinion: Is climate anxiety a pressing problem, or a luxury?