Sustainability Weekly
Fridays are for…
Pumpkin Smashes, Infrastructure Upgrades, Voting, and more!
by Alli DiGiacomo
Happy Friday and first day of November! Hopefully you are enjoying Halloween week this year! It is hard not to notice that it feels like summer in October, featuring roughly 100 new daily record high temperatures across the country this week! Also, currently New York City, Long Island, and the Lower Hudson Valley, along with much of the Northeast Corridor, are under red flag warnings (fire weather) for fire after a month of dry weather.
You might as well take advantage of the warm weather and get outside to take your mind off the intense election week coming up. Don’t forget to VOTE! The stakes are extremely high this year so don’t forget to VOTE! The health of our planet, our air, water, forests, and climate, depends on the leaders we choose. From city councils to Congress, these elections will decide whether we move forward with bold climate action or just stay stuck in a cycle of environmental destruction.
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
DON’T THROW YOUR PUMPKINS IN THE TRASH - HOW TO DISCARD PROPERLY
After Halloween, leftover pumpkins often end up in landfills, creating methane—a potent greenhouse gas. (This is because pumpkins that end up in landfills have a hard time breaking down because landfills function is to store material and don't have enough oxygen to allow organics to decompose properly.) Of the nearly 2 Billion pounds of pumpkins grown in the United States, an estimated 1.3 Billion pounds were simply trashed instead of eaten or composted in 2023.
There are several disposal alternatives:
If they aren’t carved, cook and eat them!
Compost them. You can put them in our office compost bin, your residential bin (small DSNY brown bin), and lawn-clipping composting.
Bring them to one of NYC’s several Pumpkin Smash’s! See a list here of events happening this weekend and next.
Donate the pumpkins to local farms, where animals like pigs, chickens, and goats can enjoy them. Jennifer Seifert started "Pumpkins for Pigs," an online directory of U.S. farms that accept pumpkin donations, which now lists 360 farms in 37 states. For those without a local farm in the directory, Seifert encourages contacting nearby farmers’ markets to find takers and help keep pumpkins out of landfills.
Donate to zoos that accept pumpkins for elephants, hyenas, hippos, and other animals that love them.
Donate to a local community garden.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES $2 BILLION IN FUNDS TO STRENGTHEN THE ELECTRICAL GRID
The Biden administration has announced $2 billion in funding to strengthen the U.S. power grid against extreme weather. This funding, directed through the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) program—a $10.5 billion initiative from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law—will support 38 projects across 42 states. The project includes adding 300 miles of power lines and 7.5 gigawatts of electrical capacity, focusing on new infrastructure and protections against disasters like wildfires and hurricanes. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm cited recent hurricanes, Helene and Milton, which heavily impacted North Carolina and Florida, as examples of why these upgrades are urgently needed. One major project includes a $250 million grant to the Tennessee Valley Authority to add 2,400 megawatts of transmission capacity. The initiative aligns with the administration's goals to bolster grid resilience, incorporate more renewable energy, and meet increasing electricity demands driven by sectors such as data centers.
STUDY FOUND GAS STOVES CAN SHORTEN LIVES BY AN AVERAGE OF 2 YEARS
Pollutants from gas stoves shorten people’s lives by an average of two years, according to a new study by scientists at Jaume I University in Spain. The research, which looked at households in the U.K. and EU, attributed 40,000 deaths per year in Europe to gas stoves. These deaths are primarily attributed to nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), a harmful gas released by burning fossil gas, which inflames the airways and is linked to heart and lung diseases. Note that the study only considered NO₂ and excluded other toxic gases like carbon monoxide and benzene. Awareness of gas stove pollution has lagged, even though evidence of the dangers dates back to 1978.
A separate study in May estimated that 19,000 U.S. adults die annually due to pollution linked to their gas stoves. While awareness of the dangers of gas stoves is still growing, efforts in the U.S. to transition to safer and cleaner cooktops include measures on local ballots as well as the New York Power Authority and NYC Housing Authority’s Induction Stove Challenge. The European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) is urging policymakers to phase out gas cookers by implementing emission limits, offering subsidies to switch to electric cookers, and requiring pollution risk labels on appliances. To reduce exposure, experts advise using extractor fans and ventilating kitchens while cooking.
MORE IN SUSTAINABILITY NEWS
Five ways a Trump presidency would be disastrous for the climate.
Election Throws Uncertainty Onto Biden’s Signature Climate Law.
Incase you missed it last week, here are some of the climate stakes of the Harris-Trump election.
The University of Chicago just opened a “groundbreaking,” first-of-its-kind climate institute.
A New Zealand City Could Soon Have a Sky-High Solution for Congestion.
AI robots are helping recover recyclables from the landfill in Chicago’s waste stream.
Berkeley researchers use turmeric-like powder to 'clean the air entirely' of carbon dioxide.
Scientists invented a new “bioplastic” that degrades in water faster than paper to replace Styrofoam and single-use plastics.
The Inflation Reduction Act’s transferability provision is unleashing $25B in clean energy investment to turn the value of clean energy tax credits into real-world projects.
Why cleantech is booming in red states.
Startup RedoxBlox raises $30M to commercialize its energy storage ‘booster’, a thermochemical storage system that is a cost-effective way to provide clean heat to fossil fuel-reliant heavy industries.
New York City is giving birth control to rats to protect wildlife and public health.
Good progress to celebrate: At least 16 U.S. states enacted laws restricting the use of “forever chemicals” in products so far this year.