ENVIRONMENT POLICIES, ANALYSIS, AND RESOURCES
Latest Environment Posts
A Third of the Population Continue to Cook our Planet
Brief #153 – Environment Policy
By Todd J. Broadman
The methods that many humans apply to cooking their food are proving to have a substantial effect on our environment and health. About 2.4 billion people cook food using a “dirty” biomass method of cooking which uses wood, animal dung, and charcoal fire pits or kerosene stoves.
America’s Old-Growth Forests in Need of New Protections
Brief #152 – Environment Policy
By Todd J. Broadman
Just over a third of what remains as forested land in America is classified as “old-growth forest,” equivalent to 167 million acres. By definition, old-growth is at least 80 years old, and just 24% of old-growth forest is fully protected – the balance exposed to the risk of logging. 58 million acres of this old-growth forest are on federal lands under management by either the U.S. Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management.
The Latest Spill Finds Politicians Ankle Deep in Tar Sands Oil
Brief #151 – Environment Policy
By Todd J. Broadman
Since the beginning of its operations in 2010, the Keystone pipeline has experienced 22 oil spills totaling 26,000 barrels of tar sands oil leaked into the surrounding land and water. The pipeline traverses approximately 2,700 miles, starting from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada and terminating at refinery locations in the Midwest and Oklahoma. The pipeline’s owner and operator is TC Energy.
The Move Away from Plastic is Looking Just as Flimsy
Brief #150 – Environment Policy
By Todd J. Broadman
We are a world addicted to plastic, the most perceivable, persistent and pervasive indicator of the Anthropocene. Plastics are produced from natural gas, feedstocks derived from natural gas processing, and each year more is produced. The current production rate is 400 million metric tons and is the source of 5% of CO2 emissions. By 2030 it will be 600 million metric tons, and 800 by 2040.
Americans Find Toxic Water at The Bottom of Their Well
Brief #149 – Environment Policy
By Todd J. Broadman
Worldwide, 1 in 10 people cannot access clean water within a 30-minute walk from their home and by 2030 this situation is projected to grow and displace up to 700 million. Closer to home, as the water treatment infrastructure in the U.S. continues to deteriorate, many Americans are facing a similar plight.
Environmental Provisions of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act
Brief #148 – Environment Policy
By Jacob Morton
On August 16, 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act, H.R. 5376. The new law is a scaled-back version of the Biden administration’s Build Back Better Act, intended to reduce the national deficit and lower inflation while investing in domestic energy production, creating jobs, and lowering healthcare drug costs. Here is a look at how the new law impacts U.S. environmental and climate policy.
A Path to Reducing Reducing Wildfires
Brief #147 – Environmental Policy
By Haley Moore
A new law ensures a future for forests with the environment in mind.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was passed into law on August 16, 2022. $375B will go to aid the climate crisis over the course of the next decade.
The Colorado River is Teaching a Lesson the Archeologists Know All Too Well
Brief #146 – Environmental Policy
By Todd J. Broadman
The Colorado River, a water source that irrigates 5 million acres of farm land and supplies 40 million people with drinking water, has long been severely overallocated. For decades, so much water has been diverted to supply farms and cities that the river’s delta in Mexico has dried up. Those that depend on its bounty are now in crisis as the western U.S. has undergone a 23-year megadrought and the nation’s largest reservoirs have subsequently dropped their water levels by three-quarters.
A Conservative Supreme Court Handicaps the EPA in its Fight Against Climate Change
Brief #145 – Environmental Policy
By Jacob Morton
On June 30th, the US Supreme Court, in a 6-3 vote, issued a ruling to limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions released by power plants that burn fossil fuels. The Court’s conservative majority argues that only Congress has the power to make such grand regulations, even though Congress already granted the EPA this authority. Dissenting liberal justices say the conservative majority is making up rules to protect Big Coal.
