CT Climate News

Considering Connecticut's trash problem , anything that helps us do a better job with recycling is a good thing (in addition to reducing the waste stream in the first place). The Can'd Aid Crush it Crusade offers support to help get community recycling programs off the ground throughout the United States. Crush it Crusade grants provide recycling bins, training on how to launch and manage a recycling program, and seed funding, typically ranging from $5,000 to $10,000. Support is provided to organizations at all stages of development, launch, and improvement. Seed funding can be used for staff and volunteer training as well as various supplies needed to get a recycling program started. Applications may be submitted at any time. Visit the Can'd Aid Crush it Crusade website to review the FAQs (PDF) before applying.  

According to the nonprofit CatalogChoice.com, "every year, over 100 million trees are cut down to produce junk mail that often goes straight to the trash. What a waste! " No kidding. We just got an unsolicited 375 page catalog from Uline.com, and we promptly unsubscribed. We googled < Uline.com catalog unsubscribe> to find this link: https://www.uline.com/CustomerService/CustomizeMailing , which did the trick. You can unsubscribe from catalogs one by one, or you can try a service, like the free CatalogChoice.org . A NY Times article, How to Cut Down on Junk Mail , also suggests DMAChoice.org , a tool offered by the Data & Marketing Association, lets you remove your name and address from a number of these lists. After registering an account and paying a $2 fee, you can unsubscribe from entire categories of mail — like catalogs and advertisements — or unsubscribe from specific catalogs you don’t want. We're going to try that one today. You know what else you ca

Get inspired and energized this Earth Day. Join Sustainable CT and Dr. Jonathan Foley to learn about Project Drawdown in this one hour discussion. Starts at 11 am on Friday April 22. Register here .

CT State Senator Will Haskell announced last week, "Politicians can’t just talk the talk. Next week, @SenatorCohenCT and I are walking the walk. Our #CTCarbonChallenge will see who can have the smallest carbon footprint. I’ll be commuting via public transit, sometimes carpooling with colleagues, and getting creative to save our planet."  

Bank of America Global Research has a pretty interesting primer on what "net zero carbon" means, and the ins and outs of getting there -- or not. Summary here . Report here . From the report: Net zero carbon refers to the point where the total amount of carbon added to the atmosphere is equal to the amount removed. Most experts say we need to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 if we are to manage global warming. The report addresses questions like: Is reaching net zero even possible? Yes. And the capital is available. What sort of impact would net zero have on nations and their respective economies ? It'll be expensive, but not as expensive as doing nothing. Can we spare 0.4% GDP per year to save the planet? The IEA’s Net Zero scenario would require a $5 trillion annual energy sector investment by 2030 – double that of the average 2016-20 spend of $2.3 trillion – but $4.5 trillion per year by 2050 after the higher upfront investments are made. Net zero investments

From the League of Women Voters of CT: With fewer than 20 days left to act, our Connecticut legislature has the opportunity to move us in the right direction by passing S.B. 10 An Act Concerning Climate Change Mitigation S.B. 4 An Act Concerning The Connecticut Clean Air Act Cleaner air improves human health, protects the environment, and contributes to the reversal of climate change. We need clean air and clean electricity generation in Connecticut. Neighboring states are far ahead in making the transition to electric vehicles and decarbonizing the electric grid. Email or call Senate Leadership (Senators Looney and Duff) and ask them to bring S.B. 10 and S.B. 4 to a vote. Increase your impact by including your own legislators. ( Find them here .) Email template to adapt: Subject: Support SB 10 and SB 4 Dear Senators Looney and Duff: I am writing to urge you to bring S.B. 10 An Act Concerning Climate Change Mitigation to the floor for a vote. SB 10 requires the state to eliminate g

The UN Environment Programme has announced that the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) will receive $11 million from the Global Methane Hub and other sources to help countries achieve the Global Methane Pledge , an international commitment to reduce by 2030 man-made methane emissions by at least 30 percent from 2020 levels. The funding will let CCAC serve as a core implementing partner of the Global Methane Pledge. T11 countries, representing 50 per cent of global man-made methane emissions, have now joined the GMP. Noteworthy excerpts from the press release : Methane emissions reached record levels in 2021 , despite the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Rapid action to mitigate methane is one of the most effective strategies the world has to keep global temperature rise below 1.5⁰C. Reducing short-lived climate pollutants can cut as much as 50% of the warming projected between now and 2050 (0.6⁰C) and help achieve the Paris Agreement goal to limit warming to 1.

While the UN calls the climate situation a code red for humanity, Connecticut communities insist on making it worse with more development and less conservation. The latest is in Canton, and the would-be builder is Roswell Development, LLC . As Don Stacom reports for the Courant , the Canton site is former farmland along Lawton north of the CVS and UConn Health Urgent Care building. The property is bounded on the north by Washburn Road. The article reports that the planning and zoning commission last month appeared favorable to the idea when it discussed plans to extend the town’s sewer district to include the property. We're at an all hands on deck moment with climate change and biodiversity. But the thoughtless pursuit of property tax and a quick buck is doing us in. Here's the test: Would this development be part of the solution? Or just more of the problem?

Apr 2022 Webinar on Chemical Pollution In January 2022, a team of international scientists released a first-of-its-kind study revealing that chemical pollution has now crossed the planetary boundary safe for humanity, while projections show that chemical pollution will double and possibly triple in the coming decades. In addition to chemical production growing, the particular acceleration of plastics will devastate the environment and propel climate change. Further, production and releases are happening at a pace that outstrips the global capacity for assessing and monitoring, meaning these chemicals are not adequately tested, if at all, for their toxicity to humans and the environment. So what does this mean? It means we have to act. This Earth Month, we can pledge to collectively work on scaled solutions that bend the curve back towards health for people and the planet. Although everyone is affected, children, people of color, and low-wealth communities are disproportionately impact

The Connecticut League of Conservation Voters reports that thanks to our grassroots advocacy, these bills have passed out of committee and are on their way to the House and Senate: SB 4 is an air quality bill that will reduce transportation emissions by investing in electric school buses for communities across the state, incentivizing electric vehicle and e-bike purchases, adding electric vehicle charging stations, and other air quality programs. SB 10 will set a 100% zero carbon target for electricity supplied to Connecticut customers. SB 120 will prohibit the use of the chlorpyrifos on golf courses and restrict the use of neonicotinoids for nonagricultural use. SB 176 will allow more clean and renewable energy generated by rooftop commercial solar and shared community solar. SB 214 will make it easier to buy and maintain an electric vehicle in Connecticut by allowing manufacturers to sell directly to consumers. SB 292 will require clean technologies, such as heat pumps, to be i

I was pleased to read “Connecticut Democrats push bills to reduce transportation emissions, boost electric vehicles” [courant.com, March 9]. Kudos to the General Assembly for considering important legislation to address Connecticut’s air quality. Did you know the state has failed to meet federal health-based air quality standards for ground-level ozone or smog for nearly a half-century? As physicians, we see the effects every day on our patients. Poor air quality actually worsens acute and chronic respiratory problems like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other lung diseases and in some cases leads to death. According to a report from the Asthma and Allergy Foundation Asthma Capitals 2021, two Connecticut cities were among the 100 largest U.S. cities where it is most challenging to live with asthma — New Haven (No. 5) and Hartford (No. 17). Now consider that transportation is a leading cause of air quality problems, responsible for 67% of the nitrogen oxide emissions —

Kevin Budris, an attorney with Conservation Law Foundation's Zero Waste project, explains and urges CT residents to contact their legislators to tell them that burning plastic is not a solution to our trash and recycling problems. Read the full essay at the CT Mirror's Viewpoints . Less than 9% of the more than nine billion tons of plastic produced over the past seven decades has been recycled. Today, much of what we put into our recycling bins still ends up in one of Connecticut's five incinerators – or in an out-of-state landfill. Most plastics end up burned in incinerators, buried in landfills, or littered in our environment. Manufacturers keep churning out single-use packaging that can't be recycled. And every year, we're making, burning, and burying even more single-use plastic. Requiring corporations to ensure their packaging is reusable or recyclable and free of toxics – and holding them accountable for their single-use waste – can make a big difference. But