Getting the Lead Out: Removing It from Gasoline Helped Diminish Crime (and Raise IQs) Taberandrew via Flickr/CC BY 2.0 The dangers of lead have been known for years; that's why it was banned from gasoline in the 1970s. It was known to reduce IQs and according to a 1996 study, "those with the highest concentrations of lead – still below government-recommended safe levels – had tests scores showing more aggression, attentional disorders and delinquency.
" Now Kevin Drum has written a remarkable article in Mother Jones that ties the decline in the use of lead to the decline in crime across America. Not only that, the data are identical around the world; crime didn't decline because of abortion rules like the Freakonomics boys say, or because of Rudy Guliani, as Rudy Guliani says, but because of the one change that happened everywhere: The banning of lead in gasoline. Put all this together and you have an astonishing body of evidence. In the Guardian, George Monbiot was surprised. It seemed, at first, preposterous. ICCT-ClimateWorks: well-designed vehicle standards and fuel feeds could reduce combined US, China and EU CO2 emissions by 1.3 Gt in 2030, boost economy. The US, China, and the EU could reduce their combined annual CO2 emissions by 1.3 Gt in 2030 by implementing well-designed vehicle performance standards and fuel fees, according to a new analysis by a team from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) and the ClimateWorks Foundation.
Cumulative CO2reductions from 2010 through 2030 would total almost 10 Gt, with a cumulative net savings of $800 billion to $1.5 trillion over the same period, according to the recently published paper, “How Vehicle Standards and Fuel Fees Can Cut CO2 Emissions and Boost the Economy” The study is the second installment of the ClimateWorks “Policies That Work” series. If policymakers are to succeed in their efforts to foster economic growth, improve public health, and protect the environment, they need to know which policies work, which don’t, and why.
The analysts find that two types of policies have proved the most effective at significantly reducing emissions from road transportation: Dirty Utilities Cry Wolf on Electricity Reliability to Block Health Protections. By Climate Guest Contributor on December 2, 2011 at 3:07 pm "Dirty Utilities Cry Wolf on Electricity Reliability to Block Health Protections" Experts in Government and Industry Call Their Bluff Natural gas plants have considerable capacity to increase generation to offset the loss of coal capacity. Efficiency can offset even more at lower cost. Even so some utilities and coal companies want to water down new mercury emissions reductions. By Daniel J. The December 16 deadline approaches for the Environmental Protection Agency to issue its final rule to reduce airborne toxic chemicals from coal-fired power plants. Even though plants would have until 2015 before the rule is enforced, some vocal utilities and coal companies—coal-fired power plants are the largest source of mercury pollution in the United States—want the Obama administration to delay and weaken these health safeguards before they are finalized.
An earlier version of this analysis concluded: It commented to EPA: – Daniel J. Bad logic? Job-killing environmental regulations? Milieu niet op één bij staatssecretaris van milieu. De Nederlandse Publieke Omroep maakt gebruik van cookies. We maken een onderscheid tussen functionele cookies en cookies voor het beheer van webstatistieken, advertenties en social media. De cookies bevatten geen persoonsgegevens en zijn dus niet tot een individu te herleiden. Met de cookies voor advertenties en social media worden mogelijk door derden gegevens verzameld buiten de websites van de Nederlandse Publieke Omroep. Bij instellingen kun je aangeven deze cookies niet te accepteren.
Door hiernaast op akkoord te klikken of door gebruik te blijven maken van deze website, geef je toestemming voor het plaatsen van cookies bij bezoek aan de websites van de Nederlandse Publieke Omroep. Meer weten over deze cookies, of wil je de cookie-instellingen voor onze websites wijzigen? Waarom cookies? De Nederlandse Publieke Omroep maakt gebruik van cookies. Klik hier voor meer informatie over cookies en een overzicht van de sites waar je toestemming voor geldt. Cookie instellingen aanpassen? America, Awaken. Energy and global warming news for January 14, 2011: China sets goals to reduce emissions of pollutants and leads world to record global spending on clean energy « Climate Progress.
20101108 Aanpak zure regen: voorbeeld effectief milieubeleid zonder schade aan economie. Persbericht | 08-11-2010 De bossen zijn niet doodgegaan. Niet omdat zure regen destijds geen echt probleem was, zoals soms wordt gesuggereerd, maar omdat de overheid tijdig maatregelen trof waardoor onomkeerbare effecten op grote schaal konden worden voorkomen. Daarmee is het verzuringsbeleid een voorbeeld van effectief milieubeleid waarvan de economie geen nadeel ondervond, zo concludeert het Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving (PBL) in de studie 'Zure regen – een analyse van dertig jaar verzuringsproblematiek in Nederland’, die vandaag wordt aangeboden aan Staatssecretaris Atsma van Infrastructuur en Milieu.
Afname emissies bij groei emissiebronnen Voor de verzuring spelen drie stoffen een belangrijke rol: zwaveldioxide, stikstofoxiden en ammoniak. Zwaveldioxide is afkomstig van kolencentrales, raffinaderijen en de industrie. Genomen maatregelen De uitstoot van zwaveldioxide is internationaal aangepakt, doordat de Europese Unie de kolencentrales verplichtte het rookgas te ontzwavelen. Links. Oh my gosh! Internalizing negative externalities is unconstitutional. The Chilling Effects of Recessions: Battling Climate Change During Bad Times. Matt Kotchen and I have written a new NBER Working Paper that we hope will interest you. Environmental Concern and the Business Cycle: The Chilling Effect of Recession Matthew E. Kahn, Matthew J. KotchenNBER Working Paper No. 16241Issued in July 2010 This paper uses three different sources of data to investigate the association between the business cycle—measured with unemployment rates—and environmental concern.
Bloggers are funny people.
Corus. Tokio. CO2-benchmark overheidskantoren van start. New EPA Website Simplifies Searches for Clean Water Act Violatio. May 3, 2010 Clean Water Act violations have always been serious business. This month, Hovnanian Enterprises agreed to pay the EPA $1 million for violations in 18 states. The EPA’s new portal for viewing Clean Water Act violations from its Annual Non-Compliance Report (ANCR) will make it more important than ever for businesses to steer clear of serious infractions. “EPA is taking another important step to increase transparency and keep Americans informed about the safety of their local waters,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Making this information more accessible and understandable empowers millions of people to press for better compliance and enforcement in their communities.” The website provides a map of the country, allowing users to view violations by state and company.
The interactive map is available at www.epa-echo.gov/echo/ancr/us/. Natuur en Milieu | Gegevens schadelijke stoffen olieraffinaderij. EU to Allow Dirtiest Coal-Fired Plants to Operate until 2023 wit. The European Union has agreed that coal-fired plants don’t have to cut emissions that cause acid rain if they shut down by the end of 2023 or after 17,500 hours of operation, and power stations that operate into 2024 and beyond must start reducing pollutants such as sulphur and nitrogen oxides under a deal for the new Industrial Emissions Directive, reports Reuters. The rules do not cover carbon dioxide emissions. German liberal politician Holger Krahmer, who represented the European Parliament in the talks, told Reuters the deal, which was formally approved by EU ambassadors on Friday (June 18), improves the regulation of most industrial installations but described the opt-outs for coal-fired power plants as a “European tragedy.”
The European Parliament also agreed to extend the life of large combustion plants, typically found in power stations, petrol refineries and steel works, which mean these plants do not have to comply with the directive until July 1, 2020, reports EuropeanVoice. Ozone Treaty Could Reverse HFC Incentives · Environmental Leader. Talks on an ozone treaty in Geneva could result in a reversal of financial incentives for businesses that produce hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), according to a report in the Associated Press.
The talks concern the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which encourages the use of HFCs to replace chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as a more ozone friendly alternative. The U.N. and World Bank jointly administer a worldwide fund that spends $150 million on companies that work toward replacing CFCs with hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) which then decompose into (HFCs). However, both CFCs and HFCs are powerful greenhouse gasses, according to report, up to 10,000 times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping solar heat. But greenhouse gasses are covered by a separate treaty, the Kyoto treaty. Under that treaty, which recognizes the greenhouse potential of HFCs, companies are paid to capture and incinerate the HFC byproducts they produce.
HFCs are commonly used as a refrigerant.