Category: Society

There is not enough data about PM2.5 -- pollution associated with $3 trillion in health costs in 2015.
It can’t be collected because there’s not enough equipment monitoring the air quality -- for example, India has only 1 monitor per 6.8 million people.
Study authors indicate that, because of this, any rankings of most polluted cities are simply not based on enough data to be true.
For accurate measurements, it would take 1 monitor per 1 million people around the world joined in an integrated monitoring framework.
Achieving this goal would enable more precise atmospheric modeling and air quality forecasting.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on August 18, 2019

Study of northern USA shows that the health co-benefits of increasing renewable energy are bigger than the cost of implementing climate policies.
One of such policies is RPS - Renewable Portfolio Standards, requiring electricity suppliers to use a percentage of renewable power.
MIT research team developed a new framework, combining economic and air-pollution models to study the effect of policies on air quality, health and economy.
These results confirm other studies that found health co-benefits of policies to be bigger than the cost of implementing them.
The benefits come from reducing healthcare costs of treating people who have been exposed to too much PM2.5, the main pollutant from burning fossils.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on August 16, 2019

bu.edu

Two different US datasets related to homicide and suicide confirm the same conclusion - strict gun laws reduce gun death rates.
Both studies analyzed gun laws in relation to separate homicide and suicide datasets.
Short conclusion: people who shouldn’t have guns are getting guns.
Both studies show that the most effective laws are those that require checking for a history of violence and prohibiting sales to people recognized as violent.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on August 9, 2019

upi.com

Study of 3,300 infants, born between 2005 and 2011 in areas with heavy oil and gas production in Colorado, shows increased risk of heart disease.
The conclusion is that mothers living near oil and gas plants have from 40% to 70% bigger risk of giving birth to babies with congenital heart defects.
This research follows up on a 2014 study which also linked congenital heart disease in newborns to living in areas with heavy oil and gas production.
Each year in the US about 40,000 babies are born with congenital heart defects, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on July 19, 2019

ed.ac.uk

New report indicates that, in developed countries, consumers hold the most power to reduce environmental harm through changing dietary habits.
Less developed countries, on the other hand, require an increase in production efficiency to make food production less harmful.
Report authors concluded this from applying the “marginal gains” strategy (used by British cycling team) to the latest food & agriculture data from the UN.
Small steps, like reducing food waste, changing diets, and improving food production efficiency, could free up to 21% of land currently used for food.
Other reports usually suggest huge, impossible-to-implement ideas--instead, a lot of small changes would be more realistic, and still have a significant effect.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on July 17, 2019

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