Sustainability

Starbucks is taking steps towards being more sustainable with a new line of cold cups that use less plastic. 

With the coffee chain’s plans to cut carbon, water, and waste footprints by 2030, these remodeled cups are another step in that direction. The cups use 10%-20% less plastic compared to the original designs, and will now all use the same size lids. 

A team of researchers led by Kyle Walker has been testing different methods to cut back on plastic use while keeping the integrity of the cups at Starbucks’ testing lab the Tryer Center. Over the last four years, Walker’s team has created a new cup that doesn’t compromise on sturdiness or keeping drinks cold. 

“We invented new ways to test the cup that we didn’t have before,” Walker said. “Like, what if we take this feature and we move it up or down? Or what if we change the shape or the radius in this very small way? We were making all these micro-adjustments, and when we found the optimal combination, it was a real Eureka moment!” 

Sustainability benefits

In taking a look at the cups from the outside, regular Starbucks-goers aren’t likely to notice much of a difference. Each of the cold cups – tall, grande, venti, and trenta – will still all be the same size. The major difference is in how they’re going to be made. 

Starbucks has projected some of the key sustainability benefits over one year, which include: 

• Save emissions equivalent to taking 5,200 cars off the road

• Conserve about 2,800 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water

• Keep more than 13.5 million pounds of plastic from landfills 

Accessibility benefits

The new cups will also include accessibility features that will make it easier for baristas in the midst of a busy rush. 

There will be two ways of identifying which cup is which: the new cups will be embossed with the letter indicating the size, and there will also be raised dots on each cup that will correspond to the different sizes. 

Starbucks cups also feature different measurement and fill lines. With these new cups, those lines will be black and white, so regardless of the drink customers order, baristas will be able to see the lines and accurately make the drink. 

Additionally, Starbucks has created one lid for all of the newly designed cold cups. This will make storage easier, as well as make things easier for baristas. 

The new cups are being rolled out at Starbucks stores across the country this month.  

A new report published by the American Lung Association dove deep into the ways that switching to electric vehicles (EVs), and other sources of clean power, could greatly benefit the youngest population. 

The report, which focused on kids in Michigan, found that clean power could solve a great deal of kids’ health concerns. Perhaps the biggest finding: nearly three million childhood asthma attacks could be prevented by 2050 with the shift to EVs and clean electricity. 

“Here in Michigan, the transportation sector is a leading source of air pollution and are the biggest source of carbon pollution that drives climate change and associated public health harms,” said Ken Fletcher, advocacy director at the American Lung Association. “This affects our children’s health and well-being today, and as the impacts of climate change intensify, it will impact their futures.” 

Zero-emission vehicles and electricity

For this report, experts looked at the ways that transitioning to zero-emission transportation and non-combustion clean electricity could benefit children’s health. 

The study projected the health impacts on children assuming: 

• All new passenger vehicles sold are zero-emission by 2035

• All new trucks sold are zero-emission by 2040

• The electric grid will be clean-powered by 2035

Ultimately, the researchers found that should these changes go into effect over the next decade, there would be several health benefits for children by 2050. These include: 

• 500+ fewer infant deaths

• 2.8 million fewer asthma attacks

• 2.7 million fewer upper respiratory symptoms (wet cough, runny nose, burning eyes)

• 1.9 million fewer lower respiratory symptoms (coughing, wheezing, chest pain)

• 147,000 fewer acute bronchitis cases 

The impact on children’s health

The focus of the study was on children for a few reasons. The report explains that children are uniquely vulnerable to air pollution because their bodies are still developing and they have greater exposure to air pollution than adults. 

Additionally, the 2023 State of the Air report from the American Lung Association found that 27 million U.S. children live in counties that have unhealthy air pollution levels. 

“Policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels must focus strategies to rapidly move away from combustion technologies and toward zero-emission technologies to best protect health today and ensure children have safe and sustainable communities in which to grow,” the report says. 

Besides federal and state tax credits, another advantage of residential solar installations is the ability to sell unused electricity back to the utility company. But a solar industry group warns that some states are changing the agreement.

According to E&E News, several states are rolling back or reducing those payments, a move seemingly at odds with the federal government’s goal of significantly increasing solar energy generation by 2035.

In Arizona, utility regulators recently voted to reopen their “value of solar” docket. The Arizona Corporation Commission says the rate paid to solar users who sell electricity back to the grid needs to be reduced, calling the present rate structure “unsustainable.”

Commissioner Nick Myers complained that the present structure increases the monthly cost for traditional customers.

Not so fast

Many solar advocates reject that premise, saying the benefits of renewable energy are undercounted. They are expressing concern, even though the rate adjustment would not affect current solar customers, only future ones.

“Any time that rate changes, it creates uncertainty and makes it difficult to pay off the cost of that system,” said Autumn Johnson, executive director of the Arizona Solar Energy Industries Association.

According to E&E News, more than a dozen states have ended their net metering policies in the past decade. More troubling, the recent pullbacks are occurring in some of the largest solar states — and political battlegrounds — just another headache for an industry that is facing pressure from supply chain constraints and inflation.

In March, North Carolina cut its rates and replaced them with tariffs that match the electricity price a customer pays. Other states — including Colorado, Idaho and Wisconsin — are weighing their own changes.

Scientists say the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica may be melting faster than in past years, raising concerns about the consequences if it shrinks faster than expected.

It’s actually nicknamed the “doomsday” glacier because of what could happen if it began to rapidly add water to the ocean. In a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, researchers suggest the massive ice sheet could begin melting twice as fast as in the past.

To make their projections, the scientists studied the glacier’s movements over the last few decades. By studying tracks on the seabed, researchers were able to measure how far the ice has traveled over the last 100 years.

While the giant block of ice appears to be moving faster than in the recent past, suggesting a higher melt rate, it’s melted even faster in the past. The scientists determined that the glacier was shrinking at over 1.3 miles per year a century ago. That’s nearly twice as fast as it moved in the period from 2011 to 2019.

“Understanding the recent history of Thwaites Glacier, and the processes controlling its ongoing retreat, is key to projecting Antarctic contributions to future sea-level rise,” the study’s authors wrote. “Of particular concern is how the glacier grounding zone might evolve over coming decades where it is stabilized by sea-floor bathymetric highs.”

Faster sea level rises

The concern, of course, is how a faster melt might affect sea levels. The glacier is about the size of the state of Florida. Should it completely fall into the sea – something that isn’t expected to happen within this decade – scientists believe it could raise sea levels by up to two feet.

By way of comparison, the North American ice sheet that covered all of Canada and the Northern U.S. during the ice age, melted fairly rapidly at the end of the last ice age with extreme increases in sea level. According to Scientific American, sea level in some places had increased by 30 feet within a few hundred years, “more than if the ice sheet that still covers Greenland were to melt today.”

Anna Wåhlin, a professor of physical oceanography at Sweden’s Gothenburg University, says there are a lot of different scenarios that could play out for the Thwaites Glacier, not all of them bad.

"Exactly how big a threat there is is unfortunately still difficult to answer, but the fact that we finally have a data point that the models can tie back to is an important part of the puzzle," Wåhlin told NBC News.

A new study conducted by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill explored the risks of rising temperatures around the world. According to their findings, nighttime temperatures continue to rise as a result of climate change, which has been linked with a higher risk of death globally. 

“The risks of increasing temperature at night were frequently neglected,” said researcher Yuqiang Zhang, Ph.D. “However, in our study, we found that the occurrences of hot night excess (HNE) are projected to occur more rapidly than the daily mean temperature changes. The frequency and mean intensity of hot nights would increase more than 30% and 60% by the 2100s, respectively, compared with less than 20% for the daily mean temperature.” 

How heat affects consumers’ health

For the study, the researchers created two climate change models for nearly 30 cities across South Korea, China, and Japan. Their models tracked heat-related deaths from 1980 through 2015 and then projected what daytime and nighttime temperature increases might look like from 2016 through the 2100s. 

The study showed that as nighttime temperatures increase, the risk of death also increases. When the temperature is excessively high at night, the mortality risk could be 50% higher than on nights when the temperature isn’t as high.  

Additionally, the findings highlighted that nighttime temperatures are expected to increase more over time than daytime temperatures. This means that the risk of death as a result of exposure to extreme heat is even higher. Between 2016 and 2100, the mortality risk is projected to increase by six times; this is much higher than the projections related to daytime temperature increases. 

While these findings were focused strictly on cities across Asia, the researchers hope more work can be done globally to address climate concerns. They also hope policymakers step in to help consumers protect themselves against rising nighttime temperatures. 

“To combat the health risk raised by the temperature increases from climate change, we should design efficient ways to help people adapt,” Dr. Zhang said. “Locally, heat during the night should be taken into account when designing the future heatwave warning system, especially for vulnerable populations and low-income communities who may not be able to afford the additional expense of air conditioning. Also, stronger mitigation strategies, including global collaborations, should be considered to reduce future impacts of warming.” 

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) appears to have had a change of heart about electric vehicles. A year ago, the agency pushed back against President Biden’s federal EV goals, but it said on Wednesday that it now plans to make 40% of its new trucks electric, up from its original projection of 10%.

The Postal Service said it has determined that there is a “compelling need” and that it will make adjustments if it wants to continue to modernize and refine all that it does from routes to infrastructure.

The proposed expanded fleet mix will now include 41,000 electric vehicles, as well as purpose-built Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDVs) and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) vehicles.

Responding to pressure

The Postal Service’s change of heart might also have something to do with lawsuits and challenges from various groups, states, and lawmakers that have been directed at Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. For example, legislators have stated that they want the Postal Service’s fleet to be 75% electric, a number they felt achievable after the Office of Inspector General determined that more than 95% of delivery routes in the U.S. are acceptable for electrification. There have also been serious environmental concerns. 

"Postal delivery routes are stop-and-go by nature, which means that gas-powered delivery vehicles idle just outside people’s homes for much of the day. This daily pollution impacts nearly every single resident in the country," three environmental groups said in a separate lawsuit against DeJoy. 

"But the harmful effects of this pollution are felt most significantly by low-income communities of color, which are often forced to breathe compounding sources of pollution."

One last hurdle

The only hurdle left for the USPS to jump over before locking in the added electric vehicles to its purchase order is a public hearing in August. In its request for public comment, the agency said electrifying part of its fleet is just a start.

“Over the next ten to fifteen years, the Postal Service intends to pursue a multiple step acquisition process in our longer term efforts to fully replace our aging delivery fleet, and in that regard anticipates evaluating and procuring smaller quantities of vehicles over shorter time periods,” the USPS said. 

Agency officials said they are open to any ideas the public has about environmental concerns or potential alternatives they should consider in terms of pricing, operational capabilities, and market availability. Details on how to offer those suggestions are available here.

A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Leeds explored how carbon emissions and rising temperatures may affect children. According to their findings, reducing carbon emissions in an effort to lower temperatures may prevent thousands of childhood heat-related deaths. Conversely, the team says failing to lower emissions could cost more young lives.

“Young children are especially vulnerable to the effects of heat exposure,” said researcher Dr. Cathryn Birch. “They have limited ability to thermoregulate and high temperatures can increase disease transmission and outbreaks. 

“This research details the very real consequences of allowing carbon emissions to continue unchecked. Our results underscore the need for more ambitious mitigation measures to protect vulnerable populations and the need for proactive and effective adaptation.” 

Prioritizing kids’ health 

For the study, the researchers projected how rising temperatures have and will impact childhood mortality in sub-Saharan Africa from 1995 through 2050. They also looked at the relationship between emissions levels, rising temperatures, and childhood mortality rates. 

The researchers explained that childhood mortality has been increasing since 2009 due to rising global temperatures. They believe this trend will likely continue if efforts to lower carbon emissions aren’t put into effect. 

If no initiatives are put in place to lower carbon emissions, the researchers predict that childhood mortalities will reach 38,000 by the year 2049. On the other hand, getting emissions levels to a medium or low place could prevent many heat-related childhood deaths. Medium emissions efforts may prevent as many as 3,000 childhood deaths each year, while cutting emissions to the lowest level may prevent 6,000 childhood deaths. 

The researchers explained that children in low-income countries are more likely to have poorer health care and nutrition, both of which can be detrimental when temperatures are high. The team worries about how children will be affected, especially in low-income areas, if more efforts aren’t taken to lower carbon emissions levels. 

“Our results highlight the urgent need for health policy to focus on heat-related child mortality,” said researcher Dr. Sarah Chapman. “This is a serious present-day issue, which will only become more pressing as the climate warms.” 

While recent studies have shown some of the physical health effects of kids’ exposure to traffic pollution, a new study conducted by researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health looked at the cognitive impacts of that kind of exposure. They learned that when kids are exposed to a lot of traffic noise at school they may be at a higher risk for slower cognitive development. 

“Our study supports the hypothesis that childhood is a vulnerable period during which external stimuli such as noise can affect the rapid process of cognitive development that takes place before adolescence,” said researcher Jordi Sunyer. 

Cognitive impact of traffic noise

For the study, the researchers analyzed data from nearly 3,000 kids between the ages of seven and 10. The children went to 38 different schools in Barcelona, and the team collected data on their exposure to traffic noise from 2012 through 2013. The researchers also administered cognitive tests four times throughout the course of the study to understand how traffic may affect cognitive development. 

It was clear to the researchers that exposure to more noise at school affected kids’ development – specifically their attention and memory abilities. Complex working memory was the most affected by traffic noise, as exposure to an extra 5 decibels was linked with a nearly 24% slower than average development of that skill. Similarly, working memory developed more than 11% slower, and attention capacity developed nearly 5% slower when exposed to an additional 5 decibels of noise. 

The researchers also learned that traffic noise negatively affected students’ performance on tests. The more noise the kids were exposed to in school, the poorer they scored on tests in every subject. 

“This finding suggests that noise peaks inside the classroom may be more disruptive to neurodevelopment than average decibel level,” said researcher Maria Foraster. “This is important because it supports the hypothesis that noise characteristics may be more influential than average noise levels, despite the fact that current policies are based solely on average decibels.” 

After estimating the kids’ exposure to traffic noise at home, the researchers found that there was no link between their exposure and cognitive development. Now, the team plans to do more work to better understand if this association between traffic noise and cognitive development holds up in cities around the world. 

President Biden has taken another step in his quest to make the U.S. a leader in clean energy. On Monday, he invoked the Defense Production Act (DPA) in hopes of lowering energy costs, strengthening the power grid, and creating more lucrative jobs.

“Today’s clean energy technologies are a critical part of the arsenal we must harness to lower energy costs for families, reduce risks to our power grid, and tackle the urgent crisis of a changing climate,” the White House said in an announcement. 

“Since President Biden took office, the private sector has committed over $100 billion in new private capital to make electric vehicles and batteries in the United States. We have made historic investments in clean hydrogen, nuclear, and other cutting-edge technologies. And companies are investing billions more to grow a new domestic offshore wind industry.”

What the latest action means for the consumer

This most recent move follows previous efforts by the administration to create more wind farms and produce more electric vehicle batteries. Biden feels there’s enough positive momentum in Congress’ interest on clean energy investments and tax cuts that his newest effort will create a “bridge'' to an American-made clean energy future.

The White House said the latest use of the Defense Production Act would rapidly expand American manufacturing of five critical clean energy technologies:

• Solar panel parts (such as photovoltaic modules and module components)

• Building insulation

• Heat pumps

• Equipment for making and using clean electricity-generated fuels, including electrolyzers, fuel cells, and related platinum group metals

• Critical power grid infrastructure (like transformers)

The Biden-Harris Administration said all jobs that come as a result of this move will encourage the use of strong labor standards and make sure all wages are set at or above the prevailing rate and include local hire provisions. 

What’s to gain vs. what’s to lose

Biden’s team says his initiatives will lead to more domestic manufacturing, construction projects, and good-paying jobs, all of which will contribute to energy savings for families and a stronger utility grid. 

In its announcement, the White House said consumers will suffer if Congress fails to pass tax cuts or approve the investments that are necessary to advance U.S. clean energy. 

“Failing to take these actions would deny consumers access to cost-cutting clean energy options, add risks to our power grid, and stall domestic clean energy construction projects that are critical to tackling the climate crisis,” the administration stated. “At the same time, President Biden will keep using his executive authority to take bold action to build an American-made clean energy future."

A new study conducted by researchers from Cornell University explored how technology can help reduce consumers’ food waste. Their work tested a milk carton QR code that, when scanned, gave consumers a more accurate best-by date for their milk (as opposed to traditional cartons that have the dates printed on the product.) 

They learned that not only were the study participants eager to adopt this technology, but they were less likely to waste fresh milk when using it. 

“During the two-month study, over 60% of customers purchased the milk with the QR code, showing a considerable interest in using this new technology,” said researcher Samantha Lau. “This revealed that the use of QR codes on food products can be an innovative way to address the larger issue of food waste.” 

Improving food waste

The purpose of the study was to gauge consumers’ interest in milk carton QR codes and then see how successful the codes were at reducing food waste. The researchers noted that milk accounts for 65% of dairy product food waste in the U.S., which translates to over $6 billion in costs. 

Lau explained that much of this stems from confusion related to best-by and sell-by dates on cartons. She said shoppers tend to naturally gravitate towards milk that’s dated the farthest out; however, this means a lot of milk sits on shelves and ultimately goes unused. 

This experiment revealed some promising trends. When given the choice between purchasing milk with a printed best-by date or one with a QR code that would display the more accurate best-by date when scanned, the majority of participants opted for the QR code. 

Another component of the study was offering the participants a discount for buying milk that was closer to its best-by date. This helped the participants save money on milk and was also an effective way to reduce waste by getting more drinkable milk off store shelves. 

While the researchers want to see more of this technology integrated throughout the food industry, these findings highlight a valuable way to help reduce a significant portion of dairy waste in the U.S. 

“This makes digital trends really valuable, particularly if they’re combined to really allow us to collect data along the food chain,” said researcher Martin Wiedmann.