https://li-cycle.com/news/interview-ajay-kochhar-ceo-li-cycle-electric-cars-will-create-battery-tsunami-in-the-coming-years/ Source: original article published in  Zev.News .  Excerpt: Batteries are a hot topic in electric mobility. From the concern to obtain raw materials to their end-of-life destination. Aspects by the way used by some voices to question the real sustainability of electric vehicles. The theme gains relevance in light of the exponential increase in electric vehicles expected for the coming years. A perspective that, outside the prism of concern, becomes an enormous opportunity for those capable of solving the problem and converting it into business. Precisely the proposal of Canadian  Li-Cycle . The startup founded in 2016 developed technologies to replace materials in the battery production chain. In a low-emission and scalable process, capable of partially replacing mining as a source of raw materials. Li-Cycle is now operational. And accelerating as a...

https://eos.org/articles/health-costs-from-climate-soar-to-820-billion ] Source: By  Jenessa Duncombe , Eos/AGU .  Excerpt: Climate change and fossil fuel use are responsible for hiking up the price of health care beyond what the U.S. spends on defense. ... A report released at a medical conference last weekend featured one very large sum. According to the synthesis of dozens of published scientific research studies, the price of health care costs attributed to climate change and fossil fuel use is at least $820 billion each year in the United States. The costs include expenditures associated with doctor visits, prescriptions, emergency room visits, physical therapy, allergy treatments, mental health care, and premature death. They also factor in downstream costs like lost work hours and lost wages. The costs stem either directly or indirectly from burning fossil fuels. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, and Wisc...

https://eos.org/features/is-green-las-vegas-gone-forever Source: By  Mary Caperton Morton , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: ...Will desertification overtake Nevada’s half-million-year history of wetlands? Long before the neon lights and artificial fountains of the Las Vegas Strip, people were attracted to the Las Vegas Valley by its artesian springs. Las Vegas means “the meadows,” after all, and for thousands of years, this valley tucked between arid mountain ranges was a startlingly green oasis in the midst of the Mojave Desert. In 1962, after decades of groundwater pumping, the  Las Vegas Springs ran dry , and today 90% of the water that flows through the valley’s faucets comes from the Colorado River by way of  Lake Mead . In the grip of an already decadelong  drought  and with the climate projected to get  even hotter and drier , the valley’s growing population of 2.7 million residents and 42 million annual visitors is expected to get even thirstier, making a r...

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/05/batteries-used-hearing-aids-could-be-key-future-renewable-energy Source: By  Robert F. Service , Science Magazine.  Excerpt: If necessity is the mother of invention, potential profit has to be the father. Both incentives are driving an effort to transform zinc batteries from small, throwaway cells often used in hearing aids into rechargeable behemoths that could be attached to the power grid, storing solar or wind power for nighttime or when the wind is calm. ...Lithium-ion batteries—giant versions of those found in electric vehicles—are the current front-runners for storing renewable energy, but their components can be expensive. Zinc batteries are easier on the wallet and the planet—and lab experiments are now pointing to ways around their primary drawback: They can’t be recharged over and over for decades. ...recently, some zinc rechargeables have also been commercialized, but they tend to have limited energy storage capacity. Another...

https://eos.org/research-spotlights/how-hospitals-respond-to-wildfires Source: By  Elizabeth Thompson , Eos/AGU .  Excerpt: A new study tracks intensive care unit admissions after periods of wildfire smoke pollution. A prolonged or severe smoke event has the potential to strain hospital resources. Wildfires are becoming  worse  and more frequent. Massive plumes of smoke—more  dangerous than urban pollution—disperse across entire continents, spreading inhalable particles that can cause smoke-related  fatalities  and exacerbate a range of medical conditions far from the actual burn site. In a new study,  Sorensen et al.  compared the concentration of inhalable  smoke  particles to local hospital intensive care unit (ICU) admissions by ZIP code. They found that an increase in smoke particles in an area was followed 5 days later by a small but measurable bump in ICU admissions. The researchers then simulated a severe, weeklong smoke sce...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/05/26/sea-snot/ Source: By  Antonia Noori Farzan , The Washington Post.  Excerpt: For months, Turkish fishermen in the Sea of Marmara have been running into a problem: They can’t catch fish. That’s because a thick, viscous substance known colloquially as  “sea snot”  is floating on the water’s surface, clogging up their nets and raising doubts about whether fish found in the inland sea would actually be safe to eat. Scientists  say  that the unpleasant-looking mucus is not a new phenomenon, but rising water temperatures caused by global warming may be making it worse. Pollution — including agricultural and raw sewage runoff — is also to blame.... 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/05/21/g7-climate-coal/ Source: By Brady Dennis, The Washington Post.  Excerpt: ...The outcome of the Group of Seven ministerial meeting — in which nations agreed to limit international financing for coal projects and eventually to end financing for such projects around the world — underscored the return of the United States as a force for global climate action after the country remained on the sidelines under President Donald Trump....