Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Life On Earth Will Be Hotter, Deadlier Sooner Than Thought, Report Warns
The Washington Post: Humanity Has A ‘Brief And Rapidly Closing Window’ To Avoid A Hotter, Deadly Future, U.N. Climate Report Says
In the hotter and more hellish world humans are creating, parts of the planet could become unbearable in the not-so-distant future, a panel of the world’s foremost scientists warned Monday in an exhaustive report on the escalating toll of climate change. Unchecked greenhouse gas emissions will raise sea levels several feet, swallowing small island nations and overwhelming even the world’s wealthiest coastal regions. Drought, heat, hunger and disaster may force millions of people from their homes. Coral reefs could vanish, along with a growing number of animal species. Disease-carrying insects would proliferate. Deaths — from malnutrition, extreme heat, pollution — will surge. (Kaplan and Dennis, 2/28)
The New York Times: Time Is Running Out to Avert a Harrowing Future, Climate Panel Warns
The report released Monday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body of experts convened by the United Nations, is the most detailed look yet at the threats posed by global warming. It concludes that nations aren’t doing nearly enough to protect cities, farms and coastlines from the hazards that climate change has already unleashed, such as record droughts and rising seas, let alone from the even greater disasters in store as the planet keeps heating up. Written by 270 researchers from 67 countries, the report is “an atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership,” said António Guterres, the United Nations secretary general. “With fact upon fact, this report reveals how people and the planet are getting clobbered by climate change.” (2/28)
In related news about greenhouse gas emissions —
Politico: Supreme Court Justices Lean Toward Hobbling EPA's Climate Authority
The Supreme Court on Monday appeared poised to narrow the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to reduce carbon pollution from power plants, a move that could further derail President Joe Biden’s ambitious plans to fight climate change that have already suffered a setback in the Senate. The court’s conservative majority spent much of Monday’s arguments probing the extent of EPA’s authority, with Justice Samuel Alito at one point arguing that EPA essentially sought unfettered power over major parts of the economy. (Guillen, 2/28)
In other environmental health updates —
Detroit Free Press: Consultants Shift Blame As Flint Water Crisis Lawsuit Trial Begins
Two companies with expertise related to engineering and drinking water issues should be held responsible for professional negligence for their roles in the lead poisoning of Flint's drinking water supply, an attorney told a federal jury Monday. Officials at both companies knew the water was not safe to drink but they either said nothing or falsely told city residents the water was safe, Corey Stern told a jury of seven women and three men in U.S. District Court in Ann Arbor. (Egan, 2/28)
AP: Navy Tests Detect Elevated Petroleum In Pearl Harbor Home
The U.S. Navy said it detected high levels of petroleum in the tap water of a home while preparing Pearl Harbor military housing for the return of families who evacuated when jet fuel poisoned their water. The Navy said testing found a petroleum compound at a level of 460 parts per billion in one Halsey Terrace home north of Honolulu’s airport. That’s more than the 211 parts per billion limit the state Department of Health set for total petroleum hydrocarbons. (McAvoy, 2/28)
Houston Chronicle: Fifth Ward Residents Urge Union Pacific To Clean Up Rail Yard Near Cancer Cluster At Protest
Activist Sandra Edwards didn’t want Black History Month to pass her by without again calling attention to Union Pacific’s failure to remove all the toxic creosote that seeped into the groundwater and soil at the end of her street in Fifth Ward. Residents in this historically Black community are tired of fighting for change — but still they press on, promising they’re not going to stop. About a dozen gathered on a sunny but cold Monday morning to hold signs by the site and publicly ask yet again for the company to clean up its contamination. “Our voices still need to be heard,” Cookie Straughter said. “It needs to be a continuous thing, to let them know we mean business.” (Foxhall, 2/28)
KHN: ‘American Diagnosis’: From Church Rock To Congress, Uranium Workers Are Still Fighting For Compensation
People living on and near the Navajo Nation have been grappling with the legacy of 40-plus years of uranium mining. According to Environmental Protection Agency cleanup reports and congressional hearings, mines were abandoned, radioactive waste was left out in the open, and groundwater was contaminated. This episode is the second half of a two-part series about uranium mining on the Navajo Nation. Part I discusses the history and economic forces that brought mining projects to Indigenous land. It also explores working conditions uranium miners faced, and the response of the federal government when workers exposed to harmful radiation spoke out. (3/1)
Also —
Bloomberg: Ukraine Seeks Safe Zone As Russian Military Nears Biggest Nuclear Plant
The head of Ukraine’s nuclear-power utility called on international monitors to intervene to ensure the safety of the country’s 15 atomic reactors as an advancing Russian invasion nears Europe’s largest nuclear plant. The International Atomic Energy Agency will convene an emergency session on Wednesday in Vienna to assess the situation. The watchdog has been warning for days that the war threatens to trigger a wider tragedy by damaging nuclear power infrastructure. (Tirone, 3/1)
