Many gas guzzlers traded in for EVs go to poor countries “The incipient wave of EV purchases raises a question: What will happen to the millions of gas-powered cars whose owners no longer want them? The likely answer: rich nations will dispatch them to developing countries. An influx of used gas cars in the Global South would be welcomed, a luxury that many in affluent countries take for granted. But it would undermine efforts to mitigate climate change, since shifting gas guzzlers from one country to another doesn’t lower global emissions. “It’s natural for people in the developing world to desire the same luxuries that characterize middle-class comfort in wealthier countries. The question is how to manage a transition. Today’s steady flow of used cars into the Global South could become a torrent as the rich world electrifies. Roughly a quarter of used cars sent to the developing world adhere to emissions standards that are at least 21 years old. “According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), some 3.1 million used cars were exported in 2022, up from 2.4 million in 2015. Most come from Japan, Europe, and the United States. International carmakers send few new vehicles to the Global South and rarely establish production facilities there. Wealthy countries have generally turned a blind eye to the shoddy quality of used cars sent overseas. The receiving countries can also take a laissez faire approach.” More at – Rich countries are flooding the developing world with their used gas cars | Vox. Global South goes EV with retrofit conversions “Over the last few years, as the popularity of EVs has grown, so has interest in retrofitting regular vehicles. González Barrios and his team at Organización Autolibre have helped convert thousands of traditional vehicles into e-cars across 14 Latin American countries. The company trains individuals and mechanics through online courses, and supervises conversions for corporate fleets. So far, at least 40 companies have used Organización Autolibre’s services. “González Barrios initially used some American EV kits to retrofit vehicles, but when those became too costly, Autolibre partnered with Zhuhai Enpower Electric, a Chinese electric power system company. The Latin American Retrofit Association, co-founded by González Barrios, now has more than 30 members across the region. All are either distributors of EV retrofit kits or have workshops specializing in the process. Once they’ve been modified, retrofitted vehicles must get government permits that allow them to be on the road in specific countries.” More at – How to turn gas cars into electric vehicles in Latin America | Rest of World. Road costs outweigh benefits: depaving would save money “The US spends billions each year constructing and repairing roadways. But new research finds that the costs of expanding roads in urban areas are three times greater than its potential benefits. According to the Journal of the American Planning Association, ‘Expanding roadway systems is unlikely to have anything close to the economic benefits that state and federal policymakers hope for’. “The researchers considered several kinds of costs: Direct government spending on roads, pollution and traffic deaths, and the value of roadway land that could otherwise be used for different purposes. The authors estimate that roads account for a fifth to a quarter of all urbanized land in the US — that’s equal to the total area of West Virginia. They quantify the total value of that land as $4.1 trillion in 2016. Adjusted for inflation, that’s $5.4 trillion today. “Many economists argue that adding new lanes simply increases the supply of cars on the road and doesn’t substantially reduce congestion — a concept known as induced demand. The study’s authors also urge policies that remove existing roads. They find that reducing roadway area by 10% would yield a net benefit of nearly $28 billion a year.” More at – Costs of Adding New Roads Far Exceed Benefits, Study Finds | Bloomberg. Depaving for a climate resilient city “A close look at pretty much any urban area will reveal plenty of impervious surface that simply doesn’t need to be there — from tiny patches of ground like redundant pieces of sidewalk and abandoned lots to schoolyards, nurseries, parking lots, public squares, extra lanes on roads that are never used, parking spots on streets where no one ever parks, and so on. More and more cities around the world are beginning to question whether all this pavement is really necessary. And where the answer is ‘no’, might there be gains to be made from de-paving? “People have been asking these kinds of questions for years – the Green Guerilla movement, for example, formed in New York City in the 1970s. Proponents say depaving allows water to soak into the ground, which reduces flooding in times of heavy rain – aiding the ‘sponginess’ of cities. The loss of natural surfaces is exacerbating the urban heat island effect and the myriad health impacts that come with it. Native plants help wildlife cling on in urban spaces, and by planting trees you can increase shade, protecting residents from heatwaves. Injecting city streets with greenery may even improve people’s mental health. “But the idea of removing unnecessary impervious surfaces from our cities is increasingly now shifting from the margins to the mainstream. In 2007, Arif Khan wanted a garden. He had recently moved into a house in Portland, Oregon, whose backyard was covered in asphalt. Some friends helped him tear up the impervious surface, and soon after, they won a small grant to carry out a similar project in front of a local cafe. The Oregon-based nonprofit, Depave, has worked with schools, social service organizations, local businesses and other entities to implement depaving projects across the city. “But if depaving is ever going to really take off, it will have to expand beyond a handful of eager environmentalists and volunteers. With the climate crisis deepening, some cities and even entire regions are beginning to adopt depaving as part of their climate adaptation strategies.” More at – From gray to green: How (and why) to depave | Frontier Group, and These Cities Are Depaving for a Cooler Future | Next City, and The cities stripping out concrete for earth and plants | BBC, and Depave.org. Small towns lead in parking mandate reform “While large cities like San Jose, California, and Austin, Texas, garner national press coverage for eliminating parking mandates, this policy reform is most commonly enacted in towns with fewer than 25,000 residents. According to the Parking Reform Network’s mandates map, for every large American city (with a population of 250,000 or more) that has fully repealed parking mandates, there are two small towns (fewer than 25,000 people) that have done the same. “With little to no media coverage, those small town parking reforms are less likely to make it onto the map. The database also fails to acknowledge the small towns that never adopted parking mandates in the first place, and still manage to get along just fine. New commercial centers in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia were built around walkability, not parking lots. The removal of parking mandates made it possible for a building in Ecorse, Michigan to find new life as a local restaurant. ” More at – Twice As Many Small Towns Have Eliminated Parking Mandates As Large Cities | Sightline Institute. Gagging on plastic garbage “The world creates 57 million tons of plastic pollution every year and spreads it from the deepest oceans to the highest mountaintop to the inside of people’s bodies. It’s enough pollution each year to fill New York City’s Central Park with plastic as high as the Empire State Building, according to researchers at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. India leads the world in generating plastic pollution, followed by Nigeria, Indonesia, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia and Brazil. ‘We shouldn’t put the blame, any blame, on the Global South’, said study author Costas Velis. The study misses the significance of the global trade in plastic waste that has rich countries sending it to poor ones. Outside experts worried that the study’s focus on pollution, rather than overall production, lets the plastics industry off the hook. “Making plastics emits large amounts of greenhouse gas that contribute to climate change. The study ‘risks us losing our focus on the upstream and saying, hey now all we need to do is manage the waste better’, said Neil Tangri at GAIA, a zero waste and environmental justice group.” More at – The world is pumping out 57 million tons of plastic pollution a year | AP News. 13,000 year old oak threatened by urbanization “The Jurupa Valley, California, City Council approved a development plan Thursday that would place the world’s oldest known living oak in jeopardy. The plan to build residential, industrial and commercial development on the 900-plus acre site calls for a 450-feet buffer around the Jurupa Oak where project activities such as construction cannot occur and a 550-feet buffer from any buildings. Such a short distance from construction activities may be insufficient to ensure the survival of the Palmer’s oak, which is at least 13,000 years old. “Carefully documented by researchers from the University of California Riverside and others, this oak was alive when saber-toothed cats, mammoths, giant ground sloths, and dire wolves roamed a very different Southern California landscape. Currently it’s one of the oldest known living organisms on Earth — more than twice as old as Methuselah, the better-known 5,000-year-old bristlecone pine in eastern California. “‘The Horuuvunga Oak is not just a tree, it is a living symbol of our ancestral connection to this land, estimated to be between 13,000 and 18,000 years old’, said Laura Jaime of the Shiishongna Tongva Nation Corona Band of Gabrielino Indians. ‘It’s shocking and sad to see the city fail to protect an ancient plant that is truly a wonder to behold’, said Meredith Stevenson, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. Stevenson said the coalition of groups is looking at options moving forward.” More at – California City OKs Development Threatening World’s Oldest Known Living Oak | Center for Biological Diversity, and California city approves industrial park next to one of Earth’s oldest trees | MSN, and Jurupa Oak | Wikipedia. Rich farm subsidies up, food stamps down, in Farm Bill “Instead of writing a new farm bill, the least productive House of Representatives in generations spent 21 days flailing and replacing the speaker. It wasted time on bills with no prospect of becoming law, such as: the Stop Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards Act. It also found time to rename a slew of post offices and other federal buildings. Then the House went on vacation for the summer. “The distinguishing feature of the proposed 2024 farm bill the House Agriculture Committee wrote is its stunning price tag. It will spend more than $1 trillion, $43 billion dollars more than the current law. The Senate agriculture committee has yet to produce anything. Boosts in subsidies for individual crops — as much as 20% — account for most of the new spending. At the same time, the limit a single farm can earn will jump almost 25%. These two changes cost more than $1 billion dollars. “The bill carves new exemptions into the caps that restrict the largest, richest farmers from receiving payments. The House bill proposes the largest cut in 30 years to food stamps — now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. For every dollar it cuts from SNAP, it adds two dollars in new farm subsidies.” More at – Where’s the latest farm bill? Follow the proposed spending for clues. | Kansas Reflector. Regs finalized: preserve 28M acres of Alaskan wilderness “Following an extensive public process, Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, two weeks ago finalized the decision to retain protections for 28 million acres of public lands across Alaska. In the final days of the Trump administration, then-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt made a last-minute bid to open up large chunks of D1 lands for industrial use, particularly oil and gas extraction. Bernhardt failed to get this ruling finalized before Biden entered office and swiftly paused the decision. “The decision will conserve large pockets of land and water scattered across parts of Kobuk-Seward, Bering Sea-Western Interior Bay, East Alaska and the Ring of Fire regions of the state. While some Alaska Natives are in support of drilling due to its revenue, many have spoken out about the importance of protecting the nature that they rely on for traditional subsistence practices. “During the public comment period, the Bureau of Land Management gathered input from Alaska Native Tribes and Native Corporations, rural and urban communities, and the public, including 19 community meetings. ‘Tribal consultation must be treated as a requirement —not an option — when the federal government is making decisions that could irrevocably affect Tribal communities’, said Secretary Haaland.” More at – Biden-Harris Administration affirms protection of 28 million acres of public lands in Alaska | Bureau of Land Management, and 28 Million Acres of Alaska Public Lands Protected from Oil Drilling Following Trump-Era Reversal | Inside Climate News.