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Air Pollution Costs $255 Billion A Year
Worldwide air pollution caused 5.5 million deaths in 2013 from lung cancer stroke, bronchitis and other diseases -- more than malaria or AIDS; And the cost of pollution-related illness and deaths is $255 billion in lost labor last year, the World Bank said in a new report on Sept 8.

One tenth of all deaths in 2013 came from air pollution, said the World Bank.

But the real cost is even higher - more than $5 trillion in 2013 a year - when the Bank economists included what they call "welfare costs" - the money people would be willing to pay to prevent an early death.

One in ten deaths around world is from air pollution, said the Bank's report authors.

And even if London, New York and other wealthy cities have greatly cut pollution in recent decades, the toxic fumes have greatly increased in China, India and other growing economies.

Regarding outdoor pollution, some 87 percent of world population lives in areas above World Health Organization guidelines, said the Bank report.

About half the deaths are from outdoor air pollution, often from cars, industry and clearing forestland. The other half comes from indoor pollution, mainly from billions of people cooking with wood, dung and other smoke-producing biomass, said Urvashai Narain, senior environmental economist at the World Bank and one of the report authors, in an interview.

U.S. and other aid agencies have pushed for many years for people to shift from biomass to gas and electricity; or to adopt efficient cook stoves with metal or clay vents to expel smoke.

For example, U.S. foreign aid delivered to rebuild homes in Pakistan after a 2005 earthquake included a sheet metal cooking stove plus a few feet of exhaust pipe per family.

However, all the improvements from such new technology has been swallowed up, said the World Bank official, by the continued increase in population in developing countries. The planet is set to surge from seven billion today to 10 or even 15 billion in coming decades - depending on whether donor nations are willing to invest in family planning or not. In the United States and in Catholic countries such as the Philippines, providing birth control is a controversial political move.

Pollution causes respiratory disease, especially among children who stay close to their mothers in those smoky kitchens, as well as chronic bronchitis and lung cancer said the report authors said.

"We need to get the private sector to provide technology," said Ms. Narain. "Previous cheap fixes did not penetrate the market, or the technology breaks down and there is no support to maintain it."

The Bank works with a number of governments to develop policies and has made $6.5 billion in loans to cut all forms of pollution between 2009-2016. But the report does not say how to reduce air pollution and save those millions of lives lost each year.

"The report just shows the cost of pollution. It is a call to action," she said.

"We hope the report will lead to more resources to fight pollution."

However, the report confines itself to air pollution and ignores the huge number of toxic waste sources poisoning the soil and water.

In addition, the Bank report should have made a plan of action that could begin to reduce pollution, said Richard Fuller, head of the non-governmental organization Pure Earth, which cleans up toxic waste sites in developing countries.

"What is needed is a plan that varies from city to city to fix this nonsense," said Fuller in an interview.

"For example, city X needs those three power plants converted. City Y needs to shut down burning biomass in winter. Another city needs to convert to stringent European diesel standards.

"We have got to move way from hand-wringing and move to specific actions," Fuller said. "It is not rocket science. It is easy. We won't need to reinvent anything."

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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Air Pollution Costs $255 Billion A Year
Worldwide air pollution caused 5.5 million deaths in 2013 from lung cancer stroke, bronchitis and other diseases -- more than malaria or AIDS; And the cost of pollution-related illness and deaths is $255 billion in lost labor last year, the World Bank said in a new report on Sept 8.

One tenth of all deaths in 2013 came from air pollution, said the World Bank.

But the real cost is even higher - more than $5 trillion in 2013 a year - when the Bank economists included what they call "welfare costs" - the money people would be willing to pay to prevent an early death.

One in ten deaths around world is from air pollution, said the Bank's report authors.

And even if London, New York and other wealthy cities have greatly cut pollution in recent decades, the toxic fumes have greatly increased in China, India and other growing economies.

Regarding outdoor pollution, some 87 percent of world population lives in areas above World Health Organization guidelines, said the Bank report.

About half the deaths are from outdoor air pollution, often from cars, industry and clearing forestland. The other half comes from indoor pollution, mainly from billions of people cooking with wood, dung and other smoke-producing biomass, said Urvashai Narain, senior environmental economist at the World Bank and one of the report authors, in an interview.

U.S. and other aid agencies have pushed for many years for people to shift from biomass to gas and electricity; or to adopt efficient cook stoves with metal or clay vents to expel smoke.

For example, U.S. foreign aid delivered to rebuild homes in Pakistan after a 2005 earthquake included a sheet metal cooking stove plus a few feet of exhaust pipe per family.

However, all the improvements from such new technology has been swallowed up, said the World Bank official, by the continued increase in population in developing countries. The planet is set to surge from seven billion today to 10 or even 15 billion in coming decades - depending on whether donor nations are willing to invest in family planning or not. In the United States and in Catholic countries such as the Philippines, providing birth control is a controversial political move.

Pollution causes respiratory disease, especially among children who stay close to their mothers in those smoky kitchens, as well as chronic bronchitis and lung cancer said the report authors said.

"We need to get the private sector to provide technology," said Ms. Narain. "Previous cheap fixes did not penetrate the market, or the technology breaks down and there is no support to maintain it."

The Bank works with a number of governments to develop policies and has made $6.5 billion in loans to cut all forms of pollution between 2009-2016. But the report does not say how to reduce air pollution and save those millions of lives lost each year.

"The report just shows the cost of pollution. It is a call to action," she said.

"We hope the report will lead to more resources to fight pollution."

However, the report confines itself to air pollution and ignores the huge number of toxic waste sources poisoning the soil and water.

In addition, the Bank report should have made a plan of action that could begin to reduce pollution, said Richard Fuller, head of the non-governmental organization Pure Earth, which cleans up toxic waste sites in developing countries.

"What is needed is a plan that varies from city to city to fix this nonsense," said Fuller in an interview.

"For example, city X needs those three power plants converted. City Y needs to shut down burning biomass in winter. Another city needs to convert to stringent European diesel standards.

"We have got to move way from hand-wringing and move to specific actions," Fuller said. "It is not rocket science. It is easy. We won't need to reinvent anything."

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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Will The First Robot In the Boardroom Be A "Woman"?

"2016-09-09-1473435172-9455044-RobotWoman.png"

With the approach of Autumn, with Fall leaves getting ready to change: I made a short list of upcoming changes facing us humans, as we begin to make room on Planet Earth for more women on top, robots in the boardroom, and greener leaner communities.

By 2018: Major medical screenings including several types of cancers, by computers, may overtake human analysis in the lab.
By 2018: Seeing a 6% gain in NET profit based on 30% women in leadership, 30% women in leadership and management will become the standard. Fast-growth companies seeking higher NET profit will boost that figure to 40-50%.
By 2019: The Fossil Fuel Industry will diversify after admitting that their assets in the ground (coal)(oil) will soon = ZERO
By 2019: The dematerialization of the modern world will shift to small scale, local and sustainable.
By 2020: The corporate world is dematerializing. Your office may be at home or a seat in a collaborative, co-working space.
By 2020: The driverless car - in its own designated lane, will share the public streets with bikes and pedestrians.
By 2020: Pedestrians and bicyclists clothing or smartphone will include a device to alert driverless cars to their presence.
By 2020: Robots will guide humans to their seats at the Tokyo Olympics
By 2025: 25% of men will require a woman to support them.
By 2025: 50% of the workforce, mostly boomers, will be retiring. Will their knowledge go with them?
By 2026: The first robot will take a seat in a corporate boardroom
By 2028: 2/3rd's of America's wealth will be in the hands of women

QUESTION: What will women do with all that money?

By 2017: Women in government will begin moving government monies away from weapons, tanks, bullets and warfare, the the direction of education, healthcare, infrastructure and the eradication of poverty.
By 2028: The shift will be complete by 2028 and we'll enter the Earth/Brain era, using the dynamic male/female synergy, human centric creativity and innovation to preserve Planet Earth, sustainably.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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U.S. Gov't Pauses Dakota Access Pipeline Construction on Army Corps Land

[The following text is from an official press release by the U.S. Department of the Interior.]

Justice, the Department of the Army and the Department of the Interior Regarding Standing Rock Sioux Tribe V. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

9/9/2016

Last edited 9/9/2016

Date: September 9, 2016
Contact: Interior_Press@ios.doi.gov

WASHINGTON The Department of Justice, the Department of the Army and the Department of the Interior issued the following statement regarding Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers:

“We appreciate the District Court's opinion on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act. However, important issues raised by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other tribal nations and their members regarding the Dakota Access pipeline specifically, and pipeline-related decision-making generally, remain. Therefore, the Department of the Army, the Department of Justice, and the Department of the Interior will take the following steps.

“The Army will not authorize constructing the Dakota Access pipeline on Corps land bordering or under Lake Oahe until it can determine whether it will need to reconsider any of its previous decisions regarding the Lake Oahe site under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or other federal laws. Therefore, construction of the pipeline on Army Corps land bordering or under Lake Oahe will not go forward at this time. The Army will move expeditiously to make this determination, as everyone involved — including the pipeline company and its workers — deserves a clear and timely resolution. In the interim, we request that the pipeline company voluntarily pause all construction activity within 20 miles east or west of Lake Oahe.

“Furthermore, this case has highlighted the need for a serious discussion on whether there should be nationwide reform with respect to considering tribes' views on these types of infrastructure projects. Therefore, this fall, we will invite tribes to formal, government-to-government consultations on two questions: (1) within the existing statutory framework, what should the federal government do to better ensure meaningful tribal input into infrastructure-related reviews and decisions and the protection of tribal lands, resources, and treaty rights; and (2) should new legislation be proposed to Congress to alter that statutory framework and promote those goals.

“Finally, we fully support the rights of all Americans to assemble and speak freely. We urge everyone involved in protest or pipeline activities to adhere to the principles of nonviolence. Of course, anyone who commits violent or destructive acts may face criminal sanctions from federal, tribal, state, or local authorities. The Departments of Justice and the Interior will continue to deploy resources to North Dakota to help state, local, and tribal authorities, and the communities they serve, better communicate, defuse tensions, support peaceful protest, and maintain public safety.

“In recent days, we have seen thousands of demonstrators come together peacefully, with support from scores of sovereign tribal governments, to exercise their First Amendment rights and to voice heartfelt concerns about the environment and historic, sacred sites. It is now incumbent on all of us to develop a path forward that serves the broadest public interest.”

More on Standing Rock

Standing With Standing Rock and the Right to Clean Water

From the Front Lines of the Dakota Access Pipeline Protests

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Move Beyond "Dieselgate" At National Drive Electric Week

"2016-09-09-1473426839-4239839-ndewblog2016.jpg"

Photo Credit: Joshua Dowdie and Misha Kaur
Photo Above: 2015 Richmond California National Drive Electric Week Event

Have you ever thought about switching to an electric vehicle (EV)? Duped drivers of so-called "clean diesel" Volkswagen cars in particular may be in the market. This week, you have a terrific opportunity to check out truly cleaner cars at more than 200 National Drive Electric Week events nationwide.

After Volkswagen knowingly cheated emissions standards and manufactured cars that spewed illegal amounts of dangerous pollution, fueled sickening smog, and threatened the health of millions of people, the disgraced company is now offering their misled consumers a buy-back of their polluting vehicles. Almost half of the 475,000 affected U.S. drivers have already registered to participate in the Volkswagen AG settlement program. That means there are roughly 210,000 people in the market for vehicles that don't dirty our air or harm our climate.

Saturday, September 10 marks the start of National Drive Electric Week (NDEW). From September 10 to September 18, the VW owners now in the market for a clean set of wheels--and anybody else--can attend one of the more than 200 National Drive Electric Week events. Here they can get behind the wheel and talk to happy owners of vehicles that are fun to drive and cleaner for the air. Without dirty tailpipes, it's hard to cheat on tailpipe emissions tests.

Even factoring in the emissions associated with electricity used to charge EVs, these cars are significantly cleaner than conventional vehicles (and of course using solar power to charge them is the cleanest choice). EVs only get cleaner over time as we shift to more renewable sources of power.

National Drive Electric Week, organized by the Sierra Club, Plug In America, the Electric Auto Association, and many other local partner groups was founded on the idea that nothing converts the drivers of gasoline-fuelled cars to electric vehicle (EV) owners faster than conversations with existing owners and test-drives in cleaner, quiet and powerful plug-in vehicles. This week, we're expecting to hit the half-million mark for EV sales in the U.S. Will it be you that gets us there?

In San Diego, while parents check out the latest EVs, kids can get behind the wheel of a mini electric car. At the Poolesville, Maryland event, with an expected 10,000+ visitors, attendees will have the opportunity to win a wall mount charger for their EV. In Bakersfield, Cupertino, and Los Angeles, California, attendees can munch on food from delicious food trucks while test-driving the available EVs. In Knoxville, Tennessee, you can check out an EV tailgate party at the UT vs Ohio State football game. In cities like Juneau, Alaska and Richmond, California, event-goers will be able to check out electric transit buses. Mayors and other elected officials are expected to attend events in cities like Burlington, Vermont and Rochester, New York where people can encourage their local and state leaders to accelerate EV adoption through smart policies. The Mayor of Boise, Idaho will even be making a proclamation in honor of National Drive Electric Week.

Right before the launch of National Drive Electric Week, the White House announced several EV-related awards for federal agencies and leaders who have accelerated EV fleets, charging stations, and workplace charging programs.

An analysis by NerdWallet, created in honor of National Drive Electric Week last year, shows that owning or leasing the electric Nissan Leaf is significantly cheaper over a five-year period than the gasoline-powered Toyota Camry or the hybrid Toyota Prius--without even factoring in state rebates available to many. Thanks to federal, state and industry rebates and tax credits, decreasing prices in EV technology, and the much cheaper price of electricity versus gasoline, the cost of owning and operating an EV is notably lower than that of gasoline-fuelled vehicles. And with fewer moving parts--no mufflers, catalytic converters, or even oil changes--EVs are not only cheaper to fuel than any gas car, but they're cheaper to maintain.

With events in more than 200 cities, chances are there's a National Drive Electric Week event near you. So if you're looking to get rid of your dirty diesel car or generally thinking about making the switch from gasoline to electric, come out and see all the benefits EVs have to offer.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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National Parks in the Battle for Soul of America
Whoever said you can't go back home again was wrong. On a 10-day retreat to my Jamaican homeland in celebration of my 65th birthday I rediscovered the places and the ethos of the people that made me a fierce defender of Nature, our National Parks and public lands system, and a believer in Rep. John Lewis' "Beloved Community" where all are as one.

Our friend Sheena invests her days maintaining her lavish estate and gardens so luminous that they attract visitors from across the country and was featured in Health Home & Garden Jamaican Magazine, Fall/Winter 2015.

In a deliberate digital detox, I put my phone on airplane mode, did not get on my computer and watched no TV. Frank and I, our daughter Lisa from Atlanta, friends including Carolyn Hartfield of Hartsfield Hikers entered the mystical garden retreat nurtured by my high school friend Sheena, and surrendered to beauty and harmony.

Other friends privileged to still live in Jamaica came to our party and we ate by candlelight on the lawn. A nationwide power blackout was broken just in time for the dancing to start, and I danced to the carefree song I loved most as a teenager, "Wash all my troubles away," by Prince Busta.

Behind the house where I was born, the gully bed is filled with grass. I was ready to bemoan the end of the stream where I sat quietly for hours as a child, absorbing the feel and view and sounds of nature.
"Come man! I'll show you!" my eight year old cousin urged.

My twin cousins twice removed took me back to my gully and shimmied up the tree to bring me back unbruised otaheite apples.

Running up the street behind him, after a few yards he turned right and disappeared in the bushes. I followed and suddenly, there it was! Falling over a jutting rock, at this point the gully ran wild and free tumbling into a 3-foot pool below.

"Do you still see mangoes bobbing down the river?" I asked.

"Mangoes? No! Apples!"

"Apples?" I asked, thinking American varieties.

"Yes," he said, pointing.

And there it was. A gigantic Otaheitie apple tree FULL of delicious delicate red apples on the opposite bank - my second favorite Jamaican fruit that I'd been yearning for. My nephews shimmied up the tree and brought down apples in their pockets to protect them from bruising.

Visiting my high school Clarendon College I walked the campus with some of my classmates, a retired civil servant and a banker of almost 40 years. On the campus set on a hill overlooking a 300-degree panorama of undulating hills with shocks of flowering color, I realized how lucky I was to be socialized in this place. My friends referred to me as our class' English standout, and mentioned I was such a formidable debater that few thought they could win against me. Evidently, I was good at formulating the logical argument then that I've put into service on behalf of our national parks for 21 years.

With eight of us heading to Montego Bay for a concerningly pricey weekend, our hostess called her friends and in short order we had a villa in the mountains, a five minute walk from the Caribbean Sea, for the price of paying the helper to cook for us. Not only was she a fabulous cook but sitting out on the verandah and overlooking the pool, we were inspired by her stories of how she lives in faith and how it manifests in supply. She confided that she had an obligation which she had no way of meeting and was praying when we showed up.

So that's where I learned community, I thought. The unseen hand is moving us all in the direction where all needs are met, if we only love and comply. Our national parks can play such a big role in resetting us, which is why I cannot let go of the subject.

Our little band of travelers arrives in historic Accompong Town where we walked back in time to the successful rejection of British enslavers.

It'd take a while to mention all the friends and relatives who welcomed us, made our special foods, transported us, and gave us gifts from the land. In Accompong, the town high in the mountains founded by Africans that successfully resisted British enslavers, I sat under the tree where the resolute leader Cudjoe may have strategized with his generals, where descendants own the land and there's no taxes, police or crime. I found that courage, generosity and openness of spirit lives within me and was implanted without my even knowing.

I've often asked park leaders how it is that our national parks can be considered the "soul" of America yet so few people associated with soul are ever in them? And now I'm asking you to rouse yourself sufficiently to take an interest in Nature and our national parks as we are at a dire point. Go back to the place where you were socialized and find your innocent attunement to Nature, then bring it back to join the battle for the soul of our country with a focus on our founding values, "liberty and justice for all."

The tenor of the discourse in our society is particularly jarring to return home to after being away from it for awhile. Given that the Republican platform for our public lands is to tear the system apart and return parts to the states for predictable exploitation, it is no longer enough for everyone who cares to make sure we vote against that. Now it is imperative that each one commits to educating him or herself on the issues and find out where your elected representative or candidate stands. Then you must make them know what is important to you, and why. You must commit to make sure everyone in your circle gets out to vote and send an overwhelming message that we care about our country and the future of our children.

"We have fallen heirs to the most glorious heritage a people ever received, and each one must do his part if we wish to show that the nation is worthy of its good fortune," President Teddy Roosevelt said of our public lands at the turn of the 20th Century.

It's decision time.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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Time to look after your best friend - the one you never knew you had!
In this modern era of social media where we end up with many more friends than we ever thought we had, we all know deep down who our best friends are. Friendships have their ups and downs and when we get it wrong, like me, you feel that pang of guilt to make things right. So what if I told you that you had been ignoring one of your best friends - and for years! They were in touch with you from your earliest days, they made sure you were fed, they provided you with great holidays, they can be moody, sometimes even scare you, but at heart they have nurtured you from day one. Of course I am not talking about someone but something - the ocean.

We are all intimately connected to the ocean, but do we really know the scale of that friendship? Just in the last two months whilst researching the impacts of ocean warming for the biggest launch event we will hold at the World Conservation Congress in Hawaii in September, I was staggered to find out just how much the ocean has been helping us of late. Everyone knows about global warming, but fewer of us know about ocean warming, and where exactly all that extra 'greenhouse' heating of the Earth has been going. The reality is truly staggering. If the same amount of heat that has gone into the top 2km of the ocean between 1955 and 2010 had gone into the lower 10km of the atmosphere, then the Earth would have seen a warming of 36°C. Though most of us know that we owe it to the ocean that life goes on, we just might not have realised the degree of that debt.

So how can we repay that debt? Well it is not surprising that this role in shielding us from harm has come at a great cost. Our new best friend is feeling stressed - to put it mildly - so, just as with other friends, we should 'give the ocean some space'. We have been abusing this relationship, taking more out of the ocean than it can stand, and making it accept far more of the damage and impacts from our activities than is good for it.

So the urgency is to protect it, so it can recover. Whilst we have made promises to do so we have not been keeping up our end of the bargain. We promised by 2010 to protect 10% of the ocean but we failed on that, so we just moved the goal posts to 2020. If that was one of your friends, how might you feel? 'Lacking commitment' might be your mildest thought! The reality is we have barely protected 4%, and now even gone in the wrong direction and increased our activities in the remaining 96% to do things like seabed mining - years before we actually have the ability to check what effects this really will have. So what WE do in the coming years will make all the difference. Just as the ocean is made up of many drops of water, so the effort to save it will only come from a commitment from everyone. Politicians still seem surprisingly reluctant to take the lead, so let's create that situation so they want to head the procession.

The solutions are there for everyone to see. We must immediately and dramatically cut our emissions of greenhouse gases that are getting the ocean so hot and bothered. If we don't the ocean won't give up on us, but it will definitely change, and in ways that hold far less attraction and benefits, and many more problems. We need to challenge authorities to stop hiding behind closed doors and tell us what they are doing out on the ocean - how many of you know that an area of the seabed 80% the size of the contiguous United States of America has now been given over to mining companies to explore, just within the last few years? On land there would be an outcry, but in the ocean they are getting away with it. If you must eat fish only buy from truly sustainable and traceable sources. Avoid buying sunscreens and personal care products with the ingredient oxybenzone, as it is shown to damage corals. Don't use plastic bags and throw them away - always reuse and adopt a 'bag for life'. But we must also create many more areas to let the ocean recover - we call them marine protected areas. Join with ocean leaders and key conservation organisations to send clear messages that more must be done to protect the ocean. After all, we know rest and recuperation are some of the best tonics for recovery - so let's extend that hand of friendship to the ocean, and start repaying our debt with gratitude.

This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post in partnership with Ocean Unite, an initiative to unite and activate powerful voices for ocean-conservation action. The series is being produced to coincide with the UN's Preparatory Committee Meeting (Aug 26-Sept 9) on an internal legally binding instrument on marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction and is a part of HuffPost's "What's Working" initiative, putting a spotlight on initiatives around the world that are solutions oriented. To read all the posts in the series, read here.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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