Fall 2019: Science Under Siege

Solutions Vol. 50, No. 4 / Fall 2019 Science under siege The Trump administration is chipping away at the science that environmental protection depends on. Here’s why its efforts will fail. Page 8 6 Families S 158 EDFS wins 1216 SWildlife 1814 CaringS battle oil and business action and its heroic for your pet, gas pollution on climate protectors sustainably Lifeline for tropical forests Indigenous communities, such as the Kayapo (pictured), are the first line of defense against tropical deforestation. With the Amazon under threat by Brazil’s leader Jair Bolsonaro, the California Air Resources Board approved a new tropical forest standard, a set of stringent criteria for reducing deforestation that tropical states would have to meet to get access to funds from burgeoning carbon markets such as California’s. The criteria, developed with assistance from EDF, will help indigenous peoples in their struggle to defend their cultures — and the climate. CHRISTINA MITTERMEIERCREDIT LOOKING FORWARD Amping up the pressure for climate action I often worry about the kind of world my two young grandchildren — and all children — will inhabit when they grow up. Will it be a Environmental Defense Fund’s mission chaotic place marked by extinction of species is to preserve the natural systems and mass migrations of people from land on which all life depends. Guided by science and economics, we find rendered unfit by drought and floods? practical and lasting solutions to the most serious environmental problems. That prospect is alarming. And it’s why EDF, together with so many other organizations Our work is made possible by the and individuals, have never stopped push- support of our members. Donate ing for federal climate action. Now I see clear online at edf.org/newsletter or by mail: EDF, Attn.: Member Services, signs that we’re approaching a breakthrough moment. 1875 Connecticut Ave. NW, Ste. 600, Washington, DC 20009 After years on the sidelines, climate has suddenly become the number one voting issue for many Americans. In Congress, five climate Solutions On the cover: bills have been introduced so far this year, two of them bipartisan Vol. 50, No. 4 / Fall 2019 For the Trump Science and all including a carbon tax or fee. under administration, sound siege science has no place The Trump administration is chipping away at the science that environmental protection depends on. Here’s why its efforts will fail. in policy decisions, As I talk with business leaders, I find that many of them — encour- Page 8 especially on the aged by their customers, employees and investors — are stepping up. environment. Instead In August, United Airlines announced a partnership with EDF to 6 Families S 158 EDFS wins 1216 SWildlife 1814 CaringS battle oil and business action and its heroic for your pet, of following science, gas pollution on climate protectors sustainably measure and accelerate greenhouse gas reductions. Utilities Xcel the administration is Energy and National Grid have pledged to reduce carbon emissions attempting to deny and manipulate it, 100% and 80% respectively, and 13 oil and gas companies have set a starting with climate change. But EDF target to reduce their methane emissions to near-zero levels by 2025. is pushing back. Solutions senior writer Charlie Miller reports on our efforts to restore science to its central role in With its Project Gigaton, Walmart intends to remove a billion tons of decision-making. greenhouse gas emissions from its global supply chain by 2030. And leaders in the auto industry are pushing back against Trump admin- COVER PHOTOGRAPHY: THE VOORHES istration policies. Ford, Honda, BMW and Volkswagen snubbed the administration’s invitation to freeze their vehicles’ fuel economy and instead reached an agreement with the state of California to build cars averaging nearly 50 miles per gallon by 2026 (see p. 12). Solutions Editor Peter Klebnikov Most important, some in the business community are starting to Art Director Janice Caswell put their lobbying muscle to work for climate. For example, the CEO Climate Dialogue has brought together 18 Fortune 500 companies Environmental Defense Fund 257 Park Ave. South and four environmental groups, including EDF, to advocate for cli- New York, NY 10010 mate legislation (see p. 15). The goal is to use an economywide price on carbon to reduce greenhouse gases 80% by 2050. Main number 212-505-2100 Membership questions 800-684-3322 or [email protected] These initiatives add up to a welcome pushback against the denial of climate science in the White House. Science is the cornerstone of WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU EDF’s work with business and other allies. Today, we’re fighting hard Send feedback to address above or to advance science and defend it in court when it comes under at- email [email protected] tack, and we’re making progress. (see cover story, p. 8). CONNECT WITH US ONLINE All of this gives me hope. Now we must move, with all the tools at our edf.org disposal, to put a price on carbon and commit to a 100% clean ener- ©2019 Environmental Defense Fund. gy economy and net-zero emissions by 2050. If we want our children Published quarterly in New York, NY and grandchildren to have a livable world, we must start making ASSN 0163-2566 changes now. New York / Austin / Bentonville, AR / Boston / Boulder / Raleigh / Sacramento / San Francisco / Washington, DC / Beijing / La Paz, Mexico / London EDF President Solutions / edf.org / Fall 2019 3 FIELD NOTES NOEL LOPEZ FERNANDEZ NOEL LOPEZ A NEW WAY TO BOOST TEST SCORES Diesel engine retrofits that reduce harmful air pollution from school buses can improve student performance, and do so more cost-effectively than reducing class size. SOURCE: ECONOMICS OF EDUCATION REVIEW SHUTTERSTOCK Unlawful, Cuba delivers a win for fins ‘‘arbitrary and Cuba passed its first national keep tabs on dozens of im- fishing law, a sweeping re- portant fish species and set senseless form that will help protect the limits on catch, including EDF files a forceful island’s spectacular marine sharks and rays. Cuban wa- re sponse to EPA’s pro’’ ecosystems and small fishing ters are extraordinarily biodi- posed rollback of the communities. EDF has been verse, home to 60 different Mercury and Air Toxics working with Cuban partners species of sharks and rays. Standards. The limits for nearly two decades to shift The law also recognizes on toxic pollutants from Curbing toward this science-based, small-scale private fisher- power plants prevent emissions from sustainable fishing plan. men, giving them social secu- up to 11,000 premature a big box store Nearly 25% of Cuba’s rity benefits while limiting deaths each year. coastal waters are protected illegal fishing. When Dan Katzenberger be- — the island is home to some “This is a new vision for Add your voice came an EDF Climate Corps of the healthiest coral reefs in fishing in Cuba,” says Valerie to the effort to fellow in 2018, he took on a the Caribbean. But more than Miller of EDF’s Cuba Oceans stop this dangerous at- formidable task: to calculate 70% of its fish populations are program. “We’ll keep working tack in its tracks: all the carbon emissions of in decline. Under the new with fishing communities bit.ly/noHg80 the goods Best Buy purchases law, Cuba will expand the use and scientists to make sure and sells. This summer, build- of a low-cost scientific pro- this law keeps Cuba’s oceans ing off Katzenberger’s work, gram designed by EDF to healthy.” the multinational retailer committed to slashing emissions caused by the use of their products 20% by 2030. The commitment tackles a Our kind of fashion significant chunk of Best Buy’s overall emissions. statement “What we sell is far and To help us meet our goal of restoring 1.5 above the greatest part of our million acres of monarch butterfly habitat, footprint,” says Katzenberger, who now heads Best Buy’s re- TOMS shoes partnered with EDF* to create newable energy programs. a limited-edition shoe featuring the beloved Now in its 12th year, the butterfly. TOMS also donated $50,000 to Bio- EDF Climate Corps program diversity Works, a nonprofit that funds habi- trains graduate students to tat restoration in central Texas, a critical way- help Fortune 500 companies, cities and public institutions station on the monarch’s annual migration. pave the way to a lower emis- *EDF DOES NOT ACCEPT FUNDING FROM OUR CORPORATE PARTNERS. sions future. 4 Solutions / edf.org / Fall 2019 FIELD NOTES DREAMSTIME miles of deep-sea corals off MEET EDF the North Carolina coast, protections EDF helped secure. “The judge made the right decision, legally and environ- mentally,” says EDF’s Elgie Holstein, “but the threats to our marine and coastal envi- ronments continue.” The Interior Department relaxed safety regulations for offshore drilling that were meant to prevent a repeat of the 2010 BP Deepwater Dr. Doug Rader, Court halts drilling expansion Horizon explosion. chief oceans Roughly 60% of Americans — In a major victory in April, “The oil industry is going and all East and West Coast a federal judge in Alaska up- into increasingly hostile envi- scientist states except Alaska — oppose held an Obama-era ban on ronments like the Arctic and What are you working on? the expansion of offshore the expansion of offshore deep waters of the Gulf of drilling in U.S. waters. Still, drilling in the Arctic and Mexico,” says Holstein. As waters warm and species move into new areas, we’re the Trump administration has Atlantic oceans. The ruling “Accidents happen. That’s working to build climate resil- proposed opening 90% of off- could safeguard protections why more than ever we need ience, so healthy fisheries can shore areas for drilling.

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