July 2021 – Page 3 – Climate360 News

Climate change is widely taught in American public schools—but students are receiving mixed messages

9Jul

By Climate 360 NewsNo Comments

Community, Louisiana State University, Science

Climate change is widely taught in American public schools—but students are receiving mixed messages

Only 27 U.S. states received a B+ or better on how they teach climate change, according to a report from the National Center for Science Education and the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund. Photo by Katerina Holmes on Pexels.com By Josh Archote Roughly 75% of public school science teachers in the U.S. teach climate change and almost all public school students likely receive at least some education about recent global warming, according to a 2016 paper from the National Center for Science Education. But students are receiving mixed messages from teachers about the causes of global warming, the report found. Among its findings: More than a quarter of teachers give equal time to perspectives that raise doubt about the scientific consensus.Few teachers doubt that average global ...

Ohio Farmers’ Key to Combat Climate Change? Transition to Organic

9Jul

By Climate 360 NewsNo Comments

Economy, Kent State University, Science

Ohio Farmers’ Key to Combat Climate Change? Transition to Organic

By Willow Campbell Sasha Miller, of Purplebrown Farmstead, checks on a young apple tree. June 13th, 2021 in Boston Heights, Ohio. Photo: Willow Campbell, Climate 360 Recent weather changes are threatening Ohio’s farmers, but a switch to organic practices could be part of the solution. All that’s needed now, is for the government to support the transition. According to the Ohio Livestock Coalition, “Agriculture is the number-one contributor to Ohio's economy,” with almost 75,000 farms in the state, and one out of eight jobs in Ohio related to farming. Most of the state has warmed by about one degree (F) in the last century due to the larger effects of global warming, as reported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2016. This change in cli...

Controversial policies result in Ohioans paying the price for dirty energy

8Jul

By Climate 360 NewsNo Comments

Energy, Kent State University, Policy, Video

Controversial policies result in Ohioans paying the price for dirty energy

By Grace Springer, Willow Campbell, Spencer Hayes, Madison Ledyard-King, Connor Fallon Perry Nuclear Power Plant cooling tower transfers exhaust heat into the air. Photo: Willow Campbell, Climate 360 COLUMBUS, OH — What has been dubbed by Vox and other news as “the worst energy bill of the 21st century” has put Ohio behind in the transition to renewable energy. Ohio House Bill 6 is energy legislation that provided bailouts in the form of subsidies to two nuclear power plants and two coal power plants. The bill also reformed energy efficiency standards in the state. The legislation passed by a slim margin in 2019 after a multi-million-dollar bribery scandal. The scandal involved several Ohio politicians including f...

No soil? No problem: Hydroponic farming could help combat climate change and food insecurity

7Jul

By Climate 360 NewsNo Comments

Louisiana State University, Science, Technology

No soil? No problem: Hydroponic farming could help combat climate change and food insecurity

A hydroponic system being used to grow livestock feed for British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. This project was conducted and funded by the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. Photo Courtesy of Lenore Newman By Domenic Purdy As the world population nears 10 billion by 2050, overall food demand is expected to increase by over 50%, according to the World Resources Institute. Climate change will make feeding that population more difficult in some regions. Increased heat stress, rainfall intensity, flooding and drought could reduce crop yields and leave once arable land unusable, leading to food insecurity, according to the Environmental Protection Agenc...

Education could reduce fashion industry’s carbon footprint and influence consumer behavior

5Jul

By Climate 360 NewsNo Comments

Economy, Louisiana State University

Education could reduce fashion industry’s carbon footprint and influence consumer behavior

All fabrics used by KaylaLynn Apparel are made in the U.S. and Europe and are OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified, meaning it has been tested for harmful substances and is harmless to human health. Photo courtesy of Kayla Sherman. By Ava Borskey BATON ROUGE, LA — When Bruce Cameron began teaching a sustainability class at the University of Wyoming in the ‘90s, he was pioneering a less-often offered course about the fashion industry’s impact on the environment. “It's evolved completely since then,” Cameron said. “Just about everybody has a class of this form if they have an apparel merchandising type of program on the campus.” Today, nearly 25 years later, Cameron serves as head of the Textiles, Apparel Design and Merchandising department at Louisiana State University, w...

How climate change is creating the new normal of California wildfires

5Jul

By Climate 360 NewsNo Comments

Economy, Loyola Marymount University, Morgan State University, Science

How climate change is creating the new normal of California wildfires

Climate change’s impact on California cannot be understated. Businesses and homes are preparing for a more wildfire-prone future. Graphic by Cristobal Spielmann. By Cristobal Spielmann, Brian Jeffries Wildfires are getting bigger and wildfire seasons are getting longer as a result of the impact of climate change. The recent massive heatwave across the Western United States set new heat records on top of a decades long megadrought. The high temperatures and dry conditions makes California the perfect environment for massive wildfires. Businesses integral to the California economy, like the nearly $10 billion wine industry, are bracing for an increasingly drier, more fire-prone climate. “It seems like the weather’s more dr...

Ocean warming could have negative effects on marine life and coastal communities

1Jul

By Climate 360 NewsNo Comments

Community, Louisiana State University, Science

Ocean warming could have negative effects on marine life and coastal communities

Ocean warming could disrupt marine life ecosystems and have negative effects on coastal communities that rely on fisheries. Photo by thanhhoa tran on Pexels.com By Ava Borskey, Nicole Nguyen Jade Cave has lived near the ocean since her family moved to Fiji, a small island in the South Pacific, when she was 6 years old. “I was raised by a community of people whose history and culture are directly linked to the ocean,” Cave said. “It was a fundamental aspect of the identity of the country that raised me.” Now 17 and a resident of Cape Town, South Africa, Cave has continued to observe the impacts the ocean has on her life. “When I look at the ocean…I see coastal communities all over the global South whose lives, cultures, history and existence is held in that water,” Cave said....