Massive hurricane is a clear warning

Happy Sunday!

For anyone with us for the first time, welcome to Voyage Green News! We provide a weekly dose of news and inspiration for a sustainable life. 💚 

♻️ This week’s sustainability news

Devastating hurricane is a result of the warming climate

What’s happening: Dozens of people died in several states this week when Hurricane Helene hit the Southeastern United States. The storm brought heavy rain and a 15-foot high wave. Coastal towns and cities in Florida were badly damaged when the strong hurricane hit, but inland areas also suffered as the storm moved through North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee.

Why it’s happening: Scientists have explained that climate change made the hurricane's flooding worse. Hurricane Helene was a very large storm. It started in the Caribbean and moved over very warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, which made it stronger quickly. In just two days, it went from a weak storm to a powerful Category 4 hurricane. Warmer air holds more water, which made the storm's rain heavier and caused more flooding.

Why it’s important: Studies show the Gulf's very warm ocean temperatures are up to 500 times more likely because of climate change. Hurricanes happen naturally, but the factors that made Helene so strong, like its quick growth and heavy rain, were partly caused by warmer ocean and air temperatures due to burning fossil fuels. Initial estimates for the storm’s damage to homes, businesses, and infrastructure range between $15 billion and $26 billion, as reported by the New York Times. The enormous loss will likely fuel more conversations about the precariousness of the existing property insurance system.

📖 Read the full article: After battering coastal towns, Hurricane Helene causes deadly flooding across five states

California tries to hold big oil to account for plastic waste

What’s happening: California has sued ExxonMobil, claiming the company misled people about the plastic pollution problem. The state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, stated that ExxonMobil has been deceiving the public for decades to convince us that plastic recycling could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis even though they knew it wasn’t possible. An ExxonMobil spokesperson said in response that the company is “bringing real solutions, recycling plastic waste that couldn’t be recycled by traditional methods”. She blamed California officials, not the oil industry, for the plastic waste problem.

Why it’s happening: Two years ago, Bonta started looking into fossil fuel and petrochemical companies to see how they contribute to the global plastic pollution problem. He asked ExxonMobil and plastic trade groups for documents related to this issue. In May 2024, some industry groups asked a US district court to stop the subpoena. However, a federal judge recently said that their claim, which argued the investigation violated the first amendment, was not strong enough. Last year, California took legal action against ExxonMobil and four other major oil companies. They accused these companies of misleading the public about climate change, even though they knew their products were causing global warming. About 24 other US states and cities have also filed similar lawsuits.

Why it’s important: A report from the Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) in February found that plastic producers have known for many years that recycling plastic is too difficult and expensive to be a practical way to manage waste, but they still encouraged it. The CCI president, Richard Wiles, called the legal challenge in a statement “the most important legal action to date in the global fight against plastic pollution”. Climate advocates hope the California lawsuit, filed in the San Francisco county superior court, will inspire more similar cases. A recent poll by CCI and Data for Progress found that most American voters, including 54% of Republicans, support legal actions to hold oil and petrochemical companies accountable for the plastic problem.

🌐 Travel to Sweden

Rejuvenate in Malmö’s open-air bathhouse

It’s about as Swedish as it gets: Learn from a local in our article on how to navigate the Ribersborgs Kallbadhus in Malmö and enjoy the health benefits of sweating it out and then plunging yourself into icy-cold water.

😇 People doing great things

Making brands recycle their clothes and textile goods

Proposed California bill to tackle growing textile waste: The new law could change how we dispose of our clothing and household fabrics by requiring manufacturers to create a recycling system for the items they sell. If the bill is approved, people in California can take their old or damaged clothes and household fabrics to thrift stores, charities, and other collection spots for sorting and recycling. This new law, called the Responsible Textile Recovery Act, will make companies that produce clothes, towels, bedding, and upholstery set up and pay for a statewide program to reuse, repair, and recycle their products. Since 1960, the amount of textile waste in the US has grown almost ten times bigger, reaching over 17 million tons in 2018. 85% of these textiles go to landfills, where they release harmful gases and chemicals into the environment. Only about 15% of clothes and other textiles are reused, even though around 95% of the materials, like fabrics, yarns, fibres, zippers, and buttons, can be recycled.

These worrying numbers motivated Josh Newman, the Democratic state senator who proposed the bill, to take action. Newman's bill was supported by over 150 groups, including environmental organisations, waste managers, and companies like Ikea, H&M, Everlane, and Goodwill. People who back this important law believe it will help the industry move towards a more sustainable way of working. This change could lead to new eco-friendly production and consumption methods and create over 1,000 green jobs. The bill will make manufacturers responsible for their products from start to finish. Some details are still unclear, but companies that make clothes and other textiles sold in California have until 2026 to set up a non-profit group. This group will plan how to collect and recycle these items, such as through drop-off points or mail-back programs. The program is expected to start by 2028 at the earliest.

Because countries like France and the Netherlands have similar laws, global fashion companies are already familiar with how this can work. In France, people can take clothing and shoes to one of 47,000 collection points for recycling and they subsidise repairs to encourage people to keep goods longer. The fashion industry is one of the biggest polluters in the world, causing around 10% of all carbon emissions. This is more than the pollution from international flights and shipping put together. The growth of ‘fast fashion’, cheap, low-quality clothes that people wear only a few times, is a big part of this growing environmental problem.

⭐️ Weekly inspiration

California to ban all plastic shopping bags

Will start in 2026: The new law comes after the state had banned thin plastic shopping bags and allowed the purchase of thicker reusable and recyclable ones over a decade ago; but plastic bag waste actually grew since then so all plastic shopping bags will now be banned from supermarkets and other stores across the state.

Germany has outfitted 550,000 balconies with solar panels

People have embraced balkonkraftwerk, or balcony solar: The ease of installation and a potent mix of government policies to encourage adoption has made them hugely popular, with half of them installed in 2023; each system is limited to 800 watts, enough to power a small fridge or charge a laptop.

World’s first vertically integrated berry farm opened in the US

Located in Richmond, Virginia: The Plenty Richmond Farm will grow over 4 million pounds of strawberries each year in a space smaller than 40,000 square feet by using 30-foot-tall towers to exclusively grow Driscoll’s strawberries, with the first batch to be ready in early 2025.

Barcelona is turning subway trains into power stations

Using regenerative braking for power: Similar to technology found in hybrids and electric vehicles, generated electricity is fed through inverters and distributed throughout the subway system to power the trains and nearby amenities such as EV chargers, the lights at the station, and the escalators taking passengers to the platforms.

‘Walkable’ solar panels available in Europe and the US

Gives new meaning to ‘walking on sunshine’: The largest solar manufacturer in Turkey, Ankara Solar, has released their PV floor product, which can withstand “heavy foot traffic, impacts, and abrasions, ensuring long-lasting performance and reliability” according to their press release.

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