Fast-forward to the year 2045: D.C.’s streets are dramatically quieter, with residents heading to work on zippy electric buses and on a vast network of connected bike lanes; solar panels are everywhere, sucking up the sun’s energy and powering homes and offices; and just about everything is recycled or composted.
See the full story in the DCist.
More DMV News
Pilot Study Confirms Air Pollution Hot Spots but Indicates Some Positive Signs
The Washington Informer
Way back in June, a handful of specially-equipped air monitoring cars spent two weeks driving around Ward 6’s Buzzard Point, Ward 7’s Mayfair, and Ward 5’s Ivy City and Brentwood neighborhoods. Earlier this month, officials from the D.C. Department of Energy and the Environment (DOEE) shared the results from that pilot study at a public meeting.
Chesapeake Bay Shows Smallest Dead Zone Ever Recorded
DCist
A dead zone may sound like something out of a zombie film, but it’s all too real — an area in the water where there’s not enough oxygen for aquatic creatures to survive. This year the Chesapeake Bay had the smallest dead zone on record, according to newly released data, a sign that long-running efforts to curb pollution are paying off.
Democratic Control of Legislature Opens Up Chance for Long-Delayed SCC Appointments
Virginia Mercury
After securing control of both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly in the November elections, Democrats will have a new opportunity during the 2024 session to fill two long-time vacancies on the State Corporation Commission, the state body that regulates utilities, insurance, banking, and business in Virginia.
City Council Sells 21 Acres to Amazon For New Data Center
Potomac Local News
The city council unanimously approved the sale during its meeting on Monday, November 27, 2023. The new Amazon data center will join a host of others in the area, which sits just over the city boundary in Prince William County.
National and International News
The US Could Still Get to Net-Zero
Utility Dive
With COP28 upon us, many global leaders are focused on how we’ll achieve the Paris Agreement goal to limit warming from climate change to 1.5°C. It can be difficult to grasp the scale of this challenge. Even a country with the economic strength, scientific knowledge, and innovative leadership of the U.S. faces steep challenges to achieving its climate goals. The U.S. could reduce nearly 90% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 without any Hail Mary innovations.
3 Climate Impacts the U.S. Will See If Warming Goes Beyond 1.5 Degrees
NPR
As world leaders gather at COP28, the annual climate change negotiations held in Dubai this year, one number will be front and center: 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). That’s the amount countries have agreed to limit warming to by the end of the century.
After the Pandemic, Americans Are Flying Again in Force. Here’s Why That’s a Problem
The Washington Post
In the spring of 2020, as the coronavirus swept over the globe, air travel disappeared. Airlines flew empty “ghost flights” to retain airport slots. Airport terminals were deserted. And the planet-warming emissions from aviation also plummeted — to less than half their 2019 levels. But now, 3½ years on, Americans’ love of flying has fully returned.
‘Time To Roll Up Our Sleeves’: Congress’ Long To-Do List
E&E News
Lawmakers have 15 legislative days before the next holiday recess to make progress on a host of priorities that the ongoing spending fight has waylaid.
US Oil and Gas Production Set to Break Record in 2023 Despite UN Climate Goals
The Guardian
The United States is poised to extract more oil and gas than ever before in 2023, a year that is certain to be the hottest ever recorded, providing a daunting backdrop to crucial United Nations climate talks that hold the hope of an agreement to end the era of fossil fuels.