In a historic first, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force — a panel of health experts — recommended routine anxiety screenings for all adults under the age of 65, according to The New York Times. The task force explained that their declaration is in an effort to detect and treat mental health disorders earlier, and follows a similar advisory released earlier this year for children and young adults, reported The New York Times.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
California’s new car policy, approved by the California Air Resources Board, requires all new vehicles to run on hydrogen or electric starting in 2035.
By Catelyn Fitzgerald ’23
Science & Environment Editor
Traffic in California is no joke. The California New Car Dealers Association reported that the state had 1.6 million new light vehicle —car and light truck — registrations just in 2020, a low number in comparison to pre-pandemic years.
In a fossil fuel-driven world, more cars mean more gasoline. California accounted for 10 percent of the country’s total motor gasoline consumption in 2020, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. However, a CNN article reported that California’s fuel consumption might drop to new lows over the coming decade, thanks to a new policy that could change transportation in the state and trigger harsher auto emissions laws across the country.
The policy, approved by the California Air Resources Board in late August, consists of a gradual ban on the sale of gasoline vehicles culminating in a total ban in 2035, a New York Times article stated. The report from CNN clarified that the ban only applies to new vehicles, meaning that used cars and trucks can continue to be sold after the policy takes effect.
According to a Los Angeles Times article, the policy will cut auto emissions in half by 2040. The article also reports that the policy will have positive health benefits, such as an estimated 1,400 fewer deaths from heart disease and 700 avoided asthma-related emergency room visits.
The effects of California’s new policy will extend far beyond the state's borders by paving the way for other states to enact similar legislation, a recent article in The Boston Globe said. California’s influence on environmental regulations goes back to the Clean Air Act, a federal law passed in 1970 that created national air quality standards and aims to address a wide range of air pollution sources, according to the EPA. Stipulations in the Clean Air Act prevent states from individually adopting air pollution regulations that are stricter than the national standard. As a populous state with ongoing air quality challenges, California is the exception to this rule and is allowed, by the Clean Air Act, to create tougher regulations. As soon as California’s policies are federally approved, any U.S. state is permitted to adopt them as its own.
Several states are already moving swiftly toward similar gas-powered vehicle bans. According to PBS, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington are among those states likely to assume California’s policy. For Massachusetts, California’s ban represents a continuation of ongoing efforts to reduce auto emissions rather than a drastic new policy, says The Boston Globe. The article cites Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker’s endorsement of a strikingly similar ban back in 2020, which can now become an official part of Massachusetts state law thanks to California’s path-clearing legislation.
An important step towards reducing air pollution in the state, an article in Science Magazine points out that California’s transition away from gasoline-powered cars will also pressure electric vehicle manufacturers to address the technology’s challenges. The article states that a common issue with EVs is their slow charging time, with even high-quality chargers taking over 10 hours to charge EV batteries fully. Improvements to either the EV chargers or the EV batteries themselves can and must happen to address this issue, the article said. Scientists have taken up the challenge, but it may be some time before quick-charging EVs are widely available. Science Magazine predicts that the rise in demand for EV batteries resulting from this ban will cause the market to “splinter,” meaning that consumers will someday have a choice between several battery types, each presenting unique characteristics such as high charging capacity or low cost.
The Los Angeles Times reveals that there is an additional flaw in the policy due to its reputation as a “zero-emission vehicle mandate.” The regulation’s nickname refers to the lack of emissions from vehicles’ engines as they drive but overlooks the emissions that occur during the production of EV batteries and hydrogen fuel cells. The article explains that depending on where a household’s electricity comes from, whether from renewable sources or burning coal, charging EV batteries may still create considerable emissions.
Other concerns surrounding the EV mandate question California's ability to provide large volumes of electricity, as illustrated by an opinion piece written for The Washington Post. Author Megan McArdle calls California’s electric grids “already fragile and prone to blackouts” and questions how they could support an additional rise in demand for a fully electrified auto industry. McArdle offers some solutions to the challenge, including charging cars using household solar panels or encouraging drivers to charge their vehicles overnight when electricity demand is lower. She concludes that without considerable improvements, California’s “overstretched grid” will struggle to support EVs during peak energy use.
The aforementioned Los Angeles Times article explored how the higher cost of EVs will play into California’s policy. In a discussion with the Times, the chair of the California Air Resources Board revealed that there are ways to address this cost disparity and make buying EVs accessible for low-income residents. Solutions include improving warranties for EVs so that they may become reliable used cars for a lower cost, as well as creating state programs that offer financial aid for EV purchases. Additional measures to ensure equitability in the policy include requiring apartment complexes to provide on-site EV chargers.
Photo courtesy of Flickr.
Officials in Jackson, Mississippi have appealed state and federal aid in managing their water crisis.
By Shira Sadeh ’25
Science & Environment Editor
Content warning: This article discusses environmental racism.
On Aug. 29, Jackson, Mississippi Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba released an emergency order declaring a water system emergency in the city. Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency the same day, when the majority of the city’s 150,000 residents were left without access to running water, according to a Vox article. The report states that the crisis is a result of damaged infrastructure at the O.B. Curtis treatment plant and water pump issues at the secondary J.H. Fewell treatment facility.
The O.B. Curtis plant first experienced malfunction following high rainfall, which flooded the Pearl River, an Associated Press News article explained. The sudden influx of water slowed the plant’s treatment process, depleted water supply tanks and caused pressure to drop. According to AP News, city officials explained that the plant was already using backup pumps when this occurred, and stated that a rental pump had been installed to fix the pressure issue. Despite the restoration of pressure, many residents were still without access to clean water.
According to Vox, many residents had no access to water, while others observed polluted and discolored water trickling out of their faucets. This prompted the city to issue a water boiling advisory, instructing residents to boil water for one minute before using it.
As outlined in a Time article, issues of infrastructure upkeep have been plaguing Jackson for almost 80 years. Since the 1940s, mayors and city council members have been calling for more funding to repair failing facilities. Since the 1970s, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has expressed concerns for the city’s disrepair and urged Jackson to invest more in protecting clean water access.
According to a BBC article on the issue, Jackson has struggled to provide citizens with safe and reliable water in more recent years as well. In the winter of 2020, when freezing temperatures caused a water plant to malfunction, parts of the city were without water for nearly six weeks. Since then, multiple infrastructure failures have caused repeated boiling advisories and extremely low water pressure in many areas of the city.
A Brookings article explained that due to a lack of steady economic growth and recent declines in median wages, municipalities and utility plants have been unable to generate revenue that covers infrastructure upkeep costs. The cost of fully repairing infrastructure not only to solve this crisis, but also to prepare for future flooding, would be approximately $2 billion. Jackson’s situation is similar to past, present and seemingly future cases in many predominantly Black metro areas, such as Flint, Baltimore and Detroit.
Time also described community members’ frustration with state and federal officials, calling them out for only attempting to address the issue now rather than implementing preventative measures before the crisis occurred.Currently, over 82 percent of the city’s population is Black, and almost a quarter live under the poverty line, another fact that many suggest is why Jackson’s infrastructure has been allowed to fall into disrepair. “We’re facing an environmental injustice and we have been ignored. Jacksonians and people around the area have been ignored by state leadership and now they want to swoop in — all hands on deck, fixing the problem — but we’ve been asking for help for years, not even just from this administration,” Maisie Brown, a community organizer, told Time.
BY FIONA HINDS ’21
A cardinal spotted in January by a resident of Erie, Pennsylvania was different than most. According to an article published by the New York Times titled “A Rare Bird Indeed: A Cardinal That’s Half Male, Half Female,” this bird, which displayed both male and female sex characteristics, is known as a bilateral gynandromorph. Its left side appears to be the tawny brown of a female, while its right side displays the vivid scarlet of a male cardinal.
BY IVY LI ’21
Today, the phrase “postpartum depression” is not considered unfamiliar psychological jargon. The concept of postpartum depression was first explained in the British Journal of Psychiatry in 1968, attributing depressive symptoms often experienced after birth to factors such as hormone level fluctuation and external stress. Postpartum depression is characterized by low mood, fatigue, poor concentration, loss of appetite and insomnia. It can be seen as a prolonged, severe version of “baby blues”: mild irritability, fatigue and anxiety that occurs after childbirth.
