*{box-sizing:border-box}body{margin:0;padding:0}a[x-apple-data-detectors]{color:inherit!important;text-decoration:inherit!important}#MessageViewBody a{color:inherit;text-decoration:none}p{line-height:inherit}.desktop_hide,.desktop_hide table{mso-hide:all;display:none;max-height:0;overflow:hidden}.image_block img+div{display:none} @media (max-width:620px){.desktop_hide table.icons-outer{display:inline-table!important}.image_block div.fullWidth{max-width:100%!important}.mobile_hide{display:none}.row-content{width:100%!important}.stack .column{width:100%;display:block}.mobile_hide{min-height:0;max-height:0;max-width:0;overflow:hidden;font-size:0}.desktop_hide,.desktop_hide table{display:table!important;max-height:none!important}.reverse{display:table;width:100%}.reverse .column.first{display:table-footer-group!important}.reverse .column.last{display:table-header-group!important}.row-7 td.column.first .border,.row-9 td.column.first .border{padding:5px 5px 15px 25px;border-top:0;border-right:0;border-bottom:0;border-left:0}.row-11 td.column.last .border,.row-13 td.column.last .border,.row-7 td.column.last .border,.row-9 td.column.last .border{padding:5px 20px 25px 5px;border-top:0;border-right:0;border-bottom:0;border-left:0}.row-11 td.column.first .border,.row-13 td.column.first .border{padding:5px 5px 15px 25px;border-top:0;border-right:0;border-bottom:15px solid transparent;border-left:0}} Welcome to The Hill's Sustainability newsletter{beacon}
Sustainability
Sustainability
The Big Story
US West seeks development of workforce, sustainable economy
As hotspots across the U.S. West strengthen their stature as hubs for technological innovation, economic success will hinge upon workforce availability, state and federal officials agree.
© AP Photo/Matt York
"We're creating all these jobs — we need the workforce," Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) said at a Tuesday conference.
"We've done a lot to really be very strategic and intentional about building that workforce pipeline, in partnership with industry and with our community colleges," the governor added.
Hobbs was speaking in a panel discussion at the 2024 Western Prosperity Forum, held in Phoenix this week by the bipartisan Western Governors' Association.
Don Graves, deputy secretary of the Department of Commerce, shared a similar perspective, stressing the need "to integrate workforce development and economic development.”
"This interweaving, if you will, the interconnection, is essential," he said.
"Modern, industrial and place-based economic development will fail unless we create a sustainable pipeline of those with the skills and the training that they need," Graves added.
Integral to building a diverse workforce are employer-led partnerships, steered by community partners, such as labor unions, education institutions and local organizations, according to Graves.
Hobbs particularly touted Arizona's recent success in bolstering its construction and semiconductor manufacturing industries.
"We are number one in the nation for new semiconductor investments, with more than $100 billion and 15,500 jobs announced since 2021," Hobbs said. "This is huge."
Noting that hundreds of thousands of jobs are being created nationwide, Graves reiterated the importance of ensuring "that we have the workforce that we need to meet those jobs."
"Workforce development is going to be absolutely vital to our success, not just at a state level but across the country," Graves said.
Welcome to The Hill’s Sustainability newsletter, I'm Sharon Udasin — every week we follow the latest moves in the growing battle over sustainability in the U.S. and around the world.
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Essential Reads
Latest news impacting sustainability this week and beyond:
How hurricanes threaten forests — and the carbon markets that depend on them
A single hurricane barreling into New England forests can undo decades of carbon storage, a new study has found. As climate change heats oceans and fuels hurricanes, worsening storms with higher-speed winds are reaching ever deeper into the region’s woodlands, according to findings published on Wednesday in Global Change Biology. Now, just one big storm can knock down as many as 10 percent of standing trees in the heavily …
Full Story What to know about the pivotal UN plastics negotiations
As both plastics pollution and concerns over its impacts on the environment and the human body grow, world governments, environmental groups and the plastics industry are meeting in Ottawa, Canada, over the next two weeks in an effort to reach an agreement on reducing waste. The meeting is the fourth in the United Nations’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee’s (INC) series of negotiations to cut plastics pollution …
Full Story California grid will require major upgrade to meet EV demands: Study
More than two-thirds of electricity distribution circuits in the Golden State will require capacity upgrades by 2045 in order to meet electric vehicle (EV) demands, a new study has found. California must add 25 gigawatts to its capacity by that point — a shift that will cost between $6 billion and $20 billion, according to the study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The massive increase …
Full Story ‘Forever chemicals’ are known for lingering in the body. Menstruation helps expel them
This story is part of a series, “Fighting ‘Forever Chemicals’: Women face pervasive PFAS risks.” Cancer-linked “forever chemicals” got their moniker because of how long they linger without breaking down — in the environment and the human body. Menstruation can provide a way of shedding at least some of the compounds, however. “Some PFAS bind strongly to proteins in blood, and when women menstruate, they lose those blood proteins …
Full Story Bad Air Days
Siberian wildfires could wreak havoc downwind
© AP Photo/Anna Ogorodnik
Increasingly intense Siberian wildfires could worsen air quality not only in local regions, but also across large swaths of East Asia that are downwind of the fires, a new study has found.
Price of pollution: The costs associated with related air pollution-linked deaths could climb to $10 billion annually, according to the study, published on Wednesday in Earth's Future.
“The more Siberian wildfires occur, the more air pollution is present in those regions, which likely increases mortality and welfare losses there,” the authors wrote.
Aerosols on the rise: Researchers from three universities in Japan performed numerical simulations to assess the broader impacts of the Siberian wildfires.
- They looked at how a further surge in the strength of these blazes could affect air quality, premature mortality and the economy.
- The model focused particularly on a hypothetical rise in atmospheric aerosols — air pollution particles — under present and near-future warming scenarios.
Particles that won’t stay put: The scientists found that the havoc aerosol emissions can wreak are wide-ranging.
- Much of the northern hemisphere could undergo atmospheric cooling, as aerosol particles reflect sunlight.
- Meanwhile, large parts of East Asia downwind from the fires could suffer from worsened air quality.
Adapting to the uncontrollable: “It is hard to prevent the occurrence of Siberian wildfires in such large areas,” co-author Teppei Yasunari, an associate professor at Hokkaido University, said in a statement.
Yasunari called for greater action "to limit the effects of the Siberian wildfires somehow to prevent excess deaths, respiratory and other illnesses, and economic losses."
Warming warning: “Our findings send a critical message about the broad effect of increased particulate matter due to massive wildfires in the atmosphere on climate and air quality,” Yasunari said.
Such developments "will become ever more significant as the worldwide changes due to global warming proceed,” he added.
On Our Radar
Upcoming news themes and events we're watching:
- A dangerous storm system that AccuWeather described as potentially "one of the most widespread severe weather events so far in 2024" is set to swoop into more than a dozen states and threaten millions in the Midwest. Severe thunderstorms could unleash large hail, powerful winds, flash floods and tornadoes, AccuWeather reported.
In Other News
Branch out with different reads from The Hill:
131 million Americans live in areas with unhealthy air pollution: Research
More than 131 million Americans are exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution, according to the American Lung Association’s (ALA) 2024 State of the Air report.
Full Story Biden administration sets national goal to cut freight emissions to zero
The Biden administration on Wednesday laid out a national goal to cut emissions from freight shipping down to zero.
Full Story Around The Nation
Local and state headlines on sustainability issues:
- Congestion pricing could cause more traffic, higher pollution in the Tri-State Area. Here's where (CBS News)
- Groundwater regulation weaknesses exploited by industrial-scale agriculture (Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting)
- Milwaukee becomes first U.S. city to receive wastewater sustainability recognition (WISN)
- How climate change is harming the coastal culture of the Gullah Geechee (NBC News)
What We're Reading
Sustainability news we've flagged from other outlets:
- ‘Discomfort May Increase’: Asia’s Heat Wave Scorches Hundreds of Millions (The New York Times)
- Wet wipes containing plastic to be banned from sale in UK (SkyNews)
- South Korean court hears children's climate change case against government (Reuters)
What Others are Reading
More stories on The Hill right now:
Rite Aid to close 13 additional locations in 5 states, court docs say
Rite Aid has announced plans to close 13 additional stores after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year, according to court documents filed Tuesday. Read more
Disneyland clears major hurdle in $1.9B expansion plans
City council members voted 7-0 in favor of the proposal early Wednesday morning following an 8-hour public hearing. Read more
What People Think
Opinions related to sustainability submitted to The Hill:
- The future of clean energy hinges on cybersecurity
- Hold Azerbaijan accountable before it hosts the next UN Climate Conference
- The harms of plastics are getting personal
You're all caught up. See you next week!
Check out The Hill's Sustainability page for the latest coverage.
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