Climate Point: Climate change is impacting everything, even tampon prices
Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and the environment. I'm Erin Rode in Palm Springs, California.
In just the latest example of how climate change is increasingly touching every aspect of our daily lives, it’s also driving up the costs of tampons and other products, reports Coral Davenport for The New York Times. Upland cotton farmers in Texas experienced record crop losses amid heat and drought conditions last year, directly impacting the necessities that use the coarse fiber, including tampons, cloth diapers and gauze pads. Tampon prices in the U.S. went up by 13% over the past year, while cloth diapers spiked by 21%, writes Davenport. It’s raising questions about the future of growing the crop in Texas.
In other news this week, as efforts to address the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, continue, The Hill takes a look at other hazardous materials moving through our country via rail, following two recent close calls as other freight trains carrying hazardous materials derailed in Houston and Detroit. The two cities are home to the petroleum industry and a hub for electric vehicle and battery manufacturing, respectively, with each industry needing its own slew of hazardous materials. The U.S. rail system has seen 106 derailments in which hazardous materials were released since 2015, according to Federal Railway Administration data analyzed by The Hill.
Read on for more environment and climate news from across the U.S. this week:
Wildlife crossings: In California, a set of three wildlife crossings were announced last week as part of the plans for a high-speed rail project connecting Las Vegas to Southern California, as the Los Angeles Times reports. The crossings are meant to protect bighorn sheep and other animals. Across the country, state and federal funding is going toward more wildlife crossings, writes Michael Doyle for E&E News. By some estimates, collisions between motorists and wildlife cause more than 200 human fatalities and over 26,000 injuries each year, and kill more than 1 million large animals, writes Doyle. New funding for wildlife crossings includes $350 million over five years in the infrastructure bill intended to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions, and several state legislatures are close to passing legislation that would support more wildlife crossings.
Climate book club: A new book out this week by Jake Bittle, "The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration," tells the stories of real people who are being pushed out of their homes due to climate disasters. Joan Meiners reviews the book for The Arizona Republic.
Read on for more. For stories requiring a subscription, sign up and get access to USA Today and 200 other news sites across the country. If someone forwarded you this email and you'd like to receive Climate Point in your inbox for free once a week, sign up here.