P.M. Greenlist: Cheap cars, expensive human lives

>> Want an all-electric car that can reach 65 mph and go 100 miles per charge -- that costs $25K or less? These Think City cars are supposed to hit the market late next year.

>> L.A.'s officially going to build greener. The L.A. City Council passed an ordinance that requires big new commercial buildings and high-rise residential structures to meet LEED standards. L.A.'s green building standards are weaker than San Francisco's standards, but will have a larger impact, since L.A.'s so much bigger than S.F.

>> The Getty Center, along with 400 or so other cafes also run by Bon Appétit Management, will be getting a Low Carbon Diet menu in an effort to reduce its carbon footprint. The menu will cut back on beef and cheese, and phase out out-of-season produce flown in from faraway places.

>> We have our first California Natural Landmark! Nearly 40,000 acres of Orange County parkland was deemed "ecologically valuable" enough for this designation.

>> Oakland needs to do an environmental analysis of paper bags before banning plastic bags, says an Alameda judge. Oakland may either contest the ruling or do yet another pointless and time consuming analysis.

>> Human lives are worth about $7 million a head, according to calculations the EPA uses. And a national panel of experts wants the EPA "to consider the economic value of lost lives when comparing the costs and benefits of setting new air pollution rules."

Photo via Business Wire

Comments

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I am kinda blown away by the last article. I don't know how and why there still seems to be a debate that lives should be considered in making decisions! Some are caught up on "how much is a head worth" when really maybe we just need to suck it up and start doing more than what is going on right now. This also affects the children people will not bare, the loss productivity of people with breathing problems, future generations living conditions and so many other things that can't even be estimated right now. 7 million dollars this year is different than 7 million dollars last year. What if the citizens were asked flat out, to vote if they would like to breath and not die (not some round about question of how much someone would pay to lower their chance of death). If the resulting pollution kills everyone there is no need to worry about economic impact since the economy will be dead as well. I wonder how the ozone levels affect other plants and animals as well, that we, as humans, must depend on.

I know I mentioned it before, but Texas at least is trying to do something about ozone levels. They recognize people should not be outside when the ozone levels are high. Many large Texas cities allow everyone to ride public transportation for free on days when ozone levels are too high. This keeps people out of the bad air and is intended to encourage people to get out of their cars so they don't make the problem worse.

I grew up in Texas, my family lives there and more and more often I think about going back for many reasons, but the one that is most important is my health.