Sunny climate, stormy climate | News Digest #28
Today, we talk about France's ban on fast fashion adverts, the most polluted city in the world, closure of schools in South Sudan on account of a heat wave and the disappearance of India's spring!
Folks, I have a favour to ask of you. I quit a cushy corporate job and started working towards climate action 7 months back - because I was convinced that this is the defining crisis of our time. This belief was informed by stellar reporting from across the world, that doesn’t, unfortunately, reach enough people. With this newsletter, I aim to give a summary of climate-related news - both stormy and sunny - in your inbox every fortnight. I really wish more people read climate news and these conversations became more common. If you believe in the same mission, please share this newsletter with a loved one or colleague.
Now on to the news from the last fortnight.
Sunny news
‘Fast fashion’ brands may no longer be allowed to advertise in France
France passed a ‘kill bill’ that targets fast fashion and ultra-fast fashion sold by online retail giants such as Shein and Temu.
What is fast fashion?
Fast fashion is a term used to describe low-quality apparel that is produced rapidly to follow current trends in the industry and sold at rock-bottom prices.
Why is fast fashion not good for the environment?
Fast fashion allows cost-conscious consumers to regularly update and expand their wardrobes. It’s environmental impact includes:
The large amounts of water used in the manufacture of clothes
Carbon emissions in manufacturing and logistics
The massive amount of waste generated due to the use and throw culture, with the clothes often ending up in landfills.
What is happening in France now?
France’s lower house of parliament passed a bill that bans the advertising of certain ultra-fast-fashion companies
It penalises them with annually increasing increments of up to 10 euros per article of clothing by 2030
It will also mandate that fast fashion retailers include an item's reuse, repair, recycling and environmental impact near the product's price.
How will this bill help?
By implementing a ban on advertising fast fashion and imposing a levy that then reflects in the cost, it hope to drive a change in consumer preferences away from fast fashion.
Experts have compared this to legislation banning cigarette advertisements decades ago
This is not the first time the French government has done something to encourage people to use clothes longer. Last year France has tried to drive people away from the ‘throw-away’ culture by giving people a refund for getting their clothes mended (First sunny story in a previous newsletter)
Sources for further reading:
Thai people win case against the government over inaction on air quality crisis
What are we talking about?
Bangkok and the northern city of Chiang Mai ranked among the world’s most polluted cities on some days in 2023 (covered in stormy section). Air quality plummets in Thailand in the early months of the year, as smoke from farmers burning stubble adds to industrial emissions and vehicle exhaust fumes.
This prompted a group of people to bring a legal case to get the government to act.
A Thai court on Jan 19 ordered the government to come up with an urgent plan to curb air pollution within 90 days, as the kingdom braces for its annual peak of noxious haze.
Why does this matter?
The court’s decision is a small victory for the people and must be a prompt for a long overdue inclusive haze prevention plan
Such decisions pave the way for future judgements in other cities and countries and force governments to take environmental issues more seriously
Sources for further reading:
Stormy news
Begursarai, Bihar is the most polluted city in the world, India the third most polluted country!
A recently report by IQ Air that measures air quality across the world, revealed that India was the third most polluted country after Bangladesh and Pakistan
Key findings in the report
Concentrated in Asia: 99 of the 100 cities with the world’s worst air pollution last year were in Asia and 83 were in India
Begusarai, a city of half a million people in northern India’s Bihar state, was the world’s most polluted city last year with an average annual PM2.5 concentration of 118.9 — 23 times the WHO guidelines
Central and South Asia were the worst performing regions globally, home to all four of the most polluted countries last year: Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Tajikistan.
The problem is widespread. 92.5% of the 7,812 locations in 134 countries, regions, and territories where it analyzed average air quality last year exceeded WHO’s PM2.5 guidelines.
Only 10 countries and territories had “healthy” air quality: Finland, Estonia, Puerto Rico, Australia, New Zealand, Bermuda, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius and French Polynesia.
Why does poor air quality matter?
According to WHO, air pollution is the world's leading environmental cause of illness and premature death, resulting in 7 mn deaths globally every year
In children, this could include reduced lung growth and function, respiratory infections and aggravated asthma.
In adults, ischaemic heart disease and stroke are the most common conditions attributable to outdoor air pollution, and evidence is also emerging of linkages to diabetes and neurodegenerative conditions.
Air pollution in some cities like Delhi has been likened to smoking 12 cigarettes a day
Sources for further reading:
South Sudan closes schools for 2 weeks on account on a heat wave!
Schools are shut in Juba, the capital of South Sudan (Source: BBC) What is happening?
South Sudan is experiencing a heatwave with temperatures reaching up to 45 deg C.
It's expected to last 2 weeks starting coming Monday. The health and education ministry have asked all schools to stay closed during the period and children to be kept at home.
Deaths "related to excessive heat" have already been reported, officials said on Saturday. Residents in parts of the capital Juba sweltered without electric fans on Monday as the heat sparked power cuts.
Isn’t Sudan a hot country, so why is this news?
It is exceptionally early for South Sudan to experience such heat - temperatures often exceed 43 deg C but only in the summer months.
South Sudan is the latest in a long line of African countries to experience blistering and, in many cases, record-breaking heat.
Sources for further reading:
India may be losing its ‘spring’: seeing an abrupt switch from winter to summer
What are we talking about?
A new study by Climate Central has stated that spring is gradually disappearing across India mainly due to climate changes.
The study analysed the monthly average temperature for 33 States and Union Territories from 1970-present and found that every region analysed had a ‘net warming’ during winter.
While December and January temperatures cooled slightly or saw minimal warming across northern India, all regions experienced significant warming in February.
9 states, including Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, saw a difference of over 2 deg C between their January and February warming rates.
The cooling in the central and northern Indian states during January followed by very strong warming in February creates the potential for a quick jump from winter to summer like conditions, foregoing the period of spring
Sources for further reading:
Thanks for this. Very useful. Curious to know what was the reaction to the French governments initiatives last year? Did people upvote it? Did the consumerism come down. Is there any index which measures the effectiveness. Reason I am wondering is that because I believe that if both consumers & producers are ok with consumerism, then government can’t do much.