Los Angeles county bans new oil wells & more environmental news.

[View this email in your browser]( Thursday, February 2, 2023 "The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it." – Robert Swan Los Angeles County Bans New Oil Wells Los Angeles County banned new oil drilling and set a 20-year phase-out of existing wells in late January. The unanimous Board of Supervisors vote followed similar ordinances passed by Culver City in 2021 and [Los Angeles City in 2022](. Oil and gas wells are located near more than a million people throughout LA county and their pollution disproportionately harms people of color. [Read More]( Related: Angeles Bans New Oil Drilling, Will Phase Out Current Wells]( Researchers Successfully Split Seawater to Produce Green Hydrogen Without Pre-Treatment Researchers have produced green hydrogen by splitting seawater, without the use of pre-treatments like reverse osmosis desolation, purification or alkalisation, in a new study. The team used an inexpensive catalyst to split seawater into oxygen and hydrogen, with nearly 100% efficiency. Researchers from the University of Adelaide, Tianjin University, Nankai University and Kent State University used seawater with a catalyst and and electrolyser. The results are published in the journal [Nature](. [Read More]( Related: [Can Hydrogen Fuels Be Produced With Solar Energy? New Tech Advances Include an ‘Artificial Leaf’]( City Trees Save Lives, First-of-Its-Kind Study Finds Urban planners could save lives by planting more [trees](. A new study published in The Lancet Tuesday found that increasing the [tree cover]( to 30 percent in 93 European cities could have prevented 2,644 heat-related deaths over a summer period. [Read More]( Related: [Why City Trees Are Needed More Than Ever]( 7 Colorado River States Miss Deadline for Water Reduction Plan Seven states that depend on the [drought]( [Colorado River]( for [water]( — Arizona, [California]( [Colorado]( Nevada, [Utah]( New Mexico and Wyoming — failed to meet a January 31 deadline requested by the federal government to come up with a plan to reduce their water consumption. California, which has the largest share of water from the river, didn’t join a proposal put forth by the other six states and will release its own water use plan, officials have said. [Read More]( Related: [Environmentalists Call for Action to Save the Colorado River From Drying Up]( Switching From Gas to Induction Stoves Leads to Major Drop in Indoor Air Pollution in Bronx Pilot Program In a pilot program in the Bronx, New York, a switch from gas stoves to induction stoves led to a 35% decline in nitrogen dioxide, as well as a decrease in average carbon monoxide concentrations. Additionally, controlled cooking tests found higher amounts of air pollution for apartments with gas stoves. The [pilot program]( conducted by WE ACT for Environmental Justice’s (WE ACT) along with Columbia University and Berkeley Air Monitoring Group, included 20 apartment units at a complex in the Bronx. At the start of the program, 10 apartment units had their gas stoves switched to induction stoves, and 10 kept the gas stoves as a control. [Read More]( Related: [Are Gas Stoves Bad for Your Health?]( Do you get this newsletter daily? If not, [sign up here]( or forward to a friend. [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Website]( [Instagram]( Copyright © 2023 EcoWatch, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up for EcoWatch Top News of The Day Our mailing address is: EcoWatch 1122 Oberlin RoadRaleigh, NC 27605 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](. [Mailchimp Email Marketing](