Appalachia's carbon offset craze – who actually benefits?

+ mice kill albatrosses on Hawaiian atoll US Edition - Today's top story: Carbon offsets bring new investment to Appalachia's coal fields, but most Appalachians aren’t benefiting [View in browser]( US Edition | 20 February 2024 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( Top headlines - [The strange history of race-based water fountains]( - [Brazil’s Lula stronger one year after attack in capital]( - [The dangers of kratom, taken for pain]( Lead story Tennessee’s Clearfork Valley is a lush forested region dotted with tiny communities near the Kentucky border. This was once a busy coal-mining region. Today’s it’s known for something else: carbon-offset projects. Most of the valley’s forests are now making money for landowners and their investors while helping faraway companies reach their net-zero emissions goals. But as University of Tennessee researcher Gabe Schwartzman explains, this type of carbon-offset project [has problems, both for the climate and the rural economy](. It’s part of a growing rural economic trend that makes money for investors but offers little if any benefit to the people who live there. [ [Sign up for our weekly Global Economy & Business newsletter, with interesting perspectives from experts around the world](. ] Stacy Morford Environment + Climate Editor For decades, railroad tracks carried coal from eastern Tennessee to power plants in the eastern U.S. Appalachian Voices [Carbon offsets bring new investment to Appalachia’s coal fields, but most Appalachians aren’t benefiting]( Gabe Schwartzman, University of Tennessee Large parts of Appalachia’s forests, once owned by coal companies, now make money for investors by storing carbon. But the results bring few jobs or sizable investments for residents. Science + Technology - [Murderous mice attack and kill nesting albatrosses on Midway Atoll − scientists struggle to stop this gruesome new behavior]( Wieteke Holthuijzen, University of Tennessee On a small, remote island in the Pacific Ocean, an unlikely predator feasts on the world’s largest albatross colony. Researchers are trying to figure out how to stop these murderous mice. - [3D printing promises more efficient ways to make custom explosives and rocket propellants]( Monique McClain, Purdue University ‘Energetic’ materials are ones that readily ignite or detonate. The shapes of those materials have a big effect on how they burn or blow up. Politics + Society - [Nikki Haley insists she can lose South Carolina and still get the nomination – but that would defy history]( Charles R. Hunt, Boise State University A presidential candidate’s ‘home state advantage’ should help them win a primary, which then bodes well for how they do in successive contests. But if they lose their home state, they’re in trouble. - [How politicians can draw fairer election districts − the same way parents make kids fairly split a piece of cake]( Benjamin Schneer, Harvard Kennedy School; Kevin DeLuca, Yale University; Maxwell Palmer, Boston University Electoral redistricting is a high-stakes political game, so Democrats and Republicans have a hard time playing fair. When they’re made to work together, a more representative result is possible. - [Separate water fountains for Black people still stand in the South – thinly veiled monuments to the long, strange, dehumanizing history of segregation]( Rodney Coates, Miami University Though the Civil Rights Act of 1964 officially ended racial discrimination in public places, relics of the Jim Crow South still haunt modern memory. Health + Medicine - [Nearly 2 million Americans are using kratom yearly, but it is banned in multiple states: A pharmacologist explains the controversy]( C. Michael White, University of Connecticut Long-term use of kratom may actually reduce pain tolerance and cause physical dependence and withdrawal symptoms. International - [How Lula’s big-tent pragmatism won over Brazil again – with a little help from a backlash to Bolsonaro]( Anthony Pereira, Florida International University The third-term president has used his experience and personal relationships with lawmakers to build the majorities that now support his agenda. - [New research debunks the ‘unhappy worker’ narrative, but finds most still believe it]( Scott Schieman, University of Toronto Could the adverse effects of anti-work rhetoric spread beyond one’s own job perception? A sociologist’s recent research sheds light on the question. Trending on site - [Mexico is suing US gun-makers for arming its gangs − and a US court could award billions in damages]( - [Navalny dies in prison − but his blueprint for anti-Putin activism will live on]( - [Atlantic Ocean is headed for a tipping point − once melting glaciers shut down the Gulf Stream, we would see extreme climate change within decades, study shows]( Today's graphic 📈 [Over a four-week period, study participants reported their success at adhering to social media usage goals. Participants showed a significant reduction in social media addiction over the course of the social media challenge. Those with clinical levels of addiction scores saw the most improvement.]( From the story, [‘It is hijacking my brain’ – a team of experts found ways to help young people addicted to social media to cut the craving]( - - More of The Conversation Like this newsletter? 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