Even if our warming planet wasn't threatened with environmental catastrophe, the case for reducing fossil-fuel use is an easy one to make. A new study shows that reduced air pollution from cutting emissions would save millions of lives by 2100.
A new study published in Nature Climate Change, "suggests that the benefits of cuts to air pollution from curbing fossil-fuel use justify action alone – even without other climate impacts such as more extreme weather and sea-level rise," reports Damian Carrington.
A team of researchers led by Jason West, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, "found that 300,000 to 700,000 premature deaths a year would be avoided in 2030, 800,000 to 1.8 million in 2050 and 1.4 million to 3 million in 2100" if "climate change is stabilized by aggressive cuts in greenhouse gas emissions".
"A key finding was that the value of the health benefits delivered by cutting a tonne of CO2 emissions was $50 to $380, greater than the projected cost of cutting carbon in the next few decades," notes Carrington.
"It is pretty striking that you can make an argument purely on health grounds to control climate change," says West.
FULL STORY: Cleaner Air From Tackling Climate Change 'Would Save Millions of Lives'

Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees
More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?

Ken Jennings Launches Transit Web Series
The Jeopardy champ wants you to ride public transit.

BLM To Rescind Public Lands Rule
The change will downgrade conservation, once again putting federal land at risk for mining and other extractive uses.

Indy Neighborhood Group Builds Temporary Multi-Use Path
Community members, aided in part by funding from the city, repurposed a vehicle lane to create a protected bike and pedestrian path for the summer season.
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