Climate Policy and Energy
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Carbon Impact of Celebrity Private Jets

By Ethan Bingemann. Private air travel—much like taking a personal car instead of public transportation—is much more expensive and environmentally damaging. Private planes are 14 times more polluting per person than commercial air travel [1]. Additionally, private jets cost anywhere from 2000-11,000 dollars per hour [2] as compared to an average of 80-110 dollars per Continue reading
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How Local Governments can Embrace Sustainability: The Case for Infill Development

By Steven Zhang. In 2021, transportation accounted for 27% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States [1]. This is compared to only 19% in The Netherlands [2], or 15% in Japan [3]. A significant portion of this discrepancy can be attributed to urban planning policies in the United States. Studies have consistently shown an Continue reading
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Reducing Waste and Littering in National Parks: Solutions and Ecological Impact

By Dylan Yu. Each year, more than 300 million people visit the national parks, producing a total of more than 100 million pounds of trash. Initiatives to increase the accessibility of waste disposal have shown potential to reduce the amount of waste. Data shows that when people are within 10 feet of the receptacle, the Continue reading
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Ecological Impacts of Waste Ballast Water Discharge

By Steven Zhang, Henry Wang. Ballast is a method to maintain stability in a ship, especially in oil tankers, by adding weight in the form of liquid. Departing oil ships are loaded with oil. But when returning, they must be loaded with water to replace the lost weight in oil, so as to prevent the Continue reading
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Balancing the Environmental Effects of Livestock Production

By Ethan Bingemann. Livestock is a crucial industry for many developing nations and has a huge effect on the world economy. More than 6 million animals are killed every minute, with a total of 70 billion killed every year. Livestock is a terribly inefficient use of our planet’s resources and is very harmful to the Continue reading
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Developing Disaster-Resistant Public Infrastructure

By Dylan Yu. As the world continues to modernize, it becomes more crucial for us to establish safe and reliable infrastructure for our society. Infrastructure not only improves the well-being of those within a respective but helps connect us through better transportation and stronger interconnected economies. Furthermore, the lack of soft infrastructure like education and Continue reading
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