Remaking New York City: Can Prosperity Be Shared and Sustainable?

Changes in the organization of global economic activity – in particular, the ascendance of services over manufacturing in global cities – have had a profound impact on labor, consumer, and real estate markets in New York City. New growth in service sectors has generated spectacular new wealth, and the city has firmly re-established itself as a capital of commerce and culture, after being ravaged by disinvestment and fiscal crisis in the 1960s and 70s. New York City\u27s contemporary economy is a vibrant one in many ways, but it is also a highly unequal one – one in which residents who are not part of the professional class (disproportionately immigrants and people of color) face increasing challenges. Mayor Michael Bloomberg\u27s administration has wholeheartedly embraced the shift from an industrial to a post-industrial economy, launching ground-level redevelopment strategies in over 20 neighborhoods (many tied to the proposal for the 2012 Olympics), which add up to a transformation of the physical city. These plans seek to open the city up for new commercial office and luxury housing development – through a mix of rezonings, subsidies, and infrastructure investments in public transportation, open space, culture, and spectacle. The public sector resources on which these plans lay claim are substantial – an estimated $20 billion in capital spending. The development that would result from these plans offers many benefits for the city\u27s future, including new jobs, a higher capture rate of high-end commercial and residential users, increased tax revenues, and enhanced public transportation and open space. The Bloomberg vision for New York City\u27s future is compelling in many respects: its focus on livability and public space, its high design standards, its acknowledgement that adaptation to a largely post-industrial economy is needed in land use planning, workforce development and economic development policy. But the vision also implies several assumptions with which we disagree. First, it equates real estate development with economic development. Second, it posits a future city that exists primarily for its most privileged residents, with too few real benefits of growth reaching the less-wealthy 80% of the population. The plans emanating from the current administration\u27s bold vision for New York are likely to amplify the inequalities embedded in the service-intensive economy and further drive up real estate values. As a result, they will displace additional low-income housing (thus increasing segregation) and additional viable manufacturing (thus reducing blue-collar job opportunities). Few corresponding gains (e.g. affordable housing, living wage jobs) are being offered for low- or moderate-income families. In addition, the environmental burdens of growth in an increasingly polarized city will continue to be borne disproportionately by low-income communities of color. Fortunately, the choice is not between inequitable growth and no growth. There are innovative strategies for utilizing planning and redevelopment tools – without abandoning most of the current plans – not only to generate prosperity, but to share it more equitably and to produce it more sustainably. Housing advocates, community organizations, labor unions, business groups, environmental/environmental justice groups, and advocacy/smart growth planners around the country are experimenting with new tools. Smartly applied, in combination, many of these tools could reshape proposed redevelopment plans to create more shared and sustainable prosperity in New York City

Green growth and electric vehicles: the role of recycling

The UK needs an electric vehicle (EV) battery recycling industry. This could strengthen the British EV supply chain and support the future development of UK-based gigafactories (large-scale battery factories) and electric vehicle production. Viet Nguyen-Tien, Robert Elliott, Gavin Harper, and Laura Lander discuss how a new clean tech industry can contribute to net-zero targets

Late Quaternary paleoceanography of Vestnesa Ridge, Fram Strait: Ostracode species as a potential indicator of cold seep activity

Past intensity of methane release from deep-ocean methane hydrates continues to be challenging to reconstruct reliably. Here, we used fossil ostracode fauna paired with foraminiferal δ13C values in a marine sediment core from Vestnesa Ridge, western Svalbard margin, to reconstruct methane seepage activity during the late Quaternary and to examine faunal response to deglacial climatic changes. Benthic foraminiferal δ13C values indicate methane seepage activity was relatively strong during marine isotope stage 2, corresponding to a high percentage of the ostracode Rosaliella svalbardensis in the assemblage. In contrast, this species was absent under conditions of no or very strong seepage of methane. Faunal changes in other taxa were more related to global climate changes regardless of the seepage activity. This result indicates that Rosaliella svalbardensis is a potential new useful proxy for past methane release

Financial viability of electric vehicle lithium-ion battery recycling

Economically viable electric vehicle lithium-ion battery recycling is increasingly needed; however routes to profitability are still unclear. We present a comprehensive, holistic techno-economic model as a framework to directly compare recycling locations and processes, providing a key tool for recycling cost optimization in an international battery recycling economy. We show that recycling can be economically viable, with cost/profit ranging from (−21.43 - +21.91) $·kWh(−1) but strongly depends on transport distances, wages, pack design and recycling method. Comparing commercial battery packs, the Tesla Model S emerges as the most profitable, having low disassembly costs and high revenues for its cobalt. In-country recycling is suggested, to lower emissions and transportation costs and secure the materials supply chain. Our model thus enables identification of strategies for recycling profitability

Lithium-ion battery second life:pathways, challenges and outlook

Net zero targets have resulted in a drive to decarbonise the transport sector worldwide through electrification. This has, in turn, led to an exponentially growing battery market and, conversely, increasing attention on how we can reduce the environmental impact of batteries and promote a more efficient circular economy to achieve real net zero. As these batteries reach the end of their first life, challenges arise as to how to collect and process them, in order to maximise their economical use before finally being recycled. Despite the growing body of work around this topic, the decision-making process on which pathways batteries could take is not yet well understood, and clear policies and standards to support implementation of processes and infrastructure are still lacking. Requirements and challenges behind recycling and second life applications are complex and continue being defined in industry and academia. Both pathways rely on cell collection, selection and processing, and are confronted with the complexities of pack disassembly, as well as a diversity of cell chemistries, state-of-health, size, and form factor. There are several opportunities to address these barriers, such as standardisation of battery design and reviewing the criteria for a battery’s end-of-life. These revisions could potentially improve the overall sustainability of batteries, but may require policies to drive such transformation across the industry. The influence of policies in triggering a pattern of behaviour that favours one pathway over another are examined and suggestions are made for policy amendments that could support a second life pipeline, while encouraging the development of an efficient recycling industry. This review explains the different pathways that end-of-life EV batteries could follow, either immediate recycling or service in one of a variety of second life applications, before eventual recycling. The challenges and barriers to each pathway are discussed, taking into account their relative environmental and economic feasibility and competing advantages and disadvantages of each. The review identifies key areas where processes need to be simplified and decision criteria clearly defined, so that optimal pathways can be rapidly determined for each end-of-life battery

Interest in Co-located Reproductive and Sexual Health Services Among Women and Men Receiving Medication for Opioid Use Disorder in an Outpatient Treatment Clinic

Introduction Reproductive and sexual health (RSH) are core components of comprehensive care, yet often omitted in addiction treatment. We characterize knowledge of and interest in RSH services and contraceptive method awareness and use in a rural, Appalachian outpatient clinic. Materials and Methods Between September 2016 and April 2018, a convenience sample of 225 patients receiving treatment for opioid use disorder at an outpatient buprenorphine/naloxone clinic was collected. Participants completed a cross-sectional RSH survey that included demographics, interest in RSH service integration, contraceptive use, and contraceptive knowledge. Results A total of 212 people (126 non-pregnant women, 29 pregnant women, and 57 men) completed the survey of whom 45.8% indicated interest in adding RSH services. Services of interest include regular physical exams (44.8%), STI/STD testing (41.0%), and contraception education and administration (38.2%). There were no significant differences between interest in co-located services between women and men (P = 0.327). Current contraceptive use was low (17.9–30.9%) among women and men. Contraceptive method awareness was 43.3% for high efficacy methods and 50.0% for medium efficacy methods. Women and currently pregnant women knew more total, high, and medium efficacy contraceptive method than men (P = 0.029). Discussion Both women and men in this sample are interested in co-located RSH services. Current contraceptive use was low among participants. Contraceptive knowledge was lower among men compared to women, and generally low. Providing co-located RSH services may facilitate RSH education, contraceptive method uptake, and promote engagement across various RSH domains