ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Michigan businesses and cities are being invited to become part of a global vision for a cleaner future. The Zero Emissions Vehicle Challenge, announced on Tuesday, is encouraging companies and communities to use their purchasing power and policy influence to speed up the adoption of electric vehicles.

Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor said it's time to dispel the myths about hybrid and electric vehicles.

"With Washington's climate denial, cities throughout the country need to innovate and combat climate change," he said. "We need to do that through a wide variety of channels, one of which is to improve and expand electric-vehicle infrastructure in the cities where we live."

The challenge calls for an auto-sector pledge to end production of combustion-engine vehicles, and for a commitment to a percentage of zero-emission vehicle sales by 2025. Businesses are being encouraged to switch fleets to electric vehicles, and cities are asked to focus on improving infrastructure and policy.

Helen Clarkson, chief executive of The Climate Group, which is leading the ZEV Challenge, said several nations have announced end dates for the sale of gasoline- and diesel-fueled vehicles. In the United States, California plans to have 5 million zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2030. Clarkson said automakers need to step up their game.

"If you look at the science on climate change, it's telling us we've got to do as much as we can as quickly as possible, and zero-emission vehicles are here today," she said. "So, the sooner we can really get them into the market, the better."

Taylor said Ann Arbor has an ambitious climate plan, which includes lower-emission transportation fleets and eventually, improved electric-vehicle infrastructure.

"As people become more and more committed to doing their part with respect to climate change - doing more and more of their part with respect to reducing greenhouse-gas footprints - an electric vehicle is an important part of that calculation," he said. "It's an area where manufacturers ought to invest, and are indeed investing."

More than 400 mayors have committed to uphold the climate benchmarks set in the Paris Agreement, despite President Donald Trump's move to withdraw the United States from the global climate pact.

Information about the ZEV Challenge is online at theclimategroup.org.


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State officials in Maine are preparing the next generation for climate change-related activism and careers.

A new state-run website helps young Mainers find ways to use their own talents and interests to counter any climate anxiety and work to build the state's climate resilience.

Abigail Hayne is Maine's youth climate engagement coordinator.

"Whether it's taking action just in your community or in your life, or exploring different climate jobs that are specific to Maine," said Hayne, "the youths can just kind of poke around and find something that makes sense to them."

Hayne said the website offers practical, localized ways young people can get active with their town or school as well as Maine's Climate Council, which currently includes a dozen youth representatives.

Maine faces simultaneous challenges. The state is warming faster than the global average and coping with an increase in extreme weather events.

It also has one of the oldest populations in the nation.

Hayne said towns statewide are developing plans to strengthen infrastructure, and the state has a responsibility to make sure young people are well-informed about these climate-related jobs.

"Soon enough, we're going to start seeing younger generations really on the front lines of climate change and community resilience," said Hayne, "and we need to make sure that they are fully prepared when they enter those roles."

More than 170 communities are utilizing state grants to identify the roads, buildings and energy infrastructure that is susceptible to climate change and begin needed upgrades.

Construction, engineering and electrical workers will be in high demand.

Hayne said the website can connect young Mainers with these new work opportunities as well as each other.






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School buses are getting cleaner in Washington state after this year's legislative session.

Lawmakers in Olympia passed House Bill 1368, which will fund the purchase of zero emission school buses.

Rep. Tana Senn, D-Mercer Island, said the program is getting off the ground quickly.

"As we work towards that long-term goal of all new school buses being zero emission, we're kick-starting this year with $40 million in grants to school districts in overburdened communities," Senn explained.

Going forward, Senn noted school districts will have to purchase zero-emission vehicles once the total cost of ownership is equal to or lower than the cost of diesel vehicles. The state is leveraging the state's Climate Commitment Act resources to fund the transition of its 10,000 school buses.

Devin Denney, director of transportation for Highline Public Schools in King County, which already has electric school buses in its fleet, said he has driven the electric buses and talked about some of their benefits from a driver's perspective.

"You're not competing against that engine noise, the kids aren't competing against the engine noise," Denney observed. "It's a much quieter bus all the way around. The major advantage, of course, is that there's no tailpipe emissions with an electric bus, so our kids' health is better protected."

Senn emphasized health studies have shown there are negative health effects from diesel vehicles for kids, and it is easy to understand why.

"If you think about kids waiting to get on their bus in front of an elementary school and you have this line of buses idling, letting out diesel fumes right at the height of a little child, it becomes obvious that this is probably not the most healthy thing for our children," Senn added.


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Today, in honor of Earth Day, climate advocates are asking California lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom to rally around a plan to put a $15 billion bond measure on the November ballot.

If passed, the bond measure would fund a range of climate resiliency measures.

Sam Hodder, president and CEO of the Save the Redwoods League, said March was the tenth month in a row to break monthly heat records.

"I think Earth Day is a terrific opportunity for the broader public to recognize how nature is critical for resilience, for our quality of life, for our mental and physical health, and for our communities more broadly," Hodder outlined.

Two similar bills to put a bond measure on the ballot are under consideration in Sacramento, Assembly Bill 1567 and Senate Bill 867, but they have been stalled since last summer. The bond would finance many programs, including some to restore wetlands that guard against sea-level rise, and to remove dead wood in forests to guard against mega-fires, which Hodder noted have killed 20% of the giant sequoias in recent years.

Opponents pointed out the state already faces a budget deficit and cannot afford to take on more debt. But only 5% of California's old-growth coastal redwoods remain, mostly due to aggressive logging many decades ago.

Hodder argued the giant trees can be critical ingredients in the fight against climate change because they trap so much carbon.

"Redwood forests sequester more carbon per acre than any other forest system in the world," Hodder emphasized. "We have the opportunity to transition the redwood forest from something that is vulnerable to climate change to something that is helping to solve and address the climate crisis."

Experts blame climate change for California's wild weather over the past few years, which has been marked by extreme drought, devastating fires and flooding rain.