| (Tess Smith-Roberts for The Washington Post) | | Welcome. This week, seaweed rivers and Brazil's new climate refugees. But first, a past column about stopping junk mail. I'll be back next week with more advice. |  | | If I never get another credit card offer in the mail, it will be too soon. I'm not alone. Mail volumes in the United States peaked in 2011, but junk mail has continued almost unabated. Last year, roughly 63 billion catalogues, postcards and coupon booklets arrived in America's mailboxes. That's 62 percent of all U.S. household mail, reports the U.S. Postal Service. This takes a heavy environmental toll. The typical American receives about 41 pounds of junk mail each year, according to the Center for the Development of Recycling at San José State University, and much of it ends up in landfills. The Sierra Club estimates 80 million to 100 million trees are cut down each year to print junk mail, while cities and counties spend $1 billion a year to collect and dispose of it. So after years of ignoring or recycling unwanted solicitations, I set out to get my mailbox as close to zero junk mail as possible. Why Americans get so much junk mail The advent of the typewriter allowed retailers to send out cheap blasts of advertisements in the early 20th century. Americans were soon flooded with fliers, postcards and catalogues. The Postal Service estimates these "third-class" mailings swelled from 301 million pieces in 1880 to more than 6 billion pieces by 1930. In 2005, marketing mail eclipsed first-class mail (what people tend to use for letters) for the first time. Junk mail is a lifeline for the Postal Service. In 1970, Congress withdrew taxpayer dollars for the agency, passing a law directing it to act like a business by covering its costs, but still required it to cover inherently unprofitable parts of running a nationwide postal system delivering to far-flung, often rural parts of the country. Desperate for money, the Postal Service opened the floodgates to marketers at one-third the cost of standard mail. Today, marketing mail generates $16 billion — 20 percent of the agency's revenue — and represents the majority of all mail sent in the United States. This diminishes any chance the country, unlike the Netherlands, Britain and Canada, will move to restrict junk mail anytime soon. Also, it works. Businesses spend about $225 per person in the United States annually on direct-mail advertising. The Postal Service estimates two-thirds of households read or scan their junk mail, while 11 percent say they respond to mailers. Check out my column below to read about three ways to stop junk mail. Did you know I read all your emails? Be part of the Climate Coach community. Write with what you'd like to see in this newsletter: climatecoach@washpost.com |  | Field Sample Howls reverberating across the forests of southern Mexico faded this summer after at least 157 howler monkeys died amid excessive heat. Temperatures have topped 113 degrees, and residents have found the corpses of monkeys "that dropped dead from the trees," said Comalcalco-based veterinarian VÃctor Morato. | | A veterinarian holds a Saraguato monkey rescued from the jungle after dozens of deaths were reported amid a fierce heat wave in Cunduacan, Tabasco state, Mexico. (Luis Manuel Lopez/Reuters) | | The deadly heat wave rocking Mexico, the most extreme in history, is now heading to the United States. After breaking records in Mexico since early May — more than 80 percent of the country is also enduring drought — it's expected to move north over the next two weeks, delivering the first heat wave of the season in the western United States. Meteorologists have tied the extreme warmth to the El Niño climate pattern and human-caused climate change. | Learning Curve Thousands of schools in the United States are now overheating More than 13,700 public schools that did not need air conditioning in 1970 need it today as temperatures rise to dangerous levels, report The Post's Anna Phillips and Veronica Penney. These areas, highlighted below, now experience at least one month of school days with temperatures above 80 degrees — and often far higher. | | Source: Areas with schools lacking air conditioning based on analysis by Resilient Analytics and the Center for Climate Integrity | | Last fall, school officials from Baltimore to Detroit had to end classes because of extreme heat in schools lacking air conditioning. "We have had situations where it's been 88 degrees outside but the real feel in the classrooms is well over 90 degrees because of the humidity," said Shari Obrenski, president of the Cleveland Teachers Union. "It's miserable, students throwing up, not being able to keep their heads up, just horrible conditions." Read more here. | Snapshot Climate change is turning septic tanks into time bombs. Millions of the tanks dot the American South. But swelling seas and rising water tables are causing them to fail, flooding yards and the environment with raw sewage, according to a Post analysis. | | Waves crash over the septic tank of a water-damaged house in North Carolina's Outer Banks in 2022. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post) | | Officials often lack reliable data about their location or how many might already be compromised, but cities are alarmed as they monitor fetid water raising the risk of gastrointestinal diseases and other health hazards as floodwaters fill yards and streets. The price tag to remove them is enormous. Homeowners can spend more than $30,000 for more advanced on-site wastewater treatment systems, alongside millions for expanding municipal infrastructure. Eliminating septic tanks in Florida's Miami-Dade County alone could cost more than $4 billion. Read more of The Post's analysis here. |  | The Second Degree After reading my column testing some of the top fake bacons on the market, many of you had your own suggestions: Thrilling Foods' Bakon, honey-cured goose breast, Benevolent Bacon and many, many others. And some of you suggested the real thing could still be a responsible choice: "My personal preference is to seek grass-fed, organic, regenerative agriculture, both for meat, plants, eggs and dairy," wrote Alex Jamieson, of North Vancouver, B.C. Our test didn't declare a clear winner — MorningStar Farms came close — but food companies clearly have plenty of room to experiment. I came away convinced we'll see enormous progress in the coming years, from hybrid meats to new plant ingredients. Steve of Pasadena, Calif., who said he was new to learning about climate change and sustainability, wrote in with a question. "Can you please recommend a good 101 book for a beginner?" I would love to know your favorites, readers. I'm considering reviewing them for a future column on this topic, so send your favorite starter books to climatecoach@washpost.com. |  | On the Climate Front From The Post: A simple fix could double the size of the U.S. electricity grid. Home insurance was once a 'must.' Now more homeowners are going without. Catastrophic flooding In southern Brazil has forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes — many won't go back. Meet the latest climate refugees. Summer's here: Is mineral sunscreen better than chemical sunscreen for you and coral reefs? From elsewhere: Seaweed carried to the deep sea stores more carbon than we thought, according to scientists in the Conversation. The heirs to Standard Oil, the monopoly that led to Exxon, are on a mission to hold oil companies responsible for climate change, reports the Wall Street Journal. Lawyers warn plastics makers of 'astronomical' forever chemical lawsuits, reports the New York Times. The urban farms of Paris once fed millions. They could again, according to MIT. |  | | Ed Tobia of Webster, Tex., traveled to Ayaviri, Peru. as part of a church mission. "Our project was to help the seminary build a kitchen along with bathroom facilities equipped with toilets and showers," he wrote. "But we had no source of hot water." They did, however, have the sun. So the group funded the installation of a $3,200 rooftop solar thermal water heating system with two storage tanks and pumps. "It is a truly amazing system and even in freezing temperatures, with the sun shining on it, it produces water hot enough to boil," Tobia writes. "The best comments came from some of the older seminary members thanking us for the ability to take a hot shower for the first time ever." Send me your photos and stories at climatecoach@washpost.com | | Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here to get The Climate Coach in your inbox every Tuesday. See you next Tuesday, Michael Coren, Climate Coach | | |
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