Restaurant workers are feeling the heat now more than ever as they battle hotter working conditions due to climate change, and they are calling for safer regulations in the workplace.

A recent study conducted by Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, titled "Beat the Heat: Restaurant Workers Fight for a Safe and Dignified Work Environment," highlighted the urgent need for improved working conditions in the face of rising temperatures. The report revealed elevated temperatures not only increase the likelihood of workplace injuries, illnesses and fatalities but also lead to chronic dehydration and long-term kidney damage.

Cullen Page, a pizzeria worker, detailed his own experience in a work environment with excessive heat and poor ventilation.

"At a certain point, I feel that my body and brain start to give up," Page recounted. "I feel confused and sluggish. I have experienced stomach cramps while working, and I have developed a heat rash on my back from standing in front of a 550-degree oven all day."

He noted in addition to the bad conditions, workers' concerns are chalked up to the industry and are often not fixed.

While there are no regulations for the temperatures in the workplaces, OSHA recommends keeping work environments between 68 and 78 degrees Fahrenheit, and between 20% and 60% humidity. It is a suggestion Page argued is not strong enough to make a difference in his and many other restaurant workers' daily jobs.

Teófilo Reyes, chief program officer for Restaurant Opportunities Centers United and co-author of the report, said in a news conference they are calling on OSHA to move swiftly to issue a standard, which at the bare minimum meets California's Heat Illness Prevention standard, requiring all employees be trained on heat illness prevention, all workers receive access to shade and regular breaks and requires employers to develop and implement heat-prevention plans.

He pointed out the report offers even more safeguards to further cement a safer environment for workers.

"Our report includes additional recommendations, including an emergency response procedure for employees suffering from heat illness," Reyes explained. "It is way past time to take action, if we see that states are going to begin to block cities from enacting legislation to protect workers from the effect of climate change. A strong national standard that protects workers is more than necessary. It's already past due."

According to the report, restaurant workers, a majority of whom are women and disproportionately workers of color, also continue to bear disproportionate risk in the pandemic.

Another recent study found cooks to be one of the professions with the highest coronavirus mortality rates in the United States. Officials with ROC United said the facts reinforce why standards to protect active workers are more critical than ever to rebuild the restaurant industry after the pandemic.

Connecticut environmental groups want Gov. Ned Lamont to reject a fracked gas pipeline expansion. Their concerns revolve around Enbridge's Project Maple - a proposed fracked gas pipeline extension from New Jersey to Rhode Island, running across Connecticut. Enbridge says new capacity is needed to keep up with demand. But a major concern is leaking gas, which can lead to a range of health issues, from respiratory diseases to cancer.

Martha Klein, lead volunteer with Beyond Gas Campaign, Sierra Club Connecticut chapter, said expanding the pipeline would also have sharp economic impacts on ratepayers.

"Fracked gas infrastructure expansion has already driven ratepayer prices much higher over the last decade, and with more fracked gas expansion, it will push it higher still," she explained.

Gas utilities in the state were granted rate increases earlier this year, which strained many Connecticut residents' budgets. Groups have rallied against the project, and presented Lamont with a letter from environmental groups and elected officials to direct the state's Department of Energy and Environmental Conservation to deny state air and water permits for the proposal.

Project Maple could also set back Connecticut's clean energy goals, which has prompted negative feedback from residents. The Energy Information Administration says natural gas is Connecticut's largest energy source with nuclear power running second, but Klein said this isn't the end of the state's climate-friendly future.

"Basically, we could make buildings more efficient, especially the least efficient buildings, which tend to be where poor people live and rent in cities. The number one thing is not build any more fracked gas infrastructure, any new infrastructure. We need to ramp up solar - which our state has had actual limitations on," she continued.

She said New England states could also benefit from ramping up offshore wind production - although Lamont just pulled Connecticut out of a multistate offshore wind development deal, citing potential project costs. But a Sierra Club Connecticut report finds it would save the region's ratepayers about $630 million annually.

Maine officials are stepping up land conservation projects as climate change continues to alter the state's terrain.

New funding from the Land for Maine's Future program will preserve more than 3,500 acres of farmland, forests and working waterfront.

Steven Walker, executive director of the Brunswick Topsham Land Trust, emphasized the effects of climate change make it more critical than ever to protect green spaces.

"We really are excited about adding it to our list of spaces that will forever be open to the public and available for public recreation," Walker said.

Walker noted new funding will preserve more than 80 acres off West Bay Bridge Road in Topsham, including more than 4,000 feet of shoreline on the Muddy River wetland complex. It is just one of a handful of land parcels identified as containing statewide ecological significance.

Other recipients of the state funding include the Town of Wells Conservation Commission, which will preserve more than 160 acres of critical habitat for the endangered New England Cottontail and other wildlife. The City of Ellsworth will add nearly 300 acres to its existing public forest.

Walker pointed out the funding will also help preserve some of the state's iconic salt marshes and freshwater tidal areas, already being altered as sea level continues to rise.

"This parcel will function to help mitigate that effect," Walker explained. "To make sure marshes continue to be part of the landscape moving forward."

Walker added climate change is affecting every corner of Maine and he's already seeing changes around Bowdoin, Brunswick and Topsham.

The Land for Maine's Future program was boosted by the state legislature in 2021 with an infusion of $40 million to step up the pace of land conservation projects. So far, the program has preserved more than 600,000 acres.


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Washington's clean energy law could bring thousands of jobs and billions of dollars to the state, according to a new report.

Greenline Insights' analysis of the Climate Commitment Act, the state's cap-and-invest law passed in 2021, finds it will create 45,000 jobs and generate more than $9 billion in economic output over the next five years.

Jonah Kurman-Faber, founder of Greenline Insights and report co-author, said says the law has outsized returns for local economies and gains for the state as well.

"These investments from the Climate Commitment Act support labor-intensive local industries. We're thinking things like construction, manufacturing, business operations, transportation," he said.

The law could be repealed if Initiative 2117 on the November ballot is approved. Opponents of the Climate Commitment Act call it a "sneaky tax" on consumers.

Kurman-Faber noted that 45,000 jobs and $9 billion of return for the law is actually on the low end of their estimates.

The Climate Commitment Act is able to leverage money from sources like the federal government, and once this is factored in, the law could create 263,000 jobs and generate $50 billion over the next eight years. Kurman-Faber said states that get the most out of their money are the ones that use those investments to attract new sources to match funds.

"Think of things like federal dollars flowing in to provide grants or private industries investing in projects. The Climate Commitment Act is very good at attracting leverage," he continued.

The analysis finds jobs will be created in a wide range of sectors and that jobs created will pay, on average, 9% higher than the state median. Kurman-Faber said the new jobs will also have a high level of accessibility, too, since many will be open to people of any education level.

"With these jobs, there's not only a higher pay but also an easier route to career transition, or easier routes to opportunities for career transition for more residents in Washington," he continued.


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