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Paris is banning cars. Here's why U.S. cities need to follow suit — basically now.

Paris' romantic air just got more breathable, and its world-famous streets more stroll-able.

The city's government unveiled an ambitious plan to ban gas-powered cars from the city by the end of the next decade.

"We have planned the end of thermic vehicle use, and therefore of fossil energies, by 2030," Christophe Nadjovski, Paris deputy mayor in charge of transportation, told France Info radio.

The city's mayor, Anne Hidalgo, had already announced a plan to ban diesel-powered vehicles from the city by 2024.

The French capital is the latest in a string of European cities cracking down on cars.

Oslo recently announced plans to ban parking spaces by 2019. Madrid plans to ban gas-powered cars from the bulk of its city center by 2020.

These moves may seem drastic, but recent research suggests many more similarly extreme steps could be necessary to avert climate catastrophe.

A University of Michigan study recently released estimates the U.S. automotive and electricity industries have fewer than nine years to take large-scale emission-limiting action before runaway warming becomes the most probable outcome.

The Los Angeles skyline in 2015. Photo by Mark Ralston/Getty Images.

"If we do not act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions forcefully prior to the 2020 election, costs ​to reduce emissions at a magnitude and timing consistent with averting dangerous human interference with the climate will skyrocket," Steven Skerlos, University of Michigan professor of mechanical engineering, said in a news release announcing the results. "That will only make the inevitable shift to renewable energy less effective in maintaining a stable climate system throughout the lives of children already born."

Some U.S. cities and states are taking steps to reduce vehicle emissions within their borders.

In May, California regulators announced stringent targets for reducing carbon emissions over the next eight years, including a requirement that automakers sell a higher percentage of low-emission vehicles in the state. A month later, a coalition of 30 mayors, three state governors, and over 100 businesses petitioned the United Nations to join the Paris Climate Accord, in the wake of the Trump administration's announced decision to withdraw from the agreement.

In August, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his administration was exploring congestion pricing — a toll on cars that enter certain central regions of New York City, though similar proposals have previously floundered in the state's legislature.

Could an enterprising American metropolis follow Paris' lead and banish gas-powered motor vehicles entirely?

With 218 million licensed drivers in the U.S., it's a tall political order.

But, to save the planet, they might have to go the extra mile.

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One place in the United States is making it harder for the world to lower ethane levels.

For the last five or six years, there's been a big mystery in climate science: What's behind the sudden rise in global ethane gas emissions?

Ethane is a hydrocarbon (a gas made of hydrogen and carbon) and is the second most common one in the atmosphere.

A simulation showing surface ozone levels over the U.S. GIF via Michigan Engineering/YouTube.

One of the main sources of ethane is the process of drilling for fossil fuels. When ethane enters the atmosphere, it can react with sunlight and other molecules to form ozone, which is a greenhouse gas.

Ethane emissions were steadily decreasing until about 2009, when they started to crawl back up again — and no one could really explain why.

Scientists had their suspicions, though: One thing that seemed to coincide with the rise in ethane emissions was a rise in shale oil and gas production in the U.S. using a process called hydraulic fracturing.

A hydraulic fracturing site in Pennsylvania. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images.

Hydraulic fracturing (referred to as "fracking") is a controversial process wherein drills inject fluid into underground shale formations in order to fracture them and release their oil.

Fracking is already responsible for water contamination, according to a report by the EPA, and releasing toxic chemicals into the air, which can cause health problems for those living nearby.

Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images.

Ethane emission is just one more thing added to the list of dangerous consequences of fracking.

A massive amount of these ethane emissions are coming from a single (huge) place called the Bakken Formation.

Stretching across parts of North Dakota, Montana, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, the Bakken Formation is a massive oil and gas field that contains many pockets of oil thousands of feet below the surface.

Sections of pipe waiting to be welded together in North Dakota. Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images.

So how much ethane are we talking about?

Oil production at the Bakken Formation jumped by a factor of 350 between 2005 and 2014, and with that rise came a rise in ethane emissions.

At the Bakken Formation alone, about 250,000 tons of ethane are produced per year. Which accounts for 2% of the total ethane globally.

"Two percent might not sound like a lot," Eric Kort, assistant professor of climate and space sciences at the University of Michigan, told ScienceDaily, but the emissions in the Bakken Formation are "10 to 100 times larger than reported in inventories" and they "directly impact air quality across North America."

A worker on an oil rig in North Dakota's Bakken region. Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images.

Ethane emissions on this scale are harmful in many ways.

Besides the greenhouse-warming effect they can have on our planet, they're also a surface-level air pollutant.

In fact, they're one of the pollutants the national Air Quality Index measures when it wants to let people know that breathing outside for extended periods of time could be harmful.

Rural North Dakota, which sits atop the Bakken formation. Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images.

Ethane also forms ozone on the surface. Ozone up in the stratosphere is good because it protects us from the sun's ultraviolet rays. But when it forms on the surface and is breathed in by people, it can cause lung damage, worsen asthma and emphysema, and even damage ecosystems.

The fact that one region in the U.S. is poisoning the air on a massive scale should amaze you just as much as it scares you.

"These findings not only solve an atmospheric mystery — where that extra ethane was coming from — they also help us understand how regional activities sometimes have global impacts," said Colm Sweeney, a scientist with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.

We're all living in the same climate.

Actions on a regional level don't just affect us here in America or those living near the Bakken Formation, they affect the air people breathe the world over. If one area in the United States can suddenly start creating 2% of global air pollution, imagine what else increases in oil production can be capable of.

A kid living in the Bakken region. Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images.

On the other hand, if we can do that much damage in such a short amount of time, surely we can move quickly to do some good too.

Sure, putting an efficient lightbulb in your kitchen isn't going to save the world, but as we've seen, actions large and small, especially on a regional level, can have big impacts.

If we as individuals decide to start being energy efficient quickly and on a massive scale, the way oil companies decided to drill the Bakken Formation quickly on a massive scale, maybe companies would follow suit, and then, who knows what positive effects we'd see?

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Bill Nye has a plan to make NASCAR better than ever. But can it work?

NASCAR is right up there with football and baseball when it comes to sports Americans love.

Professional stock car racing is fast, thrilling, and a serious moneymaker. In 2012, NASCAR earned $3 billion in sponsorship money, more than double that of the NFL.

Breakneck speed and passionate fans are the cornerstone of this wildly popular sport.

But! Here's an idea: What if those loud, gas-guzzling stock cars were replaced with electric cars?

Take it easy, Tony Stewart. It's just an idea.

Think I'm nutty for even suggesting it? Don't blame me. It's all Bill Nye's idea. In a January 2016 op-ed for Aeon, the TV science guy and beloved bow-tie wearer proposed that NASCAR cars make the switch from gas to electric engines.

Nye, a Southerner and lifelong stock car enthusiast, says he is disappointed by the lack of innovation in racing and suggests that, instead of clinging to outdated modes of technology, NASCAR should embrace the future and make the transition to electric cars.

Bill Nye rocking his traditional bow tie and hand gestures. Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images.

"Despite the excitement, NASCAR kinda breaks my heart," Nye writes. "It’s a celebration of old tech." He wishes NASCAR was more like NASA, where the focus is always on the future and innovation.

"I wish NASCAR set up Grand Challenges to inspire companies and individuals to create novel automotive technologies in the way NASA does to create novel space technologies," he says. He even has a plan, a vision, for what NASCAR would look like with electric cars:

"It’s easy for me to imagine an electric race car that completely outperforms a gas-powered competitor. Instead of refueling a gas tank, the electric race car pit crew would change battery packs. The car would be designed to roll up a ramp. The battery pack would be disconnected and dropped out. Moments later, a fresh battery pack would be lifted into place, and off our electric racer would go with time in the pit comparable to what it takes to refuel and service a conventional gas-powered race car."

While this image sounds idealized, the real question is whether it's even feasible. Can electric cars even compete with their gas-powered counterparts?

Yes. Yes, they can.

Electric vehicles are already on track to compete with NASCAR.

NASCAR vehicles are built for speed. They have large, finely tuned engines that can take in huge amounts of air. They run without mufflers and catalytic converters so nothing slows down the exhaust. All the other systems on the car are built to operate at high speeds and temperatures.

All of these factors, along with a skilled driver, allow NASCAR vehicles to get anywhere from 800 to 940 horsepower and go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in about 2.9 seconds.


Jeff Gordon races during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 in November 2015. Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images.

As Nye points out, the Tesla Model S, a luxury electric car, is capable of producing 530 horsepower and goes from 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds.

It's not built to perform like a race car and weighs in about 1,000 pounds heavier than most stock cars, but initial tests make it clear that the Model S and other electric vehicles have potential for racing success.

The Tesla Model S chillin' like a villain in a showroom. Photo by Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images.

While electric vehicles can compete with gas-powered vehicles, making the transition across NASCAR wouldn't be easy or affordable.

The speed and power required by the average NASCAR race car does not come cheap. One team, Joe Gibbs Racing, builds engines that cost around $80,000 a piece. One of those engines won't even get you through the nine-month NASCAR season. Not even close. Due to high speeds and punishing conditions, it only takes one or two races before serious engine maintenance or replacement is required.


Crew members for Jimmie Johnson work after a crash during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400. Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images.

Electric vehicles use motors powered by large batteries instead of fuel. While a fuel engine only lasts a couple of races, that's still better than the battery life of electric cars, which would need to have new battery packs installed during races because their range is 270 miles under traditional conditions.

While prices have fallen sharply since 2007, the cost of electric vehicle batteries is still between $300 and $450 per kilowatt hour. To be on par with gas-powered vehicles, researchers say that price would need to fall to around $150 per kWh, a milestone that's expected to be more than five years away.

For their part, NASCAR has taken a few major steps to offset the hefty emissions of their current cars. The 43 cars in the 2015 Daytona 500 used an estimated 5,375 gallons of gas. However, the cars use a biofuel blend made from corn that cuts emissions by 20%; since 2009, NASCAR has planted 370,000 trees, enough to offset their national series racing carbon emissions for the next 40 years.

Representatives from NASCAR and conservation organizations plant a tree for NASCAR's Tree-Planting Program to Capture Carbon Emissions at Michigan International Speedway. Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR.

Nye also predicts the influence NASCAR's adoption of electric cars would have on the consumer market and the economy.

While still years away from feasibility, a transition like this could give alternative vehicles and the sport of NASCAR racing a serious boost.

Imagine watching dozens of souped-up electric cars race around the track. Nye believes it would inspire fans to seriously consider electric cars for their own needs.

"The market for electric cars would go crazy. Manufacturers could not produce them fast enough," Nye estimates. "We could convert our transportation system to all-electric in less time than it took to go from horse-drawn to horseless carriage, 20 years maybe."

Though Nye is a font of optimism, he may have a point. Race fans are notoriously loyal and passionate. One market research firm reported 40% of fans are willing to switch brands to buy NASCAR-branded or sponsored products. This transition could be the boost EVs need.

NASCAR stopped releasing attendance data in 2012, but many signs point to declining numbers. And while it is still popular, TV ratings for televised races have dipped as well. Perhaps an innovative transition like this would inspire fans old and new to give the sport another look.

Fans watch the NASCAR Xfinity Series Hisense 200. Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images.

Critics will say Nye's plan for an EV NASCAR will never work. But imagine for a moment if it does.

Consider the innovation an idea like this begets, the emissions it could eliminate, the good habits it may inspire. Ambitious? Yes. Feasible? Maybe. Either way, the avenues for opportunity are enough to get anyone's motor running.

Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR.

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France figured out how to make its grocery stores feed even more people.

It's a first for Europe — and a smart example for the rest of the world.

What happens to the apples that no one buys at the grocery store?

You've been there: looking at apples (or other produce) and examining what's in front of you before deciding on "the one." The first apple you grabbed wasn't ripe enough, and the second one had a weird shape. The third was too mushy. But that last one? It was perfect. Into the cart and on you go.

But what happens to the apples and the other food you didn't buy — and no one else did either? Too often, that perfectly good, unsold food ends up in the trash.

That'll soon be changing in France.

All of the apples by Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images.

France just passed a bipartisan bill that bans grocery stores from throwing out unsold food.

Instead of discarding food items that are approaching their sell-by date, French supermarkets will be required to donate the food to charities or to turn it into animal feed or compost.

On the heels of the Paris climate change agreement, France is hoping to find a solution that helps the hungry while also helping the environment.


Image by Francois Nascimbeni/Getty Images.

Many families in the world struggle to find food to eat. France is said to throw away almost 8 million tons of food every year, and grocery stores are a big contributor. Between people being picky about the aesthetics of their food, overstocked shelves at the store, and sell-by dates that don't actually mean that much, there is room to explore how to keep more food in tummies and less in the landfill.

"Today, when a supermarket like Carrefour finds even a tiny fault with a crate of its branded yogurts, it sends the whole batch back to the dairy producer, which is legally obliged to destroy the lot even if it is all of excellent quality," Guillaume Garot, one of the legislators who framed the law, told the Telegraph.

Photo by Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images.

The law, which passed on Dec. 10, 2015, will make it possible for charities to have access to more edible food, like crates of yogurts, that would otherwise be destroyed. It'll target stores with retail space of over 4,300 square feet (so ... big ones) and is expected to go into effect once the Senate votes on it in early 2016.

The initiative won't just feed people. It'll also make the environment happier.

According to the United Nations, if wasted food became its own country, it would be the #3 contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the entire world. That's pretty wild when you think about it. Throwing away leftovers or seeing food in a grocery store's dumpster doesn't seem like that big of a deal until you see what it's doing on a global scale.

The United States should take note: We waste enough food to fill a 90,000-seat football stadium every single day.

Enough to fill the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California ... every day. Photo by Ken Levine/Getty Images.

Yes, just let your head wrap around that for a second.

We're throwing away more than one-third of all the food that's produced in the country every year. Consumers do play the biggest part in that food waste, but grocery stores are responsible for throwing away 10% of it. We're using as many tricks as possible to reduce the waste, but there's more that can be done.

France is setting a strong example of legislators from both sides of the aisle working together to solve some of the biggest issues of our time.

It's easy to think of many world issues as separate, but that's not always the case. The connections between hunger, poverty, food waste, and climate change show that simple solutions can be found all over — even in an apple bin.

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