More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
A consumer class action lawsuit filed Tuesday claims Delta Air Lines inaccurately billed itself as the world's "first carbon-neutral airline" and should pay damages. The complaint in federal court in California alleges the airline relied on carbon offsets that were largely bogus.
Companies around the world buy carbon credits to cancel out their carbon releases with projects that promise to absorb carbon dioxide out of the air, or prevent pollution that would've happened. But they've been under the spotlight in recent months with claims their benefits are exaggerated.
Delta is a big customer, purchasing credits from projects including wind and solar projects in India and an Indonesian swamp forest, the lawsuit says.
The airline did not respond to a request for comment.
The case, filed by Glendale, California resident Mayanna Berrin, claims to act on behalf of anyone who flew Delta while living in the state since March 2020. It says benefits from the offsets are likely to be temporary and would have happened even without the firm's investment. For a carbon credit to be valid, it must provide a benefit that would not have happened otherwise.
Delta announced three years ago it would go carbon neutral, which means releasing no more climate-changing pollution into the air than it absorbs. It can also mean paying to guarantee it is absorbed elsewhere.
Berrin argues this enabled the firm to gain market share and charge higher prices. A writer for Nickelodeon, Berrin told The AP she is about to enter her thirties and climate anxiety is pronounced in people her age.
"I felt comfortable paying more because I was neutralizing when I needed to travel for work or to see my family," she said. She said she felt frustration and regret when she began having doubts about Delta's offsets.
"They can't just claim neutrality if that's not factually accurate," she said. "Lawsuits in general are very scary, and there are a lot of people who echo my frustrations who may not know their rights or the impact they can make by speaking up."
Her attorney Jonathan Haderlein believes it's the first such case against a major American airline, and one of just a handful of "greenwashing" cases in the U.S. based on consumer protection law.
The case number is 2:23-cv-04150.
In 2021 aviation made up more than 2 per cent of global CO2 emissions, according to the International Energy Agency.
Earlier on Tuesday, Delta, based in Atlanta, Georgia, had 672 flights in the air globally, according to FlightRadar24, which tracks GPS data pinged to satellites and receivers.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
A girl and a boy, both 14 years old, made their first appearance today in a Halifax courtroom, where they each face a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old high school student.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.