Matthew Micah Wright / The Image Bank / Getty Images
By Deborah Moore, Michael Simon and Darryl Knudsen
There's some good news amidst the grim global pandemic: At long last, the world's largest dam removal is finally happening.
<p>The <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-11-17/klamath-river-basin-dams-pacificorps-gavin-newsom-yurok-karuk-salmon-warren-buffett" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">landmark agreement</a>, which was finalized in November 2020 between farmers, tribes and dam owners, will finally bring down <a href="https://west.stanford.edu/news/blogs/and-the-west-blog/2020/winners-losers-and-landscape-might-emerge-if-klamath-river-dams-disappear" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">four aging, inefficient dams</a> along the Klamath River in the Pacific Northwest. This is an important step in restoring historic salmon runs, which have <a href="https://www.laprogressive.com/klamath-dam-removal/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">drastically declined in recent years</a> since the dams were constructed. It's also an incredible win for the Karuk and Yurok tribes, who for untold generations have relied on the salmon runs for both sustenance and spiritual well-being.</p><p>The tribes, supported by environmental activists, led a decades-long effort to broker an agreement. They faced vehement opposition from some farmers and owners of lakeside properties, but in 2010, they managed what had seemed impossible: PacifiCorp, the operator of the dams, signed a dam removal agreement, along with 40 other signatories that included the tribes and the state governments of Oregon and California. Unfortunately, progress stalled for years when questions arose around who would pay for the dam removals.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxMzU3NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNjc2NjI0OX0.ovlE1UYYtJdzrmYsh2UaJ95efnJ4cdYgyjjStRrR6yc/img.jpg?width=980" id="c13c2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="98e08845f686773dcfe50815fb63b6a4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="4928" data-height="3264" />
A young activist for a free-flowing Salween River. A team of campaigners and lawyers from EarthRights International joined Indigenous Karen communities on the Salween in 2018 to celebrate the International Day of Actions for Rivers on March 14. This year, EarthRights joined communities living in the Eu-Wae-Tta internally displaced persons camp for a celebration in solidarity with those impacted by dam projects on the Salween River. EarthRights International
<p>The dam removal project is a sign of the decline of the hydropower industry, whose fortunes have fallen as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46098118" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">troubling</a> cost-benefit ratio of dams has become clear over the years. The rise of more cost-effective and sustainable energy sources (including wind and solar) has hastened this shift. This is exactly the type of progress envisioned by the <a href="https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/17023836/dams-and-development-a-new-framework-for-decision" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">World Commission on Dams</a> (WCD), a global multi-stakeholder body that was established by the World Bank and International Union for Conservation of Nature in 1998 to investigate the effectiveness and performance of large dams around the world. The WCD released a damning landmark <a href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2000/20001117.dam.pressconferencepm.doc.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">report</a> in November 2000 on the enormous financial, environmental and human costs and the dismal performance of large dams. The commission spent <a href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2000/20001117.dam.pressconferencepm.doc.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">two years</a> analyzing the outcome of the trillions of dollars invested in dams, reviewing dozens of case studies and testimonies from over a thousand communities and individuals, before producing the report.</p><p>But despite this progress, we cannot take hydropower's decline as inevitable. As governments around the world plan for a post-pandemic recovery, hydropower companies sense an opportunity. The industry is eager to recast itself as climate-friendly (<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/how-green-is-hydropower-1919539525.html" target="_self">it's not</a>) and <a href="https://www.hydropower.org/covid-19" target="_blank">secure</a> precious stimulus funds to revive its dying industry — at the expense of people, the environment and a truly just, green recovery.</p>Hydropower’s Troubling Record
<p>The world's largest hydropower dam removal project on the Klamath River is a significant win for tribal communities. But while the Yurok and Karuk tribes <a href="https://www.karuk.us/images/docs/press/bring_salmon_home.php" target="_blank">suffered</a> terribly from the decline of the Klamath's fisheries, they were by no means alone in that experience. The environmental catastrophe that occurred along the Klamath River has been replicated all over the world since the global boom in hydropower construction <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/hydropower" target="_blank">began</a> early in the 20th century.</p><p>The rush to dam rivers has had huge consequences. After decades of rampant construction, only <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/05/worlds-free-flowing-rivers-mapped-hydropower/" target="_blank">37 percent of the world's rivers remain free-flowing</a>, according to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1111-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">one study</a>. River fragmentation has <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/70/4/330/5732594" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">decimated freshwater habitats and fish stocks</a>, threatening food security for millions of the world's most vulnerable people, and hastening the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffopperman/2020/10/13/freshwater-wildlife-continues-to-decline-but-new-energy-trendlines-suggest-we-can-bend-that-curve/?sh=f9d175a61ee4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">decline of other myriad freshwater species</a>, including mammals, birds and reptiles.</p><p>The communities that experienced the most harm from dams — whether in Asia, Latin America or Africa — often lacked political power and access. But that didn't stop grassroots movements from organizing and growing to fight for their rights and livelihoods. The people affected by dams began raising their voices, sharing their experiences and forging alliances across borders. By the 1990s, the public <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y55lnlst" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">outcry</a> against large dams had grown so loud that it finally led to the establishment of the WCD.</p><p>What the WCD found was stunning. While large dam projects had brought some economic benefits, they had also <a href="https://www.irn.org/wcd/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">forcibly displaced an estimated 40 to 80 million people in the 20th century alone</a>. To put that number into perspective, it is more than the current population of present-day <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=FR" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">France</a> or the <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=GB" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">United Kingdom</a>. These people lost their lands and homes to dams, and often with no compensation.</p><p>Subsequent research has compounded that finding. A paper published in <a href="https://tinyurl.com/c7uznz" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Water Alternatives</a> revealed that globally, more than <a href="https://tinyurl.com/yxw8x7ab" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">470 million people living downstream from large dams</a> have faced significant impacts to their lives and livelihoods — much of it due to disruptions in water supply, which in turn harm the complex web of life that depends on healthy, free-flowing rivers. The WCD's findings, released in 2000, <a href="https://www.irn.org/wcd/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">identified</a> the importance of restoring rivers, compensating communities for their losses, and finding better energy alternatives to save rivers and ecosystems.</p>Facing a New Crisis
<p>Twenty years after the WCD uncovered a crisis along the world's rivers and recommended a new development path — one that advances community-driven development and protects freshwater resources — we find ourselves in the midst of another crisis. The global pandemic has hit us hard, with surging loss of life, unemployment and instability.</p><p>But as governments work to rebuild economies and create job opportunities in the coming years, we have a choice: Double down on the failed, outdated technologies that have harmed so many, or change course and use this transformative moment to rebuild our natural systems and uplift communities.</p><p>There are many reasons to fight for a green recovery. The climate is changing even <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07586-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">faster</a> than expected, and some dams — especially those with reservoirs in hot climates — <a href="https://tinyurl.com/w6w29t8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">have been found to emit more greenhouse gases than a fossil fuel power plant</a>. Other estimates have put global reservoirs' human-made greenhouse gas emissions each year on par with <a href="https://www.climatecentral.org/news/greenhouse-gases-reservoirs-fuel-climate-change-20745" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Canada's</a> total emissions.</p><p>Meanwhile, we now understand that healthy rivers and freshwater ecosystems play a <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/b55b1fe4-7d09-47af-96c4-6cbb5f106d4f/files/wetlands-role-carbon-cycle.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">critical role in regulating and storing carbon</a>. And at a time when <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">biodiversity loss is soaring</a>, anything we can do to <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/70/4/330/5732594" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">restore habitat is key</a>. But with <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271996520_A_Global_Boom_in_Hydropower_dam_Construction" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">more than 3,700 major dams proposed or under construction</a> in the world (primarily in the Global South, with over <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/more-than-500-dams-planned-inside-protected-areas-study/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">500 of these in protected areas</a>), according to a 2014 report — and the hydropower industry <a href="https://www.hydropower.org/covid-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">jockeying</a> for scarce stimulus dollars — we must act urgently.</p>Signs of Hope
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxMzUyMS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxOTcyNTc3OX0.EbqBVPs2kjhrY5AqnZXOb_GX-s6pw4qyJmmeISzKA6U/img.png?width=980" id="a81d0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="87bc79d69f72e9334a78da8e0355e6ae" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1620" data-height="1068" />Fish catch at the Siphandone on the Mekong River, prior to the completion of the Don Sahong Dam. Pai Deetes / International Rivers
<p>So what would a strong, resilient and equitable recovery look like in the 21st century? Let's consider one example in Southeast Asia.</p><p>Running through six countries, the Mekong River is the world's 12th-longest river, which is home to one of the world's most biodiverse regions, and includes the world's <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/places/greater-mekong#" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">largest</a> inland fishery. Around <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y6jrarjo" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">80 percent of the nearly 65 million people</a> who live in the Lower Mekong River Basin depend on the river for their livelihoods, according to the Mekong River Commission. In 1994, Thailand built the Pak Mun Dam on a Mekong tributary. <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y5ekfp4h" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Six years later</a>, the <a href="https://tinyurl.com/yxcvs6up" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WCD studied the dam's performance</a> and submitted its conclusions and recommendations as part of its final report in 2000. According to the WCD report, the Pak Mun Dam did not deliver the peaking energy service it was designed for, and it <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y38p3jaw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">physically blocked a critical migration route</a> for a range of fish species that migrated annually to breeding grounds upstream in the Mun River Basin. Cut off from their customary habitat, fish stocks plummeted, and so did the livelihoods of the local people.</p><p>Neighboring Laos, instead of learning from this debacle, followed in Thailand's footsteps, <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y4eaxcq2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">constructing two dams on the river's mainstem</a>, Xayaburi Dam, commissioned in 2019, and Don Sahong Dam, commissioned in 2020. But then a sign of hope appeared. In early 2020, just as the pandemic began to spread across the world, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/20/cambodia-scraps-plans-for-mekong-hydropower-dams" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cambodian government reconsidered its plans to build more dams on the Mekong</a>. The science was indisputable: A government-commissioned report showed that further dams would <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/16/leaked-report-warns-cambodias-biggest-dam-could-literally-kill-mekong-river" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reduce the river's wild fisheries, threaten critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphins</a> and <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2013WR014651" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">block nutrient-rich sediment from the delta's fertile agricultural lands</a>.</p><p><a href="https://data.opendevelopmentmekong.net/dataset/4f1bb5fd-a564-4d37-878b-c288af460143/resource/5f6fe360-7a68-480d-9ba4-12d7b8b805c9/download/volume-3_solar-alternative-to-sambor-dam.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Studies</a> show that Cambodia didn't need to seek billions of dollars in loans to build more hydropower; instead, it could pursue more cost-effective solar and wind projects that would deliver needed electricity at a fraction of the cost — and <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/press-releases/wwf-statement-on-cambodian-government-s-decision-to-suspend-hydropower-dam-development-on-the-mekong-river" target="_blank">without the ecological disasters to fisheries and the verdant Mekong delta</a>. And, in a stunning reversal, Cambodia listened to the science — and to the people — and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/20/cambodia-scraps-plans-for-mekong-hydropower-dams" target="_blank">announced</a> a 10-year moratorium on mainstream dams. Cambodia is now <a href="https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/cambodia-halts-hydropower-construction-mekong-river-until-2030" target="_blank">reconsidering</a> its energy mix, recognizing that mainstream hydropower dams are too costly and undermine the economic and cultural values of its flagship river.</p>Toward a Green Recovery
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxMzUwOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MTMwMjk0M30.0LZCOEVzgtgjm2_7CwcbFfuZlrtUr80DiRYxqKGaKIg/img.jpg?width=980" id="87fe9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e6b9bfeb013516f6ad5033bb9e03c5ec" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="2100" data-height="3086" />Klamath River Rapids. Tupper Ansel Blake / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
<p>Increasingly, governments, civil servants and the public at large are rethinking how we produce energy and are seeking to preserve and restore precious freshwater resources. Dam removals are increasing exponentially across <a href="https://www.americanrivers.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/DamsRemoved_1999-2019.pdf" target="_blank">North America</a> and <a href="https://damremoval.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/DRE-policy-Report-2018-digitaal-010319.pdf" target="_blank">Europe</a>, and movements advancing <a href="https://www.rightsofrivers.org/" target="_blank">permanent river protection are growing across Latin America, Asia and Africa</a>.</p><p>We must use the COVID-19 crisis to accelerate the trend. Rather than relying on old destructive technologies and industry claims of newfound "<a href="https://www.hydrosustainability.org/news/2020/11/12/consultation-on-a-groundbreaking-global-sustainability-standard-for-hydropower" target="_blank">sustainable hydropower</a>," the world requires a new paradigm for an economic recovery that is rooted both in climate and economic justice as well as river stewardship. Since December 2020, hundreds of groups and individuals from more than 80 countries have joined the <a href="https://www.rivers4recovery.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rivers4Recovery</a> call for a better way forward for rivers and natural places. This paradigm will protect our rivers as critical lifelines — supporting fisheries, biodiversity, water supply, food production, Indigenous peoples and diverse populations around the world — rather than damming and polluting them.</p><p>The promise of the Klamath dam removals is one of restoration — a move that finally recognizes the immense value of free-flowing rivers and the key role they play in <a href="https://f.hubspotusercontent20.net/hubfs/4783129/LPR/PDFs/Living_Planet_Report_Freshwater_Deepdive.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">nourishing both the world's biodiversity and hundreds of millions of people</a>. Healthy rivers — connected to watershed forests, floodplains, wetlands and deltas — are key partners in building resilience in the face of an accelerating climate crisis. But if we allow the hydropower industry to succeed in its <a href="https://www.world-energy.org/article/12361.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cynical grab for stimulus funds</a>, we'll only perpetuate the 20th century's legacy of suffering and environmental degradation.</p><p>We must put our money where our values are. Twenty years ago, the WCD pointed the way forward to a model of development that takes humans, wildlife and the environment into account, and in 2020, we saw that vision flower along the Klamath River. It's time to bring that promise of healing and restoration to more of the world's rivers.</p><p><em>Deborah Moore is a former commissioner of the <a href="https://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/alldoc/articles/vol3/v3issue2/79-a3-2-2/file" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="">World Commission on Dams</a>. Michael Simon was a member of the <a href="https://www.hydrosustainability.org/assessment-protocol" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="">Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Forum</a>. Darryl Knudsen is the executive director of <a href="https://www.internationalrivers.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="">International Rivers</a>.</em></p><p><em>This article first appeared on <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/damming-rivers-is-terrible-for-human-rights-ecosystems-and-food-security/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Truthout</a> and was produced in partnership with <a href="https://independentmediainstitute.org/earth-food-life/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Earth | Food | Life</a>, a project of the Independent Media Institute.</em></p>
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1-Month Hunger Strike: Chicago Activists Fight Metal Scrapper Relocation Into Black and Latinx Neighborhood
10h
Politics
Scrap metal is loaded into a shredder at a metal recycling facility on July 17, 2008 in Chicago, Illinois. Scott Olson / Getty Images
Hunger strikers in Chicago are fighting the relocation of a metal shredding facility from a white North Side neighborhood to a predominantly Black and Latinx community on the Southeast Side already plagued by numerous polluting industries.
<p>On Thursday the three original hunger strikers – Oscar Sanchez, Breanna Bertacchi and Chuck Stark – will complete their fourth week without food. "It is immoral, it is discriminatory and we cannot allow [this plant to operate] in a pandemic when we can prevent it," Byron Sigcho-Lopez, the 25th ward alderman who has joined the hunger strike for "as long as it's needed," told The Guardian.</p>
<p>The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa">EPA</a>) suspended its environmental justice investigation into whether Illinois discriminated against the predominantly Black and Latinx Southeast Side community after the Illinois EPA began "informal resolution agreement discussions," Block Club Chicago reported. Last month, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot also sought guidance from federal regulators and appears to be hoping the Biden administration will make the call over whether the scrap yard can be moved to the Southeast Side, according to the <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/environment/ct-chicago-hunger-strike-update-20210219-2md32qwqvjgifcwnupofp6lx4e-story.html?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113909889&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--pZDXggmnuVLpLtzQf1na4Whe6i5f9d-6QZWf6-tw6vx_Gb7KoBfUzPnV-SoOEyyTy0_SDgLRemt_fAg7WlKTXBdzGpg&utm_content=113909889&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chicago Tribune</a>.</p>
<p>As reported by the <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/environment/ct-chicago-hunger-strike-update-20210219-2md32qwqvjgifcwnupofp6lx4e-story.html?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113909889&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--pZDXggmnuVLpLtzQf1na4Whe6i5f9d-6QZWf6-tw6vx_Gb7KoBfUzPnV-SoOEyyTy0_SDgLRemt_fAg7WlKTXBdzGpg&utm_content=113909889&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Chicago Tribune</a>:</p><blockquote>Lightfoot has so far declined to meet the strikers' key demand. But by <a href="https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20488082-2021-2-17-chicago-law-dept-letter-to-usepa-on-rmg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reaching out to federal regulators</a> for guidance this week, the mayor for the first time raised the possibility that Reserve Management Group won't be allowed to operate its new facility along the Calumet River at 116th Street.</blockquote><blockquote>---</blockquote><blockquote>If the Biden EPA steps in and blocks the state permit, the Lightfoot administration would be spared from making a decision about a final city permit RMG needs before it can start shredding scrap metal on the Southeast Side.</blockquote><blockquote>RMG's opponents contend that locating more heavy industry in an already polluted, majority Latino and Black neighborhood is an immoral — if not illegal — example of environmental racism, a scourge both Biden and Lightfoot as candidates promised to aggressively confront.</blockquote>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong><br/></p><p><a href="https://blockclubchicago.org/2021/03/01/feds-suspend-investigation-into-states-approval-of-southside-recycling-permit/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113909889&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--xTxIr0hcqppId9AxkQcezDhkbBFSKwWOVk1ZJxhoBxNx5tiPU4kbbp5WVm1lijgdSV6PGNnVkEkSX5IOy_mmlvaPBDg&utm_content=113909889&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Block Club Chicago</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/01/chicago-hunger-strike-against-recycling-plant-grows?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113909889&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8zqCb_GJ94BANzQiGEjWQs56Ut191_u6bZs0DER9rIeVJAuTlPuqaqnpscozSq_7p9kqRl06Wm4yeJPgMEvED-vkUdBw&utm_content=113909889&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, <a href="https://grist.org/justice/chicago-hunger-strike-scrapyard-pollution-environmental-justice/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113909889&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-90wClo6lHzLFReXFGbg39XqQp9x8uRzCKJJJBK3JBQXGdDrYmvi5PHXbWk9LFwIghpg1qVMPumfBbY5_nsSEt1cc2TZA&utm_content=113909889&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Grist</a></p><p><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, sign up for daily </em><a href="https://www.linktrack.live/hot-news-sign-up" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>, and visit their news site, </em><a href="https://nexusmedianews.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Nexus Media News</em></a><em>.</em></p>
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Like many other plant-based foods and products, CBD oil is one dietary supplement where "organic" labels are very important to consumers. However, there are little to no regulations within the hemp industry when it comes to deeming a product as organic, which makes it increasingly difficult for shoppers to find the best CBD oil products available on the market.
<p>Here you can learn about the importance of organic hemp oil, why it's better for the environment, and which CBD companies actually make trustworthy products with sustainable farming processes. origins which weigh heavily on many consumers who want to buy a product that's produced in the best way possible for not only themselves to ingest, but for the environment as well through sustainable farming methods. </p><h2>What Is CBD Oil?</h2><p>First things first, CBD stands for cannabidiol, and it's a cannabinoid found within cannabis sativa plants. This plant compound is believed to have many potential benefits, and it is primarily derived from hemp plants via a CO2 extraction process. </p><p>Since CBD is extracted from industrial hemp, which contains only trace amounts of THC (the psychoactive component in cannabis plants), this means that CBD won't make you feel high like marijuana, which has much higher levels of THC that causes psychoactive effects. Instead, the effects of CBD are much more subtle and promote a general sense of calm and relaxation in most users.</p><h2>What Makes a CBD Oil Organic?</h2><p>In terms of organic labels, perhaps the most important (and prominent) certification comes from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This government organization has been labeling foods as "organic" for many years, but what exactly does this certification entail? Essentially, a label indicating that a product is "USDA Organic" or "Certified Organic" means that at least 95% of the ingredients are obtained from organic sources.</p><p>For a crop to be considered organic by the USDA, it must be grown without the use of industrial solvents, irradiation, genetic engineering (GMOs), synthetic pesticides, or chemical fertilizer. Instead, farmers rely on natural substances and <a href="https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2012/03/22/organic-101-what-usda-organic-label-means" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">mechanical, physical, or biologically based farming</a> techniques to cultivate healthy and organic crops.</p><p>Before the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, no hemp-derived products could be dubbed as "certified organic" since the hemp plant and its extracts were still categorized as a Schedule I Controlled Substance. However, it's still difficult for CBD companies to obtain a USDA certified organic label for their products due to the legal grey area that still surrounds CBD extracts. </p><p>Because of these challenges, and due to the fact that industrial hemp has only recently become an agricultural crop, very few CBD oils are USDA certified organic. Rather, many CBD products contain hemp extracts from plants that were grown in organic conditions but may not be federally certified.</p><h2>What are the Best Organic CBD Oil Brands?</h2><p><em>Each product featured here has been independently selected by the writer. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.</em></p><em><br></em>
<h2>Why Organic Hemp Oil Matters</h2><p>Hemp is a unique plant, not only for its rich cannabinoid content, but also for its ability to absorb a wide variety of components in soil. But this trait poses great risks when it comes to the creation of CBD products derived from hemp.</p><p>Because hemp has a high capacity for compound uptake, this means that the plants can retain <a href="https://www.remedyreview.com/industry/lab-test-results/" target="_blank">harmful chemicals like pesticides</a>, heavy metals, and other residual solvents. This is especially true when it comes to synthetic chemicals that are more toxic to humans, and difficult to remove once they have been absorbed by the hemp plant.</p><p>Organic farming practices help reduce the risk of hemp crops absorbing harsh chemicals that may later end up in CBD oil after extraction. When you're taking CBD as a wellness supplement to help alleviate your symptoms or improve your overall well-being, the last thing you want is to ingest compounds that might negatively outweigh the benefits of CBD. This is an important reason to look for third party lab test results when shopping for CBD products since these certificates of analysis can show the full cannabinoid and terpene profile of a hemp extract, as well as test results that search for the presence of any residual solvents.</p><p>In addition to creating a better end product, organic farming practices are also better for the environment. Sustainable and organic farming methods may <a href="https://www.helpguide.org/articles/healthy-eating/organic-foods.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reduce pollution, conserve water, reduce soil erosion, increase soil fertility, and use less energy</a>. The use of natural pest deterrents as opposed to chemical pesticides is also better for nearby animal populations and ecosystems.</p><h3>Organic vs. Natural</h3><p>While there are only a select few companies offering certified organic ingredients in their products, almost every brand in the CBD market creates "natural" products. The term "all-natural" or "plant-based" does not mean that a product is organic, and since hemp oil is a natural derivative of hemp plants, these products are often referred to as all-natural. However, there are some synthetic CBD oils that should be avoided because they are chemically constructed and may produce unwanted side effects that are not caused by naturally derived CBD extracts.</p><h2>What are the Benefits of Organic CBD Oil?</h2><p>There's a long list of potential CBD oil health benefits, and some of the most common wellness advantages include:</p><ul class="ee-ul"><li><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2503660/" target="_blank">Chronic pain relief</a></li><li><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4604171/" target="_blank">Anti-anxiety effects</a></li><li>Better sleep</li><li><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/inner-source/201901/cbd-oil-mental-health-should-you-take-it-too" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Improvements in mood</a></li><li>Internal balance and regulation</li></ul><p>When dealing with pain, inflammation, sleep issues, and mental health struggles, it can be hard to find sufficient treatment options. The use of certain prescriptions can cause unwanted side effects, yet they are often the only solution for patients with these medical conditions. In search of other therapies, people have started to flock towards CBD oil as an alternative remedy for a variety of conditions. However, it should be noted that CBD products are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and you should seek your doctor's advice before using CBD if you have a serious medical condition.</p><h2>Look at the Labels Before You Buy CBD Oil</h2><p>When you go online to buy CBD oil, you'll quickly realize there is an overwhelming number of brands that are saturating the market. It can be difficult to determine which products are truly as good as they make themselves out to be. Always look for up-to-date third-party lab tests so you know you are getting a great product, and don't hesitate to contact the brand if you have any additional questions. And if you're intent on purchasing 100% organic CBD oil, it's best to look for certified products or brands that are held to strict regulatory standards.</p><p><strong>Melena Gurganus </strong>is the Reviews Editor at EcoWatch. She is passionate health and wellness and her writing aims to help others find products they can trust. Her work has been featured in publications such as Health, Shape, Huffington Post, Cannabis Business Times, and Bustle.<br></p>
Spruce
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDY4NjI3OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyOTM2NzgzOX0.axY0HjeqRctJsR_KmDLctzDpUBLBN-oNIdqaXDb4caQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="774be" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8379f35b1ca8a86d0e61b7d4bfc8b46e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="spruce organic cbd oil" data-width="710" data-height="959" /><p>As one of the best brands in the business, Spruce CBD is well-known for its potent CBD oils that feature many additional beneficial phytocannabinoids. This brand works with two family-owned, sustainably focused farms in the USA (one located in Kentucky and one in North Carolina) to create its organic, small product batches. The max potency Spruce CBD oil contains 2400mg of full-spectrum CBD extract, but the brand also offers a lower strength tincture with 750mg of CBD in total.</p>
$89
CBDistillery
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDcwMjkzNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMTU4OTM4Nn0.ypRdeDSBcE87slYrFfVrRwtJ2qGIK6FD5jBB4pndTMo/img.jpg?width=980" id="b473b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9930b53c9d58cb49774640a61c3e3e75" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="cbdistillery cbd oil" data-width="1244" data-height="1244" /><p>All of the products from CBDistillery are <a href="https://ushempauthority.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">U.S. Hemp Authority Certified</a>, and for good reason. The company only uses non-GMO and pesticide-free industrial hemp that's grown organically on Colorado farms. Its hemp oils are some of the most affordable CBD products on the market, yet they still maintain a high standard of quality. CBDistillery has a wide variety of CBD potencies across its product line (ranging from 500mg to 5000mg per bottle) and offers both full-spectrum and broad-spectrum CBD oils to give customers a completely thc-free option.</p>
$35
FAB CBD
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDY4NjIyNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2NDIwOTEyMn0.MlTjz096FJ0ev_-soK7_Z-FeQeJczWoeh9Qi9SSkHsY/img.jpg?width=980" id="04b26" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="76aa4862f44603242e318982acea6646" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="fab cbd oil" data-width="800" data-height="800" /><p>For an organic CBD oil that has it all, FAB CBD offers plenty of variety for any type of consumer. All of its products are made with zero pesticides and extracted from organically grown Colorado industrial hemp. FAB CBD oil comes in five all-natural flavors (mint, vanilla, berry, citrus, and natural) and is also available in four strengths (300, 600, 1200, and 2400mg per bottle).</p>
$39
NuLeaf Naturals
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDY4NjIxOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NzExNTgyMX0.D6qMGYllKTsVhEkQ-L_GzpDHVu60a-tJKcio7M1Ssmc/img.jpg?width=980" id="94e4a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3609a52479675730893a45a82a03c71d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="nuleaf naturals organic cbd oil" data-width="600" data-height="600" /><p>As an industry-leading brand, it comes as no surprise that NuLeaf Naturals sources its CBD extract from organic hemp plants grown on licensed farms in Colorado. The comany's CBD oils only contain two ingredients: USDA certified organic hemp seed oil and full spectrum hemp extract.</p><p>NuLeaf Naturals uses one proprietary CBD oil formula for all of its products, so you will get the same CBD potency in each tincture (60mg per mL), but can purchase different bottle sizes depending on how much you intend to use.</p>
$38.50
Charlotte's Web
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDcwMjk3NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MzQ0NjM4N30.SaQ85SK10-MWjN3PwHo2RqpiUBdjhD0IRnHKTqKaU7Q/img.jpg?width=980" id="84700" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a2174067dcc0c4094be25b3472ce08c8" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="charlottes web cbd oil" data-width="1244" data-height="1244" /><p>Perhaps one of the most well-known brands in the CBD landscape, Charlotte's Web has been growing sustainable hemp plants for several years. The company is currently in the process of achieving official USDA Organic Certification, but it already practices organic and sustainable cultivation techniques to enhance the overall health of the soil and the hemp plants themselves, which creates some of the highest quality CBD extracts. Charlotte's Web offers CBD oils in a range of different concentration options, and some even come in a few flavor options such as chocolate mint, orange blossom, and lemon twist.</p>
$60
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A new UK study links eating meat with increased risks for heart disease, diabetes and more. nata_zhekova / Getty Images
The World Health Organization has determined that red meat probably causes colorectal cancer in humans and that processed meat is carcinogenic to humans. But are there other health risks of meat consumption?
<p>A new study published in <a href="https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-021-01922-9" target="_blank">BMC Medicine</a> on Tuesday sought to find out. Researchers investigated whether meat consumption was linked to any of the 25 leading causes of hospital admission in the UK, besides cancer. They found a connection between regularly eating red or processed meat with five non-cancerous diseases, including heart disease, diabetes and pneumonia. Meanwhile, frequent poultry consumption was associated with six different diseases, including gallbladder disease and diabetes.</p><p>"We have long known that unprocessed red meat and processed meat consumption is likely to be carcinogenic and this research is the first to assess the risk of 25 non-cancerous health conditions in relation to meat intake in one study," Dr. Keren Papier from the Nuffield Department of Population Health at the University of Oxford and lead author said in a <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-03-02-regular-meat-consumption-linked-wide-range-common-diseases#" target="_blank">press release</a>.</p><p>The researchers surveyed 474,985 middle-aged adults in the UK and asked them to complete a dietary questionnaire assessing how often they ate meat on a weekly basis. Researchers then compared the participants' meat consumption to hospital admission and mortality data.</p><p>In addition to the above findings, researchers determined that for every 70 grams of red or processed meat someone ate a day, their risk of developing heart disease increased 15 percent and their risk of diabetes increased 30 percent.</p>
<p>For every extra 30 grams of poultry someone consumed in a day, their diabetes risk increased 14 percent.</p><p>However, eating meat did have one health benefit: reducing the risk of iron deficiency. Researchers estimated a 20 percent risk reduction for every 50 extra grams of red meat a day and 17 percent for every 30 extra grams of poultry a day.</p><p>The researchers did find that people who ate meat three or more times a week were also more likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, drinking alcohol or eating fewer fruits and vegetables. They were also more likely to have a high body mass index. The researchers adjusted their calculations to remove those factors, and learned that the health risks from meat consumption were reduced after factoring out body mass index. </p><p>"Additional research is needed to evaluate whether the differences in risk we observed in relation to meat intake reflect causal relationships, and if so the extent to which these diseases could be prevented by decreasing meat consumption," Papier said.</p>
<p>The results don't mean that people should stop eating meat, according to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> experts.</p><p>Instead, Public Health England recommended that anyone who eats more than 90 grams of meat a day should reduce it to 70 grams, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/mar/02/eating-meat-raises-risk-of-heart-disease-diabetes-and-pneumonia?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1614714138" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p><p>"Globally the evidence suggests that people who eat red and processed meat should limit their intake," Dr. Alison Tedstone, the agency's lead nutritionist, told The Guardian. "While it can form part of a healthy diet, eating too much has been linked to increased risk of developing bowel cancer."</p><p>However, there are also environmental and ethical reasons one might choose to stop eating meat. Some studies have found that cutting out animal products is the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/vegan-earth-footprint-2574241439.html" target="_self">single biggest step</a> a person can take to limit their environmental impact. Papier has advice for those who do so.</p><p>"The result that meat consumption is associated with a lower risk of iron-deficiency anemia, however, indicates that people who do not eat meat need to be careful that they obtain enough iron, through dietary sources or supplements," she said.</p>
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A common cuttlefish like this can pass the "marshmallow test." Hans Hillewaert / CC BY-SA 4.0
Cuttlefish, marine invertebrates related to squids and octopuses, can pass the so-called "marshmallow test," an experiment designed to test whether human children have the self-control to wait for a better reward.
<p>The study, published in <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2020.3161" target="_blank">Proceedings of the Royal Society B Thursday</a>, puts cuttlefish in the ranks of larger-brained vertebrates like great apes, parrots and corvids in terms of how long they can delay gratification and makes them the first invertebrates to demonstrate self control, <a href="https://www.livescience.com/cuttlefish-pass-marshmallow-test.html" target="_blank">Live Science reported</a>.</p><p>"Self-control is thought to be the cornerstone of intelligence, as it is an important prerequisite for complex decision-making and planning for the future," lead author and University of Cambridge psychology research associate Alex Schnell told Live Science.</p>
<p>The marshmallow experiment was first conducted in Stanford by Walter Mischel in the 1960s. To test the mechanisms behind self control, children were given a choice between having one marshmallow, or another treat, now or waiting 15 to 20 minutes to get two. Recent research has cast doubt on the idea that children's ability to wait determines success later in life, as <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/06/marshmallow-test/561779/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Atlantic explained</a>. Instead, both that ability and later achievements may be explained by external factors such as economic stability. Still, that hasn't stopped the test from becoming a viral meme among quarantine-weary parents, as <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tanyachen/are-influencers-getting-better-at-accountability-or-social" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Buzzfeed explained</a>.</p>
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<p>For cuttlefish, the reward had to be modified slightly. Instead of sugary sweets, the cuttlefish had a choice between a preferred meal like grass shrimp or king prawn or a less preferred meal like Asian shore crab, Live Science explained. They were presented with two drawers. One that opened immediately with the less preferred meal and one that opened after a delay with the preferred meal. If they chose the first option, the second snack would disappear.</p><p>"Cuttlefish in the present study were all able to wait for the better reward and tolerated delays for up to 50-130 seconds, which is comparable to what we see in large-brained vertebrates such as chimpanzees, crows and parrots," Schnell told the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), where the <a href="https://www.mbl.edu/blog/fast-learning-cuttlefish-pass-the-snacking-test/" target="_blank">research was conducted</a>.</p>
<p>The researchers then also tested the cuttlefish for intelligence, and found that the cuttlefish who were able to wait longer for their favorite foods also did better on a learning test. This marks the first time that intelligence and self-control have been linked in an animal other than humans or chimpanzees.</p><p>However, Schnell and her colleagues are not sure why cuttlefish need self-control. For social animals like parrots, crows, apes and humans, it is important for group solidarity. For example, humans wait to eat in order to share meal times. It may also be important for tool building animals who need to have patience to construct a tool before hunting.</p><p>In cuttlefish, the researchers hypothesize, self-control serves a different function.</p><p>"Cuttlefish spend most of their time camouflaging, sitting and waiting, punctuated by brief periods of foraging," Schnell told MBL. "They break camouflage when they forage, so they are exposed to every predator in the ocean that wants to eat them. We speculate that delayed gratification may have evolved as a byproduct of this, so the cuttlefish can optimize foraging by waiting to choose better quality food."</p><p>The fact that both camouflaging cuttlefish and social apes need self-control is an example of something called convergent evolution, a process in which animals develop the same traits by different mechanisms.</p>
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Yogyakarta Bird Market, Central Java, Indonesia. Jorge Franganillo / CC BY 2.0
By John R. Platt
The straw-headed bulbul doesn't look like much.
It's less than a foot in length, with subdued brown-and-gold plumage, a black beak and beady red eyes. If you saw one sitting on a branch in front of you, you might not give it a second glance.
<p>But this Southeast Asian native stands out in one notable way: It sings like an angel.</p><p>"It's arguably the most beautiful song of any bird," says Chris Shepherd, executive director of Monitor Conservation Research Society and an expert on Asian songbirds. "It's amazing," he adds.</p>
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<p>The bird's beautiful voice serves a vital ecological purpose: Males use it to attract mates. The better the song, the greater the chance of finding a female and propagating the species.</p><p>But the song has also come with a terrible modern cost. Humans have come to value the bulbul's calls so much that they've collected the birds from almost every inch of their habitat. Captured birds, quickly caged, have been shipped to markets throughout Southeast Asia. Due to this overwhelming commercial demand, the species has disappeared from most of its range and is now critically endangered. Only a few pocket populations continue to hang on.</p>
<p>And the straw-headed bulbul is far from alone in this decline. Practically every songbird species in Southeast Asia faces a similar predicament. Many birds face the very real risk of imminent extinction, leaving some forests in the region <a href="https://www.silentforest.eu/" target="_blank">eerily silent</a>.</p><p>Recent research finds that several songbirds have become perilously close to vanishing — if they haven't been lost already.</p><p>One Indonesian bird, the Simeulue hill myna, has only just been described as genetically and morphologically unique from other lookalike species. It probably went extinct in the wild <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ibi.12839" target="_blank">in the past two or three years</a>, according to a paper published last spring in the journal <em>Ibis</em>. As the researchers wrote, "On multiple recent excursions to Simeulue, most recently in July 2018, we were unable to find the bird and learned from locals that there had been a great drive to catch the last survivors on the island in response to a wealthy person's bounty on these birds."</p>
<p>The paper calls this an "extinction-in-process" and warns that any remaining birds left in captivity may die without producing offspring. Even if they do manage to breed, the researchers fear they could be hybridized with other similar-in-appearance mynas, obscuring their genetic lineage.</p><p>That same phrase, <em>extinction-in-process</em>, has also been used to describe the Barusan shama, which according to a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343229160_The_extinction-in-progress_in_the_wild_of_the_Barusan_Shama_Copsychus_malabaricus_melanurus" target="_blank">2019 study</a> published in the journal <em>Forktail</em> has become one of the most threatened of Asian songbirds due to rampant collection. It's now gone from all but one island.</p><p>Like the Simeulue hill myna, the Barushan shama's plight went virtually unnoticed for years because many taxonomists have classified it as a subspecies rather than a full species. Newer research finds that it's a species with four subspecies, few of which may now survive.</p><p>Not that the species/subspecies disputes matter too much at this point.</p><p>"Taxonomic debates about the rank of these forms should not stand in the way of trying to ensure the survival of what is clearly an evolutionarily distinct lineage," says Frank Rheindt, a biologist with National University of Singapore and senior or lead author on both of the papers.</p><p>So what happens to these birds once they're taken from the wild?</p><p>That's where the story gets even bleaker.</p>
<h3>Disposable Love</h3><p>Songbirds are an important element of culture and tradition for many peoples in Southeast Asia. In Java, for example, it's almost assumed that every household will have at least one pet songbird. The more birds, <a href="https://www.silentforest.eu/about/the-asian-songbird-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the more prestigious the home</a>.</p><p>But wild songbirds in captivity…well, they don't tend to last long.</p><p>"We've often called the caged songbird trade like cut flowers," says Shepherd. "The birds look nice. They're often inexpensive. You bring one home. It sits in a cage for a couple of days and it dies just like a cut flower. They're not expected to live."</p><p>And because many Asian cities feature massive markets full of birds that have been easily snatched from the wild — usually illegally — any bird that dies is relatively easy and inexpensive to replace.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxMjQ1MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMTcwNDY4NH0.w7eC49fo8f7WMjTGJ25nfY2djBLnPCagjzoqQGcHaEU/img.jpg?width=980" id="6ca76" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d21f5828df6e1a782ab57979aed93249" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="799" data-height="522" />
Cages line the Malang bird and animal market on Java in 2016. Andrea Kirkby / CC BY-SA 2.0
<p>Even bird traders don't put much value on their stock, since a new supply of wild-caught birds always seems to be waiting in the wings.</p><p>"I've seen some cages where the surviving birds are all sitting on top of dead birds in the cages," Shepherd says. "You can't see the floor of the cage. It's covered with a few layers of dead birds, and then there's some sick and half-dead birds perched on top of them. And they cost the dealers next to nothing. So, you know, even if they sell a few, they think they must be covering their costs or you wouldn't have a business model like that."</p><p>Although all of this seems to favor low-cost disposability, some species are captive bred by the thousands, and prices can soar for the right birds.</p><p>As with so many other groups of heavily traded species, the rarest birds fetch higher prices from collectors — a "better get them before they're gone" collector's mentality that pushes prices higher, drives further poaching and drives birds even closer to extinction.</p><p>The Simeulue hill myna, for instance, might have sold for about $100-$150, "certainly if a foreigner or non-Simeulue person asks," says Rheindt. "This is easily 2-4 monthly incomes for rural people on the island."</p>
<h3>The Caged Bird Sings</h3><p>Along with its rarity, a bird's appearance is clearly a valuable trait to collectors. Some of the birds are strikingly beautiful, like birds of paradise and the Javan white-eye.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxMjQ1NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNjk0OTUwMH0.mFi7MPkIgGcPUuRtpspeXvdDkD6IUBTtx5-ig_5NC1Q/img.jpg?width=980" id="43628" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bf33043a2ff52df09286951a35b7aaef" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="800" data-height="531" />
A kingfisher, looking a little worse for wear, in the Malang bird and animal market in 2016. Andrea Kirkby / CC BY-SA 2.0
<p>But the quality that typically drives up a bird's market price?</p><p>That, of course, would be the song.</p><p>A good song can earn a bird owner <a href="https://theecologist.org/2019/oct/02/indonesian-songbird-crisis" target="_blank">a big payday</a>. Entire competitions have sprung up that offer cash prizes for the birds with the best songs — up to $50,000, according to some reports. On Java these events are known as <em>Kicau-mania</em> ("kicau" is Indonesian for "chirping").</p><p>The bird doesn't get much for his work. Perhaps some food and a chance to sing again.</p><p>But it can take a lot of human effort to inspire them to sing for their suppers.</p><p>"People will keep the male birds in captivity for a long time," says Shepherd. "Some birds don't want to sing in captivity and take a long time before they adjust to the point where they'll start to sing. Then they'll train the bird. They'll keep it near other males so it sings more frequently, because they naturally compete with their songs."</p><p>This forced companionship changes the very nature of the song.</p><p>"Some birds pick up notes and sounds from other species," Shepherd says. "Some of the species that are disappearing, they're just training birds. They're not even the ones used in competition. They just keep them beside other the species that compete so they have a more complex and unique song in the competition."</p><p>After that, it's a bit like a dog show.</p><p>"Everybody takes their bird in a cage and there are songbird judges. They walk around and listen to the song and there's big cash prizes for the bird with the best." (Most recently, these competitions have moved online due to COVID-19.)</p>
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<p>Through all of this, the gift nature gave these animals to help propagate their species — song — ends up driving them toward extinction.</p><p>This makes the trade similar to trophy hunting, which values the biggest animals or those with the most beautiful features. "The strongest bird in the wild, the one with the greatest song, would be the one that would pass on his genes," Shepherd says. "Those are the ones being removed from the wild. So, you know, only inferior birds are left behind."</p><p>Unlike trophy hunting, however, where an elephant's tusks can theoretically trade hands in perpetuity, a bird's song is ephemeral — sung once, then lost to time.</p>
<h3>Progress</h3><p>Shepherd says the Asian songbird crisis went virtually ignored for many years. Relatively few scientists studied it, and funding for conservation remained scarce. That's been a costly delay.</p><p>"One of the interesting and sad things is that lot of the species that I worked on in the early Nineties, the ones I tried to raise the alarm on, are now gone or almost gone," he says. "And then the ones I was working on that were extremely common at the time are now the next wave that's disappearing."</p><p>Fortunately, that's started to change. For one thing, scientific research about the trade and affected species continues to pick up. One of the most worrying studies came out last August and found that Java now has <a href="https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/more-caged-birds-wild-javan-songbird-crisis-revealed" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">more songbirds in cages than in its forests</a>. The study found that one species, the Javan pied starling (<em>Gracupica jalla</em>), now has fewer than 50 birds remaining in the wild, while 1.1 million live on the island in captivity.</p><p>Meanwhile governments, NGOs and other researchers have also stepping up their game. Conservation experts came together in 2015 to hold an event called the Asian Songbird Trade Crisis Summit. Two years later they formed the <a href="https://www.asiansongbirdtradesg.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">IUCN Asian Songbird Trade Specialist Group</a>, which had its first official meeting in 2019. And over the past five years governments have started to take action, including seizing several <a href="https://www.traffic.org/news/indonesia-kicks-off-2021-with-a-bumper-crop-of-bird-seizures/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">large shipments</a> of poached birds, although the trade remains mostly illegal and unsustainable.</p>
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<p>Local groups have helped, too, which brings us back to the Simeulue hill myna and Barusan shama. A Simeulue-based organization called <a href="https://www.ecosystemimpact.com/saving-the-last-of-simeulues-endemic-birds" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ecosystemimpact</a> set out to help the two birds at the beginning of 2020. Although their efforts were hampered by the COVID pandemic, they're still trying to acquire any captive birds they can find to keep them out of the trade. If they do rescue any Simeulue hill mynas — such as four juvenile birds that reportedly recently turned up for sale on Facebook — they'll need a permit from the government to breed them.</p><p>Even then, saving them from extinction won't be easy.</p><p>"Hill myna are notoriously hard to breed, requiring large, tall aviaries with good vantage points over forested areas," says program manager Tom Amey. "It's not out of the question that hill myna will breed within our aviaries, but given their specific requirements, we feel it is unlikely." They're working on raising funding for new aviaries designed specifically for hill mynas.</p><p>They also hope to educate the community, to turn its love of captive birds into one that also supports wild populations.</p><p>"There is a distinct lack of bird song on Simeulue, especially within close to medium proximity of [human] habitation," says Amey. "Our ambition is to bring the beautiful sounds of songbirds back to Simeulue's forests and culture. Songbirds have played an important role in Simeulue culture and many members of the community wish to see them return."</p>
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<p>As with everything in the past year, progress to protect Asian songbirds has slowed down of late. "Unfortunately, the COVID crisis has been a huge, but legitimate, distraction from the global fight against extinction, and very little attention has been paid to such issues in the last few months," says Rheindt.</p><p>Once the pandemic recedes, Shepherd suggests that tourism may play an important role in keeping birds alive, uncaged and in their natural habitats.</p><p>"There's a very big birdwatching community," he says, "and I think working with the community and with the birdwatching tour guides to raise awareness of the benefits of having songbirds around is important. The birdwatching industry's worth millions. I think we need to raise awareness of the fact that you can lose your birds, but also awareness of the facts that having birds around is good for the environment, it's good for your mental health, it's good for all kinds of things — but it's good for the economy."</p><p>Until those messages resonate more than the ka-ching of a cash register, however, Asian songbirds will remain in crisis.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://therevelator.org/asian-songbird-crisis/" target="_blank">The Revelator</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Red Knots are among the shorebirds that a scientific study is tracking. BrianEKushner / Getty Images
By Julián García Walther
One morning in January, I found myself 30 feet up a tall metal pole, carrying 66 pounds of aluminum antennas and thick weatherproofed cabling. From this vantage point, I could clearly see the entire Punta Banda Estuary in northwestern Mexico. As I looked through my binoculars, I observed the estuary's sandy bar and extensive mudflats packed with thousands of migratory shorebirds frenetically pecking the mud for food.
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<p>In winter, more than 1 million shorebirds that breed in the Arctic will visit and <a href="https://whsrn.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/biodiversitas.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">move throughout the coastline of northwest Mexico</a>. It's possible they are tracking rare <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/5781542#page/91/mode/1up" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">superabundant seasonal resources</a> like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sp_k_gXdxM&t=43s" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">fish spawning events</a>. Or maybe they are scouting for sites with better habitat to spend their nonbreeding season. The truth is, researchers don't actually know. It has been incredibly hard to elucidate how birds use the region and what drives their movements in this vast network of coastal wetlands spanning 3,100 miles of coastline.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxMTM3My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY3MzQ4MTg0OH0.4TNYrfeeD0kO9x3UThVzlu5Yx10QQVJlsCSE6Prq63g/img.png?width=980" id="9c9b3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ce7d893a0b47b8777bbc2cd4eb5f2efa" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1200" data-height="1034" />
There are currently few Motus stations in Mexico, leading to a large information gap. Julián García Walther / CC BY-ND
<p>Tracking birds has always been a challenge. To make it easier, scientists have built a massive network of radio antenna devices called <a href="https://motus.org/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Motus stations</a> across the U.S. and Canada that can automatically track the movements of tagged birds. However, Motus stations – Motus means movement in Latin – are still <a href="https://motus.org/data/receiversMap?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">missing in much of Latin America</a>. This has resulted in large gaps in biologists' understanding of where migratory shorebirds go during their nonbreeding season.</p><p>A biology <a href="http://www.sennerlab.com/people.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">doctoral student</a> studying bird migration, I am collaborating with the nonprofit <a href="https://www.pronatura-noroeste.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pronatura Noroeste</a>. We have one goal: to expand the Motus network in northwest Mexico and unravel the mystery of where shorebirds are going during the winter.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxMTM3Ni9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNTg3MjQ4OH0.nJE-fVVA-nNKTRMBIJn6ZNq0VCXzXDB-pMgQyfw0oMU/img.png?width=980" id="0d2b0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5d196471e7ac4abbc8a4c27c37699e63" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1200" data-height="416" />
Red knots and many other shorebirds travel thousands of miles from breeding grounds in the Arctic (left) to nonbreeding grounds in Latin America (right). Julián García Walther / CC BY-ND
<h2>How to Track a Bird</h2><p>Much of my work is focused on <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red_Knot/overview" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">red knots</a> – stubby sandpipers that feed on muddy flats that are uncovered during low tide in many estuaries.</p><p>In the past, to learn how red knots move among wetlands meant walking through knee-deep mud with a scope, trying to find birds with color-coded flags on their legs. I would then have to get close enough to read the writing on the flags to determine who had attached the flag and where in the continent the bird had been seen before. This is not easy work. It requires large numbers of flagged birds and many skilled ecologists trying to find them, so you get very limited data in return for a lot of time and effort.</p><p>Motus stations make this job much easier, and with a Motus network in Mexico, ecologists like me will get much more data on the movements of these animals. The project involves two parts: attaching tiny radio transmitters to birds and building a network of stations to track them.</p><p>Motus stations work similarly to a cellphone tower. Researchers attach tiny transmitters weighing just 0.45 grams to animals and these transmitters emit a radio pulse every five seconds. Each station has multiple antennas pointing toward a site used by birds – like the mudflats at Punta Banda – and is always listening for these radio signals.</p><p>Motus stations can pick up signals from tagged birds in a 12-mile radius, 24/7. A small computer built into the Motus station can then record and send information to researchers about when animals arrive to the site, how long they stay and in which direction they are headed when they leave.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxMTM4MC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNDQ5NzcyNX0.KKGRPzwBJX6SBPshdbAag2XhPlxVXh3l1iqUmtM4FLQ/img.png?width=980" id="60e95" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6babec5435d4e06af93654e346a5b864" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1200" data-height="546" />
Motus stations require a high vantage point that overlooks estuaries. Julián García Walther / CC BY-ND
<h2>Building a Network</h2><p>The station at Punta Banda is the first and, so far, the only tower my team and I have erected. But the ultimate goal of our project is to deploy two dozen Motus stations in 15 coastal wetlands spanning the whole northwest coast of Mexico. When we are done, we will use these stations to track the movements of birds among these sites, as well as the <a href="https://motus.org/data/numbers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">more than 1,000 other sites with active stations</a> across the world.</p><p>The <a href="http://visitpuntabanda.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Punta Banda Estuary</a> is one of the key stopovers for red knots. To maximize our chances of detecting birds, we chose to build the station on top of an old 30-foot metal pole overlooking the whole estuary. After getting approval from the pole owner, my colleagues and I assembled the station components. Then I climbed the pole, hoisting multiple antennas with me, and pointed them in all directions over the estuary.</p><p>By the time red knots start arriving in the fall, after breeding in the Arctic, our team hopes to have built many more stations like this one across northwest Mexico, ready to detect passing birds.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxMTQzMC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MDczNjQyM30.x-JIRqZ24R8JlhaAaG2-yTCuSGnVgcAOhnEvovTwpQo/img.jpg?width=980" id="f4581" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="659ff446d20bc396f0e5d73e76eaac47" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1200" data-height="800" />
Any bird with a transmitter will be picked up if it flies within 12 miles (20 kilometers) of a Motus station. Julián García Walther / CC BY-ND
<h2>Tagging Birds</h2><p>The stations alone can't detect these animals. The final step, which will happen in the coming months, is to catch birds and tag them. To do this, our team will set up a soft, spring-loaded net called a whoosh net in sandy areas where the red knots rest above the high-tide line. When birds walk past the net, the crew leader will release the trigger, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwMiA2iqVc0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">safely trapping the birds with the net</a>.</p>WhooshNetCapture.MTS
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6440038cdc58961906f5fa164b457688"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vwMiA2iqVc0?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Once we've successfully caught a bird, we will attach a transmitter to its back. Transmitters are solar-powered and very light – less than 1% of the bird's weight – and they can thus provide many years of data <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12934" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">without harming the birds</a>. Because younger birds may move differently than adults across the region, our team hopes to tag 130 red knots of different ages at other estuaries in northwest Mexico. The larger Motus project has already tagged more than <a href="https://motus.org/data/numbers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">25,000 animals</a>, so any other birds that come to northwest Mexico will also get picked up by our stations.</p><h2>Filling Important Gaps in Knowledge</h2><p>Migratory shorebirds are among the most threatened bird groups. Their populations have <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw1313" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">plummeted by 37% since 1970</a> owing to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/27/opinion/shorebirds-extinction-climate-change.html?mtrref=www.ecosia.org&gwh=6DD49ABEFC5BE097C8850B9AC1EE6161&gwt=regi&assetType=REGIWALL" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">habitat loss, human disturbance and climate change</a>. Without robust information on how birds use important sites like the ones we are working on in Mexico, it is hard to focus conservation actions when and where they are most needed. As our network of stations grows, the data they collect will help fill critical knowledge gaps.</p><p>For researchers like me, this data will allow us to understand how the movement of shorebirds might be disrupted as global threats such as sea level rise continue to affect the coastal wetlands they depend on. In turn, conservationists will be able to implement better and more effective on-the-ground actions to conserve species like red knots.</p>
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<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/julian-garcia-walther-1202190" target="_blank">Julián García Walther</a> is a </em><em>PhD Student in Ornithology, University of South Carolina.</em>
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<em>Disclosure statement: </em><em><em>Julian Garcia-Walther is a PhD Student at the University of South Carolina and consults for Pronatura Noroeste, A.C. He receives funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Sonoran Joint Venture and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation.</em></em>
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<em><em></em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/scientist-at-work-tracking-the-epic-journeys-of-migratory-birds-in-northwest-mexico-154156" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
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The Great Barrier Reef at Whitsunday Island, Australia. Daniel Osterkamp / Getty Images
The world's oceans and coastal ecosystems can store remarkable amounts of carbon dioxide. But if they're damaged, they can also release massive amounts of emissions back into the atmosphere.
<p>Highlighting their need for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation">conservation</a>, the UNESCO published a <a href="https://ioc.unesco.org/news/unesco-marine-world-heritage-custodians-globes-blue-carbon-assets" target="_blank">report</a> assessing these ecosystems' critical role in mitigating <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">climate change</a>.</p><p>The report was the first of its kind to quantify blue carbon -- carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere from ocean ecosystems -- across the 50 UNESCO Marine World Heritage sites. The report found six marine World Heritage Sites in Australia hold 40 percent of the estimated five billion tons of carbon dioxide stored in mangrove, seagrass and tidal marsh ecosystems within these sites, Edith Cowan University wrote in a <a href="https://www.ecu.edu.au/features/postgraduate/unesco-reveals-largest-carbon-stores-found-in-australian-world-heritage-sites" target="_blank">statement</a>.</p>
<p>"We know Australia contains some of the world's largest stores of blue carbon due to the enormous size and diversity of our marine ecosystems," the report author and ECU research fellow Dr. Oscar Serrano said, according to ECU. Included in these six marine World Heritage sites are Australia's Great Barrier Reef, Ningaloo Coast and Shark Bay World Heritage areas, which together contain a majority of Australia's blue carbon habitats. "However, here in Australia and around the world, these ecosystems are under threat from human development and climate change," Serrano added.</p><p>These threats include pollution, like plastic litter, and climate change, <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/2258" target="_blank">UNESCO reported</a>. This is an increasing problem not just in Australia, but among marine World Heritage sites globally, including ecosystems like the Sundarbans mangroves in India and Bangladesh, Everglades National Park in the U.S., the Wadden Sea in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, <a href="https://en.unesco.org/news/new-research-demonstrates-crucial-role-world-heritage-marine-sites-fighting-climate-change" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UNESCO noted</a>.</p>
<p>Although blue carbon ecosystems represent less than one percent of the global ocean area, they store about half of the carbon dioxide via the world's oceans, absorbing carbon 30 times faster than rainforests, ECU wrote in a statement. But if these blue carbon ecosystems are not conserved, they could increase global carbon emissions.</p><p>"While they're healthy, blue carbon ecosystems are excellent stores of carbon dioxide, but if they are damaged, they can release huge amounts of carbon dioxide stored over millennia back into the atmosphere," Serrano added, according to ECU.</p><p>In 2011, for example, nine million tons of stored carbon dioxide were released following a marine heatwave that killed about one-third of the area's seagrass in the Shark Bay, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/03/blue-carbon-how-three-australian-marine-sites-lock-away-2bn-tonnes-of-co2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Guardian reported</a>.</p>
<p>To avoid similar events, the report's authors call for conservation efforts like blue carbon strategies, where countries could earn carbon credits for restoring damaged ecosystems that store carbon, <a href="https://en.unesco.org/news/new-research-demonstrates-crucial-role-world-heritage-marine-sites-fighting-climate-change" target="_blank">UNESCO reported</a>.</p><p>"By quantifying the carbon value of these sites and recommending specific blue carbon strategies to conserve them, UNESCO's research findings point the way for countries, regions, and local communities seeking to conserve these areas and pursue blue carbon strategies," UNESCO wrote in a <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/2258" target="_blank">press release</a>. This could mean including assets, like investing in the restoration and conservation of blue carbon ecosystems, into Nationally Determined Contributions, each country's pledged actions in the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement">Paris agreement</a>.</p><p>Currently, the Australian government is leading by example, developing a system to create carbon credits for restoration projects on increasing blue carbon stocks in marine ecosystems, The Guardian reported.</p><p>"There are significant opportunities for both the Great Barrier Reef and Shark Bay to be protected and restored to ensure they survive and thrive in the future," Serrano added, according to ECU. </p>
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For World Wildlife Day, seven "Champions of Nature" shared their picks for books that motivate them. Sam Edwards / Getty Images
By Kimberly Nicole Pope
During this year's Davos Agenda Week, leaders from the private and public sectors highlighted the urgent need to halt and reverse nature loss. Deliberate action on the interlinked climate and ecological crises to achieve a net-zero, nature-positive economy is paramount. At the same time, these leaders also presented a message of hope: that investing in nature holds the key to ensuring economic and social prosperity and resilience.
<p>2021 will be a critical year to ensure a net zero, nature-positive future as world leaders come together for several key events and negotiations related to climate and nature. Ensuring a green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is also essential to ensure a prosperous and resilient future for humankind.</p><p>In honor of <a href="https://www.wildlifeday.org/" target="_blank">UN World Wildlife Day on March 3</a> and to provide inspiration for the important year ahead, seven members of the <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com_-3Furl-3Dhttps-253A-252F-252Fwww.weforum.org-252Fcommunities-252Fchampions-2Dfor-2Dnature-26data-3D04-257C01-257Cjcross-2540conservation.org-257Ca9e440256cd6422991e908d8c926c949-257Cc4de61a999b44c6a962ebd856602e8be-257C0-257C0-257C637480515718737070-257CUnknown-257CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0-253D-257C1000-26sdata-3DTW7TLt8sN5vv36XXezVjhZ7-252BqUcKRUHguvXUIWE2tGw-253D-26reserved-3D0&d=DwMF-g&c=VWART3hH1Kkv_uOe9JqhCg&r=JmSs9cEsZ5A4yov1dr2p01nUNPeNC9-pkC-xjek7kc8&m=Hd3Tq0yfeLju6QEmeIggjI-gAQfKWdWoajvb3Y_pTvw&s=NEsSYT5kF2dNllJljDi3erV5I8WuUjHb9kTEO0Io-vo&e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Champions for Nature</a> community – which is leading the way towards a nature positive future by 2030 – have shared what they are reading that is giving them motivation to build a better world for people and planet.</p><h3><em>Small Ideas to Change the World</em> – Cyril Dion</h3><p><strong>Carlos Alvarado Quesada, President of Costa Rica</strong></p><p>Cyril Dion invites us to "change stories to change history." The challenge of climate change for what it is, to change the history of humanity, where each person counts and each action, big or small, counts. As it should be in an interconnected world, we dream of more solidarity.</p>
<h3><em>A Stone Sat Still</em> – Brendan Wenzel</h3><p><strong>M Sanjayan, Chief Executive Officer, Conservation International</strong></p><p>Our 19-month-old daughter would have it no other way. Brendan Wenzel's <em>A Stone Sat Still</em> has been read 600 times in our home during lockdown. Even so we still turn the pages with unhurried pleasure. We linger on its dreamy, dusky illustrations and its spring-water clear prose.</p><p>Each time we read it we fall in love with a new way of seeing nature; when viewed in different lights and at different heights, nature becomes the source of endless possibilities. For a grinding and tragic pandemic, a reminder of the value of nature and the importance of place is the perfect antidote.</p><h3><em>The Essentials of Theory 'U'</em> – Otto Scharmer</h3><p><strong>Cherie Nursalim, Vice-Chairman, Giti Group</strong></p><p>"U" is a movement. "U" is a philosophy of "seeing" and "sensing" our system. "U" is a way of letting go and letting a new "U" emerge. "U" enables "ego" to "eco system shift." Otto lays out and synthesizes the core essences of his decades of practice with corporates, civil society and governments around the world in integrating science arts and consciousness. This is to me a must-read book and offers a pathway to happiness by bridging social, ecological and spiritual divides (Tri Hita Karana ways to Happiness in Balinese) aligned with UN SDGs.</p>
<h3><em>Stones of Silence</em> – George Schaller</h3><p><strong>Malik Amin Aslam Khan, Federal Minister of Climate Change and Adviser to the Prime Minister, Pakistan</strong></p><p>The Himalayan travelogue by one of the world's leading conservationists searching for an encounter with one of the most elusive creatures on the planet – the mystical snow leopard – is what I am currently reading. The book is both a celebration of nature, as it beautifully penetrates and unravels the myth around the "mountain ghost," and an avid description of the spirituality residing in the vast emptiness of the mighty Himalayan landscapes.</p><p>George Schaller, the author of <em>Stones of Silence</em> (1980), is the person who, in the early 70's, inspired the creation of Pakistan's iconic Khunjerab National Park, which today conserves one of the world's largest populations of the snow leopard, Markhors, Himalayan Ibex and Marco Polo Sheep and who, a few months back, during COVID-19 quarantine supported the start of Pakistan's Protected Areas Initiative. As the world looks for a nature-positive recovery, the book is a must-read for all who yearn to taste a bit of nature – Himalayan magic mixed with the mystery of the snow leopard.</p><p>I quote from the book: "Wisps of clouds swirled around, transforming her into a ghost creature, part myth and part reality… Balanced precariously on a ledge and bitterly cold, I too stayed, unwilling to disrupt the moment… Then the snow fell more thickly, and dreamlike, the cat slipped away as if she had never been."</p>
<h3><em>The Untold Story of the World's Leading Environmental Institution</em> – Maria Ivanova</h3><p><strong>Inger Andersen, United Nations Under Secretary-General and Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme</strong></p><p>I highly recommend <em>The Untold Story of the World's Leading Environmental Institution</em> by Maria Ivanova. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the genesis and evolution of global environmental governance. As we approach the 50th anniversary of the UN Environment Program in 2022, this book provides valuable insights into how UNEP – and, indeed, environmental multilateralism – must rise to the challenges of a planet in crisis and lead us towards sustainable development.</p><h3><em>Reality Bubble</em> – Ziya Tong</h3><p><span></span><em><strong>Marco Lambertini, Director-General, WWF International</strong></em></p><p><em><span></span>The Reality Bubble</em> by Ziya Tong is a provocative book about humanity's main blind spots: what we didn't evolve to see, and what we should but don't see. The blindness, often convenient, of modern society. A reminder of our limitations, and the dangers of ignoring the impact we are having on the health and balance of the planet we should call home. A particularly important reminder in a year when only humanity's full awareness of our role in the natural world can trigger the deep cultural revolution in our minds and systemic change in our economy to avert disaster.</p>
<h3><em>Losing Earth</em> – Nathaniel Rich</h3><p><strong>Svein Tore Holsether, President & CEO, Yara International</strong></p><p>The essence of this book is that we knew but didn't act. Nathaniel Rich tells the history of fighting climate change, and how the Charney report already in 1979 predicted the devastating effects of global warming. Based on this, I have used every opportunity to tell people that we have been sitting on the fence for four decades and have less than a decade to fix it. We don't have the time anymore to work in isolation, only collaboration can save us. The book was an eye-opener about how we have failed, how we can't afford to fail now, and how we must have a science- and fact-based way of working.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/03/world-wildlife-day-7-champions-for-nature-must-read-books/" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Protesters are seen during a demonstration in front of the White House in Washington, DC on June 1, 2017. Paul J. Richards / AFP / Getty Images
By Brett Wilkins
While some mainstream environmental organizations welcomed Tuesday's introduction of the CLEAN Future Act in the House of Representatives, progressive green groups warned that the bill falls far short of what's needed to meaningfully tackle the climate crisis—an existential threat they say calls for bolder action like the Green New Deal.
<p>The latest version of the CLEAN Future Act—which aims to achieve U.S. carbon neutrality by the year 2050 —was introduced by Democratic Reps. Frank Pallone (N.J.), Bobby Rush (Ill.), and Paul Tonko (N.Y.). The bill sets an interim target of reducing pollution by 50% from 2005 levels no later than 2030.</p><p>In a <a href="https://energycommerce.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/ec-leaders-introduce-the-clean-future-act-comprehensive-legislation-to" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">statement</a>, Pallone, who is chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said that "the climate crisis is one of the greatest challenges of our lifetime, but it also presents one of the greatest opportunities to empower American workers with new, good paying jobs and return our economy to a position of strength after a long, dark year of historic job losses and pain." </p><p>"Today's introduction of the CLEAN Future Act promises that we will not stand idly by as the rest of the world transitions to clean economies and our workers get left behind," added Pallone, "and that we will not watch from the sidelines as the climate crisis wreaks havoc on Americans' health and homes." </p><p>But while numerous people hailed the bill—with Earthjustice offering "applause" and NRDC calling it "urgently needed"—more critical voices from groups like Friends of the Earth and Food & Water Watch said the legislation is fundamentally and dangerously lacking.</p>
<div id="25965" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6116a1c2b1b913ad51c3ea576f2e196c"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1366827205427425289" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">BREAKING: Rep @FrankPallone just released his CLEAN Future Act — which he claims to be an ambitious bill to combat… https://t.co/M7nR0es196</div> — Friends of the Earth (Action) (@Friends of the Earth (Action))<a href="https://twitter.com/foe_us/statuses/1366827205427425289">1614711974.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Lukas Ross, program manager at Friends of the Earth, called the bill's introduction "a monumental failure of climate leadership."</p><p>"Chairman Pallone had over a year to remove fossil fuels from the CLEAN Future Act and didn't bother to reconsider," Ross said in a <a href="https://foe.org/news/pallones-clean-future-still-a-fracking-mess/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">statement</a>, referring to the bill's <a href="https://energycommerce.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/ec-leaders-release-draft-clean-future-act-legislative-text-to-achieve-a-100" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">previous iteration</a>. "A clean energy standard that qualifies fracked gas is a joke. We need real solutions like solar and storage, not a dirty lifeline for gas, nukes, and biomass."</p><p>Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/541228-house-democrats-reintroduce-roadmap-to-carbon-neutrality-by-2050" target="_blank">told</a> <em>The Hill</em> that while the new bill "improves on last year's abysmal proposal," the nation must "slash emissions 70% in 10 years, and we need firm cuts in greenhouse gases right now, not just gimmicky incentives, or future generations will suffer from our inaction today."</p>
<div id="189f0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="aa31bacec80d88b49730e8591de5d26d"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1366863402912657416" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The CLEAN Future Act "fails to grasp the fundamental truth of fighting climate change: We must stop extracting and… https://t.co/yREn6Qx9tn</div> — Food & Water Watch (@Food & Water Watch)<a href="https://twitter.com/foodandwater/statuses/1366863402912657416">1614720605.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Mitch Jones, policy director at Food & Water Watch, said in a <a href="https://foodandwaterwatch.org/news/dems-climate-bill-falls-short" target="_blank">statement</a> that "Democrats should be making a big, bold push on climate—and the CLEAN Future Act is simply not strong enough." Jones continued:</p><blockquote>The bill's clean energy standard includes provisions that essentially greenwash dirty energy sources—including rebranding fracked gas as 'clean' by pairing it with unproven, non-existent carbon capture methods. It also relies on a dubious emissions trading scheme to achieve its goals, which serves fossil fuel industry interests while pretending to curb climate pollution. The bill also promotes factory farm biogas as a clean energy source.<br></blockquote><p>"While this bill has been marginally improved, it fails to grasp the fundamental truth of fighting climate change: We must stop extracting and burning fossil fuels as soon as possible," stressed Jones. "We should not waste time creating credit schemes and offsets markets, or prop up fossil fuels with carbon capture fantasies."</p><p>"A bold climate plan must call for a ban on fracking and all new fossil fuel infrastructure," he added, "and a swift and just transition to 100% clean, renewable energy across all sectors of the economy. The CLEAN Future Act may have been revised since last year, but it's still a Green New Dud."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/03/02/green-new-dud-progressives-warn-house-climate-bill-fails-grasp-fundamental-truth" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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A hiker looking up at a Redwood tree in Redwoods State Park. Rich Wheater / Getty Images
By Douglas Broom
- Redwoods are the world's tallest trees.
- Now scientists have discovered they are even bigger than we thought.
- Using laser technology they map the 80-meter giants.
- Trees are a key plank in the fight against climate change.
They are among the largest trees in the world, descendants of forests where dinosaurs roamed.
<ul class="ee-ul"></ul><p>Now laser technology reveals the true scale of the giant Redwoods of North America — and it's bigger than we imagined.</p>
<p>As well as being <a href="https://www.nps.gov/seki/learn/nature/largest-trees-in-world.htm#:~:text=The%20General%20Sherman%20Tree%20is,neighboring%20trees%20are%20so%20large" target="_blank">the grandest,</a> California's Sequoias are among the oldest trees on the planet, living for up to 2,000 years. Measuring their size is much more than a matter of cultural curiosity since their bulk determines how much carbon dioxide they've sequestered over the centuries — a factor that's rising up the agenda in the fight against climate change.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcwNzQ2OS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MzkzMjM1MX0.17ufHfW8fBH40g5UqC-l8ogt9QsY15-bWNeKYg0lEC8/img.png?width=980" id="7d8da" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6b48ceb6e0f93fbc097b588c1414406e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="990" data-height="656" />
Pixabay / Simi Luft
<p><span>Until recently, measuring these trees meant scaling their 80 meter high trunks with a tape measure. Now, a team of scientists from University College London and the University of Maryland uses advanced laser scanning, to create 3D maps and calculate the total mass.</span></p><p>The results are striking: suggesting the trees <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73733-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">may be as much as 30% larger than earlier measurements suggested.</a> Part of that could be due to the additional trunks the Redwoods can grow as they age, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73733-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a process known as reiteration</a>.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcwNzQ3Mi9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzODU0Mzc5Nn0.-G6C4DtknHyZaWf485WzgiJEZ23Z7mNN0_pRyGHxI4A/img.png?width=980" id="49683" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f4611c9584d36e406ba4873db378fab5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1040" data-height="1370" />
New 3D measurements of large redwood trees for biomass and structure. Nature / UCL
<p>Measuring the trees more accurately is important because carbon capture will probably play a key role in the battle against climate change. Forest <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/09/carbon-sequestration-natural-forest-regrowth" target="_blank">growth could absorb billions of tons</a> of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year.</p><p>"The importance of big trees is widely-recognised in terms of carbon storage, demographics and impact on their surrounding ecosystems," the authors wrote<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73733-6" target="_blank"> in the journal Nature</a>. "Unfortunately the importance of big trees is in direct proportion to the difficulty of measuring them."</p><p>Redwoods are so long lived because of their ability to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73733-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cope with climate change, resist disease and even survive fire damage</a>, the scientists say. Almost a fifth of their volume may be bark, which helps protect them.</p>Carbon Capture Champions
<p><span>Earlier research by scientists at Humboldt University and the University of Washington found that </span><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112716302584" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Redwood forests store almost 2,600 tonnes of carbon per hectare</a><span>, their bark alone containing more carbon than any other neighboring species.</span></p><p>While the importance of trees in fighting climate change is widely accepted, not all species enjoy the same protection as California's coastal Redwoods. In 2019 the world lost the equivalent of <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/deforestation-and-forest-degradation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">30 soccer fields of forest cover every minute</a>, due to agricultural expansion, logging and fires, according to The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF).</p><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcwNzQ4Mi9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNjA0NzIzM30.PDWbo3FqXO_GYcl6WaCThOyKfzKd-yj8AwUw9X2GJ0M/img.png?width=980" id="7b4d6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="90a4055ea97300380384f0eaaed1a054" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="996" data-height="604" />
Pixabay
<p>Although <a href="https://c402277.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/publications/1420/files/original/Deforestation_fronts_-_drivers_and_responses_in_a_changing_world_-_full_report_%281%29.pdf?1610810475" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the rate of loss is reported to have slowed in recent years</a>, reforesting the world to help stem climate change is a massive task.</p><p><span>That's why the World Economic Forum launched the Trillion Trees Challenge (</span><a href="https://www.1t.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">1t.org</a><span>) and is engaging organizations and individuals across the globe through its </span><a href="https://uplink.weforum.org/uplink/s/uplink-issue/a002o00000vOf09AAC/trillion-trees" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Uplink innovation crowdsourcing platform</a><span> to support the project.</span></p><p>That's backed up by research led by ETH Zurich/Crowther Lab showing there's potential to restore tree coverage across 2.2 billion acres of degraded land.</p><p>"Forests are critical to the health of the planet," according to <a href="https://www.1t.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">1t.org</a>. "They sequester carbon, regulate global temperatures and freshwater flows, recharge groundwater, anchor fertile soil and act as flood barriers."</p><p><em data-redactor-tag="em" data-verified="redactor">Reposted with permission from the </em><span><em data-redactor-tag="em" data-verified="redactor"><a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/03/redwoods-store-more-co2-and-are-more-enormous-than-we-thought/" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a>.</em></span></p>From Your Site Articles
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A female condor above the Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge in Ventura County, California. Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
<p><br/></p>
<p>The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) <a href="https://www.fws.gov/birds/bird-enthusiasts/threats-to-birds.php" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">estimated</a> that a median average of 234,012 birds were killed by land-based wind turbines a year as of 2017. While that number is far fewer than the 599 million killed by glass buildings and the 2.4 billion killed by cats, it is not nothing. Further, the American Bird Conservancy <a href="https://abcbirds.org/program/wind-energy-and-birds/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">warns</a> it could climb to five million a year if wind power increases to provide 35 percent of U.S. electricity.</p>
<p>Now, at least one wind energy company is trying to compensate for the damage it might cause. Avangrid Renewables is working with federal <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a> officials and the Oregon Zoo to breed <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered</a> California condors to replace any that might be killed by its turbines, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/wildlife-wind-power-california-condors-2f8fc5848b6d903718593d4fc7f24409" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported Monday</a>.</p><p>"We see this as a win for condors," Amy Parsons, Avangrid's operations wildlife compliance manager, told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/01/california-condor-endangered-wind-turbines-breeding" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p>
<p>Specifically, Avangrid seeks to offset any damage done by its Manzana wind power project, a 126-turbine wind farm in the Tehachapi mountains northeast of Los Angeles. The turbines have 252-foot diameter blades, which might pose a threat to the birds that have a 9.5 foot wingspan.</p><p>The farm has been open since 2012, and since that time there are no records of any condors being killed there. However, the company estimates that as many as two adult condors with two chicks or eggs each may be killed by the turbines in the next 30 years, according to The Associated Press.</p>
<p>To offset this, the company will provide more than $500,000 in funding to breed six condors over three years at the Oregon Zoo's Jonsson Center for Wildlife Conservation.</p><p>"We're prepared to start this condor mitigation effort as early as this spring," Oregon Zoo condor recovery lead Kelly Flaminio told The Associated Press. "Our zoo already nurtures the second-largest breeding population of condors in the nation."</p>
<p>Once raised, the condors will then be released into the wild. California condors were nearly driven to extinction by the 1980s because of hunting, habitat loss and poisoning from lead bullets left in the animals they scavenged from, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/california-condor-chick-born-2639303735.html" target="_self">as EcoWatch reported previously</a>. A breeding program has helped their populations to recover, however, and there are now more than 300 in the wild and 500 worldwide.</p><p>If no condors are killed by Avangrid's turbines, then the wild population will simply increase by six, Flaminio told The Associated Press. However, some conservationists argue that the company's plans do not go far enough.</p><p>The plan "should provide funding to raise a minimum of 30 condors to 1.5 years of age when they are released into the wild." the Center for Biological Diversity wrote in comments to the FWS.</p>
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Kentucky received record-breaking rainfall and flooding this past weekend. Keith Getter / Getty Images
Kentucky is coping with historic flooding after a weekend of record-breaking rainfall, enduring water rescues, evacuations and emergency declarations.
<p>More than a dozen rainfall records were broken in the state on Sunday, CNN Meteorologist <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/02/us/kentucky-flood-vaccine-boat-rescue/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Michael Guy said</a>. Many parts of Kentucky received two to four inches of rain in 72 hours, while a few received as much as 10 inches. The rainfall mixed with melting snow to produce major flooding.</p><p>"We expect this to be one of the largest flash-flooding events that we've had," Kentucky Emergency Management Director Michael Dossett said Monday during a press conference, CNN reported.</p><p>Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a statewide emergency while 29 counties and seven cities also issued emergency declarations.</p><p>"We are acting swiftly to ensure the safety and security of Kentucky families and to get the needed help to our communities," Beshear said in a statement, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/floods-power-outages-kentucky-evacuations-tennessee-2c03eddc4918599e9bd8fa9a976c0edc" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a> reported.</p><p>Floodwaters filled downtowns and required water rescues. In the town of Beattyville, boats could be spotted on Main Street, <a href="https://www.lex18.com/news/covering-kentucky/beattyville-experiencing-historic-flooding" target="_blank">LEX 18 reported</a>.</p>
<div id="0f31c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4290ab3e7ec4e142f8bce774bab39f03"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1366307788155219969" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Just got back from my office... downtown Beattyville Kentucky is not a pretty sight. @KySportsRadio… https://t.co/6nXwyMKtRb</div> — Tom Jones (@Tom Jones)<a href="https://twitter.com/8atticus/statuses/1366307788155219969">1614588136.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Lee County Judge/Executive Chuck Caudill said that water levels rose six to seven feet on most roads, prompting evacuations Sunday night. By Monday afternoon, there had been 25 evacuations and six major water rescues.</p><p>"We really had to do some serious lifesaving because they were literally walking out of houses with two to three feet of water in them," Caudill told LEX 18.</p><p>In addition to the human rescues, a batch of COVID-19 vaccines were also evacuated from the Lee County Health Department in Beattyville after rain threatened the department's power supply, CNN reported.</p><p>In Wolfe County, Kentucky, the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hazelgreenvfd/posts/3975632505829919" target="_blank">Hazel Green Volunteer Fire Department</a> said it rescued 15 people Sunday night, including a family of five who were trapped in their car, and were only spotted thanks to their cell phone light.</p><p>Additionally, ninety-one patients were evacuated from Salyersville Nursing and Rehabilitation in Salyersville, Kentucky, Sunday night, according to <a href="https://weather.com/news/news/2021-03-01-kentucky-west-virginia-flooding-evacuations-road-closures-rescues" target="_blank">The Weather Channel</a>.</p><p>The rain also caused flooding in West Virginia and Tennessee. In West Virginia, flooding and mudslides closed more than 100 roads, while rising waters trapped 11 people in a church in Cross Lanes. In Tennessee, four adults and one infant were rescued after a truck slid off a flooded bridge in Dekalb County.</p>
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<p>Extreme precipitation events are set to increase with the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a>. This is because warmer oceans mean more water evaporates into the air, turning into rain or snow when a storm system forms, the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-heavy-precipitation" target="_blank">Environmental Protection Agency explained</a>. In the U.S. as a whole, extreme precipitation events have increased in the last three decades. Nine of the 10 years with the most single-day extreme precipitation events took place after 1990.</p><p>Kentucky has also gotten wetter overall in recent years, <a href="https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/lexington/news/2021/01/22/how-climate-change-explains-a-soggy-2020#:~:text=In%202017%2C%20the%20U.S.%20Army,to%20dump%20sediment%20on%20farmland." target="_blank">Spectrum News 1 reported in January</a>. While the state has not substantially warmed, five of its wettest years were in the last decade, and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather" target="_self">extreme weather</a> events have increased.</p><p>"It's a more complicated set of changes than just warming," Jeff Dukes, director of the Purdue Climate Change Research Center, told Spectrum News 1 about the impacts of climate change on the state. "It's the amount of precipitation. It's the timing of precipitation. It's rain when you got snow before. There are a lot of different things involved. It's why I think the better term is 'climate disruption,' because we're disrupting the stable climate that we've had for thousands of years."</p><p>He said Kentucky could anticipate more winter and spring rain, along with flooding, as the planet continues to warm.</p>
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