As restoration managers repair damaged corals, sound recordings can help jumpstart the process of restoring vibrant – and noisy – coral reef ecosystems. CC by 2.0
A healthy coral reef is a noisy place.
<p><br/></p>
<iframe style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/14386763/height/45/theme/standard/thumbnail/yes/direction/backward/" height="45" width="100%" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>"You've got this constant crackling sound. … That's the sound of snapping shrimp," says Steve Simpson of the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. "Then on top of that, pops, grunts, growls, trumpeting sounds, whooping sounds … and these are generally made by fish that are communicating with each other."</p><p>But Simpson says after damaging coral bleaching events – which are growing more common as oceans warm – that soundscape changes.</p><p>He says that when his team visited part of the Great Barrier Reef after a major bleaching event, "really to our shock, we found that the reef had gone quiet."</p>
<p>It was a sign that many sea creatures had left the area. Now Simpson's team is using sound to draw some of that life back.</p><p>At 11 locations in the Great Barrier Reef, they played recordings of a healthy reef ecosystem. After six weeks, they compared the fish life in those places with that in other areas. They found that twice as many fish had returned to the audio-enriched sites.</p><p>So Simpson says that as restoration managers repair damaged corals, sound recordings can help jumpstart the process of restoring vibrant – and noisy – coral reef ecosystems.</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/06/scientists-use-recorded-sounds-to-lure-fish-back-to-great-barrier-reef/" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections.</a></em></p>From Your Site Articles
- This Robot Is Delivering Coral Babies to the Great Barrier Reef ... ›
- The Great Barrier Reef is on a Knife Edge ›
- 2020 Great Barrier Reef Bleaching Event Is Most Widespread to Date ›
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A man observes the damages caused to his neighborhood from Tropical Storm Amanda on May 31, 2020 in San Salvador, El Salvador. Guillermo MartĂnez / APHOTOGRAFIA / Getty Images
At least 14 people were killed when Tropical Storm Amanda walloped El Salvador Sunday, Interior Minister Mario Duran said.
<p>Four people are missing, according to Noticias El Salvador, and around 200 homes were damaged by falling trees, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" target="_self">flooding</a> and mudslides, <a href="https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/deadly-tropical-storm-amanda-hits-el-salvador-guatemala-doc-1sm7hb5" target="_blank">AFP reported</a>.</p><p>"We lost everything, we've been left with nowhere to live," San Salvador resident Isidro Gomez, whose home was destroyed when a river overflowed its banks, told AFP.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1267252232036253698" id="twitter-embed-1267252232036253698" lazy-loadable="true" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1267252232036253698&created_ts=1590971451.0&screen_name=NotiblogSV&text=%23%C3%9ALTIMAHORA+%7C+El+Ministro+de+Gobernaci%C3%B3n+%40marioduran+informa+que+asciende+a+14+los+fallecidos+a+causa+de+la+Torment%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FbHXoL0p0Ab&id=1267252232036253698&name=Noticias+El+Salvador" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="fe922b1aa97cd20dc72bb695657386cc"></iframe>
<p>San Salvador, the nation's capital, saw half of the nation's total fatalities, its Mayor Ernesto Muyshondt said. He said the storm had forced 4,200 people into government shelters in the midst of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic.</p><p>"We are experiencing an unprecedented situation: one top-level emergency on top of another serious one," he told AFP, referring to the pandemic.</p><p>The government of El Salvador has <a href="https://covid19.gob.sv/" target="_blank">reported</a> a total of 2,582 coronavirus cases. Forty-six people have died, and 1,063 have recovered.</p><p>Amanda strengthened into a tropical storm before making landfall Sunday, making it the first named storm of the East Pacific 2020 <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricanes" target="_self">hurricane</a> season, <a href="https://www.accuweather.com/en/hurricane/amanda-makes-landfall-threatens-major-flooding-in-central-america/749982" target="_blank">AccuWeather reported</a>. It later weakened into a tropical depression and then a tropical rainstorm, but forecasters say its heavy rainfall still poses a major risk to Central America early this week.</p>
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<p>Because of its heavy rainfall, it was forecast to be a 1 on the <a href="https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/accuweathers-new-realimpact-scale-for-hurricanes-will-revolutionize-damage-predictions-for-greater-public-safety/329657" target="_blank">AccuWeather RealImpact™ Scale for Hurricanes</a>.</p><p>"Heavy rainfall will be the greatest threat over Central America, particularly in the higher terrain or Guatemala and El Salvador where rainfall totals of 18-24 inches are possible," AccuWeather senior meteorologist Randy Adkins said.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1267395501357400064" id="twitter-embed-1267395501357400064" lazy-loadable="true" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1267395501357400064&created_ts=1591005609.0&screen_name=CBSNews&text=WATCH%3A+Tropical+Storm+Amanda+inundated+parts+of+El+Salvador+with+water%2C+leading+to+the+deaths+of+at+least+seven+peo%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2F4ZQ0OJYU67&id=1267395501357400064&name=CBS+News" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="ed6d255f9dbbebf483be30225b7c5a68"></iframe>
<p>In El Salvador, that rainfall has already turned deadly in the form of floods and landslides. One person drowned in a flooding river, while another was crushed by a collapsing wall, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-storm-amanda/tropical-storm-amanda-kills-at-least-seven-people-in-el-salvador-idUSKBN2370MF" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>. An eight-year-old boy was killed when his house collapsed.</p><p>"We've seen people asking for help, asking for the government. We haven't deployed everywhere, the situation is overwhelming," Duran said Sunday, as Reuters reported.</p><p>The storm is estimated to have caused $200 million in damage to El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele said, according to AFP. He declared a 15-day state of emergency to recover from the storm.</p><p>Amanda weakened as it passed on to Guatemala, where it caused flooding and at least five landslides that blocked roads. However, no one had to be evacuated.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1267269457711333376" id="twitter-embed-1267269457711333376" lazy-loadable="true" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1267269457711333376&created_ts=1590975558.0&screen_name=NWSWPC&text=This+GOES-16+clean+IR+loop+shows+the+remnants+of+eastern+Pacific+Tropical+Storm+Amanda%2C+located+over+northern+Guate%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2F9Xp0pfCiuB&id=1267269457711333376&name=NWS+WPC" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="2d4f5af75055c85e63564fe851af244a"></iframe>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> is making hurricanes <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-crisis-hurricanes-wetter-2639175731.html" target="_self">wetter</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-extreme-weather-2639274656.html" target="_self">extreme precipitation events </a>more likely. A storm does not have to be a hurricane to cause damage. In 2019, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/houston-imelda-flooding-2640449818.html" target="_self">Tropical Storm Imelda</a> swamped Houston with a 1-in-1,000-year flood event just two years after Hurricane Harvey did the same.</p>
<p><em>Correction: </em><em>This piece has been updated to clarify that all the deaths reported by Reuters took place in El Salvador.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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A fire in Greenland on July 10. Zombie fires smolder underground for months, notably in dense peatlands, and then flare-up when it grows warmer and drier. NASA
By Mark Kaufman
Some fires won't die.
They survive underground during the winter and then reemerge the following spring, as documented in places like Alaska. They're called "overwintering," "holdover," or "zombie" fires, and they may have now awoken in the Arctic Circle — a fast-warming region that experienced unprecedented fires in 2019. The European Union's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service is now watching these fires, via satellite.
Â
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.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.pjiv81dzvE2uWSwZVXH_hhoYKLl6go7m4QXYRodC8aQ/img.jpg" id="d48aa" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="79880bae7db4253c569739c541d26709" />Zombie fires could be awakening in the Arctic <p>Zombie fires smolder underground for months, notably in dense <a href="https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/peatlands-and-climate-change" target="_blank">peatlands</a> (wetlands composed of ancient, decomposed plants), and then flare-up when it grows warmer and drier. "Zombie" is fitting.</p><p is="">"It really does describe what these fires do," said Thomas Smith, an assistant professor in environmental geography at the London School of Economics. "They recover and they're difficult to kill."</p><p is="">In April, two snowmachine-riding fire technicians <a href="https://akfireinfo.com/2020/04/24/despite-heavy-snow-melt-deshka-landing-hot-spots-still-smoldering/" target="_blank">found a zombie fire still smoldering</a> near Willow, Alaska. The fire <a is="" href="https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/article/6532/50551/" target="_blank">started in August 2019</a>.</p><p is="">This smoldering can quickly escalate to new blazes. "Zombie fires start burning as soon as the snow melts," said Jessica McCarty, an Arctic fire researcher and assistant professor in the Department of Geography at Miami University.</p><p is="">These overwintering fires are most likely to emerge <a href="https://presentations.copernicus.org/EGU2020/EGU2020-6013_presentation.pdf" target="_blank">after big wildfire years</a> with lots of burned land. They often light up on the edge of the previous year's blazes. "It suggests a fire might have survived," said Smith. Then, the fires can ignite dried-out vegetation. </p><p is="">Importantly, it's difficult to say with certainty that the remote, early-season Arctic Circle fires identified by the European Union's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service are all actually zombie fires. It's possible people lit some or many of the blazes for agricultural purposes, or by accident. "It's really difficult to say for sure," noted Smith. </p>Â
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<p is="">If they are truly zombie fires, that means 2019's blazes may ignite robust 2020 fires this summer.</p><p is="">"If this is the case, then under certain environmental conditions, we may see a cumulative effect of last year's fire season in the Arctic, which will feed into the upcoming season and could lead to large-scale and long-term fires across the same region once again," Mark Parrington, a senior scientist and wildfire expert at the European Union's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, said in a statement.</p><p is="">Overall, fires in the Arctic Circle — which can release colossal amounts of heat-trapping carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere — have been normal this year, but they're expected to pick up steam in June. What's more, they'll likely be enhanced by both <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/04/europe/russia-warm-temperatures-moscow-climate-intl/index.html" target="_blank">Russia's hottest winter on record</a> and recent <a is="" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/05/22/siberia-heat-wave/" target="_blank">Siberian heat waves</a>, where temperatures reached some 40 degrees Fahrenheit above average.</p><p>"We could have quite a lengthy fire season," said Smith. Wildfires feast on dry vegetation, Smith emphasized, and there will likely be ample amounts of parched land this summer.</p>
So What Happens Now?
<p>In the future, fire researchers expect an uptick in zombie fires. That's because the <a is="" href="https://mashable.com/article/climate-change-business-as-usual-catastrophic/" target="_blank">planet is relentlessly warming</a>, particularly in the Arctic, which means more ready-to-burn vegetation. It's already happening. "Arctic fires<strong> </strong>are becoming more common overall," explained Miami University's McCarty.</p><p is="">And some of these fires will inevitably smolder all winter, under the snow. "With a warmer Arctic, we're more likely to see overwintering fires," noted Smith.</p><p is="">It's challenging to stop zombie fires. They can happen in extremely remote places, without any roads or means of dousing them before they erupt. "We have no way of fighting them," said McCarty. "They're often fairly far-removed. How are we going to put them out?"</p><p is="">It's a question of profound importance in the decades ahead. Preventing human-caused Arctic wildfires will be critical, emphasized McCarty. That's because Arctic fires aren't just burning trees, they're often burning through <a is="" href="https://blogs.agu.org/geospace/2019/12/06/peatlands-release-more-methane-when-disturbed-by-roads/" target="_blank">peatlands</a>, which release bounties of the heat-trapping greenhouse gas methane into the air. When it comes to trapping heat, methane is <a href="https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases" target="_blank">25 times more potent</a> than carbon dioxide over the course of a century.</p><p is="">It's a vicious cycle. The warming Arctic produces more fires. More fires burn more forests and peatlands. This releases more methane and carbon dioxide into the air. This contributes to ever more planetary heating.</p><p is="">"Not stopping these zombie fires means further degrading these Arctic ecosystems," said McCarty. "Further warming leads to more zombie fires. It's not great."</p><a target="_blank"></a><blockquote><a href="https://mashable.com/article/zombie-fires-arctic/#" target="_blank"></a></blockquote>Related Articles Around the Web
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During a protest action on May 30 in North Rhine-Westphalia, Datteln in front of the site of the Datteln 4 coal-fired power plant, Greenpeace activists projected the lettering: "Climate crisis - Made in Germany" onto the cooling tower. Guido Kirchner / picture alliance / Getty Images
Around 500 climate activists on Saturday gathered outside the new Datteln 4 coal power plant in Germany's Ruhr region, to protest against its opening.
<p>Fridays for Future, Greenpeace, as well as German groups Ende Gelände and the German Federation for Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) were represented at the protests.</p><p>During the night into Saturday, climate activists graffitied the slogan "Climate crisis, made in Germany" on the side of the tower.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/climate-activists-protest-germanys-new-datteln-4-coal-power-plant/a-53632887" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/2646137253#/" target="_self"></a></em><em></em></p>
<p>The plant, owned by Dusseldorf-based energy company Uniper, began running on Saturday, after a nearly 10-year delay to its initial start date. It fired up just months after Germany unveiled a plan to phase out coal by 2038.</p>
<p>The protests were reported to be largely peaceful, despite several actions during the day-long event. One action included members of Ende Gelände swimming and using canoes in a canal used for cooling, while holding a floating banner with the slogan: "Shut it down."</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1263057783290724353" id="twitter-embed-1263057783290724353" lazy-loadable="true" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1263057783290724353&created_ts=1589971416.0&screen_name=Luisamneubauer&text=Klimaprotest+in+Zeiten+von+%23Corona+ist+nicht+leicht.+Aber+wir+machen+es+m%C3%B6glich%2C+denn+notwendig+ist+es+offensichtli%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FoKazEWwaGv&id=1263057783290724353&name=Luisa+Neubauer" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="38e575ed16e09279dfea210cafaa44f0"></iframe>
Climate Activists Speak Out
<p>Speaking at the protest, German Fridays for Futures climate activist Luisa Neubauer said: "It's a post-factual power plant. The facts speak for themselves." She said it was a "provocation," to mark the planned coal phaseout with a new coal power plant.</p><p>"We're going to stop this power plant, we're going to bring it to a standstill, we will win this conflict," Neubauer added.</p><p>Former miners also attended the protest. "We condemn the fact that coal mining in Germany was halted and jobs were lost, only for coal now to be imported from other countries to power Datteln 4," said Sebastian Suszka, a former workers' council member.</p><p>Greta Thunberg, founder of climate activist movement Fridays for Futures tweeted that Saturday was "a shameful day for Europe.</p><iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1266646886896881664" id="twitter-embed-1266646886896881664" lazy-loadable="true" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1266646886896881664&created_ts=1590827125.0&screen_name=GretaThunberg&text=Today+is+a+shameful+day+for+Europe%2C+as+we+open+up+a+brand+new+coal+power+plant.+We+have+signed+up+to+lead+the+way+t%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FBFX5PcGejv&id=1266646886896881664&name=Greta+Thunberg" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="c4980f9c8b3d58f5d4075f5174690372"></iframe>
Germany's Coal Phaseout
<p>Earlier this year, Germany announced a roadmap to see coal phased out, at the latest by 2038. It laid out plans for eight coal-fired power plants to be taken off the grid in 2020.</p><p>It was an important step for the largest contributor of carbon emissions in the EU — accounting for more than 22 percent of the bloc's CO2 emissions. Over a third of the electricity generated in Germany comes from burning coal.</p><p>Germany's coal commission has recommended that solutions be found for coal plants that are already built but not-yet-in-use to keep them from operating.<br></p><p>The state of North-Rhine Westphalia insisted that the additional carbon dioxide emissions from the new plant would be compensated by the closure of four other power plants.</p>From Your Site Articles
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Juukan 1 and 2 in June, 2013. Puutu Kunti Kurrama And Pinikura Aboriginal Corporation
By Samantha Hepburn
In the expansion of its iron ore mine in Western Pilbara, Rio Tinto blasted the Juukan Gorge 1 and 2 — Aboriginal rock shelters dating back 46,000 years. These sites had deep historical and cultural significance.
<p>
The shelters are the only inland site in Australia showing human occupation continuing through the last Ice Age.
</p>
<p>
<em>Reposted with permission from </em><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/rio-tinto-just-blasted-away-an-ancient-aboriginal-site-heres-why-that-was-allowed-139466" target="_blank">The Conversation</a></em><em>.</em>
</p><script async="async" data-counter="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139466/count?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" id="theconversation_tracker_hook" src="https://theconversation.com/javascripts/lib/content_tracker_hook.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<p>The mining blast caused significant distress to the Puutu Kunti Kurrama traditional land owners. It's an <a href="https://skugal.org/blast-destroys-one-of-countrys-oldest-known-aboriginal-heritage-sites/" target="_blank">irretrievable loss</a> for future generations.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1265472431772188672" id="twitter-embed-1265472431772188672" lazy-loadable="true" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1265472431772188672&created_ts=1590547113.0&screen_name=ngaarda&text=Ancient+rock+shelters+destroyed+in+Pilbara+mining+blast+on+Sunday.+PKKP+Aboriginal+Corporation+devastated+at+loss+o%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FVfpJUGTH1g&id=1265472431772188672&name=Ngaarda+Media+Pilbara" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="2b97bf3b4746640cc311e88e8ea7d900"></iframe><p>Aboriginal cultural heritage is a fundamental part of Aboriginal community life and cultural identity. It has global significance, and forms an important component of the heritage of all Australians.</p><p>But the destruction of a culturally significant Aboriginal site is not an isolated incident. Rio Tinto was acting within the law.</p><p>In 2013, Rio Tinto was given ministerial consent to damage the Juukan Gorge caves. One year later, an archaeological dig unearthed incredible artefacts, such as a 4,000-year-old plait of human hair, and evidence that the site was much older than originally thought.</p><p>But state laws let Rio Tinto charge ahead nevertheless. This failure to put timely and adequate regulatory safeguards in place reveals a disregard and a disrespect for sacred Aboriginal sites.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM2MjIxNS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMDQzNjk4MX0.artQnLjdRbrMrOaOJ0amy6qSRSbDEOH0Nnr512471Lg/img.png?width=980" id="ca677" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="fdaddc06e2494a4c2dd8ae34fc0dfa1a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
The destruction of a significant Aboriginal site is not an isolated incident. Puutu Kunti Kurrama And Pinikura Aboriginal Corporation
Not an Isolated Incident
<p>The history of large developments destroying Indigenous heritage sites is, tragically, long.</p><p>A $2.1 billion light rail line in Sydney, completed last year, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/this-is-a-tragic-loss-sydney-light-rail-construction-destroyed-heritage-site-20190322-p516qk.html" target="_blank">destroyed a site</a> of considerable significance.</p><p>More than 2,400 stone artifacts were unearthed in a small excavated area. It indicated Aboriginal people had used the area between 1788 and 1830 to manufacture tools and implements from flint brought over to Australia on British ships.</p><p>Similarly, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/27/the-rocks-remember-the-fight-to-protect-burrup-peninsulas-rock-art" target="_blank">ancient rock art</a> on the Burrup Peninsula in north-western Australia is under increasing threat from a gas project. The site contains more than one million rock carvings (petroglyphs) across 36,857 hectares.</p><p>This area is under the custodianship of Ngarluma people and four other traditional owners groups: the Mardudhunera, the Yaburara, the Yindjibarndi and the Wong-Goo-Tt-Oo.</p><p>But a <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/BurrupPeninusla/Report" target="_blank">Senate inquiry</a> revealed emissions from adjacent industrial activity may significantly damage it.</p><p><span></span>The West Australian government is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/jan/29/australia-lodges-world-heritage-submission-for-50000-year-old-burrup-peninsula-rock-art" target="_blank">seeking world heritage listing</a> to try to increase protection, as the regulatory frameworks at the national and state level aren't strong enough. Let's explore why.</p>What Do the Laws Say?
<p>The recently renamed federal Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment is responsible for listing new national heritage places, and regulating development actions in these areas.</p><p>At the federal level, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (<a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdb/au/legis/cth/consol_act/epabca1999588/" target="_blank">EPBC Act</a>) provides a legal framework for their management and protection. It is an offence to impact an area that has national heritage listing.</p><p>But many ancient Aboriginal sites have no national heritage listing. For the recently destroyed Juurkan gorge, the true archaeological significance was uncovered <em>after</em> consent had been issued and there were no provisions to reverse or amend the decision once this new information was discovered.</p><p>Where a site has no national heritage listing, and federal legislation has no application, state laws apply.</p><p>For the rock shelters in the Western Pilbara, Rio Tinto was abiding by Western Australia's <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdb/au/legis/wa/consol_act/aha1972164/" target="_blank">Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972</a> — which is now nearly 50 years old.</p><iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1265226523167977472" id="twitter-embed-1265226523167977472" lazy-loadable="true" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1265226523167977472&created_ts=1590488484.0&screen_name=Sophiemcneill&text=What+a+story+on+%23SorryDay+%40RioTinto+blows+up+one+of+country%27s+oldest+known+Aboriginal+heritage+sites.+And+the+worst%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2F1iU4zdGaGr&id=1265226523167977472&name=Sophie+McNeill" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="b152f672b8b0fa6c7000ca7503bc4c2b"></iframe><p>Section 17 of that act makes it an offence to excavate, destroy, damage, conceal or in any way alter any Aboriginal site without the ministerial consent.</p><p>But, Section 18 allows an owner of the land — and this includes the holder of a mining licence — to apply to the <a href="https://www.dplh.wa.gov.au/acmc" target="_blank">Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee</a> for consent to proceed with a development action likely to breach section 17.</p><p>The committee then evaluates the importance and significance of the site, and makes a recommendation to the minister. In this case, the minister allowed Rio Tinto to proceed with the destruction of the site.</p>
No Consultation With Traditional Owners
<p>The biggest concern with this act is there's no statutory requirement ensuring traditional owners be consulted.</p><p>This means traditional owners are left out of vital decisions regarding the management and protection of their cultural heritage. And it confers authority upon a committee that, in the words of a <a href="https://www.dplh.wa.gov.au/getmedia/11dd5b41-fcf9-4216-a1ac-06ece672c087/AH-Review-Position-Comparison-for-Aboriginal-People" target="_blank">discussion paper</a>, "lacks cultural authority."</p><p>There is no statutory requirement for an Indigenous person to be on the committee, nor is there a requirement that at least one anthropologist be on the committee. Worse still, there's no right of appeal for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/nov/20/traditional-owners-rally-against-changes-to-wa-aboriginal-heritage-act" target="_blank">traditional owners</a> from a committee decision.</p><p>So, while the committee must adhere to procedural fairness and ensure traditional owners are given sufficient information about decisions, this doesn't guarantee they have a right to consultation nor any right to provide feedback.</p>
Weak in Other Jurisdictions
<p>The WA Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 is <a href="https://www.dplh.wa.gov.au/aha-review" target="_blank">under review</a>. The proposed reforms seek to abolish the committee, ensuring future decisions on Aboriginal cultural heritage give appropriate regard to the views of the traditional Aboriginal owners.</p><p><span></span>NSW is the only state with no stand-alone Aboriginal heritage legislation. However, a <a href="https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/researchpapers/Documents/aborigines-land-and-national-parks-in-nsw/02-97.pdf" target="_blank">similar regulatory framework</a> to WA applies in NSW under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974.</p><p>There, if a developer is likely to impact cultural heritage, they must apply for an Aboriginal Heritage Impact Permit. The law requires "regard" to be given to the interests of Aboriginal owners of the land, but this vague provision does not mandate consultation.</p><p>What's more, the burden of proving the significance of an Aboriginal object depends upon external statements of significance. But Aboriginal people, not others, should be responsible for determining the cultural significance of an object or area.</p><p>As in WA, the NSW regulatory framework is weak, opening up the risk for economic interests to be prioritized over damage to cultural heritage.</p>Outdated Laws
<p>The federal minister has discretion to assess whether state or territory laws are already effective.</p><p>If they decide state and territory laws are ineffective and a cultural place or object is under threat, then the federal <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdb/au/legis/cth/consol_act/aatsihpa1984549/" target="_blank">Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984</a> can be used.</p><p>But this act is also weak. It was first implemented as an interim measure, intended to operate for two years. It has now been in operation for 36 years.</p><p>In fact, <a href="http://ymac.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Extracts-from-Evatt-Review-of-the-Aboriginal-and-Torres-Strait-Islander-Heritage-Protection-Act-1984.pdf" target="_blank">a 1995 report</a> assessed the shortcomings of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act.</p><p>It recommended minimum standards be put in place. This included ensuring any assessment of Aboriginal cultural significance be made by a properly qualified body, with relevant experience.</p><p>It said the role of Aboriginal people should be appropriately recognized and statutorily endorsed. Whether an area or site had particular significance according to Aboriginal tradition should be regarded as a subjective issue, determined by an assessment of the degree of intensity of belief and feeling of Aboriginal people.</p><p><span></span>Twenty-five years later, this is yet to happen.</p>Related Articles Around the Web
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Meadow Lake wind farm in Indiana. Anthony / CC BY-ND 2.0
By Tara Lohan
The first official tallies are in: Coronavirus-related shutdowns helped slash daily global emissions of carbon dioxide by 14 percent in April. But the drop won't last, and experts estimate that annual emissions of the greenhouse gas are likely to fall only about 7 percent this year.
<p>After that, unless we make substantial changes to global economies, it will be back to business as usual — and a path that leads directly to runaway climate change. If we want to reverse course, say the world's leading scientists, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/energy-environment/2018/10/08/world-has-only-years-get-climate-change-under-control-un-scientists-say/" target="_blank">we have about a decade</a> to right the ship.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://therevelator.org/stokes-clean-energy/" target="_blank">The Revelator</a>. </em><em></em></p>
<p>That's because we've squandered a lot of time. "The 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s were lost decades for preventing global climate disaster," political scientist <a href="https://www.leahstokes.com/" target="_blank">Leah Stokes</a> writes in her new book <em><a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/short-circuiting-policy-9780190074265?cc=us&lang=en" target="_blank">Short Circuiting Policy</a></em><em>, </em>which looks at the history of clean energy policy in the U.S.</p><p>But we don't all bear equal responsibility for the tragic delay.</p><p>"Some actors in society have more power than others to shape how our economy is fueled," writes Stokes, an assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "We are not all equally to blame."</p><p><em>Short Circuiting</em> <em>Policy</em> focuses on the role of one particularly bad actor: electric utilities. Their history of obstructing a clean-energy transition in the U.S. has been largely overlooked, with most of the finger-pointing aimed at fossil fuel companies (and for good reason).</p><p>We spoke with Stokes about this history of delay and denial from the utility industry, how to accelerate the speed and scale of clean-energy growth, and whether we can get past the polarizing rhetoric and politics around clean energy.</p>
What lessons can we learn from your research to guide us right now, in what seems like a really critical time in the fight to halt climate change?
<p>What a lot of people don't understand is that to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, we actually have to reduce emissions by around 7-8 percent <em>every single year</em> from now until 2030, which is what the emissions drop is likely to be this year because of the COVID-19 crisis.</p><p>So think about what it took to reduce emissions by that much and think about how we have to do that <em>every single year</em>.</p><p>It doesn't mean that it's going to be some big sacrifice, but it does mean that we need government policy, particularly at the federal level, because state policy can only go so far. We've been living off state policy for more than three decades now and we need our federal government to act.</p>Where are we now, in terms of our progress on renewable energy and how far we need to go?
<p>A lot of people think renewable energy is growing "so fast" and it's "so amazing." But first of all, during the coronavirus pandemic, the renewable energy industry is actually doing very poorly. It's losing a lot of jobs. And secondly, we were not moving fast enough even before the coronavirus crisis, because renewable energy in the<em> best </em>year grew by only 1.3 percent.</p><p>Right now we're at around 36-37 percent clean energy. That includes nuclear, hydropower and new renewables like wind, solar and geothermal. But hydropower and nuclear aren't growing. Nuclear supplies about 20 percent of the grid and hydro about 5 percent depending on the year. And then the rest is renewable. So we're at about 10 percent renewables, and in the best year, we're only adding 1 percent to that.</p><p>Generally, we need to be moving about eight times faster than we've been moving in our best years. (To visualize this idea, I came up with the <a href="https://grist.org/fix/how-quickly-do-we-need-to-ramp-up-renewables-look-to-the-narwhal/" target="_blank">narwhal curve</a>.)</p>How do we overcome these fundamental issues of speed and scale?
<p>We need actual government policy that supports it. We have never had a clean electricity standard or renewable portfolio standard at the federal level. That's the main law that I write all about at the state level. Where those policies are in place, a lot of progress has been made — places like California and even, to a limited extent, Texas.</p><p>We need our federal government to be focusing on this crisis. Even the really small, piecemeal clean-energy policies we have at the federal level are going away. In December Congress didn't extend the investment tax credit and the production tax credit, just like they didn't extend or improve the electric vehicle tax credit.</p><p>And now during the COVID-19 crisis, a lot of the money going toward the energy sector in the CARES Act is going toward propping up <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-15/-stealth-bailout-shovels-millions-of-dollars-to-oil-companies" target="_blank">dying fossil fuel companies</a> and not toward supporting the renewable energy industry.</p><p>So we are moving in the wrong direction.</p>Clean energy hasn’t always been such a partisan issue. Why did it become so polarizing?
<p>What I argue in my book, with evidence, is that electric utilities and fossil fuel companies have been intentionally driving polarization. And they've done this in part by running challengers in primary elections against Republicans who don't agree with them.</p><p>Basically, fossil fuel companies and electric utilities are telling Republicans that you can't hold office and support climate action. That has really shifted the incentives within the party in a very short time period.</p><p>It's not like the Democrats have moved so far left on climate. The Democrats have stayed in pretty much the same place and the Republicans have moved to the right. And I argue that that's because of electric utilities and fossil fuel companies trying to delay action.</p>And their reason for doing that is simply about their bottom line and keeping their share of the market?
<p>Exactly. You have to remember that delay and denial on climate change is a profitable enterprise for fossil fuel companies and electric utilities. The longer we wait to act on the crisis, the more money they can make because they can extract more fossil fuels from their reserves <em>and</em> they can pay more of their debt at their coal plants and natural gas plants. So delay and denial is a money-making business for fossil fuel companies and electric utilities.</p>There’s been a lot of research, reporting and even legal action in recent years about the role of fossil fuel companies in discrediting climate science. From reading your book, it seems that electric utilities are just as guilty. Is that right?
<p>Yes, far less attention has been paid to electric utilities, which play a really critical role. They preside over legacy investments into coal and natural gas, and some of them continue to propose building new natural gas.</p><p>They were just as involved in promoting climate denial in the 1980s and 90s as fossil fuel companies, as I document in my book. And some of them, like Southern Company, have continued to promote climate denial to basically the present day.</p><p>But that's not the only dark part of their history.</p><p>Electric utilities promoted energy systems that are pretty wasteful. They built these centralized fossil fuel power plants rather than having co-generation plants that were onsite at industrial locations where manufacturing is happening, and where you need both steam heat — which is a waste product from electricity — and the electricity itself. That actually created a lot of waste in the system and we burned a lot more fossil fuels than if we had a decentralized system.</p><p><span></span>The other thing they've done in the more modern period is really resisted the energy transition. They've resisted renewable portfolio standards and net metering laws that allow for more clean energy to come onto the grid. They've tried to roll them back. They've been successful in some cases, and they've blocked new laws from passing when targets were met.</p>You wrote that, “Partisan polarization on climate is not inevitable — support could shift back to the bipartisanship we saw before 2008.” What would it take to actually make that happen?
<p>Well, on the one hand, you need to get the Democratic Party to care more about climate change and to really understand the stakes. And if you want to do that, I think the work of the <a href="https://www.justicedemocrats.com/" target="_blank">Justice Democrats</a> is important. They have primary-challenged incumbent Democrats who don't care enough about climate change. That is how Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was elected. She was a primary challenger and she has really championed climate action in the Green New Deal.</p><p>The other thing is that the public supports climate action. Democrats do in huge numbers. Independents do. And to some extent Republicans do, particularly young Republicans.</p><p>So communicating the extent of public concern on these issues is really important because, as I've shown in other research, politicians don't know how much public concern there is on climate change. They dramatically underestimate support for climate action.</p><p>I think the media has a really important role to play because it's very rare that a climate event, like a disaster that is caused by climate change, is actually linked to climate change in media reporting.</p><p>But people might live through a wildfire or a hurricane or a heat wave, but nobody's going to tell them through the media that this is climate change. So we really need our reporters to be doing a better job linking people's lived experiences to climate change.</p>With economic stimulus efforts ramping up because of the COVD-19 pandemic, are we in danger of missing a chance to help boost a clean energy economy?
<p>I think so many people understand that stimulus spending is an opportunity to rebuild our economy in a way that creates good-paying jobs in the clean-energy sector that protects Americans' health.</p><p>We know that <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200427-how-air-pollution-exacerbates-covid-19" target="_blank">breathing dirty air</a> makes people more likely to die from COVID-19. So this is a big opportunity to create an economy that's more just for all Americans.</p><p>But unfortunately, we really are not pivoting toward creating a clean economy, which is what we need to be doing. This is an opportunity to really focus on the climate crisis because we have delayed for more than 30 years. There is not another decade to waste.</p>
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Frederic Edwin Church's The Icebergs reveal their danger as a crush vessel is in the foreground of an iceberg strewn sea, 1860. Buyenlarge / Getty Images
Scientists and art historians are studying art for signs of climate change and to better understand the ways Western culture's relationship to nature has been altered by it, according to the BBC.
<p>Scientists have used art to help reconstruct historic weather and climatic conditions, such as the behavior of the Lower Grindelwald Glacier in the Swiss Alps prior to the invention of photography. Over the last 150 years, artists' depictions and use of ice has changed wholesale.</p>
<p>In 1861, Frederic Edwin Church's grand work, <em>The Icebergs,</em> showed humans' fragility in the face of the sublime power of Arctic ice floes. "Later pieces of art," on the other hand, "are about the ice melting because of what we've done to it," according Karl Kusserow, curator of American art at the Princeton University Art Museum. "There's a 180-degree switch from a world that we have no control over, to one in which we are actually controlling the fate of the planet, and recognizing that we're not doing a very good job on it."</p>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200528-the-climate-change-clues-hidden-in-art-history?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=88687841&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_t3KAl8PxZcWuaJm354sogYACZWWrYhJ-xB0nIbDi1w9baaxmVQhjVMV2iVCHLhZt-WbcScHl5bPaJnzE0BMvZSLjAkANlNKv9a5o6XwWD73aliG4&utm_content=88687841&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">BBC</a><br/><a href="http://www.chron.com/technology/businessinsider/article/EPA-blasts-Associated-Press-journalist-over-12170978.php" target="_blank"></a></p><p><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
- Climate Change, Inspired By Banksy - EcoWatch ›
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Jackson Family Wines in California discovered that a huge amount of carbon pollution was caused by manufacturing wine bottles. Edsel Querini / Getty Images
Before you pour a glass of wine, feel the weight of the bottle in your hand. Would you notice if it were a few ounces lighter? Jackson Family Wines is betting that you won't.
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<p>The California winery started analyzing its carbon pollution in 2008.</p><p>"For us it was really eye opening," says Julien Gervreau, vice president of sustainability.</p><p>He says they discovered that a huge amount of carbon pollution was caused by manufacturing wine bottles.</p><p>"The big 'aha moment' that we saw around our emissions was really with glass," he says. "When you look at the supply chain for glass, it's a pretty energy- and emissions-intensive process."</p>
<p>So now, the winery not only invests in renewable energy and efficiency, it's reduced the weight of each glass bottle of its Kendall-Jackson and La Crema Lines by a couple ounces.</p><p>"And in addition to emissions savings, we saw a pretty significant financial savings associated with having to buy less glass," Gervreau says.</p><p>The winery was careful to avoid affecting the bottles' look and feel, and Gervreau says customers have not complained. Meanwhile, shipping and sales clerks appreciate lifting lighter cases.</p><p>So cheers! Here's to lighter wine bottles. And don't worry, there's still the same amount of wine inside.</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/05/california-winery-finds-a-clever-way-to-cut-carbon-pollution/" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em></p>
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Trending
Former Federal Reserve Governor Rebukes Fed for Using Covid-19 Funds to Bail Out Fossil Fuel Industry
29 May
Politics
A former Federal Reserve board of governors member on Thursday called on her former colleagues to stop using Covid-19 relief funds to bail out the "dying" fossil fuel industry. Douglas Sacha / Getty Images
By Eoin Higgins
A former Federal Reserve board of governors member on Thursday called on her former colleagues to stop using Covid-19 relief funds to bail out the "dying" fossil fuel industry, calling the decision a threat to the planet's climate and a misguided use of taxpayer money.
<p>"These concessions to the fossil fuel industry are a risky investment in the past," Sarah Bloom Raskin <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/28/opinion/fed-fossil-fuels.html" target="_blank">wrote</a> in a <em>New York Times</em> op-ed. "The Fed is ignoring clear warning signs about the economic repercussions of the impending climate crisis by taking action that will lead to increases in greenhouse gas emissions at a time when even in the short term, fossil fuels are a terrible investment."</p>
Â
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1266004825050939393" id="twitter-embed-1266004825050939393" lazy-loadable="true" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1266004825050939393&created_ts=1590674046.0&screen_name=collinrees&text=The+last+thing+the+Fed+should+be+doing+is+bailing+one+of+world%27s+riskiest+industries+%E2%80%94+fossil+fuels.%0A%0AWe+know+Big+O%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2Fu4d5SoHy83&id=1266004825050939393&name=Collin+Rees" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="a0e370c95211a3c2f9a65eda5a075be6"></iframe><p>Raskin's opinion piece sparked praise from climate campaigners like 350.org co-founder Jamie Henn.</p><p>"This should cause some waves," Henn <a href="https://twitter.com/jamieclimate/status/1266002932626886658" target="_blank">tweeted</a>.</p><p>Henn on Thursday <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/05/28/big-oil-pretending-it-doesnt-want-bailout-thats-bullshit" target="_blank">penned</a> an opinion piece for <em>Common Dreams</em> arguing that Mike Sommers, CEO of the American Petroleum Institute (API), is spewing lies to the public when he claims the industry doesn't want—and hasn't actively pushed for—a bailout from the Fed.</p><p>As Henn wrote:</p><blockquote>The truth is that despite Sommer's best efforts to spin a fairytale about oil companies tightening their belts and lifting themselves up by their bootstraps, corporate socialism is exactly what API wants. In fact, the fossil fuel industry, and the American Petroleum Institute in particular, have been at the forefront of corporate efforts to profit off the coronavirus pandemic and government relief efforts.<br></blockquote>
<p>Climate advocacy group Friends of the Earth program manager Lukas Ross, in a statement Wednesday, also <a href="https://foe.org/news/api-ceo-spews-double-talk-on-polluter-bailout/" target="_blank">rejected</a> Sommers' protestations.</p><p>"Oil lobbyists are spewing blatant lies, and we have the receipts," said Ross. "Big Oil has already nabbed $1.9 billion in giveaways thanks to corporate tax cuts from the last stimulus."</p><p>"If polluters want to deny the existence of the ongoing bailout," Ross added, "Congress should swiftly repeal these blatant corporate tax giveaways and make fossil fuels ineligible for stimulus lending programs."</p>
Â
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1266068654724132864" id="twitter-embed-1266068654724132864" lazy-loadable="true" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1266068654724132864&created_ts=1590689264.0&screen_name=Western_Values&text=Oil%2C+gas%2C+and+coal+companies+are+set+to+receive+billions+in+federal+aid+from+both+the+%23PPP+and+%23CARESAct.+Many+of+t%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FmX370hwkg1&id=1266068654724132864&name=Western+Values+Project" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="c000bc798f2c320613914689edb3c330"></iframe><p>The bailout is presenting taxpayers with a burden, Raskin wrote, citing the industry's debt and unsustainable business model.</p><p>"For taxpayers, shouldering these liabilities is a bad deal," wrote Raskin. "Buying this bad debt is not likely to support the creation of jobs or even ensure that existing jobs survive."</p><p>Friends of the Earth <a href="https://twitter.com/foe_us/status/1265674388499763202" target="_blank">agreed</a>. </p><p>"Trump's administration has been exploiting this pandemic to bailout Big Oil companies that have been struggling long before coronavirus," the group tweeted.</p><p>The pandemic, wrote Raskin, "provides an unexpected opportunity to build an economy that is stronger in the long term."</p><p>"The decisions that the Fed makes today will go a long way to determining whether tomorrow's economy is one that remains susceptible to more chaos and vulnerability or builds economic security and resilience," she wrote.</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/28/former-federal-reserve-governor-rebukes-central-bank-using-covid-19-lending-power" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Green living spruce and gray dead spruce in the Harz mountain region on May 7, 2020 near Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany. Jens Schlueter / Getty Images
More than a third of the world's old growth forests died between 1900 and 2015, a new study has found.
<p>In the study, <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6494/eaaz9463" target="_blank">published in Science</a> Friday, nearly two dozen scientists used satellite data combined with more than 160 previous studies to show that <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation" target="_self">deforestation</a> and the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> are killing off older, taller <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trees" target="_self">trees</a> and leaving forests younger and shorter, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/05/grand-old-trees-are-dying-leaving-forests-younger-shorter/" target="_blank">National Geographic explained</a>. And the trend is likely to continue.</p><p>"We will see fewer forests," University of Wisconsin forest ecologist and study coauthor Monica Turner told National Geographic. "There will be areas where there are forests now where there won't be in the future."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">More than 20 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/scientists?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#scientists</a> show global conditions lead to younger, shorter trees: <a href="https://t.co/KR2Tnwx4Af">https://t.co/KR2Tnwx4Af</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/deforestation?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#deforestation</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/forests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#forests</a> 🎄<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/science?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#science</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/researchhighlight?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#researchhighlight</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/environment?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#environment</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/LosAlamosNatLab?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LosAlamosNatLab</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ORNL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ORNL</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NASA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Stanford?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Stanford</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/LBNL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LBNL</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ScienceMagazine?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ScienceMagazine</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/McDowell_Trees?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@McDowell_Trees</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/poulterlab?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@poulterlab</a> <a href="https://t.co/NN7k7qcEaW">pic.twitter.com/NN7k7qcEaW</a></p>— PNNL (@PNNLab) <a href="https://twitter.com/PNNLab/status/1266087442081296390?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 28, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>The study was led by Nate McDowell of the U.S. Department of Energy's <a href="https://www.pnnl.gov/" target="_blank">Pacific Northwest National Laboratory</a> (PNNL), who explained why this change was such a big deal.</p><p>"A future planet with fewer large, old forests will be very different than what we have grown accustomed to," he said in a <a href="https://www.pnnl.gov/news-media/global-environmental-changes-leading-shorter-younger-trees" target="_blank">PNNL press release</a>. "Older forests often host much higher <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" target="_self">biodiversity</a> than young forests and they store more carbon than young forests."</p>
<p>Old growth tree loss is being driven by a number of factors, many of them linked to the climate crisis in some way. Warmer temperatures limit photosynthesis, both stunting and killing trees. Increased <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drought" target="_self">droughts</a> both kill trees directly and lead to attacks by <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/insects" target="_self">insect</a> pests. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" target="_self">Wildfires</a> and infestations by insects, fungi and choking vines are all on the rise. Humans have also killed old growth trees more directly by chopping them down.</p><p>These factors combine to alter forest makeup, PNNL explained:</p><blockquote>Known as deforestation, the phenomenon has led to an imbalance of three important characteristics of a diverse and thriving forest: (1) recruitment, which is the addition of new seedlings to a community; (2) growth, the net increase in biomass or carbon; and (3) mortality, the death of forest trees.</blockquote>
<p>"Mortality is rising in most areas, while recruitment and growth are variable over time, leading to a net decline in the stature of forests," McDowell said.</p><p>While previous scientists had predicted increased carbon dioxide would lead to more tree growth, McDowell's team found this was only the case in younger forests with lots of nutrients and water. Otherwise, he explained to National Geographic, hotter temperatures reduce moisture, causing trees to shed leaves and close pores to retain water, which makes it harder for them to absorb carbon dioxide.</p><p>"[It's like] going to an all-you-can-eat buffet with duct tape over their mouths," he said.</p>
<p>Tree loss is truly a worldwide problem. In the Western U.S., Canada and Europe, where data is most abundant, the rate of tree death has doubled in the last four decades, and older trees have disproportionately been affected. Worldwide, humans have cut down 12 percent of the world's forests since 1900, and the proportion of the world's forests that are more than 140 years old has declined from 89 to 66 percent during that time, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/28/climate-crisis-world-forests-shorter-younger-study" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p><p>The study spells bad news for trees' ability to help combat the climate crisis.</p><p>"When old trees die, they decompose and stop sucking up CO2 and release more of it to the atmosphere," McDowell told National Geographic. "It's like a thermostat gone bad. Warming begets tree loss, then tree loss begets more warming."</p>
<p>However, professor Simon Lewis of University College London, who was not involved in the study, pointed out that while forests are getting younger on average, some crucial old growth forests are actually increasing their area.</p><p>"The world's intact tropical and boreal forests are both globally important as carbon sinks, and are getting larger," he told The Guardian. "The world's forests currently slow climate change, and while future mortality trends could reverse this, the ideas in the new report don't change what the world needs to do: stabilise the climate by quickly driving fossil fuel emissions to zero and protect the world's forests."</p>
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"Most of this fossil fuel finance flowed to wealthier countries," the report says, noting that China (pictured), Canada, Japan, and Korea provided the most public finance for dirty energy projects from 2016 to 2018.
Kevin Frayer / Stringer / Getty Images
Kevin Frayer / Stringer / Getty Images
By Jessica Corbett
Even after the world's largest economies adopted the landmark Paris agreement to tackle the climate crisis in late 2015, governments continued to pour $77 billion a year in public finance into propping up the fossil fuel industry, according to a report released Wednesday.
<p>The new <a href="http://priceofoil.org/2020/05/27/g20-still-digging/" target="_blank">report</a>, from Oil Change International and Friends of the Earth (FOE) U.S., focuses on financing for oil, gas, and coal projects from members of the Group of 20 (<a href="https://g20.org/en/about/Pages/whatis.aspx" target="_blank">G20</a>), which comprises governments and central bank governors from 19 countries and the European Union.</p><p>Although U.S. President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/04/delivering-catastrophic-message-moment-great-urgency-trump-formally-begins-ditching" target="_blank">began</a> the one-year withdrawal process for ditching the Paris accord in November 2019 after years of <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/06/01/destructive-fossil-fuel-puppet-trump-ditches-climate-deal-fact-free-speech" target="_blank">threats</a>, other G20 nations remain committed to the agreement, which aims to keep global temperature rise well below 2°C (35.6 F) and further limit it to 1.5°C (34.7 F) by 2100.</p><p>Despite their public commitments to the Paris agreement, "G20 countries continue to subsidize the fossil fuel industry even as it makes bad business decisions that hurt people and the planet," FOE U.S. senior international policy analyst Kate DeAngelis <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2020/05/27/report-g20-governments-bankrolling-fossil-fuel-industry-least-77-billion-year" target="_blank">said</a> in a statement.</p><p>"Our planet is hurtling towards climate catastrophe and these countries are pouring gasoline on the fire to the tune of billions," she said. "We must hold G20 governments accountable for their promises to move countries toward clean energy. They have an opportunity to reflect and change their financing so that it supports clean energy solutions that will not exacerbate bad health outcomes and put workers at greater risk."</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1265419719403876353" id="twitter-embed-1265419719403876353" lazy-loadable="true" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1265419719403876353&created_ts=1590534546.0&screen_name=PriceofOil&text=%E2%9A%A1%E2%9A%A1Just+Released%3A+Our+new+report+w%2F+%40FoE_US+reveals+G20+countries+provided+at+least+%2477+billion+a+year+in+public+fin%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FwizlSeXnRT&id=1265419719403876353&name=Oil+Change+International" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="fc626c0dd110d303e518e96fd2453ab1"></iframe>
<p>The new report—<a href="http://priceofoil.org/content/uploads/2020/05/G20-Still-Digging.pdf" target="_blank"><em>Still Digging: G20 Governments Continue to Finance the Climate Crisis</em> </a>(pdf)—warns that "with the health and livelihoods of billions at immediate risk from Covid-19, governments around the world are preparing public spending packages of a magnitude they previously deemed unthinkable."</p><blockquote>In normal times, development finance institutions (DFIs), export credit agencies (ECAs), and multilateral development banks (MDBs) already had an outsized impact on the overall energy landscape and more capacity than their private sector peers to act on the climate crisis. In the current moment, their potential influence has multiplied, and it is imperative that they change course. The fossil fuel sector was showing long-term signs of systemic decline before Covid-19 and has been quick to seize on this crisis with requests for massive subsidies and bailouts. We cannot afford for the wave of public finance that is being prepared for relief and recovery efforts to prop up the fossil fuel industry as it has in the past. Business as usual would exacerbate the next crisis—the climate crisis—that is already on our doorstep.<br></blockquote><p>As Oil Change International research analyst Bronwen Tucker put it: "Fossil fuel corporations know their days are numbered. Their lobbyists are using the Covid-19 crisis as cover to try to secure the massive new government handouts they need to survive."</p><p>Echoing <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/26/hundreds-medical-professionals-and-groups-say-covid-19-stimulus-plans-must-be" target="_blank">recent calls</a> from climate campaigners, advocacy groups, progressive policymakers, and healthcare professionals, the report urges G20 governments and multilateral development banks to support a global, just recovery to the coronavirus pandemic.</p><p>"Government money must instead support a just transition from fossil fuels that protects workers, communities, and the climate—both at home and beyond their borders," said Tucker. "Instead of bankrolling another major crisis—climate change—our governments should invest in a resilient future."</p><p>Based on information from Oil Change International's Shift the Subsidies database, the report details financing from public institutions controlled by G20 governments—DFIs, ECAs, and MDBs. Key findings include that support for the fossil fuel industry has "stayed steady" since the Paris agreement and ECAs are "the worst public finance actors."</p><p>"Most of this fossil fuel finance flowed to wealthier countries," the report says, noting that China, Canada, Japan, and Korea provided the most public finance for dirty energy projects from 2016 to 2018.</p>
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<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1265623289118015492" id="twitter-embed-1265623289118015492" lazy-loadable="true" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1265623289118015492&created_ts=1590583080.0&screen_name=envirodefence&text=New+research+from+%40PriceofOil+%26amp%3B+%40foe_us+shows+Canada+has+the+2nd+highest+public+finance+for+fossil+fuels+in+the+G20%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FCC21WVmLhZ&id=1265623289118015492&name=EnvironmentalDefence" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="3a8dab253abb0ab96502809508dffa35"></iframe><p><em>Still Digging</em> examines just one way these nations support planet-wrecking oil, gas, and coal projects, acknowledging that "unlike the 2017 version of this report, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/07/05/talk-cheap-g20-told-end-public-subsidy-all-dirty-fuels-2020" target="_blank"><em>Talk is Cheap</em></a>, it does not include public finance directly from G20 government departments due to a gross lack of transparency."</p><p>The report also doesn't cover "majority government-owned banks without a clear policy mandate, sovereign wealth funds, or public finance institutions with subnational governance," or "subsidies to fossil fuel production at the national level in G20 state budgets, which previous analysis has indicated may provide an additional $80 billion per year in support to fossil fuel production."</p><p>However, <em>Still Digging</em> suggests that G20 public finance institutions—as entities owned by governments party to the Paris accord—could be catalysts for more climate-friendly financing decisions "due to their economic and political power."</p><p>"Private and public financial investors alike will need to shift rapidly," the report says, "but the role of public institutions is unique because of both their outsized influence on energy finance and their capacity and mandate to lead on climate action."</p>
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<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1265668484349992961" id="twitter-embed-1265668484349992961" lazy-loadable="true" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1265668484349992961&created_ts=1590593856.0&screen_name=PriceofOil&text=%F0%9F%93%96New+Report%F0%9F%93%96%3A+As+%23G20+governments+spend+historic+levels+of+public+finance+on+%23COVID19+stimulus%2C+our+new+report+w%2F%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2Fbw8awZru86&id=1265668484349992961&name=Oil+Change+International" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="4c26ee7a9cd92203449579ca4aa553e7"></iframe><p>More than 30 groups from across the globe endorsed the report—including Justica Ambiental, or FOE Mozambique, which has worked to raise alarm about international public finance supporting the expansion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in southern African country.</p><p>"It is unacceptable that such a high investment, which will provide billions of profits for foreign companies like Total, is contributing to the impoverishment and oppression of already vulnerable local communities," said Justica Ambiental director Anabela Lemos.</p><p>"Peasant and fishing families have lost their livelihoods for a lifetime," Lemos added. "The discovery of gas has stolen their identity and failed to provide them with the conditions stipulated in the so-called community consultation processes."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/27/new-report-details-how-g20-nations-spend-77-billion-year-destroy-climate" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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