The Trump transition team ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to halve the number of staff allowed to attend an environmental conference in Alaska last week, according to conference organizers.
The Alaska Forum on the Environment traditionally sees heavy participation from the EPA, with 34 agency employees originally committed to attend this year's event. While transition spokesperson Doug Ericksen told Alaska Public Media that the restriction was meant to cut travel costs, some of the agency officials originally slated to attend live "blocks away" from the conference in Anchorage.
Breaking: Reports From Inside EPA Say Trump May Kill the Agency's Enforcement Office https://t.co/RG9TuiaT2Z— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@Robert F. Kennedy Jr)1486602724.0
"We got a phone call from the local office of EPA, and we were informed that EPA was directed by the White House transition team to minimize their participation in the Alaska Forum on the Environment to the extent possible," Alaska Forum on the Environment Director Kurt Eilo said.
The agency's last-minute change of plans highlighted the concerns of many conference attendees over the future of EPA programs dealing with climate change, tribal issues and other Alaska-specific concerns.
For a deeper dive:
Alaska: Alaska Public Media, AP, Bloomberg, Christian Science Monitor, Alaska Dispatch News
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Former Pence Aid Endorses Biden, Says Trump Cared More About Re-election Than Stopping Coronavirus
4h
Politics
In an ad released by Republican Voters Against Trump, former coronavirus task force member Olivia Troye roasted the president for his response. Republican Voters Against Trump / YouTube
Yet another former Trump administration staffer has come out with an endorsement for former Vice President Joe Biden, this time in response to President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
<p>In an ad released by Republican Voters Against Trump (RVAT) Thursday, a former homeland security advisor to Vice President Mike Pence, as well as his top aide on the White House coronavirus task force, accused the president of caring more about his chances of reelection than the pandemic.</p><p>"Towards the middle of February, we knew it wasn't a matter of if Covid would become a big pandemic here, it was a matter of when," the aide, Olivia Troye, said in the video, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/17/politics/former-pence-aide-coronvirus-task-force-slams-trump/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>. "But the President didn't want to hear that, because his biggest concern was that we were in an election year, and how was this going to affect what he considered to be his record of success?"</p>
<div id="af97a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="998a352f5cc7ff389416d2b3276d97c9"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1306685541220524046" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">NEW AD: @OliviaTroye was @VP's lead staffer on COVID-19. She put her heart & soul into the job.
After a while she… https://t.co/Erfsf9W6cY</div> — Republican Voters Against Trump (@Republican Voters Against Trump)<a href="https://twitter.com/RVAT2020/statuses/1306685541220524046">1600373084.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Troye also said she witnessed Trump dismiss the severity of the new disease.</p><p>"It was shocking to see the president saying that the virus was a hoax, saying that everything's OK when we know that it's not," Troye said. "The truth is, he doesn't actually care about anyone else but himself."</p><p>Troye's video comes about a week after the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-coronavirus-woodward-tapes-2647565763.html" target="_self">release of tapes</a> in which Trump acknowledged to journalist Bob Woodward that he did in fact understand the severity of the virus, but downplayed the risks to the public in order to prevent panic. The disease has now sickened more than 6.6 million Americans and killed almost 200,000, according to Friday morning figures from <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">Johns Hopkins University</a>.<br></p>
<p>In another shocking revelation, Troye recalled an extremely callous remark Trump had made about the new disease.</p><p>"Maybe this Covid thing's a good thing," Troye claimed the president said during a meeting. "I don't like shaking hands with people. I don't have to shake hands with these disgusting people."</p><p>Troye continued by reflecting that "those disgusting people" were the same people who supported the president and who he claimed to care about, as <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/olivia-troye-pence-advisor-endorses-biden-coronavirus-task-force/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CBS News reported</a>.</p><p>"If the president had taken this virus seriously, or if he had actually made an effort to tell how serious it was, he would have slowed the virus spread, he would have saved lives," Troye said.</p>
<p>The White House responded by saying that Troye, who left the administration in late July, was merely lashing out at her former employers.</p><p>"I haven't read her comments in any detail, but it reads to me like one more disgruntled employee who's left the White House and now has decided to play politics during an election year," Pence told reporters, as CNN reported. "I think my staff has indicated that she made no comments like that when she was serving on our team here at the White House coronavirus task force."</p><p>White House spokesperson Judd Deere said that Troye never attended private meetings with the president and that her statements were inaccurate, as CBS News reported. And White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany <a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1306747024210001922" target="_blank">tweeted</a> a letter Troye sent to the coronavirus task force upon her departure in which she praised its members for their efforts.</p>
<div id="2a391" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2ec3a912ad5dfd294d10417281f42254"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1306747024210001922" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Interesting departure letter from a disgruntled former detailee who typically sat in the overflow room of task forc… https://t.co/wWBvf1Vusx</div> — Kayleigh McEnany (@Kayleigh McEnany)<a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec/statuses/1306747024210001922">1600387743.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>However, POLITICO pointed out that the letter was addressed to the task force and did not mention Trump, while Troye's video criticized Trump specifically. In the ad, Troye maintained that serving on the task force was the "honor of a lifetime," but she felt her efforts were undermined by Trump's decisions.</p><p>"I put my heart and soul into this role every single day," she said in the ad, as POLITICO reported. "But at some points I would come home at night, I would look myself in the mirror and say, are you really making a difference? Because no matter how hard you work or what you do, the president is going to do something detrimental to keeping Americans safe."</p><p>Fellow task force member and top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday that Troye was a "good person" and "important to the team," as CBS News reported.</p>
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Climate Group
Every September for the past 11 years, non-profit the Climate Group has hosted Climate Week NYC, a chance for business, government, activist and community leaders to come together and discuss solutions to the climate crisis.
<p>This September is no different. Despite the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a>, <a href="https://www.climateweeknyc.org/climate-week-nyc-2020" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Climate Week NYC</a> is returning for its 12th year next week from Sept. 21 to 27, making it the largest climate summit taking place this year. And, because of the new focus on virtual events, you don't have to physically be in New York City to participate.</p><p>"We're really excited that Climate Week NYC is going to be able to bring together so many important events and conversations, both in New York City and around the world," head of Climate Week NYC Adam Lake told EcoWatch in an email. "With an understandably strong focus on digital events this year, we're grateful to work with Facebook to help support event organizers use tools and platforms to host events and connect with the climate community. Together, Climate Week NYC 2020 will be the most engaging, inclusive and truly global Climate Week we've ever seen."</p>
<p>All of the Climate Group's events will be available to watch on its <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/TheClimateGroup/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Facebook page</a> starting Monday. The page will also feature highlights of more than 350 affiliated events being organized in New York City and elsewhere. You can check out the full events calendar <a href="https://www.climateweeknyc.org/events-program" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>. But, to help you out, here are five free Climate Week NYC events you can participate in from the comfort and safety of your couch.</p>
<p>1. <a href="https://www.climateweeknyc.org/event/play-planet" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Play for the Planet</a>: Are you a musician or artist? Do you care about stopping climate change? <a href="https://climatemusic.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ClimateMusic</a> is asking artists to send them their answers to short interview questions, concluding with a video answer to the prompt, "What do you want the future to sound like?" The responses will appear in a series of testimonials on the organization's website. Participants are also encouraged to share their answers on social media using the hashtags #PlayforthePlanet and #ClimateMusic. <em>All week.</em></p>
<p>2. <a href="https://www.climateweeknyc.org/event/chance-lifetime-how-governments-and-businesses-are-achieving-green-economic-recovery" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Chance of a Lifetime? How Governments and Businesses are Achieving a Green Economic Recovery</a>: Listen to business, non-profit and government leaders discuss how we can recover from the coronavirus pandemic in a way that halves greenhouse gas emissions in the next 10 years. This Climate Group hosted event will feature speakers including Climate Group CEO Helen Clarkson, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/covid-vaccine-trial-stopped-2647532475.html" target="_self">AstraZeneca</a> Executive Vice President Katarina Ageborg and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos. Watch on the Climate Group's <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/TheClimateGroup" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Facebook Watch</a> page. <em>Tuesday, Sept. 22, 9:45 - 11:25 a.m.</em></p>
<p>3. <a href="https://www.climateweeknyc.org/event/expressing-climate-grief" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Expressing Climate Grief</a>: Are you overwhelmed with emotion when you think about everything happening to the earth and its creatures? Sustaining All Life and United to End Racism will lead a digital workshop in expressing these emotions and healing them so that you can go back into your community and work to stop the climate crisis without burning out. Register <a href="https://sal.rc.org/workshop/expressingclimategrief2020" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>. <em>Wednesday, Sept. 23, 1 - 2:30 p.m.</em></p>
<p>4. <a href="https://www.climateweeknyc.org/event/climate-change-and-american-voter" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Climate Insights 2020: Climate Change and the American Voter</a>: With the November election less than two months away, everyone wants to know how climate change will impact voters' decisions. Speakers including Katharine Hayhoe of Texas Tech University and Christina Chan of the World Resources Institute will discuss the latest results of a survey assessing the priorities of U.S. voters. RSVP <a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Y8MA8IOzRtKP3kuGqNo9pA" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>. <em>Thursday, Sept. 24, 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.</em></p>
<p>5. <a href="https://www.climateweeknyc.org/event/climate-justice-and-resilience-farmers-and-communities-front-lines" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Climate Justice and Resilience: Farmers and Communities on the Front Lines</a>: This roundtable discussion hosted by the <a href="https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rainforest Alliance</a> will seek to answer how governments and corporations can best support rural farmers and Indigenous communities on the front lines of the climate crisis. It will include a focus on "climate-smart agriculture" and how it can be expanded. Speakers will include International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change Co-chair Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Ghanaian cocoa farmer Elijah Owusu-Cashiedom and Unilever Chief Sustainability Officer Rebecca Marmot. Register <a href="https://raorg.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_PLB8Fhp_T2ujgEgdvv0KZg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>. <em></em><em>Friday, Sept. 25, 9 - 10:30 a.m.</em></p>
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Trending
A field of sunflowers near the Mehrum coal-fired power station, wind turbines and high-voltage lines in the Peine district of Germany on Aug. 3, 2020. Julian Stratenschulte / picture alliance via Getty Images
By Elliot Douglas
The coronavirus pandemic has altered economic priorities for governments around the world. But as wildfires tear up the west coast of the United States and Europe reels after one of its hottest summers on record, tackling climate change remains at the forefront of economic policy.
<p>The German Economics Minister Peter Altmaier made history last week by announcing the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germany-climate-change-co2/a-54891520" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">"historic compromise" of a new climate charter</a> for Europe's economic powerhouse. Days later, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the EU's Green New Deal climate goals would become even more ambitious, with a plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the bloc by 55% by 2030.</p><p>Germany's climate charter would bring the country in line with Brussels' plans and put Germany at the forefront of green policy. But is Altmaier's charter just political posturing?</p>
<h3>What Is the Climate Charter?</h3><p>"This is the first time the economics ministry of a major country has openly embraced policies suggested by groups like Fridays for Future," climate change policy expert Miranda Schreuers told DW. "That is really quite dramatic."</p><p>Schreuers is a professor of environment and climate policy at the Technical University of Munich, and is among those who cautiously welcome Altmaier's announcement.</p><p>Youth environmentalist movement Fridays for Future, led by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, has enjoyed widespread support in Germany — millions of people took to the streets in what became known as climate strikes last year.</p><p>The establishment of the "Charter for Climate Neutrality and Economic Strength" may indeed be a response to some of their demands. Altmaier's announcement also enshrines the EU goal of complete climate neutrality by 2050, with the application of annual goals in Germany. But prominent London-based think tank Energy Transmissions Commission <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/net-zero-emissions-mission-possible-by-2050-says-industrial-think-tank/a-54946076" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">described the goal as "mission impossible" on Wednesday</a>.</p>
<div id="b8f89" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ee9d985b6f927ce8f72d98cd509f2889"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1306543640886599680" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">We owe it to our children and grandchildren to take action now.
Cutting net EU greenhouse gas emissions by 55% com… https://t.co/qkpOUTxQHX</div> — European Commission 🇪🇺 (@European Commission 🇪🇺)<a href="https://twitter.com/EU_Commission/statuses/1306543640886599680">1600339253.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Other key points include subsidies for German businesses which use <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/">renewable energy</a> sources and the introduction of a scoreboard to rate companies for how efficiently they cut emissions.</p><p>But Altmaier's most radical announcement — at least politically — was his admission that he has made mistakes by not acting faster and that the goals can only be achieved if political parties work together.</p><p>"We have failed to adequately explain our policy. A lot could have happened quicker and faster," the close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel said.</p>
<h3>Importance of the Economic Model</h3><p>Schreuers believes that getting certain key industries to work with the climate charter will be crucial to the success of Altmaier's plan.</p><p>"If we don't manage to get certain industries on board — automobile manufacturing and steel for example — then it simply won't work," she explained.</p><p>"Big industry needs to stay in the country, and it needs to become competitive and green."</p><p>Germany's reliance on high-emitting industries has long cast a shadow on its green reforms. Altmaier hopes that a reform of CO2 pricing can help improve this.</p><p>"The only concrete measure in his plan is the idea of reforming CO2 pricing," said Antje von Broock of environmental organization Friends of the Earth Germany. "And he could have done that in September 2019."</p><p>That was when Germany announced its climate package ahead of the EU's Green New Deal.</p><p>In the new green Europe, which von der Leyen wants to see as the world's first climate-neutral continent, Germany can only keep up if it protects big industry, Schreuers believes.</p>
<h3>Is Germany a World Leader for Climate Protection?</h3><p>But Schreuers also thinks that Germany's role as a world leader in this issue may have been overstated in the last few years.</p><p>"Although Germany has been seen as a leader in climate protection policy, you could argue that Germany has really been crucial in putting on the brakes," Schreuers says. "But now Germany is waking up to the reality that other parts of the world are already streets ahead of them."</p><p>China, Japan and the U.S. state of California are all in the process of developing ambitious renewable energy systems that could leave the EU, and Germany with it, trailing behind.</p><p>Schreuers also believes that this November's U.S. presidential election will be a game-changer for the EU and Germany's climate goals.</p><p>"Right now, it looks like [Democratic presidential candidate Joe] Biden will win — and he wants 100% carbon-free electricity in the U.S. by 2035," Schreuers explains. "That will change the global playing field hugely."</p>
<h3>An Early Start to the Election Campaign?</h3><p>The timing of Altmaier's announcement may also be significant, with Germany heading to the polls in less than a year.</p><p>Von Broock of Friends of the Earth Germany largely dismisses the 20-point plan as electioneering. "Peter Altmaier wants to use climate protection policy to increase his profile in the pre-election campaign."</p><p>There is all to play for in 2021 for Altmaier's center-right Christian Democrats (CDU), as the enduringly popular Chancellor Angela Merkel will step down. The CDU is currently in coalition with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), but the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germany-greens-projected-to-gain-in-key-local-election/a-54913456" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Green party is catching up with the SPD.</a> Many national polls put the Greens as Germany's second most popular party.</p><p>"All of this means the CDU are setting themselves up for a new coalition partner — possibly the Greens," said Schreuers. The climate charter may be a concession toward this possible future pact.</p><p>Altmaier was insistent that the new charter will "cross party lines" and that the CDU is ready to work together with other parties.</p><p>For both academic Schreuers and activist von Broock, the proof will be in the achievement of the goals.</p><p>"What we need are serious social efforts, led by politicians who courageously initiate the necessary ecological and social transformation," says von Broock. "It is therefore fundamentally to be welcomed that Minister Altmaier wants to bring the economy on board. However, the 20 points of his climate charter do not go far enough."</p><p>"Germany needs to be a player in the next stage of global climate protection," Professor Schreuers explains. "If you are a player, you have more power to shape the narrative. And Germany needs to shape the narrative if it wants to remain an economic powerhouse."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-new-climate-charter-what-will-it-change/a-54957054?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" target="_blank">DW</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Monarch Butterflies’ Spectacular Migration Is at Risk – An Ambitious Plan Aims to Save It
5h
Animals
Monarch butterflies in Mexico's Oyamel forest in Michoacan, Mexico after migrating from Canada. Luis Acosta / AFP / Getty Images
By D. André Green II
One of nature's epic events is underway: Monarch butterflies' fall migration. Departing from all across the United States and Canada, the butterflies travel up to 2,500 miles to cluster at the same locations in Mexico or along the Pacific Coast where their great-grandparents spent the previous winter.
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<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/d-andre-green-ii-798108" target="_blank">D. André Green II</a> is an </em>Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan.<em><br/>
</em>
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<em>Disclosure statement: </em><em>D. André Green II receives funding from the National Geographic Society.</em>
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<em><span></span>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/monarch-butterflies-spectacular-migration-is-at-risk-an-ambitious-new-plan-aims-to-help-save-it-136479" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
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<p>Human activities have an outsized impact on monarchs' ability to migrate yearly to these specific sites. Development, agriculture and logging have reduced monarch habitat. Climate change, drought and pesticide use also reduce the number of butterflies that complete the journey.</p><p>Since 1993, the area of forest covered by monarchs at their overwintering sites in Mexico has fallen from a peak of 45 acres in 1996-1997 to <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/number-of-monarch-butterflies-wintering-in-mexico-down-by-more-than-half/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">as low as 1.66 acres</a> in the winter of 2013-2014. A 2016 study warned that monarchs were dangerously close to a predicted "<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep23265" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">point of no return</a>." The 2019 count of monarchs in California was the lowest ever recorded for that group.</p><p>What was largely a bottom-up, citizen-powered effort to save the struggling monarch butterfly migration has shifted toward a top-down conversation between the federal government, private industry and large-tract landowners. As a <a href="https://greendeilab.com/" target="_blank">biologist studying monarchs</a> to understand the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15178" target="_blank">molecular and genetic aspects of migration</a>, I believe this experiment has high stakes for monarchs and other imperiled species.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQyNDIxNC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1Mjk4NDY0MH0.ye1oi-21CqYxK1BS7nBwiii6g_9dQIuHZfR2sT-PL5Y/img.png?width=980" id="5cab0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cafebfff5a437115e805a31f67002fed" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Millions of People Care About Monarchs
<p>I will never forget the sights and sounds the first time I visited monarchs' overwintering sites in Mexico. Our guide pointed in the distance to what looked like hanging branches covered with dead leaves. But then I saw the leaves flash orange every so often, revealing what were actually thousands of tightly packed butterflies. The monarchs made their most striking sounds in the Sun, when they burst from the trees in massive fluttering plumes or landed on the ground in the tussle of mating.</p><p>Decades of educational outreach by teachers, researchers and hobbyists has cultivated a generation of monarch admirers who want to help preserve this phenomenon. This global network has helped restore not only monarchs' summer breeding habitat by planting milkweed, but also general pollinator habitat by planting nectaring flowers across North America.</p><p>Scientists have calculated that restoring the monarch population to a stable level of about 120 million butterflies will require <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.12198" target="_blank">planting 1.6 billion new milkweed stems</a>. And they need them fast. This is too large a target to achieve through grassroots efforts alone. A <a href="https://www.fws.gov/savethemonarch/CCAA.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">new plan</a>, announced in the spring of 2020, is designed to help fill the gap.</p>Pros and Cons of Regulation
<p>The top-down strategy for saving monarchs gained energy in 2014, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service <a href="https://www.fws.gov/southeast/pdf/petition/monarch.pdf" target="_blank">proposed</a> listing them as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. A decision is expected in December 2020.</p><p>Listing a species as endangered or threatened <a href="https://www.fws.gov/endangered/esa-library/pdf/listing.pdf" target="_blank">triggers restrictions</a> on "taking" (hunting, collecting or killing), transporting or selling it, and on activities that negatively affect its habitat. Listing monarchs would impose restrictions on landowners in areas where monarchs are found, over vast swaths of land in the U.S.</p><p>In my opinion, this is not a reason to avoid a listing. However, a "threatened" listing might inadvertently threaten one of the best conservation tools that we have: public education.</p><p>It would severely restrict common practices, such as rearing monarchs in classrooms and back yards, as well as scientific research. Anyone who wants to take monarchs and milkweed for these purposes would have to apply for special permits. But these efforts have had a multigenerational educational impact, and they should be protected. Few public campaigns have been more successful at raising awareness of conservation issues.</p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="91165203d4ec0efc30e4632a00fdf57d"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KilPRvjbMrA?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
The Rescue Attempt
<p>To preempt the need for this kind of regulation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved a <a href="https://www.fws.gov/savethemonarch/pdfs/Monarch%20CCAA-CCA%20Public%20Comment%20Documents/Monarch-Nationwide_CCAA-CCA_Draft.pdf" target="_blank">Nationwide Candidate Conservation Agreement for Monarch Butterflies</a>. Under this plan, "rights-of-way" landowners – energy and transportation companies and private owners – commit to restoring and creating millions of acres of pollinator habitat that have been decimated by land development and herbicide use in the past half-century.</p><p>The agreement was spearheaded by the <a href="http://rightofway.erc.uic.edu/" target="_blank">Rights-of-Way Habitat Working Group</a>, a collaboration between the University of Illinois Chicago's <a href="https://erc.uic.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Energy Resources Center</a>, the Fish and Wildlife Service and over 40 organizations from the energy and transportation sectors. These sectors control "rights-of-way" corridors such as lands near power lines, oil pipelines, railroad tracks and interstates, all valuable to monarch habitat restoration.</p><p>Under the plan, partners voluntarily agree to commit a percentage of their land to host protected monarch habitat. In exchange, general operations on their land that might directly harm monarchs or destroy milkweed will not be subject to the enhanced regulation of the Endangered Species Act – protection that would last for 25 years if monarchs are listed as threatened. The agreement is expected to create up to 2.3 million acres of new protected habitat, which ideally would avoid the need for a "threatened" listing.</p><div id="5756a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="60ebca608cf0dade6850bc4cbeb28045"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1168708823814742016" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Massive #monarch roosts all over the farm, can't move around without setting off a storm. #Minnesota #native #plants https://t.co/XStLDeuouK</div> — Dustin Demmer (@Dustin Demmer)<a href="https://twitter.com/DustinDemmer/statuses/1168708823814742016">1567476871.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Many questions remain. Scientists are still learning about factors that cause monarch population decline, so it is likely that land management goals will need to change over the course of the agreement, and partner organizations will have to adjust to those changes.</p><p>Oversight of the plan will fall primarily to the University of Illinois, and ultimately to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. But it's not clear whether they will have the resources they need. And without effective oversight, the plan could allow parties to carry out destructive land management practices that would otherwise be barred under an Endangered Species Act listing.</p>
A Model for Collaboration
<p>This agreement could be one of the few specific interventions that is big enough to allow researchers to quantify its impact on the size of the monarch population. Even if the agreement produces only 20% of its 2.3 million acre goal, this would still yield nearly half a million acres of new protected habitat. This would provide a powerful test of the role of declining breeding and nectaring habitat compared to other challenges to monarchs, such as climate change or pollution.</p><p>Scientists hope that data from this agreement will be made publicly available, like projects in the <a href="https://www.fws.gov/savethemonarch/MCD.html" target="_blank">Monarch Conservation Database</a>, which has tracked smaller on-the-ground conservation efforts since 2014. With this information we can continue to develop powerful new models with better accuracy for determining how different habitat factors, such as the number of milkweed stems or nectaring flowers on a landscape scale, affect the monarch population.</p><p>North America's monarch butterfly migration is one of the most awe-inspiring feats in the natural world. If this rescue plan succeeds, it could become a model for bridging different interests to achieve a common conservation goal.</p>
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The 30th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony on Sept. 17 introduced ten new Ig Nobel Prize winners, each intended to make people "laugh then think." Improbable Research / YouTube
The annual Ig Nobel prizes were awarded Thursday by the science humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research for scientific experiments that seem somewhat absurd, but are also thought-provoking. This was the 30th year the awards have been presented, but the first time they were not presented at Harvard University. Instead, they were delivered in a 75-minute pre-recorded ceremony.
<p>The awards "honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people's interest in science, medicine, and technology," the Annals of Improbable Research <a href="https://www.improbable.com/ig-about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">explains</a>.</p><p>This year's <a href="https://www.improbable.com/ig-about/winners/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">winners</a> included an experiment on alligators that changed their sounds by making them breathe helium. The researchers behind that experiment were trying to show that reptiles, like mammals and birds, can use their voice to show how big they are, according to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-54197198" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">BBC</a>.</p><p>To figure that one out, the researchers dropped an alligator in a tank and then filled it with oxygen or a mixture of oxygen and helium. The experimenters then registered the different vocal waves. Sure enough, the test confirmed that an animal's body size correlates to the sounds it makes.</p><p>"The resonances in your vocal tract sound lower overall if you're larger because it's a larger space in which the air can vibrate," said Stephan Reber, one of the researchers, to the BBC. "We didn't know if reptiles actually had resonances. Frogs, amphibians, don't for example. So we needed a proof of concept that crocodilians actually have resonances."</p>
<p>Another experiment that won an Ig Nobel looked at if it was possible to make a knife from human excrement. Metin Eren, an archaeologist at Kent State University, was inspired by the story on an Inuit who made a knife from his own stool. Eren used human feces frozen to 50-degrees below zero Celsius and carved it into a knife, according to <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/poop-knives-arachnophobic-entomologists-win-2020-ig-nobel-awards" target="_blank">PBS</a>. Eren then tried the knife on a piece of meat.</p><p>"The poop knives failed miserably," he said, as PBS reported. "There's not a lot of basis empirically for this fantastic story. The point of this was to show that evidence and fact checking are vital."</p>
<p>In another experiment that earned an Ig Nobel, researchers from Melbourne's Swinburne University placed earthworms on a subwoofer to observe how vibrations affected their movement.</p><p>"It was a pure 'what if' moment," said Ivan Maksymov, a physicist who conducted the experiment, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/sep/18/melbourne-academics-win-ig-nobel-prize-for-research-showing-worms-vibrate-like-water" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported. "We didn't go into this with any particular question or scientific problem to solve.</p><p>"I decided to vibrate the speaker, so I played some instrumental beeping noises through. And they started to move like water."</p><p>The research was published in <em><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-65295-4#:~:text=Here%2C%20we%20test%20four%20common,and%20a%20liquid%2Dfilled%20body" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Scientific Reports.</a></em></p><p>Other winning experiments included an attempt to link thicker eyebrows with narcissism, according to The Guardian, and an examination of why entomologists are scared of spiders, as PBS reported.</p>
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