'Huge Victory' for Grassroots Climate Campaigners as NY Lawmakers Reach Deal on Sweeping Climate Legislation
Members of the NY Renews coalition gathered before New York lawmakers reached a deal on the Climate and Communities Protection Act. NYRenews / Twitter
By Julia Conley
Grassroots climate campaigners in New York applauded on Monday after state lawmakers reached a deal on sweeping climate legislation, paving the way for the passage of what could be some of the country's most ambitious environmental reforms.
The legislature reached an agreement just before midnight Sunday on the Climate and Communities Protection Act (CCPA), one of several climate bills state lawmakers have pushed in recent months since progressives gained momentum in their push for a federal Green New Deal.
New York's CCPA — like those passed in recent months in California, Hawaii, New Mexico, Nevada and Washington — offers a path forward for the implementation of Green New Deal-like laws at the state level, proponents say.
"This is going to be a huge victory for the environmental justice movement in New York," author Naomi Klein tweeted, adding that some far-reaching parts of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal grew out of state legislation.
Wow! This is going to be a huge victory for the environmental justice movement in NY. Almost there!! #PassTheCCPA (Fun historical note: some of the best parts of FDR's New Deal, like the Civilian Conservation Corp, were based on programs that began in NY State) #GreenNewDeal https://t.co/PzHED7IkvQ
— Naomi Klein (@NaomiAKlein) June 17, 2019
New York's CCPA calls for zero fossil fuel emissions from utilities by 2040. By 2050, 85 percent of all energy in the state will be from renewable sources under the legislation, with the remaining 15 percent being off-set or captured.
"By and large, this is a very big victory," Arielle Swernoff of New York Renews, a coalition that pushed to pass the bill, told the Huffington Post. The group counts more than 100 groups in its membership, including national groups like 350.org and Friends of the Earth as well as local organizations like Saratoga Unites and Syracuse United Neighbors.
🚨 @NYSenate @NYSA_Majority @NYGovCuomo reached agreement to #PassTheCCPA! 🚨 THANK YOU @SteveEngles @ToddKaminsky!
— NY Renews (@NYRenews) June 17, 2019
What we know:
✅ Sets most ambitious standards to cut emissions in US
✅ Invests 35%-40% of climate $ in frontline communities
✅ Supports workers in transition pic.twitter.com/b16FFzcvsM
The bill emphasizes the climate crisis's impact on low-income and marginalized communities, mandating that 35 percent of energy funding be directed to such towns and cities.
"By passing the CCPA with all its equity provisions intact, New York State can both address the climate crisis and build a more equitable economy," Assemblywoman Latrice Walker wrote at City Limits.
"Help is on the way," tweeted state Sen. Todd Kaminsky, who sponsored the legislation. "While D.C. sleeps through a crisis, New York steps up."
Dear 🌎: Help is on the way. Proud to announce a deal on climate bill #CCPA, with nation-leading carbon reductions in all sectors of economy. While DC sleeps through a crisis, NY steps up. @NYRenews @nylcv @nature_ny @NRDC @Earthjustice @greenwatchdogNY @citizensenviro @Surfrider https://t.co/c39Pehg9dh
— Todd Kaminsky (@toddkaminsky) June 17, 2019
Members of New York Renews gathered on Monday in Albany, where lawmakers are expected to pass the legislation on Wednesday.
"We believe that we will win!" the group chanted.
We Believe That We Will Win!
— NY Renews (@NYRenews) June 17, 2019
Get ready for the vote folks! pic.twitter.com/iqbmHtRv2n
Peter Iwanowicz, executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York, gave credit to grassroots organizers for pressuring their state representatives to reach a deal on and pass the CCPA.
"Thank you to the frontlines for bringing this into Albany," Iwanowicz told the group gathered in the state capital. "Insiders couldn't do this by ourselves."
"Thank you to the frontlines for bringing this into Albany. Insiders couldn't do this by ourselves. This is the biggest, the boldest, the baddest climate policy! We will take this to Washingtom and the world." Peter Iwanowitcz of @greenwatchdogNY. We WILL #PassTheCCPA! @NYRenews pic.twitter.com/iQ7zEGZtGi
— Adrien Salazar (@adrien4ej) June 17, 2019
Beyond the benefits the CCPA has in store for New Yorkers, one climate campaigner wrote on social media, the expected passage of the bill after pressure from the NY Renews coalition bodes well for a potential federal Green New Deal in the future.
"What a massive win for the climate justice movement and the frontline communities that have fought so hard for this!" wrote Daniel Aldana Cohen, a professor at University of Pennsylvania. "If flipping a bunch of New York State senate seats and building fighting coalitions could achieve all this in a couple years — just imagine what millions of organized people in the streets and a federal Green New Deal could do."
This is really amazing. Also remember the giant tenants win. If flipping a bunch of NY State senate seats and building fighting coalitions could achieve all this in a couple years—just imagine what millions of organized ppl in the streets and a federal GND could do
— Daniel Aldana Cohen (@aldatweets) June 17, 2019
Reposted with permission from our media associate Common Dreams.
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The Sunrise Movement launched its "Good Jobs for All" campaign that guarantees a good job to anyone who wants one and puts the country on a path toward a Green New Deal. Image Source / Getty Images
By Kenny Stancil
Amid the ongoing climate emergency and the devastating coronavirus pandemic that has resulted in more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. alone as well as an economic meltdown that has left millions of people unemployed, the Sunrise Movement on Thursday launched its "Good Jobs for All" campaign to demand that lawmakers pursue a robust recovery that guarantees a good job to anyone who wants one and puts the country on a path toward a Green New Deal.
<p>"It will take millions of people to build a new energy grid, care for older folks, teach little kids, restore parks and buildings that have fallen into disrepair, and do the work of building happy, healthy communities," the climate justice organization <a href="https://www.sunrisemovement.org/campaign/good-jobs-for-all/" target="_blank">wrote</a> on its campaign website. "This year, we can put millions of people back to work in good paying jobs building a sustainable, just, and people-centered economy."</p><p>"In the richest country in the world, no one should go without a good job," Varshini Prakash, executive director of the Sunrise Movement, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2021/03/05/sunrise-movement-launches-good-jobs-all-campaign-demands-biden-and-congress" target="_blank">said</a> to thousands of people across the country who attended Thursday's online launch event via livestream or at one of 600 virtual watch parties. "For years, our movement has been demanding a Green New Deal that fulfills Franklin Delano Roosevelt's promise and Coretta Scott King's dream through guaranteed good jobs and a better society."</p><p>"This campaign," Prakash added, "will galvanize and grow our movement around this critical component of the Green New Deal as we recover from Covid-19 and the economic recession."</p>
<div id="c7fe3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5664692fdfd187db01eff5ac2787c564"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1367650177436311562" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">We’re coming together to fight for each other and guarantee #GoodJobsForAll Join us: https://t.co/MoJhmlzoaS https://t.co/IAPa8DeeLR</div> — Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@Sunrise Movement 🌅)<a href="https://twitter.com/sunrisemvmt/statuses/1367650177436311562">1614908186.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>During the campaign launch, Sunrise—joined by Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Sara Nelson, president of the the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO—introduced their <a href="https://www.sunrisemovement.org/campaign/good-jobs-for-all/" target="_blank">Good Jobs for All Pledge</a>, which calls on President Joe Biden and members of Congress to immediately enact economic recovery legislation that meets the scale of the overlapping crises society is facing and paves the way for a <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/07/major-party-backing-ocasio-cortez-and-markey-unveil-green-new-deal-outlining-wwii" target="_blank">Green New Deal </a>that puts millions of people to work to fight against catastrophic climate change.</p><p>Given the current convergence of crises—public health, economic inequality, racial injustice, and "a climate crisis that looms over it all"—the Good Jobs for All Pledge stresses that "with so much work to do building a better society that works for all of us, there's no reason anyone in the richest country in the history of the world should be unemployed, underemployed, or working a job that isn't in the public interest."</p><p>Pressley, a Green New Deal co-sponsor, recently introduced the <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/02/18/demanding-dignified-work-and-living-wage-legal-rights-ayanna-pressley-unveils-jobs" target="_blank">Federal Job Guarantee Resolution</a>, which seeks to make "meaningful, dignified work" at a livable wage an enforceable legal right.</p><p>Becoming the first signatory of the Good Jobs For All Pledge, the Massachusetts Democrat <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2021/03/05/sunrise-movement-launches-good-jobs-all-campaign-demands-biden-and-congress" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said </a>Thursday that "establishing the legal right to a good job for every person will help address the current employment crisis, create the foundation for an equitable economic recovery, and ensure that we are able to meet the pressing challenges facing our communities."</p>
<p>"I'm excited to work alongside the Sunrise Movement—as well as my colleagues, advocates, and activists across the country—to advance bold employment policies that ensure every person has access to a good job that pays a living wage, and that we put people to work addressing urgent priorities, like the climate crisis," said Pressley, who is expected to soon be joined by other prominent progressive lawmakers.</p><p>Signatories to the Good Jobs for All Pledge promise to do everything in their power—including <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/02/15/after-trump-acquittal-gop-sunrise-movement-says-time-now-abolish-filibuster" target="_blank">abolishing</a> the Senate's anti-democratic filibuster rule that obstructs the will of the majority—to "champion economic recovery legislation that invests $10 trillion to create at least 15 million good jobs sustained over the next decade in clean energy, transportation, housing, the care economy, public services, and regenerative agriculture, with the goal of ultimately guaranteeing full employment."</p><p>In addition, backers of the pledge vow to:</p><ul><li>Support "Indigenous sovereignty and strong labor, equity, immigration, and environmental justice standards," as outlined in the<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/09/10/lawmakers-progressive-coalition-unveil-framework-create-thriving-fair-and-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> THRIVE Agenda</a>, a proposal for a just and sustainable recovery from the coronavirus crisis unveiled in September 2020 by a progressive coalition of unions, advocacy groups, and Democratic lawmakers;</li><li>Create or improve "public employment programs to directly put Americans to work in serving the public interest, including the robust funding of a Civilian Climate Corps and a Public Health Jobs Corps";</li><li>Strengthen and protect the nation's "workforce, unions, and workers' rights through the provisions in the <a href="https://edlabor.house.gov/media/press-releases/house-and-senate-democrats-unveil-landmark-legislation-to-protect-workers-right-to-organize" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act</a>," a broad piece of legislation introduced in May 2019 that would "negate four decades worth of anti-labor barriers that right-wing forces have put in place,"<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/09/07/21st-century-priority-pro-act-will-revive-labor-movement-and-re-build-middle-class" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> according to </a>Alan Minsky, executive director of Progressive Democrats of America;</li><li>Direct "at least 50% of investment funds to communities on the frontlines of our economic, environmental, and public health crises"; and</li><li>Shift "every sector of the economy to 100% clean, renewable energy as fast as possible over the next decade."</li></ul>
<p>As Sunrise <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2021/03/05/sunrise-movement-launches-good-jobs-all-campaign-demands-biden-and-congress" target="_blank">noted</a> in a statement released Friday, "The campaign comes 43 days into the administration, as time ticks down on the Democrats' now or never moment to stop the worst effects of the climate catastrophe and avoid the fatal political mistakes of the early Obama years: not acting at the full scale of the economic crisis, and falling short in delivering on promises made."</p><p>Emphasizing that "the clock is ticking," Prakash said that "we expect Biden and Congress to deliver on a bold economic recovery in its first 100 days—by April 30th."</p><p>"We're going to put on the pressure to make sure that they do," she added. "And if they don't, well then they're really gonna hear from us—and there'll be hell to pay. You've got 57 days to deliver."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/03/05/good-jobs-all-sunrise-movement-launches-campaign-fight-climate-crisis-work-guarantee" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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The study identified chinook salmon as among the species of high concern that are frequently ingesting plastic.
bpperry / Getty Images
bpperry / Getty Images
By Tara Lohan
Each year the amount of plastic swirling in ocean gyres and surfing the tide toward coastal beaches seems to increase. So too does the amount of plastic particles being consumed by fish — including species that help feed billions of people around the world.
<p>A new <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.15533" target="_blank">study</a> published in the journal <em>Global Change Biology</em> revealed that the rate of plastic consumption by marine fish has doubled in the last decade and is increasing by more than 2% a year.</p><p>The study also revealed new information about what species are most affected and where the risks are greatest.</p><p>The researchers did a global analysis of mounting studies of plastic pollution in the ocean and found data on plastic ingestion for 555 species of marine and estuarine fish. Their results showed that 386 fish species — two-thirds of all species — had ingested plastic. And of those, 210 were species that are commercially fished.</p><p>Not surprisingly, places with an abundance of plastic in surface waters, such as East Asia, led to a higher likelihood of plastic ingestion by fish.</p><p>But fish type and behavior, researchers found, also plays a role. Active predators — those at the top of the food chain, like members of the Sphyrnidae family, which includes hammerhead and bonnethead sharks — ingested the most plastic. Grazers and filter‐feeders consumed the least.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTc5NTg4OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNzQ1NjM3OX0.6wmtj00uieZfjuuejjslI_qHBsxGXswXTlmwxllwPrw/img.jpg?width=980" id="d750b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f706f6af320132b0d74bcb77d2cf69a5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="799" data-height="533" />
Blue shark at Cape Point, South Africa, 2016. Steve Woods / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
<p>"Overall, the likelihood of plastic ingestion decreases with depth," the researchers found.</p><p>Although bioaccumulation of plastic and its associated chemicals can cause health problems, this isn't causing noticeable fish population problems — yet. The research revealed that the majority of the species they found to have ingested plastic remain abundant.</p><p>But at the same time, 35 species were listed as threatened or near threatened. Another 26 species are vulnerable to overfishing. The authors identified the blue shark, Atlantic bluefin tuna and chinook salmon as "species of high concern due to their threatened status, vulnerability to overfishing and frequent plastic ingestion."</p><p>Meanwhile the researchers found that three-quarters of commercially fished species ingested plastic, including ones common in recreational fisheries and aquaculture that "have the highest likelihood to be part of the supply chain." Common sole was found to be "most worrisome."</p>
<p>Even more troubling is that there's still a lot we don't know because some areas are better studied than others.</p><p>Some nearshore areas are among those where research is lacking. "Only four studies were conducted within the continental United States' Exclusive Economic Zone, despite more marine plastic originating from the United States than any other developed nation," the researchers wrote.</p><p>Oceanic gyres, those swirling eddies of plastic in the open ocean, are also a black hole when it comes to research. "We uncovered no studies from the Indian, South Atlantic or western North Pacific gyres though there is extensive knowledge of surface debris accumulation in these regions," they found. "Similarly, there was a paucity of data from high‐latitude seas and none from the Southern Ocean, even though the polar oceans are a sink for microplastic debris with new fisheries developing in these regions as ice retreats and climate changes."</p><p>By comparison, coastal waters — including estuaries — are well studied, as are the seas surrounding Europe. And they found a "recent flurry of studies" from East Asia.</p>
<p>Even with a growing amount of research, the scope and severity of the problem is likely still underestimated.</p><p>Filling in these knowledge gaps will be crucial to better understand the extent of the problem, but the researchers say we'll also need to study top predators more to learn how plastic bioaccumulates in the food chain and how these mobile predators may redistribute plastic across the ocean as they travel.</p><p>Little is known about how ingested plastic affects fish and marine ecosystems, and even less about how human health could be affected when plastic-eating fish end up on the dinner table.</p><p>"Current evidence for humans ingesting plastic directly from fish remains scant, but there is growing concern," the researchers wrote. "In particular, the continued aggregation and analysis of information on plastic ingestion by marine fish is vital as these data are inextricably linked to ecosystem and human health."</p>
<p><a href="https://therevelator.org/author/taralohan/" target="_blank"><em>Tara Lohan </em></a><em>is deputy editor of The Revelator and has worked for more than a decade as a digital editor and environmental journalist focused on the intersections of energy, water and climate. Her work has been published by The Nation, American Prospect, High Country News, Grist, Pacific Standard and others. She is the editor of two books on the global water crisis.</em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://therevelator.org/fish-eating-plastic" target="_blank">The Revelator</a>.</em></p>
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An Edith's Checkerspot butterfly in Los Padres National Forest in Southern California. Patricia Marroquin / Moment / Getty Images
Butterflies across the U.S. West are disappearing, and now researchers say the climate crisis is largely to blame.
<p>A new study published in <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6533/1042" target="_blank">Science</a> on Thursday looked at three different data sets that cover the last 40 years of butterfly populations across more than 70 locations in the Western U.S. They found that butterfly populations had fallen by 1.6 percent per year, and that this was linked to warmer weather during the fall.</p><p>"That so many of our butterflies are declining is very alarming," Dr. Tara Cornelisse, an entomologist and senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), said in <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/study-climate-change-contributing-to-widespread-butterfly-decline-across-western-united-states-2021-03-04/" target="_blank">response to the findings</a>. "These declines are a wake-up call that we need to dramatically reduce greenhouse gases to save these beautiful and beloved butterflies, as well as our very way of life."</p>
<p>In recent years, scientists have raised the alarm about a worldwide decline in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/insects" target="_self">insects</a>. A <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/insect-land-decrease-study-2645822562.html" target="_self">study published last spring</a> found that the number of land-based insects was falling by about nine percent per decade. However, it has been difficult to tease out the causes of this decline, since factors like land-use change, pesticide use and climate shifts may all contribute, <a href="https://earther.gizmodo.com/climate-change-is-killing-butterflies-in-the-american-w-1846408143" target="_blank">Gizmodo's Earther pointed out</a>.</p><p>To investigate the role of climate change, the researchers chose to focus on the Western U.S. because it has seen general warming and drying trends covering a wide variety of ecosystems and land uses. They looked at 450 species in 11 states, from Washington to California to New Mexico to Montana, and compared population data with temperature trends.</p>
<p>They found that butterfly populations actually increased with summer temperatures, probably because the warmth meant more nectar and larval bugs as food for butterflies and caterpillars. However, the warmer autumns caused their populations to fall again, likely because plants cannot survive the extended warmth and the population of predators increases. Because the declines occurred in a variety of ecosystems, including protected areas that are less impacted by pesticides, the researchers thought climate change was to blame.</p><p>"Out there, removed from those factors, we see a shifting climate as the main driver of declining butterfly numbers," University of Texas in Reno biologist and lead study author Matthew Forister told Earther in an email.</p>
<p>University of Connecticut ecologist David Wagner, who was not involved with the study, said it was notable because it included protected areas.</p><p>"[T]his is one of the first global cases of declines occurring in wildlands, away from densely populated human-dominated landscapes, and the rate of 1.6 percent is calamitous," he told <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/03/04/climate-change-butterflies/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p><p>Examples of species in decline include the iconic monarch butterfly, the common cabbage white butterfly and the vulnerable Edith's checkerspot. Forister told The Washington Post that both widespread and rare species were impacted.</p><p>The findings have important implications for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a>, because they show that simply protecting one habitat is not sufficient in the context of climate change.</p><p>"We need a multi-prong approach to conserve insects. This new study adds to the evidence that in addition to habitat protections and pesticide reform, that approach must include swift and bold climate change policy," CBD's Cornelisse said.</p>
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A wildfire burns in the Hollywood hills on July 19, 2016 in Hollywood, California. AaronP / Bauer-Griffin / GC Images
California faces another "critically dry year" according to state officials, and a destructive wildfire season looms on its horizon. But in a state that welcomes innovation, water efficacy approaches and drought management could replenish California, increasingly threatened by the climate's new extremes.
<p>The Sierra Nevada snowpack supplies the state with 30 percent of its water supply. But on Tuesday, California's Department of Water Resources recorded a snow depth of 56 inches and water content of 21 inches at Phillips Station – 61 percent of the average for March 2 and 54 percent of the average for April 1, when it's at its maximum, the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-02/california-snowpack-increases-a-drought-could-be-on-the-horizon" target="_blank">Los Angeles Times reported</a>.</p><p>The state's largest reservoirs – responsible for maintaining the state's water supply throughout the year – also experienced low levels this year, storing only about 38 percent and 68 percent of their capacity, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/03/california-snowpack-water-supply-shortage-conservation" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p>
<p>"With below-average precipitation across the state, California's reservoirs are starting to see the impacts of a second consecutive dry year," said Sean de Guzman, the department's chief of snow surveys and water supply forecasting, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/03/california-snowpack-water-supply-shortage-conservation" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>These effects are being felt across the state. During the city's wettest months of December, January and February, L.A. received just 2.44 inches of the expected 3.12 inches of rain, the Los Angeles Times reported. At the same time Northern California remains in one of the worst two-year rain deficient since the Gold Rush of 1849 – its precipitation at only 30 percent to 70 percent of a normal year, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/11/california-dry-weather-drought-wildfire-agriculture" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p>
<p>Three to five winter storms supply California's snowpack and reservoirs with water. But the state's dependency on these few winter storms makes it especially vulnerable when they occur less frequently, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/11/california-dry-weather-drought-wildfire-agriculture" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p><p>"In years where you miss out on one or two of those, you're probably going to struggle to get close to normal," John Abatzoglou, a climatology researcher at the University of California, Merced, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/11/california-dry-weather-drought-wildfire-agriculture" target="_blank">told The Guardian</a>, who added that the state is increasingly living in extremes – either experiencing abnormally heavy rain or no rain at all. "We're banking on a miracle March or awesome April to dig out of this hole... In all likelihood, we're going to end the water year with another dry year."</p><p>The dry winter not only invites a destructive wildfire season but comes with a heavy price tag for the state's agricultural industry. Between 2012-2016, for example, the state experienced a drought that cost $2.7 billion in losses for the industry, and more than 18,000 lost jobs, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/03/california-snowpack-water-supply-shortage-conservation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Guardian reported</a>. This drought also killed about 102 million forest trees.</p>
<p>"Our state's water future remains uncertain due to the variability in precipitation and changing climate," Guzman said, according to the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-02/california-snowpack-increases-a-drought-could-be-on-the-horizon" target="_blank">Los Angeles Times</a>. Now more than ever, new approaches to water efficacy are necessary. Fortunately, new ideas are plentiful in a state that is often celebrated for its sustainable policy.</p><p>One solution, for example, could include paying Californians to conserve water as a cost-effective way to reduce energy consumption, Sammy Roth, a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times wrote in the newsletter <a href="https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2021-03-04/want-to-save-energy-and-fight-climate-change-try-using-less-water-boiling-point" target="_blank">Boiling Point</a>.</p><p>Water and electricity go hand-in-hand in California. "Nearly one-fifth of electricity use in California goes to transporting and treating water. And nearly one-third of non-power plant natural gas use is water-related, primarily water heating," <a href="https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2021-03-04/want-to-save-energy-and-fight-climate-change-try-using-less-water-boiling-point" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Roth wrote</a>, mentioning the state's complex <a href="https://water.ca.gov/Programs/State-Water-Project" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">water projects</a> that include systems "of reservoirs, aqueducts, power plants and pumping plants extending more than 700 miles."</p>
<p>Based on <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abb9de/meta" target="_blank">research</a> that looked at what happened if the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power paid people to use less electricity rather than less water, the researchers concluded "that paying for water conservation can actually be a more cost-effective way to slash energy consumption than paying for energy conservation," Roth added.</p><p>In a drier, hotter and rapidly changing climate, that brings new <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather">weather extremes</a> to the state each year, water conservation is imperative for California and the nearly 40 million that call it home. "It's more critical than ever that Californians adopt sustainability, embrace new approaches and emerging technologies and work together to save water for a secure future," Guzman added, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/03/california-snowpack-water-supply-shortage-conservation" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p>
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Wisdom is seen with her chick in Feb. 2021 at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. Jon Brack / Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge / Flickr / CC 2.0
Wisdom the mōlī, or Laysan albatross, is the oldest wild bird known to science at the age of at least 70. She is also, as of February 1, a new mother.
<p>Wisdom hatched her latest chick on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial, home to the world's largest albatross colony where millions of birds return each year to nest in the same place and, usually, with the same partner.</p><p>"Each year that Wisdom returns, we learn more about how long seabirds can live and raise chicks," Dr. Beth Flint, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) biologist, said in a <a href="https://medium.com/usfwspacificislands/worlds-oldest-known-banded-wild-bird-hatches-chick-at-midway-atoll-2708a0b3f2c0" target="_blank">USFWS Pacific Islands post announcing the birth</a>. "Her return not only inspires bird lovers everywhere, but helps us better understand how we can protect these graceful seabirds and the habitat they need to survive into the future."</p>
<div id="dadb2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="aa2ad8cb566c9b4b6d2df2693669f6f9"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1357796504740761602" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">🚨Cute baby alert! Wisdom's chick has hatched!!! 🐣😍 Wisdom, a mōlī (Laysan albatross) and world’s oldest known, ban… https://t.co/Nco050ztBA</div> — USFWS Pacific Region (@USFWS Pacific Region)<a href="https://twitter.com/USFWSPacific/statuses/1357796504740761602">1612558888.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Laysan albatrosses typically live 12 to 40 years, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56281983" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">BBC News reported</a>. Wisdom, however, was first banded in 1956 by biologist Chandler Robbins, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/05/wisdom-the-albatross-the-worlds-oldest-known-wild-bird-has-another-chick-at-age-70" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. She has gone on to outlive him and likely her first mate. In that time, she has also hatched 30 to 36 chicks, according to USFWS. Since at least 2012, her mate has been a male albatross named Akeakamai.</p><p>"At least 70 years old, we believe Wisdom has had other mates," Flint said. "Though albatross mate for life, they may find new partners if necessary — for example if they outlive their first mate."</p><p>Wisdom is among the 70 precent of mōlī that nest on Midway Atoll, one of the oldest atoll-type islands in the world, located at the northern end of the Hawaiian island chain. In addition to mōlī, nearly 40 percent of kaʻupu (black-footed albatross) and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered</a> makalena (short-tailed albatross) breed there, along with more than 20 other bird species.</p><p>Albatrosses arrive on the atoll beginning in October. Their eggs hatch around January or February following a 65-day incubation period, and the baby birds begin to fly in June or July. Wisdom laid this year's egg in late November. The Midway gathering can be a family reunion of sorts. In 2018, she nested a few feet away from a chick she had in 2011.</p>
<p>Albatrosses hatch one egg at a time, but don't lay eggs every year.</p><p>"Because she only nests every two years, the international bird community looks forward to see if she's been able to come back and nest," Sean Dooley, BirdLife Australia's national public affairs manager, told The Guardian. "The odds are stacked against them so much, whenever it happens it's always a cause for celebration."<br></p><p>Albatrosses face several threats, Dooley said, including <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fishing" target="_self">fishing</a> practices that accidentally harm birds, such as using long lines. The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> poses another danger.</p><p>"The changes in water temperate and the changes in currents in water and winds means... the extent they have to fly to find food increases as their prey species seek out colder water — it's a big looming threat that sea birds are facing, albatross in particular," Dooley explained.</p>
<p>Feeding their chicks can also be dangerous. Male and female albatrosses share incubation and feeding duties, USFWS noted. To feed their young, the birds catch squid and fish eggs that are rich in fatty acids and regurgitate them into their chicks' mouths. However, sometimes the parents bring home <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics" target="_self">plastic</a> instead, the <a href="https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/seabirds/laysan-albatrosses-plastic-problem" target="_blank">Smithsonian reported</a>:</p><blockquote>Many birds accidentally eat plastic and other <a href="https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-news/ocean-trash-plaguing-our-sea" target="_blank">marine debris</a> floating in the ocean, mistaking it for food. But the problem is intensified in Laysan albatrosses because of the way they catch fish, squid and other seafood: by skimming the surface of the water with their beak. Along the way, they accidentally pick up a lot of floating plastic, which they then feed to their chicks. Adults can regurgitate plastic they've swallowed, but chicks are unable to, so it fills up their stomachs.</blockquote><p>Photographer Chris Jordan took <a href="http://www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/midway/#CF000313%2018x24" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">shocking photographs</a> of albatross chicks whose stomachs were full of plastic, and went on to make a <a href="https://www.albatrossthefilm.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">film about the birds</a>.</p><p>"There's something so archetypal about these legendary birds and seeing bright colors of ocean plastic against dead sterility is a powerful symbol for our human culture right now. We're in a state of emotional bankruptcy," Jordan told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/12/albatross-film-dead-chicks-plastic-saving-birds" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Guardian in 2018</a>.</p><p>It is hard to know exactly how much plastic impacts the birds. Lead poisoning poses another threat to Laysan albatross chicks on Midway, the Smithsonian reported, so it can be difficult to determine their cause of death. However, more than 97 percent of dead albatross chicks found on Midway in recent years had plastic in their stomachs, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/12/albatross-film-dead-chicks-plastic-saving-birds" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p>
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