Indigenous and Green Groups Fighting Pipeline Urge 2020 Democrats to Take 'NoKXL Pledge'
Opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines hold a rally at Lafayette Park next to the White House in Washington, DC, on Jan. 24, 2017. SAUL LOEB / AFP / Getty Images
By Jessica Corbett
Indigenous, environmental and landowner groups fighting to block the Keystone XL pipeline sent a letter Tuesday to the two dozen 2020 Democratic presidential primary candidates, urging them to take the "NoKXL pledge" and vow — if elected — to revoke the Trump administration's permit for the tar sands oil project.
Tell the Democratic candidates: Take the "NoKXL Pledge" to stop the #KeystoneXL pipeline: https://t.co/3hu3lQgrye #NoKXLpledge #NoKXL #NoDAPL #StopLine3 #HonorTheTreaties #WaterIsLife #ActOnClimate via @BoldNebraska @janekleeb pic.twitter.com/GPJ8nZsNKZ
— Bold Nebraska (@BoldNebraska) August 13, 2019
"There is no middle ground when it comes to protecting the land, water, and climate," Bold Nebraska founder Jane Kleeb said in a statement. "You either stand with family farmers, ranchers, Tribal Nations, and environmentalists — or you stand with fossil fuel corporations who are abusing eminent domain, and trampling on the treaty rights of Tribal Nations."
"Tribal Nations and communities are battling for the survival of our ecosystems and ways of life, and we need a president who will stand with us against Big Oil and the fossil fuel regime," said Dallas Goldtooth, a Keep It in the Ground campaigner for the Indigenous Environmental Network. "Signing the NOKXL pledge is a solid step in the right direction."
The three-point NoKXL pledge, featured on Bold Nebraska's website, states:
- If elected, I pledge to take executive action on Day One to stop any construction on the Keystone XL pipeline — no matter what — and revoke the existing presidential permits issued unilaterally by President Trump for the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, sending both projects back to relevant federal agencies to undergo legitimate environmental review and Tribal consultations.
- I pledge to direct all federal agencies (State Dept., FERC, Army Corps) to submit these two projects, as well as all new pipeline and energy infrastructure projects to a true climate test, and reject permits for any project that would exacerbate our climate crisis.
- I pledge to protect the property rights of farmers and ranchers from eminent domain abuse, and to honor the treaties the U.S. government has signed with sovereign Tribal Nations.
Natalie Mebane, associate director of U.S. Policy at 350 Action, called the pledge "a critical step in moving towards stopping all new fossil fuel projects and protecting communities already experiencing the devastation of fossil fuel disasters."
"To build systems that work for all of us, we must keep fossil fuels in the ground, prioritize Indigenous rights, workers, and frontline communities, and hold fossil fuel billionaires accountable for their destruction," Mebane added. "Together we've stopped the Keystone XL pipeline for over a decade. It's time all presidential candidates join us and commit to stopping KXL once and for all."
If constructed, the long-delayed pipeline would carry up to 830,000 barrels of crude oil daily more than 1,000 miles from the Alberta tar sands, across Montana and South Dakota, to Nebraska. In a move that critics decried as a "ridiculous attempt" to skirt the law to benefit a fossil fuel company, President Donald Trump issued an "unprecedented and unilateral" executive memorandum in March, granting TransCanada — now known as TC Energy — a permit for the project.
"Our next president needs to listen to the science that says we can't build new fossil fuel projects and fight climate change at the same time, not the polluters who say we don't have a choice," Greenpeace USA climate campaigner Charlie Jiang said Tuesday. "Reversing Trump's misguided Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipeline authorizations on day one sends a clear message to the fossil fuel executives that their days of power over the White House are over."
Other groups co-sponsoring the pledge are the Bold Alliance, Nebraska Easement Action Team, Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, Sunrise Movement, CREDO, Oil Change U.S., Friends of the Earth Action, Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, Climate Hawks Vote, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Progressive Democrats of America, NYC Grassroots Alliance, Earth Action, Bucks Environmental Network, Greenbelt Climate Action Network, Anthropocene Alliance, New York Climate Action Group, Coalition Against the Rockaway Pipeline, and Coalition Against the Pilgrim Pipeline.
How Do the #2020 Candidates Rate on #Climate Action? https://t.co/dHqa9a5wdK @DeSmogBlog @climateprogress
— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) March 30, 2019
Reposted with permission from our media associate Common Dreams.
Fridays for Future climate activists demonstrate in Bonn, Germany on Sept. 25, 2020. Roberto Pfeil / picture alliance via Getty Images
Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere hit a new record in 2019 and have continued climbing this year, despite lockdowns and other measures to curb the pandemic, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Monday, citing preliminary data.
<p>Levels of carbon dioxide, a product of burning fossil fuels that <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/are-international-pledges-bold-enough-to-stop-global-warming/a-41343653" target="_blank">contribute to global warming</a>, peaked at 410.5 parts per million in 2019, according to the WMO. The annual increase is larger than the previous year and surpasses the average over the last decade.</p><p>"Such a rate of increase has never been seen in the history of our records," WMO Secretary-General professor Petteri Taalas said, referring to increases since 2015 and urging for a "sustained flattening of the (emissions) curve."</p>
<h2>Lockdown Drops Just a 'Blip'</h2><p>The Geneva-based UN agency noted that shutdowns, border closures, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/to-fly-or-not-to-fly-the-environmental-cost-of-air-travel/a-42090155" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">flight groundings</a> and other restrictions had cut emissions of many pollutants and <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/our-addiction-to-growth-is-harming-the-climate/a-41429203" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.</a></p><p>As pandemic measures peaked earlier this year, daily CO2 output dropped 17% below last year's mean level, preliminary results of the WMO's main annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin found.</p><p>But the WMO warned against complacency and said the global plunge in industrial activities due to the pandemic had <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/will-it-soon-be-too-late-to-save-the-climate/a-49889771" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">not restricted record concentrations of the greenhouse gases</a> that are trapping heat in the atmosphere, increasing temperatures, triggering sea levels to rise and prompting extreme weather.</p><p>"The lockdown-related fall in emissions is just a tiny blip on the long-term graph," WMO chief Petteri Taalas said.</p>
<p>The annual impact was expected to be a drop of between 4.2% and 7.5%. But according to the WMO, this will not cause concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere to decrease and warned the impact on concentrations was "no bigger than the normal year to year fluctuations."</p><p>Worldwide data is not yet available for 2020 but the trend of surging concentrations appears to be intact, the group said, citing initial readings from its Tasmania and Hawaii stations.</p>
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<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/un-greenhouse-gas-levels-hit-record-high-despite-lockdowns/a-55698828" target="_blank">DW</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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The Argentine black-and-white tegu is an invasive species that can reach four-feet long. Mark Newman / Getty Images
These black-and-white lizards could be the punchline of a joke, except the situation is no laughing matter.
<p>That's because the Argentine black-and-white tegu is an <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/invasive-species" target="_self">invasive species</a> of dog-sized lizards that scientists worry could pose a threat to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a> across the Southeast.</p><p>The tegus first came to the region as escaped or released pets and began to spread in South Florida more than a decade ago, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/11/tegu-lizards-invasive-spreading-southeast-united-states/" target="_blank">National Geographic reported</a>. But they are now reaching other states in the region and have been spotted in Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, Louisiana and Alabama.</p><p>"[T]he entire southeast portion of the United States is at risk," U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) biologist Amy Yackel Adams told National Geographic. "Much of this area has a climate that is suitable for tegus."</p>
<p>For scientists, the tegus' eating habits are the most concerning aspect as they spread. The lizards, which are native to South America and up to four-feet long, consume everything from eggs and small birds to low-growing fruit. In Venezuela, they are nicknamed <em>lobo pollero,</em> or "the chicken wolf," for their habit of stealing eggs from chicken coops. In the U.S., they could pose an additional hazard to the eggs of threatened or endangered species like the Eastern indigo snake.</p><p>Protecting native <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a> is a major concern in Georgia, where the tegus have been spotted mostly in Tattnall and Toombs counties, <a href="https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/giant-tegu-lizards-are-moving-into-georgia-and-theyre-not-welcome" target="_blank">Discover reported</a>.</p><p>"They are very efficient predators of our native fauna that don't recognize them as predators," Georgia Southern University biology professor Lance McBrayer told Discover.</p>
<p>Of special concern are ground-nesting birds such as quails and the gopher tortoise, which is the Georgia state reptile, <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-four-foot-lizards-will-eat-anything-and-theyre-invading-southeastern-us-180976350/" target="_blank">Smithsonian Magazine reported</a>.</p><p>However, the tegus' egg-stealing ways also make them easier to trap, according to Discover. Seven were captured in Georgia in 2019 and six were captured this year. Those numbers are large enough that McBrayer thinks the lizards are likely breeding in the wild.</p><p>"We suspect that they are breeding, but we have not captured a juvenile," he told Discover. "So, we can't say with absolute certainty that there are baby tegus running around."</p>
<p>McBrayer and Yackel Adams told Discover that the goal is to remove the lizards from Georgia before they can establish a population.</p><p>"We're at that early invasion," Yackel Adams told Discover. "It's the best time to deal with it."</p><p>Meanwhile, state officials are also working to stop the tegus from spreading in South Carolina, where they have been spotted at least nine times since August, <a href="https://abcnews4.com/news/local/eight-more-non-native-black-and-white-tegus-spotted-in-south-carolina" target="_blank">WCIV reported in September</a>.</p>
<p>"The number and distribution of black and white tegu reports in just a few weeks is concerning. Documented sightings come from as far north as Greenville County and as far south as Berkeley County," State Herpetologist Andrew Grosse told WCIV. </p><p>"The individuals removed measured between two and three feet long and consisted of both females and males. Necropsies show the tegus have all been scavenging native plants and animals, including toads, various insects and muscadines. This indicates these individuals are wild, free roaming and foraging opportunistically. It is important that this species does not establish in our state."</p>The climate is a key reason why tegus stand a good chance of spreading throughout the Southeast, since their native region is roughly the same latitude, McBrayer told Discover. Their range could grow even further as the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis<br></a>expands tropical and subtropical conditions to the north, National Geographic reported.
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Smoke covers the skies over downtown Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 9, 2020. Diego Diaz / Icon Sportswire
By Isabella Garcia
September in Portland, Oregon, usually brings a slight chill to the air and an orange tinge to the leaves. This year, it brought smoke so thick it burned your throat and made your eyes strain to see more than 20 feet in front of you.
<p><br/></p>
<p>As historic wildfires burned more than 1 million acres and displaced more than 40,000 people in Oregon, photos of the red haze cloaking the Pacific Northwest were spotlighted on national newscasts and ogled on social media. Portland's air quality was the worst in the world for several days, peaking at <a href="https://aqicn.org/city/usa/oregon/portland/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">an Air Quality Index </a>of 486 on Sept. 13. In comparison, the <a href="https://aqicn.org/city/beijing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mean AQI in September in Beijing</a>, known for its smoggy skies, was 77. Just a year before, in September 2019, Portland enjoyed an average AQI more typical for the city: 22.</p><p>The hazardous air of the 2020 fires brought a new awareness of air quality issues in areas that don't normally have to think about them. It prompted fresh conversations about climate change, too: A <a href="https://multco.us/air-quality-public-health-problem/news/wildfire-pollution-obliterates-portland-bad-air-records-and" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Multnomah County news release</a> called the wildfires a "full-on disaster siren that climate change is fully here."</p><p>But when the rain finally came on Sept. 19 and cleared the air, Portlanders rejoiced in the ability to breathe deeply again. The climate conversation and talk of air quality slowly but surely fell out of the news cycle, replaced with the election and the pandemic.</p><p>But what about the communities whose air is filled with dangerous emissions every day without the drama of an apocalyptic glow? What about the people who don't get the reprieve of a breath of fresh air? Poor air quality can be seen in metro areas across the U.S., but the distribution of that burden overwhelmingly falls on communities of color.</p><p>Communities in Texas and Michigan are home to some of the most polluted air in the country, but they are also home to groups that are fiercely fighting for — and making — change.</p>
<h2>Manchester United</h2><p>Houston is known as the energy capital of America, but that title comes with industrial refineries and chemical plants that release toxic emissions into the air. Having grown up in East Houston, near smokestacks and petrochemical plants, Bryan Parras knows this particular toxic air well. He now works for the Sierra Club as a healthy communities organizer and environmental justice advocate. His job is to identify local issues and leverage Sierra Club resources to address them most effectively.</p><p>"In some ways you're like a triage doctor, stopping the bleeding and dressing wounds," Parras explains. "In that process, you learn about the policy decisions that have led to things to begin with. You begin to understand the dynamics that people are dealing with, and you get a deeper grasp of the intersections of housing, environment, immigration status, and all these things."</p><p>Those intersections are clear in an ongoing case against Valero Energy, a midsize oil refinery that <a href="https://www.valero.com/en-us/Pages/Houston.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">produces 235,000 barrels of oil and petroleum products per day</a> in Houston's Manchester neighborhood. Valero applied for a permit to emit poisonous hydrogen cyanide in its refining process in March 2018. To fight back, Manchester community representatives are seeking party status during the permit hearings with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. According to the CDC, exposure to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ershdb/emergencyresponsecard_29750038.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">this chemical asphyxiant</a> interferes with nearly every organ in the body, especially the brain, heart, and lungs, and can be fatal in high concentrations.</p><p>The toxin is better known in other contexts. Hydrogen cyanide has been <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-04-11-mn-180-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">used for lethal injection</a> and is the primary component of Zyklon B, the gas used for mass murder in Nazi WWII gas chambers. Parras says Valero has long been emitting hydrogen cyanide into the air in the Manchester community, but the amount is unclear because the emission was only discovered, or revealed, after a change in EPA requirements during the Obama administration.</p><p>The permit request is for 512 tons of hydrogen cyanide per year. To put that number in context, community leaders and elected officials in Denver were appalled when the <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2018/04/19/suncor-energy-cyanide-gas-poor-denver-neighborhoods/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment imposed a new limit</a> that allowed nearly 13 tons of hydrogen cyanide to be emitted in 2018.</p><p>The permit request in Houston caught the attention of Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (t.e.j.a.s.), an organization aiming to provide Texas communities with environmental and legislative expertise to advocate for environmental justice. The group's co-directors, Juan and Ana Parras, founded the group in 1995. Bryan Parras is their son and a member of the t.e.j.a.s. board of directors.</p><p>"[Valero] were releasing without a permit for over 10 years," Ana says. "These people are just being dumped upon."</p>
<h2>Houstonians Can't Breathe</h2><p>Manchester is one of <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2013/04/23/houston-s-most-polluted-neighborhood-draws-line-keystone-tar-sands/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Houston's oldest neighborhoods</a>. It is surrounded on three sides by a chemical plant, synthetic rubber plant, oil refineries, and a car-crushing facility, all of which belly up to the Houston Ship Channel, one of the busiest sea ports in the world. The fourth side is a train yard.</p><p>A <a href="https://airalliancehouston.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/AAH-Executive-Summary.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2019 study commissioned by Air Alliance Houston</a>, an environmental advocacy organization, found that the city's polluting facilities are routinely clustered in and around communities where most of the residents are people of color, or where more than 30% of households are considered low-income. Manchester qualifies as both. As of 2015, <a href="https://www.houstontx.gov/planning/Demographics/docs_pdfs/SN/65_Harrisburg_Manchester.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">82% of Manchester residents are Hispanic</a>, 14% are Black, and 3% are White. Some 41% of residents make $25,000 or less per year.</p><p>The Valero Energy plant is just two blocks from nearby residential homes — or "fence line communities" as Ana and Juan Parras describe them. A <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/double-jeopardy-houston%252523.Wxa161OUv1y" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2016 study from the Union of Concerned Scientists</a> found that 90.2% of the Manchester population lives within 1 mile of at least one regulated industrial facility. The <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2013-11/documents/appendix-a-final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">EPA estimates that each year, these types of facilities have about 150 catastrophic releases</a>, which can be fires, explosions, or emissions that pose immediate and significant danger to people and the environment.</p><p>The same study also found the Manchester neighborhood's respiratory hazard index to be 2.56. That far exceeds the EPA's acceptable level, which is less than 1.0. In comparison, Portland, Oregon, has an average <a href="https://regionalbarometer.oregonmetro.gov/datasets/respiratory-hazard-index-map" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">respiratory hazard index of 0.57</a>.</p><p>T.e.j.a.s and two other community representatives have received standing in the administrative hearings for the Valero permit moving forward. But Ana Parras anticipates the case lasting well into 2021, and all the while, Valero continues to emit hydrogen cyanide unrestricted.</p>
<h2>Pushing Back Against Discrimination</h2><p>On a faster track is the Title VI language justice case t.e.j.a.s. filed against the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.</p><p>Title VI prohibits discrimination based on race, color, and national origin in programs that receive federal assistance. Many of the notifications for the community hearings for the Valero case were in English only, even though <a href="https://www.houstontx.gov/planning/Demographics/docs_pdfs/SN/65_Harrisburg_Manchester.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">70% of Manchester residents speak Spanish</a> at home. Also, because there weren't adequate translators, Spanish-speaking parents would bring their bilingual children — some as young as 7 years old — to the hearings to translate for them.</p><p>In this case, t.e.j.a.s. is asking that all notifications be translated into languages congruent with the community demographics, not just the first notification as stated under the current rule.</p><p>"In an unprecedented two weeks, we had a hearing," Ana says.</p><p>The case has the potential to change the national EPA rules, in addition to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality rule.</p><p>"The system is hard to change," Juan says, but if t.e.j.a.s. and other organizers stop fighting these systemic environmental ills, he says, the fence line communities will suffer even greater losses. "Community is always first."</p>
<h2>Environmental Justice Hot Spots</h2><p>In Michigan, organizers with the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition are using scientific research to find and calculate the impact of environmental racism in their state's fence line communities. For years, MEJC members had been showing up to permit hearings for industrial polluters, mobilizing and providing support for the various communities that were at risk. After a while, the coalition realized a flaw in the permitting system.</p><p>"We recognized that these permits were not being considered in relationship to each other," says Jamesa Johnson-Greer, the climate justice director at MEJC. "So, when an air permit is considered for nitrous oxide, for example, that's only considered for that one entity, and that's not considering the fact that these polluting facilities might by near other polluting facilities that are also emitting the same nitrous oxide." Those facilities are often concentrated in and around low-income neighborhoods of color.</p><p>The coalition commissioned a <a href="https://seas.umich.edu/sites/all/files/AssessingtheStateofEnvironmentalJusticeinMichigan_344.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cumulative impact study</a> by the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability. Researchers assigned an environmental justice score for each census tract in the state based on social, demographic, and environmental data.</p><p>In 2019, the researchers reported hot spots of environmental injustice — communities around the state experiencing compounding impacts from 11 environmental factors, including the respiratory hazard index, diesel exposure, <a href="https://www.epa.gov/urban-air-toxics/about-urban-air-toxics" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">air toxics cancer risks</a>, nearby hazardous waste facilities and regulated industrial facilities, as well as traffic proximity. Unsurprisingly, those hot spots were disproportionately clustered in communities of color that had higher levels of poverty, unemployment, and educational attainment (the percent of the population over 25 without a high school diploma) than the statewide average.</p><p>The report confirmed some of what MEJC already knew, such as the intense air pollution in southwest Detroit, particularly <a href="https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/struggling-to-breathe-in-48217-michigans-most-toxic-zip-code/Content?oid=23542211" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the 48217 ZIP code</a>, which is surrounded by more than two dozen industrial polluting facilities. The environmental justice scores around Detroit were as high as 87 out of 100. But there were also surprises, according to Johnson-Greer, like the fact that Grand Rapids, Michigan, had the highest EJ score in the state: 93.99. And despite the egregious water issues in Flint, Genesee County, where the city is located, didn't even make the top 10% of census tracts.</p><p>"That actually influenced the way we did our work this year," Johnson-Greer says, "recognizing that we needed to go and talk to people in those areas who have been doing work around environmental justice or social justice and see what the issues were on the ground."</p><p>By developing relationships with environmental advocates in Grand Rapids, MEJC learned that the town has a long history of logging and paper mills, considered <a href="https://www.intechopen.com/books/environmental-management-in-practice/pollution-prevention-in-the-pulp-and-paper-industries" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">one of the most polluting industries in the world</a> because of the high concentration of chemicals in the wastewater. Johnson-Greer says that recognizing the patterns and similarities across the EJ hot spots throughout the state can help highlight the weaknesses — and, thus, the starting points for equitable environmental transitions — in statewide and national environmental policies.</p><p>In particular, she points to the importance of "prioritizing those communities that are most vulnerable and recognizing that those are the communities that we need to start resourcing immediately, because they have probably also been most under-resourced and have also been left behind in past policies."</p>
<h2>A Shift in the Collective Consciousness</h2><p>For Bakeyah Nelson, the executive director of Air Alliance Houston, putting the most affected communities' needs first means using a diversity of tactics. Air Alliance Houston supports community interests by advocating for long-term legislative solutions, like developing industrial zoning laws in Houston, and by responding as-needed to threats against local communities' air quality, such as monitoring permits for new concrete batch plants so they can alert the nearby residents of their options to fight the permit.</p><p>"In advocacy, I would say there is no one size fits all," Nelson says. "It can be proactive; we can work with groups and coalitions to put forth state level legislation to try to prevent concrete batch plants from being placed near neighborhoods. But, on a day-to-day basis, it's more reactive in that we are tracking the permits; we see a permit and then we respond."</p><p>With limited time and resources, striking an effective balance of reactive and proactive responses can be a challenge, says Bryan Parras of the Sierra Club. But Parras is inspired by the community he serves, as well as the overall shift in public conversation he's seen around pollution and climate change over the past few years. While affluent White communities are typically untouched by environmental racism, they are now facing the unavoidable sign of climate change, as was the case with Portland in this year's wildfires. That can prompt powerful empathy and is moving the needle toward action on environmental justice.</p><p>"Despite all of the problems, you see some real change happening in the collective consciousness," Parras says. "There is a growth, a renaissance of activism and participation in civic life that is really beautiful to see."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/environment/2020/11/18/smoke-portland-air-quality-equity/" target="_blank">YES! Magazine</a>.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
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A rare rusty-spotted cat is spotted in the wild in 2015. David V. Raju / Wikimedia Commons / CC by 4.0
Misunderstanding the needs of how to protect three rare cat species in Southeast Asia may be a driving factor in their extinction, according to a recent study.
<p>Only six to 11 percent of the habitat used by the fishing cat, leopard cat and rusty-spotted cat is currently protected, based on findings published in the journal <em>Scientific Reports</em> by researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden.</p><p>All three species are endemic to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/india" target="_blank">Indian</a> subcontinent, comprising India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan and the Maldives. <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/animals/2020/01/captivating-images-show-diversity-indias-secretive-wild-cats-big-and-small" target="_blank">Over a third</a> of the world's wild felines call the region home, and the three species studied share a common cat ancestor. There are no current population figures on the rare cats as they are extremely difficult to find, even with state-of-the-art camera traps. </p><p>But the fishing cat, about twice the size of an average house cat, may no longer have a home, as its preferred habitat — mangrove swamps and coastal wetlands — are <a href="https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/oceans_practice/coasts/mangroves/mangrove_threats/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">increasingly eradicated</a> for development. Since 2016 the species has been listed as "Vulnerable" on the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/18150/50662615" target="_blank">IUCN Red List</a>.</p>
<p>"This study is important because it shows that many small, rare and elusive cats in the Indian subcontinent don't get as much attention as the more spectacular big cats. Nevertheless, the need to protect them is just as pressing," said Mats Björklund, a professor emeritus of Zooecology at Uppsala University, in a statement about the findings. </p><p>The leopard cat is also a victim of habitat destruction, but its environment ranges from shrub land and low-lying forests to inland wetlands, and populations are steadier than those of the fishing cat. Part of the study identified which ecological conditions each species preferred, using computer algorithms to predict their numbers and locations in favored areas. </p><p>The rusty-spotted cat is one of the smallest wild cat species in the world and mostly spends its time in the deciduous forests of India and Sri Lanka. It is listed as <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/18149/50662471" target="_blank">"Near Threatened"</a> on the IUCN Red List, due to increased farmland use of its home.</p>
<p>"Species like the rusty-spotted cat exist only in this region, so to ensure we don't lose them it's essential to create more protected areas," said André P. Silva, the study's lead author and a doctoral student in the department of ecology and genetics at Uppsala University.</p><p>The goal of the study was to better understand<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/environment" target="_blank"> environmental </a>factors such as land cover, land use and climate, which threaten the three cat species. Thanks to this research, more protective measures can be implemented.</p><p>"The number and size of the protected areas must be increased to include more biotopes containing these species," says Björklund.</p>
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Cyclone Gati on Sunday had sustained winds of 115 miles per hour. NASA - EOSDIS Worldview
Cyclone Gati made landfall in Somalia Sunday as the equivalent of a Category 2 hurricane, the first time that a hurricane-strength storm has made landfall in the East African country, NPR reported.
<p>Furthermore, at one point before making landfall, Gati strengthened to sustained winds of 115 miles per hour, the equivalent of a Category 3 storm. It is the strongest storm on record for the entire geographical area.</p><p>"Gati is the strongest tropical cyclone that has been recorded in this region of the globe; further south than any category 3-equivalent cyclone in the North Indian Ocean," National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) researcher Sam Lillo <a href="https://twitter.com/splillo/status/1330554977870200838" target="_blank">tweeted</a>.</p>
<div id="eb022" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4a22e81d6d14760e4c92ea8fa70eaf9d"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1330554977870200838" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Gati is the strongest tropical cyclone that has been recorded in this region of the globe; further south than any c… https://t.co/p77EMJ3mUw</div> — Sam Lillo (@Sam Lillo)<a href="https://twitter.com/splillo/statuses/1330554977870200838">1606064001.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> is making storms both <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tropical-storm-intensity-climate-crisis-2646033123.html" target="_self">stronger and wetter</a>, and Gati is an example of both. First, it intensified rapidly. The storm began as an area of low pressure observed on Thursday by India's Meteorological Department (IMD), <a href="https://www.accuweather.com/en/hurricane/severe-cyclonic-storm-gati-bearing-down-on-somalia/852100" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">AccuWeather reported</a>. By Sunday, it had strengthened to a tropical depression; 12 hours later, it was a severe cyclonic storm. Lillo noted that its 12-hour intensification was the largest on record in the basin.</p><p>Gati intensified partly because of warm <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ocean" target="_self">ocean</a> temperatures, according to AccuWeather. Other factors included low wind shear and the fact that it was relatively small, Lillo told NPR.</p><p>"With climate change we're seeing warmer ocean temperatures and a more moist atmosphere that's leading to a greater chance of rapid intensification for tropical cyclones like Gati," meteorologist and climate journalist Eric Holthaus told NPR. "Gati's strength is part of that broader global pattern of stronger storms."</p>
<div id="8d78f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="78b74a8fa911068186256663c6020cdd"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1330520441929293824" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Cyclone #Gati striking #Somalia with Category 2 force. https://t.co/qGdHTcDE3G https://t.co/QJ5RMCy0e7</div> — UW-Madison CIMSS (@UW-Madison CIMSS)<a href="https://twitter.com/UWCIMSS/statuses/1330520441929293824">1606055767.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The storm is also predicted to be very wet. Somalia usually experiences four inches of rain every year. Gati could dump eight inches, doubling that amount in just two days.</p><p>"The system may impact Socotra, Somalia, Yemen and western Oman from [Sunday] night into Monday and potentially Tuesday, with the main threat being heavy rain and flash <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" target="_self">flooding</a>," AccuWeather Lead International Meteorologist Jason Nicholls said.</p><p>Holthaus <a href="https://twitter.com/EricHolthaus/status/1330558089779683329" target="_blank">noted</a> on Twitter that Somalia only accounts for about 0.002 percent of the total greenhouse gases emitted since the start of the industrial revolution.</p><p>"Today, they're experiencing a rapidly strengthening tropical cyclone that will bring two years worth of rainfall in just two days," he wrote. "This is the heart of climate injustice."</p>
<div id="5b55b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="48485c27d58cba8f2b923a207db706d4"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1330621846497103873" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Tropical Cyclone Gati landfalling in Somalia. https://t.co/3KQcpXgoTQ</div> — CIRA (@CIRA)<a href="https://twitter.com/CIRA_CSU/statuses/1330621846497103873">1606079944.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>There is usually an average of one cyclone in the Arabian Sea every year, <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/years-second-in-arabian-sea-severe-cyclone-gati-headed-to-somalia-7061376/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Indian Express reported</a>. However, Gati is the second to form this year after <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/cyclone-nisarga-mumbai-coronavirus-2646150409.html" target="_self">Cyclone Nisarga</a> made landfall south of Mumbai in June. The number of cyclones forming over the Arabian Sea has increased since 2015, according to IMD data reported by The Indian Express. There were four in 2019 and three in 2018. The uptick in activity has been linked to the climate crisis. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has found that the Arabian Sea's surface temperatures are rising.</p>
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