Local Food Receives Big Economic Boost from Federal Investments
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
“This is a very timely report,” notes Helen Dombalis, policy associate with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. “The ongoing revitalization of regional farm and food systems depends on the continuation of key 2008 Farm Bill programs whose funding expires later this year if Congress does not act.”
The expiring farm bill programs range from Value-Added Producer Grants, which help farmers develop new products and markets while increasing their share of the consumer food dollar, to the Farmers Market Promotion Program, which helps create and expand venues for direct farmer-to-consumer sales of local foods.
Also up for farm bill funding renewal are the Rural Micro-Entrepreneur Assistance Program, National Organic Certification Cost Share Program, Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers, Rural Energy for America Program, Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative, and Specialty Crop Research Initiative.
“Congress should renew and expand funding for these innovative programs in the 2012 Farm Bill,” says Dombalis. “Local and regional agriculture is a major new driver in the farm economy. There are very significant emerging market and business opportunities, but major research, infrastructure, and technical assistance gaps need to be filled to reap the full benefit. We need all of the existing farm bill tools available in the future to grow rural jobs and to increase new farming opportunities.”
Several bills pending in Congress, including the Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act and the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act, include provisions to renew funding for these vital programs and to ensure our federal agriculture policy meets the needs of local and regional producers. Both bills are aimed at inclusion in the 2012 Farm Bill and have the support of hundreds of farm, food, and rural organizations nationwide.
Report Contents and the Compass
Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food’s primary goals revolve around better using federal resources to boost job creation through a modernization of local and regional farm and food economies. The report details a case study in northeastern Iowa where local food sales catapulted more than one thousand percent in just four years and another in Oklahoma where a group of producers are aggregating, labeling, and cooperatively marketing $70,000 worth of food a month statewide to create an extra income stream. Similar economic ripple effects to improve farm and rural income are found throughout the report.
Food access also plays prominently into the initiative’s priorities, which include programs to localize food processing and distribution in ways that reach underserved communities. The USDA Farm to School team has helped spur programs that have increased students’ fresh fruit and vegetable consumption by 25 to 84 percent, and Know Your Farmer has also coordinated research to support the development of new “food hubs” which facilitate growers’ access to local markets and fair prices.
Along with the report, USDA is releasing an interactive mapping feature called the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Compass, which highlights accomplishments of USDA programs and success stories from across the country. The new Web-based tool will provide a visual, state-by-state display of projects and case studies that fall under the umbrella of the initiative.
The initiative does not have a budget of its own. Rather, it uses existing USDA programs and staff to better improve the Department’s response to the burgeoning farmer and consumer interest in regional food systems.
Dombalis describes Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food as “government at its best. Programs and services serving local and regional producers are scattered across USDA’s various agencies. The Know Your Farmer initiative helps drive vital coordination to improve program delivery.”
Both the report and Compass are available on the USDA's website by clicking here.
For more information, click here.
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The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition is a grassroots alliance that advocates for federal policy reform supporting the long-term social, economic, and environmental sustainability of agriculture, natural resources, and rural communities.
A 2019 Basel Convention amendment targeting plastic waste exports went into effect on Jan. 1. Boris Horvat / AFP / Getty Images
This month, a new era began in the fight against plastic pollution.
<p>In 2019, 187 nations within the United Nations amended the 1989 <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/basel-convention" target="_self">Basel Convention</a>, which governs trade in hazardous materials, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/plastic-pollution-agreement-2636986814.html" target="_self">to include plastic waste</a>. The historic treaty created a legally binding framework to make global trade in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics" target="_self">plastic</a> waste more transparent and better regulated, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) said in a <a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/press-release/governments-agree-landmark-decisions-protect-people-and-planet" target="_blank">press release</a>.</p><p>The amendment to the Basel Convention, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2021, will result in a cleaner ocean within five years and allow developing nations like Vietnam and Malaysia to refuse low-quality and difficult-to-recycle waste before it ever gets shipped, a UN transboundary waste chief told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/29/new-rules-to-tackle-wild-west-of-plastic-waste-dumped-on-poorer-countries" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>"It is my optimistic view that, in five years, we will see results," Rolph Payet, the executive director of the Basel Convention, told The Guardian. "People on the frontline are going to be telling us whether there is a decrease of plastic in the ocean. I don't see that happening in the next two to three years, but on the horizon of five years. This amendment is just the beginning."</p><p>"Pollution from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastic-waste" target="_self">plastic waste</a>, acknowledged as a major environmental problem of global concern, has reached epidemic proportions with an estimated 100 million tons of plastic now found in the oceans, 80-90 percent of which comes from land-based sources," the UNEP release noted, explaining a primary rationale behind the amendment's passage.</p><p>Once in the oceans, plastic continues to cause harm. It degrades into <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/microplastics" target="_self">microplastics</a>, which <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/seafood-study-plastic-contamination-2646982206.html" target="_self">end up in our seafood</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/microplastics-found-human-organs-2647014349.html#:~:text=According%20to%20PlasticsEurope.org%2C%20359,74%2C000%20microplastic%20particles%20a%20year." target="_self">ultimately us</a>. A recent study also found that <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/ocean-acidification-plastic-polllution-2648847023.html" target="_self">plastic pollution increases ocean acidification</a>.</p>
<p>The amendment now requires "prior notice and consent" in writing from importing and transit countries before shipping plastic waste for recycling, the <a href="http://requirements/" target="_blank">Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)</a> explained. Exporting countries must detail whether a shipment is mixed or contaminated. If permission isn't granted to receive the goods, they must remain in their country of origin.</p><p>The new international rule aims to level the playing field between wealthy nations that dump contaminated plastic waste and poorer ones that have traditionally received it. According to The Guardian, before the new rule, shipments containing contaminated, non-recyclable and low-quality plastics were often sold to developing nations for recycling. After China refused to continue accepting contaminated waste in 2018, the onus fell on other developing nations to accept it, a 2020 <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/43469/waste-trade-woes-plastic-waste-from-developed-countries-add-to-malaysias-environmental-crisis/" target="_blank">Greenpeace report </a>found. Once received, the waste was often illegally burned or dumped in landfills and waterways because it was unusable and unrecyclable.</p><p>Heng Kiah Chun, a Greenpeace Malaysia campaigner, called the impact from illegally dumping plastic waste from more than 19 countries worldwide "an indelible mark" left throughout Southeast Asia, the report added.</p><p>According to the EPA, the Basel Convention made an exception for pre-sorted, clean, uncontaminated and recycling-bound plastic scrap: it will not be subject to informed consent requirements. The idea is to encourage exports of commercially viable plastics for recycling rather than the unrestricted dumping of plastic trash that previously occurred.</p><p>In Dec. 2020, the European Union passed <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/eu-bans-plastic-waste-exports-2649639389.html" target="_self">additional regulations</a> that are even stricter than the Basel Convention amendment, including a ban on sending unsorted plastic waste, which is harder to recycle, to poorer countries. </p>
<p>Despite <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/world-plastic-waste-leader-us-2648607158.html" target="_self">leading the world in plastic waste</a>, the U.S. did not agree to the amendment in 2019. However, the amendment still applies to the U.S. anytime it tries to trade plastic waste with another of the 187 participating countries, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/11/world/basel-convention-plastic-waste-trade-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p><p>Rather than framing the plastic problem as an issue between developed and developing nations, some critics would rather see <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/plastic-pollution-producer-responsibility-2649792843.html" target="_self">commercial producers take responsibility</a>. Others, noting that <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/plastic-recycling-myth-2647706452.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="_self">recycling</a> models, especially in the U.S., aren't working, are encouraging a cultural shift away from using plastics, stemming the problem of plastic pollution at the source.</p><p>Nevertheless, the convention is a "crucial first step towards stopping the use of developing countries as a dumping ground for the world's plastic waste, especially those coming from rich nations," Von Hernandez, Break Free From Plastic global coordinator, told CNN.</p><p>"Countries at the receiving end of mixed and unsorted plastic waste from foreign sources now have the right to refuse these problematic shipments, in turn compelling source countries to ensure exports of clean, recyclable plastics only," Hernandez added. "Recycling will not be enough, however. Ultimately, production of plastics has to be significantly curtailed to effectively resolve the plastic pollution crisis."</p>
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Reindeers at their winter location in northern Sweden on Feb. 4, 2020, near Ornskoldsvik. JONATHAN NACKSTRAND / AFP via Getty Images
Sweden's reindeer have a problem. In winter, they feed on lichens buried beneath the snow. But the climate crisis is making this difficult. Warmer temperatures mean moisture sometimes falls as rain instead of snow. When the air refreezes, a layer of ice forms between the reindeer and their meal, forcing them to wander further in search of ideal conditions. And sometimes, this means crossing busy roads.
<p>Luckily, Sweden's transport authorities have a solution. They are planning to build a dozen bridges in northern Sweden so that the reindeer can cross in peace, Swedish public science radio <a href="https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/7649066" target="_blank">Vetenskapsradion reported Monday</a>, according to <a href="https://www.thelocal.se/20210119/sweden-to-build-reindeer-bridges-so-they-can-cross-roads-to-find-food" target="_blank">The Local Sweden</a>.</p><p>"In a changing climate with difficult snow conditions, it will be extra important to be able to find and access alternative pastures," Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences landscape ecologist Per Sandström told the radio, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/20/sweden-to-build-bridges-for-reindeer-to-safely-cross-roads-and-railways?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR2nkVyCQKM6c-SKoghZwJbXw0zrgKjcJhjkh9KqZkd1utAWq1LFzaBTveU#Echobox=1611148969" target="_blank">The Guardian translated</a>.</p><p>The new bridges will be called "renoducts," a combination of the Swedish word for reindeer (ren) and viaduct.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">Wildlife</a> bridges are an effective solution to the problem of helping animals to travel through a world criss-crossed by highways. The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/san-antonio-wildlife-bridge-2649485994.html" target="_self">first</a> was constructed in France in the 1950s, and they can significantly reduce collisions between animals and vehicles.</p><p>Work will begin this year on the first of the Swedish renoducts over the E4 motorway north of the city of Umeå, Vetenskapsradion reported. This motorway now has to be shut down entirely every time a herd attempts to cross.</p><p>The renoducts aren't only a boon for Sweden's 250,000 reindeer. They are also a help to the 4,500 Indigenous Sami who have special authorization to herd them, The Guardian explained.</p>
<p>The changing climate has driven up costs and extended the time it takes to herd the reindeer, according to an AFP story published in <a href="https://www.thelocal.se/20200529/how-swedens-sami-reindeer-herders-are-being-forced-to-adapt-to-climate-change" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Local Sweden in May 2020</a>. Sami couple Margret Fjellstrom and Daniel Viklund told AFP that it took them twice as long to move their reindeer from their summer to winter pastures last year than it would have under regular weather conditions.</p><p>"It can rain in January, it can snow in May, there's no logic to it any more," Fjellstrom told AFP.</p><p>Sami herders hope the new renoducts will help.</p><p>"I'm looking forward to us being able to cross undisturbed," reindeer herder Tobias Jonsson told Vetenskapsradion, as The Guardian translated.</p><p>He said that herders had helped with the design of the renoducts so that the reindeer would be more likely to use them. They recommended two meter (approximately seven foot) barriers so that the reindeer would not fall off but insisted that the bridges be open on top so that the reindeer would not be too frightened to cross.</p><p>Sweden's reindeer aren't the only ones in trouble because of climate change. A <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/reindeer-population-climate-change-2623281571.html" target="_self">2018 report</a> found that reindeer and caribou numbers across the Arctic had fallen by 56 percent in the preceding two decades.</p>
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The Great Lakes, including Lake Michigan, experienced some of their warmest temperatures on record in the summer of 2020. Ken Ilio / Moment / Getty Images
Heatwaves are not just distinct to the land. A recent study found lakes are susceptible to temperature rise too, causing "lake heatwaves," The Independent reported.
<p>For the first time, researchers showed how lakes experience <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/heat-wave" target="_self">heatwaves</a> and are sensitive to variations in the climate, lead author Dr. Iestyn Woolway, a research fellow at the European Space Agency's Climate Office in the UK, told The Independent.</p><p>Published on Wednesday in Nature, the study analyzed how hundreds of lake temperatures changed across the world, from the period between 1901 to 2099. If greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, lakes will experience hotter and longer heatwaves, researchers <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03119-1" target="_blank">found.</a></p>
<p>Woolway and his team studied lake temperatures during heatwaves under two scenarios: high greenhouse gas emissions and low greenhouse gas emissions. Compared to data from the period between 1970-1999, the average temperature of global lakes could increase to about 1.7°C during heatwaves by the end of the century in a high greenhouse gas emission future, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/climate-crisis-lake-heatwaves-lethal-b1790076.html" target="_blank">The Independent reported.</a></p><p>But high greenhouse gas emissions could increase more than just a lake's temperature during a heatwave. The average length of a heatwave could also increase from eight days to 95 days by the end of the century, The Independent reported.</p><p>"As lakes warm during the twenty-first century, their heatwaves will begin to extend across multiple seasons, with some lakes reaching a permanent heatwave state," <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03119-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the study noted</a>.</p>
<p>Over the summer, the Great Lakes experienced some of their warmest temperatures on record. Surface water temperature in all the Great Lakes, except for Lake Superior, experienced temperatures in the 70s, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/07/14/great-lakes-record-warm-water/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported in July. Lake Erie even reported temperatures in the 80s, similar to that of Virginia Beach.</p><p>"Ultimately, lake temperatures follow the temperatures of the atmosphere," Dr. Woolway told The Independent.</p><p>The Great Lakes water temperatures were six to eleven degrees warmer than normal this past summer, responding to air temperatures in the region that were some of the warmest ever reported, The Washington Post reported.</p><p>"Last year was really cold and there was a lot of rain. This year there hasn't been as much rain, and it's been persistently hot," Andrea Vander Woude, manager of the Great Lakes CoastWatch program at NOAA, told The Washington Post.</p>
<p>Some locals in the Great Lake region had nothing to complain about. "I'm loving this," Whitney Miller, a Michigan-based swim instructor, told the Record-Eagle, a newspaper in the region, according to The Washington Post. "Last year I was in a wetsuit up through the 15th of July ... I was a popsicle." However, high temperatures in lakes pose a serious threat to the survival of natural ecosystems, the study found.</p><p>Serving as more than just a recreational hotspot, the Great Lakes are an important source for clean water and economic livelihood. Nearly 90 percent of the freshwater in the United States and approximately 20 percent of the world's fresh water supply comes from the Great Lakes, <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/freshwater/great-lakes-ecoregion#:~:text=Lawrence%20Seaway.,system%20for%20clean%20drinking%20water" target="_blank">according to NOAA</a>. Millions of pounds of fish are also extracted out of the lakes each year.</p><p>Increases in water temperature will reduce habitat for coldwater fish, making the lakes more suitable habitats for invasive species and susceptible to dangerous algal blooms, <a href="https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Wild-Places/Great-Lakes" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The National Wildlife Federation reported</a>.</p><p>But meeting the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement">Paris agreement'</a>s goal of limiting global warming below 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels could slow temperature increases and reduce heatwave length in lakes, the study found.</p>
<p>Relative to the period between 1970 and 1999, lake temperatures during heatwaves could be limited to just a 0.3°C increase by the end of the century if this goal is met. A lake's heatwave duration could also be limited, increasing by only 27 days, rather than 95 days in a high emissions future, according to the study.</p><p>To avoid major changes to lake ecosystems, action must be taken now, the researchers stress. "Reducing greenhouse gas emissions must remain at the forefront of our agenda," Dr. Woolway told The Independent. </p>
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Starfish might appear simple creatures, but the way these animals' distinctive biology evolved was, until recently, unknown. FangXiaNuo / Getty Images
By Aaron W Hunter
A chance discovery of a beautifully preserved fossil in the desert landscape of Morocco has solved one of the great mysteries of biology and paleontology: how starfish evolved their arms.
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<p>Starfish are one of the most recognizable animals on our planet. Most people probably associate them with trips to the beach, walking in rock pools or swimming in the sea. They might appear simple creatures, but the way these animals' distinctive biology evolved was, until recently, unknown.</p><p><a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0809" target="_blank">Our new study</a>, published in the journal Biology Letters, sheds light on how the starfish developed its distinctive shape.</p><h2>The Mystery of Starfish</h2><p>Starfish, and their close relatives the brittle stars, belong to a group called the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0479" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">echinoderms</a>. These are animals with spiny skins, including sea urchins, sea lilies and sea cucumbers, with bizarre biological traits. They have no head or a brain, and have a unique circulatory system called a water vascular system, which uses seawater instead of blood. They even possess the power to regenerate over 75% of their body mass if it is lost.</p><p>Starfish have almost always had the same five-armed body shape. This has not changed for almost 480 million years, throughout the five great <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-greatest-mass-extinction-ever-may-have-been-kicked-off-by-microbes-25061" target="_blank">mass extinctions</a> they survived.</p><p>Other echinoderms use their arms to filter feed or catch food from the water and, unlike starfish, face upwards with their arms spreading outward to feed. But starfish do not, and their distinctive body shape appeared in the fossil record fully formed. So for years scientists have been perplexed by how it evolved and how starfish are related to their close relatives, the brittle stars.</p>
<h2>The Pompeii of Paleontology</h2><p>The Fezouata formations are sedimentary rock deposits in Morocco dating back to the early Ordovician period, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09038" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a critical stage in the evolution of life</a>, which ended around 460 million years ago. Paleontologists think life <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/let.12259" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">rapidly diversified during this time</a>, in an episode call the great Ordovician biodiversification event, when animals we might recognize today first appeared.</p><p>The Fezouata formations are a bit like the Pompeii of paleontology. The conditions on the seabed meant even soft tissue, which <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2015.03.009" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">would normally be destroyed over time</a>, could be preserved. Because of this, the formations provide a window into what happened at a key moment in the history of life on Earth.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTUxMTc2OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2Nzc2NjU4NX0.TlhJ3Afacw2rrYbL0BNtsuwr85ulUivm3pvkE64xhc4/img.jpg?width=980" id="6e925" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="44d850359181b3c5aac81d0bf9705fb9" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1200" data-height="798" />
The Pompeii of palaeontology. Aaron Hunter, Author provided
<h2></h2><p>Although starfish might appear very robust animals, they are typically made up of lots of hard parts attached by ligaments and soft tissue which, upon death, quickly degrade. This means we rely on places like the Fezouata formations to provide snapshots of their evolution.</p><p>The starfish fossil record is patchy, especially at the critical time when many of these animal groups first appeared. Sorting out how each of the various types of ancient starfish relate to each other is like putting a puzzle together when many of the parts are missing.</p><h2>The Oldest Starfish</h2><p><em><a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/216101v1.full.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cantabrigiaster</a></em> is the most primitive starfish-like animal to be discovered in the fossil record. It was discovered in 2003, but it has taken over 17 years to work out its true significance.</p><p>What makes <em>Cantabrigiaster</em> unique is that it lacks almost all the characteristics we find in brittle stars and starfish.</p><p>Starfish and brittle stars belong to the family Asterozoa. Their ancestors, the Somasteroids were especially fragile - before <em>Cantabrigiaster</em> we only had a handful of specimens. The celebrated Moroccan paleontologist Mohamed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.06.041" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ben Moula</a> and his local team was instrumental in discovering <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018216302334?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">these amazing fossils</a> near the town of Zagora, in Morocco.</p><h2>The Breakthrough</h2><p>Our breakthrough moment came when I compared the arms of <em>Cantabrigiaster</em> with those of modern sea lilles, filter feeders with long feathery arms that tend to be attached to the sea floor by a stem or stalk.</p><p>The striking similarity between these modern filter feeders and the ancient starfish led our team from the University of Cambridge and Harvard University to create a new analysis. We applied a biological model to the features of all the current early Asterozoa fossils in existence, along with a sample of their closest relatives.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTUxMTc2Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MTg3MzQ0N30.6-aipySK8z8wqCr2zZWUCRAga4I0InHXnCI9yRaQXhA/img.jpg?width=980" id="48c69" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3db466babd81a70a84c720d980653516" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1200" data-height="800" />
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<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/aaron-w-hunter-271771" target="_blank">Aaron W Hunter</a> is a </em><em>Science Guide & Tutor, Dept. of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge.</em>
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<em>Disclosure statement: </em><em>Aaron W Hunter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</em>
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<em></em><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/starfish-rare-fossil-helps-answer-the-mystery-of-how-they-evolved-arms-153481" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
</p><iframe height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153481/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" width="1"></iframe>Cantabrigiaster is the most primitive starfish-like animal to be discovered in the fossil record. Aaron Hunter, Author provided
<p>Our results demonstrate <em>Cantabrigiaster</em> is the most primitive of all the Asterozoa, and most likely evolved from ancient animals called crinoids that lived 250 million years before dinosaurs. The five arms of starfish are a relic left over from these ancestors. In the case of <em>Cantabrigiaster</em>, and its starfish descendants, it evolved by flipping upside-down so its arms are face down on the sediment to feed.</p><p>Although we sampled a relatively small numbers of those ancestors, one of the unexpected outcomes was it provided an idea of how they could be related to each other. Paleontologists studying echinoderms are often lost in detail as all the different groups are so radically different from each other, so it is hard to tell which evolved first.</p>
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U.S. President Joe Biden sits in the Oval Office as he signs a series of orders at the White House in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 2021. Jim Watson / AFP / Getty Images
President Joe Biden officially took office Wednesday, and immediately set to work reversing some of former President Donald Trump's environmental policies.
<p><br>As he did on his campaign and transition website, Biden emphasized the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> as one of the major challenges facing his administration, along with the coronavirus pandemic and systemic racism.</p><p>"A cry for survival comes from the planet itself," Biden said in his <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/01/20/inaugural-address-by-president-joseph-r-biden-jr/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">inaugural address</a>. "A cry that can't be any more desperate or any more clear."</p><p>Hours after his inauguration, Biden signed a total of 17 executive orders, memorandums and proclamations, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/20/us/biden-executive-orders.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>. Some of these orders had important implications for the climate and environment.</p>
<h3><br>1. Rejoining the Paris Agreement</h3><p>Biden honored a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/paris-climate-agreement-biden-2648649350.html" target="_self">campaign promise</a> by <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/20/paris-climate-agreement/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">rejoining</a> the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement" target="_self">Paris Agreement</a> on his first day in office.</p><p>The agreement recommits the U.S. to reducing greenhouse gas emissions enough to limit global warming to well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Under Trump, the U.S. officially exited in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/paris-agreement-us-withdrawal-2648618695.html">November 2020</a>.</p><p>Biden's reversal means the U.S. will now rejoin the agreement 30 days from Jan. 20.</p><h3>2. Cancelling the Keystone XL Pipeline</h3><p>Biden also signed a massive order titled "<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-protecting-public-health-and-environment-and-restoring-science-to-tackle-climate-crisis/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis</a>." This order included revoking Trump's 2019 permit for the controversial <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/keystone-xl" target="_self">Keystone XL</a> pipeline.</p><p>The 1,700-mile pipeline would have carried around 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta, Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-alberta-2fbcce48372f5c29c3ae6f6f93907a6d" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported</a>. The Obama administration <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/breaking-president-obama-rejects-keystone-xl-pipeline-1882117930.html" target="_self">revoked the permit in 2015</a>, but the Trump administration <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-dakota-access-pipeline-2211697835.html" target="_self">reversed course</a>.</p><p>Construction on the controversial project halted Wednesday in light of Biden's action, The Associated Press reported.</p>
<h3><br>3. Reversing Trump's Rollbacks</h3><p>The same executive order also empowered agencies to review Trump's many environmental rollbacks. It established commitments to listen to science, protect public health and the environment and conserve sites of national interest. Additionally, the order asked federal agencies to review any Trump regulations that violated these commitments.</p><p>The order specifically highlighted four rollbacks to be halted, altered or revoked: <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-methane-emissions-regulations-2646947182.html" target="_self">methane emissions</a> in the oil and gas sector, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-fuel-efficiency-proposal-2592345279.html" target="_self">fuel efficiency standards</a> for cars and light trucks, energy efficiency standards for appliances and buildings, and air pollution controls, including the decision to limit <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-secret-science-rule-health-2649767248.html" target="_self">certain scientific studies</a> for setting public health policies.</p><p>Further, Biden called for a review of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/shrinking-bears-ears-grand-staircase-escalante-2645172719.html" target="_self">shrinking</a> of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments and the opening the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-commercial-fishing-2646161692.html" target="_blank">commercial fishing.</a> Biden also paused <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/anwr-oil-lease-fail-2649791991.html" target="_self">oil and gas leasing</a> in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.</p>
<h3>4. Stopping Border Wall Construction</h3><p>Biden also signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/proclamation-termination-of-emergency-with-respect-to-southern-border-of-united-states-and-redirection-of-funds-diverted-to-border-wall-construction/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">executive order</a> stopping construction of the wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.</p><p>While the order did not mention the environment, several conservation groups have <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-border-wall-endangered-species-2410320620.html" target="_self">opposed the wall</a> for its <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/border-wall-bulldozer-arizona-organ-pipe-2640888439.html" target="_blank">impacts</a> on wildlife and ecosystems. One <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/border-wall-endangered-species-2642927676.html" target="_self">study</a> found that wall construction could threaten eight species with extinction. It also imperils the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/border-wall-national-butterfly-center-2638893129.html" target="_self">National Butterfly Center in Texas</a>, home to important pollinators.</p><p>Biden's initial actions prompted excitement from world leaders and environmental groups.</p><p>"Welcome back to the Paris Agreement!" French President Emmanuel Macron <a href="https://twitter.com/EmmanuelMacron/status/1351955511814615042" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tweeted</a>.</p><p>However, everyone, including Biden, acknowledged that more work remained.</p>
<p>"They are just executive actions. They are important but we're going to need legislation for a lot of the things we're going to do," Biden said according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/20/climate/biden-paris-climate-agreement.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p><p>Biden's climate plan calls for a zero-emissions electricity sector by 2035, and zero emissions across the board by 2050. The plan will likely require approval from Congress, and some Republicans are already fighting Biden's actions. Montana Senator Steve Daines said he would introduce legislation requiring the president to get Senate approval for rejoining the Paris agreement. Daines also plans to introduce legislation that would approve the Keystone XL pipeline.</p><p>Meanwhile, Indigenous groups praised Biden's action on Keystone XL but called for him to revoke the permits of other pipelines.</p><p>"It is imperative that we keep the pressure on President Biden to put an end to ALL fossil fuel infrastructure and projects, making the ones that are near or on Indigenous territories of top priority," Tasina Sapa Win Smith, co-founder of Cheyenne River Grassroots Collective, said in a <a href="https://www.mynewsletterbuilder.com/email/newsletter/1414959334" target="_blank">statement</a> from the Indigenous Environmental Network.</p>
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