New Jersey Becomes First State to Put the Climate Crisis in Its K-12 Curriculum
Students walk by a sign reading "Climate Change" at the Doctor Tolosa Latour public school in Madrid, Spain on Sept. 9, 2014. In the U.S., New Jersey will be the first state to make the climate crisis part of its curriculum for all K-12 students. PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU / AFP via Getty Images
New Jersey has invested in the future health of the planet by making sure the next generation of adults knows how human activity has had a deleterious effect on the planet. The state will be the first in the nation to make the climate crisis as part of its curriculum for all students, from kindergarten all the way to 12th grade, as NorthJersey.com reported.
BIG NEWS: @GovMurphy and I are proud to announce that New Jersey is the FIRST STATE IN THE NATION to incorporate climate change education across our K-12 learning standards – preparing our students for the future green economy.🌎 pic.twitter.com/SJ2NS8DtWh
— Tammy Murphy (@FirstLadyNJ) June 3, 2020
The Garden State's Board of Education adopted the standards on Wednesday, with the intention of implementing them for the start of school in September 2021.
The move drew praise from former Vice President Al Gore, who said in a statement, according to NJ.com: "I am incredibly proud that New Jersey is the first state in the nation to fully integrate climate education in their K-12 curricula. This initiative is vitally important to our students as they are the leaders of tomorrow, and we will depend on their leadership and knowledge to combat this crisis."
As NJ.com reported, the New Jersey Student Learning Standards, which outline what is taught in New Jersey's public schools, now include language that requires climate change education across seven areas: 21st Century Life and Careers, Comprehensive Health and Physical Education, Science, Social Studies, Technology, Visual and Performing Arts, and World Languages.
The move makes New Jersey the first in what is likely to be a nationwide trend. According to a NPR/Ipsos poll published last year, more than 80 percent of American parents and nearly 90 percent of American teachers said that climate change should be taught in schools.
New Jersey's First Lady Tammy Murphy had pushed for the change and was thankful to the board for the initiative on Wednesday, saying that it is a symbol of the state's commitment to the health and well-being of future generations.
"The adoption of these standards is much more than an added educational requirement; it is a symbol of a partnership between generations," said Murphy, in a statement, as Patch reported.
"Decades of short-sighted decision-making has fueled this crisis and now we must do all we can to help our children solve it. This generation of students will feel the effects of climate change more than any other, and it is critical that every student is provided an opportunity to study and understand the climate crisis through a comprehensive, interdisciplinary lens," her statement added.
The release noted that climate change standards have also been added to the appendices of the math and English language arts guidelines, which are up for review in 2022, according to Patch.
Governor Phil Murphy first announced the future curriculum change in his State of the State speech in January, saying that it was a cornerstone of his clean energy push, according to NorthJersey.com.
Murphy said in a statement that the new standards will prepare a new generation for an economy that will be shaped by impacts from the climate crisis, particularly the energy sector.
"A top priority of my Administration has been to reestablish New Jersey's role as a leader in the fight against climate change," Murphy said in the statement, as NJ.com reported. "The adoption of these standards across our K-12 schools is an important step forward that will strengthen the future of New Jersey's green energy economy."
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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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Erik McGregor / LightRocket / Getty Images
In many schools, the study of climate change is limited to the science. But at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, students in one class also learn how to take climate action.
<p>"You need to know how to communicate it to people. You need to know how to organize if we're going to get anything done," said Jessica Gutknecht in the Department of Soil, Water and Climate.</p>
<p>Each spring, she co-teaches a class called "<a target="_blank" href="https://onestop2.umn.edu/pcas/viewCatalogCourse.do?courseId=815340" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Global Climate Challenge: Creating an Empowered Movement for Change</a>."</p><p>Gutknecht walks students through the science. Teddie Potter from the School of Nursing encourages them to look at climate change from a health perspective. And Julia Nerbonne of the nonprofit Interfaith Power and Light teaches them how to lead grassroots change.</p><p>"We also have them do these community action projects where they are out pounding the pavement trying to get things done," Gutknecht said.</p><p>In the past, that's included starting community gardens, convincing businesses to do energy audits, and engaging sororities and fraternities in climate action.</p><p>"Every student needs to know that they have voice and that they can be actors in this wicked problem of climate change," Gutknecht said. "And so every step of the way, whatever we're teaching them, we are empowering them. And we're teaching them that they have something valuable to bring to the table, whatever their passions are."</p>
Listen:
<iframe style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/17278520/height/45/theme/standard/thumbnail/yes/direction/backward/" height="45" width="100%" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe><p><em>Reposted with permission from </em><em><a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/01/college-course-teaches-students-how-to-be-climate-leaders/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em></p>
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By Daniel Raichel
Industry would have us believe that pesticides help sustain food production — a necessary chemical trade-off for keeping harmful bugs at bay and ensuring we have enough to eat. But the data often tell a different story—particularly in the case of neonicotinoid pesticides, also known as neonics.
<p>Despite being the most widely used family of pesticides in the United States, research has shown that the largest uses of these neurotoxic chemicals do little to nothing to help crop yields or farmers' bottom lines.</p><p>If we look closer, it's easy to see why: The vast majority of neonics are applied as coatings on seeds for crops like corn, soybean, and wheat — where they are most often used indiscriminately, rather than in response to specific pest problems. For many conventional seed varieties, farmers have no choice but to buy neonics-treated seeds, thanks to the near monopolies enjoyed by agrochemical giants, which manufacture both the seeds and the pesticides.</p>
<p>The result? Tens to hundreds of millions of acres are needlessly sown with bee-toxic seeds. And while these wasteful practices may spell good news for the profit margins of chemical manufacturers — to the tune of more than <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/117/37/22609#ref-3" target="_blank">$3 billion per year</a> — they are catastrophic news for the surrounding ecosystems.</p><p>That's because neonics are pervasive ecosystem contaminants. When coated on seeds, they're absorbed "systemically" as plants grow — up through the roots and into the nectar, pollen, and fruit itself — which then get eaten by other wildlife. What doesn't make it into the plant (usually more than 95 percent of the toxic seed coating) leaches out into the soil, where it can travel long distances, carried by rain and agricultural runoff into new soil, plants, and water supplies. Once in the ground, neonics are long-lived — building up in the soil over time and continuing to harm or kill bugs and other wildlife for years after application.</p><p>Unsurprisingly, our agricultural system is now <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0220029" target="_blank">48 times more harmful</a> to insect life than it was just two decades ago, with neonics accounting for more than 90 percent of that increase. That's why it's also no surprise that neonics have been recognized as a <a href="http://www.bulletinofinsectology.org/pdfarticles/vol67-2014-125-130lu.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">primary cause</a> of the massive losses of U.S. honey bee colonies every year — the unfortunate new normal. Neonics are also linked to mass die-offs of <a href="https://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/insects/rpbb/FAQsProposedListing.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">native bees</a>, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/09/widely-used-pesticide-makes-birds-lose-weight/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">birds</a>, <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/366/6465/620" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">fish</a>, and harm to other important insects and earthworms, which keep our soil healthy and nutrient-dense.</p>
<p>This contamination poses a clear ecological crisis but it's also a crisis for how we eat.</p><p>In <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2020.0922" target="_blank">a recent study out of Rutgers University</a>, researchers looked at seven different crops in 131 commercially managed fields across North America to see how many crops were "pollinator-limited" — i.e., crops whose yields would be higher were there more pollinators.</p><p>Distressingly, five out of every seven crops they analyzed were pollinator-limited — including favorites like apples, cherries, and blueberries. "Honeybee colonies are weaker than they used to be and wild bees are declining, probably by a lot," <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/29/bees-food-crops-shortage-study" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said the paper's senior author, Rachael Winfree</a>. "Fewer bees, in turn, mean less food, and more pressure on struggling honeybee populations to replace pollination from native bees."</p><p>As Winfree notes, this reliance on a single species is risky, "setting us up for food security problems." Worse yet, the study shows the likely impact of neonics on our food supply isn't decades away; it's already happening right now.</p><p>For the present, industries can use stopgap solutions—like breeding and shipping out more honeybees to make up for lost colonies — but these strategies may ultimately fail if we don't address the source of the vast and wasteful neonic contamination.</p><p>Looking into the future, low yields may mean that some of our favorite foods become far pricier or unavailable entirely — an outcome with high human and economic costs.</p><p>In the United States, the production of crops that rely on pollination is valued at more than <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2020.0922" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">$50 billion annually</a>. Indeed, one in every three bites of food is reliant on pollinators. Food workers — an umbrella term for a behemoth industry that includes everyone from farm workers to restaurant cooks and servers to grocery store clerks — could experience increased job disruptions, too, should the markets for these foods become upended.</p><p>Recently, <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/letter_from_new_york_chefs_on_neonics_01202021.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a group of local New York chefs</a> — recognizing their reliance on bees and an abundant and diverse food supply to keep restaurants open, workers employed, and their food healthy and delicious—asked state legislators to rein in wasteful neonic use statewide.</p><p>Faced with rising food costs, more families may also struggle to put food on the table. Already, more than <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/key-statistics-graphics.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">10.5 percent of all U.S. families</a> — or more than 35 million Americans — experienced food insecurity at some point in 2019. During the COVID-19 crisis, that <a href="https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/54-million-people-america-face-food-insecurity-during-pandemic-it-could-have-dire-consequences-their" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">number has ballooned</a>. For those unsure where their next meal may come from, even moderate increases in food costs are felt acutely. Potentially significant changes to food costs or availability — particularly for our most nutrient-dense produce — would likely <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23946342/#affiliation-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">hit low-income families hardest</a>.</p><p>The stakes are high, but the solution is simple: We must rein in needless neonic use that threatens our food supply and contaminates our land and water on a vast scale.</p><p>In the same turn, we must also support <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/resources/regenerative-agriculture" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">regenerative agriculture</a> practices, which eliminate the need for synthetic pesticides like neonics. A more just and sustainable food system that protects workers, consumers, and the wild world also protects our food security — it's what we need and <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/arohi-sharma/regenerative-agriculture-part-1-philosophy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">it's within reach</a>.</p><p><em><a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/daniel-raichel" target="_blank">Daniel Raichel</a> is a staff attorney and a member of the Lands & Wildlife program, focusing on protecting our nation's bee populations from the ever-growing threats to their health and existence—in particular, the use of bee-toxic pesticides. Before joining the Wildlife team, Raichel was codirector of NRDC's Community Fracking Defense Project and an advocate for the cleanup of industrial pollution in the New York region. Prior to that, he was a member of the Columbia Environmental Law Clinic. Raichel holds a bachelor's degree in English from Cornell University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. He works out of the Chicago office. </em></p>
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