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Former Federal Reserve Governor Rebukes Fed for Using Covid-19 Funds to Bail Out Fossil Fuel Industry
10h
Politics
A former Federal Reserve board of governors member on Thursday called on her former colleagues to stop using Covid-19 relief funds to bail out the "dying" fossil fuel industry. Douglas Sacha / Getty Images
By Eoin Higgins
A former Federal Reserve board of governors member on Thursday called on her former colleagues to stop using Covid-19 relief funds to bail out the "dying" fossil fuel industry, calling the decision a threat to the planet's climate and a misguided use of taxpayer money.
<p>"These concessions to the fossil fuel industry are a risky investment in the past," Sarah Bloom Raskin <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/28/opinion/fed-fossil-fuels.html" target="_blank">wrote</a> in a <em>New York Times</em> op-ed. "The Fed is ignoring clear warning signs about the economic repercussions of the impending climate crisis by taking action that will lead to increases in greenhouse gas emissions at a time when even in the short term, fossil fuels are a terrible investment."</p>
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<p>Raskin's opinion piece sparked praise from climate campaigners like 350.org co-founder Jamie Henn.</p><p>"This should cause some waves," Henn <a href="https://twitter.com/jamieclimate/status/1266002932626886658" target="_blank">tweeted</a>.</p><p>Henn on Thursday <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/05/28/big-oil-pretending-it-doesnt-want-bailout-thats-bullshit" target="_blank">penned</a> an opinion piece for <em>Common Dreams</em> arguing that Mike Sommers, CEO of the American Petroleum Institute (API), is spewing lies to the public when he claims the industry doesn't want—and hasn't actively pushed for—a bailout from the Fed.</p><p>As Henn wrote:</p><blockquote>The truth is that despite Sommer's best efforts to spin a fairytale about oil companies tightening their belts and lifting themselves up by their bootstraps, corporate socialism is exactly what API wants. In fact, the fossil fuel industry, and the American Petroleum Institute in particular, have been at the forefront of corporate efforts to profit off the coronavirus pandemic and government relief efforts.<br></blockquote>
<p>Climate advocacy group Friends of the Earth program manager Lukas Ross, in a statement Wednesday, also <a href="https://foe.org/news/api-ceo-spews-double-talk-on-polluter-bailout/" target="_blank">rejected</a> Sommers' protestations.</p><p>"Oil lobbyists are spewing blatant lies, and we have the receipts," said Ross. "Big Oil has already nabbed $1.9 billion in giveaways thanks to corporate tax cuts from the last stimulus."</p><p>"If polluters want to deny the existence of the ongoing bailout," Ross added, "Congress should swiftly repeal these blatant corporate tax giveaways and make fossil fuels ineligible for stimulus lending programs."</p>
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<p>The bailout is presenting taxpayers with a burden, Raskin wrote, citing the industry's debt and unsustainable business model.</p><p>"For taxpayers, shouldering these liabilities is a bad deal," wrote Raskin. "Buying this bad debt is not likely to support the creation of jobs or even ensure that existing jobs survive."</p><p>Friends of the Earth <a href="https://twitter.com/foe_us/status/1265674388499763202" target="_blank">agreed</a>. </p><p>"Trump's administration has been exploiting this pandemic to bailout Big Oil companies that have been struggling long before coronavirus," the group tweeted.</p><p>The pandemic, wrote Raskin, "provides an unexpected opportunity to build an economy that is stronger in the long term."</p><p>"The decisions that the Fed makes today will go a long way to determining whether tomorrow's economy is one that remains susceptible to more chaos and vulnerability or builds economic security and resilience," she wrote.</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/28/former-federal-reserve-governor-rebukes-central-bank-using-covid-19-lending-power" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Green living spruce and gray dead spruce in the Harz mountain region on May 7, 2020 near Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany. Jens Schlueter / Getty Images
More than a third of the world's old growth forests died between 1900 and 2015, a new study has found.
<p>In the study, <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6494/eaaz9463" target="_blank">published in Science</a> Friday, nearly two dozen scientists used satellite data combined with more than 160 previous studies to show that <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation" target="_self">deforestation</a> and the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> are killing off older, taller <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trees" target="_self">trees</a> and leaving forests younger and shorter, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/05/grand-old-trees-are-dying-leaving-forests-younger-shorter/" target="_blank">National Geographic explained</a>. And the trend is likely to continue.</p><p>"We will see fewer forests," University of Wisconsin forest ecologist and study coauthor Monica Turner told National Geographic. "There will be areas where there are forests now where there won't be in the future."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">More than 20 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/scientists?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#scientists</a> show global conditions lead to younger, shorter trees: <a href="https://t.co/KR2Tnwx4Af">https://t.co/KR2Tnwx4Af</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/deforestation?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#deforestation</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/forests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#forests</a> 🎄<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/science?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#science</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/researchhighlight?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#researchhighlight</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/environment?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#environment</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/LosAlamosNatLab?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LosAlamosNatLab</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ORNL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ORNL</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NASA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Stanford?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Stanford</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/LBNL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LBNL</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ScienceMagazine?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ScienceMagazine</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/McDowell_Trees?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@McDowell_Trees</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/poulterlab?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@poulterlab</a> <a href="https://t.co/NN7k7qcEaW">pic.twitter.com/NN7k7qcEaW</a></p>— PNNL (@PNNLab) <a href="https://twitter.com/PNNLab/status/1266087442081296390?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 28, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>The study was led by Nate McDowell of the U.S. Department of Energy's <a href="https://www.pnnl.gov/" target="_blank">Pacific Northwest National Laboratory</a> (PNNL), who explained why this change was such a big deal.</p><p>"A future planet with fewer large, old forests will be very different than what we have grown accustomed to," he said in a <a href="https://www.pnnl.gov/news-media/global-environmental-changes-leading-shorter-younger-trees" target="_blank">PNNL press release</a>. "Older forests often host much higher <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" target="_self">biodiversity</a> than young forests and they store more carbon than young forests."</p>
<p>Old growth tree loss is being driven by a number of factors, many of them linked to the climate crisis in some way. Warmer temperatures limit photosynthesis, both stunting and killing trees. Increased <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drought" target="_self">droughts</a> both kill trees directly and lead to attacks by <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/insects" target="_self">insect</a> pests. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" target="_self">Wildfires</a> and infestations by insects, fungi and choking vines are all on the rise. Humans have also killed old growth trees more directly by chopping them down.</p><p>These factors combine to alter forest makeup, PNNL explained:</p><blockquote>Known as deforestation, the phenomenon has led to an imbalance of three important characteristics of a diverse and thriving forest: (1) recruitment, which is the addition of new seedlings to a community; (2) growth, the net increase in biomass or carbon; and (3) mortality, the death of forest trees.</blockquote>
<p>"Mortality is rising in most areas, while recruitment and growth are variable over time, leading to a net decline in the stature of forests," McDowell said.</p><p>While previous scientists had predicted increased carbon dioxide would lead to more tree growth, McDowell's team found this was only the case in younger forests with lots of nutrients and water. Otherwise, he explained to National Geographic, hotter temperatures reduce moisture, causing trees to shed leaves and close pores to retain water, which makes it harder for them to absorb carbon dioxide.</p><p>"[It's like] going to an all-you-can-eat buffet with duct tape over their mouths," he said.</p>
<p>Tree loss is truly a worldwide problem. In the Western U.S., Canada and Europe, where data is most abundant, the rate of tree death has doubled in the last four decades, and older trees have disproportionately been affected. Worldwide, humans have cut down 12 percent of the world's forests since 1900, and the proportion of the world's forests that are more than 140 years old has declined from 89 to 66 percent during that time, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/28/climate-crisis-world-forests-shorter-younger-study" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p><p>The study spells bad news for trees' ability to help combat the climate crisis.</p><p>"When old trees die, they decompose and stop sucking up CO2 and release more of it to the atmosphere," McDowell told National Geographic. "It's like a thermostat gone bad. Warming begets tree loss, then tree loss begets more warming."</p>
<p>However, professor Simon Lewis of University College London, who was not involved in the study, pointed out that while forests are getting younger on average, some crucial old growth forests are actually increasing their area.</p><p>"The world's intact tropical and boreal forests are both globally important as carbon sinks, and are getting larger," he told The Guardian. "The world's forests currently slow climate change, and while future mortality trends could reverse this, the ideas in the new report don't change what the world needs to do: stabilise the climate by quickly driving fossil fuel emissions to zero and protect the world's forests."</p>
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"Most of this fossil fuel finance flowed to wealthier countries," the report says, noting that China (pictured), Canada, Japan, and Korea provided the most public finance for dirty energy projects from 2016 to 2018.
Kevin Frayer / Stringer / Getty Images
Kevin Frayer / Stringer / Getty Images
By Jessica Corbett
Even after the world's largest economies adopted the landmark Paris agreement to tackle the climate crisis in late 2015, governments continued to pour $77 billion a year in public finance into propping up the fossil fuel industry, according to a report released Wednesday.
<p>The new <a href="http://priceofoil.org/2020/05/27/g20-still-digging/" target="_blank">report</a>, from Oil Change International and Friends of the Earth (FOE) U.S., focuses on financing for oil, gas, and coal projects from members of the Group of 20 (<a href="https://g20.org/en/about/Pages/whatis.aspx" target="_blank">G20</a>), which comprises governments and central bank governors from 19 countries and the European Union.</p><p>Although U.S. President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/04/delivering-catastrophic-message-moment-great-urgency-trump-formally-begins-ditching" target="_blank">began</a> the one-year withdrawal process for ditching the Paris accord in November 2019 after years of <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/06/01/destructive-fossil-fuel-puppet-trump-ditches-climate-deal-fact-free-speech" target="_blank">threats</a>, other G20 nations remain committed to the agreement, which aims to keep global temperature rise well below 2°C (35.6 F) and further limit it to 1.5°C (34.7 F) by 2100.</p><p>Despite their public commitments to the Paris agreement, "G20 countries continue to subsidize the fossil fuel industry even as it makes bad business decisions that hurt people and the planet," FOE U.S. senior international policy analyst Kate DeAngelis <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2020/05/27/report-g20-governments-bankrolling-fossil-fuel-industry-least-77-billion-year" target="_blank">said</a> in a statement.</p><p>"Our planet is hurtling towards climate catastrophe and these countries are pouring gasoline on the fire to the tune of billions," she said. "We must hold G20 governments accountable for their promises to move countries toward clean energy. They have an opportunity to reflect and change their financing so that it supports clean energy solutions that will not exacerbate bad health outcomes and put workers at greater risk."</p>
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<p>The new report—<a href="http://priceofoil.org/content/uploads/2020/05/G20-Still-Digging.pdf" target="_blank"><em>Still Digging: G20 Governments Continue to Finance the Climate Crisis</em> </a>(pdf)—warns that "with the health and livelihoods of billions at immediate risk from Covid-19, governments around the world are preparing public spending packages of a magnitude they previously deemed unthinkable."</p><blockquote>In normal times, development finance institutions (DFIs), export credit agencies (ECAs), and multilateral development banks (MDBs) already had an outsized impact on the overall energy landscape and more capacity than their private sector peers to act on the climate crisis. In the current moment, their potential influence has multiplied, and it is imperative that they change course. The fossil fuel sector was showing long-term signs of systemic decline before Covid-19 and has been quick to seize on this crisis with requests for massive subsidies and bailouts. We cannot afford for the wave of public finance that is being prepared for relief and recovery efforts to prop up the fossil fuel industry as it has in the past. Business as usual would exacerbate the next crisis—the climate crisis—that is already on our doorstep.<br></blockquote><p>As Oil Change International research analyst Bronwen Tucker put it: "Fossil fuel corporations know their days are numbered. Their lobbyists are using the Covid-19 crisis as cover to try to secure the massive new government handouts they need to survive."</p><p>Echoing <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/26/hundreds-medical-professionals-and-groups-say-covid-19-stimulus-plans-must-be" target="_blank">recent calls</a> from climate campaigners, advocacy groups, progressive policymakers, and healthcare professionals, the report urges G20 governments and multilateral development banks to support a global, just recovery to the coronavirus pandemic.</p><p>"Government money must instead support a just transition from fossil fuels that protects workers, communities, and the climate—both at home and beyond their borders," said Tucker. "Instead of bankrolling another major crisis—climate change—our governments should invest in a resilient future."</p><p>Based on information from Oil Change International's Shift the Subsidies database, the report details financing from public institutions controlled by G20 governments—DFIs, ECAs, and MDBs. Key findings include that support for the fossil fuel industry has "stayed steady" since the Paris agreement and ECAs are "the worst public finance actors."</p><p>"Most of this fossil fuel finance flowed to wealthier countries," the report says, noting that China, Canada, Japan, and Korea provided the most public finance for dirty energy projects from 2016 to 2018.</p>
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<p><em>Still Digging</em> examines just one way these nations support planet-wrecking oil, gas, and coal projects, acknowledging that "unlike the 2017 version of this report, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/07/05/talk-cheap-g20-told-end-public-subsidy-all-dirty-fuels-2020" target="_blank"><em>Talk is Cheap</em></a>, it does not include public finance directly from G20 government departments due to a gross lack of transparency."</p><p>The report also doesn't cover "majority government-owned banks without a clear policy mandate, sovereign wealth funds, or public finance institutions with subnational governance," or "subsidies to fossil fuel production at the national level in G20 state budgets, which previous analysis has indicated may provide an additional $80 billion per year in support to fossil fuel production."</p><p>However, <em>Still Digging</em> suggests that G20 public finance institutions—as entities owned by governments party to the Paris accord—could be catalysts for more climate-friendly financing decisions "due to their economic and political power."</p><p>"Private and public financial investors alike will need to shift rapidly," the report says, "but the role of public institutions is unique because of both their outsized influence on energy finance and their capacity and mandate to lead on climate action."</p>
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<p>More than 30 groups from across the globe endorsed the report—including Justica Ambiental, or FOE Mozambique, which has worked to raise alarm about international public finance supporting the expansion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in southern African country.</p><p>"It is unacceptable that such a high investment, which will provide billions of profits for foreign companies like Total, is contributing to the impoverishment and oppression of already vulnerable local communities," said Justica Ambiental director Anabela Lemos.</p><p>"Peasant and fishing families have lost their livelihoods for a lifetime," Lemos added. "The discovery of gas has stolen their identity and failed to provide them with the conditions stipulated in the so-called community consultation processes."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/27/new-report-details-how-g20-nations-spend-77-billion-year-destroy-climate" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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A food delivery courier packs an order in Bangkok on March 25, 2020, after the government limited restaurants to takeout during the COVID-19 pandemic. MLADEN ANTONOV / AFP / Getty Images
By Tanika Godbole
Southeast Asia is one of the biggest sources of plastic waste from land to the ocean, and Thailand is among the top five contributors. In January, Thailand placed a ban on single-use plastic, and was looking to reduce its plastic waste by 30% this year.
<p>But the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown has led to a huge rise in the country's plastic waste. According to the Thailand Environment Institute (TEI), the average amount of plastic waste went from 2,120 tons per day in 2019 to approximately 3,440 tons per day between January and April 2020. The rise in the month of April alone was nearly 62%.</p>
Food Delivery
<p>One of the biggest contributors to the plastic problem is food delivery. As people have been housebound, their tendency to order food delivery has risen, resulting in increased usage of plastic containers and wrapping material.</p><p>Grab, a Singaporean food delivery app, saw a surge of 400% in orders. Other such apps like Line Man and Foodpanda Thailand, too, have seen a rise of 300% and 50% in their orders, respectively.</p><p>Waste from a single delivery could contain several plastic items such as containers, seasoning packets, beverage holders, chopsticks, spoons, forks and so on.</p><p>"Plastic containers for food are often contaminated, the waste separation and collection are not systematic, and there is no regulation on waste separation and enforcement," said Wijarn Simachaya, President of TEI.</p>Waste Management
<p>While countries across North America, Europe and Japan also contribute high levels of plastic waste, they have relatively efficient waste management systems in place.</p><p>The Thai government had released a "Plastic Waste Management Road Map," to phase out the use of plastic by 2030. One of the initiatives of this plan was the single-use plastic ban that has been enforced since January.</p><p>According to data released by the Department of Environment and Quality Promotion, an average person in Thailand uses about 8 plastic bags per day, which adds up to 200 billion per year.</p><p>According to Greenpeace, imported plastic waste is also adding to Thailand's plastic crisis. Their research has revealed that imports of plastic waste into the country jumped two years ago, mostly due to China's decision to ban imports at the start of 2018.</p><p>"This has put added pressure on a waste system which is already failing to deal with domestic demand. Making matters worse, much of it is mislabeled as 'recyclable' even though the shipments constitute hundreds of thousands of tons of contaminated plastic and other mixed wastes from developed countries that cannot be processed," said Pichmol Rugrod, team leader of Plastic Free Future, Greenpeace Thailand.</p><p>"Thailand is in the grip of a growing plastic waste crisis - both domestically, through overproduction and consumption, and via the importation of plastic waste from abroad," Rugrod told DW. "Much of this plastic simply ends up in landfill sites or dumped in our streets because of a lack of waste management options, exacerbating urban flooding, or polluting rivers, seas and oceans - killing wildlife and affecting the food chain."</p>
Widespread
<p>Some say the pandemic has merely brought to the surface an already existing problem for the country. Experts believe that greater awareness and lifestyle changes among the masses could help address this issue.</p><p>The effects of plastic waste are long term. The pollution affects the oceans, aquatic life and also humans.</p><p>"Plastic pollution may also be contaminating the air that we breathe every day. Plastics do not biodegrade, therefore once they are introduced into an animal's system, they will stay there for a long time. Therefore, consuming these plastics leads to malnutrition, digestive blockage and slow poisoning effects due to plastic's heightened toxicity," Simachaya told DW.</p><p>While the pandemic may have been a setback to Thailand's struggle to eliminate plastic waste, Simachaya believes a change in awareness and habits will lead to a gradual decrease in plastic waste.</p><p>Thailand is slowly starting to ease lockdown rules. While it is too premature to say whether the plastic waste levels are expected to go down, some delivery outlets have started offering bio-degradable containers and cutlery. Some online shopping companies are also giving the option of receiving packages without the use of plastic.</p>From Your Site Articles
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A group of doctors prepared to treat coronavirus patients in Brazil. SILVIO AVILA / AFP via Getty Images
More than 40 million doctors and nurses are in, and they are prescribing a green recovery from the economic devastation caused by the new coronavirus.
<p>More than 350 health organizations representing some 40 million medical professionals, as well as more than 4,500 individual health workers from 90 countries, signed a <a href="https://healthyrecovery.net/" target="_blank">letter</a> to the G20 leaders Tuesday urging them to craft what they are promoting as a #HealthyRecovery by taking measures such as reforming <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuel</a> subsidies and fighting pollution and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation" target="_self">deforestation</a>.</p><p>"A truly healthy recovery will not allow pollution to continue to cloud the air we breathe and the water we drink," the health professionals wrote. "It will not permit unabated <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate change</a> and deforestation, potentially unleashing new health threats upon vulnerable populations."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Health workers are at the frontline of the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a> pandemic, working tirelessly to ensure that people receive the treatment they need. <br><br>Now millions of them have signed a letter with a simple message: We need a <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HealthyRecovery?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HealthyRecovery</a> from this crisis.<br><br> 👉<a href="https://t.co/MfkPaoUu8A">https://t.co/MfkPaoUu8A</a> <a href="https://t.co/XErStuXCAM">pic.twitter.com/XErStuXCAM</a></p>— UN Climate Change (@UNFCCC) <a href="https://twitter.com/UNFCCC/status/1265287853694738433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>The signatories represent about half of the world's medical workers, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/26/world-health-leaders-urge-green-recovery-from-coronavirus-crisis" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. They include the World Medical Association, the International Council of Nurses, the Commonwealth Nurses and Midwives Federation, the World Organization of Family Doctors and the World Federation of Public Health Associations, according to a <a href="https://unfccc.int/news/medical-professionals-want-green-recovery-from-covid-19" target="_blank">UN Climate Change press release</a>. The letter also has the support of the World Health Organization and the Global Climate and Health Alliance, <a href="https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/world-needs-green-recovery-health-experts-tell-g20-leaders-doc-1s95mj3" target="_blank">AFP reported</a>.</p><p>By writing the letter, the health workers are joining a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/un-earth-day-coronavirus-climate-crisis-2645802263.html">growing movement</a> for a recovery from the impacts of the virus and subsequent lockdown measures that also addresses the climate crisis and other environmental problems.</p><p>"Health professionals are at the frontlines of this emergency, and we are seeing the immense loss of lives because of acting too late," World Medical Association President Miguel Jorge said, as The Guardian reported. "We know now more than ever that healthy lives depend on a healthy planet. As we walk on the road to recovery, we need to build a system that will protect us from further damage. We need a healthy and green recovery."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">WMA joins +40 million doctors, nurses and health professionals calling upon <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/G20?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#G20</a> leaders to put public health at the center of their countries' <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a> recovery plans. <a href="https://t.co/QMZJuXj065">https://t.co/QMZJuXj065</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HealthyRecovery?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HealthyRecovery</a> <a href="https://t.co/Dz6tIRJQbc">pic.twitter.com/Dz6tIRJQbc</a></p>— World Medical Association (@medwma) <a href="https://twitter.com/medwma/status/1265284083082498050?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>The letter highlighted the damage caused by <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution" target="_self">air pollution</a>, which led to seven million early deaths a year before the emergence of the new coronavirus. There is <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-air-pollution-fatality-2645656760.html" target="_self">evidence</a> that exposure to air pollution could make the new disease more deadly, and one of the most memorable effects of the lockdown measures has been the clearing of skies from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-china-pollution-2645356657.html" target="_self">China</a> to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-italy-air-pollution-2645508891.html" target="_self">Italy</a> as factories closed and cars stayed off the roads.</p><p>To maintain some of these gains while fighting the climate crisis, the health professionals recommended reforming fossil fuel subsidies and putting more of that money towards <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/renewable-energy" target="_self">renewable energy</a>, something they argued would grow global GDPs by nearly 100 trillion dollars by 2050.</p><p>They also urged G20 leaders to involve their chief medical and scientific advisors in creating economic stimulus plans.</p><p>"The enormous investments your governments will make over the coming months in key sectors like health care, transport, energy and agriculture must have health protection and promotion embedded at their core," they wrote.</p><p>The next G20 meeting has been scheduled for November, according to AFP.</p><p>However, some world leaders on the list, such as U.S. President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> and Brazil's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/jair-bolsonaro" target="_self">Jair Bolsonaro</a>, have already faced criticism for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/doctor-bright-coronavirus-trump-drug-2645811981.html" target="_self">sidelining science</a> in their response to the coronavirus and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/brazil-amazon-deforestation-coronavirus-2645950493.html" target="_self">using the crisis</a> as an excuse to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-dismantles-environmental-protections-under-cover-of-coronavirus-2645989316.html" target="_self">roll back environmental protections</a>.</p>
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Locusts swarm over Jaipur, India on May 25, 2020. Vishal Bhatnagar / NurPhoto via Getty Images
India is facing its worst desert locust invasion in nearly 30 years, and the climate crisis is partly to blame.
<p>The locusts spawned a swarm of social media posts Monday when they entered the city of Jaipur, as <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/trending-in-india/large-swarms-of-the-locusts-enter-jaipur-netizens-share-frightening-videos-of-attack-6427856/" target="_blank">The Indian Express reported</a>, but the crop-devouring <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/insects" target="_self">insects</a> have been wreaking havoc since May in an invasion that both began earlier and is extending farther than usual. Several farmers told <a href="https://thewire.in/agriculture/locust-attack-india-jaipur-climate-change" target="_blank">The Wire</a> that they hadn't seen an invasion this severe in their lifetimes.</p><p>"Even my father, who is 86, said he hasn't ever seen anything like this. Only heard about this in folk tales," 64-year-old Madhya Pradesh farmer Sooraj Pandey told The Wire.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Locust Ataack in Jaipur 🤮 <a href="https://t.co/QWHfOXasvf">pic.twitter.com/QWHfOXasvf</a></p>— Akanksha🎨 (@art_lover_09) <a href="https://twitter.com/art_lover_09/status/1264802499782991873?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Locusts are not uncommon in the northwest Indian state of Rajasthan, but this year they have also entered the states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh for the first time since 1993 and the state of Maharashtra for the first time since 1974. They also do not usually move so far into Rajasthan from the border with Pakistan, according to AFP reporting <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/crops-destroyed-india-faces-worst-locust-attack-27-years-200526160727430.html" target="_blank">published by Al Jazeera</a>.</p><p>So far, the insects have devoured almost 50,000 hectares or 123,500 acres of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/agriculture" target="_self">agricultural</a> land in seven Indian states, <a href="https://apnews.com/707418101bef8e5a2340e905fb97fdd7" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported</a>, putting pressure on farmers already struggling with the impacts of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> lockdown.</p>
<p>The government has responded with pesticides, drones and sprayers mounted on vehicles, while farmers have resorted to banging plates, whistling and throwing stones to drive the locusts away.</p><p>"These insects are giving us sleepless nights. We are more worried about them than the virus," Mandeep Singh, a cotton farmer from Punjab, told The Associated Press.</p><p>A swarm of 40 million locusts can cover the space of a square kilometer (approximately 0.4 square miles) and eat the same as 35,000 people in a day, according to UN Food and Agricultural Organization data reported by The Wire.</p>
<p>Unusually large locust swarms bred on the Arabian Peninsula in early 2019 following heavy rains and cyclones in the region, according to AFP. Those ideal breeding conditions were the product of the climate crisis, as warmer than usual temperatures in the western Indian Ocean fueled the storms.</p><p>"These warm waters were caused by the phenomenon called the Indian Ocean Dipole — with warmer than usual waters to its west, and cooler waters to its east. Rising temperatures due to global warming amplified the dipole and made the western Indian Ocean particularly warm," Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology climate scientist Roxy Mathew Koll told The Wire.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This time desert locust attack is severe. They have arrived earlier, in huge numbers & now reached till Panna in MP. The changing climate conditions are linked with locust growth in east Africa. The swarms has potential of eating everything & destroy the crops. This from Panna. <a href="https://t.co/8aqLa8lA4O">pic.twitter.com/8aqLa8lA4O</a></p>— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) <a href="https://twitter.com/ParveenKaswan/status/1265124661718847489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>The locusts have already <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/locust-swarm-east-africa-2644928358.html" target="_self">caused significant damage</a> in East Africa earlier in 2020 before migrating to India through Iran and Pakistan.</p><p>India's locust situation could get even worse, both this year and in the future.</p><p>In the short term, more locusts could arrive from Africa in June, according to AFP. There is also a concern that the locusts already in India could breed, The Associated Press pointed out.</p><p>"It is an alarming situation," KL Gurjar, a top official at India's Locust Warning Organization, told The Associated Press. "But we are more worried of their breeding. If that happens, it could be devastating for our farmlands."</p><p>In the future, climate change could also make locust invasions like this year's more common.</p><p>"Climate change may well play a role here, mainly because, according to forecasts by international climate researchers, precipitation will increase in the southern Arabian Peninsula and northern East Africa," University of Trier biodiversity scientist Axel Hochkirch told The Wire. "This means that there will be more frequent 'very humid' phases, such as we have had since 2018, and it is therefore possible that such swarms will simply occur more frequently."</p>
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A baby humpback whale tail slaps in the Pacific Ocean in front of the West Maui Mountains. share your experiences / Moment / Getty Images
The depths of the oceans are heating up more slowly than the surface and the air, but that will undergo a dramatic shift in the second half of the century, according to a new study. Researchers expect the rate of climate change in the deep parts of the oceans could accelerate to seven times their current rate after 2050, as The Guardian reported.
<p>The study, published in the journal <em><a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0773-5" target="_blank">Nature Climate Change</a></em>, found that different parts of the ocean undergo change at different rates as the extra heat from increasing levels of greenhouse gases moved through the vast ocean depths, making it increasingly tricky for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/marine-life" target="_self">marine life</a> to adapt, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/26/climate-change-in-deep-oceans-could-be-seven-times-faster-by-middle-of-century-report-says" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>The researchers saw grim prospects for marine life after looking at a metric called climate velocity, which measures the speed and direction a species shifts as their habitat warms, according to <a href="https://www.coastfm.co.uk/news/technology/deep-ocean-life-faces-escalating-threat-from" target="_blank">Sky News</a>.</p>
<p>The scientists, led by Isaac Brito-Morales, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Queensland in Australia, used data from 11 different climate models to predict what the rest of the 21st century will look like, as <a href="https://www.coastfm.co.uk/news/technology/deep-ocean-life-faces-escalating-threat-from" target="_blank">Sky News</a> reported. Brito-Morales and his team looked at the past 50 years of data and projections for future greenhouse gas emissions.</p><p>"This allowed us to compare climate velocity in four ocean depth zones — assessing in which zones <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" target="_self">biodiversity</a> could shift their distribution the most in response to climate change," said Brito-Morales, in a University of Queensland <a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-05-deep-ocean-slowlybut.html" target="_blank">statement</a>.</p>
<p>The researchers looked at future rates of change in three different scenarios, one where emissions start to fall, another where they start to fall by the middle of this century, and a third where emissions continued to rise up to 2100.</p><p>The study found "a rapid acceleration of climate change exposure throughout the water column" in the second half of the century, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/26/climate-change-in-deep-oceans-could-be-seven-times-faster-by-middle-of-century-report-says" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported.</p><p>Professor Jorge García Molinos, a climate ecologist at Hokkaido University's Arctic Research Center in Japan, and a co-author of the study, said to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/26/climate-change-in-deep-oceans-could-be-seven-times-faster-by-middle-of-century-report-says" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, "Our results suggest that deep sea biodiversity is likely to be at greater risk because they are adapted to much more stable thermal environments."</p><p>"The acceleration of climate velocity is consistent through all tested greenhouse gas concentration scenarios," Moinos added, as <a href="https://www.aninews.in/news/science/climate-change-can-affect-deep-sea-biodiversity-slowly-study-finds20200526181939/" target="_blank">ANI News</a> in India reported.</p>
<p>So far, ocean water surfaces are experiencing climate velocity about twice the rate of the lower regions. Consequently, life in the depths of the ocean has been less affected than, say, coral, which are much closer to the surface of the water.</p><p>"However by the end of the century, assuming we have a high-emissions future, there is not only much greater surface warming, but also this warmth will penetrate deeper," said Brito-Morales in a <a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-05-deep-ocean-slowlybut.html" target="_blank">statement</a>. "In waters between a depth of 200 and 1000 meters, our research showed climate velocities accelerated to 11 times the present rate.</p><p>"And in an interesting twist, not only is climate velocity moving at different speeds at different depths in the ocean, but also in different directions which poses huge challenges to the ways we design protected areas," he added.</p><p>Several problems exist for marine life such as tuna. First, although they live in the depths, the plankton they eat are near the surface, meaning tuna will have to go through changing water to find food. Secondly, fish in the depths of the ocean are accustomed to a highly stable environment. They are extremely vulnerable to any slight changes in ocean temperatures, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/26/climate-change-in-deep-oceans-could-be-seven-times-faster-by-middle-of-century-report-says" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported.</p>
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Only the paper part of a drink carton would be recycled — everything else, including the plastic coating or layer or aluminum foil, would be incinerated as residual waste. tavan amonratanasareegul / Getty Images
By Jeannette Cwienk
When it comes to recycling and recyclability, very little, it seems is straightforward — even something as seemingly simple as orange juice can present a conundrum. In Germany, many smaller shops sell drinks in cartons or plastic bottles, both of which will end up in the yellow recycling bin. But how do their recycling credentials stack up?
<p>"As far as recyclability is concerned, the plastic bottle is probably slightly better because it is likely only made from one plastic, and so is easier to recycle than a multilayer material like a beverage carton," says Rolf Buschmann, waste and resource expert with the German environmental organization BUND, who worked on the group's 2019 Plastic Atlas.</p><p>He explains that only the paper part of the drink carton would be recycled <em>—</em> everything else, including the plastic coating or layer or aluminum foil, would be incinerated as residual waste.</p>
More and More Multilayer Packaging
<p>How easy is it to recognize multilayer packaging? With drink cartons, it's usually obvious that they're made from a combination of different materials, but with other products, such as candy wrappers, it's a different story.</p><p>Such packaging can be made from a complex mix of up to 10 different films of plastic, which as Joachim Christiani, managing director of German recycling institute cyclos-HTP, explains, is <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germany-produces-record-amount-of-packaging-waste/a-51293541" target="_blank">invisible to consumers</a>.</p><p>"In recent years there's been a trend toward so-called multilayer packaging, which is extremely light and thin. It saves material as well as CO2 emissions during transport, but can't be recycled," Christiani says.</p><p>Because it is not possible to melt the different plastics together, or — at least for now — to separate the individual films from one another at recycling plants.</p>Lack of Recycled Plastic
<p>A 2017 cyclos-HTP study into the recyclability of conventional packaging waste concluded that a third of it was not recyclable, and only 40% of the remaining two-thirds was made into plastic recyclate. The rest was used as fuel <em>—</em> in other words it was incinerated.</p><p>"There was no economic or political pressure to recycle more than this amount," Christiani says. "The prescribed recycling quotas were met, and there were not nearly enough recycling plants."</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzMxNjYwMy9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MTQ4MzI5M30.HL0sO8u-CFQf1FvXt4uVkyWtp5iseVH4FmaVYGkfNEY/img.png?width=980" id="b5980" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0967b762faff5003e7a353180d4ad95e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>Another 2017 study by the chemical and waste disposal industry also shows that to date, Germany has not made much use of recycled plastic. According to the findings, plastic recyclate accounted for only 12% of the total amount of plastic processed in Germany <em>—</em> just under 1.8 million tons. The share of new plastic, on the other hand, was more than 12 million tons.</p>
Room for Greenwashing
<p>According to a 2018 survey by Germany's vzbv consumer protection association, most consumers would like to see more plastic recycling, especially when it comes to packaging.</p><p>Although some products come in packaging that is advertised as being "made from recycled material," Elke Salzmann, a resource protection officer with vzbv, says that can be misleading.</p><p>"It says nothing about how much recycled material the packaging actually contains," according to Salzmann. "And it also doesn't mean that the recycled plastic comes from collected plastic waste. It could just as well come from plastic leftovers created during the production of primary plastic."</p><p>The term "ocean plastic," which some textile and shoe manufacturers use to advertise the recycled plastic in their product lines, can also be misleading, Salzmann says.</p><p><span></span>"Plastic waste from the ocean is in much too bad a state to be recycled. Instead, they use plastic waste from beaches or riverbanks."</p>Laws Against Plastic
<p>Images of garbage choking our waters and <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/eurythenes-plasticus-a-deep-sea-crustacean-full-of-plastic/a-52663559" target="_blank">killing marine wildlife</a> have played a key role in giving plastic a negative reputation among the public, and politicians have started to act.</p><p>Many countries worldwide have introduced bans on single-use items, and in Germany, a 2019 packaging law stipulates a plastics recycling quota of 90% from 2022, up from 36%. That said, the quota only refers to how much material has to be fed into the recycling system, not how much ultimately needs to be recycled.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzMxNjYxNC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMzE4OTE0M30.8xGfBu2brG_AIp45i_q_LxZZu0nMvlFGAEWGL93Hv6M/img.png?width=980" id="79d47" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6bc3d22db4f442dacf798ac32ccc7671" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>This may be addressed in future European Union legislation. As part of its "<a href="https://www.dw.com/en/will-trains-play-a-key-role-in-the-european-green-deal/a-52263495" target="_blank">Green Deal</a>," the European Commission <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/eu-commission-aims-to-clamp-down-on-waste-with-new-law/a-52720804" target="_blank">is aiming to move toward a circular economy</a>, and has announced an action plan to conserve resources and prevent waste.</p><p>The Commission is also being advised by the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) on how to establish new rules around the use of recycled materials.</p><p>The recommendations range from landfill and export bans on plastic waste and tax rebates for recycled products, to the introduction of a plastics tax and a legal minimum quota of recycled content in packaging.</p>
Rethinking the Whole System
<p>Although plastic is a very useful material, at the end of its life it causes many problems, EASAC environmental program director Michael Norton tells DW, adding that we have to rethink the whole system and completely change the way we use plastic.</p><p>Joachim Christiani says the packaging industry is starting to catch on. Around 70% of recycled mass can currently be generated from packaging, but that figure is expected to rise in the future.</p><p>"95% is quite feasible," says the engineer, adding that sorting facilities are currently undergoing improvements, while packaging design is also changing.</p>Clear Plastics Are Easiest to Recycle
<p>As things stand, PET bottles are easiest to recycle because they're not mixed with other materials. New bottles can therefore easily be made from the old ones and the recycling rate is high. But the color of the bottle can pose a problem.</p><p>Because plastic is sorted by type rather than color, if different colors of plastic are mixed, the resulting recyclate cannot be used for light-colored packaging, which many manufacturers want. The upshot is the introduction of new plastic instead.</p><p>Consumer and environmental associations have long called for recyclability, greater sorting purity and better sorting facilities, but their most important demand remains waste avoidance through reusable systems.</p><p>"Why melt down disposable bottles to make new disposable bottles when you can refill them up to 20 times?" Buschmann asks.</p>From Your Site Articles
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Trending
Alberta Energy Minister Calls Pandemic ‘a Great Time’ to Build Pipelines Due to Protest Restrictions
26 May
Politics
Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage in Edmonton on Friday, April 24, 2020. Chris Schwarz / Government of Alberta / Flickr
Anti-pipeline protests work.
That's the implication behind comments made by Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage Friday on how coronavirus social distancing requirements could ease the construction of Canada's controversial Trans Mountain Expansion project.
<p>"Now is a great time to be building a pipeline because you can't have protests of more than 15 people," Savage said, as <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/pipelines-alberta-protests-physical-distancing-1.5584025" target="_blank">The Canadian Press reported</a>. "Let's get it built."</p><p>Savage made the comments while speaking on a Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors podcast. After the remark, the interviewer laughed, but Savage did not.</p>
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<p>Savage also argued that the political and economic climate caused by the pandemic would not favor protesters.</p><p>"People are not going to have tolerance and patience for protests that get in the way of people working," she said on the podcast. "People need jobs and those types of ideological protests that get in the way are not going to be tolerated by ordinary Canadians."</p><p>The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, which would nearly triple the amount of oil carried from Edmonton, Alberta to Burnaby, British Columbia from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels per day, has faced fierce opposition from environmental groups, the B.C. government and some <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous" target="_self">indigenous</a> communities along its route, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52804344" target="_blank">BBC News reported</a>. Pipeline opponents cite the risk of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-spill" target="_self">oil spills</a>, the threat to endangered orcas off the B.C. coast and the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> as reasons the project should not be expanded.</p>
<p>Construction on the project began in December, but in the podcast Savage acknowledged that protests had been a major hurdle.</p><p>"The activists have been so effective because the industry has been so ineffective," Savage said, as <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/alberta-energy-minister-pipeline-protest_ca_5ecc1dc5c5b6fd5bd57f1215?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACZLberJaRiI3IUecNLxlObw0VUGa0voqOClhc59lw9R-GhSH90WGTBduckFaRR4tyjBO1Bhszp82L6E5sFRFZcpb2bnc7_SK6oGNl-396Mv68dfczXkeJhu6UohURTawVCYUJH8S9LGdDjwZvethwPJqnzrwqIZah4_enMre5cn" target="_blank">HuffPost reported</a>. "They outsmarted the entire industry […] they got ahead of everyone."</p><p>Both Alberta and British Columbia have actually increased their upward limit on outdoor gatherings to 50, according to The Canadian Press. But while protesting in person against a pipeline might be more difficult because of the coronavirus pandemic, the outbreak has actually given environmental groups and frontline communities another reason to oppose them. Because <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-and-gas" target="_self">oil and gas</a> has been designated an "essential service" by the Alberta government, work camps have spread the new disease to rural areas, HuffPost pointed out. In one April incident, an outbreak at Imperial Oil's Kearl mine led to more than 100 cases in Western Canada. Another outbreak at the Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. Horizon oilsands mine generated at least five new cases last week.</p><p>"Can't believe we have to say it but it absolutely is NOT a 'great time' to build a pipeline," <a href="https://350.org/no-cgl/" target="_blank">350 Canada</a> tweeted in response to Savage's comments. "We are in the midst of a health and climate crisis. And setting up man camps will endanger the lives of Indigenous and rural communities with already strained healthcare systems."</p>
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<p>Savage's spokesperson Kavi Bal acknowledged that she spoke on the podcast but denied that social distancing measures were good for the industry.</p><p>"We respect the right to lawful protests," Bal told The Canadian Press. "I would note that the limitations to public gatherings … have benefited no one – including project proponents and any opposition groups."</p><p>Irfan Sabir, the Opposition New Democrat energy critic, denounced Savage's remarks and Alberta's ruling United Conservative Party (UCP), led by pro-<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil-fuel</a> Premier <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/keystone-xl-pipeline-construction-2645607020.html" target="_self">Jason Kenney</a>.</p><p>"These comments do not come as a shock," he said. "The UCP have already used the pandemic as an excuse to suspend environmental monitoring. When combined with the minister's latest comments, this will harm the reputation of Alberta's energy industry and inhibit our ability to attract investment and get our product to market."</p>
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Coastal Antarctica has seen has a curious phenomenon over the last few years. The green snow that hugs parts of its shores has started to spread farther inland. And it's all caused by the climate crisis.
<p>A <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16018-w" target="_blank">new study</a> published in the journal <em>Nature Communications</em> on Wednesday found that the green glow in the snow is actually caused by a microscopic <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/algae">algae</a> blooming on the surface of the snow, according to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/green-snow-algae-antarctica-spreading-climate-change/" target="_blank">CBS News</a>.</p><p>The researchers from the University of Cambridge in the UK and the <a href="https://www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/climate-change-will-turn-coastal-antarctica-green/" target="_blank">British Antarctic Survey</a> say the algae will spread as the planet heats up because warming temperatures are creating more of the slushy conditions that the algae need in order to thrive, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/20/climate-change-turning-parts-antarctica-green-say-scientists-algae" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>Where the algae are at their most dense, their bright green shine alters the appearance of the snow and is actually visible from space. The scientists also say that as the algae spreads, it will invite in other species that will feast on it as a potent source of nutrition, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/20/climate-change-turning-parts-antarctica-green-say-scientists-algae" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported.</p>
<p>To conduct the study, the researchers looked at satellite data gathered between 2017 and 2019 and combined it with on-the-ground measurements over two summers in Antarctica. That process allowed the scientists to map the microscopic algae as they bloomed across the snow of the Antarctic Peninsula, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/21/world/green-snow-antarctica-climate-change-intl-scli-scn/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>. The data was gleaned from images collected by the European Space Agency satellites with measurements from Antarctica's Ryder Bay, Adelaide Island, the Fildes Peninsula and King George Island.</p><p>What is reported is actually a conservative estimate since the data only included green algae. The satellite is only capable of picking up green, which means the data ignored the red and orange algae that accompany it.</p>
<p>"We now have a baseline of where the algal blooms are and we can see whether the blooms will start increasing as the models suggest in the future," said Matt Davey of the University of Cambridge's Department of Plant Sciences to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-antarctica/climate-change-turning-antarcticas-snow-green-idUSKBN22W16F" target="_blank">Reuters</a>.</p><p>Even though mosses and lichens are the dominant plant species in Antarctica, the new mapping identified 1,679 separate algal blooms that are a key component in the continent's ability to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-antarctica/climate-change-turning-antarcticas-snow-green-idUSKBN22W16F" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>"The algal blooms in Antarctica are equivalent to about the amount of carbon that's being omitted by 875,000 average UK petrol car journeys," Davey said to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-antarctica/climate-change-turning-antarcticas-snow-green-idUSKBN22W16F" target="_blank">Reuters</a>. "That seems a lot but in terms of the global carbon budget, it's insignificant. It does take up carbon from the atmosphere but it won't make any serious dent in the amount of carbon dioxide being put in the atmosphere at the moment."</p>
<p>The green snow appears along the Antarctic coast, which are "warmer" areas. There, the average temperatures reach just above freezing in the summer.</p><p>The researchers found that the distribution of green snow algae is strongly influenced by marine birds and mammals, because their excrement serves as an effective fertilizer. Over 60 percent of blooms were found near penguin colonies, and others were found near birds' nesting sites, according to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/green-snow-algae-antarctica-spreading-climate-change/" target="_blank">CBS News</a>.</p><p>"This is a significant advance in our understanding of land-based life on Antarctica, and how it might change in the coming years as the climate warms," said Davey in a <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/antarctica-turning-green" target="_blank">press release</a>.</p><p>In order to flourish, the algae need a ready supply of water, which they should have an ample amount of as the planet heats up and snow on the Antarctica Peninsula melts.</p>
<p>"As Antarctica warms, we predict the overall mass of snow algae will increase, as the spread to higher ground will significantly outweigh the loss of small island patches of algae," said co-lead author Dr. Andrew Gray, of the University of Cambridge and the University of Edinburgh, as <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/green-snow-algae-antarctica-spreading-climate-change/" target="_blank">CBS News</a> reported.</p><p>And the algae will help more snow melt.</p><p>"It's very dark — a green snow algal bloom will reflect about 45 percent of light hitting it whereas fresh snow will reflect about 80 percent of the light hitting it, so it will increase the rate of snow melt in a localized area," said Gray to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/21/world/green-snow-antarctica-climate-change-intl-scli-scn/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>.</p>
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Biodiversity – the diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems – is declining globally, faster than at any other time in human history. Csondy / Getty Images
By Marie Quinney
Biodiversity is critically important – to your health, to your safety and, probably, to your business or livelihood.
<p>But biodiversity – the diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems – is declining globally, faster than at any other time in human history. The world's 7.6 billion people represent just 0.01% of all living things by weight, but humanity has caused the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/21/human-race-just-001-of-all-life-but-has-destroyed-over-80-of-wild-mammals-study" target="_blank">loss of 83% of all wild mammals and half of all plants</a>. (Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse is one of the top five risks in <a href="https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-risks-report-2020" target="_blank">the World Economic Forum's 2020 Global Risks Report</a>, too.)</p><p>In celebration of <a href="https://www.cbd.int/idb/" target="_blank">the International Day for Biological Diversity</a>, we break down the five ways in which biodiversity supports our economies and enhances our wellbeing – and has the potential to do even more.</p>
1. Biodiversity Ensures Health and Food Security.
<p>Biodiversity underpins global nutrition and food security. Millions of species work together to provide us with a <a href="https://www.cbd.int/health/doc/Summary-SOK-Final.pdf" target="_blank">large array of fruits, vegetables and animal products essential to a healthy, balanced diet</a> – but they are increasingly under threat.</p><p>Every country has indigenous produce – such as wild greens and grains – which have adapted to local conditions, making them more resilient to pests and extreme weather. In the past, this produce provided much-needed micronutrients for local populations. Unfortunately, however, the <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-i1620e.pdf" target="_blank">simplification of diets, processed foods and poor access to food have led to poor-quality diets</a>. As a result, <a href="https://www.bioversityinternational.org/research-portfolio/diet-diversity/biodiversity-for-food-and-nutrition/" target="_blank">one-third of the world suffers from micronutrient deficiencies</a>.</p><p>Three crops – wheat, corn and rice – <a href="https://enviroliteracy.org/food/crops/" target="_blank">provide almost 60% of total plant-based calories consumed by humans</a>. This leads to reduced resiliency in our supply chains and on our plates. For example, <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-i1620e.pdf" target="_blank">the number of rice varieties cultivated in Asia has dropped from tens of thousands to just a few dozen; in Thailand, 50% of land used for growing rice only produces two varieties</a>.</p><p>People once understood that the conservation of species was crucial for healthy societies and ecosystems. We must ensure this knowledge remains part of our modern agricultural and food systems to prevent diet-related diseases and reduce the environmental impact of feeding ourselves.</p>2. Biodiversity Helps Fight Disease.
<p>Higher rates of biodiversity have been linked to an increase in human health.</p><p>First, plants are essential for medicines. For example, <a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_New_Nature_Economy_Report_2020.pdf" target="_blank">25% of drugs used in modern medicine are derived from rainforest plants</a> while <a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_New_Nature_Economy_Report_2020.pdf" target="_blank">70% of cancer drugs are natural or synthetic products inspired by nature</a>. This means that every time a species goes extinct, we miss out on a potential new medicine.</p><p>Second, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/news.2010.644" target="_blank">biodiversity due to protected natural areas has been linked to lower instances of disease</a> such as Lyme disease and malaria. While the exact origin of the virus causing COVID-19 is still unknown, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5711306/" target="_blank">60% of infectious diseases originate from animals</a> and <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/631980-Machalaba-Anthropogenic%20Drivers%20of%20Emerging%20Infectious%20Diseases.pdf" target="_blank">70% of emerging infectious diseases originate from wildlife</a>. As human activities encroach upon the natural world, through deforestation and urbanization, we reduce the size and number of ecosystems. As a result, animals live in closer quarters with one another and with humans, creating ideal conditions for the spread of zoonotic diseases.</p><p>Simply put: <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/news.2010.644" target="_blank">more species means less disease</a>.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzMxMDYyOC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MDA4MjA5MH0.7QU59zfy44cq0wSAwMxeqjyygJi9ef1aEyYHQZ3gCts/img.png?width=980" id="77368" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="18d555bb10422495fc147f109cb72b3b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Human activity is eroding biodiversity. World Economic Forum Nature Risk Rising
3. Biodiversity Benefits Business.
<p>According to the World Economic Forum's recent <a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_New_Nature_Economy_Report_2020.pdf" target="_blank">Nature Risk Rising Report</a>, more than half of the world's GDP ($44 trillion) is highly or moderately dependent on nature. Many businesses are, therefore, at risk due to increasing nature loss. <a href="https://wwf.panda.org/our_work/biodiversity/protected_areas/arguments_for_protection/goods_services/medicine/" target="_blank">Global sales of pharmaceuticals based on materials of natural origin are worth an estimated $75 billion a year</a>, while natural wonders such as <a href="https://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/all_publications/living_planet_report_2018/" target="_blank">coral reefs are essential to food and tourism.</a></p><p>There is great potential for the economy to grow and become more resilient by ensuring biodiversity. <a href="http://wedocs.unep.org/xmlui/handle/20.500.11822/31813" target="_blank">Every dollar spent on nature restoration leads to at least $9 of economic benefits.</a> In addition, <a href="https://www.foodandlandusecoalition.org/global-report/" target="_blank">changing agricultural and food production methods could unlock $4.5 trillion per year in new business opportunities by 2030</a>, while also preventing trillions of dollars' worth of social and environmental harms.</p>4. Biodiversity Provides Livelihoods.
<p>Humans derive approximately <a href="https://livingplanetindex.org/home/index" target="_blank">$125 trillion of value from natural ecosystems each year</a>. Globally, <a href="http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/water/wwap/wwdr/2016-water-and-jobs/" target="_blank">three out of four jobs</a> are dependent on water while the agricultural sector employs over <a href="https://www.conservation.org/priorities/livelihoods" target="_blank">60% of the world's working poor</a>. In the Global South, forests are the source of livelihoods for <a href="https://www.conservation.org/priorities/livelihoods" target="_blank">over 1.6 billion people</a>. In India, forest ecosystems contribute <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19915547" target="_blank">only 7% to India's GDP yet 57% of rural Indian communities' livelihoods</a>.</p><p><span></span>Ecosystems, therefore, must be protected and restored – not only for the good of nature but also for the communities that depend on them.</p><p>Although some fear environmental regulation and the safeguarding of nature could threaten businesses, the "restoration economy" – the restoration of natural landscapes – provides more jobs in the United States than most of the extractives sector, with the potential to create even more. According to some estimates, the restoration economy is worth <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0128339" target="_blank">$25 billion per year and directly employs more than the coal, mining, logging and steel industries altogether</a>. Nature-positive businesses can provide <a href="https://www.greenbiz.com/article/10-things-you-need-know-about-restoration-economy" target="_blank">cost-effective, robot-proof, business-friendly jobs</a> that stimulate the rural economy without harming the environment.</p>5. Biodiversity Protects Us.
<p>Biodiversity makes the earth habitable. Biodiverse ecosystems provide <a href="https://www.nature-basedsolutions.com/" target="_blank">nature-based solutions</a> that buffer us from <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_protect.html" target="_blank">natural disasters such as floods and storms</a>, <a href="https://digital.iucn.org/water/nature-based-solutions-for-water/" target="_blank">filter our water</a> and <a href="https://www.naturebasedsolutionsinitiative.org/publications/the-superior-effect-of-nature-based-solutions-in-land-management-for-enhancing-ecosystem-services/" target="_blank">regenerate our soils</a>.</p><p>The <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/voices/miracle-mangroves-coastal-protection-numbers" target="_blank">clearance of over 35% of the world's mangroves for human activities</a> has increasingly put people and their homes at risk from floods and sea-level rise. If today's mangroves were lost, 18 million more people would be flooded every year (an increase of 39%) and annual damages to property would increase by 16% ($82 billion).</p><p>Protecting and restoring natural ecosystems is vital to fighting climate change. Nature-based solutions could provide <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/114/44/11645" target="_blank">37% of the cost-effective CO2 mitigation needed by 2030</a> to maintain global warming within 2°C (35.6 F).</p><p>Natural ecosystems provide the foundations for economic growth, human health and prosperity. Our fate as a species is deeply connected to the fate of our natural environment.</p><p>As ecosystems are increasingly threatened by human activity, acknowledging the benefits of biodiversity is the first step in ensuring that we look after it. We know biodiversity matters. Now, as a society, we should protect it – and in doing so, protect our own long-term interests.</p>From Your Site Articles
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