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By Natalie Muller
Trees soak up carbon from the atmosphere, provide a home to wildlife and even improve our mental well-being. But did you know they can also "talk" to each other, and send out distress signals when under attack?
1. 60,000 Different Species
There are around 3 trillion trees on Earth, according to a global study led by researchers from Yale University. That includes over 60,000 known tree species, more than half of which are endemic — meaning they're found in only one country. Brazil, Colombia and Indonesia are home to the most tree species. The bad news: there are 46% fewer trees today than at the start of human civilization.
2. Trees 'Migrate' to Escape Climate Change
Trees clearly can't uproot themselves and move, but their population centers can shift over time in response to climate pressures. A study looking at 86 trees species between 1980 and 2015 in the eastern United States found that 73% moved west, where rainfall is increasing. Others headed to the poles, apparently to escape heat. On average, they moved about 16 kilometers (10 miles) per decade.
3. Keeping Cities Cool
Trees not only give us shade, they can also mitigate extreme temperatures by transpiring — absorbing the sun's radiation and releasing water into the air through their leaves. Urban areas can become sweltering "heat islands" in summer. But a 2019 study from the US found that tree canopy cover of 40% or more could lower summer temperatures in cities by as much as 5 degrees Celsius.
4. Sucking Up Pollutants
Trees draw CO2 from the atmosphere and are therefore crucial in the fight against climate change. They can also use their leaves to filter particulate matter and toxic gases like nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide from the air. A recent UK study found that silver birch, yew and elder trees could reduce particles at rates of 79%, 71% and 70% respectively.
5. Healing Power
Trees can reduce our stress levels and help us feel happier and healthier. Several studies have shown that spending time in nature, or even just looking at trees or flowers through a window, can lower blood pressure, boost the immune system, improve sleep, reduce depression and anxiety, and even speed up recovery after surgery.
6. Trees 'Talk' to Each Other
Forests have their own communication systems — almost like an underground internet —that allows trees to swap nutrients and send warnings about drought or disease. They interact via networks of soil fungi, known as mycorrhizal networks. Research by ecologist Suzanne Simard has shown that paper birch (pictured) and fir trees use this system to send water, carbon and nutrients back and forth.
7. Sending Signals in the Air
Trees can't flee if their leaves are being devoured by a hungry herbivore. But what they can do is release chemicals — volatile organic compounds — into the air to warn nearby members of the same species there's a threat in the area. Studies show that other trees respond by boosting their own production of anti-herbivore toxins, which, in the case of acacias (pictured), makes their leaves bitter.
8. Call for Backup
When besieged by bugs or parasites, some species, including apple trees, and tomato, cucumber and lima bean plants, release compounds into the air to alert the attackers' predator. Most often, these predators are insects. But a European study showed that trees infested with caterpillars also put out chemical signals to attract caterpillar-eating birds, such as the great tit (pictured).
9. Methuselah Has Lived Through a Lot
Trees are the oldest living organisms on Earth. One individual can survive hundreds, even thousands of years. According to the OldList, an officially dated record of ancient trees, the oldest known living individual is a bristlecone pine in California's White Mountains. Named Methuselah, it's around 4,850 years old. Its exact location is kept a secret to protect it from vandals.
10. Hyperion, the Giant
A photograph can't really do justice to the world's tallest trees: redwoods. The tallest known living specimen is a coast redwood called Hyperion measuring 115.85 meters (380 feet) — more than Big Ben or the Statue of Liberty. The giant, discovered in 2006 in California, is believed to be several hundred years old.
11. Other Record Breakers
California is also home to a giant sequoia named General Sherman, thought to be the biggest living tree in terms of volume. It stretches to a height of 83.8 meters and is 7.7 meters in diameter. The title of the world's widest tree goes to the Arbol del Tule (pictured), a Montezuma cypress in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It has a diameter of 11.6 meters and a circumference of 42 meters.
Reposted with permission from Deutsche Welle.
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Air France airplanes parked at the Charles de Gaulle/Roissy airport on March 24, 2020. SAMSON / AFP via Getty Images
France moved one step closer this weekend to banning short-haul flights in an attempt to fight the climate crisis.
<p>A bill prohibiting regional flights that could be replaced with an existing train journey of less than two and a half hours passed the country's National Assembly late on Saturday, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-france-flights/french-lawmakers-approve-a-ban-on-short-domestic-flights-idUSKBN2BY0AO" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>.</p><p>"We know that aviation is a contributor of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/carbon-dioxide" target="_self">carbon dioxide</a> and that because of climate change we must reduce emissions," Industry Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told Europe 1 radio, according to Reuters.</p>
<p>The measure now has to pass the French Senate, then return to the lower house for a final vote. It would end regional flights between Paris's Orly airport and cities like Nantes and Bordeaux, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/apr/12/france-ban-some-domestic-flights-train-available-macron-climate-convention-mps" target="_blank">The Guardian explained</a>. It would not, however, impact connecting flights through Paris's Charles de Gaulle/Roissy airport.</p><p>The bill is part of a legislative package which aims to reduce France's emissions by 40 percent of 1990 levels by 2030, Reuters reported. It is a watered-down version of a proposal suggested by France's Citizens' Convention on Climate, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56716708" target="_blank">BBC News explained</a>. This group, which was formed by President Emmanuel Macron in 2019 and included 150 ordinary citizens, had put forward a ban on flights that could be replaced with an existing train journey of under four hours.</p>
<p>However, the journey length was lowered after protests from KLM-Air France, which had suffered heavy losses due to the coronavirus pandemic, and regions who were concerned about being left out of national transit networks, as The Guardian explained.</p><p>"We have chosen two and a half hours because four hours risks isolating landlocked territories including the greater Massif Central, which would be iniquitous," transport minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari said, as The Guardian reported.</p><p>However, some environmental and consumer groups objected to the changes. The organization <a href="https://www.quechoisir.org/action-ufc-que-choisir-suppression-des-vols-interieurs-garantir-les-interets-des-consommateurs-dans-une-reelle-transition-vers-le-ferroviaire-n90066/" target="_blank">UFC-Que Choisir</a> compared plane routes with equivalent train journeys of under four hours and found that the plane trips emitted an average of 77 times more carbon dioxide per passenger than the train journeys. At the same time, the train alternatives were cheaper and only as much as 40 minutes longer.</p>
<p>"[T]he government's choice actually aims to empty the measure of its substance," the group said, according to The Guardian.</p><p>The new measure also opens the French government to charges of hypocrisy. It bailed out Air France-KLM to the tune of a seven-billion euro loan last year, though it did require the airline to drop some domestic routes as a condition. Then, days before the measure passed, it more than doubled its stake in the airline, BBC News reported. However, Pannier-Runacher insisted to Europe 1 radio that it was possible to balance fighting climate change and supporting struggling businesses.</p><p>"Equally, we must support our companies and not let them fall by the wayside," she said, as Reuters reported.</p><p>This is not the first time that climate measures and aviation bailouts have coincided in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Austrian Airlines replaced its Vienna-Salzburg flight with additional train service after it received government money dependent on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, BBC News reported.</p><p>The number of flights worldwide declined almost 42 percent in 2020 when compared with 2019. It is expected that global aviation may not fully recover until 2024, according to Reuters.</p>
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A woman looks at a dead gray whale on the beach in the SF Bay area on May 23, 2019; a new spate of gray whales have been turning up dead near San Francisco. Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Four gray whales have washed up dead near San Francisco within nine days, and at least one cause of death has been attributed to a ship strike.
<p>More whales than usual have been washing up dead since 2019, and the West Coast gray whale population continues to suffer from an <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/marine-mammal-unusual-mortality-events" target="_blank">unusual mortality event,</a> defined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as "a stranding that is unexpected; involves a significant die-off of any marine mammal population; and demands immediate response."</p><p>"It's alarming to respond to four dead gray whales in just over a week because it really puts into perspective the current challenges faced by this species," Dr. Pádraig Duignan, director of pathology at the Marine Mammal Center, said in a <a href="https://www.marinemammalcenter.org/news/ship-strike-kills-gray-whale-in-san-francisco-bay-area-three-others-dead-under-ongoing-investigation" target="_blank">press release</a>.</p><p>As the world's largest marine mammal hospital, the Sausalito-based center has been investigating the recent spate of deaths. The first involved a 41-foot female who washed up dead at San Francisco's Crissy Field on March 31, <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/fourth-dead-whale-san-francisco-bay-muir-beach-16087158.php" target="_blank">SFGate reported</a>. The cause of death remains a mystery, as the whale was in good condition with a full stomach. The second, another female, washed up on April 3 at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve on Moss Beach.</p><p>"That animal's cause of death, we suspect, was ship strike," the Marine Mammal Center's Giancarlo Rulli told SFGate. "Our plan is to eventually head back out to that whale and take more samples."</p>
<p>The third whale washed up April 7 near Berkeley Marina, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/san-francisco-mexico-whales-san-mateo-berkeley-55bcaa1f16bb31b4ff0b2979bc47d6e8" target="_blank">The AP reported</a>. The center determined it was a 37-foot male in average condition, with no evidence of illness or injury.</p><p>A 41-foot female turned up the next day on Marin County's Muir Beach. She suffered bruising and hemorrhaging around the jaw and neck vertebrae, indicating a vessel strike.</p><p>Vessel strikes are one of the leading causes of death for gray whales examined by the Marine Mammal Center, along with entanglements in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fishing" target="_self">fishing</a> gear and malnutrition. While the species is not <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered</a>, the population has declined by 25 percent since last assessed in 2016, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/09/us/gray-whale-deaths-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>.</p><p>West Coast gray whales travel 10,000 miles every year between Mexico and the Arctic, according to The AP. They spend the winter breeding off of Baja California, and feed along the California coast in spring and summer on their way back north. The Marine Mammal Center began noticing a problem for the migrating whales in 2019.</p>
<p>"Our team hasn't responded to this number of dead gray whales in such a short span since 2019 when we performed a startling 13 necropsies in the San Francisco Bay Area," Dr. Duignan said in the press release.</p><p>The 2019 deaths led NOAA to <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/west-coast-gray-whales-declined-during-unusual-mortality-event-similar-past" target="_blank">declare</a> an unusual mortality event for West Coast gray whales. It is similar to another event that happened from 1999 to 2000, after which the whales' numbers rebounded to even higher levels. This suggests population dips and rises may not be uncommon for the species. However, it is also possible that the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> is playing a role. The 2019 deaths were linked to malnutrition, and warmer waters can reduce the amount of food whales have to eat in the Arctic, giving them less energy for their migration, CNN explained. Overfishing can also play a role in depriving whales of food, the Marine Mammal Center said.</p><p>Dr. Jeff Boehm, Marine Mammal Center CEO and veterinarian, told CNN that he had observed an uptick in shipping traffic after the pandemic caused a slowdown. At the same time, the center is less able to conduct research because of COVID-19 safety precautions. And even in the best of times, only around 10 percent of dead whales wash up on shore, The AP reported.</p><p>"This many dead whales in a week is shocking, especially because these animals are the tip of the iceberg," Kristen Monsell, legal director of the Center for Biological Diversity's Oceans program, told The AP.</p>
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A small tourist town has borne the brunt of a cyclone which swept across the West Australian coast. ABC News (Australia) / YouTube
Tropical Cyclone Seroja slammed into the Western Australian town of Kalbarri Sunday as a Category 3 storm before grinding a more-than 600-mile path across the country's Southwest.
<p>About 70% of the buildings in Kalbarri were damaged and tens of thousands are without power by winds gusting over 100 miles per hour. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">Climate change</a>, caused by humans' extraction and combustion of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuels</a>, is making cyclonic storms more extreme by increasing air and ocean temperatures, which effectively supercharges the storms.</p>
<p> "You just thought, this is it. I would have thought that when we opened the door, that there would be nothing around us except that roof," Kalbarri resident Debbie Major told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "We are a small town. Half of it has been flattened." Seroja devastated regions of Indonesia and Timor-Leste <a href="https://nexusmedianews.com/top_story/tropical-cyclone-seroja-kills-more-than-150-in-indonesia-east-timor/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=120919084&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_thSmZPhpQxryqbWpmeJTHH5OmGqpjvWoced8zMQVAlixbAZqYuaXsAJQwiO-UuGyuVp3QQDhQgcAVNrfWNDBCuU3F8g&utm_content=120919084&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">last week</a>, where it triggered deadly flash floods and landslides.</p>
<div id="d6873" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e8f0e23bdf00484c10d90998d9a44afe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1381401804315889666" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#CycloneSeroja: homes & units before & after the cyclone hit #Kalbarri, 170kmh gusts causing major damage. #7NEWS https://t.co/WYFL2QOlwB</div> — Paul Kadak (@Paul Kadak)<a href="https://twitter.com/PaulKadak/statuses/1381401804315889666">1618186830.0</a></blockquote></div>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c30cf7d5969044a86870f76d4116b0ef"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fE9b2oPrBAc?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong><br/></p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-56707977?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=120919084&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9wSprB_yv1SRNrvu0TmtCkfnKnp1oNqq6PFevHb54xfug369pXss4CleLTZleeOPH-s_R7F4Jt8GpoeTNCqLo5tuso7Q&utm_content=120919084&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">BBC</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/cyclone-australia-seroja-kalbarri/2021/04/12/3be0c078-9b4a-11eb-b2f5-7d2f0182750d_story.html?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=120919084&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--TePLf_28b4OKZ2paWgPHQdMpKf4HcEzwHMDVnR2LSM5M3q4pUZMtyjBdJhoc4qDNh1BvAmrgrwpSehYZB0DwnPk_7bQ&utm_content=120919084&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>, <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/west-australian-cyclone-warning-odette-downgraded/63f748bc-4290-45b1-98fe-0e8c8f400888?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=120919084&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--oYr3qUFRa4J2VgxA2WnyCg3-h2W-qM004odDp639PMXMR_2pjB55BtJkQyRr0DEAag5S9K3CJtolvhUweuQMnLVYVuw&utm_content=120919084&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">AU News</a>, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-12/cyclone-seroja-wreaks-havoc-wa-one-mile-jetty-destroyed/100062020?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=120919084&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--QAnERoWwluJveyzORoS2SypqyRAqdFmj_cG0W4SYcJF3sBwbex1axtx_ss7fmZM5iqoKHmwiw8n9q9ZgLfAdR3485PQ&utm_content=120919084&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ABC AU</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/apr/12/cyclone-seroja-leaves-trail-of-damage-and-homes-without-power-in-western-australia?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=120919084&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8GGFXn3NPaUp3padegkZ8_Jz8pvolfOHGyRBM10nC3DhPi-Qn59cDXz8VZ7hpnW-vEHGig3SMUluO3WDbwCNc0NxHpMQ&utm_content=120919084&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> (<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global/video/2021/apr/12/cyclone-seroja-lashes-parts-of-western-australia-coast-with-strong-winds-and-rain-video?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=120919084&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8hwnh_pwEy7m7_JTficEjlH4dbpHuOQd3O5yaM5z-T7KC6uSBvo1hNIKJboLy18Erosuk5n55g7JLFgYXU-rqVC-6MpQ&utm_content=120919084&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Video</a>); Climate Signals background: <a href="https://www.climatesignals.org/climate-change-hurricanes?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=120919084&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-94ppb4_ue_wArTGbLmnkp7viWiFowcrz4ffPJY003Y_rMhGuxIzjTWAfOEtYo6WCkmiIL9w5zk5U7QbUHuGl5wfOfxkQ&utm_content=120919084&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Cyclonic storms</a></p><p><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, sign up for daily </em><a href="https://www.linktrack.live/hot-news-sign-up" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>, and visit their news site, </em><a href="https://nexusmedianews.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Nexus Media News</em></a><em>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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A general view shows the remains of a dam along a river in Tapovan, India, on February 10, 2021, following a flash flood caused by a glacier break on February 7. Sajjad Hussain / AFP / Getty Images
By Rishika Pardikar
Search operations are still underway to find those declared missing following the Uttarakhand disaster on 7 February 2021.
<p>"As of now [18 March], we have found <a href="https://in.news.yahoo.com/uttarakhand-floods-one-more-body-152748016.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">74 bodies and 130 people are still missing</a>," said <a href="https://chamoli.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Swati S. Bhadauria</a>, district magistrate in Chamoli, Uttarakhand, India. Chamoli is the district where a hanging, ice-capped rock broke off from a glacier and fell into a meltwater- and debris-formed lake below. The lake subsequently breached, leading to heavy flooding downstream.</p><p>The disaster is attributed to <a href="https://eos.org/articles/development-and-climate-change-contribute-to-a-himalayan-tragedy" target="_blank">both development policies in the Himalayas and climate change</a>. And as is common with climate-linked disasters, the most vulnerable sections of society suffered the most devastating consequences. Among the most vulnerable in Chamoli are its population of migrant construction workers from states across India.</p><p>Of the 204 people dead or missing, only 77 are from Uttarakhand, and "only 11 were not workers of the two dam companies," Bhadauria noted. The two dams referred to are the 13.2-megawatt <a href="https://cdm.unfccc.int/Projects/DB/RWTUV1349684657.11/view" target="_blank">Rishiganga Hydroelectric Project</a> and the 520-megawatt <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapovan_Vishnugad_Hydropower_Plant" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tapovan Vishnugad Hydropower Plant</a>, which has been <a href="https://www.ntpc.co.in/power-generation/hydro-based-power-projects/tapovan-vishnugad" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">under construction since 2005</a>. The flash floods in Chamoli first broke through the Rishiganga project and then, along with debris accumulated there, broke through the Tapovan Vishnugad project 5–6 kilometers downstream.</p><p>"Both local people and others from Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh…from all over India work on these two [hydroelectric] projects," said Atul Sati, a Chamoli-based social activist with the <a href="http://cpiml.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation</a>.</p>
<p>Sati noted that the local community suspects the number of casualties from the Uttarakhand disaster may be higher than reported because not all the projects' migrant workers—including those from bordering countries like Nepal—have been accounted for by the construction companies and their subcontractors.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.ntpc.co.in/en" target="_blank">National Thermal Power Corporation</a> is the state-owned utility that owns the Tapovan Vishnugad project. "NTPC has given building contracts to some companies," Sati explained. "These companies have given subcontracts to other companies. What locals are saying is that there are more [than 204] who are missing. They say there were [migrant] workers from Nepal."</p><p>NTPC and the <a href="https://www.kundangroup.com/energy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kundan Group</a> (the corporate owner of the Rishiganga project) have not responded to repeated requests for comment.</p>
<h3>No Early-Warning System</h3><p>"NTPC did not have a proper early-warning system," said Mritunjay Kumar, an employee with the government of the east Indian state of Bihar. Kumar's bother, Manish Kumar, was a migrant worker employed with <a href="https://www.ommetals.com/#/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Om Infra Ltd.</a>, an NTPC subcontractor. On the day of the disaster, Manish was working in one of the silt flushing tunnels of the Tapovan project and lost his life in the flooding.</p><p>Mritunjay Kumar noted that it "would have taken time" for the floodwater and debris to flow from the meltwater lake to the Rishiganga project and then to the Tapovan project. "Even if workers knew 5 minutes in advance," he said, "lives could have been saved."</p><p>An advance notice "would have given [Tapovan] workers at least 5–6 critical minutes," agreed <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/litfest/delhi-litfest-2016/speakers/hridayesh-joshi/articleshow/55050006.cms" target="_blank">Hridayesh Joshi</a>, an environmental journalist from Uttarakhand who reported from Chamoli after the disaster. "Many people made videos; they shouted and alerted people on site. If there was a robust early-warning system, many more lives could have been saved…even if not all, at least some would have escaped."</p><p>"It is true that this was an environmental, climate change driven disaster. But NTPC had not taken any measures to save their workers from such disasters," Kumar said. "They [NTPC] hadn't even installed <a href="https://theprint.in/india/no-training-early-warning-or-emergency-exits-claim-workers-at-rishi-ganga-tapovan-projects/605087/" target="_blank">emergency exits</a> for tunnel workers. The only proper exit was a road which faces the river. If NTPC had installed a few temporary iron staircases, many people could have climbed out."</p><p>Kumar noted that the Tapovan project has been under construction since before the 2013 <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/research/here-is-what-happened-in-kedarnath-and-rest-of-uttarakhand-in-2013-5482050/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kedarnath disaster</a>, in which more than 5,000 people lost their lives as rainfall-driven floods ravaged northern India. "If they [NTPC] knew that such disasters will happen, why didn't they install early-warning systems?" Kumar asked. "Scientists have been warning about climate change and [dam and road] constructions in the Himalayas from a very long time. Obviously, NTPC was aware."</p>
<p><em>This story originally appeared in</em> <em><a href="https://eos.org/" target="_blank">Eos</a></em> <em>and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.</em></p>
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Biden Refuses to Shut Down Dakota Access Pipeline, Despite Campaign Pledges on Tribal Relations and Climate
8h
Politics
Indigenous youth, organizers with the Dakota Access and Line 3 pipeline fights and climate activists march to the White House to protest against pipeline projects on April 1, 2021. Bill Clark / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
By Jessica Corbett
Indigenous leaders and climate campaigners on Friday blasted President Joe Biden's refusal to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline during a court-ordered environmental review, which critics framed as a betrayal of his campaign promises to improve tribal relations and transition the country to clean energy.
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<p>"Biden's inaction to protect our fragile ecosystems, natural resources, traditional medicines, and Indigenous rights is a clear sign that this administration is the exact opposite of the climate leadership narrative they promised to lead during his campaign," <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2021/04/09/biden-administrationarmy-corps-allows-illegal-dakota-access-pipeline-continue" target="_blank">said</a> Tasina Sapa Win Smith of the Cheyenne River Grassroots Collective.</p><p>Brooke Harper, campaign strategist for the environmental group 350.org, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2021/04/09/350org-us-army-corps-engineers-failing-shut-down-dakota-access-pipeline" target="_blank">declared</a> that "the Biden administration missed a huge opportunity today to take a step towards ensuring a livable future for everyone in this country."</p><p>"The Dakota Access Pipeline violates treaty rights and endangers land, water, and communities," Harper said. "The climate crisis is here; we can no longer afford to build polluting, dangerous fossil fuel pipelines and delay a just transition to 100% clean energy. In solidarity with Indigenous water protectors, we call on President Joe Biden to stop the Dakota Access pipeline, Line 3, and all new fossil fuel projects immediately. If Biden wants to be a climate leader on the world stage, he needs to start at home."</p>
<p>U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/06/monumental-victory-tribes-and-climate-activists-celebrate-court-ordered-shutdown" target="_blank">ordered</a> the environmental impact assessment last year, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/04/09/biden-admin-decide-dakota-access-pipelines-fate-friday-court-hearing" target="_blank">held</a> a hearing Friday afternoon so the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could provide an update on whether the Biden administration planned to allow the pipeline known as DAPL to continue operating without a federal permit.</p><p>After Ben Schifman, an attorney for the government, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/09/politics/dakota-access-pipeline-biden-administration/index.html" target="_blank">shared</a> that the Army Corps of Engineers would not shut down the pipeline at this time but "is essentially in a continuous process of evaluating," Boasberg <a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-technology-environment-courts-dakota-access-pipeline-e605461942656278ef7f19f1920e26f3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">granted</a> the 10-day continuance. The DC-based judge is <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2021/04/09/biden-administrationarmy-corps-allows-illegal-dakota-access-pipeline-continue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">expected</a> to decide whether he will order DAPL to shut down by April 19.</p><p>The pipeline carries oil from North Dakota, through South Dakota and Iowa, to Illinois. Although the project was denied permission to cross beneath Lake Oahe on unceded ancestral tribal lands by former President Barack Obama — under whom Biden was vice president — former President Donald Trump swiftly reversed course and allowed the project to proceed.</p><p>Indigenous water protectors and environmentalists have been fighting against the pipeline for years — opposition that's been met with <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/10/27/armed-riot-gear-militarized-police-begin-forcibly-clearing-dapl-protest-camp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">forceful crackdowns</a> by private security and law enforcement. Since it began operating in 2017, DAPL and the communities through which it runs have been plagued by <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/takeaway/segments/across-country-smaller-pipeline-leaks-start-add" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">repeated leaks</a>.</p>
<div id="3bc27" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d43ff2dcabf011c3ad677428e889fbbe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1380625214984364039" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The climate crisis is the greatest threat we face as a nation and a planet.
Today I led a letter with… https://t.co/2PuYkQChxE</div> — Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Rep. Ilhan Omar)<a href="https://twitter.com/Ilhan/statuses/1380625214984364039">1618001676.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Dozens of Democrats have recently <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/04/02/dozens-democrats-urge-biden-take-critical-step-shutting-down-dakota-access-pipeline" target="_blank">joined</a> with tribal leaders and climate activists in<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/02/25/300000-demand-biden-stop-line-3-and-dakota-access-pipelines-secure-livable-future-we" target="_blank"> calling on</a> Biden to order a shutdown. Opponents of the pipeline have also raised the issue of sovereignty.</p><p>"For hundreds of years, our people have faced unwelcome and deadly incursions upon our homelands," said Phyllis Young, Standing Rock organizer for the Lakota People's Law Project and former tribal liaison to the Oceti Sakowin protest camp. "Today's decision is disappointing and demonstrates a lack of understanding by Washington politicians for Indigenous sovereignty."</p><p>"We will do our very best to see this pipeline removed, our water protected, and our sacred lands healed," Young said. "We will replace fossil fuels with renewable energy. One bad decision can't change that. We're dedicated to providing a better future for the generations to come. We've been fighting for our lives for centuries, and we aren't going to stop now."</p><p>Chairman Mike Faith of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe <a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2021/despite-promises-to-listen-to-tribes-and-fight-climate-change-biden-administration-allows-oil-to-continue" target="_blank">said</a> Friday that "we are gravely concerned about the continued operation of this pipeline, which poses an unacceptable risk to our sovereign nation."</p><p>"In a meeting with members of Biden's staff earlier this year, we were told that this new administration wanted to 'get this right,'" Faith noted. "Unfortunately, today's update from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shows it has chosen to ignore our pleas and stick to the wrong path."</p>
<p>Joye Braun, an Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) DAPL frontline organizer and citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Nation, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2021/04/09/biden-administrationarmy-corps-allows-illegal-dakota-access-pipeline-continue" target="_blank">said</a> that "it is imperative that the Biden administration shut down DAPL now."</p><p>"The Army Corps of Engineers should not twist the rule of law to favor big oil interests and further spit on the nation-to-nation relationship between tribal nations and the U.S. government," Braun continued. "The Biden administration needs to do the right thing and stop this illegal pipeline."</p><p>"Why allow something illegal to continue?" Braun asked. "Set the example, honor the treaties, and show that the rule of law is greater than oil corporate interests. We will no longer accept being the sacrificial lamb for corporate raping of our Mother Earth and her water."</p><p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/09/politics/dakota-access-pipeline-biden-administration/index.html" target="_blank">According to</a> CNN, Earthjustice attorney Jan Hasselman, who has represented Standing Rock in its legal challenge against DAPL for several years, called the administration's inaction on Friday "a continuation of a terrible history."</p><p>"This pipeline is unsafe and operating in violation of federal law. Meanwhile, Energy Transfer is seeking to double capacity, which would make DAPL twice as dangerous," Hasselman <a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2021/despite-promises-to-listen-to-tribes-and-fight-climate-change-biden-administration-allows-oil-to-continue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">added</a> in a statement, referring to one of the pipeline's owners. "Yet the Biden administration's decision here is to do nothing."</p><p>"It's hard to see how we'll ever transition away from fossil fuels or show the rest of the world that we're serious about tackling climate change, if we are just going to shrug and look away when the fossil fuel industry brazenly ignores tribal concerns and tramples our federal environmental laws and safety regulations," the attorney said.</p>
<div id="97e66" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1f8c515f6dd03b24759c2d2ca803c025"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1380605772971843590" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">We are not backing down, @JoeBiden. We will #ShutdownDAPL.
Respect us, or expect us.</div> — Indigenous Environmental Network (@Indigenous Environmental Network)<a href="https://twitter.com/IENearth/statuses/1380605772971843590">1617997041.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Biden — who <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/01/20/after-incredible-first-steps-kxl-and-paris-biden-urged-go-further-climate" target="_blank">moved</a> to rejoin the Paris agreement and block the Keystone XL Pipeline on his first day as president — <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/03/26/president-biden-invites-40-world-leaders-to-leaders-summit-on-climate/" target="_blank">has</a> invited world leaders to join him later this month for a virtual climate summit.</p><p>"The Leaders Summit on Climate will underscore the urgency — and the economic benefits — of stronger climate action," <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/03/26/president-biden-invites-40-world-leaders-to-leaders-summit-on-climate/" target="_blank">said</a> a White House statement about the event. "It will be a key milestone on the road to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) this November in Glasgow."</p><p>In a statement Friday, Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2021/04/sierra-club-statement-biden-administration-s-inaction-dakota-access-pipeline" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">noted</a> that "Biden campaigned and was elected on the boldest climate platform ever. Minutes after being sworn in, Biden began taking real, meaningful climate action. Less than a week into office, the president issued a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/26/memorandum-on-tribal-consultation-and-strengthening-nation-to-nation-relationships/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">memorandum</a> on strengthening tribal consultation."</p><p>"Yet, President Biden's actions today fail to live up to the climate and tribal commitments he made," Brune said, adding that the decision to not shut down DAPL doesn't align "with the bold action he has taken since taking office."</p><p>"The Dakota Access Pipeline is a dirty, dangerous, illegally constructed pipeline that has continued to threaten tribal sovereignty and our collective right to clean water and a healthy, sustainable climate," he said. "Continued and expanded reliance on crude oil is not compatible with the president's own climate commitments, including the ones we expect him to make in weeks' time at his climate summit."</p><p>"The climate crisis demands that President Biden and his administration seize every opportunity to confront it," he concluded. "Today's decision is deeply disappointing, and we expect the courts to rightfully put an end to the Dakota Access Pipeline, just as we expect the president's future actions to meet his rhetoric and commitments."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/04/09/despite-pledges-tribal-relations-and-climate-biden-declines-shut-down-dakota-access" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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