Know Your Planet is a weekly roundup of environmental news published every Friday.
If you forget for a second about President-elect Trump’s anti-environmental agenda, this past week wasn’t that terrible for the planet. In fact, there was a lot of good news to report, like new-found hope for coral reefs, progress on CO2 emissions, and Pizza — the “saddest polar bear in the world” — finally being removed from her atrocious mall exhibit in China.
All those good vibes were tempered by a regular dose of not-so-good news, the worst of which is a new report suggesting that 2016 is likely to be the hottest year on record. Big shocker there, eh?
Good
There Is Hope for Coral Reefs
New research suggests that coral reefs are hardier than once believed due to their incredible genetic diversity. While climate change is certainly killing vast amounts of coral, scientists now think the marine invertebrates may have what it takes to survive global warming. The hope is based on evidence of corals surviving a period of extreme cooling two million years ago.
Growth in Carbon Emissions Stalls!
For the third straight year, carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels remained flat, with researchers forecasting a meager rise of 0.2 percent for 2016. This is especially important because the global economy is growing at more than 3 percent a year, proving that economic growth and CO2 emissions are not inextricably linked, as some people, like President-elect Trump, would have you believe. The stagnation of emissions is largely due to China burning less coal. Still, CO2 emissions need to start decreasing instead of simply flattening out if we have any shot of combating climate change.
UK Ratifies The Paris Agreement
The United Kingdom became the 111th country to ratify the Paris Agreement even as Trump threatens to put the historic accord through the shredder. The foreign minister who signed the treaty has raised doubts about climate change in the past, so environmentalists are breathing a huge sigh of relief.
‘World’s Saddest Polar Bear’ Removed From Mall
Pizza finally got a reprieve from the reprehensible conditions she’s been forced to endure in a mall aquarium in Southern China — but it may only be temporary. The “world’s saddest polar bear” has been sent to the zoo where she was born while the aquarium undergoes minor upgrades. Animal rights activists say the move should be permanent and that sending her back to the tiny, barren enclosure in the mall would be “cruel and heartless.”
Big Businesses Tell Trump to Get Real About Climate Change
Leaders representing 365 major corporations sent an open letter to President-elect Trump warning the climate-denier about the perils of reneging on the Paris Agreement and pursuing fossil-fuel extraction at the expense of renewable energy. The companies represented include Levis, Nike, Starbucks and Kellogs.
Native Americans Win a Rare Victory in Montana
The Department of Interior canceled 15 oil and gas leases covering land sacred to the Blackfeet Nation in Montana. The leases were issued more than thirty years ago and had never been acted upon. Both the Secretary of the Interior and the CEO of the company that owned the leases said it was the right thing to do. Meanwhile, the Dakota Access Pipeline drama continues as protesters stood with Standing Rock during a National Day of Action on Tuesday.
Bad
Animals Starving to Death as Sea Ice Recedes
A heartbreaking image shows a polar bear starved to death in Svalbard, Norway, where it laid down for the last time and died, too exhausted to continue its hunt for food. Renowned polar bear expert Dr. Ian Sterling blames climate change for the bear’s death. Rising global temperatures contineu to melt sea ice the bears rely upon to hunt seals, forcing them to roam distant territories in a desperate bid to avoid starvation
Vanishing sea ice was also responsible for the deaths of 80,000 reindeer in Russia in 2006 and 2013. With another year or record-low sea ice on the books, scientists believe reindeer may be vulnerable once again.
Speaking of That Sea Ice…
Surprise, surprise — it’s at record-low levels yet again. In fact, the total area of global sea ice is way below the record for this time of year.
How About Some Weed Killer in Your Cheerios?
Popular American foods — like Cheerios, Ritz Crackers and Kashi Cookies — contain residue from a weed killer called glyphosate, according to independent tests by Food Democracy Now. Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide and has also been classified as a carcinogen. The FDA didn’t start testing for glyphosate until this year.
The Great Plains Are Disappearing Faster than the Brazilian Rainforest
Since 2003, a wild area of the Grat Plains the size of Kansas has been converted to cropland, according to a new report by the World Wildlife Fund. And in 2014 alone, The Great Plains lost 3,686,960 acres of wild habitat compared to 1.4 million acres lost in the Brazilian Amazon. Species like monarch butterflies are suffering as a result.
Hydroelectric Power Isn’t As Green As We Thought
A new study found that dams emit 25 percent more methane than previously thought, making their impact on climate change comparable to global rice plantations and biomass burning. That adds up to about 1 billion tons of greenhouse-gas emissions every year — or 1.3 percent of all human-caused emissions. The gasses originate from organic material rotting deep in the oxygen-depleted waters of massive reservoirs formed by the dams.
Earthquakes Continue Months After Fracking Ends
We all know fossil-fuel extraction is not kind to the Earth, but new research suggests that fracking-related earthquakes can occur months after the fracking stops. Most of the quakes are too small to be felt, but some are big enough to cause minor damage. Fracking also seems to put increased stress on geological faults.
Tiger Farms to Blame for Surge in Trafficking
Even though only 3,800 tigers are estimated to live in the wild, authorities have seized body parts and live animals adding up to 1,755 tigers since 2000. A new report blames Asia’s 200 or so tiger farms. More than 30 percent of tiger parts seized by customs between 2012 and 2015 were sourced from farms, compared to just 2 percent between 2000 and 2003.
Ugly
2016 Will Probably Be the Hottest Year on Record
“Another year. Another record.” That was the dismal announcement from the World Meteorological Organization that 2016 is shaping up to the hottest year on record, behind only 2015 and 2014. When the prediction becomes official in January, it will mean that 16 of the 17 hottest years on record occurred in the 21st century, with 1998 (an intense El Nino year) the only outlier.
‘Killer Haze’ Affects 69 Million People
Indonesian wildfires in 2015 were responsible for a “killer haze” that reached 69 million people, causing as many as 17,000 premature deaths in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, according to a new study. The fires were the result of dry conditions due to climate change, land use and deforestation. Scientists fear it’s only going to get worse.
The post Know Your Planet: Hope for Coral Reefs, Weed Killer in Your Cheerios & The Hottest Year on Record… Again appeared first on Planet Experts.