Weekly Environmental Report: Oct. 26-Nov. 1
Hi, y’all! Welcome to my Environmental Report!
This was a project I first began working on in September 2019, and took a break from shortly after when I learned I was expecting a beautiful baby girl. Now, as I’ve returned back to a steady routine, this effort has also returned, and I’m so excited to introduce you to my love for the environment.
This week had a lot of bad news, including more murder hornets, another tropical storm and the Trump administration’s decision to remove endangered species protection for gray wolves. However, the good news is that scientists have discovered a coral reef taller than the Empire State Building, and DNA has proven that dogs are humans’ oldest friends. Read more about what happened in the environmental world last week.
Good news:
-Scientists have discovered a massive detached coral reef in the Great Barrier Reef. The reef — taller than the Empire State Building — is the eighth detached reef discovered in the GBR and the first to be discovered in 120 years.
-Ancient dog DNA reveals that canines have been around for 11,000 years.
-Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia are teaming up to kickstart a wind energy development.
-NASA confirmed that there is water on the moon.
-The European Union rules that vegetable burgers are still burgers.
-Coronavirus restrictions create a spark in plant and bulb sales.
-The great fox-spider, which has not been seen since the early 1990s, has been rediscovered in Surrey.
-Scientists are fighting to keep Antarctica free of the coronavirus.
-South Korea and Japan have set goals to become completely carbon neutral by 2050.
-Amazon has launched an eco-friendly shopping platform to consumers in the United Kingdom and other European countries.
-Polling shows 82% of voters support the transition to 100% clean energy.
Bad news:
-North Dakota will spend $16 million in pandemic relief funds on fracking.
-The U.S. Department of Agriculture has made it legal for companies to build roads and harvest timber from 9.3 million acres of the Tongass National Forest — the “Lungs of North America.”
-2020 will likely be one of the warmest years on record, despite it being a La Niña year, which would typically bring a colder and stormier winter.
-Great egrets in the Everglades lose interest in sex because of mercury poisoning from the fish they eat. This will result in a drop in population.
-The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removes endangered species protection from the grey wolf.
-The number of North Atlantic right whales drops from the previous estimate of 412 to 366.
-The EPA renews the registration of Dicamba, a weed killer linked to cancer and known to kill neighboring crops.
-Climate change denier Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed to the Supreme Court.
-U.S. passes 9 million coronavirus cases
-Colorado is fighting the worst wildfires its seen in recent history, killing at least two individuals and causing damage of an estimated $195 million.
-A study finds that the US and UK produce the most plastic waste across the world.
-Russia will not halt its production of fossil fuels in the upcoming updates, though it will begin to focus on clean-burning hydrogen and carbon capture.
-Contaminated water from a Fukushima nuclear power plant could affect human DNA if it’s released.
-More murder hornet nests are suspects after first on U.S. soil has been eradicated.
-New California fires force more than 90,000 to evacuate.
-The Trump Administration has OK’d expanded oil activity in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.
-Climate researchers are the most frequent flyers in science.
-St. Augustine, Florida — America’s oldest city — struggles to save landmarks from climate crisis floods.
-A new reported shows banked loaned $2.6 trillion linked to biodiversity loss in 2019.
Photo provided by Unsplash through SquareSpace.