Weekly Environmental Report: Nov. 29
Hi! Welcome to my weekly environmental report!
There wasn't as much good news as I would've like to see this week. Instead, culled mink are emerging from their graves. Research shows nearly 40% of the world's population is affected by water shortage. And the World Wildlife Fund was accused of working with guards who allegedly tortured and killed people.
The only major good thing that has happened in environmental news was President-elect Joe Biden's decision of John Kerry as Climate Envoy ... and that still isn't even a sure thing.
Good news
-A Norwegian start-up company wants to build houses out of 100% recycled plastic. (via World Economic Forum)
-A new crossbreed of the cultivated apple and European crab apple was discovered by a runner in Wiltshire. (via The Guardian)
-President-elect Joe Biden names John Kerry as Climate Envoy. Kerry is dedicated is dedicated to fighting the climate crisis. (via EcoWatch)
-A farming family in New Zealand gifted 900 hectares of land to a national trust for conservation because it's the "right thing to do." (via The Guardian)
-Sussan Ley has rejected an application which requested to bulldoze nearly 2,000 hectares of land in the Great Barrier Reef catchment. (via The Guardian)
-New South Wales has finally passed renewable electricity legislation, in which nearly 250 proposed amendments were rejected. (via The Guardian)
Bad news
-Experts say, despite La Niña's cooling, modeling shows the Great Barrier Reef may still experience mass coral bleaching from heat stress this summer. (via The Guardian).
-More than 3 billion people — nearly 40% of the world population — are affected by water shortages. About 1.5 billion are suffering from complete scarcity or drought. Data shows the amount of fresh water available for each person has dropped by 20% since 2000. (via The Guardian)
-More than 30,000 farm mink were culled in Denmark after reports that coronavirus mutations were transferred from the minks to humans. Now, the remains are emerging from their graves, and the country fears large quantities of nitrogen and phosphorus could be released into the soil. (via The Guardian)
-The Trump Administration will rollback regulations for bird protections, as the U.S. Department of the Interior released an analysis that will allow modifications to the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act — one of the nation's oldest wildlife protection laws. (via Common Dreams)
-Mysterious swan deaths in the UK leads to widespread fears of a new bird flu strain. (via The Guardian).
-A study of 600 people shows people are deciding not to have children because of fears that their offspring will have to struggle through a "climate apocalypse." (via The Guardian)
-Three rare cat species in Southeast Asia may soon go extinct unless they can be better protected. Only 6-11% of the fishing cat, leopard and rusty-spotted cat are currently protected. (via EcoWatch)
-Category 3 tropical cyclone Gati pours two years of rain on Somalia in two days. (via EcoWatch)
-Researchers warn that land inequality is rising as 1% of the world's farms operate 70% of crop fields, ranches and orchards. (via The Guardian)
-More than 50,000 salmon escaped their farm in Tasmania, potentially polluting the local marine environment. (via The Guardian)
-More than 120 whales died by a mass stranding on the Chatham Islands in the Pacific Ocean. (via The Guardian)
-The World Wildlife Fund has been accused of working with guards who allegedly tortured and killed people. (via The Guardian)
-Victoria plans a road user tax for electric vehicles, which experts believe could lead to a 25% drop in sales of clean care use. (via The Guardian)
-The Trump Administration is finishing an environmental review process that would transfer ownership of sacred land in Arizona to a mining company. (via EcoWatch)
-The platypus habitat in Australia have shrunk 22% in the last 30 years, and they should now be listed as a nationally threatened species. (via The Guardian)
-CO2 levels have reached record highs, despite the COVID-19 lockdowns. (via The Guardian)