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Yale Environment 360
In Cambodia, a Battered Mekong Defies Doomsday Predictions
Among the many ailments plaguing Southeast Asia’s Mekong River, “hungry water” stands out with particular clarity. In recent dry seasons, the Mekong has in places turned a pristine blue as upstream dams rob it of the nutritious particles that normally color the river a healthy mud brown. It’s a phenomenon that can be highly destructive, with the sediment-starved water eating away at unbuffered river banks — hence the “hungry” epithet — and causing harmful erosion.
Endangered Mexican Gray Wolves on the Rebound in U.S. Southwest
Once driven to the brink of extinction, Mexican gray wolves have slowly returned to the U.S. Southwest. For the first time since their reintroduction more than two decades ago, their numbers total more than 200, according to federal officials. “This milestone has been 25 years in the making,” Brady McGee,...
As Millions of Solar Panels Age Out, Recyclers Look to Cash In
In Odessa, Texas, workers at a startup called SolarCycle unload trucks carrying end-of-life photovoltaic panels freshly picked from commercial solar farms across the United States. They separate the panels from the aluminum frames and electrical boxes, then feed them into machines that detach their glass from the laminated materials that have helped generate electricity from sunlight for about a quarter of a century.
To Study Human-Wildlife Encounters, Scientists Turn to Tik Tok
Herders on the Tibetan plateau are prone to seeing gray wolves, snow leopards, brown bears, and other wildlife, with the potential for conflict. Historically, it has been difficult to study these encounters, but the rise of smartphones has given researchers a valuable new tool — videos of wildlife taken by the herders themselves.
How a Finnish Lake’s Peculiar Shape Has Been a Boon to Endangered Seals
The Saimaa ringed seal of southern Finland is among the most endangered seals on Earth. But despite its small numbers, this population boasts a surprising degree of genetic diversity, thanks to the labyrinthine shape of its home along Lake Saimaa, a new study finds. Southern Finland was once trapped beneath...
How Weather Forecasts Can Help Dams Supply More Water
Between Christmas and January this year, a parade of nine atmospheric rivers — vast streams of water vapor flowing east from the tropical Pacific — pummeled California. The trillions of gallons of rain poured on the state caused widespread flooding. While the rain topped up some drought-depleted reservoirs and aquifers and filled out snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, much of the water quickly ran off into the sea, flowing off asphalt and farms or released from reservoirs to prevent further flooding.
One Year In, Russia’s War on Ukraine Has Inflicted $51 Billion in Environmental Damage
After nearly one year, Russia’s invasion has inflicted more than $51 billion in environmental damage on Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian environment ministry. The invasion, which began on February 24, 2022, has scattered wreckage across roughly 3,500 acres, with rockets and shells scorching some 150,000 acres of forests and plantations, which the ministry said could take decades to recover, even in the most optimistic scenario.
As Fatal Fungus Takes Its Toll, Can We Save Frog Species on the Brink?
Scattered across one zoo and two sanctuaries in Australia, a couple of thousand northern corroboree frogs wait for science to advance. The captive-bred frogs — critically endangered — fill an important role: As long as they survive, their species won’t go extinct. “It’s an insurance population,” says Ben Scheele, a wildlife ecologist at the Australian National University in Canberra. “We’re buying time.”
Countries Work Toward Pact to Conserve Marine Life in International Waters
UN members are meeting in New York this week to forge a treaty to conserve marine life in international waters. In December, countries set a goal of protecting 30 percent of land of sea, but two-thirds of ocean waters fall outside national borders. “We need a legally binding framework that can enable countries to work together to actually achieve these goals they’ve agreed to,” said Jessica Battle, an oceans expert at the World Wide Fund for Nature, told the Associated Press.
Governments Spent Record $1 Trillion Subsidizing Fossil Fuels Last Year
Governments spent more than $1 trillion in direct subsidies for fossil fuels last year, an all-time high as officials sought to offset rising energy costs. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine roiled energy markets last year, as Russia cut natural gas exports to Europe, and western nations moved to wean off Russian oil. The drop in supply sent prices soaring globally. To shield consumers from rising costs, governments further subsidized the consumption of oil, natural gas, coal, and electricity, particularly in developing countries.
In Scramble for Clean Energy, Europe Is Turning to North Africa
Solar panels in sun-rich North Africa generate up to three times more energy than in Europe. And North Africa has a lot more room for them than densely populated Europe. Result: Europe’s drive to end its reliance on Russian natural gas supplies, triggered by the Ukraine conflict, is resulting in a rush to install giant solar energy farms and lay underwater cables to tap into North Africa’s abundant renewable energy.
Eastern Pacific Coral Reefs Adapting to Warmer Waters, Study Finds
Some corals in the eastern Pacific are adapting to a warmer world by hosting more heat-tolerant algae, according to new research that offers hope for the world’s embattled reefs. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects that at just 2 degrees C of warming, 99 percent of corals...
From Lab to Market: Bio-Based Products Are Gaining Momentum
In the 1930s, the DuPont company created the world’s first nylon, a synthetic polymer made from petroleum. The product first appeared in bristles for toothbrushes, but eventually it would be used for a broad range of products, from stockings to blouses, carpets, food packaging, and even dental floss. Nylon...
California Reservoirs Refilled by Winter Deluges, Satellite Images Show
In the wake of a series of destructive storms in late December and early January, California’s long-ailing mountain reservoirs have risen, satellite images from NASA show. Lake Oroville, which sits in the northern reaches of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, was at just 28 percent of capacity in late November and is now at 69 percent capacity, following the winter deluge. Long depleted by drought, the reservoir is now close to its historical winter level. Lake Shasta, in far northern California, was at just 31 percent of capacity in late November and is now at 58 percent capacity, bringing it in line with the historical average.
Brazil Moves to Oust Miners from Indigenous Lands, Shore Up Support for Amazon Protection
Brazil’s federal police have launched a new raid on illegal gold miners operating in Indigenous Yanomami territory in the northern Amazon, officials said on Friday. The invasion of miners has contributed to the spread of malaria among the Yanomami, with devastating consequences. Malarial infections have deprived villages of able-bodied men and women needed to hunt and tend plots of manioc and bananas, leading to food shortages. Miners have also polluted waters with mercury, which is used in gold mining. In recent weeks, images have emerged of malnourished Yanomami children with emaciated chests and distended bellies.
Uganda Sees Resurgence of Rhinos, Elephants, Buffaloes
Endangered rhinos and elephants are rebounding in Uganda’s wildlife reserves, buoyed by decades-long conservation efforts, the state wildlife agency said Thursday. “Wildlife populations are on a steady recovery,” the agency said. Ugandan wildlife saw a precipitous decline from the 1960s through the early 1980s, when conflict and political...
Australia Blocks Proposed Coal Mine Near Great Barrier Reef
Australian environment minister Tanya Plibersek has blocked a proposed open-pit coal mine just six miles from the Great Barrier Reef, raising hopes among advocates that she will block other potentially destructive projects. “I have decided not to approve the Central Queensland Coal Project because the risks to the Great Barrier...
How Tensions With Russia Are Jeopardizing Key Arctic Research
Biologist Eric Regehr and his colleagues at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began studying polar bears from the American side of the Chukchi Sea, which stretches from Alaska to Russia, in 2008. But as the region warmed, and the increasingly thin spring sea ice off the Alaskan Coast made helicopter landings unsafe, he knew he would need to find another base from which to survey the health and size of the population.
To Keep Power Flowing Through Winter, Switzerland Adds 5,000 Solar Panels to Longest Dam
A Swiss energy firm has installed around 5,000 solar panels to Switzerland’s longest dam. The panels will help generate clean electricity through the winter, when a drop in rain and meltwater diminishes the production of hydropower across the country. At 8,000 feet above sea level, the Lake Muttsee dam...
How Illegal Mining Caused a Humanitarian Crisis in the Amazon
Emaciated chests, distended bellies, limbs like sticks — the images of malnourished infants and elderly that have emerged in recent weeks from the Yanomami Indigenous lands in the Brazilian Amazon resemble the worst of the famines in Ethiopia, Sudan, or North Korea. The humanitarian disaster in this forest region, however, was not caused by crop failure or war, but by illegal mining and genocidal neglect by the state.
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Yale Environment 360 is an online magazine offering opinion, analysis, reporting, and debate on global environmental issues.
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