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Yale Environment 360
Last Resort: Moving Endangered Species in Order to Save Them
The Guam rail, also known as the ko’ko’, has all the architectural grace of a wood-paneled Buick station wagon. Mostly brown, with white longitudinal stripes on its head and a houndstooth pattern around its midsection, it has a crow-sized chassis, tiny wings, and long, chickenish legs. It is narrow in profile, designed for a life of scurrying through the underbrush. The rail cannot fly, and it nests on the ground.
Greater Cloud Cover May Be Narrowing Gap Between Daily High and Low Temperatures
Greater daytime cloud cover may be shrinking the difference between daily high and low temperatures in parts of the world, new research suggests. Nights are heating up faster than days across much of the globe, narrowing the daily temperature difference. In the U.S., the daily low has warmed twice as fast as the daily high. Researchers have posited this is happening because warmer air holds more moisture, and moisture traps heat, allowing high temperatures to persist into the night. Experts have also suggested the temperature gap is shrinking because nights are simply more sensitive to warming, with the layer of air just above the ground heating up more readily after sunset.
Air Pollution Tweets from U.S. Embassies Saving Lives, Study Finds
By tweeting real-time local pollution data in developing countries, U.S. embassies helped spur measurable improvements in air quality, a new study finds. In 2008, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing began tweeting air quality readings from a new pollution monitor, drawing public attention to hazardous levels of particulate matter in the Chinese capital. By 2020, U.S. embassies in 38 developing countries were live-tweeting air quality readings, providing regular updates on pollution levels in cities where such data may be lacking.
Deforestation Declining, but Too Slow to Meet Climate Goals
Global deforestation dropped by just 6.3 percent in 2021, leaving the world off track from its goals of ending forest loss by 2030 and limiting warming to 1.5 degrees C, according to a new report. “There is no pathway to meeting the 1.5 degrees C target set out in the...
Cancer-Causing Benzene Leaking From California Stoves, Study Finds
Hazardous levels of benzene, a gas known to cause leukemia and other blood cancers, are leaking from gas stoves in California, a new study finds. Scientists at the nonprofit research firm PSE Healthy Energy gathered samples of unburned gas from 159 stoves in homes across the state of California and found benzene in 99 percent of samples.
As UN Climate Talks Near, a Showdown on Reparations Looms
As the floodwaters retreated from an estimated one-third of his country in September, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was very clear. His heavily indebted nation should not be forced to take a “begging bowl” to rich nations, asking them to help restore his country after its worst-ever monsoon floods — not when all the evidence suggested that the cause of the floods lay with the climate change caused by those nations’ pollution.
Unraveling the Causes of the Pandemic, and Preparing for the Next
Author David Quammen was well placed to see the pandemic coming: almost 10 years earlier, he had written a book called Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic. Covid-19, when it came, did not surprise him: researchers had been anticipating a pandemic from an RNA virus for more than a decade. But the lack of preparedness did.
Despite Turmoil in Energy Markets, the Shift to Clean Energy Is Gaining Steam
For the first time, the world is on pace to invest more in wind and solar power than in oil and gas drilling. Analysts say the clean energy transition is gathering momentum despite recent tumult in the market. Investments in renewables are set to reach $494 billion in 2022, more...
Carbon Capture Projects See Meteoric Growth in 2022
In the past 12 months, the pipeline for carbon capture and storage projects worldwide has grown by 44 percent, according to the Global CCS Institute. Companies use carbon capture and storage (CCS) to filter emissions from power generators, steel mills, cement plants, and other industrial sites and then bury the sequestered carbon underground. In 2022, firms have announced 61 new CCS projects, bringing the total number of commercial facilities in the pipeline to 196, including 30 currently in operation, 11 under construction, and 153 in development, a Global CCS Institute report found.
More Than 57,000 U.S. Sites Likely Contaminated With ‘Forever Chemicals’
PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) are added to products to help them resist heat, moisture, and stains, and they can be found in nonstick cookware, water-repellent clothing, stain-resistant fabrics, firefighting foams, and many other items. While high-quality data from tests for PFAS pollution is in short supply, researchers say it...
The Clean Water Act at 50: Big Successes, More to Be Done
When Steve Meserve’s great-grandfather, Bill Lewis, started the Lewis Fishery in 1888, it was one of dozens of commercial outfits scattered up and down the Delaware River that seined for American shad during the spring spawn. At the time, the Delaware’s shad fishery hauled 3 to 4 million of the hard-fighting fish from the river and its tributaries every year. But, soon enough, Lewis discovered that he had gotten into the business just as the river — along with the species it supported — was entering a period of catastrophic decline.
U.S. West Losing 1.3 Million Acres of Sagebrush Steppe Each Year
Every year, the West loses 1.3 million acres of its iconic sagebrush steppe, according to the newest report from a multi-agency group working to conserve this important ecosystem. That’s roughly 2,000 square miles — an area about the size of Grand Canyon National Park, or four times the sprawl of Los Angeles.
As Rio Grande Shrinks, El Paso Plans for Uncertain Water Future
Since before El Paso was founded by a Spanish missionary in the late 17th century, the Chihuahuan Desert region has been nourished by a steady supply of water: the Rio Bravo Del Norte, as the river is known in Mexico, or the Rio Grande, as it’s known in the United States.
European Airlines Misleading Fliers With Carbon-Neutral Claims, Research Finds
Carbon offsets offered by Europe’s leading airlines are of poor quality and do not promise to curb emissions over the long term, new research finds. When buying tickets, passengers often have the option to purchase carbon offsets to zero out the climate impact of their flights. But many offsets offered by Europe’s largest airlines are based on cheap forestry projects in developing countries that are vulnerable to fire, drought, or logging, according to a report from Öko-Institut, a nonprofit research firm based in Germany.
Only 17 Percent of Funding to Protect Indigenous Lands Goes to Indigenous People
Just 17 percent of funding for Indigenous land conservation goes toward Indigenous-led projects, a new report finds. From 2011 to 2020, $2.7 billion went toward protecting Indigenous land, but only about $477 million funded initiatives managed by Indigenous people or local communities, according to the report from Rainforest Foundation Norway and the Rights and Resources Initiative.
Phantom Forests: Why Ambitious Tree Planting Projects Are Failing
It was perhaps the most spectacular failed tree planting project ever. Certainly the fastest. On March 8, 2012, teams of village volunteers in Camarines Sur province on the Filipino island of Luzon sunk over a million mangrove seedlings into coastal mud in just an hour of frenzied activity. The governor declared it a resounding success for his continuing efforts to green the province. At a hasty ceremony on dry land, an official adjudicator from Guinness World Records declared that nobody had ever planted so many trees in such a short time and handed the governor a certificate proclaiming the world record. Plenty of headlines followed.
Once at Center of Controversial Case, the Snail Darter Fish Is No Longer Threatened
The snail darter is no longer facing extinction and has been removed from the endangered species list, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced. The three-inch, snail-eating fish was first listed as endangered in 1975 due to the planned construction of the Tellico Dam on the Little Tennesse River, then the snail darter’s only known habitat. In 1978, the Supreme Court blocked the construction of the dam, citing the Endangered Species Act, but the next year Congress exempted the project from the act’s requirements, clearing the way for its completion.
Russia’s Invasion Has Inflicted 36 Billion Euros in Environmental Damage, Ukraine Estimates
The ongoing war in Ukraine has caused 36 billion euros in environmental damage, the Ukrainian government estimates. In a hearing at the European Union Parliament in Stasbourg, France, Ukraine’s environment minister Ruslan Strilets said the cost of war-related air pollution is close to 25 billion euros, while the cost of damage to soil is more than 11 billion euros.
As Himalayan Glaciers Melt, a Water Crisis Looms in South Asia
Spring came early this year in the high mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan, a remote border region of Pakistan. Record temperatures in March and April hastened melting of the Shisper Glacier, creating a lake that swelled and, on May 7, burst through an ice dam. A torrent of water and debris flooded the valley below, damaging fields and houses, wrecking two power plants, and washing away parts of the main highway and a bridge connecting Pakistan and China.
Top 1 Percent of Emitters Responsible for One Quarter of Emissions Since 1990
Just 1 percent of the global population is responsible for nearly a quarter of carbon emissions since 1990, according to new research. The study estimated emissions from individuals’ consumption and their financial investments, as well as from government spending in their country. “Individuals can consume carbon, but they can also own [and invest in] firms that produce carbon,” Lucas Chancel, an economist at the Paris School of Economics and lead author of the study, told Carbon Brief. Investments accounted for the bulk of emissions from the wealthiest individuals.
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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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