Planet Week: Mauritius oil spill spells economic and ecological disaster
Welcome to Planet Week, where we highlight the last week of environmental news and what it means for our planet.
Welcome to Planet Week, where we highlight the last week of environmental news and what it means for our planet.
An unraveling postal crisis in the United States could threaten the November election. Greenland’s ice sheet has melted to the point of no return. And the latest research doesn’t bode well for some favorite outdoor critters: Air pollution is killing off honey bees, and pesticides are killing birds.
In case you missed it, here’s what else happened around the planet:
Monday, August 10
Mauritius oil spill spells economic and ecological disaster
In early August, a Japanese oil tanker ran aground in Mauritius, forcing the Indian Ocean island to declare a state of emergency. For weeks, aids from France, Japan and the United Nations, along with island locals, scrambled to clean up the spill, made more difficult by rough seas.
Last week, the tanker emptied its 3,000 tons of fuel into the lagoon, punctuating an ecological and economic disaster for the small African nation. Mauritius’s once-pristine coast and coral reefs could now face long-term, irreversible damage, reports the Associated Press. Watch the heart-breaking video by CNN.
Arctic ice shelves could disappear by 2035
A new study reinforces predictions of an ice-free summer in the Arctic Ocean as early as 2035 — around the same time that toddlers today will graduate high school.
July 2020 saw the lowest area of sea ice coverage since scientists began tracking in 1979. Since then, we’ve lost an average of 27,000 square miles of sea ice annually that hasn’t come back, and, according to researchers, probably won’t, even with aggressive action.
“This is pointing to something we know is happening very quickly, and now we know we have to be ready for it [sooner than we might have thought],” Maria Vittoria Guarino, the lead author of the paper, told National Geographic.
Tuesday, August 11
The dog days of summer
The heat of summer is here. And it’s making COVID-19 much tougher to handle. Heat waves are scorching the Middle East, as Baghdad sees multiple 120-degree days. Western Europe is struggling to keep its residents cool, as London sees its hottest stretch since the 1960s.
Meanwhile in the U.S., northeastern states are dealing with both power outages and a dangerous heat wave. In California, heat waves are causing blackouts for millions amid wildfires and a surge in COVID-19 cases.
We recently wrote about the recent heat waves and how the dog days of summer — those lethargic, sweaty weeks in late-July and August — are becoming just summer.
Wednesday, August 12
Harris VP nomination brings climate justice to the Biden ticket
We finally know Biden’s VP pick, and now we’re getting a closer look at her climate plans. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), both in her past and present legislation, seems interested in tackling environmental impacts that fall heavily on already vulnerable communities.
“The environment we live in cannot be disentangled from the rest of our lives, and it is more important than ever that we work toward a more just and equitable future,” Harris said in a press release last week. “As we combat the climate crisis and build a clean economy; we must put justice and equity first.”
Low-income neighborhoods and communities of color are disproportionately exposed to pollution, extreme heat, and natural disasters. In a year marked by racial unrest and record temperatures, the Biden ticket just became slightly more attractive. Read more at The Hill.
Last decade was the hottest on record
2019 was a year of record heat waves, wildfires, and tropical cyclones — and it capped the hottest decade ever recorded, according to a new report. This isn’t surprising, as researchers also found greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are at their highest levels ever.
“Each decade since 1980 has been successively warmer than the preceding decade, with the most recent (2010–2019) being around 0.2°C warmer than the previous (2000–2009),” the report said. “As a primary driver for our changing climate, the abundance of many long-lived greenhouse gases continues to increase.” CNN has the story.
Thursday, August 13
New rule rolls back methane controls
On Thursday, the Trump administration lifted an Obama-era rule that regulated methane, an extremely potent greenhouse gas, reports The Washington Post. The new rule essentially allows oil and gas companies to self-regulate their own methane leaks and scraps the requirement that oil and gas companies must install leak-detection technology.
Andrew Wheeler, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, justified the move by citing “burdensome and ineffective regulations” and “redundant paperwork” in a news release. But by allowing more methane to leak and flare into the atmosphere, the new rules will undeniably speed up climate change.
The silver lining: If Joe Biden wins the U.S. presidency in November, these rules, and other reckless rollbacks, are likely to be undone, reports The New York Times. And already, former EPA chiefs are calling for a post-election reset of the flailing agency.
Wind and solar up, coal down
Let’s end the week with some good news. New numbers out Thursday continue to highlight renewable energy’s resilience amid a pandemic: Wind and solar hit record global market share in 2020.
The numbers, released by environmental think tank Ember, show that wind and solar combined rose 14% in the first half of 2020, compared to the same timeframe last year. Meanwhile coal dropped 8%. It’s a good start, but we need steeper change to meet the climate goals set by the 2015 Paris Agreement, warns the Ember report. Read more in Axios.
Bonus
Friends don’t let friends get eaten by bears
The pandemic has pushed more people into the outdoors — and into contact with wildlife. To keep people safe, the U.S. National Park Service shared this message on Facebook: When you encounter a bear, don’t run, and definitely don’t push your slower friends down to save yourself.
In all seriousness, bear attacks through the spring and summer of this year surpassed expectations. There have been a record seven serious grizzly bear attacks in the greater Yellowstone region this summer alone.
Have a safe week,
Brandon and Sam