A new bill introduced to Congress proposes a reduction of the production of plastic in the United States. There is often a focus on consumers to responsibly reduce the amount of plastic they consume and dispose of it properly. The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2020 shifts responsibility to the producers of plastic, holding them financially responsible for waste they create.
Read MoreThe L.A Reservoir has 96 million black balls floating on it. When the shade balls were introduced into the reservoir, many people had questions about the purpose and effectiveness. The most common answer is to reduce evaporation during summer months. The correct answer is much more in depth, although evaporation reduction is a positive outcome.
Read MoreGreta Thunberg continues to hit world leaders along with major business establishments hard about business practices directly causing climate change and political inaction. At the world economic forum, Thunberg spoke to world economic leaders.
Read MoreThe company Watergen has created a system that creates drinking water from air. The technology extracts humidity from air in a machine resembling an air conditioner. The machine works by drawing in air, filtering it, going through a heat exchanger which extracts the water from air, and finally filtering the water to remove impurities and adding minerals for taste
Read MoreAccording to the University of Sydney, nearly 1 Billion animals are feared dead as a direct and indirect result of the fires that have been catastrophic across the continent. The fires have been ongoing for several months, having been ignited for various reasons but exacerbated by climate change including extended drought.
Read MoreA wildlife crossing is planned for Los Angeles to help endangered mountain lions and other animals pass throughout the chain of the Santa Monica mountains. The project, once completed, will be the largest wildlife corridor in the world stretching over 10 lanes of traffic on highway 101 with a price tag of $87 million.
Read MoreA new UCLA study reveals that arctic sea ice may become ice free for part of every year between the years 2044 and 2067. Human caused climate change has been steadily warming the arctic for decades. The study was conducted by UCLA Climate Scientists.
Read MoreThe system uses seawater and solar power to achieve the energy needed to desalinate the water, regulate the temperature of the facility and grow the crops. The farm uses a 115m solar tower with 23,000 mirrors pointed at it. A thermal desalination plant separates salt from the seawater used to irrigate, with no wasted water. In addition, the facility captures rain water for use in irrigation.
Read MoreA coalition of around 10,000 farmers and ranchers announced they will be supporting a Green New Deal. According to Regeneration International, the coalition is a bipartisan national coalition of rural and urban farmers and ranchers. Agriculture practices could play a key role in the climate change fight. Currently the industry accounts for 9% of U.S greenhouse gas emissions, but could potentially reverse this into a carbon sink if green techniques were applied broadly throughout the industry.
Read MoreThe Trump administration has proposed lifting logging restrictions on Tongass National Forest. The proposal would allow for roads to be built in an area that had been previously designated as part of Alaska’s roadless rule. The roadless rule is currently in effect for 9.2 million acres of the total 16.8 million
Read MoreThe Amazon Rainforest has been burning at alarming rates in the past few weeks. Currently 72,843 fires have been reported in Brazil this year and 41,858 in the Brazilian Amazon. This doesn’t include fires occurring in other countries in the Amazon. The fires are largely intentionally set to clear land to be developed for agriculture. Forest fires and burns for clearing occur each year during the dry season throughout the region, but not at a rate this great. This year, the blame for the increase in fires is largely due to new president Jair Bolsonaro.
Read MoreRecently, the Trump administration announced that there would be changes to the way the endangered species act is applied. These changes will weaken the conservation enforcement in the United States, making it more difficult to protect wildlife from Climate Change. The new changes make it easier to remove species from the list, weaken protections for threatened species, and using financial incentives when evaluating whether a species is fiscally worth protection.
Read MoreFarmers are working on rebuilding the nation’s soil. Midwest farmers have had a long term love-hate relationship with soil from the 1800’s when agriculture first began to the Dust Bowl in the 1930’s. Soil had consistently degraded until the 1980’s when farmers began working toward better practices to ensure the longevity of their land. Half of all topsoil and soil organic matter has disappeared since the 1800’s.
Read MoreWhile it is widely accepted that trees are important for the climate, what isn’t talked about as much is the ability to sequester a large amount of carbon via grasslands. Planting native grass is relatively easy, requires little to no upkeep and provides a range of benefits that can be quantified almost immediately.
Read MoreThe Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of various marine debris in the North Pacific ocean, between Hawaii and mainland United States. This patch carries debris from the western united states and parts of Asia. The Northern Pacific Subtropical Gyre is where the waste ends up after years of travel through the pacific. At the center of the Gyre, the water is relatively calm, slowly collecting pieces of trash together in an area that is 7.7 Million square miles.
Read More. The Circular Model is based on the principles of Make, Use, Return. This economy is based on the model of earth’s natural cycles of regrowth. In the natural world, all resources are used and nothing goes to waste. The Sun grows plants which provide nutrients to living creatures who give that nutrients to other creatures who eventually die, creating nutrients for the next generation. Nothing is lost.
Read MoreThe Green New Deal, sponsored by AOC and others democrats, is a bold new plan to rethink the U.S. economy to focus more on sustainability rather than exploitation of the earth’s resources. As climate change begins to affect Americans from massive wildfires to larger and more frequent storms, the idea of changing our economy to be more environmentally friendly is gaining popularity. There are varying views on what the bill actually includes, so it is worth reading for yourself.
Read MoreLil Dicky’s Earth Video is the best thing on the internet in 2019. Artists include Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Halsey, Zac Brown, Brendon Urie, Hailee Steinfeld, Wiz Khalifa, Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart, Adam Levine, Shawn Mendes, Charlie Puth, SIA, Miley Cyrus, Lil Jon, Rita Ora, Miguel, Katy Perry, Lil Yachty, Ed Sheeran, Meghan Trainor, Joel Embiid, Tory Lanez, John Legend, Backstreet Boys, Bad Bunny, Psy, and Kris Wu.
Read MoreAlthough the EPA has set the Maximum Contaminant Level Goal for Lead in drinking water at zero, there are still cities throughout the United States with lead and other contaminants in their water. Access to clean water needs to be more of a priority in the United States. Why do we still have lead in our water? Politics and greed are playing a large role.
Read MoreThe UN has released the most comprehensive assessment of its kind, detailing the increased number of species being affected due to climate change and human action. The report titled, The IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem services, finds that over 1 million species on the planet are threatened to be extinct due to the 5 direct drivers which must be addressed immediately in order to solve this problem
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