 Sustainability
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Earth Hour Happens on Saturday Night at 8:30 PM Local Time
Lights Out for Conservation!
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Saturday Night Lights Out!
All across the globe, on Saturday night at 8:30 PM, from the Eiffel Tower to the Empire State Building, thousands of landmarks will switch off their lights in solidarity for the planet. The goal of this event is to urge individuals, businesses, and governments worldwide to move forward the commitments and solutions we need to build a healthy, sustainable future for all. Organized by the World Wildlife Fund, the "blackout" aims to mobilize unprecedented global action on biodiversity and nature by kick-starting global conversations on issues such as healthy forests, plastic-free oceans and wildlife conservation.
As the planet faces the dual challenge of climate change and the staggering loss of nature, the world's largest grassroots movement for the environment aims to mobilize unprecedented global action on biodiversity and nature by kick-starting global conversations on issues such as healthy forests, plastic-free oceans and wildlife conservation. Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International explains, "[b]iodiversity and nature is the foundation of life, essential to our wellbeing. Yet we continue to take nature for granted while our actions are pushing it to the brink. This Earth Hour, we want to shine a light on the importance of biodiversity and nature."
Why this Matters: Starting as a symbolic lights-out event in Sydney in 2007, today Earth Hour is celebrated in more than 180 countries and territories across the globe. In the past decade, Earth Hour has inspired millions to support and participate in critical climate and conservation projects led by WWF and many others, helping drive climate policy, awareness and action worldwide. We at ODP share these sentiments and hope that by writing this newsletter we can spark that conversation and inspire action every day!
To Learn More About How to Participate: You can visit www.earthhour.org and read individuals' stories about what they are doing for our planet.
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 Water
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World Water Day In Tweets and a Video
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Why This Matters: World Water Day is intended to remind us that fresh water is not something to take for granted. "More than 2 billion people lack access to safe water, and more than 4.5 billion people lack adequate sanitation services," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told member states. "By 2050 at least one in four people will live in a country where the lack of fresh water is chronic or recurrent," Guterres said, adding that 40% of the world's population is affected by water scarcity, 80% of wastewater is discharged untreated into the environment, and 90% of disasters are water-related." Sobering facts that should inspire action.
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Water Sustains Life
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 Land
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Some 9 mil hogs are warehoused in Eastern North Carolina; the 15.5 million tons of waste they produce each year are typically kept in unlined open-air lagoons. Photo: Travis Dove
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China Takes Advantage of US Deregulation To Supply Its Citizens With Pork
In a powerful piece of reporting, Rolling Stone explored the 2013 sale of Smithfield Foods to a Chinese-government backed conglomerate now known as WH Group. (we highly recommend you read the entire piece)
China's emerging middle class is demanding more pork and WH Group saw an opportunity to buy North Carolina-based Smithfield because "it's about 50 percent cheaper to raise hogs in North Carolina than in China. This is due to less-expensive pig-feed prices and larger farms, but it's also because of loose business and environmental regulations, especially in red states, which have made the U.S. an increasingly attractive place for foreign companies to offshore costly and harmful business practices." Through this China is able to leave the dirty business of hog farming in America and send clean pork products back home.
America's top hog-producing county is Duplin County, North Carolina, where future hams outnumber humans about 30 to 1 but the animals produce an enormous amount of waste--a mature hog excretes about 14 pounds of manure a day, which means Duplin's hogs generate about 15,700 tons of waste daily – twice as much poop as the human population of the city of New York, according to Food and Water Watch. This manure is kept in open air pits and often leaks into the water supply contaminating it with nitrates, parasites, viruses and more than a hundred strands of antibiotic-resistant microbes, including salmonella, streptococci, and giardia. Living near hog farms increases people's risk for respiratory problems, diarrhea, eye irritation, depression, high blood pressure, miscarriages, and impaired thinking and breathing.
Disproportionately, people of color are suffering the consequences of these practices. A 2014 University of North Carolina study found that African-Americans and other minorities are 1.5 times more likely than white people to live near an industrial hog operation.
Why This Matters: While these jobs do provide jobs for rural communities, they're not the jobs that the hog industry has promised--they're low-wage work that doesn't always provide benefits or high enough wages in order for people to move up the income ladder. As Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) put it, "People don't know that a Chinese company is poisoning American land, water and people, all to export pork products outside this country."
(h/t to Paul Bland, ED of Public Justice, for sending this article to us)
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 People
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Interview of the Week: Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, CEO of OceanCollectiv
Because it is women's history month, this week's interview again shines a spotlight on a brilliant woman breaking the mold to have an impact conserving the planet. Dr. Ayana Elizabether Johnson is a marine biologist, policy expert, conservation strategist, CEO of OceanCollectiv, and Brooklyn native.
ODP: You were one of the leaders of the March for Science last year. What did you hope to accomplish? Were you successful?
AEJ: Over a million people, in over 600 cities, with almost 300 partner organizations took to the streets to champion science for the common good. We threw a party for science and people actually showed up! Our goal was to make a bold and unified stand for the importance of science in policymaking -- and that's exactly what happened. The march spurred the scientific community to get engaged, and many have stayed engaged. However, it's been deeply disappointing to see this coalition under-leveraged, and every day a new proposed executive policy reminds us that we must be relentless in our efforts to ensure that policymaking is grounded in science.
ODP: Your TED Talk is called "How to Use the Ocean Without Using It Up" - how do we do that?
AEJ: First, we have to recognize that ocean conservation is about people, not fish. It's about shifting human behavior, political will, and culture. Second, we need to have a big picture plan. A key policy solution is to zone the ocean, so we have a solid plan for what happens where. Just like zoning on land, ocean zoning can allocate places fishing for, shipping, recreation, alternative energy, aquaculture, and conservation. Third, we need to be thinking about triage and our priorities, because we don't have enough time and resources to save everything, everywhere, right now. Fourth, and this is really back to number one, we have to diversify the people leading and doing this work -- we need the full spectrum of perspectives and expertise at the table.
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ODP: You are a habitually upbeat person and despite all the challenges facing our oceans today, you are optimistic about the future of oceans. Why?
AEJ: Ha! Well, I'm glad that's how you see me, but it's not quite true. People often discuss ocean health as all or nothing. As a dead ocean, or a healthy one. But there is a whole spectrum in between, from zero to 100. We need to be honest with ourselves, that 100 is out of our reach now. But whether we land at 20 or at 80 is within our control, and so many lives, livelihoods, and cultures hang in that balance. To stay positive I do an annual rundown of the biggest wins in ocean conservation -- there are so many successes we should be shouting about and replicating! #OceanOptimism
ODP: You founded a business called OceanCollectiv and all members of the Collectiv are women. Do women have a special role or voice in conservation?
AEJ: When I set out to start a company for ocean conservation strategy, I simply made a list of all the most impressive freelancers I knew with relevant expertise. It so happened that there was only one man on the list, and he was busy starting his own company. So it wasn't intentional, but the camaraderie of the group is wonderful. And women do have a special role in ocean conservation. Biologically, women are wired to think longer-term, about securing a future for their children; it would be utterly foolish not to have women thoroughly involved in conservation efforts since they innately think about long-term sustainability.
ODP: What advice would you give to young women who want to be marine biologists just like you?
AEJ: Practice your communications skills! Writing, public speaking, social media all matter. It’s critical for scientists to be able to explain their research in order to ensure there is continued public support for research as a valuable pursuit, adequate funding for future research, and policy that incorporates scientific findings. If you do not spread the word about your work and why it's important, it will be a tree that falls in the forest that no one hears.
To Learn More About Ayana and her work, check out her Ted Talk! |
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Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson in her own words.
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 Oceans
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Photo: NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center
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Great Pacific Garbage Patch Bigger Than Previously Thought
Eco Watch reported yesterday that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) floating off the coast of California now measures 1.6 million square kilometers (about 1 million square miles), according to a startling new study. To put that into perspective, the clump of trash is about twice the size of Texas. Not only that, the analysis, published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports, also revealed that the massive Pacific trash vortex contains up to 16 times more plastic than previous estimates—and could rapidly get worse.
The entire GPGP (which is the largest accumulation zone of ocean plastics in the world) is bound by the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. An ocean gyre is a system of circular ocean currents formed by the Earth’s wind patterns and the forces created by the rotation of the planet.
The 3-year study found that "92 percent of the mass was represented by larger objects—such as discarded fishing nets several meters in size—and 8 percent consisted of microplastics smaller than 5 millimeters in size."
Why This Matters: Firstly, this demonstrates how much plastic waste we are putting in our oceans, which harms marine animals and contaminates the seafood we eat. Secondly, the Dutch non-profit The Ocean Cleanup Foundation (which coordinated the study) noted that in order to solve the ocean plastic problem we need to understand what we're facing. The group is preparing to launch its highly anticipated cleanup system in the GPGP this summer with the goal of collecting 50 percent of the trash in 5 years.
Take a look at the colossal effort it took to make this study possible:
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 Hero
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Hero of the Week: Monica Lewis-Patrick
Monica Lewis-Patrick is an activist working to bring access to clean water to the citizens of Detroit. In 2016, Lewis-Patrick was a recipient of the KIND Foundation's KIND People grant and their praise echoed how her community feels about her:
Monica Lewis-Patrick’s sense of justice and belief in her own ability to enact change has united a community in the fight for water rights. It all started after she learned that the City of Detroit had cut off the water of an apartment building occupied by mothers and senior citizens. She co-founded We the People of Detroit, a grassroots organization that gives low-income families access to clean water; provides education on water issues; conducts research to raise awareness; and mobilizes people to take action.
She's dedicated her career to ensuring that the residents of Detroit have clean and accessible water even if they aren't able to pay their water bills and are facing water shutoffs. We the People manages a water rights hotline so people can get emergency assistance, and oversees four water stations that will even deliver water directly to those in need if they cannot make it to a station.
Why This Matters: The water crisis in Detroit is far from over. Tens of thousands of Detroit residents have had their water shut off as a result of the city's effort to escape its debt. As NatGeo reported last year, "The Water and Sewerage Department, under pressure to reduce more than $90 million in bad debt, ordered shutoffs for customers who owed at least $150 or had fallen at least two months behind on their bills. The decision to take such drastic measures, done with little warning." What's happening in Detroit boils down to the question of whether access to clean water is a right that should be guaranteed to all Americans. Monica-Lewis Patrick is showing her community and the rest of the country that the answer is yes.
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 Animals
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We leave you today with this photo of Cooper, the "Bark Ranger" at Lake Meade National Park (and check out the other fearless canines who work for the Interior). We hope it will make you smile. Thanks so much for reading this week! See you on Monday!
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