• Animals

One Cool Thing: Alligators Can Regrow Their Tails

• alligators
• nature
• regeneration

Scientists have long known that some reptiles — like lizards and geckos — can regrow their tails.  But they recently learned that alligators can do the same, CNN reports.  This was a surprise to scientists, who used advanced imaging techniques to discover that juvenile alligators also have the ability to regrow their tails up to […]

• Animals

Utah’s Largest Wildlife Overpass Sees Impressive Early Results

• conservation
• Utah
• wildlife corridor

by Amy Lupica, ODP Contributing Writer Dozens of animals are using Utah’s largest wildlife overpass sooner than expected, and experts are excited about what this means for the safety of people and local wildlife. The overpass, which was built over Interstate 80 in Utah, is 50 feet wide and 320 feet long and serves as […]

• Energy

San Jose To Become Largest City to Ban Natural Gas for New Construction

• building codes
• cookstoves
• electrification
• gas
• methane
• natural gas

by Natasha Lasky, ODP Contributing Writer The city of San Jose, CA will become the largest city in the United States to ban natural gas from all new construction. The San Jose City Council is expected to approve a proposal that forbids natural gas use in new commercial and high-rise residential buildings, expanding an earlier […]

• Ocean

The Seaweed Solution to Methane Emissions from Cows

• carbon
• carbon dioxide
• cows
• methane
• seaweed

Tatiana Schlossberg reports for The Washington Post about the potential of seaweed to dramatically reduce methane emissions from cows.  It turns out that Asparagopsis taxiformis and Asparagopsis armata — two species of crimson submarine grass — can reduce those emissions by 98% when just a small amount is added to their food.  Now several companies are working […]

• Cosmos

NASA Partners with Europeans to Launch Ocean Observing Satellite

• climate change
• Earth Observation
• NASA
• ocean
• SpaceX

NASA launched a new ocean observation satellite on the back of a SpaceX rocket last week. Now that it’s in space, the Sentinel-6 named the “Michael Freilich” will perform continuous monitoring of ocean levels and currents for the next 30 years. The “unprecedented accuracy” of its data will benefit ocean travel, weather forecasts, hurricane predictions, and climate science.  

Why This Matters: The Sentinel-6 will help scientists monitor the climate crisis as it unfolds in our world’s oceans and coasts (home to 40% of humanity).

• Climate Change

EU GHG Emissions Dropped 24% in 30 Years

• climate neutral
• European Union
• greenhouse gas emission
• Greta Thunberg

Since 1990, the European Union has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 24 percent. It’s all part of the bloc’s goal of making Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The next big step toward that goal will be hitting a 55 percent reduction by 2030 — more than doubling the change over the last 30 years in the coming decade. The details of those goals will be hammered out in meetings next month. 

Why This Matters: Europe’s pledge to reach neutrality by 2050 is a legal commitment that guides banks, policies, and decision-making. Each of the EU’s 27 countries must now write its own plan for how to reach these targets.