• Land

Prairie Soil Could Play A Key Role in Reducing US Carbon Emissions

• carbon
• carbon sink
• carbon storage
• climate change
• farmers
• prairie grass
• ranchers

An innovative way of decreasing our carbon footprint that is gaining acceptance is sequestering carbon in prairies, The Washington Post recently reported.

Why This Matters: To avoid the effects of global warming, scientists believe the world would need not only to cut out 50% of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, but also remove existing carbon from the atmosphere.

• Land

Fire Crew Struggle to Contain California’s 25 Major Wildfires

• California
• Oregon
• Washington
• wildfire

The day after 200 people had to be air rescued by the National Guard from an oncoming wildfire in California, the LA Times reported that “helicopter crews braved dangerous smoke and flames Tuesday to reach more than 100 hikers, campers and other people stranded in remote locations of the Sierra Nevada by the destructive Creek […]

• Land

Asphalt Could Be Releasing More Emissions Than Cars

• asphalt
• green spaces
• pavement
• urban trees

In the heart of summer, hot asphalt in our cities radiates heat at night causing what’s known as the ubran heat island effect. But a new study published in the journal Science Advances that asphalt is releasing more than heat, it’s emitting harmful air pollutants, especially on hot and sunny days. As the New Scientist: […]

• Land

Microplastics Pollution Found in Farm Soil

• farming
• microplastic
• plastic pollution
• soil

by Julia Fine, ODP Contributing Writer There is “a growing concern” over microplastics pollution in farm soils, Kate S. Petersen reported for Environmental Health News this week. Although we have long since known about the effects of microplastics in the ocean, this article showed that “most microplastics are actually accumulating on land, including agricultural areas.” […]

• Land

Wildfires Increase by 13% in 2020, Humans to Blame

• Amazon rainforest
• Australia
• California
• climate change
• wildfire

In the past decades as climate change has continued to heat our planet, wildfires around the world have grown in frequency and destruction as the world’s potential to burn has increased. Just in the past 3 years, we’ve seen the devastation brought on by wildfires in California (where the entire town of Paradise was destroyed), […]

• Land

Trump Administration Orders An About-Face on Pebble Mine

• Alaska
• Bristol Bay
• Native Alaskan Tribes
• Pebble Mine
• Salmon

On Monday in a highly unusual reversal, the Army Corps of Engineers issued a letter denying the permit application for the controversial Pebble Mine in Alaska. This comes after years of work and large expenditures by the Trump team to restart the development of the mine that President Obama rejected outright in 2014.

Why This Matters: This mine should never be built.  Ever. It puts at risk the single most valuable sustainable fishery in the world and puts two pristine national parks.