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A typical morning at a fishing harbor in Nagapattinam, India. Image: Karthikeyan Hemalatha
The deadly Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 killed 230,000 people in 14 countries and in response people across the world donated almost $6.25 billion in relief money. Thousands of fishermen lost their boats. In response, relief funds triggered an unsustainable investment in better boats, higher-tech “ring seine” nets, and that led to overcapacity in fisheries that set off a wave of overfishing that “changed the coastal ecology and the local economy in parts of Southern India forever.”
Worth Your Time: This recent article in the online newsletter about development aid DevEx.com tells the tragic story of how a sudden influx of disaster relief money from the Boxing Day tsunami resulted in the fish catch in Tamil Nadu, a region in southern India, increased by nearly 75% in the 10 years following the tsunami.
Why This Matters: Disaster relief proved to be a tsunami of a different sort — but equally devastating. We have to learn the lessons of previous disasters like this one and ensure that when we rebuild and replace, we do so sustainably.
H/T: To #FriendofthePlanet Tom G for pointing out to us this cautionary tale.
A new analysis by energy industry experts predicts that Volkswagen will produce 14 million electric vehicles by 2028 and will leap from 10th place to the largest producer of BEVs, grabbing more than a quarter of all sales globally.
Why This Matters: Making the switch globally to BEVs is one of the key ways to drive down CO2 emissions in the next 10 years.
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In a stunning and groundbreaking turnaround, the CEO of the world’s largest asset manager with $7T under its control, BlackRock, announced that from now on the company will make its investment decisions with environmental sustainability as a core goal and will take climate change into account.
Why This Matters: This is HUGE. BlackRock is the single largest investor in fossil fuels in the world. And they are getting out of that business.
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If you are like us, you are really looking forward to the summer Olympics! The Tokyo games are going to be the greenest ever — and that goes even for the beds that the athletes will sleep in. According to the Associated Press, the athletes’ bed frames will be made of super-strong cardboard that is […]
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