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by Dr. Jonathan Baillie, Executive Vice President & Chief Scientist, National Geographic Society In the crystal-clear waters of the Coral Triangle, live coral species first developed millions of years ago. It is a remarkable evolutionary feat. Today, however, some of the same corals that survived the extinction of the dinosaurs could disappear by […]
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Stephenne Harding is the Senior Director of the Campaign for Nature at the National Geographic Society and is also part of a coalition of environmental groups working to conserve at least 30% of the ocean by 2030. She spoke to ODP from a key meeting of the United Nations in Kenya happening this week. ODP: What is […]
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Last week, 2020 presidential hopeful and former HUD secretary Julian Castro was the first candidate to release an action plan addressing animal welfare issues. Huffington Post’s Yashar Ali broke the story and explained that Castro’s plan, called PAW: Protecting Animals and Wildlife, Calls for ending the euthanasia of domestic dogs and cats in shelters and […]
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A new study from the University of Florida and the University of Tasmania found that climate change is currently forcing species to migrate from their historic ranges and its leaving communities unprepared for these new species. As the UF blog explained, “scientists predict species will generally move toward the poles or higher elevations as they […]
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By Madison Pravecek We are well past Memorial Day which means one thing for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere: pool season! While you may be really excited to use your personal or community pool, for many small animals pools can be quite treacherous. When frogs, chipmunks, salamanders, insects, or other animals enter a […]
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While we cover animal species extinctions a lot in ODP, but plants are also struggling to survive in a world that’s rapidly being altered by climate change. According to a new study published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, 600 plant extinctions have taken place of the past two and a half centuries. As […]
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A new report from Conservation International published today in Science documents that governments have removed more than 500,000 square kilometers from protected areas and downgraded the protection for an additional 1.65 million square kilometers, the majority of which are associated with industrial-scale development.
Continue Reading 479 wordsWe need to move past the “we’re screwed” narrative on climate change and ecosystem collapse. Fast. A dead world is not our destiny. Yes, the odds are against us as long as we stay on our current path. But we can and must radically change that path. We can do this, and we will. — […]
Continue Reading 156 wordsAfter a major United Nations scientific report on biodiversity was released on Monday, the hope was that its release could spark a “Paris moment” and bring a coordinated global effort to tacking the extinction of species much like the Paris Climate Agreement did for climate change. It was rightfully alarming to countless people that up […]
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A major United Nations scientific report on biodiversity will be released later today, after a week of negotiations on the final text written by 400 leading scientists from 130 nations assessing the state of Nature — and its impact on humanity — across the globe, according to a draft obtained by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
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There is a call for another “new deal” growing globally — this one a New Deal for Nature — and twelve of the largest international environmental groups are united behind it. They launched their campaign yesterday, with a powerful message — “Securing Earth’s biological diversity is a moral obligation. It is also critical in averting catastrophic climate change and ecosystem collapse.” They believe that we need to conserve 30 percent of terrestrial and inland water areas and 30 percent of oceans (dubbed “30 by 30”) through an effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative, well-connected systems of highly protected areas. Scientists argue that protected areas are much more resilient to damage from climate change or other human impacts.
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Last Week we wrote about the detriment that road salt can have on waterways, plants, and animals and how runoff is causing dead zones in lakes. It turns out that the story doesn’t stop there and all that salt is actually reacting with soil and water pipes to form toxic substances that can poison drinking water and harm the environment. The Revelator recently published an article examining a report published last month that found that not only is salinity increasing in many surface waters, but when you add salt to the environment it can mobilize heavy metals, nutrient pollution and other contaminants that are combining to create new “chemical cocktails” in rivers, streams, and reservoirs.
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