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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s most recent effort to reduce the destruction of the Amazon rainforest has failed, The Washington Post reports. Bolsonaro’s plan to deploy military troops and take illegal mining operations by surprise ultimately failed when miners got wind of it.
Why This Matters: The health of the Amazon rainforest is crucial in the fight against climate change.
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Hundreds of giant sequoia trees were killed in the Castle Fire in California, according to experts. Despite being naturally resistant to fire, sequoias, the world’s most massive trees, the intensity of recent wildfires has done more damage than the trees can handle.
Why This Matters: The fiery death of these trees is a canary in a coal mine.
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by Amy Lupica, ODP Contributing Writer According to a 2020 U.N. environmental report, seagrass “prairies” play a massive role in the health of the world’s oceans and if nothing is done to stop their decline, the world will face serious consequences. Seagrasses support rich biodiversity that sustains a whopping 20% of the world’s fisheries, and […]
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A new study found that the ocean is showing signs of intensifying stratification, a phenomenon in which the layers of water in the ocean become more distinct and mix less.
Why This Matters: The mixing of ocean layers is crucial to sea life and human life.
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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.
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A recent study demonstrated that perennial vegetables are very important in preventing and mitigating soil erosion and climate change, Virginia Gewin reported last month for Civil Eats. This category of vegetables, which grow year-round, goes beyond simply artichokes and asparagus — they studied over 600 species. And they were able to demonstrate a “full accounting of their potential to pull carbon from the atmosphere.”
Why This Matters: As the authors of the study contend, “Perennial vegetables are a neglected and underutilized class of crops with potential to address 21st-century challenges.”
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