• Air

EPA Refuses to Tighten Air Quality Standard, Overruling Agency Scientists’ Recommendation

• air pollution
• conservation
• COVID-19
• environment
• PM2.5
• science
• soot

On Tuesday, the Trump administration proposed to leave in place the national ambient air quality standards for Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) or soot, even though the Agency’s science staff recommended tightening it, saying that a tougher standard would save 12,000 lives each year.

Why This Matters:  Industry groups such as the American Petroleum Institute and the Chamber of Commerce “cheered” the decision saying the air in the U.S. is clean enough.

• Animals

One Butterfly Thing: U. of IL Takes Lead Role in Nationwide Effort to Conserve Monarchs

• #30x30
• butterflies
• conservation
• environment

The monarch butterfly has lost 80% of its population due to habitat loss and climate change, as we have reported here.  The University of Illinois, Chicago will now take the lead nationwide on efforts to conserve them.  The University’s Energy Resources Center will administer an agreement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and dozens of […]

• Politics

Governors Working Together On Environmental Challenges Is Nothing New

• colorado river
• conservation
• environment
• Regional Fishery Management Councils
• restoration

As we reported yesterday, the Governors in several regions of the country have teamed up to fight the coronavirus within their respective areas — but regional agreements between Governors are nothing new in the world of conservation and the environment because pollution, just like a virus, does not respect state boundaries.

Why This Matters:  Governors working together to fight the coronavirus and its impacts through regional cooperation arrangements may prove to be a way that President Trump fixed the government by breaking it.

• Ocean

Ten Years Later, Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Still A Threat To Gulf Natural Resources

• #DeepwaterHorizon
• BP
• conservation
• environment
• Gulf of Mexico
• oil spill

Numerous organizations (Oceana, National Wildlife Federation, and Skytruth among others) have looked back at the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on the Gulf of Mexico in the ten years since — and sadly, the impacts of the worst oil spill in history are still being felt on Gulf resources — dolphins, turtles, whales, birds among others — and the risks of another catastrophic spill are still high.

Why This Matters:  I (Monica) was involved from day one of the response to the spill and through the early restoration work for two years after it ended, and we tried mightily to minimize the damage and begin restoration immediately

• Food

The Food Industry Begins to Struggle with the Effects of COVID-19

• agribusiness
• conservation
• COVID-19
• environment
• farms
• food
• food waste

Farmers are being forced to destroy tens of millions of pounds of fresh food because of COVID-19’s impact on their usual markets, according to the New York Times.  Producers are depending on $9.5 billion from the CARES Act stimulus package for their farms to survive this pandemic.

Why This Matters: As the unemployment rates sky-rocket due to national shutdowns, it’s hard to imagine food going to waste.

• Climate Change

First Japan Underwhelmed, Now China May Be Late Announcing Their National Climate Plans

• #climatecrisis
• #ParisAccord
• Biden
• China
• conservation
• environment
• Joe Biden
• NDCs

Due to the coronavirus-induced economic slowdown, Climate Home News and then Axios reported that China is delaying the release of its revised plans for how it will update its Paris Agreement targets until at least after the U.S. Presidential election.

Why This Matters:  The coronavirus cannot be an excuse to lower climate ambitions, instead it must be seen as an opportunity to elevate them.