• Weather

NOAA Predicts It’s Going To Be An Active Hurricane Season

• hurricane
• named storms
• National Hurricane Center
• National Weather Service
• science
• tropical storms

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA) is forecasting a likely range of 13 to 19 named storms, of which 6 to 10 could become hurricanes and 3 to 6 become major hurricanes with winds of 111 mph or higher. The forecast is due to cooler ocean conditions in the Pacific and warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

Why This Matters:  It could be a disastrous summer. The new climate normal on top of the COVID-19 pandemic will make things challenging everywhere.

• People

EPA’s Air, Water and Toxic Waste Failures Compounding Health and Safety Risks to Public

• air pollution
• conservation
• environment
• regulation
• rollbacks
• science
• toxic waste
• water pollution

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, Andrew Wheeler, appeared before Congress yesterday and when asked about all the rollbacks of environmental regulations by the agency recently, he defended his leadership saying “All our rules make things better.” 

Why This Matters:  It is patently clear that EPA is making things better for corporate polluters, not ordinary citizens who are negatively impacted by them.

• Health

Johnson & Johnson Agrees To Stop Selling Baby Powder Due To Asbestos Contamination

• asbestos
• bab powder
• cancer
• environment
• Johnson & Johnson
• science

Using the “cover” of the COVID-19 crisis, one of the largest healthcare product companies in the world decided to stop selling in the U.S. and Canada its “signature” talc-based baby powder product due to concerns over whether it was contaminated with toxic asbestos that thousands of women alleged caused their ovarian cancer.

Why This Matters:  This is another case of a company knowing that their product contained harmful chemicals and selling it anyway — like the oil companies that knew about the greenhouse gas effect of burning petroleum.

• Food

US Fishing Industry Hopes You Will #EatSeafoodAmerica

• conservation
• domestic
• fisheries
• fishers
• ocean
• overfishing
• science
• seafood
• sustainable
• traceable

With supermarkets running low on meat, seafood is a healthy option, and sales of frozen seafood like shrimp and canned seafood (much of which is imported) are up over last year, according to some retailers.  Most of the domestic seafood landed and sold in the U.S. comes from small fishing businesses and goes to restaurants and those sales are down as much as 95% across the country.

Why This Matters:  Congress provided $300m for fishers in stimulus funding, but it is only a “drop in the bucket” of what is needed to keep fishers afloat said Alaskan commercial fisher Julie Decker on Tuesday at a forum convened by the Ocean Caucus Foundation.

• People

Energy Secretary Takes a Swipe at Big Banks That Won’t Invest In Arctic Drilling

• #climatecrisis
• Arctic drilling
• Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
• banks
• conservation
• environment
• oil and gas
• science

The Secretary of Energy stunningly accused the major financial institutions that refuse to now invest in Arctic oil and gas exploration of discrimination against the oil and gas industry and likened the decision to the banks’ refusal in the past to make loans to minorities.

Why This Matters:  Arctic drilling has been fought due to its environmental toll since the 1960s,  In 1980, Congress decreed that no exploratory drilling or production could occur without further congressional action — and it stayed that way until President Trump demanded authority to lease the land for drilling, despite the ample domestic supply of oil and gas.

• Animals

One “Creepy” Thing: Georgia’s Newest Pest — The Tegu Lizard

• #30x30
• conservation
• environment
• invasive species
• lizard
• science

The New York Times reported over the weekend that Georgia has yet another problem besides continuing increases in COVID patients.  An invasive South American exotic lizard species has made its way to Georgia where it is now threatening native wildlife because, according to state Fish & Game officials, they can eat whatever they want (insert […]

• Animals

One Adorable Thing: New Red Wolf Cubs Born In NC

• #30x30
• conservation
• endangered species
• science

By Zoey Shipley The North Carolina Zoo announced via a tweet last week that they recently welcomed five new Red Wolf pups.  This is a cause for celebration because Red Wolves are the most endangered canid in the world. The zoo explained that there are only 15-20 red wolves left in the wild, and they are […]

• Water

Frontline Communities Lacking Clean Water Can’t Fight Coronavirus Effectively

• clean water
• conservation
• COVID-19
• environment
• pollution
• safe drinking water
• science
• stimulus
• water shortages

Shocking as it may be, there are 2 million Americans living in such poverty that they lack running water, and tens of millions of others may have water in their homes but it is hardly safe to bathe in, much less drink, The Washington Post reports.  These extreme conditions are exacerbating the spread of COVID-19 in minority communities in the deep south and Navajo Country. 

Why This Matters:  With some states reopening despite Dr. Anthony Fauci’s warning today that we are not yet ready, we are all only as safe from the virus as the most vulnerable among us.

• Forests

Saving Northern Minnesota’s Forests Through Affirmative Adaptation

• boreal forest
• climate change
• conservation
• environment
• forest
• Minnesota
• science

The Washington Post’s Pulitzer Prize-winning series on climate change highlighting the places where temperatures have already warmed more than 2 degrees has a new installment, this one focusing on how to retain tree cover in Northern Minnesota so it doesn’t become a prairie, which scientists believe is a real risk. 

Why This Matters:  If Minnesota’s residents want to keep their forests, humans must limit greenhouse gas emissions, but even so, scientists are looking for ways to help the state’s forest adapt by changing it from spruce and fir trees to maples and oaks.

• Weather

April Ties Record, 2020 Could Be Warmest Year and CO2 Levels Highest in 3 Million Years

• #COVID19
• conservation
• El Nino
• heat
• hurricane
• science
• severe weather

April’s global average temperatures tied for the warmest on record, with NOAA predicting there is a 75% chance that this year will be the warmest since temperatures records began in 1880 due to much warmer than average temperatures in northern Asia, especially Siberia, across northern and coastal central Greenland, for parts of Antarctica, areas of Alaska and the Arctic Ocean. 

Why This Matters:  As carbon dioxide levels keep going up it is easier and easier to set warmest month records because it stays in the atmosphere for a long time continuing to heat us up.

• People

Scientist Heroes: Especially the Woman Who Discovered Coronaviruses

• science
• scientists

Everything we know about COVID-19 and how the virus is mutating is due to the countless teams of scientists and researchers who study infectious diseases. These experts have also helped governments understand the ethics of managing the disease including the issuance of “immunity passports.” There’s a lot of misinformation out there and scientists are leading […]

• Land

Court Voids 287 Oil and Gas Leases in Montana

• Bureau of Land Management
• conservation
• environment
• NEPA
• oil and gas
• science

Cutting corners is the Trump Administration’s calling card — and oops, they did it again — and as a result, a federal judge late last week threw out hundreds of oil and gas leases covering nearly 150,000 acres of federal land in Montana.

Why This Matters:  What can we say.  It’s good that they are so bad at being awful.