Environmental News August 1 to August 10, 2017

Quote for the week

"It is a curious situation that the sea, from which life first arose, should now be threatened by the activities of one form of that life. But the sea, though changed in a sinister way, will continue to exist: the threat is rather to life itself."
— Rachel Carson, Marine Biologist

Court Rules Gray Wolves Remain Endangered in Western Great Lakes
Date: August 1, 2017
By: James Rainey, NBC News
Gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region will retain their full U.S. protections, following a unanimous ruling Tuesday by a federal appeals court that said the government acted prematurely when it dropped the animal from the endangered species list.
Read more here.

Removing plastics from the oceans is “not environmentalism, it’s good business.”
May 20, 2017
By: Akshat Rathi, Quartz
In a plush art gallery in London, Schmidt had come to promote the New Plastics Economy Innovation Prize, two $1million checks for innovators who can find ways of generating less plastic waste and fully recycling the plastic we end up using for packaging.
Read more here.

Nations Will Start Talks to Protect Fish of the High Seas
Date: August 2, 2017
By: Somini Sengupta, The New York Times
In late July, after two years of talks, diplomats at the United Nations recommended starting treaty negotiations to create marine protected areas in waters beyond national jurisdiction — and in turn, begin the high-stakes diplomatic jostling over how much to protect and how to enforce rules.
Read more here.

Cold snap makes lizards evolve in just a few months
Date: August 3, 2017
By: Elizabeth Pennisi, Science
A new study shows that a green anoles living on the Texas-Mexico border may change their muscular and nervous systems in response to a single cold temperature snap - revealing one of the most detailed examples of rapid evolution to date.
Read more here.

The Gulf Of Mexico's Dead Zone Is The Biggest Ever Seen
Date: August 3, 2017
By: Dan Charles, NPR
This year's dead zone - an oxygen depleted area where little to know marine life can survive -is the biggest one ever measured in the Gulf of Mexico, covering an area the size of New Jersey.
Read more here.

First genetically engineered salmon sold in Canada
Date: August 4, 2017
By: Emily Waltz, Nature
AquaBounty Technologies, a company in Maynard, Massachusetts, developed genetically-engineered salmon, and has sold some 4.5 tonnes of the fish to customers in Canada.
Read more here.

Trump administration delivers notice U.S. intends to withdraw from Paris climate deal
Date: August 4, 2017
By: Andrew Restuccia, Politico
The Trump administration outlined the United States’ intention to withdraw from the Paris climate change agreement in an official notice delivered to the United Nations on August 4.
Read more here.

Sri Lanka plans no new coal plants until at least 2037
Date: August 4, 2017
By: Karl Mathiesen, Climate Home
Sri Lanka’s electricity regulator has ruled out building new coal plants for the next two decades after finding the environmental and social costs of the fuel made it uneconomical.
Read more here.

Climate Change Now Impacting U.S., Government Report Warns
Date: August 8, 2017
By: Michael Greshko, National Geographic
A scientific review prepared for a massive U.S. government report on climate change forcefully asserts that human activity is changing the global climate—and that the U.S. is already feeling the effects.
Read more here.

Energy Department Reports: Wind Energy Continues Rapid Growth in 2016
Date: August 8, 2017
By: Department of Energy
The Energy Department released three wind market reports demonstrating continued growth in wind energy nationwide. America’s wind industry added more than 8,200 megawatts (MW) of capacity last year, representing 27 percent of all energy capacity additions in 2016.
Read more here.

Decommissioning Platform Holly
Date: August 9, 2017
By: Julie Cohen, UCSB Current
University of California -Santa Barbara researchers are undertaking two projects that will inform the oil platform decommissioning process in California, specifically the upcoming decommissioning of Platform Holly off of the coast of Goleta, California.
Read more here.

The Sea Level Did, in Fact, Rise Faster in the Southeast U.S.
Date: August 9, 2017
By: Justin Gillis, New York Times
University of Florida researchers calculated that from 2011 to 2015, the sea level along the American coastline south of Cape Hatteras rose six times faster than the long-term rate of global increase.
Read more here.

West Africans Fight Pirate fishing with cell phones
By: Brian Clark Howard, National Geographic
In a new Environmental Justice Network program, West African fishermen take photos of illegal fishing with cellphone cameras, providing data to help catch pirate fishermen.
Read more here.

How Healthier Soils Help Farms and Communities Downstream Deal with Floods and Droughts
Date: August 9, 2017
By: Andrea Basche, Union of Concerned Scientists
A new report by the Union of Concerned Scientists finds that soil can help buffer farmers and downstream communities from flooding and drought events, particularly when farmers use practices that keep their soil covered with living plants year-round.
Read more here.

Students, Cities and States Take the Climate Fight to Court
Date: August 10, 2017
By: John Schwartz, The New York Times
In Oregon and California, and across the US, climate-concerned groups and individuals have sued fossil fuel companies, seeking funds to cover the costs of dealing with a warming world.
Read more here.

Sea snakes lose their stripes to deal with pollution
Date: August 10, 2017
By: Rachael Lallensack, Nature
Scientists have found that turtle-headed sea snakes that live in polluted waters have evolved to ‘fill in’ their light stripes, darkening their skins to cope with pollution - exhibiting a phenomenon known as “industrial melanism.”
Read more here.