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To maximize emission cuts, this Boston campus gets its power from the Midwest

Sarah Shemkus

February 18, 2021 |

Energy News Network |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Boston, Massachusetts

Boston University is getting all of its electricity from a wind farm in South Dakota, which should cover its annual energy needs of 205 million kilowatt-hours. Some energy advocates say the higher education institution should have purchased their renewable energy locally, but the university says their main goal was to maximize its reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. They hope to share their model with other “large energy buyers” and use the wind farm as an educational and research opportunity for students.

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‘What's at stake is the life of every being': Saving the Brazilian Cerrado

Peter Yeung

February 11, 2021 |

Mongabay |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Brazil

The National Campaign in Defense of the Cerrado coalition of Indigenous peoples and organizational partners is fighting political challenges to preserve the region’s native vegetation and biodiversity. The Cerrado is a tropical savanna In Brazil that is home to about 5 percent of the planet’s animal and plant species, yet only 3 percent of the land is under “strict protection” regulations. Pressure from the campaigners has led to a public hearing and proposal with more than 500,000 signatures to declare the region a World Heritage site.

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Planting Trees Sounds Like A Simple Climate Fix. It's Anything But.

Kyla Mandel

February 05, 2021 |

The Huffington Post |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United Kingdom, England

As governments and businesses make pledges to cut their carbon emissions, planting tress has become a popular solution to combat the effects of climate change. But tree-planting schemes take time and proper management to actually be effective. Many efforts have failed to take some key factors into consideration, including types of trees, location, and even community-involvement.

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A Program in Galveston Turns Discarded Oyster Shells Into Treasure

Jody Serrano

February 05, 2021 |

Gizmodo |

Photojournalism |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Galveston, Texas

A nonprofit is taking discarded oyster shells from restaurants and giving them a new purpose as homes for marine life in Galveston, Texas. The Galveston Bay Foundation started an oyster recycling program, which have now grown to include 10 area restaurants. Oysters are collected weekly, at no cost to restaurants, then taken to a facility to be processed and disinfected naturally. "The program has recycled 1,072 tons of oyster shells."

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How Hawaii is trying to save Haena State Park, a Kauai tourist hotspot that's been loved to death

Michele Bigley

January 27, 2021 |

SFGate |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Kauai, Hawaii

Hawaii’s North Shore has implemented a plan to embrace a model of tourism that would respect the land, minimize any damage, and create a better community for native residents. Regenerative tourism helped stabilize a fragile ecosystem and will hopefully continue to protect Haena State Park when international travel resumes after the pandemic.

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How Solar Panels Could Help Save Struggling Farms

XiaoZhi Lim

January 18, 2021 |

The Huffington Post |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Tucson, Arizona

As the amount of farmland decreases in the United States and climate change brings hotter and drier conditions, many farmers are turning to agrivoltaics — growing crops and installing solar panels on the same land — as a way to make ends meet. Research on a garden in Arizona showed that certain crops like tomatoes and chiltepin peppers were able to thrive under the shade of solar panels, while also improving the solar panels’ productivity. “It’s a very unique positive feedback,” said one of the researchers.

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Indigenous agroforestry revives profitable palm trees and the Atlantic Forest

Xavier Bartaburu

January 13, 2021 |

Mongabay |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Brazil, Sao Paulo

The Jussara Fortress program helped the indigenous Guarani people turn small-scale production of jussara palm hearts, a delicacy, into the main source of income. Sustainable growing techniques protect the jussara, which was endangered by deforestation and over-harvesting. This, in turn, provides for a biodiverse system with environmental and health benefits for the Ribeirão Silveira Indigenous Territory. The program planted more than 100,000 of the trees, which need a decade to yield a small amount of marketable product.

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Human composting now legal, begins in Washington

Hannah Ray Lambert

January 12, 2021 |

KOIN-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

Under 3 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Wahkiacus, Washington

Instead of burying or cremating a body after the person has died, some are turning their loved ones into compost. Washington recently became the first state to approve human remains composting, which environmentalists heralded as a greener alternative because it uses less energy. Herland Forest, a natural burial cemetery, is doing one of the first licensed “natural organic reductions” using a “cradle” with wood chips, bacteria, fungi, and oxygen to help speed up the decomposition process. This can take several weeks, but it could become a popular option.

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This Thai village created a tiny fish reserve years ago. Today, it's thriving.

Rachel Nuwer

January 12, 2021 |

National Geographic |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Thailand, Na Doi

By setting aside an area of the Ngao River to be off limits for fishing, several villages in Thailand have seen a revitalization of large barb and carp in their waters. Compared to non-protected stretches of the river, reserves saw more than twice the total number of fish, and catches outside of that protected area have also significantly increased. “These small, community-based reserves can be a really effective management strategy for sustaining their own resources and conserving fish,” says a researcher at the Global Water Center.

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It Spied on Soviet Atomic Bombs. Now It's Solving Ecological Mysteries.

Marion Renault

January 05, 2021 |

The New York Times |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Environmental scientists are using modern computing software to correct, orient, and analyze satellite images from the Corona spy project, launched in the 1960s and ’70s to monitor the Soviet military. The images have revealed human environmental impacts, challenged long-held assumptions, and helped predict future challenges. Within the last two years alone, the images have contributed to new information about climate change including rock glacier movements in Central Asia, shoreline changes in Saudi Arabia, and ice loss in Peru, helping scientists fill in knowledge gaps.

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