Category: Good News Fridays

Author: Camellia Moors ‘22

Welcome to the third edition of our Good News Friday series! While it might be Friday the 13th, that’s no reason to focus on negative news. Here just a sample of some of the positive goings-on that have happened this week:

• Welcome Back to Paris: While the United States officially left the Paris Agreement on November 4th, President-Elect Biden has pledged to return the nation to the accord on day one of his administration. World leaders in the UK, France, and elsewhere have happily accepted this planned change in policy, which, coupled with Mr. Biden’s $1.7 trillion clean energy plan, could put the Paris Agreement’s goal to limit global warming to 1.5°C “within striking distance.”

• Australian Solar Power: South Australia recently became “the first major jurisdiction in the world to be powered entirely by solar energy.” For approximately an hour on Sunday, October 11, the state was able to meet all of its energy needs with a mix of rooftop and commercial solar power. While one hour might not sound like a lot, this test of solar power capacity lays the foundation for using even more solar power in the future and helps ease concerns about solar power reliability.

• Reusing Greenhouse Gases: Linggas, a Chinese industrial gas company, recently demonstrated its method for capturing and purifying the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (aka laughing gas) emitted by nylon manufacturing. Nitrous oxide’s global warming potential is approximately 300 times that of carbon dioxide and accounts for 7% of American annual total greenhouse gas emissions. This new mitigation method takes carbon (or, in this case, nitrogen) capture a step above what is normally expected, opening doors for the future of climate change mitigation.

Environmental news doesn’t always have to be doom and gloom. If you’d like to share some Good News with us, submit an article by contacting one of our Blog Editors.

Author: Grace Liu ‘23

Welcome to the second edition of our Good News Friday series! Whether you’re excited about or dreading the results of the election, we can all use some good news. Here are a few happy happenings in the sustainability sphere to brighten up your week:

1. China chooses carbon neutrality: In a surprising announcement at the annual UN climate meeting, President Xi Jinping committed China to reach carbon neutrality by 2060. This decision could lower global-warming projections by 0.3 degrees Celsius, the largest reduction ever estimated as the result of a policy change, according to Climate Action Tracker.  Every country that commits to carbon neutrality adds pressure on other nations to join this global effort. Currently, the US and India are two of the biggest economies outside of this committed carbon-neutrality group.

2. Seagrasses save ecosystems: As part of a 20-plus-years project, researchers and volunteers from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and The Nature Conservancy have spread more than 70 million eelgrass seeds over the salt marshes off the southern end of Virginia’s Eastern Shore. The eelgrass beds have grown to cover 3,612 hectares, and long-term monitoring of the restored areas reveals a thriving and resilient ecosystem, with the seagrasses acting as a carbon and nitrogen sink. The researchers say that the success of this project provides a glimmer of hope for ecosystems and the climate.

3. Legislation restores leopard populations: Despite their resilience and superb hunting abilities, most leopard species are endangered due to habitat degradation and poaching. However, according to collaborative research from the University of Copenhagen and colleagues from China, leopard populations in northern China are on the mend. This population rebound is linked to the Chinese government’s 13th five-year plan, which was implemented in 2015 to restore biodiversity in the area.

Even though the news is filled with debates and disasters (or disastrous debates), there is always hope hidden in the margins. If you’d like to share some Good News with us, submit an article by contacting one of the Blog Editors.

Author: Camellia Moors ’22

It is admittedly easy to get caught up in the seemingly endless torrent of negative environmental news from around the globe, which can make positive actions feel pointless. In doing this, we can lose track of positive developments and, even worse, lose hope for our planet’s future. If you are in this position, welcome to our new “Good News Friday” series, which hopes to provide a breath of fresh air with some recent positive environmental news from around the world. 

Here’s a list of just some of the things that have been happening recently:

1. Bye-Bye Ocean Plastic: It is no secret that plastics pollute our oceans, present on both the surface and the seafloor and worsened by the volumes of trash generated during the pandemic. Groups like the Ocean Voyages Institute and The Ocean Cleanup, however, have made it their mission to remove some of this pollution: the former recently removed the largest-ever haul of plastic (103 tons) from the Pacific Ocean, and the latter plans to present its first product made from collected ocean plastics later this month.

2. Planetary Emergency: The United State’s announcement of its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in 2017 sent shockwaves around the world, threatening future progress towards obtaining emissions goals. While that withdrawal cannot officially go into effect until November 4th of this year (one day after the election), one reason for hope for the future of global cooperation is that the leaders of 64 countries plus the European Union have acknowledged the “planetary emergency” and have pledged to undertake a variety of actions to counteract environmental degradation.

3. Climate Cases: Litigation seems to have become a common way of targeting polluters and encouraging environmental justice in recent years. One example is an ongoing suit filed by state and local governments against the American Petroleum Institute (API) which charges that API misled consumers about the climate impacts of fossil fuels. Regardless of the case’s outcome, advocates see the act of litigation alone as providing serious leverage against big oil.

It might not seem like it, but progress, even if slow, is progress nonetheless. Here’s to hoping it gets even better! 

If you’d like to share some Good News with us, submit an article by contacting one of the Blog Editors.