Wassup world? Today is Thursday, December 6th, 2018 and this is the Weekly Environmental Wrap Up.
This month will be the last month of the Weekly Environmental Wrap Up. Starting next week, we’ll be putting out the same content under a new network and name. You’ll a brief update in your news feed soon with details.
Now for the headlines.
In the USA, the Trump administration is set to approve new abilities for the fossil fuel industry to conduct widescale underwater seismic in federal waters off the U.S. Atlantic coast. The National Marine Fisheries Service has the final say, and will likely allow the Seismic testing in order to map the ocean floor and estimate the whereabouts of oil and gas. only exploratory drilling can confirm their presence. For reference, The Deepwater Horizon oil spill and Taylor energy spill resulted from exploratory drilling.
In breakthrough in coral reef restoration was recently made by accident. Dr. David Vaughan was trying to move a coral when it broke into pieces. These pieces regrew to the same size in just three weeks, and opposed to the three years it took to grow the original coral. The technique is now known as micro-fragmenting. It allows coral to grow 40 times faster than in the wild, and it works on every species of coral found in the Florida Reef. The method is being shared world wide in hopes of helping to recover and rehibilitate vast areas of lost and damaged reefs.
Thousands of threatened flying foxes have dropped dead due to heat stress brought on by extreme temperatures in far north Queensland, Australia this week. Conservationists and wildlife volunteers estimate more than 4,000 have perished this week during the record heatwave, which has seen temperatures in Cairns [KErNS] reach all-time highs of 42.6C. The next day, Thousands of children across Australia skipped lessons on Friday to take part in mass protests against coal to demand that the government take action on climate change.
Queensland flying fox species decimated by record heatwave | Environment | The Guardian Australian kids skip school in climate protest | News | DW | 30.11.2018
Norway will become the first country to stop its biofuel industry from buying palm oil. Palm oil has caused catastrophic deforestation in recent years. The decision from parliament is set to take force in 2020. Environmentalists welcome the victory as it helps to save rainforests, prevent climate change and protect endangered orang-utans.
Norway to heavily restrict palm oils linked to deforestation | The Independent
COP24 is the informal name for the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The conference kicked off over the weekend and ends next week. Lots has happened but the theme seems to be that countries need to stick to the Paris Climate Agreement. We’ll have more info on this next week as we get closer to the close of the conference. As mentioned, next weeks cast will be the last under this name, all future episodes of the Weekly Environmental Wrap Up will be put out by Carbon Copy. And be called FWD: EARTH THIS WEEK.
Luxembourg is set to become the first country in the world to make all its public transport free. Fares on trains, trams and buses will be lifted next summer under the plans of the re-elected coalition government led by Xavier Bettel, who was sworn in for a second term as prime minister on Wednesday. Bettel’s Democratic party will form a government with the leftwing Socialist Workers’ party and the Greens, and have vowed to prioritize the environment.
Luxembourg to become first country to make all public transport free | World news | The Guardian
Australia's plastic bag consumption has dropped drastically over the last Three months after two of the largest supermarket chains banned plastic grocery bags. An estimated 1.5 billion bags have been prevented from use, according to the National Retail Association.
Australia Cuts 80% of Plastic Bag Use in 3 Short Months
Xcel Energy has become the first major U.S. utility committed to delivering 100 percent carbon-free power by 2050. Xcel, is Colorado’s largest utility provider, and has 3.6 million customers in eight states. They’ve also committed to and 80 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions (from 2005 levels) by 2030. Xcel has announced in the past that new wind farms and battery construction would actually be cheaper than running existing coal plants.
A major U.S. electric utility has finally realized climate change is reality – ThinkProgress
The Trump administration plans to auction more than 900,000 acres for oil and gas extraction on the doorstep of Nevada’s only national park and other protected public lands. It would be the largest single lease sale of public lands in the lower 48 states in at least a decade. Trump Administration to Auction Off 900,000 Acres for Fracking in Nevada
According to a Monmouth University poll released Thursday. About 8 in 10 Americans believe the climate is changing, causing extreme weather. Two thirds of Republicans believe the same thing. Three years ago, only 49% of Republicans believed that climate change existed.
More Americans and most Republicans now believe in climate change - CNNPolitics
18 incoming Members of Congress back this call for Green New Deal, which aspires to cut U.S. carbon emissions fast enough to reach the Paris Agreement’s most ambitious climate goal. What would this look like, and what does it mean for citizens?
18 incoming Members of Congress back call for Green New Deal – pv magazine USA
We’ll be answering this next week, in a new podcast. Details will be announced soon.
That’s it for this Weekly Environmental Wrap Up. Tune in Next Week to hear more about the flora, fauna, and planet you care oh so much about. I’m John Brindley. This has been a podcast by Wassup World News. Things may have changed by the time you’re listening to this. Thanks for listening. And don’t forget to let us know what you want think on twitter @ wassupworld news and by text at 80-24-24-24-25. That’s 80 - 24 - 24 - 24 - 25. Peace out world!