Wassup World! Today is July Fourth Two Thousand Eighteen and this is Wassup World News coming to you not so live with our first ever Weekly Wednesday Wrap Up where we rebreak stories that impact our planets flora and fauna. Today, and every Wednesday moving forward we will be rebreaking news regarding Water, Air, Soil, Urban Spaces, Power and People.
A study conducted by the University of Selerno and University of Naples Federico II has shown that European Eels are highly sensitive to trace amounts of cocaine found in the surface waters near many major metros in Europe. Younger eels are especially susceptible to these trace levels leading toward higher metabolisms and decreased sex drive. This could spell trouble for the critically endangered species, especially considering the cross-Atlantic journey they make to mate every 15-20 years. Notably high concentrations of cocaine can be found in the River Thames near British Parliament and The Amo River near the famous leaning tower of Pisa. [https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/06/european-eels-on-cocaine-polluted-rivers-science-environment-animals/]
A new discovery out of the University of Copenhagen reveals that osmosis is not the only method by which water is transported to the brain, as previously thought. The univeristy has shown that Osmosis accounts for roughly half of this transport while the newly proven method called "ion transport" accounts for the other half. [https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-just-discovered-how-water-gets-from-blood-into-brain-ion-transporter-osmosis-cerebrospinal-fluid]
Local conservation actions, like rounding up predatory snails and starfish (also known as corallivores), can significantly boost the resilience of corals to climate induced bleaching, according to research published by Duke University. Corals that had corallivores removed experienced 50% bleaching, while snail ridden corals in the same area experienced 100% bleaching [https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180618222430.htm]
US. Forest Service officials offered Nestle, a three-year permit on Wednesday to continue bottling millions of gallons of water from a national forest in Southern California. Nestle Waters North America, took about 32 million gallons of water from wells and water collection tunnels in the forest in 2016. It contends that it inherited rights to forest water dating back more than a century. The new permit does come with new restrictions designed to keep surface water in the basin flowing. [https://apnews.com/67270f1105754f498bfab05e379bcee1/US-allows-Nestle-to-keep-taking-water-from-California-forest]
A study published last month found that atmospheric levels of ozone-damaging chlorofluorocarbons were unexpectedly rising again. The New York Times now reports that one major source appears to be Chinese factories that have continued to use CFC-11 to produce foam insulation, citing “interviews, documents, and advertisements” collected by it and independent investigators, including the Environmental Investigation Agency. [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/24/world/asia/china-ozone-cfc.html]
The incoming premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, said he will move quickly withdrawal from the bi-national cap-and-trade program, after less than a year of partnership, calling a carbon tax a bad deal for Canadians. [https://calmatters.org/articles/california-cap-and-trade-ontario-canada/]
Thailand, with its lax environmental laws, has become a dumping ground for e-waste over the past six months, after China banned the import of such waste. Thai authorities are clamping down on waste imports, but much damage has already been done. So far 26 illegal e-waste factories have been raided. “These factories have been polluting the environment because of all the heavy metals in the e-waste like lead and copper, which can poison the soil and the water,” Thailand’s deputy police chief, Wirachai Songmetta says. “They also burn the plastic, which brings toxic fumes into the air. So it is very dangerous for the Thai people living near these factories. Places like America and Europe need to realize they are going to have to start recycling their own electronic waste” [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/28/deluge-of-electronic-waste-turning-thailand-into-worlds-rubbish-dump]
Tree deforestation fell 6.5% from 2016 to 2017, with last year being the 2nd highest level since monitoring started in 2001. Last year alone, an area the size of Italy was felled or burned. The deforested areas are mostly being used for soy, beef, palm oil, timber, and other globally traded commodities. Protection of forests have the potential to provide a third of the global emissions cuts needed by 2030 to meet the Paris climate agreement. [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2018/jun/27/one-football-pitch-of-forest-lost-every-second-in-2017-data-reveals]
Persistent drought in the remote northwestern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia has caused a rat plague now affecting more than 4 million hectares (9.8 million acres) of grassland, an area the size of the Netherlands, the official Xinhua news agency said. [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-drought/inner-mongolia-drought-causes-rat-plague-xinhua-idUSKBN1JO03S?utm_source=reddit.com]
Under proposals backed by seven political parties across the spectrum, the Netherlands could set one of the most ambitious carbon targets in the world with 49% greenhouse gas emission reduction targeted by 2030 and a 95% cut including a carbon neutral electricity system 2050. [https://e360.yale.edu/digest/dutch-legislation-proposes-cutting-netherlands-emissions-95-percent-by-2050]
Seattle on Sunday became the first major U.S. city to ban plastic straws and utensils. The full ban went into effect on the 1st of July. [http://www.seattle.gov/util/cs/groups/public/@spu/@foodyard/documents/webcontent/1_074388.pdf]
Ørsted, the global leader in offshore wind, has placed a multi-million pound turbine order with Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) for its massive Hornsea Project Two offshore wind farm. The 1,386MW project will be capable of supplying well over 1.3 million homes with clean electricity. [https://orsted.co.uk/Media/Newsroom/News/2018/06/Record-breaking-order-for-SGRE-as-Orsted-signs-contract-for-worlds-biggest-offshore-wind-farm]
Tesla is working with PG&E on a massive battery system with a capacity of “up to 1.1 GWh” in California. PG&E, one of the largest electric energy companies in the United States covering nearly 16 million people in Northern and Central California, submitted 4 new energy storage projects to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for approval Friday. [https://electrek.co/2018/06/29/tesla-pge-giant-1-gwh-powerpack-battery-system/]
In a major upset on Tuesday night, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old Latina democratic socialist from the Bronx, beat out the longtime US representative Joe Crowley in the New York primaries. She is practically certain to win a seat in Congress during the general election in November. Ocasio-Cortez’s climate-change platform is the first any U.S. representative or senator has committed to that would keep the U.S. inline with Paris Climate agreement. [https://qz.com/1316082/alexandria-ocasio-cortezs-green-new-deal-could-make-the-us-a-climate-change-leader/?utm_source=reddit.com]
Environmental engineer Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo won Mexico City’s mayoral election by a landslide on 1 July, earning nearly 50% of the vote. She enters office on December 1, along with the newly elected presidetm leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador, in a landslide victory that upended the nation’s political establishment and handed him a sweeping mandate to reshape the country. [https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Claudia-Sheinbaum-Is-1st-Elected-Woman-Mayor-of-Mexico-City-20180701-0027.html]
That's it for this Wednesday Weekly Wrap Up! Follow, subscribe, or do what you do so you can hear next weeks wrap up. This has been a podcast by Wassup World News. Things may have changed by the time you've listened to this.
Until next time, Peace Out World.