Courtney White

Amazing Hemp: After the 2018 Farm Bill decriminalized hemp (a cousin to marijuana), this hard-working plant is enjoying a heyday. For millennia, hemp fibers have been used to make rope, paper, textiles, shoes, construction materials, and other products. Today, the many benefits of hemp are expanding. It is being processed into a biodegradable alternative to plastic. It is an excellent source of plant protein for humans and animals. Hemp plants use water six times more efficiently than cotton plants. Research suggests hemp is twice as effective as trees at absorbing and locking up carbon. A recent study in Scotland determined that these climate benefits could translate into significant market potential for hemp products. Recently, the USDA’s “Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities” program awarded $35 million to five hemp-specific projects. While this amount is relatively small, it’s a good start for a versatile and recently liberated plant!

 Claire Krummenacher

No Roads Lead to Net-Zero: The government of Wales announced this week that the country will scrap all major road-building projects and enact stricter carbon emissions restrictions on future proposals after an environmental review found the vast majority of its planned road projects would encourage increased private car use, spur demand for new roads, and ultimately prevent Wales from achieving its 2050 net zero emissions goal. While many efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars (which currently constitute 12.5% of the U.K.'s total) have centered on electric vehicles (EVs), the intensive use of environmentally damaging materials in their production has prompted scientists to encourage pivoting towards public transit, cycling, and walking as more effective means of clean transit. Subsequently, the Welsh review panel has declared that new roads will only be built if they support the transition to non-car travel, help Wales adapt to climate change's impacts, and improve safety.

 Juliana Birnbaum

Preventing 'super' greenhouse gas emissions: I appreciate the informative storytelling on The Climate Question, an excellent podcast from the BBC World Service, and especially recommend this recent one on staying cool in a warming world since the demand for cooling technologies is expected to surge in coming decades as temperatures rise. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which replaced ozone-depleting refrigerants, are ‘super’ greenhouse gases used in cooling with an oversized effect on our atmosphere- thousands of times more powerful than CO₂ in the short term. Last year, the U.S. finally signed on to the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement that could prevent up to 0.4 degrees Celsius in emissions this century through the proper handling and disposal of synthetic HFCs. If this treaty is robustly enforced and implemented and HFCs are replaced with alternative, climate-friendly coolants, it has the potential to reduce warming quickly.

 Kate Furby

Climate Joy Report: Climate "doomism," as it's being called now, can have harmful effects on people's ability to continue to work for change. Starting out on Tik Tok and moving into the nonprofit space, young people are pushing back against the narrative that climate change means the end of the world. The truth about the climate and the state of climate science is in turn frightening and hopeful, and our individual perceived abilities to affect change can feel dubious some days. However, some activists emphasize that not worrying about climate-related impacts like storms, safe housing, or clean water, can come from a place of privilege. Climate change is having a disproportionate effect on Black, Latinx, and low-income communities. Wanjiku Gatheru is a young entrepreneur working to change the structure of the system while empowering those who need it most. She founded Black Girl Environmentalist to help increase representation in environmental fields. One of the program managers of Black Girl Environmentalist also hosts a podcast about climate solutions and environmental justice called The Joy Report. They are part of a larger movement of young people creating organizations to help their communities and their people and the world in a myriad of different regenerative, inclusive ways.

 Kavya Gopal

Community-led Marine Protection: More than 40% of Chile’s maritime territory is under some category of protection. However, almost all protected areas are located far from the coast, which scientists and conservationists argue is where protection is most urgent due to the proximity to human activity. In response to this concern, artisanal fishers from five communities in the Valparaíso region have decided to join the global effort to create Marine Protected Areas by protecting areas of the sea where they have historically fished and harvested shellfish. Although the area is only 15 hectares of the 80 hectares within their territory, fishers have already seen a resurgence in fish populations and are increasingly receiving more eco-tourists in the region. The decision wasn’t always an easy one and involved financial losses in the short run for the fishing community. However, they see themselves as ecological stewards of the coast–“it creates a sense of belonging: I love my territory, I take care of my territory.”

 Nick Obradovich

Cooling Down the City Heat: Urban heat islands—the added temperatures that cities experience due to the heat retention of the built infrastructure—are a real challenge. They're an ever-increasing challenge in a warming world that is continuing to rapidly urbanize. Heat islands pose a particular threat to those with the fewest material resources to cope with them. Thankfully, the challenge presented by urban heat islands has a solution in the form of the greening of cities. Scientists recently estimated that thousands of heat-related deaths in Europe could be prevented by planting trees in those cities. Aside from cooling, another benefit of adding nature back into cities is that a city full of greenery—and wildlife—is all the more pleasant to live in.

 Scott Hannan

Worm-Powered Water Treatment:  A surprising ally in the treatment and recycling of gray/black water is gaining traction around the world: worms.  David Hoffman in California has created an inspiring, if not eccentric, worm-powered gray and black water filtration system which is used to grow lush gardens around his handmade home. Biofiltro is a California-based company with large-scale worm filtration projects currently operating worldwide, cleaning nearly 50 million gallons of water to date.  This not only prevents harmful chemicals and hazardous material from leaching into soils and groundwater, but it also makes the regenerated water available to be reused for applications such as irrigating crops. The system requires very little electricity to run, reduces the amount of methane released in comparison to traditional wastewater management schemes, and, as in the case of worm filtration on dairy farms, produces rich compost that can be used in agriculture.  The humble earthworm is offering us a low-tech, cost-effective way of treating our wastewater safely and effectively.

 Tim Treuer

To grow or not to grow: There's a debate within the climate movement about whether economic growth in our finite world is inevitably bad and degrowth should be a goal in and of itself. Liberal economist Paul Krugman pushes back on this idea in a recent New York Times column, pointing out, among other issues, that economic growth has also been historically tied to environmental benefits like cleaner air and water. The piece has received some pushback, and ultimately, I don't have enough grounding in economics to hold a strong view on this topic. I do wonder though if perhaps we're getting wrapped around the axle on a crude and flawed metric—after all, what does year-on-year change in the gross domestic product actually tell us about our society? Isn't what we really care about metrics like rising standards of living, decreasing pollution, and declining poverty? I'd love to hear examples of economic-ish indicators that broadly track the goals of the Regeneration movement.

 Amy Boyer

Renewables Continue to Surge: An important milestone in decarbonizing U.S. energy production has been reached: more new battery capacity is being added than natural gas generation, making battery power plants the second fastest growing type of power after solar. Batteries are increasingly paired with solar: close to half of the proposed solar plant capacity includes battery storage. Natural gas generation may soon see net loss: it's now cheaper to construct and run a solar plant than it is to buy fuel for an existing gas plant—even without the incentives of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Want the Waggle coming to your inbox instead? Click Here to Subscribe!