Tucson’s mayor Regina Romero has committed to planting a million trees by 2030. In February Romero joined the U.S chapter of the 1.t.org Stakeholder Council, a group of leaders committed to the restoration of one trillion trees around the world. The U.S chapter has committed to a billion trees.

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Romero plans to prioritize tree planting in lower-income communities that are often disproportionately affected by Tucson’s urban heat island effect. This is largely due to a lack of green space.

Rainwater will be the primary fuel for the million trees initiative. When Romero entered office, she and her council approved a green stormwater infrastructure fee, which charges the average residential water-user $1 per month. Over the next three years, the fee will generate up to $7 million for sustainable stormwater harvesting in parks, streets, and parking lots, according to Romero.

Planting a Million Trees in the Semi-Arid Desert to Combat Climate Change

Planting trees is linked to better air, lower temperatures, and increased biodiversity.

Chemicals in our environment are a major cause of infertility problems in both humans and animals, but recent data shows that climate change is another looming threat to fertility.

Males of some species can become infertile at temperatures much lower than the maximum temperature they are able to endure for survival. A species survival is more dependent on the temperature at which it becomes infertile rather than the temperature it can survive.|

Researchers examined 43 species of flies. They examined the temperature lethal for 80% of the flies, and the temperature at which 80% of males become infertile.

Researchers found that 11 of the 43 species suffered loss in fertility at cooler than lethal temperatures immediately after heat stress. The effect of infertility continued to get worse after seven days. After seven days 19 out of 43 species suffered infertility at cooler than lethal temperatures.

These fertility responses are crucial to species survival. A separate study led by one author of this article, using simulated climate change in the laboratory, showed experimental populations of the same flies become extinct not because they can’t survive the heat, but because the males become infertile. Species from tropical rainforests were the first to succumb to extinction.

Fly infertility shows we’re underestimating how badly climate change harms animals

Too-high temperatures have also been shown to affect fertilization in corals, cows, pigs, fish and birds.

A new report by the World Wildfire Fund, as well as Mexico’s government shows that the Monarch butterfly population is plummeting. The current population has decreased 26% in December compared to the population in December of 2019.

Previously Monarchs occupied nearly seven acres in their hibernation forests but as of their last migration in 2020, they occupied around five acres.

The decline is likely related to the decreasing forest area in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, where the majority of hibernation colonies are recorded. Friday’s report found that in the year leading up to the most recent migration, the forest lost four times more trees than it did the year prior. 

Number of monarch butterflies hibernating in Mexico plunged 26% last year — and climate change and forest degradation are to blame

In the United States, the Monarch butterfly is close to endangered status. The decline in population is caused by numerous things, including logging and climate change. Monarch butterflies are important pollinators in our ecosystem.

As always the health of our environment and our own person health are intertwined. Pesticides and herbicides that are known to have a negative effects on human health also have a negative effect on the monarch butterfly population.

After President Trump pulled out of the Paris Agreement four years ago, 24 states and one territory agreed to follow through with the Paris Agreement, forming the U.S Climate Alliance.

The U.S Climate Alliance has vowed to collectively cut emissions by 26 to 28 percent compared to 2005 levels, by the year 2025.

Despite the promises, and plans to electrify cars, and trucks, add more wind turbines, and reduce the number of pollutants in the air, the majority of the states are behind on their goals.

Some say the states are doing the best they can given policies put in place by the Trump Administration. People are hoping that with the Biden Administration in place, federal and state governments will be able to work together to combat the climate crisis. President Biden has rejoined the Paris Agreement since taking office.

The alliance also notes that its member states have performed well in comparison to the states that didn’t commit to staying in the Paris Agreement. Between 2005 and 2018, states in the alliance cut their CO2 emissions by 14 percent; the other 26 states saw emissions fall by roughly 8 percent. These non-member states — which include oil-rich Texas, West Virginia, and Idaho — account for 60 percent of the country’s CO2 emissions. If they stay on their current course, their emissions could end up increasing over the next five to 10 years, according to a U.S. Climate Alliance report.

Climate change is one of the most pressing matters of today. The health of our planet and our own health are intertwined.

Fatal freshwater skin disease in bottlenose dolphins is now said to be caused by the increase in devastating storms. A team from the Marine Mammal center worked with Australian researchers to conduct their findings. The results were published in Scientific Reports.

Image credit: Bottlenose dolphin

Freshwater Skin disease first appeared in bottlenose dolphins 15 years ago, after Hurricane Katrina. Where outbreaks of the disease occur, an extreme drop in the saltiness of the water is the common factor. Severe storms like hurricanes and cyclones can dump excessive amounts of freshwater into saltwater areas.

With a record hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico this year and more intense storm systems worldwide due to climate change, we can absolutely expect to see more of these devastating outbreaks killing dolphins.”

Fatal skin disease in dolphins linked to climate crisis

Additionally, all four of the known freshwater dolphin species are at risk of extinction largely due to the climate crisis.

At OLM we believe the health of the environment is largely intertwined with our individual health. Consuming organically and consciously can make a big difference in your carbon footprint. Along with your organic lifestyle, the biggest thing you can do to help is compost your food waste.

New Jersey has become the first state to mandate climate change education in its kindergarten through 12th-grade curriculum. The state will implement that requirement in September of 2021. New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy partnered with 130 educators and led the push to incorporate climate change into the state’s education standards.

The adoption of these standards is much more than an added educational requirement; it is a symbol of a partnership between generations…Decades of short-sighted decision-making has fueled this crisis and now we must do all we can to help our children solve it. This generation of students will feel the effects of climate change more than any other, and it is critical that every student is provided an opportunity to study and understand the climate crisis through a comprehensive, interdisciplinary lens.”

Tammy Murphy, First Lady of New Jersey

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Climate change education is woefully unaddressed in the United States. Despite the effects climate change has on people worldwide, a 2019 NPR/Ipsos poll found that only 42% of teachers are teaching climate change. The demand is there, with 4 in 5 teachers and parents saying that students need to be taught this information. Climate change is here and continuing to escalate. States will do their students a grave disservice if they fail to adequately confront this issue.

Sources:

• New Jersey Is Now the 1st US State to Require Schools to Teach Climate Change – Global Citizen
• Most Teachers Don’t Teach Climate Change; 4 In 5 Parents Wish They Did – NPR

At the start of the pandemic, scientists were widely talking about a silver lining in a shut down of the economy: the massive drop in emissions. Emission decreases peaked in early April, showing a 17% decline in global greenhouse gas emissions.

China Nantong Energy’s coal-fired power station in Jiangsu Province, China /BARCROFT MEDIA VIA GETTY IMAGES

The continuing rise in CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere may sound surprising in light of recent findings that the pandemic, and the associated lockdowns, had led to a steep drop in global greenhouse gas emissions, peaking at a 17 percent decline in early April.

Earth’s carbon dioxide levels hit record high, despite coronavirus-related emissions drop

Despite the drop in emissions, CO2 levels are the highest they’ve ever been in human history. Until we reach zero emissions CO2 levels will continue to rise. Our annual growth of greenhouse gas levels was around 0.8ppm per year in the 1960s. The growth rate doubled in the 1980s and has reached 2.4ppm within the last decade’

“The buildup of CO2 is a bit like trash in a landfill. As we keep emitting, it keeps piling up,” said Ralph Keeling, who directs Scripps’s carbon dioxide monitoring program, and whose late father, Charles David Keeling, began measurements at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii in 1958.

Earth’s carbon dioxide levels hit record high, despite coronavirus-related emissions drop

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