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Beach Cleanups Prove Popular And Purposeful During Pandemic

Claire Caulfield

July 06, 2020 |

Honolulu Civil Beat |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Hawaii

Since single-use plastic usage has increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations in Hawaii are planning beach cleanup events to pick up the plastic waste. Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii’s first beach cleanup event since the start of the pandemic drew 150 registrations in less than a day. 808 Cleanups is growing its adopt-a-site program where households identify a beach, waterway, or trail they’d like to regularly clean up. Coordinating a large number of volunteers while maintaining social distancing guidelines has been difficult to navigate.

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Can we harness the Arctic's methane for energy?

Amy Yee

September 01, 2020 |

Arctic Today |

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Under 800 Words

Response Location: Rwanda

Alternative energy systems in Africa could help inform how to trap methane in the Arctic. Due to permafrost thawing and glaciers melting, methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change, is leaking into the atmosphere. In Rwanda, a lake-based methane power plant extracts methane from the water and turns it into electricity. But questions remain about how similar systems and infrastructure could work in the Arctic landscape.

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Bridging the gender gap through groundwater monitoring in a Rajasthan village

Sahana Ghosh

June 29, 2020 |

Mongabay |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: India, Hinta, Rajasthan

A group of farmers in India have been trained to monitor their village’s groundwater levels to help its residents make more informed decisions about irrigation based on water availability. The farmers-turned-researchers are known as “Bhujal Jaankars” and they monitor rainfall, dam water levels, and water quality to notify residents so they can plant crops that don’t require a lot of water. While there is a lack of gender diversity in the group, they are working on developing training to include more functional literacy skills to encourage participation from others.

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Looks swell

The Economist

March 12, 2015 |

The Economist |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Australia, Perth

Carnegie Wave Energy created a system to generate electricity from the ocean’s waves to power Australia’s largest naval base. The system, known as CETO 5, has buoys bobbing up and down below the ocean’s surface that drives a pump attached to the seafloor and pushes water through a pipe to the power station. Each buoy can create 240 kilowatts, and all together the system produces about 5 percent of the base’s electricity. The system will need to be upgraded if they plan to put buoys further at sea where the swells are greater.

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Reclaiming Appalachia: A Push to Bring Back Native Forests to Coal Country

Elizabeth McGowan

December 14, 2017 |

Yale Environment 360 |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, West Virginia

Tearing down trees to save a forest? While that may not sound like a solution, it could in fact be the key to restoring the former forest that inhabited the Appalachian region in the Eastern United States. “Ripping so deep might seem extreme, but it’s the only way to give these native trees a chance,” says Chris Barton, co-founder of non-profit Green Forests Works and a professor specializing in forest hydrology and watershed management, by means of explaining the ongoing effort he and other researchers, scientists and non-profits are making to reclaim native forests in this region.

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On the Delaware, A Promising New Era in Cleanup of an Urban River

Jon Hurdle

August 20, 2020 |

Yale Environment 360 |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Camden, New Jersey

Once known for being dirty, the Delaware River is being cleaned up by nonprofits and government entities to the point where they’re encouraging people to swim in it again. The Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority diverted the flow of sewage at 52 municipal plants to a new treatment plant, which has kept 15 million gallons of sewage out of the river each day. While overflows have not been completely eliminated, a national advocacy group even named the Delaware its River of the Year because of its improvements in water quality.

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Can charcoal make beef better for the environment?

Mikki Cusack

February 06, 2020 |

BBC |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Australia, Manjimup

An unusual mixture of biochar — a charcoal-like substance that is produced by burning organic matter — and dung beetles is one way farmers could reduce their cows’ methane emissions to combat climate change, while also improving the health of their soil. Studies on Doug Pow’s farm in Australia have shown an improvement in soil-water retention and an increase in the amount of carbon retained in the soil, which prevents it from escaping into the atmosphere. “We are doing our bit to re-engineer the soil in a positive way, for the long-term benefits of our world,” Pow says.

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For a Warming World, A New Strategy for Protecting Watersheds

Jacques Leslie

February 19, 2019 |

Yale Environment 360 |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Santa Fe, New Mexico

As climate change alters environments across the United States, it has become increasingly important to manage watersheds as a preventative measure to wildfires. Amid responses across the country, one private-public partnership, the Rio Grande Water Fund, is leading the way, demonstrating enough success that the model has become federal policy. The Fund brings together government agencies, NGOs, businesses, and residents to fund watershed restoration which, in turn, creates jobs and build more resilient ecosystems.

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Hold the Salt: The Promise of Little Fresh Fishes

Paul Tullis Htoo Tay Zar

August 24, 2020 |

Hakai Magazine |

Multi-Media |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Myanmar, Yangon

In Myanmar, aquaculture production from medium-sized freshwater farms is growing and could be an important and sustainable supplier of food for the world’s growing population. Aquaculture businesses are thriving in Southeast Asia despite the decline of wild fisheries — the acreage of cultivated fishponds in some regions has expanded by more than 250 percent. While some environmentalists argue that it damages ecosystems, research suggests that freshwater aquaculture have a much lower environmental impact than marine fish farming.

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The David And Goliath Story Playing Out In Alaska's Fisheries

Stephen Miller

September 14, 2020 |

The Huffington Post |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Alaska

A small, southeast-Alaskan fishing community banded together to protect the source of its livelihood from industrial fishing. Legislation officially protected 70,000 square miles of pristine waters in 1998. The ban on industrial fishing has resulted in much smaller, sustainable fisheries that have kept the ocean habitat flourishing and business booming for local fisheries. A cooperative model prevents overfishing and maintains a healthy ocean habitat.

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