Eco Report – June 30, 2022

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HEADLINES

According to research by the Environmental Resilience Institute, average temperatures in Indiana will rise by 5-6 degrees Fahrenheit by 2050. The research also concluded that between 2004 and 2018, an average of 702 deaths occurred per year from extreme heat in the U-S.

—Linda Greene

Ships traversing the Saint Mary’s River at the Ontario, Canada–Michigan border between Lake Superior and Lake Huron recently came to a temporary halt when a spill of 5300 gallons of oil occurred.

—Linda Greene

Climate change is pushing the world’s oceans toward a mass extinction event, according to a new report published in Science late last month. The authors, Princeton’s Justin Penn and Curtis Deutsch, contend that without swift steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the vast majority of all marine species could vanish over the next three centuries, with dire consequences for the rest of life on Earth.

—Norm Holy

More and more people are accepting the concept of reforestation as an important tool for fighting climate change. More than 100 countries have placed a priority on planting trees. Currently, worldwide 15 billion trees are being cut annually, and 5 billion new trees are either planted or come from natural propagation.

—Norm Holy

The Westinghouse Electric Corporation, which massively contaminated the Bloomington area with PCBs and went bankrupt trying to construct four nuclear reactors in South Carolina and Georgia, is busy making nuclear deals in Ukraine despite the war there.

—Linda Greene

According to the Atlantic magazine, for the past month, a heat wave of mind-boggling scale and intensity has gripped South Asia. More than 1 billion people in India and Pakistan have endured daytime highs of 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

—Norm Holy

Wells Fargo Bank is the world’s second largest financier of fossil fuel projects. Last year it financed $46 billion in energy projects. The day before the bank’s annual shareholders’ meeting, a group of climate activists chained themselves to an antique stagecoach in a museum gallery that’s part of the bank’s headquarters complex in San Francisco.

—Linda Greene

Led by Louisiana, a group of Republican-led states urged the Supreme Court to revive a federal judge’s February ruling that temporarily stopped the Biden administration’s use of a metric known as the “social costs” of planet-warming gases to quantify the climate costs and benefits of regulatory actions.

—Norm Holy

On June 7, members of Extinction Rebellion DC, a local chapter of the global climate movement, donned hazmat suits and gas masks to disrupt a legislative session of the Washington, DC, city council. They demanded that the council halt Washington Gas’s plan to spend $4.5 billion on new methane gas pipes to bring the fossil fuel into people’s homes in the district for cooking and heating.

—Linda Greene

A study published in the journal Weather and Climate Dynamics reinforces the growing consensus that the hurricane threat to vulnerable coastal communities will keep increasing. The research shows global warming has contributed to a decisive increase in Atlantic Ocean hurricane activity in the last 40 years and doubled the chances for extreme seasons like 2020.

—Norm Holy

In a blow against the climate crisis, ten climate activists from Extincion Rebellion have glued themselves to the doors of a European Commission building in Brussels. Twenty-five activists, from Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands, Italy and other European countries, took part in the action, imploring the EU to do more to ameliorate environmental harms and to criminalize ecocide, the intentional and systematic destruction of ecosystems.

—Linda Greene

Shares of Rivian Automotive Inc opened at a record low recently, down 14%, after a report that early investor Ford would be selling a part of its stake in the electric-car maker. Rivian’s shares were trading at $24.77, a far cry from their record of $179.5 in November last year.

—Norm Holy

CALENDAR

Have fun at a Creek Stomp on Saturday, July 2nd, from 1 to 1:30 pm at Spring Mill State Park.  Meet Naturalist Emilie by the Village Ordinary, and feel the cool spring water on your feet while you help her find the macroinvertebrates that call Mill Creek home.

Enjoy a Live Raptor Show at Brown County State Park on Saturday, July 2nd, from 7 to 8:30 pm.  Join the Indiana Raptor Center for an exciting evening with some of Indiana’s predatory birds.  Learn about what threats they face and how you help appreciate these incredible animals.  Bring your own chairs or blankets.

Participate in a Snake Chat at the Paynetown State Recreation Area at Monroe Lake on Wednesday, July 6th, from 1 to 1:30 pm in the Activity Center.  The naturalist will have a live snake for you to see up-close and touch!  Learn about the snakes and how you can protect them.

Bloomington Parks and Recreation will have a hike on Saturday, July 9th, from Noon to 2 pm at the Sherwood Oaks Park on how to Be a Good Neighbor.  Learn fun facts about honeybees and other pollinators while hiking through Sherwood Oaks and Goat Farm Parks.  Bring drinking water and meet in the shelter.  Register at bloomington.IN.gov/parks.

An Explore Lake Monroe Paddling Trip into the North Fork of Salt Creek is scheduled for Sunday, July 10th, from 7 to 9 pm.  You must have prior paddling experience.  Bring your own canoe or kayak and explore the quieter side of Monroe Lake.  Experience beautiful views, hidden wildlife and much more.  Sign up at bit.ly/exploremonroe-jul10-2022.