180905

# Water

Due to this summer's drought in Central Europe, boulders known as 'hunger stones' are appearing in the Elbe River. The low water levels in the river that begins in the Czech Republic then crosses Germany into the North Sea has exposed stones on the river bed whose appearances in history used to warn people that hard times were coming. Over a dozen of the hunger stones, chosen to record low water levels, can now be seen in and near the northern Czech town of Decin near the German border. The oldest watermark visible dates to 1616. That stone is considered the oldest hydrological landmark in Central Europe, bears a chiseled inscription in German that says: 'When you see me, weep.'

https://apnews.com/9512be71cc8f40a7b6e22bc991ef2c6c

A fish generally found in tropical waters has twice been spotted off the west coast of Scotland last week. It is the fourth time this year that the sunfish has been recorded by the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust. The ocean sunfish is the most massive bony fish in the world, with an average weight of 2,200lbs (998kg). The species was recorded on Friday by the crew of a fishing boat off the north coast of Skye.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-45388695

About 300 endangered sea turtles were found dead off the southern coast of Mexico on Tuesday, trapped in fishing nets, shortly after more than 100 dead turtles were recovered. Fishermen in the southern state of Oaxaca discovered the turtles in the seaside community of Barra de Colotepec, said Heliodoro Diaz, the coordinator of the state's civil protection agency. Images captured by a Reuters videographer showed dozens of dead turtles, many beginning to decompose, caught in what appeared to be a net.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-turtles/about-300-endangered-sea-turtles-found-dead-off-mexican-coast-idUSKCN1LD2OQ?utm_source=reddit.com

The California State Assembly unanimously approved a bill on Thursday last week that phases out the use drift gillnets in the state by January 2023. The controversial fishing gear, which can stretch a mile long and suspend 100 feet underwater, is used by fishers to target sharks and swordfish, but the nets inadvertently entangle and kill scores of other marine animals, including endangered species. The Assembly voted 78 to 0 on Senate Bill 1017, sponsored by state Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica). It passed 36 to 1 in the Senate in June. It now heads to Gov. Jerry Brown, who has until Sept. 30 to sign it into law.

https://www.ecowatch.com/california-bans-fishing-nets-gillnets-2600792569.html

A massive cleanup of plastic in the seas will begin in the Pacific Ocean, by way of Alameda, California. The Ocean Cleanup, an effort that's been five years in the making, plans to launch its beta cleanup system, a 600-meter (almost 2,000-foot) long floater that can collect about five tons of ocean plastic per month. It's a start. The launch date is September 8, and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch being targeted is more than 1,000 nautical miles from the launch point and on the move. The Ocean Cleanup plans to monitor the performance of the beta, called System 001, and have an improved fleet of 60 more units skimming the ocean for plastics in about a year a half. The ultimate goal of the project, founded by Dutch inventor Boyan Slat when he was 18, is to clean up 50% of the patch in five years, with a 90% reduction by 2040.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkart/2018/08/28/the-ocean-cleanup-is-starting-aims-to-cut-garbage-patch-by-90-by-2040/#5c504727253e

# Air

The Trump administration is reviewing a major Obama-era clean air regulation on the emission of mercury   a pollutant linked with damage to the brain, to the nervous system and fetal development   with the intent of proposing a replacement rule, a spokeswoman for the Environmental Protection Agency said on Wednesday last week. After reviewing the rule, a process which typically takes 60 to 90 days, the E.P.A. will issue a proposed replacement rule, the agency spokeswoman, Molly Block, said in an email.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/29/climate/epa-mercury-emissions.html

Over the last six weeks, the island of Lombok has been shaken by four severe earthquakes, resulting in more than 500 deaths and displacing several hundred thousand people. The question is, are there any more big earthquakes to come? Richard Walters, a geophysicist at Durham University, sees eerie similarities between Lombok and the earthquake sequence that devastated central Italy in 2016. More than 300 people died in Italy's Apennine mountains between 24 August and 30 October 2016, when the region suffered a series of three earthquakes, each larger than magnitude 6. Walters and his colleagues believe that Lombok has similar cross-cutting faults, which may also be controlling the size of earthquakes in the Indonesian sequence.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/04/terrawatch-lombok-anxious-after-four-big-earthquakes

# Soil

Within less than 15 years more than one-third of Bangkok will be inundated, because of extreme rainfalls and changes in weather patterns, according to a World Bank report. Bangkok is sinking each year between half and one inch. Between weather and The weight of it's skyscrapers, Bangkok's gradual descent into the water seems inevitable.

https://www.redskinspost.com/bangkok-is-slowly-flooding-itself/

Carcasses of nearly 90 elephants have been found near a famous wildlife sanctuary in Botswana, conservationists say. Elephants Without Borders, which is conducting an aerial survey, said the scale of poaching deaths is the largest seen in Africa. The spike coincides with Botswana's anti-poaching unit being disarmed. Botswana has the world's largest elephant population, but poachers have been breaching its border especially since President Masisi disarmed Botswana's anti-poaching unit in May.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-45396394

The Malaysian government will not allow any more expansion of oil palm plantations in the country, Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok said today. She said Malaysia's forest cover was over 50 percent and the government was committed to maintaining it. Kok asked the impact of the government decision on its long-term revenue, claiming that the decision will be up to palm oil producing companies. She also noted the glut in palm oil supply worldwide is due to overproduction by Malaysia and Indonesia. The two countries are the biggest producers of palm oil globally.

https://www.malaymail.com/s/1669208/teresa-kok-govt-to-stop-oil-palm-expansion-keep-50pc-land-as-forest

Researchers have compiled the most comprehensive database of landslides that took place between 2004 and 2016. Records of nearly 5,000 landslides which were responsible for 55,997 deaths around the world show that human activities like construction, illegal mining, and hill cutting are increasingly responsible for fatal slides, particularly in Asia. More than 700 of the landslides could be directly linked human activity, and the percentage of human caused slides has ticked up a few points year over year.

https://eos.org/articles/landslide-database-reveals-uptick-in-human-caused-fatal-slides

A powerful typhoon blew through western Japan on Tuesday, causing heavy rain to flood the region's main offshore international airport and high winds to blow a tanker into a connecting bridge, disrupting land and air travel. Jebi was the strongest typhoon to make landfall in Japan since 1993, according to Japan's Kyodo News service.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/09/04/powerful-typhoon-slams-into-western-japan-flooding-airport.html

# Urban

France took a radical step towards protecting its dwindling bee population on Saturday by becoming the first country in Europe to ban all five pesticides researchers believe are killing off the insects. The move to ban the five so-called neonicotinoids has been hailed by beekeepers and environmentalists, but cereal and sugar beet farmers warn it could leave them all but defenseless in protecting valuable crops against other harmful insects.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/08/31/france-first-ban-five-pesticides-killing-bees/

Ekoplaza, a supermarket in Amsterdam, has become the first supermarket in the world to create an official plastic-free aisle. The aisle contains over 700 items, replacing plastic with glass, metal, and cardboard containers, as well as innovative biodegradable materials which look like plastic but are made from trees and plants. Ekoplaza plans to expand their plastic-free aisle to all 74 of their supermarkets by the end of the year.

https://www.goodinx.com/GoodInxWeb/index.html?feedId=98&isAdmin=false&feedCategory=environment

In tandem with communities across the world, local organizers are planning a People's Climate March on Sept. 8 to demand their elected officials take urgent action on human-driven climate change. The march is being planned in advance and in support of the Global Climate Summit, which will take place Sept. 12 to 14 in San Francisco.

https://www.nuvo.net/news/people-s-climate-march-at-statehouse/article_2d894072-af75-11e8-a8fe-176bfb3883f5.html

# Power

On Tuesday afternoon, California state lawmakers passed a landmark bill, SB100, which would put the state's electricity supply on track to be totally emissions-free by 2045. It passed 43-32. The bill would amend California's Renewable Portfolio Standard, which currently requires half of all the state's electricity to come from clean, renewable sources of energy by 2030. Regulators have already predicted the state will meet that goal ten years early, by 2020.

https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/08/california-lawmakers-just-voted-to-make-all-its-electricity-emissions-free-by-2045-sb-100/

# People

Samoan prime minister Tuilaepa Sailele has urged Australia to reduce its carbon emissions, calling any world leaders who don't believe in climate change "utterly stupid." Mr. Sailele, speaking during a visit to the Lowy Institute, a foreign policy think-tank in Sydney, said climate change was a "disaster" threatening Pacific Island nations. His speech comes as conservative MPs up to the pressure on new Australian prime minister Scott Morrison to increase investment in coal and gas and drop the commitment to Paris targets to reduce emissions.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/samoan-pm-lashes-out-at-utterly-stupid-climate-change-deniers

Pope Francis on Saturday called for concrete action to combat the 'emergency' of plastics littering seas and oceans, lamenting the lack of effective regulation to protect the world's waters. Building on his papacy's concern for the environment, Francis issued a message aimed at galvanizing Christians and others to commit to saving what he hails as the 'impressive and marvelous,' God-given gift of the 'great waters and all they contain.' Francis recommended a two-pronged approach, saying: 'We need to pray as if everything depended on God's providence and work as if everything depended on us.'

He also denounced as 'unacceptable' the privatization of water resources at the expense of the 'human right to have access to this good.'

https://apnews.com/9c85604728bd4065a9d759b811b6da92

Nicolas Hulot, France's now ex-environment minister, decided to resign from government on Wednesday last week after taking part in a meeting, convened by French president Emmanuel Macron, to discuss relaxing hunting restrictions. Macron had previously announced he was considering lowering the price of hunting permits and reviewing hunting quotas. According to accounts of people who attended the August 27 meeting, Hulot had prepared for a heated, but fair, battle over the negative ecological impact of the sport. In his radio interview, Hulot made a plea to Macron's government and to the world not to idly stand by while the planet is degraded.

https://qz.com/1372009/frances-ecology-minister-quit-on-live-radio-due-to-societys-complete-indifference-to-climate-change/?utm_source=reddit.com\

The Environmental Voter Project (EVP) suggests there are 10 to 15 million so-called 'super-environmentalists' who are registered to vote in this country but generally don't. If they voted more consistently, the EVP believe it could change U.S. politics, as candidates from both parties would need to work to win their vote. The Environmental Voter Project aims to mobilize "the silent green majority."

https://thinkprogress.org/15-million-super-environmentalists-dont-vote-in-the-midterms/