Environmental Stories You May Have Missed During COVID-19
By Jossie Warnant
Right now opening your news feed can be pretty overwhelming. As soon as you log on to Facebook or Twitter you are bombarded with a swathe of new information relating to the COVID-19 outbreak. In January 2020 alone, Time Magazine reported that more than 41,000 English-language print news articles mentioned the word “coronavirus,” and almost 19,000 included it in their headlines. The lack of information about the virus, constantly changing data and varied government responses mean that it’s almost impossible to keep up to date on everything COVID-19 related.
But as our feeds have been overtaken by coronavirus, other news has not stopped. This means that issues which previously garnered significant media attention are being pushed aside. This is understandable as the global community focuses on protecting people from COVID-19. But climate change has not been put on pause while we deal with coronavirus. Here are five environmental stories you may have missed.
1. Australian Government launches $150 million plan to save the Great Barrier Reef
New and experimental ideas have been approved as part of an ambitious $150 million research and development program that aims to limit the impact of rising ocean temperatures on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
A list of 43 potential ideas to save the Great Barrier Reef have been funded for further investigation as part of the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program (RRAP).
This announcement comes after the Great Barrier Reef suffered its most wide spread coral bleaching event over the summer of 2020. Three regions of the reef are now impacted in the third and widest outbreak of mass bleaching in five years.
The new and experimental techniques include using “micro-bubbles”, ultra-thin natural films and farmed algae to reduce light over smaller areas of the reef, releasing natural and tank raised coral larvae onto reefs and supporting damaged reef shapes with man-made structures.
2. Water temperature in NSW coastal estuaries has risen by more than 2°C
A study that analysed 166 NSW rivers, lakes and lagoons over 12-years found that the temperature of the state’s estuaries is warming at twice the rate of the ocean and the atmosphere. The water has also become more acidic, growing by 0.09 pH units annually.
Estuary temperature increased by 2.16°C on average at a rate of 0.2°C per year. Lagoons and rivers are warming at the fastest rate because of their shallow average depth and limited exchange with the ocean.
This rapid rise in temperature is likely to negatively impact both industry and ecological diversity.
3. EPA approves logging without considering impacts on koalas following bushfires
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that the NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has approved logging in forest areas in northern NSW without assessing the potential impact on koala populations already hit badly by the recent bushfire crisis.
The EPA approved the logging of 5062 hectares in three state forests on the Richmond River lowlands. This area experienced the loss of as many as 90 per cent of the marsupials during the bushfire crisis with approximately 83 per cent of “likely” koala habitat being burnt.
4. Climate-driven megadrought emerging in the United States
A new study from the Earth Institute at Columbia University says that a megadrought worse than anything in recorded history is likely to progress in the western United States and northern Mexico. The study cites global warming as a major contributor.
The study uses modern weather observations, 1200 years of tree-ring data and climate models to show that the region is likely to be pushed into a more arid climate. A mega drought of this kind would have far reaching and ongoing impacts with existing trends showing increased wildfires in California, insect outbreaks and water reserves along the Colorado river shrinking dramatically.
5. President Trump is rolling back environmental regulations
Whilst the United States is dealing with coronavirus, the Trump administration is quietly removing environmental pollution regulations.
The EPA is seeking to alter a 2012 Obama-era restriction on mercury and other toxins produced by oil and coal power plants. This will have both environmental and health consequences, as these changes were justified by a reduction in emissions and lower rates of illnesses such as heart disease and asthma attacks.
This comes after the Trump administration's decision to roll back a 2012 air pollution regulation intended to encourage car manufacturers to produce electric and fuel efficient vehicles.
The EPA is also preventing the tightening of regulations on industrial soot emissions. This is despite new research published which links air pollution to higher coronavirus death rates.