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fossil fuels like coal are among the fastest-growing energy sources, it’s vital we learn from our past to pave the way towards a cleaner future
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| June 2022: "C" Change is Here! |
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Welcome back to C Change! Summer is now in full swing in the northern hemisphere and with this comes an increase in average temperatures. In this heat, it is important to remember how more green infrastructure can help cool down cities and there are simple steps we all can take to make our own lives more sustainable. However, this installment of the newsletter also provides multiple articles highlighting positive steps that are being taken towards a more sustainable world from universities getting pressure to increase their integrity to countries taking more ambitious steps to reach net-zero emissions faster and in new ways.
This month, read through the following articles revolving around the topics of climate change and fossil fuels:
Universities are responsible for spearheading research concerning climate change. However, their investment in the fossil fuel market has led to questions about the integrity of their findings. What happens when professors and students team up to protest this relationship and what does that mean for the future of these universities? 25% of marine life rely on coral reefs for survival. With the event of coral bleaching. becoming continuously more common all over the world, the danger of extinction for many creatures becomes viable. The ocean absorbs human carbon emissions, which then warms the ocean, and increases the risk for coral bleaching dramatically. Many countries have pledged to lower their emission rates by a certain year, but Finland has turned a particularly ambitious pledge into law: they want to hit net zero emissions by 2035, while most countries have pledged to do so by 2050. This is the precedent–and should be the motivation–that other countries should follow as our planet gets warmer and our options become scarcer. As city infrastructure begins to incorporate more renewable energy and pedestrian and bike based traffic, there comes less room for fossil fuels to thrive. Green cities are the cities of the future and it is important for local governments and investors to accelerate these environmentally conscious decisions that are becoming more prominent.
Make sure to also take a look at these new special sections:
A new study conducted by scientists at Georgetown University shows that climate change has the possibility of igniting the next pandemic. Read on to learn more about animals being forced to relocate their habitats, geographic range shifts, and new hotspots of spillover risk being created due to species moving into areas densely populated by human beings. Take a look at this section to learn about a few simple and inexpensive tips to make day to day life more sustainable, such as reducing your plastic waste, being aware of your food, and following the “three R’s”. Sustainable living doesn't require one to change their entire life. All it takes is some ideas and small changes to create a positive impact out of negative ones. A project spotlight to bring attention to organizations making extra efforts to help mitigate climate change. This month will be highlighting the University of Oxford’s cooperative project to increase research and practice of greenhouse gas removal as a second avenue to reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere alongside reducing emissions at the source. This month in Climate Change History, take a look back at the month of June 2021 which was the hottest June ever on record in the contiguous United States.
It is important that we stay informed and up to date on new developments concerning our climate. It is our responsibility to keep on learning and adopt sustainable practices wherever we can within our daily lives. We are the ones who can make a real change for our planet.
Sustainably,
Eric Magers
Executive Director
Marilyn McCall
Climate Change Advisor
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1) “Climate change increases cross-species viral transmission risk” Nature, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04788-w
2) “June 2021 was the hottest June on record for U.S” NOAA, https://www.noaa.gov/news/june-2021-was-hottest-june-on-record-for-us
3) “Universities must reject fossil fuel cash for climate research, say academics” The Guardian,
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/mar/21/universities-must-reject-fossil-fuel-cash-for-climate-research-say-academics
4) “CO2 and ocean acidification: causes, impacts, solutions” Union of Concerned Scientists, https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/co2-and-ocean-acidification#:~:text=The%20rising%20concentration%20of%20carbon,the%20detriment%20of%20marine%20ecosystems
5) “Finland sets world’s most ambitious climate target in law” Climate Home News, https://www.climatechangenews.com/2022/05/31/finland-sets-worlds-most-ambitious-climate-target-in-law/
6) “30 million official backing for Oxford-led greenhouse gas removal programme” University of Oxford, https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-05-24-30-million-official-backing-oxford-led-greenhouse-gas-removal-programme
7) “Carbon analytics for net-zero emissions sustainable cities” Nature Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00715-5
8) “Eco Friendly Art Projects” Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=eco%20friendly%20art%20projects&rs=typed&term_meta[]=eco%7Ctyped&term_meta[]=friendly%7Ctyped&term_meta[]=art%7Ctyped&term_meta[]=projects%7Ctyped
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| JUNE HIGHLIGHTS |
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| What We Read (and Learned!) This Month |
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| Why Universities Are Divesting From Fossil Fuels |
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Universities are responsible for most of the research concerning anthropogenic climate change, climate change caused by humans. Ironically, much of this research is funded by the investment in fossil fuel companies, leading to questions about the integrity of the research.
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In recent years, students and scholars have addressed this issue through protests and op-eds, leading prominent universities like Harvard to divest from fossil fuel investment. Other academics argue that divestment is not the most effective way to incite sustainable action and may, as a result, harm universities. Despite their differences, both sides of this argument conclude that universities are responsible for conducting climate research, developing green technologies, and promoting sustainable practice.
Some believe universities that cut ties with the fossil fuel industry will result in a lack of funding to conduct further climate research. In addition, divesting from fossil fuel investment would mean "to give up their seat at the table" because large investors would have a say in the future of fossil fuels and would have the power to incite change. By divesting, universities are cutting themselves off from a 2.5 trillion dollar industry without removing a single oil barrel from being burned into the atmosphere.
With this in mind, several compelling arguments exist for divesting. The first is that divesting is not just empty symbolism because it takes away the "social license" that fossil fuel companies gain from investing in climate research- this is called greenwashing. Without the greenwashed label, the public can more easily address the damage these companies cause to the environment as an urgent issue that scholars in the field of climate science do not condone. Another argument is that it is essential for universities in particular not to engage with the fossil fuel industry because they are expected to be the foundation of the green economy and thus should be branding themselves as "zero-carbon." Additionally, NYU conducted a study to see the financial impact of divestment on universities. They found that three of the four universities studied faced no financial repercussions for cutting ties with the fossil fuel industry. Despite arguments against divestment, it appears that Universities are taking the leap towards a greener future.
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1) First-Arai, L. (2022). How the Oil and Gas Industry is Trying to Hold US Public Schools Hostage. The Guardian. Retrieved from,
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/may/04/oil-and-gas-industry-us-public-schools
2) Greenfield, M. (2021). Pros and Cons of University Divestment from Fossil Fuels. University World News. Retrieved from,
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20210917125706298
3) Harvey, F. (2022). Universities Must Reject Fossil Fuel Cash for Climate Research, Say Academics. The Guardian. Retrieved from,
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/mar/21/universities-must-reject-fossil-fuel-cash-for-climate-research-say-academics
4) McGreal, C. (2022). Yale, Stanford and MIT’s Fossil Fuel Investments are Illegal, Students Say. The Guardian. Retrieved from,
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/16/us-universities-fossil-fuel-divestment-students-legal-complaint
5) Treisman, R. (2021). Harvard University Will Stop Investing In Fossil Fuels After Years Of Public Pressure. NPR. Retrieved from,
https://www.npr.org/2021/09/10/1035901596/harvard-university-end-investment-fossil-fuel-industry-climate-change-activism
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| Coral Bleaching: a Catastrophic Marine Event |
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Environmental changes can be deadly for coral. The impacts of ocean warming and acidification is increasing due to climate change, this can cause coral bleaching.
The event of coral bleaching takes place when there is a change in water temperature or water quality. This causes corals to expel zooxanthellae (algae) and causes them to turn white. Changing color does not mean the coral is immediately dead; they will revert back to their normal shade when ocean temperatures & water quality return to their previous state. However, the chances of ocean temperature and water quality returning to normal after being knocked out of equilibrium is extremely rare with how fast climate change is affecting our oceans.
Coral bleaching is devastating for the ecosystem and the creatures that reside in it. Many marine animals such as fish, sea turtles, crustaceans, and jellyfish rely on coral reefs for protection and breeding grounds. Without the existence of reefs due to coral bleaching, there is a major deadly chain reaction for marine animals as the coral is at the base of ocean food chains. Without the reefs this results in a home location for many marine species to be lost, which makes them vulnerable to predators. Coral reefs cover less than 1% of the ocean, but house more than 25% of marine life. There would be a ripple effect and many species of fish and turtles would slowly decrease out of existence and marine biodiversity would never recover.
Human carbon emissions cause ocean temperature to increase exponentially and will allow the ocean to continue warming. The ocean absorbs the emissions that are put out into the atmosphere causing ocean temperature to increase dramatically. Water runoff is also a component of what is causing coral reef death around the world. When contaminated stormwater gains access to a body of water, products such as gasoline, heavy metals, chemicals, and bacteria are dispersed. This is an unfortunate event that is sickening for marine species and is deadly for coral.
Both of these things in turn are crippling and sometimes fatal for many creatures who rely on coral for survival. Everything in this world relies on each other in the circle of life and the event of coral bleaching affects human life intensely in some areas of the world. Millions of people rely on the reefs for income, food, and even protection from storms. As time goes on the education on the protection of coral reefs and lowering carbon emissions is crucial.
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1) “CO2 And Ocean Acidification: Causes, Impacts, Solutions.” Union of Concerned Scientists, www.ucsusa.org/resources/co2-a...
2) “Everything You Need to Know about Coral Bleaching-and How We Can Stop It.” WWF, World Wildlife Fund, www.worldwildlife.org/pages/ev...
3) “Global Ocean Absorbing More Carbon.” National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), 25 Aug. 2021, www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/global-...
4) Reef-World. “What Would Happen If There Were No Coral Reefs?” The Reef-World Foundation, The Reef-World Foundation, 16 Mar. 2021, reef-world.org/blog/no-coral-r...
5) US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “What Is Coral Bleaching?” NOAA's National Ocean Service, 15 Mar. 2010, oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_bleach.html.
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| Finland sets precedent for net zero emissions |
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At the end of May, Finland incorporated one of the most historically groundbreaking and extreme climate change targets into their law. They have aimed to “reach net zero” by 2035, and they are one of the first countries to finally set real measures to help fight climate change. But what exactly does reaching “net zero” mean? According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the term “net zero” refers to the movement of countries around the world aiming to reduce “the global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions” to a “net zero energy system…while ensuring stable and affordable energy supplies, providing universal energy access, and enabling robust economic growth.” In short, the goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in a sustainable way where all citizens can benefit from the new changes. While this definitely a difficult task, pledging to reach a null carbon emission threshold is a fantastic first step in the movement towards healing our planet. Finland in particular is extremely ambitious when it comes to their pledge: most countries have pledged to go net zero by 2050, but this nation has set the record for the fastest goal to reach net zero, in 2035, 15 years earlier than most. Only time will tell if they will be able to actually reach net zero that quickly, but their ambition and motivation is exactly what the United States and other countries need to make their own pledges. Doing so will have benefits twofold: one, hopefully carbon emissions will be drastically reduced, if not nulled, by 2035. Two, even by saying that we plan to reach “net zero” by a certain date, it helps set a precedent for other ambitious climate change targets. Finland will be the first of many countries to create much needed ambition-driven targets to reduce carbon emissions, and should be the example to us all.
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| The Future of Cities: Becoming More Sustainable |
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More than 500 cities worldwide have established low-carbon and net-zero carbon goals, and many are advancing climate adaptation, health, and social equity, consistent with the United Nations sustainable development goals. In addition, the states of California and Hawaii have adopted goals to be powered entirely by renewable sources of energy, like wind and solar by 2050.
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These are rapid transitions taking place that are squeezing out the need for coal and other fossil fuels.
Many of the major cities in Ohio have committed to making the switch by 2040 to being renewables-based. Both Cincinnati and Cleveland have committed to an equitable and just transition to 100% clean energy, and Cincinnati was awarded a winner of the Bloomberg American Cities Climate Challenge. Because of increased public education and a more persuaded government, renewable energy creation within cities is becoming easier to implement. These local governments quickly learn the potential of building solar and wind farms. If a river runs through their towns, hydropower also becomes a strong and lucrative investment. With these investments comes the ability to source their energy, and keep billing costs steady and within city limits as opposed to large profits heading off to fossil fuel hubs elsewhere.
Another aspect of city planning that has been heavily pushed for is bike paths. As new cities are incorporated, or current infrastructure is changed, bike accessibility and safety are a major point of emphasis. Discussions on the Manhattan extension are a great example of how new land would highly prioritize electric public transit, and bike travel as the main means of transportation. Biketravel has many benefits to a city including a lighter flow of traffic and decreased asphalt renovations due to fewer cars, decreased pollution, and a healthier public benefited from increased exercise.
The future of cities holds more means of alternative transportation, green energy, and environmentally conscious decisions. It is up to local governments to implement sustainable infrastructure, as well as seek out investors who are capable of accelerating the transition to fully sustainable cities.
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| Current Events: New Study Finds Climate Change Could Spark the Next Pandemic |
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As the Earth’s temperature continues to increase, researchers are predicting that wild animals will eventually be forced to relocate their habitats to densely populated areas, likely to regions such as equatorial Africa, south China, India, and southeast Asia. This will in turn increase the risk of a viral jump to humans that “could lead to the next pandemic”.
Recently, an international research team led by scientists at Georgetown University conducted the very first comprehensive study as to how climate change will reconstruct the "global mammalian virome".
The work conducted within this study largely focused on “geographic range shifts”, or the journeys that species will go on while following their habitats into new areas. As these species encounter new mammals for the first time, it is projected that thousands of viruses will be shared. These geographic range shifts will not only bring greater opportunities for viruses, such as Ebola or coronaviruses, to appear in new areas, it will also make it a lot easier for these viruses to jump across a "stepping stone species" into human beings.
There is one factor however that is currently of major concern: as animal habitats move disproportionately into the same areas where humans are settled, new hotspots of "spillover risk" will be created.
The unfortunate news is, much of this process may already be happening. Because we are already living in a 1.2 degrees warmer world than pre-industrial times, efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions may not be able to stop these inevitable events from unfolding.
As this new study’s co-lead author, Gregory Albery, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biology in the Georgetown College puts it, “It’s unclear exactly how these new viruses might affect the species involved, but it’s likely that many of them will translate to new conservation risks and fuel the emergence of novel outbreaks in humans”.
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| Three Sustainable Living Tips |
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Sustainable living is a way of life that utilizes natural resources and limits excess waste to be more earth conscious. In modern day media, living a sustainable lifestyle is made out to seem expensive and time consuming, but that simply isn’t true! Check out some sustainable living tips that are inexpensive, easy, and help the earth below!
Plastic Waste:
Single-use plastic is one of the most detrimental everyday materials that we use in modern-day society. Plastic water bottles take 450 years to decompose which is about twice as long as the United States has been a country (Plastic Breakdown, SOS Future). 80% of all plastic waste goes to landfills or to the ocean, which contaminates our food and water. While it is near impossible for one person to solve this problem, there are ways to limit plastic waste. Reusable water bottles are an incredibly useful solution since they get to be used consistently over time and don’t go directly into the ocean or landfills. Reusable water bottles prevent 156 plastic water bottles from going into the environment (Single-Use Plastic Water Bottles, Beyond Plastics). But not everyone is perfect and, as human beings, we can be forgetful sometimes. There will be days when someone forgets to bring their water bottle from home and needs to buy a single-use bottle. For this, there is another solution from plastic bottles! Boxed water is Better is a brand that prides itself on having 92% plant-based packaging . They have also planted over 1 million trees to give back to the plants that they are taking (“Our Product” Boxed Water is Better). While this is not a perfect solution, “Boxed Water is Better” is a more environmentally-friendly alternative to using a single-use plastic water bottle and then throwing it away where it’ll almost definitely go to the ocean.
Be aware of your food:
It is no secret that the meat industry uses practices that are detrimental to the environment. They produce 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions every year, not to mention the massive amounts of deforestation that occurs (Environmental Effects of Meat Production, The World Counts). Similarly the fishing industry takes an unsustainable amounts of fish from the ocean and leaves behind plastic from their gear. However, this information isn’t new or incredibly shocking anymore. Seeing these statistics and many others makes it hard to not want to make some change to prevent this unsustainable exploitation. There is a misunderstanding of what people can do in order to make a change; it doesn’t have to be going 100% vegetarian or contributing to awful practices. My tip is to just be aware of where your food comes from and how it gets to the grocery store. If there are parts of your diet that come from unhealthy practices, try to limit those and go for more positive food. You can even make a fun outing out of sustainable eating by going to a farmer's market. Farmer’s markets allow people to talk directly to the people to create the food you consume and you would be supporting small businesses. Buying directly from the farmer also minimizes plastic waste since the food is going directly to hte consumer. Farmers who participate in farmer’s markets also use zero or less chemicals as well as use certified organic farming practices. Eating sustainably doesn’t require changing your life, all it needs is small changes that make a positive impact.
Reuse, Reduce, Recycle:
This motto is something that we have all been taught from an early age; to do our part to save the planet we need to Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle (“11 Simple Tips For Sustainable Living in 2021” The Common Wanderer). Most of the time, however, we only focus on the recycling part and not reusing and reducing aswell. We should incorporate every part of this moto into our lives. For example, if you have styrofoam from a package, shred it up to make fake snow for an art project. There are many ways that we can reuse and reduce the trash that we create and it’s important to make sure that you are doing your best to limit the waste that immediately goes to the landfill. If you are low on ideas for projects use Pinterest to look up suggestions. If you have children you can make it into a fun weekend activity to spur creativity.
Sustainable living doesn't require one to change their entire life. All it takes is some ideas and small changes to create a positive impact out of negative ones.
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| Projects Tackling Climate Change: University of Oxford's Greenhouse Gas Removal Cooperative |
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In Late May 2021, a group of research teams across the UK were chosen to receive £30 million in backing for the purpose of researching and developing innovative ways to remove harmful greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. This is a process called greenhouse gas removal (GGR) and it is an invaluable tool to combat anthropogenic (man-made) climate change. Reducing emissions at the source will always be the primary method to cut emissions, but GGR is another part of a holistic approach to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases already present in our atmosphere. It has the potential to become a big industry consisting of nature-based and engineered solutions to collect these gases from the air and store them in inert ways.
The cooperative is spearheaded by the University of Oxford and includes 12 other partnered universities across the UK. The project group, named CO2RE, states its mission to “develop ways to remove harmful gases from the atmosphere in an economically, socially, and environmentally responsible way” With enough funding for the next 5 years, this project is to bolster the UK’s promise to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 in association with the UN’s Paris Agreement.
The project is largely research based, but practical demonstrations are also part of CO2RE and includes nature-based ways of collecting carbon such as: large-scale tree planting, or afforestation, peatland restoration, enhanced rock weathering, use of biochar, and rapid scale-up of perennial bioenergy crops. Each demonstration is led by a partnered university in the cooperative.
With luck, this project will not only fast track viable strategies in GGR, but it will also spur more ambitious climate action from other countries around the globe. We got a sneak peak of this when there was an increase of nations and sub-nations pledging to have net-zero emissions following the recent UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) back in November 2021 when the CO2RE hub was present and had a platform. Hopefully, spawning more global climate action projects in tow as well.
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| This Month in Climate Change History: June 2021 was the Hottest June on Record for the U.S. |
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According to NOAA, “Exceptional heat waves from coast to coast helped push June 2021 to the No. 1 spot on the list of hottest Junes on record for the U.S.”
“An event such as the Pacific Northwest 2021 heatwave is still rare or extremely rare in today’s climate, yet would be virtually impossible without human-caused climate change,” according to a study published by the World Weather Attribution.
The extreme heat also resulted in wildfires and worsening drought conditions. According to the June 29 U.S. Drought Monitor report, around 47% of the contiguous U.S. was in drought which was up from the beginning of the month when it was nearly 44%. Many experts believe that extreme heat waves, droughts and wildfires will continue to occur as long as people continue to warm the planet through carbon emissions and burning of fossil fuels.
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