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Some good news, plus a tip to critter-proof your plants.
Dear Reader,
Outside Dot’s office window, the sky is tinted an eerie shade of orange. And I just brought in my laundry, because, though I typically love the scent of line-dried sheets, I don’t love it when the scent is that of wildfire. Air quality is dismal, and Dot’s spirits equally so. Which means it’s a good time to catalogue some climate wins:
We’ll start with news that mangroves, which sequester carbon, buffer coastlines from storm surge and erosion, provide crucial habitat for fish nurseries, and filter pollutants from our waters, are on the rebound. A new study found that, since 2010, mangrove restoration has exceeded mangrove losses. Researchers relied on 40 years of satellite data to determine that mangroves are not only regenerating where they’ve existed in the past, but also expanding into new territory. Earlier losses have very nearly been erased. Daniel Friess, a professor at Tulane University and director of The Mangrove Lab said that this might just be “a rare conservation success story and an important source of optimism for climate action.”
Meanwhile, off the coast of Brazil, a marine expedition has discovered 31 new marine species in just two weeks, The Guardian tells us. How did researchers manage this miracle? “For the first time on board a ship, the researchers were able to observe the living 3D cellular structure of microbial life, thanks to a technological breakthrough nicknamed ‘the Squid,’” we’re told. “Among the discoveries were an amphipod, a type of crustacean related to crabs and lobsters; a fast-moving gossamer worm; nine jellyfish; seven siphonophores, colonial organisms related to jellyfish and corals; seven comb jellies or ctenophores, famous for the glittering cilia they use to swim; four larvaceans, tadpole-like creatures that live in mucus houses and are more closely related to humans than invertebrates; and two giant rhizarians, single-celled organisms visible to the naked eye.” How heartening that our world still holds such mysteries!
In Australia, an Indigenous tribe purchased a more-than 81,000 acre wetland for the sole purpose of preserving it. It’s an important habitat for frogs, fish, reptiles, and waterbirds — 11,500 waterbirds visit the swamp annually.
And, while news of our rapidly warming oceans has been dire (and predictions of what impacts that will have are a wee bit terrifying), researchers recently discovered that the Atlantic Ocean is more resilient to warming than previously thought. (Whew! Though Dot is casting a wary eye at the Pacific.)
Positively,
Dot
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