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Our weekly roundup of climate wins!
Dear Reader,
It’s that time of the week — the day we celebrate some noteworthy climate wins. Such as news that the UNESCO World Heritage Committee has added seven new sites to their World Heritage List, including the Badingilo Migratory Landscape in South Sudan, where the largest mammalian migration by land (some 6 million antelopes of various breeds) takes place each year; the Aqaba Marine Reef in Jordan, which houses corals that have evolved to better withstand increased acidity, salinity, and heat in the ocean; and The Bony Fish Fossils of the Western Limfjord in Denmark, where some of the best-preserved fossils of early fish, among other species, can be found.
Also among these newest additions to the UNESCO World Heritage List is the Okefenokee in the U.S., North America’s largest blackwater swamp. It acts as a wildlife refuge — but was almost a titanium mine. A six-year fight ended with the protection of almost 8,000 acres of Trail Ridge and mineral rights. Inside Climate News calls it “a once-in-a-generation … win.” (And hoo boy, don’t we need those!)
And here’s a win for the lungs of London children, which are growing ever pinker thanks to the city’s low emissions zone, which restricts traffic. A Lancet Public Health study compared the lungs of children aged six to nine living in central London to those in the town of Luton, which has no clean-air zone because it doesn’t need one. While the lungs of London children had been developing more slowly than those in Luton, within four years they had caught up, and the percentage of those with impaired lung function fell from 14 to 9. Check out Bluedot’s story about London’s low emissions zone.
And finally, this week’s Feel-Good news brings us a tale of a tiny fish that has brought whales back to New York. The Nature Conservancy reports that, for years, they pushed for tighter limits on the Atlantic menhaden catch, hoping to protect fish and seabirds. Nobody had whales on their radar. Until … they returned, following the menhaden into one of the busiest waterways in the world. These days, you can book a boat to whale watch in the area and we’re watching the governor to see if she’ll sign a new bill adding strike avoidance to boating tests to protect those whales.
Positively,
Dot
Bluedot’s Room for Change columnist has more to say.
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