We’re doing something a little different today.
Welcome to the Monday Good News Roundup. This is usually where we talk about the good things coming from the Biden administration, and the continuing slow motion car crash that is the downfall of America’s biggest loser Donald Trump.
But we’re not going to be talking about today. Today we are talking about Biodiversity.
Yesterday (As in Saturday by my writing) an article was posted talking about the impending problem if Biodiversity collapse, something which has been coming up for a while and that we, as a people need to deal with.
It was rather depressing, especially since the primary response to the article in the comments was “Welp, time to lie down and die.”
If you’ll forgive the blue language for a second: Fuck that.
I mean really? We fight tooth and nail for the past four years to get out from under Trumps pasty orange ass, and now we’re just gonna lie down and die over biodiversity? I don’t think so.
One poster in particular resonated with me, a person who said that these sort of articles only served to instill a sense of hopelessness since there’s not a lot that can be done on the ground level regarding biodiversity collapse.
So I thought that, in lieu of my normal political stories, I would instead post five stories about how humans are working to restore biodiversity to the globe. These articles are to try and give some hope to people that people are working on this problem, that its not hopeless. Yes we got a lot of work to do, but the work is being done, and we can save the world if we work together and don’t give up.
So without further ado, sit back and enjoy the show.
Following the ‘One Planet Summit for Biodiversity’, held virtually in Paris on January 11, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that $14 Billion was pledged for additional funding over the next ten years.
This financial support will “fast track” the Great Green Wall efforts to restore degraded land, create green jobs, and protect biodiversity in the Sahel and Sahara region, according to the United Nations, which helped organize the Summit.
First of all, the fact there was a “Summit for Biodiversity” Should let you know its a problem people are taking serious, and of course thank you to the French president for giving money to help plant a wall of trees across Africa (Also the fact this wall is going to be completed and Trumps wall is dead must stick in his craw).
he new study from Florida International University determined that not only can the Caribbean king crab munch the corals free of seaweed faster than all methods involving human hands, but that the increase of coral reproduction spawned a boom in reef fish numbers as well.
All types of marine habitat are important. Seaweed meadows and coral reefs both play vital roles in the health of the ocean and the health of our communities.
However in the same way that a mountain lion, which provides a valuable service by preying on diseased or elderly deer, wouldn’t be helping anyone if it took up residence in an office building, seaweed largely prevents coral from their key function in the ecosystem, just like the lion would prevent any of the terrified office workers from doing their work.
Call these guys the men who stare at Reef Goats, because they are gonna put these little beauties to work to help clean up the Florida reefs and restore biodiversity in this area.
n the 1970s and 80s, Costa Rica had the highest deforestation rates in Latin America—but the next few decades saw the country halt her forest loss, initiate replanting and conservation efforts, and regrow almost all of her lost tree cover.
Their methods have set up the most successful forest management model on earth.
Leading the way in the fight against human-accelerated climate change, Costa Rica’s success story of sustainable forestry was strengthened by a simple strategy of valuing forests by paying for their restoration, through their Payment for Environmental Service (PES).
Now this is a success story if ever I heard one. Costa Rica managed to reverse the destruction of their rain forests. I think that deserves a round of applause, and if it can be done there, it can be done elsewhere.
Using the methods of Japan’s most famous botanist, European countries are beginning to dot their urban landscapes with tiny forests, as productive and biodiverse as any in wilderness areas, yet sometimes only as big as a tennis court.
The idea is that volunteers can plant densely-packed clusters of seedlings from indigenous plants to create a small functional ecosystem that can restore soil, protect resources like water and air quality, and act as a biodiversity hotspot that can have a measurable effect on both the local and regional environment.
Akira Miyawaki was the botanist who in 1970 observed that trees around Japan’s Shinto and Buddhist shrines tended to be native species, well-adapted to the soil and climate of the islands of Japan.
Every day, people, regular people like you and me, are doing little things to help restore and keep up biodiversity, We can’t give up, we just have to keep working at it. As my good friend Killer300 says, we have to keep pushing that boulder.
For eleven years, the search engine Ecosia has used most of the revenue from advertising on its website and app towards planting trees—and this month they planted their 100-millionth tree.
The German nonprofit, which became the first ‘B Corporation’ in that country because it was established for social good, has earned its founder Christian Kroll widespread praise—and one reason is that they claim to plant more native species than any other mass tree planting effort.
The phenomenon of mass tree planting began in the early 2000s when scientists began hypothesizing that the increase in CO2 emissions could be countered by replenishing the world’s forests.
Of course I have to give a shoutout to my favorite search engine. Every times they get 45 searches, they plant a tree. So if you’re in the market for a new search engine, consider Ecoasia.
Now we’re moving into the bonus round. I said I was going to focus on the environment tonight, but my good friend Killer300 did manage to dig up a story he wanted shared, so I’m putting it up here as a special bonus. Just for you my loyal readers.
The sudden implosion of the Know Nothings should also serve as a warning to Republicans that the forces that have propelled them to the apex of American politics, helping Donald Trump win the White House, can also tear them apart, leaving barely a trace. The Know Nothings today are a barely remembered footnote to American history; if it continues on its current path, today’s version could end much the same.
Yeah, short version, when a political party embraces crackpot theories and disregards reality, it tends to not go well for them. And while I strongly oppose the collapse of biodiversity, the collapse of the GOP is something I think we can all agree can’t come fast enough.
And with that I bid you all a good morning. We’ll probably be back to our regularly scheduled mockery of Donald Trump next week, but I hope this collection of stories make people feel at least a little bit better about the state of our planet and our ability to fix it. Remember, we never thought we would be rid of Trump either and here we are. Just keep the faith friends.
