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California’s plan to boost plug-in heat pumps and induction stoves

LED light bulbs and TVs. Front-loading washing machines. Energy-lean refrigerators. All were once nascent technologies that needed a push to become mainstream. Now, California is trying to add über-efficient plug-in heat pumps and battery-equipped induction stoves to that list. It’s a tall order; today these…

LED light bulbs and TVs. Front-loading washing machines. Energy-lean refrigerators. All were once nascent technologies that needed a push to become mainstream. It’s a tall order; today these innovative products cost thousands of dollars and aren’t widely available in stores, unlike their more polluting, less efficient counterparts that burn fossil fuels or use electric-resistance coils to generate heat. But late last month, the California Public Utilities Commission signed off on a plan to spend $115 million over the next six years to develop and drive demand for the fossil-fuel-free equipment — a first-of-its-kind investment for the state. These appliances, which plug into standard 120-volt wall outlets, don’t need professional installers or the expensive electrical upgrades sometimes required for conventional whole-home heat pumps or 240-volt induction stoves. That ease of installation makes them crucial tools in California’s quest to decarbonize its economy by 2045. “This is an incredible example of what it looks like to center [these] communities,” said Feby Boediarto, energy justice manager of the statewide grassroots coalition California Environmental Justice Alliance. ​“It’s extremely important to think about the long-term vision of electrification for all homes, especially those who’ve been heavily burdened by pollution. And these initiatives are stepping stones to that vision.” California’s initiatives, developed by the commission’s California Market Transformation Administrator (CalMTA) program, are multipronged. They take aim at the whole supply chain, from tech development to distribution to consumer education, said Lynette Curthoys, who leads CalMTA. The initial investment by the world’s fourth-largest economy is expected to deliver about $1 billion in benefits, including avoided electric and gas infrastructure costs, through 2045. One major goal is to bring the price tag of battery-powered induction stoves way down. Current products from startups Copper and Impulse start at about $6,000 and $7,000, respectively — far more than top-rated gas ranges, which customers can snag for less than $1,000. As for the heat-pump plan, an essential element will be encouraging manufacturers to develop products for the California market in particular. One quirk they have to deal with is that windows in the Golden State commonly slide open from side to side or by swinging outward. The most efficient window-unit heat pumps available on the market today, by contrast, are designed to fit windows that open up and down. To spark better-suited designs, the state intends to create competitions for manufacturers — a strategy that’s worked before. In 2021, the New York City Housing Authority, along with the New York Power Authority and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, issued the Clean Heat for All Challenge. The competition pushed manufacturers to produce a window heat pump that could handle the region’s chilly winters, with a promise to purchase 24,000 units for public housing. San Francisco-based startup Gradient and Guangdong, China-based manufacturer Midea made the requisite technological leaps for New York. The state later bumped up its heat-pump order to 30,000 units.

Energy
Education
Pollution

EU waters down plans to end new petrol and diesel car sales by 2035

Carmakers, particularly in Germany, have lobbied heavily for concessions to the planned rules.

The European Commission has watered down its plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2035.Current rules state that new vehicles sold from that date should be "zero emission", but carmakers, particularly in Germany, have lobbied heavily for concessions.Under the European Commission's new plan, 90% of new cars sold from 2035 would have to be zero-emission, rather than 100%.According to the European carmakers association, ACEA, market demand for electric cars is currently too low, and without a change to the rules, manufacturers would risk "multi-billion euro" penalties.The remaining 10% could be made up of conventional petrol or diesel cars, along with hybrids.Carmakers will be expected to use low-carbon steel made in the EU in the vehicles they produce.The Commission also expects an increase in the use of biofuels and so-called e-fuels, which are synthesised from captured carbon dioxide, to compensate for the extra emissions created by petrol and diesel vehicles. Opponents of the move have warned that it risks undermining the transition towards electric vehicles and leaving the EU exposed in the face of foreign competition.The green transport group T&E has warned that the UK should not follow the EU's lead by weakening its own plans to phase out the sale of conventional cars under the Zero Emission Vehicles Mandate."The UK must stand firm. Our ZEV mandate is already driving jobs, investment and innovation into the UK. As major exporters we cannot compete unless we innovate, and global markets are going electric fast," said T&E UK's director Anna Krajinska.Ahead of the announcement, Sigrid de Vries, director general at ACEA, said that "flexibility" for manufacturers was "urgent"."2030 is around the corner, and market demand is too low to avoid the risk of multi-billion-euro penalties for manufacturers," she said."It will take time to build the charging points and introduce fiscal and purchase incentives to get the market on track. Policy makers must provide breathing space to manufacturers to sustain jobs, innovation and investments."Carmakers in the UK have previously called for better incentives to encourage drivers to buy electric ahead of the government's planned ban on sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030.Firms across the world have been changing their production lines and investing billions as governments try to persuade people to drive greener cars to meet environmental targets.Volvo said it had "built a complete EV portfolio in less than 10 years" and was prepared to go fully electric, using hybrids as a transition. It argued if it can move away from petrol and diesel vehicles, other companies should be able to as well.The carmaker said: "Weakening long-term commitments for short-term gain risks undermining Europe's competitiveness for years to come. "A consistent and ambitious policy framework, as well as investments in public infrastructure, is what will deliver real benefits for customers, for the climate, and for Europe's industrial strength."However, German carmaker Volkswagen welcomed the European Commission's draft proposal on new CO₂ targets, calling it "economically sound overall".It said: "The fact that small electric vehicles are to receive special support in future is very positive. It is extremely important that the CO₂ targets for 2030 are made more flexible for passenger cars and adjusted for light commercial vehicles."Opening up the market to vehicles with combustion engines while compensating for emissions is pragmatic and in line with market conditions."Colin Walker, head of transport at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) think tank, said the UK having "stable policy" would give companies the confidence to invest in charging infrastructure and avoid "jeopardising investments"."It was government policy that saw Sunderland chosen to build Nissan's original electric Leaf, and today the latest Nissan EV has started rolling off the production lines in the North East, securing jobs for years to come," he said.Octopus Electric Vehicles chief executive Fiona Howarth warned that if the UK reduced its goals because of changes in Brussels, it would send a "damaging signal to investors, manufacturers and supply-chain partners".Many of these groups have already invested heavily in the transition "on the assumption the UK would stay the course," she said.

Water
Climate
Energy

How the myth of ‘aqua nullius’ still guides Australia’s approach to groundwater

For too long, Indigenous perspectives have not been heard in groundwater science. We must work together to protect Australia’s precious groundwater.

Clint Hansen, CC BY-NDIndigenous people have coexisted with Australia’s vast and ancient groundwater systems for thousands of generations. Their knowledge extends back through deep time, before our current climate and waterways. It offers insights that Western science is only beginning to quantify. When rain falls, some can seep into the ground, becoming groundwater. This water can remain underground for as little as a few months, or for millions of years. Eventually it is taken up by plants, or flows into springs, rivers and the ocean. Australia’s groundwater resources underpin the economic growth and prosperity of the country. But they are under greater pressure than ever before. Legal battles over water in the NT, including extraction licences, highlights the rapid pace at which decisions over the future of water are being made. Our new paper shows the “business as usual” approach to groundwater science and management risks perpetuating colonial injustices. And it compromises our ability to manage water sustainably as the climate grows warmer and population increases. Most Australians are aware of terra nullius, the legal fiction that Australia belonged to no-one before European settlement. But very few know about aqua nullius, – “water belonging to no-one”. This is a similar fiction suggesting Traditional Owners had no rights to the water they had used for millennia. We show how the legacy of aqua nullius remains embedded within contemporary groundwater science. And urge Australia to take a different approach. Indigenous care of groundwater Indigenous knowledge systems embody many thousands of years of groundwater monitoring. This includes tracking spring behaviour and soil moisture, animal movement and vegetation cues. Australia’s colonial expansion used the water knowledge of Indigenous peoples to support economic and agricultural development. This came at the expense of Indigenous peoples’ water, food, and culture. Bitter Springs in Mataranka, in the Northern Territory. The Traditional Owners are the Mangarayi and Yangman people. Felix Dance/Wikimedia, CC BY Indigenous voices ignored For too long, and too often, Indigenous perspectives on groundwater have not been heard or acted upon. In many instances, Indigenous people bear the impacts of groundwater decline or contamination. And yet, they have limited power to influence the development approvals that create these pressures. For Indigenous communities who have cared for these waters for tens of thousands of years, rapid decision-making over the future of groundwater represents a profound risk to cultural obligations and the living systems that hold songlines, identity, and law. Western scientific approaches are prioritised, while Indigenous groundwater expertise is dismissed and neglected in decision-making. When Indigenous perspectives are considered, there can be backlash from industry. There is often an expectation the government will prioritise economic development. Accelerating pressures from industry and agriculture are superimposed onto the existing inequalities in water access. Many Aboriginal homelands communities still facing water insecurity. Australia’s recent critical minerals agreement with the United States will lead to more water-intensive production and processing and substantial long-term environmental impacts. Mine closure is rare in Australia. Mine rehabilitation often falls short of societal expectations. The legacy of decisions made now is likely to last for thousands of years. And they will disproportionately affect Indigenous communities. Rights vs legal obligations In 2009, Australia endorsed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. But these rights are not reinforced by current approaches to groundwater science and management. Article 25 states Indigenous Peoples have the right to maintain their relationships with traditional lands and waters. Yet over-extraction is leading springs in Australia to dry out. Springs are places of ceremony, law, healing and identity. A dry spring not only has an environmental impact but causes cultural harm, with intergenerational consequences. The UN declaration also says states should obtain consent before any project, including the exploitation of water. Yet in most states and territories there is only a legal obligation to “consult” with Indigenous peoples. Country as a living relative Better outcomes require the colonial settler community to make genuine efforts to understand and incorporate Indigenous perspectives and knowledge in groundwater science and management. The deconstruction of colonial legacies must be facilitated by people working within government agencies and regulatory authorities, and water scientists, in partnership with Aboriginal communities. Genuine relationship building is not just an “engagement activity”. It should be grounded in respect, reciprocity and an understanding of the obligation to care for Country as a living relative. This process takes time and will not necessarily progress according to a particular schedule. This creates a tension between existing approvals mechanisms and best-practice engagement with Indigenous communities. Some governments and companies are working towards improving relationships with Indigenous communities. But this is not a requirement of existing systems for groundwater management. Our cultural heritage continues to be lost. We must work together for a better future so our precious water is protected, not just for the next 50 years but for the next 5,000. This requires a holistic understanding that weaves together Western and Indigenous perspectives to ensure that both people and Country can thrive. A future where Indigenous laws, sciences and decision-making authority are embedded in, not appended to, water science and governance. Sarah Bourke receives funding from the National Water Grid Authority of the Australian Government. She is affiliated with the International Association of Hydrogeologists. Margaret Shanafield receives funding from the National Water Grid Authority of the Australian Government.Bradley J. Moggridge and Clint Hansen do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Water
Indigenous
Science

Common household rat poisons found to pose unacceptable risk to wildlife as animal advocates push for ban

Environmentalists say proposed temporary suspension of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides ‘doesn’t go far enough’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastCommonly available rat poisons pose unacceptable risks to native wildlife, according to a government review that has stopped short of recommending a blanket ban on the products, to the consternation of animal advocates.The long-awaited review of first- and second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides – FGARs and SGARs – has recommended the cancellation of some products, but a large array of waxes, pellets and blocks could continue to be sold to consumers subject to stricter labelling and conditions of use. Continue reading...

Commonly available rat poisons pose unacceptable risks to native wildlife, according to a government review that has stopped short of recommending a blanket ban on the products, to the consternation of animal advocates.The long-awaited review of first- and second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides – FGARs and SGARs – has recommended the cancellation of some products, but a large array of waxes, pellets and blocks could continue to be sold to consumers subject to stricter labelling and conditions of use.Baits containing anticoagulant rodenticides are widely available in supermarkets and garden stores such as Bunnings, Coles and Woolworths.The baits have come under scrutiny because they have been found in dead native animals such as tawny frogmouths, powerful owls and quolls that had eaten poisoned rats and mice.The second-generation products are more toxic and are banned from public sale in the United States and parts of Canada and highly restricted in the European Union.Commercially available rat poisons have been found in dead native animals. Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The GuardianConsumers can identify SGARs in Australia by checking whether they contain one of the following active ingredients: brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difethialone, difenacoum and flocoumafen. There are three FGAR active ingredients registered for use in Australia: warfarin, coumatetralyl and diphacinone.The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA), in response to the review which was published Tuesday, has proposed a temporary suspension of SGARs while public consultation about the recommendations is under way. If the suspension goes ahead the APVMA said the affected products could still be used, but only in accordance with the proposed stricter conditions.“If suspended, the importation or manufacture of SGARs would be illegal. They could only be sold if they meet the new strict conditions around pack size and use,” a spokesperson said.Holly Parsons, of BirdLife Australia, said the review “doesn’t go far enough and crucially, fails to address secondary poisoning that is killing owls and birds of prey” such as when, for example, a native bird ate a poisoned rat.“Despite overwhelming evidence provided in support of the complete removal of SGARs from public sale, we’re yet to see proposed restrictions that come close to achieving this,” Parsons said.She said consumers should be able to “walk into stores under the assumption that the products available to them aren’t going to inadvertently kill native animals” but the APVMA has put “the responsibility on to the consumer with an expectation that labels are fully read and followed – and we know that won’t be the case”.The review also recommended cancelling the registration of anticoagulant rodenticides baits that come in powder and liquid form or which do not contain dyes or bittering agents, finding they do not meet safety criteria.But it found other baits sold as waxes, pellets and blocks could continue to be sold to consumers with some changes to labelling and conditions of use.Sign up: AU Breaking News emailThe APVMA found that under “current instructions” it could not be satisfied that these types of products would not have unintended, harmful effects on non-target animals, including native wildlife, nor that they would not pose undue safety risks to people who handled them including vulnerable people such as children.But it found the conditions of product registration and other “relevant particulars” could be varied in such a way as to allow the authority “to be satisfied that products will meet the safety criteria”.Some of the proposed new instructions would include limiting mice baits to indoor use only when in tamper-resistant bait stations; placing outdoor rat baits in tamper-proof stations within two metres of outside a building; changes to pack sizes; and tighter directions for the clean-up and disposal of carcasses and uneaten baits.The recommendations are subject to three months of public consultation before the authority makes a final decision.John White is an associate professor of wildlife and conservation biology at Deakin University. In 2023 he worked with a team of researchers that studied rat poison in dead tawny frogmouths and owls, who found 95% of frogmouths had rodenticides in their livers and 68% of frogmouths tested had liver rodenticide levels consistent with causing death or significant toxicological impacts.He said the authority’s proposed changes failed to properly tackle the problem that SGARS, from an environmental perspective, were “just too toxic”.White said even if the authority tightened the conditions of use and labelling rules there was no guarantee that consumers would follow new instructions. “We should be completely banning these things, not tinkering at the edges,” he said.A spokesperson for Woolworths said the supermarket would await the APVMA’s final recommendations “to inform a responsible approach to these products, together with the suppliers of them”.They said the chain stocked “a small range of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides for customers who might have a problem with rats or mice in their home, workplace, and especially in rural areas where it’s important for customers to have access to these products” while also selling “a number of alternative options”.Bunnings and Coles declined to comment.

Animals
Government

Staying on Costa Rica’s Best Beach: The awā Beachfront Hotel Experience in Punta Uva

Every traveler, no matter how many places they’ve visited, is always hoping to be surprised again — especially those returning to Costa Rica with a clearer, more refined sense of what they’re looking for. With two coastlines and countless remarkable beaches, finding one that truly stands out is not always easy. Yet Punta Uva, in […] The post Staying on Costa Rica’s Best Beach: The awā Beachfront Hotel Experience in Punta Uva appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

Every traveler, no matter how many places they’ve visited, is always hoping to be surprised again — especially those returning to Costa Rica with a clearer, more refined sense of what they’re looking for. With two coastlines and countless remarkable beaches, finding one that truly stands out is not always easy. Yet Punta Uva, in the Southern Caribbean, manages to do exactly that. Its calm, reef-protected waters and preserved natural setting have earned it international recognition, including a spot on The World’s 50 Best Beaches by worlds50beaches.com, where it ranks number 6 in Latin America and is celebrated as Costa Rica’s top beach. Much of Punta Uva’s appeal comes from the region’s conscious approach to development. The Southern Caribbean has embraced sustainability and community involvement for decades, prioritizing low-density tourism and environmental stewardship over rapid expansion. This long-term commitment is one of the reasons why Punta Uva Costa Rica has become an emblem of the quiet, nature-centered experiences so many travelers look for today. On this protected stretch of coastline sits awā Beachfront Hotel Punta Uva, offering one of the most direct and refined ways to experience the best beach in Costa Rica. As the only hotel with a dedicated beachfront club positioned directly on the shoreline, awā gives guests immediate access to Punta Uva while maintaining a peaceful, private atmosphere within its grounds. For travelers considering where to stay in Punta Uva, awā offers a rare blend of comfort, design, and closeness to nature. At the heart of this vision is the hotel’s guiding philosophy — Crafted by Nature — a concept that reflects a deeper intention behind every detail. Rather than dominating the landscape, each element is shaped to echo it. From the use of local materials to the flow of open-air spaces, awā is designed to let nature lead. The result is a hotel experience that feels intuitive, grounded, and organically connected to its surroundings. This sense of intentional simplicity carries into the hotel’s spaces as well. Designed as an adults-only boutique retreat, awā features 11 suites shaped around calm, privacy, and connection to the environment. The aesthetic is understated and refined, using natural tones, soft lines, and local materials that echo the surrounding landscape. Ocean-view suites frame the Caribbean Sea, garden-view spaces immerse guests in greenery, and select suites include private pools or bathtubs—ideal options for travelers seeking a deeper sense of relaxation. This integration between design, comfort, and the surrounding landscape is what ultimately defines the experience at awā. The suites offer guests a distinct perspective of Punta Uva, creating a connection to the environment that feels both intimate and elevated—a warm, carefully considered contrast to the more traditional stays found in the region. Its privileged beachfront setting provides uninterrupted views of Punta Uva’s unspoiled coastline — the sea, the forest canopy, and the soft shifts in light from sunrise to afternoon. Rather than imposing itself on nature, awā uses well-crafted design and subtle details to keep the landscape at the center of the experience. The result is a grounded, meaningful form of comfort that resonates with travelers who see the environment as the true highlight of their visit. At the same time, awā offers easy access to the wider Southern Caribbean for travelers who want to explore beyond the beach. Playa Chiquita, Cocles, and Manzanillo are all nearby, each offering its own character. Guests can snorkel, kayak, paddleboard, walk through forest trails, or enjoy the cultural and culinary energy of nearby Puerto Viejo. Whether travelers want activity or stillness, the hotel’s location provides flexibility without sacrificing tranquility. Ultimately, awā Beachfront Hotel Punta Uva provides a stay anchored in one of Costa Rica’s most extraordinary natural settings — preserved through careful development and shaped by the quiet rhythm of the Caribbean. For visitors hoping to rediscover the region or experience it from a more intimate perspective, awā delivers a meaningful, beautifully integrated place to stay. In a country known for its exceptional coastlines, Punta Uva stands apart. And staying at awā Beachfront Hotel Punta Uva offers travelers the rare chance not just to visit Costa Rica’s best beach, but to experience it fully — from the first light of the morning to the last colors of the day. The post Staying on Costa Rica’s Best Beach: The awā Beachfront Hotel Experience in Punta Uva appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

Energy
Forests
Nature

Private equity firm to buy Zenith Energy, Portland’s controversial fuel terminal

Miami-based I Squared Capital, specializing in global infrastructure investments, said it plans to complete the transition from fossil fuel storage to renewable fuels by October 2027.

A Miami-based private equity firm announced Tuesday that it’s set to acquire the Zenith Energy fuel terminal on the Willamette River in Northwest Portland. I Squared Capital, specializing in global infrastructure investments, has entered into a legally binding contract to purchase 100% of the Portland terminal, the company announced.I Squared manages $50 billion in assets in over 70 countries, including natural gas companies, solar, wind and battery storage facilities and fiber-optic networks.Company officials did not say how much the firm plans to pay for the Portland terminal. Both I Squared and Zenith are privately held, so neither company must disclose the transaction’s financial terms to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The transaction is expected to close within the next few months.I Squared said it will abide by the terminal’s current obligations, including the transition from crude oil and other fossil fuel storage to renewable fuels by October 2027 – in line with Zenith’s pledge to the city and state regulators. Renewable fuels include biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel. “We see significant opportunity for the Portland facility,” Gautam Bhandari, the firm’s global chief investment officer and managing partner, said in a press release. “We believe the terminal is uniquely positioned to become one of the West Coast’s leading renewable fuel hubs, supported by strong structural demand for low-carbon fuels and a broad shift toward sustainable transportation solutions.”The firm also said the terminal is “essential to helping Portland and the State of Oregon meet their clean fuel policy goals,” echoing statements made in recent months by Zenith officials. In recent years, Portland has adopted a policy to transition to renewable fuels, also known as biofuels, to reach greenhouse gas emission reduction mandates and improve air quality. City officials have said they are still committed to electrification of cars and trucks but it will take decades. Zenith’s acquisition comes in the wake of a major regulatory win for the fuel terminal, which stores fuels and loads them onto barges, trucks and rail cars. In October, Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality approved Zenith’s new air quality permit, securing its continued operations on the river. Under the permit, Zenith is required to fully transition to renewables within two years. The approval came despite years of fierce opposition from environmental groups and some residents worried about Zenith’s history of violations and the earthquake-related safety risks at the Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub, where Zenith is one of 11 companies with fuel terminals and the only one still storing crude oil. The Houston-based Zenith purchased the Portland terminal – a former asphalt refinery – in 2017 from Arc Logistics. Within a few months, long trains from Canada and North Dakota began bringing large amounts of tar sands oil to store at the terminal, surprising regulators and incensing local activists. Zenith has been shifting from crude oil to renewable fuels in recent years. By the end of 2024, the company reported that 66% of its contracted storage capacity was dedicated to renewable fuels. A previous analysis by The Oregonian found that Zenith’s new air quality permit is likely to pave the way for the company to significantly expand the amount of liquid fuel it stores at the Portland terminal because renewable fuels produce less pollution, allowing the company to store more of them without going over the permit limits. DEQ’s spokesperson Michael Loch said a change in ownership does not change the requirements of the air quality permit. “The permit applies to the facility and its operations, and any new owner would be responsible for complying with all permit conditions,” Loch said.A permit modification may be required if the new owner proposes changes to operations or the facility name, said Loch, but the DEQ has not received any such requests at this time. It’s likely the terminal’s name will change because Zenith Energy will continue to own other terminals across the U.S. Opponents said they will continue to oppose the terminal and its expansion. “No matter who owns this facility, Portlanders will continue to fight the expansion of dangerous liquid fuel storage on this site,” said Nick Caleb, an attorney with the Breach Collective, a statewide climate justice advocacy organization that has opposed Zenith for years.At the collective’s urging, Portland is still investigating whether Zenith violated its franchise agreement by installing and using new pipes at an additional dock without reporting it. City officials expect to conclude the investigation by year’s end. Environmental groups also have challenged the city’s land-use approval for Zenith before the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals. In November, the Oregon Court of Appeals reversed the board’s initial decision concerning Portland’s Zenith approval, sending the case back to the board for a full review.

Energy
Activism
Land Use

Scientists Devise New Plan to Study the Most Exciting Rock on Mars

New laboratory studies could shed light on a rock containing potential signs of alien life that’s stranded on Mars

The most exciting rock known to science is a school-desk-sized chunk of mudstone currently stuck on Mars.Formed from fine, water-washed sediments on the floor of a long-lost lake—some 3.5 billion years ago, when Mars was a warmer, wetter world—the rock was found in 2024 by scientists using NASA’s Perseverance rover to explore what’s now known as Jezero Crater. Dubbed Cheyava Falls, the mudstone stood out to the researchers because its surface was spangled with strange speckles and ring-shaped blobs, which they referred to as poppy seeds and leopard spots. They also discovered that it was packed with organic matter—chemical compounds of carbon, the elemental cornerstone of biology as we know it.Organic-rich rocks right here on Earth sometimes contain similar features, which tend to be created by microbial life. And after painstaking follow-up studies with the rover, the Perseverance team announced earlier this year that ancient alien microbes might be the best explanation for the Martian rock’s spots and seeds as well.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.To know for sure whether Cheyava Falls is proof of past life on Mars—or instead just a weird quirk of lifeless organic chemistry—astrobiologists want to bring some of the rock back to Earth for closer study. But the NASA-led international program to do just that, known as Mars Sample Return (MSR), is in political limbo, beset by ballooning costs and flagging federal support. Even if MSR does go ahead as planned, Perseverance’s hard-won samples of Cheyava Falls and other Martian materials wouldn’t arrive before 2040.Not content to sit idle, a cadre of scientists organized by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is pursuing an audacious plan B. Rather than wait for pieces of Cheyava Falls to reach Earth, the researchers will try growing the rock’s most mysterious features for themselves in carefully curated or manufactured mudstones. By subjecting these simulacra—some of which will bear terrestrial microbes, while others will be slow baked and sterilized—to lab-based conditions mimicking what’s known of early Mars, the team hopes to learn how Cheyava Falls really got its spots.“Take your best guess as to what was in the mud. Take your best guess as to what the nature of the organic matter is. Stir them up together, let it all settle to the bottom, and watch what happens,” says Joel Hurowitz, a geoscientist at Stony Brook University and a member of the Perseverance science team, who is familiar with the work.This approach won’t be able to definitively prove or disprove the existence of past life on Mars. But by mapping out every conceivable way to make the seeds and spots in a lab, scientists can determine whether it’s likelier that the features evident in Cheyava Falls were made with microbes or without them.Cooking Up Poppy Seeds and Leopard SpotsThe universe owes a lot to the behavior of electrons. Whether we are talking about the explosive deaths of stars, the formation of planets, the weather or the critters that live under it, electrons often drive the chemistry that makes things happen.One particularly important type of chemical drama is known as an oxidation-reduction, or redox, reaction. Oxidation involves the loss of electrons, while reduction is the gain of electrons. Redox reactions happen everywhere, all the time, in all sorts of environments—and they are essential to the normal functioning of living things, allowing organisms to obtain energy, to maintain basic cellular operations and even to shield themselves from external dangers.Nobody expected to see fossilized creatures, or even necessarily preserved microbial corpses, on the surface of Mars. But finding trace evidence of biologically driven redox reactions was far more plausible, and the Cheyava Falls outcrop—and its wider environment—is a near-perfect place to look.“They record an ancient, habitable environment,” says Sanjeev Gupta, an Earth scientist at Imperial College London and a member of the Perseverance rover team. Within it, Perseverance picked up a bounty of organic material. It also saw tiny nodules and larger, halolike features: the poppy seeds and leopard spots, respectively. Both the poppy seeds and leopard spots are the graffiti left behind by the redoxlike shuttling about of electrons.Potentially microbe-made small dark “poppy seed” speckles and larger dark-rimmed “leopard spot” blobs dot the surface of “Cheyava Falls,” one of the most intriguing rocks ever found on Mars.The poppy seeds contain a reduced form of iron, Fe(II), found in a mineral named vivianite (seen as black specks). Fe(II) is produced when preexisting Fe(III) gains an electron. Fe(III), the oxidized version of this iron, was found within the original Cheyava Falls muds.The leopard spots also have Fe(II) in two different mineral forms: vivianite (which appears as dark rims) and greigite (which is within the spots’ interior). The spots also contain sulfides, a reduced form of preexisting sulfates that is also found in the Cheyava Falls muds; the sulfides are also part of the mineral greigite.The seeds and spots are essentially “a fossilized chemical reaction,” Gupta says. And any experiments on Earth hoping to re-create them will take one of two possible pathways: one that deploys microbes and one that doesn’t.First, let’s look at the nonbiological options. One way to turn Fe(III) and sulfates into Fe(II) and sulfides is to heat up the ingredients found in those muds and wait. “That’s a reaction that can happen without life. But it’s incredibly slow,” says Michael Tice, a geobiologist at Texas A&M College of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Perseverance science team. And by slow, he means potentially millions of years.A good analogy is sugar and oxygen. The two can react to unleash bountiful chemical energy—but sustained, strong heat is what really makes that happen. Sugar doesn’t much react with oxygen just sitting on your kitchen table. Similarly, you wouldn’t get the Cheyava Falls features unless you baked the original muds at high temperatures—150 degrees Celsius or more. Yet NASA’s Perseverance rover has uncovered no evidence of such cooking for Cheyava Falls, and it seems the seeds and spots were created shortly after the mud was deposited.Now let’s look at the microbial route. If that mudstone had instead formed from a lake bed on Earth, one would expect prevalent microbes to “consume” the organic matter and gain energy effectively from the reduction of Fe(III) and the sulfates. This would happen relatively fast because Earthly microbes deploy potent enzymes that ease the reaction’s energetic thresholds; no high-temperature cookery is required. And “it’s exactly where you’d expect microbes to be living,” Gupta says.Whisper it: based on current evidence, it seems likelier that microbes made these seeds and spots than geological activity. But the problem is that the two chemical pathways “start with the same reactants and end up with the same products,” says Morgan Cable, a research scientist at the Laboratory Studies group at JPL and a member of the Perseverance science team. “The reaction is essentially the same. That’s where it gets tricky.”Laboratory Alchemy Thanks to orbital reconnaissance from spacecraft and ground truthing from rovers, we already have a pretty good idea of what Jezero Crater was like in its halcyon days eons ago. By Martian standards, it was an aquatic wonderland, with water flowing through channels to form and feed a crater lake, piling up sprawling deltas of swept-in sediments, all under a warmer, thicker carbon-dioxide-rich sky. Remarkably, scientists can re-create parts of this past realm in their state-of-the-art laboratories.Test chambers can be kept at the right temperatures to simulate Martian conditions and can be filled with myriad mixtures of gases to reproduce atmospheric pressures and compositions that prevailed on the planet in its deep past. Synthetic mudstones custom-concocted in labs or purchased premade can incorporate various recipes informed by Perseverance’s measurements, with fluctuating amounts of oxygen, organic matter, acidity, salinity, and so on.Over time, as these simulacra unfold under different environmental conditions, watchful scientists can see what happens—and adjust accordingly to explore the truly vast landscape of possibilities. For better or worse, “the range of experiments to engage with is endless,” Hurowitz says.On Earth, life famously gets everywhere. Heat can ensure certain mudstones are sterilized, Cable says, similar to how water can be boiled to deactivate any microscopic bugs. But you can’t just flambé the mudstones, as that would also alter their Mars-like starting chemistry.This video montage shows high-resolution imagery from a selection of Perseverance’s CacheCam of rock cores inside the rover’s sample tubes before being sealed. The montage includes a view of “Sapphire Canyon,” a sample drilled from the Cheyava Falls rock.A gentler, tried-and-tested method of microorganismal murder is known as dry heat microbial reduction, or DHMR. “It’s how we sterilize spacecraft,” Cable says. Things wouldn’t get scorching hot with this method; instead mudstones would be gradually warmed in dry conditions for hundreds of hours. “That usually kills or deactivates most forms of life, including bacterial spores,” she says. To be safe, experimenters using this technique can continuously assay the supposedly sterile soil to make sure there aren’t any microbes left in them.For the deliberately biological experiments, the JPL team is spoiled for choice. Microbe-mediated reaction patterns resembling the poppy seeds and leopard spots can be found all over Earth, where they are often still associated with the diverse microbial ecosystems that made them. “You’d find them in mud, underwater,” Hurowitz says—in both the present and the distant past, from freshly deposited marine sediments off the shores of Taiwan to extremely old rocks in Scotland. Whatever the terrestrial source, the team simply needs to inoculate some of its Mars-like mudstones with microbes able to rapaciously gorge themselves on Fe(III) and sulfates and spark a population boom.“We’ll start there and see where these reactions take us,” Cable says. “We’re going to go down so many different rabbit holes.” Besides trying to summon the poppy seeds and leopard spots into existence in fresh rocks, the team also want to know how to prevent them from growing in the first place.Reducing Fe(III) produces more energy than reducing sulfates. But if microbes were involved, they switched from Fe(III) reduction (making the mineral vivianite) to sulfate reduction (making the mineral greigite). It’s not clear why, but it’s certainly strange—scientists would expect hungry bugs to prefer more energy-rich fare, so why would they leave Fe(III) “candy” untouched to munch on sulfate “broccoli” instead? These experiments could offer answers and put constraints on the types of microbes—and ancient chemical concoctions—that may have been present on Mars 3.5 billion years ago.The Perseverance scientists expect that their work will eventually produce poppy seeds and leopard spots both with and without life’s help. But the environmental conditions leading to both will likely be radically different. Then the researchers can return their focus to Perseverance—still scooting around Jezero—to try sniffing out other rocks nearby that are closer geochemical matches to any mudstones they’ve coaxed into sprouting the telltale speckles, whether with biology—or without.Ideally, the rover will encounter another exciting site—and uncover additional tantalizing hints of ancient Martian life. “You don’t just want one line of evidence. You want something completely independent of it pointing in the same direction,” Tice says.But Cheyava Falls on its own is already a thrill to the Perseverance science team. Finding it was the easy part. “Now the hard work begins,” Hurowitz says.

Chemicals
CO2
Energy

How cement “breathes in” and stores millions of tons of CO₂ a year

New analysis provides the first national, bottom-up estimate of cement’s natural carbon dioxide uptake across buildings and infrastructure.

The world’s most common construction material has a secret. Cement, the “glue” that holds concrete together, gradually “breathes in” and stores millions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air over the lifetimes of buildings and infrastructure.  A new study from the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub quantifies this process, carbon uptake, at a national scale for the first time. Using a novel approach, the research team found that the cement in U.S. buildings and infrastructure sequesters over 6.5 million metric tons of CO2 annually. This corresponds to roughly 13 percent of the process emissions — the CO2 released by the underlying chemical reaction — in U.S. cement manufacturing. In Mexico, the same building stock sequesters about 5 million tons a year.   But how did the team come up with those numbers? Scientists have known how carbon uptake works for decades. CO2 enters concrete or mortar — the mixture that glues together blocks, brick, and stones — through tiny pores, reacts with the calcium-rich products in cement, and becomes locked into a stable mineral called calcium carbonate, or limestone. The chemistry is well-known, but calculating the magnitude of this at scale is not. A concrete highway in Dallas sequesters CO2 differently than Mexico City apartments made from concrete masonry units (CMUs), also called concrete blocks or, colloquially, cinder blocks. And a foundation slab buried under the snow in Fairbanks, Alaska, “breathes in” CO2 at a different pace entirely. As Hessam AzariJafari, lead author and research scientist in the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, explains, “Carbon uptake is very sensitive to context. Four major factors drive it: the type of cement used, the product we make with it — concrete, CMUs, or mortar — the geometry of the structure, and the climate and conditions it’s exposed to. Even within the same structure, uptake can vary five-fold between different elements.” As no two structures sequester CO2 in the same way, estimating uptake nationwide would normally require simulating an array of cement-based elements: slabs, walls, beams, columns, pavements, and more. On top of that, each of those has its own age, geometry, mixture, and exposure condition to account for.  Seeing that this approach would be like trying to count every grain of sand on a beach, the team took a different route. They developed hundreds of archetypes, typical designs that could stand in for different buildings and pieces of infrastructure. It’s a bit like measuring the beach instead by mapping out its shape, depth, and shoreline to estimate how much sand usually sits in a given spot.  With these archetypes in hand, the team modeled how each one sequesters CO2 in different environments and how common each is across every state in the United States and Mexico. In this way, they could estimate not just how much CO2 structures sequester, but why those numbers differ.  Two factors stood out. The first was the “construction trend,” or how the amount of new construction had changed over the previous five years. Because it reflects how quickly cement products are being added to the building stock, it shapes how much cement each state consumes and, therefore, how much of that cement is actively carbonating. The second was the ratio of mortar to concrete, since porous mortars sequester CO2 an order of magnitude faster than denser concrete. In states where mortar use was higher, the fraction of CO2 uptake relative to process emissions was noticeably greater. “We observed something unique about Mexico: Despite using half the cement that the U.S. does, the country has three-quarters of the uptake,” notes AzariJafari. “This is because Mexico makes more use of mortars and lower-strength concrete, and bagged cement mixed on-site. These practices are why their uptake sequesters about a quarter of their cement manufacturing emissions.” While care must be taken for structural elements that use steel reinforcement, as uptake can accelerate corrosion, it’s possible to enhance the uptake of many elements without negative impacts. Randolph Kirchain, director of the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub, principal research scientist in the MIT Materials Research Laboratory, and the senior author of this study, explains: “For instance, increasing the amount of surface area exposed to air accelerates uptake and can be achieved by foregoing painting or tiling, or choosing designs like waffle slabs with a higher surface area-to-volume ratio. Additionally, avoiding unnecessarily stronger, less-porous concrete mixtures than required would speed up uptake while using less cement.” “There is a real opportunity to refine how carbon uptake from cement is represented in national inventories,” AzariJafari comments. “The buildings around us and the concrete beneath our feet are constantly ‘breathing in’ millions of tons of CO2. Nevertheless, some of the simplified values in widely used reporting frameworks can lead to higher estimates than what we observe empirically. Integrating updated science into international inventories and guidelines such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) would help ensure that reported numbers reflect the material and temporal realities of the sector.” By offering the first rigorous, bottom-up estimation of carbon uptake at a national scale, the team’s work provides a more representative picture of cement’s environmental impact. As we work to decarbonize the built environment, understanding what our structures are already doing in the background may be just as important as the innovations we pursue moving forward. The approach developed by MIT researchers could be extended to other countries by combining global building-stock databases with national cement-production statistics. It could also inform the design of structures that safely maximize uptake. The findings were published Dec. 15 in the  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Joining AzariJafari and Kirchain on the paper are MIT researchers Elizabeth Moore of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the MIT Climate Project and former postdocs Ipek Bensu Manav SM ’21, PhD ’24 and Motahareh Rahimi, along with Bruno Huet and Christophe Levy from the Holcim Innovation Center in France.

CO2
Chemicals
Government

Ministers ‘break word’ on protecting nature after weakening biodiversity planning rule

Housing minister announces exemption to 10% net gain rule in England for smaller developmentsThe government has broken its promise to protect nature by weakening planning rules for housing developers, groups have said.While developers once had to create “biodiversity net gain” (BNG), meaning creating 10% more space for nature on site than there was before the building took place, housing minister Matthew Pennycook announced exemptions to this rule on Tuesday. Continue reading...

The government has broken its promise to protect nature by weakening planning rules for housing developers, groups have said.While developers once had to create “biodiversity net gain” (BNG), meaning creating 10% more space for nature on site than there was before the building took place, housing minister Matthew Pennycook announced exemptions to this rule on Tuesday.Under the new rules developments under 0.2 hectares are exempted from the policy. Analysis from the Wildlife Trusts has found that this means a combined area across England the size of Windsor forest will now not be restored for nature.The move is part of a bigger package to help the government meet its target to build 1.5m homes by the end of this parliament. This includes a default “yes” to suitable homes being built around rail stations, and a possible exemption from the building safety levy for small and medium sized housebuilders.Wildlife Trusts CEO, Craig Bennett, accused the housing secretary, Steve Reed, of breaking a promise to him. He said: “In January of this year when he was environment secretary, Steve Reed made a solemn promise that the government was ‘committed to biodiversity net gain’. Now, as housing secretary, he has broken his word.”Nature groups have also complained the rule change puts private investment in nature at risk. Private firms have already generated £320m into habitat restoration since the BNG rules were put into place in February 2024.Beccy Speight, the chief executive of the RSPB, said: “The decision to exempt sites under 0.2 hectares from BNG flies in the face of the UK government’s promise to be ‘the most nature-positive government this nation has ever had’. It’s a blow for nature, for local communities and for business confidence in the future of BNG.”Wildlife and Countryside Link has warned that exempting so many small sites could still “wreck the policy altogether”, particularly when small developments dominate England’s planning system. About 95% of planning applications are for sites under 1 hectare, 88% under 0.5 hectares, and 77% under 0.2 hectares.Reed said: “Right now we see a planning system that still isn’t working well enough. A system saying ‘no’ more often than it says ‘yes’ and that favours obstructing instead of building.“It has real-world consequences for those aspiring to own a home of their own and those hoping to escape so-called temporary accommodation – we owe it to the people of this country to do everything within our power to build the homes they deserve.”The plans could reduce the need for brownfield sites to deliver BNG. Pennycook announced the government would consult on how to ensure the system supports brownfield-first development, while making it easier and cheaper to deliver biodiverse habitats offsite through simplified rules.The government is currently consulting on whether, and how, nationally significant infrastructure projects such as airports, roads and waste incineration plants, should achieve biodiversity net gain.Nature campaigners have said ministers should hold these projects to a high standard in order to prevent mass habitat destruction.Richard Benwell, the CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link, said: “To meet its electoral promise of halting wildlife decline, government should strengthen green economy rules, not shrink them. Rapidly applying net gain to all major infrastructure and stopping developers dodging their environmental responsibilities should be clear priorities, not more carveouts.“So far, this has been a parliament of delay and relentless deregulatory threats to nature. The public outcry in support of net gain must be a last-chance wake-up call that environmental promises weren’t a ballot box bonus. Restoring nature and stopping pollution are a key test of the government’s credibility and it’s time for action.”

Nature
Government
Forests

A Few More Environmental Books From 2025 We Couldn’t Let You Miss

Before ending the year, we wanted to highlight this eclectic assortment of reading gems we couldn’t fit into our earlier book reviews. The post A Few More Environmental Books From 2025 We Couldn’t Let You Miss appeared first on The Revelator.

This year most of our “Revelator Reads” columns presented new books covering themes like environmental activism, climate anxiety, wildlife, and public lands. But not every book fits into a neat box or arrives in time to make the cut. Here’s a year-end wrap-up of terrific books — many of which showcase success stories and solutions — that we didn’t want to close out 2025 without mentioning. We’ve adapted the books’ official descriptions below, and the link in each title goes to the publisher’s page. You should also be able to find any of these titles through your local bookseller or library. The Owl Handbook: Investigating the Lives, Habits, and Importance of These Enigmatic Birds by John Shewey Charismatic, intriguing, and misunderstood: The Owl Handbook is a beautifully photographed, thoughtfully researched, and accessible guide to these enigmatic, captivating creatures. Traditions of the owl as a harbinger of doom, spirit guide, and mysterious symbol for many cultures, mythologies, and superstitions have projected our fear of the unknown onto these nocturnal birds. But these wondrous birds are so much more than shadows in the night. Lifelong birding enthusiast John Shewey leads us through an exploration of owls’ cultural impact as seen in folklore, providing in-depth profiles of 19 owls of North America and a survey of 200 more across the globe, giving advice on how to respectfully observe and protect these magnificent birds, brought to life by hundreds of full-color photographs. Tigers Between Empires: The Improbable Return of Great Cats to the Forests of Russia and China by Jonathan C. Slaght The forests of northeast Asia are home to a marvelous range of animals — fish owls and brown bears, musk deer and moose, wolves and raccoon dogs, leopards and tigers. But by the final years of the Cold War, only a few hundred tigers stepped quietly through the snow of the Amur River basin. Soon the Soviet Union fell, bringing catastrophe; without the careful oversight of a central authority, poaching and logging took a fast, astonishing toll on an already vulnerable species. Just as these changes arrived, scientists came together to found the Siberian Tiger Project. Led by Dale Miquelle, a moose researcher, and Zhenya Smirnov, a mouse biologist, the team captured and released more than 114 tigers over three decades. They witnessed mating rituals and fights, hunting and feeding, the ceding and taking of territory, the creation of families. Within these pages, characters — both feline and human — come fully alive as we travel with them through the quiet and changing forests of Amur. Sink or Swim: How the World Needs to Adapt to a Changing Climate by Susannah Fisher How can we adapt to climate change? Let’s examine the key problems and hard choices that lie ahead for the global community in this practical approach to coping in a time of chaos. Adaptation has been incremental, with governments and institutions merely tinkering around the edges of current systems. This will not be enough, and this book explores the hard choices that lie ahead concerning how people earn a living, the way governments manage relationships between countries, and how communities accommodate the displacement of people. For example, should people be encouraged to move away from the coasts? Can global food supplies be managed when parts of the world are hit by simultaneous droughts? How can conflict be handled when there isn’t enough water for a population? Based on the latest research, interviews with experts, and practical examples from across the world, Sink or Swim discusses frankly the choices that lie ahead and how we can have a livable planet. Roam: Wild Animals and the Race to Repair Our Fractured World by Hilary Rosner All over the globe, animals are stranded — by roads, fences, drainage systems, industrial farms, and cities. They simply cannot move around to access their daily needs. Yet as climate change reshapes the planet in its own ways, many creatures will, increasingly, have to move in order to survive. This book illustrates a massive and underreported problem: how a completely human-centered view of the world has impacted the ability of other species to move around. But it’s also about solutions and hope: How we can forge new links between landscapes that have become isolated pieces. How we can stitch ecosystems back together, so that the processes still work, and the systems can evolve as they need to. How we can build a world in which humans recognize their interconnectedness with the rest of the planet and view other species with empathy and compassion. The Whispers of Rock: The Stories That Stone Tells About Our World and Our Lives by Anjana Khatwa Can you hear the stones speak? The question seems absurd. After all, rocks are lifeless, inert, and silent. Earth scientist Anjana Khatwa asks us to think again and listen to their stories. Alternating between modern science and ancient wisdom, Khatwa takes us on an exhilarating journey through time, from origins of the green pounamu that courses down New Zealand rivers to the wonder of the bluestone megaliths of Stonehenge, from the tuff-hewn churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia, to Manhattan’s bedrock of schist. In unearthing those histories, Khatwa shows how rocks have always spoken to us, delicately intertwining Indigenous stories of Earth’s creation with our scientific understanding of its development, deftly showing how our lives are intimately connected to time’s ancient storytellers. Through planetary change, ancient wisdom, and contemporary creativity, this book offers the hope of reconnection with Earth. You won’t simply hear rocks speak, you will feel the magic of deep time seep into your bones. We Are Eating the Earth: The Race to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate By Michael Grunwald In this rollicking, shocking narrative, Grunwald shows how the world, after decades of ignoring the climate problem at the center of our plates, has pivoted to making it worse, embracing solutions that sound sustainable but could make it even harder to grow more food with less land. But he also tells the stories of the dynamic scientists and entrepreneurs pursuing real solutions, from a jungle-tough miracle crop called pongamia to genetically edited cattle embryos, from Impossible Whoppers to a non-polluting pesticide that uses the technology behind the COVID vaccines to constipate beetles to death. It’s an often-infuriating saga of lobbyists, politicians, and even the scientific establishment making terrible choices for humanity, but it’s also a hopeful account of the people figuring out what needs to be done—and trying to do it. The Light Between Apple Trees: Rediscovering the Wild Through a Beloved American Fruit by Priyanka Kumar As a child in the foothills of the Himalayas, Priyanka Kumar was entranced by forest-like orchards of diverse and luscious fruits, especially apples. These biodiverse orchards seemed worlds away from the cardboard apples that lined supermarket shelves in the United States. Yet on a small patch of woods near her home in Santa Fe, Kumar discovered a wild apple tree — and the seeds of an odyssey were planted. Could the taste of a feral apple offer a doorway to the wild? In The Light Between Apple Trees, Kumar takes us on a dazzling and transformative journey to rediscover apples, unearthing a rich and complex history while illuminating how we can reimagine our relationship with nature. The Girl Who Draws on Whales Written and illustrated by Ariela Kristantina A graphic novel for middle-level children. Set in a fantasy world, several centuries after “The Great Flood,” Sister Wangi and younger brother Banyu live in a sea-village. Wangi has a special bond with the Great Whales that visit their sea-village, and they allow Wangi to draw on their backs. Sometimes they return with new drawings on them, maybe there are other sea-villages around and they are sending her people messages. None of the elders listen to her. One day, a new whale arrives in the village alone, wounded, and dying. This whale has a new drawing on its back that doesn’t look like the previous drawings. Inspired by this mystery, Wangi vows to investigate. Although forbidden by her parents and the village elders, Wangi along with her brother embark on a wondrous journey to investigate where the drawings are coming from only to find much more than they were expecting. A Window Into the Ocean Twilight Zone: Twenty-Four Days of Science at Sea by Michelle Cusolito For children and adults to share and care together and learn about our magnificent ocean biodiversity. Join scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and their international partner organizations on a research voyage to study the ocean twilight zone. Science writer Michelle Cusolito takes us along for the journey of a lifetime. From boarding the ship and unpacking equipment to facing massive storms in the middle of the Atlantic, this book details the fascinating techniques used to study the deep ocean as well as the daily details of life aboard a Spanish research vessel. Meet remarkable people, discover amazing animals, and learn more at sea than you ever imagined. *** Finally, here’s a set of companion books from Charlesbridge Publishing that parents and children can read and discuss together — a great opportunity to support our future guardians of biodiversity. Turtles Heading Home! by Liza Ketchum, Jacqueline Martin, and Phyllis Root The waters around Cape Cod used to cool off gradually, signaling to sea turtles that it was time to swim south. However, with climate change, the ocean stays warm too long and cools off too quickly, making the turtles too cold to migrate. Turtles Heading Home! follows the efforts of conservationists as they rescue the turtles, nurse them back to health, and release them into warmer waters. The operation involves hundreds of people, from the volunteers patrolling the beaches to the veterinarians looking after the turtles to the pilots who fly the turtles south. All of them share the goal of helping save the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, the most endangered sea turtle in the world. Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out! by April Pulley Sayre, illustrated by Annie Patterson Sea turtles face many dangers as they grow, eat, travel, and breed. In this basic science dramatization of one female turtle’s challenges, acclaimed nature writer April Pulley Sayre highlights the role that humans have in helping this endangered species. Previously published, this story has been re-illustrated by the artist Annie Patterson. A great read-aloud or read-along choice for environmental awareness, this child-friendly book provides information on sea turtle conservation efforts for seven species of sea turtles and how they and grown-ups alike can help save these beautiful creatures. *** Enjoy these inspiring and informative reads as we prepare ourselves for the new year. You can find hundreds of additional environmental book recommendations in the “Revelator Reads” archives. And let us know what you’re reading: Drop us a line at comments@therevelator.org. The post A Few More Environmental Books From 2025 We Couldn’t Let You Miss appeared first on The Revelator.

Activism
Animals
Climate

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