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Bid to oust Zeldin cites ‘EPA-sanctioned pollution spree’

The Moms Clean Air Force campaign will illuminate environmental and public health dangers that it says the administrator created.

The Moms Clean Air Force campaign will illuminate environmental and public health dangers that it says the administrator created.

Health
Pollution

Drinking water contaminated with Pfas probably increases risk of infant mortality, study finds

Study of 11,000 births in New Hampshire shows residents’ reproductive outcomes near contaminated sitesDrinking water contaminated with Pfas chemicals probably increases the risk of infant mortality and other harm to newborns, a new peer-reviewed study of 11,000 births in New Hampshire finds.The first-of-its-kind University of Arizona research found drinking well water down gradient from a Pfas-contaminated site was tied to an increase in infant mortality of 191%, pre-term birth of 20%, and low-weight birth of 43%. Continue reading...

Drinking water contaminated with Pfas chemicals probably increases the risk of infant mortality and other harm to newborns, a new peer-reviewed study of 11,000 births in New Hampshire finds.The first-of-its-kind University of Arizona research found drinking well water down gradient from a Pfas-contaminated site was tied to an increase in infant mortality of 191%, pre-term birth of 20%, and low-weight birth of 43%.It was also tied to an increase in extremely premature birth and extremely low-weight birth by 168% and 180%, respectively.The findings caught authors by surprise, said Derek Lemoine, a study co-author and economics professor at the University of Arizona who focuses on environmental policymaking and pricing climate risks.“I don’t know if we expected to find effects this big and this detectable, especially given that there isn’t that much infant mortality, and there aren’t that many extremely low weight or pre-term births,” Lemoine said. “But it was there in the data.”The study also weighed the cost of societal harms in drinking contaminated water against up-front cleanup costs, and found it to be much cheaper to address Pfas water pollution.Extrapolating the findings to the entire US population, the authors estimate a nearly $8bn negative annual economic impact just in increased healthcare costs and lost productivity. The cost of complying with current regulations for removing Pfas in drinking water is estimated at about $3.8bn.“We are trying to put numbers on this and that’s important because when you want to clean up and regulate Pfas, there’s a real cost to it,” Lemoine said.Pfas are a class of at least 16,000 compounds often used to help products resist water, stains and heat. They are called “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down and accumulate in the environment, and they are linked to serious health problems such as cancer, kidney disease, liver problems, immune disorders and birth defects.Pfas are widely used across the economy, and industrial sites that utilize them in high volume often pollute groundwater. Military bases and airports are among major sources of Pfas pollution because the chemicals are used in firefighting foam. The federal government estimated that about 95 million people across the country drink contaminated water from public or private wells.Previous research has raised concern about the impact of Pfas exposure on fetuses and newborns.Among those are toxicological studies in which researchers examine the chemicals’ impact on lab animals, but that leaves some question about whether humans experience the same harms, Lemoine said.Other studies are correlative and look at the levels of Pfas in umbilical cord blood or in newborns in relation to levels of disease. Lemoine said those findings are not always conclusive, in part because many variables can contribute to reproductive harm.The new natural study is unique because it gets close to “isolating the effect of the Pfas itself, and not anything around it”, Lemoine said.Researchers achieved this by identifying 41 New Hampshire sites contaminated with Pfoa and Pfos, two common Pfas compounds, then using topography data to determine groundwater flow direction. The authors then examined reproductive outcomes among residents down gradient from the sites.Researchers chose New Hampshire because it is the only state where Pfas and reproductive data is available, Lemoine said. Well locations are confidential, so mothers were unaware of whether their water source was down gradient from a Pfas-contaminated site. That created a randomization that allows for causal inference, the authors noted.The study’s methodology is rigorous and unique, and underscores “that Pfas is no joke, and is toxic at very low concentrations”, said Sydney Evans, a senior science analyst with the Environmental Working Group non-profit. The group studies Pfas exposures and advocates for tighter regulations.The study is in part effective because mothers did not know whether they were exposed, which created the randomization, Evans said, but she noted that the state has the information. The findings raise questions about whether the state should be doing a similar analysis and alerting mothers who are at risk, Evans said.Lemoine said the study had some limitations, including that authors don’t know the mothers’ exact exposure levels to Pfas, nor does the research account for other contaminants that may be in the water. But he added that the findings still give a strong picture of the chemicals’ effects.Granular activated carbon or reverse osmosis systems can be used by water treatment plants and consumers at home to remove many kinds of Pfas, and those systems also remove other contaminants.The Biden administration last year put in place limits in drinking water for six types of Pfas, and gave water utilities several years to install systems.The Trump administration is moving to undo the limits for some compounds. That would probably cost the public more in the long run. Utility customers pay the cost of removing Pfas, but the public “also pays the cost of drinking contaminated water, which is bigger”, Lemoine said.

Water
Chemicals
Climate

Costa Rica’s Nayara Resorts Plans Eco-Friendly Beach Hotel in Manuel Antonio

Nayara Resorts, known for its high-end hotels and focus on green practices, has revealed plans for a new property in Manuel Antonio. The beach resort aims to open in mid- to late 2027 and will create about 300 direct jobs. For those familiar with the area, the site sits where the Barba Roja restaurant once […] The post Costa Rica’s Nayara Resorts Plans Eco-Friendly Beach Hotel in Manuel Antonio appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

Nayara Resorts, known for its high-end hotels and focus on green practices, has revealed plans for a new property in Manuel Antonio. The beach resort aims to open in mid- to late 2027 and will create about 300 direct jobs. For those familiar with the area, the site sits where the Barba Roja restaurant once stood. Nayara bought the land and has woven environmental standards into every step of design and planning. Blake May, the project director, noted that the company holds all required permits and has worked with authorities to meet rules on protected zones and coastal setbacks. Construction will blend with the surroundings, keeping trees, palms, and bamboo in the layout. Rooms will use natural airflow to cut down on air conditioning. Bars will have plant-covered roofs to lower emissions and clean the air. The resort will also run its own system to turn wastewater into reusable water for gardens. Before any building starts, Nayara hired a soil expert to protect the ground during demolition. Trees on the property get special attention too. The team is studying species to decide which stay in place and which move elsewhere for safety. This fits Nayara’s track record, like at their Tented Camp in La Fortuna, where they turned old pasture into forest by planting over 40,000 native trees and plants. Beyond the environment, Nayara commits to local people. They plan to share updates on progress, hire from the area for building and running the hotel, and buy from nearby businesses. Demolition of the old restaurant is in progress, with full construction set to begin early next year. This move grows Nayara’s footprint in Costa Rica, where they already run three spots in La Fortuna: Gardens, Springs, and Tented Camp. The new hotel marks their first push into the Pacific coast, drawing on their model of luxury tied to nature. Locals in the area, see promise in the jobs and tourism boost, as Manuel Antonio draws visitors for its parks and beaches. Nayara’s approach could set an example for other developments in the area. The post Costa Rica’s Nayara Resorts Plans Eco-Friendly Beach Hotel in Manuel Antonio appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

Business
Forests
Nature

Elderberry Is a Sacred Indigenous Plant. Should It Be Monetized?

“As Native people, we have a spiritual and emotional relationship with the elderberry and an obligation to care for it,” she said. Indigenous people have worked with the plant for centuries, utilizing the flowers and berries for food and medicine, and crafting musical instruments and ceremonial objects from the wood. High Bear, an Alaska Native […] The post Elderberry Is a Sacred Indigenous Plant. Should It Be Monetized? appeared first on Civil Eats.

Article Summary• Indigenous communities have tended and used elderberries as a sacred plant and medicine for centuries. Elderberries are traditionally shared within tribal communities, not commercialized. • Elderberries grow throughout the U.S., but most are imported from Germany and Austria. Demand for elderberry products, including syrups, teas, and juices, has skyrocketed. • Entrepreneurs, farmers, and nonprofits in the West are trying to create a market for the local blue elderberry, while small Midwestern farmers have cultivated the American black elderberry for nearly 30 years. • Elderberry Wisdom Farm, an Indigenous-run nonprofit in Oregon, has begun producing and selling elderberry syrup as part of a social and economic enterprise that will benefit the tribal community. Rose High Bear considers herself a granddaughter of the elderberry plant. She’s the founder of Elderberry Wisdom Farm, an Oregon-based nonprofit that uses traditional knowledge to tend native plants and train Indigenous people for careers in agriculture. “As Native people, we have a spiritual and emotional relationship with the elderberry and an obligation to care for it,” she said. Indigenous people have worked with the plant for centuries, utilizing the flowers and berries for food and medicine, and crafting musical instruments and ceremonial objects from the wood. High Bear, an Alaska Native of Deg Hitʼan and Inupiat descent, has been tending to elderberry plants and providing elderberry syrup to family and friends for over 15 years. She says that as a sacred plant and medicine, the berries are traditionally shared among the community and given away freely. Rose High Bear, founder of Elderberry Wisdom Farm. (Photo courtesy of Elderberry Wisdom Farm) That practice contrasts with a surging global market for elderberries. Consumption of elderberry products, including teas, juices, and syrups, has increased sevenfold over the last decade, with demand supercharged during the coronavirus pandemic. Elderberries grow wild across North America, but an estimated 95 percent of elderberries are imported from outside the U.S, mainly from Germany and Austria. Interest is building in turning that wild crop into a commercial product. High Bear has reflected on that development and its implications for her community for several years now. “Native Americans live with an enormous amount of poverty and other issues,” she said. “In today’s world, we need to financially support our families and achieve prosperity for our descendants.” Still, she feels conflicted about selling elderberries for profit. “How can we take something that we regard as so sacred and put a price tag on it?” From Native Plant to Product Transforming a culturally significant native plant into a commercial crop presents unique complexities, including how to ensure that the process benefits Indigenous communities. Non-Native groups have been working on commercialization as well and face other challenges, such as simultaneously growing supply and demand for a domestic elderberry crop. In the West, entrepreneurs, farmers, and nonprofits have been trying to create a market for the local blue elderberry, whose berries appear blue due to a layer of waxy bloom. The American black elderberry, which produces small, glossy, deep-purple berries, has been in small-scale cultivation in the Midwest for nearly three decades. Blue elderberries on the bush at White Buffalo Land Trust’s Jalama Canyon Ranch. (Photo courtesy of White Buffalo Land Trust) The flavor of both native species is described as earthy and astringent, with blue elderberries having a brighter and grassier taste and black elderberries being smoother, with notes of caramel. (Raw elderberries are mildly toxic to humans and should be cooked before consuming. A third native species, the red elderberry, is the most toxic.) Many tribes throughout North America see the plant as sacred, from the Tlingit in Alaska to the Cherokee in the Southeast and the Pomo in California, and historically have made use of all three species. Most recognize elderberries as a medicine with many uses. The dried flowers can be steeped to produce a tea used to reduce a fever. An infusion of the bark can also be used as an emetic to induce vomiting or as a laxative, and the berries can be used to treat rheumatism, urinary tract infections, and myriad other health issues. Elderberries have Western science on their side, too: Studies suggest that the berries’ antioxidant-rich and anti-inflammatory anthocyanins can relieve symptoms of flu, colds, and other upper respiratory infections, and research is underway on how they affect brain health. The ecosystem benefits are also a draw. As perennial plants that spring up in riverbanks and ditches, elderberries are a wildlife magnet. They attract pollinators with profuse white flowers that bloom from late spring to early summer, and tempt birds with their ripe berries in late summer. Elderberries are sometimes grown in hedgerows along the margins of cultivated fields, where they create natural windbreaks, support beneficial insects, prevent soil erosion, and  store carbon in the ground. Katie Reneker, owner of Carmel Berry, in central California, begins a batch of elderberry syrup. (Photo credit: Richard Green Photography)
 Katie Reneker first encountered elderberries as a natural remedy to support her children’s immune systems. “I was using elderberry syrup that I was buying at the health food store, and I felt like it worked,” she said. Reneker was surprised to learn that elderberries grew near her home on California’s central coast. She began to forage for Western blue elderberries and make syrup at home. The difference between her product and the store-bought ones was stark, inspiring her to launch Carmel Berry as a cottage food operator, which permitted her to produce elderberry products at home and sell them locally. But she ran into a roadblock. “You can’t just pick off the side of the road once you’re an actual business,” she said. “And there weren’t any farms that could meet the demand.” To encourage farmers and grow a supply chain for Western blue elderberries, she began to convene groups of interested growers for workshops, attracting hundreds of people from across the country. Blue elderberries are adapted to the hotter and drier western climate, making them attractive for farmers looking to diversify with drought-tolerant crops. But the lack of research into growing blue elderberries worries farmers nervous about trying a new crop. Blue elderberry is functionally still a wild plant, without the consistency that comes from research and development. As a result, Reneker can source some elderflowers from local blue elderberry plants, but still largely relies on Midwest growers for her berry supply. Federal Budget Cuts Stall Elderberry Project One initiative that could have bridged the knowledge gap and built supply and demand for blue elderberries is The Elderberry Project, spearheaded by the Santa Barbara nonprofit White Buffalo Land Trust. “Elderberries have been cultivated for over 10,000 years by Indigenous communities just here in our region,” said Jesse Smith, the land trust’s director of land stewardship. “Combine that with the market growth over the last five years in particular, and we felt like it was such an important thing for us to explore,” he added, saying that the project’s goal was to also include Native people in its efforts. “Elderberries have been cultivated for over 10,000 years by Indigenous communities just here in our region. Combine that with the market growth over the last five years in particular, and we felt like it was such an important thing for us to explore.” It partnered with the Santa Ynez Chumash Environmental Office, which planned to supply elderberries grown in its native plant nursery and incorporate workforce development for the tribal community. The project aimed to help small producers learn to cultivate the crop, install a processing facility, and grow market appetite from businesses. Another partner, the U.C. Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, conducted initial research into the agricultural potential of blue elderberries. In April, a sudden cut to the project’s five-year, $4.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Partnerships in Climate Smart Commodities Program slowed its momentum. “We’ve laid all the groundwork,” said Lauren Tucker, who is leading market development for the project. “We were literally just about to make the equipment order, which kickstarts the whole marketplace.” The USDA is reviewing existing projects based on new criteria and continuing funding for qualifying projects under a new name, the Advancing Markets for Producers initiative. For now, Tucker is trying to think creatively about how to fill the funding gap while resubmitting updated project plans for USDA review. “It doesn’t kill the project, but it really changes things,” she said. A Midwest Berry Boomlet While efforts to build a market around Western blue elderberries are just beginning, the Midwest is better established. Missouri is at the forefront of domestic production of the American elderberry, albeit with only 400 acres estimated in cultivation. The state got a head start three decades ago, mostly due to the interest of a small group at the University of Missouri, including horticultural researcher Andrew Thomas. “There’s a group in Kansas that was making, and still makes, really good elderberry wine,” he said, referring to Wyldewood Cellars, a winery outside of Wichita. Since they were collecting elderberries from ditches and along fencelines on the family’s 1,000-acre ranch, there was no quality control or consistency, Thomas said. But the product was good, and “some light bulbs went on.” Thomas began collecting and planting wild American elderberries to investigate improved cultivars. Farmers immediately took notice. “It just kind of grew and grew, and very quickly went way beyond wine,” he said, as producers began experimenting with juices, syrups, and health supplements. Producer interest propelled Thomas’s project forward. In 2021, his research on developing elderberry production and processing received a $5.3 million USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative grant. The ongoing project includes developing cultivars, researching growing regions, exploring mechanical harvesting, and researching processing and market potential. Many farmers who grow elderberries to diversify their farms aren’t so sure about ramping up beyond a niche crop. A small system of processors has sprung up in the area, each drawing from a network of local farms. Thomas said there is also discussion about going big with regional hubs and centralized processing facilities. The market for natural food coloring may be poised to grow further as Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to eliminate artificial dyes from the nation’s food supply, which could lead to even more demand for elderberries. Still, many farmers who grow elderberries to diversify their farms aren’t so sure about ramping up beyond a niche crop. “When you start talking about things like natural food coloring, the companies need massive production to be able to do that,” said Thomas. “A lot of the farmers would rather keep it more local.” A New Approach When High Bear sees giant elderberry bushes on the edge of farms in rural Marion County, she sees grandparents. However, she doesn’t begrudge farmers trying to grow and commercialize elderberries. “I have an enormous amount of compassion for today’s farmers,” she said, noting recent efforts to incorporate blue elderberries into hedgerows for ecological and economic reasons. “They can sell their berries to people that are making syrup, and that gives them just a little bit more financial support for their farms.” She acknowledges that non-Native farmers have a more limited view of the elderberry. “Not everybody understands that these plants have a spirit in them,” she said. “As Native people, we work with that spirit. We offer a prayer and ask permission to harvest. That’s the difference with non-Native people who look at it as a crop. But we don’t blame non-Native people for doing it. We need to do everything we can to help non-Native people work with the elderberry, just like we do.” Blue elderberry skin cream and syrup from Elderberry Wisdom Farm. (Photo courtesy of Elderberry Wisdom Farm) After years of reflection, High Bear reached a significant decision. In mid-December, the farm will debut its Wisdom of the Elderberry syrup for sale at the Salem Holiday Market, the result of a new hybrid social and economic enterprise that will divide its elderberry products, with half being shared within the community and the rest to be sold. “We finally realized that with so many elderberry syrups being made for commercial sale, our Native people should not be prohibited from also producing and marketing these products that are near and dear to their hearts,” she said. Although she risks potential backlash for straying from tradition, she said it’s important to recognize that the community requires money to live, especially as people face the loss of food assistance and other benefits. She hopes the new model will serve as an example of how Native people can develop microenterprises to support themselves while still integrating the spirit of generosity and tending to their spiritual and emotional relationships with the blue elderberry. “We have been living with serious issues for millennia, and problems have not defeated us,” High Bear said. “They only serve to strengthen our resilience because of our spirituality and close relationship with our ancestors and the Great Spirit.” The post Elderberry Is a Sacred Indigenous Plant. Should It Be Monetized? appeared first on Civil Eats.

Indigenous
Food
Business

New Wildlife Books for Children and Teens (That Adults May Find Interesting Too)

These books for young readers will delight and encourage interest in mammals, insects, octopuses, and other creatures in our shared environment. The post New Wildlife Books for Children and Teens (That Adults May Find Interesting Too) appeared first on The Revelator.

Creating excitement about our amazing planet in young people has never been more important. A pack of new books make environmental science fun and fascinating, teaching children, teens, and even some adults just how diverse and rich our planet’s wildlife and their habitats are to behold. Reading them can encourage us all to become better guardians of the Earth. We’ve adapted the books’ official descriptions below and provided links to the publishers’ sites, but you should also be able to find these books in a variety of formats through your local bookstore or library. Insectopolis By Peter Kuper Award-winning cartoonist Peter Kuper transports readers through the 400-million-year history of insects and the remarkable entomologists who have studied them. This visually immersive work of graphic non-fiction dives into a world where ants, cicadas, bees, and butterflies visit a library exhibition that displays their stories and humanity’s connection to them throughout the ages. Layering history and science, color and design, it tells the remarkable tales of dung beetles navigating by the stars, hawk-size prehistoric dragonflies hunting prey, and mosquitoes changing the course of human history. Read our interview with Kuper. They Work: Honey Bees, Nature’s Pollinators By June Smalls and illustrator Yukari Mishima The newest addition to June Smalls’s nature series, this is a gorgeous nonfiction picture book about life for a hive of honeybees, complete with factoids. Readers learn about the beehive queen, who fights to be queen from the moment she breaks out of her cell. Her job is important, but a hive is only successful if many, many bees are working together. Experience the life cycle of the honeybee up close and personal with this striking picture book. Told in a poetic style along with fun facts on each page for older readers wanting a deeper dive, this book is a beautiful exploration of life inside a beehive — as well as the dangers and predators bees face in the world, including humans. Bison: Community Builders and Grassland Caretakers By Frances Backhouse Bison are North America’s largest land animals. Some 170,000 wood bison once roamed northern regions, while at least 30 million plains bison trekked across the rest of the continent. Almost driven to extinction in the 1800s by decades of slaughter and hunting, this ecological and cultural species supports biodiversity and strengthens the ecosystems around it. This book celebrates the traditions and teachings of Indigenous peoples and looks at how bison lovers of all backgrounds came together to save these iconic animals. Learn about the places where bison are regaining a hoof-hold and meet some of the young people welcoming them back home. Many Things Under a Rock: The Mysteries of Octopuses by David Scheel and Laurel ‘Yoyo’ Scheel This compelling middle-grade adaptation dives deep into the mysteries of one of our planet’s most enigmatic animals. Among all the ocean’s creatures, few are more captivating — or more elusive — than the octopus. Marine biologist David Scheel investigates these strange beings to answer long-held questions: How can we learn more about animals whose perfect camouflage and secretive habitats make them invisible to detection? How does an almost-boneless package of muscle and protein defeat sharks, eels, and other predators while also preying on the most heavily armored animals in the sea? How do octopuses’ bodies work? This fascinating book shows young readers how to embrace the wisdom of the unknown — even if it has more arms than expected. Animal Partnerships: Radical Relationships, Unlikely Alliances, and Other Animal Teams By Ben Hoare and Asia Orlando Discover partnerships from across the animal kingdom with unexpected animal teams around the world who thrive in the wild as they defend, feed, and plot with each other to survive. Friendly, informative explanations are paired with striking photographs and colorful illustrations to make every page captivate the imagination. This unique animal book for children offers impressive facts about previously unknown animal behaviors that are guaranteed to wow adults and children alike. Conker and the Monkey Trap By Hannah Peckham Deep in the jungle, a chameleon named Conker finds two animals in need of his help. Though he first wants to run and hide, he remembers what his mom taught him about being kind and helpful to others. Once Conker saves Sanjeet the lost lorikeet from a puddle, the two of them come across a monkey caught in a trap. Conker and his new friend work together to save the day. This sweet rhyming story will teach young readers the value of friendship and helping those in need. There are plenty of points for discussion and those are aided by the probing questions at the back of the book and the various activities. Mollusks By Kaitlyn Salvatore From the Discover More: Marine Wildlife Series. Not all marine wildlife lives completely underwater. While some mollusks do, other species live both above and below the water’s surface. As readers learn about the different classes of mollusks, they uncover how a mollusk’s body allows it to do amazing things, learning about the unique ways different mollusk species, from slugs to squid to clams, contribute to their environments. Their lifestyles, diet, and the threats to their survival come to life through vivid photographs and age-appropriate text. Becoming an Ecologist: Career Pathways in Science By John A. Wiens What influences a person’s decision to pursue a career in science? And what factors determine the many possible pathways a budding scientist chooses to follow? John A. Wiens traces his journeys through several subfields of ecology — and gives readers an inside look at how science works. He shares stories from his development as an ornithologist, community ecologist, landscape ecologist, and conservation scientist, recounting the serendipities, discoveries, and joys of this branching career. Wiens explores how an individual’s background and interests, life’s contingencies, the influences of key people, and the culture of a discipline can all shape a scientist’s trajectory. This book explores why ecologists ask the questions they do, how they go about answering them, and what they do when the answers are not what they expected. Bringing together personal narrative with practical guidance for aspiring ecologists, this book provides a window onto a dynamic scientific field — and inspiration for all readers interested in building a career by following their passion for the natural world, presented in an enticing way for young professionals and students. Enjoy these engaging reads and get young friends and family members involved with activities that support our environment and wildlife. We hope you and your children and grandchildren will be motivated to protect and reclaim our environment through these remarkable books. And there’s more to come: We’ll cover more books for young readers in the months ahead. For hundreds of additional environmental books — including many for kids of all ages — visit the Revelator Reads archives. The post New Wildlife Books for Children and Teens (That Adults May Find Interesting Too) appeared first on The Revelator.

Animals
Conservation
Culture

Lawsuit says PGE, Tillamook Creamery add to nitrate pollution in eastern Oregon

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of residents in Morrow and Umatilla counties, says nitrate pollution from a PGE power generation plant and from a Tillamook cheese production facility has seeped into groundwater, affecting thousands of residents in the area.

A new lawsuit claims Portland General Electric and the Tillamook County Creamery Association contribute significantly to the nitrate pollution that has plagued eastern Oregon for over three decades. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of residents in Morrow and Umatilla counties, says nitrate pollution has seeped into groundwater, affecting thousands of residents in the area known as the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area who can’t use tap water from private wells at their homes.PGE operates a power generation plant at the Port of Morrow in Boardman and the Tillamook County Creamery Association, a farmer-owned cooperative known for the Tillamook Creamery at the coast, operates a cheese production plant in Boardman. The two plants send their wastewater to the port, which then sprays it through irrigation systems directly onto land in Morrow and Umatilla counties, according to the complaint filed Friday in the U.S. District Court in Oregon.PGE and Tillamook transfer their wastewater to the port despite knowing that the port doesn’t remove the nitrates before applying the water onto fields, the suit contends.PGE’s spokesperson Drew Hanson said the company would not provide comment on pending legal matters. Tillamook Creamery did not respond to a request for comment.The new complaint follows a 2024 lawsuit by several Boardman residents that accused the Port of Morrow, along with several farms and food processors of contaminating the basin’s groundwater. The others named are: Lamb Weston, Madison Ranches, Threemile Canyon Farms and Beef Northwest.A state analysis released earlier this year shows nitrate pollution has worsened significantly in eastern Oregon over the past decade. Much of the nitrate contamination in the region comes from farm fertilizer, animal manure and wastewater that are constantly and abundantly applied to farm fields by the owners of food processing facilities, confined animal feeding operations, irrigated farmland and animal feedlots, according to the analysis by the state and local nonprofits. Those polluters are also the main employers in eastern Oregon. Steve Berman, the attorney in the newest case, said PGE and the farmer cooperative were not included in the previous lawsuit because their impact wasn’t previously clear. “We keep drilling down into new records we are obtaining from the regulatory authorities and activists and analyzing how groundwater moves in the area. Our experts now tell us these two entities are contributing as well,” Berman said. According to the complaint, PGE’s power generation plant at the Port of Morrow, called Coyote Springs, generates an estimated 900 million gallons of nitrate-laced wastewater each year from a combination of cooling tower wastewater, wash water and the water discharged from boilers to remove built-up impurities.From 2019 to 2022, PGE’s wastewater had an average nitrate concentration of 38.9 milligrams per liter – almost four times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum contaminant level, the complaint claims. PGE’s plant is not producing nitrates, Berman said, but rather is using groundwater with pre-existing nitrates and then concentrating the chemicals through its industrial processes. PGE’s plant is not producing nitrates, Berman said, but rather is using groundwater with pre-existing nitrates and then concentrating the chemicals through its industrial processes. and then spread pre-existing nitrates from groundwater and don’t add their own but concentrate the nitrates through their industrial processes, such as xxx.Columbia River Processing, the Tillamook Creamery Association’s cheese production plant, generates an estimated 360 gallons of wastewater each year from a combination of cheese byproducts and tank wash water, according to the complaint. From 2019 to 2022, Tillamook’s wastewater had an average nitrate concentration of 24 milligrams per liter – more than twice the EPA’s maximum contaminant level, the complaint claims. In addition, the association also sources its milk from Threemile Canyon Farms, a “megadairy” in Boardman that houses 70,000 cows and was named in the previous nitrate lawsuit. The dairy constantly applies high-nitrogen waste from its operation to its farmland, the earlier suit says. The lawsuit seeks to force remediation or halt the practices. It also demands that the companies cover the costs of drilling deeper wells for private well users who currently face nitrate contamination – an estimated $40,000 cost per well – as well as the costs of connecting households to municipal water systems and compensation for higher water bills paid by residents due to nitrate treatment in public systems. People who can’t use their contaminated tap water now must rely on bottled water for cooking, bathing and other needs. While there are plans to extend municipal water service to some of those homes, many residents oppose the idea because they’ve invested heavily in their wells and fear paying steep water rates.Critics say state agencies have not done enough to crack down on the pollution, with much of the focus on voluntary measures that have failed to rein in the nitrate contamination.Research has linked high nitrate consumption over long periods to cancers, miscarriages, as well as thyroid issues. It is especially dangerous to infants who can quickly develop “blue baby syndrome,” a fatal illness.

Pollution
Water
Animals

A second sighting of this invasive species has Oregon wildlife officials concerned

Wildlife officials worry people may illegally import these creatures for food, then release them into Oregon waters.

A Chinese mitten crab was discovered in the Willamette River near the Sellwood Bridge in late November, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said. It’s at least the second sighting of the invasive species in Oregon this year. State officials are working with the federal government, Portland State University and other agencies to investigate whether more of the 3-inch crabs are living in the Willamette.Chinese mitten crabs, which live in freshwater, could impact Oregon’s fish and crayfish populations by eating local species or fish eggs and competing for food, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife says. Oregon’s native crabs live along the coast. The Chinese mitten crab lives its adult life in freshwater, while Oregon's native crabs live along the coast. Oregon Department of Fish and WildlifeThe agency previously warned that the crabs “caused significant infrastructure and ecological damage in and around San Francisco Bay when the population was at its height in the late 1990s.”They are illegal to have or to sell in Oregon. Latest environmental newsMitten crabs can be identified by several distinctive features: a notch between the eyes, four spines on each side of the carapace and hairy mitten-like claws. The crabs’ color varies from greenish-brown to brownish-orange, according to an agency news release.Anyone who catches a Chinese mitten crab is asked to report it with the location to 1-866-INVADER or through an online invasive species hotline. - Kjerstin Gabrielson contributed to this report.

Food
Water

Sea lions keep eating the salmon in the Columbia River. Some lawmakers want to kill more of them

A committee of the U.S. House of Representatives spent more than two hours debating the Pacific Northwest’s sea lion problem.

Pacific Northwest sea lions got the spotlight in a Congressional hearing last week.The U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Natural Resources spent nearly two and a half hours Wednesday debating the long-standing issue of the Columbia River sea lions, who are known to feast on the salmon that swim down and upriver. It wasn’t great news for the sea lions, as the debate centered primarily around how best to kill the pinnipeds. The hearing featured testimony from Aja DeCoteau, executive director of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fishing Commission, who urged the committee to expand efforts to remove the animals and research the problem, The Columbian reported. “Historically, our elders remember an occasional sea lion reaching Celilo Falls,” DeCoteau said at the hearing. “However, these occurrences were rare. Now, a combination of hydro-system infrastructure, changing environmental conditions and the success of the Marine Mammal Protection Act has resulted in unprecedented numbers of sea lions in the Columbia River.”For years, state wildlife managers have sought ways to keep sea lions from gobbling up salmon. Exclusion gates have been installed at the entrances to fish ladders. Sea lions have been hazed with underwater explosives and firecracker shells fired from shotguns. Agencies have tried using fake orcas and arm-flailing inflatables. Animals that have been trapped and relocated, driven hundreds of miles and released into the ocean, have returned upriver within days.In 2008, Oregon was given permission to kill some of the sea lions, though officials were required to capture and brand individual animals, and catch them in the act of consuming salmon, before they could euthanize. The frustrated efforts led to a 2020 federal law that permitted Oregon, Washington and Idaho, as well as some tribes, to bypass the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act, allowing them to trap and kill up to 540 California sea lions and 176 Steller sea lions from the Columbia River and its tributaries. In the five years since, only 230 total sea lions have been killed.While the 2020 federal permit to kill the sea lions was renewed without controversy this September, extending the law through 2030, lawmakers are now examining how effective the legislative efforts have actually been. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat who represents Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, which runs along the lower Columbia River, sat in on the Congressional committee Wednesday, asking why more sea lions haven’t been killed.“Ask yourself, why are these numbers so small?” she said. Gluesenkamp Perez argued the removal process is arduous and expensive, estimating the cost of removing one sea lion at $38,000, or roughly $203 per salmon saved.She recommended expanding the reach of the permits and suggested a process that would allow local fisherman and tribal members to bid on permits to assist with sea lion killings. “I have seen and heard firsthand how much work goes into managing sea lion populations and preserving local fisheries,” she added. “As the name implies, sea lions are a species that belong in the sea, not in our rivers.” Larry Phillips, policy director for the American Sportfishing Association, who also testified before the committee Wednesday, said he thought people would “line up” to participate in sea lion removals.“I also think that we need to be really careful, make sure we’re investing in good science to monitor the outcomes of any type of programs that we implement or decide to implement, and that’s that clearly is going to be the foundation of how we move forward,” Phillips said. “But you know, I would certainly support being creative and coming up with unique ideas.” Killing sea lions in the Pacific Northwest has long been a contentious issue. A 2023 video of a fishing boat repeatedly charging large groups of sea lions demonstrated the animosity many fishers feel toward sea lions, though it shocked even fellow anglers, who condemned the act of aggression toward the animals.

Animals
Resources
Science

A land fight pits a sacred Apache tradition against a copper mine

An Apache girl comes of age in a traditional ceremony, possibly the last at Oak Flat before copper mining threatens to transform the sacred site in Arizona.

The girl danced for hours in the knee-deep water as slanting rain pelted her slight frame weighed down by a sodden buckskin dress. Each step brought her closer to the end of a ritual that also signified a beginning.The Washington Post was allowed to record parts of the Sunrise Dance ceremony without audio, to preserve its spiritual power.Several days earlier, Lozen Brown-Lopez had arrived at the top of Oak Flat. She was 11 years old, from the San Carlos Apache Tribe and about to endure a grueling four-day ceremony that has been practiced by Apaches for centuries. Surrounded by a hundred family and fellow tribal members, dancers, singers and medicine men, she would perform the Sunrise Dance, reenacting part of the Apache creation story. At the end, after she had been daubed in clay to represent the mythological mother of all Apaches and ritually cleansed, Lozen would emerge as a young woman.What worried many of those who came to this mesa in mountainous southern Arizona in early October was the very real possibility that this Sunrise Dance might be the last one at Oak Flat.Oak Flat sits on one of North America’s largest undeveloped deposits of copper. The mineral is used in dozens of items, including smartphones, electric vehicles and solar panels. The company Resolution Copper believes there are 20 million tons of copper under Oak Flat that could supply up to one-quarter of the U.S. copper demand over 40 years. At today’s prices, experts say that much copper would be worth about $200 billion. The company asserts it will create more than a thousand jobs in an area with high unemployment.Map shows the location of major copper deposits in the Southwest.Mining Oak Flat, however, would eventually transform the landscape, creating what geologists say would be a vast crater. To prevent this, the tribe and other opponents of the mine have filed multiple lawsuits and tried unsuccessfully to get one of the cases heard before the U.S. Supreme Court. A federal appeals court will hold a hearing for several of the suits in early January.“If they take Oak Flat, they destroy our religion and who we are,” said Vanessa Nosie, an archaeology aide for the San Carlos Apache Tribe who also helps her father lead a nonprofit fighting the mine. Lozen, she added, is “dancing to carry the fight for all we’re trying to save.”As the singers drummed in the downpour, Lozen pounded her ceremonial cane into the muddy ground. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and she faltered for a moment.A woman in the crowd whooped. Another onlooker yelled, “Go, Lozen!” She pulled her shoulders back, lifted her head and looked straight ahead to the sprawling landscape of cacti and Emory oaks that give the region its name.She kept dancing.For many in the San Carlos Apache Tribe, Oak Flat — or Chi’chil Biłdagoteel — is where time began.Some believe the Creator, or Usen, made a corridor between heaven and earth on Oak Flat, and Ga’an, mountain spirits, live in the hills. Not all of the roughly 41,000 members in the eight federally recognized Apache tribes consider Oak Flat to be sacred ground. Those who do, however, revere it as one of the few places to reenact the story of White Painted Woman. Some believe earth was first covered with water, and when the floodwaters receded, White Painted Woman emerged from the earth as a sign of renewal of life. Apaches believe she was touched by the rays of the sun and gave birth to twins who were guided by Ga’an and fought off evil monsters on earth.“It’s no different than Mount Sinai and how the Holy Spirit came to be,” said Wendsler Nosie Sr., who runs Apache Stronghold, the nonprofit group fighting the mine, and who is a former chairman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe. “It’s a holy place that gives the teaching of God’s creation to all of us. It makes us who we are.”Gold, silver and copper were found in the area in the 1870s. As miners moved in, Native Americans were forced out by the U.S. military. In one spot, called Apache Leap, U.S. cavalry pushed warriors to the edge of the cliff. They chose to jump to their deaths rather than surrender.Since then, the history of the land has been a continuing fight among tribes, the federal government and mining companies. For more than 80 years, the Magma Copper Co. ran an operation near Oak Flat. When geologists discovered a huge untapped deposit with high-grade copper at Oak Flat in 1995, the pressure intensified to build a mine. But Oak Flat, which lies within the Tonto National Forest and is controlled by the U.S. Forest Service, has part of the deposit that has been protected from mining. Congress found a way around this problem in 2014 when it passed a law that lifted the ban, allowing a private company to swap land it owns for access to public land.Resolution Copper has offered to exchange 5,000 acres elsewhere in Arizona for 2,400 acres around Oak Flat, but a court injunction has temporarily stopped the transfer. Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Arizona) introduced legislation Wednesday to repeal the land exchange with Resolution Copper, a bill similar to one her father filed unsuccessfully in 2015.Mining the ore beneath Oak Flat would not be easy. Roughly a mile beneath the surface, material would be removed from below the deposit and transported underground to a processing facility about 2.5 miles away. As the ore gets removed, the rock above would gradually collapse.In a report this year, the U.S. Forest Service said such mining would ultimately create a crater 1,000 feet deep and two miles wide. By comparison that’s about two times the height of the Washington Monument and the length of the National Mall.Apache Stronghold, environmentalists and the San Carlos Apache Tribe argue in their lawsuits that the mine project violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and an 1852 treaty with the U.S. government to protect certain lands for Apaches.“Religious Indigenous claims are subject to a double standard and get lesser protection,” said Luke Goodrich, a lawyer for Apache Stronghold and senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “Because of the nation’s history of dispossessing Indigenous people of their land, their sites are on land that’s controlled by the federal government. Their practices are uniquely tied to land in a way that other religions aren’t, so they disproportionately have to rely on the government for practicing their religious practices.”The legal arguments have mostly failed so far. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear one of the cases. Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, a strong defender of Native rights, issued a dissenting opinion, calling the decision a “grievous mistake.”“The government has long protected both the land and the Apaches’ access to it. No more,” Gorsuch wrote. “Just imagine if the government sought to demolish a historic cathedral on so questionable a chain of legal reasoning. I have no doubt that we would find that case worth our time.”Other lawsuits based on similar religious claims and the potentially negative environmental impacts from the mine are making their way through the courts. In early January, the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit will hear arguments in three lawsuits filed against the federal government and the company by several Apache women, the San Carlos Apache Tribe and the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, which represents conservation and environmental groups.Adam Gustafson, principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, said in a statement: “These baseless lawsuits are just the latest effort to block development of natural resources that benefit the American people.”Four days before the start of Lozen’s Sunrise Dance, the Supreme Court again declined a request to hear one of the cases.Lozen’s mother, Sinetta Lopez, told her daughter the news.“I told her: ‘You could be the last one to dance at Oak Flat or the first one to win the fight,’” she said.Just after sunrise on the first day of the ceremony, Lozen’s godmother — Tanya Rogers — adorned her with items symbolic of becoming a young woman.A floor-length buckskin dress. A T-shaped beaded necklace. An abalone shell tied with a thin leather strap on her forehead. In Lozen’s long dark hair, she pinned an eagle feather — a symbol of prayers for a long and healthy life. She passed her a cane made from trees at Oak Flat.“Every knot, every piece of leather from a deer, it’s done with prayer and a song that goes with it,” Vanessa Nosie said. “When it’s placed on her, it’s her protection, her shield. It’s her story of our people.”Dozens of Apache girls choose to go through the ritual every year, mainly in the spring and summer. Lozen’s was late in the season to accommodate the class schedule at the charter prep school in Scottsdale where she plays volleyball and basketball and runs cross-country. Not all Sunrise Dances happen at Oak Flat. Some perform the ceremony at their reservations.By tradition, a girl is ready for her Sunrise Dance within four days of her first menstruation. Most families spend months planning the ceremony. Lozen, who is named after a well-known Apache woman who fought alongside Geronimo, had gone as a young girl to the ceremonies of her older cousin and her sister.“She’d play with dolls as a kid and paint their faces with the yellow pollen that we believe is for blessings and prayers,” her mother said.Now it was Lozen’s turn.A week before the ceremony, Lozen’s family brought truckloads of tents, blankets, clothing, pots, pans, grills, folding tables, chairs, firewood and food. One morning, a group of men cut down willow trees for Lozen to build her wickiup — a traditional dome-shaped Apache home.“The home she learns to build is a symbol of how she will form her life,” her mother said. “It has to be strong and keep her family warm in the winter and cool in the summer and be able to withstand life.”Lozen and her cousin, who had already performed the ceremony, stayed in the structure for several nights. No smartphones and no metal were allowed inside.“I got to see more things at Oak Flat that you don’t get to see if you’re on your phone — like hummingbirds,” she said.On that Saturday morning, Lozen began to reenact the story of White Painted Woman. Facing the rising sun, she bounced on her knees with her hands beside her face for roughly 20 minutes.“She’s dancing to the sun, just like the White Painted Woman came out and saw the sun,” said Theresa Nosie, Wendsler’s wife.Two tall mine towers poked from the ridge about a mile away. Resolution Copper, a joint venture of two multinational mining companies (Rio Tinto and BHP), has redeveloped some of the old Magma operation as part of its plan for the new mine.The company says about 80 of the approximately 400 workers preparing the site come from the San Carlos Apache Tribe. When the mine is fully operational, Resolution Copper has said, it will employ about 1,400 workers. Some tribal members see the jobs as a boon to the estimated 10,000 tribal members who live on the reservation, where the unemployment rate hovers above 60 percent. But the tribe’s consultants have disputed the jobs estimate, saying much of the work at the mine will be automated.“People will ask me: ‘Are there any jobs?’ ‘Can you get my son or my uncle a job?’” said Brenda Astor, a member of the San Carlos Apache who lives on the reservation, about 60 miles from Oak Flat. For three years, she has worked as a principal adviser for Native affairs at Resolution Copper. “This is a chance for our own people to help ourselves by getting jobs and bringing that salary back home and providing for their families.”That evening, a few men built a huge bonfire. Dancers dressed as Ga’an — with tall wooden headdresses, bells tied on their ankles and sacred symbols painted white on their bodies — appeared around the blaze. Lozen and a few other girls who had already gone through their sunrise ceremonies danced with them.As the bonfire’s flames stretched into the night sky, a red light atop the mine towers blinked in the distance.Heavy rain and flash flooding arrived before the third day. Women chased pots and pans that floated away in the current. Men carried children in pajamas on their backs, ferrying them from tents filled with water and mud to their vehicles.But no one considered calling off the ceremony as it approached a crucial moment.Lozen’s godfather took white clay — made from water and ash — and painted her face, shoulders and hair with it. In the Apache creation story, the White Painted Woman is covered in ash when she emerges from the earth.Lozen closed her eyes as the dripping clay hardened on her face. After a few minutes, her godmother carefully wiped her eyes with a scarf, marking her official transition to womanhood. Lozen was now seeing with new eyes.“You watch your child go from baby to toddler and then to a young girl,” Sinetta Lopez said. “And then to watch her eyes as they’re wiped as she transitioned to a young woman in front of you. It’s like she’s reborn.”Naelyn Pike, one of Wendsler’s granddaughters, said watching Lozen was powerful. “She’s this young girl telling the world: ‘I’m here. I exist. We, my people, still exist,’” she said.Resolution Copper believes the mine will not impact the Apaches’ desire to preserve their sacred ground.“The copper at Oak Flat is one of the deposits that really counts,” said Lawrence Cathles, a geologist at Cornell University. But getting to the deep reserve, which in spots is more than a mile below the surface, is tricky and involves a method known as panel caving. Workers must bore deep shafts and tunnels to get to the ore. Gradually, the surface at Oak Flat will collapse like a sinkhole, mining experts said. Many conservationists and Native Americans worry about the environmental harm to plants, animals and water supplies.Resolution Copper’s general manager and president, Vicky Peacey, disagreed. She said 70 percent of Oak Flat will be untouched, including the campground where the sunrise ceremonies are held. “It’s possible it may never be impacted,” Peacey said.As part of the land transfer, Resolution Copper agreed to give public access to the campground as long as the company deems it is safe.Peacey said her company has worked with 11 Native American tribes in the region to protect parts of Oak Flat, including historic Apache Leap, and avoid some spots where there are significant streams and medicinal plants. Resolution Copper has said it plans to set aside $54 million in an endowment for the 11 tribes to use for education, helping youths and preserving cultural heritage.“We’ve worked with them,” Peacey said of the tribes, “on how we can change things so culture and nature can coexist with mining.”For Lozen, there was one final step in her passage to womanhood.Still covered in white clay, Lozen rode about two miles down an unpaved road with her mom, sister and a few other women. Then the women hiked, climbing over slippery boulders down into a canyon where rocks rose steeply on either side of a pool of water.Lozen lay on her back on the rocks, her long dark hair flowing in the pool. Her sister and other girls cut open yucca they had carried from camp. Her mother squeezed the yucca so it foamed, making shampoo, and gently washed the clay from Lozen’s hair.After the hair washing, Lozen laughed and swam with her cousin in the pool. Her mom later said: “The trees, the water here. This is all going to be wiped out with the mine, as they dig deep into the ground.”Storm clouds rolled above the canyon wall. Lozen scrambled out of the water in front of the older women and emerged as one of them.

Animals
Conservation
Culture

Conservation’s Hot Topics of 2026: From Artificial Intelligence to Mirror Molecules

Forests, soil, plastic waste, war debris, and a darker ocean also appear on the annual ‘horizon scan’ addressing conservation priorities for the years ahead. The post Conservation’s Hot Topics of 2026: From Artificial Intelligence to Mirror Molecules appeared first on The Revelator.

The proliferation of artificial intelligence technologies, molecular manipulation, and literal sea changes are among the top issues a team of conservation experts anticipate will affect biodiversity in the year ahead and beyond, according to a study published this month in the scientific journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution. The study, the latest in a series of “horizon scan” papers written annually since 2009, brings together insights from more than two dozen experts from around the world. Led by Cambridge University ecologist William Sutherland, the team identified 15 technological advances and societal trends that conservation scientists, policymakers, and practitioners would do well to keep an eye on as they work to protect biodiversity in the months and years ahead. Tropical Forests Forever Incredibly rich biodiversity hot spots and unparalleled contributors to climate stability, intact tropical forests are top priorities in global conservation efforts. Protecting them, however, is a challenge, as economic pressures push for destruction. A new plan called out in the horizon scan aims to succeed where others have not. International partners led by Brazil are establishing a $125 billion Tropical Forests Forever Facility investment fund, whose income will be used to reward countries in the tropics that protect forests. Benefits over current strategies include providing more self-determination to affected nations, supporting protection efforts by local residents, and improving transparency and alignment with goals. Whether the fund will be effective, however, will depend on how the rules are set and enforced and who bears the risks and costs. Weight Loss = Biodiversity Win? Increased use of drugs that mimic a hormone known as GLP-1 helps people to suppress their appetites and reduce consumption of food, especially beef and highly processed items. This in turn stands to reduce demand for cropland and pastures — and with it, pressure to clear biodiversity-supporting habitat, use water for irrigation, and deploy biodiversity-harming agricultural chemicals. Though the impact is not yet measurable on a global scale, continued growth in adoption of these medications could carry positive implications for protecting intact ecosystems and even rewilding current crop and pasture lands. Slowing the Bloom The timing of flowering in plants is important for synchronizing pollen and egg production with the seasonal presence of pollinating insects. It also helps protect plant reproduction from adverse weather and align crop production with seasonal human needs. As climate changes, weather aberrations are disrupting the environmental signals and circumstances plants use to determine when to flower and potentially the ability to produce an abundance of seeds. Screening some 16,000 chemical compounds, scientists have discovered a few that slow the process of flowering in plants. If applied judiciously, the authors of the horizon scan write, these could help threatened species reproduce, maintain crop productivity in the face of climate disruption, and reduce weed competition with desired crops — all with potential benefits to biodiversity. Mining Meets Marine Microbes What will happen to ocean ecosystems if and when deep-sea mining becomes big business? No one knows for sure — but with contracts in place for exploratory work at more than 30 sites around the world, we may soon find out. Some 560 square miles, or 1.5 million square kilometers, of deep seafloor and ocean ridges have been targeted for possible extraction of minerals, posing threats to the microbes that thrive in these deep-sea ecosystems and potential trickle-up risks to other life forms above them. Scientists are recognizing the urgency of better understanding the poorly studied communities at the bottom of the sea and developing strategies to maintain their function as mining plans proceed. Micro AI Advances in hardware and software are making it possible to create miniature devices that can tap into artificial intelligence independent of the internet and electrical grids. These “tiny machine learning” (TinyML) technologies could benefit biodiversity by helping people monitor wildlife in remote places, assess soils, detect disease-transmitting organisms, scout for poachers, and more. On the downside, such technologies would likely be more restricted than networked systems in their ability to store data, limiting the ability to preserve information and use it for comparative purposes. Light-Powered Chips A much-publicized downside to artificial intelligence is the amount of energy, water, and materials it demands. New optical chip technologies, which use characteristics of light rather than electricity to transfer information, stand to enhance energy efficiency and processing speed, and optical neural network technologies can accelerate processing even more. Application of the technologies not only holds potential to reduce AI’s demand for energy and other resources, it also could facilitate conservation monitoring in remote locations. That said, the horizon scan authors caution that it’s not clear whether even substantial efficiency gains will outpace or even keep pace with increased use of AI sufficiently to mitigate its adverse environmental impacts. Digital Twins: Friend or Foe? Increasingly sophisticated information systems are making it possible to run highly detailed models of current and future conditions that incorporate predictions about human behavior as well as physical settings. This could bring conservation benefits by providing realistic scenarios of possible outcomes of different actions that can then be used to guide decisions. On the flip side, the computational capacity required to produce them could bring adverse environmental impacts associated with increased use of energy and land. Such realistic prognostication could also adversely alter the behavior of financial markets and other real-life systems in unpredictable ways. Fiber Optic Drone Debris Thousands of miles of fiber optic cables litter the ground in the Russia-Ukraine conflict zone. Deposited when jettisoned from drones or by drones that crash, the cables — which aid in communication between controllers and devices — pose threats to wildlife through entanglement and chemical and microplastic contamination. And it’s not just Ukraine: As drones become more widely deployed for both war and peaceful pursuits, the prospect for harm spreads to new venues and new biodiversity hot spots. Efforts to produce biodegradable alternatives and/or clean up cables before they accumulate could help reduce the adverse effects on birds, mammals, and other life forms. Dry Land – Getting Drier Recent studies cited by the horizon scan revealed that the amount of moisture in the world’s soils — particularly in southern South America and central North America, Africa, and Asia — has been declining, likely due to climate change. Because organisms who live in or grow from soil depend on moisture for life, the change stands to destabilize ecosystems. The problem could interact with land use trends in complex ways — potentially worsening as climate mitigation efforts increase vegetation and/or encouraging additional land conversion to agriculture as reduced water availability worsens conditions for crops. To date this water loss is estimated to have caused the world’s oceans to rise more than a centimeter; it’s likely to only become more severe if today’s climate change trajectory continues. Messing With Soil Microbes A growing trend around the world involves injecting fungi that associate with plant roots into agricultural soils to boost crop health and productivity while minimizing use of harmful pesticides and fertilizers. However, the efficacy of this approach as currently practiced is suspect, and unintended consequences are unknown. Even as the practice grows, the jury is still out regarding implications for sustainable agriculture, soils, and ecosystem health. From Plastic Waste to Good Taste? The ubiquitous use of plastic has produced literal mountains and oceans of plastic waste — and there’s no end in sight as the durable material builds up faster than recycling opportunities arise. But a new opportunity to use it to help mitigate another environmental challenge could hold promise for reducing the threat of plastic to wildlife and their habitats. Researchers have discovered a way to feed one type of plastic, polyethylene terephthalate, to bacteria that in turn can be processed into a nutritious food for people or livestock. Bringing this innovation to scale and expanding it to encompass other plastics could reduce both plastic waste and pressure to clear biodiversity-rich lands for food production. Now You Seaweed, Now You Don’t Diverse species of macroalgae, aka seaweed, are linchpin elements of marine ecosystems around the world. They also face multiple threats, including climate change, overgrazing, commercial farming, and a lack of sustainable management. As a result, their overall extent, currently covering more area than coral reefs and coastal wetlands together, is expected to decline even as their range expands poleward. Insufficient attention to understanding and managing marine macroalgae, the horizon scan warns, bodes poorly for the future of these ecosystem superstars and the biodiversity they support. Darkness in the Depths Earth’s oceans are getting darker, and that could spell trouble for the creatures who call them home. Satellite data recently revealed that in 2003, light penetrated 21% farther beneath the surface of the water than it did in 2022. Possible causes for the decline include increased nutrient and particulate inputs and changes in water circulation, surface temperature, and sea ice. Although the implications for ocean ecosystems are unknown, scientists are concerned that the loss of light could alter the ability of phytoplankton to capture sunlight and so to serve as the food base for zooplankton, fish, and other marine creatures. All Eyes on the Southern Ocean What’s up with the Southern Ocean? For decades, surface waters were becoming less saline. But about a decade ago, satellite imaging began to show an increase in salinity, and no one knows why. The surprising shift may exacerbate polar ice melting and is expected to alter circulation of water in the oceans and the trajectory of climate change in unknown ways. These changes, the horizon scan warns, are likely to affect species, ecosystems, and the ability of people — particularly those of island nations — to adapt to climate change. Mirror Life Some biological molecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids, have “handedness” – they can exist in forms that are mirror images of each other. Life systems that have evolved to build, work with, and demolish molecules of one handedness may be unable to deal with the other, even though they are composed of the same kinds of atoms arranged in the same order. The ability to synthesize molecules — and potentially entire cells — that mirror natural ones offers both opportunity and threat. Such innovations could be exceptionally durable and help prevent adverse immune reactions. However, they could also interact with and potentially confound evolved biological processes, to the detriment of humans and ecosystems alike. Read about last year’s horizon scan, addressing threats such as PFAS chemicals, increased wood consumption, and water shortages — as well as several conservation opportunities. Republish this article for free! Read our reprint policy. The post Conservation’s Hot Topics of 2026: From Artificial Intelligence to Mirror Molecules appeared first on The Revelator.

Conservation
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