Cookies help us run our site more efficiently.

By clicking “Accept”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. View our Privacy Policy for more information or to customize your cookie preferences.

Accept Deny

GoGreenNation news

Oregon Is Now Home to the World's Largest Dark Sky Sanctuary

News Feed
Thursday, March 21, 2024

Officials have been working toward the designation for four years. Travel Southern Oregon Calling all stargazers: Oregon is now home to the largest Dark Sky Sanctuary in the world. Earlier this month, DarkSky International certified a remote, 2.5 million-acre area in the southeastern part of the state. From this rugged swath of high desert landscape dotted with sagebrush, visitors who stay up late can see large numbers of stars, planets and other celestial bodies. “It’s surprising sometimes to see that many stars all at once,” says Bob Hackett, executive director of Travel Southern Oregon, to the Guardian’s Dani Anguiano. “It catches you, and it makes you pause because you feel like you can touch it … That vastness of the whole cosmos up there—it almost makes you get closer to the people you’re with on the ground.” DarkSky International is a nonprofit that certifies areas that have developed comprehensive protections against light pollution. To date, the group has certified more than 200 Dark Sky Places in 22 countries. The newly certified area is called the Oregon Outback International Dark Sky Sanctuary, and officials spent four years working to earn the designation. They’ve implemented a lighting management plan that will help preserve the region’s unobstructed night sky views, which includes measures such as installing motion detectors and reducing the number of lights that point upward. Additionally, every light source within the sanctuary’s boundaries will need to comply with DarkSky International’s standards within the next decade, reports KLCC’s Nathan Wilk. In Dark Sky Sanctuaries, travelers can marvel at the cosmos without interference from light pollution. Travel Southern Oregon These efforts will not only benefit stargazers and astronomers but also help protect the many animals that call the region home, such as sage grouse, bighorn sheep, migratory birds and white-tailed jackrabbits. Light pollution can disrupt breeding, migration and other wildlife behaviors. Moths, for example, can congregate around street lights to the point of exhaustion, while sea turtle hatchlings can die after becoming disoriented by artificial lighting near the shore. Humans, too, suffer because of light pollution, which is getting worse year after year. In addition to obscuring views of the night sky, it is also a health hazard. Studies have linked light pollution to an array of problems, from sleep disorders and depression to obesity and diabetes. The new Oregon sanctuary is now the biggest in the world. But local officials want to make it even bigger: They hope someday to expand the sanctuary into neighboring Harney and Malheur counties, covering a total of 11 million acres, per KLCC. If they achieve this goal, they’ll have protected roughly one-fifth of the entire state, reports AFAR’s Bailey Berg. “As the population of Oregon and the trend of light pollution continue to rise, the unparalleled scale and quality of the Outback’s dark skies will long serve as a starry refuge to people and wildlife alike,” says Dawn Nilson, an environmental consultant who helped get the area certified, in a statement. Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

The Oregon Outback International Dark Sky Sanctuary covers 2.5 million acres in the southeastern part of the state

Milky Way above two people
Officials have been working toward the designation for four years. Travel Southern Oregon

Calling all stargazers: Oregon is now home to the largest Dark Sky Sanctuary in the world.

Earlier this month, DarkSky International certified a remote, 2.5 million-acre area in the southeastern part of the state. From this rugged swath of high desert landscape dotted with sagebrush, visitors who stay up late can see large numbers of stars, planets and other celestial bodies.

“It’s surprising sometimes to see that many stars all at once,” says Bob Hackett, executive director of Travel Southern Oregon, to the Guardian’s Dani Anguiano. “It catches you, and it makes you pause because you feel like you can touch it … That vastness of the whole cosmos up there—it almost makes you get closer to the people you’re with on the ground.”

DarkSky International is a nonprofit that certifies areas that have developed comprehensive protections against light pollution. To date, the group has certified more than 200 Dark Sky Places in 22 countries.

The newly certified area is called the Oregon Outback International Dark Sky Sanctuary, and officials spent four years working to earn the designation. They’ve implemented a lighting management plan that will help preserve the region’s unobstructed night sky views, which includes measures such as installing motion detectors and reducing the number of lights that point upward.

Additionally, every light source within the sanctuary’s boundaries will need to comply with DarkSky International’s standards within the next decade, reports KLCC’s Nathan Wilk.

Shooting star in dark night sky
In Dark Sky Sanctuaries, travelers can marvel at the cosmos without interference from light pollution. Travel Southern Oregon

These efforts will not only benefit stargazers and astronomers but also help protect the many animals that call the region home, such as sage grouse, bighorn sheep, migratory birds and white-tailed jackrabbits.

Light pollution can disrupt breeding, migration and other wildlife behaviors. Moths, for example, can congregate around street lights to the point of exhaustion, while sea turtle hatchlings can die after becoming disoriented by artificial lighting near the shore.

Humans, too, suffer because of light pollution, which is getting worse year after year. In addition to obscuring views of the night sky, it is also a health hazard. Studies have linked light pollution to an array of problems, from sleep disorders and depression to obesity and diabetes.

The new Oregon sanctuary is now the biggest in the world. But local officials want to make it even bigger: They hope someday to expand the sanctuary into neighboring Harney and Malheur counties, covering a total of 11 million acres, per KLCC. If they achieve this goal, they’ll have protected roughly one-fifth of the entire state, reports AFAR’s Bailey Berg.

“As the population of Oregon and the trend of light pollution continue to rise, the unparalleled scale and quality of the Outback’s dark skies will long serve as a starry refuge to people and wildlife alike,” says Dawn Nilson, an environmental consultant who helped get the area certified, in a statement.

Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Read the full story here.
Photos courtesy of

Related News

Thirteen Sharks Test Positive for Cocaine Off the Coast of Brazil

All of the wild Brazilian sharpnose sharks tested in a new study had the drug in their bodies, but many questions remain about cocaine's effects on aquatic creatures—and the humans who eat them

The Brazilian sharpnose sharks were purchased from fishers between September 2021 and August 2023. Rachel Ann Hauser-Davis It might sound like science fiction, but researchers have discovered real “cocaine sharks” off the coast of Brazil. Thirteen wild Brazilian sharpnose sharks (Rhizoprionodon lalandii) caught near Rio de Janeiro tested positive for the drug, according to a study published last week in the journal Science of the Total Environment. The team is still teasing out the implications of this finding, but they say it adds to the growing body of evidence that humans’ illegal drug consumption is affecting wildlife and the environment. Previous research has detected cocaine in wastewater and rivers. Last year, researchers in England identified a chemical produced by the liver after cocaine use in seawater. Studies have also found the drug in other marine creatures, including shrimp, mussels and eels. But researchers were curious to know whether cocaine might be affecting sharpnose sharks that spend their entire lives in coastal waters near Brazil, which is a major exporter of the drug to Europe. In addition, people in Brazil and elsewhere often eat sharks, which raises questions about possible contamination up the food chain. So, the team purchased 13 sharpnose sharks from small fishing vessels between September 2021 and August 2023. The sharks were all juveniles or small adults that measured roughly 20 inches long and weighed less than two pounds. Three were male, and ten were female; five of the female sharks were pregnant. Half of the female sharks in the study were pregnant, but it's unclear whether or how the cocaine might have affected their offspring. Rachel Ann Hauser-Davis They dissected the creatures in the lab, then tested their liver and muscle tissues. All the tissue samples came back positive for cocaine and its metabolites, with concentrations up to 100 times higher than what had previously been found in other marine animals. When the team saw the results, they were “actually dumbfounded,” study co-author Rachel Ann Hauser-Davis, a biologist at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, which is affiliated with Brazil’s Ministry of Health, says to the New York Times’ Sarah Hurtes. “We were excited in a bad way, but it’s a novel report,” she adds. “It’s the first time this data has ever been found for any top predator.” Many questions remain unanswered. For starters, how were the sharpnose sharks exposed to cocaine? The researchers don’t know for sure, but they have a few theories. It’s possible they ate packs of cocaine that had been dumped by traffickers. Cocaine also might have reached coastal waters as drainage runoff from illegal refining labs. More than likely, untreated sewage entering the ecosystem could have contained cocaine in waste from drug users. From there, the sharks either ingested it directly through their gills or acquired it by eating smaller, contaminated fish. “Regardless of where the drug came from—which is still not possible to determine—the results show that cocaine is being widely traded and moved in Brazil,” says study co-author Enrico Mendes Saggioro, a biologist at the Oswaldo Cruz Institute, to the Guardian’s Tiago Rogero. “Cocaine has a low half-life in the environment so, for us to find it in an animal like this, it means a lot of drugs are entering the biota.” It’s also unclear whether or how the cocaine might have affected the sharks’ behavior or health, or whether it affected the fetuses of the pregnant females. Past studies have suggested that cocaine can be toxic or cause health problems for aquatic creatures. Researchers note that the amount of cocaine found in the sharks was a fairly low concentration, though females had higher levels than males. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists Brazilian sharpnose sharks as “vulnerable,” primarily because of overfishing. Scientists are not sure whether or how the cocaine affected the sharks' behavior. Rachel Ann Hauser-Davis Another big question is whether humans could be harmed by eating “cocaine sharks.” That may be fodder for future studies, along with tests of other shark species, estuary-dwelling rays and migratory fish, Mendes Saggioro tells CNN’s Jack Guy. In addition, external researchers note that the study’s sample size was small and that the team did not take water samples from the area where the fish were caught. These limitations further support the need for additional research. Despite the cocaine’s mysterious origins and its still-murky effects on humans and animals, the findings serve as a wake-up call about “the increasing danger of cocaine pollution,” says Anna Capaldo, an endocrinologist at the University of Naples Federico II in Italy who was not involved in the research, to Science’s Erik Stokstad. And while the presence of cocaine may be shocking and attention-grabbing, it’s far from the only harmful human-produced substance that’s polluting the world’s waters. “Cocaine gets people interested,” says Tracy Fanara, an environmental engineer in Florida who worked on the 2023 documentary “Cocaine Sharks,” to the New York Times. “But we have antibiotics, antidepressants, pharmaceuticals, sunscreen, insecticides, fertilizers. All of these chemicals are entering our ecosystem.” Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Animals
Chemicals
Conservation

Life at 115F: a sweltering summer pushes Las Vegas to the brink

Record heat is killing hundreds in Clark county. But one of America’s fastest-growing metro areas just keeps getting biggerHot air wafted through the heavy, gold-lined doors of a Las Vegas casino as they opened, offering a reminder of a disaster quietly unfolding outside. Even though the sun had just set on an evening in mid-July, temperatures were yet to dip below 100F (37C).Spawned from a paved-over oasis in the Mojave, this desert metropolis has always been hot. But a string of brutal heatwaves this summer has pushed Sin City to a deadly simmer. Continue reading...

Hot air wafted through the heavy, gold-lined doors of a Las Vegas casino as they opened, offering a reminder of a disaster quietly unfolding outside. Even though the sun had just set on an evening in mid-July, temperatures were yet to dip below 100F (37C).Spawned from a paved-over oasis in the Mojave, this desert metropolis has always been hot. But a string of brutal heatwaves this summer has pushed Sin City to a deadly simmer.It’s hard to tell from inside the cool, cavernous buildings that line the Las Vegas Strip, which have become unwitting refuges from the summer elements. Tourists willing to enter labyrinths of slot machines and blaring pop music, shops and shows can spend hours lost in an alternate world, away from the sun.For the 2.3 million people who call this valley home, the dangerous elements are harder to ignore. When temperatures climb, shadeless streets are hot enough to cause second-degree burns in seconds.This June was the city’s hottest on record. In July, things got even worse: the city experienced a record seven days at 115F or higher and set a new all-time high of 120F.The heat is just a signal of what’s to come. Temperatures in Las Vegas are rising faster than almost anywhere else in the US.Heat waves cause distortion on the horizon as a pedestrian walks along South Las Vegas Blvd. Photograph: Patrick T Fallon/AFP/Getty ImagesMeanwhile, Clark county, where Las Vegas is located, is bursting at the seams. The region is among the fastest-growing metro areas in the US. Roughly 2 million people have moved here over the last 50 years, with nearly a million more expected by 2060.I have been living here since 1972 and it would get hot – but not this kind of hotLouis Lacey, Help of Southern NevadaTo accommodate them, the county has thrown its support behind a federal bill that would open up 25,000 acres of the surrounding desert for housing and commercial development. The county also has plans for a new airport, slated for completion in 2037, that would pave over thousands more acres of arid landscape near the California border.New shopping centers and cul de sacs all mean more concrete – and more heat – in an area where the ability to afford or access air conditioning can already mean the difference between life and death.Even after she spent most of the day inside, the heat still shocked Inata, a woman who traveled with her friends Chastity and Belinda from Massachusetts to vacation in the city last week. “It was horrendous,” she said. “In Massachusetts, if there was weather like this, there would be ambulances around.”The three women said they struggled to cool down at the pool because the warm water offered little relief and the surrounding pavement burned their feet. “I don’t know how Las Vegas people do it but kudos to them,” she added. “I couldn’t do this every day.”A daily battle for survivalThe record heat is pushing residents to their limits – and has perhaps been most sinister for the more than 5,000 people in the county estimated to be experiencing homelessness.Some have opted to seek refuge in underground tunnels during the summer, risking the waters that surge through them during summer monsoons over exposure to the brutal heat.Tyson Williams drinks from a water bottle provided by aid workers amid a brutal heatwave in Las Vegas. Photograph: Gabrielle Canon/The Guardian“We are trying to live – and it’s difficult,” said Tyson Williams, who has spent the last year living in his tent on the east side of town.Williams paused to wipe the sweat rolling down his face as he filled a rolling cooler with water bottles provided to him by an outreach team, before downing an entire bottle in a single chug. A dilapidated umbrella he positioned over his tent did little to provide relief.Born and raised in Las Vegas, he is a brick mason by trade, but now he panhandles for money to buy ice. He has just landed a job waving a sign outside a smoke shop, which will keep him outside and exposed to the elements. “We are all just one check away from being homeless,” he said.Louis Lacey spends most of his summer days trying to save the lives of people like Williams, as the director of Help of Southern Nevada, a non-profit organization that hands out water, hygiene kits, and hope as part of a larger mission to get more people into permanent housing.“I have been living here since 1972 and it would get hot – but not this kind of hot,” Lacey said last week as he drove through the city scanning sidewalks and drainages for anyone in need of aid.As someone who has experienced homelessness himself, he said, the work is a calling. It’s also laced with heartbreak.There was the woman whose leg was amputated after she got third-degree burns from passing out on the scalding hot sidewalk. She now uses a wheelchair. Just last week, he and other aid workers rushed to revive another woman, age 81, who passed out in an encampment. They found her surrounded by her pet dogs, who had all died in the heat. He was relieved they were able to save her. That’s not always how the story ends.July is typically when local health officials report the highest number of heat-related deaths. Between 2022 and 2023 there was an 80% increase in fatalities, with the official number around 300, nearly double those counted in 2020.A man who identified himself as Jacob is one of thousands of unhoused people grappling with the dangerous heat. Workers with Help of Southern Nevada pass out water, hygiene kits, and other necessities while they work to get people into permanent housing. Photograph: Gabrielle Canon/The GuardianThe actual toll is believed to be far higher. Dozens of unhoused people died in the heat last year, and many of them, Lacey said, weren’t included in official fatality counts. He knows of at least 62 people and that doesn’t include others who got swept away by water in the tunnels.This year the heat was worse – and while the numbers haven’t been released yet, many fear this July, too, will be brutal.Emergencies on the rise as development rolls aheadWith impacts only expected to intensify in the coming years, the city and county are working to implement strategies to keep people safe.There are 39 cooling stations across Clark county, but almost all are operated by unpaid volunteering organizations and typically close in the late afternoons. Only one city-run shelter is open during nights, weekends, and holidays.Jace Radke, a spokesperson for the city of Las Vegas, acknowledged by email that there are challenges with heat safety but cited wide-scale reliance on air conditioning as a protective measure.He also said the city planned to plant 60,000 trees by 2050, part of a program that has already planted 3,000 since 2020. The county has also laid out ambitious sustainability plans focused on expanding affordable housing, reducing emissions, and addressing the worsening effects of the climate crisis such as drought, heat and water shortages.But there’s still a long way to go and lawmakers have lagged on implementing important mitigations, including heat protections for workers. Emergencies, meanwhile, have continued to surge in frequency.Jordan Moore, a spokesperson for Las Vegas Fire & Rescue, said there has been a “significant increase in heat-related emergencies” in the past month. Meanwhile in Henderson, a Clark county city south-east of Las Vegas, heat-related emergencies are up 53%, according to the deputy fire chief Scott Vivier.Delivery drivers, warehouse operators, our construction trades – basically anyone who has to work outside – we have seen emergencies from themScott Vivier, Las Vegas Fire & RescuePopulations including elderly people, unhoused people, those with underlying health conditions, and children are among the most at-risk. But this year the department is also getting numerous calls from people on the job.“Delivery drivers, warehouse operators, our construction trades – basically anyone who has to work outside – we have seen emergencies from them and people with regular medical emergencies and during a normal day the heat causes them to succumb,” Vivier said. Heat-related complaints filed with the Nevada occupational safety and health administration (Osha) jumped 172% last July compared with a year earlier.A Las Vegas resident uses water from a water refilling station to cool himself at Lorenzi Park on a sunny and hot Monday in late June. Photograph: Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNSVivier’s department is among the first in the region to use a new tool called the polar pod, which enables emergency responders to pack someone in ice and water while they transport them to the hospital. They’ve even trained to use the pods to revive overheated pets, Vivier added.But Vivier is still worried about what the future will bring. “Heat is the No 1 weather-related cause of death for people around the world,” he said. “It’s a major, major issue we should all be concerned about.”Even with the rising toll, the county’s hopes to grow deeper into the desert haven’t slowed.Far from the din of the city and the suburbs, the hum of churning traffic fades into the background, replaced by soft breeze and silence. If the plan is enacted, these desert hillsides dotted in yucca trees and creosote could soon be covered in homes and strip malls.Questions remain about whether building out the desert floor, proposed as a fix for the housing crisis in Clark county, will only perpetuate the dangers already alive in the city and suburbs.“The desert is not a place for people who are living on the margins to begin with,” said Kyle Roerink, the executive director of the Great Basin Water Nework, an environmental advocacy organization. Roerink and others are also concerned about Joshua trees and wild desert tortoises, along with a host of other plants and animals, who would be sacrificed to satisfy continued sprawl.The Las Vegas Strip can be seen in the distance as suburbs crawl deeper into the desert. Photograph: Gabrielle Canon/The Guardian“We are raised to believe that what is behind us right now is just normal and is doable, and fine, and that everything will be OK,” he said, waving toward the scorching cityscape where the history of rapid expansion in Las Vegas is already on full display. When many of those homes were built, water was much more freely available and the summers were far less lethal. “But these are radically transformed landscapes – and that comes with consequences.”Back in east Las Vegas, Louis Lacey is wrapping up an afternoon of administering aid. The housing crisis and those impacted by it are all that is keeping him here. He dreams of the small town he will move to when he is finally ready to hang up his hat.“I have been living in this hell for so long and I feel like this is my mission … But when I am done I want to move to a town where it rains and has four seasons. I don’t want to be in this,” he said, gesturing to the gridlocked traffic.That doesn’t mean he’ll stop worrying about the city’s future and where the 800 people his organization helped get shelter will wind up. “When I moved here, there were 200,000 people – now there are almost 3 million,” he said.“The only question I have is: is the growth sustainable?” Lacey sighed deeply, his expression pained. “We have the land,” he said, “but do we have the resources?”

Animals
Climate
Crisis

First 'Cocaine Sharks' Discovered in Brazil

Cocaine has been detected in sharks for the first time, but scientists aren’t sure of the impact

Sharks in Brazil Test Positive for a Surprising Contaminant: CocaineCocaine has been detected in sharks for the first time, but scientists aren’t sure of the impactBy Stephanie PappasResearchers found cocaine in sharpnose sharks off Brazil. These sharks are in the same genus as the Atlantic sharpnose shark, shown here with a student researcher near Cape Lookout in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Tegan Johnston/Raleigh News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty ImagesSharks swimming off the cost of Brazil have something a little startling coursing through their systems: cocaine.The drug had never previously been found in wild sharks. But that doesn’t mean these fish are unique; scientists just hadn’t previously tested any shark for coke. The effort was a slam dunk, with the 13 sharks that were examined all testing positive for the drug in their muscles and liver, according to a new study in Science of the Total Environment.What this means for the sharks is an open question, say the study co-authors Enrico Mendes Saggioro and Rachel Ann Hauser-Davis, an ecotoxicologist and a biologist, respectively, at Brazil’s Oswaldo Cruz Foundation. No one has ever studied the behavioral or physiological impacts of cocaine in sharks, Hauser-Davis says, but her ongoing research on environmental contamination in these apex predators suggests the notorious drug is only one of the animals’ worries.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.“We detected high levels of metals and also detected ‘forever chemicals’ [perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFASs], pesticides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PCBs and PBDEs in over 30 shark and ray species,” Hauser-Davis says. PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are carcinogenic chemicals banned by the U.S. in 1976 and by signatories of the United Nations’ Stockholm Convention in 2001. PBDEs, or polybrominated diphenyl ethers, are flame retardants that can disrupt brain development and hormones.The researchers became interested in drug testing sharks after Mendes Saggioro detected cocaine while researching river water contaminants in Brazil’s state of Rio de Janeiro. Brazil has an estimated 1.5 million cocaine users, according to the World Drug Report 2020 And many areas in the country lack sewage treatment, meaning drug-contaminated urine goes right into waterways. Drug runners may also sometimes dump loads of cocaine into the ocean to avoid a bust. A Discovery Channel Shark Week special in 2023 explored the notion that sharks might take bites of floating cocaine bales, and it found that sharks did investigate dummy packages dropped near the Florida Keys. But researchers don’t think that’s the main way drugs enter sharks’ system. A 2007 study in Florida found that bull sharks have been contaminated with prescription medications via failed sewage systems. Other fish, which are a very common prey for sharks, have also been shown to be contaminated—so sharks may be exposed directly in the water or take on these compounds from their diet. Given the ubiquity of legal pharmaceuticals showing up in aquatic animals, "to think that you wouldn’t find cocaine or other illegal drugs in sharks is kind of crazy,” says Chris Lowe, a marine biologist and director of the Shark Lab at California State University, , Long Beach, who was not involved in the new study.The researchers in this study tested Brazilian sharpnose sharks (Rhizoprionodon lalandii), a small species that lives near coastlines, from the waters off Rio de Janeiro. They found an average cocaine concentration of 23 micrograms per kilogram in the sharks’ tissue, as well as an average concentration of seven micrograms per kilogram of benzoylecgonine (the compound that cocaine breaks down into as it is metabolized). This is a fairly low level: studies on the impact of cocaine in humans tend to use doses of around 0.4 milligram per kilogram of body weight (one milligram equals 1,000 micrograms). Female sharks had higher concentrations of cocaine than males, however, and half of the females that were caught were pregnant. Previous research on stingrays, which are relatives of sharks, suggests they can pass on environmental contamination to developing fetuses.“Adults may have better developed immune systems or enzyme systems to metabolize some of those things, but a developing fetus may not,” Lowe says. “We really don’t know what the developmental impacts could be.”Mendes Saggioro plans to continue drug testing sharks in the area and to expand this to rays that live in the nearby estuary to see how far the contamination extends. He and his team also want to look at cocaine concentrations in migratory fish that spend less of their life near coastlines.While researchers unravel the consequences of cocaine-contaminated sharks, there are two major takeaways. One comes from Mendes Saggioro and Hauser-Davis: don’t eat sharks because the animals are both overfished and full of compounds you don’t want in your body.David Shiffman, a marine conservation biologist at Arizona State University, notes the other takeaway, which focuses on the health of the sharks themselves: “Please don’t dump your trash, including illegal drugs, into the water,” he says.

Animals
Chemicals
Conservation

California and Hawaii lead charge against deep-sea mining of critical metals

As the International Seabed Authority considers the future of deep-sea mining for battery metals, California and other states are seeking bans against mining.

As the global energy transition stokes demand for critical minerals, the International Seabed Authority has been meeting in Jamaica to debate the future of deep-sea mining, and whether the industry can begin scraping the ocean’s floor for battery metals.The discussions come amid heavy criticism from from environmental groups, who say the risk of damaging sea life is too great. The proceedings are also occurring without a vote from U.S. officials, since the United States hasn’t signed the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea — the international law that created the authority. But that hasn’t stopped California and several other states from establishing their own bans and restrictions. It also hasn’t stopped a group of Democratic lawmakers from calling on President Biden to place a moratorium on seabed mining.“Seabed mining is not safe and it’s destructive,” said California Assemblywoman Luz Rivas (D-North Hollywood), author of a 2022 law that bans the practice in state waters. “We shouldn’t be doing it anywhere, in any ocean, on any sea floor.” Aggressive and impactful reporting on climate change, the environment, health and science. But mining operations say the metals they plan to harvest, such as cobalt and nickel, will help grow the green economy and spare land habitats from disruption. “The transition away from hydrocarbons is like Day 1, and we’ve got a long way to go,” said Gerard Barron, president of The Metals Company, a Canadian mining company that is planning to harvest metals in the Pacific’s Clarion-Clipperton Zone — a 4,500-mile stretch of ocean between Hawaii and Mexico. “If you start looking at all the other transportation forms and grid storage, and then you look at the demand coming from the industrialization of the developing world, if it ain’t grown, it’s mined,” he said.The bounty for such mining operations are polymetallic nodules — mineral spheres that are roughly the size of a baseball and found far offshore, thousands of feet below the ocean’s surface.Since state waters extend just three miles offshore, restrictions passed by California, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii are largely toothless.Still, opponents of seabed mining say the bans help send a message to the international community “that a sizable and powerful” contingent of the U.S. population objects to the practice, according to Hawaii State Sen. Chris Lee, a Democrat. Also, a dozen Democratic law makers — including Reps. Sydney Kai Kamlager-Dove, Zoe Lofgren and Jared Huffman of California, Rep. Ed Case of Hawaii, and Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona — have called on Biden to place a moratorium on seabed mining in federal waters. They say too little is known about the environmental impacts to justify plowing ahead.Barron and other mining advocates insist that deep-sea extraction causes much less environmental and social disruption than mining on land. He said that you can either dig on the seafloor, or “underneath equatorial rainforests. And that means that to get access to it, you need to push out the Indigenous people living there. You need to remove the rainforest, dig away the topsoil to get to the nickel bearing ore. And that’s just the beginning of the impacts, because then there is waste.”Lee, the Hawaiian lawmaker, said the push to begin mining was premature and “frustrating,” especially since battery and magnet technologies are evolving toward using more affordable and plentiful materials, such as sodium.He argues there are other options — including recycling and repair laws — that would allow for these materials to be harvested in ways that don’t involve mining or destroying ecosystems and habitats.It’s why he’s working to create and support laws that not only provide incentives for recycling, but to also create roadblocks for the deep-sea mining industry. In 2023 he helped to pass a law that “basically gives authorization to our Department of Transportation to block our harbors from use for any vessels doing any undersea mining activity,” he said. Last December, a TMC ship set to dock at Honolulu Harbor was turned away as protesters — native Hawaiians, navigators and environmentalists — gathered to express their displeasure.Lee said his law was not enforced during this event because the ship turned of its own accord, but it does pose a deterrent.Barron acknowledged the pushback from state law makers and Hawaiian natives, and said he’d met with some of the “elders,” had “listened to their thoughts,” but “there’s a lot of niche groups who have a lot of thoughts, right?”He noted that his company is sponsored by the Pacific Island nations of Nauru, Kiribati and Tonga — “nations that were heavily impacted by climate change... and exploited for their natural resources” — and that they are looking to benefit from his company’s industry “through jobs and royalties and some economic opportunities.”His company required sponsorship from a sovereign nation in order to apply for a license from the international governing body to mine the ocean’s floor. The Jamaica-based authority is currently deciding how and whether to allow deep-sea mining as a growing number of nations voice concern. More than two dozen countries have called for a ban, pause or moratorium on deep-sea mining.The authority, which is the global custodian for international deep waters, has granted 31 mining exploration contracts but has not authorized any exploitation as the debate continues. TMC has threatened to apply for permission before deep-sea mining rules and regulations are in place.Barron said that despite Lee and others’ worries, his company is concerned about the environment and has sponsored and conducted studies showing their harvesting activities will cause only minimal disturbance. He referred a reporter to work from MIT that showed the sediment plumes — or underwater dust clouds — caused by their bulldozing machinery travel only a few meters, remaining relatively localized.He said the result of driving over the sea floor with giant rakes and vacuum cleaners really won’t make all that much of a difference to deep-sea ocean habitat.“There are a handful of different habitat types... all of which are ubiquitous,” he said. “And what we will be doing is essentially converting one nodule-rich habitat into one that doesn’t have as many nodules. But both of those habitats are ubiquitous. So it’s simply transforming one into another and then providing the ability” for the disturbed habitat “to recolonize.”Research has shown that at the depths where these nodules are found — between 9,000 and 12,000 feet below the surface — the darkness and pressure make recolonizing life a very slow process.“Life down there just moves at a much, much slower pace,” said Douglas McCauley, an associate professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology at UC Santa Barbara. “The oldest organism that we know on the planet lives in these ecosystems. That’s a black coral. Some of the specimens that scientists collected and dated were effectively born when people were building the pyramids.”Barron said that when his machines have plowed through, it has allowed the ecosystem to “thrive.”“If you think about the life down there as measured in grams per square meter, there’s around 10 grams of biomass... and 80% of that is bacteria,” he said. “So, if you are a sessile organism sitting on a nodule, and we collect you, then that’s probably the end of life. But for the bacteria, you know, what our studies are proving is that actually there may be a net positive impact... a little bit like tilling the soil.”He said their work, which is not published, shows that when they went back to test areas they’d mowed over 12 months before, they found the biomass was “thriving.”Asked how they could tell that the bacteria and other organisms were thriving, he said “they’re there. They’re alive and... if they weren’t... they’d have a different appearance...”McCauley said he could not comment on these observations because the work hasn’t been published, but pointed to a variety of organisms that have been discovered at these depths — “crystalline sponges that look like something out of Tiffany’s brochure; ghost white “Casper” octopus that have more hits on YouTube than I ever will, and gummy squirrels.” He stressed also that there is still little known about how animals, such as beaked whales and squid, use this ecosystem. “The impacts that keep me up at night in ocean mining are those associated with the mining wastewater plumes that would be created in the middle of the sea,” he said. “Gigantic, moving plumes that could smother the Pacific’s best tuna fishing grounds, the planet’s largest daily migration of life from the deep to the surface across the ocean’s twilight zone, a region that contains the most abundant vertebrate life on the planet, and is traversed by whales, sea turtles, and giant squid.”And he said, research shows deep-sea mining “may become the loudest activity ever in the ocean and a massive source of noise pollution.”

Animals
Climate
Energy

Ancient Fossil Discovery in South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind Offers New Insights Into Human Origins

New fossil discoveries at South Africa’s Kromdraai site offer groundbreaking insights into the ancient ecosystems and their role in shaping human evolution, highlighting the interplay...

An African buffalo in the savanna. Credit: GENUS: DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in PalaeosciencesNew fossil discoveries at South Africa’s Kromdraai site offer groundbreaking insights into the ancient ecosystems and their role in shaping human evolution, highlighting the interplay between hominins and various bovid species.In the sprawling savannas of South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind, the Kromdraai archaeological site has unveiled a new discovery that significantly enhances our understanding of the ecosystems that influenced human evolution.Researchers have unearthed a collection of fossilized bovids, revealing the presence of previously unknown species that once roamed these ancient grasslands alongside our hominin ancestors. This significant finding, detailed in a study published in Quaternary Science Reviews, not only highlights the biodiversity of the Plio-Pleistocene era but also offers unprecedented insights into the environmental conditions that influenced the development of early human species. Among the notable discoveries is an unknown medium-sized buffalo species, underscoring the complexity of ancient ecosystems and the pivotal role these environments played in shaping the evolutionary pathways of hominins like Paranthropus robustus and early Homo species. “Paleontology often conjures images of dinosaurs, but studying modern animals like bovids is crucial too. Bovids are diverse and successful in Africa, offering insights into both ancient and modern ecosystems. Their evolutionary history is intertwined with ours, as they have been a key part of the landscape and human societies since the Miocene, about 23 million years ago,” Dr Raphael Hanon, lead author and a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of Witwatersrand, notes.Insights from the Plio-Pleistocene EraSpearheaded by a collaborative team of researchers from around the globe, this revelation paints a vivid picture of a landscape dominated by expansive grasslands, hinting at the complex interplay of life that thrived in this region during the Plio-Pleistocene era (about 5.3 million years ago). This research marks a significant leap forward in our quest to unravel the mysteries of our planet’s past, providing crucial data for reconstructing the ancient landscapes that were the cradle of humankind. “It is not very common in bovid paleontology to come across a mysterious well-preserved skull. Even if the specimen isn’t complete, the discovery and description of a potential new species of small-sized buffalo is really interesting!” Raphael explains.Antidorcas from Kromdraai Unit P: (a) Right horn-core of a male (A. recki) shown in side and front views (KW 9995). (b) Left horn-core in front and side views (KW 11161). (c) Right horn-core in front and side views (KW 10704). (d) Right horn-core in side and front views (KW 9611). (e) Partial back of the skull (occipital bone) (KW 10410). Scale = 5 cm. Credit: GENUS: DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences. Photograph provided by Dr Rapahel HanonThese bovids, members of the family Bovidae, which includes modern-day buffalo, antelopes, and gazelles, serve as a key to unlocking the secrets of the past. Their diversity and abundance at Kromdraai offer a glimpse into the diets and behaviors of both large carnivores and our ancient relatives. As prey, these animals shaped the predatory patterns of the region’s megafauna and, by extension, influenced the survival strategies of hominins such as Paranthropus robustus and early Homo species​.Habitat Preferences and Bovid DiversityThe discovery of extinct species of gazelles such as Gazella gracilior and the presence of a yet-to-be-named buffalo closely related to Syncerus acoelotus indicate a grassland-dominated environment. This finding is corroborated by comparisons with other Plio-Pleistocene sites across South Africa, which suggest that different hominin species were associated with varying habitats.While Australopithecus appeared to favor woodland and closed-wet environments, early Homo species were found in areas adapted to open and dry conditions. The diverse range of bovids associated with Paranthropus, however, suggests a broad environmental adaptability among these hominins. Raphael explains that this research was somewhat challenging. “One of the biggest challenges was to reconstruct and describe the small buffalo skull (Syncerus sp.) to identify it,” he says.“The skull was discovered as dozens of small broken bone pieces and Jean-Baptiste Fourvel and myself spent hours on it to be able to refit most of the pieces together so we would be able to tell what kind of animal it was. Even after refitting all the pieces, it was very fragile – therefore difficult to manipulate and identify. The fossil record of the African buffalo is scarce, especially in South Africa, so it was not easy to find relevant information that could help us identify the skull,” he explains.Small Buffalo Syncerus sp. Skull from Kromdraai Unit P: (a) Front view, (b) Side view, (c) Top view of the frontlet KW 9463. (d) Reconstructed right-side view of the skull. Scale = 5 cm. Credit: GENUS: DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences. Photograph by Dr Raphael HanonThe significance of these findings extends beyond the mere identification of ancient animals. The bovid assemblages of Kromdraai, with their mix of older Plio-Pleistocene and younger Pleistocene taxa, offer a window into the changing landscapes of ancient Africa. These changes, recorded in the bones and teeth of the bovids, reflect the dynamic nature of our planet’s ecosystems and the adaptability of life in the face of shifting climates and habitats.Moreover, the study of these fossils provides a chronological marker for the site, with the biochronology indicating that Kromdraai Unit P accumulated between 2.9 and 1.8 million years ago. This range is crucial for understanding the timeline of human evolution in the region, offering potential insights into the appearance of Paranthropus robustus and other significant species in southern Africa.The Kromdraai site continues to be a testament to the richness of our planet’s past, inviting scientists and enthusiasts alike to ponder the intricate connections between the earth’s history and our origins. Raphael is excited to extend his scientific research further. “I will continue to work on bovid paleontology and taxonomy in the future. I hope to be able to conduct a more detailed analysis of specific taxa such as the buffalos or the gazelles in South Africa. Plenty of palaeontological and archaeological sites have yielded a huge amount of bovid fossil material that is just waiting to be studied,” he says.Reference: “New fossil Bovidae (Mammalia: Artiodactyla) from Kromdraai Unit P, South Africa and their implication for biochronology and hominin palaeoecology” by Raphaël Hanon, Jean-Baptiste Fourvel, Recognise Sambo, Nompumelelo Maringa, Christine Steininger, Bernhard Zipfel and José Braga, 26 March 2024, Quaternary Science Reviews.DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108621The study was funded by the Genus-DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences.

Animals
Climate
Extinction

Suggested Viewing

A Year With Northern Owls

We follow five North American owls in different seasons; from summer heat to spring rejuvenation.

Animals
Conservation
Documentary

Primal State

Set at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center, Port Aransas, Texas, the film is supportive of the international efforts to utilize wastewater treatment facilities as bird sanctuaries. The film features an original jazz score and commentary by naturalist Jeff Anderson and provides a glimpse of some of the diversity of bird life found along the Texas Coast while conjuring a Zen-like union with nature.

Animals
Music
Conservation

Plants, Pollinators & Prayers

Inspired by the decline of monarch butterflies in the Midwestern prairie, a gardener, educator, and pastor transform a rural church’s backyard into a sanctuary for pollinating animals, an educational garden for the community, and a sacred space for spiritual contemplation.

Plants
Animals
Culture

The Custodians of the Andean Gold

In the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes, more than 3 800 meters above sea level, live alpaca and vicunia breeders. Quechua and Aymara families protect their animals live off of the sale of the animals’ fiber. Gold mining is another activity that predates the Conquest and is widespread among families living in the border area between Peru and Bolivia. The difficult compatibility on the same territory of these two production activities increases the need for environmental protection and workers' rights. It has become indispensable to support producers so that this activity does not disappear with the migration of native peoples, abandoning traditions and animals.

Animals
Indigenous
Business

Sentinels of Silence? Whale Watching, Noise, and the Orca

Does whale watching protect or harm whales? This film explores heated controversies over whale watching, boat noise, and orca conservation in Washington State and British Columbia. Whale watching companies claim that they serve as "sentinels" protecting the orca from unwary recreational boaters, ferries, and ships. A number of local conservationists and scientists have argued that whale watching boats crowd and harass whales, while adding noise to the orcas' immediate environment that makes it difficult for the social species to survive. "Sentinels of Silence?" uses dramatic imagery, peer-reviewed science, and interviews with conservationists, scientists, and industry officials to bring a fascinating chapter in the orca conservation story to light. In December, 2020, three months after Sentinels of Silence? was released, the Washington State Fish and Wildlife Commission made an historic decision to more closely regulate whale watching companies' activities around the Southern Resident Killer Whales, citing noise and harassment as factors.

Animals
Conservation
Documentary

Join us to forge
a sustainable future

Our team is always growing.
Become a partner, volunteer, sponsor, or intern today.
Let us know how you would like to get involved!

CONTACT US

sign up for our mailing list to stay informed on the latest films and environmental headlines.

Subscribers receive a free day pass for streaming Cinema Verde.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.