The world’s forests and the wildlife that calls them home are top of mind as climate change and other environmental concerns underscore the need for greater preservation. Forests are major contributors to the health and wellbeing of our planet and those who inhabit it. They are home to 80 percent of terrestrial *biodiversity*, collect and filter rainfall to protect water quality, act as natural barriers against soil erosion, and help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Close to 1.6 billion people rely on forests for food security, livelihoods and energy sources – that’s more than 20 percent of humanity.
Earth’s global sea levels are rising – and are doing so at an accelerating rate. Waters in the ocean are expanding as they absorb massive amounts of heat trapped by greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere.
In 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated emphatically that we must harness natural solutions if we are to have any chance to reach the goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Accord. As essential as it is to reduce GHG emissions, that alone will not be enough; we need to draw carbon out of the atmosphere.
On Nov. 10, the world's latest Earth-observing satellite will launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. As a historic U.S.-European partnership, the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich spacecraft will begin a five-and-a-half-year prime mission to collect the most accurate data yet on global sea level and how our oceans are rising in response to climate change. The mission will also collect precise data of atmospheric temperature and humidity that will help improve weather forecasts and climate models.
The Danish government announced a political agreement on Oct. 3 that establishes new sustainability requirements for woody biomass used to produce heat and electricity in Denmark. The U.S. Industrial Pellet Association applauded the agreement, calling the sustainability criteria strict but workable.
For years, brand managers have groused that while consumers say they intend to buy sustainable products, in store they don’t actually purchase them. This conventional wisdom has been used by many brands as justification for not making their products more sustainable.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Plant-based biofuels can play a key role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and removing excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and growing these crops in certain landscapes offers net climate benefits compared to other land use options, according to a team of international scientists.
Renewables continue to expand lead over coal & nuclear power
Renewable energy sources (i.e., biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind) produced significantly more electricity than either coal or nuclear power during the first five months of 2020, according to a SUN DAY Campaign analysis of just-released data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).