When discussing solutions to climate change, conversations usually center on reducing carbon emissions. Equally important is preserving and restoring natural ecosystems, like the Amazon rainforest, that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
In Brazil, three decades of ranching and farming development have leveled large tracts of Amazon. This growth has made the South American country one of the largest exporters of beef in the world, but it’s also come at a severe cost to the environment.
Since 1988, The Nature Conservancy has worked in the Brazilian Amazon to ensure that the forest can regenerate after ranching operations move out. Much of the organization’s focus is on preserving vegetation around streams and on mountaintops and providing technical expertise to farmers interested in sustainable crops.
Watch the video above to see how The Nature Conservancy is working with locals to find climate solutions and click here to learn about the organization’s efforts across the globe.
Tag: climate
The Giant Seawall That Will Protect New York City
Every New Yorker remembers the harrowing pictures of cars floating at the entrance of the Carey Tunnel, the submerged subway stations and the decimation of Breezy Point. To protect New York City from the next big weather event, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) held a Rebuild by Design contest to find the best ideas to protect the vulnerable New York/New Jersey floodplain.
One of the winners (which will receive a federal grant of $335 million)? A concept called “The Big U.”
The Big U is almost exactly what it sounds like: a giant protective infrastructure project that would wrap “around Manhattan from West 54th street south to the Battery and up to East 40th street,” according to the Rebuild by Design website.
The Bjarke Ingels Group, an international design architectural firm that designed the Big U, is thinking big — envisioning more than just a seawall, but an entire system that doubles as a series of park and community areas, each tailored to a coinciding neighborhood.
According to the Verge, the Big U will also includes “a raised stretch of land known as the Bridging Berm acts as a natural dam, but also provides recreational green space for residents in the neighborhood” on the Lower East Side. A seasonal market placed under a raised section of the FDR could be shuttered from rising waters by panels that flip down to create a flood wall.
The White House has already designated another billion dollars for similar disaster relief ideas. In June, President Obama announced the National Disaster Resilience Competition, which invites “communities that have experienced natural disasters to compete for funds to help them rebuild and increase their resilience to future disasters.”
While Our Actions Sometimes Say Otherwise, This New Survey Reveals That We Really Do Care About the Earth
What do you care about more, the environment or your bottom line? As it turns out, Mother Nature is finally trumping bank account balances for most Americans.
A recent survey by the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor found that Americans care (or at least say they do) more about the environment than energy affordability. In the past, many studies have asked about this subject by posing it as a trade off — a would you rather, in a sense, pitting dollars and cents over birds and bees.
This time around, the research team led by John DeCicco went about it quite differently. By clearly inquiring about the importance of energy cost and environmental impact separately from each other made respondents show their true beliefs, untainted by how they feel about the other.
By asking respondents how they feel about environmental impact, DeCicco was able to show that “roughly 60 percent of respondents said they worried a ‘great deal’ or ‘fair amount’” about it, according to Fast Company. This even held true across multiple income levels.
What’s so groundbreaking about these results? They show that caring about the environment is a natural and popular opinion, which should put more people in support of individual and communal environmental efforts. A similar study was done in October 2013, with results coming in about even, which was impressive at the time, but this newer study shows a great trend in our collective thinking.
So whether it be oil spills or hurricanes or just hotter summer days, Americans seem to be caring more about the place around them. Which is certainly good news for the planet.
MORE: Inspiring the Next Generation of Energy Conservationists