climate change Archives - Favorite World Press

The FWP weekly digest of wondrous wildlife happenings
and other interesting items from the natural world

Creatures to meet | Things to learn
Things to do

Lisa S. French

2-minute read

Something unusual happened in New York City last week—the skyline disappeared. Plumes of smoke emanating from the hundreds of wildfires blazing across Canada’s boreal forest descended over the Eastern seaboard, and in just a few hours, Manhattan’s skyscrapers faded out, obscured by an eerie orange haze. As visibility plummeted, so did air quality, topping out at a hazardous to everyone 352 on the U.S. Air Quality Index (AQI). The particle pollution generated from wildfires that made it hard to see also made it difficult and dangerous to breathe.

While the air quality in NYC and other East Coast urban areas returned to a healthier range this week, city residents learned firsthand that you don’t have to be a forest inhabitant to experience the life-disrupting impacts of extreme wildfires. As the planet heats up and the number and intensity of wildfires continue to increase, scientists are exploring options to remove particulate matter and other pollutants from the air in high-population areas. One nature-based solution that both cleans and cools the air in cities and improves overall health and well-being: more green space.

If Orange is the New Blue, is Green the New Black?
Environmental scientists have concluded that planting trees is one of the most effective ways to remove heat-trapping CO2 from the atmosphere. New research has shown that leafy green sky vacuums are also absolute champs at filtering particle pollution that accumulates in high-density urban areas and is hazardous to human health. Researchers studying the absorption capacity of diverse types of trees found that while many species are effective air purifiers, one type, in particular, is good at absorbing particulates—pines.

Studies comparing the needles of evergreen pine trees to the leaves of seasonally shedding trees, including birch, poplar, beech, and ash trees, show that pine needles have the greatest year-round and longer-term potential to absorb particulate matter pollution. Air quality models created by scientists at the University of Graz factoring in leaf shape, texture, and wind patterns found that one square kilometer of pine forest planted throughout a city of 300,000 reduced the number of days that particle pollution registered over the healthy limit from 54 to 25. Increasing overall pine-age helped dial back the dust by almost fifty percent.

Trees Absorb Pollutants So You Don’t Have To
Although environmental researchers may not yet be able to provide an exact urban tree-planting protocol to help turn orange skies blue again in the case of extreme wildfire events, under relatively normal conditions, designating more green space in urban areas and planting tree species that absorb particulate pollution can help city dwellers breathe a whole lot easier.

Increasing the capacity of forest ecosystems to function as nature intended by reducing heat-trapping emissions that contribute to the drought conditions that intensify wildfires should be a top priority. As residents of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. learned last week, on a rapidly warming planet, what happens in the forest doesn’t stay in the forest—even if the forest is one thousand miles away.

ICYMI Nature News

The Tallest Sky Vacuum Ever—Ever
After a multi-year quest in search of the tallest tree in the Amazon rainforest, intrepid trekkers have finally captured exclusive drone footage of the ancient giant—in a grove of giants. Follow along on their journey here.

Roadtripping Wildlife
When humans stayed in, animals stepped out. Scientists studying the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns on the movement patterns of wildlife have discovered that curious critters took advantage of low-traffic highways and byways to get around. Learn how they made use of the roaming room here.

Hornless Rhinos Are Homebodies
Removing rhino horns to help protect the critically endangered species from poachers is turning the animals into apprehensive homebodies. Without an intact horn to protect themselves and their territory, scientists believe the modified rhinos are playing it safe by reducing their range. No horn, no go, no way.

Meet the Carpenter Squirrels
Flying squirrels in China gnaw grooves in nuts to wedge them in trees, keeping them high and dry and ready for snacking. Crafty!

A Turtle’s Eye View of the Great Barrier Reef
If you’ve ever wondered what sea turtles get up to underwater, scientists at the World Wildlife Fund have captured some amazing turtle cam footage so you can see what the reptiles see—in the sea. Have a look!

What’s the Big, Beautiful Picture?
The winners and finalists of the 2023 Natural World Photography Contest have been announced, and you can explore the amazing images of the world’s wonders here.

FWP Carbon Capture Report
Trees for cooling, trees for purifying the air, trees for habitat, trees for income. We plant them all over the world with the help of our tree-planting partners at Tree-Nation. From April 2022 through May 2023 the trees we’ve planted across 12 projects bring our carbon capture total to 3,787 tons of CO2. That’s equivalent to 371,990 gallons of diesel consumed, 4,241,864 pounds of coal burned, or 460,643,616 smartphones charged.

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Lisa S. French June 17, 2023

Trees: What are they Good for?

1.5-minute read

Before we get down to tree business, wherever you are in the world, we hope that your new year is off to a promising start. Beaming you a gargantuan dose of good fortune in the months ahead.

If you’re a regular reader, you know we often write about how forests help support life on Earth: combating climate change, purifying air and water, enhancing well-being, providing habitat for wildlife, and food, energy, and economic security for rural communities.

Every month we share updates on the carbon capture potential of the trees that we plant in reforestation projects around the world. Because what we plant is as important as where we plant, we’d like to introduce you to some of the leafy green, multi-purpose marvels that help keep the planet in good working order:

Nile Tulip
Markhamia lutea

Fast-growing
Provides shade for crops
Prevents soil erosion
Bark and leaves used for traditional medicine

Red Silk Cotton Tree
Bombax ceiba

Ornamental
Restores native woodland
Provides habitat for birds and bees
Edible seeds, flowers, and leaves

Horse Tamarind
Leucaena leucocephala

Drought tolerant
Restores native woodland
Provides human and animal nutrition
Edible seeds, flowers, and leaves

Teak
Tectona grandis

Fast-growing hardwood
Used for carpentry and construction
Provides human and animal nutrition
Used for traditional and modern medicine

Pombeiro
Tapirira guianensis

Big-canopied shade tree
Provides habitat for birds and bees
Provides human and animal nutrition
Used for traditional medicine

Croton
Croton megalocarpus

Fast-growing, 94% survival rate
Provides animal nutrition
Serves as fencing and windbreak
Used for traditional medicine

As you can see, in addition to cooling the planet, trees are good for all manner of important, life-sustaining things. Wherever the trees we plant put down roots, they don’t just stand around looking pretty; they get to work providing local and global benefits. With your kind support, we’re glad to continue to offer them job opportunities through the Tree-Nation platform in 2023.

2022 FWP Carbon Capture Report:

The 16 species of trees we planted across 12 projects from April through December of 2022 bring our total CO2 capture to 2,365 tons. That’s equivalent to 102,360 trash bags of waste recycled instead of landfilled, 2,616,392 pounds of coal burned, or 266,092 gallons of gasoline consumed.

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Lisa S. French January 15, 2023

Big Love for Big Life

1.5-minute read

Coexistence is about care, not control. It is about reciprocity, not retribution.

Peter S. Algona from The Accidental Ecosystem.

Over the course of the past year, we’ve written about creature life, the beauty, benefits, and science of nature, and some of the people and organizations working tirelessly to protect and preserve the living world that we love. In the spirit of the giving season, we dedicate this year-end blog to one of our favorite conservation non-profits in the hope that they will become one of yours.

Big Life Foundation: Conservation Supports People. People Support Conservation.
Protecting 1.6 million acres of wilderness in the Amboseli ecosystem in East Africa, Big Life has partnered with local communities for over a decade to safeguard nature, benefiting both people and wildlife.

Across alpine meadows, mountain forests, savannas, and wetlands, the holistic conservation organization secures habitat and migratory corridors for elephants, giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, gazelles, hartebeests, and other native species by creating economic opportunities for native people to participate in protecting the ecosystem they depend on to survive.

And that collaborative approach to preserving nature has been incredibly effective. Thanks to Big Life’s community-based conservation and anti-poaching campaign, wildlife numbers in the Amboseli are on the rebound—giraffes have quadrupled, and there are ten times more lions and more elephants roaming the ecosystem in the past year than any time in the last half-century—much-needed hopeful news as global wildlife numbers continue to plummet.

Devastating Drought: A Call to Action
Following years of success implementing strategic interventions to sustain East Africa’s wildlife and wildlands, Big Life and their conservation partners are now facing a heart-wrenching climate-based crisis. The fourth year of the worst drought in decades across the Horn of Africa has devastated the region.

Prioritizing vulnerable communities and children, Big Life is providing school lunches across the Amboseli ecosystem and environmental work for women to help feed their families. Until the rains return, they are also pumping water into remote areas for migrating wildlife and providing hay and food pellets to prevent starvation. The effects of this environmental crisis will likely last for months. Right now, the conservation organization is in critical need of assistance. If you would like to pitch in to help save Africa’s iconic animal species and provide relief for drought-impacted communities, please visit BigLife.org to learn more about their life-sustaining work—for the love of the living world.

ICYMI Nature News

A Big Plan for the Entire Planet
This week’s really big news is that international negotiations are underway in Montreal to develop a roadmap to protect biodiversity and keep our home planet’s ecosystems chugging along, providing life essentials and soul-soothing extras. What’s at stake? Oceans, rivers, lakes, wetlands, forests, prairies, woodlands, the climate, all creatures great and small—life on Earth. Here’s an explainer. And here are the biodiversity numbers. And here is a visual tour of nature in crisis.

Glow-in-the-Dark Crustaceans
Described as “the most spectacular natural wonder most people will never see”, tiny Caribbean male crustaceans light up their underwater world. Actually, you lucky people can see it here.

Honeybee Half-Life
According to scientists at the University of Maryland, the life span of honeybees is 50% shorter than it was 50 years ago. Fifty percent! We need to bee better.

City Cougar Quadruplets
The world’s largest wildlife crossing is about to get more big cat traffic. A cougar in the Santa Monica mountains near Los Angeles has delivered four healthy cubs, and the mother and adorable babies are doing fine. You can have a peek at the new arrivals here.

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Lisa S. French December 12, 2022

Planet-Protecting Pachyderms

2-minute read

Could protecting Earth’s largest mammals help tackle the two most critical items on our planetary to-do list: reducing the impacts of both climate change and biodiversity loss? According to new research from Oxford University, by virtue of their size, the most mega of megafauna may have a role to play in maintaining the healthy functioning of ecosystems negatively impacted by global heating.

One of the greatest hazards we face in a warming world is more frequent and intense wildfires. Between 2002 and 2016, 10.45 million acres a year were destroyed by fire globally—67% of the loss was in Africa. As the planet becomes hotter, drier, and more fire-prone, scientists are examining how protecting and increasing populations of endangered species of megafauna like elephants might help lower the temperature and limit the damage.

Beloved for their oversized ears, twisty trunks, keen intelligence, and exceptional empathy, elephants are also prolific stompers, chompers, and seed dispersers; those daily activities can reduce both CO2 in the atmosphere and the threat of wildfires. How so? It’s complicated, but the short story is that by consuming potentially flammable vegetation (and lots of it, up to 375 pounds a day), creating natural fire breaks by trampling soil, and dispersing seeds of trees with high capacity to store CO2, elephants, and other large herbivores, could limit the spread of fires and reduce the conditions that create them.

Elephants aren’t alone in their ability to influence the health of wild places. Conservation projects aimed at protecting ecosystem-engineering wildlife like whales, bison, sea otters, and wolves can help increase the resilience of natural environments under intense pressure from global heating. By continuing to examine the interdependence of wildlife and Earth systems and by creating conditions that allow nature to heal and flourish, amazing things can happen—like this.

ICYMI Nature News

Mighty Forest Mice
Even mini mammals can have a mega impact on the health of ecosystems. According to The New York Times, mice scurrying around forest floors are also important seed dispersers that help ensure the survival of trees exposed to environmental stressors.

Remember the Manatees
Pollution and habitat loss continue to take their toll on the Florida megafauna–over 2,000 manatees have perished in the last two years. It’s well past time to re-classify the charismatic creatures as endangered before they disappear.

NYC’s New Old Tree
In the spring of 2023, visitors to NYC’s High Line Park will be seeing red. A new rosy-hued sculpture installation, Old Tree, by Swiss artist Pamela Rosenkranz, will explore the indivisible connection between human and plant life. Have a look at the preview and swing by in the spring!

Christmas Bird Count
Okay, citizen scientists, if you need a good reason to tear yourself away from the fireplace and holiday cookie pile, Audubon’s 123rd annual Christmas Bird Count runs from December 14th through January 5th. Grab your binoculars and get those cookies to go. You can sign up here.

FWP Carbon Capture Report
We believe trees make a big difference in the health and well-being of people, wildlife, and the planet, and that’s why we keep planting them with the help of our partners at Tree-Nation. The trees that we’ve planted from April through November bring our carbon capture to 2,200 tons of CO2. That is equivalent to 2,235,456 pounds of coal burned, 247,604 gallons of gasoline consumed, and 267,669,777 smartphones charged. Oh, yeah, treeing is believing!

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Lisa S. French December 2, 2022

Trick or Trees

1.5-minute read

“Once upon a midnight dreary,
while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume
of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping,
suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping,
rapping at my chamber door—
“‘Tis some visitor,” I muttered,
“tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.”

Edgar Allen Poe—The Raven

Of all the things that go bump in the night, what is the most hair-raising horror you can imagine tapping at your door this Halloween? A horde of zombies? A pack of werewolves? A coven of vampires? A gaggle of hobgoblins? Or—gulp—all of the above.

There’s no doubt that a spooky-season visit from creatures of the underworld would be pretty darn scary (especially those zombies). Do you know what’s even scarier? The year-round global impacts of climate change. And one of the greatest contributors to climate change is deforestation. Approximately 18% of global heating is caused by the loss of trees. That exceeds the CO2 emissions created by the entire transport sector.

We have two solutions to cool a rapidly warming planet—reduce emissions, or capture the CO2 already released into the atmosphere. But lowering emissions is not happening fast enough. In fact, atmospheric CO2 reached record-high levels in 2021. While other carbon capture systems are being developed, right now reforestation is by far the most efficient and affordable solution. It is considered essential to keeping the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

In addition to helping to combat climate change, planting trees addresses other major planetary perils, including pollution, species extinction, desertification, floods, poverty, and malnutrition. Trees remove toxins from our air, purify our rivers and water sources, serve as habitats for millions of species, bring revenue to local populations, and help us get food, fodder, and medicine.

Trees offer so many benefits for people and the environment that planting them is a no-brainer. Sorry, zombies. That’s why we’ve partnered with Tree-Nation to plant one tree for every print or e-book that we sell. Tree-Nation is committed to planting 1 trillion trees by 2050, and we’re glad to have the opportunity to pitch in and help with the transition to a sustainable future.

You can learn more about forests and the benefits of planting trees right here.

As always, thank you for reading with us, thank you for planting with us.

Happy Halloween!

FWP – No tricks—just trees.

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Lisa S. French October 27, 2022

Banking on Seed Hunters

1.5-minute read

A breath of fresh air, a drink of clean water, a cool patch of shade, a safe home for hatchlings—the planetary perks provided by forests and trees are undeniable. Across the United States, there is a potential to reforest 133 million acres. Planting just half of that acreage by 2040 would require an astronomical 34 billion tree seedlings. Getting from seedling to sapling to reaping full forest benefits requires an essential first ingredient—seeds; and right now, there is a nationwide shortage. As a result of record-breaking fire seasons and climate change-induced drought across the Western states, including Texas, California, Oregon, and Washington, seed banks are almost empty.

To help meet national reforestation goals, our planting partners, American Forests, are launching the Seed Collection Corps to replenish seed banks and ramp up seedling production. By training people how to collect, process, and store native tree seeds, American Forests is making a critical investment in the planet so that forests that nurture the health and well-being of people and wildlife have a fighting chance at survival.

Big bucks for regreening
There’s even more tree-mendous news for 2022. Thanks to the REPLANT Act becoming law, America’s forests will get their fair share of funding: $425 million for post-fire recovery, $200 million for a national seed and seedling strategy, $100 million for the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, $1.5 billion for state and private forestry, and $200 million for tribal restoration priorities.

At Favorite World Press, we’re beyond pleased to support national reforestation projects by planting one tree for every print or e-book sold from Frankie and Peaches: Tales of Total Kindness. Thanks so much for reading with us. Thanks so much for planting with us.

And a few quick ease-into-Monday items
According to a new study out of the University of Michigan, there are close to 73,000 tree species on Earth, including about 9,200 yet to be discovered. Who knew? Now you do!

If you need even more green goodness in your life, you can now green your Wordle. Fill in the environment and climate change-related blanks here.

Would you like to soothe yourself with some creature-cam toing and froing? Courtesy of Audubon, you can get a bird’s eye view of a puffin burrow complete with a freshly hatched puffling. They’re a chatty bunch of seabirds!

And one more thing, good people, Plastic-free February kicks off this week. If you’d like to try to cut down your use of the indestructible stuff for one month, you can get tips and support from Clear Community right here. Challenge accepted? Challenge accepted!

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Lisa S. French January 31, 2022

Mountain hare (Lepus timidus) with white fur in snowy landscape

These Feet are Made for Hopping

1.5-minute read

Whales, wolves, and wildebeest do it. Butterflies, bats, and birds do it. What do they do? Migrate—traveling hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles every year to secure food, water, and family-friendly habitat. While some animals have the natural capacity for long-distance movement, Arctic hares are not known to travel far afield. Despite what may seem like a big-footed advantage, the hopping herbivores typically shift their seasonal location by less than six miles. But in the autumn of 2019, one determined female decided to cover new ground and go the distance—and go, go, go she did.

According to Canadian researchers tracking the movements of 25 Arctic hares, the lone ranger known as BBYY traveled 241 miles over 49 days—the longest recorded journey for her species. Because traveling great distances requires a lot of energy, staying local increases the odds of survival in smaller land animals like rabbits and hares. So, what compelled BBYY to thump across the tundra and boldly go where no hare had gone before? Scientists studying the movement of the Arctic animals conjecture that the intrepid hopper may have been motivated to go those extra miles by the slightly warmer microclimate and more abundant plant life at her lakeside destination.

And why on Earth does Arctic hare mobility matter? Like conservationists tracking the movements of elephants in Africa, researchers are keeping tabs on when, where, and why Arctic critters move. Understanding how the animals adapt to environmental change and what it will take to keep northern food webs and ecosystems healthy and functioning will benefit both people and wildlife in a warming world.

In case you were wondering, FYCI (For Your Creature Information), hares and rabbits are two different kinds of hoppers. Rabbits are typically smaller, have shorter ears and legs than hares, and are born without fur. A group of hares is known as a down, a band, a husk, or a warren, and a group of wild rabbits is known as a colony or a… fluffle. No, not making it up—fluffle. And that’s our perfectly soothing word of the week. Fluffle on, fellow travelers!

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Lisa S. French January 24, 2022

The Planet Cooling Power of Whale Poop

1.5-minute read

In nature we never see anything isolated,
but everything in connection with something else
which is before it, beside it, under it and over it.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Sometimes, solutions to our most complex problems come from unexpected places. Could the restoration of great whale populations help us to combat climate change?

If left to its own devices, nature has a tremendous capacity to heal itself and protect us from the harmful impacts of a rapidly warming world. When we maintain greenhouse gas emissions at people- and planet-friendly levels, Earth systems can absorb enough GHG’s to keep global heating in check. Currently, about 25% of the CO₂ emissions that contribute to global heating are absorbed by oceans. Most of the carbon dioxide in oceans is consumed by microscopic algae called phytoplankton. Like trees, the tiny green plants utilize CO₂ for growth. Globally, phytoplankton absorb as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as tropical rainforests. Similar to the effects of deforestation, a reduction in phytoplankton can lead to more GHG emissions in the atmosphere and more heating. That’s where whales come in, or more specifically, the poop of whales.

According to scientists at the University of Tasmania, great whales have a big role to play in helping to cool the planet by dispensing the iron that carbon-absorbing phytoplankton need to grow. Adult whales in the Southern Ocean can eat two tons of iron-rich krill a day—that’s about 40 million mini-crustaceans. Because what goes in must come out, the krill consumed by whales converts to a whole lot of iron-infused phytoplankton fertilizer. By recycling an essential nutrient at a concentration ten million times higher than occurs in seawater, whales contribute to the continued functioning of one of Earth’s most important carbon sinks. The Tasmanian researchers estimate that a 12,000-strong population of iron-excreting sperm whales could stimulate the growth of enough phytoplankton to remove 200,000 tons of carbon annually—the CO₂ equivalent of 17,000 cars traveling 9,320 miles a year.

Marine biologists believe that tens of millions of whales were removed from oceans in the thousand years of active whaling prior to the international moratorium in 1982; this estimated 90% decline in the planet’s largest inhabitants has likely altered the functioning of marine ecosystems. As if we need another good reason to keep on saving the whales other than their all-around awesomeness, protecting and restoring populations of the colossal animals will help maintain healthy oceans that continue to absorb GHG emissions and reduce global heating. A win for the super-poopers is a win for people and the planet.

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Lisa S. French November 20, 2021

COP26: Yes is this present sun

Dear Earth,

When many individual good things coalesce to create one great good thing, keeping you healthy and functioning, that’s a true and necessary thing.

Thinking of you during one of the most extraordinarily challenging times in your life history—ever hopeful for the recognition of the transformational power of many good things.

With love and gratitude for all that you do,

LSF • WW • FWP

After the final no there comes a yes
And on that yes the future world depends.
No was the night. Yes is this present sun.

Wallace Stevens

COP26

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Lisa S. French October 30, 2021

Back in Black—and Orange: California Monarchs

1-minute read

If you’re in need of some good news this week, we’re happy to oblige with a hopeful update from the Pacific Grove monarch butterfly sanctuary in Northern California. Since the 1980s, the number of monarchs west of the Rockies has dropped by an alarming 99%. In 2019, as reported by the Washington Post, there were zero sightings at the sanctuary. Zero. This year, observers counted 2,500 monarchs in the pollinator’s Pacific Grove migratory rest stop. That’s good news, indeed!

While the 2021 sightings aren’t a guarantee of more monarchs to come, taking action to make the planet more hospitable for butterflies by increasing pollinator habitat, reducing pesticide use, and combating climate change will improve the odds of long-term recovery. If you’d like to help ensure that monarch butterflies east or west are back to stay, here are some make-it-better organizations offering handy tools to enable you to lend a hand with monitoring and mapping the migration of the winged beauties across the United States:

And if you’d like to attract monarchs as well as other pollinators to your personal patch, we’re firm believers in the plant-it-and-they-will-come paradigm. You can find useful info on how to garden to increase biodiversity by cultivating habitats in your backyard, front yard, side yard, or window box here. Because whatever else is going on in the world, and something’s always going on, it’s better with butterflies. Just ask our in-house butterfly gardeners, Frankie and Peaches.

To encourage budding young pollinator gardeners in your school or neighborhood, you can order milkweed seeds from Save Our Monarchs to hand out as a special butterfly-saving treat this spooky season and year-round. Wishing you a happily hair-raising Halloween!

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Lisa S. French October 23, 2021