Dev-Ocean To Our Oceans 🌊

UN Approves New High Seas Treaty

😊 The Good News - The United Nations has approved a treaty to protect biodiversity in international waters following nearly two decades of negotiations. International waters make up around 70% of our world’s oceans, and this treaty will help establish more marine protected areas, as well as global standards for assessing environmental impacts from commercial activities.

🥾 Follow This Path - The 2020s are truly becoming the ocean decade. In the last year alone the world has seen multiple major oceans treaties and commitments that are setting the world up for success when it comes to protecting 30% of our oceans by 2030, and that is good news because the science is clear: we must do something now to protect our oceans or we risk further biodiversity loss.

Biden Administration Limits Drilling In Alaska And Arctic Ocean

😊 The Good News - The Biden Administration just imposed limits on oil and gas drilling across 16 million acres in Alaska and the Arctic Ocean. 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve and 3 million acres in the Beaufort Sea, as well as all the plants and animals that call these areas home are now protected from future fossil fuel development.

🥾 Follow This Path - Although this news came mere hours before the Biden Administration approved the controversial Willow Project, it is still something to be celebrated because 16 million acres are over twice the size of the state of Maryland, and it serves as a reminder that we must continue to fight for climate action, even as projects like Willow get approved.

Hydrogen-Powered Plane Takes Inaugural Flight

😊 The Good News - A plane in Washington State recently made history by becoming the largest aircraft to fly using hydrogen fuel cells. Universal Hydrogen, the company behind this advancement, built an electric motor that runs exclusively off of green hydrogen (the sustainable kind) stored in the plane, and their goal is to use the fuel cells for regional flights.

🥾 Follow This Path - It may seem bizarre to see a scientist praise aviation considering the industry contributes to around 3% of global emissions, but the reality is flying will still exist even as we transition to public transportation and electric vehicles. That’s why it’s important to find sustainable alternatives to jet fuel, and the more I research it, the more excited I get about the advances in hydrogen fuel cell technology.

Dry Farming Making A Comeback In Western U.S.

😊 The Good News - The indigenous practice of dry farming is growing in popularity across the Western United States, thanks to water shortages. This type of farming works by planting seeds far apart in order for the crops to pull enough moisture out of the soil during the dry season, and it uses much less water compared to irrigating crops.

🥾 Follow This Path - So many climate solutions are about going back to the way things used to be done, and dry farming is no exception. We must work with our ecosystem and not against it if we want to address climate change. I’m curious to see if it continues to be scaled up so it can help alleviate the Colorado River basin crisis.

World Commits $20 Billion In Funding For Marine Biodiversity

😊 The Good News - $20 billion in funding has been committed to establishing and expanding marine protected areas at the eighth annual Our Ocean Conference in Panama. These commitments come just months after the passage of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and will help the world reach the framework’s goal to protect 30% of our oceans by 2030.

🥾 Follow This Path - The planet is interconnected, so if we want to protect our own ecosystems, we must also protect our oceans. Marine protected areas don’t just help our planet deal with climate change – they help support coastal communities and deal with an often overlooked crisis: the loss of biodiversity. I hope we see more commitments like these as the year continues because even though $20 billion is a lot, we need more.

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