New Year, New Climate [Action]

What better way to kick off the new year than with some uplifting climate stories you might’ve missed during the holiday season? I sure know I could use it after spending last week trying to keep warm during the bitterly cold winter storm that hit much of the U.S.! This week we’ll be discussing how an old landfill is being used to generate clean energy, a major corporation is saying goodbye to PFAS, a new law in Argentina is going to protect a vital carbon sink, and more.

Brazil Appoints Activist As Environment Minister

😊 The Good News - President Lula da Silva recently appointed Marina Silva to be his environment minister. Silva is well-known in Brazil for being an activist, and she has a long history of protecting the Amazon Rainforest. When she first held the environment minister position during Lula da Silva’s first term, deforestation rates dropped after the creation of conservation areas.

No More Forever Chemicals For 3M

😊 The Good News - 3M is set to stop producing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) by the end of 2025 due to pressure from experts and proposed regulation. These chemicals have been found in both industrial and household products for decades and are known as forever chemicals because they take ages to break down. Studies have also found that they are highly dangerous to both human health and the environment - even at low levels.

🥾 Follow This Path - PFAS has been found in water, soil, humans, and animals all over the world, and environmental advocacy groups have been trying to get these forever chemicals banned for years. While this isn’t a ban, I’m excited to see one of the largest producers has finally decided to be environmentally conscious.

Problem Landfill To Become Giant Solar Farm

😊 The Good News - The largest landfill solar project in North America was completed last week at the Combe Fill North Landfill in New Jersey. Up until 2004, the landfill was considered a Superfund site, and now the 56,000 panels on top of decades worth of trash will generate enough electricity to power over 4,000 homes.

🥾 Follow This Path - There are over 10,000 closed landfills in the U.S. alone, and despite the fact that very little can be built on top of them, only a fraction of closed landfills have been converted to solar farms. I was a huge proponent of this when I worked in the landfill industry. At the time it wasn’t financially viable for most landfill operators, but I’m excited to see that it is finally moving in that direction.

Argentina’s Largest Carbon Sinks Gets Permanent Protection

😊 The Good News - Argentina has passed a new law to permanently protect 1.2 million acres of the Mitre Peninsula. The peninsula is home to 30% of the world’s kelp forests and 84% of the country’s peatlands — both provide habitat for a plethora of species and together sequester over 340 million tons of carbon dioxide.

🥾 Follow This Path - In order to address climate change, we must protect our carbon sinks. That’s why the UN adopted the 30x30 goal, which aims to conserve 30% of lands and waters by 2030, at COP15 last month, and this move by Argentina has helped move the world one step closer to reaching that goal. I hope other countries with large carbon sinks step up their efforts and use this new law in Argentina as a replicable model.

A New Way To Produce Hydrogen Fuel Just Dropped

😊 The Good News - Researchers at Nanjing Tech University in China have developed a technique to directly split saltwater molecules to produce hydrogen fuel. We can already split freshwater molecules via electrolysis, but up until now the only way we could do it with saltwater was to desalinate it first, since saltwater corrodes the electrodes used. The old method used large amounts of electricity and produced toxic brine, but this new method gives us what we need without the byproducts.

🥾 Follow This Path - Green hydrogen is more sustainable than the alternatives, but it still uses a scarce resource: freshwater. By using the most abundant form of water on the planet, saltwater, I believe this breakthrough will help solve the puzzle of how to sustainably produce hydrogen fuel without impacting drinking water supplies. I’ll be following this research closely, and I hope to see it scaled up in the coming years.

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Written in partnership with Pique Action. Tired of doom-scrolling? You've found your people. Find Pique's positive, educational climate content on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube.