hope-for-the-planet

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The US May Be Coming Around to Balcony Solar

Text and image from this article in the New York Times:

Across Germany, more than a million people had installed solar panels on their balconies as of last month. But those are just the officially registered systems. The actual figures could be three times as high, according to government estimates. Though each installation is small, the aggregate electricity generated from these plug-in solar panels is helping Germany reach its renewable energy targets. Is the U.S. next? It’s complicated. Plug-in solar, also known as balcony solar, refers to small-scale solar systems that can be installed without an electrician or permission from a local utility. It is certainly closer to taking off in the U.S. than it was six months ago. The technology’s backers hope more hurdles will be cleared before the year is out. This is happening largely thanks to a small-but-committed assortment of policymakers and solar power supporters who are working to make it more accessible.

Utah has already passed a law to exempt small scale solar systems from being required to enter into an agreement with utility companies in order to contribute energy to the grid. There's still some legal gray area while official safety standards are set, but many people aren't waiting to add "balcony solar".

Apparently in Europe, once one region published their regulatory standards for these types of solar systems people in other areas started installing them regardless of their own local regulations. So this first step by Utah could potentially trigger a similar trend in the US.

[hope-for-the-planet]

After two decades of work, including monitoring by scientists, a captive breeding program run by inmates at a local women's prison, and habitat conservation by the Nisqually Tribe, the Taylor's checkerspot butterfly seems to be improving and even doing better than expected.

[hope-for-the-planet]

Sea star wasting disease has been brutally decimating sea star populations up and down the West Coast for about a decade. It's been a frustrating and devastating mystery for a long time.

Sunflower sea stars are one of the hardest hit species, with 87% of the population wiped out in some areas and total extinction in others. Sea star die offs are particularly bad, because they prevent sea urchin populations from getting out of control. Sea urchins feed on the kelp that forms the basis of the whole ecosystem, so without sea stars the kelp forests take a big hit.

Now scientists have identified a bacteria that is very likely causing the disease, which is related to the bacteria that causes cholera in humans.

While this is just a first step for recovery, it means that sea stars and habitats can be tested for this bacteria before reintroducing them to previously diseased habitat. Scientists can also begin to study this bacteria more intensely and potentially find a cure.

Thanks to @just-a-funny-little-brain for sending this story in!

[hope-for-the-planet]

The International Court of Justice (aka the World Court) has ruled that States have a responsibility to curb emissions to protect the environment from greenhouse gases--as well as stating that States that do not fulfill these obligations could incur legal responsibility, including reparations.

This was in response to an initiative from Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change, which inspired Vanuatu (a state in the Pacific Islands) to seek an advisory opinion from the court.

While this is a nonbinding act, ICJ advisory opinions are considered legal and moral guidance on future issues of international law and open the door for countries disproportionately impacted by climate change to potentially seek reparations from countries that have not appropriately curbed emissions in the future.

[hope-for-the-planet]

people are saying it's unethical to have dogs or cats bc they contribute to climate change by eating meat. there's even news articles saying that having a dog is one of the worst things you can do for the environment, similar to flying on planes. is this true? my emotional support animal is like the one thing keeping me going so it's scary to be told i'm killing the planet by caring for her :(

Hi Anon!

I totally understand why that would be a big scary thing to have in your head!

So first, if there’s something that you require for your mental or physical health then the math of whether it’s bad for the environment doesn’t really matter. You need it.

Same goes for medical devices that require single use plastic components to remain sterile. It doesn’t matter—the increased environmental impact of folks meeting their healthcare needs is such a tiny percentage of a drop in the bucket that it is not worth considering on an individual level. On a societal and technological level we will eventually get to the point where society is set up to meet those needs more sustainably.

You do not need to feel guilty for meeting your health needs, full stop.

Now I’ll also address the second part of this: Is choosing to have a pet dog or cat bad for the environment?

This is going under the cut because it’s going to be long.

TL;DR: Dogs and cats do contribute carbon emissions mostly through their food, but probably not as much as some popular estimates and the entire dry pet food industry produces only about 1/10th the emissions of the aviation industry. You don't need to feel guilty for feeding your furry family member--it's more constructive to focus on collective action, but if you want research-backed tips on how to feed your pet more sustainably there's a list under the cut!

I’m assuming for the sake of simplicity that this dog or cat is eating a standard commercial pet food. If you’re feeding a fancier pet food made with “human grade ingredients” or a raw/homemade diet, that is going to be worse in terms of environmental impact.

Why? Because a significant portion of the meat in standard commercial pet food is made of byproducts from animals that were already produced for human consumption. Humans mostly just eat the nice-looking cuts of muscle meat rather than the organs and other parts of an animal carcass—but those parts are just fine and even beneficial to be ground up into food for a dog or cat that evolved to eat the entire animal.

Commercial diets are also designed and tested to meet a pet’s nutritional needs as efficiently as possible, so there’s overall less food waste and energy spent on packing and transportation.

Assuming that human society significantly decreases its meat consumption over time due to the environmental impact we could possibly get to a point where a portion of animal agriculture exists just to feed our pets. But that would still be far more efficient than human meat consumption because pet food is so nutritionally dense and can use so much more of the animal.

There’s a figure you’ve probably seen thrown around in the “pets are bad for the climate” debate from a study by Dr. Gregory Okin. However, a fair number of scientists have doubts about how accurate his calculations are because he did not take byproducts into consideration—his paper acted as if the meat used for pet food was human grade meat being produced only to feed pets. This is a shortfall of some other studies on the topic as well.

There’s a study by Dr. Peleter Alexander that does take the byproduct factor into account, which found that a 22 kg dog would account for around 530 kg of carbon emissions a year, which is a bit less than the emissions from one 3 hour flight. The emissions of the entire worldwide dry pet food industry make up only about 1-3% of agriculture emissions, equal to just 1/10th of worldwide flight emissions.

If anyone wants to decrease the environmental impact of their dog or cat, here are some things you can do:

Feed dry food instead of wet food. This study found that a wet food diet produces almost 8x the emissions of a dry food diet

Feed a diet based in more sustainable meat—chicken or fish are best, lamb or especially beef are the worst. Insect protein foods are starting to enter the market and could be better tested and more readily available soon!

Feed a reliable commercial pet food and not one made with “human grade” ingredients. We have decades of long term studies showing dogs and cats on these diets will have their nutritional needs met and live healthy lives to their expected lifespan

And here are some things that I don't think you should do with this information:

Don't feel like you need to feed your dog or cat a meat-free diet and especially please don't try to feed them a vegan diet. As obligate carnivores, cats especially need animal products in their diet to be healthy.

Don't beat yourself up if your pet needs to eat less carbon-efficient foods, especially because of behavioral or health limitations--it is not an efficient use of your energy to focus on individual actions rather than collective change

Now for just my opinion: Is it unethical to have a dog or cat that contributes to carbon emissions?

I think asking whether it’s ethical to have dogs or cats is edging into the territory of, “is it ethical for individuals to do anything that contributes to carbon emissions that isn’t 100% necessary for bare bones human survival?”. And I don’t super think that is a question worth asking.

Not only is that not realistic, but we know what we need to do to address climate change and it does not demand that we throw out pets, travel, music, entertainment, recreation, art, good food, culture, or anything else that is an important part of human life but that we can technically survive without.

Yes, some changes to our way of life and sacrifices of the conveniences we are used to will be required, but it’s much more constructive to ask “how can I make this part of my life more sustainable?” or better yet "how can we collectively work to move society in a more sustainable direction in this area?". That will almost always be a better use of energy than turning inward towards guilt over individual life choices.

Dogs and cats have had a partnership with humans since before we had written language—there were dogs in human family groups when they crossed the land bridge into North and South America for the first time. I don't think we need to feel guilty about feeding our furry family members.

Anon, thank you for the question! It gave me a reason to do a deeper dive on the research on pet food emissions. And I hope you and your pet have a wonderful day! <3

(Note: I'm not interested in getting into debates on the merits of different types of pet foods or vegan/vegetarian pet foods on this blog. I will not respond to tags, asks, or comments about it!)

[hope-for-the-planet]

From the article:

Solar electricity is now highly affordable and with recent cost and technical improvements in batteries — 24-hour generation is within reach. Smooth, round-the-clock output every hour of every day will unleash solar’s true potential, enabling deeper penetration beyond the sunny hours and helping overcome grid bottlenecks. On June 21st — the Northern Hemisphere summer solstice — the “midnight sun” circles the sky continuously, providing 24 hours of daylight and theoretically, 24 hours of solar electricity generation. Thanks to advances in battery storage, this phenomenon is no longer limited to the Arctic. Rapid advances in battery technology, especially in cost, have made near-continuous solar power, available every hour of every day of the year, an economic and technological reality in sunny regions. Industries like data centres and factories need uninterrupted power to function. At the same time, the rising push for hourly-matched carbon-free energy goals — pursued largely through corporate Purchase Power Agreements (PPAs) — is increasing the demand for clean electricity every hour of the day. While solar is now extremely affordable and widely available, its real value will only be realised when it can deliver power consistently to meet the demands of a growing economy, even when the sun isn’t shining. 24-hour solar generation enables this by combining solar panels with sufficient storage to deliver a stable, clean power supply, even in areas without grid access or where the grid is congested or unreliable. While this may not solve every challenge at the grid level, since not all places are as sunny and the electricity demand varies hourly and seasonally, it provides a pathway for solar to become the backbone of a clean power system in sunny regions and to play a much bigger role in less sunny regions. This report explores how close we are to achieving constant, 24-hour solar electricity across 365 days in different cities around the world, and what it would cost to get there.

There are places in the world where it is already completely economically and technologically possible to meet nearly 100% of electricity needs with solar energy alone. This is due to massive improvements in the technology for solar panels and battery storage.

The feasibility and number of places where this is possible will only increase as solar and batteries become more efficient and the prices continue to decrease.

[hope-for-the-planet]

"Florida native Neill Holland became a charter captain at age 18. In 2015, after traveling internationally for a decade, he returned to St. Petersburg, Florida, to resume his fishing charter operation with his partner Danielle Dawley. 

Time and again on their charters, Dawley and Holland came across derelict traps, also known as ghost traps. 

Ghost traps are fishing traps that have been swept away in storms and currents or simply abandoned over time. 

Once lost, these rusted traps often pose risks to coral reefs below and passing boats above — all while trapping and killing marine life that die long before they are pulled to the surface. 

Those decaying fish, in turn, attract more sea animals into the trap, starting the cycle anew.

After ghost traps continued cropping up in their day-to-day, Dawley and Holland founded Ocean Aid 360: a conservation organization that works with fishing industry professionals, community volunteers, and government agencies to find, retrieve, and recycle marine debris — including ghost traps.

Their most popular program? Ghost trap rodeos: fishing tournaments that reward entrants for salvaging abandoned fishing gear.

“We started in October of 2018 through a grant from NOAA, which enabled us to hold seven tournament-style marine debris events around Tampa Bay,” Holland told the Port Charlotte Sun in mid-July. 

“In that first year, our target was 15,000 pounds of marine debris. We ended up collecting 27,000 pounds, and had fabulous numbers of community members coming out to participate,” he said. 

“Since then, we’ve worked all over Florida and the Bahamas, with more than 60 event days and about 60,000 pounds of marine debris collected — including more than 8,200 derelict traps.”

The latest ghost trap rodeo — hosted on July 19 — pulled in 4,000 pounds of trash, including 128 ‘ghost traps,’ from the Tampa Bay. 

Two minutes into the event, Holland was already reeling in a ghost trap. 

“This is a textbook example of a derelict crab trap,” Holland told the Tampa Bay Times. “It’s been left out, and as you can see it’s pretty darn crusty and rusted.”

Holland estimates that 10% of all traps placed in the water become ghost traps.

“It’s a recurring problem here, and we really have to stay on top of it,” said Peter Clark, the president and founder of Tampa Bay Watch —  one of many local organizations that helped host the ghost trap rodeo competition.

“We’re helping to protect fish and wildlife, we’re taking marine debris out of the bay, and it’s a great project to get the community involved to help restore and protect Tampa Bay.”

-via GoodGoodGood, July 28, 2025

[hope-for-the-planet]

Net Zero is Probably Cheaper Than You Think

This video focuses a lot on the UK, but the same strategies are used by politicians in many other countries to sell the idea that Net Zero is unrealistically and irresponsibly costly.

Strategies like:

Using outdated estimates that overestimated the cost--sustainable technologies have become way cheaper over time and will almost certainly continue to do so

Implying that the entirety of the cost would be borne by the government and thus the taxpayers, when in reality in most cases the majority would be covered by the private sector

Ignoring the money that is already being spent on non-sustainable alternatives

Ignoring the operational savings of sustainable technologies that don't require expensive fossil fuel inputs in perpetuity--often the changes would almost pay for themselves in the long term

Omitting other cost-saving benefits from sustainable technologies (ex. reduced health costs from disease caused by air pollution)

Omitting the massive financial costs of not addressing climate change

Almost always the motivation for messaging that it's basically impossible to stop climate change now or that climate solutions will be terribly damaging is to delay climate action for the benefit of fossil fuel interests.

These messages are also just not true. Unless you are a fossil fuel executive, the implementation of climate solutions will almost certainly have a net positive impact on your well-being in the long term.

[hope-for-the-planet]

Farmers Fencing Off Streams Has Restored Over 1000 Miles of Waterway in Oklahoma

Image and text from this article in the New York Times:

Oklahoma has been exemplary in cleaning up its streams, by some measures more than any other state. A big part of the solution was simple: Give cows clean drinking water and keep them out of streams. When one farmer tried it, he quickly saw results. His veterinarian bills went down and wildlife returned to the area. [...] For Mr. Victor, the decision to fence his cattle off from the waterway wasn’t easy. The creek was why his great-grandmother, who was Cherokee, especially prized the land. The parcel was allotted to her in 1891 through the Dawes Act, which allowed the federal government to break up tribal land. The waterway gave the family’s cattle a place where they could drink and cool off. “I’m sure at the coffee shop, they were all laughing at me,” Mr. Victor, 68, said. But even though it’s my land, it’s not really my land. I’m just a person here with it at this time, and I carry that big responsibility. The benefits of a healthier waterway exceeded his hopes. Mr. Victor thought that the land around the creek might regenerate in five years, perhaps 10. But within just a couple of years, the banks were transformed into verdant corridors of grasses and shrubs. Wildlife appeared, including white-tailed deer, bobcats, coyotes and bald eagles that return each year to a sprawling nest to rear their young.

I think we lose a lot when we envision conservation or environmental protection as something that only folks in left-leaning states or communities care about. Climate change and environmentalism didn't use to be partisan issues. This work is for everyone and there are allies in more places than a lot of people would expect.

[hope-for-the-planet]

From the article:

Almost two centuries ago, Native American tribe members sought the protection of Florida’s Everglades during the Seminole wars as they hid from government forces seeking to banish them to Indian territories that later became Oklahoma. Now, as the Trump administration continues its wholesale slashing of federal funding from conservation projects, the Miccosukee Tribe is stepping up to fulfill what it sees as a “moral obligation” to return the favor. The tribe is looking to buy and protect environmentally significant lands, including some that once provided refuge, in a groundbreaking partnership agreement with the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation. The corridor is an ambitious project to connect 18m acres (7.3m hectares) of state and privately owned wilderness into a contiguous, safe habitat for scores of imperilled and roaming species, including black bears, Key deer and Florida panthers.

[hope-for-the-planet]

After two decades of work, including monitoring by scientists, a captive breeding program run by inmates at a local women's prison, and habitat conservation by the Nisqually Tribe, the Taylor's checkerspot butterfly seems to be improving and even doing better than expected.

[hope-for-the-planet]

This relocation will expand Rwanda's rhino breeding population and overall make the species less vulnerable to a large portion of the population being wiped out by negative local impacts. Another recent white rhino relocation in March reintroduced southern white rhinos to Uganda, where they had previously been locally extinct for 40 years.

The rhinos being relocated in this project as a whole represent about 15% of the species.

[hope-for-the-planet]

Atmospheric Mercury Emissions Have Steeply Reduced in the Last Decade According to Mt. Everest Samples

Four decades of measuring atmospheric mercury on Mt. Everest show that concentration of mercury in the atmosphere peaked in 2002 and has declined around 70% between 2002 and 2020.

This indicates that overall human emissions of mercury have decreased steeply, which is extremely good news given the many damaging health effects of mercury exposure to both the environment and human health.

Information and image from this article in ACS ES&T Air

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This is potentially a huge step on China's part to crack down on illegal fishing. Rather than policing boats at sea, the UN Agreement on Port State Measures instead sanctions boats that are suspected of illegal or unregulated activities when they come to port.

Since China is home to 14 of the 15 busiest ports in the world, their addition to this legally binding agreement is a big deal in the fight against illegal fishing.

[hope-for-the-planet]

This is the first time a Eurasian beaver has been spotted in Portugal for over 500 years!

From the article:

After an absence of more than five centuries, the Eurasian beaver is finally back in Portugal. Beavers have been extinct in the Iberian nation since the 1500s because of overhunting and habitat destruction, according to the Good News Network. However, at least one plucky critter has crossed over into Portugal, it seems. The beaver was spotted in a national park near the Douro River on the border with Spain. Pedro Prata, team leader with Rewilding Portugal, said: "We've been on the lookout for this breakthrough for a few years now, and we're thrilled to confirm its return. The beaver is a natural ally in restoring the health of our rivers and wetlands and has a fundamental role to play in our river ecosystem."

[hope-for-the-planet]

Most of China's Steel Sector Will Meet Ultra Low Emissions Standards by the End of 2025

From this article in Big Mint:

With six months left before 2025 - the final year of China's 14th Five-Year Plan period - wraps up, the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) is confident that 80% of crude steel capacity nationwide will complete ultra-low emissions upgrading by then, Mysteel Global has learnt. The target was initially set in an official document published in 2019 - Opinions on Promoting the Implementation of Ultra-low Emissions in Iron and Steel Industry - which marked the beginning of China's campaign to promote ultra-low emissions among steelmakers, Mysteel Global notes. The ultra-low emission standards for steel mills mandate caps on pollutant emissions during the whole steelmaking process, including requirements on raw materials stocking and on means of transportation, as the document stipulates. Over the past few years, China has made continuous progress in advancing ultra-low emission transformation in the steel sector. By 20 April this year, about 591 million tonnes (mnt) of steel capacity owned by 141 Chinese steelmakers had reached full-process ultra-low emissions, and 169 mnt of crude steel capacity owned by another 47 steelmakers had partially accomplished ultra-low emissions, according to the data from CISA.

[hope-for-the-planet]

New 30 GWh battery energy storage funding scheme announced in India

From this article in Money Control:

The Indian government on June 10 announced a viability gap funding (VGF) worth Rs 5,400 crore for developing 30 gigawatt hour (GWh) of new battery energy storage systems (BESS) to ensure round-the-clock renewable energy capacities in the country. Announcing the approval of the scheme, Union minister for power Manohar Lal Khattar said it will be in addition to the already existing incentive worth Rs 3,700 crore under which 13.2 GWh of BESS is currently under implementation. The initiative will attract investments worth Rs 33,000 crore. The VGF will be provided from the Power System Development Fund (PSDF). The scheme is targeted at 15 states which will receive allocations of 25 GWh and NTPC Ltd that will get 5 GWh. The Union minister said the first round of tender for the new VGF will be floated within 3 months. "India is targeting 393 GW of renewable energy capacity (293 GW solar and 100 GW wind) by 2030.  But renewable energy is highly intermittent and needs energy storage solutions to ensure round the clock power supply and grid stability. Hence, BESS is essential especially to meet peak demand during non-solar hours," Khattar said in an interaction with reporters.