Yellow Is The New Green. That Story And Other Headlines For June 26, 2021

H2O Radio

June 26, 2021

Drought Prompts New Lawn Watering Rules to "Survive not Thrive"

Lake Mead on the Colorado River has met a grim milestone. Last week the country’s largest reservoir was just 36 percent of capacity—the lowest level since it filled behind Hoover Dam in the 1930s. Lake Powell, just upstream, is only 34 percent full. The record comes amidst increasing temperatures and decreasing precipitation that have strained the Colorado River’s ability to supply irrigation and drinking water to seven Western states and Mexico.

While demand for Colorado River water has exceeded supply by an average of about 1.2 million acre-feet per year since 2000, according to Brad Udall, Senior Water and Climate Research Scientist at Colorado State University, consumption has come down somewhat, due to conservation measures.

One of those measures came in the form of new legislation signed by Governor Steve Sisolak of Nevada that will require nearly one-third of grass in the Las Vegas area—which gets 90 percent of its water from Lake Mead—to be removed by the end of 2026. The ban targets what the Southern Nevada Water Authority calls "non-functional turf"—grass that no one steps on, such as along street medians, in parking lots, and outside businesses. It excludes single-family homes, parks, and golf courses. The water authority estimates the measure will save about 10 percent of the area’s allocation of water from the river, about 30,000 acre-feet.

Speaking of lawns, in Utah a new meme is emerging. In a briefing addressing drought concerns, Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson said that as Utah faces one of the worst droughts in its history, state facilities are currently limiting the running of sprinklers and joked that “yellow is the new green.”

The Utah Division of Water Resources issued an "Extreme Drought Watering Guide," which instructs most residents to cut back irrigation to twice a week for northern and central Utah and three times a week for the southern part of the state. The guide says to prioritize watering trees, followed by shrubs and flowers, rather than grass, telling Utahns their lawns need only "to survive not thrive."

Biden Administration Moves to Expand Protections for Waterways

The Biden administration has taken an initial step to revise the definition of what bodies of water are protected by the Clean Water Act. It’s the latest in the back-and-forth controversy that has continued for about 50 years over how far federal law should go to regulate water contamination.

Before Trump, Obama officials had extended protection to stop or limit development, which could harm wetlands, streams, and ditches that flow into larger bodies of water. Trump repealed Obama’s approach by narrowing the definition of what constitutes “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS). Critics said Trump’s limitation hastened the destruction of waterways, including intermittent streams that occur only after rainfall but help purify water.

According to the EPA, the current lack of protections put in place by Trump is particularly harmful in desert states, such as New Mexico and Arizona, but farmers and ranchers criticized Biden’s move, calling it an overreach that will burden them.
The Washington Post reports that some environmentalists are upset the EPA isn’t moving faster to revoke the more forgiving water regulations, which will remain in place until the part of the rulemaking process is complete.

Biden Won’t Allow Roads or Development in Tongass National Forest

In a different action, Biden officials also announced they would repeal or replace a Trump rule that allowed roads and other development in more than half of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, one of the world’s largest intact temperate rainforests. The Trump administration had sought to permit logging in the forest, and Alaska’s elected leaders have argued that the limits on roadbuilding impede not only logging but also other industrial activities, including mining.

Earth Just Got a New Ocean

The National Geographic Society has been making maps for more than 100 years, and in them four oceans have been recognized: the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic. Last week on World Oceans Day, the organization announced that it will now recognize a fifth—the Southern Ocean, which circulates all around Antarctica.

Geographers have debated whether the waters around Antarctica had enough unique characteristics to deserve their own name or whether they were simply cold, southern extensions of the other four. The other oceans are defined by the continents that fence them in, but the Southern Ocean is defined by a current.

National Geographic explained that scientists estimate that the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) was established roughly 34 million years ago when Antarctica separated from South America. That allowed for the unimpeded flow of water around the bottom of the Earth. The ACC flows from west to east around Antarctica, in a broad fluctuating band in which the waters are colder and slightly less salty than ocean waters to the north. By fencing in the frigid southern waters, the ACC helps keep Antarctica cold and the Southern Ocean ecologically distinct. Thousands of species live there and nowhere else.

By drawing attention to the Southern Ocean, the National Geographic Society hopes to promote its conservation.

Bomb Detectors Pick Up Singing from Reclusive Whales

Blue whales may be the biggest animals in the world, but they're also some of the hardest to find. It's estimated that about one-tenth of one percent of blue whales in the Southern Hemisphere survived whaling. They're also reclusive by nature and can cover vast areas of ocean. However, scientists listening through underwater bomb detector microphones have found a whole new population of pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) by hearing their singing.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization monitors international bomb testing and uses hydrophones to detect soundwaves from detonations. The recordings—which pick up many other detailed ocean sounds—are available to scientists, and a team of researchers led by University of New South Wales, Sydney was analyzing the recordings when they heard the blue whales.

Pygmy blue whales are the smallest members of the blue whale family, but they can reach up to 24 meters, almost as long as two busses. Like many other whales, blue whales are powerful singers. Their songs are very low frequency—barely audible to the human ear—and can travel anywhere between 200 and 500 kilometers.

The findings were published in Scientific Reports.

Plastic Barbie Makes Effort to Keep Oceans Free of Plastics

A significant amount of plastic waste in the oceans comes from toys, which isn’t surprising, given 90 percent of them are made from the material. But manufacturers are starting to recognize their impact. Mattel just launched a new collection called “Barbie Loves the Ocean,” where the iconic dolls will be made from plastic that would otherwise end up in the sea.

According to CNN, the company teamed up with major recycler Envision Plastics, which will collect waste around Mexico's Baja peninsula to make the dolls. The effort is part of Mattel’s sustainability goals to achieve 100 percent recycled, recyclable, or bio-based plastic materials across all its products and packaging by 2030. In April, they announced Mattel PlayBack, a program to recover and reuse materials from old Mattel toys, including Barbie®, to use in manufacturing future products.

The new line of three dolls and various beach-themed playsets also includes a partnership with the ocean cleanup organization 4ocean, which will sell a limited-edition, $20 4ocean x Barbie bracelet made with post-consumer recycled materials. For every bracelet sold, 4ocean will pull one pound of trash from oceans, rivers, and coastlines.

Mattel told CNN their efforts represent next steps in Barbie’s social mission and evolution. Barbie and friends have a popular YouTube channel where they share tips on how to protect the planet, and given that sales of the dolls were more than $1.3 billion last year, they just might have an impact.

Spider Silk Inspires Plastic Alternative

A new study released last week led by the University of Cádiz, Spain showed that plastic pollution from single-use bags, bottles, food containers, and food wrappers are the four most widespread items polluting the seas, making up almost half of the human-made waste in the oceans.

The researchers called for bans on some common throwaway items, and for producers to take more responsibility. And that’s just what researchers from the University of Cambridge have created—a plant-based sustainable material that mimics spider silk and could replace single-use plastics in many consumer products.

The material is home compostable, whereas other types of bioplastics require industrial facilities to degrade. Later this year, new products like dishwasher tablets and laundry detergent capsules will be marketed using the silk-like alternative.

The plastic alternative study was published in the journal Nature Communications.

H2O Radio’s goal is to help their audience become invested and knowledgeable caretakers of our environment and water supply by cutting through noise, opinion, and ideological narrative to present facts and truth with a clear, strong signal. Noting the urgent situation of climate change there is little time to waste.