Since October, a group of concerned citizens in western Mumbai has been meeting every weekend to beautify the severely polluted Versova Beach. In less than a year, the so-called Versova Resident Volunteers have cleared over 4 million pounds of trash from the shoreline. Washington Post
A weightlifter from Kiribati who is currently competing in Rio has attracted a following for his spirited dance moves at the Games. A cyclone destroyed Katoatau’s family home, and the athlete hopes to use his Olympic platform to raise awareness for how climate change threatens Pacific island nations. Reuters
Scientists looked at ancient ice cores and found that 128,000 years ago, winter sea ice around the continent shrank by 65 percent in response to a natural warm period. The findings indicate that current warming caused by human activity could trigger a similar effect. Reuters
The sad moral of this story is that it’s very hard to be a C.E.O. for tomorrow, when the markets only care about being a C.E.O. for today.
—Aron Cramer, C.E.O. of Business for Social Responsibility, discusses the difficulties faced by traditional electricity producers that want to be leaders in the transition to clean energy.
Ninety percent of Madagascar’s 13,000 known plant species are found nowhere else on earth, but slash and burn agriculture threatens much of the island’s flora with extinction. As insurance against the species’ disappearance, researchers at the United Kingdom’s Kew Gardens are racing to collect as many seeds as possible in the institution’s Millennium Seed Bank. The Guardian
Deepwater Wind will build five turbines off the coast of Rhode Island. Experts say the project marks the dawn of a new era for the wind industry. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has awarded 11 offshore wind energy leases for elsewhere in the Atlantic, and many states are starting to push for more renewable energy—including offshore wind. Associated Press
A new study finds that the skills required of workers in each industry are surprisingly similar. The authors suggest that coal workers could be cheaply retrained for solar jobs as clean energy replaces the dirty fuel. Vox
Just 12 years ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service placed the rare canid on the Endangered Species List. Yesterday, three subspecies found on San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz islands pounced right off of it, and the status of the Santa Catalina Island subspecies rose from endangered to threatened. Eliminating feral pigs, relocating non-native golden eagles, and captive breeding were all part of the successful recovery effort. NPR
A study of Douglas firs across the American West finds that as temperatures rise, the trees become less productive and have stunted growth. Making matters worse, the trees also absorb less CO2 from the atmosphere, which could affect the global carbon cycle as the climate continues to warm. Scientific American
Switching the city’s water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River was expected to save $5 million. But the ensuing lead-tainted water crisis will cost Flint almost $460 million. Grist