TEN ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTS

April 2025

1. Plant diverse tree species to spread risk in climate crisis, study says

Frankie H.T. Chow et al., “Resilient tree-planting strategies for carbon dioxide removal under compounding climate and economic uncertainties,” PNAS (3 March 2025). bit.ly/4kn0UE9

Significance

“For many countries, large-scale tree planting is a crucial component of their decarbonization plans. This paper positions those decisions in the context of the substantial uncertainties surrounding both future climatic and economic conditions. Using the United Kingdom as an example, this paper finds the following: 1) Nations can expose themselves to substantial cost risk by pursuing planting strategies that ignore uncertainty. 2) Planting strategies that use portfolio approaches to diversify risk can substantially reduce exposure to downside cost extremes. 3) Portfolio approaches can mitigate some risk exposure, but significant cost risks still exist. 4) Despite this persistent risk profile, when compared to projected costs for alternative technologies, tree planting emerges as a highly cost-effective option for carbon dioxide removal.”

See also, Sandra Laville, ”Plant diverse tree species to spread risk in climate crisis, study says,” The Guardian (3 March 2025). bit.ly/4ioysQn

2.  Surge in marine heatwaves

Kathryn E. Smith, et al., “Ocean extremes as a stress test for marine ecosystems and society,” Nature Climate Change (25 Feb 2025). bit.ly/4iwyh5S

See also, Sophie Kevany, “Surge in marine heatwaves costs lives and billions in storm damage – study,” The Guardian (28 Feb 2025).

Floods, whale strandings and coral bleaching all more likely, say researchers, as 10% of ocean hits record high temperatures in 2023-24

The world’s oceans experienced three-and-a-half times as many marine heatwave days last year and in 2023 compared with any other year on record, a study has found.

The sustained spike in ocean temperatures cost lives and caused billions of dollars in storm damage, increased whale and dolphin stranding risks, harmed commercial fishing and sparked a global coral bleaching, according to the paper published on Friday in Nature Climate Change.

3. Increase in risks from atmospheric rivers

Lexi Henny and Kyu-Myong Kim, “The Changing Nature of Atmospheric Rivers,” Journal of Climate (15 March 2025). bit.ly/3FxBC6q

See also, Dani Anguiano et al., “Atmospheric river to wallop California as study finds storms getting worse,” The Guardian (12 March 2025).  bit.ly/4hBh61V via @guardian

A comprehensive study of atmospheric rivers in the current issue of the Journal of Climate found that the heavy rain and wind events most known for dousing California and other parts of the west have been getting bigger, wetter and more frequent in the past 45 years as the world warms.

Atmospheric rivers have increased in the area they soak by 6% to 9% since 1980, increased in frequency by 2% to 6% and are slightly wetter than before, the study said.

4. Ingesting plastic is leaving seabird chicks with brain damage

Alix M. De Jersey, et al., “Seabirds in crisis: Plastic ingestion induces proteomic signatures of multiorgan failure and neurodegeneration,” Science Advances (12 March 2025). bit.ly/4bWQTJT

See also, Patrick Greenfield, “Pollution leaves seabirds with brain damage similar to Alzheimer’s, study shows,” The Guardian (12 March 2025). bit.ly/41PYOnL

“Ingesting plastic is leaving seabird chicks with brain damage “akin to Alzheimer’s disease”, according to a new study – adding to growing evidence of the devastating impact of plastic pollution on marine wildlife.

Analysis of young sable shearwaters, a migratory bird that travels between Australia’s Lord Howe Island and Japan, has found that plastic waste is causing damage to seabird chicks not apparent to the naked eye, including decay of the stomach lining, cell rupture and neurodegeneration.

Blood tests indicated that the plastic pollution had left the chicks with severe health issues, disrupting the stomach, liver, kidneys and brain.”

5.  Background and implications of $660 million verdict against Greenpeace

Nicholas Kusnetz, “What a $660 Million Verdict Means for Greenpeace and the Environmental Movement,” The Guardian (21 March 2025).   bit.ly/41LBPdA

“… a jury in North Dakota found Greenpeace liable for more than $660 million in damages to Energy Transfer, the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline. It was a monumental verdict that many civil society groups and First Amendment lawyers have warned could chill free speech.

The case stems from the protests that erupted near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in 2016, when Indigenous activists and environmentalists gathered to oppose construction of the pipeline, which crossed the Missouri River close to the reservation. Standing Rock leaders warned that a spill could contaminate their water supply and that construction would disturb sacred lands, and said they had not been properly consulted.

Some of the protests included acts of vandalism and clashes with pipeline company employees and law enforcement, and Energy Transfer accused Greenpeace of providing financial and other support to the people involved. Greenpeace said it played only a minor role in the protests.

The jury ruled against Greenpeace on numerous counts, however, finding it liable for trespass, conspiracy, defamation and other offenses. The case named three Greenpeace entities as defendants, two in the United States and its international umbrella organization.”

6.  Recovery of the American oystercatcher

Jon Hurdle, “Oystercatcher Recovery Campaign Offers a Rare Success Story about Shorebird Conservation,” inside climate news (20 March 2025). bit.ly/4bUskO3

“Fifteen years of coordinated conservation efforts have produced a significant recovery in the U.S. population of the American oystercatcher, a bird with a distinctive bright red bill that breeds and roosts on beaches and coastal marshes, at a time when most shorebirds are declining.

The American Oystercatcher Recovery Campaign, a coalition of about 40 conservation private nonprofits and government agencies across the United States, reported a 45 percent increase in the number of oystercatchers from 2008 to 2023, bringing the total population to an estimated 14,735 birds.”

Before the campaign, oystercatcher numbers were declining amid commercial development of Atlantic and Gulf beaches and as nesting areas were disturbed by car traffic and, in some cases, dogs roaming off leash.”

7.  Giant blobs along 5,000-mile-wide sargassum belt has killed animals, harmed human health and discouraged tourism

Julien Jouanno, et al., “An extreme North Atlantic Oscillation event drove the pelagic Sargassum tipping point,” Communications Earth & Environment (8 Feb 2025). go.nature.com/4hwNPpa

Abstract:  The proliferation of pelagic Sargassum in the tropical Atlantic since 2011 is causing considerable health and economic concerns as large amounts of this brown alga arrive and accumulate in coastal ecosystems of western Africa and of the greater Caribbean Sea every year. Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain the recurrence of Sargassum blooms since 2011 and their year-to-year variability. Among the hypotheses being debated about the origin and nutrient source to support the blooms are either: a) an increase in nutrient supply to the Atlantic Ocean via continental, or atmospheric inputs, or b) long-distance transport of a seed population during the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) event of 2009/2010 and stimulation of blooms in the tropical North Atlantic by nutrient supply primarily due to seasonal vertical mixing of the upper water column. The aim of this study is to address these alternate hypotheses. To this end, interannual numerical simulations (2002-2022) representing the transport, growth, and decay of pelagic Sargassum have been developed at basin scale. Our results confirm the role played by the NAO transport anomaly on the regime shift that occurred in 2010, and the primary role of vertical mixing in the tropical Atlantic as the primary nutrient source for the recurring blooms since 2011.

See also, Richard Luscombe, “Scientists identify ‘tipping point’ that caused clumps of toxic Florida seaweed,” The Guardian (22 March 2025) bit.ly/4hF1V86 via @guardian

8.  A global assessment of microplastic pollution’s impact on food security.

Ruijie Zhu, et al., “A global estimate of multiecosystem photosynthesis losses under microplastic pollution,” Biophysics and Computational Biology (10 March 2025).  bit.ly/4kMYC1r

See also, George Monbiot, “What’s in the millions of tonnes of sludge spread on to UK farmland? Toxic waste – and ministers don’t care,” The Guardian (21 March 2025).  bit.ly/4iVTXZo

New research shows how microplastics absorbed by plants could severely inhibit photosynthesis, and therefore crop production. All the major sources of microplastics in farmland soils arise from breathtaking negligence. In some places, trailer loads of microplastic have been spread deliberately by farmers to make the soil more friable…

But the major source of microplastics in fields is likely to be sewage sludge spreading. What are the combined impacts on crops of microplastics and the many other toxic compounds in contaminated sewage sludge? Again, no one knows.

At no point in the chain is adequate routine testing conducted: not of the contents of the tankers before they discharge into the   receiving repeated applications; not of the crops, meat and milk coming from those fields. But of one thing we can be sure: like the chemicals themselves, the impacts will accumulate over time.”

9.  Mountain waters are essential to humans and ecosystems

Mountains and Glaciers: Water towers, 2025 United Nations World Water Development Report

The 2025 edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report highlights the importance of mountain waters, including alpine glaciers, which are vital for meeting basic human needs such as water supply and sanitation. They are also essential to ensuring food and energy security to billions of people living in and around mountain regions and areas downstream. They also support economic growth through various water-reliant industries. As the ‘water towers’ of the world, mountains are an essential source of fresh water. They store water in the form of ice and snow during cold seasons, releasing it during warmer seasons as a major source of fresh water for users downstream. Mountains play a unique and critical role in the global water cycle, and they affect atmospheric circulation, which drives weather and precipitation patterns.

See also, “Glacier meltdown risks food and water supply of 2 billion people, says UN,” The Guardian bit.ly/4hyn1VC

10.  Earth’s Land Masses Are Drying Out Fast

Ki-Weon, Seo et al., “Abrupt sea level rise and Earth’s gradual pole shift reveal permanent hydrological regime changes in the 21st century,” Science (25 March 2025).  bit.ly/3Ybzfwn

See also, Bob Berwyn, “Earth’s Land Masses Are Drying Out Fast, Scientists Warn: Researchers comparing satellite measurements of the planet’s water with the wobble in its rotation identified a steady loss of global soil moisture,” Inside Climate News (27 March 2025).

“Earth has lost enough soil moisture in the last 40 years to change the planet’s spin and shift the location of the North Pole, according to a new study published today in Science that tracks how human activities have disrupted the global water cycle. The persistent loss of water from land to oceans has dried out huge portions of every continent and may be irreversible …

“Large regions in East and Central Asia, Central Africa, and North and South America show pronounced depletion,” between 2003 and 2007, the authors wrote. When they extended the timeframe to 2021, the depletion of soil moisture grew large enough to cover those areas and also included Europe and the Eastern U.S.

“This study provides robust evidence of an irreversible shift in terrestrial water sources under the present changes in climate…

“The continents are drying out over time…”