The Week Ahead  

• Space: The SpaceX Dragon cargo ship will splash down to Earth on Tuesday and will contain troves of important data collected by NASA. The ship will contain the Mighty Mice in Space--40 mice that were launched earlier this year in an effort to study muscle degradation. 
• Tech: The Consumer Electronics Show runs from Jan 7-10th, if you're attending make sure to check out the panels on sustainable tech. 
• Congress: the Senate is out of session and while the House is in, there aren't currently any relevant climate/environment hearings scheduled. 

 Oceans

Northeast (NE) Canyons and Seamounts Monument Designation Stands

At the end of December, an appeals court in Washington, D.C. upheld the designation by President Obama of the first national "monument" in the Atlantic Ocean, the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Monument off the coast of Cape Cod, an area teeming with unique and endangered wildlife (such as North Atlantic Right Whales) and a spectacular topography of deep canyons and extinct volcanic peaks. 

• The monument was challenged by the fishing industry who argued that Obama exceeded his authority under the Antiquities Act that allows Presidents to designate special places and things as protected without a long rule-making process.

Why This Matters:  This is a clear win for the conservation of ocean natural resources, which are as precious as places on land like Yellowstone or Yosemite. 

• When President Trump took office, he immediately took aim at national monuments and eventually reduced Grand Staircase-Escalante by 45% and Bears Ears by 85%. 
• At the time he threatened to do the same to the NE Canyons and Seamounts saying that President Obama had exceeded his authority to designate the Atlantic ocean area a monument. 

• Numerous environmental organizations, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Earth Justice, Center for American Progress, National Ocean Protection Coalition and Conservation Law Foundation, worked hard to defend the monument even after the Trump administration sided with the fishing groups.

The Monument's Wonders  Read more....

To Go Deeper:  We highly recommend this 2018 National Geographic story about the wonders of the NE Canyons and Seamounts.  This guide by Earth Justice is also excellent.

 Health

Trump's Own Advisors Say Rule Rollbacks Buck Established Science

The Science Advisory Board of the Environmental Protection Agency, in a notice they buried with a New Year's Eve publication, took issue with four significant rule rollbacks --  the Trump administration’s rewrite of an Obama's definition of which waterways can be regulated, Obama's clean car rule on tailpipe emissions, a proposal to weaken an Obama rule on toxic air pollutants including mercury, and a new regulation to limit scientific data that can be used to draft health regulations -- saying that these rules "neglect established science" or contain "significant weaknesses in the scientific analysis."   

• According to The New York Times, a spokeswoman for the E.P.A., said, "that the agency 'always appreciates and respects the work and advice' of the scientific advisory board, while noting that Tuesday’s letters are drafts and could still be revised."

Why This Matters:  If an advisory board composed mostly of the Trump Administration's own hand-picked scientists, many of whom were known to be predisposed to favor industry views, can't stand behind these rules, then they should not go forward. 

• Policy differences are one thing, but rules based on shoddy analysis and that ignore the widely-accepted scientific understanding of the issues is just, well, really dumb and likely motivated by political special interests rather than what is best for the public. 

• The only silver lining is that at least the scientists spoke up.

The Problems The Advisors Found With The Rules  Read more...

 Land

Why This Matters: While brush fires do regularly occur in Australia, thesefires are not normal but may become the new normal with a rapidly warming planet. Additionally, Australia has been in the midst of a 3-year drought, and that drought is due in part to a typical weather pattern called the Indian Ocean Dipole. The Dipole is expected to increase in frequency as a result of climate change and along with rising average temperatures and staggeringly low humidity, the risk of brush fires in Australia drastically increases.These fires can't specifically be attributed to climate change but their jarring images are a reminder that we're driving our planet to a breaking point.

Go Deeper: At the Golden Globes last night Australian actress Nicole Kidman broke down with emotion over the fires and actor Russell Crowe emphasized the need for climate action in his acceptance speech.

 Energy

Oil Prices Rise -- Could This Be the Last Decade of Oil and Gas Industry Growth?

Oil prices spiked last Friday after the U.S. airstrike last week, finishing the week up 3.6% globally according to MarketWatch, and sparking fears that it could reach $80 a barrel (currently it is at $69/barrel). 

• But even before this latest price increase, industry experts were beginning to wonder whether "the oncoming 2020s may well go down in history as the decade when the world’s demand for crude peaked for good," the Houston Chronicle reported.

Why This Matters:  Looking back at the 2010s, it was the best of times and the worst of times -- both renewable energy and fracking boomed, making energy prices low -- which is good for businesses and consumers alike. 

• However, energy analysts see the handwriting on the wall -- that, as one put it, "[y]ou can paint a pretty bearish picture that oil demand is going to plateau before 2030." 
• Even CEO Ryan Lance of ConocoPhillips acknowledges that it is a "mature industry,"  while others note the "vicious negative feedback loop" caused by many downward forecasts for oil and gas demand over this decade. 

• And this is particularly true if more governments (including the U.S.) encourage the use of renewable energy and electric vehicles.

Oil and Gas Crystal Ball  Read more...

 Animals   

One Cool Thing: Costa Rican Wildlife

Recently Costa Rica made news because it hosts one of the world's five "Blue Zones," the places where people live the longest.  I (Monica) got to visit that region of the country last week, but what was more striking to me was all the ways that Costa Rica is a "Green Zone."  Everywhere you look there is wildlife -- the photos below were captured on my iPhone.  Even as I write this, the hand-sized insect above (can anyone identify it?) is hanging out one chair over from me on the deck.Nearly 28% of the country's land (according to the World Bank) and 16%  of its marine areas are under some sort of protection.

• Costa Rica's President, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, in a speech at the UN Climate Summit last September said, “The fires, floods and ice melts are planetary alarm bells for us humans to act. Costa Rica has heard these wake up calls loud and clear and wants all nations to join us in launching a High Ambition Coalition at the UNFCCC Pre Cop In San Jose, committing to protect 30% of our planet by 2030. If we urgently unite now we can restore and conserve nature, feed our people, and build thriving economies.”