Welcome back to some more good news!

This week, we have a lot of good news for food-lovers out there (and anyone who eats food). We also take a look into the (hopeful) banishment of new oil drilling, and a cool ultramarathon in support of the earth. Dive in!

Science

👀 More Food Per Crop

• Researchers at the University of Illinois are experimenting with new ways to increase the amount of a CO₂ that sugarcane and sorghum can take effectively use

• This leads to bigger crops and less CO₂ in the air

• On average, the added Rubisco increased growth by 16%

• Scientists are continuing to try to improve photosynthesis in other plants

• This finding is vital in the fight against food scarcity, allowing us to create more food with the same crops

Business

The Invention of Super-Greenhouses

• Problem: in a world with an ever-increasing temperature, can crops stay cool enough to produce food?

• Increased heat leads to crop stress and more water, cooling and fertilizer at best, or crop death entirely at worst

• SecondSky, developed by Iyris, reduces temperatures in greenhouses by up to 7°C (44.6°F)

  • Nanotech fitted within plastic polymer sheeting of the greenhouse cuts out infrared solar radiation → reducing heat but not light

  • Iyris claims crops can be grown with up to 30% less water

• Farmers ranging from Saudi Arabia and Egypt to the USA, Europe, and South America have adopted the technology to ensure safety of crops for the future

• The company is also focusing on making historically less arable land viable for crop growth

  Read more at CNN

Politics

Goodbye Coastal Oil Rigs 🙏

• President Biden is set to announce a ban on new drilling areas across ~625 million acres of coastal territory, protecting them from drilling and fossil fuel accidents

• Would rule out sale of drilling rights on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, as well as eastern Gulf of Mexico (but possibly not the central and western portions)

• Announcement is still being finalized, and will be released on Monday, January 6

Activism

7 Month Ultramarathon

• Two groups of runners, each led by indigenous leaders, converged in Colombia

  • Group 1, known as Eagle, started from Fairbanks, Alaska, representing indigenous people from the north

  • Group 2, known as Condor, started from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, representing indigenous people from the south

  • Both groups met in Colombia

• The Goal: restore ancient relations between indigenous communities and collect sacred staffs imbued with prayers from 200 native nations

• The run focused on finding a balance between mind and heart, and honoring Mother Earth along the way

• The comforting part is that some governments even assisted monetarily with this venture, and supplied vehicles or food

• A sharp U-Turn from the capitalistic, money-centric view of today’s world, leaders and runners in this movement took extra efforts to place utmost reverence and priority to the Earth, the rivers, and the land around them

Thank you so much for reading!

If you like the content you’ve been reading, I would encourage you to introduce us to your friends who are also into climate news! We all need some positive news these days.

~ Dhanvi