The Top 5 Happy Eco News Stories for April 11, 2022

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How to Save Penguins in Cape Town

Guest Post by: Felicitas Taube, Blogger on Eco Warrior

When it comes to Seabirds many of us will think of that one Seagull that was brave enough to steal the chips we so desperately wanted after a long day at the beach. But did you ever think about what might happen to them if they eat bad food? Do they get food poisoning just like us? Is there something like a hospital that helps them to regain their strength? Yes there is! At least in Cape Town, where I spent a day at the SANCCOB Sanctuary. 

SANCCOB stands for “The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds” and has been saving Seabirds since 1968. A remarkable woman called Althea Louise Burman Westphal started the project in her own home. She treated oiled penguins after the first major oil spill from Esso Essen and started rehabilitating 60 penguins. She scrubbed them with water and soap in her bathtub, gave them fish every few hours and provided a home in her garden. Even though the penguins had a pool in the garden she still drove two or three times a week to the beach so that the penguins could swim in a tide pool for an hour…[read more].

Becoming a Sustainable Company: What (Not) To Do

Guest Post by: Job van Hooijdonk , co-founder of Regreener 

Despite a huge drop in global emissions in 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, emissions made their comeback and climbed to a record high in 2021. Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is becoming an increasingly unlikely scenario. Only if the world comes up with much more ambitious plans to reduce emissions, the Paris Agreement’s goal is still feasible, concludes the UN climate panel IPCC in a report that was released last week.

On a positive note, we see more and more businesses taking their responsibility. The time for pointing fingers is over. Companies realize that they will lose their raison d’être if they do nothing. However, although awareness is there, we also see that lots of companies are afraid to actually start acting “green”. Their biggest fear? Being accused of greenwashing.

The term greenwashing is like the game over button in fighting climate change. Greenwashing is defined as “the intersection of two firm behaviors: poor environmental performance and positive communication about environmental performance”…[read more].

The Happy Eco News Weekly Top 5

1. UN Ocean Treaty is ‘Once in a Lifetime’ Chance to Protect the High Seas

Takeaways:

• UN participants – a group of 50 countries- have signed up to the 30×30 coalition and aims to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030.
• They have also aim to agree on a legal framework for protecting international waters and biodiversity and govern the high seas.
• “The treaty won’t create protections for hotspots but will hopefully create a structure so that we can create international parks for the first time,” said Doug McCauley, associate professor of ocean science at the Benioff Ocean Initiative at the University of California…[read more].

2. Welcome to Invasivorism, the Boldest Solution to Ethical Eating Yet

Takeaways:

• Invasivorism was coined by conservation biologist Joe Roman 20 years ago, referring to eating invasive species out of existence.
• Roman calls his work an important step forward and key to incorporating invasivorism into conservation policies and it has led to more practical ideas about how harvesting can work.
• Studies have shown that while prevention is the best way to keep invasive species out of the ecosystem, if that fails harvest incentives can have a real potential…[read more].

3. In Rio de Janeiro, a Forest Slowly Returns to Life, One Species at a Time

Takeaways:

• Tijuca National Park in Rio de Janeiro is becoming a laboratory for the reintroduction locally extinct species.
• This process is called refaunation which is the restoration of extant species to their original geographical distribution such as the agoutis.
• Other species the park is hoping to reintroduce is the howler monkey and the yellow-footed tortoise…[read more].

4. CEO Says It’s Possible Nobody Will Eat Meat by 2035

Takeaways:

• Patrick Brown, the CEO of Impossible Foods claims that his company’s plant-based meat is going to get even better that no one will be eating meat by 2035.
• One of the reasons is because of the increased amount of pollution that agriculture and meat animals create which contributes to climate change.
• While the company has been around since 2011, many more fast food and restaurant chains are beginning to serve Impossible Meat on their menus…[read more].

5. The Air Force Just Soared Past an Electric Aircraft Milestone

Takeaways:

• The Alia aircraft is an experimental aircraft that produces no emissions while in the air.
• Many startups are looking for ways to create planes that can take off and land vertically like a helicopter but fly like an airplane powered by batteries.
• The industry term for these aircrafts is eVTOLs, which stands for electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft…[read more].

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