anne marie higgins is dedicated to monitoring red-tailed hawks in syracuse, new york. she often spends hours daily observing and documenting them. hawks are a vital part of the ecosystem we live in, helping to control populations of rodents and small mammals, therefore maintaining an ecological balance. due to the nature of being a top predator, hawks face a wide variety of threats including rodenticide poisoning and avian influenza. higgins founded the red-tailed hawk tales facebook page and helped fund syracuse university’s first hawk nest camera in 2016. through her facebook page and the nest-cam, higgins educates and inspires, fostering awareness and appreciation about and for the natural world.

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after hurricane sandy hit new york city in 2012, parts of the city were inundated. more than 40 people died, millions of new yorkers were without power, and hundreds of homes were destroyed. 

joe christo, who helped lead the city’s recovery efforts, said the storm was a wake-up call to the dangers of sea level rise. the hurricane cost the city $19 billion in damages, according to a report by the new york city comptroller. 

christo now works as managing director of the stone living lab, a boston-based partnership between the university of massachusetts boston’s school of the environment, boston harbor now, the city of boston, and other state and local environmental groups.

“a sandy-like storm will hit here,” christo said about boston. “and we want to try to be as prepared and ready as possible.” coastal communities are most at risk when sea level rise combines with high tides and a severe storm like sandy — the triple threat that slammed manhattan. 

to the north, about one-sixth of boston sits on landfill, making it particularly vulnerable to sea level rise. this vulnerability is made worse by sea levels rising faster — scientists predict about 1 inch every eight years. at this rate, by 2050 boston could see over a foot of sea level rise compared to 2016.

as part of the climate ready boston initiative, the city developed coastal resilience plans for all 47 miles of its coastline. the plans include developing coastal parks, raising harbor walks, building seawalls, and adapting waterfront buildings, with a focus on completing projects in high flood-risk areas by 2030.

the stone living lab’s goal is to scale up nature-based approaches as a defense against sea level rise. 

“a traditional vertical seawall works against water, and nature-based approaches work with water,” christo said. “water’s always going to win, so you want to be working with it and be able to absorb and adapt instead of trying to fight against it.”

nature-based approaches include restoring salt marshes, building oyster reefs, protecting sand dunes, and building coastal parks. christo said these approaches protect the shorelines and also bring co-benefits, like increasing biodiversity and sequestering carbon. 

most recently, the lab has been testing out a living seawall and an erosion prevention project. the hope is that these projects can provide compelling evidence for the benefits of nature-based approaches so that they can become more mainstream. 

“we want these lessons to be applied to other coastal areas throughout north america and throughout the world,” christo said. 

the stone living lab’s nature-inspired seawall

in east boston’s harbor, a handful of snails, two mussels, and species of algae are nestled into the crevices and divots across the surface of concrete panels installed on a vertical seawall. 

the species are able to call this spot their new home thanks to the living seawalls pilot project, a nature-based solution spearheaded by the stone living lab that turns traditional seawalls, usually devoid of life, into a space for marine biodiversity. in october, panels were installed at two existing seawalls in east boston and the seaport. 

the 40-pound, 2-by-2-foot panels were 3d printed to mimic natural habitats along the shoreline. they were installed along the intertidal line of the seawalls to be submerged at high tide and exposed at low. the whole project cost $400,000, according to christo.

the panels are regularly monitored by a group from project partner umass boston for changes in marine life, with portions of the seawall left without panels to serve as a comparison. 

jarrett byrnes, the project lead and associate professor at umass boston, said seawalls are an inevitable part of combating sea level rise, especially in urban areas where space is limited. but a slab of concrete or stacks of granite blocks is not ideal for marine biodiversity. 

“what we are trying to do with the living seawall project is create a habitat for native biodiversity to survive and thrive,” he said. “we’re trying to turn what is a win-lose into a win-win.”

the panels provide a rocky intertidal habitat — places with shade and moisture where species like mussels, crabs, and algae can thrive.

although it’s the seawall structure that protects against rising waters, byrnes said it’s possible that species growth on the panels could dampen wave action, a potential added benefit. 

byrnes is excited to know what the surface of the living seawalls will look like in a year. he predicts that because each panel is uniquely textured, different species will thrive on certain panels. 

“as we continue to armor our shorelines, i’m hoping that this is going to be one arrow in our quiver of making sure that coastal armoring doesn’t mean reducing nature,” he said. 

installing cobble berms across massachusetts’ coast

a strip of cobblestones along the coastline may look unassuming in massachusetts, where rocky shorelines are common. but these strips of 3- to 10-inch sized rocks, otherwise known as cobble berms, protect against sea level rise and storm surge. 

cobble berms are often naturally occurring on rocky coastlines. stones are pushed toward the back of the beach by waves, forming a berm, or a flat strip of raised land. the berms absorb wave energy and protect coastal banks and dunes from erosion. 

seawalls often have waves crashing over them and can cause erosion to the beach in front of them. cobble berms act differently. 

“if you think about a cushion, the cobble berms will move and act as a cushion to some of that wave energy, as opposed to say, a concrete seawall,” said kirk bosma, a senior coastal engineer at the woods hole group. 

the stone living lab, in partnership with the woods hole group and massachusetts office of coastal zone management, recently launched a cobble berms monitoring project. several man-made berms and enhancements to natural ones were installed at six sites across massachusetts, including one in boston. 

over the past two years, research staff partnered with the stone living lab have regularly surveyed the berms. 

data is still being gathered, but from preliminary findings, bosma said that in all six locations, erosion was reduced in areas behind the cobble berms. the data also showed an increase in species richness between cobbles and near the cobble berms, and further analysis is underway. 

“there is some added benefit beyond what they are able to do from a resiliency perspective,” bosma said. 

bosma hopes to install a pilot cobble berm in boston for an in-depth study. he envisions testing out different designs with varying shapes and sizes of cobbles, as well as tagging the cobbles to see how they move over time. 

“we’re learning … what mother nature wants to do to provide resilience,” bosma said. 

sea turtles have been navigating the world’s oceans for millions of years, and they have a timeless ritual of returning to the same sites to lay their eggs. but now, climate change is forcing these ancient nomads to face an uncertain future, turning them into climate refugees. 

the exact locations where sea turtles have lived for generations are in danger due to rising sea levels, deteriorating beaches, and more harsh weather. we explore the difficulties these animals encounter in this comic, including how storms and warming temperatures are changing their environment and driving them to extinction.

but amid this crisis, there’s hope, as sea turtles continue their struggle for survival. this story serves as a call to action and a reminder that our destiny is linked to that of sea turtles. come learn how climate change is affecting these beloved animals’ futures and what we can do to help preserve them.

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giant clams are iconic animals on the corals reefs and in some pacific islands. they also play an important role in food security and cultural practices for the people of guam.

due to climate change and outside influences, giant clam populations have been declining around the pacific. in response, local communities and governments have been working together and across borders to restore their numbers.

earlier this year, the national oceanic and atmospheric administration put forward a proposal to update the status of giant clams under the endangered species act and increase federal protections. however, many local researchers and community members oppose this, as they believe such projects would make local restoration initiatives and cultural practices more difficult, if not impossible. this story follows indigenous scientist frank roberto’s project in giant clam restoration on guam and his response to the proposal within his community.

the d.c. climate rally “every day counts,” was hosted in collaboration with more than 30 climate advocacy groups. attendees held signs such as “stop oil now,” “green new deal now,” and “off fossil fuels,” while chanting “yolo joe” and “climate justice now.” speakers urged president joe biden to enforce stricter climate regulations and pardon climate activists — and to do it now.

acting at an inflection point

keanu arpels-josiah, a youth organizer with fridays for future nyc, the group founded by greta thunberg in 2018, urged the crowd to demand actions like designating federal lands as off-limits for drilling, canceling new oil and gas projects, and reallocating mass transit funding from the ira and bipartisan infrastructure law. 

hours after the 2024 presidential election was called for donald trump, the biden administration announced limitations to oil drilling in alaska’s arctic national wildlife refuge. although the leasing of land in the refuge for oil is mandated under a 2017 law, signed by then-president trump, biden’s outgoing government moved to lease the bare minimum amount of land before the deadline of the end of the year.

but protestors at sunday’s rally remained anxious about the signals from the incoming administration.

arpels-josiah criticized trump’s nomination of chris wright, an oil and gas executive, to lead the department of energy, calling him a “fossil fuel ceo.” he also condemned trump’s choice for epa administrator, former new york republican representative lee zeldin, describing him as a “deregulatory champion” whose plans would “tear apart” the future of the planet.  

“that ain’t right,” arpels-josiah said. “that’s not the future we deserve.”

in a post on x, wright has defended his appointment to lead the department of energy, claiming he would “better human lives” by ensuring energy is “affordable, reliable, and secure.” in a video posted on linkedin, wright denied climate change: “there is no climate crisis and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition either.” 

zeldin, trump’s pick for epa administrator, pledged in a post on x to restore “energy dominance” while ensuring access to clean air and water. he also criticized biden for canceling the keystone xl pipeline, a proposed extension of an oil pipeline system running between canada and the united states.

trump, through his agenda47 and the republican national committee platforms, has pledged to undo biden’s climate policies. his plans include withdrawing from the paris climate accords again, restarting oil production in recently restricted areas, and pulling away funding from the inflation reduction act. 

charting the path forward

keya chatterjee, executive director of the us climate action network, also spoke at the rally. she warned attendees against participating in “anticipatory obedience,” which she described as abandoning the fight against climate change out of fear that a second trump administration will roll back regulations. 

“we are not going to anticipate in fear and not do things,” chatterjee said. “we’re going to live big and we’re going to do big.” 

among the rally participants, mechanical engineer nick tatnall, 29, said trump’s appointments reflect his self-serving interests. tatnall’s own passion for the environment was sparked by visiting national parks, and he expressed concerns that a second trump administration will weaken regulations and expand drilling on public lands.

“i just hope the next four years are not as bad as we think they will be,” he said.

julia barnes, 30, a podcast producer, said she had hoped vice president kamala harris would win the election but was not surprised by trump’s victory. barnes criticized trump’s track record on the environment. 

“climate is incredibly low on his agenda,” she said, adding that her biggest fear is seeing no progress on climate issues for another four years.

organizers said that through the event more than 470 people signed up to participate in training, movement-building efforts, and continued organizing over the next 60 days, with plans to sustain their actions through trump’s inauguration.

salmon is one of the most-farmed fish in norway’s aquaculture industry, which works by raising fish offshore in large open-net pens. norway’s salmon farms produce the highest amount of farmed salmon in the world at about 1.2 million tonnes each year. 

but tiny organisms known as “sea lice” are infecting farmed salmon populations at high levels. 

for the salmon industry, “sea lice is the number one problem here in norway,” said jelena kolaveric, a professor and researcher at the arctic university of norway in tromsø. 

a growing problem for arctic salmon farms

first prevalent in salmon farms along the southern coast of the country, the lice have spread to affect farms along the northern coast. and the climate change connection is clear: warmer water temperatures allow sea lice to reproduce faster. so as northern waters rise in temperature, even just a few degrees, the problem is spreading into the arctic.

monica eide, a community contact for gratanglaks, a salmon farming company based in the grantangen municipality in troms, norway, said this summer was particularly bad for salmon farms in northern norway.  

“we had a marine heat wave in the arctic this summer, and the temperature increased by 4-5 degrees,”  said elisabeth ytteborg, a senior researcher at nofima, whose research focuses primarily on climate change impacts to aquaculture. all that heat, says ytteborg, has led to “a sea lice explosion in the north”

but the process of fighting off the lice has its own challenges. the salmon farming industry in norway, and across the world, has received criticism for some of its negative environmental impacts. these include dumping chemicals into the oceans to get rid of the lice, diseases spreading to wild salmon populations, and farmed salmon escaping and interbreeding with wild salmon.  

delousing: harder than it looks

a longstanding method of treating the lice is to take the salmon out of the sea, remove lice in tanks on land, and return the salmon to their offshore pens. but this method isn’t ideal. 

“we’re hoping to find a system where we don’t have to take them up because that’s stressing the fish,” said eide. “what we really would like to do is to get rid of lice without handling the fish that much, without taking it out from the sea.” 

another, more recent method, which is employed at gratanglaks, is to use lasers to detect lice, and once detected, the lasers shoot at the lice to kill them off one by one. according to kvaroy arctic, a salmon farming company, the salmon aren’t hurt by the process. however, individually killing off the lice is time consuming. 

kolaveric’s research aims to address some of those environmental concerns with salmon farming. what if salmon farming could be done in tanks on land kept free of sea lice or other pathogens?  her research is primarily on recirculating aquaculture systems (ras). this is a relatively new type of technology where seawater is recycled and reused to produce salmon in water tanks on land. a challenge this system faces is that trying to replicate on land the ecological needs the salmon receive from ocean water can be expensive and energy intensive. however, kolaveric hopes it will push the industry forward to a more sustainable method of salmon production. 

“these recirculation systems, they give you an opportunity to better control the environment, and also give you flexibility,” said kolaveric. “because in a ras system, you can adjust your temperature, you can adjust your oxygen.” that control, she says, can prevent lice from infesting the pools. 

seeking holistic solutions

ytteborg emphasizes that it’s important to keep in mind that the fish aren’t solely affected by rising temperatures, but also the various stressors associated with salmon farming in general, such as viruses, bacteria and parasites. there is also the stress coming from the production itself, vaccinations, transportation and treatment. 

she emphasizes the value in doing more research to try to understand how a fluctuating environment will affect the fish on top of other stressors.  

“we need to work more trans-sectoral. biologists like me need to work with the climatologists to understand how the environment will change and how it may impact the animals, and then we need to work with the industry to see what kind of measures they have and what kind of procedures they do,” said ytteborg. “and then it’s not like one size fits all because climate change will affect one area very differently from another one and different strategies are needed.” 

eide, whose company aims to find more sustainable methods of lice treatment and salmon production, highlights the relationship between salmon farmers and the fish themselves. 

“we want them to be healthy, we want them to have a good time. we don’t want to hurt them, but there’s also a lot of things happening in the industry that aren’t good,” said eide. “not all of us are aware of what we’re doing to the fish so i think we have a lot of things that we could be better on, and i think we should be open about that too.”

the policy and advocacy subcommittee has decided to pursue a year-long project on equitable land use in d.c.’s waste infrastructure. this project will further focus on waste systems in d.c., looking at the distribution of waste facilities and practices over the eight d.c. wards. the team is currently in the process of gathering further background information on the history of waste in d.c., current procedures, and the different stakeholders involved. they are hoping to combat the discrepancies in this system that disproportionately affects poorer neighborhoods in d.c.. ejan’s co-presidents kaitlyn gang and jonathan lippolis spoke on the importance of advocating for the environment in the political sphere.

ejan is a relatively new organization at gw. “it’s kind of a complicated story, originally ejan was started in 2020 by a group of students,” lippolis said. “they came into the first year with the idea of having subcommittees, i think that was kind of from the jump, and then that first e-board came about and founded ejan.” after the original e-board graduated, gang and lippolis continued the club with the rest of the subcommittees.

gang and lippolis share a strong passion for environmental advocacy. “coming into gw i was undecided, i didn’t know what i wanted to do, i was actually more interested in stem before this, like biology. then i took the society and environment class and just loved it,” gang explained. “that entire class i feel like really made me fall in love with environmental studies which is why i ended up choosing the environmental studies major.” gang is also a political science major at gw, making a policy and advocacy subcommittee perfect for her skillset. lippolis first became interested in ejan out of a desire to participate in climate groups. “i wanted to get involved in climate related issues and movements.”

the associated press called the race in the early morning of nov. 6. the final battleground state of arizona was called saturday evening, leaving trump with 312 electoral votes, including all seven swing states, and harris with 226 electoral votes. 

based on trump’s 2024 campaign platform, known as agenda47, the republican national committee (rnc) platform, and trump’s past denial of climate change, trump’s second term in office is likely to have far-reaching implications on climate change efforts.

energy production:

“republicans will unleash energy production from all sources, including nuclear, to immediately slash inflation and power american homes, cars, and factories with reliable, abundant, and affordable energy,” the rnc platform states. 

the rnc agenda also stated their goals of making america energy independent again and achieving lower energy prices than during trump’s first administration. 

on trump’s agenda47 website, regarding energy, they cited research from the heritage foundation, an organization “mobilizing” the conservative movement, stating biden has increased the cost of gas and oil by 50%. 

the agenda47 website also states biden’s climate regulations have caused the u.s. to surrender its economy to china. it also identified what they considered negative outcomes of biden’s climate regulations, including stopping drilling for oil in alaska’s arctic national wildlife refuge and canceling the keystone xl pipeline. according to agenda47, the pipeline would have “created 830,000 barrels of oil per day” for american refineries and “created high-paying jobs.”

paris climate accords: 

trump’s campaign website stated that if he wins the 2024 presidential election, he will exit the paris climate accords again.

united nations climate change states the paris climate accords is an international treaty designed to combat climate change. the treaty was adopted on dec. 12, 2015, by 196 countries, including the united states, at the climate change conference cop21 in paris, france. 

trump during his first administration announced his intentions to leave the paris climate accords on june 1, 2017, because of the “unfair economic burden” it left on americans. 

on his first day in office on jan. 20, 2021, president biden rejoined the paris climate accords. as part of rejoining the agreement, biden pledged to cut all greenhouse gas emissions from the u.s. electric sector by 2035 and make the u.s. a carbon-neutral country by 2050.

politico reported trump leaving the paris climate accords for a second time would mean the u.s. would no longer be among the 200 world governments that have made non-binding pledges to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

inflation reduction act:

one of biden’s main efforts to address climate change during his presidency was through the inflation reduction act (ira), signed on aug. 16, 2022, which provided funding for local projects focused on clean energy, climate mitigation and resilience, agriculture, and conservation-related investment.

trump said that if he wins the 2024 presidential election he would pull funds away from the biden administration’s inflation reduction act during his second term. trump did not specify what programs funded by the ira he would pull back on.

“it actually sets us back, as opposed to moves us forward,” trump said. “and [i will] rescind all unspent funds under the misnamed inflation reduction act.”

but in trump’s previous administration, the new york times reported that by the end of his presidency, trump had completed “rollbacks” on 98 environmental policies and was in progress on an additional 14. 

trump’s climate change denial:

before trump ran for president in 2016, he was known for calling climate change, or global warming, a “hoax”: “the concept of global warming was created by and for the chinese in order to make u.s. manufacturing non-competitive,” trump wrote on x in 2012. 

more recently, on sept. 29, three days after the impact of hurricane helene on the southeastern u.s., trump denied the existence of climate change, during a campaign rally in pennsylvania, calling it “one of the greatest scams of all time.”

trump did not address climate change in his victory speech. 

he will be inaugurated as president on jan. 20, 2025, on the west front of the u.s. capitol.