Some Positive Environmental News

So! Scientists have given us around 11–12 years left to live, the ocean has giant patches of plastic in it killing wildlife, animals are going extinct in record numbers in recent history, and a cartoon villain from a Captain Planet episode is in charge of the current global hegemon (he’s orange and everything).

It’s easy to feel fatalistic about the state of the world, especially in regards to the environment. Fatalism in the younger generation is especially high and doubts that we can get through this, that collective action is possible, that there is hope at all are even higher.

But it’s not over yet, in the words of my personal favorite movie:

“It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? … But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come.”

I can’t tell you if a new day is coming just quite yet, but here’s some good news on the state of the environment.

1. The Great Barrier Reef is getting Some Robotic Assistance

Our oceans are in trouble, which means we are in trouble since oceans absorb a significant amount of CO2 and support a huge amount of economic activity. That being said, they have absorbed enough carbon to send the pH levels soaring and begin a process called “ocean acidification.” Which truthfully sounds like an evil…