2020 Environmental Recap

2020 Enviromental Recap

A recap on what the earth has been up to during quarantine

— Leah Emineth, General Reporter Throughout 2020 there have been numerous environmental events. Many of these environmental things people do not know about. With the coronavirus being the main topic for many news channels, there is little to no awareness about what has actually been going on.

Australian Bush Fires

The Australian bushfires started in June 2019 and lasted until May 2020. According to disasterhilanthropy.org, “more than 46 million acres of land and about 3,500 homes were burned, thousands of other buildings were lost and 34 people died.” These fires caused historic levels of drought and large amounts of ash that polluted the air. There was about about 800,000 animals reported dead due to the fires. The Insurance Council estimated bush fire losses were about $1.3 billion US dollars. Smoke from the fires began to spread around the globe and left many places filled with dark skies and unhealthy breathing conditions. Photo sourced from creative commons

Photo sourced from creative commons

Locust swarms in East Africa

Locust swarms have been destroying farmland in East African countries such as Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia. Starting in December 2019, Kenya has seen its worst locust swarms in 70 years. The swarms likely started due to extreme weather events. The swarms usually have between 40 to 80 million locusts, and they can cover a square third of a mile to 100 or more square miles. The locusts are causing a threat to food security, because they eat the crops and flatten farm land. According to The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, “desert locusts can pose a threat to the livelihoods of about 10% of

the world’s population.”

Snow in Antarctica turns Green

Snow in Antarctica has begun turning green due to climate change and a boom in algae. Research done by The Journal Nature Communications explains that warming temperatures and melting snow in the continent is helping in the formation of algae blooms. The algae is expanding at a fast rate, and the green snow can be visible from space . The algae thrives in temperatures just above freezing. The antarctic peninsula is one of the fastest warming places on earth. The average annual temperature has increased by 37.5 degrees fahrenheit since the industrial revolution.

Photo sourced from creative commons

Forest Fires in The United States

Many western areas of the United States have been affected by forest fires in 2020. California, Arizona, Washington, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Nevada are only a few states being affected. 74 fires have burned 3.7 million acres of land, which is about 1 million acres more than the 10 year average. Evacuation orders in the west coast are still in place. According to NIFC, there have already been 43,995 fires this year with a total of 7,104,837 acres burned. The smoke from the fires have made their way into neighboring states causing the sun to appear red, and overall creating a scent of fire and smokey conditions. Photo sourced from creative commons

Volcano Eruption in the Philipines

On January 12, 2020, Taal volcano in the Philippines began spewing lava, ash and gases into the air. The volcano has not erupted in 43 years. Taal volcano has a history of deadly explosions and is known as one of the more active and explosive volcanos. There were 50 earthquakes detected in the same region as Taal volcano. The eruption caused a mass evacuation of almost 300,000 people. There were 39 fatalities most of which were due to people refusing to evacuate. The volcano has erupted a total of 34 times since 1572.