Peter Dykstra: Good news and hope on an otherwise gloomy beat
Credit: Chesapeake Bay Program

Peter Dykstra: Good news and hope on an otherwise gloomy beat

It's sometimes hard to find hope amid the news of environmental degradation. Here's some.

We try our best to present the honest news on environment, health and climate on these pages every day.


It's really not our fault that on balance, there's more bad news than good: Melting ice and permafrost, vanishing habitat, a crushing body burden of poisons from our chemical-laden lives. Some days EHNand The Daily Climate are more like The Daily Bummer.

But we should still occasionally take a break from the dreary drumbeat and look at the many steps forward in our fragile world. Here's a sampling of some progress.

I'll save some more for later, since we'll surely still need an antidote for eco-sadness.

Clean energy is not looking back

Credit: Edison Sub-District Office District 4 United Steelworkers

During the first "Energy Crisis" of the 1970's, President Richard Nixon dismissed calls for investment in wind and solar energy as an unrealistic pitch for technologies widely seen to be "30 years off."

Nearly 50 years later, we're about to make a semi-honest man out of Nixon, at least on this one point. China leads the world in solar energy development; in the U.S., Wal-Mart, long held as an environmental villain, has covered the roofs of its big box stores with solar panels.

Traditional oil and gas states like Texas and Oklahoma are cashing in on windpower, while offshore windfarms are jumping off the drawing board in New Jersey and New England.

Love that Dirty Water no more

The 1966 song "Dirty Water" immortalized the condition of Boston's Harbor and Charles River. Twenty-two years later, George H.W. Bush used Boston Harbor's filth as a campaign issue against Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis in the 1988 presidential race. Today, the Harbor is vastly cleaner, and this summer, humpback whales cavorted in that once-dirty water.

And the Hudson River is said to be its cleanest in 100 years. While still hosting PCB's dumped by two General Electric factories in the mid-twentieth centuries, the river sees fewer sewage and chemical discharges.

A few miles away, the Hackensack Meadowlands are recovering from more than two centuries of being on the receiving end of a massive industrial bowel movement from the Metro New York area.

Sewage, toxic chemicals, garbage, and the occasional Mafia corpse were Meadowlands trademarks. These days, you're more likely to see kayakers tracking migratory birds than the remains of Jimmy Hoffa. Last week, the annual Meadowlands Birding Festival drew hundreds of birders from all over the U.S.

Similarly, the decades-long cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay is paying off. The Bay's leading NGO says the Chesapeake is cleaner now than any point in the past 33 years.

Big (Green) Brother 

Imagine you're a Texas State Trooper. Now imagine you're the only Texas State Trooper, responsible for patrolling from El Paso to Brownsville to Port Arthur to Lubbock and back again to catch speeders and other desperadoes.

The island nation of Palau had a problem with illegal fishing in its marine sanctuary, which is roughly the size of Texas. Palau's budget stretched to afford staffing one patrol boat.

Now imagine you've got an eye in the sky – satellite monitoring that can cover Palau's sprawling Pacific expanse. Environmental monitoring from the sky, pioneered by nonprofits like the West Virginia-based SkyTruth, can help snag today's eco-desperadoes – illegal logging, destructive mining, and pirate fishing.

In 2017, satellite monitoring helped the Palauans nab a pirate fleet from Vietnam. The mighty Palauan Navy seized the vessels and burned them.

Liberating rivers 

Credit: Pelennor/flickr

Work to remove two dams on the Elwha River in Washington State's Olympic Peninsula began in 2011. With nature taking the lead, both the riverbed and salmon runs are coming back. The Elwha and Glines Canyon dams were hydroelectric assets that grew obsolete over the decades.

In places like Maine's Penobscot River, ancient former industrial workhorse dams are coming down. Demolition of Maryland's Bloede Dam is underway this month.

On the Chattahoochee River, two more obsolete hydro dams were removed several years ago, creating a whitewater tourist attraction in downtown Columbus, Georgia. Another dam project is underway on the Oconee River, near the University of Georgia in Athens.

In Chile, the government yielded to public pressure in 2014, cancelling a multi-billion dollar project to build five dams on two pristine rivers in Patagonia.

So there you have a partial list of some of the breakthroughs and victories in environment and energy. I'm looking forward to writing about more, and would welcome your suggestions. My email is pdykstra@ehn.org

And when you're feeling cynical, remember this: If we play our cards right, all the acid we're putting in the ocean will eat all the plastic we're putting in the ocean.

*The song "Dirty Water" was performed by the Standells, a teenage garage band from L.A. that had never set foot in Boston or its filthy harbor. The song never made the Top Thirty, but remains as an anthem today for Boston sports teams. The video above shows also one of the worst efforts at lip-synching in history.

environmental justice

LISTEN: Robbie Parks on why hurricanes are getting deadlier

"In places where there are high minority populations they bear, by far, the most burden of deaths from tropical cyclones."

Dr. Robbie Parks joins the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice podcast for a bonus episode to discuss how hurricanes have become deadlier in recent years and how we can better protect vulnerable communities.

Keep reading...Show less
Senator Whitehouse & climate change

Senator Whitehouse puts climate change on budget committee’s agenda

For more than a decade, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave daily warnings about the mounting threat of climate change. Now he has a powerful new perch.
wind energy climate inflation reduction act
Image by Peter Dargatz from Pixabay

The Inflation Reduction Act is reducing U.S. reliance on China

Don’t get fooled by a common myth. The reality: The landmark IRA includes provisions to incentivize domestic clean energy manufacturing and reduce U.S. dependence on China.
uaw strike electric vehicles energy
Image by LEEROY Agency from Pixabay

What the UAW strike means for EVs

The UAW is seeking better pay and benefits — and an uncertain transition to electric vehicles is underpinning a lot of their concerns.

Extreme plankton bloom creates marine 'dead zone' off eastern Thailand

Marine scientists say some areas in the Gulf of Thailand have more than 10 times the normal amount of plankton, turning the water a bright green and killing off marine life.

electric vehicles climate health
Image by Paul Brennan from Pixabay

Electrifying a fraction of vehicles in the lower Great Lakes could save over a thousand lives annually, studies suggest

New research reveals that even a “mid-transition” to electrified transportation could have outsized health and economic benefits for Black and Latino residents.
climate heat map united states
Photo by Nico Smit on Unsplash

How maps can protect children from extreme heat

Heatwaves claim tens of thousands of lives each year. Now a US mapping project is revealing those most at risk so they can get the help they need.

climate energy new mexico protection
Photo by Joonyeop Baek on Unsplash

BLM wants to protect the Placitas area from oil and gas extraction

U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland wants to withdraw nearly 4,213 acres of public lands from oil and gas extraction for 50 years “to protect, preserve, and promote the scenic integrity, cultural importance, recreational values, and wildlife habitat connectivity within the Placitas area,” according to the six-page draft proposal.

From our Newsroom
children nature

Opinion: When kids feel the magic of nature, they will want to protect it

Improving our quality of life starts with the simple of act of getting kids outdoors.

birds climate change

In the Gulf of Maine, scientists race to save seabirds threatened by climate change

“I could see that, if successful, the methods developed could likely help these species."

fracking economics

Appalachia’s fracking counties are shedding jobs and residents: Study

The 22 counties that produce 90% of Appalachian natural gas lost a combined 10,339 jobs between 2008 and 2021.

Marathon Petroleum y una ciudad de Texas muestran una  potencial crisis de comunicaciones sobre sustancias químicas

Marathon Petroleum y una ciudad de Texas muestran una potencial crisis de comunicaciones sobre sustancias químicas

En los últimos tres años, Marathon ha violado repetidamente la ley de Aire Limpio y tuvo tres emergencias en el semestre de febrero a julio de 2023.

WATCH: How Marathon Petroleum and one Texas city show the potential for a chemical communication crisis

WATCH: How Marathon Petroleum and one Texas city show the potential for a chemical communication crisis

Marathon in Texas City has repeatedly violated the Clean Air Act and had three emergencies in the span of a six month period.

air pollution heart attack

ER visits for heart problems plummeted after Pittsburgh coal processor shut down

Levels of one highly-toxic pollutant fell by 90% and ER visits for heart problems decreased by 42% immediately after the shutdown.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.