Climate Good News
Around the world people are taking the initiative to mitigate climate change. Here are some good news briefs compiled by the Climate Issue group of the LWV of Bellingham/Whatcom.
How a Middle Schooler Found a New Compound
– in a Piece of Goose Poop
Young people have exciting, educational breakthroughs every day. But it’s rare for those milestones to take place in a local park, a wad of goose poop in hand.
For a group of young students from the James R. Jordan Boys and Girls Club in Chicago, Illinois, that’s exactly what happened.
These middle schoolers became “bonafide biomedical scientists,” thanks to a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) program led by Professor Brian Murphy at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Murphy led the students in collecting and analyzing environmental samples from the Garfield Park Lagoon as part of a 14-week applied science program designed to bring STEM projects to underrepresented groups.
One unique sample — goose poop found by student Camarria Williams — stood out among the rest.
The sample contained both a bacterium that showed antibiotic activity and a novel compound that slowed the growth of human melanoma and ovarian cancer cells in lab tests.
After gathering their samples, the students used laboratory robotics to program a specialized robot to isolate bacteria and test for antimicrobial activity.
“You can expect that only about 1 to 5 percent of any isolates would really be a hit,” Jin Yi Tan, a UIC graduate student who volunteers with the youth, told Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant.
The bacterium was identified as Pseudomonas idahoensis, and Murphy’s lab of researchers went on to study it with more advanced technology.
Murphy, Tan, and the university team published their findings in the American Chemical Society’s ACS Omega journal earlier this year. Williams, who found the goose poop sample, is also credited as a co-author on the research.
Their findings point to a previously unknown molecule, named orfamide N, which did not account for the compound’s antibacterial activity, but did have an ability to inhibit the growth of human cancer cells in lab cultures.
Moving forward, Murphy’s team will further investigate orfamide N to understand its additional pharmacological benefits or how it may work with other compounds.
According to a press release from ACS, further studies could reveal other advantageous properties of this newly characterized molecule.
While it’s unclear what the future holds for this exciting new compound, one thing is certain: these young scientists have a bright future ahead of them.
“Chicago has a long history of disparities, whether they’re rooted in socioeconomics or race-based policies — this is an opportunity to use highend biomedical science to help bridge some of the documented gaps in STEM participation,” Murphy told Sea Grant.
“By working with local organizations or community centers, we can bring citizens into the process of discovering antibiotics.”
ACS (The American Chemical Society), “How a middle schooler found a new compound in a piece of goose poop” by ACS Omega: https://www.acs.org/pressroom/presspacs/2024/december/howa-middle-schooler-found-a-newcompound-in-a-piece-of-goosepoop.html.
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Climate Resiliency Moves Forward
While it is true the national election was disappointing in our battle to save the planet from the ravages on climate change, this is not a moment for retrenchment. Not only does Washington state have a strong fund now to fight climate change — thanks to the failure to recall our significant cap and trade law, but we also have a cadre of climate activists in the Legislature. The devastating hurricanes in the Southeast and horrific wildfires in California just remind us that every step we take to reduce fossil fuels in all sectors means a better future for our children.
Never forget you are not alone — across the world people are working to save the planet and here are some strong good work initiated by good leaders.
Farming
In Saskatchewan, 260 acres of farmland were restored to vital wetlands and are now an oasis for wildlife. In California, 15,000 acres of shoreline are being restored to tidal wetlands and habitat for wildlife. The Never Forget Project is helping hundreds of farmers to quit factory farming and transition to growing non-industrial crops like mushrooms and herbs. Over 250,000 seedlings have been planted in Slovenia to help pollinators, with the goal of planting two million pollinator-friendly trees and plants by 2030. Sandbar cultivation has enabled the production of 10.31 metric tons of pumpkins per hectare of land previously considered useless. A “living seed bank” in Peru has planted over 200,000 trees.
Food
Fifty-six percent of middle and high school menus in climate conscious California’s 25 largest school districts now have daily vegan options. One hundred fifty thousand individuals have endorsed the Plant Based Treaty to reduce meat from their diets.
Alternative Energy
Forty-one heat pumps have been installed in Juneau, Alaska, thanks to the Alaska Carbon Reduction Fund. Capping 45 abandoned oil wells, one group has stopped one million tons of CO2 from escaping into the atmosphere. Renewable energy now provides 100 percent of the year-round daytime electrical needs of a New Mexico co-op’s 30,000-plus members. In Bogotá, 100 percent of La Rolita’s 195 buses are electric — and the majority of drivers are women. The city of Ithaca, New York, aims to electrify all 6,000 of its buildings by 2030. Worldwide, 85 percent of all new power capacity built in 2023 was renewable.
Water
Thanks to rainwater harvesting and other resilience measures, a UK strawberry farming operation has filled its reservoirs with 125 million liters of water. New York City completed an infrastructure project in Rockaway with 11,000 square feet of permeable pavement, capable of absorbing almost 1.3 million gallons of water to save and prevent flooding. In India, 350 rural water entrepreneurs have been trained and supported to help distribute clean water to their neighbors via clever “water ATMs.” The Hopi tribe’s 2,000-year-old dry farming method allows them to grow a wide range of crops in an area that usually gets less than 10 inches of rain per year.
And here in the Northwest:
Better dam ladders on the Columbia River contributed to a record-smashing sockeye salmon run, with 755,909 passing over Bonneville Dam. This spring, the last dam was removed from the Klamath River and already the salmon are starting to return.
Reasons To Be Cheerful: “This Year in Cheer: 144 ways the world got better in 2024,” January 2, 2025.