The Weekly Anthropocene, May 14 2025
Axolotls, Pope Leo XIV, solar in Syria, ancient oaks, an electric ship, irradiance, malaria vaccines in Mali, vertical harvests, Channel Islands, Bill Gates, bone collectors, and more!
Mexico
In a big boost for the conservation of the unique and endangered axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum), a new study found that 18 individual captive-bred axolotls released into Xochimilco waters had impressively all survived and even gained weight after months in the lake and chinampa artificial wetlands. This is the same amazing area The Weekly Anthropocene recently reported from in-person in February 2025! Spectacular news.
Vatican City
The 2025 papal conclave concluded on May 8 with the election of Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost, of Chicago and Peru. He is the first pope from the United States of America and is now the spiritual leader of approximately 1.4 billion Catholics. Hopefully Pope Leo XIV will continue the truly extraordinary leadership of Pope Francis on environmental issues and migrants’ rights. Early signs are very good!
Syria
Under new President Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly a successful rebel leader, the war-devastated nation of Syria is courting international development & reconstruction assistance and hopes to unleash a solar power boom to supply sorely needed electricity. The al-Sharaa government has announced plans to build a new 100 MW solar farm near Damascus, and is finalizing a deal to import electricity from neighboring Turkey, whose national grid is rapidly becoming solar-powered as well. Notably, before it expanded in 2024 to overthrow the Assad regime and become the new government of the whole country, al-Sharaa’s fiefdom around Idlib in northwestern Syria saw widespread mass installation of solar panels to provide resilient electricity in the embattled enclave. Interesting potential here!
United Kingdom
In Nottinghamshire’s famed Sherwood Forest, arborists are developing a distinctly counterintuitive but highly successful new management practice to enhance forest biodiversity: “veteran-izing” relatively young oak trees to resemble ancient oak trees that have developed hollow pockets of dead wood, thus providing habitat for rare and ecologically valuable saproxylic (dead wood-dependent) invertebrate species. In practice, this entails creating dead wood pockets by cutting a slice like a lightning bolt would, carving artificial “nestbox” holes, or even striking the tree trunk with sledgehammers (emulating the kicks of now-absent megafauna). Fascinating work!
New (planned) rules mandate that starting in 2027, almost all newly built homes in England will need to include solar panels.
The BBC reports most people find living near solar farms to “not really bother them.”
A proposed rewilding project hopes to reintroduce the elk to Great Britain for the first time in 3,000 years. (This refers to Alces alces, known as the moose in North America but the elk in the U.K. and Europe). Great work!
The Crown Estate of King Charles III has granted permission to build higher-density offshore wind farms on existing leases. This will increase capacity by 4.7 GW! Superb.
The European orchard bee, Osmia cornuta, has established itself in southern England, which was previously too cold for it, due to climate change. This solitary (not hive-living) species is a particularly important pollinator as it emerges early in the spring.
Australia, Argentina, & Uruguay
The world’s largest-ever 100% battery-electric ship, the 130-meter Hull 096, has been launched from a shipyard in Tasmania. Built in Australia, it will soon serve as a ferry linking the capital cities of Argentina and Uruguay under the name China Zorrilla, able to carry 2,100 people plus 225 cars — all powered by clean electrons. Awesome!
China
In China, massive electrification & solar build-out (plus air pollution control efforts) has helped create the cleanest air the nation has seen in years, with less smog and sunlight-blocking aerosols. This means more sunny days, with 2025 to date seeing irradiance of much of China up to 30% above the long-term average — which means solar farms are collecting more power. A possible emerging feedback loop? Wow.
An excellent Financial Times article summarizes the sheer mammoth scale of China’s cleantech revolution. Some key stats: 70% of all utility-scale solar being built anywhere on Earth right now is being built in China, more EVs than internal combustion cars will likely be sold in China in 2025, and China is on track to generate over 50% of its electricity from clean sources (renewables plus nuclear) by 2028. WOW.
This excellent article from the Ember think tank helps contextualize just how fast all this has happened — and discusses the wide range of future clean energy technologies China’s now world-leading industry/research complex is still developing. Notably, China’s solar capacity additions were three times higher in 2024 than in 2022 (tripling in two years!), leading to China producing almost as much solar power in the first three months of this year (January-March 2025) as in all 12 months of 2020. WOW!
Mali
In April 2025, the Sahelian nation of Mali became the 20th country in Africa to deploy recently-invented malaria vaccines in their childhood vaccination efforts. Mali has already received 927,800 vaccine doses and is prioritizing children between 5 and 36 months old, with a novel distribution plan to provide some doses just before the season of highest transmission. As Mali is one of the nations worst-hit by malaria, with over 8 million cases (in a total population of around 23 million!) and 14,000 deaths in 2023, this will likely save thousands of lives and avoid suffering for millions, with knock-on positive effects for all of society! Mosquito-borne diseases spreading was long feared to be one of the major ways climate change could kill people — but not if we beat the diseases first! Truly superb work, among humanity’s noblest efforts.
“My salary barely covers food for the family, so when malaria hits, I sometimes have to go into debt. Malaria doesn’t just kill – it impoverishes.”
— Mamadou Traoré, Malian metalworker
“I lost my son Moussa when he was five. A sudden fever, then a coma – and in two days, he was gone…
If this vaccine can spare other mothers what I’ve been through, it will be a blessing.”
— Aïssata Diallo, Malian mother of three.
Europe
A new report has found that litter on the coastlines of the European Union has declined by 29% from 2015-2016 to 2020-2021, with particularly marked declines on the Baltic and Mediterranean. Single-use plastic litter declined by 40%. Great work!
United States
Though corrupt and cruel clowns still infest the executive branch with incompetent malice1, people across America keep striving to build a better and brighter future!
A cutting-edge indoor vertical farm project in Westbrook, Maine (right near where this writer went to college!) has completed its build-out and should have its first produce deliveries being sold by summer 2025. The newly built three-floor hydroponic greenhouse plans to produce 3,000,000 (three million) pounds of leafy greens each year (with full ongoing production during the long local winter) and has already contracted with popular Maine supermarket Hannafords. The startup running this, Vertical Harvest, also intends to prioritize offering jobs to adults with physical or intellectual disabilities, providing an additional social good. Truly brilliant work!
Around 30 House Democrats have founded the Build America Caucus, inspired by theAbundance Agenda policy proposals. This newsletter is a fan!
The Bureau of Land Management has quietly approved a clean energy project on federal lands in Arizona set to include up to 270 MW of solar plus 300 MW grid-scale battery. It’s the first utility-scale solar farm on public lands approved under the current president. Coming after the similar recent approval of a clean energy power line in federal lands in California, this hopefully represents a dawning recognition of reality: that cleantech is the only reliable economic choice to power the modern U.S.!
Centibillionaire Bill Gates announced detailed plans to give away 99% of his wealth, accelerating the work of his charitable foundation to spend all that money by 2045. This additional $200 billion or so of funding for public health in the world’s poorest countries should help counteract — at least by a little — the atrocious recent cuts to the U.S. foreign aid budget, which Gates recently described as “the world's richest man killing the world's poorest children.” Gates’ plan is deeply noble and honorable!
U.S. startup Liberation Labs just announced a deal to mass-manufacture Vivitein at their facility in Indiana. Vivitein is a vegan whey protein powder (specifically, it’s beta-lactoglobulin) produced through microbial precision fermentation similar to how beer is brewed. Commercial production should start in 2026. Looks like we’re finally getting a commercial-scale U.S. version of EU pioneer Solein! Spectacular.
The Channel Islands of California were protected by a national park and marine sanctuary in 1980, with stronger protections added by 13 state marine protected areas established in 2003. Now, the rich marine ecosystem is absolutely thriving, with abundant whales, seals, sea lions, dolphins, giant sea bass, and giant kelp. Biomass has increased by 80% and lobster abundance increased by 225% outside protected waters due to spillover effects. Over and over, protected areas are win-wins. Excellent work!
New Mexico has devoted $50 million in funds to create new wildlife crossings for the state’s highways. One “valley of death” crossing area will be getting bridged by 2026!
A new study has found that solar grazing (the agrivoltaic practice of sheep grazing on solar farms) leads to substantial benefits for soil health, likely due to the effect of the sheep fertilizing and trampling the land. Two years of examining 28 solar grazing sites and 3 non-grazed solar farms across the northeastern U.S. (most of which were previously cropland) revealed that solar grazing led to higher soil organic carbon content, higher pH, and improved forage quality (better grass). Another win-win!
A fascinating new species of “bone collector” carnivorous caterpillar has been discovered in Hawaii. It scavenges in spiderwebs while wearing self-assembled cases made out of bits of the spiders’ previous meals, thus avoiding notice. Incredible!
Current U.S. trade war policy is so capricious and chaotic that it is now wreaking substantial economic damage on America’s supply chain-dependent fossil fuel industry — the very folks the current president more or less openly shook down for bribes in exchange for promised favorable treatment back in 2024. Interesting times!
Look at that guy’s little face!!!! he’s so cute but also looks kinda sad and I love him 🥺