Sunny climate stormy climate | Weekly digest #58

Trump signs an order to bring back plastic straws, 1100+ dead Olive Ridley turtles found in a month and Climate change makes it to the Super Bowl

Hello folks!

Welcome to your weekly dose of climate news where I bring one sunny story that gives hope and two stormy ones that are a cause for alarm. Hope you like them!

🌩️ Stormy news 🌩️

1. Trump signs order to ‘BRING BACK PLASTIC’

A seagull grabs a plastic spoon and eats food from a cup left on the beach. Photograph: Photography by Adri/Alamy (Guardian)

What are we talking about?

• Trump has signed an executive order that rolls back a Biden administration policy to phase out federal purchases of single-use plastics, including straws, from food service operations, events and packaging by 2027, and from all federal operations by 2035.

• “It’s a ridiculous situation. We’re going back to plastic straws,” Trump told reporters at the White House as he signed the order. “These things don’t work,” he said, referring to paper straws

Why does this matter?

• Global plastic production has been growing at an alarming rate. Global annual plastic production doubled since 2000 to about 460m tonnes and is expected to 4X again by 2050.

• This explosion in the use of plastics has resulted in microplastic invading every corner of the world. They have been found in salt and sugar, soil and even the human placenta and have been known to have severe adverse impacts on human health.

• Only 9% of global plastic waste is currently recycled. If you want to know more about the ‘Myth of recycling’ please check out my article: ‘Umm... Do we really need to reduce plastic usage? Isn't it all getting recycled now?’

• The remaining plastic waste mostly ends up in the oceans or in landfills, where it gets burned releasing carbon-di-oxide and many other toxic gases.

• Increasing plastic usage is thus having a devastating impact on human health, animals and the environment. Single use plastic items (like straws) are one of the worst culprits.

Who does this move benefit?

• The plastic manufacturing industry applauded Trump’s move. Plastic manufacturers are closely linked to oil and gas producers who are looking at plastic as the new frontier of growth as demand for oil and gas for energy reduces with increasing share of renewables in the global energy mix.

Sources for further reading

• Trump signs order to bring back plastic straws, claiming paper ones ‘explode’ (Guardian)

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2. More than 1100 dead Olive Ridley turtles washed up along India’s eastern coast in January

Image by Rajiv Rai (Source: Mongabay India)

What is happening?

• More than 1,100 dead olive ridley turtles have washed ashore on the beaches of Tamil Nadu in Jan

• This mass death incident has occurred during the nesting season of the endangered species. Every year, these turtles arrive near Tamil Nadu’s coast around September or October to breed, with nesting season commencing in late November and continuing until March.

• One potential cause of the recent deaths is the use of large trawler nets. These wide nets can entangle turtles and prevent them from surfacing for air, leading to suffocation and eventually death.

• Tamil Nadu has banned trawlers within 9 km from shore, but the law is not typically enforced. Trawler nets must also have turtle excluder devices installed, but “notoriously, nobody has it,” said an activist

Why does this matter?

• The ecological significance of Olive Ridley turtles cannot be overstated. These turtles play a vital role in maintaining the marine ecosystem’s equilibrium by feeding on invertebrates and crustaceans that live on the seabed, which helps release oxygen locked there.

• This mass death incident underscores the need for stricter fishing regulation, better awareness in the fishing industry and coordinated conservation efforts.

Sources for further reading

• Over 1,100 dead olive ridley turtles wash ashore in southern India (Mongabay)

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🌞 Sunny news 🌞

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3. Climate change makes it to the Superbowl

What are we talking about?

• The Super Bowl is the annual league championship game of the National Football League of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 and is one of the largest sporting events in the USA. The 2025 Super Bowl that took place on Sunday saw an audience of 126 million

• In a historic first, a climate change advertisement was played to regional viewers in Los Angeles. The 30 second ad depicted a young girl’s life from birth to college, illustrating the impacts of climate change over time urging people to act now ending with the words “Our window to act on climate change is like watching them grow up. We blink and we miss it”

• The ad was sponsored by Science Moms, a nonpartisan group of climate scientists who are also parents.

Why does this matter?

• While several previous ads during the big game have drawn attention to climate change, these have usually come from companies with products to sell. This is the first to be created by a nonprofit group. The New York Times ranked it as one of the best ads shown during this year’s Super Bowl.

• The combination of a compelling narrative aimed to resonate with the viewers and strategic placement can play an important role in making climate action mainstream.

Sources for further reading

• ‘Science Moms’: The Super Bowl ad urging climate action for the next generation (Euronews)

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You can read previous editions of the newsletter -

Sunny climate, stormy climate | News Digest #57

Sunny climate, stormy climate | News Digest #56

Sunny climate, stormy climate | News Digest #55

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