Greetings and a pop quiz: where can you get a snazzy “No Thanks, I Don’t Need a Bag” button? (Answer below.) This week we are all about continuing the Plastic Free July challenge, and we have stories about flooding and climate change, beautiful but harmful spotted lanternflies, and finding microplastics even in remote ecosystems.
We know you’ve read all about life hacks and atomic habits, so you already KNOW how to change your habits. So this July, it’s time to kick the single use plastic bag habit and Reach for Reusables instead. In a guest post for Fairfax County’s OEEC Climate Matters Blog, our own Jen Cole writes about the importance – and EASE – of swapping out single use bags for your own reusable shopping and produce bags, especially at the Fairfax County Farmers Markets. Yes, it’s at the Farmers Markets where you can pick up your own “No Thanks” button. Let’s go!
‘Invaluable service’: the role of community science in the Chesapeake Bay region – Bay Journal, July 9, 2025
Even if you are not a scientist by training, it’s easy and fun to contribute to scientific data collection through citizen science projects. This story describes several projects around the Chesapeake Bay watershed that harness community interest and involvement to gather important and granular data about all sorts of things from submerged aquatic vegetation to community flooding. There has been a surge of interest and participation in citizen science in recent years, perhaps because it is an immediate way for everyday people to feel like they are making a difference. All sorts of opportunities exist, from tagging monarch butterflies to labeling storm drains to reporting bird sightings. Scroll to the bottom of the story for several other participation links.
The science behind Texas’ catastrophic floods – Grist.com, July 7, 2025
Last week’s horrific flooding in Texas was sudden and deadly. Scientists report that its extreme nature was caused by factors exacerbated by climate change. Warming air temperatures cause the oceans to warm and allow greater amounts of water to evaporate and be stored in the atmosphere. This means heavier rainfall and more frequent downpours. In the case of the Guadalupe River flood last week, a huge storm system stalled over the area and dumped two to four inches of rain per hour. Falling on a region characterized by steep slopes and rocky soil that could not absorb the rainfall, an enormous amount of water quickly flowed into stream and river valleys, causing flash flooding.
Keep an Eye Out for Red Spotted Lanternfly Nymphs in NoVA – Northern Virginia Magazine, June 27, 2025
Just eleven years ago, spotted lanternflies were first discovered in Berks County, PA, after they likely entered the country accidentally on a shipment of goods from Asia. Today, the pest has spread across much of the northeast and Mid-Atlantic region, including Virginia. In their immature, or nymph stage, the leafhoppers suck sap from leaves, stems, and even trunks of trees. They can severely injure many of our native tree species, and even cause honeybees to collect the nymphs’ honeydew, which pollutes the honey supply. Lanternflies’ favored host plant is the Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima), which also originates from China, and which is causing ecological harm here in North America. Anyone who finds spotted lanternflies is encouraged to destroy them by scraping the egg deposits, squishing the nymphs or adults, or killing them with approved insecticides. Homemade traps can be used, but do not use anything sticky, which can also trap and kill native insects, birds, and small mammals. Other homemade DIY remedies that use household products can do real environmental harm, so simply killing the bugs where you find them or following these trap-making instructions are the best options.
Plastic waste quietly invades even the world’s most protected ocean areas – Environmental Health News, July 8, 2025
Even in the most remote and protected areas around the world, plastic infiltrates. The Galapagos Islands Marine Protected Area (MPA), despite being one of the most pristine ecological habitats on Earth, also has a plastic problem. Scientists have found microplastics (as well as visible, large plastic items) on islands in the Galapagos and in the organs and tissues of wildlife there. Once plastic is released into the ocean, it floats on currents to places near and far from the source. Many kinds of plastic break up into ever smaller pieces, which never completely biodegrade, but instead spread throughout the environment as tiny particles called microplastics or even smaller nanoplastics. Marine creatures ingest the particles and cannot digest them. Thus they move up through the food chain to larger and longer lived species, causing physical, chemical, and hormonal health problems. As researchers who measure this pollution note, while local actions can help, the real solution to this global problem is a systemic change that limits or eliminates plastic production around the world.
