Record-breaking heat out West, oil & gas layoffs after bailout, mercury in Greenland's glaciers, and why lawns absolutely suck...

[View in your browser]( [ecowatch]( Top Posts [ ​In Today's Eco Update - Record breaking heat. - Oil and gas layoffs despite bailouts. - Mercury found in glaciers. And a look at the history behind why lawns suck. – summaries below written by [Angely Mercado]( [post_image]( [Record-Breaking Heat Points to Climate Change]( A scorching [heat wave]( baked the U.S. West before the official start of summer with record-breaking temperatures while worsening a dangerous [drought](. The wave was caused by a high pressure system over the region and soils are already parched from the ongoing drought. It was the hottest day on record during any month within the last 100 years. This is not the first heat wave caused by a high pressure system, but it is uncommon for a "heat dome" to occur so early in the year, especially one this severe. Most would occur closer to August. Though temperatures are slowly dropping, researchers predict that the region will see another heat wave within the next week or two. [Read More Button]( [9630b8e6-45a3-4648-9335-a47935d7d092.png](  [twitter](  [linkedin](  [email](mailto:?subject=Record-Breaking Heat Points to Climate Change&body= [post_image]( [Marathon Petroleum Took Billions in Bailouts, Then Laid Off Workers]( Marathon Petroleum laid off nearly 2,000 workers across the U.S. after receiving more than $2 billion in federal tax bailouts meant to soften the blow of the pandemic. Millions were spent on lobbying on various issues including a specific provisions in the Cares Act. Instead of addressing the unsustainable future of the company and the industry, Marathon Petroleum decided to enrich itself and its' shareholders, environmental activists claimed. [Read More Button]( [9630b8e6-45a3-4648-9335-a47935d7d092.png](  [twitter](  [linkedin](  [email](mailto:?subject=Marathon Petroleum Took Billions in Bailouts, Then Laid Off Workers&body= [post_image]( [High Levels of Mercury Found in Greenland's Glaciers]( A group of international scientists travelled to the Arctic to investigate the relationship between nutrients entering coastal ecosystems from glacial meltwater. They analyzed samples from rivers and fjords and found alarmingly high concentrations of mercury— among some of the highest ever recorded. Despite the remote environment of Greenland, runoff waters coming from three different glaciers in the country contain as much mercury as water in more industrialized areas of the world. Normal levels of mercury in rivers are around 1 to 10 nanograms per liter (ng L-1 ) which is comparable to a singular grain of sand in an Olympic sized swimming pool, but the samples in Greenland were 150 ng L-1, which is higher than average. Evidence at the sites indicate that the mercury originates from natural geological sources in the ice sheet bed. [Read More Button]( [9630b8e6-45a3-4648-9335-a47935d7d092.png](  [twitter](  [linkedin](  [email](mailto:?subject=High Levels of Mercury Found in Greenland's Glaciers&body= [post_image]( [Why Lawns Must Die]( In 2015, 75-year old Gerry Suttle was sitting on her porch watching the leaves rustle in the trees when a cop rolled up and handed her an arrest warrant. The reason for her arrest? She had failed to mow her lawn. That's right. The cops and Suttle's neighbors deemed it necessary to hold the threat of arrest over this septuagenarian because the turfgrass occupying the space in front of her house was left unchecked. How did we in the United States come to this? Why is the lawn such a sacred space in white suburban America? This is the story of the American lawn. How it came to be, the complex underpinnings of its green blades, and how we might work to rid ourselves from its cultural grasp. In the 17th and 18th centuries, landholding European aristocrats were getting jealous. They saw beautiful fields of grass and perfectly trimmed patches of green in the paintings of their favorite artists and wanted all of it for themselves. So, they began to terraform their world. [Read More Button]( [9630b8e6-45a3-4648-9335-a47935d7d092.png](  [twitter](  [linkedin](  [email](mailto:?subject=Why Lawns Must Die&body= All rights reserved. [facebook](  [twitter](  [instagram]( [Unsubscribe]( {EMAIL} [Update Profile]( [about our service provider]( Sent by contact@ecowatch.com