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THE BIG QUESTION:

A BEER FOR MEXICO’S ENDANGERED SALAMANDER?

Tuesday, January 18, 2022

In today’s newsletter, synthetic palm oil may ease pressure on tropical forests; the causes of the Tonga volcanic eruption; the secret ingredient in these off-grid homes … and teaching kids not to embrace fast (and quickly disposable) fashion.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY LUIS ANTONIO ROJAS

By David Beard, Executive Editor, Newsletters

The axolotl is quirky. Unique. Named after the Aztec god of fire and lightning. And critically endangered.

Now, Mexican artists and businesses are embracing the native salamander, placing its perpetually smiling likeness on walls, beer bottles, and even projected onto an outdoor stage (pictured above). It is featured on Mexico’s new 50-peso note and on Minecraft and Roblox video games.

The effort is intended to shore up environmental concern for the foot-long amphibian, Tina Deines reports. There’s not much time.

While popular in captivity as pets, the wild population in its shrinking natural habitat, a few canals near Mexico’s City’s Lake Xochimilco, has been estimated at between only 50 and 1,000. Photographer and Nat Geo Explorer Luis Antonio Rojas took the image above of a female axolotl swimming in a water tank at a National Autonomous University of Mexico lab.

The brewery featuring the animal includes information to vendors about axolotls and how to save them. Founder Matías Vera-Cruz Dutrenit, who admires the salamander’s ability to regrow limbs and its historic symbolism to Mexico, says he hopes his beer “can act as a good ambassador to the animal.” Read the full article here.

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WHAT'S BEING DONE TO HELP?

Mexican researchers have moved a small group of wild axolotls away from their shrinking habitat onto a series of ponds. Early results have been successful, with some pairs of axolotls breeding.

The researchers and community organizers have also converted nearby islands into small farms that serve as new habitats for the transplanted axolotls, again with some success.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

PHOTOGRAPH BY KHÁNH PHAN

Preserving the Mekong River: The Mekong is a bit of a miracle in Southwest Asia. Its rich delta floodplain produces half of Vietnam’s rice. It’s a cultural heartland and tourist destination. But like many waterways in the world, the Mekong is threatened by the volume of discarded plastic, Rachel Ng writes in February’s issue of National Geographic. Researchers at England’s University of Hull, with a National Geographic Society grant, are studying how this pollution ends up in the river, and the U.N. Environment Programme has a project to evaluate the effects of plastic on migratory species. (Pictured above, local women, wearing conical hats and traditional áo bà ba tunics, gather the water lilies at the break of dawn, as generations before them have done.)

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

TAKE FIVE

Can synthetic palm oil help save the world’s tropical forests?

These off-grid and climate-resilient homes are built out of trash

Monarch butterfly conservation efforts improve. Are they enough?

What led to the massive undersea volcano eruption in Tonga?

Record number of Americans concerned about climate crisis

ONE MOMENT

PHOTOGRAPH BY AJI STYAWAN

Fighting for the land: What’s it like to have the rising sea take away your land? The Java Sea has done that to much of the Indonesian village of Timbulsloko, forcing remaining residents to raise their homes as much as six feet or install wooden decks. The land is sinking, too, and fewer than half the families remain, Nat Geo reports. (Pictured above, villages prepare to add mud to the top of the local cemetery to raise it above the high tide line.)

FIGHTING THE SEA

FAST FORWARD

PHOTOGRAPH BY ANTONIO_DIAZ, GETTY IMAGES

Breaking the cycle: We live in a consumer society. Kids are bombarded with TikTok “haul” videos promoting cool clothes, but don’t realize the quick purchase/quick dispose culture hurts the planet. “Because fast fashion is designed to be discarded after a few uses—both because it’s made with less durable materials and quickly falls out of style—much of it ends up incinerated or in landfills,” Gulnaz Khaz writes in this article on educating kids about fast fashion’s hurtful legacy. (Pictured above, a fashion influencer in Mexico showing followers how to create new outfits.)

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Experts have several tips here for young buyers. Here are two:
— Be thoughtful about purchases. Parents could maintain a fixed allowance or limit a kid’s clothing purchases, perhaps to one item a month.
—Buy secondhand if you can. That lightens the impact on the environment—and on wallets. Websites like Depop, Poshmark, and threadUP are places to start, but supporting a local shop is a great way to cut out packaging waste and shipping emissions.

We hope you liked today’s Planet Possible newsletter. Today's newsletter was edited and curated by Monica Williams, Heather Kim, and David Beard. Have an idea or link for us? Let us know at [email protected].

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