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National Geographic

A GREEN LIGHT FOR SPACEX

Tuesday, June 14, 2022

In today’s newsletter, we report on SpaceX’s victory with the FAA, a belated move to give Native Americans more control over their land, Yellowstone closing after dangerous flooding … and how these tourists help save baby sea turtles.

PHOTOGRAPH BY SPACEX

SpaceX has cleared another hurdle in its quest to launch the world’s most powerful rocket—and one the company maintains is a linchpin for its efforts to establish a colony on Mars.

The FAA’s decision Monday lets SpaceX move forward on its private South Texas launch site (pictured above), provided it complies with 75 provisions, which include limits on road closures and the creation of wildlife corridors. The agreement, which also requires a separate launch permit, would limit the company to 10 launches a year, fewer than SpaceX’s Elon Musk envisions.

Writer Joe Pappalardo points out that Musk, despite yesterday’s victory, already has signaled that he may eventually move operational launches for his Starship program to Florida.

Read the full story here.

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT

PHOTOGRAPH BY KILIII YUYAN, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

‘We are here’: Native Americans never surrendered their power. It was taken away. The move for sovereignty on Native lands, reinforced by several court decisions, could have positive effects for a neglected population, National Geographic writes in the cover story of our July issue. “The world doesn’t know we’re equal,” artist Saya Masso says. “But we’re getting better at telling them.” (Pictured above, Masso displays two masks, one to show the loss of the Tla-o-qui-aht tongue—the other to symbolize its recovery.)

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

PHOTOGRAPH BY BRIAN SKERRY, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE

Where will humpbacks go? Warming waters may force them to new breeding grounds (Pictured above, a mother and her calf)

Yellowstone closes all entrances after dangerous flooding

What it’s like to scuba dive under ancient pyramids

Giant tortoise believed extinct for a century found alive in the Galápagos

Trailer released for Nat Geo’s ’America The Beautiful’ series

These homes are sinking fast. Can their community survive?

SMARTER PLANET

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBYN BECK/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Fighting fire with … goats? Known as curious eaters with strong appetites and strong stomachs, goats can eat plants that are toxic to other animals. That’s why they’re being tapped to clear vegetation as wildfires worsen, in Greece, Australia, and the U.S. The vegetation “goes through their digestive tract, and it becomes nonviable,” the owner of California’s Sage Environmental Group tells Nat Geo. “It doesn't grow after it comes out the other end, which is really amazing.” (Pictured above, leased goats in Glendale, California.)

PREVENTING WILDFIRES

IN A FEW WORDS

QUOTE

You cannot not be an activist, if you’re impacted by [the climate crisis] and you want to spread awareness of the issue and make sure that you can actually drive change to protect your community.

Plastic pollution researcher, Nat Geo Explorer

OVERHEARD AT NAT GEO

PHOTOGRAPH BY KILIII YUYAN

Fighting fire with fire: A Karuk tribal member in California creates lines of fire in the smoke of a prescribed low-intensity cultural fire in October. Nat Geo Explorer Kiliii Yuyan captured tribal member Jason Reed using this traditional fire-control method in the off-season to leave less brush for wildfires. That’s the topic of Nat Geo’s latest Overheard podcast. Our April edition of National Geographic featured successful Indigenous firefighting methods being studied worldwide.

THESE OLD WAYS WORK

FUTURE FORWARD

PHOTOGRAPH BY BRIAN SKERRY, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

How these tourists help: In one part of the Caribbean, volunteers help sea turtle hatchlings find their way to the open water. These volunteers, often tourists, power the efforts to preserve the young turtles in Trinidad and Tobago, the world’s second biggest rookery for sea turtles. Turtle-watching tours also provide vital revenue to fund monitoring and patrols, Nat Geo reports. (Pictured above, Nat Geo Explorer Brian Skerry photographs one hatchling being helped by a volunteer. Without the aid, the young turtles can fall prey to dogs and raccoons before reaching the sea.)

Note: Thanks to all those readers who wrote in about our article on wild animals making homes in urban areas in Saturday’s newsletter. Mike Nelson Pedde wrote that humans couldn’t keep nesting swallows away from a garage for bicycles at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. “A few years ago, in order to make entry/exit simpler for the cyclists, the university added a sliding door activated by a motion sensor,” he wrote. “It didn't take the swallows very long to determine how to fly up to the sensor to open the door.”

Today’s newsletter was edited and curated by Monica Williams, Heather Kim, and David Beard. Have more stories on smart wild animals for us? Write [email protected]. Missed yesterday’s newsletter? It’s right here.

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