ICYMI: Selfie Epidemic, Clever Skink, Smelly Denali & More

A weekly roundup for busy people

By Paul Rauber

Illustrations by Peter Arkle

April 5, 2019

An 18-year-old Israeli student dies after falling from a cliff above Yosemite National Park’s Nevada Falls while trying to take a selfie. Between 2011 and 2017, at least 259 people have died seeking dramatic photos in what’s being called a “selfie epidemic.” 

Miley Cyrus Instagrams pictures of herself sitting in a protected Joshua tree

The US Fish and Wildlife Service wants to establish populations of California condors in the Pacific Northwest, starting with Redwood National Park in Northern California.

Members of the Achuar and Shuar communities launch a 46-foot solar-powered canoe to connect Indigenous communities on the Pastaza River in the Ecuadorean Amazon.  

Moose and caribou in the Yukon are moving north, causing difficulties for many subsistence hunters.

President Trump signs a new order attempting to clear the way for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline

The last time Earth’s atmosphere had as much carbon dioxide as today there were trees growing at the South Pole.

After killing 333 minke whales in Antarctic waters, Japan’s whaling fleet returns to port. Henceforth, Japan says it will only engage in whaling within its territorial waters.

Australia will no longer kill sharks in the Great Barrier Reef. 

The extent of Arctic sea ice is at a record low for this point in time, more than a million square kilometers below average.  

A federal judge finds the Trump administration’s plan to open Arctic waters off Alaska to oil drilling to be illegal.  

The New York Times uncovers the closely guarded results of the test well drilled by BP in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in 1986—the only test ever conducted in the refuge: “The discovery well was worthless.” 

As early as this summer, thawing ice on Alaska’s Denali will start exposing an estimated 66 tons of frozen feces left by generations of mountain climbers.

Biologists observe a three-toed skink lay eggs and later give birth to a live baby from the same pregnancy.  

March 2019 sales of electric vehicles in Norway surpass those of conventional vehicles

California considers requiring large retailers to offer electronic receipts as an alternative to the lengthy paper receipts produced by businesses like CVS. 

North Carolina orders Duke Energy to remove toxic coal ash from unlined storage sites at six coal-fired power plants. 

President Donald Trump falsely claims that the noise of wind turbines causes cancer