Carbon Offsetting & Reduction in Aviation

A major milestone in the battle against climate change, the Paris Agreement failed to include anything about growing greenhouse emissions from the airline industry. The good news is that an initiative to curb international airline emissions was agreed upon this Fall. The United Nations body that represents the international airline industry met in Montreal in October. In a statement on October 6, US Secretary of State John Kerry notes that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) representing 191 states "adopted an unprecedented global market-based measure that puts the international aviation industry on a path toward sustainable, carbon-neutral growth." The Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation calls for capping international airline CO2 emissions at 2020 levels. Read more about this and more momentous climate action, including the upcoming Paris Treaty entry into force here.

Wayfinding Sailors Journey to the Chesapeake Bay

Ocean explores are no strangers to Virginia's shores, but the crew of a Polynesian sailing vessel on a round-the-world tour made their way to the Chesapeake Bay without the aid of modern navigation technology. Check out this Youtube of their stop at port in Yorktown, VA. Read more about the wider mission of connecting and networking with the world's political and social navigators to garner collective action for a more sustainable planetary path.

Aviation Pioneer Plans Hemp Flight from Kitty Hawk, NC

Meanwhile legislation introduced in Virginia's General Assembly could help hemp production take off.

HempEarth has launched a campaign with the hope of igniting a funding frenzy to lift their project off the ground, literally. They want to fly the world's first hemp plane. Read More.

Automated Vehicle Testing & Research in the Commonwealth

In the Fall of 2015, federal and state officials were treated to an automated driving experience courtesy of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. Among the participants of the test drive conducted on a 10 mile stretch of Interstate 395 in Northern Virginia was Senator Mark Warner. Read More.

Avoiding a Collision Course

Last winter the Virginian-Pilot reported sightings of two humpback whales suffering injuries characteristic with boat strikes. The Virginia Aquarium asks that mariners be on the lookout for our finned friends which feed in the region over the winter months. In 2015 the Navy initiated a local 3 year study to establish a baseline of behavioral patterns for humpback whales in training and vessel transit areas. 6 humpback whales were tagged in the Winter of 2016 with satellite tracking devices. The short-lived devices provide critical information about their activity in our highly trafficked coastal waters. Read more about efforts to protect whales from ship strikes in this Tidewater Current 2013 post.

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