ICYMI: Ladyblob, Parrots Move In, Bigfoot’s Hair & More

A weekly roundup for busy people

ICYMI

By Paul Rauber

Illustrations by Peter Arkle

June 14, 2019

National Weather Service radar picks up a blob 80 miles across at 5,000 to 9,000 feet over Southern California. It turns out to be an enormous swarm of ladybugs. 

Twenty-five species of parrot have naturalized to the United States. 

Norway’s $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund will divest itself of its 1 percent share in the ConocoPhillips oil company, worth $714 million.

By the end of 2018, 11 million people were employed in renewable energy worldwide.  

The extent of Arctic sea ice is the lowest on record for early June. 

Pacific Gas & Electric shuts off power to thousands of California customers as a fire-safety precaution.

Emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas methane from the production of ammonia fertilizer are 100 times greater than reported by the industry.   

White House officials suppress a finding by the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research that human-caused climate change will be “possibly catastrophic.” 

Seven former EPA administrators, from both Republican and Democratic administrations, criticize the conduct of the agency under the Trump administration. 

Canada forbids holding whales, dolphins, and porpoises in captivity

Canada bans single-use plastics

In the 1970s, the FBI analyzed samples of hair to see if they came from Bigfoot. The hair was found to have come from a deer.