Have virus lockdowns allowed nature to make a comeback? It's not so simple. Scientists in Brazil, Guatemala, South Africa & Madagascar told me how economic disruption & lagging green enforcement are threatening efforts to save habitats & species. THREAD 1/ apnews.com/e3cddd53e453a2… “We are worried about missing the window of opportunity to save the species,” said Carlos Ruiz, biologist in Brazil. His team planned to check on groups of endangered Golden Lion Tamarins hit hard by earlier yellow fever outbreak. But now access to forest reserves is blocked. 2/

Some key numbers from this story, drawing on interviews w/a dozen epidemiologists. The essential number is 12-18 months. That's the optimistic scenario for development of a COVID-19 vaccine. The disease probably won't be under control until. 1/n apnews.com/67ac94d1cf08a8… In simplest terms, scientists say the epidemic will slow when people w/infections don’t pass virus to others. Based on data from China & cruise ships, scientists estimate w/out measures to limit spread, each infected person infects 2 or 3 others, leading to exponential growth. 2/

As a Beijing resident 2011-18 - who obsessed over daily pollution AQI levels - I was interested to report out the relationship between coal power, national carbon emissions & air pollution. For long time, they tracked together. But not necessarily now. 1/
apnews.com/9a0f0b14a8034b… From the 1990s until about 2013, China's carbon emissions and air pollution levels - such as the tiny particles called PM 2.5, which harm human health - rose together. Anyone who's recently lived in a large Chinese city can tell you what smog smells and tastes like. 2/

China is top carbon emitter - burning half world's coal, but also using more clean energy than any other nation. As world leaders meet to discuss climate, I took a deep look at conflicting trends shaping China's energy trajectory and planet's climate. 1/ apnews.com/0383cebcfa1941… From 2000-2018, China's annual carbon emissions nearly tripled, and it now accounts for about 30% of world’s total. Yet it’s also the leading market for solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles, and it manufactures about two-thirds of solar cells installed worldwide. 2/

I had lunch with an Uighur friend in Virginia today - someone whose extended family in China has been "missing" for more than a year - and two things she said were especially haunting. 1/ First, on her initial trip to the US about 8 years ago - before the Chinese government built concentration camps in the western Xinjiang region to detain and "reeducate" more than a million of her people - she visited a Native American museum in New Mexico. 2/