The Inuit Calendar is based on six seasons defined by weather, ice, animal migration, daylight hours and the night sky.  All these variables are in flux according to Harvard Narwhal Biologist Dr. Martin Nweeia.  Last August in the high Canadian Arctic, at 72 degrees north latitude, temperatures were at an astounding 70 degrees during the day. In 2018, the same region at the same time of year, experienced one of the coldest August months in 15 years.  

Disappearing sea ice in Hudson Bay affects migration patterns of ice-dependent species like narwhal and beluga whales and now allows more shipping traffic which produces more marine noise pollution and the risk of an oil spill. As a natural resource, the Arctic has significant deposits of iron ore, gold, diamonds, phosphate, and bauxite, so cargo shipments are increasing yearly.  

The disappearance of caribou herds and

altered migrations of other animals have also blurred the seasonal

changes. Caribou numbers have decreased by more than half in the last two

decades.  Narwhal populations are remaining steady but are

experiencing migration shifts resulting in their appearance at new locations

and their absence from traditional areas.  Even the timing of the

migration has changed, shifting two weeks later from normal late summer – early

fall patterns.  

The night sky, which has long had identifiable reference points for Inuit observers, is also changing causing speculation about changes in the magnetic field and a polar shift or flipping of the poles. The earth’s magnetic north has been shifting toward Siberia at an alarming 30 miles each year since 2015.  Every million years, it is estimated that the poles flip three times.  No one knows if or when it will happen again. That’s a calendar with some unexpected dates. 

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–Earth Wise acknowledges script contribution from Dr. Martin Nweeia of Harvard University.

Web Links

Migratory Tundra Caribou and Wild Reindeer

Earth’s magnetic field is acting up and geologists don’t know why

Photo, posted June 27, 2014, courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

We’ve been hearing more and more about plastic contamination (microplastics) in the ocean.  It is pulled from the nostrils of sea turtles, found in Antarctic waters, and tracked in increasing quantities in sedimentary layers dating back to the 1940s.  A new study by researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography suggests that there could be a million times more pieces of plastic in the ocean than previously estimated.

Oceanographers found that some of the tiniest countable microplastic

particles in seawater occur at much higher concentrations than previously

measured.  Apparently, the traditional

way of counting marine microplastics most likely misses the smallest particles,

and therefore underestimates the number of particles by a factor of anywhere

from 10,000 to a million.

The new measurements estimate that the oceans may be contaminated by 8

million pieces of so-called mini-microplastics per cubic meter of water.  Earlier studies that only looked at larger

pieces of plastic found only 10 pieces per cubic meter. 

Microplastic studies typically trawl or pull a fine net behind a ship

to collect samples.  But the meshes

previously used could only capture plastics as small as 333 microns.  The new study found plastic particles as

small as 10 microns, which is less than the width of a human hair.

Plastics keep breaking down into smaller and smaller particles, but they are so chemically strong that their chemical bonds don’t break down. They remain bits of plastic.  Scientists are concerned that these particles can get small enough to enter the human bloodstream.  The potential effects on human health are not well known and not extensively studied.

The problem of plastics just keeps getting bigger.

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Microplastics a million times more abundant in the ocean than previously thought

Photo courtesy of UC San Diego.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Many of us are very concerned about the environment and want to try to do the right things as we go about our daily lives.  New research from the University of Gothenburg shows that we tend to overestimate just how much we are actually doing.

A study of over 4,000 people in United States, England, India, and

Sweden revealed that most people are convinced that they act more

environmentally friendly than the average person.  Their actions might include buying

eco-labelled products, saving household energy, recycling, driving a hybrid or

electric car, and reducing purchases of plastic bags.  Participants in the survey rated themselves

as more environmentally active than other people, including both unknown people

as well as their own friends.

The results are in keeping with a general tendency people have to

overestimate their own abilities. 

Studies over the years have shown that most people consider themselves,

for example, to be more honest, more creative, and better drivers than

others.  This sort of over-optimism

apparently also applies to environmentally friendly behaviors.

The data from the survey revealed that the participants were more

likely to overestimate their engagement in activities they perform often and

draw the faulty conclusion that the things they do often, they in fact do more

often than others.

A consequence of thinking that you are more environmentally friendly

than other people is that it can reduce the motivation to act environmentally

friendly in the future.  In fact, when we

think we are more environmentally friendly than others, we actually end up

becoming less environmentally friendly.

Logically speaking, the majority of people cannot be more

environmentally friendly than the average person.  We are not living in Lake Wobegone where all

children are above average.

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Web Links

The majority consider themselves more environmentally friendly than others

Photo, posted March 6, 2014, courtesy of Karlis Dambrans via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Researchers are considering a wide range of approaches to mitigate the effects of global climate change.  Among these are various strategies of geoengineering, which must be viewed with enormous caution, given the high likelihood of unintended consequences from almost anything we might do.

Researchers at the International Institute for Applied Systems

Analysis have investigated potential strategies for cooling the planet in the

absence of Arctic sea ice.

The Arctic region is heating up faster than any other place on earth

and its sea ice is rapidly disappearing. 

Estimates are that summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean will be largely

gone within a generation.  Arctic ice and

snow reflect the sun’s energy into space, which helps to keep the planet

cool.  What happens if that ice is gone?

The researchers explored the fact that the Arctic Ocean ice actually insulates

the Arctic atmosphere from the warmer water under the ice.  Without the ice layer, the surface water

would actually increase air temperatures by 20 degrees C during the

winter.  That in turn would increase the

heat irradiated into space and thereby cool down the planet.

The Arctic sea ice is in part maintained because the upper regions of the Arctic Ocean have lower salinity than the Atlantic Ocean.  This stops Atlantic water from flowing above the cold Arctic waters.  So, if we were to somehow deliberately increase the salinity of the Arctic Ocean surface water, warmer, less salty Atlantic Ocean water would flow in, increase the temperature of the Arctic atmosphere, and release heat trapped in the ocean into space.

It all sounds pretty crazy, but the researchers say that given the

seriousness of climate change, all options should be considered when dealing

with it.

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Web Links

Could we cool the Earth with an ice-free Arctic?

Photo, posted August 19, 2016, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Renewable sources are playing a growing role in meeting our energy needs, but one place where they have continued to fall short is in industrial processes that require extreme heat.  These include the cement, steel, and glass industries, among others.  These industries account for a significant amount of CO2 emissions because the most effective way to reach the necessary temperatures continues to be combustion of fossil fuels.  The cement industry alone accounts for 7% of global emissions and the need for cement continues to grow.

A previously stealthy startup company backed by Bill Gates and fellow

billionaire Soon-Shiong has made a breakthrough in the area of using solar

energy to achieve high temperatures.  The

company, called Heliogen, has created a solar oven that is capable of

generating heat above 1800 degrees Fahrenheit, which is enough for high-temperature

industrial processes.

The Heliogen technology uses concentrated solar power to generate

heat.  Concentrated solar power uses

arrays of mirrors to reflect sunlight and focus it to a single point.  That technology is not new;  there are systems that use it to produce

electricity and, to some extent, heat for industry.  But it could not achieve high enough

temperatures for producing cement or steel.

The new system uses computer vision software, automatic edge detection

and other sophisticated technologies to focus the sun’s rays far more finely

than ever before and thereby generate far higher temperatures at the focal

point.

Heliogen is now focused on demonstrating how the technology can be

used in a large-scale application, such as cement-making.  The selling points to industry are that not only

will there be no emissions generated, but that the fuel needed to obtain their

extreme heat will be free.

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Web Links

Secretive energy startup backed by Bill Gates achieves solar breakthrough

Photo courtesy of Heliogen.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A new study of bird migration shows the migration patterns are shifting as a result of climate change.   Researchers at Colorado State University, the University of Massachusetts, and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, looked at the impacts of climate change on a continental scale.

The team looked at the nocturnal migratory behaviors of hundreds of

species representing billions of birds using radar and other data.  They found that spring migrants are likely to

pass certain stops earlier now than they would have 20 years ago.  Temperature and migration timing are closely

aligned and the greatest changes in migration timing are occurring in regions

warming most rapidly.  During the fall,

shifts in migration were less apparent.

Migratory birds play an important role in ecosystems.  They consume insects, disperse seeds, and

perform various other significant functions. Birds serve as critical metrics of

the health of ecosystems.

Bird migration is a global phenomenon that can provide unique visibility into changes in the climate.  The ability to look at it on a global scale has only recently become practical as a result of big data technology and cloud computing.  The team was able to crunch the numbers for the study in 48 hours, a task that previously would have taken over a year of continuous computing.

The findings have implications for understanding future patterns of

bird migration because birds depend on food and other resources as they

travel.  As the climate changes, the

timing of blooming vegetation or the emergence of insects may end up out of

sync with the passage of migratory birds. 

This could have negative consequences for the health of migratory birds.

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Web Links

Bird migration timing skewed by climate, new research finds

Photo, posted November 5, 2019, courtesy of Jerry Kirkhart via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Mealworms are widely cultivated beetle larvae that people feed to pets and to wild birds.  But it turns out, they may have an even more valuable purpose:  they can eat plastic and even plastic containing dangerous chemical additives.

Four years ago, researchers at Stanford discovered that mealworms can actually subsist on a diet of various types of plastic.  They found that microorganisms in the worms’ guts actually biodegrade the plastic.  It might be possible to cultivate the worms using unrecyclable plastic, rather than feeding them grains and fruits.   However, there is the issue of whether it would be safe to feed the plastic-eating worms to other animals, given the possibility that harmful chemicals in plastic additives might accumulate in the worms over time.

Recently, the Stanford researchers studied what happens when the worms ingested Styrofoam or polystyrene.  The plastic commonly used for packaging and insulation typically contains a flame retardant called hexabromocyclododecane, or HBCD.  Studies have shown that HBCD can have significant health and environmental impacts, ranging from endocrine disruption to neurotoxicity.

According to the study, mealworms in the experiment excreted about

half of the polystyrene they consumed as tiny, partially degraded fragments and

the other half as carbon dioxide.  With

it, they excreted the HBCD.  Mealworms

fed a steady diet of HBCD-laden polystyrene were as healthy as those eating a

normal diet.  And shrimp fed a steady

diet of the HBCD-ingesting mealworms also had no ill effects.

It is true that the HBCD excreted by the worms still poses a hazard

and must be dealt with in some manner, but mealworms may have a role to play in

dealing with unrecyclable plastics like Styrofoam.

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Web Links

Stanford researchers show that mealworms can safely consume toxic additive-containing plastic

Photo, posted May 11, 2015, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Amazon is the largest tropical rainforest in the world.  It covers an area approximately equal in size to the lower 48 states, and is home to an estimated 10% of the world’s biodiversity and 15% of its freshwater.  These so-called “lungs of the planet” provide many important global ecological services, including carbon storage, and regulating air quality and climate.

Deforestation in the Amazon exploded in the 1970s and remains one of

its biggest threats today.  Since the

1970s, more than 20% of the Amazon rainforest has been cleared.  Cattle ranching, soy and palm plantations,

logging, and climate change are some of the biggest drivers of deforestation.  

Now, according to a new study recently published in the journal Ecology, the regrowth of Amazonian forests following deforestation may happen more slowly than previously thought.  These findings could have significant impacts on climate change predictions as the ability of forest regrowth in the Amazon – so-called secondary forests – may have been overestimated.  The research, which was conducted in Bragança, Brazil and includes two decades of forest monitoring, reveals that climate change and the wider loss of forests could be hampering regrowth.    

After 60 years of regrowth, the research team found that secondary forests only held 40% of the carbon when compared with forests undisturbed by humans.  Secondary forests also take less carbon from the atmosphere during periods of drought, and climate change is increasing the number of drought-years in the Amazon.  (During their 20 years of monitoring, the researchers also found biodiversity levels in secondary forests were only 56% of those seen in undisturbed forests). 

More long-term studies are needed

to better understand the impacts of reforestation efforts.  

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Web Links

Amazon forest regrowth much slower than previously thought

Photo, posted September 6, 2009, courtesy of Nao Lizuka via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Last December, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management auctioned off lease rights for developing offshore wind in the New England Wind Energy Area.  The auction brought in hundreds of millions of dollars.

Recently, the five New England offshore wind leaseholders – Equinor, Mayflower Wind, Ørsted, Eversource, and Vineyard Wind – jointly submitted a uniform turbine layout proposal to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The five developers joined forces to respond to feedback from key

stakeholders in the region including the fisheries industry, the Coast Guard,

the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and coastal communities.

The proposed layout specifies that wind turbines will be spaced one

nautical mile apart, arranged in east-west rows an north-south columns, and the

rows and columns will be continuous across all New England lease area.  Independent expert analysis confirmed that

this uniform layout would provide for robust navigational safety and

search-and-rescue capability by providing hundreds of transit corridors to

accommodate the region’s vessel traffic.

Vessels up to 400 feet in length can safely operate within the

proposed turbine layout and will allow the region’s many fishing vessels to

follow a wide range of transit paths as they come from many different ports and

head to a variety of fishing grounds.

The New England Wind Energy Area is expected to be able to provide as

much as 8 GW of electricity generation for the states in the region.  Getting approval for this planned layout is

one of multiple steps required before the offshore wind complex becomes a

reality.  Overall, states along the U.S. East Coast are

seeking to procure more than 19,300 MW of offshore wind capacity through 2035

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Web Links

New England offshore wind developers submit uniform layout proposal to the U.S. Coast Guard

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Nitrogen dioxide is a prominent air pollutant produced by internal combustion engines burning fossil fuels as well as by a variety of industrial processes.  It is a toxic material associated with a number of respiratory illnesses. 

Researchers at

the University of Manchester in the UK along with an international team of

scientists have developed a new advanced material that can convert nitrogen

dioxide from an exhaust gas stream into useful industrial chemical using only

water and air.

The material is a metal-organic framework (or MOF) that provides a selective, fully reversible, and repeatable capability to capture nitrogen dioxide.  MOFs are tiny three-dimensional structures that are porous and can trap gases inside as though there were tiny cages.  MOFs have enormous amounts of surface area for their size.  One gram of material can have a surface area as large as a football field.

The material,

named MOF-520, can capture nitrogen dioxide at ambient temperatures and

pressures and even at low concentration and during flow in the presence of

moisture, sulfur dioxide, and carbon dioxide. 

Such conditions are typical of the exhaust of internal combustion

engines. In fact, the process works best at the typical temperature of

automobile exhausts.

Once the

nitrogen oxide is absorbed, treating the material with water in air converts it

into nitric acid and restores the MOF for additional use.  Nitric acid is the basis of a multi-billion

dollar industry with uses including agricultural fertilizers, rocket

propellant, and nylon.  Thus, there is

great potential for recouping the costs of using the MOF technology and even

profiting from it.

It would be

great to convert a toxic pollutant into valuable industrial chemicals.

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Web Links

Clean air research converts toxic air pollutant into industrial chemical

Photo courtesy of the University of Manchester.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.