Earth Wise

By Randy Simon

From green business and new environmental legislation to how nature impacts our environment in ways never before considered, Earth Wise offers a look at our changing environment.... more

4.7

1515 ratings

Download on the App Store

Download on the App Store

Get it on Google Play

FAQs about Earth Wise:

How many episodes does Earth Wise have?

The podcast currently has 2,516 episodes available.

Earth Wise episodes:

November 04, 2019 Out-Migration And Reforestation
A challenging global trend is that of deforestation in developing countries. But there are places where the opposite trend is happening. Nepal is one such place.
According to satellite imaging, in 1992 forest covered 26% of Nepal. As of 2016, that number was 45%.
To some extent, the forest regrowth was a result of policy changes
from about three decades ago, when the government began removing management
authority from bureaucrats and shifting it to local communities across the
country. This local management helped to
reduce illegal logging and many local villages undertook tree-planting
campaigns.
But perhaps a bigger factor at play is human migration. In recent decades, millions of Nepalis have
left the country to work in the Persian Gulf, Southeast Asia, and
elsewhere. The out-migrants wire money
home and meanwhile, families left behind rely less on forest products or
abandon farmland, aiding reforestation.
A 2018 study showed that the areas with the highest out-migration
experience, on average, had the most forest recovery.
Globally, migration has important impacts on forests, but not always
positive ones. In many countries,
forests seem to recover as people leave rural areas to work elsewhere. El Salvador, for example, has seen a rebound
of its forests as many of its rural residents move to cities or even to the United
States. But in Guatemala and Nicaragua, the return of migrants bringing money
they have earned overseas has led to an expansion of cattle ranching that has
harmed forests.
The global relationship between migration and forests is a complicated
one that depends on whether the migration is one-way or “circular” (meaning
that the migrants eventually return) and how returning migrants make use of
their earnings from abroad.
**********
Web Links
In Nepal, Out-Migration Is Helping Fuel a Forest Resurgence
Photo, posted September 30, 2018, courtesy of Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
...more
2min
November 01, 2019 Removing Dams Restores Ecosystems
In many parts of the country, dams that sometimes date back as much as 100 years are being removed and are giving way to the revival of migratory fish and their river ecosystems. Since 1912, more than 1,600 dams have been removed in the U.S., but the pace of dam removal has greatly picked up in recent years. 2017 and 2018 were the highest years ever with 91 and 99 dams removed, respectively.
When dams are removed, the response from migratory fish can be almost
immediate. A large dam removal project
on the Penobscot River in Maine in 2012 opened up 1,000 miles of habitat with a
quick return of shad and alewives, followed by salmon.
In 2022, four large dams across the Klamath River will be removed. The dams, which are located at the California and Oregon border, were facing an expensive re-licensing process and, because of their age, could no longer be run at a profit.
Re-licensing the dams along the Klamath was going to cost as much as $400 million. On the other hand, uncapping the Klamath River has tremendous commercial and tourism potential. Two states, tribal nations, and other stakeholders have all seen the virtues of restoring the landscape to its original form.
Opposition to dam removal is typically driven by aesthetics or
recreational preferences. But dam
economics are getting increasingly worse.
Now that electricity can be produced far more cheaply with wind and
solar power, many American dams have become artifacts of an older manufacturing
era. Meanwhile, rural towns near
decommissioned dams are likely to now have more robust fishing industries.
In rivers big and small, migratory fish and river ecosystems surge
back to life as old energy structures are taken down.
**********
Web Links
Take Down That Dam: River Ecosystems Bounce Back As Removals Soar
Photo, posted June 11, 2016, courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
...more
2min
October 31, 2019 Electric Buses In Latin America
Latin America has become increasingly urbanized. In fact, about 80% of the region’s population lives in cities today and by 2050, that figure could climb to 90%. Transportation is the largest and fastest-growing source of energy-related emissions in Latin America and accounts for about a third of all of the region’s carbon dioxide emissions.
Private vehicle ownership is rising in Latin America but at the same
time, the region’s rapidly growing cities have increased demand for buses,
taxis, and motorcycles. Currently, an
estimated 64,000 people die prematurely every year in Latin America and the
Caribbean as a result of air pollution, which is mostly caused by
transportation emissions.
Given this situation, major cities across Latin America – from
Colombia to Argentina – are starting to adopt electric bus fleets. Latin America actually has the highest use
of buses per person globally. So, the
transition to electric buses is an important step toward meeting climate
targets, cutting fuel costs, and improving air quality.
Medellin, Colombia – whose metropolitan area has 3.7 million people – has started to add electric buses to its fleet, the rest of which runs on natural gas. When new units arrive from China later this year, Medellin will have the second largest electric bus fleet in Latin America, after Santiago, Chile.
Worldwide, 425,000 electric buses are in operation, 99% in China. Europe has a couple of thousand while the
United States has only 300. But going
forward, and especially in Latin America, electric buses are the wave of the future. Estimates are that there will be 1.3 million
on the roads by 2040.
**********
Web Links
An Increasingly Urbanized Latin America Turns to Electric Buses
Photo, posted April 22, 2018, courtesy of Hans Johnson via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
...more
2min
October 30, 2019 Amazon And Climate Change
Online shopping giant Amazon has unveiled a Climate Pledge, committing to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement ten years ahead of schedule, and to be carbon neutral by 2040. This is the company’s most ambitious push yet to reduce its carbon footprint, which currently rivals that of a small country. In fact, Amazon is responsible for 48.9 million tons of carbon dioxide last year, which is about 85% of what Switzerland typically emits in a year.
Amazon, which ships more than 10 billion items a year on fossil
fuel-intensive planes and trucks, has ordered a fleet of 100,000 electric vans
that will start delivering packages to doorsteps in 2021. The vans will be made by Rivian, a Michigan-based company
that Amazon invested in earlier this year.
Amazon plans to get 100% of its energy from solar and other renewable
sources by 2030. Currently, it gets
about 40% of its energy from renewables.
Amazon is also investing $100 million in nature-based climate
solutions and reforestation projects around the world in order to remove carbon
from the atmosphere.
While announcing these initiatives recently at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said the company needs to be a leader on the climate change issue:
We want to say
look, if a company of Amazon’s complexity, scale, scope, physical
infrastructure, delivering 10 billion items can do this, so can you.
After revealing Amazon’s Climate Pledge, Bezos said he would talk with CEOs of other large companies to try to get them to also sign it. You can find a link to Amazon’s progress on its commitments by visiting this website.
**********
Web Links
‘Middle of the herd’ no more: Amazon tackles climate change
Amazon: Committed to a sustainable future (track progress here)
Photo courtesy of Amazon.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
...more
2min
October 29, 2019 Emissions-Free Cement
The production of cement – which is the world’s leading construction material – is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for about 8% of global man-made emissions.
Cement production produces carbon dioxide in two ways: from a key chemical process and from burning fuel to produce the cement. The process of making “clinker” – the key constituent of cement – emits the largest amount of CO2. Raw materials, mainly limestone and clay – are fed into huge kilns and heated to over 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, requiring lots of fossil fuel. This calcination process splits the material into calcium oxide and CO2. The so-called clinker is then mixed with gypsum and limestone to produce cement.
A team of researchers at MIT has come up with a new way of
manufacturing cement that greatly reduces the carbon emissions. The new process makes use of an electrolyzer,
where a battery is hooked up to two electrodes in water producing oxygen at one
electrode and hydrogen at the other. The
oxygen-evolving electrode produces acid and the hydrogen-evolving electrode
produces a base. In the new process,
pulverized limestone is dissolved in the acid at one electrode and calcium
hydroxide precipitates out as a solid at the other.
High-purity carbon dioxide is released at the acid electrode, but it
can be easily captured for further use such as the production of liquid fuels
or even in carbonated beverages and dry ice.
The new approach could eliminate the use of fossil fuels in the heating
process, substituting electricity generated from renewable sources.
The process looks to be scalable and represents a possible approach to
greatly reducing one of the perhaps lesser known but nevertheless very
significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
**********
Web Links
New approach suggests path to emissions-free cement
Photo, posted March 26, 2014, courtesy of Michael Coghlan via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
...more
2min
October 28, 2019 Which Cities To Save From The Changing Climate
After several years of brutal flooding and hurricanes in the U.S., a distressing debate is emerging: if there is not enough money available to protect every coastal community from the effects of global warming, how do we decide which ones to save first.
Recent research looked at the costs involved in providing basic
storm-surge protection in the form of sea walls for all coastal cities with
more than 25,000 residents. That number
was $42 billion. Expanding the list to
include communities smaller than 25,000 people would increase that cost to more
than $400 billion. Realistically, that is
just not going to happen.
This particular study only looked at sea walls and no other methods
for minimizing flood risk, such as moving homes and businesses away from the
most flood-prone areas. It also didn’t
look at additional and costlier actions that will be required even with sea
walls, such as revamping sewers, storm water, and drinking water
infrastructure.
The facts are that many cities, especially small ones, will not be
able to meet the costs facing them.
Those that can’t will depend on federal funding. But even optimistically large proposals for
federal infrastructure spending are likely to fall far short of the vast
need. Ultimately, the money will end up
being spent where it can do the most good – even if it means that some places
are left out.
But what criteria will be used to direct the money? Economic value? Historic significance? Population?
Political influence?
This is a looming and massive issue whose chief obstacle may be that many officials refuse to acknowledge that it is happening. This is the next wave of climate denial – denying the costs that we are all facing.
**********
Web Links
With More Storms and Rising Seas, Which U.S. Cities Should Be Saved First?
Photo, posted October 31, 2018, courtesy of Patrick Kinney via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
...more
2min
October 25, 2019 Breaking Down Forever Chemicals
One of the toughest classes of pollutants are per- and polyfluoralkyl substances, or PFAS, as they are known. PFAS are often called “forever chemicals” because they are extremely long-lasting and difficult to clean up. They are found in household products including non-stick pans, dental floss, water-repellent fabrics, and many others. They can be found extensively in U.S. waterways and soil.
PFAS move through the food chain, accumulating in humans at levels that scientists say can cause adverse health effects. While these have not been definitively proven, there is evidence that higher cholesterol levels, cancer, thyroid disruption, and low infant birth rates are all associated with PFAS ingestion.
PFAS are difficult to get rid of because their carbon-fluorine covalent bonds are some of the strongest in organic chemistry. Researchers at Princeton University have been studying a process known as Feammox in which ammonium breaks down in acidic, iron-rich soils in New Jersey wetlands and similar locations. They found that this reaction takes place when a bacterium called Acidimicrobium A6 is present.
Using gene-sequencing techniques, they found that the microbe has
characteristics that could help break down carbon-fluorine bonds, and therefore
break down PFAS. In tests using
microbe-loaded soil samples, they found that the bacterium removed 60% of PFAS
pollutants within 60 days.
The research has been published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology and the team is now testing the bacterium’s effectiveness over different time-spans in lab conditions before testing it in the field.
**********
Web Links
New Jersey Soil Microbe Shown to Break Down ‘Forever Chemicals’
Photo, posted November 9, 2017, courtesy of the Department of Environmental Quality via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
...more
2min
October 24, 2019 A Powerful Case For Protecting Whales
Efforts to mitigate climate change typically face two major challenges. One is to find effective ways to reduce the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The other is how to raise enough money to implement climate mitigation strategies.
Many proposed solutions to climate change, like carbon capture and
storage, are complex, expensive, and in some cases, untested. What if there was a low-tech solution that
was effective and economical?
Well, it turns out there is one, and it comes from a surprisingly
simple, “no-tech” strategy to capture CO2: increase global whale
populations.
According to a recent analysis by economists with the International
Monetary Fund, whales help fight climate change by sequestering CO2 in the
ocean.
Whales sequester carbon in a few ways. They hoard it in their fat and protein-rich bodies, stockpiling tons of carbon apiece. When whales die, they turn into literal carbon sinks on the ocean floor. While alive, whales dive to feed on tiny marine organisms like krill and plankton before surfacing to breathe and excrete. Those latter activities release an enormous plume of nutrients, including nitrogen, iron, and phosphorous, into the water. These so-called “poo-namis” stimulate the growth of phytoplankton, microscopic marine algae that pull CO2 out of the air and return oxygen to the air via photosynthesis. Phytoplankton are responsible for every other breath we take, contributing at least 50% of all oxygen to the atmosphere and capturing approximately 40% of all CO2 produced.
With other economic benefits like ecotourism factored in, economists
estimate that each whale is worth $2 million over its lifetime, making the
entire global population possibly a one trillion dollar asset to humanity.
*********
Web Links
How much is a whale worth?
Photo, posted June 12, 2013, courtesy of Gregory Smith via Flickr.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
...more
2min
October 23, 2019 Compressed Air Energy Storage
The increasing use of solar and wind power has created a growing need for technology to store up the energy they generate for use when it is most needed.
Historically, pumped hydropower has provided the largest amount of
storage capacity, but it is limited to only certain geographic locations. Battery energy storage has been growing
rapidly, with the technology becoming better and cheaper over time. But there are various other ways to store
energy that have potential and may well find their place in the changing energy
infrastructure.
One of these is compressed air energy storage, which has been around
for more than a century. It has been
used as a backup method for restarting power plants. But to date, the economic viability of using
it at a large scale has been lacking.
A Canadian startup company called Hydrostor is developing compressed
air energy storage technology that it believes can be used on a utility scale.
The way it works is excess renewable energy is used to run compressors
that compress air. Compressing the air
heats it up and the heat is captured and stored in insulated hot water tanks. The compressed gas is then injected into
underground caverns. When energy is
needed, the compressed air is released, the stored heat is added, and the
warmed gas is run through turbines to generate electricity. Additional features improve the system’s
efficiency.
Hydrostore has built a 1 MW pilot project in Ontario, Canada and is
now commissioning a 2MW system as well.
It is funded to build a 5 MW system in Australia next year and it is bidding
for 300 MW and 500 MW systems in North America.
The company has received equity funding from Baker Hughes, a large
oil-and-gas services and equipment company.
**********
Web Links
Storing energy in compressed air could finally become cheap enough for the big time
Photo courtesy of Hydrostor.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
...more
2min
October 22, 2019 A New Kind Of Coral Nursery
Coral reefs around the world are struggling from warming waters and increasing ocean acidification driven by excess carbon dioxide. Many of the world’s greatest reefs – such as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef – have seen steep declines over the past decade.
But apart from the global environmental threat, reefs also are often
damaged by various marine accidents such as ships grounding on them. Such events can severely damage a reef and
scatter countless small coral fragments onto the seafloor. These small pieces of coral are not actually
dead; they can continue on with their lives if they are relocated to a suitable
environment such as a coral nursery.
Coral nurseries are generally small installations that allow coral
fragments – typically pieces about 4 inches in length – to recover from their
reef breaking up and to grow until they are large enough for conservation
managers to replant them into reefs that need them. This strategy works well in places where
corals grow relatively quickly – such as Florida and the Caribbean – but not as
well in places where coral grows more slowly, such as Hawaii.
Recently, coral experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration working with mechanical engineering students at the University
of Hawaii have developed a new type of coral nursery that can save fully formed
coral colonies as opposed to small coral fragments.
The nurseries are large, carefully designed structures that can be
loaded up with corals that have become detached from their reefs. Some of these new structures were installed
in the waters of Oahu in the summer of 2018 and were populated with
corals. The relocated corals, which would
have otherwise died, are now recovering nicely in their new coral daycare
centers and will soon be replanted back into the reef.
**********
Web Links
NOAA Develops A New Type of Coral Nursery
Photo, posted July 29, 2010, courtesy of Kyle Taylor via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
...more
2min

FAQs about Earth Wise:

How many episodes does Earth Wise have?

The podcast currently has 2,516 episodes available.