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

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How many episodes does Earth Wise have?

The podcast currently has 2,516 episodes available.

Earth Wise episodes:

September 09, 2019 Falling Bee Populations
For many years, scientists have been sounding the alarm on the global
struggle of pollinators. A reported 40%
of invertebrate pollinator species, including bees and butterflies, are facing
extinction. And since as much as three-quarters of the world’s food crops
depend on pollination, the decline of these pollinators poses a major threat to
global food security.
Pollinators aid in the production of all sorts of crops, including
coffee, cacao, cotton, apples, and almonds – to name a few. The global value of crops requiring
pollination ranges from $235-$577 billion annually.
Honey bees are among the struggling pollinators. Over the past 15 years, bee colonies have
been disappearing at an alarming rate in what is known as the “colony collapse
disorder.” Some regions have seen losses
of up to 90%.
In the United States, managed honey bee populations declined by nearly
40% over this past winter, the largest such winter decline since surveying
began in 2006.
In recent months, mass honey bee declines have also been reported in Russia, according to the BBC. Russia, which produces a whopping 110,000 tons of honey annually, expects that figure to drop by as much as 20%. The widespread bee decline is likely to not only push up honey prices, but the prices of other popular foods as well. Many staple food crops in Russia, including sunflowers, buckwheat, and fruit trees, rely on bees for pollination.
Experts have blamed the bee decline crisis on a combination of
factors, including pesticides (most notably neonicotinoids), varroa mites, and
climate change.
Bees play a vital role in food production, and their continued decline
will have devastating consequences.
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Web Links
Russia alarmed by large fall in bee populations
Photo, posted July 28, 2019, courtesy of Ivan Radic via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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2min
September 06, 2019 Contrails And Climate Change
The white wispy trails of condensation produced by the exhaust from
aircraft engines have been the subject of a popular conspiracy theory for quite
a while. The story goes that the
long-lasting condensation trails are actually “chemtrails” composed of chemical
or biological agents left in the sky by aircraft and are intentionally sprayed
for a variety of nefarious purposes undisclosed to the general public. This story, of course, is nonsense.
But while contrails are not deliberate efforts to modify weather,
control population, manipulate psychology, or any of the other bizarre things
attributed to them, it turns out that they are having unfortunate effects on
the climate.
It turns out that contrails are creating an often-invisible thermal blanket of cloud across the planet that has a significant effect on atmospheric temperatures. Contrails are essentially human-made clouds that form above 25,000 feet where the air is moist and colder than -40 degrees Celsius. At times, contrails stick around in the sky, either as tight, white lines like chalk marks, or by spreading to create thin layers of ice clouds. At any one time, contrail-created clouds cover more than half a percent of global skies.
Research has shown that when contrails are around, nighttime
temperatures can go up appreciably.
After 9/11, when all U.S. flights were grounded for three days, the
difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures actually increased by
about 3 degrees Fahrenheit because nights were cooler.
The effects of aviation on climate, both from the CO2 emissions from aircraft engines and from these contrail effects are becoming an increasingly important issue. To complicate matters further, as aircraft engines become more efficient, they will create more, whiter, and longer-lasting contrails.
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Web Links
How Airplane Contrails Are Helping Make the Planet Warmer
Photo, posted May 15, 2012, courtesy of Mike Lewinski via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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2min
September 05, 2019 Scottish Wind Power
Scotland is a windy country.
Most wind turbines in the European Union produce electricity at an
average of 25% of their maximum rated power as a result of the variability of
wind resources. The west and northern
coasts of Scotland have an average capacity of 31% or more. Some wind farms in Scotland have achieved
more than 50% capacity over the course of a year.
As of the end of last year, Scotland had more than 8 GW of installed
wind power capacity. This included 7.8
GW of onshore wind and 623 MW of offshore wind generators. Estimates are that more than 11 GW of onshore
wind could be installed in Scotland. The
total offshore potential is far greater than that but would be much more
expensive. There are multiple
large-scale wind farms proposed or under construction in Scotland.
All of this growth in wind power has led to some remarkable
results. During the first half of 2019,
wind turbines in Scotland produced enough electricity to power every home in
the country twice over. Scottish wind
farms generated nearly 10 million megawatt-hours between January and June,
which is equal to the consumption of 4.5 million homes during that period. That is enough to take care of all of
Scotland’s homes plus a large portion of northern England’s.
Scotland has set a target of generating half of its electricity from
renewable sources by 2030 and decarbonizing its energy system almost entirely
by 2050. The recent performance of its
wind power installations shows that the country might be able to reach its goal
much sooner than anticipated.
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Web Links
Scotland’s Wind Farms Generate Enough Electricity to Power Nearly 4.5 Million Homes
Photo, posted March 27, 2017, courtesy of Ian Dick via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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2min
September 04, 2019 China And Rare Earth Mining
Rare earth elements are a crucial part of much of modern
technology. Everything from computers to
X-ray machines and aircraft engines needs one or more rare earth elements for
magnets, lenses, and other functions.
The world’s tech giants such as Apple, Huawei, and Tesla depend on
suppliers of rare earths.
Rare earth elements are not actually rare, but they are very expensive
to extract in ways that are not extremely harmful to the environment. China has been a major source of these
elements since its rare earth mining industry took off in the 1990s. The removal of rare earths from the earth’s
crust, using a mix of water and chemicals, has caused extensive water and soil
pollution.
Today, concrete leaching ponds and plastic-lined wastewater pools dot
the hills of Southeast China. Large
wastewater ponds sit uncovered and open to the elements in many places. Landslides or barrier failures can spill
contaminated contents into waterways or groundwater.
Local and federal officials in China have started to shut down illegal
and small-scale rare earth mining operations and have embarked on a cleanup of
polluted sites. The rare earth mining
cleanup operation is part of wider efforts across China to address severe
problems of water, air and soil pollution.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology estimated that
the cleanup bill for southern Jiangxi Province could amount to more than $5 billion. Many environmental experts and local
officials say that the cost of the cleanup should not be shouldered by the
Chinese government alone, but also by the rare earth industry and the global
companies and consumers that benefit from rare earth technology. As rare earth mining efforts start up
elsewhere around the world, it is important not to repeat the mistakes made in
China.
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Web Links
China Wrestles with the Toxic Aftermath of Rare Earth Mining
Photo, posted April 21, 2019, courtesy of John Beans via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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2min
September 03, 2019 Reducing Methane From Animals
Methane emissions from ruminant livestock are currently estimated to be more than 100 million tons each year and, after rice agriculture, represent the biggest human-initiated methane source. Given that fact, there is widespread encouragement for people to reduce their consumption of meat in order to reduce the amount of the potent greenhouse gas going into the atmosphere.
But an additional strategy to
lower global methane emissions is to actually reduce the amount of methane
produced by each animal. To that end,
researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand have now identified new
processes that control methane production in the stomachs of sheep and similar
animals like cattle and deer.
They determined the specific
microbes and enzymes that control the supply of hydrogen, which is the main
energy source for methane producing microbes, known as methanogens. Their work is focused on the development of
small molecule inhibitors and vaccines to specifically target the production of
methane by methanogens. By reducing the
supply of hydrogen to methanogens, it is possible to reduce animal methane
emissions.
The research involved studying two
types of sheep – those producing large amounts of methane and those producing
less. They found that the most active
hydrogen-consuming microbes differed between the sheep. Specifically, in the low methane emitting
sheep, hydrogen consuming bacteria dominated over methanogens.
Ultimately, a strategy might emerge to introduce feed supplements that encourage non-methane producers to out-compete methanogens. Controlling the supply of hydrogen to the methanogens will lead to reduced methane emissions.
Having low-emission cattle would
definitely help reduce the impact of agriculture on the climate.
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Web Links
Scientists discover processes to lower methane emissions from animals
Photo, posted April 7, 2017, courtesy of Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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2min
September 02, 2019 Meeting Climate Goals With Current Energy Infrastructure
The Paris Climate Agreement set forth a goal to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius as well as a more optimistic (and preferable) goal of keeping the temperature rise to less than 1.5 degrees. Reaching either of these goals requires getting to net-zero emissions by the middle of the century.
A new paper, published in Nature, looks at the issue
of whether existing power plants and other fossil-fuel-burning equipment
(including vehicles) can continue to operate until they age out of
functionality, or whether they need to be retired early.
The results of the study are that future
emissions from existing facilities would take up the entire carbon budget
needed to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and almost 2/3 of the budget
needed to keep warming below 2 degrees over the next 30 years.
So, the good news is that we can still
avoid a 2-degree rise without having to shut down all the existing power plants
early. But we would definitely have to
stop building new things with smokestacks and tailpipes that dump CO2
into the atmosphere.
That good news is tempered by the fact that
the number of fossil fuel-burning power plants and vehicles in the world has
increased dramatically over the past decade, spurred by rapid economic and
industrial development in China and India.
In fact, China is predicted to produce more than 40% of all the carbon
emissions over the next 30 years.
The 2-degree climate goal is not at all the
most desirable result. The 1.5-degree
target would be far better for the climate.
But if the world is to achieve it, there will be dramatic changes needed
in the existing infrastructure – either shutting it down or retrofitting it to
drastically reduce emissions.
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Web Links
Two-Degree Climate Goal Attainable Without Early Infrastructure Retirement
Photo, posted March 5, 2010, courtesy of Tennessee Valley Authority via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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2min
August 30, 2019 Refugee Corals
As climate change warms the ocean, subtropical environments are becoming more favorable for corals than the equatorial waters where they traditionally thrived. As a result, drifting coral larvae are settling and growing in new regions.
According to new research in the journal Marine Ecology Progress
Series, the number of young corals on tropical reefs has declined by 85%
over the past 40 years. At the same time,
the numbers on subtropical reefs has doubled.
Only certain types of coral can reach these new subtropical
locations. That depends on how far the
microscopic larvae can swim and drift on currents before they exhaust their
limited fat stores. Thus, the reef
ecosystems that develop have new blends of species that have previously never
coexisted. It is not clear how long it
will take for the new systems to reach equilibrium.
Coral reefs are complicated systems that depend on the interplay
between species to enable their healthy functioning. Apart from the corals themselves, there are
the coraline algae that symbiotically coexist with them. How all of this will play out in these
evolving ecosystems is unknown.
In the meantime, the research has found that these refugee corals are
settling at latitudes up to 35 degrees both north and south of the
equator. It is no longer so clear what
constitute native species in the reefs.
It remains to be seen whether new reefs in subtropical oceans can
support the incredible biodiversity seen in tropical reefs. But ultimately, these changing ecosystems
could potentially bring new resources and opportunities, such as fishing and
tourism, to places where they never existed before.
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Web Links
Coral Reefs Shifting Away from Equatorial Waters
Photo, posted March 22, 2011, courtesy of Simone Lovati via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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2min
August 29, 2019 Shifting Ecosystems
The Great Plains ecosystem has been shifting northward over the past fifty years, driven by climate change, wildfire suppression, energy development, land use changes, and urbanization. The ecosystem is an area historically rich with grasslands and shrub steppe and is prime habitat for grassland birds.
According to a recent study published in the journal Nature Climate
Change, the northernmost ecosystem boundary of the Great Plains has moved
more than 365 miles north since 1970, amounting to about 8 miles a year. The region’s southernmost ecosystem boundary
has shifted 160 miles north, or about 4 miles a year.
The study used bird distribution data as an indicator of shifting
ecosystem boundaries. The researchers
analyzed 46 years of data for 400 bird species across a 250-mile-wide strip
stretching from Texas to North Dakota.
They tracked how the birds’ distributions changed as a measure of how
these ecosystems were shifting.
While climate change has been a major driver of these ecosystem shifts
since the 1970s, several other factors such as wildfire trends, land use
changes, and invasion of tree species into grassland habitat have also played a
role. Like most things in ecological
systems, the changes are likely to have multiple causes. One cannot really separate causes like tree
invasions, warming climate, and wildfires, as they are all interrelated.
Using bird distribution patterns for tracking ecosystem shifts could
be a useful tool for scientists and land managers in the coming decades to give
them an early warning of how habitats are changing in response to rising global
temperatures and therefore allow them to take action to protect vulnerable species.
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Web Links
Great Plains’ Ecosystems Have Shifted 365 Miles Northward Since 1970
Photo, posted March 24, 2017, courtesy of Rick Bohn / USFWS via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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2min
August 28, 2019 Controlling Malaria Without Chemicals
Nearly half of the world’s population lives in areas vulnerable to malaria. The disease kills roughly 450,000 people each year, most of them children and pregnant women. Malaria is spread by Anopheles mosquitoes and, over time, the mosquitoes have been developing resistance to the chemical insecticides that are used to control them. In addition, there is great concern about the toxic side effects of the chemicals used on the mosquitoes.
About 30 years ago, scientists identified a type of bacteria that kills
Anopheles, but the mechanism was not understood. As a result, the bacteria could not be
replicated or used as an alternative to chemical insecticides.
But now, an international research team, headed by researchers at UC
Riverside, has identified the neurotoxin produced by the bacteria and has
determined how it kills Anopheles. The
work is described in a paper published in Nature Communications.
It took the team 10 years to achieve a breakthrough in understanding
the bacteria. Modern gene sequencing techniques
were the key.
While many neurotoxins target vertebrates and are highly toxic to humans, the neurotoxin that kills Anopheles mosquitoes does not affect humans, vertebrates, fish, or even other insects. Known as PMP1, the substance is not even toxic to mice when given by direct injection.
The team has applied for a patent on this discovery and hopes to find
partners to help them develop the bacteria-based insecticide.
There is a high likelihood that PMP1 actually evolved to kill the Anopheles mosquito. This finding opens the door to new avenues of research into other environmentally friendly insecticides that would be targeted at other disease-spreading pests.
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Web Links
Controlling deadly malaria without chemicals
Photo, posted June 9, 2018, courtesy of Mario Yardanov via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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2min
August 27, 2019 The Hottest Month Ever
European climate researchers announced that July was the hottest July ever recorded and since July is generally the hottest month of the year, it was indeed the hottest month ever recorded. It just barely beat out the previous record set in July 2016. There are multiple agencies that track temperatures around the world, and it is possible that some of them may report slightly different results.
But whatever July’s ultimate ranking is, it is part of a long-term
trend. The past five years have been the
hottest on record. The 10 hottest years
ever recorded have all occurred during the past twenty years.
This June was also the warmest on record, and the previous five months
were all among the four warmest for their respective months. All of that puts this year on track to be in
the top five warmest years, or perhaps the hottest ever.
The highest above-average conditions were recorded across Alaska,
Greenland, and large areas of Siberia.
Large parts of Africa and Australia were warmer than normal, as was much
of central Asia. New temperature records
were set in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany with temperatures over 104
degrees Fahrenheit. Great Britain saw an
all-time record of 101.7 degrees and Anchorage, Alaska stayed above 79 degrees
for a record six days in a row.
Wildfires have raged across the Russian Arctic, India has suffered
heatwaves and severe water shortages, and Japan saw more than 5,000 people seek
hospital treatment during a heatwave.
While scientists cannot directly link any particular heatwave to
climate change, the trend for new heat records is likely to continue and
accelerate unless we do something about curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
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Web Links
How Hot Was July? Hotter Than Ever, Global Data Shows
Photo, posted May 25, 2019, courtesy of Jakob Montrasio via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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2min

FAQs about Earth Wise:

How many episodes does Earth Wise have?

The podcast currently has 2,516 episodes available.