Plastic straws have readily available alternatives such as paper

The Saltwater Brewery in Delray Beach, Florida, recently has released

Producing the edible rings represents a big investment for a small

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Saltwater Brewery Creates Edible Six-Pack Rings

Photo courtesy of Saltwater Brewery.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The warming climate has enriched cooler countries like Norway and Sweden while dragging down economic growth in warm countries such as India and Nigeria.  The results of the study showed that most of the poorest countries on Earth are considerably poorer than they would have been in the absence of rising temperatures.  At the same time, the majority of rich countries are richer than they would have otherwise been.

Detailed analysis of 50 years of annual temperature and GDP measurements for 165 countries demonstrated that growth during warmer than average years has accelerated in cool nations and slowed in warm nations.  Historical data clearly show that crops are more productive, people are healthier, and they are more productive at work when temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold.  That means that in cold countries, a little bit of warming can help but the opposite is true in places that are already hot.

For most counties, whether global warming has helped or hurt economic growth is pretty certain.  Tropical countries in particular tend to have temperatures far outside the ideal for economic growth and they are already among the poorest countries.  It is less clear how warming has influenced growth in countries in the middle latitudes, such as here in the United States.  Some of the largest economies are near the perfect temperature for economic output but continued warming in the future is likely to push them away from the temperature optimum.

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Climate change has worsened global economic inequality

Photo, posted November 1, 2011, courtesy of CIAT via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

In recent years, climbing Everest has become much more common.  In fact, since 1953, more than 4,000 people

But climbing Everest is neither safe nor easy.  Ice and snow, powerful winds, and generally harsh conditions make Everest a treacherous place.  Over the decades, hundreds of climbers have died on its slopes and many of their bodies are still up there.  Apart from human remains, there are decades worth of garbage left behind by hikers and tourists.

The government of Nepal has mounted an ambitious project to clean up

Helicopters carried a third of the garbage to Kathmandu for

Nepal would like to make the world’s tallest mountain clean.

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Volunteers Remove 3 Tons of Trash From Mount Everest in Two Weeks

Photo, posted May 23, 2012, courtesy of Gunther Hagleitner via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

In recent years, community solar has become popular.  These are projects where multiple

However, the majority of community solar subscribers to date have been

Low-income households on average spend over 8% of their income on

Given this situation, there are now a growing number of programs that

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Energy Equity: Bringing Solar Power to Low-Income Communities

Photo, posted November 27, 2012, courtesy of Oregon State University via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Bumblebees are among the most important plant pollinators.  They pollinate many food crops, including apples, tomatoes, blueberries and legumes, as well as countless types of trees, shrubs, and wildflowers.  But researchers have documented declines in both the abundance and range of many bumblebee species.

The American bumblebee, which is native to North America, is one of

According to a new study led by York University and recently published

The researchers used data from three sources in their study: the

The research team found that the species’ area of occurrence has

The American bumblebee can still be found throughout its Canadian

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Disappearing bumblebee species under threat of extinction

Photo, posted August 22, 2011, courtesy of Rachel Elaine via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Shifting water between higher and lower reservoirs is still basis of

A start-up company also called Energy Vault and based in both

The system is said to operate at about 90% efficiency and can deliver

A full-scale Energy Vault plant, called an Evie, would look like a 35-story crane with six arms, surrounded by thousands of manmade concrete blocks, weighing nearly 40 tons each.  When charging, the plant will stack the blocks around itself higher and higher in a Babel-like tower.  To discharge, the cranes drop the blocks down, generating power from the speedy descent.  This configuration can deliver 4 megawatts of power and store about 35 megawatt-hours of energy.

There isn’t even a factory needed.  The company would deliver a crane from a manufacturer.  The crane will then assemble the blocks onsite using recycled concrete.  Operation is then fully automated.  The system is expected to run for 30 or 40 years.

So far there is only a one-seventh scale demo unit in

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Energy Vault Wins World Changing Idea Award 2019 from Fast Company for Transformative Utility-Scale Energy Storage Technology

Photo courtesy of Energy Vault.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Recently, a study at the University of Zurich looked at the effects of

In early 2011, a heatwave caused water temperatures in Shark Bay to

The researchers investigated how this environmental damage affected

Their analysis showed that dolphins’ survival rate dropped by 12% and

The researchers were surprised by the extent and the duration of the influence of the heatwave, especially the fact that the reproductive rate of dolphins had not returned to normal even after 6 years.

This study shows for the first time that marine heatwaves not only

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Climate change is a threat to dolphins’ survival

Photo, posted December 14, 2014, courtesy of Ed Dunens via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Florida Power & Light has announced plans to build the world’s

The system, which is scheduled to be completed in late 2021, will be

Installing the mega-sized battery system will accelerate the

FPL has already been pursuing the use of battery storage

These large battery systems are increasingly practical because of

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FP&L Plans World’s Largest Energy Storage Battery To Support Its Renewable Energy Goals

Photo, posted April 21, 2010, courtesy of Frank Starmer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

New York State lawmakers have agreed to impose a statewide ban on most

The New York ban would begin next March and would forbid stores from

Meanwhile, European Union member states have reached a provisional

According to the European Commission, plastics make up 85% of beach

Both here and abroad, the war on plastics is heating up.

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Plastic Bags to Be Banned in New York; Second Statewide Ban, After California

The End Of Plastic Cutlery, Plates And Straws: EU Market Says Goodbye To Single-Use Plastic Products

Photo, posted March 20, 2007, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

By the late 1990s, researchers had identified that frogs in widely

Recently, a group of 41 scientists published the first worldwide

According to biologists, Bd is now considered to be the deadliest

There is cautious optimism for the surviving amphibian species, but

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The Plague Killing Frogs Everywhere Is Far Worse Than Scientists Thought

Photo, posted June 19, 2010, courtesy of Chris Luczkow via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.