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 2,517 episodes available.

Earth Wise episodes:

May 21, 2019 Protecting Vulnerable Shorelines
Global climate change is having noticeable effects on the environment. For example, glaciers are shrinking. Plant and animal ranges are shifting and populations decreasing. And droughts, floods, and wildfires are becoming more frequent and more intense. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the evidence indicates that the net damage costs of climate change are likely to be significant and to increase over time.
Our coastal shorelines, which are
already stressed by human activity, pollution, storms, and invasive species,
are one of many areas expected to be further threatened by climate change. Sea level rise and more intense and frequent
storms are expected to erode and inundate coastal ecosystems and eliminate wetlands. Ocean acidification is also projected to
disrupt marine environments.
But according to scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, seagrasses could play a key role in protecting these vulnerable shorelines from this onslaught. The MIT research team demonstrated how the ubiquitous marine plants dissipate wave energy and help protect against erosion, which could help mitigate damage from rising seas.
Using mathematical modelling and experiments, the MIT researchers were
able to quantify for the first time how large and dense a continuous meadow of
seagrass must be in order to provide adequate damping of waves in a given
setting. They also found that seagrasses
offer significant environmental benefits, including preventing beach erosion,
protecting seawalls and coastal structures, improving water quality, and
sequestering carbon.
Submerged aquatic vegetation, including seagrasses, provides an
ecosystem service exceeding $4 trillion annually. Hopefully these findings can help provide
useful guidance for seagrass restoration efforts.
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Web Links
Seagrass’ strong potential for curbing erosion
The Effects of Climate Change
Photo, posted October 13, 2010, courtesy of the NOAA Photo Library via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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2min
May 20, 2019 Hybrid-Electric Aircraft
The commercial aviation industry is a major source of carbon dioxide emissions and, as other industries try to move towards decarbonization, its share is getting larger. But reducing emissions from aircraft is challenging because powering planes without burning fossil fuel is hard to do.
The biggest problem is that powering aircraft with electric motors
instead of fossil fuel motors requires so much energy that the batteries needed
to supply it become impractically heavy.
While research goes on to develop lighter-weight batteries, an interim
concept may pay dividends.
Just as hybrid cars represent a stepping stone towards full
electrification, hybrid-electric aircraft may be a way to obtain substantial
reductions in aircraft emissions. The
idea is to use battery-powered electric motors to power planes, but to greatly
reduce the capacity requirements of the batteries by having an on-board
fossil-fuel generator to charge the batteries and supply additional needed
power.
A study by the University of Illinois looked at the potential
emissions reductions for hybrid-electric aircraft taking into account the
emissions associated with generating the electricity that charges the batteries
in the plane. The requirements in the
study were that the plane needs to be able to carry the same number of
passengers and travel the same distance as current aircraft.
The results were that a drivetrain that gets 50% of its power from
battery charge reduced emissions by about 50% over the full lifecycle of the
plane.
As batteries get lighter and the electric grid gets greener, the
possibility of making major reductions in aircraft carbon emissions looks
increasingly realistic. But there is a
long way to go.
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Web Links
Study Examines Commercial Hybrid-Electric Aircraft, Reduced Carbon Emissions
Photo, posted September 26, 2014, courtesy of Jeff Turner via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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May 17, 2019 Climate Change And Insurance
While there are still some people who remain dubious about the reality of climate change, insurance companies are not among them. And, in fact, insurers are warning that climate change could make coverage for ordinary people unaffordable.
Munich Reinsurance, the world’s largest reinsurance firm, blamed
global warming for $24 billion in losses from California’s recent
wildfires. Such costs could soon be
widely felt as premium rises are already under discussion with insurance
companies having clients in vulnerable parts of the state.
With the risk from wildfires, flooding, storms and hail increasing,
the only sustainable option for the insurance industry is to adjust risk prices
accordingly. Ultimately, this may become
a social issue. Affordability of
insurance is critical because if rates go up too much, many people on low and
average incomes in some regions may no longer be able to buy insurance.
The great majority of California’s 20 worst forest fires since the
1930’s has occurred since the year 2000 driven by abnormally high summer
temperatures and persistent drought. The reinsurance giant analyzed decades of
data with climate models and concluded that the fires are likely driven by
climate change.
It isn’t just wildfires.
Insurance premiums are also being adjusted in regions facing an
increased threat from severe convective storms whose energy and severity are
driven by global warming. These include
parts of Germany, Austria, France, southwest Italy, and the U.S. Midwest.
Linking extreme weather events to climate change is a bit like
attributing the performance of a steroid-using athlete to drug use. The connections are clearer in patterns than
in individual disasters. But the pattern
these days is pretty clear.
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Web Links
Climate Change Could Make Insurance Unaffordable for Most People
Photo, posted June 12, 2013, courtesy of Jeff Head via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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2min
May 16, 2019 Drilling In California
More than one million acres of public and private land in California may soon be opened up to oil drilling and hydraulic fracturing, according to a plan recently released by the Trump Administration. The proposal raises environmental concerns, and comes at a time when opposition to oil and gas drilling in the state is growing.
The plan, put forth by the Bureau of Land Management, would end a
five-year moratorium in the state on leasing federal public land to oil and gas
developers. In 2013, a federal judge put
the moratorium in place until the environmental risks of hydraulic fracturing,
or fracking, could be better evaluated.
Fracking is the process of injecting liquid at high pressure
underground in order to crack open rocks and extract oil or gas. Well-documented risks associated with
fracking include air and water pollution, as well as increased risks of oil
spills and earthquakes.
Nevertheless, the Bureau of Land Management, which is part of the U.S.
Department of the Interior, released its 174-page environmental impact
statement with the proposal to open up 1,011,470 acres of land to fossil fuel
extraction, impacting the California counties of Fresno, Kern, Kings, San Luis
Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Ventura.
Unsurprisingly, the draft plan has been praised by industry groups who
say concerns are misguided, and slammed by environmentalists who say the move
poses a serious public health risk and could lead to a “fracking frenzy.”
The proposal is now subject to a 45-day period for public comment, after which the Interior Department will determine how to proceed. A link to weigh in on the proposal can be found here.
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Web Links
Trump fracking plan targets over 1 million acres in California
Bakersfield Field Office Hydraulic Fracturing Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement
Photo, posted March 14, 2010, courtesy of Mike Baird via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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2min
May 15, 2019 Coal Isn’t Even Cheap Anymore
Coal has historically been very cheap compared with many other energy sources and the reason is that it is so plentiful. The United States has especially abundant quantities of the stuff – perhaps a quarter of the world’s estimated recoverable reserves. Estimates are that at the rate at which we are currently using coal here, the remaining reserves would last about 325 years.
That would be great, of course, if the use of coal was not
relentlessly destructive to the environment, hazardous to human health, and a
major driver for global warming. Despite
all of that, the Trump administration is a big booster of coal.
But coal has little chance of holding on to its current status, much
less having some kind of renaissance.
According to a new report from renewables analysis firm Energy
Innovation, nearly 75% of coal-fired power plants in the United States generate
electricity that is more expensive than local wind and solar resources. Wind power, in particular, can at times
provide electricity at half the cost of coal.
Wind and solar power are growing by leaps and bounds. The
Guardian reported that by 2025, enough wind and solar power will be
generated at low enough prices in the U.S. that it could replace 86% of the
entire U.S. coal fleet with lower-cost electricity.
It has been known for some time that there are places where the so-called coal crossover has already taken place. But this is actually far more widespread than previously thought. Substantial coal capacity is currently at risk in North Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Texas. By 2025, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin will join their ranks.
The biggest threat to coal is not regulators or environmentalists; it is economics.
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Web Links
Renewables Cheaper Than 75 Percent of U.S. Coal Fleet, Report Finds
Photo, posted May 1, 2011, courtesy of Alan Stark via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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2min
May 14, 2019 Dangerous Cities For Migrating Birds
Billions of birds migrate north in the spring and south in the fall. The majority of them fly at night. But as they pass over large cities, the birds can become disoriented by bright artificial light – so-called light pollution, causing them to crash into buildings or windows.
Researchers estimate that 600 million birds die from building
collisions in the United States every year.
Now, a new paper from researchers at Cornell University reveals which
metropolitan areas are most dangerous for birds and why.
The researchers ranked cities where, as a result of geography and
exposure to light pollution, birds are at the greatest risk of becoming
attracted to and disoriented by lights and crashing into buildings. They
combined light pollution levels with bird density data in order to make their
calculations. Their paper was recently
published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.
Chicago, Houston, and Dallas finished as the three most dangerous
cities for migrating birds. While
migration routes vary depending on the season, these three cities still topped
all others during both the spring and fall migrations due to their size and
geographic positioning in the heart of North America’s most trafficked aerial
corridors.
Audubon’s Lights Out program is one of several national efforts
encouraging cities to reduce light pollution, particularly on heavy migration
nights, in order to reduce bird mortality.
But homeowners need to do their part as well since an estimated
quarter-million birds die from collisions with residential houses every
year. The suggestion to cities and
homeowners alike is the same: If you
don’t need the lights, turn them off.
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Web Links
Chicago tops list of most dangerous cities for migrating birds
Photo, posted May 18, 2017, courtesy of Pedro Szekely via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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2min
May 13, 2019 Building For Climate Change
The manifestations of climate change are creating increasingly familiar images: floodwaters rising up house windows, charred buildings in the wake of wildfires, and homes and businesses demolished by storm winds. As these sorts of calamities become ever more common, changes to how houses are built are going to be necessary.
How can homes become more resilient against severe and unpredictable
weather?
Research at Carlton University’s Sprott School of Business looks at
this issue.
As an example, houses can be framed and finished in certain ways that
help protect them from wind and flooding.
But such methods are currently only happening in the custom-build
fringes of the housing sector.
Widespread adoption will require, at the minimum, significant changes to
building codes.
Revising building codes is not an easy matter. The codes themselves are highly technical and
complex, and beyond that, the process Is often politicized.
Even simple things like hurricane ties, which are small pieces of
hardware that prevent a roof from lifting during a severe wind are not now included
in building codes. Insurance companies
support their use as inexpensive protection for houses. But even though the overall cost is
relatively minor, the building industry pushes back at the additional expense.
The need to reduce carbon emissions has created a push for sustainable
housing. But the increasingly erratic
weather means that houses also need resilience and adaptation. These features will inevitably add costs and
incorporating them into building codes requires producing convincing business
cases.
The U.S. experienced 394 natural catastrophe events last year costing $225 billion in damage. Finding ways to make homes and businesses more resilient is not just a good idea; it is essential.
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Web Links
How to Start Weather-Proofing Homes for Unpredictable Weather
Photo, posted June 12, 2008, courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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May 10, 2019 Deepwater Impacts Lingering
On April 20, 2010, an explosion on the BP-owned Deepwater Horizon drilling rig released an estimated 210 million of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the oil was recovered, burned, or dispersed at sea, while some washed up onto coastal shorelines.
Now, more than nine years later, a long-term study suggests the oil is still affecting the salt marshes of the Gulf Coast. A multi-institutional research team began sampling in the region once the spill was contained and continue their work to this day.
The researchers found that heavily-oiled marsh areas remained less
healthy than less polluted sites more than six years after the spill. They fear that complete recovery of these
oil-soaked regions will likely take more than a decade.
But the researchers also discovered that salt marsh grasses play a key
role in coastal wetland recovery. Two
plants dominate healthy salt marshes in the Gulf: smooth cordgrass and black
needlerush. Single-celled, plant-like
organisms known as benthic microalgae also abound in healthy salt marshes, as
do many small invertebrates.
In heavily-oiled areas, the researchers found that nearly all the plants died, and benthic microalgae and small invertebrate populations declined significantly. Importantly, however, they also found that it was only after smooth cordgrass started its comeback in these areas that invertebrate populations began to recover. They noted that these salt marsh grasses provide habitat, bind soil, slow water, facilitate colonization, and fuel the food web.
Plants are the foundation of and play a crucial role in salt
marshes. The researchers hope these
findings will help shape the mitigation strategies of any future oil
spills.
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Web Links
Continuing impacts of Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Photo, posted April 21, 2010, courtesy of Deepwater Horizon Response via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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2min
May 09, 2019 Plant-Based Jet Fuels
The global aviation industry uses a whole lot of fuel: more than 5 million barrels a day. It is an incredibly energy-intensive industry and almost all of its energy comes from petroleum-based fuels.
While other large energy sectors such as electric power, ground
transportation and commercial buildings have well-defined pathways to adopting renewable
energy sources, the aviation industry does not have such a straightforward way
to make a transition to sustainability.
Electrifying planes using batteries or fuel cells is very challenging
for a number of reasons, notably the weight restrictions on aircraft. So liquid biofuels as replacements for
petroleum-based fuels remain the most promising approach.
A new study at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory concludes
that sustainable plant-based biofuels could provide a competitive alternative
to conventional petroleum fuels if current development and scale-up initiatives
are successful.
Multidisciplinary teams based at the Department of Energy’s Joint
BioEnergy Institute are focused on optimizing each stage of the bio-jet fuel
production process. This includes bioengineering
ideal source plants and developing methods for efficiently isolating the
carbohydrates in non-food biomass that bacteria can digest and bioconvert into
fuel molecules.
The critical issue is cost. The
theoretical cost of bio-jet fuel has come down dramatically in recent years but
is still around $16 a gallon. The cost
of standard jet fuel is about $2.50 a gallon.
So, the real challenge is bridging that gap.
Reducing the cost of the fuel could come both from the material and process improvements that are underway as well as by finding ways to turn the leftover lignin residuals from the bioconversion process into valuable chemicals.
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Web Links
Bright Skies for Plant-Based Jet Fuels
Photo, posted March 28, 2009, courtesy of Yasuhiro Chatani via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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May 08, 2019 Utility-Scale Solar On The Rise
According to research from Goldman Sachs, utility-scale solar power
capacity is expected to grow by double digits globally over the next two years. The growth will be driven by expanding use of
the technology in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and China.
Solar power is the world’s fastest growing source of electricity
generation and is slowly taking market share from fossil fuels like coal and
natural gas. The transition is being
driven by a combination of continuously lower prices for solar power and the
impact of policies aimed at reducing emissions.
Utility-scale solar is defined as installations designed solely to
feed electricity into the grid, in contrast to smaller-scale residential or
commercial building units. There are now
solar farms larger than half a gigawatt in generating capacity. According to the Goldman report, global
utility-scale solar installations will reach 108 gigawatts in 2019, up 12% over
the previous year, and will then grow another 10% to 119 gigawatts in 2020.
When residential and other smaller installations are included, most analysts expect global solar power capacity to soon hit 600 gigawatts. To put this in perspective, the global capacity only reached 100 gigawatts in 2012 and was actually less than 10 gigawatts in 2007.
Even more dramatic than the growth of solar installations is the
reduction in solar cost, and the two are obviously closely related. Solar panel costs have dropped from around
$70 per watt of electricity generated in 1980 to 36 cents per watt currently in
the United States. When favorable
policies both from governments and related to corporate sustainability targets
are added to the mix, the booming growth in solar power is easy to understand.
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Web Links
Large-scale solar power set for double-digit growth: Goldman Sachs
Photo, posted March 7, 2019, courtesy of Hedgerow Inc via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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FAQs about Earth Wise:

How many episodes does Earth Wise have?

The podcast currently has 2,517 episodes available.