Earth Wise

Earth Wise

By Randy SimonScience Education Self-Improvement Natural Sciences Nature

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Earth Wise episodes

March 01, 2019 Fast Food And Climate Change
A coalition of global investors is urging some of the largest fast food companies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The group, which has approximately $6.5 trillion under management, wants the fast food chains to reduce the carbon footprint of their meat and dairy supply chains.
The global fast food sector is reportedly worth a whopping $570
billion annually. The coalition has
targeted some of the most notable contributors to that figure, including
McDonald’s, KFC, Domino’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and Chipotle.
According to the investors, animal agriculture is one of the world’s
highest-emitting sectors without a low-carbon plan. If left unchecked, emissions from animal
agriculture alone would contribute 70% of the total worldwide target for
emissions in 2050 that would keep the global rise in temperature below 2C. Animal agriculture also uses an estimated 10%
of annual global water flows.
In their letter to the fast food giants, the investors are calling on the companies to implement clear requirements for suppliers of animal proteins to report and reduce their greenhouse gas and freshwater impacts. They want fast food companies to publish quantitative, time bound targets for reductions, and commit to publicly disclose the progress on these targets.
Climate change is increasingly a factor for investors when evaluating
market risk. This investor letter comes
just weeks after the EAT-Lancet commission report was published, in which their
experts suggest that a sustainable diet for the planet by 2050 will require a
90% reduction in red meat and milk consumption.
Fast food may need to slow down.
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Web Links
Fast food giants under fire on climate and water usage
The EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health
Photo, posted May 19, 2014, courtesy of Mike Mozart via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
February 28, 2019 Indonesian Deforestation
Deforestation is defined as the intentional destruction of trees and other vegetation without reforesting or allowing the forest to regenerate itself.
In Indonesia, industrial agriculture, primarily for the production of
palm oil, is a major driver of deforestation.
But, according to researchers at Duke University, its impact has
diminished proportionately in recent
years as other natural and human causes have emerged. Their peer-reviewed
findings were recently published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
According to the study’s lead author, large-scale plantations were responsible for more than half of Indonesia’s deforestation in the late 2000s, peaking between 2008-2010 when an average of 1.5 million acres of forest was lost annually. The expansion of the massive plantations was responsible for 57% of the forest loss. Between 2014-2016, an average of more than 2 million acres of forest was lost annually, but plantation expansion only accounted for 25% of this figure. While the overall rate of deforestation continued to grow, other factors were responsible for most of it.
Conversions of forests to grasslands rose sharply in 2015 and 2016 when El Nino caused severe droughts and forest fires. Small-scale farming, often overshadowed by industrial agriculture, was also found to play a bigger role, accounting for 25% of all forest loss.
Indonesia has experienced some of the highest rates of
deforestation. Its forests absorb and
store vast amounts of climate-warming carbon dioxide, help prevent erosion and
flooding, and provide habitat to thousands of species. Understanding the varied causes of Indonesian
deforestation should help conservationists and policymakers better address the
problem.
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Web Links
Palm oil not the only driver of forest loss in Indonesia
Photo, posted March 26, 2018, courtesy of Achmad Rabin Taim via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
February 27, 2019 More Renewables Without Storage In Texas
Texas has a Texas-sized appetite for electricity and relies most heavily on natural gas, coal and nuclear power to get it. But in recent times, wind power has grown tremendously in the Lone Star State and it has already leapfrogged past nuclear power. Coal could be the next domino to fall.
In the past few years, solar power has become competitive with wind in
terms of price. Texas is a large,
coastal state in the sunny southwestern U.S. and has significant solar
resources. As a result, the amount of solar
power in Texas is now growing rapidly.
In order for a combination of solar and wind power to address the bulk
of electricity demand in Texas, there needs to be a way to provide reliability
that these intermittent sources don’t necessarily provide. Energy storage is a solution that ultimately is
likely to be part of most electricity grids, but currently it is still
expensive on a utility scale.
A new study from Rice University looked at the complementarity of
solar and wind power in Texas.
Complementarity refers to balancing the output of solar and wind
systems. The peak performance of wind
and solar occurs at very different times in different regions of the
state. The study suggests that the right
mix of solar and wind systems in the right parts of Texas could provide a continuously
reliable energy system. On both a yearly
and daily basis, wind and solar power resources in Texas complement each other
in terms of peak performance. It is a
matter of locating the solar power and wind farms in the right places.
With the Texas solar industry really starting to boom, there is a real
opportunity to integrate far more renewable energy into the Texas grid.
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Web Links
More Renewables with Less Energy Storage: Texas Shows How
Photo, posted June 8, 2018, courtesy of Laura Lee Dooley via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
February 26, 2019 New Nutrition Labels
Food and beverage packaging in this country has included a Nutrition Facts panel for nearly 25 years. Over 700,000 products have the labels which provide consumers with information like serving sizes, calories per serving, ingredients, and nutritional content.
Surveys indicate that 77 percent of all U.S. adults claim to use the
labels at least some of the time.
Whether the labels are actually useful is somewhat debatable. A couple of years ago, the FDA released a
proposal to update the labels to make them more useful and to reflect more
recent nutritional research. The new
labels are finally going to be implemented and food manufacturers with annual
sales exceeding $10 million have until January of 2020 to update their
packaging with the new labels.
One of the biggest changes is that the “serving size” section of the
label will be changed to more accurately reflect the actual portions consumed
by the typical American. For example, a
20-ounce soft drink will now be labeled as a single serving because most people
will drink the whole bottle in one sitting.
The new labels will no long list the amounts of Vitamin A and C,
because recent research shows most Americans are not deficient in these
nutrients. Instead, the amount of
Vitamin D and potassium will be listed, two nutrients lacking in many
diets. New labels will also show amounts
of “added sugars”, defined as caloric sweeteners with no nutritional value. The
new labels will also display the calories per serving in much large type making
that piece of information far more noticeable.
There is surely more to be done to make food labeling more transparent and useful for consumers, but the new changes at least seem to be in the right direction.
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Web Links
Nutrition Labels Get a Makeover: Will It Make a Difference?
Photo, posted September 9, 2014, courtesy of Mike Mozart via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
February 25, 2019 Hacking Photosynthesis
There is an enzyme known as RuBisCo that is involved in carbon fixation, the process plants use to convert carbon dioxide into sugar molecules. The RuBisCo molecule is inside the leaves of most plants and is probably the most abundant protein in the world.
RuBisCo picks up carbon dioxide from the air and uses energy from the
sun to turn the carbon into sugar molecules.
This process of photosynthesis is pretty much the foundation of life on
Earth.
Wonderful as it is, the process is not perfect. RuBisCo is not very selective in grabbing molecules
from the air. It picks up oxygen as well
as CO2 and it produces a toxic compound when it does that.
Plants operate a whole other complicated chemical process to deal with
this toxic byproduct and uses up a lot of energy along the way, leaving less
energy for making leaves or food that we can eat.
A research program at the University of Illinois called Realizing
Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (or RIPE) has been trying to correct this
problem; they have been trying to hack photosynthesis. And they may well have succeeded.
Using genetic modification on tobacco plants, they have shut down the
existing detoxification process and set up a much more efficient new one. The result is super plants that grow faster
and up to 40% bigger.
The next step is to get it to work on plants that people actually rely
upon for food, like tomatoes, soybeans and black-eyed peas (which are a staple
food crop in sub-Saharan Africa where food is scarce.)
It will be years before we know if the process can really produce more
food and be safe, but it may end up leading to a major increase in crop
productivity.
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Web Links
Scientists Have ‘Hacked Photosynthesis’ In Search Of More Productive Crops
Photo, posted June 10, 2013, courtesy of Boon Hong Seto via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
February 22, 2019 Saving Beaches With Seagrass
Almost a quarter of the Gross Domestic Product of places around the Caribbean Sea is earned from tourism. Preserving the beaches in the region is an economic imperative. With increasing coastal development, the natural flow of water and sand is disrupted, natural ecosystems are damaged, and many tropical beaches simply disappear into the sea.
With such high stakes, expensive coastal engineering efforts such as
repeated replenishing of sand and the construction of concrete protective walls
are common strategies. Rising sea levels
and increasingly powerful storms only increase the threat to tropical beaches.
Researchers from The Netherlands and Mexico recently published a study
in the journal BioScience on the
effectiveness of seagrass in holding onto sand and sediment along shorelines.
Seagrasses are
so-named because most species have long green, grass-like leaves. They are
often confused with seaweeds but are actually more closely related to flowering
plants seen on land. Seagrasses have roots, stems and leaves, and produce
flowers and seeds. Seagrasses can form dense underwater meadows and are one of
the most productive ecosystems in the world. Seagrasses provide shelter and
food to an incredibly diverse community of animals, from tiny invertebrates to
large fish, crabs, turtles, marine mammals and birds.
The researchers performed measurements of the ability of seagrass along Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula coastline to keep sand in place and prevent erosion. They found that the amount of erosion was strongly linked to the amount of vegetation. Quite often, seagrass beds have been regarded as a nuisance, rather than a valuable asset for preserving valuable coastlines. The study opens opportunities for developing new tropical beach protection schemes in which ecology is integrated into engineering solutions.
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Web Links
Seagrass Saves Beaches and Money
Photo, posted October 13, 2010, courtesy of NOAA via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
February 21, 2019 Liquid Fuel From The Sun
Most forms of energy we use ultimately come from the sun in one way or another. Even fossil fuels are the end product of millions of years of plant life that captured solar energy. The advantage fossil fuels have over direct solar power is that they are, in fact, fuels and therefore can be stored for use when needed.
Scientists in Sweden have now developed a specialized fluid that
absorbs some of the sun’s energy, holds it for months or even years, and then
releases it when needed. This solar
thermal fuel is like a rechargeable battery for heat rather than electricity.
The special fluid is pumped through transparent tubes where
ultraviolet light from the sun excites its molecules into an energized
state. A compound called norbornadiene
is converted into quadricyclane. The quadricyclane is a quite stable substance until
it is passed over a cobalt-based catalyst, which causes it to turn back into
norbornadiene and release copious amounts of heat.
Such a solar thermal fuel could be stored in uninsulated tanks in
homes or factories or piped or trucked to where it was needed. It could then be used for water heaters,
dishwashers, or clothes driers. The room
temperature fluid quickly warms to about 183 degrees when passed over the
catalyst, plenty warm enough for heating a home or office. Both the fuel and the catalyst are damaged
very little by the reactions, so the process can be recycled many times.
There is much development work needed to optimize shelf life, energy
density, good recyclability and other properties before this technology can be
commercialized but there are at least 15 groups around the world now studying
this intriguing way to get liquid fuel from the sun.
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Web Links
Scientists transform sunlight into a liquid fuel that can be stored for 18 years
Photo, posted August 17, 2009, courtesy of Hiromichi Torihara via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
February 20, 2019 Climate Change And The Polar Vortex
This winter has seen some brutally-cold weather in many places, some of it record-breaking. Predictably, some climate-change deniers point to this as evidence that the climate is not warming at all. They are quite wrong.
For starters, it is essential to understand the difference between
climate and weather. Climate is the
average weather patterns in a region over extended periods of time. Weather is the short-term fluctuations in
temperature, precipitation, barometric pressure, wind, and so forth. There can be extremes in weather of many
types in a given climate region including very cold weather in a warming
climate.
The recent cold weather events in the U.S. stem from the flow of
Arctic air into southern regions. Such
flows are impacted dramatically by the behavior of the jet stream. These high-altitude east-to-west winds are
driven by temperature differences between cold arctic air and warm tropical air
and play a huge role in our weather.
The Arctic has seen extremely unusual warming due to the changing
climate, weakening and fracturing the polar vortex, which is a persistent
low-pressure area near the pole. The changing air flow from the Arctic causes
the jet stream to take wild swings. When
it swings further south, it causes cold air to reach farther south. These swings tend to hang around for a while,
leading to extended periods of cold weather in the winter and, actually, extended
periods of warm weather or even droughts in the summer. Studies have predicted that extreme, deadly
weather events could increase by as much as fifty percent by 2100.
As more Arctic air flows into southern regions, North America can
expect to see harsher winters. The
warming climate doesn’t always lead to warmer weather.
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Web Links
Why cold weather doesn’t mean climate change is fake
Photo, posted January 30, 2019, courtesy of Kyle via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
February 19, 2019 Disease On Coral Reefs
The warming oceans have led to bleaching events in coral reefs around the world, but bleaching is not the only problem corals face. Disease outbreaks are also becoming more frequent, severe, and widespread.
Many factors are contributing to the problem, including pollution and
nitrogen runoff from fertilizers and coastal sewer and septic systems. However, the key culprit is likely the
steadily increasing ocean temperatures, which are the cause of coral
bleaching. Elevated water temperatures
can cause coral polyps to expel the algae that sustains them and gives them
color.
According to scientists, bleaching makes corals more susceptible to
illness. In the Caribbean, a coral
disease hotspot, about 80% of coral cover has disappeared, largely from
outbreaks of “white band disease”, so called because of a white band of dead
tissue that forms in affected corals. Two
crucial reef-building species, elkhorn and staghorn coral, are now nearing
extinction in the regions. The reef
extending along the Florida coastline is the third largest reef ecosystem in
the world and nearly 35% of it has been lost to disease.
Estimates are that disease outbreaks have wiped out at least 6% of the
corals on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
In that region, diseases are more prevalent in areas where corals were
damaged by fishing and other human activity because wounded coral provides an
entry point for pathogens and bacteria.
In the face of climate change and mounting disease outbreaks,
scientists are scrambling for solutions to stave off catastrophe. Assisting the migration of hardier coral
species and breeding so-called “super corals” are among the strategies being
pursued. It is unknown whether these and
other forms of intervention can be used on a wide enough scale to really make a
difference.
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Web Links
As Disease Ravages Coral Reefs, Scientists Scramble for Solutions
Photo, posted November 29, 2012, courtesy of Robert Linsdell via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
February 18, 2019 Electric Cars In Norway
Norway has long been a world leader in sales of electric vehicles. The country only has 5.3 million people, so the absolute numbers cannot compete with those of large countries. Despite that, it wasn’t until the first quarter of last year that Germany became the leader in number of electric cars sold in Europe and Germany has 15 times the population of Norway.
In percentage terms, almost one-third of all new cars sold in Norway
last year ran on batteries. The country
offers generous subsidies for buyers who opt to go electric. The government has set a goal of having all
new cars be emission-free by 2025. Last
year, three of the top five most popular new car models were electric: the Nissan Leaf, the BMW i3, and the Tesla
Model X.
Tesla’s Model 3, which has shattered all records for electric car
sales in the United States, has yet to go on sale in Norway. When the car becomes available there in the
next few months, it is expected to generate very high sales figures.
The 31% market share for electric cars in Norway far exceeds that of most other countries. In the United States, for example, plug-in cars account for only about 2% of new car sales. Only Hong Kong and Iceland are also currently above 5% electric.
Norway’s role in all of this is rather convoluted. The country has copious hydroelectric power resources that provide virtually all of its electricity. Thus, electric cars in Norway are truly clean, green vehicles. On the other hand, Norway is the 15th largest producer of oil in the world and gets about 17% of its GDP from oil exports. Tackling climate change must ultimately deal with the emissions Norway continues to export.
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Web Links
Photo, posted October 3, 2018, courtesy of Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min

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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.