Earth Wise

Earth Wise

By Randy SimonScience Education Self-Improvement Natural Sciences Nature

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Earth Wise episodes

February 23, 2018 Trends Influencing Our Cities
https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/EW-02-23-18-Trends-Influencing-Our-Cities.mp3
The Environmental Protection Agency removed its information hub about climate change last year. In response, 17 cities reposted the information on their own city government sites. This is indicative of the fact that cities are increasingly taking on a leadership role in environmental, social and economic change.
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2 min
February 22, 2018 Major Investments In Solar Power
https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/EW-02-22-18-Major-Investments-in-Solar-Power.mp3
There is big money going into renewable energy and energy-smart technologies and half of that is going into solar power. In 2017, global investments in green energy reached $334 billion and $161 billion of that was in solar.
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February 21, 2018 The Automobile Future: Dream or Nightmare?
https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/EW-02-21-18-The-Automobile-Future.mp3
Visionaries tout a future in which cars are electric, self-driving, and shared. All three of these things are starting to happen today, but will they come together to produce a future where congestion and pollution are things of the past?
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February 20, 2018 Climate Change Threatens the U.S. Military
https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/EW-02-20-18-Climate-Change-Threatens-the-Military.mp3
According to a new study from the Pentagon, nearly half of United States military sites are threatened by wild weather linked to climate change. The U.S. Department of Defense states that drought, wind, and flooding that occur due to reasons other than storms topped the list of natural disasters that endanger 1,700 military sites around the world – everything from outposts to large bases.
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February 19, 2018 Turning Heat Into Electricity
https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/EW-02-19-18-Turning-Heat-Into-Electricity.mp3
Many of our technologies produce waste heat. Internal combustion engines are a prime example, but all our industrial processes, motors, electronics and other machinery turn some (and, in many cases, most) of the energy it takes to run them into heat that just goes into the environment.
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February 16, 2018 Reviled Animals Can Be Beneficial
https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/EW-02-16-18-Reviled-Animals-Can-Be-Beneficial.mp3
Predators and scavengers are widely persecuted by people because they are often harmful to property, livestock, and human beings. Nonetheless, research has shown that many of these animals play important roles in ecosystems and their removal can be quite harmful.
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February 15, 2018 Indirect Greenhouse Gas Emissions
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When considering the greenhouse gas emissions associated with any energy source, it is important to look at the total life cycle emissions both from the direct use of the energy source and from the indirect emissions associated with building the system, producing and transporting fuels and other supplies and, ultimately, decommissioning the system. Taking all of this into consideration is necessary in order to have a full accounting of the carbon impact of power sources.
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February 14, 2018 Endangered Chocolate
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There are many scary stories floating about with regard to dire potential consequences of climate change, but one that should really strike fear into many of our hearts is the prediction from scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that cacao plants are likely to go extinct as early as 2050 as a result of the changing climate.
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2 min
February 13, 2018 Natural Climate Solutions
https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/EW-02-13-18-Natural-Climate-Solutions.mp3
The Paris Climate Agreement embodies a commitment to hold the increase in the global average temperature to less than 2 Celsius degrees above preindustrial levels. Most strategies to achieve this goal involve reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from human activities such as burning fossil fuels as well as various land use activities. But there are also so-called Natural Climate Solutions, which relate to the storage of carbon and reduction in carbon emissions across global forests, wetlands, grasslands, and agricultural lands.
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February 12, 2018 A Carbon Loophole
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Many power plants in Europe and elsewhere are replacing coal with wood. For example, the Drax Power Station in Britain was its largest coal-burning plant and is now using wood pellets shipped from the southern U.S. in its boilers. According to the carbon accounting rules at the EU and elsewhere, the process is considered to be “carbon neutral.” But is it?
The idea is that new trees are being planted in the forests where the trees are cut to be burned in power plants. So, there is carbon neutrality. In principle.
European countries have embarked on a massive effort to switch to generating power from renewable energy. While there has indeed been major growth in wind and solar power in the 28 countries of the European Union, much of the new “green” power has come from burning wood in converted coal power stations.
A group of 200 scientists wrote to the EU last September insisting that bioenergy from forest biomass is not carbon neutral and that there must be tighter rules to protect forests and their carbon. Wood burning has become a loophole in controlling carbon emissions.
There are problems with the claims of carbon neutrality. There is no way to know whether enough new trees are actually being planted to replace those being burned. And then there is the time lag for tree replacement. Trees don’t grow overnight. There are also the carbon emissions associated with harvesting, processing and transporting wood.
There are most certainly ways in which burning biomass can be carbon neutral and can represent real progress over the use of fossil fuels. But caution must be taken to avoid exploiting loopholes in current climate rules that might actually result in increased carbon emissions.
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Web Links
Carbon Loophole: Why Is Wood Burning Counted as Green Energy?
Photo, posted April 26, 2014, courtesy of Flickr.

‘A Carbon Loophole’ from 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.