In this week’s Eco Report feature, Part One of “Local Food Sovereignty Amidst Global Challenges,” an episode of Eco Report EXTRA (E.R.X.) – our online sister show. The full program won Third Place for Best Radio Documentary Special of 2023 at the Society of Professional Journalists Awards in April.

The Indiana Business Journal reports that according to environmentalists, the scores of coal ash ponds that have sprung up around Indiana power plants over the decades are a looming threat to public health and water supplies. Most are near rivers and are filled with toxic chemicals, including arsenic and mercury. But to the energy industry, the ponds are a necessary byproduct of burning mountains of coal over the years to produce cheap electricity for Hoosiers. They insist Indiana’s 86 ponds, more than in any other state, are safe and the risk of harm is low.

For years, the two sides have battled over how to treat the mountains of coal ash, most of which sits far from public view, behind fences, next to power plants. But up close, the ponds spread out for acres. Many have grown into small lakes with high embankments, up to 50 feet deep and containing untold amounts of toxins. Now a set of final rules by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could finally push electric utilities and other power generators to better monitor and clean up the coal ash around Indiana and the nation. For the first time, federal regulations will cover the nearly 50 dumps spread across 14 locations in Indiana that were previously exempted from cleanup provisions.

Several Indiana utilities say they are studying the changes but stopped short of saying what they plan to do in response. The regulations will force big players and policymakers in Indiana to deal with what some see as a major environmental problem. Several coal ash ponds are in areas that are prone to flooding, raising the risk that toxins in the ponds could be swept into nearby rivers and that the underground aquifer could become contaminated.

For a long time, we’ve had a mindset in this state that if it’s economic development, if it supports the fossil fuel industry, we’re going to do it, said David Van Gilder, senior policy and legal director at the Hoosier Environmental Council. I think that’s something we’re going to turn the corner on if the EPA sticks to its guns and there’s some oomph behind this federal enforcement.

Inside Climate News has a story about whether it is prudent to have children. Jade S. Sasser has been studying reproductive choices in the context of climate change for a quarter century. Her 2018 book, “Infertile Ground,” explored how population growth in the Global South has been misguidedly framed as a crisis—a perspective that Sasser argues had its roots in long-standing racial stereotypes about sexuality and promiscuity.

But during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sasser, an environmental scientist who teaches at the University of California, Riverside, started asking different questions, this time about reproductive choices in the Global North. In an era in which the planet is getting hotter by the day, she wondered, is it morally, ethically or practically sound to bring children into the world? And do such factors as climate anxiety, race and socio-economic status shape who decides to have kids and who doesn’t?

The result is her latest book, “Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question,” which was published last month by the University of California Press and centers on a range of issues that are part of a broader conversation among those who try to practice climate-conscious decision-making. From the outset, Sasser cautions that her work does not attempt to draw any conclusions about what the future might hold or how concerns about global warming might affect population growth going forward.

This book is not predictive, Sasser said in a recent interview with Inside Climate News. “It’s too soon to be able to say, ‘OK, these are going to be the trends. These people are not going to have children, or are going to have fewer children or this many, or that many.’ We’re at the beginning of witnessing what could be a significant trend”. Sasser said that one of the most compelling findings of her research was how survey results showed that women of color were the demographic cohort that reported that they were most likely to have at least one child fewer than what they actually want because of climate change.

“No other group in that survey responded that way,” Sasser said. Those survey results, Sasser said, underscores the prevalence of climate anxiety among communities of color. A Yale study published last year found that Hispanic Americans were five times as likely to experience feelings of climate change anxiety when compared to their white counterparts; Black Americans were twice as likely to have those feelings.

There is a really large assumption that we don’t experience climate anxiety, said Sasser, who is African American. “And we do. How could we not? We experience most of the climate impacts first and worst.” And the few surveys that have been done around people of color and climate emotions showed that Black and Latinx people feel more worry and more concerned about climate change than other groups.”

CNN reports that rivers and streams in Alaska are changing color – from a clean, clear blue to a rusty orange – because of the toxic metals released by thawing permafrost, according to a new study. The finding surprised researchers from the National Park Service, the University of California at Davis and the US Geological Survey, who conducted tests at 75 locations in the waterways of Alaska’s Brooks Range. The rivers and streams in the range appeared to rust and became cloudy and orange over the past five to 10 years, according to the study published in the journal Communications: Earth & Environment.

We’re used to seeing this in parts of California, parts of Appalachia where we have mining history. This is a classic process that happens in rivers here in the continental US that have been impacted for over 100 years since some of the mining rushes in the 1850s, said Brett Poulin, a co-author of the study and a professor of environmental toxicology at UC Davis. But it’s very startling to see it when you’re on some of the most remote wilderness and you’re far from a mine source.

The discoloration and cloudiness are being caused by metals such as iron, zinc, copper, nickel and lead, the researchers found – some of which are toxic to the river and stream ecosystems – as permafrost thaws and exposes the waterways to minerals locked away underground for thousands of years. Arctic soils naturally contain organic carbon, nutrients and metals, such as mercury, within their permafrost, the study says. High temperatures have caused these minerals and the water sources around them to meet as permafrost melts.

The Arctic is warming four times faster than the rest of the world, studies have shown. What we believe we’re seeing is this thawing of soil that’s happening faster there than it would happen elsewhere, said Poulin. It’s really an unexpected consequence of climate change. Those orange streams can be problematic both in terms of being toxic but might also prevent migration of fish to spawning areas.

The New York Times reports that Gilberto Pozo, a biologist, was monitoring a small forest in the town of Cunduacán, in southern Mexico, in early May when two mantled howler monkeys fell from a tree in front of him with a thud. They were dehydrated and received treatment, he said. But they didn’t survive. At first, Dr. Pozo and his team at Cobius, a nonprofit conservation group, thought the monkeys had been overcome by smoke from fires set by farmers clearing land nearby.

But, as temperatures soared over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in recent weeks, dozens of reports of dead monkeys started popping up. Residents were finding groups of 10 or more dead at a time, many also showing signs of dehydration. As of Wednesday, 147 monkeys have died in the states of Tabasco and Chiapas in southern Mexico. The deaths of dozens of mantled howler monkeys in Mexico may be the latest sign of the danger extreme temperatures pose to wildlife around the world.

As global temperatures have shattered records, scientists have recently documented a die-off of Amazon dolphins and a mass bleaching event in the world’s oceans. This event points out why we humans are not terribly concerned about climate change. We just use more air-conditioning. But plants and animals have no similar option. That’s why we are in the initial stages of the sixth mass extinction. According to David Attenborough, one million plant and animal species will be extinct within the next two decades.

In this weeks feature, Part One of an episode of Eco Report EXTRA (E.R.X.) – our online sister show. The full program won Third Place for Best Radio Documentary Special of 2023 at the Society of Professional Journalists Awards in April.

Credits:

   On Air………………………………..Julianna Dailey

EcoReport is  looking for reporters, engineers, and segment producer to report facts on how we’re all affected by global climate disruption and the ongoing assaults on our air, land and water. We also celebrate ecologists, tree huggers, soil builders and other champions who actively protect and restore our natural world, particularly those who are active in south central Indiana. All levels of experience and all ages are welcome, and we provide the training you’ll need. WFHB also offers internships. To volunteer for Eco Report, call at (812) 323-1200, or e-mail [email protected].