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Foods of the Future? | Earth Wise

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In a world where many go hungry in the context of rapidly changing environments, many experts contend that alternative food sources will be necessary to solve global food security problems.  So-called novel food sources are central to this conversation, defined as foods with no history of consumption in a region – or perhaps anywhere.

Three popular examples are lab-grown meat, insect farming, and seaweed aquaculture.  Each of these offer opportunities as well as challenges.

Lab-grown meat can refer to actual animal tissues raised in vats as well as the increasingly common cultured plant products made to resemble meat.  Lab-grown meat faces push back from the livestock industry that contends it should not be labeled as any kind of meat. While results to date are positive, barriers still remain including concerns over product taste, healthiness, and cost.  And while less land- and water-intensive than conventional livestock, cultured meat production is still energy intensive.

Insects do form a significant part of diets across the globe but have yet to be embraced in any substantial way in western cultures.  Nutritionally, numerous species of insects are rich in key proteins, micronutrients, and minerals.  But the “yuck factor” is a big barrier to cross.

Seaweed is a long-established part of many East Asian diets and has many potential dietary uses.  Several selectively bred varieties of seaweed supply a range of valuable nutrients.  Growing seaweed does not tax freshwater and terrestrial resources.  But intensively cultivated seaweeds would have potential negative effects on local marine ecosystems.

There is no single solution to complex issues like food security.  Novel foods may very well form part of the solution to a growing food crisis.

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Insects, seaweed and lab-grown meat could be the foods of the future

Photo, posted March 12, 2009, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Strategies To Promote Green Products | Earth Wise

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Green products are environmentally-friendly products with features that are less harmful to people and the planet.  For instance, green products may require fewer resources to produce, consume less energy, contain non-toxic ingredients, or create fewer emissions.  Some examples include biodegradable waste bags, LED light bulbs, low-flow shower heads, organic cotton clothing, and reusable coffee cups and water bottles.  

But according to new research from two universities in the United Kingdom, companies looking to promote their latest environmentally-friendly product should actually downplay its greenness if they want consumers to buy it.

The study, by researchers from the University of East Anglia and the University of Leeds, found advertising that highlights a product’s green attributes can lead consumers to associate it with weak performance.  The findings, which were recently published in the Journal of Advertising, indicate that companies should downplay a product’s green qualities and instead promote it on more traditional aspects.

An example of these two distinct advertising strategies – green emphasis versus green understatement – can be found in the auto industry.  Car manufacturer Toyota prominently highlights the low emissions and low fuel consumption features of the Prius, employing what the researchers term as ‘explicit signals’.  In contrast, automaker Tesla reduces the prominence of its green attributes, focusing instead on its cars’ acceleration, handling, and other performance-related characteristics.  This is known as the ‘implicit signals’ marketing approach.

After conducting two experiments, the research team found that the implicit, rather than explicit, marketing approach about greenness leads to higher performance evaluations and purchase intent.

Consumers appear more likely to engage in pro-social actions when it’s accompanied by some form of personal benefit. 

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Highlighting product greenness may put consumers off buying

Photo, posted December 21, 2019, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Devastating Threat To Coral Reef Habitats | Earth Wise

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According to new research from scientists at the University of Hawaii Manoa, the warming and acidifying oceans could wipe out nearly all existing coral reef habitats by 2100.  In fact, the researchers predict that 70-90% of coral reefs will disappear over the next 20 years alone as a consequence of climate change and pollution. 

Some organizations are attempting to save coral habitats by transplanting live corals from labs to reefs.  The idea is that the new young corals will help revive the reefs.  But after mapping where such restoration efforts would be most successful, the research indicates that there will be little to no suitable habitat remaining for corals by 2100.  Small portions of Baja California and the Red Sea are two of the sites that could remain viable by 2100, although neither are ideal due to their proximity to rivers.  Sea surfaces temperature and acidity are two of the most important factors in determining the viability of a site for restoration.  

Warming ocean waters stress corals, which cause them to expel the symbiotic algae living inside them.  This turns the often colorful corals white – an event known as coral bleaching.  Bleached corals are not dead corals, but they are at a higher risk of dying.  These coral bleaching events are becoming more frequent as a result of the changing climate. 

The projected increases in human pollution will only play a minor role in the future elimination of coral reef habitats.  Ironically, that’s because humans have already caused such extensive damage to coral reefs that there aren’t many locations left to impact.

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Warming, acidic oceans may nearly eliminate coral reef habitats by 2100

Photo, posted September 28, 2009, courtesy of Matt Kieffer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A New Membrane For Converting Carbon Dioxide | Earth Wise

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Methanol is a valuable chemical used as fuel in the production of countless products. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that is produced by countless industrial processes.  Carbon dioxide can be converted into methanol, which is one way all that CO2 can be put to good use instead of causing harm. 

In research recently published in Science, chemical engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a process that converts CO2 to methanol in a more efficient way by using a highly effective separation membrane they produced.  

The chemical reaction responsible for the transformation of CO2 into methanol also produces water, which severely restricts the continued reaction. The Rensselaer team has found a way to filter out the water as the reaction is happening, without losing other essential gas molecules. 

They produced a membrane made up of sodium ions and zeolite crystals that was able to carefully and quickly permeate water through small pores — known as water-conduction nanochannels — without losing gas molecules. The sodium ions effectively only allow water to go through. When water was effectively removed from the process, the team found that the chemical reaction was able to happen very quickly. By removing the water, the equilibrium shifts, which means more CO2 will be converted and more methanol will be produced.  

The team is now working to develop a scalable process and a startup company that would allow this membrane to be used commercially to produce high purity methanol.  This membrane could also be used to improve a number of other reactions. 

In industry there are many reactions limited by water and this RPI membrane could be an important enhancement for many of them. 

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Water-Conducting Membrane Allows Carbon Dioxide To Transform into Fuel More Efficiently

Photo courtesy of RPI.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Lifestyle And Carbon Footprint | Earth Wise

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Many studies have shown, to no great surprise, that affluent lifestyles lead to larger carbon footprints. Households in Switzerland enjoy a high standard of living and a team of researchers there has been studying the consumption and travel habits of Swiss citizens to better understand the impact of various factors on carbon footprint. Key factors include household composition and income, and whether the households are in the city or the countryside – even though, in the end, people’s lifestyles do not differ greatly from one environment to another. 

A team of researchers at EPFL’s School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering analyzed data from Switzerland’s household budget survey for 2008, 2011 and 2014.  They combined that data with an environmentally extended input-output analysis to assess households’ carbon footprints by measuring their direct and indirect emissions.

Overall, households in the countryside have larger carbon footprints than those in the city, mainly because they travel more and use more energy in their homes. But urban households have larger carbon footprints than their rural counterparts when it comes to food, clothing, cultural activities and air travel.  

A household’s composition directly influences its carbon footprint. A two-person household has the largest per-capita carbon footprint, and it falls as the size of the family grows since many of the same resources are shared by more people. 

Income levels play an important role.  People consume without much thought because they can afford to and enjoy doing it. But there is a trend towards people becoming more conscious of their levels of consumption and trying to be more responsible in Switzerland.  Overall consumption has actually declined over the years studied.  

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Our carbon footprint is highly impacted by how we live

Photo, posted December 19, 2017, courtesy of Alexander Kozik via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Solar-Powered Desalination | Earth Wise

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About 1% of the world’s population is dependent on desalinated water to meet daily needs, but water scarcity is a growing problem that experts believe will affect 14% of the world’s population within the next five years.

Desalination takes much more energy than, for example, transporting fresh water over large distances.  In general, desalination costs are much higher than those associated with fresh water, but beyond costs, freshwater is simply not always available.

Researchers at MIT and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China have developed a completely passive solar-powered desalination system that could provide more than 1.5 gallons of fresh drinking water per hour for every square meter of solar collecting area.   Such a system could provide an efficient, low-cost water source for coastal areas that are off the grid.

The system uses multiple layers of flat solar evaporators and condensers topped with transparent aerogel insulation.  The key to its efficiency is the way it uses each of its multiple stages to desalinate water.  At each stage, heat released by the previous stage is harnessed instead of wasted.  The proof-of-concept device, which was tested on an MIT building rooftop, produced more than twice as much water as the record amount produced by any previous passive solar-powered desalination system.

The researchers plan further experiments aimed at optimizing the choice of materials and configurations and to test the system under realistic conditions.  The hope is to have a technology that can play a role in alleviating water scarcity in parts of the world where electricity is scarce, but seawater and sunlight are abundant.

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Simple, solar-powered water desalination

Photo courtesy of MIT/researchers.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Food Waste And Access To Groceries | Earth Wise

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One-third of all food produced is wasted, which turns out to be a major contributor to carbon emissions.  Most of the carbon emissions associated with food waste are related to the production of the food.  Reducing waste would trickle through the supply chain over time and ultimately less food would be produced.

A study at Cornell’s SC Johnson College of Business looked at a particular strategy for reducing food waste’s environmental impact:  opening more grocery stores.

It turns out that the more stores there are, the lower food waste will be.  Cornell Professor Elena Belavina created a model that incorporates data from the grocery industry, the U.S. Census Bureau, and other academic studies.

When applied to Chicago, which is typical of many American cities, the model predicts that by adding just three or four markets within four-square-mile area, food waste would be reduced by 6 to 9 percent.  This would achieve an emissions reduction comparable to converting more than 20,000 cars from fossil fuels to electric power.  According to the model, not only would food waste be reduced, but so would grocery bills.  By trimming food waste and travel costs, consumers would spend up to 4% less.

Most big cities are well below their ideal density of grocery stores that would minimize food waste. When consumers can purchase perishable goods nearby, they shop more often but buy less each time.  There is less food sitting at home, so there is a much lower likelihood that food will spoil.

New York City, which has an abundance of produce stands and neighborhood markets, comes close to having the ideal density of markets.  Basically, the way to reduce food waste is to bring less groceries home.

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Better access to groceries could reduce food waste, emissions

Photo, posted March 22, 2009, courtesy of Nick Saltmarsh via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Coastal Plants And Climate Change | Earth Wise

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Rising sea levels and the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events are leaving observable effects on beaches, cliffs, and coastal infrastructures all around the world.  But a new study suggests that the impact of climate change on coastal plant communities needs more attention. 

According to research recently published in the journal Annals of Botany, coastal plants are a critical element of global sea defense.  But coastal plants are increasingly under threat from flooding, erosion, and other human-induced effects of climate change.  Habitats like salt marshes, mangrove forests, sand dunes, and kelp beds make important contributions  to coastal protection.

The research was led by scientists from the University of Plymouth, in conjunction with researchers at Utrecht University and Manchester Metropolitan University.

The study follows a recent assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which found that anthropogenic climate change poses a severe threat to estuaries and coastal ecosystems.  

Conservative estimates of the capital investments needed to combat rising seas and intensifying storms run into the hundreds of billions of dollars in the coming decades.  However, coastal vegetation could offer a dynamic, natural, and relatively low-cost defense strategy at a fraction of the cost when compared with the cost of so-called hard defenses like concrete walls and barriers. 

According to the research team, identifying the key species and habitats for coastal defense and how coasts can be protected and promoted is critical.  More long-term monitoring is also needed in order to better understand and predict where and how storms and other effects of climate change will impact coastal ecosystems. 

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The gathering storm: optimizing management of coastal ecosystems in the face of a climate-driven threat

Losing coastal plant communities to climate change will weaken sea defences

Photo, posted September 14, 2018, courtesy of Dennis Jarvis via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

An Ecological Trap For Polar Bears | Earth Wise

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Climate change has been shrinking Arctic sea ice and this is causing changes in the behavior of polar bears.   The Southern Beaufort Sea, located where the northern edges of Alaska and Canada meet, is home to one of the 19 population groups of polar bears.  Historically, the polar bears in this region remained on sea ice year-round.  But in recent decades, about a quarter of them have chosen to come on land instead of staying on the shrinking summer ice platform.

A recent study by San Diego Zoo Global, the U.S. Geological Survey, and Polar Bears International looked at the energetic consequences of the bears’ behavior.  The decision of each individual bear to stay on the ice or move to land appears to be linked to the energetic cost or benefit of the choice.

Bears who moved to land expended more energy during the summer than bears that remained on the sea ice.  In late summer, as the ice became even more restricted, a greater amount of energy was expended by bears swimming to land.  So, the immediate energy cost of moving to land is much greater than remaining on the receding pack ice.

On the other hand, bears on land in this region have access to whale carcasses in the summer while bears on the sea ice appear to be fasting.  As a result, it may be the case that the declining population of bears in this region is in part caused by the ecological trap of bears staying on the ice to avoid expending all the energy needed to move to land.  The shrinking polar ice is a real problem for polar bears.

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Energetics Study Indicates that Shrinking Sea Ice Is Creating an Ecological Trap for Polar Bears

Photo, posted October 30, 2011, courtesy of Martin Lopatka via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Figuring Out Photosynthesis | Earth Wise

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Plants have been harnessing the sun’s energy for hundreds of millions of years. Algae and photosynthetic bacteria have been doing the same for even longer, all with remarkable efficiency and resiliency. 

People have used the energy of the sun in one way or another for millennia, but only recently have we gotten sophisticated about it by using devices like solar panels and sensors.  And we still have a long way to go to get anywhere close to the efficiency of plants. It’s no wonder, then, that scientists have long sought to understand exactly how photosynthesis works.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, and collaborators at Washington University in St. Louis, recently solved a critical part of the age-old mystery of photosynthesis, studying the initial, ultra-fast events through which photosynthetic proteins capture light and use it to initiate a series of electron transfer reactions.  Electrons in plants have two possible pathways to travel but only use one.   

But as a result of their efforts, the scientists are now closer than ever to being able to design electron transfer systems in which they can send an electron down a pathway of their choosing. 

By gaining the ability to harness the flow of energy, it may be possible to incorporate new design principles in non-biological energy systems. This could allow us to greatly improve the efficiency of many solar-powered devices, potentially making them far smaller. Understanding the intricacies of photosynthesis creates a tremendous opportunity to open up completely new disciplines of light-driven biochemical reactions, perhaps even ones that haven’t been envisioned by nature.

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Scientists unravel mystery of photosynthesis

Photo, posted June 14, 2017, courtesy of Alex Holyoake via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Hyping Electric Cars | Earth Wise

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During this year’s Super Bowl, at least three car companies – GM, Porsche, and Audi – ran commercials for plug-in cars.  This is a sign that automakers are ramping up their efforts to persuade the public that electric cars really are the future.

The auto industry is investing billions of dollars to develop electric vehicles, spurred by stricter emissions rules in places like California and concerns about climate change.  In fact, more than 100 new plug-in models are expected to become available in the United States over the next five years.

In Europe, electric cars are increasingly popular.  Norwegians, for example, buy more electric cars than gas cars.  And several European countries have banned the sale of gas cars starting in 2025.

But in the US, enthusiasm for electric cars has been slow to build.  Automakers sold fewer than 330,00 electric vehicles in the US in 2019 and more than half of those were from Tesla, which actually does not even advertise its vehicles.

The auto industry spent nearly $9 billion in national and local advertising in the US last year, but less than half a percent of that went toward promoting electric vehicles.

A big part of the problem is that car dealers are not very enthusiastic about selling electric cars, which require far less maintenance than conventional cars and have far fewer costly replacement parts to sell.   As a result, the industry’s efforts to speed the transition to electric cars has been ambivalent at best.

World-wide, Tesla has sold about a million cars, mostly in the past 4 years, so there is clearly a growing demand for electric vehicles.  It is up to the rest of the industry to create demand for the new cars they have committed to produce.

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Super Bowl Ads Hyped Electric Cars. But Will Anyone Buy Them?

Photo, posted October 6, 2018, courtesy of Mike Fonseca via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Cost Of Air Pollution | Earth Wise

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The environmental consequences of burning fossil fuels are a dominant topic.  The increasing changes in the climate have far-reaching effects across the globe and are a growing geopolitical crisis.  But the climate effects of fossil fuel emissions are by no means the only problem they cause.  

A new report by the Center for Research on Energy and Clear Air has, for the first time, attempted to quantify the global economic and health impacts of fossil fuel-caused air pollution.  In total, the estimate is that the economic and health costs of air pollution from burning fossil fuels totaled $2.9 trillion in 2018, calculated in the form of work absences, years of life lost, and premature deaths. The cost represents 3.3 percent of global GDP, or about $8 billion per day. 

The study focused on the health impacts of three specific types of pollutants:  nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and fine particulate matter, which has the greater impact.  Collectively, these pollutants cause about 1.8 billion days of missed work due to disease and $2.2 trillion in air pollution costs every year. Together, air pollution from these three pollutants is responsible for 4.5 million premature deaths around the world each year.

According to the report, the most premature deaths from fossil fuel-related air pollution in 2018 were in mainland China (1.8 million), India (1 million), and the United States (230,000). As a result, those three countries also faced the highest annual costs: $900 billion in China, $600 billion in the U.S., and $150 billion in India. 

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Toxic Air: The Price of Fossil Fuels (Full Report)

Photo, posted November 17, 2019, courtesy of Kristoffer Trolle via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Tough Times For Fireflies | Earth Wise

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Fireflies or lightning bugs are soft-bellied beetles known widely for their use of bioluminescence – the biochemical emission of light – to communicate and to attract mates.  There are more than 2,000 species of these beetles globally.  They can be found in temperate and tropical climates, like marshes or wet, wooded areas, all throughout the world.   

But if you are seeing fewer fireflies each summer, you’re not alone.  Like many insects, firefly populations are under duress from threats like pesticides, pollution, and habitat loss.  But fireflies are also facing another threat unique to luminous bugs: light pollution.  Light pollution is making it harder for fireflies to reproduce because the artificial light is outshining their mating signals. 

Male fireflies light up to signal availability and female fireflies respond with patterned flashes to indicate they’re interested.  But artificial bright light from things like billboards, streetlights, buildings, and homes, is interfering with the fireflies reproduction communications. 

The study, by researchers at Tufts University and the IUCN, warned that these threats facing fireflies could lead them globally to extinction. 

The researchers also point to habitat loss as another major threat to fireflies.  Firefly populations are especially vulnerable because they need special conditions to complete their life cycle.  Mangrove forests and marshes around the world are being removed in favor of cash crops like palm oil.   

Insects like fireflies are crucial components of many ecosystems where they perform important functions, like aerating soil, pollinating plants, and controlling pests.  Firefly larvae feed on snails, slugs and mites, and many fireflies are effective pollinators. 

We can’t afford for fireflies to go dark. 

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A Global Perspective on Firefly Extinction Threats

Fireflies Have a Mating Problem: The Lights Are Always On

Photo, posted June 5, 2010, courtesy of Matt MacGillivray via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A New Kind Of Antibiotic | Earth Wise

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Antimicrobial resistance is a serious and growing problem for public health.  Over time, more and more types of bacteria have become resistant to known antibiotics making it very difficult to treat various kinds of infections. 

A new group of antibiotics with a unique approach to attacking bacteria has been discovered at McMaster University in Canada, representing a promising new clinical approach in the fight against antimicrobial resistance. 

The newly found corbomycin and the lesser-known complestatin have a never-before-seen way to kill bacteria, namely, breaking the function of the bacterial cell wall. Bacteria have a wall around the outside of their cells that gives them shape and is a source of strength.  Antibiotics like penicillin kill bacteria by preventing building of the wall, but the new antibiotics work by doing the opposite – they prevent the wall from being broken down. Breaking down the cell wall is critical for cells to divide. In order for bacteria to grow and spread, they need to expand and divide. By completely blocking the breakdown of the wall, it is as if the bacterium is trapped in a prison and can’t expand or grow. 

The researchers demonstrated in mice that these new antibiotics can block infections caused by the drug resistant Staphylococcus aureus which is a group of bacteria that can cause many serious infections. 

The researchers believe this new approach can be applied to other antibiotics and lead to the discovery of new ones with different mechanisms of action. This study found one completely new antibiotic, but since then, they have found a few others in the same family that have this same new mechanism. 

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Antibiotics discovered that kill bacteria in a new way

Photo, posted March 15, 2012, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Clouds And Global Warming | Earth Wise

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Recent climate models from multiple organizations project that the amount of warming that doubling atmospheric carbon dioxide would cause would be much more than previously estimated.  And one of the significant changes to the models relates to the role of clouds.

Clouds have long been a major uncertainty in climate calculations.  Clouds can shade the earth and thereby provide cooling.  But clouds can also trap heat.  Which effect dominates depends on how reflective the clouds are, how high up they are, and whether it is day or night.  The dynamics of clouds are complicated.

If you fly across the ocean, you will see blankets of low clouds extending for hundreds of miles.  These marine stratus and stratocumulus clouds predominantly cool the Earth.  In fact, they shade roughly a fifth of the oceans and reflect 30-60% of the solar radiation that hits them back into space.

Recent studies indicate that as global temperatures rise, these clouds are likely to become thinner or burn off entirely, leaving more clear skies through which the sun may add another degree Celsius or more to global warming.

The concerns about clouds are part of the larger issue about feedbacks in warming the world.  It has long been clear that the greenhouse effect of doubling CO2 levels in the atmosphere would raise global temperature.  But there are amplifying feedback effects.  Melting large areas of snow and ice reduces reflectivity and allows the land and oceans to absorb more heat.  More water vapor entering the atmosphere traps more heat.  And now clouds are another concern.

Overall, these effects are leading to climate models predicting much larger global temperature increases, which is a scary prospect for the world.

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Why Clouds Are the Key to New Troubling Projections on Warming

Photo, posted September 10, 2006, courtesy of Nicholas A. Tonelli via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A First In The Climate Change Fight | Earth Wise

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Under a new initiative, builders in New Jersey will have to take climate change into account in order to win government approval for projects.  New Jersey is the first state in the United States to enact such a requirement, which will leverage land-use rules to control what and where developers can build, and limit the volume of pollution. 

Through executive order, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy will require the state Department of Environmental Protection to draft new building regulations.  The changes, to be adopted by January 2022, do not require legislative approval, but could face political and legal challenges. 

Climate change is expected to have a significant impact on New Jersey and its 130 miles of coastline.  According to a recent study from Rutgers University, the sea level along the New Jersey coast rose 1.5 feet since 1911, which was more than twice as much as the global average. The sea level is expected to rise by as much as another foot by 2030.  At the same time, some coastal areas of New Jersey are gradually sinking.

The initiative by New Jersey comes on the heels of a Trump administration proposal which would allow federal agencies to not take climate change into account when evaluating infrastructure projects. The federal changes are geared towards speeding up approvals for highway construction, pipelines, oil and gas leases, and other major infrastructure projects.   

In the absence of anything resembling leadership on climate change from the federal government, it remains for states like New Jersey to continue to press ahead.  In addition to the new building initiative, New Jersey also plans to produce 100% clean energy by 2050. 

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Excluding Climate Change From Infrastructure Planning | Earth Wise

With 130-Mile Coast, New Jersey Marks a First in Climate Change Fight

Photo, posted August 27, 2016, courtesy of Rashaad Jorden via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Record Antarctic Temperature | Earth Wise

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It is still early in the year, but extreme weather events are already piling up.  January was the warmest month on record globally and there have been many records shattered in Europe and Asia.  A number of places in Eastern Europe, including parts of Russia, have seen temperatures 12 to 13 degrees above average.

While the warming of the Arctic has been in the news with increasing frequency, the Antarctic is also seeing rising temperatures and is one of the fastest-warming regions in the world. 

On February 6th, Esperanza Base along Antarctica’s Trinity Peninsula measured a temperature of 65 degrees Fahrenheit, which is the highest temperature ever recorded on that continent.   This rather balmy temperature narrowly beat out the previous record of 63.5 degrees, which occurred in March of 2015.

This one-time reading is certainly anomalous, and scientists say it is associated with a ridge of high pressure that was lingering over the region for several days.  Local wind conditions led to additional warming.

However, the conditions leading to record-breaking high temperatures are not one-time anomalous events. Over the past 50 years, temperatures in the Antarctic have surged by an extraordinary 5 degrees in response to the Earth’s rapidly warming climate.  A rise of five degrees in day-to-day weather is no big deal. A five-degree rise in a region’s average temperature is enormous.

About 87% of the glaciers along the west coast of Antarctica’s Trinity Peninsula have retreated over that 50-year period, most of which doing so during just the past 12 years.

Some researchers claim that the new temperature record is an extreme event that doesn’t tell us anything about the changing climate.  Many others are convinced that there will be many more high temperature records to follow.

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Antarctica just hit 65 degrees, its warmest temperature ever recorded

Photo, posted February 24, 2019, courtesy of Mike via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Safer Disposal Of Printed Circuit Boards | Earth Wise

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Printed circuit boards are key elements of modern electronic devices that support and connect all of their electronic components.  On average, they are composed of 30% metallic and 70% nonmetallic substances.

Once the circuit boards have served their purpose, they are often burned or buried in landfills, and can pollute the air, soil, and water.  The biggest problem is that they have brominated flame retardants added to them in order to keep them from catching fire.  Compounds in brominated flame retardants have been linked to endocrine disorders and fetal tissue damage.

Many circuit boards are recycled to recover valuable materials – generally the metals they contain.  But recycling has its own problems.  Metallic components can be recovered from crushed circuit boards by magnetic and high-voltage electrostatic separations.  When the metals are removed, what remains are resins, reinforcing materials, brominated flame retardants, and other additives, which are of little value and present various dangers.

Researchers at Sun Yat-sen University in China have developed a ball-milling method to break down these potentially harmful compounds, enabling safe disposal.  A ball mill is a rotating machine that uses small agate balls to grind up materials. The researchers also added iron powder, which helps remove bromine from organic compounds by breaking the carbon-bromine bonds in the flame retardants.  The result was particles with half of their bromine content removed as well as decomposition of phenolic resin compounds.

The ever-increasing proliferation of device technology had led to a new set of pollution and waste challenges facing society.  Research on ways to reduce the impact of high-tech garbage is an important need for society.

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Toward safer disposal of printed circuit boards

Photo, posted February 18, 2018, courtesy of Diego Torres Silvestre via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

What Is An Endangered Species? | Earth Wise

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Biodiversity is declining rapidly throughout the world and people are mostly the reason.  Species are disappearing because of changes in land and sea use, the direct exploitation of organisms, climate change, pollution, and invasive alien species resulting from globalization.  The challenges of conserving the world’s species are many and difficult.  Among these challenges are determining which species are endangered and how and when to protect them.

What constitutes an endangered species is not necessarily obvious. 

Extinction risk increases as a species is driven to extinction from portions of its natural range.  Most mammal species have already been driven to extinction from half or more of their historic ranges because of human activities.

According to a recent survey of ordinary Americans, three-quarters of participants said that a species deserves special protections if it had been driven to extinction from any more than 30% of its historic range.  This compares with the language of the U.S. Endangered Species Act that defines an endangered species as one that is “in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.”

Experts and decision-makers are more accepting of risks and losses because they believe greater protection would be impossibly expensive.  Decision-makers tend to be influenced by special interest groups with a vested interest in not instituting protections.

Before human activities began elevating extinction risk, a typical vertebrate species would have experienced an extinction risk of 1% over a 10,000-year period.  Current policies consider a 5% risk over 100 years to be acceptable.  Policies consider whether we can afford to protect species.  Given the dangers of declining biodiversity, we should ask whether we can afford not to.

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What Is An Endangered Species?

Photo, posted July 29, 2018, courtesy of Sergio Boscaino via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Saving Costs And Reducing Emissions From Shipping | Earth Wise

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International shipping is a large and growing source of greenhouse gas emissions.  Maritime transport produces about a billion tons of CO2 annually, accounting for about 2.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions.  The environmental impact of shipping includes air pollution, water pollution, and even acoustic pollution.  In many coastal areas, ships are responsible for more than 18% of some air pollutants.  Overall, there are more than 100,000 transport ships at sea, of which about 6,000 are large container ships.

In recent years, the shipping sector has had both internal willingness and external pressure to reduce emissions, but shipping is a tough, competitive business and it isn’t easy to stay competitive and help protect the environment.

A recent study at Abo Akademi University in Finland has found that improved ship utilization rates and investments in environmentally sustainable technologies for enhanced energy efficiency would significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions.  Of equal importance, those same measures would contribute to lowering of freight costs.

If the same cargo volume can be shipped using less fuel, shipping companies will gain major savings in terms of fuel costs.  Digitalization can provide valuable benefits.  For example, new digital planning and booking systems would enable smarter use of routes while also diminishing traffic with half-empty vessels or even ones with no cargo aboard.  Reducing such underutilization would improve the capacity utilization rate and eliminate emissions caused by so-called ballast traffic.

Global shipping continues to grow.  It is essential that it becomes smarter and more efficient to protect the environment and improve its economics.

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Environmentally friendly shipping helps to reduce freight costs

Photo, posted February 18, 2016, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

WAMC Northeast Public Radio

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio is a regional public radio network serving parts of seven northeastern states (more...)