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Planting Rocks To Capture Carbon | Earth Wise

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Getting humanity to stop dumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere continues to be very challenging regardless of how increasingly apparent the need to do so becomes.  For this reason, climate change mitigation strategies increasingly include interventions in the form of removing carbon dioxide that is already there.  There are a variety of ways to draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, but they face a host of technological, economic, and even environmental difficulties.

A new study at Yale University evaluated a type of climate intervention called enhanced rock weathering.  Rock weathering is a natural chemical process by which certain minerals absorb carbon dioxide over time.  Enhanced rock weathering is simply speeding up weathering such so it can have beneficial results soon enough to make a difference.

The study explored the potential of applying crushed basalt, which is a fast-weathering rock that forms when lava cools, to agricultural fields around the world.  Basically, the idea is for farmers to mix the crushed rocks into their fields. There is no real downside to doing this.  In fact, adding crushed basalt to fields rejuvenates depleted soils and helps counter ocean acidification.

The study simulated the results of enhanced rock weathering on 1,000 agricultural sites around the world.  Over a 75-year period, these sites would remove 64 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  This is roughly the amount climate scientists believe is needed to take out of the atmosphere. 

Enhanced rock weathering has been used on a small scale on farms around the world.  Perhaps it is time to ramp up its use.

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‘Planting’ rocks in farms, along with emissions reductions, could help meet key IPCC carbon removal goal

Photo, posted January 14, 2023, courtesy of Ron Reiring via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Cutting Deforestation | Earth Wise

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Deforestation is a major contributor to climate change because the destruction of tropical rainforests worldwide eliminates a crucial natural sink for carbon.  Between 2015 and 2020, roughly 39,000 square miles of forest were cut down, an area about 70% the size of the entire state of New York.  In many places, such as the Amazon and Congo Basins, deforestation continues to accelerate.  In Bolivia, deforestation rose 59% over the past five years; in Ghana, the rise was 71%.

A new report from the World Resources Institute revealed one bright spot in the deforestation story:  both Indonesia and Malaysia have cut deforestation by more than half in recent years.  The two countries have managed to keep rates of primary forest loss to near record-low levels.

Over the past five years, Indonesia saw a 64% decline and Malaysia a 57% decline in deforestation.  Indonesia is the second largest source of deforestation with only Brazil removing more trees.

Indonesia has a national goal of having its forests absorb more carbon than they release by 2030.  They have moved to curb logging and limit the clearing of land for palm oil plantations.  They have also ramped up efforts to suppress forest fires.

It is good that Indonesia and Malaysia and some other countries have shown progress in reducing forest loss.  However, too many other countries have seen continued activities and policies that are causing acceleration of deforestation in critical areas.  Protecting forests is an important part of the effort to mitigate the effects of climate change.  Preserving forests also is essential for protecting the people and the biodiversity that depend on them.

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Indonesia, Malaysia Have Cut Deforestation in Half in Last Half-Decade

Photo, posted March 22, 2021, courtesy EPJT Tours via of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Record Levels Of Deforestation In The Amazon | Earth Wise

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The Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world, covering more than 2.5 million square miles.  It’s home to 10% of all known species in the world.  The Amazon rainforest’s biodiversity is so rich that scientists are still discovering new plant and animal species today.  

The Amazon rainforest absorbs huge amounts of carbon dioxide from Earth’s atmosphere, making it a key part of mitigating climate change.  The vast rainforest acts as what’s known as a carbon sink.  Simply put, a carbon sink is anything that absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases.  But as trees in the Amazon disappear, so does the ability of the rainforest to absorb carbon dioxide.

Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest remains a major problem.  According to satellite data from the Brazilian government, the number of trees cut down in the Brazilian Amazon in January far exceeded deforestation figures for the same month last year.  Approximately 166 square miles of land was deforested in January alone, which is five times greater than what was lost in January, 2021.

Cattle ranching – both for beef and for leather – remains the leading cause of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.  Trees in the Amazon are also cut down for their wood, as well as to clear the land in order to grow food crops, such as soy, sugar, and oil palm. 

Many companies have pledged to achieve “net zero” deforestation in their supply chains over the years, but most have not lived up to the commitment. 

Deforestation is not only a major driver of climate change, but it’s also the leading cause of species extinction.  Preserving the Amazon rainforest is vital. 

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Amazon deforestation: Record high destruction of trees in January

Greenpeace calls on fast food giants to take a stand against Bolsonaro’s Amazon destruction

Hundreds of Companies Promised to Help Save Forests. Did They?

Photo, posted July 14, 2018, courtesy of Alexander Gerst via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Emissions And The Pandemic | Earth Wise

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The early months of the COVID-19 pandemic saw drastic reductions in travel and other economic sectors across the globe that greatly decreased air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. These dramatic changes occurred quite suddenly.  This abrupt set of changes gave scientists the unprecedented opportunity to observe the results of changes that would ordinarily have taken years if they came about through regulations and gradual behavior shifts.

A comprehensive study by Caltech on the effects of the pandemic on the atmosphere has revealed some surprising results.

The biggest surprise is that even though carbon dioxide emissions fell by 5.4% in 2020, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere continued to grow at about the same rate as in previous years.  According to the researchers, the reasons are that the growth in atmospheric concentrations was within the normal range of year-to-year variations caused by natural processes and, in addition, the ocean did not absorb as much CO2 because of the reduced pressure of CO2 in the air at the ocean’s surface.

A second result involved the reduction in nitrogen oxides, which led to a reduction in a short-lived molecule called the hydroxyl radical, which is important in breaking down gases including methane in the atmosphere.  Reducing nitrogen oxides is advantageous with respect to air pollution, but they are important for the atmosphere’s ability to cleanse itself of methane.  In fact, the drop in nitrogen oxide emissions actually resulted in a small increase of methane in the atmosphere because it was staying there longer.

The main lesson learned is that reducing activity in industrial and residential sectors is not a practical solution for cutting emissions.  The transition to low-carbon-emitting technology will be necessary.

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Emission Reductions From Pandemic Had Unexpected Effects on Atmosphere

Photo, posted March 22, 2020, courtesy of Greg via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Greenland Becoming Darker | Earth Wise

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According to research published by Dartmouth University, a weather pattern that pushes snowfall away from parts of Greenland’s ice sheet is causing the continent to become darker and warmer.

Reducing the amount of fresh, lighter-colored snow exposes older, darker snow on the surface of Greenland’s ice sheets.  Fresh snow is the brightest and whitest. The reflectivity of snow decreases fairly quickly as it ages. This decrease in albedo – or reflectivity – allows the ice sheet to absorb more heat and therefore melt more quickly. 

The research attributes the decrease in snowfall in Greenland to a phenomenon called atmospheric blocking in which persistent high-pressure systems hover over the ice sheet for up to weeks at a time.  Such systems have increased over Greenland since the mid-1990s.  They push snowstorms to the north, hold warmer air over Western Greenland, and reduce light-blocking cloud cover.

All of this contributes to Greenland melting faster and faster.  According to research cited in the study, the Greenland ice sheet has warmed by nearly 5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1982.  Overall, Greenland is experiencing the greatest melt and runoff rates in the last 450 years, at the minimum, and quite likely the greatest rates in the last 7,000 years.

The Greenland ice sheet is the second largest ice body in the world, after the Antarctic ice sheet.  It is 1,800 miles long and about 700 miles wide at its greatest width.  Its thickness is between 1.2 and 1.9 miles.  If the entire sheet were to melt, it would lead to a global sea level rise of 24 feet.  So, the darkening of Greenland is a source of great concern.

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Greenland Becoming Darker, Warmer as Snow Changes

Photo, posted April 3, 2012, courtesy of Francesco Paroni Sterbini via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Forests And Climate Change | Earth Wise

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A carbon sink is anything that absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases.  Examples of carbon sinks include the ocean, soil, and plants.  In contrast, a carbon source is anything that releases more carbon into the atmosphere than it absorbs.  Volcanic eruptions and burning fossil fuels are two examples.

Forests are among the most important carbon sinks.  Trees remove carbon from the air and store it in their trunks, branches, and leaves, and transfer some of it into the soil.  But in many regions, deforestation, forest degradation, and the impacts of climate change are weakening these carbon sinks. As a result, some climate activists advocate for large-scale tree-planting campaigns as a way to remove heat-trapping CO2 from the atmosphere and help mitigate climate change. 

But according to a new study recently published in the journal Science, planting new trees as a substitute for the direct reduction of greenhouse gas emissions could be a pipe dream.  While planting trees is easy, inexpensive, and can help slow climate warming, the ongoing warming would be simultaneously causing the loss of other trees.  Instead, the research team says it makes more sense to focus on keeping existing forests healthy so they can continue to act as carbon sinks, and to reduce emissions as much as possible and as quickly as possible.        

But keeping forests healthy will require a paradigm shift in forest management.  Instead of trying to maintain forests as they were in the 20th century, the research team says forests need to be managed proactively for the changes that can be anticipated. 

One thing is clear: We cannot plant our way out of the climate crisis.

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Forests and climate change: ‘We can’t plant our way out of the climate crisis’

Photo, posted August 9, 2015, courtesy of Nicholas A. Tonelli via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Not All Trees Cool The Planet | Earth Wise

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A new study from Clark University has found that deforestation does not always contribute to planetary warming, as is generally assumed.  The researchers have found that there can be places where removing trees actually cools the planet.

Forests soak up carbon dioxide from the air and store it in the trees themselves and in the soil.   This process is important for slowing the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

The new research focuses on a different effect that forests have on climate.  They are darker than other surfaces, which causes them to absorb more sunlight and retain heat.  This is known as the albedo effect.

In most places, the absorption of carbon outweighs the albedo effect and forests help cool the planet.  But there are some locations, including the Intermountain and Rocky Mountain West, where more forest actually leads to a hotter planet when both processes are taken into account.  State-of-the-art satellite remote sensing allowed the researchers to quantify the effects of forest loss in the United States.

The upshot of this research is that large-scale tree-planting initiatives, such as Canada’s 2Billion Trees Initiative and the Nature Conservancy’s Plant a Billion Trees campaign need to make sure to put the right trees in the right places.

Every year, about a million acres of forest are being converted to non-forest across the lower 48 states as a result of suburban and exurban expansion and development.   It is important to take into account the albedo effect in trying to replace the climate-cooling capabilities of these disappearing forests by planting more trees.

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Clark geographer Christopher Williams: More trees do not always create a cooler planet

Photo, posted June 5, 2017, courtesy of Todd Petrie via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Using CO2 To Convert Seawater Into Drinking Water | Earth Wise

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A chemist at the University of Copenhagen has invented a technology that uses carbon dioxide to convert seawater into drinking water within minutes.  This desalination technology has the potential to replace electricity with CO2 and be used in survival gear and in large-scale industrial plants in places where people don’t have clean drinking water.

Over 800 million people worldwide lack access to clean drinking water and that number is growing rapidly.  Seawater is a vital source of drinking water in many parts of the world, but desalination faces the major challenge of being highly energy intensive.  Desalination plants use huge amounts of fossil fuel-generated electricity and therefore contribute to climate change.

The Copenhagen technology is reminiscent of a SodaStream machine.  Carbon dioxide is added to water, initiating a chemical reaction.  But instead of using it for bubbly carbonation, it is used to separate salt from water.  It works by adding a chemical called CO2-responsive diamine to saltwater.  The diamine compound binds with the added CO2 and acts as a sponge to absorb the salt, which can then be separated.  The entire process takes one to ten minutes.  Once the CO2 is removed, the salt is released again, allowing the diamine to be reused for several more rounds of desalination.

In the laboratory, the method removed 99.6% of the salt in seawater.  The technology is still being developed to lower its price and optimize the recycling process.  It is also being tested on a small scale in the form of water bottles fitted with special filters that can be used in lifeboats or in other outdoor settings.  Ultimately, it could be used to greatly reduce the energy consumption of desalination plants.

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Chemist uses CO2 to convert seawater into drinking water

Photo, posted January 10, 2015, courtesy of Daniel Orth via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Carbon In The Ocean | Earth Wise

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New research from the University of Exeter in the UK reveals that the world’s oceans soak up more carbon than previously believed.  Previous estimates of the movement of carbon between the atmosphere and the oceans did not account for the temperature differences between the water’s surface and a few meters below.

The new model includes this factor and finds that there is a significantly higher flux of carbon into the oceans.

The study calculated carbon dioxide fluxes from 1992 to 2018 and found that at certain times and locations there was up to twice as much CO2 contained in the ocean as determined from previous models.

The temperature differences between the surface of the ocean and the water at a depth of a few meters is important because the amount of carbon dioxide that can be absorbed in water depends very strongly on the temperature of the water.   Anyone with a home soda maker knows this well as the devices always work much better with refrigerated water than room temperature water.

The difference in ocean carbon dioxide uptake measured from satellite data and calculated in the new modeling amounts to about 10% of global fossil fuel emissions, so it is a very significant revision.  The revised estimate for carbon dioxide uptake actually agrees much better with an independent method for calculating the amount of carbon dioxide in the oceans.  Those measurements came from a global ocean survey performed by research ships over decades.

Now that two so-called big data estimates of the ocean sink for CO2 agree pretty well, there is greater confidence that we understand this important aspect of the planet’s carbon cycle.

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Ocean carbon uptake widely underestimated

Photo, posted December 30, 2012, courtesy of Jerome Decq via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Ocean Acidification And Mass Extinction

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Since the industrial revolution, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased due to the burning of fossil fuels and land use changes.  The ocean absorbs about 30% of the CO2 that is released in the atmosphere.  As the levels of atmospheric CO2 increase, so do the levels in the ocean.

When CO2 is absorbed by the ocean, a series of chemical reactions occur, resulting in seawater becoming more acidic.  Ocean acidification threatens calcifying organisms, such as clams and corals, as well as other marine animals, like fish.  When these organisms are at risk, the entire marine ecosystem may also be at risk.

In fact, according to research recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, fossil evidence from 66 million years ago has revealed that ocean acidification can cause the mass extinction of marine life.  Researchers analyzed seashells in sediment laid down shortly after a giant meteorite hit earth.  This strike wiped out the dinosaurs and 75% of marine species.  Chemical analysis of the shells revealed a sharp drop in the PH of the ocean over hundreds of years after the meteorite strike.  The meteorite impact vaporized rocks, causing carbonic acid and sulphuric acid to rain down, acidifying the ocean.  The strike also resulted in mass die-off of plants on land, increasing atmospheric CO2.  

Researchers found that the pH dropped by 0.25 pH units in the 100 to 1,000 years after the meteorite strike.  Alarmingly, scientists expect the pH of the ocean to drop by 0.4 pH units by 2100 if our carbon emissions continue as projected. 

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Ocean acidification can cause mass extinctions, fossils reveal

Photo, posted March 16, 2017, courtesy of Zachary Martin via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

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