anxiety

Bad news for birds

April 1, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The 2025 U.S. State of the Birds report was released recently. The report is produced by a coalition of leading science and conservation organizations. The bottom line is that there have been continued widespread declines in American bird populations across all mainland and marine habitats.

More than one-third of U.S. bird species are of high or moderate conservation concern. Among these, 112 are tipping point species that have lost more than 50% of their populations over the last 50 years.

Protecting bird species is not just about biodiversity and stewardship of nature. Wild birds have surprisingly large economic impact. Nearly 100 million Americans are engaged in birding activities which contribute substantially to local and state economies. The 2022 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation estimated that the total economic output related to bird watching activities was an amazing $279 billion and birding-related activities support 1.4 million jobs. Bird watching and other encounters with nature are beneficial for human well-being, including reducing stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms.

The rapid declines in birds are related to habitat loss, environmental degradation, and extreme weather events. Moreover, if conditions are not healthy for birds, they are unlikely to be healthy for people as well. Fortunately, many actions that are good for birds are good for us, so conservation efforts going forward are important.

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State of America’s birds: Population declines continue

Photo, posted October 30, 2018, courtesy of Shenandoah National Park via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Generations Z and Alpha and climate change

November 19, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

People’s views and level of concern about climate change tend to vary according to age, political affiliation, and other demographic categories. But one clear trend is that young people are overwhelmingly concerned about climate change. Given that they will ultimately suffer from its effects far more than older generations, this is not really surprising.

A new study investigated the views about climate change of 16,000 young Americans aged 16 to 25. The study found that about 60% of respondents said they were either very or extremely worried when asked “How worried, if at all, are you about climate change and its impact on people and the planet?” More than 85% said they experienced at least some level of climate anxiety.

There was similarity in responses across dramatically different geopolitical regions of the country. Responses never differed by more than 25% across all surveyed populations. Concern about climate change transcended political identification. While the Republican group did have a lower level of concern, endorsement of climate issues was still above 50% no matter what group people identified with.

People from Generations Z and Alpha, those with fewer economic resources, people of color, and other vulnerable communities are experiencing the highest levels of climate distress. Research finds that 3% of Americans are experiencing clinically significant climate anxiety.

The true number of people experiencing climate-triggered anxiety may be much higher as some people are hesitant or reluctant to even acknowledge that climate change is happening. Some level of climate anxiety is undoubtedly beneficial for climate action. People who are experiencing distress are the ones most likely to take action.

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The Depths of Their Discontent: Young Americans Are Distraught Over Climate Change

Photo, posted April 23, 2022, courtesy of Mark Dixon via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Ending plastic separation anxiety

December 27, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Petroleum-based plastics are one of the biggest environmental problems we face. They mostly end up in landfills – or worse, in the oceans and elsewhere in the environment – and they basically don’t decompose over time. Bio-based plastics were invented to help solve the plastic waste crisis. These materials do break down in the environment providing a potential solution to the problem. But it turns out that they can actually make plastic waste management even more challenging.

The problem is that bioplastics look and feel so similar to conventional plastics that they get mixed in with the petroleum-based plastics rather than ending up in composters, where they can break down as designed.

Mixtures of conventional and bioplastics end up in recycling streams where they get shredded and melted down, resulting in materials that are of very poor quality for making functional products. The only solution is to try to separate the different plastics at recycling facilities, which is difficult and expensive to do.

Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Joint BioEnergy Institute, and the incubator company X have invented a simple “one pot” process to break down mixtures of different types of plastic using naturally derived salt solutions and specialized microbes and then produce a new type of biodegradable polymer that can be made into fresh commodity products.

The team is experimenting with various catalysts to find the optimum way to break down polymers at the lowest cost and are modeling how their processes can work at the large scales of real-world recycling facilities. Chemical recycling of plastics is a hot topic but has been difficult to make happen economically at the commercial scale.

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Putting an End to Plastic Separation Anxiety

Photo, posted November 28, 2016, courtesy of Leonard J Matthews via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Carbon Capture In Wyoming | Earth Wise

January 25, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Wyoming produces about 40% of our country’s coal and many towns in the state were built because of and make their living from it. With coal’s plummeting share in the nation’s electricity, there is a great deal of anxiety among residents of those towns.

As carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere continue to climb, there is a growing sense that cutting emissions will not happen quickly enough and it will be necessary to pull the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere. The current long-term government climate strategy assumes that carbon removal will account for 6 to 8 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas reductions by 2050.

The Inflation Reduction Act passed in August provides $3.5 billion to help build “direct air capture hubs” around the country, with an emphasis on fossil fuel-dependent communities such as many in Wyoming.

The town of Rock Springs, Wyoming is home to the Jim Bridger Coal Plant. A company called CarbonCapture, Inc., is launching Project Bison, which will build a direct air capture facility outside of town that is set to begin operations next year. It will initially capture 10,000 metric tons of CO2 per year but plans to expand that to 5 million tons a year by 2030.

That would be far more than any current carbon capture plant can do. The largest plant in the world, located in Iceland, pulls in only about 4,000 metric tons a year.

There are many problems associated with carbon capture. It uses up very large amounts of energy, possibly presents environmental problems, and is very expensive. In short, the technology has a long way to go before becoming viable. However, this may ultimately be another example where necessity is the mother of invention.

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Carbon Removal Is Coming to Fossil Fuel Country. Can It Bring Jobs and Climate Action?

Photo, posted July 22, 2012, courtesy of Max Phillips via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Immersion In Nature Is Good for You | Earth Wise

February 20, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

There is a growing body of research that shows that getting outdoors in nature can be good for people’s health and well-being. There are so many studies supporting this idea that policymakers, employers, and healthcare providers are increasingly considering this need for nature in how they plan and operate.

A new study of 20,000 people by researchers at the University of Exeter in the UK actually looked at how much exposure to nature was enough to make people say they feel healthy and have a sense of well-being. The answer turned out to be 2 hours a week. And the correlation was strong. People who didn’t meet that threshold did not report the benefits.

Studies have shown that time in nature – as long as people feel safe where they are – is an antidote for stress. It can lower blood pressure and stress hormone levels, reduce nervous system arousal, enhance immune system function, increase self-esteem, reduce anxiety, and improve mood. Most of these studies are correlational rather than causal, but the results tend to be robust.

Given all this, cities are adding or enhancing parks, and schools and other institutions are being designed with large windows and access to trees and green space. The Scandinavian tradition of “forest schools” – where learning takes place in natural settings outdoors -.is finding a home in the US. Japanese researchers study the effects of “forest bathing”, a poetic term for walking in the woods.

With two-thirds of humanity projected to be living in cities by 2050, we are awakening to the idea that we need to be able to spend time in nature for our own wellbeing, even if it’s just a walk in a park.

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Ecopsychology: How Immersion in Nature Benefits Your Health

Photo, posted November 6, 2011, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.