Earth Wise

A look at our changing environment.

You are here: Home / Archives for climate

climate

Fusion Power And The Climate Crisis | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

In December, the Department of Energy announced that scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California had achieved a breakthrough in nuclear fusion technology.  Fusion is the process by which the sun generates energy.  If we had the means to produce nuclear fusion in a controlled fashion, it would be an almost limitless source of clean energy.

Scientists have been trying to develop controllable fusion since the advent of the hydrogen bomb in the 1950s.  H-Bombs are basically uncontrollable fusion.

There are massive experiments under development around the work seeking the means to create and control fusion.  There are multi-billion-dollar projects such as the ITER tokamak project in southern France, that have been ongoing for decades.  Colossal equipment is required to produce the temperatures of millions of degrees needed to fuse hydrogen atoms into helium atoms.

The Livermore project uses 192 powerful laser beams to vaporize a tiny pellet and provide the energy required to initiate fusion. The breakthrough is that the experiment released more energy than the lasers put in.  This was the first time a fusion experiment produced a net gain of energy.

Is fusion the solution to de-carbonizing the energy system?  Perhaps someday it might be.  However, even the most optimistic fusion researchers believe it will be at least another decade before even the experimental fusion systems around the world can reliably produce energy and the efforts will cost untold billions of dollars. 

The world cannot wait for fusion power to save the day.  The focus must remain on currently available renewable energy technologies if we are to achieve the necessary emission reductions in time to prevent the worst effects of climate change.

**********

Web Links

Can Fusion Solve the Climate Crisis?

Photo, posted July 29, 2010, courtesy of Steve Jurvetson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Fertilizing The Ocean | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

There are a variety of schemes for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  Some require advanced and generally not-very-well developed technology.  Others, such as planting vast numbers of trees, are nature-based but are daunting with respect to the scale to which they need to take place in order to be truly effective.

Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington have been examining the scientific evidence for seeding the oceans with iron-rich engineered fertilizer in order to feed phytoplankton.  Phytoplankton are microscopic plants that are a key part of the ocean ecosystem.

Phytoplankton take up carbon dioxide as they grow.  In nature, nutrients from the land end up in the ocean through rivers and from blowing dust.  These nutrients fertilize the plankton.  The idea is to augment these existing processes to increase the growth of phytoplankton.  As they eventually die, they sink deep into the ocean, taking the excess carbon with them.


The researchers argue that engineered nanoparticles could provide highly controlled nutrition that is specifically tuned for different ocean environments.  Surface coatings could help the particles attach to plankton.  Some could be engineered with light-absorbing properties, allowing plankton to consume and use more carbon dioxide.

Analysis of over 100 published studies showed that numerous non-toxic, abundant, and easy-to-create metal-oxygen materials could safely enhance plankton growth.  According to the researchers, the proposed fertilization would simply speed up a natural process that already sequesters carbon in a form that could remove it from the atmosphere for thousands of years.  They argue that given the current trends in the climate, time is of the essence for taking action.

**********

Web Links

Fertilizing the Ocean to Store Carbon Dioxide

Photo, posted August 2, 2007, courtesy of Kevin McCarthy via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Harvesting Fresh Water From Ocean Air | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

Roughly three-quarters of the world population has access to a safely managed water source.  That means that one-in-four people do not have access to safe drinking water.  Even in the wealthy United States, persistent drought in the west is creating problems in places like Phoenix, Arizona.

Water is plentiful on Earth but more than 99% of it is unusable by humans and many other living things because it is saline, frozen, or inaccessible.  Only about 0.3% of our fresh water is found in the surface water of lakes, rivers, and swamps.

There is an almost limitless supply of fresh water in the form of water vapor above the oceans, but this source is untapped.  Researchers at the University of Illinois have been evaluating the feasibility of a hypothetical structure capable of capturing water vapor from above the ocean and condensing it into fresh water.

Existing ways to obtain fresh water like wastewater recycling, cloud seeding, and desalination have met only limited success and present various problems with regard to cost, environmental impact, and scalability.

The researchers have proposed hypothetical large offshore structures measuring 700 feet by 300 feet to capture water vapor that is continually evaporating from the ocean in subtropical regions.   Their modeling concluded that such structures could provide fresh water for large population centers in the subtropics.  Furthermore, climate projections show that the amount of water vapor over the oceans will only increase over time, providing even more fresh water supply.

This is only a theoretical study at this point, but the researchers believe it opens the door for novel infrastructure investments that could address global water scarcity.

**********

Web Links

Researchers propose new structures to harvest untapped source of fresh water

Photo, posted June 28, 2009, courtesy of Nicolas Raymond via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Mauna Loa Eruption And Climate Tracking | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

Mauna Loa, the largest active volcano in the world, erupted for the first time in nearly 40 years in late November.  A 124-foot aluminum tower at the top of the volcano has been the site of carbon dioxide measurements for over 60 years but the eruption cut off power to the site, stopping the monitoring.

Carbon dioxide measurements on Mauna Loa began in 1958.  The project was started by geochemist Charles Keeling and eventually taken over by his son Ralph Keeling upon his father’s death in 2005.  It is the longest continuous record of the rising levels of carbon dioxide in the world.

Mauna Loa is an ideal location for carbon dioxide monitoring because it is a remote location away from both carbon dioxide sources like dense population centers and roads, and carbon sinks like areas of heavy vegetation.

There are hundreds of carbon dioxide monitoring stations around the world, including more than 70 operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, so the interruption will not stop global recordkeeping.  But Mauna Loa holds significant symbolism as the first and most frequently sited source of carbon dioxide data.

There have been other interruptions in the measurements.  Federal budget cuts in 1964 paused them for about 3 months.  A 1984 eruption also cut off power to the facility and shut it down for about a month.

When the facility first started operating, the average carbon dioxide concentration was measured at 313 parts per million.   Most recently, levels have peaked at around 421 parts per million, the greatest concentration in at least 4 million years. 

Power will be restored to the Mauna Loa facility and its measurements will resume.

**********

Web Links

Mauna Loa Eruption Threatens a Famous Climate Record

Photo, posted November 29, 2022, courtesy of L. Gallant / USGS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Europe Is Warming Faster Than The Rest Of The Planet | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

A new study by researchers at Stockholm University has found that the warming during the summer months in Europe has been much faster than the global average.  The findings, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres, are that the climate across the European continent has become drier, particularly in southern Europe, leading to worse heat waves and an increased risk of fires.

Warming over land areas occurs much faster than over oceans.  The global average warming to date is 1.6 degrees Celsius over land and 0.9 degrees over oceans.   This means that the global emissions budget to keep warming below 1.5 degrees has already been used up over land.  The new study in fact shows that the emissions budget to avoid 2 degrees of warming has already been exceeded over large parts of Europe during the summer half-year (April to September).

This accelerated warming in Europe has led to more frequent heat waves.  These, in turn, increase the risk of fires, such as the devastating fires in southern Europe this past summer.

Southern Europe has been experiencing a positive feedback situation in which the ongoing warming has been amplified because of drier soil and decreased evaporation.  Added to that, there has been less cloud coverage over large parts of Europe, probably as a result of less water vapor in the air.

The study also looked at the impact of aerosol particles on temperatures in Europe.  As the amount of relatively short-lived aerosol particles has decreased with the reduction of coal-fired power plants, the temporary cooling effects of those particles partially masking the underlying warming trend have diminished.  In contrast, carbon dioxide emissions stay in the atmosphere for centuries.

**********

Web Links

Large parts of Europe are warming twice as fast as the planet on average

Photo, posted April 18, 2020, courtesy of Roman Ranniew via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

It Really Is Greenhouse Gases | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

The scientific consensus that human-generated carbon dioxide is changing the climate began to form in the 1980s. 

For a long time, the changes to the climate were simply denied.  After a while, as those changes became increasingly hard to ignore, the argument shifted to the changes being real but not caused by anything people are doing.  The multi-trillion-dollar fossil fuel industry was strongly motivated to focus attention away from the association between carbon dioxide and climate change.

The greenhouse gas effect has been known since the 19th century.  It isn’t just real; it is essential to life on earth.  Without sufficient levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to trap some of the sun’s heat, the earth would be an ice planet incapable of supporting much in the way of life.  But there can be too much of a good thing.

Naysayers continue to grasp at alternative explanations for the warming planet rather than the inconvenient truth.  Some people try to claim that it is the release of heat from all our energy-generating activities -power plants, heaters and air conditioners, vehicles, and so on – that is warming the planet.

That issue has been studied in detail.  Human activity does generate a lot of heat and, technically speaking, that heat does help warm the planet.  However, the sun dumps 10,000 times more heat on the earth than all of human energy production added together.  Just the normal fluctuations in solar energy are 10 times larger than everything we do put together.

What is increasingly warming the planet is not the continuing energy striking the earth; it is primarily the fact that growing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are trapping more and more of that heat and preventing it from escaping into space.

***********

Web Links

Integrating anthropogenic heat flux with global climate models

Photo, posted August 25, 2009, courtesy of Gerald Simmons via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Climate A Winner In The Elections | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

The dominant issues in midterm elections in November were the economy and abortion rights, but at the same time there were also ballot initiatives in various cities and states across the country related to climate.  What some describe as the ‘silent surprise’ of the election was that these initiatives generally passed and, in some cases, by large majorities.

The most significant of these ballot measures was in New York, where two-thirds  of voters passed the largest environmental bond measure in state history.  The measure funds up to $4.2 billion for environmental improvement projects including increasing flood resiliency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, electrifying school buses, and creating more green and open spaces.

The Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act provides up to $1.5 billion for projects aimed at climate change mitigation.  Another $1.1 billion is targeted for flood risk reduction and waterway restoration.  $650 million goes for water quality and infrastructure improvement. 

Rhode Island voters passed a green bonds act that will allow the state to invest in climate resiliency at the municipal level, as well as local recreation, open space protection, brownfields remediation, and forest and habitat restoration. 

Other climate-related ballot measures passed in Boulder, Colorado and in El Paso, Texas.  There were however a few climate measures that lost.  Proposition 30 in California that would have taxed very high-income residents to encourage sale of electric vehicles failed.  So did Arizona Proposition 310, which would have increased sales taxes by 0.1% to fund fire districts.

But overall, it was a good election for the climate.

**********

Web Links

Voters pass historic climate initiatives in ‘silent surprise’ of US midterms

Photo, posted September 24, 2021, courtesy of Ivan Radic via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Carbon In The Congo Peatlands | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

The Congo peatlands in central Africa are the world’s largest tropical peatlands complex, occupying an area of 65,000 square miles, about the size of the entire state of Florida. Peatlands represent a huge store of carbon and therefore are important to the stability of the climate.

A study by scientists at the University of Leeds and University College London found that around the time that Stonehenge was built – about 5,000 years ago – there was an extended drying period in central Congo and the peatlands started emitting carbon dioxide rather than storing it.  Over the course of time, the climate in the area got wetter again and over the past 2,000 years, the Congo peatlands have been a place that takes large amounts of carbon out of the atmosphere.

The study utilized peat samples taken from beneath remote swamp forests to build a record of the vegetation and rainfall in the central Congo Basin over the past 17,500 years.

In a paper published in Nature, the researchers warn that if modern-day global warming produces extended droughts in the Congo region, history could repeat itself and the peatlands could once again become carbon emitters.  If that were to happen, over 30 billion tons of carbon could be released into the atmosphere.  That is the equivalent to the total global emissions from fossil fuel burning over a three-year period.

There is some evidence that dry seasons are lengthening in the Congo Basin, but it is unknown if these will continue.  In any case, the study reveals that peatlands are more vulnerable than previously thought and need to be protected.  They are some of the most wildlife and carbon-rich ecosystems on Earth.

**********

Web Links

Congo peatlands could release billions of tonnes of carbon

Photo, posted November 5, 2016, courtesy of Roni Ziade / Forest Service via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Climate Promises | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

The United Nations climate change conference that recently took place in Egypt is an annual event.  Last year, the conference was in Glasgow, Scotland, and the participants – heads of state and business leaders – produced a long list of promises aimed at fighting global warming.  How have the countries and companies making those promises done so far?  Unfortunately, not very well.

Participants made pledges for progress in several major areas.

Countries promised to cut greenhouse gas emissions faster, but only 24 countries out of the 140 participants have actually done so.

Countries agreed to expedite the deployment of clean energy and the phasing out of government subsidies for fossil fuels.  There has been considerable progress on green power, but coal use actually reached record highs this year primarily because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which caused natural gas prices to spike.

Countries pledged $100 billion a year to help poorer countries shift to cleaner energy sources.  There has been lots of effort in this area, but the target has not been met and it isn’t clear that all the money is going where it is supposed to.

More than 100 countries pledged to slash methane emissions, but most nations are only getting started.

More than 130 countries pledged to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030.  Deforestation is slowly declining, but not fast enough to meet the goals of the pledge.

An important goal for this year’s climate conference was to try to find a way to not just set admirable and valuable climate goals, but to actually accomplish them.  It isn’t easy, but it is essential.

**********

Web Links

Countries Made Bold Climate Promises Last Year. How Are They Doing?

Photo, posted July 25, 2009, courtesy of Wagner T. Cassimiro via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Climate Change And Crabs | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

Globally, there are more than 6,000 species of crabs.  In Alaska’s waters alone, there are 18 species, including 10 that are commercially fished.  The perils of crab fishing in this region, including freezing temperatures, turbulent seas, and raising full pots that can weigh well over a ton, have been highlighted for many years in the reality TV series Deadliest Catch.        

One of those commercially-fished species is the Alaska snow crab.  Alaska snow crabs are a cold-water species found off the coast of Alaska in the Bering, Beaufort, and Chukchi Seas. 

In October, officials in Alaska announced that the upcoming winter snow crab season would be canceled for the first time ever due to a sharp population decline. While the number of juvenile snow crabs was at record highs just a few years ago, approximately 90% of snow crabs mysteriously disappeared ahead of last season.  Officials also canceled the Bristol Bay red king crab harvest for similar reasons for the second year in a row.

The closures dealt a severe blow to crab fishers in the region.  According to the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, Alaska’s crab fishing industry is worth more than $200 million. 

The canceled seasons also raise questions about the role of climate change in the snow crab population crash. While the causes of the decline are still being researched, scientists suspect that warmer temperatures are responsible.  Temperatures in the Arctic region have warmed four times faster than the rest of the planet. 

As the climate continues to change, the warming waters around Alaska may become increasingly inhospitable to snow crabs and other species.   

**********

Web Links

Alaska’s Bering snow crab, king crab seasons canceled

Alaska cancels snow crab season for first time after population collapses

Photo, posted November 16, 2010, courtesy of David Csepp / NOAA via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Bitcoin Mining And The Environment | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

Bitcoin mining, the process by which the prominent cryptocurrency is created, is well-known to be energy intensive, but the environmental impact of it has not been extensively studied.  People have described Bitcoin as ‘digital gold.’  A new analysis by researchers at the University of New Mexico has found that Bitcoin mining shouldn’t be compared to gold mining.  It is more appropriately compared to the creation of much more energy-intensive products such as beef, natural gas, and crude oil.

Furthermore, the study found that rather than becoming more sustainable over time, Bitcoin mining is becoming dirtier and more damaging to the climate as long as it relies upon fossil-fuel generated electricity.  Estimates are that in 2020, Bitcoin mining used 75.4 terawatt hours of electricity, which is more electricity than the entire country of Austria, as well as 150 other nations around the world.

The study looked at the economic cost of the air pollution and carbon emissions associated with Bitcoin mining and found that in many instances, the negative economic impact of creating a single Bitcoin is more than what the resultant coin is worth.

Based on the market value of Bitcoins, the cost of climate damage for that value is a little less that that of electricity produced by natural gas and gasoline produced from crude oil, but actually more than that of beef production.

There are multiple cryptocurrencies.  Ether is one that voluntarily switched away from so-called proof-of-work mining.  Whether Bitcoin or others will act similarly absent potential regulation remains to be seen.  Until such time, Bitcoin mining remains an increasingly dirty and damaging business.

**********

Web Links

Technology: UNM researchers find Bitcoin mining is environmentally unsustainable

Photo, posted May 11, 2017, courtesy of Komers Real via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Sinking Cities | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

Sea levels across the globe are rising as a result of the changing climate.  Two factors are largely responsible: the melting of ice sheets in the polar regions and the fact that as the oceans get warmer, the water in them expands.  

Estimates are that by 2050, there will be over 800 million people living in 570 cities that will be at risk from rising sea levels.   The rising waters can drown neighborhoods, put people’s lives at risk, and wreck entire economies.  Unless global emissions can be reduced sufficiently, sea levels will continue to rise.

A new study, published in the journal Nature Sustainability by Nanyang Technical University in Singapore in collaboration with the University of New Mexico, ETH Zurich, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, has focused on yet another aspect of the threat to coastal cities.  They have found that many densely populated coastal cities worldwide are even more vulnerable to sea level rise because much of their land is sinking. 

The researchers processed satellite images of 48 cities from 2014 to 2020 using a system called Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar.  They found that land subsidence varied on a neighborhood and even individual block level but across all the cities studied, there was a median sinking speed of 6/10” a year.  Some places had land that is sinking at 1.7” per year.  Meanwhile, the global mean sea-level rise is about .15” per year.

The increasing prevalence of industrial processes such as the extraction of groundwater, and oil and gas, along with the rapid construction of buildings and other urban infrastructure are leading to the sinking of the urban areas. 

**********

Web Links

Rapid land sinking leaves global cities vulnerable to rising seas

Photo, posted October 24, 2015, courtesy of Jeffrey via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Decarbonizing Could Save Trillions | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

Scientists have long been calling for a transition to clean energy to prevent catastrophic impacts of climate change.  For much of that time, many people and, specifically, many of those in power, were skeptical of the need to do something about the warming climate.  But even as the facts about the changing climate became increasingly undeniable, there continued to be fears that the transition to clean energy sources would be unacceptably expensive and harmful to the economy.

A recent study published by Oxford University shows that the opposite is true:  a concerted effort to convert to green energy technologies such as solar, wind, and batteries, will save the world enormous amounts of money.

The Oxford study shows that a transition to nearly 100% clean energy by 2050 results in a lower-cost energy system that provides energy access to more people around the world.  The energy transition is expected to save the world at least $12 trillion compared to continuing our current levels of fossil fuel use.

The cost of renewable energy sources has been going down for decades and they are already cheaper than fossil fuels in many situations.  It is expected that they will become cheaper than fossil fuels across almost all applications over time.  Accelerating the transition will allow renewables to become cheaper faster.

The study made use of probabilistic models to estimate the costs of various possible future energy systems based on past data.  Even the most pessimistic models showed that scaling up green technologies is likely to drive their costs down so far that they will generate net cost savings and that the faster the transition goes, the more will be saved.  The result will be a cleaner, cheaper, more energy secure future.

**********

Web Links

Decarbonising the energy system by 2050 could save trillions

Photo, posted July 12, 2010, courtesy of Tom Shockey via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

History Emerges In European Drought | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

During the summer, much of Europe faced a string of extreme heat waves and a devastating drought.  As a result, many reservoirs and rivers have shrunk back to reveal historical structures and relics that, in some cases, date back thousands of years.  Once-submerged villages, ships, and bridges have re-emerged this year.

In northwest Spain, a former village called Aceredo has reappeared after having been submerged 30 years ago when a hydropower dam flooded the valley where it was located.  Elsewhere in Spain, the Dolmen of Guadalperal, a 4000-5000-year-old stone monument often called the Spanish Stonehedge, has risen from a drought-stricken dam west of Madrid

In Italy, which is suffering from its worst drought in 70 years, the ruins of a bridge from the time of Nero are now visible in the Tiber River.   One of Germany’s largest reservoirs, the Edersee, has shrunk back so much that parts of Berich, a village that was flooded in 1914, can be seen.  In Serbia, water levels in the Danube River are so low that more than a dozen sunken Nazi boats from World War II have been exposed in the town of Prahovo.   In Northern England, the lower water levels of the Batings Reservoir have uncovered an ancient packhorse bridge.

The shrinking of riverbeds and reservoirs across Europe has attracted a great deal of attention, probably more than many other effects of the increasing number of extreme weather events because it is so visual.  But the frequency of extreme heat and drought is only likely to increase over time.

**********

Web Links

Europe’s Shrinking Waterways Reveal Treasures, and Experts Are Worried

Photo, posted July 13, 2017, courtesy of Marco Brandstetter via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Saving Giant Sequoias | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

Last year, the KNP Complex Fire burning in Sequoia National Park drew global attention as the General Sherman, the world’s largest tree, was wrapped in tinfoil-like material in order to repel the flames from the fire.  Hundreds of firefighters labored for weeks trying to save giant redwood trees.  Despite these efforts, the U.S. Forest Service estimates that wildfires killed 13% to 19% of the world’s giant sequoias in 2020 and 2021.

This past July, the Washburn Fire burned through part of Yosemite’s Mariposa Grove and the giant sequoias there were surrounded by automated sprinklers trying to shelter them from the flames.

For a century, government agencies have worked to extinguish all natural wildfires and prohibited Native people in the region from lighting the fires they traditionally used to manage their lands.  As a result, forests have grown far thicker with trees that can fuel fires.  The Sierras are now home to more than three times as many trees as when they were managed by indigenous communities.  But more than 100 million of those trees had died by 2016 because of drought.

Add to this massive amount of kindling the effects of climate change – a hotter and drier environment – and there is the perfect storm for megafires among the giant sequoias.

There is federal legislation pending that would provide resources for prescribed burning and other forms of active forest management.  It is controversial.  It has attracted support from the Nature Conservancy, the Save The Redwoods League, and others, but also opposition from more than 80 environmental groups.

What is not controversial is that the Giant Sequoias are in the midst of a crisis and urgent action is needed.

**********

Web Links

In California, a Race to Save the World’s Largest Trees From Megafires

Photo, posted December 10, 2014, courtesy of Laura Camp via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Coping With Climate Change | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

Extreme weather events including prolonged drought and heavy rainfall are becoming more common and more severe as global temperatures rise.  As the climate continues to change in the coming decades, how will animals respond? 

Researchers from the University of Southern Denmark have examined how different mammals react to climate change. They analyzed data on population fluctuations from 157 mammal species around the world.  They compared these fluctuations with weather and climate data from the same time period.  The research team had 10 or more years of data for each species studied. 

The researchers found that mammals that live for a long time and/or produce less offspring –  like llamas, elephants, bears, and bison – are more climate resilient than small mammals with short lives — like mice, possums, lemmings, and rare marsupials. 

For example, large, long-lived mammals can invest their energy into one offspring, or simply wait for better times if conditions become challenging.  On the other hand, small, short-lived mammals like rodents have more extreme population changes in the short term. In the event of a prolonged drought, large portions of their food base may rapidly disappear, and they are left to starve because they have limited fat reserves.

However, the research team notes that the ability of a species to withstand climate change must not be the only factor when assessing a species’ vulnerability.  In fact, in many cases, habitat destruction, poaching, pollution, and invasive species pose a larger threat to animal species than climate change. 

While the study only examined 157 species, the findings enable researchers to also predict how animals they know less about will react to climate change.

********** 

Web Links

Which animals can best withstand climate change?

Photo, posted July 8, 2018, courtesy of Ray via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

California Climate Legislation | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

At the end of its summer session, California’s state legislature passed five climate-related bills including ones that it had been unable to pass in previous sessions.  Taking all of these actions puts California in the position of blazing a trail for the country and the rest of world in taking aggressive action on climate issues.

One bill confirmed California’s goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2045.  Another bill added interim-term targets to go along with the state’s goal of 100% renewable electricity by 2045.  It sets a target of 90% by 2030 and 95% by 2040.  That bill mandates that California state agencies use 100% clean energy by 2035, which is a decade earlier than the previous requirement.

A third bill requires the California Air Resources Board to determine steps and regulations for carbon-capture and storage projects at pollution hotspots like oil refineries.

A fourth bill requires the state to set goals for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through natural means such as tree planting.

The California state budget includes a record-breaking $54 billion to be spent on climate programs over the next five years, including $6.1 billion toward electric vehicles, $14.8 billion towards public transit projects, more than $8 billion for electric grid stabilization, $2.7 billion towards preventing wildfires, and $2.8 billion towards managing drought.

California has been dealing with ongoing drought and numerous wildfires and is highly motivated to take decisive action in dealing with the climate crisis.  California’s environmental initiatives often result in comparable actions taken by other states.

**********

Web Links

California Passes Massive Climate Legislation Package

Photo, posted March 16, 2019, courtesy of Raymond Shobe via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Timber Cities | Earth Wise

By 2 Comments

More than half of the world’s population lives in cities and by 2100, this percentage is predicted to be much higher.  This means that more homes will be built with steel and concrete, which both have very large carbon footprints.  According to a study by the Potsdam Institute in Germany, housing a growing population in homes made of wood instead could avoid more than 100 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the remainder of the century.  This is about 10% of the remaining global carbon budget for staying below the 2-degree Celsius climate target.

The study presents the alternative of housing new urban populations in mid-rise buildings – no more than 4-12 stories high – that are substantially made of wood.  Wood is a renewable resource that carries the lowest carbon footprint of any comparable building material.  Trees take up CO2 from the atmosphere to grow.  Producing engineered wood releases far less CO2 than production of concrete and steel and the finished product continues to store carbon.

The study shows that sufficient wood for new mid-rise urban buildings can be produced without a major impact on food production.  The wood would come from timber plantations as well as natural forests.  The study also looked at biodiversity impacts and ways that ecosystems could be protected while still providing the necessary timber.

Overall, the Potsdam study demonstrates that urban homes made out of wood could play a vital role in climate change mitigation based on their long-term carbon storage potential coupled with the reduced utilization of the carbon-intensive concrete and steel industries.

**********

Web Links

Living in timber cities could avoid emissions – without using farmland for wood production

Photo, posted May 24, 2005, courtesy of Stig Anderson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Low Fares Clean German Air | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

Germany’s parliament set summer public transport fares at 9 euros a month as a way to slash pollution and reduce imports of Russian oil.   The low price included all buses, trams, subways, and regional trains, effectively lowering prices by more than 90% in some cities.  Berliners saved 98 euros on their monthly travel pass; commuters in Hamburg saved even more.

The program began June 1 and ended August 31.  The bargain rates drove widespread use of public transport and discouraged the use of cars, which already was undesirable due to high gasoline prices.   Over the three-month period, transit authorities sold over 50 million subsidized tickets.  One out of five travelers were using public transport for the first time, according to surveys.

According to an estimate from the Association of German Transport Companies, the program helped to avoid 1.8 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.  This is roughly equivalent to taking 1.5 million cars off the road for the summer or planting 30 million trees.

The discount transit program had a clearly positive effect on the climate and, obviously, was a source of financial relief for German citizens.  Last year, Germany was the largest buyer of Russian oil in Europe and it wanted to make drastic reductions in its purchases.  The success of the program prompted many to ask for it to be continued.  However, the program cost the government about 2.5 billion euros in reimbursements to transit companies.  The German government has said it would not be extended.

Nonetheless, German policymakers are weighing other proposals for low-cost public transit.  Clearly encouraging people to use public transit pays dividends.

**********

Web Links

Germany’s Cheap Summer Train Fares Prevented 1.8 Million Tons of Carbon Pollution

Photo, posted June 6, 2022, courtesy of 7C0 via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A Food For The Future | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

Researchers predict that climate change will negatively impact most staple food crops, including rice, corn, and soybeans.  Therefore, climate resilient food crops – those that are salt, drought, and heat resilient – will have an important role to play in global food security.  Examples of climate resilient crops include quinoa, kernza, amaranth, millet, and tepary beans.    

According to a new study by researchers from Northwestern University, breadfruit – a starchy tree fruit native to the Pacific Islands – will be relatively unaffected by climate change.  Because breadfruit is climate resilient and well-suited to grow in regions with high levels of food insecurity, the research team suggests breadfruit could be a part of the solution to global hunger.

While it has ”fruit” in its name, breadfruit is more like a potato.  It’s starchy and seedless, and is closely related to jackfruit.  Breadfruit is nutrient-rich, and high in fiber, vitamins, and minerals.  It can be steamed, roasted, fried, fermented, and even turned into flour.  People in tropical regions around the world have been eating breadfruit for thousands of years. 

In the study, which was recently published in the journal PLOS Climate, researchers determined the climate conditions necessary to cultivate breadfruit and then looked at how these conditions are predicted to change in the future.  They examined two future climate scenarios: one that reflects high greenhouse-gas emissions and another in which emissions stabilize.

In both scenarios, the regions suitable for breadfruit cultivation were mostly unaffected.  Additionally, the researchers identified new suitable land where breadfruit cultivation could expand.   

As the climate continues to change, breadfruit might soon be on a table near you.

**********

Web Links

Climate-resilient breadfruit might be the food of the future

Photo, posted August 11, 2007, courtesy of Malcolm Manners via 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...)