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Plant-Based Foods And CO2 Emissions | Earth Wise

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We often hear how eating locally-sourced food is a way to minimize the carbon footprint of our diet.  But from a climate impact perspective, this only has a significant impact if transportation is responsible for a large portion of a food’s final carbon footprint.  In many cases, the greenhouse gas emissions related to transportation make up only a small portion of the total emissions from food, and what we eat is far more important.

In general, beef and lamb have the biggest climate footprint per gram of protein.  Plant-based foods tend to have the smallest impact. Pork and chicken are somewhere in the middle. 

According to new research, U.S. food production could reduce its agricultural carbon footprint between 2.5% and 13.5% by embracing plant-based alternatives to beef.  The study, from researchers at Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, and international partners, found that most of the reduction would be achieved by decreasing the number of cows needed for beef production by two to twelve million animals.  The research was recently published in the journal Lancet Planetary Health.

However, the researchers also found that acting to reduce climate change in this manner could have unintended consequences.  For example, economic models from the research team show that the growth in popularity of plant-based beef could disrupt the agricultural workforce, threatening more than 1.5 million jobs. 

But in the big picture, doing nothing will cost much more than doing something to slow climate change.  Shifting diets away from meat and other animal products and towards more plant-based foods will help shrink carbon footprints and mitigate climate change.  It’s a win-win for the planet and for human health. 

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Plant-based ‘beef’ reduces CO2 but threatens ag jobs

Photo, posted November 27, 2018, courtesy of Sarah Stierch via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Efficiency Of Offshore Wind | Earth Wise

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After many years of debates, delays, and controversies, offshore wind is about to expand in a big way in the United States.  The White House has announced the goal to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind – enough to power 90 million homes – along the East Coast seaboard by 2030.

In New York State, there are now five offshore wind projects in active development.  The state goal is to have nearly a gigawatt of offshore wind by 2035, enough to power over 4 million homes.

These projects involve the use of thousands of physically large, high-capacity wind turbines deployed over large areas at an unprecedented scale.  Such mammoth installations bring with them unique problems.

Low-turbulence conditions over water lead to the fact that individual wind farms will experience each other’s wake (the disturbance of their airflow) even when turbine arrays are 15 to 50 miles apart.  As a result, turbines may fatigue earlier, and groups of turbines may experience up to 30% lower power production due to wake effects.

Industry trends are causing an increased probability of large wake-induced energy losses within individual wind farms and an increasing probability of wake interactions.

These issues have been studied in new research published by researchers at Cornell University.  The research presents simulations that may be helpful to optimize turbine spacing in the ongoing deployments and assist plans for future ones.  Improved understanding of wind turbine and wind-farm wake is essential in ensuring that the financial investments in offshore wind result in electricity-generation goals met at the lowest possible cost.

According to Department of Energy studies, offshore wind resources around the United States could potentially generate more electricity than the entire country currently uses.

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Scientists bring efficiency to expanding offshore wind energy

Photo, posted August 9, 2016, courtesy of Lars Plougmann via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Right Whales And The Warming Atlantic | Earth Wise

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The warming of the Atlantic Ocean has driven the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale population from its traditional and protected habitat.  This has exposed the whales to more lethal ship collisions, increased entanglements with commercial fishing gear, and greatly reduced calving rates.

Since 2010, the calving rate has declined, and the right whale population has dropped by an estimated 26%.  Ten years ago, there were about 500 North Atlantic right whales; now there are an estimated 356.

These are some of the best studied whales in the oceans; scientists basically recognize each individual whale and when they are the victims of ship collisions or fishing entanglements, it is easy to identify which animal was killed.

Because of the warming climate, the Atlantic Meridian Overturning Circulation – an important system of surface and deep currents – has slowed down, causing the Gulf Stream to move north.  This has injected warmer and saltier water into the Gulf of Maine.  The warming Gulf of Maine has reduced the abundance of copepods, tiny crustations that are the favorite snack of right whales.   This has reduced whale calving rates and forced the whales to move north to the cooler waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

For the past 6 years, more and more right whales have been observed feeding in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where there were no protections in place to prevent ship strikes and fishing gear entanglement.  In 2017 alone, 17 right whale deaths were confirmed.

According to a recent report from Cornell University and the University of South Carolina, unless its management is improved, right whale populations will decline and potentially become extinct in the coming decades.

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Warming Atlantic forces whales into new habitats, danger

Photo, posted December 8, 2016, courtesy of Sea to Shore Alliance/NOAA via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Protecting Bees From Pesticides | Earth Wise

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Studies have shown that the wax and pollen in 98% of beehives in the U.S. are contaminated with an average of six pesticides.  These substances lower bees’ immunity to devastating varroa mites and other pathogens.  By some estimates, pesticides cause beekeepers to lose about a third of their hives every year on average.

Researchers at Cornell University have developed a new technology that effectively protects bees from insecticides.  The insecticide antidote delivery method is now the basis of a new company called Beemunity.

The Cornell researchers developed a uniform pollen-sized microparticle filled with enzymes that detoxify organophosphate insecticides before they are absorbed and can harm bees.  Organophosphate insecticides account for about a third of the insecticides on the market.  The microparticles have a protective casing that allows the enzymes to move past the bees’ crop (basically the stomach), which is acidic and would otherwise break them down.  The safeguarded enzymes then enter the midgut, where digestion occurs and where toxins and nutrients are absorbed.  There the enzymes act to break down and detoxify the organophosphate insecticides.

In experimental tests, bees that were fed the enzyme-filled microparticles had a 100% survival rate after exposure to the insecticide malathion.  Unprotected control bees died within days.

The Cornell work appears to represent a low-cost, scalable solution to the insecticide toxicity issue and may help to protect essential pollinators.

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Pollen-sized technology protects bees from deadly insecticides

Photo, posted January 30, 2020, courtesy of George Tan via Flick.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

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