focus

Protecting Wetlands | Earth Wise

March 28, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Wetlands are distinct ecosystems that are flooded or saturated by water, either permanently or seasonally. They include mangroves, marshes, swamps, forested wetlands, bogs, wet prairies, and vernal pools. The feature that most wetlands share is soil or substrate that is at least periodically saturated with or covered by water.

Wetlands are some of the most threatened ecosystems in the world. While wetlands can be affected by a variety of natural stressors, including erosion, droughts, and storms, human activities have been the major driver of wetland decline.

But according to a new study by researchers from McGill University in Canada, the global loss of wetland areas since 1700 has likely been overestimated. The research team calculated that the area of wetland ecosystems around the world has declined 21-35% since 1700 as a result of human activities – far less than the 50-87% decline estimated in other studies. The study’s focus beyond regions with historically high wetland losses and its avoidance of possibly misleading extrapolations likely resulted in the lower estimate.

According to the study, which was published in the journal Nature, more than 2.1 million square miles of wetlands have been lost during the past 300 years – an area roughly the size of India. The five countries with the highest wetland losses are the United States, China, India, Russia and Indonesia.

But discovering that fewer wetlands have been historically lost than previously thought gives researchers a second chance to protect wetlands. The findings of the study will help researchers prioritize global conservation and restoration actions.

**********

Web Links

A second chance to protect wetlands

Photo, posted February 2, 2005, courtesy of Jan Tik via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Mining Metals From Water | Earth Wise

March 14, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington are working with industry to develop a method of extracting valuable materials from various sources of water. The technique is the 21st-century equivalent of panning for gold in rivers and streams.

The patent-pending technology makes use of magnetic nanoparticles that are surrounded by an absorbent shell that latches on to specific materials of interest that are found in certain water sources. These sources could include water in geothermal power plants (known as geothermal brines), water pulled from the subsurface during oil or gas production, or possibly effluents from desalination plants. Extracting valuable materials from geothermal brines could greatly enhance the economics of geothermal power plants.

The initial focus of the development is on lithium, which is an essential element in many high-technology applications, especially in the batteries that power cell phones, computers, and electric cars. The global market for lithium is projected to reach over $8 billion a year by 2028 and very little of it is currently produced in the United States.

The tiny particles are added to the water and any lithium is drawn out of the water and is bound to them. Using magnets, the nanoparticles can be readily collected. Once the particles are no longer suspended in liquid, the lithium can easily be extracted, and the nanoparticles can be reused.

PNNL is developing the technology in partnership with a company called Moselle Technology as well as with other commercial partners. This new technology offers the promise of extracting critical materials in a quick, cost-effective manner.

**********

Web Links

Tri-Cities Scientists “Magically” Mining Metals From Water

Photo, posted June 4, 2012, courtesy of Tom Shockey via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Houseplants And Indoor Air Quality | Earth Wise

April 11, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Many of us have houseplants in our homes and offices. The foliage and flowers add beauty and comfort to our indoor spaces. But it turns out that there are health advantages as well.

Many studies have demonstrated that indoor houseplants can help keep you happier and healthier by improving your mood, reducing fatigue, lowering stress and anxiety, and improving focus. Houseplants can also improve indoor air quality.

According to a new study by researchers from the University of Birmingham in the U.K. in partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society, ordinary houseplants can potentially make a significant contribution to reducing indoor air pollution.

The researchers tested three types of houseplants commonly found in homes in the U.K: Peace lily, corn plant, and fern arum. These plants are easy to maintain and not overly expensive.

In the study, the research team exposed these houseplants to nitrogen dioxide, which is a common indoor pollutant. The plants were isolated in a test chamber containing levels of nitrogen dioxide comparable to what might be in an office situated next to a busy road. The researchers found that all the plants were able to remove about half of the nitrogen dioxide in the chamber in just one hour.

In a poorly ventilated small office with high levels of air pollution, the researchers calculated that five houseplants would remove up to 20% of the nitrogen dioxide. In a larger space, the effect would be smaller – around 3.5% – although this figure could be increased by adding more plants.

Bringing nature indoors is one way to breathe cleaner air.

**********

Web Links

Common houseplants can improve air quality indoors

Reducing air pollution with plants

Photo, posted September 21, 2014, courtesy of Olin Gilbert via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Assisted Colonization | Earth Wise

July 9, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

As the pace of climate change continues to quicken, many species seem to be unable to keep up and could face extinction as a result. There is a potential strategy for people to help species reach places with more suitable physical and biological conditions. People could carry endangered animals to habitats cut off by mountains, rivers, or human-made barriers. They could plant endangered trees higher up mountain slopes or to locations further north. Such actions have been termed assisted colonization.

People have been moving species around the world throughout human history for various reasons either intentionally or inadvertently. But as a conservation strategy, assisted colonization is quite controversial.

The argument is whether the risk of moving species to more favorable conditions outweighs the risk of inaction. The salvation of one species could mean the destruction of another. A species that seems perfectly innocuous when moved to one place can become a rampant invader in another.

An upcoming international conference on Biological Diversity to be held this fall in China may take up the issue of creating a set of guidelines on assisted colonization. Such guidelines would help people assess which species to focus on; where, when, and how to move them; how to weigh the risks of action and inaction; and how to conduct such actions across international borders. Assisted colonization may be useful in some instances and not in others. There needs to be a way for the world to decide whether it is warranted or not. With climate change posing a growing threat to many of the world’s species, this is an issue that should be addressed.

**********

Web Links

Amid Climate Pressures, a Call for a Plan to Move Endangered Species

Photo, posted July 16, 2014, courtesy of Mark Spangler via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Extreme Heat From Solar Power | Earth Wise

January 23, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Renewable sources are playing a growing role in meeting our energy needs, but one place where they have continued to fall short is in industrial processes that require extreme heat. These include the cement, steel, and glass industries, among others. These industries account for a significant amount of CO2 emissions because the most effective way to reach the necessary temperatures continues to be combustion of fossil fuels. The cement industry alone accounts for 7% of global emissions and the need for cement continues to grow.

A previously stealthy startup company backed by Bill Gates and fellow billionaire Soon-Shiong has made a breakthrough in the area of using solar energy to achieve high temperatures. The company, called Heliogen, has created a solar oven that is capable of generating heat above 1800 degrees Fahrenheit, which is enough for high-temperature industrial processes.

The Heliogen technology uses concentrated solar power to generate heat. Concentrated solar power uses arrays of mirrors to reflect sunlight and focus it to a single point. That technology is not new; there are systems that use it to produce electricity and, to some extent, heat for industry. But it could not achieve high enough temperatures for producing cement or steel.

The new system uses computer vision software, automatic edge detection and other sophisticated technologies to focus the sun’s rays far more finely than ever before and thereby generate far higher temperatures at the focal point.

Heliogen is now focused on demonstrating how the technology can be used in a large-scale application, such as cement-making. The selling points to industry are that not only will there be no emissions generated, but that the fuel needed to obtain their extreme heat will be free.

**********

Web Links

Secretive energy startup backed by Bill Gates achieves solar breakthrough

Photo courtesy of Heliogen.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.