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Plastic In Lakes | Earth Wise

August 28, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

We are always talking about the millions of tons of waste plastic that finds its way into the oceans and about the challenges of trying to remove it. A new multinational study has found that the concentration of plastics and microplastics in some lakes is even worse than in the so-called garbage patches in the oceans and some of these lakes are even in remote places around the world

Scientists from institutes in multiple countries collected water samples from 38 lakes and reservoirs in 23 countries across six continents. The samples were then all analyzed by the University of Milan to assess the presence of plastic particles more than a quarter millimeter in size.

The study found that two types of lakes are particularly vulnerable to plastic contamination: lakes and reservoirs in densely populated and urbanized areas and large lakes with elevated deposition areas, long water-retention times, and high levels of human influence.

Lakes found to have the highest concentration of plastic included some of the main sources of drinking water for communities and were also important to local economies. These included Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland, Lake Maggiore in Italy, and Lake Tahoe on the California/Nevada border. Not all the lakes studied contained large amounts of plastic. For example, Windermere, the largest lake in England, had very low concentrations of plastic in surface water.

This was the first global survey of the abundance and type of plastic pollution in lakes and reservoirs and the scale of freshwater plastic pollution is sobering indeed. There is widespread concern that plastic debris is having harmful effects on aquatic species and ecosystem function and clearly is not limited to marine ecosystems.

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Plastic pollution is higher in some lakes than oceans

Photo, posted May 27, 2019, courtesy of Jonathan Cook-Fisher via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Banning Gas-Powered Cars | Earth Wise

May 12, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The European Union has banned the sale of new gas-powered cars starting in 2035. The vote came after weeks of negotiations related to possible exemptions to the rule.

Germany lobbied for an exemption to be made for cars powered by e-fuels. These are made by combining hydrogen with carbon dioxide that has been removed from the atmosphere using processes powered by renewable energy. Because of this source of the carbon dioxide, such fuels are considered to be carbon neutral. The EU agreed to grant this exemption, so there can be cars that run only on e-fuels after 2035.

About a quarter of carbon emissions in the EU come from transportation. The new law requires a 55% drop in carbon emissions from new cars by 2030. Poland voted against the new law, while Bulgaria, Romania, and Italy abstained. (Italy wanted an exemption for biofuels, but it was not granted).

Here in the US, seven states have adopted rules banning the sale of new gas-powered cars in 2035. These are California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Washington.

California has committed to having 35% of new car sales being zero-emission vehicles by 2026, and the number rising to 68% by 2030.

As these policies proliferate around the world, the auto industry is moving ahead to keep up with them. Most automakers are planning to have substantial parts of their product line be electric by 2030. Given the financial and physical inertia involved in shifting to electric vehicle production, regardless of what happens with policies around the world, there is little possibility of turning back from the electric vehicle transition.

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EU Approves 2035 Ban on Sales of Gas-Powered Cars

Photo, posted May 31, 2012, courtesy of Mike Norton via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

History Emerges In European Drought | Earth Wise

October 17, 2022 By EarthWise 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.

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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

Heatwaves And Alpine Mountain Climbing | Earth Wise

August 25, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

From June to August, there were persistent heat waves affecting parts of Europe that caused wildfires, evacuations, and heat-related deaths. Nearly 12,000 people died from heat stroke or other causes associated with the high temperatures. The highest temperature recorded during this period was 116.6 degrees F in Pinhao, Portugal on July 14th. The RAF base in Coningsby, Lincolnshire recorded a temperature over 104 degrees on July 19th, the highest ever recorded in the United Kingdom.

Among the effects of the multiple European heatwaves has been the cancellation of climbing tours up some of the most iconic peaks in the Alps, including Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn. The high temperatures and rapidly melting glaciers have made the climbing routes too dangerous. Overall, climbing cancellations occurred on about a dozen peaks, including the Jungfrau in Switzerland, which cancelled tours for the first time in a century.

In previous years, during warm summers, some of these climbing routes were closed in August, but the glaciers were already in a condition that usually only happens at the end of summer or even later.

The combination of heat and glacier melt can be treacherous. In July, 11 people were killed at Italy’s Marmolada glacier by falling ice and rock.

Glacial melt in the Alps is rapidly accelerating. The Forni Glacier, the largest valley glacier in Italy, has retreated two miles since 1860 and its area has shrunk by half. Forecasts are that it will retain only 20% of its current volume by 2050 and may disappear entirely by the end of the century. Half of the 4,000 glaciers in the Alps are expected to disappear by 2050.

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European Heat Waves Force Closure of Classic Climbing Routes in Alps

Photo, posted September 4, 2020, courtesy of Dmitry Djouce via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Keeping Venice From Flooding | Earth Wise

January 6, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Since 2003, Venice Italy has been building a system of mobile gates at three inlets to its famous lagoon. The project is called MOSE, the Italian word for Moses, but is actually an acronym for the Italian words meaning Experimental Electromechanical Module.

The 78 mobile gates are metal box structures that sit at the bottom of inlet channels. When a high tide is predicted, compressed air is pumped into the structures. The air causes the barriers to rise up to the surface and block the flow of the tide, thereby preventing water from flowing into the lagoon.

The system had an important test on November 3 when water levels were predicted to rise four-and-a-half feet above normal at high tide and strong winds were blowing. Water at that level is enough to flood 60% of the city, including the famous St. Mark’s Square, which is unfortunately the lowest part of the city.

Activating the flood gates proved to be successful. Even though high tide water levels in fact rose 4.3 feet in the surrounding Adriatic Sea, they only reached 2.7 feet in Venice, which was enough to prevent significant flooding.

Rising sea levels have led to increasingly frequent floods in Venice. In 2019, before the MOSE system was available for use, there were more than 25 high-water events swamping Venice, including one in November of that year that was the second worst on record.

Some researchers have calculated that the system will need to be closed for as much as 3 weeks a year by the end of the century even if emission reductions are reasonably effective. If they aren’t, the gates may be closed for at least two months a year by 2080.

After many years of delays, setbacks and controversies, the system is finally operational.

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Venice Holds Back the Adriatic Sea

Photo, posted October 25, 2014, courtesy of Pedro Szekely via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Private Jets and CO2 Emissions | Earth Wise

July 16, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

During the heart of the Covid-19 pandemic, private jet use saw record levels because chartered aircraft were estimated to have 30 times lower risk for covid than flying commercial. By August 2020, while commercial flights were down 60% year-over-year, private jet traffic was actually up. From an environmental perspective, however, flying on a private jet is about the worst thing one can do for the environment.

Private jets are 10 times more carbon intensive than airlines on average and 50 times more polluting than trains. A four-hour private flight emits as much as the average person does in a year.

In Europe, 7 out of the 10 most polluting routes taken by private aircraft lie in the UK-France-Switzerland-Italy axis, with jets departing the UK and France being the biggest source of pollution. One in 10 flights departing France are private jets, half of which travelled less than 300 miles.

A study by the research group Transport & Environment points out that wealthy private jet owners are ideally suited to aid in the decarbonization of the aviation sector. Private jet short hops are prime targets for replacement by clean technologies like electric and hydrogen aircraft. European policy makers could ban the use of fossil-fuel private jets for flights under 600 miles by 2030. Until such a ban, jet fuel and flight taxes could be imposed on private jets to account for their disproportionate climate impact and support technology development. And companies and individuals could commit to substantial reductions in private jet use when alternatives exist that do not unreasonably increase travel time.

The super-rich could be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

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Private Jet Use Rising, Sending CO2 Emissions Soaring

Photo, posted September 9, 2020, courtesy of Mackenzie Cole via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Microplastic Hotspots In The Ocean | Earth Wise

June 4, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Many of us are aware of the infamous ocean “garbage patches” of floating plastic. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is roughly the size of Texas. But over 10 million tons of plastic waste enter the oceans each year and the floating patches only account for 1% of that total. The remaining 99% of the plastic ends up in the deep ocean, generally in the form of microplastics – tiny fragments of large plastic debris that have broken down as well as manufactured polyethylene beads used in various products.

According to a new study published in the journal Science, there are actually microplastic hotspots on the ocean floor, formed by deep-sea currents that act as conveyer belts moving the tiny plastic fragments around. One of these hotspots – in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the west coast of Italy – contained 1.9 million microplastic pieces in just one square meter of seafloor. This is the highest reported value for any place in the world.

Because of their small size, microplastics can be ingested by organisms across all levels of the marine food chain and eventually find their way into human diets.

The spatial distribution and ultimate fate of ocean microplastics are strongly controlled by near-bed thermohaline currents. These are deep-ocean currents driven by differences in water density, which is controlled by temperature and salinity. Thermohaline currents are known to supply oxygen and nutrients to the flora and fauna found at the ocean bottom. As a result, deep sea biodiversity hotspots are likely to be in same places where there are microplastic hotspots.

The discovery of these deep- sea hotspots is just another reason why we need behavior and policy interventions to limit the flow of plastics into natural environments.

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Seafloor microplastic hotspots controlled by deep-sea circulation

Photo, posted September 6, 2012, courtesy of Oregon State University via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Coronavirus Shutdowns And The Environment | Earth Wise

May 11, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Our stories often discuss how human activities change the natural environment. With most of us confined to our homes, the lack of human activities is having profound effects on the environment. We are talking about some of these this week.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global catastrophe, but it has ironically been a boon for the environment. By taking billions of people off the streets around the globe and slashing all forms of travel, the global environment has seen dramatic changes.

Sea turtles in many countries are prospering by not having to compete with humans for precious beach space. Animals everywhere have more freedom to roam and are taking advantage of the opportunity. The Himalayas are visible from parts of India for the first time in decades.

Satellite imagery has shown dramatic drops in nitrogen dioxide emissions in China, where pollution from vehicles is a serious public health problem. Similar reductions in air pollution are evident in India, Italy and even in Los Angeles. The city that is notorious for its smog suddenly has pristine air.

In Venice, water in the canals has become clear in the absence of heavy boat traffic stirring up sediments from the bottom. Wildlife that normally is invisible such as jellyfish are being spotted.

Not all the changes to animal behavior are desirable. Some wildlife that have become dependent on humans as a source of food are becoming aggressive and are taking to the streets of cities to look for food. Monkeys in Thailand are mobbing towns and brawling, hunting for things to eat. Rats in New York City are fighting over suddenly meager food supplies.

In many ways, the natural world is reacting to much of humanity sheltering in place.

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On Earth Day 2020, coronavirus shutdowns are a gift to the environment

Photo, posted April 2, 2020, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Scandinavian Wine

December 20, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The warming climate is creating some unexpected entrepreneurial opportunities. Many places that have traditionally dominated the wine industry are starting to be worried that the local climates that made them ideal for vineyards are changing and becoming much less ideal. On the other hand, places where wine-making was regarded as a losing proposition are becoming much more hospitable. A prime example is Scandinavia.

Nordic vintners are increasingly convinced that they can develop thriving commercial operations in what used to be places that are too cold for successful wine-making.

Denmark now has 90 commercial vineyards, up from just two 15 years ago. Forty vineyards have sprung up in Sweden. About a dozen vineyards are now operating as far north as Norway.

Many of these Nordic vineyards are in the startup stage and are tiny compared with the established wineries of Europe. Europe has 10 million acres of vineyards, which is enough to cover almost the entire country of Denmark. At the moment, there are only about 1,000 acres of vineyards in Denmark and Sweden.

But, looking forward, Scandinavia’s climate is forecast to be more like northern France, as regional temperatures climb as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Over the past decade, warming has produced milder winters, a longer growing season, and even a small but rising number of award-winning Scandinavian wines.

Meanwhile, traditional wine-growing regions are also dealing with climate change. Winemakers in France, for example, are experimenting with grapes from warmer countries like Tunisia to see if they can retain the tastes and yields that are the basis of a multibillion-dollar wine industry. Spanish and Italian winemakers are planting grapes higher up on mountainsides or on shaded north-facing slopes to preserve the quality of their wine.

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Scandinavian Wine? A Warming Climate Tempts Entrepreneurs

Photo, posted August 24, 2019, courtesy of Ron Reiring via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Climate Change And Insurance

May 17, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

While there are still some people who remain dubious about the reality of climate change, insurance companies are not among them. And, in fact, insurers are warning that climate change could make coverage for ordinary people unaffordable.

Munich Reinsurance, the world’s largest reinsurance firm, blamed global warming for $24 billion in losses from California’s recent wildfires. Such costs could soon be widely felt as premium rises are already under discussion with insurance companies having clients in vulnerable parts of the state.

With the risk from wildfires, flooding, storms and hail increasing, the only sustainable option for the insurance industry is to adjust risk prices accordingly. Ultimately, this may become a social issue. Affordability of insurance is critical because if rates go up too much, many people on low and average incomes in some regions may no longer be able to buy insurance.

The great majority of California’s 20 worst forest fires since the 1930’s has occurred since the year 2000 driven by abnormally high summer temperatures and persistent drought. The reinsurance giant analyzed decades of data with climate models and concluded that the fires are likely driven by climate change.

It isn’t just wildfires. Insurance premiums are also being adjusted in regions facing an increased threat from severe convective storms whose energy and severity are driven by global warming. These include parts of Germany, Austria, France, southwest Italy, and the U.S. Midwest.

Linking extreme weather events to climate change is a bit like attributing the performance of a steroid-using athlete to drug use. The connections are clearer in patterns than in individual disasters. But the pattern these days is pretty clear.

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