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Shrinking Glaciers And Methane | Earth Wise

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The Arctic region is warming much faster than the rest of the planet.  In fact, according to a study published last year in the journal Nature, the Arctic has been warming nearly four times faster than the rest of the globe during the last 43 years.  This rapid warming is leading to substantial reductions in sea ice, thawing of permafrost, shifts in wildlife populations, and changes in ocean circulation patterns, among other changes. 

According to new research recently published in the journal Nature Geoscience, shrinking glaciers in the warming Arctic are exposing bubbling groundwater springs, which could provide an underestimated source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.  Methane is more than 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere.

The study, which was led by researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University Centre in Svalbard, Norway, found large sources of methane gas leaking from groundwater springs unveiled by melting glaciers. 

As glaciers retreat in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard and leave behind newly exposed land, groundwater beneath the Earth seeps upward and forms springs. In 122 out of the 123 springs studied, the research team found that the water was highly concentrated with dissolved methane.  When the spring water reaches the surface, the excess methane can escape to the atmosphere. 

Researchers are concerned that additional methane emissions released by the Arctic thaw could dramatically increase human-induced global warming.  If this phenomenon in the Svalbard archipelago is found to be more widespread across the Arctic — where temperatures are quickly rising and glaciers melting — the methane emissions could have global implications. 

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The Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the globe since 1979

Shrinking Arctic glaciers are unearthing a new source of methane

Photo, posted October 22, 2022, courtesy of David Stanley via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The World’s Hottest Day | Earth Wise

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Early in July – for four days in a row – the average global temperature was the highest ever recorded.  As many places around the world endured dangerous heatwaves, the average global temperature on the fourth of July reached 62.92 degrees Fahrenheit, the highest ever recorded by human-made instruments.  On July 6th, the global temperature climbed even further to 63.01 degrees.

The average global temperature on an annual basis was about 56.7 degrees from the 1880s through the 1910s.  Temperatures rose a bit after that but ended up about 57.2 degrees until the 1980s.  After that, temperatures have risen fairly steadily as heat-trapping gases have accumulated in the atmosphere driving the current average above 58 degrees.

Global temperatures have only been directly measured since the mid-20th century.  There are proxy measurements from sources like tree rings, ice core samples, glacier measurements, and more that indicate that the recent readings may be the warmest days the earth has seen in millennia.

Average global temperature is determined using temperature readings at thousands of locations on both land and sea across the entire planet.  Those readings are compared with average temperatures at those locations for the date and the difference (known as the temperature anomaly) used to calculate a global average.

With the recent arrival of the El Niño in the Pacific Ocean, it is likely that the warming already being driven by greenhouse gas accumulation will intensify further. 

In a summer already marked by extreme heatwaves in many locations, having the entire planet 4 or 5 degrees hotter than normal is a very big deal and most certainly not a record to celebrate.

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Earth reaches hottest day ever recorded 4 days in a row

Photo, posted October 29, 2008, courtesy of Darek via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Fungus And Carbon Storage | Earth Wise

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It is well-known that plants and trees store enormous amounts of carbon.  What has not been common knowledge is that the vast underground network of fungi across the world’s lands stores billions of tons carbon, roughly equivalent to 36% of yearly global fossil fuel emissions.

These mycorrhizal fungi form symbiotic relationships with almost all land plants.  The fungi transport carbon, converted by sugars and fats by plants, into soil.  They have been supporting life on land for at least 450 million years and form sprawling underground networks everywhere – even beneath roads, gardens, and houses – on every continent on earth.

An international team of scientists analyzed hundreds of studies looking at plant-soil processes to understand how much carbon is being stored by fungi on a global scale.  The findings, published in the journal Current Biology, revealed that over 13 billion tons of CO2 is transferred from plants to fungi each year, more than China emits annually.  This process transforms the soil beneath our feet to a massive carbon pool and constitutes the most effective carbon storage activity in the world.

Given that fungi have such a crucial role in mitigating carbon emissions, the researchers are recommending that fungi should be considered in biodiversity and conservation policies. More needs to be done in protecting the underground networks of mycorrhizal fungi. The UN has warned that human activities are degrading soils and that 90% of the world’s soils could be degraded by 2050.  Not only would this obviously be very bad for the productivity of crops and plants, but we now know this could be catastrophic for curbing climate change and rising temperatures.

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Fungi stores a third of carbon from fossil fuel emissions and could be essential to reaching net zero

Photo, posted May 28, 2023, courtesy of Geoff McKay via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Liquid Fuel From Sunshine | Earth Wise

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A key goal of artificial photosynthesis research is to be able to produce a useful liquid fuel using only carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight in a single step.  Such a so-called solar fuel would produce net zero carbon emissions and would be completely renewable.

Bioethanol has long been touted as a green alternative to fossil fuels, since it is made from plants rather than petroleum.  But producing it takes up agricultural land that could be used to grow food instead and there are emissions associated with many aspects of the process by which plant mass becomes fuel.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge in the UK have developed a so-called artificial leaf that produces ethanol or propanol – usable liquid fuels – in a single step.  They developed a copper and palladium-based catalyst that allows the artificial leaf to directly produce multicarbon complex chemicals.  Earlier versions of artificial leaves could make simple chemicals, such as syngas, which would then require additional processing to turn into high-density fuels.

The new device produces liquid fuel from carbon dioxide and water simply by shining sunlight on it.

At present, the artificial leaf is a proof-of-concept device that exhibits only modest efficiency.  The researchers are working to optimize the device’s light absorbers so that they can better make use of sunlight and to optimize the catalyst so that it can convert more of the sunlight into fuel.  In addition, the device needs to be scaled up so that it can produce large volumes of fuel.

All that being said, it is an important step towards people being able to do what plants have been doing for millions of years.

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Driving on sunshine: clean, usable liquid fuels made from solar power

Photo, posted March 23, 2015, courtesy of Astro via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Fewer Farms In The World | Earth Wise

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A new study by the University of Colorado Boulder looked at the trends in the number and size of farms around the world starting from the 1960s and projecting through the end of the 21st century.

The analysis shows that the number of farms globally will shrink in half while the size of the average existing farms doubles.

The study used data from the UN Food and Agricultural Organization on agricultural area, GDP per capita, and rural population size of more than 180 countries.  The analysis found that the number of farms around the world would drop from 616 million in 2020 to 272 million in 2100.  A key reason for the trend is that as a country’s economy grows, more people migrate to urban areas, leaving fewer people in rural areas to tend the land.

This decline has been ongoing in the US and Europe for decades.  For example, in the US, there were 200,000 fewer farms in 2022 than in 2007.

This trend has troubling consequences.  Larger farms typically have less biodiversity and more monocultures.  The greater biodiversity and crop diversity of smaller farms makes them more resilient to pest outbreaks and climate shocks.

Currently, 600 million farms provide for 8 billion people. By the end of the century, it is likely that half the number of farmers will be feeding even more people.  That is a weighty responsibility for agricultural workers.  Support systems and education for farmers becomes ever more important.

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The number of farms in the world is declining, here’s why it matters to you

Photo, posted January 18, 2011, courtesy of 2010 CIAT / Neil Palmer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Plastic Eating Fungus | Earth Wise

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More than five billion tons of plastic have accumulated on land and sea including the most remote regions of the planet as well as in the bodies of animals and humans.  There is a compelling need to recycle as much plastic as possible but doing so is a major challenge. Plastic comes in many varieties and breaking it down for reuse requires different methods for each.

Polypropylene is one of the biggest challenges for recycling.  It is a very common plastic used for all sorts of products including food containers, coat hangers, plastic wrap, toys, and much more. It accounts for roughly 28% of the world’s plastic waste, but only 1% of it is recycled.

Polypropylene is seldom recycled because it generally has a short life as a packaging material, and it often becomes contaminated by other materials and plastics.  Thus, it generally ends up in landfills.

Researchers at the University of Sydney in Australia have discovered that two common strains of fungi were able to successfully biodegrade polypropylene.  The fungi species – with unavoidable Latin names of Aspergillus terreus and Engyodontium album – are typically found in soil and plants.

The researchers found that the fungi were able to break down polypropylene after it had been pre-treated with either UV light or heat, by 21% over 30 days, and by 25-27% over 90 days.  This seems rather slow but compared with the nearly endless life of polypropylene in landfills, it is a major improvement.

The hope is that methods like this could ultimately reduce the amount of plastic polluting the environment by encouraging plastic to biodegrade naturally under the appropriate conditions.

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Fungi makes meal of hard to recycle plastic

Photo, posted March 5, 2010, courtesy of Kevin Krejci via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

An Accelerating Rate Of Mountain Forest Loss | Earth Wise

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Mountains contribute disproportionately to the Earth’s diversity of life.  While mountains account for about 25% of the land area on Earth, they are home to more than 85% of the mammal, bird, and amphibian species.  But alarmingly, forested mountain habitats in which these species live are disappearing, and they appear to be disappearing at an accelerating rate.

According to a new study recently published in the journal One Earth, more than 300,000 square miles of mountain forest has been lost globally since 2000, which is an area larger than the state of Texas. 

A research team led by scientists from Leeds University in the United Kingdom and the Southern University of Science and Technology in China tracked changes in mountain forests on an annual basis from 2001 to 2018.  The researchers found logging to be the biggest driver of mountain forest loss, responsible for 42% of the overall decline.  This is followed by wildfires at 29%, so-called “slash-and-burn” cultivation at 15%, and permanent or semi-permanent agriculture at 10%.  Significant losses occurred in Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, and South America, but not in Oceania or North America.

The research team also found that the rate of mountain forest loss seems to be accelerating: in fact, the annual rate of loss increased 50% from 2010-2018 when compared with 2001-2009.

While developing additional forest protection strategies and interventions is critical, the researchers emphasize the importance of also considering food production, livelihoods, and human wellbeing in any new measures.

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Mountain forests are being lost at an accelerating rate, putting biodiversity at risk

Photo, posted December 6, 2018, courtesy of Lance Cheung / USDA via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Coastal Land Reclamation | Earth Wise

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People are artificially expanding the coastlines of cities by extending industrial ports and creating luxury residential waterfronts.  Major cities have added 900 square miles to their coastlines just since 2000. 

A recent study published in the journal Earth’s Future made use of satellite imagery to analyze land changes in 135 cities with populations of at least 1 million.  But population growth is not the only driver of coastal land reclamation.  It is popular in places that are eager to enhance their reputation and promote revenue growth.

At present, coastal land reclamation is most common in the Global South, where many economies are growing. In the past, the Global North dominated the use of coastal land construction.

The largest additions to land area occurred in China, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates.  Port extension is the most common reason for development.  Shanghai alone has added 135 square miles of land.

New land is typically created by piling sediments in the ocean, building cement sea walls and structures to contain sediments or cement, or sometimes filling in wetlands and other shallow areas of water near the coast.  The ecological impacts of reclamation are immense and, unfortunately, are not always considered.  Projects affect both the local ecosystems as well as those of the places where fill materials are obtained.

Industrialization and the need for urban space have driven much coastal reclamation.  Some projects, such as the palm-tree-shaped artificial islands of Dubai, are essentially for prestige.  Some cities, including Shanghai, are building new land in consideration of future sea level rise.

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New Land Creation on Waterfronts Increasing, Study Finds

Photo, posted October 15, 2010, courtesy of Werner Bayer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

How To Meet Protected Land Targets | Earth Wise

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More than half of the world’s countries have set a target of setting aside 30% of land and sea areas across the globe for conservation by 2030, in order to preserve and protect nature and essential services to people.  This pledge creates some difficult questions to answer.

What sorts of land should be protected and where should it be located?  What effects of these new land protections will there be on carbon emissions and the climate and on land usage for food production and energy generation?  Policymakers have to grapple with such questions in order to move forward on these ambitious biodiversity protection goals.

A recent study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory attempts to answer many of these questions.  The study found that meeting the 30% goal could lead to substantial regional shifts in land use and, in some cases, still fail to protect some of the most important biodiversity hotspots.

Protecting land entails tradeoffs with other land uses and can have negative impacts on the agricultural sector as well as land use for bioenergy crops and forest land use for timber.

In particular, the study found that the amount of land used for crops for conversion into biofuels could be significantly impacted by doubling current protected areas while still preserving the amount of land used for food crops.  This is particularly true for land in Russia and Canada.

The study also found that while it may be possible to meet the 30% target by only protecting agriculturally unsuitable land, it may not end up protecting many of the world’s 36 identified biodiversity hotspots.  The uneven distribution of species has a significant bearing on how to manage the conservation of biodiversity.

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Doubling Protected Lands for Biodiversity Could Require Tradeoffs With Other Land Uses, Study Finds

Photo, posted September 19, 2020, courtesy of John Brighenti via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Distributed Wind Energy | Earth Wise

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When we think about wind power, we are usually talking about increasingly giant windfarms – either on land or offshore – that produce power on a utility scale.  But there is also distributed wind energy, which refers to wind technologies in locations that directly support individuals, communities, and businesses.  

Distributed wind can be so-called behind-the-meter applications that directly offset retail electricity usage much as rooftop solar installations do.  It can also be front-of-the-meter applications where the wind turbines are connected to the electricity distribution system and supplies energy on a community scale.  Distributed wind installations can range from a several-hundred-watt little turbine that powers telecommunications equipment to a 10-megawatt community-scale energy facility. As of 2020, there were nearly 90,000 distributed wind turbines in the U.S. with a total capacity of about 1 GW.

A study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the potential for distributed wind energy in the U.S.   According to the new analysis, the country has the ability to profitably provide nearly 1,400 GW of distributed wind energy capacity. 

Entire regions of the country have abundant potential. The regions with the best economic prospects have a combination of high-quality wind, relatively high electricity rates, and good siting availability.  Overall, the Midwest and Heartland regions had the highest potential especially within agricultural land.

Realizing this outcome for distributed wind will require improved financing and performance to lower costs, relaxation of siting requirement to open up more land for wind development, and continued investment tax credits and the use of net metering.

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U.S. has potential for 1,400 GW distributed wind energy, NREL finds

Photo, posted January 3, 2009, courtesy of skyseeker via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Disappearing Glaciers | Earth Wise

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Glaciers are massive bodies of slowly moving ice.  Glaciers form on land, and represent the snows of centuries compressed over time.  They move slowly downward under the influence of their own weight and gravity. 

Most of the glaciers on the planet are found in the polar regions, including Antarctica, the Canadian Arctic, and Greenland.  Glaciers can also be found closer to the equator in mountain ranges, such as the Andes Mountain range in South America.  Glaciers are always changing, accumulating snow in the winter and losing ice to melting in the summer.  But in recent times, the melting has been outpacing the accumulation.

A new international study led by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering has produced new projections of glacier loss through the century under different emissions scenarios.  According to the projections, the world could lose as much as 41% of its total glacier mass this century – or as little as 26% – depending on climate change mitigation efforts. 

In a future with continued investments in fossil fuels (sometimes referred to as the “business as usual” scenario), more than 40% of the glacial mass will be gone by 2100, and more than 80% of glaciers by number could disappear.  Even in a best case scenario where the increase in global mean temperature is limited to 1.5° degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrial levels, more than 25% of glacial mass will be gone, and nearly 50% of glaciers by number will disappear.

Glaciers take a long time to respond to changes in climate.  A complete halt to emissions today would take anywhere from 30 to 100 years to be reflected in glacier mass loss rates.

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Team projects two out of three glaciers could be lost by 2100

Ice, Snow, and Glaciers and the Water Cycle

Photo, posted August 13, 2010, courtesy of Kimberly Vardeman via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

An Agreement To Protect Biodiversity | Earth Wise

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The UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal in December concluded with a historic deal aimed at stemming the rising tide of extinctions.  Nearly 200 countries signed on to the agreement to protect 30% of the Earth’s land and sea by the end of this decade.

Part of the agreement also pledges that countries will reduce fertilizer runoff from farms by 50%, reduce the use of harmful pesticides by 50%, and stem the flow of invasive species. 

Of course, all of these promises are only words unless they are backed up by actions and actions cost money.  The agreement promises to direct $200 billion a year towards biodiversity by the end of this decade.  Wealthy countries were urged to provide $100 billion a year to fund the actions of poorer countries, but they resisted the pressure.  Eventually, they did agree to send $30 billion a year to developing countries by 2030.

It is a significant step forward to establish clear targets for stopping biodiversity loss.  However, the ultimate success of the pact will depend on the willingness of countries to cooperate and compromise.

According to UN estimates, about a million species across the globe face extinction as a result of rising temperatures, air and water pollution, invasive species, and habitat loss due to development.   At present, only 16% of land and 8% of the oceans are within protected areas. 

The UN Environment Program stated that “for far too long humanity has paved over, fragmented, over-extracted, and destroyed the natural world on which we all depend.  Now is our chance to shore up and strengthen the web of life, so it can carry the full weight of generations to come.”

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In Historic Deal, Countries Agree to Protect 30 Percent of Earth to Halt Biodiversity Loss

Photo, posted August 13, 2015, courtesy of Andrew H via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Solar Parking Lots In France | Earth Wise

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France has passed legislation that will require all parking lots with more than 80 spaces to be covered over by solar panels.  This is part of a broader effort to put solar panels on vacant lots, empty land alongside roadways and train tracks, and even some farmland.  The overall program would add 11 gigawatts of solar power to the French electricity grid.

The legislation applies to both new and existing parking lots.  Owners of parking lots with more than 400 spaces would have 3 years to comply, while owners of lots with 80 to 400 spaces would have five years.

To produce 11 gigawatts of solar output, about half a percent of France’s urban land would need to be covered with solar panels.  This is quite a bit, but not an insurmountable obstacle.  Parking lots, however, could only provide a fraction of what is needed.  It would take something like 8 million parking spaces covered with solar panels to produce that much power.  That is probably at least twice as many as France has.

Several countries, most notably Germany, already have mandates for new construction to incorporate renewable energy.  This includes solar panels, biomass boilers, heat pumps, and wind turbines.  Many parking lots in southern Europe already have sunshades over them, which would make it pretty easy to install solar panels.  This is much rarer in cooler countries.

France is pursuing this policy to reduce its dependence on nuclear power, which currently provides 70% of the country’s electricity.  Apart from the general trend of opposition to nuclear power, reliance upon it during increasingly common droughts is problematic as the power plants require significant amounts of water to operate.

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France’s plan for solar panels on all car parks is just the start of an urban renewable revolution

Photo, posted February 11, 2008, courtesy of Armando Jimenez / U.S. Army Environmental Command via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

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

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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.

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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

Lab-Grown Meat Is Legal | Earth Wise

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We’ve heard more and more about laboratory meat.  Other names for it are cultured meat, cultivated meat, or test tube meat.  Whatever name ends up sticking, the idea is to take living cells from animals and grow them in a controlled laboratory environment to produce a meat product that doesn’t involve the slaughter of any animals.  Supporters say cultured meat is more efficient and environmentally friendly than traditional livestock.  Livestock agriculture is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, uses vast amounts of land, and consumes much of the world’s fresh water.

Years ago, we reported on a company called Memphis Meats, which was one of a number of companies developing techniques for harvesting cells from animal tissues and using them to grow edible flesh in bioreactors.

Recently, that company – now called Upside Foods – has become the first company to receive FDA approval declaring their meat product to be safe for human consumption.  The USDA still needs to give its approval and it may be a little while longer before Upside’s first chicken products will end up in supermarkets.  There are more than 150 cultivated meat companies around the world backed by billions of dollars in investments.  The FDA is in ongoing discussions with multiple firms in the business.

Upside Foods, based in the San Francisco Bay area, is planning to market chicken, beef meatballs, and duck in the near future.  Other companies are working on seafood products.  Up until now, Singapore has been the only country in which lab-grown meat products are legally sold to consumers.  With this landmark FDA ruling, that is all about to change.

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US declares lab-grown meat safe to eat in ‘groundbreaking’ move

Photo, posted April 15, 2008, courtesy of Andrew Otto via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Hybrid Renewable Energy Plants | Earth Wise

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Hybrid renewable energy systems combine multiple renewable energy and/or energy storage technologies into a single plant.  The goal is to reduce costs and increase energy output relative to separate systems taking advantage of common infrastructure and the ability of one renewable energy source having appreciable output while a second one might not at a particular time.

Recently, the largest hybrid renewable power plant in the United States was completed in rural Oregon.  The Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility combines a wind farm, a solar array, and battery storage.

Plants that include just solar power and energy storage are also called hybrid plants, but the Wheatridge Facility is special because it includes wind power.  The facility comprises a 200-megawatt wind farm, a 50-megawatt solar array, and a 30-megawatt battery system capable of providing power for four hours.  The combined system can provide for the electricity needs of about 100,000 homes.

There are about 140 projects in the United States that combine solar and storage.  There are 14 that combine solar and wind.  There are only four plants – with the completion of Wheatridge – that have wind, solar, and storage.  

Wind and solar energy are generally complementary technologies.  Wind is usually strongest at night while solar, of course, is a daytime source of energy.  Solar and wind plants don’t need to be close together to take advantage of this, but hybrid projects benefit from needing only one grid connection and one lease for land.

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A Clean Energy Trifecta: Wind, Solar and Storage in the Same Project

Photo, posted December 27, 2015, courtesy of Gerry Machen via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Agrivoltaics | Earth Wise

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According to a study last year at Oregon State University, co-developing land for both solar photovoltaic power and agriculture could provide 20% of total electricity generation in the United States with an investment of less than 1% of the annual U.S. budget.  Widespread installation of agrivoltaic systems could reduce carbon emissions by 330,000 tons annually and create more than 100,000 jobs in rural communities.

Agrivoltaics could provide the synergistic combination of more food, more energy, lower water demand, lower carbon emissions, and improved local prosperity.  The problem with agrivoltaics to date is that the existing implementations have used solar arrays designed strictly for electricity generation rather than to be used in combination with agriculture.  They are not that well suited to co-exist with growing crops or grazing animals.

A new project is underway at Oregon State that will help researchers to optimize agrivoltaic systems.  The five-acre Solar Harvest Project is being built at the university’s North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora, Oregon in partnership with the Oregon Clean Power Cooperative. 

The solar array for the project is designed specifically for agrivoltaics research and uses panels that are more spread out and able to rotate to a near vertical position to allow farm equipment to pass through.  The project will allow researchers to study the impact of solar panels on soil health, water use, and plant physiology and yields.

Electricity generated from the 326-kW solar system will be available for purchase by Oregon State and community members. 

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Construction starts on Oregon State agrivoltaics farm that will merge agriculture and solar energy

Photo, posted April 5, 2020, courtesy of Sean Nealon / Oregon State University via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Planting Millions Of Trees Isn’t So Easy | Earth Wise

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There are initiatives around the world to plant millions of trees as a way to fight climate change.  Unfortunately, scientists have observed that many of these projects are ill-conceived and poorly managed.  Some have failed to grow any forests at all.

One such project was an attempt to plant a million mangrove seedlings in coastal mud on the Filipino island of Luzon in 2012.  Ten years later, less than 2% of the trees have survived.  The other 98% have died or have washed away.  The problem was that the site of the project was ecologically unsuited to mangroves because it is too waterlogged and there is no oxygen available except in a few sheltered spots.

In 2019, the Turkish government managed the planting of 11 million trees in 2,000 sites across the country.  A later survey found that 90% had died, although the government denies that assertion.

Many other projects have also had dismal results.  The causes of failure vary but include planting single species of trees that become vulnerable to disease, competing demands for land, changing climate, planting in areas not previously forested, and lack of ongoing care for the saplings including watering them.

Nobody is opposed to mass tree planting.  There is no anti-tree lobby.  But tree planting is sometimes a form of greenwashing.  It is great for public relations but unless it is done properly with appropriate planning, it can be a waste of effort and money.  The result can be a phantom forest that does nothing for the climate.

Forest planting can work if the social and environmental conditions are right, and if planting is followed by long-term monitoring and care of the trees.

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Phantom Forests: Why Ambitious Tree Planting Projects Are Failing

Photo, posted April 20, 2016, courtesy of the U.S. Navy / Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class John Benson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A Better Way To Recycle Plastics | Earth Wise

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The global accumulation of plastic waste is an ever-growing problem.  At least five billion tons of the stuff has accumulated on land and sea and is even showing up in the bodies of animals and humans.  Recycling plastic instead of making even more of it seems like an essential thing to do but it has proven to be extremely challenging.

The main problem is that plastics come in many different varieties and the ways of breaking them down into a form that can be reused are very specific to each type of plastic.  Sorting plastic waste by plastic type is extremely impractical at large scale.  Certainly, most consumers can’t do it themselves.  As a result, most plastic gathered in recycling programs ends up in landfills.

New research at MIT has developed a chemical process using a catalyst based on cobalt that is very effective at breaking down a variety of plastics, including polyethylene and polypropylene, which are the two most widely produced plastics.   The MIT process breaks plastics down into propane.  Propane can be used as a fuel or as a feedstock for making many different products, including new plastics.

Plastics are hard to recycle because their long-chain molecules are very stable and difficult to break apart.  Most chemical methods for breaking their chemical bonds produce a random mix of different molecules which would somehow have to be sorted out in order to be useful for anything.

The new process uses a catalyst called a zeolite that contains cobalt nanoparticles.  The catalyst selectively breaks down various plastic polymer molecules and turns more than 80% of them into propane.

The researchers are still studying the economics and logistics of the method, but it looks quite promising.

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New process could enable more efficient plastics recycling

Photo, posted April 25, 2016, courtesy of NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Insects In A Changing Climate | Earth Wise

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Insects can be found in every environment on Earth and are critical components of many ecosystems.  They perform countless important functions, including aerating and fertilizing soil as well as pollinating flowers.  In fact, according to the USDA, 75% of the world’s flowering plants and about 35% of the world’s food crops depend on animal pollinators, the majority of which are insects, to reproduce.

According to a study published in the journal Nature earlier this year, the combination of climate change and intensive agriculture is having a profound impact on both the abundance and diversity of insects.  In regions where substantial warming had occurred and where land had been converted for intensive farming, insects were nearly 50% less abundant and more than 25% fewer species were observed.  Tropical regions were among those most at risk for heavy losses.

According to a new study recently published in the journal Global Change Biology, tropical insects will be even more susceptible to climate change than previously thought.  In a five-year study conducted in Peru, researchers from the Florida Museum of Natural History found that insect populations declined 50% following short periods of drought and following short periods of heavy rainfall.  Insect populations decreased after three months of dry weather, but also decreased after three months of exceptionally wet weather.   

Researchers have known that tropical insects don’t tend to do well when their habitats dry out.  But the researchers were surprised to discover that these insects were equally averse to increased precipitation.  Alarmingly, precipitation is expected to become more frequent and more intense as a consequence of the changing climate. 

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Tropical insects are extremely sensitive to changing climates

Photo, posted June 11, 2016, courtesy of Z. Leng via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

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