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Living On Trash | Earth Wise

March 16, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Litter is persistent and widespread in rivers worldwide. The world’s major rivers and estuaries are hotspots for plastic waste. Trash and microparticles wash down tributaries and build up before rivers enter oceans.

New research published in the journal Freshwater Biology has found that as this waste accumulates, aquatic river species like insects and snails are increasingly choosing to settle on plastic rather than on natural features like rocks and fallen branches.

Researchers from the University of Nottingham in the UK collected plastic waste from three rivers in eastern Britain along with rocks from the same rivers. Their analysis of all the macroinvertebrates on the items’ surfaces found that the surfaces of plastic waste items had nearly four times the diversity of the small animals as did the rocks. In addition, the more complex the plastic’s surface was, the higher the diversity.

The growing abundance of plastic waste coincides with a decline in natural habitat features in urban rivers. This is a result of increasing amounts of sedimentation from development that blankets riverbeds in silt and sand, restricting the supply and movement of rocks, fallen tree branches, and aquatic plants.

Clearly litter can serve as a place for various species to colonize, but trash is not a good environment for them. Trash can release toxic chemicals and entangle animals. Microplastics pose risks for the animals if ingested.

Estimates are that between 1.15 and 2.41 million tons of plastic waste enter the ocean every year from rivers around the world. Natural habitats have become rare in urban rivers. River ecosystems built around piles of trash are not a good thing.

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As Plastic Pollution in Rivers Gets Worse, Species Are Increasingly Living on Litter

Photo, posted August 17, 2010, courtesy of Renee_McGurk via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Essential Oils And Organic Crops | Earth Wise

November 6, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Essential oils are concentrated liquids extracted from plants. They are called “essential” in the sense that they contain the essence of the fragrance that is characteristic of the plant. Essential does not mean indispensable or usable by the human body. But despite that fact, essential oils have been used in folk medicine throughout history.

In recent times, essential oils have frequently been used in aromatherapy. Generally speaking, medicinal uses of essential oils are controversial, and, in some cases, they have even been demonstrated to be dangerous.

Research has shown that essential oils have potential as natural pesticides. Recently, the USDA has funded research into the use of essential oils to battle pests and diseases of organic crops.

U.S. organic food sales topped $50 billion in 2018 and fruits, vegetables, and other specialty crops combined make up more than a third of organic sales. In order to meet consumer demand, farmers need ways to battle pests and diseases that often accompany organic crop growth.

A four-year project at the University of Hawaii at Manoa is entitled “Plant Safety, Horticultural Benefits, and Disease Efficacy of Essential Oils for Use in Organically Grown Fruit Crops: From the Farm to the Consumer.” The researchers will work with certified organic producers in Hawaii, Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, and California to evaluate the effectiveness of plant essential oils on major fruit pathogens such as avocado scab, anthracnose fungal disease, and powdery mildew on targeted tropical and temperate fruit crops such as avocado, mango, blueberry, and peach.

The goal is increase orchard productivity of the expanding organic fruit industry.

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Essential oils could keep pests, disease from organic crops

Photo, posted January 6, 2015, courtesy of Abi Porter via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Tree-Planting Is Not Necessarily A Good Thing | Earth Wise

July 31, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

There is no question that forests have a major role in efforts to combat climate change as well as to slow biodiversity loss. As a result, tree-planting on a massive scale has gained traction as a strategy and there have been major commitments made to plant billions of trees around the world.

A new study at Stanford University has rigorously analyzed the potential effects of these efforts and has found some significant problems. For example, the Bonn Challenge, which seeks to restore an area of forest more than eight times the size of California over the next 10 years, has 80% of its commitments in the form of planting monoculture tree plantations or a limited mix of trees that produce fruit and rubber, rather than restoring natural forests. The problem is that plantations have significantly less potential for carbon sequestration, habitat creation, and erosion control than natural forests. The potential benefits of the planting dwindle further if planted trees replace natural flora – forests, grasslands, or savannahs – which are ecosystems that have evolved to support local biodiversity.

The study looked at previous policies that created subsidies for planting trees. Chile’s Decree Law, in effect from 1974 to 2012, has served as a model for similar policies in a number of countries. Those subsidies further reduced native forest cover by encouraging the establishment of plantations in places where forests might have naturally regenerated. The subsidies expanded the area covered by trees, but decreased the area of native forests.

The study recommends that nations should design and enforce their forest subsidy policies to avoid undesirable ecological impacts and actually promote the recovery of carbon- and biodiversity-rich ecosystems.

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Poorly designed tree-planting campaigns could do more harm than good, according to Stanford researcher and others

Photo, posted April 28, 2016, courtesy of the U.S. Department of State via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Preserving Produce With Eggs | Earth Wise

July 17, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Researchers at Brown University have developed an inexpensive coating to protect fruits and vegetables that is made from eggs that would otherwise be wasted. The micron-thick coating solves problems for the produce and its consumers as well as for the environment.

The coating relies on eggs that never reach the market. The U.S. produces more than 7 billion eggs a year. The supply chain rejects about 3% of them, typically because of shell damage, which means that more than 200 million eggs end up in landfills.

The coating is mostly made from egg, the rest consisting of nanoscale cellulose extracted from wood, a tiny amount of curcumin (the main active ingredient in turmeric that has antimicrobial properties), and a bit of glycerol for added elasticity. The coating is applied to produce by spraying or dipping. It shows a remarkable ability to resist rotting for an extended period comparable to standard coatings like wax, but without their shortcomings.

Along with being edible, the coating retards dehydration, provides antimicrobial protection, and is largely impermeable to both water vapor to prevent dehydration and to gas to prevent premature ripening. The coating is entirely natural, and it washes off with water. So, anyone sensitive to the coating, such as someone with an egg allergy, can easily eliminate it.

Lab tests of the coating studied its effects on strawberries, avocados, bananas and other fruits. All were seen to maintain their freshness far longer than uncoated produce.

The researchers are continuing to refine the coating. They are also considering other source materials. They chose egg proteins because there are so many wasted eggs, but it may be possible to make use of plant proteins instead to address the needs of vegan consumers.

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Egg-based coating preserves fresh produce

Photo, posted July 13, 2012, courtesy of Liz West via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Sea Turtles Prospering During The Shutdown | Earth Wise

May 14, 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.

Seven different species of sea turtles are found in the world’s oceans and play important roles in marine ecosystems. Over time, human activities have tipped the scales against the survival of these animals. They have been hunted for their eggs, meat, skin, and shells and face habitat destruction and accidental capture in fishing gear. Their nesting grounds in beaches are constantly disturbed and endangered by human activity.

With the beaches in Florida closed in the effort to stop the spread of coronavirus, there is less plastic waste, fewer people and vehicles, and fewer artificial lights on the beach that disorient emerging turtle hatchlings. Because of all of these factors, sea turtles have been building their nests without disruptions.

In April, it was nesting season for leatherback turtles, the largest of all sea turtles. In May, loggerhead turtles arrive in Florida. Later in the summer, green turtles will arrive.

It takes about 60 days for sea turtle eggs to incubate and to hatch. During that period, lots of things can happen to a nest on an active beach – it can get trampled, people can dig it up, and artificial light can confuse the hatchlings as they try to find their way to the water. With the current shutdown, it should be a productive nesting season for sea turtles.

On the other hand, when beaches reopen, there may well be a major influx of people flocking to the beach because they have been stuck indoors for an extended period of time.

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Sea turtles are thriving as coronavirus lockdown empties Florida beaches

Photo, posted August 9, 2016, courtesy of Florida Fish and Wildlife via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Lockdown Cleans Up Indian Air | Earth Wise

May 13, 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.

India suffers from some of the worst air pollution in the world. Of the most polluted cities in the world, 21 out of 30 were in India in 2019. According to World Health Organization standards, at least 140 million people in India breathe air containing 10 times or more greater levels than the safe limit for pollutants. Air pollution contributes to the premature death of 2 million Indians every year.

Half of India’s air pollution comes from industry, 27% from vehicles, and 17% from crop burning. Crop burning is prevalent because it is much cheaper than mechanical tilling after the harvest.

On March 25, the Indian government placed its 1.3 billion citizens under a strict lockdown to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The country-wide mandate decreased activity at factories and drastically reduced car, bus, truck, and airplane traffic.

Within one week, NASA satellite sensor observed aerosol levels at a 20-year low for this time of year in northern India. Aerosols are tiny solid and liquid particles suspended in the air that reduce visibility and can damage the human lungs and heart. Some aerosols have natural sources, such as dust storms, volcanic eruptions, and forest fires. But many come from human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and croplands. Scientists expected to see changes in atmospheric conditions during the Indian lockdown, but the current changes are dramatic. They also present a unique opportunity to separate how natural and human sources of aerosols affect the atmosphere.

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Airborne Particle Levels Plummet in Northern India

Photo, posted April 29, 2020, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Safer Ways To Be Blue | Earth Wise

May 5, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Creating blue fabric has always been desirable for people. It has never been easy, but the original way to do it – by using indigo from plants – has been around for 6,000 years. Natural indigo is a rare commodity, often referred to as blue gold. In the 19th century, synthetic indigo was developed and ultimately replaced the natural substance.

Synthetic indigo dye is not an environmentally friendly substance. In order to get it to adhere to fabrics, substances called mordants are required. These are commonly made from metals like chromium and aluminum, are generally toxic, and kill off plants exposed to factory wastewater, destroy ecosystems, and poison drinking water. The dye itself is slow to decompose and is bad for the environment.

Recently, an organic chemist in Brazil named Erick Bastos has figured out a new way to produce blue dye using, of all things, a pigment from beets. By extracting the pigment and tweaking its molecular pattern, he has managed to transform the red color of the pigment to a brilliant blue.

Beet roots contain pigments called betalains and just a tiny amount of beetroot juice can render a lot of dye. By mixing these pigments with a couple of ingredients, a chemical reaction occurred, and the color transformed from red, to yellow, then green, and finally blue.

Testing so far on human liver cells, retinal cells, and developing zebrafish has revealed no toxicity. The results suggest that the new dye – dubbed BeetBlue – is safe. Further testing is needed to know if it is truly safe and whether it will last in the wash. Meanwhile, Professor Bastos is not patenting the dye and hopes it will provide a better way to be blue.

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How Do You Make a Less Toxic Blue Dye? Start With Red Beets

Photo, posted November 7, 2005, courtesy of Lain Buchanan via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Road Salt Pollution

January 8, 2020 By EarthWise 1 Comment

Mirror Lake is a popular recreational lake located in the Village of Lake Placid. It is the most developed lake within the Adirondack Park, which is a publicly protected area that is actually larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier, and Grand Canyon National Parks combined.

New research has revealed that road salt runoff into Mirror Lake is preventing natural water turnover which poses a risk to the balance of its ecology. The study, which was published in Lake and Reservoir Management, found that road salt runoff is preventing spring mixing of the water column. This creates more anoxic water conditions, meaning there is less oxygen in the water, and limits the ability of the habitat to support the native lake trout.

Mirror Lake is the first lake in the Adirondack Park to show an interruption in lake turnover due to road salt. Many lakes in northern climes experience so-called “dimictic turnover”, which is a natural process where wind and less stratified water conditions of spring and fall allow mixing of the water column that redistribute oxygen and nutrients throughout the lake. High levels of surface-water chloride introduced into the lake from road salt runoff inhibit the mixing of the water column.

The lack of mixing and oxygenation is bad news for fish species such as lake trout, which require cold, oxygenated water to survive. It may also put the lake at a greater risk of algal blooms.

Mirror Lake is small, surrounded by concentrated development, and receives the direct discharge of stormwater. So, it is particularly vulnerable to road salt contamination. Other lakes elsewhere in New York may experience similar conditions. The researchers are confident that natural turnover conditions could be restored to the lake if road salt application in the watershed is reduced.

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Road salt pollutes lake in one of the largest US protected areas, new study shows

Photo, posted January 5, 2018, courtesy of MTA of the State of NY via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Bioacoustics

December 5, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Researchers are increasingly placing microphones in forests and other ecosystems to monitor birds, insects, frogs, and other animals. Advances in technology are enabling the wide-spread use of bioacoustics as an important research tool.

Studying animals in their natural habitat Is often a difficult task. For one thing, many animals are difficult to find, and the presence of humans disrupts their behavior or even drives them off. Remote cameras are useful, but cameras can only see what is in front of them and aren’t much use for detecting small animals, hidden animals, or ones high up in trees.

Biologists have long recognized the value of recording sound to identify animals and learn about their havior. Animal sounds can be as definitive a means of identification as visual images and microphones can pick up the sounds from animals located anywhere within their detection range.

The two advances in technology that are turning bioacoustics into a widely used tool are a steep drop in the price of recording equipment and the rapidly expanding capabilities of user-friendly artificial intelligence algorithms.

Autonomous environmental audio recorders tended to cost between $500 and $1000 until quite recently. Now, such equipment can be had for as little as $70.

The other big challenge is analyzing audio data. Finding specific animal sounds among hundreds of hours of recordings is an untenably tedious task. Identifying the characteristic sounds of specific species in crowded environments is a tricky business. But neural network-based artificial intelligence technology is making such big data analysis quite practical and, remarkably, it is becoming quite user-friendly.

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Listening to Nature: The Emerging Field of Bioacoustics

Photo, posted January 28, 2013, courtesy of Felix Uribe via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Pesticides In The Great Barrier Reef

November 7, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is one of the greatest natural wonders in the world and it has been under siege by warming waters and ocean acidification. Widespread coral bleaching has damaged or destroyed large portions of the 1,400-mile long coral reef system. But the effects of climate change are not the only threat to the reef. Pesticides found in waterways that flow into the Great Barrier Reef are another serious problem.

According to a new study by the University of Queensland, the combined toxicity of 22 of the most common pesticides that flow into the Reef are not meeting pollution reduction targets.

Different pesticides affect different organisms. Herbicides affect organisms that photosynthesize such as seagrass, corals, mangroves, and algae. Insecticides affect insect larvae in freshwater, and crustaceans such as crabs, prawns, and lobsters. Previous assessments have only examined individual pesticides and only for limited times. The new study has utilized a methodology that estimates the combined toxicity of multiple pesticides found in the waterways that discharge into the Reef and does it for the entire wet season.

The research revealed that the pesticide reduction target set in the Australian Government’s Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan is not being met. Only one natural resource management region – the Cape York region – was found to be meeting its target.

By having estimates of the risk posed by pesticides in the various regions and individual waterways, governments, farmers, and conservationists can see which areas pose the greatest risk and where to maximize efforts. Stakeholders have to come together to reduce pesticide concentrations through better management practices and by using less toxic pesticides.

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High pesticide concentrations continue to enter Great Barrier Reef

Photo, posted July 29, 2010, courtesy of Kyle Taylor via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Mistaking Plastic For Food

September 27, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Green sea turtles are one of the world’s largest species of turtle, with some measuring close to four feet long and weighing up to nearly 300 pounds. Their range extends throughout tropical and subtropical seas around the world, with the largest nesting populations found in Costa Rica and Australia.

Green sea turtles get their name from the green layer of fat under their shell, as opposed to their shell itself, which can be brown, green, yellow, and/or black. Scientists believe the green coloring of their fat is a result of their diet. Unlike most other sea turtles, green sea turtles eat marine plants such as seaweed and seagrass.

But new research suggests that green sea turtles are also more likely to swallow plastic because it resembles their natural diet. The scientists from the University of Exeter and the Society for the Protection of Turtles who examined green sea turtles that washed up on beaches in Cyprus found they favored narrow lengths of plastic in natural colors (like green and black) as opposed to debris of other shapes and colors.

Researchers were able to examine the full gastrointestinal tract of 19 green sea turtles. They found pieces of plastic inside every one of them, with the number of pieces ranging from three to 183. Smaller turtles tended to contain more plastic, possibly because they are less experienced or because diet choices change with age and size.

Previous research has suggested that leatherback sea turtles also eat plastic that resembles their food: jellyfish.

Researchers hope these findings will help motivate us to continue to work on reducing our overall plastic consumption and pollution.

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Green turtles eat plastic that looks like their food

Photo, posted September, 2007, courtesy of Brock Roseberry via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Climate Change Is Not Natural

July 5, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

It has been the overwhelming consensus of the scientific community for a long time that human activity and other external factors are responsible for the continuing rise in global temperature. Despite this widespread agreement, there have been those who argue that natural ocean cycles might be influencing global warming over the course of multiple decades.

A new study, published in the Journal of Climate, provides an answer to the question of how much influence natural cycles might have, and that answer is very little to none.

The study looked at observed ocean and land temperature data since 1850 and, apart from human-induced factors such as greenhouse gas concentrations, took into account other occurrences such as volcanic eruptions, solar activity, and air pollution peaks. The findings demonstrated that slow-acting ocean cycles do not explain the long-term changes in global temperatures.

Based on the study, the researchers can state with confidence that human factors like greenhouse gas emissions and particulate pollution, along with year-to-year changes caused by natural phenomena like volcanic eruptions or El Niño, are sufficient to explain virtually all the long-term changes in temperature. The idea that the oceans could have been driving the climate either in a colder or warmer direction for multiple decades in the past and therefore will do so in the future is unlikely to be correct.

A number of previous studies have compared flawed observations with flawed modeling results to claim that naturally-occurring ocean cycles have played a large role in global temperatures. The new study shows that such cycles have little influence on the climate. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is really what we need to do.

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Global temperature change attributable to external factors, confirms new study

Photo, posted November 13, 2007, courtesy of 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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Climate Change Could Make Insurance Unaffordable for Most People

Photo, posted June 12, 2013, courtesy of Jeff Head via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Shrinking Arctic Glaciers

March 18, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The glaciers on Baffin Island, located in Canada’s northeastern Arctic, have been shrinking as the climate warms. The melting, receding glaciers have exposed fragments of ancient plants that had frozen in the places where they once grew. New research has shown that these spots have not seen the light of day for at least 40,000 years.

The entire planet has been warming since humanity started flooding the atmosphere with greenhouse gases at the start of the Industrial Revolution, but the effects are not uniform across the globe. Some regions – like the Arctic – are seeing temperature rises that are greater and faster than anywhere else in the world. As a result, glaciers in the Arctic have been melting away at rates never before observed in modern human history.

Researchers at the University of Colorado performed radiocarbon dating experiments in order to find out when the last time was that the Arctic was as warm as today. There have been natural variations in Arctic temperatures caused by the complicated way the Earth wobbles on its axis. For example, 10,000 years ago the northern latitudes pointed at the sun more directly during the summer than they do now, providing about 9% more sunshine during the summer.

The results of the study showed that the newly-uncovered plants had died at least 40,000 years earlier, indicating that the glaciers had not melted back to today’s size for at least that long. Global measurements indicate that the planet as a whole has not been as warm as it is today for about 115,000 years, back then again a result of the orientation of the Earth.

Well, the Earth hasn’t wobbled recently. The Arctic is melting because we are dumping massive amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

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These Arctic glaciers are smaller than ever before in human history

Photo, posted September 1, 2010, courtesy of Doryce S. via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Indonesian Deforestation

February 28, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Deforestation is defined as the intentional destruction of trees and other vegetation without reforesting or allowing the forest to regenerate itself.

In Indonesia, industrial agriculture, primarily for the production of palm oil, is a major driver of deforestation. But, according to researchers at Duke University, its impact has diminished proportionately in recent years as other natural and human causes have emerged. Their peer-reviewed findings were recently published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

According to the study’s lead author, large-scale plantations were responsible for more than half of Indonesia’s deforestation in the late 2000s, peaking between 2008-2010 when an average of 1.5 million acres of forest was lost annually. The expansion of the massive plantations was responsible for 57% of the forest loss. Between 2014-2016, an average of more than 2 million acres of forest was lost annually, but plantation expansion only accounted for 25% of this figure. While the overall rate of deforestation continued to grow, other factors were responsible for most of it.

Conversions of forests to grasslands rose sharply in 2015 and 2016 when El Nino caused severe droughts and forest fires. Small-scale farming, often overshadowed by industrial agriculture, was also found to play a bigger role, accounting for 25% of all forest loss.

Indonesia has experienced some of the highest rates of deforestation. Its forests absorb and store vast amounts of climate-warming carbon dioxide, help prevent erosion and flooding, and provide habitat to thousands of species. Understanding the varied causes of Indonesian deforestation should help conservationists and policymakers better address the problem.

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Palm oil not the only driver of forest loss in Indonesia

Photo, posted March 26, 2018, courtesy of Achmad Rabin Taim via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Car Parts From Agricultural Waste

January 11, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

A new bio-composite material made from date palm fiber biomass could be used to produce sustainable, lightweight and low-cost parts for the automobile and marine industries.

A team of researchers from the UK has developed a date palm fiber polycaprolactone composite that is completely biodegradable, renewable,sustainable and recyclable, in contrast to synthetic composite materials reinforced by glass and carbon fibers. The team tested the mechanical properties of the material and found that it achieved better low-velocity impact resistance than traditional man-made composites.

The idea would be to use the material in non-structural auto parts such as car bumpers and door linings. The result would be to reduce the weight of vehicles, contributing to less fuel consumption and lower emissions. The new material can be produced using less energy than glass and carbon fibers and is biodegradable and therefore easier to recycle.

Date palm fibers are one of the most available natural fibers in many parts of the world. The trees produce a large quantity of agricultural waste, which is mostly burned or land-filled,causing serious environmental problems.

Convincing industry to use a new class of materials such as natural-fiber reinforced composites is challenging. First it is necessary to obtain consistent,reliable properties from the material. Then the industries need to work closely with the developers to test the materials and convince themselves of the viability of using them. The team, led by researchers at the University of Portsmouth, has been working with industry to test the viability of parts made from a variety of other sustainable materials as well including flax, hemp, and jute. Someday, our cars may have bumpers made from agricultural waste.

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Agricultural waste drives us closer to greener transport

Photo, posted October 27, 2017, courtesy of David Stanley via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Can We Remove Enough CO2 From The Air?

January 9, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

As atmospheric carbon dioxide levels continue to set new records and the effects of climate change grow stronger, humanity has continued to procrastinate on reducing emissions. As a result, it is increasingly clear that any strategy to avoid runaway climate change will have to involve the use of “negative emissions”- techniques or technologies that actually remove CO2 from the air.

There are both low-tech and high-tech methods for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and both are likely to be needed.

On the low-tech side, afforestation (planting trees where there were none before), reforestation, changes in forest management, rebuilding the carbon backbone in agricultural soils, and the use of energy from waste biomass are all ways to take carbon out of the atmosphere.

On the high-tech side, direct air capture technologies that take CO2 out of the air and store it in the ground are making rapid progress. Right now, they are still very expensive,but that is changing. There is an analogy to wind and solar technology. Not very long ago, both of those technologies were quite expensive but now their costs have plummeted to the point where they are often the cheapest way to make electricity. With sufficient development effort and deployment, direct air capture technology could become quite affordable.

Some people advocate geoengineering as a solution for climate change. While removing carbon dioxide amounts to tackling the root cause of the warming climate,geoengineering would address the problem by changing the climate again in some other way. It is at best an extremely dangerous approach.

Removing CO2 using a combination of natural and man-made techniques is an important part of mitigating the effects of climate change.

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