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Disappearing Glaciers | Earth Wise

February 20, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

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

Low Fares Clean German Air | Earth Wise

September 29, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Germany’s parliament set summer public transport fares at 9 euros a month as a way to slash pollution and reduce imports of Russian oil. The low price included all buses, trams, subways, and regional trains, effectively lowering prices by more than 90% in some cities. Berliners saved 98 euros on their monthly travel pass; commuters in Hamburg saved even more.

The program began June 1 and ended August 31. The bargain rates drove widespread use of public transport and discouraged the use of cars, which already was undesirable due to high gasoline prices. Over the three-month period, transit authorities sold over 50 million subsidized tickets. One out of five travelers were using public transport for the first time, according to surveys.

According to an estimate from the Association of German Transport Companies, the program helped to avoid 1.8 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. This is roughly equivalent to taking 1.5 million cars off the road for the summer or planting 30 million trees.

The discount transit program had a clearly positive effect on the climate and, obviously, was a source of financial relief for German citizens. Last year, Germany was the largest buyer of Russian oil in Europe and it wanted to make drastic reductions in its purchases. The success of the program prompted many to ask for it to be continued. However, the program cost the government about 2.5 billion euros in reimbursements to transit companies. The German government has said it would not be extended.

Nonetheless, German policymakers are weighing other proposals for low-cost public transit. Clearly encouraging people to use public transit pays dividends.

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Germany’s Cheap Summer Train Fares Prevented 1.8 Million Tons of Carbon Pollution

Photo, posted June 6, 2022, courtesy of 7C0 via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Plastic Recycling Isn’t Working | Earth Wise

June 13, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

A recent report from several environmental organizations shows that plastic recycling rates in the U.S. have actually declined in the last several years from about 8.7% of discarded plastic to less than 6%. Meanwhile, since 1980, per capita plastic waste generation has increased 263%, totaling 218 pounds of plastic waste per person as of 2018.

Diminishing recycling rates don’t necessarily indicate a lack of interest by the public. Plastic recycling is a complicated process. There are multiple types of plastic that can’t be intermingled and there are no simple and sustainable ways to recycle many forms of plastic. On top of that, the declining recycling rate also reflects the fact that we no longer can export our plastic waste to countries like China and Turkey, which have banned U.S. waste imports.

Recycling in general is a successful practice. Paper recycling rates are around 66% as of 2020. Cardboard recycling was at 88.8% in 2020, and metal recycling rates range from 27% to 76%, depending on the type of metal. Glass recycling rates are a little over 30%. Only plastic recycling has never reached 10%, even before shipping our waste overseas and declaring it to be recycled was going on.

According to environmental organizations focused on the global plastic problem, there is no circular economy of plastics. Perhaps if truly biodegradable plastics became practical, economical, and widely utilized, the situation would be different. As things stand, the only solution is to reduce the production, use, and disposal of plastics.

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Plastics Recycling ‘Does Not Work,’ Environmentalists Stress as U.S. Recycling Rates Drop to 5%

Photo, posted May 13, 2021, courtesy of Ivan Radic 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.