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Strategies To Promote Green Products | Earth Wise

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Green products are environmentally-friendly products with features that are less harmful to people and the planet.  For instance, green products may require fewer resources to produce, consume less energy, contain non-toxic ingredients, or create fewer emissions.  Some examples include biodegradable waste bags, LED light bulbs, low-flow shower heads, organic cotton clothing, and reusable coffee cups and water bottles.  

But according to new research from two universities in the United Kingdom, companies looking to promote their latest environmentally-friendly product should actually downplay its greenness if they want consumers to buy it.

The study, by researchers from the University of East Anglia and the University of Leeds, found advertising that highlights a product’s green attributes can lead consumers to associate it with weak performance.  The findings, which were recently published in the Journal of Advertising, indicate that companies should downplay a product’s green qualities and instead promote it on more traditional aspects.

An example of these two distinct advertising strategies – green emphasis versus green understatement – can be found in the auto industry.  Car manufacturer Toyota prominently highlights the low emissions and low fuel consumption features of the Prius, employing what the researchers term as ‘explicit signals’.  In contrast, automaker Tesla reduces the prominence of its green attributes, focusing instead on its cars’ acceleration, handling, and other performance-related characteristics.  This is known as the ‘implicit signals’ marketing approach.

After conducting two experiments, the research team found that the implicit, rather than explicit, marketing approach about greenness leads to higher performance evaluations and purchase intent.

Consumers appear more likely to engage in pro-social actions when it’s accompanied by some form of personal benefit. 

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Highlighting product greenness may put consumers off buying

Photo, posted December 21, 2019, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Devastating Threat To Coral Reef Habitats | Earth Wise

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According to new research from scientists at the University of Hawaii Manoa, the warming and acidifying oceans could wipe out nearly all existing coral reef habitats by 2100.  In fact, the researchers predict that 70-90% of coral reefs will disappear over the next 20 years alone as a consequence of climate change and pollution. 

Some organizations are attempting to save coral habitats by transplanting live corals from labs to reefs.  The idea is that the new young corals will help revive the reefs.  But after mapping where such restoration efforts would be most successful, the research indicates that there will be little to no suitable habitat remaining for corals by 2100.  Small portions of Baja California and the Red Sea are two of the sites that could remain viable by 2100, although neither are ideal due to their proximity to rivers.  Sea surfaces temperature and acidity are two of the most important factors in determining the viability of a site for restoration.  

Warming ocean waters stress corals, which cause them to expel the symbiotic algae living inside them.  This turns the often colorful corals white – an event known as coral bleaching.  Bleached corals are not dead corals, but they are at a higher risk of dying.  These coral bleaching events are becoming more frequent as a result of the changing climate. 

The projected increases in human pollution will only play a minor role in the future elimination of coral reef habitats.  Ironically, that’s because humans have already caused such extensive damage to coral reefs that there aren’t many locations left to impact.

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Warming, acidic oceans may nearly eliminate coral reef habitats by 2100

Photo, posted September 28, 2009, courtesy of Matt Kieffer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A New Membrane For Converting Carbon Dioxide | Earth Wise

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Methanol is a valuable chemical used as fuel in the production of countless products. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that is produced by countless industrial processes.  Carbon dioxide can be converted into methanol, which is one way all that CO2 can be put to good use instead of causing harm. 

In research recently published in Science, chemical engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a process that converts CO2 to methanol in a more efficient way by using a highly effective separation membrane they produced.  

The chemical reaction responsible for the transformation of CO2 into methanol also produces water, which severely restricts the continued reaction. The Rensselaer team has found a way to filter out the water as the reaction is happening, without losing other essential gas molecules. 

They produced a membrane made up of sodium ions and zeolite crystals that was able to carefully and quickly permeate water through small pores — known as water-conduction nanochannels — without losing gas molecules. The sodium ions effectively only allow water to go through. When water was effectively removed from the process, the team found that the chemical reaction was able to happen very quickly. By removing the water, the equilibrium shifts, which means more CO2 will be converted and more methanol will be produced.  

The team is now working to develop a scalable process and a startup company that would allow this membrane to be used commercially to produce high purity methanol.  This membrane could also be used to improve a number of other reactions. 

In industry there are many reactions limited by water and this RPI membrane could be an important enhancement for many of them. 

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Water-Conducting Membrane Allows Carbon Dioxide To Transform into Fuel More Efficiently

Photo courtesy of RPI.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Coastal Plants And Climate Change | Earth Wise

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Rising sea levels and the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events are leaving observable effects on beaches, cliffs, and coastal infrastructures all around the world.  But a new study suggests that the impact of climate change on coastal plant communities needs more attention. 

According to research recently published in the journal Annals of Botany, coastal plants are a critical element of global sea defense.  But coastal plants are increasingly under threat from flooding, erosion, and other human-induced effects of climate change.  Habitats like salt marshes, mangrove forests, sand dunes, and kelp beds make important contributions  to coastal protection.

The research was led by scientists from the University of Plymouth, in conjunction with researchers at Utrecht University and Manchester Metropolitan University.

The study follows a recent assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which found that anthropogenic climate change poses a severe threat to estuaries and coastal ecosystems.  

Conservative estimates of the capital investments needed to combat rising seas and intensifying storms run into the hundreds of billions of dollars in the coming decades.  However, coastal vegetation could offer a dynamic, natural, and relatively low-cost defense strategy at a fraction of the cost when compared with the cost of so-called hard defenses like concrete walls and barriers. 

According to the research team, identifying the key species and habitats for coastal defense and how coasts can be protected and promoted is critical.  More long-term monitoring is also needed in order to better understand and predict where and how storms and other effects of climate change will impact coastal ecosystems. 

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The gathering storm: optimizing management of coastal ecosystems in the face of a climate-driven threat

Losing coastal plant communities to climate change will weaken sea defences

Photo, posted September 14, 2018, courtesy of Dennis Jarvis via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Stretchable Batteries | Earth Wise

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Wearable technology is an ever-increasing part of our world.  Fitness trackers have become commonplace for people of all ages.  Smart watches perform a growing range of functions.   There are wearable health monitoring systems of many types for assisted living, elderly patients, and people with specific health problems.  Virtual reality headsets are increasingly popular and there is now even smart technology footwear that is integrated with smartphones and mapping software.

The adoption of wearable electronics has so far been limited by their need to derive power from relatively bulky, rigid batteries that reduce comfort and even may present safety hazards related to chemical leakage or combustion.  To date, there has not been a power source that can stretch and bend the way our bodies do, which would enable electronic designs that people can comfortably wear.

Researchers at Stanford have recently announced the development of a soft and stretchable battery that relies on a special type of plastic to store power more safely than the flammable formulations used in conventional batteries today.

The lithium ion batteries in our phones, computers, cameras and electric cars already make use of plastic electrolytes.  These polymer electrolytes are in the form of flowable gels.  The Stanford researchers developed a new polymer that is solid and stretchable rather than gooey and potentially leaky.  But it still carries an electric charge and maintains a constant power output even when squeezed, folded or stretched to nearly twice its original length.

The prototype battery is thumbnail-sized and stores only about half as much energy for its size as a conventional battery.  But the researchers are working to increase both the size and the energy density of the battery. 

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A new stretchable battery can power wearable electronics

Photo, posted November 28, 2016, courtesy of Timo Newton-Syms via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Immersion In Nature Is Good for You | Earth Wise

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There is a growing body of research that shows that getting outdoors in nature can be good for people’s health and well-being. There are so many studies supporting this idea that policymakers, employers, and healthcare providers are increasingly considering this need for nature in how they plan and operate.

A new study of 20,000 people by researchers at the University of Exeter in the UK actually looked at how much exposure to nature was enough to make people say they feel healthy and have a sense of well-being.   The answer turned out to be 2 hours a week.  And the correlation was strong.  People who didn’t meet that threshold did not report the benefits.

Studies have shown that time in nature – as long as people feel safe where they are – is an antidote for stress.  It can lower blood pressure and stress hormone levels, reduce nervous system arousal, enhance immune system function, increase self-esteem, reduce anxiety, and improve mood.  Most of these studies are correlational rather than causal, but the results tend to be robust.

Given all this, cities are adding or enhancing parks, and schools and other institutions are being designed with large windows and access to trees and green space.  The Scandinavian tradition of “forest schools” – where learning takes place in natural settings outdoors -.is finding a home in the US.   Japanese researchers study the effects of “forest bathing”, a poetic term for walking in the woods.

With two-thirds of humanity projected to be living in cities by 2050, we are awakening to the idea that we need to be able to spend time in nature for our own wellbeing, even if it’s just a walk in a park.

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Ecopsychology: How Immersion in Nature Benefits Your Health

Photo, posted November 6, 2011, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

How Environmentally Friendly Are We? | Earth Wise

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Many of us are very concerned about the environment and want to try to do the right things as we go about our daily lives.  New research from the University of Gothenburg shows that we tend to overestimate just how much we are actually doing.

A study of over 4,000 people in United States, England, India, and Sweden revealed that most people are convinced that they act more environmentally friendly than the average person.  Their actions might include buying eco-labelled products, saving household energy, recycling, driving a hybrid or electric car, and reducing purchases of plastic bags.  Participants in the survey rated themselves as more environmentally active than other people, including both unknown people as well as their own friends.

The results are in keeping with a general tendency people have to overestimate their own abilities.  Studies over the years have shown that most people consider themselves, for example, to be more honest, more creative, and better drivers than others.  This sort of over-optimism apparently also applies to environmentally friendly behaviors.

The data from the survey revealed that the participants were more likely to overestimate their engagement in activities they perform often and draw the faulty conclusion that the things they do often, they in fact do more often than others.

A consequence of thinking that you are more environmentally friendly than other people is that it can reduce the motivation to act environmentally friendly in the future.  In fact, when we think we are more environmentally friendly than others, we actually end up becoming less environmentally friendly.

Logically speaking, the majority of people cannot be more environmentally friendly than the average person.  We are not living in Lake Wobegone where all children are above average.

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The majority consider themselves more environmentally friendly than others

Photo, posted March 6, 2014, courtesy of Karlis Dambrans via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Forest Regrowth In The Amazon | Earth Wise

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The Amazon is the largest tropical rainforest in the world.  It covers an area approximately equal in size to the lower 48 states, and is home to an estimated 10% of the world’s biodiversity and 15% of its freshwater.  These so-called “lungs of the planet” provide many important global ecological services, including carbon storage, and regulating air quality and climate.

Deforestation in the Amazon exploded in the 1970s and remains one of its biggest threats today.  Since the 1970s, more than 20% of the Amazon rainforest has been cleared.  Cattle ranching, soy and palm plantations, logging, and climate change are some of the biggest drivers of deforestation.  

Now, according to a new study recently published in the journal Ecology, the regrowth of Amazonian forests following deforestation may happen more slowly than previously thought.  These findings could have significant impacts on climate change predictions as the ability of forest regrowth in the Amazon – so-called secondary forests – may have been overestimated.  The research, which was conducted in Bragança, Brazil and includes two decades of forest monitoring, reveals that climate change and the wider loss of forests could be hampering regrowth.    

After 60 years of regrowth, the research team found that secondary forests only held 40% of the carbon when compared with forests undisturbed by humans.  Secondary forests also take less carbon from the atmosphere during periods of drought, and climate change is increasing the number of drought-years in the Amazon.  (During their 20 years of monitoring, the researchers also found biodiversity levels in secondary forests were only 56% of those seen in undisturbed forests). 

More long-term studies are needed to better understand the impacts of reforestation efforts.  

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Amazon forest regrowth much slower than previously thought

Photo, posted September 6, 2009, courtesy of Nao Lizuka via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Possible Storage Breakthrough: Solar Energy | Earth Wise

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Solar energy is a nearly unlimited resource, but it is only available to us when the sun is shining.  For solar power to provide for the majority of our energy needs, there needs to be a way to capture the energy from the sun, store it, and release it when we need it.  There are many approaches to storing solar energy, but so far none have provided an ideal solution.

Scientists at the Chalmers Institute of Technology in Sweden have developed a way to harness solar energy and keep it in reserve so it can be released on demand in the form of heat—even decades after it was captured. Their solution combines several innovations, including an energy-trapping molecule, a storage system, and an energy-storing laminate for windows and textiles.

The energy-trapping molecule is made up of carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen.  When hit by sunlight, the molecule captures the sun’s energy and holds on to it until it is released as heat by a catalyst.  The specialized storage unit is claimed to be able to store energy for decades.  The transparent coating that the team developed also collects solar energy and releases heat.  Using it would reduce the amount of electricity required for heating buildings.

So far, the team has concentrated on producing heat from stored solar energy.  It is unclear whether the technology can be adapted to produce electricity, which would be even more valuable.  In any event, the team does not yet have precise cost estimates for its technology, but there are no rare or expensive elements required, so the economics seem promising.  There is much more work to be done, but this could be a very important technology for the world’s energy systems.

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An Energy Breakthrough Could Store Solar Power for Decades

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Another Greenhouse Gas Record

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According to the World Meteorological Organization, levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached yet another new record high.  Globally averaged concentrations of carbon dioxide reached 407.8 parts per million in 2018, up from 405.5 parts per million in 2017.

The increase year-over-year was similar to that from 2016 to 2017, and remains a little over the average for the last decade.  Global CO2 levels crossed the 400 parts per million threshold in 2015.

Concentrations of methane and nitrous oxide also increased by higher amounts than the average for the past decade, based on observations from the Global Atmosphere Watch network with stations all over the globe.

Since 1990, there has been a 43% increase in total radiative forcing – which is the warming effect on the climate from long-lived greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide accounts for about 80% of this.  The report notes that the last time the Earth experienced this high a level of CO2 was 3 to 5 million years ago. At that time, global temperatures were 2 to 3 Celsius degrees higher and sea levels were 30 to 60 feet higher than now.

The report includes data on the isotopic analysis of the CO2 in the atmosphere.  CO2 produced by fossil fuel combustion comes from plant material from millions of years ago and does not contain radiocarbon, that is, carbon-14.  CO2 from natural sources contains radiocarbon produced by cosmic rays.  The increasing CO2 levels in the atmosphere contain decreasing levels of radiocarbon, indicating that the overall increase is largely due to human activities.

Overall, global efforts to date to reduce emissions have not been very successful, and this is borne out by the growing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

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Greenhouse gas concentrations in atmosphere reach yet another high

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Solar And Wind Energy And Groundwater

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The use of both solar and wind farms has been expanding all over the country as a way of lowering carbon emissions from the electric power sector.   According to a new study led by Princeton University, these renewable energy sources have another important benefit:  they keep more water in the ground.

The study focused on drought-prone California where both solar and wind power have been expanding dramatically.  California is the largest agricultural producer in the United States and has also experienced one of the most severe droughts on record between 2012 and 2017.

The study determined that increased solar and wind energy can reduce the reliance on hydropower, especially during times of drought. 

The study looked at multiple scenarios in order to determine how much solar and wind energy should be used to maximize economic revenue and to see how solar and wind power could ensure groundwater recovery.  They created a framework to quantify the optimal pathways for maximizing hydroelectricity and agricultural income while avoiding groundwater depletion.

During the long drought, California’s agriculture industry relied heavily on tapping into groundwater stores, which is an unsustainable practice.  With more droughts likely to occur in California as well as increasing water demand from the growing California population, the burden on the state’s groundwater supply will only grow.

According to the researchers, it is far more practical to impose further regulations on groundwater use if sufficient solar and wind power is deployed.   They caution that these resources need to be deployed long before groundwater aquifers are depleted, or it will be too late for them to do any good.

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Solar and Wind Energy Preserve Groundwater for Drought, Agriculture

Photo, posted December 11, 2014, courtesy of Tony Webster via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Lighting Up Batteries

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One of the things that hampers the adoption of electric vehicles is range anxiety.  Drivers worry that they will run out of charge before they get to the closest charging station.   Range anxiety has lessened considerably in recent years as electric cars have incorporated larger and larger battery packs yielding driving ranges well over two hundred and even over three hundred miles.

With these extended driving ranges, drivers then turn their attention to how long it takes to charge.  Tesla’s Superchargers have gotten to the point where a car can add 75 miles of charge in 5 minutes and 200 miles in less than half an hour.  Fast charging systems are improving the charge times for other electric models as well.

Nevertheless, drivers would ideally like to reduce charging times to as little as possible in order to provide the convenience experienced in gasoline cars.

Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory have reported a mechanism for speeding up the charging of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.  By exposing the battery cathode to a beam of concentrated light, the charging time can be reduced by a factor of two or more. If this could be commercialized, it could be a real game changer for electric vehicles.

The research used specially crafted lithium-ion cells with transparent quartz windows.  Shining white light into the windows caused a semiconductor material known as LMO to change its charge state and drive the charging reaction more quickly in the lithium ions of the battery.

Using this photo-assisted technology in vehicle batteries would require substantial redesign that would allow concentrated light to illuminate battery electrodes during charging.  How practical that is remains to be seen, but the payoff would be substantial.

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Shedding new light on the charging of lithium-ion batteries

Photo, posted June 30, 2018, courtesy of Open Grid Scheduler via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Rising Seas Will Erase Cities

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According to new research, climate-driven sea level rise could affect three times more people by 2050 than previously thought.  This sobering assessment means some of the world’s great coastal cities, including Bangkok, Shanghai, Mumbai, Basra, Alexandria, and Ho Chi Minh City, could be in big trouble.   

Scientists have always relied on land elevation data to determine the effects of sea level rise over large areas.  But standard elevation measurements using satellites struggle to differentiate the true ground level from the tops of trees or buildings.  The authors of the paper developed a more accurate way to calculate land elevation by using artificial intelligence to determine the error rate and to correct for it.  The new findings revealed that 150 million people – three times more than previously thought – are now living on land that is projected to be below the high-tide line by the middle of this century. 

Eight Asian nations – China, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Japan – account for about 70% of the people living on at-risk land. 

More than 20 million people in Vietnam, including much of Ho Chi Minh City, live on land that will be inundated by 2050.  In Thailand, more than 10% of its citizens, including much of Bangkok, currently live on land imperiled by projected sea level rise. 

This new research was produced by Climate Central, a New Jersey-based science organization, and was recently published in the journal Nature Communications. 

Sea level rise is clearly not just an environmental problem.  It’s a humanitarian crisis.

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New elevation data triple estimates of global vulnerability to sea-level rise and coastal flooding

Rising Seas Will Erase More Cities by 2050, New Research Shows

Photo, posted December 18, 2009, courtesy of Misko via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Arctic As A Carbon Source

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According to a new NASA-funded study, the Arctic may now be a source for carbon in the atmosphere rather than being the sink for it that is has been for tens of thousands of years.

The study, published in Nature Climate Change, warns that carbon dioxide loss from the world’s permafrost regions could increase by more than 40% over the next century if human-caused greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current pace.  Worse yet, carbon emitted from thawing permafrost has not even been included in most climate models.

Permafrost is the carbon-rich frozen soil and organic matter that covers nearly a quarter of Northern Hemisphere land area, mostly in Alaska, Canada, Siberia, and Greenland.  Permafrost holds more carbon than has ever been released by humans from fossil fuel burning, but it has been safely locked away by ice for tens of thousands of years.

As global temperatures rise, the permafrost is starting to thaw and release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

The recent findings indicate that the loss of carbon dioxide during the winter in the Arctic may already be offsetting carbon uptake during the growing season.  The researchers compiled on-the-ground observations of carbon dioxide emissions across many sites and combined these with remote sensing data and modeling.  They estimate that the permafrost region is now losing 1.7 billion metric tons of carbon during the winter season but taking up only 1 billion during the growing season.

The major concern is that as the Arctic continues to warm, more carbon will be released into the atmosphere from the permafrost region, which will further the warming.  Climate modeling teams across the globe are trying to incorporate these findings into their projections.

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Arctic Shifts to a Carbon Source due to Winter Soil Emissions

Photo, posted July 27, 2015, courtesy of Gary Bembridge via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Bioacoustics

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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.

Reducing Emissions From Natural Gas Processing

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Qatar, a small country in the Middle East with a population of about 2.5 million has the highest per capita income of any country in the world.  This is largely a result of being one of the world’s top producers of natural gas.  The upshot of that is that the tiny country has the dubious honor of being the world’s leading emitter of CO2 per capita.

Texas A&M University has a campus in Qatar and researchers there in collaboration with colleagues at the main campus in College Station, Texas have developed a new reactor technology that can help Qatar process its wealth of natural gas while reducing the country’s carbon footprint.

The technology processes natural gas and captured CO2 to produce both syngas – which is a valuable precursor for many products – and high-quality carbon nanotubes, all without releasing CO2 into the atmosphere.

Natural gas reforming is a process by which syngas – a feedstock for liquid hydrocarbons and ultraclean fuels- is produced.  The process requires lots of heat and emits CO2.  The new technology adds a novel CARGEN (or CARbon GENerator) reactor that advances the natural gas reforming process and includes a catalyst that captures the CO2 emissions and produces nanotubes.  The reactor can be driven by either electric or solar power, eliminating the need to burn fuel that ordinarily results in more carbon emissions.

The result is that Qatar’s CO2 emissions would be converted into two products that are important to its economy.  In particular, carbon nanotubes are very expensive and extremely versatile, and can be used to manufacture products such as computers and other high-quality materials.

The next step for the researchers is to partner with industry collaborators to further scale up the technology.

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Qatar Researchers Develop Natural Gas Processing Technology That Could Reduce Qatar’s Carbon Footprint

Photo, posted September 30, 2012, courtesy of Jimmy Baikovicius via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The March Of The Penguins Toward Extinction

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According to a new study from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the warming climate may render emperor penguins extinct by the end of this century.  The study, which was part of an international collaboration between scientists, finds that emperor penguins will likely experience an 86% decline by 2100 if the global climate continues to warm at the current rate.  At that point, it would be very unlikely for them to recover, according to the study’s lead author.       

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and recently published in the journal Global Change Biology.

The fate of emperor penguins is largely tied to the fate of sea ice.  The penguins use sea ice as a place for breeding, feeding, and molting.  They look for very specific conditions of sea ice – it must be locked in to the Antarctic shoreline but also close enough to open seawater to give them access to food. The study predicts that this sea ice will gradually disappear, depriving the birds of their habitat, food sources, and ability to raise their young.     

The researchers combined two existing computer models to study three different climate change scenarios.  If the average global temperature increases by only 1.5 degrees Celsius, the study found that only 5% of sea ice would be lost by 2100, resulting in a 19% drop in penguin colonies.  If the planet warms by 2 degrees Celsius, the sea ice loss nearly triples and more than a third of penguin colonies disappear.  The ‘business as usual’ scenario where the planet continues to warm at the current rate will ensure a near complete loss of emperor penguin colonies by 2100. 

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Unless warming is slowed, emperor penguins will be marching towards extinction

Photo, posted January 15, 2011, courtesy of Eli Duke via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Clean Gas From An Artificial Leaf

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Photosynthesis is the process used by plants, algae and certain bacteria to harness energy from sunlight and turn it into chemical energy.  It is often described as the green engine of life on earth.

For quite some time, there have been extensive research efforts around the world in the area of artificial photosynthesis.  The goal is to somehow mimic the behavior of plants in order to generate clean-burning fuels using nothing more than sunlight and the carbon dioxide in the air.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have recently demonstrated a so-called artificial leaf that can directly produce syngas using sunlight.   Syngas is a fuel gas mixture consisting primarily of hydrogen and carbon monoxide.  Most people haven’t heard of syngas, but many products are created using it.  Being able to produce it sustainably would be a critical step to a far greener chemical and fuel industry.

The artificial leaf contains two light absorbers, similar to the molecules in plants that harvest sunlight, which are combined with a catalyst made from the naturally abundant element cobalt.  When the device is immersed in water, one light absorber uses the catalyst to produce oxygen.  The other carries out the chemical reaction that reduces carbon dioxide and water into carbon monoxide and hydrogen.  The result is the syngas mixture.

It turns out that even a rainy or overcast day provides enough light to drive the process.

Previous artificial leaf devices have mostly just produced hydrogen.  The Cambridge device produces syngas thanks to the novel combination of materials and catalysts it uses.

The researchers are now focused on finding ways to use the technology to produce a sustainable gasoline substitute.

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‘Artificial leaf’ successfully produces clean gas

Photo, posted August 15, 2014, courtesy of Mike Mozart via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Ocean Acidification And Mass Extinction

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Since the industrial revolution, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased due to the burning of fossil fuels and land use changes.  The ocean absorbs about 30% of the CO2 that is released in the atmosphere.  As the levels of atmospheric CO2 increase, so do the levels in the ocean.

When CO2 is absorbed by the ocean, a series of chemical reactions occur, resulting in seawater becoming more acidic.  Ocean acidification threatens calcifying organisms, such as clams and corals, as well as other marine animals, like fish.  When these organisms are at risk, the entire marine ecosystem may also be at risk.

In fact, according to research recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, fossil evidence from 66 million years ago has revealed that ocean acidification can cause the mass extinction of marine life.  Researchers analyzed seashells in sediment laid down shortly after a giant meteorite hit earth.  This strike wiped out the dinosaurs and 75% of marine species.  Chemical analysis of the shells revealed a sharp drop in the PH of the ocean over hundreds of years after the meteorite strike.  The meteorite impact vaporized rocks, causing carbonic acid and sulphuric acid to rain down, acidifying the ocean.  The strike also resulted in mass die-off of plants on land, increasing atmospheric CO2.  

Researchers found that the pH dropped by 0.25 pH units in the 100 to 1,000 years after the meteorite strike.  Alarmingly, scientists expect the pH of the ocean to drop by 0.4 pH units by 2100 if our carbon emissions continue as projected. 

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Ocean acidification can cause mass extinctions, fossils reveal

Photo, posted March 16, 2017, courtesy of Zachary Martin via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Predicting Lightning Strikes

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Lightning is one of the most unpredictable phenomena in nature.  Approximately 100 lightning bolts strike earth’s surface every second, and each lightning bolt can contain up to one billion volts of electricity.  Lightning regularly kills both people and animals and sets homes and forests on fire.  It’s also been known to ground airplanes. 

Researchers at EPFL – a research institute and university in Switzerland – have developed a novel way to predict where and when lightning will strike.  The system relies on a combination of standard data from weather stations and artificial intelligence to predict lightning strikes to the nearest 10 to 30 minutes and within a radius of less than 20 miles.  The simple and inexpensive system was outlined in a research paper recently published in Climate and Atmospheric Science, a Nature partner journal.   

According to researchers, the current systems for predicting lightning strikes are slow, expensive, and complex, relying on external data acquired by satellite and radar.  The new inexpensive system from EPFL uses real time data that can be obtained from any weather station, meaning it can cover remote regions that are out of radar and satellite range and where communication networks are lacking.  The quick predictions from the system allow alerts to be issued before a storm has even formed. 

The system uses a machine-learning algorithm that’s been trained to recognize conditions that lead to lightning.  The researchers took into account atmospheric pressure, air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed, among other things.  After training the algorithm, the system was able to predict lightning strikes accurately nearly 80% of the time.

This system is a simple way to predict a complex phenomenon. 

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Using AI to predict where and when lightning will strike

Photo, posted December 14, 2018, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

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