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Mercury in tuna

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Mercury is found throughout the ocean, and there is at least some of it in any fish one might eat. It is an element found naturally in the environment, but it is also a byproduct of manmade pollution. Generally speaking, bigger fish tend to have higher mercury levels than smaller ones, because they are higher up in the food chain. The more small fish those big fish eat, the more mercury builds up in their bodies.  Tuna aren’t the biggest fish in the ocean, but they are very common in many people’s diets.

Increased mercury levels are a result of human activities like burning coal and mining which release methylmercury into the air.  It then finds its way into the oceans in rainwater.  Methylmercury is a particularly toxic chemical that affects the nervous system.  Environmental protection policies in recent decades have helped to reduce mercury pollution.

However, a recent study by French researchers looked at the mercury levels in tuna over the past 50 years.  They found that the levels have basically not changed since 1971.  As a result, they are calling for more restrictive environmental policies to further lower mercury pollution levels.

The researchers explained that the lowering of mercury airborne levels to date has not necessarily been ineffective.  They theorized that the static levels in tuna may be caused by the upward mixing of “legacy” mercury from deeper ocean water into the shallower depths where tropical tuna swim and feed.  It could very well take decades to dramatically reduce ocean mercury levels. 

Meanwhile, mercury content in tuna varies considerably by tuna type and source and there are both better and worse choices out there.  Consumers should learn the facts.

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Mercury levels in tuna remain nearly unchanged since 1971, study says

Photo, posted November 7, 2015, courtesy of Mussi Katz via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The carbon footprint of urban agriculture

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Urban agriculture – essentially farming within a city – has become increasingly popular worldwide.  It is intended to make cities and urban food systems more sustainable.  There are social and nutritional benefits to urban agriculture, but its carbon footprint has not been widely studied.

There are high-tech, energy-intensive forms of urban agriculture, such as vertical farms and rooftop greenhouses.  But most urban farms are decidedly low-tech such as individual gardens managed by single farmers and community gardens managed by small groups of people.

A comprehensive international study led by the University of Michigan calculated the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the materials and activities of urban farms over their operating lives.  The emissions, expressed in the quantity of carbon dioxide equivalents produced per serving of food, were then compared to those of foods raised by conventional agriculture.

On average, food produced through urban agriculture emitted six times higher amounts of CO2 per serving than conventionally grown produce.

The study went on to recommend best practices crucial to making low-tech urban agriculture more carbon-competitive with conventional agriculture.  These include making use of infrastructure for more extended periods of time, making use of urban waste, and maximizing social and health benefits. 

Urban agriculture offers a variety of social, nutritional, and place-based environmental benefits and has its place in future sustainable cities.  It is important to implement it in ways that are most beneficial.

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Study finds that urban agriculture must be carefully planned to have climate benefits

Photo, posted July 27, 2016, courtesy of Sandra Cohen-Rose and Colin Rose via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Greenland is greening

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Despite their names, Iceland is very green, and Greenland is very icy.  But in Greenland, that is changing.  Temperatures in the world’s largest island are rising twice as fast as they are in the rest of the world and, as a result, the icy rocky landscape is turning increasingly green.

Satellite records reveal that over the last three decades Greenland has lost 11,000 square miles of ice, which is an area about the size of Massachusetts.  As the ice melts off, tundra and shrublands takes its place.  The ice melt moves sediment and silt and eventually wetlands and fenlands are formed.

Between the late 1980s and the late 2010s, the areas of Greenland covered by vegetation have more than doubled.  The new green areas cover roughly 33,000 square miles, which is an area the size of Maine.

Greenland’s dramatic changes are the result of the warming climate, but in turn, those changes are accelerating climate change.  Land covered with dark green vegetation absorbs more energy from the sun thereby warming the air whereas ice-covered landscapes reflect much of the sun’s energy back into space.  In addition, the rapidly expanding wetlands are a significant source of methane, which traps even more heat in the atmosphere.

Greenland is a poster child for the effects of climate change.  Its glaciers and icecaps are shrinking, glacier-fed lakes are expanding, permafrost lakes are draining, and rivers are transporting vast amounts of sediment and widening.  All of this is going on as its vegetation cover and species diversity is expanding.

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In Icy Greenland, Area Covered by Vegetation Has More Than Doubled in Size

Photo, posted September 20, 2019, courtesy of Amanda via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Sponging up a river

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During the first week of February, an atmospheric river dumped enormous amounts of rain on Southern California.  Over the course of four days, Los Angeles received 9 inches of rain.  The average annual rainfall in the city is only 14 inches.

But Los Angeles was not the site of a flooding disaster because the city has spent years preparing for this type of deluge by becoming a “sponge city.”   By installing lots of green spaces and shallow basins with porous soil, Los Angeles was able to soak up 8.6 billion gallons of water during the storm, enough to meet the water needs of 100,000 people for a year.

Cities covered with impermeable concrete sidewalks and paved areas make storm-related flooding worse because they are unable to absorb water.  Instead, the water flows into drains and overwhelms infrastructure.

Natural materials like dirt and plants take in water from storms and can filter it into underground aquifer that cities can then tap into, especially during droughts.  Adding green spaces to cities has many other benefits beyond the ability to absorb large amounts of rainwater.

The so-called sponge-city movement is catching on in many other places.  Philadelphia is revamping its water systems in a 25-year project that includes green spaces to absorb stormwater runoff.  In China, the government has spent more than a decade adding spongy elements to dozens of cities around the country.

Sponge cities are part of a broader effort to combine modern engineering techniques with natural systems.  This is known as green-gray infrastructure.  Nature knows what it is doing when it comes to flood control as well as to pollution control.

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‘Spongy’ LA Soaked Up Tons of Water From Atmospheric River

Photo, posted December 28, 2011, courtesy of Ron Reiring via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Hybrid beef rice

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There is growing interest in innovative and more environmentally friendly ways to provide protein in our diets.  We’ve heard a great deal about lab-grown or cultured meats and about protein derived from insects. Whether either of these things achieves mainstream acceptance remains to be seen.

Scientists at Yonsei University in South Korea have developed a method for creating cultured beef rice – truly a hybrid food.  The method, described in the journal Matter, results in a nutritious and flavorful food that could be more affordable and have a smaller carbon footprint than current protein sources.

The researchers took rice grains – which are porous and have organized structures – and seeded them with beef muscle and stem cells and allowed them to culture for 9 to 11 days.  The harvested final product is a cell-cultured beef rice.

The hybrid beef rice was steamed and subjected to various food industry analyses, including nutritional value, odor, and texture.  The hybrid rice has 8% more protein and 7% more fat than regular rice.  It was somewhat firmer and more brittle than ordinary rice.  Hybrid rice with higher muscle content had beef- and almond-related odor compounds, while those with higher fat content had compounds corresponding to cream, butter, and coconut oil.

The hybrid rice has low food safety risks and a relatively easy production process.  If commercialized, the hybrid rice would be far less expensive than beef.  The researchers are optimistic that it can be commercialized.  They are continuing to work on the processing, hoping to further boost the nutritional value.  Like other unconventional foods under development, the biggest question is ultimately whether people will want to eat it.

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By growing animal cells in rice grains, scientists dish up hybrid food

Photo, posted January 26, 2010, courtesy of CIAT / Neil Palmer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Golf courses gone wild

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Golf courses are a significant burden on the environment.  The US has 16,000 golf courses which use 1.5 billion gallons of water a day and are treated with 100,000 tons of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium each year.  In recent years, the golf industry has taken steps to lighten its environmental toll by using less water, introducing pollinator-friendly plants, and decreasing pesticide and fertilizer use.  The US has more golf courses than any other country, accounting for 42% of all courses worldwide.

There is really an oversupply of golf courses and, as a result, more golf courses have closed than have opened since 2006.  Most closed golf courses end up in the hands of commercial or residential developers, but some of them are allowed to return to nature.

For this to happen, there has to be a willing seller and, more importantly, a conservation-minded buyer who can afford both to purchase the land and to restore it to a natural state.  There have been 28 former golf courses transformed into public green spaces between 2010 and the end of 2022.  But that number seems to be growing.

In 2023, the former Cedar View Golf Course on the eastern shore of Cayuga Lake in upstate New York was bought by the Finger Lakes Land Trust.  In California, places like Santa Barbara, Marin County, and even Palm Springs have all undertaken the transformation of former golf courses into public parklands.

Rewilding a golf course is undoubtedly a disappointment to local golfers, but it can bring big benefits to animals, plants, and people. 

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After Shutting Down, These Golf Courses Went Wild

Photo, posted October 19, 2016, courtesy of Cabo Girao via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Iceland power

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Iceland burns very little fossil fuel to power its economy and heat its homes.  About 85% of its energy comes from geothermal power and hydropower.  Its unique geology provides it with the highest percentage of renewable energy in the world.  The fossil fuel that Iceland does burn is primarily used to power cars and trucks as well as boats in its fishing fleet.  And Iceland is rapidly embracing the use of electric vehicles.

Iceland can make far more electricity than its 373,000 people can use.  The majority of its electricity is essentially exported as bars of aluminum.  Iceland is one of the world’s largest refiners of aluminum.  The aluminum ore comes from other countries but gets shipped to Iceland where electricity is cheap.  Refining aluminum is so energy-intensive that some say that aluminum is basically just pure electricity in solid metal form.

Electricity-rich Iceland is finding other ways to make use of its resources.  There is a proposed project called Icelink, which is an electricity interconnector between Iceland and Great Britain.  The high-voltage direct current link would run between 620 and 750 miles and would be the longest sub-sea power interconnector in the world.  It is controversial in Iceland and it may or may not happen.

Another technology that is establishing an early foothold in Iceland is carbon capture.  An Icelandic company called Carbix is doing leading work on taking captured carbon dioxide and sequestering it underground.  Capturing and storing carbon dioxide is energy-intensive and the promise of cheap, clean geothermal power makes Iceland an attractive place to do it.

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Iceland Is Living in our Future

Photo, posted July 2, 2012, courtesy of  Emily Qualey / PopTech via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A lake in Death Valley

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Death Valley in California is the driest place in North America, averaging only 2 inches of rain each year.  Badwater Basin in Death Valley is the lowest point in North America with a depth of 282 feet below sea level.  Currently, Badwater Basin is the site of an ephemeral lake called Lake Manley.

The lake formed again last August after Hurricane Hilary drenched the California desert.  Water levels in the lake dropped throughout the fall, but it never quite dried up.  But then the relentless rains of early February filled the lake once again.

Water that gathers in Badwater Basin usually evaporates faster than it can be replenished, leaving the lakebed dry.  But between the hurricane and the February storm, nearly 4 inches of rain have fallen, and the lake has stayed alive.  There is a river that feeds the lake – the Amargosa – that is really flowing in the aftermath of the storms.

The lake is nearly 7 miles long and 4 miles wide, but the water is only about a foot deep.  This is not the first time it has formed but it is an unusual occurrence.  It formed in 2005, but only lasted about a week.  Death Valley National Park officials expected that the lake would be gone by October, but it persisted into the new year which then brought the atmospheric river-driven California rainstorms.

At this point, it is unclear how long the lake in the driest place in America will be around.  While it is there, visitors to the national park can enjoy beautiful views of the nearby mountains reflected in its waters.

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Deep in Death Valley, a Sprawling Lake Takes Form

Photo, posted February 19, 2024, courtesy of Tom Hilton via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

AI’s Environmental Footprint

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Artificial intelligence is everywhere these days.  Some say it is the biggest development since the discovery of fire.  There is a lot of hype regarding AI, and it will be a while before the hype is sorted out from the reality.  But one thing that is certain is that AI is resource-intensive and has a large environmental footprint.

AI use directly produces carbon emissions from its consumption of non-renewable electricity and is also responsible for the consumption of billions of gallons of fresh water.

Various forms of AI run on many types of devices, but the kind of AI we hear about the most – such as ChatGPT – requires specialized computer equipment that runs in large cloud data centers.  There are roughly 10,000 such centers worldwide and more are under construction.  Estimates are that electricity consumption from data centers will double between 2022 and 2026 to a total of 1,000 terawatts, roughly as much electricity as all of Japan uses.

These estimates include all data center activities, not just AI.  Most operators of data centers don’t reveal what percentage of their energy use comes from AI.  One exception is Google, which says machine learning accounts for about 15% of its data center energy use.

Data centers also consume a great deal of water to cool delicate electronics.  In 2022, Google’s data centers consumed about 5 billion gallons of fresh water.

AI has the potential to improve the efficiency of systems, improve climate models, and perhaps help develop new ways to help reduce humanity’s environmental footprint.  But at the moment, it represents an increasing burden on the environment that cannot just be ignored.

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As Use of A.I. Soars, So Does the Energy and Water It Requires

Photo, posted January 23, 2023, courtesy of Aileen Devlin / Jefferson Lab via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Is the Amazon rainforest nearing a tipping point?

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The Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world, covering more than 2.5 million square miles.  More than three million species live in the rainforest, which constitutes approximately 10% of the world’s known biodiversity.  The Amazon rainforest’s biodiversity is so rich that scientists are still discovering new species all the time. 

The Amazon rainforest absorbs huge amounts of carbon dioxide from Earth’s atmosphere, making it a key part of mitigating climate change.  But the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by the Amazon rainforest today is 30% less than it was in the 1990s. 

Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest remains a major problem. Cattle ranching is the leading cause of deforestation, but industrial activities, such as the mining of oil and gas, copper, iron, and gold, are also to blame.

According to a new study recently published in the journal Nature, global warming may be interacting with regional rainfall and deforestation to accelerate forest loss in the Amazon.  In fact, it may be pushing the rainforest towards a partial or total collapse. 

The study, which was led by researchers from Federal University of Santa Catarina in Brazil and the University of Birmingham in the U.K., has identified the potential thresholds of these stressors, and highlighted how their combined effects could produce a tipping point for the Amazon rainforest. 

The findings are important because the Amazon rainforest plays a vital role in the global climate system.  By identifying the most important stressors on the rainforest environment, the researchers hope they can develop a plan to keep the Amazon rainforest resilient.

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Is the Amazon forest approaching a tipping point?

Photo, posted July 2, 2017, courtesy of Anna & Michal via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The East Coast is sinking

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Most of the world’s largest cities are located in coastal regions and coastal regions are on the front lines of the climate crisis.  Human populations continue to migrate towards low-elevation coastal areas at the same time that sea level rise is accelerating.  Coastal communities worldwide are increasingly vulnerable to the dangers of flooding and erosion.  With these hazards occupying a great deal of attention, there has been less attention paid to the dangers of land subsidence.

A recent study by researchers at Virginia Tech and the US Geological Survey using satellite data shows that parts of America’s east coast are sinking, and the culprit is the withdrawal of too much water from the aquifers beneath these coastal areas.

A series of overlapping aquifers extends all the way from New Jersey to Florida along the coast, providing a reliable source of water for drinking, irrigation, and industrial uses.  Even though these areas get regular rainfall, the deeper aquifers can take hundreds or even thousands of years to refill once water is pumped out.  Once water is removed, soils can compress and collapse, causing the land surface to sink.

Cities that were built on drained marshland or on fill soil are especially vulnerable to compaction. 

Seal level rise is slow, but it is insidious and continuous.  Add land subsidence to the mix and effects multiply.  Places like Boston, New York, Washington DC, Roanoke, Savannah, Jacksonville, and Miami, among others, all are increasingly vulnerable to these coastal hazards.  The combined effects of sea level rise and subsidence may even triple the prospects for flooding areas over the next few decades.

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As Aquifers Are Depleted, Areas Along The East Coast Of The US Are Sinking

Photo, posted August 7, 2015, courtesy of Tracy Robillard / NRCS Oregon via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Little ice on the Great Lakes

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In an average year, the Great Lakes end up about 40% covered in ice.  But this is not an average year.  2023 was the warmest year on record and, in fact, the global temperature was more than 1.5 degrees above the pre-industrial average for the full year.  That hasn’t happened before.  As a result of the record-breaking warmth, as of mid-February, the average ice cover on the Great Lakes was only 5.9%.

Lake Erie and Lake Ontario tied their records for the lowest ice cover, which has been tracked since 1973.  Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, and Lake Superior are at historic lows.  Some parts of the Great Lakes have experienced the winter without any ice cover.

The warming air temperatures have led to rapid ice loss and warming summer temperatures.  According to experts, if the planet continues to warm, more than 200,000 lakes may no longer freeze every winter and 5,700 lakes may permanently lose ice cover by the end of the century.

Studying the Great Lakes is important because their ice melt can be a significant indicator of the progress of global warming.  Decreasing ice cover can affect hydropower generation, commercial shipping and fishing, and have environmental impacts such as the development of plankton blooms.

Since the 1970s, there has been a 5% decline in Great Lakes ice cover per decade.  Unfrozen lakes bring more rain than snow which has environmental, cultural, and societal impacts.  The Great Lakes hold 21% of the world’s freshwater supply and over 30 million people depend on them for drinking water.  They are also linked to over $3 trillion in gross domestic product.

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Great Lakes Winter Ice Cover Averaging Just 5.9%: NOAA

Photo, posted November 7, 2007, courtesy of Jim Sorbie via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Polar bears and the changing climate

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The changing climate poses a major threat to polar bear survival.  Polar bears, whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, depend on sea ice for nearly all of their lifecycle functions.  Rising global temperatures are causing this sea ice to disappear.

With less sea ice, polar bears are forced to stay longer on land.  However, according to a new study led by researchers from Washington State University, more time stranded on land leads to a greater risk of polar bear starvation. 

During three summer weeks in Manitoba, Canada, 20 polar bears observed by researchers tried different strategies to maintain energy reserves.  But the research team found that nearly all of them lost weight – losing about 2.2 pounds per day on average.     

Some scientists have speculated that polar bears might be able to adapt to the changing climate by acting more like grizzly bears by either resting or eating terrestrial food.  But the polar bears tried versions of both strategies – with little success.

Polar bears can weigh nearly twice as much as grizzly bears.  To maintain this size, polar bears rely on the energy-rich fat of seals, which they best catch on ice.

In the study, which was recently published in Nature Communications, the researchers found that some polar bears laid down to conserve energy, while others searched on land for food.  But neither the activity nor the lack thereof paid off.  In fact, only one bear out of the 20 gained weight after stumbling across a dead marine mammal on land.

Polar bears across the Arctic are at risk of starvation as the ice-free period continues to grow.

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Polar bears unlikely to adapt to longer summers

Photo, posted November 16, 2015, courtesy of Anita Ritenour via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A wet January

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For the first time in a while, the monthly report on the US climate did not feature record-setting heat.  The average January temperature across the contiguous U.S. was 1.6 degrees above the average, but that only ranked it in the middle third of the climate record.  The diminishing El Niño probably helped.  On the other hand, the global average temperature in January was again the warmest on record – the 8th consecutive record-setting month.

But January still managed to be atypical weatherwise in the U.S. in that the nation’s average precipitation across the country was 3.18 inches – nearly an inch above average – which made it the 10th wettest January in NOAA’s 130-year climate record.  Thirteen states experienced top-ten rainfall amounts.  In late January, record rainfall and flooding hit the southern plains, especially in parts of Texas and Louisiana.  Meanwhile, early February brought historic rainfall and mountain snow to California with a second round later in the month.

All of the rainfall in January has made some difference to drought conditions across the country.  On January 30th, about 23.5% of the contiguous U.S. was In drought, which was 9.5% lower than the beginning of the month.  However, drought conditions expanded or intensified across northern parts of the Rockies and Plains among a few other places.

Outside of the lower-48, Alaska continued to experience historic snowfall conditions.  Between October and the end of January, Anchorage had over 100 inches of snow.

We are living in an era of weather extremes.

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The nation just saw its 10th-wettest January on record

Photo, posted February 8, 2017, courtesy of Paxson Woelber via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Record energy transition investments

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Global investment in the energy transition – that is, the transition away from fossil fuels – increased by 17% in 2023, reaching a new high of $1.8 trillion dollars.  That number includes spending on electric vehicles and their associated infrastructure, electrification of the power grid, and various other changes to the energy system.

Electrified transport was the largest sector for spending, accounting for $634 billion dollars.  This figure includes spending on electric cars, trucks, buses, two- and three-wheeler, and commercial vehicles, as well as charging stations and other associated infrastructure.

The renewable energy sector – including wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuel power plants – accounted for $623 billion.  The third largest investment was $310 billion in power grid investments.

China spent the most of any country by a large margin, investing $676 billion. The EU, U.S., and UK combined accounted for $718 billion. 

These numbers reflect the rapid growth of clean energy across the globe and are obviously quite large.  However, the pace at which clean energy technology is growing is not fast enough to achieve the goal of net-zero emissions by mid-century that most countries have set.  By many accounts, energy transition investments would need to average $4.8 trillion per year for the rest of the decade to be on track.  This is about 5.6% of the global gross domestic product that is currently about $85 trillion per year.  By comparison, the U.S. currently spends about 5.7% of its GDP on energy.

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Energy transition investments hit record $1.8 trillion in 2023

Photo, posted November 22, 2008, courtesy of Oregon Department of Transportation via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Global groundwater depletion

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Groundwater is found underground in aquifers and it bubbles up naturally into springs, streams, and rivers.  It’s also often pumped out for use by people. 

Researchers from UC Santa Barbara have conducted the largest assessment of groundwater levels across the globe, spanning 170,000 wells and nearly 1,700 aquifers across more than 40 countries. The team compiled and analyzed data, including 300 million water level measurements taken over the past 100 years.

In the study, which was recently published in the journal Nature, the researchers found that groundwater is rapidly declining across the globe, often at accelerating rates.  In fact, they found that groundwater is dropping in 71% of the aquifers studied.  The rates of groundwater decline observed in the 1980s and ’90s sped up from 2000 to the present, highlighting how a bad problem became even worse. 

But there are some reasons to be optimistic.  That’s because in 16% of the aquifers studied, the researchers found that the rate at which groundwater levels are falling in the 21st century had slowed down compared to the 1980s and ‘90s.  The research team highlighted specific success stories in Thailand, Arizona, and New Mexico, where groundwater has begun to recover after interventions to better regulate water use or redirect water to replenish depleted aquifers.

While groundwater depletion isn’t inevitable, the researchers stress that aquifer recovery will require interventions.  They hope this study will help scientists, policy makers, and resource managers better understand the global dynamics of groundwater. 

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Global groundwater depletion is accelerating, but is not inevitable

Photo, posted October 4, 2016, courtesy of Deborah Lee Soltesz / Coconino National Forest via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Record renewable energy in Scotland

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The Scottish government recently announced that in 2022, renewable technologies in that country produced the equivalent of 113% of Scotland’s electricity consumption.

Fossil fuels still supplied electricity in Scotland, helping to fill in gaps in renewable power, but the government figures showed that the growing amount of Scottish renewable generation can easily generate more power than the country uses.  Scotland has seen significant growth in wind power as well as a small drop in overall electricity consumption.

Scotland, with a population of only 5.5 million, aims to produce enough renewable power to both meet its own demand and export clean electricity to other countries.  The U.K. is the obvious potential customer, but it will need to upgrade its national power grid and develop enough capacity to store up surplus wind and solar power.

The U.K. itself is drawing less power from natural gas and coal than it has at any point in the last 66 years.  Fossil fuels supplied only 33% of British electricity in 2023 while renewables supplied 43%. 

Fossil power use in Britain peaked in 2008.  Since then, power from natural gas has fallen nearly in half while coal power has dropped by 97%.  The U.K. has aggressive decarbonization goals in place, but the current Conservative government under Prime Minister Sunak has recently set about weakening British climate policy.

Meanwhile, the Scottish government is talking about becoming a global renewables powerhouse and is making investments aimed at achieving it.

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Record renewable energy output

Photo, posted July 21, 2010, courtesy of Martin Abegglen via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Fusion energy

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Nuclear fusion is the process that powers the sun.  Two atoms of hydrogen unite to form one helium atom and release energy in the process.  Hydrogen bombs work in this way and since their development in the 1950s, scientists have sought a way to use fusion to generate electricity.  Many scientists believe that the key to a fully decarbonized future is a combination of solar, wind, and fusion power.

Nuclear fusion does not involve radioactivity and thus does not have the dangers associated with the nuclear fission used in existing power plants.  Over the decades, billions of dollars have gone into fusion research, but the challenges faced in peacefully triggering a fusion reaction have made success always seem to be extremely far off in the future.

The world’s largest fusion project – the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor or ITER – was initiated in 1985.  The project involves 35 countries, and the reactor, still under construction in France, has yet to deliver any tangible results.

In the past couple of years, there have been important demonstrations of new and different ways to create nuclear fusion.  A system using laser fusion achieved fusion ignition, in which a reaction briefly became self-sustaining.  A system using magnetic confinement fusion produced a plasma that generated 11 megawatts of power for a world-record five seconds.

There are more than 30 companies competing in the race to deliver fusion energy.  Governments and private investors are funding efforts around the world.  Whether any of them will succeed remains to be seen.  The challenges are immense but so are the potential rewards.

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Will Tech Breakthroughs Bring Fusion Energy Closer to Reality?

Photo, posted July 31, 2010, courtesy of Steve Jurvetson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Hope for white rhinos

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There are only two northern white rhinos left in the world, and both of them are female.  The last male died in 2018. Northern white rhinos live to about 40 and one of the two remaining is 35 and the other 24.  The clock is ticking for the species.

Recently, scientists with the BioRescue consortium successfully used in vitro fertilization to impregnate a southern white rhino.  It was the world’s first IVF rhino pregnancy.

There is now some hope that IVF could be used to produce more northern white rhinos.  For various medical reasons, neither of the remaining two female rhinos can serve as a surrogate mother.  But there is a plan B.

For a number of years, BioRescue has been creating northern white rhino embryos with eggs from the remaining females and sperm that was collected from males before they died.  There are now 30 northern white rhino embryos in cold storage, and they are continuing to produce more.

The recent success with the southern white rhino IVF provides hope that southern white rhino females can act as surrogate mothers with implanted northern white rhino embryos.  The species are similar enough that it should work.

The plan is to select surrogates and implant them.  This should happen this year.  A rhino pregnancy lasts 16 months.  If this is successful, there could be northern white rhino babies in two or three years.  The scientists want the offspring to live with the surviving northern whites for years to learn the social behavior of its kind.

It is possible that these gentle, hulking creatures may get a new lease on life.

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Just two northern white rhinos are left on Earth. A new breakthrough offers hope

Photo, posted September 16, 2017, courtesy of San Diego Zoo Safari Park via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Protecting wine grapes from wildfire smoke

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In recent years, wildfires have become a major threat to the wine industry because of the effects of smoke on wine grapes.  Smoke taint from the California fires of September 2020 significantly impacted the quality of wine grapes.  In total, smoke taint cost the wine industry in Western states more than $3 billion in losses from the hundreds of thousands of tons of wine grapes that could not be harvested because of the off flavors imparted by the smoke.  The California wine industry alone is a $43 billion a year business and the state’s frequent wildfires are a major threat to it.

Researchers at Oregon State University have developed techniques for eliminating the effects of three volatile chemical compounds that contribute to smoke taint in grapes.  The compounds are guaicol, syringol, and meta-cresol.

The researchers developed cellulose nanofiber-based coatings that can be applied to grapes in the vineyard.  The coatings can block guaicol and syringol and capture meta-cresol.

Blocking is ideal because the coating doesn’t absorb the wildfire smoke compounds.  Therefore, it doesn’t have to be washed off.  Capturing means the coating absorbs the compounds and would need to be washed off.  Ideally, a coating that doesn’t need to be washed off would save time, money, and water.

Two years of studies at Oregon State found that the coatings do not impact the growth and quality of wine grapes.  In an era when wildfires are increasingly common and extensive, growers need something they can spray on their vines to protect their grapes.  If the Oregon State technology can be commercialized, it would be a game-changer for the Western U.S. wine industry.

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Spray coating for grapes shows promise in battle between wildfire smoke and wine

Photo, posted October 3, 2006, courtesy of Naotake Murayama via Flickr.

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