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Declining Bird Populations | Earth Wise

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A study by scientists from multiple institutions around the world including Cornell University has found that significant declines in bird populations are taking place across the planet.  Loss and degradation of natural habitats, direct overexploitation of many species, and climate change are driving the bird population declines.

According to the study, approximately 48% of existing bird species worldwide are known or suspected to be undergoing population declines.  The populations of 39% of bird species appear to be stable.  Only 6% of birds have increasing populations.

A study in 2019 determined that nearly 3 billion breeding birds have been lost in the U.S. and Canada over the past 50 years.  The new study shows that the same patterns of population decline and extinction are happening globally.  According to the study, there are now the first signs of a new wave of extinctions of continentally distributed bird species.

The ultimate fate of bird populations is strongly dependent on stopping the loss and degradation of habitats.   Habitat loss is generally driven by human demand for resources.  Reducing the human footprint on the natural world is what is needed.  Birds are a highly visible indicator of environmental health, and their declining populations signal a much wide loss of biodiversity and threats to human health and wellbeing.

There is a global network of bird conservation organizations trying to prevent further loss of bird species and bird abundance.  Keeping track of the situation is essential and there is growing participation by the public in bird monitoring.  But ultimately, it depends on governments and society in general to support sustainable resource use and learn how to share the planet with nature.

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Global Bird Populations Steadily Declining

Photo, posted January 9, 2022, courtesy of Martien Brand via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Atmosphere Is Thirstier | Earth Wise      

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The American West is in the throes of a two-decade-long drought.  The climate there is getting warmer and drier, which has led to increasing demand for water resources from both humans and ecosystems.  According to a new study by the Desert Research Institute and collaborators, the atmosphere across much of the U.S. is also demanding a greater share of water than it used to.

Evaporative demand, which is also called atmospheric thirst, is a measure of the potential loss of water from the earth’s surface up to the atmosphere.  It is a function of temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation.  The study, published in the Journal of Hydrometeorology, assessed trends in evaporative demand during a 40-year period from 1980-2020.

The study’s findings showed substantial increases in atmospheric thirst across much of the Western U.S. over that period, with the largest increases centered around the Rio Grande and Lower Colorado rivers.  This is important because atmospheric thirst is a persistent force in pushing Western landscapes and water supplies toward drought.

The study found that, on average, increases in temperature were responsible for 57% of the changes observed in atmospheric thirst, humidity 26%, and the other factors playing lesser roles.

For farmers and other water users, increases in atmospheric thirst mean that, in the future, more water will be required to meet existing water needs.  Crops already require more water than they did in the past and can be expected to require more water in the future.  Over time, for every drop of precipitation that falls, less and less water is likely to drain into streams, wetlands, aquifers, or other water bodies.

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New study shows robust increases in atmospheric thirst across much of U.S. during past 40 years

Photo, posted August 9, 2007, courtesy of William Clifford via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Floating Offshore Wind | Earth Wise

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According to a new report by the Global Wind Energy Council, floating offshore wind technology is on track to grow from a miniscule market to a substantial contribution to the world’s energy supply over the next decade.  Furthermore, the United States represents one of the countries with the greatest potential.

Wind power is stronger and steadier in the ocean than on land, so the use of offshore wind is rapidly expanding.  However, because most installations are based on fixed structures attached to the sea bottom, they cannot be installed in very deep or complex seabed locations.

Floating offshore wind is based on structures that are anchored to the seabed only by means of flexible anchors, chains, or steel cables.  Apart from making it feasible to place wind turbines in deeper and more distant locations, floating turbines and platforms can also be built and assembled on land and then towed to the offshore installation site.

The floating offshore wind industry is currently in a pre-commercial phase but has great potential.  Many offshore locations with great potential in terms of their wind resources are unsuitable for conventional installations either because of the depth of the seabed or its complex structure.  This is particularly true of the waters off the coasts of California, Oregon, and the Gulf Coast, which otherwise offer excellent wind resources.

There are many issues to deal with in expanding the use of floating offshore wind, including transporting the power to shore and the ability of the local power grids to handle the incoming power.  On the other hand, distantly placed floating offshore wind reduces environmental concerns and eliminates issues associated with the visual impact of wind farms for coastal residents.

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What’s the potential of floating offshore wind?

Photo, posted May 10, 2015, courtesy of Olin Gilbert via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Poverty And Climate Change

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According to the World Health Organization, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 extra deaths per year between 2030 and 2050.  But climate change does not affect everyone the same.  In fact, the poorest people on the planet, who are often the least to blame for climate change, typically bear the worst of the impact.

Wealthier people and countries have more resources to shield themselves from the impacts of climate change.  For example, higher incomes allow people to purchase air conditioning as temperatures rise,  food as food prices soar, and homes in safer places.  Wealthy nations can also compensate citizens when climate change harms livelihoods. 

According to new research, people with lower incomes are exposed to heat waves for longer periods of time compared to those with higher incomes due to a combination of factors including location and access to heat adaptations like air conditioning.  This inequality is expected to increase as temperatures rise. 

The study, which was published in the AGU journal Earth’s Future, found that lower income populations face a 40% higher exposure to heat waves than people with higher incomes.  By the end of the century, the poorest 25% of the global population will be exposed to heat waves at a rate equivalent to the rest of the population combined.

On the other hand, the highest-income quarter of the population will experience comparatively little change in exposure to heat waves as their ability to keep up with climate change is generally greater.

The research team hopes its findings will prompt innovations into affordable cooling solutions for the world’s most vulnerable population. 

Climate change and poverty are, and will remain, inextricably linked. 

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Poorest people bear growing burden of heat waves as temperatures rise

Photo, posted October 27, 2019, courtesy of Jack via Flickr.

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Melting Himalayan Glaciers | Earth Wise

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The great mountain ranges of central Asia, including the Himalayas, contain the third-largest deposit of ice and snow in the world, trailing only Antarctica and the Arctic.  The Himalayan range contains about 15,000 glaciers, and is part of a region widely referred to as the Third Pole due to its extraordinary reserves of freshwater.

But in recent years, scientists have observed an increase in the rate of Himalayan glacier loss.  According to a new study led by researchers from the University of Leeds in the UK, the accelerating melting of the Himalayan glaciers threatens the water supply of millions of people in Asia. 

In the study, researchers reconstructed the reach of the Himalayan glaciers during the Little Ice Age, which was the last major glacier expansion 400-700 years ago. They found that these glaciers began losing ice 10 times faster during the modern era.  In fact, the glaciers have shrunk from a peak of nearly 11,000 square miles to around 7,500 square miles today.   

This exceptional acceleration of melting of the Himalayan glaciers could have significant implications.  Hundreds of millions of people rely on Asia’s major river systems for food and energy, and depend on these glaciers to feed rivers during the dry seasons.  These rivers include the Brahmaputra, Ganges, and Indus.  The changing global climate could disastrously impact water resources and livelihoods of the Greater Himalayan region.

According to the research team, people living in these regions have already seen changes that are unlike anything witnessed for centuries.  This study is the latest to confirm that these changes are accelerating and pose a significant threat to entire nations and regions. 

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Himalayan glaciers melting at ‘exceptional rate’

Photo, posted March 13, 2018, courtesy of Sarunas Burdulis via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

SuperHot Rock Geothermal Energy | Earth Wise

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The United States in a world leader in geothermal energy.  There are geothermal power plants in 7 states which produce about half a percent of the country’s electricity.  Conventional geothermal energy plants take advantage of natural underground sources of heat such as geysers, superheated underground reservoirs, and such.  Steam from these sources activates generators that produce electricity.  However, there are not many places where these systems can be built.

More recently, there has been growing interest in so-called enhanced geothermal systems (or EGS systems) which generate geothermal electricity without the need for natural convective hydrothermal sources.  There are many places where underground heat is available but no existing water taps into it.  The idea is to tap into the earth’s deep geothermal resources by fracturing rock and pumping water into it to be heated. 

AltaRock Energy, a Seattle-based company that develops EGS technology, has recently announced the results of a comprehensive technical and economic feasibility study demonstrating the potential benefits of an EGS system that could use high-temperature impermeable rock deep below the Newberry Volcano near Bend, Oregon.  The so-called SuperHot rock there is in excess of 750 degrees Fahrenheit.

Based on measurements at the site and modeling, the study determined that an EGS system at the site could cut the levelized cost of electricity in half when compared with a conventional EGS resources at 400-500 degrees. 

The company expects that the study will pave the way for the development of the first SuperHot Rock geothermal resource in the United States.

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AltaRock clears hurdle in quest for ‘next generation’ geothermal resource

Photo, posted June 26, 2018, courtesy of David Fulmer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Carbon Capture And The Infrastructure Bill | Earth Wise

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The trillion-dollar infrastructure bill contains a variety of provisions related to energy and the environment.  Among them is authorization for more than $12 billion for carbon capture technologies, including direct air capture and demonstration projects on coal, natural gas, and industrial plants and supporting carbon dioxide infrastructure.

Inclusion of this provision has largely been driven by energy companies, electrical utilities, and other industrial sectors.  The strongest proponents have been fossil fuel companies.  The reasons are fairly clear.

Support for carbon capture and storage (or CCS) technologies would yield billions of dollars for corporate polluters while allowing them to continue to burn fossil fuels.  To date, CCS technology has not progressed very far.  It is very expensive and has done little to reduce emissions. 

The strongest argument against directing significant resources into CCS for the power sector is that the plummeting costs of wind and solar energy have made renewable energy sources competitive with or cheaper than burning fossil fuels to generate electricity.  Adding expensive carbon capture equipment to a power plant only makes the economics of using fossil fuels worse.

The infrastructure bill does promote direct air capture technology, which is literally pulling carbon dioxide out of the air independent of any industrial activities generating it.  Given the world’s progress on reducing emissions, direct air capture technology may be an essential part of the global strategy to combat climate change.  If infrastructure funds largely go in that direction rather than for propping up fossil fuel companies, they may prove to be of great value.

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Fossil Fuel Companies Are Quietly Scoring Big Money for Their Preferred Climate Solution: Carbon Capture and Storage

Photo, posted March 15, 2021, courtesy of Michael Swan via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Tracking Ocean Plastics | Earth Wise

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Plastic pollution in the oceans is a major problem.  An estimated 8 million tons of plastic trash enters the ocean every year.  Most of it is broken up by sun and waves into microplastics, which are tiny bits that ride currents for hundreds or thousands of miles.  All of this debris is harmful to marine ecosystems, and it is both challenging to track and very difficult to clean up.

University of Michigan researchers have developed a new technique for spotting and tracking ocean microplastics across the globe.  The approach relies on the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, or CYGNSS, which is a constellation of eight microsatellites launched in 2016 to monitor weather near large storm systems.  It turns out that the radar systems on CYGNSS that measure surface roughness to calculate the wind speed near the eyes of hurricanes can also be used to detect the presence of microplastics.

With the satellite measurements, the researchers have found that global microplastic concentrations tend to vary by season, peaking during the summer months.  For example, June and July are the peak months for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.  The data also showed spikes in microplastic concentration at the mouth of China’s Yangtze River, long suspected to be a chief source of plastic pollution.  The researchers produced visualizations that show microplastic concentrations around the world.

The information provided by the new technique could help organizations that clean up microplastics to deploy ships and other resources more efficiently.  Data of single-point release of plastics, such as from rivers, may also be useful to UNESCO, which has sponsored a task force to find new ways to track the release of microplastics into the world’s waters.

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Ocean microplastics: First global view shows seasonal changes and sources

Photo, posted April 3, 2018, courtesy of Rey Perezoso via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Overwintering Fires | Earth Wise

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Fires that go on for long periods of time, surviving the snow and rain of winter to reemerge in the spring, are becoming more common in high northern latitudes as the climate warms.  Such fires are called holdover fires, hibernating fires, overwintering fires, or even zombie fires.  Whatever people choose to call them, this type of wildfire is occurring more often.

These smoldering fires start out as flaming fires but then enter an energy-saver mode.  They start above ground but then smolder in the soil or under tree roots through the winter.  They barely survive based on the oxygen and fuel resources that they have but can transition back into flaming fires once conditions are more favorable.

Dutch researchers used ground-based data with fire detection data from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instruments on the Terra and Aqua satellites to study fires in the boreal forests of Alaska and Canada’s Northwest Territories.  They found a way to identify overwintering fires based on their unique characteristics.  

Their data indicates that overwintering fires tend to be linked to high summer temperatures and large fire seasons.  Between 2002 and 2018, overwintering fires generally accounted for a small amount of the total burned area in the region but in individual years with hot and severe fire seasons, the number can escalate.  In 2008 in Alaska, for example, overwintering fires accounted for nearly 40% of the burned area.

Early detection of these overwintering fires could help with fire management and reduce the amount of carbon – which is stored in large amounts in the region’s organic soils – that gets released to the atmosphere during fires.

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Overwintering Fires on the Rise

Photo, posted September 14, 2017, courtesy of Andrew R. Mitchell/USDA via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Not All Eggs In One Basket | Earth Wise

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Sea turtles lay their eggs in burrows on sandy beaches.  Many species lay their eggs on the exact same beach year after year.  On average, sea turtles lay over 100 eggs in a nest and produce between 2 and 8 nests per season.

Animals that produce such large numbers of eggs have this reproductive strategy because so few survive to adulthood.   Sea turtle eggs and hatchlings face numerous threats including powerful storms, poachers, marauding birds, and more.  Estimates are that only one in thousand sea turtle eggs leads to an adult turtle.

A recent study by the University of South Florida looked at the reproductive strategy of loggerhead sea turtles nesting on Keewaydin Island off the southwestern Gulf coast of Florida.  The researchers found that individual females lay numerous clutches of eggs in locations as much as six miles apart from each other to increase the chance that some of their offspring will survive.

As the saying goes, nesting loggerhead turtles don’t lay all their eggs in one basket.  The researchers compare the turtles’ strategy to investing in a mutual fund.  The female turtles divide their resources among many stocks rather than investing everything in a single stock.

During their 50-year lifetime, a single female loggerhead will produce over 4,000 eggs and scatter them at 40 different sites.  This strategy helps reduce the risk of complete reproductive failure caused by hurricanes and thunderstorms that could wash out or flood all their clutches.  The combination of unpredictable patterns of nests over time and space results in nearly two-thirds of loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings making it into the Gulf of Mexico.  The species still faces significant challenges but it is doing its part to try to survive.

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Not all in one basket: Loggerhead sea turtles lay eggs in multiple locations to improve reproductive success

Photo, posted January 27, 2012, courtesy of Jeroen Looye via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Compost And Landfills | Earth Wise

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Composting is popular as a way to keep solid waste out of landfills and many people turn much of their kitchen waste into rich soil amendments.   Cities and towns across the country have composting programs that collect waste from residents to produce large quantities of compost rather than adding the waste to landfills.  A new study from North Carolina State University looked into the environmental benefits of actually using compost at landfills.

Most municipal composting programs require that the compost they produce gets used “beneficially”.  The new research shows that using compost as an alternative daily cover at landfills is competitive and often superior to the use of compost as a soil amendment in terms of its environmental benefits.

Landfills apply a layer of daily cover to reduce odors, reduce windblown debris, and keep vermin out of landfill waste.  Federal regulations require six inches of soil as a daily cover.

Compost from food waste in particular is not always suitable for soil amendment in gardens and agricultural fields because it often contains broken glass and other contaminants.

The North Carolina State study looked at the environmental impact of using compost as daily cover in landfills compared with its use as a soil amendment.  They looked at global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication (which is the amount of nutrients released to ground and surface water), cumulative energy demand, and the depletion of resources.

The study concluded that using compost as landfill daily cover is environmentally superior with regard to eutrophication, acidification, and global warming potential.  On the other hand, soil amendment was better in terms of resource depletion and cumulative energy demand.

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Applying Compost to Landfills Could Have Environmental Benefits

Photo, posted April 22, 2008, courtesy of Alachua County via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Arctic Northeast Passage May Open | Earth Wise

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The Northwest Passage is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean.  It goes along the northern coast of North America, traveling though the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.  In the past, it was the domain of intrepid explorers like Roald Amundsen.  Because of the receding ice in the Arctic, in recent years it has become possible to travel the Northwest Passage by cruise ship.

The Northeast Passage connects the same two oceans along the Arctic coasts of Norway and Siberia.  The sustained loss of sea ice is now leading to accessibility of Arctic sea passages through this route.

Compared with the customary route through the Strait of Malacca in Malaysia and the Suez Canal, using the Northeast Passage could reduce the travel distance between Europe and northwest Asia by one-third.  This would reduce the expense of transportation and lower environmental pollution.  Many Asian countries have a strong strategic and economic interest in Arctic shipping.  Russia would gain strong competitive advantages for its liquified natural gas industry.

According to a recent study at the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the continuing warming of the Arctic seas is likely to result in the Northeast Passage being navigable for open water ships by next year and will continue to be increasingly hospitable to marine traffic.

The economic and strategic benefits to the opening of the Northeast Passage are quite clear.  What is also clear is that the underlying cause of the opening of the passage – the dramatic loss of Arctic sea ice – is not beneficial to the world at all and is a harbinger of troubling things in our future.

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Arctic Northeast Passage may be Navigable in Near Future

Photo, posted September 24, 2005, courtesy of Paul Downey via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Dangers Of Negative Emissions Technologies | Earth Wise

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Reducing carbon emissions is not easy and there are plenty of people who don’t even want to try for various reasons, generally related to their perceived economic interests and convenience.  As a result, there is a great deal of interest in so-called negative emissions technologies or NETs.   These are methods for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  Even the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assumes that NETs will play a role in mitigating the effects of climate change and meeting international goals.

The most widely studied approaches to negative emissions technology are bioenergy with carbon capture and storage – which entails growing crops for fuel, and then capturing and burying the CO2 produced from burning the fuel; planting more forests; and direct air capture, which involves actually pulling CO2 out of the air and storing it – probably underground. 

A new study published in Nature Climate Change points out that none of these technologies has even been tried at the demonstration scale, much less at the massive levels required to make a dent in current CO2 emissions. 

Their analysis of the biofuel and reforestation strategies show that each would take up vast land and water resources already needed for agriculture and nature.  Air capture uses less water than the other two approaches, but still uses quite a bit and even more energy, which if supplied by fossil fuels, would offset the benefits of carbon capture.

Negative emissions technologies may well play an important role in combating climate change, but it is essential that we understand what the consequences will be from implementing them.  We need to know the pitfalls that could arise.  It would be a major mistake to simply count on NETs to be some kind of silver bullet.

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Remove CO2 from the air? Don’t bet on it before examining costs, researchers say

Photo, posted January 11, 2008, courtesy of Al Pavangkanan via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Family Forests And Climate Change | Earth Wise

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Climate experts consider sequestration and storage of carbon in trees to be among the most affordable and scalable natural climate solutions.  If implemented globally, trees could provide a third of the near-term climate change mitigation needed to meet the terms of the Paris Agreement.

Small family-owned forests make up 38% of U.S. forests, a total area 1.5 times the size of Texas and more than any other ownership type.  Most small landowners want to do right by their land, but they rarely have access to the expertise or resources needed to optimize their forests for carbon sequestration.

This spring, the Nature Conservancy, the American Forest Foundation, and the Vermont Land Trust announced two new programs, funded in part by a $10 million grant by Amazon, that will provide funds to small landowners to grow larger, healthier forests.

Few forests are managed for carbon sequestration.  Practices like fast logging rotations, so-called high-grading that strips out the largest, most valuable trees, and rampant invasive species all compromise the ability of a forest to lock away carbon.  It turns out that most small landowners would like to do better, but they don’t have the expertise or the financial resources to implement sustainable management.

Existing carbon markets are not geared towards small forest owners.  Their payments are tiny and the required contract terms are onerous.  The Family Forest Carbon Program commits landowners for only 10 to 20 years.  Typical landowners won’t get a windfall.  A 100-acre landholding would stand to earn around $24,500 over 20 years. 

If these programs can sign up 20% of U.S. forest landowners, it could offset the emissions from 6 million cars.

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How Small Family Forests Can Help Meet the Climate Challenge

Photo, posted July 14, 2013, courtesy of Joshua Mayer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Powering Amazon By The Sun | Earth Wise

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Amazon.com is a multinational conglomerate company that sells nearly $300 billion dollars a year worth of products, employs over 800,000 people, and by any measure, consumes a tremendous amount of resources.  In terms of its environmental impact, Amazon is estimated to be responsible for the emission of 50 million tons of CO2 annually, which is more than the yearly total for countries like Switzerland, Ireland, New Zealand, Denmark, and about 140 other countries.

Amazon is trying to reduce its environmental impact.  The company recently announced five new renewable energy projects in China, Australia and the U.S. as part of its commitment to reach 80% renewable energy by 2024, 100% renewable energy by 2030, and to reach net zero carbon by 2040.

The projects include a 100 MW solar project in Shandong, China, a 105 MW solar project in New South Wales, Australia, two solar projects in Ohio (one 200 MW and one 80 MW), and a 130 MW solar project in Virginia.

To date, Amazon has announced 31 utility-scale wind and solar renewable energy projects as well as 60 solar rooftops on fulfillment centers and sort centers around the world.  Taken together, these projects provide almost 3 GW of capacity and will deliver more than 7.6 million MWh of renewable energy annually.

In order for the world to meet the climate goals set by the Paris Agreement, it will take more than just countries to make and keep commitments.   Whatever else one may think about Amazon’s place in the world, their latest efforts for the environment are a big step in the right direction.

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Amazon announces five new utility-scale solar projects to power operations in China, Australia, and the US

Photo, posted November 16, 2018, courtesy of Todd Van Hoosear via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Giant Marine Preserve | Earth Wise

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The Seychelles islands are located east of Kenya, near the equator.  Its beautiful beaches, virgin jungles, thriving coral reefs, and UNESCO-listed nature reserves are among the many attractions of the archipelago’s 115 islands.  The larger inner islands are quite developed for tourists, studded with many luxurious five-star resorts.  The natural wonders of the Seychelles are clearly its prime asset.

Given this, the Seychelles have now established 154,000 square miles of marine protected areas, fulfilling a pledge to protect nearly a third of its vast territorial waters.  This is an area twice the size of Great Britain.

About half of the newly protected areas will be “no-take zones” in which economic activity such as fishing and mining will be prohibited.  Only limited economic activities will be permitted in the other half of the protected areas.

The President of the Seychelles signed the decree establishing the marine reserve in mid-March.  The reserve will help protect the nation’s fisheries resources and safeguard a host of species including endangered sea turtles, sharks, and the Indian Ocean’s last remaining population of dugongs, which are marine mammals similar to manatees.

The funding for managing and protecting the new marine reserves will come from what is termed a debt-for-nature deal.  It is an agreement that was worked out with the help of The Nature Conservancy that allows the country to restructure nearly $22 million in foreign debt in exchange for protecting marine resources and enacting climate adaptation measures.

This major expansion of the Seychelles’ marine protected area is a major step in the conservation of the archipelago’s biodiversity.  The success of that conservation will ultimately depend upon enforcement, public-private partnerships, and innovative management.

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Seychelles Creates a Marine Reserve Twice the Size of Great Britain

Photo, posted October 22, 2017, courtesy of Falco Ermet via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

More Extreme Wildfire Seasons | Earth Wise

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According to a new study led by researchers at Stanford University, autumn in California feels more like summer now as a result of climate change, and this hotter and drier weather increases the risk of longer and more dangerous wildfire seasons.

The research team, whose work was recently published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, found that the frequency of extreme fire weather conditions in the fall in California has doubled since the early 1980s.  Average temperatures during the season have increased by more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit, and rainfall has fallen by approximately 30%.  The most pronounced warming has occurred in the late summer and early fall.  That finding means that tinder-dry conditions coincide with the strong “Diablo” and “Santa Ana” winds that are typical in California at this time of year.     

In recent years, these conditions have fed large and fast-moving wildfires across California.  The state’s two largest wildfires, two most destructive wildfires, and the most deadly wildfire all occurred during 2017 and 2018, resulting in more than 150 deaths and $50 billion in damage.

Because summertime has typically been peak fire season, the recent spate of autumn fires is putting a strain on firefighting resources and funding.  The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could further strain emergency resources.  Since fire-prone regions have historically shared  wildfire-fighting resources throughout the year, the consequences of California’s extended wildfire season could have a global impact.  (For example, California’s recent autumn wildfires have coincided with the beginning of wildfires in Australia). 

The researchers highlight some opportunities to manage the intensifying wildfire risk in California, including limiting the trajectory of global warming in keeping with the targets identified in the United Nations’ Paris agreement.

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Researchers forecast longer, more extreme wildfire seasons

Photo, posted September 12, 2019, courtesy of the California National Guard via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

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.

Lifestyle And Carbon Footprint | Earth Wise

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Many studies have shown, to no great surprise, that affluent lifestyles lead to larger carbon footprints. Households in Switzerland enjoy a high standard of living and a team of researchers there has been studying the consumption and travel habits of Swiss citizens to better understand the impact of various factors on carbon footprint. Key factors include household composition and income, and whether the households are in the city or the countryside – even though, in the end, people’s lifestyles do not differ greatly from one environment to another. 

A team of researchers at EPFL’s School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering analyzed data from Switzerland’s household budget survey for 2008, 2011 and 2014.  They combined that data with an environmentally extended input-output analysis to assess households’ carbon footprints by measuring their direct and indirect emissions.

Overall, households in the countryside have larger carbon footprints than those in the city, mainly because they travel more and use more energy in their homes. But urban households have larger carbon footprints than their rural counterparts when it comes to food, clothing, cultural activities and air travel.  

A household’s composition directly influences its carbon footprint. A two-person household has the largest per-capita carbon footprint, and it falls as the size of the family grows since many of the same resources are shared by more people. 

Income levels play an important role.  People consume without much thought because they can afford to and enjoy doing it. But there is a trend towards people becoming more conscious of their levels of consumption and trying to be more responsible in Switzerland.  Overall consumption has actually declined over the years studied.  

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Our carbon footprint is highly impacted by how we live

Photo, posted December 19, 2017, courtesy of Alexander Kozik via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Blue Acceleration | Earth Wise

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The oil and gas sector is the largest ocean industry.  It’s responsible for about one third of the value of the ocean economy.  Sand and gravel, destined for the construction industry, are the most mined minerals in the ocean.  And during the past 50 years, approximately 16,000 desalination plants have popped up around the world to help supply people with an increasingly scarce commodity: freshwater. 

As a result of these and other human pressures, the world’s oceans have suffered a lot over time.  But according to a comprehensive new analysis on the state of the ocean, human pressure on the world’s oceans, driven by a combination of technological progress and declining land-based resources, sharply accelerated at the start of the 21st century.  Scientists have dubbed this dramatic increase, which shows no signs of slowing down, the “Blue Acceleration.”

A  research team from Stockholm University analyzed 50 years of data from aquaculture, bioprospecting, shipping, drilling, deep-sea mining, and more.  Their findings were recently published in the journal One Earth.

While claiming ocean resources and space is not new, lead author Jean-Baptiste Jouffray from the Stockholm Resilience Centre says “the extent, intensity, and diversity of today’s aspirations are unprecedented.”

The researchers also highlight how not all human impacts on the ocean are negative.  For example, offshore wind farm technology has reached commercial viability allowing the world to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

But how can the Blue Acceleration be slowed?  Since only a handful of multinational companies dominate sectors like the seafood industry, oil and gas exploitation, and bioprospecting, one idea is to have banks and other investors adopt more stringent sustainability criteria for making ocean investments. 

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Human pressure on world’s ocean shows no sign of slowing

Photo, posted October 29, 2008, courtesy of Silke Baron via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

WAMC Northeast Public Radio

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio is a regional public radio network serving parts of seven northeastern states (more...)