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Regrowing forests naturally

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Deforestation is one of the major causes of climate change and restoring and enhancing forests is a major activity around the world as a way to mitigate its effects.  There are high-profile initiatives to plant millions of trees, but these projects are often ill-conceived and poorly managed.

One of the most dramatic failures was the planting of over a million mangrove seedlings on the Filipino island of Luzon back in 2012.  A study 8 years later found that fewer than 2 percent of the trees had survived.  The rest died or were washed away.

The causes of failure in tree planting programs include planting of trees that become vulnerable to disease, competing demands for land, changing climate, planting in areas not previously forested, and a lack of aftercare including watering seedlings.

A multinational study recently published in Nature has found that forests could regrow naturally on more than 800,000 square miles of land around the tropics without the need for planting trees by hand.  This is an area larger than Mexico.

The researchers mapped areas where forests would be likely to regrow – areas where soils are healthy and where there is already forest nearby to supply seeds.  In some places, lands are so degraded that it is necessary to plant trees by hand, but this is costly and prone to failure.  Forests that regrow naturally tend to fare better and make better habitats for wildlife.

The effect of regrown forests on the climate would be very substantial.  If these forests were allowed to grow for three decades, they would absorb enough carbon to offset 50 years of emissions by Australia, the home of the lead researcher of the study. 

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Tropical Forests Could Regrow Naturally on Area the Size of Mexico

Photo, posted February 16, 2018, courtesy of Jason Houston / USAID via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Svalbard is melting

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Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. It is one of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas and is a popular attraction for tourists.  Svalbard is famous for rugged, remote terrain of glaciers and frozen tundra sheltering polar bears, Svalbard reindeer, and Arctic foxes. The Northern Lights are visible during winter, and its summer features the “midnight sun”—sunlight 24 hours a day.  It is the home of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which provides safe, free, and long-term storage of seed duplicates from all gene banks and nations around the world. 

Over half of Svalbard’s land area is covered with ice and accounts for about 6% of the planet’s glaciated area outside of Greenland and Antarctica.  But Svalbard is also one of the fastest-warming places on Earth.

It has suffered extreme episodes of melting this summer, brought on by exceptionally high air temperatures.  In late July and early August, temperatures hovered around 7 degrees Fahrenheit above average for this part of the Arctic Circle, causing snow and ice to rapidly melt.

According to scientists, Svalbard’s ice caps broke their all-time record for daily surface melt on July 23rd, shedding nearly half a foot of water equivalent that day, a rate five times larger than normal. 

On August 11th, the high temperature in Longyearbyen, Svalbard’s capital city, reached 68 degrees, the highest August temperature on record and 4 degrees above the previous monthly record.  Svalbard experienced its warmest summer on record in 2023.

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Svalbard Melts

Photo, posted September 21, 2016, courtesy of Christopher Michel via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A dangerous invasive species

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Weeds are the bane of every gardener’s existence.  They pop up, uncontrolled and unwelcome, and must be tediously managed time and time again.  But in some cases, weeds are more than just a nuisance.  Some are a public health hazard. 

Meet giant hogweed.  Native to Europe’s Caucasus Mountains, giant hogweed belongs to the carrot family. The plant resembles Queen Anne’s Lace – on steroids. Giant hogweed can grow up to 15 feet tall with three inch stems, five-foot-wide leaves, and an umbrella-like canopy of white flowers.

Botanists brought giant hogweed to England as an ornamental plant in the 1890s.  It made its way to the U.S. via horticultural channels.  In fact, one of the first specimens was planted in a Victorian garden near Rochester, NY.  

As with most invasive plants, it quietly escaped cultivation. In the U.S., giant hogweed can be found in New England, the Mid-Atlantic Region, and the Northwest, with plants preferring moist habitat near roadside ditches and stream banks.   

While a seemingly innocent flowering plant, giant hogweed is actually one of the most hazardous plants in the U.S.  Brushing against or breaking the plant releases sap that, when combined with sunlight and moisture, can cause severe burn-like lesions, blistering sores, and purplish or blackened scars.  Getting sap in your eyes can result in temporary or even permanent blindness.

With each plant dropping up to 120,000 seeds, it’s no surprise that giant hogweed is proving difficult to eradicate.

If you suspect giant hogweed is growing near you, photograph the plant from a safe distance and report the sighting to local environmental authorities. 

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Plant Pest Risk Assessment for Giant Hogweed

Giant Hogweed

Photo, posted March 22, 2021, courtesy of Scottish Invasive Species Initiative via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Small changes can yield big results

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Global food production is one of the largest contributors to climate change.  In fact, one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions result from food production and agriculture.  Be that as it may, we still have to eat.  But what we choose to eat has a major impact on the environment.

According to a new study by researchers at McGill University in Canada and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in the U.K., partially replacing red and processed meat with plant-based proteins can increase lifespan and mitigate climate change. 

In the study, which was recently published in the journal Nature Food, the researchers drew data from a national nutrition survey to analyze Canadians’ dietary records. The study modeled partial replacements (25% and 50%) of either red and processed meat or dairy with plant protein foods like nuts, seeds, legumes, and tofu, on a combination of nutrition, health, and climate outcomes.

In the study, the researchers found that a person’s diet-related carbon footprint plummets by 25% when they replace half of their intake of red and processed meats with plant protein foods. However, dairy substitutions showed smaller reductions of up to just 5%.

Meat and dairy-rich diets are known to increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers. The researchers also estimated that if half of the red and processed meat in a person’s diet was replaced with plant protein foods, life expectancy would increase nearly nine months on average, due to a reduced risk of chronic disease.

The research team hopes its findings will help people make healthier and more sustainable food choices. 

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Food production is responsible for one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions

Small dietary changes can cut your carbon footprint by 25%

Photo, posted November 24, 2019, courtesy of Theo Crazzolara via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Protecting berries with sunflower extract

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Many of us buy blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and more in those little clear plastic clamshell boxes.  We try to check them out at the store to make sure they are ok and even if are, many soon end up coated with gray mold and other fungi.  It is a problem that is both disappointing and expensive.

Researchers from several Chinese Universities recently reported that compounds extracted from sunflower crop waste are quite effective at preventing rotting in blueberries.  They suggest that the food industry could use these natural compounds to protect berries from postharvest diseases.

Sunflowers are grown globally for their seeds and oil.  The flower stems themselves are generally considered to be a waste product.  Sunflowers are known to be particularly resistant to many plant diseases so the researchers decided to investigate whether there might be chemical constituents within the plants that are responsible for the protective property.

Their research led to the isolation of 17 different compounds known as diterpenoids, including four that have never been identified before.  They found that 4 of the compounds, including 2 of the newly discovered ones, were effective at preventing the growth of fungus on the blueberries. 

Berries were wetted with the compounds and then dried off and injected with mold spores.  Half of the treated berries were protected from the mold.

There is no reason that the method couldn’t be applied to a variety of crops.  There is great appeal in the concept of using a harmless extract from a plant to render a food crop safe from fungal infestation.  The technique holds great promise in preventing postharvest disease in fruit.

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Sunflower extract fights fungi to keep blueberries fresh

Photo, posted August 26, 2006, courtesy of Liz West via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A billion pound problem

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Nearly two billion pounds of pumpkins are grown each year in the U.S.  But we actually don’t eat the vast majority of them.  Instead, most pumpkins are carved or otherwise decorated, and placed on porches across the country during Halloween.  But now that the holiday has come and gone, what happens to all those sagging masterpieces?

Simply put, we usually just throw them out.  In the days after Halloween, as much as 1.3 billion pounds of pumpkin winds up in landfills.  When left there to decompose, the pumpkins produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas that affects climate change by contributing to increased warming. 

Here are some ways to keep pumpkins out of the landfills this year and make Halloween festivities more sustainable. 

If the pumpkin is still in good shape, use the outer, meaty part of the pumpkin to make a fresh version of pumpkin puree.  Pumpkin puree is a common ingredient in baked goods like muffins, breads, and pies, especially during this time of the year.  The pumpkin seeds can also be scooped out, rinsed, and salted or spiced, and then baked in the oven, resulting in a delicious snack.

Pumpkins also have the potential to turn into great soil through composting. Pumpkins are just over 90% water, which help naturally add moisture to compost piles that need to be damp to effectively decompose food waste.

If eating or composting the pumpkins isn’t an option, consider donating them to a local farm.  Farmers will often collect pumpkins as treats for their pigs, goats, and other animals. 

The scariest part of Halloween shouldn’t be the waste. 

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Halloween is over. Here’s the most sustainable way to get rid of your jack-o’-lanterns, pumpkins, and gourds

Say Boo to Landfills – Compost Your Pumpkin After Halloween!

Photo, posted November 4, 2010, courtesy of William Warby via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Banning Neonicotinoid Pesticides | Earth Wise

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New York’s Birds and Bees Protection Act contains a targeted restriction on neonicotinoid pesticides. These widely-used insecticides are absorbed by plants and can be present in pollen and nectar, making them toxic to bees and other pollinators.

Among the largest applications of neonics (as they are called) has been in the form of coatings on crop seeds, such as corn and soybeans.  In 2019, Canada’s Quebec province strongly limited neonic use to protect pollinators and the environment.  The chemical industry vigorously protested the regulations and claimed that the restrictions would cause the collapse of the grain sector in Quebec.

Seed suppliers began supplying uncoated seeds in 2019 and now there is scarcely any use of coated seeds in the province.  Monitoring of over 1,000 agricultural sites has shown that there have been no crop failures related to the pesticide restrictions.  In fact, use of the neonics had no economic benefits. 

Naysayers warned that even more harmful pesticides or other farming practices would be used instead.  But that hasn’t happened either. Some farmers switched to much safer insecticides and others abandoned insecticide treatments altogether.

New York has faced similar opposition by farmers and chemical manufacturers to the Birds and Bees Protection Act and all of the same arguments that have been proven to be invalid in Quebec are being made in New York.  Most major environmental advocates in the state support the measures embodied in the legislation.  As usual, it boils down to a battle between economic interests and the health of the environment.

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Québec’s experience with pesticide ban offers a glimpse of what New York can expect

Photo, posted August 29, 2013, courtesy of the United Soybean Board / the Soybean Checkoff via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Elephants And Global Warming | Earth Wise

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A study by researchers at Saint Louis University has found that elephants play a key role in creating forests that store large amounts of atmospheric carbon and in maintaining the biodiversity of forests in Africa.  Since elephants are endangered, their status represents a significant threat to an ecosystem that is very important to the Earth’s climate.

The African rainforest contains trees with both low carbon density (light wood) and high carbon density (heavy wood).  High carbon density trees grow more slowly and can be crowded out by the faster growing low carbon density trees rising above them.  Elephants affect the relative abundance of these trees by feeding more on the low carbon density trees which are more palatable and nutritious.  This thinning of the forest allows the trees that sequester the most carbon to flourish.

Elephants are also excellent dispersers of the seeds of high carbon density trees.  Essentially, elephants are the gardeners of the forest.  They plant the forest with high carbon density trees and get rid of the weeds – in this case, the low carbon density trees.  According to the study, if elephants were to become extinct, the African rainforest – the second largest on earth – would gradually lose between six and nine percent of its ability to capture atmospheric carbon.

Elephants have been hunted by humans for millennia.   Gaining support for protecting them has mostly been driven by the argument that everybody loves elephants.  Focusing on their role in maintaining forest diversity has not driven much more action.  The hope is that the evidence of how important elephants are for climate mitigation will be taken seriously by policy makers to generate the support needed for improved elephant conservation.

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Can Elephants Save the Planet?

Photo, posted March 15, 2008, courtesy of Michelle Gadd/USFWS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Perennial Rice | Earth Wise

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People have been cultivating rice for more than 9,000 years.  Cultivated rice is an annual crop which is often extended to two crops a year by a process called ratooning, which is cutting back annual rice to obtain a second, weaker harvest.

An extensive project involving multiple institutions in China, the U.S., and Australia has been developing perennial rice.  The researchers developed it through hybridization, crossing a type of Asian domesticated annual rice with a wild perennial rice from Africa.  Using modern genetic tools to identify candidate plants, the team identified a promising hybrid in 2007, planted large-scale field experiments in 2016, and released the first commercial perennial rice variety, called PR23, in 2018.

The researchers spent five years studying the performance of the perennial rice alongside annual rice on farms in China’s Yunnan Province.  For the most part, the yield of the perennial rice was equivalent to that of annual rice over a period of four years. 

Because farmers don’t have to plant rice each season, growing perennial rice requires almost 60% less labor and saves nearly half the costs of seed, fertilizer, and other inputs.

Perennial rice is already changing the lives of more than 55,000 smallholder farmers in southern China and Uganda.  The economic benefits vary by location, but overall profit increases ranged from 17% to 161% over annual rice.

There are already three perennial rice varieties available to farmers, but researchers aren’t done refining the crop.  They plan to use their methodology to enhance traits such as aroma, disease resistance, and drought tolerance to newer versions.

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Farmers in China, Uganda move to high-yielding, cost-saving perennial rice

Photo, posted February 25, 2002, courtesy of Matthieu Lelievre via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A Miracle Tree | Earth Wise

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The world needs to be fed without destroying the environment.   We need to grow more trees to store more carbon on earth and reduce the amount in the atmosphere.  But meanwhile, we decimate rainforests to produce palm oil and grow soybeans.

A startup company in California called Terviva thinks they have a solution.  It’s called pongamia, which is an ordinary looking tropical tree.  It produces beans packed with protein and oil, much like soybeans.  However, it has the potential to produce much more nutrition per acre than soybeans and it is hardy enough to grow on pretty much any kind of land without the use of pesticides, fertilizers, or irrigation.  In short, it is a miracle crop for a hot and hungry planet that is running out of fertile farmland and fresh water.

Pongamia is not a new or rare tree.  It is common in India but grows all over the world.  It is often planted as an ornamental here in the U.S.

The initial idea for making use of the hardy tree was to use its oil as a biofuel.  The seeds of pongamia are known to have a bitter taste and disagreeable odor, which is why the seeds or oil were never used for human or animal feed.  However, Terviva has developed a way to de-bitter pongamia oil.  Once this is done, it becomes a golden-colored substitute for olive oil. It also has enormous potential as a protein for plant-based milks and meats, since it contains all nine essential amino acids.

Terviva has raised more than $100 million to further develop pongamia and is now partnering with Danone, a $25 billion multinational food company, to develop pongamia as a climate-friendly, climate-resilient, non-GMO alternative to soy and palm oil.

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This super-tree could help feed the world and fight climate change

Photo, posted December 15, 2015, courtesy of Lauren Gutierrez via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Tepary Beans | Earth Wise

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Tepary beans are an ancient crop native to the northern part of Mexico and the southwestern part of the U.S..  They have been grown in those places by native peoples since pre-Columbian times.  They are still grown in Native American reservations in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert.  One can purchase them from some small farms in that region. 

What sets tepary beans apart from other beans is that they are among the most drought- and heat-tolerant legume crops in the world.  They can be grown without irrigation under conditions that are not viable for other crops.  They can be consumed by people like many other kinds of beans, and they can also provide forage for livestock with better nutrition content than many other plants.  They seem to be a very attractive option for a crop in the changing climate.  What is lacking, at present, is large supplies of tepary seeds to be planted.

Researchers at Texas A&M have been funded to bring tepary beans into modern cropping systems and diets.  The goal is to develop tepary bean cultivars with high biomass and yield that are still well-suited to drought and heat conditions.  Getting the beans to the point of widespread commercialization will take several years.  The end result should be of interest to pulse growers, seed industries, and food companies across the U.S.

Tepary beans are higher in fiber and protein than most other beans.  They come in several different colors, each of which has unique flavor and texture characteristics.  The white ones have a naturally sweet flavor.   The brown beans are slightly nutty in flavor and are similar to pinto beans.  If the Texas program is successful, we may all be eating tepary beans some day.

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Tepary Beans Offer Producers A Low-Input, Climate-Resilient Legume Alternative

Photo, posted August 25, 2017, courtesy of Katja Schulz via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Managing Pests With Cover Crops | Earth Wise

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The use of pesticides in global agriculture brings with it many problems including the killing of non-target, beneficial species as well as reversing pest-management gains from the use of conservation agriculture methods.

In a newly published study by researchers at Penn State University, the use of plant cover, such as cover crops, was shown to potentially be more effective at reducing pest density and crop damage than the application of insecticides without the downsides.  Cover crops reduce insect pest outbreaks by increasing pest predator abundance.

Cover crops are plantings that are primarily used to slow erosion, improve soil health, enhance water availability, smother weeds, and help control pests and diseases.  Typical cover crops include mustard, alfalfa, rye, clovers, buckwheat, and winter peas.  Most cover crops are fairly inexpensive to plant.

Plant cover can provide habitat for populations of natural enemies of pests.  Winter cover crops can harbor pest predator populations outside of the growing season of the cash crop.  When the cover crop is killed off to allow the growth of the cash crop, residues of the cover crop remain on the soil during the growing season, so they still enhance the habitat for pest predators.

Conservation agriculture includes methods like cover crops, no-till planting, and crop rotation.  The use of cover crops constitutes a form of preventive pest management that is an alternative to planting seeds treated with systemic insecticides to control early-season pests.  There is also the possibility for integrated pest managements, which is an approach in which insecticides are applied but only when pest numbers exceed economic thresholds despite the use of nonchemical tactics.

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Cover crops more effective than insecticides for managing pests, study suggests

Photo, posted August 8, 2011, courtesy of USDA NRCS Montana via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Large Mammals And Climate Change | Earth Wise         

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The natural world has an important part to play in mitigating the effects of climate change.  We mostly think about the role of plant life which absorbs carbon in trees, grasses, and other flora.  However, a new study published by Oxford University looks at the role of large wild animals in restoring ecosystems and reducing the effects of climate change.

According to the study, there are three important ways in which large animals such as elephants, rhinos, giraffes, whales, bison, and moose can potentially mitigate the effects of climate change:  carbon stocks, albedo, and fire regimes.

When large herbivores graze, they disperse seeds, clear vegetation, and fertilize soil.  All of these things build more complex and resilient ecosystems which helps to maintain and increase carbon stocks in the soil and in plant tissues thereby helping to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere.

Grazing large animals trample vegetation which opens up areas of dense vegetation to create open mixes of grass and shrubs and can reveal snow-covered ground in cold regions.  Such open habitats are lighter in color (higher in albedo) and reflect more solar radiation into the atmosphere, cooling the Earth’s surface rather than heating it up.

Large grazing animals can lessen wildfire risk by browsing on woody vegetation that would otherwise fuel the fires and also by creating paths that act as firebreaks.

In marine ecosystems, whales and other large animals fertilize phytoplankton, which capture some 37 billion tons of CO2 each year.

Overall, large animals are an important part of the natural world’s ability to reduce the effects of the changing climate by helping with localized adaptation to the changes taking place in ecosystems.

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Large mammals can help climate change mitigation and adaptation

Photo, posted August 20, 2017, courtesy of Jon Niola via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Tourism And Invasive Species | Earth Wise

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Tourism has experienced exponential growth during the past 70 years.  In 1950, there were 25 million international tourist arrivals.  By 1990, it had ballooned to 435 million.  Between 1990 and 2018, the numbers more than tripled reaching more than 1.4 billion.  And by 2030, the number of international tourist arrivals is expected to reach 1.8 billion.

Tourism is vital to the success of many economies around the world.  Tourism can boost revenue, provide jobs, develop infrastructure, protect wildlife, and help preserve heritage sites and cultures.  But there can also be many downsides to tourism, one of which is that it can contribute to the introduction and spread of invasive species.  Non-native organisms can cause all sorts of social, environmental, and economic damage.   

Tourists help spread invasive organisms far and wide.  These organisms hitch rides in their luggage and on their shoes and clothing.  A 2011 study in New Zealand found that for every gram of soil on the shoes of in-bound international passengers, there were 2.5 plant seeds, 41 roundworms, 0.004 insects and mites, and many microorganisms. 

A new study by researchers from the University of Melbourne in Australia and AgResearch New Zealand examined to what degree tourism plays a role in the spread of invasive species.  According to the study, which was recently published in the journal NeoBiota, the research team found that the number of nights spent in hotels significantly correlated to the incursion of invasive species during that period.

Creating effective mechanisms to prevent the introduction of invasive species in the first place is the best way to prevent this problem. 

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Unwelcome guests: International tourism and travel can be a pathway for introducing invasive species

Number of tourist arrivals

Photo, posted March 27, 2005, courtesy of John via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Fighting Disease in Cavendish Bananas | Earth Wise

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Cavendish bananas account for about half of global banana production and the vast majority of bananas entering international trade.  The plant is unable to reproduce sexually and instead is propagated via identical clones.  So, the genetic diversity of the Cavendish banana is exceedingly low. 

In 2008, Cavendish cultivars in Sumatra and Malaysia started to be attacked by Panama disease, a wilting disease caused by a fungus.  In 2019, Panama disease was discovered on banana farms in the coastal Caribbean region, its first occurrence in the Americas.  In the 1950s, Panama disease wiped out the Gros Michel banana, the commercial predecessor of the Cavendish.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have found a novel way to combine two species of grass-like plants – which include bananas, rice, and wheat – using embryonic tissue from their seeds.  The technique allows beneficial characteristics, such as disease resistance, to be added to the plants.

Joining the shoot of one plant to the root of another to grow as one plant is known as grafting.  It was thought to be impossible to do with grass-like plants – called monocotyledonous  grasses – because they lack a certain tissue type in their stems.  But the new research, published in the journal Nature, showed it can be done with the plants in their earliest embryonic stages.

Cavendish bananas are sterile, so disease resistance can’t be bred into future generations.  But the grafting technique may provide a way to produce Cavendish banana plants that are resistant to Panama disease.  It may be possible to save an important food crop before it is too late.

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New grafting technique could combat the disease threatening Cavendish bananas

Photo, posted July 1, 2015, courtesy of Augustus Binu via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Benefits Of No-Till Farming | Earth Wise

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No-till farming is not new.  In fact, it was used as far back as 10,000 years ago.  But during the 18th and 19th centuries, tilling became popular because it allowed farmers to plant seeds more efficiently.

Tilling (or ploughing) is the process of preparing the soil for the cultivation of seeds by overturning the soil.  The practice works animal manure, weeds, and other surface residues deep into the soil.  While this all sounds like a good thing, it’s not. 

Tilling removes plant matter and loosens the soil, leaving the soil bare and vulnerable to erosion.  Tilling also displaces the millions of microbes and insects that form healthy soil biology.  The long-term use of tilling can turn healthy soils into lifeless growing mediums dependent on chemical inputs.  

But no-till farming also tends to rely on chemical inputs like glyphosate for weed control.  According to a new study recently published in Agronomy Journal, researchers at Penn State have found that farmers using no-till farming can reduce herbicide use and still maintain crop yields by implementing integrated weed-management methods.   

The research team conducted a nine-year experiment using herbicide-reduction practices in a crop rotation, which included soybean, corn, alfalfa, and canola.  Some of the practices used to reduce herbicide inputs included seeding small-grain companion crops with perennials, and plowing once in six years to terminate the perennial forage rather than killing it with an herbicide. 

While there was more weed biomass in the reduced herbicide treatment, the researchers found that the added weed pressure did not substantially affect crop yields. 

It is possible to make agriculture more environmentally-friendly and sustainable without sacrificing productivity.

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No-till production farmers can cut herbicide use, control weeds, protect profits

Photo, posted February 11, 2019, courtesy of the United Soybean Board via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Seeds And Climate Change | Earth Wise

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Farmers and agricultural communities around the world are on the frontlines of climate change.  They are among the first to feel the impacts of hotter temperatures as well as more frequent and intense droughts and precipitation. These challenges pose a massive threat to both farmer livelihoods and global food security.

As the planet continues to heat up, many arid regions that already have marginal conditions for agriculture will be increasingly under stress. As a result, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the King Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Morocco are working on a promising new way to protect seeds from this stress during their crucial germination phase. Their simple and inexpensive process, which was recently described in a paper published in the journal Nature Food, also provides plants with extra nutrition at the same.

The research team has developed a two layer coating for seeds designed for tackling issues related to drought. Drawing inspiration from natural coatings that occur on some seeds like chia seeds, the first layer is designed to protect the seeds from drying out. It provides a gel-like coating that grips any moisture that comes along and surrounds the seed with it.  The second (inner) layer of the coating contains preserved microorganisms called rhizobacteria, as well as some nutrients to help the seeds grow. 

The materials for the coatings are biodegradable, readily-available, and often used in the food industry already.  According to researchers, early tests using common beans have demonstrated encouraging results in Morocco, and more field tests of the seeds are currently underway.

As the climate continues to change, more innovations like this will be necessary for global food security.

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Engineering seeds to resist drought

Photo, posted September 17, 2010, courtesy of Stacy via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Blue Carbon Credits | Earth Wise

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Carbon credits have been around since the late 1990s.  The idea is to offset carbon emissions from some carbon emitting activity – anything from a wedding in California to a factory operating in Minnesota – by buying carbon credits earned from a carbon-absorbing activity, such as planting trees in the Amazon.

Blue carbon credits are credits earned by increasing the carbon stored in coastal and marine ecosystems. Coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, tidal marshes, and seagrass meadows in fact sequester and store more carbon per unit area than terrestrial forests and are increasingly being recognized for their important role in mitigating climate change. 

Blue carbon credit awards have to date been relatively few and far between and have mostly been granted for mangrove restoration efforts.  But mangrove projects are now ramping up dramatically in scope.  Scientists are working hard to analyze the amount of carbon in other ecosystem types – seagrasses, salt marshes, seaweeds, and seafloor sediments – so that these systems can also enter the carbon credit market.

Over the past 20 years, conservation scientists have spread over 70 million seeds in the bays of Virginia to restore over 9,000 acres of seagrass meadows that were devastated by disease in the 1930s.  The restored meadows are absorbing nearly half a ton of CO2 per acre. 

The rules to allow for blue carbon credits are recent and evolving, which is a big deal. The market may currently be small, but it is growing exponentially.  But as important as carbon credits are, it is still paramount to decarbonize before turning to offsets for existing emissions.

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Why the Market for ‘Blue Carbon’ Credits May Be Poised to Take Off

Photo, posted July 2, 2009, courtesy of Nicolas Raymond via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Corn Belt Is Losing Topsoil | Earth Wise

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According to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, more than a third of the farmland in the U.S. Corn Belt has completely lost its carbon-rich topsoil due to erosion.   The affected area is nearly 100 million acres and the amount of carbon loss is nearly 2 million tons.

The study, led by scientists at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, found that the greatest loss of carbon-rich topsoil was on hilltops and ridgelines.  This indicates that tillage – the repeated plowing of fields – was the primary cause of the erosion because loosened soils move downslope.

The loss of topsoil has reduced corn and soybean yields in the Midwest by 6%, resulting in a loss of nearly $3 billion a year for farmers.  In addition, the loosening of the topsoil increases runoff of sediment and nutrients into nearly waterways, worsening water quality.

Previous studies have shown that no-till farming practices can have a significant impact on reducing erosion.  A study published last November found that if farmers shifted entirely to no-till practices, it would reduce soil erosion from U.S. agricultural fields by more than 70%, as well as significantly reducing nutrient and sediment runoff. 

No-till farming is the practice of planting crops without tilling the soil.  Instead, seeds are planted through the remains of previous crops by planters or drills that cut seed furrows, place the seeds, and close the furrow.  Currently less than 15% of farmland in the upper Mississippi River watershed is farmed with no-till practices. 

Even partial changes in tilling practices could produce positive results for topsoil retention and for waterways.

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One-Third of Farmland in the U.S. Corn Belt Has Lost Its Topsoil

Photo, posted September 15, 2010, courtesy of the United Soybean Board / Soybean Checkoff via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Restoring Coastal Ecosystems | Earth Wise

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Research published by CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, examined the positive effects of restoration efforts for coastal ecosystems in terms of biodiversity, local economies, and human wellbeing.

Coastal ecosystems include saltmarshes, mangroves, seagrasses, oyster reefs, kelp beds, and coral reefs.  All of these have suffered declines of up to 85% over recent decades.  The research identified a number of successful coastal and marine restoration projects in recent years that indicate the likelihood that such efforts could be expanded by as much as a factor of ten to support human health and wellbeing, boost the adaptation response to climate change, and generate jobs. 

Some of the successful efforts identified included projects in the Great Barrier Reef to harvest coral larvae to boost large-scale coral restoration efforts.   Simple changes to how saltmarshes are planted have resulted in doubled survivorship and biomass.  In the U.S., the propagation of seagrass seeds has resulted in seagrass meadows recovering in areas where they had been lost decades ago.  In Indonesia, recovery of reefs impacted by blast fishing has been achieved by placing rocks or other hard structures underwater to help with coral colonization.

Investing in coral restoration creates jobs and can be used as a strategy to boost economic recovery and coastal marine health.  Restoration of marine habitats like kelp forests and oyster reefs has improved commercial and recreational fishing.

The United Nations has recognized the importance of coastal restoration and has declared the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration to start from 2021.

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Scientists shine light on ‘bright spots’ to restore coastal ecosystems

Photo, posted November 29, 2012, courtesy of Robert Linsdell 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...)