severe

Wildfires And Cancer Risk | Earth Wise

June 20, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Hotter and drier conditions are leading to an increasing number of wildfires in North America and elsewhere around the globe. Scientists have linked the severe heat and drought that fuel these wildfires to climate change. As the climate continues to change, wildfires are projected to become more prevalent, more severe, and longer in duration.

According to a United Nations report released earlier this year, the Western U.S., northern Siberia, central India, and eastern Australia have already seen an uptick in wildfires. The likelihood of catastrophic wildfires globally could increase by a third by 2050 and more than 50% by the turn of the century.

According to a new study by researchers from McGill University, living near regions prone to wildfires may boost the risk of developing serious health issues. The study, which tracked more than two million Canadians over a period of 20 years, found a higher incidence of lung cancer and brain tumors in people exposed to wildfires. People living within 50 kilometers of wildfires during the past 10 years had a 10% higher incidence of brain tumors and a 4.9% higher incidence of lung cancer when compared to people living further away.

This study, which was recently published in The Lancet Planetary Health, is the first to examine how proximity to forest fires may influence cancer risk.

In addition to the impacts on air quality, wildfires also pollute aquatic, soil, and indoor environments. While some pollutants return to normal levels shortly after the fire, many others persist in the environment for long periods of time.

The research team notes that additional work is needed to develop more long-term estimates of the chronic health effects of wildfires.

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Exposure to wildfires increases risk of cancer

Climate change is causing more wildfires and governments are unprepared, says U.N.

Photo, posted August 17, 2020, courtesy of USFS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Scourge Of Salt | Earth Wise

June 10, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Rising seas are increasing saltwater intrusion on land and rising temperatures are causing greater evaporation. The result is mounting levels of salt in waters and in soils.

Rising sea levels cause salty ocean water to push further into river deltas. There is already a surge in saltiness across all inhabited continents. Seawater works its way further upstream when dams hold back water. Pumps that remove fresh water from underground sources for irrigation and drinking supplies add to the problem. In dry regions, irrigation systems delivering water to crops increasingly bring salt onto fields.

People add to the problem by pouring saline drainage water from mines into rivers and by using salt to de-ice roads in the winter.

A modeling study pinpointed hotspots for climate change-induced salinization in numerous locations including the U.S. Southwest, wide areas of Australia, Mexico, South Africa, Brazil, central India, northern China, and more.

Some ecosystems are adapted to saline environments but major alterations in the balance between saline and fresh water is creating growing problems for ecosystems, lake fisheries, crop growing, and even human health.

The damage caused by salt is likely to be so severe that salinization will become a major cause of environmental refugees when the land they live on can no longer sustain them.

Salt will be a growing threat to the world’s food supplies, especially where farmers depend on artificial irrigation. About a third of the world’s food is grown in irrigated fields, and a fifth of those fields are deemed to already be salt-contaminated. Ultimately, only a halt to climate change will be capable of combatting the scourge of salt.

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Salt Scourge: The Dual Threat of Warming and Rising Salinity

Photo, posted June 3, 2017, courtesy of Jason Jacobs via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Historic Western Drought | Earth Wise

April 1, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The American Southwest has suffered from drought conditions since the year 2000. The drought has reduced water supplies, devastated farmers and ranchers, and it has helped to fuel numerous wildfires across the region. It has generally been considered to be worst in 500 years.

According to a recent analysis, the drought has become so severe that it has actually led to the driest two decades in at least 1,200 years and the changing climate is largely responsible. The summer of 2021 was especially dry; about 2/3 of the West was in severe drought conditions.

Scientists at UCLA used tree ring data to gauge drought. Based on that analysis, 2000-2021 is the driest 22-year period since 800 A.D. which is as far back as the data goes.

The study confirmed the role of temperature, more than precipitation, in driving exceptional droughts. Precipitation levels can go up and down over time and can vary in different regions. But the ongoing emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere are causing temperatures to generally rise over time. Warmer temperatures make the air more capable of pulling water out of the soil, out of vegetation, out of crops, and out of forests. All of that makes drought conditions more severe.

A megadrought is generally considered to be one that is both severe and long. But even during one, there can be wet years. 2005 was a notable one. But there must be enough consecutive wet years to actually end a drought.

Several previous megadroughts over the past 1,200 years lasted as long as 30 years. So, the current drought is in full swing and may go on for a long time to come.

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How Bad Is the Western Drought? Worst in 12 Centuries, Study Finds.

Photo, posted September 25, 2021, courtesy of David Sierralupe via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Drought And U.S. Hydropower | Earth Wise

November 29, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The ongoing severe drought in the western U.S. has led to low water levels in the rivers and reservoirs that feed hydroelectric power systems. The Energy Information Administration is projecting a 13.9% decrease in hydroelectric generation this year compared to 2020.

Water levels in Lake Powell have fallen so low that it may not be possible to operate the power plant at Glen Canyon Dam starting as soon as 2022. California officials took the Edward Hyatt hydroelectric plant offline in August because of low water levels on Lake Oroville. Washington, the state with the most hydroelectric power generation, has seen an 11% drop in electricity generated to date this year as compared to last year. That state is actually doing better than others in the West, such as California, where hydro generation is down 38%.

Hydropower accounts for over 7% of the electricity generated in the United States. Five states – Washington, Idaho, Vermont, Oregon, and South Dakota – generate at least half of their electricity from hydroelectric dams.

The current decrease in hydropower is alarming, but it is not unprecedented. The more significant question is whether the drop in generation this year is a sign that this power source is declining and becoming less reliable. According to some scientists, the West is in a “megadrought” that could last for decades.

The greater concern is whether the bad years are likely to become more common because of climate change. Climate projections agree that temperatures will continue to rise, but what will happen to precipitation levels in specific places is much less certain. That is what will determine what the future holds for hydroelectric power.

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Inside Clean Energy: Drought is Causing U.S. Hydropower to Have a Rough Year. Is This a Sign of a Long-Term Shift?

Photo, posted May 7, 2014, courtesy of Tyler Bell via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Weather Disasters On The Rise | Earth Wise

November 1, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

It seems like the news is always filled with stories about storms, heatwaves, drought, and forest fires. This is because these things are happening with unprecedented frequency.

According to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization, weather disasters have become five times more common since 1970, in large part a result of climate change. Extreme weather, climate, and water events are increasing and are becoming more frequent and severe in many parts of the world.

Between 1970 and 2019, there were more than 11,000 reported disasters attributed to weather, resulting in over 2 million deaths and $3.64 trillion dollars in economic losses.

Storms and floods were the most prevalent disasters. The five costliest disasters ever are all hurricanes that have struck the United States over the past 20 years.

Droughts accounted for the greatest number of human losses, with severe droughts in Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Sudan responsible for 650,000 deaths.

About the only positive news in the report was that even as disasters have grown more prevalent, deaths have declined, dropping from about 50,000 a year in the 1970s to fewer than 20,000 in the 2010s. This is a result of better early warning systems. We have gotten better at saving lives. But early warning systems are woefully insufficient in much of the developing world, where more than 90% of disaster-related deaths occur.

Of the 77 weather-related disasters that struck between 2015 and 2017, 62 show the influence of human-caused climate change. With the pace of climate change now accelerating, there are likely to be more frequent catastrophic disasters in the years to come.

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As the Planet Has Warmed, Weather Disasters Have Grown Fivefold, Analysis Shows

Photo, posted September 16, 2021, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Dangerous Fire Season | Earth Wise

June 9, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The western United States is entering the fire season under much worse drought conditions than last year. Last year, 15,800 square miles burned in the U.S., mostly in the West.

The western U.S. is in the midst of a 20-year mega-drought. Rainfall in the Rocky Mountains and farther west was the second lowest on record this April. The soil in the western half of the country is the driest it has been since 1895.

The situation is particularly bad in California and the Southwest. In March, less than a third of California was experiencing extreme or exceptional drought. Now, 73% of the state is. A year ago, a record-breaking fire season burned 4% of the state and, at that time, only 3% of California was in a state of extreme drought.

A year ago, no parts of Arizona, Nevada, or Utah were in extreme or exceptional drought. Now, more than 90% of Utah, 86% of Arizona, and 75% of Nevada face severe drought conditions. At this time last year, only 4% of New Mexico faced extreme drought but 77% does now.

These extreme drought conditions, which are believed to be linked to climate change, are causing increased tree mortality among many species, ranging from junipers in the Southwest even to drought-tolerant blue oaks in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Conditions are extremely ripe for a lot of forest fire this year. Last year was a terrible year for wildfires in the West and we are heading into a fire season with much drier fuels than there were last year. The risks of great damage from wildfires are higher than ever.

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US West Enters Fire Season Facing Extremely Dry Conditions

Photo, posted September 18, 2020, courtesy of USFS/National Interagency Fire Center via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

COVID-19 And The Wildlife Trade | Earth Wise

December 17, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Historically, many diseases have jumped from animals to people with serious consequences for the human host. In fact, coronaviruses alone have caused outbreaks in humans three times in the past 20 years: SARS, MERS, and COVID-19. The majority of human pathogens that caused substantial damage to human health and economies during the past three decades have originated from wildlife or livestock.

According to a team of researchers from the University of Göttingen and other international institutions, more epidemics from animal hosts are inevitable unless urgent action is taken. In order to help protect against future pandemics, which could be even more severe than the current one, the researchers published a series of suggestions for governments to consider in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution.

The research team calls for governments around the world to establish effective legislation to do three things: address the wildlife trade, protect habitats, and reduce the interaction between people, wildlife, and livestock.

The wildlife trade and habitat fragmentation both facilitate disease outbreaks by increasing the potential for contact between humans and animals. Animals in wildlife markets are often kept in crowded and unsanitary conditions, which creates fertile breeding grounds for pathogens to jump to humans. Animals and humans are also forced closer together when natural habitats are cleared or otherwise fragmented in order to meet the various needs of a growing global population.

Since the Covid-19 outbreak, China, Vietnam, and South Korea have introduced regulations to better manage the wildlife trade as well as support wildlife conservation. According to the researchers, these actions serve as examples for other countries to consider. The status quo isn’t good enough.

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COVID-19 highlights risks of wildlife trade

Photo, posted August 23, 2010, courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region via Flickr. Photo credit: Rosie Walunas/USFWS.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Widespread Drought | Earth Wise

September 7, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

As the U.S. enters the last part of the summer, fully one-third of the country is experiencing at least a moderate level of drought. Much of the West is reaching severe drought conditions and New England has been unusually dry and hot. In total, over 50 million Americans are living in drought-affected areas.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor program, more than 93% of Utah, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico are experiencing drought to some degree. More than 60% of both Utah and Colorado are in severe drought. More than three-quarters of Oregon, Arizona, and Wyoming are also in drought. And most of these areas had no sign of drought this time last year.

Severe drought conditions result in stunted and browning crops, limited pasture yields, dust storms, reduced well water levels, and an increase in the number and severity of wildfires.

Warm air temperatures and minimal snowfall in spring set the stage for this summer’s drought conditions. A ridge of high pressure over the northeastern Pacific Ocean pushed the jet stream farther north than usual. And, once again, there has been a failure of the southwestern monsoon in Arizona and New Mexico and the Four Corners region. Monsoon rains provide half of the year’s precipitation in many of those areas.

Instead, there has been extreme heat in the region. Phoenix has already smashed the record for the most days over 110^oF in a calendar year (42 as of August 18), with five months to go. Las Vegas hasn’t seen measurable rainfall since April, and Cedar City, Utah has recorded a record low of 0.05 inches of rain this summer.

Conditions are not expected to get better for a couple of months.

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A Third of the U.S. Faces Drought

Photo, posted May 7, 2014, courtesy of Tyler Bell via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Disease On Coral Reefs

February 19, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The warming oceans have led to bleaching events in coral reefs around the world, but bleaching is not the only problem corals face. Disease outbreaks are also becoming more frequent, severe, and widespread.

Many factors are contributing to the problem, including pollution and nitrogen runoff from fertilizers and coastal sewer and septic systems. However, the key culprit is likely the steadily increasing ocean temperatures, which are the cause of coral bleaching. Elevated water temperatures can cause coral polyps to expel the algae that sustains them and gives them color.

According to scientists, bleaching makes corals more susceptible to illness. In the Caribbean, a coral disease hotspot, about 80% of coral cover has disappeared, largely from outbreaks of “white band disease”, so called because of a white band of dead tissue that forms in affected corals. Two crucial reef-building species, elkhorn and staghorn coral, are now nearing extinction in the regions. The reef extending along the Florida coastline is the third largest reef ecosystem in the world and nearly 35% of it has been lost to disease.

Estimates are that disease outbreaks have wiped out at least 6% of the corals on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. In that region, diseases are more prevalent in areas where corals were damaged by fishing and other human activity because wounded coral provides an entry point for pathogens and bacteria.

In the face of climate change and mounting disease outbreaks, scientists are scrambling for solutions to stave off catastrophe. Assisting the migration of hardier coral species and breeding so-called “super corals” are among the strategies being pursued. It is unknown whether these and other forms of intervention can be used on a wide enough scale to really make a difference.

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As Disease Ravages Coral Reefs, Scientists Scramble for Solutions

Photo, posted November 29, 2012, courtesy of Robert Linsdell via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Cold And Snow From Global Warming

April 4, 2018 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The Arctic has been experiencing record warm temperatures and record low sea ice levels. During February, there were nine days in a row with temperatures averaging 27 degrees above normal and often above freezing. Over the previous 20 years, there were only two previous readings above freezing in February – once in 2011 and once last year.

Being Ready For Adverse Weather

December 25, 2017 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Severe weather is a major cause of death and destruction. Recent hurricanes provided all too many examples. The catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Harvey led to more than 60 deaths and necessitated thousands of emergency rescues. And yet, increasingly, weather events like hurricanes don’t occur without warning and accurate weather forecasts are increasingly common.

The Delhi Air Pollution Crisis

December 12, 2017 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Delhi, the capital city of India, has always been a city bursting at the seams. With over 19 million people, heavy industry, growing numbers of vehicles, and choking amounts of road dust, Delhi suffers from some of the worst air pollution in the world. It is a situation the country has been struggling with for years.

Climate Change And Hurricanes

October 4, 2017 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

No single weather event can be attributed to climate change. Storms, floods and droughts have always happened and some of them have always been severe. However, two centuries of people burning fossil fuels has altered temperatures just enough that some of the storms we have seen in recent times have been much worse than they otherwise would have been.

Could Coral Reefs Be Wiped Out?

August 8, 2017 By EarthWise

A new study warns that coral reefs are in danger of disappearing forever. According to U.N. research, the world’s coral reefs could die out completely by mid-century unless carbon emissions are reduced enough to slow ocean warming.