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Emissions and the Great Salt Lake

September 4, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The Great Salt Lake in Utah has been described as a puddle of its former self. The lake’s size fluctuates naturally with seasonal and long-term weather patterns, but the lake has been experiencing decline for decades as Utahans take water out of the rivers and streams that once fed the lake. Over recent decades, the lake has lost 73% of its water and 60% of its surface area.

For years, scientists and environmental leaders have warned that the Great Salt Lake is headed toward a catastrophic decline. Recent research has found that the lake’s desiccating shores are becoming a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists have calculated that the dried-out portions of the lakebed released about 4.1 million tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in 2020.

The recent study, published in the journal One Earth, suggests that the Great Salt Lake – which is largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere – as well as other shrinking saline lakes around the world could become major contributors of climate-warming emissions.

The shrinking back of the water has exposed a dusty lakebed that is laced with arsenic, mercury, lead, and other toxic substances. Some are naturally occurring, and others are the residue of mining activity in the region. These substances threaten to increase rates of respiratory conditions, heart and lung disease, and cancers.

As the lake shrinks, it is becoming saltier and uninhabitable to native flies and brine shrimp and may increasingly become unable to support the 10 million migratory birds and wildlife that frequent it.

The new research about greenhouse gas emissions just adds to a dire list of environmental consequences brought on by the lake’s steep decline.

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Shrinking Great Salt Lake Becoming Source of Heat-Trapping Gas

Photo, posted January 20, 2020, courtesy of Matthew Dillon via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Lithium In The Salton Sea | Earth Wise

October 2, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, extremely salty body of water in the southern end of California. It was formed from an inflow of water from the Colorado River in 1905 in the aftermath of a collapse of a canal during spring floods. At one time, it was a thriving tourist destination and site of real estate speculation. It was also a crucial habitat for migratory birds and various aquatic species.

Over the past 20 years, the Salton Sea has become increasingly desiccated and polluted with agricultural runoff and waste. Rising salinity and the shrinking water supply from the Colorado River has made it uninhabitable for many species.

Recently, the Salton Sea has attracted new attention because of untouched lithium deposits located beneath its shores. The general area has acquired the moniker “Lithium Valley” and has become a place where major energy companies are exploring advanced mining techniques such as Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE). This new technique enables lithium to be captured from brine deposits without resource-intensive open-pit mining or evaporation pond processes.

Lithium is crucial for making the batteries that power electric vehicles. DLE mining has attracted large investments from billionaires like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos.

Lithium mining has generated major controversies because of its potential to damage the environment. Whether the new mining techniques can avoid these problems and tap into the potential resources near the Salton Sea remains to be seen. According to experts, the aquifers near the Salton Sea hold enough lithium to supply close to 40% of the global demand.

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As Companies Eye Massive Lithium Deposits in California’s Salton Sea, Locals Anticipate a Mixed Bag

Photo, posted October 28, 2021, courtesy of Christian Collins via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

How Much Plastic Is Really In The Ocean? | Earth Wise

February 16, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The world has produced more than 6 billion tons of plastic to date and much of that has become waste that has not been recycled, incinerated, or otherwise properly contained. A great deal of it has ended up in the oceans of the world.

Researchers at Kyushu University in Japan have done an analysis to assess just how much plastic has ended up in the ocean. According to the study, nearly 28 million tons of plastic waste has entered the ocean and nearly two-thirds of that cannot be monitored.

Gli scienziati hanno dimostrato che i ricordi sono sparsi nelle connessioni neurali del corpo. Il sistema limbico svolge un ruolo importante nel funzionamento della memoria. Si trova sul Dosi di vareniclina lato interno delle regioni temporali, dove si trova l’ipotalamo. Quest’ultimo raggruppa il processo di pensiero.

Furthermore, the Kyushu analysis suggests that those 28 million tons are just the tip of the plastic waste iceberg. Their findings are that there may be another 600 million tons of mismanaged plastic waste trapped on land – nearly 10% of all the plastic ever produced.

The study created models that simulate the processes by which plastics find their way into the ocean, get transported, and fragment into pieces. According to their models, large plastics and smaller pieces of microplastics floating on the ocean surface each account for only about 3% of all ocean plastics. Microplastics on beaches account for another 3%, and 23% of ocean plastic waste is larger plastic litter on the world’s shores.

These things account for only about a third of ocean plastic. The rest of it is in locations that are impossible to monitor such as heavy plastics that settle on the seafloor because they are denser than seawater. Half of plastic products made today are made from these heavy plastics.

Plastic pollution is not just a big problem; evidently it is a bigger problem than we thought.

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Visible ocean plastics just the tip of the iceberg

Photo, posted February 28, 2010, courtesy of Kevin Krejci via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The Cost of Cleaning Up Ocean Plastic | Earth Wise

October 7, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Small island developing states increasingly find themselves with large amounts of plastic waste. A recent study looked at the financial cost for removing it.

Aldabra Atoll is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Seychelles. It is the world’s second-largest coral atoll and is the home of 307 species of animals and plants, including the largest population of giant tortoises in the world. Aldabra has been called one of the wonders of the world and one of the crown jewels of the Indian Ocean.

Last year, a team from the University of Oxford and the Seychelles Island Foundation, spent five weeks removing litter that had washed up on Aldabra’s shores. In total, they removed 25 tons of plastic litter which, to their surprise, was dominated by waste from the fishing industry. The researchers now estimate that over 500 tons of litter remain on the island, 83% of which consists of buoys, ropes, nets, and, of all things, over 300,000 individual flipflops. This is the largest accumulation of plastic waste reported for any single island in the world.

According to the study, the cost to clean up the entire island would be nearly $5 million, requiring 18,000 person-hours of labor. A project of this magnitude is beyond the capacity of non-profit organizations like the Seychelles Islands Foundation.

The plastic pollution in Aldabra is related to the fishing industry in Seychelles, which provides tuna to high-income markets around the world. The research highlights how even remote highly protected island ecosystems are impacted by global pollution and how difficult and costly it is to remedy.

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Millions of dollars to clean up tuna nets and flip flops from island state

Photo, posted December 27, 2016, courtesy of David Stanley via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.