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Climate change and hunger

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Worldwide, people are producing more food than ever, but most of that production is concentrated into only a handful of places.  For example, fully one third of the world’s wheat and barley exports come from Ukraine and Russia.  Across the globe, several major crop-growing regions, including some in the United States, are heading towards sharp drops in harvests as a result of climate change.

These forthcoming changes are not only bad news for farmers, but they are also bad news for everyone who eats.  According to a new study published in the journal Nature, it is going to become harder and more expensive to feed a more crowded and hungrier world.

Specifically, under a moderate greenhouse gas emissions scenario, six key staple crops will see an 11.2% decline by the end of the century, compared to a world without warming.  The largest drops won’t be in the poorer, more marginal farmlands, but rather in places that are major food producers.  These are places like the US Midwest that has long benefited by having both good soil and ideal weather for raising crops like corn and soy.

When the weather is not ideal, it can drastically reduce agricultural productivity.  Extreme weather in many places has already damaged crops.  Flooding has destroyed rice in Tajikistan, cucumbers in Spain, and bananas in Australia.  Severe storms in the US this spring caused millions of dollars’ worth of damage to crops.

As the climate changes, rising average temperatures and changing rainfall patterns are likely to diminish yields and extreme weather events like droughts and floods could wipe out harvests more often.  As climate change intensifies, agriculture is the most weather-affected sector of the economy.

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How climate change will worsen hunger

Photo, posted may 20, 2011, courtesy of Lance Cheung / USDA via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Airplanes and climate change

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The aviation industry is a powerful force in the global economy.  In fact, according to some estimates, the industry transports the equivalent of nearly half the world’s population every year.  But the world’s airports were largely designed for an older era – a cooler one.

As air warms, it becomes less dense, which makes it harder for airplanes to generate lift, which is the force that enables them to fly.

According to a new study by scientists from the University of Reading in the U.K., rising temperatures due to climate change may force aircraft at some airports to reduce passenger numbers in the coming decades.

The research team examined how warmer air affects aircraft performance during takeoff at 30 sites across Europe.  The study, which was recently published in the journal Aerospace, focused on the Airbus A320, which is a common aircraft used for short and medium-distance flights across Europe.

By the 2060s, the research team found that some airports with shorter runways may need to reduce their maximum take-off weight by the equivalent of approximately 10 passengers per flight during summer months.

Of the sites included in the study, Chios in Greece, Pantelleria and Rome Ciampino in Italy, and San Sebastian in Spain will be the four most affected popular tourist destinations.

Climate change is also making air travel increasingly turbulent, and the aviation industry itself remains a growing contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. 

Taking meaningful action to curb greenhouse gas emissions, including those from the aviation industry, is one of the most crucial ways to mitigate global climate change.

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Holiday flights could carry fewer passengers as world warms

Photo, posted September 29, 2017, courtesy of Hugh Llewelyn via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Making wind turbines safer for birds

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There are people who oppose the installation of wind turbines for a variety of reasons. It is true that wind turbines can be dangerous to birds.  Estimates are that about 250,000 birds are killed flying into wind turbines each year in the U.S.  

However, this data needs to be looked at in comparison to bird deaths from flying into electrical lines (25 million), vehicles (214 million), and building glass (at least 600 million). And even these figures pale in comparison to the more than 2 billion birds killed by domestic cats each year.

Despite these facts, it would still be great if fewer birds died from flying into wind turbines.  Researchers at Oregon State University are part of a team looking at reducing bird collision risks from wind turbines by painting a single blade of the turbine black.

Recent research in Norway found that painting a single turbine blade black reduced the number of bird collisions by nearly 72%.  Why should this work?  The hypothesis is that the black-painted blades disrupt the visual uniformity of the airspace around the turbines and makes them more noticeable to birds, which prompts avoidance behavior.

The Norwegian data is based on a relatively small sample size and the Oregon State researchers as well as others in Spain, Sweden, and South Africa are working on more rigorous and comprehensive studies.

The hope is that this rather simple strategy could make windfarms safer for birds.  Unfortunately, this approach is not likely to be very effective with bats, which rely more on auditory cues rather than visual cues.

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Scientists studying impact of painting wind turbine blade black to reduce bird collisions

Photo, posted May 21, 2024, courtesy of Roy Harryman via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Car tires in your salad

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There seems to be no end to the types of pollution we have introduced into the environment.  One that has only recently started to gain attention is pollution caused by vehicle tires. 

Through normal wear and tear, as vehicles drive along roadways, their tires cast off countless bits of rubber.  These particles can linger in the atmosphere or can be washed down sewage drains and into waterways.  In the water, these particles leach compounds that are toxic to wildlife.

Tires contain various chemical additives that prevent them from cracking and degrading along with various metals and other materials added to rubber and artificial rubber.  Some of these additives are acutely toxic or even carcinogenic.

A recent study by researchers at the University of Vienna tested leafy vegetables that were grown in Switzerland, Spain, and Italy, and were sold in Swiss supermarkets.  The study also tested vegetables harvested directly from Israeli farmlands.

Tire ingredients were found in 11 out of 15 samples gathered from Swiss supermarkets and 9 out of 13 samples collected from Israeli fields.  Among these are 6PPD, a tire additive that has been identified as the cause of the extensive deaths of coho salmon on the US West Coast.

The researchers say that farmers may be introducing tire additives by irrigating crops with treated wastewater or by using sewage sludge as fertilizer.  Airborne tire particles may also be settling on farm soil.

The concentration of tire particles found in the leafy vegetables are relatively low, but it is troubling that we are eating dangerous chemicals used to improve the quality of tires.

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Leafy Vegetables Found to Contain Tire Additives

Photo, posted October 14, 2014, courtesy of Green Mountain Girls Farm via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Olive oil and climate change

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Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained by mashing whole olives and extracting the oil.  A superfood staple of the Mediterranean diet, olive oil is used in kitchens around the world for frying, sauteing, baking, and as a condiment.  It can also be widely found in cosmetics, soaps, and pharmaceutical products. 

Globally, 2.6 million tons of olive oil were consumed last year.  Spain is currently the world’s largest producer of this “liquid gold,” accounting for 44% of global production.  The second largest producer of olive oil is Italy, followed by Greece, Tunisia, Turkey, and Morocco.   

But recently, the price of olive oil has been rocketing up.  Droughts, wildfires, floods, and heat waves, combined with pests, have punished olive-producing regions around the world.  The climate-fueled extreme weather has significantly impacted olive oil production in southern Europe.  Olive trees are exceedingly vulnerable to climate change. 

Spain, for example, typically produces somewhere between 1.3 to 1.5 million metric tons of olive oil each harvest.  However, officials expect a production range of only 830,000 to 850,000 metric tons this season. 

This shortage has sent prices soaring.  According to the International Monetary Fund, the average price of olive oil has doubled over the past two years.  In fact, the price is currently hovering at or around $10,000 per metric ton.  And there doesn’t seem to be much relief in sight.  

The record-breaking price has also unsurprisingly fueled a surge in crime, with criminals targeting supermarkets, oil mills, and olive groves. 

The changing climate continues to threaten food security around the world. 

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‘Liquid gold’: An olive oil shortage is fueling record prices and food insecurity fears

Extra virgin olive oil prices tipped to top £16 a litre next month

Photo, posted October 29, 2015, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Winegrowing regions and climate change

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Grapes grown to make wine are sensitive to climate conditions including temperatures and amount of rainfall.  The warming climate is already having visible effects on yields, grape composition, and the quality of wine.  This has significant consequences on the geography of wine production and is of major concern for the $350 billion global industry.

Winegrowing regions are mostly at the mid-latitudes where temperatures are warm enough to allow grapes to ripen but not excessively hot.  The climates are relatively dry so that fungal diseases are not rampant.

Because of the warming climate, harvesting in most vineyards now begins two or three weeks earlier than it did 40 years ago and this affects the grapes and the resultant wines.  Temperature changes affect acidity, wine alcohol, and aromatic signatures.

If global temperature rise crosses the 2-degree level, 90% of all traditional winegrowing areas throughout Spain, Italy, Greece, and southern California may become unable to produce high-quality wines.  Conversely, areas of northern France, the states of Washington and Oregon, British Columbia, and Tasmania will see improved conditions for producing quality wines. 

As the climate warms, winegrowers face new challenges such as the emergence of new diseases and pests as well as an increasing number of extreme weather events.  Wine producers are using more drought-resistant grape varieties and are adopting management methods that better preserve soil water.

The changing climate poses many threats to the quality of wines produced in traditional vineyards.  In the future, the wine industry may look very different in terms of where and how the best wines are produced. 

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A global map of how climate change is changing winegrowing regions

Photo, posted November 14, 2008, courtesy of Curtis Foreman via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Orcas Versus Boats | Earth Wise

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Over the past three years, orcas (also known as killer whales) have been attacking boats off the coasts of Portugal and Spain.  The subpopulation of orcas in this region has been harassing boats, most often by biting at their rudders.

There have been over 500 reported instances of orcas reacting to boats.  Sometimes they simply approach the vessels, but some of the time they actually attack.  Almost 20% of the attacks have caused enough damage to disable the vessels.  In three cases, including one in May in the Strait of Gibraltar, the animals damaged a boat so badly that it sank.  To date, no one has been injured during these attacks.

Orca researchers have observed several different killer whales during these attacks.  They seem to come from two separate groups: a trio of juveniles occasionally joined by a fourth, as well as a mixed-age group consisting of an adult female, two of her offspring, and two of her sisters.  The attacks typically last less than 30 minutes but can go on for up to 2 hours.

Researchers don’t really know why orcas are going after watercraft.  This behavior has not been observed anywhere else in the world.  One theory is that the orcas have invented a new fad.  That’s actually something that they are known to do.  Much as with people, orca fads are often spearheaded by juveniles.  An alternative theory is that the attacks may be a response to a bad past experience involving a boat.  The fact that nobody has been injured in any of these attacks, even when the boats sank, suggests that only the boats themselves are the target of the attacks and not the people on them.

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Why Has a Group of Orcas Suddenly Started Attacking Boats?

Photo, posted May 24, 2023, courtesy of Pedro Szekely via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

History Emerges In European Drought | Earth Wise

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During the summer, much of Europe faced a string of extreme heat waves and a devastating drought.  As a result, many reservoirs and rivers have shrunk back to reveal historical structures and relics that, in some cases, date back thousands of years.  Once-submerged villages, ships, and bridges have re-emerged this year.

In northwest Spain, a former village called Aceredo has reappeared after having been submerged 30 years ago when a hydropower dam flooded the valley where it was located.  Elsewhere in Spain, the Dolmen of Guadalperal, a 4000-5000-year-old stone monument often called the Spanish Stonehedge, has risen from a drought-stricken dam west of Madrid

In Italy, which is suffering from its worst drought in 70 years, the ruins of a bridge from the time of Nero are now visible in the Tiber River.   One of Germany’s largest reservoirs, the Edersee, has shrunk back so much that parts of Berich, a village that was flooded in 1914, can be seen.  In Serbia, water levels in the Danube River are so low that more than a dozen sunken Nazi boats from World War II have been exposed in the town of Prahovo.   In Northern England, the lower water levels of the Batings Reservoir have uncovered an ancient packhorse bridge.

The shrinking of riverbeds and reservoirs across Europe has attracted a great deal of attention, probably more than many other effects of the increasing number of extreme weather events because it is so visual.  But the frequency of extreme heat and drought is only likely to increase over time.

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Europe’s Shrinking Waterways Reveal Treasures, and Experts Are Worried

Photo, posted July 13, 2017, courtesy of Marco Brandstetter via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Transmission Lines And Wildlife Habitat Connectivity | Earth Wise

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Electrical transmission lines and their support towers tend to be a blight on the landscape but are something modern society cannot avoid.  Power transmission networks – with towers every 200 meters or so of line – are in place throughout the world’s developed nations.  Another common feature of developed nations is the fragmentation of animal species caused by human activity breaking up their natural habitats.

It is important for biodiversity conservation for animals to get their environments connected.   It turns out that transmission line infrastructure can provide an important tool for reconnecting wildlife habitats.

In a study conducted in Spain’s Andalusia region, scientists planted native shrubs and seedlings under six towers along power lines running through cereal cropland.  The area of each tower base was 100 square meters.

Compared to four control sites, the researchers measured increased population density and diversity among arthropods and small mammals observed in the four-year study. 

Enhancing connectivity through networks of habitat corridors or stepping-stone patches has become a key concept in conservation biology and landscape ecology.  Renting or buying large parcels of land to connect protected natural areas to one another would be cost prohibitive but planting suitable native shrubs and other flora under existing transmission line networks can provide many of the same benefits.

In general, power companies pay rent to landowners – often farmers or agribusinesses – for the rights to place towers on their land.  Because it is difficult to work the areas under towers with farm equipment, that space is typically unused, which opens the door to low-cost efforts by environmentalists.

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Electrical transmission lines have power to enhance habitat connectivity for wildlife

Photo, posted April 29, 2018, courtesy of Georgi Todorov/digitalnovas.com via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Scandinavian Wine

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The warming climate is creating some unexpected entrepreneurial opportunities.  Many places that have traditionally dominated the wine industry are starting to be worried that the local climates that made them ideal for vineyards are changing and becoming much less ideal.  On the other hand, places where wine-making was regarded as a losing proposition are becoming much more hospitable.  A prime example is Scandinavia.

Nordic vintners are increasingly convinced that they can develop thriving commercial operations in what used to be places that are too cold for successful wine-making.

Denmark now has 90 commercial vineyards, up from just two 15 years ago.  Forty vineyards have sprung up in Sweden.  About a dozen vineyards are now operating as far north as Norway.

Many of these Nordic vineyards are in the startup stage and are tiny compared with the established wineries of Europe.  Europe has 10 million acres of vineyards, which is enough to cover almost the entire country of Denmark.  At the moment, there are only about 1,000 acres of vineyards in Denmark and Sweden.

But, looking forward, Scandinavia’s climate is forecast to be more like northern France, as regional temperatures climb as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit.  Over the past decade, warming has produced milder winters, a longer growing season, and even a small but rising number of award-winning Scandinavian wines.

Meanwhile, traditional wine-growing regions are also dealing with climate change.  Winemakers in France, for example, are experimenting with grapes from warmer countries like Tunisia to see if they can retain the tastes and yields that are the basis of a multibillion-dollar wine industry.  Spanish and Italian winemakers are planting grapes higher up on mountainsides or on shaded north-facing slopes to preserve the quality of their wine.

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Scandinavian Wine? A Warming Climate Tempts Entrepreneurs

Photo, posted August 24, 2019, courtesy of Ron Reiring via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Record European Heatwave

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Sahara Desert winds blasted Europe in June, especially during a five-day heatwave that set many records.  Between that and weather elsewhere, June was not only one of the hottest ever for that continent, but also for the world as a whole.

In Europe, the average temperature was about 5 degrees Fahrenheit above the June average of a century ago.  The global temperature was nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit higher.

The European heatwave broke temperature records in France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and Spain.  A temperature above 114 degrees was recorded near the French city of Nîmes.

The intense heat lead to wildfires in Spain and Germany, and widespread disruption across Europe.  Undoubtedly, the heatwave has caused many premature deaths, but it will take some time to compile those statistics.  The European heatwave of 2003 caused more than 70,000 premature deaths.


According to calculations by climate scientists, the record-breaking heatwave in June was made at least 5 and as much as 100 times more likely by climate change.  Global heating caused by the carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels and other human activities means that heatwaves are becoming more probable and severe.  So-called attribution studies estimate how much more likely and severe such events are.

The researchers used temperature records stretching back to 1901 to assess the probability of a heatwave last month and in the past.  They also examined climate change models to assess the impact of global heating.  More than 230 attribution studies to date around the world have found that 95% of heatwaves were made more likely or worse by climate change.

It was the hottest June on record in Europe by a country mile and there are likely to be more months like it in the future.

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Climate Change Made Last Month’s European Heatwave At Least Five Times More Likely

Photo, posted February 13, 2018, courtesy of Guilhem Vellut via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Snowpack Loss

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A recent study showed that this year the snowpack in California, which is suffering an ongoing drought as well as long-term warming, reached its lowest point in 500 years.   Snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada mountains fills reservoirs that provide a third of all of the drinking water for the state of California, as well as water used to fight fires and generate electricity.

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