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Planting Millions Of Trees Isn’t So Easy | Earth Wise

November 11, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

There are initiatives around the world to plant millions of trees as a way to fight climate change. Unfortunately, scientists have observed that many of these projects are ill-conceived and poorly managed. Some have failed to grow any forests at all.

One such project was an attempt to plant a million mangrove seedlings in coastal mud on the Filipino island of Luzon in 2012. Ten years later, less than 2% of the trees have survived. The other 98% have died or have washed away. The problem was that the site of the project was ecologically unsuited to mangroves because it is too waterlogged and there is no oxygen available except in a few sheltered spots.

In 2019, the Turkish government managed the planting of 11 million trees in 2,000 sites across the country. A later survey found that 90% had died, although the government denies that assertion.

Many other projects have also had dismal results. The causes of failure vary but include planting single species of trees that become vulnerable to disease, competing demands for land, changing climate, planting in areas not previously forested, and lack of ongoing care for the saplings including watering them.

Nobody is opposed to mass tree planting. There is no anti-tree lobby. But tree planting is sometimes a form of greenwashing. It is great for public relations but unless it is done properly with appropriate planning, it can be a waste of effort and money. The result can be a phantom forest that does nothing for the climate.

Forest planting can work if the social and environmental conditions are right, and if planting is followed by long-term monitoring and care of the trees.

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Phantom Forests: Why Ambitious Tree Planting Projects Are Failing

Photo, posted April 20, 2016, courtesy of the U.S. Navy / Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class John Benson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Plastic Recycling Isn’t Working | Earth Wise

June 13, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

A recent report from several environmental organizations shows that plastic recycling rates in the U.S. have actually declined in the last several years from about 8.7% of discarded plastic to less than 6%. Meanwhile, since 1980, per capita plastic waste generation has increased 263%, totaling 218 pounds of plastic waste per person as of 2018.

Diminishing recycling rates don’t necessarily indicate a lack of interest by the public. Plastic recycling is a complicated process. There are multiple types of plastic that can’t be intermingled and there are no simple and sustainable ways to recycle many forms of plastic. On top of that, the declining recycling rate also reflects the fact that we no longer can export our plastic waste to countries like China and Turkey, which have banned U.S. waste imports.

Recycling in general is a successful practice. Paper recycling rates are around 66% as of 2020. Cardboard recycling was at 88.8% in 2020, and metal recycling rates range from 27% to 76%, depending on the type of metal. Glass recycling rates are a little over 30%. Only plastic recycling has never reached 10%, even before shipping our waste overseas and declaring it to be recycled was going on.

According to environmental organizations focused on the global plastic problem, there is no circular economy of plastics. Perhaps if truly biodegradable plastics became practical, economical, and widely utilized, the situation would be different. As things stand, the only solution is to reduce the production, use, and disposal of plastics.

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Plastics Recycling ‘Does Not Work,’ Environmentalists Stress as U.S. Recycling Rates Drop to 5%

Photo, posted May 13, 2021, courtesy of Ivan Radic via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Lake Tuz Is Disappearing | Earth Wise

January 10, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Lake Tuz is Turkey’s second-largest lake and one of the world’s largest hypersaline lakes. Its high salt content makes it an ideal breeding ground for some migratory bird species, including flamingos, which are often present there in huge numbers in the spring and summer.

Now, Lake Tuz rarely spans an area much larger than a puddle. In some summers, it completely dries up. It did so this past summer, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of flamingos.

According to experts, Lake Tuz is a victim of climate change-induced drought, which has hit the region hard, and decades of harmful agricultural policies that exhausted the underground water supply.

Water in this region has become increasingly scarce. The Mediterranean Basin has already seen more frequent and intense droughts, and is considered a climate change hotspot.

According to new research, which was recently published in the journal Regional Environmental Change, Lake Tuz generally contained enough water in August for the lake to be considered permanent up until 2000. But between 2001 and 2016, something shifted. Water spanned less than 20% of the lake in every August except for one, and droughts became more frequent and intense. And in some years, the lake completely dried up.

What caused this change? According to the research team, Lake Tuz’s decline coincided with the excessive use of groundwater and surface water resources responsible for feeding the lake. Some streams were rerouted for agricultural purposes, while others were dammed. And when surface water sources dwindled, people turned to groundwater that historically fed the springs in Lake Tuz.

Lake Tuz may be on the brink of extinction.

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