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Seaweed On The Way | Earth Wise

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A type of seaweed called sargassum has long formed large blooms in the Atlantic Ocean.  It gets its name from the Sargasso Sea in the western Atlantic.  Since 2011, scientists have been tracking massive accumulations of the stuff each year that starts out off the coast of Africa and works its way across the Atlantic to end up in the Gulf of Mexico. 

The amount of sargassum present each year can shift depending on factors like changes in nutrients, rainfall, and wind conditions.  But since the 1980s, nitrogen content in the Atlantic has gone up by 45%.  This is likely due to human activities such as agriculture and fossil fuel production dumping materials into the rivers that feed into the ocean.

According to recent observations, the mass of seaweed now heading for Florida and other coastlines throughout the Gulf of Mexico may be the largest on record.  The giant blob of sargassum spans more than 5,000 miles in extent.  It is moving west and will pass through the Caribbean and up into the Gulf during the summer.  The seaweed is expected to become prevalent on beaches in Florida around July.

The seaweed provides food and protection for fishes, mammals, marine birds, crabs, sea turtles, and more.  But unfortunately, when sargassum hits the beaches, it piles up in mounds that can be difficult to walk through and eventually emits a gas that smells like rotten eggs.

Tourist destinations in the Caribbean region have their work cut out for them to remove seaweed that can pile up several feet deep.  For example, in Barbados, locals were using 1,600 dump trucks a day to clean their beaches.  Caribbean and Florida resorts spend millions of dollars each year to remove sargassum seaweed.

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A 5,000-mile-wide blob of seaweed is headed for Florida, threatening tourism across the Caribbean

Photo, posted February 24, 2020, courtesy of Bernard Dupont via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

California: Drought Or No Drought? | Earth Wise

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Just a few months ago, millions of people in California were living under challenging water conservation rules.  The past three years were the driest on record and reservoirs were depleted, landscapes dried up, and the snowpack in the Sierras at very low levels.

But in recent months, a dozen atmospheric river storms have brought huge amounts of rain and snow to the state.  Twelve out of 17 major reservoirs in the state have been replenished, the snowpack is over 240% of normal, and brown hills are blooming once again.

So, is the California drought over?  According to the experts, the answer is:  sort of.

The record snowpack and heavy rains have erased the most severe aspects of the drought in many parts of the state.  Only 9% of the state is now experiencing “severe” or “exceptional” drought, down from 55% last fall.

But the changes are basically all at the surface.  Groundwater in the state is still extremely low and the state’s cities and farms are still using more of it than is appropriate.  The state has been unwisely overusing its groundwater aquifers because of the drought and this one year of heavy rains cannot replenish levels that have been dropping for years.

California has been rolling back many of the most severe drought restrictions that had been imposed but has not entirely lifted the drought emergency status.  Meanwhile, the massive snowpack in the mountains will begin to melt as the weather warms and, in many areas, Californians will face flooding.  Water is a complicated business in California.

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Drought or no drought? California left pondering after record winter deluge

Photo, posted August 28, 2019, courtesy of Joyce Cory via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Powering Future Ships By Wind | Earth Wise

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An innovative project out of the UK seeks to reduce carbon emissions at sea by retrofitting large ocean vessels with ultramodern wing-sails to reduce the amount of fuel required to travel the oceans.

Powering ships by wind is certainly nothing new.  However, almost every large ship today is powered entirely by fossil fuels.  A company called Smart Green Shipping has developed retrofit wing-sails called FastRigs that can be installed on existing vessels to reduce fuel consumption. They are also working on additional wind-based technology that can supply all the power required for ships.

FastRig technology is designed to be retrofitted to existing commercial vessels with available deck space – typically bulkers and tankers.  There are about 40,000 such ships that are suitable for conversion to this hybrid power system.  Installing FastRigs is estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20%.

The company and the UK’s University of Southampton have been funded to investigate the potential of the technology to reduce emissions from existing ships.  The research project will develop software tools to investigate the complex interactions between the wing-sails and ship hydrodynamics to accurately assess the impact on vessel performance.  The software tools will be able to predict the fuel savings delivered by wing-sails.

Smart Green Technologies is developing technology for 100% renewable-powered, new-build ships.  The goal is to create quieter, emission-free ships in the future that do no harm to ocean environments and improve air quality in ports, towns, and cities.  Wind power harnessed using sophisticated digital software and advanced engineering represents a promising way to reduce fuel consumption and related emissions from large ocean vessels.

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Future ships could be powered by wind to fight climate change

Photo, posted October 27, 2017, courtesy of Bernard Spragg via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Hydrogen And The Methane Problem | Earth Wise

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Theoretically, hydrogen could be the fuel of the future.  It is the most common element in the universe and its combustion produces no harmful emissions.  Most industrial hydrogen comes from a process called steam reforming that extracts it from natural gas – basically methane.  Carbon dioxide is a byproduct of the process.   But it is also possible to get hydrogen by breaking down water resulting only in oxygen as a byproduct.   There is a great deal of ongoing development of so-called green hydrogen.

New research from Princeton University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has uncovered a potential problem associated with the use of hydrogen as a clean fuel. 

There is a molecule in the atmosphere called the hydroxyl radical.  It is known as “the detergent of the troposphere”.  It plays a critical role in eliminating greenhouse gases such as methane and ozone from the atmosphere.  It turns out that the hydroxyl radical also reacts with any hydrogen gas in the atmosphere and there is only so much hydroxyl to go around.  If large amounts of hydrogen were to enter the atmosphere, much of the hydroxyl radical would be used up reacting with it and there would be much less available to break down methane.  As a result, there would end up being more methane in the atmosphere, and methane is a powerful greenhouse gas.

The bottom line is that there would need to be proactive efforts to limit the amount of hydrogen getting into the atmosphere whether from producing it, transporting it, or anyplace else in the value chain.  Otherwise, the hydrogen economy would cancel out many of the climate benefits of eliminating fossil fuels.

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Switching to hydrogen fuel could prolong the methane problem

Photo, posted June 12, 2021, courtesy of Clean Air Task Force via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Protecting New York City From Flooding | Earth Wise

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Hurricane Sandy flooded Lower Manhattan in October 2012, closing Wall Street, blacking out power for 250,000 people, and killing 44 New Yorkers.  Within a year, plans were in motion to build berms, floodwalls, and water gates along the city’s Lower East Side in a $770 million first phase of an overall plan to defend New York City from future floodwaters.

Plans got more and more complicated, and the price tag reached $1.45 billion before the existing plan was scrapped by former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration in 2018 without involving the community groups that were instrumental in creating the original plan.  After years of lawsuits and court actions, the revised East Side Coastal Resiliency Project is finally proceeding, now at a price tag approaching $3 billion. The project will include 18 moveable floodgates and will protect 110,000 New Yorkers, including 28,000 low-income public-housing residents and is expected to be completed in 2026.

The original larger overall plan was halted in 2020 after former President Trump mocked it and claimed that it would cost $200 billion.  The current plan, created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and known as the 3B alternative, calls for a combination of deployable flood barriers, floodwalls, seawalls, and elevated promenades wrapping around the lower part of Manhattan.  The cost of the project is estimated to be $61 billion. 

In the meantime, over 10 years after Sandy, a similar storm would have almost the same effect today as Sandy had back then.

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New York City Begins Its Climate Change Reckoning on the Lower East Side, the Hard Way

Photo, posted January 19, 2013 courtesy of Andres Alvarado via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Giant Farming Robots | Earth Wise

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Farmers are perpetually engaged in a battle against weeds, which can strangle crops and destroy their yields.  There are basically two ways to fight weeds:  spraying herbicides that are bad for the environment and human health or using human labor to pull the weeds by hand. 

Both choices are increasingly undesirable.  Herbicide resistance is a growing problem facing farms around the world and widespread labor shortages in the agricultural sector are making it increasingly difficult to use human resources to combat weeds.

A startup company called FarmWise founded by an MIT engineering alumnus is providing a third option for farmers.  The company has developed giant autonomous weeding robots that use artificial intelligence to cut out weeds without damaging crops.

The company’s first product is called the Titan.  It looks like a large tractor without a driver’s seat.  It uses machine vision to distinguish weeds from crop plants like leafy greens, cauliflower, artichokes, and tomatoes.  It snips off the weeds with sub-inch precision.

Fifteen titan robots have been roaming the fields of 30 large farms in California and Arizona for several years.  A newer robot, called the Vulcan, is more lightweight and is pulled by a tractor.  FarmWise continues to add new crops to its database so that the robots can be used to fight weeds in more and more kinds of farms.

Weed problems are especially acute for farmers of specialty crops, which grow on smaller farms than corn and soybeans, and have unique growing practices, which limit the effectiveness of chemical and technical solutions. 

The overall goal of FarmWise is to turn artificial intelligence into a tool that is as reliable and dependable as GPS is now in the farming industry.

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Titanic robots make farming more sustainable

Photo, posted August 23, 2021, courtesy of Carol VanHook via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Canada Lynx And Climate Change | Earth Wise

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Canada lynx are medium-sized North American big cats known for their long, black ear tufts, and their ability to hunt across the surface of deep snow.  Historically, the predator’s habitat ranged across Alaska, Canada, and much of the Northern United States.  But in the contiguous U.S. today, the Canada lynx exists only in several disjunct populations in Maine, Minnesota, Colorado, Idaho, Washington and Montana. 

While Glacier National Park in Montana is famous for its grizzly bears and mountain goats, the park also holds a surprising number of Canada lynx, and could serve as a much-needed climate refuge for the big cats in the future.

Glacier National Park is one of the few, large, protected areas located within the Canada lynx range in the Lower 48.  Using an array of 300 motion-sensitive cameras on hiking trails throughout Glacier, researchers from Washington State University conducted the first parkwide occupancy survey for Canada lynx inside the park.  They were surprised to find that Glacier is home to roughly 50 Canada Lynx.  In fact, the researchers found that the iconic predator resides across most of the park’s 1,600 square-mile landscape, although at lower densities than in the core of its range further north.

The researchers also found that Canada lynx are distributed at lower elevations inside Glacier.  Since the cats are a cold-adapted species that need the deep snow, within Glacier, they have a lot of room to climb in elevation as the climate warms.      

The researchers hope their survey can serve as a baseline population estimate to help their collaborators with the National Park Service keep tabs on the numbers of Canada lynx in Glacier.

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Glacier National Park could be climate haven for Canada lynx

Photo, posted February 22, 2014, courtesy of Eric Kilby via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Scientists Call For Geoengineering Research | Earth Wise

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A group of more than 60 climate researchers has published an open letter calling for accelerated research into what is called solar radiation management.  This means changing the amount of solar energy reaching the surface of the earth by adding various substances into the stratosphere or into the clouds in order to help cool down the planet.

This form of geoengineering is controversial to say the least.  While such approaches would most likely be successful in cooling things down, such climate manipulation could have dangerous and unexpected consequences.

For their part, the scientists explicitly state that they do not support the use of solar radiation management or SRM.  Their position is that our current level of knowledge is not sufficient to accurately assess potential risks and consequences.  What they are advocating is for scientific research to be conducted to support the assessment of the potential effectiveness of various SRM techniques, to determine how these techniques would affect climate change under various greenhouse gas scenarios, and to determine the capabilities for detecting and attributing possible impacts of SRM interventions.

The letter was a response to a larger group of scientists and academics who called for a strict ban on geoengineering, saying that it could divert attention and resources from much-needed greenhouse gas reductions.  The new letter claims that gaining additional knowledge about SRM is a critical part of making effective and ethical decisions about its implementation.  They state that we have no right to ban the ability to search for a solution to the mess we created.

Opponents of such research are concerned that even pursuing it normalizes in the public eye what could potentially be a catastrophically dangerous activity.

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60 Scientists Call for Accelerated Research Into ‘Solar Radiation Management’ That Could Temporarily Mask Global Warming

Photo, posted February 11, 2006, courtesy of Janice Waltzer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Pulling Carbon Dioxide Out Of Seawater | Earth Wise

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The world’s largest sink for carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is the ocean.  The world’s oceans soak up 30-40% of all the gas produced by human activities.  Dissolving carbon dioxide in water produces carbonic acid.   This is the reason that oceans are becoming increasingly acidic, which is causing serious damage to ocean ecosystems.

There are many efforts underway aimed at directly removing carbon dioxide from the air as a way to mitigate the effects of ongoing emissions.  But another possibility is to remove CO2 directly from ocean water.  Existing methods for doing it involve the use of expensive membranes and complex chemicals. The economics of such methods are quite unfavorable.

Recently, a team of researchers at MIT has identified what they claim is a truly efficient and inexpensive removal mechanism. It involves a reversible process based on membrane-free electrochemical cells.  Electrodes in the cells release protons that are introduced to seawater which drive the release of carbon dioxide dissolved in the water. The carbon dioxide can be collected and the processed water ends up being alkaline.

Running this process at a site that is already collecting seawater – such as at a desalination plant – would be an effective way to collect carbon dioxide as well as help mitigate ocean acidification.

Once the carbon dioxide is removed from the water, it still needs to be disposed of, just as is the case for other carbon removal processes.  It could be turned into useful chemicals or it could be stored in underground caverns.  But this approach is fairly unique in that the carbon dioxide has already been captured by the ocean.  The issue remains what to do with it.

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How to pull carbon dioxide out of seawater

Photo, posted January 19, 2016, courtesy of Judy Dean via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Community Solar On The Rise | Earth Wise

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Community solar is a way for people who can’t put solar on their own roofs to still take advantage of its benefits.  Whether they can’t afford to install their own panels, have too much shade on their roof, or don’t even own a home, community solar is another way to participate in green energy.

Community solar – also called “shared solar” or “solar gardens” – is a kind of development in which consumers can subscribe to a large solar installation in their area and receive credits on their monthly utility bills for their share of the solar electricity produced.

The large majority of community solar installations are in six states:  Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, and New York.  After substantial growth in community solar in 2022, New York now is the national leader, thanks to initiatives by the state government and the nonprofit sector.  Some programs focus on giving low-income households access to solar.  As of last fall, New York had over 728 community solar projects online.

One should understand that electrons are indistinguishable.  The power generated by a community solar installation is not piped directly to subscribers’ homes.  It just goes into the grid.  Subscribers get credit for their share of the power, but that is essentially a matter of bookkeeping, not physics.

The federal government now has $7 billion that can be used for community solar as part of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund within the Inflation Reduction Act enacted last August.  The EPA plans to award up to 60 grants to assist projects deploying residential and community solar.  Research firm Wood Mackenzie forecasts the community solar market will double by 2027.

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Community Solar Is About to Get a Surge in Federal Funding. So What Is Community Solar?

Photo, posted November 18, 2008, courtesy of the Oregon Department of Transportation via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Antibiotics In Animal Agriculture | Earth Wise

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In animal agriculture, farmers use antibiotics to treat, prevent, and control animal diseases, and to increase the productivity of their operations.  According to the FDA, approximately 80% of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. are purchased for use in food-producing animals. 

The routine administration of antibiotics to farm animals for non-therapeutic purposes promotes the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, with repercussions for human and animal health.  As antibiotic-resistant bacteria spreads, medicines used to treat human diseases can become less effective. 

According to a new study led by researchers from the University of Washington, a California policy restricting the use of antibiotics in farm animals is associated with a reduction in one type of antibiotic-resistant infection in people in the state.  The findings, recently published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, suggest that regulations limiting the use of antibiotics in livestock can significantly impact human health. 

In 2018, California Senate Bill 27 banned routine preventive use of antibiotics in food-animal production and any antibiotic use without a veterinarian’s prescription.  Last year, the European Union passed a law restricting antibiotic use to only sick animals on farms.  And coming this June, most antibiotics – those that are medically important to humans and animals – will be by prescription only in the United States.  

Despite these changes, antibiotic resistance is projected to remain one of the biggest threats to human health over the next 50 years because resistance continues to grow and few new antibiotics are coming online. 

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Restricting antibiotics for livestock could limit spread of antibiotic-resistant infections in people

Ranchers should prepare now for 2023 animal antibiotic guidelines

Photo, posted May 8, 2018, courtesy of Preston Keres / USDA via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Electric Cars Getting Cheaper | Earth Wise

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A sticking point for buying electric cars has always been that they are typically more expensive than equivalent gasoline-powered cars.  But increasing competition, government incentives, and falling prices for lithium and other battery materials is changing the equation.  In fact, the tipping point when electric cars are as cheap or even cheaper than internal combustion cars is likely to happen this year for many cars and, in fact, has already happened for some.

Battery production is ramping up for Tesla, General Motors, Ford, and others, creating cost savings from mass production. Companies manufacturing batteries in the United States are receiving government subsidies as part of a drive to establish a domestic supply chain and reduce dependence on China.  Before anyone cries foul, it should be noted that globally, oil companies received a trillion dollars in subsidies last year.  The Inflation Reduction Act is making it cheaper for automakers to build electric cars (provided they do it in the United States using US materials) and cheaper for consumers to buy them because of tax credits.

Multiple companies have lowered the price of their electric vehicles in recent months, including both the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y, which are the best-selling electric cars in the United States. GM’s electric Equinox crossover will start at about $30,000, which is still about $3,400 more than the gas-powered version.  But once the electric vehicle tax credit is figured in, it will actually be cheaper.

Electric cars are already cheaper to own and operate because of the much lower cost of powering with electricity instead of gas as well as the greatly reduced maintenance costs for the vehicles.  Once the purchase price of these cars is less than that of gas-powered cars, the economics becomes a no-brainer.

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Electric Vehicles Could Match Gasoline Cars on Price This Year

Photo, posted May 11, 2021, courtesy of Chris Yarzab via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Help For Kelp | Earth Wise

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The warming of the oceans has been causing the decimation of kelp forests.  The thick canopies covering coastal ocean regions have been wilting in warmer and nutrient-poor water.  Making matters much worse has been the explosion in population of sea urchins that thrive in warmer water.  The urchins gobble up the kelp, often resulting in so-called urchin barrens, largely devoid of life.

Kelp are considered a foundation species that occupy nearly half of the world’s marine ecoregions.  They thrive in cold water, where they form large underwater forests that provide essential habitat, food, and refuge for many species.  Kelp are often harvested for use in products ranging from toothpaste and shampoo to puddings and cakes.  Including the other services kelp provide, they are associated with billions of dollars in value annually.

On the North American Pacific Coast, a species of sea star consumes sea urchins.  However, these creatures are critically endangered. A marine wildlife epidemic known as sea star wasting syndrome, which began 10 years ago, has killed off more than 90% of the sunflower sea star population.   A new study by researchers at Oregon State University looked at the ability of sea stars to control sea urchin populations.

Lab experiments showed that sea stars consume urchins at a rate sufficient to maintain and possibly even restore the health of kelp forests.  The study shows that there is a clear link between the population crash of sea stars, the explosion in sea urchin populations, and the decline in kelp.

The study’s authors are calling for active management and a coordinated sea star recovery program to try to deal with the effects of a disease whose cause has not been determined.

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Sea stars able to consume kelp-eating urchins fast enough to protect kelp forests, research shows

Photo, posted December 14, 2015, courtesy of Ed Dunens via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Humanity Weighs On The World | Earth Wise

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There are countless ways in which humankind has had disproportionate effects on our planet and most of those effects have been negative.  A recent study led by the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel looked at the total combined weight of various groups of mammals on Earth.  The results are that human beings and our domesticated mammals are the overwhelming majority of the total mass of mammals.

We think of large land mammals – elephants, bears, bison, wildebeests, and so on – as adding up to a massive amount of animal matter.  The study determined that all wild land mammals put together add up to about 22 million metric tons. Wild marine mammals – such as dolphins and whales – add up to about 40 million tons in total.  These sound like pretty big numbers until we look at the human and human-created side of the equation.

The study found that humans weigh about 390 million metric tons, while domesticated mammals – like sheep, cows, and pigs as well as dogs and cats – weigh about 630 million metric tons combined.

All told, wild mammals account for only 6% of all mammals by weight.   People and their domesticated animals make up the other 94%.  This enormous imbalance is an indication of how profoundly humans have reshaped life on Earth.  House cats total twice the weight of African elephants and pigs add up to twice the weight of all wild land animals combined.

The conclusion to draw from the big picture here is that wild animals on Earth are not doing very well.  We already knew this from many other perspectives, but this census by weight presents a stark picture of the extent to which we have taken over the planet and its ecosystems.

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Total Weight of Wild Land Mammals Less Than One-Tenth Weight of All Humans

Photo, posted December 27, 2006, courtesy of Nigel Hoult via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Offshore Wind In The Gulf Of Mexico | Earth Wise

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The US has a goal of deploying 30 GW of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030.  This is an ambitious goal given that the current installed offshore wind capacity in the US is a total of seven turbines capable of generating just 42 megawatts of power.  So, there is a long way to go in a relatively short amount of time.

Since 2021, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, a division of the Department of the Interior, has held three offshore wind lease auctions, which grant rights to developers to install offshore wind in specific marine areas.  The first two auctions involve sites in the northeast, including areas in New York.  The third auction, held last December, offered sites off the California Coast – the first US sites in the Pacific.

In February, the Department of the Interior proposed a new offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico.  It identified a 102,480-acre area off the coast of Louisiana, and two similar-sized areas offshore from Galveston, Texas.

The proposal is now in a 60-day period of seeking public comments before deciding whether to move ahead with the sale.  As was the case for the other lease auctions, there would stipulations associated with accepted bids including efforts to build up domestic industry for the supply chain and labor force.  There would also be requirements to establish and contribute to a fisheries compensatory mitigation fund to address any potential negative impacts to the fishing industry.

About two-thirds of offshore wind resources in the US are located in deep-water areas that will require floating platforms.  A federal program called Floating Offshore Wind Shot has the goal of developing cost-effective technology for this purpose.

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Gulf of Mexico may be next up for offshore wind leases

Photo, posted May 13, 2011, courtesy of the Department of Energy and Climate Change via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Sustainable Jet Fuel | Earth Wise

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For several years, a few airlines, notably United here in the US, have been experimenting with the use of sustainable jet fuel.  Sustainable aviation fuel is made from such things as used cooking oil and agricultural waste.  It produces up to 80% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventional jet fuel. 

To date, when used it has been blended with fossil fuel jet fuel at a fairly low level.  United is the largest consumer of sustainable jet fuel in the US, but it accounts for less than one percent of the airline’s total fuel consumption.  Unfortunately, sustainable fuel can be as much as three times more expensive than conventional jet fuel.

Because of increasing governmental policy changes, technological breakthroughs, and climate commitments by airlines, efforts to increase the viability of sustainable jet fuel are ramping up.

Recently, United Airlines, Air Canada, Boeing, Honeywell, and JP Morgan Chase made initial contributions of $100 million to a new venture capital fund that will invest in sustainable fuel technology.  United expects the fund to grow to $500 million and make about two dozen investments over the next three years. 

Emissions from aviation contribute more than two percent of global greenhouse gas emissions each year.  Like many big companies, United Airlines has pledged to stop adding carbon emissions to the environment by 2050.  Unlike many, United has also pledged to eliminate emissions without using carbon offsets, which is effectively paying others to do their dirty work without cleaning up their own operations.

Multiple sustainable fuel companies in the US and abroad are working on a variety of ways to make aviation fuel from sustainable sources.

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A Sudden Rush to Make Sustainable Aviation Fuel Mainstream

Photo, posted August 18, 2021, courtesy of Ronen Fefer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Protecting Wetlands | Earth Wise

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Wetlands are distinct ecosystems that are flooded or saturated by water, either permanently or seasonally.  They include mangroves, marshes, swamps, forested wetlands, bogs, wet prairies, and vernal pools.   The feature that most wetlands share is soil or substrate that is at least periodically saturated with or covered by water.

Wetlands are some of the most threatened ecosystems in the world.  While wetlands can be affected by a variety of natural stressors, including erosion, droughts, and storms, human activities have been the major driver of wetland decline. 

But according to a new study by researchers from McGill University in Canada, the global loss of wetland areas since 1700 has likely been overestimated.  The research team calculated that the area of wetland ecosystems around the world has declined 21-35% since 1700 as a result of human activities – far less than the 50-87% decline estimated in other studies.  The study’s focus beyond regions with historically high wetland losses and its avoidance of possibly misleading extrapolations likely resulted in the lower estimate.      

According to the study, which was published in the journal Nature, more than 2.1 million square miles of wetlands have been lost during the past 300 years – an area roughly the size of India.  The five countries with the highest wetland losses are the United States, China, India, Russia and Indonesia. 

But discovering that fewer wetlands have been historically lost than previously thought gives researchers a second chance to protect wetlands.  The findings of the study will help researchers prioritize global conservation and restoration actions.

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A second chance to protect wetlands

Photo, posted February 2, 2005, courtesy of Jan Tik via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Offshore Wind Industry In New York | Earth Wise

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Last July, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced the release of the state’s third competitive offshore wind solicitation, seeking to add generating capacity to power at least 1.5 million homes.  In response to the solicitation, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority – NYSERDA -received more than 100 proposals for 8 new projects from six offshore wind developers.  An evaluation period is in progress and NYSERDA expects to announce awards sometime this spring.

Apart from the development and installation of offshore wind turbines and their associated infrastructure, participating in the program also involves supply chain investments to support the development of a strong, local supply chain that creates jobs for New Yorkers as well as bolstering the state’s standing as a regional hub for offshore wind manufacturing.

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, a multi-billion-dollar Spanish-German wind engineering company, is one of the companies bidding to have its wind turbines used for the forthcoming New York offshore wind projects.   If Siemens Gamesa is selected for the project, the company has revealed that it will build a major offshore nacelle manufacturing facility at the Port of Coeymans, New York, some 15 miles from Albany.

The planned facility would create approximately 420 direct jobs and represent an investment of around $500 million in the region.  Siemens Gamesa said it would also commit to localizing several new component supplier facilities, including steel component fabrication, bearings, and composite components. 

Offshore wind will bring more than just electricity to New York; it will bring a whole new industry.

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Siemens Gamesa reveals plans for New York offshore wind hub

Photo, posted March 24, 2016, courtesy of TEIA via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Protected Areas Are Not Protecting Insects | Earth Wise

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Insects can be found in every environment on Earth and play crucial roles in the planet’s ecosystems.  In fact, Biologist E. O. Wilson once said that “if all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago.  If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.”

While his statement may sound extreme, it’s really not an exaggeration.  Insects are critical to most ecosystems.  They pollinate more than 80% of plants – both those we eat and those that provide food and habitat for other species.  Insects are also a food source themselves, eaten by other insects, birds, fish, and mammals. Without insects, we wouldn’t have the rich biodiversity that supports life on earth today. 

But insect populations are collapsing around the globe, and they continue to be overlooked by conservation efforts.  Protected areas, like national parks, refuges, and sanctuaries, can safeguard threatened species, but only if those threatened species actually live within the protected areas. 

According to a new study recently published in the journal One Earth, 76% of insect species are not adequately covered by protected areas, including several critically endangered insects such as the dinosaur ant, crimson Hawaiian damselfly, and harnessed tiger moth. Alarmingly, the populations of 1,876 species do not overlap with protected areas at all.

Insects have been historically overlooked by conservation programs and need to be included in future conservation assessments. 

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Protected areas fail to safeguard more than 75% of global insect species

Photo, posted August 21, 2014, courtesy of Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Sea Level Rise And Global Security | Earth Wise

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Recently, United Nations General Secretary Antonio Guterres addressed the U.N. Security Council on the issue of the security threats created by rising sea levels. In the past, some members of the Security Council – notably Brazil, China, Russia, and at times, India – have argued that the U.N.’s climate program should address such issues and that the Security Council doesn’t have a mandate or the expertise to consider the issue.   The underlying problem is that by addressing the security issues created by rising seas, other sensitive geopolitical issues might come to the forefront.

Guterres’ speech focused on the real possibility that rising seas could disrupt and destabilize global societies unless there is an organized international effort to get ahead of the problem.  Major cities facing serious impacts from rising seas include Cairo, Lagos, Bangkok, Jakarta, Mumbai, Shanghai, Copenhagen, London, Los Angeles, New York, and Buenos Aires, among others.

In all, Guterres said that the danger is most acute for about 900 million people living in low-lying coastal areas.  Some countries, particularly small island developing countries, could disappear entirely.

The world is already facing refugee crises related to politics, warfare, and extreme weather.  The flood of refugees created by rising seas could be biblical in magnitude.

The confluence of climate change and global security is growing steadily.  As the global body primarily responsible for maintaining international peace and security, the U.N. Security Council cannot duck this issue much longer.  It has a critical role to play in building the political will required to address the security challenges looming from rising seas.

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Sea Level Rise Could Drive 1 in 10 People from Their Homes, with Dangerous Implications for International Peace, UN Secretary General Warns

Photo, posted July 19, 2021, courtesy of Face of the World via Flickr.

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