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Melting in Svalbard

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Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago north of the mainland.  It is known for its glaciers, tundra, and wildlife – especially polar bears, Arctic foxes, and reindeer.  It is home to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a place to safeguard critical seeds for the world’s food supply.  The location was chosen for its remoteness and perpetual deep freeze.

A recent study investigated the record glacial ice melt on the Svalbard islands in the summer of 2024, considering it to be a cautionary tale about the future of other Arctic ice masses.

The amount of ice that melted on Svalbard made it one of the most significant contributors to global sea level rise last year.  An extreme and long Arctic heat wave, intensified by changing weather patterns, led to unprecedented melting.  But what seemed like a once-in-1000-year event may well become normal in the future.

Most of the 2024 glacial melt occurred during six weeks of record-high temperatures.  The influx of fresh water from the islands most likely had an impact on marine ecosystems in the surrounding sea, beginning at the bottom of the food chain with plankton, which are very sensitive to water temperature and salinity. 

Research has linked surges of fresh water into the North Atlantic with extreme weather in Europe and possibly even North America.  Of great concern is that cold fresh water flowing out of the Arctic may be contributing to the weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, which is a key ocean current that carries warm water towards northwestern Europe and greatly impacts the climate in Europe.

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Melting on the Arctic’s Svalbard Islands Shows the Climate Future Is Now

Photo, posted September 21, 2016, courtesy of Christopher Michel via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Raccoons in Europe

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Tens of thousands of raccoons live in Kassel, a city of 200,000 people in central Germany known for its art scene.  Overall, there are an estimated 1.5 million raccoons in Germany.  The omnivorous mammals are native to North America, but they were brought to Germany in the 1930s for fur farming.  Fur farming ultimately ceased but escaping animals and intentional releases ultimately led to a large wild population of raccoons in the years afterward.

Raccoons have gradually made their way across Europe with animals spotted in France, Denmark, Poland, Italy, Austria, and elsewhere.

The people of Kassel have embraced raccoons.  In fact, the place is often called the raccoon city.  Several sports teams are named after the animals.  Many people feed them, and they are pretty much everywhere.  On the other hand, residents have to lock up their trash receptacles and they have to check under their cars before driving places.

Since 2016, the EU has classified racoons as an invasive species because of the threat they pose to native wildlife.  There are no equivalent species like them in Europe.  So, they are a threat to ground-nesting birds, bats in caves, amphibians, and more.  They are able to eat almost anything. 

What to do about raccoons in Europe is unclear.  Despite their popularity in Germany, 200,000 raccoons were culled last year.  But raccoon supporters argue that minks, which are native to Europe, and especially cats, are responsible for much of the pressure on species racoons are accused of consuming.  Meanwhile, Kassel citizens continue to enjoy their raccoons.

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Rampaging raccoons: how the American mammals took over a German city – and are heading across Europe

Photo, posted December 20, 2016, courtesy of Big Cypress National Preserve via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Coexisting birds and solar energy

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Floating photovoltaic systems – known as floatovoltaics – are becoming increasingly popular.  These are arrays of solar panels installed over artificial water bodies such as irrigation ponds, wastewater treatment plants, and reservoirs.  These projects maximize the space for producing clean energy while not taking up natural lands.

Wherever there are bodies of water, there are waterbirds.  A recent study by researchers at the University of California, Davis looked at the potential impact of floating solar projects on birds and other wildlife. 

Birds face many threats from habitat loss, climate change, pollution, and disease.  Many bird populations are in decline.  So, it is important to consider the effects of floating solar projects on birds. 

The researchers have observed birds resting on floating solar structures before dawn, birds jockeying for favorable sites on the structures, and some nesting under the panels.  These are positive interactions.  On the other hand, it is possible that pollutants could be released or leached from floating solar infrastructure.  Such risks must be mitigated.

Floating solar on irrigation ponds and reservoirs can reduce evaporation and reduce algae growth, which benefits both humans and wildlife.

The researchers will continue to monitor bird behavior at floating solar installations using expertise in ecology and energy system science to identify risks and solution pathways so that negative impacts are avoided, and potential ecological benefits are realized.  It is important that as floating solar continues to become more popular, it and waterbirds can coexist.

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Helping Birds and Floating Solar Energy Coexist

Photo, posted February 28, 2019, courtesy of Renee Grayson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Restoring oil well sites with moss

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Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada have developed a method for restoring peatlands at tens of thousands of oil and gas exploration sites in Western Canada. 

A well pad is a prepared area used for drilling oil or gas wells, encompassing the site where drilling equipment, wellheads, and related facilities are located.  Preparing well pads involves burying native peatland vegetation under clay or sand, thereby eliminating the ability of the peatland to sequester carbon as well reducing available habitat for wildlife.

Restoring well sites has typically involved planting trees or grasses to eventually establish forests or grasslands.  The Waterloo method returns a well pad to its condition before drilling occurred and is part of ongoing efforts to restore peatlands, which are known to be even more effective for sequestering carbon than tropical forests.

The Waterloo technique involves lowering the surface of a decommissioned well site and transplanting native mosses onto it to effectively recreate a peatland.    They tested the technique to scale at an entire well pad and found that it results in sufficient water for the growth of peatland moss across large portions of the study site.

The results suggest that re-establishment of peatland vegetation on lowered well pads is possible.  The researchers plan to continue monitoring the ecosystem in the study’s well pads to confirm that the transplanted mosses will be self-sustaining over the coming decades.  They will focus on increasing the amount of water that flows from surrounding natural peatlands into the converted well pads to further optimize soil moisture. 

This work could represent an important milestone in ecological restoration.

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Restoring oil wells back to nature with moss

Photo, posted November 6, 2014, courtesy of Chris Boyer / Kestrel Aerial Services via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The green grab for land

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Solar and wind farms are spreading rapidly around the world.  Many economists believe that solar power has crossed the threshold where it is generally cheaper than other ways to make electricity and will become the dominant energy source in the next couple of decades.  As a result, both solar and wind farms are gobbling up more and more land around the world.  Estimates are that they will take up around 30,000 square miles by mid-century.

One concern is whether we are entering an era of trading food for energy.  Land conflicts seem inevitable since solar power operates best in unshaded areas with gentle winds and moderate temperatures, which are the same conditions favored by many crops.

China is installing more solar farms than the rest of the world combined.  Many of these are in the Gobi Desert, where there is no competing need for the land.  But some are in eastern China, in densely populated grain-growing areas.

There are a number of strategies that reduce the impact of solar farms on land use.  One approach is to put them on old industrial or brownfield sites that are otherwise unusable.  Another is floatovoltaics:  putting solar panels on the surface of lakes and reservoirs.  And then there is agrivoltaics, where solar panels are installed above crop fields or where livestock graze between or even beneath solar arrays.  China has more than 500 agrivoltaic projects that incorporate crops, livestock, aquafarming, greenhouses, and even tea plantations.

Green energy has both environmental and economic benefits to offer, but it must conserve nature and not excessively grab land needed for people, wildlife, and ecosystems.

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‘Green Grab’: Solar and Wind Boom Sparks Conflicts on Land Use

Photo, posted May 25, 2011, courtesy of Michael Mees via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The importance of shallow water

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Vacationers love beaches with shallow water.  They are great for families with small kids and for less confident swimmers.  Such beaches often attract intense coastal development.  However, they are also fragile habitats that are disappearing around the world.

A new study led by the University of South Florida highlights the need to protect these marine ecosystems.  Shallow coastal waters are known as tidal flats, and they are critical to global seafood supplies, local economies, and overall marine health.  Shallow water ecosystems are interlinked with other marine habitats and are vital for the lifecycle of marine species far from shore.

Shallow water ecosystems are at risk not only from coastal development, but from harmful algal blooms triggered by human activity, from marine heatwaves, and from boats operating in sensitive habitats such as seagrass meadows. These habitats contribute millions of dollars to local economies such as those in Florida but there is not much direct habitat managements in place to protect these ecosystems.

The University of South Florida study, published in the journal Fisheries, enumerated ten core strategies that boaters, anglers, wildlife managers, and policymakers can adopt to prioritize and preserve shallow marine ecosystems from humans and from increasingly powerful weather events.  Foremost among these efforts are the protection of key fish species, such as tarpon, whose protection would benefit additional species that use the same habitats.

Habitat management and restoration should be essential concerns for coastal communities to provide long-term benefits for both themselves and for the marine life that depends on shallow-water habitats.

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Why shallow water at the beach is more important than you might realize

Photo, posted February 14, 2018, courtesy of Marcelo Campi via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Regrowing forests naturally

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Deforestation is one of the major causes of climate change and restoring and enhancing forests is a major activity around the world as a way to mitigate its effects.  There are high-profile initiatives to plant millions of trees, but these projects are often ill-conceived and poorly managed.

One of the most dramatic failures was the planting of over a million mangrove seedlings on the Filipino island of Luzon back in 2012.  A study 8 years later found that fewer than 2 percent of the trees had survived.  The rest died or were washed away.

The causes of failure in tree planting programs include planting of trees that become vulnerable to disease, competing demands for land, changing climate, planting in areas not previously forested, and a lack of aftercare including watering seedlings.

A multinational study recently published in Nature has found that forests could regrow naturally on more than 800,000 square miles of land around the tropics without the need for planting trees by hand.  This is an area larger than Mexico.

The researchers mapped areas where forests would be likely to regrow – areas where soils are healthy and where there is already forest nearby to supply seeds.  In some places, lands are so degraded that it is necessary to plant trees by hand, but this is costly and prone to failure.  Forests that regrow naturally tend to fare better and make better habitats for wildlife.

The effect of regrown forests on the climate would be very substantial.  If these forests were allowed to grow for three decades, they would absorb enough carbon to offset 50 years of emissions by Australia, the home of the lead researcher of the study. 

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Tropical Forests Could Regrow Naturally on Area the Size of Mexico

Photo, posted February 16, 2018, courtesy of Jason Houston / USAID via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Forest crimes

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Wildlife trafficking is the world’s fourth largest form of organized crime, behind only drug trafficking, counterfeiting, and human trafficking.  When we hear about wildlife trafficking, we think of elephant ivory, rhino horns, tiger parts, and the like.  But so-called forest crimes, which includes poaching protected trees and illegal logging added up to somewhere between $30 billion and $100 billion during the period 2014-2018.  A 2020 report by the United Nations estimated that illegal trade just in rosewoods comprised more than 40% of the value of all trafficked species – animal and plant – during that time.

Even though rosewood comprises multiple tree species, world stocks of nearly all of them have been depleted through overexploitation. Rosewood is now protected worldwide, and some 300 species are under trade restrictions.

With a value of as much as $1.5 million per cubic meter, rosewood is at the center of a great deal of illegal activity, government corruption, and controversy.  A shipment of 30,000 illegally felled rosewood logs from Madagascar was seized at a port in Singapore in 2014. Those rosewood logs, worth at least $50 million, have been hung up in multiple legal proceedings and disputes ever since and remain in Singapore.

With huge financial stakes, it is perhaps not surprising that the U.N. estimates that as much as a third of the supposedly legal global timber trade involves illegally harvested wood.

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How Traffickers Got Away with the Biggest Rosewood Heist in History

Photo, posted April 19, 2010, courtesy of Dinesh Valke via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Wildlife crossings

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Every year, there are one to two million collisions between motor vehicles and large animals in the U.S.  About 200 people are killed annually.  Counting smaller vertebrates, around a million animals are killed by vehicles each day.  Research has shown that global warming is triggering widespread species redistribution.  As a result, more and more animals are on the move, changing their habitats to escape warming temperatures and climate extremes.

This situation has created renewed interest in creating wildlife crossings.  These are various kinds of structures that allow animals to traverse human-made barriers like highways.  They include such things as a grassy overpass that allows pronghorn to run across a highway in Wyoming and a long underpass that allows tigers to scamper beneath a highway in India.

In the U.S., there are more than 1,000 wildlife crossings and there are more being built all the time.  Data shows that they are highly effective.  A study of wildlife crossings on Highway 9 through the Blue River Valley in Colorado found that they reduced wildlife-vehicle collisions by nearly 90%. 

Wildlife crossing structures can be expensive to build, costing between $500,000 and $6 million, but research has shown that the money saved by avoiding crashes can recoup these costs in just a few years along with the fact that they potentially save lives.  Federal funding is largely distributed based on areas with the highest number of wildlife-vehicle collisions, which is crucial for addressing public safety issues.  However, a recent study suggests that future proposals need to incorporate climate-driven changes in animal behavior and habitat.

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As Climate Changes Fuels Animal Movement, Will These Structures Still Help Species Cross the Road?

Photo, posted April 5, 2017, courtesy of Jeffrey Beall via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Emissions and the Great Salt Lake

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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

The carbon cost of wind farms

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Opponents of electric vehicles and renewable energy often try to make arguments to the effect that the carbon footprint associated with producing electric cars, solar panels, and wind turbines negates their advantages over legacy technologies that involve burning fossil fuels.  These arguments have been soundly refuted for the case of electric vehicles but there have been fewer studies related to other green technologies.

A new peer-reviewed study by engineers at the Te Herenga Waka Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, has analyzed the carbon emissions associated with wind farm operation.

The main result is that after operating for less than two years, a wind farm can offset the carbon emissions generated across its entire 30-year lifespan.   The study takes into account everything from the manufacturing of individual turbine parts, to transporting them and installing them into place, to decommissioning the entire wind farm at its life’s end.  The environmental impacts of the installation and transportation phases are important, accounting for about 10% of the overall emissions.

The decommissioning phase is also important.  The study recommended the development of a recycling process for end-of-life turbine blades.  Currently, such blades are disposed of in landfills, but a recycling process could reduce emissions.

The manufacturing of wind turbines is the primary contributor to the carbon and energy consumption footprints and continues to be the subject of efforts to be improved.

There are other aspects of wind farms that are subject to criticism including physical impacts on the local environment and various social, wildlife and economic impacts.  But with respect to carbon emissions, wind farms are a winning strategy.

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Wind Farms can Offset Their Emissions Within Two Years, New Study Shows

Photo, posted April 2, 2017, courtesy of Ian Dick via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Averting a mass extinction

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There has been widespread concern that biodiversity is under siege and that we are in the beginnings of a sixth mass extinction in the long history of the Earth, this time caused by the actions of humanity.  There has been considerable debate about what can be done about it and solutions generally involve protecting large areas of the planet from human disruptions.  Some countries have set a target of protecting 30% of land and sea.

A new study by a broad coalition of conservation organizations and published in Frontiers in Science, concludes that humans can preserve much of the great diversity of life on Earth by setting aside just 1.2% of the planet for protection.

The experts mapped the wilderness available to rare and threatened plants and animals.  They then identified specific hotspots for rare wildlife that have yet to be protected.  They found a total of 16,825 such sites which nevertheless all together add up an area smaller than the state of Wisconsin.

Some scientists have been warning that by focusing too much on the size of protected lands, we are not necessarily safeguarding areas that are especially rich in wildlife.  The new study pushes for prioritizing hotspots for rare species, which the authors claim would be sufficient to stave off a sixth mass extinction.  The truth is that most species on Earth are rare, meaning that they are few in number or cover a small range, or both.

The study estimated that the cost of protecting the identified hotspot sites would be $263 billion, which is certainly a large amount of money.  But the authors point out that this sum to save global biodiversity is less than the yearly revenue of Shell Oil.

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To Avert a Mass Extinction, Protect 1 Percent of Earth

Photo, posted April 20, 2018, courtesy of Per Harald Olsen / AfricanBioServices 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

Cloud brightening

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Solar geoengineering is a type of climate intervention:  deliberate actions designed to affect the climate.  There are several ways to try to reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the surface of the earth and all of them are controversial.  Perhaps the least controversial approach is cloud brightening.

The idea is based on something called the Twomey effect, which is that large numbers of small droplets in the atmosphere reflect more sunlight than small numbers of large droplets.  Spraying vast quantities of minuscule aerosols into the sky, thereby forming many small droplets, could change the reflective properties of clouds.  If clouds are more reflective, then less sunlight reaches the surface, and the temperature goes down.

This form of geoengineering is thought to be less risky because it can be performed on a localized basis and can use relatively benign materials such as sea salt. 

In early April, scientists from the University of Washington started testing a device that sprays tiny sea-salt particles into the air from the deck of a decommissioned aircraft carrier in Alameda, California.  The test was simply to see whether the machine propelled a mist of suitable size.

Within two weeks, Alameda officials ordered a stop to the experiment, citing potential health and environmental risks.  After a month-long investigation, Alameda ruled that the experiment does not generate a measurable risk to health, wildlife, or the environment.

But before more ambitious experiments take place, there are potential side effects of cloud brightening that need to be studied.  It may turn out to be a useful tool in fighting global warming, but in any case, such technology should not be viewed as a substitute for moving away from fossil fuels.

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A Test of Cloud-Brightening Machines Poses No Health Risk, Officials Say

Photo, posted September 8, 2011, courtesy of Justin Ladia via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Fireflies are in decline

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If you are seeing fewer fireflies each year, you’re not alone.  Like many insects, firefly populations are in decline.  A new study by researchers from the University of Kentucky, Bucknell University, Penn State University, and the USDA has shed some light on the precarious situation facing firefly populations across North America. 

The research team used a mix of field surveys from citizen scientists and advanced machine learning techniques to analyze more than 24,000 surveys from the Firefly Watch citizen science initiative.  The study, which was recently published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, identified the factors likely responsible for the declines in firefly populations. 

The research team found that fireflies are sensitive to various environmental factors, from short-term weather conditions to longer climatic trends.  Fireflies thrive in temperate and tropical climates.  As global temperatures rise, these conditions become less predictable and less hospitable.

Light pollution is another threat to fireflies.  Artificial light at night – from things like street lights and billboards – is particularly disruptive to fireflies as it interferes with their bioluminescent communication essential for mating.

Urban growth, including buildings, roads, and sidewalks, poses another significant threat to fireflies by overtaking their natural habitats and decreasing available breeding areas. 

Additionally, certain agricultural practices seem to contribute to the decline of fireflies. 

According to the research team, reducing light pollution, preserving natural habitats, and implementing wildlife-friendly agricultural practices are conservation measures that could help mitigate the decline of fireflies. 

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Fading lights: Comprehensive study unveils multiple threats to North America’s firefly populations

Photo, posted July 12, 2021, courtesy of Bruce Hallman/USFWS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Good owls and bad owls

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In the forests of the Pacific Northwest, spotted owls have been the subject of environmental concern for more than 30 years.  Over the past 20 years, northern spotted owl populations have declined by up to 80% as the birds have faced marginalized territories and increasing numbers of wildfires.  Only about 3,000 of them remain on federal lands.  Spotted owls are picky eaters and are not very adaptable.

The barred owl, a larger and more ornery species, has been moving in on spotted owl turf for 50 years, competing for food and space, and out-reproducing them and chasing them out of their nesting spots.

A last-ditch effort to rescue the northern spotted owl from possible extinction has been proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  The plan would be to eradicate up to half a million barred owls over the next 30 years in Washington, Oregon, and Northern California.  The owls would be dispatched using cheap and efficient methods, such as shotguns.

The concept of killing off vast numbers of barred owls is awful, and nobody likes the idea.  However, other strategies have failed, and time is running out.  The only way to preserve the northern spotted owl is to protect and increase its habitat and have fewer barred owls.

To say that the proposed plan is controversial is a massive understatement.  A coalition of 75 wildlife and animal welfare organizations described it as a “colossally reckless action.”

A central issue in the debate is whether humans are responsible for this situation and should try to rectify it or, despite our desire to protect the spotted owl, we should just let nature take its course.

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They Shoot Owls in California, Don’t They?

Photo, posted April 4, 2022, courtesy of Kyle Sullivan / BLM via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Thousands of species threatened

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The International Union for the Conservation of Nature is an organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.  The IUCN has been around for nearly 75 years and is the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.

In its latest accounting, the IUCN has determined that more than 44,000 species worldwide are threatened with extinction.  Among them, nearly 7,000 face an immediate threat from climate change.

The organization tracks 157,000 species to compile its Red List and found that climate change poses a growing threat to many kinds of wildlife. At particular risk are freshwater fish including Atlantic salmon, which are now classified as “Near Threatened.” 

In all, about 25% of freshwater fish are threatened with extinction.  This is in part driven by rising sea levels which causes saltwater to be driven up into rivers.  Some 41% of amphibians are threatened with extinction, in part due to more intense heat and drought.  Many populations of green turtles are at risk of extinction because of rising temperatures lowering hatch rates and rising sea levels flooding nests.

It isn’t just animals at risk.  For example, big leaf mahogany, one of the world’s most commercially sought-after timber trees, has moved from Vulnerable to Endangered on IUCN’s Red List.  Thousands of trees have been added to the Red List, many of which are timber species, and some are keystone species in forests.

Endangered and threatened species are often irreplaceable parts of ecosystems which provide humans with many services that only the natural world can.

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More Than 44,000 Species Now Threatened With Extinction

Photo, posted November 22, 2010, courtesy of E. Peter Steenstra/USFWS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Wildlife rebounding in Uganda

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The numbers of elephants, rhinos, and other animals in Uganda’s nature preserves is steadily improving, reversing the trend of steady declines previously caused by poachers, wildlife traffickers, and conflict.

Between the 1960s and 1980s, political conflict and lawlessness in Uganda led to massive declines in some species as poaching, trafficking, and encroachment ran rampant.

Uganda’s population of over 700 northern white and eastern black rhinos was completely wiped out in the early 1980s by people hunting them for their horns.  A charity brought four rhinos in 2005 to a sanctuary called the Ziwa Rhino and Wildlife Ranch and, according to the Uganda Wildlife Authority, there are now 33 in the facility.

Increased conservation efforts have allowed the population of buffalos to increase 77% to over 44,000 since 1983.  The number of elephants has surged almost 300% to nearly 8,000 over that same time period.  There has also been an increase in the number of mountain gorillas in dense forests.

Over the years, the Ugandan government has brought in a string of conservation policies including lengthy jail terms for violations.  As a result, wildlife populations have been on a steady recovery.

It is typical to think about species in terms of how close to extinction they are, but the ultimate goal of conservation is to recover species.  This means not only gaining distance from extinction but also resuming a species’ role in its ecosystem and repopulating its former range.  Whether the wildlife in Uganda is achieving this status remains to be seen, but the trends are very positive.

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Uganda Sees Resurgence of Rhinos, Elephants, Buffaloes

Photo, posted September 15, 2014, courtesy of Rod Waddington via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Who wins: Wind or solar?

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A new study by the University of Exeter in the UK suggests that the world may have crossed a tipping point that will inevitably make solar power our main source of energy.  This data-driven model of technology seems to fly in the face of the current situation in which wind power contributes considerably more generation than solar power – by a factor of 3 in the U.S. and nearly double worldwide.

Wind and solar power both have advantages and disadvantages.  Solar power is quiet, requires little maintenance, and presents little danger to wildlife.  It is also practical for individual homes.  Residential wind power is not really a viable option for most people in most places.  But on the other hand, wind energy can produce more power than solar, can work both day and night, and can be located offshore far away from people.  On land, both wind and solar power take up lots of space and compete with other land use needs as well as countering people’s aesthetic preferences.

Both technologies continue to get cheaper over time, although solar has especially seen significant cost reductions.  The cost of solar power, which is already the cheapest form of electricity production, is estimated to fall to as low as $20 per megawatt hour over time from the current level of $40 per megawatt hour.

Wind and solar energy are on track to account for more than a third of the world’s electricity by 2030, according to the Rocky Mountain Institute.  Despite the predictions of various studies and the ambitions of specific technologies, it seems likely that wind and solar power will both play an expanding role in our energy systems for a long time to come.

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World may have crossed solar power ‘tipping point’

Photo, posted November 22, 2008, courtesy of Oregon Department of Transportation via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Wind turbines and bats

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Collisions with wind turbines are one of the leading causes of bat mortality in North America and Europe.  Most bat fatalities are caused by bats colliding with the rotating blades of wind turbines.  Fatalities are highest during autumn migration and on nights with low wind speeds.

According to a recent study, land-based wind turbines kill as many as 880,000 bats a year and are wiping out so many threatened bats that some species may become endangered unless preventative action is taken.

The big challenge is that bat conservation experts and scientists don’t know how to stop or reduce turbine collisions.  They don’t really know why bats are interacting with turbines to the extent that they are.  Do turbines attract bats?  Do turbines’ bright lights or just their silhouettes stimulate an attraction response?

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $8 million to five research centers to develop strategies for deterring bats from wind turbines. 

One of these is Bat Conservation International, which is an organization whose mission is to accelerate research to address knowledge gaps in bat ecology and behavior and develop technologies and industry methods to reduce fatality of bats at wind farms.  Among the approaches to be tested is limiting the use of nighttime lighting on wind farms to make migrating bats less likely to fly through blades. 

Another team at Boise State University is designing ultrasonic noisemakers to scare off bats. 

In announcing the new program, the Department of Energy states that wind energy must be appropriately and responsibly sited, which includes the protection of wildlife and their habitats.

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Experts Seek to Spare Bats From Wind Turbine Collisions

Photo, posted January 10, 2013, courtesy of Tom Shockey via Flickr.

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