An Edith's Checkerspot butterfly in Los Padres National Forest in Southern California. Patricia Marroquin / Moment / Getty Images
Butterflies across the U.S. West are disappearing, and now researchers say the climate crisis is largely to blame.
<p>A new study published in <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6533/1042" target="_blank">Science</a> on Thursday looked at three different data sets that cover the last 40 years of butterfly populations across more than 70 locations in the Western U.S. They found that butterfly populations had fallen by 1.6 percent per year, and that this was linked to warmer weather during the fall.</p><p>"That so many of our butterflies are declining is very alarming," Dr. Tara Cornelisse, an entomologist and senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), said in <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/study-climate-change-contributing-to-widespread-butterfly-decline-across-western-united-states-2021-03-04/" target="_blank">response to the findings</a>. "These declines are a wake-up call that we need to dramatically reduce greenhouse gases to save these beautiful and beloved butterflies, as well as our very way of life."</p>
<p>In recent years, scientists have raised the alarm about a worldwide decline in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/insects" target="_self">insects</a>. A <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/insect-land-decrease-study-2645822562.html" target="_self">study published last spring</a> found that the number of land-based insects was falling by about nine percent per decade. However, it has been difficult to tease out the causes of this decline, since factors like land-use change, pesticide use and climate shifts may all contribute, <a href="https://earther.gizmodo.com/climate-change-is-killing-butterflies-in-the-american-w-1846408143" target="_blank">Gizmodo's Earther pointed out</a>.</p><p>To investigate the role of climate change, the researchers chose to focus on the Western U.S. because it has seen general warming and drying trends covering a wide variety of ecosystems and land uses. They looked at 450 species in 11 states, from Washington to California to New Mexico to Montana, and compared population data with temperature trends.</p>
<p>They found that butterfly populations actually increased with summer temperatures, probably because the warmth meant more nectar and larval bugs as food for butterflies and caterpillars. However, the warmer autumns caused their populations to fall again, likely because plants cannot survive the extended warmth and the population of predators increases. Because the declines occurred in a variety of ecosystems, including protected areas that are less impacted by pesticides, the researchers thought climate change was to blame.</p><p>"Out there, removed from those factors, we see a shifting climate as the main driver of declining butterfly numbers," University of Texas in Reno biologist and lead study author Matthew Forister told Earther in an email.</p>
<p>University of Connecticut ecologist David Wagner, who was not involved with the study, said it was notable because it included protected areas.</p><p>"[T]his is one of the first global cases of declines occurring in wildlands, away from densely populated human-dominated landscapes, and the rate of 1.6 percent is calamitous," he told <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/03/04/climate-change-butterflies/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p><p>Examples of species in decline include the iconic monarch butterfly, the common cabbage white butterfly and the vulnerable Edith's checkerspot. Forister told The Washington Post that both widespread and rare species were impacted.</p><p>The findings have important implications for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a>, because they show that simply protecting one habitat is not sufficient in the context of climate change.</p><p>"We need a multi-prong approach to conserve insects. This new study adds to the evidence that in addition to habitat protections and pesticide reform, that approach must include swift and bold climate change policy," CBD's Cornelisse said.</p>
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A wildfire burns in the Hollywood hills on July 19, 2016 in Hollywood, California. AaronP / Bauer-Griffin / GC Images
California faces another "critically dry year" according to state officials, and a destructive wildfire season looms on its horizon. But in a state that welcomes innovation, water efficacy approaches and drought management could replenish California, increasingly threatened by the climate's new extremes.
<p>The Sierra Nevada snowpack supplies the state with 30 percent of its water supply. But on Tuesday, California's Department of Water Resources recorded a snow depth of 56 inches and water content of 21 inches at Phillips Station – 61 percent of the average for March 2 and 54 percent of the average for April 1, when it's at its maximum, the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-02/california-snowpack-increases-a-drought-could-be-on-the-horizon" target="_blank">Los Angeles Times reported</a>.</p><p>The state's largest reservoirs – responsible for maintaining the state's water supply throughout the year – also experienced low levels this year, storing only about 38 percent and 68 percent of their capacity, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/03/california-snowpack-water-supply-shortage-conservation" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p>
<p>"With below-average precipitation across the state, California's reservoirs are starting to see the impacts of a second consecutive dry year," said Sean de Guzman, the department's chief of snow surveys and water supply forecasting, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/03/california-snowpack-water-supply-shortage-conservation" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>These effects are being felt across the state. During the city's wettest months of December, January and February, L.A. received just 2.44 inches of the expected 3.12 inches of rain, the Los Angeles Times reported. At the same time Northern California remains in one of the worst two-year rain deficient since the Gold Rush of 1849 – its precipitation at only 30 percent to 70 percent of a normal year, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/11/california-dry-weather-drought-wildfire-agriculture" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p>
<p>Three to five winter storms supply California's snowpack and reservoirs with water. But the state's dependency on these few winter storms makes it especially vulnerable when they occur less frequently, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/11/california-dry-weather-drought-wildfire-agriculture" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p><p>"In years where you miss out on one or two of those, you're probably going to struggle to get close to normal," John Abatzoglou, a climatology researcher at the University of California, Merced, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/11/california-dry-weather-drought-wildfire-agriculture" target="_blank">told The Guardian</a>, who added that the state is increasingly living in extremes – either experiencing abnormally heavy rain or no rain at all. "We're banking on a miracle March or awesome April to dig out of this hole... In all likelihood, we're going to end the water year with another dry year."</p><p>The dry winter not only invites a destructive wildfire season but comes with a heavy price tag for the state's agricultural industry. Between 2012-2016, for example, the state experienced a drought that cost $2.7 billion in losses for the industry, and more than 18,000 lost jobs, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/03/california-snowpack-water-supply-shortage-conservation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Guardian reported</a>. This drought also killed about 102 million forest trees.</p>
<p>"Our state's water future remains uncertain due to the variability in precipitation and changing climate," Guzman said, according to the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-02/california-snowpack-increases-a-drought-could-be-on-the-horizon" target="_blank">Los Angeles Times</a>. Now more than ever, new approaches to water efficacy are necessary. Fortunately, new ideas are plentiful in a state that is often celebrated for its sustainable policy.</p><p>One solution, for example, could include paying Californians to conserve water as a cost-effective way to reduce energy consumption, Sammy Roth, a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times wrote in the newsletter <a href="https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2021-03-04/want-to-save-energy-and-fight-climate-change-try-using-less-water-boiling-point" target="_blank">Boiling Point</a>.</p><p>Water and electricity go hand-in-hand in California. "Nearly one-fifth of electricity use in California goes to transporting and treating water. And nearly one-third of non-power plant natural gas use is water-related, primarily water heating," <a href="https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2021-03-04/want-to-save-energy-and-fight-climate-change-try-using-less-water-boiling-point" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Roth wrote</a>, mentioning the state's complex <a href="https://water.ca.gov/Programs/State-Water-Project" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">water projects</a> that include systems "of reservoirs, aqueducts, power plants and pumping plants extending more than 700 miles."</p>
<p>Based on <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abb9de/meta" target="_blank">research</a> that looked at what happened if the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power paid people to use less electricity rather than less water, the researchers concluded "that paying for water conservation can actually be a more cost-effective way to slash energy consumption than paying for energy conservation," Roth added.</p><p>In a drier, hotter and rapidly changing climate, that brings new <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather">weather extremes</a> to the state each year, water conservation is imperative for California and the nearly 40 million that call it home. "It's more critical than ever that Californians adopt sustainability, embrace new approaches and emerging technologies and work together to save water for a secure future," Guzman added, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/03/california-snowpack-water-supply-shortage-conservation" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p>
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Looking for ways to cut down on single-use plastic while grocery shopping? You may already have eco-friendly shopping bags, but bringing your own reusable produce bags is another easy swap.
According to the UN Environment Program, up to 5 trillion single-use plastic bags are used globally each year, and because of the material they're made from, most municipal recycling centers don't accept them (more on this below).
The most sustainable option is to skip the bag altogether. You can also make your own reusable produce bags out of old T-shirts. But if you'd rather purchase them new, here are our recommendations for the best reusable produce bags on the market today.
<p><em>Each product featured here has been independently selected by the writer. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.</em></p>
<h2>Why make the switch to reusable produce bags?<br/></h2><p>According to the <a href="https://www.unep.org/interactive/beat-plastic-pollution/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">UN</a>, humans produce 300 million tons of plastic waste each year, and about 60% of the plastic produced since the early 1950s has ended up in a landfill or the natural environment.</p><p>Plastic grocery bags and produce bags are made from low-density polyethylene (LDPE). Technically, this type of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/plastic-recycling-myth-2647706452.html" target="_self">plastic can be recycled</a>. However, in practice, plastic bags easily clog recycling machinery, so <a href="https://millerrecycling.com/ldpe-out-of-landfills" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">most municipal recycling centers</a> do not accept this type of material.</p><p>A <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-07/documents/smm_2015_tables_and_figures_07252018_fnl_508_0.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">study by the EPA</a> showed that only about 6% of the LDPE generated in 2015 was recycled. Other types of plastic, by comparison, were recycled at 18% and 10% rates.</p>Although some <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/vancouvers-grocery-store-plastic-bags-2638807121.html" target="_self">grocery stores</a> offer plastic bag recycling, the easiest way to get around this is to refuse plastic bags in the first place. Many cities have instituted <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/new-york-plastic-bag-ban-begins-2645319695.html" target="_self">plastic bag bans</a>, but more often than not, it's up to individuals to choose to make the switch to reusable grocery bags in their day-to-day lives.<p><br/></p><p><em><em><strong><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/about-ecowatch-2641507575.html?rebelltitem=47#rebelltitem47" target="_self">Melissa Smith</a> </strong>is an avid writer, scuba diver, backpacker, and all-around outdoor enthusiast. She graduated from the University of Florida with degrees in journalism and sustainable studies. Before joining EcoWatch, Melissa worked as the managing editor of Scuba Diving magazine and the communications manager of The Ocean Agency, a non-profit that's featured in the Emmy award-winning documentary Chasing Coral.</em></em></p><em><em></em></em>
Best Reusable Produce Bag Set: Eco Joy Cotton Reusable Produce Bags
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxOTAxNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzODE2MDIyNH0.qyiKrnX8T4CRp8Y5Kn_cW1oaSF7vDci2gmKEXxJfQmE/img.jpg?width=980" id="8db60" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d39a705e9f90fc1369a1806bc6d4e016" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="400" data-height="400" />Eco Joy
<p>If you're making the switch to more sustainable shopping bags and want a variety of products to use, the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Reusable-Sandwich-Biodegradable-Eco-Drawstring/dp/B003PK4W3I/ref=sr_1_36?crid=3TDUCB8ZOM7WI&dchild=1&keywords=produce+bags+grocery+reusable&qid=1613484643&sprefix=produce+bags%2Caps%2C189&sr=8-36" target="_blank">Eco Joy Cotton Reusable Produce Bags</a> set is a great place to start. The set comes with three mesh drawstring bags, three muslin drawstring bags, a large mesh tote and a zippered sandwich-size pouch.</p><p>Each product is made with organic, non-GMO cotton that's ethically sourced in accordance with Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) standards. The cotton comes from India and Turkey, and the bags are hand-assembled in Canada by the owner of Eco Joy, so you can feel good about supporting a small business while reducing your environmental impact.</p><p><strong>Customer rating:</strong> 4.7 out of 5 stars with over 300 Amazon reviews</p><p><strong>Why buy: </strong>Zero-waste; Handmade in Canada; WRAP compliant; Machine washable</p>
$13
Best Mesh Bags: Organic Cotton Mart Reusable Cotton Mesh Produce Bags
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxOTE0OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MTQyNDQ5MX0.E6MFCOXZ-3EvKDK0MIv34EJO3oE6WMWxiFZBR5aNU_w/img.jpg?width=980" id="ba5c7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="91a9dd3d18f7b4a41fae606ff4d1204b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="400" data-height="400" />Organic Cotton Mart
<p>Some shoppers prefer to use mesh bags when shopping for fruits and veggies. We recommend checking out <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Best-Reusable-Produce-Organic-Cotton/dp/B07CK2TJKL/ref=sr_1_16?crid=10A7NM0LQ0B7E&dchild=1&keywords=mesh+produce+bags&qid=1613483897&s=home-garden&sprefix=mesh+pro%2Cgarden%2C162&sr=1-16" target="_blank">Organic Cotton Mart's Reusable Cotton Mesh Produce Bags</a> if you're in this camp, as they're made with Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certified cotton.</p> <p>Mesh reusable produce bags can make the checkout process easier than muslin bags since you can see what's inside them without having to open them up. Plus, the tare weight (i.e., the weight of the empty bag that should be subtracted from the total weight of your produce to make sure you don't pay extra for using your bag) is printed right on the label of Organic Cotton Mart's bags, making everything that much more convenient.</p> <p><strong>Customer rating:</strong> 4.6 out of 5 stars with nearly 1,000 Amazon reviews</p><strong>Why buy:</strong> GOTS certified; Machine washable; Biodegradable
$16
Best Muslin Bags: Simple Ecology Reusable Produce Bags
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxOTE1OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNjY3NDE3N30.f2sAcYTGhqq4ytlNGSyzZexPwqH2SpqpTwsX2fvph10/img.jpg?width=980" id="f90b3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e95c082f9b831bf11004e12b73ae8263" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="400" data-height="400" />Simple Ecology
<p>On the other hand, if you just want to purchase muslin bags, we like <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Ecology-Reusable-Organic-Shopping/dp/B004UJ0U0C" target="_blank">Simple Ecology's Reusable Produce Bags</a>, which are also made with GOTS-certified organic cotton. Simple Ecology also has a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6AUMBG/ref=sspa_dk_detail_2?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B01N6AUMBG&pd_rd_w=MA3ZS&pf_rd_p=cbc856ed-1371-4f23-b89d-d3fb30edf66d&pd_rd_wg=hVunQ&pf_rd_r=G6RTQ1Z5DKEY325MAJZ9&pd_rd_r=5d298b3a-1be7-4ebd-a9e1-d5d672a40497&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExMzc4RVAxWjNLOTdCJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNTc0NTAwMzBDMjFYOVJPTUpWSCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNjYyOTM4M0s4Vk81SVBPS1NFSyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2RldGFpbF90aGVtYXRpYyZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=" target="_blank">starter kit</a> that comes with several reusable grocery bags if you're looking for more variety.</p> <p>The benefit of using muslin reusable produce bags is that, unlike mesh, there are no holes for small items to slip through. This means that in addition to larger produce, you can use them to purchase bulk foods like lentils, beans and rice — or even powders like flour or spices — without worrying about anything leaking. They're also best for keeping leafy greens fresh.</p> <p><strong>Customer rating:</strong> 4.7 out of 5 stars with nearly 1,500 Amazon reviews</p><strong>Why buy:</strong> GOTS certified; Machine washable; Biodegradable; Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certified packaging when purchased from manufacturer
$16
Best String Bags: ECOBAGS Market Collection Reusable Bag Set
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxOTE2Ny9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NTkzMDc5Mn0.v_aTdf8TPuA39wgpmS2Dgb_88t2jfcbXDJkC9wf5CrE/img.png?width=980" id="c42d2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ada50990c5c2520886afd23fcca522a4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="752" data-height="628" />ECOBAGS
<p>Whether you're buying bread, fresh flowers, produce or all of the above, the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/ECOBAGS-Market-Collection-Reusable-Natural/dp/B08KFGPGN5" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ECOBAGS Market Collection Reusable Bag Set</a> is ideal for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/farmers-markets-coronavirus-safety-2645581711.html" target="_self">farmers market</a> shopping or large grocery hauls. The netted bags are durable, flexible, and pack down small so they're easy to keep in your car or purse.</p> <p>ECOBAGS is a woman-owned certified B Corp, which means it uses sound social and environmental practices. These bags come in packs of three or five and have a few different handle lengths and color options, but they're all made with GOTS-certified organic cotton.</p> <p><strong>Customer rating: </strong>Not applicable</p><p><strong>Why buy:</strong> GOTS certified; Machine washable; Biodegradable; Certified B Corp; SA8000 certified for the protection of basic human rights of workers</p>
$36
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Wisdom is seen with her chick in Feb. 2021 at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. Jon Brack / Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge / Flickr / CC 2.0
Wisdom the mōlī, or Laysan albatross, is the oldest wild bird known to science at the age of at least 70. She is also, as of February 1, a new mother.
<p>Wisdom hatched her latest chick on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial, home to the world's largest albatross colony where millions of birds return each year to nest in the same place and, usually, with the same partner.</p><p>"Each year that Wisdom returns, we learn more about how long seabirds can live and raise chicks," Dr. Beth Flint, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) biologist, said in a <a href="https://medium.com/usfwspacificislands/worlds-oldest-known-banded-wild-bird-hatches-chick-at-midway-atoll-2708a0b3f2c0" target="_blank">USFWS Pacific Islands post announcing the birth</a>. "Her return not only inspires bird lovers everywhere, but helps us better understand how we can protect these graceful seabirds and the habitat they need to survive into the future."</p>
<div id="dadb2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="aa2ad8cb566c9b4b6d2df2693669f6f9"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1357796504740761602" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">🚨Cute baby alert! Wisdom's chick has hatched!!! 🐣😍 Wisdom, a mōlī (Laysan albatross) and world’s oldest known, ban… https://t.co/Nco050ztBA</div> — USFWS Pacific Region (@USFWS Pacific Region)<a href="https://twitter.com/USFWSPacific/statuses/1357796504740761602">1612558888.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Laysan albatrosses typically live 12 to 40 years, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56281983" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">BBC News reported</a>. Wisdom, however, was first banded in 1956 by biologist Chandler Robbins, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/05/wisdom-the-albatross-the-worlds-oldest-known-wild-bird-has-another-chick-at-age-70" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. She has gone on to outlive him and likely her first mate. In that time, she has also hatched 30 to 36 chicks, according to USFWS. Since at least 2012, her mate has been a male albatross named Akeakamai.</p><p>"At least 70 years old, we believe Wisdom has had other mates," Flint said. "Though albatross mate for life, they may find new partners if necessary — for example if they outlive their first mate."</p><p>Wisdom is among the 70 precent of mōlī that nest on Midway Atoll, one of the oldest atoll-type islands in the world, located at the northern end of the Hawaiian island chain. In addition to mōlī, nearly 40 percent of kaʻupu (black-footed albatross) and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered</a> makalena (short-tailed albatross) breed there, along with more than 20 other bird species.</p><p>Albatrosses arrive on the atoll beginning in October. Their eggs hatch around January or February following a 65-day incubation period, and the baby birds begin to fly in June or July. Wisdom laid this year's egg in late November. The Midway gathering can be a family reunion of sorts. In 2018, she nested a few feet away from a chick she had in 2011.</p>
<p>Albatrosses hatch one egg at a time, but don't lay eggs every year.</p><p>"Because she only nests every two years, the international bird community looks forward to see if she's been able to come back and nest," Sean Dooley, BirdLife Australia's national public affairs manager, told The Guardian. "The odds are stacked against them so much, whenever it happens it's always a cause for celebration."<br></p><p>Albatrosses face several threats, Dooley said, including <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fishing" target="_self">fishing</a> practices that accidentally harm birds, such as using long lines. The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> poses another danger.</p><p>"The changes in water temperate and the changes in currents in water and winds means... the extent they have to fly to find food increases as their prey species seek out colder water — it's a big looming threat that sea birds are facing, albatross in particular," Dooley explained.</p>
<p>Feeding their chicks can also be dangerous. Male and female albatrosses share incubation and feeding duties, USFWS noted. To feed their young, the birds catch squid and fish eggs that are rich in fatty acids and regurgitate them into their chicks' mouths. However, sometimes the parents bring home <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics" target="_self">plastic</a> instead, the <a href="https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/seabirds/laysan-albatrosses-plastic-problem" target="_blank">Smithsonian reported</a>:</p><blockquote>Many birds accidentally eat plastic and other <a href="https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-news/ocean-trash-plaguing-our-sea" target="_blank">marine debris</a> floating in the ocean, mistaking it for food. But the problem is intensified in Laysan albatrosses because of the way they catch fish, squid and other seafood: by skimming the surface of the water with their beak. Along the way, they accidentally pick up a lot of floating plastic, which they then feed to their chicks. Adults can regurgitate plastic they've swallowed, but chicks are unable to, so it fills up their stomachs.</blockquote><p>Photographer Chris Jordan took <a href="http://www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/midway/#CF000313%2018x24" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">shocking photographs</a> of albatross chicks whose stomachs were full of plastic, and went on to make a <a href="https://www.albatrossthefilm.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">film about the birds</a>.</p><p>"There's something so archetypal about these legendary birds and seeing bright colors of ocean plastic against dead sterility is a powerful symbol for our human culture right now. We're in a state of emotional bankruptcy," Jordan told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/12/albatross-film-dead-chicks-plastic-saving-birds" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Guardian in 2018</a>.</p><p>It is hard to know exactly how much plastic impacts the birds. Lead poisoning poses another threat to Laysan albatross chicks on Midway, the Smithsonian reported, so it can be difficult to determine their cause of death. However, more than 97 percent of dead albatross chicks found on Midway in recent years had plastic in their stomachs, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/12/albatross-film-dead-chicks-plastic-saving-birds" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p>
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The Science Behind Frozen Wind Turbines – and How to Keep Them Spinning Through the Winter
05 March
Renewable Energy
Wind turbines in Norway. piola66 / E+ / Getty Images
By Hui Hu
Winter is supposed to be the best season for wind power – the winds are stronger, and since air density increases as the temperature drops, more force is pushing on the blades. But winter also comes with a problem: freezing weather.
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<p>Even light icing can produce enough surface roughness on wind turbine blades to reduce their aerodynamic efficiency, which reduces the amount of power they can produce, as Texas experienced in February.</p><p>Frequent severe icing can cut a wind farm's annual energy production by <a href="https://community.ieawind.org/HigherLogic/System/DownloadDocumentFile.ashx?DocumentFileKey=04b5c3d8-9a6f-7d9a-c1d6-aa848027ca1d" target="_blank">over 20%</a>, costing the industry hundreds of millions of dollars. Power loss isn't the only problem from icing, either. The uneven way ice forms on blades can create imbalances, causing a turbine's parts to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/wene.170" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wear out more quickly</a>. It can also induce vibrations that cause the turbines to shut down. In the case of extreme icing, restarting turbines <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2007.11.009" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">may not be possible for hours and potentially days</a>.</p>
<p>The solution is obvious: de-ice the blades, or find a way to keep ice from forming in the first place. So far, however, most of the <a href="https://www.windpowerengineering.com/the-cold-hard-truth-about-ice-on-turbine-blades/" target="_blank">strategies</a> <a href="https://www.skekraft.se/english_pages/wind-power/#box-no-8" target="_blank">for keeping ice off</a> wind turbines blades come from aviation. And airplane wings and wind turbines are built differently and operate under very different conditions.</p><p>I am an <a href="https://www.aere.iastate.edu/~huhui/resume.html" target="_blank">aerospace and mechanical engineer</a>, and my colleagues and I have been studying <a href="https://www.aere.iastate.edu/~huhui/WT-icing.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wind turbine icing physics</a> over the past 10 years and exploring <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2019.03.112" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">better solutions for turbine icing protection</a>.</p>
<h3>Not All Ice Is the Same</h3><p>Ice isn't the same everywhere. It may come from precipitation, clouds or frost. It also freezes in different ways in different climates.</p><p>For example, <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/12/10/winter-magic-the-beauty-of-freezing-fog-rime-ice-and-hoar-frost" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">rime icing</a>, formed when tiny, supercooled water droplets hit the surface, usually occurs in regions with relative dry air and colder temperatures, under 20°F. That's what we typically see in Iowa and other Midwest states in the winter.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTc0Njc4My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNzc5NzcyMn0.XRlFjF9QP6cUIN4g2OKUAlAr4k-cA65QNeFs-_3jrks/img.png?width=980" id="e137d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ad12febe93cfaa27a59f784b50ac0b1d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1200" data-height="566" />
Comparing rime ice and glaze ice shows how each changes the texture of the blade. Gao, Liu and Hu, 2021, CC BY-ND
<p><a href="https://glossary.ametsoc.org/wiki/Glaze" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Glaze icing</a> is associated with much wetter air and warmer temperatures and is commonly seen on the Northeast coast. This is the worst type of ice for wind turbine blades. It forms complicated ice shapes because of its wet nature, which results in more power loss. It's also likely what formed in Texas in February 2021 when the cold air from the north collided with the moist air from the Gulf Coast. While the majority of the power shut down by the storm was from <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-texas-wind-turbines-explain/fact-check-the-causes-for-texas-blackout-go-well-beyond-wind-turbines-idUSKBN2AJ2EI" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">natural gas, coal or nuclear</a>, wind turbines also struggled.</p>
<h3>Tempests in a Wind Tunnel</h3><p>Building a wind power operation that can thrive in icy conditions requires a keen understanding of the underlying physics, both of how ice forms and the performance degradation that results from ice building up on turbine blades.</p><p>To explore those forces, we use a special wind tunnel that can demonstrate how ice forms on samples of turbine blades, and fly camera-equipped drones.</p><p>Using the <a href="https://www.aere.iastate.edu/facilities/icing-wind-tunnel/" target="_blank">Icing Research Tunnel</a> at Iowa State University, my team has been replicating the complex 3D shapes of ice forming on turbine blade models in different environments to study how they affect the wind and the blades. Ice can create massive <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2018.10.032" target="_blank">airflow separation</a>. In airplanes, that's a dangerous situation that can cause them to stall. In wind turbines, it reduces their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.12.014" target="_blank">rotation speed and the amount of power</a> they can produce.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTc0Njc4NS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY3MDk2NjcxNH0.vUPGiFyUz1ranua9stJmt4l_Ydw9RVhr39btf_1Yu1s/img.png?width=980" id="98372" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="edd9337fc7178dac5b64da1b6419d630" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1200" data-height="2052" />
Ice buildup changes air flow around the turbine blade, which can slow it down. The top photos show ice forming after 10 minutes at different temperatures in the Wind Research Tunnel. The lower measurements show airflow separation as ice accumulates. Icing Research Tunnel of Iowa State University, CC BY-ND
<p>We also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.12.014" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">study wind turbines in operation around the country</a> as they face some of their toughest conditions.</p><p>Using drones equipped with high-resolution digital cameras, we can hover in front of 80-meter-high wind turbines and take photos of the ice right after it forms on the blades. Pairing that with the turbine's production data shows us how the ice influences power production.</p><p>While ice can form over the entire span of the blade, much more ice is found near the tips. After one 30-hour icing event, we found ice as much as a foot thick. Despite the high wind, the ice-heavy turbines rotated much slower and even shut down. The turbines produced <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.12.014" target="_blank">only 20% of their normal power</a> over that period.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTc0Njc5MC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0ODE3MzEwM30.FpLWjSNfXfSUDmrZcraJima_XOsvR6-Pz4hkGo5GsKk/img.png?width=980" id="68ced" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="82fb5f19acbf7477eb44e146e50cc2e0" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1200" data-height="1052" />
How ice builds up on the tips of turbine blades. Gao, Liu and Hu, 2021, CC BY-ND
<h3>Keeping Ice Off Blades</h3><p>There are a few reasons the strategies that effectively keep ice off aircraft wings aren't as effective for wind turbine blades.</p><p>One is the materials they are made of. While aircraft wings are typically made of metals like aluminum alloy, utility-scale wind turbines are made of polymer-based composites. Metal conducts heat more effectively, so thermal-based systems that circulate heat are more effective in airplane wings. Polymer-based turbine blades are also more likely to get covered by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/35083698" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dust and insect collisions</a>, which can change the smoothness of the blade surface and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmultiphaseflow.2020.103254" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">slow water running off the blade, promoting ice formation</a>.</p><p>Wind turbines are also more prone to encounters with freezing rain and other low-altitude, high-water-content environments, such as ocean spray for offshore wind turbines.</p><p>Most current wind turbine anti-icing and de-icing methods remove ice buildup through <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8heUjOsUoBI" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">electric heating</a> or blowing hot air inside. Heating these massive areas, which are many times larger than airplane wings, adds to the cost of the turbine and is inefficient and energy-consuming. Composite-based turbine blades can also be easily damaged by overheating. And there's another problem: Water from melting ice may simply run back and refreeze elsewhere.</p><p>Another strategy in cold-weather regions is to use <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.10.013" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">surface coatings</a> that repel water or prevent ice from sticking. However, none of the coatings has been able to eliminate ice completely, especially in critical regions near the blades' leading edges.</p>
<h3>A Better Solution</h3><p>My team has been developing a novel method that uses elements of both technologies. By heating just the critical regions – particularly the blades' leading edges — and using water- and ice-repelling coatings, we were able to reduce the amount of heat needed and the risk of running back water to refreeze over the blade surfaces. The result effectively prevents ice from forming on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2019.03.112" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the entire surfaces</a> of turbine blades.</p><p>In comparison to the conventional brute-force surface-heating methods, our hybrid strategy also used much less power, resulting in up to 80% energy savings. Without ice to slow it down, the turbines can produce more power through the winter.</p><p>Worldwide, <a href="https://www.climateaction.org/news/global-wind-power-capacity-to-surpass-800-gw-by-2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">nearly 800 gigawatts</a> of wind power have been installed so far, including <a href="https://cleantechnica.com/2021/03/03/the-united-states-installed-more-wind-turbine-capacity-in-2020-than-in-any-other-year/amp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">over 110 gigawatts in the U.S. alone</a>. As the market quickly grows and wind power supplants higher-polluting energy sources, de-icing and ice-proofing strategies are becoming essential.</p>
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<em>Hui Hu is a professor of aerospace engineering at Iowa State University.<br/>
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<em>Disclosure statement: </em><em>Hui Hu receives funding from National Science Foundation (NSF) and Iowa Energy Center (IEC) to study wind turbine icing physics and anti-/de-icing.</em>
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<em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-behind-frozen-wind-turbines-and-how-to-keep-them-spinning-through-the-winter-156520" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
</p><script async="async" data-counter="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156520/count?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" id="theconversation_tracker_hook" src="https://theconversation.com/javascripts/lib/content_tracker_hook.js" type="text/javascript"></script>From Your Site Articles
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Jaffa Port in Israel. theDOCK innovated the Israeli maritime space and kickstarted a boom in new technologies. Pixabay
While traditional investment in the ocean technology sector has been tentative, growth in Israeli maritime innovations has been exponential in the last few years, and environmental concern has come to the forefront.
<p>As the planet's largest ecosystem, the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/stable-oceans-climate-crisis-2647855196.html" target="_self">ocean stabilizes climate</a>, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/oceans-absorb-co2-2631712140.html" target="_self">stores carbon</a>, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/ocean-biodiversity-2646073009.html" target="_self">nurtures biodiversity</a> and directly supports human well-being through food, energy, medicinal, cultural and recreational services, the <a href="https://www.oceandecade.org/assets/The_Science_We_Need_For_The_Ocean_We_Want.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">United Nations</a> recently reported. However, poor management and conservation have led to serious degradation of ocean resources, which is only set to increase as the world's population does, the report noted.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxOTcxNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNjI4MzgwOH0.LC8AXok7iHO_CBrhKkN9W5QLUZrUALh00X2Mq8Dk8zw/img.jpg?width=980" id="a5919" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9a0dabcc86590e657483d2087e4b8720" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1920" data-height="1280" />
theDOCK aims to innovate the Israeli maritime sector. Pexels
<p>The UN hopes that new investments in ocean science and technology will help turn the tide for the oceans. As such, this year kicked off the <a href="https://www.oceandecade.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030)</a> to galvanize massive support for the blue economy.</p><p>According to the World Bank, the blue economy is the "sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of ocean ecosystem," <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412019338255#b0245" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Science Direct</a> reported. It represents this new sector for investments and innovations that work in tandem with the oceans rather than in exploitation of them.</p><p>As recently as Aug. 2020, <a href="https://www.reutersevents.com/sustainability/esg-investors-slow-make-waves-25tn-ocean-economy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reuters</a> noted that ESG Investors, those looking to invest in opportunities that have a positive impact in environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, have been interested in "blue finance" but slow to invest.</p><p>"It is a hugely under-invested economic opportunity that is crucial to the way we have to address living on one planet," Simon Dent, director of blue investments at Mirova Natural Capital, told Reuters.</p><p>Even with slow investment, the blue economy is still expected to expand at twice the rate of the mainstream economy by 2030, Reuters reported. It already contributes $2.5tn a year in economic output, the report noted.</p><p>Current, upward <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/-innovation-blue-economy-2646147405.html" target="_self">shifts in blue economy investments are being driven by innovation</a>, a trend the UN hopes will continue globally for the benefit of all oceans and people.</p><p>In Israel, this push has successfully translated into investment in and innovation of global ports, shipping, logistics and offshore sectors. The "Startup Nation," as Israel is often called, has seen its maritime tech ecosystem grow "significantly" in recent years and expects that growth to "accelerate dramatically," <a href="https://itrade.gov.il/belgium-english/how-israel-is-becoming-a-port-of-call-for-maritime-innovation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">iTrade</a> reported.</p><p>Driving this wave of momentum has been rising Israeli venture capital hub <a href="https://www.thedockinnovation.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">theDOCK</a>. Founded by Israeli Navy veterans in 2017, theDOCK works with early-stage companies in the maritime space to bring their solutions to market. The hub's pioneering efforts ignited Israel's maritime technology sector, and now, with their new fund, theDOCK is motivating these high-tech solutions to also address ESG criteria.</p><p>"While ESG has always been on theDOCK's agenda, this theme has become even more of a priority," Nir Gartzman, theDOCK's managing partner, told EcoWatch. "80 percent of the startups in our portfolio (for theDOCK's Navigator II fund) will have a primary or secondary contribution to environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria."</p><p>In a company presentation, theDOCK called contribution to the ESG agenda a "hot discussion topic" for traditional players in the space and their boards, many of whom are looking to adopt new technologies with a positive impact on the planet. The focus is on reducing carbon emissions and protecting the environment, the presentation outlines. As such, theDOCK also explicitly screens candidate investments by ESG criteria as well.</p><p>Within the maritime space, environmental innovations could include measures like increased fuel and energy efficiency, better monitoring of potential pollution sources, improved waste and air emissions management and processing of marine debris/trash into reusable materials, theDOCK's presentation noted.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxOTcxNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MDc1MDY3Mn0.g_P2Tn6678glHT-XVsn6sFk4GG8uTPfSizJCj2vfvTk/img.jpg?width=980" id="8c24f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ae2fc8dcb8c8a4709149e98611475748" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="3744" data-height="4480" />
theDOCK team includes (left to right) Michal Hendel-Sufa, Head of Alliances, Noa Schuman, CMO, Nir Gartzman, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, and Hannan Carmeli, Co-Founder & Managing Partner. Dudu Koren
<p>theDOCK's own portfolio includes companies like Orca AI, which uses an intelligent collision avoidance system to reduce the probability of oil or fuel spills, AiDock, which eliminates the use of paper by automating the customs clearance process, and DockTech, which uses depth "crowdsourcing" data to map riverbeds in real-time and optimize cargo loading, thereby reducing trips and fuel usage while also avoiding groundings.</p><p>"Oceans are a big opportunity primarily because they are just that – big!" theDOCK's Chief Marketing Officer Noa Schuman summarized. "As such, the magnitude of their criticality to the global ecosystem, the magnitude of pollution risk and the steps needed to overcome those challenges – are all huge."</p><p>There is hope that this wave of interest and investment in environmentally-positive maritime technologies will accelerate the blue economy and ESG investing even further, in Israel and beyond.</p>From Your Site Articles
- 14 Countries Commit to Ocean Sustainability Initiative - EcoWatch ›
- These 11 Innovations Are Protecting Ocean Life - EcoWatch ›
- How Innovation Is Driving the Blue Economy - EcoWatch ›
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By Jeff Turrentine
Tamara Lindeman certainly doesn't seem particularly anxious, or grief stricken, or angry. In fact, in a recent Zoom conversation, the Toronto-based singer-songwriter (who records and performs under the name The Weather Station) comes across as friendly, thoughtful, and a little shy.
<p>Nevertheless, anxiety, grief, and anger are what fueled Lindeman's creative process for the making of <a href="https://theweatherstation.bandcamp.com/album/ignorance" target="_blank"><em>Ignorance</em></a>, her just-released fifth album. Over skittering drumbeats and densely layered sonic textures that hover somewhere between chilly and ethereal, Lindeman has crafted a 40-minute song cycle that examines our collective climate trauma as experienced through a single, highly agitated psyche.</p><p>"People are like, is it a political album? And I say no, it's an emotional album," she tells me. "I wasn't trying to write about these feelings; it's just that these were the feelings that I was having at the time, so they kept flowing through." Lindeman wrote more than 40 songs over the course of the winter of 2018–2019, much of which she spent in relative isolation. And when she wasn't writing, she was reading. "I had gone down the rabbit hole and had become obsessed with trying to understand the climate crisis," Lindeman says. "I was trying to figure out how I could be of use. Could I become an activist? Do I have that in me?"</p><p>Apparently she does. Lindeman joined the throngs who took to the streets as part of the "<a href="https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/youth-climate-strike-exactly-what-planet-needs-right-now" target="_blank">Fridays for Future</a>" movement inspired by Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg. She studied the <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/climate-scientists-world-we-have-only-20-years-theres-no-turning-back" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">massive report</a> released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that warned of the catastrophic consequences of failing to curb global carbon emissions immediately. Lindeman even hosted <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/burdock/elephant-in-the-room/439797363485462/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a series of public talks</a> on the subject, interviewing economists, activists, political figures, and other artists about the need for climate action.</p><p>Amid all of this, she continued to compose—moving away from the indie-folk that had defined The Weather Station's earlier albums toward a new style that incorporates jazz, chamber pop, and (especially) the lushly produced soundscapes of artists like Kate Bush and Sarah McLachlan. It's a style well suited for a song like "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ9SYLVaIUI" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Robber</a>," <em>Ignorance</em>'s opening track, which sets a tone of foreboding that permeates the entire album. As strings swell nervously, Lindeman sings of a thief who</p><blockquote><em>had permission,</em><br><em>permission by words, permission of thanks, permission of laws, permission of banks,</em><br><em>white tablecloth dinners, convention centers.</em><br><em>It was all done real carefully.</em><br><em><br></em></blockquote>
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<p>"I wrote that song right after I had read an article about Exxon," Lindeman says. "I hadn't known the full story of Exxon—that long before most people knew about climate change, [Exxon] knew about it. Because they had researched it, as far back as 1981." After tasking its own scientists to study whether the burning of fossil fuels could lead to climate change, the oil giant <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/08/exxon-climate-change-1981-climate-denier-funding" target="_blank">sat on its findings for decades</a> and even funded a vast network of climate deniers in order to maximize profits. "They had two paths," Lindeman says, "and they chose, actively, not just to allow it to happen, but to hide what they knew and to make it difficult for us as citizens to fight back."</p><p>Notably, "Robber" never mentions Exxon—or oil, or climate change, for that matter. As she does with all of the songs on <em>Ignorance</em>, Lindeman approaches her subject obliquely. There's no calling out of specific bad actors, and there's certainly no discussion of carbon emissions or sea level rise. She understands that such language would instantly and lethally deflate these songs, plunging them from the realm of art into the wide but shallow pool of didacticism.</p><p>Instead, Lindeman gives us something very much like poetry. In another song, "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHY0luoxn9k" target="_blank">Trust</a>," she makes a final appeal to a lover at what feels like the ending of a relationship:</p><blockquote><em>Bring me all the evidence,</em><br><em>the baskets of wild roses,</em><br><em>the crumpled petals and misshapen heads of reeds and rushes,</em><br><em>the bodies of the common birds, robins, crows, and thrushes,</em><br><em>everything that I have loved and all the light touches,</em><br><em>while we still have time.</em><br></blockquote>
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<p>That the lover remains undefined—is it a person or a planet?—is another indication that Lindeman is less interested in preaching than in exploring feelings of profound loss through the use of concrete, if highly personalized, imagery. But this song, too, has its creative origins in a real-life incident. In this case it was the songwriter's despair at witnessing the Canadian government, in the form of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/20/canada-indigenous-land-defenders-police-documents" target="_blank">attack and arrest</a> members of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation in northern British Columbia for blocking a roadway in an attempt to stop the construction of the <a href="https://vancouversun.com/business/energy/a-primer-on-the-coastal-gaslink-pipeline" target="_blank">Coastal GasLink </a><a href="https://vancouversun.com/business/energy/a-primer-on-the-coastal-gaslink-pipeline" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pipeline</a> through their ancestral lands.</p><p>"The RCMP was approaching with dogs and helicopters," Lindeman says, recalling the late-2019 event that led to the writing of "Trust." "They looked like an invading army. And I thought: <em>This is my government.</em>" As she followed the conflict on social media, Lindeman recalls, all the lines of communication from the scene suddenly went dead. "No one knew why. There was, like, two hours where the WiFi in the area went down and people weren't able to communicate. And I wrote that song in those two hours, while people were waiting to find out what had happened and if people were OK."</p><p>Lindeman acknowledges some ambivalence about sharing the story, "because obviously it's not my story to tell—I'm not Indigenous," she says. "But I felt, as a citizen, an immense betrayal. This government that had been elected to take action on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PhNZDjw1BM" target="_blank">climate and Indigenous reconciliation</a> had essentially invaded people's land in order to protect a pipeline company. And people were there chaining themselves to fences to stop it from happening. Somehow that filtered into the song. There are other things that went into it—from my life, from my subconscious. But that image was the crux of it. Why are we still having to argue over the value of something like water, or a landscape?"</p><p>It's not easy to make poignant, lasting art about climate change. The problem is so immense and all-encompassing that the vocabularies of music, poetry, theater, painting, or film can seem insufficient to the task, but in fact, they may be just what we need. As people and governments mobilize to address this global existential crisis, we need artists to check our work, to hold us accountable, to spur us on. And we need them to remind us of the human toll—both physical and emotional—as we head deeper into an uncertain future.</p><p>And we need to them to be as persistent as the tiny yet full-throated creature Lindeman memorializes in her song "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDcxg56nZAo" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Parking Lot</a>":</p><blockquote><em>Waiting outside the club in a parking lot</em><br><em>I watched some bird fly up and land on the rooftop</em><br><em>then up again into the sky, in and out of sight,</em><br><em>flying down again to land on the pavement.</em><br><em>It felt intimate to watch it,</em><br><em>its small chest rising and falling as it sang the same song</em><br><em>over and over and over and over again,</em><br><em>over the traffic and the noise.</em><br><em><br></em></blockquote>
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The U.S. Department of Transportation has called for more research leading to new guidelines for safer intersections, crosswalks, lights, and more. georgeclerk / Getty Images
Walking to work or to the store is better for the climate than driving, so climate advocates encourage people to leave their cars at home when possible.
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<p>But for the past decade, pedestrian safety in the U.S. has been headed in the wrong direction. Fatal accidents involving pedestrians have gone up 44%.</p><p>"We see speed – vehicle speed – is a major factor in pedestrian deaths," says Dan Gelinne of the University of North Carolina's Highway Safety Research Center.</p><p>He says research shows that design can make a big difference.<span></span></p><p>"Changing the roadway design to facilitate lower speeds by vehicles, to improve visibility of pedestrians, to make it more comfortable to walk – these are the things that really are proven to decrease death and injury," Gelinne says.</p>
<p><span style="background-color: initial;">The U.S. Department of Transportation has released a new </span><a target="_blank" href="https://highways.dot.gov/sites/fhwa.dot.gov/files/2020-11/FHWA_PedSafety_ActionPlan_Nov2020.pdf" style="background-color: initial;">pedestrian safety action plan</a><span style="background-color: initial;"> that calls for more research on these solutions.</span><br></p><p>The first-of-its-kind plan will lead to new guidelines for safer intersections, crosswalks, lights, and more.</p><p>"Anything that the plan can do to increase the uptake and the use of these effective roadway design strategies is going to really make a difference," Gelline says.</p><p>And that will help people walk safely wherever they need to go.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from </em><em><a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/03/thoughtful-design-can-make-streets-more-walkable/" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em></p>
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Homes and roads in Dallas, Texas covered in snow. The 2021 winter storm dropped temperatures as low as zero degrees. Isaac Murray / Moment / Getty Images
An independent market monitor says ERCOT, the Texas grid operator, left wholesale electricity prices at the legal maximum for two days longer than necessary, and overcharged power companies $16 billion in the process during the winter storm that caused massive grid and gas system failures and left more than 4 million Texans without electricity.
<p>Potomac Economics, the firm hired by the state to assess ERCOT's performance, recommended to regulators that the charges be reversed. The move could help alleviate stress on Texas power providers facing shortfalls, default, or bankruptcy following the massive price spikes. </p>
<p>The "error" and potential reversal could also have major implications for the Texas <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wind">wind</a> energy industry. Due to the nature of the financial instruments used by Texas wind firms, those that were unable to produce power during the storm were forced to pay the legal maximum of $9,000 per megawatt hour (the average price in 2020 was $22.18) for four days. At that rate, wind companies could be forced into bankruptcy, owing their counterparties more than their entire wind farm is worth.</p>
<p>As reported by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2AW027?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=114297436&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--Lf6GquilmyjzmWP5NDaiFS7vFlRay4xhT3Tw1eKfKJJCA2BM0YzrHomC529bhrsEjK0h14PTm5SoPTMfwGJu86hULEw&utm_content=114297436&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Reuters</a>:</p><blockquote>ERCOT's disclosure of those firms behind on their bills "is perfectly fair game," said Patrick Woodson, chief executive of retail power marketer ATG Clean Energy, whose company is not on the list.</blockquote><blockquote>"I hope they will apply the same standards to identifying the market participants who made massive profits during this disaster," he said.</blockquote>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong><br/></p><p>ERCOT error: <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-04/texas-watchdog-says-power-grid-operator-made-16-billion-error?sref=oUjKJw8m&utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=114297436&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-__ZWo08eT7siApBDxWei2SO5X_4Dbb9MyeahBGiA1uTHRahlo6Y5E7k-T5DJaedfDV3QcSnP8aVipwKh70KRa1_nSrOw&utm_content=114297436&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bloomberg</a>, <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/03/04/ercot-texas-electricity-16-billion/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=114297436&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-__w5zt0pzYPmO_go8tZ7nEA4OGTsXFBml-wM3WhvJ9wjSqwV92P00lp4_5D3gOZO7CU225jBqzfbnMo1HFSGWr13AEgA&utm_content=114297436&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Texas Tribune</a>, <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/541662-texas-grid-manager-responsible-for-16-billion-in-overcharges?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=114297436&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8yKXE5XkR2-7RNz9Y4FQO3Q2-HY_t1oVSnpfONgz_krWqfdXLIWqvoDvn840cF1TetHY1Df7uyn45n8bNo8p_6mcRaLw&utm_content=114297436&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Hill</a>, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/ad2e7ce9-b769-4d57-b6ce-fd1d9123f87c?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=114297436&_hsenc=p2ANqtz---dbnzMgh9HYQ_9x0xkSNr4FVnXJLnCForZfX5M7bRfSzCsHGrXNJhc63cxGbRzNckfQICmY9afb2n6fhvsvzzv50sNQ&utm_content=114297436&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">FT</a>, <a href="https://login.politicopro.com/?redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fsubscriber.politicopro.com%2Farticle%2F2021%2F03%2Fwatchdog-texas-grid-operator-overcharged-16b-during-power-crisis-3987400%3Futm_campaign%3DHot%2520News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=114297436&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--z-oqFQ5PltKH46X7_AuHz-4u8es1sAhm87tDSuMgxyVQBeE1ndlCqEEOM2hNRo5hLZ4JZ70BoX_zSSq41B_wR3S9YQA&utm_content=114297436&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Politico Pro</a>; Power companies: <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2AW027?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=114297436&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--Lf6GquilmyjzmWP5NDaiFS7vFlRay4xhT3Tw1eKfKJJCA2BM0YzrHomC529bhrsEjK0h14PTm5SoPTMfwGJu86hULEw&utm_content=114297436&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Reuters</a>; Wind industry: <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/wind-power-was-thriving-in-texas-then-came-the-freeze-11614871347?mod=hp_lista_pos1&utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=114297436&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--tLVbIB7cfcGoyUN8pThG7TtEV_yIiAC7n0d1V-LSsPY5ZCG2aYflYXZtN9osYAYgvTqrf86zvsbDiTvuFo50UcY-ORg&utm_content=114297436&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wall Street Journal</a>; Climate Signals background: <a href="https://www.climatesignals.org/node/10081?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=114297436&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_74tp_PMuhwr-me_9SqzCg1KRZzvvq7WHb_MtcRJnihfJJcUKZBRBnAIUoY2dX0e5kd4PWXz-pBQe3UQUNq0av4ERH1Q&utm_content=114297436&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">February 2021 polar vortex breakdown and central U.S. winter storms</a></p><p><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, sign up for daily </em><a href="https://www.linktrack.live/hot-news-sign-up" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>, and visit their news site, </em><a href="https://nexusmedianews.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Nexus Media News</em></a><em>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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About 931 million tons of food waste were generated across the world in 2019, but there are gaps in the data. Wachira Wacharapathom / Getty Images
By Thomas Gordon-Martin
According to a global food waste index released on Thursday, some 931 million tons of food waste were generated across the world in 2019. The report, published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and UK charity WRAP, equates that to 17% of all food available to consumers.
<p>At 61%, the majority was created in households. The retail and food service sectors performed better, generating 13% and 26% respectively. </p><p>The index does not factor in food loss, which differs from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/learningpack-foodwaste/a-49571717" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">food waste</a> in that it occurs during production, storage or processing and never reaches the consumer. </p><p>"If we want to get serious about tackling climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste, businesses, governments and citizens around the world have to do their part to reduce food waste." UNEP Executive Director Inger Anderson said in a press release.</p><p><span></span>Six years after the UN agreed to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), an ambitious set of targets addressing global inequality and climate change, the report focuses attention on halving per capita global food waste by 2030. With that deadline looming, the document's 2019 data underscores the scale of the challenge in a world that saw at least 690 million people affected by hunger in 2019. And that figure is predicted to rise in the wake of the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-exacerbates-indias-hunger-problem/a-55299109" target="_blank">global pandemic</a>. </p>
<h2>Household Food Waste Is Not Just a Problem in High-Income Countries </h2><p>One key finding points to broadly similar quantities of household food waste — which includes inedible parts such as bones and peel — in high-, upper-middle- and lower-middle-income countries. The global average for lower-middle-income countries such as Pakistan and Vietnam was 91 kilograms (200 pounds) per person, as opposed to 76 kilograms in middle-income countries and 79 kilograms in high-income countries such as Ireland and the United States. </p><p>This breaks with the narrative that food waste is an issue in high-income countries while <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/kenyas-farmers-face-threat-of-new-locust-swarms/a-56599904" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">food loss</a> is more prevalent in lower income states.</p><p>Although the report is missing valuable data about habits in lower-middle-income countries, one possible explanation for higher levels of waste is that more food is cooked at home and therefore more inedible parts are discarded. </p><p>Musa Aamir, co-founder of the food waste charity Rizq in the Pakistani city of Lahore, told DW that the group doesn't operate a food collection service in lower-income neighborhoods because "the quantity of foods recovered from there is practically negligible." </p><p>"When I see the household food waste problem exist, it is inextricably tied to the income structure of the household," Aamir said. </p>
<h2>Data Gaps </h2><p>The report also exposes holes in global data. For example, there is little information from low-income countries or on retail and service waste outside high-income countries. </p><p>"It's a mixed picture," Tom Quested, lead analyst at WRAP, told DW. "Highlighting these data gaps provide(s) the framework for them to be filled," which "is a crucial step towards halving global food wastage by 2030."</p><p>Data gaps correlate closely with the level of national income, and areas with higher coverage include parts of Europe and North America. Data is thinner to nonexistent in lower-income regions such as Northern Africa and Central Asia. </p><p>"Measuring food waste is a relatively new endeavor," Clementine O'Connor from UNEP, co-author of the report told DW in an email, adding that since the problem was previously presented as a developed country issue, many countries lacked the incentive to invest in tracking. </p><p>"This report shows that food waste is a significant issue in nearly every country where it has been measured, and makes a strong financial, food security and environmental case for middle-income countries to begin taking action," O'Connor said. </p>
<h2>U.S. Data Shows Culture of Food Waste </h2><p>The report found that the United States generated some 59 kilograms of household food waste per capita in 2019. That is significantly lower than the global average of 74 kilograms. </p><p>The country's service sector wastage, however, was estimated at 64 kilograms per capita, which is much higher than the global average of 32 kilograms. The authors say this reflects U.S. habits of consuming more meals away from home.</p><p>These findings are supported by a U.S. Department of Agriculture <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/90228/eib-196_summary.pdf?v=7048.6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">report</a> that said eating out had been gaining popularity since the 1980s. In 2010, the research found, spending on food away from home surpassed spending on food at home for the first time. </p>
<h2>What Can Be Done About Global Food Waste? </h2><p>To halve global <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/mealsaver-app-promises-to-cut-food-waste/a-38607944" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">food waste</a> by 2030, the index includes a three-tier guide to help countries measure waste on a national level. </p><p>"Approaches for tackling food waste will differ by country," Quested said. "Therefore, to ensure solutions are appropriate for a particular country, they need to be based on evidence relevant to that country."</p><p>The UNEP plans to collect national information every two years. This data will be published at regular intervals up to 2030 and made publicly available. The next results will be reported by February 2023. </p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from </em><em><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/household-food-waste-unep-environment-climate/a-56768848" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Producing avocado and almond crops is having a detrimental effect on bees. Molly Aaker / Getty Images
At first glance, you wouldn't think avocados and almonds could harm bees; but a closer look at how these popular crops are produced reveals their potentially detrimental effect on pollinators.
<p>Turns out, bee labor is required to produce most avocados and almonds in the U.S. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/honeybees" target="_self">Honeybees</a> pollinate most fruits and vegetables in the country, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/voraciously/wp/2018/10/17/sorry-vegans-if-you-dont-eat-honey-avocados-might-be-off-limits-too/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported. With native bee populations in sharp decline, there aren't enough of them to complete the job naturally or efficiently, The Post added.</p><p>Enter migratory beekeeping. Farmers truck beehives full of European honeybees across the country and into their fields so that the insects can pollinate crops during important fertile periods, The Post reported. Without this practice, farmers would lose about one-third of their crops, including broccoli, blueberries, cherries, apples, melons and lettuce, according to The Post.</p><p>The practice is so widespread that Tracy Reiman, a representative for <a href="https://www.peta.org/" target="_blank">PETA</a>, said, "Average shoppers can't avoid produce that involves migratory beekeeping, any more than they can avoid driving on asphalt," <a href="https://www.veganlifemag.com/vegan-myths-avocados-arent-vegan/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Vegan Life</a> reported.</p><p>In 2013, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/migratory-beekeeping-mind-boggling-math/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Scientific American</a> estimated that California's booming almond industry used 31 to 80 billion migrant honeybees a year in order to achieve maximum pollination during almond trees' two-week bloom. California produces up to 80 percent of all the world's almonds, Scientific American noted, and could not achieve such scale without migratory beekeeping.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxNzQ3MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMzkxOTkzOX0.LmTRyoERRLJCuh-ARqeTObYSHcw5Qn8pDPCzjfM51vY/img.jpg?width=980" id="84667" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="884827362b36cf8a6cb07fd06c0d3a23" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="5489" data-height="3678" />
Migratory beekeeping involves trucking millions of bees across the U.S. to pollinate different crops, including avocados and almonds. Timothy Paule II / Pexels / CC0
<p>According to <a href="https://www.fromthegrapevine.com/israeli-kitchen/beekeeping-how-to-keep-bees" target="_blank">From the Grapevine</a>, American avocados also fully depend on bees' pollination to produce fruit, so farmers have turned to migratory beekeeping as well to fill the void left by wild populations.</p><p>U.S. farmers have become reliant upon the practice, but migratory beekeeping has been called exploitative and harmful to bees. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/10/health/avocado-almond-vegan-partner/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported that commercial beekeeping may injure or kill bees and that transporting them to pollinate crops appears to negatively affect their health and lifespan. Because the honeybees are forced to gather pollen and nectar from a single, monoculture crop — the one they've been brought in to pollinate — they are deprived of their normal diet, which is more diverse and nourishing as it's comprised of a variety of pollens and nectars, Scientific American reported.</p><p>Scientific American added how getting shuttled from crop to crop and field to field across the country boomerangs the bees between feast and famine, especially once the blooms they were brought in to fertilize end.</p><p>Plus, the artificial mass influx of bees guarantees spreading viruses, mites and fungi between the insects as they collide in midair and crawl over each other in their hives, Scientific American reported. According to CNN, some researchers argue that this explains why so many bees die each winter, and even why entire hives suddenly die off in a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder.</p><p>Adding pesticides to the picture, bees don't stand a chance. Many countries still use <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/neonicotinoids" target="_self">neonicotinoid</a> pesticides (neonics), which are believed to kill bees. In Jan. 2021, the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bees-pesticide-uk-2649874911.html" target="_self">U.K. faced backlash after approving the emergency use</a> of the toxin on sugar beets, despite pledging not to increase its usage in the wake of Brexit. Although restricted, this family of pesticides is still the most widely used in the U.S., and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/neonic-pesticides-food-supply-2650056933.html">scientists warn that neonics' continued prevalence</a> could be catastrophic for food supplies, honeybee populations and mass die-offs of native species. Neonics are a primary cause behind the massive honeybee and native bee losses each year, researchers and environmentalists argue.</p><p>In Columbia, mass bee deaths are being blamed directly on avocado farms, <a href="https://phys.org/news/2021-02-colombia-apiarists-avocado-bees.html#:~:text=It%20is%20used%20to%20control,from%20nearby%20passion%20fruit%20orchards." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Phys.org</a> reported. Avocado exports from Columbia skyrocketed from 1.7 tons in 2014 to 44.5 tons in 2019, and in 2021, Colombia became Europe's largest avocado supplier, Phys.org added. This boom has resulted in the increased use of neonic insecticide fipronil. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/europe-france-bees-pesticides-2648176911.html" target="_self">Banned in Europe</a> and restricted in the U.S. and China, fipronil is still used in Colombia to grow avocados and citrus for export. This has been bad for neighboring bees, which become contaminated as they buzz through pesticide-treated plantations looking for food.</p><p>"They bring this poison to the hive and kill everyone else," Abdon Salazar, a Columbian beekeeper, lamented to Phys.org after losing 800 hives and 80 million bees in the last two years.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxNzQ4OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMjg5OTQ2NH0.Oq4fBa6JIt8zh9l_2638GKbYaf8eJu6z8HxItBENV3c/img.jpg?width=980" id="10a24" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e3a3fd25fe54760bf8a0f2c564c4dbf7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="5616" data-height="3744" />
Avocado and almond crops depend on bees for proper pollination. FRANK MERIÑO / Pexels / CC0
<p>Salazar and other Columbian beekeepers described "scooping up piles of dead bees" year after year since the avocado and citrus booms began, according to Phys.org. Many have opted to salvage what partial colonies survive and move away from agricultural areas.</p><p>The future of pollinators and the crops they help create is uncertain. According to the United Nations, nearly half of insect pollinators, particularly bees and butterflies, risk global extinction, Phys.org reported. Their decline already has cascading consequences for the economy and beyond. Roughly 1.4 billion jobs and three-quarters of all crops around the world depend on bees and other pollinators for free fertilization services worth billions of dollars, Phys.org noted. Losing wild and native bees could <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/wild-bees-crop-shortage-2646849232.html" target="_self">trigger food security issues</a>.</p><p>Salazar, the beekeeper, warned Phys.org, "The bee is a bioindicator. If bees are dying, what other insects beneficial to the environment... are dying?"</p>
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An oblique (left) and dorsal (right) photo of a female Pharohylaeus lactiferous. J.B. Dorey / Journal of Hymenoptera Research
Australia is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. It is home to more than 7% of all the world's plant and animal species, many of which are endemic. One such species, the Pharohylaeus lactiferus bee, was recently rediscovered after spending nearly 100 years out of sight from humans.
<p><a href="https://www.jamesdoreyphotography.com.au/James-Dorey-Photography" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James B. Dorey</a>, a Ph.D. student at Flinders University, was sampling more than 225 general and 20 targeted sites for research on native bee populations when he identified <em>P. lactiferus</em> among the specimens. Dorey took samples from areas around Queensland and New South Wales, two areas that have seen an <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/11-of-the-world-s-most-threatened-forests" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">increased loss of biodiversity</a> in the past decades. Dorey recently published his findings in the <a href="https://jhr.pensoft.net/article/59365/element/4/418//" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Journal of Hymenoptera Research</a>.</p>
<p>Prior to the study, the last publication on the bee species was recorded in 1923 in Queensland, with very little information on the bee's biology. However, the study in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research indicates that this bee is in need of special attention. Dorey asserts that the species "requires conservation assessment," due to its <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1051/apido/2009018" target="_blank">increasing loss of habitat</a>.</p>
<p>Deforestation seems to be at the top of the list of concerns for <em>P. lactiferus</em> and neighboring species. <a href="https://www.wwf.org.au/ArticleDocuments/355/pub-fact-sheet-tree-clearing-in-australia-23may17.pdf.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WWF</a> predicts that between 2015 and 2030, a mere 11 deforestation areas will account for more than 80% of global deforestation. Australia, specifically Queensland and New South Wales where <em>P. laciferus</em> resides, is in those top 11 regions. An alarming <a href="https://junctionjournalism.com/2019/09/20/australias-deforestation-rates-at-an-all-time-high/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">80% of deforestation</a> in Australia happens in the Queensland region, which threatens not only the endemic bee species but <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/csp2.117" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">other iconic Australian species</a> such as the koala. </p>
<p>However, Dorey cited bushfires as an equally dangerous threat to <em>P. laciferus</em> and other native bee species. Their <a href="https://www.rspcaqld.org.au/blog/wildlife-conservation/habitat-loss-and-bushfires" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dependence on the bushland</a> for shelter and food nectar, coupled with habitat fragmentation from deforestation, has made the increasing intensity of Australian bushfires harder to survive. Dorey stated that "GIS analyses... indicate susceptibility of Queensland rainforests and <em>P. lactiferus</em> populations to bushfires, particularly in the context of a fragmented landscape."</p>
<p>Dorey also noted that the 2019 and 2020 bushfire seasons "burnt a greater area than in any year prior," for the habitats in which<em> P. laciferus</em> resides. However, the devastating <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/environment-and-health/short-term-health-impacts-2019-20-bushfires/contents/summary" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">bushfires of 2019 and 2020</a> are not only affecting the bees in Queensland, but are also potentially fueling the <a href="https://therevelator.org/australia-bushfires-extinction/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">extinction crisis</a> throughout Australia. University of Sydney ecologist, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/billion-animals-australia-fires_n_5e13be43e4b0843d361778a6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chris Dickman, told Huffington Post</a> that an estimated 1 billion species were affected during the wildfires. <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/wildfires-climate-change-and-deforestation-increase-the-global-risk/a-51928388" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Compounding research on climate change</a> indicates that the wildfire crisis is global, and <em>P. laciferus</em> might be next on the list of species affected.</p>However, there is hope for this rare bee and the other species facing real threats from the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/species-extinct-in-2020-2649768697.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="_self">world's extinction crisis</a>. <a href="https://www.jamesdoreyphotography.com.au/Projects" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dorey's work</a> in ecology research, as well as wildlife photography, is helping to fuel wildlife preservation in Australia and beyond. To see more of his work with native Australian bees, <a href="https://www.jamesdoreyphotography.com.au/Galleries/Australian-Native-Bees/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">click here</a>
<p><em>Savannah Hasty is an environmental writer with more than six years of experience and has written thousands of articles for clients around the world. Her work focuses on environmental news, lifestyle content, and copywriting for sustainable brands. Savannah lives on the sunny coast of Florida and is inspired by this to play an active role in the preservation of the state's marine life and natural ecosystems.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
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Scientists believe sharks use bioluminescence to camouflage themselves. Jérôme Mallefet
Scientists have newly photographed three species of shark that can glow in the dark, according to a study published in Frontiers in Marine Science last month.
<p>The sharks were found in the waters of Chatham Rise, off of New Zealand. And one of them, the kitefin shark (Dalatias licha), is now the largest known vertebrate capable of producing its own light, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/03/asia/shark-bioluminescence-research-scli-intl-scn/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>.</p><p>"This first experimental study of three luminous shark species from New Zealand provides an insight into the diversity of shark bioluminescence and highlights the need for more research to help understand these unusual deep-sea inhabitants: the glowing sharks," the study authors wrote.</p>
<p>Bioluminescence is defined as the production of light by living organisms and it is caused by a biochemical reaction. It is common among <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/marine-life" target="_self">marine life</a>, and was first observed in sharks in the nineteenth century. Today, around 57 out of 540 known shark species are thought to be capable of producing bioluminescence, study co-author Jérôme Mallefet, head of the marine biology laboratory at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, told CNN.</p>
<p>However, the study marks the first time this property has been observed in a shark as large as the kitefin, which can grow to be nearly six feet. Researchers had previously thought that kitefins might be bioluminescent, because specimens showed that they were capable of producing light. But they have never before been observed doing so because they live so far below the ocean's surface, at 656 to 2,953 feet deep.</p><p>In addition, the researchers from the Catholic University of Louvain and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) in New Zealand also recorded the phenomenon in two other deepwater sharks: the blackbelly lanternshark (<em>Etmopterus lucifer</em>), and the southern lanternshark (<em>Etmopterus granulosus</em>)<em>.</em></p><p>"The two other Etmopterus sharks were also not documented, so it is the first time," Mallefet told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/02/giant-luminous-shark-researchers-discover-that-three-deep-sea-sharks-glow-in-the-dark" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p>
<p>The three sharks were collected in January 2020 from a part of the ocean known as the mesopelagic or "twilight" zone, which is between 200 and 1,000 meters (approximately 656 to 3,281 feet) deep. Here, around 90 percent of life is thought to have some form of bioluminescence that it uses for attracting mates, catching prey or camouflage, among other things, according to <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/three-new-luminous-glowing-sharks-have-been-found-living-in-the-ocean-s-dark-depths" target="_blank">Science Alert</a>.</p><p>In the case of the sharks, scientists think that they use it to camouflage themselves from below. The bioluminescence is concentrated in their bellies and underbellies, and the glow could help them blend in with the light that is visible from the sky. This could protect the smaller two species from predators and help the kitefin shark both illuminate and sneak up on prey, according to The Guardian.</p><p>However, there is one mystery about the kitefin shark that does not fit this hypothesis: Its dorsal fin also lights up.</p><p>"The luminous pattern of the Kitefin shark was unknown and we are still very surprised by the glow on the dorsal fin," Mallefet told The Guardian. "Why? For which purpose?</p>
<p>More research will be needed to understand how and why these species use their self-made light. But the study shines its own light on the unique ecosystems of the deep sea, and the need to both understand and preserve them.</p><p>"I fear that we have done a lot of mistakes throwing stuff in the sea," Mallefet told CNN. "I fear what will happen for the next generations."</p>
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