Key West voters have passed three ballot initiatives to limit the impact of visiting cruise ships on island life and fragile marine habitats. felixmizioznikov / iStock / Getty Images Plus
Despite being a well-known port of call on the Caribbean cruise circuit, the City of Key West voted to ban large cruise ships from visiting and to restrict foot traffic from vessels. Supporters and opponents disagreed about the safety, environmental and economic merits of the proposals.
<p>On election day, local voters passed three ballot initiatives to limit the impact of visiting cruise ships on island life and fragile marine habitats. According to the local <a href="https://www.keys-elections.org/Election-Data/Past-County-Results-2009-Current" target="_blank">Board of Elections</a>, 63% of residents voted to ban ships with capacities larger than 1,300 passengers from docking at all; 61% voted to limit the total daily number of passengers disembarking to 1,500; and 81% supported a measure that prioritizes cruise lines with the best environmental and health records to fill those 1,500 slots.</p><p>The referenda are effective immediately and binding but are expected to be challenged in court, reported <a href="https://thepointsguy.com/news/key-west-cruise-ship-ban/" target="_blank">The Points Guy</a> and <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/11/05/key-west-florida-voters-opt-ban-large-cruise-ships-visiting/6171877002/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">USA TODAY</a>.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.safercleanerships.com/" target="_blank">Key West Committee for Safer, Cleaner Ships (SCS)</a>, who spearheaded the effort, a cruise line's environmental record will be determined by the number of environmental violations, penalties and fines accumulated. Health scores will be determined under the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/default.htm" target="_blank">Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Vessel Sanitation Program</a>.</p><p>"For decades, the City of Key West has done nothing to regulate cruise ships, despite growing local frustrations with the threats large cruise ships pose to the environment, quality of life and sustainable economic growth," SCS treasurer and outspoken opponent of large ships Arlo Haskell explained to EcoWatch. "The fact that cruise ships now pose a clear risk to public health due to Covid-19 was, for us, the last straw."</p><p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/environmental-report-card-grades-cruise-ships-1881802453.html" target="_self">Cruise ships often damage the environment</a>. In addition to creating <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/cruise-ships-toxic-water-sea-2640805829.html?share_id=4932404" target="_self">vast amounts of waste and carbon emissions</a>, they also degrade nearby habitats.</p>
<p><a href="https://floridakeys.surfrider.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Surfrider Florida Keys (SRFK)</a> supported the three initiatives to "give our coral reefs and marine environment a voice," said vice-chair Whitney Wemett. The local <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coral-reefs">coral reefs</a> serve as vital nursery grounds, aggregation spots, habitat and food source for many marine species, she noted.</p><p>According to Haskell, the Key West port is narrow, shallow and long. It's also located right next to part of the only barrier coral reef in the country, the survival of which is dependent upon clean, clear water. Transiting cruise ships stir up silt from the seafloor and create "chronic turbidity" lethal to sea life. SRFK chair Shawn Martin hopes the exclusion of bigger ships will reduce not just the sediment plumes of silt over the reef but also pollution from human sewage, greywater and plastic waste.</p><p>"Limiting the type and size of cruise ships coming into port will lessen the stress on the ocean ecosystem and be a step in the right direction for improving water quality — a crucial element to healthy reefs," Martin told EcoWatch.</p>
<p>Local restaurant owner and opponent of the cruise ship prohibitions Bill Lay agreed on the need to protect the environment but asserted that the initiatives were the wrong way to do it.</p><p>"CSC used the cover of Covid-19 as a tool, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get rid of ships," he said. "But, economically, you're taking a community devastated by the pandemic and just throwing salt on the wound. Our local businesses need foot traffic from the cruise ships."</p><p>While his two restaurants do not serve cruise passengers because they're only open for dinner, Lay predicted he and other business owners like him would feel the "domino effect" of the tightened regulations as locals whose businesses do rely on cruise traffic shutter.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.keywestchamber.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Key West Chamber of Commerce</a> similarly estimated that eliminating the cruise industry will cost the island $90 million in lost jobs and income, reported <a href="https://www.wlrn.org/2020-11-04/key-west-votes-to-limit-number-of-cruise-passengers-and-ship-size" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WLRN</a>.</p>
<p>Haskell presented the economics differently, calling the idea that large cruise ships are essential to Key West's economy a "myth propagated by the cruise industry." While cruise ship passengers account for 50% of all visitors to Key West, they represent less than 8% of tourist spending, because most of their money is spent onboard the ship, he said.</p><p>"The meager economic benefit in Key West is simply not worth the profound risk posed by large cruise ships," he said.</p><p>"If these reefs die, so too do the industries that rely on them," Martin added. "If we do not put the health of our coral reefs first, there will be no Key West tourist economy."</p><p>"We can't afford to be shortsighted, and this move was one geared towards a strong and vibrant future for Key West," Wemett concluded.</p><p>The committee is eager to work with the cruise industry to bring qualifying small ships to Key West. Haskell asserted that a true solution would need to be about "balance" between environment and economy, with an eye on long-term economic sustainability without environmental degradation.</p>
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EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
Thanasis Zovoilis / Stone / Getty Images
By Scott Faber
No candidate for president has ever pledged to make the toxic "forever chemicals" known as PFAS a priority – until now.
<p>In his environmental justice plan, President-elect Joe Biden <a href="https://joebiden.com/environmental-justice-plan/" target="_blank">pledged</a> to set enforceable limits for PFAS in drinking water and to designate PFAS as a hazardous substance under the Superfund cleanup law. </p><p>Here's why that matters.</p>
<p>PFAS chemicals are building up in the blood of every American, posing the risk of serious health problems. <a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2019/06/pfas-chemicals-harm-immune-system-decrease-response-vaccines-new-ewg" target="_blank">PFAS makes vaccines less effective</a> and are linked to cancer, harm to the reproductive system and other health hazards.</p><p>More than <a href="https://www.ewg.org/release/study-more-200-million-americans-could-have-toxic-pfas-their-drinking-water" target="_blank">200 million Americans</a> are likely drinking water and eating food contaminated with PFAS. Nevertheless, the <a href="https://www.ewg.org/epa-pfas-timeline/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Environmental Protection Agency,</a> Food and Drug Administration and <a href="https://www.ewg.org/dodpfastimeline/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Defense Department</a> have for decades failed to address the chemicals' health risks. There are no federal limits on PFAS releases and uses and no requirements to clean up PFAS pollution.</p><p>Setting a national drinking water standard for PFAS under the federal Safe Drinking Water would have a huge impact on public health. Right now, only a <a href="https://www.awwa.org/Portals/0/AWWA/ETS/Resources/SummaryStateRegulationPFASDrinkingWaterFeb2020.pdf?ver=2020-02-03-091914-153" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">few states</a> require drinking water utilities to meet tough standards for PFAS in tap water. A national standard that would apply to all utilities would dramatically reduce our overall exposure to PFAS.</p><p>Designating PFAS as "<a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2019/07/it-s-time-designate-pfas-hazardous-substance" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">hazardous substances</a>" under Superfund would also be historic. By doing so, the Biden-Harris administration would not only kick-start the cleanup process but also require polluters to pay their fair share of cleanup costs.</p><p>But that's not all the Biden team has pledged. The president-elect also pledged to prioritize PFAS substitutes in the marketplace. That means Biden could direct the EPA and the FDA to quickly phase out non-essential uses of PFAS in food packaging, cosmetics, sunscreens and other everyday products.</p><p>The Biden team will have other tools at its disposal. The president-elect could quickly restrict industrial discharges of PFAS into the air and water by using the tools provided by the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, and expand reporting of these releases through the Toxic Release Inventory. Right now, more than <a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2020/04/updated-thousands-industrial-facilities-likely-discharging-toxic-forever" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2,500 manufacturers</a> are thought to be releasing PFAS with no limits.</p><p>The Biden-Harris administration can also direct the Defense Department to accelerate efforts to end the use of PFAS-based firefighting foam, impose a moratorium on the incineration of remaining stocks of PFAS foam, and accelerate PFAS cleanup at military installations. More than <a href="https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/2020-military-pfas-sites/map/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">300 military installations</a> are known to be contaminated with PFAS.</p><p>No candidates have ever pledged to do as much to address America's environmental challenges as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. And that is especially the case for PFAS pollution.</p><p><em><a href="https://www.ewg.org/experts/scott-faber.php" target="_blank">Scott Faber</a> is the Senior Vice President of Government Affairs at the Environmental Working Group. </em></p>
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Like many other plant-based foods and products, CBD oil is one dietary supplement where "organic" labels are very important to consumers. However, there are little to no regulations within the hemp industry when it comes to deeming a product as organic, which makes it increasingly difficult for shoppers to find the best CBD oil products available on the market.
<p>Here you can learn about the importance of organic hemp oil, why it's better for the environment, and which CBD companies actually make trustworthy products with sustainable farming processes. origins which weigh heavily on many consumers who want to buy a product that's produced in the best way possible for not only themselves to ingest, but for the environment as well through sustainable farming methods. </p><h2>What Is CBD Oil?</h2><p>First things first, CBD stands for cannabidiol, and it's a cannabinoid found within cannabis sativa plants. This plant compound is believed to have many potential benefits, and it is primarily derived from hemp plants via a CO2 extraction process. </p><p>Since CBD is extracted from industrial hemp, which contains only trace amounts of THC (the psychoactive component in cannabis plants), this means that CBD won't make you feel high like marijuana, which has much higher levels of THC that causes psychoactive effects. Instead, the effects of CBD are much more subtle and promote a general sense of calm and relaxation in most users.</p><h2>What Makes a CBD Oil Organic?</h2><p>In terms of organic labels, perhaps the most important (and prominent) certification comes from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This government organization has been labeling foods as "organic" for many years, but what exactly does this certification entail? Essentially, a label indicating that a product is "USDA Organic" or "Certified Organic" means that at least 95% of the ingredients are obtained from organic sources.</p><p>For a crop to be considered organic by the USDA, it must be grown without the use of industrial solvents, irradiation, genetic engineering (GMOs), synthetic pesticides, or chemical fertilizer. Instead, farmers rely on natural substances and <a href="https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2012/03/22/organic-101-what-usda-organic-label-means" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">mechanical, physical, or biologically based farming</a> techniques to cultivate healthy and organic crops.</p><p>Before the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, no hemp-derived products could be dubbed as "certified organic" since the hemp plant and its extracts were still categorized as a Schedule I Controlled Substance. However, it's still difficult for CBD companies to obtain a USDA certified organic label for their products due to the legal grey area that still surrounds CBD extracts. </p><p>Because of these challenges, and due to the fact that industrial hemp has only recently become an agricultural crop, very few CBD oils are USDA certified organic. Rather, many CBD products contain hemp extracts from plants that were grown in organic conditions but may not be federally certified.</p><h2>What are the Best Organic CBD Oil Brands?</h2><p><em>Each product featured here has been independently selected. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.</em></p>
<h2>Why Organic Hemp Oil Matters</h2><p>Hemp is a unique plant, not only for its rich cannabinoid content, but also for its ability to absorb a wide variety of components in soil. But this trait poses great risks when it comes to the creation of CBD products derived from hemp.</p><p>Because hemp has a high capacity for compound uptake, this means that the plants can retain <a href="https://www.remedyreview.com/industry/lab-test-results/" target="_blank">harmful chemicals like pesticides</a>, heavy metals, and other residual solvents. This is especially true when it comes to synthetic chemicals that are more toxic to humans, and difficult to remove once they have been absorbed by the hemp plant.</p><p>Organic farming practices help reduce the risk of hemp crops absorbing harsh chemicals that may later end up in CBD oil after extraction. When you're taking CBD as a wellness supplement to help alleviate your symptoms or improve your overall well-being, the last thing you want is to ingest compounds that might negatively outweigh the benefits of CBD. This is an important reason to look for third party lab test results when shopping for CBD products since these certificates of analysis can show the full cannabinoid and terpene profile of a hemp extract, as well as test results that search for the presence of any residual solvents.</p><p>In addition to creating a better end product, organic farming practices are also better for the environment. Sustainable and organic farming methods may <a href="https://www.helpguide.org/articles/healthy-eating/organic-foods.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reduce pollution, conserve water, reduce soil erosion, increase soil fertility, and use less energy</a>. The use of natural pest deterrents as opposed to chemical pesticides is also better for nearby animal populations and ecosystems.</p><h3>Organic vs. Natural</h3><p>While there are only a select few companies offering certified organic ingredients in their products, almost every brand in the CBD market creates "natural" products. The term "all-natural" or "plant-based" does not mean that a product is organic, and since hemp oil is a natural derivative of hemp plants, these products are often referred to as all-natural. However, there are some synthetic CBD oils that should be avoided because they are chemically constructed and may produce unwanted side effects that are not caused by naturally derived CBD extracts.</p><h2>What are the Benefits of Organic CBD Oil?</h2><p>There's a long list of potential CBD oil health benefits, and some of the most common wellness advantages include:</p><ul class="ee-ul"><li><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2503660/" target="_blank">Chronic pain relief</a></li><li><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4604171/" target="_blank">Anti-anxiety effects</a></li><li>Better sleep</li><li><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/inner-source/201901/cbd-oil-mental-health-should-you-take-it-too" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Improvements in mood</a></li><li>Internal balance and regulation</li></ul><p>When dealing with pain, inflammation, sleep issues, and mental health struggles, it can be hard to find sufficient treatment options. The use of certain prescriptions can cause unwanted side effects, yet they are often the only solution for patients with these medical conditions. In search of other therapies, people have started to flock towards CBD oil as an alternative remedy for a variety of conditions. However, it should be noted that CBD products are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and you should seek your doctor's advice before using CBD if you have a serious medical condition.</p><h2>Look at the Labels Before You Buy CBD Oil</h2><p>When you go online to buy CBD oil, you'll quickly realize there is an overwhelming number of brands that are saturating the market. It can be difficult to determine which products are truly as good as they make themselves out to be. Always look for up-to-date third-party lab tests so you know you are getting a great product, and don't hesitate to contact the brand if you have any additional questions. And if you're intent on purchasing 100% organic CBD oil, it's best to look for certified products or brands that are held to strict regulatory standards.</p><p><strong>Melena Gurganus </strong>is the Reviews Editor at EcoWatch. She is passionate health and wellness and her writing aims to help others find products they can trust. Her work has been featured in publications such as Health, Shape, Huffington Post, Cannabis Business Times, and Bustle.<br></p>
Spruce
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDY4NjI3OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyOTM2NzgzOX0.axY0HjeqRctJsR_KmDLctzDpUBLBN-oNIdqaXDb4caQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="774be" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8379f35b1ca8a86d0e61b7d4bfc8b46e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="spruce organic cbd oil" /><p>As one of the best brands in the business, Spruce CBD is well-known for its potent CBD oils that feature many additional beneficial phytocannabinoids. This brand works with two family-owned, sustainably focused farms in the USA (one located in Kentucky and one in North Carolina) to create its organic, small product batches. The max potency Spruce CBD oil contains 2400mg of full-spectrum CBD extract, but the brand also offers a lower strength tincture with 750mg of CBD in total.</p>
$89
CBDistillery
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDcwMjkzNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMTU4OTM4Nn0.ypRdeDSBcE87slYrFfVrRwtJ2qGIK6FD5jBB4pndTMo/img.jpg?width=980" id="b473b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9930b53c9d58cb49774640a61c3e3e75" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="cbdistillery cbd oil" /><p>All of the products from CBDistillery are <a href="https://ushempauthority.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">U.S. Hemp Authority Certified</a>, and for good reason. The company only uses non-GMO and pesticide-free industrial hemp that's grown organically on Colorado farms. Its hemp oils are some of the most affordable CBD products on the market, yet they still maintain a high standard of quality. CBDistillery has a wide variety of CBD potencies across its product line (ranging from 500mg to 5000mg per bottle) and offers both full-spectrum and broad-spectrum CBD oils to give customers a completely thc-free option.</p>
$35
FAB CBD
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDY4NjIyNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2NDIwOTEyMn0.MlTjz096FJ0ev_-soK7_Z-FeQeJczWoeh9Qi9SSkHsY/img.jpg?width=980" id="04b26" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="76aa4862f44603242e318982acea6646" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="fab cbd oil" /><p>For an organic CBD oil that has it all, FAB CBD offers plenty of variety for any type of consumer. All of its products are made with zero pesticides and extracted from organically grown Colorado industrial hemp. FAB CBD oil comes in five all-natural flavors (mint, vanilla, berry, citrus, and natural) and is also available in four strengths (300, 600, 1200, and 2400mg per bottle).</p>
$39
NuLeaf Naturals
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDY4NjIxOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NzExNTgyMX0.D6qMGYllKTsVhEkQ-L_GzpDHVu60a-tJKcio7M1Ssmc/img.jpg?width=980" id="94e4a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3609a52479675730893a45a82a03c71d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="nuleaf naturals organic cbd oil" /><p>As an industry-leading brand, it comes as no surprise that NuLeaf Naturals sources its CBD extract from organic hemp plants grown on licensed farms in Colorado. The comany's CBD oils only contain two ingredients: USDA certified organic hemp seed oil and full spectrum hemp extract.</p><p>NuLeaf Naturals uses one proprietary CBD oil formula for all of its products, so you will get the same CBD potency in each tincture (60mg per mL), but can purchase different bottle sizes depending on how much you intend to use.</p>
$38.50
Charlotte's Web
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDcwMjk3NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MzQ0NjM4N30.SaQ85SK10-MWjN3PwHo2RqpiUBdjhD0IRnHKTqKaU7Q/img.jpg?width=980" id="84700" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a2174067dcc0c4094be25b3472ce08c8" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="charlottes web cbd oil" /><p>Perhaps one of the most well-known brands in the CBD landscape, Charlotte's Web has been growing sustainable hemp plants for several years. The company is currently in the process of achieving official USDA Organic Certification, but it already practices organic and sustainable cultivation techniques to enhance the overall health of the soil and the hemp plants themselves, which creates some of the highest quality CBD extracts. Charlotte's Web offers CBD oils in a range of different concentration options, and some even come in a few flavor options such as chocolate mint, orange blossom, and lemon twist.</p>
$60
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Farmers Are Depleting the Ogallala Aquifer Because the Government Pays Them to Do So
09 November
Food
Windmill at Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Texas pumping water from the Ogallala Aquifer. Leaflet / Wikimedia Commons / CC by 3.0
By Matthew R Sanderson, Burke Griggs and Jacob A. Miller
A slow-moving crisis threatens the U.S. Central Plains, which grow a quarter of the nation's crops. Underground, the region's lifeblood – water – is disappearing, placing one of the world's major food-producing regions at risk.
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-014-9567-6" target="_blank">Ogallala-High Plains Aquifer</a> is one of the world's largest groundwater sources, extending from South Dakota down through the Texas Panhandle across portions of eight states. Its water supports <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/2013EF000107" target="_blank">US$35 billion</a> in crop production each year.</p><p>But farmers are pulling water out of the Ogallala faster than rain and snow can recharge it. Between 1900 and 2008 they drained some <a href="https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2013/5079/" target="_blank">89 trillion gallons</a> from the aquifer – equivalent to two-thirds of <a href="https://www3.clevelandwater.com/your-water/lake-erie" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Lake Erie</a>. Depletion is threatening drinking water supplies and undermining local communities already struggling with the <a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/coronavirus/article245598760.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">COVID-19 pandemic</a>, the <a href="https://www.hpj.com/bickel/dairy-farmer-tells-of-his-son-s-opioid-addiction-along-with-his-own/article_0df84cae-762b-11e8-b864-b3e07a63df7e.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">opioid crisis</a>, <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/post/rural-kansas-loves-its-hospitals-keeping-them-open-only-gets-harder" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">hospital closures</a>, soaring <a href="https://www.kcur.org/agriculture/2019-10-18/get-big-or-get-out-farming-has-left-kansas-towns-struggling-for-survival" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">farm losses</a> and <a href="https://www.kcur.org/2020-02-26/kansas-suicide-rates-are-climbing-especially-in-the-states-most-rural-areas" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">rising suicide rates</a>.</p><p>In Kansas, "Day Zero" – the day wells run dry – has arrived for about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1220351110" target="_blank">30% of the aquifer</a>. Within 50 years, the entire aquifer is expected be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1220351110" target="_blank">70% depleted</a>.</p><p>Some observers blame this situation on periodic <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2013/03/18/in-drought-ravaged-plains-efforts-to-save-a-vital-aquifer" target="_blank">drought</a>. Others point to farmers, since irrigation accounts for <a href="https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2011/5089/pdf/SIR2011-5089.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">90% of Ogallala groundwater withdrawals</a>. But our research, which focuses on social and legal aspects of water use in agricultural communities, shows that farmers are draining the Ogallala because state and federal policies encourage them to do it.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDc2MDkzNS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2Mzc4NTcwNX0.9vW7vQn6HYbxFfJf0w96KfHlnTZVUmKtYfhLkxbAXIA/img.png?width=980" id="25664" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5eec9731664ea584de05f6d043944b84" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Changes in Ogallala water levels from before the aquifer was tapped in the early 20th century to 2015. Gray indicates no significant change. Water levels have risen in some areas, especially Nebraska, but are mostly in decline. NCA 2018
A Production Treadmill
<p>At first glance, farmers on the Plains appear to be doing well in 2020. Crop production increased this year. Corn, the largest crop in the U.S., had <a href="https://www.nass.usda.gov/Newsroom/2020/08-12-2020.php" target="_blank">a near-record year</a>, and farm incomes increased by <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-sector-income-finances/farm-sector-income-forecast" target="_blank">5.7% over 2019</a>.</p><p>But those figures hide massive government payments to farmers. Federal subsidies increased by <a href="https://www.agweb.com/article/usda-says-farm-income-increasing-gov-payments-are-record" target="_blank">a remarkable 65%</a> this year, totaling $37.2 billion. This sum includes money for <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-us-farmers-remain-loyal-to-trump-despite-pain-from-trade-wars-and-covid-19-146535" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">lost exports from escalating trade wars, as well as COVID-19-related relief payments.</a> Corn prices were too low to cover the cost of growing it this year, with federal subsidies making up the difference.</p><p>Our research finds that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spy011" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">subsidies put farmers on a treadmill</a>, working harder to produce more while draining the resource that supports their livelihood. Government payments create a vicious cycle of overproduction that intensifies water use. Subsidies encourage farmers to expand and buy expensive equipment to irrigate larger areas.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDc2MDk0MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMDkxNzU5Mn0.CKqWTS1NTX55k7qqe2Wz3YZrJ6dAiNciR5CtypPa3r8/img.jpg?width=980" id="b7de9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="270490330e4b2ee1d37c1bb113e96040" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Irrigation pump in Haskell County, Kansas. Matthew Sanderson/Kansas State University, CC BY-ND
<p>With <a href="https://www.agweb.com/markets/futures" target="_blank">low market prices for many crops</a>, production does not cover expenses on most farms. To stay afloat, many farmers buy or lease more acres. Growing larger amounts floods the market, further reducing crop prices and farm incomes. Subsidies support this cycle.</p><p>Few benefit, especially small and midsized operations. In a 2019 study of the region's 234 counties from 1980 to 2010, we found that larger irrigated acreage <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-019-00390-9" target="_blank">failed to increase incomes or improve education or health outcomes</a> for residents.</p>Focus on Policy, Not Farmers
<p>Four decades of federal, state and local conservation efforts have mainly targeted individual farmers, providing ways for them to voluntarily <a href="https://agriculture.ks.gov/divisions-programs/dwr/managing-kansas-water-resources/wca" target="_blank">reduce water use</a> or <a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/programs/financial/eqip/" target="_blank">adopt more water-efficient technologies</a>.</p><p>While these initiatives are important, they haven't stemmed the aquifer's decline. In our view, what the Ogallala Aquifer region really needs is policy change.</p><p>A lot can be done at the federal level, but the first principle should be "do no harm." Whenever federal agencies have <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/1230/all-info" target="_blank">tried to regulate groundwater</a>, the backlash has been swift and intense, with farm states' congressional representatives <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2015-06-19/pdf/2015-15151.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">repudiating federal jurisdiction over groundwater</a>.</p><p>Nor should Congress propose to eliminate agricultural subsidies, as some <a href="https://www.ewg.org/agmag/subsidies" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">environmental organizations</a> and <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/five-reasons-repeal-farm-subsidies" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">free-market advocates</a> have proposed. Given the thin margins of farming and longstanding political realities, federal support is simply part of modern production agriculture.</p><p>With these cautions in mind, three initiatives could help ease pressure on farmers to keep expanding production. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's <a href="https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/conservation-programs/conservation-reserve-program/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Conservation Reserve Program</a> pays farmers to allow environmentally sensitive farmland to lie fallow for at least 10 years. With new provisions, the program could reduce water use by prohibiting expansion of irrigated acreage, permanently retiring marginal lands and linking subsidies to production of less water-intensive crops.</p><p>These initiatives could be implemented through the <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/farmbill" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">federal farm bill</a>, which also sets funding levels for nonfarm subsidies such as the <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program</a>, or SNAP. SNAP payments, which increase needy families' food budgets, are an important tool for addressing poverty. Increasing these payments and adding financial assistance to local communities could offset lower tax revenues that result from from farming less acreage.</p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9a68a352afef927017e5c51944388e7b"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RHJsdtLZGoY?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Amending <a href="https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/farm-loan-programs/" target="_blank">federal farm credit rates</a> could also slow the treadmill. Generous terms promote borrowing for irrigation equipment; to pay that debt, borrowers farm more land. Offering lower rates for equipment that reduces water use and withholding loans for standard, wasteful equipment could nudge farmers toward conservation.</p><p>The most powerful tool is the tax code. Currently, farmers receive <a href="https://www.irs.gov/publications/p225#en_US_2020_publink1000218297" target="_blank">deductions for declining groundwater levels</a> and can write off depreciation on irrigation equipment. Replacing these perks with a tax credit for stabilizing groundwater and substituting a depreciation schedule favoring more efficient irrigation equipment could provide strong incentives to conserve water.</p>
Rewriting State Water Laws
<p>Water rights are mostly determined by state law, so reforming state water policies is crucial. Case law demonstrates that simply owning water rights <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/224/107/" target="_blank">does not grant the legal right to waste water</a>. For more than a century courts have upheld state restrictions on waste, with <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/2d/3/489.html" target="_blank">rulings that allow for adaptation</a> by modifying the definitions of "beneficial use" and "waste" over time.</p><p>Using these precedents, state water agencies could designate thirsty crops, such as rice, cotton or corn, as wasteful in certain regions. Regulations preventing unreasonable water use <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/2020/c085762.html" target="_blank">are not unconstitutional</a>.</p><p>Allowing farmers some flexibility will maximize profits, as long as they stabilize overall water use. If they irrigate less – or not at all – in years with low market prices, rules could allow more irrigation in better years. Ultimately, many farmers – and their bankers – are willing to exchange lower annual yields for a longer water supply.</p><p>As our research has shown, the vast majority of farmers in the region <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gwat.12940" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">want to save groundwater</a>. They will need help from policymakers to do it. Forty years is long enough to learn that the Ogallala Aquifer's decline is not driven by weather or by individual farmers' preferences. Depletion is a structural problem embedded in agricultural policies. Groundwater depletion is a policy choice made by federal, state and local officials.</p>From Your Site Articles
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A flooded corn field along the Yazoo River during the Mississippi River near Redwood, Mississippi in May of 2011.
T. C. Knight / Getty Images
T. C. Knight / Getty Images
By Chaoqun Lu
Some effects of extreme weather are visible – like half a million acres of flattened corn in Iowa left behind after a derecho that hit the Midwestern United States on Aug. 10.
<p>Other effects are harder to measure, but can be just as harmful. One example is agricultural nitrogen runoff from farmlands in the Mississippi River Basin. It mainly comes from fertilizer that farmers apply to <a href="https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/old.2003/fs-105-03/" target="_blank">millions of acres of crops</a>.</p><p>Plants can't use all of the nitrogen in fertilizer because fertilizers are usually applied in excess. This excess can wash off farm fields into local rivers and lakes, degrading water quality and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-your-diet-contributes-to-nutrient-pollution-and-dead-zones-in-lakes-and-bays-118902" target="_blank">stimulating algae blooms</a>. Traveling down the Mississippi River, it contributes to the yearly formation of a <a href="https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/news/large-dead-zone-measured-in-gulf-of-mexico/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dead zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico</a>, covering several thousand square miles; oxygen levels there are so low that fish and shellfish cannot survive.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDY3NTI1Mi9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NDI3MzY3OX0.yRe_Al0wWA5Dvuvari5a3YSLggWSF15CFm3bU4plJk4/img.png?width=980" id="3059c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="805831ff431667c6032910f6662b2171" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
The Mississippi River Basin covers over 1.245 million square miles across 32 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. Shannon1 / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
<p>Excess nitrogen in drinking water also <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/farms-more-productive-than-ever-are-poisoning-drinking-water-in-rural-america-11547826031" target="_blank">threatens public health</a>. Ingesting high levels of nitrate, a nitrogen compound, can <a href="https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/tf.asp?id=1186&tid=258" target="_blank">reduce red blood cells' ability to transport oxygen</a>, a condition that is especially dangerous for infants.</p><p>My work as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VI_Lb-YAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank">quantitative ecologist</a> examines how ecosystems respond to external factors such as adding nitrogen. In a recently published study, I worked with colleagues to quantify nitrogen runoff from land into rivers and streams. We found that infrequent but heavy rainfall events account for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00020-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">one-third of annual total runoff and nitrogen leaching from soils</a> across the Mississippi Basin. This tells us that managing nitrogen is likely to be more challenging if climate change continues to make heavy rains more frequent.</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c61c993c58810750a464d2925f404029"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OQFjmWGONCA?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<h3>Too Much of a Good Thing</h3><p>Plants can't grow without nitrogen, but using too much or applying it improperly can cause problems. In the U.S. Midwest, one of the <a href="https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs155-99/fs155-99.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">most intensively farmed areas in the world</a>, farmers have added <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-969-2018" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">large amounts of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer</a> to the land to boost crop yields.</p><p>Long-term monitoring data from river gauges shows large year-to-year variations in the quantity of nitrogen that flows down from the Mississippi River Basin into the Gulf of Mexico. Yearly changes in farmers' fertilizer use are not large enough to explain these fluctuations.</p><p>Studies show that annual total precipitation is a <a href="https://carnegiescience.edu/news/projected-precipitation-increases-are-bad-news-water-quality" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">significant factor in these changes</a>. But we know less about the role of daily rainfall – particularly heavy rains – in mobilizing and transporting nitrogen.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDY3NTI2MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMzIxMjIzMn0.pfwbhWLi0EIzIAdLfLRWUqzL3uf594rDG-1i7po64WA/img.jpg?width=980" id="0e006" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a2f193abbb29905a56740f2553d06929" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Stream gauge measurements show that the amount of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) moving from Mississippi River Basin states to the Gulf of Mexico fluctuates dramatically from year to year. Heavy rainfalls can produce higher nitrogen levels. Modified from Lu et al., 2020, CC BY-ND
<h3>Heavy Rains Have an Outsized Impact</h3><p>My collaborators and I wanted to assess the impacts of extreme rainfall events in the Midwest. In this region, many cropped fields are laced with buried networks of drainage channels, known locally as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tile_drainage" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tile drainage</a>. These pipelines are designed to move excess moisture out of fields. But they can also channel large surges of water and nutrients into rivers and streams after heavy rainfalls.</p><p>It is challenging to determine how individual rainfall events affect nitrogen leaching and movement within a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/drainage-basin" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">drainage basin</a>. Rain happens here and there, so it's hard to distinguish a single storm's impact from river gauge monitoring data. Rainfall events also vary a lot by season and intensity.</p><p>Our study used a well-tested model to quantify how much nitrogen is washed out by each rainfall event, as well as total nitrogen delivered to the Gulf of Mexico. We looked closely at heavy rainfall events, which we defined as the top 10% of historical daily precipitation amounts for any location in a given month.</p><p>Climate records show that over the past 20 years, a growing share of annual precipitation has come in heavy rainfall events across two-thirds of the Mississippi River Basin's land area. The region that receives a total of more than 15.7 inches (400 millimeters) of heavy rain per year has expanded from areas in Louisiana and Arkansas northward to Corn Belt states like Illinois and Indiana, where nitrogen fertilizer is heavily used.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDY3NTI2My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0ODk1OTY2Mn0.EzMMBdzQZfSr7kWm9XRBiSoGjTpi7wq1Xf_TO0bWZUs/img.png?width=980" id="af222" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d1845a190c070996325c70dc8ea8ac8f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Percentage increases in the amount of precipitation falling in very heavy events (defined as the heaviest 1% of all daily events) from 1958 to 2012. Globalchange.gov
<p>We found that one-third of annual total runoff and nitrogen leaching loss come from heavy rainfall events, which happen on only about nine days per year on average across the basin. Nearly half to three-quarters of heavy rainfall in the basin occurs in spring and summer, with a monthly peak in May.</p><p>This timing coincides with the planting and seed germinating stages of corn, when the plants are using <a href="http://nmsp.cals.cornell.edu/publications/factsheets/factsheet98.pdf" target="_blank">minimal amounts of nitrogen</a>. We wondered whether changing when and how farmers apply fertilizer could reduce nitrogen runoff.</p>
<h3>When to Fertilize</h3><p>When during the year to apply fertilizer is a long-standing question in both <a href="https://theconversation.com/farmers-of-the-future-will-utilize-drones-robots-and-gps-37739" target="_blank">precision agriculture</a> and environmental science. Midwest farmers apply over 90% of nitrogen fertilizer before crops germinate in springtime and after harvesting. This means that a fair amount of available nitrogen accumulates in the soil before crops start taking it up. When heavy rainfalls occur, it is likely to be washed out.</p>
<div id="7afc9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1e3585752d31dbe2f9fa3749fa375f74"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1318214328403767303" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Nitrogen fertilizer application restrictions on crop ground went into effect in certain areas of Minnesota on Sept.… https://t.co/2xW8POSKyy</div> — DTN/The Progressive Farmer (@DTN/The Progressive Farmer)<a href="https://twitter.com/dtnpf/statuses/1318214328403767303">1603121761.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>We set up modeling experiments to test whether postponing fertilizer application could make the water running off of farmlands cleaner. In our alternative fertilizer management scenario, we assumed fertilizer was applied only twice, after crops developed. We expected this would reduce the amount of unused nitrogen accumulating in soils.</p><p>Our results predicted that this modification could reduce nitrogen loading to the Gulf of Mexico by up to 16%. This would be a significant step toward goals set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is working with states to reduce nutrient loads entering the Gulf of Mexico by <a href="https://archive.epa.gov/epa/newsreleases/states-develop-new-strategies-reduce-nutrient-levels-mississippi-river-gulf-mexico.html" target="_blank">20% by 2025 and 45% by 2035</a>.</p><p>However, even under the postponed fertilizer application scenario, we still found the frequent heavy rains in the recent decade could enhance nitrogen loss during summer and early fall. Scientists predict that if climate change continues at its current rate, it will cause <a href="https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/highlights/regions/midwest#intro-section-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">more extreme rainfall events in the Midwest</a>, which, we think, would reduce environmental benefits from alternative nitrogen management practices.</p><p>Reducing the amount of nitrogen that escapes from land into water bodies while maintaining food production is a significant challenge. Our study complements the well-known <a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/ia/technical/ecoscience/nutrient/nrcs142p2_008196/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">4R concept</a> for managing nutrients: Using the right fertilizer product, at the right rate, at the right time, and in the right place. To get that timing right, our research shows that along with crop nitrogen demand, farmers should also consider the occurrence of heavy rainfall.</p>
<p>
<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/chaoqun-lu-1160490" target="_blank">Chaoqun Lu</a> is an assistant professor of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology at Iowa State University.</em><br/>
</p><p>
<em>Disclosure statement: Chaoqun Lu receives funding from the National Science Foundation, Iowa State University, and the Iowa Nutrient Research Center.</em>
</p><p>
<em><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-few-heavy-storms-cause-a-big-chunk-of-nitrogen-pollution-from-midwest-farms-146980" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em></em>
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Soybean crops affected by a drought near Navasota, Texas on August 21, 2013. Bob Nichols / USDA / Smith Collection / Gado / Getty Images
By Keith Schneider
In many ways, the story of Texas over the last century is the state's devout allegiance to the principle that mankind has dominion over nature.
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic shut down that idea in 2020. By 11 October, nearly 800,000 people had been infected in Texas and over 16,000 died.</p><p>The sharp and irrepressible rise in virus cases and mortality adds to the intensifying view among Texans that far from living in a place distant from the vagaries of nature, Texas has become a national and global epicenter of natural calamity.</p><p>More people and businesses in Texas are in the way, as booming population and economic growth this century have written a much different story of vulnerability – to nature's bullying and to government's uncertain capacity to adjust. The state's principal <a href="https://texasstatewaterplan.org/statewide" target="_blank">water research agency projects that demand for fresh water</a> will increase dramatically by mid-century as supplies steadily drop, precipitating what looks like an inevitable supply crisis. In short, the second- largest American state and one of the world's largest economies looks a lot like China, India, Australia, South Africa and every other place in the world contending with the confrontation between diminishing water supply and increasing demand.</p><p><span></span>"Texas does not understand shortages," said Dr. Larry McKinney, one of the state's top water researchers and the former director of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, a unit of Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi. "It's the Texas mentality. Texas is so big we've had a hard time coming to grips that resources are finite. We really never had to deal with that. Frankly, we're reaching that point."</p>
Rising Demand Confronts Lower Supplies
<p>There are a couple of ways to examine the coming hardship. The first is in numbers. The <a href="https://www.twdb.texas.gov/waterplanning/data/projections/index.asp" target="_blank">Texas Water Development Board found</a> that by 2070 the state's population will grow to 51 million people, 22 million more than today. The state's annual demand for water, the State Water Board projects, will climb to 21.6 million acre-feet (27 trillion liters), up from 18.4 million.</p><p>At the same time, a severe drought will bring increasing constraint. <a href="https://texasstatewaterplan.org/statewide" target="_blank">State authorities project</a> that in a drought comparable to the most severe on record, water supplies will fall over the next 50 years from 15.2 million acre-feet to 13.6 million acre-feet (17 trillion liters). During the driest periods, more people will have considerably less water.</p><p>Here's how that confrontation is playing out in the Hill Country, a region of rapid population growth and uncertain water supply west of Austin, Texas' capital city.</p><p>Two generations ago, about 40,000 people made their homes in Hays County, an epic, rural, rolling masterpiece of space and sky close to Austin and San Antonio. Authorities in Hays counted 14,000 homes that were supplied with water from the Trinity Aquifer, a giant freshwater reserve that lay below. <a href="https://www.circleofblue.org/2020/world/when-it-rains-texas-forgets-drought-and-worsening-water-scarcity/" target="_blank">In both wet years and dry, water was readily available</a>.</p><p>Four decades later, Hays County has grown to 222,000 residents and 75,000 housing units. The Trinity Aquifer is tapped out. Since 2003, a pipeline from Lake Travis, a reservoir near Austin, has provided developers with sufficient water to continue building big subdivisions.<br></p><p>But <a href="https://gato-docs.its.txstate.edu/jcr:04bd3fbb-54df-4be7-bd27-265778ff134f/Mitchell2014%20-%20updated.pdf" target="_blank">a study</a> by the Hill Country Alliance and the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University in San Marcos found that the piped water encouraged more drilling fo water wells into the aquifer. In one area, they found that pumping jumped from just over 3 million gallons annually to 90 million gallons (409 million liters).</p><p>The idea of the sanctity of economic expansion produces all manner of conflict and turmoil about water throughout Texas. The annual <a href="https://www.forbes.com/places/tx/" target="_blank">$1.89 trillion Texas economy,</a> the second-largest state economy and <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?most_recent_value_desc=true" target="_blank">ninth-largest in the world</a>, is entirely dependent on access to adequate supplies of water.</p><p>The 2011 drought <a href="https://agrilifetoday.tamu.edu/2012/03/21/updated-2011-texas-agricultural-drought-losses-total-7-62-billion/#:~:text=Updated%202011%20Texas%20agricultural%20drought%20losses%20total%20%247.62%20billion,-March%2021%2C%202012&text=COLLEGE%20STATION%20%E2%80%93%20Texas%20agricultural%20losses,Texas%20AgriLife%20Extension%20Service%20economists." target="_blank">caused more than $7 billion in agricultural losses</a>, and indirect costs of $16.9 billion. From 1980 to 2018, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Texas also led all states, by far, in losses from severe storms and flooding. In 2017 alone, Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 storm that stalled near Houston, caused <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2018/01/08/hurricane-harvey-was-years-costliest-us-disaster-125-billion-damages/" target="_blank">$125 billion in damages</a>.</p>
<p>"Water is the economy in Texas," said McKinney. "It drives everything, particularly as you get less of it."</p><p>Sound familiar? It should. Struggles over water occurring across Texas are essentially the same as those unfolding in places where growth is highest and water resources are under the most stress. In the United States that means California, the Southwest and the Rocky Mountain West.</p><p>The same two trends are unfolding around the planet, most notably in China and India. In 2011, China discovered that its program of energy development, grain production, and construction of new cities was using so much water that <a href="http://en.pkulaw.cn/display.aspx?cgid=3256f00ff8d269babdfb&lib=law" target="_blank">by 2020 it would be 20 to 25 trillion liters</a> in deficit, a shortage so dire it could wreck China's booming economy.</p><p>A command-and-control society, China aggressively set out to shrink the deficit by quickly acting on three big initiatives. It moved much of its grain production from the dry Yellow River Basin to the wet northeast provinces. It closed water-thirsty coal mines, coal-washing stations, and water-cooled coal-fired power stations. And it<a href="https://www.circleofblue.org/2011/world/choke-point-chinaconfronting-water-scarcity-and-energy-demand-in-the-worlds-largest-country/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> built the largest water-conserving solar and wind electrical generating industry on Earth</a>.</p>
<p>India is having less success. Groundwater levels are steadily declining in the northwest states that produce much of country's rice, wheat, and sugarcane. But the state and national governments encourage the trend. In a nation that has known pervasive hunger, food production is a paramount cultural objective. Keeping the 700 million Indians who are involved in agriculture happy is another prime objective. That's why farmers pay nothing for water. They can use what they like. And they <a href="https://www.circleofblue.org/2013/world/choke-point-india-the-leopard-in-the-well/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pay nothing for electricity to run ever-more powerful pumps needed to pull water to the surface that lies ever-deeper below ground</a>.</p><p>Texas is Texas. Texas is big, rich, growing, impulsive and impressive. The significant question Texas hasn't answered is where it will find enough water by 2070 – 10 trillion liters, according to the Texas Water Development Board, or about half the Chinese water deficit – to keep over 50 million people safe, satisfied and thriving during deepening droughts.</p><p>There are two ways to look at the challenge. The most optimistic view is so Texas. The Water Board, with its process of reviewing and revising the State Water Plan every five years, lays out steps that are meant to give Texas guidance and time to figure it out. The more realistic and accurate assessment is that as Texas pursues its steep growth vector, the hardships of serious droughts will grow worse.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/10/texas-water-supplies-running-dry/" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a>.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
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Chipotle's "Real Foodprint" will tell you the ecological footprint of each menu item compared to the industry standard. Joe Raedle / Getty Images
How does your burrito impact the environment? If you ordered it from Chipotle, there is now a way to find out.
<p>The chain on Monday launched a first-of-its kind <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sustainability" target="_self">sustainability</a> tool called the <a href="https://realfoodprint.chipotle.com/" target="_blank">Real Foodprint</a>, which allows customers to see how each of its 53 intentionally sourced ingredients compares to the industry average when it comes to key environmental metrics like <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/carbon-emissions" target="_self">carbon emissions</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/water" target="_self">water</a> use.</p><p>"Just by eating real, responsibly raised <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/food/" target="_self">food</a>, you can do a little something to help cultivate a better world," Bill Nye of Science Guy fame said in a video promoting the feature.</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="edb1a1f60298c73efc6d7f5193a64a50"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fqWINfwdP_A?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<p>The Real Foodprint works like this, as <a href="https://retailleader.com/chipotle-sets-higher-bar-sustainability" target="_blank">Retail Leader explained</a>. When you place an order on the Chipotle app or on the website, the tracker will show you the environmental impact of each ingredient you select compared to the conventional equivalent. The ingredients are assessed according to five metrics:</p><ol><li>Less carbon emitted (measured in grams)</li><li>Water saved (in gallons)</li><li>Improved <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/soil-health" target="_self">soil health</a> (in square feet)</li><li>Organic land supported (in square feet)</li><li>Antibiotics avoided (in milligrams)</li></ol><p>So, for example, Nye's chicken bowl emits 0.8 fewer grams of carbon dioxide, saves 0.4 gallons of water, supports 1.7 square feet of improved soil health, supports 0.9 square feet of organic land and avoids 42.3 milligrams of antibiotics compared to a similar order made with conventional ingredients.</p>
<div id="e2a10" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ba6130b414a0ff5ec3fbe005c4232d31"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1320698022594920453" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">*wheels tv into classroom*
@BillNye wants to show you how Chipotle ingredients can help reduce the impact on the… https://t.co/Ddedz1FdeO</div> — Chi-vote-le (@Chi-vote-le)<a href="https://twitter.com/ChipotleTweets/statuses/1320698022594920453">1603713920.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The data points are provided by HowGood, an independent research company that draws on more than 450 peer-reviewed and scientific studies to compare Chipotle's ingredients to conventional options, the website explained. Chipotle is the first restaurant to partner with HowGood, the company said in a <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chipotle-launches-real-foodprint-introduces-sustainability-impact-trackers-for-digital-orders-301159499.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">press release</a>. The data points will be updated on a regular basis, so customers can see if Chipotle's environmental impact lessens or increases over time, <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90567802/is-your-burrito-bad-for-the-environment-chipotle-has-a-tool-for-that" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Fast Company reported</a>.</p><p>"Beyond asking people to make the right choice for the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate</a> based on a carbon label, we are demonstrating the impact of our sourcing practices through data computed based on the ingredients in our guests' orders," Chipotle's head of sustainability Caitlin Leibert said in the press release. "While our guests can make good choices for the planet by simply eating at Chipotle, the radical transparency provided by Real Foodprint also holds us accountable to improve our practices and source more sustainably over time. It is the combination of transparency for our guests and Chipotle's commitment to higher standards that make Real Foodprint so impactful."</p>
<p>Other restaurant brands have taken steps to provide environmental information to their customers, Fast Company pointed out. Meat alternative brand Quorn prints the carbon footprint of its products next to the nutrition label. And, two weeks ago, Panera started pointing out the "Cool Food Meals" on its menu, meals that have a lower carbon footprint. But Chipotle's Foodprint is the most specific and detailed Fast Company has encountered, writer Mark Wilson pointed out.</p><p>"You can literally measure the impact of adding pinto beans or a scoop of pico de gallo," Wilson wrote. "(Btw, order those beans! They capture carbon and fertilize soil with nitrogen naturally!)"</p><p>One downside to the Chipotle tool is the fact that it compares its own ingredients specifically to the industry standard, Wilson noted. This means that it tells you that choosing Chipotle-sourced steak saves 150 milligrams of antibiotics, while choosing tofu saves none, because conventional tofu requires none. The impact of the beef is compared to the industry standard for beef, but does not account for the huge environmental difference between choosing meat and choosing <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/vegetarian" target="_self">vegetarian</a> options.</p><p>Chipotle chief marketing officer Chris Brandt said this was done to avoid passing a value judgement on individual foods.</p><p>"There's a lot of other metrics that say meat is bad, vegetarian is good. If you wanna live your life that way that's great ... everything is relevant to an industry average rather than a value judgment as to whether you eat meat or not," Brandt said.</p>
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An illustration highlights the moon's Clavius Crater with an illustration depicting water trapped in the lunar soil there. NASA / Daniel Rutter
A pair of studies released Monday confirmed not only the presence of water and ice on the moon, but that it is more abundant than scientists previously thought. Those twin discoveries boost the prospect of a sustainable lunar base that could harvest the moon's resources to help sustain itself, according to the BBC.
<p>Both studies were printed in <em>Nature Astronomy</em>. In the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-01222-x" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">first study</a>, a NASA telescope affixed to the fuselage of a 747 airplane flying at altitudes up to 45,000 feet detected the presence of water in a large crater visible from Earth. The telescope, called the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), zeroed in on the moon's surface with remarkable clarity to determine the molecular composition of the moon's face, according to a <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-sofia-discovers-water-on-sunlit-surface-of-moon/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">NASA</a> statement.</p><p>Images from SOFIA allowed scientists to determine that a large portion of the hydrogen and oxygen combination they had previously noticed on a sunlit area of the moon are water, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/26/science/moon-ice-water.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Science" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>
<p>"This discovery reveals that water might be distributed across the lunar surface and not limited to the cold shadowed places near the lunar poles," Paul Hertz, the director of NASA's astrophysics division, said during a news conference on Monday, as The New York Times reported.</p><p>In the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-1198-9" target="_blank">second study</a>, the NASA scientists suggest that water might be more widespread than they initially thought since it is likely trapped in many of the moon's shadowy surfaces, according to <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/26/21530198/moon-water-ice-sun-cold-traps-nasa-artemis-astronauts" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Verge</a>. Those cold areas of the moon possibly shelter water in an area over 15,000 square miles, according to the study.</p><p>The discovery is a boon to a potential lunar base since taking water to space is pricey, costing thousands of dollars per gallon. The discovery of water on the moon may mean that future astronauts will be able to hydrate and refuel their rockets, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2020/10/26/water-on-the-moon/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported. It also means they would be able to water plants, according to The Verge.</p>
<p>"Anytime we don't need to pack water for our trip, we have an opportunity to take other useful items with us," said Jacob Bleacher, chief exploration scientist for NASA's human exploration and operations directorate, to The New York Times.</p><p>Hannah Sargeant, a planetary scientist from the Open University in Milton Keynes, told the BBC that the location of the water will likely determine where a lunar base is established</p><p>Previous discoveries of water were found in craters in the moon's perpetually dark south. Temperatures there reach about -400 degrees Fahrenheit, making it impossible to reach the water with modern technology.</p><p>"They happen to be the coldest known places in the Solar System, believe it or not," Paul Hayne, a planetary scientist at the University of Colorado and a lead author on the second study, told The Verge.</p><p>That makes the discovery of water deposits in less treacherous areas appealing to scientists thinking about future moon exploration, according to The New York Times.</p>
<p>"If we find that it's abundant enough in certain locations, it would be easier to access versus going into these very cold, very dark places," said Casey Honniball, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and lead author of the first study, to The Verge.</p><p>For the next steps, NASA will send unmanned rovers to the moon's south pole in 2023 to drill for water a meter below the surface, according to The Washington Post.</p><p>"Both papers deepen the mysteries of lunar water while providing pieces of the puzzle," wrote Bethany Ehlmann, an assistant professor of planetary science at Caltech who was not involved in the research, in an email to The Washington Post. "It's exciting to think that lurking in the shadow within ten degrees of the pole are tiny reservoirs of water ice."</p>
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An aerial view shows drought conditions in the Amazon rainforest on Feb. 20, 2015 in Brazil. Lena Trindade / Brazil Photos / LightRocket / Getty Images
By Jennifer Ann Thomas
For the first time, researchers have developed a model capable of anticipating drought periods in the Amazon up to 18 months in advance. The study was conducted by scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), in Germany, as part of the Tipping Points in the Earth System (TiPES) project, led by physicist Catrin Ciemer and published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
<p>The model was developed based on surface temperature analysis of the Atlantic Ocean. The relation between the humidity of the oceans and the rainfall regime in the Amazon is part of the intrinsic functioning of the biomes. Any variation in temperature, as a result of global warming, is enough to trigger a series of consequences.</p><p>According to physicist and study co-author Niklas Boers, the early-warning system developed by the group is based on a very simple mechanism: "We discovered that every two years the surface temperatures in the north and south tropical Atlantic develop a dipole, a phenomenon that occurs when temperatures increase in one region and decrease in another."</p><p>The drought forecast alert is issued when this pattern begins to develop. "The dipole modifies the direction of the trade winds, which take moisture from the Atlantic Ocean to South America. This change of direction is responsible for causing droughts mainly in the center-south of the Amazon," Boers said. From the model they developed, the researchers were able to trace back six of the seven main drought events that have occurred in the Amazon since the 1980s.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDU5MDk1Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MTEyOTM5MX0.6RM-Ryoiz3vfY9Dx2ocN14yrDAN91nn3Yk0okz-s0YI/img.jpg?width=980" id="ca886" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e04a515f2eb64460d1cc274c685bbc02" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Average monthly sea surface temperature (in degrees Celsius, red scale) and average continental rainfall in South America (in millimeters/month, blue scale) from 1981 to 2016. Sea surface temperatures and precipitation are generally higher around the equator. On the left, the area where El Niño – Southern Oscillation (ENSO) occurs; dotted lines indicate the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in January and July, responsible for transporting heat and humidity from the oceans around the tropics.
<p>Carlos Nobre, a renowned Brazilian climate scientist who was not involved in the study, said global warming is making the northern cycle of warmer waters stronger and more present. In the future, he said, we should expect the southern Amazon to become less humid. "The mega droughts of 2005, 2010 and the ongoing one are directly associated with the increase in temperatures in the north tropical Atlantic Ocean," Nobre said.</p><p>"However, unlike in previous years, the current mega drought began in May and June, not interfering in the rains during the summer season. It is too early to say that the warmer waters will continue throughout the months and if they will cause a continued drought until the next rainy season."</p><p>In a context of global warming, there is a close connection between rising ocean temperatures and environmental balance, and the repercussions are felt deep into the forest: what happens on the high seas can impact life in the Amazon.</p><p>Janaína Bumbeer, an oceanographer and science and conservation analyst with the Boticário Group Foundation for Nature Protection, said it's not enough to only understand a single aspect of ecology — it's necessary to understand phenomena in a systemic way. "The relation between the ocean temperature, the climate and the winds is very delicate," said Bumbeer, who was not involved in the new study. "Any increase of 1° Celsius [1.8° Fahrenheit] affects the rainfall regime on the continent." The greater the frequency of anomalies in the seas, she said, the more recurrent the extreme climatic events.</p>
<p>Faced with the effects of climate change, there is a risk that the Northern Hemisphere will heat up faster than the South, which would stimulate the occurrence of the Atlantic dipole and lead to a more intense frequency of droughts in the Amazon.</p><p>Even with the possibility of predicting a drought period in the region, there is little to be done to actually mitigate the direct impacts on the forest. People who live in the Amazon, especially rural farmers, traditional communities, Indigenous people, and those who depend on river transportation to get around (water levels can become so low that navigability becomes impossible) will be the ones who will benefit from the information, the researchers say. "Indirectly, [with the drought forecast alert] it is possible to have a positive influence on the Amazon ecosystem. The more in advance farmers and traditional communities can plan, the less traumatic the interference of the climate will be," Boers said.</p><p>With drought comes another concern: an increase in fires, directly associated with illegal deforestation. According to data from Brazil's National Space Research Institute (INPE), in September of this year, 31,017 hot spots were recorded, the second-worst September in a decade and a 60% increase from the same month last year. Because the Amazon is a humid tropical forest, fire is not part of the biome's natural dynamics, as it is in the temperate forests of the U.S. West Coast. In the Amazon, fires are usually associated with human actions. And in periods of drought, hotspots have the right conditions to grow in extent and to cause greater impacts on the ecosystem.</p><p>"There are innumerous evidence on the possibility of the forest becoming a savanna through the effects of human action," Boers said. "The biome is already very close to the <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/the-tipping-point-is-here-it-is-now-top-amazon-scientists-warn/" target="_blank">tipping point</a>."</p><p>Such a large-scale effect would lead to an increase in carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, which would further accelerate global warming. The study's underlying message is that all natural phenomena are interconnected. And it demonstrates that as humanity persists on the current economic model of consumption, the effects on the planet will only get worse, to the point of endangering the world's largest tropical forest and its rich biodiversity.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/atlantic-trends-can-predict-amazon-drought-18-months-away-study-finds/" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Marine scientists who study seagrasses have published a study describing how to reintroduce eelgrass into Virginia coastal bays. Flickr / CC by 2.0
By Robert J. Orth, Jonathan Lefcheck and Karen McGlathery
A century ago Virginia's coastal lagoons were a natural paradise. Fishing boats bobbed on the waves as geese flocked overhead. Beneath the surface, miles of seagrass gently swayed in the surf, making the seabed look like a vast underwater prairie.
<p>More than <a href="https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/plants-algae/seagrass-and-seagrass-beds" target="_blank">70 species</a> of seagrasses grow in shallow waters around the world, on every continent except Antarctica. In Virginia, beds of <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/importance-eelgrass" target="_blank">eelgrass</a> (<em>Zostera marina</em>) provided habitat for bay scallops and food for birds, and kept barrier islands from washing away. Eelgrass was so common that people who lived near the shore packed and baled it to <a href="https://www.jlconline.com/how-to/insulation/a-history-of-eel-grass-insulation_o" target="_blank">use as insulation</a> for homes, schools and hospitals.</p><p>In the 1930s, however, pandemic plant disease and repeated hurricanes eliminated the eelgrass along Virginia's eastern shore. The once-vibrant seafloor became barren mud, leading to a loss of "wildfowl, the cream of salt-water fishing, most of the clams and crabs, and all of the bay scallops," sportsman and publisher <a href="https://cpl.org/the-derrydale-press/" target="_blank">Eugene V. Connett</a> <a href="https://www.jamescumminsbookseller.com/pages/books/239493/eugene-v-connett/duck-shooting-along-the-atlantic-tidewater-chapters-by-frederick-c-lincoln-lynn-bogue-hunt" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wrote in 1947</a>.</p><p>We are marine scientists who study <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=bVEVdsEAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">seagrasses</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wTArpJgAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">marine biodiversity</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=l6zTkPUAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">coastal ecosystems</a>. In a newly published study, we describe the results of a 20-year mission to reintroduce eelgrass into Virginia coastal bays using a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/%2010.1126/sciadv.abc6434" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">novel seed-based approach</a>.</p><p>This project has now restored 9,600 acres of seagrasses across four bays – one of the most successful marine restoration efforts anywhere in the world. It has triggered large increases in fishes and invertebrates, made the water clearer and trapped large quantities of carbon in seafloor sediments, helping to slow climate change. We see this work as a blueprint for restoring and maintaining healthy ecosystems along coastlines around the world.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDU1MDYyNS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MzUzNzgzOX0.WyJfNsDpYp00yz74eepABEzCb4P1eQXwUoBpgDzMHLM/img.png?width=980" id="72075" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="416dad1ab602263e29250f63872e4637" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Seagrasses and other coastal habitats stabilize coastlines, store carbon and provide habitat for fish and shellfish. Hisham Ashkar/GRID-Arendal, CC BY-ND
Why Didn’t Seagrasses Recover Naturally?
<p>Development, nutrient runoff and other human impacts have damaged marshes, mangroves, coral reefs and seagrasses in many bays and estuaries worldwide. Loss or shrinkage of these key habitats has reduced commercial fisheries, increased erosion, made coastlines more vulnerable to floods and storms and harmed many types of aquatic life. Rapid climate change has compounded these effects through <a href="https://theconversation.com/ocean-warming-has-fisheries-on-the-move-helping-some-but-hurting-more-116248" target="_blank">rising global temperatures</a>, more <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-frequent-and-intense-tropical-storms-mean-less-recovery-time-for-the-worlds-coastlines-123335" target="_blank">frequent and severe storms</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-climate-change-alters-the-oceans-what-will-happen-to-dungeness-crabs-61501" target="_blank">ocean acidification</a>.</p><p>In the late 1990s, local residents told two of us who are longtime students of seagrasses (Robert "JJ" Orth and Karen McGlathery) that they had spotted small patches of eelgrass in shallow waters off Virginia's eastern shore. For years the conventional view had been that seagrasses in this area had not recovered from the events of the 1930s because human activities had <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquabot.2005.07.007" target="_blank">made the area inhospitable for them</a>.</p><p>But studies showed that water quality in these coastal bays was <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02782971" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">comparatively good</a>. This led us to explore a different explanation: Seeds from healthy seagrass populations elsewhere along the Atlantic coast simply weren't reaching these isolated bays. Seagrasses are underwater flowering plants, so seeds are among the main ways they reproduce and spread to new environments.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDU1MDYyNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NjQ4NTY3MH0.8jhLx4hCsj4dgEpA4GJ4JWUmutOPXcc4HAKEWy4kirI/img.jpg?width=980" id="364bd" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e1062dc214c5b45717b0ff35328f0be5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Eelgrass beds were restored in four bays at the southern tip of Virginia's eastern shore on the Atlantic coast. David J. Wilcox/VIMS, CC BY-ND
Sowing a New Crop
<p>From our <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1941597" target="_blank">earlier research</a>, we knew that when eelgrass seeds fall from the parent plant, they sink to the sea bottom quickly and don't move far from where they land. We also knew that these seeds don't germinate until late fall or early winter. This meant that if we collected the seeds in spring, when eelgrass flowers, we could hold them until the fall, helping them survive over the months in between.</p><p>We decided to try reseeding eelgrass in the areas where they were missing. Starting in 1999, we collected seeds by hand from underwater meadows in nearby Chesapeake Bay – plucking the long reproductive shoots, bringing them back to our laboratory and holding them in large outdoor seawater tanks until they released their seeds naturally. After about 10 years we started gathering the grasses using a custom-built underwater "lawn mower" to collect many more of the reproductive shoots than we could by hand.</p><p>In 2001 we sowed our first round by simply tossing seeds from a boat. Our first test plots covered 28 acres of mud flats in waters 2 to 3 feet deep. Returning the following year, we saw new seedlings sprouting up.</p><p>Each year since then, the <a href="https://www.vims.edu/" target="_blank">Virginia Institute of Marine Science</a> and the <a href="https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/virginia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nature Conservancy's Virginia Coast Reserve</a>, along with staff and students from the <a href="https://www.vcrlter.virginia.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Virginia</a>, have led a team of scientists and citizens to collect and seed a combined 536 acres of bare bottom in several coastal bays.</p><p>These initial plots took off and rapidly expanded. By 2020 they covered 9,600 acres across four bays. Several factors helped them flourish. These bays are naturally flushed with cool, clean water from the Atlantic Ocean. And they lie off the tip of Virginia's eastern shore, where there is little coastal development.</p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a482c2146febd6782c99960c2b55feb8"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/K9NyfPLINtk?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
Sheltering Marine Life and Storing Carbon
<p>Since eelgrass disappeared from these bays in the 1930s, human understanding of seagrass ecosystems has evolved. Today people don't pack their walls full of seagrass insulation but instead value different services they provide, such as habitat for fish and shellfish – including many <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12645" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">commercially and recreationally important species</a>.</p><p>Scientists and government agencies also have recognized the importance of coastal systems in capturing and storing so-called "<a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/bluecarbon.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">blue carbon</a>." In fact, we now know that seagrasses constitute a globally significant <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1477" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">carbon sink</a>. They are a key tool for reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-64094-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">slowing climate change</a></p><p>We are working to understand the valuable services that our restored seagrass beds provide. To our surprise, fish and invertebrates returned within only a few years as the meadows expanded. These organisms have established extensive food webs that include species ranging from tiny seahorses to 6-foot-long sandbar sharks.<br></p><p>Other benefits were equally dramatic. Water in the bays become clearer as the seagrass canopy trapped floating particles and deposited them onto the bottom, burying significant stocks of carbon and nitrogen in sediments bound by the grasses' roots. Our research is the first to verify the overall net carbon captured by seagrass, and is now being used to issue carbon offset credits that in turn <a href="https://vaseagrant.org/eelgrass-carbon-credits/" target="_blank">create more funds for restoration</a>.</p><p>One big question was whether restoring seagrasses could make it possible to bring back bay scallops, which once generated millions of dollars for the local economy. Since bay scallops no longer existed in Virginia, we obtained broodstock from North Carolina, which we have <a href="https://chesapeakebaymagazine.com/return-of-the-bay-scallop/" target="_blank">reared and released annually</a> since 2013. Regular surveys now reveal a growing population of bay scallops in the restored eelgrass, although there is still some way to go before they reach levels seen in the 1930s.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDU1MDY1MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMzMxNzUzNH0.tII25nbyaHUi_ZR7shYI3A0gRKXqiMXfWiGo7NoQqAQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="45d22" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b11b8921618fba089de4b72472cd8d91" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Restored seagrass beds (dark areas) along Virginia's Atlantic coast, with sunlight reflecting from a small island. Jonathan Lefcheck, CC BY-ND
A Model for Coastal Restoration
<p>Repairing damaged ecosystems is such an urgent mission worldwide that the United Nations has designated 2021-2030 as the <a href="https://www.decadeonrestoration.org/" target="_blank">U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration</a>. We see the success we have achieved with eelgrass restoration as a prime model for similar efforts in coastal areas around the world.</p><p>Our project focused not only on reviving this essential habitat, but also on charting how restoring seagrasses affected the ecosystem and on the co-restoration of bay scallops. It provides a road map for involving scholars, nonprofits organizations, citizens and government agencies in an ecological mission where they can see the results of their work.</p><p>Recent assessments show that the restored zone only covers about 30% of the total habitable bottom in our project area. With continued support, eelgrass – and the many benefits it provides – may continue to thrive and expand well into the 21st century.</p>
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The 1.4-gigawatt coal-fired Kingston Steam Plant, just outside Kingston, Tennessee on the shore of Watts Bar Lake on March 31, 2019. In 2008, a coal ash pond at the plant collapsed, leading to the largest industrial spill in modern U.S. history and subsequent industry regulations in 2015. Paul Harris / Getty Images
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a rule change on Friday that will allow some coal power plants to ignore a court order to clean up coal ash ponds, which leech toxic materials into soil and groundwater. The rule change will allow some coal ash ponds to stay open for years while others that have no barrier to protect surrounding areas are allowed to stay open indefinitely, according to the AP.
<p>The arsenic-laced sludge that fills coal ash ponds is likely to leak when just a plastic barrier protects it. It is far more likely to pollute nearby soil and water when the pits have a clay barrier, according to researchers, as <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/521409-epa-may-violate-courts-with-new-rule-extending-life-of-unlined-coal" target="_blank">The Hill</a> reported.</p><p>A 2018 order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit had forced the EPA to close coal ash ponds that did not have plastic lining and were likely to leak toxic chemicals, making Friday's rule change seem like a blatant move to undermine the court's authority, according to environmental groups who promised to sue to stop the rule change, as The Hill reported.</p>
<p>Environmentalists argue that the rule change is a favor to the coal industry, for which EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler served as a lobbyist prior to joining the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> administration. The move allows the industry to dump its byproducts inexpensively and irresponsibly.</p><p>"The reason the utilities are arguing to keep the ponds is because they have put in these unlined pits out the back door of the power plant that act as a catchall for their toxic waste," said Lisa Evans, an attorney for the environmental group Earthjustice, as the AP reported. "They don't want to get rid of them because they are cheap."</p>
<p>Earthjustice and the Environmental Integrity Project commissioned a study on coal ash ponds and found that 91 percent of them were leaking toxic chemicals beyond what was permitted by EPA regulations, as The Hill reported. Their study found that heavy metals from the waste was polluting nearby drinking wells and groundwater.</p><p>Coal ash is produced when coal is burned to produce power. It is full of arsenic, mercury, lead and several other hazardous heavy metals. In the U.S., coal plants create nearly 100 million tons annually of ash and other waste, according to the AP.</p><p>"When ponds without lining leak, it's often more aggressive, faster and harder to control," said Evans, as The Hill reported. "Utilities are asking for favors and exemptions and EPA is willing to give them and is willing to rush to provide these exemptions."</p>
<p>The 2018 court decision found that clay lined coal ash ponds, or unlined ponds, are simply dangerous, as the AP reported.</p><p>Evans noted that the Obama-era Resource Conservation and Recovery Act required power plants to close unlined coal-ash ponds by April 2019, but the EPA keeps extending the deadline, as the AP reported.</p><p>By rewriting the rule, coal plants are able to get around the mandates of the 2015 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act by simply showing that their coal ash ponds pose no threat to human health.</p><p>"The Trump EPA is flouting the court's decision," said Evans, as the AP reported. "I've never seen anything like this before."</p>
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Criminal prosecutions for polluting the environment in violation of the Clean Water Act or the Clean Air Act have dropped to their lowest levels in decades under the Trump administration. Charles Cook / Lonely Planet Images / Getty Images Plus
A new report finds that criminal prosecutions for polluting the environment in violation of the Clean Water Act or the Clean Air Act have dropped to their lowest levels in decades under the Trump administration, as The New York Times reported.
<p>The <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3710109" target="_blank">report</a> was written by David Uhlmann, a law professor at the University of Michigan who worked for the Department of Justice for 17 years and served as its top environmental prosecutor from 2000 to 2007.</p><p>In the paper, the career prosecutor-turned-professor analyzed 14 years of cases and found that in the first two years of the Trump administration, criminal prosecutions for violations of the Clean Water Act dropped 70 percent. Similarly, prosecutions for violations of the Clean Air Act dropped 50 percent in the first two years since Trump took office.</p><p>"No matter what the future holds, the data from the first two years under President Trump reveals a dramatic departure from the non-partisan support for pollution prosecutions that had existed across administrations, which leaves Americans less safe and the environment less protected," Uhlmann wrote.</p>
<p>Uhlmann presented the paper at the American Bar Association's fall environmental conference. While the paper is available online now, it will be published in the Michigan Journal of Environmental and Administrative Law, according to The New York Times.</p><p>The paper noted that there were only nine criminal prosecutions under the Clean Water Act in 2018. "Under President Donald J. Trump the bottom fell out," Uhlmann wrote, as The New York Times reported.</p><p>Uhlmann told The New York Times that the numbers show a dramatic decline in both the quantity and the quality of the prosecutions that the administration is pursuing.</p>
<p>While the study looked at the first two years of the Trump administration and found a pattern that shattered the author's perception that law enforcement operated independently of political influence, recent data has shown the trend continued through 2019.</p><p>According to Justice Department <a href="https://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/crim/581/" target="_blank">data</a> analyzed by Syracuse University's <a href="https://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/crim/581/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse </a>(TRAC), the total number of environmental prosecutions in fiscal year 2019 was lower than any year during the administrations of the previous three presidents, which dates back to 1993, as <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/environmental-prosecutions-drop-to-lowest-level-in-decades/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Courthouse News</a> reported.</p><p>For that year, the percent of prosecutions for environmental violations was 64.5 percent lower than it was two decades earlier.</p><p>"There's a risk that unenforced violations could lead to fires, leaks, spills, and contamination," said Ethan Elkind, climate program director at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, as Courthouse News reported.</p>
<p>While criminal prosecutions have plummeted under Trump, so have civil prosecutions, according to The New York Times. Civil settlements are a powerful tool to ensure that polluters pay to clean up past mistakes and implement safeguards against future pollution issues.</p><p>A <a href="https://democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/SEPs-Complaint-10.8.20.pdf" target="_blank">lawsuit filed last week in Massachusetts</a> by the Conservation Law Foundation named Attorney General William Barr and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa">EPA</a> Administrator Andrew Wheeler as defendants for ending the practice that forces polluters to clean up for their actions and implement protections. The lawsuit notes that those violations tend to affect low-income and minority communities disproportionally, and the decision to abandon civil prosecutions and settlements, "runs directly counter to Congress' design when passing laws such as the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act."</p><p>Judith Enck, a former regional administrator at the EPA, told The New York Times that Uhlmann's paper is an accurate portrayal of an administration that "acts like our bedrock environmental laws are simply suggestions. This approach will result in more pollution and more damage to health."</p><p>She added that what the administration has done is "unconscionable."</p>
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The Redwood City Salt Ponds on May 11, 2013. Kenneth Lu / Flickr
A federal judge in a U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California vacated a decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to dredge and fill salt ponds in Redwood City, a town on the San Francisco Bay, as the AP reported.
<p>The judge in the case, William Alsup, determined on Monday that the EPA made a miscalculation in how the Clean Water Act is applied when it decided that large developments on the salt ponds were exempt from the act's regulations, according to <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/san-francisco-bay-salt-ponds-are-protected-us-waters-judge-rules/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Courthouse News</a>.</p>
<p>In arguments, the EPA made the bold claim that the Redwood City Salt Ponds were a unique case upon which the judge lacked the expertise to decide, and therefore should defer to the EPA's wisdom. The EPA also argued that it relied on previous federal court decisions to determine that the salt ponds were not protected. Those two arguments struck the judge as contradictory.</p><p>"Either there is precedent or there is not," Alsup wrote in a <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/SFBaySaltPonds-SJRuling.pdf" target="_blank">21-page ruling</a>, as Courthouse News reported. "This order holds that there is precedent and that EPA headquarters misapplied that precedent."</p>
<p>The Redwood City Salt Ponds are south of San Francisco, between Palo Alto and San Mateo. They are 1,365 acres owned by the food giant Cargill. Cargill said it wanted to build a 12,000 unit housing development in 2009, but reversed course after a groundswell of opposition arose, as the AP reported.</p><p>The ponds are tidal pools and marshlands used for salt mining operations. If the Salt Ponds did not have protection under the Clean Water Act, they could be dredged, filled and developed.</p>
<p>Environmental activists, including Save the Bay, San Francisco Baykeeper, Committee for Green Foothills and Citizens' Committee to Complete the Refuge, joined California's attorney general in filing suit against the EPA, as Courthouse News and <a href="https://www.ktvu.com/news/court-vacates-epa-determination-regarding-redwood-citys-salt-ponds" target="_blank">KTVU</a> in Oakland reported.</p><p>"This is an important victory for protecting clean water in our communities. And it's a good reminder to the Trump Administration that it can't use the San Francisco Bay as its political playground," Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement, as the AP reported. "The EPA can't ignore its own scientists and come up with an arbitrary rule that opens the door for development of a vital ecosystem."</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> administration had determined that the salt ponds were not "waters of the United States" since it was separated from the San Francisco Bay by a network of levees and dikes. That reversed a 2016 Obama-era EPA decision that the ponds should be covered by the Clean Water Act, according to the AP.</p><p>If the Trump-era EPA's decision had been upheld, then California would not have the right to review development plans to make sure that any new development was in compliance with the state's water quality regulations. It would have also restricted the state from requiring a developer to include public parks and protective wetlands, as Courthouse News reported.</p><p>In his decision, Alsup noted that much of the salt ponds would be inundated with water if there were not artificial barriers blocking the water. Since the water would be there, the ponds are part of the water owned by the U.S.</p><p>"Today's ruling makes clear that Cargill's future development of the salt ponds will be severely limited by Clean Water Act protections, resulting in a big legal win for San Francisco Bay," said Sejal Choksi-Chugh, executive director of San Francisco Baykeeper, in a statement on Monday, as Courthouse News reported.</p>
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