PODCAST

Earth Wise

WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A look at our changing environment.

education natural sciences

All Episodes

2:00

Electric cars and power outages

Earth Wise ·

2024/10/21

As more and more cars are powered by electricity instead of gasoline, people are beginning to worry about what happens during power outages caused by storms and other disruptive events. It is easy to jump to the conclusion that this is a brand-new problem for drivers. However, when electricity goes out over a sizeable area, most gas pumps stop working and it isn’t easy to keep gas cars running either. Electric cars are often charged at home every day and such cars are more likely to be almost

2:00

The impact of climate change on agriculture

Earth Wise ·

2024/10/18

Agriculture is a major part of the climate problem and remains one of the hardest human activities to decarbonize. Agriculture is responsible for approximately 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. On farms around the world, excess fertilizer gets broken down by microbes in the soil, releasing nitrous oxide into the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas that is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. According to a sweeping global research review recently published in the journal

2:00

Slow-moving landslides

Earth Wise ·

2024/10/17

Landslides are mass movements of rock, earth, or debris down a slope. They can be initiated by rainfall, snowmelt, changes in water level, erosion by streams, earthquakes, volcanic activity, or by various human activities. Most landslides we hear about are sudden events that can cause all sorts of calamities. But not all landslides are rapid occurrences. There are also slow-moving landslides.A new study by the University of Potsdam in Germany has found that as urban centers in mountainous

2:00

And the heat goes on

Earth Wise ·

2024/10/16

August 2024 was the hottest August in the 175-years for which there are global records. The last full month of summer also wrapped up the Northern Hemisphere's warmest summer on record.The average global surface temperature in August was 62.39 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 2.29 degrees above the 20th century August average. Furthermore, August was the 15th consecutive month of record-high global temperatures, which is a record in and of itself. Regionally, Europe and Oceana had their warmest

2:00

Solar energy on federal land

Earth Wise ·

2024/10/15

Officials at the federal Bureau of Land Management announced late in August that they had finalized a plan to add Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Wyoming to the Western Solar Plan, which started during the Obama era. The plan, created in 2012, provides permitting for solar projects on federal land. The original plan included Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The Western Solar Plan is a major expansion for clean energy production in the Bureau of Land

2:00

Canadian wildfires and global emissions

Earth Wise ·

2024/10/14

The wildfires that burned vast amounts of Canada’s boreal forests in 2023 produced enormous amounts of smoke that found its way into American cities, working its way down the eastern seaboard and even producing unsafe air in Florida. Researchers at Cal Tech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory analyzed the carbon emissions associated with these fires last year and found that they were greater than those of all but three countries: China, the US, and India. Boreal forests have historically been a

2:00

Tourism and climate action

Earth Wise ·

2024/10/11

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is one of the foremost natural wonders of the world and is a major tourist attraction. It is well-known that the changing climate is threatening the survival of the Great Barrier Reef as well as other coral reefs around the world. A recent study by researchers at the University of Queensland looked at the reactions of tourists to being informed about the impact of the changing climate on the reef. The Great Barrier Reef faces many challenges. Unprecedented marine

2:00

Predicting major earthquakes

Earth Wise ·

2024/10/10

Natural disasters continue to be major threats for people, just as they always have been. But modern technology has greatly improved our ability to prepare for and, in many cases, escape from the worst effects of these events. A good example is hurricane forecasting. Nowadays, there is plenty of warning when a major hurricane is headed toward a populous area. It is still up to people to get away from the danger zone, but at least there is the opportunity to do so. Major earthquakes are a

2:00

The doomsday glacier

Earth Wise ·

2024/10/09

The Thwaites Glacier is an enormous Antarctic Glacier. Its area is larger than that of Florida - in fact, larger than 30 other U.S. states - and it is melting. It has been retreating for 80 years but has accelerated its pace in the past 30. Its shedding of ice into the ocean already contributes 4% of global sea level rise. If it collapsed entirely, it would raise sea levels by more than 2 feet. For this reason, it has been dubbed the Doomsday Glacier. A team of scientists has been studying it

2:00

Trends in rooftop solar

Earth Wise ·

2024/10/08

Rooftop solar power in the United States has increased by a factor of ten over the past decade and the majority of that growth has been in the past six or seven years. At this point, about 7% of American homes have solar panels on their roofs – about 5 million in total. Rooftop solar really began experiencing widespread use about 20 years ago. Over that time period, the amount of electricity that panels are able to produce has grown substantially and the cost of solar power systems has dropped

2:00

Weather extremes for most people

Earth Wise ·

2024/10/07

Scientists from the CICERO Center for International Climate Research in Norway along with researchers at the University of Reading in the UK have analyzed how global warming can combine with normal variations in the weather to produce decades-long periods of very rapid changes involving both extreme temperatures and extreme amounts of rainfall. Many parts of the world have already been experiencing record temperatures and extreme rainfall events. Previously, most analyses of the changing climate

2:00

Removing nanoplastics from water

Earth Wise ·

2024/09/26

Plastic pollution is a growing problem for people and for the environment in multiple ways. When plastics break down over time, they can form small particles called microplastics – bits smaller than sesame seeds – and these, in turn, can break down into even smaller pieces called nanoplastics. They are too small to be seen with the naked eye and can enter the body’s cells and tissues.Recent studies have shown that nanoplastics are increasingly showing up in bottled water. In fact, measurements

2:00

Making wind turbines safer for birds

Earth Wise ·

2024/09/18

There are people who oppose the installation of wind turbines for a variety of reasons. It is true that wind turbines can be dangerous to birds. Estimates are that about 250,000 birds are killed flying into wind turbines each year in the U.S. However, this data needs to be looked at in comparison to bird deaths from flying into electrical lines (25 million), vehicles (214 million), and building glass (at least 600 million). And even these figures pale in comparison to the more than 2 billion

2:00

An electric reactor for industry

Earth Wise ·

2024/09/17

The industrial sector accounts for nearly a third of greenhouse gas emissions in the US, which is more than the annual emissions from cars, trucks, and airplanes combined. These emissions primarily come from burning fossil fuels to produce goods from raw materials as well as from the chemical reactions associated with production. Many industrial processes require very high temperatures that are not easily achieved other than by burning fossil fuels.Researchers at Stanford University have

2:00

Solar grazing

Earth Wise ·

2024/09/16

Agrivoltaics is the combination of solar power generation with agriculture. Generally, this has involved growing crops under and around solar panels harvesting both food and electricity. More recently, there has been increasing interest in grazing animals to manage lands used for solar power. Enel North America, a large operator of solar farms and utility-scale battery storage facilities in Texas, has announced a partnership with Texas Solar Sheep Company to deploy more than 6,000 sheep to chow

2:00

Warming estuaries

Earth Wise ·

2024/09/13

Estuaries and their surrounding wetlands are bodies of water where freshwater from rivers and streams mixes with salt water from the ocean to create brackish water. These brackish ecosystems support many unique plant and animal communities around the world. But ocean water temperature around the world continues to warm. In fact, from 1901 to 2023, the average sea surface temperature has increased by 0.14°F per decade, and 2023 was the warmest year on record. While sea surface temperatures are

2:00

More wind power than coal power

Earth Wise ·

2024/09/12

The U.S. used to get more of its electricity from burning coal than by any other means. It wasn’t all that long ago; coal produced 51% of our electricity in 2001. But as of 2022, it was less than 20%.In March and April, the U.S. generated more electricity from wind power than from coal. This was the first time that wind outstripped coal for two consecutive months. This crossover between wind and coal power is just another milestone in the energy transition to renewable energy sources

2:00

Climate-smart coffee

Earth Wise ·

2024/08/30

Do you crave that morning cup of coffee? You’re not alone, and not by a long shot. In fact, more than 2.2 billion cups of coffee are consumed globally every day. The existing coffee market is dominated by two species: Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora (the latter commonly called robusta). Historically, coffee drinkers have preferred Arabica beans for their specific flavor and aroma. But climate change is threatening many crops around the world, and maybe none more so than coffee. In fact,

2:00

Better wood for storing carbon

Earth Wise ·

2024/08/29

Scientists have discovered a new type of wood that is highly efficient at storing carbon. A comprehensive survey of the microscopic structure of the wood from many species of trees revealed that there is a type of wood that is neither softwood, such as pine and conifers, or hardwood, such as oak, ash, and birch.The scientists from Cambridge University and Jagiellonian University in Poland analyzed some of the world’s most iconic trees using electron microscopy to survey their microscopic

2:00

A dangerous invasive species

Earth Wise ·

2024/08/28

Weeds are the bane of every gardener’s existence. They pop up, uncontrolled and unwelcome, and must be tediously managed time and time again. But in some cases, weeds are more than just a nuisance. Some are a public health hazard.Meet giant hogweed. Native to Europe’s Caucasus Mountains, giant hogweed belongs to the carrot family. The plant resembles Queen Anne’s Lace – on steroids. Giant hogweed can grow up to 15 feet tall with three inch stems, five-foot-wide leaves, and an umbrella-like

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