PODCAST

Earth Wise

WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A look at our changing environment.

education natural sciences

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2:00

Shrinking African glaciers

Earth Wise ·

2024/03/27

We don’t usually associate Africa with glaciers, but the continent has had glaciers on its highest peaks for the past 10,000 to 15,000 years. Africa’s glaciers are found in three regions: the Rwenzori Mountains along the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mount Kilimanjaro, and Mount Kenya. At the turn of the 20th century, there were 43 glaciers scattered across 6 peaks within the Rwenzori Mountains. In the intervening years, things have greatly changed. Since the

2:00

How to make cities cooler

Earth Wise ·

2024/03/26

In cities, the air, surface, and soil temperatures are almost always warmer than in rural areas. This is known as the urban heat island effect. Urban heat islands occur when cities replace natural land cover with dense concentrations of pavement, buildings, and other surfaces that absorb and retain heat. Urban planners around the world have been researching ways to reduce the effects of heat in cities. For example, trees, green roofs, and vegetation can help reduce urban heat island effects by

2:00

Mercury in tuna

Earth Wise ·

2024/03/25

Mercury is found throughout the ocean, and there is at least some of it in any fish one might eat. It is an element found naturally in the environment, but it is also a byproduct of manmade pollution. Generally speaking, bigger fish tend to have higher mercury levels than smaller ones, because they are higher up in the food chain. The more small fish those big fish eat, the more mercury builds up in their bodies.Tuna aren’t the biggest fish in the ocean, but they are very common in many people’s

2:00

The carbon footprint of urban agriculture

Earth Wise ·

2024/03/22

Urban agriculture – essentially farming within a city – has become increasingly popular worldwide. It is intended to make cities and urban food systems more sustainable. There are social and nutritional benefits to urban agriculture, but its carbon footprint has not been widely studied.There are high-tech, energy-intensive forms of urban agriculture, such as vertical farms and rooftop greenhouses. But most urban farms are decidedly low-tech such as individual gardens managed by single farmers

2:00

Greenland is greening

Earth Wise ·

2024/03/21

Despite their names, Iceland is very green, and Greenland is very icy. But in Greenland, that is changing. Temperatures in the world's largest island are rising twice as fast as they are in the rest of the world and, as a result, the icy rocky landscape is turning increasingly green. Satellite records reveal that over the last three decades Greenland has lost 11,000 square miles of ice, which is an area about the size of Massachusetts. As the ice melts off, tundra and shrublands takes its place

2:00

Sponging up a river

Earth Wise ·

2024/03/20

During the first week of February, an atmospheric river dumped enormous amounts of rain on Southern California. Over the course of four days, Los Angeles received 9 inches of rain. The average annual rainfall in the city is only 14 inches. But Los Angeles was not the site of a flooding disaster because the city has spent years preparing for this type of deluge by becoming a "sponge city." By installing lots of green spaces and shallow basins with porous soil, Los Angeles was able to soak up 8.6

2:00

Hybrid beef rice

Earth Wise ·

2024/03/19

There is growing interest in innovative and more environmentally friendly ways to provide protein in our diets. We’ve heard a great deal about lab-grown or cultured meats and about protein derived from insects. Whether either of these things achieves mainstream acceptance remains to be seen. Scientists at Yonsei University in South Korea have developed a method for creating cultured beef rice – truly a hybrid food. The method, described in the journal Matter, results in a nutritious and flavorful

2:00

Golf courses gone wild

Earth Wise ·

2024/03/18

Golf courses are a significant burden on the environment. The US has 16,000 golf courses which use 1.5 billion gallons of water a day and are treated with 100,000 tons of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium each year. In recent years, the golf industry has taken steps to lighten its environmental toll by using less water, introducing pollinator-friendly plants, and decreasing pesticide and fertilizer use. The US has more golf courses than any other country, accounting for 42% of all courses

2:00

A lake in Death Valley

Earth Wise ·

2024/03/14

Death Valley in California is the driest place in North America, averaging only 2 inches of rain each year. Badwater Basin in Death Valley is the lowest point in North America with a depth of 282 feet below sea level. Currently, Badwater Basin is the site of an ephemeral lake called Lake Manley.The lake formed again last August after Hurricane Hilary drenched the California desert. Water levels in the lake dropped throughout the fall, but it never quite dried up. But then the relentless rains of

2:00

AI’s Environmental Footprint

Earth Wise ·

2024/03/13

Artificial intelligence is everywhere these days. Some say it is the biggest development since the discovery of fire. There is a lot of hype regarding AI, and it will be a while before the hype is sorted out from the reality. But one thing that is certain is that AI is resource-intensive and has a large environmental footprint.AI use directly produces carbon emissions from its consumption of non-renewable electricity and is also responsible for the consumption of billions of gallons of fresh

2:00

Is the Amazon rainforest nearing a tipping point?

Earth Wise ·

2024/03/12

The Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world, covering more than 2.5 million square miles. More than three million species live in the rainforest, which constitutes approximately 10% of the world's known biodiversity. The Amazon rainforest’s biodiversity is so rich that scientists are still discovering new species all the time.The Amazon rainforest absorbs huge amounts of carbon dioxide from Earth’s atmosphere, making it a key part of mitigating climate change. But the amount of

2:00

The East Coast is sinking

Earth Wise ·

2024/03/11

Most of the world’s largest cities are located in coastal regions and coastal regions are on the front lines of the climate crisis. Human populations continue to migrate towards low-elevation coastal areas at the same time that sea level rise is accelerating. Coastal communities worldwide are increasingly vulnerable to the dangers of flooding and erosion. With these hazards occupying a great deal of attention, there has been less attention paid to the dangers of land subsidence.A recent study by

2:00

Record renewable energy in Scotland

Earth Wise ·

2024/03/01

The Scottish government recently announced that in 2022, renewable technologies in that country produced the equivalent of 113% of Scotland’s electricity consumption.Fossil fuels still supplied electricity in Scotland, helping to fill in gaps in renewable power, but the government figures showed that the growing amount of Scottish renewable generation can easily generate more power than the country uses. Scotland has seen significant growth in wind power as well as a small drop in overall

2:00

Hope for white rhinos

Earth Wise ·

2024/02/28

There are only two northern white rhinos left in the world, and both of them are female. The last male died in 2018. Northern white rhinos live to about 40 and one of the two remaining is 35 and the other 24. The clock is ticking for the species.Recently, scientists with the BioRescue consortium successfully used in vitro fertilization to impregnate a southern white rhino. It was the world’s first IVF rhino pregnancy. There is now some hope that IVF could be used to produce more northern

2:00

Protecting wine grapes from wildfire smoke

Earth Wise ·

2024/02/27

In recent years, wildfires have become a major threat to the wine industry because of the effects of smoke on wine grapes. Smoke taint from the California fires of September 2020 significantly impacted the quality of wine grapes. In total, smoke taint cost the wine industry in Western states more than $3 billion in losses from the hundreds of thousands of tons of wine grapes that could not be harvested because of the off flavors imparted by the smoke. The California wine industry alone is a $43

2:00

Natural hydrogen

Earth Wise ·

2024/02/26

Hydrogen is considered to be a potential substitute for conventional fossil fuels in applications where electricity cannot easily be used such as in blast furnaces, cement works, industrial heating, long-distance aviation, and shipping. But most hydrogen is manufactured by separating it from methane, which is energy-intensive and produces carbon dioxide. So-called green hydrogen is made by splitting water using electricity. It is a carbon-free process if the electricity is from renewable sources,

2:00

Otters to the rescue

Earth Wise ·

2024/02/23

California sea otters were hunted almost to extinction in the 19th century. Only a small number survived along California’s central coast. But over time, the otters recovered and increasingly recolonized their former habitats. Sea otters are playing an important role in safeguarding California’s kelp forests and marshlands against the harmful effects of climate change. Over much of the 20th century, increasing ocean heat had devastated underwater kelp forests by driving a population explosion

2:00

Groundwater and climate change

Earth Wise ·

2024/02/22

Groundwater is the vast reserve of water beneath Earth’s surface. It’s an essential resource for humans, plants, animals, and other living organisms. According to the United States Geological Survey, about 30% of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. In areas lacking sufficient surface water supply from rivers and reservoirs, groundwater is critical for meeting the region’s drinking water and food production needs. But climate change, as well as global population growth,

2:00

Red mud and steel

Earth Wise ·

2024/02/21

Most of us have never heard of red mud. Otherwise known as bauxite residue, it is an industrial waste product generated by the most common process by which aluminum is made and the world produces 200 million tons of red mud each year. The stuff is a significant environmental hazard being extremely alkaline and corrosive. Most of it ends up in large landfills and the costs associated with disposing of red mud are substantial. Red mud is red because it contains large amounts of iron oxide, often as

2:00

Satellites discovering penguins

Earth Wise ·

2024/02/20

The loss of sea ice in Antarctica has forced emperor penguins to seek out new breeding grounds. Some colonies have traveled more than 20 miles in search of stable ice. Emperor females lay a single egg on a stretch of sea ice at the start of winter and males keep the eggs warm while the females go hunting for up to two months to bring back food for their hatchlings. Emperor penguins are the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species. The loss of sea ice has led to unprecedented breeding

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