Earth911.com's Sustainability In Your Ear

Earth911 talks with Dr. William Ripple, Distinguished Professor of Ecology at Oregon State University and director of the Alliance of World Scientists, who is the lead author of a call for action in response to the catastrophic climate damage the world experience during 2020 in Scientific American. Pointing to record global temperatures, a historically long hurricane season that caused more than $46 billion in damages in the United States, and wildfires that burned more than 4 million acres in California, they declared that “The climate emergency has arrived and is accelerating more rapidly than most scientists anticipated.”Dr. Ripple explains how 2020, which tied 2016 for hottest year on record, saw events that suggest climate change is accelerating. Science-based warnings may have been too conservative, and that the new normal will likely look like a series of catastrophes, with widespread damage happening every year in many regions of the planet, if humanity does not immediately stop the growth in CO2 emissions. He suggests six key areas of action, including a shift to plant-based diets and reducing food waste, a focus on eliminating short-term pollutants such as hydrofluorocarbons used as refrigerants, as well as universal education for girls and women to lower birth rates and encourage wider awareness of climate impacts. We also discuss the pressing need to address climate migration in global and national planning.To learn more about how you can change your lifestyle to reduce carbon emissions in travel, home energy use, and when you recycle.

Making home energy use improvements can be challenging without information about how the furnace, appliances, refrigerators, and other electronics around the house consume power. The Sense Energy Monitor brings all that data, and information about your utility, solar, and comparable home energy use to your smartphone to help you reduce your carbon footprint and electric bill. Earth911 talks to Sense CEO Mike Phillips about the latest Sense monitor upgrades and his 2021 home energy trends predictions.Phillips explains the latest upgrade to the Sense and Sense Solar devices, a power quality monitor that tracks dips and spikes in electric current and software that identifies failing electric systems, loose wires, and malfunction appliances based on their power use. We also discuss the Zigbee internet-connected smart home standard that promises to connect smart lightbulbs, thermostats, switches and other devices to a single dashboard on a phone or PC. Phillips expects the transition to electric power generated from solar, wind and other renewables from fossil fuel-fired power will accelerate with the arrival of the Biden administration. He points out the home heating and power produces up to 40% of our personal greenhouse gas emissions, according to Rewiring America and created the Sense system as a foundation for optimizing energy use.To learn more about Sense and its growing set of software that use the physical energy monitor to alert homeowners to opportunities to reduce use and save on energy, visit https://sense.com.

Cyanobacteria algal blooms are a growing problem worldwide. As humans use more fertilizer and the climate warms, freshwater lakes are more likely to be overwhelmed by these essential but deadly bacteria. Earth911 talks with Eyal Harel, CEO of Berlin-based BlueGreen Water Technologies Ltd about the causes and adverse impacts of blue-green algal blooms. Cyanobacteria produce oxygen during the day, but at night consume so much oxygen that fish and other lake life die off until the bacteria controls almost all available resources.Blue-green algal blooms are an example of the fragility of the balance within natural systems. Without cyanobacteria, an early source of atmospheric oxygen, life would not exist on Earth. When it takes over a lake, however, it can cause brain, liver, intestinal and skin inflammation, as well as emit airborne toxins related to rising incidence of Alzheimer's Disease and other illnesses. Harel explains how farm runoff and warming climates have contributed to algal blooms globally, even the Arctic. BlueGreen Water Technologies makes a treatment, LakeGuard, that can suppress algal blooms without toxic byproducts. With more than 60 million lakes in the world facing an increased risk of cyanobacteria infestation, you'll want to spend a half-hour to learn about the problem, remediation and ways of preventing blooms by changing farming and lawn care practices to reduce phosphorus levels in freshwater lakes. To learn more about BlueGreen Water Technologies, visit https://bgtechs.com.

Environment and Earth Sciences at Victoria University, Wellington New Zealand, joins Earth911 to discuss the prospects for coastal flooding due to climate change. He shares troubling but important insights into how much seas have already risen since the 1800s -- about one foot -- and the potential for up to two feet more flooding in the coming century. He also reports the UNIPCC will acknowledge that the critical 1.5C warming threshold is locked in unless the world takes radical action to reduce emissions immediately. Humanity has already committed future generations to potentially disastrous climate impacts, he says.Renwick explains how much water is stored in Antarctica and the projections for economic and housing losses along the U.S. East coast, which is particularly prone to flooding because of the configuration of ocean currents. He also discusses the growing accuracy of climate models and how accelerated warming seen in recent years appears poised to continue speeding ice loss at the poles. But, Renwick argues, the international climate dialogue has shifted from resistance to acknowledgment of climate impacts and growing national and local action, which gives him hope. "Things are moving in the right direction," he told Earth911's Mitch Ratcliffe. "But we've got a lot of work to do."The upcoming COP26 meeting of global leaders, which was postponed to Fall of 2021 due to the pandemic, will feature many nations increased commitments to reduce emissions. In the meantime, he urges individual citizens to speak out and choose sustainably produced products, as well as support effective local remediation projects, such as tree-planting programs. Each of us can make a difference. Start your journey with this conversation with Professor James Renwick.

Catherine Brahic, the environment editor at The Economist, joins Earth911's Mitch Ratcliffe to discuss her November 16, 2020, editorial, "The world could turn a corner on climate change." She explains the United Nations' upcoming COP26 meeting, when world leaders will renew and update their climate change commitments, was postponed to Fall 2021. Brahic shares her assessments of climate progress to date and the pivotal roles of China and the United States in 2021, when scientists and policymakers say aggressive action is essential to preventing a 1.5℃ increase in average atmospheric temperature. Yet, Brahic is optimistic because of the return of the U.S. to the Paris Climate Accord under Joe Biden and recent corporate investments in green bonds and greenhouse gas reductions. You can read Catherine Brahic's editorial, "The world could turn a corner on climate change," at https://econ.st/3qC6RBd.

Earth911 talks with Paul Bloom, vice president of Sustainable Materials at Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), about the food and plant-based maker’s sustainability goals and changes to how they make food and plant-based products. He shares with Earth911’s Mitch Ratcliffe how ADM has invested to create sustainable alternatives to synthetic and petroleum-based materials.Bloom leads the company’s efforts to develop new renewable, plant-based sustainable solutions for food production and ingredients used in personal care, paint, and a variety of industrial products. ADM is also pursuing partnerships to produce alternatives to the chemical products corporate customers rely on to make everything from glue to biofuels. His team developed a molecule from fructose to replace the plastic used in water bottles and a polymer made from acrylic acid to make diapers more sustainable.ADM has announced sustainability goals to reduce its waste, emissions, energy and water usage by 50% compared by 2035, which they shared in its recent annual sustainability report. To follow ADM’s projects and strives to a more sustainable market, follow them visit https://www.adm.com/.

Todd Myers, Director of the Center for the Environment at the conservative Washington Policy Center joins Kevin Wilhelm, CEO of Sustainable Business Consulting, and Earth911's Mitch Ratcliffe to discuss the common planks of a renewable energy policy shared by both sides of the political divide. Myers in the author of Eco-Fads: How the Rise of Trendy Environmentalism Is Harming the Environment, as well as a member of the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Council and former staff at the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. We discuss how to structure climate policy to achieve a rapid transition to renewable energy, the benefits and hazards of pricing carbon and carbon taxes or credits, and the challenging issue of moving people from jobs in one era to another, which often leads to debates over green policy being a job creator or job killer.This is the second in an ongoing series of conversations that will include individuals from all sides of the ongoing discussion about what the United States will be, its role in the world, and how it will address climate change and the equitable transition from a fossil-fuel-powered economy.

After another election fought over by parties committed to winning and sidelining the opposition for four years will not heal the nation or provide the basis for constructive conversations about progress toward a fair and sustainable net-zero society. Mitch Ratcliffe, publisher of Earth911.com, and Sustainable Business Consulting's Kevin Wilhelm introduce a series of conversations that cross the right-left, urban-rural, technologist-Luddite, low- and high-income, racial and enthnic divides that have paralyzed progress. Wilhelm is the author of How to Talk to the “Other Side”: Finding Common Ground in the Time of Coronavirus, Recession and Climate Change and a professor at Harvard University who has consulted with hundreds of companies about their sustainability planning, programs and reporting.This is the first is an ongoing series of conversations that will include individuals from all sides of the ongoing discussion about what the United States will be, its role in the world, and how it will address climate change and the equitable transition from a fossil-fuel-powered economy.

Author Marc Schaus talks with Earth911's Mitch Ratcliffe about his new book, Our Livable World: Creating the Clean Earth of Tomorrow, a hopeful book about addressing climate change through improved energy efficiency and new, clean electricity generation technologies. Schaus explains that many new technologies are appearing that can help pivot the economy to renewable energy, and this is a source of hope. In addition to historically cheap solar power, waste-free nuclear fusion and tidal energy arrays that generate electricity from the flow of ocean tides and waves will make fossil fuels obsolete. But he also points out that fatalistic human thinking and cognitive biases born of filter bubbles can be a barrier to progress. And waiting to make investments in renewables will lead to more military confrontations over oil reserves and preventing mass migrations could lead to disaster even as new options are on the horizon.

Steve Groff, author of The Future-Proof Farm, the creator of widely used regenerative farming techniques known as cover-cropping, joins Earth911. He talks with us about the importance of improving soil health and explains the changing relationship between the farm and grocery store. America lost more than one-third of its topsoil during the last 150 years, and Steve says his technique mimics nature to restore all the carbon, living organisms, and nutrients that are lost by modern farming in just 20 to 30 years. By planting year-round and minimizing tilling, Steve’s approach to regenerative farming provides better crop yields for farmers and healthier food for consumers. We also talk about what it takes to be an honest marketer in the age of sustainable farming. It starts with being honest, marketers and farmers need to keep their word and avoid exaggerating their sustainability claims. Eventually, these changes in the fields will transform the entire process of growing, harvesting and moving fresh produce from farm to the store shelves.Take some time to read Steve Groff’s book learn how cover-cropping – planting fallow fields to keep the soil alive – can help a farm thrive financially while improving the output from their sustainable farm. Many companies, such as General Mills and Wrangler, have adopted Steve’s method in their supply chain. Check out stevegroff.com to learn more and buy his book The Future-Proof Farm for a comprehensive introduction to cover-cropping techniques.