“Some citizens view sea level rise as a hoax and are combing peer-reviewed literature and arguments from websites skeptical of climate change to make their case. Others are turning out to public meetings to oppose plans for sea level rise. A few even worry that planners are dupes of a United Nations or ‘one-world’ plot.”
As the seas rise, averting disaster won’t be as simple as organizing an orderly retreat. Read the rest in my new story for The Yale Forum on Climate Change & the Media.
Let’s say you take your dog to the veterinarian, where you learn that you need to give “Spot” a pill once a day for two weeks. At home, the trusty canine refuses to swallow the pill — it probably tastes bad, after all.
Like many dog owners, you’re likely to stick the pill into something more appealing, such as a wedge from that snack-time hotdog. With the pill safely inside the frank, Spot likely will scarf it down, no questions asked.
Might climate communicators adopt a similar technique? Can they present climate news in a more palatable package that will help people absorb, rather than repel, it?
Learn the answer in my new story for The Yale Forum on Climate Change & the Media.
New research shows that flame retardants are rapidly becoming more common in the air around the Great Lakes. Read all about it in my new story for Chemical & Engineering News.
Since the 1970s, manufacturers have used retardants to reduce fire risk in consumer products such as upholstered furniture, electronics, and clothing. Commonly used flame retardants called polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs) volatilize from those products and escape into the environment, where they may pose health and environmental hazards.
In 2004, the flame-retardant industry began replacing PBDEs with new formulations including Firemaster 550 and Firemaster BZ-54, which contain 2-ethylhexyl-2,3,4,5-tetrabromobenzoate (TBB) and bis(2-ethylhexyl)-tetrabromophthalate (TBPH). But these chemicals could also have environmental risks: Research has suggested that the compounds can build up in fish and damage their DNA.
So Ronald A. Hites of Indiana University, Bloomington, and his colleagues wanted to know if TBB and TBPH had started to accumulate in the environment. The researchers analyzed 507 air samples collected by the Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network, a U.S.-Canada program that monitors air quality in the Great Lakes region. Hites and his team used gas chromatography/mass spectrometry to measure levels of the two chemicals in samples collected between 2008 and 2010. They detected TBB and TBPH in the vast majority of samples from Chicago and Cleveland, where levels of the compounds doubled approximately every 13 months. They also found the compounds in about half of air samples from four rural sites. At those sites, levels doubled every 19 months.
Michele Bachmann calls carbon dioxide “a natural byproduct of nature.” Rick Santorum says climate change is “a beautifully concocted scheme.” Mitt Romney was against global warming before he decided he wasn’t sure of the cause.
In fact, all of the 2012 GOP presidential candidates, save Jon Huntsman, have expressed doubts about the existence and causes of global warming.
But just three years ago, both major party candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama, pledged to cut greenhouse emissions dramatically.
The hormone-mimicking chemical bisphenol A is ubiquitous in cash-register receipts in the United States, according to new research. Other paper products, such as envelopes and newspapers, also frequently contain the compound, the study found. As a result, the authors conclude, people are routinely exposed to BPA through their skin, albeit at levels lower than through diet. (more…)
If you’re trying to reduce your household’s contribution to climate change, you probably know about the obvious energy hogs, such as clothes dryers and refrigerators.
But when I was reporting a recent story for Chemical & Engineering News, I learned something surprising: Your laptop and television also contribute large amounts of greenhouse emissions.
[Edgar] Hertwich and his colleague Charlotte Roux modeled the greenhouse gases that come from household electronics and appliances in Norwegian homes in 2008. Using data from life-cycle assessments, sales reports, and other studies, they calculated the greenhouse emissions of the devices, considering manufacture, use, and disposal.
They found that freezers and refrigerators accounted for the most emissions: the equivalent of about 1,500 pounds of carbon dioxide per household in 2008. Televisions and computers ranked second and third, contributing about 1,300 and 1,100 pounds of greenhouse emissions, respectively.
Why do TVs and laptops generate so many greenhouse gases? The answer lies in the often-overlooked emissions produced during manufacturing. The researchers found that manufacturing a laptop generated nearly 40 times the emissions produced by using the laptop for a year (at least in Norway). And buying the latest, greatest gadgetry also makes an impact:
Hertwich says that the rapid turnover of electronics increases the importance of manufacturing’s emissions. Norwegian households purchase a washing machine only once every nine years, on average, but buy a computer every two years and a television every 3.5 years.
In a story for Chemical & Engineering News, I report that little progress has been made in reducing farm runoff, the main cause of a “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico.
Despite decades of conservation efforts, nitrate pollution in the Mississippi River basin hasn’t improved. Between 1980 and 2008, nitrate levels have held steady at some sites in the river and its tributaries, while increasing by more than 70% at another, according to a new study by researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey (Environ. Sci. Technol., DOI: 10.1021/es201221s).
Since the mid-20th century, farmers in the Mississippi River basin have applied nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer to their crops. Some of that fertilizer washes into the Gulf of Mexico, where it feeds algal blooms. As bacteria devour the algae, they suck dissolved oxygen from the water and create a dead zone: an area of low-oxygen water where many organisms cannot survive.
In the most recent chapter of the book called “I have an awesome life,” I reviewed every episode of “The Daily Show” since 1999 that has dealt with climate change or global warming, 67 episodes in all. In a story for The Yale Forum on Climate Change & the Media, I report that Jon Stewart’s coverage of the issue is hilarious but often misleading:
Although the show deftly highlights the follies of politicians and television news networks, it is prone to inaccuracies of its own. A Yale Forum analysis found that Stewart and the show’s other correspondents have repeatedly — and mistakenly — conflated the ozone hole and climate change. At times, Stewart has appeared uncharacteristically timid in questioning guests about climate science. Meanwhile, the show’s coverage of the University of East Anglia/Climatic Research Unit 2009 e-mail controversy likely reinforced public misunderstanding.
Writer and producer Ron Blau interviewed me by Skype about how video producers can do a better job of communicating about climate change on the Web. You can see the interview here.
And finally, I got a promotion! I’m now the interim executive producer for reesenews.org, an experimental digital news site based at the University of North Carolina. The site, which launched in November 2011, is staffed by a fantastic team of students who have already started to win some big awards. For example, this interactive story about NCAA investigations at UNC just won a first-place national Society of Professional Journalists award. If you’re a journalism geek, both reesenews.org and reesefelts.org, our insider blog, are well worth checking out.
Wanted: Climate change-based novels with a strong dose of story, vivid character development, a strong theme, and setting or atmosphere. Climate change focus alone may not be sufficient.
In a new story for Chemical & Engineering News, I report that installing anaerobic digesters in rural China could significantly reduce greenhouse emissions.
The fuel generators, called anaerobic digesters, rely on microbes that break down animal or human waste inside airtight, underground tanks that are typically between 6 and 10 m3 in size. They produce biogas, which is composed largely of methane. The biogas travels through pipes into the home, where people burn it for cooking, lighting, and heating.
…
[The researchers] found that compared with traditional fuels, anaerobic digesters would produce as much as 54% less warming over 20 years. The researchers detected methane leaks in less than 10% of digesters, but they calculated that even leaky systems would cut warming compared to traditional fuels, by 35 to 42% during the same period.
I didn’t have room to include these details in the story, but to set up your own biogas generator, you’ll need:
1) Waste from about two large animals (that amount will provide enough fuel to cook for a family)
2) Water
3) Warm temperatures. The microbes inside an anaerobic generator produce more methane when it’s hot. But some Alaskan scientists have found some cold-loving microbes that could make biogas production efficient even in chilly climates.
