Transcript

4.24.25 · Science Show KY

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Radioized Diary of Science and Nature. Your reader's
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Kelly Taylor. I have articles on the topics of science
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and nature, but first a reminder that RADIOI is a
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reading service intended for people who are blind or have
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other disabilities that make it difficult to read printed material.
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We'll start with an article from USA today. Earth is
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headed towards several catastrophic climate tipping points, study warms. This
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is from April twenty third. The climate keeps changing despite
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the Trump administration's attempt to silence the entire phenomenon. A
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new study out April twenty third reports that the world
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is on course to trigger several climate tipping points if
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policies stay on their current course. These points of no
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return are specific moments when the planet has warmed so
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much that certain effects become irreversible. Scientists as the risk
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of tipping in sixteen different parts of the Earth system,
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ranging from the collapse of major ice sheets to the
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die back of tropical coral reefs and vast forests. Quote
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climate tipping points could have devastating consequences for humanity, said
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study co author Tim Linton, from the University of Exeter's
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Global Systems Institute in the United Kingdom. Quote, it is
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clear that we are currently on a dangerous trajectory, with
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tipping points likely to be triggered unless we change course rapidly.
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In quote, what is a tipping point? A tipping point
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occurs when a small change tips a system into a
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new state, causing significant and long term transformation. The debate
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about tipping points in the climate system has intensified over
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the past two decades, according to the study. Tipping points
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mentioned in the study include collapse of the Greenland and
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Antarctic ice sheets, coral reef die offs, Amazon rainforest loss,
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lack of winter sea ice in the Arctic, abrupt permafrost thaw,
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mountain glacier loss, and collapse of a key Atlantic current
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that could affect climate worldwide. The Trump administration is continuing
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to pursue its pledge to prioritize American energy and dependence
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and scale back the federal government's plans to understand and
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prevent climate change. Among other actions, the president has withdrawn
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the US from the landmark Paris Climate Agreement. A key
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element of his plan is to boost the use of
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American sourced fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural
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gas which emit the greenhouse gases that cause climate change. Quote.
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We need urgent global action, including the triggering of positive
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tipping points in our societies and economies, to reach a
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safe and sustainable future, Linton said. As for actions that
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individuals can take, Linton said, to quote, eat less meat.
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A quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions are linked to
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diet choices and associated farming practices. It's better for your
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health as well. Most US and European consumers are eating
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an unhealthy amount of animal protein that increases risk of
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colorectal cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. It's also better for nature.
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The major cause of net loss of nature worldwide is
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meat eating, especially beef, as it is a really inefficient
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way of using land to feed ourselves, he said. Individuals
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can also choose to adopt renewable energy, such as rooftop solar,
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since the power sector is another quarter of all greenhouse
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gas emissions. People can also choose to adopt electric vehicles,
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since road transport is responsible for about twelve percent of
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greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. There is some good news. The
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study also found that carbon released by certain tipping points
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such as Amazon rainforest dieback and permafrost thaw is unlikely
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to cause enough warming to trigger other tipping points. The
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emissions from those points are not sufficient to trigger what
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is called a tipping cascade. Study lead author Jacob Doutloff said,
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where one tipping element triggers the next one. Quote. The
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good news from our study is that the power to
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prevent climate tipping points is still in our hands, said Doodloff,
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also of the University of Exeter. Quote. By moving toward
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a more sustainable future with lower emissions, the risk of
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triggering these tipping points is significantly reduced. Now. Our next
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article comes from a vox dot com and the headline
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reads lean energy is big business. These five threats loom large.
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This is from April to twenty second. According to the
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American Clean Power Association, ninety three percent of the new
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energy capacity added to the US power grid in twenty
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twenty four, that's forty nine gigawatts came from low greenhouse
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gas emission sources like wind, solar, and batteries, and the
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trends show no sign of stopping. The Energy Information Administration
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projects that just solar and battery power together will account
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for eighty one percent of the new capacity added to
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the grid in twenty twenty five. It's not just the US.
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About eighty percent of the global increase in electricity generation
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in twenty twenty four came from zero emission sources like
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renewables and nuclear, even in developing countries and places that
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don't have strong climate goals in place. Year your Pakistan
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purchased twenty two gigawatts of solar panels, almost half of
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what the US installed. Countries states, grid operators and private
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companies aren't exactly making these decisions out of a benevolent
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desire to save the earth. They're doing it because it's
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often the fastest, most affordable route to more energy. Quote.
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These people were not climate fanatics or folks who are
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solving for climate change. They were solving for human needs
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in their homes, said Jigar Shah, who led the US
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Department of Energy's Loan Program's Office under President Joe Biden,
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which by the end of twenty twenty four had issued
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sixty nine billion dollars in financing for clean energy projects. Quote.
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Clean energy is the dominant way by which you actually
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add electricity to the grid today. Quote, but there are political,
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market and technological forces that could slow this shift drastically.
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We're getting a picture of that in real time as
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President Trump's tariffs send the global economy on a roller
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coaster ride. The twists and turns are especially stomach churning
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for clean energy. These supply chains for photovoltaic panels, wind turbines,
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and lithium ion cells stretch around the world. Tariffs will
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raise costs for the raw materials and finished components that
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go into new clean tech products, but the uncertainty about
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which countries get what tariffs and whether they'll stick is
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making it hard to plan anything at all. There are
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also some obstacles for clean energy that long pre date
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trunk New wind and solar projects still struggle to get
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local approval for projects, clear regulatory hurdles, and need better
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grid infrastructure to support them. Fossil fuel industries are also
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wising up to the competition for renewables and are investing
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and lobbying to stay in the game. At the same time,
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the urgency for switching to clean energy is mounting. As
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the world reaches new record high average temperatures. Unconstrained burning
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of coal, oil, and natural gas will keep heating up
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the planet unless countries switch to sources that emit far
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fewer greenhouse gases. The rest of the world is continuing
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to invest in clean tech, and if the US upholds
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its trade barriers, it will find itself on the sidelines
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of a major growth sector as other countries corner the
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global market on wind, solar batteries, and even nuclear. With
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tariffs going up in the US, deploying clean energy will
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get more expensive, and the overall hit to the economy
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means there will be less money going around to install it.
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Even if Trump reaches a detente with other countries, he
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remains adamant about keeping stiff import taxes on Chinese goods.
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Since China is such a large supplier of products like
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photovoltaic panels to generate electricity and batteries to store energy,
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US clean energy developers will likely have to turn to
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more expensive suppliers. Quote. The biggest risk here is not
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that clean energy becomes less dominant. Shaw said, I think
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the bigger risk is that clean energy becomes less supportable.
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Will still continue to build clean energy because people don't
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want rolling blackouts, but I think that they'll just have
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to pay a higher price for it. In quote. At
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the same time, US manufacturers of electric cars, solar panels,
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and batteries will have a harder time exporting their products
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as other countries counter with their own tariffs on US goods.
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According to the latest US Energy and Employment Jobs report
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from the Energy Department, there were a total of eight
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point three five million workers in the whole energy sector
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in twenty twenty three. Clean energy employment is growing twice
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as fast as the rest of the industry. A slowdown
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in clean energy could affect millions of jobs. Clean power
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sources are increasingly competitive with fossil fuels. In some circumstances,
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they're the superior option even without subsidies. Still, if the
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goal is to limit climate change, then it makes sense
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to continue to keep a thumb on the scale. That
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doesn't necessarily mean subsidies and tax credits. It could involve
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funding more research and development, reducing some of the regulatory barriers,
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or setting benchmarks for deployment at national, state, and local levels.
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But the federal government under Trump is looking to cut
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back on all forms of support for clean energy, and
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in cases like offshore wind, actively hamper it. Meanwhile, the
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turmoil from tariffs is raising the odds of the US
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and global economies tipping into a recession. A recession would
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make it more difficult to finance new installations and could
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weaken the value of key incentives like tax credits. An
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administration can't seem to make up its mind on what
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kinds of barriers it will erect, leaving investors to wait
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and see. No business wants to spend billions of dollars
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on projects that will take decades to pay off if
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they have no idea what their operating costs will be.
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In the United States, building anything on a large scale
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is a dicey proposition these days, but that's particularly true
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for energy projects. Simply getting approval to connect a power
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plant to the grid, regardless of the energy source, is
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a year's long process that still getting longer. There are
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two thousand, six hundred gigawatts of generation waiting in line,
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double the current size of the entire fleet of US
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power generators. Some ostensible environmental regulations are also holding back
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new clean energy deployment, and in some cases the red
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tape is being sent weaponized against projects like offshore wind farms.
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Members of both parties have recognized that arcane permitting rules
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in the US are holding back energy development, particularly renewables,
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since so many wind and solar projects are in the pipeline,
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but reform efforts to date have failed. President Trump has
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said he wants to speed up permitting, but specifically for
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fossil fuels. The Trump administration also wants to roll back
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environmental regulations like clean air standards and fuel economy benchmarks,
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eliminating part of the pressure to switch to things like
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electric vehicles. At local levels. Utilities in some parts of
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the country are trying to limit rooftop solar that challenges
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their monopolies, and several states are adding a surcharge to
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register electric cars to make up for lost gas tax revenues.
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About seventy percent of US power transmission lines in the
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US are more than twenty five years old. Much of
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the hardware on the grid, transformers, bus bars, and switch
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gear dates back to the nineteen sixties and is nearing
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the end of its life. Just keeping the lights on
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with the system we have will require extensive, expensive refurbishment,
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and the system was designed for large central power plants
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to send electrons in one direction to homes, factories, and offices.
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It was not built to handle variable wind and solar power,
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nor electricity flowing from rooftops back onto the grid. To
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bring even more renewables online, it will be necessary to
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build more generators where sunlight and wind are most abundant,
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often far from the places that need their electricity. It
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will take many miles of new transmission lines to connect
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hungry cities to cheap energy. Yet at a time when
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the US should be speeding up its transmission build out,
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it's actually sowing down. The US has more than one
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hundred and sixty one thousand miles of high voltage transmission lines.
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The country built an average of two thousand miles of
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high voltage transmission per year between twenty twelve and twenty sixteen.
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From twenty seventeen to twenty twenty one, it fell to
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seven hundred miles per year, and twenty twenty three it
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was just fifty five miles. The permitting process is taking
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longer and constructing the lines is getting more expensive, creating
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a choke point for clean energy. While clean energy is
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taking off, the vast majority of the world's energy to
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power transportation, generate electricity, and make fertilizer still comes from
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fossil fuels. About eighty one percent of the world's energy
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last year came from coal, oil, and natural gas. And
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demand was at a record high. It shows that while
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clean energy is gaining ground, most governments aren't too picky
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about where their power comes from. Fossil fuel industry stall
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works aren't sitting idle either. While many company say that
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there's room at the table for things like renewables and
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electric cars, they're betting that people will continue to use
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their products for decades. Major oil and gas companies are
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still finding new places to drill while developing ways to
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extract these resources at lower costs, while creating new customers
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by financing infrastructure like gas pipelines and power plants in
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developing countries. The industry is also lobbying against climate policies
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and efforts to hold them accountable for their damage to
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the environment. So even if low emissions energy technologies continue
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to advance, the main contributors to climate change could gain
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ground as well, slowing the shift to a net zero economy.
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Despite the headwinds, the tools for building a net zero
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economy are still getting better and the United States has
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advantages to play. Batteries are a good example. Ten new
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battery factories are scheduled to start up this year. Quote
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the next big breakthroughs in anodes and cathodes in lithium
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batteries are all proprietary technologies of the United States, so
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those are unlikely to be shared with China or other places.
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Shah said, I think the batteries that we produce here
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in the early twenty thirties will be by far the
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most efficient, most cost effective batteries that you can make
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in quote. Though the federal government under Trump is backing
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away from renewables in favor of coal, oil, and natural gas,
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many States, cities and private companies remain committed to shifting
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to cleaner energy. Businesses looking to hedge against fuel price
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volatility or to get around local power constraints are already
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investing in clean energy to run their operations. Last year,
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data centers alone accounted for half of clean up energy
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procurement in the United States. Quote. The ecosystem of companies
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is really unstoppable today. Shaw said individuals are also driving
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the transition to cleaner economy. Upgrading to a television that
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uses much less electricity or a dishwasher that only needs
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a fraction of the water can save money. A well
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insulated home is more comfortable and cheaper to heat and cool.
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For many commuters, charging up their car at home is
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far more convenient than filling up at a gas station.
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As more people unlock the side benefits of clean tech,
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consumer led demand for appliances, cars, and power plants that
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do more with less will pick up, speeding up the
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turn away from fossil fuels. To limit climate change this century,
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the pace of the transition to clean energy will need
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to speed up, and the current political and economic moment
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certainly makes that harder. But the shift is already underway,
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and while it can be slowed, it's going to be
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very hard to stop. And now we go to Scientific American.
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This article is headlined Corals fight back. Though stuck in place,
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corals have a few tricks to withstand warming waters. Deep
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underneath the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean lies a dazzling landscape
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of undulating coral reefs colored by photosynthetic algae from which
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corals get their energy. But in the early nineteen eighties,
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an aquatic heat wave caused by the Alnino climate phenomenon
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led to a record breaking mass bleaching event, turning more
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than ninety percent of these corals a pale, lifeless white.
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The algae which had thrived inside their coral hosts for
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millions of years could no longer bear to live within them.
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Strong alinio events warmed up the same Pacific waters in
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the late nineteen nineties and again in twenty fifteen and sixteen,
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but scientists noticed that these heat waves didn't affect the
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reefs as battles as the first diving after the latest event,
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University of Marine University of Miami marine biologist and A.
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Palazzio saw that some of the corals seem to be
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resisting or recovering from the bleaching. Maybe Palazio thought they
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found a way to adapt. Many adult corals are tethered
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to the reefs they build. Swimming to cooler waters is
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not an option, making them particularly vulnerable to the changing climate.
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But corals are also resilient, and scientists are discovering how
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they adapt. Some corals switch out their algal tenets for
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more heat resistant species. Others can use rows of tiny
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hairs on their bodies to fan away excess harmful oxygen
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released by stressed out algae, and certain baby corals modify
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their own metabolisms to withstand the warming waters. Scientists hope
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to use such natural adaptations in the race to reserve
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these crucial ecosystem anchors. When Palacio and her team examine
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coral reefs after the twenty fifteen twenty sixteen heat wave,
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they found that particular corals called Pussilopora, the main reef
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building coral species in the eastern tropical Pacific, seem to
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have expelled the algae that usually reside within them and
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taken in other species that were more tolerant to the heat. Quote.
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They start changing their algae community as the water becomes
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warmer and warmer, and they associate more and more with
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this thermotolerant algal symbiont called Dourusidium glenei. This species' name
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comes from the Latin word durus, meaning rough or tough.
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Most symbiotic algae produce toxic levels of oxygen under heat stress,
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forcing the corals to evict them, but Durisdinium keeps its
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levels tolerable. Yet, the corals don't always rely on their
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algo guests to avoid excessive oxygen. Researchers have found sometimes
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they can take matters into their own hands. Quotes on hands.
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Rows of cilii that's tiny hair like projections can act
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like coral's own personal ventilation system by fanning excessive oxygen
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towards spots that lack it. In twenty twenty two, marine
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biologists Caesar O. Pacheris and Soarin omercomp then at the
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University of Bremen in Germany, showed that these fast beating
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cilia create microscopic whirlpools in the water, swirling the oxygen
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around and preventing it from harmfully accumulating in any one spot.
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All corals have this ventilation system, that how much they
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use it can vary between species. The scientists now plan
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to test if and how some vulnerable corals, such as
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those in the Great Barrier reef, beat their silly a
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faster in response to higher temperatures. And corals aren't always
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stuck in place. Their larvae float freely through the ocean
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before settling, which offers crucial opportunities for a species to
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shift to more hospitable waters or spread its heat tolerant genes.
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That's why Ariana Huffmeyer, a marine biologist at the University
22:23
of Washington, is particularly interested in how baby corals adapt
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to higher temperatures. She and researchers at the Hawaii Institute
22:32
of Marine Biology recently showed that coral larvae if exposed
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to warm water for as little as three days in
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the laboratory, alter their own metabolism to cope with heat
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stress and avoid bleaching. Corals typically provide a small amount
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of nitrogen to the resident algae, and in return they
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get carbon, which they use as an energy source to
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maintain the algae's own survival and give the nutrients required
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to the There's really an intricate, delicate, and very complex
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nutritional relationship between the two, Huffmeyer says. Under stress, corals
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produce too much nitrogen. This excess causes the algae to
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go into hyperdrive and divide a lot more, hoarding the
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carbon and keeping it from their hosts. Huffmeyer discovered that
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baby corals exposed to short periods of heat stress learn
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to keep the excess nitrogen to themselves and don't overshare
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with the algae, maintaining a stable symbiosis. Quote. When you
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dive and see a beautiful, healthy reef with these colorful corals,
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I still feel this euphoria of being in this whole alien,
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underwater world, Huffmeyer says. Quote. It's hard to go back
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after a bleaching event and see it dead, but that
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does give you the motivation to want to use whatever
23:54
your skill set is, whatever your passion is, to try
23:58
to help end quote. And now we'll turn back to
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USA today. In this article's headline, tens of millions more
24:08
Americans are breathing polluted air? What places have it the worst?
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This is from April twenty third. Smog from wildfires sweeping
24:18
the nation has left tens of millions more Americans to
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breathe toxic air, even as mad made forms of pollution fall,
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according to a new study released Thursday, The American Lung
24:30
Association's twenty sixth annual State of the Air Report found
24:34
that twenty five million more people in the US are
24:38
breathing air that scores a failing grade in terms of
24:41
pollutants that can cause premature death, impair cognitive abilities, and
24:47
trigger asthma attacks. Nearly half of the country lives in
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areas that received a failing grade for either particle pollution
24:57
fine particulate matter created when things burn, or ozone pollution.
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According to the report, almost forty three million live in
25:06
places that failed both pollution measures. The most heavily polluted
25:11
places remain on the West Coast. Although the Canada wildfires
25:15
made the air quality for dozens of states in the
25:18
central and eastern US worse than it has been in years. Quote.
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This year's report shows the dramatic impact that air pollution
25:27
has on a growing number of people, said Harold Wimmer,
25:31
President and CEO of the American Law Association. Quote. Families
25:36
across the US are dealing with the health impacts of
25:38
air pollution every day, and extreme heat and wildfires are
25:42
making it worse. Air pollution is causing kids to have
25:46
asthma attacks, making people who work out doors sick, and
25:50
leading to low birth weight in babies. The study comes
25:55
as a new administration of President Donald Trump crutch jobs
25:59
at the Environmental Texan Agency and side steps regulations on oil,
26:03
gas and coal development. Study authors relied on air quality
26:08
data from twenty twenty one to twenty twenty three. The
26:10
Long Association said, here's what to know about the worst
26:14
and the best places in the country for air quality.
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Metro areas on the West coasts that have long been
26:21
left polluted by roadways, agriculture, oil and gas industries are
26:25
seemingly and seemingly endless. Wildfires scored the worst on the
26:30
American Long Association report. Bakersfield, Fresno and Visalia, hubs for agriculture, production, shipping,
26:38
and warehouses where the pominant predominant population is Latino landed
26:45
in the top five cities for the report's measures for
26:48
twenty four hour particulate pollution. Across the US, Americans experienced
26:53
more days of severe short term particle pollution than in
26:56
all the years that the Lung Association has produced. The
27:01
spikes in particle pollution are associated with climate events, including wildfires.
27:08
Hours spent outside on such days can trigger heart attacks,
27:12
other hospitalizations, and even death, according to the Lung Association.
27:17
Other metro areas on the list for most polluted by
27:20
short term particles include Eugene, Springfield, Oregon, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Sacramento, Roseville, Seattle,
27:29
Tacoma in Washington, Reno, Carson City, Nevada, and Fairbanks, Alaska.
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Two cities score top clean air marks. Just two cities
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experienced no particle pollution, Bangor, Maine and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
27:50
Only two cities or communities with the best year round
27:54
air quality, including Casper, Wyoming, Anchorage, Alaska, and Honolulu. Except
28:00
for Honolulu, most of the cities with the best air
28:02
quality were a majority white. The primary cause of worsening
28:07
air quality for Americans comes as a result of climate
28:10
events including wildfire's, drought, and extreme heat, according to the report.
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Well that's it for today's Diary of Science and Nature.
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Your hosts A reader was Kelly Taylor. Now stay tuned
28:24
for the Health Corner on RADIOI