Grace van Deelen

About Grace van Deelen

Posts by Grace van Deelen:

July 21, 2023

Effects of “unprecedented” marine heat waves may be irreversible

By Grace van Deelen

Tens of thousands of dead fish are washing up on the Texas Gulf Coast, unprecedented numbers of seabird carcasses are showing up on beaches, and toxic algal blooms are growing in size and frequency – all signs of the calamitous impacts of warming trends for ocean waters that some scientists say may be irreversible.

July marked Earth’s hottest temperatures ever, and heat waves are currently affecting over 44% of ocean area, marking marine heat wave that is the most widespread ever recorded. Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expect that number to rise to over 50% by this fall. Usually, about 10% of the world’s oceans experience a heatwave at any given time.

The levels of marine heat waves this year are “unprecedented,” said Dillon Amaya, a scientist who studies climate extremes at the NOAA.

The marine heat wave could lead to a redistribution of ocean species that may then also destabilize additional ecosystems, according to Jenn Caselle, a research biologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Marine Science Institute.

“These marine communities that are reshuffling right now could stay in those reshuffled states and become our new normal,” said Caselle.

July 14, 2023

Deep-sea mining has larger-than-expected impacts on sea life, study says

The fast-growing practice of deep-sea mining poses significant threats to important sea creatures, such as fish, shrimp, corals, and sponges, according to a new study.

Researchers say they found evidence that disturbances caused by deep-sea mining can slash populations of nearby ocean animals roughly in half and impact marine life across larger areas than scientists have previously thought.

The study, published Friday in Current Biology, adds to evidence that mining the deep ocean for minerals used to make electric vehicles and renewable energy components has harmful ecological impacts that must be weighed against the climate benefits of transitioning away from fossil fuels.

Although deep sea mining may be one way to meet the world’s growing demand for certain metals, “it also has the potential to greatly disrupt many deep-sea habitats,” the new paper states.

“Is it worth it to get these [metals] and mess up the sea versus mess up somewhere else? I don’t know, but we have to use everything we have to make the right call,” said Travis Washburn, an ocean floor ecologist and author on the new study.

July 7, 2023

As climate change threatens farming, incentives for cover crops could help

Once a farmer understands how ecosystems function, planting cover crops is an obvious choice. At least, that’s what North Dakota farmer Gabe Brown believes. For nearly three decades, Brown has been planting his cash crops (barley, oats, wheat, rye, and others) alongside cover crops—plants that are not for sale but instead are planted among cash crops to help retain water, prevent erosion, and increase soil fertility.

“The reason we made the decision is simple—it’s profitable,” said Brown. Since planting cover crops, Brown’s farm has saved a fortune on fertilizer and water, and Brown said he has seen an increase in yield, too.

But in addition to boosting some farms’ profits, many climate and agriculture experts say that cover crops may help farms withstand the effects of weather extremes driven by climate change. As crops across the country suffer dramatic losses, less than a quarter of US farms currently use cover crops, leading some to call for federal farm programs to incentivize the practice more strongly. Yet other experts are less enthusiastic about cover crops’ potential, saying bigger solutions are needed to transform the farming system as climate change advances.

June 15, 2023

Families demand Yale revoke degree of convicted asbestos billionaire

Families of those killed by asbestos-related illnesses are demanding that Yale University revoke an honorary degree given to a Swiss billionaire who was convicted last week of aggravated manslaughter in the deaths of over a hundred people linked to asbestos exposure.

The effort is spear-headed by AFeVA (or the Associazione Famigliari Vittime Amianto), an Italian group made up of family members of those killed by asbestos exposure, and targets Stephan Schmidheiny, a former CEO of a Belgian asbestos cement company called Eternit. Eternit operated multiple asbestos mines and cement product manufacturing plants on multiple continents that exposed workers to harmful, cancer-causing asbestos.

Asbestos refers to a group of six different minerals that have been widely used in building materials and as a fire retardant. People exposed to asbestos are at increased risk of developing lung diseases, particularly mesothelioma, a cancer that affects the thin lining of the lungs. Just 10% of people diagnosed with mesothelioma live more than five years beyond their diagnosis.

Last week’s conviction gave Schmidheiny a 12-year jail sentence over the deaths of hundreds of workers and residents due to asbestos exposure in Casale Monferrato, an Italian town that hosted one of Eternit’s largest factories until the plant’s closure in 1986. About 50 new cases of mesothelioma are still reported in Casale Monferrato each year, according to The Guardian.

Schmidheiny could not be reached for comment, but a spokesperson for Schmidheiny told The New Lede that his legal defense plans to appeal the verdict.

June 14, 2023

Amid Biden push for electric vehicles, debate grows over “green” mining

Minnesota, long known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes, is a heralded haven for people and wildlife alike, a state rich in natural resources.

But now, a nickel mine proposed for northern Minnesota poses a threat to the stability of precious wetland ecosystems, according to critics trying to block the project. Though backers of the mine claim it will be an environmentally friendly operation that provides crucial material for the production of electric vehicle batteries, challengers say the mine could actually create more environmental problems than it will solve.

The battle illustrates one of many challenges arising as the Biden administration pushes for a rapid transition away from fossil fuels and toward so-called clean energy. In May, the Biden Administration paused the environmental review process for an Arizona copper mine in the face of similar concerns from Indigenous tribes about what the mine there might do to water quality.

“We’re not opposed to mining, but we have to ensure that these activities do not endanger our natural environment or our Indigenous communities,” said Kelly Applegate, commissioner of natural resources for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. A community of Mille Lacs members live near the site designated for the Minnesota mine, which would sit just outside the tiny town of Tamarack.

June 8, 2023

Human-caused warming to surpass Paris Agreement limit by 2037, analysis finds

Human-caused global warming is set to surpass 2.7° Fahrenheit (1.5° Celsius) by the year 2037, overshooting an international goal beyond which severe climate disruptions may become the norm, according to a new analysis from 50 climate scientists. If humans continue to emit carbon dioxide at the current rate, the study determined that the planet may reach that warming threshold by 2037.

“This is unprecedented in anything we have seen historically,” said Piers Forster, a professor at the University of Leeds and an author on the paper. Forster has also authored multiple climate reports with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), widely regarded as the international authority on climate science.

The 2016 Paris Agreement, which has been signed by nearly every country in the world, set an international goal to halt warming at 2.7° Fahrenheit. Beyond this point, scientists believe the effects of climate change will escalate, with widespread die-offs of coral reefs, common extreme heat waves, and destructive flooding of coastal cities. The study found that the global increase in temperatures has reached 2.05° Fahrenheit over the past decade.

The planet is also warming increasingly faster, with temperatures rising by an unprecedented 0.36° Fahrenheit since 2013, according to the new paper, published today in the journal Earth Systems Science Data.

June 1, 2023

Amid global debate, UN plastics treaty at risk of falling short

A United Nations (UN) effort to put an end to global plastic pollution is badly needed, but is also at high risk of falling short of its goals amid debate over myriad complex issues, according to environmental advocates.

A paper published Thursday by the Global Water Partnership (GWP), a coalition of thousands of water research and advocacy organizations around the world, warned that a global plastics treaty will face many hurdles, including required coordination and legislation among national governments.

“Many of the current efforts by national and local governments, industry, and civil society are still highly uncoordinated and often focus on downstream solutions,” the authors of the paper wrote. “They fail to address the source of plastic leakage.”

The UN committee on plastics was meeting in Paris this week to develop an international treaty that could include legally binding measures to be implemented in countries around the world. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP), which is hosting the talks, has outlined a goal of reducing plastic waste by 80% by 2040.

The meeting is the second of five set to take place as the UN committee draft a treaty it hopes all countries will agree to by the end of 2024.

May 25, 2023

Bayer investors granted class-action status in lawsuit over Monsanto deal

A federal judge has given the green light for a class-action lawsuit to proceed against Bayer AG brought by investors unhappy with the company’s $63 billion purchase of Monsanto Co. in 2018.

The suit, brought by three pension funds, alleges that Bayer AG misled investors over the risks of the acquisition and failed to properly perform due diligence before buying Monsanto, which at that time was the world’s largest seed company and the maker of the popular, but controversial, Roundup weedkiller.

Just weeks after closing the deal, Bayer shares plunged when Monsanto lost a bellwether trial brought by a California groundskeeper who alleged he developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma due to his exposure to Monsanto’s weed killer. The loss triggered a flood of additional litigation and ultimately led Bayer to agree in 2020 to pay roughly $11 billion to try to settle similar claims brought by more than 100,000 plaintiffs.

Bayer’s purchase of Monsanto was dubbed one of the “worst corporate deals” in recent history by the Wall Street Journal.

“These declines in the value of Bayer … caused Lead Plaintiffs and other Class members to suffer significant loss and damages,” wrote the plaintiffs’ law firm, Cohen Milstein, in a statement. ”

The lead plaintiffs in the action are the Sheet Metal Workers’ National Pension Fund and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local No. 710 Pension Fund, along with an additional plaintiff – the International Union of Operating Engineers Pension Fund of Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware.

May 19, 2023

Vast majority of global methane emissions go unregulated, says new study

By Grace van Deelen

Governments around the world are failing to effectively regulate and mitigate harmful emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas with a climate warming potential more than 25 times stronger than carbon dioxide, according to research published Friday.

Only 13% of global emissions from methane are covered by existing public mitigation policies, the researchers reported in the journal One Earth.

“Significant and underexplored [methane] mitigation opportunities exist,” the authors wrote.

The research comes on the heels of a report issued Thursday from the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) showing that methane emissions from just 1,100 US landfills have a climate-warming effect equivalent to the yearly emissions of 66 million gas-powered vehicles.

Methane makes up about 12% of US greenhouse gas emissions stemming from human activities, including agricultural operations, fossil fuel extraction and use, waste management practices, and decay of organic waste in municipal solid waste landfills. Agriculture is the largest single US source of methane emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Global methane emissions are currently rising faster than at any point since the 1980s. To try to keep global warming from exceeding the warming limit of 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit set by the Paris Agreement, global methane emissions must be reduced by at least 40-45% of 2020 levels by 2030, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

May 12, 2023

Flaws in carbon credit programs for farms draw concerns

As fears about climate change grow, a new “gold rush” of carbon credit programs are incentivizing US farmers to slash greenhouse gas emissions generated by the practices they use growing crops and raising livestock. But experts say the programs face difficulty in ensuring that the credits provided truly match emission cuts.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that agriculture accounted for 11.2% of US greenhouse gas emissions in 2020. Greenhouse gases trap heat from the sun in the atmosphere, triggering harmful climate changes and increasing temperatures worldwide. Carbon dioxide is released when farmers till their fields, for instance, and nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas with almost 300 times more warming potential than carbon dioxide, is released when farmers spread fertilizer or manure on their fields.

In one increasingly popular mitigation strategy, private carbon programs pay farmers for implementing practices known to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, generating credits that can then be sold to large corporations wanting to use the credits to offset their own emissions. One tradable carbon credit equals one ton of carbon dioxide, or the equivalent amount of a different greenhouse gas reduced, sequestered or avoided.

Many programs pay farmers for planting cover crops — a practice shown to limit the amount of carbon dioxide that soils release into the air. But few offer any incentives for farmers to reduce nitrous oxide emissions, though nitrous oxide is a highly potent greenhouse gas. A 2021 report estimated nitrous oxide made up for 2.4% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, while the EPA estimates nitrous oxide makes up over half of all greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.

As the popularity of carbon credit programs grows, concerns and questions about the validity of the programs to truly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from farms are also emerging. Carbon credit schemes have been criticized for a lack of rigorous accounting of the amount of carbon dioxide lost from soils. Additionally, the difficulty of measuring nitrous oxide emissions could mean some businesses are paying for carbon credits that don’t really reduce emissions as much as promised.

That’s the “worst-case scenario,” said Eric Slessarev, a biogeochemist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. “We better hope we’re right, on average, because if we’re not right, then we’re in trouble,” he said.