SEARCH

Cycling In Packs Boost Riders’ Health and Reduces Vehicle Carbon Emissions By Gordon Cairns* Going to school in Scotland may have never been so exciting. During any school morning rush hour, one can hear children laughing, bells ringing, and music booming from a speaker while a vibrantly colored procession of bikes rolls through the main traffic junction in Shawlands in Glasgow. But this isn’t some crack of dawn carnival. It’s simply a group of parents taking their children to school on a “bike bus.” The loud music and bright orange and yellow clothing keep everyone in this moving pack of bicyclists safe on the roads. Parents and other riders revel in the biking experience with their children—and demonstrating how city cycling is a practical, low-carbon way of getting kids to school. Bike buses have come a long way since a group of parents got together to bike with their kids to school in Fietspoolen, Veilig, Belgium, in 1998. Today, the Scottish Shawlands version is just one of at least 453 routes taking thousands of children to school in thirteen countries across the world on at least one morning a week. These numbers have grown exponentially, inspired initially by word of mouth, then more recently through social media clips showing parents leaving their cars at home and taking out their bikes. In Barcelona, Spain, every week a swarm of school children form a bike peloton the width of the city’s broad avenues, with groups peeling off at different junctions to go to their own school. Most bike bus routes are between 1.7 to 3.5km (about 1 to 2.1 miles) in distance with the children typically cycling fifteen to twenty-five minutes to get to their lessons. Environmental Benefits The environmental benefits of a bike bus come from obvious reductions in CO2 emissions. If only one parent switched from driving a combustion-engine vehicle to cycling four miles to school (roundtrip) twice a week (average passenger vehicle emits about 400 grams of CO2 per mile), the annual CO2 emissions would be reduced by an estimated 115.2 kg (253.9 lb) annually (counting 36 weeks of school). Multiplying that figure by thirty, the average number of bicyclers on a bike bus, illustrates how much one bike bus can clean up city air—or a total reduction of 3,456 kg (7,619.1 lb) of CO2. For Barcelona bicibús (Spanish for “bike bus”) volunteer and data collector Jordi Honey-Rosés, the benefits also extend to a social level. When he first witnessed the bike bus in action, he could see the long-term effects it would have in the lives of children and on urban landscapes: “It was simultaneously a practical way to travel to school; it was social, it was fun, and it also made a strong statement about what our city should look like,” said Honey-Rosés, a research professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. “Kids going to school are performing an essential basic function of their day-to-day lives, but our cities haven’t made it easy for them to ride a bike to school.” In a Zoom conversation, Honey-Rosés explains that modern cities simply haven’t been designed with children in mind: “Kids going to school are performing an essential basic function of their day-to-day lives, but our cities haven’t made it easy for them to ride a bike to school.” Incredibly, the large numbers of children biking to school through the bustling Catalan capital force the bicibús organizers to register their ride as a demonstration to have the protection of a local police escort—their blue lights flashing—to keep the children safe. Honey-Rosés thinks it shouldn’t be this way—and bike buses can become the driver of change. “If we are able to build cities that can accommodate children safely, then we will be building better cities for everyone.” “[Bike buses] brought together so many different things we are interested in—mobility, transforming our city, reclaiming our streets.” “When you see children riding down the center of the street, they’re out of scale; they somehow don’t belong and yet they do belong,” he says. “[Bike buses] brought together so many different things we are interested in—mobility, transforming our city, reclaiming our streets.” School Bike Bus in Scotland In Shawlands, Scotland, five families were inspired by the Barcelona bicibús to create their own version two years ago, in 2021, when the COP26 climate change conference took place in the city. In an interview over coffee, one of the founders, Katherine Cory, said she has seen many benefits. “Forty percent of the kids at the school are on the bike bus; that’s a huge number not coming by car. There is also a ripple effect as a lot of parents, like me, who hadn’t been on a bike for years, are now commuting to work on bike bus days and even non-bike bus days,” Cory said before cycling off to pick up her seven-year-old daughter Martha from school. To help make their journey across a busy junction easier, the leader of the Shawlands bike bus has strapped the Ultra-Smart Cycle System onto his bike’s handlebars. This blue gadget was developed by Sm@rt Technology for the Glasgow City Council. It has three buttons that control different sets of traffic lights along a route, holding them at green for forty-five seconds—four times longer than normal—to allow the seventy to eighty bike bus riders to pass through together. Although specifically created for the Shawlands bike bus, this kit could be used by groups across the world. But even with the aid of smart technology, running a bike bus requires a lot of commitment and hard work from parents to make it a success. But even with the aid of such smart technology, running a bike bus requires a lot of commitment and hard work from parents to make it a success. Besides the lead cyclist, there is a sweeper on a cargo bike at the end, ensuring no children are left behind, and a line of adults cycling on the roadside of the bike train, keeping the well-drilled children safe. While Cory loves the energy, connectedness, and sheer joy of the bike bus, she feels an underlying sense of frustration that there is no bike lane in place to protect the riders. “The adults are essentially a human bike lane. We are acting as human infrastructure until we can get an actual infrastructure,” she says. She adds: “We love the community that we have built on a bike bus, but we should not have to be doing this. It is a form of protest. We are plugging away every week showing these families and children want to cycle to school, but it is not safe.” School Bike Bus(es) in the USA Like Cory in Scotland, physical education teacher Sam Balto in Portland, Oregon, happened to see the Barcelona bicibús clip online and created his own bike bus to take students to Alameda Elementary School more than a year ago. Now, on any given school day, there are between 70 to 150 students taking their bikes to school. They start in two cohorts, each 1.5 miles away from the school, that converge to ride the last mile together. Balto shares Cory’s desire for structural change. “Bike buses are a call to action to our city leaders to prioritize our children’s mobility and to improve infrastructure to allow kids and their families to ride bikes to school, to their friends’ houses, to the library, and to businesses all around the city to increase opportunities for their independence,” he says. For instance, “we would love more dedicated bike lanes; diverters on neighborhood greenways, school streets; red light cameras—all sorts of infrastructure improvements, not just for cyclists but for pedestrians as well,” Balto says. Balto’s wish list is not an impossible goal. The cycling utopia of safe streets already exists in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where bikes are central to city planning. In the Danish capital, almost half of the journeys taken to school or work today are by bike, while the Dutch capital shows the power of parents who campaigned to force the city leaders to make the city safe for children to bike. In ten years' time, who knows how far bike buses will go in Barcelona, Shawlands, and Portland? *Gordon Cairns is a freelance journalist and teacher of English and Forest Schools based in Scotland.

Study Suggests Electric Eels Can Alter Genes of Nearby Fish Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan, led by Professor Eiichi Hondo and Assistant Professor Atsuo Iida, have shown that the relatively powerful discharge (up to 860V) of electric eels is enough to alter the genes of nearby zebrafish larvae. This phenomenon occurred through a process known as electroporation or gene transport via electricity. In a study published in PeerJ—Life and Environment, Hondo and Iida hypothesized that since electricity is conducted through water, it is possible that it could affect organisms near the charge. Apparently, their hunch was right. Electroporation is a process in which an electric field creates temporary pores in a cell’s membrane, allowing DNA molecules to enter the cell. Quoted in a news brief by Science Daily, Iida said, “I realized that electric eels in the Amazon River could well act as a power source, organisms living in the surrounding area could act as recipient cells, and environmental DNA fragments released into the water would become foreign genes, causing genetic recombination in the surrounding organisms because of electric discharge." To test their hypothesis, the team exposed larvae in the lab to a DNA solution with a marker that glowed if the zebrafish had taken the DNA. Next, they induced an eel to discharge electricity. They found that about 5% of the fish contained markers indicating gene transfer. “This indicates that the discharge from the electric eel promoted gene transfer to the cells, even though eels have different shapes of pulse and unstable voltage compared to machines usually used in electroporation,” Iida said. Some of the larvae exhibited green fluorescence, whereas the control group without electrical stimulation showed little. This suggested to the team that electric organ discharge (EOD) from the eels could potentially be an electroporator to transfer DNA into eukaryotic cells or those with a clearly defined nucleus. The authors cautioned that their initial exploration does not serve to directly establish its significance within the natural environment, and further research is needed. But Iida thinks their results indicate that “electric eels and other organisms that generate electricity could affect genetic modification in nature." According to the Science Daily brief, Iida is intrigued by electric field research in living organisms. "I believe that attempts to discover new biological phenomena based on such ‘unexpected’ and ‘outside-the-box’ ideas will enlighten the world about the complexities of living organisms and trigger breakthroughs in the future." Sources: https://peerj.com/articles/16596/ https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/12/231205114816.htm

Growing Seaweed and Shellfish Helps Balance and Purify Seawater By Yasmin Prabhudas* The world’s oceans and seas absorb about 30% of the carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. As human beings maintain or increase certain activities, such as burning fossil fuels and clearing land of trees, the amount of CO2 is increased—and more is absorbed in the world’s waters. When CO2 is absorbed by seawater, it sets in motion a series of chemical reactions that can result in acidification, or an increase in hydrogen ions. Acidification is believed to be generally harmful to marine species because it can reduce calcification in some species and affect some fish’s ability to find predators, for example, there has been an ongoing debate about clownfish being impacted. Acidification can also contribute to coral bleaching. Today's average ocean water pH stands at 8.1. Before the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s, when humans began using fossil fuels for manufacturing, the level was 8.2. The US Environmental Protection Agency says this drop in pH looks small, but it means that “the acidity of the ocean today, on average, is about 25% greater than it was during preindustrial times.” The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2016 estimated that the pH level* of the oceans could decrease, or become more acidic, by up to 0.287–0.29 pH units by 2081–2100 under a high emissions (RCP8.5) scenario relative to 2006–2015. That’s why the work of Havhøst, a Danish membership organization, is so important. Literally translated, its name means “ocean harvest.” It promotes regenerative ocean farming, combining seaweed, which can help alleviate the effects of ocean acidification, and shellfish, which can purify the water. What is Regenerative Ocean Farming? Bodil Sofie Espersen, project manager at Havhøst, explains: “Regenerative ocean farming is cultivation of edible marine organisms that have an overall net positive impact on the surrounding ecosystem. So, it’s zero-inputs cultivation—no fertilizers, no pesticides, no medicine, no nothing added to the water. The whole regenerative idea is to always give more than you take, so leave a positive print on whatever ecosystem you’re working with.” “When you cultivate mussels or oysters, they work as edible biofilters, so they filter the water. They take out excess nutrients, which is a big issue, especially in Danish coastal waters, because we have very heavy agricultural activities on the land,” Sofie Espersen adds. “When you cultivate mussels or oysters, they work as edible biofilters, so they filter the water. They take out excess nutrients, which is a big issue, especially in Danish coastal waters, because we have very heavy agricultural activities on the land.” Excess nutrients, she says, cause nutrification and loss of oxygen, leading to “ocean deserts.” The term refers to massive areas of ocean that don’t have enough nutrients for marine life to thrive fully. The deserts tend to lie about 30 degrees on either side of the equator—far from the biologically productive landmasses—and are also estimated to be the largest biome on Earth, occupying about 40% of its surface, according to the University of New Hampshire. However, seaweed turns CO2 into oxygen, and, combined with oysters and mussels, creates a “positive circular effect.” Benefits Havhøst’s role is to help set up community sea gardens across Denmark, which has more than 5,000 miles of coastline, offering excellent conditions for cultivating blue mussels, seaweed, and oysters. Many sea gardens are run on a voluntary basis, but more small business owners and local sustainable fishers are becoming involved. “We want lots of small-scale ocean farms, with fishers using the business to supplement other sources of income,” comments Sofie Espersen. Apart from economic advantages, the local community can benefit too, no matter what their reasons for getting involved. “Some [people] are together just to get food on the table. […] and some of them are fishermen trying to keep living on the ocean. […] But all have the same outcome—that they support local blue biodiversity, create healthy ecosystems—and they tell the story of the future,” says Sofie Espersen. Environmental Factors Before establishing new projects, environmental factors are considered. “We’re very aware not to put a farm on top of areas that have seagrass because seagrass is a key species, just like mussels and oysters and seaweed,” says Sofie Espersen. The risk is that shade may be created, which will affect the seagrass. “We’re very aware not to put a farm on top of areas that have seagrass because seagrass is a key species, just like mussels and oysters and seaweed.” Havhøst also concentrates on growing species in areas that can sustain production, taking into account the ocean’s current, the depth of the water, and potential pollution. Drawbacks But there are hurdles to overcome. For example, it can be hard to obtain the right permission to set up a community garden, because regulations often favor large-scale industries rather than small businesses. It’s also often difficult to obtain start-up funding. However, Havhøst managers have built up a wealth of expertise and can help groups get over these potential barriers. Community Gardens Some twenty-six community gardens, involving 15 to 200 members, have been created since Havhøst started out ten years ago. Small groups of people who decide they want to start a project can approach Havhøst for help with obtaining permission, applying for financial aid, and getting started. Bælthaven in Middelfart is the twelfth and largest association-based maritime garden in Denmark. It was created through a collaboration involving stakeholders such as the local municipality and the Nature Centre Hindsgavl. Its members farm mussels using long “socks” that hang from a platform over the edge of the sea, and seaweed is grown on ropes. Apart from cultivating sustainable marine food, the association organizes events where the public can find out more about regenerative ocean farming. For example, lunches and food tastings are arranged, and lectures held. As part of Nature Day in September 2023, local people were also invited to collect and cook mussels caught by local sea farmers. Education Part of Havhøst’s agenda involves imparting knowledge to students. It currently works with forty-six schools in Copenhagen alone, and there are nine “satellites” around the country. Pupils aged between ten and seventeen participate in activities such as ocean farm work and dissecting mussels. More than 6,000 students have attended Havhøst’s educational programs over the years. The seaweed field school course is just one educational initiative. It offers students the chance to visit Havhøst’s floating platform Bølgemarken, which showcases the sea’s edible produce. During the visit, students learn about the lifecycle of seaweed and the work of sea farmers. They also harvest seaweed from tang lines and learn about its role in counteracting the climate crisis. In the kitchen, pupils prepare and taste food, such as pesto and waffles made from seaweed. “We use the ocean farms as a platform to discuss a whole range of topics, from ocean ecosystems and organisms to global food production and sustainable development goals.” Sofie Espersen says: “We use the ocean farms as a platform to discuss a whole range of topics, from ocean ecosystems and organisms to global food production and sustainable development goals.” Nordic Initiative The message is also being disseminated across the Nordic countries through the Cool Blue project, a new collaboration between four partners, Havhøst, the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, Aktion Österbotten (Action Ostrobothnia) in Finland, and s.Pro, a specialist consultancy from Germany. The project aims to establish a network of small-scale regenerative ocean farming initiatives in Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. As part of the project, Havhøst will contribute its expertise in building community-based activities. Maria Bodin, Cool Blue project coordinator from the University of Gothenburg, outlines how the network aims to foster knowledge exchange: “We wanted to create the network so if people want to start something they can contact us and one person in each country can help them […]. We also want to increase ocean literacy to work more on how we can use the sea in a sustainable way.” New Technology The Cool Blue team is interested in how the scheme might use new technology, such as artificial intelligence monitoring systems, to gauge the positive environmental impact of regenerative ocean farming activities. A camera could, for example, be positioned on one of the farms to see if more fish and other species are attracted. Emphasizing the importance of promoting regenerative ocean farming more widely, Sofie Espersen says: “We’ve been talking about sustainability for thirty years, but it’s no longer enough to just not make things worse. Now we need to actively regenerate the ecosystem.” *Yasmin Prabhudas is a freelance journalist working mainly for non-profit organizations, labor unions, the education sector, and government agencies. Editorial Note: The pH scale measures the relative amount of free hydrogen and hydroxyl ions in water. It runs from 0 to 14, with 7 being neutral, below 7 being acidic, and above 7 being alkaline. A change in pH by 1 represents a concentration change by a factor of 10.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released on November 29 its statistical yearbook for 2023 on world food and agriculture. The report is categorized by chapters in economics, production, food security, and environmental considerations, covering data from 2000 to 2022. As a frame of reference, the world population in 2000 and 2022 are estimated as 6.149 billion and 7.975 billion people, respectively, based on the UN’s Data Portal. This corresponds to an increase of roughly 29.7% over this period. The value of agriculture in 2021 was USD 3.7 trillion, up from roughly USD 2.0 trillion in 2000. Meanwhile, pesticide use rose to 3.5 million tons, or a 62% increase from 2000. In 2021, primary crop production was 9.5 billion tons, or a 54% increase from 2000. Also in 2021, meat production was 357 million tons, or a 53% increase from 2000. Chicken meat accounted for more than half of this increase (of 124 million tons). From 2019 to 2022, the number of undernourished people in the world rose to 735 million, an increase of 122 million. This figure is lower than both 804.9 million in 2000 and the peak of 822.5 million in 2002, but it is part of an increasing trend from the minimum of 572.1 million from 2012. World obesity in the adult population increased from 8.7% in 2000 to 13.1% in 2016. Although all regions experienced a rise in obesity, notable increases occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (16.6% to 24.2%), North America and Europe (19.5% to 26.9%), and Oceania (19.5% to 28.1%). Shares of world agricultural land declined by 86 million ha (212 million acres) and forest area declined by 104 million ha (260 million acres) between 2000 and 2021, to 4.78 billion ha (11.8 billion acres) and 4.05 billion ha (10 billion acres), respectively (Table 49). Africa saw an increase in its agricultural land, but this was offset by decreases in the rest of world. Also, increases in share of forest land in Asia, Europe, and Oceania were offset by decreases in Africa and the Americas (Table 50). Despite this, the global harvested area of primary crops rose to 1.5 billion ha (3.7 billion acres) in 2021, corresponding to a 24% increase from 2000. Sources: FAO. 2023. World Food and Agriculture – Statistical Yearbook 2023. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cc8166en United Nations Data Portal: https://population.un.org/dataportal/home FAO Suite of Food Security Indicators: https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FS

Non-Binding Pact Acknowledges Move Away from Fossil Fuels Negotiators at the 28th Convention of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change, held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), produced a document of agreement on December 13 (Dubai time) following a 24-hour flurry of last-minute negotiations. The symbolism of a meeting led by Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and CEO of the UAE’s state oil company, shaped media coverage of the gathering, as did the event’s floated target: locking down a commitment to phasing out all fossil fuels. The resulting document broke new ground in wording, but contained no legally binding enforcement mechanism to spur action on fossil fuel phaseouts. Bloomberg’s Green Daily described the pact as a “call to transition energy systems away from fossil fuels—the first time oil and gas had been included in a COP agreement,” and credited its wording for winning over “those demanding strong action” as well as oil producers and developing countries who favored the freedom to chart their own course to net zero. The agreement also included calls for tripling renewables and taking steps toward creating a loss and damage fund. COP28 President Al Jaber declared, “This is a true victory for those who are sincere and genuine in helping address this global climate challenge. This is a true victory for those who are pragmatic, results-oriented and led by the science.” Despite receiving a standing ovation from attendees from nearly 200 nations ("parties" are those signee nations to the UN’s 1992 climate agreement), reactions to what Al Jaber has called “The UAE Consensus” have been mixed. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, "It is good news for the whole world that we now have a multilateral agreement to accelerate emission reductions towards net zero by 2050, with urgent action in this critical decade." Dr. Ella Gilbert, of the British Antarctic Survey said, “The COP28 agreement finally puts into words what scientists have been saying for decades—that continued fossil fuel use must be eliminated to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.” Gilbert added, however, that “[Though] this eleventh-hour intervention is welcome, it will not be strong enough to avoid the worst impacts, including ice loss from the polar regions and devastating extreme events.”

What Can Be Done to Recycle These Tons of Ash? By Robin Whitlock* When certain fuels are combusted, it leaves a fine, powdery substance byproduct called ash. Two common forms of this type of waste are coal ash and wood ash. Of the two, coal ash can be the most problematic because it can take several forms and is the most difficult to recycle. In contrast, wood ash can be reintroduced into the soil as a fertilizer. What is Wood Ash? Wood ash is a waste product remaining from the combustion of biomass (as opposed to pyrolysis, which results in biochar). Its chemical composition varies depending on factors such as the type of wood, combustion, and temperature. However, it generally contains large amounts of plant nutrient, specifically calcium—particularly calcite, calcium oxide, and calcium manganate. This can make it highly valuable as a fertilizer to increase crop yields if used properly. Wood ash also contains toxic ingredients, such as mercury, lead, and arsenic. In small amounts, wood ash is good for gardens, having a liming effect and delivering potassium, calcium and magnesium to the soil, alongside various trace elements. Still, adding wood ash to the soil is generally beneficial by increasing its pH, neutralizing acid, and increasing the soil’s cation exchange capacity (CEC). This in turn improves the ability of soils to retain nutrients. In small amounts, wood ash is good for gardens, having a liming effect and delivering potassium, calcium, and magnesium to the soil alongside various trace elements. Wood Ash’s Impacts on People, Animals, and the Environment The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated in 2019 that 60% of total energy use in sub-Saharan Africa is from burning solid biomass—it’s almost three-quarters if South Africa is excluded—primarily due to using inefficient,  “three-stone” cookstoves to prepare meals, when more fuel-efficient options are available. The IEA further estimated in 2022 that more than 80% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa relies on biomass for residential energy. All this wood ash waste could be plowed into farmlands or used in urban agriculture projects to improve local food production. Instead, a common mode of wood ash disposal is taking it to poorly regulated dumps. Research Outreach reported in their November 2020 paper that the sub-Saharan region produces around nineteen megatons of ash every year. This waste contains hundreds of tons of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, more than a kiloton of mercury, and three kilotons of lead. Communities in the countries of Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Nigeria, and Guinea-Bissau could see as much as 4,000 kg (8,818 lbs) of wood ash dumped on one square kilometer of land every year. Wood ash also adds to air pollution, and “[c]onsumption of these kinds of pollutants is known to lead to permanent loss of cognition, disability, reduced lifespan and even death,” the Research Outreach report said. An improvement in the design and construction of stoves, resulting in more efficient combustion, could reduce emissions and the amount of ash produced. However, the most important factor is how the ash is disposed of in terms of collection, transportation, treatment, and recycling or disposal. [T]he most important factor is how the ash is disposed of in terms of collection, transportation, treatment, and recycling or disposal. According to a 2022 Canadian paper published in the journal, Environmental Reviews, there is mounting evidence that wood ash can be used to help counter the loss of nutrients in calcium-deficient soils and also boost forestry productivity. There is also evidence to suggest that wood ash from wildfires entering the ocean may increase phytoplankton growth at certain times of the year when there is a nutrient deficiency. What is Coal Ash? Coal ash results from the combustion of coal in coal-fired power plants. There are four specific forms of coal ash—fly ash, bottom ash, boiler slag, and flue gas desulphurization material. As with wood ash, it contains large amounts of calcite, calcium oxide, and calcium manganate. Fly ash is a fine, powdery material that mostly consists of silica, unburned carbon, and other inorganic substances. Bottom ash is primarily made of silica, ferric oxide, and alumina—its particles are too large to be lifted up through the smokestacks and remain in the bottom of the coal furnaces. Boiler slag is a smooth, molten form of bottom ash that becomes porous after cooling with water. Flue gas desulphurization material is left over from the process of reducing sulfur dioxide emissions from a coal-fired boiler by adding a source of calcium. This typically results in calcium sulfite or calcium sulfate (calcium-based desulfurization ash) or a dry, powdered material containing sulfites and sulfates. Coal Ash’s Impacts on People and the Environment According to the IEA, world coal production reached 6,122 Mtce (million tons of coal equivalent) in 2022. This large, persistent, global demand for coal for energy is viewed as a serious threat to the environment and human health, as well as the source of vast amounts of coal waste. Coal combustion residuals (CCR) contain many toxic substances, including mercury, lead, chromium, and arsenic. Advocacy groups like the Environmental Integrity Project warn that these substances are still leaching into the environment, while the Physicians for Social Responsibility reported in 2009 the adverse health effects of coal pollution on the respiratory, cardiovascular, and neurological systems, including lung cancer, cardiac arrhythmia, and ischemic stroke. In 2018, the physicians’ group linked toxicants from coal ash to kidney disease, reproductive issues, and gastrointestinal issues. [T]he Physicians for Social Responsibility reported … the adverse effects of coal pollution on the respiratory, cardiovascular, and neurological systems, including lung cancer, cardiac arrhythmia, and ischemic stroke, [and] … linked toxicants from coal ash to kidney disease, reproductive issues, and gastrointestinal issues. Unregulated or improper management of coal ash and waste presents significant risks to health and the environment. Coal ash impoundments (storage locations) are known to be susceptible to catastrophic failure—such as in Tennessee (2008) and North Carolina (2014)—resulting in dangerous pollution of the local environment. In the former, about 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash spilled into Swan Pond Embayment and three sloughs, while in the latter, 27 million gallons of coal ash wastewater and 30,000–39,000 tons of coal ash spilled into the Dan River. Management and Disposal of Coal Ash Coal ash and its byproducts can be recycled into products such as concrete (from fly ash) or wallboard (from gypsum), helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the costs of disposal. Incorporating coal ash in some products may also improve their strength and durability. For example, the use of fly ash in fresh and hardened Portland cement concrete can improve workability, decrease water demand, increase ultimate strength, and reduce permeability. Municipal bottom ash may also be used for cement applications, such as for aerated concrete. There is also research to extract rare earth elements from coal ash. Coal ash and its byproducts can be recycled into products such as concrete (from fly ash) or wallboard (from gypsum), helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the costs of disposal. Power plants dispose of coal ash in different ways. Some plants retain it in pools or ponds on the surface called impoundments, or send it to landfills. Other plants discharge it into nearby water courses under a water discharge permit. In the US, the American Coal Ash Association released its 2021 survey results that indicated decreased production of all combustion coal products. Beneficial reuse accounted for over one-third of the amount of coal ash produced, with the rest sent to a landfill or kept in impoundments. The Environmental Protection Agency is currently getting comments on a proposed rule that would expand regulations to inactive surface impoundments at inactive facilities. In Europe, The Netherlands reuses almost all of its fly ash for building materials production; its landfills are reserved for cases in which recovery or incineration of waste are not possible. Germany has used fly ash to refill and reclaim depleted lignite mines, with other usage for soil beneficiation, surface recultivation, and production of cement and concrete. In addition, German company Zaak Technologies GmbH implemented a Smart Sand pilot plant through a 2016–2020 project in which they utilized fly ash to produce artificial sand. Meanwhile, in the Czech Republic, a project called the Eden Silesia project seeks to convert a former coal mining region into greenhouses, a research center, and tourist attractions. A feasibility study for this was started in 2022. A ‘Plateau’ on Coal? According to the Boom and Bust Coal 2023 report, the US retired the most power from coal—13.5 GW—in 2022. In contrast, China increased its coal usage by 26.8 GW, which completely offset all coal plant retirements from the rest of the world. Meanwhile, Peru and the United Arab Emirates joined four other countries that have phased out coal (Austria, Belgium, Sweden, and Portugal). Global hard coal production increased in 2022 to 7.9 Gt, and the IEA said it is now expecting a “decade-long plateau” of coal supply and demand, based on the European Association for Coal and Lignite’s first market report in 2023. If transitioning away from coal is truly the global goal, countries need to work together toward finding alternative energy sources and keeping their commitments. *Robin Whitlock is an England-based freelance journalist specializing in environmental issues, climate change, and renewable energy, with a variety of other professional interests, including green transportation.

How EU Farm Reclamation Efforts Seek to Restore Prosperity to the Land By Kate Pugnoli* In countries around the world, the abandonment of small farms has resulted in a myriad of environmental, economic, and social problems. As farmland is deserted—in combination with human and climatic stressors—degradation of the land often follows, threatening rural ecosystems and the well-being of surrounding communities. To make matters worse, abandonment and degradation of land can contribute to natural disasters, such as the tragic wildfires that occurred recently in Maui, Hawaii [See The Earth & I, October 2023] and in 2018 in Greece [See The Earth & I, April 2023]. Small Farms Matter Smallholder farms are vital to millions of communities. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), about 600 million smallholder farmers are each utilizing less than five acres (two hectares) of land worldwide. But in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, these smallholder farmers produce as much as 80% of the food supply. These resourceful and hard-working farmers also contribute to ecosystem health and sustainable agriculture [See The Earth & I, April 2022] and tend to be more resilient than large-scale farming operations to disease, weather events, and pests. Land Abandonment Hurts Land abandonment refers to land that is no longer used for crops or livestock grazing for at least five years. Globally, small farm abandonment is often the result of worker shortages due to the remote locations, hard work, and isolation that typically comes with running a family farm. Poor soil conditions and adverse climatic, socioeconomic, and market factors can also drive people from the farms. When abandoned land loses its fertility and becomes unusable, there is potential for further land degradation. This can lead to soil erosion, desertification, flooding, and drought—and these increase the risks of wildfires. Estimates of the global degraded land stock are considerable, varying from below a billion ha to more than six billion ha. Estimates of the global degraded land stock are considerable, varying from below a billion ha to more than six billion ha (or 2.4 billion to 14.8 billion acres). One study found that 3.43 billion ha (8.4 billion acres) could be recovered through “natural processes if human intervention could be removed,” whereas about 878 million ha (2.2 billion acres) could “require active restoration.” In India, it is estimated that at least 30 million hectares (74 million acres) of degraded land will need to be restored in the remainder of this decade to reverse land degradation there by 2030. Reviving Small Farms in Mountainous Areas Small farms in mountainous regions are especially prone to abandonment, with environmental and social impacts felt “downstream.” The reasons for abandonment include steep and difficult-to-access pasture and crop slopes, poor soils, and limited available labor pools. This is particularly true in some mountainous areas of Europe—a continent faced with an ongoing decline in the number of farms and farmers—where efforts are underway to return some of these abandoned mountain farms to viability. These efforts may be a necessity, as a study requested by the European Parliament projects that by 2040, Europe may lose 6.4 million farms, leaving 3.9 million active farms. In a separate study, authors estimate that land abandonment risk in EU mountain regions is currently three times higher than in non-mountain areas. Another study, which compared data from 2010 to 2019, found the highest risks for farm abandonment were in countries with “difficult” farming conditions, such as Greece, Spain, Portugal, Romania, and Finland. Fortunately, projects to address this decline in rural mountain areas of the EU are already underway or in various stages of planning. MountResilience, for instance, is a broad partnership of organizations across the continent, from universities to local governments. It plans to “conceptualize, test, and scale up” solutions that address policy, social needs, and citizen behaviors to address climate impacts in the continent’s mountainous regions. MountResilience kicked off its operations in September 2023 and is funded by Horizon 2020 to run until February 2028. [A] Romanian demonstrator site ... will focus on increasing the fertility of mountain meadows [and] offer farmers field scanning and drone seeding services. The coalition is launching nine climate-related projects, including a Romanian demonstrator site in Râu Sadalui that will “focus on increasing the fertility of mountain meadows to support local farmers.” The partnership will offer farmers “field scanning” and “drone seeding” services. A Finnish Lapland demonstrator will target reindeer herding and tourism by providing coaching for stakeholders. Attracting Young Farmers In the upper valleys of the Rioja region in northern Spain, a government fruit tree inventory in 2017 has shown that “117 walnut plots (32 hectares) were semi-abandoned and 93 walnut plots (19 hectares) were totally abandoned.” A major concern is that local youth are not interested in going into walnut farming. A partnership called Innovation Operative Group for the Recovery of Abandoned Lands (GORTA) is responding to this problem. According to Nacho Ruiz, an agricultural technical advisor with CARNA, a lead partner in GORTA (as quoted on eip-agri, an official website of the EU), the partnership is using a social innovation approach or what they call “a business formula with social objectives” to modernize walnut farming while strengthening and protecting the social fabric and traditions of the region [see video]. GORTA’s aim, Ruiz explained, was to create a “holistic” model to engage policy makers, local stakeholders, and farmers. This approach—of focusing on land regeneration, community welfare and connection, and the farming experience versus a focus primarily on profit—should appeal to new farmers in the La Rioja region, he said. Meanwhile, in Italy, there is an urgent need for more olive growers. A National Strategy for Inner Areas in the Madonie has been crafted for a region of Sicily. To put it simply, local players co-designed and participated in the project, which addressed their concerns, strengthened community bonds, and helped new, young farmers succeed in this olive-growing region. According to il circolo, ”Young farmers profited from the local relationships and involvement … such as knowledge exchange and preferential land access.” They also benefited from working with different types of producers and players, such as manna farmers, schools, and NGOs. Selling young people on the idea of farming remains difficult. The EU Parliament is offering farming subsidies, but young olive farmers do not see government assistance as particularly helpful—they rue the added administrative burdens and bureaucratic disinterest in what younger farmers see as the value created by agro-regeneration work. The younger adults argue that regenerative value “might not be measurable in monetary terms” but should be considered when allocating funds. One alternative for abandoned farms is to “rewild” them. This tactic of releasing land back to its natural state can restore ecosystems at a landscape scale and help mitigate climate change, says the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Another outcome is to use the land for ranchers. A study of a successful shrub-clearing/cattle-grazing project in Spain’s Leza Valley highlights what the FAO calls the “cultural services” that agroecosystems can provide. These include “cultural identity” and the support  of traditional farming practices, biodiversity maintenance, recreational and tourism opportunities, protection against natural hazards, and food security. Despite the land abandonment problem in the EU and elsewhere, there are signs a small percentage of young people are turning to an agrarian way of life. This could be good news for the future viability of mountain agroecosystems, especially if policy and public sentiment encourage farming as a career and lifestyle. With just 6.5% of European farmers being under the age of 35 years, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen declared in a September 13 speech that the time has come for “making business easier” for the continent’s future farmers. *Kate Pugnoli is an Arizona-based freelance journalist and former educator who works with nonprofit organizations. Her area of interest is in addressing environmental issues impacting marine biodiversity and conservation.

The UN's International Organization for Migration on November 21 released its Progress 2023 report. The report focuses on internally displaced persons (IDPs), or people forced to leave their homes due to a variety of factors. Its data is from fifteen* countries, including ten in Africa, three in the Middle East, Vanuatu in Oceania, and Colombia in South America. The report compares IDPs and “host households”—the people and community present before the IDPs joined—although some countries are excluded depending on the statistic provided. In 2022, displacement due to disasters in the fifteen countries totaled about 11.7 million people. Overall, 61.5% of IDP households reported having “adequate shelter” compared with 85.4% of host households. Out of 11,502 IDP households, those in camps relied more on humanitarian assistance than those outside of camps (41.3% in camps versus 2.1% outside of camps), in Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Iraq, Vanuatu, and Yemen. In Mozambique, South Sudan, Sudan, and Northeast Nigeria, 36.4% from 17,880 IDP households perceived girls and women to be unsafe in “general” areas, while 23.7% did so from 31,627 host households. In Mozambique and Northeast Nigeria, 6,720 IDP households said the highest perceived threats to their girls were robbery (23.7%), violence (18.6%), and kidnapping (18.7%). Among 9,024 host households with girls, robbery was deemed the largest threat (25.1%) compared to violence (16.1%) and kidnapping (16.0%). As of December 2022, three countries—Afghanistan, Central African Republic, and Iraq—had more “IDP returnees”—displaced people who returned to their original communities—than IDPs. Other countries recorded more IDPs than IDP returnees. *The fifteen countries are Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Libya, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Vanuatu, and Yemen. Sources: International Organization for Migration (IOM). November 2023. Periodic Global Report on the State of Solutions to Internal Displacement (PROGRESS). IOM, Geneva.

Master Herbalist David Christopher Explains Why Whole Foods are Key to Good Health This is Part 2 of The Earth & I’s exclusive interview with Master Herbalist David Christopher on why he thinks eating whole foods is the best long-term medicine for humans—and their pets. [See Part One at The Earth & I, October 2023] The Earth & I: Why eat whole foods and herbs? David Christopher: The key [to good health] is to eat whole foods. That is why we use whole herbs instead of drugs, because they are in their whole state. A lot of the drugs on the market today came from herbs or are still taken from herbs because the drug manufacturers cannot seem to duplicate the chemical that is in the herb. So, what they are saying is, "We found this herb that's wonderful, it works really well, and this is the substance in it that has the medicinal quality we’re looking for." [Manufacturers] will extract that ingredient out. And if they can, they will duplicate it chemically. That is why drugs can be stronger and faster acting than herbs, but certainly not safer. You can lose the safety when you discard the other parts of the plant. We like to say, "The whole is greater than the part." But that is not the way modern science is today. Today it’s "the part is greater than the whole." They take the part out of the whole and say, "This is what's effective." We say, "It may be effective, but it's not safe, because you've got buffers and you've got adjuvants that are in the plant naturally, and you just took those out—and it's not going to be as effective in the long run." “A drug might have a quick action to it, but it is not going to be healing in the long-term like a whole herb would be, with everything in there that is supposed to be in there.” A drug might have a quick action to it, but it is not going to be healing in the long-term like a whole herb would be, with everything in there that is supposed to be in there. Many people—and this is not just about drugs—call me and say, "I'm having problems with my vascular system. I've got varicose veins; I've got vascular problems in my eyes.” And I tell them, "Eat some oranges. It's the white parts you're after because, in the white parts, you're going to find one of the flavonoids, rutin, that's specifically for vascular integrity." They say, "Okay, I'll just go buy rutin." But you are not going to get the same effect. I tell them, "If you're going to use a rutin supplement, take it with oranges to make sure you get all those other parts that are supposed to be there.” I usually tell them to take a carrot peeler and peel off the colored part of the outer orange, so you have a big white mass. Cut that up and eat it, or put it in a blender with some fresh squeezed orange juice and do a Julius, which is very pleasant. Or you can make a smoothie, and put blueberries in it, and the blueberries would really help. We like to deal with foods. And then they might say, “Are there any herbs we can take?” I say, “Yeah, there are herbs. Let's talk about that now, too.” So, that is generally how I operate. It is food first. Food First—for People, Pets E&I: We have not treated nature well. We've ultra-processed nature until we have turned it into microplastics that are now found in seawater and human blood. We have poisoned land, air, and sea with chemicals. Over half of our calories come from highly processed foods that can sit on store shelves for years, and so on. What role can whole herbs play in unraveling the damage that all these processes have inflicted? David Christopher: When I was growing up, nobody had pets with chronic problems. Pets had acute problems like getting run over by a car, but I do not remember pets having chronic problems. I remember visiting my sister-in-law and her family. They had a dog with chronic problems, but the dog was eating the same things they were eating. They were getting a little hefty, and so was their dog. The dog's chronic problems were caused by its diet. It was not eating what it should be eating. We see today that dogs are chronically ill. I get so many calls from people. "My dog needs to have heart surgery" or "My dog's got liver problems." Those are the same issues we have because pets are eating the same foods we eat, except maybe worse. They buy dog food, like you said, that can sit on the shelf for years and nothing changes. As far as our pets are concerned, I do not remember anybody going to the vet when I was a kid, but when they started vaccinating pets and giving them food that had nothing live in it, then they were going to the vets all the time. Our animals were going to the vets more than we were going to doctors, which is amazing because we are going way too often. Then they came up with products like vitamins and greens for dogs. If dogs have bad breath, these products take care of their bad breath and stop their farting and a lot of problems that can make dogs unpleasant to be around. Suddenly, the dogs were running around like little puppies. And people look at those dogs and say, "That's fantastic." But what about people? "Oh, no, I don't need that stuff." I think if we all started getting these super nutrients that are in live produce, we would see a big difference in our health. One of the things that we can do to lower our carbon footprint on the Earth is to grow food in our gardens, harvesting wonderful produce. At our house, we are living out of our garden. One of the things that we can do to lower our carbon footprint on the Earth is to grow food in our gardens, harvesting wonderful produce. At our house, we are living out of our garden. I don't grow everything we need, but when we shop, we spend our money in the fresh produce section. That is where we shop, and that is what we eat. I think that helps keep us healthy. I think I have seen medical doctors maybe once or twice in my life. The Vascular System—Whole Foods vs Drugs E&I: What happens when a patient with ... let's say a life-threatening heart condition … comes to an herbalist for help? Give us some examples, please, of how that would work; I know your father used herbs like lobelia and cayenne successfully in treating some very serious cases. David Christopher: Cayenne pepper is one of the first herbs we turn to for a heart condition. When the heart pumps blood through the body, it goes through the vascular system into tiny little vessels that feed the heart, but sometimes the heart’s not getting the benefit of the blood being pumped. The blood is supposed to go into those little capillaries. A lot of times those little capillaries are worn out or destroyed or lacking nutrients that are not being replaced. The capillaries are often clogged up with waste, like damaged cholesterol and triglycerides. And when we get a lot of triglycerides—when we eat a lot more food than we need, if we are not moving our bodies and exercising—we are going to have a lot of waste, and the body is going to go, "Oh, I need this," so it stores the waste. And that is where we get the triglycerides: It sticks to your vessel walls, and then it builds up, and then your blood cannot get through, and then the heart, or anything else, isn't going to get the nutrients it needs. You have trillions of cells in your body that do what they're supposed to do. You have cells in your heart that know exactly what they are supposed to do, and they all function well our whole lives. But then we eat the wrong foods and we clog up the vascular system, or we're uptight and we're making it so the blood can't get through the vascular system, or we're doing some drug every day that tightens the vascular system. That does not allow the blood to flow through. Instead of stopping the drug, people take another drug to counter that drug. Do you know which drug I am talking about? Caffeine. E&I: You surprised me with that. David Christopher: Caffeine tightens your vascular system and does not allow the blood to flow like it needs to. And if your vascular system is clogged or tight and cannot get the oxygen and nutrients; if that oxygen and those nutrients cannot get to the cells, then those cells that are working perfectly now start to work erratically. And if it goes on long enough, the cells will atrophy; they'll die. So, before they die, they send off a distress signal that they're not getting the nutrients they need. The central nervous system picks up that distress signal, and the life-saving mechanism sends the signal to the circulatory system to raise the blood pressure to force blood out to those cells so they do not die. “If you artificially lower the blood pressure of people that aren't getting the nutrients out to their cells, that's the worst thing you could do for them. If you artificially lower the blood pressure, you assure that those cells die.” If you artificially lower the blood pressure of people that aren't getting the nutrients out to their cells, that's the worst thing you could do for them. If you artificially lower the blood pressure, you assure that those cells die. So, I tell people, if you want to die of kidney disease, liver disease, or heart disease, take high blood pressure medication. But that is not to say to just jump off your medication! Your body gets the signal to raise the blood pressure, and if you block it using the medication...the body is going to go, "I sent a signal,” so it sends a bigger signal, and you block it, and it keeps sending a bigger signal. And then you suddenly take out the blocks and you've already got this signal that's "kaboom!" and you blow out your vascular system. So, that can be very dangerous getting off high blood pressure medication. Think about high blood pressure medication. What does it do? The most common one. You've got all these beta cells all around your heart that all contract at the same time. And they've got this drug that just wipes half of them out. So, then your heart doesn't beat hard, it beats softer. And that lowers your blood pressure, you see. But it doesn't get the blood out to the cells where they're needed. And what else have you got, your calcium channel blockers? Your muscles need calcium to contract, so your heart muscles, if they are denied the calcium, they can't contract as hard, see? To me, that is a terrible thing to do. We use an herbal diuretic, but we don't use it for the same reason. We use it to make it more efficient for the body to get rid of waste and to keep the blood pressure where it is supposed to be. Do you know what they use diuretic drugs for? Getting rid of a lot of the water in your system so your body can't make blood cells. So, now you've got less blood, so you have less pressure. Cayenne and Hawthorn We do something very simple like use cayenne pepper to increase the circulation, to get the nutrients out to those cells, so they don't have to malfunction and die. As far as the heart is concerned, we give it the food it needs to strengthen and be able to pump the way it is supposed to. Hawthorn is the specific herb for heart disease. With any heart disease, we want to get hawthorn in the patient. Most herbs have a myriad of uses. Hawthorn has one—food for the heart. We use the berries. Hawthorn is a food. People make hawthorn jam and jelly and syrups and other things out of it. We don't need all the sugar, but hawthorn is exactly what we want. We have all this hawthorn in our area that's wild, crataegus rivularis, and some other varieties that are found around streams. The Dr. Christopher company has people that go throughout the whole state, harvesting fresh berries in the fall. That is what they make the hawthorn syrup out of. I think that is why it is not only popular, but so beneficial. One of the things our students love most is touring Wholistic Botanicals, the manufacturer of the Dr. Christopher products. They do quality control that is just amazing, manufacturing at such volumes I would have never dreamed of when I first started in the business. Back then, we were putting the capsules into herbs and sticking them together by hand for a while, and then we had a little machine that helped, but it was almost impossible to do a big volume. They now put out more in a day, I think, than we put out the whole year. Things have changed quite a bit in the herbal industry. Can I say one more thing? E&I: Absolutely. David Christopher: Do you know what I love about my field [herbs]? No one is dependent on me or on Dr. Christopher. No one is dependent on Wholistic Botanicals or anybody. We can teach you the herbs. We have [educational] materials at Christopher Publications, and The School of Natural Healing has the materials that you need to learn it yourself. Even the internet has a lot of that information. You can learn it yourself. You do not need us. You can go pick your own herbs and use them. As far as looking out for the environment is concerned, please do not harvest them all. You never want to take all the herbs in an area. You want to leave some to propagate. And they can propagate well, like purslane does, for instance. It creates tens of thousands of seeds, so once you have purslane growing where you are, you have it for a long time. E&I: Thank you for sharing with us, David. This is why we love our jobs, too. David Christopher: Good. *David Christopher is a Master Herbalist and Director of The School of Natural Healing, founded by his late father and renown herbalist John R. Christopher. David speaks to international audiences about using whole foods and herbs to manage such conditions as high blood pressure, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases, and has helped establish Herbal Schools in England and Ireland. He and wife Fawn host “A Healthier You” podcast. In 1993, David wrote An Herbal Legacy of Courage as a tribute to his father. Editorial Note: For The Earth & I, Jerry Chesnut spoke with David Christopher. Disclaimer: Please consult your physician when making any changes to your health regimen.

Report Highlights Rise in Global Average Temperature and Heat Waves The team at Climate Central published a report based on analysis using their Climate Shift Index (CSI), expressing the likelihood that a temperature on a given day is attributed to “human-caused climate change.” CSI values range from -5 to 5, from five times less likely (negative values) to five times more likely (positive values) relatively. A value of 0 indicates no influence from climate change. The analysis covers the 12-month period of November 2022 to October 2023. The global average temperature during this period was 1.32 °C (2.37 °F) above the pre-industrial baseline of 1850–1900, beating the previous record of 1.29 °C (2.32 °F) from October 2015 to September 2016. There were 108 countries with an annual CSI above 1 (in other words, temperatures being at least 1.5 times more likely due to climate change), including 44 countries in Africa and 32 countries in Asia. This was compared to a baseline of 1991–2020. Out of 700 cities analyzed, 156 had “extreme” heat streaks of five days or more. Out of 920 cities analyzed, the countries with the most “attributable” (in other words, an average CSI of 2 or higher) heat streaks were China (48), the United States (12), then Mexico (11), with the rest of the countries in the single digits, although the number of analyzed cities per country greatly varied from one (such as Yemen) to 314 (China). The top 10 cities with the longest heat streaks comprise the United States (four cities, one with the highest of 22 days), Indonesia (three cities, one with the lowest of 15 days), Mexico (two cities, both with the lowest of 15 days), and China (one city). Among G20 countries, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia had the highest mean CSI (2.4 and 2.3, respectively), while Australia and Canada had the lowest mean CSI (0.2). Sources: https://assets.ctfassets.net/cxgxgstp8r5d/3Ol753QygKfVTuCC28qgij/b97aacad87ca66289e06e2176b7af567/-Climate_Central_report-_The_hottest_12-month_stretch_in_recorded_history__Nov_2022_to_Oct_2023_.pdf https://assets.ctfassets.net/cxgxgstp8r5d/1Lp10KKgzy8jEp5nbPdovf/68abc3f8c1c7a8bbcfa9655f6db58eb5/methods-doc-v2.pdf

Scientists Think Restoring the Earth’s ‘Living Crusts’ Can Aid Ecosystems By Mark Smith* Just as the human body is covered by skin that protects and nourishes it, so, too, are some of the driest parts of the Earth—they are covered by their own sort of “skin,” known as biological soil crusts. These “biocrusts” are microbial communities that live in open areas on the soil surface and partially within the soil of arid and semi-arid ecosystems. Teaming with microbial life, biocrusts play a vital role in enabling the resident ecosystems to flourish under such harsh, arid conditions. But despite biocrusts’ importance, it is only in the past few years that they have attracted mainstream scientific attention. Scientists who study climate change and other ecological issues have become concerned that biocrust erosion could have major unforeseen consequences. The race is now on to both understand biocrusts more fully and to discover how to regenerate these ecological environments. Such techniques could present mankind with useful tools to combat wider climate change. Why Biocrusts Are Important Biocrusts exist within the top few millimeters of soil in parts of the world where harsh conditions, i.e., cold or dry environments, prevent the growth of vascular plants. Sparse ground vegetation permits sunlight to reach Earth’s surface, thereby providing conditions for a community of organisms such as mosses, lichens, fungi, and bacteria to colonize the soil. These organisms essentially help to “knit” loose soil together, thereby providing a layer that protects the surface from erosion and dust storms, increases soil fertility, and helps soil retain moisture. These organisms essentially help to “knit” loose soil together, thereby providing a layer that protects the surface from erosion and dust storms, increases soil fertility, and helps soil retain moisture. This living crust also helps capture carbon from the atmosphere and influences the water cycle. Since drylands cover 45% of the Earth’s surface and support 2.5 billion people, the importance of biocrusts becomes even clearer. Biocrusts Under Threat There is growing evidence that climate change, droughts, and human activities, such as off-roading and agriculture, are having negative impacts on biocrusts. Between 10%-20% of dryland ecosystems have already been degraded, and that percentage is expected to grow. While biocrusts are generally able to cope with harsh conditions, environmental changes are having a negative impact, says Sasha Reed, research ecologist at the US Geological Survey. She warned that patterns of increased temperatures and decreased precipitation are predicted to cause conditions to become more extreme, resulting in less tolerant organisms disappearing from biocrust communities altogether. Dr. Reed also described the vulnerability of biocrusts to direct human activity. She told The Earth & I: “While resistant to environment stresses, biocrusts are quite fragile and can be easily crushed and destroyed by human activities, such as overgrazing and construction.” She warned that losing biocrusts would mean more dust storms, lower soil fertility, and big changes to hydrology, biogeochemistry, and biodiversity. “What happens to biocrusts could affect all of us, because of their importance and prevalence and because of how connected ecosystems are even at the global scale.” Once destroyed … it can take decades for biocrusts to recover. Once destroyed, she said, it can take decades for biocrusts to recover. “An example of the impact of widespread degradation of biocrusts is the dust storms that have increasingly plagued some major metropolitan areas in the Southwest USA,” she said. Increasing Attention But it is only recently that the subject of biocrusts has started to find its way into mainstream scientific debate. Corey Nelson, a research fellow at Spain’s University of Alicante, has been studying biocrusts since 2014. Nelson says that while the subject remains something of a niche area, it has been gaining increasing attention for several reasons. “Unfortunately,” he said, “a large driver of this is the increasing global desertification caused by climate change. Many researchers and government-funding agencies are looking at biocrusts as a tool to mitigate land degradation and slow desertification.” He added that biotech companies were also starting to realize that biocrusts could be an innovative tool to provide sustainable solutions to a wide number of problems. “For example,” he said, biocrusts can be used for “dust suppression in solar energy infrastructure” or “to stabilize mine tailings and capture toxic metals.” Restoring Biocrusts—Environmental Benefits Under additional pressure from droughts and climate-related issues, biocrusts often need restoration, but it takes a considerable amount of time for nature to complete that process. So, scientists are searching for ways to speed it up. To this end, Nelson has been working on several projects. One focuses on investigating how biocrusts form by studying the microbial interaction within biocrust communities. “We found that biocrust-forming cyanobacteria can form a symbiotic relationship with other soil bacteria to survive and thrive in nutrient-poor soils.” “We found that biocrust-forming cyanobacteria can form a symbiotic relationship with other soil bacteria to survive and thrive in nutrient-poor soils,” he said. “This symbiotic partnership involves the trading of resources; the cyanobacteria provide sugars to its partners, and in return, these beneficial nitrogen-fixing bacteria provide a source of nitrogen to the cyanobacteria. Without this resource trading relationship, biocrusts would not be able to form.” Nelson said that one way to help restore degraded soils was growing biocrust components like cyanobacteria in a lab or greenhouse setting and then seeding them in. However, many early attempts to grow biocrusts for restoration purposes ended up failing for unknown reasons. “Applying the knowledge of the symbiotic partnership from my previous work, we were able to develop a microbial nursery to grow biocrusts that used both cyanobacteria and beneficial bacteria,” said Nelson. “We found that when we seeded degraded areas with both the pioneer cyanobacteria and beneficial bacteria together, they developed very quickly into biocrusts three times faster than only cyanobacteria.” Currently, he is diving deeper into the impact of climate change on how biocrusts function. “We know that microbial interactions within biocrusts are very important for their formation and functioning, but we have no idea how global change might affect these interactions,” Nelson said, adding that he has been looking at 15 years of data. “I’ll be investigating how the biocrust microbial communities in these experiments have changed over this period and using it as a peek into the future to predict how well biocrusts communities will be able to tolerate change.” Dr. Reed is also excited about the progress being made to grow biocrusts. “There’s work on how we can turn biocrusts into little living pellets that could be dropped from airplanes after a wildfire, which is the same way we deliver seeds.” “There’s work on how we can turn biocrusts into little living pellets that could be dropped from airplanes after a wildfire, which is the same way we deliver seeds. It’s fun to think about little biocrusts dropping from the sky, ready to stabilize soils, add fertility, and help the ecosystem recover,” she said. She added that there is ongoing research to better understand how biocrusts can be added to disturbed areas in liquid form, spraying photosynthesizers onto damaged soils to help biocrusts keep the soil in place. New Tool Against Climate Change? In addition to the benefits biocrusts provide to the land, they could also play a pivotal role in helping to combat climate change. Along with fellow U.S. Geological Survey scientist Cara Lauria, and in partnership with the US National Park Service and Northern Arizona University, Dr. Reed is currently working on trying to quantify how much carbon dioxide is being removed from the atmosphere. “The research will also mean we can include biocrusts into the mathematical models science uses to predict future climate, which would be an exciting research advance.” She said, “The research will also mean we can include biocrusts into the mathematical models science uses to predict future climate, which would be an exciting research advance.” Data is showing that the way lands are used can strongly affect the health and function of biocrusts, and also that biocrusts have high resilience. “An improved understanding of biocrusts’ awesome role in the carbon cycle helps us put all this information into a global context,” Dr. Reed said. Challenges Ahead Despite the growing understanding of biocrusts and the role they play—not just in local water cycles and ecosystems, but the wider climate picture, too—there is still the belief it is something of a niche science. There is also, according to Nelson, no quick fix. He said: “One of the biggest challenges to mitigating the detrimental impacts on biocrusts is that, at the moment, there are no easy solutions… Current solutions for the restoration of biocrust are costly, time intensive, and hard to achieve at large scales.” With the ability to regenerate biocrusts, mankind may be able to implement measures to mitigate several pressing environmental issues. But, as with most nascent endeavors that hope one day to become mainstream, it will take funding, commitment, and time. *Mark Smith is a journalist and author from the UK. He has written on subjects ranging from business and technology to world affairs, history, and popular culture for the Guardian, BBC, Telegraph, and magazines in the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia.

Report Highlights Indicators Short of Reaching 2030 Targets Published under the name, “Systems Change Lab,” (including the Bezos Earth Fund, Climateworks Foundation, and World Resources Institute, among others) the State of Climate Action 2023 report assesses progress toward 2030 targets for limiting warming to 1.5 °C to support the Global Stocktake process. The report focuses on various factors, including electricity generation and usage, electric vehicles, greenhouse gas emissions, and reforestation. In 2022, electricity generation had shares of 39% for “zero-carbon sources” (such as solar, wind, hydropower, nuclear, among others), 36% for coal, and 23% for unabated fossil fuels. This is in contrast to their respective 2030 targets of 88–91%, 4%, and 5–7%, respectively. In 2022, the energy intensity of building operations was 140 kWh/m2 and the carbon intensity of building operations was 38 kgCO2/m2. Meanwhile, the share of new buildings that are “zero-carbon” in operation was 5% in 2020, and the retrofitting rate of buildings was less than 1% per year in 2019. This is in contrast to their respective 2030 targets of 85–120 kWh/m2, 13–16 kgCO2/m2, 100% of new buildings being “zero-carbon” in operation, and 2.5–3.5% per year for retrofitting buildings. In the industrial sector, the share of electricity in the sector’s final energy demand was 29% and green hydrogen production was 0.027 million tons (Mt) in 2021. Meanwhile, in 2020, the carbon intensity of global cement production and global steel production were 660 kgCO2/t cement and 1,890 kgCO2/t crude steel, respectively. This is in contrast to their respective 2030 targets of 35–43% for the share of electricity, 58 Mt of green hydrogen production, 360–370 kgCO2/t cement, and 1,340–1,350 kgCO2/t crude steel, respectively. For battery and fuel cell electric vehicles, their shares in bus sales were 3.8% and in medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicle sales were 2.7%, respectively, in 2022. Meanwhile, the share of electric vehicles as a whole in two- and three-wheeler sales was 49%. This is in contrast to their respective 2030 targets of 60% (in bus sales), 30% (in medium- and heavy-duty vehicles), and 85% (in two- and three-wheeler sales), respectively. Sources: https://systemschangelab.org https://climateactiontracker.org/documents/1179/State_of_Climate_Action_2023_-_November_2023.pdf https://unfccc.int/topics/global-stocktake/about-the-global-stocktake/why-the-global-stocktake-is-important-for-climate-action-this-decade