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For much of Earth’s history, stars have been easily visible in the darkness of the night sky. But today, artificial lighting has changed the landscape. What can lawmakers do about nighttime “light pollution”? In 19 US states, they have enacted laws to literally turn down (or turn off) the lights. In the 1970s, astronomers started complaining about light pollution when they realized they could no longer clearly see certain stars and celestial bodies. Under normal nighttime conditions, stargazers should be able to see over 2,000 stars. But people in a typical American suburb can usually see only a few hundred stars, and in a large city, residents would be lucky to see a few dozen stars. The US National Park Service estimates that as much as 60% of light from most light sources is wasted. About half of that wasted light bounces off molecules and aerosols in the atmosphere, returning to Earth to form what is called urban sky glow. Some 10% of the sky glow impacts our vision through glare. John E. Bortle created the Bortle Scale in 2001 to help classify night skies from Class I (pristine and natural) to Class 9 (large, compact cities). Nineteen US states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have enacted “dark skies” laws to reduce light pollution on public buildings and roads. – Source: National Conference of State Legislators and United States National Park Service.

The constant construction of new buildings—many of which are not “green”—are a challenge to the international target of 30% energy intensity improvements in buildings by 2030, as per the Paris Climate Change Agreement goals. The numbers tell us why: The buildings sector accounts for 38% of total global energy-related CO2 emissions and 35% of final energy use. Carbon dioxide emissions from the buildings sector in 2019 are the highest ever, recorded at almost 10 GtCO2. Leading climate change trackers say this sector’s rate of annual improvement is declining and needs to be quickly turned around. To make up for lost ground, direct building CO2 emissions must halve by 2030 to be on track for net-zero carbon building stock by 2050. In 2019, spending on energy-efficient buildings rose for the first time in three years, to $152 billion, a 3% increase. However, the energy-efficient spending was a small fraction of the $5.8 trillion spent in total in the building and construction sector. Green buildings represent one of the biggest global investment opportunities of the next decade; its value is estimated to be $24.7 trillion by 2030 by the International Finance Corporation. – Source: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Type 2 diabetes is the most prevalent type of diabetes today, but there are steps we can take to prevent it or reduce its presence. According to the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH): Your chances of developing type 2 diabetes are greater if you have a family history of diabetes, are overweight, or are age 45 or above. Prevention or delay of type 2 diabetes can be achieved by losing excess weight, engaging in 30 minutes of aerobic activity several days a week, and eating a healthy diet. Food portions are important. An easy way to judge size is to think of one serving of meat = the palm of your hand, one 3-ounce serving of fish = a checkbook or a cellphone, and one serving of cheese = six dice. Half or more of daily grains should be from whole grains. If you plan to begin an exercise program and have not been active, first consult a medical professional on which activities are best. Try doing aerobic exercise for 30 minutes a day several days per week. If you have been sitting for an extended period of time, take time to engage in some type of light movement for a few minutes or more every half hour. The blood pressure goal for most people with diabetes should be under 140/90 mmHg. Consult a health professional on what your goal should be. Youth diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are at higher risk of multiple complications within 15 years from diagnosis, according to the New England Journal of Medicine. – Source: National Institutes of Health, US Department of Health and Human Services

Coral reefs are highly diverse ecosystems, valued globally at about $9.8 trillion each year. Since the 1980s, however, three mass coral “bleaching” events have been observed. Efforts to understand and prevent this damaging phenomenon are bringing new data to the surface. Coral “bleaching” refers to the loss of symbiotic algae that give coral reefs their distinctive colors and energy. If a coral is severely bleached, it can become diseased and die. There have been three “global coral bleaching events,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The latest one, 2014-2017, started in the north Pacific in 2014, expanded to the south Pacific and Indian oceans in 2015, and spread to the Hawaiian Islands. The first global bleaching event was observed in 1998 when a strong El Niño was followed by an equally strong La Nina. A second event occurred in 2010. Corals can and do recover from mild bleaching episodes. However, severe or long-term bleaching can destroy the corals, leading to degradation of the reefs. This in turn affects shorelines and habitats for fish and other marine life. Bleaching occurs when normal summer temperature limits are exceeded by more than a few weeks. Risk factors include global climate change, fishing practices, and pollution from land. Real-time satellite and other monitoring of coral reefs can lead to early detection of oceanic heat stress, and actions can be taken, such as temporarily closing a reef to fishing and scuba diving, to protect these ecosystems. – Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Department of Commerce

Marine mussels have been recently found in Antarctica, raising alarms about the impacts of non-native species on that continent’s frigid coasts. In 2019, a scientist found a colony of juvenile mussels on King George Island, the largest of the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. Researchers said later these were Patagonian blue mussels—plentiful in Chilean waters— that most likely arrived on the hull of a ship. This mussel colony is viewed as the first ever invasive species to be found alive on Antarctica. Notably, when scientists returned to the same site after Antarctica’s winter (in which water temperatures drop below 30ºF for several months), they did not find any more mussels. The discovery of mussels has heightened concerns about climate change affecting Antarctica and its unique ecosystems and wildlife. Conservationists are also concerned that ship traffic related to tourism, research, and fishing is also exposing Antarctica and its pristine wilderness to human impact. At least five ports are already considered “Antarctic gateway cities,” but between 2014 and 2018 another 53 ports had vessels departing directly to Antarctica. In addition to mussels, which are notoriously proficient in attaching themselves to ships, algae, barnacles, and crabs have been found to have “hitchhiked” to Antarctica. – Source: National Academy of Sciences, Nature, The Weather Channel

Whether displaced by war, famine, or weather, refugees throughout the world are in desperate need of shelter. The situation in Yemen is particularly dire. Here are some numbers from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC): More than 6.6 million global refugees live in temporary camps. Among those, 4.6 million live in camps that were created/managed for them. Two million live in self-made camps. A total of four million people in Yemen are internally displaced by war. Many live in urban centers and about 150 informal settlements. About 190,000 people live in camps where conditions have been reported to be deplorable. Due to conflict, only 21% of displaced residents in Yemen can be reached by aid organizations. Nine out of ten settlements in Yemen are built on private land. Threat of eviction is real. Some 85% of Yemen’s displaced families are unable to regularly pay rent. 80% of the displaced are women and children. – Source: United Nations Human Rights Council

Animal pollinators play a crucial role in flowering plant reproduction and in the production of most fruits and vegetables. Among the most familiar animal pollinators are birds, bees, bats and butterflies. Here’s why we need them: Most plants require pollinators to produce seeds and fruit. 80% of flowering plants and over three-quarters of the crop plants that feed us rely on animal pollinators. Pollinators visit flowers in their search for food, mates, shelter, and nest-building materials. More than half of the world’s diet of fats and oils come from animal-pollinated plants. More than 150 food crops in the US require pollinators, including almost all fruit and grain crops. The USDA estimates that pollinator-dependent crops are worth more than $10 billion per year. If we don’t take care of pollinators, we lose them. Honeybees, for instance, are under tremendous stress. The prevailing theory is that the declining health of honey bees is related to multiple stressors including: Pests, pathogens and viruses. Poor nutrition due to the loss of foraging habitat, as well as increased reliance on supplemental diets. Pesticides. Bee management practices (e.g., long migratory routes). Lack of genetic diversity. Neither plant nor pollinator populations can exist in isolation–if one disappears, the other is a generation away from disaster. –Sources: EPA and the US Forest Service

Australia is tackling plastic waste through a new National Plastics Plan. In a government-sponsored survey for 2018-2019, the compilers decided to see how Australia has been doing with those one-use plastic retail supermarket bags that end up in landfills and trash heaps across the planet. Take a look at their findings: Australian manufacturing of single-use HDPE retail carry bags basically ended in 2017. Almost all bags are now imported. Until mid-2018 the most commonly used single-use plastic bags were made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic (the standard supermarket single-use bag). Over a two-year period from 2016–17 to 2018–19, plastic retail carry bag use decreased in Australia 32% by weight and 54% by number. Single-use HDPE plastic bag consumption has fallen by 77% since 2016–17, driven by instituted bans that began on July 1, 2018. The 77% reduction was further assisted by major retailers, Woolworths and Coles, phasing out single-use bags in July 2018. Single-use bag consumption in 2002 numbered 5.95 billion units, weighing 32,700 tons. By 2018-2019, those use-numbers had dropped to 1.30 billion units, weighing 7000 tons. –Source: Australian government’s department of Agriculture, Water, and the Environment

Want to know the potential for reforesting the Earth? Here's what NASA researchers found: Earth’s ecosystems could support another 900 million hectares (ha), or over 3.4 million square miles, of forests. That would be a 25% increase from the forests we have today. Planting over a half-trillion trees could capture about 205 gigatons of carbon (one gigaton = one billion metric tons = 1.1 billion tons) That would cut atmospheric carbon by about 25%. That’s enough to negate nearly half of all carbon emitted by humans since 1960. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change proposed that 950 million ha (3.7 million square miles) of new forests could help limit the increase in global average temperature to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by 2050. Reforesting a region the size of the United States and Canada (1 billion to 2 billion ha or over 7 million square miles) could take from one to two thousand years to accomplish—if we plant a million ha per year at 50 to 100 trees per ha. Source: NASA Information in this article was derived from NASA’s Vital Signs of the Planet: https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2927/examining-the-viability-of-planting-trees-to-help-mitigate-climate-change/

If you are new to ginseng, you may be surprised to learn of its fervent following, especially when it comes to wild-harvested varieties. Here’s what we unearthed about American ginseng, a sought-after member of the ginseng family. Tens of thousands of pounds of American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) are harvested from the wild each year. While the average harvest amount has dwindled, the price has skyrocketed. Between 2000 and 2007, harvesters made an estimated $22 million to $43 million each year from the sale of wild-harvested American ginseng root. Counties with more poverty and unemployment had much higher harvest rates. Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia account for about 70% of the total harvest from the wild. Wild American ginseng roots fetch 10 to 25 times more money per pound than ginseng grown in fields under shade cloths. A dry pound of wild-harvested roots can sell for hundreds of dollars. About 90% of farmed ginseng is exported. Since 1999, there has been a federal ban on exporting roots younger than five years old. Source: US Department of Agriculture Information in this article was derived from the US Department of Agriculture’s Southern Research Station: https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/compass/2020/05/07/american-ginseng-in-the-forest-and-in-the-marketplace/

NASA tracks global summer conditions such as surface heat and fires. This summer’s heat waves broke records across the planet. Here’s a taste of what NASA was monitoring: Hurricanes are affected by rising temperatures. In the Atlantic, five named storms formed between May 19 and July 9, with Hurricane Elsa becoming the earliest fifth-named storm on record for a single hurricane season. More than 62,000 hectares (239 square miles) have burned in Algeria this year. In one of the worst heat waves since the 1980s, more than 110,000 hectares (424 square miles) have burned in Greece this year. The massive wildfires in the Republic of Sakha in eastern Russia this year have set a record for estimated carbon emissions for the period from June 1 to August 1. As of August 6, 2021, the Dixie fire in California had charred more than 432,000 acres. More than 136,000 hectares (525 square miles) have burned in Turkey this year, nearly three times the annual average. At the opening of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, held this year in Japan, Tokyo was in the midst of a humid heat wave that pushed temperatures above 34°C (93°F) several days in a row. On May 14, 2021, winter ice still covered most of Canada’s Lake Winnipeg. By May 19, temperatures hovered between 30°C and 33°C (86°F to 91°F), and the dry landscape was covered with smoke and fire. Source: NASA Information in this article was derived from NASA’s Earth Observatory: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/topic/heat

For this issue of E&I, we looked at Germany’s solar panel waste problem, but Germany isn’t alone. The US and other nations are looking into their versions of the same problem. Here’s how things are looking for the US and other nations: Analysts predict that 59 gigawatts (GW) of solar photovoltaics (PV) will be installed between 2019 and 2022 in the United States. That amount would double the total capacity of PV that had been installed prior to 2019. The anticipated global PV capacity by 2030 is 1600 GW. By 2050, it’s possible for capacity to build to 4500 GW. Estimated solar PV waste by 2050 for the top five nations: China – 20 megatons, US – 10 Mt, Japan – 7.5 Mt, India – 7.5 Mt, Germany – 4.3 Mt. Solar waste recycling could develop into an entirely new waste management industry as it continues to expand. In terms of the total patents filed for solar recycling technologies from 1995 to 2016, these are the top countries or regions by percentage: China – 48%, South Korea – 16%, Japan – 15%, Europe – 6%, US – 4%. The US is far behind other countries in public sector support for PV recycling. By 2030, PV recycling is estimated to yield 75,000 Mt of aluminum and 90 Mt of silver. Reducing the amount of silver used in new PV technology is a key target. However, doing so would significantly reduce the overall value of recycled modules. Source: US Environmental Protection Agency Information in this article was derived from the following US Environmental Protection Agency report: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2019-08/documents/heath.pdf