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“Soil” never ceases to amaze. It is so much more than “dirt.” Here are some soil stats to ponder: The National Cooperative Soil Survey has identified over 20,000 different kinds of soil in the US alone. Carbon is incorporated into soil by the decomposition of organic matter. In fact, 48% to 58% of soil weight is made of carbon. Soils hold more carbon than all the world’s vegetation. It is estimated that the Earth has taken a 59% loss of available carbon in soil through the conversion of grasslands to crops. Soil pH measures soil acidity or alkalinity. A pH of 7 is neutral, while less than 7 is acidic and higher than 7 is alkaline. The nutrition, growth, and yields of crops decrease with low soil pH. An area is not considered to have soil if the surface is permanently covered by more than 2.5 meters (8.2 ft) of water. This depth is considered too deep for the growth of plants with roots. Because soils are so varied, the lower boundary of soil has been arbitrarily set at 200 cm (6.6 ft). Source: US Department of Agriculture, UN Environmental Statistics Division Information in this article was derived from the US Department of Agriculture and UN Environmental Statistics Division - https://unstats.un.org/unsd/environment/FDES/EGES5/Session 1_6Mexico Francisco Soils.pdf

The UN Sustainable Development Goal #6 is to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” by 2030. Right now, many indigenous peoples worldwide lack access to acceptable drinking water. Let’s look at the situation in Latin America, where numerous indigenous communities live: In Latin American countries (LAC), indigenous peoples are 10% to 25% less likely to have access to piped water than the region’s non-indigenous population. There are over 800 distinct indigenous peoples in Latin America. 41% of Guatemala’s population is indigenous. 43% of the approximately 42 million indigenous peoples in LAC live in poverty. 71% of indigenous peoples have access to piped water in LAC, compared to 90% of non-indigenous peoples. One reason for the access gap is that about 50% of LAC’s indigenous peoples live in rural communities that are often remote. In rural Nicaragua, 63% of indigenous peoples have access to improved sanitation coverage, compared to 72% for non-indigenous peoples. Source: World Bank Group Information in this article was derived from the following World Bank Group report

There is broad awareness that the world’s air is polluted, indoors and outdoors, but there is nothing like seeing the numbers to get a grasp on the extent of the situation: Worldwide, 4.2 million deaths every year are caused by exposure to ambient (outdoor) air pollution. China and India account for half of global deaths due to outdoor air pollution. 91% of the global population live where air quality is worse than the World Health Organization’s guideline limits. People with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), a lung disease experience increased health risks from exposure to particle pollution. COPD is the third leading cause of death in the US. When an air-polluting steel mill in Utah closed for one year, nearby hospital admissions for bronchitis and asthma fell by almost 50%. Approximately 3% of cardiopulmonary and 5% of lung cancer deaths are attributable to air pollution globally. Up to 80% of particulate matter pollution in EU countries can be reduced with currently available technologies. Source: US Environmental Protection Agency, World Health Organization Information in this article was derived from the US Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization, and the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe

Our editorial team at The Earth & I recently attended the Twenty-Seventh International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences and the Second International Conference on Science and God, two academic conferences sponsored by the publishing foundation of E&I. Eminent scientists and scholars from around the world presented their in-depth and unique solutions for timely environmental issues. In this second issue of E&I, we are happy to share several of these valuable presentations. We hope that you, our readers, enjoy the range of topics and find them useful and inspirational on our shared journey towards a future of global kinship and environmental restoration.

The European Union has set a goal to become the world’s first carbon-neutral continent by 2050. Achieving this goal will require the greening of energy throughout Europe. Let’s see how far the EU has come. The EU intended to have 20% of its “gross final energy consumption”—meaning all the energy needed to run industry, transportation, households, services, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries—come from renewable sources by 2020. The latest reports indicate that they achieved 19.7% by 2019. From 2004 to 2019, the share of renewables in energy consumption went from 9.6% to 19.7%. The top five EU states in terms of the share of renewables in total energy consumption are: Sweden – 56.4%, Finland – 43.1%, Latvia – 41.0%, Denmark – 37.2%, and Austria – 33.6% The bottom five: Luxembourg – 7.0%, Malta – 8.5%, the Netherlands – 8.8%, Belgium – 9.9%, and Ireland – 12.0% Electricity produced from renewables has grown over the last decade. Now, wind and hydro power account for 70% of electricity generated from renewables. Solar power has been the fastest growing source of renewable electricity: growing from 1% in 2008 to 13% in 2019. Source: European Commission Information in this article was derived from the European Commission’s Eurostat website: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Renewable_energy_statistics

Desalination is one way to increase freshwater supplies worldwide. Here are some facts from the US Geological Survey to put desalination into perspective: Saline water comes in a variety of concentrations, depending on the dissolved salt content. The cost of desalination is based on how much salt is present. Water is considered freshwater if salt accounts for less than 1,000 parts per million (ppm) by weight. Ocean water is the most saline and contains around 35,000 ppm of salt. An estimated 30% of the world’s irrigated land experiences salinity problems. The International Desalination Association reports that in June 2015 there were over 18,000 desalination plants worldwide. They produced 86.8 million cubic meters of water daily for 300 million people. Middle Eastern countries (particularly Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain) use about 70% of the world’s desalinated water. North African countries (mainly Libya and Algeria) use an additional 6%. California and Florida are considered the “most important” users of desalinated water in the United States. — Source: US Geological Survey

What does the future of solar energy look like in the United States? Let’s see the latest projections by the Department of Energy: As of September 2021, solar energy provided 3% of US electricity. By 2035, it is expected to increase to 40%. By 2050, 45% of electricity will likely come from 1600 gigawatts alternating current (GWac) of solar energy production. The US installed around 15 GWac of solar in 2020. To meet the goal of 95% grid decarbonization by 2035, the US would need to install 30 GWac each year until 2025, then 60 GWac annually from 2025 to 2030. Based on these growth goals, 500,000 to 1.5 million people in the US could be employed in solar energy jobs by 2035. By 2050, solar energy could provide 30% of buildings’ energy needs, 14% of transportation, and 8% of industrial energy needs through electrification in these sectors. — Source: US Department of Energy

NASA knows a thing or two about sea level changes. They’ve been measuring ocean heights via satellite since 1992. Here’s what they have learned: The global sea level rises about 0.13 inches (3.3 millimeters) a year. That’s 30% more than when NASA began measuring ocean heights in 1992. Around two-thirds of global sea level rise is due to meltwater from glaciers and ice sheets that cover Antarctica and Greenland. Ice sheet melt contributed about 1.2 millimeters to annual sea-level rise between 2002 to 2017. 318 gigatons of ice has melted per year from the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica. Just 1 gigaton is enough to cover New York City’s Central Park in 1,000 feet of ice. The top 2,300 feet (700 meters) of the ocean has been warming since the 1970s. NASA’s GRACE and GRACE-FO satellites have tracked changes in Earth’s gravity field for 18 years to measure the total mass lost from land ice. Satellite altimeters have measured the height of the world's oceans and seas since 1993. These altimeters show that sea levels have risen globally by about 4 inches (93 millimeters) to as much as 6 inches (150 millimeters) in some places. — Source: NASA

Want to get charged up by some electric vehicle (EV) data? You’ve come to the right place. There are over 38,000 EV chargers in the US available to the public. Most EVs can be charged with a standard 120 V (Level 1) outlet. Car owners can install a dedicated 240 V (Level 2) outlet or charging system to charge their EVs more quickly. Apartment or condominium EV charging stations are becoming more common. Most EV models go above 200 miles on a full charge (a typical household travels 50 miles per day). Electric vehicle range can decrease by 40% due to cold weather and the use of automobile heaters. There are more than 45 PHEV (hybrid) and EV models on the market (with more on the way). Charging times can range from under 20 minutes to 20 hours or more, depending on how depleted the battery is, how much energy it holds, the type of battery, and the type of charging equipment. Extreme fast chargers (XFC), capable of power outputs of up 350 kW and higher, are rapidly being deployed in the US. — Source: US Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency

The US Department of Agriculture is trying to reduce the amount of fish meal and fish oil contained in aquaculture feeds while, at the same time, maintaining the human health benefits of farmed seafood. How are they doing? Here are the numbers: It is estimated that the amount of fish meal in salmon diets has dropped from being 70% of the diet in the 1980s to about 25% in 2017. Traditionally, diets for farmed carnivorous fish contained about 30% to 50% fish meal and oil, but today some carnivorous species are fed no fish meal or oil. Researchers are working to identify combinations of ingredients that can achieve the balance of the 40 essential nutrients that fish meal and fish oil have. About 70% of the fish meal and oil used for aquaculture feed are produced from the harvest of small, open-ocean (pelagic) fish such as anchovies, herring, and mackerel. The remaining 30% comes from leftover scraps from seafood processing. Menhaden caught off the East Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico are the source of most fish meal and oil production in the US. The cost of feed makes up 60% of the total cost of farming fish. — Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The US EPA has a lot to say about methane emissions. Let’s break it down into the basics: As a greenhouse gas, methane is 25 times more potent than an equal amount of CO2 over a 100-year period. Methane emissions come from both man-made and natural sources. Some 50%-65% of methane emissions come from human activities. Methane accounted for 10% of US greenhouse gas emissions in 2019. In the US, methane emissions decreased by 15% from 1990 to 2019. While agricultural emissions increased, emissions from landfills, mining, and fossil fuel production decreased. US methane emissions came from the following sources in 2019: 30% natural gas and petroleum systems; 27% enteric fermentation (gas produced from cows and other livestock); 17% landfills, 9% manure management; 7% coal mining, 9% other sources. — Source: US Environmental Protection Agency

As populations grow and cities become more crowded, the amount of food needed to sustain them grows as well. Let’s look at a breakdown of urban food needs: Today, at least 55% of the global population lives in urban areas. About 80% of all food produced is meant for urban consumption. It is expected that 2.5 billion more people will live in urban areas by 2050. Already 85% of the global population live in or within three hours of an urban center of >50,000 people. Food and green waste make up more than 50% of all municipal. Urbanites consume up to 70% of the food supply. Some 60% of irrigated croplands and 35% of rain-fed croplands lie within a 12.5-mile (20 km) radius of urban areas. Food expenses may be as high as two-thirds of total urban household expenditures. Processed food consumption—with low nutrient value—has increased annually by 5.45% between 1998 and 2012 in lower- and middle-income countries. Over 2 billion adults are either overweight or obese. — Source: Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations