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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

Major oil spill disasters hit the global environment especially hard in 2021 and the year is not over: In October, an oil spill happened off the coast of California when a dragged anchor ruptured a pipeline. In July, a Japanese cargo ship became grounded and broke up off the coast of Mauritius, sending tons of oil into waters that are home to fragile coral reefs. A few weeks earlier, the Singapore-registered cargo ship, X-Press Pearl, caught fire and sank near Sri Lanka, spilling oil and nitric acid into Sri Lankan waters in what will prove to be a major environmental disaster with long-term consequences. According to a special report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), some spills are far worse than others. In the case of the Sri Lankan oil and chemical spill, small plastic pellets that take thousands of years to degrade were spilled in addition to over eighty containers of hazardous chemicals. The plastic pellets, called nurdles, have already flooded beaches and been found in fish stomachs. Once oil reaches a shoreline or spreads widely at sea, the cleanup becomes far more costly and difficult. Even in the best scenarios, UNEP reports that “only 40% of oil from a spill can be cleaned up by mechanical means.” Considering this reality, the UNEP report emphasizes that ways must be explored to enhance nature’s inherent ability to recover from man-made oil spills. The takeaway from the UNEP report is clear. As the Sri Lanka case clearly demonstrates, governments and oil industry stakeholders must have better preparedness plans in place to deal with the increased risks involved with a growing container shipping trade and the hazardous products it onboards.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the US Commerce Department and its global partners have released the most comprehensive analysis of coral reef health “ever undertaken,” The Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2020. Its findings? “Rising ocean temperatures resulted in a 14% loss of global corals.” On the brighter side, the partnership found indications of “coral resilience in some locations,” indicating that coral reef recovery is possible “if immediate steps are taken to curb future ocean warming.” “People around the world depend on healthy coral reefs and the services they provide for food, income, recreation, and protection from storms,” stated Jennifer Koss, director of NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program. “It is possible to turn the tide on the losses we are seeing, but doing so relies on us as a global community making more environmentally conscious decisions in our everyday lives.” The unprecedented report analyzed data from about two million observations, which were produced by more than 300 scientists and collected from more than 12,000 sites in 73 countries over a period of 40 years (1978-2019). According to the report, coral reefs grow in over 100 countries and territories, supporting at least 25% of marine species, and are foundational to coastal ecosystem resilience as well as the food and economic security of hundreds of millions of global citizens. Goods and services provided by coral reefs are estimated at US$2.7 trillion per year. The report declares coral reefs to be “among the most vulnerable ecosystems on the planet to anthropogenic pressures,” citing climate change, ocean acidification, marine pollution, certain fishing practices, and local land-based pollution such as inputs from agriculture as detrimental influences.

On October 17, 2021, the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge announced the winners of the first annual Earthshot Prize given to those whose work has “a positive effect on environmental change.” The Royal Foundation, led by Prince William and Duchess Kate, developed the prize to “have a positive effect on environmental change and improve living standards globally, particularly for communities who are most at risk from climate change.” It will be awarded annually until 2030. The Earthshot Prize takes its name and inspiration from US President John F. Kennedy’s “moonshot” ambitions to land a human on Earth’s moon, calling each of its environmental targets an “earthshot.” Each Earthshot Prize, valued at £1 million, can be awarded to “a wide range of individuals, teams or collaborations—scientists, activists, economists, community projects, leaders, governments, banks, businesses, cities, and countries—anyone whose workable solutions make a substantial contribution to achieving the Earthshots.” As announced by the Foundation, the 2021 Earthshot Prize Winners for the five categories are: Protect and Restore Nature: the Republic of Costa Rica, for successfully doubling the size of their forests through programs that paid local citizens to restore natural ecosystems. Clean our Air: Takachar in India, for engineering a cheap and portable technology that captures agricultural waste from the field to turn into fuel, thus also reducing CO2 emissions from waste burning. Revive our Oceans: Coral Vita in the Bahamas, for developing an innovative approach to coral farming that can help restore the world’s dying coral reefs faster than any traditional method. Build a Waste-free World: City of Milan Food Waste Hubs in Italy, for a city-wide initiative that has dramatically cut food waste from supermarkets and cafeterias while tackling hunger. Fix our Climate: AEM Electrolyser in Thailand, Germany, and Italy, for their green hydrogen technology that creates zero-emissions energy for all sectors.