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In this week’s feature report, we hear an interview by Janek Schaller with Lindsey Levine, who is with Sycamore Land Trust, and David VanGilden, with the Hoosier Environmental Council, about the Kirtland’s snake.
The New York Times reports a feel-good story about a very old whale. How the world’s oldest humpback whale has survived is a mystery. Old Timer, a male first photographed in 1972, was spotted last month near Alaska, enduring in the Pacific Ocean while some other humpbacks have struggled in a changing environment. A humpback whale’s tail is as unique as a fingerprint.
The lobes, or flukes, at the end of the tail have scalloped edges that vary from whale to whale; the undersides feature distinct black-and-white patterns that mark a whale for life. When Adam A. Pack, a marine mammal researcher at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, was photographing whales in Alaska’s Frederick Sound in July, he instantly recognized the flukes of an old friend.
Emphasis on old. The tail — mostly black, with a wash of white speckles near the edge — belongs to a whale named Old Timer. First spotted in 1972, Old Timer is now a male of at least 53 years, making him “the oldest known humpback whale in the world,” said Dr. Pack, who is also the co-founder and president of The Dolphin Institute. Humpback whale populations, once severely depleted by commercial whaling, have rebounded in recent decades. But the animals are threatened by ship strikes, entanglements in fishing gear and climate change.
And Dr. Pack had worried about Old Timer: The last time he had seen the whale, in 2015, was in the middle of a record-breaking, years-long heat wave. Scores of seabirds and marine mammals, including humpback whales, died. But after nine years, he saw with his own eyes that Old Timer had survived. “It was heartwarming, because I realized it wasn’t just the old whales who were perishing,” Dr. Pack said. “Some of them were resilient.”
Historically, tracking the whereabouts of the whales has been done the hard way: by scientists using their own eyes to compare new fluke photos with old ones. But future studies of Old Timer and other humpbacks of all ages are set to be accelerated with artificial intelligence. And Dr. Pack hopes it will help him learn how, and why, some whales can withstand tough conditions.
The New York Times reports on the continuing story of the ‘demise’ of the Great Barrier Reef within a generation. A new study found that temperatures in the Coral Sea have reached their highest levels in at least four centuries. This generation will probably see the demise of the Great Barrier Reef unless humanity acts with far more urgency to rein in climate change, according to scientists in Australia who released new research on heat in the surrounding ocean.
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world and is often called the largest living structure on Earth. The study, published on Wednesday in the journal Nature, found that recent extreme temperatures in the Coral Sea are at their highest in at least 400 years, as far back as their analysis could reach. It included modeling that showed what has been driving those extremes: Greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans burning fossil fuels and destroying natural places that store carbon, like forests. We’ve known this for decades, but we never take actions to halt the trend.
“The heat extremes are occurring too often for those corals to effectively adapt and evolve,” said Ben Henley, a paleoclimatologist at the University of Melbourne and an author of the new study. “If we don’t divert from our current course, our generation will likely witness the demise of one of Earth’s great natural wonders, the Great Barrier Reef.” The study’s scientific prose put it this way: “The existential threat to the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem from anthropogenic climate change is now realized.”
Tanya Plibersek, Australia’s environment minister, said in a statement that the government understood its responsibility to act on climate change and safeguard the reef. She pointed to a recent law that calls for a 43 percent reduction of emissions by 2030 and to $1.2 billion in measures to protect the reef. All coral reefs are in danger from global warming, scientists say. Too much heat causes coral to bleach, meaning they lose the symbiotic algae they need to survive. If conditions don’t improve quickly enough, the coral die.
The new research comes as the world’s reefs are in the grips of the most widespread bleaching event on record. From January 2023 to this August, 74 percent of the ocean’s reef area has experienced bleaching-level heat stress, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch. The previous record, which occurred between 2014 and 2017, was 65.7 percent.
Coral reefs support an estimated quarter of marine species, protect coasts from storms and underpin activities like fishing and tourism. Their economic value has been estimated at $2.7 trillion a year. What is not part of the study is the effect of rising oceans. Ocean levels could be up to 10 feet higher by 2100. This rise could be achieved even if only the Thwaites glacier on Antarctica breaks loose.
That release will raise ocean levels by 2 feet. Then other glaciers in the area are likely to drop into the ocean, bringing the potential of a 10 foot rise. The point is that coral reefs around the globe may die from receiving too little sunshine. The rising water temperatures and sea levels appears to doom essentially all corals throughout the world.
Do you recycle plastic? Do you feel like you are wasting your time recycling plastic? Actually, you probably are. Less that 9% of plastics produced have ever been recycled, and less than 1% has been recycled more than once. Most plastic are burned, dumped in landfills, or littering our neighborhoods and waterways. Here are the five reasons plastic recycling fails:
Reason 1: Plastic waste is too widespread to collect. Single-use plastics can be thought of as trillions of pieces of plastic confetti spewed from retail and fast-food stores. It’s impossible to collect all the small pieces.
Reason 2: Mixed plastic waste cannot be recycled together. It would be functionally impossible to sort the trillions of pieces of consumer plastic waste produced each year.
Reason 3: Plastic recycling is wasteful, polluting, and a fire hazard. The reprocessing of plastic makes toxic waste, and it’s been shown to be hazardous to workers. Plastic is highly flammable, which can cause fires at the recycling facilities, which release toxins into the air.
Reason 4: Recycled plastic has huge toxicity risks. Plastics are not inert like metal and glass. The may contain toxic additives or absorb contaminants like pesticides or motor oil.
Reason 5: Plastic recycling is not economical. It is expensive to collect, sort, truck, and safely reprocess. New plastic competes with recycled plastc, and it’s far cheaper to produce.
We are now at a decision point on single-use plastics and packaging. You, personally, can cut down on the use of plastic. We have a planet to save!
Microplastics are widespread in the environment, and it’s difficult to avoid exposure. We are just beginning to understand how microplastics can affect our health. Until we have more scientific evidence, the best thing we can do is reduce our exposure to plastics, especially heated plastics. The advice for us is do not reheat food in plastic containers; reheat instead on a regular plate or bowl.
Reheating in a styrofoam container risks a melting/volitalization of polystrene. Particles we cannot see are emitted and likely to mix with the food. We don’t yet know the effects of microplastics in the human brain. Some laboratory experiments suggest microplastics increase brain inflammation and cell damage, alter gene expression and change brain structure.
Various plastic chemicals could also leach out of the microplastics into the body. These include the famous hormone-disrupting chemicals known as BPAs, which are plasticizers used to make the plastics more moldable.
In this week’s feature report, we hear an interview by Janek Schaller with Lindsey Levine, who is with Sycamore Land Trust, and David VanGilden, with the Hoosier Environmental Council, about the Kirtland’s snake.
- A program about deer, called Oh Deer! will take place at the Paynetown State Recreation Area at Monroe Lake on Saturday, September 7th, from 2 to 3:30 pm. Examine real bones and teeth from a White-Tailed Deer and learn about the appearance of their tracks.
- The Friends of Lake Monroe are having a Pontoon Tour to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of Monroe Lake on Tuesday, September 10th, from 5 to 7 pm. Join Jill Vance, Interpretive Naturalist for Monroe Lake to learn about the lake. Register at https://www.friendsoflakemonroe.org/events-page.
- Enjoy a Wolf Cave Hike at McCormick’s Creek State Park on Friday, September 13th, from 10 am to 12:30 pm. Learn how the tornado impacted Wolf Cave. The hike is 2.8 miles long. Bring a flashlight.
- Take a Full Harvest Moon Hike at Spring Mill State Park on Saturday, September 14th, from 8 to 9:30 pm. Experience the park at night while you learn the history and folk lore of the Full Harvest Moon.
- Enjoy a Monroe Water Treatment Plant Tour to help celebrate the 60th Anniversary of Monroe Lake on Sunday, September 8th, from 10 to 11:45 am. Learn where your water comes from and the treatment process that turns water from Monroe Lake into our drinking water. Sign up at friendsofmonroe.org/events-page.
Credits:
On Air…………………………………..Julianna Dailey
On Air……………………………………Janek Schaller
Headlines………………..Norm Holy & Julianna Dailey
Feature Report…………………………..Janek Schaller
Script……………………………………Julianna Dailey
Events Calendar……………………….Julianna Dailey
Engineer……………………………..Branden Blewett
Are you looking for a way to make a difference on environmental issues?
Eco Report is looking for reporters, engineers, and segment producer to report facts on how we’re all affected by global climate disruption and the ongoing assaults on our air, land and water. We also celebrate ecologists, tree huggers, soil builders and other champions who actively protect and restore our natural world, particularly those who are active in south central Indiana. All levels of experience and all ages are welcome, and we provide the training you’ll need. WFHB also offers internships. To volunteer for Eco Report, call at (812) 323-1200, or e-mail [email protected].
