Eco Report – December 15, 2023

And now for your environmental reports:

The Fifth National Climate Assessment indicates, that despite a decrease in U.S. CO2 emissions and reduced costs for renewable energy, the nation remains susceptible to the impacts of climate change. The report foresees a doubling of heatwaves, a 50% increase in droughts, and heightened cyclone and wildfire activity across the country, even with ongoing efforts to limit global warming.

Highlighting the significance of preparedness for these impacts, the assessment examines adaptation and mitigation activities across the United States. Data reveals coastal states in the West and Northeast lead in such efforts due to heightened risks. However, the report underscores the nationwide impact of climate change, with Southern states facing elevated risks despite varying preparedness levels. For instance, Mississippi, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama show lower preparedness, while Florida stands out as an exception alongside well-prepared states like California, Massachusetts, Washington, New York, and Maryland. Indiana is among the least prepared in the Mid-West.

—Norm Holy

That study, in 2019, helped to spur the Trillion Trees movement but also caused a scientific uproar.  The new conclusions were similar to those in a separate study published last year. Mainly, the extra storage capacity would come from allowing existing forests to recover to maturity.  But major caveats remain: If we protect all current forests, where will people get timber, rubber and palm oil? Would forests be able to store carbon quickly enough? And how much forest carbon would be lost to fire, drought and pests as climate change intensifies? 

The level of carbon storage cannot be achieved without cutting greenhouse gas emissions, said Thomas Crowther, the study’s senior author and a professor of ecology at ETH Zurich, a university in Switzerland. “If we continue emitting carbon, as we’ve done to date, then droughts and fires and other extreme events will continue to threaten the scale of the global forest system, further limiting its potential to contribute.”  Forests are essential to tackling both the climate and biodiversity crises. They offer food, shelter and shade to humans and countless other species. They clean our air and water. And they pull climate-warming carbon out of the atmosphere. As the climate crisis intensifies, that ability has made them controversial: How much can we rely on trees to get us out of this mess?

There is one thing they all agreed upon: To tackle both climate change and biodiversity loss, the world must do far more to cut fossil fuels and end deforestation of old-growth forests.  For Indiana the path forward is clear: we must cease burning coal, build much more capacity in wind/solar, and transition as rapidly as possible to electric vehicles. In managing our state forests, we should reduce the current level of cutting of 14 million board feet. To have any 60 year-old trees, we should return to the time before Republican Governors required the Forestry Department to generate roughly half of its budget from logging. Until Daniels, the state allowed about 2 million board feet. To date the state has not shown the political will to work toward meeting a zero carbon future.

—Norm Holy

While exceeding this milestone on one day shows how rapidly the planet is warming as a result of rising greenhouse gas levels, it doesn’t mean that the 2°C warming limit has been breached. That breach will occur when the daily average temperature over a whole year reaches 2 degrees C or above. As it is expected that the El Nino event will continue into the 2024 summer, so we may have several days breaking 2 degrees C in the near future. The 2 degrees C number has been seen as a goal to stay under for at least 30 years. The nations have been remarkable in largely doing nothing to prevent this warming.

—Norm Holy

They were right. Bloomberg NEW Economy Forum /NEF/ issued its annual battery price report this week, showing a global average price of $139 per kilowatt-hour for a lithium-ion battery pack, which is down from $161 in 2022 and lower than any year on record.  The report predicts prices will continue to decline, reaching an average of $113 in 2025 and $80 in 2030.

—Norm Holy

The WFHB volunteer wrote a note to the corporate headquarters in the USA. The note said that introducing foreign species into our waters is always a bad idea. The note illustrated what can happen by giving an example. Lake trout were introduced into Yellowstone Lake in the 1980s, and they have taken over and eaten the native cutthroat trout. Bears coming out of hibernation historically would catch cutthroats before the grasses and berries were available. The lake trout is a deep-water fish that bears cannot catch.  The bears turned to elk calves. The elk population has dropped from 16,000 to 4,000. Impacts are seen throughout the food chain.

It is not known whether the letter stopped the ad. What can be said is the ad has not been seen after the company received the letter.

—Norm Holy

Now, the nation’s airlines want to power their planes with corn, too.  Their ambitious goals would likely require nearly doubling ethanol production, which airlines say would slash their greenhouse gas emissions. If they succeed it could transform America’s Corn Belt yet again, boosting farmers and ethanol producers alike, but also potentially further damaging one of the nation’s most important resources: groundwater. Several issues need resolution: ethanol provides less energy than hydrocarbons, and ethanol eats away at many plastics and rubbers.

—Norm Holy

Up next, some local organizations were awarded the Local-Motion grant earlier this week from the Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Commission and bicyclists that use 3rd Street by I.U. may soon see new measures to keep drivers from obstructing or entering the bike lane. We now turn to Zyro Roze and Hank Duncan for more on these developments.

We also celebrate ecologists, tree huggers, soil builders and an assortment of 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.  W-F-H-B also offers internships.  To volunteer for Eco Report, give us a call at (812) 323-1200, or e-mail us at: [email protected]. 

And now for some upcoming events:

Do you know what a Smammal is?  Plan to come to McCormick’s Creek State Park on Saturday, December 16th, at 10:30 am to learn about Smammals.  You will explore the life of some of the tiniest critters that call the park home as you learn about the small mammals at McCormick’s Creek.