Eco Report – October 20, 2023

Hello and welcome to Eco-Report. For WFHB, I’m Julianna Dailey, and I’m Frank Marshalek.
On today’s edition of Eco Report, eco-architect and place maker Mark Lakeman invites us to apply urban permaculture to rehumanize public spaces by tapping into the natural economy of the Universe as they have been doing in Portland’s City Repair Project for almost thirty years. That’s coming up later in the broadcast in Part Three of a conversation with Environmental Correspondent Zyro Roze.

 

And now for your environmental reports:

Michigan is decarbonizing. The Michigan Legislature is poised to pass one of the most comprehensive clean energy initiatives in the country, requiring 100 percent of electric power to come from carbon-free sources by 2035. The ambitious legislative agenda implements Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Michigan’s Healthy Climate Plan.

Getting less attention is the fact that it will also provide long-term benefits to Michigan’s water resources by significantly reducing pollution from burning fossil fuels. A century of burning coal has resulted in widespread pollution of the Great Lakes. Mercury, a powerful neurotoxin released from coal-fired power plants, is responsible for 57 percent of all mercury present in the Great Lakes, resulting in official advisories to limit consumption of Great Lakes fish. For many years coal ash was often dumped into pits very near to the Great Lakes.
Burning natural gas is said to be “cleaner” than coal, but like coal releases nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxides – all of which inevitably impact Michigan’s surface waters. Michigan’s plan is to make improvements in many areas. Listeners can see the plan by looking for “Michigan’s Healthy Climate Plan.” For power
generation, the plan focuses on wind and solar. The levelized cost of electricity for new onshore wind and solar resources that are coming online in 2023 was $25/MWh, compared with $34/MWh for new combined-cycle natural gas units. Adding new wind and solar resources is comparable – and in many cases cheaper – to the cost of running existing power plants.

The Michigan plan is very different from anything that has emerged from Indiana’s Legislature. Thus far, Indiana is still determined to burn coal.

—Norm Holy

The New York Times reported good news for the endangered Green Turtle. Green sea turtles had an exceptional nesting season on Florida’s beaches in 2023, with volunteers counting more than 74,300 nests, according to preliminary data. That beats the previous record, from 2017, by a staggering 40 percent.

The increase is an explosion and a welcome surprise, said Simona Ceriani, a research scientist who coordinated the annual survey for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The count will continue through Oct. 31.

Sea turtles don’t reach sexual maturity until their twenties or thirties, so what Florida is seeing now is very likely the result of conservation measures put in place after green sea turtles were
listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1978, Dr. Ceriani said.

But researchers aren’t ready to claim a conservation victory just yet. Those impressive nesting numbers are just “half the story,” according to Jeanette Wyneken, a professor at Florida Atlantic
University who has studied nesting sea turtles for more than three decades. That’s because, more than most creatures, sea turtles are particularly attuned to a warming climate. In fact, the sex of a baby sea turtle isn’t determined by its DNA but by the temperature of the sand in which its egg developed. Cooler temperatures mean males, warmer ones mean more females.
According to Dr. Wyneken, who has been monitoring incubation temperatures and sex ratios in the nests of green sea turtles in Palm Beach County since 2005, in recent years the proportion
of male green sea turtle hatchlings has dwindled substantially.

In the past few seasons, between 87 percent and 100 percent of the hatchlings she has tested have been female. In the short term, such a skewed sex ratio could actually be a boon to green turtles. A breeding female lays between two and nine clutches of about 110 eggs each in a season, and a greater proportion of females in any given generation means more nests in the sand 20 years down the road. That is, Dr. Wyneken said, as long as there’s enough boys to service the girls.

—Norm Holy
With the locations favorable for growing grapes for wine expanding northward as the planet warms, is it possible that wineries in Scandinavia are now possible? Actually, we might start with the question of whether the Vikings grew grapes for wine? It has been thought that grapes were not grown in Denmark before the medieval period. But The Local, Denmark, reports that strontium isotope analysis of two grape seeds recovered at the site of the Viking settlement at Tissø suggests they may have been grown on the main Danish island of Zealand. That island is warmed by the Gulf Stream.
Norway is now warm enough for wine grapes. There are already half a dozen commercial wineries in Norway. A winegrowers’ association has also already been founded and has a bevy of amateur winemakers as members. The grapes grown include Solaris grapes for white wines and sparkling wines and Rondo for red, rosé and sparkling wines. In addition, other hybrids such as Leon Millot, Cabernet Cortis, early Pinot noir. The scale of sale of wines from Norway is small. Beer and vodka are the only alcoholic beverages produced in Norway in any quantity.
In the southernmost parts of Denmark and Sweden, the climate allows new wine regions to emerge. Sweden is an official wine country since 1999.

—Norm Holy

A major utility in northwest Indiana has plans to greatly reduce its carbon footprint. The company is the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO), with headquarters in Merrillville, Indiana. One goal is to be coal-free by 2028.
A current project is called the Dunns Bridge Solar, a 265 Mega Watts facility located in Jasper County, Ind. near NIPSCO’s R.M. Schafer Generating Station, which is expected to be retired in 2025. This facility is the first of a two-part solar project, currently under construction, and is expected to produce 435 MegaWatts of solar paired with 75 MegaWatts of battery storage. These two projects are expected to generate approximately $59 million in additional tax revenue for Jasper and Starke counties over the life of the facility.
NIPSCO’s electric generation transition toward a more balanced and reliable portfolio – including its plans to retire all its remaining coal-fired units – is driven by real-world data and economics. NIPSCO has also performed ongoing analysis of current market conditions and changes in market rules, which support NIPSCO’s current generation transition path. The company plans to be coal-free by 2028, driving a reduction in carbon emissions by more than 90% by 2030, compared to a 2005 baseline.
NIPSCO’s current wind projects are performing well, and 100 percent of the excess power sales currently goes back to customers, which is nearly $60 million since 2021. Going coal-free in one of the most polluted areas of the state should also mean fewer deaths from air pollution.

—Norm Holy

And now, we turn to Zyro Roze as he asks Mark Lakeman of Communitecture about the inception of Portland’s City Repair Project, a grassroots uprising that began reclaiming street intersections as civic centers by gathering neighbors to rehumanize public spaces, asserting cultural agency by painting street murals, planting gardens, erecting solar tea stands, building earthen benches and whimsical art installations, all without permission from local authorities.

Are you looking for a way to make a difference on environmental issues?
Here at EcoReport we are currently looking for reporters, engineers, and segment producers. Our goal is 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 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.

And now for some upcoming events:

Enjoy Pumpkin Carving and learn about Three Sisters planting techniques on Saturday, October 21st, from 5:30 to 7 pm at Winslow Woods Park. While you carve a pumpkin, you will learn about the Three Sisters companion planting technique that plants squash, corn and beans all together. Register at bloomington.in.gov/parks.

You can Preserve-a-Preserve and Volunteer to Weed Wrangle on Wednesday, October 25th, from 2 to 4 pm at the Canyon Forest Nature Preserve in Greene County. Learn how to identify and control invasive plants. Registration is required at sycamorelandtrust.org.

Get scared during Spooky Folklore Stories at Spring Mill State Park on Friday, October 27th, from 8 to 8:30 pm. Meet Anthony at the Lakeview Activity Center ampitheater for some spooky local folklore tales told around the campfire.

Join the Uplands Network of the Sierra Club for a 7-mile hike on the Sycamore Loop Trail in the Hoosier National Forest on Saturday, October 28th, from 9 am to 1:30 pm. There will be a stop for lunch while you enjoy the beautiful fall foliage. Register at [email protected] or call 812-320-9322.

Take a Spooky Full Moon Hike on Saturday, October 28th, from 9:30 to 11 pm at Leonard Springs Nature Park. During the hike you will learn the history and folklore surrounding the full moon and Hallow’s Eve. Register at bloomington.IN.gov/parks.

And that wraps up our show for this week. Eco Report is brought to you in part by M-P-I Solar, a Bloomington business specializing in solar hot water, solar electricity and solar hot air systems. M-P-I Solar designs and installs solar power generation systems that encourage independence and individual responsibility. Found locally at 812-334-4003 and on the Web at MPIsolarenergy.com.