WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:06 — 26.7MB)
In this edition of Eco Report, Maggie Sullivan, Watershed Coordinator for the Friends of Lake Monroe, shares how healthy the lake is and how long it will survive.
Over the past few segments of EcoReport, we have been teaching you about the kinds of plastic and what they are used for. Many think that plastic can be recycled. Today, you are going to learn the reasons plastic recycling fails. Single-use plastics can be thought of as trillions of pieces of plastic confetti spewed from retail and fast-food stores. Collecting the vast quantity of small pieces of plastic sold to U.S. consumers annually is impossible. In this edition of Eco Report, Maggie Sullivan, Watershed Coordinator for the Friends of Lake Monroe, shares how healthy the lake is and how long it will survive.
Spending billions of consumer and taxpayer dollars to increase collection is a waste of money. Mixed plastic waste cannot be recycled together, and it would be functionally impossible to sort the trillions of pieces of consumer plastic waste produced each year. The reprocessing of plastic also makes toxic waste, and it’s been shown to be hazardous to workers. Plastic is highly flammable, so plastic recycling can be dangerous to neighboring communities due to the risk of fires at the recycling facilities, which can release toxins into the air.
Plastics are not inert like metal and glass. Plastic products may contain toxic additives or absorb contaminants like pesticides or motor oil. Plastic has always been expensive to collect, sort, truck, and safely reprocess. New plastic directly competes with recycled plastic, and it’s far cheaper to produce, and the expanding petrochemical industry is lowering the cost of new plastic even further. So, now we are at a decision point on single-use plastics and their packaging.
Next week, let’s figure out what we can do in our lives to cut down on the use of plastic.
Inside Climate News reports that the ocean is a major industry hub, acting as a marine highway for shipping vessels, a connector for transport ships and cruise lines, and a critical food and economic resource for the world’s fishing fleets. However, this sprawling marine ecosystem, which covers more than 70 percent of the planet, also provides a perfect place for unregulated human activities to hide in plain sight, experts say.
A recent study revealed just how much fishing activity is slipping under the radar, finding that roughly three-quarters of the world’s industrial fishing ships are not publicly tracked. “The reason this matters is because it’s getting more crowded at sea and it’s getting more used and suddenly you have to decide how we’re going to manage this giant global commons,” David Kroodsma, director of research and innovation at the nonprofit Global Fishing Watch and co-lead author of the study, told the Verge. It can’t be the Wild West. And that’s the way it’s been historically.
According to the New York Times, heat waves are moving slower and staying longer, a new study finds. Climate change is making heat waves linger for longer stretches of time, exacerbating the effects of extreme temperatures. When heat waves swept across large parts of the planet last summer, in many places the oppressive temperatures loitered for days or weeks at a time. As climate change warms the planet, heat waves are increasingly moving sluggishly and lasting longer.
Each decade between 1979 and 2020, the rate at which heat waves travel, pushed along by air circulation, slowed by about 5 miles per day, the study found. Heat waves also now last about four days longer on average. This really has strong impacts on public health, said Wei Zhang, a climate scientist at Utah State University and one of the authors of the study, which appeared in the journal Science Advances. The longer heat waves stick around in one place, the longer people are exposed to life-threatening temperatures. As workers slow down during extreme heat, so does economic productivity.
Heat waves also dry out soil and vegetation, harming crops and raising the risk of wildfires.This study is a further example of the consequences of a slowing jet stream. Thus, heat waves and storms linger. Expect the same this summer.
The following story, based upon an article n the New York Times, serves as a reminder to Hoosiers to be careful about what goes into the water. It’s a reminder to us because there are many rivers and streams in the state that if a person decided to swim, it’s likely the person will become sick. Most of the contamination comes from agricultural runoff. A fertilizer spill in Iowa this month wiped out much of the aquatic life across a 60-mile stretch of rivers in two states, officials said, leaving an estimated 789,000 fish dead in one of the region’s most ecologically devastating chemical spills in recent years.
A Missouri official who surveyed the damage said that the banks of the Nishnabotna (Nish-na-bot-to-na) River had been lined with fish carcasses, and that dead fish were visible through the water. “I refer to this one as ‘the big one,” said the official, Matt Combes, an ecological health unit science supervisor for the Missouri Department of Conservation. He added: Calling something a near-total fish kill for 60 miles of a river is astounding and disheartening.
While fish kills on that scale are unusual, smaller kills are common. Comparing the scope of fish kills across different states is difficult because of limited data and tracking, experts said. The latest die-off started, Iowa officials said, when a valve was left open over a weekend on a storage tank at NEW Cooperative, an agricultural business in Red Oak, in southwestern Iowa. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which learned of the spill on March 11, said this week that 265,000 gallons of liquid nitrogen fertilizer spilled into a drainage ditch and into the Nishnabotna River, which flows into the Missouri River.
Iowa officials estimated that more than 749,000 fish died in that state. Most of them were small species, such as minnows and shiners, but thousands of larger fish, including catfish and carp, also perished. Mr. Combes, the Missouri official, estimated that around 40,000 fish died in his state. He said he saw large catfish dead, as well as shovelnose sturgeon.
In this week’s Eco Report feature, Maggie Sullivan, Watershed Coordinator for the Friends of Lake Monroe, shares how healthy the lake is and how long it will survive.
- Take a Lake Ogle Hike at Brown County State Park on Saturday, April 13th, from 2 to 3:30 pm. Enjoy a guided hike on Trail 7 and hear the history of the lake and learn about the flora and fauna around the lake
- Enjoy a Birdwatching for Beginners hike at Griffy Lake Nature Preserve on Saturday, April 13th, from 7:30 to 9:30 am. Birdwatching is a low-cost, relaxing and fun way to enjoy the outdoors. Wear comfortable shoes and dress for the weather. Register at bloomington.IN.gov/parks
- One of the best locations to see spring wildflowers in bloom is at Monroe. Enjoy a Salt Creek Wildflowers Hike on Wednesday, April 17th, from Noon to 2 pm. You will get to see the rare white-blooming Virginia Bluebells along with other species. Sign up at bit.ly/saltcreekflowers2024
- A Global Climate Strike is taking place on Sunday, April 21st, from 4 to 4:30 pm at the Monroe County Courthouse. Come with signs and support!
- Learn all about skulls at the Who’s Skull Is That program at McCormick’s Creek State Park on Friday, April 19th, from 10 to 10:45 am. You can learn a lot about an animal from its skull. Meet at the Nature Center
Credits:
Environmental Report was written by Norm Holy and Julianna Dailey
Eco Report Feature was produced and edited by Kade Young
Julianna Dailey compiled the events calendar
Kade Young and Noelle Herhusky-Schneider produce Eco Report
Branden Blewett engineers Eco Report
Julianna Dailey and Frank Marshalek hosted this week’s Eco Report
Are you looking for a way to make a difference on environmental issues? Eco Report is looking for reporters, engineers, and segment producers who are passionate about reporting 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. WFHB also offers internships. To volunteer for Eco Report, give us a call at (812) 323-1200, or e-mail us at: [email protected].
Are you one of those people who believes our Mother Earth is getting dirtier and dirtier from all our trash? Here are a few tips to help keep the Earth cleaner.- Stop buying Styrofoam items. Styrofoam is forever. It is not biodegradable, so instead invest in some reusable mugs that you can take with you.
- Do you like to eat salmon? Several studies have found that PCB’s, which is a class of toxic chemicals, and other environmental toxins are present at higher levels in farm raised salmon than wild salmon. Look for safe seafood when shopping for salmon.
- What about those coffee filters? Are you a coffee drinker? Dioxins, chemicals formed during the chlorine bleaching process, contaminate groundwater and air and are linked to cancer. Start buying unbleached paper filters or use reusable filters.
- We all love to go to picnics, especially when the weather is nice. The next time you host or attend a picnic, bring your own utensils and food containers. Plastic forks, spoons, straws, and all that plastic stuff you see at a picnic are not biodegradable and not recyclable.
- One more thing you might want to stop using is paper towels. Regular paper towels are bleached, and waste forest resources and landfill space. Look for recycled, non-bleached paper towels or better yet, buy dishtowels or rags to wash and reuse.
