Environmental Current Events 2024

With the increasing impacts of climate change on agriculture, Gutierrez thinks tribally managed agroforestry “may point the way to sustainable agriculture and wild-food sources, allowing us to provide food for our communities.”

One way the network sees that happening is through improvement and increased use of the USDA’s Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS), a growth and yield model that can simulate outcomes from specific forest-management scenarios over time to aid in decision-making. The tool is calibrated at a regional level and can be further adjusted using on-the-ground data to better reflect patterns observed at the local level. Local calibration informed by tribal data can increase the accuracy of simulated forest-management scenarios and provide agroforestry practitioners with a valuable tool to inform management decisions and help increase yields in the forest.

“We work with the community to go to places on their land where they gather and try to describe why this is a good place for gathering, describe what the canopy looks like, how much light is hitting the forest floor, [and] what kind of forest management has happened in the past,” Gutierrez says. This qualitative data can go into the FVS to help shape future treatments and yields.

The coalition grew out of work done with the Northwest Agroforestry Working Group at Oregon State University and the development of the Northwest Tribal Agroforestry StoryMap. To learn more about past and current Indigenous agroforestry practices, visit the Indigenous Agroforestry Network, and view the StoryMap.

In the Southwest, San Carlos Apache tribal members Mary Cowherd, Stephanie Gutierrez, and Twila Cassadore collect piñon nuts, a traditional first food.

Hiroshima Peace trees Journey to Oregon

In 2022, Vernonia, Oregon, became the most recent home to a Hiroshima Peace Tree, thanks to the work of local volunteer Michael Calhoun. Hiroshima Peace Trees are seedlings from trees that survived the 1945 atomic blast in Hiroshima, Japan. Now, with the help of a few dedicated nonprofits and individuals, these trees are being sent to communities around the United States to promote peace and nuclear non-proliferation. In 2007, Oregon resident Hideko Tamura-Snider, a survivor of the 1945 atomic blast in Hiroshima, started One Sunny Day Initiatives (OSDI), which has helped the Oregon Department of Forestry plant more than 50 peace trees. Green Legacy Hiroshima, a Japan-based organization, partnered with OSDI in 2017 to bring these seedlings to Oregon to mark the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing.

As part of Calhoun’s work with Vernonia Equality & Racial Justice, an organization he created in response to the nationwide protests of 2020, he decided to try to bring a tree to the city as a symbol of peace. With a background in environmental activism, Calhoun convinced the city that the peace tree was a worthwhile endeavor. After a year and a half of work, the peace tree�…–�…a gingko seedling�…–�…was planted in the city’s Ora Bolmeier Park. (Peace trees must be planted in public spaces, such as schools, cemeteries, and arboretums.) Calhoun received the Oregon Urban & Community Forestry Award for his efforts.

Green Legacy Hiroshima Initiative is still sending seeds to eligible institutions as part of a long-term campaign for peace.

Old Media Get new Life

Former Illinois Sen. and Treasurer Dan Rutherford has established a media-recycling service, delivering donated CDs, DVDs, books, and VHS tapes to nursing homes, veterans’ homes, and other community centers. Twenty-three years ago, he gave his old VHS tapes to the nursing home where his grandmother lived. After she died, he decided to continue gifting as a hobby. Using the extensive network he developed while working in government, Rutherford sent out emails and posted to Facebook to get the news out about his efforts. Now, Rutherford and a group of volunteers are serving more than 80 organizations, sending donations out twice a year.

Each recipient has specific preferences, so Rutherford goes through and sorts all the media before it gets sent out. Any excess VHS tapes or CDs get donated to places like Goodwill or Habitat for Humanity ReStore, while any broken media gets sorted and sent to be properly recycled. Rutherford pays for all expenses out of pocket. “After 23 years, from the first VHS tape [delivered] to my grandma’s nursing home, working on the effort has become part of my daily routine,” he says. His advice to those looking to start a similar program in their own area is to start small and slowly work up your capacity. Identify the needs of your local community and which types of media people would prefer; those looking to accept VHS donations are shrinking.

Anyone in the United States can donate their old music and movies by sending through Media Mail (a discount rate from the U.S. Post Office) to Dan Rutherford at 220 West Howard Street, Pontiac, IL 61764. If you have a worthy cause and would like to receive donations, contact Rutherford at DanRutherford@GlobalRelations.us.

Fungi Fight Fires

Large problems sometimes require novel solutions. Foresters in the American West have been working to decrease the risk of megafires (fires that typically cover more than 100,000 acres) after decades of fire suppression have resulted in dense, volatile sections of forest. According to a joint article between The Washington Post and the Food & Environment Reporting Network, “How Mushrooms Can Prevent Megafires,” land managers have started thinning these dense areas and creating huge slash piles. These piles pose serious fire hazards on their own, and even when they’re burned in a controlled manner, they burn hotter and longer than typical fires, leaving scorched soil underneath that can take plants decades to recolonize.

Mycologists and environmental scientists in the Rocky Mountains and beyond want to use the fantastic ability of fungi to break down these piles of sticks and underbrush. Mushrooms can accelerate decomposition substantially while potentially rebuilding deteriorated soils, maintaining nitrogen levels, and reducing forest-maintenance costs, says forester Jeffrey Ravage. However, developing inoculation methods for Western landscapes could present some issues, such as meeting the sheer scale of slashes and providing the right environment for fungi in arid forests. According to Ravage, these solutions will take time and a deep knowledge of the area and the mycelium to be a success.

‘Floatovoltaics’: A Fad or the Future?

Developers in the United States are starting to use “floatovoltaics” (floating solar panels) to meet the rising demand for electricity, especially in dry regions, such as the desert Southwest. The Gila River Indian Community (GRIC), southeast of Phoenix, Arizona, is moving forward with the country’s first large-scale solar-canal project, set to be completed in 2025. In an Arizona Mirror article, the GRIC says this project is projected to generate about 1 megawatt of renewable energy for tribal farmers.

As water resources diminish because of evaporation from large reservoirs and overuse of the existing water supply, new technology, such as floatovoltaics, may offer a solution. Proponents of floatovoltaic technology argue the panels can generate carbon-free power while offering shading infrastructure to prevent evaporation from canals and reservoirs. By utilizing otherwise-open areas on the water, floatovoltaics won’t need to displace farmland or sensitive ecosystems the way conventional solar panels can. However, floating panels tend to be more expensive than their on-land counterparts, and effects on water quality and fish habitat are still largely unstudied. Additionally, high temperatures and humidity can speed degradation and shorten the life span of solar panels (though water-cooled solar panels tend to maintain higher energy output overall). As projects move forward, floatovoltaics will need further study to determine whether this option will become a keystone player in renewable-energy efforts.

A New Risk-Management Resource for Producers

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service released a report in December 2023 on the available federal programs for agricultural risk management. The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (also known as the 2018 Farm Bill) included a host of programs that may provide a safety net for producers, but individual farmers may want some additional guidance to determine which programs would work best for their specific situations. Designed to help agricultural producers manage their risks, this new report broadly details available insurance programs, loans, disaster assistance, and more. Because agricultural yields are inherently unpredictable because of a variety of factors�…–�…including weather conditions; the cost of inputs, such as fertilizers; and disease or pest infestations�…–�…producers need to consider their available strategies for mitigating risk.

To learn more about the programs available for you, search for “Federal Programs for Agricultural Risk Management.”

Environmental Current Events February 2024

Death Care Options Gain Momentum

In recent years, end-of-life choices have evolved in response to a demand for more natural services. The National Funeral Directors Association states in its 2023 “Consumer Awareness and Preference Report” that more than 60 percent of U.S. consumers would be interested in exploring eco-friendly and green funeral options, an increase from 55.7 percent two years before.

The Green Burial Council distinguishes a “green” burial with four criteria: “caring for the dead with the minimal environmental impact that aids in the conservation of natural resources, reduction of carbon emissions, protection of worker health, and restoration or preservation of habitat.” As of December 2023, the New Hampshire Funeral Resources, Education & Advocacy lists 443 cemeteries and burial grounds in the U.S. and Canada that have been reported to offer some form of natural burial.

Adjacent to these green burial options is a process that’s risen in popularity in recent years by promising a more affordable and climate-friendly death-care option called “human composting,” “body composting,” “natural organic reduction” (NOR), “soil transformation,” or “terramation.” These are all names for an accelerated method of decomposing human remains. When a body is “composted,” remains are placed in a vessel with a combination of organic materials, such as wood chips, alfalfa, or straw. Supplying oxygen and heat speeds up the process, and naturally occurring microbes decompose the body. On average, it takes 30 to 180 days for assisted human decomposition to complete, depending on body size and the process used. After the body is transformed into soil, loved ones can decide to use that soil to enrich forests or gardens, or, if the option is available, they can donate some or all of the soil to the funeral home to revitalize specific areas of land.

Advocates for body composting say it improves soil health, conserves resources, reduces carbon emissions, and keeps pollutants from entering the environment. Micah Truman, CEO of Return Home, a green funeral home that specializes in body composting, says, “Our terramation process uses 90 percent less energy to complete than cremation, and the resulting soil restarts the cycle of life. Cremated remains are as useful to the earth as a bucketful of sand. Burial … requires that we often embalm the body, put it in a gasketed casket, and place that casket in a cement-and-rebar-lined hole in the ground, where it’ll then sit for the next 100 or so years. Nature will eventually return us to the earth one way or the other, but this [burial] is definitely a slow, resource-heavy way to do it.”

Body composting is currently legal in the states of California, Colorado, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. Although California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation legalizing body composting in 2021, it won’t take effect until January 2027. Other states, such as Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia, have pending body-composting legislation. If someone lives in a state without legalized composting, their body can be shipped to a state that does offer services (shipping will increase the amount of carbon emission in the process).

As more states legalize this option, body composting could become a popular death-care option and a way to enrich the Earth and honor loved ones on their final journey. Truman says that since Return Home opened in 2021, there’s been a change in public perception regarding body composting, especially as people learn this process is even an option. “Our first year started small but has picked up significantly each month. Almost 300 people have gone through the terramation process since we opened,” he says. This year, Return Home began its pet-composting division, Plant A Pet; expanded into 6,000 square feet of office space; and will be holding TerraCon 2024, the first annual body-composting conference, in Tacoma in February.

Learn more about green burials at Green Burial Council. You can also explore body-composting facilities and their processes and prices, such as Return Home, by searching “body composting” online.

States Manage Deer Populations

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal illness that eats away at the brains of deer, elk, and moose. Since 2000, CWD has been found in Midwest and Great Plains deer populations and could be spreading across states. In a Kansas City University Radio (KCUR) report, Krysten Schuler, a wildlife disease ecologist at Cornell University, said the disease kills brain cells by creating a plaque on the brain, leaving holes in its wake. After becoming infected, a deer may not develop any symptoms for more than a year, but when it does, the deer may act strangely or appear to be sick. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states there have been no reports of humans contracting the disease, it recommends not eating any meat from animals that have been infected.

This year, Oklahoma has verified its first positive case in the state. Matt Gamble, senior manager of wildlife conservation for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, told KCUR the tribe is looking to prevent its further spread by utilizing a grant from the federal government that would allow it to expand testing and establish a protocol to follow if the disease is detected on the reservation. Gamble added that healthy deer populations are essential for the cultural practices of the tribe, which include tanning hides, as well as for the tourism in the area.

For more information on CWD, visit Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or to learn about testing for CWD in deer, contact your state wildlife agency.

Big Plans for America’s Biggest Edible Fruit: The Pawpaw

The pawpaw is a tree native to North America, known for its large fruit that tastes like a cross between banana and mango. With a short shelf life and easily damaged skins, the pawpaw fruit isn’t common in grocery stores, even during its limited season. Project Pawpaw has been using research and traditional plant-breeding techniques to make the pawpaw fruit a more viable crop for farmers to grow in a perennial system and to bring them to market. Focusing on native perennials, such as the pawpaw fruit, provides a low-input, high-value crop for farmers, contributing to both stability and resiliency for them as well as increasing diversity for local ecosystems. To breed these trees, Project Pawpaw breeders choose parent plants based on desirable traits, such as fruit quality and plant vigor, and then pollinate them with a paintbrush. After the pollinated seeds emerge from the fruit, they’re stored over winter and then grown for two years in a greenhouse before being planted in the field. Project Pawpaw is entirely crowd-funded, and with the funds raised in a recent campaign, the team plans to establish the first Project Pawpaw breeding orchard in spring 2024. Get updates about the project at Project Pawpaw.

Pomology on Paper

Filmmaker Sebastian Ko released a short film in October 2023 about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Pomological Watercolor Collection. Prior to modern methods of documenting plants, fruit and nut sellers needed a way to reliably identify and protect their cultivars. In 1886, the USDA commissioned illustrators to capture newly created varieties of fruits and nuts around the country, ensuring they recreated the shapes, colors, and textures for each. By 1942, more than 7,500 illustrations (including the one on the left) had been completed by approximately 21 illustrators. The images were finally released to the public in 2019, showcasing the remarkable diversity of fruit varieties as well as the intricate details of the botanical illustrations. View the full video about the collection, titled Pomological, on Aeon.co by searching for “Sebastian Ko.” You can also explore the entire digitized collection by searching for “USDA Pomological Watercolors” on NAL.USDA.gov.

Contribute to a Homegrown National Park

The Homegrown National Park movement is offering a call to property owners and land managers across the U.S. to establish native plants while removing invasive ones to provide more wildlife-friendly habitats. According to the movement’s website, this project “is the largest cooperative conservation project ever conceived or attempted.” The initial goal is to develop 20 million acres of native plantings, which represents the space used by about half of the privately owned green lawns in the U.S. With small efforts by many people, the Homegrown National Park movement hopes to augment existing ecological networks and increase native plant and animal populations so they’re better able to withstand changes. With only about 2 percent to 3 percent of Earth’s land areas remaining ecologically intact, according to a 2021 Frontiers study, bolstering local ecosystems and biodiversity adds an urgent relevancy to the project.

For more information about how to contribute, explore resources, donate, and plant in your area, visit Homegrown National Park. Notably, you can check out a constantly updated map of the U.S. and Canada that shows the acreage per state or province of native plantings established so far.

Weather Resiliency in Community

Resilience hubs, designed to offer support to communities during disasters and provide the skills and tools necessary for strong community bonds, are starting to emerge all over the country. According to the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, resilience hubs are intended to support residents and resource distribution amid changing weather conditions and hazard events. The most successful hubs offer year-round services and programs; cost-effective, reliable power if the grid goes down; land improvements, such as gardens and water storage; communication tools that’ll work during a crisis; and solid operating plans.

When a location already acts as a daily resource for the community, becoming a designated hub can feel like a natural next step. Take Stillmeadow Community Fellowship in Baltimore, Maryland: In addition to church services, Stillmeadow provides community garden space, a food pantry, and a gathering space for community events year-round. After receiving a grant for solar panels and battery storage, Yale Climate Connection reports, Stillmeadow is prepared to be a safe place to cool down or refrigerate food if the grid power turns off. Local government in Seattle is also starting to prioritize resilience hubs. In 2022, the mayor’s office dedicated $2.4 million to studying residents’ needs and finding potential hub sites, with a focus on communities around the city who face the greatest impacts from climate threats, such as floods and heat waves.

While no comprehensive list of resilience hubs exists yet, you can search online for your city and state followed by “resilience hub” to locate any nearby. You can also form your own resilience hub. Learn how at Resilience Hubs.

Students Push for Climate-Change Preparedness

High schoolers at more than 50 schools across the U.S. have launched a campaign that would require school districts to plan for climate disasters and add climate education to the curriculum. Organized by the Sunrise Movement�…–�…a youth-led organization dedicated to stopping climate change�…–�…the Green New Deal for Schools campaign aims to use petitions to school boards, walkouts, and “teach-ins” to effect change, calling for transitioning school infrastructure to 100 percent renewable energy sources, providing students with locally sourced free lunches, getting administrations to create extreme-weather disaster plans, and more.

According to the Sunrise Movement, students want educators and scientists to develop a comprehensive climate-justice curriculum to be taught in schools. The Green New Deal for Public Schools Act, a bill championed by the Sunrise Movement, was introduced in Congress by Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Jamaal Bowman; 77 representatives have co-sponsored the bill so far. Other notable proposals in the bill include providing grants to turn existing public-school facilities into zero-carbon schools and establishing a program to increase the resiliency of the public-school system during climate-change-related events or public-health crises. Learn more about the bill and the Sunrise Movement’s campaign at Sunrise Movement.

Environmental Current Events November 2023

Nebraska Solar Farm, 1 Year Later

In June 2022, the city of Norfolk, Nebraska, completed the state’s largest solar farm in partnership with solar developer Sol Systems.

Now, about one year later, the Norfolk SunWise Community Solar program is going strong, according to Steven Rames, public works director and city engineer with the City of Norfolk. Rames says the solar power produced in the 8.5-megawatt facility is not only delivering renewable energy to residents, but also delivering it at about 10% less than the normal retail price of energy from the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD).

NPPD is a publicly owned utility, and its community solar programs are set up as power purchase agreements (PPA); a private solar developer installs, owns, and operates the solar facility. There’s no upfront cost to the City of Norfolk except the city-owned land the facility operates on. The PPA states NPPD will purchase the energy from the developer at a fixed price for 20 to 30 years and offer participation to Norfolk residents through solar shares. Community members can then purchase and use the energy through these shares without having to install solar panels on their own roofs�…–�…meaning they don’t have to worry about their cost, placement, or maintenance. One solar-energy share equals about 150 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month. So, if the average monthly energy consumption for a Norfolk household is 1,050 kWh, it could purchase 10 solar shares at $6.15 per share, per NPPD spokesperson Grant Otten’s calculations.

Though many in the Norfolk community are aware of the availability of solar, Rames says, residents were initially skeptical of seeing returns. So, the City of Norfolk ended up consuming more than 50% of the shares available, which in turn lowered the municipal cost of energy. “[The] lower cost of operation as a city is seen by the community when our budget each fiscal year is drafted,” Rames adds. “We can use funds that are being saved due to the solar energy for other community needs and projects.” Now, according to Otten, all available shares have continued to be sold out, and there’s an active waiting list for customers to join the program.

The Norfolk solar facility doesn’t only house this solar project. Otten says the facility also includes a Battery Energy Storage System pilot program, funded by a grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust, to experiment with utilizing batteries on a larger scale. The batteries are charged by the community solar program, then discharged as needed to provide energy. At its inception, the solar facility was also planted with pollinator habitats, but they’re not yet fully established, so beneficial effects are yet to be seen.

Despite this project’s success, many rural communities in Nebraska and beyond face opposition to large-scale solar projects. A solar farm in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, suffered damage from a hail storm in June 2023 and only lasted four years out of its projected 25, leaving behind immense waste that’s difficult to recycle. The large land use and relatively short life span of solar panels has also led many residents to question their long-term worth in their communities. Though the U.S. has seen growth in the renewable-energy industry, total energy consumption has also increased, per the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Renewables such as solar have merely been adding to the total energy available for use, not replacing fossil fuels. In the eyes of some communities, taking environmental action shouldn’t include covering the land with acres of utility lines and solar panels. As Norfolk’s solar program enters Year 2, these challenges are still being unpacked in the larger renewable-energy movement.

From Food to Fortified Farms

In January 2022, California implemented Senate Bill (SB) 1383 as part of its Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy. SB 1383 requires every jurisdiction (city, county, or special district) in California that provides waste-collection services to also provide a separate organic-waste collection to be composted. All residents are required to either subscribe to the available services or self-haul their organic waste to a composting facility. Since its inception, 70% of California jurisdictions have reported residential organic-waste collection is in place.

Farms and vineyards have been making ample use of the compost coming from cities and other residential areas. To reduce the risk of erosion from storms, farmers have been protecting their topsoil by planting mustard and other cover crops over a layer of compost. This improves soil quality by boosting micronutrients and developing soil structure. In a press release, Johnnie White, operations manager for Piña Vineyard Management in Oakville, California, says, “It’s huge for us. On these hillsides, we have to grow cover crops to prevent soil erosion that could otherwise end up in the [San Francisco] Bay.” In a mutually beneficial relationship, farmers provide food and other goods, such as wine, to the city, and the city sends back waste in the bioavailable form of compost.

Though many complex problems contribute to methane pollution, one fix could lead to heaps of improvement: composting. Food waste is the largest organic component of landfills, and a new study from Scientific Reports found composting food waste led to a 38% to 84% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

When organic material breaks down anaerobically (without oxygen), bacteria produce an abundance of gasses, such as methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide. The Environmental Protection Agency says landfills “are the third-largest source of human-related methane emissions” in the nation. On the other hand, aerobic (with oxygen) decomposition produces much less greenhouse gas emissions. The Scientific Reports study also noted that turning compost more often and adding water more frequently have the potential to reduce composting emissions even more.

Agrivoltaics: Where Panels Meet Plants

Though it may sound counterintuitive, solar panels experience decreased performance when they get too hot. That’s where agrivoltaics comes in to help. “Agrivoltaics” is a method of farming that uses both solar panels and crops in the same area, leading to increased productivity of the land while cooling the panels at the same time. Vegetation passively cools the panels as it reflects sunlight away from the bare ground, limiting the amount of heat the solar panels are exposed to. A recent study in the journal Applied Energy tested the cooling effects produced from 18 scenarios comprising different crops, panel heights, and levels of ground cover. The study showed a solar panel experienced a temperature decrease of 10 degrees Celsius when soybeans were grown under it and the panel was positioned 4 meters off the ground, compared with leaving the ground bare and positioning the panel 0.5 meters off the ground.

If you’re considering or already have a solar farm, planting crops among the panels has potential to eliminate the 0.5% decrease in productivity solar panels experience for every degree over 25 degrees Celsius. Other ways to use agrivoltaics include combining solar panels with grazing animals, such as sheep, which provide food and fiber while mowing and improving pasture. Because food production and renewable-energy consumption are predicted to surge over the coming decades, with an estimated 10 billion people living on the planet by mid-century, utilizing land more efficiently will be a valuable way to meet demand while building resilience to rising temperatures.

To learn more about agrivoltaics, check out “The Potential for Agrivoltaics to Enhance Solar Farm Cooling.”

What to Do About Gas Stoves

Controversy arose in late 2022 surrounding the use of gas stoves and other appliances after the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced it was considering tighter regulations around natural-gas stoves. Natural gas is a major fuel source in the U.S., consisting primarily of methane as well as other gases, such as carbon monoxide. Gas stoves are highly prevalent in American life: 76% of restaurants, per the National Restaurant Association, and 37% of U.S. households, according to a Consumer Reports survey, use gas stoves. Professional chefs and home cooks alike have argued that gas allows for tastier food and better presentation and helps keep costs low.

However, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is a byproduct of burning methane, meaning small amounts can leak directly into a home when natural gas is used for the stove. Some studies have linked NO2 inhalation with decreased lung function and increased instances of asthma.

The solutions to this issue aren’t so clear-cut. Proper ventilation limits the negative health outcomes associated with gas stoves, but many homes don’t have any ventilation installed. Another possible source of exposure is gas line leaks, so regular maintenance and checking the lines may limit unnecessary risk. Other gas appliances are already required by law to be automatically vented outdoors, because they burn many times more natural gas than stoves, but all the byproducts of burning natural gas end up outside eventually, where they contribute to air pollution and climate change. Additionally, not everyone has the ability to replace an existing gas stove. More research on gas vs. electric stoves may be needed to determine the best moves for communities and appliance owners. To start, learn more about reducing NO2 exposure in your home.

Composting Food Waste Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions

If you don’t have access to curbside pickup for your compost you can learn more about compost and how to turn your own organic waste into nutrition for the garden. Here, you’ll find a collection of articles on the benefits of composting and how to get started in your own backyard.

We also have information on types of composting bins and choosing the right one for your situation.

You can also listen to our “Mother Earth News and Friends” podcast about vermicoposting (composting with worms), which features red wiggler experts Heather Rinaldi and Joanne Olszewski.

Environmental Current Events September 2023

Resilient Food-Production Systems and Walipini Greenhouses on Pine Ridge

In a land of high winds and extreme temperatures, dedicated Indigenous groups are working to provide food for their people all year long. On the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, the Oglala Lakota Cultural and Economic Revitalization Initiative (OLCERI) has been teaching permaculture design courses and building underground greenhouses, or “walipinis,” to increase food sovereignty and build their capacity to provide healthy food for their community.

About 10 years ago, Bryan Deans, head of OLCERI, helped build the first walipini on the Pine Ridge Reservation after years of tornadoes and high winds destroyed large parts of the area. After stumbling upon Earthship technology, Deans had an epiphany: “We live on the poorest county in the nation. How do you create self-sustainability with that? You focus on the things that you do have.” And what the people who live on the reservation do have is abundant sunlight and the capacity to build underground. Since then, Deans has been working on constructing walipinis that are highly durable and aren’t too labor-intensive to build, using polycarbonate materials for the tops of the greenhouses and upcycled tires to stabilize the walls.

So far, at least eight of these underground greenhouses have been built around Pine Ridge. The OLCERI walipinis sit 8 feet belowground and measure either 3,000 or 1,280 square feet. The larger walipinis can each hold approximately 75,000 plant starts, while the smaller ones can each hold 21,000 starts and typically support about three families on the food grown within. Currently, plants grown inside these greenhouses include tomatoes, squash, hot and sweet peppers, and a wide variety of herbs. The structures are also robust, able to withstand high winds and harsh weather. And because of the greenhouses’ protective nature, Deans says they’re able to extend the growing season to 10 months. This makes the walipini a means of providing affordable, reliable, and nutritious food to the community.

Greenhouses aren’t the only structures Deans has built in the walipini style. He’s also constructed chicken coops; the temperatures stay consistent enough for the animals to lay eggs year-round without any additional light or heat. Other projects of note OLCERI has developed to increase sovereignty include root cellars built with tires, geothermal batteries, and wind power.

“We’re looking for old solutions to modern problems, [and] we’re looking for new solutions and technology that we can add to these things,” Deans says. “We’re always experimenting. When we read about something cool, we try it out ourselves and add our own flavor of improvements to it.”

Historically, OLCERI has been able to generate funding for projects through donations and crowd-funding. This year, it has an added focus on applying for grants, such as becoming a sub-grantee for The Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program. Having this kind of funding can help Pine Ridge restore its lands and, according to OLCERI co-founder Bob Rich, even surpass its former capacity. By establishing solid fencing, bringing back the buffalo, and reestablishing harvestable woodlands, the goal is to make the Pine Ridge Reservation a self-sustaining carbon sink.

“When I look at Pine Ridge, I look at it like a country. Any country that cannot feed its own people is impoverished by definition,” Rich says. And, according to him, bringing back the buffalo is at least part of the answer. “This is … the herbivore for climate change,” he continues. “It’s exactly the way it was before; it hasn’t been changed by breeding, it’s tough as nails, it’s excellent food, and it’s exactly the thing we need to … capture all the carbon back into the soil.”

Learn more about OLCERI and how you can support this initiative, including ways to donate, collaborate, and volunteer, visit Oglala Lakota Cultural & Economic Revitalization Initiative.

The Willow Project and the Future of Alaska’s North Slope

In March of 2023, the Biden administration approved the Willow project, a massive oil-drilling project set to take place on Alaska’s North Slope. Over the course of its 30-year lifetime, the project is estimated to extract more than 600 million barrels of oil, making it the largest oil development on U.S. public lands. According to supporters of the project, including the Alaska Federation of Natives and the Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat, it’ll generate economic stability in the region and more than $1 billion in tax revenue to fund local education and other services. The Alaska State House voted unanimously in favor of the Willow project.

However, many other groups, such as Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic (SILA), have voiced their concerns over the project’s disruption to local communities, ecosystems, and Indigenous subsistence patterns. The city of Nuiqsut is only 30 miles from the approved project area, and residents worry about chemical spills, light pollution, and infrastructure construction that could impact caribou migrations. Nuiqsut community recommendations to mitigate project impacts haven’t been heeded thus far. Some suggestions the Nuiqsut community has proposed include working seasonally to avoid disrupting caribou, and transporting construction materials over land instead of on barges to prevent impacts to whales and other aquatic life. According to a joint letter to the U.S. Interior by Nuiqsut Mayor Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, Vice Mayor Carl Brower, and president of the Native Village of Nuiqsut Eunice Brower, the Bureau of Land Management “does not look at the harm this project would cause from the perspective of how to let us be us — how to ensure that we can maintain our culture, traditions, and our ability to keep going out on the land and the waters.” SILA says it plans to continue opposing the Willow project and pressuring the Biden administration for change.

Rabbits Face a New Deadly Virus: Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Vaccine

In March of 2020, a rabbit-specific virus began to spread throughout the United States. Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus Type 2 (RHDV2) has spread to nearly half the states in the country and has been observed in both wild and domestic rabbits. The virus can be difficult to detect, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports the only signs are often sudden death or a bloody nose due to internal bleeding. Highly contagious, the disease spreads to rabbits through contact with an infected rabbit or by coming into contact with materials an infected rabbit has been exposed to.

Emergency-use authorization has been granted for the import and manufacturing of a vaccine that can significantly improve a rabbit’s chances of overcoming the virus. RHDV2 is the first disease veterinarians are actively working to vaccinate pet rabbits against in the U.S. The vaccine is currently administered in two doses, the second 21 days after the first. Other biosecurity measures rabbit owners can take include washing your hands before and after holding rabbits, keeping rabbits off the ground outdoors, taking your shoes off at the door, and preventing other pets from coming into contact with outdoor rabbits. RHDV2 poses no known threat to humans or other animals. To learn more, visit the Rabbit House Society RHDV Resource Center.

Mussels Build Marshes

Coastal marshes are disappearing at an alarming rate because of climate change and human coastal development. Man-made levees and dams block the sediment needed to rebuild these marshes, and rising sea levels threaten to drown them out completely. Coastal towns give little room for retreating and regenerating. So, scientists have been working on solutions, one of which may be the humble mussel. Small blue-black shellfish, mussels are filter feeders that capture bits of sediment while feeding and put them together in mucus-infused clumps that sink to the ground. These clumps and mussels’ nutrient-rich waste create new habitat for plants, spurring the formation of a new ecosystem. In a 2023 study published in Nature Communications, researchers found the mussels’ real-life effect on marsh generation was five times more than expected from computer-generated models. These findings may help scientists and policymakers decide which marshlands should be prioritized and how best to protect and regenerate them.

Louisiana Recycling Facility Turns Glass Into Sand

Louisiana’s only glass-recycling facility, New Orleans-based company Glass Half Full, works to produce sand for disaster relief and coastal restoration by recycling about 150,000 pounds of glass per month into sand. The company aims to provide a sustainable alternative to extractive techniques, such as mining and dredging, to source sand locally and at less cost to the environment. Recycled-glass sand can also provide restoration and building materials at a much lower price point than traditional extractive methods. A research project at Tulane University received funding to collaborate with Glass Half Full to identify new markets for recycled-glass products and identify where coastal land loss can be safely mitigated with the use of the recycled-glass sand.

Rewilding Ecosystems by Reintroducing Native Animals

With much of Earth’s full ecological functions degraded by human activity in recent centuries, rewilding — the process of returning human-disturbed lands to intact ecosystems — could have many benefits. According to new research published in Nature Climate Change, increased biomass of both plants and animals holds more carbon and can act like a carbon-storage facility, without all the expensive and speculative technology often hailed as a solution to climate change. A study headed by Kansas State University showed that reintroducing bison to North American prairies increased biodiversity and resiliency in those ecosystems. While reintroducing animals to degraded landscapes can lead to many benefits, rewilding may also require a change in our relationship with nature. Activist and author Vandana Shiva has said, “Rewilding means becoming conscious that humans are part of nature, not separate from her.” Even small steps, such as adding a pollinator garden instead of a lawn, could have meaningful benefits.

Environmental Current Events July 2023

Train Derailment Disasters Don’t Show Signs of Slowing Down

On Feb. 3, a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed near East Palestine, Ohio. According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the train, owned by Norfolk Southern, had 38 train cars that derailed, 11 of which were carrying materials classified as carcinogens or contaminants. The NTSB investigation into the cause of the derailment is still ongoing, but evidence suggests it was at least partially due to overheat failure on a wheel bearing.

Several chemicals on board, including vinyl chloride, have been found to cause irritation and neurological symptoms in humans. On Feb. 6, officials decided to burn off the remaining vinyl chloride in five train cars to prevent a possible explosion due to rising temperatures inside one car. The reaction that occurs when burning vinyl chloride creates other harmful chemicals. Officials insist the two-day evacuation was able to mitigate the risk to residents, though locals are still concerned over the toxic plume of particulate matter traveling over parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

Thousands of aquatic animals have died in the area, prompting unease about overall water quality after the disaster. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found sediment contamination as far as 6 miles from the derailment site. Farmers in the area have voiced worries over the well-being of their livestock and continued willingness of consumers to purchase their products. Soil sampling of farms by the EPA began in early March, and officials say they have no evidence that the area’s agricultural system has been affected. Bryan Levin, public information officer for the Ohio Department of Agriculture, maintains that Ohio’s food supply is safe following the disaster.

According to an analysis by The New York Times, more than 1,000 train derailments happen every year, though human injuries and fatalities remain relatively low. In two separate incidents this year, a train carrying ethanol derailed and set fire in Minnesota on March 30, and a train in Washington derailed on March 16, reportedly spilling up to 5,000 gallons of diesel.

One of the major contributing factors to these derailments is longer and heavier trains being staffed by fewer people and smaller crews. In 2022, railworkers planned to strike for better and safer working conditions, including larger crews and shorter shifts, but the strike was ultimately blocked by the U.S. Senate. Now, however, bipartisan lawmakers have introduced the Railway Safety Act of 2023 to work toward preventing future train disasters. The bill includes measures for enhancing safety protocols for trains carrying hazardous materials, creating permanent minimum crew requirements, and improving train car inspections. If this bill is passed, it could help alleviate some of the dangers communities and railroad crews face — and have warned about — around freight train operations.

Dremann’s Heat Search for the World’s Hottest Pepper

Think you have the world’s hottest pepper? Now you have a place to submit your scorcher. Dremann’s Heat Search sprung up in 2022 to fill in the gaps when Guinness World Records increased its rules for submission in 2017. With a few simple rules and a routine lab test, Craig Dremann of Redwood City Seed Company is looking to streamline the search for the World’s Hottest Pepper. “You could find a goldmine in your backyard,” says Dremann, who’s hoping to increase economic opportunities for home growers and gardeners.

The pungency, or “hotness,” of a pepper is determined by measuring the amount of pure capsaicin contained in that pepper. These measurements are rated using the Scoville Scale. For reference, pure capsaicin measures 16 million Scoville heat units (SHU). Dremann’s hottest pepper so far is ‘Chocolate Champion,’ which measures 1,662,000 SHU.

Before submitting your sample, check the potency of your peppers with an easy, at-home hotness test. If you think you have a winner, dry and package your peppers according to the guidelines. Dremann will evaluate them and send submitted pepper samples to Southwest Bio-Labs in New Mexico for professional analysis. The Heat Search is ongoing and simply requires 16 dried peppers and $100 to cover lab fees. Call Dremann with questions at 650-325-7333.

The Need for Native Seeds

Native-plant seeds are essential to successful restoration projects, but they’re often hard to come by, and a recent study commissioned by the Bureau of Land Management shows just how deep the problem is. After droughts, floods, wildfires, or mudslides on public lands, the government is tasked with restoring the landscape, and that requires millions of seeds. It hasn’t been economically viable for seed producers to create the surplus of seeds needed after emergencies; if an emergency doesn’t arise, producers are left with an excess supply and no demand. It also hasn’t been practical to keep all types of native plants that may be required on hand, limiting the choices available to restoration ecologists. The study states that “millions of acres of public and private land in the United States are at risk of losing the native plant communities that are central to the integrity of ecosystems.”

Susan P. Harrison, chair of this study, suggests some options in a High Country News article that may help solve this seed-supply crisis. First, the federal government needs to plan its restoration projects and start stockpiling its own seeds, storing them in properly air-conditioned warehouses. Because of the increased risk of emergencies with climate change, governmental agencies can also guarantee producers a predetermined price and quantity for their native seeds. Reseeding with non-native species continues to contribute to biodiversity decline, she says, so agencies must prioritize native seeds.

Wallowa County Oregon Starts Kominka Collective

Wallowa County, with a population of less than 8,000, may not seem the likely setting for a revival of Japanese architecture. Yet this rural county in eastern Oregon is the hub for an ambitious global project to preserve kominka, a form of Japanese folk house.

Kominka were traditionally handmade farmhouses in Japan’s countryside, timber-frame structures sporting roofs made from ceramic tile or thatch. The roof design differs from more rigid Western-style frames in that the beams hang together in a net or mesh pattern, allowing some give and flex during earthquakes. This has allowed these old houses to endure. Yet now, as populations shrink in rural Japan, thousands of kominka are torn down each year, the carefully carved beams incinerated.

Concern for protecting the craftsmanship of kominka drives the Kominka Collective, a unique partnership experimenting with the disassembly and reconstruction of kominka outside of Japan. Co-Director Eric Carlson, a designer and builder, lives and works in the foothills of the Wallowa Mountains, which is how the first imported and reassembled kominka came to reside there. In fall 2022, neighbors down the road from Carlson, Kiyomi Koike and Bill Oliver, asked Kominka Collective to send over a kominka studio, and they’re looking to add a second structure in 2023.

West of the Cascades, building enthusiasts gathered in January of this year in Troutdale, Oregon, to learn about both Japanese culture and kominka history at the first-ever Kominka Festival. Collective members from both Japan and the United States were on hand to answer questions from owner-builders coming from as far away as Hawaii. Keynote speaker Alex Kerr, who lives in a renovated kominka in the Iya Valley on Japan’s Shikoku Island, spoke of the potential for saving the nearly 800,000 vacant kominka in Japan. By Kerr’s estimate, as many as 50,000 folk houses are torn down each year, making the next decade critical for their preservation.

Those who are interested in participating in kominka restoration can learn more at www.KominkaCollective.com, or via the Japan Kominka Association’s International Office at www.KominkaForum.com. — Meg Wade

Seed-Saving Movements Around the World

Nestled in the bustling streets of London, a network of people dedicated to saving and sharing open-pollinated seeds is growing. The London Freedom Seed Bank began after a call to action in the early 2010s by scholar and activist Vandana Shiva (see Shiva’s story on agroecology on Page 38). Once its members realized the importance of food freedom and diversity, the FOOD from the SKY permaculture community decided to live out its values and created the London Freedom Seed Bank. All the seeds members share have been grown right in London, giving the plants unparalleled adaptation and acclimatization to their local environment. And this community is far from the only group prioritizing food sovereignty.

In the United States, Seed Savers Exchange is on a mission to protect America’s food-crop legacy and connect people through collecting and sharing heirloom plants. It also hosts an exchange program on its website for individuals to swap the heirloom seeds they’ve grown. The Indigenous Seed Keepers Network helps support Indigenous-led seed sovereignty in North America by developing resources, hosting events, supporting seed rematriation, and more. And a charity in the U.K. called Garden Organic hosts the Heritage Seed Library, which aims to conserve varieties of vegetables that aren’t widely available. Members receive a variety of heritage seed packets every year to preserve and pass on history, knowledge, and resilience.

Many other local seed libraries have sprung up all over the world. A lot of programs allow members to “borrow” seeds, with the expectation the grower will bring back more at the end of the season. Saving your own seeds increases the genetic diversity in our food, expands biodiversity, and can help contribute to a more climate-resilient food supply. And with around 75% of plant genetic diversity in agriculture being lost since 1900, the need for diverse seeds is ever-growing.

To get involved, check your local area for seed libraries, organize one yourself, or arrange seed swaps in your community. Find places online to help you get started, such as at Seed Libraries.

Environmental Current Events May 2023

Funding and Support for Young Farmers

Late last year, the National Young Farmers Coalition published the results of its 2022 National Young Farmer Survey, with responses gathered from past, present, and aspiring farmers up to 40 years old. The survey’s data shows there are many obstacles facing young farmers.

Farmers’ top reported challenges include finding affordable land to buy, accessing capital, affording health care, meeting the costs of production, finding housing, and paying off student loans. Across the board, young farmers who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color are disproportionately affected.

Fortunately, farmers have some new opportunities to gain the support they need. In November 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a $24 million investment into organizations and institutions that train beginning farmers and ranchers. In a press release, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Acting Director Dionne Toombs says, “[Beginning farmers’] success, especially in the first 10 years, often hinges on access to reliable, science-based information and the latest educational resources so they can improve their operations’ profitability and sustainability long-term.”

A fresh wave of new farmers includes many young people from populations that’ve historically been excluded from traditional financing. Nonprofits can help, such as a community-led investment fund called Black Farmer Fund, which provides supportive capital to Black farmers in the northeast U.S.

Onyx Ramírez, communications lead for Black Farmer Fund, stresses the importance of investing in your community. “The challenge that we look to remedy and overcome with our work is access to capital,” she says, adding that farmers need money to run their businesses, establish connections, increase production, hire people, access land, and get support for resources like bookkeeping and legal help. “We’re really working to create a supportive environment for all of that. … If we intentionally invest in our community, we can continue to grow and reach new heights. … There are a lot of organizations that are doing really incredible work for new Black farmers.”

To learn more, visit the USDA’s resource for beginning farmers and ranchers and Black Farmer Fund.

Keystone Pipeline Spill in Kansas

On Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022, operators from TC Energy were alerted to an oil spill in Washington County, Kansas, from its Keystone pipeline. Nearly 600,000 gallons of oil spilled into Mill Creek and the surrounding area. This pipeline was transporting crude tar sands, also known as diluted bitumen. Bitumen is difficult to clean, because it’s a thick, viscous substance. Unlike crude oil, which tends to stay on top of the water, bitumen sinks to the bottom of waterways and coats everything it touches in a sticky substance. The longer diluted bitumen sits on land, the farther it can seep underground, potentially destroying soil health and threatening root systems in the process. Cleanup efforts can take years and cost upward of $1 billion.

The Keystone Pipeline System is an oil pipeline system in the U.S. and Canada owned by TC Energy. This system has now been the subject of 23 reported leaks since 2010. Though the cause of the Kansas spill is still unknown as of this writing, TC Energy reportedly got a special permit from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to operate some areas of the pipeline at a higher pressure than ordinarily allowed. The permit has prompted questions about whether the higher stress on the system contributed to the spill.

Citing safety concerns, TC Energy issued a no-fly zone over the spill area from Dec. 16 through Dec. 21. Environmental advocates and public officials are urging transparency through the cleanup process.

A Victory for the Klamath Salmon

In November 2022, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) voted to remove four dams on the lower Klamath River, launching the country’s largest river-restoration efforts and the world’s largest dam-removal project. Located in Northern California and southern Oregon, the Klamath River has been a crucial route for salmon, which traditionally provided food for many Indigenous tribes in the area. The dams were built mainly for hydropower and flood control, but they also reduce salmons’ spawning areas and increase disease risk. Tribes, their allies, and various stakeholders have been advocating for the dam removals for more than 20 years to save the Klamath salmon. The FERC has finally agreed and ruled in their favor. (The Yurok Tribe also granted the Klamath River personhood to protect it.)

Dam removal can be a long process. First, roads will need to be built to allow heavy machinery to gain access to the dam sites for their removal. In 2024, the reservoirs will be drawn down between salmon runs to have the least impact on aquatic life, and then the dams will be removed. By the end of 2024, the river should be open for the return of the salmon.

Oregon Renewable Energy Plant

Oregon opened the country’s first renewable energy plant in October 2022. Able to power about 100,000 homes, the Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility combines the use of solar and wind power with battery storage.

Renewable energy sources don’t provide the same amount of energy evenly throughout the day, and electricity use tends to peak in the evening hours, causing a problem called “intermittency.” Solar energy peaks during the middle of the day with the sun, and wind starts to pick up in the evenings. The batteries will help smooth out the transition period between the two to ensure there isn’t a lapse in service.

Renewable energy projects can still present challenges. Created in a partnership between NextEra Energy Resources and Portland General Electric, the plant requires massive lithium batteries to run continuously. Solar and wind power development may be carbon-free, but their components and facilities must be manufactured using energy that may not come from renewables. Residents who live near existing or potential solar or wind farms may also have concerns about their appearance or losing valuable farmland to them. Additionally, solar panels and wind turbines require large amounts of land to mine for materials, so it’s essential for policymakers to ensure an ethical and environmentally sound supply chain.

Promising Results from a Rooftop Garden

In Boston, researchers found that vegetables grown in rooftop gardens near the buildings’ CO2 exhaust vents experienced a significant increase in plant growth compared with those grown farther away from the vents. HVAC systems ventilate buildings with fresh air and oxygen while pumping stale air and CO2 out through waste vents. The CO2 levels in buildings with large amounts of people can build up to high levels, and researchers wanted to find a way to utilize these emissions. The study used spinach, which is highly reactive to CO2, and corn, which is less sensitive to CO2 levels. Both plants experienced high levels of growth when placed next to the CO2 vents, though slightly increased temperatures near the vents may also be a factor. It’s unclear if nutrient levels also get a boost with the CO2, but this study is an excellent sign for urban growers and rooftop gardeners to keep innovating.

Great Barrier Reef Gardening

Coral reefs around the world are experiencing a steep decline with rising global temperatures. The Coral Nurture Program in Australia is working on coral “gardening” to help increase the survival rate of local coral species. A partnership between tourism companies and scientists, the program has created underwater coral nurseries where divers attach broken, healthy pieces of coral to a frame for them to regrow. Then, they reattach the coral to the damaged reef to help nurture recovery. Corals are tentacled, squishy creatures that secrete calcium carbonate to protect themselves and build reefs. They form a symbiotic relationship with algae, which provide food from the sun and give coral their exotic colors. The algae start emitting toxins when temperatures get too high, and the corals eject them — and thus their color — leading to coral bleaching. The project isn’t a permanent solution in the face of climate change. But, according to Master Reef Guide Russell Hosp in a Washington Post story, it’s designed to “give Mother Nature a little bit of a boost.”

Floating Wetlands Clean Urban Waters

Researchers from around the world are exploring the benefits of creating artificial floating wetlands in urban areas. These wetlands have the potential to clean water pollution, provide habitat for other native species, and lower excess nutrient levels in rivers and streams. By using specific plant species, algal blooms can be reduced while industrial contaminants are absorbed into plant tissue. In an article, Yale Environment 360 reports that one researcher in Boston found that 1 acre of a floating wetland could take in nutrient pollution from 7 to 15 acres of urban development, offering hope for a new way of cleaning industrial areas. For these projects to be successful, heavily polluted waterways would require hundreds of floating wetlands and the maintenance costs to go along with them. After the plants take up the excess nutrients or chemicals, such as PFAS, they’d also need to be removed to avoid re-contaminating the waterways. Despite these obstacles, floating wetlands may have the potential to make a positive difference in a variety of urban environments.

Environmental Current Events March 2023

Cities and Water Adaptation

In recent decades, there’s been a tremendous surge in flooding events all around the world. Global sea levels have risen about 7-1/2 inches since 1900 because of glacial melting and heat causing waters to rise, according to Yale Climate Connections.

In addition to climate change, many other factors are contributing to the frequency and intensity of extreme water events. Wetlands, essential for natural flood control in coastal areas, have decreased by at least 35% globally between 1970 and 2015, according to an outlook from the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Additionally, about 40% of the world’s population lives on or near the coast, increasing their vulnerability to flooding, storm surges, hurricanes, tropical storms, and tsunamis.

Increased flooding has been followed by calls to create “sponge cities,” or cities that’ll allow rainwater to be safely drained from inhabited areas. Because cities are largely covered by impermeable surfaces, such as asphalt and pavement, excess water has no place to go, resulting in infrastructure damage, road closures, loss of homes, and more. To combat this problem, China launched a program to transform cityscapes into rainwater-friendly permeable surfaces. By using porous materials, such as brick, and creating green roofs, retention ponds, and vegetation buffer zones, water has a place to flow that isn’t into homes, offices, or busy city streets. Creating underground spaces for rainwater drainage, storage, and treatment can give floods a way out, leading to substantially less damage.

But property damage isn’t the only risk; because of the global sea-level rise, storm surges have become even more dangerous. In late September 2022, Hurricane Ian barreled through the southwest coast of Florida, where storm surges reached up to 18 feet high, flooding entire communities. Higher surges make storms much more deadly, while pushing damage costs into the billions of dollars. According to Brenden Jongman, senior disaster risk management specialist at The World Bank, the impacts of these extreme events aren’t felt equally. “In many countries, the poorest population groups are relatively overexposed to flooding, as they are often forced to live and work in low-lying areas,” Jongman wrote in Nature Communications in 2018.

Physical flood-prevention measures can be costly to build and maintain, and they may also give local residents a false sense of security. Though not a popular choice among long-time residents, vacationers, or elected officials, retreating from the shore often offers the safest option. After Hurricane Sandy in 2012, New Jersey began buying out homes in flood-prone areas. After demolishing them and turning the land into a buffer zone, some residents were able to move to safer areas inland, decreasing the chance of experiencing flood damage in the future.

Canoes Repurposed into Planters

After discovering several wrecked canoes in Moreau Lake State Park in upstate New York, the park involved the surrounding community in creating an inventive Canoe Planter Trail. The park partnered with local youth groups to design and paint nature themes on each of the repurposed canoes. The Friends of Moreau Lake State Park garnered support from volunteers to design the trail and place the upcycled boats in key areas around the park.

Once painted, each newly decorated boat was filled with plants following strict sustainability standards, which restricted the use of fertilizers, pesticides, and invasive species. To create beds for planting, the volunteers used a method known as hugelkultur. By using materials found in the park, such as dead wood, sticks, and leaves covered by soil, they kept the project hyperlocal and natural. In a press release, Park Manager Alan LaFountain said the Friends of Moreau Lake State Park volunteers and their ideas were essential to the undertaking of this unique initiative. “They truly make Moreau Lake State Park a community one, sharing their diverse influences throughout,” he said. Finalized in the summer of 2022, Moreau Lake State Park’s Canoe Planter Trail is now open to the public.

USDA Aiming to Reduce Salmonella

Around 1.35 million salmonella infections occur every year in the United States, 23% of which are attributed to consuming poultry, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In October 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) began considering regulation to reduce salmonella outbreaks in some of the country’s poultry products.

The proposed regulation includes three parts to reduce salmonella exposure. The first component would require all incoming flocks of birds to be tested before they enter a slaughter establishment. Bacteria enters facilities in and on birds, so this step would attempt to incentivize pre-slaughter methods that reduce contamination. The second component would require sampling for pathogens before freezing and implementing standardized statistical techniques to analyze microbial data at each processing location. The third component would implement a final product standard that would remove the most dangerous strains of salmonella from products on their way into the hands of consumers.

Instead of developing a zero-tolerance policy, the USDA is considering classifying the specific strains of salmonella that are most likely to lead to sickness as “adulterants,” the term it uses for poisonous or unsanitary ingredients. The poultry industry has long argued that because chicken is cooked before it’s eaten and cooking kills bacteria, poultry with salmonella shouldn’t be labeled as an adulterant. The National Chicken Council (NCC) also released a statement about the proposals, claiming they were “not science-based or data-driven,” and that the NCC has helped significantly decrease salmonella illnesses over the past seven years. However, toxic forms of salmonella in your kitchen can end up on other foods and surfaces, and the level of infections in the U.S. may suggest that current regulations still aren’t adequate to protect the public from foodborne salmonella illnesses.

Chelsea Green Foundation Grants

In 2022, Chelsea Green Publishing established a namesake foundation to further the company’s mission of “ecologically based living.” The principal purpose of the new foundation is to inspire hope for the future by supporting activists, farmers, writers, artists, and other change-makers dedicated to repairing people’s relationships with the natural world and with each other. By identifying and supporting leaders driving practical and ecological solutions to societal problems, the foundation aims to create and scale up positive impacts.

The Chelsea Green Foundation will make grants available for individuals and nonprofits expanding ecological resilience. The foundation will also host gatherings and residencies for its grantees and other successful practitioners to increase connections and spur understanding about alternatives to common practices that are degrading the well-being of society.

Nominees are brought to the foundation’s attention through a constantly changing pool of external nominators. And, according to The Chelsea Green Foundation’s website, nominators recommend potential grantees based on four criteria: “evidence of individual leadership experience or potential; demonstration of exceptional creativity in thinking; potential for the foundation to amplify creative thinking; and clear capacity to operationalize creativity into impactful unorthodox practices.” Margo Baldwin, co-founder of Chelsea Green Publishing, will chair the foundation. To learn more, visit the Chelsea Green Foundation.

Plant Waste Filters Drinking Water

A team of researchers from Singapore and Switzerland have developed a water filter made from leftover vegetable oil meal to remove heavy metals from drinking water. The team extracted the proteins left over in sunflower and peanut oilseed meal and then turned them into structures called “amyloid fibrils” that attract and trap heavy metal ions as they pass by. When researchers combined the protein structures with activated carbon, a membrane was formed that was able to filter up to 99.89% of heavy metals, such as platinum, chromium, and lead. After filtration, the filter can simply be burned, leaving the trapped metals to be further recycled.

Though this filtration method requires low energy input and provides a use for extra oilseed meal, vegetable oil production and amyloid fibril formation require industrial processes for their extraction. Innovative breakthroughs like this may help create safe drinking water in the short term, but highly industrial processes rely on fossil fuels and increase local dependence on high-tech companies.

The Search for Weevil Pheromones

Scientists at the University of California, Riverside, are working to disrupt weevils’ mating patterns by synthesizing their pheromones. Avocado weevils are small beetles that drill into the fruit to lay their eggs, ruining the avocado in the process. Deep inside the fruit, they’re hard to reach with typical insecticides and natural enemies. Researchers are working to develop weevil-reduction techniques to improve harvests, reduce pesticide use, and prevent the potential spread of this Mexico-based weevil to the United States.

Pheromones are chemicals released by an insect that can be smelled by others of the same species and can impact their behavior. Possible approaches to utilizing the pheromones include flooding the avocado orchards with so much of it that males and females are unable to find each other; luring the weevils with the pheromone into a trap; or even attracting the weevils to a small source of insecticides. The use of pheromones in this way may lead to farmers using less pesticides on their crops, but more research is required.

Cornell’s Climate Change Demonstration Garden

Cornell Botanic Gardens has been studying climate effects on garden plants for the past eight years in a living laboratory called the Climate Change Demonstration Garden. Visitors can compare the growth of plants in today’s climate with plants in a high-tunnel greenhouse that creates a heated environment not unlike one we may experience in the decades to come. While visitors can step in and out of the greenhouse freely to escape the heat, the plants can’t, prompting questions as to how to navigate this future for both plants and people.

Collaborators of the demonstration garden have a few tips for home gardeners looking to grow resilient and sustainable gardens. The first is to increase biodiversity. While some plants may not do well with increasing temperatures, others may flourish. It’s also important to move up planting and harvesting dates. Taking advantage of a longer growing season with a changing climate will be essential to growing large amounts of food. With more intense droughts and less-frequent but heavier rains expected, managing water through localized drip irrigation is a great way to help plants thrive. For more information, visit Cornell Botanic Gardens.

The Farm at Okefenokee: A Wiser-Living Community

While many folks yearn to escape the noise and pace of city life in favor of a quieter life on the farm, rural living also comes with its share of hefty manual labor. The Farm at Okefenokee, founded by Doug Davis and Jeff Meyer, will offer the enjoyment of living on an organic farm without the responsibility for any of the labor. This rural agriculture community near Folkston, Georgia, will have 250 privately owned and sustainably built residential cabins and community spaces interspersed throughout 705 acres of native orchards, permaculture gardens, ponds, walking trails, grazing livestock, laying hens, and rolling pastures — all of which community members will have full access to.

The Farm at Okefenokee will be managed by full-time farmers, so community members will be able to participate in the gardening and maintenance of the farm’s produce and livestock as much or as little as they wish. The Farm’s full-time employees will be paid, in part, by the homeowners association (HOA) fees that each family is responsible for. The fees will be on par with HOA fees at other communities nationwide; however, these fees will go toward farm maintenance and sustainable amenities rather than golf and tennis courses.

Additional amenities will include a community kitchen, a chapel, a community pool and pavilion, dog ponds, a rookery, fire pits, and, eventually, a general store where The Farm’s extra produce can be sold to folks who aren’t community members.

The Farm will operate with a focus on sustainability and conservation and employ regenerative farming practices that improve soil structure and sink carbon back into the soil. The Farm also backs up to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, a protected landmass that conserves the unique qualities of the Okefenokee Swamp, conveniently accessible to community members.

Each residential cabin at The Farm will feature locally harvested building materials along with solar power and water cisterns, and there will be a variety of housing sizes, depending on residents’ needs. To maintain a rural feel, there will only be about one cabin per 3 acres, and homes will be organized by “hamlets” (small groups of homes, each with its own unique look and feel). One hamlet will be clustered around the raised vegetable gardens and greenhouse, for example, while another will exist in the olive and mayhaw orchards.
The Farm at Okefenokee is currently in development, with Phase 1 expected to be partially complete by the end of 2022, including the development of the standing gardens and greenhouse, the commercial kitchen, the dog pond, agricultural areas, and 25 cabins. By mid-2023, Phase 1 will be complete, with the opening of the Orchard Hamlet, chapel, pavilion, and another 25 cabin sites.

To request information about the Farm, email Doug@OkeFarm.com.

– Jeff Meyer and Doug Davis

Environmental Current Events January 2023

A Climatic Look at the Inflation Reduction Act

In August 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law. In addition to increasing investment in disadvantaged communities, ramping up clean energy production, and supporting American energy security, the IRA also intends to support rural communities.

Notably, it provides millions of dollars for building infrastructure to combat climate change in rural areas across the country. And through tax credits, energy rebates, loans, and grants, the IRA provides billions of dollars to support climate-friendly agriculture, forest conservation, and climate-resilient forests as well as sustainable, domestic production of biofuels.

The IRA is the largest investment the United States has made in combating climate change. More than $20 billion has been designated to help farmers implement and expand conservation practices, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and encourage carbon sequestration in soil and trees; $14 billion will be invested toward clean-energy transitions in rural areas and creating clean-energy jobs in rural communities. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the bill is unlikely to improve inflation for Americans in the near term. However, the CBO estimates the IRA will reduce the national deficit by $100 billion over the next decade. Other notable provisions in the IRA include a 15% minimum corporate tax rate on corporations with more than $1 billion in income, prescription drug price reform, and a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 for qualifying electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids (visit EPA: Fuel Economy for more information). The law is aggressively tackling climate change, environmental justice, clean air, and sustainable energy transitions. With so many climate provisions, calling it the Carbon Reduction Act may have been more relevant.

Additional funding has been given to three programs through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that are specifically designed to help rural Americans, with “rural” defined as living in areas with fewer than 20,000 people. These programs are designed to promote renewable energy systems for agricultural producers and rural small businesses as well as to help purchase and install these systems and increase existing energy efficiency.

Loan and grant applications for farmers and rural business owners are open at your state’s USDA regional office. For more information, visit USDA: Rural Development online.

Minnesota Signs Agreement with USDA to Bring Local Food to Schools

In early August, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released a report on the added sugar content in school meals. Federal guidelines recommend Americans get no more than 10% of their calories from sugar per meal. However, 92% of school-prepared breakfasts and 69% of school lunches contained at least 10% or more of their calories from sugar. The main source of sugar calories for both breakfast and lunch was fat-free flavored milk.

Amid this news, states are stepping up to secure better food for students. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has signed an agreement with the USDA to increase the amount of local foods in schools, through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. “[The program] provides an opportunity for states to strengthen ties between local farmers, ranchers, food businesses, and schools, and gives students access to nutritious foods unique to the area they live in, building stronger connections across local communities,” says USDA Under Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Lester Moffit in a USDA press release. Keeping school foods local may also increase supply chain resiliency and teach students about the abundance of seasonal products available in their own backyard.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture has invested in a similar program, designed to strengthen Washington’s food system while ensuring healthy, nutritious food is readily available for students all year long. Through its Farm to School program, school districts with a USDA child nutrition program, tribal schools, or tribal early learning centers are eligible for reimbursements and grant awards for purchasing local, Washington-grown food. Programs like these allow students to have access to nourishing foods, keeping them healthy and ready to learn all school year.

Can Natural and Synthetic Farming Methods Coexist?

In a recent article published by the Nature Sustainability journal, researchers discovered that nature-based farming methods have the potential to reduce synthetic fertilizer use while keeping yields high. A potential answer to a long-standing question in agriculture, though maybe not so much in organic farming circles, this study used a meta-analysis of more than 30 long-term experiments that overwhelmingly showed nature-friendly methods can maintain crop yields while having a positive effect on the environment.

The measures studied include using diverse crops; growing nitrogen-fixing plants, such as legumes; and spreading manure over soils. By using some or all of these ecological methods, a large chunk of artificial inputs could be replaced. The measures listed here all fall under an approach to farming called “ecological intensification,” or elements that are “sustained by nature and sustainable in nature,” as defined by one of the researchers. The benefits of using these ecological methods, however, were diminished when large amounts of synthetic fertilizers were also spread across the field. In a report of this research, Anthropocene says this particular study showed that “combining the right mixture of nature-based and traditional farming measures could generate the same yields, while using significantly less synthetic fertilizer.”

According to the authors, conventional farmers need to find the “sweet spot” moving forward, using a combination of synthetics and nature-based methods to reduce dependence on and pollution from fertilizers. As reported by the United Nations Environment Programme, slashing the use of synthetic fertilizers across the board would reduce excess nitrogen run-off and greenhouse gas emissions, improve water quality, and help rebuild soil fertility around the globe.

Energy Sweeps Clear the Way for More Efficiency

In Sarasota County, Florida, Sarasota County Sustainability staff partnered with the Sarasota Housing Authority to evaluate homes and install energy- and water-efficient devices in low-income communities, saving both money and energy. Volunteers conduct these “energy sweeps” to help educate residents on the steps they can take to reduce their usage while also implementing changes free of charge, such as upgrading lightbulbs to LEDs, identifying toilet leaks, and fixing faulty refrigerator gaskets.

Per a Yale Climate Connections report, extension agents at the University of Florida host workshops on how to save money by saving energy, but for many residents, it’s difficult to find time to attend. The energy sweeps led by volunteers increase accessibility and bring substantial savings to families right in their own homes. Volunteers, also called “energy coaches,” attend online trainings before distributing energy kits, performing energy audits, and installing energy-efficient devices.

On its website, the University of Florida says low-income and minority communities often bear disproportionate energy burdens, the percentage of home income that goes toward the costs of energy. Higher energy burdens can lead to families making trade-offs between energy and other necessities, contributing to an unhealthy living environment. Programs like this directly tackle the issue by upgrading home infrastructure, lowering costs while helping protect the planet.

California to Prohibit Gas Cars by 2035

The California Air Resources Board, charged with developing solutions to climate change and protecting citizens from air pollution, approved a plan to phase out 100% of gas-powered cars by 2035. All new cars, trucks, and SUVs will need to run on either electricity or hydrogen. Beginning in 2026, 35% of all vehicles sold will be required to have zero emissions, with the quota increasing every year until 2035. Many states, including Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington, have confirmed their intentions to follow California’s lead in reducing vehicle emissions.

The surge in demand for minerals to build these new vehicles, such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and graphite, will require a dramatic increase in mining operations, so ensuring equitable and sustainable extraction methods is key. According to an article in Forbes, this is a concern for some in the mining industry, who worry not enough resources are being allotted to meet these climate goals. Even though the science is clear that switching from gas to electric-powered cars will drastically reduce CO2 emissions and improve air quality, it could still prove a long road for some industries to find sustainable models of production for the future.

Pathogenic Microbes in Drying Soils Could Be a Threat

Prolonged dry spells in the Southwestern U.S. have allowed researchers to study pathogenic fungi that are more adapted to dry conditions than their nonpathogenic counterparts, and they may be more likely to spread as drought increases in some parts of the world. Good at tolerating stress, pathogenic microbes tend to have small, aerodynamic spores easily transported in dry, windy conditions, increasing their risk to public health.

The Soil Health Institute (SHI) has identified a minimum of three essential measures farmers and scientists can take to identify the health of their soil. These recommendations are based on a three-year project at more than 100 agricultural sites, accounting for cost, practicality, availability, and redundancy, among others. SHI recommends measuring soil organic carbon concentration, carbon mineralization potential, and aggregate stability. Collectively, these three components can inform water-holding capacity, nutrients, microbial communities, and how well soil stays together in various weather. So, with threats to soil health on the rise, knowing what’s in the dirt under your feet may prove essential for the future of farming.

Farm Rescue Adds Illinois

Farm Rescue is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping farmers and families in times of crisis. By providing services such as planting, harvesting, and livestock feeding to farmers and ranchers who have experienced an injury, illness, or natural disaster, Farm Rescue helps families continue to have a viable business and livelihood. And the nonprofit provides the necessary manpower to continue operations and to get the job done free of charge.

Farm Rescue is currently available to farm and ranch families in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas. For the spring planting season of 2023, Farm Rescue will be expanding to begin working with farmers in Illinois. For more information, including applying for assistance and giving a donation, visit Farm Rescue online.

Stories originally published in the Green Gazette column in the 2023 issues of Mother Earth News.