The Environmental Digest is a short daily newsletter that delivers the hottest climate change news directly to your inbox.
We know how daunting negative news might feel when you already have to pull yourself out of bed for work on a Monday morning.
So, here are only good news….
Environment and Agriculture
Scientists Developed Climate Proof Wheat Crop
As summer temperature highs are consistently reaching new records, many scientists worry about the impact of climate change on the way we grow and manage our food supply.
Which is why scientists from Earlham Institute in Norwich, England decided to test 149 different strains of wheat and their resistance (or cooperation) with seasonal heat.
In collaboration with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre, they set up a two-year trial in the Sonoran Desert, in Mexico where they tested selectively bred wheat lines that included DNA from their wild relatives native to Mexico and India.
"Wheat is responsible for around 20 per cent of the calories consumed globally and is widely grown all over the world," says Professor Anthony Hall, study author and Group Leader at the Earlham Institute. "But we don't know whether the crops we're planting today will be able to cope with tomorrow's weather.”
To select the best crop, seeds were sown later in the season to force them to grow during the hottest months, putting these crops under the kind of heat stress that is predicted to become the norm as global temperatures rise.
The teams found that plants with “exotic” DNA fared no worse than standard “elite” lines under normal conditions, but achieved 50% higher yields in the hotter temperatures.
They were also able to identify markers that would allow beneficial aspects of the exotic DNA to be introduced into elite lines, offering a quick way to boost their resilience. “This is science we can now use to make an impact almost immediately,” Professor Hall told Science Daily.
Environment and Food
British cows could be given ‘methane blockers’ to cut climate emissions
It is a well know fact that cow farts and burps produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is about 80 times more powerful at warming the atmosphere than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, according to the UN Environment Program.
In its new net-zero strategy, the British government said that “high efficacy methane-suppressing products” were likely to enter the market in 2025, and that if they prove effective, it might become obligatory to add them to cattle feed.
Farmers welcomed the proposal, which follows a consultation that began in August on how new types of animal feed product can reduce digestive emissions from the animals.
The Food Standards Agency is responsible for licensing all animal feeds and would have to carry out a robust risk assessments of the impacts of each additive on animal health and welfare, food safety risks, risk to workers, wider environmental risks, and of the efficacy of the products, before licensing them for use in feed to reduce methane, according to the National Farmer’s Union.
On the other hand, green campaigners were skeptical, arguing that the move would not address the other major environmental harms resulting from the beef and dairy industries and showed a fixation on “techno fixes” rather than reducing consumption.
“But they won’t fix the major harms associated with our huge livestock fixation, from rainforest clearance for feeds and pasture to UK river pollution and harm to wildlife, all of which inhibit action on climate, too. We need to produce and eat less and better meat using agro-ecological tools known for whole farm and nature benefits,” said Vicki Hird, head of farming for Sustain, an alliance of organizations that promote better food and farming.
Time will tell which side will win.
Environment and Water
Researchers Discovered Bacteria That Eats Plastic
Statistically, around 12 million tons (24 billion pounds) of plastic ends up in the world’s oceans each year, but the sampling surveys pick up only 1% of that crazy number. So, where does all the plastic go?
This mystery made the researchers at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research scratch their heads in confusion. They concluded that a good amount settles to the bottom of the ocean, but a growing number of plastics also gets eaten by bacteria.
Turns out, sunlight degrades the plastic into “bite-sized chunks” which becomes an inviting feast to bacteria Rhodococcus ruber, which digests it and excretes carbon dioxide.
Although this revelation does not solve the majority of the problem, lab tests suggest they eat around 1% of the plastic that enters the ocean.
This means that in the future, plastic can be degraded in artificial seawater and avoid the deep blue altogether.
Climate Tidbits
Scientists have found that whales absorb a large amount of the CO2 being released into our atmosphere, much more than trees. In a new paper, they argued long-living mammals accumulate carbon in their bodies during their lifetimes (up to 100 years), making them “one of the largest stable living carbon pools” in the ocean.
In an study published in science journal PLOS Climate, a group of astrophysicists argued that dust fired from the Moon could act as an adjustable solar shield. It would, they suggested, take much less energy to fire dust from the Moon than from Earth, and one strategically directed burst could significantly reduce warming for six days or more.
Edinburgh has become the first capital in Europe to endorse a plant-based diet in order to tackle the climate crisis. The city council has signed up to to the Plant Based Treaty, an initiative which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from animal agriculture.