Global heating is predicted to lower the period of sea ice extent on Canada’s Hudson Bay, shortening the hunting season for its roughly 1,700 resident polar bears, reported Springer.

According to a new study, if global temperatures increase to more than 2.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the length of most of Hudson Bay’s ice-free period could be longer than the polar bears normally fast, threatening their survival.

May is normally an ice-covered month for Hudson Bay, but, according to NASA’s National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), this year was the lowest sea ice extent for the month since satellite records began in 1979.

“It’s a very unusual situation,” said Andrew Derocher, a polar bear biologist with the University of Alberta, as Reuters reported. “There are fewer bears in eastern Hudson Bay, but there is much less known about where they come from.”

Hudson Bay and the surrounding area is home to three of the 19 remaining polar bear populations in the world.

Unlike the Arctic, Hudson Bay completely thaws during the summer months, leading polar bears to fast while they await the return of the ice, which they need to hunt their main prey: seals.

“Hudson Bay has warmed over 1°C in the last 30 years. Coincident with this warming, seasonal patterns have shifted, with the spring sea ice melting earlier and the fall freeze-up occurring later, leading to a month longer of ice-free conditions. This extended ice-free period presents a significant challenge for polar bears, as it restricts their hunting opportunities for seals and their ability to accumulate the necessary body weight for successful reproduction,” the authors wrote in the study.

The study, “Ice-free period too long for Southern and Western Hudson Bay polar bear populations if global warming exceeds 1.6 to 2.6 °C,” was published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

Since 1987, half the population of polar bears in Western Hudson Bay has disappeared, reported Reuters. The research team looked at warming predictions from 20 climate models and found that this part of the bay would no longer be suitable habitat for the bears at approximately 2.2 degrees Celsius of planetary warming.

The team also found that the southern portion of the bay would become unable to support its polar bear population at a temperature between 1.6 and 2.1 degrees Celsius of warming.

“The disappearance of the Southern Hudson Bay polar bears is imminent, with Western Hudson Bay not far behind,” said Dr. Julienne Stroeve, lead author of the study, a researcher with the University of Manitoba and a senior scientist at NSIDC, as Reuters reported. “If we go over the 2°C of warming, we can’t really hope that those bears will still stay there.”

The study is the first to take sea ice thickness into account, as it must be sufficient to support an adult bear.

The Hudson Bay region has experienced more than one degree of warming in the past three decades, leading to the lengthening of its ice-free period from roughly 120 to 150 days, reported Springer.

Polar bears are believed to have the ability to safely survive a period without ice lasting from 183 to 218 days.

“Limiting global warming to 2°C above pre-industrial levels may prevent the ice-free period from exceeding 183 days in both western and southern Hudson Bay, providing some optimism for adult polar bear survival. However, with longer ice-free periods already substantially impacting recruitment, extirpation for polar bears in this region may already be inevitable,” the authors of the study wrote.

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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has reported 161 sightings of whales last month, representing seven different whale species. The sightings, recorded on May 25, took place off the northeastern U.S. Coasts, near Martha’s Vineyard and southeast of Nantucket. According to NOAA, the sightings included an unusually high number of whale species, particularly endangered whales.

The sightings don’t necessarily mean there were 161 individual whales, since some may have been counted multiple times, The Associated Press reported. But the recorded whale sightings were still a positive sign, especially considering the high numbers of endangered species observed.

The researchers observed 93 sei whales, which are considered endangered under the Endangered Species Act. As stated on the NOAA website, sei whales experienced major declines in the 19th and 20th centuries, when around 300,000 of these whales were hunted. This was one of the highest recorded concentrations of sei whales, The Associated Press reported.

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Teri Frady, chief of research communications for the Northeast Fisheries Science Center under NOAA, said that seeing so many whales in this area around this time of year is not unheard of, but the researchers did not expect to find such a large number in one area at once, especially with such a variety of species.

“It is not unusual that there are a lot of whales in the area this time of year. But since we do not survey every day, or in the same areas every time we fly, catching such a large aggregation with such a variety of species on one of our flights is the exception rather than the rule,” Frady explained, as reported by The Associated Press.

In addition to the sei whales, researchers noted three sightings of the North Atlantic right whale, another endangered species, humpback whales, fin whales, minke whales, sperm whales and the rare sightings of two orcas, which are not as common in this area. One orca was observed with a tuna in its mouth.

Gib Brogan, campaign director at Oceana, told The Associated Press that the area where the whales were observed is “increasingly important as year-round core habitat for North Atlantic right whales and other large whale species,” but that it remains a risky place for whales. Brogan noted the U.S. needs to finalize legal protections to minimize risks of vessel strikes and fishing gear entanglements, two of the biggest threats to whales in the region.

The sightings in May follow the rare observations of a gray whale off the northeastern U.S. in March by the New England Aquarium. New England Aquarium researchers observed a gray whale, a species that has been considered extinct in the Atlantic Ocean for more than two centuries, off the New England coast in an aerial survey. The rare gray whale sighting may be attributed to the species’ adaptation to climate change, scientists said.

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A new report from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO, has found that more fish were farmed worldwide in 2022 than harvested from the wild, an apparent first.

Last week, the FAO released its annual report on the state of aquaculture — which refers to the farming of both seafood and aquatic plants — and fisheries around the world. The organization found that global production from both aquaculture and fisheries reached a new high — 223.3 million metric tons of animals and plants — in 2022. Of that, 185.4 million metric tons were aquatic animals, and 37.8 million metric tons were algae. Aquaculture was responsible for 51 percent of aquatic animal production in 2022, or 94.4 metric tons. 

The milestone was in many ways an expected one, given the world’s insatiable appetite for seafood. Since 1961, consumption of seafood has grown at twice the annual rate of the global population, according to the FAO. Because production levels from fisheries are not expected to change significantly in the future, meeting the growing global demand for seafood almost certainly necessitates an increase in aquaculture. 

Though fishery production levels fluctuate from year to year, “it’s not like there’s new fisheries out there waiting to be discovered,” said Dave Martin, program director for Sustainable Fisheries Partnerships, an international organization that works to reduce the environmental impact of seafood supply chains. “So any growth in consumption of seafood is going to come from aquaculture.”

But the rise of aquaculture underscores the need to transform seafood systems to minimize their impact on the planet. Both aquaculture and fisheries — sometimes referred to as capture fisheries, as they involve the capture of wild seafood — come with significant environmental and climate considerations. What’s more, the two systems often depend on each other, making it difficult to isolate their climate impacts. 

“There’s a lot of overlap between fisheries and aquaculture that the average consumer may not see,” said Dave Love, a research professor at the Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins University. 

Studies have shown that the best diet for the planet is one free of animal protein. Still, seafood generally has much lower greenhouse gas emissions than other forms of protein from land-based animals. And given many people’s unwillingness or inability to go vegan, the FAO recommends transforming, adapting, and expanding sustainable seafood production to feed the world’s growing population and improve food security.

But “there’s a lot of ways to do aquaculture well, and there’s a lot of ways to do it poorly,” said Martin. Aquaculture can result in nitrogen and phosphorus being released into the natural environment, damaging aquatic ecosystems. Farmed fish can also spread disease to wild populations, or escape from their confines and breed with other species, resulting in genetic pollution that can disrupt the fitness of a wild population. Martin points to the diesel fuel used to power equipment on certain fish farms as a major source of aquaculture’s environmental impact. According to an analysis from the climate solutions nonprofit Project Drawdown, swapping out fossil fuel-based generators on fish farms for renewable-powered hybrids would prevent 500 million to 780 million metric tons of carbon emissions by 2050. 

Other areas for improvement will vary depending on the specific species being farmed. In 2012, a U.N. study found that mangrove forests — a major carbon sink — have suffered greatly due to the development of shrimp and fish farming. Today, industry stakeholders have been exploring how new approaches and techniques from shrimp farmers can help restore mangroves. 

Meanwhile, wild fishing operations present their own environmental problems. For example, poorly managed fisheries can harvest fish more quickly than wild populations can breed, a phenomenon known as overfishing. Certain destructive wild fishing techniques also kill a lot of non-targeted species, known as bycatch, threatening marine biodiversity.

But the line between aquaculture and fish harvested from the wild isn’t as clear as it may seem. For example, pink salmon that are raised in hatcheries and then released into the wild to feed, mature, and ultimately be caught again are often marketed as “wild caught.” Lobsters, caught wild in Maine, are often fed bait by fisherman to help them put on weight. “It’s a wild fishery,” said Love — but the lobster fishermen’s practice of fattening up their catch shows how human intervention is present even in wild-caught operations. 

On the flipside, in a majority of aquaculture systems, farmers provide their fish with feed. That feed sometimes includes fish meal, says Love, a powder that comes from two sources: seafood processing waste (think: fish guts and tails) and wild-caught fish. 

All of this can result in a confusing landscape for climate- or environmentally-conscientious consumers who eat fish. But Love recommends a few ways in which consumers can navigate choice when shopping for seafood. Buying fresh fish locally helps shorten supply chains, which can lower the carbon impact of eating aquatic animals. “In our work, we’ve found that the big impact from transport is shipping fresh seafood internationally by air,” he said. Most farmed salmon, for example, sold in the U.S. is flown in. 

From both a climate and a nutritional standpoint, smaller fish and sea vegetables are also both good options. “Mussels, clams, oysters, seaweed — they’re all loaded with macronutrients and minerals in different ways” compared to fin fish, said Love. 

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The world is farming more seafood than it catches. Is that a good thing? on Jun 14, 2024.

Heat waves don’t just make you sweat — they can also mess with your brain. It’s been established that hot weather can result in lower scores on math tests and higher rates of aggression, ranging from mean-spirited behavior to violent crime. A small but growing body of research suggests it can also influence how people talk. 

Politicians tend to use shorter words in speeches when the temperature outside is 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit or hotter, according to a study published in the journal iScience on Thursday. The analysis looked at 7 million speeches across eight countries — the United States, the United Kingdom, Austria, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Denmark, Spain, and Germany — comparing them against the average temperature the day they were delivered. Cold days didn’t produce the same effect.

Understanding the consequences of heat on cognitive abilities is becoming particularly important as the climate warms, said Risto Conte Keivabu, a co-author of the study who researches climate change at the Max Planck Institute of Demographic Research in Germany. 

On days hotter than 81 degrees F, the simpler language politicians used was equivalent to losing half a month of education. That result is likely an underestimate, Conte Keivabu said, since the study tried to “disentangle the impact of heat from all the possible confounding factors in the most conservative way possible.” Looking at just the data from Germany, researchers found the effect was comparable to a four-month reduction in education, he said. The speeches were measured using Flesch-Kincaid readability tests, which assess how difficult a text is to understand based on the length of the words and sentences.

The study found that adults over 57 years old were more sensitive to heat, based on the German data, with temperatures in the range of 70-75 degrees F linked with changes in their speech. Heat is especially dangerous for older adults, who have a harder time cooling down because of weaker blood circulation and deteriorating sweat glands.

Other studies support the idea that heat can tamper with our words — though more for the reason that it can worsen your mood. Hate speech tends to rise with the thermometer: The number of tweets in the U.S. using pejorative or discriminatory language jumped by up to 22 percent during extreme heat, according to a study from 2022. Researchers have observed a similar phenomenon on Chinese social media, with people using more negative language on very hot days.

Unlike social media posts, however, speeches are typically prepared in advance, which makes politicians’ shift to less complex language on hot days more surprising. The researchers posit that the psychological effects of heat could “influence a speaker to simplify speech or diverge from prepared remarks due to impaired cognitive function and comfort.”

So how is it that a heat wave outside can alter the quality of speech indoors? The study puts forward a few theories. Maybe even a short exposure to heat can cause problems, like waiting for a train during a commute or taking a break outside; or, conversely, uncomfortable temperatures outdoors might lead people to stay inside where the lack of fresh air could hinder their cognitive abilities. Another possibility is that people tend to sleep worse when they’re hot, which makes it harder to think straight the next day.

Using simpler language isn’t necessarily bad — in fact, it’s often easier to understand. But when someone uses less complex language over time, that can indicate cognitive decline, according to Conte Keivabu. “We don’t know if this leads towards outcomes when it comes to the decision-making of politicians or how effective they are in conveying their messages,” he said. Researchers have found that using more generic wording can be an early warning sign of dementia, a pattern detected in authors’ books and politicians’ speeches.

Heat isn’t the only environmental factor that might subtly be influencing us to say one thing instead of another. A study in 2019 found that exposure to air pollution similarly led to a reduction in the complexity of speeches by members of the Canadian parliament, the equivalent of losing nearly three months of education.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline How hot weather can tamper with your words on Jun 14, 2024.

Poet Ben Ditmars wrote, “Like a tree, I have stood my ground, not fallen.” If…

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In today’s evolving business landscape, the importance of high-quality data to support ESG goals cannot be overstated. With increasing regulatory pressures, such as CSRD and SEC, companies must ensure their ESG reporting is both transparent and accurate.

In a blow to the increasing legal precedent in favor of citizens suing their governments over the adverse impacts of climate change, a vote by Switzerland’s parliament has rejected the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)’s historic climate ruling in favor of a group of older Swiss women.

The women — KlimaSeniorinnen, a group of more than 2,000 women over age 64 — won a lawsuit in April claiming that their country’s inadequate response to the climate crisis, particularly heat waves, had put their health at risk.

“The declaration is a betrayal of us older women – and of all those who are suffering from the real consequences of global warming today and in the future,” said Rosmarie Wydler-Wälti, KlimaSeniorinnen co-president, as The Guardian reported.

The original ruling was hailed as a huge win since it means countries belonging to the Council of Europe — the continent’s foremost human rights organization — are now susceptible to legal challenges when they are slow to make the transition to more renewable economic systems.

Even so, on Wednesday members of the lower house of Swiss parliament voted 111 to 72 to disregard the verdict. They argued that Switzerland’s response to the climate crisis had been sufficient and accused the judges of “inadmissible and disproportionate judicial activism.”

“This is terrible from a rule-of-law perspective,” said Corina Heri, a University of Zürich legal researcher, as reported by The Guardian. “The term ‘slippery slope’ is overused, obviously, but it is a dangerous precedent to create.”

If the Swiss women feel their country is not adhering to the ruling, they can complain to a Council of Europe committee that meets four times annually to monitor ECHR ruling compliance, Reuters reported.

Raphael Mahaim, a lawyer for the KlimaSeniorinnen, told Reuters the group was considering filing a complaint.

It is also possible for Switzerland to be expelled or leave the Council of Europe of its own accord if it does not want to act in accordance with the council’s directives. In March of 2022, Russia was removed from the council following its invasion of Ukraine.

Legal experts said the more likely outcome would be for Switzerland to be pressured to accept the judgment.

Isabela Keuschnigg, a London School of Economics legal researcher, said Switzerland’s refusal to carry out the ruling could “set a concerning precedent, undermining the role of legal oversight in democratic governance,” reported Reuters.

Joana Setzer, a climate litigation expert with the London School of Economics, said compliance was encouraged by the monitoring system and countries leaving the council would be subjected to “significant political and social repercussions.”

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In addition to the devastating death toll and widespread destruction of Russia’s war on Ukraine, the ongoing conflict has brought extensive climate damage to the planet.

New research reveals that the first 24 months of the Ukraine war had a climate cost greater than the annual greenhouse gas emissions of 175 individual countries, adding to the global climate crisis.

“Russia’s war in Ukraine has caused extensive devastation, including the destruction or damage of homes, schools, hospitals, and other critical public facilities, leaving citizens without essential resources such as water, electricity, and healthcare. Beside causing damage to the natural environment of Ukraine, this war affects the global climate due to the release of significant amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere,” the authors wrote in the study. “In the early months of the war, the majority of the emissions were caused by the large scale destruction of civilian infrastructure requiring a large post-war reconstruction effort. Now, after two years of war, the largest share of emissions originate from a combination of warfare, landscape fires and the damage to energy infrastructure.”

The study, Climate Damage Caused by Russia’s War in Ukraine: 24 February 2022 – 23 February 2024 by Initiative on GHG accounting of war (IGGAW) — a coalition of climate experts estimating the impact of the war on Earth’s climate — found that, after two years of war, the planet’s GHG emissions have increased by 175 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

The GHG emissions include carbon dioxide, sulfur hexafluoride — the most potent GHG of all — and nitrous oxide, reported The Guardian. The total is equivalent to the annual emissions of 90 million gas-powered cars and more than that of countries like Venezuela and the Netherlands in 2022.

IGGAW is partially funded by the Swedish and German governments, along with the European Climate Foundation. It says the Russian Federation will be faced with a climate reparations bill of $32 billion for the first two years of the war.

“Russia is harming Ukraine but also our climate. This ‘conflict carbon’ is sizeable and will be felt globally. The Russian Federation should be made to pay for this, a debt it owes Ukraine and countries in the global south that will suffer most from climate damage,” said Lennard de Klerk, IGGAW lead author, as The Guardian reported.

The report is the first time reparations calculations have been made for climate impacts related to war.

The researchers found that one-third of emissions came from military activity — fuel used by Russian troops was the single biggest GHG source.

The concrete and steel that will be necessary to rebuild damaged and destroyed homes, schools, bridges, water plants and factories will contribute another third, depending on what proportion of carbon-intensive and more sustainable methods and materials are used in the reconstruction process.

The other third of GHG emissions came from fires, military strikes on energy infrastructure, the rerouting of commercial aircraft and the displacement of almost seven million Ukrainian and Russian people. The additional aviation fuel used to avoid the conflict generated a minimum of 24 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Fires associated with military actions burned 2.47 million acres of forest and fields, making up 13 percent of total carbon emissions.

Energy infrastructure was also targeted, creating huge GHG leaks.

The study found that the forced movement of millions of Ukrainians fleeing the conflict, millions of people displaced internally and Russians fleeing their country generated nearly 3.3 million tonnes of carbon.

“The new monetary estimate of climate damage highlights the important role of greenhouse gas emissions accounting for conflicts,” said Linsey Cottrell, Conflict and Environment Observatory environmental policy officer, as reported by The Guardian. “We critically need international agreement on how conflict and military emissions are measured and addressed.”

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A new study from a team of international scientists has uncovered that nitrous oxide emissions, one of the most potent greenhouse gases, have risen continuously over a 40-year period.

The report, published in Earth System Science Data, found that nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions increased by 40% from 1980 to 2020, reaching around 3 million metric tons per year. 

According to the report, nitrous oxide emissions had the fastest growth rate in 2020 and 2021 since 1980, when tracking became more reliable. In 2020 alone, nitrous oxide emissions reached around 10 million metric tons, with 8 million metric tons attributed to agriculture, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego reported.

The warming effects of one pound of nitrous oxide are about 265 times the warming effects from the same amount of carbon dioxide, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported. While nitrous oxide emissions have been rising, the report noted that the amount of nitrous oxide emissions released from natural sources has been mostly steady, meaning the increase could be heavily attributed to human activities.

Even after 2020, nitrous oxide emissions remain unchecked, with a nearly 25% increase in 2022 compared to pre-industrial levels.

“Nitrous oxide emissions from human activities must decline in order to limit global temperature rise to 2°C as established by the Paris Agreement,” Hanqin Tian, lead author of the report and the Schiller Institute Professor of Global Sustainability at Boston College, said in a press release. “Reducing N2O emissions is the only solution since at this point no technologies exist that can remove N2O from the atmosphere.” 

The report found some progress toward curbing these emissions, although more actions are needed, the authors said. Nitrous oxide emissions in Europe have been declining by 31% since the 1930s. While China has been the No. 1 emitter of nitrous oxides since 2010, according to the report, the country has seen the rate of these emissions slow down since the mid-2010s. Following China and rounding out the top 10 emitters are India, U.S., Brazil, Russia, Pakistan, Australia, Indonesia, Turkey and Canada.

In the U.S., agriculture is a major contributor of nitrous oxides, but emissions from industrial activities have declined. Globally, agriculture contributed to about 74% of all nitrous oxide emissions over the past 10 years, the report found.

“While there have been some successful nitrogen reduction initiatives in different regions, we found an acceleration in the rate of N2O accumulation in the atmosphere in this decade,” said Josep Canadell, executive director at the Global Carbon Project and a research scientist at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. “The growth rates of atmospheric N2O in 2020 and 2021 were higher than any previous observed year and more than 30 percent higher than the average rate of increase in the previous decade.”  

Because nitrous oxide emissions have been reaching record highs in the past few years, the report authors have recommended frequent assessments as well as improvements to agricultural practices, such as limiting the use of nitrogen fertilizers to slow emissions. They also noted that there needs to be better recordings of the sources of these emissions as well as nitrous oxide sinks.

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