The great tits in this Oxford wood are adapting their breeding times as climate changes

by David López Idiáquez, The Conversation

Great tit (Parus major). Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

As part of a team of ecologists, I've been studying aspects of great tit biology at Wytham Woods near Oxford. One aspect of our research is how climate change affects their breeding behavior. So far, our research suggests that these great tits have been able to deal with climate change effects.

During early spring, usually in March, great tits (Parus major) abandon their winter flocks and start preparing for the breeding season. First they find a mate and build a nest. Then they raise naked and blind chicks, each weighing a bit more than one gram, into fully feathered fledglings.

A lot of our research focuses on analyzing great tit reproductive phenology—that's the study and analysis of seasonal events such as plant flowering, bird migration and reproduction.

Phenological events are not fixed in time as they depend on environmental factors such as weather conditions. Thus, they vary from year to year. For instance, the earliest recorded start date for great tit breeding in Wytham is March 27. The latest has been April 24, almost a full month later.

Nowadays, the start of great tit breeding occurs more than 15 days earlier than it did in the 1960s. Our research suggests that great tits have successfully tracked the environmental changes imposed by climate change.

At Wytham Woods, spring temperatures have increased around 2°C since 1965. Despite the rising temperature, they are demonstrating what we call "phenotypic plasticity"—individual birds can adapt by producing different versions of the same trait in different environmental contexts.

The fluctuation in great tit breeding reflects climate conditions and food availability—notably, caterpillars of the winter moth, Operophtera brumata. These caterpillars are especially important when great tits are raising their chicks, which rely on these and similar caterpillars as their main source of food.

To maximize breeding success, great tits must synchronize the period of highest chick food demand with the peak of caterpillar availability. If they don't, producing chicks has a much higher energetic cost because parent birds may have to fly further to collect food—this will probably result in fewer chicks surviving.

Evolutionary biologist David Lack put up the first nest boxes in 1947 to study Wytham's great tits. Since then, birds in more than 1,200 nest boxes have been monitored by researchers like me at every stage of their reproductive cycle.

We record when these great tits lay their eggs, count the number of eggs laid and record how many chicks hatch, by regularly visiting the nest boxes. All birds breeding inside the nest boxes and their chicks are captured and marked with individually numbered metal rings. With an identification tag on each bird, we can build a detailed picture of their lives in the woods across successive breeding seasons.

Over the past 76 years, more than 40 generations of great tits have been studied. There have been tens of thousand breeding attempts and researchers have ringed more than 126,000 great tits in Wytham. During Lack's era, most details were recorded using a pen and paper.

Since then, methods have evolved and today, we combine the traditional approach with advanced technology including images taken from satellites and drones, and genetic studies to deepen our understanding of Wytham's great tits.

By monitoring Wytham's great tit population, scientists have been able to explore many different aspects of their biology, from the cultural transmission of song to the impact of age on mating behavior and mate choice.

Early starters

We know that the great tits living here are responding to this rapid warming by adapting their life cycles. Climate change is also affecting winter moths. Data collected between 1960 and 2020 shows that their abundance peaks about 15 days earlier than it did in 1960.

This is probably why great tits have shifted their timing. By breeding earlier, great tits can stay in sync with the higher availability of caterpillars and meet the demands of their chicks, ensuring greater breeding success.

Do the seasons feel increasingly weird to you? You're not alone. Climate change is distorting nature's calendar, causing plants to flower early and animals to emerge at the wrong time. This article is part of a series, Wild Seasons, on how the seasons are changing—and what they may eventually look like.

We are investigating which environmental cues great tits rely on to time the onset of their reproduction. We are measuring variation in environmental factors such as temperature at very small scales. Since 2023, we have deployed 800 temperature recorders across the forest to record temperature variation with high spatial and temporal resolution.

We are also monitoring the phenological changes of trees, specifically the timing and manner of leaf development. Trees play a crucial role in this system, as they determine the emergence of caterpillars, and the timing and availability of food for the great tits.

Beyond the woods

Research at Wytham shows promising signs of great tits' adaptability to climate change. However, it is crucial to remember that these observations come from a single population in an area experiencing a relatively mild climate.

Studies of other great tit populations, while reporting similar advances in the onset of reproduction to Wytham, suggest that these adjustments may not be sufficient to match the changes in the peak of food availability.

Climate change effects in wild animal populations are complex and diverse. Long-term data sets, such as the one available for Wytham Woods great tits, represent a valuable resource to shed new light on the causes, mechanisms, and consequences of population responses to climate change. Long-term monitoring projects like this one near Oxford are valuable tools that can be used, not only to understand and tackle current problems, but also future problems that we can't yet predict.

Provided by The Conversation 

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Tree health linked to birds' response to climate change

 

Video: Is there a quick fix for ocean acidification?

by American Chemical Society

Credit: The American Chemical Society

Acidification is threatening the ocean's ability to pull carbon dioxide out of our atmosphere, so scientists and startups are looking to ocean-sized antacids to raise its pH.

While they might not be the ultimate solution to our climate crisis problem, the antacids could have a hand in helping our oceans rebound.

Credit: American Chemical Society

Provided by American Chemical Society 

COVID-19 viral load rebound can occur after VV116, nirmatrelvir-ritonavir

 

The seabed needs to become a top priority, and the UN agrees

by William Austin, The Conversation

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

"The science we need for the ocean we want"—this is the tagline for the UN Ocean Decade (2021-2030), which has just held its first conference in Barcelona, Spain. Marine scientists from around the world, including me, gathered alongside global leaders to chart the progress of this ten-year mission to improve ocean health and marine biodiversity. That includes finding ways to better protect the seabed which we still know relatively little about.

Some areas of sediment on the sea floor hold large stores of carbon. Without greater protection, disturbance from bottom-trawling fishing practices for example, could release some of that stored carbon back into the atmosphere.

I joined discussions in Barcelona that have led to the launch of a new sustainable ocean planning initiative, to be coordinated by Julian Barbière, global coordinator of the Ocean Decade. This aims to encourage commitment to sustainable management of 100% of sea area under a nation's jurisdiction.

With this in place, there's scope to reimagine the role of the ocean in our wider climate system and recognize that all marine natural systems sequester and store carbon in their soils and sediments.

I'm here on behalf of the global ocean decade program for blue carbon—that's any carbon that is stored in the ocean. This project is one of the UN's 50 programs aimed at delivering transformative ocean science solutions for sustainable development, connecting people and our ocean. That's a big ask.

My work focuses on the extraordinary ability of coastal ecosystems—such as mangroves, salt marshes and seagrass—to sequester or store organic carbon in unusually high densities. Our blue carbon team of international research scientists from more than 20 countries is beginning to define emerging blue carbon ecosystems such as kelp forest and sub-tidal sediments as solutions to manage the climate and biodiversity crises.

The 360 million sq kilometers of ocean and sea floor, from coastal seagrass meadows to the sediment that slowly accumulates within the deepest trenches, are massively overlooked as a precious carbon store. Oceans hold vast stores of carbon—the top meter of the ocean holds an estimated 2.3 trillion metric tons.

The seafloor is not a resource to be relentlessly exploited, but a vulnerable repository of global biodiversity and carbon that needs protecting. These highly productive, yet vulnerable, ecosystems have been greatly affected by habitat loss and destructive practices such as deforestation of mangroves for shrimp aquaculture in the relentless development of the world's coastal zones.

Blue carbon has huge potential to provide ocean-based solutions to help mitigate climate change, and thankfully, at the global scale at least, these losses have slowed in recent years.

The potential for blue carbon to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is relatively modest, but healthy, restored ecosystems have the potential to store an extra 2.96 million tons of carbon annually. Certain countries, such as Indonesia, offer huge potential as blue carbon hotspots where the protection and restoration of nature are an opportunity, for both the environment and local communities.

Carbon credits, the means by which additional carbon can become a source of investment income in that community, are gaining much interest. Off the coast of Kenya, the community-based Miko Pamojo project enhances direct benefits to local people from mangrove restoration.

Blue carbon ecosystems can help countries meet their climate obligations and have been attracting considerable interest. However, if nations want these ecosystems to continue to provide a whole range of services our governments must protect them and, where possible, restore lost habitats.

Most governments have been stubbornly slow to prioritize ocean-based solutions high up on the agenda of global climate negotiations. At this conference, I've heard more people, including Unesco's director general Audrey Azoulay, driving home the need to protect and effectively manage our ocean resources.

Members from the traditional owners of the Great Barrier Reef spoke of "country" from a perspective of a long and sustained human relationship with nature and are intimately connected to the ocean. There is a growing recognition and respect for this indigenous knowledge and our need to integrate that into a sustainable ocean future.

Reimagining the ocean's role

It makes sense to start by protecting these natural systems that already hold vulnerable stores of carbon—this is sensible risk management.

As nations continue to exploit the marine environment for fishing, fossil fuels and even precious metals which are now being mined from the sea floor in certain places, it is time to rethink the value of these vast natural stores of ocean carbon.

Space science gets way more funding than our oceans, yet vast areas of the global deep ocean remain largely unmapped. "Life below water" is by far the least funded of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals. That needs to change through a sustained and increased investment in ocean science and greater recognition for the value of our blue economy—defined by the UN as the sustainable use of the ocean's resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs.

Stepping back to pause and preserve what already exists in the ocean can help the planet, and us, build resilience and create a healthier and more sustainable marine environment. The seabed forms the foundation for an interconnected ocean ecosystem and acts as an important long-term global sink for carbon that involves the whole ocean and its exchanges with the atmosphere and wider Earth system.

While plans are finally moving in the right direction, there are huge challenges ahead. To paraphrase Cynthia Barzuna, director of ocean action 2030 at the World Resources Institute, "there is no wealthy ocean without a healthy ocean". The biggest takeaway from the Barcelona conference is that a sustainable ocean future depends on a shared vision that works for all of us and marine life too.

Provided by The Conversation 

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Tidal landscapes: A greater carbon sink than previously thought

 

High stakes: The Arctic test of sustainable development

by Bárbara Pinho, Horizon: The EU Research & Innovation Magazine

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

EU researchers are helping policymakers reconcile competing demands in a region full of natural resources, beauty and tradition.

Above the Arctic Circle in Finland's municipality of Inari, the largest and most sparsely populated region of Finnish Lapland, leading sources of income are tourism and the cold-climate testing of cars, tires and components.

The country's north-south "European Route," the E75, brings in year-round visitors seeking the beauty and serenity of an uncrowded natural environment almost 300 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. In 2019, an estimated half a million people visited the region, which has only twilight in winter and 24 hours of daylight in summer.

Culture clash

Inari is also Finland's capital of Sámi culture, a cornerstone of which is the herding of reindeer by the indigenous community. That means the region faces a challenge in balancing respect for traditional customs and openness to 21st century jobs and revenue.

"Indigenous peoples have been reindeer herding for hundreds of years," said Pasi Rautio, a research professor at the Natural Resources Institute Finland. "It is not just a livelihood, it's a way of life—a culture."

Rautio, who comes from Finland, leads a research project that tries to reconcile the often-competing demands on the resources of the Arctic from both inside and outside the area. Called ArcticHubs, the four-year project is due to wrap up in July 2024.

The researchers want to ensure that the use of natural assets such as open waters, timber and critical minerals by outside economic or political actors doesn't come at the expense of local residents and traditions.

These customs also include fish farming, which can be harmed by foreign competition, and hunting, which can be disrupted by the construction of infrastructure such as wind farms and mines.

A Lapland resident himself, Rautio has the impression that global or national players are eyeing the region's resources without showing adequate consideration for local communities.

"It's seen as a place to excavate," said Rautio. "But not enough investments are feeding back into the local people and local communities."

In 2023, Swedish state-owned mining company LKAB said it had found the largest deposit of rare-earth minerals in Europe. While these minerals are important for the West's green transition, the Sámi way of life including migration routes and grazing lands would be disrupted by the mining activities if they go ahead.

Another example of increased foreign interest in the Arctic is provided by China, which has invested more than €84 billion above the Arctic Circle in infrastructure, assets and other projects—much of it in the energy and minerals sectors.

Local voices

While Arctic countries themselves have primary responsibility for such issues, EU and international cooperation can help address them because they include cross-border aspects. For example, while Earth as a whole is increasingly feeling the effects of climate change, the Arctic is warming four times faster.

The loss of snow cover means less energy is reflected into space and more solar radiation is absorbed at the Earth's surface, leading to a faster and more intense rise in temperatures. That in turn gives Europe and the rest of the world a stake in the well-being of the region.

For the past three years, Rautio and his colleagues have been interviewing residents across the area—Finland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden—and collecting information to help guide local, national and EU policymakers.

The aim is to ensure that any future licenses for the commercial use of natural resources heed the long-term interests of residents. The team has been mapping the resource and land needs of local residents and businesses. They're grouped into clusters representing five activities where the challenges and effects of Arctic development are most tangible: forestry, mining, fish farming, tourism and indigenous culture.

The researchers have already reached one important conclusion: to ensure the sustainable use of land and water, it is crucial to involve the affected communities, local institutions, researchers and policymakers.

The goal is for decisions taken to be inclusive, transparent and broadly representative. In Finland, current practices reflect this effort. If, for example, foreign investors are considering logging in forests where the Sámi practice reindeer husbandry, the state consults the herders as part of a process that requires consensus for the project to go ahead and regional or local decision-makers can give their views about whether the Sámi's livelihood is being taken into account.

The researchers are providing reports to municipal authorities and European Parliament members on what's at stake when resource licenses are granted and channeling grassroots information into high-level strategy documents such as the EU's Arctic policy.

The ultimate goal is to reconcile and pre-empt land-use conflicts.

Fair way

How to ensure fair and sustainable development in the Arctic region is also a preoccupation of Dr. Corine Wood-Donnelly, a researcher at Uppsala University in Sweden. She led another project that investigated the viability of Arctic economic activities. Called JUSTNORTH, the project ended in November 2023 after three and a half years.

It set out to determine who really stands to benefit from increased exploitation of the Arctic.

"Whom is this for?" said Wood-Donnelly. "It's not going to work to just keep extracting and doing what we're already doing over and over again. We're just going to end up with a ruined Arctic."

The project brought together a range of partners to examine specific cases of economic activity in the Arctic. Among the participants were academic researchers, indigenous communities and local business owners, while the cases included mining activities in Finland, transportation in Iceland and tourism ventures across the Arctic, among others.

Risks and rewards

The project identified economic-development risks and costs as well as benefits and opportunities. For example, building wind farms in the vast open fields of the Arctic could bring economic development to the region because of the energy they would generate.

But because of the low temperatures, the windmills would accumulate ice that would then fall onto the fields, according to Wood-Donnelly. That would make these areas hostile to both reindeer, which could no longer graze there, and tourists, who would be unable to ski or hike on the land.

The case studies led to data and findings used to produce policy briefs. In addition, the team used its findings to inform national politicians and EU policymakers themselves. For example in 2020, when the European Commission was holding a public consultation on the EU's emerging Arctic policy, Wood-Donnelly said her colleagues took the opportunity to provide insights.

"People on the project have been advising government ministers and other policymakers," she said. "There's a lot of local or regional influence shaping how to think about development in the Arctic."

As with Rautio under ArcticHubs, Wood-Donnelly said sustainable development of the region requires communities to be involved in policy decisions of all kinds—from projects as large as an energy investment to as small as construction of a single road.

"It is possible to move towards more just outcomes," she said. "There are so many small, measurable ways to achieve these."

More information:

• ArcticHubs
• JUSTNORTH
• Polar and ocean research

Provided by Horizon: The EU Research & Innovation Magazine 

Arctic cooperation at a standstill because of Russia's war in Ukraine: Report

 

Northern permafrost region emits more greenhouse gases than it captures, study finds

by Saima May Sidik, Eos

Credit: Justine Ramage

Permafrost underlies about 14 million square kilometers of land in and around the Arctic. The top 3 meters contain an estimated 1 trillion metric tons of carbon and 55 billion metric tons of nitrogen. Historically, the northern permafrost region has been a sink for carbon, as frozen soils inhibit microbial decomposition. But rising temperatures contribute to thawing permafrost and enhance the biogeochemical activities that exacerbate climate change by releasing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O).

Data on how much this region will—or already has—affected the course of climate change are difficult to gather due to the complexity of the landscape. The study, published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles, synthesized greenhouse gas measurements of the northern permafrost region between 2000 and 2020 to provide a carbon balance for the region, as well as the first comprehensive assessment of the quantities of greenhouse gases the area takes up and emits.

The researchers' work, done as part of the Regional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes (RECCAP2) project, used a bottom-up approach, focusing on estimating emissions based on specific source categories. Their results suggest that the area has already shifted from a sink to a small source of carbon.

The researchers compiled many past estimates of greenhouse gas flux in various sections of the northern permafrost region to reveal how the entire area is responding to climate change. They found that the study area was a net source of CH4 and N2O between 2000 and 2020.

Wetlands were some of the largest methane emitters, and lakes contributed substantially as well. Dry tundra was the biggest driver of N2O release, and permafrost bogs were a close second.

However, the researchers were unable to say definitively whether the region was a net source or sink of CO2. Terrestrial ecosystems, particularly boreal forests, still take up CO2. But this is offset by fires, abrupt permafrost thaw, and inland waters, which emitted an estimated 12 million metric tons of CO2.

The researchers estimate that the northern permafrost region emitted 38 million metric tons of CH4 and 670,000 metric tons of N2O into the atmosphere between 2000 and 2020. When accounting for lateral fluxes such as erosion, the region was also a source of 144 million metric tons of carbon and 3 million metric tons of nitrogen. That's very little compared with the emissions of a major industrialized country, but the pace may accelerate as the world warms.

More information: Justine Ramage et al, The Net GHG Balance and Budget of the Permafrost Region (2000–2020) From Ecosystem Flux Upscaling, Global Biogeochemical Cycles (2024). DOI: 10.1029/2023GB007953

Journal information: Global Biogeochemical Cycle

Provided by Eos

This story is republished courtesy of Eos, hosted by the American Geophysical Union. Read the original story here.

Source or sink? A review of permafrost's role in the carbon cycle

 

Could a bald eagle and a winery block a proposed rock quarry along the Boise River?

by Rachel Spacek, The Idaho Statesman

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A nesting bald eagle, a beloved local winery and over 30 neighbors may jeopardize a proposal to open a 260-acre surface mine along the Boise River.

Emmett developer Evan Buchert of Premier LLC wants to build the mine at 25706 Boise River Road off U.S. 95 in Parma in eastern Canyon County, Idaho. The Pintail Long Term Mineral Extraction Mine would include mineral extraction on 160 acres and sand and gravel extraction, rock crushing and equipment storage on the other 100 acres.

The application stalled after Canyon County Development Services received complaints from neighbors concerned about wildlife habitat, groundwater contamination and roadway impacts.

The mine would be around 500 feet from the southeast side of the river. The land is now being used for farming, the application said.

"(Development Services) staff recommends denial of the request," a staff report said. "Due to a lack of information regarding compatibility, access, traffic, floodplains, and wetlands, impacts are unknown."

The county staff said Premier LLC should first detail its location and building plans to address noise complaints, dust and groundwater contamination. The staff also requested a flood study and evacuation plan and information from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game on the possible impacts on species and habitat.

In a news release April 4, Canyon County, announced that an April 4 public hearing on the mining application was tabled to "a date uncertain due to a request from the applicant for a continuance of the public hearing to address agency and staff comments and questions."

Buchert did not immediately respond to an email and phone call Friday requesting comment.

Birders worry about bald eagles 'abandoning' nests

Two local birding groups, the Golden Eagle Audubon Society and the Southwestern Idaho Birders Association, wrote letters in opposition to Pintail Mineral Extraction Mine. They each said there is at least one known bald eagle nest next to the Boise River where the mine would be located.

"Bald eagles are sensitive to human activity in the vicinity of their nest throughout the breeding season, and such activity may lead to nest abandonment or decrease the chances of successfully raising chicks," wrote Golden Eagle Audubon Society President Daniel Salemi.

Salemi also said bald eagles are protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which prohibits anyone without a permit from "taking a Bald or Golden Eagle." The protection act defines "take" as "pursue, shoot, shoot at, poison, wound, kill, capture, trap, collect, molest or disturb." Salemi suggests the mining operation would "disturb" the nesting bald eagle.

The bird groups also said there is a heron rookery, which is an area used by groups of herons for nesting and raising young, downstream from the project and that yellow-billed cuckoos, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, have been found downstream.

The Southwestern Idaho Birders Association also wrote that it is "concerned about (bird) habitat, including food sources. Bald eagles, osprey, herons, egrets, and mergansers are fish-eating birds. Fish habitat in the Boise River is already degraded from irrigation withdrawals, agricultural runoff, development, and other sand and gravel operations upriver from this location."

Possible negative impacts to local winery and neighborhood

Stephanie Hodge is the nearly 10-year owner of Parma Ridge Winery and Bistro. She and her husband, Storm, operate the vineyard and winery, which she said was planted in 1998.

The Pintail mine would operate "just down the hill" from the winery, Hodge wrote in her opposition letter to Canyon County.

"This would destroy this picturesque view that our customers come for and instead be replaced with mounds of dirt and rock," Hodge said. "Additionally, the level of dust in the air is of concern for our vines and their ability to ripen and produce the best fruit possible."

Parma Ridge Winery customers also wrote to the county to express concern with the mine, which would be located less than a mile from the restaurant.

Tim and Cindy Petrucci, of Wilder, are members of the Parma Ridge Winery and wrote that the mine would "disrupt the peacefulness of this entire business."

"This is a beautiful place to sit and over look the Parma valley below," the couple wrote. "The folks that own the winery work extremely hard, and this would definitely affect the ambiance they are entitled to have."

Other area homeowners worried about dust, the 45 trucks that are expected to enter the mine per day, and the fact that the operation would run 12 hours a day, six days a week.

Chad Thompson, spokesperson for Canyon County, said the Planning and Zoning Commission has not yet set a new date for the hearing.

2024 The Idaho Statesman. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Vermont sees modern-day record for bald eagle reproduction

 

Study lists world's 'forever chemical' hotspots

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Dangerous concentrations of long-lingering "forever chemicals" have been found in surface and groundwater worldwide, according to a study released Tuesday that showed Australia, the United States and Europe as hotspots.

A paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience analyzed data from 45,000 water samples globally and found a "substantial fraction" had levels of PFAS—per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances—above recommended levels.

Found in everyday products such as non-stick frying pans, food packaging and waterproof clothing, the substances have been linked to serious health conditions including cancer and birth defects.

They have been found everywhere from turtle eggs to Antarctic snow, but the latest study showed they were prevalent in surface water and groundwater used by humans for drinking.

"Many of our source waters are above PFAS regulatory limits," said Denis O'Carroll, one of the study's authors and a professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

O'Carroll said it was already known that the thousands of types of forever chemicals were "pervasive in the environment" but he expressed shock at how much higher the sampled levels were versus compared with recommended levels.

"We're talking above five percent, and it goes over 50 percent in some cases."

The research found that 69 percent of groundwater samples from around the world surpassed Canada's minimum standards and six percent of samples surpassed the EU's standard.

Australia, China, the United States and parts of Europe were shown to be global hotspots of high concentrations of PFAS.

However, the study acknowledged that these locations were also areas with the highest level of testing, and with more research, comparable results could be found across the globe.

PFAS is considered to be spread across the globe, but the extent of contamination on the earth's surface and in waterways and drinking supplies is not known.

Canada, the United States, the European Union and Australia have begun restricting the use of PFAS amid health and environmental concerns.

More information: Denis O'Carroll, Underestimated burden of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in global surface waters and groundwaters, Nature Geoscience (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41561-024-01402-8. www.nature.com/articles/s41561-024-01402-8

Journal information: Nature Geoscience 

© 2024 AFPNew study suggests we're likely underestimating the future impact of PFAS in the environment

 

Officials sued over farm chemicals near Latino schools

by Hailey Branson-Potts, Los Angeles Times

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

For Nelly Vaquera-Boggs, the plastic tarps that cover strawberry fields in Monterey County, California, when they are being fumigated with toxic chemicals offer little comfort—especially when those fields are close to schools.

The tarps, she said, sometimes come loose in the wind. They can get holes.

And in the small farm towns of the Pajaro Valley, where schoolyards often abut agricultural land, Vaquera-Boggs worries that—tarps or no tarps—those pesticides are drifting beyond the fields and endangering children.

"Teachers have been concerned about nearby application of pesticides and fumigants for decades," said Vaquera-Boggs, president of the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers. "We live in an area that provides strawberries and a lot of the food that we consume, but we also still believe this can happen and our communities can be safe."

This month, the teachers union, which represents around 1,100 school employees, joined four environmental and social justice groups in suing Monterey County agriculture officials and state pesticide regulators, alleging they disregarded children's health by allowing several farms to use restricted pesticides in close proximity to three elementary and middle schools whose students are mostly Latino.

"It's environmental racism," said Yanely Martinez, a Greenfield City Council member and organizer for the group Safe Ag Safe Schools, one of the plaintiffs. "These are communities of people of color. These are the communities of farmworkers that are putting food on the table. The families are being silently killed."

The lawsuit, filed April 4 in Monterey County Superior Court, targets the Monterey County agricultural commissioner, Juan Hidalgo, and the California Department of Pesticide Regulation and its director, Julie Henderson.

The plaintiffs, which include the Center for Farmworker Families, the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council and Californians for Pesticide Reform, are being represented by the environmental law nonprofit Earthjustice.

At issue are six permits—issued last summer by county agriculture officials under the purview of state regulators— that allowed the use of the fumigants chloropicrin and 1,3-dichloropropene (known as 1,3D) in fields near Ohlone Elementary School, Hall District Elementary School and Pajaro Middle School, which also have on-site daycare programs.

The plaintiffs allege county agriculture officials are too quick to rubber-stamp pesticide permits without properly considering alternatives.

"It's rarely the case where you see permits being denied. It's approval after approval," said Martinez, a mother of four who said she and other organizers have been repeatedly stonewalled by county officials who refuse to meet with them.

In a statement, the Monterey County agricultural commissioner's office said it "meticulously follows all federal and state regulations when issuing pesticide permits."

"We conduct regular field inspections to ensure compliance and promptly investigate any illnesses or concerns related to pesticide use that may arise in the community. Protecting agricultural workers, our neighborhoods, and the environment isn't just a job for us—it's our duty."

The state Department of Pesticide Regulation said in a statement that it continuously evaluates potential impacts of pesticide exposure on sensitive populations, including children. It did not directly comment on the lawsuit.

According to the department's annual report for pesticide use for 2021, the most recent year available, Monterey County ranked sixth among California's 58 counties for the amount of pesticides applied, with more than 9 million pounds used on 6.5 million acres.

State health officials have long reported that children in Monterey County are among the most likely in California to attend schools near fields treated with toxic pesticides.

The fumigants named in the suit are used to kill soil-borne pathogens and pests—namely, nematodes, the ubiquitous worms that can wreak havoc on plants including strawberries, which are the most lucrative crop in Monterey County, bringing in nearly $1 billion a year.

Chloropicrin—which was used as a tear gas during World War I—can severely irritate the eyes, throat and lungs, leading to coughing, choking and shortness of breath, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Federal health agencies have long considered 1,3D a likely carcinogen.

Both fumigants are designated in California as restricted materials, which require a county-issued permit for use because of their higher potential for harming human health compared with other pesticides.

The lawsuit does not name specific incidences of children, school employees or other adults being sickened by the fumigants.

Norm Groot, executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau, dismissed the lawsuit as the work of activist organizations that do not understand that, "without agricultural chemicals in situations where we are growing crops very sensitive to pests and diseases, we won't have food."

Groot said the fumigants in this case are injected into the soil, which is then placed under a plastic tarp that remains over the field for seven to 10 days until the chemicals have dissipated. There is "no transmission into the atmosphere of any of these chemicals," Groot said.

Six farms, each of which obtained permits to fumigate, also are named in the lawsuit.

A manager for one of them, Bay View Farms LLC, said the fumigation process is "really heavily regulated and inspected by not just the county, but also the state."

Bay View Farms, he said, grows strawberries on about 45 acres near Ohlone Elementary. It got a permit last August to use chloropicrin and 1,3D. The manager, who spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity to discuss pending litigation, said that every three years the Bay View crop is rotated with another company that grows vegetables.

"We do it when the students are not at school," he said of fumigating. "We don't want to do anything to kids."

Greg Loarie, an attorney for Earthjustice, said it has long been "nearly impossible" for members of the public to learn exactly when fumigants are going to be applied so they can take precautions, like avoiding being outside near the fields. The permits are valid for at least several months and are not easily accessible for inspection since they are not posted online and require a public records request to view.

"Parents and teachers certainly have a right to know when toxic pesticides are being sprayed right next to their schools, and this process needs to be public and needs to be meaningful," he said.

"What we really want, at the end of the day, is we want the poisoning to stop. We want someone to be addressing the fact that cumulative exposure to these pesticides, year after year, is poisoning our kids."

2024 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

California state and county officials falling short in evaluating use of agricultural pesticides

 

Reducing CO₂ emissions by 20% with only a 2% economic loss

by Complexity Science Hub

Identifying decarbonization leverage points in firm-level production networks. 

Credit: Complexity Science Hub

A "rapid and far-reaching change" is necessary to prevent catastrophic climate change, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). "However, the transformation of the economy towards climate neutrality always involves a certain amount of economic stress—some industries and jobs disappear while others are created," explains Johannes Stangl from the Complexity Science Hub (CSH). When it comes to climate policy measures, how can economic damage be minimized?

A CSH team has developed a new method to help solve this problem. "To understand how climate policy measures will affect a country's economy, it's not sufficient to have data on carbon dioxide emissions. We must also understand the role that companies play in the economy," says Stangl, one of the co-authors of the study published in Nature Sustainability.

CO2 emissions reduced by 20%

The researchers used a data set from Hungary that includes almost 250,000 companies and over one million supplier relationships, virtually representing the entire Hungarian economy. They examined what a country's entire economy would look like if certain companies were forced to cease production in various scenarios—all aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20%.

"In the first scenario, we looked at what would happen if only CO2 emissions were taken into account," explains Stefan Thurner from the CSH. In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, the country's seven largest emitters would have to cease operations.

"In the meantime, however, around 29% of jobs and 32% of the country's economic output would be lost. The idea is completely unrealistic; no politician would ever attempt such a thing," says Thurner.

Furthermore, when greenhouse gas emissions and the size of the companies are considered, serious economic consequences result.

A two-factor approach

"Two factors are crucial—the CO2 emissions of a company, as well as what systemic risks are associated with it, i.e. what role the company plays in the supply network," explains Stangl. CSH researchers developed the Economic Systemic Risk Index (ESRI) in an earlier study. It estimates the economic loss that would result if a company ceased production.

Taking these two factors into account—a company's greenhouse gas emissions and its risk index for the country's economy—the researchers calculated a new ranking of companies with large emissions relative to their economic impact.

According to the new ranking, a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions would require the top 23 companies on the list to cease operations. This, however, would only result in a loss of 2% of jobs and 2% of economic output.

At the company level

"In reality, companies would naturally try to find new suppliers and customers. We want to take this aspect into account in a further developed version of our model in order to obtain an even more comprehensive picture of the green transformation. However, our study clearly shows that we need to take the supply network at the company level into account if we want to evaluate what a particular climate policy will achieve," say the authors of the study. This is the only way to assess which companies will be affected by a particular measure and how this will affect their trading partners, according to them.

The availability of company-level data has been largely lacking in Austria. The risk assessment is normally done at the sector level, for example, how severely a measure affects the entire automotive or tourism industry.

"This puts us at a disadvantage compared to other countries such as Hungary, Spain or Belgium, where detailed data is available at company level. In these countries, VAT is not recorded cumulatively, but in a standardized way for all business-to-business transactions, which means that extensive information is available on the country's supply network," explains Thurner.

More information: Firm-level supply chains to minimize decarbonization unemployment and economic losses, Nature Sustainability (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41893-024-01321-x

Journal information: Nature Sustainability 

Provided by Complexity Science Hub

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