New York Times - Turning Points
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| A member of an expedition group stands on the edge of a crater in northern Siberia. Credit Reuters |
As
our climate changes, human creativity has been turning to solutions to
problems ranging from restoring water supplies to rebuilding failing
ecosystems. In interviews, six scientists discussed their efforts to
slow or even reverse changes brought by warming. Their comments have
been edited and condensed.
TURNING BACK TIME ON THE SIBERIAN STEPPE
Nikita
Zimov and his father, Sergei, two scientists at the Northeast Science
Station of Chersky, Russia, are trying to revive the Ice Age steppe
ecosystem in today’s Siberian Arctic. As they brave harsh environments
and long journeys to bring animals and vegetation back to their
Pleistocene Park, they hope to provide the planet with a sustainable template for climate change mitigation.
Nikita Zimov, director of Pleistocene Park, shared his ambitious plans:
During
the Pleistocene geological era, the Siberian Arctic was an extremely
productive ecosystem, with high animal density. Human intervention has
affected that mostly badly.
Reviving
the steppe ecosystem could help reduce global temperatures by
preventing its permafrost from melting; if it thaws, the microbes in the
soil will start producing high levels of greenhouse gases. Our
ecosystem could help slow this process, since large numbers of animals
can trample down the snow, making the cold travel downward and keeping
the deep layers of permafrost cool. The revived environment would also
increase the albedo effect, lower methane output and increase the soil’s
potential for carbon sequestration.
Increasing
the density of animal populations in the park is our main focus right
now. We are hoping to bring in more bison and musk ox soon; next, we
would like to introduce predators. It will prove very challenging. The
park is very remote, and we have no government support and only limited
financial resources.
Pleistocene
Park is a starting point. If you want to create an ecosystem big enough
to have an impact on the climate, you need people to understand that
they have a role to play.
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| The Khumbu Glacier in Nepal. Millions in the Himalayan region rely on ice and snow melted from glaciers for their water supply. Credit Subel Bhandari/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
LADAKH’S NEW ICE CONES
In the mountainous desert region of
Ladakh,
water from the glaciers is needed to feed the barley fields and fruit
trees that sustain communities. But villages in the Indian Himalayas are
seeing glaciers gradually disappear due to global warming, intensifying
seasonal water shortages. Ice Stupa, a project that an engineer, Sonam
Wangchuk, created and has been leading since 2014, offers a solution
using artificial glaciers that store water as ice until springtime.
Suryanarayanan
Balasubramanian, project manager and researcher for Ice Stupa, talked
about how the project was inspired by a centuries-old practice of
growing glaciers:
The
people of Ladakh have long stored their water in the form of ice high
in the mountains. With this method, ice formed horizontally and required
shade from the sun that the mountain valleys provided. We set out to
improve this design so that the artificial glaciers would last into the
summer months and be built at lower altitudes, where the farmers could
better access the stored water.
Our
aim was to build a structure that would not melt in the sun, and give
people a model for building their own artificial glaciers. Creating an
artificial glacier that would last until May seemed like a crazy idea.
Sonam
began by designing an artificial glacier based around vertical ice
formation. We then experimented, creating a pipe system that sends the
glacial lake water down to the structure site. At the site, the pipe
points upward, and the water spurts out of it, into the freezing air.
The ice builds upward, forming a conical ice structure.
We
have ice stupa experiments in the Himalayas, and now also in the Alps
and Andes Mountains. People see glacial lakes as a hazard; we see them
as opportunities. Artificial glaciers are not a permanent solution, but
an adaptation strategy for climate change. Ice stupas can make life a
bit easier.
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| A diver surveys coral at Heron Island on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef after a mass bleaching event in 2016. Credit XL Catlin Seaview Survey/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
HELPING THE GREAT BARRIER REEF TO SAVE ITSELF
In March, scientists announced that large parts of the Great Barrier Reef had been killed by
rising seawater temperatures.
The news came on the heels of the Australian government’s finding that
the reef experienced mass bleaching in both 2016 and 2017 — the first
time the devastating ecological event was recorded in consecutive years.
Researchers at the Australian Institute of Marine Science are now
racing to test natural solutions to help the world’s largest reef system
repair and protect itself.
Ken Anthony, a scientist at the institute, discussed the new interventions that he is most hopeful about:
There
is no doubt in my mind that climate change has driven the devastation
we’ve seen in recent years on the Great Barrier Reef. At the Australian
Institute of Marine Science, we’re working on ways to help the reef’s
ecosystem to become more resilient to global warming. I’m particularly
excited about assisted gene flow, which would move corals that have
adapted to Australia’s warmer northern climate to cooler southern
waters, helping the reefs there to be at a lower risk of bleaching.
Another
intervention we’re testing is assisted evolution, where we speed up the
evolutionary process by interbreeding the most resilient corals that
have survived past bleaching events. This involves artificial selection,
which has been done for centuries in agriculture, and poses fewer risks
than genetic modification.
Coral
reefs are the rain forests of the sea, a huge concentration of
diversity. We have a responsibility to do the best we can to save them.
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| Chevron Barracuda in the Indian Ocean. Researchers predict that climate warming and the use of fertilizers will cause lower levels of oxygen in the ocean, which will stress, kill and displace ocean species. Credit Caine Delacy for The New York Times |
THE OCEAN DEPTHS GROW DARKER
As
ocean temperatures rise, water is able to hold less oxygen, causing
“respiratory stress” for marine life miles below the surface. This year,
a team at the Georgia Institute of Technology released the results of
an analysis of global data on oxygen levels in oceans around the world
between 1958 and 2015, where they discovered a sustained decline,
exacerbated, they said, by global warming.
Oxygen levels are falling two to three times faster than predicted, and the marine ecosystem is at risk, the team concluded.
Takamitsu Ito, an associate professor at Georgia Tech, spoke for the team:
The
ocean is where biology, chemistry and physics meet. Oceans absorb the
oxygen essential for marine life from the atmosphere; water currents
then transport it deeper into the ocean. As global temperatures rise,
the ocean warms, and warmer waters hold less oxygen. Warmer surface
waters are also less dense, hindering the downward circulation of
oxygen.
There
have been naturally occurring hypoxic events along the Oregon coast,
for example; this area is very susceptible to deoxygenation. It
displaces species, kills them if they can’t move away. The situation can
be exacerbated by the use of chemical fertilizers on land, which
eventually end up in the water, causing oxygen loss.
According
to our model, we will witness widespread deoxygenation by 2030 or
2040.The conditions in the ocean will be harsh, making it difficult for
fish, shellfish, sea snails and so on to function. This is already
evident in the Southern Indian Ocean and in some parts of the East and
Tropical Pacific Ocean, but we expect it particularly in the North
Pacific.
Unfortunately,
there is no simple solution for global warming or nutrient pollution.
Reduce your carbon footprint and eat organic if you can.
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| Gyrocopters fly over an artificial archipelago constructed along the Dubai coastline in the United Arab Emirates. Concerned about falling groundwater reserves, the U.A.E. has invested in weather modification research. Credit Karim Sahib/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES EMBRACES RAINMAKING
As
water security becomes a national priority amid climate change, the
United Arab Emirates has turned to rain enhancement solutions in hopes
of replenishing depleting groundwater reserves. In 2016, the
government-initiated U.A.E. Research Program for Rain Enhancement
Science began awarding grants to scientists whose work explores weather
modification in the area. Prof. Linda Zou was among the first winners,
for her interest in cloud seeding, the dispersing of artificial nuclei
into clouds to coax precipitation.
Zou,
a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the Masdar
Institute, part of Khalifa University of Science and Technology,
discussed how her experiments mimic and enhance what naturally occurs in
rain clouds:
Clouds
need naturally-occurring nuclei such as dust or pollen to condense the
water vapor into droplets, which eventually grow large enough to fall as
rain. In a country with a dry climate like the United Arab Emirates,
cloud-seeding materials, which act like nuclei, can help.
I
create cloud-seeding materials by coating salt crystals — a
conventional cloud-seeding material — with a nanometer-thick titanium
dioxide shell. The shell makes the surface of the crystals hydrophilic,
allowing the cloud seed to better absorb water vapor, and condense to
form rain.
Climate
change is like a train you can’t stop, but we have to do what we can to
live well. In the U.A.E., cloud seeding is just one measure, but it can
grow into a solution. Meanwhile, even a single drop of rain is welcome.
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| A Beyond Meat burger, a vegan meat substitute that oozes fats and bleeds beet juice as it’s cooked. Credit Ángel Franco/The New York Times |
THE NEW AGE OF MEAT: NO ANIMAL REQUIRED
The
warming influence of greenhouse gases surged 40 percent between 1990
and 2016, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. Scientists have long warned that livestock, particularly
cows, are a major source of these emissions — and around the world,
people are eating more and more meat. To help reduce our growing
environmental footprint, some entrepreneurs are experimenting with new
plant-based alternatives that look and taste like meat.
Ethan Brown, founder and chief executive of Beyond Meat, discussed his California-based company’s efforts to replicate meat in the lab:
I
started this business with the goal of perfectly creating a piece of
meat, in both taste and appearance, using only plants. This is possible
because all of the elements of meat — amino acids, lipids, minerals and
water — can be sourced outside an animal. We know the makeup of meat, so
we optimized a method that heats, cools and applies pressure to plant
protein, creating the fibrous texture of muscle.
To
match the flavor and smell of meat, we’ve isolated molecules that
contribute to these attributes. We then try to identify the same ones in
plants. Every year, we make progress toward an exact match. The Beyond
Burger, which we released in 2016, is the closest we’ve come so far. It
looks, sizzles and even “bleeds” like ground beef.
What
you put at the center of your plate has the power to mitigate climate
change. I want to give people more choices, to make that decision
easier.
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