Innovation is the key to fighting climate change. But nature has already provided the best innovation imaginable: trees. Here are five ways trees help to fight climate change.
We Just Have To Capture The Carbon Before It Enters The Atmosphere
"Next year, the PNNL team will produce 4,000 gallons of EEMPA to test in the facilities at the National Carbon Capture Center in Shelby County, Alabama, in a project led by the Electric Power Research Institute in partnership with Research Triangle Institute International."
The Race To Develop Plastic-Eating Bacteria
Scott Carpenter of Forbes writes about the scientific race to develop plastic-eating enzymes. “The bacteria, Ideonella sakaiensis, was only able to eat a particular kind of plastic called PET, from which bottles are commonly made, and it could not do so nearly fast enough to mitigate the tens of millions of tons of plastic waste that enter...
A Sponge to Soak Up Carbon Dioxide in the Air
"For direct air capture, MOFs are the best way we have of doing it that I see. For the carbon capture part of BECCS (or bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, an emerging negative emissions technology), where you’re essentially growing trees or crops, combusting them for fuel, then capturing and sequestering that CO2, I think MOFs could also do the capture part better than any other material."
Green Energy Useless during Cold Snaps
“Solar power is even less reliable in severe weather conditions. Frigid temperatures are often associated with bright sunny skies, but the temperatures drop way down at night — you know, when there is no sunlight. Also, snow and ice often disable the panels.”
The might of metals in the clean energy transition
“Green businesses could find big opportunity in focusing on a clean metals’ solution. Investors too can play a part by embracing and backing cleaner, greener minerals extraction concerns.”
The spiralling environmental cost of our lithium battery addiction
“In a recent paper in the journal Nature, Yushin and his co-authors argued that new battery technology needs to be developed that uses more common, and environmentally friendly materials to make batteries. Researchers are working on new battery chemistries that replace cobalt and lithium with more common and less toxic materials.”
Getting to net zero—and even net negative—is surprisingly feasible, and affordable
"‘By methodically increasing energy efficiency, switching to electric technologies, utilizing clean electricity (especially wind and solar power), and deploying a small amount of carbon capture technology, the United States can reach zero emissions.'"
World’s Ice Is Melting Faster Than Ever, Climate Scientists Say
“Between 1994 and 2017, the Earth lost 28 trillion metric tons of ice, the survey showed. That is an amount roughly equivalent to a sheet of ice 100 meters thick covering the state of Michigan or the entire U.K."
There is a lot of money on the table with carbon markets. But farmers are skeptical.
“Regenerative farming not only has been proven to mitigate erosion and boost soil health — it may also be a huge opportunity to reduce the U.S. carbon footprint, gaining popularity among environmentalists as a potential tool in the fight against climate change.”