How To Clean Up Fish Farms And Raise More Seafood At The Same Time

Richard Harris — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 19:42:00 +0000

Last month, we told you about companies that are growing salmon on dry land. That's an effective — but expensive — way to reduce water pollution caused by fish farms.

Gizmo Uses Lung Cells To Sniff Out Health Hazards In Urban Air

Richard Harris — Fri, 31 May 2013 17:18:00 +0000

Cities like Houston are dotted with air-sniffing monitors that measure levels of benzene and other potentially unhealthy air pollutants. But those monitors can't answer the question we care about most: Is the air safe?

That's because there's no simple relationship between toxic air pollutants and health risks. Researchers at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill are trying to get a leg up on that problem.

Houston's Petrochemical Industry, Source Of Jobs And Smog

Richard Harris — Fri, 31 May 2013 10:58:00 +0000

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Houston, Texas provides a dramatic example that it's possible to make great strides in reducing air pollution. Our story yesterday talked about how that came about, but Houston still does not quite meet the federal smog standard. So, the question for the nation's fourth largest city is what's next. NPR's Richard Harris explores that question as part of our series Poisoned Places.

RICHARD HARRIS, BYLINE: Houston embraces the massive petrochemical industry that lines the city's ship channel. It's an engine of the economy.

Breathing Easier: How Houston Is Working To Clean Up Its Air

Richard Harris — Thu, 30 May 2013 07:01:00 +0000

The Houston area produces about a quarter of the nation's gasoline, and about a third of the plastics that are in our cars, cupboards and just about everywhere else. So it is no surprise that this heavily industrial area has a problem with air pollution.

Not Your Grandpa's RV: This Roving Lab Tracks Air Pollution

Richard Harris — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:18:00 +0000

If you're driving down the road someday and you come across a camper with a 50-foot periscope sticking up into the sky, you just might have crossed paths with Ira Leifer. His quirky vehicle is on a serious mission. It's sniffing the air for methane, a gas that contributes to global warming.

Leifer is an atmospheric scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Go Fish (Somewhere Else): Warming Oceans Are Altering Catches

Richard Harris — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:06:00 +0000

Climate change is gradually altering the fish that end up on ice in seafood counters around the world, according to a new study.

"The composition of the [global] fish catch includes more and more fish from the warmer areas, and cold-water fish are getting more rare, because the temperatures are increasing," says Daniel Pauly at the University of British Columbia, a co-author of the study.

'Dangerous Territory:' Carbon Dioxide Levels Reach Iconic High

Richard Harris — Fri, 10 May 2013 16:27:00 +0000

Earth's atmosphere is entering a new era. A mountaintop research station that has been tracking carbon dioxide for more than 50 years says the level of that gas in our air has reached a milestone: 400 parts per million.

That number is one of the clearest measures of how human beings are changing the planet.

Could An 'Artificial Leaf' Fuel Your Car?

Richard Harris — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 21:09:00 +0000

It's easy to feel dispirited about climate change because the challenge of dealing with it seems so overwhelming. But Miguel Modestino is actually excited about the challenge. He's part of a large team hoping to make an artificial leaf — a device that would make motor fuel from sunlight and carbon dioxide rather than from fossil fuels.

Modestino grew up in Venezuela, a nation whose economy is based on oil and gas.

This Scientist Aims High To Save The World's Coral Reefs

Richard Harris — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:45:00 +0000

Most scientists find a topic that interests them and keep digging deeper and deeper into the details. But Ken Caldeira takes the opposite approach in search for solutions to climate change. He goes after the big questions, and leaves the details to others.

We caught up with Caldeira on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, where he was conducting an experiment to measure how coral reefs are coping with increasing acidity in the world's oceans. People are causing this change by burning fossil fuels and putting carbon dioxide into the air.

Coal And Coral: Australia's Self-Destructive Paradox

Richard Harris — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 10:17:00 +0000

NPR Science Correspondent Richard Harris traveled to Australia's Great Barrier Reef to find out how the coral reefs are coping with increased water temperature and increasing ocean acidity, brought about by our burning of fossil fuels.

Scientists Use Antacid To Help Measure The Rate Of Reef Growth

Richard Harris — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 14:53:00 +0000
NPR Science Correspondent Richard Harris traveled to Australia's Great Barrier Reef to find out how the coral reefs are coping with increased water temperature and increasing ocean acidity, brought about by our burning of fossil fuels. Day 4: Richard catches up with one of the gurus of climate science out on the reef.
Ken Caldeira loves a challenge, and he has a big one right under his feet. He's standing on an expanse of coral reef out in Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

It's 'Birds Gone Wild' Out On Australia's Heron Island

Richard Harris — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:35:00 +0000
NPR Science Correspondent Richard Harris traveled to Australia's Great Barrier Reef to find out how the coral reefs are coping with increased water temperature and increasing ocean acidity, brought about by our burning of fossil fuels. Day 3: Waiting for a boat to the next island, Richard meets some rowdy birds.
Weeds are not a true category of plant. A weed is simply a plant that's growing where a person wishes it weren't.
That came to mind when I heard the story of the buff-breasted rail, out on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

On Australia's Great Barrier Reef, There's A Turf Battle Raging

Richard Harris — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 14:49:00 +0000
NPR Science Correspondent Richard Harris traveled to Australia's Great Barrier Reef to find out how the coral reefs are coping with increased water temperature and increasing ocean acidity, brought about by our burning of fossil fuels. Day 2: The good news is life could get better for seaweed.
Picture a coral reef and the first things likely to come to mind are brilliantly colored fish swimming among stout branches of coral. Let your mind wander a bit more and you might imagine some sea turtles, stingrays and sharks.
Seaweed? Not so much.

Australia's Heron Island: A Canary In The Coal Mine For Coral Reefs?

Richard Harris — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:00:00 +0000
NPR Science Correspondent Richard Harris traveled to Australia's Great Barrier Reef to find out how the coral reefs are coping with increased water temperature and increasing ocean acidity, brought about by our burning of fossil fuels. Day 1: Richard gets a hefty dose of bad news.
I've seen the future, and it isn't pretty.
That's a tough sentence to write because the setting for this unhappy discovery is spectacular. Heron Island sits in tropical turquoise waters about 25 miles off the northeast coast of Australia.

Increased Humidity From Climate Change Could Make It Harder To Tolerate Summers

Richard Harris — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 22:01:00 +0000
Transcript
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
Now, a story about heat, the sweaty, miserable kind. Heat plus humidity. Working outdoors or playing sports on a hot, muggy day can be dangerous, even deadly. And as the climate continues to warm, being outside will become even more challenging. Those are the findings of a new study in the journal Nature Climate Change.
NPR's Richard Harris tells us more.
RICHARD HARRIS, BYLINE: The one-two punch of heat and humidity is so serious, the military keeps a close eye on it and calls off physical activity when it gets too bad.