This Week on Earth: May 1-7
A tree blossoms on Sheridan Rd. (Samantha Alvarez/ION)
Waukegan, Ill.
For years, the Waukegan Generating Station, the city’s power station, had dumped its coal ash into the ground, where it then leached into local groundwater stores. The station shut down in 2022, but they left their coal ash behind.
Coal ash is a byproduct of burning coal. According to the EPA, it can contain contaminants such as mercury, cadmium and arsenic. Without proper management, these substances can pollute both the air and water. In Waukegan, residents have suffered respiratory issues as a result of the power plant’s unsafe coal ash disposal practices.
In 2019, Illinois passed legislation that would better regulate coal ash disposal sites. Five years later, the specifics of this legislation have yet to be implemented in Waukegan.
More than half of Waukegan’s population is Latine. A 2020 report published by the Princeton Student Climate Initiative stated that, “communities of color are disproportionately victimized by environmental hazards.”
Southeast Asia
Cambodia is facing its hottest temperatures in 170 years, with temperatures reaching up to 103 degrees Fahrenheit.
Not only can rising temperatures have direct negative impacts on humans, but they can also damage man-made objects to deadly effects — last week, 20 people were killed in an ammunition explosion at a Cambodian military base. High temperatures can “degrade the stability of explosives over a period of time,” according to The Guardian.
Other countries across Southeast Asia have been facing similar heatwaves — the incredibly high temperatures have led to a mass fish-die off in south Vietnam, as well as school closures and increased rates of heat-related deaths across the region.
Australia
We’ve all heard of Taylor Swift and her private jets. Last year, Swift’s jets collectively emitted more than 1,200 tons of carbon dioxide — that’s more than 80 times the average American’s footprint. But what if there was a way to make air travel more climate-friendly? Researchers at the University of Sydney recently published a study detailing a technique to create sustainable aviation fuel from the methane emissions generated by landfills.
Methane is a greenhouse gas that has accounted for about 30% of global warming since the pre-industrial era. According to Reuters, landfill waste is responsible for about 11% of global methane emissions.
The researchers use plasma technology to convert the methane and carbon dioxide emitted in landfills into aviation fuel.
“The process doesn’t require heat or pressure, meaning it requires less energy, making it highly compatible with renewable energy power sources,” the study’s lead author, PJ Cullen, told the University of Sydney’s in-house news site.
The International Air Transport Association, whose members carry 83% of the world’s air traffic, is working toward a target of net-zero emissions by 2050. University of Sydney’s research could open doors to new sources of the sustainable aviation fuels they need to reach their goal.
Want to learn more about the science behind this process? Check out the full paper, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.