Science
Converting Cow Manure To Fuel Is Growing Climate Solution, But Critics Say Communities Put At Risk
California’s Pixley — In some of the rural country of California, the smell of cow excrement, urine, and ammonia makes people keep their windows and doors closed. To combat the odor and, they claim, ward against air-related illnesses, some people run air purifiers around the house all the time.
Beverly Whitfield stated, “We have a lot of health problems going around in this community and most of them are respiratory problems,” in the middle of dairies in Pixley, a little Tulare County village. She thinks pollution from adjacent dairies is the cause of her allergies, her adult son’s asthma, and the respiratory problems of others.
Among the worst pollutants in the San Joaquin Valley, a top agricultural area in the United States with poor air quality, are existing industrial-scale dairy farms. Now, Whitfield locals fear that methane digesters, which may convert manure into a biofuel cleaner than conventional fuels like gasoline, may make health problems worse. Experts in biofuel claim digesters help lessen air pollution.
Cow | PixaBay Image
Converting Cow Manure To Fuel Is Growing Climate Solution, But Critics Say Communities Put At Risk
California is the leading dairy producer in the nation, with over 1.7 million cows. It also contributes significantly to methane emissions. Cow burps and manure release a strong greenhouse gas that is far more potent than carbon dioxide over a shorter time frame.
Digesters that turn manure and other organic waste into biogas to power cars or generate electricity have increased nationwide in recent years.
The number should increase since waste management techniques like digesters are now qualified for financing under President Joe Biden’s climate change law, the Inflation Reduction Act.
Most digesters are found in dairies, which convert methane from cow dung lagoons into biofuel. Commonly, liquid cow manure is kept in a covered digester where bacteria from the digestive systems of the animals make gas. After that, the gas is purified and squeezed into a liquid fuel suitable for use as energy.
Around 120 digesters have appeared in California within the past ten years, and another hundred are planned. However, a device heralded as an affordable means of assisting the state in achieving its methane reduction targets has drawn controversy.
Environmental justice groups demand that California cease offering financial incentives for building digesters because most low-income, Latino neighborhoods are already suffering from pollution from them. According to critics, state laws support industrial dairies and unsustainable animal farming.
According to Rebecca Wolf of the environmental organization Food and Water Watch, the state is rewarding dairy farmers to continue operating huge, already polluting facilities. With this setup in place, she declared, “You’re never going to stop polluting.”
Dairies contend that the financial agenda of the state is crucial. “There has to be some financial incentive there to give up some portion of your land to operate these systems,” said dairyman Brent Wickstrom, whose digester just went online.
Proponents emphasize that the technique effectively slows down climate change. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency, AgSTAR projects that manure-based digesters will have cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 10 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2022. That equates to about the yearly greenhouse gas emissions from almost two million passenger cars.
Supporters point out that by substituting cleaner vehicle fuel for fossil fuels like gasoline, biofuel derived from methane lowers pollution.
“This technology lessens odors and some local air pollutants,” said Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas public policy director Sam Wade. The greenhouse gas emissions are lowered concurrently.
The pungent smells and flies bother the locals living close to dairies.
Cow | PixaBay Image
Converting Cow Manure To Fuel Is Growing Climate Solution, But Critics Say Communities Put At Risk
Whitfield, who relocated to Pixley in the 1970s, stated, “You don’t want the doors open because you’re afraid of all the smells.” “The dairies have changed everything now.”
Some dairies believe that manure-covering digester tarps help minimize odor. Merced County dairyman Wickstrom remarked, “If anything, it should be keeping some of that odor in as opposed to making more.”
Studies have linked living close to big dairies to weariness, respiratory issues, burning eyes, and runny noses when odors are strong enough. Digesters can raise ammonia emissions by as much as 81%, according to a 2017 University of Wisconsin study. Fine particulate debris that ammonia can create can enter the circulation and lungs. Heart and respiratory problems have been associated with prolonged particle exposure.
Lead author Michael A. Holly, an associate professor at the Green Bay campus, said, “You want to consider the human health impact even though a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions is great.”
According to California air authorities, the many digester types and weather variables in this state make the Midwest study not always applicable. They also mentioned that research on digester effects on ammonia emissions is now underway.
The California Air Resources Board recently sponsored research indicating that dairy waste emissions from the San Joaquin Valley had minimal effect on levels of fine particulate matter and ozone.
Professor Michael Kleeman of the University of California, Davis, the main study researcher, said, “The air quality implications are essentially minimal, so we can choose whether or not digesters should be adopted based on greenhouse gas emissions. The agriculturally rich areas already have so much extra ammonia that digesters won’t be able to considerably improve the air quality.
74-year-old campaigner and former farmworker Maria Arevalo thinks pollution from dairies close to her Pixley house is the cause of her asthma and sleep apnea. She uses an apparatus to assist her breathing as she sleeps. Her grandchild is eleven, and her son is thirty-four.
She noted that although many families cannot afford air conditioning or open windows to let the breeze in, her neighborhood frequently smells ammonia. These dairies ought not to be located close to towns.
There are more cows than people in her community of approximately 4,000. The non-profit Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability estimates Pixley has about 140,000 cows in its 26 dairies. AgSTAR reports that nine have digesters working on farms with thousands of animals.
Cow | PixaBay Image
Converting Cow Manure To Fuel Is Growing Climate Solution, But Critics Say Communities Put At Risk
15 Congressmen have written to the USDA protesting the agency’s decision to allow federal support for large-scale farming operations, such as roofs and coverings for waste disposal facilities.
They claimed that the hundreds of thousands of liters of liquid manure contaminate the nearby towns’ air and water. Digesters merely serve to reinforce this fundamentally unsustainable manure storage system.
According to Eric McAfee, CEO of Aemetis, a business that makes sustainable fuels and biochemicals, because trucks operate on natural gas, biomethane improves city air.
On his 2,900-cow farm, Joey Airoso discovered that odors decreased and nitrogen-rich leftovers could be used as agricultural fertilizer. He said that reduces the amount of nitrogen being applied, which is a major environmental benefit.
Digesters offer advantages, but Colin Murphy of the UC Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment and the Economy added that they don’t cure air pollution or make living close to one any more enjoyable.
Residents in the valley who have complained about respiratory problems and odors claim they have been told to relocate. But many had been residents of tiny, rural communities even before dairies were established, and moving is not often an affordable option.
Where are you planning to relocate to? You can’t afford to relocate, the allergic Pixley resident Whitfield stated.
As summer approaches in Australia, residents are warned to look out for the funnel web spider, one of the country’s deadliest species.
In addition to advising the public to avoid funnel-web spiders during mating season, the Australian Reptile Park in New South Wales has even asked people to capture live funnel-web spiders so they can “milk” their venom.
Native to eastern Australia, the funnel web spider can kill humans in as little as fifteen minutes if they do not receive medical treatment for its poisonous bite.
There have been thirteen fatalities attributable to this species, but none since the development of antivenom in 1981. The Australian Reptile Park is appealing to the public for assistance capturing and donating spiders, as the serum relies on milking live spiders.
Hunting for the funnel net spider in residential areas is common practice after a particularly wet and warm season. Look for spiders in cool, dark places like pools, garden residue, heaps of dirty clothing, and outside shoes.
Australian Reptile Park spider keeper Emma Teni recently blogged about how they rely on spider donations more than ever, especially now that breeding season has arrived and the temperature is perfect.
“Male funnel-web spiders have short lifespans, and with approximately 150 spiders required to make just one vial of antivenom, we need the public’s help to ensure we have enough venom to meet demand.”
“If you spot an egg sac while collecting a spider, it’s important to safely collect that as well,” said Teni. “It can provide a robust supply of healthy young spiders to aid in our antivenom production.”
The spiders won’t be able to climb plastic or glass, but Teni suggests capturing funnel webs in a wide-mouthed jar with a cover. Then, you can lead the spiders into the container using a long spoon or something similar.
After that, fill the jar with moist soil, screw on the top, and bring it to the designated drop-off spot.
“We depend on the public for spider donations, and we want to make sure everyone stays safe during the collection process, especially with conditions being so favourable this year,” said Teni.
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Science
A Spacecraft Is On Its Way To A Harmless Asteroid Slammed By NASA In A Previous Save-The-Earth Test
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida – A spacecraft launched Monday to probe the site of a cosmic accident.
The European Space Agency’s Hera spacecraft launched on a two-year trip to the little, harmless asteroid slammed by NASA two years ago as a practice run for the day when a murderous space rock threatens Earth. It’s the second phase of a planetary defense experiment that could one day save the globe.
SpaceX’s Falcon rocket vanished with Hera into the late morning clouds. An hour later, cheering erupted in the control center in Germany as the spacecraft split from the rocket’s upper stage and returned home. “It’s an amazing day,” the space agency’s director general, Josef Aschbacher, said later.
The 2022 crash of NASA’s Dart spacecraft reduced Dimorphos’ orbit around its larger companion, indicating that if a harmful rock was heading our way, it might be pushed off course with adequate warning.
nasa
A Spacecraft Is On Its Way To A Harmless Asteroid Slammed By NASA In A Previous Save-The-Earth Test
Scientists are eager to analyze the aftermath of the impact up close to determine how effective Dart was and what improvements may be required to protect Earth in the future.
“The more detail we can glean the better as it may be important for planning a future deflection mission should one be needed,” University of Maryland astronomer Derek Richardson stated before launch.
Researchers want to know if Dart (short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test) created a crater or changed the 500-foot (150-meter) asteroid more dramatically. It seemed to be a flying saucer before Dart’s blow and may now resemble a kidney bean, according to Richardson, who participated in the Dart mission and is assisting Hera.
Dart’s wallop sent rubble and boulders hurtling off Dimorphos, adding to the impact’s momentum. For months, the debris track extended thousands of miles (almost 10,000 kilometers) into space.
According to flight director Ignacio Tanco, some rocks and debris may still be hovering about the asteroid, posing a threat to Hera.
A Spacecraft Is On Its Way To A Harmless Asteroid Slammed By NASA In A Previous Save-The-Earth Test
“We don’t really know very well the environment in which we are going to operate,” Tanco informed me. “But that’s the whole point of the mission is to go there and find out.”
European authorities refer to the $400 million (363 million euros) effort as a “crash scene investigation.”
“Hera is going back to the crime scene and getting all the scientific and technical information,” said project manager Ian Carnelli.
Carrying a dozen science instruments, the compact car-sized Hera must swing past Mars in 2025 for a gravitational boost before landing at Dimorphos by the end of 2026. It’s a moonlet of Didymos, the Greek word for twin, a five-times larger asteroid that spins quickly. At that point, the asteroids will be 120 million miles (195 million kilometers) from Earth.
Hera will attempt to enter orbit around the rocky duo, progressively reducing flyby distances from 18 miles (30 kilometers) to a half-mile (1 kilometer). The spacecraft will examine the moonlet for at least six months to determine its mass, shape, composition, and orbit around Didymos.
Before the crash, Dimorphos circled its larger partner from three-quarters of a mile (1,189 meters) away. Scientists believe the orbit has become tighter and more oval-shaped, and that the moonlet may be tumbling.
Two shoebox-sized Cubesats will launch from Hera for even closer drone-like examinations, with one employing radar to peek beneath the moonlet’s boulder-strewn surface. Scientists believe Dimorphos was produced from particles shed by Didymos. The radar measurements should assist in determining whether Didymos is the small moon’s parent.
A Spacecraft Is On Its Way To A Harmless Asteroid Slammed By NASA In A Previous Save-The-Earth Test
After their survey, the CubeSats will attempt to land on the moonlet. If the moonlet tumbles, the situation will become more complicated. Hera may potentially conclude its mission with a perilous touchdown but on the bigger Didymos.
Asteroids, which are remnants of the solar system’s origin 4.6 billion years ago, circle the sun principally between Mars and Jupiter in what is known as the main asteroid belt, where millions of them live. When they fall from the belt and land in our area, they become near-Earth objects.
NASA now has around 36,000 near-Earth objects, the majority of which are asteroids, although there are also some comets. More than 2,400 of them are deemed potentially dangerous to the Earth.
SOURCE | AP
NEW YORK — Prepare to spot a rare and dazzling comet.
The space rock is hurling toward Earth from the far reaches of the solar system and will make its closest approach on Saturday. It should be visible through the end of October, assuming clear skies.
A Rare Comet Brightens The Night Skies In October
Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas should be visible to the naked eye, but binoculars and telescopes will provide a clearer view.
“It’ll be this fuzzy circle with a long tail stretching away from it,” explained Sally Brummel, planetarium manager at the Bell Museum in Minnesota.
What is a comet?
They are frozen remains from billions of years ago when the solar system was formed. They heat up as they swing toward the sun, revealing their distinctive streaming tails.
In 2023, a green one that had last visited Earth 50,000 years ago flew past again. Other significant flybys were Neowise in 2020 and Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake in the mid to late 1990s.
Where did Tsuchinshan-Atlas come from?
Also known as C/2023 A3, was found last year and named after the observatories in China and South Africa that spotted it.
It originated in the Oort Cloud, which extends far beyond Pluto. After making its closest approach to Earth at 44 million miles (71 million kilometers), it will not return for another 80,000 years, provided it survives the journey.
A Rare Comet Brightens The Night Skies In October
Every year, several comets are detected, but many of them burn up near the sun or are too far away to be observed without special equipment, according to Larry Denneau, a key researcher with the Atlas telescope that helped discover it.
How to View
Those seeking to see Tsuchinshan-Atlas should go outside about an hour after sunset on a clear night and look to the west.
The comet should be visible from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
SOURCE | AP
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