Air-drying clothes in the summer is quite simple, hanging shirts and linens on picturesque laundry lines in the dry, warm air. When winter comes with its cold, wet days, it’s hard to imagine the line full of laundry in the backyard — but winter weather doesn’t necessarily mean it’s time to start tumble-drying again. 

Drying clothes in a dryer adds to the environmental impact of your laundry, as machine-drying makes up 75% of the total carbon footprint of laundry. Running the dryer also costs money — depending on the efficiency of the model and number of loads, it can cost a household between $100 and $200 a year. 

While the warm summer sun might make it easier to line-dry clothes, laundry can still be line-dried in the winter, both inside and outdoors. Here’s how.

Line-Dry Clothes Outdoors

Yes, even in the coldest months of the winter, you can dry your clothes outside. 

It’s possible because of a process called sublimation, whereby water turns from a solid to a gas without having a liquid phase. Essentially, it evaporates without turning to water first. Think of the way ice cubes get smaller in the freezer over time. It’s the same basic process as freeze-drying. 

It’s best to dry outdoors on dry, sunny days if you can, and a little wind helps a lot. Even if the clothes don’t dry off completely outside, you can always finish off the process in the machine for a few minutes. 

Your clothes might come off the line rather stiff, though. To prevent this, add about half a cup of vinegar near the end of the wash cycle, which cuts through the chemical residue from the detergent that makes dry clothes stiff.

Dry Indoors 

Clothes drying on a rack indoors in New Westminster, British Columbia. Dennis Sylvester Hurd / Flickr

Drying clothes indoors can happen year-round with pretty minimal effort. It’s best if you have some drying rack or airer to hang clothes on — one that folds up, or one built into the wall. Some have multiple tiers, or additional sections that fold out to give you more space. You can also use lines that can be taken down after you’re finished.

Reduce Laundry Loads 

As tempting as it might be to reduce the number of loads, don’t overfill the machine. The spin cycle will be more effective and remove more water from the clothes when there’s more space. Your clothes will be less damp when removed, putting them in a better position to dry quicker.

Take It for Another Spin 

Another way to make sure that laundry is less wet when coming out of the washing machine: give it a second spin. Another spin cycle can get rid of excess moisture, and the extra energy to do that is negligible compared to a whole dryer cycle. While it sounds counterintuitive, you don’t necessarily want to set the spinner to a faster setting — a slower spin might actually work better to dry off clothes. After the last spin cycle, give the tub a good shake and a spin to get any excess water off.

Towel Them Off

Yes, with an actual towel. Wrap clothes up in the towel to absorb excess moisture before hanging them up. Lay the towel out flat, then lay a piece of clothing on top. Roll it up tightly, squeezing as you go, then roll it back out. This won’t remove all the water, of course, but especially for heavy items like sweaters or jeans, it’ll cut back on air-drying time 

Spread Clothes Out

Hang things up right away to avoid giving them that damp, mildewy smells — and give them space on the drying rack or clothes line. They won’t dry as well if they’re overlapping, so leave an inch of room between each item if you can. If there isn’t enough space, hang items on hangers instead. You can suspend them from curtain rods or other places around the house — maybe from a tension rod in the frame of a seldom-used door. Some drying racks even have small holes on the sides to allow for hangers. 

Use Other Heat to Dry

Even without the drying machine, other, less energy-intensive heat can be used to dry clothes. A heated clothes airer uses less energy than a tumble dryer, and can be folded up and put away. It also leaves clothes less wrinkled, so it’s good for those items that might need to be ironed after drying anyway.

For homes with radiators, you basically have a built-in heated clothes airer! Place your drying rack close to the radiator so it can take advantage of that heat, and your clothes will dry in a fraction of the time. If the radiator has a cover, lay items directly on top, flipping them after some time.

Keep in Rooms That Aren’t Humid

The last thing your drying laundry needs is more moisture. Avoid hanging clothes in damp basements, in a steamy bathroom, or the kitchen where the air can get moist from boiling water — unless there are efficient fans or other ventilation in those rooms. In humid seasons, a dehumidifier can remove excess moisture from the air. In a closed-off room with the machine running, clothes can dry pretty quickly.

Place Near a Window

Good ventilation and air flow is key. Leave the window open for a bit if you can on warmer winter days, or place the drying rack in a room that you don’t use much during the day. An open window is even more effective when paired with a fan to circulate air. Fans use much less energy than a dryer — the standard electricity usage is 33 watts, while clothes dryers are in the thousands.

Use Dryers Correctly 

When you do use the dryer, use it as efficiently as possible to avoid wasting any energy. Clean the filter after every use to remove lint — even just a little impacts drying time. Once a year, clean the vents too, following the specific cleaning directions for your model.

To dry clothes faster, put a dry towel in with wet clothes during the first few minutes, then remove and hang it up to air-dry. Dryer balls can reduce drying times too by keeping clothes from sticking to each other, allowing air to circulate around them more easily.

The post Air-Drying Clothes in Winter? Yes, It’s Possible appeared first on EcoWatch.

Quick Key Facts

• There are 2,600 landfills for municipal solid waste (MSW) in the U.S.
• The average person generates 4.9 pounds of MSW each day, and by 2050 global waste generation is expected to increase by 73% from 2020 levels. 
• Modern sanitary landfills are not merely open repositories for waste, but have many complex components, including a composite liner, collection systems for methane and leachate, and environmental monitoring systems. 
• In the absence of light, oxygen and the necessary bacteria, it can take decades for food to break down completely in a landfill, producing methane as it slowly decomposes.
• Landfills are the third largest source of methane — a greenhouse gas that’s 25% more potent than CO2 — emissions in the U.S. 
• In 2018, 600 million tons of construction and demolition debris were generated, which is more than twice the amount of MSW.
• The documented adverse health outcomes correlated with living near landfills include higher risk of cancer and birth defects in infants.
• A 1983 study conducted by Congress’s Government Accountability Office found that in eight southeastern states, 75% of hazardous waste landfill sites were located in communities that were primarily Black, Latine and low-income.

What Is a Landfill? 

Most of us barely have to think about our trash. We throw it in a bin, take the bag to the curb, then the garbage truck comes and takes it away. Pretty quickly, our waste becomes invisible to us, but it has to end up somewhere. 

Waste comes from many different streams — households, industrial settings, workplaces, medical facilities, etc. — and our current system for trash and garbage disposal primarily entails burying it underground. In the U.S., waste generated by homes and businesses is most commonly sent to landfills: huge repositories in the earth to be filled with trash and covered over. The first modern sanitary landfill was created in California in 1937, but the practice became more widely adapted in the 1960s and 70s as waste production rose, and municipalities sought ways to limit unsanitary waste disposal. In 1976, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act was passed and created requirements for landfills to protect surrounding environments. Now, there are more than 2,600 landfills for municipal solid waste (MSW) in the U.S., a waste category that encompasses things like wood, paper, textiles, furniture, glass, plastic, some electronics and more. 

Why Do We Have Landfills? 

We generate huge amounts of waste and we’re only creating more. Single-use plastics and highly wasteful industries like fast fashion have become ubiquitous in practically every area of our lives. Trash generation has more than tripled since the 1960s, resulting in a current average of 4.9 pounds of MSW generated per person per day. With 11.2 billion tons of MSW produced every year, we need somewhere to put it, and landfills provide that solution. 

Our increased waste is also tied to population growth and urbanization. The more the population grows, the greater our demand for manufactured products and materials, and the more we depend on landfills. According to the World Bank, global waste generation is expected to increase by 73% from 2020 levels by 2050. 

The U.S. in particular generates a great deal of waste. Despite making up only 4% of the global population, the U.S. is responsible for 12% of the planet’s trash. It has historically exported its waste to other countries to handle, but in recent years, China, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam have put bans in place on imported waste, further increasing the need for domestic repositories for trash, such as landfills. 

While some waste can get recovered or recycled — and some of it is burned — the majority is sent to landfills. In 2018, 69 million tons of MWS was recycled and 25 million tons was composted, which amounts to about 32.1% of all MWS. About 3 million tons was combusted, leaving 146 million tons — half of the total — to be sent to landfills. In the absence of large-scale municipal recycling and composting programs, waste is thrown away when it could have been diverted to other streams. Our recycling system, however, isn’t perfect either — ultimately, only 9% of plastics gets recycled. With bans on our junk being imported to other countries to deal with — leaving about 19,000 shipping containers worth of plastic recycling with nowhere to go every month — much of this waste is being sent to domestic landfills instead.

Are There Different Types of Landfills? 

^{U.S. Environmental Protection Agency}

Different types of landfills exist for different types of waste, as categorized by the EPA. All are supposed to meet nationwide criteria established under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which sets forth requirements for landfills in the absence of state programs including location restrictions, requirements for liners and toxin collection/removal systems, and required operating practices.

Solid Waste Landfills 

Municipal Solid Waste Landfills (MSWLFs) are primarily for the waste that’s generated in our homes, schools, hospitals and businesses, as well as some nonhazardous materials from industry and construction. There are about 2,600 MSWLFs in the U.S., managed by the individual states they reside in. MSW is usually brought to transfer stations in municipalities, then transported on large, long-distance trucks to MSWLs. 

Bioreactor landfills also fall under this category, and are used for degrading organic waste quickly. In these landfills, liquids are added to help bacteria break the waste down using either aerobic or anaerobic techniques. 

^{The Yolo County Landfill Bioreactor in California was built to accelerate the decomposition of waste and produce renewable energy in 5 to 10 years. Yolo County}

Industrial Waste Landfills are used for commercial and institutional waste. For example, Construction and Demolition Debris Landfills are repositories for heavy and bulky materials like wood, concrete, drywall, salvaged components of buildings like plumbing and windows, metal and glass generated during construction and demolition of roads, bridges and buildings. This accounts for a large amount of waste in the U.S. — in 2018, 600 million tons of C&D debris were generated, which is more than twice the amount of MSW. Demolition itself accounts for 90% of all C&D waste. 

Coal Combustion Residual Landfills fall under the Industrial Waste category too, housing the nearly 130 million tons of coal ash generated every year from the burning of coal in power plants. After a large coal ash spill in Tennessee in 2008 flooded 300 acres of land and got into two rivers, the EPA established that these materials must be disposed of in such landfills. 

Hazardous Waste Landfills

Hazardous Waste landfills are exactly what they sound like: repositories for only hazardous waste that is flammable, toxic or chemically reactive, including things like household cleaners, chemical waste, paint and aerosols. These types of landfills are the most regulated by the EPA, and are monitored even after their closure for toxic leachate.

Open Dump Landfills 

When we talk about landfills, we’re typically referring to “sanitary landfills” — that is, municipal landfills that are regulated and controlled. However, open dump landfills are common in many areas of the Global South, and are used by about 70% of countries for disposing MSW. Without municipal waste disposal programs, these dumps are where trash often ends up. 

Because these landfills typically aren’t regulated or controlled, they’re more likely to cause fires, attract pests and pollute the surrounding area. The toxic gases they produce are also not contained, so methane is released into the nearby environment. Water contamination is a primary problem around open dump landfills. Without groundwater monitoring systems in place, toxins make their way into groundwater and nearby drinking water, which has the potential to transmit infection and disease.

Basic Components and Operations of a Landfill 

Open dumping is illegal in the U.S., and landfills must follow certain design and operation guidelines as established under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), although they’re created and managed state-by-state. 

The major components of sanitary landfills include the following:

• Leachate collection system. Leachate is the liquid that percolates through the landfill, picking up toxins as it moves. Once it reaches the bottom of the landfill, it’s collected by perforated tubes and pumped out into a collection area, and then a holding pond where it’s treated to remove the harmful toxins. 
• Plastic liner system (or “composite liner”). The liner — created from a layer of compacted clay and specific types of plastic — is meant to keep the landfill completely sealed so groundwater and soil aren’t contaminated by leachate.

• Cells are the areas where trash is dumped and compacted, allowing landfills to be filled in a segmented manner. Every day, waste is tipped into the active cell, which gets mechanically compacted. Layers of soil are laid down to cover the trash at intervals, and help to prevent odor. When the cell becomes full, another one is started.
• Stormwater drainage systems collect the rainwater that lands on the landfill, move it to drainage ditches, and then to collection ponds. 
• Methane collection systems are needed to collect the methane — a potent greenhouse gas — that forms during the decomposition of organic waste. Landfills are among the largest sources of methane in the U.S., and collection systems prevent it from being released into the air. Wells, pipes and pumps collect the methane, where it’s then piped to a facility that processes it and removes impurities. From there, the refined methane can be distributed for such uses as vehicle fuel and electricity. About 500 MSW landfills collect methane for energy in this way.

The Pioneer Crossing Landfill in Berks County, Pennsylvania uses methane gas, a byproduct of the decomposition of waste, to produce electricity for the local utility company. J.P. Mascaro & Sons

• Environmental monitoring systems monitor the groundwater, storm water, and gas around landfills. Pipes go down into the groundwater to find whether they’ve become warmer or more acidic, which could mean that leachate is escaping and getting into the landfill’s surrounding environment.
• The Cap seals the top of the landfill. Usually, a layer of compacted soil or clay is put down, then layers of fabric and plastic before a 2-foot layer of soil (sometimes followed by more inches of topsoil) is put down so vegetation can grow on top of it.

How Does Waste Act Inside a Landfill?

Waste acts much differently inside a landfill than it would in your trash can, or when merely left out in the open. Different types of waste also act differently, posing unique problems depending on their makeup. 

Organic Waste 

What’s so bad about putting food in a landfill? It’ll just break down eventually, right? Not exactly.

Food is the largest category of landfilled material, according to the EPA, accounting for about 24%. The dark, anaerobic — that is, oxygen-free — environment of a landfill means that the insects and microorganisms needed to properly break down these materials aren’t present. Decomposition thus happens much, much slower, and releases a lot of methane as a byproduct. In a landfill, it can take decades for food to break down completely. By some estimates, a head of lettuce won’t completely decompose for 25 years. In other cases, food may not decompose at all. 

Plastics

In landfills, most polymers and plastics remain “unchanged,” according to a 2022 study. Abundant evidence shows that plastic never really degrades, but rather breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, eventually creating microplastics. The forces and environmental conditions of landfills — like gas, the pH of leachate, high salinity, temperature fluctuation, high pressure, etc. — can cause plastics to fragment into microplastics that can then be transported out of landfills in leachate and pollute nearby areas. Microplastic abundance in landfill refuse is between 20,000 and 91,000 items/kg — higher than the concentration in sewage sludge and agricultural soil. Therefore, when you throw a piece of plastic in a bag of landfill-bound trash, that doesn’t guarantee it’ll remain sealed off from the environment forever. 

Energy Recovery in Landfills 

Sometimes after a landfill is capped, the gases that form within it over time are vented out for energy recovery efforts. These gases can be used to generate electricity or as medium-Btu fuel, and have uses for vehicle fuel, pipeline gas, industrial and institutional buildings, and creating electricity for the grid. They’re recovered using a series of wells and vacuum systems that direct it to a collection area, after which it’s processed and can then be used. About 68% of all landfill gas (LFG) projects is for generating electricity, and 16% is used to offset another fuel, like fracked gas and coal. Another 16% is used to make renewable natural gas (RNG), a high-Btu gas that can be used instead of fossil natural gas. 

Why Are Landfills a Problem? 

On the surface, landfills seem like a logical solution to our waste — if we have nowhere else to put it, why not bury it? Landfills do, however, present serious and potentially life-threatening risks to nearby communities and the environment.

Location 

Federal and state regulations mandate where landfills can be built, placing restrictions on building near wetlands or flood zones without certain performance standards in place. In some states, they can’t be put near bodies of water at all. But many landfills are poorly managed, leaving them susceptible to environmental conditions and leading to pollution. Landfills are also associated with poorer quality of life when placed near residential communities, discussed further in the next section. 

Soil Pollution 

Like water moving through coffee grounds, rainwater moving through landfills becomes saturated with the toxins inside the trash, eventually reaching the bottom as leachate. Some of this liquid does get collected by the leachate collection system, but if there are any holes in the lining, it can easily escape into the surrounding environment. Nearby soil is destroyed by the toxic chemicals, impacting the ability of plants to grow there and threatening the biodiversity of the area. 

Air Pollution 

Air quality also suffers around landfills. Particulates, dust and other air pollutants can escape from landfills. Vinyl chloride, ethyl benzene and toluene, are just some of the hazardous air pollutants emitted from MSW landfills. Respiratory problems — among other adverse health conditions — have been linked to landfill-related air pollution. 

Water Pollution 

When landfill leakages occur and leachate gets into groundwater, it becomes contaminated with toxins in industry and household waste, as well as electronics, which contain mercury, cadmium and lead. Ammonia is often in leachate, and produces nitrate. High concentrations of nitrate in ecosystems causes eutrophication, a process by which a high nutrient concentration in water leads to an explosion of plant life and algal growth, creating “dead zones” devoid of oxygen. Besides ammonia, leachate can also transport bacteria and heavy metals into groundwater, potentially contaminating drinking water. 

Landfill Gas and Greenhouse Gases 

Landfill gas (LFG), formed from the breakdown of organic waste inside the landfill, is mostly methane and CO2 (90-98%), but also contains nitrogen, oxygen, ammonia, hydrogen, and sulfides, among others. Its makeup depends on the specific conditions and age of the landfill, as well as temperature and water content, but some landfills can produce gas for up to 50 years. 

Methane is a primary cause for concern in LFG, formed from the slow decomposition of organic matter in the airtight, anaerobic conditions of the landfill. Landfills are the third largest source of methane emissions in the U.S., and for a greenhouse gas that’s 25% more potent than CO2, this has major implications for global climate change. Methane is also highly flammable. In March 2022, a massive fire started at a landfill site outside of Delhi, India, releasing toxins into the air. The fire, unfortunately, came right on the heels of an analysis stating that New Delhi was already the most polluted capital in the world. 

Besides its climate-warming components, landfill gases can also get into structures near the landfill. They come up through the soil in a process called “soil vapor intrusion,” collecting in poorly-ventilated areas and polluting the indoor air of nearby buildings.  

Human Health 

These gases, pollutants and toxins impact the health of people who live near landfills. Open or poorly-managed landfills can lead to drinking water contamination, thereby transmitting diseases and causing infection. Documented adverse health outcomes include higher risk of cancer and birth defects in infants. Trichloroethylene (TCE) is just one carcinogen associated with leachate, entering the soil and groundwater near landfills. Ammonia and hydrogen sulfide are also harmful to humans and can cause coughing, difficulty breathing, and trigger asthma, headaches, nausea, and irritation in the eyes, nose and throat. For those who live near waste lagoons of landfills, adverse health outcomes are an especially serious problem. 

Why Are Landfills an Environmental Justice Issue?

It has long been the case that landfills are constructed more often near communities of color and low-income neighborhoods. A 1983 study conducted by Congress’s Government Accountability Office found that in eight southeastern states, 75% of hazardous waste landfill sites were located in communities that were primarily Black, Latine and low-income. This puts marginalized communities at greater health risk. The proximity of landfills to housing also keeps property values low, which can make it hard for residents to sell their property and escape the health hazards. 

What Can We Do? 

Minimize Waste

In the simplest terms, to reduce our dependence on landfills, we need to reduce our waste. Diverting our waste through recycling and composting can keep waste out of landfills, as can just using less stuff altogether. 

The recycling system in the U.S. is far from perfect. Due to a combination of many factors — including the un-recyclability of many materials, poor waste systems and lack of recycling systems in some areas — only about 9% of plastic actually gets recycled. However, when done properly, taking part in recycling programs keeps these materials out of landfills. Composting at home or through municipal programs is another important step, and is possible no matter where you live. An estimated 8-10% of yearly GHG emissions are associated with unconsumed food, and 30-40% of our national food supply is wasted every year. Composting keeps that organic waste from entering landfills in the first place, where it’ll decompose and produce methane. 

Because construction and demolition are huge sources of landfill waste, it’s also crucial that we reduce their waste materials by preserving existing buildings rather than constructing new ones, or by reusing and repurposing existing materials. 

Legislative Action

Many of these solutions might seem like they’re out of our hands. How are we as individual people supposed to create a better global recycling system? How are we supposed to redistribute construction materials so they aren’t wasted? We can stop using single-use plastics on our own, but how can we make that change on a larger scale? How can we as individuals create a more just and sustainable MSW system?

Voting isn’t a silver bullet for all of our problems, but it’s an important tool we have in bringing about change. Vote for local and federal legislators who have platforms based on environmental action and justice, including the implementation of sustainable integrated waste management on a larger scale. Better-managed and engineered facilities for waste that meet environmental requirements and aren’t placed in sensitive areas is an important step. New York City — where residential composting is now mandatory – is one success story, and shows how large-scale composting solutions can be implemented by people in power. There are models for other ways of handling our waste. In Sweden, for example, 0% of MSW ends up in landfills, due in part to good recycling infrastructure and biological treatment of waste.

Coming up with other uses for the land that landfills occupy has been another topic of conversation. Many landfills in the U.S. have been identified as promising locations for solar farms, and many have already been built, using that land to create clean, renewable energy. 

Takeaway

Landfills aren’t merely dumping grounds for our trash, but rather are complex, regulated structures with many components. Soil, air, and water pollution is just one set of issues associated with landfills, along with greenhouse gas emissions, injustices on nearby communities, and steep costs to human health. Creating a more just and sustainable system of waste management that minimizes our reliance on landfills — and makes the landfills we do have better-engineered, better-managed, and better-monitored – will be an effort that incorporates both personal action and large-scale legislation, and changes in how we view and handle waste in our culture.

The post Landfills 101: Everything You Need to Know appeared first on EcoWatch.

Quick Key Facts

1. Global species populations have declined by an average of 69% since 1970.
2. The Endangered Species Act was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1973 and has saved 99% of the species it protects from extinction.
3. At least one-third of plants and animals in the U.S. are threatened with extinction. 
4. Habitat loss, low genetic variation and other human impacts like pollution, wildlife trafficking, agriculture and development, and climate change are major drivers of endangerment and extinction.
5. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) maintains the international “Red List” of endangered and threatened species. 
6. Scientists warn that the loss of plant and animal species due to climate change could cause an “extinction domino effect.”

The Endangered Species Act

To understand what “endangered species” means, it’s important to unpack the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which followed the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966, the first piece of federal endangered species legislation. Enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1973, the ESA states that the federal government has a responsibility to protect endangered and threatened species. They must also protect the areas or regions necessary for the survival of the threatened species, called “critical habitats.” 

The ESA set forth definitions of both “endangered” and “threatened” species. As stated in the Act, endangered species are “any species which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range,” and threatened species are “any species which is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.” Species in both categories are called “listed species,” and can become “delisted” if they are no longer endangered or threatened. 

It’s important to note that species can be listed as endangered at the state, federal and international level. They are managed under the ESA if they are listed at the federal level, but many states have their own versions of endangered species laws too. 

How Are Species Protected Under the Act?

Species listed as threatened or endangered species then get protections by the federal government. They are protected from trade, sale and “take,” which prohibits anyone to “harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct” with these species, as well as interfering with breeding and behavioral activities in their critical habitat.

Three major provisions included in the Endangered Species Act lend it strength:

1. Citizen suit provision. Members of the public — whether individuals or public interest groups — can petition to have a species listed as threatened or endangered, ensuring that federal agencies are taking action. 
2. Critical habitat provision. Agencies must protect the lands and waters that a species needs to survive and recover. When a species is listed, a critical habitat is also designated so a recovery plant can be drawn up. 
3. Consultation provision. Federal agencies have to avoid doing anything that jeopardizes protected species, including “adversely modifying” their critical habitats. 

Ultimately, the ESA has been very successful. By some estimates, it has saved 99% of the species it protects from extinction.

How Do Species Get ‘Listed’ Under the Act? 

A status review is conducted by the USFWS and NOAA to determine whether a species warrants protection under the ESA by giving it one of these designations. It’s a lengthy process for a species to get listed. It’s supposed to take only two years, but on average it takes about twelve. “Candidate” species — that is, those petitioning to become listed species — have to qualify for protected status under the ESA based on several factors. 

If any of the following five factors are met, a species must be listed as endangered or threatened, according to NOAA: 

1. Present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of its habitat or range.
2. Over-utilization of the species for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes.
3. Disease or predation.
4. Inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms.
5. Other natural or manmade factors affect its continued existence.

Every five years, a review must be conducted of listed species to determine whether the criteria for the recovery plan set forward have been met. Now, more than 1,300 species are protected (or “listed”) as either endangered or threatened under the ESA in the United States.

The ‘Red List’

While the Endangered Species Act focuses on protection at the national level, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) maintains the international “Red List” of endangered and threatened species. The IUCN compiles information on animals, plants and fungi from more than 100 countries and regions, and evaluates their risk of extinction. By their latest count, more than 44,000 species are threatened with extinction worldwide. This includes 41% of all amphibians, 37% of sharks and rays, 36% of reef-building corals, 34% of conifers, 27% of mammals and 13% of birds. 

Red List Categories 

The Threatened Species list identifies those listed as Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN) or Vulnerable (VU). Evaluations are based on five criteria: population reduction rate, geographic range, population size, population restrictions and probability of extinction. Population reduction is measured over 10 years, or three generations. 

Geographic range considers the “area of occupancy” or a species, and the “extent of occurrence” — or the smallest area that could encompass all the sites that the species lives in. Smaller numbers are usually indicative of a threatened population. Lastly, “population restrictions” is a combination of population number and area of occupancy. 

Species are categorized by threat level based on the five evaluated criteria, ranging from “least concern” to “extinct”: 

1. Least concern. There is no concern about population numbers. Human beings, pigeons, houseflies and domesticated cats and dogs would all fall under this category. 
2. Near threatened. The species might not be currently threatened, but will likely fall under that category in the future.
3. Vulnerable species. High risk of becoming extinct in the wild.

• Population reduction rate: 30-50%
• Geographic range: Extent of occurrence is under 20,000 square kilometers, and area of occupancy is under 2,000 square kilometers. 
• Population size: Fewer than 10,000 mature animals. 
• Population restrictions: Restricted to under 1,000 mature individuals, or area of occupancy is under 20 square kilometers.
• Probability of extinction: 10% within 100 years

4. Endangered species. Very high risk of becoming extinct in the wild. 

• Population reduction rate: 50-70%
• Geographic range: Extent of occurrence is under 5,000 square kilometers, and area of occupancy is under 500 square kilometers.
• Population size: Fewer than 2,500 mature animals, or if the population has declined by 20% or more within five years or two generations. 
• Population restrictions: 150 mature animals
• Probability of extinction: 20% within 20 years or 5 generations 

5. Critically endangered species. Extremely high risk of becoming extinct in the wild. 

• Population reduction rate: 80-90%
• Geographic range: Extent of occurrence is under 100 square kilometers, area of occupancy is under 10 square kilometers.
• Population size: Fewer than 250 mature animals, or if population has declined by 25% or more within three years or one generation. 
• Population restrictions: 50 mature animals
• Probability of extinction: 50% within 10 years or 3 generations 

6. Extinct in the wild. Includes plants that only survive in cultivation, or animals only in captivity. The term also encompasses species that are only surviving outside of their historic range.
7. Extinct. There are no known individuals of the species remaining. 

How Do Species Become Endangered? 

Take the passenger pigeon, for example. These birds used to fly by the thousands overhead in North America but not a single passenger pigeon remains. The cause of their extinction is twofold: many were shot by humans for sport and food, and their forest habitat was cut down to build cities and plant farmland in a rapidly expanding America. They are a prime example of how human intervention can damage a species to the point of extinction — even one that once comprised 25-40% of the total bird population in the United States. 

^{A passenger pigeon stamp on a National Wildlife Federation stamp sheet in 1966. Kevin Dooley / Flickr / CC BY 2.0}

Loss of Habitat

Extinction and endangerment can also happen, however, outside of human intervention. Glaciers melt after an ice age, pushing out plants and animals that can’t adapt to new conditions. A volcano can erupt and kill off an entire species. Think of the dinosaurs, who lost their habitat during the Cretaceous period when an asteroid struck the Earth. The debris sent into the atmosphere prevented light and heat from reaching the ground, and the dinosaurs were unable to adapt to this different climate. Their populations became endangered, and eventually extinct.

Increasingly, however, human activity is the reason for habitat loss. We clear enormous amounts of space for housing, agriculture and industry, leaving it inhospitable to the creatures who once lived there. When huge swaths of rainforest in South America are razed (or “deforested”) to create grazing space for cattle, the entire habitat that a species depended on is destroyed, contributing to decreases in their population. Such destruction has indirect impacts as well — while a species might not have been directly impacted by this loss, they might have depended on another impacted species as a food source, now leaving them without the necessary resources to survive. 

Loss of Genetic Variation

Genetic variations allow species to adapt to changes in their environment. Without variation, species don’t develop resistance to disease or other threats, putting them at greater risk of extinction. Inbreeding prevents new genetic information from entering the gene pool, so disease is much more common and deadly within the group. Cheetahs, for instance, went through a period of inbreeding during the last ice age, so they don’t have as much genetic variation. As a result, fewer cheetahs survive to maturity than other species. Human causes like overfishing/overhunting can reduce the number of mature individuals that can breed, contributing to inbreeding.

^{A cheetah at Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. Ray in Manila / Flickr / CC BY 2.0}

Other Human Impacts 

Extinctions have historically occurred during the five mass extinction events throughout the planet’s history, which were largely the result of natural causes. However, extinction is now occurring at a rate 1,000-10,000 times faster due to humans. Through travel and trade, humans introduce new diseases to species by spreading pathogens to new locations, and also introduce non-native species to areas where they are not meant to live, therefore altering food chains and possibly pushing out other native species. As we encroach upon the habitat of wild animals, species are at greater risk of death by car collisions and hunting too.

Pollution and Toxicity

Toxins released into the environment by humans, including pesticides, can contribute to the threatened status of species. Bald eagles were heavily impacted by DDT, which was used on farms as an insecticide and then washed into waterways where it poisoned fish. After eagles ate the poisoned fish, they began laying eggs with thin, fragile shells that cracked before the babies could hatch. Since DDT was banned in 1972, bald eagle populations have bounced back. 

The introduction of trash and plastic into ecosystems by humans — especially in our oceans — can also harm species. It’s estimated that 100 million ocean animals are killed as a direct result of plastic each year.

Wildlife Trafficking and Removal From Habitats

Wildlife trafficking involves the illegal trade, smuggling, poaching, capture or collection of wildlife that’s protected, endangered or managed. It’s the second biggest direct threat to species, following only habitat destruction. The IUCN found that 958 species are at risk of extinction due to international trade. African elephants, for one, are heavily trafficked for their ivory tusks to make products like jewelry and chess sets. Consequently, fewer than 420,000 of these elephants remain of the 1.2 million that once lived in 1980. 

Climate Change 

Given the expansiveness of climate change and its impact, it’s no surprise that it’s a major threat to biodiversity. By 2050, some biologists estimate that 25% of plants and animals will be extinct in the wild as a result of climate change. Warmer temperatures are altering habitats and leaving species without places to breed and find food, disrupting seasonal cues for migratory animals, and causing sea level rise to damage coastal ecosystems, among many other impacts. In 2010, phytoplankton populations had dropped 40% since their 1950 levels, and rising sea surface temperatures were identified as the cause. Losing this key species that consumes carbon dioxide and produces oxygen during photosynthesis would be devastating to ocean health. 

What Are the Most Endangered Species on Earth? 

Animals 

Amur Leopard

Only about 100 amur leopards are left in the wild, surviving only in the far east of Russia and northeastern China. Although their populations have stabilized — rising from 30 individuals in the 1970s to roughly 100 now — they have been considered “critically endangered” since 1996. They are primarily threatened by poaching for their spotted fur, habitat loss and lack of prey. Their prey base isn’t sufficient to sustain big populations, and so to help the leopards, local deer and hare species need to be protected from hunting as well. 

African Forest Elephant

Once listed together with African savanna elephants, African forest elephants are now considered separately. These critically endangered elephants are found in thirty-seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and are mainly threatened by poaching and habitat loss to agricultural development. Their ivory tusks are highly valuable, and are a main reason why these elephants are poached. However, even if poaching stopped now, it would take a long time for populations to recover, since elephants reproduce slowly. Between 1928 and 2021, their populations declined more than 80%. Now, only 415,000 individuals exist in the wild in about 25% of their historic range. African forest elephants are important agents of seed dispersal. Many seeds they eat — some too large for other animals to ingest — remain intact after digestion, and thus spread to other areas while the elephants roam. 

Black Rhino

Black rhinos were heavily poached between 1960 and 1995 — largely for their two horns. Their population consequently dropped by an astounding 98%, but they’ve made a large comeback since then due to conservation efforts. They are still critically endangered, and around 6,000 exist in the wild today in Kenya, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. 

Cross River Gorilla

^{A Cross River gorilla at the Limbe Wildlife Centre in Cameroon. Julie Langford / CC BY-SA 3.0}

While they are very difficult to study given their habitat and wariness of humans, it’s estimated that between 200 and 300 Cross River gorillas are left in the wild. They live in the montane forests and rainforests of Cameroon and Nigeria in an area about twice the size of Rhode Island. This region has been increasingly encroached upon by humans, clearing their forest habitat for agriculture or raising livestock.

Javan Rhinos 

Once found across southeast Asia, only one wild Javan rhino population of seventy-five individuals exists in Java, Indonesia inside the Ujung Kulon National Park. Their population has risen from about thirty in the 1960s, but they are still critically endangered and the most threatened of the five species of rhinos. Given their tiny population, their lack of genetic diversity through inbreeding is a cause for concern about their long-term survival. The invasive Arenga palm is a big reason for their downfall — it continues to threaten the rhinos as it overtakes the park and alters their historic habitat. Rising sea levels from climate change also threaten their geographic region, as does the threat of tsunamis and volcanos from Anak Krakatau nearby. Poaching for the rhino’s horns has historically been an issue as well and remains so.

Tigers

All subspecies of tigers — the Malayan, Sumatran, South China, Indochinese, Bengal, and Amur tigers — are either endangered or critically endangered. Three subspecies of tigers are already extinct. The South China Tiger is the most critically endangered of all. With no sightings in the last thirty years, it’s considered extinct in the wild, although 150 remain in captivity. Malayan tigers have an even smaller population, with only 80-120 mature individuals remaining in the wild in the forests of Malaysia. Sumatran tiger populations are of great concern as well — there are only about 400 left in the wild on the island of Sumatra: the only place left where elephants, orangutans, rhinos and tigers live together in the wild in a delicately balanced ecosystem. As apex predators, tigers play a crucial role in maintaining the balance of ecosystems. Currently, only 4,500 total individuals remain in the wild. 

Hawksbill Turtle 

One of only seven species of marine turtles, the hawksbill turtle is critically endangered. Since the 1990s, 80% of its population has been lost, leaving only between 20,000 and 23,000 in all of the world’s major oceans. Hawksbills are often bycatch in large-scale fishing operations, and are poached for their beautiful shells (known as “tortoise shells”) to make jewelry and other valuables — the IUCN estimates that millions have been killed within the last hundred years for their shells. Habitat destruction is another key factor. Their nesting grounds are heavily influenced by coastal development, and climate change is impacting the coral reefs that they feed on. These turtles are very important to the functioning of marine ecosystems, especially maintaining the health of seagrass beds and coral reefs. 

Vaquita 

This small porpoise only lives in the Gulf of California off of Mexico. The vaquita is critically endangered — but more than that, it’s the world’s rarest marine mammal and most endangered cetacean. Currently, only ten individuals remain. These creatures are highly susceptible to entanglement in the gillnets used to fish shrimp and finfish, and it’s still a victim of bycatch fishing for totoaba, although it’s illegal. 

Kākāpō 

The kākāpō is a fascinating nocturnal, flightless parrot native to New Zealand, and it almost went extinct. Habitat loss and the introduction of invasive species by European settlers like rats, stoats and cats — which were especially detrimental, given that the bird doesn’t fly and hadn’t adapted to mammalian predators — were major drivers of its population decline. Only about 250 are alive today, according to New Zealand’s Department of Conservation, but the species has seen some growth in recent years thanks to the efforts of Kākāpō Recovery.

Plants 

When we think of endangered species, we might think only of animals, but plants are also in danger of extinction. Similarly to captive animals, some plants exist only in cultivation now, like the Middlemist Red (the rarest flower on Earth), the Franklin Tree and the Wood’s Cycad. Among the many listed by the IUCN Red List, these are three of the most highly threatened plant species. 

Western Underground Orchid (Rhizanthella johnstonii)

^{The species Rhizanthella johnstonii occurs in Western Australia. Fred Hort / Flickr / CC BY 2.0}

This orchid is considered crucially endangered in its native Australia with only fifty remaining individual plants. It lives its whole life underground and relies on a specific kind of mycorrhizal fungus to survive. Habitat loss is a big reason for its decline, particularly for agriculture. Drought has impacted species that it depends upon for nutrients, as has the invasion of weeds and compaction of soil by humans, particularly when hunting for it. 

Texas Prairie Dawn Flower

^{Texas prairie dawn flowers. Carolyn Fannon / Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center}

Formerly known as Texas bitterweed, this plant was renamed by school children in an attempt to improve negative attitudes towards it during conservation efforts. Now dubbed the Texas prairie dawn flower, this extremely rare annual wildflower is only found in the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain in the Fort Bend, Gregg, Harris and Trinity counties of Texas. Harris County — the home of Houston — is rapidly developing and contributing to the destruction of the flower’s habitat. 

Ceroxylon quindiuense (Quindio Wax Palm)

Colombia’s national tree, the Quindio Wax Palm, is native to the montane forests of the Andes in both Colombia and Ecuador. Its endangered status arose after deforestation and agriculture began encroaching upon its territory. The palms’ seedlings die in the hot sun or are eaten by other creatures, so they aren’t able to reproduce outside of a forest. Wax palm forests are important to the survival of the yellow-eared parrot, among other species.

Fungi 

Even though we often can’t see them, fungi are a crucial component of our lives. They are in everything, from the water we drink, the ground under our feet and the air we breathe. According to National Geographic, about 168 mushrooms have been assessed as threatened worldwide. 

White Ferula Mushroom

^{White ferula mushrooms. tripsis / Flickr / CC BY-SA 3.0}

This extremely rare mushroom is only found north of the island of Sicily in an area of less than 100 square kilometers. Their critically endangered status is due largely to overharvesting — as a gourmet food item, two pounds of white ferula sells for fifty euros. 

Why Should We Protect Endangered Species?

Once a species is gone from the Earth, there is no way of getting it back. Protecting natural biodiversity has benefits we can predict, and some that we can’t. No one creature exists in a vacuum, but is connected to a large, delicate web of all species. Losing one species has a great impact on the balance of that web, especially when we lose a “keystone” species that helps hold the whole system together.  

Protection of Food Chains 

Species depend upon one another to survive. Since one species is a source of food for another, losing one can be disastrous to countless others, sending a ripple of disturbance down the food chain. We can see examples of such “trophic cascades” — that cascading effect of species loss down the food chain — throughout history. From the late 1800s to the 1920s, wolves in Yellowstone National Park were hunted nearly to extinction. In response, the populations of elk and deer they once preyed upon exploded, and decimated aspens and other trees that held stream banks together and supported birds. Insect populations burgeoned without their avian predators. Wolves were listed as endangered in 1974 and their recovery was thus mandated under the ESA. After wolves were reintroduced in the park in the 1990s, these decimated food chains recovered. The loss of apex species — the largest predators at the top of the food chain — like Yellowstone’s wolves is especially harmful. Because they tend to live longer and reproduce at slower rates, it also takes longer to recover their populations.

Scientists warn that the loss of plant and animal species due to climate change could cause an “extinction domino effect” of “co-extinctions,” which occur when one species dies out because it depended on another, causing subsequent extinctions down the food chain. In the worst-case scenario, this could kill off all life on Earth, according to a recent study from Flinders University in 2018.

Maintaining Ecosystems and Ecosystem Services 

Balanced ecosystems are important. They provide us with crucial ecosystem services like flood regulation, water purification and nutrient cycling, which won’t function as well without all native species. California sea otter populations, for example, dropped in the 19th century from unrestricted hunting. The otters used to eat purple sea urchins, which eat kelp. Now, urchin populations have grown in the absence of otter predators, meaning they consume more kelp. Kelp forests provide important ecosystem services — like protecting the coast from storm surges and absorbing climate-warming carbon dioxide — but are less successful as their population diminishes. 

Pollinators also provide vital ecological benefits. Over the past several decades, pollinator populations have been declining in North America. As of 2020, seventy species of pollinators including bats, birds and insects are listed as threatened or endangered. An estimated 75% of leading food crops depend on pollinators to grow — our entire food system depends on them. About 300 species of fruit depend on bats to get pollinated, including mangos and bananas. All pollinators face different threats, like imported diseases, invasive species and shrinking habitats, especially if patches along their migration routes are too fragmented. Pesticides pose another significant danger to pollinators. These toxins impact reproduction or harm the health of bees during direct contact. Additionally, insects and other animals could be beneficial to farmers as biological controls to keep pests in check. If we lose these species, we will rely even more heavily on synthetic chemicals to replace this service.

Preservation of Knowledge 

Plants and animals also provide us with resources, like materials and new types of medicine. They’ve helped us create anti-cancer agents, blood thinners, pain killers and antibiotics, including penicillin, which was derived from a fungus. In all, 50% of the 150 top prescribed medicines were originally derived from plants and animals. Biodiversity presents us with the opportunity for new ways of feeding and sustaining our growing population, but by losing species to extinction, we lose that opportunity to innovate. 

Loss of Livelihood 

^{Whale-watching tourists in the Pacific Ocean off Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on March 8, 2022. Troy Mai / Flickr}

Biodiverse communities are a source of income for many communities. Taking fishing communities, for example; if the fish they depend on are overfished to extinction, these people won’t be able to make any money. Biodiversity also has recreational value, providing us with opportunities for watching species like whales and birds, hiking on trails full of natural beauty, and more. The wildlife tourism industry is a multi-billion dollar sector, and the loss of species means the loss of major aesthetic value in these places, meaning tourism-centric economies will suffer. 

Takeaway

Endangered species protection is a complex and intersectional issue. Species become threatened or extinct in a lot of different ways, some more indirect than habitat loss or poaching. Thus, to meaningfully address extinction risks, we must also consider climate change, our food systems and agricultural practices, and pollution. 

Legislation is one of our strongest tools in fighting extinction, with the Endangered Species Act being a highly successful example. The whooping crane is a famous success story: the tallest bird in North America suffered from loss of habitat and hunting. In 1941 when it was listed as endangered, there were only twenty-one individuals left in its population — but after being listed as endangered in 1970, it now has more than 500. Other influential pieces of legislation throughout history include the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act of 1940 and the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972.

The Endangered Species Act turns 50 years old in 2023, but it and other legislation that protects endangered species are constantly under threat. Under the Trump administration, the ESA was stripped of vital provisions, ultimately paving the way for development, oil and gas drilling, and mining in critical habitats of endangered species. Although the Biden administration has begun restoring protections under the Act, these actions remind us that legislation is a powerful tool in preventing harm to threatened species: one that can be taken away under leadership that neglects environmental conservation. To protect endangered species and their habitats, it’s crucial that we vote for individuals who prioritize legislation related to environmental protection and large-scale action against climate change.

The post Endangered Species 101: Everything You Need to Know appeared first on EcoWatch.

Yes!

The 2 to 4 million species of fungi in the world offer us endless possibilities — from creating alternative building materials and textiles, to cleaning up environmental toxins, to providing new sources of plant-based proteins. Now, scientists are turning to mushrooms and mycoremediation to solve our plastic pollution crisis.

What Is Mycoremediation? 

^{Mushrooms growing at a habitat restoration site in Hylebos Creek, Tacoma, Washington in 2010. Port of Tacoma / Flickr}

Mycoremediation is a form of bioremediation: the introduction of microorganisms or other life forms to break down environmental pollutants in contaminated areas. Bioremediation is employed to clean up oil spills, industrial sites, brownfields and even Superfund sites, often introducing bacteria to degrade the pollutants and cycle nutrients back into the environment. Mycoremediation is different in that it uses fungi instead of bacteria. Mycelia — the thread-like root systems of fungi that grow underneath the mushroom — consume food externally, using their enzymes to break down molecules in pollutants and toxins. Basically, they digest the surface they’re growing on and convert it into nutrients.

It’s a remarkable method that’s been used to clean up industrial and agricultural waste — like cyanotoxins, herbicides and pesticides — and sometimes convert them into edible, high-protein mushrooms. Mushrooms have been used to clean up oil spills, contaminated soil and heavy metals in brownfields. Oyster mushrooms are capable of removing E. coli from contaminated waters, such as the highly contaminated Chicago River, as well as toxin-filled ash from wildfires that make their way into waterways. 

And now, we’re beginning to see their potential to break down one of our generation’s most widespread pollutants: plastic.

Potential Uses 

Landfills and Marine Plastic Patches 

Plastic doesn’t decompose, but merely breaks down into smaller pieces over time. That means that the 8.3 billion tons of plastic that have been produced since the 1950s still exists in one form or another. Landfills, where 27 million tons of plastic have accumulated since 2018, are a particular concern. How, though, can mushrooms be used to break down plastic in these airless, sunless environments? 

Pestalotiopsis microspora might be the answer. A 2011 study out of Yale University declares that this rare mushroom — found by students on a class research trip to Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest — can degrade a common type of polymer plastic called polyester polyurethane, along with several other fungi in the Pestalotiopsis genus. These fungi can use plastic as their main source of carbon, converting it into organic matter. Pestalotiopsis microspora can even do so in both liquid and soil suspensions in dark environments without oxygen, meaning it could be useful in landfills, waste treatment centers and even in ocean plastic gyres like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Working quickly, it decomposes parts of the plastic in just two weeks. 

In 2017, scientist Sehroon Khan of the Kunming Institute of Botany collected Aspergillus tubingensis growing in a city garbage dump in Islamabad, Pakistan. He found that the fungus was able to break down polyurethane — a plastic used widely in producing large appliances, fake leather, sponges, and synthetic fibers — within weeks. The mushroom’s enzymes and mycelia work to break bonds between molecules and then break them apart.

Non-Recyclable Material

Not all plastics can be recycled, or it’s extremely difficult to do so. Polypropylene, for example, accounts for 28% of global plastic waste, but a meager 1% of it is recycled. It’s used to create household items like toys, industrial products like car parts, plastic packaging like takeout containers and cling film, and textiles, making it a widely used plastic for which there are few recycling solutions. 

Research conducted by the University of Sydney’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering discovered that two types of fungi typically found in plants and soil — Aspergillus terreus and Engyodontium album — were able to break down this type of plastic after being pre-treated with heat, UV light or an acidic solution called Fenton’s reagent. After 30 days of incubation, the plastic had been reduced by 21%, and after 90 days, it had been reduced by 25 to 27%. Researchers believe that if they optimize the conditions of the process even more, they’ll see a reduction in degradation time. 

Oyster mushrooms can also break down items containing non-recyclable plastic. One trial conducted by Fungi Solutions in Melbourne found that they are capable of breaking down most toxins and the microplastics in cigarette butts, which are one of the top items of plastic waste found in the ocean, within seven days. The group believes they can remove 1.2 million cigarette butts from landfills and dispose of them in this way. 

In the Home

Even for the plastic waste in your own home, oyster mushrooms are coming to the rescue. Pleurotus ostreatus and Pleurotus pulmonarius — both types of oyster mushrooms — were found capable of degrading PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) plastic over 30 to 60 days. PET is commonly used to make plastic water bottles, 600 billion of which are produced every year and only a small percentage of which actually get recycled. 

The Fungi Mutarium might just be the solution. Created by Katharina Unger with Utrecht University in the Netherlands, the recycling system contains pods made of agar and plastics treated with UV. Oyster and split gill mushrooms fed on these pods for a few months. Scientists anticipate smaller scale versions of the Fungi Mutarium being used in homes, and larger systems at recycling or waste-treatment centers for community use. While some bioaccumulate too many toxins when degrading environmental pollutants, some mushrooms that feed on plastic in such systems are even edible — such as the Fungi Mutarium, which produces edible mycelia. 

Takeaway

With our plastic pollution crisis only growing, we’ll need to find ways to both reduce our consumption as well as sustainably dispose of these huge amounts of waste. Mycoremediation is an opportunity to handle plastic waste through natural means, perhaps even on a worldwide scale.

The post Can Mushrooms Really Break Down Plastic? appeared first on EcoWatch.

As hurricanes, drought and the other symptoms of our climate crisis become increasingly present in our daily lives, many of us are looking for ways to learn more about our changing world. The following beautiful and entertaining works of graphic nonfiction also grapple with difficult issues regarding climate change, fossil fuel extraction and the loss of once-natural spaces, for readers of all ages. 

Climate Changed: A Personal Journey through the Science, Philippe Squarzoni (2014) 

^{Abrams Books}

Imagine a documentary, but portrayed in squares of cartoons and lines of text, or a textbook on climate science, but much more engaging and with much better pictures. Climate Changed by French cartoonist Philippe Squarzoni takes readers through his own quest to learn about the science of climate change, after he realized that he knew next to nothing about it. Deftly combining research, personal reflection, interviews with climate experts and stunning black-and-white visuals, Squarzoni teaches readers about the basics of climate change, breaking down difficult concepts like atmospheric science, the benefits and drawbacks of renewable energy options, the IPCC, and how we got here — that is, at the center of a climate crisis — in the first place. At nearly 500 pages, it’s no light read, but the subject matter isn’t light either, and nearly a decade after its publication, the book is still highly relevant and beneficial to all readers hoping to understand more about our changing planet. 

Paying the Land, Joe Sacco (2020)

^{Macmillan Publishers}

Joe Sacco’s 2020 blend of comic and journalism, Paying the Land, centers around the Dene people — an indigenous group in the Northwest Territories of Canada in the Mackenzie River Valley — and the mining industry that began to encroach in the late 1800s. Mining for oil, gas and diamonds brought jobs to these territories, and with it, waste, scarred landscapes, pipelines and development, as well as rising rates of alcohol abuse and other social problems. Sacco explores the benefits and the steep costs of mining on the Dene people, to whom the land was essential to their livelihoods and ways of being — and which they believe cannot be owned in the first place. He digs into the history of the region, including the residential school system that isolated indigenous children from their families and culture, and how the Dene came to rely on wage labor. 

The book’s name is derived from the long Dene tradition of repaying the land when something is taken from it, thereby allowing the earth to continue sustaining itself. This idea is commented on throughout the book — both visually and in words — on the fossil fuel industry’s antithetical treatment of the land, taking from it by drilling for oil and fracked gas, and leaving only toxins behind. 

The book asks us to see how the fossil fuels that we use are linked to the displacement of indigenous people and the desecration of our environment, and the deep complexity of these issues.

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, Kate Beaton (2022)

^{Drawn & Quarterly}

In 2008, hundreds of migrating ducks died after landing in the oil sludge of Alberta’s oil sands. This graphic memoir chronicles Kate Beaton’s time as a laborer in those sands, trying to pay off her student loans during the lucrative Alberta oil rush. Against a backdrop of Canada’s stunning landscapes, Beaton’s illustrations of industrial development and razed earth show the visible and devastating impact of the oil sands on the environment. During her two years on the job, Beaton faces harassment, misogyny and threat of violence from the men she works alongside. The book exposes the trauma and hardship inherent to this kind of work that isn’t often discussed. She considers the land that was taken from First Nations people for this industry, and how they’ve become economically wrapped up in the oil sands, but have also suffered from higher rates of cancer. Ultimately, the book serves as a critique of the way we cheaply, irresponsibly and violently source our energy. 

Oak Flat: A Fight for Sacred Land in the American West, Lauren Redniss (2020)

^{Penguin Random House}

In Oak Flat, artist and writer Lauren Redniss follows the long battle of the Apache people to save their land from development. The title refers to Oak Flat itself, a mesa in southeastern Arizona near the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. The site has historical and cultural significance to the Apache people as an ancient burial ground, and as the place where young Apache women hold their coming-of-age Sunrise Ceremony. Ten years after copper reserves were discovered in the area in 1995, a law passed that transferred ownership of the land to Resolution Copper, which is still planning mining development that would alter this landscape forever. While the company has promised jobs — an attractive prospect in an area that has faced much economic hardship — skepticism and fear of another boom-and-bust cycle pervades in the divided community. The book is structured around interviews with native people who live near Oak Flat — two families in particular, including one of an Apache teenage activist, and a mining family. Through it all, Redniss’ vibrant and colorful pencil sketches of the landscape and its people depict the beauty of Oak Flat. 

The post 4 Must-Read Graphic Nonfiction Books About the Environment appeared first on EcoWatch.