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Can AI save our oyster reefs? A team of scientists put it to the test

With global oyster populations having declined by more than 85% from historical levels, restoring and monitoring these critical ecosystems is more urgent than ever. But traditional monitoring methods aren’t cutting it. A team of researchers that included the University of Delaware's Art Trembanis have taken a new approach, testing an AI model designed to recognize live oysters from underwater images. The findings? The AI model, called ODYSSEE, was faster than human experts and non-expert annotators, processing in just 40 seconds what took humans up to 4.5 hours. But it wasn’t yet as accurate. In fact, the tool misidentified more live oysters than both groups of human annotators. Still, the team found that ODYSEE has real potential to monitor reefs in real time. Why does this matter? As climate change, pollution and overharvesting continue to pressure coastal environments, more precise and non-invasive monitoring tools like ODYSSEE could become essential to restoration efforts and environmental policy. Trembanis can discuss this new tool and its ability to identify live oysters without disturbing the reef. His expertise in oceanography, engineering and robotics expertise was key to the team's work. The results, published in the journal Frontiers, offer both caution and hope in the race to improve ocean monitoring with emerging technologies. To set up an interview with Trembanis, visit his profile and click on the contact button.

UD researchers launch open-source tool to boost global food security and water sustainability

Efficient water usage in agriculture is crucial for sustaining a growing human population. A better understanding of the systems that support agriculture, farmers and farmlands allows for food production to become more efficient and prosperous. That's what makes the Monthly Irrigated and Rainfed Cropped Areas Open Source (MIRCA-OS) dataset so important. MIRCA-OS offers high-resolution data on 23 crop classes — including maize, rice and wheat — and helps researchers, students and farmers examine irrigation, rainfall and croplands and how they interact with global water systems. Co-authored by Endalkachew (Endi) Kebede, a doctoral student in University of Delaware’s Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences, a recent paper focused on MIRCA-OS was published in Nature Scientific Data. Kyle Davis, assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences and the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, served as a co-author on the paper and coordinated the study. “We first developed a comprehensive data library of crop-specific irrigated and rainfed harvested areas for all countries,” Kebede said. “This involved two years of gathering data from a wide range of international, national and regional sources. Through this process, we produced a tabulated crop calendar, annual harvested area grids and monthly harvested area grids for all irrigated and rainfed crops.” “The amount of effort that Endi put in to gather, process and harmonize all of this data is truly incredible,” Davis said. “His effort is a very important contribution to the scientific and development communities.” Doctoral student Endalkachew Kebede (left) and Assistant Professor Kyle Davis. (Photo credit: University of Delaware) Cropland accounts for 13% of Earth's total habitable land, and the preservation of cropland is important in feeding the growing global population. “Crop production has been a widespread human activity for a few thousand years, and it has a huge role in global food security,” Kebede said. “But it also has unintended impacts on the environment, such as overutilization of water resources, pollution through rivers or the effects on soil and the environment.” MIRCA-OS can play a crucial role in helping to better understand croplands and agriculture, allowing the global population to be successfully fed while minimizing the agricultural effects on the environment. In addition to the data included on cropland and water resources, MIRCA-OS allows researchers to view social aspects like poverty and unemployment through an agricultural lens, creating a better understanding of the interconnectivity of agriculture and social issues. MIRCA-OS is an updated version of the earlier MIRCA2000 dataset. Kebede said the MIRCA2000 was released nearly two decades ago, so renewing the data gives users more accurate and timely information. Both datasets specialized in examining irrigation and rainfall, but the MIRCA-OS added two new complexities to their data. First, MIRCA-OS is open source, meaning it is publicly available for anyone to use, download, or modify. Kebede said the added accessibility allows the technology to contribute to anyone's work, whether it be a student, a researcher or a farmer. “Anybody can use, update it, or upscale it to the special skill they’re interested in,” Kebede said. “Some might use it for research, some might use it to create policies and some might use it to practice agriculture.” To arrange an interview with Davis, visit his profile and click on the contact button.

Saving the world, one yard at a time

University of Delaware professor Doug Tallamy has a simple mission: Encourage people to rid their property of invasive plants and replace them with native ones. One of the ways he's tackling it is through a concept called “Homegrown National Park,” a grassroots initiative he co-founded to offer a simple solution for the biodiversity crisis — the decline of a variety of animals, plants and numerous species. Tallamy, the TA Baker Professor of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Delaware, is trying to encourage everyone to do their part to protect the planet. If invasive plants (which don’t belong in an area and can ultimately harm the ecosystem by taking away essential resources from other plants) grow out of control, then an area loses its biodiversity, the ability for multiple plant and animal species to function at once and create a rich ecosystem. Invasive species are prolific. For example, many invasive plants produce berries, which some birds eat. The birds then spread those seeds around. So, once invasive plants are in an area, they’re hard to get rid of. The idea is to replace them with native plants, which have historically belonged to a region and provide critical habitat for insects, birds and other creatures. It's an uphill climb, but Tallamy persists and is trying to save the world, one yard at a time. “Everybody has a responsibility of doing things that sustain their little piece of the earth, and there are a whole bunch of things one individual can do to help in that regard,” Tallamy said. What’s not so simple, however, is getting the Earth’s 8 billion people (or, at least, anyone with property) to do this. “We are trying to change the culture so that [replacing invasive plants with native ones] becomes the norm, not the exception,” Tallamy said. “We’re not getting rid of lawns. But we don’t need 44 million acres of them. There are now so many people on the planet that natural systems are not functioning the way they need to sustain us.” A snowball effect Much of our current plant culture revolves around colorful, aesthetically pleasing ornamental plants that don’t support the local food web. When they grow out of control, a local yard or larger region loses out on biodiversity. The natural world is all connected. For example, Tallamy said, if we lose pollinators like our native bees that transport pollen between plants, then we also lose most of our plants that produce flowers and fruits. It’s a snowball effect. “If that happens, the energy flow through our terrestrial ecosystems is almost totally disrupted, which means the food webs that support our vertebrate animals, our amphibians, our reptiles, our birds and our mammals would collapse and all those animals would disappear,” Tallamy said. “Without insect decomposers, the creatures that break down dead material, mostly plants, would rot and only bacteria and fungi would endure.” “Homegrown National Park” has generated a lot of buzz for Tallamy, who received recognition for it in October by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. The MHS awarded Tallamy with its highest honor, the George Robert White Medal of Honor, for eminent service in the field of horticulture. Conservation in action Tallamy’s quest to “change the culture” on planting can be witnessed in the fall at UD. On a warm October afternoon, he and a group of students from the Introduction to Insect and Wildlife Field Studies (ENWC 165) course trudged out to UD Wetlands to curtail some pesky invasive plants native to Asia. Equipped with clippers, loppers and handsaws, they walked behind Worrilow Hall, part of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ 350-acre campus, which includes the UD Wetlands, an area that was formerly a dairy cow pasture but transformed into wetlands in 2008 because pollution from the farm was reaching the local watershed. The wetlands were created because wetlands, by design, absorb nitrogen from runoff before it goes into waterways. They then release it as a gas into the atmosphere. But the UD Wetlands repeatedly deal with pesky invasive plants such as Porcelain-berry and Chinese elm. Over the years, UD students have stymied the species from overtaking the area. “See this? This is a good guy,” said Tallamy to the students as he held up a fallen branch. “You just want to get the Porcelain-berry off of it. They’ll grow back very well. But we want to nip [the Porcelain-berry] in the bud.” Taylor Kelly, a senior wildlife ecology and conservation major who took part in the invasive species removal, said Tallamy has helped her better understand the interconnectedness of various ecosystems. “Native plants provide so much value to our local pollinators, which add value to our local birds because they feed on pollinators, seeds, fruit and trees,” Kelly said. When native plants are in their natural environment, she added, it is a beautiful thing to see. Gardening with intention Tallamy, who began his teaching career at the University of Delaware in 1982, has published numerous research papers about entomology and written three books about native plants, insects and ecosystems, with a fourth book soon to come out. Lately, much of his career has revolved around public outreach. He often lectures across the country about native plants and their ecosystem value and is regularly quoted in outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post and Natural History Magazine. “Dr. Tallamy is a rare scientist that is able to explain his work to everyone,” said Jake Bowman, UD professor of wildlife ecology and chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology. “His passion for the importance of native plants has driven a major shift in thinking.” Years ago, when Tallamy first set out to spread his messages about native plants, he anticipated a lot of pushback from horticulture enthusiasts who he thought might be resentful about being told how to choose their plants. Instead, Tallamy found that many actually embraced his ideas, including Delaware’s own Master Gardeners, a group of about 300 volunteer educators trained by UD Cooperative Extension. Among his supporters are Delaware Master Gardeners Karen Kollias, Brent Marsh and Judy Pfister, who each praised Tallamy for the impact he has had on how they garden. Kollias now “gardens with intention”— not for herself or her neighbors, but for the environment. “I was a gardener before,” she said. “Now I consider myself an ecological gardener.” After Marsh received a copy of Tallamy’s 2007 book, Bringing Nature Home, which talks about the link between native plants and native wildlife, Marsh became a Master Gardener and began planting native species in his Georgetown lawn. Today, native plants such as woodland sunflowers and oak trees adorn Marsh’s yard, and he is grateful for the value of native plants that he learned through Tallamy’s book. “Someday, maybe 20 years from now when I’m 100 years old, somebody's going to buy my house and they’re going to say, ‘Who planted all these oak trees?!’” Marsh chuckled. “Doug Tallamy changed my life.” As Tallamy has sought to simplify scientific knowledge with the general public, Pfister has utilized Tallamy’s approach to do the same. “He has a way of just making the whole thing a big circle, tying the need for a plant back to the need for a bird back to the need for a tree,” she said. Tallamy, who has been delighted by the fervor ignited by his native plants teachings, said the future of the Earth and its diverse ecosystems will in large part depend on how people treat their yards. “In the past, we asked our landscapes to do one thing, and that was, be pretty,” Tallamy said. “Now we have to ask them to do two things: be pretty and ecologically functional. That's the horticultural challenge of today.” But it’s one Tallamy believes can be achieved. Sometimes, he wishes he could speak to his 10-year-old self and tell the young boy to dig another pond for the toads to colonize. Restore. Conserve. Focus on keeping nature’s ecosystems intact, he would say. “We have to do both,” Tallamy said. “Yes, we have to conserve what’s out there, but we have to get in the mindset that we can really put a lot of it back.” Tallamy and Homegrown National Park co-founder Michelle Alfandari have created a database for people to type in their zip code and discover which native plants are best for their area.

Moths in the Mojave, with UConn's David Wagner

Did you know that there are approximately 180,000 moth and butterfly species living in California’s Mojave Desert? Moths, the winged insects famous for eating sweaters and flocking to lights at night, are a mysterious and captivating species for entomologists like UConn's David Wagner. He was part of a research study that was documented recently in The Washington Post. Each night in the desert, vast clouds of sphinx moths, some spanning the palm of your hand, speed between night-blooming flowers, sipping nectar. Ethmia, tiny black moths with spots shaped like musical notes, emerge from the dark like fairies. Thousands of geometrid moths, no bigger than your fingernail, slip by cloaked in desert hues from rusty reds to pale green. To witness them, I traveled deep into the Mojave Desert this spring with a team from the California Academy of Sciences working to ensure the survival of lepidoptera. For two days, we beat bushes, placed traps and collected thousands of moths to see what lives there — and what can be saved. Moths have inhabited our planet for at least 200 million years. But the conservation status of about 99 percent of moth species remains unknown. Some, like sphinx moths, remain abundant. Many others are probably being pushed to the brink by development, land-use changes, pesticides and pollution, and rising temperatures. “It’s not this unseen force,” says David Wagner, an entomologist at the University of Connecticut. “It’s humans.” Over two nights in the desert, I discovered just how easy it is to fall in love with an unloved insect. And why “mothing” may be the best way to discover the miracle of biodiversity in your own backyard. On the arid western edge of the Mojave, where the desert floor rises to meet the San Bernardino Mountains, sits the 306-acre Burns Piñon Ridge Reserve. We venture out in the morning with beating sticks. Hitting the branches of small oaks and rabbitbrush deposits a treasure trove of insect life into collectors made out of fabric: Crane flies, green lacewings, spiders, walking sticks and caterpillars that will one day grow into moths. Wagner and Chris Grinter, an entomologist and collection manager at the California Academy of Sciences, will catalogue the most interesting ones. The academy houses a collection of 18 million insects, 700,000 of which are butterflies and moth specimens. Many are still waiting for scientists to identify and name them. The plight of moths and caterpillars has fascinated Wagner since childhood. After 20 years, he is no less enthusiastic — or worried. Wagner traveled to Burns Piñon to help finish his magnum opus, the successor to his 500-page guide to eastern North America’s caterpillars. The guide for the west will probably run more than 1,500 pages, a testament to the region’s remarkable biodiversity. As the sun sets, the mood is anticipatory. We head out into the desert to set our traps and see what moths we’ll discover. “The nice thing,” says Grinter, “is moths will come to you.”  The article is an amazing read - and the link is above. And if you are interested in knowing more about moths, insects, or the fascinating field of entomology, then let us help. Dr. David Wagner is an expert in caterpillars, butterflies, moths, and insect conservation, and he's commented extensively on the current decline of insects worldwide. Click his icon to arrange an interview today.

Sport and Study: Villanova University Faculty Offer Academic Lens to Paris Olympics Storylines

All eyes are on Paris: more than 10,000 athletes from 206 nations are set to compete in the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, the third Olympics in the City of Love and the first since 1924. Below, Villanova University faculty members provide their academic expertise on the unique storylines and narratives already taking place as Paris 2024 gets underway. Portraying a National Image in the Opening Ceremony Étienne Achille, PhD Director of French and Francophone Studies After months of speculation, the daily Le Parisien has officially confirmed that renowned French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura will lend her vocals to an opening ceremony featuring an iconic backdrop steeped in history. “Nakamura is the most-streamed Francophone singer in the world, embodying France’s culture on a global stage, and she’ll be paying homage to one of the most cherished representatives of the chanson française,” said Dr. Achille, referring to reports she will sing one of beloved French crooner Charles Aznavour’s greatest hits. According to Dr. Achille, the pop star’s presence is significant and symbolic. “A performer, or even a flagbearer, can easily become the face of a global event like the Olympics,” he said. The details of the setting for the ceremony – in the heart of Paris, along the Seine – are just as intentionally symbolic. “Not only will this be the first opening ceremony to take place entirely outside of a stadium; its location along the river and the fact the delegations will be on boats are key. “It represents movement and connection to the world,” Dr. Achille said. “And Nakamura’s performance projects the image of a modern, multi-ethnic nation building on tradition while proudly marching into the future.” Swimming in the Seine: Safe or Not? Metin Duran, PhD Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering It is, perhaps, the most-asked question of the last few weeks. Is the Seine River, set to host multiple swimming events, safe? The river has been illegal to swim in for a century due to the presence of harmful bacteria such as E. Coli, and recent testing has reaffirmed this concern. The Seine, which had undergone an expensive cleaning to mitigate this issue, received the endorsement of Paris Mayor Ann Hidalgo, who personally took a dip in the water herself to attest to its safety. The stunt did little to convince experts such as Dr. Duran, who studies wastewater, to abandon concern about the potential health risks of athletes being exposed to pathogens in the water. “When we have fecal pollution, there is a high likelihood of pathogens being present,” Dr. Duran said. “Those could be viral, like a norovirus, or protozoan. “If you’re swimming in that water, you run the risk of ingesting it. Once you ingest that polluted water, you’re likely to contract some of those disease-causing pathogens. Ingesting this water doesn’t mean you’re necessarily going to get sick, but based on the number of people in a big city like Paris, there is a very high likelihood of some of these pathogens existing now in the river.” Accommodations for Breastfeeding Athletes Sunny Hallowell, PhD, APRN, PPCNP-BC Associate Professor of Nursing The IOC and Paris 2024 Organizing Committee is providing support to all breastfeeding athletes competing in the Games. A few national governing bodies, like the French Olympic Committee, are going a step further and offering hotel rooms near the Village for their country’s breastfeeding athletes to share with their children and spouses. “A few decades ago, the idea of a female athlete who also wanted to breastfeed their child was so taboo it may have prevented an athlete from competing,” said Dr. Hallowell. “Now, many female athletes who choose to breastfeed their newborns or toddlers conceptualize breastfeeding as another normal function of their remarkably athletic bodies.” Accommodation for breastfeeding athletes and increased awareness are needed more than ever. Dr. Hallowell notes that in addition to changing views on breastfeeding, the needs for such accommodations are increasing as the age of peak athletic performance also increases. “Advances in sports nutrition, wellness and lifestyle have extended the longevity and performance of many athletes into adulthood,” she said. And while some athletes with rigorous training regimens might feel “frustrated incorporating breastfeeding into the routine,” Dr. Hallowell says that for others, “breastfeeding provides both physical and socio-emotional benefits for the mother and the infant that allow the athlete to focus on the job of competition.” Protecting Against the Parisian Heat Ruth McDermott-Levy, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN Professor of Nursing The potential for extreme heat in Paris has been a topic of concern for athletes and organizers, prompting certain outdoor events to be proactively scheduled at times to avoid the day’s worst heat. Current forecasts predict temperatures in the 90s for several days early on in the Games, which could be exacerbated by Paris’ reputation as an urban heat island, unable to cool due to lack of green space and building density. Dr. McDermott-Levy says the athletes are inherently vulnerable, because “the added stress of physical exertion during their events puts them at greater risk of heat-related illness.” But she also notes that many of the athletes have likely undergone pre-competition training in extreme heat conditions to acclimate and will have trainers and health professionals monitoring them frequently. “The group of concern are the workers at the stadiums, outdoor workers and spectators who are there to enjoy or work at the events and may have had little to no acclimation,” Dr. McDermott-Levy said. “They need to follow local instructions and take frequent breaks from the heat, seek shade and maintain hydration by avoiding alcohol and sugary drinks and drinking water.” How Nature Can Inspire Future Use of Olympic Infrastructure Alyssa Stark, PhD Assistant Professor of Biology Gone, hopefully, are the days of abandoned Olympic Villages and venues, overrun with weeds and rendered useless soon after the Games conclude. The IOC’s commitment to sustainability has been transparently relayed ahead of the 2024 Games, featuring a robust range of initiatives and programs. Dr. Stark is particularly interested in one aspect of ensuring a sustainable Olympics. “How will the structures, materials and systems they developed for the Olympics be re-used, re-shaped or re-worked afterward?” she posed. “This could include re-using buildings to larger scale or re-working transportation systems set in place for the Games that could then integrate into day-to-day life post Olympics.” At the root of her interest is the concept of biomimicry. “A lot of the way we think about designing, if we’re using this biomimicry lens, is how do we learn from nature to solve problems that we have in a sustainable way, keeping in mind the environment we are in?” Dr. Stark said. In this case, consider how something like a dwelling of a living creature might be repurposed to fit the needs of another creature, or serve another natural purpose, without harming the ecosystem. Could that inspire a way to re-use the Olympic infrastructure? “There are a ton of examples of [biomimicry] being used and working in products,” Dr. Stark said. “But I would say the next step is looking at the social levels of these big ecosystems – building architecture, city planning, flow of information and, in this instance, repurposing what was created for the Olympics.” Paris Could Be a Transportation Model for Major City Events in the United States Arash Tavakoli, PhD Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Paris has invested 250 million Euro the last several years to transform the city to a 100% cycling city, making it one of the most bike-friendly municipalities in the world. Currently, more trips are being made by bicycles in Paris than by cars (11% vs. 4%), a trend that has permeated to the surrounding suburbs as well. With an influx of travelers in Paris for the Games, Dr. Tavakoli, an expert in human transportation, said, “The Olympics will be a test for how well these kinds of systems respond to high fluctuations in the population as compared to vehicle-centric systems.” While Paris is thousands of miles away from the United States, how bicycle, pedestrian and vehicle systems work during the Games could provide helpful insight ahead of major events in American cities. “With the World Cup coming to the U.S. in a few years, it will be interesting to compare [Paris] with how our own system responds to people’s needs,” Dr. Tavakoli said. “Not just based on traffic data and congestion, but also considering factors like how comfortable the transportation system is, how much it affects our well-being and how much it attracts a nonresident to enjoy the U.S. when their only option, for the most part, is a vehicle.”

Top Expert Placement: NYS Legislature Fails to Pass Environmental Bills

Lawrence Levy, associate vice president and executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies, talked to Newsday about New York state legislators failing to pass environmental measures that would have been transformative. “It’s fair to say that in a state that has passed some of the nation’s most ambitious clean energy and other environmental protections, the failure to support additional initiatives can’t be ascribed to a lack of concern about climate change, congestion and pollution,” Levy said. “It’s primarily about the economy, primarily inflation, and general uncertainty. These are volatile times, economically and even politically.” Lawrence Levy is available to speak with media - simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview today.

Healthy Environment, Healthy People: The Intersection Between Climate and Health

How is climate change influencing our health? Why does climate change have a greater impact on vulnerable populations and low-income people? How does the U.S. health care system affect the climate? How can health care systems improve their impact on the climate and the environment? ChristianaCare’s inaugural Climate and Health Conference addressed these topics and raised possible solutions at the John H. Ammon Medical Education Center on the Newark, Delaware, campus on April 12. At the conference, the common denominator was this: An unhealthy environment can lead to illnesses and deaths from air pollution, high heat, contaminated water and extreme weather events. Health systems, government entities, community organizations and individuals all have a role to play in decreasing these effects. “Climate, the environment and health care systems are intertwined,” said Greg O’Neill, MSN, APRN, AGCNS-BC. “We need to pay close attention to this relationship so we can improve health for everyone.” O’Neill is director of Patient & Family Health Education and co-chair of the Environmental Sustainability Caregiver Committee at ChristianaCare. Climate change and intensifying health conditions Negative health effects are so closely tied to the environments where people live, work and play that The Lancet called climate change “the greatest global health threat facing the world in the 21st century [and] the greatest opportunity to redefine the social and environmental determinants of health.” At the conference, speakers addressed specific areas of concern. Asthma. Air pollutants, while largely invisible, are associated with asthma. What’s more, people who live in urban areas with little green space are more likely to have uncontrolled asthma, said speaker Robert Ries, M.D., an emergency medicine resident at ChristianaCare. And there’s the rub, he said: When people with asthma spend time in green spaces, it may improve their health. “In Canada,” he said, “some doctors prescribe nature – two hours a week for better overall health outcomes. Could we do that here?” Heat-related illness. Temperatures worldwide have been rising, increasing the likelihood of heat-related health incidents. Heat waves may be harmful to children and older adults, particularly those who don’t have access to air conditioning, swimming pools or transportation to the beach, said speaker Alan Greenglass, M.D., a retired primary care physician. Children visit the emergency room 20% more frequently during heat waves. Weather-related illness. Climate change is causing more floods, which may result in respiratory problems due to mold growth; and droughts, which may threaten water safety and contribute to global food insecurity, said speaker Anat Feingold, M.D., MPH, an infectious disease specialist at Cooper Health. Stress and anxiety. Climate change can affect mental health, even leading to “solastalgia,” which is distress about environmental change and its effect on one’s home, said speaker Zachary Radcliff, Ph.D., an adolescent psychologist at Nemours. He encouraged clinicians in the audience to keep this mental health concern in mind when seeing patients as it may become more prevalent. Cardiovascular disease risk. Frequent consumption of red meat increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, the top cause of death in the U.S. It’s also unhealthy for the environment, said speaker Shirley Kalwaney, M.D., an internal medicine specialist at Inova. Livestock uses 80% of available farmland to produce only 17% of calories consumed, creating a high level of greenhouse gas emissions. By comparison, plant-based whole foods decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. They use only 16% of available farmland, producing 82% of calories consumed. This makes reducing red meat in our diets one of the most powerful ways to lower the impact on our environment. Health equity and the environment People in low-income communities are more likely to live in urban areas that experience the greatest impacts of climate change, including exposure to air pollutants and little access to green space, said speaker Abby Nerlinger, M.D., a pediatrician for Nemours. A Harvard study in 2020 demonstrated that air pollution was linked with higher death rates from COVID-19 — likely one of the many reasons the pandemic has disproportionally harmed Black and Latino communities. Similarly, access to safe, affordable housing is essential to a healthy environment, said Sarah Stowens, Ed.D., manager of State Policy and Advocacy for ChristianaCare, who advocated for legislation including the Climate Solutions Act, another bill that increased oversight regarding testing and reporting of lead poisoning and a policy to reduce waste from topical medications. Opportunities for change in health care Reduce emissions from pharmaceuticals and chemicals. These emissions are responsible for 18% of a health system’s greenhouse gas emissions. One way to reduce this number is for clinicians to prescribe a dry-powder inhaler (DPI) instead of a metered-dose inhaler (MDI) when applicable and safe for the patient and to give patients any inhalers that were used in the hospital at discharge if they are going home on the same prescription. Hospitals have opportunities to reduce greenhouse gases while caring for patients, said Deanna Benner, MSN, APRN, WHNP, women’s health nurse practitioner and co-chair of ChristianaCare’s Environmental Sustainability Caregiver Committee. The health care sector is responsible for 8.5% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, the highest per person in the world. U.S. greenhouse gas emissions account for 27% of the global health care footprint. One way to significantly reduce the carbon footprint is to use fewer anesthetic gases associated with greater greenhouse gas emissions, Benner said. Limit single-use medical devices. Did you know that one surgical procedure may produce more waste than a family of four produces in a week? Elizabeth Cerceo, M.D., director of climate health at Cooper Health, posed this question during her talk. Sterilizing and reusing medical devices, instead of using single-use medical devices, she said, may meaningfully reduce hospital waste. ChristianaCare’s commitment to healthy environments and healthy people As one of the nation’s leading health systems, ChristianaCare is taking a bold, comprehensive approach to environmental stewardship. ChristianaCare reduced its carbon footprint by 37% in 2023 by purchasing emission-free electricity. ChristianaCare joined the White House Climate Pledge to use 100% renewable energy by 2025, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieve zero net emissions by 2050. ChristianaCare has created an Environmental, Social and Governance structure to help advance a five-year strategic plan that delivers health equity and environmental stewardship. Nearly 150 staff members have become Eco-Champions, an opportunity to be environmental change-leaders in the workplace. In 2023, ChristianaCare’s successful environmental stewardship included: Reducing our carbon footprint by 37% by purchasing emission-free electricity. Recycling 96,663 pounds of paper, which preserved 11,485 trees. Reducing air pollution by releasing an estimated 33,000 fewer pounds of nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides through the use of a cogeneration energy plant on the Newark campus. Donating 34,095 pounds of unused food to the Sunday Breakfast Mission in Wilmington, Delaware. Donating 1,575 pounds of unused medical equipment to Project C.U.R.E., ChristianaCare’s Virtual Education and Simulation Training Center and Delaware Technical Community College. “In quality improvement, they say you improve the things that you measure,” O’Neill said in expressing goals for continued success. In looking ahead, said Benner, “I really hope that this conference is the catalyst for positive change with more people understanding how climate is connected to health, so that we can protect health from environmental harms and promote a healthy environment for all people to thrive.”

America's Most Endangered Rivers | Media Advisory

Every year, the release of America's Most Endangered Rivers List serves as a critical wake-up call, drawing attention to the urgent need to protect our nation's waterways and the communities that depend on them. As threats to our rivers continue to escalate due to pollution, overdevelopment, and climate change, this annual report highlights the importance of preserving these vital ecosystems for current and future generations. Here are key story angles for journalists to explore: Environmental impacts of river degradation: Investigating the consequences of pollution, habitat destruction, and water scarcity on wildlife and local communities. Economic implications of river conservation: Analyzing the economic benefits of healthy rivers for industries such as tourism, agriculture, and recreation. Community activism and river conservation efforts: Showcasing grassroots initiatives and advocacy campaigns aimed at protecting and restoring endangered rivers. Government policies and river management: Assessing the effectiveness of current regulations and resource management strategies in safeguarding our waterways. Indigenous perspectives on river stewardship: Highlighting indigenous knowledge and traditional practices related to river conservation and sustainability. Climate change and the future of America's rivers: Exploring how rising temperatures and extreme weather events are exacerbating threats to river health and resilience. Connect with an Expert about Jackie Robinson For journalists with questions or looking to cover todays' release of America's Most Endangered Rivers List, here is a select list of experts. To search our full list of experts visit www.expertfile.com Colin J. Gleason Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering · University of Massachusetts Amherst Alan Clarke Hydrological Services Leader · Global Water Experts Michael C. Slattery Professor, Department Chair and Director of the Institute for Environmental Studies · Texas Christian University AJ Reisinger Assistant Professor · University of Florida Photo Credit: Dan Cardoza

Video games tackle climate change

The University of Delaware recently hosted a Climate Change Video Game Jam for students that paired the ingenuity of designing a video game with activism and the use of research to address one of the world's biggest problems. The national video game design competition was the brainchild of A.R. Siders, director of the UD's Mangone Climate Change Science and Policy Hub and core faculty in the Disaster Research Center. Participants representing five universities — UD, the University of California - Irvine, Ohio University, the University of Southern California and Irvine Valley College — competed in the event at UD's Esports Arena. Eight games were submitted and ran the gamut in their design, gameplay and visual effects. They ranged from a game focused on sustainable fishing, an ocean pollution clean-up, pirates cleaning oil spills, a mermaid helping her sea creature friends and a professor collecting magical stones to address storms and sea level rise. Four games included original artwork — both hand-drawn pixel art and 3-D models — and original sound effects and music. One had voice acting by the lead developer because the team “wanted to center her voice” in the game both figuratively and literally. The students behind the latter walked away victorious. As a self-proclaimed “climate geek” and long-time gamer, the idea for such an event was a natural way for Siders to marry two of her passions while actively engaging UD’s student body in addressing environmental issues. “The Jam is a great opportunity to bring people together from totally different perspectives who are all excited about the connections across these themes,” Siders said. “Facts and charts don’t move people. They don’t inspire action or instigate change, but video games can change how people think about climate change.” Siders also hopes that the game jam helps put UD on the map as a place that does cross-disciplinary climate work. “We have excellent expertise in game design, climatology, engineering, ocean science, and environmental humanities,” Siders said. “But our real strength is our ability to put those together creatively.” Members of the media who would like to interview Siders about the Climate Change Video Game Jam or other related topics can visit her profile and click "connect" or send an email to mediarelations@udel.edu.

#Expert Q&A: Amid the Wildfire Haze, NJIT's Alexei Khalizov Explains What's in the Air

The soot that permeated the air in New Jersey and New York this summer — courtesy of massive wildfires in Canada — is exactly what a New Jersey Institute of Technology professor is studying to determine its impact on climate change. Alexei Khalizov, an associate professor of chemistry and environmental science, is partnering with Associate Professor Gennady Gor on the three-year project, which began last year and is supported by a $620,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. Specifically, they’re examining the soot created by wildfires and the burning of fossil fuels in hopes of better predicting its impact on climate. Khalizov, who’s been at NJIT since 2013, took time out from his research to explain what millions of residents of N.J. and N.Y. are experiencing as a result of the wildfires hundreds of miles to the north. Q: What’s in the smoke? Small particles and some gas chemicals. These particles and chemicals were released by wildfires and they were picked up by the air mass and carried all the way to New Jersey from Canada. Those particles are extremely small: you can stack maybe a hundred of such particles across single human hair thickness. Q: Is breathing it the equivalent of smoking a pack of cigarettes? That would be a reasonable comparison. A cigarette is made of plant material. When it smolders and burns it releases particles that are very much like those particles from wildfires. Maybe the only difference is that the wildfires have no nicotine. But they have lots of other chemicals. Q: What factors contribute to the density of the smoke? Well, it's a major wildfire. It covers a huge territory in Canada. And the meteorology is such that this smoke is carried all the way from Canada to the U.S. without significant dilution. And due to that, the concentration of those particles is very high. Q: When did we last experienced something of this magnitude? We had some Canadian and Alaskan wildfires a few years ago. And air mass transport brought the smoke all the way to New Jersey, but it wasn't as bad as what we are observing today. Q: What about in terms of EPA standards? The Environmental Protection Agency has a list of criteria pollutants. One of those pollutants is particles smaller than 2.5 microns. And typically, if the concentration of those particles exceeds 35 micrograms per cubic meter, the air is considered unhealthy. When I looked at the map of pollution today (June 7, 2023), it showed that throughout the majority of New Jersey, the concentration is around 90 micrograms, which is two to three times higher than this unhealthy threshold. And actually, there is a location, I believe it's around Paterson, where the concentration is 140 micrograms, which is four to five times above the threshold. Q: Can the wildfires in South Jersey be contributing to this? It's possible, but probably it's not a major contribution. Also, if you look at the wind pattern, it's probably not a major factor at all. Q: Why is wind unable to disperse the smoke? For the wind to disperse the smoke, one needs to mix clean air with all this contaminated air and the amount of contaminated air is so high that there’s no clean air around to actually produce any dilution. Q: Why is there so much haze? It’s because of the continuous inflow of air, which is contaminated by emissions from the wildfires. The haze itself has a relatively short lifespan. Q: How does temperature change affect the smoke? If the temperature increases that may accelerate the rate of some chemical reactions that will also be accelerated by the sunlight. And that's one reason why the smoke that was released in Canada is not exactly the same smoke that we experience in New Jersey. As this haze is traveling over three to six hundred miles, it undergoes a number of chemical reactions and even the smell changes. You know how freshly released wood smoke smells — it's actually pretty pleasant. What we're smelling now, it's not pleasant at all. That's the result of those chemical reactions, which makes this even more unhealthy. Q: Will rain immediately clear the smoke? Yes, it will. If we could have rain, then the rain would remove the majority of these particles. And in fact, I believe we've been experiencing the smoke for several days, almost a week now. It would go up and decrease. And we’ve had several rains and those rains did really clear out some smoke. Q: What can we do individually and collectively to protect ourselves? We can help ourselves by staying indoors and wearing masks if you have to go outside. Certainly, exercising outside is not a good idea even while wearing a mask. Also, if you have a central air conditioning system, you can turn on the fan to run the air through the filter, which will remove some of these particles. It depends on what kind of filter you have — high efficiency or regular. Q: What kind of mask? Make sure that it's an N-95 mask, not a surgical mask. A surgical mask is not is not going to help you at all. Q: How does what we’re experiencing relate to your research? My collaborator and I received a major grant from the National Science Foundation to study the particles released by combustion. As they travel through the air, they change both in shape and in composition. And these changes affect their toxicity and they affect their impact on climate. These particles actually are one of the warming agents. So, we hope that within about three years of working on this project, we’ll be able to explain better what happens and then modelers will be able to predict the impacts of such events with better accuracy. Looking to know more - we can help. Alexei Khalizov is available to discuss this important topic with media - simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview.