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How Birds Began Migrating to the Arctic to Breed

Tiny fossils hint at when birds began making their mind-blowing journey to the Arctic to breed

Golden autumn sunlight glints through the sedges and shrubs of the tundra in northern Alaska. Winter is approaching, and soon the region will be buried under snow and ice. For the past three months the chatter of the Arctic Tern colony has served as the soundtrack of the summer breeding season. But now, with daylight waning, the terns need to head south. In an instant, the usually noisy birds will fall silent, a behavior known as “dread.” Moments later the entire colony will take to the skies to begin its 25,000-mile journey to Antarctica—the longest known migration of any animal on Earth.The Arctic Tern is not the only bird that spends its breeding season in the Arctic. Billions of birds belonging to nearly 200 species—from small sparrows such as the Smith’s Longspur to large waterfowl such as the Greater White-fronted Goose—make their way to the far north every spring to reproduce and then make the return flight south for the winter. It’s no easy feat. Migration is costly. Even under ideal conditions, such an epic journey requires huge amounts of energy and exposes the travelers to dangerous weather. The mortality risk is high.But undertaking these trips allows the birds to take advantage of the seasonal conditions in these environments. The endless summer sun supports lush plant growth, flourishing insect swarms, and plentiful fish populations nourished by zooplankton blooms. With 24 hours of light a day, the birds can more easily catch food such as slippery fish and tiny insects. The round-the-clock daylight also means many of the animals that prey on birds are less likely to sneak up on a nest unnoticed.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Scientists have long wondered when birds began making these extraordinary journeys. New fossils that we and our colleagues have discovered and analyzed are finally providing some clues. A decade of expeditions to the Arctic Circle in Alaska has yielded a trove of bird fossils—including several hatchlings. The remains, which date to approximately 73 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period, constitute the earliest known record of birds reproducing at polar latitude. The fossils hint that early birds may have already been traveling to the top of the world to raise the next generation of winged wonders.The polar migration of birds is one of nature’s great spectacles. To make the marathon journey to the Arctic, birds need physical stamina. They typically have various anatomical and behavioral adaptations to long-distance travel. The Arctic Tern, for example, is a marvel of efficiency. Its skeleton is lightweight and partially filled with air, allowing it to glide for long distances without expending any energy to flap its wings. It can eat on the move, plucking fish from the surface of the ocean as it flies. And, like many migratory birds, it can sleep while gliding.Migrants also need to be skilled navigators to reach their breeding ground. The precise methods by which birds find their way remain mysterious, but biologists generally agree that they use some combination of visual landmarks; the position of the sun, moon and stars; Earth’s magnetic field; and scent-based clues. A degree of learning also seems to be involved—in many species, first-time migrants appear to simply fly in the correct general direction, whereas experienced birds may use landmarks to take a more efficient route.Scientists have rediscovered dozens of three-dimensionally preserved teeth and bones from hatchling birds, including this tip of a beak, from the Arctic Circle in Alaska, showing that birds were reproducing at polar latitude by 73 million years ago.As impressive as the trip itself is, the Arctic migration is part of a much grander scheme: the birds are literally changing their ecosystems at their destinations. Although most Arctic birds are only physically in the Arctic for the breeding season, they spur the success of plants by pollinating flowers and dispersing seeds. They also help to manage insect and rodent populations and, by extension, help to control the spread of disease. In fact, birds are so critical to the success of their habitats that they are hypothesized to have played a key role in structuring remote ecosystems over deep time. Birds carry small organisms, such as plants and insects, over long distances to colonize remote polar regions. Were it not for the evolution of migratory birds, today’s tundra would be much more barren.Despite the importance of migration for the birds themselves and for the wider landscape they inhabit, we actually know very little about the origins of this phenomenon. To answer such a fundamental question, we have to look backward in time to the fossil record. Unfortunately, the polar fossil record is sparse, and most of the fossil-bearing sediments there are covered in ice or water. In spots where these sediments are exposed, fieldwork is often challenging, dangerous and expensive. Furthermore, bird bones are some of the rarest fossils in the world because they are small and fragile, making them less likely to survive long enough to fossilize, let alone to be discovered by paleontologists.In the rare cases when we do manage to find a fossil bird in the Arctic, it can be difficult to determine whether that bird was a visiting migrant or a permanent resident. Let’s say we find exactly the same species, in rocks from exactly the same time period, at both temperate and polar latitudes. Even then, we can’t say the extinct species migrated. There’s always the possibility that it merely inhabited a broad area year-round. The range of the modern-day Common Raven, for instance, encompasses practically the entire Northern Hemisphere.There is a clever way to home in on whether a fossil deposit contains migratory birds, however. The vast majority of living birds that inhabit polar regions migrate to lower latitudes after the breeding season ends. So, if we find fossil evidence of birds not just present but breeding at polar latitudes, we are headed in the right direction. This is where our work on fossils from a Late Cretaceous body of rock in northern Alaska called the Prince Creek Formation comes in.At the beginning of the 1993 movie Jurassic Park, a team of paleontologists gently brushes away sand to reveal an intact dinosaur skeleton in the badlands of Montana. Although fossil fieldwork is never as simple as removing loose sediment with a paintbrush (sorry, Steven Spielberg), Arctic fieldwork is in a league of its own. Winter brings temperatures as low as –50 degrees Fahrenheit, tons of snow and limited hours of daylight. The summer isn’t a walk in the park, either: giant mosquitoes are out in force, it’s almost always rainy and cold, and there is So. Much. Mud. Moreover, large mammals are out and about, making potentially dangerous wildlife encounters a concern.In August of 2022 one of us (Wilson) was on her second trip to the Arctic. It was about five in the morning when she awoke in her tent along the Colville River near the Prince Creek Formation. The sun had already been up for hours. With a couple more hours before she needed to be up, she was frustrated that she had to climb out of her warm sleeping bag to pee. She begrudgingly put on a hat and coat and unzipped her tent, still half asleep. Then her heart stopped. About 20 yards away, right near one of her crewmates’ tents, was a giant, fuzzy brown blob. She tried frantically to remember her bear training: Should she call out and try to wake everyone else up? Grab her bear spray? Try to scare it out of the camp? Only after putting herself through this roller coaster of emotions did she finally realize that the “bear” had a large set of horns on its head. Thankfully, the camp visitor was just a musk ox.Brittany Cheung (feature icons) and Rebecca Gelernter (bird illustrations)One may wonder why we bother with such extreme fieldwork. Wilson has often found herself wondering the same thing while working in –30-degree-F weather. But for the same reason the fieldwork is challenging, the fossil discoveries in the Arctic are some of the most exciting in the world. The Prince Creek Formation is located at a modern-day latitude of 70 degrees north and preserves fossils of animals that lived an estimated 72.8 million years ago. Plate tectonic activity has shifted Alaska south since that time. During the Late Cretaceous, these species would have been living at an even higher paleolatitude of 80 to 85 degrees north, practically at the North Pole. Summers would have brought plentiful light and warmth, but year-round occupants of the ecosystem had to endure winters with freezing temperatures, snowfall and about four months of continuous darkness.Paleontologists have known about dinosaurs from the Prince Creek Formation since 1983, but it’s only in the past couple of decades that work led by Patrick Druckenmiller of the University of Alaska Museum of the North and Gregory Erickson of Florida State University has begun to change our perception of Arctic life in the Cretaceous. Their team’s discovery of baby dinosaur fossils helped to demonstrate that dinosaurs were year-round inhabitants of the ecosystem because the baby dinosaurs would have been too young to migrate before the onset of winter. More recently, smaller bones found alongside the dinosaur fossils have led to another exciting discovery: the oldest evidence of polar bird reproduction.To date, we have identified more than 50 three-dimensionally preserved bird bones, along with dozens of teeth, from the site. The fossils are so tiny that they could all fit together in a single jam jar. Nevertheless, they represent one of the best collections of Late Cretaceous North American bird fossils and document the presence of at least three types of birds that lived alongside nonbird dinosaurs in Arctic Alaska. Not only that, but many of the fossils belong to baby birds and represent the earliest known growth stages of these groups of birds. Together these fossils demonstrate that birds have been nesting in the Arctic for at least 73 million years, nearly half the time they have existed on Earth.Close study of these delicate fossils has allowed us to reconstruct the birds of the Prince Creek Formation and their role in the ecosystem. Picture the Arctic in early summer 73 million years ago. The coastal floodplain that was desolate throughout the long winter is now lush with plant life and buzzing with insects. It’s the perfect setting for a newly hatched chick to grow up in. A head pops up from a bowl-shaped nest. It belongs to a baby ornithurine, a close relative of modern birds. He is still covered in downy feathers and scrambles about on skinny legs, not yet ready to take flight. While learning his way around the world, he takes special care to stick close to his parents. Unlike many other Late Cretaceous birds, he and his relatives have a toothless beak that serves as a precise tool for picking off creeping insects under their watchful eyes. This chick hatched a month ago and is already off to a strong start thanks to a new evolutionary innovation: the larger egg laid by advanced ornithurine birds.The coastal floodplain offers premium real estate for nesting. Dinosaurs of all kinds are preparing for the arrival of their young, and last year’s young are still recovering from their first Arctic winter. The ornithurine chick and his family aren’t the only types of birds here to call this landscape home. Kick-diving hesperornithines are hunting in the river waters, and ternlike ichthyornithines are wheeling overhead. And they’re all here for the same reason birds still nest in the Arctic today: lots and lots of sunshine.The Prince Creek birds provide definitive evidence that birds bred in the Arctic during the Cretaceous. Whether they migrated there from elsewhere to reproduce is tougher to establish. We can get at this question from a few angles, however. Let’s start by considering whether these birds had the ability to make such a journey in the first place. We know that any birds from the preceding Jurassic period are unlikely to have flown very far. Such early birds had not yet evolved many of the features that help modern birds fly skillfully and efficiently. For example, the iconic Archaeopteryx was capable of flight, but it appears to have had relatively low endurance and couldn’t perform complex maneuvers. The keeled sternum, or breastbone, that anchors the pectoral muscles in modern birds was either absent or at most a flat cartilaginous plate in Archaeopteryx. Clawed fingers interrupted the leading edge of its wing, and compared with birds of today, its feathers appear to have been less flexible and thus less adept at forming a coherent airfoil. Even its tail seems like an archaic reminder of Archaeopteryx’s grounded ancestry. Whereas modern birds have a short tail with a special plough-shaped bone called the pygostyle that lets them spread their tail feathers into a fan, Archaeopteryx retained a long and aerodynamically unwieldy tail similar to that of its theropod dinosaur ancestors.Researchers excavate a fossil site along the Colville River in northern Alaska.Over time birds evolved a panoply of skeletal and soft-tissue features that improved their flight capabilities. The bony tail became shorter, and the fingertips diminished from large claws to tiny bones hidden under the feathers. Advanced Cretaceous birds in the group Ornithothoraces, which includes the Prince Creek specimens, are in many ways the first birds with an unquestionably proficient flight apparatus. In these birds, the sternum bears a keel that provides additional attachment for the muscles that power the flight stroke. The shoulder joint is oriented higher on the back, allowing for better positioning of the wings. The first finger also anchors an alula, a cluster of small feathers that acts as a mini airfoil, helping in fine maneuvers. Thanks to these anatomical innovations, the Prince Creek birds (apart from the flightless hesperornithines) would have been capable of flying great distances to the Arctic to breed.A closer look at where these birds fit in the avian family tree provides more clues to how they came to reproduce in the far north. Ornithothoraces is divided into two groups: the enantiornithines and the ornithurines. Enantiornithines were the dominant birds for most of the Cretaceous period. These toothed birds ranged from sparrow- to turkey-size and showed a great diversity of forms, from Longirostravis, with its slender bill, to the blunt-toothed Bohaiornis, to the toucan-beaked Falcatakely. They lived almost everywhere.Ornithurines, which include modern birds and their close relatives, were rarer in Cretaceous ecosystems. Like enantiornithines, most Cretaceous ornithurines still had teeth. But advanced members of the group differed from enantiornithines in having fewer teeth; no gastralia, or belly ribs; and separated pubis bones, which allowed them to lay larger eggs. In contrast to the enantiornithines, which seem to have thrived in forested environments, ornithurines appear to have stuck largely to aquatic habitats during the Cretaceous.Intriguingly, the Prince Creek bird fossils all come from ornithurine birds. We have identified bones and teeth of three types so far: ternlike ichthyornithines; hesperornithines, which used their feet to propel themselves through water; and some nearly modern close relatives of living birds. Notably absent from our assemblage are any enantiornithines. If all Ornithothoraces were capable of long-distance flight, why are the otherwise ubiquitous enantiornithines missing from Alaska?To recover small bones and teeth, the team washes fossil-bearing sediments through screens and takes the resulting concentrate back to the laboratory for examination under a microscope.We suspect one answer lies in the egg. Anyone who regularly cooks eggs has probably noticed a little white blob, which for many people spoils the otherwise appetizing appearance of the yolk. This blob is the chalazae, a pair of protein-rich “tethers” that attach the yolk to the shell. Chalazae protect the embryo when birds rotate their eggs in the nest to ensure that the embryos get thoroughly bathed in nutrients during incubation. Reptiles, which lack chalazae, do not practice egg rotation. In fact, rotating a crocodile egg can disrupt development of and kill the embryo.So far paleontologists haven’t found any fossil chalazae that might allow them to trace the origin of this structure. But we have a hunch that it evolved in ornithurines because crocodilians, nonavian dinosaurs and enantiornithines all buried their eggs at least partially in the ground. Fossil clutches of enantiornithines demonstrate that they placed their eggs vertically in sediment or soil, leaving only the tops exposed. This arrangement would have stabilized the eggs, keeping the embryo safely attached to the yolk, but it was much less efficient for incubation. At best, brooding enantiornithines would have been able to make only partial contact with their eggs, resulting in poorer heat transfer and slower development of the embryo. In fact, some paleontologists speculate that they could not incubate via body contact at all, because the eggs were too small to support that parent’s weight.Perhaps the lack of this tiny embryo “seat belt” explains the absence of enantiornithines in the Arctic. Most modern birds that breed in northern Alaska nest from late May through June. For birds that can nest in vegetation, this is a lovely time of year. Yet even at the start of June, snow may still persist in patches, and the soil may remain chilly or even frozen. Temperatures were warmer in the Cretaceous, but the Arctic winter was still dark and cold, and spring would have taken longer to arrive than at more southern latitudes. For ground-nesting enantiornithines, cold soil would have been highly unwelcoming for nests.Why not just wait until later in the summer to nest? There may simply not have been enough time. Because enantiornithines could not provide full-contact incubation, their eggs probably took substantially longer to hatch than those of birds that can sit on their eggs in nests built in vegetation. The inexorable march of the seasons would have left almost no time for fledging for birds that hatched in late summer.The Arctic Tern migrates tens of thousands of miles every year between its breeding grounds in the Arctic and its wintering grounds in Antarctica.Mark Boulton/Science SourceStill, although enantiornithines took several years to grow to full size, they appear to have been highly precocial as hatchlings. In fact, there is some evidence they could fly within a day of hatching. That might seem to make up for the longer incubation time in the race against winter. But another aspect of enantiornithine biology might have thrown up a roadblock to Arctic breeding.Recently discovered fossils preserved in amber reveal that enantiornithines molted their body feathers all at once. This style of molting allowed them to trade their juvenile plumage for adult plumage rapidly when the time came. Yet it would have been a big liability in colder climates. If an early cold snap occurred during a molting interval, being caught half naked could have been deadly to small-bodied birds that had to generate their own body heat, as opposed to obtaining it from external sources such as the sun. By eliminating the possibility of nesting in the summer and overwintering, this molting pattern might have served as a barrier to those birds inhabiting Arctic environments year-round.Needing a longer runway to make it from the egg to migration-ready seems to have left enantiornithines unable to establish themselves in the Arctic. Ornithurines, in contrast, were able to exploit the Arctic at least seasonally thanks to evolutionary innovations in reproduction and development that occurred in their lineage.Our work on the Prince Creek birds is not over yet. We currently have only circumstantial evidence that they were migrating to the Arctic to breed rather than living there year-round. But we may be able to build our case with a technique called stable isotope analysis, which lets us use comparisons of the ratios of different forms, or isotopes, of the same element in an animal’s teeth or bones to infer its diet, reconstruct its environmental conditions, and even trace its movements over its lifetime.We know that dinosaurs were overwintering in the Arctic because their young would not have been ready to migrate anywhere the first winter after hatching. Perhaps comparisons of the isotopic compositions of bird and dinosaur teeth could inform us about the habits of the Prince Creek birds. Many biological factors, such as diet and metabolism, influence isotopic compositions, though. We still have a lot of groundwork to do to understand these factors before we apply stable isotope techniques to our fossil birds.Meanwhile let’s check in on our hatchling. The Late Cretaceous world is harsh for an ornithurine chick still learning the ropes. At just a month old, he is still very vulnerable and depends on his parents for comfort and safety. If he strays too far, he risks becoming dinner for one of the many dromaeosaurs who are also trying to provide for their young. Because of these predators, many of his siblings won’t survive to the end of the summer, and some just might end up as fossils in the long run. If he can make it a few months, perhaps he will fly south with his kin to somewhere sunny for the winter. He’d be one of the lucky ones. This scenario is the harsh reality of life at the top of the world. But in the remarkable adaptations and behaviors of birds lies hope for survival.

Animals

Climate

Energy

This Rare, Endangered Orchid Only Exists in Two Locations. Can Dogs, Cows and Fungi Help It Thrive?

A Smithsonian ecologist is trying to restore the plant, Spiranthes delitescens, which grows on Arizona’s sky islands

This Rare, Endangered Orchid Only Exists in Two Locations. Can Dogs, Cows and Fungi Help It Thrive? A Smithsonian ecologist is trying to restore the plant, Spiranthes delitescens, which grows on Arizona’s sky islands Riley Black - Science Correspondent September 16, 2025 7:00 a.m. Ecological scent detection dog Circe searches for Canelo Hills ladies’ tresses in the tall vegetation Eirini Pajak At first glance, the orchid might seem like just another green wisp among the grass. Known to botanists as Canelo Hills ladies’ tresses and reclusive lady’s tresses, or Spiranthes delitescens, the plants’ stems grow up to a foot and a half tall and are dotted with tiny spikelike flowers. But these orchids don’t grow in just any fields. Canelo Hills ladies’ tresses are imperiled plants that pop up only in habitats so isolated by their elevation that naturalists call them “sky islands.” Because they are tied to specific environments, these orchids have always been rare. Now, their numbers are dwindling. Out of five locations in which Spiranthes delitescens has historically been found, she notes, the orchid is presently known to exist at only two, both in southern Arizona. To flourish again, the orchid needs help from humans and other organisms, including microscopic fungi, range cattle and specially trained dogs. Ecologist Melissa McCormick of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and the North American Orchid Conservation Center is among the scientists working to help the orchids recover. Part of the challenge in assisting Canelo Hills ladies’ tresses is where they grow. Named for the Canelo Hills Cienega Preserve, a Nature Conservancy wetland ecosystem intended to give them more places to take root, the orchid is found around rare water sources fed by springs in desert rock or in areas that otherwise are consistently moist enough for the plants. The habitats occur only in elevated locations above the desert floor, similar in composition but isolated from one another. Spiranthes delitescens, Canelo Hills ladies’ tresses orchid Eirini Pajak But moisture is only one of the orchid’s requirements. McCormick says that all orchids need associations with specific fungi. These fungal networks in the soil provide orchids with the nutrients they need to grow—an extremely close relationship that the plant maintains from seed through the rest of its life. Canelo Hills ladies’ tresses are particularly fussy about that relationship. “This orchid is very specific,” McCormick says. “It just needs one fungus and only one fungus species.” And that fungus is extremely difficult to find. She and her colleagues can’t just peek into the soil and see whether it’s present. This fungus, a species of Tulasnella, is detectable only through DNA sampled from the soil. The fungus is present in the two locations where the orchid grows. Both places are on privately owned cattle ranches. When the cows graze in these habitats, they trample other forms of vegetation and create hoofprints in the soil. Those hoofprints collect water, McCormick explains, which helps nourish the orchid and allows it to flower when the cattle are not present on the ranch. “It works just fine as long as the orchids are not flowering when the cows are there,” she says. Part of McCormick’s ongoing goal, however, is to find other locations where Spiranthes delitescens can grow. “While current populations are found only on private lands, it would be promising to see the species expand to public lands in the future,” says the Nature Conservancy’s stewardship program director, Erin Creekmur. Being able to easily study the orchid population on land dedicated to wildlife maintenance will help ensure the long-term survival of a species that, because of its stringent growing needs, has never been especially numerous. Researchers Melissa McCormick and Hope Brooks search for Canelo Hills ladies’ tresses in a cienega Eirini Pajak Fun fact: What are the sky islands of Arizona? These mountain ranges are elevated above the surrounding desert in the southeast area of the state. The orchid species Spiranthes delitescens grows in the rare wetlands of the sky island region. Melissa McCormick adjusting the focus of a video camera to record pollinators on the Canelo Hills ladies’ tresses orchid in the foreground Eirini Pajak Research on the orchid’s needs has led McCormick and colleagues to employ multiple techniques to better identify habitats that could support Spiranthes delitescens. A persistent supply of water, often from natural springs seeping from rock, is one consideration. The fungus is equally important. The areas where the orchid presently grows have the right fungus, McCormick notes, whereas tests of soil where the orchid used to grow have turned up less of the right fungus. Those areas might not be capable of hosting the plant right now. As the scientists expanded their search, they found places within the Canelo Hills preserve that contain the right fungus even if the plants themselves are not yet present. Now the researchers are getting ready to plant more than 10,000 orchids in these sweet spots. So far, researchers have planted 16 young orchids as a test. The next phase, after a controlled burn in the preserve to maintain vegetation, is a larger planting in multiple areas, including places where the orchid has not previously been found. Scent dog trainer Lauralea Oliver, pointing out areas for her dog, Muon, to search for orchids Eirini Pajak The pollinators the orchid requires are still little-known. As part of the planting initiative, McCormick and her fellow researchers have set up motion-sensitive cameras by some of the orchids to document which pollinators come to visit. So far, she says, these have mostly been bees, but a more definitive assessment is still underway. Canine assistants help keep track of how the orchids are faring. In previous surveys, McCormick says, “dogs were trained to key in on where this orchid is, visiting the existing populations and where the orchids used to be.” Dogs’ remarkable smelling abilities are important because the orchids are small and often hard to see, so a dog can smell what a human might step right over. The dogs found the orchids where they were known to be growing but did not in the places where the plant seems to have drawn back, and their skills will continue to be useful in monitoring where it’s appearing. Melissa McCormick looks on as ecological scent dog Circe receives her toy reward from trainer Lauralea Oliver Eirini Pajak The dedication to finding new ground for the orchid is about more than helping this single plant species. “The orchids are an indicator species of how the ecosystem is doing,” McCormick notes, and the conditions they need to survive are also important for various other plants, insects, fungi and associated organisms in the region. Caring for one plant ultimately means caring for an entire ecosystem. The orchid species may be small, but efforts to help these little plants grow will have reverberating effects for the other forms of life on the islands in the sky. Ecological scent detection dogs Muon and Circe enjoy a bit of downtime with trainer Lauralea Oliver, as Steve Blackwell of the Desert Botanical Garden walks ahead Eirini Pajak Get the latest on what's happening At the Smithsonian in your inbox.

Conservation

Mountains

Nature

As Federal Support for On-Farm Solar Declines, Is Community Agrivoltaics the Future?

Byron Kominek, who owns the farm, sees similar benefits from the solar panels he has installed on some of the land. “What’s important is to think about the solar array as a tree canopy,” Kominek said. The solar garden includes 3,276 panels that generate 1.2 megawatts of community solar power, enough to power 300 homes. […] The post As Federal Support for On-Farm Solar Declines, Is Community Agrivoltaics the Future? appeared first on Civil Eats.

Some of the thickest hay in the meadow at Jack’s Solar Garden, in Longmont, Colorado, is on the west side under an elm tree. The tree offers shade, absorbs the brunt of afternoon sun, and keeps more moisture in the ground. Byron Kominek, who owns the farm, sees similar benefits from the solar panels he has installed on some of the land. “What’s important is to think about the solar array as a tree canopy,” Kominek said. The solar garden includes 3,276 panels that generate 1.2 megawatts of community solar power, enough to power 300 homes. Through his agrivoltaic system—the dual use of land for solar generation and agriculture—he’s found success growing blackberries, raspberries, asparagus, and more under the panels. While growing these crops, he’s also been able to generate and sell electricity—another boost to farm revenue. With hotter, drier years ahead, Kominek also thinks having additional shade on farmland will be important for reducing ground temperatures and keeping water in the soil. Both will expand the lifespan of his property. Through his agrovoltaic system—the dual use of land for solar generation and agriculture—Byron Kominek can grow crops while generating and selling electricity, a boost to farm revenue. Like most farmers and farm advocates, Kominek is concerned about the loss of productive farmland across the country. He sees large-scale solar energy development that involves wiping out farms entirely as part of that problem, but he believes his farm and many others can demonstrate a different approach. “It takes a little bit more upfront, but one can consider some of the main points around developing solar arrays that can make it safer, more accessible, and useful for farmers and ranchers for the long run,” Kominek said. The Biden administration invested in solar through landmark climate legislation, which included additional funds for on-farm solar projects. State policies have also helped spur agrivoltaic growth. But the Trump administration has taken steps to move federal support away from solar energy. Most recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it would no longer support solar projects that take away viable farmland. That will make it harder for rural businesses and farmers to access grants and loan guarantees that largely go to small-scale solar arrays. In years past, farmers have gravitated toward these awards because of the energy cost benefits that can help sustain their businesses. Increasingly, though, as federal policies become less stable for solar, states and farm groups are looking to community solar projects to fill the gaps. Trump’s Far-Reaching Changes to Rural Energy In August, the USDA shared a press release explaining how the agency would move away from solar through changes to the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). First created under a different name in the 2002 Farm Bill, REAP has grown to become the primary program in the farm legislation. While other technologies once dominated, energy efficiency and solar projects are now some of the most popular. The program currently supports solar projects that range in scale, funded through grants and loan guarantees for agricultural producers or small rural businesses. Solar arrays can range from small-scale, like task-oriented solar for an irrigation pump, to multi-acre utility-scale projects where electricity generated can go to the grid. It’s also a low-risk, established technology that farmers and small rural businesses have gravitated toward to stabilize energy prices. Company climate pledges and consumer demand are also pushing low-carbon products, which has similarly pushed farmers to solar. “The benefit of solar to agriculture producers is that it provides stable energy cost, predictable energy cost, and helps them to reduce their carbon footprint, as markets increasingly demand,” said Andy Olsen, senior policy advocate at the Environmental Law and Policy Center. “The benefit of solar to agriculture producers is that it provides stable energy cost, predictable energy cost, and helps them to reduce their carbon footprint, as markets increasingly demand.” A recent USDA memo sent to state Rural Development directors and obtained by Civil Eats provides more insights into how the agency plans to move REAP away from solar. Ground-mounted solar projects larger than 50 kilowatts and installed on “certified cropland” are now ineligible for REAP loan guarantees, it says. Any solar projects that have any component made in a foreign adversary country, like China, would also be ineligible. Solar projects that fall under these size, location, and component restrictions will also be “disincentivized” for REAP grants. From 2015 to 2025, 72 percent of REAP projects included solar, according to an analysis by the Environmental Law and Policy Center shared directly with Civil Eats. An estimated 65 percent of these solar projects were larger than 50 kW and could therefore be ineligible for loans, or “docked,” under the new parameters. While available data does not directly include the size of projects, the center’s analysts came to this conclusion by estimating kilowatts by the cost of the project. A separate analysis by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, also shared with Civil Eats, found that relatively few—only about 150—of these projects are larger than 50 kW, mounted on the ground, and classified as an agriculture project. Many existing REAP projects involve solar arrays mounted on land adjacent to buildings or on the edge of property. But experts point out that nearly every solar array, no matter the size or location, is likely made using components from China. “This is farmers who are saying, ‘I want to go solar to help my farm,’ or, ‘I’m a rural small business and I want to go solar to help my business,’” said Liz Veazey, state policy campaigns director at Solar United Neighbors. “These people are not going to put a bunch of solar in the middle of their farm and impact their farm. They should be able to do whatever they want with their land.” Rural businesses and farms look to REAP and solar as a way to stay in business by lowering or controlling their energy costs, Veazey said. These projects can also create jobs that support the broader local, rural economy. REAP loan guarantees specifically can help support utility-scale solar projects that farmers can use to sell electricity. REAP applications are scored and get “priority points” based on criteria like energy savings, location, committed matching funds and more. These scores are factored into USDA’s selection process. As the internal USDA memo notes, the new restrictions on solar projects will be factored into this point system. But it’s unclear how severely projects involving more than 50 kW, ground-mounted solar, projects on farmland, and systems made with components produced in China will be docked in this new system. Depending on how much projects are docked because of the new solar parameters, it could lead to hundreds fewer systems receiving grants, Veazey said. The USDA is expected to reopen REAP applications on October 1, and she expects more information about the point system to be released then. “Making it harder to get these grants is probably going to reduce applications for solar, [and] potentially push applications to other, maybe less practical technologies,” Veazey said. The new REAP parameters add to a wave of “uncertainty and chaos” in the program, Veazey said. Earlier this year, USDA briefly froze REAP funding and delayed opening the latest cycle of applications. Veazey said she’s also concerned that cuts to agency staff could make it harder to process all the applications. “Making it harder to get these grants is probably going to reduce applications for solar, [and] potentially push applications to other, maybe less practical technologies.” Meanwhile, the federal government has implemented other policies that signal a shift away from solar energy. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) boosted the amount REAP grants could cover to 50 percent. Developers could also stack these grants with other IRA tax credits to further lower the cost of the project. However, under the Republican-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act, several IRA credits for clean energy were rolled back. Specifically, the residential solar credit will go away at the end of 2025, and the solar credit for businesses that many farmers or rural businesses could have used becomes more complicated with the introduction of “foreign entity of concern” rules that clean energy developers are still seeking formal guidance on. Already, getting a REAP grant entails a competitive but complicated application process, particularly for farmers and rural businesses that may not have technical expertise or support. Adding additional parameters, particularly around foreign components, could add red tape to the application process. The new parameters set by the USDA are “largely killing the REAP program,” said Olsen of the Environmental Law and Policy Center. States Consider Community Solar As the federal policy on solar shifts, some states are increasingly exploring community solar programs that can include farms and rural businesses. Community solar arrays are often funded by private investments and subscriber payments. These are generally smaller, requiring about 50 acres, and usually capped at 5 MW of electrical capacity. So far, 19 states have community solar programs and are exploring agrivoltaics as a way of bringing on low-cost power quickly. This system allows residents and small businesses to get a credit on their electricity bill that could help offset costs. Farmers who implement these projects can also directly see benefits from lower-cost power or selling electricity. So far, 19 states have community solar programs and are exploring ways to enhance agrivoltaics, said Liz Perera, senior director of national programs and policy at Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA). These states are trying to bring on low-cost power quickly, and community solar is an economical way of doing this, she continued. “As the cost of power goes up and electricity on these farms goes up, there’s going to be a lot more interest in solar on these farms,” Perera said. “That’s their way of actually dealing with that increased cost.” With community solar projects, farmers can lease land to solar developers, earning dollars from lease payments while still harvesting crops on nearby fields, Perera said. These also bring economic benefits for the entire community. CCSA estimates that 750 mW of community solar nationwide could deliver $2.1 billion in economic impact and create over 14,000 local jobs, based on state-level studies. In Colorado, for example, the community solar program has brought $1.4 billion in private investment while creating jobs largely in rural communities, according to a CCSA report. Creating Opportunities for Agrivoltaic Meanwhile, the types of crops that can be grown in an agrivoltaic system are also expanding with further investment and research. Leafy greens, berries, root vegetables, legumes and more can all be grown under the arrays, Perera said. In September, American Farmland Trust (AFT) announced the Farmers Powering Communities partnership with Reactivate and Edelen Renewables Community Solar. The initiative aims to bring more community-scale solar projects to farmers and rural communities, which AFT believes will protect farmers and farmland while delivering energy savings to rural communities. These projects can also be a mix of agrivoltaics, rooftop solar, and arrays on the edge of farmland. The coalition aims to connect with partners across the country, but is currently focused on New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey, states that have already have community solar and agrivoltaic programs. Ethan Winter, director of the Smart Solar program at AFT, said these states are more land constrained. “You’re trying to create some opportunity for the next generation of producers, you’re trying to not accelerate farmland loss, and you’ve got some really ambitious energy targets that are going to continue despite the federal policy headwinds,” Winter said. For farmers, one of the key barriers to entering the community solar space is a lack of information about the process, said Joel Tatum, senior solar specialist at AFT. This partnership aims to give farmers the background and research to site projects responsibly. “You’re trying to create some opportunity for the next generation of producers, you’re trying to not accelerate farmland loss, and you’ve got some really ambitious energy targets that are going to continue despite the federal policy headwinds.” Still, agrivoltaics and incorporating community solar into farms is an emerging concept. Even as innovations, farmer interest, and public awareness of solar on farmland grow, consistent support from the federal or state level are necessary. Despite the lagging support at the federal level, many groups remain optimistic that community solar and agrivoltaics will persist. On September 16, community solar developer Lightstar Renewables officially launched its Plains Road Agrivoltaics project in Montgomery, New York. The solar project was tailored to fit within the existing operations at the DiMartino Farm, so hay planting and harvesting can continue around or under the panels. The project is expected to generate enough energy to power 466 homes annually. Previously, county bylaws had banned solar development on prime farmland. But developers and partners on the project were able to amend these bylaws with specific height restrictions and lot coverage, allowing for agrivoltaics, said Lucy Bullock-Sieger, chief strategy officer at Lightstar. This shift is happening in other parts of the country as well, as more examples of agrivoltaics show their benefit to farms and communities, she said. “Agrivoltaics is going to be even more important because the conversation over prime farmland is not going away,” she said. “We have this opportunity to make sure that people understand that agrivoltaics is a viable, commercial, and scalable option for farmers.” The post As Federal Support for On-Farm Solar Declines, Is Community Agrivoltaics the Future? appeared first on Civil Eats.

Agriculture

Business

Climate

This Pennsylvania settlement could set the standard for preventing tiny plastic pellet pollution

A company agreed to install technology to watch for the tiny plastic pellets.

When Heather Hulton VanTassel went looking for plastic pellets in the Ohio River in 2021, she was simply trying to establish a baseline level of contamination. A new plastics facility was being constructed nearby, and she wanted to be able to compare the prevalence of pellets — known as “nurdles” — before and after it went into operation. The “before” number would probably be low, she thought. What she and her co-workers found, however, exceeded her expectations. “We were really shocked at the numbers we were seeing,” she told Grist. VanTassel is the executive director of Three Rivers Waterkeeper, a nonprofit that protects the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers in southwestern Pennsylvania. As she and her team went about testing the river four years ago, hundreds of nurdles were coming up in each sample they pulled with their handheld trawls, a device about the size of a large shoebox. And the plastic pieces were tiny — even more so than the 5 millimeter nurdles she was used to. She had to add coffee filters to her catchment device to keep the particles from slipping through its sieves. VanTassel’s team kept following the pellets upstream, trawl after trawl, until they eventually reached the Ohio River’s confluence with Raccoon Creek, a popular area for swimming and fishing. That’s where they found the source. An industrial stormwater pipe was transporting pellets from a Styropek plastics facility and releasing them directly into the creek. The water testers could see them flowing out “all over the vegetation,” VanTassel said, and deposited in the soil just above the water line. That finding became the catalyst for a legal battle that has just reached its conclusion. Three Rivers Waterkeeper and the nonprofit PennEnvironment reached a landmark settlement agreement with Styropek earlier this month, following a lawsuit they filed against the company in 2023 over its contamination of the Ohio River watershed. The agreement, which also resolves a violation notice from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, requires Styropek to pay $2.6 million to remediate its plastic pollution, and to fund clean water projects across the state. But what makes the settlement effective, according to the plaintiffs, is not this initial penalty. It’s a requirement that Styropek must install technology to detect the release of any more plastic pellets from its facility in Monaca, Pennsylvania. If the technology finds even a single nurdle in the facility’s stormwater outfalls, the company will have to pay up. David Masur, PennEnvironment’s executive director, said the agreement should become “a model and a blueprint” for regulators and the plastics industry. “I think they’ll have a hard time saying rationally why they shouldn’t do it [monitor their nurdle pollution] after a case like this, where the regulators and the industry are saying, ‘We agree it’s possible.’” Nurdles are the precursors to plastic products. Manufacturers melt them down so they can be shaped into ink pens, disposable cups, or any number of other items. A water bottle, for context, is estimated to be made of about 1,000 nurdles. Styropek’s nurdles in Raccoon Creek were made of expandable polystyrene — a type of plastic that has been banned in many jurisdictions, due to its nonrecyclability and tendency to break into hazardous microplastics — destined to become things like packing peanuts, insulation for coolers, and foamy to-go containers. The company claims to be the largest expandable polystyrene producer “in the American continent.” Due to their tininess, ranging from the size of a pinhead to that of a nubbin on a Lego piece, nurdles are liable to escape into the environment. Spills often occur during transportation — these have been documented off the coasts of Sri Lanka, South Africa, Louisiana, and in many other places — but effluent from plastic production and processing facilities is also a significant pollution source. Once in the environment, nurdles and the fragments that break off them may get eaten by birds and marine animals, causing plastic to accumulate up the food chain as larger critters eat smaller ones. Plastic particles are associated with a range of health problems in both humans and other animals, including heart disease and immune system dysfunction, though it’s not yet clear whether these are due to the leaching of plastics’ inherent chemical additives or the tendency of other pollutants to glom onto plastic particles, or perhaps some other factor. What’s the connection between plastics and climate change?Plastics are made from fossil fuels and cause greenhouse gas emissions at every stage of their lifespan, including during the extraction of oil and gas, during processing at petrochemical refineries, and upon disposal — especially if they’re incinerated. If the plastics industry were a country, it would have the world’s fourth-largest climate footprint, based on data published last year by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Research suggests that plastics are responsible for about 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. But this is likely an underestimate due to significant data gaps: Most countries lack greenhouse gas information on their plastics use and disposal, and the data that is available tends to focus on plastic production and specific disposal methods. Scientists are beginning to explore other ways plastics may contribute to climate change. Research suggests that plastics release greenhouse gases when exposed to UV radiation, which means there could be a large, underappreciated amount of climate pollution emanating from existing plastic products and litter. Marine microplastics may also be inhibiting the ocean’s ability to store carbon. And plastic particles in the air and on the Earth’s surface could be trapping heat or reflecting it — more research is needed.Holly Kaufman, a senior fellow at the nonprofit World Resources Institute, said it’s obvious that plastics are using up more than their fair share of the carbon budget, the amount of carbon dioxide the world can emit without surpassing 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius (2.7 or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming. Plastics have “a major climate impact that has just not been incorporated anywhere,” she said — including the U.N.’s plastics treaty. In the U.S., companies that want to discharge wastewater or stormwater into public waterways have to get a special kind of permit from their state’s environmental protection agency, or the federal EPA. The permit describes the types and amounts of pollutants that are allowed to be released, and anything not included on this list may be considered a violation of the federal Clean Water Act. That formed the basis of PennEnvironment and Three Rivers Waterkeeper’s lawsuit: They argued that because Styropek’s permit didn’t say anything about nurdles, releasing them into Raccoon Creek was illegal. Part of the settlement agreement with Styropek, which is expected to be approved by the federal court for Western Pennsylvania, gives the company three years to eliminate nurdles from its stormwater outfalls, and up to two years to eliminate them from its wastewater outfalls. Should Styropek sell its facility to another company, those requirements will still apply — a crucial detail, since the company began winding down production at its Monaca facility earlier this year and reportedly plans to shut down completely in early 2026. While the facility idles, the consent decree only applies to its stormwater; the wastewater requirements will kick in if the facility resumes production. Styropek declined to be interviewed for this story and instead sent a statement noting that it is “firmly committed to upholding the highest standards of safety, health, environmental protection, quality, and sustainability.” There are many ways of cleaning up stormwater and wastewater, and Styropek has already begun trialing a number of technologies, including “turbidity curtains” to trap suspended plastic in its wastewater lagoons and an iron coagulant to aggregate smaller plastic particles into larger ones. But different technology is required to know whether those interventions are actually working. Styropek’s settlement requires it to install monitoring tools that can detect nurdles down to the individual particle, and the company will incur a fine for each inspection where one is detected. For stormwater discharge, fines will increase if more than 10 pellets are detected. Until recently, this technology didn’t exist, at least not at an industrial scale. But a similar settlement that an environmental group and private citizen reached six years ago with the Taiwanese company Formosa Plastics, whose Port Lavaca, Texas, facility was caught releasing tens of millions of nurdles into the Gulf of Mexico, set a helpful precedent. The settlement required the facility to install novel technology to its wastewater outflows, capable of detecting not only nurdles and other microplastics but also plastic powder. Aiza José-Sánchez, president of the company Aizaco Environmental Engineering, designed that technology. She declined to say whether she’s been approached about the Styropek settlement, but she told Grist she’s made significant updates to her equipment with an eye toward installing it at other plastics facilities. With Formosa, Aizaco’s monitoring system is installed above an underground wastewater pipeline roughly 2 miles away from the actual plastic production facility. This is so independent auditors can access it without having to enter the facility. Aizaco disinterred part of the underground pipe and connected it to a series of detectors, which could flag samples of water that might contain plastics. One of them sensed if the water was suspiciously turbid, or cloudy. Another used filters to catch particles above a certain size, and workers onsite were also keeping watch for signs of plastic contamination. Flagged samples would be tested using chromatography, a technique that separates dissolved substances out of a mixture, to confirm whether their pollutants really were plastic. Aizaco designed tools to detect nurdles in companies’ outflows. Courtesy of Aizaco An Aizaco employee holds a nurdle detected by the company’s technology. Courtesy of Aizaco The system works “100 percent of the time,” José-Sánchez said. Every inspection — meaning at least three times a week, per Formosa’s consent decree — has turned up plastic pollution, she told Grist. Her company’s testing has resulted in millions of dollars of fines for Formosa. Masur, with PennEnvironment, said the requirement of monitoring technology — supported by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection — was what made their settlement agreement such a “landmark,” more so than the $2.6 million penalty. He said he’s hoping to reinforce the precedent set in the Formosa case, which proved that it’s possible for plastic producers to set a goal of “no plastic discharges,” and then monitor their own facilities to see if they’re achieving it. “We wanted this to be the standard under the Clean Water Act,” said Matthew Dononhue, a senior attorney at the nonprofit National Environmental Law Center, who led the complaint against Styropek. Donohue and Masur said they couldn’t divulge whether other environmental groups were looking into their own lawsuits to demand continuous monitoring at plastics facilities. But they offered another potential path forward. Facilities with water pollution permits under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System have to renew their permits every five years — and when they do, the public gets a chance to give input. If enough people advocated for it, state environmental protection agencies or the federal EPA could revise facilities’ permits to include a monitoring requirement. “As the facilities in our state have their permits come up for a renewal, we should just be taking this and dropping it right in,” Masur said. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline This Pennsylvania settlement could set the standard for preventing tiny plastic pellet pollution on Sep 16, 2025.

Pollution

Technology

Chemicals

As data centers go up, North Carolina weighs how to handle energy demand

In small communities across North Carolina, data centers are already sparking conflict over land use, water use, and quality of life. Now, the debate over the facilities’ voracious need for electricity — and whether it can be met with clean sources — is heating up in the state capital of Raleigh. For months, North Carolina’s predominant utility, Duke Energy, has forecast ballooning demand from large customers like data centers: immense buildings that house the computing devices powering AI and other software that’s become part of everyday life. Early last year, Duke projected these “large loads” would need an additional 3.9 gigawatts of capacity, equal to about four nuclear power plants and enough to serve millions of households. By May of this year, the company’s prediction had swelled to almost 6 gigawatts. The eye-popping estimates helped lead regulators to approve Duke’s current plan to build a massive new fleet of gas plants, alongside some clean energy investments, despite a state law requiring the utility to decarbonize. The projections are certain to factor into the next iteration of Duke’s long-term blueprint, a draft of which is due in the coming weeks. The forecasts have “thrown everything out of whack,” said Nick Jimenez, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. That’s why his organization asked the state’s Utilities Commission to host a technical conference on large loads. Electricity-demand projections undergird virtually every Duke case before the panel. But at a technical conference, commissioners could grapple exclusively with the issues vexing energy experts across the country: How can data center demand be predicted with the most accuracy? Will the tech giants pay their fair share of grid upgrades and other costs? What will power the new facilities, and will it be carbon-free? In June, the Utilities Commission granted the law center’s request and then some by opening an entire proceeding to debate these questions. Stakeholders had the summer to submit written comments, with responses due from Duke early this month. In-person presentations are scheduled for Oct. 14. It’s not clear if the process will culminate in a discrete order from the commission, or simply inform the myriad other Duke cases before it. But Jimenez praised regulators for being proactive. “You need a proceeding to get your arms around some of these issues,” he said. “I think that’s really smart and forward-looking.” The data center boom In the race against other states to attract economic development, Duke and North Carolina officials keep confidential exactly which entities hope to draw power from the electric grid. And skeptics question whether all of the new facilities behind predictions of unprecedented demand growth will pan out. But there’s little doubt that data centers are on the rise, propelled by the AI explosion. Researchers say they could account for 44% of U.S. load growth by 2028, and there’s ample evidence that North Carolina is following the national trend. In June, Amazon Web Services announced a $10 billion, 800-acre computing campus in Richmond County, east of Charlotte, billed as the largest single capital project in North Carolina history. To the west of Charlotte, the development of a “data center corridor” is underway: Apple says its Catawba County site is included in its $500 billion U.S. expansion plans, and Microsoft envisions four new data centers nearby. Google is considering growing its facility in neighboring Caldwell County. Not all communities are welcoming data centers with open arms. The town council of tiny Tarboro, an hour east of Raleigh, just voted to reject a $6.4 billion facility. In Apex, southwest of the city, opposition is mounting to a proposed “digital campus” that would displace 190 acres of farmland. Still, early this month, Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat and former attorney general, issued an executive order creating an “AI Accelerator” and a council designed to make the state “a national leader in AI literacy, governance, and deployment to the benefit of our residents, communities, and economy.” Stein did note the technology’s downsides, including “the uncertainty around AI systems and their associated energy and water needs.” But his edict also reflects the seeming common wisdom of the moment: AI and its requisite facilities are multiplying and expanding, bringing economic opportunities that can outweigh their challenges. “We can come to the table” In the open docket before regulators, experts say that with the right policies in place, clean energy, efficiency, and related strategies can meet the moment. “We can come to the table,” said John Burns, general counsel for Carolinas Clean Energy Business Association, a trade group representing developers, manufacturers, and others in the clean energy industry. In their comments, Burns and others particularly promoted “load flexibility,” a form of demand response in which data centers curtail their electricity use when the grid is strained by lots of energy consumption. Load flexibility is feasible because data centers don’t run at maximum capacity 24/7, said Tyler Norris, former special adviser at the U.S. Department of Energy and a doctoral fellow at Duke University, which has no connection to the utility. “You never actually run the chips and the servers to 100% of their rated nameplate power,” he said. “You wouldn’t want to, because they overheat and they don’t perform as well when they’re running that hard.” Norris is the lead author of a February paper showing that Duke’s two utilities in the Carolinas could accommodate 4.1 gigawatts of load if data centers shave just 0.5% off their peak usage annually. In a simple example, the facilities could operate at half their maximum capacity for 88 hours over the course of a year. A load-flexibility arrangement between Duke Energy and data centers could, in theory, avert the construction of several gigawatts of new gas plant capacity and expensive and time-consuming transmission upgrades. Last month, Google announced demand-response agreements with the utilities Indiana Michigan Power and the Tennessee Valley Authority. In formal comments to the North Carolina Utilities Commission, Norris called the tech giant’s move the “first documented case where AI data center flexibility is explicitly integrated into U.S. utility planning.”

Energy

Land Use

Water

Sydney’s west on frontline for most extreme heat and biggest health risks – but inner city faces water threat

Western suburbs, where temperatures are often 5C warmer, need shaded bus stops, more green space and better environmental standards in rented homes, locals sayFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesFull Story: Rising sea levels and soaring heat deaths: will climate action match the risks?Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter hereBud Moses is all too aware of the longer, hotter summers impacting his community in Sydney’s west.As black summer bushfires raged on 4 January 2020, Penrith was sweltering in temperatures of 48.9C, making it the hottest place on the planet that day. It was just one of a growing number of above-40C days Moses has witnessed in recent years. Continue reading...

Bud Moses is all too aware of the longer, hotter summers impacting his community in Sydney’s west.As black summer bushfires raged on 4 January 2020, Penrith was sweltering in temperatures of 48.9C, making it the hottest place on the planet that day. It was just one of a growing number of above-40C days Moses has witnessed in recent years.“We’ve seen the heat get a lot worse – it’s one of the clear physical attributes of climate change that most people seem to understand,” Moses, the western Sydney organiser of the Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales, said.Landmark climate report shows 'every Australian has a lot at stake', minister says – video“People talk about what impacts them – and here, that’s heatwaves, flooding and bushfires,” he said of the locals he meets when running Tabiea, a joint Nature Conservation Council and Arab Council Australia climate change awareness campaign targeting western Sydney’s culturally diverse community.“It’s a lot for them to take physically and mentally.”It’s no surprise to him that Sydney’s west and south have emerged as “heat-health risk” hotspots in the federal government’s long-awaited national climate risk assessment. Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletterWarming across the Australian continent has already reached 1.5C, Monday’s report by the Australian Climate Service (ACS) noted. Under a 3C scenario, the number of heat-related deaths in Sydney increases by 444%.With heatwaves causing more deaths in Australia than all other extreme events combined, the report found Blacktown and the outer west are some of Sydney’s most exposed suburbs when considering the health risks associated with ever-hotter summers.Extreme heat may lead to higher rates of heat-related illness which in turn will put additional strain on emergency services and hospital infrastructure, according to the assessment.Moses said many in his community live in rented or social housing and do not have access to air conditioning – and those who do limit its use because of cost-of-living pressures. The area needed shaded bus stops, more green space and better environmental standards in rented homes, he said.“If you talk to doctors in relation to heat stress, all the forecasts are showing that it’s going to have an impact, especially on old and vulnerable people,” Moses said.A temperature rise of 3C would, he said, “be dire”.Dr Judith Landberg, head of the ACS, told a Senate committee on Tuesday the number of heat-related deaths in Sydney was currently between 80 and 117 annually.Heat-health risk index map of Sydney, provided by the Australian Climate ServiceThe Blacktown mayor, Brad Bunting, said the report confirmed the experiences of and research undertaken by his council.“Blacktown is on the frontline of extreme heat, and the national report shows how serious the risks are for our community,” he said in a statement.The council is part of the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils, which developed the 2021 Heat Smart Western Sydney plan to prepare for and respond to heatwaves. The Blue Mountains, Liverpool, Cumberland and Hawkesbury councils are also members.“Urban heat is not just an environmental challenge. It affects health, liveability and how we plan our city,” Bunting said.Heat-health risk is lowered by urban greening, according to the report, with the leafy, generally affluent suburbs of the northern beaches, north Sydney and Hornsby found to have lower heat-health risk. The city’s eastern suburbs have a moderate heat-health risk.Dr Milton Speer, a meteorologist and fellow with the University Technology Sydney, said his research comparing weather observations from 1962 to 2021 between Observatory Hill on Sydney harbour and Richmond revealed the west was often 5C warmer.In the west, one in 10 days exceeded 35.4C. On the coast, one in 10 days was above 30.4C. One in 20 days reached 37.8C or more in the west.Speer said western Sydney was further from sea breezes which can regulate the heat – “and the fact that there are fewer trees is very important”.skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Clear Air AustraliaAdam Morton brings you incisive analysis about the politics and impact of the climate crisisPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotion“Elderly people especially can suffer heat stress if exposed outside for long enough or at night if there’s no air con during heatwaves,” he said.Suburbs exposed to sea level riseAlongside rising temperatures, Sydney faces the threat of rising sea levels.Sea level rise, storm surges and extreme weather events make coastal cities particularly vulnerable given their extensive infrastructure, dense populations and economic significance, the report states.Suburbs with increased exposure to sea level rise include the inner-city suburbs of Darlinghurst, Haymarket, Millers Point, Double Bay and Darling Point, according to the assessment.Kogarah, in Sydney’s south, was also named – despite, like Darlinghurst, not being situated on the shoreline. Darlinghurst is generally about 50 metres above sea level, while Kogarah’s elevation is about 30 metres.Aerial view of flooding at North Narrabeen, on Sydney’s northern beaches, in April. Photograph: AAPIt is understood the report’s analysis included areas within 10km of the coastline and that the effects of sea level rise were not constrained to the coastline.The Australian National University emeritus professor and chair of the assessment’s expert advisory committee, Mark Howden, said its authors had taken a conservative approach which did not reflect current expert assessments of future sea level rise.In a 3C scenario, the sea level would rise 54cm, according to the report.A separate research paper had put sea level rise at a median point of 111cm within a range of 62cm-238cm in a high emissions scenario, he said.Saltwater intrusions into freshwater suppliesThe City of Sydney lord mayor, Clover Moore, said her council, which covers some of the country’s most densely populated postcodes, was doing its “best to ensure the city remains climate-resilient and adapts to additional extreme heat, drought, storms, flash flooding and rising sea levels” – but that heat was its priority.“We are most concerned about the impact of hotter days, for longer periods,” she said in a statement.“We are currently in the process of updating our floodplain management plans to prepare the city for sea level rise, while also advocating for state government guidance to be updated to reflect recent climate modelling.”She said addressing sea level rise was a bigger issue than any one council could address alone and should be led by state and federal governments.The assessment suggests the effect of Sydney’s rising sea level may be more widespread, with saltwater intrusions threatening freshwater supplies and water security across the city.A spokesperson for the Georges River council, which covers Kogarah, said in a statement the council was “committed to the current and future resilience” of the LGA and was actively planning for a climate-resilient future.They said the council would “consider the insights” in the report.

Climate

Health

Water

New Biomarker Could Detect Alzheimer’s Years Before Symptoms Appear

TSPO levels rise early in Alzheimer’s and persist throughout disease. Targeting this biomarker could open new treatment options. TSPO, a major marker of brain inflammation, may offer a way to detect Alzheimer’s disease long before memory problems and other symptoms develop. Findings published in Acta Neuropathologica suggest it could transform both diagnosis and treatment strategies. [...]

A new study suggests that TSPO, a key biomarker of brain inflammation, may reveal the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease long before symptoms appear. Credit: StockTSPO levels rise early in Alzheimer’s and persist throughout disease. Targeting this biomarker could open new treatment options. TSPO, a major marker of brain inflammation, may offer a way to detect Alzheimer’s disease long before memory problems and other symptoms develop. Findings published in Acta Neuropathologica suggest it could transform both diagnosis and treatment strategies. “This is the first study to really examine how early this biomarker increases and where it begins rising in the brain,” said Tomás R. Guilarte, lead researcher and dean of FIU’s Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work. “If we can use this information to help delay Alzheimer’s progression by even five years, it can drastically improve patients’ lives and reduce disease prevalence.” Longstanding research on TSPO Guilarte, a recognized authority on TSPO (translocator protein 18 kDa), has investigated the protein for more than 30 years. His research helped establish it as a dependable imaging marker for identifying neuroinflammation across multiple neurological, neurodegenerative, and psychiatric conditions. Researchers Daniel Martínez Pérez (L) and Dr. Tomás R. Guilarte (R) in the Brain, Behavior and the Environment Laboratory at Florida International University. Guilarte and Martínez Pérez published a study that found TSPO, a key biomarker of brain inflammation, could help detect Alzheimer’s disease years before memory loss and other symptoms set in. Credit: Chris Necuze, Florida International UniversityFor the current study, Guilarte and colleagues applied advanced imaging techniques to track TSPO activity in genetically engineered mouse models of familial Alzheimer’s. They then validated these results using donated brain tissue from members of the world’s largest community with early-onset familial Alzheimer’s, based in Antioquia, Colombia. These families carry the “paisa” mutation, first identified by the late Dr. Francisco Lopera, a co-author of the study who spent his career searching for ways to prevent Alzheimer’s. Individuals with this genetic variant often develop symptoms in their 30s or 40s and typically die in their 50s. L: The original cell image. R: The same cell image zoomed in and rendered in the special imaging software. Microglia (blue) signaling TSPO (red) are clustered around plaques (cyan). Researchers at Florida International University published a study that found TSPO, a key biomarker of brain inflammation, could help detect Alzheimer’s disease years before memory loss and other symptoms set in. Credit: Chris Necuze, Florida International UniversityEarly changes in the hippocampus In the mouse model, researchers detected elevated TSPO levels in the subiculum – a critical part of the hippocampus – as early as six weeks of age, roughly equivalent to age 18–20 in humans. Microglia, the brain’s main immune cells, specifically those clustered around amyloid plaques, had the highest levels of TSPO. Notably, female mice had higher TSPO levels, mirroring real-world statistics: two-thirds of Alzheimer’s patients are women. Daniel Martínez Pérez holds tissue sample. Martínez Pérez, a researcher in Florida International University’s Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work, is the first author of a study that found TSPO, a key biomarker of brain inflammation, could help detect Alzheimer’s disease years before memory loss and other symptoms set in. Credit: Chris Necuze, Florida International UniversityThe brain tissue samples from the Colombian patients with the paisa mutation showed the same pattern. Even in late-stage Alzheimer’s, TSPO remained high in microglia near plaques. These results raise new questions about TSPO’s function – whether it contributes to damage or protects the brain – and whether blocking or enhancing it could halt disease progression. Next steps in research The team is now working with a specially developed Alzheimer’s mouse model lacking TSPO to explore these questions further. They’re also expanding the study to include sporadic, late-onset Alzheimer’s cases, the form that accounts for over 90% of all diagnoses. Researchers Dr. Tomás R. Guilarte (L) and Daniel Martínez Pérez (R) in the Brain, Behavior and the Environment Laboratory at Florida International University. Guilarte and Martínez Pérez published a study that found TSPO, a key biomarker of brain inflammation, could help detect Alzheimer’s disease years before memory loss and other symptoms set in. Credit: Chris Necuze, Florida International University“The more we understand these processes,” said Daniel Martínez Pérez, first author and Ph.D. candidate in Guilarte’s lab, “the closer we get to tailoring treatments that can truly help – before it’s too late.” Reference: “Amyloid-β plaque-associated microglia drive TSPO upregulation in Alzheimer’s disease” by Daniel A. Martinez-Perez, Jennifer L. McGlothan, Alexander N. Rodichkin, Karam Abilmouna, Zoran Bursac, Francisco Lopera, Carlos Andres Villegas-Lanau and Tomás R. Guilarte, 17 July 2025, Acta Neuropathologica.DOI: 10.1007/s00401-025-02912-4 This work was supported by grants ES007062-24 to T.R.G. from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), ES007062-23S1 to T.R.G. from the National Institute on Aging, and T32-ES033955 to A.N.R. from the NIEHS. Never miss a breakthrough: Join the SciTechDaily newsletter.

Health

Science

Replacement Interstate 5 bridge inches towards construction

Oregon and Washington lawmakers were told Monday that final federal approval could be received early next year. Skeptics worry the $7.5 billion price tag will balloon.

A replacement for the Interstate 5 bridge across the Columbia River could get its final environmental and federal approvals early next year and move into construction shortly thereafter, planners told a joint committee of Oregon and Washington lawmakers on Monday.But questions remain about the overall cost of the project, toll rates, whether it will be a single span or a lift bridge, and whether the project will receive a final $1 billion in federal funding.The new bridge connecting Portland and Vancouver is officially expected to cost as much as $7.5 billion. But lawmakers from the two states pressed Greg Johnson, administrator of the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program, Monday whether that’s still a reliable estimate, given inflation that’s driving up the cost of major construction projects.Oregon lawmakers also said planners should have provided them an updated cost estimate before the special session on transportation that began Aug. 29 and is expected to conclude Wednesday.“It would be helpful if we could get that updated cost estimate as soon as possible,” said Sen. Khanh Pham, a Portland Democrat.Construction prices continue to rise.The replacement Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, for instance, was originally expected to cost $1.9 billion. It’s now expected to cost more than $5 billion.“We are seeing this type of inflationary spiral on major projects here in the Portland area as well as nationally,” Johnson said. “We are tracking what we are seeing all over. It is not a pretty picture.”As much as $1.6 billion of the replacement bridge’s cost will be paid for by tolling. As previously announced, tolls could range from $1.55 to $4.70, depending on several factors. They’re expected to start in the spring of 2027, a year later than first announced.Also unresolved is whether the center of the bridge will be able to lift to accommodate marine traffic. Coast Guard officials previously said a fixed bridge would be too low. If the Coast Guard ultimately requires a movable span, Johnson said, it will add an estimated $400 million to the project. He expects a decision from the Coast Guard early next year.The final $1 billion in federal funding for the new bridge also isn’t expected to be secured until 2028. During the public comment portion of the meeting, civic, business and construction groups mostly spoke in favor of the project, but critics continued to question the bridge’s cost.“A safe and modern bridge is an investment in Oregon and Washington’s future,” said Khanh Tran of the Oregon Chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors, calling the project a “generational” opportunity for disadvantaged businesses.“I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to watch infrastructure this critical in nature being put off and put off and put off,” said Dee Burch, a director of the Oregon Columbia Chapter of the Association of General Contractors, who noted a replacement interstate bridge in Minneapolis got built in just over a year, although it was a significantly smaller project that cost $234 million. But critics, including economist Joe Cortright, with the Portland policy think tank City Observatory, said lawmakers need to contend with escalating costs that he expects will be “squarely in the $10 billion range,” telling lawmakers that would mean Oregon and Washington will each need to come up with another $1 billion in funding.Cortright also questioned whether the traffic assumptions on which tolling estimates are based are inflated and whether it’s prudent to count on the final $1 billion in federal funding, given ongoing cuts to the federal budget.“Federal funding is very, very much in doubt,” Cortright said, later calling it “reckless to embark on this project” when all the funding isn’t secured.The group of lawmakers, formally known as the Joint Interim Committee on Interstate 5 Bridge, will meet again in December.If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Business

Nature

Transportation

Santa Monica's waves have turned a bright pink. How can the dye job improve water quality?

Monday's pink, fluorescent dye drop in Santa Monica Bay is part of a project to study how water circulation could be driving poor water quality.

Over the next two weeks, surfers and beachgoers in Santa Monica may spot waves that have a pink, fluorescent hue — but officials say not to worry.The luminous, pink color spreading across the Santa Monica Bay is from a temporary, nontoxic dye that researchers are using to study how ocean circulation might contribute to the bay’s poor water quality. The project kicked off Monday morning, as UCLA and Heal the Bay researchers discharged the first of four batches of the pink dye near the Santa Monica Pier. “By following where the dye goes, we will better understand how the breakwater changes the environment around it, providing insight into Santa Monica beach’s poor water quality,” Isabella Arzeno-Soltero, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at UCLA and a researcher on the project, said in a statement. Although the pink dye on Monday didn’t appear to create many “bright pink waves,” as researchers warned might be the case, additional bouts of the dye — or the fluorescent rhodamine water tracer dye — will be released later this month. But the fact that the dye seemed to dissipate quickly Monday didn’t mean the first phase won’t lead to important data, said Gabriela Carr, a researcher in the project and doctoral student at UCLA’s Samueli School of Engineering. “It was a big success today,” Carr said. “The dye is pink but it’s also fluorescent, so that’s kind of our main tracker.” A boat with “finely tuned fluorescent monitors” would remain in the bay for 24 hours, Carr said, and at least 10 additional trackers will remain attached to buoys through the end of the month, when additional dye drops will occur. The study is intended to help researchers understand how the man-made breakwater that was built in the 1930s in Santa Monica Bay, often visible during low tide, might hurt water circulation and, therefore, water quality. Santa Monica Pier routinely tops the yearly list of the state’s dirtiest beaches by environmental nonprofit Heal the Bay, which tests waters up and down the California coast for fecal bacteria, which can harm beachgoers. The break in the Santa Monica Bay was constructed to create a marina, but storms and time damaged it beyond effectiveness, though remnants of the rocky break still affect the water flow, researchers said.“It still substantially impacts the coastal hydrodynamics and surrounding environment,” Timu Gallien, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at UCLA and a lead researcher in the study, said in a statement. “For example, the breakwater protects the beach from large waves, keeping the beach wider than it would naturally be.”Santa Monica Mayor Lana Negrete watched the first deployment Monday morning and said she was hopeful this research could help her city finally get off the list of “beach bummers.” The city has partnered with the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and the Bay Foundation on the project. “We’re trying to see if the circulation of the water is so poor that that’s creating the concentrated pollution 100 yards north and south of the pier,” Negrete said. “We don’t want to keep ending up on the beach bummer list — it’s a bummer!”She said this is one of many projects to help researchers understand and combat water quality issues, including a relatively new advanced water treatment facility and a sand dune restoration project. “This is all working in tandem,” Negrete said. “The whole ecosystem is important.”The researchers did not include in their announcement what remedies might be recommended if the breakwaters are determined to be responsible for, or a factor in, the poor water quality. That would probably be a multifaceted decision involving city and environmental leaders. Although this is the first time the dye has been used in the Santa Monica Bay, UCLA researchers said the coloring has been used for many years in other waterways, explaining that it disperses naturally and poses no risk to people, animals or vegetation.Carr said there may be more pink visible next week when the team performs another surface-level drop of the dye, but probably not as much when they do two deep-water drops later this month. Still, the pinkifying of the bay might not be much of a spectacle despite signs that were plastered all around the Santa Monica Pier area that scream: “Why is the water pink?” Carr said the team wanted to be sure the public did not become alarmed if the pink color was spotted. The next surface-level dye deployment will occur sometime Sept. 22–24, and the last underwater deployment will be Sept. 30, Carr said.

Water

Animals

Pollution

Portland rolls out $100M tree expansion, relaunches contract with Friends of Trees

New tree planting and tree care programs will launch this year, with funding via the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund.

The city of Portland is launching a major expansion of its citywide tree planting and tree care efforts, including restarting its relationship with the well-known nonprofit Friends of Trees. The initiative, announced Monday by Portland Parks & Recreation’s Urban Forestry division, aims to plant a total of at least 15,000 trees over the next three years, more than doubling Portland’s annual plantings, which currently stand at about 3,500 per year. Over 6,700 trees are planned for planting this coming season. The effort will be funded via $40 million from the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund, the climate justice fund seeded by a 1% tax on large retailers in the city. Urban Forestry is also launching pilot projects for two other programs via $70 million from the climate fund, including a street tree maintenance program and another program to provide free yard tree care services to low-income households. Portland has experienced a canopy decline in recent years, likely due to housing development and extreme weather. City officials have identified an imbalance of tree cover across the city – a problem, given that trees are the first defense against heat waves and bad air quality. The plan calls for the city to pay for planting 660,000 trees over the next 40 years, particularly on the far east side of Portland where lower income and many people of color live.To expand its tree planting, Urban Forestry will partner with 12 contractors and 13 community-based organizations, including Friends of Trees, the venerable Portland-based nonprofit that for more than a decade had brought together hundreds of volunteers to plant roughly 40,000 street trees all over Portland. That ended in 2022 after 14 years when the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services abruptly ended its $5.8 million planting contract with Friends of Trees, prompting protests from many Portlanders. The move came as Urban Forestry said it was developing its own tree-planting program instead. But the city seems to have partly gone back to the community planting model. Urban Forestry has just announced a $1.8 million partnership with Friends of Trees for planting 750 new street and yard trees in Portland over the next two planting seasons. The money also will pay for three years of care and watering for each tree planted. As before, the new contract with Friends of Trees will include intensive community outreach and volunteer training, with the first community planting event scheduled for Dec. 6. The nonprofit’s outreach includes sending thousands of multilingual, returnable postcards to residents in priority neighborhoods, delivering door hangers and flyers with signup info, tabling at community events and disseminating information through its expansive network of volunteers and community partners. The group also spreads the word about planting by hosting events like bilingual tree walks and tree-themed bike rides. Friends of Trees’ executive director Yashar Vasef said past differences with the city have been resolved. The nonprofit and Urban Forestry have recently partnered on other tree planting efforts, including a $12 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded to a Portland-area coalition as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, he said. “We’re really excited,” Vasef said. “This is going to look like our traditional model, with community members planting trees together.” Residents can, once again, request a tree from Friends of Trees and the organization will gather volunteers and engage them in mass plantings in different areas of the city. People separately also can request street trees on the city’s website. They also can receive up to three free trees to plant in their yard – but must plant the trees themselves. In addition to Friends of Trees, the other tree-planting contractors are: Bridgetown Construction and Landscaping, Pac Green Landscape, Seagraves Landscape, SymbiOp, Wyeast Gardens, A Plus Tree, Andres Landscape, Cascadian Landscapers, SaveATree, Super Trees and Multnomah Landscape. Additionally, the 13 partner organizations will provide multilingual outreach to help connect diverse communities with free trees. Some will assist with registering community members to sign up for free trees at in-person events and others will post program information on social media, in newsletters and through other channels of communication with particular communities. The other two programs starting up now will focus on tree care, with initial rollout and pilot projects planned for this fall and winter. The $65 million from the Clean Energy Fund will pay for Urban Forestry to develop a program to care for Portland’s street trees that will shift responsibility for maintenance away from adjacent property owners. And another $5 million will allow low-income households to qualify for free yard tree care and arboriculture-related technical mentorship from professional tree care providers. — Gosia Wozniacka covers environmental justice, climate change, the clean energy transition and other environmental issues. Reach her at gwozniacka@oregonian.com or 971-421-3154.If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Energy

Agriculture

Forests

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How Birds Began Migrating to the Arctic to Breed

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Sydney’s west on frontline for most extreme heat and biggest health risks – but inner city faces water threat

New Biomarker Could Detect Alzheimer’s Years Before Symptoms Appear

Replacement Interstate 5 bridge inches towards construction

Santa Monica's waves have turned a bright pink. How can the dye job improve water quality?

Portland rolls out $100M tree expansion, relaunches contract with Friends of Trees

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This Rare, Endangered Orchid Only Exists in Two Locations. Can Dogs, Cows and Fungi Help It Thrive?

As Federal Support for On-Farm Solar Declines, Is Community Agrivoltaics the&nbsp;Future?

This Pennsylvania settlement could set the standard for preventing tiny plastic pellet pollution

As data centers go up, North Carolina weighs how to handle energy demand

Sydney’s west on frontline for most extreme heat and biggest health risks – but inner city faces water threat

New Biomarker Could Detect Alzheimer’s Years Before Symptoms Appear

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