Covering poop lagoons with a tarp could cut 80% of methane emissions from dairy farms

LIVE SCIENCE - Dairy farms produce huge amounts of potent greenhouse gases. But now, scientists say these farms can slash their methane emissions by covering cow-poop ponds with a giant tarp. Scientists recorded an 80% reduction in the methane emissions of a dairy farm in California after its owners installed a "digester" — a system...
By Sascha Pare | Live Science |

Dairy Farm Captures and Cleans Over 80 Percent of Methane Emissions

DISCOVER MAGAZINE - Methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas, capable of trapping more than 80 times as much heat as carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Indeed, it is thought that between 20 and 30 percent of global warming since 1750 can be pinned on methane emissions alone, and agriculture is one of the...
By Rosie McCall | Discover Magazine |

Dairy farms can join the climate fight by trapping methane

EARTH.COM - A year-long experiment on a Central Valley dairy farm has confirmed that sealing manure lagoons under gas-tight tarps can trap roughly 80 percent of the methane they would otherwise release. By capturing the gas and sending it to fuel markets, the system turns a potent climate threat into a usable resource. Led by...
By Andrei Ionescu | Earth.com |

California dairy digesters slash methane emissions by 80% in major agriculture trial

INTERESTING ENGINEERING - Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that is over 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide when trapping heat over a 20-year period. It accelerates global warming much faster than CO2. In California, dairy farms are among the largest sources of methane, especially through how they handle manure. A new study from the...
By Aamir Khollam | Interesting Engineering |

Report details the widespread impacts of dust on California

SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY - Researchers from several University of California campuses have collaborated to create a report on dust in California, a characteristic that defines the desert climate zone that encompasses most of the state. The regions where dust storms occur encompass an area greater than 55,000 square miles and are home to nearly...
By Robert Monroe | Scripps Institution of Oceanography |
SoCal Conference on Ecological Change

UCR hosts inaugural Southern California Conference on Ecological Change

The UC Riverside departments of Evolution, Ecology & Organismal Biology, Botany and Plant Sciences, and Environmental Sciences hosted the inaugural Southern California Conference on Ecological Change on February 14. The inaugural event was organized in response to the effects of warming climate, larger and more frequent fires, urbanization and land development, and invasive species on...

New interdisciplinary research highlights wildfire impacts on water and ecosystems in arid regions

ASU NEWS - As wildfires increasingly threaten arid regions, a new conceptual framework developed by a team of researchers offers a fresh perspective on the relationship between fire, water quality and ecosystem recovery. Led by Tamara Harms , ASU School of Life Sciences alumna and associate professor at the University of California, Riverside, a collaborative...
By Gabriela Harrod | ASU News |

How scientists rushed to make L.A.’s actual air quality available on your phone

FAST COMPANY - As fires burned tens of thousands of acres across Los Angeles County, officials were warning residents that the air was a “toxic soup” of pollution—fueled by the fact that not only vegetation but cars, buildings, homes, and all the plastics and electronics inside them were going up in flames. But to some...
By Kristin Toussaint | Fast Company |

Yep, you’re probably breathing in plastic chemicals, study finds

LAIST - Chances are you’re inhaling the toxic chemicals used to make plastics more flexible, according to a new study by UC Riverside and Duke researchers. Plasticizers are used in a variety of everyday products like lunch boxes, shower curtains, and garden hoses. The chemicals in this study — known as phthalates — have been...
By Elly Yu | LAist |

Researchers Shocked at Daily Level of Plasticizers in California's Air

SCIENCE ALERT - We live in a world where it is virtually impossible to escape plastics and their associated chemicals. New evidence suggests that in southern California, the average urban resident's exposure to plasticizers – the substances used to soften plastics and make them more flexible – is "through the roof". "No matter who you...
By Carly Cassella | Science Alert |
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