HARRISBURG, Pa. – The federal mandate to add ethanol to fuel has led to a big increase in climate disrupting pollution, according to new research from the University of Wisconsin.

The Renewable Fuel Standard requires about 17 billion gallons of ethanol, derived mostly from corn, to be blended into gasoline every year.

Since 2007, that has led to the conversion of more than 7 million acres of grassland and forest to agricultural production.

According to Seth Spawn, one of the researchers at the University of Wisconsin, that conversion is releasing massive amounts of climate pollution into the air.

"We found that expansion caused emissions of almost 30 million metric tons of carbon per year,” he states. “That's roughly equivalent to emissions of 20 million cars."

While cropland expansion is most prevalent in Corn Belt states, the highest amounts of carbon emitted per acre are found in New England, along the Eastern Seaboard and the upper Great Lakes.

Tyler Lark, co-author of the study, says the conversions to cropland in the U.S. are similar to the clearing of tropical rain forest in Brazil.

However, he notes that the carbon released there is mostly from trees and is easier to recapture.

"The emissions we see here in the U.S. are primarily from soil carbon stores, which can take hundreds of years or more to replenish and may never be fully restored," he points out.

Cropland expansion under the ethanol mandate also has led to the loss of natural habitat for monarch butterflies, ground nesting birds and many other species of wildlife.

Collin O'Mara, president of the National Wildlife Federation, says the findings of the study send a clear message to lawmakers and the Environmental Protection Agency.

"We have to act with purpose and urgency to fix the ethanol mandate and to confront climate change to protect our health, our environment, our economy and wildlife,” he stresses. “We have solutions and it's absolutely time to use them."

O'Mara adds that delay will only make the problems worse and much more costly to solve.





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Washington's clean energy law could bring thousands of jobs and billions of dollars to the state, according to a new report. Greenline Insights' analysis of the Climate Commitment Act, the state's cap-and-invest law passed in 2021, finds it will create 45,000 jobs and generate more than $9 billion in economic output over the next five years.

Jonah Kurman-Faber, founder, Greenline Insights and report co-author, said says the law has outsized returns for local economies and gains for the state as well.

"These investments from the Climate Commitment Act support labor-intensive local industries. We're thinking things like construction, manufacturing, business operations, transportation," he said.

The law could be repealed if Initiative 2117 on the November ballot is approved. Opponents of the Climate Commitment Act call it a "sneaky tax" on consumers.

Kurman-Faber noted that 45,000 jobs and $9 billion of return for the law is actually on the low end of their estimates. The Climate Commitment Act is able to leverage money from sources like the federal government, and once this is factored in, the law could create 263,000 jobs and generate $50 billion over the next eight years. Kurman-Faber said states that get the most out of their money are the ones that use those investments to attract new sources to match funds.

"Think of things like federal dollars flowing in to provide grants or private industries investing in projects. The Climate Commitment Act is very good at attracting leverage," he continued.

The analysis finds jobs will be created in a wide range of sectors and that jobs created will pay, on average, 9% higher than the state median. Kurman-Faber said the new jobs will also have a high level of accessibility, too, since many will be open to people of any education level.

"With these jobs, there's not only a higher pay but also an easier route to career transition, or easier routes to opportunities for career transition for more residents in Washington," he continued.


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Oregon students are back in the classroom, but their classrooms might not be as energy efficient or climate resilient as they should be.

As the changing climate impacts the state, aging infrastructure in schools is driving up utility costs.

Juliette Poff, marketing specialist with Energy Trust of Oregon, said energy is the second-biggest cost to schools, after teacher salaries.

Poff is a former teacher and she said anything that can make the classroom more conducive to learning is a win.

"Things like lighting can look like more focus for students," said Poff. "Having energy efficient windows can help with air quality, heating and cooling can help with comfort, and all of these things are impactful to the humans that occupy these spaces."

Poff noted that schools are often strapped for resources when it comes to upgrading infrastructure.

Energy Trust of Oregon offers help on that end with expertise and cash incentives for schools.

Over the past two decades, the organization has distributed more than $38 million in incentives for energy efficiency projects like - installing new insulation and windows.

Liberty High School in Hillsboro benefited over the summer from a $2 million upgrade to its H-VAC system, with assistance from Energy Trust of Oregon and the Oregon Department of Energy.

Mia Hocking is the resource conservation manager for the Hillsboro School District and said the new system is much more efficient.

"The efficiency is anticipated to improve enough to save over $100,000 in the electric utility annually," said Hocking. "So, just that alone is incredible."

Poff said the model for upgrading schools in Oregon could be replicated in other states. She said one important element her organization provides is navigation on how to find funding.

"We also work with a number of partners like the Department of Energy," said Poff, "and often schools can combine funding from the state - bonds, as well funding from Energy Trust - and any opportunity to maximize that funding is amazing for schools."




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By Seth Millstein for Sentient.
Broadcast version by Eric Galatas for Colorado News Connection reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service Collaboration

In the 10,000 years since humans first developed animal agriculture, livestock farming has become central to modern society. Unfortunately, it's also become one of the biggest drivers of climate change and environmental destruction. Animal farms create a staggering amount of air, water and land pollution, and with the consequences of climate change worsening by the year, addressing the environmental impacts of livestock farming is more important than ever.

Global warming is an enormous part of climate change, but it's not the only part. The concept of climate change encompasses not only rising global temperatures, but all sorts of other changes to the natural composition of Earth and its atmosphere, such as water pollution and land degradation. Here are some of the ways livestock farming contributes to those changes.

But First, a Brief Summary of Greenhouse Gasses

One of the biggest ways livestock farming contributes to climate change is through the emission of greenhouse gasses, which trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere and cause global temperatures to rise. Insofar as livestock is concerned, there are three greenhouse gasses in particular of note.

• Carbon dioxide (CO2): The "main" greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide comprises around 80 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. CO2 exists naturally in the atmosphere and regularly circulates from the Earth to the air as part of the carbon cycle; however, the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities releases additional CO2, throwing off that cycle and increasing global temperatures. CO2 can stay in the atmosphere for hundreds of years.



• Methane (CH4): Methane only accounts for 11 percent of global greenhouse emissions, and unlike CO2, disappears after a relatively brief 12 years. However, it's much more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere: over a 100-year period, one pound of CH4 has 28 times the global warming potential as one pound of CO2.



• Nitrous oxide (N2O): Nitrous oxide only makes up six percent of greenhouse gas emissions, and exists naturally on Earth as part of the nitrogen cycle. It remains in the atmosphere for about 121 years on average after it's emitted, and its global warming potential is a whopping 265 times greater than that of CO2 over a 100-year period.

Because there are multiple greenhouse gasses with different warming potentials, greenhouse emissions are commonly converted to and measured in CO2-equivalents, or CO2-eq.


In various ways and to varying degrees, livestock farming emits all of the aforementioned greenhouse gasses. Here's how.


How Livestock Farming Creates Methane Emissions


Livestock are a significant source of methane emissions, thanks to a natural biological process called enteric fermentation. Cows, sheep, goats and other ruminant livestock have microbes in their digestive systems that decompose and ferment the food they eat, and methane is a byproduct of this fermentation process.


That methane is released into the atmosphere when the animals burp or fart, and it's also contained in their urine and manure. One cow can produce up to 264 pounds of methane every year, and it's estimated that in total, enteric fermentation from ruminant livestock is responsible for 30 percent of global anthropogenic methane emissions.


How Livestock Farming Leads to Pollution from Manure


Farm animals produce around 450 million tons of manure every year, and figuring out what to do with it is a major challenge for livestock farmers. Some farms store manure in large piles, landfills or lagoons - known as "settlement ponds" - while others simply dump it onto cropland and use it as untreated fertilizer.


All of these management methods result in the release of methane and nitrous oxide, which manure also contains. When manure is stored in an environment with insufficient oxygen, as is often the case with landfills and lagoons, it undergoes a process known as anaerobic decay, and releases nitrous oxide and methane into the air as a result. In addition, structural failures or extreme weather events often cause the manure in settlement ponds to leak into nearby soil and waterways.


When manure is used as fertilizer, it releases nitrogen into the soil. That's the point of fertilizer, as plants need a certain amount of nitrogen to grow. But when farms use this type of fertilization as a disposal method for excess manure, they often over-apply it to the crops in question, which causes the soil to absorb more nitrogen than is necessary.


You might wonder why it matters if soil contains too much nitrogen. There are two intertwined reasons: nutrient runoff and soil erosion.


Nutrient Runoff


Nutrient runoff occurs when rain, wind or other environmental forces disrupt soil and carry it into nearby waterways. When that soil has been fertilized with untreated manure, it pollutes the water in question, both with nitrogen and other toxins that are common in manure, like phosphorus. Nitrogen and phosphorus both stimulate algae growth, and excessive algae growth in a body of water leads to harmful algal blooms.


As their name implies, harmful algal blooms have a host of damaging environmental consequences. They release toxins that kill aquatic life and poison the drinking water, which can cause serious illness and even death in humans. Algal blooms reduce the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water, which aquatic life relies on, and prevent light from penetrating the water's surface, thus choking the life out of coral reefs and other aquatic plants that are crucial to Earth's ecosystems.


Soil Erosion


Nutrient runoff is exacerbated by another consequence of livestock farming: soil erosion. This is when topsoil particles become loosened and detached, which diminishes the quality of the soil and makes it much more susceptible to nutrient runoff.


A degree of soil erosion occurs naturally, but livestock farming greatly accelerates it in a few ways. One is overgrazing, which is when livestock graze on pastures for extended periods without the pastures being given time to recover. The hooves of cows, goats and other ruminant livestock can erode the soil as well, especially when many of them are grazing in one place.


In addition to making nutrient runoff more likely, eroded soil is less fertile and can support fewer forms of plant life. It is also worse at retaining water, which can increase the risk of drought.


Deforestation Due to Livestock Farming


It's impossible to assess the environmental impacts of livestock farming without also discussing deforestation - the practice of permanently clearing out trees from forested land and repurposing the land for other uses. Humans deforest around 10 million hectares of land every year, and 41 percent of tropical deforestation is carried out to make way for cattle pastures.


Deforestation is a monumentally damaging practice, and exacerbates all of the aforementioned impacts of livestock farming: greenhouse emissions, nutrient runoff and soil erosion.


Greenhouse Emissions Caused by Deforestation


When forested land is cut down, greenhouse emissions increase in two ways - one temporary, one permanent.


Trees absorb and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which makes them an indispensable resource for reducing global temperatures. When they're cut down, however, all of that carbon dioxide is released back into the air. What's more, the absence of trees in a previously forested area means that, for an indefinite period of time, any atmospheric carbon dioxide that would otherwise have been sequestered by the trees remains in the atmosphere instead.


The greenhouse gasses emitted during livestock-driven deforestation, combined with the gasses emitted by livestock farms themselves, account for 11-20 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. In the Amazon, which has traditionally been one of the world's largest sequesterers of carbon, so much land has been deforested that the rainforest is in danger of becoming a net emitter of carbon instead.


Soil Erosion and Nutrient Runoff Caused by Deforestation


In forested land, trees play an important role in protecting and preserving the soil. The canopy they provide protects the soil from the sun and rain, while the trees' roots help hold the soil in place.


Needless to say, clearing all of the trees in a forested area means that the soil doesn't get any of these benefits. As a result, the soil becomes eroded even before any livestock might step foot on it, which in turn increases the likelihood of nutrient runoff and water pollution.


The Bottom Line


The environmental impact of livestock farming can't be ignored. The sector's contribution to deforestation, habitat loss and pollution of all kinds significantly exacerbates climate change. Absent a significant reduction in global meat consumption, it will continue to present a formidable challenge to the long-term health of Earth and its many inhabitants.




Seth Millstein wrote this article for Sentient.


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