SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The federal mandate to blend corn ethanol into gasoline has contributed greatly to climate change, according to a new report.

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin looked at the conversion of wildlife habitat to cropland and found that disturbing the soil releases huge amounts of carbon - equivalent to emissions from 20 million additional cars on the road per year.

Collin O’Mara, study co-author and president and chief executive of the National Wildlife Federation, said turning pristine land into fields also harms insects, birds and other animals.

"In the years following enactment of the mandate in 2007, more than 7 million acres of wildlife habitat were plowed under,” O’Mara said. "This is grasslands, and wetlands and other habitat that threatens monarch butterflies, bees, ducks and other wildlife."

The report was presented Wednesday at the America's Grasslands Conference in Fort Worth, Texas. O'Mara said he'd like to see Congress reform the Renewable Fuel Standard - as the ethanol mandate is also known - by encouraging more sustainable fuels, funding restoration of cropland to wildlife habitat, and forbidding farmers from growing invasive plants as biofuels.

The report also found California's central valley loses 734 sq. kilometers (roughly 286 sq. miles) to conversion each year.

Report lead author Seth Spawn, with the Department of Geography at the University of Wisconsin, said in terms of impact on global warming, the conversion of cropland is roughly equivalent to the loss of acreage on the edge of the rain forest.

"For so long, we've heard about the importance of tropical rain forests as an important carbon reserve,” Spawn said. “And this research really emphasizes that now is the time to start also recognizing the importance of carbon reserves here at home and the impacts that we've been having on them."

Study co-author Tyler Lark said the carbon released from soil is harder to replace than carbon stored in trees.

"The difference is that those emissions in the tropics are primarily from trees, so it's easier to re-sequester that lost carbon,” Lark explained. "On the other hand, the emissions we see here in the U.S. are primarily from soil carbon stores which could take hundreds of years or more to replenish and may never be fully restored."

Lark suggested that the government require farms to map and track biofuel feed stock, to ensure that fewer acres of undisturbed lands are converted for crops.


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School buses are getting cleaner in Washington state after this year's legislative session.

Lawmakers in Olympia passed House Bill 1368, which will fund the purchase of zero emission school buses.

Rep. Tana Senn, D-Mercer Island, said the program is getting off the ground quickly.

"As we work towards that long-term goal of all new school buses being zero emission, we're kick-starting this year with $40 million in grants to school districts in overburdened communities," Senn explained.

Going forward, Senn noted school districts will have to purchase zero-emission vehicles once the total cost of ownership is equal to or lower than the cost of diesel vehicles. The state is leveraging the state's Climate Commitment Act resources to fund the transition of its 10,000 school buses.

Devin Denney, director of transportation for Highline Public Schools in King County, which already has electric school buses in its fleet, said he has driven the electric buses and talked about some of their benefits from a driver's perspective.

"You're not competing against that engine noise, the kids aren't competing against the engine noise," Denney observed. "It's a much quieter bus all the way around. The major advantage, of course, is that there's no tailpipe emissions with an electric bus, so our kids' health is better protected."

Senn emphasized health studies have shown there are negative health effects from diesel vehicles for kids, and it is easy to understand why.

"If you think about kids waiting to get on their bus in front of an elementary school and you have this line of buses idling, letting out diesel fumes right at the height of a little child, it becomes obvious that this is probably not the most healthy thing for our children," Senn added.


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Today, in honor of Earth Day, climate advocates are asking California lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom to rally around a plan to put a $15 billion bond measure on the November ballot.

If passed, the bond measure would fund a range of climate resiliency measures.

Sam Hodder, president and CEO of the Save the Redwoods League, said March was the tenth month in a row to break monthly heat records.

"I think Earth Day is a terrific opportunity for the broader public to recognize how nature is critical for resilience, for our quality of life, for our mental and physical health, and for our communities more broadly," Hodder outlined.

Two similar bills to put a bond measure on the ballot are under consideration in Sacramento, Assembly Bill 1567 and Senate Bill 867, but they have been stalled since last summer. The bond would finance many programs, including some to restore wetlands that guard against sea-level rise, and to remove dead wood in forests to guard against mega-fires, which Hodder noted have killed 20% of the giant sequoias in recent years.

Opponents pointed out the state already faces a budget deficit and cannot afford to take on more debt. But only 5% of California's old-growth coastal redwoods remain, mostly due to aggressive logging many decades ago.

Hodder argued the giant trees can be critical ingredients in the fight against climate change because they trap so much carbon.

"Redwood forests sequester more carbon per acre than any other forest system in the world," Hodder emphasized. "We have the opportunity to transition the redwood forest from something that is vulnerable to climate change to something that is helping to solve and address the climate crisis."

Experts blame climate change for California's wild weather over the past few years, which has been marked by extreme drought, devastating fires and flooding rain.

A new report from the National Wildlife Federation warns that the effects of climate change in the Quad Cities, along the Iowa-Illinois border, will be severe.

But researchers got the public involved in studying to find ways to head off some of the most pressing concerns.

The report says climate change means a warmer, wetter future for the Quad Cities, which straddle the Mississippi River in Iowa and Illinois.

But rather than repeat what experts have already been saying about drastic flooding along the Big Muddy, Prairie Rivers Network River Health and Resiliency Organizer Nina Struss said researchers and Quad Cities residents brainstormed solutions to tackle the effects of climate change.

"Flooding and flash flooding were the top concerns," said Struss. "Extreme heat was also a big concern, as well as drought and other extreme weather events."

Researchers combined that information with hard science at the University of Illinois to create 3D models depicting what climate-induced flooding along the Mississippi could look like in the future.

The survey also asked people to identify which geographical areas and populations are most at risk from the effects of climate change, and worked with the community on solutions to mitigate some of them.

Struss said this research proposes what are known as nature-based solutions to combat the effects of climate change - restoring, preserving and even expanding existing ecosystems, like wetlands and tree canopies. But creating more eco-friendly infrastructure, too.

"Can we work to maybe have our pavements that we're putting in be more permeable, so that they can absorb that water and have that higher water-holding capacity?" said Struss. "Can we focus on areas to plant more native plants that have stronger root systems, versus ones that have shorter root systems, to help with that water-holding capacity?"

Struss said this research isn't a one-off. It will continue to change, she said, as the climate changes, the needs become more clear, and the effects more drastic.

She said progress in addressing climate change relies on more research, education and funding.




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