Air Date: December 13, 2024

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LNG Carbon Bomb


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The carbon footprint of U.S. liquefied natural gas, or LNG exports is 33% higher than for coal, according to research from Cornell University. Author Robert Howarth is a professor of ecology and environmental biology at Cornell and joins Host Paloma Beltran to explain why LNG is so carbon intensive and discuss the climate risks of a planned expansion of U.S. LNG exports. (08:49)

Clean, Green Swedish Steel


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Steel production accounts for 10% of all carbon dioxide emissions worldwide, in part because it’s typically made with coal. But in Sweden, there are alternatives that can cut steel’s carbon impact down to almost nothing. Reid Frazier of the Allegheny Front reports. (05:58)

Pope and Postal EVs


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The newest Popemobile for the Holy Father is an all-electric Mercedes-Benz, and most of the new U.S. Postal Service trucks are EVs, too. Jim Motavalli writes about green transportation for Autoweek and Barron’s and talks with Living on Earth’s Aynsley O’Neill about the shift to EVs by the Vatican, Post Offices, and everyday consumers. (10:20)

BirdNote®: Bright Yellow Northern Cardinals / Ariana Remmel


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: Cardinals are known for their bright scarlet plumage but turns out some cardinals have yellow feathers instead of the classic red. BirdNote®’s Ariana Remmel explains why. (02:10)

Sacred Indian River Polluted


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India’s Yamuna River is considered sacred by some devout Hindus, who bathe in the river to cleanse their sins. But around New Delhi it has become polluted with raw sewage and a thick off-white foam linked to laundry detergents. Susmita Sengupta of the Centre for Science and Environment joins Host Jenni Doering to talk about the causes and possible solutions to this ongoing river pollution crisis. (08:35)

The Wooden Sword / A Story of Peace


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Storyteller Noa Baum collects traditional tales from all over the world and creates original stories. Rooted in Afghan-Jewish traditions, “The Wooden Sword” shows us how faith can help us find happiness, even when we are faced with adversity. (10:51)

Show Credits and Funders

Show Transcript

241213 Transcript

HOSTS: Paloma Beltran, Jenni Doering

GUESTS: Noa Baum, Robert Howarth, Jim Motavalli, Susmita Sengupta

REPORTERS: Reid Frazier, Aynsley O’Neill, Ariana Remmel

[THEME]

DOERING: From PRX – this is Living On Earth.

[THEME]

DOERING: I’m Jenni Doering

BELTRAN: And I’m Paloma Beltran. A study examines the climate toll of liquified natural gas or LNG.

HOWARTH: Natural gas is mostly methane. You can't develop and use that without having some of it emitted unburned to the atmosphere. And small amounts, you know, a couple of percent, of the fuel emitted unburned to the atmosphere, add hugely to the greenhouse gas consequences.

DOERING: Also, gifts sent by US mail this holiday season could be delivered in a brand-new EV.

MOTAVALLI: The duty of delivering mail is perfect for electric vehicles, because it's a lot of stop and go, and that allows you to use regenerative braking, and your range would be pretty good. For EVs this is the perfect use case, actually.

DOERING: That and more this week on Living on Earth—stick around!

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[NEWSBREAK MUSIC: Boards Of Canada “Zoetrope” from “In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country” (Warp Records 2000)]

[THEME]

LNG Carbon Bomb

DOERING: From PRX and the Jennifer and Ted Stanley Studios at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, this is Living on Earth. I’m Jenni Doering

BELTRAN: And I’m Paloma Beltran.

[SOUND OF GAS STOVE IGNITING]

BELTRAN: When you fire up your gas range to cook dinner, the natural gas that’s delivered through pipes to your stove is, well, a gas. But more and more of the natural gas the US produces is destined for overseas, so it can’t just travel as gas through pipelines. Instead, it’s compressed into LNG, or “liquified natural gas,” so it can be loaded onto tankers and shipped across the ocean. And because of its high carbon footprint, LNG has become one of the most intensely debated energy issues. After facing pressure from climate activists, in early 2024 the Biden administration put a temporary pause on the permitting of new liquefied natural gas export facilities. That decision was swiftly challenged in court by a coalition of Republican-led states and has been in litigation for months.

Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on increasing oil and gas drilling as well as approving export permits for new liquefied natural gas projects. And according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, LNG exports from North America are on track to more than double in the next four years. This expansion could be disastrous for the climate, according to a recent paper out of Cornell University that found the carbon footprint of U.S. LNG exports is 33% higher than for coal. Author Robert Howarth is a professor of ecology and environmental biology at Cornell and he joins me now. Robert, welcome to Living on Earth!

HOWARTH: Thank you. It's wonderful to be with you today.

BELTRAN: So Robert, your study looked at the carbon footprint of liquefied natural gas. What did it find?

HOWARTH: I looked at how liquefied natural gas exported from the United States compares in terms of natural gas used in the United States and also with other fossil fuels that could be used in destination countries in terms of their greenhouse gas consequences, and the conclusion is that the greenhouse gas footprint of liquefied natural gas is probably the worst of any fossil fuel. It's certainly worse than natural gas used domestically. It's also worse than that of coal in most countries.

BELTRAN: So how is liquefied natural gas produced and transported? What does the process look like?

HOWARTH: It's a heavily, heavily industrialized process with large amounts of carbon dioxide emissions, but also large amount of methane emissions. LNG is natural gas. It's shale gas, mostly from the United States. That is methane, and methane is an incredibly potent greenhouse gas. It's more than 100 times more powerful than carbon dioxide for the time it's in the atmosphere. So small emissions of methane as we produce the shale gas and as we liquefy LNG and as it's burned by the tankers, those add up to significantly increase the greenhouse gas footprint over what you'd have just for carbon dioxide.

BELTRAN: So natural gas is often seen as a bridge fuel, but your study found that liquefied natural gas has a huge carbon footprint. Why is that?

HOWARTH: Let's go back and look at the concept of whether natural gas is a bridge fuel at all. That idea originated 25 years ago. It really came out of the marketing folks, public relations folks in big oil and gas. And there's an element of truth in it. If you compare the carbon dioxide emissions when you burn coal compared with the carbon dioxide emissions when you burn natural gas, to get the same amount of energy. But that's only part of the story, because, again, natural gas is mostly methane. You can't develop and use that without having some of it emitted unburned to the atmosphere, and small amounts, a couple of percent of the fuel emitted, unburned to the atmosphere, add hugely to the greenhouse gas consequences. So in fact, the best evidence is that the greenhouse gas footprint of natural gas and coal are about the same. So this whole idea that natural gas is a bridge fuel really has been debunked by the scientific literature 10 to 15 years ago, and the only reason we're still talking about it is that great marketing ploy for oil and gas.

The effects of Donald Trump last time around on EU purchases of US liquified natural gas. (Source: European Commission) pic.twitter.com/bCvZg6JeDZ

— Helen Thompson POLIS (@HelenHet20) November 15, 2024

BELTRAN: And we're talking about major methane emissions from liquefied natural gas. How much is that costing the US when it comes to its decarbonization goals?

HOWARTH: Before 2016 it was illegal to export LNG. Industry lobbied hard to change the rules on there and allow us to export. We are, by now, by far the largest exporter of LNG in the world, and about a quarter of all LNG movements in the world are coming from the United States. Has a large, large footprint the methane emissions associated that are substantial reason that methane is increasing in the atmosphere globally, and that is adding substantially to the climate crisis that we find ourselves in, sort of flies in the face of what we say in terms of our climate goals for us to become such a large petrol and gas exporter.

BELTRAN: You mentioned that there's been a huge expansion of liquefied natural gas, a liquefied natural gas export in the United States. What are some of the areas where these projects are located in, and what impact have they had on surrounding communities?

HOWARTH: Almost all of the increase in LNG exports in the United States have come from our Gulf coast, from ports in Louisiana and Texas. The communities there are feeling it. These are large industrial plants. They have large local pollution sources. There are large ships coming in to be filled and taken away, and there are missions associated with those ships as well. So if you talk to the local people who live in this area, they are not fans at all this technology. They really want it to stop. If you look at where the gas that's coming from, it's almost all shale gas, and it's largely coming from the Permian Basin in Texas, somewhat in New Mexico and similar basins in Louisiana and other parts of Texas, and locally in those gas fields too. This is a incredibly energy intensive industrial process with large local emissions, which local people feel.

BELTRAN: What sort of health issues do local communities usually experience if they're next to an LNG project?

HOWARTH: Studies show if you live nearby to one of these drilling rigs, you have a significantly lower life expectancy, and you are more likely to suffer a variety of diseases. Other hydrocarbons, which are admitted to the atmosphere, unburned things like benzene, toluene, these are carcinogens. They're mutagens. They cause birth defects, they cause cancer, and again, when you burn it, you're producing nitrogen oxides are a big problem. Sulfur oxides, and these are huge health irritants. They aggravate lung disease. Diseases. They aggravate asthma, they aggravate cardiac diseases. So there's a significant impact on the local community near these LNG facilities, and again, in the drilling facilities.

BELTRAN: And Professor, what would you say to someone who says that LNG is essential for the energy transition?

HOWARTH: For anyone to say that LNG is essential to an energy transition is speaking nonsense, quite frankly. Let me be completely blunt. We need to be moving away from fossil fuels. And the way to move away from fossil fuels is to base our electricity on renewable sources, wind, solar, hydro, with appropriate storage. And battery storage and thermal storage are becoming far more effective and far cheaper every single day. They're being massively employed. It's already cheaper in most countries to generate new electricity with solar or wind than it is with new natural gas. So the future is not with natural gas in any case, but LNG is just a expensive, energy, intensive, polluting way of moving gas across oceans. It's not the way forward for any sensible energy plan. The argument I have heard is that, well, we need to do it to help our friends in Europe because of the crisis of the Russian attack on Ukraine, and for sure, that was a big disruption in their use of natural gas and LNG exports from the US did help on a short term basis for them to get through that first winter or two, but Europe has been moving very rapidly away from natural gas. They have no growing demand for our natural gas. Their gas demand is decreasing. Their energy production, electric production, is overwhelmingly moving to renewable sources, and they have deployed heat pumps at an unprecedented level, so that their use of natural gas in heating has dropped precipitously over the last two years, they've set a model for how the whole world can move towards decarbonization that we should all pay attention to and follow, and trying to dump more LNG on them as counterproductive to what we need and what they are doing.

BELTRAN: Robert Howarth is Professor of Ecology and Environmental Biology at Cornell University. Thanks for joining us.

HOWARTH: Been great to be here. Thank you.

Related links:
- Read the paper titled “The greenhouse gas footprint of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exported from the United States” by Cornell Prof. Robert Howarth
- The Guardian | “Exported Gas Produces Far Worse Emissions Than Coal, Major Study Finds”
- The Energy Mix | “U.S. LNG Exports Carry 33% Higher Climate Impact Than Coal, Howarth Paper Concludes.”
- Reuters | “Exclusive: Trump Prepares Wide-Ranging Energy Plan to Boost Gas Exports, Oil Drilling, Sources Say”

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[MUSIC: The Meters, “Fire on the Bayou” on Fire on the Bayou, by Art Neville, Cyril Neville, George Porter Jr. Joseph Modeliste, Leo Nocentelli, Rhino/Warner records 1975]

Clean, Green Swedish Steel

DOERING: Steel is a modern-day necessity–and a huge climate problem. It goes into everything from washing machines to buildings. And making steel accounts for 10% of all carbon dioxide emissions worldwide. But in Sweden, some companies have found a way to cut steel’s carbon footprint down to almost nothing. Reid Frazier of the Allegheny Front went there to see this transition firsthand.

FRAZIER: On a bright October afternoon, Anne Graf hops into the back seat of a Toyota pick-up truck.

GRAF: So what are we doing? We're putting our seatbelts on, and we're driving out onto the site.

FRAZIER: Graf is with the Swedish company Stegra. She’s showing me the company’s big construction site here near Boden, Sweden, just below the Arctic circle.

GRAF: The world's first large scale green steel production facility.

FRAZIER: The 600-acre site is surrounded by forest. It’s a nearly $7 billion project. Graf says the fossil-free steel made here will be the same as what’s produced at traditional mills.

GRAF: it will become cars, trucks, construction materials. It will become dishwashers and fridges and freezers. And I think steel, it's all around us in our everyday. Once you start thinking about how much steel you see or use in a day, you'll be surprised.

FRAZIER: Basically, all the stuff that makes modern life possible will be made here. But the way most steel is made now, all that stuff comes with a heavy climate price. Steelmakers have been using the same basic recipe for hundreds of years–they heat up iron ore in a blast furnace with a refined coal known as coke. Carbon from the coal reacts with oxygen in the iron ore, creating lots of carbon dioxide - or C-O-2. But instead of coal, Stegra will use hydrogen, a common industrial gas. This way, the biggest byproduct is hydrogen plus oxygen–H-2-O.

GRAF: In a very concrete way we are physically going to remove CO2 emissions by providing better steel.

FRAZIER: And by better, she means cleaner. Scientists have known hydrogen could be used to make steel for decades. But it’s hard to work with, and more expensive than coal. Plus, most hydrogen today comes from fossil fuels– in a process that leads to a lot of carbon pollution. Stegra will produce its hydrogen out of water, using renewable energy, significantly cutting its CO2 footprint.

GRAF: What you're doing is essentially replacing a coal mine with a facility that uses electricity and water.

FRAZIER: Other steel companies in Sweden are also starting to work with hydrogen. The steelmaker Ovako recently converted some of its furnaces from natural gas to hydrogen.

PERSSON: It was very hard. (laughs)

FRAZIER: Mikael Persson of Ovako managed the project.

PERSSON: I've never done this. We have – nobody has done this. So we we went into it with a blindfolded.

FRAZIER: His team spent four years building a hydrogen plant inside an old steel mill. Persson leads me inside.

PERSSON: Yeah. This is the plant.

FRAZIER: Persson leads me into a large white room. Inside are eight cylindrical tanks –picture huge double-A batteries larger than a tractor trailer – each laid on their sides. An electric current courses through each tank, separating water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen.

PERSSON: The current is really, really, really high. So, so the power needed as a, as a, as a maximum is for the whole plant is what we call 20 megawatt.

FRAZIER: That’s a lot of juice – enough to power 10-thousand homes in the US. The company can use this much electricity with very little climate impact. That’s because Sweden’s electric grid is almost entirely carbon-free. The country relies mostly on hydro-electric and nuclear plants–not fossil fuels. But what’s really driving this investment in green steel now? Money. In Europe, it’s about to get much more expensive to make steel the old fashioned way. Max Åhman is a professor at Lund University in Sweden.

ÅHMAN: The EU system for putting a price on carbon has actually started to work.

FRAZIER: The European Union has a carbon trading system that taxes companies for emitting greenhouse gases. It’s set to impose a larger penalty on traditional steelmakers in the next decade.

ÅHMAN: With that price on CO2, then suddenly actually green steel from hydrogen is more or less competitive.

FRAZIER: Car makers like Volvo and BMW have lined up to buy green steel in Sweden to meet their own climate goals. Lars Nilsson, also of Lund University, says this outcome seemed a longshot a decade ago. That's when he started working on a project with another Swedish company, on a hydrogen pilot project completed in 2021.

NILSSON: I remember other big steel companies sort of laughing about it. You know, this is just fairy tales, but I think it's quite real. It’s, you can discuss technology readiness but it’s not a giant technological leap.

FRAZIER: And dozens of similar projects are in the works around the world. Nilsson says Sweden is proving green steel is possible. But to make it work elsewhere, the industry needs lots of affordable clean energy. And policies–like a carbon tax–that will help it compete with traditional steel. For Living on Earth, I’m Reid Frazier in Boden, Sweden.

DOERING: Reid’s reporting was made possible by the MIT Environmental Solutions Journalism Fellowship.

Related links:
- Read and listen to the story on Allegheny Front
- Read more about Stegra (formerly H2 Green Steel)
- Read more from Allegheny Front 's Energy Reporter Reid Frazier

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[MUSIC: Väsen, “Harpleken” on Melliken, by Olov Johansson, Olov Johansson Musik 2023]

BELTRAN: Just ahead, the US Postal Service goes electric. Keep listening to Living on Earth.

ANNOUNCER: Support for Living on Earth comes from Sailors for the Sea and Oceana. Helping boaters race clean, sail green and protect the seas they love. More information @sailorsforthesea.org.

[CUTAWAY MUSIC: Philip Boulding, “Celestial Winds/To the Nereid” on Musings-Celtic Harp Originals, by Philip Boulding, Philip Boulding Music]

Pope and Postal EVs

DOERING: It’s Living on Earth, I’m Jenni Doering

BELTRAN: And I’m Paloma Beltran. As Catholics around the world turn their eyes to the Vatican before the celebration of the 2025 Jubilee begins on December 24 of this year, they’ll see Pope Francis in a brand new electric Popemobile. The one-of-a-kind Mercedes-Benz will eventually be joined by many other EVs, as the Vatican plans to make all its vehicles emission-free by 2030. This is a logical next step after Pope Francis’ climate change encyclical Laudato Si’, published in 2015, and his follow up Laudate Deum, both of which have made a theological case for climate action.

But the Vatican isn’t alone in going electric with its new fleet. The United States Postal Service began the roll out of new mail delivery vehicles earlier this year, most of which are electric. These cars replace the aging USPS fleet whose design dates back to the 80s, and are drawing attention for their driver-friendly features like air conditioning, safety improvements, and ergonomic seating - but also for their unusual design. With a tall roof and relatively flat hood, the new vehicles look remarkably similar to a duck’s head. To talk more about these EVs and what they might mean for the industry, Living on Earth’s Aynsley O’Neill called up our car expert, Jim Motavalli, who writes about green transportation for Autoweek and Barrons’.

O'NEILL: So our news peg for this story is that the Vatican has this new electric popemobile. And I'll be entirely honest, Jim, we partially just wanted to do this so that we could say popemobile a bunch. What is your perspective on the Vatican taking a step like this towards sustainability?

MOTAVALLI: Well, I believe they've said they want all the Vatican fleet to be electric by 2030, I think was the date. Yeah, it's a very good step they would take. And of course, it's in the air in Europe, because all of Europe is going to be banning internal combustion, basically, by 2035 and now in England, they're talking about doing it by 2030. You know, the Pope would pretty much have to be driving an electric car pretty soon, but I think there's been some consideration under the current pope of not driving a really ostentatious vehicle. Or so... This one is a Mercedes Benz. Probably cost millions to make, so...

O'NEILL: And we are talking about Europe, but there's a little bit of this going on in the US too. We are also looking at these Postal Service duck cars, and for our listeners, they're called that because they have a sort of a tall head and flat bill, like a duck. And the Postal Service is rolling them out and some big percentage of them are EVs, with all of them eventually going to be EVs by, I think they said 2026. What do you think of the design on those, Jim, and also that move from the US Postal Service?

The new popemobile is also Mercedes-Benz's first fully electric vehicle.https://t.co/h8dvOb2u9V

— RNS (@RNS) December 8, 2024

MOTAVALLI: Well, this has been a long time coming. The contract to build these Pope... We almost called it a popemobile there... They look kind of like Popemobiles, actually. The award to build these postal service vehicles has been in process for more than 10 years, and the vehicles are very ungainly looking. Undoubtedly, they are not handsome vehicles, but what makes them not attractive is the very big windows, and that is being met very well by the postal drivers. They like them. They think they're really fun to drive, they like the EVS. They're quiet, and they're replacing some really outdated jeeps and other vehicles. So they're very happy with them so far from what I understand. There was a lot of debate over what percentage of the vehicles would be electric, and some of the contenders for the contract would have built all EVs, but currently it's going to be a certain number, and it seems to be fluctuating how many of them will be EVs. But actually, the duty of delivering mail is perfect for electric vehicles, because it's a lot of stop and go, and that allows you to use regenerative braking, and your range would be pretty good for EVs. This is the perfect use case, actually.

O'NEILL: And I mean, you joked that they kind of look like popemobiles, but as I was looking into them, figuring out why that design was so weird, it's something like they've got to make sure that the shortest driver can see over the hood, but that the tallest driver can stand up in the back to gather the mail. And so those of us at the Living on Earth offices have been joking that it's a really big year for EVs that you can stand up in, because the Pope is also going to be standing up in his Popemobile.

MOTAVALLI: It's funny. I just saw an exhibit of vehicles that were built for the King and Queen of England that was touring around the US, and they're very similar to the Popemobile, though they have like, what do you call it a reviewing platform for the dignitary to stand up and acknowledge the crowds.

O'NEILL: Now, I don't know about Vatican fleet numbers, but it is something like tens of thousands of postal service vehicles that are now going to be these little duck cars. My question for you, Jim is, to what extent do you think that these statements are sort of showing a trend towards a tipping point for EV acceptance?

MOTAVALLI: I think it's helping. I mean, there's a lot in the news today that's saying that EV sales have tanked. They often put it that way. They use dramatic language to say, they're in the toilet or whatever. This is not actually true. The rate of EV adoption has slowed a bit, but it's still climbing, and some of the EV companies are having their best sales year in terms of selling EVs. So the adoption rate is still climbing. And it's funny, there are parts of the world where not having an EV is novel, and one of them is Norway, where the 95% of new car sales are EVs, and Iceland is another country that's nearing 90% EV adoption. In the US, so I don't know... We're on 10% now, but 10% is better than 7%, is better than 6%, which was in a few years ago. So I think people are a little impatient to see EVs take over. But if you look at when we switched from horses to cars, that was like a 30 year process. So in say, 1920 you can look at pictures of what was on the road, and you'll see horse drawn carts still being used. So, we're in that stage now, if you take a picture of the traffic stream, one in 10 cars might be an EV. Or if you're in California, it's going to be more than that. And you know, there's pockets of acceptance, and they're in places you wouldn't expect. Florida's very high in EV adoption, Texas is, and the coasts.

O'NEILL: Well, Jim, for our listeners who might be themselves considering an EV, what do you think is one thing that they need to keep in mind about the impact of going electric?

MOTAVALLI: One thing you should remember is that people get anxious about the public charging network, and there's reason for that, but 80% of your charging is going to be at home. So if you have a good situation at home, if you have an EV charger, if you have a garage, it's really helpful, or just a way of putting an EV charger on the wall of your house, you're going to do most of your charging there. For one thing, it's a lot cheaper. I paid at one of the public charging networks I used when I was driving up the coast, I was paid 57 cents a kilowatt hour at an Electrify America station. And that's that's really high. You'd have a really good incentive to charge at home, and you're going to be able to do that most of the time. So you really shouldn't have as much worry about charging as people do, and the prices are down very much. And there's lots of good choice now. There's dozens of EVs on the market and more coming out every day, so I think there's some excellent choices people can make with an EV right now.

DOERING: That’s Jim Motavalli, author of High Voltage and blogger with Autoweek and Barron’s. He spoke with Living on Earth’s Aynsley O’Neill, who joins us now for more on this story. Hi Aynsley and what if anything do we know about how the incoming Trump administration feels about these new US Postal Service EVs? I mean, Donald Trump hasn’t exactly been singing the praises of electric vehicles.

O’NEILL: Well, Jenni you got that right. I read an article from Reuters that says that the Trump transition team is looking at canceling the USPS EV contracts, which include deals with Oshkosh and Ford. And it also sounds like they’re talking about getting rid of the $7500 dollar EV tax credits that President Biden created* with the Inflation Reduction Act, if Reuters’ sources are correct.

BELTRAN: Huh. That’s kind of perplexing, isn’t it that the Trump team is so anti-EV subsidy. After all, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has become very close to the President-elect.

O’NEILL: I know, Paloma, it does seem that way at first glance, but here’s the thing, cancelling the EV tax credits could actually be pretty good for Tesla and Musk. The company already has a huge foothold in the EV market, with around half of all US electric vehicle sales in recent months, and by the way it’s gotten there in part thanks to the EV tax credits. No other car company has benefitted more from these subsidies and they’ve helped Tesla pull ahead of the pack of other automakers on EV sales. So Elon Musk told shareholders in July that ditching the EV tax credit could hold other companies back while Tesla coasts on all its momentum.

DOERING: Ah, well there it is. You know, Jim Motavalli mentioned there are some US EV makers that are doing well despite a slight dip in the overall rate of EV growth. So, Tesla must be one of those – which others are doing well at this point?

O’NEILL: Yeah, Tesla is still on top but GM and Chevrolet EVs are selling well too.

BELTRAN: So no wonder we’re seeing more and more electric cars on the roads these days.

O’NEILL: Yeah, and one of them might be coming to a post office near you. But no telling when we’ll see the Popemobile come around. There’s only one Popemobile, after all…

DOERING: Ha, you really did just want an excuse to say “Popemobile” a bunch on the show!

O’NEILL: Ooh, just a little bit.

DOERING: Thanks Aynsley!

O’NEILL: Anytime.

*CLARIFICATION: The U.S. EV tax credits were originally adopted in 2010, and were reinstated during the Biden Administration.

Related links:
- To learn more about the new, eco-friendly popemobile
- To check out pictures of the quirky USPS "duckmobile"
- For more insights into Jim Motavalli’s work on EVs and sustainability

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[MUSIC: BIRDNOTE THEME]

BirdNote®: Bright Yellow Northern Cardinals

DOERING: Most of the 21 new cardinals Pope Francis elevated to the elite body on December 7 now have the honor of wearing the traditional scarlet vestments. But two in the Dominican order chose to continue to wear simple white robes. And when it comes to cardinals that fly, you might be surprised to learn that they don’t all dress in red, either. Ariana Remmel has this BirdNote.

BirdNote®
Bright Yellow Northern Cardinals
Written by Conor Gearin

[Northern Cardinal song, ML 130905, 0:19-0:22]

REMMEL: Northern Cardinals are known for their iconic red feathers. Males are bright scarlet, and females sport red wing and crest feathers. So if you saw a Northern Cardinal that was lemon-yellow, you might think it was a different species entirely.

In fact, these are Northern Cardinals, but with a genetic mutation. All cardinals ingest yellow pigments in their food. Most cardinals’ bodies change them into red pigments, giving their feathers their signature shade. But just a few cardinals lack this ability — resulting in a bright yellow bird.

[Northern Cardinal song, ML 130905, 2:24-2:27]

Unexpectedly yellow birds occur in other species, too, from House Finches that look like they’ve been dipped in egg yolk, to Red-bellied Woodpeckers with golden-hued head feathers. The condition is called xanthochromism.

[Red-bellied Woodpecker call, ML 105714, 0:40-0:42]

Xanthochromism and other color abnormalities are rare — just a handful in every few million bird sightings. And the causes for these conditions vary. For House Finches, diet alone is probably enough to turn them yellow.

[House Finch song, ML 56843, 0:36-0:39]

Field guides show only a few illustrations for a single species. But part of the fun is finding all the shades of variation in well-known birds.

I’m Ariana Remmel.
###
Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Northern Cardinal ML130905 recorded by Gerrit Vyn, Red-bellied Woodpecker ML105714 Geoffrey A. Keller, House Finch ML56843 recorded by Geoffrey A. Keller.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2024 BirdNote November 2024
Narrator: Ariana Remmel
ID# plumage-07-2024-11-15 plumage-07

https://www.birdnote.org/podcasts/birdnote-daily/bright-yellow-northern-cardinals

DOERING: For pictures, flap on over to the Living on Earth website, loe dot org.

Related link:
This story on the BirdNote® website

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[MUSIC: Alisa Jones, Mark Howard, Ron Wall, “Swedish Fiddle Tune - Instrumental”, on Old Time Reunion, Cumberland Records 2009]

BELTRAN: If you enjoy the stories you hear on Living on Earth, please consider signing up for our newsletter. You’ll never miss a show, and you’ll have special access to show highlights, notes from our staff, and advanced information about upcoming live virtual events. The Living on Earth newsletter is sent to your inbox weekly. Don’t miss out! Subscribe at the Living on Earth website, loe.org That's loe.org.

[MUSIC: Joel Mabus, “Endearing Young Charms” on Parlor Guitar, by Thomas Moore, Fossil Records]

DOERING: Coming up, a sacred river in India is polluted by raw sewage and detergents. Stay tuned to Living on Earth.

ANNOUNCER: Support for Living on Earth comes from Friends of Smeagull the Seagull and Smeagull’s Guide to Wildlife. It’s all about the wildlife right next door to you! That’s Smeagull, S - M - E - A - G - U - L - L, SmeagullGuide.org.

[CUTAWAY MUSIC: Joel Mabus, “Endearing Young Charms” on Parlor Guitar, by Thomas Moore, Fossil Records]

Sacred Indian River Polluted

BELTRAN: It’s Living on Earth, I’m Paloma Beltran

DOERING: And I’m Jenni Doering. India is home to mighty rivers that are the lifeblood of its economy and food system, and are worshipped by some as sacred. The holy Yamuna River serves some 57 million people but around New Delhi, it has become choked with a thick off-white foam that’s in part the result of detergents flowing untreated from laundries and households. And that’s just the most visible pollutant. Raw sewage is contaminating the Yamuna river with high levels of fecal coliform. Despite government warnings about the health risks, some Hindu worshippers are wading in anyway in hopes of cleansing their sins. Susmita Sengupta covers water pollution as Senior Program Manager for the Centre for Science and Environment and joins me now from Delhi. Welcome to Living on Earth!

SENGUPTA: Thank you. It's my pleasure.

DOERING: So first, what and where is the Yamuna River?

SENGUPTA: Yamuna River actually flows through Delhi. So it's very important for Delhi, because our major drinking water supply is coming from Yamuna. Yamuna is also a tributary of our National River, Ganga, and feeds into the other states, also. Uttar Pradesh in the downstream and Haryana in the upstream. But although it's just a very small fraction of Yamuna that is flowing into Delhi, 80% of the polluted stretch is in the capital city of Delhi.

DOERING: Wow. And we've seen these pictures... One of the most striking visuals we've seen is the foam that's covering parts of the river around New Delhi. What exactly is this foam?

SENGUPTA: Before telling that, let me tell you that Delhi as a city is 50% sewage, which means that the households they... Whatever sewage they are generating, only 50% of it is connected to the sewage treatment plants and can go there and get treated. So, remaining 50% is actually dumped in different open natural drains. We have more than 20 natural drains which are supposed to carry the rain water, but due to the absence of proper sewer in the city, the sewage also gets dumped into the same open natural channels along with the rain water. So I should tell you that for Yamuna pollution, the domestic sewage is a most important pollution that is entering into the river. The Ganga and its tributaries they get polluted due to industrial waste in the upper stretches, also in the lower stretches near Kanpur, which is actually marked as a pollution hub. But in Delhi, it's mostly the domestic sewage. Now, what happens laundries which actually use detergents, and there are also the houses which are using these detergents. So as a result, the phosphates that are generated are flowing into the river, and the foam is because of [those] phosphates.

DOERING: And how much farming is there around this region, and how much is fertilizer or other products from farms getting into the river as well?

SENGUPTA: There is a big part where farming is getting done on the Yamuna flood plains and chemical fertilizers on they are being used, although there is a good awareness about this fertilizer, and people are moving into organic fertilizers. But still, there is a huge part of farmers who believe in these chemical fertilizers, and as a result, some nitrates also get into this river due to the chemical fertilizers.

DOERING: So how is all of this pollution impacting the river's ecosystem and the communities that depend on it for their livelihoods?

SENGUPTA: The pollution in Delhi is very high. 80% of the pollution is happening only in Delhi. And Delhi, on the other hand, they actually get the whole of the drinking water supply from this river. Now, what is happening? If you get your river polluted, then the cost of the water treatment becomes high, very high. If raw sewage is entering, what happens is fecal coliform which is actually getting into the river... So it's very high. The permissible limit is 2500 MPN per 100 milliliter, but it's actually in a millions. The river enters into Delhi, near Palla, where you will find that the fecal coliform is slightly low, but not within the permissible limit. But as it enters into the city, will see the fecal coli form very high. And also, there are some religious programs around this river, because in India, we also worship the river. As a result, when people go and take a bath, it's not fit for open bathing also. The quality has deteriorated to that level that it's not permissible for outdoor bathing, so that also affects the health of the people.

DOERING: Did I just hear you correctly? You said that the levels of fecal coliform are in the millions when they really should be more in the thousands. And yet, as you mentioned, this river is considered sacred. Can you tell us more about the cultural practices and why people have such a close relationship with this river?

SENGUPTA: Reason behind that, that every city had a river or a pond or a lake around which the city grew up, and all the needs of that city for water actually came from this water body. So, since they were relying on these water bodies, they began worshiping it. So bathing -- Why bathing? Because people think, since they actually worship these water bodies, and since it's always compared to one's mother, so people think that when you take a dip in the river, then your sins are actually washed away.

DOERING: Now what are the health risks that we know about, of coming into contact with this foam and with this pollution in the river?

SENGUPTA: So, if people take dip in this river, then obviously there are skin problems, because, as I told you, the detergents are actually released, so you have a skin problem. And during swimming and taking a dip in the river, some part of water, if it gets into your intestine, then intestinal problems also take place. And because nitrates, phosphates, fecal coliform, you name it, and it's there.

DOERING: In your view, what are the most practical and impactful solutions to help restore the Yamuna River?

SENGUPTA: We are telling that in the set of recommendations, use open channels itself as your treatment areas, you locally treat it. Don't carry it to the centralized treatment systems, but locally, you use low cost, maybe a reed bed, you can use a reed bed to give you an example. You use a community of microbes to treat it locally, and you treat the water to a level which can be used for non potable purpose, so that you do not send any fecal coliform ladder or any polluted water into the river. You can have it at a community level. You can have it as an institutional level, so that you do not send polluted water to the river. And then secondly, we are saying that make your sewage treatment plants very close to the rivers, so that there is no chance of mixing of your whatever is coming out as treated from the sewage treatment plants and getting mixed with the untreated sewage in the river. And means we are promoting circular economy, where we are saying that whatever is coming out of your sewage treatment plants, the treated water, make use of it. Use that treated water, you can use it in your horticulture. You can use it in your park so there is no mixing, and all your treated water gets used up.

DOERING: Susmita Sengupta is the Senior Program Manager for the Center for Science and Environment. Thank you so much, Susmita.

SENGUPTA: Thank you for bringing in such an important topic on the table.

DOERING: By the way, India has a National Green Tribunal, also called its “Green Court” that handles environmental pollution complaints including the problems on the Yamuna River. Earlier this year the Green Court documented a lack of sewage treatment in the city of Agra on the banks of the Yamuna and fined the local infrastructure agency nearly 7 million US dollars for failing to provide adequate sewage treatment. The Supreme Court of India recently upheld the fine. And in November the Green Court penalized Delhi’s local water authority and municipal government, fining each around $3 million US dollars for letting sewage and stormwater drains mix and improperly covering drains, contributing to the Yamuna’s pollution.

Related links:
- See photos of the foam in the Yamuna River
- More about Decentralized Wastewater Treatment (DWWT) solutions
- The Centre for Science and Environment - India website

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[MUSIC: Ravi Shankar, “Gat Kirwani,” on The Ravi Shankar Collection: Portrait of Genius, by Ravi Shankar, The Traditional, Warner Classics (Parlophone) 1998]

The Wooden Sword / A Story of Peace

BELTRAN: Here at Living on Earth it’s our tradition at this time of holidays and solstice to step back from the pressing and sometime depressing environmental news to share some tales and music with you, much as we might with our own families. And our holiday season special is next week. Right now, here’s a preview from storyteller Noa Baum. She joined Living on Earth Host and Executive Producer Steve Curwood to share a tale from Afghanistan about how to find happiness.

THE WOODEN SWORD, a Jewish folktale from Afghanistan

BAUM: There once was a king who disguised himself as a beggar and would roam the streets of his kingdom to listen to the people, to see how they lived, for he had everything, but he wasn’t happy. He was always consumed by worry, and he wanted to see how others lived.

And one night, as he was disguised as a beggar, wandering through the streets, he came to a place in the outskirts where he’d never been before. The streets became so narrow. They were alley ways, and the houses looked like they were going to fall. It was the Jewish neighborhood, the poor neighborhood. And as he walked through those rundown streets he suddenly heard someone singing a very joyous tune, “Din-ay-din-ay-din-ay-din-ay! Din-ay-din-ay-din-ay-din-ay-din-ay-din-ay, hey!” (wordless singing)

The king was so surprised. Who could be so happy in such dismal looking surroundings? He followed the singing and he came to a tumble-down hut. He knocked on the door and asked,

“Is a guest welcome here?”

And the door flew open. An elderly Jew stood there with a beaming face.

“A guest is a gift from God. Come in!”

And he welcomed the king into that hut as if it was a palace. There was not much there. A straw mat in the corner with a blanket. There was a table, one chair. Upon the table the remains of a very humble meal. Tail end of a fish, a crust of dark bread, a little bit of wine. But the man invited the king in and insisted that he sit upon that one chair and partake from the remains of the meal. And after the king ate he said, “Was it you singing? You sounded so happy.”

“Oh, yes, I have nothing to complain about.”

“And what is it you do? How do you earn a living?”

“I’m a cobbler. I fix shoes for people by the side of the road.”

“Oh, and is that enough to sustain you?”

“Yes, why not? Every day I work, I make enough for my meal, and I eat and I sing.”

The king was so surprised. He’d never met anyone like this.

He said, “But don’t you worry about the future? Don’t you worry about tomorrow?”

“Oh, no,” said the Jew. “I do not worry about something that hasn’t happened yet. Besides I have someone who takes care of me.”

“Ah,” thought the king. The mystery is solved. And so he asked, “Do you have a family who takes care of you?”

“Oh, no. My family is long gone.”

“So who is it? Is it the king perhaps? I’ve heard he is very good to his citizens.”

(CHUCKLES.) “Ah, yes, the king is good to his citizens. But for me, the Almighty takes care of me, day by day.”

The king left that place perplexed. How can someone who had so little be filled with so much joy? He was determined to get to the bottom of this. He would put the faith of that Jew to a test.

So the following day he sent out a decree forbidding all cobblers from fixing shoes by the side of the road. And as he put on his beggar’s disguise that evening he thought, “Huh! We’ll see what tune he’ll be singing this time, when things are really bad.”

But what was his surprise as he entered those narrow alleyways when he heard, “Din-ay-din-ay-din-ay-din-ay! Din-ay-din-ay-din-ay-din-ay-din-ay-din-ay, hey!” (wordless singing)

And once again, once again he was welcomed into that tumbledown hut as if it was a palace, and there were the remains of a humble meal upon the table. Tail end of a fish, a crust of bread, a little bit of wine, and when the king ate he said,

“But how did you manage this? I heard the king came out with a very cruel decree!”

“Ah, yes,” said the cobbler. (CHUCKLES.) “When I came today and I saw that decree, I closed my eyes, and I prayed. I said, “Dear God, you see that the livelihood has been taken from my mouth, but I know when you close one door you open another.” And when I opened my eyes I saw a group of woodcutters going to the woods. They let me join them. I borrowed an ax. I got myself a nice bundle. I sold it in the marketplace, and with the money I had enough for my meal!”

“But what about tomorrow? What about when you’re too old to hold an ax? Don’t you worry about that?”

“Aw, I told you yesterday I never worry about something that hasn’t happened yet. Besides I have the one who takes care of me, day by day.”

The king was determined to get to the bottom of this. This could not be real! No one could have such faith!

And so the following day all of the woodcutters were drafted into the king’s guards. They were given a uniform. They were given a sword, but they were told they would only be paid in 30 days.

That night the cobbler turned woodcutter returned home. He had a little bit left from the night before, but he knew he did not have enough to sustain him for 30 days. And then he took out the sword from its sheath, and he examined it. It was a fine blade, the kind that only the king’s guards receive.

He went out. He cut a limb from one of the trees, and he sat up all night, and he fashioned an identical blade made of wood. He put it in the sheath, and the king’s blade he sold in the market. And the money, oh! (CHUCKLES.) It was enough for more than 30 days.

The following night the king once again put on his beggar’s disguise. He was certain he would not hear anyone sing tonight! But what was his amazement, when he heard, “Din-ay-din-ay-din-ay-din-ay! Din-ay-din-ay-din-ay-din-ay-din-ay-din-ay, hey!” (wordless singing)

And when the king heard what the cobbler did he said, “But, but aren’t you afraid? What if there’s a sword inspection tomorrow?! You could be, you could be executed for selling the king’s blade!”

“Hmmm! I told you, I do not worry about something that hasn’t happened yet. Besides I have the one who takes care of me, day by day.”

The next day the captain of the guards caught a man in the marketplace. He called forth the Jew. He said: “This man is a thief. By the order of the king you must cut off his head now!”

The Jew fell upon his knees. “ Oh, please, can you choose some else? I’m an observant Jew. I cannot take the life of another human being!”

“It is the order of the king. If you refuse it is your head that’s on the line.”

A crowd was gathering.

The Jew closed his eyes. He prayed a little. He thought a little, and then he opened his eyes. He stood up, and he looked up into the heavens, and he spoke in a loud voice for all to hear.

“Dear God, he said, be my witness. Give me a sign. You see that I am ordered here to take the life of another human being, and you know that I have never even hurt a fly. Please, be my witness. If this man is indeed guilty of the crime that he’s being accused of, give me the strength to take out my sword and cut his head off with one blow, but, Dear God, if by any chance this man is innocent, give me a sign and turn my sword into wood!”

And with that he pulled out his sword and lifted it up in the air. The crowd gasped, for indeed it was made of wood. Some people fell upon their knees at the miracle they had just witnessed, but the king, watching it all from his balcony, smiled at the wisdom of that man. He came down, and he said to him,
“I am the guest that you have welcomed so generously into your home these last few nights, and now I’d like to ask you to come and be MY guest. Live in the palace by my side. Be my advisor. Teach me how to live as you do, with so much faith and so much joy, day by day.”

And with that, they joined arms and went up the palace steps, singing. “Din-ay-din-ay-din-ay-din-ay! Din-ay-din-ay-din-ay-din-ay-din-ay-din-ay, hey!” (wordless singing)

CURWOOD: (LAUGHS.) Wow, that’s a great, funny story!

BAUM: It is. (LAUGHS.)

CURWOOD: To have faith, maybe you have to be a bit of a trickster at the same time, huh?

BAUM: Absolutely. To have faith does not mean that you have to be blind or stop thinking. It just means that you have to believe that things are possible.

BELTRAN: That’s storyteller Noa Baum speaking with Living on Earth Host Steve Curwood. Tune in next week to hear more stories on our holiday season show.

Related links:
- The Wooden Sword: A Jewish Folktale from Afghanistan
- About storyteller and educator Noa Baum

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[MUSIC:: Field recording of traditional tune from “Spring Song,” available on YouTube]

DOERING: Living on Earth is produced by the World Media Foundation. Our crew includes Naomi Arenberg, Kayla Bradley, Josh Croom, Daniela Faria, “Mehek” Gagneja, Swayam Gagneja, Mark Kausch, Mark Seth Lender, Don Lyman, Nana Mohammed, Aynsley O’Neill, Sophia Pandelidis, Jake Rego, Andrew Skerritt, and El Wilson.

BELTRAN: Tom Tiger engineered our show. Allison Lirish Dean composed our themes. You can hear us anytime at loe.org, Apple Podcasts and YouTube Music, and like us, please, on our Facebook page - Living on Earth. We tweet from @livingonearth. And find us on Instagram at @livingonearthradio. And we always welcome your feedback at comments at loe.org. I’m Paloma Beltran

DOERING: And I’m Jenni Doering. Thanks for listening!

ANNOUNCER: Funding for Living on Earth comes from you, our listeners, and from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, in association with its School for the Environment, developing the next generation of environmental leaders. And from the Grantham Foundation for the protection of the environment, supporting strategic communications and collaboration in solving the world’s most pressing environmental problems.

ANNOUNCER 2: PRX.