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What is sustainable wine-making?

What is sustainable wine-making?

Gonzalo Araújo

Spain’s winemaking industry is an international leader for ecological wine production. This approach gives priority to biological and mechanical procedures to the growing of vines and production of wine. The main goal is to protect soil fertility, regional biodiversity and ecosystems. Gonzalo Araújo reports from the autonomous region of Navarra in northern Spain.

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Los retos del cambio climático para los agricultores

El gran reto del cambio climático para los agricultores de Carolina del Norte

Caroline Bowersox

Los efectos del cambio climático hacen especialmente difícil para los agricultores de Carolina del Norte proporcionar comida al resto del estado.

Este artículo ha sido traducido desde el inglés.

Una racha ocasional de calor o un exceso de lluvia pueden no ser más que una pequeña molestia para la mayoría de la gente pero, para los agricultores, los patrones climáticos impredecibles pueden destruir toda la cosecha de la temporada. Cada cultivo es un mundo aparte: algunas plantas no soportan las altas temperaturas, mientras que otras necesitan pasar una parte de su temporada de crecimiento en el frío para florecer adecuadamente. Sea como sea, el cambio climático afecta a la mayoría de las cosechas y, ante un clima cada vez más impredecible en el  sureste de los Estados Unidos, los agricultores ya no pueden depender del paso natural de las estaciones. En su lugar, tienen que recurrir a soluciones no convencionales.

Los desafíos causados por el cambio climático comienzan incluso de plantar las semillas, ya que los agricultores luchan por saber cuándo deben plantar su primera cosecha de la temporada.

“El sudeste puede recibir un golpe de calor muy fuerte a principios de la primavera. Las cosas florecerán y saldrán a flote, pero luego volverá el frío estéril”, explica Jen Brady, analista de datos de la organización sin fines de lucro Climate Central, con sede en Princeton, Nueva Jersey.

El “frío estéril” descrito por Brady marchita los cultivos de primavera que prosperan con temperaturas frescas o cálidas. “Básicamente, puede arruinar las cosechas si tienes un día temprano por debajo de los 32 grados Fahrenheit, o un día tardío por debajo de los 32”, dice Kaitlyn Weber, también analista de datos de Climate Central.

Los agricultores de Carolina del Norte se enfrentan a otros retos imprevisibles, como los intensos patrones de lluvia. El cambio climático puede provocar aguaceros que ahoguen los cultivos o también arrastrar los pesticidas y fertilizantes desde los campos hacia los ríos o lagos cercanos.

A medida que las temperaturas aumentan, también lo hace la tasa de evaporación. A medida que el mundo se calienta, se evapora más agua, lo que hace que la atmósfera contenga más vapor de agua. Eso implica una mayor humedad para las tormentas cuando se forma la lluvia. Este aumento de la humedad puede convertir lo que de otro modo habría sido una ligera llovizna en un aguacero torrencial. “Estamos viendo cómo aumentan los eventos severos, cómo las lluvias pasan de dos a tres pulgadas en cuestión de 24 horas”, indica Megan Martin, meteoróloga y diseñadora multimedia de Climate Central.

La industria vinícola de Carolina del Norte es una de las más afectadas por este aumento de las precipitaciones. “Si hay este periodo de precipitaciones extremas durante un día o unos días, entonces el ambiente se volverá muy húmedo, especialmente en el sureste”, explica Weber. Ese exceso de humedad puede provocar la formación de moho en los cultivos, siendo las uvas para vino especialmente sensibles.

En su día, el clima templado de las estribaciones de Carolina del Norte era perfecto para este tipo de cultivos, pero el aumento de las temperaturas y las condiciones meteorológicas cambiantes provocadas por el cambio climático pueden obligar a los viticultores a trasladar sus operaciones a otros lugares. “Gran parte de las explotaciones vinícolas más populares hoy día, se volverán muy calurosas con el paso del tiempo”, explica Weber. “Durante las últimas décadas, la gente ha estado comprando tierras más al norte, hasta British Columbia [provincia al oeste de Canadá], porque saben que en unas décadas esa será la zona principal para la agricultura”.

Los ingresos por agricultura ubican a Carolina del Norte entre los primeros diez estados del país. Sin embargo, el aumento de las temperaturas amenaza el liderazgo del estado en este terreno.

El Departamento de Agricultura de Estados Unidos divide las áreas geográficas del país según “zonas de rusticidad”. Estas zonas ayudan a los agricultores a determinar qué plantas crecen mejor en determinadas áreas. Las zonas siguen aproximadamente un patrón de norte a sur, siendo la Zona 1 la más al norte y la Zona 13 la más al sur.

En 1990, la mayor parte de Carolina del Norte se encontraba en la zona 7, con temperaturas mínimas medias de 0° F a 10° F. En 2015, la mayor parte del estado había pasado a la zona 8, con temperaturas mínimas medias de 10° F a 20° F. Esto significa que las condiciones en algunas partes de Carolina del Norte se han vuelto demasiado calurosas para ciertos cultivos. Los agricultores deben ir más al norte para encontrar las temperaturas que antes eran comunes en el estado.

Estos cambios suponen una gran amenaza para estados como Carolina del Norte, que dependen de la agricultura como parte importante de su economía.

“Dentro de 20 años, Dakota del Norte será el granero de Estados Unidos, porque tendrá el clima ideal para plantar nuestro maíz y cosas así”, explica Brady. “En ese momento podríamos incluso obtener todos nuestros principales productos agrícolas de Canadá”.

Industrias como la vinícola han tenido que adoptar prácticas de cultivo más sostenibles con el objetivo de reducir el uso de agua y energía. Otros agricultores han tenido que reinventar por completo sus métodos de cultivo.

Una técnica de cultivo innovadora es la agricultura hidropónica, en la que los agricultores cultivan en agua en lugar de en tierra, utilizando grandes contenedores protegidos del exterior. Al no recibir los nutrientes del suelo, los cultivos dependen de la inyección de agua con nutrientes en sus recipientes.

En esta técnica, los agricultores se olvidan de los inconvenientes que podrían suponer las altas temperaturas y las lluvias torrenciales. Esta práctica también puede lograr un mayor rendimiento.

El cambio climático ha llegado para quedarse, y parece que los agricultores deberán plantearse nuevas prácticas y cultivos  a medida que el mundo cambia.

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El impacto de los embalses en la biodiversidad

El impacto de los embalses en la biodiversidad fluvial

Elise Mahon

Las presas y embalses afectan al flujo de sedimentos de los ríos y a la biodiversidad de los ecosistemas fluviales. ¿Cómo puede la sociedad conciliar la creciente necesidad de energía renovable, como la hidroeléctrica, con los impactos ambientales generados de este tipo de infraestructuras?

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Thrifting: a sustainable practice

The Revival of Thrifting in North Carolina

Em Walsh

Thrifting is witnessing a revival. Nowadays, nearly every downtown in the United States has a used clothing store giving life to clothes that may have otherwise been thrown out. Two stores in North Carolina share their way of navigating this sustainable trend.

Transcript

Fashion is such a personal thing. Everyone has their own style, influences and values. But the inescapable truth is that clothing has consequences. From the moment it is woven to the moment it is thrown away, every individual article has a massive global impact. From the water and energy used to produce the clothes to the human labor required, the clothing industry has a dark influence. However, within the last ten years, thrifting has become on trend again. In nearly every downtown, you can find a used clothing store giving life to clothes that may have otherwise been thrown out. Molly Schonert, assistant manager of Rumors Chapel Hill, said that the store avoids throwing clothes out, offering everyone a chance to sell or donate their clothes instead.

Molly Shonert: “We buy from the community. We also do have a section of the store where the items are new that we buy online via wholesale as a way to kind of help people who are hesitant to thrift for their clothes, as a way to kind of open that secondhand gate.”

Even then, Schonert says that managers research brands that the community will be interested in and that have ethical and sustainable practices.

Molly Shonert: “We never really get rid of an item. We do things like grab bags or dollar sales on special occasions, where we take items that haven’t been selling and we offer them for a discounted price. We always kind of use the item. We never just throw it away or anything like that. We’ll give it some worth of life somehow.”

However, not everyone is into buying and reselling. Most consumers still shop for new clothes from department store or outlets.

Candida Settle, manager of the Chico’s outlet store in Mebane, knows the formula for selling clothes and rotating them out depending on the seasons. Based on which items the store is selling well, Settle may be told to discount them or not. Similarly, whenever an item must be removed from inventory, it is sent to corporate and  may be donated for a company write-off.

Candida Settle: “In retail in general, they’re always gonna try to be one season ahead within the fashion aspect of it. So it depends on how quickly the product’s moving, how much product we have within the company, whether they go straight from a temp sale down to markdown. We don’t really resell our damaged products.”

The individual stores are largely left out of decision making. According to Chico’s FAS disclosure, the clothes are made and shipped from nations like China, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, and shipping clothes is a huge source of carbon emissions.

While a single consumer may not be able to change the whole industry overnight, they can start with shopping smarter. The same way one might research when buying a new car or shopping for produce, they should also check the practices and standards of the brands they shop from. Businesses should be held accountable for their decisions because no action is without consequences.

This is Em, Chapel Hill.

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Wind farms’ impact on biodiversity

Wind farms, working with or against biodiversity?

Inés Pascal

Since the development of the first wind farm in Navarra, more than 8,000 vertebrates have died in this type of facility in the region, despite the environmental impact studies that usually accompany the construction of this type of infrastructure.

Meanwhile, in North Carolina…

CONSERVATION AND SOLAR ENERGY

This article has been translated from Spanish

Since September 1, 2021, a draft to the Law on Climate Change and Ecological Transition in Navarra has been in process, awaiting approval by the regional parliament.

Despite the ambition of this legal text, it has been described both as insufficient and counterproductive by environmental interest groups such as Alianza por el Clima. They see some of the promises of the bill as problematic. For example, the law proposes that, by 2025, 50% of the electricity consumed by public institutions in the region must be from renewable sources. At first sight, this situation seems desirable from a human point of view. But what about biodiversity?

According to the environmental nonprofit Ecologistas en Acción, more than 8,000 vertebrates have been killed by the blades of wind turbines since the construction of the first wind farm in Navarra, in 1998. This data should draw attention to the fact that the location of farms is an important factor.

One of the main complaints of environmental groups is that wind farms are often located on land where dry cereal crops are grown or in mid-mountain areas. These are areas of less economic value than others, but also home to many birds and other flying animals. Bats, migratory birds and large gliders such as vultures collide with the rigid blades, imperceptible to their senses, and fall dead on the land that was once their home.

Since its  first wind farm in the late 1990s, Navarra has built 50 other wind installations,  becoming an industry pioneer and European leader. But at what price?

Inaccurate studies

The Navarra fund for the protection of the natural environment, Gurelur, accuses the regional government that, behind this attempt to move towards renewable energies lies the industrialization of the few areas of forest that had escaped the wind power plants. However, these studies are not always carried out properly.

According to a study by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the reports that have been used so far in Spain to calculate the environmental impact of these parks have followed erroneous criteria. Since the study began in 2018, the true impact on birds of 20 Spanish wind farms has been analyzed and, comparing the data that were estimated before their construction and the actual number of dead birds, it has been concluded that there is no correlation between the two variables. According to the Spanish national center for scientific research (CSIC), one of the main flaws of the method used so far is that the impact of the wind farm is studied as a whole. This means that twenty turbines that are not located in the same place or at the same distance from each other are subjected to the same estimates. The impact of each wind turbine varies greatly depending on the mountain topography where it is located and the air currents around it, so the CSIC has proposed that the threat that each turbine can generate should be analyzed before it is installed.

Painting turbines black

A different question arises for the wind farms that already occupy Navarra’s territory and are in full operation. Even if companies in charge were obliged to repeat the environmental impact studies of their installations, it would be very difficult for the wind turbines to be moved if the results qualify them as “threatening.”

Four thousand birds of prey, including 94 red kites and 10 Egyptian vultures, are just some of the birds that have died in Navarra due to collisions with wind turbine blades in the last 23 years. It is the seventh leading cause of death for birds, according to Statista.

Perhaps the remedy lies in looking at what other countries have done before. In the last decade, the Norwegian Institute for Nature Conservation has been testing a method to reduce bird deaths from collisions with wind turbines: to paint one of its blades black, making the infrastructure much more noticeable to the birds.

The study showed that bird mortality in farms with painted wind turbines is 72% lower than in those without painted blades. Whether the solution is painting blades or another alternative, some action is necessary for wind and biodiversity to coexist in peace.

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The bearded vulture, a legend in danger

The bearded vulture, a lengendary animal in danger of extinction

Gabriela Paños

In the Middle Ages in Europe, the bearded vulture symbolized death, regeneration and suffering. Today, however, populations of this legendary bird are decimated due to hunting, deforestation and climate change.

Meanwhile, in North Carolina…

TURKEY VULTURES’ MIGRATION PATTERNS

This article has been translated from Spanish

During the high Middle Ages in Europe, the bearded vulture (commonly known as quebrantahuesos or “bone breaker,” in Spanish) was known as the griffin or the legendary phoenix. Because of its curious red eyes and orange plumage, it was seen as a symbol of physical and spiritual regeneration, a harbinger of death and suffering.

Today, the population of this once mythical creature, has been declining due to hunting, deforestation and climate change. Now we are a danger to them and not the other way around.

The catalog of vertebrates in Navarra points at 16 species in danger of extinction. Among them, the most relevant birds are the great bustard, the ptarmigan, the bittern and the bearded vulture.

The bearded vulture is a beautiful and large bird of prey of the vulture family. It shares with its siblings the basic particularity of its diet: necrophagy. That is, it feeds on animal carcasses. In particular, bearded vultures are almost exclusively osteophagous, feeding on the bones of the animals they hunt. And if these are too large to ingest, it throws them from the heights to break them into smaller pieces. Hence its common name: quebrantahuesos (“bone breaker”).

Compared to other vultures, the Gypaetus Barbatus has an unmistakable figure: narrow wings, a long tail and a head full of brown or black feathers, depending on its age. It has a wingspan of between 275 and 300 centimeters, and usually weighs between 4.5 and 7 kilograms. Hatchlings and young specimens have a black feathered head that becomes lighter as they grow. In contrast to common vultures, which feature bare heads to be able to eat directly from animal carcasses and not infect their feathers with dirt, bearded vultures do have them since they never come close to dead meat.

These birds also live for a long time, being able to reach 10 or 12 years in perfect condition. Their bodies undergo remarkable changes such as the change from brown iris color to milky white, or its plumage mottled in shades of gray and brown to an orange belly and neck.

These birds have no sexual dimorphism, unlike most other bird species, which makes them difficult to distinguish. In addition, because they are so long-lived and copulate only once a year, they have a long reproductive cycle compared to other winged species and usually lay only one or two eggs. It takes about 120 days from the time the eggs are laid until the chicks leave the nest. Nests are usually composed of two or three adults, usually two males and one female; this is known as polyandrous breeding units.

By giving birth to so few young per family nucleus, it is not unusual that the species has lost density, especially in the Pyrenean area. But that is not the only reason why the bearded vulture is an endangered species in Europe. The main cause of mortality in this species is due to the illegal use of poisoned bait, which seriously compromises its growth and colonization of new areas. Other causes of unnatural death among the bearded vultures are accidents with power lines in mountainous areas or the construction of infrastructures that break with their natural habitat.

However, in the 2019-2020 season, the Autonomous Community of Navarra has broken a record of productivity in the breeding and protection of bearded vultures since at least 1980. Thanks to the Bearded Vulture Recovery Plan in Navarra, seven of the nine territories have been successfully occupied by this species, with the laying of four chicks where they were previously present. This is a great achievement, as the number of Bearded Vultures has increased by 64% since 1984, reaching approximately 1000 individuals. Of these, 34% are breeding individuals, but the number is still increasing every year.

 

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The story of the Yesa reservoir

Yesa reservoir, water and problems alike

Jon Anaut Esparza

The history of the Yesa reservoir in the Pyrenees is marked by continuous problems. The obstacles have been dragging on since it was built in 1959, when its construction entailed the forced displacement of 1,500 people.

Meanwhile, in North Carolina…

DAMS’ IMPACT ON BIODIVERSITY

This article has been translated from Spanish

The Yesa reservoir was built in the Pyrenees in 1959 and it is located in an area called Prepirineo. The dam is located in Navarra, but the reservoir extends through the community of Aragon, more specifically through the province of Zaragoza. It occupies a total of 2089 hectares and receives water from the dam of the Aragón river. As the Periódico de Aragón coined it in 2004, “the history of Yesa is a story of obstacles.”

The reservoir was created to supply water to different towns and for irrigation. The water accumulated in the reservoir is also used for electricity generation. These same waters have managed to create a total of 81107.64 hectares of irrigated land, most of which is in Aragon. The reservoir supplies the city of Zaragoza and more than 35 municipalities.

Far from its impressive volume, the reservoir is marked by continuous problems that have haunted it from its very first day. The decision alone to locate it where it is currently located caused the flooding of several villages and the eviction of many others, causing more than 1,500 people to leave their homes. Villages such as Ruesta, Tiermas and Escó were abandoned because they were totally flooded or became uninhabitable due to the proximity of the water. It also affected villages upstream, such as Acín de Gacipollera, but this time due to the need to plant a pine forest to prevent the massive dragging of sediments by the rains. Even 2048 hectares of farmland were flooded, a thousand of which were of very good agricultural quality.

The inconveniences continued, as the structure itself has not ceased to give headaches.

 

From the “Yesa no” web page, a group of neighbors and activists assure that the Yesa area is not capable of supporting this kind infrastructure. In fact, the dam has suffered landslides and has had cracks for many years. When all this was already happening, a plan to increase the height of the dam was approved, which ended up outraging those people who were suffering from the dam’s problems.

 

This project was intended to triple the volume of Yesa, but the works have not gone as expected. In June 2021 the following headline was published on the Diario de Noticias website: “The State assures that it will raise Yesa even though it does not even have the safety guarantee it demanded”. Just as a few years earlier they had published another headline related to the reservoir: “A study on Yesa shows that the force supporting the dam is equal to that of a potential collapse”. There was even a “Yesa Case”, where the court ruled in favor of the defendants.

Since the works began, there have been up to three displacements and the cracks have increased. Due to these situations, the towns located beyond the dam have been forced to take preventive measures in the event of a possible rupture of the dam. Sangüesa is one of these municipalities that would be affected by such a big problem as the outflow of water from the reservoir.

Testimonies

Alicia Aisa and Igor Martínez, two neighbors from Aesa, have agreed to answer some questions on this subject.

What was the cause of the problems with the Yesa reservoir? Firstly, these problems were already anounced when the dam was built and the engineer René Petit had wrote that the dam could not be raised. Secondly, the works involve slope movements, which are causing problems such as evictions of a housing development in Yesa due to cracks and landslides on roads and homes.

What problems are those affected by the reservoir dealing with? The eviction of their homes and the imminent danger due to movements of the slopes that would entail the breakdown of the current dam that would depopulate a few municipalities without time to evacuate.

What measures have been put in place by the local and regional institutions? The only measure has been to maintain these slopes that are costing the region four times over what was budgeted at the time to do this work, insisting on finishing something that will not be viable and endangering many people, such as Sangüesa, among many other municipalities.

Would you like to send a message to the institutions? We could stop this work, since it entails more risk than benefit. There is no need to increase the size of the dam.

What is the current problem with the dam? As of today, the works continue without providing any security, evacuation plan, or notification of movements that we can count on to know what situation we are in. Some alarms have been placed in Sangüesa, but the population is unaware of their sound. There is no information about the evacuation plan, and it is well known that there would not be enough time to evacuate. There have even been people who have moved to other towns of Navarra because of fear.

What are the alternatives or solutions to these problems? The solution is to stop the expansion of the dam and stop the ongoing work.

 

Neighbors are angry because this situation is a result of the bad actions of people in power. For this reason, different initiatives have been created against the reservoir and its enlargement and, in the face of the flight forward of the directors of a certain project with the works, demonstrations have taken place to make themselves heard.

The idea of creating a reservoir to supply water for drinking and irrigation in many municipalities and lands initially appealed to all those who were going to benefit from its creation, but it is the disadvantages already mentioned.

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Energía y conservación se dan la mano en las granjas solares

Conservación y energía limpia se dan la mano en las granjas solares

Noah Tobias

Cerca de la intersección de la autopista 150 y la carretera de Sherrills Ford, en el condado de Rowan (Carolina del Norte), 20.000 paneles solares se alzan en la esquina de una granja de caballos. En medio de este océano de silicio, el mundo natural vive y respira.

Mientras tanto, en Navarra…

WIND FARMS’ IMPACT ON BIODIVERSITY

Este artículo ha sido traducido desde el inglés.

Bajo los paneles florecen plantas salvajes, y de las zanjas brotan hilos de algodoncillo. Si uno mira con atención, quizás atisbe una mariposa monarca bailando entre los capullos de color rosa pastel, con sus alas anaranjadas llenas de líneas negras y puntos blancos.

Se trata de una curiosa forma de ayudar a la delicada fauna a sobrevivir al cambio de clima y a la pérdida de hábitat. Para conservar las especies amenazadas, los ecologistas están empezando a confiar en una herramienta que tradicionalmente ha tenido una complicada relación con la biodiversidad: la energía solar.

Carolina del Norte es el cuarto estado del país en cuanto a generación de energía solar, por detrás de California, Texas y Florida. Proporcionalmente, el estado está por encima de lo que podría parecer. “Las cifras no tienen tanto que ver con el lugar donde hay sol como con el entorno normativo y económico”, afirma Liz Kalies, Directora de Ciencia de The Nature Conservancy en Carolina del Norte.

Desde sus inicio, la industria solar gozó de cierto auge en Carolina del Norte, gracias a las políticas estatales que permitieron a empresas de servicios públicos negociar acuerdos a largo plazo con instalaciones solares, poniendo en marcha una ola de financiación hacia el desarrollo de energías renovables. En 2017, los investigadores de la Universidad Estatal de Carolina del Norte predijeron que la energía solar podría aportar entre el 5 y el 20 por ciento de la electricidad de Carolina del Norte en la próxima década, requiriendo 140.000 acres de tierra.

El coste del progreso

Este progreso, sin embargo, tiene un coste. “Los promotores están empezando a quedarse sin terrenos limpios y baratos”, afirma Kalies.

Las granjas solares requieren amplias extensiones de espacio abierto para que los rayos de sol puedan llegar a las matrices. Cuanta más luz solar llegue a los paneles solares, más energía producirán. Es por ello que las empresas construyen densas redes en campos despejados.

Esta avalancha de tecnología tiene graves repercusiones en los ecosistemas locales. Las granjas solares pueden fragmentar el hábitat en trozos pequeños y dispersos, cortando las rutas de migración de los animales nómadas. “De hecho, tenemos datos que demuestran que cuando un animal llega a una zona en la que sólo hay césped, se detiene, da la vuelta y vuelve por donde ha venido”, explica Gabriela Garrison, bióloga de la N.C. Wildlife Commision.

La cantidad de tierra destinada a la deforestación y a la construcción de granjas solares en Carolina del Norte se acerca hoy a los 10.000 acres. A pesar de su pequeño tamaño, esta cifra supone la mitad del territorio reservado para huertas solares, una tendencia preocupante, ya que el sector continúa su rápido crecimiento.

Salvar las especies amenazadas

A pesar de su impacto en la fauna local, la energía solar ofrece una oportunidad única para salvar especies amenazadas.

Si los promotores instalan vallas protectoras alrededor de sus granjas, pueden crear corredores naturales para el paso de los animales. Los instaladores también pueden llenar los espacios entre y debajo de los paneles con plantas que proporcionen alimento a criaturas locales, como el algodoncillo, la única fuente de alimento para las orugas monarca.

Muchos terrenos en los que los promotores construyen huertos solares están en barbecho, lo que significa que no han sido cultivados. “No producen flores ni tienen buenas proteínas”, explica Bryan Tompkins, biólogo del Servicio de Pesca y Vida Silvestre de Estados Unidos.

El Plan de Acción Estatal para la Vida Silvestre de 2015 menciona 28 insectos como especies prioritarias en esfuerzos de conservación. El desarrollo de los campos en barbecho puede hacer que estas criaturas amenazadas vuelvan a estar al borde del abismo. Junto a diferentes empresas de energía solar, Tompkins y Garrison se dedican a plantar vegetación autóctona en las granjas solares industriales de Carolina del Norte, y los resultados han superado sus expectativas.

En un estudio realizado por The Nature Conservancy, los investigadores descubrieron una gran diferencia en el número de insectos entre las granjas solares tradicionales y estos nuevos espacios experimentales. La vuelta de especies polinizadoras a estos terrenos suponen la vuelta de la vida autóctona a unas tierras que ya la habían olvidado.

“La triste realidad es que estamos experimentando un declive en la mayoría de polinizadores”, explica Tompkins. “Hemos demostrado que no sólo es posible desarrollar estos sitios, sino que si los creas, vendrán”.

Beneficios para otras especies

Las ventajas de plantar vegetación local no se limitan únicamente a los insectos. “En el mundo de la fauna, lo llamamos hábitat de sucesión temprana”, dice Garrison. “Hay muchos beneficios para las aves que anidan en el suelo, los herpetos (reptiles y anfibios) y los pequeños mamíferos”.

Incluso la normativa impuesta por las ordenanzas locales ofrecen posibilidades de ayuda a la fauna. El productor de energía solar Birdseye Renewable Energy, obligado a plantar barreras vegetales para limitar la visibilidad de su emplazamiento, empezó a trabajar con Tompkins para cultivar setos autóctonos, que proporcionan un hábitat a las criaturas y reducen los costes.

Los árboles no autóctonos “son buenos para proteger, pero sólo si se pueden regar cada dos días”, explica Tompkins. Con los setos autóctonos, los equipos de mantenimiento rara vez tienen que segar o regar.

Una vez que un parque solar ha cosechado su último rayo de sol, normalmente después de unos 30 años, los promotores empaquetan los paneles y se deshacen de ellos, dejando atrás las plantas que crecieron cerca. Si los promotores crean ecosistemas autóctonos alrededor de sus emplazamientos, la tierra florecerá una vez que se hayan ido.

Kalies, de The Nature Conservancy, analiza la relación entre la energía solar y la fauna sensible. Dice que el éxito depende de dos factores: dónde colocan los promotores las granjas solares y qué hacen con ellas una vez construidas.

En un informe sobre el emplazamiento y el diseño de estas instalaciones, Kalies escribió que los promotores deben evitar aquellas “zonas de resistencia”, espacios que la fauna emplea para alejarse de la presencia humana. The Nature Conservancy ha trazado una red de áreas resilientes en todo Estados Unidos. Kalies sostiene que los promotores deberían trabajar en torno a estas comunidades naturales, situando los parques solares en campos vacíos y terrenos industriales. De este modo, los promotores pueden recrear y preservar los ecosistemas en lugar de destruir los que ya existen. “No deberíamos tener que elegir entre los bosques y la energía limpia”, escribió Kalies.

Kalies explica que es posible conseguir que los promotores se sumen a la conservación.

“Las empresas de servicios públicos tienen mucho poder. Intentamos hablar con las personas que toman las decisiones”, explica.

A pesar de algunas victorias, Tompkins, biólogo del Servicio de Pesca y Vida Silvestre de EE.UU., explica que aún queda trabajo por hacer. “Estoy orgulloso de lo que hemos conseguido hasta ahora, pero hay mucho más terreno que cubrir”, explica. “Hay muchos más instaladores que deben ponerse de nuestra parte”. Explica que con el apoyo de la industria solar, las especies autóctonas pueden tener ahora una oportunidad de resiliencia.

 

 

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Los buitres pavo en asentamientos humanos

Los buitres pavo, cada vez más comunes en asentamientos humanos

Jennifer Tran

En Carolina del Norte, cada vez es más común avistar buitres pavo en asentamientos rurales como Bunn, en el condado de Franklin.

Mientras tanto, en Navarra…

EL QUEBRANTAHUESOS, UNA LEYENDA EN PELIGRO

Este artículo ha sido traducido desde el inglés.

Cuando Michael Smith se sube a su coche de policía cada mañana en Bunn, Carolina del Norte, un grupo de aves grandes y negras, con características cabezas rosa, le esperan a menudo en la carretera. “Tengo que conducir despacio para no atropellarlos”, explica.

Los buitres pavo se pueden avistar en pueblos rurales como Bunn, en el condado de Franklin. La Ley Federal del Tratado de Aves Migratorias protege a estas aves y prohíbe matar, capturar, vender, comerciar y transportar estas especies sin autorización. Sin embargo, estas aves pueden causar daños a la propiedad.

Cuando se posan en las casas, los buitres pueden arrancar las tejas, el calafateado de las ventanas y el vinilo deslizante, según la Comisión de Recursos de Vida Silvestre de Carolina del Norte. También pueden arañar la pintura, arrancar los limpiaparabrisas y romper las ventanillas de los coches.

Para evitar algunos de estos inconvenientes, en diciembre de 2020 la ciudad de Bunn instaló una serie de cañones de propano sobre el gimnasio del instituto de municipal, que ya ha sido retirado.

“También tenemos una corriente eléctrica que pasa por la torre de radio del instituto para que las aves no se posen allí arriba”, explica Smith.

Pérdida de hábitat natural

No está claro por qué los buitres de pavo se reúnen en los pueblos rurales. Sunny Cooper, directora médica interina del Centro de Aves Rapaces de Carolina, explica que las aves son animales sociables, y que pueden considerar las ciudades pequeñas como lugares de reunión centrales. La deforestación ha alterado los hábitats de los buitres y puede haber empujado a las aves a un contacto más estrecho con los humanos. Los pájaros son difíciles de ignorar en las ciudades pequeñas, pero las grandes ciudades pueden tener varios dormideros repartidos por una zona más amplia que escape a la atención.

Al desaparecer los hábitats naturales, los buitres han aprovechado las estructuras construidas por el hombre, como tejados y torres de agua. El aumento de los desplazamientos humanos también implica más muertes en la carretera, por lo que estas aves tienen un incentivo para permanecer cerca de la gente.

“Son muy oportunistas con su comida, así que si hay un buen lugar de reunión que esté cerca de varias fuentes de alimento, eso es ventajoso para ellos”, explica Jennifer Tyrrell, gerente de compromiso de Audubon Carolina del Sur.

El cambio climático también contribuye a los movimientos de los buitres. La mayoría de los buitres pavos de Carolina del Norte completan su ciclo de vida en Norteamérica, con la migración a zonas más cálidas durante el invierno y a zonas más frías al norte en el verano. Como el cambio climático ha provocado el calentamiento de las latitudes septentrionales, los buitres han ocupado hábitats más al norte.

“A principios de siglo, probablemente abundasen en los estados del sureste, donde se mantuvieron durante más tiempo”, explica John Stanton, biólogo supervisor de la vida silvestre para el Servicio de Pesca y Vida Silvestre de los Estados Unidos. “Muchas poblaciones de aves disminuyeron a principios de siglo, pero los buitres de pavo han tenido un regreso bastante notable en los últimos 20 ó 30 años. Están volviendo a colonizar muchas de las zonas en las que probablemente estaban presentes en los asentamientos preeuropeos”.

Para cartografiar la distribución y abundancia de las aves en Carolina del Norte, la Comisión de Recursos de Vida Silvestre de Carolina del Norte ha lanzado un Atlas de Aves. John Carpenter, biólogo de la Comisión de Recursos de Vida Silvestre de Carolina del Norte, explica que el proyecto continuará durante al menos cuatro años. Al final de ese tiempo, los biólogos tendrán una mejor idea de dónde se reproducen y migran los buitres.

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Human allergies and climate change

Climage change might be worsening human allergies

Meg Hardesty

Living a life under the weather is far from desirable. Allergies can be pesky and a nuisance. Their symptoms take tolls on an individual’s quality of living. Because climate change influences our changing weather, it is possibly worsening how people experience their allergies.

Meanwhile, in Spain…

Forest fires in Northwest Spain

Transcription

Eighteen-year-old Kathryn Haenni remembers struggling with allergies since she was young. As a child, Kathryn experienced severe allergic reactions.

Kathryn Haenni: “When I was younger, I could never play outdoor soccer in the spring because had I played soccer with my friends on the team I would, you know, probably be crying midway through because my eyes would be so puffy.”

Kathryn says she experienced her first allergy testing around six years old. Her diagnosis is an allergy to pollen, dust, and other environmental irritants.

Kathryn Haenni: “To be 6-years-old and experience just like, I mean they’re fairly like painful pricks just up and down your back, you know, couple hundred times was definitely a painful experience and borderline traumatic. Having severe symptoms of seasonal allergies is something that dictates your choices. Because the symptoms are so severe, in order to avoid those symptoms, you have to make choices that potentially put you at a disadvantage um, you know, physically or socially or emotionally.”

Pediatric allergist and immunologist Doctor David Peden says weather patterns and our changing climate affect allergies like Kathryn’s.

Dr. Peden: “All of these basically are impacted by climate, you know, by weather and, you know, patterns of weather which we would call climate. So, the warmer the weather is, and in areas where climate change results in more airborne water versus less. And that’s going to vary depending on your region. I think climate change is important because it causes both droughts and floods as it were, so it depends on where you are. Weather and atmospheric conditions and pollution results in, you know, the pollution itself modifies a person’s response to what you’re allergic to.”

Climate change impacts our weather by inducing higher temperatures, increased precipitation, and poor air quality. These effects from climate change may increase the exposure to environmental allergens. Peden uses pollen as an example of the weather’s impact.

Dr Peden: “I think the warmer the Earth is and the longer the pollination seasons are and so if you look at this from the perspective of how do, what do trees, what environmental conditions promote tree pollination: warmer, wet weather in a very general sense is probably beneficial to them, uh, with regards to inducing pollination. The longer the pollen season is, the warmer it is and the wetter the winter is before then: the bigger the bloom of, or the burst of pollen is that there’s going to be.”

Peden says there is a caveat to the increased precipitation when it comes to rain.

Dr. Peden: “Episodic rainstorms can actually be helpful, you know, for a person who has got a lot, uh, significant outdoor allergies.”

The rain washes away the yellow and green pollen that you see on cars and sidewalks. Kathryn says she feels a sense of relief after a rainstorm in the peak pollen season.

Kathryn Haenni: “But my allergies are significantly better after it rains, um. I think that’s largely in part just because literally it washes away allergens in the air. And, I guess that being said if it hasn’t rained in a while and there’s kind of like a buildup of particulate matter, um, that definitely is going to increase my symptoms of allergies just because just there’s more that has accumulated.”

Taking allergy medicine like Claritin or other antihistamines helps to reduce allergy symptoms. Peden says some people may resort to allergy shots to alleviate symptoms in the long term. For people like Kathryn, there’s more to the weather than what meets the eye.

Kathryn Haenni: “That subsequently affects you socially because if you’re not as interested in playing outside with your friends when you’re younger or being active when you’re older with outdoor sports and things like that, um, that definitely affected my quality of life due to the choices that I made to avoid having a flare up in my symptoms.”

That goes to say climate change may be impacting our weather, and us, more than we realize. I’m Meg Hardesty in Chapel Hill.