Our planet is getting hotter, but at the same time, snow storms seem to be getting bigger. In the wake of Rhode Island’s record setting blizzard, we’re looking back at a 2022 episode of Possibly that explains what’s going on.

This episode is a rerun. It originally aired on January 24th, 2022.

Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.

Today we’re answering a question about the weather. How has climate change affected our winters? And what kind of weather can we expect in the future? Kolya Shields and Ashley Junger from our Possibly team looked into this question. Welcome, Kolya and Ashley!

Kolya Shields: Hey, Megan!

Ashley Junger: Hi, Megan!

Megan Hall: So, Kolya, let’s start with some background— here in the Northeast, what were our winters like 50 years ago?

Kolya Shields: To find out, we spoke with Harvey Leonard, a chief meteorologist on Boston Channel 5. He’s actually been forecasting the weather for more than 50 years.

Harvey Leonard: There would be times where some snow or ice, you know, maybe on the side streets by the curbs in the woods, could be on the ground to some extent from early December into March.

Megan Hall: How does that compare to the weather he sees today?

Ashley Junger: Well, Harvey says winters are getting a lot shorter.

Harvey Leonard: The frequency of a long, hard continuous winter is already less and probably will continue to be less going forward.

Megan Hall: Are our winters shorter because of climate change?

Kolya Shields: Yes. A 2021 study reported that the number of days that feel like summer is increasing because of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere released by human activity.

Ashley Junger: Scientists predict that by 2050, every US state, except for Alaska, will see fewer days with temperatures below freezing each year.

Megan Hall: But if that’s true, how do you explain some of those big snowstorms we’ve gotten over the past few years?

Kolya Shields: Yeah, I was curious about that too. I mean, the majority of New York City’s biggest snowstorms have happened in the past two decades.

Ashley Junger: To understand why, we spoke to another experienced meteorologist, TJ Del Santo, who has worked for Rhode Island channel 12 for 24 years.

TJ Del Santo: Since 1904, winters have gotten about three degrees warmer, 3.1 degrees warmer.

Kolya Shields: And this warmer weather can actually cause more snow because if air is warmer it can hold more moisture.

TJ Del Santo: 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit of warming can hold 7% more water. So the warmer it gets, the more water is available in the atmosphere for a storm.

Megan Hall: So, we can expect even more snow?

Kolya Shields: In the short term yes, but as the weather gets warmer, more and more precipitation will fall as rain, not snow.

TJ Del Santo: We’re still warming, eventually, it’s probably going to get too warm for it to snow with regularity here in southern New England.

Megan Hall: So, no more sledding in New England?

Kolya Shields: More than that- less snow will impact seasonal businesses, shift growing seasons for farmers, and change which plants and animals can thrive here . Harvey says climate change will be particularly bad for the ski industry.

Harvey Leonard: I’ve seen these tropical incursions of air, it’s gonna wipe out a snow cover, it’s just going to eat it up, number one, and  then if you abruptly get cold, you have ice. And that’s the worst thing for ski areas.

Megan Hall: That sounds bad. Is there anything we can do to prevent this from happening?

Ashley Junger: To avoid the really extreme weather, and prevent our snow from disappearing for good, we’ve got to address the things that contribute to climate change.

Kolya Shields: So, doing the stuff we talk about on this podcast all the time- invest in renewable energy, transition to electric cars, and heat our buildings with electricity not natural gas or oil.

Megan Hall: Got it. Thanks, Kolya and Ashley!

That’s it for today. You can find more information, or ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet, at askpossibly.org. You can also subscribe to Possibly wherever you get your podcasts or follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Bluesky at  “askpossibly”

Possibly is a co-production of Brown University’s Institute for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and Ocean State Media.

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Megan Hall:  Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.

Today, we have a question from one of our reporters, Kolya Shields. What do you have for us, today, Kolya?  

Kolya Shields: Well, When I’m not writing for Possibly, I’m an artist! I was wondering if I could use my passion for good — can art help fight climate change? 

Megan Hall: We had Ashley Junger from our Possibly team help Kolya look into it. Welcome, Ashley  and Kolya!

Ashley Junger: Hi, Megan!

Kolya Shields: Hello!

Megan Hall: So, can art make an impact when it comes to climate change? 

Ashley Junger: To find out, we spoke to two of the founders of the Tempestry Project, Emily McNeil and Asy Connelly, who make textile art about rising temperatures. Emily says-

Emily McNeil: “Tempestry is a word we made up that comes from temperature tapestry,” 

Kolya Shields: Asy says they make textiles by

Asy Connelly: “taking daily high temperatures, applying a color scale to that, and knitting it. Every day is a row…”

Megan Hall: Sounds like a fun project, but what can these tell us about climate change?

Kolya Shields: Well, their art is inspired by something called climate stripes. They were invented in 2018 by a climatologist named Ed Hawkins. 

Ashley Junger:  Ed Hawkins’ climate stripes include no numbers or figures. They’re just lines of color- each line represents a year’s average temperature. The colors start at dark blue for years that were cooler than average, up to bright red for years that were hotter than average.

Kolya Shields: Emily and Asy do the same thing, but with yarn.

Emily McNeil: “I’m working on one… that goes back to the year one in the Common Era. And we’ll go up to 2022. And it doesn’t get red until the 1950s. So it’s 20 feet of blue and then red at the very end.”

Ashley Junger: By using this standardized scale, communities from across the world can compare their tapestries and actually see how warming temperatures are affecting places all over the world. 

Megan Hall: So what makes this different than any other temperature graph?

Kolya Shields: According to Asy,

Asy Connelly: “it’s really easy to read an article and scroll past a chart… when somebody slows down and takes the time to like knit every row and every day… people are more I think more willing to engage with it”

Megan Hall: But don’t most people already know about climate change? 

Kolya Shields: It’s true, almost everyone has heard of climate change. But only an estimated 65% of Americans are worried about it, and even fewer think the government should do something about it. 

Ashley Junger: The more people take climate change seriously, the more they will prioritize sustainability in their own lives. Plus, Emily says  art can help scientists communicate with different audiences.

Emily McNeil: “we had one scientist… come through with his 10 year old daughter… and said something to the effect that he’s been teaching this for decades. But we explained to his daughter in 15 minutes what he hasn’t really been able to explain without scaring her”

Kolya Shields: Emily says they’ve even used this project as a tool to get people talking about climate change in their own town- they’re working with a local yarn store to make tapestries and hang them down their main street.

Megan Hall: Wow, that’s amazing! 

Kolya Shields: Yeah! Asy says sometimes art can motivate people in ways that numbers and academic papers can’t. 

Asy Connelly: “I think art is how we connect people’s emotions, which is where we make decisions and where we create movements”

Kolya Shields: While it might not directly reduce emissions, art can help tap into the emotions and stories that inspire us to make change!

Megan Hall: Awesome! Thanks, Kolya.

That’s it for today. For more information, or to ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet, go to the public’s radio dot org slash possibly. Or subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. 

You can also follow us on facebook and twitter- at “ask possibly” 

Possibly is a co-production of The Public’s Radio,  Brown University’s Institute for Environment and Society, and Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative.

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Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.

Today, we have a question from a listener named Alissa.

She wants to know what happens to the batteries for electric cars once they die– “Can all of those be recyclable? What’s their life expectancy? 

Megan Hall: Thanks for the question, Alissa! We had Kolya Shields and Ashley Junger from our Possibly Team look into this. Welcome, Kolya and Ashley! 

Kolya Shields: Hi, Megan! 

Ashley Junger: Hello! 

Megan Hall: When we talk about electric vehicles, there’s always a sticking point: the battery. So what does happen to electric vehicle batteries when they die? 

Kolya Shields: Well, first, let’s define what we mean by “die.”

Ashley Junger: When EV batteries are declared dead, they can actually still hold a charge. Car manufacturers recommend that owners should get a new battery when its capacity is below 80%. 

Megan Hall: How long does it take for that to happen?

Kolya Shields: Scientists and manufacturers are working to extend this, but right now the lifespan of a battery for an electric vehicle is about 7-14 years, depending on the car, how much you use it, and even where you live. 

Megan Hall: Wow! I didn’t realize an EV would need multiple batteries over its lifetime.

Kolya Shields: Yes, but because the electric vehicle market is so new, battery recycling won’t become a big problem for a few more years, when batteries from the first large batches of electric cars expire. 

Ashley Junger: But, there’s a fast-developing group of companies and organizations working to find the best ways to recycle and reuse batteries. 

Megan Hall: So right now, what percent of batteries are actually being recycled?

Kolya Shields: Only about 5% of lithium-ion batteries, the most popular type for car batteries, are recycled right now.

Megan Hall: Wow! Why is that number so low?

Meg Slattery: “Generally, with recycling, it’s not so much a question of whether it’s recyclable, technically or scientifically, it’s more a question of whether it’s economic to recycle it. 

Ashley Junger: That’s Meg Slattery, a Ph.D. student at UC Davis who is studying lithium-ion batteries. She says, when it comes to the economics of recycling, experts look at-

Meg Slattery: whether the value of the materials that are being recovered through the process are more valuable than whatever the cost is to process them.

Megan Hall: So, the materials in a used battery for an electric car aren’t really worth the cost of recycling them?

Kolya Shields: It’s more that the process for breaking the batteries into their components isn’t especially streamlined because each battery maker has a different design.

Ashley Junger: The cheapest battery breakdown methods are inefficient and create extra emissions, while more effective methods require extra labor, which makes them more expensive. 

Kolya Shields: But Meg says regulations could go a long way.

Meg Slattery: Other countries, they have extended producer responsibility. So saying the producer is responsible for… the collecting and processing the battery end of life and making sure that they’re recycled and kind of covering those costs.”

Megan Hall: How big of a deal is electric vehicle battery recycling? Should I be thinking about where our batteries might go when I’m looking for an electric car?

Ashley Junger: It’s true that the process for creating an electric car battery involves a lot of heavy metals and creates greenhouse gas emissions, but it still creates less environmental damage than a gas car. 

Megan Hall: Really? 

Kolya Shields: Yes. According to an analysis published this year, even when you factor in the materials of an electric car, how it’s built, and what happens to it when it’s no longer usable, its emissions are around 70% less than the emissions for a gas-powered car.

Ashley Junger: and that reduction is even more when you charge your car with renewable energy.

Megan Hall: Awesome! That sounds like good news. Thanks, Kolya and Ashley! 

That’s it for today. For more information, or to ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet, go to the public’s radio dot org slash possibly. Or subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. 

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter- at “ask possibly” 

Possibly is a co-production of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and the Public’s Radio.

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Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.

Today, we have a question from a listener. 

Michael: Hi, I’m Michael, I’m from Charlestown, Rhode Island. My question is: Does a charger still use some power when it’s plugged into an outlet but not connected to a phone or other device?

Megan Hall: Thanks for the question, Michael! We had Kolya Shields and Ashley Junger from our Possibly Team look into this. Welcome, Kolya and Ashley! 

Kolya Shields: Hi, Megan! 

Ashley Junger: Hello! 

Megan Hall: So, are the chargers all around my house using electricity right now?

Kolya Shields: The short answer is yes. To find out more, I spoke with Arthur Shi, who is an electrical engineer and technical writer at iFixit, a technology repair company.

Arthur Shi: “Most appliances use a bit of power when they’re plugged in. This is known as idle load or standby power or vampire power”

Ashley Junger: So this includes things like washers, dryers, and TVs, but also things like phone chargers, with or without a phone plugged in! 

Megan Hall: So Michael asked about when a charger is plugged in with no device attached. How big a deal is that alone? 

Ashley Junger: Small chargers without devices really don’t have much of an impact. According to research out of Berkeley Labs, a wall charger without a phone plugged uses about .26 Watts. 

Megan Hall: Is that .26 Watts a minute?

Ashley Junger: No. An hour. It’s not very much. Let’s put it this way- if the charger is plugged in for the entire year, it would only use about 30 cents worth of electricity. 

Kolya Shields: But other devices use much more energy, and those amounts can add up quickly. Arthur actually did some tests for us with a power meter to find the biggest energy sucks around his house.

Arthur Shi: Microwave was using three watts at idle. My internet router, and modem, we’re definitely using a lot more, there are about six to eight watts, each. The one that I found out used the most was the TV. When it was on active standby. It was pulling 37 watts of power, because it was ready to be turned on at a moment’s notice.

Megan Hall: 37 watts just sitting there! That sounds like a lot. 

Ashley Junger: It is. To put that in context, the average hourly standby power use of an entire house is around 164 watts, meaning that his TV alone was probably responsible for about a quarter of that power use.

Megan Hall: Why do some devices use more energy than others? I mean, all of them are just sitting there.

Kolya Shields: Arthur said it depends on age and connectivity. For example, new smart devices like Alexa are constantly connected to the internet and pulling power. 

Megan Hall: So how big a deal is this so-called “Vampire Energy”? It can’t end up being that much electricity, right?

Ashley Junger: Actually, vampire energy is a big deal! It accounts for about a quarter of all residential energy use. 

Kolya Shields: That equals about 19 billion dollars worth of energy each year—or about 165 dollars per U.S. household on average.

Megan Hall: So, going back to Mike’s question, do I really need to unplug my phone charger whenever I’m not using it?

Kolya Shields: Unplugging chargers will save you a little energy, but to be a real vampire-slayer, you should focus on the devices that use the most idle energy, like TVs and smart devices!

Ashley Junger: Hooking multiple devices to one power strip and turning it off at the end of your day is an easy way to speed this process up.

Kolya Shields: And if you want to cut down on your energy use even more, Arthur recommends doing a home energy audit, where you figure out which devices and appliances have the biggest power load.

Megan Hall: Awesome! Thanks, Kolya and Ashley! 

That’s it for today. For more information, or to ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet, go to the public’s radio dot org slash possibly. Or subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. 

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter- at “ask possibly” 

Possibly is a co-production of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and the Public’s Radio.

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Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall. 

Today we’re answering a question about sustainable travel. What’s the best way to take a trip down the east coast? Kolya Shields and Ashley Junger from our Possibly team looked into this question. 

Welcome, Kolya and Ashley!

Kolya Shields: Hey, Megan!

Ashley Junger: Hi, Megan!

Megan Hall: So, Kolya, what travel route are we focusing on today?

Kolya Shields: Today we’re looking at traveling alone from Boston, Massachusetts to Washington, D.C. I end up taking this trip for school and work about once a year, and never know the best way to do it! 

Megan Hall: So, what is the best way? 

Ashley Junger: Well, if you’re talking about emissions, it’s definitely not driving a gas powered car. Driving that journey by yourself releases about 400 pounds of CO2 

Megan Hall: How does that compare to flying?

Kolya Shields: We’ve done other episodes on this, and it’s kind of complicated, but if you’re traveling alone, driving creates more emissions than a plane trip.

Megan Hall: So, I should fly instead of drive?

Ashley Junger: Not so fast! You have other options!

Kolya Shields: There’s always taking the bus. When you fit a lot of people into one vehicle, you cut down on your emissions.

Ashley Junger: So, as long as the bus is relatively full, you’ll be creating fewer emissions per person. 

Kolya Shields: There’s also driving an electric car. That’s even better than a bus. It creates a quarter of the emissions of a gas car.  

Ashley Junger: And if you take an electric train it’s even better!

Megan Hall: Ok, too many options. Can you rank them for me?

Kolya Shields: Sure! Focusing solely on carbon emissions, if you’re traveling alone, it would go, from best to worst, (1) Electric train (2) Electric car (2) closely followed by a bus (3) then flying (4) and lastly a gas-powered car.

Megan Hall: But what’s the time trade-off?

Kolya Shields: Well, a direct flight is about an hour and 45 minutes, but you have to get to the airport, get there 1 hour early, and deal with security, So it can easily take me more than 5 hours door to door when I go. 

Ashley Junger: Even then, it’s still faster than a 7 hour Acela train or about an 8-hour car or bus ride. 

Kolya Shields: But let’s face it, it’s about a day’s travel no matter how you go. And if you’re able to use a train or bus, you’ll be responsible for a fraction of the carbon emissions.

Megan Hall: Awesome! Thanks, Kolya and Ashley! 

That’s it for today.

You can follow us on Facebook and Twitter. 

Possibly is a co-production of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and The Public’s Radio.

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Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall. 

Today we’re answering a question about the weather. How has climate change affected our winters? And what kind of weather can we expect in the future? Kolya Shields and Ashley Junger from our Possibly team looked into this question. Welcome, Kolya!

Kolya Shields: Hey, Megan!

Ashley Junger: Hi, Megan!

Megan Hall: So, Kolya, let’s start with some background— here in the Northeast, what were our winters like 50 years ago? 

Kolya Shields: To find out, we spoke with Harvey Leonard, a chief meteorologist on Boston Channel 5… He’s actually been forecasting the weather for more than 50 years.

Harvey Leonard [7:03 – 7:13]: “there would be times where some snow or ice, you know, maybe on the side streets by the curbs in the woods, could be on the ground to some extent from early December into March”

Megan Hall: How does that compare to the weather he sees today? 

Ashley Junger: Well, Harvey says winters are getting a lot shorter. 

Harvey Leonard: the frequency of a long, hard continuous winter is already less and probably will continue to be less going forward.

Megan Hall: Are our winters shorter because of climate change? 

Kolya Shields: Yes. a 2021 study reported that the number of days that feel like summer is increasing because of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere released by human activity.  

Ashley Junger: Scientists predict that by 2050, every US state, except for Alaska, will see fewer days with temperatures below freezing each year1. 

Megan Hall: But if that’s true, how do you explain some of those big snowstorms we’ve gotten over the past few years?

Kolya Shields: Yeah, I was curious about that too. I mean, the majority of New York City’s biggest snowstorms have happened in the past two decades. 

Ashley Junger: To understand why, we spoke to another experienced meteorologist, TJ Del Santo, who has worked for Rhode Island channel 12 for 24 years. 

TJ Del Santo: … winters have gotten about three degrees warmer, 3.1 degrees warmer since 1904.

Kolya Shields: And this warmer weather can actually cause more snow because if air is warmer it can hold more moisture.

TJ Del Santo: 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit of warming can hold 7% more water. So the warmer it gets, the more water is available in the atmosphere for a storm.”

Megan Hall: So, we can expect even more snow?

Kolya Shields: In the short term yes, but as the weather gets warmer, more and more precipitation will fall as rain, not snow.

TJ Del Santo: We’re still warming, eventually, it’s probably going to get too warm for it to snow with regularity here in southern New England.”

Megan Hall: So, no more sledding in New England?

Kolya Shields: More than that- less snow will impact seasonal businesses, shift growing seasons for farmers, and change which plants and animals can thrive here . Harvey says climate change will be particularly bad for the ski industry.

Harvey Leonard: I’ve seen these tropical incursions of air… it’s gonna wipe out a snow cover, it’s just going to eat it up, number one, and… then if you abruptly get cold, you have ice. And that’s the worst thing for ski areas.

Megan Hall: That sounds bad. Is there anything we can do to prevent this from happening? 

Ashley Junger: To avoid the really extreme weather, and prevent our snow from disappearing for good, we’ve got to address the things that contribute to climate change. 

Kolya Shields: So, doing the stuff we talk about on this podcast all the time- invest in renewable energy, transition to electric cars, and heat our buildings with electricity not natural gas or oil. 

Megan Hall: Got it. Thanks, Kolya and Ashley! 

That’s it for today. For more information, or to ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet, go to the public’s radio dot org slash possibly. Or subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. 

You can also follow us on facebook and twitter.

Possibly is a co-production of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and the Public’s Radio.

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