This episode first aired in October, 2019

First, some good news – the metal cans and litter that come with having a cat aren’t that big a deal when you compare them to the rest of the recycling and trash coming out of your house.

The bigger concern is what happens when your cat goes outdoors. Because there are more domestic cats than wild predators, cats kill an unnatural amount of birds and small mammals– a few million every day in the U.S.! Also, when cats go to the bathroom outside, they can pollute water sources or spread parasites to wild animals. 

The simplest solution is just to keep your cat inside, but if that’s not possible, make sure your cat is spayed or neutered, so they don’t increase the population of feral cats. And try putting a bell or a flashy collar on your cat to warn away any birds and rodents.

Megan: 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 listener Sophie O’Connell. She wrote “I worry about the environmental “pawprint,” of my cats. What can I do?” 

We have Molly Magid and Alina Kulman in the studio today to answer this question. Welcome Molly and Alina!

Molly: Hi Megan!

Alina: Hello!

Megan: So, what did you find out?

Molly: Well, we visited Sophie at home, right around feeding time for her two cats. 

Sophie: *meowing + eating sounds* I just started to feel like we were going through a lot of cans of cat food a lot of cat litter. None of it seemed particularly healthy.

Molly: She told us that she thinks a lot about those metal cans and also the bags of litter that pile up every week.

Megan: Alright, well did you have suggestions for what she could do?

Alina: Yep! First we told her some good news: the metal cans and litter aren’t that big a deal, when you compare them to the rest of the recycling and trash coming out of her house.

Molly: However, one of Sophie’s cats, Little Bear, often goes outside, and outdoor cats are a big environmental concern.

Megan: Why are outdoor cats so bad?

Alina: Well for one thing, they can kill a lot of birds and small mammals– a few million every day in the U.S. alone!

Megan: So what? Animals kill other animals. It’s the circle of life.

Alina: Well, domestic cats kill an unnaturally high amount of prey, since there are more domestic cats than wild predators. 

Molly: Also, when outdoor cats go to the bathroom outside, they can pollute water sources or spread parasites to wild animals. 

Alina: And if they aren’t spayed or neutered, they can increase the population of feral cats- who cause the most problems when it comes to hunting and spreading disease.  

Megan: So is Sophie going to start keeping her cat indoors?

Molly: Well, she’s not sure if her cat really does much outside.  

Sophie: She thinks she’s tough and then she sits on the porch most of the time.

Megan: Ok but not every outdoor cat is as tame as Sophie’s, so what should you do if you have one that’s a big hunter?

Alina: Well the simplest solution is just to keep your cat inside, but if that’s not possible, make sure your cat is spayed or neutered.

Molly: And try putting a bell or a flashy collar on your cat to warn away any birds and rodents.  

Megan: Great! Thanks Molly and Alina!

That’s it for today. For more information or to ask a question about the way you recycle, use energy, or make any other choice that affects the planet, visit our question page.

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

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This article was originally published on November 18, 2019

The short answer is you should use a space heater and keep the house at a lower temperature, since it’s more efficient than heating the entire area of the house. However, if you’re concerned about your emissions, you can replace an oil or gas furnace with a heat pump which runs on electricity. You can also sign up to get your electricity from sources that are 100% renewable.

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 Barbara. She says, “I only need one room heated during the day. Should I use a space heater or heat the whole house?”

Molly Magid and Alina Kulman from our Possibly team looked into this question.. Welcome Molly and Alina!

Molly Magid: Hi Megan

Alina Kulman: Hello!

Megan Hall: So, should Barbara heat one room with a space heater or warm up her entire house?

Molly Magid: Well we visited Barbara at home to learn more.

Alina Kulman: First, she showed us her thermostat

Barbara: This is where the thermostat is. It’s like all the way down to 55.

Molly Magid: After she sets the temperature at 55, she turns her space heater on.

Barbara: That’s my antiquated space heater. I have it plugged into a lamp timer so that it only goes on at certain times of the day

Alina Kulman: Barbara says she keeps the heater on for nine hours and then turns her thermostat up to 68 degrees after turning it off.

Megan Hall: And how many emissions does using the space heater create?

Molly Magid: Based on the type of space heater she uses and the amount of time it runs, we were able to calculate that it produces about 11 pounds of CO2 emissions.

Megan Hall: How does that compare to the emissions from heating the whole house at 68 degrees during the day?

Alina Kulman: Well, Barbara has an oil furnace. So, based on our rough calculations, if she heated the entire house, she’d produce about ten times the emissions of using the space heater.

Megan Hall: Wow! So, does that mean the space heater is more efficient than her oil furnace?

Molly Magid: Not really. That’s just because her house is about 10 times the size of the room she heats during the day.

Alina Kulman: Space heaters in general are less efficient than oil furnaces. If she heated her whole house with space heaters, that would actually produce more CO2 than heating the house with oil.

Megan Hall: So, are you saying an oil furnace is better than an electric heater?

Molly Magid: That’s a tricky question to answer. On the one hand, her electric space heater has to work a lot harder than the oil furnace to create the same amount of heat. So, it uses more energy.

Alina Kulman: Right now, this creates more emissions, because in Rhode Island her electricity comes from power plants that burn mostly natural gas.

Molly Magid: But if Barbara got her electricity from a renewable source like wind or solar power, the space heater would produce almost zero emissions.

Megan Hall: And that’s because sources of renewable electricity create almost no emissions?

Molly Magid: Exactly!

Megan Hall: So, what’s the answer to Barbara’s question? Should she use a space heater to heat one room during the day?

Alina Kulman: Yes. It’s definitely more efficient to heat one room instead of the whole house, even if you’re using an antique space heater.

Molly Magid: But, if Barbara is concerned about her emissions she could take a few more steps.

Alina Kulman: First, she could sign-up to get her electricity from sources that are 100% renewable. In Rhode Island, this option is available from a handful of companies that work directly with National Grid.

Molly Magid: Second, she could replace her oil furnace with something called an air source heat pump. Heat pumps run on electricity and are much more efficient than her old space heater or her oil furnace.

Alina Kulman: There are even rebates to help her make the switch.

Megan Hall: Great! Thanks Molly and Alina

That’s it for today. For more information or to ask a question about the way you recycle, use energy, or make any other choice that affects the planet, go to “the public’s radio dot org slash possibly”

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

Resources

1. National Grid GreenUp Energy Providers

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Beef is responsible for way more emissions than charcoal. Let’s say you grilled 10 hamburgers over the course of an hour. Raising and transporting the meat in those burgers would be 7x the emissions of grilling them. If you’re grilling, use propane if you can, but more importantly, substitute in some chicken or vegetables for hamburgers and hot dogs.

If you have a question for Possibly, please use our short question form.

[originally broadcast in August, 2019]

Megan: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet… And use science to find everyday solutions.

I’m Megan Hall.

School’s out and the weather is warmer. For a lot of us, that means it’s grilling season. But if you’re cooking outside this summer, what’s better for your carbon footprint- using gas or charcoal?

We had Alina Kulman and Molly Magid from our Possibly team look into this. Welcome Alina and Molly!

Alina: Hi Megan

Molly: Hello.

Megan: So, what did you find out?

Alina: Well, one study found that grilling with charcoal for an hour produces three times the emissions of grilling with gas.

Megan: Why is charcoal so much worse than gas?

Molly: Well, charcoal is made from trees, and deforestation is a big contributor to climate change. And to turn wood into charcoal, you have to burn it at a high temperature, which releases a lot of CO2.

Alina: And once you start grilling, charcoal produces even more emissions since it keep burning. even after the food is off the grill.

Megan: But what about people who just love the taste of charcoal grilling?

Alina: He found someone like that. Kurt Teichert is an environmental studies professor at Brown University. He prefers grilling on charcoal, but he almost never goes out to buy it.

Kurt: most of the wood that I use is salvaged so its limbs that come down, or you know if I’ve got to prune a tree back I tend to hang onto that.

Molly: Kurt makes his own charcoal by cooking with wood that otherwise would have been thrown away. He even uses popsicle sticks as kindling.

Megan: That sounds like a lot of work. Is it worth the effort?

Molly: Actually, yes. In the same study that looked at grilling methods, researchers found that using fallen or salvaged wood for charcoal produces less emissions than grilling with gas.

Megan: Ok, but can we really expect everyone to grill with leftover popsicle sticks?

Alina: Most people probably don’t have the time or energy to collect their own wood. But ultimately…

Kurt: what you’re putting on that grill has much more the potential footprint than what you’re using to grill it.

Molly: Kurt’s right. Beef is responsible for way more emissions than charcoal. Let’s say you grilled 10 hamburgers over the course of an hour. Raising and transporting the meat in those burgers would be 7x the emissions of grilling them.

Megan: So, what’s the take-away here?

Alina: If you’re grilling, use propane if you can, but more importantly, substitute in some chicken or vegetables for hamburgers and hot dogs.

Megan: Thanks for looking into this, Molly and Alina!

Megan: That’s it for today. For more information or to ask a question about the way you recycle, use energy, or make any other choice that affects the planet, use our short question form.

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Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and use science to find everyday solutions.

I’m Megan Hall. In the US, one out of five households don’t use a dishwasher because they think it uses more water and energy than washing by hand. So, we wanted to test this out: is hand washing really more efficient than using a dishwasher? 

Alina Kulman and Molly Magid from our Possibly team put this question to the test. Welcome Alina and Molly.

Alina Kulman: Hi Megan!

Molly Magid: Hello!

Megan Hall: So, what did you find out?

Alina Kulman: Well, we went to Molly’s house since she has a dishwasher. 

Molly Magid: I told my roommates to stop washing their dishes for a few days, so we had a stack of dirty dishes ready.

Alina Kulman: We put a five-gallon bucket beneath the faucet and measured the temperature of the warm water. Molly got ready to wash the dishes.

Molly Magid: We’ve got a new sponge for this! (washing noises)

Alina Kulman: …you now have a bucket full of soapy, dirty water.

Molly Magid: After the first bucket filled up, I dumped the water and started washing again. 

Alina Kulman: I mean it’s just crazy to see fully how much water you’re actually using because I use probably a similar amount.

Molly Magid: Yeah usually the water just goes down the drain and you don’t have to think about the total amount you’re using.

Megan Hall: Ok so how much water did you end up using to wash the dishes?

Alina Kulman: Molly used three full buckets which totaled fifteen gallons of water

Molly Magid: Based on the temperature of the water, we were able to calculate that heating it with gas released about 900g of CO2.

Megan Hall: How does that compare to the water and energy used by the dishwasher?

Molly Magid: Well, I have a newer dishwasher made by Bosch. And according to the company’s calculations, a typical wash cycle uses about 1 gallon of water and releases about 260g of CO2.

Alina Kulman: That means that when we hand washed the dishes, we used 15 times more water and about 4 times more energy than the dishwasher!

Megan Hall: Wow! So everyone should just use their dishwasher?

Molly Magid: According to our research, older dishwashers still have better water and energy use than hand washing. And you can save even more if you don’t pre-rinse your dishes and just scrape off any food scraps.

Alina Kulman: But if you don’t have a dishwasher or you’re washing a set of fancy china by hand, you can fill a bin in the sink with hot soapy water.

Molly Magid: That’ll use less water and energy because the faucet isn’t constantly running, and you only have to change the water when it gets dirty. 

Megan Hall: Great! Thanks Alina and Molly. 

That’s it for today. For more information or to ask a question about the way you recycle, use energy, or make any other choice that affects the planet, visit our question page.

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

Check our work!

These are the calculations we did for this episode

Hand Washing: 

Water used = 15 gallons

Temperature of water = 100° Fahrenheit

Temp Change = 100-65 = 35° Fahrenheit

Q(heat) = 35*56781.18*4.184 = 8,315,036 J= 8,315 KJ of heat = 2.309 KWh

For RI electricity: 870.8 lbs/MWh = 0.394988236 kg/KWh (from: http://bit.ly/2kGu5t0)

Amount of CO2 released: 0.394988236 * 2.309 = 0.912317 kg CO2 = 912.3 g CO2

Bosch Dishwasher:

Uses 1 gal/wash and 0.67 KWH/wash, (from: http://bit.ly/2m1yB5j)

Water used = 1 gallon

For RI electricity: 870.8 lbs/MWh = 0.394988236 kg/KWh (from: http://bit.ly/2kGu5t0)

Amount of CO2 released: 0.67 KWH * 0.394988236 kg/KWh = 264.6 g CO2 

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The skimmer removes trash and oil sheen from the river- it collected about 3,000 pounds in the first six months of its operation. It doesn’t collect all the trash that washes in from the streets, but it does its best to collect trash that would otherwise get into the ocean and be even more difficult to get out. Other ways we can help prevent water pollution are to put trash into closed dumpsters or trash cans and to plant lawns that don’t require fertilizer or pesticides.

Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and use science to find everyday solutions. I’m Megan Hall.

If you walk along the Providence River near the Hot Club, you might notice something that looks like a small dumpster in the water. It’s called a “trash skimmer.”

We had Molly Magid and Alina Kulman from our Possibly team investigate what this device is doing. Welcome Molly and Alina!

Molly Magid: Hi Megan!

Alina Kulman: Hello!

Megan Hall: So what does the trash skimmer do? 

Alina Kulman: To find out, we talked with Sara Canuel, the education director at the Woonasquatucket Rivershed Council. She told us the skimmer is there to remove pollution from the river.

Molly Magid: She says that all sorts of trash ends up in the skimmer…

Sara Canuel: I found a dog bowl once and a couch cushion. That was really weird.

Megan Hall: Ok, so how does it work?

Molly Magid: First, a small current pulls trash and oil from the river into the skimmer. Then..

Sara Canuel: The gates that are on the side are almost like a doggy door where it’s trapped inside

Alina Kulman: Every morning, someone from the Hot Club empties the skimmer out and the process starts all over again. 

Megan Hall: So how much trash has the skimmer collected?

Alina Kulman: In its first six months in the water, it  pulled in about three thousand pounds of trash.

Megan Hall: Is that a lot?

Molly Magid: Well, in 2018, all of the coastal clean-ups hosted by Save the Bay collected about 13,000 pounds of trash. If the trash skimmer continues at this rate, it will collect about half that much this year. 

Alina Kulman: We know the trash skimmer isn’t collecting everything. But is catching a lot of junk before it gets into the ocean where it’s much harder to collect.

Molly Magid: Sara says it’s satisfying to see the skimmer chipping away at a pretty overwhelming problem.

Sara Canuel: In the environmental field in general it really hard to not slip into like the doom and gloom of it all…the silver lining is that there are things that help and make a difference

Megan Hall: But how did all that trash end up in the river in the first place?

Molly Magid: Well trash from the street travels by wind and rain to the lowest place in the city, which is the Providence River watershed. 

Alina Kulman: This means, if we want to keep that junk out of the river, we can start by picking up litter on the streets and putting our waste in dumpsters or trash cans with lids.

Molly Magid: And the city of Providence has already done one thing that might help- It passed a  ban on plastic bags earlier this year.

Alina Kulman: Plastic bags are one of the most common pieces of trash found in the ocean, so skipping single-use bags in Providence might cut down on the waste that ends up in the bay.. 

Megan Hall: What else can we do to prevent river pollution?

Alina Kulman: Well since the skimmer doesn’t take chemicals out of the water, we can help keep the river clean by bringing household chemicals like bleach to disposal facilities instead of pouring them down the drain.

Molly Magid: We can also limit the chemicals we use on our lawns by planting things that don’t need fertilizer and pesticides.  

Megan Hall: Great! Thanks Alina and Molly!

That’s it for today. For more information or to ask a question about the way you recycle, use energy, or make any other choice that affects the planet, go to “the public’s radio dot org slash possibly.” Or subscribe to Possibly wherever you get your podcasts. 

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

Resources

1. https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20190815/voracious-providence-river-trash-skimmer-traps-up-to-150-pounds-day
2. Save the Bay Rhode Island 2018 Report https://www.savebay.org/wp-content/uploads/ICC-Brochure-1.18.19-for-WEB.pdf 
3. http://atoz.rirrc.org/– Search tool to determine the best way to dispose your waste

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By far, the worst food product in terms of carbon emissions is beef. The average American eats a pound of beef per week, which is equivalent to the emissions of driving from Providence to Newport. Beef has high emissions partly because of the huge amount of fossil fuels that are used to feed and raise cows. Cutting down on your beef consumption is one of the quickest ways to limit your impact on the planet.

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.

Megan Hall: Agriculture is responsible for roughly 10% of America’s greenhouse gas emissions. But making that snap judgment about the most eco friendly things to buy the grocery store can be hard. So, we brought in Alina Kulman and Molly Magid from our Possibly team to help out. Welcome Alina and Molly!

Alina Kulman: Hi!

Molly Magid: Hello!

Megan Hall: Where did you start?

Alina Kulman: We were thinking about how to talk about carbon emissions of food, when we heard about this approach at a cafeteria in Sweden.

Sohini Ramachandran: In big letters it said “Our climate, our choice, every day.”

Molly Magid: Sohini Ramachandran, a professor at Brown, told us about this poster that showed the emissions required to produce and transport different kinds of food, like lettuce, fish, and red meat. The graph showed how many miles you would have to drive to produce the emissions that were created making your meal.

Alina Kulman: She picked the vegetarian option that day because it had the lowest emissions.

Sohini Ramachandran: In Providence, if you told me, “Oh if you eat that, that’s like driving from here to Montreal, versus driving from here to Boston,” like I would for sure pick the latter.

Megan Hall: So what food is equivalent to the longest driving distance?

Alina Kulman: By far, it’s beef, which is associated with five times the greenhouse gas emissions of chicken.

Molly Magid: And Americans eat a lot of beef – approximately 1 pound a week.

Alina Kulman: Eating a pound of beef would be roughly equivalent to the CO2 emissions of using a gallon of gas – so like driving from Providence to Newport.

Molly Magid: That might not seem like that far, but it can quickly start to add up. If a family ate 4 pounds of beef per week, by the end of the month, those emissions would be the equivalent of driving from Providence to Montreal.

Megan Hall: What is it about beef that leads to all these greenhouse gas emissions?

Alina Kulman: Well a lot of land and energy is used to grow crops to feed cows. In the US, the land we use to grow corn and soybeans to feed cows could cover the entire state of North Dakota. And all that farming uses a lot of fossil fuel.

Megan Hall: What about methane emissions, doesn’t that have something to do with cow farts?

Alina Kulman: It’s actually cow burps. Cows have an extra compartment in their digestive tract called a rumen, for digesting grasses and other plants. That makes them burp out methane.

Molly Magid: And methane is a stronger greenhouse gas than CO2 and about a quarter of worldwide methane emissions are from animals with this extra stomach compartment, mainly cattle.

Alina Kulman: There are also the consequences of deforestation, which isn’t a huge problem in the US. But in places like Brazil, cattle farmers have cut down rainforests to graze their cows and grow feed.

Megan Hall: So is there any way to eat beef sustainably, like by buying locally?

Molly Magid: Honestly, not really. Buying beef from a farmer’s market might do a little to save on transportation emissions, but it won’t significantly reduce its total carbon footprint.

Alina Kulman: Ideally, to lower our carbon footprints, we’d all reduce or eliminate beef in our diets.

Molly Magid: To put all of this in perspective, if a family cut their beef consumption in half, it would be more like driving from Providence to New York City once a month, instead of all the way to Montreal. It’s one of the quickest and easiest ways to lower your carbon footprint.

Megan Hall: Thanks Alina and Molly! That’s it for today. For more information or to ask a question about the way you recycle, use energy, or make any other choice that affects the planet, go to “the public’s radio dot org slash possibly.”

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

 References

1. “Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions” https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions
2. Martin C Heller et al 2018 Environ. Res. Lett. 13 044004
3. “Per Capita Red Meat and Poultry Disappearance: Insights Into Its Steady Growth” https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2018/june/per-capita-red-meat-and-poultry-disappearance-insights-into-its-steady-growth/
4. “Potential for Reduced Methane from Cows” https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190708112514.htm
5. “Best and Worst Gas Mileage 2018” https://www.cars.com/articles/best-and-worst-gas-mileage-2018-1420698621218/
6. “How Can a Gallon of Gas Produce 20 pounds of Carbon Dioxide” https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/contentIncludes/co2_inc.htm
7. “Meat-eater’s Guide to Climate Change and Health” http://static.ewg.org/reports/2011/meateaters/pdf/methodology_ewg_meat_eaters_guide_to_health_and_climate_2011.pdf

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First, some good news – the metal cans and litter that come with having a cat aren’t that big a deal when you compare them to the rest of the recycling and trash coming out of your house.

The bigger concern is what happens when your cat goes outdoors. Because there are more domestic cats than wild predators, cats kill an unnatural amount of birds and small mammals– a few million every day in the U.S.! Also, when cats go to the bathroom outside, they can pollute water sources or spread parasites to wild animals. 

The simplest solution is just to keep your cat inside, but if that’s not possible, make sure your cat is spayed or neutered, so they don’t increase the population of feral cats. And try putting a bell or a flashy collar on your cat to warn away any birds and rodents.

Megan: 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 listener Sophie O’Connell. She wrote “I worry about the environmental “pawprint,” of my cats. What can I do?” 

We have Molly Magid and Alina Kulman in the studio today to answer this question. Welcome Molly and Alina!

Molly: Hi Megan!

Alina: Hello!

Megan: So, what did you find out?

Molly: Well, we visited Sophie at home, right around feeding time for her two cats. 

Sophie: *meowing + eating sounds* I just started to feel like we were going through a lot of cans of cat food a lot of cat litter. None of it seemed particularly healthy.

Molly: She told us that she thinks a lot about those metal cans and also the bags of litter that pile up every week.

Megan: Alright, well did you have suggestions for what she could do?

Alina: Yep! First we told her some good news: the metal cans and litter aren’t that big a deal, when you compare them to the rest of the recycling and trash coming out of her house.

Molly: However, one of Sophie’s cats, Little Bear, often goes outside, and outdoor cats are a big environmental concern.

Megan: Why are outdoor cats so bad?

Alina: Well for one thing, they can kill a lot of birds and small mammals– a few million every day in the U.S. alone!

Megan: So what? Animals kill other animals. It’s the circle of life.

Alina: Well, domestic cats kill an unnaturally high amount of prey, since there are more domestic cats than wild predators. 

Molly: Also, when outdoor cats go to the bathroom outside, they can pollute water sources or spread parasites to wild animals. 

Alina: And if they aren’t spayed or neutered, they can increase the population of feral cats- who cause the most problems when it comes to hunting and spreading disease.   

Megan: So is Sophie going to start keeping her cat indoors?

Molly: Well, she’s not sure if her cat really does much outside.  

Sophie: She thinks she’s tough and then she sits on the porch most of the 

time.

Megan: Ok but not every outdoor cat is as tame as Sophie’s, so what should you do if you have one that’s a big hunter?

Alina: Well the simplest solution is just to keep your cat inside, but if that’s not possible, make sure your cat is spayed or neutered.

Molly: And try putting a bell or a flashy collar on your cat to warn away any birds and rodents.  

Megan: Great! Thanks Molly and Alina!

That’s it for today. For more information or to ask a question about the way you recycle, use energy, or make any other choice that affects the planet, visit our question page.

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

References

1.   https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380

2.   https://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/full/10.2460/javma.229.1.74

3.   https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/1360/1/regulation_of_domestic_cat_ownership.pdf

4.   https://academic.oup.com/advances/article/4/2/141/4591622

5.   https://www-cambridge-org.revproxy.brown.edu/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/4C395D62B8970EF115F5AB5FC57B6C0B/S2048679014000238a.pdf/protein_quality_of_insects_as_potential_ingredients_for_dog_and_cat_foods.pdf

6.   https://www.theguardian.com/global/2018/jun/26/pet-food-is-an-environmental-disaster-are-vegan-dogs-the-answer

7.   https://www.audubon.org/news/how-stop-cats-killing-birds

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Based on our research, the energy and water use for both is about equal. So, go ahead and wash those bags, but try to keep the water temperature low. And if you have a particularly dirty bag, filled with something sticky like peanut butter, it’s probably better to just throw it away. Better yet, use reusable containers instead!

Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and use science to find everyday solutions. I’m Megan Hall. Today, our question is from listener Jen Stevens. She cares a lot about her impact on the planet.

Jen Stevens: I haven’t owned a car in over 10 years. I haven’t had any meat in over 20 years.

Megan Hall: One thing Jen does to reduce her impact is wash and re-use plastic Ziploc bags, but she’s wondering whether the heat and water she uses to clean the bags outweighs the benefit of re-using them. We have Alina Kulman and Molly Magid from our Possibly team to answer this question. Welcome, Alina and Molly.

Alina Kulman: Hi Megan!

Molly Magid: Hey!

Megan Hall: So what did you find out?

Alina Kulman: Well to figure this out, we visited Jen at home.

Molly Magid: Jen says, in general she avoids buying ziploc bags, but when she ends up with them, she washes and re-uses them as long as she can.

Alina Kulman: We wanted to find out how much heat and water Jen uses to wash a plastic sandwich bag, so we went to her sink to start our experiment. 

Molly Magid: First, we measured the temperature of the water- it was about 108 degrees. Then, put a pitcher beneath the faucet, to measure how much water she used to clean one bag. 

Jen Stevens: I turn it back inside out. Looks alright, I’d use that. 

Alina Kulman: To wash the bag, Jen used about four cups of water.  We did some calculations and found out that the oil burned to heat the water released about 11 grams of CO2.

Megan Hall: Ok, how does that compare to what it takes to make a new ziploc bag?

Molly Magid: We weren’t able to find those exact numbers, but we could calculate the emissions used to make and deliver the plastic in one bag. 

Alina Kulman: And based on those numbers, the production of a single sandwich bag uses about half a cup of water and releases about 5 grams of CO2.

Megan Hall:  That’s half the emissions and less water than washing a used bag!

Molly Magid: Not exactly, because these were rough calculations, the emissions and water used are probably about equal. 

Megan Hall: So should Jen keep washing and re-using her bags?

Molly Magid: Well, we do think it’s worth it, but only if she washes them with less water at a lower temperature. And if a bag is coated in something sticky, like peanut butter, it’s probably better to just throw it out. 

Alina Kulman: Or if a clean bag rips, she can recycle it by bringing it to a collection box- they’re near the entrance of most large stores.  

Megan Hall: Great, thanks for looking into this, Alina and Molly!  For more information or to ask a question about the way you recycle, use energy, or make any other choice that affects the planet, please use our question page.

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