Possibly’s host Megan Hall and her family made the switch to an electric car. In this episode, originally aired in 2023, we explain what owning an EV is actually like.

This episode is a rerun. It originally aired on August 15, 2023.

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.

We did it. My family finally bought an electric car. What’s it like? Should you get one too? Here to help me explain is my husband, Ryan T Conaty.

Ryan Conaty: Hey, Megan.

Megan Hall: Hi. So before we get into what it’s been like to own an electric car, would you just give everyone the basic information about the car, like the make and model and all that.

Ryan Conaty: Sure. We bought a 2019 Chevy Bolt, had about 50k on the clock, when we bought it, we paid 21 grand. And I think the maximum range is 250 miles.

Megan Hall: I think we started searching in January, and we finally bought the car at the end of March.

Ryan Conaty: You had to drag me kicking and screaming.

Megan Hall: And why was that?

Ryan Conaty: I’m particular about my transportation. And I put a lot of sweat equity into our old car.

Megan Hall: And how did you feel about particularly getting an electric car, not just replacing our old car?

Ryan Conaty: I mean, they’re not cool. I didn’t want to get that. It’s like, you know, it’s an appliance. It’s like, going to buy a washing machine or something.

Megan Hall: How do you feel about it now?

Ryan Conaty: I absolutely love it. And I’m so glad that I had the idea to buy an electric car.

Ryan Conaty: Why is that?

Megan Hall: I think because you need to plan your trip a little bit and figure out how you’re going to charge it and like having that be part of its character, it sort of gives a little personality a little, a little bit of a challenge just makes it realer somehow.

Megan Hall: But it wasn’t just about the challenge, right? Like the first few weeks we own this car. Anyone you could find anywhere we went. You wanted them to ride with you and take a test drive.

Ryan Conaty: Yeah. Strangers, I would just meet a stranger on the beach. I’d talk to him for five minutes. And be like, “aw dude, you gotta drive it! Never driven one? Get in here!” Well, because it’s the way that the power rolls on is unusual. The sound, the lack of sound that it makes.

Megan Hall: That was something I really had to adjust to. How would you describe what it’s like to backup this thing?

Ryan Conaty: It’s like in a traditional car, if you were to push on the clutch or if you put it in neutral and it starts to roll down a hill, except you’re not on a hill, you’re just in your driveway and it starts to move. It’s unnerving.

Megan Hall: Also, what did you say about if you ever wanted to race someone else on the road in the electric car?

Ryan Conaty: I’d have to roll down the window and yell from ZROOM ZROOM at them or something. What would I do? How would they know that I would want to race them?

Megan Hall: Imagine how silly you would look.

Ryan Conaty: Hey you!

Megan Hall: And then there was the first time we charged at home. It was Easter, and we were late. Let’s get in the car, let’s go. So we backed out of the driveway. Did you unplug it?

Ryan Conaty: It is a miracle. We haven’t ripped the garage door off that house yet.

Megan Hall: We’re getting better but the girls still decided to name our charging cord Kevin! After the kid from Home Alone.

Ryan Conaty: Yeah, don’t forget Kevin.

Megan Hall: But other than that, I would say it’s pretty much like driving any modern car. I mean, when I plug it in at night, it tops it off and I’m good for the next day.

Ryan Conaty: It’s been great for what we need it to do. So would you do it again? Yes. I love my little Chevy.

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 social media at “ask possibly”

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

The post What’s it like to own an electric car? appeared first on TPR: The Public’s Radio.

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This week on Possibly we weigh the different methods of recycling glass: single-stream, multi-stream and bottle bills. Could switching to a different recycling system make more sense for your community?

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.

A few months ago, we did an episode about how the US only recycles about a third of the glass that we use. But there’s actually a lot more to the story.

We had Leo Nachamie and Nat Hardy from our Possibly Team look into it.

Leo Nachamie: Hey Megan!

Nat Hardy: Hello!

Megan Hall: Okay, so refresh my memory… why isn’t glass getting recycled?

Leo Nachamie: Well, there’s two main things to consider -first…what to do with the glass: where to transport it, and what to turn it into. That’s what we talked about last time….

Nat Hardy: But there’s another factor to consider—the quality of the glass: how uniform it is, the cleanliness, and the color.

Megan Hall: Tell me about that!

Leo Nachamie: Let’s follow a glass bottle in the US. Once it’s made at a glass factory, it’s shipped to a store where someone buys it.

Nat Hardy: Then someone brings it home, uses whatever is inside, and then hopefully recycles it.

Leo Nachamie: But that last step, recycling the glass bottle, looks different depending on where you live. And this can impact its value.

Megan Hall: Don’t we all just put our recycling into one bin?

Nat Hardy: That’s one system…

Collin Wilkinson: In the United States, single stream, curbside pickup is the most common. You put all your recyclables in one bin. Somebody with a big truck comes along, picks it all up, takes care of it, sends it off.

Nat Hardy: That’s Collin Wilkinson, an assistant professor of glass science and engineering at Alfred University.

Leo Nachamie: He says there’s also multi-stream recycling. Instead of everything going into one bin, households sort out their recycling by material, and it’s picked up by different trucks.

Megan Hall: But either way, the glass bottle I recycled goes to the same place, right?

Leo Nachamie: It depends. With multi-stream, sometimes glass is brought right to specific processors. Other times glass is brought to recycling plants, like the single stream stuff.

Nat Hardy: At those plants, everything gets sorted into what can and can’t be recycled.

Leo Nachamie: As you might expect, recycling that’s all mixed together needs a lot more sorting.

Collin Wilkinson: So the sorting technology can range everywhere, from incredibly sophisticated machines that is able to use air streams to actually singularly push off a shred of glass into the right bin. This is incredibly useful innovative technology, but it is not widely accessible due to the cost of it.

Nat Hardy: Recycling plants in wealthy areas might be able to justify these very efficient sorting systems. But for others, especially in rural areas, this type of investment might not make sense.

Leo Nachamie: So a lot of recycling plants use a combination of machinery and workers that sort materials by hand, which can be dangerous for the people handling glass.

Megan Hall: So how does all of this affect how often glass gets recycled?

Leo Nachamie: Glass that’s contaminated is worth less money. That means it’s less likely to be recycled.

Nat Hardy: And, when cities and towns throw all of their recycling in one bin, it’s harder to sort out the glass – so it’s more likely to get contaminated.

Megan Hall: I get it! So, should we start sorting our recycling into separate bins?

Nat Hardy: Well, it’s hard to say… single stream is popular for a reason. It makes recycling easy for households, and it cuts down on transportation costs since all the recycling goes into one truck.

Leo Nachamie: So communities really have to weigh the transportation costs of multi-stream versus the sorting and contamination costs of single stream.

Megan Hall: Are there any other options?

Nat Hardy: States can pass bottle bills, which put a small deposit on glass bottles. When consumers return their bottles, they get their money back.

Leo Nachamie: This incentivizes people to sort the glass themselves, and those who don’t want to can still participate in regular systems like single-stream.

Megan Hall: Okay, so there are a few different ways we can tackle glass recycling. What’s the big picture?

Nat Hardy: The solution goes back to those two factors we talked about at the beginning. We have to preserve the quality of glass in a cheap way while making it easier for the glass to get recycled.

Leo Nachamie: That might mean introducing bottle bills or switching to multi-stream. But there’s no one size fits all solution.

Megan Hall: Great! Thanks, Leo and Nat!

That’s it for today. You can find more information, or ask a question about the ways your choices affect our planet, at ask possibly dot org. You can also subscribe to Possibly wherever you get your podcasts or follow us on social media at “ask possibly”

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

The post What’s Holding Back Glass Recycling in the US? appeared first on TPR: The Public’s Radio.

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After a powerful heatwave swept across the northeast last week, Possibly turned to its archive, looking for lessons about how to better prepare for extreme heat. We travel to Ahmedabad, India to learn more.

This episode is a rerun. It first aired on Sep 7, 2021

Megan Hall: Possibly’s Isha Chawla and Fatima Husain looked into this question. Isha, can you tell us how folks deal with extreme heat in India, where you live?

Isha Chawla: Megan, you might be surprised to learn this, but India started taking extreme heat seriously only about a decade ago. And it all started in Ahmedabad, a city known for its high temperatures.

Dileep Mavalankar: There was a major heatwave in Ahmedabad city and the region in 2012, the temperature went to something like 116 degrees Fahrenheit.

Gulrez Azhar: I mean, one feels completely restless, sweating, it’s like being slow-cooked in, like living in an oven.

Fatima Husain: After that heatwave, Mavalankar and Azhar worked together to create Ahmedabad preparedness plan for extreme heat events. Their plan was actually the first of its kind in South Asia.

Megan Hall: Why did a place that was used to hot weather need a plan like this?

Isha Chawla: Well, when Gulrez and Dileep took a close look at the data from 2012, they realized that even in India, heat waves could cause spikes in deaths.

Dileep Mavalankar: When you read that one person died in the newspaper, heatstroke, that means there are many more people who are not reported but may have been affected.

Fatima Husain: We usually think about the direct effects of heat waves: People get dehydrated and can’t cool down after being in the sun for too long.

Isha Chawla: But Dileep says very few people die this way. The majority of deaths during a heat wave happen when those hot temperatures make it harder for the body to function.

Fatima Husain: This is more likely to happen to people with pre-existing conditions or weak immune systems, like children and seniors.

Megan Hall: Ok, so what did they do?

Fatima Husain: First, they created a system to predict extreme heat before it happened, and used color codes to show if the forecast included dangerous heat levels.

Isha Chawla: They also teamed up with the local government to create a plan to prepare for days with really hot weather.

Megan Hall: What was in the plan?

Isha Chawla: Everything from keeping parks open in the afternoon and giving out cold drinking water to training health professionals and building cool roofs that reflect more sunlight.

Megan Hall: That doesn’t sound too different from what we do on hot days.

Fatima Husain: That’s true. But Gulrez says it’s not just about the things you do during a heat wave. Building awareness beforehand is just as important. He says they found out that people were…

Gulrez Azhar: four times less likely to fall sick of heat if they knew heat could be bad for their health.

Isha Chawla: To create awareness, they worked with the city government to publicize the best ways to stay safe in the heat.

Megan Hall: The plan is almost 10 years old. Has it been successful?

Fatima Husain: Yes. Dileep says although there have been some major heat waves in the region, deaths during those times have decreased by as much as 40%.

Megan Hall: That’s pretty impressive. What can the US learn from their experience?

Isha Chawla: Well, as you said before, the US has a lot of great technologies for predicting hot weather, and you do have things like cooling stations.

Fatima Husain: But Gulrez says making sure people know that these temperatures are dangerous, and giving them tips to stay safe, can make a big impact.

Isha Chawla: For all of our focus on preventing more climate change, we also have to start working hard to adapt to the changes that are too late to stop. It’s unfortunate, but it’s the reality.

Megan Hall: That’s it for today. You can find more information, or ask a question about the ways your choices affect our planet, at ask possibly dot org. You can also subscribe to Possibly wherever you get your podcasts or follow us on social media at “ask possibly”

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

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With the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this year, fireworks will soon light up American skies. Do these tiny explosions have an impact on our environment or our health?

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.

Since July 4th is just around the corner, today we thought we’d take a look at fireworks. Sure, they’re beautiful when they explode, but what do they do to our air quality?

We had Sarah Kramer and Shane Toomey from our Possibly Team look into this.

Sarah Kramer: Hi, Megan!

Shane Toomey: Hello!

Megan Hall: So should I be worried about the impacts of all of the fireworks displays this year?

Sarah Kramer: Let’s take a step back first…. a lot of what makes some people worry about the effects of fireworks is actually what makes them so beautiful.

Shane Toomey: It’s true! Within every firework, there are these little balls of chemicals, mostly made of metals. When these metals are ignited, they explode in bright colors and even cause special effects like sizzling or strobing!

Sarah Kramer: To explode a firework, you light a small fuse, which sets off a chain reaction that shoots the firework up into the air.

Shane Toomey: Once the firework reaches its peak height, another fuse sets off the small balls of chemicals within the center, and, BOOM!

[Firework noise]

Sarah Kramer: You get a dazzling firework explosion!

Megan Hall: Wow, that sounds awesome! But, what happens after the firework show?

Shane Toomey: After a firework explodes, the metals that were inside shoot all around in little pieces called particulate matter. That’s the black smoke you see after a firework explodes.

Sarah Kramer: These particulates travel with wind and rain until they eventually fall back to the ground.

Megan Hall: Are these little particles dangerous?

Sarah Kramer: We spoke to Professor Meredith Hastings to find out! She’s a professor at the Brown Institute for Environment and Society.

Meredith Hastings: and I lead a project called Breathe Providence that’s dedicated to understanding air quality across the city.

Shane Toomey: Meredith says, particulate matter doesn’t just come from fireworks. It comes from any time something combusts.

Meredith Hastings: So, that includes vehicles, that includes power plants, any transportation sources that use oil or gas, coal combustion is a really big source of particulate matter in our country.

Shane Toomey: And these tiny particles CAN have significant impacts on our health.

Meredith Hastings: Because those particles can actually end up in our lungs, and tiny, tiny particles can end up in our bloodstream. And those directly affect both respiratory and cardiovascular health.

Sarah Kramer: But particulate matter also makes a big impact while it’s still up in the atmosphere. They can block sunlight from reaching the ground– creating haze. This makes it harder to see, and once it settles onto plants’ leaves, it can make it harder for plants to absorb the sunlight they need to grow.

Megan Hall: How does the effect of firework shows compare to these other sources of particulate matter?

Sarah Kramer: Meredith has actually looked into that!

Meredith Hastings: So just to give you a feeling for and to put some actual numbers on your question…

Sarah Kramer: In 2023, her team compared the particulate matter in the air on a typical day in Providence to firework days and found that the particulate matter just about tripled on nights with fireworks.

Megan Hall: Triple! That sounds pretty bad.

Shane Toomey: You would think so, but they also looked at particulate matter from the wildfires that happened that summer.

Sarah Kramer: Meredith says for the brief amount of time the fireworks explode, they load more particulates in the air than wildfires….

Meredith Hastings: But they don’t last very long, and so they’re much more of like a specific almost like plume event, you know, compared to wildfires or transportation or sources like that that are continuously going for longer than fireworks.

Megan Hall: Wow! So, does that mean we don’t need to worry too much about the effects of fireworks shows?

Shane Toomey: Yes and no….

Sarah Kramer: In communities where haze is already a big issue, drone shows might be a good alternative. And if you have respiratory issues, maybe watch these shows from a distance. Otherwise, it’s not a big deal.

Megan Hall: Great! Thanks, Sarah and Shane!

That’s it for today. You can find more information, or ask a question about the ways your choices affect our planet, at ask possibly dot org. You can also subscribe to Possibly wherever you get your podcasts or follow us on social media at “ask possibly”

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

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Rodenticides, used by farmers to keep rodent populations down and protect their crops, can cause all sorts of harm to wildlife, especially birds. But this week on Possibly we’re talking to some farmers who are turning to a more natural pest control solution.

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’ve ever had rats in your house or gofers in your yard, you know they’re hard to get rid of. Farmers, trying to protect their crops, often have to resort to using poison.

But, some are turning to a more natural solution—owls. Jack Mershon and Louisa McLaughlin from our Possibly team are here to explain.

Jack Mershon: Hey Megan!

Louisa McLaughlin: Hi!

Megan Hall: Before we talk about owls, will you explain the problems with using chemicals to get rid of rodents? I know I’ve used them in my house before.

Jack Mershon: Sure. For many – these chemicals, called rodenticides, are the most effective way to get rid of rodents.

Louisa McLaughlin: But rodenticides poison more than just rats and gophers: they seep into the water and land we use.

Jack Mershon: And when a poisoned rodent gets eaten by a predator, usually a bird of prey, it can end up killing that bird too. Take all these risks together, and many states are restricting or outright banning the use of rodenticides.

Megan Hall: So how are owls a solution?

Jack Mershon: Barn Owls in particular, have a diet that can be pretty useful to Farmers. These owls eat about 1,500 rodents per year

Megan Hall: So, barn owls eat rodents, but haven’t they always? How do we get them to help farmers use less chemicals?

Louisa McLaughlin: By making homes for the owls! For more information, we turned to The Barn Owl Box Company, which aims to help farmers forced to use rodenticides

Mark Browning: We went ahead and developed a plastic box, and that’s how the company was founded, hoping that the plastic box could further barn owl conservation.

Jack Mershon: That’s Mark Browning, founder of the Barn Owl Box Company. He’s researched barn owl behavior, and eventually started designing barn owl boxes that are lightweight,ventilated and offer the owls more.. lounge space

Mark Browning: There’s a number of boxes out there being made by people that are pretty small. I’ve seen them as small as 16 by 16 by 16. A very comfortable range is around 24 inches long and about 16 to 8 inches wide

Jack Mershon: Larger owl boxes accommodate for the owl and its chicks. Because of this, Mark says barn owls are more likely to stay and make the box their home

Louisa McLaughlin: And good homes matter, because owl boxes are becoming popular for more farmers. It’s part of a method of pest control called Integrated Pest Management, basically using things like natural predators, and other less disruptive measures to tackle pests.

Jack Mershon: Greg Pennyroyal, who is the vineyard manager at Wilson Creek Winery in California, uses owl boxes from Mark’s company.

Greg Pennyroyal: I’ve got nine boxes currently in and I know of four that have owls

Jack Mershon: Greg’s largest rodent problem was with gophers. They were digging up the soil and damaging vines on his property. So he hired a team to trap the gophers, but it took a lot of work

Greg Pennyroyal: When I first got here, we had a crew of two guys that probably spent 500 to 800 hours a year trapping gophers.

Megan Hall: That’s a lot of time!

Jack Mershon: And money! Greg says using owls to catch the gophers is much cheaper.

Greg Pennyroyal: If I looked at the hours saved per owl box, my net return on each box is somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,200 to $1,500.

Megan Hall: Have the owl boxes also reduced the amount of chemicals he has to use?

Louisa McLaughlin: They have. Greg says…

Greg Pennyroyal: When we were using rodenticides as part of our program, we went from using approximately 90 pounds annually to with the introduction of owl boxes, we are currently using zero.

Megan Hall: Zero? Absolutely none?

Louisa McLaughlin: That’s right, and this was on 62 acres around the winery where Greg is most involved.

Jack Mershon: Now, some academic research has suggested that while owls are effective, they aren’t always enough to eliminate rodents on their own.

Megan Hall: So, what’s the take-away here?

Jack Mershon: Owls work. They save time, money and the chemicals needed for farmers. Less chemical use contributes to healthier wildlife, soil, and water. Also, owl boxes can go on yards, not just farms

Megan Hall: Wow, can I buy an owl box for my own yard?

Jack Mershon: You can! It could help you and your neighbors from using chemicals

Megan Hall: Great! Thanks Jack and Louisa.

That’s it for today. You can find more information, or ask a question about the ways your choices affect our planet, at ask possibly dot org.

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

The post Can owls help farms use fewer chemicals? appeared first on TPR: The Public’s Radio.

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This week on Possibly we explain why the paper that receipts are printed on can add a lot of complications, for recycling, and for your health too.

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.

Whenever I go to the pharmacy, I get a stack of receipts—one with a list of the stuff I bought, another with some coupons, and I’m not sure what the other ones are for.

At the grocery store, my receipt is usually more than a foot long! What do we do with all of these slips of paper? It turns out, the answer isn’t as simple as you might think.

Jannah Maguire and Minjun Kim from our Possibly Team have more…

Jannah Maguire: Hey, Megan!

Minjun Kim: Hello!

Megan Hall: So, why are we talking about receipts?

Jannah Maguire: There’s a lot more to them than you might think. Receipts are pretty different from other paper products, and these differences change the way they affect us and the environment.

Minjun Kim: In fact, most receipts actually aren’t even made out of regular paper. They’re printed on something called “thermal paper.”

Jannah Maguire: This thermal paper doesn’t use ink. Instead, it’s coated in chemicals. When those chemicals are exposed to heat, they make the printed text show up.

Megan Hall: Interesting…So receipts aren’t made out of traditional paper…but, what’s the problem with that?

Minjun Kim: The issue lies in those chemicals that coat those receipts. Especially, BPA, which stands for Bisphenol A.

Joseph Braun: and it’s used there as a developer, so that when the ink is developed, the ink doesn’t bleed everywhere.

Jannah Maguire: That’s Joe Braun, a professor of epidemiology in the Brown University School of Public Health and the Director for the Center for Climate, Environment, and Health.

Minjun Kim: He says coming into contact with Bisphenol A can contribute to all sorts of health problems, including increased risk of obesity, diseases like Type Two Diabetes, and issues with brain development

Megan Hall: That sounds pretty bad. Do we have to use BPA for our receipts? Do we have any other, less toxic options?

Jannah Maguire: Well, that’s the thing, after research made it clear the BPA can have all these harmful effects, many manufacturers have switched to a different chemical that does the same thing: bisphenol S or BPS.

Minjun Kim: BPS has been studied way less than BPA and the research that has been done suggests that BPS can have a lot of the same harmful impacts. So the problem hasn’t really gone away.

Jannah Maguire: They’re also used in plastic products, like plastic containers, windows, and even some water bottles.

Minjun Kim: But Joe says receipts are different from these other sources— that’s because they have especially high concentrations of bisphenol, and it’s really easy for them to rub off. Basically BPS isn’t bound to the paper receipts.

Joseph Braun: So it’s very easy for it to leech off, either when people were touching it, or even when it would go, say, to a landfill, and then be subjected to being getting wet and, you know, abraded against other other materials.

Minjun Kim: Some researchers are exploring alternatives, but they’re not very common to find. A survey of chemicals used in receipt paper by major US stores in 2022 found that about 20% had switched to things other than BPA or BPS, but the substitute chemicals also aren’t well researched.

Jannah Maguire: So it’s probably best to pick an electronic receipt and avoid using them altogether.

Megan Hall: What if I can’t avoid getting a receipt? Can I recycle them like regular paper?

Minjun Kim: In general, no. Most facilities can’t even recycle thermal paper because it doesn’t break down the same way typical paper products would.

Jannah Maguire: And more importantly, putting receipts in your recycling bin can contaminate everything else in there with BPA. That could force the plant to throw out an entire load of recycling.

Megan Hall: Wow. I had no idea these tiny receipts could create so many problems!

Minjun Kim: Yeah, we like to think of recycling as a good thing to do, but when it comes to receipts, putting them in the bin does more harm than good.

Megan Hall: So what should I do with them?

Jannah Maguire: The best thing you can do? Just throw them out. Or do your best to sign up for paperless receipts. Especially at places like the pharmacy.

Megan Hall: Got it! Thanks, Jannah and MinJun!

That’s it for today. You can find more information, or ask a question about the ways your choices affect our planet, at ask possibly dot org. You can also subscribe to Possibly wherever you get your podcasts or follow us on social media at “ask possibly.”

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

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“Reducing your footprint” became one of the most familiar ways to talk about climate change, but why did that framing catch on? And what does it leave out?

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.

If you pay attention to reporting about climate change, you’ve probably heard this phrase…

News Clips: Carbon footprint. Carbon footprint. Carbon footprint.

But what does our carbon footprint really mean? And where did this idea come from?

We had Leena Mudawi and Alina Ikram from our Possibly team look into it.

Leena Mudawi: Hi Megan.

Alina Ikram: Hey Megan.

Megan Hall: So, I know we talk about our carbon footprint all the time, but what does that phrase really mean?

Leena Mudawi: Basically, it’s a way to figure out how much carbon pollution each person creates—and it’s based on everything we do—like how we travel, what we buy, and how much energy we use.

Megan Hall: So, our “footprint” is like our impact on climate change?

Alina Ikram: Exactly. The idea is, if we’re more aware of how much carbon pollution we create, we’re more likely to change our habits and reduce our carbon footprint. But…

Kim Cobb: I think when people hear that phrase, they mostly feel guilty immediately, right?

Leena Mudawi: That’s Kim Cobb, Director of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, and she says this concept isn’t always that useful.

Kim Cobb: Because carbon is everywhere in our life, just because energy is everywhere in our life, and many times we don’t really have choices about how we use it every day.

Alina Ikram: And that feeling of guilt is actually by design.

Megan Hall: What do you mean?

Alina Ikram: Back in the early 2000s, as people started becoming more aware of climate change, a company called BP, short for British Petroleum, helped to push the idea of the carbon footprint.

Megan Hall: Wait, an oil company told people to track their own emissions?

Leena Mudawi: Yeah! BP is one of the world’s biggest oil & gas companies, both of which are fossil fuels: the main things driving global warming…

Kim Cobb: Which of course, is a way to shift awareness away from the role of oil majors and other fossil fuel companies in perpetuating the status quo in our over-reliance on fossil fuels.

Megan Hall: Let me get this right—one of the companies that’s responsible for pumping extreme amounts of carbon pollution into the air popularized the carbon footprint so all of us would feel bad about the choices we make?

Alina Ikram: They didn’t come out and say that was the reason, but… it makes sense.

Leena Mudawi: The carbon footprint idea gave people a way to think about how their own choices affect climate change.

Alina Ikram: Which made it easier to forget how much power companies and governments have over the bigger picture.

Megan Hall: We talk about how our choices affect the planet on this show. That’s actually a main focus of Possibly. Are these kinds of questions just a distraction from what big corporations are doing?

Alina Ikram: Not entirely—Kim says, don’t give up on thinking about your own climate impact…

Kim Cobb: Those two things can be true at the same time. Our individual choices do matter every day. But it’s also true that we need to come together in large numbers and elect leaders that will enact policies to make it a lot easier to do the right thing.

Leena Mudawi: She says climate responsibility lives in both everyday life, and in collective action. So, if you care about this issue, take a moment and ask yourself,

Kim Cobb: What are the levers for change that you are reaching for as an individual?

Leena Mudawi: This is more useful than just “How bad is my footprint?” Because it’s easy to get stuck feeling guilty, or fixating on things that are hard to change.

Alina Ikram: Instead, Kim says it’s more effective to think about what you can actually do.

Kim Cobb: We want to think about our universities, our places of worship, our kids’ schools, our places of work. All those are organizations where individuals come together in fairly large numbers, and they form a collective.

Leena Mudawi: For years, we’ve been taught to see climate change through the lens of our own habits and our own guilt, but the reality is, there’s so much more we can do together—especially when we demand action from the people and companies with the most power over this crisis. So climate change doesn’t need to feel so personal.

Megan Hall: Great, thanks Leena and Alina.

That’s it for today. You can find more information, or ask a question about the ways your choices affect our planet, at ask possibly dot org. You can also subscribe to Possibly wherever you get your podcasts or follow us on social media at “ask possibly”

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

The post Where did the idea of a carbon footprint come from? appeared first on TPR: The Public’s Radio.

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Microplastics are all around us, even if we can’t see them. This week, the Possibly team investigates where they come from and why sometimes, they’re even made on purpose.

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.

We’ve talked about microplastics on the show before — but where are these little pieces of plastic coming from? We had Will Malloy and Nat Hardy from our Possibly team find out more.

Will Malloy: Hi Megan!

Nat Hardy: Hello!

Megan Hall: So, just to start, what exactly are microplastics?

Will Malloy: Just what they sound like — tiny pieces of plastic, ranging from smaller than a red blood cell to about the size of a grain of rice.

Nat Hardy: And they have ended up pretty much everywhere on Earth.

Sherri Mason: It doesn’t matter where we’ve looked, we find microplastics. So from the top of Mount Everest to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Will Malloy: That was Dr. Sherri Mason — she’s a professor at Gannon University, where she studies plastic pollution.

Nat Hardy: She told us that microplastics are created in two different ways.

Will Malloy: The first kind are microplastics that are intentionally manufactured.

Megan Hall: People make them on purpose?

Nat Hardy: Remember, microplastics can be as big as a few millimeters– so that includes things like glitter or small beads.

Will Malloy: Also, most larger plastic products are made out of tiny plastic pellets called “nurdles.” 

Sherri Mason: This is actually the starting point of plastics. These little plastic pellets, that is what is shipped from a refinery where plastics are initially produced to a company that makes plastic products.

Nat Hardy: In order to make something like a water bottle, manufacturers start with these pre-made nurdles.

Will Malloy: And all throughout the process, as they are moved around…

Sherri Mason: You will have hundreds, if not 1000s, of nurdles that get released. And I know this because I see it.

Nat Hardy: It can get really bad when there’s an accident.

Will Malloy: In 2021, a cargo ship caught fire off the coast of Sri Lanka, and spilled billions of nurdles into the ocean. They are really hard to clean up and the ocean currents can carry them far.

Megan Hall: So that’s one way microplastics are created — when we make them. But you said there’s another way, right?

Nat Hardy: Yeah, and these are probably what you think of when you think about microplastics — little pieces that are formed unintentionally when larger plastic products break into smaller pieces. 

Will Malloy: This kind is way more common and they truly come from everywhere — washing synthetic fabrics sheds fibres, driving causes tires to erode and leave behind particles, and fishing nets in the ocean leave a trail of plastic in the water.

Sherri Mason: Any piece of plastic as it has these physical processes that act on it will be releasing microplastics. So just the simple act of twisting off a cap from a plastic bottle of water can shed microplastics into the beverage that you’re about to drink.

Nat Hardy: That means they get into the water, the air, our food, and our bodies.

Megan Hall: So, do microplastics ever go away?

Will Malloy: That’s the thing — not really. On the smallest level, plastics are made up of long chains of molecules held together with chemical bonds.

Nat Hardy: These kinds of chains and bonds don’t really exist in nature, so microorganisms aren’t very good at decomposing them.

Will Malloy: There are some microbes that can do it, but they aren’t very common. Mostly, plastics just get smaller and smaller, but they still stick around.

Sherri Mason: It is not uncommon to hear plastic pollution researchers say that, you know, most plastic that has ever been created is still on this planet somewhere.

Will Malloy: Once they get into our ecosystems, it’s really hard to get them out.

Megan Hall: Is there any way to stop them from polluting our world?

Nat Hardy: There’s no easy fix. The only real way to stop microplastics is to phase out plastic.

Sherri Mason: You know, we had society before plastic. We can have society without plastic, and we can certainly have society with a lot less plastic.

Will Malloy: At the same time, though, plastic is light and strong, which makes it very useful. So eliminating plastic also comes with tradeoffs. That’s a conversation for another episode.

Megan Hall: Got it. Thanks Will and Nat!

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

The post Where do microplastics come from? appeared first on TPR: The Public’s Radio.

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The R/V Endeavor, which spent the last 49 years operating out of URI’s Narragansett Bay Campus, was retired last month. Possibly took a tour of the vessel before it’s decommissioned.

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.

The R/V Endeavor, the oldest research vessel in the country, was retired last month after 49 years of research at sea. We sent Nat Hardy from our Possibly Team to the University of Rhode Island, where the ship is docked, to talk with scientists who worked onboard.

Nat Hardy: On a stormy day in April, Oceanography Professor Jaime Palter took a trip out to sea on the Endeavor.

Jaime Palter: You can picture April in Rhode Island. It’s cold, rainy. You know, if it was 45 degrees outside, we were lucky.

Nat Hardy: The Endeavor was taking her and her team about 200 miles off the coast of New England, to the mighty Gulf Stream.

Jaime Palter: But what’s amazing is once you cross the Gulf Stream, you’re basically in the weather of Bermuda.

Nat Hardy: Even in the dead of winter, it’s 65 degrees. And the crew is swapping jackets for t-shirts. That happens because they’re floating on top of an incredibly powerful underwater current.

The Gulf Stream carries a huge amount of warm water from the Caribbean into the North Atlantic. And it’s hard to overstate just how important this underwater highway is for our weather. Jaime was out there to study it.

Jaime Palter: There’s also a fear that a component of the Gulf Stream could slow down with the threat of climate change. And with that slowdown could really alter Northern Hemisphere weather.

Nat Hardy: To figure out if that slowdown is happening, Jaime and her team went out on the Endeavor to collect data about ocean currents and temperature.

But after more than 700 research expeditions, the Endeavor has taken its last trip.  I took a tour of the ship before it was officially decommissioned.

Erich Gruebel: So here in the main lab, we have displays set up for the sailing scientists to be able to see — over here we have an echo sounder and a scientific echo sounder,  which gives you a layer stratification of the sea bottom.

Nat Hardy: That’s Erich Gruebel, the manager of marine scientific research at URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography. He walks me around the dark hallways of the ship, through the wood-paneled library and into the mess deck, which looks like a 1970s diner.

Erich Gruebel: Endeavor’s also famous for our ice cream freezer which I’ll show you now.

Nat Hardy:  Erich’s worked on the ship for 13 years.

Nat Hardy: Do other ships not have an ice cream freezer?

Erich Gruebel: Not one this big or well stocked.

Nat Hardy: He’s the liaison between the crew and the rotating teams of scientists.

Erich Gruebel:  We get their equipment running, a lot of times repair it when it breaks, and allow them to access the full capability of the vessel.

Nat Hardy: The Endeavor has  played a big role in what we know about the ocean. The first in-depth measurements of the gulf stream were done on the Endeavor back in the 70s. It’s data that researchers still use today.

David Smith: It’s pretty sad actually. Endeavor has just been here so long and long. I’ve been here almost 29 years. And she was here when I got here,

Nat Hardy: That’s David Smith, another professor of oceanography at URI. The Endeavor docks right by David’s office at URI’s Narragansett Bay campus.

David Smith: I always look to see, is the ship at the dock or not? Every day I do that, just kind of knee jerk. It’s gonna be sad.

Jaime Palter: It does feel like a part of the family even though it’s a boat, you know?

Nat Hardy: But URI’s research at sea isn’t ending with the Endeavor. A new ship, called the Narragansett Dawn, is set to arrive in Rhode Island in 2027. It’s up to date with new research technology that the Endeavor didn’t have.

But both ships  are owned by the National Science Foundation, which has been a target for funding cuts by the Trump administration. Everyone I talked to at URI worried that potential cuts would bring consequences for the new ship and its crew, but no one knew exactly what those consequences might be.

In total, more than 8,000 scientists spent time onboard the Endeavor. Jaime Palter told me that the ship is the through line between generations of oceanographers, who’ve all gone out to sea, taken some small samples of water, and chipped away at the same big questions.

Jaime Palter: It always makes me really appreciate the part of oceanography that is about community, because one measurement doesn’t do very much, but it’s only as a collective when we put all our measurements together that we start to make sense of the world.

Nat Hardy: In Narragansett, people are sad to see the Endeavor’s life come to an end, but the research that happened onboard, still has decades of life left to live.

Megan Hall: Great! Thanks Nat!

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.

The post The oldest research vessel in the country was just retired. What does it mean for Rhode Island scientists? appeared first on TPR: The Public’s Radio.

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The biggest city in the country has taken a proactive approach to protect its residents from extreme heat. Programs have tried to make cooling centers, pools, and air conditioners more easily available to people.

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.

As average temperatures go up around the globe, we’re all experiencing more extreme heat, especially in major cities, where lots of cement, and not a lot of trees, absorb heat and make things even hotter. Today we’re looking into how the US’s biggest city, New York, is finding ways to keep its residents cool.

Emma Mejia and Isha Thakkar from our Possibly Team have the details

Emma Mejia: Hi, Megan!

Isha Thakkar: Hello!

Megan Hall: So how is New York dealing with extreme heat?

Emma Mejia: That’s a great question. New York City has spent a lot of time working on ways to deal with the effects of climate change and extreme heat.

Ashwin Vasan: We have been planning for a climate mitigation and adaptation for many, many years, there’s been a whole host of initiatives.

Isha Thakkar: That’s Dr. Ashwin Vasan, a physician and the former Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Emma Mejia: Dr. Vasan says that extreme heat kills hundreds of New Yorkers a year. 

Ashwin Vasan: We treat that in public health as entirely preventable. And so we put forth a multi pronged strategy to try to prevent as many of those deaths as possible.

Megan Hall: What kind of steps has the city been taking?

Isha Thakkar: One of the most important steps is making sure people have access to air conditioning.

Ashwin Vasan: Air conditioning, especially in light of a warming planet, in a warming city, warming urban environments, is a necessity.

Isha Thakkar: To help, with this issue, in 2020, the city installed air conditioners in public housing units. New York City also offers a Cooling Assistance program to help low-income New Yorkers cover the cost of buying an air conditioner

Emma Mejia: The city also has programs that help people afford to keep the AC on when they need it.

Ashwin Vasan: What we are working on things like our Home Energy Assistance Program with the state of New York, we have reduced energy bills by millions of dollars for low income families. So that they can then afford to turn on that AC .

Isha Thakkar: The city has also been brainstorming ways to encourage landlords to keep it cooler indoors

Megan Hall: How would the city do that?

Emma Mejia: Well, last year the city council proposed a bill that would establish a maximum temperature policy for New York City buildings in the summer.

Isha Thakkar: This bill would require landlords to provide cooling systems that keep units 78 degrees or cooler when the temperature is above 82 degrees outside.

Megan Hall: What else is New York city doing to keep people cool?

Isha Thakkar: They’re also expanding access to cooling centers. in places like local libraries, senior centers, and community centers.

Emma Mejia: Private businesses can also opt into the cooling program. So that means they can offer their coffee shop, museum, or store as an option.

Aswhin Vasaan: It’s not just about government sites. It’s about the whole city’s approach to ensuring that no one has to suffer the effects of extreme heat unnecessarily.

Isha Thakkar: And remember, not all cooling options are indoors.

Emma Mejia: In 2024 the city announced a plan to invest  over a billion dollars into pool infrastructure and swim lessons, to help residents have more places to cool down.

Ashwin Vasan: Cooling off in a public pool nearby is a great way to address extreme heat as well.

Megan Hall: But, how does the city decide where to focus these cooling efforts?

Emma Mejia: Good question. The city uses a heat vulnerability index or HVI to identify those who are the most susceptible to the effects of extreme heat.

Ashwin Vasan: So your heat vulnerability index is a map of extreme heat and heat patterns across the city, mapped over social and economic metrics like poverty, inequality, and access to health care.

Emma Mejia: The city is trying to map those cooling options and cooling centers to the communities that need them the most.

Megan Hall: Got it! Thanks, Isha and Emma

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 The Public’s Radio.

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