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’s question comes from a listener here in Rhode Island. They’ve been following local efforts to pass a bottle bill- that’s where you get money back when you return your bottles and cans. They’re wondering, do these programs really work? 

We had Juliana Merullo and Will Malloy from our Possibly team look into this question! 

Juliana Merullo: Hiya Megan! 

Will Malloy: Hey there! 

Megan Hall: So, tell me more about these “bottle bills” How do they work? 

Juliana Merullo: Bottle bills create what’s known as “Deposit recycling programs”. Right now they exist in 10 states across the US. 

Will Malloy: Each state has a slightly different version, but it’s basically a law that establishes a deposit system for drink containers made of aluminum, plastic, or glass. 

Juliana Merullo: When you buy one of these drinks in a store, the price includes a small deposit charge, anywhere from 5 to 15 cents. Then when you bring empty containers back to a store or return center for recycling, you get that deposit back! 

Megan Hall: This sounds like a pretty good way to encourage people to recycle. Does it work? 

Juliana Merullo: Good question! To find out, we spoke with Caroline Cecot. She’s a law professor at George Mason University who’s published studies looking into how effective these bills really are. She says, 

Caroline Cecot: Studies show that bottle bills are an effective way to increase recycling of covered materials, and even sometimes uncovered materials.

Megan Hall: Uncovered materials?

Juliana Merullo: That means even products like paper that aren’t part of the deposit program get recycled more too!

Megan Hall: How big of a difference do these bills make?

Will Malloy:  Well, recycling rates for glass bottles are more than 20% higher in states that have bottle bills versus states that don’t.

Megan Hall: Ok, but how do we know it’s actually the bottle bills that make the difference? 

Juliana Merullo: We asked Caroline the same thing. 

Caroline Cecot: One study that I like looked at those people who moved from a state without a bottle bill into a state that actually has a bottle bill, and that study found that their recycling increased by 41%, which is a big effect if you think about it. And this suggests that the law is what makes a difference.

Will Malloy: Another example comes from Oregon and Connecticut, which both had bottle bills, but expanded them in 2009 to include plastic water bottles. 

Juliana Merullo: Researchers compared plastic bottle recycling rates before and after the law was changed, and found that there was a 15% increase in recycling once that small incentive was in place. 

Will Malloy: And it turns out there are other benefits to these programs beyond just recycling rates! 

Juliana Merullo: When you bring your containers to a redemption center, you feed them into a machine one by one. But they can get rejected if they’re dirty or not totally empty.

Will Malloy: This means that these recyclables are often cleaner than the same containers in curbside pickup, making them more likely to actually be recycled! 

Juliana Merullo: These bills have also been found to reduce litter! Anyone can turn in containers to get the deposit back, even if they didn’t buy it in the first place. When I was a kid growing up in Massachusetts, I used to pick up cans and bottles on the side of the road to turn in for pocket money! 

Megan Hall: So why don’t all states have these programs? 

Will Malloy: Some people argue that curbside recycling programs are much more convenient for people, and therefore make it more likely that people will actually recycle at all! 

Megan Hall: Is that true?

Will Malloy: Well, curbside recycling accepts more than just drink containers, and the two programs don’t have to be mutually exclusive! 

Juliana Merullo: But the beverage industry is the loudest critic of bottle bills. They have outspent supporters of these programs 30 to 1 when these laws are brought to state or federal lawmakers. 

Will Malloy: They argue that increasing the price of the bottles and cans with the deposit will reduce sales, and that it unfairly targets people who might not have the time or resources to bring the containers back for recycling. 

Juliana Merullo: But one study found that when you compared New England states with and without bottle bills, there was no difference in drink prices.  

Will Malloy: Caroline did say it’s important for policy-makers to consider the impacts of the deposit on lower income individuals.

Juliana Merullo: But this can be addressed with education and by increasing the number of return centers.

Megan Hall: Ok, so overall it seems like these bottle bills are actually a pretty effective way to boost recycling and reduce litter! 

Will Malloy: Definitely!

Megan Hall: That’s it for today. For more information, to find out more about the way your choices affect our planet, go to thepublicsradio.org/possibly. 

You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook or X at  “askpossibly”

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

Growing, harvesting, and making food creates greenhouse gas emissions. But some foods are responsible for more emissions than others. Red Meat is at the top of the list. 

Lots of people want to reduce their emissions by eating more plants, but changing your eating habits can be hard. 

So today, we’re taking a closer look at one idea of how we can drastically reduce the environmental impact of the meat we eat without actually changing our diets. 

We had Ashley Junger and Fatima Husain from our Possibly Team look into this. 

Ashley Junger: Hi, Megan! 

Fatima Husain: Hello! 

Megan Hall: So, what’s this magical way to keep eating meat AND reduce my greenhouse gas emissions? 

Ashley Junger: It’s called cultivated meat or lab-grown meat. 

Megan Hall: That sounds like something from science fiction. How does it work?

Ashley Junger: Good question. To learn more about cultivated meat and how it’s made, we talked with:

Elliot Swartz: “Elliot Swartz. I’m the Principal Scientist specializing in cultivated meat at the Good Food Institute.” 

Fatima Husain: Elliot says the process of creating cultivated meat starts by taking a small piece from an animal…. 

Elliot Swartz: “Where those cells can be taken back to the lab,  grown in a medium that contains all the nutrients that cells need to survive And they can multiply and create the tissues or cells that we need to form into future cultivated meat products.”

Ashley Junger: The end result is genuine animal meats that have been produced without killing an actual animal.

Megan Hall: Wow. But it sounds like a lot of trouble and expense to get the same thing we could get from a cow. Why bother?

Ashley Junger: According to the USDA, four percent of all US greenhouse gas emissions come from beef production. Cultivated meat could be a way to cut that number while still enjoying our burgers.

Fatima Husain: Depending on how it’s grown, on average, cultivated meat could use about one percent of the land that we need to create the same amount of conventional beef.

Ashley Junger: And scientists predict that cultivated meat could emit just 10% of the greenhouse gasses associated with producing traditional beef. And if labs use renewable energy, that could be as low as 2%.

Megan Hall: Wow, sounds like cultivated meat could solve a lot of problems.

Fatima Husain: Yeah, right now the emphasis is on could. Scientists are only making a small amount of cultivated meat, and these estimates are based on models of industrial-scale production. So we’ll have to wait and see how those numbers hold up.

Megan Hall: Ok, but wouldn’t it be easier to just not eat meat all together?

Ashley Junger: We asked Elliot the same question. He said:

Elliot Swartz: “People have been trying to, you know, tell people not to eat as much meat for many, many years. And so you really struggle to get people to shift their behavior by just telling them what to do, from a moral perspective.” 

Megan Hall: Got it. But, how does it taste? Are meat eaters really going to want to try this stuff? It honestly sounds kind of unappealing. 

Fatima Husain: Some people say it’s a little more uniform than conventional meat and doesn’t have those chewy, fatty bits. But most of the people who’ve reviewed it said it was extremely close to or indistinguishable from the real thing.

Megan Hall: Ok, I’ll give it a try. How can I get some? 

Ashley Junger: Well, It’s still difficult and expensive to make, so right now the supply is only enough for some high-end restaurants.

Fatima Husain: But the industry is growing quickly. Investors have put more than 2 billion dollars into getting cultivated meat products on the market.

Ashley Junger: So only time will tell if cultivated meat companies will be able to compete with conventional meat. 

Megan Hall: Got it! Thanks, Ashley and Fatima!

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

You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook or X at  “askpossibly” 

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. As we head into a new year, our Possibly team decided to think about all of our episodes, and how they might inspire our resolutions for 2024. Here’s what some of us had to say.

Will Malloy: My name is Wil Malloy, I’m a reporter for Possibly, I was inspired by the episode about offsetting flights by giving up red meat. And my resolution for the new year is to give up red meat.

Juliana Merullo: My name is Juliana Merullo, and I’m a senior reporter with Possibly. I love to bird and I was inspired by our episode on bird migration and light pollution. So this spring, I’m going to make sure to close my curtains and turn off my lights at night during spring migration. 

Stephen Porder: Hi, this is Steven Porder, co-founder of Possibly. It’s finally time to tackle dairy. I’ve cut out all meat. But we know the dairy has a big carbon footprint. I’m not quite ready to give up cheese. So my New Year’s resolution is to give up on all animal based milk, yogurt, and butter. Maybe next year for cheese, but that’s going to be a tough one.

Meg Talikoff: Hi, I’m Meg Talikoff. I’m a reporter at Possibly and this year my resolution is to look into how to become an intervener at my public utilities commission. It means that I would be able to give feedback officially to the Public Utilities Commission and give a perspective other than utility companies’ perspective. 

Charlie Adams: Hello, My name is Charlie Adams. I’m a reporter for Possibly 

Iman Khanbhai: Hi, my name is Iman Khanbhai. I’m a reporter for Possibly.

Charlie Adams and Iman Khanbhai: We’re gonna use less water when we shave.

Nat Hardy: Hi, my name is Nat Hardy, and I’m the managing producer at Possibly. We had an episode earlier this year about how to more sustainably make a cup of coffee. I don’t drink coffee, but I’m a really big tea drinker. This year, I want to research how to make a more sustainable cup of tea. 

Megan Hall: Hi, my name is Megan Hall and I’m the host of Possibly. Two years ago I made a resolution that I was going to save money so I could buy an electric car. And I did it this year. So mission accomplished.  For 2024, my resolution is to also try to limit the kinds of things I buy that I don’t need so I can save up money for heat pumps, which is another thing we talked about a lot on the show- it’s a more sustainable way to heat and cool your house.

Janek Schaller: Hi, my name is Janek Schaller. I’m a senior reporter here at Possibly and my resolution for the new year is to become more aware of the ways in which I can leverage my position as a student, and as somebody who cares with the climate, to affect change. Kind of along the lines of what we saw in our reporting on the Youth Climate suit in Montana.  

Megan Hall: Anything else you want to say? 

Nat Hardy: Happy New Year!

Stephen Porder: Happy New Year!

Megan Hall: Happy New Year! 

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.org/Possibly.

You can also follow us on social media 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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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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Let us know your question for Possibly.

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.

Megan Hall : This Spring, the Providence city council passed a ban on plastic bags. Soon, you’ll only find paper and reusable bags at stores in Rhode Island’s capital city. But are paper bags the ideal alternative to plastic? We had Alina Kulman and Molly Magid from our Possibly team look into this question. Welcome Alina and Molly!

Alina Kulman: Hi!

Molly Magid: Hello!

Alina Kulman: We talked to Dave McLaughlin, the executive director of Clean Ocean Access. He told us plastic bags often end up in our waterways.

Dave McLaughlin: It’s a really big problem it breaks down into little pieces of plastic that somehow find its way back into the ecosystem or into our bodies

Molly Magid: Dave’s right – plastic bags in the ocean can kill marine life. Which is a problem, because Americans use 100 billion plastic bags a year. That’s a lot of plastic in our water!

Megan Hall: So are paper bags are better?

Alina Kulman: Not quite. Plastic bags cause a lot of harm to the ocean…

Molly Magid: But, in terms of emissions, they’re better than other options. Scientists at the British Environment Agency found that it doesn’t take a lot of energy to make or transport plastic bags.

Alina Kulman: In fact, you’d have to reuse a paper bag three times to equal the greenhouse gas emissions used to make and deliver one plastic bag.

Molly Magid: And that’s that’s not easy to do- paper bags often rip and get soggy. 

Megan Hall: So, are reusable bags the answer?

Alina Kulman: Yes and no. The same study found that manufacturing cotton bags is so resource intensive that a cloth bag needs to be reused 131 times to equal the emissions of a plastic bag.

Megan Hall: Wow 131 times! So how should people be bagging their groceries? 

Molly Magid: Well, consider buying a reusable plastic bag instead, or buy bags from a second hand store.

Megan Hall: What if you have to choose between paper or plastic?

Alina Kulman: The truth is, whatever bag you choose, it’s going to have a small impact on your carbon footprint. But plastic bags do have a severe effect on our waterways.

Molly Magid: So we recommend using a paper bag if you don’t have a reusable one.

Megan Hall: Got it. Thanks for looking into this, Molly and Alina!

Megan Hall: That’s it for today. To ask a question about the way you recycle, use energy, or make any other choice that affects the planet, let us know on our question page.

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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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