Possibly

How is climate change affecting the amount of metals in our water?

Ocean State Media — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 09:00:00 +0000

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Heavy metals like lead and copper often end up in our waterways after big storm events. Today we look into one lab that’s studying how climate change might affect that process.

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.

Last week, we looked at how Providence rivers have been contaminated with metals. We know humans are a major source of these metals, but could climate change be making the problem worse?

To find out, we talked to Sarah Kramer and Leo Nachamie from our Possibly Team.

Sarah Kramer: Hey Megan!

Leo Nachamie: Hello!

Megan Hall: Can you tell me why there are metals in rivers again?

Sarah Kramer: Of course! All rivers naturally contain some metals from the bedrocks they flow over. But in urban rivers like those in Providence, a lot of the metals in the water come from human sources.

Leo Nachamie: These contaminants include things like runoff from cars, asphalt, landfills, and industrial buildings like factories or power plants.

Sarah Kramer: Many contaminants are also left behind by much older activities and infrastructure. Over time, industrial sites and old homes seep metals like lead into the surrounding soil, which then gets washed into waterways.

Megan Hall: So even pollution from decades ago is still affecting us rivers today?

Sarah Kramer: Yep!

Megan Hall: Will you remind me what kinds of metals we’re talking about…

Dan Ibarra: in the Northeast, it is generally lead, but we’re also concerned with other metals that come from infrastructure like copper, iron, zinc, cobalt, and there are some levels of historical uses of things like mercury

Leo Nachamie: That’s Dr Dan Ibarra, a professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Science and Environment and Society at Brown University. His lab studies how these metals move from soils into waterways.

Megan Hall: So how do they?

Sarah Kramer: Well, one way is during storms! Dan’s team studies Providence rivers after heavy rainfall. He says, storms flush lots of pollutants into the waterways.

Dan Ibarra: The storms tap into a system that’s within the city infrastructure called the combined sewer overflow, or often called the CSO.

Leo Nachamie: The “combined” in “combined sewage overflow” means water that leaves your house ends up in the same pipe as the water that goes down storm drains on streets and parking lots.

Sarah Kramer: And these systems can fill up during heavy rains, pouring water into rivers and the bay.

Dan Ibarra: What we found is that they tend to contribute a large amount to the overall metal fluxes that we observe in the rivers

Sarah Kramer: But the sewage overflow isn’t the only source of contaminants. The stormwater also picks up metals along the way, as it runs down dirty streets and sidewalks.

Dan Ibarra: And so the storm waters serve to basically flush the system of various metals through various processes that release the metals, and so we often see elevated concentrations in the waterways when we see storm events.

Megan Hall: So how does climate change fit into all of this?

Leo Nachamie: Well climate change causes warmer temperatures, and warmer air can hold more moisture, which leads to more intense rainfall and, potentially, more frequent storms.

Megan Hall: So, climate change can cause heavier rainfall, more metals in the sewer system, AND more sewer overflow?

Sarah Kramer: Exactly! It’s really a “perfect storm”!

Megan Hall: Ok, but how worried should we be?

Leo Nachamie: All Providence residents should follow the latest public health advice about swimming or fishing in the rivers.

Sarah Kramer: And just to be clear—drinking water and river water are not the same thing. Providence drinking water is managed to keep lead levels below the legal limit.

Leo Nachamie: Dan says that pretty much all New England cities have high lead in their soil, from centuries of using lead paint and leaded gasoline. Plus, all of the manufacturing that happened here.

Sarah Kramer: But if you’re worried about how much metal is in the area where you live, you can get your soil tested.

Megan Hall: Got it! Thanks, Sarah and Leo!

That’s it for today. You can find more information, or ask a question about the way 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.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The post How is climate change affecting the amount of metals in our water? appeared first on Possibly.

Why are there metals in our river water?

Possibly Podcast — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 08:00:00 +0000

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In cities like Providence that have a long industrial history, heavy metals often end up in the waterways. Today’s episode looks at how this happens, and what it means for the city’s residents.

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

Today, we’re taking a closer look at the rivers that flow through our cities, and the contaminants that they carry. In today’s episode, we’ll focus on metals in the rivers around our home town of Providence, RI.

We had Sarah Kramer and Leena Mudawi from our Possibly Team look into this.

Sarah Kramer: Hey, Megan!

Leena Mudawi: Hello!

Megan Hall: So, our rivers have metals in them? What kind of metals are we talking about?

Dan Ibarra: So metals can come from a variety of different sources.

Sarah Kramer: That’s Dr. Dan Ibarra. He’s a professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Science and Environment and Society here at Brown University.

Leena Mudawi: His lab runs the Urban Water Pollution Project, an initiative meant to understand heavy metal pollution in Providence waterways and soil.

Dan Ibarra: You can have metals coming from what we would call the geologic background, from the dissolution or what we call the weathering of the bedrock in any sort of area. Depending on what that bedrock has, you’ll have more or less of a certain type of metal such as lead or zinc or copper or arsenic.

Sarah Kramer: When river water flows along a bedrock, it naturally picks up certain metals out of the rock and carries it along to a local waterway.

Megan Hall: So it’s natural?

Leena Mudawi: Well, not all of it. Dan says metals come from human activity, too.

Dan Ibarra: So those metals can come from a variety of different sources, so from infrastructure, so things like pipes, concrete, you know, roadways. …

Megan Hall: How does this stuff get into the rivers?

Sarah Kramer: When it rains, rainwater will travel down whatever surface it lands on and can transport metals it comes in contact with.

Leena Mudawi: And Providence, which has a long industrial past, has had a lot of metals dumped into the soil over centuries.

Dan Ibarra: We had very large jewelry districts in the Providence area that, because they were making jewelry, they were using a variety of different metals in the jewelry making process. So that’s an example of a legacy contaminant. The leaded paint-that’s another example of a legacy contaminant.

Megan Hall: Are these metals creating problems in our rivers?

Sarah Kramer: Yes, high levels of metals in the river can make the rivers unsafe to be in and around.

Dan Ibarra: Something like lead, if you were to swim and ingest some of that water, or that water became part of your drinking source, the lead in that water is bad just because it influences the development of your brain and your body.

Megan Hall: So, should we be worried about all this metal in our rivers?

Sarah Kramer: The Environmental Protection Agency recommends that Providence residents stay out of the rivers like the Woonasquatucket and Mosshasuck, especially after large storms, when more metals from the road can drain into the water.

Leena Mudawi: And it’s not a good idea to eat fish or other wildlife from these rivers either.

Sarah Kramer: But walking near the rivers or paddling a canoe is totally safe!

Megan Hall: Okay! Is there anything we can do about this?

Leena Mudawi: Several locations across the state are classified as Superfund Sites by the EPA, meaning they are designated for clean up under federal law. So, Rhode Island already has a lot of clean up going on.

Dan Ibarra: So where there has been very large contaminants of the ground in general, the government has taken care of that. They have done things like put impermeable barriers, totally removed and stripped soil from regions.

Sarah Kramer: Public areas like parks and riverbanks are frequently tested by the government, universities and local organizations to make sure they have safe levels of metals and aren’t leaching any into the water.

Megan Hall: But Providence doesn’t have as much manufacturing as it used to. So does that mean this problem is getting better? Or are things like climate change making it worse?

Sarah Kramer: Good question. We’ll talk about that in our next episode.

Megan Hall: Got it! Thanks, Sarah and Leena!

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Can a battery run on rust?

Ocean State Media — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 08:00:00 +0000

https://www.askpossibly.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/102026-Possibly-Ironairbatteries.mp3

Iron-air batteries store energy using rust. We’re taking a look at how they work and why storing electricity for days could help us use more renewable energy.

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.

When you think about batteries, you probably think about the ones in your phone, kids’ toys, or electric cars. But there’s another kind of battery that’s made of something a bit more ordinary: iron and air.

We had Leena Mudawi and Sarah Kramer from our Possibly Team look into it.

Leena Mudawi: Hi, Megan!

Sarah Kramer: Hello!

Megan Hall: Hi! So, I’ve heard these iron air batteries described as batteries that run on rust. Is that actually true?

Leena Mudawi: Surprisingly, yes. When iron rusts, it’s actually a chemical reaction that moves electrons around, and electrons are what make electricity.

Sarah Kramer: To learn how iron batteries use this process, we talked to Audrey Smith, a PhD student in chemical and environmental engineering here at Brown . She says these batteries basically take something iron already naturally does—rust—

Audrey Smith: “And now we’re just doing that on purpose, and then reversing it when we want to.”

Megan Hall: Wait, you can reverse rust?

Sarah Kramer: In this case, yes. Inside these batteries are small pieces of iron. When the battery releases electricity, that iron reacts with oxygen and turns into iron oxide—a form of rust.

Leena Mudawi: Then when you charge the battery, the process goes backwards: the rust turns back into iron, so it can happen all over again.

Megan Hall: Ok, so that’s the iron. But where does the “air” come in?

Leena Mudawi: So oxygen from the air actually moves in and out of the battery during these reactions. Audrey says you can think of the battery as “breathing”.

Audrey Smith: “So we’re sucking in oxygen on the discharge. So it’s like taking a breath in of oxygen.”

Sarah Kramer: And when the battery charges again,

Leena Mudawi: It breathes out oxygen.

Megan Hall: So why do we need a battery like this when we already have lots of other kinds of batteries?

Leena Mudawi: The big difference is how long iron-air batteries can store energy. The batteries in our cars or electronics are usually lithium-ion batteries.

Sarah Kramer: Those kinds of batteries are really efficient, but they can typically only store a few hours worth of the electricity we might need to run the electricity grid.

Leena Mudawi: But iron air batteries can provide around 100 hours—That’s more than four days.

Megan Hall: So why would we need four days of electricity?

Leena Mudawi: To address one of the biggest challenges with renewable energy- the sun isn’t always shining, and the wind isn’t always blowing. This challenge is especially true in Audrey’s home state:

Audrey Smith: “In Maine, for instance, we have long dark winters, but they are pretty windy. So there’s some maybe excess wind, or there’s not a lot of sun, and we need to store some of that electricity for a few days before we can want to use it.”

Leena Mudawi: If we can save extra electricity when it’s really sunny or really windy, we can use it days later when there’s no sun or no wind.

Megan Hall: Does that mean iron-air batteries could replace the batteries that we use right now?

Sarah Kramer: It’s not either/or, it’s both. Iron-air batteries aren’t as efficient as lithium-ion batteries, but they don’t really need to be.

Leena Mudawi: Iron-air batteries are meant to do something else: sit on the power grid and store huge amounts of electricity for days at a time.

Sarah Kramer: And luckily, iron is cheap, and there’s a lot of it!

Audrey Smith: “Where lithium is a bit harder to come by, iron is one of the most abundant metals in the crust.”

Leena Mudawi: So instead of replacing the batteries we already use, iron-air batteries can add another kind of storage to our electric grid—one that helps cover those longer stretches when wind and solar aren’t producing much energy.

Sarah Kramer: And Audrey says having more ways to store electricity is going to be really important as we rely more on renewable sources of energy.

Audrey Smith: “Batteries are the key to the energy transition in a lot of ways. They allow us to put renewables on the grid cost-effectively and reliably.”

Megan Hall: So the battery might run on rust, but what it really gives us is a way to save renewable energy for when we actually need it.

Leena Mudawi: Yeah, exactly!

Megan Hall: Got it! Thanks, Leena and Sarah!

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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How can we throw out less food?

Ocean State Media — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 08:00:00 +0000

https://www.askpossibly.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/101326-Possibly-Foodwaste.mp3

We know that on a national scale, food waste is bad for the environment and our wallets. Today we look at some practical ways to reduce it in our own homes.

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

Today, we’re talking about food waste. We know that wasting food is bad for the environment and our wallets, but what are some practical steps we can take to throw out less food?
We had Emma Mejia from our Possibly Team look into this.

Emma Mejia: Hi, Megan!

Megan Hall: So I hate throwing out my groceries – especially because food is so expensive these days. So I want to know these tips, but before we talk about that, can you explain again why this is bad for the environment?

Emma Mejia: That’s a great question, to learn more, we talked to Catherine Campbell.

Catherine Campbell: I’m an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist of Community Food Systems at the University of Florida.

Emma Mejia: Catherine researches the factors that influence the decisions we make around food. She says food waste creates environmental problems on multiple levels.

Catherine Campbell: All of the resources that go into its production,

Emma Mejia: Resources like water to grow the crops, gas to power the trucks that transport the food, and the energy needed to keep it cool….

Catherine Campbell: There are also carbon footprint issues of the food decomposing, right?

Emma Mejia: When food rots, it creates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, in the US, wasted food creates about the same amount of pollution as 50 million gas-powered cars.

Megan Hall: Whoa! That is not great. So, what should I do if I want to waste less of the food I buy?

Emma Mejia: I was wondering the same thing. I’ve noticed that I have been wasting a little more food than I would like to, so I decided to keep a food waste diary.

Megan Hall: And how did that go?

Emma Mejia: Not well…. The week I tracked my normal food waste. I ended up disposing of a container of ground turkey leftovers, a container of soup leftovers, a pack with 10 slices of cheese, 2 bananas, 4 snack sized cucumbers, a container of diced onions, a pack of green onions, 7 potatoes, half an avocado and an unopened container of sour cream.

Megan Hall: Wow, that’s a lot!

Emma Mejia: Yeah I’m not proud of it. Not only did I waste food, but I did the math, and I lost about $30 dollars as well. Luckily for me, Catherine says that if I’m aiming to make a behavior change, keeping a diary is a good first step. That’s because recording data about food waste can help us identify the root cause of our waste.

Catherine Campbell: Common reasons that people waste food are they just buy too much food, your plans change, you forget about it, it goes bad. In some cases, it’s not prepared properly. Some cases, people just, you know, you don’t like it. You buy it, you try it, you don’t really like it.

Emma Mejia: Each of these reasons requires a different kind of solution. And once you know how your food waste happens, you can do something about it.

Megan Hall: So, what did you learn about the source of your food waste?

Emma Mejia: In my case, I wasn’t using my leftovers. Instead of eating what I already had, I made new dishes, and eventually my leftovers went bad. Second: I was buying in bulk when I didn’t need to, especially for things like fresh produce. And I didn’t have a specific plan for each ingredient I bought.

Megan Hall: So what did Catherine suggest you do?

Emma Mejia: Well for starters, she said to prioritize my leftovers. So, I put them in a very visible place in my fridge and made a very intentional effort to eat them or reuse before they went bad.

Megan Hall: And what about your “bulk buying” problem?

Emma Mejia: She said to be more mindful. So, instead of buying aspirationally or too much for one person, I started buying less than I thought I needed.

Megan Hall: What did this look like the last time you went shopping?

Emma Mejia: Well, instead of buying 4 tomatoes for soup and sandwiches I didn’t know if I would actually end up making, I bought two, causing me to be really intentional with how I used them. While it may seem like common sense to do this, really slowing down to take an extra beat really did help me reduce my waste. And in the end, and I was able to split two tomatoes across three dishes.

Megan Hall: Cool! I think I’m going to have to try some of these tricks myself. Thanks, Emma!

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Should hospitals reuse surgical gowns?

Ocean State Media — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 08:00:00 +0000

https://www.askpossibly.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/100626-Possibly-Medicalgowns.mp3

Disposable surgical gowns are a big source of waste in hospitals. Today we’re taking a look at how healthcare facilities can change that while still meeting sanitation standards.

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.

Just about everyone will go to the hospital at some point in their lives. And if you look around, you’ll notice a lot of single-use items, from gloves to gowns. Is there anything hospitals can do to safely cut down on that waste?

We had Alina Ikram and Leena Mudawi from our Possibly Team look into this.

Alina Ikram: Hi, Megan!

Leena Mudawi: Hi!

Megan Hall: So, it seems like hospitals throw away a lot of stuff. What’s their impact on the environment?

Alina Ikram: Great question. Let’s start with greenhouse gas emissions. Studies vary pretty widely, but anywhere from 5 to 10% of the United State’s emissions come from the healthcare industry, depending on how you count.

Megan Hall: But what about the kind of stuff people throw away. Physical waste?

Leena Mudawi: There’s a lot of that too! One study looked at the waste created over 24 hours at a hospital unit with 20 beds.

Alina Ikram: On a typical day, the average American produces around 5 pounds of waste.

Leena Mudawi: But in the hospital, they found that every patient generated about 17 pounds of waste per day.

Megan Hall: Wow, that is a lot. Where is it coming from?

Alina Ikram: In that study, the largest mass of waste came from the gowns surgeons and patients wear at the hospital to protect them from contamination.

Kaiyi Wang: Textile is a big waste component for healthcare, because we use a lot of disposable textile including surgical gowns, isolation gowns…

Leena Mudawi: That’s Kaiyi Wang, a sustainability analyst at UCSF health. She works to implement sustainable practices in healthcare facilities. She says there are a lot of reasons why these single use gowns make sense.

Alina Ikram: For one, they’re sterile and clean right out of the packaging, and get thrown out after surgery, so clinicians can be sure there’s no contamination between patients

Leena Mudawi: For reusable gowns to be that sanitary, you need to clean and sterilize them, and that process can use a lot of energy, as well as time.

Alina Ikram: And there’s also a price difference with disposable gowns-

Kaiyi Wang: They’re mass produced…it has become so cheap, that sometimes it’s hard

to break even when you try to transition to reusable product

Megan Hall: Ok, so reusable gowns are more expensive, and sanitizing them uses up a lot of time and energy. But disposables create a lot of waste. Where do we go from here?

Leena Mudawi: Well, here’s one thing to consider-hospitals use a lot of different kinds of medical gowns. And not all of them have to go through an intensive sanitation process.

Alina Ikram: To find out more, we talked to Dr Francois Luks, the pediatric surgeon in chief at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. He says there are four levels of medical gowns.

Dr Francois Luks: The lowest level is a technician drawing blood. Then at the other extreme level 4, If you have trauma surgeons, where there’s a lot of blood and contaminants, of course those have to have the highest impermeability

Leena Mudawi: The low-level gowns are used by patients and staff as a shield from germs during routine care or visits. These get cleaned, but don’t require sterilization.

Alina Ikram: Which offers an opportunity to swap in reusable gowns.

Leena Mudawi: So, Dr. Luks says Hasbro Children’s Hospital uses a hybrid system- surgeons who deal with open wounds use disposable gowns, and anyone who’s not dealing with fluids can wear reusable gowns.

Megan Hall: How long do the reusable gowns last?

Alina Ikram: They can be laundered and reworn about 60 to 100 times before the hospital throws them out.

Megan Hall: But what about all of the energy and water that goes into washing them?

Leena Mudawi: Current research at some hospitals says reusable gowns are still better. According to Kaiyi Wang, the sustainability expert, one study found…

Kaiyi Wang: the reusable gown compared to the Disposable gowns, it reduced natural resources energy consumption by 64 percent, greenhouse gas emissions by 66 percent…solid waste regeneration by 84 percent.

Alina Ikram: Despite the energy cost of laundering reusable medical gowns, using them over and over again reduces the emissions and waste that come from producing, transporting, and packaging new gowns.

Megan Hall: OK! So, it looks like the best approach is for hospitals to use this hybrid system- disposable gowns for procedures, and reusable gowns for daily treatment?

Leena Mudawi: Pretty much, at least that’s what’s been researched and implemented so far.

Megan Hall: Great! Thanks, Alina and Leena!

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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How do our medications affect our waste water?

Ocean State Media — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000

https://www.askpossibly.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/092926-Possibly-flushmedicine.mp3

Photo courtesy of Ri_Ya/Pixabay

A lot of us flush or toss our old medication without much thought, but the side effects of that habit can show up in our water. Good news: we can all help fix it for free.

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.

This episode, we’re asking, when you flush your unused or expired medication down the toilet, do they actually disappear?

We had Minjun Kim and Merissa Underwood from our Possibly Team look into this.

Minjun Kim: Hey, Megan!

Merissa Underwood: Hi!

Megan Hall: Now tell me, should I be worried about medicine in the waste water system when I flush it down the toilet?

Minjun Kim: Good question—A lot of us flush medicine down the toilet when we’re done with it. It’s easy to think that it just disappears.

Megan Hall: But that’s not the case?

Merissa Underwood: So it turns out it’s more complicated than that. We talked to an expert to learn more.

Thomas Boving: My name is Dr. Thomas Boving. I’m a hydrogeologist at the University of Rhode Island. My research is focused on emerging contaminants with pharmaceutical and personal care products.

Minjun Kim: Thomas says that actually, your medication gets into our wastewater no matter what.

Thomas Boving: Humans basically excrete about half, somewhere between forty, sixty percent, depending on the medication, of that medication passes through the body unchanged.

Megan Hall: Is he saying our medication gets into the water when we go to the bathroom?

Minjun Kim: Yeah! So even if you don’t flush your unused medicine, you’d still be releasing some of it down the toilet.

Merissa Underwood: But Thomas says that’s not a huge problem, at least not here in the United States.

Thomas Boving: In the United States, it’s not on the radar so much because generally speaking, the concentration of pharmaceuticals in the wastewater are fairly low.

Megan Hall: So, we don’t need to worry?

Merissa Underwood: Well, Thomas says there’s still a lot we don’t know. Especially about what happens when different types of drugs interact with each other when they combine in the wastewater..

Thomas Boving: You take a certain medication, your neighbor has a different one, so we end up with complex mixtures of pharmaceuticals, and the interactions between these pharmaceuticals is very little understood.

Minjun Kim: But there’s one thing that scientists do know- people who use septic systems or well water are more vulnerable to this issue.

Thomas Boving: There is a direct input of medication into the groundwater, via the septic systems. If you live down gradient, you pump that water. So in other words, your sick neighbor can dose you with whatever medication they have.

Megan Hall: But, most of us don’t use wells anymore, anyway, right?

Merissa Underwood: More people than you might think! More than 40 million Americans get their drinking water from private wells, and about a quarter of US households are still on septic.

Minjun Kim: And it’s hard to gauge how big a problem this is. Those private wells aren’t regulated by the EPA. So one study of those wells on Cape Cod found levels of pharmaceuticals way higher than public drinking water supplies.

Megan Hall: Does that mean that everyone with a well should worry about this issue?

Minjun Kim: Luckily, this doesn’t affect everyone who uses a well. It comes down to how close together the properties are.

Merissa Underwood: So Thomas says that in places where wells and septic systems are far apart, the soil usually has time to filter out these pharmaceuticals before it reaches anyone else’s wells. But when these private wells are closer together, it might not.

Megan Hall: So what can we do to address this issue?

Minjun Kim: Well, we can’t stop taking medications. But, Thomas says we can avoid putting more medication into the system than we need to. And that comes back to the stuff still sitting in your cabinet.

Merissa Underwood: When you have medications leftover, don’t throw them in the trash or flush them.

Minjun Kim: Instead, locate your nearest medication drop box. They’re often found in pharmacies or police stations, and you can dispose of them there on your next visit. There’s almost 60 of these just in Rhode Island.

Megan Hall: Got it! Thank you, Minjun and Merissa!

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.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The post How do our medications affect our waste water? appeared first on Possibly.

What is plug-in solar?

Ocean State Media — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000

https://www.askpossibly.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/092226-Possibly-pluginsolar.mp3

Advocates of plug-in solar panels say they’re an easy and cheap way to transition to renewable energy and reduce electricity costs. This week we see if they live up to the hype.

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.

Solar panels can help you power your home with renewable energy and save money on your electric bill. But they can be expensive, and take a while to set up.

Today, Juliana Merullo from our Possibly team is here to tell us about another option– plug-in solar panels.

Juliana Merullo: Hiya Megan!

Megan Hall: So what exactly is plug-in solar?

Juliana Merullo: Plug-in solar, which is also called balcony solar, is just what it sounds like. You plug solar panels into a small inverter, which then gets plugged into an outlet in your house. Instead of using electricity like most things you plug into the wall, this system generates it!

Megan Hall: Do these panels really work?

Juliana Merullo: They do! They’re a lot smaller than a conventional rooftop solar system, so they don’t generate as much electricity. It’s not going to power your whole home or apartment, but an average sized system that gets good sunlight during the day could power your refrigerator and save you over a hundred dollars a year on electricity costs.

Megan Hall: Ok, but that’s not that much. Why are people so excited about these?

Juliana Merullo: Well for one thing, plug-in solar panels are a lot cheaper than regular rooftop solar. And they’re a lot easier and faster to set up. Ben Paulos, a researcher with the Clean Energy States Alliance, says that on top of that,

Ben Paulos: A number of people can’t really do rooftop solar. They don’t own the roof. You know, if you are a renter, or if you live in an apartment building…a portable kit that you can move with you when you move one apartment to another is a good idea.

Megan Hall: That makes sense. But is it actually safe to just plug these panels into the wall?

Juliana Merullo: Yeah, it is! Most of the safety concerns get figured out between the manufacturer and the testing labs that certify the panels. Keep an eye out for UL labels, which mean your panel and inverter have been tested and certified as safe. Then, Ben says you just want to be careful where you plug them in.

Ben Paulos: You really don’t want to plug in your solar system into a circuit that’s already very busy and very crowded, like kitchens tend to use a lot of electricity, so you may not want to plug it into your kitchen.

Juliana Merullo: When he bought plug-in panels for his home, he plugged them into the garage.

Ben Paulos: I bought some used panels on Facebook Marketplace. And then my son hoisted those panels up to me on my garage roof and I plugged it in.

Megan Hall: So I can just go out and buy them? Why don’t more people have them?

Juliana Merullo: It depends where you live! In Germany you can find them at IKEA, and almost a million of them have been installed. In the US, it’s just starting to gain traction. It’s not technically illegal anywhere, and you can find the panels online. But only 9 states have laws that officially allow it. To make sure you don’t get in trouble with your utility company, it’s smart to wait until your state has passed a bill allowing it.

Ben Paulos: If you’re in one of the states that has passed legislation, then you’re probably going to be good to go as soon as that takes effect. If you’re not, then maybe you want to call your state legislature and ask them when it’s going to happen.

Megan Hall: What about here in Rhode Island?

Juliana Merullo: Well just this year, State Representative June Speakman introduced a bill that would allow Rhode Islanders to use plug-in solar without needing the utility company’s approval.

June Speakman: This was one of the most popular pieces of legislation that I had ever introduced, this was a love fest. Everyone thinks these are fabulous, I mean, I was getting emails. Please make sure this passes. Please make sure this passes.

Juliana Merullo: It passed unanimously in the House, but got held up in the Senate. June is going to re-introduce it next session and she thinks it has a good chance of becoming law.

Megan Hall: So if it does, should I go out and buy plug-in panels for my house?

Juliana Merullo: Yes! The impact of these panels might be small, but they still make a difference:

June Speakman: You know some people describe it as a feel good bill. Sure, makes me feel good, but it also does those two things, right? It brings us a little bit more into a cleaner, greener future, and it does bring costs down.

Juliana Merullo: There are over 20 other states like Rhode Island that are considering plug-in solar bills. So we’ll have to keep an eye out for more of these systems to be popping up all over the country!

Megan Hall: Great! Thanks Juliana. That’s it for today.

For more information, or to ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet go to 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.

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Are offshore wind turbines helping New England’s crab population?

Nat Hardy and Megan Hall — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000

https://www.askpossibly.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/091526-Possibly-JonahCrabs_01.mp3

Researcher Emmanuel Oyewole explains to Possibly that offshore wind turbines appear to be providing new ecosystems for Jonah crabs.

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

Here in Rhode Island, we had the first offshore wind farm in the country. And more are going up every day. We know that these turbines give us clean, reliable, renewable energy. But what are they doing to the creatures in the ocean?

We had Nat Hardy from our Possibly team look into it.

Nat Hardy: Hi Megan! Nice to be back!

Megan Hall: Hi! So, when we put these big wind farms in the ocean, how do they affect sea life?

Nat Hardy: So we’re really early in the process of understanding their impact. There have been a number of studies done in Europe so far that show that there are some harms, and also some benefits to wildlife. But we wanted to understand how they’re affecting marine life here in New England.

Emmanuel Oyewole: People really have questions about it. Because they want the yes or no. Like, is it good for us? Is it bad?

Nat Hardy: That’s Emmanuel Oyewole, a PhD student at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography. He’s been working with a local research group called the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation. It’s a nonprofit that works with scientists to study the fishing industry.

Megan Hall: What are they trying to find out?

Nat Hardy: Right now they’re looking into how these offshore wind farms impact local fisheries. And Emmanuel is interested in one particular species: Jonah crabs.

Megan Hall: And what are those?

Nat Hardy: Jonah crabs are pretty big crabs, anywhere from 6 to 9 inches across. They’ve got big claws and a brownish-red body.

Megan Hall: And why do we care about them?

Nat Hardy: Here’s Emmanuel’s explanation:

Emmanuel Oyewole: So Jonah crab initially was a bycatch in the lobster fisheries business.

Nat Hardy: That means, people fishing for lobster would find Jonah crabs in their traps by accident, and then toss them back in.

Megan Hall: So, they weren’t very valuable.

Nat Hardy: No, but that’s starting to change. Warming waters caused by climate change are making it harder for lobster populations to survive in New England.

Megan Hall: But Jonah crabs are doing ok?

Nat Hardy: That’s what it seems like! So, people are starting to catch them more on purpose. And lately, they’re being found near the offshore wind turbines.

Megan Hall: Why?

Emmanuel Oyewole: So, the structures of these offshore wind farms on the bottom of the ocean create a sort of ecosystem creating a new habitat for these various ocean creatures.

Nat Hardy: Depending on the design of the wind turbine, their hard surfaces can make great homes for creatures like barnacles that latch onto the turbine. Then you get some crabs hoping to feed off the barnacles, then you get some fish show up trying to feed off the crabs, and so on.

Megan Hall: Cool! So how does Emmanuel study these Jonah crab populations?

Nat Hardy: Well twice a month, he goes out on a fishing boat to the South Fork, and Revolution Wind Farms. He checks on the traps, and takes some crabs back to URI. And when I went to visit him, he led me to a freezer in his lab.

Emmanuel Oyewole: I was gonna show you just a few of my babies. So this is what I’m using for my research. So this is Jonah crab.

Nat Hardy: The freezer is stuffed to the brim with Jonah crabs in ziploc bags. One crab tumbled onto the floor.
Nat Hardy: Did you call these your babies?

Emmanuel Oyewole: Yeah.

Nat Hardy: I love that.

Emmanuel Oyewole: Yeah, because I work with them, so, yeah, my babies. [Laughs]

Megan Hall: What’s he doing with all those crabs in a freezer?

Nat Hardy: So Emmanuel is trying to answer a very specific question about the crabs: are there more Jonah crabs because of these wind turbine ecosystems? Or are there the same number of crabs as before, but they just happen to be clustering around the turbines?

Megan Hall: And crabs in the freezer help answer that?

Nat Hardy: Yes! By taking chemical samples from the crab’s claw and its body, Emmanuel can actually make a good guess about where the crab was at two different points in time. From there, he can figure out if the crabs are just migrating to the turbines to feed, or if these crabs were born and raised on the turbines.

Megan Hall: Woah, that’s pretty cool. What’s he finding?

Nat Hardy: So he’s seeing an increase in the number of crabs around the wind turbines. That much is clear. But Emmanuel hasn’t started the dissections and analysis in earnest yet, so it’s too early to really answer if the crab populations are growing, or just migrating.

Megan Hall: What comes next?

Nat Hardy: Over the next few months, Emmanuel will open up the freezer of crabs, and try to answer people’s questions about how crab populations are changing.

Megan Hall: Got it! Thanks Nat.

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

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What’s happening to the world’s glaciers?

Kolya Shields, Janek Schaller and Megan Hall — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000

https://www.askpossibly.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/090826-Possibly-Glaciersrerun.mp3

Experts say the devastating floods in Nepal at the end of August were caused in part by melting glaciers. On this episode from 2023, the Possibly team looks into why these glaciers are melting, and what we can do about it.

This episode is a rerun. It first aired on September 12, 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.

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

Kolya Shields: I keep seeing timelapse photos showing ice sheets shrinking faster and faster. That made me curious about the impacts of this melting, and what we might be able to do about it.

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

Janek Schaller: Hi, Megan!

Kolya Shields: Hello!

Megan Hall: So, first of all, what are glaciers really, and why should we be worried about them melting?

Kolya Shields: Well, in short, glaciers are large formations of ice and snow that slowly flow across land and stay frozen during the warm seasons.

Janek Schaller: To learn more, we spoke to Paul Mayewski.

Paul Mayewski: “I’m the director of the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine”

Kolya Shields: Paul says officially, glaciers have to be tall enough for ice to accumulate on the top and “flow” to the bottom. That means they’re usually at least 30 feet thick. But…

Paul Mayewski: Glaciers come in all shapes and sizes… the largest is obviously, the Antarctic ice sheet, which is one and a half times the area of the United States.

Megan Hall: Wow! That’s a lot of ice!

Janek Schaller: Yeah, but they’re shrinking. According to a recent study, glaciers across the world are losing about 267 gigatonnes of ice a year.

Megan Hall: Which means?

Kolya Shields: To put that in perspective, just one gigaton is equal to about 10,000 fully loaded aircraft carriers.

Megan Hall: I’m guessing this is happening because of climate change?

Janek Schaller: Yes, but it’s not just that it’s getting warmer. Because it’s warmer the white snow that covers glaciers melts away, and reveals a darker ice surface, which absorbs more heat and speeds up the melting process.

Megan Hall: So they’re melting faster and faster. But why are people so worried about it?

Kolya Shields: Paul has some insight into that question:

Paul Mayewski: If you were to melt something like the Greenland ice sheet, sea level would probably rise close to 20 or 30 feet. And of course, the Antarctic ice sheet is a lot larger.

Kolya Shields: So far, about half of the sea level rise we’ve experienced is the result of melting glaciers, the rest is from the expansion of ocean water as it warms.

Megan Hall: So – more melting glaciers means more coastal flooding?

Kolya Shields: Yes. They definitely contribute to the rising waters all around us.

Janek Schaller: And Paul says melting glaciers do more than increase sea levels — they also affect water supplies for some communities.

Paul Mayewski: For the people who live in places like the Himalayas, the Andes, Europe for that matter, loss of glaciers is a tremendous change.

Janek Schaller: And we’re not just talking about a few communities. Melted glaciers meet the water needs of more than 200 million people every year.

Kolya Shields: Now, it’s unlikely we’ll lose all of these glaciers in our lifetimes, but scientists estimate that at the current rate of melting, up to 80 percent of the world’s glaciers will disappear by the end of the century.

Megan Hall: That sounds pretty bad. Is there anything we can do about this?

Kolya Shields: There are a lot of interesting ideas out there- like snow machines, or covering glaciers with white blankets so they don’t melt as fast.

Janek Schaller: But according to Matthias Huss, a glaciologist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, those strategies have their limits–

Matthias Huss: You can theoretically make an impact, slightly reduce the melting of glaciers. But as soon as if you try to apply to bigger areas, it gets incredibly expensive.

Janek Schaller: Matthias says we should focus on the real solution—-

Matthias Huss: There’s only one way. We need to reduce CO2 emissions, which will eventually stabilize climate.

Kolya Shields: In short, the only sure-fire way to combat this problem is to dramatically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions very quickly!

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

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

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What Makes Something ‘Better’ for the Environment?

Shira Walpowitz, Malia Honda and Megan Hall — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000

https://www.askpossibly.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/090126-Possibly-Betterenvironmentrerun_01.mp3

Environmental decisions aren’t always straight forward. Like, is it worth cutting down a forest to build a solar farm? This week on Possibly we take a look.

This episode is a rerun. It originally aired on August 1, 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.

In this episode, we’re going to be looking at what it really means for something to be “better” for the environment. To find out, we’re going to talk about an instance where it’s not so clear.

We had Shira Wolpowitz and Malia Honda from our Possibly Team look into this.

Shira Wolpowitz: Hi, Megan!

Malia Honda: Hi!

Megan Hall: So, when thinking about environmental issues, how can we decide what makes something “better” for the environment?

Shira Wolpowitz: Well, that’s a pretty broad question, so let’s think it through with an example — one that’s been a hot topic recently in Rhode Island.

Malia Honda: Rhode Island’s goal to commit to 100 percent renewable energy by 2033 has caused an increase in solar development across the state.

Shira Wolpowitz: But, to build many of those solar fields, developers have had to cut down some forests. This hasn’t made the neighbors, or even some environmental activists, very happy.

Malia Honda: To help us understand the situation, we spoke with Professor Dawn King — she works on a lot of these tough sustainability issues here at Brown.

Dawn King: I am a senior lecturer at the Institute for Environment and Society at Brown University and I’m also the director of undergraduate studies for Environmental Studies and Sciences.

Shira Wolpowitz: According to Dawn, one of the reasons that forests are being cleared for solar development is simply because Rhode Island is so tiny. Many convenient places — like parking lots or old landfills — already have solar panels.

Dawn King: We just don’t have a lot of land to put solar, we have some of the most expensive dirt in the entire nation. It’s usually between us and New Jersey, just for dirt.

Megan Hall: Ok, but cutting down forests doesn’t sound like the best way to reverse climate change! Don’t trees absorb carbon dioxide?

Shira Wolpowitz: They do! And that’s not all — they help with water filtration, cool down temperatures, create animal habitats… a lot of things that solar panels do not.

Megan Hall: So, what are we supposed to do? What’s better for the environment?

Malia Honda: It’s not an easy choice!

Stephen Porder: There’s not one that is inherently better than the other from the environment’s perspective, but there’s definitely one that’s better from the human perspective.

Shira Wolpowitz: That’s our founder, Stephen Porder.

Malia Honda: He thinks the question we should really be asking is what aspects of the environment are most important to us, and why?

Stephen Porder: There are definitely things that are good for the environment from a human perspective. I want to make it clear that you know, there isn’t one answer to that.

Megan Hall: Ok, what if we’re just focusing on reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Which one does more? The new solar farms or the forests they’re replacing?

Shira Wolpowitz: Well, we did some calculations to figure that out, comparing how much carbon an average acre of Rhode Island forest would keep out of the atmosphere each year versus an acre of solar panels.

Megan Hall: And what did you find out?

Malia Honda: Solar panels are nearly 100 times more efficient at keeping carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

Shira Wolpowitz: So from a human perspective, the solar panels are the obvious choice, but if you asked the rabbits or the birds, they’d probably have a different opinion.

Megan Hall: Well, I don’t really like the idea either. Even if the solar panels are more efficient.

Shira Wolpowitz: No one does. Dawn says it’s going to be hard for the state to face these challenges.

Dawn King: They’re gonna grapple with it, quite honestly… I think a lot of folks are really hoping on the growth of renewable offshore wind.

Megan Hall: But can’t wind farms hurt birds and sea life?

Malia Honda: There’s a topic for another episode! And it’s complicated, but yes, there are always trade-offs.

Megan Hall: So, I guess what you’re saying is—in many cases, there really is no one solution that is “better for the environment.” Something could be better or worse in certain ways, but not necessarily better overall.

Malia Honda: Exactly. But for our listeners looking to make conscious environmental choices, Stephen has a suggestion.

Stephen Porder: Don’t allow yourself to be lulled by “I did something good for the environment therefore I can do this other thing that’s bad for the environment” because they’re usually not equivalent.

Shira Wolpowitz: And that’s what Possibly is here for! Hopefully, our show offers a little perspective when you’re making tough decisions.

Megan Hall: Thanks Shira, and Malia!

That’s it for today. For more information, or to 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.

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