Advocates are calling for an unorthodox method to fight invasive species like the European green crab: just cook them up and eat them!

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In part two of Possibly’s series on the dairy industry, we’re turning our attention to an age-old method used to efficiently store cheese.

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We talk a lot about the carbon pollution that comes along with eating beef, but this week on Possibly we’re asking: what about eating dairy? How do they compare?

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 a lot about the carbon pollution that comes along with eating beef, but what about eating dairy? And how do they compare?

We had Samantha Zhang and Nat Hardy from our Possibly Team look into this.

Samantha Zhang: Hi, Megan!

Nat Hardy: Hello!

Megan Hall: So, what creates more carbon emissions? Beef or dairy?

Nat Hardy: Let’s start with the obvious overlap between the two… cows. We know that cows use a lot of resources.

Samantha Zhang: They need land to graze, and lots of feed.

Megan Hall: But what does feed have to do with carbon pollution?

Nat Hardy: Well, it takes a lot of energy to make feed– from fertilizers to grow it, tractors to plant and harvest it, and trucks to deliver it.

Samantha Zhang: Not only that, because of the way cows’ stomachs process food, they belch out methane —a greenhouse gas that’s much more potent at warming the planet than carbon dioxide.

Nat Hardy: And of course, we can’t forget that their manure also creates methane.

Samantha Zhang: But one major difference between beef cows and dairy cows is how long they live. Dairy cows stay on the farm for about 5 years, while beef cows get slaughtered after about a year and a half.

Megan Hall: What kind of difference does that make when it comes to pollution?

Nat Hardy: For starters, cows that live longer have more to offer. It takes about two years for a cow to start making milk.

Samantha Zhang: So really, during those early years you have to feed them, they burp out methane, but they aren’t making anything.

Nat Hardy: When a dairy cow sticks around for five years or more, you’re getting at least three years of milk in exchange for all of the things they do that create carbon pollution.

Megan Hall: So, letting dairy cows get a bit older is more efficient?

Samantha Zhang: Exactly. But there’s more. With dairy cows, you’re kind of getting a 2 for 1.

Nat Hardy: To find out more, we talked to Dr. Matthew Hayek, an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at NYU.

Matthew Hayek: The dairy cow is producing multiple products for human consumption. First of all, a lot of milk. And second, she is probably going to be slaughtered and rendered into beef that is used in hamburger meat. Then also, she will have offspring.

Nat Hardy: Compare that to a beef cow that is used for only one thing— beef— and suddenly dairy cows are looking way more efficient.

Megan Hall: So dairy cows create less emissions overall, because those emissions are being divided up in between amounts of milk and cheese and beef.

Samantha Zhang: Exactly! So if we take a look at the numbers, the emissions for around two pounds of beef from a cow that’s JUST used for beef is about 60 kilograms of CO2.

Nat Hardy: But, beef from a dairy cow comes in at about 20 kilograms of CO2. So only a third as much.

Megan Hall: So, less emissions, for the same thing! What about milk?

Samantha Zhang: Well, 2 pounds of milk produces way less emissions—about 20 times less than beef from a dairy cow.

Megan Hall: Where does cheese rank in terms of greenhouse gases?

Nat Hardy: Well the surprising thing is, cheese creates a ton of emissions per pound. It’s up there, with the emissions from beef that came from a dairy cow, though it depends on the type of cheese.

Megan Hall: Why is cheese so similar to beef?

Nat Hardy: Well, consider how much milk goes into a kilogram of cheese.

Samantha Zhang: That’s the thing to keep in mind about these metrics: they can really change depending on the measurement. Since…

Matthew Hayek: Different types of food have different quantities of water, protein, fat, calories in them, depending on which you choose to report by, you’re going to have very different answers in that comparison.

Nat Hardy: So, say we weren’t looking at the emissions by weight, but instead we were looking at it based on the amount of protein.

Samantha Zhang: Then you’d get more emissions for milk, once you took out all the water weight. Going back to cheese, it…

Matthew Hayek: Might look like very high emissions by comparison, because you’ve removed most of the water in order to perform that fermentation.

Nat Hardy: The numbers might change based on how you measure it, and beef is definitely worse than dairy, but in the end food that comes from a cow is always going to make a lot of emissions.

Megan Hall: Got it! Thanks, Samantha 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.

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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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These rare mushrooms are famous for their intense flavor, and their expensive price. But climate change may be driving those prices even higher.

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 looking at a luxury ingredient that’s at risk of dropping off the menu: the truffle.

These pungent subterranean mushrooms are famous for their intense flavor, and they’re so rare they can fetch thousands of dollars a pound. But those prices might start getting even higher… because of climate change.

To help us understand more about this mystery mushroom and the dangers they face, we had James Chafouleas and Shane Toomey from our Possibly team look into it…

James Chafouleas: Hi, Megan!

Shane Toomey: Hey, Megan.

Megan Hall: So truffles, they’re the epitome of luxury. Some have sold for over $15,000 a pound. But what is it about that specific scent that makes them so desirable, and so worth protecting?

Rowan Jacobsen:  It really grabs your brain in a way, it’s intense and pungent and garlicy, but also like funky, like an aged prosciutto or something.

James Chafouleas: That’s Rowan Jacobsen. He’s a James Beard award-winning food writer and the author of the book “Truffle Hound.”

Rowan Jacobsen: As soon as somebody holds a truffle up to their nose, their eyes get big every time. It’s like the ‘truffle face.’

Shane Toomey: But Rowan says that this “truffle face” might become a lot harder to find in the future, because these mushrooms are incredibly sensitive to our changing environment.

Rowan Jacobsen: “Drought is a big threat to the truffle business. Just like mushrooms they like water a lot, right? They don’t like soil to be too dry. You have to have summer rains if you’re gonna have those truffles form in the fall.

Shane Toomey: And that’s the problem. Research shows that as the climate changes, summer droughts in the Mediterranean are becoming more frequent and more intense.

Shane Toomey: Scientific studies of decades of harvest data confirm that the truffle harvest is dependent on summer precipitation.

Megan Hall: Can’t we just farm truffles and use irrigation?

James Chafouleas: Rowan says, that depends:

Rowan Jacobsen:  The winter blacks not a problem because they are farmed very successfully, most black truffles today are farmed. But white truffles Appalachians, the Oregon truffles, those are all dependent on wild forests and on, semi-normal conditions. So they all could disappear via climate change.

James Chafouleas: And even the land truffles have is under pressure. In regions like Italy, forests are being cleared to expand vineyards, and that wipes out the truffle habitat entirely.

Rowan Jacobsen:  So there’s this tension in Italy and other wine-growing regions that also have truffles where, the more they clear forests, the fewer truffles they have.

Shane Toomey: This is a huge issue for local communities where truffle hunting defines their cultural identity and drives tourism.

Megan Hall: So what can we do to protect them?

Rowan Jacobsen:  So there definitely is movement across Europe, to recognize the importance of these forests and protect them. Wild travel hunting is great because it gives the forest a value and, a sense of purpose, a sense of meaning to all the people who live there. And it just makes them very appreciative and very protective of those forests.

James Chafouleas: If you’ve had truffle products and don’t get the hype, you may be in for a surprise.

Rowan Jacobsen: If you’ve had truffle popcorn and said I don’t understand that stuff sucks you haven’t had a real truffle yet. It’s often made with fake truffle scent. But most people, that’s the only truffle they’ve ever smelled. So they think that’s what a truffle is.

Shane Toomey: If you want the real truffle smell experience, you have to go to the source.

Rowan Jacobsen:  That smells destroyed by heat and processing. So it’s gotta be fresh. I think it’s really important to go experience a real truffle.

James Chafouleas: And if the conservation movement isn’t successful, the “truffle face” disappears right along with the forests.

Megan Hall: Got it! Thanks, James and Shane!

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.

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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.

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With colorful windsocks and a gazebo, Providence artist Eli Nixon developed an art installation to bring attention to the air quality around the Port of Providence. This week on Possibly, we take a closer look.

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 are taking a trip to the Port of Providence, to learn about an art installation that is helping to raise awareness about air quality.

Isha Thakkar and Leo Nachamie from our Possibly Team are here to tell us more.

Isha Thakkar: Hi, Megan!

Leo Nachamie: Hello!

Megan Hall: So can art help us understand our air quality?

Isha Thakkar: Great question! To find out, we talked to Eli Nixon, an artist that specializes in collaborative public art projects.

Leo Nachamie: Last summer Eli and a team of artists set up a windsock art installation at the end of Public Street in South Providence.

Isha Thakkar: The installation involved flying different colored windsocks at a small water access point near the Port of Providence.

Leo Nachamie: Each color represented a different level on the air quality index, which measures how polluted the air is at any given moment.

Isha Thakkar: Yellow is for moderate air quality, orange shows that the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups, and red is for when the air is so polluted that anyone may experience health effects.

Megan Hall: What is this installation trying to accomplish?

Leo Nachamie: Eli wanted to bring outside attention to the quality of our air. They hope this project will bring a sense of urgency for the neighborhoods around the port:

Eli Nixon: What I was trying to do was amplify their concerns to be seen by a larger providence that has yet to invest in protecting this public right of way.

Isha Thakkar: Rhode Island has one of the highest asthma rates in the country. And the neighborhood around the Port of Providence is particularly vulnerable because of all of the nearby industries that pump pollution into the air.

Eli Nixon: And yet our politicians are not treating it with that kind of emergency level.

Leo Nachamie: Eli wants their work to serve a purpose in the community, to serve as a bridge between art and public health.

Eli Nixon: I’m trying to make a useful tool for local residents that actually speaks to their concerns about their own well being in their own neighborhood in real time.

Isha Thakkar: With that goal in mind, Eli also built a temporary gazebo at the community access point, so people could sit near the water.

Leo Nachamie: The installation turned a pretty un-kept area into a beautiful gathering place– it’s one of the few places where people in the area can access the river.

Eli Nixon: So my project was like, Ooh, how can I lift up what is beautiful about this place, and what many neighborhood residents have been yelling for and organizing around for decades is safe, pedestrian-centered public access to the bay.

Leo Nachamie: Eli says that protecting public spaces to gather and enjoy nature safely, can lead to domino effects:

Eli Nixon: If we don’t take care of the one spot that is for the public, where our needs are supposed to be prioritized, they’re supposed to be held at the center of what this tiny strip is, because they’re not being held at the center of any of these other spots. So it’s a strategic foothold to yell so hard about this tiny thing, because it’s our one place to have any impact on what’s happening all around it.

Isha Thakkar: So not only are these windsocks being used to bring attention to poor air quality by the port, they’re also being used as a call to action to protect free, safe, public spaces.

Megan Hall: Great! Thanks, Isha and Leo!

If you are interested in a windsocks project in your own community, you can get in touch with the People’s Port Authority and Eli Nixon.

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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This week on Possibly we’re taking a look at the ships that carry our goods around the world. What would it look like to take fossil fuels out of the equation?

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 live near a large port, you’ve probably seen cargo ships—they’re these massive boats that

carry everything from cars to bananas, all over the world.

Right now, these ships all run on fossil fuel. We wanted to know – is there a cleaner way to transport our stuff around the world?

We had Sedi-Anne Blachford and Samantha Zhang from our Possibly team look into this.

 Sedi-Anne Blachford: Hi, Megan!

Samantha Zhang: Hello!

Megan Hall: So, is there a cleaner way to run these massive ships?

Sedi-Anne Blachford: Well, to be fair,  moving things around by cargo ships is already way more efficient than using airplanes or trucks.

Samantha Zhang: But still, we ship so much stuff around the world that these cargo ships do create a lot of carbon pollution— somewhere around 3% of all of our emissions.

Megan Hall: So, what can we do to reduce that pollution?

 Sedi-Anne Blachford: The shipping industry has been looking into all sorts of solutions, from fueling the ships with hydrogen or ammonia to even using nuclear power.

Stephen Porder: I teach about this stuff, and even from my lectures in the fall, I’m having to replace all my slides for my lectures in early March, because the technology is changing. It’s a whirlwind.

Sedi-Anne Blachford: That’s Stephen Porder. Professor of Environment and Society at Brown University.

Stephen Porder: But I’m also the co-founder of Possibly.

Samantha Zhang: And Stephen says the latest innovation is using batteries!

Megan Hall: Batteries to run a cargo ship? How is that possible? You must need some pretty giant batteries.

 Sedi-Anne Blachford: Yeah, they are big! In fact, a lot of them are the size of shipping containers.

Samantha Zhang: But that’s actually pretty convenient. Batteries used for electricity storage for the grid already come in shipping containers, and of course:

Stephen Porder: Ports are made to lift those big, heavy shipping containers in and out really quickly.

Megan Hall: So instead of having to plug in and wait to charge the ship, like I do with my car, they could just put in a whole new battery?

 Sedi-Anne Blachford: Exactly. No long wait to recharge.

Stephen Porder: They just swap out the batteries and they’re ready to go again.

Megan Hall: So, you put a massive battery on a cargo ship, and that’s enough to get it across the ocean?

Samantha Zhang: Right now, the ships that are using these batteries can only travel about 620 miles, but the technology is improving all the time.

Sedi-Anne Blachford: China is testing its first all electric cargo ship, a 10,000 ton vessel, near Shanghai this spring.

Samantha Zhang: Plus, with fuel prices the way they are these days, switching to electricity might start to make the most economic sense for companies that ship goods across the ocean.

 Sedi-Anne Blachford: And there’s one more twist to this story…

Stephen Porder: Over 40% of what we’re shipping around the world is fossil fuels.

Samantha Zhang: Which means that if we switch to clean energy to power the rest of our economy, we’ll reduce the need for shipping altogether.

Megan Hall: And shipping less stuff means less carbon pollution?

 Sedi-Anne Blachford: You got it. It turns out reducing emissions in the shipping industry is pretty interconnected with reducing emissions everywhere else.

Samantha Zhang: And for Stephen, that’s an exciting connection.

Stephen Porder: It’s those kinds of synergies that I think really give people like me optimism for a better, more efficient and less polluting world without sacrifice. Like we don’t need to ship fossil fuels around if we’re not using them.

Sedi-Anne Blachford: That being said, completely electrifying cargo ships isn’t going to be easy. It will probably take 10 or even 20 years.

Stephen Porder: We’re very much on the learning curve. We’ve been running ships off oil for well over a century. We’ve been running anything off these kinds of batteries for like, a couple of years.

Samantha Zhang: But Stephen says, five years ago, nobody was talking about electric ships and now they’re here, and so who knows what five years will bring.

Megan Hall: Got it! Thanks Samantha and Sedi-Anne.

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, Ocean State Media and WBRU.

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A research team at Brown called Breathe Providence is asking people to track what they smell, in an effort to better understand air pollution in Rhode Island.

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.

Take a deep breath…. In through your nose. What do you smell? A group of local researchers think, it’s a question worth asking. And the answer might tell us a lot about the quality of our air.

Isha Thakkar and Leo Nachamie from our Possibly Team have more on this project.

Isha Thakkar: Hi, Megan!

Leo Nachamie: Hello!

Megan Hall: So can smelling our air help us improve our air quality?

Isha Thakkar: Great question! To answer this, we talked to Emma Blankstein.

Emma Blankstein: I am a student researcher with the Breathe Providence project.

Megan Hall: What is Breathe Providence?

Leo Nachamie: Breathe Providence is a research team at Brown University that tracks air quality in Providence neighborhoods.

Megan Hall: Why do they need to track this information?

Isha Thakkar: Rhode Island has one of the highest asthma rates in the country, so understanding where, and when people are exposed to polluted air, could play a role in improving their health.

Leo Nachamie: Breathe Providence uses a lot of tools to track air quality. They have a network of powerful sensors all over the city.

Isha Thakkar: But they’re also encouraging everyone to use the sensors we carry around already – our noses.

Leo Nachamie: Anyone can participate when they download the “Smell my City” app.

Isha Thakkar:  The app, which was originally created by researchers at Carnegie Mellon, is part of a national project to crowdsource pollution odors across the country.

Leo Nachamie: It’s an easy way for community members to report and describe different smells.

Megan Hall: How does it work?

Isha Thakkar: When people report a smell, they rank the intensity of the odor from 1 to 5. They can also list any health symptoms they are experiencing that may be a result of the smell, from trouble breathing to headaches or stomachaches. Then, the app records the location of the smell.

Leo Nachamie: As more and more people started using the smell my city app in Providence, researchers started noticing some common patterns. 

Megan Hall: Like what?

Isha Thakkar: Well,  people living near the port of Providence, often report smells of sulfur, asphalt, or tar.

Leo Nachamie: That makes sense because the neighborhood around the port has some of the worst air quality in the state.

Megan Hall: Where is this air pollution coming from?

Isha Thakkar: Well, there’s a lot of smelly industries near the port, including an asphalt plant, oil and gas companies, and a scrap metal distributor.

Megan Hall: Oh yeah– I always notice that giant pile of metal every time I drive near the water!

But, it seems pretty obvious that people would notice these smells if they live near these companies. What’s the point of collecting their experiences?

Isha Thakkar: Well, certain toxins have very distinct smells, and our noses are powerful tools.

Leo Nachamie: The smells we notice can give us clues about where those toxins come from, in a way a traditional air monitor couldn’t. 

Isha Thakkar: It’s a part of Breathe Providence’s efforts to paint a fuller picture of what’s happening to Providence’s air. And validate what neighborhood members already know.

Emma Blankstein: There are so many remarkable people who know what to do about these things, and they know what they’re smelling, they know what they’re experiencing and they know what the problem is and how to fix it. It is a matter of building the power and the scientific evidence in order to actually make sure that that knowledge can translate to change, whether it’s changes that the community are making for themselves, or whether it’s changes that are made in collaboration with city and state government.

Isha Thakkar: So next time you’re outside, notice what you’re smelling, it could tell you more about what’s in the air than you might think.

Megan Hall: Great! Thanks, Isha and Leo!

And if you’d like to report the things you’re smelling, you can find Smell My City on your phone’s app store.

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, Ocean State Media, and WBRU.

The post How can smell improve Rhode Island’s Air Quality?  appeared first on TPR: The Public’s Radio.

The post How can smell improve Rhode Island’s Air Quality?  appeared first on Possibly.

With assisted migration, humans help move plant species into areas more suitable for their growth. But are there potential downsides to this human-led movement?

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.

Climate change is messing with temperatures all over the world. For humans, that means more of us need air conditioning. But what about plants? What happens when the place they call home gets too hot for them to handle?

Andrea Li and Sedi-Anne Blachford from our Possibly team have the story of one rare tree from Florida that might be happier in a new location.

Andrea Li: Hi, Megan!

Sedi-Anne Blachford: Hello!

Megan Hall: So, tell me about this tree.

Andrea Li: OK, I want you to imagine a short, shrubby evergreen with vibrant, spiky green leaves.

Sedi-Anne Blachford: If you crush those leaves, they give off a strong odor. That’s why some people call this tree a “stinking cedar.”

Andrea Li: But it’s most commonly known as the “Florida Torreya.”

Megan Hall: What makes this tree special, other than its stink?

Andrea Li: Experts believe it’s one of the oldest trees in the world. There’s even a legend that the Florida Torreya was used to build Noah’s ark.

Sedi-Anne Blachford: This tree is also extremely rare. There are only a few hundred left in the wild.

Megan Hall: Why is it so rare?

Andrea Li: Well, a lot of Florida Torreya have died because of a fungal disease. The heat in Florida is also making it hard for the tree to survive.

Sedi-Anne Blachford: But a group of people who call themselves the “Torreya Guardians” are working to change that. Here’s one of the members, Fred Bess.

Fred Bess: Our goal, our mission, is to preserve Torreya taxifolia, because of its status as critically endangered. There are less than about 500 trees left in the wild because of a disease that’s killing them.

Andrea Li: They think the tree would be more successful in cooler parts of the US. That’s because according to Fred…

Fred Bess: Move the trees north away from their natural habit, their current natural range, and the disease does not show itself.

Sedi-Anne Blachford: There’s pretty limited research into the tree’s decline, or what moving it will accomplish. But so far, their project is working. The tree has managed to grow in places like Cleveland, Ohio where Fred is, in Connecticut and even in nearby Massachusetts.

Andrea Li: If you look at the Wikipedia page for the Torreya Guardians you can even see a picture of Fred with the tree in his front yard. He looks ecstatic as he stands next to this bulbous green and spiky tree that reaches his shoulder.

Megan Hall: That’s great!  But are there any downsides to moving a tree like this into a completely new location?

Sedi-Anne Blachford: To find out, we spoke to Dov Sax, a professor of environment and society at Brown University. He says.

Dov Sax: There are a lot of really interesting ethical questions, everything from, are we obligated to try to save species from human induced climate change to if we do take those actions, are we risking causing more harm?

Andrea Li: He says, one of the biggest concerns is…

Dov Sax: If you move species north of their native range, that they might do too well and become invasive.

Sedi-Anne Blachford: And there are a lot of science questions too. Like what kind of species are likely to become invasive?  What habitats are most likely to be invaded? And how much damage do invasive species do?

Andrea Li: The thing is, while scientists have been working on these questions for decades, people like Fred aren’t waiting for the answers.

Fred Bess: If we hadn’t migrated tomatoes to Italy, what would you put on your pasta? What would the Irish do without potatoes, also native to South America?

Andrea Li: Today, if you go to the Guardians’ website, you can see the little saplings growing in the wild, outside of their usual habitat.

Sedi-Anne Blachford: Whether or not that helps save the species, and what the consequences are for other species, remains to be seen.

Megan Hall: Great! Thanks, Andrea and Sedi-Anne!

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, Ocean State Media, and WBRU.

The post Activists are migrating a tree north from Florida. Is that a good idea? appeared first on TPR: The Public’s Radio.

The post Activists are migrating a tree north from Florida. Is that a good idea? appeared first on Possibly.