Tag: travel

Marine Heat Wave Crashes Alaskan Crab Fishery – Again

CBS News:

The crisis first began in early 2022, after biologists discovered an estimated 10 billion crabs disappeared — a 90% plunge in the population.

“The first reaction was, is this real? You know, we looked at it and it was almost a flat line,” said Ben Daly, a research coordinator with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

A recent survey of the species showed little sign of a rebound.

“Environmental conditions are changing rapidly,” Daly told CBS News last year when the snow crab season was canceled for the first time ever. “We’ve seen warm conditions in the Bering Sea the last couple of years, and we’re seeing a response in a cold-adapted species, so it’s pretty obvious this is connected. It is a canary in a coal mine for other species that need cold water.” 

According to new research from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a marine heat wave linked to climate change impacted the snow crabs’ food supply and drove them to starvation.

Biologists hope this second round of suspensions will give the remaining snow crab population time to bulk back up.

But with the climate threat only growing, there’s concern the snow crabs, along with the industry that depends on them, will continue to shrink.

“I’m a fourth-generation fisherman,” Songstad said. “I would like to say that this is gonna be here for my kids, but the reality is we’re a dying breed and if we keep going the way we’re going, there’s not going to be any of us left.” 

For one Michigan legislator, evidence of a conspiracy.

Asterisk: Matt Maddock is a Michigan legislator and husband of Meshawn Maddock, former Chair of the Michigan Republican Party under indictment as a “fake elector” in an elaborate scheme to (allegedly) defraud voters.

This Carbon Cap Solution is Thick as a Brick

I have questions.

Wall Street Journal:

American Airlines is joining the race to remove carbon from the atmosphere, tapping a novel method that is much cheaper than many existing approaches and could boost the fledgling industry.

The airline company is purchasing credits from a startup that uses bricks of carbon-absorbing plant material to sharply lower costs, potentially making carbon removal a widely used climate solution earlier than anticipated. It is one of the first carbon-removal deals by an airline and shows how some of the biggest corporate emitters are trying to find new ways to cut their environmental footprint. 

“We’re excited about this new technology because it is within reach for us,” Jill Blickstein, American’s vice president of sustainability, said in an interview. 

Graphyte, the startup working with American, collects agricultural waste products such as sawdust or tree bark that naturally absorb carbon dioxide. It compresses that dried biomass into shoebox-size bricks and seals it using a special barrier to prevent the plant matter from decomposing and releasing carbon. The bricks are then buried and monitored using an embedded tracer substance to ensure they are locking away carbon.

Graphyte charges a fraction of the price companies pay for direct-air capture, the most heavily funded carbon-removal technology. That process—which employs giant fan-like devices to suck up air and separate the carbon—isn’t expected to be deployed at a large scale for at least a few years and costs an average of about $675 a metric ton, according to data provider CDR.fyi.

By contrast, Graphyte is charging American Airlines $100 a metric ton to remove 10,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide. That is the price the U.S. Energy Department and many industry executives say is the crucial threshold for broadening access to carbon removal. 

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