This present year may prove to be the most defining year for Californians in terms of preparing for the worst ecosystem disaster to ever be recorded.  Meteorologists, climate researchers and scientists have been studying atmospheric modeling and abundant natural vegetation such as chamise to forecast a scenario most likely to materialize for most of California.

Chamise dominates the native chaparral ecosystem throughout the coastal state of California, including dense shrublands that are too arid for trees. Chamise, usually dismissed by many people as a weed, is classified as a shrub, but is intently studied by environmental researchers and climate scientists as an indicator of how dry whole swaths of the landscape are becoming much drier.

The chamise plant is well adapted to ride out droughts without a single drop of water.  Amazingly in the driest of climates, chamise sprouts small white flowers which attract insect pollinators which in turn attract birds resulting in a complex ecosystem from this single particular plant.  An intense fire will obliterate the chamise shrub, leaving charred stems behind. But the chamise shrub can regenerate from its base burl structure which is shielded from fire. These days, fire scientists are as much interested in the chamise's regenerative abilities  as they are in the chamise's current levels of dehydration, since that is an indicator of how dry the rest of the ecosystem's vegetation is. The levels are alarming.

For this year of 2022, scientists were shocked to discover chamise did not generate any new growth from the previous year in 2021.  Chamise, the hardiest of shrubs, which can regenerate from a fire, has not reproduced in the California landscape since the fire season of 2020.  To the layman, you and I, we wouldn't have noticed, but to researchers, it spells doom.  If the 2019 Kinkade Fire that burned 80K acres in Northern California and the hundreds of fires sparked by electrical storms in 2020 didn't shock you, then this year of 2022 may have you on the run.

As much as people are tired of hearing about climate change, let's put this drought and cascading fire season into perspective.  Before humans arrived en masse, the chaparral only burned periodically. If a lightning storm ignited the vegetation without rain to drench the ignition and subsequent burning, chamise still regenerated.  The difference now is that humans inhabit more of the landscape than the ecosystem can support.  Hence the non-regenerating chamise shrub is a tell-tale sign something or someone is out of balance with nature.

https://www.wired.com/story/the-humble-shrub-thats-predicting-a-terrible...

Photo by Anthony Valois (https://www.smmflowers.org), courtesy of the National Park Service.

YUCK! blurts out from your mouth; same thing most children blurt out when trying fish or onions for the very first time. But you know the adage "Don't knock it until you try it!" and I have news for you: kids are known to eat bugs. I certainly did, I'm sure you have too. Now on to the meat of the matter. 

Global warming, attributed to pollution from human consumption of all resources, will adversely affect all future crops and livestock cultivated for human consumption. Regardless of the demands and production of all consumable goods in the interim, the feedlots for raising any and all livestock are destined to dwindle in incremental percentages.  The reductions of herds translates to the reduction of cattle slaughter. In trying to maintain herd sizes, the expected heifer carcass weight will decline.  Starting with year 2022, Sterling Marketing projects a 3% reduction or 1 million less slaughter cattle for the market. The prosperity of investors will be for the short term as prices rise over 20%, but eventually the impact from climate change data will be fraught with a competition that will damage all expenditures and commerce moving forward.

How does the average person mitigate the empty wallet syndrome and substitute alternatives for expensive proteins? Welcome a superior sustainable crop not only rich in all nutritional categories but can potentially stave off the epidemic of the coming world hunger and malnutrition, edible insects.

According to a National Library of Medicine study by Miami University and University of Massachusetts scientists, 'edible insects may have superior health benefits due to their high levels of vitamin B12, iron, zinc, fiber, essential amino acids, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, and antioxidants.'  Further resulting health benefits from the nutrition of edible insects are 'improved prevention and management of chronic diseases like diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease, and enhanced immune function.' Agnieszka Orkusz, a Biotechnology and Food Analysis scientist at the Wroclaw University of Economics and Business in Warsaw Poland compiled data that found 100g of edible insects is roughly equivalent to 100g of meat in nutritional value.

Analysis of the world's growing population by Dr. Amrou Awaysheh, Business Sustainability Lab at Indiana University, and Dr. Christine J. Picard, IUPUI
School Of Science, states "by 2050, the earth will have nearly 10 billion people. The demand for protein will exceed our ability to procure it."  While animals require large carbon footprints to sustain production for consumption, edible insects by comparison require less land, less feed, less water, less transportation fuel, less machinery and less human labor.  Lowering the carbon footprint from all the processes to cultivate insect crops can only lower the impact to global warming.  One can surmise an insect rancher will feel much less impact of losing an insect from wandering aimlessly off, than from a cow disappearing into the distance.

I remember no ominously unhealthy reactions to picking up bugs when tasting them as a child. My curiosity is piqued. Perhaps a fried cricket kabob or a cockroach ice cream cone will be on order. Yum!

Sources:

https://www.agweb.com/news/livestock/beef/cattle-outlook-optimistic-2022

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33397123/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33917531/#affiliation-1

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/02/how-insects-positively-impact-cli...

Photo by Modern Entomophagy Group on Facebook.com.

Chief Scientist at the Climate Institute in Washington DC and current Environmental Research Advocates Board Member Michael MacCracken's primary focus study to reduce precursors to tropospheric ozone will have an ancillary assist with the launch of MethaneSAT.   

MethaneSAT is an Earth observation satellite that will monitor and study global methane emissions primarily in order to combat climate change. MethaneSAT is the first satellite of its kind which will measure methane pollution from oil and gas facilities worldwide with broad scope and exacting precision. It will orbit the Earth at 200-plus kilometers to have a large view path to quantify known sources, but also to discover and quantify previously unknown sources. It can also measure surface-level methane emissions from other major sources of human-caused methane emissions.

MethaneSAT is a mission jointly funded and operated by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), an American non-governmental organization, and the New Zealand Space Agency.  While most large-scale satellite projects from researchers and space-program organizations require multi-purpose platforms and private-sector ventures sell data to corporate and government agencies, MethaneSAT data will be available to everyone.  It should be noted, this satellite project will be New Zealand's first entry into a space program.

With so much importance and information placed on CO2 emissions, the need to address methane in the atmosphere is much more critical. Methane is 85 times more powerful than carbon dioxide when it comes to planet-warming properties.  Methane, being one of five man-made global greenhouse gasses, is an exceedingly effective greenhouse gas at trapping infrared radiation.  The atmospheric residence time of methane is approximately 10 years. However, over a span of 100 years from continuous emissions, methane will be 28 times more effective than carbon dioxide in trapping heat and cause global warming on a grander scale -- it is considered the green house gas on steroids.

Reducing precursors to tropospheric ozone is now at a critical moment in history since global warming is identified as a direct reaction to active ozone formations in the atmosphere.  The majority of tropospheric ozone formation occurs when nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), react in the atmosphere in the presence of sunlight, specifically the UV spectrum.

MethaneSAT will provide data much quicker than prior technologies, to assist scientists, researchers and, hopefully, industrialists to reduce methane emissions to help slow the consequences of global warming.

Sources:

https://www.methanesat.org/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MethaneSAT

https://www.edf.org/climate/how-methanesat-is-different

https://climateaccountability.org/pdf/MacCracken%20Bio%20Jul13.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_level_ozone

Image courtesy of Environmental Defense Fund, edf.org.

Many credible environmentalists and scientists agree society needs to be less reliant on petroleum and the grid.  As a world consortium, we all realize the dependence the human population has on non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels that power 80% to 90% of all humankind's energy needs. Aside from inevitable depletion of natural non-renewable resources and the destruction to the planet's eco-system, current energy systems cannot sustain a growing population indefinitely. The solution is the human population itself; why not use the human body as that alternative renewable energy source we all will eventually need?

Enter TEG.  Thermoelectric generators (TEG) is a technology that converts heat into electrical current. Jianliang Xiao, an associate professor at the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering at CU Boulder, has developed a wearable mini TEG that can stretch from a ring to a bracelet converting low-grade heat emitted from the human body into renewable electricity.

Xiao's wearable mini-thermoelectric generator (TEG) can generate about 1 volt of energy for every square centimeter of skin space, powering small devices such as watches, Fitbits, LED lights and other low-capacity devices.  Modular stacking of TEG(s) can provide more voltages as needed.

The TEG is composed of modular thermoelectric chips, liquid metal as electrical wiring, and dynamic covalent thermoset polyimine as both the substrate and encapsulation for liquid-metal wiring. The stretchy polyimine has self-healing properties in case of tear damage. All parts of the TEG are recyclable, given that its development was engineered for environmental concerns as well. TEG technology may even cause the battery to become obsolete!

So much energy is wasted from the human body, in truth we are the most inefficient mammal on planet earth.  However harnessing our own body heat to generate power for devices we normally carry, such as mobile phones, watches, health monitoring devices, radios, pace-makers, and hearing aids, can help reduce human dependence on finite power sources.

Sources:

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abe0586

https://www.colorado.edu/today/2021/02/10/thermoelectric

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a35533572/body-heat-battery/

Thermoelectric illustration courtesy of Popular Mechanics, illustrated by Alyse Markel using photo courtesy Xiao Lab.

"Let there be Lightbulb" image by Will J (courtesy of Zumwinkle.com).