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California inks sustainable aviation fuel deal with major airlines

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Thursday, October 31, 2024

California on Wednesday signed an agreement with the country's leading passenger and cargo airlines to accelerate the use of sustainable aviation fuels across the state. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and Airlines for America (A4A) — an industry trade group representing almost a dozen airlines — pledged to increase the availability of sustainable aviation fuels statewide. Sustainable aviation fuels, lower-carbon alternatives to petroleum-based jet fuels, are typically made from non-petroleum feedstocks, such as biomass or waste. At a San Francisco International Airport ceremony on Wednesday, the partners committed to using 200 million gallons of such fuels by 2035 — an amount estimated to meet about 40 percent of travel demand within the state at that point, according to CARB. That quantity also represents a more than tenfold increase from current usage levels of these fuels, the agency added. "This is a major step forward in our work to cut pollution, protect our communities, and build a future of cleaner air and innovative climate solutions," Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said in a statement. Among A4A member airlines are Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Atlas Air Worldwide, Delta Air Lines, FedEx, Hawaiian Airlines, jetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and UPS, while Air Canada is an associate member. To achieve the 2035 goals, CARB and A4A said they plan to work together to identify, assess and prioritize necessary policies measures, such as incentivizing relevant investments and the streamlining permitting processes. A Sustainable Aviation Fuel Working Group, which will include government and industry stakeholders, will meet annually to both discuss progress and address barriers toward meeting these goals, the partners added. A public website will display updated information about the availability and use of conventional and sustainable fuels across California, while also providing details about state policies, according to the agreement. “We’ve put the tools in place to incentivize cleaner fuels and spur innovation, creating opportunities like this to radically change how Californians can travel cleaner," Newsom said. Kevin Welsh, chief sustainability officer for A4A, stressed the importance of this government-private sector partnership, which he described as "necessary to achieve ambitious climate goals." This effort will help support the "industry's efforts to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050," he added, referring to a 2021 resolution passed by the International Air Transport Association. Like the U.S. airline industry, the federal government has also mounted a push for the integration of sustainable aviation fuel — offering tax credits for its use via the Inflation Reduction Act. Nonetheless, some experts maintain that sustainable aviation fuel is anything but sustainable, since plant-based fuel sourcing can require the diversion of valuable lands away from crop cultivation and thereby increase emissions. The World Resources Institute noted that 1.7 gallons of corn ethanol are required to make 1 gallon of sustainable aviation fuel — necessitating corn acreage expansion that could jeopardize forests and grasslands. The agreement signed on Wednesday, however, expressed a commitment to "ensuring the sustainability and environmental integrity of feedstocks," by prioritizing the use wastes and residues in these power sources. “This partnership with the nation’s leading airlines brings the aviation industry onboard to advance a clean air future," CARB Chair Liane Randolph said in a statement. The agreement, Randolph added, will accelerate the "development of sustainable fuel options and promote cleaner air travel within the state.”

California on Wednesday signed an agreement with the country's leading passenger and cargo airlines to accelerate the use of sustainable aviation fuels across the state.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and Airlines for America (A4A) — an industry trade group representing almost a dozen airlines — pledged to increase the availability of sustainable aviation fuels statewide.

Sustainable aviation fuels, lower-carbon alternatives to petroleum-based jet fuels, are typically made from non-petroleum feedstocks, such as biomass or waste.

At a San Francisco International Airport ceremony on Wednesday, the partners committed to using 200 million gallons of such fuels by 2035 — an amount estimated to meet about 40 percent of travel demand within the state at that point, according to CARB.

That quantity also represents a more than tenfold increase from current usage levels of these fuels, the agency added.

"This is a major step forward in our work to cut pollution, protect our communities, and build a future of cleaner air and innovative climate solutions," Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said in a statement.

Among A4A member airlines are Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Atlas Air Worldwide, Delta Air Lines, FedEx, Hawaiian Airlines, jetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and UPS, while Air Canada is an associate member.

To achieve the 2035 goals, CARB and A4A said they plan to work together to identify, assess and prioritize necessary policies measures, such as incentivizing relevant investments and the streamlining permitting processes.

A Sustainable Aviation Fuel Working Group, which will include government and industry stakeholders, will meet annually to both discuss progress and address barriers toward meeting these goals, the partners added.

A public website will display updated information about the availability and use of conventional and sustainable fuels across California, while also providing details about state policies, according to the agreement.

“We’ve put the tools in place to incentivize cleaner fuels and spur innovation, creating opportunities like this to radically change how Californians can travel cleaner," Newsom said.

Kevin Welsh, chief sustainability officer for A4A, stressed the importance of this government-private sector partnership, which he described as "necessary to achieve ambitious climate goals."

This effort will help support the "industry's efforts to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050," he added, referring to a 2021 resolution passed by the International Air Transport Association.

Like the U.S. airline industry, the federal government has also mounted a push for the integration of sustainable aviation fuel — offering tax credits for its use via the Inflation Reduction Act.

Nonetheless, some experts maintain that sustainable aviation fuel is anything but sustainable, since plant-based fuel sourcing can require the diversion of valuable lands away from crop cultivation and thereby increase emissions.

The World Resources Institute noted that 1.7 gallons of corn ethanol are required to make 1 gallon of sustainable aviation fuel — necessitating corn acreage expansion that could jeopardize forests and grasslands.

The agreement signed on Wednesday, however, expressed a commitment to "ensuring the sustainability and environmental integrity of feedstocks," by prioritizing the use wastes and residues in these power sources.

“This partnership with the nation’s leading airlines brings the aviation industry onboard to advance a clean air future," CARB Chair Liane Randolph said in a statement.

The agreement, Randolph added, will accelerate the "development of sustainable fuel options and promote cleaner air travel within the state.”

Read the full story here.

Photos courtesy of

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New Zealand Inks 'Sustainable' Trade Deal With Switzerland, Costa Rica and Iceland

SYDNEY (Reuters) - New Zealand signed a trade deal on Saturday with Switzerland, Costa Rica and Iceland to remove tariffs on hundreds of...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - New Zealand signed a trade deal on Saturday with Switzerland, Costa Rica and Iceland to remove tariffs on hundreds of sustainable goods and services, in a move Wellington says will boost the country's export sector.The Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability (ACCTS) was signed at a ceremony during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Peru on Saturday after being struck in July, Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay said in a statement."This agreement removes tariffs on key exports including 45 wood and wool products — two sectors that are vital to achieving our goal of doubling New Zealand's exports by value in 10 years," McClay said."It will also reduce costs for consumers, removing tariffs on hundreds of other products, including insulation materials, recycled paper, and energy-saving products such as LED lamps and rechargeable batteries."The deal prioritised New Zealand's "sustainable exports", he said, amid a roll back by the country's centre-right government of environmental reforms in a bid to boost a flailing economy. Exports make up nearly a quarter of New Zealand's economy.(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Sandra Maler)Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.Photos You Should See - Sept. 2024

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Agriculture

Energy

California Announces Sustainable Fuels Partnership to Curb Emissions From Planes

California is partnering with a major airline trade group to increase the availability of sustainable aviation fuels in the state

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California will partner with a trade group representing major U.S. airlines to increase the availability of sustainable aviation fuels, state officials said Wednesday.The California Air Resources Board announced a plan with Airlines for America — which represents Delta, JetBlue, United and other airlines — to increase the availability of sustainable aviation fuel in the state to 200 million gallons by 2035. That amount would meet about 40% of intrastate travel demand, the agency said. Davina Hurt, a board member and chair of the San Francisco Bay Area's Air Quality Management District, said the commitment would help the state combat climate change and improve air quality.“Together we are not just taking a step forward in cleaner fuels but creating a ripple effect of positive change that will resonate throughout the nine counties of the Bay Area and extend to the state of California and beyond,” Hurt said at a news conference at the San Francisco International Airport.California produces about 11 million gallons annually of sustainable aviation fuel, according to the board. The state plans to use sustainable aviation fuel produced in California and in other states to meet the new targets.The announcement comes after some airline workers and advocates said the state is not doing enough to address the health impacts of jet fuel emissions. Air Resources Board staff last year included jet fuel in proposed updates to the state's low carbon fuel standard, a program aimed at transitioning the state toward transportation fuels that emit fewer greenhouse gas emissions. But staff later removed jet fuel from proposed changes to the rule, which the board is set to vote on next week.President Joe Biden's administration has also set targets for curbing jet fuel emissions. Biden announced a goal in 2021 to reduce aviation emissions 20% by 2030 and replace all kerosene-based jet fuel with sustainable fuel by 2050. Planes contributed about 9% of planet-warming emissions from the transportation sector in the U.S. in 2022, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Emissions from cars and trucks account for the majority of greenhouse gas releases from transportation. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who often touts the state's status as a climate leader, said the new commitment will help the state and industry “tackle emissions head-on.”“This is a major step forward in our work to cut pollution, protect our communities, and build a future of cleaner air and innovative climate solutions,” he said in a statement.Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on Twitter: @ sophieadannaCopyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - Sept. 2024

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Pollution

Pumpkin soup and DIY fake blood: how to be more sustainable this Halloween

The environmental footprint of this holiday is frightening – here are ways to celebrate responsibly and still have funHalloween is just around the corner, with millions of children gearing up to put on their favorite costumes and flock to the streets for trick-or-treating. Spooky skeletons and glowing jack-o’-lanterns are adorning homes that have gone all out to celebrate a night of fright. But the truly scariest part of the holiday might just be the plastic waste left behind after the festivities end.The environmental footprint of Halloween is staggering. Continue reading...

Halloween is just around the corner, with millions of children gearing up to put on their favorite costumes and flock to the streets for trick-or-treating. Spooky skeletons and glowing jack-o’-lanterns are adorning homes that have gone all out to celebrate a night of fright. But the truly scariest part of the holiday might just be the plastic waste left behind after the festivities end.The environmental footprint of Halloween is staggering.A 2019 study out of the UK found that 83% of materials used for Halloween costumes are made from non-recyclable plastic. “They’re basically destined for a landfill near you,” said Lexy Silverstein, sustainable fashion advocate. This year, US shoppers are anticipated to spend more than $11bn on candy, decorations, costumes, parties and pumpkins. Here are some ways to celebrate Halloween more sustainably.1. Shop your closet or a thrift storeWhen buying any piece of clothing, it can be worth asking yourself: how many times am I going to wear this item? Where am I going to wear it? And what am I going to wear it with?These questions are harder to answer when it comes to buying a single-use Halloween costume that’s unlikely to be reworn another time. According to the Fashion Transparency Index, there are enough clothes in the world to dress the next six generations of people. Try finding a costume at a thrift store, and look out for clothes that you can rewear next Halloween or for regular occasions.“I really challenge everyone this year to shop your own closet,” said Silverstein. For example, a regular white button-up shirt can be used for a multitude of costumes such as the titular character of movie classic Risky Business. A striped shirt, bobble hat and round glasses are all the components you need for a Where’s Waldo costume. And working with colors you already own in your closet, such as all green or head-to-toe pink, can go with a multitude of iconic characters such as Barbie and Glinda.2. DIY or borrowSome of the most memorable Halloween costumes can be the ones created with your own hands, whether it’s cardboard butterfly wings or a jellyfish made out of an umbrella and some scrap materials. For parents of ever-growing children, making a simple cape can work for a princess, a superhero and a magician, among others. The best part: capes can be adjustable so they won’t grow out of them as quickly, lasting them several Halloweens.Hosting a costume swap is another way to minimize buying single-use outfits. Is there a costume your friend wore that one time that you’re dying to recreate? You can ask to borrow it or swap for one of yours.“Last year, my friend went as Padme and Anakin with her partner, and this year I’m going as Padme and Anakin with my partner,” said Silverstein. “I’m just repurposing her costume from last year and part of my costume is rented.”3. Try recreating a look with face makeupA lot of mass-produced costumes found in UK stores are made with thin synthetic materials such as nylon. They may be cheap but they are also highly flammable. In the UK, Halloween costumes are classified as toys and are not required to be flame-resistant or flame-retardant, meaning they can potentially catch fire if exposed to an open flame, and can be hard to extinguish quickly. This very thing happened to the daughter of television presenter Claudia Winkleman in 2014. A recent assessment out of the UK of costumes for children under seven has found that more than 80% of tested costumes have failed basic safety tests for flammability and strangulation from cords.In the US, thanks to the Flammable Fabrics Act, costumes sold at retail stores are required to be flame-resistant, but it doesn’t mean that the costume can’t burn, and it doesn’t solve all issues related to concerns about toxic chemicals found in Halloween costumes. Vinyl face masks can potentially expose people to heavy metals and ones made with flexible plastic are highly likely to contain phthalates.Opting to recreate the mask through face-painting may seem like a better alternative, but many conventional face paints can contain lead, arsenic and mercury. Experts recommend using regular drugstore makeup and cosmetic-grade face paint, as they have stricter regulations.And if you really want to know what goes into the products applied to your face, why not try some items found in kitchen cabinets? You can make fake blood from corn syrup, beet juice and cocoa powder.4. Ditch the cobwebsIt might be tempting to deck your front yard or stoop with fake spiderwebs this season. But these cotton-like cobwebs can be a death trap for wildlife. They’re often placed in trees and bushes and on windowsills, where birds and other small animals can get trapped in them, risking injury or death. Instead, window displays with a light-up LED web or a crocheted cobweb can be a safer and a more long-lasting alternative that can be reused in future decorations.“Every time I see a fake spiderweb drawn onto a window that is thrilling to me, because it looks great, it celebrates the holiday spirit, but it also eliminates a threat to birds, which is window collisions,” said Dustin Partridge, director of conservation and science at New York City Bird Alliance. Millions of birds die each year due to window collisions, many of them during migration, which is happening right now. “Painted spiderwebs or stickers can block out a reflective window and that can actually save birds.”5. Turn pumpkins into soupEach year, the US harvests about 2bn lbs of pumpkins to sell whole. One of the ways to utilize it for purposes beyond decor is using the flesh for soup and roasting up the seeds.It might be tempting to make your carved pumpkin stand out by spraying it with hairspray or glitter, but that can limit the ways it can be repurposed once festivities end. “Avoid spraying down your pumpkins and find a good use for them afterward,” said Partridge.After the celebrations are over, you might be wondering what to do with all the jack-o’-lanterns decking the halls of Halloween’s past. One satisfying way is to smash them up and compost them. Some zoos and farmers even accept them as feed for animals.“So much of the concern of consumption is put on the consumer, but really the onus is on these corporations capitalizing on these holidays,” said Katrina Caspelich, chief marketing officer for Remake, a non-profit advocating against fast fashion. “They really just need to create less stuff. How many Halloween costumes do we need?”Remember that it’s not all on you. Trying to reduce the footprint of this holiday can be hard when companies constantly churn out these single-use products. Halloween candy is one of the largest contributors to plastic waste.“[We’re] focused on developing packaging that adheres to the highest standards for food safety while also being fully recyclable, compostable or reusable in order to reduce the environmental footprint of confectionery packaging,” said Carly Schildhaus of the National Confectioners Association. “There’s also a role for federal, state and local governments to play in repairing and advancing the nation’s broken recycling infrastructure, which cannot yet fully address flexible packaging.”Some candy companies have been distributing collection bags to recycle the candy wrappers to turn into dog poo bags. But that only addresses a small part of the greater plastic problem from this holiday.

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High Pesticide Use in Costa Rica Sparks Call for Sustainable Farming

Costa Rica is facing a pesticide crisis due to the high use of chemicals in agriculture and their harmful impacts on human health and ecosystems. Experts have repeatedly called for a transition to sustainable agriculture practices like agroecology, which promotes organic farming and eco-friendly alternatives. Costa Rica ranks among the highest in pesticide use per hectare worldwide, with estimates ranging from 10 to 35 kg per hectare. About 90% of the pesticides used in Costa Rica are Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs), raising significant health and environmental concerns. Research by the Regional Institute of Studies on Toxic Substances at the National University (Iret-UNA) highlights the urgent need for Costa Rica to adopt safe and sustainable food production methods. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), agroecology seeks to optimize interactions among plants, animals, people, and ecosystems and emphasizes social practices essential to achieving a sustainable and equitable food system. In 2023, the School of Agricultural Sciences at the National University (ECA-UNA) began mapping agroecological initiatives across Costa Rica. Through the Center for the Valorization of Agri-food and Artisanal Products, they identified Alajuela as the leading province for agroecological practices (27.61%), followed by San José (17.16%) and Puntarenas (15.67%). Most agroecological farms in Costa Rica range from 0 to 3 hectares, while 25% exceed 10 hectares. The top organic products sold are vegetables (59.1%), fruits (56.2%), and bio-inputs (51.1%). Notably, 74.5% of producers use direct sales for marketing, followed by municipal fairs and organic markets. Producers rely on organic fertilizers, soil and water conservation, and agroecological pest management to promote biodiversity and sustainable growth. Family labor (34.3%) is the most common workforce source, with occasional (33.6%) and permanent outsourcing (27.7%) following. Despite the benefits, researchers note that agroecological farming in Costa Rica often lacks external support, with producers funding these practices on their own. The post High Pesticide Use in Costa Rica Sparks Call for Sustainable Farming appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

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Agriculture

Crisis

Fish farming was supposed to be sustainable. But there’s a giant catch.

Earlier this summer, the United Nations reported that humanity now consumes more fish raised in farms than taken from the ocean. The milestone was the culmination of a decades-long growth spurt in aquaculture, or fish farming, an industry that produces more than four times as much fish today than it did 30 years ago. Fish […]

A large group of red hybrid tilapia wait to be fed in a floating pen fish farm in Thailand. Overcrowding is a common problem in aquaculture, which can affect the health of the fish being raised. | Mako Kurokawa/Sinergia Animal/We Animals Earlier this summer, the United Nations reported that humanity now consumes more fish raised in farms than taken from the ocean. The milestone was the culmination of a decades-long growth spurt in aquaculture, or fish farming, an industry that produces more than four times as much fish today than it did 30 years ago. Fish farming’s growth was spurred primarily by government subsidies around the world, as the world’s wild fish catch peaked in the 1990s and countries sought another source of seafood. Aquaculture has also been boosted by academic institutions, philanthropic foundations, nonprofit organizations, and the United Nations on the belief that fish farming can give overexploited oceans a break and more sustainably improve food security. But fish farming comes with — forgive the pun — some major catches. Some of the most valuable farmed species, like salmon and trout, are carnivorous and must be fed wild-caught fish when farmed. Farmed shrimp, along with a number of omnivorous fish species, are also fed wild-caught fish. All told, some 17 million of the 91 million metric tons of wild-caught fish are diverted to the aquaculture industry annually. In other words, what was supposed to relieve pressure from overexploited oceans has become a new source of its exploitation. According to a new study published in Science Advances by a team of researchers from the University of Miami, New York University, and conservation group Oceana, fish farming might kill far more wild-caught fish than previously thought — a finding that throws the aquaculture industry’s sustainable branding into question. The researchers found that the amount of wild-caught fish — usually from small species like anchovies and sardines — to feed the top 11 farmed fish and crustacean species could be 27 to 307 percent higher than current estimates, or even higher, depending on how it’s calculated. (The high degree of variability and uncertainty is due to a lack of validated industry data on what farmed fish are fed.) “The extraction of wild fish to manufacture aquaculture feed is likely far higher than we’ve been told,” Spencer Roberts, a PhD researcher at the University of Miami and lead author of the study, told me. “The story about fish farming feeding the world is very optimistic, but it’s based on incomplete data. So what we’re trying to do is portray a more realistic and comprehensive picture.” The aquaculture industry now uses almost one-fifth of the global wild fish catch just to feed farmed fish, adding pressure to already taxed oceans and threatening the food sources of some coastal communities in the Global South. It has also created a new realm of animal suffering: Fish farms, sometimes called “underwater factory farms” by animal advocates, often keep fish in conditions similar to the crowded industrial farms that confine pigs, chickens, and cows raised on land. This story was first featured in the Processing Meat newsletter Sign up here for Future Perfect’s biweekly newsletter from Marina Bolotnikova and Kenny Torrella, exploring how the meat and dairy industries shape our health, politics, culture, environment, and more. Have questions or comments on this newsletter? Email us at futureperfect@vox.com! “There is a lot of hype in not just media but in governance conversations about aquaculture or blue foods more broadly as a sustainable source of food and a way to combat hunger or reduce food insecurity, but there are so many things ignored,” Roberts said. “I hope that [the new research] prompts other academics, but especially policymakers, to question some of the narratives.” Fish farming might waste more fish meat than it produces The aquaculture industry measures the amount of wild-caught fish required to produce one unit of farmed fish with what it calls the Fish In:Fish Out (FIFO) ratio. In 1997, the early days of the fish farming boom, the industry had a FIFO ratio of 1.9, meaning that for every kilogram of fish it produced, it had to catch and kill almost two kilograms of fish used for feed. By 2017, according to a team of aquaculture experts, that figure dropped to 0.28, an all-time low, largely because the industry switched much of its feed from wild-caught fish to crops like soy and corn, along with vegetable oils, minerals, and vitamins. Those findings were published in Nature, and it’s since been widely cited in food systems research. The fish farming industry puts its FIFO ratio at a similarly low rate, claiming a major sustainability win. (It’s worth noting that some of the Nature paper’s authors hold close ties to the aquaculture and livestock feed industries.) But the model used in that paper was incomplete, according to Roberts. For instance, it didn’t include trimmings, the parts of a fish considered byproducts that do end up in fish feed, nor fish that were unintentionally killed and turned into fish feed. The model also used industry data reporting that, on average, only 7 percent of its farmed fish feed consisted of wild-caught fish; the rest consisted of crops. Other data sources, from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and another team of researchers, reported much higher rates of wild-caught fish in farmed fish diets. When correcting for these factors from the original model, Roberts and his co-authors found that for the top 11 farmed species, the global aquaculture industry’s Fish In:Fish Out ratio is much higher than the original model’s estimate of 0.28, ranging from 0.36 to 1.15, or 27 to 307 percent higher. Then the researchers ran the numbers again, adding in other fish and other marine animals killed unintentionally by commercial fishing vessels, and removed fish farms that don’t feed their animals at all. That adjustment brought up the industry’s FIFO ratio to between 0.57 and 1.78, or 103 to 535 percent higher than the original model. That means that at the upper estimate of 1.78, the industry still generates a net loss of fish, just as it did in the 1990s. For carnivorous farmed species like salmon and trout, the aquaculture sector’s demand for wild-caught fish is especially high. By Roberts and his co-authors’ upper-bound estimate, it could take up to 6.24 kilograms of wild-caught fish to produce just one kilogram of salmon — 230 percent more than previously estimated. “It appears this current paper replaced [earlier studies’] simplifying assumptions with better sources of data or better estimates,” said David C. Love, an aquaculture and fisheries research professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who was not involved in the study. “What they found was that more fish are being used in the diet than what was previously thought.” But looking at the FIFO ratio for the entire industry obscures major differences in feeding requirements across species. “It’s hard to say, ‘Well, aquaculture is just one thing.’ It’s not. It’s lots and lots of different species with different needs,” Love said. The biggest difference is between herbivorous species, like carp and tilapia with a FIFO ratio up to 0.83 at the upper bound of the adjusted model, and carnivorous species like salmon and trout, with a FIFO ratio up to 5.57 — a near sevenfold gap. Shrimp, freshwater crustaceans, and catfish also require more wild-caught fish than they produce at the upper bounds. Paul Zajicek, executive director of the National Aquaculture Association, dismissed the study’s findings in an email to Vox. “As noted by the authors, these types of analyses are very challenging and we suspect a rival analysis will show differences as well,” Zajicek wrote. But the massive amounts of wild-caught fish fed to farmed fish is only one piece of the bigger picture on fish farming’s unsustainability. Fish farming’s environmental, social, and animal welfare costs Although the fish farming industry over time has lowered its reliance on wild-caught fish on a per-kilogram basis, it has replaced it with corn and soy. “Every bit of fishmeal that you [remove from fish diets] has to still be substituted with something from land,” said Jennifer Jacquet, a co-author of the study and professor of atmospheric and earth science at the University of Miami. “We’re already concerned with deforestation for [feeding] land animals, and now farmed salmon are also contributing to the deforestation of our world.” This explosion in crop use — about a fivefold increase in recent decades — doesn’t just mean more potential deforestation. Those crops are grown using a lot of synthetic fertilizer, which in turn pollutes waterways and harms wild fish. It’s also a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions and displaces land that could be used to otherwise grow food directly for humans. “What we’re talking about is not so much increasing efficiency as much as a shift in pressure from ecosystems like the Humboldt Current [in Peru], where the anchovies come from, to ecosystems like the Amazon rainforest where the soy comes from,” Roberts said. What we need, Love of Johns Hopkins University told me, are holistic life-cycle assessments that cover not just a species’ FIFO ratio but other metrics too, such as carbon footprint, water use, land use, and pollution, to give us a more accurate picture of aquaculture’s environmental impact. One such assessment, published Nature in 2021, found that seaweed and bivalves, like mussels and oysters, have the lowest environmental footprint of all aquaculture foods. But it also illustrates the complex range of trade-offs between different species and whether they’re wild-caught or farmed. For example, farmed salmon use little land and water but use a lot of wild-caught fish and generate a lot of pollution. By comparison, farmed carp eat almost no wild-caught fish but require much more land and water. When we farm or catch fish at scale, much like animals raised on land, we tend to overexploit one ecosystem or another, making it an inefficient way of producing protein relative to plant-based agriculture. The rapid growth of fish farming has also come with grave ethical implications. Animal rights advocates have lambasted fish farm conditions, where fish often suffer from many of the same issues as animals raised on land, like overcrowding and disease. Slave labor on commercial fishing vessels and inside fish processing plants has long plagued the industry. Catching wild fish for fish feed also undermines food security in some regions. For example, many of the fish caught for the aquaculture industry come from West Africa and “could be part of the West African diet, but are instead being sold to fish meal plants” as food to be used on fish farms, Love said. Many of those fish end up in wealthier markets, like Europe and North America. “While the aquaculture industry regularly uses the narrative of food security, their top products, salmon and shrimp, are prized not for their nutritional value but for their export value,” wrote Patricia Majluf of Oceana, a biologist and co-author of the study, in a separate analysis of the aquaculture feed industry. Much of the conversation among governments, philanthropies, nonprofits, and academics around the future of seafood — which is anticipated to grow some 30 percent by 2050 — aims to balance conservation and economic development. But famed ecologist and author Carl Safina, in a recent commentary, called for something grander: a clear-eyed look at aquaculture’s environmental and social harms — one that would require us to fundamentally rethink aquaculture. “Problems in animal aquaculture stem from failures of care and conscience,” Safina wrote. “Solutions require not ‘balanced’ goals but moral reckonings overhauling economic valuations and policies.”

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Agriculture

Conservation

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Communities in the red and a fishery on the brink of collapse. Coding for Crayfish explores the notion of Rethinking Sustainability through technology, told through the Story of traditional fisher David Shoshola.

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Last Chair

We pollute the environment upon which we depend. An exploration of the paradox of sustainable skiing and how we can protect the places we love.

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Fallow Land Bears Sweet Fruit - Part 1

In part one, filmed near Qingdao in 2015, Tang Guanhua and Xingzhen experiment with a self-sustainable lifestyle. They describe their rationale for pursuing such a life and introduce their dream of building an intentional community. Is this an important new direction for Chinese society, or a self-indulgent escape for a privileged few?

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WILD in the Garden State

WILD in the Garden State is the story of connecting to the natural world in suburban New Jersey. Dave and Sarah are city transplants with no gardening experience who want a beautiful, ecological garden. The documentary short (30 minutes) will attract experienced and new gardeners who want to spend less time maintaining a pristine — and unhealthy — lawn and more time enjoying the natural world, right in their own backyard. Filmmaker Sarah Galloway honed her craft producing exhibit media for the American Museum of Natural History. Husband Dave Comins is an architect who is inspired to garden for nature while creating a beautiful, park-like space. Shot over ten years, "WILD in the Garden State" documents gardening missteps, lessons and experiences that go far beyond replacing a rectangle of lawn. It’s a story of connecting to the natural world in suburban New Jersey.

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California inks sustainable aviation fuel deal with major airlines

Related News

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California Announces Sustainable Fuels Partnership to Curb Emissions From Planes

Pumpkin soup and DIY fake blood: how to be more sustainable this Halloween

High Pesticide Use in Costa Rica Sparks Call for Sustainable Farming

Fish farming was supposed to be sustainable. But there’s a giant catch.

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California inks sustainable aviation fuel deal with major airlines

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a sustainable future