Final Cut part 1 ST

The episode of Surviving Tomorrow podcast discusses climate change and proposed solutions. The topics covered include coastal wetland restoration, seaweed farming, and reduced food waste. It is revealed that one-third of all food produced worldwide is wasted, leading to significant greenhouse gas emissions. Seaweed farming is highlighted as a sustainable form of aquaculture that absorbs large amounts of carbon dioxide. Coastal wetlands are shown to provide flood and natural disaster protection, as well as clean water and recreational activities. Both seaweed farming and wetland restoration contribute to carbon sequestration. Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Surviving Tomorrow. My name is Johnny Pelz, and for all of those who are new to this podcast, how about we go around and introduce ourselves. I'm Charlie Krug. I'm Audra Melcher. I'm Alexis Jansen. And today, folks, we have a phenomenal episode for you. I'm smiling just thinking about it. What we are talking about is climate change and how it affects us and some solutions that have been proposed to, you know, fix them. And so we all did our specified research on these topics, and again, how about we go around the room. Yeah, let's introduce our topics for today. And introduce ourselves. So people will know a little background about us. Oh, background. Silly me. Yeah, so I think I can say that we are all here, we're Nebraska Wesleyan University college students, all freshmen. Personally, I have grown up here in Nebraska my entire life. I went to school down the street at Lincoln-Lutheran, and my climate change solution that I read about and studied up on was about coastal wetland restoration. So I am from Kansas, but I am coming to school here in Nebraska Wesleyan, and I also play football. And my topic that I did some research on was seaweed farming. Alexis, what about you? I am from Nebraska as well. I went to Norris, and I did my topic over reduced food waste. Yeah, and my name is Audra, and I graduated from a tiny little town called Stanton, about two hours away from here in Lincoln. My topic is on wind energy and offshore wind turbines. I haven't seen any offshore turbines, I can say that. You think it would be because we live in the United States. I think that living in Nebraska might have a little to do with that. But I am here to tell you all about it though. I am just thrilled to learn more about offshore wind turbines. I don't know about you, Charlie. Oh, I am ready. All right, so where should we start? Who do you think should go first and introduce the topics? Alexis. Alexis is going first. All right, thank you so kindly for volunteering. So, refresh us on what the topic was again. So, I did reduced food waste, and I don't know if people know what it is, but it's minimizing food loss and wastage from all stages of production, distribution, retail, and consumption. And so, roughly one-third of all food produced worldwide is wasted. Wow. That's a lot. That's a lot. As a food lover myself, that is just preposterous. Yes. Early this morning. Especially when we're eating it to rot every day, I do not waste my time. That is right. However, sometimes I grab a banana, and there's that little brown part, and I'm just like, I can't do it. I can't eat that. So, you know, maybe I am part of the problem. Okay. Okay. Sorry for interrupting. I just thought that was important. No, you're fine. So, when food is wasted, like, people don't really know, like, what's bad about it. And so, I'm going to tell you a little bit about that. So, like, the energy, the resources, and the money that went into, like, the producing part is, like, all wasted too. And so, it's, like, food waste that we waste is responsible for, like, about 8% of global emissions. That's a lot. And so, like, people ask what's so harmful about it. Well, like, over time, like, the wasted food emits methane into the air, and it also wastes fossil fuels and, like, resources and stuff. Yeah. So, like, what you're saying is, like, when that food that's wasted, it just sits around and, like, rots, that's, like, when the methane is produced. Right. So, it's like when people don't recycle stuff. Mm-hmm. So, like, in general, like, your plastics, and they just sit there and, you know. Yeah. Make the earth a little dirty. Yeah. Yeah. So, it just sits in the landfills and then creates the methane. Gotcha. I didn't really think about that. Yeah. I did not. Because, like, I guess when you get a bunch of biodegradable stuff together. It probably doesn't make a pleasant smell either. No. So, just eat your food, folks. Basically. You heard it here first. I know some of you might not have thought about that, but. Clean your plates. Clean it up. Let the dog lick it. That's right. That's right. All right. Interesting. You got any, anything else that you want to, that you feel so obligated to share? Um, well, about six to eight percent of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced if we stopped wasting food. That, see. It's easy. I feel like that would be just, like, a simple fix. You know, like. Mm-hmm. Well, I feel like wasting food, it's, like, pretty easy. Well, yeah, but you got, like, you got to think. Like, who's just sitting there not peeling their banana? You know? So, the banana peel's got to be left. So, like, obviously, I feel like getting rid of all. Yeah, there's some exceptions, I want to say. Yeah. Like, interesting. Yeah. So, I mean, there's a limited amount of things you can do. But I do feel like one thing we can all contribute to is just, while, like, grocery shopping, not getting things we know we're not going to get through. Like, myself throwing out a lot of food that I just didn't get around to eating. You know, just being more realistic when we're grocery shopping, I feel like, is something all, at least Americans, can definitely. I would agree with that statement. Johnny, I would definitely agree with that statement, too. I also find myself, like, going to the grocery store and buying things that I want more than, like, I necessarily need. Yeah. Yeah, I feel like another thing is, like, before you go to the grocery store, like, and fridge, like, for, like, ingredients that you think that you might not have, but you actually do have, like, in the back of the fridge or something. Yeah. Yeah, that's good. And I think that kind of goes into my topic really well, because, I mean, even though my topic is seaweed farming, and seaweed... Farming and food, I get the connection. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, like, seaweed farming is, like, seaweed's also used for food. It is. Like sushi. Yes. Yeah. And other things. I'm going to let you know with my topic here. All right. Invite us. I will. Okay. So, as you know, my topic is seaweed farming. And I thought this was a good choice for, like, a solution, because it resides in the ocean, and the ocean has a lot of area. When you think about it, like, water covers, they say, 75% of our world. Is that correct? Yeah. Something around there? Oh, yeah. 75, 70. That's kind of really, like, an untapped area, I would think, you know, for farming and, like, just creating resources for us. And what I found in my research was that seaweed farming has actually been found to be one of the most sustainable types of aquaculture ever discovered. Even though it is pretty new, it's still one of the most sustainable. And because the macroalgae that makes up the seaweed, it's super fast-growing, the plants are capable of absorbing copious amounts of carbon dioxide. And the whole idea is, like, that these seaweed farmers will grow huge patches of this seaweed on the areas that have been, like, dedicated to growing this seaweed, and areas where nothing else is being used. And this is, like, where it will soak up the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. And what I found was, I think it's five... Seaweed is better at absorbing carbon dioxide 5 to 7 percent more than all the other plants on, like, in the world. So I thought that was pretty interesting. Yeah. Very interesting. And using this sequestration ability that they have, the macroalgae will take the pressure off the ocean by trying to soak in all of this, like, carbon dioxide. So you say sequestration. Like, my topic, I also touched on that. Can you just, for people who might not know, which might be a lot of our audience, can you just explain to me what, like, sequestration is? Yeah. So basically, sequestration is the idea of, like, soaking in or containing the carbon dioxide, as you would say. And it uses it for, it creates its own energy and creates food for other animals. Such as us, like I talked about earlier. Yeah. Food. It also, because the CO2, it boosts the biomass production, which means it makes it grow faster. And so the faster it grows, the more you can get. And we'll use, the seaweed can be used in, like, for livestock feed, human consumption, bioplastics, biofuels, those are getting really big. Yeah. Especially with, like, the electric cars and, like, more green energy that's happening. So, basically, when the seaweed has done its job in taking up this carbon, it'll then be harvested and used for those reasons. Yeah. So, I think I can kind of transition this into my topic, like, because you touched on sequestration, mine also touches on sequestration. Like I said earlier in the podcast, mine is about coastal wetlands. So, they do many things for humans. Just some examples are they provide clean water, because they filter out waste in the water, which is actually really beneficial. They provide many recreational activities. But most importantly, for humans at least, is their flood and natural disaster protection. Which, you might not think of it, but, like, you know how we had hurricanes here in the U.S. a while ago. There was a stretch where, like, a lot of bad ones happened. Wetlands did a lot to, like, prevent further damage. Okay. So, like, when you say, like, they prevented more further damage, is it, like, when those big hurricanes come through and all the water comes through, are they, like, stopping the water from reaching it? Yeah. It filters it out. So, it's not, like, just water and land, right? There are, like, different types of wetlands. These are mangrove forests, salt marshes, freshwater marshes, seagrass beds, forested swamps. And the main, like, sequestration, the mangrove forest is the main wetland that, you know, does sequestration, because it's a lot of trees. That makes sense. So, it captures the carbon dioxide, but, again, with the capture of carbon dioxide, there's the methane gas, like Lexi talked about. There was, like, because of all the capture, methane's emitted. Okay. Yeah. It's not all rainbows and sunshine over here. So, Johnny, what are some other problems with coastal wetlands? So, it's not so much what the problem is with the wetlands itself. It's our effects as humans on the wetlands. So, there has been a lot of, like, receding of coastal wetlands. Okay. On both sides, both water and urbanization out. Right. So, with all the, you know, industrial technologies that have advanced, we are moving further and further out. So, we're cutting on wetlands from our side. And on the water side, because of climate change and the sea levels rising, it's also taking back the wetlands. So, we're, like, we got it in a bad sandwich, if you will. Yeah. I feel like the rising sea levels are causing, like, a lot of problems. As you would say, it was, like, taking an area that could be used for these, like, wetlands and then also getting into the cities. Like, the cities are moving outward, but the oceans are also moving to the cities. Yeah. It's, like, there's a lot of problems that arise. And, you know, on that, I'll just give you some facts here. So, according to a 2009 study, the coastal watersheds of the lower 48 states lose 80,000 acres of coastal wetlands each year due to erosion. You said 80,000? 80,000. Wow. Due to erosion, subsidence, sea level rise, development, and drainage. And get this, it is estimated that in a place like Louisiana, the coastline will be pushed back nearly 33 miles in some places. That's just, like, hard to imagine what that means for the people living in those areas. In Louisiana, Charlie. Yeah, like, Louisiana, that's big fishing territory and, like, big. Everybody's on the coast. Yeah. And that's going to displace a lot of people. Yeah, and destroy cities. Like, not just small towns, whole cities. Yeah. So, it's, like, it's a very serious topic that we need to be concerned about. But, you know. So, sorry to interrupt you there, but I just looked up how many people live on the coast in Louisiana. It's approximately 2 to 2.5 million people live on the coast. Yay. In Louisiana. And that number, of course, is just going to keep rising. Yeah. As more people want to move to more, like, nicer areas. Yes. So, that's, that would displace a lot of people in a lot of industries. You know, I'm a very positive person. And a lot of animals. Like, a lot of ecosystems. Yeah, that's right, too. I didn't even think about that. So, like, I'm a very positive person, so I don't like talking about all this negative. So, here's just a little bit of hope that I can give you guys. So, there are many things that you can do to help wetlands. And it's not like going out there and making the wetlands yourself. The government can, they have stuff to do with that. But you can just do simple things like pick up your trash. Right? The big thing with trash is it helps tear down the ecosystems that are in these wetlands. And then you can also reach out to your local state, the government, even. And you can ask them things to do and they'll help you with those ideas. I feel like that's a good part on the government. Because I know not many people, or not many, there's not many governmental agencies out there, I feel like, that are willing to give people avenues to take to help save our world. Yeah. And, like, something the government can do, they can, there's this thing called Excavated Wetlands, which is just excavating upland habitat to result in wetland habitat. It's an excavated wetland for restoration of coastal wetland habitats. Upland sites are excavated to intertidal elevations and connected to estuaries. Estuaries? Yeah, estuaries, or coastal waters. So it's basically the government's way of man-made wetlands. Ah, so, like, what you're saying is, like, the more, I guess, the land that's, like, not at sea level, but a little bit above, they're just, like, shaving it down and moving soil and just creating more. Another thing they do is, like, in rivers, they'll take some of the sediment on the bottom of those and move it. So, yeah, I think that's enough about coastal wetlands. How about we hear from our sponsor, and I'll let Charlie take it away. Our sponsor for this video is National Geographic. National Geographic is a global nonprofit that funds the best and brightest individuals around the world. Dedicated to our mission to use the power of science, exploration, education, and storytelling to illuminate and protect the wonder of our natural world. If you want to know more, just visit their website at www.nationalgeographic.com. Man, I do love myself animals. I got dogs at home, and they just make me smile. You got any pets? I have four dogs. Four dogs? I used to have a cat. I actually died, which is sad. And 15 chickens. And, same, a lot, a very large herd of cattle. I don't have any cows, but my mom did grow up on a farm, and she finds them quite cute. Do you two have any animals at home? I have a dog at home. He's a golden doodle, and he's two. Cute, cute. He's really cute. He's very energetic. That's right, it is. He's very energetic. He is still a puppy, really. Do you have any pets? Yeah, I have a dog and two cats. What are their names? Cat lady. Duke, Smokey, and Stella. Smokey and Stella are definitely the cats. Yeah. I knew it. You can just tell. You can. Now, you're not going to, this is a little off topic, just a little bit. We're going to go quick, though. All right. Are cat ladies, are they crazy? Tell us real quick. Are they actually crazy? I mean, I feel like they are a little bit crazy. Are you calling yourself crazy there? No, I don't like my cats. Okay. Fair? Fair. That's a biased opinion. Personally. How would National Geographic feel about that? I don't know, but I just feel like dogs are more entertaining. Cats just don't listen to you. I agree. Okay, listen. I think that they take the vast minority of cat owners that are just a little crazy, and then they make it all cat ladies, because I know plenty of cat ladies that aren't crazy. And I think that you can make the same case with dogs. There are some crazy dog owners. Oh, yeah. I would say that, too. Yes. Yes. But, hey. Hey, who are we to judge? We got to get back on topic here. You're right. You're right. Audra. Yes. I guess we better talk about my topic. Remind us what it is. So, I'm going to talk to you guys about how Offshore wins her line. That's right. How could I forget? I've been waiting all episode to hear about Audra and her Offshore wind turbines. The only turbines I've ever heard of are in Iowa. Yes. So, most people know about wind turbines. They're pretty common where we're at here in Nebraska, but I'm going to be talking about Offshore wind turbines, but for those listeners who don't know about wind turbines, they are essentially these huge devices that can make energy out of wind. They are a renewable source of energy and they help to kind of mitigate our reliance on fossil fuels. Gotcha. So, question. Yes. So, you may get into this later, but are Offshore wind turbines, are they like built like the ones that we see here? They are. They are? A lot like the ones on land. They're pretty similar. Just obviously in the construction is a little bit different just because it's over the water, but like basics, they're pretty much made the same way. Yeah. Wait. Question. Okay. Okay. An opinion question here. Have any of you called them windmills before? Like the massive three-prong ones that spin around, have you called them windmills? Yes. I call them windmills all the time. No. So, you call them a Kansas thing? No, I don't. That's all I've ever called them. Have you called them wind turbines? That's how we've been getting ideas. No, I guess I always called them wind turbines because we always had a windmill at my grandma's house, and it didn't look like the wind turbine. But it was like the one that's like a circle with like a bunch of metal ones that spin around. Yeah. Yeah. So, theoretically, you could call these offshore windmills if you wanted to get a little, you know, just a little silly. All right. I guess. All right. Sorry. I just had to interject. So, in like slightly more scientific terms of like how they work, they basically convert the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy that we can use, if that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. So, they can quickly generate the electricity. They replace electricity from technologies like coal and oil and natural gas power. Offshore wind turbines are effectively... Oh, sorry. Sorry. We're actually getting a call in from a pretty special person. Oh, it's his mother. It is my mother. Oh. Let's hear what she has to say. Yes. Hello? Hey, Charlie. Hey, how's it going? Good. How are you doing today? I'm doing great. You're actually calling right now during the middle of our podcast. So, would you mind if we ask you a few questions? Sure. A short little interview. A short little interview. Yeah. All right. Okay. What are your thoughts on climate change? Can you tell us? Tell us what you know. Okay. That's a tough one. Well, I should probably have a definitive stance, but I probably fall on both sides. I see definite changes in weather patterns, but that's only in my lifetime, which is like a drop in the bucket compared to thousands and millions of years, you know? Good analogy right there. Good point. Good point. Yeah. And know that... Thank you. Thank you. And I know that humans have caused all kinds of issues environmentally. Yeah. Definitely. We've learned a lot about that in our class so far. And the United States and other developed countries are taking positions on climate change and doing their part to curb it. However, the world as a whole, if not everybody is contributing to that, then it's kind of... They're kind of working against each other, you know? Yeah. We actually read a book. What was the name of the book again? Which one? The big book that we read. Oh. Ministry for the Future. By Kim Stanley Robinson. We read Ministry for the Future. Yeah. That was a good one. And it talks about how these different countries are trying to get on the same page and combat the climate crisis. So that was a pretty good point that you made there. Oh, and that's interesting. Yeah. And I also have one more question for you. So like you earlier, you said you saw how the world was changing around you. Can you describe some of those changes that you've seen? Well, it'll probably date me, but I remember when I was younger how snowfalls seemed huge, you know? And it could have been my viewpoint. When you're young, everything seems big. But you can make snow forts and all kinds of stuff. And now we're not getting that amount. Yeah, it seems like we barely get a good snow every year. I agree with that, even from when I was a kid. Right. Kids aren't making snow forts like they used to. Exactly. Just like washing machines. Yes, that's actually a funny point. She said that because we just got new washer and dryer. Really? Oh. So, hey, they do, in fact, not make them like they used to. Well, thank you for calling at such an opportune time and giving us a little bit of your knowledge and insight on this topic. We've kind of put you on the spot here, but thank you for that. That's okay. That's my pleasure. I never really have good timing, so. Thank you. And I'll call you back later and discuss on whatever you were going to talk to me about. Okay. Yep. Sounds good. You guys enjoy. Yep. All right. Bye. Love you. Bye. Love you, too. Bye. Bye. Well, what a pleasant surprise. That was so nice. What a sweet lady. All right. She is a sweet lady. Okay. All right. Let's regroup ourselves here, and if you can remember where you stopped. Yes. Let me try to figure out what I think I was talking about. Maybe the effectiveness? Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.