Eco Report – September 01, 2023

Hello and welcome to Eco-Report. For WFHB, I’m Julianna Dailey And I’m Katrine Bruner. In this edition of Eco Report, Environmental Correspondent Zyro Roze talks with Jeff Mease, CEO of One World Enterprises, about the measures taken to make a set of local food service companies more environmentally responsible. And now for your environmental reports: Electrocution isn’t the main thing killing birds along power lines, according to the New York Times. A survey of power lines in four Western states found bullet fragments and shotgun pellets in most of the dead birds that were collected. Birds get electrocuted on power lines. But people shooting at birds perched on power poles may be even more of a problem. In a survey of five sites in the western United States, two-thirds of birds found dead beneath power lines had been shot. Avians found dead along power lines are often assumed to have died from electrocution, especially if their bodies show burns or singeing, said Eve Thomason, a wildlife biologist at Boise State University in Idaho. But the animal may have been injured or killed before getting zapped. In the new study, published  in the journal Science, Ms. Thomason and her colleagues walked along 122 miles of power lines in Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming, collecting 410 bird carcasses. Back in the lab, the researchers X-rayed the birds, looking for evidence of gunshot wounds or other trauma. —Norm Holy Phoenix is enduring its hottest month on record, but mitigations could make the city’s heat waves less unbearable. Simple solutions like more trees, reflective pavements, smaller parking lots and lighter roofs could make the Valley of the Sun less prone to overheating in the future. The consequences are now making headlines around the world, with Phoenix reaching over 20 days straight of temperatures reaching 110 degrees Fahrenheit or higher—a new record. The city also recorded its highest low temperature ever last week, a not-so-comfortable 97 degrees, and will become the city’s hottest month ever.   The news is full of language saying hottest month ever.  It’s true if the reference is to recorded temperatures,  which date back to 1880.  But before there were Homo Sapiens, there were millions of years on earth with temperatures 10 – 20 degrees F warmer than today.  The atmospheric carbon dioxide was several times higher than today – all coming from volcanic eruptions.  During most of earth’s existence, there was no ice at all on earth.  One of the easiest ways to mitigate heat is to provide more shade in areas that need it, often by planting more trees. That idea is beginning to take root throughout the Phoenix metro area.  Thus far, the golf courses are still using copious amounts of water, and 80 percent of the water from the Colorado River goes to agriculture.  Leafy greens, cabbage, dates, melons, lemons, oranges, apples, potatoes and tomatoes are just some foods harvested from Arizona’s nourishing soil. The state also boasts a growing nut and date crop industry. High quality cotton, which requires