Duke Farms Partners with Rutgers on Evaluating Natural Climate Solutions

Duke Farms

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Duke Farms and Rutgers University are collaborating to conduct research on natural solutions to climate change.

The Duke Farms property is the site of a range of wetlands, grasslands, stream corridor, and lakeshore restorations, afforestation and reforestation projects, as well as sustainable farming practices. These areas and practices offer great promise as natural ways to sequester carbon.

“The very forward-thinking team of land managers at Duke Farms is providing us with an exciting living laboratory opportunity to conduct research regarding carbon sinks that will have value for these types of vegetative and agronomic systems within and beyond our region,” said Marjorie Kaplan, associate director of the Rutgers Climate Institute and research project director.

“Applied research such as this project, which will help improve practices and technologies at the critical nexus of agriculture, natural resources, and climate change, is a prime example of Rutgers’ land grant mission,” said Bradley Hillman, director of research at the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station at Rutgers.

Rutgers University researchers will conduct research and monitoring on-site at Duke Farms, starting with baseline data to understand carbon stocks associated with various land types and land management strategies. They plan to devise strategies to remove significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere and store it in soils and vegetation (referred to as a carbon sink).

There are three main components to establishing this carbon mitigation and research monitoring program:

• Field Sampling and Assessment Elements: measuring vegetation and soil carbon in different land types and uses (e.g., forest lands, wetlands, grasslands, and agricultural lands);
• Scaling Up Element: estimating Duke Farms’ baseline carbon stocks and sequestration based on the field sampling, mapped soils, vegetation and terrain data, and computer modeling;
• Carbon Footprint Element: estimating the net greenhouse gas emissions supporting the operation of Duke Farms in comparison to the amount of carbon stored at DukeFarms.

Through this partnership with Rutgers Climate Institute, Duke Farms seeks to demonstrate techniques in mitigating climate change through minimizing carbon emissions and maximizing the 2,742-acre property as a carbon sink. Ideally, these practices can be replicated by private and public landowners to empower people in the face of climate change.

“Natural climate solutions offer a great opportunity to complement emissions reductions and prevent the worst adverse impacts of climate change,” said Michael Catania, executive director of Duke Farms. “While there has been much discussion of these solutions in the recent scientific literature, what is needed now are specific, scientifically valid data generated by monitoring recent restoration projects and changed farming practices. Our partnership with Rutgers should address that need and help demonstrate the efficacy of using natural climate solutions.”

About Duke Farms: Duke Farms Foundation is a leader of environmental stewardship and education. Through the beauty of its natural setting, the diversity of its wildlife and the scope and quality of its programming and research, Duke Farms inspires people to transform their approach to conservation and to start building a more sustainable future. Duke Farms is a private, non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization, which is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, 501(c)(3).

About Rutgers Climate Institute: Rutgers Climate Institute is a university-wide effort to address one of the most important issues of our time through research, education, and outreach. The Institute draws upon the strengths in many departments at Rutgers University by facilitating collaboration across a broad range of disciplines in the natural and social sciences, the humanities, engineering, law, and medicine. Faculty affiliates are scholars whose research covers areas as close to home as the Raritan River and Jersey Shore and as far away as Africa and Indonesia. A key aspect of Rutgers Climate Institute is public outreach, education, and service to New Jersey.

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Young Alaska sockeye salmon leaving home early these days. Is climate change the cause?

Adult sockeye salmon returning to spawn in the lakes of Bristol Bay, Alaska
Photo Credit: Jason Ching/University of Washington

From Michelle Ma, University of Washington

Newswise — An ample buffet of freshwater food, brought on by climate change, is altering the life history of one of the world’s most important salmon species.

Sockeye salmon in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region are skipping an entire year in freshwater because climate change has produced more favorable conditions in lakes and streams, which allow the young fish to grow and put on weight much faster. Previously, these fish would spend up to two years in their birth lakes before heading to the ocean, where they feed and reach maturity two to three years later. Now they are more likely to head out to sea after only one year.

These findings were published May 27 in Nature Ecology & Evolution by University of Washington researchers.

“Climate change is literally speeding up the early part of their lifecycle across the whole region,” said senior author Daniel Schindler, a UW professor in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. “We know climate warming is making rivers more productive for the food juvenile salmon eat, meaning their growth rate is speeding up. That puts the salmon on a growth trajectory that moves them to the ocean faster.”

But this “jumpstart” in freshwater doesn’t necessarily benefit salmon in the long run. The same fish are now spending an extra year in the ocean, taking longer to grow and mature. This extra year at sea is likely caused by climate stressors, as well as other fish: In the ocean, wild sockeye compete for food with close to 6 billion hatchery-raised salmon released each year throughout the North Pacific Ocean. That number has grown steadily since the 1970s, when only half a billion hatchery salmon were released.

“Hatchery fish have really changed the competitive environment for juvenile salmon in the ocean,” said lead author Timothy Cline, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Michigan who completed this work as a doctoral student at the UW. “In Bristol Bay, the habitat is totally intact and fisheries management is excellent, but these fish are living in lakes warming with climate change, then competing with other salmon for food in the ocean.”

The researchers drew on nearly 60 years of Bristol Bay sockeye data to tease out these changes over time, including information gathered by scientists and students in the UW’s Alaska Salmon Program. Close to half of the world’s wild sockeye is caught from this region, and more than 40 million fish usually return each year to Bristol Bay’s nine river systems to spawn.

Higher temperatures in the region have caused lakes and rivers to warm up earlier each spring, fueling the growth of tiny plankton that young sockeye eat. This extra food essentially fattens up the fish a year earlier, triggering their migration to the ocean.

This trend could negatively impact the resiliency of the Bristol Bay sockeye population, the authors said. Before, not every fish in a particular “age class” would migrate to the ocean in the same year, and any given year would see fish of different ages moving out to sea. This diversity of ages has helped the species navigate risks and survive.

But now, most sockeye are migrating at the same time, as 1-year-olds. This could devastate an entire age class if the ocean conditions happen to be poor one year. Additionally, scientists don’t know how many salmon the North Pacific can actually support.

“With climate change, is there a limit to how productive the ocean will become? We just don’t know where there’s a tipping point, especially as we fill the ocean with hatchery competitors,” Schindler said. “We need to be really cognizant about overstressing the marine resources that support wild salmon.”

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Barclays moving 500 jobs to N.J. from Delaware

By The Associated Press

Barclays says it is relocating some 500 financial services jobs in Delaware to a new business campus in New Jersey.

Officials with the U.K.-based bank said Wednesday that job transitions from Wilmington to the Whippany, New Jersey, campus will begin this fall and will be completed by year’s end.

The company said the move is consistent with its focus on developing large-scale regional hubs that enable operations and technology teams to work more efficiently. Wilmington employees who do not relocate will be offered severance pay and job search assistance.

Democratic Gov. John Carney described the loss of Delaware jobs as “disappointing.”

The company said Wilmington will continue to be the strategic headquarters for its U.S. consumer banking division

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Keurig Dr Pepper commits to 100% recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025

Emma Cosgrove@emmacos reports for WasteDive

Keurig Dr Pepper has laid out a series of sustainability goals — including using 100% recyclable or compostable packaging and sending no waste to landfills by 2025, according to a press release. K-cups, the company said, will be 100% recyclable by 2020.

Additionally, the beverage company pledged to use 30% post-consumer recycled packaging across its products and source 100% renewable energy by 2025.

The company has also committed to developing carbon emissions targets in coordination with the Science-Based Target initiative (SBTi), meaning it will set goals “in line with the level of decarbonization required to keep global temperature increase below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial temperatures.”

Dive Insight:

While the company has an immense portfolio of beverage brands, Keurig Dr Pepper has a lot of ground to make up when it comes to public perception and sustainability due largely to one in particular.

Keurig K-cups, and single-use coffee pods more generally, are widely recognized as unsustainable by consumers, and Keurig’s attempt in 2016 to make them more recyclable by adjusting the type of plastic used fell somewhat flat, as competitors found biodegradable alternatives. Despite that reputation, single-pod sales have increased for the company for the last several quarters, and executives may see an upside in re-converting consumers that have abandoned K-cups.

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These diverse sustainability initiatives are an aggressive start to changing that narrative.

Heavy hitters in sustainability, such as the SBTi and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, are strong endorsements for the seriousness of these commitments.

Keurig Dr Pepper has signed the foundation’s New Plastic Economy Global Commitment, a pledge to eliminate unnecessary plastic; ensure all remaining plastics are reusable, recyclable or compostable; and keep existing plastic in use and out of the environment.

Beyond plastic in packaging, this list of new efforts addresses waste, water and carbon emissions — each of which will likely require some shifts in the supply chains of Keurig Dr Pepper’s brands. The company will soon release its first-ever sustainability report, according to its website.

It remains to be seen how drastic the company’s work will need to be to meet the SBTi standards for carbon reduction. Keurig Dr Pepper has submitted a letter expressing its intention to lower carbon emissions to SBTi’s standards.

The company signed on in May 2019 and now has 24 months to develop, submit for approval and publicize firm targets for carbon emission reduction. So far, 46 food and beverage processing companies have committed to setting science-based targets, and 22 — including PepsiCo and Nestlé — have approved targets in place.

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Forget Zumba or Pilates. Hitch a ride to 100 on your green thumb

  • Jamie Feldmar reports for the BBC

Dan Buettner has studied five places around the world where residents are famed for their longevity: Okinawa in Japan, Nicoya in Costa Rica, Icaria in Greece, and Loma Linda in California and Sardinia in Italy.

People living in these so-called “blue zones” have certain factors in common – social support networks, daily exercise habits and a plant-based diet, for starters. But they share another unexpected commonality. In each community, people are gardening well into old age – their 80s, 90s and beyond.

Could nurturing your green thumb help you live to 100?

Mood elevator

It is well-known that an outdoor lifestyle with moderate physical activity is linked to longer life, and gardening is an easy way to accomplish both. “If you garden, you’re getting some low-intensity physical activity most days, and you tend to work routinely,” says Buettner.

He says there is evidence that gardeners live longer and are less stressed. A variety of studies confirm this, pointing to both the physical and mental health benefits of gardening.

(Credit: Getty Images)
Okinawa in Japan has one of the highest concentrations of centenarians (Getty Images)

In recent Dutch study, researchers asked participants to complete a stressful task, then split them into two groups. One group read indoors and the other gardened outdoors for 30 minutes. The group that read reported that their mood “further deteriorated”, while the gardeners not only had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol afterwards, they also felt “fully restored” to a good mood.

Australian researchers following men and women in their 60s found that those who regularly gardened had a 36% lower risk of dementia than their non-gardening counterparts.

Australian researchers following men and women in their 60s found that those who regularly gardened had a 36% lower risk of dementia than their non-gardening counterparts 

And preliminary studies among elderly people suffering from cognitive issues (such as dementia and Alzheimer’s) report benefits from garden settings and horticulture therapy. Sunlight and fresh air, for example, help agitated elders feel calmer, while the colours and textures of various plants and vegetables can improve visual and tactile ability.

There is no panacea for growing old but, the science suggests, gardening does appear to improve our quality of life as we age.

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How’s this for fickle? Striped Maple trees often change sexes

Rutgers study shows how switching sexes could threaten populations

Striped maple tree leaves and flowers. Photo: Jennifer Blake-Mahmud

Newswise- Although pollen has covered cars for weeks and allergy sufferers have been sneezing, we think of sex as being the realm of animals. But plant sex can be quite interesting, especially in species that can have male or female flowers.

More than 90 percent of flowering plant species combine both sexes in one plant. In the less than 10 percent of species where female and male flowers exist on separate plants, they typically remain female or male throughout their lifetime. But it isn’t always this simple.

In a study in the journal Annals of Botany, Rutgers University–New Brunswick researchers found that striped maple trees can change sex from year to year. A tree may be male one year and female the next, and while male trees grow more, female trees are more likely to die. The study found that 54 percent of striped maple trees changed sexes over a four-year period, with some switching at least twice. Male trees usually outnumber female trees by more than three to one. Since the study started in 2014, 75 percent of trees that died were female. Since only female trees can make seeds, changes in the relative numbers of males and females might lead to reduced populations.

“We found that, contrary to previous scientific knowledge, unhealthy trees have a higher likelihood of being female, and the size of the tree doesn’t seem to influence what sex a tree is,” said lead author Jennifer Blake-Mahmud, a botanist who earned her doctorate at Rutgers and is now at Princeton University.

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