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The Environmental Protection Agency recently announced new drinking water limits on a category of chemicals called polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
These chemicals are found in thousands of products that we use every day, such as plastics, Teflon, water proofing, fire retardant and others.
But they are also known as “forever chemicals” because they accumulate rather than breakdown in the environment and human body, and can cause health problems such as cancer, liver damage, low birth weight and birth defects.
A recent report by USA Today showed that 608 water systems across the country have detected PFAS, including some in South Carolina. Another report in the Charleston Post & Courier said freshwater fishermen are being warned to reduce their fish consumption because of PFAS.
In this episode of Earthly, Jonathan talks with Clemson environmental engineering associate professor Ezra Cates about PFAS and their impacts. Cates will also tell us about some innovative techniques and technologies his lab is developing to treat drinking water tainted with PFAS.
Show Notes
The Cates Lab
Hundreds of water systems exceed PFAS limits
New advances at Clemson University could help degrade chemicals in water
Clemson researchers: forever chemicals could be making you fatFor show notes and additonal resources, visit https://blogs.clemson.edu/earthly/.
Earthly is hosted and produced by Clemson University. -
Since the days of George Washington, the United States has been surveying farmers about their farm operations to monitor the health of the nation’s agricultural industry and the security of the food supply.
The effort started in 1791, when Washington wrote to farmers requesting information on land values, crop acreages, crop yields, livestock values and taxes. Washington’s survey extended 250 miles north and south, and 100 miles east and west of his home in Mount Vernon, which today would encompass Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
In 1839, the census became official when congress appropriated $1,000 for, "carrying out agricultural investigations and procuring agricultural statistics."
Now the USDA’s Census of Agriculture spans the entire nation and is released every five years.
Today on Earthly, Jonathan talks to agricultural economist Nathan Smith about the 2022 census, which was released in February.
Smith is going to help us understand what the census says about the health of the nation’s agricultural industry and how South Carolina is faring.
Census of Agriculture
Clemson Extension Agribusiness Team
New and Beginning Farmers ProgramFor show notes and additonal resources, visit https://blogs.clemson.edu/earthly/.
Earthly is hosted and produced by Clemson University. -
Saknas det avsnitt?
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The world's population has quadrupled in the last century and is expected to surpass 8 billion by 2050. This means that in the next 25 years or so, the world will need to produce about 60% more food to feed its estimated population.
Furthermore, we’ll need to produce that food sustainably in unseasonable temperatures, drought and flood conditions, all while fighting disease and pests, and on less land.
Jonathan talks to Clemson plant geneticist Rick Boyles on this episode of Earthly.Boyles is one of many researchers worldwide tackling the challenge of feeding a growing global population through plant breeding.
Boyles is going to give some background in plant breeding, talk about advances modern technology have brought to the plant breeding process, and hopefully leave us with room for optimism.
Show NotesClemson receives FFAR grant to promote sorghum health benefits
Clemson reseacher developing new line of wheat to withstand Southeast growing conditions
Clemson rejoins forces with collaborative group to kick-start small grains program
Clemson researcher studying sorghum's resistance to fall armywormFor show notes and additonal resources, visit https://blogs.clemson.edu/earthly/.
Earthly is hosted and produced by Clemson University. -
Humans have forever turned to nature for artistic inspiration. The earliest cave paintings are at least 64,000 years old and depict images of wild animals, landscapes, and even the heavens. More recently, photographer Ansel Adams, poet Wendell Berry, sculptor Andy Goldsworthy, and movie director Werner Herzog have all produced great art by musing on the material world.
Jonathan's guest on Earthly, continues in that tradition. Todd Anderson collaborates with scientists and travels to some of the world’s most remote environments to see what they see only with the eye of an artist. Then Anderson creates prints using woodcuts to capture moments in time as landscapes are altered by rising temperatures.
Anderson is going to tell us about his process, inspiration, and what he hopes his art says about the natural world.
SHOW NOTES
Journey to the Ice
Thin Ice
Todd Anderson's WorkFor show notes and additonal resources, visit https://blogs.clemson.edu/earthly/.
Earthly is hosted and produced by Clemson University. -
Every 13 years in the Southeast and parts of the Midwest, countless cicadas rise out of the ground and breed. The spring and summer of 2024 marks the thirteenth year since the cicada brood known as brood XIX’s last emergence, which means in a few months they’ll be everywhere.
Jonathan talks with Clemson University entomologist Eric Benson about the fascinating lifecycle of what are called “periodical cicadas.”
Benson is going to tell us what we learned about brood XIX when it emerged in 2011, what we can expect when they come out again in 2024, and what citizens can do to help scientists understand this wonder of nature.
SHOW NOTES
Brood XIX
UConn Brood XIX website
Magicicada tredecim 3D models and mating callsFor show notes and additonal resources, visit https://blogs.clemson.edu/earthly/.
Earthly is hosted and produced by Clemson University. -
Retirees and warm-weather seekers aren’t the only ones clamoring to move to the state of South Carolina. The Palmetto State is also under extreme pressure from invasive insects and plants that could devastate its agriculture industry and forests. In fact, a recent global report estimates that invasive species cause countries $423 billion a year in damage to crops, water, forests, wildlife, and more.
In this episode of Earthly, Jonathan talks to Steven Long about South Carolina’s fight against invasives.
Long is assistant director of a state program that works with Clemson Cooperative Extension Agents, researchers and other state and federal agencies to battle insects, plants and plant diseases that are already here or are trying their best to get here.
He gives an update on some notorious invaders we’re currently battling, and others that we’re trying to keep out.
SHOW NOTES
Giant African Land Snail
Spotted Lanternfly
Box Tree Moth
Clemson Department of Plant Industry
South Carolina Invasives Reporting ToolsFor show notes and additonal resources, visit https://blogs.clemson.edu/earthly/.
Earthly is hosted and produced by Clemson University. -
When Bob Wells and Mel Tormé penned “The Christmas Song” in 1945 and the Nat King Cole Trio recorded it in 1946, “Chestnuts Roasting on an open fire/Jack Frost nipping at your nose,” became a Christmas tradition.
Now as our attention turns to the holidays, it's worth remembering that the American Chestnut tree that once dominated Southern Appalachian forests is gone. One recent article said that it numbered in the billions throughout its range. The tree was both ecologically and economically important. But a fungal pathogen that was introduced to North America caused a chestnut blight and destroyed the once-magnificent trees.
Today on Earthly Jonathan talks to forest ecologist Don Hagan.
Hagan is going to tell us about the history of the American Chestnut, its once-important role in our ecology and economy, how it died, and the heroic efforts being taken to bring it back from extinction.
SHOW NOTESAmerican Chestnut Foundation
What it takes to bring back the American Chestnut Trees
HGIC: Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Native American Ethnobotany Database
For show notes and additonal resources, visit https://blogs.clemson.edu/earthly/.
Earthly is hosted and produced by Clemson University. -
The Eastern Hellbender is a mysterious creature. It has a scary name, slimy texture, lives a solitary life under rocks in remote Appalachian
Mountain streams, and is mostly nocturnal. Yet it’s also increasingly threatened and important to maintaining stream health.
On this episode of Earthly, Jonathan talks to Clemson associate professor Cathy Jachowski.Jachowski studies stream ecology, and she’s going to tell us everything we ever wanted to know about the eastern hellbender — including the origin of its horror-movie name — which is just another one of its many mysteries.
SHOW NOTES
Jachowski LabAmphibians are the world's most most vulnerable animals
Help the hellbender
For show notes and additonal resources, visit https://blogs.clemson.edu/earthly/.
Earthly is hosted and produced by Clemson University. -
Clemson faculty member Kimberly Metris is not just an academic but also a licensed commercial pilot. One day while piloting skydivers to their jump altitude, Metris could see the Saharan dust plume over Upstate South Carolina and had a research epiphany to see what genetic matter was flying around in the sky. In this episode of Earthly, I talk to Metris about that epiphany, her work monitoring the skies for genetic matter, how she designed and constructed her own instrumentation, and what she found. She’ll also talk about next steps for her research.
Show notes and additional resources.For show notes and additonal resources, visit https://blogs.clemson.edu/earthly/.
Earthly is hosted and produced by Clemson University. -
Referred to in some scientific literature as "ecological zombies," feral hogs cost millions of dollars of damage to farms, fields and forests, and they are breeding and spreading at a rate that outpaces the efforts of wildlife professionals to control them. In this Halloween edition of Earthly, Jonathan talks to Greg Yarrow and Andrew Jamison about the feral hog problem in South Carolina and the Southeast. Yarrow is interim dean of Clemson's College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Science and professor of wildlife biology at Clemson University, and Jamison is a graduate student. Together, they're leading an effort to greater understand these "ecological zombies" and finding ways to control them. They also discuss once and for all whether Hogzilla — the 800 pound animal caught in South Georgia — is fact or folklore.
For show notes and additonal resources, visit https://blogs.clemson.edu/earthly/.
Earthly is hosted and produced by Clemson University. -
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control has produced a map showing that radon levels in upstate South Carolina homes are higher than other parts of the state. Nicole Martinez is an expert in radiological health sciences, and Lindsey Shuller-Nichols is a material scientist — both in Clemson's Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences. They're going to help us understand what causes radon, why it's higher in the upstate, its potential health effects and resources for testing and mitigation.
For show notes and additonal resources, visit https://blogs.clemson.edu/earthly/.
Earthly is hosted and produced by Clemson University. -
There has been a flurry of geological activity in South Carolina lately, particularly around the Midlands and Upstate. In fact, the most recent was a 1.6 magnitude earthquake recorded April 4 near the town of Cross Anchor in Spartanburg County.
In this episode of Earthly, Jonathan talks to Clemson assistant professor Brady Flinchum about South Carolina earthquakes and if all the little quakes we’ve been having mean there’s a big one headed our way. Flinchum compares earthquake magnitude to pasta noodles, explains what earthquakes can tell us about the structure of the earth, and even talks about what Marsquakes can teach us about Mars. He also tells us what to do if an earthquake strikes.
For show notes and additonal resources, visit https://blogs.clemson.edu/earthly/.
Earthly is hosted and produced by Clemson University. -
Honeybees are a crucial part of the food system. In fact, they pollinate more than 100 of the food crops we eat. But a survey by Auburn University and the University of Maryland found that 48% of honeybee colonies were lost last year. Today on Earthly I talk to two experts in the protection and cultivation of honeybees. Brad Cavin leads a program that regulates the beekeeping industry in South Carolina, and Ben Powell runs Clemson Extension’s beekeeping and pollinator program. They’re going to explain the importance of honeybees, why they might be struggling, and steps we can take to help protect them.
For show notes and additonal resources, visit https://blogs.clemson.edu/earthly/.
Earthly is hosted and produced by Clemson University. -
South Carolina lawmakers recently named the Venus Flytrap the state’s official carnivorous plant. The law places the plant in a category that includes the state bird (the Carolina Wren), state flower (the yellow jasmine), state fruit (the peach), state tree (the palmetto), and even the state snack (the boiled peanut).
Trent Miller is plant collection manager at the South Carolina Botanical Garden. He’s going to talk about the flytrap and why it grows natively in only one small sliver of the Carolinas. He’s also going to talk about other plants that are unique to the Palmetto State.
For show notes and additonal resources, visit https://blogs.clemson.edu/earthly/.
Earthly is hosted and produced by Clemson University.
