seagulls overhead, the faint smell of sulfur on the coast, and waves crashing against the cliffs — the uk’s relationship with its shoreline forms a fundamental part of national culture and identity. 

for an island nation with over 10,000 miles of coastline and nearly 40% of its population living within a few miles of the sea, this connection runs deeper than fish-and-chip shops or oceanfront arcades. it is the heartbeat of hundreds of communities.

yet as the climate crisis intensifies, with violent storms and rising sea levels, the cliffs and sea defenses that protect these towns crumble, accelerating the erosion that threatens their future. 

erosion explained 

experts say climate change actively causes an increase in the severity of coastal erosion, but how does this actually happen? 

according to nasa, atmospheric co2 levels have reached an unprecedented level — a staggering 50% increase since the pre-industrial era. these values intensify the natural greenhouse gas effect, leading to higher global temperatures. this in turn raises sea levels and fuels more powerful storms, allowing waves to reach further up the coast and strike cliffs more frequently, accelerating erosion. 

ken buchan is the project delivery manager for stronger shores, an innovative project tasked with mitigating coastal change. he highlighted that shoreline erosion ”makes coastal communities vulnerable” for a reason which may be overlooked in comparison to traditional physical processes. 

“when sea level rises, there’s coastal squeeze where beaches and so on become smaller,” he said, referring to an issue which buchan emphasized depreciates the power of beaches as the first line of defence for many seaside towns across the uk.

building on this, matthew agarwala, ph.d., a professor in sustainable finance at the university of sussex, discussed how the combination of higher seas, storm surges, and strong winds can allow waves to overcome existing man-made sea defenses on the uk’s shores and therefore damage the cliffs supporting these regions. 

for these british towns, long fortified by the fishing industry and tourism, these damages are more than physical: they are a burden on both their financial and cultural stability. for instance, onehome data predicts that by 2100, nearly £600 million [approximately $810 million] worth of assets and over 2,000 properties could be lost in the uk due to coastal battering. experts like agarwala say these losses can take different forms, such as damage to roads or water treatment facilities, posing “big risks” to an island nation.

transcript: that includes stuff like transport infrastructure, like roads, railways, bridges along the coast but it’s also utilities, water treatment facilities, power lines, gas infrastructure — a lot of that’s on the coast as well. and of course it’s tourism assets as well: the beaches, the holiday parks, the hotels, the places we all like to and hang out in the nice weather. so these really are big risks, not just for physical infrastructure but also to some degree the social and cultural identity of an island economy like the united kingdom.

matthew agarwala, ph.d., professor in sustainable finance at the university of sussex

communities in danger 

as some coastal towns respond to rising sea levels by beginning the process of decommissioning (forcing residents to move out as the town dissolves), it is evident that erosion is not a uniform process, with particular areas more at risk than others. a spokesperson for the environment agency, a governmental body tasked with protecting the environment in england, stated that certain geological rock types play a role in this vulnerability. 

in the southwest of england, cliffs are more prone to hydraulic action, where the sheer force of water wears away the rock, due to a mix of hard and soft stone types dominating the region. by contrast, the east coast, with its glacial deposits, sandstone, and clay boulders, experiences a faster erosion climate characterized by rock and sand grinding along the coastline. this is demonstrated by east yorkshire’s holderness coast, one of europe’s fastest-eroding coastlines.

agarwala expanded on this, discussing an interesting correlation he found amongst these vulnerable groups. ”some of the communities that are most at risk from climate change are also the communities that are voting for conservatives or are shifting to reform [uk],” he said in reference to the political parties which are less supportive of environmentalism in their policy-making. 

“there are places that are viable today and that have been viable for centuries in the past, that will not be viable even 20 years into the future,” agarwala said.

zooming in 

in northern england, on the north sea’s boundary, lies the small village of staithes, where maritime industry and seaside tourism form the engine of local life. 

“for a long, long time, fishing was the main job for the people in the village, along with some mining. these days it’s tourism,” said sallie hernandez, a local resident who has lived in the area for 16 years. “a lot of people refer to staithes as their happy place and visit more than once, twice a year.”

despite the area’s economic success and picturesque nature, coastal deterioration has battered the region for decades, with the community pub, the cod and lobster, washing away on multiple occasions. most notably, on the northwest of the village resides a small hamlet known as cowbar cottages, accessible by a singular entry route named cowbar lane.

over many years, this access road has eroded and been rebuilt multiple times under the burden of perpetual wave action from the sea below. resident and local authority concerns are now escalating, following a rockfall event in october 2024 that has placed the route at immediate risk of collapse. 

“walking through today, big chunks are missing,” hernandez said, on one of her daily walks through cowbar. ”all along by cowbar cottages is all fenced off. i recently saw some drone footage of the cliff and it was terrifying to see what was going on underneath.”

a council report published by north yorkshire, redcar, and cleveland borough council — the government bodies responsible for overseeing staithes — have since attributed reasons for the rockfall.  most strikingly, the document acknowledges erosion processes exacerbated by sea level rise, increased storm frequency due to climate change, and foreshore lowering — a process in which wave energy removes protective layers of sediment at the base of a cliff — as integral factors. 

council efforts are advancing to manage the issue and involve a three-phased road realignment, whereby the lane is gradually moved southwards away from the cliff edge over 50 years.

“keeping access is vital. there are cottages down there that are only accessible via that road and the lifeboat station, so all these things would need to move if access cannot be maintained,” hernandez said. 

elsewhere in the village, the council has worked tirelessly, installing sea defenses in the form of rock armor and breakwater piers to protect the harbor from the destructive nature of the north sea. despite this, local anxiety prevails, particularly following the loss of a child’s’s life at seaton garth, staithes, due to a rockfall in the summer of 2018. 

transcript: at the end of the day, the cliffs are soft, water’s harsh, and it’s just going to keep going until it wins. the piers at staithes, i think, were given a 50-year lifespan, at which point that will need to be revisited. but 25 years from now, i think the coastline will look completely different again.

sallie hernandez, a local staithes resident who has lived in the area for 16 years

stemming the tide 

for regions like staithes, mitigation frameworks named shoreline management plans are the leading unit tasked with stemming the tide of coastal erosion. using factors such as population, technical feasibility, and climate change, these models assign a planned course of action to every section of the english coast. 

however, these schemes often focus on hard-engineered solutions, such as sea walls, which sustainability experts like agarwala argue come with significant drawbacks.

enter stronger shores, a £200 million [$269 million] research project focused on innovative ways of improving coastal resilience. having started in 2023 and currently funding 25 different schemes across the northeast oceanfront of the uk, the program is rooted in a philosophy of trial and error.

“at this stage it’s quite experimental, it’s quite research orientated,” said ken buchan, the delivery manager of the project. “if things don’t work, that’s okay. because we are learning from that.”

the focal point of stronger shores targets soft-engineered solutions to climate change, exploring how oyster restorations, kelp forests, or seagrass meadows can improve the robustness of maritime communities.

buchan discussed how one student at newcastle university is actively using artificial kelp structures in laboratory wave tanks to understand biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and wave reduction benefits.

transcript: the hard engineering things include the sea walls and the groynes, rock armor, offshore breakwaters, etc. but these are really quite expensive, they’re difficult to maintain, and the problem with a lot of these hard sea defenses is that you create a solution here that just shifts the problem there. 

matthew agarwala, ph.d., a professor in sustainable finance at the university of sussex

“with the [kelp] fronds being up on the surface of the water as the wave energy comes through, that energy gets dissipated by the top of the plant. it’s like it puts the brakes on as the waves come over,” buchan said, referencing how kelp systems can mitigate erosive forces. 

with the project set to finalize in 2027, one main ambition drives buchan and his team: the creation of a toolkit combining all the research, methods, benefits, and challenges from stronger shores. it will guide coastal engineers nationwide, helping to protect the uk’s enduring bond with its marine identity. 

given the uncertain future, buchan is left asking, “can we [as a nation] be doing things differently from what we’ve currently been doing to try and improve resilience and protect coastal communities?”

five years ago, the national oceanic and atmospheric administration’s national climate assessment, reclassified new york city from a humid continental climate to a humid subtropical climate. a subtropical climate has summers that are on average above 72 degrees fahrenheit and winters that stay above 27 degrees fahrenheit. 

“it’s kind of like, if you’re a parent, you know your kid is aging and it’s not shocking, right? but if you’re an aunt that hasn’t seen like the kid in five years, you see that and it’s like five inches taller,” said ian olsen, the director of horticulture at the broadway mall association. “it’s very shocking.”

adapting to a new climate

olsen has been in new york for a decade and has worked in the city’s environmental spaces with organizations like the horticultural society of new york and the central park conservancy. as the lead horticulturist for the broadway mall association, olsen wears many hats including assessing how to continue the organization’s beautification and native planting efforts as new york city’s climate changes.

“so we have a situation where the fall is somehow extremely dry, so we have to pay attention. we need more drought-tolerant material. we have to think more about when we plant,” olsen said. 

the broadway mall association and their volunteers are not strangers to trial and error in order to determine which plant life will survive in different outdoor malls across the city. olsen describes wanting to plant ferns throughout new york and being unable to make the plants thrive due to the direct sunlight and high heat of the medians. 

the changes that have happened in new york city’s environmental spaces are indicators of the future, especially since new york city experiences the urban heat island effect which causes the city to get hotter than the surrounding more rural areas due to man-made infrastructure that traps and reflects heat. the urban heat island effect provides a way to see how warming or a change in climate affects the native plant and animal life of a region. 

“the malls are already a space where it’s almost like a simulation of a future, of a potential warming 10 years from now. it gets so hot [in these gardens] that, in a way, it’s almost like a laboratory for seeing what plants will work in general if the climate warms by x amount of degrees over the next however many years,” olsen said about the urban heat island effect. 

what’s next for the big apple’s green spaces?

the possibility that native plants and the current vegetation that grows in the areas the broadway mall association will no longer thrive in new york is not yet a worry for olsen and his team. 

“we won’t use anything that isn’t adapted to climate zone eight,” olsen said. “it’s really a matter of thinking ahead. these plants are adapted to hot but hot, dry areas where, even if we do get that like four or five degrees shift, they’ll be okay.”

five years into the city’s new classification, the effects of the subtropical climate are not theoretical. the city is hot and it is getting hotter for residents. “when i was growing up, i would always have to wear a jacket for trick or treating [on halloween]. whereas now, i could wear a t-shirt and shorts,” said emily johnson, a sustainability management master’s student and a member of the biodiversity club board at columbia university. 

johnson, a student who returned to school to study sustainability after working in the fashion industry, also mentioned she has lived through a multitude of climate events such as the large earthquake in april 2024, the smoke from canada’s wildfires and major subway flooding in the summer of 2025. 

johnson’s background in fashion gives her perspective on how industry and individuals are both affected by new york city’s reclassification. 

“when we think about what products to stock, not even just fashion, but in all industries, you base it off of the weather,” johnson said. “if the temperature changes, they’re going to have to change their buying patterns. so that’s something with fashion too, they’re going to be stocking less jackets in the fall in new york city.”

against the odds, preserving a sense of place

the changes being felt this fall follow a major decision at the federal level in july of 2025 when the trump administration removed and disbanded the national climate assessment. 

kathy jacobs, the director of the university of arizona center for climate adaptation science and solutions and former director of the third national climate assessment, told cnn that the national climate assessment is a heavily reviewed and respected document and as the public discussion around climate change shifts from mitigation to access, real people may be affected by the lack of accessible knowledge around climate change.  

“it’s a sad day for the united states if it is true that the national climate assessment is no longer available. this is evidence of serious tampering with the facts and with people’s access to information, and it actually may increase the risk of people being harmed by climate-related impacts,” jacobs said.

olsen and new yorkers like him are invested in the city’s future, environmentally and physically. changes and reclassifications in new york city provide opportunities for growth and community involvement from like-minded, impassioned individuals who are interested in protecting green spaces in their city. 

“to do this with native plantings is something really unique. what we’re doing is building habitat and kind of creating a bit of a different kind of naturalistic beauty and then hopefully that has the effect of creating a sense of place,” olsen said.

let’s take a look at three interconnected initiatives across northern england, all tasked with trapping and transporting carbon emissions permanently underground. 

enter teesside, a north-eastern british community shadowed by a history of steelwork manufacturing, entrenched cycles of poverty, and pollutants dominating the skies, where carbon capture and storage (ccs) projects are being developed. 

these efforts emerge as political consensus over the uk’s net-zero target for 2050 begins to fragment. the policy framework, originally devised in line with the 2015 paris climate agreement to balance the nation’s carbon footprint, has been thrown into question by domestic politicians over its feasibility. 

as a result, regions like teesside look to bring net-zero back on track.

initiative #1: east coast cluster 

the initial scheme central to these net-zero efforts is the east coast cluster, an emerging decarbonization initiative designed to link the manufacturing hubs of teesside and the humber – an estuary region in northeast england – through a uk-first carbon capture, utilization, and storage (ccus) network.  

“ccus includes all the steps of carbon capture and storage plus a utilization component that means some or all of the captured co2 is used instead of, or before, being stored,” said faizan ahmad, ph.d., a professor and lead researcher in hydrogen and clean-energy innovations at the centre of sustainable engineering for teesside university. this concept, he stated, can involve industrial uses such as producing man-made fuels, as well as biological processes like food production and biofuel generation.  

dawid hanak, a professor in the decarbonization industry at teesside university’s net zero industry innovation centre – a £16 million [$21 million] regional hub recognized for its cutting-edge research, knowledge exchange and consultancy services in the realm of climate activism, and for these three initiatives – has outlined the east coast cluster as part of a much broader developmental process materializing on tees valley soil. 

the once-overlooked district of teesside is beginning to attract green investment into its network of local enterprises, alongside complementary plans for hotels, eco-friendly trail links and retail parks. together, these initiatives offer fresh opportunities to families and businesses across a longstanding marginalized community, which hanak labelled as “one of the main benefits from the societal perspective.” 

however, the practical rollout of sequestration networks, like the east coast cluster, are not always plain sailing, and faces various roadblocks on the road to implementation. ahmad discussed this, highlighting premature technological readiness, scalability constraints, and even public perception as some of the core issues involved.  

“communities may be concerned about safety, environmental impact, or prolonging fossil fuel use,” said ahmad, in reference to the worries people may have regarding the sustainability of carbon capture.  

he emphasized, however, that this can be rectified through publicly accessible environmental reviews, and by engaging communities through consultation, education campaigns, and local benefits sharing such as with teesside’s wider transformation. 

initiative #2: the northern endurance partnership 

to support the east coast cluster project, a joint venture known as the northern endurance partnership (nep) will develop the infrastructure needed to transport and sequester carbon emissions from industrial sites across the east-coast region.

founded in 2020, the nep is a collaboration backed by european energy giants equinor, totalenergies, and bp, aiming to tackle large-scale carbon capture. the project’s endeavors will commence in 2028 and include constructing onshore carbon-processing facilities, laying 145km of offshore pipeline in the nearby north sea, and ultimately managing storage for 1 billion tons of co2.

“the carbon dioxide will be permanently and safely stored in the endurance aquifer, a large, well-characterized reservoir,” said a spokesperson for the nep. this infrastructure, they added, will be “crucial to achieving net zero in the uk’s most carbon intensive industrial regions.”

despite these ambitions, the set-up of this sequestration framework has proved challenging, with the “coordination of complex project timings and investment decisions across difficult industries” hampering development, stated the spokesperson. however, they stressed that the uk’s geographical positioning with access to industrial hubs and “world-class offshore storage potential” has helped alleviate some of these obstacles. 

hanak furthered this discussion into progress, outlining how international political affairs have hindered momentum in the field of carbon capture. 

“we have good links with the us and researchers over there. they’ve been quite badly affected by cuts in grants, unfortunately, because the [trump] administration decided not to support net zero anymore,” said hanak. “so that naturally has [an] impact on what’s going on in europe because everyone is looking at what’s going on over the pond.” 

“so i think we lost a little bit of momentum now, but just need to carry on,” he added. 

initiative #3: net zero teesside power 

the third initiative integral to teesside’s net-zero grid is the proposed net zero teesside (nzt) power facility, which aims to be the first gas-fired power station with carbon capture and storage, while connecting to the nep pipeline. 

to be constructed in the redcar and cleveland district, the plant will adopt a first-generation carbon removal technology, featuring a modernized gas turbine and specialized chemicals known as amines to remove 2 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year.

the site also claims it will generate enough electricity to light up approximately 1 million uk homes and create 1,000 employment opportunities once operations commence in 2028.  

these environmental and financial gains are a phenomenon which hanak outlined will “demonstrate to investors that carbon capture technology can work in an economically viable way,” a concept that could improve the cost-effectiveness and overall future of decarbonisation initiatives across both teesside and the uk as a whole.  

despite this optimism, hanak noted that first-generation sequestration systems, dependent on amines, are not perfect, with financial and efficiency flaws. as a result, he and his team are exploring next-generation ccs technologies, with particular focus on porous materials known as solid sorbents, at high temperatures. 

from steel to sustainability 

by overcoming financial, political and public challenges, co2 capture in teesside can sustain a greener future, delivering real benefits to local citizens whilst steering the nation’s 2050 net zero target back on due course. a spokesperson for nzt power emphasised this, stressing that the deployment and operation of their emerging facility should catalyse a movement in the growth of similar technologies locally. 

hanak highlighted this is already coming to fruition, with interest for carbon capture projects arising from sectors that would not usually consider such an approach. 

“so we did work with quorn [a meat-free food company] for example, to see whether they can do carbon capture, even though they are at 15,000 tons [of co2 emissions] a year,” he said. “we are having these discussions with industry and they seem keen on doing carbon capture if they can connect to the [nep] pipeline.” 

the blueprints of the east coast cluster, northern endurance partnership, and net zero teesside power are therefore more than plans – they are a vision. teesside is on the brink of becoming the “heart of the green industrial revolution,” hanak said.

once the hub of smog and steel manufacturing, coined ‘the british engine room,’ the humble community of tees valley has the chance to become britain’s eco-epicenter, offering jobs, regenerative development and societal prosperity.  

these intertidal objects form an ecological installation that protects eroding shorelines while providing shelter for sea life. designed by object territories, a design firm based in brooklyn and hong kong, the installation is being tested in the waters off randall’s island as a nature-based solution to coastal erosion. the project will soon expand to the coastline off nearby governors island as part of an initiative that will provide entrepreneurs with real-world labs for testing prototypes that address climate-change solutions.

a living lab for testing

the trust for governors island, which operates and manages much of the island, welcomes entrepreneurs to use the 172-acre island and its two miles of waterfront and helps funding innovative projects through its annual climate solutions challenge.

clare newman, ceo of the trust for governors island, says the trust is positioning the island as leader in piloting climate solutions for the new york city region. “let people come and try stuff,” newman said. “you’re not testing in isolation in a lab, but in a real-world environment and you can see how people respond.”

last year, object territories was one of six winners selected for the trust’s challenge on water abundance. in addition to $10,000 in grant support, the winners will have access to the island to develop and demonstrate their projects.

access to these kinds of living labs is critical for object territories, as the firm seeks to improve upon their intertidal objects. their prototypes first came to life in hong kong. the city hired the team, along with several others, to design coastal armoring units and sea wall panels. this effort kick-started their initial research and resulted in two different prototypes that were tested in the hong kong harbor: the octahedron and the rock pool, a miniature tidal pool that siphons water and sea life in and out.

the intertidal objects are a constant work in progress. “each time we try to improve by adding elements, like increasing the surface area with more dents to help self-shade or applying different textures,” said marcus carter, co-founder and architect of object territories.

when the team discovered, for instance, that larger holes made it easy for predators to come pick off baby oysters, they added smaller concavities that oysters can wedge in until they grow big enough to push out and have a better chance of surviving. they also applied different textures to the forms that make it easier for barnacles and algae to attach, enhancing the aquatic ecosystem and adding new voids for fish to lay eggs in.

“we also made sure that the objects could be placed in any orientation, forming a visible, almost gordian texture,” carter said. what stays the same in every installation, however, is the geometrical form, which easily integrates in existing stone sea wall structures.

working with nature, protecting by design

according to the new york city mayor’s office of climate and environmental justice, climate change is causing cloudburst events, coastal storms, and sea level rise to become more frequent and intense. in addition to creating a habitat for sea life, the intertidal objects offer a nature-based solution to help protect shorelines from the devasting ecological impact of coastal erosion and storm surges.

figuring out how to better protect new york city has been part of the public conversation since hurricane sandy hit new york in 2012. flooding became a reality for residents throughout the city and raised the question of how to fortify shorelines in ways that are not at war with nature, unlike the bulkheads or seawalls that have long been used to protect people and property. these traditional concrete structures may address immediate threats, but are inflexible to the faster changing climate and they can cause problems elsewhere, like loss of biodiversity and habitat degradation.

by contrast, the intertidal objects can be integrated into hard existing stone sea walls and promote a living shoreline. “they are only one ingredient in a very layered landscape,” carter said. they add an extra dimension to an existing sea wall, transforming it to a smart structure that not only protects the coastline, but also creates bio habitats. “or you can stack them like lego’s to build an artificial coastline,” carter said.

resilient defenders

providing object territories with access to governors island offers another opportunity: public education. in addition to being an ideal location to situate and experiment with their objects in the water, the island provides ample locations to showcase the concrete forms on land. visitors can see, touch and learn about the forms, which could give rise to potential collaborations with landscape-architecture firms.

the intertidal objects will soon be tested and placed in the existing stone coastline at governors island, gradually becoming camouflaged within and inhabited by new communities of aquatic creatures in the tidal waters of the east river.

the pilot will also monitor the objects on both locations under starkly different water conditions: the brackish water surrounding randall’s island and the faster-moving waters at governors island, closer to the mouth of the harbor. engineered to support natural spaces, the intertidal objects may soon add an essential layer of protection for new york shores, the people, and sea life.

despite its villainous talon and fierce claws, a delectable meat, laden with protein and nutrients lies beneath the scorpion’s segmented shell. the scorpion isn’t the villain of desert nightmares but potentially a hero in our agricultural future.

the path to sustainable food production in an increasingly resource-constrained world appears unpopular but revolutionary: insects and arachnids, eight-legged creatures such as scorpions and spiders. while just about everyone calls spiders, “insects,” this idea isn’t exactly correct. insects and arachnids are both arthropods, but insects have six legs and three body parts, while arachnids have eight legs and two body parts, with no antennae or wings.

the problem “at steak”

our current agricultural system, particularly the meat industry, is facing a crisis of sustainability. according to the food and agriculture organization, livestock production and grazing occupies approximately 30% of the earth’s ice-free land surface and accounts for 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. a single pound of beef requires up to 1,800 gallons of water to produce — a staggering figure when compared to other protein sources.

“we’ve been raising cattle for thousands of years, and (edible) insects for only the past decade commercially,” said nathan laurenz, an entomologist and edible insect enthusiast based in singapore. “there’s a lot of learning left to do.”

the uncomfortable truth is that our appetite for traditional meat is putting immense pressure on planetary resources. as the global population rises toward 10 billion by 2050, our current agricultural model simply cannot scale without devastating environmental consequences. deforestation, water scarcity, and climate change are already accelerating due to conventional livestock farming.

according to the un’s food and agriculture organization, meat production is expected to double by 2050, growing from 258 million tons in 2006 to around 455 million tons. this projected growth comes at a time when we desperately need to reduce, not increase, our environmental footprint.

“in time, we’re going to run out of land for cattle, and we’re going to have to replace that protein with something. insects are a good replacement,” said jim louderman, assistant collector at the field museum and a beetle enthusiast with over 70 years of experience studying insects.

insects: a historical delicacy

what many westerners don’t realize is that insect consumption, known as entomophagy, has been a normal part of human diets throughout history and across cultures.

“all sorts of indigenous cultures around the world have been eating insects for as long as humans have been around. it’s probably one of our first meat sources as a species,” laurenz said. the selection is wide and diverse. in thailand, grasshoppers, giant water bugs, and bamboo worms are a common street food. for mexico, it’s aphids and beetles. in china, silkworms are the traditional rage. 

cultural norms have a lot to do with what we label a good meal. consider the lobster, now a luxury seafood. in colonial america, lobsters were so abundant they were considered “poor man’s food,” often fed to prisoners and servants. massachusetts servants famously complained about being eating lobster too frequently. today, we pay premium prices for the same crustacean.

the 2021 emergence of brood x cicadas in the eastern united states provided a recent glimpse into the potential for insect cuisine in western contexts. restaurants and home cooks experimented with cicada tacos, tempura, and even desserts – demonstrating that with the right preparation, insects can appeal to modern palates.

the cultural hurdle

the “yuck factor” remains the biggest obstacle to the widespread adoption of insect protein in western diets. this aversion is entirely cultural, not biological: a learned response rather than an innate rejection.

“people in big cities tend not to be fans,” laurenz said about insect consumption in southeast asia. “there’s some stigma attached to it that it’s like a poor person’s food or a village food.”

louderman echoed this sentiment. “how do you convince people who are scared of insects or think insects are nasty to eat, something they don’t even want to touch?”

the challenge becomes as much about marketing as it is about production. companies like cricket energy bars target specific demographics, from environmentally conscious consumers to fitness enthusiasts seeking alternative proteins. by segmenting the market and addressing specific communities, these products can gradually normalize insect consumption.

interestingly, most people already consume insects unknowingly. the fda allows certain levels of insect fragments in common foods. chocolate, for instance, can legally contain up to 60 insect fragments per 100 grams.

the average person consumes about one to two pounds of insects annually through these trace amounts, according to the fda’s food defect levels handbook. it doesn’t stop there. for the regular grocer, insects are consumed through daily necessities: canned tomatoes (up to 10 fly eggs per 500g), ground cinnamon (up to 400 insect fragments per 50g), or wheat flour (up to 75 insect fragments per 50g), also per the fda handbook.

the production challenge

beyond cultural acceptance, the practical challenge of scaling insect production remains significant. the industry has gone through several boom-and-bust cycles, starting with crickets, then mealworms, and now black soldier flies. laurenz works at the core of the industry, at the startup named karang foodie. their mission is to raise black soldier flies for aquaculture feed. 

“you need to be importing tens or hundreds of tons of raw material every day and then exporting tens or dozens of tons of insect protein every day,” laurenz said, highlighting the scale required to compete with conventional agriculture.

louderman adds that crickets and mealworms are currently the most viable insect protein sources because they can be dried and ground into protein powder, making them more palatable to western consumers. when cooked, he explains, insects congeal to a texture similar to lobster or shrimp and usually have a nutty flavor. larger insects and arachnids such as  scorpions, tarantulas, and beetles are often peeled like shrimp in cultures where entomophagy is common.

“it’s so expensive because most people in the united states won’t do it. it’s not being done on a big enough scale to bring the price down,” louderman said, highlighting the chicken-and-egg problem of cost and adoption.

environmental benefits: the advantage of insects

despite these challenges, insects offer remarkable advantages as protein sources. black soldier flies, for instance, can convert food waste into protein with noteworthy efficiency, growing to harvestable size in just two to three weeks while consuming “whatever slop you have lying around,” laurenz said.

their environmental footprint is minimal compared to traditional livestock according to agronomy for sustainable development:

• insects require significantly less land and water.
• they produce fewer greenhouse gases.
• they can convert feed to protein much more efficiently.
• select species can be raised on monitored organic waste streams, creating circular economic opportunities while adhering to strict food safety protocols.

“without insects, our food wouldn’t get pollinated. when things die in the forest, they don’t decompose, and the soil becomes infertile. without insects, the trees die, we run out of oxygen, and we run out of food,” louderman said, highlighting insects’ crucial role in our ecosystems beyond just being a food source themselves.

the path forward

however, louderman cautions that there are some health considerations. people allergic to shellfish may also be allergic to insects and arachnids that have exoskeletons or shells (arthropods). he also emphasizes the importance of consuming farm-raised rather than wild-caught insects to avoid potential contamination issues.

the best chance for mainstream acceptance in western countries, according to louderman, is through products like cricket flour in familiar foods such as cookies, chips, and protein bars, rather than whole insects. this gradual introduction of insects, which would have to be included on product labels, could help overcome the cultural barriers while delivering the environmental benefits of insect protein.

even committed vegans like northwestern sophomore mia el-yafi offer nuanced views on insect consumption. “if there was bug powder in something, that would bother me less than if there was lard or gelatin,” she said, suggesting insects occupy a different ethical category for some plant-based eaters. 

non-vegetarians like casey bond exhibit cautious curiosity about insect protein. “i would support it, but i’ve never eaten insects… if they were made like a bug burger, maybe i’d eat it,” he said, drawing a comparison to more familiar food presentations: “it’s like eating fish versus when fish is served whole with the head on.” in the future, presentation may be crucial for mainstream adoption.

as we face the dual challenges of feeding a growing population and mitigating climate change, entomophagy offers a solution that’s been hiding in plain sight, buzzing and crawling around us all along. the question is not whether insects will become part of our dietary future but when and how we’ll embrace this sustainable  and substantial protein source. 

the cranberry industry has surrounded me throughout my life. the bogs of bright red plants roll past my windows on all my drives home to southeast massachusetts. in 2010, the north and south rivers watershed association reported that massachusetts was home to over 900 cranberry bogs covering 14,000+ acres, spanning from mattapoisett up to plymouth and out to orleans on cape cod. as of 2023, the number of functioning bogs were reportedly producing 2 million barrels of crop per year, decreasing 12% from numbers reported in 2022 according to the packer.

when i was growing up, the bogs and water reservoirs would completely freeze over during the winter. the neighborhood kids would run outside after the snow had fallen, ice skates in hand, to chase each other around above the frozen berries. according to reports from the boston magazine, in 2012 over 300 of the 415 cranberry farms in massachusetts were in plymouth county, with my childhood home sitting in the center.  

while large companies like ocean spray, located in carver, ma have established farms in the area, most of the farms are family-run and passed down through generations. these family farms have been suffering greatly with the recent rise in temperatures across massachusetts.

the massachusetts wildlife climate action tool reported that the state should expect an annual increase in average temperature of 5°f under a high emissions scenario. with better resources and manpower, the larger corporations have been much more successful in adapting to this new climate. but warming winters are causing cranberry farmers to significantly alter the systems they use throughout harvest; systems they have spent decades fine-tuning and establishing.

crimson cranberry farm

isabella correia, a good friend of mine from high school, has spent most of her life on a set of bogs created and sustained by her grandfather.  

crimson cranberry farms is nestled deep in rochester ma, the family house rising from the middle of their three large bogs. off to the side, their man-made pond holds all the rainfall throughout the year to utilize when it’s time to flood the bogs come harvest and winter.  

this past harvest was not an easy one for crimson cranberry. despite its once-a-year harvest, cranberry production is a yearlong process. starting in spring, from april to november the berries take time to grow into the full red berries we see in supermarkets.

during this time, the plants are fertilized either through sprinkler systems or by hand if needed to help maintain nutrients. cranberries are native wetland plants, allowing the vines to live on very minimal nutrient supplements, so established beds need to be fertilized only once during the growing season.

come mid-september, farmers will start to harvest the berries through one of two methods; wet-harvesting and dry-harvesting. wet-harvesting entails flooding the cranberry bog with freshwater from a nearby reservoir. cranberries have air pockets that allow them to float in water and rise to the top of the flooded bog once they’re knocked loose off the vine.

water reels, also referred to as “egg beaters” because of their whisking motion, are used to churn the water and remove the berries from the vine. wooden or plastic “booms” are then used to gather the loose cranberries and scoop them out of the water to be inspected and cleaned.

cape cod cranberry growers association (cccga) reports that almost 95% of the cranberry crop in massachusetts is harvested through wet-harvesting. this harvest is used for dried cranberries and those used in juices, sauces, and as ingredients in other processed foods. 

dry-harvesting is a more meticulous process of combining the plants, using a large walk-behind machine, to free the berries into a burlap bag. the vines must be completely dry at harvest; any amount of moisture can delay the process until the right conditions are met. once the berries are gathered, they are pulled out of the bogs with trucks or by hand.

the berries are then hand-checked for freshness, looking at the color and imperfections and testing the berries’ ability to bounce. a fresh, ripe berry will bounce similarly to a rubber ball. dry-harvested berries are the only cranberries that can be sold fresh. 

warming winters means bitter berries

to protect the plants from overnight frost during the colder months, farmers spray the vines down with water through an irrigation system. as the water freezes on the vines, heat is released, protecting the plants throughout the night. the ice insulates the plants helping them survive through the dormant state that they are sent into by the cold temperatures.

according to reports by the university of maine, cranberry vines need to have at least 62 days in temperatures under 45°f in the winter to properly go into dormancy. without dormancy, plants have less fruit yield the next harvest, abnormal growth patterns, and face significant frost damage, especially if the plant is younger and less developed.  

warmer winters and falls greatly affect a cranberry’s ability to mature and the plant to remain healthy. a mature cranberry is bright red in color, plump and crisp, with a tart flavor that most people have come to love. immature cranberries are light pink and white in color with a very tart, astringent taste and quality.

when i visited isabella this fall, she walked me through the poor fertilization of one of their bogs. due to a mild winter the year before, their back right bog did not get the chance to freeze and reach a dormancy period, compromising the plants and crop yields. when it came time to fertilize the plants in early fall, isabella shared concerns about the process.  

“i tried to help fertilize the bogs,” correia said. but, she adds, her grandfather is really the only one who knows how to properly do it. “[isabella’s grandfather] is getting older so he can’t be out in the field so much, [so] i’m trying to learn.”

the dangers of decreased rainfall

but the most important aspect in this process is the water — more specifically, rain water. this rainfall is crucial to maintaining the water reservoirs used to flood and freeze the bogs. isabella expressed how depleted their water has become this season, significantly impacting their ability to harvest. “we barely had any water to flood our third bog… [the bog] was diseased anyway so the harvest wasn’t good.” 

rainfall is the main source of freshwater used to flood the bogs for harvest. it takes over 300,000 gallons of water per acre to properly flood a bog, and in typical conditions rainfall produces enough to last through the harvest with some left over for the next year. however, in the fall of 2024, massachusetts reached a critical drought level and the rainfall was well under the typical 44 inches a year. 

due to rising temperatures in massachusetts, residents are also experiencing dry, hot summers and falls. less snowfall and earlier snowmelt is leading to low water levels throughout the spring and summer. with little to no precipitation and lack of access to proper resources, family-built farms like crimson cranberry will gradually cease to exist.

from cranberry bogs to wetlands

family farms have also begun to lose their efficiency in growing when competing with the large industrial cranberry marshes in wisconsin. as these bogs die out, federal programs have begun to convert them back to wetlands.  

wetlands help prevent the coastal erosion along cape cod occurring due to the declining climate. the cranberry bog program is a massachusetts-based federal program that focuses on buying farms that are deemed inefficient and converting the bogs back into wetlands. recently, a historical cranberry bog once on the mattapoisett river reserve in mattapoisett named the bogs was converted back to wetlands after the plants had become diseased and it was retired from commercial production. 

wetland restoration has become a complicated topic in buzzards bay, an area comprising the southern coast of massachusetts and the western coast of cape cod. this area is home to most of the bogs within plymouth county, however they stretch down the arm of the cape and up north to plymouth.  

farmers who have given their whole lives to their bogs and creating the systems that run them are watching their plants die without any control. while at first, farmers across cape cod were hesitant to give up their bogs to restoration, the financial incentive has become undeniable.

with cranberry farms now expanding across wisconsin, washington, and oregon, the smaller family-run bogs in massachusetts simply cannot keep up with production. especially now that the warming climate is stunting growth across the bogs leading to smaller crop yields.  

when i moved to chicago for college, missing the cranberry bogs was the last thing on my mind. they have always been here, growing and changing with me as i got older. i still remember watching isabella slip on her waders every fall in high school, scooping the weightless cranberries into her hands.

i would tell my college friends from the midwest about the bogs and the bright red color that would blossom in the fall. i would boast and brag about them, my own sliver of agriculture that i was proud of, the way my friends were of corn and soybeans.  

but when they came to visit massachusetts, gabbing about wanting to see a cranberry still on its vine, i had so little to show them. i drove them to the bogs, and we watched the restoration team remove the bits of farming material that were still left that summer of 2024. we stared at the farms tucked behind my hometown’s famous seafood restaurant, turk’s seafood, the berries still clinging to their plants. 

when i see these bogs and remember isabella’s grandfather staring out at his farm, his life’s work ahead of him, i realise that it is about so much more than just cranberries. 

the orca pod-cast explores the taxonomy and definition of orca whales as a species.

in it, i discuss how i was inspired by a post i saw from emma luck, the northern naturalist on instagram, and get into topics such orca ecotypes, and the recent recommendation to consider orca subspecies, resident and biggs, to be their own species.

works consulted.

podcast transcript:

hello, my name is emily.

i’m a senior undergrad in wildlife science, and today i’d like to talk about killer whales after seeing an instagram post from a marine biologist named emma luck, username northern naturalist, that inspired me to read up on the proposal of two new killer whale species.

we’ve all heard of killer whales. many of us probably saw free willy as kids. these iconic citations are actually in the delphinidae family, classifying them as dolphins despite their common names containing, “whale.”

this is said to potentially be a result of a mistranslation of the spanish name, “asesino de ballenas,” which means “whale killer” rather than “killer whale.” keeping on theme, their genus name, orcinus, is in reference to an etruscan god of the underworld. they’ve also earned the nickname, “the wolves of the sea,” because of how they hunt as a group.

you might be wondering how such a charismatic species ends up with major taxonomic changes. i know that i personally often assume that because a species is popular or well known, it must be super extensively and thoroughly researched by now.

however, it turns out that’s not necessarily true, and with orca whales there are a lot of knowledge gaps on the species, actually. a lot of new species or reclassification of a species in the modern day comes from filling the knowledge gap on known organisms, rather than from undiscovered organisms.

not that we don’t still discover new organisms, but they’re usually found in places humans have historically struggled to research because of physical restraints and technological limitations. so places like the deep sea or caves.

the definition of what makes something distinct enough to be a species seems pretty intuitive at first.

like, you know, a bird and a dog are obviously different species, but how do we know that a dog is a different species from a wolf? or that crows and ravens aren’t the same species?

reproductive isolation – not being able to reproduce with species outside of your own species – is the most clear definition.

however, it isn’t the only definition and there are many exceptions to it. a species can be based on morphology, feeding habits, social behavior, and geographic location which are usually supported by genetics.

one of the more “out there” examples i can think of, is the time my evolution professor told us about a bird, whose name i can’t recall, that was delineated into a few species based solely on their unique songs, as the species would only reproduce with birds who use the same song as them, even though they were compatible with other birds.

and if i recall correctly, they weren’t significantly genetically different either.

but for the sake of this podcast, i’ll focus on the definitions provided from a paper that i cover later.

it defines a species as a separately evolving lineage composed of a population or collection of populations. and it defines subspecies as a population or collection of populations that appears to be a separately evolving lineage with discontinuities resulting from geography, ecological specialization, or other forces that restrict gene flow to the point that the population or collection of populations is diagnosably distinct.

so with that being said, let’s dive back into orcas. a lot of what we know about orcas varies depending on the specific population.

orcas have a diverse range, being found in every ocean around the globe, so naturally there’s been variation observed based on region. orca pods are also a tightly knit matriarchal community, so even different families in the same area can be pretty distinguishable from each other.

while all orca whales are considered understudied, so much so that the iucn red list feels that there is not enough data to assess the species risk of extinction.

orcas, in particular in the southern hemisphere, are considered significantly less studied than other northern orcas because there isn’t really a lot of land mass in the southern hemisphere, so historically it’s been difficult to observe them in the open ocean.

because of the extensive range of the killer whale, they have been broken down into ecotypes. however, as i was reading the literature, it sounds like most scientists are suggesting that the risk of oversimplifying these understudied individuals outweighs its usefulness.

the northern naturalist on instagram cited a 2013 paper by dee brune et al. titled, “killer whale ecotypes: is there a global model?” this paper does a deep dive into the concept of ecotypes and critiques the concept.

as someone who didn’t know anything about ecotypes going into it, i found the paper very easy to understand and i felt like it gave me a pretty solid grasp on the concept while introducing their critique as well.

the ecotypes in the eastern north pacific include the resident, offshore, and transient ecotypes.

transient also being known as biggs, named for the canadian scientist michael bigg, and in the southern ocean it includes the ecotypes type a, b, c, and d.

while the paper does describe a population in the north atlantic, it doesn’t name them as the type 1 and type 2 ecotypes i’ve seen mentioned in a few articles.

one of my biggest takeaways is that a major thing that really makes a population of orcas unique is their hunting strategy that gets passed down through generations and is specialized to their prey of choice.

about a year ago now, the paper by moran et al. titled, “revised taxonomy of eastern north pacific killer whales (orcinus orca): bigg’s and resident ecotypes deserve species status,” was published and this paper reviewed the data available on resident and biggs ecotypes.

as the title suggests, they concluded that they deserve species level status. they focused on these ecotypes because they have the most extensive data available.

they used a combination of ecology, behaviour and morphology, and molecular genetics to support their findings.

the resident killer whale is named subspecies ater and bigg’s killer whale is named subspecies rectipinnus.

their names were actually given by edward drinker cope way back in 1869.

the paper mentions that the common name of resident killer whale is a placeholder, while they hope to consult indigenous people for a new common name, which i think is a really nice way to acknowledge the history indigenous people have with the species, but also especially since their people are often overlooked in western science.

the post i originally saw said that the two species proposed were accepted as subspecies, not species. and i reached out to emma luck on instagram to ask if she could help explain who gets the authority to approve a new species.

i’m very grateful for her quick response that pointed me to the taxonomy committee of the society of marine mammalogy.

they do an annual review of marine mammal species and subspecies, and it was in this that they explained the reasoning for classifying biggs and resident ecotypes as a subspecies rather than the proposed species.

their big concerns were about gene flow and a desire for a more comprehensive data on orca clades globally to understand just how distinct these groups are from other orcas. 

however, emma luck commented that this wasn’t the most popular decision and it might change in the future. 

i’m excited to see what taxonomic changes come from the orca community in the future and i hope we are soon better able to research the southern populations.

it’s pretty crucial to have an understanding of these populations so that we can take steps towards the best management practices and assure that we don’t let more vulnerable populations suffer because they were lumped together with better off populations.

it’s also important to research the species now so that we can better understand how climate change is impacting them.

thanks for listening and i hope you enjoyed learning more about the species as much as i did.

can urbanization actually be good for the environment? this video explores this question through conversations with students, professionals and people with both positive and negative personal experience with urbanization and urban environments.

a majority of the human population lives in urban areas, or will soon. there are ways that this can be used as an opportunity to address some of the most pressing issues we face today as a global community.

tangled in the thick brush of florida’s most well-known national park, the everglades, slithers a foreign creature that has been disrupting the ecosystem in various ways for decades — the burmese python. 

as burmese pythons are the greatest ecological threat to the south florida region, the state of florida has listed them as a prohibited reptile and created incentives to hunt them, hoping locals will traverse their own backyard for the foreign reptiles. from the lack of natural predators for the eco-imbalancing constrictors a new profession was born; a python bounty hunter, more formally known as a python elimination specialist. 

donna kalil, a veteran python hunter, has caught 1,026 burmese pythons since she began hunting 11 years ago.

kalil entered the florida python challenge for the first time in 2013, which is a 10-day competition that challenges participants to remove as many pythons as possible. she’s participated every year since, and captured 19 snakes in 2024, receiving the most pythons prize for professional python hunters. 

for context, burmese pythons are in the top 10 largest snakes in the world. they’re native to south asia, which means they have no natural predators in north america and have only grown in population and size since their arrival.   

this allows them to eat whatever they can. when a snake gets larger “it’s just us and alligators that can take care of it,” kalil said.

the conservancy of south florida (csf) published a study in october 2024 focusing on floridian pythons and their capacity for food, which developed researchers’ understanding of the amount a burmese python can digest.

dr. bruce jayne, an author of the study and professor of biological sciences at the university of cincinnati said, “to me, for a long time, what has not been obvious is that clearly, big pythons can eat very big prey. but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re eating as big prey as they possibly could.”

the first burmese python was documented in florida in 1979, according to the national park service. 

there is debate that hurricane andrew, in august 1992, is the reason why burmese pythons are so rampant and established their population in the everglades. during the category 5 storm, a breeding facility was destroyed, releasing countless snakes into the nearby swamps, according to a publication by alpha kappa delta, the international sociology honor society.

however, the pet trade also heightened in america around the time the first burmese python was found in 1979, according to the world animal protection. 

nowadays, python hunters are often called for rapid response, such as removing a snake from someone’s yard or when spotted on the side of the road. these removal agents typically locate pythons based on trends they have seen from previous years.

once spotted, “you have to approach it from behind, quietly, slowly, try not to make it feel threatened, which is key,” kalil said. 

kalil is often within half a foot of a python when she lunges to catch the snakes. first they grab them underneath the head, “then you fight them until they don’t have any fight left within them.”

once the pythons settle down, hunters collect data about the snake such as its length, weight, where it was captured, and when. kalil has now captured around 900 pythons for the program alone.

then, kalil brings the burmese python to her home while it’s still alive, which requires specific permits for live transport. she places them in a cooler overnight to put them into a deep sleep, or brumation. the next day she ethically euthanizes them.

“when you’re one on one with a monster, that’s a whole different story than getting a shotgun and shooting it from 10 ft away,” kalil said. “a lot of people don’t understand that part until they sign up.”

fwc’s ethical guidelines for killing methods of invasive reptiles include the animal first losing consciousness immediately, “then destroying the animal’s brain by ‘pithing’ which prevents the animal from regaining consciousness.”

once kalil euthanizes the python, she discards the corpse, tans and sells the snakeskin, or in rare cases prepares it as food, despite its high mercury concentration. 

“i take my chances and maybe chop it up and put it on a pizza or something and serve it to guests, because they always kind of get a kick out of that,” she said. “but it’s not on my menu.”

with ever-evolving personal goals, including catching 1,000 pythons, kalil caught her heaviest snake to date on dec. 9, 2024. it weighed more than her at 135 pounds, and was 14 feet long. 

the longest python found in florida was in july 2023 at 19 feet, according to kim luciani for the naples daily news, and the heaviest python discovered in florida was 215 pounds in december 2021. 

burmese pythons have already negatively affected mammal populations across southern florida despite only dwelling in the everglades for less than 50 years. between 1997-2012, the everglades’ raccoon population declined by 99.3%, opossums by 98.9%, and bobcats by 87.5% according to the united states geological survey. 

“every single snake is different, and every single snake can get away from you until you’ve got it in the pack, and that’s where my adrenaline shows up,” kalil said. “i know for certain every time i remove a python, no matter what size it is, it’s making a positive difference to the environment.”

there is no estimate of how many burmese pythons are roaming the everglades. “it could be tens of thousands, or it could be hundreds of thousands,” said rory feeney, the bureau chief of land resources at the south florida water management district. 

biologist ian easterling with csf said, “there are a lot of people that are trying to collect information on pythons. it’s just a matter of getting the entire community in south florida onboard.”

ultimately, removing burmese pythons from south florida is going to be a long-winded effort between the community, hunters, biologists, and the state of florida. 

“it’s up to us, we caused the problem and we have to try to fix it,” kalil said.

“a dry year will scare you to death, but a wet year will kill you.”

my papa’s words, often repeated by my dad, sum up the precarious balance farmers must strike between praying for rain and hoping you don’t get too much. growing up in robeson county, north carolina — an area at the heart of the swampy homelands of the lumbee tribe — i saw how the weather could swing year-to-year between drought conditions and floods, with dry spells prompting pastors to call for rain from the pulpit and wet years keeping farmers sidelined out of their fields.

my people have lived here since time immemorial, relying on deep ancestral knowledge to cultivate the land, but the 2024 growing season was a bundle of extremes hardly seen before. 

the summer began with only 1 inch of rain in june, the second driest june on record since 1895. farmers watched their crops struggle at a critical point in the growing season, with some counties going weeks without a single drop of rain.

then, in july, nearly 8 inches of water fell, making it the 11th wettest july in 130 years. this was a relief for farmers, but the rollercoaster ride wasn’t over yet. august brought nearly 10 inches of precipitation from tropical storm debby, wreaking havoc on crops still in the field through flooding and severe winds. while north carolina’s staple commodity crops like corn, soybeans, cotton, and tobacco struggled, one crop thrived through it all: hemp.

the resiliency and adaptability of hemp

hemp isn’t common in robeson county; in fact, my first real exposure to the plant came by chance last summer, when my dad, eddie moore, a farmer with 35 years of experience, participated in a hemp research trial. he planted a few acres in a back field near the cow pasture as a test, and was pleasantly surprised with how resilient the plant was through a less than ideal season.

speaking to the challenges of the flash drought, moore said, “the seed is pretty tough. during the dry spell, some seeds didn’t have enough soil moisture to germinate when planted, but they laid there patiently and came up later. i saw that the plant was really stressed with the drought, but it suffered right through until the rains came.”

and when the rain kept coming, he saw the plant soldier through again. “then it got really wet, and the hemp didn’t like that. but, it wasn’t a total disaster because the stem — the part used for fiber — was already made and we were still able to harvest it,” he said.

hemp’s resiliency last summer stands in stark contrast to the wilted corn and parched soybeans on nearby plots. as climate change shifts seasonal weather patterns to the extremes in our homeland, lumbee farmers like my dad are on the hunt for alternative crops to keep the farm above water. could growing hemp be a viable way forward?

hemp is a fast-growing broadleaf plant often styled as a sustainability success story: it requires minimal inputs of fertilizer, pesticides and water to reach impressive yields; improving soil health and sequestering carbon; and restoring degraded ecosystems through phytoremediation (a process where plants absorb soil contaminants).

and, as my dad saw firsthand, hemp is shown to be very adaptable to the type of extreme weather north carolinians expect to face from climate change. while it’s easy to hear all that and get excited, experts say caution is warranted before casting hemp as a one-size-fits-all solution.

one solution of many

that’s how david suchoff, ph.d., assistant professor of alternative crops at nc state and lead researcher for my dad’s field trial, started our conversation in october: “i always tell folks to be very careful about selling hemp as a wonder crop. there’s no silver bullet to save us from climate change. it takes a system of solutions, of which hemp is a nice component.” 

in my dad’s case, he grew a particular variety of hemp whose fibers are useful for textiles. the focus on fiber was a strategic decision by suchoff, who knew farmers were wary of the boom and bust cycles associated with cbd hemp in previous years, and wanted to make sure that the next iteration of industrial hemp in nc had a more stable market.

to do that, suchoff built a research collaboration across the textile supply chain, connecting farmers to processors and textile engineers to end customers. why textiles? “just like agriculture, the textile industry is focusing on sustainability. textiles is a dirty industry from a number of aspects, from waste and water use to synthetics and microplastics. hemp fiber gives manufacturers a way to make the whole process more sustainable,” suchoff said. 

a more sustainable future is what motivated andre west, ph.d., associate professor and director of zies textiles extension at nc state, to focus on hemp fiber, too. my dad and i visited the nc state college of textiles in january where we toured a newly installed hemp fiber processing system meant to be a model for north carolina businesses interested in working with hemp blends.

west showed us around the production floor as he discussed ongoing work with the department of defense to design hemp uniforms for the u.s. military. he describes himself as a fashion designer at heart, but he has shifted his attention to raw material sourcing in the last decade. when asked why, west spoke with no hesitation: “this (being more sustainable to address climate change) is the most important thing in the world right now.” 

overcoming obstacles

if hemp is sustainable to grow and sustainable to use, then why isn’t it more widespread in the u.s.? pre-contact indigenous peoples throughout turtle island used native species of fiber hemp to create all manner of textiles, including ropes, nets, and clothing.

when europeans first arrived, they brought new strains of hemp with them and continued to use it for myriad purposes. but over time, a combination of factors — including the rise of cotton as a dominant cash crop, the proliferation of petroleum-based synthetic fibers, and the cultural stigmatization of psychoactive cannabis — led to a sharp decline in domestic hemp cultivation.

even though cotton is no longer as dominant and consumers are eager to shift away from synthetics, hemp production continues to be stymied by legacy government regulations that treat hemp much more strictly than other crops.

all three interviewees mentioned deregulation as a critical next step for greater hemp adoption. suchoff described the process in this way: “right now, under usda policy, hemp is hemp. it doesn’t matter if it’s cbd or grain or fiber. it’s all handled the same and a farmer has to get an fbi check to secure a license to grow it. then they have to get the crop tested for thc to make sure it’s under the legal limit, and that’s a lot of money.” 

the cost of regulation, high-quality seeds, and specialized equipment adds up quickly, creating a barrier to entry for farmers working with limited resources. the need for farmers to make a big initial investment for production is matched by high uncertainty among buyers in the market as they assess how willing consumers are to choose textiles made from hemp.

what’s next for hemp-growers in north carolina?

fiber hemp thrived in the drought-turned-deluge weather of north carolina last summer, but according to my dad, farmers need to know more than that before they start planting more acres. “what i’m interested in is finding out what the profit potential is. because ultimately, that’s what it’s all about. can we make money with this? can we survive growing it?” 

my dad’s question brings me back to my papa’s words. as lumbee people and a farming community, so much of our history is about figuring out how to survive as the world changes around us.

i can’t say for sure whether hemp will be a large part of our story, but i do know our people will find a way to survive. as my dad said, the success of hemp fiber depends not only on resilience in the field but also on its ability to offer a viable economic future for farmers.