Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability

Check out the full episode below and subscribe on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. youtube.com/watch?v=DbYBU2SF…

What if the building coming down next door could become the one going up down the street?

Researchers at Cornell have created an interactive map identifying 1.8 million individual trees in New York City, with a new approach that could optimize the placement of trees for cooling in cities around the world. In the study, researchers identify the types of trees using satellite imagery as well as on-the-ground datasets and 3D data collected with lidar, short for light detection and ranging. The approach was 82% accurate overall and higher for common types of New York City trees. It’s the first “wall-to-wall,” citywide map identifying trees in natural areas and other unsurveyed areas, which together constitute an estimated 65% of the city’s canopy and have not been accounted for on previous maps. The research team will use the map to determine which trees are best for cooling, and the data could inform a host of other planting decisions where the type of tree makes a difference, from reducing allergens to managing invasive pests. Read more: news.cornell.edu/stories/202…

Satellite-derived maps of defoliation caused by European spongy moths – a devastating U.S. forest pest that consumes the leaves of a wide variety of trees – offer a promising solution for tracking where and when to spray, and for identifying large scale trends and conditions that lead to pest outbreaks, according to a new study from @CornellCALS and @CornellCAS funded in part by the @AtkinsonCenter. news.cornell.edu/stories/202…

A full-scale shift toward healthier diets, combined with improved farm productivity and a halving of food waste, could reduce global agricultural land use roughly 6% by 2050 – an area the size of India – and lead to a 42% decline ($630 billion) in global livestock production value, according to a sweeping new analysis published in the May edition of Nature. That reversal would be historically unprecedented, marking one of the first sustained contractions in farmland in modern history. The reason is straightforward but profound: a world that eats differently, farms differently. “This work underlines that the scale of this change is huge and the policy ambition has to be commensurate with the challenge,” said Matthew Gibson, former postdoctoral associate in the Food Systems and Global Change research group in the @CornellCALS Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment. “We have to think about a coordinated push involving governments, industry, and consumers alike.” More: news.cornell.edu/stories/202….

The critical minerals that power lithium-ion batteries are in high demand and short supply, especially for the U.S., which must rely on importing resources such as nickel and cobalt to manufacture the technology. @CornellEng researchers have now developed a more efficient and cost-effective way to recover almost the full life of these batteries after they are spent. By using an electrochemical solution to regenerate their electrodes, the recycled batteries can regain up to 95% of their original power and last longer when reused, the researchers demonstrated. @AtkinsonCenter Read more: news.cornell.edu/stories/202….