A support group and a lab in the St. Louis area provide resources for people with the allergy to mammal products — and evidence that its effects can be reversed.
Satellite images from a Stanford University artificial intelligence training database depict an unconfirmed but presumed example of winter manure spreading. Courtesy: Planet Labs PBC
Last year, I received a cryptic Excel spreadsheet through an unrelated public records request. I didn’t understand it at the time, but the document contained a list of potential illegal manure spreading incidents that were noticed by satellites orbiting the Earth.
Our primary clue was a column that was simply labeled “Stanford.” Another column mentioned manure spreading and another read “winter.”
A quick Google search turned up a related study, investigating the use of artificial intelligence to enforce environmental laws. One paragraph confirmed my hunch: The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources had collaborated with Stanford University to investigate large farms suspected of illegally applying manure in the winter months.
The Stanford scientists later explained to me how artificial intelligence works, their means of collecting information and the ethical implications of using machine learning models to detect illicit activities.
I also reached out to several farmers whom the DNR caught. They were amiable to my inquiries and found the whole affair somewhat amusing, as you’ll read in my piece.
As we have seen during the past two years, artificial intelligence is rapidly increasing our ability to crunch vast sums of data. Meanwhile, the cost of launching satellites into orbit is declining, enabling ever more stakeholders — even advocacy organizations — to take advantage of their monitoring capabilities. This has allowed a peek behind the veil of what environmentalists are calling a largely unregulated agricultural sector.
As satellites continue to look down, who knows what crap they’ll dig up next.
PS: Our New Orleans-based colleague Delaney Dryfoos of The Lens has been in D.C. this week, covering the Mississippi River Cities & Towns Initiative’s annual Capitol gathering. Stay tuned for more of Delaney’s reporting on Twitter and in our next newsletter.
Imagery collected by inexpensive satellites is ushering in an era of real-time monitoring of manure-spreading practices at big farms -- including illegal winter applications that can cause harmful runoff. Some advocates want Wisconsin regulators to utilize the technology.
By Bennet Goldstein, Wisconsin Watch — March 7, 2024
Stanford University researchers are using aerial photographs — snapped by satellites orbiting the globe — to teach computers to recognize winter manure spreading. Illustration credit: Madeline Vogt for Wisconsin WatchThe University of Minnesota women’s rowing team practices in 50-degree temperatures on the Mississippi River in Minneapolis on Jan. 31, 2024. Credit: Shari L. Gross, Star Tribune
The news is likely to bring relief to Midwest river communities, many of which were swamped with near-record floodwaters last spring. But it could have negatives too: The prolonged dryness that lingered over the winter could result in another summer of drought and low river flows.
By Madeline Heim, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — March 1, 2024
Decades’ worth of toxic "forever chemicals" are sitting in landfills, presenting a new contaminant for waste handlers. A few companies are trying to filter PFAS out of their leachate as researchers study potential air effects.
A dump truck disposes of industrial waste at SKB Environment in Rosemount, Minnesota, on Feb. 19, 2024. SKB Environmental is testing multiple technologies to filter PFAS chemicals out of their wastewater. Credit: Richard Tsong-Taatarii, Star Tribune
More headlines from our network
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Madeline Heim writes for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Organic Valley is trying the practice in Wisconsin, planting trees to reduce carbon emissions in its own supply chain rather than someone else’s, as in the case of “offsetting.”
Building codes:
Missouri is one of the few places in the country without statewide building codes, seen as a tool to increase disaster resilience among other benefits. Eric Schmid is covering a proposal to change that for St. Louis Public Radio.
Fire season has begun in Minnesota, with heightened risk expected this spring due to the warm winter and persistent drought, Chloe Johnson writes for the Star Tribune.
Ed. note: The Feb. 23 edition of this newsletter reported that Mississippi River cruise line American Queen would shut down, but was missing a few links to our July 2023 series on river cruises. Here is part one on the industry’s economic prospects, part two on climate impacts it’s facing, and part three on how it deals with the legacy of slavery.
