My World Too

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Throughout the country, people are planting seeds of innovation, harvesting a bounty of ideas to help care for the only home we have, planet Earth.

In the second season of "My World Too", discover with our team ideas and sustainability, both new and old.

From high tech eco innovations to homegrown local solutions.

We'll learn about sustainable trends in transportation, housing, energy, food production, climate change, carbon reduction, resource management, and so much more.

Join our field reporters as they explore eco-friendly ideas and lifestyles that help to make our world a little bit better.

Welcome to "My World Too", short stories of sustainable living and Earthly innovations.

Did you know that one of the best ways to study the water on the Earth is to go into space?

Our own Nick Schmitz talks to two scientists using NASA satellites to measure the amount of fresh water on the Earth's surface.

- A fundamental science question that I would like to answer along with other scientists and other members of the team is how much fresh water is there in the Earth?

And more importantly, where is it, and at what point in time?

- Bart can you tell me a little bit about what you're studying and how you're studying it?

- I use satellite measurements from space to study fresh water on the Earth's surface.

For example, during the winter, you'll have a snow-covered mountain.

And then all of that water will run off in the spring and go elsewhere.

We wanna be able to follow that water and perhaps predict in the near term how much water there will be in different parts of the world, and when that water will run off, and when we could use that water once it has run off.

- And why is it important to know this?

- Well, water is a substance that we all need.

We learn in the hydrologic cycle from school that water naturally cycles through.

It goes up, it goes down, which is true, but it does not necessarily come out in the places we live or in a condition that is safe to drink.

So if we're going to better manage and protect this resource, a fundamental question is how much of this stuff is there?

And by using satellites and sensors and math and computer models, we can do just that.

- Bart, I know that you are a professor at the University of Maryland, where we are right now, but I also know that you do some work with NASA.

- Yeah.

So NASA's a wonderful organization work with, and they collect the satellite data, which I need to do my research.

One scientist in particular I work with quite a bit is Dr. Sujay Kumar of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

- I Sujay Kumar.

I'm a scientist in the hydrologic sciences lab at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

We study water because we all need water for our systems.

So understanding how the water cycle is changing, how that impacts how much water we have is obviously a hugely relevant question.

So we use NASA's remote sensing capabilities and modeling tools to look at this problem.

- I always assumed that NASA was studying the stars and other planets.

- NASA does, as we all know, incredible work on studying the sun, other planets, our solar system, but a big part of what NASA does is also studying our own planet.

So we have a very large fleet of satellites that measure all kinds of things about our water cycle, which is what I'm studying.

How's the water cycle, how is it changing particularly in the era of climate change.

How are humans influencing it?

How are we changing it?

And the complexity of how the land itself is evolving.

We look at water cycle changes around the world.

Agriculture is one of the big human activities.

It needs a lot of water.

Where does our water come from?

We take it out of reverse, or we pump it out of the aquifers.

We kind of think of groundwater as a long term bank account in some ways.

So you only take it out when you really, really need it.

- It takes years, hundreds of years sometimes, to replenish the aquifer.

So that's why we have to be more careful about using our long term bank account, or the groundwater resources, 'cause once it's gone, it's gone.

It takes hundreds of years to build it back up.

- So it's hundreds of years to fill it up, but it doesn't take hundreds of years to deplete it?

- So let's say you have two droughts back to back.

When there is a drought happening, we would normally just pump it out.

And that's what happened in California in the 2012 drought.

But now we can assess that long term bank account or reserve has depleted significantly.

So in the high planes, we look at the Oglala aquifer.

That's where we take about 30% of the water for agriculture comes from the Oglala.

And that has gone down significantly.

And how do we know this?

Because we have satellites that can tell you how those things that we can't directly observe with eyes, they're changing.

And this has been observed not just in the US, but in other parts of the world.

So Northern India, there has been huge depletion of groundwater resources.

(gentle music) - Bart, what methodologies are you using to gather this data?

- There are three different types of sensors that we use.

We might use a radiometer, which measures the emission of energy from an object of interest, maybe a lake or maybe a snow-covered mountain, or we can use radar where we send radiation down and we measure its back scatter.

And if we know something about the physics of the target that that photon bounced off of, then we can infer its behavior from the reflection of that radiation back to the sensor.

So we have radiometry, which is passive, radar, which is active, and now a third active system LIDAR, very similar to radar, but just a slightly different wavelength.

Radar being microwave.

LIDAR is typically visible light.

And when we study snow, for example, we might use green light because it bounces off of snow in a very good way.

Those are three types of sensors we can use to see water.

In the last two decades, we've been using a system called GRACE, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, which has two sensors, one chasing the other.

NASA affectionately refers to them as Tom chasing Jerry.

And they measure the distance between those two satellites very accurately.

And if you know something about the mechanics of those satellites, feeling the gravity under those satellites, we can use that information rather to see water, but to feel water deep in the ground.

- When we study about water, we take a step back and think about Earth as a whole.

Water is everywhere.

And the changes that are happening on the Earth system impacts all these components.

So I study what's happening to the water on the land surface, 'cause that's where people live, and that's also where we have changed the landscape quite significantly.

We have built houses, we have built roads, we have built dams, we have done agriculture, basically significantly changed the landscape.

In order to mention climate change, so there's a lot of factors at play into studying water.

- 20 or 30 years ago, we might have measured water the same way, but the instruments are more sophisticated, more sensitive.

They're smaller, which makes them cheaper, which means we can put more of them into space simultaneously.

Another nice advance has been the computing power.

Organizations like NASA require large super computers.

And the computers would become more sophisticated, more advanced, faster and bigger.

And then we've also seen the introduction of the Cloud, which the Cloud has really enabled data sharing, of which NASA has been a global leader in this field.

- So the methodologies are similar.

You're just getting more accurate reading.

- That's exactly right.

The physics does not change.

The mathematics does not change.

It just gets bigger and more complicated.

- Does our understanding of this data, has that changed?

- Absolutely.

We are seeing deeper into our understanding than before.

And because we have more of these coordinated sensors flying simultaneously, we have more independent measurements at a simultaneous collection point in space and time, which means we can pile on independent pieces of information and truly get a deeper, richer understanding of the processes that we're studying rather than more superficial understanding, perhaps, from 20 or 30 years ago compared to today.

- How much fresh water is there on the planet?

- That's an excellent question, and that's the question I'm trying to answer.

What I can say right now is that when it comes to fresh water, it's only about 3% of all of the water on the planet.

Most of it has salt and we cannot drink that water.

And if we wanna remove that salt, it's not easy.

It's very expensive.

So we want to just focus on the freshwater.

Now, of that freshwater, approximately 70% of the global freshwater is locked up in the form of ice sheets, ice caps, and glaciers, areas of the globe that we can't get at.

The remainder of that freshwater, most of it is in the ground.

Out of sight, out of mind.

We use a lot of that water without realizing how much water we're using.

And in many parts of the world, we're using it at an unsustainable rate.

I grew up in Kansas, for example, home to the Oglala aquifer.

They are currently pulling water out of the Oglala that has been dated to be more than a hundred thousand years old.

It takes a long time to recharge these aquifers.

It can be hundreds of years, depending on the size and depth of these aquifers.

That is why we need to understand how much we have so that again, we can preserve and protect that resource.

- If only 3% of the water on the planet is fresh water and the other 97% is salt water, why can't we just take the salt out?

- So desalinization has been talked about as an alternate solution, so we have to remember that this is a very expensive process.

So it's not really feasible at a very large scale.

And the other factor is that it is not a carbon neutral process.

So it has a subsequent impact on the larger climate, particularly, if you're gonna try to do this at a very large scale.

- With this data that you're collecting and the understanding that you have about the fresh water on the globe, what can we learn from this?

How can we use this information?

- Well, a fundamental question we would like to answer is how much water in the world is there and where is it?

And that is still an unanswered question.

We are getting closer and closer and closer.

The accuracy is getting closer, and the uncertainty is getting more and more narrow.

How can we use this information?

It's a finite resource with increasing demands.

We need to preserve and protect this.

And if we're ever going to preserve and protect it, a fundamental question we need to know is how much is there?

And so these types of questions that we are trying to answer could eventually be used by governmental organizations or other groups that help protect the public and provide clean water.

And we can serve as advisors to these organizations.

"Here's how much water you have.

At the current rate, perhaps you will run out by this date.

We need to change some practices so that in the future, you will have the water you need."

It's just like Thomas Fuller said, "We never know the value of water until the well runs dry."

We only miss it when we no longer have it.

And this is a critical resource.

We need to protect this resource so that we have hope for the future.

- Bart, so what can we do to make this better?

- It's a great question.

There's a lot that we can do.

As we know with recycling, we often hear the phrase, think globally, act locally.

We can do the same with water.

We need to recognize that it is finite.

Even though it falls out of the sky, it's not unlimited.

We should be cognizant of how much water we use and try to reduce it where we can.

Case in point, I used to brush my teeth and I would leave the tap on.

And I realized I was just wasting water.

Why don't I brush my teeth and turn the water off while I brush my teeth?

Recycling saves water.

We do not think about how much water is required to make the everyday products we use.

We should think globally and act locally.

And all the small changes that we can make, every bit helps.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Every morning, millions of Americans enjoy a hot cup of coffee.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to get that coffee into your cup?

Whitney Manney sits down with the owner of a small Guatemalan coffee farm to find out.

- Staying close to the manual process, my dad picks every bean, he and the people that work with him on the farm.

So whenever I spill a bean, I think about my dad, who always every time we work with the beans together, he talks about his grandpa who would say, (speaking in a foreign language) which is you have to save every grain.

You can't let any grain go 'cause every grain touched a hand.

(gentle music) - I am so excited to learn more about Dona Fina today.

Can you tell me a little bit about how you all started, what you all are about?

- Dona Fina Cafe is coffee that comes from my family farm.

We're a small, sustainable family coffee farm that's been in our family for about 120 years.

My dad is the farmer.

- My name is Ruben Noguera.

I am from Gesatupeke, Guatemala.

I used to be an engineer working here.

But when I retire, my mom left me piece of ground that was came from my grandfather.

And the coffee that we are producing, they call it Dona Fina.

That was my grandmother's name.

- My dad and I started working together to bring the coffee from the farm here to the state's green, where I roast it every week and get it to market as a way to share our farm and the fruits of the farm, and also talk about sustainability and fair trade in its truest sense here in the states.

- You've created an ecosystem for Dona Fina with your dad in Guatemala on the farm, tending and taking care of everything, and then sending it to you, where you are then roasting, packaging, getting it to the consumer.

I can't even wrap my mind around farming coffee.

What does that even look like?

How does it grow?

- It grows on a tree.

It's a hardy plant, but the fruiting process is a really delicate process.

Coffee grows in bunches or little coffee cherries.

Each cherry holds two beans.

Harvest happens once a year.

- We want just only red bean.

We don't want between red or green.

We just want red.

This is the reason we have to pick it up by hand.

- So we have 12,000 coffee trees on our farm, which is really not a big farm at all.

- That sounds big.

- It sounds big.

And it's a lot of labor.

We've estimated right now, most of our trees, a whole tree will produce half a latta, which is like a five gallon bucket, maybe three pounds of coffee.

- Okay.

- So think about 12,000 trees producing just about half a bucket.

The process for every cup of coffee is extremely labor intensive.

It's a crop that has to be picked by hand.

What makes our process slightly different is that oftentimes, the coffee branch will be stripped of all the cherries.

So they grow in a clump on each branch, and they'll be stripped.

But what we do is three cuts every year.

And that just means that we go through and only pick the red cherries and leave the green or yellowing or peach colored ones on the tree so that they can continue maturing.

- Because the plants mature in different, for some reason, I have a plant here that is already red, and this one is still green.

- And so this process of first cut will take a couple weeks, and then we'll be ready to go back to the beginning and do all those same trees another time, again, leaving anything that's green or peach colored on the tree.

And then we'll go back one more time sometime in January, mid-January to do the third cut.

And so that ensures that we're giving each bean a chance to ripen on the branch.

- Got you.

And so that plays a big part too in the flavor, I'm guessing, like what kind of flavor you're gonna get from the bean?

- Yes.

- If you give it time to actually mature.

- A lot of your more bitter coffees were probably pulled a little too early.

- And then we have a little machine.

Then you put the coffee there.

It does remove the peel.

So what we do is we remove the, we call it meat.

After we remove that, then we do the washing.

- And they'll dump all of the picked cherries into big drums of water, and whatever floats to the top is taken away and reserved for whatever reason, the beans are more hollow or not as moist or the fruits started rotting already, potentially.

And so that gets put away and reserved.

We don't throw it away.

And then the beans are pulled like this, but they're still in a like honey.

It's called the honey fruit.

So there's like another layer.

And those again, get washed, and whatever floats gets pulled aside.

And then from there, the beans are let to sit overnight one more time.

And then they're put out on patios to dry.

The beans still have a hard...

It's called parchment, on the bean.

And so from there, it's taken to a machine.

So most of these processes are hand done.

There are aspects of the industry that are being taken over by machines.

They are always gonna have to be picked by hand.

(gentle music) Right now, this is the slowest period when the beans are heating up.

And then, like I said, I keep track of everything, and I have set temperature gauges that I'm looking at.

Somebody's probably gonna watch this and be like, "She is so antiquated," I don't know.

- But no, I think being able to have that still manual and hands-on aspect of it is so nice because, I mean, this is a art still.

It's nice to be able to see how this comes together from start to finish it.

- And definitely, I feel closer to my dad.

I feel closer to the whole process.

Back at the farm, it's been really fun for me.

(gentle music) - Just listening to you explain that process, I am blown away with how labor intensive it is.

I always thought that machinery was involved in the harvesting part of coffee, and that was so hands on.

These are people.

People make coffee happen.

And I think that's just so important for everyone to know.

And also a big part of coffee happening, getting to the shelves, is location, right?

- Yeah, that's right.

It only grows in a ring around the equator.

So it grows on multiple continents, but it's only a small range that will actually produce the fruits.

And so I think as the climate changes, coffee is actually an endangered crop.

And a lot of people don't know that or understand that.

And we feel it every year.

It's a major concern.

As the globe warms, the coffee that grows just around the equator, just in that small zone, the zone gets smaller.

And so it gets harder and harder to grow it.

The plants will only fruit if they get the moisture it needs at the right time.

So it's an issue of both amount of moisture, but also when is the moisture.

The harvest happens once a year, but the trees need to be tended to year round.

So we've implemented new pruning practices that are kinder.

That's where the knowledge of agriculture and climate change and having scientifically backed best practices has really helped our farm.

- So wanting to be as organic as possible, be sustainable in the sense of the plant itself, as well as the workforce even, just being able to take care of everybody.

I know I've heard the term fair trade a lot when it comes to coffee.

What do you feel like is the ultimate definition of fair trade for Dona Fina?

- I think the idea of fair trade is a noble one.

It's acknowledging that this is a commodity crop that's being used for exploitation in a lot of aspects of the industry, and ensuring that the coffee you're buying is paying attention.

I think what's happened in a similar way with the organic label is that it's become a label that you can almost pay for.

And I don't wanna say that about all companies, 'cause I think that there are a lot of good companies that are trying to develop relationships with growers and are really wanting to do the right thing.

I think it's an aspect of the industry that needs more light.

I think it's more awareness.

So it's really being more mindful of the whole supply chain.

And so I think our motivation as a family is to tell that story, the whole story.

And we have the privilege to be able to honor each phase of the process, each stage of the process.

Everything we do, we're trying to do it as close to the source.

Our goal is not to be in big box stores.

Our goal is to talk about the origin and the source, and the whole system, the Earth, the ground that grows it, the ecosystem of people that are part of this process.

- Well, Erika, thank you so much for giving me an in-depth tour, giving me a scoop about coffee.

I will never look at a cup of coffee the same again.

- [Erika] Thank you for the opportunity.

It's been an honor and a joy.

(gentle music) - So Brenda, a few things stand out to me as we're walking through the store.

First of all, the size of this place is so big.

And of course, the variety of things that are here.

- [Brenda] Well, we have four different categories that we take in.

We take arts and crafts, we take school and office, textiles, and then we have a category called miscellaneous.

- So how do farmers markets support our local environment?

- Many of these farmers are wonderful stewards of the land.

We have a lot of farmers that grow organically or sustainably.

(gentle music)