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There are plenty of things you can do every day to help reduce greenhouse gases and your carbon footprint to make a less harmful impact on the environment. ipopba / Getty Images
By Katie Lambert and Sarah Gleim
The United Nations suggests that climate change is not just the defining issue of our time, but we are also at a defining moment in history. Weather patterns are changing and will threaten food production, and sea levels are rising and could cause catastrophic flooding across the globe. Countries must make drastic actions to avoid a future with irreversible damage to major ecosystems and planetary climate.
<p>But what about individuals? What can we do to pitch in and help save the Earth? There are plenty of things you can do every day to help reduce greenhouse gases and your <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/minimizing-carbon-footprint.htm" target="_blank">carbon footprint</a> to make a less harmful impact on the environment. Taking care of the Earth is not just a responsibility, it's a necessity. In that spirit, HowStuffWorks has come up with 10 things you can do now to help save the planet.</p>
<h3>1. Conserve Water</h3><p>The little things can make a big difference. Every time you turn off the water while you're brushing your teeth, you're doing something good. Got a leaky faucet? You might be dripping as much as 90 gallons (340 liters) of water down the drain every day [source: <a href="https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/www3/watersense/about_us/facts.html#save_water" target="_blank">EPA</a>]. So fix it! It's easy and cheap. And stop drinking <a href="https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/why-americans-spend-billions-bottled-water.htm" target="_blank">bottled water</a>. Switch to filtered tap water. You'll save a ton of cash and help reduce a ton of plastic waste in the process.</p><h3>2. Be Car-conscious</h3><p>If you can, stay off the road two days a week or more. You'll reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 1,590 pounds (721 kilograms) per year [source: <a href="https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passenger-vehicle-0_.html" target="_blank">EPA</a>]. It's easier than you think. You can combine your errands — hit the school, grocery store and dog daycare in one trip. And talk to your boss about teleworking. It's a boon for you and your company. But being car conscious also means maintaining your car on a regular basis. You can improve your gas mileage by 0.6 percent to 3 percent by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure, and be sure to make necessary repairs if your car fails emission [source: <a href="https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/maintain.jsp" target="_blank">EPA</a>].</p>
<h3>3. Walk, Bike or Take Public Transit</h3><p>Walking and biking are obvious ways to reduce greenhouse gases. Plus you'll get some good cardio and <a href="https://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/diet-fitness/exercise/sports-physiology.htm" target="_blank">burn some calories</a> while you do it. If you live in an area that's not <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/civil/why-so-many-suburban-streets-twist-and-turn.htm" target="_blank">walkable</a>, take advantage of your local <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/civil/subway.htm" target="_blank">mass transit</a> if you can. Or carpool. Even one car off on the road makes a difference.</p><h3>4. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle</h3><p>You can help reduce pollution just by putting that soda can in the <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/three-big-mistakes-we-make-recycling.htm" target="_blank">recycling</a> bin. It really does make a difference. Paper, too. Case in point: If an office building of 7,000 workers recycled all of its office paper waste for a year, it would be the equivalent of taking almost 400 cars off the road [source: <a href="https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-09/documents/2013_advncng_smm_fs.pdf" target="_blank">EPA</a>]. But you can also take reusable bags to the grocery, and avoid using disposable plates, spoons, glass, cups and napkins. They create huge amounts of waste. And buy products that are made of recycled materials. It all makes a difference.</p>
<h3>5. Give Composting a Try</h3><p>In 2015, (the last year figures were available) Americans generated <a href="https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/national-overview-facts-and-figures-materials#GenerationTrends" target="_blank">262.4 million tons (238 metric tons) of trash</a>. Only 23.4 million tons (21.2 metric tons) of that was composted. Some was recycled and some was combusted for energy, but almost half of it — 137.7 million tons (124.9 metric tons) — ended up in the <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/landfill.html" target="_blank">landfill</a>. Imagine if you could divert more of that to your own <a href="https://home.howstuffworks.com/composting.htm" target="_blank">compost</a>? It would help reduce the amount of solid waste you produce, and what eventually winds up in your local landfill. Plus, compost makes a great natural fertilizer.</p><h3>6. Switch to LEDs</h3><p><a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-tech/sustainable/cfl-bulb.htm" target="_blank">Compact fluorescent light bulbs</a> (CFLs) are great. They can last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs and they use at least two-thirds less energy, but even CFLS have issues. They're hard to dispose of because they contain mercury. Enter light-emitting diode, or LED bulbs. They emit light in a very narrow band wavelength so they're super energy-efficient. Start replacing your old incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs now (if you haven't already). They do cost more than CFLs and incandescents, but equivalent LED bulbs can last around 25,000 hours compared to the 1,000 hours that incandescent bulb might have lasted.</p>
<h3>7. Live Energy Wise</h3><p>Make your home more <a href="https://home.howstuffworks.com/green-living/home-heating-and-cooling-efficiency-tips.htm" target="_blank">energy efficient</a> (and save money). Your home's windows are responsible for <a href="https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/design/windows-doors-and-skylights/update-or-replace-windows" target="_blank">25 to 30 percent</a> of residential heat gain and heat loss. If they're old and inefficient, consider replacing them. Also be sure your home has proper insulation. Insulation is measured in terms of its thermal resistance or <a href="https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/weatherize/insulation" target="_blank">R-value</a> — the higher the R-value, the more effective the insulation. The amount of insulation your home needs depends on the climate, type of HVAC system, and where you're adding the insulation. Smaller things you can do right away include replacing your air filter regularly so your HVAC system doesn't have to work overtime. Keep your window treatments closed when it's extremely hot and cold outside. You can also consider installing a programmable thermostat like <a href="https://home.howstuffworks.com/nest-learning-thermostat.htm" target="_blank">Nest</a> so your system isn't running (and wasting energy) when you're not home.</p><h3>8. Eat Sustainable Foods</h3><p>Today, large-scale food production accounts for as much as <a href="https://nctce.com.au/what-is-sustainable-food-a-guide-to-eating-more-sustainably/" target="_blank">25 percent of the greenhouse emissions</a>. So how do you eat sustainably? Choosing food from farmers that aim to conserve the natural resources and have as little impact on the land as possible. But even buying as much as you can from local farmers makes a different. Eating more whole grains, vegetables, fruits and nuts, and less red meats and processed foods does too. Grow your own fruits and vegetables. You can <a href="https://home.howstuffworks.com/starting-a-vegetable-garden.htm" target="_blank">grow a garden</a>!</p>
<h3>9. Plant a Tree (or Two)</h3><p>In 2018 the United Nations' <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/2018/10/08/summary-for-policymakers-of-ipcc-special-report-on-global-warming-of-1-5c-approved-by-governments/" target="_blank">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report</a>, the U.N. suggests an additional 2.5 billion acres (1 billion hectares) of forest in the world could limit global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) by 2050. That's a lot of trees, but you could plant one or two, right? One young tree can absorb<a href="http://urbanforestrynetwork.org/benefits/air%20quality.htm" target="_blank"> CO2 at a rate of 13 pounds</a> (5 kilograms) per tree. Every. Single. Year. And that's just an itty bitty baby tree. Once that tree reaches about 10 years old, it's at its most productive stage of carbon storage. Then it can absorb 48 pounds (21 kilograms) of CO2 per year. Trees also remove all other kinds of junk from the air, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and <a href="https://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/when-it-comes-to-air-pollution-tiniest-particles-might-be-worst.htm" target="_blank">small particles</a>. So go ahead, plant a tree. It's good for everybody.</p><h3>10. Give Up Plastics</h3><p>The statistics are shocking: People around the world <a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/interactive/beat-plastic-pollution/" target="_blank">buy 1 million plastic drinking bottles</a> <em>every minute</em>, and use up to <em>5 trillion </em>single-use plastic bags every year. Humans are addicted to plastic, and hardly any of it — about 9 percent — gets recycled. A staggering 8 million tons (7.25 metric tons) ends up in the ocean every year. <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/conservation/issues/10-ways-to-stop-using-plastic-now.htm" target="_blank">Break the cycle</a>. Stop buying bottled water. Say no to plastic shopping bags and use cloth bags instead. Don't use <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/conservation/issues/americans-use-500-million-straws-every-day-would-you-pledge-go-strawless.htm" target="_blank">plastic straws</a>. Drink from a reuseable cup instead of a plastic one. Avoiding plastic can divert a ton of waste from the oceans and landfill.</p>
<p class=""><em>This story originally appeared in</em> <em><a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/" target="_blank">HowStuffWorks</a></em><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/2646032543#/" target="_self"></a> <em>and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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A young monk seal underwater in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. NOAA / PIFSC / HMSRP
By Tara Lohan
The Sargasso Sea, an area of the Atlantic Ocean between the Caribbean and Bermuda, has bedeviled sailors for centuries. Its namesake — sargassum, a type of free-floating seaweed — and notoriously calm winds have "trapped" countless mariners, including the crew of Christopher Columbus's Santa Maria.
<p>For the past 500 years, most of the stories that have come from the Sargasso have been about stranded ships and sunken vessels. But in recent years scientists have rewritten the sea's narrative. It's not a life-stealing sea, but a life-giving one. The seaweed alone helps support 100 species of invertebrates, 280 species of fish and 23 species of birds.</p><p>That's one of the reasons why a team of scientists from 13 universities and institutions included the Sargasso Sea as one of 10 biodiversity hotspots in the high seas — areas of the ocean outside of national boundaries — that their research indicates should be considered for designation as marine protected areas.</p><p>Their <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X19309194#!" target="_blank">recommendations</a>, published earlier this year in the journal <em>Marine Policy</em>, took more than a little bit of work to develop.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://therevelator.org/ocean-biodiversity-mpa/" target="_blank">The Revelator</a>. </em><em></em></p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzMxMzEwNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5OTkwNzAyM30.Np_V-1lN3jiRrejo8GI3dZ0C7rzIbgCQr2vaV-U3-Xk/img.jpg?width=980" id="ef11e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a71193b1578c9a9b1b6edd21ccdbd716" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Results from the global data-driven conservation planning analysis showing priority areas to be considered for protection (green) in marine areas beyond national jurisdiction. Visalli et al
Quantifying the Great Unknown
<p>The high seas make up two-thirds of the ocean, much of which is remote. Scientists are still learning about the diversity and complexity of life there.</p><p>"We're discovering new species in the high seas all the time," said Morgan Visalli, lead author of <em>Marine Policy</em> study and a project scientist with U.C. Santa Barbara's <a href="https://boi.ucsb.edu/" target="_blank">Benioff Ocean Initiative</a>.</p><p>But at the same time, her colleague and study coauthor Douglas McCauley, director of the Benioff Ocean Initiative, said there's also a lot we <em>do</em> know that can help guide conservation.</p><p>They began their study by reaching out to networks of colleagues across the world to help gather data.</p><p>"I was really impressed by how much we actually know — how much data we have for what is out there, biologically speaking," he said. "And also what people are doing in that space. We can't fall back on the excuse of not knowing enough."</p><p>The researchers ended up analyzing 22 billion data points — a huge data-processing challenge — to identify areas of the high seas that could warrant protection.</p><p>That included looking at indicators such as seafloor habitat, ocean productivity, diversity and richness of species, and extinction risks. They also identified certain physical features — like seamounts and hydrothermal vents — where changes in elevation and temperature help foster biodiversity.</p><p>Their results identified <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/reports/2020/03/a-path-to-creating-the-first-generation-of-high-seas-protected-areas" target="_blank">priority regions</a> in nearly all the major ocean basins, with the largest areas in the South Pacific Ocean. Key areas also included the Sargasso Sea, as well as the Costa Rica thermal dome in the Pacific Ocean; the South Tasman Sea; the Emperor Seamount Chain northwest of the Hawaiian Islands; the Mascarene Plateau in the Indian Ocean; and the Walvis Ridge, an undersea mountain range off southwestern Africa.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzMxMzEwNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNDI4NDYwN30.QFfMyJCTEjL8D37O12PIkoBxHP_Pb9DNEnRV6eiEiKo/img.jpg?width=980" id="9c6dd" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7261fcecfef2fae3263eb06f1e3f8b1c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
UCSB analysis; Marineregions.org; Natural Earth. © 2020 The Pew Charitable Trusts
<p>Their model avoided areas of high fishing activity in order to avoid what the study calls "real or perceived negative socioeconomic impacts" of setting aside conservation areas. It also took into consideration how climate change could alter biodiversity by selecting areas critical today and ones likely to be important in the future as well.</p>The Need for Protection
<p>The research comes at a critical time for the future of the ocean — and the high seas, specifically.</p><p>A new United Nations treaty to protect and conserve biodiversity in the high seas is<a href="https://therevelator.org/high-seas-treaty/" target="_blank"> currently being negotiated</a>, and a focus of those talks is how to create a framework for establishing marine protected areas outside of national waters. This could help ensure that unique ecosystems like the Sargasso Sea and others identified in the <em>Marine Policy</em> study aren't overexploited.</p><p>The current law that governs the high seas, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, was finalized in 1982. But since then, our collective impact is starting to reveal gaps in governance.</p><p>Marine shipping traffic is up 1,600 percent and plastic pollution has increased 100-fold. At least one-third of fish stocks are being overharvested, and many migratory fish species, such as tuna, have declined more than 60 percent. Technological advances have led to more prospecting in the ocean's depths for minerals and other genetic resources, as well as more destructive practices, like trawling along the ocean floor. Climate change, which is warming waters and increasing acidification, poses even more risks to ocean life.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzMxMzEwOC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNzE3NTg0MX0.Hg5Z-qf8B0rThFdYtITYNyBUPqsoWm8f-xxVHKV0MhY/img.jpg?width=980" id="2c686" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="60a28fa3ad6adf7e3397251af13e1ccf" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Coral bleaching in the Gulf of Thailand. Petchrung Sukpong / CC BY-SA 2.0
<p>This has all taken a toll.</p><p>A <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/" target="_blank">landmark report</a> last year from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services found massive declines in biodiversity globally — including in the ocean, with one-third of all reef-forming corals and marine mammals threatened with extinction.</p><p>A recent study in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2146-7" target="_blank" style="">Nature</a>, published just a few days after the <em>Marine Policy</em> study, suggests that we've come to a critical crossroads.</p><p>"We are at a point at which we can choose between a legacy of a resilient and vibrant ocean or an irreversibly disrupted ocean, for the generations to follow," wrote the researchers, led by Carlos Duarte, a professor of marine science at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.</p><p>They posited that with enough resources and global will, we can see a "substantial recovery of the abundance, structure and function of marine life" by 2050. But to do that, we need to scale up efforts to protect vulnerable species and habitats, reduce pollution and — most critically — curb climate change.</p><p>That's why Visalli and McCauley believe efforts like the emerging high seas treaty are important.</p><p>So far fully implemented marine protected areas span just 5 percent of the ocean. And the vast majority of these reserves are in national waters, which are only one-third of the ocean. But a high seas treaty would help create a framework to more easily set aside conservation-rich areas in a much greater expanse.</p><p>"Even though there is industry out there and it has been increasing over the past several decades," said Visalli, "there is still a lot of wilderness in the high seas, and we are at this moment where we have an opportunity to protect these wild places before industry continues to expand even further."</p><p>To truly protect and restore ocean health, scientists have been calling for a bare minimum of 30 percent of the ocean to be protected. More protected areas in the high seas are important for meeting that goal. But just as crucial as how much space, is also <em>where</em> that space is.</p>The Need for Protected Spaces
<p>The major driver for changing and threatening biodiversity in the long term is climate change, said McCauley, which makes protecting these spaces vital in the short term.</p><p>"We are already seeing the first manifestation of these threats and we need to think about climate change and always manage the oceans — from fishing regulations to ocean parks — with that in mind," he said. "Climate change is changing where biodiversity will be in the high seas, and we can use data to plan for that."</p><p>Duarte and authors of the <em>Nature</em> study wrote that "Climate change is the critical backdrop against which all future rebuilding efforts will play out." But well-managed marine protected areas, they said, can help ecosystems be better equipped to handle threats from climate change, like warming temperatures and changing ocean chemistry.</p><p>Getting there won't be cheap. A global network of marine protected areas that conserves 20–30 percent of the ocean could cost $5–19 billion a year, the researchers write in <em>Nature</em>.</p><p>But supporting local economies, feeding communities, and fostering biodiversity don't have to be mutually exclusive. The money spent on conservation will be more than returned in economic gains from the new jobs, revenue from ecotourism, restored fisheries, and protections for coastal areas, their research found.</p><p>But establishing the policy and international agreements, like the high seas treaty, to set plans in motion will require a lot of compromise, said McCauley.</p><p>"We need that space to have an ocean economy and we need that space to have biodiversity," he said. "Can we find a sweet spot?"</p>From Your Site Articles
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Biodiversity – the diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems – is declining globally, faster than at any other time in human history. Csondy / Getty Images
By Marie Quinney
Biodiversity is critically important – to your health, to your safety and, probably, to your business or livelihood.
<p>But biodiversity – the diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems – is declining globally, faster than at any other time in human history. The world's 7.6 billion people represent just 0.01% of all living things by weight, but humanity has caused the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/21/human-race-just-001-of-all-life-but-has-destroyed-over-80-of-wild-mammals-study" target="_blank">loss of 83% of all wild mammals and half of all plants</a>. (Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse is one of the top five risks in <a href="https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-risks-report-2020" target="_blank">the World Economic Forum's 2020 Global Risks Report</a>, too.)</p><p>In celebration of <a href="https://www.cbd.int/idb/" target="_blank">the International Day for Biological Diversity</a>, we break down the five ways in which biodiversity supports our economies and enhances our wellbeing – and has the potential to do even more.</p>
1. Biodiversity Ensures Health and Food Security.
<p>Biodiversity underpins global nutrition and food security. Millions of species work together to provide us with a <a href="https://www.cbd.int/health/doc/Summary-SOK-Final.pdf" target="_blank">large array of fruits, vegetables and animal products essential to a healthy, balanced diet</a> – but they are increasingly under threat.</p><p>Every country has indigenous produce – such as wild greens and grains – which have adapted to local conditions, making them more resilient to pests and extreme weather. In the past, this produce provided much-needed micronutrients for local populations. Unfortunately, however, the <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-i1620e.pdf" target="_blank">simplification of diets, processed foods and poor access to food have led to poor-quality diets</a>. As a result, <a href="https://www.bioversityinternational.org/research-portfolio/diet-diversity/biodiversity-for-food-and-nutrition/" target="_blank">one-third of the world suffers from micronutrient deficiencies</a>.</p><p>Three crops – wheat, corn and rice – <a href="https://enviroliteracy.org/food/crops/" target="_blank">provide almost 60% of total plant-based calories consumed by humans</a>. This leads to reduced resiliency in our supply chains and on our plates. For example, <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-i1620e.pdf" target="_blank">the number of rice varieties cultivated in Asia has dropped from tens of thousands to just a few dozen; in Thailand, 50% of land used for growing rice only produces two varieties</a>.</p><p>People once understood that the conservation of species was crucial for healthy societies and ecosystems. We must ensure this knowledge remains part of our modern agricultural and food systems to prevent diet-related diseases and reduce the environmental impact of feeding ourselves.</p>2. Biodiversity Helps Fight Disease.
<p>Higher rates of biodiversity have been linked to an increase in human health.</p><p>First, plants are essential for medicines. For example, <a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_New_Nature_Economy_Report_2020.pdf" target="_blank">25% of drugs used in modern medicine are derived from rainforest plants</a> while <a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_New_Nature_Economy_Report_2020.pdf" target="_blank">70% of cancer drugs are natural or synthetic products inspired by nature</a>. This means that every time a species goes extinct, we miss out on a potential new medicine.</p><p>Second, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/news.2010.644" target="_blank">biodiversity due to protected natural areas has been linked to lower instances of disease</a> such as Lyme disease and malaria. While the exact origin of the virus causing COVID-19 is still unknown, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5711306/" target="_blank">60% of infectious diseases originate from animals</a> and <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/631980-Machalaba-Anthropogenic%20Drivers%20of%20Emerging%20Infectious%20Diseases.pdf" target="_blank">70% of emerging infectious diseases originate from wildlife</a>. As human activities encroach upon the natural world, through deforestation and urbanization, we reduce the size and number of ecosystems. As a result, animals live in closer quarters with one another and with humans, creating ideal conditions for the spread of zoonotic diseases.</p><p>Simply put: <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/news.2010.644" target="_blank">more species means less disease</a>.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzMxMDYyOC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MDA4MjA5MH0.7QU59zfy44cq0wSAwMxeqjyygJi9ef1aEyYHQZ3gCts/img.png?width=980" id="77368" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="18d555bb10422495fc147f109cb72b3b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Human activity is eroding biodiversity. World Economic Forum Nature Risk Rising
3. Biodiversity Benefits Business.
<p>According to the World Economic Forum's recent <a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_New_Nature_Economy_Report_2020.pdf" target="_blank">Nature Risk Rising Report</a>, more than half of the world's GDP ($44 trillion) is highly or moderately dependent on nature. Many businesses are, therefore, at risk due to increasing nature loss. <a href="https://wwf.panda.org/our_work/biodiversity/protected_areas/arguments_for_protection/goods_services/medicine/" target="_blank">Global sales of pharmaceuticals based on materials of natural origin are worth an estimated $75 billion a year</a>, while natural wonders such as <a href="https://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/all_publications/living_planet_report_2018/" target="_blank">coral reefs are essential to food and tourism.</a></p><p>There is great potential for the economy to grow and become more resilient by ensuring biodiversity. <a href="http://wedocs.unep.org/xmlui/handle/20.500.11822/31813" target="_blank">Every dollar spent on nature restoration leads to at least $9 of economic benefits.</a> In addition, <a href="https://www.foodandlandusecoalition.org/global-report/" target="_blank">changing agricultural and food production methods could unlock $4.5 trillion per year in new business opportunities by 2030</a>, while also preventing trillions of dollars' worth of social and environmental harms.</p>4. Biodiversity Provides Livelihoods.
<p>Humans derive approximately <a href="https://livingplanetindex.org/home/index" target="_blank">$125 trillion of value from natural ecosystems each year</a>. Globally, <a href="http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/water/wwap/wwdr/2016-water-and-jobs/" target="_blank">three out of four jobs</a> are dependent on water while the agricultural sector employs over <a href="https://www.conservation.org/priorities/livelihoods" target="_blank">60% of the world's working poor</a>. In the Global South, forests are the source of livelihoods for <a href="https://www.conservation.org/priorities/livelihoods" target="_blank">over 1.6 billion people</a>. In India, forest ecosystems contribute <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19915547" target="_blank">only 7% to India's GDP yet 57% of rural Indian communities' livelihoods</a>.</p><p><span></span>Ecosystems, therefore, must be protected and restored – not only for the good of nature but also for the communities that depend on them.</p><p>Although some fear environmental regulation and the safeguarding of nature could threaten businesses, the "restoration economy" – the restoration of natural landscapes – provides more jobs in the United States than most of the extractives sector, with the potential to create even more. According to some estimates, the restoration economy is worth <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0128339" target="_blank">$25 billion per year and directly employs more than the coal, mining, logging and steel industries altogether</a>. Nature-positive businesses can provide <a href="https://www.greenbiz.com/article/10-things-you-need-know-about-restoration-economy" target="_blank">cost-effective, robot-proof, business-friendly jobs</a> that stimulate the rural economy without harming the environment.</p>5. Biodiversity Protects Us.
<p>Biodiversity makes the earth habitable. Biodiverse ecosystems provide <a href="https://www.nature-basedsolutions.com/" target="_blank">nature-based solutions</a> that buffer us from <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_protect.html" target="_blank">natural disasters such as floods and storms</a>, <a href="https://digital.iucn.org/water/nature-based-solutions-for-water/" target="_blank">filter our water</a> and <a href="https://www.naturebasedsolutionsinitiative.org/publications/the-superior-effect-of-nature-based-solutions-in-land-management-for-enhancing-ecosystem-services/" target="_blank">regenerate our soils</a>.</p><p>The <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/voices/miracle-mangroves-coastal-protection-numbers" target="_blank">clearance of over 35% of the world's mangroves for human activities</a> has increasingly put people and their homes at risk from floods and sea-level rise. If today's mangroves were lost, 18 million more people would be flooded every year (an increase of 39%) and annual damages to property would increase by 16% ($82 billion).</p><p>Protecting and restoring natural ecosystems is vital to fighting climate change. Nature-based solutions could provide <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/114/44/11645" target="_blank">37% of the cost-effective CO2 mitigation needed by 2030</a> to maintain global warming within 2°C (35.6 F).</p><p>Natural ecosystems provide the foundations for economic growth, human health and prosperity. Our fate as a species is deeply connected to the fate of our natural environment.</p><p>As ecosystems are increasingly threatened by human activity, acknowledging the benefits of biodiversity is the first step in ensuring that we look after it. We know biodiversity matters. Now, as a society, we should protect it – and in doing so, protect our own long-term interests.</p>From Your Site Articles
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A rescued coral from Key West settles in for a feeding at an intermediate holding facility before being shipped to a long-term aquarium. Tiffany Duong / Ocean Rebels
Six years ago, during a global coral bleaching event and after the Port of Miami was dredged, endangered corals on Florida's coral reef began rapidly wasting away and dying. Their "mystery killer," whose exact pathogen still remains unidentified, is referred to as the "Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease" (SCTLD).
<p>In response, scientists launched an unprecedented, "Hail Mary" rescue effort to save the corals from local extinction. The first phase of the groundbreaking project concludes next week.</p><p>SCTLD is different and more devastating than other coral diseases because of how quickly it can kill an entire coral colony, how many different species it infects, how long it has lingered and how much remains unknown about its origins, University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine Science professor Andrew Baker told EcoWatch.</p><p>"Corals affected by SCTLD lose tissue really fast," he said. "Unlike many other coral diseases that can take weeks or months to pass over a coral's surface, SCTLD can kill a colony within a few days under 'ideal circumstances.' Some species, principally the brain corals, have almost disappeared from local reefs within a period of about six months."</p>
<p>The coral biologist also noted that SCTLD was particularly difficult to eradicate because it affects almost half of Florida's coral species, which has allowed it to persist in reef communities for a long time because it has so many different hosts it can inhabit.</p><p>SCTLD now threatens the entire Florida Reef Tract (360 linear miles), which is the third-largest coral barrier reef in the world, decimating important reef-building and endangered corals in its path.</p><p>"It's really sad. Some of these corals that have been growing for tens to hundreds to possibly thousands of years are disappearing in months," said <a href="https://myfwc.com/" target="_blank">Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC)</a> coral caretaker Allan Anderson. "We're talking about corals that have literally built this reef now dying, and it's pretty scary that something we can't yet identify is destroying everything."</p>
<p>For the past two years, Anderson and his FWC Coral Rescue Team colleagues have taken matters into their own hands — literally — by using hammers and chisels to remove healthy, at-risk corals from the reefs before the disease reaches them.</p><p>"At first I was kinda sad about collecting corals off the reef," said Tanya Ramseyer, FWC Coral Rescue project coordinator. "Your whole life, you're told not to touch the corals, and here, they tell us, 'Here's a hammer and chisel. You're gonna go down and take these off the reef.' But we're saving these corals in the nick of time. That's how I work myself up to it. We're rescuing these corals."</p><p>Scuba diving off charter and research vessels, the Coral Rescue Team identifies, collects, measures and samples corals susceptible to SCTLD that would likely perish if left on the reef.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzMxMDI0Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNDk1NzI4NH0.Y6fB3laqCkwEsEIqE3_YKNj_sHync2lcosDM4MUU8Fg/img.jpg?width=980" id="90df6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="47d7c05140729b39be59860a6960acb1" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
FWC biologist Ananda Ellis uses a hammer and chisel to remove a healthy coral from the reefs off Key West as part of FWC's Coral Rescue Project. Tiffany Duong / Ocean Rebels
<p>"The rescue mission is exactly what it sounds like," FWC Coral Program research assistant Ananda Ellis told EcoWatch. "We're trying to collect these corals and take them out of their natural environment before they get hit with this disease. Most of the individuals we're collecting would have been affected and dead within X amount of period, depending on the species, so we're definitely at that last stage. We do need to collect these corals."</p><p>To date, the team has completed six rescue cruises, and their last cruise is scheduled for May 27, Ellis shared. They have collected nearly 2,000 individual corals from 22 target species. Genetic sampling ensured they had enough unique genotypes of each species to preserve genetic diversity during the next phase of the rescue mission — coral propagation for future restoration activities, said Stephanie Schopmeyer, a main FWC coordinator for the rescue cruises.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzMxMDI1MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNzI0MDQ0OX0.X7sDW_p1y934cvZ5BwINVPlB00AIvnr5au1Hx8yrhB4/img.jpg?width=980" id="95f6e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e7220f3ec8d031b952d463e54b6d4a51" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
FWC biologists Allan Anderson and Ananda Ellis take genetic samples and measurements of rescued corals at an intermediate holding facility. Tiffany Duong / Ocean Rebels
<p>Rescue corals are shipped to partner universities, non-governmental organizations, zoos and aquaria around the country for study and safekeeping. The corals will remain in these new homes indefinitely. Many have never been observed in captivity before, and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/florida-aquarium-coral-reefs-2639990687.html" target="_self">researchers have already successfully experimented</a> with sexual and asexual propagation techniques to create new "coral babies."</p><p>"Over time, we should be able to breed or propagate or grow enough coral to repopulate the entire reef tract," Schopmeyer said. "That is the actual goal."</p><p>The final phase of the rescue project will occur when it is safe for the original rescue corals and their offspring created in holding facilities to be reintroduced to the wild in numbers that will hopefully help restore what the disease has ravaged.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzMxMDI0MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MTU0Mzk0MH0.cIwjx_BuejQunRIPL-h5t1ztE-8pHTmJBo4ei1EkkUE/img.jpg?width=980" id="1921e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b68e5ad89f78e890c38f8e01ee04cfb8" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Rescued corals acclimate to life outside of the ocean in an intermediate holding facility before being shipped to longer-term aquaria for safekeeping. Caroline Dennison / University of Miami
<p>The Coral Rescue Team is part of a broader, extensive, multi-agency effort to track the spread of SCTLD, identify the pathogen, develop methods to lessen the effects of the disease on reefs and to rescue corals for safekeeping in zoos and aquaria around the country.</p><p>Lessons learned are being applied in the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/mysterious-disease-caribbean-reefs-2639164702.html" target="_self">Caribbean and other reefs</a> where the deadly disease has possibly been <a href="https://safety4sea.com/uscg-preventing-potential-spreading-of-stony-coral-tissue-loss-disease-from-ballast-water/?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=4b4c6e774965065c21c60c807eb673bad1622c5d-1590144282-0-AevbNTlctVvPtYUNecZo3kOK9fI48Dc2XlfjQEMfynvwuFF4dsT54sPf-GCVbUtUjGWWM0UA9q67XX3TlUHvopZoG3JvWsyumIfJgadeazKe3Q3JpyChDKwhVT9e8_w8VyGTLauXYLi5nd1kb0ctvI0whw0spp2ww4okWIsCEBJaDFOe9cR4VsV_VFFz_bLANUSjeISYVFjWp6i7XedKoXSj2mlxBxuN3zWUTTtipBpsHrjiMzMilQPHRUzv3rSSbGDdPl8ksygzY4dbIW-J3lOjxp69OYLm9nhDxkmwyKpz2pStHf7Sh7mKMhDP6OkZcdI1NBsJG3UgtwCzmbZH_JEK-kjTkfw4GZrl2pxyBxz2EH4VCJZomjQGJGGpHjEnbgxVsXaLwlW90yXtYAkHuF8" target="_blank">transported in ballast water from ships</a>.</p><p>"It's a brave new reef out there," Baker said. "It's an exciting time to be a coral biologist because these interventions have never been tried before, and we're in a position where we have to start trying them."</p><p>"If you aren't trying," Ellis said, "then you've already determined the outcome. We don't know what the outcome is yet, because we're still trying. That in and of itself should keep people moving forward."</p>The FWC Coral Monitoring Dashboard includes the number and species of corals rescued and the facilities currently housing them. It is updated bi-weekly and can be viewed <a href="https://myfwc.com/research/habitat/coral/disease/dashboard/" target="_blank">here</a>.
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A biologist looks at microplastics found in sea species at the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research near Athens, Greece on Nov. 26, 2019. LOUISA GOULIAMAKI / AFP via Getty Images
New research suggests there may be far more microplastics in the ocean than initially estimated.
<p>Microplastics, which breakdown into miniscule pieces of plastic are notoriously tricky to catch. Their small size allows them to get buried in <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans">ocean</a> sediment and to escape through nets.</p><p>Now, a team of researchers, led by scientists at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory in England, used a finer net to get a more accurate picture of the amount of plastic in the ocean. Their research suggests the seas may be holding as many as 125 trillion microplastic particles, according to the study published in the journal <em><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749120310253#!" target="_blank">Environmental Pollution</a></em>, as <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/microplastics-ocean-vastly-underestimated-125-trillion-particles-floating-around-1505404" target="_blank">Newsweek</a> reported.</p>
<p>Microplastics are usually defined as tiny pieces of plastic that measure less than five millimeters across. However, despite the abundance of microplastics in the ocean, scientists have actually had a difficult time quantifying and classifying them. Usually, researchers gather samples with nets with a mesh size of 333 micrometers, or 0.333 millimeters, but these do not account for smaller pieces of plastic debris, as <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/microplastics-ocean-vastly-underestimated-125-trillion-particles-floating-around-1505404" target="_blank">Newsweek</a> reported.</p><p>The Plymouth Marine Laboratory scientists, along with researchers from the University of Exeter, used nets with a mesh size of 100 micrometers, or 0.1 millimeters, to get a more accurate picture of the microplastics swirling around coastal waters, according to a University of Exeter <a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-05-underestimating-microplastics-marine-environment.html" target="_blank">press release</a>.</p>
<p>"It is quite well known what impact larger pieces of plastic have on marine animals, like turtles eating plastic bags mistaking them for jellyfish, but we wanted to know if microplastics are a problem to smaller marine animals like mussels or zooplankton," said Pennie Lindeque, lead author of the study from Plymouth Marine Laboratory, to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/microplastics-ocean-vastly-underestimated-125-trillion-particles-floating-around-1505404" target="_blank">Newsweek</a>.</p><p>"However, first we needed an accurate picture of how many small microplastics there are in the sea, and what sort of plastic they are. We are interested in really quite small microplastics—around 100 micrometers in size, similar to the width of a human hair—and suspected that the standard sampling methods using a net with pores about 333 micrometers in size, wouldn't give an accurate picture."</p>
<p>The researchers compared the efficacy of a 100 micrometer net to what's collected by a 333 micrometer net and a 500 micrometer net. They found that their net collected 2.5 times as much microplastics as the 333 micrometer mesh net. It collected 10 times more microplastic than a 500 micrometer net, according to the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749120310253" target="_blank">study</a>.</p><p>The scientists then extrapolated that data to determine that there are roughly 3,700 pieces of microplastic in one cubic meter. That means that previous global estimates of 5 to 50 trillion particles of microplastics are severely low. The true number, according to the data in the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749120310253" target="_blank">study</a>, is somewhere between 12.5 and 125 trillion particles.</p>
<p>"There is often a mismatch between the number and type of microplastics used in experimental studies and those found in the natural environment," said Rachel Coppock, Marine Ecologist at Plymouth Marine Laboratory and a co-author on the study, in a <a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-05-underestimating-microplastics-marine-environment.html" target="_blank">statement</a>. "This study confirms that microplastic concentration increases with decreasing size and also provides a framework for determining microplastic concentrations in exposure studies, particularly with animals such as zooplankton that eat micron-sized food."</p><p>The researchers focused on coastal water since that is where microplastics are likely to have the greatest impact on marine life. They sampled the water on both sides of the Atlantic, choosing a spot off the coast of Maine and another in the English Channel, according to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/microplastics-ocean-vastly-underestimated-125-trillion-particles-floating-around-1505404" target="_blank">Newsweek</a>.</p><p>"I was surprised at the extent that we had been underestimating the microplastic abundance in the marine environment; I was also surprised how consistent the results were on both sides of the North Atlantic, the eastern seaboard of the U.S. and the southwest coast of the UK," Lindeque told <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/microplastics-ocean-vastly-underestimated-125-trillion-particles-floating-around-1505404" target="_blank">Newsweek</a>.</p>
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Sandy reached its initial peak intensity as a Category 3 hurricane over Cuba on Oct. 25, 2012. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and NASA Center for Climate Simulation. NASA / GSFC / William Putman
The devastation caused by hurricanes in the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, North Carolina and Houston over the last few years is a direct effect of the climate crisis, which is making tropical storms stronger and wetter, according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as CNN reported.
<p>The study looked at nearly four decades of satellite data from storms around the world. The researchers noticed that the likelihood of a storm reaching Category 3 or above, with sustained winds above 110 miles per hour, increased every decade, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/18/weather/climate-change-hurricane-tropical-cyclone/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>.</p><p>"The change is about 8 percent per decade," James Kossin, author of the study, told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/weather" target="_blank">CNN</a>. "In other words, during its lifetime, a hurricane is 8 percent more likely to be a major hurricane in this decade compared to the last decade."</p>
<p>The ramifications of their findings, published Monday in the <em><a href="https://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1920849117" target="_blank">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,</a></em> are far-reaching for coastal communities, insurers and policymakers, as increasingly severe hurricanes will usher in more damage, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/05/18/hurricanes-stronger-climate-change/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported.</p><p>"Almost all of the damage and mortality caused by hurricanes is done by major hurricanes (category 3 to 5)," Kossin said, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/18/weather/climate-change-hurricane-tropical-cyclone/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported. "Increasing the likelihood of having a major hurricane will certainly increase this risk."</p>
<p>The research data aligns with predictions that scientists have made about the effects of a warming planet. Hurricanes and typhoons gain strength from warm ocean waters and water vapor in the air, among other factors, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/05/18/hurricanes-stronger-climate-change/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p><p>"Through modeling and our understanding of atmospheric physics, the study agrees with what we would expect to see in a warming climate like ours," James Kossin, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the paper's lead author, in a university <a href="https://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_158989047177211&key=ce074976249105acf14d8c9cf69bdcd1&libId=kadunymo01003n6p000DAbkjigd00&loc=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnet.com%2Fnews%2Fscientists-say-hurricanes-are-indeed-getting-stronger%2F&v=1&out=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eurekalert.org%2Fpub_releases%2F2020-05%2Fuow-ltd051420.php&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&title=Scientists%20say%20hurricanes%20are%20indeed%20getting%20stronger%20-%20CNET&txt=Kossin%20said%20in%20a%20release" target="_blank">statement</a>.</p>
<p>The researchers looked at satellite data from 1979 to 2017, so their research period ended before Hurricane Dorian, a Category 5 storm that leveled the Bahamas. While their research focused on wind force, other research has noted that increased water vapor from a warming planet has made hurricanes and typhoons wetter, as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-crisis-hurricanes-wetter-2639175731.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="_self">EcoWatch</a> reported.</p><p>"The trend is there and it is real," said Kossin, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/climate/climate-changes-hurricane-intensity.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported. "There's this remarkable building of this body of evidence that we're making these storms more deleterious."</p>
<p>Past research that had noticed the connection between global ocean temperatures and increasingly strong storms had not looked at such a long time period. The latest findings add another 11 years to the data set, which allows for statistically significant trends to become clear.</p><p>"The signals really start to emerge beyond the internal climate variability noise when you look at (approximately) 40 years of data as opposed to their earlier study which looked at (approximately) 25 years of data," Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach, who was not involved in this study, told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/18/weather/climate-change-hurricane-tropical-cyclone/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> in an email interview.</p><p>"It's a gratifying confirmation of what the field was concluding anyway for researchers … a much more robust indicator that now we're really seeing this in nature," said Kerry Emanuel, a hurricane expert at MIT, of the new study to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/05/18/hurricanes-stronger-climate-change/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p><p>The study found that trends toward stronger storms are clearest in the north Atlantic, southern Indian and eastern north Pacific oceans.</p>
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Avantium, a biochemical company in the Netherlands, is fundraising for a new project that will turn sustainably grown crops into a plant-based plastic. Avantium
While some are trying to clean up the plastic pollution in the oceans, and others are removing it from beaches, one company is looking to end the need for plastic bottles that last hundreds of years and are rarely recycled. A Dutch company is looking to fight the plastic crisis with a plant-based alternative that degrades in one year, as The Guardian reported.
<p>Avantium, a biochemical company in the Netherlands, is fundraising for a new project that will turn sustainably grown crops into a plant-based plastic. The technology has gained the attention of beer maker Carlsberg, beverage giant Coca-Cola and Danone. All three companies have signaled that they plant to use Avantium's technology in the future, according to <a href="https://www.ubergizmo.com/2020/05/plant-based-plastic-bottles-degrade-in-a-year/" target="_blank">Ubergizmo</a>.</p><p>Carlsberg, for example, hopes to sell its pilsner in a cardboard bottle lined with an inner layer of plant plastic, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/16/the-end-of-plastic-new-plant-based-bottles-will-degrade-in-a-year" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. Avantium posted a picture of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B3d1_qDAZyD/?utm_source=ig_embed" target="_blank">Carlsberg's paper bottle on Instagram</a>.</p>
<p>"It is a milestone in the development of high-value applications such as specialty bottles," said Marcel Lubben, Avantium's Managing Director, as <a href="https://www.ladbible.com/news/news-coca-cola-and-carlsberg-back-plant-based-bottles-project-20200518" target="_blank">LADbible</a> reported. "The Paper Bottle shows how we, together with partners, can use innovation to help shape packaging for a circular and sustainable future."</p><p>The move towards a plant-based plastic from a sustainable source would mark a major step forward for Coca-Cola, which has consistently ranked as the world's worst plastic polluter, according to the advocacy-group <a href="https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/2019/10/23/brand-audit-report-2019-press-release/" target="_blank">Break Free From Plastic</a>, as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coke-pepsi-plastic-polluters-2641090767.html" target="_self">EcoWatch</a> reported.</p>
<p>The millions of plastic products in the world are almost entirely derived from oils, which offer a complex arrangement of atoms that can be manipulated and rearranged to make plastics of varying strength, rigidity and opacity. They are cheap to produce, too, meaning it is often much more expensive to recycle them than it is to produce new ones. Of course, all that plastic made from oils takes hundreds of years to decompose, as <a href="https://cleantechnica.com/2020/05/17/plant-based-bottles-could-degrade-in-one-year/" target="_blank">CleanTechnica</a> reported.</p><p>Around 300 million tons of plastic is made from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuels</a> every year, which is a major contributor to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" target="_self">climate crisis</a>.</p>
<p>Beverage makers have been loath to leave behind profits, even if it means investing in a sustainable alternative to fossil fuel-derived plastic. That may change with Avantium's new technology. The company says it "has found ways to start with plant sugars and transform them into a plastic capable of standing up to carbonated beverages like soda and beer but which will also break down in as little as a year in a composter or three years if left exposed to the elements," as <a href="https://cleantechnica.com/2020/05/17/plant-based-bottles-could-degrade-in-one-year/" target="_blank">CleanTechnica</a> reported.</p><p>"This plastic has very attractive sustainability credentials because it uses no fossil fuels, and can be recycled – but would also degrade in nature much faster than normal plastics do," said Tom van Aken, Avantium's chief executive, to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/16/the-end-of-plastic-new-plant-based-bottles-will-degrade-in-a-year" target="_blank">The Guardian.</a></p>
<p>Van Aken told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/16/the-end-of-plastic-new-plant-based-bottles-will-degrade-in-a-year" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> that he hopes to have a major investment in the bioplastics plant by the end of 2020. The project, which has continued and remains on track despite the coronavirus lockdown, will reveal partnerships with other food and drink companies later in the summer. The hope is to have the product on store shelves by 2023.</p><p>The initial project will make about 5,000 tons of plastic every year using sugars from corn, wheat or beets. It will assess how customers respond to the new bottles. Then, Avantium expects its production and scale to grow considerably as demand for the sustainable plastics increases, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/16/the-end-of-plastic-new-plant-based-bottles-will-degrade-in-a-year" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p>
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An unstable slope above Barry Glacier in Barry Arm, Alaska, could trigger a landslide and major tsunami. Christian Zimmerman / USGS
As the climate crisis takes hold, the effects are noticed most conspicuously at the extremes like the poles and the desert, where the harsh environments are drastically altered by a changing climate.
<p>The latest evidence is from a melting <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/glaciers">glacier</a> in <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/alaska" target="_self">Alaska</a> that may trigger a landslide that catalyzes a major tsunami, scientists warned on Thursday, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/climate/alaska-landslide-tsunami.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.<br></p><p>A <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6890609-5-14-20-Barry-Arm-Landslide-Working-Group-Letter.html" target="_blank">public letter</a> signed by several scientists warns it's possible that the landslide and tsunami could happen "within the next year, and likely within 20 years," and detailed potentially devastating effects.</p>
<p>The scientists warn that an unstable, mile-long slope that sits above Prince William Sound, about 60 miles east of Anchorage, is supported only by a glacier in retreat. Warming temperatures have caused the ice to melt, leaving only one-third of the slope supported by ice. That means an earthquake, a heat wave, or prolonged heavy rain could trigger a landslide, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/climate/alaska-landslide-tsunami.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p><p>If the slope above Barry Glacier crumbled, it could impact tourism, fishing and hunting, according to the letter. It could also lead to 30-foot waves that reach the town of Whittier, 28 miles away across Prince William Sound, according to the <a href="https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/science/2020/05/14/scientists-warn-about-risk-of-massive-tsunami-in-prince-william-sound-potentially-within-the-next-year/" target="_blank">Anchorage Daily News</a>.</p>
<p>The glacier's retreat "could release millions of tons of rock into the Harriman Fiord, triggering a tsunami at least as large as some of the largest in the state's recorded history," according to a <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6890608-5-14-20-Potential-Landslide-Threatens-Large.html" target="_blank">statement</a> from the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, as the <a href="https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/science/2020/05/14/scientists-warn-about-risk-of-massive-tsunami-in-prince-william-sound-potentially-within-the-next-year/" target="_blank">Anchorage Daily News</a> reported.</p><p>The Alaska Department of Natural Resources and the state Department of Fish and Game responded to the warning from the scientists by issuing a warning that "strongly recommend people avoid all the identified danger zones until the hazards can be adequately understood and characterized," according to the <a href="https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/science/2020/05/14/scientists-warn-about-risk-of-massive-tsunami-in-prince-william-sound-potentially-within-the-next-year/" target="_blank">Anchorage Daily News</a>.</p><p>"As a hazard, it's really worrisome," said researcher, Hig Higman, who studies geological hazards and runs an organization called Ground Truth based in Seldovia, Alaska, to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/climate/alaska-landslide-tsunami.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>
<p>The tsunami models produced by Patrick Lynett at the University of Southern California show a tsunami reaching hundreds of feet in elevation, with the ability to reach Whittier within 20 minutes. Other cities on the Prince William Sound, like Valdez and Cordova, could also see less destructive waves that may damage harbors and docks and threaten people in those areas, according to <a href="https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Potential-landslide-triggered-tsunami-threatens-Prince-William-Sound-570489061.html" target="_blank">KTUU</a>, Anchorage's NBC News affiliate.</p><p>The computer model shows that a collapse of the entire slope—roughly estimated to be 500 million cubic meters of rock and dirt, or several hundred times the volume of the Hoover Dam—may trigger a tsunami that starts out at several hundred feet high, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/climate/alaska-landslide-tsunami.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>
<p>Since the slope has been moving for decades, the researchers estimated that the landslide is possible within a year and almost certain to happen within the next two decades. "It could happen anytime, but the risk just goes way up as this glacier recedes," said Anna Liljedahl, an Alaska-based hydrologist with the <a href="https://whrc.org/" target="_blank" title="">Woods Hole Research Center</a> in Massachusetts, who was part of the team, to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/climate/alaska-landslide-tsunami.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p><p>While the research has not yet been peer-reviewed, Liljedahl said the researchers wanted to get the information out to inform the public of a looming threat.</p><p>"We wanted to let the public know that there is a chance that this landslide might fail catastrophically," Liljedahl said, as the <a href="https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/science/2020/05/14/scientists-warn-about-risk-of-massive-tsunami-in-prince-william-sound-potentially-within-the-next-year/" target="_blank">Anchorage Daily News</a> reported. "There's also a chance that it might not."</p>
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Once carbon dioxide concentrations became low enough (around 300 parts per million) between two and three million years ago, the current ice age cycle began. sodar99 / Getty Images
By James Renwick
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.
If you have a question you'd like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz
Earth had several periods of high carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and high temperatures over the last several million years. Can you explain what caused these periods, given that there was no burning of fossil fuels or other sources of human created carbon dioxide release during those times?
Burning fossil fuels or vegetation is one way to put carbon dioxide into the air – and it is something we have become very good at. Humans are generating nearly 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year, mostly by burning fossil fuels.
<p>Carbon dioxide stays in the air <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/CarbonCycle/page5.php" target="_blank">for centuries to millennia</a> and it builds up over time. Since we began the systematic use of coal and oil for fuel, around 300 years ago, the amount of carbon dioxide in the air has gone up by almost half.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzI4MTk4NC9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNzUxNDc5NH0.GxG5zlOmzrFahpUrC6MNCzaw70WWCEHhcH2XF8A-17M/img.gif?width=980" id="fbe04" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8a3d03f2b40ceab9b18c3ef63a5774cf" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>Apart from the emissions we add, carbon dioxide concentrations in the air go up and down as part of the natural <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/CarbonCycle" target="_blank">carbon cycle</a>, driven by exchanges between the air, the oceans and the biosphere (life on earth), and ultimately by geological processes.</p>
Natural Changes in Carbon Dioxide
<p>Every year, carbon dioxide concentrations rise and fall a little as plants grow in spring and summer and die off in the autumn and winter. The timing of this <a href="https://niwa.co.nz/atmosphere/our-data/trace-gas-plots/carbon-dioxide" target="_blank">seasonal rise and fall</a> is tied to northern hemisphere seasons, as most of the land surface on Earth is there.</p><p>The oceans also play an active role in the carbon cycle, contributing to variations over a few months to slow shifts over centuries. Ocean water takes up carbon dioxide directly in an exchange <a href="https://sos.noaa.gov/datasets/ocean-atmosphere-co2-exchange/" target="_blank">between the air and seawater</a>. Tiny marine plants use carbon dioxide for photosynthesis and many microscopic marine organisms use carbon compounds to make shells. When these marine micro-organisms die and sink to the seafloor, they take the carbon with them.</p><p>Collectively, the biosphere (ecosystems on land and in soils) and the oceans are absorbing about <a href="https://worldoceanreview.com/en/wor-1/ocean-chemistry/co2-reservoir/" target="_blank">half of all human-emitted carbon dioxide</a>, and this slows the rate of climate change. But as the climate continues to change and the oceans warm up further, it is not clear whether the biosphere and oceans will continue absorbing such a large fraction of our emissions. As water warms, it is less able to absorb carbon dioxide, and as the climate changes, many ecosystems become stressed and are less able to photosynthesise carbon dioxide.</p>Earth’s Deep Climate History
<p>On time scales of hundreds of thousands to millions of years, carbon dioxide concentrations in the air have varied hugely, and so has global climate.</p><p>This <a href="https://www.skepticalscience.com/weathering.html" target="_blank">long-term carbon cycle</a> involves the formation and decay of the Earth's surface itself: tectonic plate activity, the build-up and weathering of mountain chains, prolonged volcanic activity, and the emergence of new seafloor at active mid-ocean faults.</p><p>Most of the carbon stored in the Earth's crust is in the form of limestone, created from the carbon-based shells of marine organisms that sank to the ocean floor millions of year ago.</p><p>Carbon dioxide is added to the air when volcanoes erupt, and it is taken out of the air as rocks and mountain ranges weather and wear down. These processes typically take millions of years to add or subtract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.</p><p>In the present day, volcanoes add only a little carbon dioxide to the air, around <a href="https://www.skepticalscience.com/volcanoes-and-global-warming.htm" target="_blank">1% of what human activity is currently contributing</a>. But there have been times in the past where volcanic activity has been vastly greater and has spewed large amounts of carbon dioxide into the air.</p><p>An example is around 250 million years ago, when prolonged volcanic activity raised atmospheric carbon dioxide levels dramatically. These were volcanic eruptions on a vast scale - lasting for around two million years and <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171002105227.htm" target="_blank">causing a mass extinction</a>.</p><p>In the more recent geological past, the past 50 million years, carbon dioxide levels have been gradually dropping overall and the climate has been cooling, with some ups and downs. Once carbon dioxide concentrations became low enough (around 300 parts per million) between two and three million years ago, the current ice age cycle began, but the warming our emissions are causing is larger than the natural cooling trend.</p><p>While Earth's climate has changed significantly in the past, it happened on geological time scales. The carbon in the oil and coal we burn represents carbon dioxide taken up by vegetation hundreds of millions of years ago and then deposited through geological processes over millennia. We have burned a significant proportion within a few centuries.</p><p>If human emissions of carbon dioxide continue to increase through this century, we could reach levels <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-the-world-passed-a-carbon-threshold-400ppm-and-why-it-matters" target="_blank">not seen for tens of millions of years</a>, when Earth had a much warmer climate with much higher sea levels and no ice sheets. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/james-renwick-460484" target="_blank"><em style="">James Renwick</em></a><em> is a </em><em>Professor, Physical Geography (climate science) at Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington.</em></p><p><em></em><em>Disclosure statement: </em><em>James Renwick receives funding from the NZ Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment. He is affiliated with the NZ Climate Change Commission.</em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-explained-what-caused-major-climate-change-in-the-past-137874" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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NASA ScienceCasts: Keeping an Eye on Earth
For much of human history, it's been hard for scientists to learn about remote areas of the Earth that they cannot observe directly.
<iframe style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/13968419/height/45/theme/standard/thumbnail/yes/direction/backward/" height="45" width="100%" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>Jack Kaye is associate director for research in NASA's Earth Science Division.</p><p>"It's very hard to know what's going on out in the middle of the ocean or on polar ice sheets or in tropical forests or boreal forests," he says.</p><p>But modern technology has changed that. NASA now operates a fleet of satellites that orbit the Earth. They make it possible to see the whole planet and observe how it's changing as the climate warms.</p><p>Satellites can help measure ocean temperatures, sea levels, and forest cover on a global scale and monitor changes over time.</p>
<p>"We can see the way that we are changing the surface of our planet," Kaye says. "We can look at things like the changing of the mass of the ice sheets in Greenland and tell people, 'We're really seeing this, we know what's going on.'"</p><p>Kaye says along with rigorous data, satellites provide images that help people realize what's at stake as the climate warms.</p><p>"You can see the Earth sort of suspended in the darkness of space, and the imagery I think gives us a clear sense of this is our planet, this is where we live, and we have to manage it," he says.</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/05/how-nasa-satellites-help-scientists-understand-climate-change/" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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The beach of Mimiza in France where researchers measured microplastics on the sea breeze. NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP via Getty Images
Around eight million metric tons of plastic are dumped into the world's oceans every year, but researchers still don't know where it all ends up.
<p>Last month, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/microplastics-in-ocean-2645891531.html" target="_self">researchers discovered</a> surprisingly high concentrations of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/microplastics" target="_self">microplastics</a> on the seafloor. And now, a paper published in <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0232746&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+plosone%2FPLoSONE+%28PLOS+ONE+-+New+Articles%29" target="_blank">PLOS ONE Tuesday</a> finds the ocean is spitting some of them back in our faces in the form of the sea breeze.</p><p>"We keep putting millions of tonnes of plastic into the ocean every year," study co-leader and University of Strathclyde Ph.D. candidate Steve Allen told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/12/microplastics-discovered-blowing-ashore-in-sea-breezes" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. "This research shows that it is not going to stay there forever. The ocean is giving it back to us."</p>
<p>The study is the first to show microplastics being released into the atmosphere by the ocean itself. The researchers found up to 19 microplastic pieces per cubic meter of air along the Bay of Biscay in France, <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/sea-breeze-microplastic/" target="_blank">Wired reported</a>. They also demonstrated in a lab how the popping of bubbles could fling microplastics into the air.</p><p>Microplastics are just the latest addition to the messy bursting of ocean bubbles, the researchers explained.</p><p>"That bubble actually acts as like a sponge for tiny particles like sea salt, viruses, bacteria, and—potentially—plastics, as it comes up through the water column," University of Strathclyde microplastic researcher and co-study leader Deonie Allen told Wired. "So the outside of that bubble is now sort of coated in particles."</p><p>When the bubble pops, those particles shoot into the air.</p>
<p>All this means you may have to reassess your idea of a sea breeze. The researchers estimated the ocean spray ejects 136,000 tons of microplastics every year.</p><p>"Sea breeze has traditionally been considered 'clean air' but this study shows surprising amounts of microplastic particles being carried by it," Steve Allen told The Guardian. "It appears that some plastic particles could be leaving the sea and entering the atmosphere along with sea salt, bacteria, viruses and algae."</p>
<p>The research challenges a wide consensus about what happens to plastics once they reach the ocean.</p><p>"Current plastic pollutant research has generally assumed that once plastics enter the ocean they are there to stay, retained permanently within the ocean currents, biota or sediment until eventual deposition on the sea floor or become washed up onto the beach," the researchers wrote.</p><p>But this hypothesis doesn't explain the "missing" plastic, Deonie Allen told The Guardian. She said the amount of plastic on the seafloor was actually less than would be expected given all the plastic that enters the oceans.</p><p>If plastic is moving from the ocean to the air, this could have implications for the climate, Wired explained.</p>
<p>Particulate matter from the sea can "seed" clouds, or gather enough moisture to form a fluffy white cloud. If microplastics can do this also, that could lead to whiter clouds that reflect more of the sun's heat.</p><p>"So that'll have a positive effect for us for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate change</a>," Steve Allen told Wired.</p><p>But there's a catch.</p><p>"It'll gather the moisture that's in the air, and not produce rain," he said. "That rain can move somewhere else. So we would get rain somewhere it doesn't belong, and we don't get rain where we need it."</p>
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