- Ten animals we have saved from extinction
Author: Tammana Begum
Source: Natural History Museum
Despite people are evolving towards more advanced and scientific world, more and more animals and birds across the world are in the verge of extinction. While these animals are trying hard to survive, many committed organizations and people are helping them to thrive. For example, Peregrine falcon, large birds of prey, known for their speed were about to vanish from the planet. This was due to hunting, loss of habitat and use of pesticides. However, their population stad increasing after DDT was banned in the US in 1972. Similarly, one of the smallest toads in the world, Mallorcan midwife toad were also in the verge of extinction. But now it is the only amphibian species to have its conservation status downgraded by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) from critically endangered to vulnerable. Likewise, there are many animals such as sea otter, fen orchid, blue whale and rodrigues fruit bat that are successfully saved by people from extinction.
Link to the article: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/ten-animals-we-have-saved-from-extinction.html
- Greta Thunberg accuses world leaders of being in denial over climate crisis
Author: Nadeem Badshah
Source: The Guardian
Known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change, Greta Thunberg is a Swedish environmental activist who began activism on climate change at the age of 15. She held up a sign reading Skolstrejk för klimatet (School strike for climate), outside the Swedish Parliament to call for stronger action on climate change spending her school days. Recently, she has accused countries like U.K, U.S.A and China of being in denial about the severity of the climate and ecological catastrophe and of employing "creative carbon accounting" to boost their environmental credentials. Likewise, she also believes that there are no climate leaders at least not among developed nations. She has talked about how China, the world's largest CO2 emitter is determined to be an environmental "trailblazer" dedicated to leaving "a clean and beautiful Earth to future generations while planning to add 43 new coal power plants to the 1,000 already in service.
Link to the article: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/21/greta-thunberg-accuses-world-leaders-of-being-in-denial-over-climate-crisis
- The world is banking on giant carbon-sucking fans to clean our climate mess. It's a big risk.
Author: Ivana Kottasová
Source: CNN
Crazy as it sounds, scientists are using giant carbon-dioxide sucking fans to help tackle climate change. As part of a climate engineering attempt to cool the world, scientists are ‘vacuuming’ carbon dioxide from the air with gigantic fans and preparing to release chemicals from a balloon to reduce the sun's rays. It is named as Orca plant and is located in Iceland. The aim of Orca is to help the world reach net zero emissions. It eliminates about 10 metric tons of CO2 per day for now. This is nearly equivalent to the amount of CO2 released by 800 cars in the United States per day. This also roughly equal to the amount of carbon that 500 plants could absorb in a year. According to Sandra Ósk Snæbjörnsdóttir, a geologist with the Icelandic company Carbfix, carbon capture and storage is not going to be the solution to climate change. However, this is one of the many solution people will need to adopt to tackle climate change.
Link for the article: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/20/world/carbon-capture-storage-climate-iceland-intl-cmd/index.html
- World Cup host Qatar sees climate-controlled stadiums as the future
Author: Eric Knecht
Source: Reuters
World Cup 2024 is scheduled to be held at Qatar. The tournament was moved to November and December to avoid Doha’s intense summer heat. However, they have developed an energy-efficient cooling system that allows it to use its open-air stadiums even when summer temperatures reach the high 40s. They will assess the environmental impact of stadiums based on the Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS), a performance-based green building certification system developed and used by the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Similarly, all the stadiums are designed and built following sustainable building standards in order to reduce the negative ecological impact. According to Nasser Al Khater, CEO for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Doha’s compact tournament will eliminate the need for domestic flights and a new metro system will further cut emissions.
Link for the article: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-soccer-worldcup-climate-idUSKBN1WB2X1
- Human activity is slowly killing the world’s rivers, study illustrates
Source: Down to Earth
Rivers are important elements of the earth as it is one of the prominent source of water for all living creatures in the world. However, due to human negligence, rivers are being polluted day by day. Activities such as agriculture, mining, and dam construction have all been identified as major drivers to this kind of environmental degradation. According to a study, both natural and human activity have altered the chemical composition of major rivers such as the Yangtze, Amazon, Mississippi, and Congo. Similarly, the concentration of total dissolved solids draining into oceans increased 68 percent, chloride 81 percent, sodium 86 percent and sulfate (142 per cent) fluxes in almost a decade, according to the report published in Nature Communications journal October 12, 2021. Therefore, it is high time to look into preventive measures for this kind of problem before any further devastating situation arises.
Link to the article: https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/environment/human-activity-is-slowly-killing-the-world-s-rivers-study-illustrates-79683