Category Environment

This February, Antarctica witnessed its hottest temperature on record, resulting in widespread melting of nearby glaciers. During the period, images showed drastic changes in just nine days. Then came the news that Antarctica’s colossal Thwaites Glacier is melting fast. If the glacier were to collapse, it could lead to an increase in sea levels by around 64 cm. In mere two days, the Milne ice shelf lost over 40% of its ice over in July. And then, that ice shelf – the last intact one in the Canadian Arctic – collapsed into the Arctic Ocean. The month following this, residents of Italy’s Aosta valley were told to evacuate, fearing that a huge portion of the Mont Blanc glacier could collapse. The same month also brought in the worst news so far. A study – of nearly 40 years of satellite data – published in the journal “nature Communication Earth and Environment” said that Greenland’s glaciers have passed a tipping point of sorts. It means that glaciers on the islands have shrunk so much that even if global warming were to stop today, the ice sheet would continue shrinking. The study said “the snowfall that replenishes the ice sheet each year cannot keep up with the ice that is flowing into the ocean from glaciers”. The melting of several glaciers globally has raised concerns on further sea-level increase. Throughout history, sea level have increased and decreased substantially. But the recent rise has crossed the average rate of the last few thousand years, and is increasing sharply and swiftly. If this tends to continue, it could lead to dramatic changes in coastlines the world over, caution experts.

Even as scientists and environmentalists the world over fret over melting glaciers, a new study in August appears to offer some solace. The study by Northumbria University, published in “Nature Geoscience”, revealed that the blanket of rock debris offers glaciers more protection from climate change than previously known. The expanse of rock debris on glaciers, a factor ignored in models of glacier melts and sea-level rise, could be significant, the study added.

 

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After raging on for several months since the previous year, one of the worst Australian bushfires seasons and wildlife disasters came to an end in March 2020. The season was far worse than any prediction, and according to the BBC, “burned an area of land the size of South Korea”, killing or harming almost three billion animals. The wildfire events for the year did not end there – they have raged on in several regions of the world, destroying different kinds of ecosystems, ranging from tundra to rainforests. The Brazilian Amazon has lost large swathes of rainforests. In just the fire seven months of 2020, more than 13,000 sq.km. burned. The story is the same in the Pantanal wetland region of South America – by September, “fires had charred an estimated 24,000 square kilometers”. The tundra ecosystem of the Arctic region wasn’t spared either – in July and August, “abnormally warm temperatures spawned an intense fire season in eastern Siberia”, according to NASA. When the season waned, it had emitted 244 megatonnes of carbon dioxide. But the worst of all was yet to come – wildfires in the U.S. Even as the eastern part has been pounded by rains, the West has been battling a series of wildfires. By September, across 12 American States, as many as 100 large wildfires have burned 4.6 million acres. These include timber-dominated ecosystems. India too suffered its share of woes hen in May, forest fires in Uttarakhand left nearly 175 acres of land – part of forest ecosystems – destroyed. And today, we’re back to staring at Australia’s bushfire season. Experts say wildfires are a natural part of many ecosystems. But “the scale, intensity, speed, location, and timing of the recent infernos stand out”, perhaps warranting a closer study of global warming.

As wildfires continued to rage in Australia early this year, New South Wales (NSW) officials air-dropped more than 1,500 kg of sweet potatoes and carrots. These were for the endangered brush-tailed rock-wallabies. It is said that this was the largest such food drop ever done in NSW. The move was also important because most of the 15 species of wallabies are endangered. Sharing on social media an image of a wallaby nibbling on a carrot, an Australian minister called the marsupial “One happy customer.”

 

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In the last few months, the new draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) 2020 proposed by the Centre has been drawing a lot of attention. EIA comes under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and ensures projects, including industrial and infrastructural, are duly given or denied environmental clearance based on expert assessment. The first EIA norms were notified in 1994, and they were replaced with a modified version in 2006. The current government says it has redrafted this version to make the EIA “process more transparent and expedient”. However, the new draft has caused outrage among the media, activists, environmentalists and the public, and has raised the concerns of even the United Nations for various reasons. Among them are post facto clearance (projects can come up without environmental clearance); the exemption of several large industries and projects from public consultation; shortening the period of public consultation hearings; increasing validity of the clearances for mining projects and river valley projects. The draft is seen as giving more power to the government while diluting public involvement in protecting the environment. However, Prakash Javadekar, the Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, has said that valid suggestions and objections raised on the draft EIA Notification 2020 will be considered on merit before finalising it. He also said “public consultations were still underway and suggestions can be sent up to 120 days from the date of publication of the draft”. He said it was wrong to assume that “ex-post facto environmental clearance will be given to the cases involving violation”. Similarly, the draft does not talk about diluting the process of public hearing, “instead it is stressing on making it more meaningful”, he said.

This May, gas leaked from a polymer plant in Vishakhapatnam, killing about a dozen people. It was discovered that the plant had been functioning for more than 20 years without clearances. The National Green Tribunal, the country’s top environmental court, has sought a high-level probe into the incident. The same month, due to lack of proper adherence to environment norms, the natural gas of an oil company in Assam had a blowout and caught fire. The oil field borders the Dibru Saikhowa National Park, putting “all life forms in the vicinity at risk”.

 

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The COVID-19 pandemic is easily the most defining aspect of 2020, altering lives and reshaping livelihoods globally. However, one of the few positive chapters in the COVID story is how the pandemic-induced lockdown showed us an improving environment the world over. According to a study published recently, as all types of “social, economic, industrial and urbanization activity suddenly shut off”, improvement in the quality of air, cleaner rivers, less noise pollution and undisturbed wildlife became evident. For instance, water from the Ganges at Haridwar and Rishikesh saw a “500% decrease in sewage and industrial effluents” after lockdown. Also, an IFS officer shared on social media that the Himalayas’ Dhauladhar mountain range in Himachal Pradesh – 200 km away – was seen after 30 years, from Jalandhar (Punjab) “after pollution drops to the lowest level in 30 years”. According to the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service of the European Union, a drop of approximately 20 to 30% of PM (particulate matter) 2.5 was observed in large parts of China in February. Meanwhile, there were many instances of animals and birds freely taking over space occupied hitherto by humans and human activity – think nilgai on Indian roads! And happily, with fever noisy vehicles on the road, sonorous bird calls became a lot more audible. But, this does not mean we can be complacent. The lockdown was only a pointer to how wonderfully our planet responds when we treat it gently.

The lockdown saw a spike not just in good air quality but also in rumours and “wild” imagination! Amidst (false) news of dolphins swimming merrily in Venetian canals, information about a critically endangered Malabar civet spotted in India for the first time since the 1990s was widely shared on social media. However, the creature sauntering on a Kerala road junction turned out to be its cousin, the small Indian civet – neither rare nor as endangered!

 

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News about the wildfires in San Francisco, U.S. dominated headlines in the first weeks of September 2020. The fires were raging, and the damage that went along with it was huge. And then, one morning, residents of the famed San Francisco Bay Area woke up to skies that were orange and red.

Not apocalypse

While those on social media quickly snapped pictures and captioned them in many ways, U.S.’ National Weather Service (NWS) and NASA tried to reassure people that apocalypse hadn’t arrived. And how did they do this? By explaining the science behind the phenomenon of course.

It was pretty clear to almost everyone that the skies’ strange hues were the result of the wildfire. What wasn’t well-known, however, was how exactly this was happening.

NWS went about their explanation by tweeting a picture of a satellite image that showed a thick layer of smoke above California. This smoke was filtering the energy coming from the sun. as a result, the temperatures were much cooler and the dark and dreary skies were the product of the skies shifting towards the red end of the spectrum.

Smoke blocks shorter wavelengths

NASA helped by going into more detail. They added that smoke particles block sunlight’s shorter wavelength colours – yellow, blue and green. They do, however, allow the longer wavelengths to pass through. As red and orange have longer wavelengths, they pass through the smoke and the skies therefore appear in these colours.

 

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The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over. While healthcare workers, governments and people continue to fight the coronavirus, a new environmental problem has emerged and has been crying for attention – pandemic-related pollution, especially those concerning medical and plastic waste. The increased use of masks, gloves and PPE (Personal protective equipment) during the pandemic has resulted in them making their way into oceans and landfills. According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), around 75% of the used masks and other waste will end up in landfills, or seas. One study estimates that in the U.K. alone, if every person used a single-use face mask a day for a year, it would create an additional 66,000 tonnes of contaminated waste.

Plastic everywhere

The PPE includes respirators, masks, face shields, goggles, gowns, coveralls, and more. These are made of plastic and are mostly used only once before disposal. Such items take up to 500 years to degrade in the ocean. Similarly, gloves, commonly made from cheap and durable plastic such as polyvinyl chloride, take longer to degrade.

Cause for concern

The UNEP has warned the governments about the potential consequences of such waste. Open dumping of used masks, PPE and gloves, and their burning can not only lead to the release of toxins in the environment, but also to secondary transmission of diseases.

Environmentalists are urging governments to treat the medical and hazardous waste effectively. They insist on educating the public on the safe disposal of waste.

Innovation is key

Meanwhile, many plastic-free or reusable alternatives are being suggested worldwide to tackle the issue. A decontamination system that could instantly treat large quantities of PPE, masks and respirators, use of UV light to decontaminate used items and biodegradable gloves and face visors are being mooted.

 

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Chocolate aficionados will perhaps say chocolate is the most endearing invention by humans. We eat it when we are happy and when we are sad; when we celebrate something and when we want to cheer ourselves up. Basically, we don’t need a reason to bite into this delight.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that it is the most popular sweet treats in the world. The global consumption is estimated to be at least 7.2 million metric tonnes every year.

But here comes the bitter truth – chocolates will soon become rare and expensive.

Chocolate production is threatened by climate change. Cacao trees, from which chocolates are produced, require certain conditions to grow, but with the changing climate, these conditions are no longer available.

How are chocolates produced?

Chocolate comes from fruits called pods that grow on cacao trees. Its seeds, cacao beans, are the main ingredient in chocolate. They are used to make chocolate paste, cocoa powder, cocoa butter and so on. These cacao trees grow only in the warm, humid regions near the Equator, largely in areas designated as rainforests. These places include parts of South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Cacao seeds are harvested by hand and placed in large fermentation trays. Fermentation, which takes two to seven days, gives the beans the chocolate flavour and aroma. The beans are then dried under the sun and are taken to chocolate factories, where they are cleaned and roasted in rotating ovens. This process removes the seeds’ coating, giving us the remaining part – the nib. The nib is then made into a paste called chocolate liquor, which is then used with other ingredients such as cacao butter, milk and sugar to make chocolates.

The story of chocolates

• Chocolate’s history goes back to 450 BC, when the Aztecs and the Mayans (ancient people of central Mexico) used cacao beans to concoct a drink called xocoatl. It was quite bitter and frothy, and was often mixed with chilli. The Mayans and the Aztecs believed that chocolate was a gift from the gods. (So, do we!)
• This chocolate drink was brought to Europe during the 16th Century when the Spanish started colonising South America.
• A powdered form of chocolate was prepared after ‘cocoa press’ was invented in 1828. Then people started adding milk mass-produced. The hitherto drink of the elite became available for others.
• British chocolate J.S. Fry and Sons introduced the chocolate bar in 1847. In the late 1800s, Milton S. Hershey began selling chocolate-coated caramels in the U.S. He then developed his own formula for milk chocolate. In 1923, the Mars Co. developed the Milky Way bar by putting nougat (made with sugar, honey and nuts) inside a chocolate bar.
• As the years progressed, chocolate lent itself to innovation. It took different forms, depending on the ingredients, the percentage of cocoa, source of the beans and production method.

Types of chocolate

Dark, milk and white are the three main varieties of chocolates. While dark chocolate has chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, sugar and vanilla, milk chocolate has milk additives. White chocolate is milk chocolate without the chocolate liquor. (Since there is no cacao involved in the production of white chocolate, some argue that it is not chocolate at all.) Dark chocolates are believed to have a number of health benefits. They are good for heart and brain. And are often associated with positive effects on mood. But too much chocolate can be unhealthy because it contains high levels of sugar and fat which can make people put on weight. It can also cause tooth cavity among other issues.

Impending chocapocalypse

• Cacao trees require steady temperatures, high humidity, lots of rain, nitrogen-rich soil, and protection from wind to thrive. Regions where cacao grows best often have high humidity levels – 100% during the day and 70-80% at night.
• But with climate change, these conditions are changing. For cacao plants, the change in humidity is a major issue. As the globe heats up, the stages of the water cycle become erratic – floods and droughts become more prevalent and extreme. In tropical environments, rising temperatures lead to increased evaporation rates and decreased humidity, causing cacao crops to suffer.
• Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana (both in Africa), and Indonesia are the leading cacao-producing countries. But researchers show that these countries will experience a 2.1 degree Celsius increase in temperature by 2050. This will in turn affect rainfall and humidity. As a result, viable land for cacao production will significantly shrink.
• This has prompted experts to predict that chocolate productions will take a big hit. While chocolate will not go away completely off the shelves, it will become rare and expensive. The market may shift from cheaper, more accessible chocolates to more luxurious ones. That is, in the coming years, we may have to shell out more for chocolates.

Did you know?

• Chocolate production can also harm the environment. Farmers often clear forests to make room for cacao plantations. About 70% of illegal deforestation in Cote d’Ivoire is related to cacao farming.
• Cacao plants consume a lot of water. According to National Geographic, it takes 1,700 litres of water to make a 100-gm chocolate bar. That’s about 10 bathtubs of water for one bar of chocolate.

 

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Particulate matter (PM) is a mixture of minute solid and liquid particles suspended in air, which contributes to pollution. PM consists of a variety of components such as dust, pollen, soot, smoke, metal, and liquid droplets. These particles are everywhere – indoors and outdoors – in your home, school, on the road and in parks.

Categorisation

Particulate matter varies greatly in composition and size, ranging from a few nanometres to a few micrometres. These can only the detected using an electron microscope. However, some particles are large enough to be seen with the naked eye. The small particles are categorised as:

1. PM10 – those with a diameter of 10 micrometres or less.
2. PM2.5 – those with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or less.

The diameter of a single strand of human hair would be 30 times larger than a PM2.5 particle.

Sources

Particulate matter originates from a range of human activities. They include industrial facilities, power plants, vehicles. Incinerators, dust and fires. Some come directly from a source such as construction sites, while others form in the atmosphere as a result of complex reactions between chemical pollutants emitted by power plants, industries and automobiles. The particles can travel in any direction that the wind takes them.

Harmful effects

Their ability to penetrate deep into the lungs, blood stream and the brain makes them the most harmful form of air pollution. These can lead to health problems, including heart attacks, respiratory disease, and premature death. The World Health Organisation has designated airborne particulates as carcinogens (cancer-causing).

Airborne particles can also contribute to global warming, climate change and acid rains. They can change or deplete nutrients in soil and contaminate waterways. They can damage cultural icons such as monuments and statues.

 

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A heatwave is a period of prolonged abnormally high surface temperatures relative to those normally expected. Classifying a heatwave varies from country to country. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) defines heatwaves as fire or more consecutive days during which the daily maximum temperature surpasses the average maximum temperature by 5  or more.

• California’s climate: Wildfires are a natural part of its landscape. California has two distinct fire seasons – one that runs from June through September and another from October through April. While the first one is driven by a combination of warmer and drier weather, the second one is driven by dry winds such as the Santa Ana and Diablo, which make wildfires spread rapidly and cover large areas.
• Longer fire season: In the recent past, the fire season in California has been starting earlier and ending later. The length of the season is estimated to have increased by 75 days.
• Beetle infestation: Prolonged drought conditions leave behind a landscape of dead trees, which lead to infestation by bark-eating pets such as the mountain pine beetle. Outbreaks of pests weaken and kill trees. Beetle-killed trees are at a higher risk of fire.
• Warmer weather: Heatwave is a major contributor to forest fires in California. Did you know the Death Valley recorded  sweltering 130 degrees Fahrenheit last month? It was the hottest temperature recorded in the world since 1913.

What is the link between climate change and forest fires?

• Climate change has created conditions conductive to forest fires. Long summer, drought, and dry air and vegetation make forests more susceptible to severe wildfire.
• Climate change has led to frequent heatwaves across the globe. Hotter temperatures, again, mean parched land.
• Climate change has also lengthened the fire season in many parts of the world.

 

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Californian forests are up in flames again. Over 600 wildfires have burned down more than 1.25 million acres in Northern and Central California since August 15. The massive fires were set off by a lightning siege of over 12,000 strikes. High temperatures and strong winds have made the situation even worse. Wildfires have also been raging in Argentina’s Cordoba province and Parana Delta since July. Fueled by strong, dry winds and severe drought, the fires have destroyed at least 35,400 acres of forest in the Parana Delta, an important wetland ecosystem. What are the factors that fuel fire in a forest? Does climate have a role to play?

What is a wildfire?

An uncontrolled fire is an area of combustible vegetation which spreads quickly, wiping out large areas of land is called a wildfire. A wildfire can also be termed a forest fire, a grass fire, a peat fire or a bush fire depending on the type of vegetation present in the area.

What causes wildfires?

Wildfires are common in Australia, Southeast Asia, southern Africa, Western Cape of South Africa, the forested areas of the United States and Canada, and the Mediterranean Basin.

During summer, when there is no rain for months, the forests became littered with dry leaves and twigs, which could be ignited by the slightest spark.

Natural causes: Lightning is the most common cause of wildfire. There are three conditions for a forest fire to spread – fuel, oxygen and a heat source. In the forest, anything that is flammable is a fuel. This includes tall, dry grass, bushes and trees. High temperature, drought and dry vegetation are a perfect combination for igniting a forest fire.

Man-made disaster: Human neglect such as downed powerliness, sparks from tools or forest machinery, abandoned campfires and discarded cigarette butts can spark fires. People also tend to clear forests by setting them on fire to pave way for cultivation. Sometimes they set fire to scare away wild animals.

How is forest fire put out?

Traditional extinguishing methods include water dousing and spraying of fire retardants from aircraft. To limit the spread of a fire, firefighters remove ground litter and bush.

 

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