Biology
Breach
August 28, 2011, from EPOCA
Some calcifiers (mussels, gastropods and corals) protect their shell or skeleton from the corrosive effects of increasing ocean acidification. They can therefore resist some of the damaging effects of increasing ocean acidity generated by the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere through human activities. This resistance is diminished when organisms are exposed to extended period of elevated temperature (28.5 deg C). This is a result of an international study (1), co-led by Jean-Pierre Gattuso, research scientist at Laboratoire d'océanographie de Villefranche (CNRS/UPMC), published in the journal Nature Climate Change. These results suggest that the ongoing and future warming of the Mediterranean combined with the rise of its acidity will increase the frequency of mass-mortality events....
The tissues and organic layers covering the shells and skeletons play a major role to protect them from the corrosive action of high-acidity seawater. However, the areas of shells and skeletons that are not protected by tissues or organic layers are vulnerable and more prone to dissolution. The higher the acidity, the faster dissolution is. The scientists have shown that this capacity to resist is much lower when the organisms are subject to an extended period of elevated temperature (28.5°C). At this temperature, mortality is increasing with increasing acidity.
Some Mediterranean invertebrates already live at their upper limit of temperature tolerance and have already experienced mass-mortality events. The combined effect of warming and increased acidity will likely increase the frequency of these events in the future.
August 28, 2009, from SciDev.net
Nanoparticles have been blamed for two deaths at a Chinese factory, in a report that claims to be the first to document human disease caused by the particles.
The study -- published in the European Respiratory Journal — describes seven women who fell ill after working in a printing factory in China, two of whom later died. All had symptoms indicating that their immune systems could not remove foreign objects from their lungs and had large amounts of fluid in the lung linings.... Particles of around 30 nanometres in size were found in the women's lungs and also in the plastic paste and a broken ventilation shaft in the workroom.
"It is obvious the disease is not due to microparticles or vapours because the pulmonary epithelial cells are full of nanoparticles," says Yuguo Song, lead author and clinical toxicologist at the Beijing Chaoyang Hospital.
August 28, 2009, from NSF, via EurekAlert
Scientists have just completed an unprecedented journey into the vast and little-explored "Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch."
On the Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition (SEAPLEX), researchers got the first detailed view of plastic debris floating in a remote ocean region.... Team members began 24-hour sampling periods using a variety of tow nets to collect debris at several ocean depths.
"We targeted the highest plastic-containing areas so we could begin to understand the scope of the problem," said Miriam Goldstein of SIO, chief scientist of the expedition. "We also studied everything from phytoplankton to zooplankton to small midwater fish."... "Finding so much plastic there was shocking," said Goldstein. "How could there be this much plastic floating in a random patch of ocean--a thousand miles from land?"
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Climate
Chaos
August 28, 2014, from Climate Progress
One word in the latest draft report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) sums up why climate inaction is so uniquely immoral: "Irreversible."
The message from climate scientists about our ongoing failure to cut carbon pollution: The catastrophic changes in climate that we are voluntarily choosing to impose on our children and grandchildren -- and countless generations after them -- cannot plausibly be undone for hundreds of years or more.
Yes, we can still stop the worst -- with virtually no impact on growth, as an earlier IPCC report from April made clear -- but future generations will not be able reverse whatever we are too greedy and shortsighted to prevent through immediate action.
August 28, 2009, from Environmental Research Web
Subtle connections between the 11-year solar cycle, the stratosphere, and the tropical Pacific Ocean work in sync to generate periodic weather patterns that affect much of the globe, according to research appearing this week in the journal Science. The study can help scientists get an edge on eventually predicting the intensity of certain climate phenomena, such as the Indian monsoon and tropical Pacific rainfall, years in advance.... [I]f the total energy that reaches Earth from the Sun varies by only 0.1 percent across the approximately 11-year solar cycle, how can such a small variation drive major changes in weather patterns on Earth? ... The team first confirmed a theory that the slight increase in solar energy during the peak production of sunspots is absorbed by stratospheric ozone. The energy warms the air in the stratosphere over the tropics, where sunlight is most intense, while also stimulating the production of additional ozone there that absorbs even more solar energy. Since the stratosphere warms unevenly, with the most pronounced warming occurring at lower latitudes, stratospheric winds are altered and, through a chain of interconnected processes, end up strengthening tropical precipitation.
At the same time, the increased sunlight at solar maximum causes a slight warming of ocean surface waters across the subtropical Pacific, where Sun-blocking clouds are normally scarce. That small amount of extra heat leads to more evaporation, producing additional water vapor. In turn, the moisture is carried by trade winds to the normally rainy areas of the western tropical Pacific, fueling heavier rains and reinforcing the effects of the stratospheric mechanism.
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Resource
Depletion
August 28, 2012, from London Guardian
Leading water scientists have issued one of the sternest warnings yet about global food supplies, saying that the world's population may have to switch almost completely to a vegetarian diet over the next 40 years to avoid catastrophic shortages.
Humans derive about 20 percent of their protein from animal-based products now, but this may need to drop to just 5 percent to feed the extra 2 billion people expected to be alive by 2050, according to research by some of the world's leading water scientists.
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Recovery
August 28, 2014, from Earth Policy Institute
In 2013, world geothermal electricity-generating capacity grew 3 percent to top 11,700 megawatts across 24 countries. Although some other renewable energy technologies are seeing much faster growth -- wind power has expanded 21 percent per year since 2008, for example, while solar power has grown at a blistering 53 percent annual rate -- this was geothermal's best year since the 2007-08 financial crisis.
August 28, 2012, from Reuters
The world's largest retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc has joined an alliance of other Fortune 500 companies, including Cargill and Kellogg Co, seeking to make agriculture more sustainable.
The Field to Market alliance was started three years ago by the non-profit Keystone Center to improve agricultural productivity and reduce the use of natural resources. It includes farm groups, grain handlers and food makers but Wal-Mart is the first retailer in the group and now its largest member ... Wal-Mart is seeking to eliminate 20 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from its global supply chain by the end of 2015.
August 28, 2012, from Shanghai Daily
SHANGHAI will gradually limit and finally eliminate use of heavily polluting vehicles starting next month to reduce air contaminants.
The owners will get subsidies from the government...
The vehicles, mostly older models that do not meet national emission requirements, are easily identifiable by a yellow sticker on the window.
There are 230,000 such vehicles registered in Shanghai, about 12 percent of total vehicles with local plates, according to environmental protection authorities.
But they contribute more than half of all vehicle emissions, said officials. The vehicles usually emit five to 10 times more than others....
The city is expected to get rid of 200,000 high-pollution vehicles by the end of 2015.
August 28, 2012, from Wall Street Journal
The Obama administration today will make final new fuel efficiency standards for passenger cars, pickup trucks, and sport-utility vehicles, according to people briefed on the matter.
The people said the final rule will set an average fuel economy requirement of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 for each auto maker's fleet, the same level the administration initially proposed in November 2011.
August 28, 2012, from New Scientist, via Paul Smedberg
Nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC), which is produced by processing wood pulp, is being hailed as the latest wonder material. Japan-based Pioneer Electronics is applying it to the next generation of flexible electronic displays. IBM is using it to create components for computers. Even the US army is getting in on the act, using it to make lightweight body armour and ballistic glass....
So why all the fuss? Well, not only is NCC transparent but it is made from a tightly packed array of needle-like crystals which have a strength-to-weight ratio that is eight times better than stainless steel. Even better, it's incredibly cheap.
"It is the natural, renewable version of a carbon nanotube at a fraction of the price," says Jeff Youngblood of Purdue University's NanoForestry Institute in West Lafayette, Indiana....
"Anyone who makes a car or a plastic bag will want to get in on this," he says.
In addition, the human body can deal with cellulose safely, says Jones, so NCC is less dangerous to process than inorganic composites. "The worst thing that could happen is a paper cut," he says.
August 28, 2011, from ACS, via EurekAlert
Here are the National Meeting's sustainability-related symposia, with the program area in parentheses for use in searching the online Technical Program for times and locations of individual presentations:
* Future Agricultural Consumer Safety Demands for the Global Market (AGFD)
* Advances in Protection of Agricultural Productivity, Public Health, and the Environment (AGRO)
* Endangered Species Act and Pesticide Regulation: Scientific and Process Improvements (AGRO)
* Managed Ecosystems, Pesticides, and Biodiversity (AGRO)
* Modern Agriculture and Biotechnology: Tools for Sustainability (AGRO) *
* Sustainability and Innovation for a Cleaner Environment (BMGT) *
* Nitrogen and the Human Endeavor: Chemistry, Effects, and Solutions (CASW) *
* Green and Advanced Technologies: Protection and Regulation (CHAL) *
* Creating Innovation by Collaboration in Green Chemistry Between Industry University Centers and Students (CHED) *
* Greening Undergraduate Education: Lecture and Laboratory Innovations (CHED) *
* A Sustainable Future: Interface of Energy, Food, Water, and Climate Sustainability (COMSCI) *
* Effects of Wildfire on Watersheds and Water Supply (ENVR)
* Emerging Issues and Solutions for Sustainable Water and Wastewater Systems (ENVR)
* Heterogeneous Catalysis for Sustainable Energy Applications (ENVR)
* Novel Solutions to Water Pollution (ENVR)
* Urban Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Climate Change, and Mitigating Impacts (ENVR)
* Advances in Membranes and Separation Science and Technology for Fuels and Energy Production (FUEL)
* Emerging Energy and Fuel Technologies: Batteries, Solar Cells, and Alternative Fuels (FUEL) *
* Emerging Energy and Fuel Technologies: Solar Hydrogen Production (FUEL) *....
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