Category: 9. Environment
-
Work-from-home order issued as Thai city chokes on pollution
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Authorities on Friday urged people in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai to stay indoors and work from home as air pollution spiked to hazardous levels. Smoke from forest fires and farmers burning crop stubble has blanketed the popular tourist destination in recent weeks. On Friday morning, the air monitoring…
-
Comparison of the simulated outcomes of aerosol–cloud interaction by a meteorological model with and without an interactive chemistry module
The results of the CHEM runs are already presented in TW22. In this paper, we focus on the “fire effect” in the new WRF simlations, which refers to the difference between FIRE and NOFIRE runs hereinafter. Figure 1 shows the observed and simulated spatial distributions of monthly accumulated rainfall (Fig. 1a–c) and the temporal evolution of surface…
-
Seasonal climatic instability in the western Chinese Loess Plateau during Marine Isotope Stages 12–10
Previous studies have shown abundant eggs in the surface soils of China and in the upper part of the Huining section7,9. After breaking some of these eggs, we observed embryonic land-snail shells inside the eggs7,9, which demonstrates undoubtedly that the eggs we observed are laid by land snails. Egg cannibalism is unlikely in the Huining…
-
EPA proposal takes on health risks near US chemical plants
In what could prove a significant move for communities facing air pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed on Thursday that chemical plants nationwide measure certain hazardous compounds that cross beyond their property lines and reduce them when they are too high. The proposed rules would reduce cancer risk and other exposure for communities that live…
-
Sustainable development in Africa shaped by subnational administrative capabilities, study shows
Capital stocks measured by the Inclusive Wealth Index. Credit: Thierry Yerema Coulibaly The Inclusive Wealth Index (IWI) is a sustainable development and economic progress metric that transcends the conventional means of measuring a nation’s prosperity. This innovative metric offers a holistic portrayal of a country’s affluence and welfare by considering three fundamental elements: natural, human,…
-
The biofuel that bombed seeks a path to redemption
Earlier this century, jatropha was hailed as a “miracle” biofuel. An unassuming shrubby tree native to Central America, it was wildly promoted as a high-yielding, drought-tolerant biofuel feedstock that could grow on degraded lands across Latin America, Africa and Asia. A jatropha rush ensued, with more than 900,000 hectares (2.2 million acres) planted by 2008.…
-
The phasing out of coal is happening too slowly, warns study
Organization of research in this article. Plain text—inputs, italic—assumptions used in building coal phase-out trajectories, bold—results. Dashed lines—use of contextual information for analysis and benchmarking. Credit: Environmental Research Letters (2022). DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/acadf6 The use of coal power is not decreasing fast enough. The Paris Agreement’s target of a maximum of 2 degrees of warming appear…
-
If we go over 1.5 ℃, then what?
Credit: PROVIDE project/Humboldt-Universität Based on current emissions trajectories, chances are that our planet will exceed the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 ℃ global warming threshold. Even exceeding this temperature temporarily could end up significantly limiting our ability to adapt to climate change, and this is especially true for the world’s vulnerable regions. “If temperatures rise over this……
-
‘Gold library’ helps Brazil crack down on Amazon’s illegal mining
Launched in 2019, the Ouro Alvo program is creating a gold database with samples obtained from different parts of Brazil. The information is allowing the Federal Police to create a chemical fingerprint of each sample, which they can then use to cross-reference the origin of seized or suspicious gold. This strategy could be complemented with…
-
Study calls for deeper examination of women’s role in energy decisions
Linkages studied for women’s empowerment as a driver of energy adoption. Credit: Nature Energy (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41560-023-01234-7 Most of us woke up this morning, used energy and technology to learn about the weather and the news, got a fresh cup of coffee, and went about our day informed and refreshed. Imagine if every woman in…