The news that matter in Europe
The news that matter in Europe
Los eventos de fusión más intensos en el noreste de Groenlandia se deben a bandas largas y estrechas de vapor de agua llamadas “ríos atmosféricos”. Los vientos cálidos y secos de la ladera conocidos como “soplo” también juegan un papel. Los autores de un estudio publicado en Nature Communications combinan el clima regional…
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Las vacas en el Reino Unido pueden recibir “bloqueadores de metano” en un intento por reducir sus emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero, informa The Guardian. La propuesta surge después de una consulta lanzada en agosto sobre cómo los nuevos tipos de alimentos podrían reducir las emisiones de metano de las vacas, que son la principal causa de las emisiones de…
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The rapid melting of Antarctic ice is dramatically slowing the circulation of water in the world’s oceans and could have catastrophic effects on global climate, the marine food chain and even the stability of ice shelves. This is what scientists quoted by Reuters warn.
Ocean circulation,…
Les députés européens ont adopté une nouvelle loi anti-déforestation, avec des règles visant à protéger le climat et la biodiversité. Elles obligent les entreprises à s’assurer que les produits vendus dans l’UE n’ont pas conduit à la déforestation et à la dégradation des forêts. La loi s’appliquera au bétail et aux denrées telles que le cacao, le café, l’huile de palme,…
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One very important thing is that, in fact, people who visit the mountains need to be literate about where they are going, which has been a big problem in recent years. Everyone thinks that the mountain is something wonderful and wonderful, with flowers and herbs, where he can do whatever he wants. In fact, this is not the case. This mountain has its own life and rules that we must follow. One thing is clear – that nature is exploited, in the case of mushrooms, herbs, etc., regardless of the fact that in it find peace various protected species. We have to be very careful and cautious when we go to the mountains. Therefore, we can consult with representatives of the nearby hunting or forestry. People will kindly explain to us where we can and where we cannot go, where it is not allowed or not recommended, where we run the risk of encountering this type of conflict. Keep in mind that the bear is one of the most non-confrontational animals in the mountains. She can feel and smell you for miles and run away. Another issue is that the bear in this case was placed in an ambush situation – there were groups on both sides to pick mushrooms. And she, of course, began to do the most normal thing – to exercise her instincts for self-preservation. So my opinion as a person who has been in the mountains for many years, has met all kinds of wild animals, including bears, is to be careful where we go. In this case, too, the bear should not be punished, as it acted at the first sign to save its life and defend itself.
What should be our reactions when meeting a bear?
The main thing we have to observe in an area with bears is to talk out loud, to make noise. It would be good to buy a simple whistle, to talk, and not be quiet. The bear will sense us and retreat. She is a non-aggressive creature. When searching for food, sometimes he may not hear us, we may meet and be surprised. If this happens, there are a few rules. First, let’s not look the bears in the eye. We should slowly leave the backpack on the ground, facing it, but lower our heads. Then we have to slowly move away. The bear will growl, turn, maybe see what’s in the backpack. The idea is to leave her something to distract her from us. In the more unacceptable version, it is possible for the bear to chase us. If it’s flat or uphill, we have absolutely no chance. But due to the anatomical specifics of her front paws, which are a little shorter, we have a chance to save ourselves if we start running from a high slope down.
Are teddy bears the most dangerous?
The bears are very curious and agile. If we see a little bear, it should be a clear sign that mom is around and that we need to get away as quickly as possible.
Emirati national Aisha Al Yazeedi, a research scientist at the NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Center for Astro, Particle, and Planetary Physics, has published her first research paper, featuring some key findings on the evolution of galaxies.
Galaxies eventually undergo a phase in which they lose most of their gas, which results in a change into their properties over the course of their evolution. Current models for galaxy evolution suggest this should eventually happen to all galaxies, including our own Milky Way; Al Yazeedi and her team are delving into this process.
Composite RGB image of the Blob Source extracted from the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys (Dey et al.(2019), legacysurvey.org). MaNGA _eld of view is shown in orange. Gray box corresponds to the GMOS _eld of view. Credit: Dey et al.(2019), legacysurvey.org
Commenting on the findings, Al Yazeedi said: “The evolution of galaxies is directly linked to the activity of their central supermassive black hole (SMBH). However, the connection between the activity of SMBHs and the ejection of gas from the entire galaxy is poorly understood. Observational studies, including our research, are essential to clarify how the central SMBH can influence the evolution of its entire host galaxy and prove key theoretical concepts in the field of astrophysics.”
Titled “The impact of low luminosity AGN on their host galaxies: A radio and optical investigation of the kpc-scale outflow in MaNGA 1-166919,” the paper has been published in Astronomical Journal. Its findings outline gas ejection mechanisms, outflow properties, and how they are related to the activity of the supermassive black hole (SMBH) at the center of the host galaxy.
To that end, the paper presents a detailed optical and radio study of the MaNGA 1-166919 galaxy, which appears to have an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN). Radio morphology shows two lobes (jets) emanating from the center of the galaxy, a clear sign of AGN activity that could be driving the optical outflow. By measuring the outflow properties, the NYUAD researchers documented how the extent of the optical outflow matches the extent of radio emission.
Superposition of optical z-band MzLS image isophotes (gray color) and our highest spatial resolution radio image in S band (in blue). Optical image has a spatial resolution of 0:0084, while S-band radio data { 0:009. Credit: NYU Abu Dhabi
Al Yazeedi is a member of NYUAD’s Kawader program, a national capacity-building research fellowship that allows outstanding graduates to gain experience in cutting-edge academic research. The three-year, individually tailored, intensive program is designed for graduates considering a graduate degree or a career in research.
Her paper adds to the growing body of UAE space research and activities. The UAE has sent an Emirati into space, a spacecraft around Mars, and recently announced plans to send a robotic rover to the Moon in 2022, ahead of the ultimate goal to build a city on Mars by 2117.
The above figure is a GMOS outflow map with radio contours overlaid in black. The outflow velocities show a clear spatial separation of “red” and “blue” components. It strongly suggests a biconical outflow and nicely shows the correspondence between the optical outflow and radio emission. Credit: NYU Abu Dhabi
Emirati women are playing a key role in the research and development behind these projects. The Mars Hope probe science team, which is 80 percent female, was led by Sarah Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Sciences and chairperson of the country’s space agency.
Reference: “The impact of low luminosity AGN on their host galaxies: A radio and optical investigation of the kpc-scale outflow in MaNGA 1-166919” 3 August 2021, Astronomical Journal.
DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/abf5e1
A new study calculates the waste generated by N95 usage and suggests possible ways to reduce it.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic began last year, face masks and other personal protective equipment have become essential for health care workers. Disposable N95 masks have been in especially high demand to help prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.
All of those masks carry both financial and environmental costs. The Covid-19 pandemic is estimated to generate up to 7,200 tons of medical waste every day, much of which is disposable masks. And even as the pandemic slows down in some parts of the world, health care workers are expected to continue wearing masks most of the time.
That toll could be dramatically cut by adopting reusable masks, according to a new study from MIT that has calculated the financial and environmental cost of several different mask usage scenarios. Decontaminating regular N95 masks so that health care workers can wear them for more than one day drops costs and environmental waste by at least 75 percent, compared to using a new mask for every encounter with a patient.
The Covid-19 pandemic is estimated to generate up to 7,200 tons of medical waste every day, much of which is disposable masks. Credit: Stock photo
“Perhaps unsurprisingly, the approaches that incorporate reusable aspects stand to have not only the greatest cost savings, but also significant reduction in waste,” says Giovanni Traverso, an MIT assistant professor of mechanical engineering, a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the senior author of the study.
The study also found that fully reusable silicone N95 masks could offer an even greater reduction in waste. Traverso and his colleagues are now working on developing such masks, which are not yet commercially available.
Jacqueline Chu, a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, is the lead author of the study, which appears in the British Medical Journal Open.
In the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, N95 masks were in short supply. At many hospitals, health care workers were forced to wear one mask for a full day, instead of switching to a new one for each patient they saw. Later on, some hospitals, including MGH and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, began using decontamination systems that use hydrogen peroxide vapor to sterilize masks. This allows one mask to be worn for a few days.
Last year, Traverso and his colleagues began developing a reusable N95 mask that is made of silicone rubber and contains an N95 filter that can be either discarded or sterilized after use. The masks are designed so they can be sterilized with heat or bleach and reused many times.
“Our vision was that if we had a reusable system, we could reduce the cost,” Traverso says. “The majority of disposable masks also have a significant environmental impact, and they take a very long time to degrade. During a pandemic, there’s a priority to protect people from the virus, and certainly that remains a priority, but for the longer term, we have to catch up and do the right thing, and strongly consider and minimize the potential negative impact on the environment.”
Throughout the pandemic, hospitals in the United States have been using different mask strategies, based on availability of N95 masks and access to decontamination systems. The MIT team decided to model the impacts of several different scenarios, which encompassed usage patterns before and during the pandemic, including: one N95 mask per patient encounter; one N95 mask per day; reuse of N95 masks using ultraviolet decontamination; reuse of N95 masks using hydrogen peroxide sterilization; and one surgical mask per day.
They also modeled the potential cost and waste generated by the reusable silicone mask that they are now developing, which could be used with either disposable or reusable N95 filters.
According to their analysis, if every health care worker in the United States used a new N95 mask for each patient they encountered during the first six months of the pandemic, the total number of masks required would be about 7.4 billion, at a cost of $6.4 billion. This would lead to 84 million kilograms of waste (the equivalent of 252 Boeing 747 airplanes).
They also found that any of the reusable mask strategies would lead to a significant reduction in cost and in waste generated. If each health care worker were able to reuse N95 masks that were decontaminated with hydrogen peroxide or ultraviolet light, costs would drop to $1.4 billion to $1.7 billion over six months, and 13 million to 18 million kilograms of waste would result (the equivalent of 39 to 56 747s).
Those numbers could potentially be reduced even further with a reusable, silicone N95 mask, especially if the filters were also reusable. The researchers estimated that over six months, this type of mask could reduce costs to $831 million and waste to 1.6 million kilograms (about five 747s).
“Masks are here to stay for the foreseeable future, so it’s critical that we incorporate sustainability into their use, as well as the use of other disposable personal protective equipment that contribute to medical waste,” Chu says.
The data the researchers used for this study were gathered during the first six months of the pandemic in the United States (late March 2020 to late September 2020). Their calculations are based on the total number of health care workers in the United States, the number of Covid-19 patients at the time, and the length of hospital stay per patient, among other factors. Their calculations do not include any data on mask usage by the general public.
“Our focus here was on health care workers, so it’s likely an underrepresentation of the total cost and environmental burden,” Traverso notes.
While vaccination has helped to reduce the spread of Covid-19, Traverso believes health care workers will likely continue to wear masks for the foreseeable future, to protect against not only Covid-19 but also other respiratory diseases such as influenza.
He and others have started a company called Teal Bio that is now working on further refining and testing their reusable silicone mask and developing methods for mass manufacturing it. They plan to seek regulatory approval for the mask later this year. While cost and environmental impact are important factors to consider, the effectiveness of the masks also needs to be a priority, Traverso says.
“Ultimately, we want the systems to protect us, so it’s important to appreciate whether the decontamination system is compromising the filtering capacity or not,” he says. “Whatever you’re using, you want to make sure you’re using something that’s going to protect you and others.”
Reference: “Thinking green: modelling respirator reuse strategies to reduce cost and waste” by Jacqueline Chu, Omkar Ghenand, Joy Collins, James Byrne, Adam Wentworth, Peter R. Chai, Farah Dadabhoy, Chin Hur and Giovanni Traverso, 18 July 2021, BMJ Open.
DOI:
The research was funded by the MIT Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, the National Institutes of Health, and MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. Other authors of the paper include Omkar Ghenand, an MIT undergraduate; Joy Collins, a senior clinical research coordinator at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a former MIT technical associate; James Byrne, a radiation oncologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and research affiliate at MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research; Adam Wentworth, a research engineer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a research affiliate at the Koch Institute; Peter Chai, an emergency medicine physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Farah Dadabhoy, an MIT research affiliate; and Chin Hur, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at Columbia University.
A CT scan image of the spiral intestine of a Pacific spiny dogfish shark (Squalus suckleyi). The beginning of the intestine is on the left, and the end is on the right. Credit: Samantha Leigh/California State University Dominguez Hills
Contrary to what popular media portrays, we actually don’t know much about what sharks eat. Even less is known about how they digest their food, and the role they play in the larger ocean ecosystem.
For more than a century, researchers have relied on flat sketches of sharks’ digestive systems to discern how they function — and how what they eat and excrete impacts other species in the ocean. Now, researchers have produced a series of high-resolution, 3D scans of intestines from nearly three dozen shark species that will advance the understanding of how sharks eat and digest their food.
Three smooth dogfish sharks (Mustelus canis). Credit: Elizabeth Roberts/Wikimedia Commons
“It’s high time that some modern technology was used to look at these really amazing spiral intestines of sharks,” said lead author Samantha Leigh, assistant professor at California State University Dominguez Hills. “We developed a new method to digitally scan these tissues and now can look at the soft tissues in such great detail without having to slice into them.”
The research team from California State University Dominguez Hills, the University of Washington, and University of California, Irvine, published its findings July 21 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
A CT scan image of a dogfish shark spiral intestine, shown from the top looking down. Credit: Samantha Leigh/California State University Dominguez Hills
The researchers primarily used a computerized tomography (CT) scanner at the UW’s Friday Harbor Laboratories to create 3D images of shark intestines, which came from specimens preserved at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. The machine works like a standard CT scanner used in hospitals: A series of X-ray images is taken from different angles, then combined using computer processing to create three-dimensional images. This allows researchers to see the complexities of a shark intestine without having to dissect or disturb it.
A live Pacific spiny dogfish shark (Squalus suckleyi). Credit: Samantha Leigh/California State University Dominguez Hills
“CT scanning is one of the only ways to understand the shape of shark intestines in three dimensions,” said co-author Adam Summers, a professor based at UW Friday Harbor Labs who has led a worldwide effort to scan the skeletons of fishes and other vertebrate animals. “Intestines are so complex — with so many overlapping layers, that dissection destroys the context and connectivity of the tissue. It would be like trying to understand what was reported in a newspaper by taking scissors to a rolled-up copy. The story just won’t hang together.”
A CT scan image of a smooth dogfish shark (Mustelus canis) spiral intestine, shown
from the top looking down. Credit: Samantha Leigh/California State University Dominguez Hills
From their scans, the researchers discovered several new aspects about how shark intestines function. It appears these spiral-shaped organs slow the movement of food and direct it downward through the gut, relying on gravity in addition to peristalsis, the rhythmic contraction of the gut’s smooth muscle. Its function resembles the one-way valve designed by Nikola Tesla more than a century ago that allows fluid to flow in one direction, without backflow or assistance from any moving parts.
This finding could shed new light on how sharks eat and process their food. Most sharks usually go days or even weeks between eating large meals, so they rely on being able to hold food in their system and absorb as many nutrients as possible, Leigh explained. The slowed movement of food through their gut caused by the spiral intestine probably allows sharks to retain their food longer, and they also use less energy processing that food.
This video shows the 3D image of a Pacific spiny dogfish (Squalus suckleyi) spiral intestine. Credit: Samantha Leigh/California State University Dominguez Hills
Because sharks are top predators in the ocean and also eat a lot of different things — invertebrates, fish, mammals and even seagrass — they naturally control the biodiversity of many species, the researchers said. Knowing how sharks process what they eat, and how they excrete waste, is important for understanding the larger ecosystem.
“The vast majority of shark species, and the majority of their physiology, are completely unknown. Every single natural history observation, internal visualization and anatomical investigation shows us things we could not have guessed at,” Summers said. “We need to look harder at sharks and, in particular, we need to look harder at parts other than the jaws, and the species that don’t interact with people.”
This video shows the soft tissue of a Pacific spiny dogfish (Squalus suckleyi) spiral intestine, rotated and viewed from different angles. Credit: Samantha Leigh/California State University Dominguez Hills
The authors plan to use a 3D printer to create models of several different shark intestines to test how materials move through the structures in real time. They also hope to collaborate with engineers to use shark intestines as inspiration for industrial applications such as wastewater treatment or filtering microplastics out of the water column.
Reference: 20 July 2021, Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1359
Other co-authors on the paper are Donovan German of University of California, Irvine, and Sarah Hoffmann of Applied Biological Services.
This research was funded by Friday Harbor Laboratories, the UC Irvine OCEANS Graduate Research Fellowship, the Newkirk Center Graduate Research Fellowship, the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program and UC Irvine.
Snappily dressed shellfish campaigners gathered outside the House of Lords today as Peers put forward amendments[i] to the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill to recognise that crabs and lobsters can feel pain. The move could see these animals given new legal protections, and means that restaurants and fishmongers could be banned from boiling crabs alive or sending live lobsters through the post.
The Animal Sentience Bill was introduced by the government on May 11th as part of a raft of animal welfare reforms. It replaces EU legislation which legally recognised that animals can feel pain and experience emotions. The UK Animal Sentience Bill currently only applies to “vertebrate” animals – animals with a backbone. However, Crustacean Compassion, whose supporters include Chris Packham, Bill Bailey, the RSPCA and the British Veterinary Association, argue that the Bill does not go far enough. Scientific evidence shows that decapod crustaceans, a group which includes crabs and lobsters, can feel pain and suffer and should be included in animal welfare legislation. The amendment also requests that cephalopods, which includes octopus and squid, are also protected by the Bill. In 2020, in response to pressure from animal welfare campaigners, the government commissioned an independent scientific review of the evidence for the sentience of decapod crustaceans and cephalopod molluscs. However, they have given no release date for the report despite repeated Parliamentary[ii] and House of Lords[iii] requests.
Whilst other countries such as Switzerland, Norway and New Zealand include decapod crustaceans in their animal welfare laws, decapods are not currently included in the definition of ‘animal’ in most of the UK’s animal welfare legislation. Crustacean Compassion points out that this means that they can be routinely treated as if they were no more sentient than a vegetable. Decapod crustaceans are frequently boiled and/or dismembered alive, and research shows that a brown crab may take up to three minutes to die in boiling water[iv]. Electrical stunning before slaughter, they argue, is currently the most humane method of dispatching the animals. Last year, a fishmonger came under fire for using Amazon to deliver live lobsters through the ordinary post, and a London supermarket was criticised in 2015 for selling crabs shrink-wrapped whilst still alive.
Maisie Tomlinson of Crustacean Compassion, said:
“We hope the House of Lords votes to accept this amendment at the earliest opportunity. Decapod crustaceans are Britain’s forgotten animals, widely recognised as sentient but subject to brutal treatment in the food industry. The government made a manifesto commitment to promote high standards of animal welfare, and prides itself on being led by the science. It cannot decide which animals are sentient based on political convenience, and if the independent review of decapod and cephalopod sentience is so critical to the Lords’ decision-making, we urge them not to delay its release any further”.
Notes to Editors
Crustacean Compassion is an animal welfare organisation campaigning for the humane treatment of crabs, lobsters and other decapod crustaceans in the UK.
For an accessible overview of the issues, please see our report
Media Enquiries: 0203 871 3302 or email info@crustaceancompassion.org
Photographs of the protest will be uploaded by 4pm here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/151949698@N06/albums/72157719507058967
Further royalty-free photos are available here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/151949698@N06/albums/72157676726405414
References
[i] https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/42074/documents/470 – search “decapod”
[ii] https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2021-03-25/HL14638
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2021-04-12/hl14747
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2021-05-26/hl617
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2021-05-11/378
[iii] https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2021-06-16/debates/81851658-6B9F-4739-8199-22398F81085F/AnimalWelfare(Sentience)Bill(HL) – search “decapod”.
[iv] Roth, B. and Øines, S., 2010. Stunning and killing of edible crabs (Cancer pagurus), Animal Welfare, Volume 19, Number 3, August 2010 , pp. 287-294(8). Universities Federation for Animal Welfare
Press release distributed by Pressat on behalf of Crustacean Compassion, on Tuesday 6 July, 2021. For more information subscribe and follow https://pressat.co.uk/
The National Geographic Society of the United States announced the official recognition of the fifth ocean – the South, washing the shores of Antarctica. This decision is the result of many years of research efforts. So in the XXI century – although, it would seem, the era of major geographical discoveries is already far in the past – the map of the world has changed.
For the first time the designation “Southern Ocean” was used by the Spanish conquistador Vasco Nunez de Balboa at the beginning of the 16th century, describing the cold currents coming from the south to the shores of South America. Later, Antarctic expeditions equipped ships “to the Southern Ocean”. But officially it appeared, perhaps, only on maps published in Australia – all waters located south of the Australian continent were attributed to it.
The debate over whether to recognize the fifth ocean or not flared up in 1921, the year of the creation of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), designed to coordinate internationally shipping and trade in the oceans. In 1937, the term “Southern Ocean” was officially enshrined in the publications of the IHO.
Scientists supported this – after all, the waters adjacent to Antarctica and united by the Antarctic circumpolar current have a special specificity. In terms of physicochemical and biological characteristics, they are not similar to the other three oceans, merging in the southern circumpolar zone.
However, in 1953, the International Hydrographic Organization canceled its own decision due to the impossibility of drawing clear boundaries of the Southern Ocean. And therefore, to regulate navigation and commercial activities within its limits.
Scientists disagreed: they increasingly mentioned this term in scientific publications, emphasized the uniqueness of the Southern Ocean and the importance of a separate study of its hydrological and biosystems. As a result, in 2000, the IHO again adopted the classification, according to which the oceans were divided into five parts. But in order to make changes to all geographical atlases and textbooks, ratification at the level of official departments of the leading countries of the world was required.
The key was the recognition of the Southern Ocean this year by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Even earlier, in 1999, the term was coined by the American Board of Geographical Names. And now the point has been set – on June 8, World Oceans Day, the National Geographic Society of the United States announced: from now on, the Southern Ocean will be marked on all maps.
The ancient Greeks understood the ocean as the world’s greatest river, which surrounds the land from all sides. It was named after the mythological titan Ocean – the son of Uranus and Gaia, that is, Heaven and Earth, brother and husband Tethys, the goddess of the primeval waters.
From the point of view of geographical science, there is only one ocean on Earth – the World, global water envelope. Everything else is its parts, and how many there are depends on the selection criteria. The simplest and most obvious is the location between the continents, that is, limited land mass on all sides. On this basis, the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic oceans are classified as oceans.
No less important from the point of view of scientists – hydrographers, oceanologists, biologists – and other criteria: the presence of its own water circulation system, their physicochemical characteristics, the species composition of flora and fauna, the scheme of interaction with the atmosphere. And in this regard, the Southern Ocean is an absolutely independent part of the hydrosphere, although it does not have a clearly delineated northern border by islands or continents.
The International Hydrographic Organization, which recognized the Southern Ocean in 2000, determined its territory conditionally – from the coast of Antarctica to the north to the 60th parallel of the south latitude. This decision was taken by a majority vote for formal reasons – the 60th parallel does not cross land anywhere, and it is within these limits that the United Nations Antarctic Treaty operates.
It is clear that geographers were not satisfied with this approach. In their opinion, the northern boundary of the Southern Ocean should be drawn along the Antarctic Polar Front, within which the cold waters of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current circulate. This zone surrounding Antarctica is also called the Antarctic Convergence.
On its northern border, located between the 48th and 61st parallels south latitude, the cold waters of Antarctica flowing northward meet with the warmer Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Heading south, the convergence boundary is precisely defined by the sudden drop in sea water temperature from 5.6 degrees Celsius to below two degrees Celsius. The Antarctic Convergence Line separates two regions that differ in climate and biodiversity.
The boundaries of the Southern Ocean are no less clearly manifested in the bottom topography – in the form of underwater uplifts practically along the entire Antarctic Polar Front.
Areas along the Antarctic Polar Front are extremely rich in fish and marine mammals. The dense cold waters drain here under the warm ones, and the nutrient-rich, rising deep streams form a favorable habitat for Antarctic krill and other marine organisms.
The Atlantic circumpolar current, which moves in a circle from west to east, crossing all meridians, is the most powerful on Earth, it carries a hundred times more water than all the rivers of the world. Scientists believe that it originated 34 million years ago, when Antarctica separated from South America. Moving cold waters along the bottom from Antarctica to the north, it draws in surface warm waters from the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean into the polar region. It is the most important element of the global “conveyor belt” of currents, which determines the heat transfer scheme and regulates the climate on the planet.
Diagram of ocean currents in Antarctica. The boundaries of the Southern Ocean are determined by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which moves from west to east
The area of the new ocean is 20.3 million square kilometers: this is approximately two territories of the United States. It is larger than the Artic Ocean and the fourth largest in the world after the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian.
The average depth is 3270 meters, and the lowest point of the bottom is at 8264 meters, in the South Sandwich Trench.
The problem related to ecology is not only to clean public places and beaches from garbage – this is the concern of local municipal authorities; economic problems are an aesthetic issue that presupposes the preservation of visible harmony between the city and the environment. The problem is not limited to the fight against noise in megacities, nor to the love of endangered animals. All of these are consequences rather than a fundamental cause of the problem.
The former Swiss Metropolitan and Exarch for Western Europe of the Ecumenical Patriarchate Damascinus considered the environmental problem in its positive aspect, ie in its empirical and scientific significance, it is a complex problem consisting of numerous components, namely: 1. At the beginning of the third millennium of the Nativity of Christ, we will be depleted of the natural resources (water, oil fields, etc.) necessary for the lives of billions of people on the planet, the preservation and development of civilization; 2. The pollution of nature is constantly increasing – the air, the water, as a result of which the life in the seas disappears, the protective ozone layer in the atmosphere is destroyed; 3. As a result of the giant urbanization, the forests are being destroyed; the green cover disappears from the Earth’s surface, which leads to the transformation of human beings into a faceless, insane mass; 4. The consequences of the use of such natural forces as nuclear energy, whose radioactivity is deadly to humans by disrupting vital processes in the body and destroying flora and fauna, are unpredictable; 5. Created new synthetic substances, unknown in nature, non-biodegradable, which accumulate on the Earth and gradually turn it into a dump; these substances, destroying the natural beauty so necessary for the mental balance of man, as noted by the Christian apologist Athenagoras: “Beauty was not created by itself, but was sent by the will of the Lord.”
Let us start from the fact that the ecological problem is a problem absolutely theological and religious, a problem of faith and religious activity – of orthodoxy (or the correct glorification of God) and orthopraxy (ie the right actions in our earthly existence). The positive definition of the nature of the world as a creation of God, described in the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis (the first biblical book), which lists the elements of the environment: water (seas, rivers), minerals (gold, topaz, emeralds), flora (fruit trees, greenery), wildlife. All this is the perfect creation of God, wonderful in the creative biblical development, which presupposes order and harmony in the vast universe. Order and harmony are those cosmological biblical principles which, in the opinion of Greek thinkers, define the universe as the cosmos, as a harmonious universe.
The notion that God created the environment as a precondition for the natural survival and spiritual perpetuation of man is formulated in the first book of the Old Testament; and the Fathers of the Church, in particular St. John Chrysostom, explain the above as follows: “Man is the center to which the whole material world aspires, and it is the history of man that determines the history and destiny of the world.” Man was introduced to the Garden of Eden, to paradise, to be used as a crown of creation by the environment, with the duty to protect it, and this duty gives the human being the dignity of a caring ruler who has no right to destroy it.
The destruction of nature is described in the last book of Scripture, the Revelation of the Evangelist John.
Local authorities do not disclose why this was necessary
The only nuclear power plant in Iran has been shut down as a matter of urgency. The Bushehr plant was shut down on Saturday and will be closed for several days.
There may be power outages in the country. This is the first time that Iran has reported an emergency shutdown of its plant in the southern port city of Bushehr, the Associated Press reported. It was included in the network in 2011 with the help of Russia. Iran is required to send spent fuel from the reactor back to Russia as a measure to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and materials.
Earlier yesterday, Tavanir issued a statement saying the nuclear power plant was under repair without further explanation. According to the company, the repair work will continue until Friday.
Israeli Environment Minister Gila Gamliel signed a document banning the sale of animal fur for clothing production in the country. The law will come into force in six months, in December 2021.
It is the first country in the world to have such a law.
The minister stressed that the fur industry kills hundreds of millions of animals around the world, and is also associated with great suffering and cruelty. Animal rights activists have already described the decisive step as a “historic victory.”
The ban on the fur trade makes Israel the first country in the world to do so, although there are already similar cases at the regional level. For example, the US state of California banned the sale of natural fur products back in 2019.
According to The Jerusalem Post, the ban will not apply to “scientific research, education, teaching and religious purposes and traditions.” The last point caused the most controversy. The fact is that ultra-Orthodox Jews wear shtreimels on Shabbat and holidays – hats trimmed with sable and fox tails. At the same time, in the hot climate of Israel, fur products are not very popular among the general population.
A shtreimel (Yiddish: שטרײַמל shtrayml, which they wear only on special occasions (on Saturday, a holiday, at a wedding, or when they meet a rabbi). on the head is the fur of an “unclean animal” – the tail of a fox to distinguish Jews from other nations, but the Jews turned this “badge of shame” into a “badge of distinction.”
Incredible beauty in Ovidiopol
Poppy fields have blossomed in the Odessa region. Thousands of flowers have turned the outskirts of Ovidiopol into a red carpet, the site https://www.meteoprog.ua/ reports.
Ovidiopol is a village in the Odessa region, which is located on the eastern bank of the Dniester estuary. Once on the site of the village of Ovidiopol there was a gateway from the Varangians to the Greeks. It was a trade route connecting the lands of Kievan Rus with the Byzantine Empire.
Captured by the beauty of the “poppy seas”, residents of Odessa and guests began to massively upload their photos to the social network. However, environmentalists warn: these picturesque locations are annually harmed by such visitors.
Poppies are very delicate flowers, and people break them, trample them, pluck them. Therefore, ecologists urge fans of picturesque fields to treat them more carefully so that they can return here again next year.
According to Proterra Foundation “Soy Protein Concentrate Brazilian industry announced end of 2020 that they are taking increased responsibility for the entire value chain of soy-production. The Brazilian soy suppliers, CJ Selecta, Caramuru and Cervejaria Petropolis-Imcopa, will implement a 100 percent deforestation and conversion free soybean value chain with 2020 as their cut-off date.”
Their press communication continues saying that it was the first time that companies in the animal feed industry have set such a voluntary and sector wide benchmark.
The cut-off date of soybeans that are already certified under the ProTerra Standard, abide to the provision that areas of native vegetation cannot be cleared or converted into agricultural areas, or used for industrial or other commercial purposes, after 2008. These companies source soy only from farmers who refrain from clearing forests on their property after the cut-off date of August 2020.
The SPC and soymeal exporters CJ Selecta, Caramuru and Cervejaria Petropolis-Imcopa, are committed to stablishing an economical, environmentally sustainable and socially responsible supply chain. The commitment calls for:
• Promote a soy supply chain free from illegal and /or legal deforestation.
• Respect the rights of workers, indigenous peoples and local communities.
• Ensure that sourcing is fully compliant national and local environmental laws and regulations including Forest Code.
Code of Conduct for soybean suppliers
The companies have developed a Code of conduct, motivating their suppliers to create and maintain a sustainable chain, to encourage good agricultural practices, to assure the protection of high conservation values, environment, and biodiversity, and in the meantime to respect rural workers and communities.
Monitoring based on a socio-environmental analysis
Processors and traders obtain farm-level traceability from all the soy direct sourcing of the company. Before every soy purchase, the trader’s origination team must check if the soy farm is compliant.
In addition, the suppliers are preparing a new sustainability sourcing policy for all their soy, GMO and non-GMO, which includes monitoring farms with satellite geospatial tools, preparing for audits and engaging their soy suppliers.
The corporate system of the industrial processors shall comprise sufficient thorough tabular data about each supplier, such as the CAR (federal environmental registry).
To achieve this commitment risk assessment and additional mapping will be implemented:
In the case of indirect suppliers, complementary information may be gathered through field observations, community-based monitoring and stakeholder engagement. The definition of the level of monitoring for each supplier will be based on an assessment of the suppliers’ social and environmental risk and / or their location.
More about Proterra Foundation here.
World Wind Day is an international event that is celebrated annually on June 15. The tradition first began in Europe in 2007 and took on a global dimension two years later.
The wind sector is also the fastest growing sector in many regions of the world. In more than 75 countries around the world, wind farms are in operation, generating energy from clean and renewable sources. Thousands of people are involved in producing wind energy, but for many people wind energy is a mystery.
World Wind Day is an occasion to visit wind farms, get answers from experts, take part in the event and understand everything about wind energy. This day is a great opportunity to remind people around the world that a real energy revolution can be achieved in terms of the way electricity is produced, saving billions of tonnes of CO2 and creating many new jobs.
World Wind Day is also a day to discover the work that the world’s pioneers have done in this direction. More than 75 countries around the world have wind farms that produce energy from a clean and renewable source.
Because they require no fuel, wind farms have less impact on the environment than many other forms of power generation. Wind farms have, however, been criticised for their visual impact and impact on the landscape. Typically they need to be spread over more land than other power stations and need to be built in wild and rural areas, which can lead to “industrialization of the countryside”, habitat loss, and a drop in tourism. Some critics claim that wind farms have adverse health effects, but most researchers consider these claims to be pseudoscience (wind turbine syndrome characterized as such). Wind farms can interfere with radar, although in most cases, according to the US Department of Energy, “siting and other mitigations have resolved conflicts and allowed wind projects to co-exist effectively with radar”. (“WINDExchange: Wind Turbine Radar Interference”. WINDExchange. Retrieved 19 June 2019)
Dear Colleagues, Greetings of peace and blessing.
Recognizing the paramount importance of the Role of Faith-Based, Interfaith, and Elders Organizations to work in partnership for Ecosystem Restoration, the United Religions Initiative -Africa in partnership with All Africa Conference of Churches, Inter-Religious Council of Ethiopia (URI CC), the Baháʼí International Community – Addis Ababa Office), and the Elders Council of Ethiopia joined the global community in celebrating World Environment Day (WED). on June 5, 2021, at skylight Hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The organizers of the event also agree to work in collaboration in creating awareness on UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, sound environmental management and climate change mitigation and addressing the safety of wildlife.
Here I am sharing with you the Common Voice for the Restoration of Ecosystems sent out from the organizers of the event.
Amb. Mussie Hailu
Director of Global Partnership and Representative at the UN and
African Union and Regional Director for Africa
United Religions Initiative
Common Voice for the Restoration of Ecosystems
Addis Ababa, June 5, 2021
Recognizing the paramount importance of the Role of Faith-Based, Interfaith and Elders Organizations in Ecosystem Restoration, the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), United Religions Initiative -Africa (URI – Africa), the Baháʼí International Community (BIC) – Addis Ababa Office, Inter-Religious Council of Ethiopia (IRCE), and the Elders Council of Ethiopia join the global community to celebrate World Environment Day (WED).
WED is celebrated annually on 5th June to create awareness and action for the protection of the environment. The theme for this year is “Ecosystems Restoration”.
Religious leaders, faith-based & interfaith organizations, and elders can provide a significant contribution in creating awareness on sound environmental management and climate change mitigation and addressing the safety of wildlife.
On this occasion, the five organizations express their appreciation and gratitude to United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for its outstanding work in environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices since its establishment in 1972.
The organizations also want to express their commitment to the implementation of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and fully support the Faith for Earth Initiative of UNEP which is set up to inspire and empower faith organizations and their leaders to advocate for the protection of the environment.
The organizations further appreciate the initiative taken by the government of Ethiopia in a campaign to plant 6 billion trees across the country this year as part of the “Green Legacy” project to promote eco-tourism and combat the effects of climate change. The organizations also highly appreciate the initiative of the Ethiopian government plans to send one billion seedlings to neighboring countries.
Restoration of the ecosystem is fundamental to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, mainly those on climate change, poverty eradication, food security, water, and biodiversity conservation.
The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration is a global effort aimed at restoring the planet and ensuring One Health for people and nature.
The organizers recognize that the decade unites the world behind a common goal in preventing, halting, and reversing the degradation of ecosystems worldwide.
Drawing from our faiths and cultural traditions, we celebrate God’s creation of planet earth and remind ourselves of the role of humanity and our faith traditions in stewarding it.
We also acknowledge and salute on this day the immense work that faith communities are doing to restore ecosystems and halt environmental degradation – bandaging wounded Mother Earth. These activities range from practical interventions in restoring ecosystems and biodiversity to influencing power centers to raise ambition to keep temperature raises within limits to curb climate change. In this, we acknowledge the role faith communities are playing in responding to the distress caused by environmental degradation and climate change; undeterred knowing that it is our calling, a spiritual, moral and ethical manifestation of our faith devotions – to be intentional in our tasks of caring for creation. We will continue to work towards bringing mutual understanding towards our responsibility to nature and to treat the gifts of Mother Earth and ecology with devotion and gratitude.
Today we reel under the impacts of climate change, which is threatening our very own lives, habitats, livelihoods, health, food and water systems, the air we breathe among others. We cannot sit back and ignore these signs. Almost everything that we need for survival on this planet earth comes from Mother Earth. Taking care of ecosystems and biodiversity means securing our lives and our livelihoods, and that of many generations yet to come.
We are all interconnected, a challenge in one part of the globe affects the other parts of the globe too. COVID – 19 has demonstrated this – but also climate change. We have come to pray together for “care of the environment”. We charge and remind ourselves of our responsibility to be catalysts to prevent, reverse and halt damage to the earth’s ecosystems. We create awareness on the steps we can take as faith communities in taking positive action steps to restore the earth’s ecosystems.
For the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 26) which will happen in Glasgow on 1 – 12 November 2021, we are calling for nothing less than a high ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stopping reliance on fossils fuels, but a shift to renewable energy. We also call for the implementation of Conventions, Treaties, and Protocols that relate to care and restoration of the environment.
May Peace Prevail on Earth
END
In a video posted on social media, a Turkish woman and her Golden Retriever demonstrate the inextricable link between a man and a dog.
The animal was spotted chasing an ambulance in which its owner was. It is alleged that the sick woman, whose name was not published, was treated at her home. However, when her condition worsened, an ambulance arrived to pick her up. They decided to take her to the clinic for further treatment.
The dog was with his owner all the time, and even the sad look did not help him persuade the doctors to let him into the vehicle in which they took the woman. They closed the door, probably assuming the dog would be waiting for her at home.
But the determined retriever worried about his mistress and ran after the vehicle on the streets of Istanbul all the way to the hospital.
There, the faithful hairy friend continued to wait in front of the medical center until, according to media reports, his mistress appeared.
On the other hand, the BBC tells of no less interesting case – a squirrel guards a jewelry store in Turkey.
Jeweler and entrepreneur Mehmet Yuksel from Turkey rescued a squirrel whose mother died months ago. Yuksel named the rodent Memocan and left it to heal a paw injury. The squirrel honestly earns his living by not allowing strangers to go to the store’s cash register.
In his free time, Memokan communicates with visitors to the store.
When the squirrel’s wound heals, Mehmet will return it to its natural habitat.
“We have often heard talk that Russia is not interested in solving global environmental problems. But I can tell right away – this is nonsense, this is a myth or even an outright distortion. Like other countries, we feel the risks and threats in this area, including desertification, soil erosion, melting permafrost” Putin said.
The President recalled that “entire cities” are located in the Arctic part of Russia, which is built on permafrost. According to him, if the ice begins to melt, the consequences may come for the country.
He pointed out that, according to scientists, more than 2 trillion tons of greenhouse gases have accumulated in the earth’s atmosphere due to human economic activity. Each year, their number increases to 50 billion tons, Putin said.
The head of state added that all countries bear joint responsibility for climate processes in the world. Putin also urged “not to turn the transition to carbon neutrality into an instrument of unfair competition, when, under the pretext of a carbon footprint, they try to reshape investment trade flows in purely specific interests, and restricting access to green technologies becomes a deterrent to individual countries and manufacturers.”
The head of state expressed confidence that environmental and climate projects in Russia will play a leading role in global efforts to preserve the climate for many decades.
“We have set a goal: in the next 30 years, the accumulated volume of net greenhouse gas emissions in Russia should be lower than in Europe,” Putin said.
He asked the government to develop a detailed action plan in this regard by October 1 of this year. The relevant issue will be raised at a separate meeting.
Among the projects that the authorities plan to work on:
For all this, the state will issue subsidized green bonds. The authorities have also developed performance criteria for environmental projects.
One of the main tasks on which the country’s leadership will work, Putin also named capturing, storing, and using carbon dioxide from all sources.
In late April, Putin spoke at the climate summit. In his speech, he called for all interested countries to join in joint research in the field of climate change, as well as to actively develop low-carbon technologies.
According to him, over the past 31 years, Russia has reduced greenhouse gas emissions more than other countries – from 3.1 billion tons of CO2 equivalent to 1.6 billion tons, i.e. about twice.
Japanese scientists have created a new building material, for the production of which they used food waste, the Daily Mail writes.
The development is the work of specialists from the Institute of Industrial Sciences of the University of Tokyo.
For the new building material, scientists have used banana peels, cabbage leaves, algae, and other food waste. Initially, they were dried to a powdery state, after which they were mixed with water and subjected to strong heat, adds BTA.
The tests performed show that the obtained material exceeds the target bending strength and does not yield to the strength of the concrete.
Scientists also used salt and sugar to create the new building material, but they did not affect its strength.
Researchers at the University of Tokyo are squeezing cabbage, fruit peels, and other food scraps into sturdy building material.
The witch in Hansel and Gretel’s tale may have been something about her edible house and attractiveness to children. A research team from the Institute of Industrial Sciences at the University of Tokyo has discovered how to make durable, healthy, and still edible building materials from food.
Sprinkled cabbage leaves, seaweed, and banana peels may not be as exciting as gingerbread and pastries, but they could be part of a sustainable construction product recipe.
“Our goal was to use ordinary seaweed and food scraps to build materials that are at least as strong as concrete,” said Yuya Sakai, a specialist in sustainable building materials and lead author of an upcoming material study, on Tuesday. food waste, we also wanted to determine if the recycling process has affected the taste of the original materials. ”
The team is testing a hot pressing technique commonly used to compress wood dust into building materials. Instead of wood, they are vacuum dried and then sprayed with a variety of food waste, including onion and fruit peels, as well as cabbage.
“The processing technique consists of mixing the food powder with water and spices, then pressing the mixture into a mold at high temperature,” the university said. All products obtained, except for the pumpkin skin, passed the team’s stress tests.
Researchers have found a solution to the pumpkin problem. “We also found that Chinese cabbage leaves, which produce material more than three times stronger than concrete, can be mixed with a weaker pumpkin material to provide effective strengthening., said Kota Machida, project associate.
The molded materials remained edible, although the team did not say whether they were difficult to chew. Even leaving the materials exposed to the air for four months did not change the taste and there was no problem with decay.
The development of potentially plasterable materials is still at an early stage, but maybe one day you could build your own home from them. This will lead the witch’s house to the modern age.