Green Foods Could Clean Up the Construction Industry

25.07.2018

We’ve all heard of eating our vegetables, but what about building with them? A new study by Lancaster University‘s B-SMART program will examine the effects of incorporating root vegetables – yes, vegetables – into cement production for a stronger and more sustainable way of building. The project, funded by the European Union, has brought academic and industrial stakeholders together in order to identify “biomaterials derived from food waste as a green route for the design of ecofriendly, smart and high performance cementious composites.” The program has proved successful insofar as creating a much more durable concrete mixture, with far fewer CO2 emissions from the process – all by adding some nutritious beets and carrots.

Professor Mohamed Saafi, lead researcher at Lancaster University, reveals the cement is “made by combining ordinary Portland cement with nano platelets extracted from waste root vegetables taken from the food industry… this significantly reduces both the energy consumption and CO2 emissions associated with cement manufacturing.” This news comes none too soon for developers in urban areas contending with new green regulations enforced by governments both nationally and internationally. If recent trends continue, concrete production – which accounts for approximately 8% of CO2 emissions worldwide – will double in the next 30 years.

According to Saafi, when root vegetable nano-platelets, such as those found in beets and carrots, are introduced into concrete, “the composites are not only superior to current cement products in terms of mechanical and micro-structure properties but also use smaller amounts of cement.” The initial tests have attributed this to an increase in calcium silicate hydrate, the compound which reinforces the cement, thanks to the vegetable extracts. The new concrete mixture also boasts a longer-lasting, less corrosive body and denser micro-structure, also attributed to its green food invigoration. So next time you don’t feel like eating your vegetables, just remember – they could make you stronger, too.

Source: Inhabitat

UK Electric Car Drivers Face Paying More to Charge at Peak Times

25.07.2018

ev-charging — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

British electric car drivers face having to pay more to power their car if they refuse to shift their charging to off-peak times, in a move designed to lessen their burden on the electricity network.

There are currently 160,000 plug-in cars on UK roads but rapid growth means their impact on the energy system must be managed carefully, said energy regulator Ofgem.

If enough drivers top up their cars when they get home from work it would put extra pressure on power networks, which already face a peak in demand between 4pm and 6pm.

Such a scenario would require costly upgrades to local electricity grids, which everyone would ultimately pay for through their energy bills.

“If electric vehicle users choose to charge during peak times, under current arrangements they will impose considerable costs, which will be borne by all consumers,” Ofgem said as it published reforms to promote the use of electric cars.

Vulnerable energy consumers would likely object to “subsidising more affluent early adopters” of electric cars, the regulator added.

Ofgem’s solution is to encourage plug-in car owners to use smart charging, where a vehicle could be plugged in at 5pm but would only start powering up at midnight, when electricity demand is much lower.

Incentives to use cheaper charging could include energy tariffs that offered cheaper electricity at certain times, such as when solar and wind power are generating larger amounts of power, or when demand is low.

Such an approach requires homes to be fitted with smart meters, which are in 10m households but whose rollout has been slow.

Charging an electric car overnight at home will cost around £4 for 100 miles of range, depending on the electricity tariff. A similar distance in a petrol car would cost around £17. However, charging an electric car at public points is more expensive than at home, particularly on rapid chargers.

Failure to charge smartly could be financially penalised, Ofgem said. “Consumers should be rewarded for being flexible with their demand but may pay a premium if their behaviour adds to peak demand or local congestion [on power networks],” the regulator added.

The regulator admitted it was not yet clear how such a fee would be applied, or how much it would be, as its work was at an early stage.

As a last resort, electric cars would have their charging interrupted if their demand on local power networks threatened outages to households. However, this is only expected to occur in extreme cases.

Analysis by the regulator found that with smart charging, 60% more electric cars could connect to existing electricity networks before they needed to be reinforced.

As part of the reforms, Ofgem is proposing that power grid owners should offer “off-peak” connections to the grid to avoid the cost of reinforcing networks.

That could benefit the operator of a fleet of electric vehicles, if they could be flexible over when they powered their cars, as they would pay less in network charges than for a conventional “anytime” connection.

Jonathan Brearley, the executive director, systems and networks at Ofgem, said: “Ofgem is working with the government to support the electric vehicle revolution in Britain, which can bring big benefits to consumers. Our reforms will help more users charge their electric vehicles and save them money.”

National Grid recently revised upwards its projections for the take-up of electric vehicles and said it expects 11m electric vehicles by 2030, 2m more than it thought only a year ago. By 2040 it expects 36m electric vehicles.

The company has also stressed the need for cars to be charged smartly, which it believes could limit the increase in peak electricity demand to 8GW, or about two and a half times the capacity of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station.

Last week a new law was passed in parliament that will require anyone installing an electric charge point to make it capable of smart charging.

Source: Guardian

Pay More Attention to Forests to Avert Global Water Crisis, Researchers Urge

25.07.2018

Australia’s Murray Darling basin covers more than a million square kilometers (approximately 386,000 square miles), 14 percent of the country’s landmass. It’s the site of tens of thousands of wetlands, but increasing demand for water has stretched its resources to the limit.

Many of the basin’s wetlands and floodplain forests are declining—several former wetlands and forests have even been consumed by bushfires, which are becoming more frequent every year. Yet when Australian officials sought to introduce strict water allocation rules, they met with fierce resistance from farmers in the region who depend on irrigation for their livelihood.

This is just one example of the ongoing conflicts over ecological water allocations featured in a new report released by the Global Forest Expert Panel (GFEP) on Forests and Water, an initiative led by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO).

More than 7.5 billion humans currently occupy planet Earth together with an estimated three trillion trees, and both of these populations require water. According to the GFEP report, the growing human population and climate change are exacerbating a looming global water crisis that has already hit home in places like the Murray Darling basin—but the crisis could potentially be averted if humans paid more attention to the links between forests and water.

“This international effort to highlight the interlinkages between forests, water, people and climate is very timely, given the pressures we now face on both human society and natural ecosystems,” Caroline Sullivan, an environmental economist at Australia’s Southern Cross University who contributed to the report, said in a statement. “For example, here in Australia, we are facing water shortages, massive loss of biodiversity, rising incidence of floods and droughts, and loss of economic capital and human wellbeing.”

Despite the links between the global climate, forests, people and water, international bodies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have tended to view carbon sequestration as the chief role of forests and trees. GFEP co-chair Meine van Noordwijk, chief scientist at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in Indonesia and a professor of agroforestry at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, warns that we ignore the importance of water in the climate debate at our own peril.

“In view of the vital role water plays, even in facilitating the continuous sequestration of carbon in standing forests, a lack of understanding of landscape-scale effects amongst the forest and water science communities and policymakers is of increasing concern,” Noordwijk said in a statement.

The GFEP report finds that water should be key to discussions of the interactions between forests and the global climate, especially in areas of water scarcity, because strategies focused entirely on carbon sequestration can still have drastic and unintended consequences for water resources. For example, reforestation projects need to take into account the water needs of new foliage and prioritize the use of species that are adapted to local conditions, per the report.

Irena Creed of the University of Saskatchewan in Canada is the other co-chair of the GFEP and co-editor of the report along with Noordwijk. She says that, just as it is missing from the climate debate, water is often overlooked as an important component of forest management.

“[N]atural forests, in particular, contribute to the sustainable water supply for people in the face of growing risks,” Creed said in a statement. “And it is also possible to actively manage forests for water resilience.”

For instance, the report spotlights the example of the various countries in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region that have revived dried-up springs by applying water-sensitive land management strategies in recharge zones.

Creed added that the future impacts of climate change introduce a level of unpredictability that we will also have to learn to deal with. “Natural disturbances and human activities influence forest and water relations with their impacts, depending on their timing, magnitude, intensity and duration,” she said. “Under a changing climate, these influencing factors vary more than ever, sometimes in unanticipated ways. Forest management for the future must therefore factor in uncertainty.”

Noordwijk notes that, “In our assessment, we focused on the following key questions: Do forests matter? Who is responsible and what should be done? How can progress be made and measured?” Because the answers to those questions depend heavily on regional context, Noordwijk, Creed and their co-authors seek to identify “globally relevant information on forest-water interactions” and highlight implications for international policymakers in the report. Specifically, they look at how a better understanding of the climate-forest-people-water connection can help achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) laid out by the UN in its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

“Governments and all stakeholders wanting to achieve the SDGs need to understand that water is central to attaining almost all of these goals, and forests are inseparably tied to water,” Hiroto Mitsugi, assistant director-general at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, said in a statement. “Policy and management responses must therefore tackle multiple water-related objectives across the range of SDGs, and take a multiple benefits approach.”

The report concludes that governance of water and forests as resources can be improved “to reduce the identified hydro-vulnerability in the context of all SDGs, and the persistent and growing threats arising from climate change. Failure to place water at the centre of discussions on forest-climate interactions and diverse forestation strategies, will have important negative impacts on policy effectiveness and ultimately on the provision of water.”

International governance can play a “highly important” role, the report states, by creating norms such as the SDGs, and providing opportunities for those norms to be discussed, negotiated and agreed upon. “National level governance can also be radically improved,” the report adds, “in particular, by beginning to bring together competing sectors of the economy into national level institutional frameworks that encourage cooperation and negotiation across the broader scope of forest and water interactions.”

Source: Eco Watch

Belgian Nude Beach Blocked on Fears Sexual Activity Could Spook Wildlife

24.07.2018

woman-918653_960_720 — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

The Belgian Naturism Federation has come to the defence of its burgeoning membership after the Flemish wildlife agency blocked an application for a second nudist beach in the country on the grounds that bathers’ “subsidiary activities” would pose a threat to a rare bird.

Attempts to gain designated naturist status for a quiet spot near Westende, about 12 miles south of the popular seaside resort of Ostende, hit a snag after objections were raised that sexual activity in the dunes would scare off the locally treasured crested lark, or Galerida cristata.

The Flemish Agency for Nature and Woodland informed the region’s environment minister, Joke Schauvliege, that the lark, whose name derives from the feathers on its head that rise up during courtship, would be alarmed by the activity and would flee.

The dunes themselves were also likely to be damaged by such “subsidiary activities”, the agency said in its formal submission.

A subsequent suggestion that a fence could be established around the dunes where the birds breed was met with scepticism. Steve Vandeberghe, the local mayor in Bredene, where Belgium’s first and only nudist beach is located, told the Flemish daily newspaper Het Nieusblad that it would not offer much of a deterrence. “Barbed wire against nudists? Pff. As if a man without clothes cannot get over a barbed wire,” he said.

Koen Meulemans, the chair of the Belgian Naturism Federation, said members frowned on the behaviour of some people who called themselves naturists. “We too regret this behaviour, which has nothing to do with naturism,” he said. “These are not real naturists for us.”

Meulemans said the beach at Westende was perfect “as there is no building or sea dyke that looks out on to the beach”. The federation’s 8,200 paying members – up 600 on two years ago – needed a new beach because during the summer months “1,000 people face each other on a strip of 400 metres in Bredene,” he said.

“After a long period of declining figures, we are now clearly growing. But those 8,200 are only a fraction of the total number of naturists in our country. Not everyone joins one of our 17 clubs and departments. According to surveys, about half a million Belgians sometimes do nudist recreation: they go to nudist beaches, spend their holidays at a naturist campsite or regularly go to public saunas.”

He added of the growth in numbers: “The new members mainly come from the age group 30 to 40. Where the work pressure is often the greatest. Naturism is literally unbuttoning. Those who leave their clothes leave the mobile phone and the work behind them. And it fits perfectly with the great call to go back to nature.”

Reflecting such growth, the first Belgian naturist B&B has opened in Nieuwpoort. “We have room for two families,” said its proprietor, Ann Engelen. “Every room has its own dining room, so you are not sitting naked at the breakfast table with other families. But in the garden with swimming pool, sauna and jacuzzi, that is the intention.

“Some of our customers are people who take the first step towards naturism here. Often they are busy people who come to recharge their batteries for two days without clothes, an ideal tool against burnouts. They literally throw off their armour without being seen.”

Source: Guardian

UN and Google Team Up to Monitor Environmental Damage

24.07.2018

UN Environment and Google have joined forces to monitor human impacts on the environment.

They aim to establish a platform for open-source data and analysis of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and help governments, NGOs and the public track specific environment-related development targets.

Countries will then be able to see the areas that need attention, enabling decisionmakers to better invest in environmental services, as well as the progress they have made on their ecosystems so far.

Erik Solheim, Head of UN Environment said: “We will only be able to solve the biggest environment challenges of our time if we get the data right.

“UN Environment is excited to be partnering with Google to make sure we have the most sophisticated online tools to track progress, identify priority areas for our action and bring us one step closer to a sustainable world.”

Source: Energy Live News

Migratory Barnacle Geese Threatened by Rapidly Rising Arctic Temperatures

24.07.2018

barnacle-2749408_960_720 — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Migrating barnacle geese that lay their eggs in the Arctic zones of northern Russia are becoming confounded by earlier springs in their traditional nesting grounds, according to a study published in Current Biology. The rising temperatures in the Arctic circles caused by global warming are threatening the survival of this species, which travels more than 3,000 km, or 1,800 miles, to reach their nesting territory.

The research, released in May 2018, noted that the geese habitually make the month-long journey from parts of northern Germany and the Netherlands based on a biologically coordinated schedule now jeopardized by human activity. Rapid environmental changes have caused the animals to speed up their flight plans.

Bart Nolet, member of the research team from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology and the University of Amsterdam, told NPR, “They actually depart from the wintering areas around the same date regardless of whether it’s early or late spring in the Arctic,” because they “cannot predict what the weather is or what the season is up there from 3,000 kilometers distance.” This causes the geese to speed up their inherent migration pattern mid-flight, after they realize that the temperature is too warm. They complete the arduous expedition in only a week, leaving them exhausted.

Originally, the birds used to arrive and lay their eggs just as the winter snow melted. By the time their goslings hatched, plants began to grow, resulting in a “food peak” for the animals. Now, both adult and baby barnacle geese must bear the hardships of malnourishment.

Despite rushing their migration and flying “nearly nonstop from the wintering areas to their breeding grounds,” according to Nolet, the 10 days needed after migration to find food and recover from exhaustion still puts the birds behind schedule. The geese cannot lay their eggs straightaway. Instead, after their expedited journey, they must rest and forage for food to ensure their own survival and the vitality of their offspring — ultimately the determining factor in the continuance of their species.

Source: Inhabitat

Most Popular Energy Source? Everyone Loves Solar

23.07.2018

commercial-buildings-3228393_960_720 — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

A recent survey shows yet again that solar panels (and wind turbines) have a level of bipartisan popularity that would be the envy of any politician. That means we’ll have something safe to talk about at the next barbecue after all.

The survey, from the Pew Research Center, had a lot of fascinating findings about the surprisingly high levels of agreement among Americans on a range of environmental issues, with strong majorities saying that the federal government is doing too little on water quality, air quality and climate change.

Nine out of ten adults in the US agree that more solar farms would be a good thing. And 8.5 out of 10 feel the same way about wind farms.

The survey report calls “[r]obust support for expanding solar and wind power … a rare point of bipartisan consensus in how the U.S. views energy policies.”

Earth’s Resources Consumed in Ever Greater Destructive Volumes

23.07.2018

field-3198561_960_720 — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Humanity is devouring our planet’s resources in increasingly destructive volumes, according to a new study that reveals we have consumed a year’s worth of carbon, food, water, fibre, land and timber in a record 212 days.

As a result, the Earth Overshoot Day – which marks the point at which consumption exceeds the capacity of nature to regenerate – has moved forward two days to 1 August, the earliest date ever recorded.

To maintain our current appetite for resources, we would need the equivalent of 1.7 Earths, according to Global Footprint Network, an international research organization that makes an annual assessment of how far humankind is falling into ecological debt.

The overshoot began in the 1970s, when rising populations and increasing average demands pushed consumption beyond a sustainable level. Since then, the day at which humanity has busted its annual planetary budget has moved forward.

Thirty years ago, the overshoot was on 15 October. Twenty years ago, 30 September. Ten years ago, 15 August. There was a brief slowdown, but the pace has picked back up in the past two years. On current trends, next year could mark the first time, the planet’s budget is busted in July.

While ever greater food production, mineral extraction, forest clearance and fossil-fuel burning bring short-term (and unequally distributed) lifestyle gains, the long-term consequences are increasingly apparent in terms of soil erosion, water shortages and climate disruption.

The day of reckoning is moving nearer, according to Mathis Wackernagel, chief executive and co-founder of Global Footprint Network.

“Our current economies are running a Ponzi scheme with our planet,” he said. “We are borrowing the Earth’s future resources to operate our economies in the present. Like any Ponzi scheme, this works for some time. But as nations, companies, or households dig themselves deeper and deeper into debt, they eventually fall apart.”

The situation is reversible. Research by the group indicates political action is far more effective than individual choices. It notes, for example, that replacing 50% of meat consumption with a vegetarian diet would push back the overshoot date by five days. Efficiency improvements in building and industry could make a difference of three weeks, and a 50% reduction of the carbon component of the footprint would give an extra three months of breathing space.

In the past, economic slowdowns – which tend to reduce energy consumption – have also shifted the ecological budget in a positive direction. The 2007-08 financial crisis saw the date push back by five days. Recessions in the 90s and 80s also lifted some of the pressure, as did the oil shock of the mid 1970s.

But the overall trend is of costs increasingly being paid by planetary support systems.

Separate scientific studies over the past year has revealed a third of land is now acutely degraded, while tropical forests have become a source rather than a sink of carbon. Scientists have also raised the alarm about increasingly erratic weather, particularly in the Arctic, and worrying declines in populations of bees and other insect pollinators, which are essential for crops.

Source: Guardian

Is Your Popcorn Laced With Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals

22.07.2018

popcorn-791330_960_720 — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

No one should be exposed to toxic chemicals in their food, particularly children. But that’s exactly what the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) found in tests of microwave popcorn bags sold in Dollar Stores. These stores are frequented by communities of color and millions of poor Americans.

In fact, every single bag that was independently tested contained toxic per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs)—chemicals linked to developmental problems, hormone disruption, organ damage and more. These findings are particularly alarming for children’s health, as their bodies are still developing, making them more vulnerable to the effects of hormone disruptors.

In response to these findings, CEH released a video featuring the Oakland rapper Mystic and a local kindergarten class to educate families about dangerous toxic chemicals put in microwave popcorn bags. Shot at Roses in Concrete Community School in East Oakland, the fun and engaging educational video also includes a supporting fact sheet that teaches families how to make their own safe, toxic-free microwave popcorn.

PFASs confuse our bodies’ hormones and damage the liver and kidney. There are hundreds of PFAS chemicals, yet there is no publicly available information about which ones are used in microwave popcorn products. In 2008, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determined that certain PFAS chemicals could migrate out of microwave popcorn bags and contaminate popcorn. A 2007 publication from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tested 17 types of microwave popcorn from eight different brands and detected PFAS in the air from just-heated popcorn bags, suggesting people might also inhale these chemicals when eating microwave popcorn.

Unfortunately, it’s not just microwave popcorn we need to worry about. Families may be exposed to a wide array of hazardous chemicals in a variety of products, most of which are under-regulated by authorities. PFASs or their chemical cousin perfluorochemicals (PFCs) are used for stain, water and/or grease resistance. They are not just in microwave popcorn bags but also in many household items, including furniture, carpet and carpet cleaners, textiles, floor waxes and outdoor apparel. A 2017 study by CEH—Kicking the Can?—found that 38 percent of the cans tested from Dollar Stores contained the hazardous chemical BPA, another hormone disruptor. Numerous other studies have also shown that toxic chemicals are commonly found in Dollar Store products (summary and report, BPA in canned food).

The video is part of a larger effort by the Campaign for Healthier Solutions (CHS) to convince discount retailers including Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Dollar General, and 99 Cents Only to embrace greater corporate responsibility and protect the health of customers and their families.

The seriousness of the threat posed by PFAS to consumers makes this more than just a toxic chemical issue, but a social justice one. Dollar Stores are often located in communities of color and poor neighborhoods that are already exposed to chemical hazards at higher levels. Frequently, Dollar Stores are the only store selling food and household products for miles, and they don’t typically provide plain popcorn kernels as other retailers have, which are needed for making safer popcorn. Adding to this problem, Dollar Stores have committed to doing almost nothing beyond their minimum legal requirements to protect people who have no other shopping options.

CEH, CHS and a broad coalition of community groups, public health advocates, environmental justice organizations and consumers are urging Dollar Stores to adopt comprehensive, transparent hazardous chemical policies; to encourage microwave popcorn manufacturers to stop selling food products which contain hazardous chemicals; and to offer safer alternatives—like popcorn kernels—in their stores until they do.

Source: Eco Watch

Even Polar Bear Cubs Can’t Escape Plastic Pollution

22.07.2018

polar-bear-560215_960_720 — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Plastic bags are often stamped with an all-caps warning: This bag is not a toy. Unfortunately, polar bear moms don’t have much control over their kids’ playthings.

British wildlife photographer Kevin Morgans recently spotted this polar bear and her boisterous cubs while sailing through Liefdefjorden, a fjord in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago. The furry twins played tug-of-war with a black plastic bag, chewing it to bits. For Morgans it was a “bittersweet moment,” with the thrill of observing bears up-close tempered by the ugly intrusion of trash.

Morgan’s sighting was a glimpse into a deepening crisis. Roughly 8 million metric tons of plastic junk wind up in the ocean each year. Much of it, like the plastic bag the cubs had found, is designed to be used just once and thrown away. Plastic is thought to persist for centuries in the environment, breaking down into ever-smaller pieces instead of biodegrading.

These tiny scraps, beads and fibers might pose an even more pernicious threat than the plastic we can easily see, like bags and bottles. Plankton and filter-feeding fish often mistake so-called “microplastics” for food. Once swallowed, plastics can release industrial chemicals into the critters’ bodies. Fat-soluble poisons accumulate with each step up in the food chain, eventually posing grave dangers to long-lived predators like polar bears and orcas.

Scientists are still in the early stages of understanding the full scope of the ocean plastic crisis. But one thing’s for certain: As the Svalbard cubs’ world melts around them, the last thing they need is a sea—and prey—full of trash.

Source: Eco Watch

Will Climate Change Make the Next World Cup Too Hot to Handle

21.07.2018

football-1406106_960_720 — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

After four weeks of fanfare, the 2018 World Cup has come to a close. France’s victory in Sunday’s final marked the end of a summer filled with thrilling victories, surprise defeats, national pride (and disappointment), penalty kick-induced panic and many other emotions associated with soccer.

Fans, unfortunately, will have to wait longer than usual to experience it all over again. That’s because the next FIFA World Cup in 2022 will be held in winter, not summer, due to the sweltering climate of the next host country, Qatar.

Located on the Persian Gulf, Qatar sees an average high temperature of 108 degrees F in the summer, and temperatures close to 123 degrees F have been recorded in the capital Doha. For a sport that requires players to run continually for 90 minutes, this poses a huge health hazard. And even without the physical strain of playing soccer at the highest level, extreme heat threatens significant health problems, including dehydration, exhaustion and stroke.

Past sporting events demonstrate the danger of extreme heat. The 2014 Australian Open continued play through temperatures of 108 degrees F, which caused the Canada’s Frank Dancevic to grow faint and hallucinate, seeing the cartoon character Snoopy. Dancevic later said that it was “inhumane” to make competitors play tennis in that heat.

Due to the dangers associated with extreme heat, FIFA’s executive committee decided to move the 2022 World Cup from its typical June to July timeframe to late November and December, when high temperatures reach above 80 degrees F. This forces soccer fans to wait an additional six months to see their team on the world stage, but it will be significantly safer for players who take part in the tournament.

A winter tournament is particularly important given the effect of climate change. Qatar is likely to be warmer in 2022 than it is today, and research has shown that in the Middle East, unlike the rest of the world, temperatures are rising faster in the summer than in the winter. Each year, the region sees a new heat record broken. On June 26, Quriyat, Oman set a stunning record for highest low temperature. That day, the mercury did not fall below 108.7 degrees F. If global warming continues at its current pace, scientists project that, by 2100, the Arabian peninsula and surrounding areas could be too hot and humid for humans to survive outdoors.

Qatar organizers are fully aware of the heat concerns, not just for the players but for millions of expected visiting fans as well. In May 2017, the country finished construction of Khalifa International Stadium, its first World Cup stadium and the world’s largest air-conditioned open-air arena. The advanced cooling technology will keep the field and stands around 79 degrees F.

While prioritizing the health of players and fans, organizers have neglected to safeguard construction workers, who are building stadiums, hotels and other infrastructure ahead of 2022. Following reports of hundreds of migrant laborers in Qatar dying as result of working long hours in extreme heat, including many working on World Cup buildings, critics called on organizers to instate better labor protections. Human Rights Watch Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson said that “as Qatar scales up its FIFA World Cup construction projects, authorities need to scale up transparency about worker deaths that could be heat related, and take urgent steps to end risks to workers from heat.”

Organizers’ apparent disregard for hot, humid working conditions fits a pattern of systematic abuse and exploitation, according to Amnesty International. “My life here is like a prison,” a worker from Nepal told the organization. “The work is difficult, we worked for many hours in the hot sun.”

Unfortunately, the sweltering temperatures making life difficult in Qatar today will only get worse in the years ahead. Climate change is making the world hotter by the day, with consequences for athletes, fans and, in particular, workers, who have to contend with extreme heat.

Source: Eco Watch

Hydrogen Trains on Track for Low Carbon Freight Sector

21.07.2018

Hydrogen could prove a highly effective low carbon fuel technology for powering trains.

That’s according to Polish coal mining company JSW and PKP Cargo, a national rail freight operator, which are working together to research, analyse and potentially produce new types of shunting locomotives and freight wagons powered by hydrogen fuel.

The main goal is to lower the consumption of energy and reduce the emissions currently produced by commercial and industrial trains.

JSW is also looking at the possibility of using hydrogen extracted from coke oven gas, a by-product of the industrial coke production process.

PKP Cargo president, Czeslaw Warsewicz, said: “The use of hydrogen to drive our locomotives will increase the competitiveness of our services.”

Source: Energy Live News

How Coca-Cola and Climate Change Created a Public Health Crisis in a Mexican Town

20.07.2018

coca-cola-821512_960_720 — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

A lack of drinking water and a surplus of Coca-Cola are causing a public health crisis in the Mexican town of San Cristóbal de las Casas, The New York Times reported Saturday.

Some neighborhoods in the town only get running water a few times a week, so residents turn to soda, drinking more than half a gallon a day on average.

“Soft drinks have always been more available than water,” Maria del Carmen Abadía, a 35-year-old security guard, told The New York Times.

Abadía and her parents are some of the many in the town who suffer from diabetes as a result of their limited drinking options. The mortality rate from diabetes in Chiapas, the region of Mexico where San Cristóbal is located, has increased by 30 percent from 2013 to 2016. It follows heart disease as the region’s second leading cause of death, killing 3,000 a year.

Scientists say that part of the town’s water woes is due to climate change.

“It doesn’t rain like it used to,” Ecosur research center biochemist Jesús Carmona told The New York Times. “Almost every day, day and night, it used to rain.”

The lack of rain means the artesian wells that supplied the town in the past don’t get enough water.

But residents also blame a local Coca-Cola factory, both for the product it sells and the water it diverts. The factory has a deal with the federal government allowing it to extract more than 300,000 gallons of water a day at the extremely cheap rate of 10 cents for every 260 gallons.

“When you see that institutions aren’t providing something as basic as water and sanitation, but you have this company with secure access to one of the best water sources, of course it gives you a shock,” clean water nonprofit Cántaro Azul director Fermin Reygadas told The New York Times.

Part of the problem is that the deal between the plant, owned by Femsa, a company with the rights to bottle and sell Coca-Cola in Latin America, and the federal government benefits both at the expense of the town itself.

“Coca-Cola pays … money to the federal government, not the local government,” Kettering University social scientist Laura Mebert told The New York Times, “while the infrastructure that serves the residents of San Cristóbal is literally crumbling.”

Anger at the company led to protests in 2017 demanding the plant shut down. Demonstrators marched on the building wearing masks and holding crosses that said “Coca-Cola kills us.”

Tensions also derailed attempts by Femsa to build a wastewater plant last year, something San Cristóbal still lacks.

Coca-Cola released a statement in response to The New York Times article, saying the bottling plant paid market rate for the water it used and that the company had worked with locals for a decade to build water tanks, rooftop rain collectors and develop water conservation projects.

“We also agree too much sugar isn’t good for anyone, and that is why we are taking actions around the world to help people drink less sugar from our beverages,” the statement said, adding that 45 percent of their Mexican product portfolio was low or no sugar.

The company, however, has a history of presenting misleading information about the health benefits of its products.

As recently as 2015, it was uncovered that Coca-Cola funded the Global Energy Balance Network (GEBN) to argue that exercise, not limiting calorie intake, was the best way to lose weight and stay healthy. In documents uncovered in March, the company even said it saw the GEBN as a “weapon” in a “growing war” over the causes of weight gain.

Similarly manipulative tactics are partly responsible for the proliferation of Coca-Cola in Chiapas.

In the 1960s, Coca-Cola and Pepsi put up billboards in indigenous languages often showing people in the traditional dress of the native Tzotzil people.

Coca-Cola has since been integrated into local culture and religion. In the nearby town of San Juan Chamula, worshipers in local churches pray over chickens and bottles of soda. Many Tzotzil people even believe the beverage has healing powers.

“Coca-Cola is abusive, manipulative,” local activist Martin López López told The New York Times. “They take our pure water, they dye it and they trick you on TV saying that it’s the spark of life. Then they take the money and go.”

Source: Eco Watch

Every Cotton T-Shirt Costs the Environment $3.40

20.07.2018

Ma Earth is paying through its nose for the clothing we produce, according to a study that quantifies, for the first time, the price we exact from the ecosystem for our clothing. Case in point? Factoring in the use of water, fertilizer, and energy along the entire supply chain, a single cotton T-shirt can cost the planet more than 20 Danish kroner, or $3.40, in financial terms. Extrapolated across the industry, clothing consumption in Denmark alone plunders the environment of more than DKK 3 billion ($510 million) every year. This toll is much too high, says Kirsten Brosbøl, head of Denmark’s Ministry of the Environment, which partnered with the IC Group, operator of brands like Tiger of Sweden and Peak Performance, to commission the report.

Cost and effect

“Everything, from the enormous amounts of fertilizer and water consumption on cotton fields to carbon-dioxide emissions from leather and zip manufacture, impacts the environment,” Brosbøl says in a statement. “Now we can see what this actually costs, and even though all our clothes are produced abroad, we still have a responsibility. I call on the industry to make things better and to use these accounts to reduce their environmental footprint.”

Although Denmark hosts several well-known brands that operate both domestically and abroad, garment manufacturing within the country itself is limited. (Despite a number of cut-and-sew factories and finishing plants, it doesn’t farm cotton or produce polyester or other textiles.) In fact, more than 80 percent of Danish apparel is imported as finished product, which means that most of the industry’s impact stems from activity outside of the country, in places such as China, India, and Turkey.

“We in the clothing industry are well aware that we have some hefty environmental challenges,” says Morten Lehman, corporate responsibility manager for IC Group. “These accounts provide IC Group with a tool to further qualify our work on sustainability and to set specific targets for our sustainability efforts in our value chain.”

The report is already changing the way IC Group operates, Lehman adds. “We’ve already used the accounts to discuss CO2 emissions with factories in China; emissions we have previously considered as a problem primarily arising from raw materials production rather than at factories,” he says.

This isn’t the first time “natural capital accounting” has been used to calculate the impact of business activities on natural resources and ecosystem services. Puma popularized the concept when it released its first Environment Profit & Loss Account in 2011.

Source: Ecouterre

Asthma Deaths Rise 25% amid Growing Air Pollution Crisis

20.07.2018

A record number of people are dying of asthma, and experts have warned growing air pollution and a lack of basic care could be to blame.

In England and Wales 1,320 people died of asthma last year, a sharp rise of more than 25% over a decade, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

The findings come amid growing concern about the air pollution crisis in the UK and mounting evidence of its impact on people’s health – particularly children and the elderly.

Earlier this month a medical expert said the hospital admissions of a nine-year-old girl who died during an asthma attack showed a “striking association” with spikes in illegal levels of air pollution around her home in London.

Last week an A&E doctor wrote in the Guardian about how her ward in London was overwhelmed by terrified children struggling to breathe because of dangerous levels of pollution. A separate report revealed that illegal levels of air pollution were driving up hospital admissions and GP visits.

Jonathan Grigg, a professor of paediatric respiratory medicine at Queen Mary University of London and a British Lung Foundation medical adviser, said: “These figures add to the growing body of evidence that air pollution is damaging everyone’s health. The case to clean up our air couldn’t be clearer, but the government has not yet showed the courage to deliver a credible nationwide plan.”

Today’s findings from the ONS showed that 1,320 people died in 2017 compared with 1,237 in 2016 and 1,033 in 2007. There has been an increase of 43% in asthma deaths in those aged 55-64 since 2016.

Kay Boycott, the chief executive of Asthma UK, described the surge as shocking. “This is devastating for the families who have lost a loved one and highlights the urgent need to improve basic care for people with asthma,” she said.

Sonia Munde, head of helpline and nurse manager at Asthma UK, said the top trigger for asthma attacks was pollution. “On days where pollution levels are high, it can leave people with asthma struggling for breath, increasing their risk of a life-threatening asthma attack,” she said.

Munde added that people who have asthma triggered by pollution should make sure they take their preventer inhaler as prescribed as this will help reduce inflammation in their airways, making them less likely to react to asthma triggers.

ONS data showed that 17 children aged 14 and under died from an asthma attack in 2017, up from 13 in 2016.

Overall air pollution has been linked to an estimated 40,000 premature deaths in the UK and labelled a public health emergency by the World Health Organization. It is known to be a major risk factor for childhood asthma.

The UK government has lost three times in the high court for failing to deal effectively with the crisis and is now being taken to Europe’s highest court. Earlier this year MPs from four select committees said serious concerns remained over the government’s commitment to reducing the impact of air pollution on public health.

Boycott said that alongside rising levels of toxic air, asthma deaths could be also be linked to inadequate basic care for an estimated 3.5 million people.

She said people were entitled to a follow-up appointment with their GP after they had been admitted to hospital with asthma. “Two thirds of people with asthma do not receive this within two working days of their discharge from hospital,” she said. “We are urging the NHS to ensure that people with asthma receive basic care to prevent avoidable deaths.”

Source: Guardian

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