Smoke and Water, Environmental Downs And Ups

Smoke and Water, Environmental Downs and Ups

Ecosystem, , ,

Mentatul Monthly Focus
February 2019 Edition
– The Environment –

1. Nine years after such information was widely available, I finally got to understand just how insanely terrible sea shipping is for our planet. Consider that a single massive cargo ship puts out more cancer and asthma-causing pollutants than 50 million cars.

2. A 23.8 meters high wave was recorded in the Southern hemisphere. For reference, that’s about as high as a 6-stories building.

3. Ocean heat buildup is a major problem, one that is seriously underestimated.

4. In November 2016, the Environment Ministry of Japan warned that the country will produce 800,000 tons of solar waste by 2040, and it can’t yet handle those volumes. That same year, the International Renewable Energy Agency estimated that there were already 250,000 metric tons of solar panel waste worldwide and that this number would grow to 78 million by 2050.

5. Is global warming worrying you? Do you think we’ve run out of time? Well, here’s some good news. If we, as a species, would for once work together, we could actually achieve negative carbon emissions.

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Neonicotinoids and Bees

Pesticides Harming Bees Banned in Europe – Major Win for Our Ecosystem

Ecosystem, ,

Good news is even better when it arrives unexpected. In a major win for our ecosystem, the European Union has banned the use of neonicotinoids. Other than the fact that the use of such poison is another example of arrogant human interference in the environment, this category of pesticides is destroying bee colonies worldwide. Bees are responsible for pollinating a majority of our crops, so a major bee die-off would seriously impact our food supply. When it comes to respecting our ecosystem, it’s lovely how Europe leads the way!

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Reef Death

Reef Death

Ecosystem,

“One-third of the 3,863 reefs that make up the Great Barrier Reef — the largest, most extensive reef system in the world — went through a catastrophic die-off after a searing heat wave in 2016, according to a newly published study in the journal Nature. A bleaching event in 2017 devastated even more of that reef, and the cumulative effects have killed an estimated half of the magnificent system in just two years.”

It’s a quote from the article below, a work that fits in the “doom and gloom” category. But unlike articles about Planet X, the “unavoidable catastrophic” eruption of Yellowstone or the reversal of the Earth’s magnetic poles, this is “real doom and gloom”. Corals around the world are dying at an alarming rate. This can lead to sudden, disastrous effects on the ocean ecosystem (and thus, the entire planet).

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The Global The Carbohydrates Injection

Our Warming Atmosphere Makes Plants Less Nutritious

Ecosystem, , ,

It is said that “you are what you eat”. That stands true not only for humans, but for everything that eats. It’s well known that at optimal temperatures and humidity, plants thrive given light and carbon-dioxide. It was considered that one of the perhaps positive effects of global warming would be that plants would grow faster. This self-balancing property of our ecosystem could even contribute to cleaning up our atmosphere, as more plants would eat more CO2. That may very well hold true, if it wasn’t for desertification.

However, even though plants do thrive thanks to having more carbon-dioxide available, they apparently are not as nutritious. This is an extremely important finding, because, like the linked article points out, “increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is reducing the protein in staple crops like rice, wheat, barley and potatoes, raising unknown risks to human health in the future”.

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Latest and Greatest in Climate Change

The Latest (and Greatest) on Climate Change

Ecosystem, ,

Thanks to climate-change skeptics, we’ve been fortunate to have a lot of talented, driven people doing great research that proves how real and dangerous global warming really is. Unfortunately, even with the best of intentions, the media has turned the frequent updates from the scientific community into a deluge of climate change news, which led to the audience developing a sort of selective hearing when it comes to this topic. “Yeah, yeah, we’ve heard it all before”. But hey, here on Mentatul I need to address dozens of topics while keeping at roughly post per week. This forces me to only post about climate change roughly twice per year.

Two articles are the reason for this post. The first one is about farts. Cow farts to be precise. The methane that they contain, to be even more precise, and how it affects global warming.

The second article provides a rather appalling prognosis for our future. And it’s not even “the worst case scenario”. I’m sorry to say, but given all the statistics I’ve seen recently, it seems to be that the following article is presenting a future that has a high probability of becoming reality. And I see very few governments do anything about it, especially when it comes to the world’s biggest polluters.

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Male Mosquito

Zika Used as an Excuse for Releasing Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes

Ecosystem, Recommendations, ,

According to some researchers, the Zika virus, which causes the Zika fever, can cause microcephaly and other brain malformations in some babies if the mother is infected during pregnancy. Recent findings though, indicate that there might be other causes for the infants’ malformations, such as the parents’ exposure to toxic pesticides. In 12000 Zika-infected Colombian pregnancies there wasn’t a single case of microcephaly.

While the jury is still out on some of these findings, let’s take a look at one solution that’s being considered for fighting the spread of Zika.

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