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August 2020: Monthly Environmental News Roundup

1. Is there life floating in the clouds of Venus?

The theory that living creatures float in earth Venus clouds is an incredible probability. But now, after discovering gas in the atmosphere, researchers are thinking about it. This gas is phosphine – a molecule composed of one atom of phosphorus and three atoms of hydrogen. Phosphine is associated with life on earth with bacteria in animal guts like penguins, or in areas that are low in oxygen, such as swamps. Of course, you can produce it industrially, but there are no factories on Venus. They also published a paper on phosphine observes in Venus in the journal Nature Astronomy and studies into phosphorous may be of actual, non-biological origin.

2. Humans are unprecedentedly abusing and killing Nature

According to an exhaustive recent assessment of the living resources of Earth, wildlife ecosystems worldwide are in a free-fall caused by human overconsumption, population growth, and industrial agriculture. According to the biennial Living Planet Study 2020 by the WWF and Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the global numbers of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, and reptiles have on an average fallen by 68% between 1970 and 2016. The number was 60 percent two years earlier. The study has been carried out by 134 scientists from around the world and is one of the highest evaluations possible in world biological diversity. The paper showed that habitat is being abused and ruined to a level never before documented by humans from the rainforests of Central America to the Pacific Ocean.

3. Environmental activists assert victory as Northumberland carbon mining proposals have been dismissed

After years of heavy resistance from environmentalists, the UK government vetoed proposals to build an “environmentally unacceptable” coal mine near Druridge Bay. The housing ministry, local councils, and residents opposed the planning permit for a second time saying that proposals for a new open-cast mine were “non-environmentally appropriate” in England. The Decision ends an almost five-year war against the Banks Group, a Durham-based infrastructure company that hoped to extract millions of tonnes of coal for UK steel and cement industries.

4. Wildfires from the west coast drove to New York and Washington D.C.

Wildfire haze spread east of the US as far as New York and DC with people watching gloomy clouds and rare sunrises. Skies have brought a hazy din from the city of the United States. New York’s Metro Weather forecast that this week’s dark air in New York City will be much heavier all Tuesday. Fire smoke has dispersed around the country and across the globe, with haze warnings from Canada and Europe as the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration records photos of smoke in a cyclone deep in the Pacific. The worst affected is Oregon, where the lowest record amounts in Portland, Eugene, Bent, Medford, and Klamath Falls, the state’s air protection agency said on Tuesday, were surpassed by the minute pieces of smoke and ash identified as particulates.

5. Alarm about inbreeding after the crooked tails of California cougars

The Santa Monica Mountain was a worrying indicator of incredibly weak genetic diversity in the rural population of fewer than half as many citizens as possible, who inhabit the harsh canyons just north of Los Angeles. Mountain lions with bent tails have been seen. In early March a young sedated male mountain lion was studied by biologists.

The cougar, named P-81, was shaped like a letter L, and only one testicle, known as cryptorchidism had descended. Scientists have since identified two other huge cats with identical malformations. The agents believe that one is closely linked and perhaps even her sister to the first cougar. Not only are the mountain lions harmed by them. The sprawling rise and destruction of ecosystems endanger millions of species worldwide. A related issue has recently emerged in Florida for panthers, including kinked tails and cryptorchidism. Conservationists remedied the situation with the importation from Texas of 8 woman mountain lions, increasing the population from about two dozen to an estimated 200.

7. after wildfires ravaged 1.4 million hectares of vegetation, Mato Grosso, Brazil declares an environmental emergency

Brazil’s southern state of Mato Grosso do Sul has declared an emergency after the raging wildfires have ravaged 1.4 million ha of vegetation since the beginning of the year. On Monday, during a meeting with the State Minister, Alexandre Lucas Alves, who visited the state capital, Campo Grande, the state governor, Reinaldo Azambuja, signed the decree. Extreme drought threatens the central area of the country in the 79 municipalities of the state and fires spread to the states of Mato Grosso and the Tocantins. Droughts in 47 years in the country have been described as the worst. The fires have engulfed the Encontro das Aguas park in Pantanal, which sits along the boundary between Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul.

8. NHS Scotland to detail Net-Zero Policy

Ricardo would lead to the implementation of a consistent conceptual structure for enhancing organizational efficiencies by reducing costs and efficiency. The strategy also covers areas such as enhanced power solutions, Low-emission technology, circular economy growth, and an improved fleet of NHS vehicles. This implementation of the net-null solution to NHS Services is aligned with the Swiss Climate Change Act, which lays down a commitment for the nation to reach a net-zero by the year 2045 at the latest. Darren Perrin, director of the net-zero organization of Ricardo added: “Health and the atmosphere are very closely related and NHS Services Scotland will play a significant role in this approach. The Water UK, representing more than 25 water and sanitation businesses, also held an event for the water industry where the two experts discuss their research and discuss strategies for businesses to explore in planning their future plans.

9. Raising giant: Hurricane Sally is risking ancient flooding

Heavy rainfall, bumpy waves, and flash flooding struck regions of the Panhandle of Florida and the coast of Alabama as Hurricane Sally lumbered painfully slowly, threatening to rainfall as high as 30 centimetres and dangerous, historical inundation. According to the national hurricane center, the storm center shook offshore at just 125 kilometres (75 miles) south of Mobile, Alabama, as Sally creeped through the predicted landfall of only 2 miph, or on early Wednesdays. The winds spanned 40 miles from the core of the hurricane and winds from the tropical storm hit Tuesday night’s coastline. Because of the national weather service, up to 4 inches of rain (10 centimetres) already had fallen on areas of the coast. And more deluges meant Sally’s lumbering pace.

10. In greener environments, children have higher IQ, research findings

Research showed that a child’s intelligence and challenging actions improve in a greener urban area decreased challenge. More than 600 children aged 10-15 reported a 3 percent rise in their neighbourhood’s greenery, which increased their IQ by 2.6 points on average. The influence has been seen in both the wealthy and the poor. It is also clear that green spaces promote different facets of cognitive learning for children, but it is the first study to investigate IQ. The trigger is unknown but may be associated with lower stress, more interactive and playful touch, or a nicer environment. In particular, for children at the bottom of the continuum, where minor changes could make a major effect, the improvement in IQ points was significant, according to scientists.

11. In less than 30 years, Earth has lost 28 trillion tonnes of ice

Since 1994, 28 trillion tonnes of ice has been melted from Earth’s land. That is the spectacular finding of scientists from the United Kingdom that investigated the global ice extent loss from global heating exacerbated by growing greenhouse gas emissions by satellite measurements of the planet’s poles, mountain ranges, and glaciers. Scientists – based in Leeds and Edinburgh Universities and University College London – identify a “staggering” degree of ice depletion and warn of their analyses that sea levels rising at a rate of a meter at the end of the century, owing to the melting of glaciers and ice sheets. The scientists also warn of the severe decline of the planet’s ability to channel solar radiation back into space from smelting ice in these amounts. White ice is gone and the surrounding dark sea or the land retains more and more radiation and further increases global warming.

12. Micro plastic particles in human organs now discoverable

The new science now identifies micro plastic and Nano plastic particles in human organs. From Arctic snow and alpine lands to the lower seas, micro plastics have poisoned the whole world. People are known to eat and breathe into them through food and water, but possible health consequences are still not understood. Researchers expect particles to be present in human organs and chemicals to be contained in tissue. However, it is impossible to separate and classify those tiny particles and to contaminate plastics in the environment. In addition, the tissue bank was developed to research neurodegenerative disorders. To assess the methodology, they applied particles to 47 settings of lung, liver, spleen, and kidney tissue. Their findings revealed that any sample can detect micro plastics.

13. UK to define legally binding environmental goals

Britain announced that in its attempt to fight climate change, boost the atmosphere, and restore the economy it will implement legally binding goals on air quality, pollution prevention, sustainability, and sustainable water. These priorities will be part of the Environmental Project, which was launched last year and which is to restart its legislative function, pressuring the existing and prospective administrations to concentrate on environmental reforms. The government vowed “made greener,” with Prime Minister Boris Johnson seeking to rebound from the pandemic of coronavirus, which in the second quarter caused the economy to decline by one half. An annual government success against these goals will be reported by a proposed environmental monitor, the Office for Environmental Protection. It is also planned to track the progress of the nation towards its net-zero emission goal for 2050.

14. Small elephant shrew population, 50 years missing, rediscovered

The Horn of Africa finds a mouse-sized elephant shrew that has been absent for 50 years. The Somali Sengi work, sprint about 30 kilometers per hour and suck up awns with their trunky nose. Since 1968, however, scholars have not recorded this. In 2019 researchers started looking for the animal in Somalia, but not in the area of Djibouti. The only findings from now on were from that country. Locals might recognize the animal with Houssein Rayaleh, of the Djibouti Nature Association, from old pictures and state that he has previously seen the animal. The team took advantage of local knowledge and the fact that the sengis like to protect birds, traps in areas likely to be baited with a combination of peanut butter, oatmeal, and yeast. In the first pit set in the dry, rocky terrain, they captured a Somali sengi who marked him with the fur tuft of his tail, which separates him from other sengi animals.

15. 2020 Tyler Environmental Progress Award is won by Pavan Sukhdev

Goodwill Ambassador Pavan Sukhdev has this year received the coveted Tyler Environmental Achievement Award for his attempts to attract the attention of corporate and political policymakers to the economic implications of environmental destruction and destruction. In 2009, UNEP named Sukhdev to head the Green Economy Programme, demonstrating that economic development can be driven by greening, jobs can be created and poverty reduced. The Tyler Award for Environmental Acquisition is one of Several Environment Awards for the sustainability of and enhancement of the natural climate, honoring citizens who make a significant contribution towards science understanding and public leadership.

Image credit

Puskar Pande

Editor in chief @GreenCleanGuide.com

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