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Environment

What Environmental Concerns To Except This Year?

Charles Aldean 2016-12-16

England will be experiencing a breakthrough in the fuel sector with the fracking for shale to begin this year. The Yorkshire and Lancashire wells are due to be drilled this summer. With just 17% in favor of fracking more protests are expected. Another major cause of concern would be the Brexit negotiations that can be a threat to farming subsidies, animal welfare, GM foods, air and water pollution. If there would be a roll back of the environmental regulations then protests may emerge.

Statistics has it that air pollution kills nearly 50,000 people every year in Britain. Therefore this will be an important agenda for the government with the courts seeking a new plan to comply with the EU legal controls. A draft is likely to be published in the month of April that will completely fund the clean air zones in important cities, set up strict regulations for vehicle pollution and also encourage cycling and walking. London is expected to join the pledge for banning diesel vehicles for the next few years. This is a movement to eradicate fossil fuel within the next 3 decades.

Again the global climate this year will be dominated by the new presidential elect Donald Trump as he withdraws from the Paris global agreement to contain emissions. Trump has appointed intellectuals to be responsible for monitoring climate change and this is likely to increase the coal, gas and oil production. If US is out of the Paris deal, China will lead giving room to diplomatic damage. In this connect many climate scientists in the US are likely to lose a major chunk of research grants.

In the year 2017, a weak La Nina is expected to cool the Pacific Ocean waters. This is expected to bring about good rainfall and make the temperature cool. However, 2017 is likely to bring in more wildlife losses even as more animals are under the IUCN red lists and action being taken on illegal trade.

Environment-Friendly Tote Bags – A Reality

Charles Aldean 2016-11-03

Reusable bags have been the trend for quite some time now, and the big fans of these bags are Americans. While the world has slowly started getting rid of the disposable bags which are dangerous, Tote bags claims to be environment-friendly. Many municipalities have restricted the use of plastic bags to avoid waste. Many shops offer plastic bags either for free by charging a small amount of cash. Recycling of bags has been initiated nationwide.

It is a fact that canvas bags might also be worse than plastic as during a study researchers found that the expenditure incurred for various bags such as plastic and paper is the same used for making canvas bags. HDPE or the high-density polyethylene has got the smallest impact while cotton tote bags have got the highest impact on the environment.
HDPE bags may seem artificial however they produce very less carbon and by-products than any other cotton or paper bags.

As per studies, the expenditure for HDPE bag is less than almost two kilos of carbon wherein Tote bags need 26 and tote cotton bags need 327 uses. Since they are abundantly available, people believe it as disposable which is against its purpose. Many shops give Tote bags as gifts to the people which are the main reason of the high usage of this bag. This type of disaster causes more harm than help.

A study showed that the designers have a huge role in making tote bags famous as people get attracted towards big printed bags. There were only limited supplies of Tote bags once. However, when it was released all over, millions of people were lined up to buy this bag. In many countries, this bag has created so many crowds that sometimes the help of the police was taken to control the crowd.

Science

This Planet Surface Has Water But Can It Hold Life?

Charles Aldean 2016-10-21

Proxima Centauri is closest to the earth and scientists have evidence of a plant near the star’s habitat. It lies with the orbit’s range where water could exist on the surface. Hundreds of similar planets have been spotted by researches and all these have shown the potential to host life. But Proxima Centauri is the reason for all the buzz because it lies in close proximity to earth with a distance of about 4.25 light years. It can be seen within the range of telescopes. Moreover, it is easier to learn about the composition when compared to other exoplanet found till date.

There were many unauthorized news circulating on the discovery of the planet discovered using the radial velocity method. Many groups are constantly hinting a planet around Proxima Centauri but there is nothing concrete. Meanwhile the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) observes the start for about 2 months in a row for 20 minutes. The latest data informs that the planet looks 1.3 times the size of earth moving in orbits approximately every 11.2 days. This only goes to prove rocky planets are seen around all types of stars.

In the case of Proxima Centauri, it is just 1/8th the sun’s mass and burns less brightly. Moreover, the energy hitting star is just 65% of what earth receives from the sun. This goes to prove that water could easily exist if the planet has a means to trap heat. The planet may not be particularly capable of supporting life. The planet is tidally locked, showing only the same face every time to the star causing permanent night and day resulting in drastic variation in temperature. The closeness of the planet to Proxima Centauri gives it 100 times higher energy radiation when compared to Earth in terms of ultraviolet light. But if Proxima Centauri has no transit then there is always hope for life.