The world is good

2021-07-06 14:42:33 New carbon capture facility will remove 1m tons of CO2 from the air yearly

We’re thrilled to share with you a real breakthrough in our efforts to cut the amount of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere.

Scotland is set to become home to the world’s largest direct carbon capture (DAC) facility, which will have the capacity to remove up to one million tons of CO2 from the air each year — the equivalent carbon absorption potential of 40 million trees over the same period of time. All the carbon that will be captured by the facility will then be deposited in storage sites under the sea.

The facility will boast large fans that pull air into a liquid-filled vat that binds the carbon monoxide, reports Interesting Engineering. Once bound, the captured carbon is refined and converted into calcium carbonate pellets. The pellets, in turn, are then broken down with heat into a CO2 stream alongside calcium oxide. This stream is then filtered of impurities, after which it is pumped into an underwater storage site.

The colossal climate change-fighting facility joins a host of other carbon capture technology innovations aimed at keeping global warming to within 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. As the Union of Concerned Scientists points out on its website, “to reach net-zero emissions, we need to do more than just reduce our emissions: we need to actively remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or offset its effects.”

Accelerating the expansion of carbon capture facilities across the world, and putting the absorbed carbon to good use may thus prove key to reversing catastrophic climate change. Open / Comment

2021-07-05 10:24:35 Open / Comment

2021-07-05 10:24:25 Rosario, Argentina: A case study in the benefits of urban farming

In an effort to address the financial collapse of 2001, the municipal government of Rosario, Argentina came up with an ingenious plan to get the city’s residents back to work. Officials partnered with 700 farming families to dedicate unused land in the city for farming. This not only created employment but also encouraged urban farming and improved access to fresh, local produce for residents.

This week, the initiative, called the Urban Agriculture Program, was awarded the Prize for Cities from the World Resources Institute, and it’s not hard to understand why. Two decades from its conception, the project has yielded 30 hectares of Parque Huertas (orchard parks) and 15 hectares of agricultural family gardens.

The gardens are located in every corner of the city including abandoned brick factories, old dumps, and empty lots. This “green belt” project amounts to a total of 700 hectares of agroecological production within the city’s limits.

In addition to the urban farms, the city hosts many local markets where farmers can sell their goods to their fellow community members. These markets paved the way for artisanal blacksmiths, carpenters, and textile producers to better reach consumers as well.

The program has even helped improve equity and empower marginalized groups in Rosario. The high number of female urban farmers led to the creation of Farmer Women of Rosario, an organization for female farmers to support one another, and the designated Biomercado (Bio-market) serves as a place for Indigenous peoples, such as the Qom and the Mocovies, to sell traditional products.

On top of the numerous social benefits, the program has also helped the city cut greenhouse gas emissions by localizing their food system, while an emphasis on organic practices purified the local water supply. The city now holds the title of the “greenest city in Argentina.”

“As a Rosarino, I’m proud that this program was born out of a tremendous political, economic and social crisis in the country,” Pablo Nasi Murua, Rosario’s sub-secretary of Social Development tells. “It has lasted through prosperous and lean years, but every time there has been a crisis, it expands.” Open / Comment

2021-07-04 09:32:45 Open / Comment

2021-07-04 09:32:41 Strangers Track Down Writer Who Launched Message in a Bottle Nearly a Century Ago

Turn back the clock to 1926. Imagine yourself a teenager, your whole life ahead of you, shining with possibility. It’s your birthday. As a gift to yourself, you toss a message in a bottle into the local river and watch it float from sight—never knowing if or when the bright-eyed boy you are now will reconnect with the man you’ll someday become. While that may not have been the exact scenario, 95 years later, the message—if not the bottle—has finally found its way home.

Jennifer Dowker, who captains Michigan-based Nautical North Family Adventures, spends her summers scuba diving and conducting shipwreck tours from her boat, the Yankee Sunshine. An avid collector, she was performing underwater maintenance on the glass-bottom window when she found a curious curio on the riverbed.

The bottle’s unusual antique shape and green glass were what first caught Dowker’s eye, but on closer inspection, she realized the find was something more. Though damaged and slightly water-logged, she and her crew learned the note inside the bottle had survived an amazing nine-plus decades in the water.

Dated November 1926, it read:
Will the person who finds this bottle return this paper to George Morrow Cheboygan, Michigan and tell where it was found?

After posting a picture of the long-missing missive to Facebook, word spread like wildfire. More than 100,000 shares and 6,000 comments later, one curious reader managed to locate Morrow’s daughter, Michele Primeau (who “doesn’t do Facebook”) to tell her the story and give her Dowker’s contact information.

Morrow passed away in 1995, but Primeau recognized her father’s handwriting. With a habit of secreting small notes away in unlikely places, she said that sending a message in a bottle was very much in keeping with his sentimental character.

Though initially, Dowker told Primeau she’d forward the mementos to her, after sleeping on the idea for a night, Primeau decided a policy of “finders keepers” would better serve her dad’s memory. “I thought the right thing to do would be to give it to her,” Primeau told. “She found it and that would keep my dad’s name living on.”

Now, perhaps it was purely coincidence, but this whole episode happened on Father’s Day weekend. Even if it wasn’t George Morrow’s way of letting his little girl know he was still watching over her all these years later, she says it brought back a boatload of wonderful memories. Open / Comment

2021-07-03 11:30:17 Open / Comment

2021-07-03 11:30:09 New Zealand will ban most single-use plastic items by 2025

While New Zealand is considered to be one of the greenest countries in the world, it is currently one of the top ten per-capita producers of landfill waste worldwide. That may soon change, however, thanks to new legislation that will ban most single-use plastics by 2025.

Among the main items targeted are single-use plastics such as cotton buds, bags, cutlery, plates, straws, and fruit packaging. “Every day, New Zealanders throw away an estimated 159g of plastic waste per person, making us some of the highest waste generators in the world,” said David Parker, the environment minister.

The new legislation, which will be rolled out beginning of next year, would “ensure we live up to our clean, green reputation,” said Parker. According to estimates, the ban will divert more than two billion single-use plastic items from the country’s landfills and the environment.

New Zealand already eliminated single-use plastic bags in 2019, but the new law will extend the ban to include packaging for produce, as well as a range of other items.

Other countries have taken similar steps, including the UK which banned plastic straws, stirrers, and cotton buds in 2020, and the EU which plans to introduce a similar ban this year. Open / Comment

2021-07-01 09:48:52 Open / Comment

2021-07-01 09:48:43 The Bison Bridge will be the world’s longest human-made wildlife crossing

Chad Pregracke is an impassioned conservationist who spends his time on barges, cleaning up refuse from the Mississippi River. While on the river, he watches cars drive across a 55-year-old concrete bridge that is meant to be demolished and replaced—but when he sees the aging bridge, he imagines a different future for it: a reserve and wildlife crossing for the American bison, colloquially known as buffalo.

Wildlife restoration and conservation of biodiversity are being taken more seriously as a viable method for combating the negative effects of climate change, and so Pregracke’s proposal to transform the bridge is gaining momentum. The departments of transportation in Iowa and Illinois are seriously considering his idea and believe that they can break ground in as little as five years.

The vision for the bridge is for there to be a pedestrian and bike path on one side, and on the other, an enclosed bison paddock that allows visitors to see the majestic bison at close range. The herds would be free to wander between Iowa and Illinois on the conservation area, which would mark the establishment of the first National Park in either state.

Supporters of the Bison Bridge argue that repurposing the old bridge, rather than destroying it, would reduce waste, save costs, and be an overall benefit for the environment. It would also turn the Quad City area (named for the four cities Bettendorf and Davenport in south-eastern Iowa and Moline and Rock Island in north-western Illinois) into an eco-tourist destination that will generate income and raise awareness for the conservation of bison. ​The restoration of the bridge as a bison reserve is an opportunity for the general public to be educated on the history and significance of the region, making the Bison Bridge an important factor both ecologically and culturally. Open / Comment

2021-06-30 11:02:14 Open / Comment