The world is good

2021-10-09 15:03:25 Open / Comment

2021-10-09 15:03:17 This Indonesian museum is made out of plastic pollution

The problem of plastic pollution is largely perpetuated by a lack of education and awareness about what actually contributes to this worldwide issue, and what we, the people, can do to help.

To bring plastic pollution to the forefront of the minds of the public, activists in Indonesia have constructed a museum comprised of more than 10,000 discarded bottles, bags, straws, and single-use food packaging.

The team behind the museum, which is made up of environmental activists from Indonesia’s Ecological Observation and Wetlands Conservation group, spent months hauling plastic items out of local rivers and beaches, where people have made a habit of dumping their trash.

Even plastics that are “biodegradable” can take hundreds of years to completely break down, and scientists estimate that around 12.7 million metric tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year. By 2050, scientists say that there will be more plastic by weight in the ocean than fish.

Since its opening last month in the town of Gresik in East Java province, the exhibit, called “Terowongan 4444,” or “4444 tunnel,” has made an impact on visitors who walk through a tunnel of thousands of plastic bottles, with the discarded pieces cascading ominously over them.

The museum highlights the threat that plastic pollution poses to marine life and ecosystems globally, and according to the group’s founder, Prigi Arisandi, the aim behind its construction is to inspire change among people who may not realize that they are part of the problem.

“By looking at how much waste there is here, I feel sad,” one visitor told Reuters, while another declared that he would “switch to a tote bag,” and “will use a tumbler,” when buying drinks. Open / Comment

2021-10-08 12:51:41 Open / Comment

2021-10-08 12:51:31 Nobel Prize in physics awarded to climate research pioneers

Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann, and Giorgio Parisi have spent the last 60 years decoding complex physical systems to predict how climate change is impacting our world. Now, their work has been rewarded with the Nobel Prize in physics.

Manabe and Hasselmann, who are 90 and 89 years old, respectively, carried out modeling work in the 1960s and 70s which sounded the earliest alarm on human-induced climate change. Their prize was awarded for “the physical modeling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming.”

Parisi, who is 73, was honored for “the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales.”

Manabe’s work specifically demonstrated that increased levels of carbon dioxide were contributing to warming on earth, while Hasselmann created a model which linked warming with weather changes around the world.

All three award winners have been celebrated for their ability to accurately describe how tiny changes in the earth’s systems can contribute to large-scale changes in the physical world around us.

After a summer of tumultuous climate change-fueled events, this Nobel Prize emphasizes the continued urgency of addressing the climate crisis and celebrates the brave work of academics who pushed for climate action for decades before their work was acknowledged by mainstream academics, politicians, and citizens.

The timely award comes just before the start of the COP26 climate conference. Michael Moloney, CEO of the American Institute of Physics, told CNN, “I can’t say whether the Nobel Prize Committee had a political message, but what it does clearly show is that [the] Earth system science models on which we understand the trajectory and the predictions for our planet’s climate [are] sound, solid science.” Open / Comment

2021-10-07 10:22:18 Open / Comment

2021-10-07 10:22:05 Researchers successfully use deep brain stimulation to treat depression

Deep brain stimulation, or DBS, is a technique used to manage Parkinson’s disease and certain types of seizures, but now, researchers have successfully used it to treat depression for the first time. Scientists from the University of California, San Francisco, published a study detailing how they used DBS to treat a 36-year-old woman who has been living with depression since childhood. The patient is reporting immediate relief following the treatment.

DBS works by transmitting electrical impulses to balance out erratic patterns of brain activity associated with whatever condition is being addressed. Much like a pacemaker, the impulses are transmitted through electrodes implanted in the brain.

Researchers identified the specific brain activity patterns associated with a patient’s depressive state. In this patient’s case, the patterns were found in the ventral striatum, a structure involved in decision making, and the amygdala, the emotional response center.

The researchers note that the high cost and effort associated with this method will make it difficult to scale up, but their work offers important insights into the relationship between the brain’s physical structure and mental health conditions. Even if implanted electrodes are not an option for everyone, the insights they provide could inform other more accessible therapy options.

The study patient, who goes by Sarah, continues to experience relief a year on from the implant’s placement and said, “The expression made me realize that my depression was not a moral failing. It was a disorder that could be treated, and there was hope for my recovery.” Open / Comment

2021-10-06 12:02:28 Open / Comment

2021-10-06 12:02:19 French railway company is recycling abandoned trains into new ones

After 40 years of neglect, hundreds of abandoned trains in France are getting a new lease of life. That’s thanks to an initiative from railway company SNCF, which aims to recycle and reuse old trains to manufacture new ones.

The company has already kicked off the project in Rouen, in northern France, where 400 carriages covered in rust stretch over 10 km — a train graveyard that has been sitting there for more than four decades.

“For a long time, it was a site for long-term storage of locomotives,” the director of the center, Jérémie Pigeaud, tells euronews. “And so it could cause heartache for the railway workers to see these locomotives parked for a long time. But for the past four years, we’ve set up this whole dismantling process.”

The trains are getting repaired and recycled at a plant in Saint-Pierre-des-Corps. After removing hazardous materials such as asbestos, almost 90 percent of the train is recycled. The company then sends the recovered components — which include metal, wood, and glass pieces — to be reused in the construction of other trains.

The site in Rouen is just one out of 10 other train graveyards across the country, where SNCF has stored around 5,000 unused rail cars. The company has now ended that practice and is planning to find a new purpose for all of those trains by 2028. Open / Comment

2021-10-05 10:27:41 Open / Comment

2021-10-05 10:27:31 Tesco and Loop begin easy and convenient refillable shopping scheme

Taking on greener shopping practices is essential in the fight against climate change, however, it can be hard to break old habits and remember to take refillable containers on our way out to the shops. Well, Tesco’s new zero-waste shopping scheme, developed in partnership with the Loop, removes this hurdle and makes it as easy as possible for customers to reduce their plastic waste.

How does their system work? Customers select one of the 88 products that Tesco includes in the trial, and when they’re finished their shopping trip, take it to the register and pay for it as they usually do, but with a price included as a deposit for the container. The deposit, which ranges in price from 20p to £5, is necessary to ensure that containers are returned.

Once they’ve consumed the product at home, customers can open the Loop application to find the nearest point they can return their empty containers.

At the return point, customers pull a lever and receive a unique QR code which they stick onto the empty container and scan with their phone before depositing it. Customers don’t even have to wash their empties or remove any labels, making the process incredibly hassle-free.

Once returned, the packaging is cleaned and refilled so that it’s ready to be purchased again.

“The time imperative of making things sustainable for the planet is now,” Ashwin Prasad, group chief product officer at Tesco, told BBC. “So, just by making this decision to take three items from the Loop range in your normal shopping trip will remove millions of pieces of plastic, and that will make a big difference.” Open / Comment