Climate-Environment friendship

PC giant HP has announced its first consumer notebook range that uses post consumer recycled as well as  ocean-bound plastics at a starting price of  ₹ 62,999 in India. The new Pavilion range (Pavilion 13, HP Pavilion 14 and HP Pavil- ion 15) comes in a unique tonal colour- blocking design feature along with 11th Gen Intel Core processors and Intel Iris Xe graphics. According to the company, the note- books have used post-consumer recycled and ocean-bound plastics in the construction of the speaker housing, and its use in these devices is estimated to keep approximately 92,000 plastic bottles out of the oceans and landfills. The outer boxes and the fibre cushions used in packaging the new devices are also 100 per cent sustainably- sourced and recy- clable. The laptops are also EPEAT Silver- registered and Energy Star certified.

T he deadly Arctic blast has frozen parts of the Niagara Falls, creating a breathtaking backdrop for the visi- tors. Temperatures fell to -18C in America to produce vista of ice and rainbows at the US border with Canada's famous attraction, with ice flowing along the river. As the water froze, it created a cascading layer of ice in the Falls. There were some impressive icicles too. Ice forms in the Niagara Falls every winter. But such a spectacle was seen in 2014 and 2015, when the Niagara Falls were partially frozen due to polar vortex events. However, the Falls ceased to flow completely, just once so far in March 1848 for 30 hours!

  A river has won legal rights for the first time in Canadian  history , in a move hailed by environmentalists as a new way to protect nature from humans. The Magpie River in northern Quebec, which runs nearly 300 km (186 miles), was granted the rights this week by the local indigenous council and municipality. Canada joins at least 14 other countries - from Bolivia to New Zealand - where rivers and ecosystems have won protection with 'nature rights', just like those used to safeguard humans. "We now understand the river as a person, not an object," said Yenny Vega Cardenas, president of the Montreal-based International Observatory on the Rights of Nature. The Observatory - a nonprofit that helps mount environmental legal action - helped draft the resolutions with the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit and the Minganie Regional County Municipality in northeastern Canada. She said the objectification of nature was "the origin of planet degradation" and that the nine...

  Facebook on Thursday (local time) announced it will add a new section to its platform to debunk common climate change myths as it expands its nascent battle against disinformation. According to The Hill, the social media outlet is expanding its climate change information hub to include a section that will feature facts that rebut the common fallacies. The new effort will be guided by climate experts from George Mason University, the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the University of Cambridge. "The spread of damaging falsehoods endangers the level of international cooperation required to prevent catastrophic global warming. Facebook is in a  unique position to counter the circulation of online misinformation, and the new climate 'mythbusting' section is an important step toward debunking dangerous falsehoods," Sander van der Linden of the University of Cambridge said in Facebook's announcement as quoted by The Hill. Facebook said that its Climate...

  Amid falling cases of COVID-19 and reduced fatalities, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday said the pandemic has been "defeated" in the national capital through a number of combative measures. In a statement released on the completion of the Arvind Kejriwal government, Jain, who also holds the portfolio of the water department, said, the government will now aim to clean the Yamuna river in the next three years. The Delhi government has "firmly fought the war against coronavirus," he said. Delhi recorded 94 fresh COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the lowest in over nine months, while the positivity rate slipped to 0.17 per cent, authorities said. One fatality was also registered on Tuesday, taking the death toll in the city to 10,894, according to the latest health bulletin issued by the city government. Delhi had recorded 96 coronavirus cases on January 27, that time the lowest in over nine months, and the first time the daily count had stood below the 100-ma...

 Fizzy drinks giant Coca-Cola is all set to test paper bottles in Europe as part of its mission to eliminate plastic waste by the year 2030. The US company's first-ever paper bottle prototype will be available this summer through a limited online trial in Hungary. A run of 2,000 bottles of FOR A CAUSE the company's 'plant-based snacking drink' AdeZ will be offered via the country's e-grocery retailer Kifli.hu. The prototype is made of sustainably-sourced wood, with a bio-based material barrier capable of resisting not only liquid, but the gases in fizzy drinks. It's not 100 per cent made of paper; the prototype includes a plastic cap and a plastic lining made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) For A Cause The company has already pledged to collect and recycle a bottle or can for each one it sells globally by 2030, to combat plastic waste and reduce its carbon footprint. Coca Cola was named the world's worst-plastic polluter for the third year in ...

Bill Gates exudes optimism in discussing the world’s ability to tackle climate change, until he hits on manufacturing. About that, he is worried. There is currently no way to make steel or cement without releasing climate-warming emissions. Yet, neither governments nor investors are serious about solving that problem, Gates said. “That’s the sector that bothers me the most,” Gates said in an interview with Reuters, ahead of the publication of his book, 'How to Avoid a Climate Disaster'. The software-developer-turnedphilanthropist has invested some $2 billion towards the development of clean technologies. But those investments are in electricity generation and storage, not in manufacturing. Manufacturing, especially in the cheap construction staples steel and cement, accounts for roughly a third of the global greenhouse gas emissions, which makes manufacturing more polluting than the power or the transportation sectors that receive far more attention in policies and investments....

Coca-Cola will soon begin selling sodas in completely recycled plastic in the United States for the first time, the beverage giant said. The initial items will be introduced this month in a group of states, including California and Florida, for items such as Coke and Diet Coke in 13.2-ounce bottles made from 100 per cent recycled plastic. For A Cause The company, which has been named a top plastic polluter by a leading NGO, will distribute additional soda and bottled water items from completely recycled packages in select markets this month and later this year. The US is the 19th market worldwide, where Coca-Cola will be selling items entirely made of recycled packaging, the company said on its website. The new measures amount to a 20 per cent reduction in the company's use of new plastic across North America, compared to 2018. Coca-Cola has set a target of using at least 50 per cent recycled content in packaging by 2030. Did You Know In December, the group, Break Free From Plastic...

 Researchers at the University of Cambridge have revealed a mechanism that suggests how climate change could have played a direct role in the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the Covid-19 pandemic. The new study revealed largescale changes in the type of vegetation in the southern Chinese Yunnan province, and adjacent regions in Myanmar and Laos, over the last century. According to researchers, climatic changes, including an increase in temperature, sunlight, and atmospheric carbon dioxide, which affect the growth of plants and trees, have changed natural habitats— from tropical shrubland to tropical Savannah and deciduous woodland, creating a suitable environment for many bat species that pre-dominantly live in forests. The number of coronaviruses in an area is closely linked to the number of different bat species present. The study found that an additional 40 bat species have moved into the southern Chinese Yunnan province in the past century, harbouring around 100 ...

  Uttarakhand  Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has said the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Director told him that the Chamoli disaster was caused by sliding of a part of a mountain after receiving snowfall two-three days ago. "ISRO director, on the basis of a report by the organisation, told me this place is not an avalanche-prone area and the images from two-three days ago showed that there was no glacier at all on the mountain." "After receiving some snowfall a couple of days ago, a part of the mountain slid and caused lakhs of metric tonnes of snow to fall down at once causing the disaster," he added. The Chief Minister presided over a meeting over Chamoli disaster on Monday evening which was attended by officers of Army and Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), state officials, and ISRO scientists. Earlier in the day, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientist Dr LK Sinha had said that a hanging glacier in  Uttarakhand 's Cha...

  Electric vehicles have taken precedence in the future plans of almost all the automakers in the world. The choice of attaining that electricity for power, however, differs from one to the other.  While most are opting for batteries that can be recharged through a stationary charger, some automakers lean towards hydrogen fuel cells, another interesting prospect of obtaining clean energy. Hydrogen fuel cells essentially use hydrogen as a fuel to operate a fuel cell system that eventually generates electricity to run the car. The byproduct in this case is only heat and water and hence the mechanism ranks as one of the cleanest ways to move vehicles. They have a huge benefit over regular battery electric vehicles too. Hydrogen can be pumped into the car’s system as a fuel, just like petrol and diesel. With that, it becomes a matter of minutes to refuel the car. Battery EVs require hours of charging instead. It is no wonder that hydrogen is hence being considered as the fuel of t...

  Polluters must step up their commitments to cutting greenhouse gas emissions before a crucial climate summit in November, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday. Guterres said the global body's ``central objective`` this year is to get countries and companies responsible for 90% of the world's human-made emissions to set credible deadlines by when they will stop adding further planet-heating gases to the atmosphere. Several countries including the United States, China and members of the European Union have already announced plans to achieve `` net zero '' emissions, meaning they will only release as much carbon dioxide and other gases as can be absorbed by natural or technological means. But scientists say some of the targets are too far off and aren't backed by clear plans that would ensure that the Paris climate accord's goal of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) can be achieved. "The drive to net zero must becom...

"If every young person educates their family on the environmental impact they are having, it will make a difference and change the tide in creating a momentum towards a new future" Prince William believes that we can "change the tide" of the climate crisis, if young people educate their relatives about the damage they cause. The Duke of Cambridge made the rallying call in a chat with seven young people named as 2020's Young Champions of the Earth by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). "I'm incredibly-inspired and just so proud about everything you guys have done. If young people have a tiny bit of that passion that you have, then there's a really good opportunity to do good in the environmental world,” he said. Lauding their efforts towards curbing climate change, the prince added, "You are the shining lights of climate change movement. Your passion allows people to see your path, your journey and get ideas from you.” One of the young champion...

  Melting of Himalayan glaciers has doubled since the start of the 21st century due to rising temperatures, losing over a vertical foot and half of ice each year and potentially threatening water supply for hundreds of millions of people in countries, including India, according to a  study  published in 2019. The analysis, spanning 40 years of satellite observations across India, China, Nepal and Bhutan, indicates that climate change is eating the Himalayan glaciers, researchers said. The  study , published in the journal Science Advances in June 2019, shows that glaciers have been losing the equivalent of more than a vertical foot and half of ice each year since 2000 -- double the amount of melting that took place from 1975 to 2000. "This is the clearest picture yet of how fast Himalayan glaciers are melting over this time interval, and why," said Joshua Maurer, a PhD candidate at Columbia University in the US. While not specifically calculated in the  study , ...

  The melting of a glacier in the Peruvian Andes, which is raising the risk of flooding for about 120,000 nearby residents, is being caused by man-made global warming, scientists said on Thursday, providing new evidence for an ongoing climate lawsuit. Peruvian farmer Saul Luciano Lliuya lives in the town of Huaraz below the Palcaraju glacier that is pushing the waters of Lake Palcacocha dangerously high. He sued German energy utility RWE in 2015 over its role in fuelling global warming. Lliuya has argued that greenhouse gas emissions from RWE's coal-fired power plants are partly to blame for melting the glacier, producing water that threatens to flood his home. The case was admitted by a German regional court in Hamm in 2017. The court said it would seek evidence on whether emissions from RWE plants could be shown to have contributed to global warming and consequently the glacier's melt - and if that put Lliuya's home at risk of flooding. RWE, Germany's biggest electric...

  For most of her young life, nine-year-old Gao Ximan dreamed of becoming a policewoman. But after attending an eight-week online workshop about climate change this summer, she decided being a conservationist was a more important ambition. “Siberian tigers and snow leopards are so cute, but they are dying out,” said Gao, a fourth-grade student at one of the top public schools in Beijing. She stopped using the air conditioner in her bedroom and insisted her family use public transport instead of their car for weekend outings. Gao’s interest in the environment is something the Chinese government is trying to cultivate in young students as it pursues wide-ranging reforms to eliminate its net emissions of carbon dioxide by 2060. But the nation’s state-led approach to climate change is less tolerant of public debate over how it's going to get there. In other words, the authorities want children like Gao to support its green campaigns, but would prefer their activism stop at lowering the...

  On a barren hillside in southwest Iceland, workers are installing huge fans to suck carbon dioxide from the air and turn it to stone deep below ground, in a radical - but expensive - way to fight global warming. Engineering fixes for climate change are gaining attention and investments in 2021 as companies such as Microsoft and leaders from China, the United States and the European Union work on long-term plans to achieve “net zero” emissions goals. Elon Musk, chief of Tesla Inc and a billionaire entrepreneur, said in January he would give a $100 million prize for the best “technology for capturing carbon”. Swiss firm Climeworks, which is building the Icelandic site with Carbfix, a unit of Reykjavik Energy, says every technological fix is needed to limit what U.S. President Joe Biden calls a “climate crisis”. But critics say "direct air capture" (DAC) of emissions already in the atmosphere is too costly, particularly compared to simply reducing emissions, or protecting exis...

 If reports are to go by, the world is on the verge of losing wildlife. A worldwide shift away from meat is 'urgently needed' to curb wildlife loss,claims a new report backed by the UN. The report, from the UN-backed Chatham House, warns that the global rate of extinction of wild species is now 'orders of magnitude' (an exponential change of plus-or-minus 1 in the value of a quantity or unit) higher than the average over the past 10 million years. According to researchers, the global food system is the primary driver for this state of affairs, as wildlife-rich forests and Savannah have been converted into land to grow crops or graze livestock, while efforts to produce cheap food has driven harmful intensive agriculture. WHY A VEGETARIAN DIET IS THE NEED OF THE HOUR? According to scientists, a dietary shift from meat to eating more plant-heavy products would help in combating the outsized impact that farming animals has on nature, land use, and greenhouse gas emissions, ...

  Amazon on Tuesday unveiled what it called a "nature-infused" design for the second phase of its second headquarters, being developed just outside Washington. The centerpiece of the new Arlington, Virginia, development to be called "PenPlace" will be a double-helix building surrounded by landscaped gardens with plants native to the region. The design unveiled is the latest part of Amazon's $2.5 billion "HQ2" which will become a second headquarters for the technology and e-commerce giant based in Seattle, Washington. "The Helix at our Arlington headquarters will offer a variety of alternative work environments for Amazon employees amidst lush gardens and flourishing trees native to the region," the company's global real estate and facilities vice president John Schoettler said in a statement. "A true double helix in shape and structure, this  unique  building will feature two walkable paths of landscaped terrain that will spiral up t...