Global warming is one phenomenon that has pretty much grown into the biggest demon the planet is trying to get off of its back and not too surprisingly, we have not been all that successful till today.

Despite growing concerns over how the greenhouse gases must be controlled and their volume curbed, it seems the progress is either too slow or even non existent for many developing nations. Europe though is at the forefront of this movement and it is interesting to take a look at the radical few new ways that UK’s Royal Society has come up with to deal with the rising temperature.

1) Methods proposed by scientists at the Royal Society include using trillions of space ship mirrors that hover around the earth and create a shield that reflects the sunlight and forms a heat shield of sorts.

2) Then there is the idea of spraying ocean water into the atmosphere to which will increase salt content in the clouds and make them whiter. This would also act on the principle of reflecting light.

3) The most acceptable method seems to be increasing iron content in oceans which would encourage growth of algae and absorption of carbon gases. But such a method could cause havoc to the marine ecosystem.

The methods stated by John Shepherd, chairman of the Royal Society and his team of scientists are all still just secondary plan and the scientists themselves admit that our major goal must be to reduce greenhouse gases. That should make the priorities clear for all reluctant nations who still think of economic impact above environment effects.

By the way; ’spaceships with mirrors’… What is this, Fifth grade?

Image courtesy of Enzo D.

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When a region receives a constantly reduced - usually none - water supply be it from rain or other sort of technologies, it’s been affected by drought. Usually lasting for years, severe droughts can cause real damage even if they last a couple of months.

But the effects are way beyond the physical damage we see (like the reduced crop) and are more likely to influence the economy, the society and obviously the environment.

“Inspired” by what I’ve read about Southern Australia, I decided to see what are some environmental effects of droughts and if there’s something we can do about it.

1. Increased desertification and damage to animal species

The degradation of the land which is what drought causes, has a major impact on the environment causing biodiversity loss and loss of productive capacity. For example, if current trends of soil degradation continue in Africa and no other measures are being taken, they’ll end up feeding only 25-percent of the country’s population.

2. Damage to wildlife habitat, animal and plant species

Lack of water and lack of food will have a great effect on animals and plants in the drought-affected areas.

3. Diseases and increased predation

Diseases get established in a drought stressed plant and the impact of the root rots may be significant. Usually, because of the hot days and chilled nights, dew may form on the leaves of the plants causing humidity and leaving them exposed to diseases. Also during drought periods, snakes have been known to emerge and snakebites become more common.

4. Increased number and severity of fires

Fallen branches, leaves, grasses and scrub usually dry out and become highly flammable causing uncontrolled fires. That’s what happens when there so much sun. South-east Australia is considered one of the most fire prone areas of the world, common for sever bushfires.

5. Wind and water erosion of soils

According to vulnerability, drought creates windblown dust bowls which erodes the landscape, damages terrestrial and aquatic wildlife habitat.

But something can be done about it. There are a few measures that can be taken against drought effects, which are called mitigation strategies:

• desalination of sea water for irrigation or consumption,
• rainwater harvesting - collection and storage
• water recycling - sewage wastewater that is being treated and purified, and used for irrigation
• cloud seeding - it’s a new artificial technology that induces rainfall
• water restrictions if needed
• drought monitoring - that’s obvious.

Here are some bad looking drought pictures:

Images courtesy of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

image by WYGD

Daniel Burd is an 11th grader from Canada, that wants to turn his school science project into a dream come true. The guy is certain that if a plastic bag takes 1,000 years to decompose it’s because of the microorganisms behind it, and Burd thinks he has a method that will cause them to decompose in just three months.

The young scientist searched for those “guilty” of decomposing plastic bags and found two strains of bacteria that work together; the primary bacteria is Sphingomonas while the other one is Pseudomonas. Creating an industrial solution for plastic bags that would only last for three month is extremely simple. “All you need is a fermenter . . . your growth medium, your microbes and your plastic bags,” Burd said.

Though it doesn’t solve the pollution in the Pacific, this guy’s idea is a simple enough that it might just work well enough to change the world (at least a bit). He deserves congratulations and some money to continue his research and make it a real solution, instead of a project.

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Source: The Record