Environmental News

Well then you've reached the limit of my knowledge of html and url and suchlike. But if you can't click through, earthquake.gov is the place to go.

If go is the correct verb.

 

There is a new global biodiversity agreement:

Countries Reach Sweeping Deal to Protect Nature

Do readers find any other summary assessments of this?

The headline is an agreement to protect 30% of global area for biodiversity by 2030. Called 30 by 30 it seems.

Also:

"The final agreement requires wealthy countries to provide $30 billion a year to small island nations and developing countries by 2030..."

So one might say 30/30/30/30.

 

Current protected areas are 15% in terrestrial and 7.4% in marine

https://www.iucn.org/resources/conservation-tool/iucn-green-list-protected-and-conserved-areas

and that same source suggests that both are underestimates. But 30% seems like a long way off.

 

(natural) Rubber is processed tree sap. Million tons/year annual production with tires and tubes being the main uses. I've complained about tires before as things that are discarded after only a few % of original weight is worn off. They also have weak recycling pathways. Every once in a while we read about companies developing alternatives to these clunky old things. Now is one of those whiles:

Goodbye, rubber. These new steel tires last a lifetime. - Big Think

 

Keystone pipeline returns to full flow

Keystone Pipeline back up to speed after 600,000 gallon leak - ABC News

More than half of oil released has been recollected. There may be sparse reporting about cleaning up the second less than half.

 

Steel recycling varies among countries but overall it's pretty good.

 

Durability of ancient Roman concrete now seems understood

Riddle solved: Why was Roman concrete so dura | EurekAlert!

One less mystery.

 

Yaaas, but mum's the word.

All that stuff you slept through in Chemistry about osmotic pressure. Chemicals that would be deliquescent, but not in arid Egypt and Peru, where water runs out instead of in.

 

@ChapmanF raised a matter that seems appropriate to discuss with study authors. Readers might be surprised at authors' willingness to discuss their research in response to random (no offense meant) emails.

My interest is whether CaO in concrete increases its ability to absorb CO2

 

Major impediments to solving problem of discarded plastic wastes include

It's usually mixture of many different kinds and also mixed with food wastes etc.

The gunk above is poor starting material for recycling into new plastics.

Plastics include many additives that interfere with chemical or biological degradation.

It's dispersed inconveniently across terrestrial and marine landscapes.

Many whiz bang studies published in high journals do not address those problems, and so do not meet my high standards for linking here

Here's one that does:

Turning plastic waste into a valuable soil ad | EurekAlert!

Biochar is useful stuff.