Eco News Round up March 2022
There are more trees than we thought
Panama brings on new Law granting nature the ‘right to exist’
California’s Latest Effort to Reduce Climate Change
Galapagos Islands: New species of giant tortoise discovered
Jaguar leaps into battery deal
Coffee cups-to-decking process found
China opens its first vertical forest city to residents
With the current news climate, we want to shine a light on the more positive changes that are happening in the world today.
There are more trees than we thought
There are an estimated 73,300 species of tree on the earth.
To estimate the number of unknown tree species, scientists used the Turning frequency estimation, which was created by the codebreaker Alan Turner. The theory was developed by, the Taiwanese statistician Anne Chao, which was applied to the study of undetected species. This is turn helped researchers work out the occurrences of rare events, which in this case was unknown species of tree. Jingjing Liang, a lead author of the paper and professor of quantitative forest ecology at Purdue University in Indiana, US, said, counting all the species of trees worldwide would be like a puzzle. Despite this knowledge, there are still thousands of undiscovered tree species in the world.
Panama brings on new Law granting nature the ‘right to exist’
Panama has declared that nature has the ‘right to exist’ in new legislation. The legislation which will come into force in 2023, entails that the government’s future policies must respect and protect the rights of Panama’s ecosystems including, rivers, mangroves and tropical forests. This now means that Panama will have to consider the impact of its laws and policies on the natural world. Moreover, Panama is now legally, obligated to promote its rights of nature through foreign policies.
California’s Latest Effort to Reduce Climate Change
A new law in California has created the nation’s largest residential food waste recycling program. Food scraps now must be recycled, instead of being thrown away. It is a small change that will have a big impact on the waste that is produced. It is the second state in the country to establish a food waste recycling program.
Galapagos Islands: New species of giant tortoise discovered
A new species of Giant Tortoise has been discovered on the Galapagos Island. Researchers from Newcastle University and Yale University found that the DNA samples from museums did not match the torties living on the island now. Scientists compared the genetics of giant tortoises on the island now with tortoises bone samples from 1906 and found that they were different. This surprise indicated that they had found a new species. It was believed that the tortoise’s living on San Cristóbal, the fifth-largest island of the Galapagos all came from one single species called the Chelonoidis chathamensis. This new research may also suggest that other tortoises living on the island will be from a different species and not from the Chelonoidis chathamensis species.
Jaguar leaps into battery deal
Jaguar Land Rover has partnered with Pramac to build a portable zero-emission energy storage unit powered by second-life Jaguar I-PACE batteries. Its batteries were engineered so they can be safely deployed in low energy situations once the battery health falls below the needs of an electric vehicle.
Bringing sustainable products and innovations together to achieve a circular economy.
Coffee cups-to-decking process found
A supply chain project, funded by the Welsh government, in collaboration with WRAP Cymru and Ecodek, has turned single-use coffee cups into waterproof building materials and decking. The two-year trial brought together several companies including, Nextek and Ecodek. WRAP is a non-profit charity that promotes and encourages sustainable resource use through product, design, recycling, and waste minimisation techniques. Ecodek created the world’s first composite decking made from ‘difficult to recycle’ coffee cups. Combined with metallised films such as those used in crisp packets. Ecodek’s decking has since 2002 been manufactured using 95% recycled and sustainably sourced products. The recycled decking uses 200 coffee cups per square metre.
China opens its first vertical forest city to residents
The Italian architect Stefano Boeri, in his latest project, has created an example of biophilic design work. Moreover, the forest city created will absorb around 20 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year while also emitting 10 tonnes of oxygen. This in turn creates better air pollution in highly densely populated areas and nurtures the environment we live in.
Green cities are the future of sustainable living, not only for nature but for humans as we can co-exist together, sustainably.
Over the past couple of years, there have been positive changes and advances in finding eco-friendly ways of living, doing business and creating energy. Small or big, they are still positive advances that should be celebrated.
Now we can all move towards living sustainably.
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