Wildfires – Canada
Montreal air quality presently ranks worst in the world as officials urge people to stay indoors. Thick, smoky air blanketed many parts of Quebec on Sunday as more than 110 wildfires raging in the northern parts of the province set more communities on high alert for new evacuation orders. Environment Canada issued smog warnings for wide swaths of the north, south and west of the province, including Montreal, Quebec, Laval, Longueuil and Trois-Rivières.
Breathing Plastic
New research shows that we may be breathing in 16 bits of microplastic pollution every hour, equivalent to the plastic in a credit card being inhaled within a week. Medical experts warn that such tiny particles pose a significant health risk to humans and wildlife as they contain chemicals and toxic pollutants.
“For the first time, in 2022, studies found microplastics deep in human airways, which raises the concern of serious respiratory health hazards,” said lead researcher Mohammad S. Islam of the University of New South Wales. Microplastics seem to collect mostly in the nasal cavity and back of the throat, doctors say.
Smoke Pollution – Thailand
Thailand’s Chiang Mai was ranked the world’s most polluted city on Friday, with authorities urging people to work from home to avoid the hazardous air. Smoke from forest fires and farmers burning crop stubble has blanketed the popular tourist destination in recent weeks.
Thailand has been choking on heavy air pollution since the start of the year, caused in part by seasonal agricultural burning. Nearly two million people have needed hospital treatment for respiratory conditions caused by air pollution this year, according to the public health ministry.
Where are America’s most toxic watersheds?
Despite the United States passing a Clean Water Act nearly 50 years ago to dramatically reduce pollution and restore America’s waterways, toxic substances are still dumped into many water sources, threatening the health of people and ecosystems.
Here’s a list of the 10 watersheds and locations in the U.S. that saw the greatest amount of toxic chemicals released into its waters in 2020, according to the Environmental America Research and Policy Center:
Lower Ohio-Little Pigeon – Toxics released:12,008,366 lbs. – States: Indiana, Kentucky
Upper New – Toxics released: 10,266,141 lbs. – States: North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia
Brandywine-Christina – Toxics released: 6,191,362 lbs. – States: Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania
Lower Cape Fear – Toxics released: 5,017,810 lbs. – State: North Carolina
Muskingum – Toxics released: 4,640,523 lbs. – State: Ohio
Lower Big Sioux – Toxics released: 4,507,539 lbs. – States: Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota
Lake Walcott – Toxics released: 3,866,978 lbs. – State: Idaho
Buffalo-San Jacinto – Toxics released: 3,784,822 lbs. – State: Texas
Middle Ohio-Laughery – Toxics released: 3,524,720 lbs. – States: Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio
Lower Rock – Toxics released: 3,069,016 lbs. – States: Illinois, Wisconsin
The companies listed in the report — APC Polytech LLC, Radford Army Ammunition Plant, Rio Tinto (owners of Kennecott Utah Copper Mine), The Chemours Company, Nucor Steel Marion Inc., Duke Energy, Lonza Companies (owners of Arch Wood Protection Inc.), CPS Energy — did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Early Cherry Blossoms
The famed cherry trees of Tokyo began to blossom on March 14, matching the earliest date on record since observations began in 1953. The Japan Meteorological Agency said the “Somei Yoshino” variety buds appeared at the Yasukuni Shrine on the same day in 2020 and 2021 as well, which is 10 days earlier than the longterm average.
The agency says the trees should be in full bloom across the capital in the next week and should soon burst forth earlier than normal in other parts of the country, due to rising temperatures. Residents will be able to gather in public spaces to enjoy the blooms for the first time since the pandemic.
Oceans of Plastic
The amount of microplastic debris littering the world’s oceans has undergone a dramatic surge since 2005, with researchers saying there are now 2.5 million tonnes of it in the sea. Marcus Eriksen and Lisa Erdle at the 5 Gyres Institute in Santa Monica, California, and their colleagues say scarce data on plastic pollution between 1979 and 1990 make it impossible to see how fast it was increasing during that period.
Observations between 1990 and 2004 show it was fluctuating with no clear trend. But concentrations have risen in recent years to more than 10 times their levels in 2005. A legally binding treaty among 175 countries to control plastic pollution is expected to be drafted and debated by 2024.
Air Pollution – Thailand
More than 1.3 million people have fallen sick in the kingdom since the start of the year as a result of air pollution, with nearly 200,000 admitted to hospital this week alone, according to the public health ministry. The country’s capital, Bangkok – home to an estimated 11 million people and one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations – is currently shrouded in a thick haze.
The toxic air is an unpleasant yellow-grey mix of vehicle fumes, industrial emissions and smoke from agricultural burning. Anyone going outside should wear a high-quality N95 anti-pollution mask.
Mass River Pollution – Poland
Greenpeace have blamed wastewater discharge from coal mines for the mass die-off of thousands of fish in the Oder River last year. The August 2022 environmental disaster saw 300 tonnes of dead fish recovered from the waterway, which runs along the Polish-German border.
Polish authorities blamed the incident on a bloom of toxic golden algae, which thrives in highly salty water and in hot temperatures. However, environmental campaign group Greenpeace blamed the river’s elevated salinity levels on wastewater discharges from Poland’s coal mines after experts’ test results of the waters were released.
Deep Sea Mining
Researchers are sounding the alarm over plans to launch industrial-scale seabed mining for the first time in international waters later this year. A new report by scientists from the University of Exeter and Greenpeace Research Laboratories says that such activities pose a “significant risk to ocean ecosystems” and could result in “long-lasting and irreversible” consequences.
Of particular concern are the undersea noises mining would generate up to 24 hours a day and the potential harm they could bring to about 25 cetacean species, such as whales and dolphins. “Like many animals, cetaceans are already facing multiple stressors, including climate change,” said Exeter’s Kirsten Thompson.
Toxic Ice
An Oxford University-led study warns that Norwegian Arctic ice has become contaminated with “alarming levels” of toxic PFAS, or “forever chemicals” that do not break down naturally and have been linked to cancer, liver disease and other serious health problems.
The study says that when melted, the contaminated ice represents a major threat to the region’s wildlife. It adds the chemical cocktails could harm the entire food web, including plankton, fish, seals and polar bears. PFAS are a group of about 12,000 compounds used to make thousands of products, including those that resist water, stains and heat.
Plastic Pollution in Oceans Offset by Bacteria
Where does the ‘missing plastic’ in our oceans go? Bacteria eat some of it, scientists have found. Around 12 million tonnes of plastic enter the oceans every single year. But sampling surveys only ever detect about one per cent of this deluge.
Scientists at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) think they’ve found a ‘jigsaw piece’ of this puzzle: bacteria are devouring it. When plastic enters the ocean, sunlight degrades it into “bite sized chunks”. It is then devoured by the bug bacterium Rhodococcus ruber, which digests it and excretes carbon dioxide. This is the first time scientists have proven in this way that bacteria actually digest plastic into CO2 and other molecules.
Floods leave river polluted in Bosnia
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the downpours have left an iconic river choked with rubbish.
The Drina river, revered by rafters for its emerald colour and the stunning route it cuts through the mountains, has been polluted with waste from riverside landfills. Plastic bottles, rusty barrels, old tyres and even the odd fridge freezer covered the width of the river outside the town of Visegrád. The waste has accumulated behind a barrier built by a Bosnian hydroelectric plant a few kilometres upstream.
Air Pollution Warning for London
Freezing fog will create dangerous driving conditions in England on Sunday, the Met Office has said, as the London Mayor warned the weather would exacerbate air pollution in the capital. London Mayor Sadiq Khan warned pollution would intensify on Sunday as cold, foggy conditions trap in emissions from cars and vans that burn fossil fuels.
Air pollution increases the risk of respiratory infections, heart disease and lung cancer and tends to hit those who are already ill, children the elderly and poor people.
Plastic ‘nurdles” devastate the environment
Nurdles are the raw material of the plastics industry.
Packed and shipped, in their billions, around the world, these lentil sized plastic pellets are then melted down and used as the building blocks for a vast array of items used in our daily lives – from computers and cars, to clothes and drink bottles.
Although the first reported sighting of nurdles on beaches was not until 1970, they have since been found on every continent except Antarctica.
According to Plastic Soup Foundation, each year, 230,000 tonnes enter our oceans and, within the EU alone, 23 billion nurdles a day end up in the environment.
Making their way down storm drains, into rivers and waterways, and eventually reaching our oceans, they are then distributed by wind and ocean currents to every corner of our planet, but are practically impossible to clean up due to their size.
Nurdles devastate the environment and marine life but, despite being one of the biggest sources of pollution in our oceans, they are often overlooked and urgently need to be classified as hazardous.
Lithium Pollution
Lithium represents one way out of our global reliance on fossil fuels. But, as photographer Tom Hegen captured in South America, there is a dark side to our swiftly electrifying world. Mining this chemical can be deeply harmful to the environment. Aerial photos document the ‘Lithium Triangle’ located where the borders of Chile, Argentina and Bolivia meet.
Drought in Europe, Spain
This summer saw Europe’s worst drought in 500 years. Record-breaking temperatures and low rainfall led to wildfires, rivers running dry and crops failing. At one point, nearly two-thirds of the EU was under some kind of drought warning.
As water levels in reservoirs sank to their lowest levels in decades, all sorts of structures started to emerge. Parts of the old village of Aceredo in northwestern Spain reemerged as drought hit the Lindoso reservoir. It was submerged three decades ago when a hydropower dam flooded the valley.
Deforestation – Madagascar
Extreme weather events are likely to continue getting worse as climate change pushed global temperatures higher. Four years of drought and deforestation caused by people cutting down trees for farming and fuel have turned the Androy region of Madagascar into a dust bowl. This year, millions in the country faced famine. Food shortages were compounded by three cyclones and one tropical storm that ravaged the country back in January.
Air Quality Improves – Europe
Air quality in Europe is improving but still poses high risks, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said on Thursday, as fine particles exposure led to at least 238,000 premature deaths in the 27-nation EU in 2020.
Air pollution aggravates respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, with heart disease and stroke cited as the most common causes of related early deaths. Between 2005 and 2020, the number of early deaths from exposure to fine particulate matter fell by 45% in the European Union.
Meanwhile summer heatwaves in France, Germany, Spain and the UK in 2022 led to more than 20,000 “excess” deaths. Climate scientists from the World Weather Attribution group found that such high temperatures would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change.
Court Victory for Climate
A land court in Australia’s Queensland state has recommended that a new thermal coal project owned by mining magnate Clive Palmer should not go ahead on the grounds that its emissions will contribute to climate change and harm human rights.
Drought in South American Andes
Around Bolivia, many areas have declared an emergency due to the drought, which Bolivia’s National Meteorology and Hydrology Service expects will last until 2023, when the intensity of the La Nina is expected to wane. The drought has hit crops in Bolivia as well as in Argentina, Paraguay and Peru.
In the Andean regions, drought in recent years has caused falling water reservoir levels in places like Chile and led to important glaciers retreating. Drought has hit crops like wheat and soy, including this year in major grains producer Argentina.
Massive ‘proton aurora’ blasted a 250-mile-wide hole in Earth’s ozone layer
When a blast of solar energy slammed into Earth in June 2015, the resulting rain of particles tore a 250-mile-wide (400 kilometers) hole into the upper ozone layer, new research has found.
Fortunately, the ozone hole only appeared in Earth’s mesosphere — a high layer of the atmosphere that extends from about 31 to 53 miles (50 to 85 km) over Earth — and did not extend down to the much more important ozone layer in the stratosphere, which protects Earth from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation, the researchers found.
Still, the ozone depletion in the mesosphere was far greater than researchers previously thought possible — and future events like this could alter climate patterns in lower layers of the atmosphere, all the way down to Earth’s surface.
Plastic Pollution
Greenpeace claims that about 95% of plastics used in U.S. households are not being recycled and wind up in landfills. The environmental advocacy group says it is not entirely due to the lack of recycling efforts, but that only a few types of plastic are actually recyclable.
The sorting and collection of plastic items deposited in bins is also problematic, according to Greenpeace. It says a significant portion of the debris is contaminated with toxic materials. Because plastic containers and wraps are so cheap and easy to use, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates their global use and resulting waste could triple by 2060.
Earth Report 