ENVIRONMENT Waste not! If you want to help secure the...
1
Pop Quiz ANSWERS IDENTIFY THESE SPECIES 1 2 4 5 3 LET’S TALK ABOUT Before you throw away empty egg cartons, consider these options for reusing them... 1. Egg cartons are a great organisational tool. You can use them to store trinkets, stationery, drawing pins, and even mouth fresheners 2. You can use them as small pots to help seeds sprout. 3. If you love dabbling in arts and crafts with kids, egg cartons can serve as great paint cups. 4. If you are really innovative, turn your egg cartons into eye- catching flower lights. “Sustainability is about ecology, economy and equity.” Ralph Bicknese 02 1. Bob-tailed sheep-dog 2. Eagle 3. Meerkats 4. Lemurs 5. Cotton-top tamarin (a type of monkey) Got an idea to conserve the environment? Mail us at [email protected] REUSING EGG CARTONS ENVIRONMENT Air pollution is not just responsible for affecting human health, it can also slow down the growth of trees, a recent study suggests The study was published in the journal, ‘Science of the Total Environment’ T he research, conducted by re- searchers of a university in Sao Paulo, in Brazil, has shown that atmospheric pol- lutants restrict tree growth and the ecosystem services provided by trees, such as filtering pollution by ab- sorbing airborne metals in their bark, assimilating CO2, reducing the heat is- land effect by diminishing solar radia- tion, mitigating stormwater runoff, and controlling humidity. “We found that in years when lev- els of particulate matter in the atmos- phere were higher, for example, start- ed later in their lives to provide ecosys- tem services that play an important role in reducing urban pollution and mitigating or adapting the city to cli- mate change,” said Giuliano Maselli Locosselli, one of the researchers and first author on the study. Using as a model the Tipuana tree (Tipuana tipu), also known as Rosewood or Tipu, a tall tree with a large spread- ing canopy, the researchers measured the impact of air pollution and weather on the tree’s growth in Sao Paulo. They analysed samples of 41 tipuanas aged 36 on average located in the vicinity of an industrial area. By analysing the chemical compo- sition of the bark and the size of the growth rings, the researchers were able to measure variations in air pollution levels based on the various chemical el- ements to which the trees were exposed during their development and estimate how this factor influenced tree growth. “The tipuana is an excellent mark- er that clearly represents levels of air pollution by heavy metals and other chemical elements in the city,” Locos- selli said. “Trees exposed directly to high lev- els of pollution from the factories in the area grew less in terms of trunk diame- ter development throughout their lives than plants exposed to medium and low levels,” Locosselli said. “Under normal growth conditions, a tipuana’s chest- height diameter can reach 1 metre.” ANI Waste not! If you want to help secure the future of the planet If there’s one vital, but little appreciated, subject in any discussion on climate change, it’s waste: how to define it, create less of it, deal with it without adding more pollution to the planet or the atmosphere THE PROCESS: 1. Collect pre- consumer organic food waste. 2. Feed waste to the larvae in a con- trolled envi- ronment. 3. Separate the live insects from the waste material. 4. Harvest protein con- taining- insects and process them. T he issue has gained some acceptance, whether in the form of plastic straw bans or anxiety about e-com- merce-related cardboard piling up. But experts say these aren’t neces- sarily the biggest problems. Reducing the damage from waste might require expanding the tradi- tional definition of waste — not just as old-fashioned garbage, but as a result of wild inefficiency in all kinds of systems, which often results in emissions of greenhouse gases, among other problems. Companies and organisations around the world are taking on the challenge. Some are using materials traditionally considered waste and making them into something entire- ly new — and often unrelated — to their original purpose. Others are avoiding the creation of waste through greater efficiency and new technologies. Here are two exam- ples of efforts underway: ENTOCYCLE A company carries out an experi- ment for the animal feed industry W hen Keiran Whitaker was working as a scuba diving instructor, witnessing the destruction of tropical rainforests, often because of industrial food pro- duction, he decided he needed to put his environmental design degree to good use. “We’re obliterating our natural ecosystems predominantly to produce monocrops that go into the industrial food web, and what’s bad on land is even worse under wa- ter,” he said, referring to the de- struction of rainforests and the bleaching of coral reefs. According to a 2013 study from the University of Minnesota’s In- stitute on the Environment, just under 40 per cent of global crop calories are used to feed animals, most of them from corn and soy- beans grown at an industrial scale. It’s a particularly inefficient way to feed people: it takes about 100 calories of grain to produce just three calories worth of beef, or 12 of chicken. So he is trying to fix the system, mostly by changing the food our food eats. The result is Entocycle, Whitaker’s startup based in Lon- don, which takes pre-consumer lo- cal food waste — created in the man- ufacturing of food products — and feeds it to Black Soldier fly larvae, which eat the waste and convert it to protein. He said about 97 per cent of the insects are then ground into a flour high in amino acids, which, com- bined with other ingredients, can be made into feed pellets for ani- mals. The flies’ excrement, known as frass, can be used as crop fer- tiliser. Eventually, the insect flour could be directly consumed by peo- ple. (While that might make some people cringe, Whitaker said he’s not “grossed out” by the insects.) Timothy G Benton, a professor at the University of Leeds, who is focused on food security and sus- tainability, said he doubted that a company like Entocycle could do enough to transform the food sys- tem. But Whitaker, the chief exec- utive, is more hopeful. If his mod- el takes off (it is currently not pro- ducing at scale), more land could be used to feed people. SPINNOVA The company produces clothing fibre from plant-sourced viscose rayon and cotton A ccording to its government, Finland’s forests have about 10 trees for every person in the world. It is perhaps not surprising then that a company aiming to reinvent the way we make clothing from wood is Finnish. The second and third most common textile fibres are already made from plants — cotton and viscose rayon. Most viscose rayon is made from wood pulp, but the process of making it typically uses so many chemicals in such vast quanti- ties that some experts said it shouldn’t real- ly count as a natural plant fibre. Enter Spinnova, a Finnish textile fibre company founded by two former physicists, Janne Poranen and Juha Salmela, who used to work in pulp and paper develop- ment and research at Finland’s national research centre. After learning how spiders make silk, Salmela wondered if it might be possible to spin plant fibre in the same way. It is. Spinnova uses a mechanical method to pro- duce fibre, currently in a pilot stage. They use wood pulp harvested from Brazilian wood, in partnership with Suzano, one of the world’s largest paper pulp producers and one of Spinnova’s shareholders. The forestry practices and the wood pulp pro- duced is certified as sustainable by the Forest Stewardship Council. This has a cli- mate benefit as well because forests (especially well-managed ones) absorb much of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Spinnova plans to eventu- ally use agricultural waste material and discarded clothing to produce fibres. EXTRACTS FROM AN NYT FEATURE Spinnova’s process uses about 99 per cent less water than cotton production (one study showed that it takes about 2,900 gallons of water to make a pair of jeans), without any harmful chemicals Most viscose rayon is made from wood pulp, but the process of making it typically uses so many chemicals in such vast quantities that some experts said it shouldn’t really count as a natural plant fibre A 2013 study says just under 40 per cent of global crop calories are used to feed animals, most of them from corn and soybeans... The researchers used 41 Tipuana trees for their experiment to measure the impact of air pollu- tion and weather on the growth of the said trees THE DESI WAY TO COOL YOUR CAR As is known, temperatures in the Indian summer, especially Gujarat, regularly reach around 42 degrees Celsius. To beat the summer heat, Sejalben Shah, a resident of Ahmedabad, tried a novel experi- ment by coating her car in cow dung to keep the vehicle from overheating. Shah said she mixed the cow dung with mud to keep herself cool when she is driving with the windows open, and with- out using air conditioning. AFP How air pollution affects growth of trees Photo: Getty Images Photo: Getty Images First all-electric police car hits Australia roads A ustralia’s first all-elec- tric police car hit the roads in the state of Vic- toria in June, one of the first jurisdictions in the world to take the landmark step. The fully electric ‘Tesla Model X’ will perform highway patrol opera- tional duties as part of a feasibility study into using more ‘intelligent ve- hicles’ for policing, Xinhua news agency reported. “This vehicle is unlike any oth- er Victoria police has ever had in its fleet and could well be the future of road policing in this state, country and the world,” Road Policing Com- mand Assistant Commissioner Stephen Leane said. “Our highway patrol cars are equipped with cutting-edge tech- nology and this car gives us the op- portunity to investigate having these technologies in a fully inte- grated in-car system which has the potential of streamlining the road policing effort.” Victoria Police are working with engineers from Tes- la, the US automotive and energy company, to integrate police soft- ware directly into the vehicle's on- board system, hopefully giving of- ficers a more intuitive and easier- to-use interface. IANS BUSINESS INSIDER The Rainforest Action Network has found that about 120 million trees from exist- ing forests are cut down for textiles every year. Keiran Whitaker Photos: www.entocycle.com
Transcript of ENVIRONMENT Waste not! If you want to help secure the...
Pop Quiz
ANSWERS
IDENTIFY THESESPECIES
1 2
4 5
3
LET’S TALK ABOUT
Before you throw awayempty egg cartons,consider these optionsfor reusing them...
1. Egg cartons are agreat organisationaltool. You can use themto store trinkets,stationery, drawing pins,and even mouthfresheners
2. You can use them assmall pots to help seedssprout.
3. If you love dabbling inarts and crafts with kids,egg cartons can serve asgreat paint cups.
4. If you are reallyinnovative, turn youregg cartons into eye-catching flower lights.
“Sustainability is about ecology, economy and equity.” Ralph Bicknese02
1. Bob-tailed sheep-dog2. Eagle 3. Meerkats 4. Lemurs5. Cotton-top tamarin (a type of monkey)
Got an idea to conserve the environment? Mail us at
REUSING EGGCARTONS
ENVIRONMENT
Air pollution is not justresponsible for affectinghuman health, it can alsoslow down the growth of trees, a recent study suggests
The study was published in the journal,‘Science of the Total Environment’
The research, conducted by re-searchers of a university inSao Paulo, in Brazil, hasshown that atmospheric pol-lutants restrict tree growth
and the ecosystem services provided bytrees, such as filtering pollution by ab-sorbing airborne metals in their bark,assimilating CO2, reducing the heat is-land effect by diminishing solar radia-tion, mitigating stormwater runoff, andcontrolling humidity.
“We found that in years when lev-els of particulate matter in the atmos-phere were higher, for example, start-ed later in their lives to provide ecosys-tem services that play an importantrole in reducing urban pollution andmitigating or adapting the city to cli-mate change,” said Giuliano Maselli
Locosselli, one of the researchers andfirst author on the study.
Using as a model the Tipuana tree(Tipuana tipu), also known as Rosewoodor Tipu, a tall tree with a large spread-ing canopy, the researchers measuredthe impact of air pollution and weatheron the tree’s growth in Sao Paulo. Theyanalysed samples of 41 tipuanas aged 36on average located in the vicinity of anindustrial area.
By analysing the chemical compo-sition of the bark and the size of thegrowth rings, the researchers were ableto measure variations in air pollutionlevels based on the various chemical el-
ements to which the trees were exposedduring their development and estimatehow this factor influenced tree growth.
“The tipuana is an excellent mark-er that clearly represents levels of airpollution by heavy metals and otherchemical elements in the city,” Locos-selli said.
“Trees exposed directly to high lev-els of pollution from the factories in thearea grew less in terms of trunk diame-ter development throughout their livesthan plants exposed to medium and lowlevels,” Locosselli said. “Under normalgrowth conditions, a tipuana’s chest-height diameter can reach 1 metre.” ANI
Waste not! If you want to help secure the future of the planetIf there’s one vital, butlittle appreciated,subject in any discussionon climate change, it’swaste: how to define it,create less of it, dealwith it without addingmore pollution to theplanet or the atmosphere
THE PROCESS:1. Collect pre-consumerorganic foodwaste.
2. Feed wasteto the larvaein a con-trolled envi-ronment.
3. Separatethe liveinsects fromthe wastematerial.
4. Harvestprotein con-taining-insects andprocess them.
T he issue has gained someacceptance, whether in theform of plastic straw bansor anxiety about e-com-
merce-related cardboard piling up.But experts say these aren’t neces-sarily the biggest problems.Reducing the damage from wastemight require expanding the tradi-tional definition of waste — not justas old-fashioned garbage, but as aresult of wild inefficiency in allkinds of systems, which oftenresults in emissions of greenhousegases, among other problems.Companies and organisationsaround the world are taking on thechallenge. Some are using materialstraditionally considered waste andmaking them into something entire-ly new — and often unrelated — totheir original purpose. Others areavoiding the creation of wastethrough greater efficiency and newtechnologies. Here are two exam-ples of efforts underway:
ENTOCYCLEA company carries out an experi-ment for the animal feed industry
When Keiran Whitaker wasworking as a scuba divinginstructor, witnessing the
destruction of tropical rainforests,often because of industrial food pro-duction, he decided he needed to puthis environmental design degree togood use. “We’re obliterating ournatural ecosystems predominantlyto produce monocrops that go intothe industrial food web, and what’sbad on land is even worse under wa-ter,” he said, referring to the de-struction of rainforests and thebleaching of coral reefs.
According to a 2013 study fromthe University of Minnesota’s In-stitute on the Environment, justunder 40 per cent of global cropcalories are used to feed animals,most of them from corn and soy-beans grown at an industrial scale.It’s a particularly inefficient wayto feed people: it takes about 100calories of grain to produce justthree calories worth of beef, or 12of chicken.
So he is trying to fix the system,
mostly by changing the food ourfood eats. The result is Entocycle,Whitaker’s startup based in Lon-don, which takes pre-consumer lo-cal food waste — created in the man-ufacturing of food products — andfeeds it to Black Soldier fly larvae,which eat the waste and convert itto protein.
He said about 97 per cent of theinsects are then ground into a flourhigh in amino acids, which, com-bined with other ingredients, canbe made into feed pellets for ani-mals. The flies’ excrement, known
as frass, can be used as crop fer-tiliser. Eventually, the insect flourcould be directly consumed by peo-ple. (While that might make somepeople cringe, Whitaker said he’snot “grossed out” by the insects.)
Timothy G Benton, a professorat the University of Leeds, who isfocused on food security and sus-tainability, said he doubted that acompany like Entocycle could doenough to transform the food sys-tem. But Whitaker, the chief exec-utive, is more hopeful. If his mod-el takes off (it is currently not pro-ducing at scale), more land couldbe used to feed people.
SPINNOVAThe company produces clothing fibre fromplant-sourced viscose rayon and cotton
A ccording to its government, Finland’sforests have about 10 trees for everyperson in the world. It is perhaps not
surprising then that a company aiming toreinvent the way we make clothing fromwood is Finnish. The second and third mostcommon textile fibres are already madefrom plants — cotton and viscose rayon.
Most viscose rayon is made from woodpulp, but the process of making it typicallyuses so many chemicals in such vast quanti-ties that some experts said it shouldn’t real-
ly count as a natural plant fibre..Enter Spinnova, a Finnish textile fibre
company founded by two former physicists,Janne Poranen and Juha Salmela, whoused to work in pulp and paper develop-ment and research at Finland’s nationalresearch centre.
After learning how spiders make silk,Salmela wondered if it might be possible tospin plant fibre in the same way. It is.Spinnova uses a mechanical method to pro-duce fibre, currently in a pilot stage. Theyuse wood pulp harvested from Brazilianwood, in partnership with Suzano, one ofthe world’s largest paper pulp producersand one of Spinnova’s shareholders. Theforestry practices and the wood pulp pro-duced is certified as sustainable by theForest Stewardship Council. This has a cli-mate benefit as well because forests(especially well-managed ones) absorbmuch of the carbon dioxide released intothe atmosphere. Spinnova plans to eventu-
ally use agricultural waste material anddiscarded clothing to produce fibres.EXTRACTS FROM AN NYT FEATURE
Spinnova’s processuses about 99 per centless water than cottonproduction (one studyshowed that it takes
about 2,900 gallons ofwater to make a pair of
jeans), without anyharmful chemicals
Most viscose rayon ismade from wood pulp,
but the process ofmaking it typically uses
so many chemicals insuch vast quantities
that some experts saidit shouldn’t reallycount as a natural
plant fibre
A 2013 study saysjust under 40 per
cent of global cropcalories are used tofeed animals, mostof them from corn
and soybeans...
The researchersused 41 Tipuana treesfor their experiment
to measure theimpact of air pollu-tion and weather on
the growth of thesaid trees
THE DESI WAY TOCOOL YOUR CAR
As is known, temperatures in theIndian summer, especially Gujarat,regularly reach around 42 degreesCelsius. To beat the summer heat,Sejalben Shah, a resident ofAhmedabad, tried a novel experi-ment by coating her car in cowdung to keep the vehicle fromoverheating. Shah said she mixedthe cow dung with mud to keepherself cool when she is drivingwith the windows open, and with-out using air conditioning. AFP
How air pollutionaffects growth of trees
Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images
First all-electric police carhits Australia roads
Australia’s first all-elec-tric police car hit theroads in the state of Vic-toria in June, one of thefirst jurisdictions in the
world to take the landmark step.The fully electric ‘Tesla Model X’
will perform highway patrol opera-tional duties as part of a feasibilitystudy into using more ‘intelligent ve-hicles’ for policing, Xinhua newsagency reported.
“This vehicle is unlike any oth-er Victoria police has ever had in itsfleet and could well be the future ofroad policing in this state, countryand the world,” Road Policing Com-
mand Assistant CommissionerStephen Leane said.
“Our highway patrol cars areequipped with cutting-edge tech-nology and this car gives us the op-portunity to investigate havingthese technologies in a fully inte-grated in-car system which has thepotential of streamlining the roadpolicing effort.” Victoria Police areworking with engineers from Tes-la, the US automotive and energycompany, to integrate police soft-ware directly into the vehicle's on-board system, hopefully giving of-ficers a more intuitive and easier-to-use interface. IANS
BUSINESS INSIDER
The RainforestAction Network hasfound that about 120million trees from exist-ing forests are cut down fortextiles every year.
KeiranWhitaker
Photos: www.entocycle.com
![Textile Fibers - · PDF fileTextile Fibers 15 polynosic (a term for one type of High Wet Modulus [HWM] viscose rayon) fibranne (a term for viscose rayon used in France) PVC (an acronym](https://static.fdocuments.us/doc/165x107/5a86f5017f8b9a882e8d5681/textile-fibers-fibers-15-polynosic-a-term-for-one-type-of-high-wet-modulus-hwm.jpg)
