Reduce waste inyour daily lifePop Quiz

ANSWERS

IDENTIFY THESESPECIES

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4 5

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1. Baby green sea turtle 2. Tamaraw3. Eagle owl4. Squirrel monkey 5. Red-ruffed lemur

“When we heal the earth, we heal ourselves.”David Orr02 ENVIRONMENT

SOLAR-POWERED GRILL

The GoSun Grill is a large oven that’spowered by sunlight. Its reflectorsfocus the sun’s light rays onto a

metal tube, creating cooking temperaturesof up to 289 degrees Celsius. The food isplaced directly inside the cylindrical tube,and can be baked, boiled or steamed.

TURNING SEWAGE TO FUEL

Spanish water company Aqualia isturning sewage into biodiesel by con-verting the carbon content in human

waste into energy. The innovators claimthis biodiesel can be used in regular dieselcar engines, with little or no modifications.

FIRST OFFSHOREWIND FARM (US)

General Electric andDeepwater Windcollaborated to de-

velop America’s first off-shore wind farm near

Block Island. It generatesa combined 30 megawattsof electricity — enough tosupply 17,000 homes — andturn Block Island into themost powerful coastal en-clave in the northeast.

FLOATINGWIND FARM

Hywind isthe first ofits kind 30

MW floatingwind farm off theAberdeenshire

coast in Scotland. And no don’t worry, itwon’t float away. It is held in place by suc-tion anchors on the seabed and can power20,000 households for a year. BUSINESSINSIDER.IN

THE PANDA BEARSOLAR FARM

This panda image is madeout of solar panels; andChina is on a mission to

build 100 of these panda powerplants. A single plant could pow-er more than 10,000 householdsannually. The idea was proposedin 2015 by 15-year-old Ada Li Yan-tung who had suggested the de-sign would get young people in-volved in renewable energy.

FLAPPING-WING TURBINE

The Tyer Wind Convert-er is equipped withflapping wings that

mimic a hummingbird’swings – instead of rotat-

ing blades – to convertwind kinetic energy

into green electricity.The smaller size

makes it ideal forresidential areas.

BLADELESSWIND TURBINE

The Saphonian is a zero-blade windconverter. Its sail-shaped body en-joys high aerodynamic drag coef-

ficient, and the zeroblade device is capa-ble of capturing twice as much wind ki-netic energy as a conventional bladedwind turbine for the same swept area.

DO IT YOURSELF

Use fish waste to grow over40 vegetables in a rice box

It’s time we stopped wor-rying about the soaringprices of fruits and veg-etables. There’s a sim-ple and inexpensive way

to beat inflation – by growingthem organically with fish, athome. And you don’t need alarge farm for it either. All yourequire is an aquarium, a ricebox and less than 2 sq feetspace.

Azlan Shakib, a former en-gineer who quit his job to getinto agriculture ex-plained that any-one can take upthis DIY proj-ect and growpracticallyall kinds ofve getablesand fruits in-cluding let-tuce, bananas,capsicum andother leafy veg-etables at home with-out the use of soil.

“The process I am talkingabout is called aquaponicswhere we try to establish a sym-biotic relationship between fishand plants,” said Shakib. Thetechnique also saves water asyou don’t need to clean theaquarium every day.

Where tostart

1. To beginwith, you need

some colourfulfish and an aquari-

um. It can be done witha single fish too but havingmore always helps the plantsto thrive better. Many peopleuse a rice box and turn it up-side down to grow plants. 2. Create a bed and plant theseed in water. Then you willneed an aquarium water pumpwith a motor. Set it up by con-

necting the aquarium and theplant bed using motor. The sys-tem is automatic.

3. Lastly, take the time inthe morning to feed the fish asthey will eat the food and passon the waste in water. This willbe passed on to plants whichabsorb the nitrates, recycle thewater and send it back to theaquarium.

Aquaponics doesn’t needmuch space. Beginning witha 2 sq-ft space you can go allthe way to a much larger areadepending on what you wantto grow. BI

Hunters have almost wipedout the narwhal population.The‘unicorns ofthe sea’ are now inthe ‘Red List’ of endangeredspecies, warn experts

Narwhals, a type of whale witha tusk that grows up to 10 ftlong, lives in the Arctic watersaround Canada, Greenland,

Norway and Russia.

EXCESSIVE HUNTING The elusive creatures,dubbed ‘unicorns of thesea’ were added to the‘Red List’ of endan-gered species in 2008.But a scientist who hasworked in Greenlandsaid the country’s gov-ernment was failing to protect them. Hesaid: “There is a very serious develop-ment with narwhals on the east coast ofGreenland. Not only have these creaturesbeen impacted by climate change, popu-lations are being decimated due to ex-cessive hunting quotas.”

DWINDLING NUMBERS In 2008 marine biologists estimated therewere just 1,945 narwhals remaining inthe region. But by 2017 the number wasdown to 246. And since then, Green-landic catchers have further reducedtheir numbers. The World Wildlife Fund

estimates fewer than80,000 remain world-wide.

Narwhals have longbeen prized for theirblubber and ivory fromtheir tusks. In 2004,Greenland set its first

hunting quotas and banned the exportof tusks, halting a thousand-year-oldtrade. In a report last month the NorthAtlantic Marine Mammal Commissionsaid no narwhals should be hunted offGreenland’s east coast from next year.TNN

ThroughAquaponics,

vegetables grow 30per cent faster asthey have constant

water supply

Palau’s pioneering ban on ‘reef-toxic’ sunscreens took effect onJanuary 1, 2020 as the tiny Pa-

cific island nation introduced strictenvironmental measures that also in-clude one of the world’s largest ma-rine sanctuaries. “We have to live andrespect the environment because theenvironment is the nest of life, andwithout it nobody in Palau can sur-vive,” said president Tommy Re-mengesau as the new laws took effect.

Listen to the sciencePalau, which lies in western Pacific,about halfway between Australia andJapan, is renowned for its marine lifeand is regarded as one of the world’sbest diving destinations, but the gov-

ernment is concerned its popularityis coming at a cost. According to Re-mengesau, there was scientific evi-dence that the chemicals found inmost sunscreens were toxic to corals,even in minute doses.

With Palau’s popular dive sitespacked with tourists, there are con-cerns a build-up of these chemicals

would irreparablyharm the reefs.From New Year’s day,any reef-toxic sun-screen imported or soldin Palau will be confiscatedwith an additional fine of $1,000for the owner. “When science tells usthat a practice is damaging to coral

reefs, to fish population, or to theocean itself, our people take note andour visitors do too,” Remengesau said.

Marine sanctuaryAlong with the sunscreen ban, Palau’smuch-touted marine sanctuary cameinto effect on January 1, closing 80 percent of its exclusive economic zone(EEZ) to fishing and other marine ac-tivities including mining and shark

finning. The marine sanctuary pro-hibits commercial fishing in

about 500,000 sq km ofocean.

The legislationalso requires most for-eign fleets working inthe limited fishingarea to land theircatch in Palau andthen pay an export

tax. Remengesau saidthe ban was needed to

‘let the ocean heal’ afteryears of mass commercial

fishing in the Pacific that has seenstocks of some species such as bluefintuna fall to critical levels. TNN

Palau bans ‘reef-toxic’SUNSCREEN

HEATHERWinter-flowering heather which growson low beds and borders also looks fan-tastic in patio pots. In the garden cen-tre you’ll find them arranged in strikingcolour pallets; greens or pink, whiteand purple flowers are all mixed liberal-ly together to add a riot of colour tothe bleakness of the season.

Do you have green fingers? Nurture these vibrant flowers toadd colour to your garden

PANSIESForget winter, pansies flowerright through to spring!‘Helleborus niger’ is avariety that providessnowy whites and bright pinks,while ‘H. Orientalis’ producesflower in white, green and red hues.

DOGWOODCornus alba ‘Westonbirt’ is a smallwoody shrub with remarkably redbare stems that look splendorousduring winter; the Cornus sericea‘Flaviramea’ (below) produces whiteflowers from spring to autumn.

CYCLAMENCyclamen looks beautiful in the gar-den. They’re breathtaking when plant-ed in large numbers, and great for bor-ders, tubs and window boxes. Thesewinter favourites flower from autumnright through to spring – they have anupright posture and flag-like petals inpinks, purples and whites.

BRIGHTEN YOUR GARDEN

VIBURNUMThere is a huge range of vibur-num plants that work really well for asplash of winter colour. Look for varietiessuch as V tinus ‘Eve Price’, which flowers inwinter, or a deciduous variety called Viburnum x bodnantense. DAILY MIRROR

Each person on the planetproduces more than 1 kgof waste every day, andthat number is expected

to increase in the next 15 years,according to World Bank. Here areways you can reduce your impacton the environment:

DITCH PLASTIC STRAW: In the USalone, 500 million plastic strawsare used daily, according to cam-paigners. Straws are often toosmall to be recycled and areamong the worst polluters ofbeaches; they also end gettrapped in the stomach of marineanimals. Replace single-use plas-tic straws with stainless steel orglass reusable models.

CARRY A REUSABLE WATER BOT-TLE AND COFFEE CUP: Everyminute, one million plastic bot-tles are bought around the world,according to data obtained by‘Guardian’. Recycling rates arelow, and campaigners say that atthe current pace, there will bemore plastic than fish in theocean by 2050. A reusable waterbottle and coffee cup can savemoney – many coffee chains suchas Starbucks offer discounts forcustomers who come in with theirown cup. TNN

Think out of thebox and introduceinnovative ideasto maximise what we have...