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President Barack Obama and Indian President Narendra Modi signed a pact last week, extending a commitment originally established in 2014, to join forces to combat climate change with a huge commitment to renewable energy.

The pledge acknowledges commitments made in Paris last year at the COP21 climate talks and defines a path for both countries to achieve their nationally determined contributions (NDCs). In particular, the U.S. has pledged to support India, the world’s third largest carbon emitting country and second fastest growing economy, in its ambitious goal of deploying 175 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2022. That would bring it up to a level of renewable capacity comparable to the U.S. today.

Décadas de depositar residuos industriales no regulados en las zonas de los Grandes Lagos han creado una serie de problemas ambientales y de vida silvestre. Ahora parece que las tortugas pintadas del lago Michigan podrían ser una fuente útil para medir la contaminación resultante.

Los investigadores del laboratorio de Gary Lamberti, profesor de ciencias biológicas y director del Laboratorio de Ecología de Corrientes y del Humedales en la Universidad de Notre Dame, están trabajando en el proyecto federal “Iniciativa de Restauración de los Grandes Lagos” 

Researchers are investigating a new material that might help in nuclear fuel recycling and waste reduction by capturing certain gases released during reprocessing. Conventional technologies to remove these radioactive gases operate at extremely low, energy-intensive temperatures. By working at ambient temperature, the new material has the potential to save energy, make reprocessing cleaner and less expensive. The reclaimed materials can also be reused commercially.

A new report by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and Interpol has highlighted the sophistication and growth of environmental crimes across the world. These crimes range from the illegal trade of wildlife, illegal mining, illegal forestry and fishing. And despite our growing global attention towards conservation, these crimes have jumped 26 percent in the past two years alone. 

The report highlights the criminal fluidity of these trades. They say that transnational crime rings are no longer focusing on just one flow of illicit trade; rather, “criminals coordinate, evade or even shift their focus from drugs, human trafficking, counterfeit products and arms to any new opportunity – hazardous waste and chemicals, forest products, pangolins, giant clams, minerals and illegally extracted gold.”

According to the UNEP, the reasons behind this rise is linked to both increasing demand, primarily in Asia, as well as poverty in the regions where the smuggling of these goods take place. Local wildlife authorities across Africa, which often scrape by on a minimal budget, must constantly adapt to new methods and new extremes employed by poachers.

Un equipo internacional de científicos ha encontrado una forma potencialmente viable para eliminar el CO2 antropogénico (causado o influenciado por los seres humanos): Convertirlo en roca. El estudio, publicado en la revista Science, ha demostrado por primera vez que el dióxido de carbono, un gas de efecto invernadero (CO2), puede ser permanente y rápidamente eliminado de la atmósfera, mediante su inyección en roca volcánica. El CO2 reacciona con la roca circundante, formando minerales ambientalmente benignos.