Thursday, October 19, 2023

Federal grants for pollution remediation increase property values around the Great Lakes

Nearly $1.23 billion has been spent by the U.S. government since 2004 on the cleanup of toxic pollutants in waterways resulting from manufacturing activities in historic areas around the Great Lakes.

Now, a new University of Michigan study finds that federal grants aimed at remediating these "Areas of Concern," or AOCs, had a positive notable and statistically significant effect on housing prices within about a 12-mile radius of specific regions on all five Great Lakes.

Published in the Journal of Public Economics, the research shows that the initial designation of these AOCs lowered property values by an average of $25,700 per house. However, the subsequent awarding of federal grants to clean up these areas raised property values by an average of $27,295 per house—resulting in a net-positive benefit of the AOC program.

"Federal grants have positive effects on property values that outweigh the remediation costs," said study co-author Michael Moore, professor of environmental economics at the U-M School for Environmental and Sustainability. "The programs are a success story from an economic perspective."

The 30 locations designated as AOCs were assessed to have the most environmentally degraded surface water—rivers, lakes and bays—connecting to the Great Lakes.

Key findings include:

Impact of AOC listing: The dissemination of new public information regarding the extent of environmental degradation had a notable negative initial impact on housing prices.
Effect of federal grants: AOC grants positively influenced housing prices, suggesting that residents and homebuyers in the region value improvements in water quality as reflected in housing prices.
Beyond AOC: The positive impact of AOC grants extends beyond housing prices, potentially benefiting the local economy through community revitalization, commercial development, tourism, and other economic activities.

"Our analysis shows that funding for cleanups can have a powerful impact on surrounding areas and can work to combat stigma effects of the initial negative information shocks," he said. "Sheboygan, Wisconsin, is an outstanding example of a waterfront that has been transformed from an industrial area into a vibrant community."

The U-M study also highlights the need for future research into the impact of an AOC delisting, as well as the consideration of additional remediation benefits to individuals beyond the roughly 12-mile radius, including tourists and those valuing the existence of restored natural areas.

More information: Alecia Cassidy et al, Cleaning up the Great Lakes: Housing market impacts of removing legacy pollutants, Journal of Public Economics (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2023.104979

Journal information: Journal of Public Economics

Provided by University of Michigan Economist finds link between park funding, home values

RENDERING PLANT

A potentially improperly zoned, foul-smelling plant in southwest Dallas is shutting down

by María Ramos Pacheco, The Dallas Morning News

pollution — Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A plant near homes in southwest Dallas that renders animal fat into biofuel is shutting down after The Dallas Morning News found that it appears to be operating without proper zoning.

Neighbors have complained for years about the smell of dead and rotting animals that they say comes from the facility owned by Envirotein. They say the smell has been disrupting their daily lives since 2020, when they say they first began complaining about it through the city of Dallas 311 system.

"Just awful," said Brandy Mendoza, 49, who has been living in the neighborhood with her family since the early '90s when her father bought a house. "We thought it was the neighbors creating the bad smell until one day, I asked around and everyone was getting the same disgusting odor."

She said families in the area used to have big barbecues in their backyards, with kids playing soccer. Fixing cars and trucks was one of her son's passions. Then the filthy smell came wafting through from time to time during the pandemic.

One day during the pandemic, Nathan Donohoe, 46, took a stroll around the neighborhood to find out where the odor came from. That's when he saw Envirotein and was hit even more strongly with the smell, less than a mile from his home.

After that, his family started to complain to the Dallas 311 line and app, but they said they only received notifications that their request for help was received and that the city would look into the complaint.

The factory received a certificate of occupancy on Oct. 29, 2020, from the city of Dallas to operate in an "Industrial Research District," but based on the type of work Envirotein performs and the Dallas Development Code, the factory should be in an "Industrial Manufacturing District."

According to city of Dallas Development Code 51A, which establishes zoning districts across the city, the plant, since it renders fat, should be located in an Industrial Manufacturing District. But Envirotein is operating in an Industrial Research District, where factories with assembly lines for things like fabrics can operate.

Zarin Gracey, District 3 City Council member, said the facility will be shut down.

"I absolutely hate to see the business shut down. But when they are affecting the quality of life for the neighbors, and you have done it for so long, I want to see these things get corrected," Gracey said.

The city's Department of Planning and Urban Design and the Communication Department did not respond to requests for comment.

Shuhdy Shazaly, operational manager at Envirotein, said Monday that it is stopping all operations for two months and will be cleaned up.

Shazaly did not confirm that the city had ordered it to shut down, but said city officials have been in touch with the company and that on Friday, inspectors were at the facility. He declined to discuss zoning.

According to records obtained by The News in a Sept. 5 request, Envirotein at least twice received notice of violations from the city. The Office of Environmental Quality and Sustainability investigated.

On Sept. 14, neighbors were notified that Envirotein was found in violation of nuisance conditions. "The facility had an illicit discharge of liquids originating from the boiler system onsite at the facility which impacted off site waterways," said an investigation report.

It said discharge from the facility was causing unpleasant odors and that the investigation was closed. But Mendoza and Donohoe said that the smell persisted and they kept complaining about the odor to the city.

Despite multiple visits from city officials, neighbors say they were never told about any zoning issues.

"We can't speak on other city divisions or codes that have to do with other city departments," said Joseph Vu, air compliance manager for the city.

Franciso Esparza, 64, has lived in the area for more than 30 years. He reached a point of desperation during the hot summer months.

With no central air conditioning and relying on window units to cool his home, he had to choose between the foul odor coming through his window but cooling him off or suffering in the heat.

"We no longer knew what to do. I bought a lot of deodorants for the house and put two diffusers above the air to try to keep the smell out," Esparza said.

Now, neighbors are celebrating what is at least a temporary victory.

"We can't believe it, that means we won," said Rosa Donohoe, Nathan's wife. "We can't wait to eat a big carne asada in our backyards, and finally, the kids are going to be able to play soccer."

"This is going to be life-changing," said her husband. "After so long and keeping up with the disgusting smell, we can finally breathe."

Still, neighbors and area activists say they're confused about why it took the city so long to act.

"Their noses always know," said Evelyn Mayo, co-chair of the local environmental group Downwinders At Risk. "If it smells wrong, chances are that something is going on wrong."

2023 The Dallas Morning News.

Ransomware delays Dallas permits: 'I've never had to wait weeks for a fence...'

10% of dolphins killed as Amazon drought hits lake: study

A stranded ferry boat at the Marina do Davi in the Negro river, near the city of Manaus, Amazonas State, which experiencing a drought — A stranded ferry boat at the Marina do Davi in the Negro river, near the city of Manaus,

An estimated 10 percent of the dolphins in a picturesque lake in the Brazilian Amazon were killed in a week as a record drought and searing temperatures devastate the region, researchers said Tuesday.

Emergency teams found 153 dolphins dead in the last week of September in Lake Tefe, where water temperatures reached 39.1 degrees Celsius, more than seven degrees higher than the normal maximum, according to the Mamirau Institute for Sustainable Development (IDSM) and environmental group WWF-Brasil.

The lake is located in the drought-hit northern state of Amazonas, at the spot where the Tefe river empties into the Amazon, in the heart of the world's biggest rainforest.

Researchers reported 130 pink dolphins and 23 tucuxi dolphins killed. Both are listed as species with declining populations by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Huge numbers of fish have also died off, they said.

"What's happening in Lake Tefe is staggering. The impact of losing these animals is enormous and affects the entire local ecosystem," said Mariana Paschoalini Frias, conservation specialist at WWF-Brasil.

"Dolphins are considered 'sentinels.' They're indicators of the health of their environment. What's happening to them is reflected in other species, as well, including humans," she said in a statement.

Besides killing fish and dolphins, the drought has dramatically reduced river levels, devastating a region that relies on its labyrinth of waterways for transportation and basic needs.

The federal government has sent emergency aid to the stricken region, where normally bustling river banks have turned to eerie, dessicated landscapes dotted with stranded boats.

Experts say the Amazon dry season has been worsened this year by the El Niño warming phenomenon.

Environment Minister Marina Silva has also blamed "uncontrolled climate change."

In state capital Manaus, located at the junction of the Amazon and Negro rivers, authorities reported the water level at the city's port reached its lowest level in 121 years Tuesday, hitting record low for the second straight day.

The Negro's water level stood at 13.49 meters (44 feet), the lowest since records began in 1902, port officials said.

Heavy smoke from forest fires has also engulfed Manaus in recent days, forcing the cancelation of the city's marathon last Sunday.

Brazil vows more aid as Amazon waters dry up

Three endangered species tied to Georgia are now extinct, feds say

by Drew Kann, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Alabama — Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Bachman's warbler, the southern acornshell and the upland combshell. Not long ago, those creatures called the rivers of Georgia and the skies above them home. But now, the federal government has confirmed a grim fact that scientists had long suspected: The songbird and two species of freshwater mussels will never be seen again.

On Monday, the animals were among a group of 21 species the federal U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed from the endangered species list due to their presumed extinction.

Many of the species, including the ones once found in Georgia, were added to the list in the 1960s, '70s and '80s. Most, the agency said, were already in severe decline when they were listed. Some may have already been extinct.

"Federal protection came too late to reverse these species' decline, and it's a wake-up call on the importance of conserving imperiled species before it's too late," USFWS Director Martha Williams said in a statement about the extinction declarations.

The news comes after years of reports warning that Earth is in the midst of another mass extinction event that threatens roughly 1 million plant and animal species globally. These species' potential demise is being driven almost entirely by humans, with the destruction of nature and climate change among the main culprits.

Here's more on the animals with Georgia connections that were removed from the list:

Bachman's warbler (Vermivora bachmanii)

Description: A small, migratory songbird, Bachman's warblers were distinguished from their counterparts by their yellow foreheads, necks and bellies, and olive-colored backs and wings. The birds were found primarily in swamps and in forested floodplains along rivers and streams. Their diet consisted mainly of insects.

Historical range: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Species listing date: 1967

Last confirmed sighting: 1980s

Cause of extinction: Conversion of forest nesting environment to agriculture, loss of overwintering habitats in Cuba, collection for museum displays, human development, among other possible factors.

Southern acornshell (Epioblasma othcaloogensis)

Description: A small, freshwater mussel that was rarely over an inch in length, the southern acornshell was best identified by its smooth, yellow outer shell. The species was only known to be found in a few streams in the Coosa River Basin and in the Conasauga River.

Historical range: Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee

Species listing date: 1993

Last confirmed sighting: 1973

Cause of extinction: Sediment pollution and other water contaminants

Upland combshell (Epioblasma metastriata)

Description: Larger than the acornshell at around 2 inches long, the upland combshell was another freshwater mussel with a brownish yellow shell, occasionally with spots or stripes. The species was found mainly in the Black Warrior, Cahaba and Coosa river systems.

Historical range: Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee

Species listing date: 1993

Last confirmed sighting: mid-1980s

Cause of extinction: Sediment pollution and other water contaminants

2023 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Threatened Alabama snail renamed after a case of mistaken identity

Only 1% of chemical compounds have been discovered—here's how we search for others that could change the world

by Matthew Addicoat, The Conversation

The universe is flooded with billions of chemicals, each a tiny pinprick of potential. And we've only identified 1% of them. Scientists believe undiscovered chemical compounds could help remove greenhouse gases, or trigger a medical breakthrough much like penicillin did.

But let's just get this out there first: It's not that chemists aren't curious. Since Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev invented the periodic table of elements in 1869, which is basically a chemist's box of Lego, scientists have been discovering the chemicals that helped define the modern world. We needed nuclear fusion (firing atoms at each other at the speed of light) to make the last handful of elements. Element 117, tennessine, was synthesized in 2010 in this way.

But to understand the full scale of the chemical universe, you need to understand chemical compounds too. Some occur naturally—water, of course, is made of hydrogen and oxygen. Others, such as nylon, were discovered in lab experiments and are manufactured in factories.

Elements are made of one type of atom, and atoms are made of even tinier particles including electrons and protons. All chemical compounds are made of two or more atoms. Although it's possible there are undiscovered elements left to find, it's unlikely. So, how many chemical compounds can we make with the 118 different sorts of element Lego blocks we currently know?

Big numbers

We can start by making all the two-atom compounds. There are lots of these: N2 (nitrogen) and O2 (oxygen) together make up 99% of our air. It would probably take a chemist about a year to make one compound and there are 6,903 two-atom compounds in theory. So that's a village of chemists working a year just to make every possible two-atom compound.

There about 1.6 million three-atom compounds like H₂0 (water) and C0₂ (carbon dioxide), which is the population of Birmingham and Edinburgh combined. Once we reach four- and five-atom compounds, we would need everyone on Earth to make three compounds each. And to make all these chemical compounds, we'd also need to recycle all the materials in the universe several times over.

But this is a simplification, of course. Things such as the structure of a compound and its stability can make it more complex and difficult to make.

The biggest chemical compound that has been made so far was made in 2009 and has nearly 3 million atoms. We're not sure what it does yet, but similar compounds are used to protect cancer drugs in the body until they get to the right place.

But wait, chemistry has rules!

Surely not all those compounds are possible?

It's true there are rules—but they are kind of bendy, which creates more possibilities for chemical compounds.

Even the solitary "noble gases" (including neon, argon and xenon and helium), which tend to not bind with anything, sometimes form compounds. Argon hydride, ArH+ does not exist naturally on Earth but has been found in space. Scientists have been able to make synthetic versions in laboratories that replicate deep space conditions. So, if you include extreme environments in your calculations, the number of possible compounds increases.

Credit: The Conversation

Carbon normally likes being attached to between one and four other atoms, but very occasionally, for short periods of time, five is possible. Imagine a bus with a maximum capacity of four. The bus is at the stop, and people are getting on and off; while people are moving, briefly, you can have more than four people actually on the bus.

Some chemists spend their entire careers trying to make compounds that, according to the chemistry rulebook, shouldn't exist. Sometimes they are successful.

Another question scientists have to grapple with is whether the compound they want can only exist in space or extreme environments—think of the immense heat and pressure found at hydrothermal vents, which are like geysers but on the ocean floor.

How scientists search for new compounds

Often the answer is to search for compounds that are related to ones that are already known. There are two main ways to do this. One is taking a known compound and changing it a bit—by adding, deleting or swapping some atoms. Another is taking a known chemical reaction and using new starting materials. This is when the method of creation is the same but the products may be quite different. Both of these methods are ways of searching for known unknowns.

Coming back to Lego, it's like making a house, then a slightly different house, or buying new bricks and adding a second story. A lot of chemists spend their careers exploring one of these chemical houses.

But how would we search for truly new chemistry—that is, unknown unknowns?

One way chemists learn about new compounds is to look at the natural world. Penicillin was found this way in 1928, when Alexander Fleming observed that mold in his petri dishes prevented the growth of bacteria.

Over a decade later, in 1939, Howard Florey worked out how to grow penicillin in useful amounts, still using mold. But it took even longer, until 1945, for Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin to identify penicillin's chemical structure.

That's important because part of penicillin's structure contains atoms arranged in a square, which is an unusual chemical arrangement that few chemists would guess, and is difficult to make. Understanding penicillin's structure meant we knew what it looked like and could search for its chemical cousins. If you're allergic to penicillin and have needed an alternative antibiotic, you have Crowfoot Hodgkin to thank.

Nowadays, it's a lot easier to determine the structure of new compounds. The X-ray technique that Crowfoot Hodgkin invented on her way to identifying penicillin's structure is still used worldwide to study compounds. And the same MRI technique that hospitals use to diagnose disease can also be used on chemical compounds to work out their structure.

But even if a chemist guessed a completely new structure unrelated to any compound known on Earth, they'd still have to make it, which is the hard part. Figuring out that a chemical compound could exist does not tell you how it's structured or what conditions you need to make it.

For many useful compounds, like penicillin, it's easier and cheaper to "grow" and extract them from molds, plants or insects. Thus the scientists searching for new chemistry still often look for inspiration in the tiniest corners of the world around us.

Provided by The Conversation

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Chemists develop reactions for the general synthesis of promising unexplored compounds

Research tracking map shows wildlife polluted by flame retardants on massive scale

by Green Science Policy Institute

More than 150 species of wild animals across every contintent are contaminated with harmful flame retardant chemicals. Credit: Green Science Policy Institute

More than 150 species of wild animals across every continent are contaminated with flame retardant chemicals, according to a new map tracking peer-reviewed research worldwide.

Polluted wildlife include killer whales, red pandas, chimpanzees and other endangered species. Added to furniture, electronics, vehicles, and other everyday products to meet flammability standards, the chemicals often do not work as intended. They also migrate out of products and into wildlife—and people.

"Flame retardants don't actually make TV enclosures and car interiors more fire-safe, but they can harm people and animals," said project lead Lydia Jahl, a scientist at the Green Science Policy Institute. "Though these product flammability standards may seem protective at first glance, many cause widespread and lasting harm for no real benefit."

Flame retardants found in wildlife include both older phased-out chemicals like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) as well as newer replacements chemicals like chlorinated paraffins and organophosphate flame retardants. Though known to cause liver, thyroid, and kidney cancers in laboratory animals, chlorinated paraffins are still commonly used in consumer products, with more than one million tons produced annually. Similarly, use of organophosphate flame retardants is proliferating, though even low levels may harm IQ, attention, and memory in children.

Frogs and snakes living near e-waste sites are heavily contaminated with flame retardants. Credit: Green Science Policy Institute

PCBs threaten the viability of more than half the world's killer whale population. Credit: Green Science Policy Institute

Flame retardants accumulate up the marine and terrestrial food chains with the highest levels in marine mammals and birds of prey. For example, PCB levels in killer whales have been linked to lower calf survival rates and weaker immune systems. Orca pods in Greenland, the Strait of Gibraltar, and Hawaii have been ravaged by accumulating flame retardants.

Indeed, scientists calculate that PCB contamination could wipe out half the world's killer whale populations over the next century. That's despite the fact that PCBs have been banned since the 1970s.

"Killer whales shouldn't have to swim in a sea of flame retardants. The science is clear that these chemicals harm their development—as well as that of our children," said Arlene Blum, executive director of the Green Science Policy Institute. "We need to update ineffective flammability standards to stop these toxics from entering the environment, wild animals, and us."

Sentinels for the harms of increasing use of chlorinated paraffins in products include black-spotted frogs living near electronic-waste facilities in China. These chemicals are linked to shrinking livers in the frogs and they can also be transferred to their eggs.

Flame retardants and other pollutants are linked to cancer in beluga whales. Credit: Green Science Policy Institute

Flame retardants reach chimpanzees in Uganda. Credit: Green Science Policy Institute

Flame retardants are also found in species living in areas far from their production, use, and disposal, showing their potential for long-range transport. For example, high levels of flame retardants have been detected in chimpanzees in a protected Ugandan National Park.

"This map illustrates the global consequences of repeatedly replacing harmful flame retardants with others that turn out to be similarly harmful," Jahl said.

"Instead of this endless cycle of regrettable substitutions, we need to evaluate whether many of the flammability standards that drive the use of flame retardants are even helpful. Some standards—such as California's old furniture standard—have already been proven ineffective and revised. Many more wouldn't stand up to scrutiny either, and they are wreaking havoc on wildlife and people alike."

Provided by Green Science Policy Institute

New flame retardants, old problems

Mechanical engineering professor uses coal to create graphene

by Alex Parrish, Virginia Tech

Since its initial discovery in 2004 by two professors at the University of Manchester, graphene has made a big splash in the scientific community. Its discoverers won a Nobel Prize in 2010 for developing the idea—then the race was on to find ways to produce and apply it. Roop Mahajan, the Lewis A. Hester Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech, has contributed a significant step forward in that race.

Graphene boasts unparalleled attributes—it's 200 times stronger than steel, yet lighter than paper, and exhibits unique mechanical properties. At the microscale, it takes the form of hexagon-shaped lattices of carbon with a thickness of just one atom.

Because of its unique properties, graphene has multiple applications:

It is strong enough to add damage resistance to the bodies of cars and planes.
Formulated as an ink, the electrically conducive material can be printed on paper or clothing, opening the door to wearable electronics.
Incorporated into batteries, it lowers charging time and increases power output.
Its antimicrobial properties have a promising future as an antimicrobial agent.
Made into a membrane, it could be used to filter water.

Mahajan's team has been integrating graphene into existing materials and technologies to bolster their strength without adding a lot of extra mass, building a practical approach to leverage graphene's unique properties. The effort has produced myriad innovative ways to incorporate graphene into everyday products, pressing the material to its full potential.

Getting greener and more cost-effective

Because graphene primarily consists of carbon, researchers must start with a material naturally high in carbon. Graphite, the primary component of pencil lead, is the usual choice because its composition is almost pure carbon.

Because graphene is a one-atom-thick sheet of material, producing it requires a significant amount of processing. The most popular technique is a modified version of an approach known as Hummer's Method and uses sulfuric acid, potassium permanganate, sodium nitrate, and hydrogen peroxide at various stages. Three of those four chemicals are considered hazardous.

But Mahajan's group has re-imagined a more sustainable method to source graphene not from graphite but from coal, dramatically cutting the number of harsh chemicals to only one: nitric acid. With fewer hazardous chemicals and less disposal to manage, this approach reduces the environmental impact as well as the risk to researchers.

Replacing graphite as the primary source for the material of the future comes with benefits. Most graphite is sourced from China, making its supply chain somewhat uncertain. Additionally, graphite is a critical ingredient in batteries, and the sharp increase in global demand for batteries has taken a significant bite out of that supply.

Although coal contains a lower percentage of carbon—60 to 80% vs. a near-100% composition in graphite—the team's less hazardous production method promises a better future for the environment. This shift could also open doors for a coal economy rapidly diminished across the globe, due in large part to its contribution to global warming when coal is burned.

In addition to the environmental benefits, there are economic bonuses. Mahajan's team produces graphene that's 10 to 15 times less expensive than previous methods, creating a lower-cost supply that could spur new innovations in the market and help commercialization.

"Lowering the production cost of graphene is crucial to fully harness its exceptional properties and accelerate its broad adoption across diverse applications, potentially catalyzing the development of new markets and industries," Mahajan said.

Grinders, marbles, and acid

In Mahajan's unique process, the journey to synthesize graphene begins with the meticulous process of grinding down raw chunks of coal to create a coarse powder. The powder is put into a large cylinder that contains white marbles of different sizes, then rolled. The marbles grind and crush the dust, further reducing its size. The ball-milled powder is then chemically stripped of impurities such as metal sulfites and ash.

The ground and purified coal is then placed into a bath of nitric acid, which converts coal into graphene oxide. The acid is drained off and the unreacted carbon removed, resulting in graphene oxide powder, which can then be further converted to graphene by heat treatment. This is the substance that has been mixed with adhesives, silicon, glass, and metal to produce new kinds of composite materials for a variety of applications.

Mahajan's team has demonstrated superior performance for coal against graphite-derived graphene. The groundbreaking work has resulted in a steady stream of publications, including one in the journal Carbon.

This paper detailed the team's novel process and demonstrated the superiority of coal-derived graphene in the development of highly sensitive sensors to separate and detect single-stranded DNA aptamers. These sensors are widely used in diagnostics, therapeutics, food safety, and various industries because of their ability to bind to specific target molecules with high affinity and specificity.

The team in India

Expanding the understanding of both a novel material and a novel process calls for an expanded team, and Mahajan knew exactly where to turn, thanks to his leadership role in Virginia Tech's global research footprint.

Mahajan is the director of strategic research and innovation for VT India, giving him a direct line for pushing innovation. This team of scientists, headquartered in Chennai, India, has been central to expanding the graphene enterprise.

That work produced an article in ACS Applied Nanomaterials focusing on graphene oxide's role as a nanofiller in enhancing the mechanical performance of glass fiber-reinforced polymers. And the team is actively exploring other potential applications, including

Wound healing solutions
Wearable potassium-ion and urea sensors
Corrosion inhibition of reinforced bars in concrete
Technologies for green hydrogen production

While unfolding new technologies creates an exciting scientific environment, Mahajan is focused on more than just innovation. Reducing environmental hazards and boosting production on the "wonder material" carries a deeper implication: better quality of life for everyone. Smarter energy use, more reliable materials, and plentiful options for health care all rally to that cause.

"This wide spectrum of applications exemplifies the remarkable potential of coal-derived graphene technologies in reshaping industries and improving lives on a global scale," Mahajan said.

More information: Anushka Garg et al, Simplified One-Pot Synthesis of Graphene Oxide from Different Coals and its Potential Application in Enhancing the Mechanical Performance of GFRP Nanocomposites, ACS Applied Nano Materials (2023). DOI: 10.1021/acsanm.3c03197

Provided by Virginia Tech

Researchers look at the role of graphene in space technology

Have we reached the end of nature? Our relationship with the environment is in crisis

by Derek Lynch, The Conversation

Recently, I encountered the thought-provoking expression "God is dead, Marx is dead and I don't feel so well myself." I wonder if it is now the time to update this by adding "Nature is dead."

Has Nature, framed as being separate to humanity, lost its relevance? Does humanity's exceptionalist mindset, as famed biologist E.O. Wilson suggests, leave us "contemptuous towards lower forms of life"?

Globally, we have entered the Anthropocene, with humans the dominant force driving change in all ecosystems. Through our overwhelming influence on the atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere, no ecosystem anywhere is sheltered from our influence.

Whether it be through colonial redistribution of species, habitat loss, the diverse forces of climate change, overextraction or pollution by plastics, forever chemicals, and reactive nitrogen and phosphorus, there is no unaltered ecosystem. As some of these forces of change combine, ecosystems are being pushed past tipping points of collapse at a faster rate.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, incidences of reverse zoonosis, in which humans became the reservoir and source of infection for domesticated and wild animals, emphasized how the fate of humanity and all creatures sharing the biosphere is linked.

The crises of the Anthropocene

As a result of the Anthropocene—this period of time when human activity is enormously impacting the planet—global biodiversity is in crisis, with species extinction occurring at 1,000 times the pre-human rate. Addressing this crisis is one of our greatest challenges.

The Half-Earth project contends that only by preserving 50 percent of global surface habitat will we preserve 85 percent of species. But setting aside land for nature, such as in parks and reserves, has often meant depriving Indigenous people of their lands, instead of respecting and prioritizing the role of Indigenous peoples in biosphere preservation.

While the increasing size of protected areas (to 17 percent of land and 10 percent of oceans, respectively by 2020) is encouraging, the effectiveness of their management in preserving biodiversity is still largely to be determined.

Supporting biodiversity

We are recognizing, however, that biodiversity can also be supported everywhere and in everything we do. Urban landscapes can support greater biodiversity such as of pollinators and farmed landscapes can contribute depending on the intensity of farming.

School children increasingly are no longer taken on trips into nature, but instead learn in settings where they develop a reciprocal relationship with the land and living world.

As the English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote:

What would the world be, once bereft

Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,

O let them be left, wildness and wet;

Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.

Relationships with nature

At a breakout discussion group I participated in during a Regeneration Canada conference, we were asked to describe our "community." Many described their urban or rural community. I spoke about my academic community—my students, colleagues…

A young Mohawk man began by describing a copse of birch trees on his land as his community. For the rest of us present, "man" had been overrepresented when speaking of community. For essayist and philosopher Sylvia Wynter, the invention and overrepresentation of Man (a category that emerged from European rational thought) as distinct from nature, is the underpinning concept that enabled its history of colonialism and racism.

Some academics, becoming aware of the profound effects of climate change, have declared that the wall between human history and natural history was now broken. As historian Dipesh Chakrabarty proposed in his famous paper, "The Climate of History: Four Theses," this collapse of chronologies means key motifs in contemporary human history, such as the struggle for freedom, are now inextricably linked to the fate of the biosphere.

Historians should thus combine their contemporary history studies with that of our longer history as one species among many.

Ecologists are recognizing that "othering" the natural world is meaningless, and the study of natural processes has to include those modified by mankind. Indeed, the idea of ourselves as distinct from all non-humans is considered by some to be the fundamental driver of our current planetary crisis.

Given such deepening understanding, is it now the time to go beyond "nature" as a concept external to humanity? Instead, we could promote a deeper understanding of biodiversity and community as the shared long history and future fate both of humanity and non-human life.

Such revised paradigms are closer to Indigenous viewpoints of community, in which land management is conducted in partnership with our relatives within all ecosystems.

Have we reached the end of nature in its traditional meaning as distinct from us? Reframing our relationship with nature is an important step to deepen our commitment to addressing these human-made environmental crises.