Page 235 - Environment

Air pollution behind rising unhappiness in China: US study

Air pollution in China may be contributing to low levels of happiness among the country's urban population, reveal researchers from the US.

Indian companies take bold emission reduction targets: CDP report

Top Indian companies have reaffirmed their commitment to fighting climate change by taking bold emission reduction targets and promoting renewable energy that has put the country on the path to achieving its global commitment well ahead of the Paris Agreement targets.

Traffic snarls due to rain in Delhi

Waterlogging due to heavy rains led to traffic congestions at major intersections in the national capital Tuesday. According to information provided by the Delhi Traffic Police on its official Twitter handle, smooth movement of traffic was disrupted at Karala Chowk, Malviya Nagar, Modi Mill flyover, and Azad Market underpass. Vehicles moved bumper-to-bumper on Narayana flyover and Defence Colony underpass (from Jangpura towards Lajpat Nagar) due to waterlogging. Commuters are expected to witness traffic congestions at Khyber Pass, Kela Ghat GPO, Chatta Rail, Digamber Jain Mandir near old Delhi railway station, Ashok Vihar flyover and Aurobindo Marg. Waterlogging caused vehicles to move cheek-by-jowl at Moolchand underpass, Bihari under railway bridge, Chhatrasal Stadium main gate red light, IP estate, Samalkha red light, RTR T-point, Bhairon Marg under railway bridge and Devli. The Delhi Traffic Police has advised commuters to avoid the stretch between Savitri Cinema and Ashram.

Greenland ice melting faster than previously thought: Study

The Greenland ice sheet is melting four times faster than in 2003 due to continued, accelerating warming of the Earth's atmosphere, and may lead to faster rise in the sea level, according to a study. Scientists concerned about sea level rise have long focused on Greenland's southeast and northwest regions, where large glaciers stream iceberg-sized chunks of ice into the Atlantic Ocean. The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the largest sustained ice loss from early 2003 to mid-2013 came from Greenland's southwest region, which is mostly devoid of large glaciers. "Whatever this was, it couldn't be explained by glaciers, because there are not many there," said Michael Bevis, a professor at The Ohio State University in the US. "It had to be the surface mass -- the ice was melting inland from the coastline," Bevis said. That melting, which researchers believe is largely caused by global warming, means that in the southwestern part ..

Auto LPG body for change in archaic Type Approval norm to promote gaseous fuels

The Indian Auto LPG Coalition (IAC) has demanded change in archaic Type Approval norms governing vehicle conversions to gaseous fuels to help automobiles easily convert to environment-friendly fuel. IAC, the apex body of auto LPG suppliers in India, has asked the Ministry of Road Transport to change the Type Approval norms that are "acting as a huge detriment to the retro-fitment market in India," it said in a statement. "The regulations that act as a deterrent to the conversion industry will be a major impediment to the rollout of the ambitious City Gas Distribution Project," it said. The government is keen on more than doubling the share of natural gas in India's energy basket to 15 per cent in coming years and is aggressively pushing for use of gas as a fuel in automobiles. City gas projects have been launched in several cities and towns towards that. Suyash Gupta, Director General, Indian Auto LPG Coalition said both the LPG and CNG conversion industries have been struggling with .

President Trump's stand on climate change "very scary": Norwegian author Maja Lunde

US President Donald Trump's "ignorance" on climate change is "very scary", renowned Norwegian author Maja Lunde has said, warning that world leaders need to work together to avoid an environmental catastrophe. Noting that the threat of climate change is "really grave", she said the world leaders needed to put their act together to avoid an environmental catastrophe. "We have 11 years to limit a climate change catastrophe and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, warns the UN. Even half a degree more will worsen the risk of floods, extreme heat, drought and poverty for hundreds of millions of people. Yes, this (threat) is really grave," the author of "Blue" -- the second novel in a planned climate quartet -- told PTI. Asked about the people, including Trump, who dismiss the climate change threat as a "hoax", Lunde said such a stance from the US president was "completely irresponsible". "Luckily less and less people ignore the facts. When it comes to Trump, I don't know what to answer, ..

New shark species with 'spaceship-shaped' teeth discovered

Scientists say they have discovered a new species of freshwater sharks whose tiny teeth resemble the alien ships from the popular 1980s video game Galaga. Unlike its gargantuan cousin the megalodon, Galagadon nordquistae is only about 12 to 18 inches long and is related to modern-day carpet sharks, said researchers from the North Carolina State University in the US. Galagadon once swam in the Cretaceous rivers of what is now South Dakota, and its remains were uncovered beside "Sue," the world's most famous T rex fossil, according to the study published in the Journal of Paleontology. Galaga is a Japanese arcade game initially released in 1981 which puts the player in control of a spacecraft. "The more we discover about the Cretaceous period (145 million years to 66 million years ago) just before the non-bird dinosaurs went extinct, the more fantastic that world becomes," said Terry Gates, a lecturer at North Carolina State University. "It may seem odd today, but about 67 million years

MEIL Pitches for Annuity Projects in Water Supply

/ -- For the first time in the country, Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL), has taken up five water supply projects on an annuity basis. They are Keshavapur Reservoir (Hyderabad), the potable water supply to 190 villages and 5 municipalities of surrounding Outer Ring Road (ORR), 2426 School buildings construction in Nellore and Prakasham districts in Andhra Pradesh and Bulk drinking water project in Bhubaneswar in Odisha. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/811416/MEIL_Bubhaneshwar_Bulk_Water_System.jpg ) Explaining the annuity projects, Mr. Bonthupally Srinivas Reddy, Vice President, MEIL, Keshavapur Reservoir, said, "When government runs out of planned budget, some of the essential projects are awarded to interested private companies and in turn, the companies will recover the cost over a period from the government. Earlier, these annuity projects were taken up in infrastructure and road projects. But, for the first time in India, MEIL has taken up annuity ...

Delhi rains bring no respite as air quality remains 'very poor'

Rainfall that hit some areas of Delhi and its surrounding regions failed to improve the overall air quality index on Tuesday.Air Quality Index (AQI) was docking at 329 in the morning. At Mathura Road the AQI was 335 with Particulate Matter (PM) 10. At Dhirpur, the AQI was 307 while in Pitampura area it dipped to 'very poor' category at 330. Furthermore, AQI near Pusa Road, Airport Terminal 3 and Chandni Chowk stood at 322, 301 and 342 respectively.A dense patch of cloud was seen over the city and its surrounding regions. In the wake of this, the skies remained black in Delhi and its adjoining areas such as Noida, Gurugram, Ghaziabad and Faridabad till 9 in the morning. Metro rail services were also briefly halted on the Magenta and Blue lines.Traffic was also affected in several areas because of the sudden downpour. Delhi Traffic Police constantly tweeted about traffic disruptions in the city. Areas like Mathura Road to Rajapuri Chowk towards Palam flyover were inundated due to ...

Fungus infestation of high-yielding sugarcane variety leads to hunt for new strain

The famed Co-0238 high-yielding sugarcane variety that has placed India on the verge of becoming the world's largest sugar producer has run into trouble due to a 'Red Rot' infestation, forcing the government to hunt for a new strain to check a possible slump in output in the coming years.

Green activists to build a Taj with plastic/polythene waste in Agra

Green activists will attempt to construct a Taj Mahal with plastic and polythene waste at the Etmauddaula viewpoint park on the Yamuna river here.

In China, unhappiness tracks poor air quality

Eye-watering, throat-scratching air pollution is a major driver of big city blues in China, according to a study that matched social network chatter with fine-particle pollution levels. "The take-away is simple," lead author Siqi Zheng, an associate professor at MIT and director of the University's China Future City Lab, told AFP. "Higher levels of air pollution lower people's happiness in the world's most populous country." Dirty air is not the only blight on life in urban China, which is also plagued by soaring housing prices, worries over food safety, and poor public services. But health-wreaking pollution - especially microscopic bits from coal-fired power plants and factories that settle in the lungs - is a long-standing gripe of the country's burgeoning middle class. More than a million premature deaths every year in China can be chalked up to air pollution, the World Health Organization and other research groups have concluded. A toxic cocktail of small and larger particulate ..

Greenland ice melt reaching 'tipping point': Study

Climate change is causing Greenland's massive ice sheets to melt much faster than previously thought, a new study has found, adding that it may be "too late" to do anything about it.

Russia, Ukraine to hold further gas talks in May

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Russia and Ukraine will meet for further gas talks in May after an EU-mediated discussion in Brussels on Monday yielded no concrete results, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said.

'A List' climate change firms outperform on stock market - survey

OSLO (Reuters) - Apple, L'Oreal and Mitsubishi Electric are among more than 120 global firms which scored top marks in a ranking of corporate efforts to slow climate change.

Death toll in Mexico pipeline fire reaches 89

The death toll in a massive fire at an illegally tapped pipeline in Mexico rose to 89 Monday as more of the injured have died at hospitals. Health Secretary Jorge Alcocer said 51 victims severely burned in the fire were still in hospitals, two of them in Galveston, Texas. The victims were gathering gasoline from an illegal pipeline tap in the central state of Hidalgo on Friday when the gas ignited, littering an alfalfa field with charred bodies. The government reported Monday that an astonishing total of 14,894 such illegal taps had been found in 2018, an average of about 41 per day nationwide. Hidalgo was the state with the highest number of such taps, with 2,121. The fire occurred in the small farming town of Tlahuelilpan, where 38 such taps were found in 2017 and 23 in 2018. The fire occurred on a 14-inch underground steel pipeline that had been drilled, tapped and patched before. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Mexico's fuel ducts are antiquated and decaying. "These ...

Scientists warn of climate 'time bomb' for world's groundwater

Future generations face an environmental "time bomb" as the world's groundwater systems take decades to respond to the present day impact of climate change, scientists warned on Monday. Found underground in cracks in soil, sand and rock, groundwater is the largest useable source of freshwater on the planet and more than two billion people rely on it to drink or irrigate crops. It is slowly replenished through rainfall -- a process known as recharge -- and discharges into lakes, rivers or oceans to maintain an overall balance between water in and water out. Groundwater reserves are already under pressure as the global population explodes and crop production rises in lockstep. But the extreme weather events such as drought and record rainfall -- both made worse by our heating planet -- could have another long-lasting impact on how quickly reserves replenish, according to a study published in Nature Climate Change. An international team of researchers used computer modelling of ...

Rs 1 lakh cr worth highway projects planned for Andhra: Gadkari

Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday inaugurated a series of projects in Andhra Pradesh and said the government is planning national highway projects worth Rs 1 lakh crore in the state.

Satara farmers call off protest on ind minister's assurance

A group of farmers from Satara district in Maharashtra Monday suspended their protest after state Industries Minister Subhash Desai assured them that their concerns on acquisition of land for projects will be taken care of. The farmers from the western Maharashtra district have alleged that their agricultural land is being acquired for industrial projects without their consent. Earlier in the day, over 100 agriculturists, affected by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation's (MIDC's) irrigation project, who were marching to Mumbai demanding compensation and employment, were stopped by the police at Mankhurd. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Desai said, "the farmers whose land has been acquired in the phase-I but could who not get a portion of a land back, will be accommodated in the second phase of land acquisition. As per the policy, a portion of the acquired land is given back to owners". The minister also said that the farmers who have objected to

'Super blood moon' thrills onlookers with vibrant shade of red

Stargazers were in for a treat as they enjoyed a rare "super blood moon" as it turned a stunning shade of red.