Latest news with #environmentalresearch
CTV News
4 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
How the trade war could impact garbage shipments from Canada to the U.S.
Calvin Lakhan, co-investigator of the 'Waste Wiki' project at York University, explains why Ontario plans to reopen a landfill in the wake of a trade war with the U.S.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Aussies urgently called to action as silent crisis sweeps neighbourhoods
Australians are being asked to come forward and report sightings of dead trees in parts of the country's south in a growing effort to combat widespread decline in native vegetation. South Australia has experienced unprecedentedly high temperatures and significantly reduced rainfall over the past six to 12 months, with the weather extremes severely impacting native vegetation and urban streetscapes. Scientists warn widespread tree dieback — where tree health progressively declines — has placed a "considerable strain" on the environment, and now they're seeking help from the public. Environmental Science and Hydrology Professor Huade Guan from Flinders University told Yahoo News researchers are working to identify which tree species are most vulnerable to drought, so authorities can prioritise care and protection efforts. When trees die on a large scale, the consequences can ripple through both the environment and communities in profound ways. Trees are essential for stabilising soil, filtering air and water, and regulating local temperatures. Without them, soil erosion accelerates, air and water quality deteriorate, and ecosystems become less resilient overall. "What we are trying to find out is which tree species, in what situations, are more vulnerable in droughts, and thus need more care," he told Yahoo. Guan said the team will assess factors such as ground conditions, solar exposure, nearby green infrastructure, soil quality and the health of surrounding trees. "We cannot identify these through the photos only. We hope to visit as many individual cases the public has reported, as possible," he said. The data collected from residents is expected to play an important role in shaping urban greening policies and tree management strategies. Researchers plan to share the validated information with local councils to help improve decision-making. "I think the information... would be useful to improve tree management," Guan said. One potential approach involves integrating urban tree care with stormwater management, a strategy already being adopted by many councils in Adelaide. "For known vulnerable trees and locations, stormwater harvesting devices can be installed to provide more water for the trees," he added. When it comes to the broader impact of tree health on urban cooling and liveability, the effects are significant. Guan pointed to findings from a recent project funded by the City of Mitcham and Green Adelaide, noting that on a hot summer day when the soil is 55 degrees, the tree canopy and the shade it provides can make the surface 30 degrees cooler. He explained that urban trees act like natural air conditioners in summer by using solar energy to cool the air, and that retaining more stormwater in urban soils can help make summers cooler. Incredible breakthrough in bid to protect 'near-mythical' species Sad discovery at river sparks concern amid 'disturbing' trend Workers spotted painting roadside tree in trend sweeping Australia "By retaining more stormwater using what we called water-sensitive-urban-design structures, our research has shown that the canopy temperature is 1.5 degrees cooler in summer afternoons," he said. Many native animals, birds, and insects rely on trees for food, shelter, and breeding grounds. When vast numbers of trees perish, these habitats collapse, leading to sharp declines in wildlife populations and disrupting the delicate balance of local ecosystems. In urban areas, the effects are even more noticeable. Trees naturally cool their surroundings through shade and evapotranspiration, so their absence causes cities to heat up. This not only raises energy demands for air conditioning but also increases health risks, especially during heatwaves, making the loss of trees a critical issue for both the environment and human wellbeing. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
E&E News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- E&E News
Zeldin backs lab in top House appropriator's district
As EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin pursues plans to gut the agency's research arm, he appeared ready Thursday to shield at least one facility: a laboratory located in the district of House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole. The work done at the Robert S. Kerr Environmental Research Center in Ada, Oklahoma, is important and 'should be enhanced,' Zeldin told the Oklahoma Republican during a House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the Trump administration's EPA budget proposal for next year. His answer appeared to satisfy Cole, who had asked Zeldin to explain how the Kerr Center's work — which includes groundwater research and ecosystem restoration — informs EPA's ability to carry out its statutory functions. Advertisement But the lab is part of EPA's Office of Research and Development, which would effectively be dissolved as a stand-alone entity under the first phase of a restructuring unveiled by Zeldin earlier this month.
ABC News
14-05-2025
- Science
- ABC News
The birds on Lord Howe Island are now so full of plastic, they crunch
On a pristine Australian island, the seabirds have become so full of plastic they crackle and crunch. Warning: this story contains graphic images. The tiny Lord Howe Island is a sanctuary of volcanic rock off Australia's east coast, so carefully preserved that the number of visitors allowed at any time is strictly controlled. It's home to about 500 humans and 44,000 shearwaters, more commonly known as mutton birds. Just 400 visitors are allowed to Lord Howe Island at any time. ( Supplied: Neal Haddaway ) The flesh-footed shearwater, commonly known as the mutton bird. ( Supplied: Neal Haddaway ) It is the last place you would expect to find wildlife with bellies full of plastic. For about 18 years, Dr Jen Lavers has been travelling to Lord Howe Island to study the mutton birds, and every time finds more and more plastic inside them. Last month, her team Adrift Lab found a bird that broke the record: almost a fifth of its entire body weight was plastic. Where once Dr Lavers' team would rarely find more than 10 pieces of plastic inside the birds, if at all, now they regularly see hundreds of pieces of plastic. Pieces removed from the bird's stomachs can often be identified, and Dr Lavers said sometimes even had recognisable brands. ( Supplied ) "To witness it first-hand, it is incredibly visceral. There is now so much plastic inside the birds you can feel it on the outside of the animal when it is still alive. As you press on its belly … you hear the pieces grinding against each other. The mutton birds have become so full of plastic their bellies crunch and crackle with the sound of it. It is a graphic sound, but one that the Lord Howe Island scientists want the world to hear. A picture of anger and shame Dr Lavers has been seeking to raise the plight of the mutton bird, saying it is a canary in the coal mine for the world's larger plastic problem. And so, as Australian politicians campaigned in a federal election, she enlisted the help of long-time friend and Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson, asking him to join her and see for himself the state of the mutton birds on Lord Howe Island. Dr Jennifer Lavers has studied mutton birds for almost two decades. ( ABC News: Jonny McNee ) Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson has been a long-time friend of Dr Lavers, but this was his first visit with her to Lord Howe Island. ( ABC News: Ashleigh Barraclough ) Arriving to the island for the first time, Whish-Wilson said the mountainous landscape rising out of the fog was like something from Gilligan's Island. "It's not really the kind of place you come to be shocked, and walk away feeling a little bit traumatised." That night, he joined researchers to visit the mutton birds at their rookery, a collection of nests dug into the sand at the beach. He said the innocent birds were so unafraid of humans they would see the light of his head torch and run into his lap. "They're all running around, bumping into you, knocking things over. It's kind of mayhem." There at the beach he helped the team to 'lavage' the birds — that is, he helped to feed a tube down their throats to flush them with water. Whish-Wilson joined the researchers on a night study where he helped to lavage the birds. ( Supplied ) The birds were flushed with a lavage to dislodge plastic in order to assist in studying them. ( Supplied ) The lavage caused the birds to vomit cigarette butts, plastic lids, and other identifiable products. ( Supplied ) Then he watched the stomach contents spill into a tray: a syringe cap, a cigarette butt, a screw cap from a piece of furniture, and larger bits of plastic that were harder to dislodge. "The tub was full," he said. "It was horrible to see. It was very sad. I felt a real range of emotions, from anger and sadness through to shame, and I don't know, just frustration." The next day, the team dissected birds that had been found dead on the beach, and what was inside was worse. Since Dr Lavers's first visit in 2008, she has witnessed an increase from about three quarters of birds carrying about five to 10 pieces of plastic, to every single bird having 50 or more pieces. Until last month, the most they had ever found was 403 pieces in 2024. "I'm sad to say just yesterday we blew [the record] out of the water, and our new record holder is 778 pieces of plastic in an 80-day-old seabird chick, in one of the most pristine corners of our planet." Without context, it could be art. This was all the plastic found inside just one bird. ( Supplied: Adrift Lab ) She says what is happening to the mutton birds is happening everywhere. Plastics and microplastics are being found in everything, including humans, but the migratory shearwater is a 'sentinel species' for a bigger problem. "These birds have a very important story to tell, and what they are telling us is that their populations are in decline, that the amount of plastic they're consuming is going up and up," she said. "The birds are telling us we need to do more." Whish-Wilson says what he witnessed moved him. "What's been seen can't be unseen. I wish every politician and every decision maker in parliaments around the world, because this is a global problem, I wish they could all experience what I experienced just for 24 hours, to come down here and do it themselves, and then they'll get it," he said. "We are not winning the war on waste." Peter Whish-Wilson with mutton birds on Lord Howe Island. ( Supplied ) Plastic recycling has not improved The most recent waste data for Australia shows that the average Australian generated about 512 kilograms of waste in a year — about 50 kilograms of that being plastic waste. Australia is producing more plastic waste per capita than in 2017, when a baseline measurement was taken. That year, about 12.5 per cent of plastic was recycled, with the rest sent to landfill. The most recent data, five years on, shows plastic recycling rates have not improved at all. The responsible industry group admitted last year its target for 70 per cent of plastics to be recycled by 2025 "clearly" would not be met. Bales of plastics await recycling at a centre in South Australia. ( ABC News: Che Chorley ) The recycling sector says the problem is simple: there are simply not enough companies buying enough recycled products. "The major missing piece is demand. We're really good at collecting and sorting, we can process in Australia, but what we are not doing in Australia is buying it back," Waste Management and Resource Recovery chief executive Gayle Sloan says. But there is an idea being floated in parliament to make packaging producers more responsible for their products. The United Kingdom has introduced world-leading laws that require at least 30 per cent of plastic products to be made from recycled materials. For every kilogram of "non-compliant" plastic that does not reach that 30 per cent threshold, producers suffer a financial penalty. A bottle cap found inside a mutton bird's stomach. ( ABC News: Jonny McNee ) Whish-Wilson has found an uncommon ally across the chamber in Nationals senator Ross Cadell, who last month both handed down a report calling on Australia to legislate a Circular Economy Act, and force producers to use more recycled products and take responsibility for its entire life cycle. "I think the reason we're losing is because the only focus we've had on circularity, or, you know, recycling or waste reduction, whatever you want to call it, has been on the end of the pipe, on the businesses that actually have to clean up the mess." A Labor-led inquiry into waste, established by the recently replaced environment minister, has also recommended considering a 30 per cent recycled content target with "incentives or mandates" on local plastic manufacturers to reach it. Newly installed Environment Minister Murray Watt told the ABC the government was committed to "new rules to produce less waste in the first place". "This includes consideration of mandatory requirements for recycled content in packaging," Watt said. "Our reform will also include enforcement measures to make sure companies adhere to our strong regulations." Murray Watt has recently taken on the portfolio of environment minister from Tanya Plibersek. ( ABC News: Matt Roberts ) With a new term of parliament, a new environment minister and the final round of global negotiations on a treaty to end plastic pollution, Whish-Wilson hopes that momentum is building. "It's a really big issue in people's minds. Now, like globally, there's a push to get this high-ambition treaty. You know, [former prime minister] Scott Morrison even flew to to New York to raise plastic pollution as an issue at the United Nations," he said. "My experience in politics is things take a long time to change, but when they do, they can happen really quickly. And I feel like we are on the cusp of that." On the cusp of change In March 2022, United Nations members endorsed a resolution to end plastic pollution, and agreed to forge a legally binding agreement by the end of 2024. That deadline passed without a deal. But a final session of negotiations is due to be held in August in Geneva. Former environment minister Tanya Plibersek warned that UN assembly last year that plastic production was set to triple by 2060, "and experts predict plastics in oceans could outweigh fish by 2050 — making this treaty critical". A review of Australia's last major reforms to the waste sector, introduced under former prime minister Scott Morrison, is due in weeks. Whish-Wilson says it is time for Australia to turn its eye on the "front end" of the waste pipe, where the plastic gets made, not where it gets spat out. "The big problem, it's actually quite simple how to solve this. All government policies all around the world, including here in Australia, have been targeted at the end of the waste pipe. When the waste comes out we try and recycle it, we try and recover resources from it, or we send it off to landfill, or it ends up in our environment. "What we need to do is focus on the front of the pipe, the producers of this plastic. Packaging is the biggest cause of plastic pollution on the planet, and in the ocean, and I saw it in the stomach of all these poor seabirds. "Everyone out there hates plastic pollution. They hate seeing it on the beaches. They hate the idea of it being in our bodies. They hate it being in their food and in their seafood. It doesn't matter what political colour you are, most people don't want to see this issue, so they want to see politicians solve it."
