Trees are known for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thus benefiting the climate. New research shows that they offer one more benefit. Microbes living in tree bark or in the wood itself remove atmospheric methane – a powerful greenhouse gas – on a scale equal to or above that of soil. This makes trees 10% more beneficial for climate overall than previously thought. The methane absorption was strongest in tropical forests, probably because microbes thrive in the warm, wet conditions found there.

Methane is responsible for around 30% of global warming, and emissions are currently rising fast, driven largely by human-related activities.

Until now, soil had been thought of as earth’s only terrestrial sink for methane, as soils are full of bacteria that absorb the gas and break it down for use as energy. But trees may be as important or more so. The study is the first to quantify the volume of atmospheric methane that, on a global scale, trees can remove – 24.6 to 49.9 million tonnes annually.

The post Tree bark plays a vital role in removing methane from the atmosphere appeared first on The Teenager Today.

Venezuela is the first country in modern history to lose all its glaciers, with the vanishing of its Humboldt glacier. By 2011, five of Venezuela’s six glaciers, located in the Andes Mountains, vanished. Humboldt melted faster than expected, and has shrunk from 450 hectares to less than two hectares, leading to its downgrade from a glacier to an ice field. The Venezuelan government has put in a thermal blanket in an attempt to protect the glacier from further melting.

Glaciers are melting due to warmer temperatures caused by greenhouse gases (GHGs). The melting of the Humboldt glacier was accelerated by El Niño (an abnormal warming of surface waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean leading to warmer temperatures). Other glaciers across the world are shrinking fast, with two-thirds predicted to vanish by 2100 at current climate change trends.

India’s glaciers, too, are melting at unprecedented rates across the Hindu Kush Himalayan mountain ranges, and could lose up to 80% of their volume this century if GHG emissions are not drastically reduced.

Glaciers are a crucial source of freshwater for local communities, plants and animals. The cold water that runs off glaciers keeps downstream water temperatures cooler, which is crucial for many aquatic species to survive.

The post Venezuela’s last glacier collapses due to global warming appeared first on The Teenager Today.

You’ve probably heard about carbon offsetting, where companies or individuals can pay to remove carbon dioxide from the air to “cancel out” their emissions. But as we consider the next steps for our country, there are some important questions to consider: how exactly does it work and can we trust it? Is it actually helping the climate?

The idea behind carbon markets is simple. Companies that pollute can purchase ‘carbon credits’ from environmental projects that absorb or avoid releasing CO2, like planting trees or installing renewable energy. One credit equals one ton of CO2 removed from the atmosphere.

While this approach seems straightforward, investigations have revealed the risk of greenwashing — creating the misleading impression that a product or service is “environmentally conscious”.

Subscribe to The Teenager Today print / digital editions to read the full article.

The post The Carbon Market Conundrum appeared first on The Teenager Today.

India is home to 718 snow leopards, accounting for roughly 10-15% of the big cat’s global population. Conducted by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), the Snow Leopard Population Assessment in India (SPAI) Programme was carried out from 2019 to 2023 as part of the Population Assessment of the World’s Snow Leopards (PAWS), a global effort to determine the snow leopard’s numbers.

The survey covered approximately 120,000 sq kms of snow leopard habitat across the trans-Himalayan region. After camera traps identified 214 individual snow leopards, surveyors analysed leopard trails and other data to estimate the animal’s population at 718. Ladakh, with 477 individuals, is the leading snow leopard habitat in India, followed by Uttarakhand (124), Himachal Pradesh (51), Arunachal Pradesh (36), Sikkim (21), and Jammu and Kashmir (9).

The snow leopard is classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In India, it is given the highest wildlife protection status. Its numbers in the wild face multiple threats, from habitat loss and poaching to infrastructure development.

Understanding the precise population of the snow leopard is important because of its role as the apex predator in the Himalayan ecosystem. Its population can indicate health of the ecosystem and help identify potential threats to its habitat, and shifts caused by climate change.

The post India’s elusive snow leopard population at 718, reveals survey appeared first on The Teenager Today.

The U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP28) was held in Dubai from 30 November to 12 December 2023 with 197 countries’ representatives. COP aims to resolve the causes of climate change and global warming.

On 11 December 2023, as countries clashed over an agreement to phase out fossil fuels at COP28, Licypriya Kangujam, a 12-year-old Indian climate and environmental activist, stormed onto the stage, waving a placard above her head that read, “End fossil fuels. Save our planet and our future.” The audience applauded her most appealing speech, which stirred an urgency to address environmental issues on a global platform. However, she was escorted away and expelled from COP28.

The teen protestor springs from Manipur, a small carbon-negative state in India, and studies in Grade 7 at Ryan International School. She fights to save the planet and its future. Growing up in Odisha, her life was struck by Cyclone Titli in 2018 and Cyclone Fani in 2019, leaving her loved ones homeless, orphaned and lifeless. She then moved to Delhi but was trapped by its high air pollution and heat wave crisis. All these incidents turned her into a child climate activist.

Subscribe to The Teenager Today print / digital editions to read the full article.

The post Licypriya Kangujam: Little Climate Champ appeared first on The Teenager Today.

Climate change has become an imminent threat looming over us. From forest fires in California to floods in Germany, droughts in Central India to flash floods in the North-Eastern states, we have been witnessing the impact of climate change globally and regionally, with increasing frequency and intensity for the past few years. As per the global risk perceptions survey of 2022, three out of five major risks perceived by the world are environmentally risky and the top-ranked risk lies in ‘Climate Action Failure’.

It is imperative now to look deeper and ponder over the impacts in terms of economy, society and the environment. Economic impacts of climate change can be in the form of loss of agriculture due to droughts, increasing unemployment in certain sectors like fisheries owing to temperature rise in the sea, climate-change-related health issues leading to reduced productivity of employees and so on. Social impacts include loss of livelihood, increased unrest in societies affected by climate change and rising inequality. Environmental impacts are often discussed at length, and it includes flash floods, droughts, erratic spells of rainfall and heat waves amongst others.

Subscribe to The Teenager Today print / digital editions to read the full article.

The post Climate Smart Governance: Paving the way for a safer future appeared first on The Teenager Today.

It is encouraging to note that young committed students facing various obstacles are coming forward today in their efforts for climate change and their care for the environment. One such example is Sanjoli Banerjee whom we featured in the March 2022 issue of our magazine. Our December 2021 issue had highlighted the initiatives of young Vidyut Mohan and that of 14-year-old Vinisha Umashankar who have taken steps to reduce carbon emissions in their environment. We happily present in this issue the story of Ishan Kapur from Delhi who has found an alternative to wasteful plastic bags. This simply proves that it is possible for our youth to bring about big changes through small attempts as well.

As we celebrate Earth Day on 22nd April, Mahatma Gandhi’s oft-quoted saying, “Be the change you want see in the world” is worth pondering. Even the small change one initiates can make a big difference to the future. The happy future of our earth is in our hands. By caring for the earth we care for ourselves. Taking a cue from the young role models referred to above, we can take active steps to reduce, reuse and recycle all kinds of waste by bringing about changes in our food habits and lifestyles which will help protect our flora and fauna, even as we actively search for creative alternatives on every front. We can bring about this change by starting with ‘me-you-us’ today! Indeed! Following Mahatma Gandhi’s maxim, we can be the change we all desperately want to see!

The post Be the Change You Want to See! appeared first on The Teenager Today.

Historians tell us that an explosion of creativity occurs the moment the world starts complaining that there is nothing left to invent, or that all questions have long since been answered and that the search for solutions to complex problems has come to an end. This explosion is fate’s way of reminding us that there is always something just over the knowledge curve.

One of the most challenging fields that needs the brightest minds to collaborate on today is that of environmental sciences. The Earth is at a tipping point and we face a stark choice: either we continue as we are or we harness our unique power to lead and innovate ways to clean the air. The modern world we have built is at odds with the planet we live on. Forests and natural land are vital to human health and happiness, helping to prevent global warming and producing oxygen that we breathe.

The earth is warming faster than expected and the planet’s energy imbalance — the difference between how much of the sun’s energy the planet absorbs and how much radiates back out to space — has doubled since 2005, an increase equivalent to every person on Earth using 20 electric tea kettles at once!

Subscribe to The Teenager Today print / digital editions to read the full article.

The post The Environmental Innovators appeared first on The Teenager Today.

The post The end of the balcony appeared first on The Teenager Today.

World Environment Day (WED), celebrated every year on June 5, is the United Nations’ principal vehicle for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of our environment. First established in 1972, World Environment Day is of utmost importance to Mother Nature and her inhabitants. It is born of the awareness that the environment is our home, and preserving it for future generations is more crucial than ever today.

Ecosystem restoration!

World Environment Day has grown to become a global platform for public outreach, with participation from over 143 countries annually. Each year, WED provides a new theme that NGOs, communities, governments and celebrities worldwide adopt to advocate environmental causes. The theme of World Environment Day 2021 is Ecosystem Restoration. Pakistan will act as global host of the day, this year. World Environment Day 2021 will also see the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

Ecosystem restoration can take many forms: Growing trees, greening cities, building gardens, changing diets or cleaning up rivers and coasts. The need to restore damaged ecosystems is more urgent now than ever. Ecosystems support all life on Earth. The healthier our ecosystems are, the healthier our planet and its people.

The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration aims to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean. It can help to end poverty, combat climate change and prevent mass extinction. The UN Decade runs from 2021 through 2030, which is the timeline scientists have identified as the last chance to prevent catastrophic climate change.

Why WED?

Ever since the first WED was celebrated in 1972, more and more people have begun to understand that we need to sustainably manage our planet’s resources and ecosystem. WED provides an occasion to raise awareness and teach friends and family that the physical environment is fragile and indispensable. Pope Francis says in Laudato Si, “This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will.”

Subscribe to The Teenager Today print / digital editions to read the full article.

The post The Mother’s Cry for Help appeared first on The Teenager Today.