Climate change: Portugal threatened by mega-fires, windstorms and floods

The risk of forest fires, in particular mega-fires, will continue to increase in Portugal and southern Europe, as well as the risk of gales. This trend, which has gained a strong proportion from the years 70, due to the accumulation of fuel, climate change and meteorological events, will extend to Portugal, France, Greece, Spain, Italy and Turkey.

On the other hand, the coastal flooding will affect up to 5.5 million people in the South and Northern Europe, with direct costs that can reach the € 17 billion. Summer tourism in the Mediterranean-and winter tourism in the mountains â€" will decrease with increasing temperature and, in southern Europe, the conditions of saturation and drainage associated with the rainy season will be restricted to certain periods in winter and Spring.

These are the four main conclusions of the new report of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on climate change), which met this morning in Yokohama, Japan, to discuss the impacts of climate change around the world.

The report involved the work of thousands of scientists and experts, and is considered a strategic document to substantiate the climate policies on a global scale and of the individual countries.

Globally, the four main conclusions points out the real risks, varied and far-reaching climate change, and uncertainty about the severity of the impacts is not a reason to delay action. On the other hand, the poorest and most marginalized communities will be the hardest hit and there is a unique solution for the adaptation to climate that serve everyone â€" for some impacts will not be viable adaptation.

Key messages of the report

In a report under the sign of four, were these the key messages presented by the Group of scientists. Thus, they came to the conclusion that the Earth and ocean warming is unequivocal, being currently motivated by climate change and, to a large extent caused by human activity.

The scientists ' understanding about current and emerging risks associated with climate change are increasing, and, on the other hand, the impacts of rising temperatures are deep about economic growth, food security, economic, social and cultural inequalities.

According to the IPCC, developing countries and rural communities tend to be the hardest hit due to the impacts on food production, livelihoods and local economies. So many people from all over the world are highly vulnerable to global warming, even if less than two degrees compared to pre-industrial levels.

Finally, the coming decades â€" up to 2040 â€" correspond to the era of "climate responsibility", and the uncertainty is no reason to delay the climate action. The report of the second working group highlights a number of future directions that may take the development and impacts of climate change; the measures we take now will determine how can we minimize the more negative scenarios. It is also clear that, with regard to climate change, it's cheaper to act now than to postpone.

Europe is still threatened

Europe is one of the continents most affected by climate change. Northern Europe and the central area of the United Kingdom will continue to be heavily affected by the floods, affecting more than double the current annual damage. Considering the impacts of flooding on economic growth, make good any damage caused by the floods in Europe could increase 17 times against a backdrop of temperature rise of 5.5° c.

Europe is a global supplier of food, so global food security will be affected by the drop in productivity related to climate change, including diseases and fungi.

The value of forests in Europe may fall up to several hundred billions of euros, and the incidence of wood beetles, fungi and diseases is expected to increase.

On the other hand, the warmer temperatures in the sea and ocean acidification will have impact on fisheries and sea industry.

Climate change have affected and continue to affect all aspects of biodiversity in Europe, including the time of Spring migration of birds and their breeding season. It is expected that adequate habitats for breeding birds of Europe move almost 550 km by the end of the century.

Finally, up to 9% of mammals are at risk of extinction and even 78% can be seriously threatened. Currently, a new species from distant places reaches the Mediterranean Sea every 4 or 5 weeks. This fee will increase over time.

The IPCC warns that there is a need for an immediate reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to avoid passing the limit of global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, with which the European Union and all the other Nations pledged in Copenhagen. The European climate ambition hasn't changed in the last five years and its proposal for 40% emissions reductions by 2030 is not a guarantee that we will be under a warming of 2 degrees Celsius.

Foto: Kyle Taylor, Dream It. Do It/Creative Commons

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The whales that are captured and trained for the marine shows

Are sea creatures that look like they're always happy. But it is only an appearance, because, in fact, these belugas are far from happy. Every year in Nilmoguba, a small village in northern Russia, near the Arctic Circle, hundreds of belugas are captured to begin a long, sad journey in captivity for the amusement of humans.

The seizure is authorized by the Russian Government, since the team that captures these whales have licenses to do so. Later, the animals are trained not to fear humans and to perform the tricks that let humans in apotheosis in aquaparques. The training takes about six months and â€" if they survive, because only half the animals adapt to this life in captivity-are later transported to circuses and aquariums for display.

Of the hundreds of belugas that are captured every year, one out of every two refuses to be fed by zookeepers. If you don't manage to adapt, the animals eventually die very quickly due to the traumatic experience or food shortages.

The beluga, which means "white" in Russian, is a small whale that reaches the white color in the adult State. The body of this species of whale is robust, with a round head and large layers of fat.

It is estimated that there are between 40 to 80 000 belugas in the world. These whales are also known as the "Canaries of the sea", due to the melodious sounds they emit, which can be heard outside of water. The diet of belugas is essentially on fish, squid and crustaceans. Its 34 teeth are prepared not to chew but to grasp and tear their prey. In the wild these animals have few predators, only encounters with orcas or polar bears represent a real danger.

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Brazil rejects proposal to ban cosmetics testing on animals

The proposal submitted by the NGO Humane Society International (HSI) to end, once and for all, with the testing of cosmetics on animals was denied by the National Council for the control of Animal experimentation (Concea).

The European Union, India and Israel already have banned the testing of cosmetics on animals. The United States, Australia and New Zealand have created legislative proposals to ban this practice in the beauty industry. But Brazil seems to be going in the opposite direction of this worldwide movement.

According to the pró-animal organization, this type of procedure is unethical, since it causes pain to animals for consumption of disposable products, which can be replaced by other techniques already adopted by companies of beauty industry that if this practice disfellowshipped.

Despite the technical advice which proved the viability of prohibition and the petition with tens of thousands of signatures, the Concea not approved the proposal, whose vote had been promised for October. Thus, this organ chose to propose a new regulation requiring Labs to use alternatives to animal testing, five years after being validated by the Government.

"Two-thirds of Brazilians support the banning of tests and 170 members of Congress also advocate the Federal idea. It's a shame that the Brazilian regulators cannot respect the opinion of the population and their representatives, who have expressed consistently its strong opposition to animal testing to the beauty industry, "said Helder Constantine, spokesperson for the campaign free of cruelty, of HSI, quoted by the sustainable planet.

Foto: www.understandinganimalresearch.org.uk/Creative Commons

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Australian company creates machine that puts trees without the kill

The company ArborCo, based in the city of Melbourne, South of Australia, who specializes in the treatment and transplantation of trees, has recently created a machine that puts trees without the killing, reports the website Invest.

In association with VicRoads-Australian State of Victoria company that plans, develops and administers the network of roads, the ArborCo began transplanting trees as part of works between two roads in Berwick, a suburb of the city of Melbourne.

To this end, the ArborCo uses a truck with special equipment to dig and remove trees without damaging its roots, and then transport them safely to your new location. Quickly and effectively, and without harming the environment, everything is solved.

This type of machinery is able to avoid cutting so many trees, which often turn out to be felled for the execution of works due to the impossibility of being transported to new locations.

The transplantation of trees is accomplished when the mature trees grow and become inadequate in the location where they are. The ArborCo transplant the trees of all ages and sizes, and may also acquire mature trees for new features or landscaping.

The ArborCo team performs all aspects of mature trees transplant operations, which requires specialized knowledge in Arboriculture, together with experience, skill and equipment that few people possess.

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The British home was saved by miracle of floods

In February gave him to know the story of Sam Notaro, a British constructor who fought desperately to save their House, in Somerset, the flooding that swept the British zone. Sam bought the House four years ago, for €1,2 million, and would not give up his first setback.

They bought the House, Sam and his wife knew she could suffer from floods, so construíuram a-foot moat around the House, waterproofing with bricks and a pump system to remove the water.

The recent floods, however, were not expected by family Notaro-or by the British Government-and therefore the future of housing remained, for several weeks, in danger.

According to British media, however, this story has a happy ending. The constructor â€" which she defended her home alone and counted on the support of friends, via boat, to feed â€" turned out to be able to save the House, as you can see in the last two photos from our gallery-the first pictures show the condition of the House during the worst phase of the flood.

It is recalled that, for several weeks, 40 square kilometers of land in Somerset were under water â€" about 7,000 homes were flooded, dozens of villages were devastated and the transport system, road and rail, disappeared.

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Retailer card swap by English plastic egg cartons

Retail giant Tesco has announced it will no longer use cardboard boxes for eggs, use plastic feathers in an attempt to prevent more than a million eggs per year are wasted.

The supermarket has announced that it is testing a packaging from recycled plastic, arguing that "If an egg breaks, the infiltration can be contained in the package", unlike in cardboard boxes.

Over the past eight weeks, Tesco has been testing their packaging of 12 eggs in about 200 stores in the area of Livingston, Scotland, and in Belfast, in Northern Ireland, according to Edie.

Coach Lee Gray pointed out that "the plastic containers reduce food waste", being that the Tesco now has "a package that also offers a more ecological packing solution" to its clients.

"If used in all ranges of eggs will save, on average, more than a million eggs a year," he added.

The supermarket also pointed out that the new packaging will occupy less space during transport-as well as on store shelves â€" and will reduce carbon emissions to the atmosphere.

Foto: keithhopper/Creative Commons

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Indian start-up creates ring-shaped device that can help visually impaired

Rohildev, an Indian of 23 years, created through its technological start-up a device that could revolutionize the use of the Basic objects of everyday life. Additionally, the appliance, ring-shaped, can be a precious help for the blind.

The product, called Fin, adapter is a hardware device to use ring-shaped thumb and converts the Palm in a gestural interface. The device is equipped with sensors that can accurately recognize each phalanx of fingers. The built-in Bluetooth technology lets you connect the Fin to other devices, such as television, smartphone, computer and other electronic equipment.

Once it recognizes with great precision the Palm of the human hand cannot assign different functions to each segment of the fingers, that are performed while playing with your thumb on the desired phalanx. Thus, with a simple touch you can make emergency calls, mute the phone, answer a call, change the music you're listening to or change the channel, the Times of India.

All these possibilities of the Fin can help improve the lives of blind people, once with a simple touch can dial a phone number, open and read e-mails or phone messages, use interactive maps and make small basic gestures without having to get out of the same place. For people with disabilities who have to resort to the use of a wheelchair, the Fin can also be helpful because it allows you to control the equipment if they are electric.

To finance the construction of the Fin, Rohildev started a crowdfunding platform Indiegogo campaign. The initial aim was raise €72,5 thousand (R $ 230 thousand). However, the concept of the device was well received and the project turned out to raise €145 thousand (R $ 460 thousand), donated by 1,600 people from all over the world that pré-encomendaram the equipment. Each ring Fin will be sold by €87 ($ 277), but the price should decrease if the product is mass-produced.

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