Sustainability Momentum Sdn Bhd

As the Arctic ice melts, countries have been laying claim on the world’s remaining 13% of undiscovered oil and 30% of undiscovered natural gas which has been estimated to be in the Arctic. Countries bordering the Arctic have each been working towards legalising their claim of the Arctic with undersea flag planting and deploying submarines to locate the oil and natural gas reserves. While in Siberia, locals have been hunting for mammoth tusks which have been frozen for thousands of years previously and are now fetching high prices in the China market. Scientists have lamented the tusk hunting and trade as studying these tusks could reveal valuable data about the mammoth.

The phenomenon of rising sea level has always been a ticking time bomb for coastal regions around the world. Scientist have now concluded that by cutting down soot, and various greenhouse gases that don’t last very long in the atmosphere such as methane, ozone in the lower altitudes and the factory-made refrigerants known as HFCs, it would significantly slow the rate of sea level rise by more than 20% per year. Cutting these short lived climate forcers by 30 to 60% would prevent roughly a degree Celsius of additional warming, which means less thermal expansion and less meltdown of ice sheets.

Researchers from the University of Kasdi Merbah and the Polytechnic School of Algiers have developed a new kind of brick made with little more than water; sand sourced from the Sahara and a binder. The Algerian researchers have tested their sand bricks 750 times to ensure its strength. The sand brick which is also a well-insulated material with superior mechanical resistance is kept at an affordable price for the construction industry where aggregate materials are scarce in the region. The researchers believe it will solve the building material crisis in Algeria once the brick has been validated by the Algerian building material codes.

It’s stiffer than Kevlar, thinner than paper, and in a few years, it may be mass-produced using only sunlight and water. Scientists in the US recently announced a new, and potentially groundbreaking method for producing nanocellulose — a so-called "wonder material" derived from tree fiber that could be used to create ultra-thin displays, lightweight body armor, and a wide range of other products.

Crabs are bulking up on carbon pollution that pours out of power plants, factories and vehicles and settles in the oceans, turning the tough crustaceans into even more fearsome predators. That presents a major problem for the Chesapeake Bay, where crabs eat oysters. In a life-isn’t-fair twist, the same carbon that crabs absorb to grow bigger stymies the development of oysters.

Read more here: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2013/04/09/supersized-crabs-bulking-up-on-carbon-pollution/

Date & source: April 9, 2013, Environmental Leader

The London Array project, consisting of 175 turbines, jointly owned by Dong Energy, Masdar and EON, recently announced that the first 630MW phase of the project in the Thames estuary is now fully operational. The next phase will be to get the remaining 34 turbines online, as well as to bury remaining cables. Phase one itself is anticipated to provide power for half a million homes a year, which will save 925,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

Read more here: http://inhabitat.com/the-uks-london-array-is-now-the-worlds-largest-wind-farm/

Date & source: April 9, 2013, Inhabitat

By 2050, airplanes could see a doubling in instances of moderate-intensity turbulence over the North Atlantic Ocean—one of the world’s busiest flight corridors—due to shifts in the jet stream as a result of global warming, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change

With the 21st Century Cocoa Plan, Hershey will combine its responsible sourcing practices to expand the supply of sustainable cocoa while investing in community programs that improve education and the livelihoods of cocoa-growing families around the world. A cornerstone of the plan is the company's commitment to source 100% third-party certified cocoa for all of its chocolate products worldwide by 2020.

Researchers tested the effects of applying different combinations of urine, compost and urea on sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum), found that urine synergises best with compost. Urine for the study was sourced from mobile public toilets in the city and compost prepared from cattle manure.