Mercury Emissions Fall 70% Over the Last Four Decades Thanks to UN Treaty, Coal Phase-Out

A coal power plant in India – credit RawpixelA study examining mercury concentrations in the leaves of alpine plants has revealed that humanity has reduced worldwide exposure to this most toxic of heavy metals substantially.Controlled via a UN treaty called the Minamata Convention on Mercury Emissions, mercury (Hg) enters the atmosphere through a variety of natural and anthropogenic avenues.Artisanal and small-scale gold mining, coal burning, and cement and nonferrous metals production all release several thousands tons of mercury into the atmosphere every year.Much like carbon dioxide, the oceans also emit mercury—between 400-1,300 metric tons per year. Terrestrial sources include volcanic eruptions and other geothermal features, the weathering of mercury-containing rocks, soil erosion, and wildfires, and contribute around the same amount as the oceans.Anthropogenic sources, however, contribute as much as the land and oceans together; or at least they once did.A team of Chinese scientists from schools in Tianjin, Beijing, Tibet, and Nanjing has found that Hg concentrations in the atmosphere reduced by 70% since a peak in the year 2000. For the next 20 years, the levels continually dropped, corresponding with a reduced reliance on coal for power and the implementation of the Minamata Convention in 2013.The scientists were able to...

Read More........→July 14, 2025

Experts meet to strategise Caribbean climate change, health

Dr Maria Neira. -THE Caricom region is best poised to act as a champion for making health systems climate resilient, as it is the most affected by the effects of climate change. It must use its lived experience to advocate for the intersection of climate change and health on the global stage.World Health Organisation director of Public Health, Environment and Social Determinants of Health Dr Maria Neira made the call to participants at the three-day conference titled A Regional Response: Advancing Climate And Health Together, held from June 17-19 in Bridgetown, Barbados.She said facing climate change will require more political commitment, as well as innovation, commitment, speed and ambition from health professionals and sectors which support the environment, while communicating to societies why this was important. She said the Caribbean was one region which did not need an explanation on the impacts of climate change.“You are among the most vulnerable countries, but being among the most vulnerable gives you the possibility of having the most experience, more position to do something because you would know how important it is. You understand how to respond to the challenges of climate change, to protect our health, how to argue for more actionable adaptation to climate change. There is no way we can escape the need to adapt to...

Read More........→June 25, 2025

Antarctica has a huge, completely hidden mountain range. New data reveals its birth over 500 million years ago

Jacqueline Halpin, University of Tasmania and Nathan R. Daczko, Macquarie UniversityHave you ever imagined what Antarctica looks like beneath its thick blanket of ice? Hidden below are rugged mountains, valleys, hills and plains. Some peaks, like the towering Transantarctic Mountains, rise above the ice. But others, like the mysterious and ancient Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains in the middle of East Antarctica, are completely buried. The Gamburtsev Mountains are similar in scale and shape to the European Alps. But we can’t see them because the high alpine peaks and deep glacial valleys are entombed beneath kilometres of ice. How did they come to be? Typically, a mountain range will rise in places where two tectonic plates clash with each other. But East Antarctica has been tectonically stable for millions of years. Our new study, published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, reveals how this hidden mountain chain emerged more than 500 million years ago when the supercontinent Gondwana formed from colliding tectonic plates. Our findings offer fresh insight into how mountains and continents evolve over geological time. They also help explain why Antarctica’s interior has remained remarkably stable for hundreds of millions of years. A radar image showing the Gamburtsev mountain range under layers of ice. Creyts et al.,...

Read More........→May 14, 2025

Number of Monarch Butterflies Wintering in Mexico is Way Up–Doubling the Forest Acreage Over Last Year

Monarch butterflies in Michoacán, Mexico forest by Alex GuillaumeThe number of monarch butterflies overwintering this year in Mexico has nearly doubled, according to the annual census released last week by the World Wildlife Fund in Mexico and their partners.During the last few months in 2025, the population of eastern monarchs occupied 4.42 acres of central Mexico’s forests—up from 2.22 acres during the previous winter.The encouraging survey was conducted with help from Mexico’s National Commission of Protected Natural Areas and local communities, and it serves as an important indicator of the health of a monarch population that has been clawing its way back from dangerously low levels this century.“It’s now time to turn this year’s increase into a lasting trend with an all-hands approach where governments, landowners, conservationists, and citizens continue to safeguard critical habitats along the monarch’s North American migratory route,” said Jorge Rickards, director general of WWF Mexico, who recognized the key role of local communities and the government of Mexico in conserving the forest that provides an annual respite to this iconic species.Scientists attribute much of this year’s population growth to better weather conditions in 2024—with less severe drought than in previous years along their migration route from the U.S....

Read More........→April 11, 2025

Southern elephant seals are adaptable – but they struggle when faced with both rapid climate change and human impacts

Wikimedia Commons/Antoine Lamielle, CC BY-SA Nic Rawlence, University of Otago; Mark de Bruyn, Griffith University, and Michael Knapp, University of OtagoSouthern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) are an iconic species of the Southern Ocean. But with rapid environmental changes in their ocean home, the seals’ population range has been shifting. Once spread across vast areas of the southern hemisphere, these apex predators are facing challenges from both climate shifts and human activities. Our new research examines ancient and modern DNA, archaeological records and ecological data. It reveals how these large marine mammals have adapted – and sometimes failed to adapt – to such pressures since the height of the last Ice Age thousands of years ago. A dynamic evolutionary history Today, the largest southern elephant seal populations are found on subantarctic islands, including South Georgia, Macquarie Island and the Falkland Islands. These colonies act as global strongholds for the species. Yet in the past, until just a few hundred years ago, many smaller populations existed on the Victoria Land Coast in Antarctica and closer to temperate zones, on mainland Australia and New Zealand. Our study focused on the Australasian lineage of southern elephant seals, drawing on samples from these ancient colonies. By analysing...

Read More........→March 31, 2025