Actions to Preserve the Environment

  Developments in technology – including the advent of smart phones, mobile technology, and cloud computing - have no doubt transformed our lives.  Technology affects almost every aspect of our life – from social media, school, work, shopping, and entertainment to health and wellness.  It has also improved productivity and enabled easier access to information – and lots of it.  According to Ofcom's Communications Market Report, the average person used 4.5GB of data per month in 2020.  That's a 27% increase compared to 2019 and 55% increase compared to 2018.  With increase in video streaming, and growth of newer technologies such as artificial intelligence, smart and connected infrastructure, and autonomous vehicles demand for data will continue to increase.  These days data is referred to as “the new oil” - the fuel that is driving our social, technological, and economic progress.   Almost all the data we consume today are stored in data centers a...

 Solar panels are a popular form of harvesting clean energy, but they aren’t without their limitations. They work best in bright, direct sunlight, so overcast and rainy days can limit energy efficiency. As for nightfall, solar panels can’t work without direct or indirect sunlight — at least for now. A team of researchers, including researchers from the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering at UNSW Sydney and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science, have made a breakthrough in infrared technology that could lead to the development of solar panels that work at night. The researchers were able to run a successful test on a device, called a thermo-radiative diode, that converts infrared heat into electricity. According to the researchers, the thermo-radiative diode is similar to the technology used for night-vision goggles. For now, the amount of energy produced in the tests is incredibly small compared to solar panel output, about 0.001%. But it does show hop...

One of the last hunter-gatherer communities on the continent is embracing 21st-century environmentalism deep in the Rift Valley of East Africa, close to some of the oldest human remains ever discovered. The Hadza people, who are referred to as "the last archers of Africa," are utilizing the money from the sale of carbon credits obtained from protecting their woods to hire their children as scouts to deter forest vandals. Around 1,300 Hadza and members of the cattle-herding tribes with whom they share the Yaeda Valley in northern Tanzania started receiving the first payments of what will be close to half a million dollars annually from a local social enterprise, Carbon Tanzania, for protecting woodland grazing and hunting grounds across an area larger than New York City this March. The project will dramatically expand a current carbon-offsetting operation that has been in place for ten years on Hadza property, north to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, one of Africa's most...

Certain products like paper towels, toilet paper, printer paper, and facial tissues are everyday necessities. However, they all come from trees, a diminishing natural resource that takes 10-30 years to mature. Fortunately, there are alternatives such as sustainable paper products that come from fast-growing plants like bamboo. Bamboo is a plant that grows faster than trees, with some species being ready to manufacture paper products such as bamboo toilet paper, printer paper, and paper towels in under five years. The bamboo plant can also be used to make furniture and flooring. Showering can save energy and water more than a bath. But, this is only possible if you don’t shower for thirty minutes or more under running water or use a powerful showerhead. You will save water and energy if you use a low-flow or aerated showerhead and spend less than ten minutes in the shower. Finally, homeowners tend to leave the heating running longer than necessary. Home heating systems and boilers are a...

 This past year saw several big-picture studies identifying the extinction risk of large groups of species, and the news wasn’t good. One third of shark species, the studies found, are threatened, as are 30% of trees, half of all turtles, 16% of dragonflies and damselflies, 30% of European birds and 16% of Australian birds. Tragically, we don’t expect any of this to slow down in 2022. We’ve already heard from sources about potential extinction declarations that could come in the months ahead, mostly for species that haven’t been seen in several decades. The pandemic will also continue to affect the conservation movement, and we need to keep these issues in the public eye. The past two years have seen a lot less on-the-ground research around the world, although some scientists have started to break through the need to stay at home and gotten out into the field.

  Climate change is one of the greatest environmental, social, and economic challenges facing the world today. To solve the climate crisis, we must eliminate additional carbon emissions from entering the environment and get to “net zero” by 2050. This requires us to rethink about how we use and protect the world’s forests. Enviva is a leading global energy company specializing in sustainable wood bioenergy, plays a critical role in fighting climate change, getting rid of fossil fuels, and ensuring that our forests continue to grow and thrive. In fact, through their efforts, the landscape of forests in the U.S. Southeast continues to grow significantly and provides a practical solution for power and heat generation companies to reduce carbon emissions by replacing coal and other fossil fuels.