Hydropower is considered an alternative source of energy. However, experts criticise the dams built for its use as neither sustainable nor climate-neutral. The dismantling and renaturation of rivers is gradually getting underway. An example from the US State of Washington.
On November 8, 2018, a wildfire almost completely destroyed the town of Paradise in California. 86 people lost their lives
An outdated power line is said to have been left unrepaired – and a spark eventually triggered the disaster, fanned by extraordinary wind. With Paradise, a refuge from the overpriced property market in the rest of California burnt to the ground.
Around 2,700 large and small dams are planned or already under construction in the Balkans to promote hydropower generation. According to many conservationists and scientists, this is not always out of ecological necessity.
Due to ocean warming, the corals on the Great Barrier Reef could die. Scientists therefore want to make the corals more resistant to environmental influences.
How floods make citizens and local authorities think differently
More and more often, floods occur away from designated floodplains. In the Harz Mountains in Germany, a citizens’ initiative wants to fight not only the floods but also their causes.
At some point, everything ends up in the trash…. That should be different with products that are manufactured according to the Cradle to Cradle principle. All their components should be able to be completely returned to material cycles. Established by American architect William McDonough and German chemist Michael Braungart.
After two years of renovation and modernisation, the Grand Planetarium offers modern science theatre: with 360-degree digital technology and the second most beautiful starry sky in the world. Projections on other fields of science will also be shown, be it geology, biology or environmental technology. In addition, lectures, music and theatre performances are to take place in the dome hall.
Conventional paper has a devastating eco-balance – unlike stone paper: no trees have to be felled and no drinking water consumed for its production. Stone paper can also be recycled as often as desired. An alternative to wood and even to petroleum, it could also replace plastic bags.
In Berlin, geoecologists at Freie Universität are researching as part of a model project how organic waste from households and gardens could be used to add nutrients to soils. At the city’s Botanical Garden, a pyrolysis plant turns dead plant parts into fertilizer for the flower beds and heat for the greenhouses.
Soils are far more important for humans and the environment than they are given credit for. Not only are they an important resource in the fight against climate change – they also form the basis for more than 90 percent of the food produced worldwide.