WATER

The world’s oceans act as a natural sink for atmospheric CO2, and in a normal cycle the carbonic acid produced from CO2 is neutralized by the thick layer of calcium carbonate on the oceans’ floor. However, that calcium carbonate layer is slowly desolving; unable to keep-up with excessive levels of CO2, which has led to ocean acidity…

Every year, 8 million tons of plastic end-up in the oceans; some end-up in fish and some end-up in you. It is not a problem that will disappear; we need to stop polluting and clean the oceans…

The Ocean Cleanup’s latest vessel, The Interceptor is designed to catch plastic pollution before it reaches the oceans. There are 1,000 rivers globally that have been identified as the major contributors (80%) to ocean plastic and catching the debris and pollution before it arrives in the ocean is an excellent strategy. Ocean Cleanup already has two Interceptors deployed and more vessels on the way…

John Englander, the renowned oceanographer reminds his audience of Professor John Tyndall, who 160 years earlier stood in the same theatre and explained to his audience the ‘greenhouse gas effect’ and the specifics of CO2. The presentation details the effects of a warming climate on sea levels; what to expect and what can be done to adapt.

Lifeless water, oxygen-deprived; killing fish, plant life and corals. The prime culprits: sewage and agricultural runoff. Algal blooms can also create ‘dead zones’.

Concrete is vital for protecting coastlines, however it comes with an environmental cost. ECOncrete looks to change that paradigm with a special concrete that enables sea life to flourish.

In 1970 Lake Erie was declared a ‘dead’ lake. At that time, sewage was identified as the principle culprit, however today, Lake Erie’s principle threat comes from agricultural runoff, nitrogen and phosphorus that feed algae blooms, which can be toxic. To deal with this problem farmers hooked up with professors at Ohio State University to create biological barriers to keep nutriants on the land and out of the water runoff.

VOX
Superior National Forest’s pristine fresh water lakes and waterways are under threat with the go-ahead to mine copper in the region, which poses significant pollution risks to the water and ecosystems. Copper waste can be infinately recycled, and the US should have plenty of this waste…National protected zones should be respected. 

Newsy

The Ross Sea in Antarctica is the world’s largest protected zone (598, 000 square miles). The universal protection bans commercial activity and fishing.

In Lanzhou, China, second generation water purification with. nanofilter, graphene coated sand was successful.

Maria Barbosa, Director of Brazil’s Physics Institute presents the anomolies of water and how those anomolies can be exploited with nanotubes to address freshwater shortages. The presentation explores desalination and atmospheric water harvesting.

Mitsubishi Electric Channel

Water purification that employs advanced oxygenation using high concentration ozone (O3). The ozone reverts back to oxygen (O2) following treatment.

A demonstration of how activated carbon purifies water.