Day: July 1, 2021

Central Appalachian Mine Reforestation Assessment Report

Download the document and view the web map.

The Central Appalachian Mine Reforestation Assessment tool uses satellite imagery and a new mathematical model to monitor and characterize the state of reclamation and the growth of trees and other vegetation on surface coal mines in Central Appalachia from 1984 to the present.

The data set and tool will help regulators, researchers and the general public understand the current level of mining and surface mine cleanup in the region. This tool was developed by Appalachian Voices, SkyTruth, 4E Analytics, Green Forests Work and Downstream Strategies.

This map lets you fly along the path of a drop of water from any place in the U.S.

Read the full story in Fast Company.

Click on any spot or enter an address, and it will show where the water is likely to flow. Good for both learning how pollution and plastic spreads, but also for an aerial visual ride of the country’s waterways.

New tool factors effects of fossil-fuel emissions on ocean research

Read the full story from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

A newly developed tool will allow scientists to better gauge how centuries of fossil fuel emissions could be skewing the data they collect from marine environments.

Putting a sustainable diet in context generates some surprises

Read the full story at Anthropocene.

A team of researchers meticulously designed a new personalized tool to compare what low-impact diets look like depending on country, season, sex, dietary supplements, and other details

A new digital tool to help co-ops and condos cut carbon emissions

Read the full story at Habitat.

The Department of Buildings (DOB) has unveiled new digital resources designed to help co-op and condo boards and their property managers comply with the looming Climate Mobilization Act. Beginning in 2024, boards that fail to bring their buildings’ carbon emissions under prescribed caps will face stiff fines. A second set of caps must be met by 2030.

The shiniest digital tool in the box is the DOB’s new website, NYC Sustainable Buildings. It’s designed to be a one-stop shop to help boards and property managers determine if their building falls under the law and, if so, how they can pay for retrofits that will help them comply and avoid fines.    

This tool lets you see world’s 1,000 most-polluting rivers

Read the full story at Nerdist.

One of the biggest environmental disasters that needs to be addressed ASAP is the immense plastic pollution in the oceans. According to the nonprofit organization The Ocean Cleanup Project, the best way to do this is to tackle the incoming plastics at their source: rivers along coasts. With a new tool, the nonprofit allows people to see the 1,000 most-polluting rivers in the world; ones it aims to purify with its autonomous, plastic-collecting drone ships.

The nonprofit’s tool, which you can check out here, allows users to scroll through a world map with 1,000 dots placed along various coasts. Each dot represents one of the 1,000 most-polluting rivers in the world; with dot sizes growing proportionally to how much pollution their corresponding rivers produce.

‘There is no shortage of targets in political discussions’: Can Europe innovate its way to reaching sustainable food goals?

Read the full story at Food Navigator.

The European Commission has set out an ambitious agenda as it works to move food production to a more sustainable footing. However, there is a pressing need to move from target-setting to engagement and achievement.

NATO tackling climate change for first time

Read the full story at The Hill.

NATO said for the first time Monday that it will address the issue of climate change by factoring in environmental concerns as part of the military alliance’s activities.

Papers with Code

Read the full post at Inside Science Resources.

Papers with Code is an excellent resource for anyone doing research related to or involving machine learning as well as researchers interested in open science and reproducibility. As the name indicates, every paper included in the Papers with Code database includes the associated code in a GitHub repository. These associated GitHub repositories allow users to examine the code, discover contributors, and make a copy (known as a “fork”). In addition to GitHub integration, papers that use Python can link to Google Colaboratory, a resource that allows users to execute Python code in their browser. The combination of GitHub repositories and Colaboratory make Papers with Code a powerful platform for those interested in reproducing machine learning research.

Scientists turn food scraps into sturdy construction materials

Read the full story at Planet Ark.

A team of researchers from the University of Tokyo have found a novel new use for food waste: building stuff out of it. Pulverised seaweed, cabbage leaves and orange, onion and pumpkin skins were transformed into sturdy building materials by scientists from the university’s Institute of Industrial Science…

The research will be published during the 70th Annual Meeting of The Society of Materials Science in Japan this August.