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Mendoza's "Recycled" Winery — Argentine Eco Architecture With A Splash

Architects in Mendoza, western Argentina, have used hundreds of tons of recycled building material, shipping containers and discarded decorations to create an otherwise high-tech winery.

MENDOZA — Winemaking and wine tourism installations are usually built with a tasteful nod at the landscape around them. In the case of the MAAL winery in western Argentina, its environment-friendly design includes use of 300 tons of discarded construction and decoration materials found in and around the district of Mendoza.

Local architects Mora Hughes wanted to make the project a badge of their "commitment to nature," but with all the "charm of a Mendoza winery." MAAL winery is in Las Compuertas, on the outskirts of the city of Mendoza and at the heart of a celebrated winemaking region.

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How Climate Change May Be Triggering More Earthquakes — And Vice Versa

Researchers have identified a possible link between climate change and the frequency of earthquakes — and the quakes may also start a vicious circle of accelerating climate change.

PARIS — Between 1900 and 1950, the Earth recorded an average of 3.4 earthquakes per year with a magnitude greater than 6.5. That figured doubled to 6.7 a year until the early 1970s, and was almost five times that in the 2000s.

Their intensity would also have increased with more than 25 major earthquakes per year, double the previous periods. This is according to the EM-DAT emergency events database, which compiled the occurrence and effects of 22,000 mass disasters worldwide in the 20th century.

Can we conclude that there is a causal relationship with the rise of human activities, as some experts suggest? The idea was first suggested in 2011 by an Australian research team led by geology professor Giampiero Iaffaldano. At the time, it reported that it had found that the intensification of the monsoon in India had accelerated the movement of the Indian tectonic plate by 20% over the past 10 million years.

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Urban Mining: How Sustainable Cities Are Recycling Buildings Down To The Bone

As material costs skyrocket, an old practice is becoming popular again: reusing building materials. In Germany, the first projects are already underway – and so far, results are promising as a model for sustainable cities.

BERLIN — At first glance, Huthmacher Haus at Number 2 Hardenbergplatz in Berlin is nothing special: a large white concrete block.

The 60-meter-tall building opposite the Zoologischer Garten train station is rather inelegant – perhaps an acquired taste for lovers of post-War architecture. Having been built in 1957, non-architecture buffs might be more interested in the iconic yellow giraffe painted on the façade, a reference to the zoo around the corner.

Three years ago, investor Newport Holding wanted to tear the building down and replace it with a 95-meter-tall office complex. But the German historic monuments commission was against the idea – and suddenly, what was considered a useless concrete building became an example of a sustainable approach to using building materials.

The current owners, Bavarian company Bayerische Hausbau, want to renovate the building, preserving as much as possible and laying the groundwork for the materials to be reused in the future – an approach called urban mining.

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Ratatouille Was A Documentary: A French Philosopher Dives Into The Paris Garbage Crisis

The ongoing strike of garbage collectors in France shows us why we try so hard to hide how much garbage we throw out. As trash piles up in the streets, philosopher Gaspard Koenig reminds us that it wouldn't be so hard to recycle and compost more of it.

-Essay-

PARIS — The strike of garbage collectors can be felt in many cities across France, but it is particularly impressive in the capital, Paris. After just one week, the streets have been invaded by mountains of trash, already estimated at more than 5,000 tonnes.

On some sidewalks, barricades of trash in torn-open bags have piled up above head height. In narrow alleys, the smell is unbearable. Rats are already enjoying an unexpected feast. As we know from Albert Camus’ The Plague, this is not a good sign.

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Green
Juan F Samaniego

How A "Climatic Memory" Gene Helps Trees Face Environmental Threat

Humans and animals have strategies to deal with their surroundings, including the impacts of climate change. But what about trees? Researchers in Spain have identified mechanisms in plant life to learn over time from unfavorable environmental situations.

OVIEDO — When it doesn't rain, humans look for water under rocks. Throughout history, we have developed more or less effective techniques (and more or less respectful of the environment) to always have something to drink. Reservoirs, wells or desalination plants help us, when available, to cope with periods of drought.

Animals also have strategies to deal with lack of water, such as moving (sometimes long distances) in search of new reserves or reducing hydration needs by lowering physical activity.

But how does a tree survive?

These living beings are anchored to the same place, where they spend tens, hundreds and even thousands of years. For this reason, their strategies to deal with stressful situations, such as a drought, a heat wave or a plague, are very different from those of animals.

New research has discovered something incredible: trees have a kind of climatic memory in their genes.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Anna Akage

The Ukraine War's First Environmental Survey: Damage Is Huge

Ukrainian authorities have applied a new methodology based on environmental inspection to tally a $54 billion price-tag from the Russian invasion. It’s a moment to add up the many costs of the first year of war.

Ukraine has already suffered irreversible losses in the year since the Russian invasion began. Above all, of course, has been the loss of human life. On top of that, Ukrainian and international officials have estimated massive damage to property and infrastructure, as well as the loss of cultural patrimony.

Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.

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But now, for the first time, there is an estimate of the cost of the environmental damage of the war on Ukraine: $54 billion.

Ruslan Strilets, Ukraine’s Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, explained that experts have applied a new methodology based on environmental inspection to tally the cost.

“This includes land, air, and water pollution, burned-down forests, and destroyed natural resources,” he said. “Our main goal is to show these figures to everyone so that they can be seen in Europe and the world so that everyone understands the price of this environmental damage and how to restore it to Ukraine.”

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Society
Edna Namara

The Mushroom Industry Helping Ugandan Women To Grow Independent

To meet the need, Uganda trains farmers to grow the nutrient-rich fungi. Many beneficiaries are women seeking financial independence.

BUSHENYI — Dorothy Basemera Otim loves a hot bowl of wild mushroom gravy. The retired Ugandan news editor and television personality says for as long as she can remember, she has looked forward to the annual season when suddenly mushrooms spring out of the ground. But lately, that has been rare and unpredictable.

“In the last three years mushrooms have come twice and in different seasons,” she says, as she bends over to pluck some.

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Green
Martina Di Paula, Sara Navarro and Juventud por el Clima

"Slow-Burn Consumption," A Feminist Model To Reconcile Economy And Ecology

Mass consumption is encouraged in the West, but people, particularly women, and the planet pay the price for exploitative capitalism. So, we need to be clear that taking care of each other and tackling the climate crisis are inextricably linked.

Discussing consumption is never easy. The conversation gets even more complex when you consider the political action (or lack thereof) of the person who is consuming. How do we manage the instinct of somehow holding the individual solely responsible for the climate crisis.

There is a capitalist system that drags us towards mass consumption, but when more than one person rethinks the consumption model, we sow a seed that will bear fruit if we all water it.

Leticia Toledo and Maria Victoria Coronado drew attention to this in their article 'Slow-burn Consumption': “We live in a capitalist and patriarchal economic system, the existence of which is based on unlimited growth, which consumes raw materials and human energy to generate money," they write. "In this context, the only jobs that are considered to exist are those that produce goods and services that can be monetized."

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Future
Natalia Pasternak

The Last Of Us? How Climate Change Could Spawn A Deadly Zombie Fungus

The TV series “The Last of Us,” where a fungal infection creates a pandemic that turns people into violent zombies offers hints of what could become more possible as global warming creates the conditions for the spreading of killer fungi.

Let's face it: having just gone through a pandemic where denialist political discourse turned a significant part of the population into something resembling zombies, the prospect of a new pandemic where a microorganism itself devours the victims' brains is an unsettlingly real prospect.

The TV series, based on the video game of the same name, begins with an interview program from the 1960s, where a scientist argues that humans should be less concerned about viruses and bacteria, and more afraid of fungi, which can control the behavior of insects, and with global warming, could in theory adapt to a temperature closer to the human body and infect us.

With no current way to develop drugs or vaccines for such an infection, we would be lost.How much of this is a true story? There really are fungi that infect and alter the behavior of insects. One of these, the Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, inspired the creator of the videogame "The Last of Us." Popularly known as Cordyceps, the fungus produces spores – reproductive cells – that infect ants and multiply in the haemolymph, an insect's blood. After a few days, ants begin to show changes in behavior.

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Future
Tyler J. Kelley

Irrational Nuclear Fears Are The Real Risk — Just Look At Ukraine And Climate Change

Greener than renewables, safer than oil and gas, nuclear power is deeply misunderstood — to the detriment to humans and our planet.

-OpEd-

When Russian forces attacked the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, back in March, many watched on in horror.

“By the grace of God, the world narrowly averted a nuclear catastrophe last night,” said the United States ambassador to the United Nations the next morning. When power was cut to Chernobyl five days later, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister tweeted that its reserve diesel generators only had a 48-hour capacity and that radiation leaks were “imminent.” And several months later, in an August video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed the ongoing occupation of Zaporizhzhia, claiming that “every minute the Russian troops stay at the nuclear power plant is a risk of a global radiation disaster.”

None of these statements were accurate.

Commentators, either through ignorance or willful denial, misunderstood the layers of redundant safety systems built into nuclear plants like Zaporizhzhia. If power from the grid was cut, generators would turn on; if primary coolant was lost, a secondary system would kick in.

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Green
Ginevra Falciani

A Week Of Record Oil Profits — Here Comes The Greenwashing!

The oil and gas sector is counting its billions, and preaching renewables. The math doesn't compute.

-Analysis-

PARIS — It’s been a gigantic week for the “Big Five.” Texas-based Exxon kicked things off, announcing a record $55.7 billion in annual profit. Fellow American oil giant Chevron followed, with $36.5 billion, UK multinational Shell was next with $39.9 billion, joined by London-based BP at $27.7 billion in gains, and to finish the week off in France with TotalEnergies posting its own all-time record net profits of $36.2 billion.

After the industry crisis during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, demand has returned to growth; and the war in Ukraine sparked an energy crisis that has pushed up prices leading to a staggering rise in earnings. The toasts in the corporate board rooms, however, come with the spotlight shining on the oil and gas sector like never before.

The Big Five today stand at the intersection of two of society’s deepest problems: wealth disparity and climate change.

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Green
Camila Albuja

Indigenous Women Of Ecuador Set Example For Sustainable Agriculture

In southern Ecuador, a women-led agricultural program offers valuable lessons on sustainable farming methods, but also how to end violence.

SARAGURO — Here in this corner of southern Ecuador, life seems to be like a mandala — everything is cleverly used in this ancestral system of circular production. But the women of Saraguro had to fight and resist to make their way of life, protecting the local water and the seeds. When weaving, the women share and take care of each other, also weaving a sense of community.

With the wrinkled tips of her fingers, Mercedes Quizhpe, an indigenous woman from the Kichwa Saraguro people, washes one by one the freshly harvested vegetables from her garden. Standing on a small bench, with her hands plunged into the strong torrent of icy water and the bone-chilling early morning breeze, she checks that each one of her vegetables is ready for fair day. Her actions hold a life of historical resistance, one that prioritizes the care of life through the defense of territory and food sovereignty.

Mercedes' way of life is also one that holds many potential lessons for how to do agriculture and tourism better.

In the province of Loja, work begins before sunrise. At 5:00 a.m., the barking of dogs, the guardians of each house, starts. There is that characteristic smell of damp earth from the morning dew. Sheep bah uninterruptedly through the day. With all this life around, the crowing of early-rising roosters doesn't sound so lonely.

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