The Horse 2020/21

This online interview was taken the 13 May 2021 with Sanja Josi, the leader of Hydrologic Commission of the UZH

- Which concrete measures can we use to save our glaciers?

Everything that stops global warming helps to reduce glacier retreat in the long term (the adaptation period is long, however: even if we stop warming today, most glaciers will still lose a lot of mass and adapt to the rise in temperature of recent years / decades - therefore we have to act now).

- Is artificial snow the right idea to save glaciers?

No, a glacier can't be saved with artificial snow. It takes a lot of energy to make artificial snow... that would be counterproductive. I think the energy consumption for making artificial snow is obviously very high and not feasible for entire glaciers. If it is about small sections, e.g. the transition from one station to the Ski slope, then that brings something locally, but it is for entire glaciers pointless. Glaciers are climate indicators and are controlled by the climate. If the climate is "hostile to glaciers", there are no good long-term forecasts. And therefore no alternatives to reduce further warming.

- Is there any way to stop the general rise in sea levels?

If we could stop the glacial melt, so will the proportion the rise in sea level associated with glacier melt, fall away.

- What should we do with the meltwater runoff?

What are the consequences of eruptions from glacial lakes? Regarding the glacial lakes: these are questions about natural hazards that often have very local characteristics (Permafrost distribution, geometry of the glacier, ...), there are many factors that come together; as e.g. the current case in India has shown. It seems that lakes are increasingly being formed / will be in the future. The extent to which these then represent a hazard or a risk depends on many local factors.

- Are there any new reasons for the melt of glaciers?

There are actually no new reasons for the glacier melt. Knowledge is physics. But there are better data around the world for glacier distribution and ice thicknesses (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03436-z). And some things seem to be accelerating where they were until recently said it will take longer.

German version

Dieses Online-Interview wurde am 13. Mai 2021 mit Sanja Josi, der Leiterin der Hydrologischen Kommission der UZH, geführt

- Mit welchen konkreten Mitteln können wir unsere Gletscher retten?

Alles was die globale Erwärmung verringert, stoppt trägt langfristig
dazu bei den Gletscherschwund zu reduzieren (die Anpassungszeit ist allerdings lang: selbst wenn wir die Erwärmung heute stoppen, werden die meisten Gletscher noch viel Masser verlieren und sich an die Temperaturerhöhung der letzten Jahre/Jahrzehnte anpassen - daher müssen wir jetzt handeln).

- Welche Gegenmassnahmen können wir ergreifen?

Ist Kunstschnee wirklich das richtige Mittel, um Gletscher zu retten? mit Kunstschnee lässt sich kein Gletscher retten. Es braucht immens viel Energie um Kunstschnee herzustellen... das wäre kontraproduktiv.

- Ist die generelle Erhöhung des Meeresspiegels irgendwie zu stoppen?

Wenn wir die Gletscherschmelze stoppen könnten, wird auch der Anteil des Meeresspiegelanstiegs, der mit der Gletscherschmelze zusammenhängt, wegfallen.

- Was tun mit dem Schmelzwasserabfluss?

Die Eruption von Gletscherflüssen führt zu welchen Folgen? (Eruptions from glacial lakes) - zu den Gletscherseen: das sind Fragen zu Naturgefahren, die oft sehr lokale Charakteristiken haben (Permafrostverbreitung, Geometrie des Gletschers,...), hier gibt es viele Faktoren, die zusammenkommen; wie z.B. der aktuelle Fall in Indien gezeigt hat. Es scheint, dass es vermehrt zur Entstehung von Seen kommt/in Zukunft kommen wird. Inwieweit diese dann ein Gefahr oder ein Risiko darstellen, hängt von vielen lokalen Faktoren ab.

- Gibt es zu den Gründen für das Schmelzen der Gletscher neue Ergebnisse? Neben Wikipedia und anderen Websites haben wir uns über https://ecobnb.de/blog/2020/05/gletscherschmelze-gruende-folgen/ [1] darüber zu erkundigen versucht.

Zu den Gründen für die Gletscherschmelze gibt es eigentlich keine
neuen Erkenntnisse, das ist Physik. Es gibt aber weltweit bessere Daten zur Gletscherverbreitung und Eisdicken (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03436-z). Und manches scheint sich zu beschleunigen, wo man bis vor kurzem noch meinte, dass es länger dauern wird.

Genti and Tiziano

After having seen a reportage of "SRF-Dok" about "artificial snow" we try to get in contact with Mr. Felix Keller to discuss about the progress of his idea. Mr. Felix Keller is a protagonist of the reportage. Here is the link of this reportage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIcndfkZ3-s.

Genti and Tiziano

[in progress]

In the two weeks of holidays, Jarno and I did quite a few things. We have worked on our website and got the basic designs. Furthermore, we found a second group from the Basque country which would like to do a cooperation with us. Their topic is noise pollution levels in cities generated by cars. Personally, I think that’s a great cooperation and also one of the benefits for the most people for e-cars!

Unfortunately, we couldn’t do as much as we wanted in these two and a half weeks, because there was a personal accident. We tried to get a test drive in a e-car, but this is quite hard. Many Resellers told us, that they won’t let a person test drive their car when they aren’t at least 25 years old. This is quite a challenge for us, as we really want to compare those different cars!

In the meanwhile, we did a lot of research! Many big cars manufactures like Toyota or Lexus did invest much money into fuel cars like e-fuel. We think that is a sign that manufacturers actually don’t believe in a „e-car only world“.

Even BMW did announce their first X5 hydrogen SUV, which will be released in mid 2022. If you want to learn more about the full hydrogen BMW SUV you can read this article: https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/tech-zukunft/alternative-antriebe/bmw-i-hydrogen-next-x5-fcv-wasserstoff/

Furthermore BMW did also announce, that they have put the full electric „1er series“ on ice.

In the next weeks, we will start our German survey for cars/e-cars. The link will be posted here so everyone can participate at the survey. We already have created some provisional questions:

1. Fahren Sie ein Auto? Wenn ja welches? (Benzin, Diesel, Hybrid, elektrisch)
   1. Our goal with this question is, to know how many people allready use environmental friendly cars.
2. Können Sie auf Ihr Auto verzichten?
   1. We want to know how many people would use public transports in general.
3. Können Sie sich vorstellen ein umweltfreundlicheres Auto zu fahren?
   1. We think the potential of buying a e-car is high and want to check it.
4. Was würde es benötigen, dass Sie sich für ein umweltfreundlicheres Auto entscheiden würden?
   1. We want to see, what is needed for people to consider buying a e-car or something comparable.
5. Ist es für Sie wichtig, ein eigenes Auto zu besitzen?
   1. Maybe many people would share a car, which would be environmental friendly.
6. Ist ein Auto für Sie nur ein Fortbewegungsmittel hat es für Sie einen persönlichen Stellenwert?
   1. With this question we want to see, if cars are only a transport. If yes, those people could change to public transports in the future.
7. Falls Sie einen Benziner fahren, warum?
   1. We want to know why most people drive a patrol car right now.
8. Ist Ihnen die Leistung am Fahrzeug wichtig?
   1. This question helps us to understand, if a small car live a VW UP is an alternative for some people.
9. In welcher Alternative sehen sie die Zukunft der Automobilindustrie und warum? (Hybrid, elektrisch, wasserstoff, E-Benzin o.ä.)
   1. Here we want to check, if our researches are in comparable with the opinions.
10. Würden Sie mit einem sehr ausgebauten öffentlichen Verkehrsnetz auf ein Auto verzichten?
    1. Our final question is looking for people, who would completly change to public transports.

What is salinization? 

That is the level of salts or salt content in water or soil.  
A lot of salts do we leach out or wash out of our body with sweating or with peeing. 

But how do those salts come into the soil?  
There are two different ways of that. 

The first one is natural salinization. Where the water picks up salts from weathering rocks. 

The second one is human-induced salinization, when the water, in which the salts are dissolved, is used to irrigate a crop. This crop only uses the water and, unless there is adequate drainage, the salts are left behind in the root zone. 

There are as well two different classifications of soil salinity. 
The first one is the saline soils. Those are the total salt levels in soil that are harmful to plant growth. 
The second one is the sodic soils. Those are sodium salt levels that have a negative effect on soil and plant health. 

Future scenarios for 2084

What might our world and society look like in 2084 -- 63 years from now?

>More Information

Livia and I got in contact with the shop "feel better than good" and we got to arrange an appointment for an interview with Miss Welti. She was very kind and friendly and we are looking forward for a good interview. We are so thankful that she is going to take some time for us and our project.

The appointment will take place on friday, 21th of may 2021 at 17.00 o'clock.

For the interview we are going to revise our questions and try to add some more.

Otherwise we have started to write our documentation and did some research.

[in progress]

What is soil pollution?

- When the concentration of pollutants on the surface becomes so high that it harms land biodiversity and endangers health (particularly through food)

- Farmers use chemicals, pesticides and fertilisers that pollute the land

- A gobal threat (particularly serious in regions like Europe, Eurasia, Asia and North Africa)

- It's already affecting one third of the world's soil

Causes and types of soil pollution

Erosion, loss of organic carbon, increased salt content, compacting, acidification and chemical pollution are the major causes of current soil degradation

Specific pollution: accounted for by particular causes, occurring in small areas the reasons for which can be easily identified. Land pollution such as this is normally found in cities, old factory sites, around roadways, illegal dumps and sewage treatment stations.

Widespread pollution: covers extensive areas and has several causes the reasons for which are difficult to identify. Cases such as these involve the spreading of pollutants by air-ground-water systems and seriously affect human health and the environment.

Consequences of soil pollution

Damage to health

Soil pollutants enter our body through the food chain, causing illnesses to appear. Moreover, the spread of antibiotics in the environment increases the pathogens' resistance to these drugs.

Poorer harvests

Soil pollution agents jeopardise world food security by reducing the amount and quality of harvests.

Climate change

In the first decade of the 21st century, soil degradation released between 3.6 and 4.4 billion tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere.

Water and air pollution

Soil degradation affects the quality of air and water, particularly in developing countries.

Population displacement

Soil degradation and climate change will have driven between 50 and 700 million people to emigrate by 2050.

Species extinction

Soil contamination is one of the main causes that could trigger the sixth mass extinction event in history — the population of land vertebrates fell by 38 % between 1970 and 2012 —.

Desertification

The number of inhabitants in the most arid areas of the earth could account for 45 % of the world's population in 2050, while world wetland areas have decreased in size by 87 % over the last three centuries.

Economic impact

Global economic losses caused by soil degradation are expected to exceed 10 % of the world's annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Solutions to reduce soil pollution

- Eat sustainable foodstuffs, properly recycle batteries, produce homemade compost and dispose of drugs in the places authorised for this purpose.

- Encourage a more eco-friendly model for industry, farming and stock breeding, among other economic activities

- Improve urban planning and transport planning and waste water treatment.

- Improve the management of mining waste, restore the landscape and conserve topsoil.

- Involve local communities and indigenous peoples in the design, implementation and assessment of sustainable land and soil management.

Source
[1] What is soil pollution?
[2] Introduction soil pollution

Were you aware that:

• China and India are losing soil 30 to 40 times faster than the natural soil replenishment rate allows it
• 400 billion Dollars per year is the estimated damage of soil erosion worldwide
• 30% of the world's arable land has become unproductive due to soil erosion over the past 40 years
• About 60% of soil that is washed away ends up in rivers, streams and lakes
  • This increases the danger of waterways overflooding

Together, wind and water erosion account for 84% of all land degradation making them the biggest danger for future food planting.

[in progress]

Greetings from Team Kerala

We have created a survey for understanding the popular opinion about the cause of floods in our state through SmartSurvey.

We will update you with the results of the survey by next week. 

Thank you

Team floods

- Maya Ma'am, Ananya Reji, Johanna Christy, Devanarayan, Vamika Giridhar