Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

The vast boreal <keyword id="55528" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="forests" source="Orion">forests</keyword> of the Northern Hemisphere stretch from Scandinavia through Siberia, Alaska and Canada. They cover a tenth of the world's land but hold one-third of the land's <keyword id="66463" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Carbon" source="Orion">carbon</keyword>, stored mainly in organic-rich soils and in trees. Now, a new study in the journal Science provides further evidence that emissions from <keyword id="394841" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="wildfires" source="Orion">wildfires</keyword> in high northern latitudes are already increasing at an alarming rate.<br /><br />In these forests, the cold climate and often waterlogged ground means fallen tree bark, needles and other dead organic matter takes a long time to decompose. This has allowed the soils to accumulate carbon over thousands of years after the ice sheets retreated at the end of the last ice age. Since then, these ecosystems have mainly been shaped by wildfires ignited by lightning.<br /><br />These fires release some of the carbon stored in trees and in the upper layer of soil back into the atmosphere. The release of soil carbon is hugely significant. It means a boreal forest fire will release 10 to 20 times more carbon compared to a similarly sized fire in other ecosystems where fires consume mainly vegetation and where the soil itself does not contain enough carbon to burn.<br /><br />However, these boreal forests might burn only once a century, sometimes even less often than that. This is much longer than in most other fire-prone ecosystems, and the extra carbon stored in soils and trees in the long period between fires normally exceeds the losses from fires. For the past 6,000 or so years this delicate relationship between carbon uptake and release was quite stable and boreal forests served as a globally important carbon sink.<br /><br />But global heating, which is particularly pronounced in the Northern Hemisphere's high latitudes, is threatening the balance. Soaring temperatures have lengthened the fire season and increased the frequency and severity of wildfires and there is growing evidence that as the interval between fires shortens, more carbon is being released from organic soils in boreal forests than the ecosystems can reabsorb.<br /><br />Satellites can spot gas emitted by wildfires<br /><br />That's where the latest study in Science comes in. The researchers, mostly based in China, used satellite observations of <keyword id="41285" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="wildfire" source="Orion">wildfire</keyword> smoke plumes to look for carbon monoxide, which is invisible to the naked eye but shows up at certain infrared wavelengths. Carbon monoxide isn't itself a greenhouse gas, but if you know how much of it there is, you can infer the amount of carbon dioxide in wildfire smoke as well.<br /><br />This contrasts with the more conventional methods employed by current wildfire emission models. These also use satellites, but record active fires or burned areas simply by comparing before and after images. They then factor in a range of assumptions on how much vegetation would typically have been consumed and how much carbon is emitted per area of different types of vegetation and soil burned.<br /><br />While this new carbon monoxide method has its own uncertainties, it provides independent and more direct estimates of wildfire emissions. It also has potential to give us a more detailed understanding of the differences in wildfire <keyword id="6375918" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="carbon-emissions" source="Orion">carbon emissions</keyword> between different ecosystems.<br /><br />A dramatic increase<br /><br />The new study showed a significant increase in emissions from boreal fires over the past two decades. Things were particularly dramatic in 2021, when they comprised a record 23% of global vegetation wildfire emissions, more than twice their contribution in a more typical year.<br /><br />If this trend continues, the boreal forest may very soon become the dominant source of global emissions from biomass burning, overtaking the notorious tropical peatland fires (such as those in Indonesia in 2015) in terms of global significance and adding further to the "fire–carbon-climate warming" feedback.<br /><br />The 2021 fire season was made particularly extreme by simultaneously hot and dry conditions both in North America and northern Europe and Asia. If such weather patterns do become more frequent, leading to more fires in the boreal region, these forests may reach a "wildfire tipping point". A study examining the extreme fires of 2014 in boreal north-west Canada demonstrated that some areas were already turning from carbon sinks into net emitters. This new study covering the entire boreal biome suggests this ecosystem as a whole – from Siberia to Canada – is rapidly approaching this tipping point.

World's largest forest ecosystem turns net-emitter from carbon sink due to extreme wildfires

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Lithuania topped the World Happiness Report for people under 30, surprising some locals.</li><li>But many Gen Z Lithuanians agree that its capital, Vilnius, is a great place to live.</li></ul><p>When Lithuania <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-lithuania-world-happiest-country-for-gen-z-millennials-education-2024-6">topped the World Happiness Report</a> ranking for people under 30 earlier this year, it came as a bit of a shock — even for those who live there.</p><p>"It was a surprise," said Valdas Benkuskas, the mayor of its capital, Vilnius, when Business Insider visited in August.</p><p>But, he added: "We who are living here, we know what a wonderful city it is."</p><p><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/i-moved-to-lithuania-from-us-life-more-stable-balanced-2024-8">Vilnius</a> is Lithuania's most vibrant and populous municipality, a Baltic city of thousands of students, tech start-ups, and greenery. And it has increasingly looked at ways to tailor itself to younger generations.</p><div type="image" title="Vilnius aerial view with hot air balloons over the top" height="1414" width="2121" msid="113455165" hostid="261" sizebytes="639984"></div><p>Benkuskas, an older millennial himself, says he's on a mission to attract young professionals from abroad to come and live in Vilnius, and believes that just one visit to the city will be enough to show its appeal.</p><p>"If you spend a week or more here, you can understand that we have a lot of advantages compared with other European cities," he said.</p><h2 id="547eafc0-acb8-4b87-8296-cc0eee1e34ec"><strong>Small city, big advantages</strong></h2><p><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lithuania-happiest-country-young-people-2024-3">The World Happiness Report</a> ranks countries based on a survey conducted by Gallup, where respondents evaluate the quality of their lives.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-lithuania-world-happiest-country-for-gen-z-millennials-education-2024-6"><u>Lithuania's under-30s</u></a><span> rated themselves 7.76 out of 10, notably higher than their US counterparts (6.392), with locals citing factors to BI such as low rent, free education, and a vibrant nightlife.</span></p><p>Ignas Kazlauskas, a 28-year-old who runs a sustainable architecture firm and previously lived in the UK, told BI that Vilnius holds its own against other European capitals.</p><p>Vilnius offers a stark contrast to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-things-to-do-london-england-what-to-skip-2024-1">London's hustle and bustle,</a> he said — less densely populated, not overwhelmed by tourists, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/daviz/percentage-of-total-green-infrastructure#tab-googlechartid_chart_11">about half the city</a> is made up of green spaces.</p><p>"The city is pretty laid-back, which is nice," he added, sipping a filter coffee at a trendy Old Town café where other patrons sat reading in the sun-drenched courtyard.</p><p>For a capital city, it's relatively small — about the size of Denver, which means that everything is within easy reach.</p><p>"You can basically walk across the whole center of Vilnius in half an hour," Kazlauskas said.</p><div type="image" title="Ignas" height="4284" width="5712" msid="113455183" hostid="261" sizebytes="706564"></div><p>The city's 90-or-so lakes, ideal for kayaking, and some of the largest forests in the country are also nearby. When the weather allows, Kazlauskas pilots a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-hot-air-balloons-so-expensive-2024-1">hot air balloon</a> as a hobby.</p><p>"People are definitely much happier when they can spend time outdoors and relieve the stress of work, relationships, or whatever," he said.</p><h2 id="abbe48bb-9ff2-40d6-b100-e1a25defba95"><strong>Immigrant inflow</strong></h2><p>For decades, organized crime and a struggling economy led hundreds of thousands of Lithuanians, especially the young, to move abroad. However, many are coming back, with returning Lithuanians <a target="_blank" href="https://123.emn.lt/en/#immigration">representing a quarter of all immigrants</a> last year.</p><p>Tens of thousands of immigrants from outside the EU, many from Ukraine and Belarus, are also moving to a transformed Vilnius. The mayor and Lithuania's tourism board want others to follow suit.</p><p>Part of their pitch is that Vilnius, despite rising housing costs, still remains one of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-find-cheap-accommodation-europe-without-staying-in-hostel-2023-7">Europe's most affordable capitals</a> in which to rent.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/prc_colc_rents__custom_12695593/default/table?lang=en">According to Eurostat</a>, the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Vilnius in 2023 was equivalent to $876 — almost half the price of Berlin and about a third the price of London.</p><p>It can be even cheaper for students. 20-year-old Ričardas Pranculis pays only €65 a month, or about $94, for student accommodation.</p><p>Even on a student budget, he said he doesn't struggle to make ends meet. "I like living here," he added. "Wages have been increasing, more young people can work and earn money, so more people can try different hobbies."</p><div type="image" title="Ričardas Pranculis in a park" height="4284" width="5712" msid="113455163" hostid="261" sizebytes="2323342"></div><p>According to an affordability index by the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.jura.lt/en/news/11934-study-reveals-the-most-affordable-european-capitals-to-live-in-bucharest-tops-list">personal finance website Finasvalp,</a> Vilnius is the fourth most affordable capital in Europe.</p><p>Elizabeth Avgusta, 24, a senior fund accountant from Indonesia who moved to Vilnius four years ago, said her salary goes a long way.</p><p>She told BI that it's easy to find meals for under 10 euros, or about $11, though the city also offers plenty of upscale dining options, including four <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michelin-star-chef-paul-liebrandt-rates-fine-dining-in-movies-2024-6">Michelin-starred restaurants.</a></p><div type="image" title="Adriana Doroškevičiūtė and Elizabeth Avgusta by a fountain" height="4284" width="5712" msid="113455170" hostid="261" sizebytes="2633294"></div><p>She also said she appreciates how inexpensive and convenient it is to travel from Vilnius. The airport is just a 15-minute drive away from the center, and several budget airlines operate from the city. With many <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-lesser-known-european-travel-destinations-from-frequent-traveler">European destinations</a> in easy reach, Vilnius is an ideal base.</p><p>Avgusta said she's considering <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/london-things-never-do-there-from-local">a trip to London</a> soon, having found round-trip flights for 30 euros. And her colleague, Adriana Doroškevičiūtė, 23, had just booked a cheap <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/berlin-travel-guide-germany-trip">trip to Berlin.</a></p><p>But Doroškevičiūtė says that even when traveling, she finds herself longing for Vilnius.</p><p>"Whenever I travel, I always want to come back," she said, describing Vilnius — her hometown — as a city that's comfortable to live in and full of things to do.</p><div type="image" title="Goda Ponomariovaitė stands by a skate park" height="4284" width="5712" msid="113455174" hostid="261" sizebytes="672792"></div><p>Outside a food hall beside the Baltasis Tiltas, or White Bridge, 22-year-old Goda Ponomariovaitė looks for a place to sit.</p><p>The area, a vast green space, is teeming with young people — blasting music at the skate park, shooting hoops, and playing beach volleyball on a patch of fake sand.</p><p>On a sunny day in August, LA's Venice Beach comes to mind. It's also all free to use, probably why it has become such a popular hangout for the city's youth.</p><div type="image" title="View of the city from the baltasis tiltas" height="4284" width="5712" msid="113455177" hostid="261" sizebytes="1776256"></div><p>According to Ponomariovaitė, Vilnius has plenty of free or affordable hangout spots. One of her favorites is a former prison, transformed into a vibrant cultural center.</p><p>It attracts artists and aspiring musicians and regularly hosts free concerts and film screenings.</p><p>"We have so, so many bars and nightclubs," Ponomariovaitė said.</p><p>However, she says that what sets Vilnius apart from other cities she lived in, like Amsterdam, is how safe it feels.</p><p>"It's very safe, especially for women, to be in Vilnius and Lithuania at night,' she said. "If you are walking, you don't need to worry that somebody will kidnap you or something."</p><p>On an evening in mid-August, youthful <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/types-of-influencers-on-social-media-micro-macro-nano-classification-2020-1">influencer types</a> lined up outside trendy restaurants, while bars overflowed onto the cobbled streets with businesspeople clinking beer glasses. Meanwhile, an older crowd dispersed after attending a free show in the town square.</p><p>Vilnius is trying to offer something for everyone — or, as the mayor confidently puts it, everything for anyone.</p><p>"You can find here everything you need for a high quality of life," he added, "and that makes the city attractive."</p>

Vilnius is cheap, safe, and fun — no wonder it's the world's happiness capital for Gen Z

<br /> When the <keyword id="6662033" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Big-Cats">big cats</keyword> world over are fast losing their <keyword id="1342788" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="natural-habitat">natural habitat</keyword>, it is heartening to see one Indian state setting up a new home for this endangered species. <keyword id="13126" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Maharashtra">Maharashtra</keyword> will soon be home to the state’s fifth <keyword id="51012" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="tiger-reserve">tiger reserve</keyword> if it gets approval from the <keyword id="49041" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="National-Tiger-Conservation-Authority">National Tiger Conservation Authority</keyword>, a senior official said in Mumbai. There are already four tiger reserves in the state including <keyword id="6416868" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Melghat">Melghat</keyword>, <keyword id="6364430" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tadoba">Tadoba</keyword>, <keyword id="378980" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Pench">Pench</keyword> and <keyword id="305828" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sahyadri">Sahyadri</keyword>.<br />
 <br /> The sanctuary identified for the new tiger project is located at <keyword id="1957392" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Nagzira-Navegaon">Nagzira-Navegaon</keyword> – lying between Bhandara and Gondia districts. Earlier, <keyword id="1957393" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Nagzira-sanctuary">Nagzira sanctuary</keyword> spanned some 150 sq km while the <keyword id="131360" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Navegaon-National-Park">Navegaon National Park</keyword> covered 130 sq km. With the upcoming tiger habitat in view, the entire area has been increased to 700 sq km, principal secretary (forests) Praveen Pardeshi told the media.<br />
 <br /> Some big cats housed in Tadoba often wander outside the core area and these will be moved to the <keyword id="612932" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Nagzira-Navegaon-tiger-reserve">Nagzira-Navegaon tiger reserve</keyword>. There are more than 100 tigers in Tadoba while Nagzira alone shelters some 20 tigers.<br />
 <br /> As per the latest data, the average number of tigers in Maharashtra grew from 103 in 2006 to 168 in 2011. Other states like Kerala, <keyword id="20154" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="tamil-nadu">Tamil Nadu</keyword>, Karnataka, <keyword id="6354915" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Assam">Assam</keyword> and the Western Ghats region also saw a rise in number, according to new surveys conducted via camera traps.<br />
 <br /> India is home to the world’s largest population of wild tigers and the number stood at 1,706 according to the last census in 2011 (ranging between a minimum of 1,571 and a maximum of 1,875 across 17 Indian states). In a bid to boost the <keyword id="110107" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="tiger-population">tiger population</keyword>, the central government gave in-principle approval for the creation of five <keyword id="1186294" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="new-tiger-reserves">new tiger reserves</keyword> in 2012. These include <keyword id="42865" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Pilibhit">Pilibhit</keyword> (<keyword id="6357713" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Uttar-Pradesh">Uttar Pradesh</keyword>), <keyword id="1089395" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ratapani">Ratapani</keyword> (<keyword id="6355554" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Madhya-Pradesh">Madhya Pradesh</keyword>), <keyword id="191956" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sunabeda">Sunabeda</keyword> (<keyword id="6357961" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Odisha">Odisha</keyword>), <keyword id="1957401" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mukundara-Hills">Mukundara Hills</keyword> (<keyword id="6355588" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Rajasthan">Rajasthan</keyword>) and <keyword id="119091" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sathyamangalam">Sathyamangalam</keyword> (Tamil Nadu). The proposed Mukundara Hills Tiger Reserve constitutes three wildlife sanctuaries including Darrah, Jawahar Sagar and Chambal.<br />
 <br /> India is also planning to set up an all-new tiger sanctuary inside the <keyword id="63330" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sundarbans">Sundarbans</keyword>, <keyword id="1957403" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Worlds-largest-mangrove-forest">world’s largest mangrove forest</keyword> which straddles the border of <keyword id="6357783" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="West-Bengal">West Bengal</keyword> with <keyword id="6354759" type="COUNTRY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Bangladesh">Bangladesh</keyword>. The Sundarbans, a <keyword id="6383012" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Unesco-World-Heritage-Site">UNESCO World Heritage Site</keyword> spanning some 10,000 sq km, already houses a tiger reserve but a second one could be coming up to accommodate the increasing tiger population in that region.<br />
 <br />
<strong>With input from agencies</strong><br />
<strong>Image: </strong>Wikipedia

<b>Soon, Big Cats Will Find A New Home At Nagzira-Navegaon In Maharashtra</b>

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The KNP Complex fire in California is closing in on <keyword id="12116150" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="sequoia" source="Orion">Sequoia</keyword> National Park.</li><li>The park is preparing by wrapping General Sherman, the world's largest tree in volume, in fire-resistant material.</li><li>Sequoias usually withstand fire, but wildfires have been getting more intense, a park official said.</li></ul><p>Park officials are rushing to protect General Sherman, the world's largest tree by volume, from oncoming <keyword id="11892891" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="california-wildfires" source="Orion">California wildfires</keyword>.</p><p>General Sherman is standing in the path of the KNP Complex fire, which is made up of the Colony Fire, the Paradise Fire, and the Cabin Fire, <a href="https://www.nps.gov/seki/learn/nature/knpfaq.htm">according to the National Park Service</a> (NPS).</p><p>The tree <a href="https://www.nps.gov/seki/learn/nature/sherman.htm">measures</a> 36 feet in diameter at its base and is 275 feet tall, giving it a <a href="https://www.nps.gov/seki/learn/nature/largest-trees-in-world.htm">total volume</a> if 52,508 cubic feet, per the NPS. It is estimated to be about <a href="https://www.nps.gov/places/000/general-sherman-tree.htm#:~:text=If%20we%20measure%20the%20biomass,is%20about%202200%20years%20old.">2,200 years old</a>. It's located in the Giant Forest, a grove that's home to more than 2,000 giant sequoias at the Sequoia Kings Canyon National Parks in California.</p><p>Park officials are now removing brush and wrapping "some of the iconic monarch sequoias" ahead of the fire's arrival, <a href="https://www.nps.gov/seki/learn/news/knp-complex-update-september-16-2021.htm">the park said in a press release Thursday</a>.</p><p>Sequoias are well adapted to survive fires, which help them release seeds and make clearings for young sequoias to grow.</p><p>But the climate crisis has driven hotter droughts, which has contributed to "fires that are burning hotter with taller flame lengths," said Christy Brigham, chief of resource management and science at Sequoia &amp; Kings Canyon National Parks, <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/09/16/sequoia-national-park-fire-crews-wrapping-worlds-largest-trees-with-fire-proof-blankets/">The Mercury News reported</a>.</p><p>As a result, park crews are taking "extraordinary measures" to protect the trees from the flames, Brigham said.</p><p>The bases of the trees have been wrapped in aluminized fire-resistant material called structure wrap that can withstand intense heat for short periods of time, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fires-environment-and-nature-forests-california-trees-b0c20ca90e064aa80150f5994f94fd02">the Associated Press reported</a>.</p><div type="image" title="arrows on a map point to the location of the Colony and Paradise fires, and the location of General Sherman" height="1650" width="2200" msid="86290976" hostid="261"></div><p>As of Wednesday, the Cabin Fire has been completely controlled, <a href="https://www.nps.gov/seki/learn/nature/knpfaq.htm">the NPS reported</a>.</p><p>But the Colony and Paradise fires have been growing: As of Thursday, they have covered 2,013 and 7,352 acres respectively, for a combined total for the KNP Complex of over 9,300 acres with 0% containment, <a href="https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/article/7838/66351/">the NPS said</a>.</p><p>The NPS <a href="https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7838/">reported at 1:40 a.m. local time Friday</a> that the two fires were expected to reach the Giant Forest within 48 hours.</p><p>An evacuation order is also <a href="https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/article/7838/66351/">in place</a> for part of the nearby community of Three Rivers, California.</p><p>In 2020, the Castle Fire destroyed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/august-wildfire-destroyed-10-of-the-worlds-giant-sequoia-trees-2021-6">thousands of giant sequoia</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/august-wildfire-destroyed-10-of-the-worlds-giant-sequoia-trees-2021-6"> trees.</a></p>

General Sherman, the world's largest tree, is in the path of raging California wildfires, prompting a desperate effort to save it

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-crisis-could-turn-around-this-decade-ipcc-report-2022-4">major UN report</a> offers a playbook for averting the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-crisis-endangers-women-girls-pregnant-people-2022-3">worst</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/allergy-season-may-last-longer-with-double-the-pollen-study-2022-3">effects</a> of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/Antarctica-ice-shelf-previously-thought-stable-collapses-2022-3">climate change</a>, if the world acts now.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-estimate-9000-tree-species-are-still-unknown-to-them-2022-1">Forests</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-solar-power-plan-clean-energy-by-2050-2021-9">solar</a> farms, and compact <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-investing-green-infrastructure-manage-climate-change-2022-3">cities</a> with electric buses can make a huge difference this decade.</li></ul><p>We only have three years left to avert the worst <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mass-animal-extinctions-climate-change-un-ipcc-report-2022-3">consequences</a> of <keyword id="11896311" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climate-change" source="Orion">climate change</keyword>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-crisis-could-turn-around-this-decade-ipcc-report-2022-4">a sobering report from the United Nations</a> warned on Monday.</p><p>Human activities are releasing heat-trapping gases, like carbon dioxide and methane, into the atmosphere. That's caused global temperatures to rise 1.1 degrees Celsius in the last 170 years, and the planet is on track to warm roughly 2 more degrees by the end of the century, catastrophically endangering humans' physical health, our food and water supply, the availability of safe places to live, and the survival of animal species.</p><p>However, there is still time to change our ways. That's the focus of the new report from the UN's <keyword id="11911245" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="intergovernmental-panel-on-climate-change" source="Orion">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</keyword> (<keyword id="6941656" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ipcc" source="Orion">IPCC</keyword>), authored by hundreds of scientists from across the globe.</p><p>"As long as you want to keep temperatures below about 3 degrees, we needed to peak emissions immediately, as soon as possible — ideally five to 10 years ago — and the latest, before 2025," Edward Byers, an energy and climate researcher at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, and a lead author on the report, told Insider.</p><div type="image" title="farmer walks through field of dried brown soybean plants" height="1666" width="2222" msid="90694521" hostid="261"></div><p>If global emissions of heat-trapping gases peak by 2025, plummet to half their current level by 2030, and drop to zero by 2050 — there's a chance the planet won't warm past 1.5 degrees. In nearly 3,000 pages, the report lays out a playbook to meet that ambitious timeline.</p><p>Many of the measures in the IPCC's roadmap are cheap, quick, and doable with current technology. Some, like improved mass-transit systems, offer additional benefits, like creating new jobs and addressing socioeconomic inequity.</p><p>"The global benefits of climate action exceed the cost," Stephanie Roe, a lead author on the report and a climate scientist at the World Wildlife Fund, told Insider.</p><p>"It's still possible," Byers said.</p><p>Here are five straightforward climate actions that governments and businesses of all sizes can tackle right now.</p><h2>Retrofit cities for electrified transit, biking, and walking</h2><div type="image" title="electric buses lined up inside factory" height="1667" width="2500" msid="90694523" hostid="261"></div><p>Cities and urban areas make up two-thirds of all global emissions, according to the new IPCC report. Redesigning urban transportation could cut about one-quarter of those emissions by 2050.</p><p>That means building housing near workplaces, so that residents have short commutes, and designing streets that encourage biking, walking, or taking shared public transit instead of driving personal vehicles. The IPCC also recommends running public buses, trams, and other transit vehicles on electricity rather than oil.</p><p>The report found that these measures would ultimately save money. They would likely improve local air quality, too.</p><h2>Ditch <keyword id="11970530" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="fossil-fuels" source="Orion">fossil fuels</keyword> for solar and wind power</h2><div type="image" title="wind turbines and church silhouetted against sunset" height="1667" width="2500" msid="90694525" hostid="261"></div><p>Electric buses and trains won't drive down emissions much if their energy comes from coal-fired power plants. Fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas release lots of carbon dioxide and methane when we burn them for energy.</p><p>For that reason, the energy sector is a far bigger greenhouse-gas polluter than sectors like agriculture or transport. In 2019, energy suppliers produced about 34% of all human-driven emissions worldwide, according to the IPCC report.</p><p>Climate scientists' core message: We must stop using fossil fuels as quickly as possible.</p><p>Every pathway to limit warming to 1.5 or even 2 degrees requires almost eliminating fossil-fuel use by the 2050s, Byers said.</p><div type="image" title="worker in yellow hard hat standing amid field of solar panels spraying water" height="1666" width="2222" msid="90694527" hostid="261"></div><p>The good <keyword id="11893589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news" source="Orion">news</keyword> is that <keyword id="12265703" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="wind-turbines" source="Orion">wind turbines</keyword> and solar panels have become significantly cheaper to install and operate in the last decade. Now, renewable energy is often competitive with fossil fuels. Governments, businesses, and households should draw energy from wind and solar farms whenever possible, the report recommends.</p><p>"Renewables can be done rapidly and very cheaply nowadays," Byers said, adding, "The electricity sector has made lots of progress on this."</p><h2>Cut methane emissions by patching leaks</h2><h2><div type="image" title="flames black cloud rising from flarestacks natural gas facility" height="1666" width="2222" msid="90694529" hostid="261"></div></h2><p>Nearly one-fifth of all the energy sector's emissions are methane — a powerful gas with 30 times the heat-trapping potential of carbon dioxide.</p><p>Most of that methane comes from "fugitive emissions," meaning leaks from fossil-fuel transportation and processing facilities. An analysis of satellite images from 2019 and 2020 found <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/space-imagery-reveals-methane-pouring-from-the-us-russia-daily-2022-2">more than 1,800 methane plumes along gas pipelines</a> all over the globe. Altogether, the study calculated, those leaks' emissions were comparable to 20 million additional vehicles on the road for a year.</p><p>Because the gas has such a potent heating effect in the atmosphere, a drop in methane emissions can help rapidly reduce the speed of global warming. Patching gas leaks would probably save energy companies money, too.</p><p>"That is a really low-hanging fruit, I think, that can be easily addressed," Roe said.</p><h2>Stop wasting food</h2><div type="image" title="volunteer carries bags of potatoes at drive-thru potato handout" height="1666" width="2223" msid="90694532" hostid="261"></div><p>Methane also comes from livestock and waste facilities, as cows belch and garbage decomposes. Landfills are the third-largest source of methane emissions in the US, and food waste is the largest category of garbage, according to the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/sustainable-management-food-basics">Environmental Protection Agency</a>. The <a href="https://www.usda.gov/foodlossandwaste/why">Department of Agriculture</a> estimates that 30-40% of the US food supply is wasted.</p><p>Wasting less food would mean fewer methane emissions at the landfill and could also reduce emissions upstream in food production. Using food that previously would have gone to waste could allow us to produce less of it, which would mean fewer emissions from fertilizer, farming, and food-processing machinery.</p><div type="image" title="field of plowed lettuce" height="1666" width="2222" msid="90694535" hostid="261"></div><p>That's a lifestyle change that individuals and families can make in developed countries. According to the IPCC report, 61% of the world's food waste came from households in 2019.</p><p>"That is an easy way to both increase efficiencies and reduce your own costs as a consumer, reduce the cost down the supply chain, and make a big, big difference in terms of reducing emissions, but also limiting and reducing pressure on land," Roe said.</p><h2>Protect <keyword id="13075240" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="forests" source="Orion">forests</keyword> and grow more of them</h2><div type="image" title="man with binoculars surveys rainforest canopy green trees" height="1998" width="2664" msid="90694537" hostid="261"></div><p>Trees thrive by absorbing carbon dioxide from the air and storing it in their tissues. That's why forests can be a powerful tool to slow global warming.</p><p>The IPCC report calls for protecting forests across the planet from deforestation, or the die-off of trees from changing climate conditions, fires, or humans cutting them down. It also points to afforestation, meaning planting new trees where there are none.</p><p>"Afforestation is something that can be deployed today," Byers said.</p><p>Growing trees takes time, he added, but "it can be done in every country in the world."</p><p>In this decade, the IPCC's plan could cost $100 or less for every ton of carbon dioxide emissions it prevents. More than half of those mitigation strategies cost just $20 or less per ton, the report estimates. Many of them would ultimately save money.</p><p>But relying on just one solution isn't enough.</p><p>"There are no silver bullets. We need to do it all," Roe said.</p>

Scientists say climate solutions like solar power and walkable cities are cheap, doable, and can make a dent in the crisis

I visited the world's largest 'Harry Potter' store. Here are the must-see sections, plus games and snacks to try.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In the biggest survey of the world's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/people-are-freaking-out-over-a-video-of-a-forest-breathing-but-theres-a-simple-explanation-for-whats-actually-happening-2018-10">forests</a>, scientists estimated there are 9,200 <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/deforestation-photos-2019-4">tree</a> <keyword id="6388594" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="species" source="Orion">species</keyword> unknown to them.</li><li>Many of these mystery <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spotted-lanternflies-invasive-species-killed-us-states-2021-9">trees</a> are likely rare and some <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/people-killed-half-of-forest-animals-on-earth-since-1970-2019-8">could go</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-animals-added-to-extinction-list-birds-fish-mollusks-2021-10">extinct</a> before they're catalogued.</li></ul><p>Earth's <keyword id="13075240" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="forests" source="Orion">forests</keyword> are concealing about 9,200 species of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-huge-sequoia-tree-still-smoldering-from-2020-wildfires-2021-5">trees</a> that scientists have not yet discovered, according to a new estimate.</p><p>More than 100 scientists from all over the world built the largest global forest database to date, and in a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2115329119">study</a> published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they made a science-backed guess at how many types of <keyword id="6355381" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="trees" source="Orion">trees</keyword> they haven't discovered yet.</p><p>Many of the roughly 9,200 tree species are probably unknown to <keyword id="11896083" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="science" source="Orion">science</keyword> because they are very rare, with small numbers of trees growing in limited territories, according to the new study.</p><p>That makes these mystery trees especially vulnerable to <keyword id="11896311" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climate-change" source="Orion">climate change</keyword>.</p><p>"It is very possible we could lose undiscovered tree species to <keyword id="12228906" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="extinction" source="Orion">extinction</keyword> before we even find them," Jingjing Liang, a forest ecologist at Purdue University and coauthor of the new study, said in a press release.</p><h2>The largest database yet of Earth's trees</h2><div type="image" title="globe chart with trees by continent" height="1101" width="1192" msid="89259172" hostid="261"></div><p>To create the largest known database of the world's trees, the researchers combined data from two global tree surveys — one from the Global Forest <keyword id="12228907" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="biodiversity" source="Orion">Biodiversity</keyword> Initiative and one from <a href="https://bio.au.dk/en/research/research-centres/biochange/research/treechange">TREECHANGE</a>, an independent, worldwide tree-counting effort. The surveys include more than 38 million trees across 90 countries and 100 territories.</p><p>"Each [data] set comes from someone going out to a forest stand and measuring every single tree — collecting information about the tree species, sizes, and other characteristics. Counting the number of tree species worldwide is like a puzzle with pieces spread all over the world," said Liang, who coordinates the Global Forest Biodiversity Initiative.</p><p>The combined surveys documented 64,100 species of tree. But as with any type of plant, animal, fungus, insect, or bacteria, scientists know they haven't found every species on Earth.</p><div type="image" title="colorful coniferous forest green orange yellow trees" height="567" width="852" msid="89259173" hostid="261"></div><p>So Liang's team used their new comprehensive data set to calculate tree-species diversity in different types of forests across different continents. They also analyzed the occurrence of rare species — trees that scientists on the ground only found once or twice as they surveyed forests.</p><p>By analyzing and modeling these trends, the scientists determined there are about 73,300 species of tree on the planet — 14% more than are currently catalogued.</p><p>"An accurate estimation of the number of tree species globally is a great piece of knowledge," Mo Zhou, associate professor of forest economics and management at Purdue University, said in a press release.</p><p>"No matter what will happen in future, our children and their children will know the Earth harbors approximately 70,000 tree species in the dawn of the 21st century."</p><h2>Conservation is paramount in <keyword id="13075239" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="south-america" source="Orion">South America</keyword>, home to many of the world's undiscovered trees </h2><p>The researchers estimate that 40% of undiscovered tree species live in South America — a greater share of secret trees than any other continent. South America also has the highest number of rare tree species (about 8,200) and the largest share of tree species found only on that continent (about 49%), according to previous estimates.</p><div type="image" title="A fallen tree lies in an area of the Amazon jungle that was cleared by loggers and farmers near Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil, August 14, 2020." height="2685" width="3580" msid="89259174" hostid="261"></div><p>Many of these unknown South American tree species are likely unique to the Amazon and the regions where the Andes mountains meet the rainforest, according to Peter Reich, a forest ecologist at the University of Minnesota and the University of Michigan.</p><p>That makes forest conservation a paramount priority in South America, Reich said in a statement. Protecting the Amazon is especially urgent, as logging, human-ignited fires, and climate change have culled about 17% of the rainforest in the last 50 years. The deforestation reached a new peak last year, when Brazil <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/11/19/1057245837/brazil-amazon-rainforest-worst-deforestation-rate">reported</a> its highest land area lost since 2006.</p><p>In addition to forests performing key ecological functions, like filtering water and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere, there are economic benefits to preserving them.</p><p>In a 2016 <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaf8957">data analysis</a> published in the journal Science, Liang and his colleagues calculated that forest biodiversity creates five times more economic value than it costs to implement global conservation efforts — because forests provide lumber, fuel, paper, and other materials humans rely on.</p><p>"This study could contribute to tree and forest conservation efforts and the future discovery of new trees," Reich said.</p>

Scientists estimate 9,000 tree species are still unknown to them

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A Scottish village and castle estate are being transformed into a luxury community.</li><li>Thousands of locals are protesting the US company behind the development.</li></ul><p>Thousands of locals are protesting a US developer's plans to transform a Scottish village into a playground for the ultrawealthy.</p><p>But the development firm says the string of properties it purchased in Kenmore, a village in central Scotland's Perthshire, won't be gated or completely closed to the public. The firm adds that it's helping create jobs and reopen businesses.</p><p>The firm behind the project is Discovery Land Co., one of the largest resort-community developers in the US, <a href="https://csq.com/2020/06/how-discovery-land-companys-mike-meldman-develops-the-worlds-most-exclusive-private-clubs-and-resort-communities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CSQ</a> reported in 2020. The company has 31 luxury residential communities — referred to as "<a href="https://discoverylandco.com/our-worlds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">worlds</a>" on its website — built or in development around the globe.</p><p>For its latest "world," Discovery Land is converting the previously abandoned <a href="https://discoverylandco.com/communities/taymouth-castle" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Taymouth Castle</a> into a private clubhouse with a golf course, the May issue of <a href="https://view.publitas.com/discovery-land-company/dlmag-volume14/page/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the developer's DL magazine</a> said.</p><p>Plans for the clubhouse include a restaurant, equestrian center, two spas, and hundreds of residential properties on the castle grounds, according to <a href="https://welcometotaymouth.com/the-development/taymouth-castle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Taymouth Castle's website</a>. </p><div type="image" title="taymouth castle" height="3321" width="4963" msid="103815421" hostid="261" sizebytes="1690460"></div><p>Parts of the castle estate date to the 18th century, according to <a href="http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/GDL00354" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Historic Environment Scotland</a>. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert famously visited in September 1842; the monarch described the estate to her uncle King Leopold I of Belgium as "enchanting" and "princely," according to an excerpt from the royal archives shared by the <a href="https://www.rct.uk/collection/920226/taymouth-castle" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Royal Collection Trust</a>.</p><p>It had many functions before it was left vacant in recent years, serving as a hotel in 1929 before being converted into a World War II hospital, a school in the 1950s, and a golf course, according to Historic Environment Scotland.</p><p>In addition to the castle, Discovery Land says on its <a href="https://welcometotaymouth.com/frequently-asked-questions/kenmore-village/">website</a> that it has acquired properties in Kenmore, including residential cottages, and businesses such as a shop, the post office, and Kenmore Hotel, all of which have been closed since 2022, the <a href="https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/sudden-closure-kenmores-village-shop-27060044" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daily Record</a> reported at the time. It has also bought the nearby Glenlyon Farmhouse, a 7,000-acre estate in Tay Forest Park, with plans to convert it into a sports club for fishing and stag hunting, DL magazine said. </p><p>The announcement set off a furor.</p><h2>'Protect Loch Tay'</h2><p>Two Loch Tay residents, Rob Jamieson and Ingrid Shield, started a petition in June titled <a href="https://www.change.org/p/protect-loch-tay" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Protect Loch Tay</a> against further Discovery Land development. More than 154,400 people had signed it as of Tuesday.</p><p>"The developers are a group of American billionaires who specialize in exclusive gated 'worlds' for the super rich," part of the petition says. "This is not what Scotland is about."</p><p>Discovery Land's developments are all <a href="https://discoverylandco.com/company" target="_blank" rel="noopener">private communities</a> known for their luxury properties and members-only amenities such as golf courses and spas. They appear to be mostly in the US, with Florida and New York being popular locations, its website shows. There are also international developments, including in Canada, the Caribbean, and Portugal, according to its website.</p><p>In January 2016, Mike Meldman, the firm's founder, told The Wall Street Journal the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mike-meldman-discovery-land-resorts-luxury-real-estate-casamigos-tequila-2021-6">properties within these communities</a> ranged in price between $1 million and $50 million. Many of these properties have been snapped up by the rich and famous, including Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Reese Witherspoon, and Bill Gates, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mike-meldman-discovery-land-resorts-luxury-real-estate-casamigos-tequila-2021-6">Insider previously reported</a>.</p><p>Jamieson and Shield told Insider they were concerned about the economic impact of the development and Discovery Land's marketing strategy.</p><p>Shield said she moved to Kenmore just over a year ago and that she had family ties to Loch Tay that dated to the 1970s. </p><p>"It's like a jewel," Shield said of the area. "It's a gorgeous place, and the thought of it turning into a water-sports park is pretty horrifying, actually."</p><div type="image" title="Loch Tay" height="1052" width="1408" msid="103815423" hostid="261" sizebytes="47326"></div><p>Jamieson has lived in the nearby village of Killin for five years and runs a taxi company and a salmon-fishing company in Kenmore. He said Kenmore had "come to a halt" since Discovery Land purchased multiple local businesses that hadn't reopened to the public. The pair added that they're worried about the environmental impact the development could have on the area.</p><p>"Wildlife, some of which is already under threat, for example, three species of Lamprey, Otters, and the Atlantic Salmon, may be displaced, and more mature woodland cleared," the petition says. "Ospreys and Divers could easily be driven away creating a wildlife desert."</p><p>Despite the petition, plans have continued. On July 27, about 300 people showed up to a town meeting, "likely the most heavily attended gathering of this sort" in the area's recent history, John Swinney, a former deputy first minister of Scotland who serves as a member of the Scottish Parliament representing Perthshire North, said. The venue had to be changed at the last minute because there weren't enough seats, the <a href="https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/town-hall-meeting-over-taymouth-30601197" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daily Record</a> reported.</p><h2>Discovery Land says it won't turn the Taymouth estate into a gated community</h2><p>Discovery Land has no plans to turn Kenmore into a private gated community, said a press release issued to Insider by Swinney and another politician, Pete Wishart, a UK member of Parliament in London representing Perth and North Perthshire. The village beach and car park, the politicians said, are set to be open to all residents, not just those living in Discovery Land's development.</p><div type="image" title="Pete Wishart and John Swinney" height="2832" width="4256" msid="103815425" hostid="261" sizebytes="2961404"></div><p>A spokesperson for Discovery Land told Insider that while the castle was being converted to a clubhouse, it would host open days for locals, during which they could view the castle and play golf. </p><p>David O'Donoghue, the general manager of the Discovery Land-owned Taymouth Castle, <a href="https://twitter.com/ProtectLochTay/status/1691147706582839314/photo/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted a letter on X, formerly Twitter, to the Protect Loch Tay group that said there</a> were no plans to turn the estate into a gated community.</p><p>"Due to construction and safety concerns, access to some parts of the area has been restricted and some of the areas that have been open to public access in the past are likely to change," O'Donoghue wrote in the letter.</p><p>"In short, Taymouth Estate will not be a gated community and the public will continue to have access to the beach and car park," he added.</p><p>"We intend to honor the spirit and letter of Scottish law regarding open access," a spokesperson for Discovery Land told Insider when asked to elaborate on public access to the area.</p><div type="image" title="river tay" height="3403" width="5500" msid="103815427" hostid="261" sizebytes="1176464"></div><p>The Protect Loch Tay group say several properties purchased by Discovery Land in Kenmore are yet to reopen to the public. In a statement sent to Insider, Discovery Land said "quite the contrary" was true, as the company had plans to reopen the local shop in 2024 after it was closed by the previous owner.</p><p>Kenmore Hotel, which has been <a href="https://hotelscotland-online.co.uk/kenmore-hotel-sold-to-new-owners-and-closes-until-2023/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">closed since 2022</a>, the industry publication Hotel Scotland reported, is due to reopen in 2025 after "mechanical, plumbing, electrical, and fire safety elements caused for a more extensive redesign than possibly imagined," the spokesperson said. </p><p>Plans for a new village restaurant and pub are underway, the spokesperson said, adding that the project was in the planning stage and had created 200 jobs, with 90% of employees living in Scotland.</p><p>As for the wildlife, a Discovery Land spokesperson said its team was "committed to responsible development practices" and working with environmental experts as well as the council's planning department to ensure their work aligned with environmental and wildlife practices set out by Historic Environment Scotland.</p><p>The spokesperson added that some of Discovery Land's work in the area had benefited the environment, as it's working with an expert arboricultural engineer to "remove dead, dying, and potentially hazardous trees" on the castle grounds.</p><h2>Not everyone in Kenmore agrees with the protest, but it will be years before plans come to fruition</h2><p>Colin Morton, a spokesperson for the Kenmore and District Community Council, said in a press release sent to Insider that the Protect Loch Tay group's concerns were "based on misinformation, scaremongering and in some cases what seems like malicious conjecture."</p><p>"The castle, golf course and grounds, wonderful national as well as local assets, were in dire disrepair and in danger of being lost forever," Morton added. "That trend has now been reversed by the very significant investment being made."</p><p>While some people remain unhappy with Discovery Land's development plans, Swinney sees the company's public statements as a "first step" to rebuilding trust within the community, he said.</p><p>He said that it might help ease the minds of many locals who had grown "suspicious" of the development plans because of a previous lack of communication on Discovery Land's part.</p><p>It will be several years before the Kenmore development is completed. Time will tell if Discovery Land is the boogeyman townspeople fear or just another chapter in Taymouth Castle's long history.</p>

A US developer plans to transform a Scottish village into a private 'world' for billionaires. Locals are outraged.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Researchers recorded thousands of hours of sounds in the Brazilian Amazon.</li><li>In forests hit by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fires-in-the-amazon-rainforest-were-started-by-humans-2019-8">repeated blazes</a>, sounds were sparse — a clue that <keyword id="12228907" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="biodiversity" source="Orion">biodiversity</keyword> is degrading. </li></ul><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-amazon-rainforest-is-important-life-support-is-burning-2019-8">The Amazon</a> is the world's largest rainforest, covering more than 2 million square miles. A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-rainforest-reaching-tipping-point-deforestation-experts-warn-2019-12">slew of studies</a> have captured how this hotspot for biodiversity has been threatened by escalating farming, logging, and wildfires. Now, researchers have gone beyond seeing those changes — they're also listening to them.</p><p>In a research article published last week in the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2102878119">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>, researchers from the University of Maryland recorded thousands of hours of sounds in 39 forests. The forest sites were recovering from either recent or decades-old fires, as well as from being cleared for logging and agriculture. The acoustics, which were combined with airborne satellite data, were recorded during September and October of 2016. The researchers found that in forests where blazes happened repeatedly, communication between animals was quieter than in forests that were logged or burned only once.</p><div type="image" title="Aerial view of a fire  in the agriculture town of Ruropolis, Para state, northen Brazil, on September 6, 2019." height="2322" width="3097" msid="91289694" hostid="261"></div><p>"Fire causes the community to completely change," Anshuman Swain, a University of Maryland ecologist and coauthor of the study, told Insider. Researchers tuned in to every grunt, chirp, and click uttered in the forest and captured in their recordings to see how the habitats had changed.</p><p>"When we walk outside in the morning in the spring, we hear the sounds and we're like, 'Oh, spring is here.' Sounds are a pretty good indicator of what species are around you, especially in rainforest, where there is huge diversity," Swain said.</p><p>Crudely, the more snippets of communication in the form of animal sounds mingled together in the recording, the greater the variety of animals species — thus, a more biodiverse environment. If the collective sounds from organisms in a given habitat are sparse, it's a clue that biodiversity is degrading. This kind of eavesdropping fieldwork is called acoustic monitoring. It's a relatively inexpensive way to assess an ecosystem's health, and could provide insights into <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/birds-disappearing-in-north-america-2020-1">biodiversity</a> and how climate change is affecting it.</p><p>Or as Swain put it, it's "a low-cost indicator of how badly we have damaged the environment."  </p><h2>Creepy critters are under threat </h2><h2><div type="image" title="A Passion Flower Butterfly after a rainforest in the Peruvian Amazon was cleared and burned for farmland." height="3387" width="4517" msid="91289697" hostid="261"></div></h2><p>The study adds to a firehose of recent research underscoring the toll of climate change — which intensifying <keyword id="12459828" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="deforestation" source="Orion">deforestation</keyword> contributes to — on the natural world. Last week, researchers reported <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04644-x">in the journal Nature</a> that the world's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/insect-apocalypse-ecosystem-collapse-food-insecurity-2019-11">insect populations</a> were in dramatic decline due to rising global temperatures and habitat loss. In some areas, overall insect populations dropped by nearly half. </p><p>That's a foreboding finding, considering Swain's team identified <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/insects-dying-off-sign-of-6th-mass-extinction-2019-2">insects</a> getting quieter as the main marker of biodiversity loss in the recent soundscape study. "They perform all these ecosystem services in an invisible way. So their going away is very bad for the forest in the larger scheme of things," Swain told Insider, adding that insects are "not usually covered in most general biodiversity surveys."</p><p>On Thursday, another sobering <a href="https://research.wri.org/gfr/forest-pulse">analysis</a>, published by the World Resources Institute, found that the world is losing 10 soccer fields worth of tropical forest per minute, predominantly due to logging and fires. Of primary rainforest lost in 2021, meaning rainforest that is very old and relatively undisturbed by humans, 40% was in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bolsonaro-plan-to-develop-amazon-rainforest-2019-1">Brazil.</a></p><p>"We've got 20 years of data showing the persistent annual loss of millions of hectares of primary tropical forests alone," said Frances Seymour, a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/28/destruction-of-pristine-rainforest-globe-relentless-rate-aoe">according to The Guardian.</a> "We already knew that such losses are a disaster for the climate. They're a disaster for biodiversity. They're a disaster for Indigenous peoples and local communities."</p><p>"We have to dramatically reduce emissions from all sources. No one should even think any more about planting trees instead of reducing emissions from fossil fuels. It's got to be both and it's got to be now before it's too late," Seymour added.</p>

Deforestation and logging aren't just decimating the Amazon's forests. They're making them quieter.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Cave explorers found a giant <keyword id="13976593" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="sinkhole" source="Orion">sinkhole</keyword> in <keyword id="11892748" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="china" source="Orion">China</keyword>'s Guangxi region, according to <a href="https://english.news.cn/20220507/722aa19654e9469db044f1c231fb260e/c.html">Xinhua News Agency</a>.</li><li>Hidden inside the 630-feet-deep sinkhole is an ancient forest.</li></ul><p>Cave explorers found a massive ancient forest hidden inside a giant sinkhole in China's Guangxi region, <a href="https://english.news.cn/20220507/722aa19654e9469db044f1c231fb260e/c.html">Xinhua News</a> reported.</p><p>The sinkhole measured over a thousand feet in length and was nearly 630 feet deep, Zhang Yuanhai, a senior engineer with the Institute of Karst Geology at the Chinese Academy of Geologi­cal Sciences, told the outlet earlier this month. </p><p>The explorers rappelled down more than 328-feet into the sinkhole before trekking for several hours to reach the bottom. On the sinkhole floor, they found a primeval forest with ancient trees 130 feet tall, expedition team leader Chen Lixin told Xinhua. He added that the plants grew densely together and came up to his shoulders.</p><div type="image" title="Palm trees in a Tiankeng, or giant karst sinkhole, in China." height="3443" width="4591" msid="91663639" hostid="261"></div><p>A Twitter video dated May 7 showed expedition team members climbing through the dense foliage and operating a drone to document the sinkhole.</p><p>Such sinkholes might be home to undiscovered species of flora and fauna, researchers told <a href="https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/cave-explorers-discover-giant-sinkhole-forest-in-china/1188921">AccuWeather</a>.</p><p>"I wouldn't be surprised to know that there are species found in these caves that have never been reported or described by <keyword id="11896083" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="science" source="Orion">science</keyword> until now," George Veni, the executive director of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute in New Mexico, told the outlet on Wednesday. </p><div type="image" title="A Tiankeng, or giant karst sinkhole, at Leye-Fengshan Global Geopark, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region." height="3388" width="4517" msid="91663640" hostid="261"></div><p>Known as tiankeng in Mandarin, or "heavenly pit," sinkholes are common in South China because of the <keyword id="11918130" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nature" source="Orion">nature</keyword> of the landscape. The landscape, called karst, is formed when rainwater dissolves bedrock, Veni told <a href="https://www.livescience.com/new-sinkhole-discovered-china">Live Science</a>.</p><p>"Because of local differences in geology, climate, and other factors, the way karst appears at the surface can be dramatically different," he told the outlet. "So in China, you have this incredibly visually spectacular karst with enormous sinkholes and giant cave entrances and so forth. In other parts of the world, you walk out on the karst, and you really don't notice anything. Sinkholes might be quite subdued, only a meter or two in diameter. Cave entrances might be very small, so you have to squeeze your way into them." </p><p>The region was added to the <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1248/">UNESCO World Heritage</a> list in 2007 because of its unique topography, which includes rock formations and extensive cave systems.  </p><p>China is also home to the <a href="http://www.china.org.cn/travel/2015-10/15/content_36815159.htm">world's largest sinkhole</a> — the Xiaozhai Tiankeng — measuring over 2,000 feet in depth. It can be found in <a href="http://www.china.org.cn/travel/2015-10/15/content_36815159.htm">Tiankeng Difeng National Park</a> in Chongqing City.</p>

You Searched For "Worlds largest mangrove forest" and got 10 results

World's largest forest ecosystem turns net-emitter from carbon sink due to extreme wildfires

PTI

Vilnius is cheap, safe, and fun — no wonder it's the world's happiness capital for Gen Z

Joshua Nelken-Zitser

Soon, Big Cats Will Find A New Home At Nagzira-Navegaon In Maharashtra

Sanghamitra Mandal

General Sherman, the world's largest tree, is in the path of raging California wildfires, prompting a desperate effort to save it

Marianne Guenot

Scientists say climate solutions like solar power and walkable cities are cheap, doable, and can make a dent in the crisis

Morgan McFall-Johnsen

I visited the world's largest 'Harry Potter' store. Here are the must-see sections, plus games and snacks to try.

Erin Ajello

Scientists estimate 9,000 tree species are still unknown to them

Morgan McFall-Johnsen

A US developer plans to transform a Scottish village into a private 'world' for billionaires. Locals are outraged.

Mikhaila Friel

Deforestation and logging aren't just decimating the Amazon's forests. They're making them quieter.

Paola Rosa-Aquino

Chinese cave explorers discovered a 630-foot-deep sinkhole containing a massive ancient forest

Amanda Goh

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides