Emperor penguins are threatened due to climate change and Over 90% of Emperor Penguins Will Be Quasi-Extinct By 2100 If Current Antarctica Sea Ice Loss Rates Persist.
Four new emperor penguin colonies have been identified in Antarctica by satellites which brings the number of known nesting sites around the White Continent to 66.
This is good because even though they are being affected greatly by the melting ice new colonies are still being discovered.
This brings the estimated population to around 550,000.
with these discoveries scientists believe they now know the whereabouts of all of the remaining breeding pairs, this is also vital information for conservationists who are monitoring the species.

‘Norway becomes first country to back controversial deep sea mining’

Due to the ever rising demand for technological devices, Norway has voiced support for deep sea mining. Ecological scientist have warned about the irreversible damage it could do to the ecosystem. However, it has been mentioned that the materials can also be used to make climate friendly technology such as solar panels and not just common technologies such as smartphones and TVs.

This can link to environmental value systems (topic 1)

https://news.sky.com/story/norway-becomes-first-country-to-back-controversial-deep-sea-mining-13045241

https://www.brusselstimes.com/862085/belgium-in-brief-bucking-weather-trends-with-biting-cold-and-tornadoes

Belgium has seen floods and a hurricane, destroying homes, land, and animal habitats.

Links to: topic 3 biodiversity, topic 7 climate change

Antarctic sea ice extent peaked this year on Sept. 10, when it covered 16.96 million square miles, the lowest winter maximum since satellite records began in 1979, the NSIDC said. That’s about 1 million square kilometres less ice than the previous winter record set in 1986.

It is interesting that this effect has only taken place in recent years, with Antarctic sea ice actually increasing in coverage between 2007 and 2016. It cannot be concluded whether this reduction is caused by climate change, as the change has only taken place in recent years, but warming sea temperatures are likely to have contributed.

This presents an entire set of problems. Not only does it endanger the species who dwell on the ice, and as such the biodiversity of the Antarctic, but may cause climate change to build exponentially, as the Antarctic sea ice is an important factor in fighting climate change and reducing global temperatures by reflecting solar radiation out of the atmosphere. Sea ice reflects 45-65% solar radiation than the ocean.

“The key message here is that to protect these frozen parts of the world that are really important for a whole number of reasons,” said Ariaan Purich, a sea ice researcher at Australia’s Monash University who co-authored the study. “We really need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/antarctic-winter-sea-ice-hits-extreme-record-low-rcna117372

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/05/potentially-toxic-road-runoff-outfalls-polluting-england-rivers

This works with both soil and water 9 markers. You can talk about nitrate levels and pollutants in soil and then speak about runoff into water then causing eutrophication and harm to wildlife.

Important Quotes from the article:

• “It’s an incredibly complicated cocktail of 300 or so chemicals,” said Joe Pecorelli, of the Zoological Society of London. “In the summer you get an accumulation of chemicals on the road surfaces … and when the rain comes, all that material – tyre wear, all the metals from brake pads – gets flushed directly into rivers … which causes the reduction of oxygen. In urban areas this is a perennial problem. Every summer we experience fish kills in those rivers where there are fish remaining.”

• Stephen Elderkin, the director of environmental sustainability at National Highways, said: “We are committed to addressing all of our high-risk water outfalls by 2030 and our water quality plan 2030 sets out a high-level programme of work to achieve this … National Highways has also invested in a programme of research to understand the risk of pollution from microplastics in road runoff.”

link to article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-66939022

Posted on 27th of September 2023

The populations of seabirds in Scotland have declined by about ‘49% between the years 1986 and 2019 across 11 seabird species.’ it has stated that it is ‘one of the most nature depleted counties in the world.’ The causation may have been linked to ‘agriculture, forestry and fishing as well as climate change and pollution’.

Scotland used to be quite renowned for the variety of bird species so this decline is quite worrisome for the biodiversity of the area.

This would link to the topic of biodiversity and management of food sources.