Nepal is known for its majestic mountain peaks and rich cultural heritage, but natural disasters are also a part of life at the foot of the Himalayas. Flooding, landslides, and wildfires are regular occurrences in Nepal and, with the climate crisis upon us, are expected to increase in frequency and become more unpredictable. Annual summer monsoons sweep into Nepal’s southern plains, soaking rice paddies and vegetable fields. Too much rain brings flooding and can sometimes cause mountain slopes to collapse, resulting in dangerous landslides. In 2017, during the annual monsoon, some areas of Nepal received 17 in of rainfall in just eight hours. An estimated 460,000 had to leave their homes, often with nowhere to go. Especially hard-hit were poor, smallholder farmers. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) reported 2017 damage losses estimated at $585 million and recovery needs at $705 million. To cover such losses, Nepal needs international assistance. Climate change is blamed for another of Nepal’s greatest threats—melting glaciers. According to the UNDP, “Glaciers melt, forming lakes filled with millions of cubic meters of water, soil, and rock. Outbursts can have catastrophic consequences for communities living downstream, taking lives and washing away livelihoods, assets, and infrastructure. In September 2020, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development and UNDP produced a report that 21 glacial lakes in Nepal are at risk of bursting.” In response to such disasters, the Nepalese Government, coordinating with UNDP, is working on disaster-preparedness plans that will include inputs from women, indigenous communities, and those with disabilities. Addressing climate change will also be an integral part of the government’s disaster mitigation program and will include “early warning systems, off-grids clean energy solutions, and reforestation” in securing a safer future for all of Nepal’s citizens. Source: UNDP report

The international response to COVID-19 has taken resources and attention away from tuberculosis (TB) and other illnesses, according to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). “The disruption to essential services for people with TB is just one tragic example of the ways the pandemic is disproportionately affecting some of the world’s poorest people, who were already at higher risk for TB,” said Dr. Ghebreyesus. The WHO estimates that 1.4 million fewer people received care for TB in 2020 than in 2019, according to preliminary data compiled by WHO from over 80 countries—a reduction of 21% from 2019. According to the data, the countries with the biggest relative gaps were Indonesia at 42%, South Africa at 41%, Philippines at 37%, and India at 25%. Stated WHO’s Director-General, “These sobering data point to the need for countries to make universal health coverage a key priority as they respond to and recover from the pandemic, to ensure access to essential services for TB and all diseases.” WHO is concerned that more than half a million more people may have died from TB in 2020 because they were unable to obtain a diagnosis. Source: WHO report

To no one’s surprise, global food prices are rising “sharply” (UN). We won’t have annual numbers for 2022 for a while, but, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 2021 prices were already setting the trend. Let’s look at food price hikes for the year that was. Food Price Hikes 2021 2021’s international food prices vaulted over 2020: The FAO’s global Food Price Index (FPI) average for 2021 was 125.7 points, 28.1% higher than in 2020. Even though the FPI saw a 0.09% decline from November 2021 to year’s end, that period was still up by 23.1% from the same period in 2020. The Cereal Price Index in 2021 reached its highest annual level since 2012, an increase of 27.2%. The biggest gainer among the cereals for 2021 was maize, up a whopping 44.1%. Wheat came in second, at a gain of 31.3%. Rice prices fared much better, declining by 4%. The Vegetable Oil Price Index struck a record high, up 65.8% compared with 2020. The Meat Price Index rose 12.7% for the year. The Dairy Price Index averaged 16.9% higher than 2020. And what about 2022? FAO Senior Economist Abdolreza Abbassian said there is “little room for optimism about a return to more stable market conditions” in 2022. Source: UN News Global perspective Human stories

As reported in Nature, researchers at MIT have developed a heat engine, with no moving parts, that is as efficient (40%) as a steam turbine in converting high heat into electricity. Their heat engine is actually a thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cell—not unlike a solar panel’s photovoltaic cell—that “passively” converts photons from a high-temp source into electricity. The MIT team's heat engine can generate electricity from heat sources between 1,900 to 2,400°C, or as high as 4,300°F. According to the study, TPVs convert mostly infrared wavelength light to electricity via the “photovoltaic effect,” enabling energy storage [1, 2] and conversion [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9] that uses “higher temperature heat sources than the turbines that are ubiquitous in electricity production today.” The team’s cells use “band-edge spectral filtering” to achieve their engine’s higher efficiency, using back-surface reflectors to reject unusable radiation back to the heat emitter. The study’s authors hope that cells such as theirs can be “integrated into a TPV system for thermal energy grid storage to enable dispatchable renewable energy,” creating a way for thermal energy grid storage to reach efficiency and cost levels that will enable decarbonization of the electricity grid. As a result of their achievement, the researchers imagine that a “proliferation of (Thermophotovoltaic Electricity Grid System) TEGS could ultimately enable abatement of approximately 40% of global CO2 emissions,” by way of decarbonizing the electricity grid and enabling CO2-free electric vehicle charges. They believe that a TPV efficiency of 40% means that TEGS are now feasible, as are other applications in “natural gas, propane or hydrogen-fueled power generation [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9], and high-temperature industrial waste heat recovery.” Source: Nature

A new study out of Université de Genève (UNIGE) and the University of Queensland's Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) in Australia suggests a novel solution to one of the world’s largest waste streams—waste leftover from mineral processing. In fact, according to the researchers, this novel solution could simultaneously reduce mineral-processing waste and the over-exploitation of global sand reserves, a practice that tends to occur in areas, such as shorelines, that are best left undisturbed. So, less waste and more sand? How is it possible? The researchers’ findings, released this month in the report, Ore-sand: A potential new solution to the mine tailings and global sand sustainability crises FINAL REPORT, refer to left-over waste from mining extraction that has been crushed and from which potentially harmful substances have been removed. The team coined the term, ore-sand, to describe this by-product and its suitability as a sand replacement in the cement industry, for instance. The research team examined tailings produced from iron ore mining in Brazil. After looking at chemical properties and refining operations, they could show that some of the waste stream destined to be mining residues could replace sand in construction and industry, in a manner similar to that of recycled concrete and steel slag. Follow-up will require collaboration with aggregate producers and other industry players to demonstrate ore-sand's ease-of-use, performance, and sourcing process. Other factors to be examined could be CO2 emissions from transporting the material, additional revenue value to ore producers, local demand and so on. With global sand usage at billions of tons annually, due primarily to demand from urban development, “ore-sand” production could significantly impact the environment by lowering the global need for sand mining and by turning harmful ore mining residues into industrial products, thus contributing to a more circular and sustainable economy. Source: Science Daily Release - Solution to world’s largest waste stream

By now, most of us have heard of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and have some ideas about them. It’s good to see them, all in one place, to know where the goals would like to take us by 2030. They were established in 2015. Where SDGs would like to take us by 2030 Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development Source: UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs - Sustainable Development

Refugees not only suffer trauma as they flee from war and disasters, but once they reach safety in a refugee camp, they face the need for a daily water supply. Here is how the UN catalogs those needs. Four liters is equal to a little more than one gallon (1.06 gal). A refugee camp should have one water tap for every 80 to 100 individuals. Otherwise, there should be one communal well or hand pump per every 200 refugees. Each camp household of five needs the following five water containers: one 20-liter, two 10-liters, and two five-liters. Camp schools need to stock three liters of water per student. Camp feeding centers should stock 20 to 30 liters per person. Camp outpatient health centers need to stock five liters per visitor. In-patient centers need at least 40 to 60 liters per patient. Wells should be located more than 30 meters (32 yards) from latrines and other possible contaminant sources. A minimum of one water source quality test should be administered per 5,000 beneficiaries per month. Source: UNHCR Water Brochure

The elusive marten can be found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. In the UK, the pine marten’s appetite for squirrels is garnering interest (see the “Squirrel War” article), so we thought we’d gather some data on this rarely seen predator. Data on Martens Martens are about the same size as a domestic cat. They weigh between 1.0-2.2 kilograms (2.2-4.8 pounds). From nose to tip of tail, martens measure about 65 centimeters (23 inches). Female martens are generally lighter and smaller than males. The tails of the UK pine marten are around 20 centimeters (7.8 inches). Martens breed once a year, with usually two to five “kits” born in spring. Kits are born blind and hairless, and are wholly dependent on their mothers for about six weeks. In addition to eating squirrels, martens are omnivores that dine on nuts, seeds, rabbits, mice and birds. Sources: Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

It’s called “Biological Invasion Costs”—the price tag on dealing with invasive species—and simply put, it’s a lot of money. The National Invasive Species Information Center of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) shares some gargantuan global figures. Worldwide, since 1960, managing biological invasions has cost about $95.3 billion. During the same period, the damage cost of the invasions was more than $1.13 trillion. Like most everything else, invasion-associated management and damage costs are rapidly rising. Proactive, pre-invasion management spending is 25 times lower than post-invasion management costs. Countries all over the planet are declaring a National Invasive Species Awareness Week. In the US, it was February 28-March 4. There are more than 6,500 invasive species established across the United States. Sources: USDA National Invasive Species Information Center, U.S. Department of the InteriorIndian Affairs 2022 National Invasive Species Awareness Week

This issue of The Earth & I examines communities interconnected through solar grids (see Energy Section). Far beyond these communities lies another “solar community” with star-power like no other: the Universe. The European Space Agency (ESA) launched the satellite Hipparcos in 1989 to accurately measure the positions (and motions) of nearly 120,000 stars. It can also approximate the positions of about a million other stars with less precision. Besides our Sun, there are ten other stars in our neighborhood. The nearest star to our own is 39,900,000,000,000 km (4.22 light years) away. Scientists have named it Proxima Centauri. The farthest away, named Eta Cassiopeiae, is 19 light years away. At Voyager 1’s speed of 17.3 km/s, it would take some 330,700 years to arrive there. The red dwarf star Gliese 581 is about 20 light years from Earth. Its third planet appears to be an example of a possible terrestrial extrasolar planet where conditions are favorable (not too hot or cold) for life as it is on Earth. Source: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Red clover is a distinctive perennial herb common in Europe and Asia and now naturalized in the Americas. It goes by different names, such as pal-gan keullobeo in Korea, trefle des pres in France, and trifolium pratense in the scientific community. By any name, it is trusted to benefit human, animal, and soil health. Here is how the world sees it. How the world sees red clover In Iraq, red clover is used as an expectorant and to treat asthma and bronchitis. In the US, it’s grown for soil health and used to treat cancer, the skin, and sores. It’s also used to fight cancer in the UK, Spain, Australia and elsewhere. In Spain, it is used for catarrh (mucous backup in the throat). Need a good sedative? People in Eurasia and the US use red clover for that purpose. In the Western Hemisphere, Amerindians use red clover for eye health and for burns. Europeans like to use it for dyspepsia and other digestive complaints. The people of Turkey use red clover—they call it kirmizi yonca—as a tonic or an alternative (an herb used to gradually restore bodily functions) for spasms, scrofula (glandular swelling) and as a sedative. Sources: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Jimmy Donaldson (YouTuber MrBeast) and Mark Rober (former NASA engineer and YouTuber) partnered up with non-profits Ocean Conservancy and The Ocean Cleanup for an ambitious goal: raising $30 million by the end of 2021 to remove thirty million pounds of trash from the oceans. MrBeast and Rober began their fundraiser under the name, “#TeamSeas,” as they posted videos on YouTube on October 29, 2021; as of this month, they have garnered total views of more than 55 million and 24 million, respectively. The fundraiser reached its $30 million mark after a $4 million donation from billionaire entrepreneur Austin Russell, filling in the final gap after donations by over six hundred thousand individuals toward the cause. #TeamSeas states that the funds will be split 50/50 to Ocean Conservancy and The Ocean Cleanup. Ocean Conservancy collaborated with #TeamSeas through its “Fighting for Trash Free Seas®” program, in which volunteers traverse lakes, rivers, and beaches around the world and gather trash. Trash is weighed using Ocean Conservancy’s “Clean Swell®” application. Meanwhile, The Ocean Cleanup collaborated with #TeamSeas through its building, deployment, and operations of its “Interceptor” technology to pick up trash in rivers. Boyan Slat, founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, said, “TeamSeas fits perfectly into our mission to rid the oceans of plastic and we’re honored to be part of this campaign. The donations raised from this campaign will help us implement more Interceptors around the world and curb the flow of riverine plastic into the oceans.” Although thirty million pounds of trash (including plastics) is insignificant compared to the ten million tons (twenty billion pounds) of plastic dumped in the oceans annually as estimated by Ocean Plastics, MrBeast and Rober were able to spread the message of cleaning up our oceans far and wide to their audiences. This will hopefully lead to a higher demand for systemic change to address garbage and plastic at their source.