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Added on the 16/08/2021 20:13:31 - Copyright : France 24 EN
Chile is suffering the worst wildfire outbreak to hit the South American country in over 50 years. Three firefighters were killed and another three were injured as emergency services continued to tackle numerous wildfires that have been devastating central and southern Chile. Around 130,000 hectares of forest and grassland have been burnt to the ground in some 46 wildfires raging between the regions of O'Higgins and Los Lagos. A state of emergency has been declared and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has canceled her presidential commitments to deal with the situation. With the assistance of dozens of aircrafts, firefighters have brought hundreds of fires under control over the last few days. While wildfires are not uncommon in this area, this summer has the potential to be especially dangerous due to a long drought.
Footage released over the weekend shows thousands of starfish washed up on a beach on the Russian island of Sakhalin near the village of Starodubskoe after a storm shook the area on Thursday night. According to scientists from the Sakhalin Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, the incident is nothing unusual and similar beachings have have happened before afrer heavy storms, but worried locals aren't convinced and have called for an investigation, raising environmental concerns.
Another major tropical storm is ravaging the Caribbean and heading north, with residents living on the US Gulf Coast being put on hurricane, storm surge, and tropical storm watch on Friday. Tropical Storm Nate began ripping through the Nicaraguan town of Juan del Sur on Thursday, destroying boats and infrastructure in its path and pummeling the beaches with waves dozens of feet high. Nate has already been responsible for the deaths of 22 people, mostly due to flash-floods and mudslides brought on by heavy rain.
Damien Alary : la fusion ? Pas dans ces conditions !
Pope Francis spoke out once more about dangers of a global environmental catastrophe, saying that humanity "will go down" if it does not address the issue of climate change as he spoke to press on board his plane on Monday while returning to the Holy See from a trip to Colombia.
This creepy crawly insect is called a wax worm and, believe it or not, this little guy may just be the answer to global pollution. Footage provided courtesy of the Spanish National Research Council shows a brilliant new discovery made by researcher Federica Bertocchini. She discovered that wax worms are capable of eating through polyethylene plastic. The researcher demonstrated her discovery at a laboratory in Madrid on Wednesday. Although polyethylene is one of the world's most resistant forms of plastic, the worms can destroy the material by munching their way through it. According to the researcher, 100 worms can biodegrade up to 92 milligrams of polyethylene in just one night. That might not seem like much, but what if we multiply that by a thousand? Or even a million? The discovery is touted as the first all-natural solution to the disposal of the dangerous and wasteful material worldwide. Wax worms are now seen as the best way to biodegrade plastic without causing more harmful effects to nature. Polyethylene plastic, the material used to make plastic bags, is very durable. That's why we use it so often. The problem is that polyethylene is not biodegradable, which means that it stays in the environment for hundreds of years after being thrown away. It can cause all sorts of problems for wild animals and the natural environment in general. That's why this new discovery has the potential to help us clean up our act and restore areas like landfills and other areas polluted with plastic.
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