Earthweek: Diary of a Changing World
Week ending Friday, March 1, 2024
Placenta Plastic
Studies have found that microplastic pollution is accumulating not only in our arteries, but also in all 62 human placentas examined.
This raises concerns over the potential health impacts plastic pollution may be having on developing fetuses.
While there is no direct evidence such contamination is harming human health, the particles have also recently been found in human blood and breast milk, which indicates we are being exposed to the pollution on a massive scale, as are other creatures.
“If we’re seeing effects on placentas, then all mammalian life on this planet could be impacted,” said lead researcher Matthew Campen of the University of New Mexico.
Earthquakes
Tremors rattling southern Texas for weeks are linked to oil and gas drilling in the region.
• Earth movements were also felt in the Oregon-idaho border area, New Zealand’s South Island, eastern Taiwan, Japan’s Hiroshima prefecture and along the Chinakyrgyzstan border.
Antarctic Influenza
The deadly H5N1 strain
of bird flu has now reached
the mainland of Antarctica
for the first time.
Researchers at Argentina’s Primavera Base research station say the virus was found nearby in two dead scavenging birds known as skuas.
“The problem is how long is it going to take before it transmits to other species like penguins,” said Antonio Alcamí from Spain’s National Research Council.
It was earlier warned that if the virus starts killing penguins on Antarctica, it could become one of the largest ecological disasters in modern times.
Avian influenza reached
islands of the Antarctic region in October, and the new discovery means that H5N1 has now spread to every continent except Australia.
Ice-free Antarctic
The extent of summertime ice coverage around Antarctica has reached an “alarming low” level for the third consecutive year, according to the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center.
It says sea ice cover fell to 768,343 square miles on Feb. 21. The record low was 687,261 square miles set last February. The 2024 minimum tied for second-lowest since satellite observations began in 1979.
After a very low sea ice maximum last September, what ice did form in the Southern Hemisphere winter was thin and melted easily.
Eruptions
Ongoing eruptions of Mexico’s Popocatépetl volcano caused ash to fall in nearby Mexico City and forced some airlines to cancel
flights at the capital’s international airport.
• Indonesia’s Mount Semeru produced
five eruptions within three days in East
Java province.
Heat Starvation
Marine biologists say thousands of humpback whales starved to death in the North Pacific between 2012
and 2021 due to a massive marine heat wave sometimes referred to as “the blob.”
After decades of population growth due to conservation efforts and the end of commercial whaling, 20% of the marine mammals apparently perished because the warmer ocean waters produced less food.
Writing in the journal Royal Society Open Science,
scientists say tufted puffins,
sea lions and seals also saw population declines during the heat wave.
“This will hit humpback whales and other whale species, but we should recognize these whales are indicators of ocean health,” said Ted Cheeseman of Australia’s Southern Cross University.
Aussie Cyclone
Heavy rainfall from dissipating Tropical Storm Lincoln ended a protracted drought on the northwestern tip of Australia but also caused crop damage for some growers. Dist. by: Andrews Mcmeel Syndication ©MMXXIV Earth Environment Service