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OUT OF THIS WORLD | What's Up In Climate Change - a glance at the most important news about our warming world

Air pollutants found in mother's placenta, study finds


Isabella O'Malley
Digital Writer/Climate Change Reporter

Wednesday, September 19, 2018, 11:44 AM - Air pollution's threat to expecting mothers, a massive sustainable initiative from Apple, climate change warnings from Paul McCartney and Childish Gambino, and the carbon release from melting permafrost. It's What's Up in Climate Change.

THE FIRST EVIDENCE OF AIR POLLUTION TRAVELLING TO THE PLACENTA

The first findings that toxic air pollution can travel through a pregnant woman's body and secrete in the placenta have been reported from the European Lung Foundation. The evidence suggests that air pollution poses a significant risk to expecting mothers because these harmful pollutants could pass across into the fetus, which adds to previous research that indicates pregnant women living in heavily polluted cities are more prone to pregnancy issues.


Traffic in Beijing. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The researchers analyzed the placentas of five women from London, England who were non-smokers, did not have any pregnancy complications, and birthed healthy babies. Placental macrophages were extracted and studied, because they are part of the body's immune system and protect the fetus by engulfing harmful components, such as air pollutants. Of the 3,500 placental macrophage cells collected, 60 cells contained 72 small black regions that the researchers determined to be small carbon particles. The report notes that at the beginning of the study the researchers were not sure if they were going to identify any carbon particles because the respiratory airways were expected to capture all of them. 

The findings add to the long growing list of human health complications caused by air pollution including cognitive decline, cancer, damage to many organs including the heart, lungs, and kidneys, and harm to the nervous system. A study from December 2017 indicated that air pollution is linked to low birth weights and is detrimental to a newborn's health, which could greatly worsen the population's public health burden. In the future health care systems might include standard recommendations for pregnant women to avoid areas of high traffic and industrial activity to reduce risk to the fetus and stricter air quality policies.

APPLE'S LATEST GREEN INVESTMENT - COLOMBIAN MANGROVES

In the wake of iPhone and watch announcements comes news of Apple's next initiative to protect the environment and fight climate change. As reported by CNN, Apple's Vice President of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives told an audience at the Global Climate Action Summit last week that an 11,000 hectare mangrove forest project will be established in Colombia.

Jackson, who was head of the Environmental Protection Agency during President Barack Obama’s first term, noted the alarming rollbacks of environmental regulations by the Trump Administration and assured that a thriving company can support a healthy planet and dismissed the notion that "protecting the environment is bad for business."

The mangrove project will protect the existing vegetation, foster biodiversity, and reduce carbon emissions by capturing approximately 17,000 metric tonnes of carbon in its first two years - which is equivalent to the amount of carbon emissions from the cars that would be needed to drive around the world to update Apple Maps over the next decade. Mangroves are particularly strong fighters against climate change because of their dense foliage and are highly efficient at storing carbon in their biomass for hundreds of years.


A mangrove forest along the Urauchi River in the Yaeyama Islands, Japan. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The newly released iPhones and watches also reflect the company's environmental commitments - logic boards on the new phones will be made from 100 per cent recycled tin, speakers were made with 35 per cent recycled plastic, and the front glass on both devices are blended with bio-based plastic. Apple is the world's most valuable company and has a significant impact on both the environment and the economy. The company publicly supports the Paris Agreement, federal regulations to improve the environment, and improve their recycling and sustainability practices after facing much criticism over the years, particularly over it's mining practices and resultant pollution.

PAUL MCCARTNEY AND CHILDISH GAMBINO SING WARNINGS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Music often contains universal messages that transcends borders and brings people together, and both Paul McCartney and Childish Gambino have recently released separate songs that warn of global climate change.


Paul McCartney playing his customized Les Paul Guitar painted by Rosie Brooks at the GelreDome in Arnhem. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

In an interview with BBC McCartney discusses his new song "Despite Repeated Warnings," which references climate change denial and contains the lyric: "Those who shout the loudest may not always be the smartest." During the interview McCartney refers to Donald Trump as a "mad captain sailing this boat we’re all on and he is just going to take us to the iceberg [despite] being warned it's not a cool idea" and says climate change denial is "the most stupid thing ever." This song debuts after a record-breaking summer with heat waves across Europe and how people are increasingly expressing concern over insufficient political leadership to fight climate change. 

Across the pond Childish Gambino's song "Feels Like Summer," which was released this July, reflects on the many feelings associated with the season. He sings that "every day gets hotter than the one before, running out of water, it's about to go down" and "air that killed the bees that we depend upon, birds were made for singing, waking up to no sound." While not explicitly emphasizing climate change, his lyrics reveal the thoughts of many others who have noticed that the seasons and climate are different than what they used to be and parts of the environment are suffering. Despite the differing styles and genres of both musicians, the warning of climate change is universal as the consequences and changes are negatively affecting everyone across all parts of the world.

MELTING PERMAFROST COULD PUSH CARBON LEVELS PAST PARIS AGREEMENT TARGETS

Reassessments of carbon budgets and increasing carbon emissions show that exceeding the Paris Agreement carbon targets could come soon and the environmental changes could be irreversible. The poles of the planet are warming faster than anywhere else on Earth, and a new study shows that the unaccounted carbon released from thawing permafrost will rapidly squeeze the carbon budget tighter than anticipated, and a 2 degree Celsius warming could come much sooner than 2100.


Melting permafrost has caused this road to dip in Alaska. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Despite extensive scientific evidence, global policy-makers have failed to incorporate non-linear environmental mechanisms into emission budgets, such as soil dynamics and other Arctic biogeochemical mechanisms like microbial activity that releases carbon dioxide. The Paris Agreement targets were set to keep the atmosphere within a range that could be managed with considerable resources and global effort, but surpassing the 2 degree target could trigger self-perpetuating feedback relationships in the atmosphere that could cause the climate to warm in ways past the ability of humans to intervene in.

The release of permafrost carbon release is irreversible, and approximately 2.3 per cent of the thawed carbon is methane, which is approximately 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a heat-trapping gas. Other non-linear processes that could further drive climate change faster than anticipated include sea ice melt and forest dieback. According to NASA's most recent annual temperature anomaly average, 2017 was 0.9 degrees Celsius warmer than a baseline period of 1951-1980 average temperatures, and the researchers note that the amount of carbon emissions and subsequent atmospheric alterations might have breached the budget for a 1.5 degree Celsius warming.

Sources: European Lung Foundation | CNN | BBC | Nature - Geoscience

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