The Environmental Engineering Hub

In the midst of the presidential race, historically, we have followed guidelines linked to environmental conservation placed in the background. The result of this stance are inoperative mandates regarding the gradual and uninterrupted degradation of our forests and natural resources. We need the elected candidates, both in the Executive and in the Legislative, to make real commitments to the preservation of our biodiversity, even though promises related to the environment do not attract so many votes. In view of the election of the National Electoral Council last month, the people's choices cannot depend on environmental issues alone, but also on the protection of our natural resources, the health of our environment and its environment, of our environment with respect to the people. Our objective is to create a culture of conservation, of environmental awareness, and of respecting the environment. Environmental awareness is a cornerstone of our campaign and is linked to envi

In addition to the tracks of destruction in the forest, the fires in the Amazon leave traces in the Amazon River and its tributaries. Incomplete burning of tree wood results in the production of a type of carbon - known as black carbon - that reaches Amazonian waters in the forms of charcoal and soot and is transported to the Atlantic Ocean as dissolved organic carbon. An international group of researchers quantified and characterized, for the first time, the black carbon that flows through the Amazon River. The results of the study, published in Nature Communications magazine, showed that most of the material transferred to the ocean is "young," suggesting that it was produced by recent forest fires. "We found through radiometric dating analysis [a method that uses the radioisotope of natural carbon-14 occurrence to determine the age of carbonaceous materials up to about 60,000 years] and molecular composition that the largest proportion of the black carbon we found

"An active system of professional regulation is able to influence the protection and the sustainable use of resources found in the environment." This statement is made by Joel Krüger, President of the Federal Council for Engineering and Agronomy (Confea, in Portuguese). And who wins with all this, points out the leader, is the rural sector, which can reap the results of expansion verified each year in Brazilian agribusiness. The inspection, says Krüger, is one of the strategic tools to have a return of quality in the work performed by agronomy professionals, which are about 120 thousand professionals in Brazil. "In reality, we need to balance agronomy with the environment. The agronomist engineer works hard on this issue. We need to overcome some debates that lead nowhere on this issue. The current need is a well regulated agronomy. We defend our system of professional regulation," says the president of Confea. "Krüger says that this defense is necessary,

Acid mine drainage, acid and metalliferous drainage (AMD), or acid rock drainage (ARD) is the outflow of acidic water from metal mines or coal mines. Acid rock drainage occurs naturally within some environments as part of the rock weathering process but is exacerbated by large-scale earth disturbances characteristic of mining and other large construction activities, usually within rocks containing an abundance of sulfide minerals. Areas where the earth has been disturbed (e.g. construction sites, subdivisions, and transportation corridors) may create acid rock drainage. In many localities, the liquid that drains from coal stocks, coal handling facilities, coal washeries, and coal waste tips can be highly acidic, and in such cases it is treated as acid rock drainage. This liquid often contains toxic metals, such as copper or iron. These, combined with reduced pH, have a detrimental impact on the streams aquatic environments. The same type of chemical reactions and processes may o

Federal Congresswoman Chris Tonietto (PSL-RJ) says she believes the negative figures on the situation in the Amazon are being inflated "to demoralize the government" and that she trusts President Jair Bolsonaro and his chosen minister to look after the area, Ricardo Salles. The congresswoman criticizes the "politicization" of the issue and what she points out as an "inversion" in putting nature above man. "I am not being against the evidence, no. Even the people who live in the Amazon and who are now federal deputies say this, that they, in quotes, inflate the numbers, saying that deforestation is growing. I'm not saying that there isn't, but I don't think that's all they try to impute. Everything to demoralize the government," he says. "I take great care with these ultra-environmentalist agendas, because I think they have a very serious ideological burden and put the environment above the human being. This is absurd,"

    With 7% of the planet's total surface area, the Amazon is home to about 50% of the world's biodiversity. For many, it is considered the "lungs of the world". But can we consider this statement correct? According to Antonio Ocimar Manzi, coordinator of the National Institute of Amazonian Research (Inpa), the answer is no. According to him, the vegetation, which grows through photosynthesis, captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and releases oxygen, unlike the lung that transforms oxygen from the atmosphere into carbon dioxide. The Amazon presents a very high rate of photosynthesis and, because of this, was for some decades compared to a large "inverted" lung, the "lungs of the world". However, the professor explains that the forest also releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, by breathing of the plants, and in the process of decomposition of trunks, branches, dead leaves and animals. Divided among nine Brazilian states: Acre, A