The Environmental Engineering Hub

In view of the growing deforestation in the country, Environment Minister Ricardo Salles (Novo-SP) says that the Amazon will only be preserved if "capitalist solutions" are found that give economic dynamism to the forest and generate income for the approximately 20 million Brazilians who inhabit the region. In an interview with BBC News Brasil, Salles criticized the way in which conservation units and indigenous lands have been created in the Amazon in past governments - a strategy that, according to experts, has had a major impact on reducing deforestation rates in the forest. According to the minister, the creation of these areas led to land conflicts and denied Brazilians access to a large portion of the national territory. Salles was appointed by physicist Ricardo Galvão as one of the pivots of his resignation from the board of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) in early August. The minister had been criticizing data from the agency that have pointed to...

The evolution of pasture stocking in Brazil is directly linked to the use of the most varied technologies. In 1940, for example, productivity in the country was 0.1 to 0.2 UA/ha (animal unit per hectare). It increased to 0.5 UA/ha with the use of African forage and is now at 1 UA/ha. With the ILP (Crop-Livestock Integration) as pasture reform, it is possible to reach 3 UA per hectare, a growth of 200%, according to research, and maximum limit for this technology. It is worth saying: one AU corresponds to 450 kilos of live weight. But now, according to Fernando Campos de Mendonça, professor of the department of biosystems engineering at Esalq/USP (Escola Superior de Agricultura Luis de Queiroz/ University of São Paulo), cattle ranching is experiencing a crucial moment of paradigm shift. "Cattle ranching for a long time has incorporated new areas and productivity remained low, with low occupancy, without increasing the number of animals per area. Agriculture came out ahead because...

The British magazine The Economist, one of the most influential media outlets in the world, gave as its cover story the acceleration of deforestation in the Amazon, linked to the election of President Jair Bolsonaro. The magazine refers to the president of Brazil as "possibly the most dangerous head of state in the world in environmental terms". In an editorial, the publication states that "the world must make it clear to Mr. Bolsonaro that it will not tolerate his vandalism" and suggests boycotts, by food, soy and meat multinationals produced in illegally deforested areas of the Amazon, in addition to urging countries and blocs, including China, to put pressure on Brazil in its negotiations with the country. What the Bolsonaro government - as well as more retrograde sectors of agribusiness - seems not to have realized is that the environmental issue today does not oppose, on the one hand, capitalist businesses and companies and, on the other, dreamlike hippi...

Do you remember when people said we had "12 years to save the planet"? Now, however, there is a growing consensus that the next 18 months will be paramount in dealing with the global warming and climate change crisis, among other environmental challenges. Last year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that to keep global average temperatures below 1.5°C by the end of this century, carbon dioxide emissions would have to be reduced by 45% by 2030. But today, scientists recognize that the decisive political steps to allow carbon cuts to actually occur will have to be taken before the end of next year. The idea that 2020 is an important deadline was addressed by one of the world's leading climate scientists in 2017. "Climate mathematics is brutally clear: although the world cannot be cured in the coming years, it could be fatally injured by negligence by 2020," said Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, founder and current director emeritus of the...

Surprisingly, even the videos we watch on the Internet have an impact on the environment. A new report indicates that the internet is one of the top "villains" in the digital sector's carbon footprint, which now accounts for 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This share could double by 2025, leaving the digital sector on a par with road transport, as energy consumption in this sector is increasing at the rate of 9% per year. Published by the French research website The Shift Project, the report "Climate Crisis: The Unsustainable Use of Online Video" quantifies the impact of Internet video (VoD, "tubes", pornography, social networks and others) on the environment and the global climate. The study shows that, within all Internet data, online videos account for about 60 percent of the stream, or the largest volume of greenhouse gas emissions in the industry, with about 300 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). Of this total emission,...

In a short space of time, the Amazon Fund became a turning point in the Bolsonaro government. Announced by Brazil during the COP-13 (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) on the Indonesian island of Bali, in 2007, and created the following year under the Lula administration, the program emerged as a pioneering initiative in the world to collect financial resources from developed countries to keep the world's largest rainforest standing - and thus help in combating climate change. The Fund has already received more than R$ 3.4 billion in donations and has become the main national instrument for funding actions to prevent, monitor and combat deforestation, in addition to promoting the conservation and sustainable use of the Amazon biome. Its resources currently support 103 projects by state governments and civil society to protect the forest, including the Amazon Protected Areas program (Arpa). Aimed at the creation and management of Conservation Units (UCs), ...

In recent years, plastic straw has entered the target of environmental awareness campaigns around the world. Several establishments and cities have created alternatives to the use of the utensil as a solution to encourage the population to reduce the number of plastics in the oceans. Teresina joined the attempt and established, in law, the prohibition of the use of the item in establishments. But there are those who do, daily, also common attitudes, even more to reduce the impact of their actions on the environment. The reuse of food, choice of non-polluting transportation and selective garbage collection are among the decisions of Teresinos to contribute to a healthier world. Iara Gomes is one of those who is fully aware that much of what is considered garbage can be reused in a very positive way. The backyard of her house is the concrete proof of what she thinks: fruits, medicinal plants, flowers and ornamental plants spread through the ecosystem cared for and nourished from t...