- Technological curiosities from the world
Biodegradable battery. The number of micro-devices that transmit data is growing rapidly. They all need energy, but the number of batteries needed to run them would have a serious impact on the environment. Swiss scientists have been working on a biodegradable mini capacitor that can solve this problem. It consists of carbon, cellulose, glycerin and table salt. For this it is reliable. The device for the production of this revolutionary battery looks quite inconspicuous, because it is a modified 3D printer. The real innovation, however, lies in the recipe of the jelly-like ink. It consists of cellulose nanofibers and cellulose nanocrystallites as well as carbon in the form of soot, graphite and activated carbon. To liquefy these substances, researchers use glycerin, water, and two different types of alcohol. To this they add a pinch of table salt for ionic conductivity. To build a working supercapacitor from these components, four layers are needed - a flexible substrate, a conductive layer, an electrode, and finally an electrolyte. - Landscape
There is nothing to be angry about. Nature has not given us any luxury - birds of paradise, warm seas and exotic plants. Instead, it created pine forests, cool lakes, meadows and coastal sands. It has created a certain order. Is it fair? Mexican poet Octavio Paz called the landscape something mysterious. Something with thousands of faces, something alive, which is a symbol, metaphysics, religion. It is the endless space between heaven and earth, our existential space. For centuries, it has been shaped by human relationships with the environment. Durable, but not always intelligent. And so it is today. I look around and I feel pain. It is unbelievable how quickly the Polish landscape becomes ugly, how kitsch grows larger, how mediocrity is pushed around. - Order of the Vice-President of the Tribunal of 21 May 2021 in the case of the Turów lignite mine in Poland, C-121/21
The sentence of the Republic of Poland will immediately cease and until the judgment ending case C -121/21 is announced, lignite mining in the Turów mine (Poland). Factual and legal status By an application of February 26, 2021, the Czech Republic asked the Court to order Poland to stop mining lignite in the Turów mine, pending the final decision of the Court. The application is part of a legal proceeding, the essence of which is the accusation by the Czech Republic of Poland that open-cast coal mining in the Turów mine causes a massive outflow of groundwater from the Czech territory, drying up of surface waters and, consequently, deterioration of the drinking water supply to the population. Further mining of coal will exacerbate this unfavorable situation for the Czech Republic, and will also have a negative impact on the condition of the buildings. For this reason, the Czech Republic cannot wait until the final judgment and is seeking an interim measure in the form of an immediate halt to coal mining. The Turów mine mined coal under a license from 1994, the validity of which expired on April 30, 2020. The Polish minister responsible for climate affairs extended, by a decision of March 20, 2020, the validity of the license until 2026. - Dematerialisation
"Dematerialisation" as a reduction of the burden on the economy with consumption of materials is an important factor in reducing the pressure on the environment. Statistical inadequate reporting does not allow a full assessment of the scale of the phenomenon, but Eurostat gathers some information to estimate the mass of resources used for economic purposes. Both at the stage of production and subsequent use of products, the movement of matter is burdensome for the environment. Therefore, environmental protection requires dematerialisation. Only that economies at different stages of development have different possibilities of implementing it. - Impact of natural environment pollution on human environmental health - general considerations
Direct and indirect human activity contributes to the pollution of components of the natural environment, ie air, soil and water. The consequence of this is an uncontrolled increase in the concentration of free radicals, called oxidative stress, which leads to a disturbance of the pro-oxidative-antioxidant balance and, consequently, to the development of the disease process. In order to counteract these unfavorable changes and take care of human environmental health, it is necessary to pay special attention to the quality of the natural environment. Our country, despite the introduction of favorable solutions in the field of water, sewage and waste management, is still struggling with local soil pollution and the effects of air pollution, e.g. low emissions. For many years, the air quality in Poland has been one of the worst in Europe, and even in the world. There is some optimism in the various measures in the field of air protection policy, which will hopefully save us from diseases related to air pollution. This is particularly important because 85% of human health is determined by environmental determinants (analyzed separately and jointly). - 130 years of agricultural studies in Krakow
From May 17 to June 30, an open-air exhibition entitled "130 years of agricultural studies in Krakow", organized by the University of Agriculture in Krakow. The exhibition was available in Planty until the end of May, and now it can be seen on the UR campus. The exhibition is dedicated to the 130th anniversary of establishing agricultural studies in Krakow. It presents, among others archival photographs of students, first indexes, lecture halls, buildings and experimental stations, commemorative medals, laboratory equipment, founders of the Agricultural College in Krakow, as well as university authorities. There was also a reference to the influence of World War II on the Agricultural College (taking over the building of Collegium Godlewski for the purposes of the General Government or deportation of eminent professors). - Lake and river - not a garbage dump
13 tons of garbage collected only during one cleaning action of Wisłok in Podkarpacie, 34 tons of garbage transported each year from the Mietkowski Lagoon in Lower Silesia, one and a half tons of garbage cleaned after each weekend on the kilometer-long section of the Oder in Wrocław - these are just some examples. - Air pollution and protection in Poland in the light of statistical data
Air pollution threatens human health, negatively affects nature, soil, water and the climate. These are mainly gaseous substances, but also solid and liquid. Some gases, such as sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide, are very toxic. A specific problem in Poland is sulfur dioxide pollution - 97% from coal combustion - because despite a multiple decrease over 30 years, the total SO2 emission is 2 times higher than in Germany and 3–4 times higher than in Great Britain and France. Calculated per capita, these differences even more speak to the disadvantage of our country. It should be added that the use of coal and coke oven gas means that urban smog contains more carcinogenic benzene and benzoαpyrene. On the other hand, carbon dioxide is a gas that is generally harmless to humans, but it is characterized by the highest emissions - in almost all countries - and therefore, as a greenhouse gas, it has the strongest impact on the climate (by retaining solar energy in the Earth's atmosphere, it creates the so-called greenhouse effect). - Comparison of the results of designating heavily modified and artificial river water bodies in Poland in the 2nd and 3rd planning cycles
The article presents a comparison of the results of the procedure for designating heavily modified and artificial water bodies, which were used in Poland in the 2nd and 3rd planning cycles for river waters. As a result of changes in the methodology of designation itself, as well as the impact of the results of other planning analyzes, the currently obtained result differs in terms of the structure of natural, heavily modified and artificial river water bodies in Poland from the results of analyzes in the previous planning cycle, in favor of increasing the percentage of water by natural character. Reasons for obtaining such a result were explained. - The secrets of the relict pine from Sokolica
The article presents the most important results of research on the relict pine branch growing on the top of Sokolica in the Pieniny Mountains, which was broken in September 2018 as a result of a strong blast of air created by a helicopter rotor during a rescue operation. The organisms inhabiting the broken shoot were described: mainly fungi and lichens. The anatomical and morphological features of pine needles and the most important physical, chemical and anatomical properties of the wood were characterized. The age of the broken shoot was determined and the influence of climatic conditions on the variability of thickness increments was examined.
AURA Ochrona Środowiska (AURA Environmental Protection) - the whole list
