Environment

Seaweed Farms

A new Australian study finds that expanding seaweed farming around the world could help feed the planet's growing human population and livestock while also being a sustainable source of fuel. "Seaweed has great commercial and environmental potential as a nutritious food and a building block for commercial products, including animal feed, plastics, fibers, diesel and ethanol," said researcher Scott Spillias from the University of Queensland. Writing in the journal Nature Sustainability, Spillias says millions of acres of ocean territory have already been identified around the world where at least 22 commercially viable species of seaweed could be harvested. But the report warns that care should be taken to avoid harming marine habitats.

Lake Titicaca Level Drops

Bolivian officials say a prolonged drought has caused the water levels of Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable lake, which straddles the border of Bolivia and Peru, to plunge to historic low levels. Bolivia’s National Service of Meteorology and Hydrology forecaster Ana Luz Mendoza warned that the drop directly affects the aquatic fauna, birds and human populations settled around this lake. This includes the indigenous Uros, who have lived on human-made islands on parts of the lake for centuries.

Drought - Argentina

One of Argentina’s worst droughts in 60 years and accompanying record heat have left many rivers and lakes littered with dead fish, and its staple crops ravaged. The climate disaster has been fueled by the third consecutive year of La Niña cooling across the tropical Pacific, according to meteorologists. But a shift from La Niña to a fresh El Niño this year promises to break the drought and deadly heat during the next few months. "Precipitation will pick up (slowly), improving soil moisture reserves and moderating the intensity of heat waves,” writes the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange.