Watch carbon dioxide move through Earth’s atmosphere. With this high...

NASA Climate Change 2 years ago

Watch carbon dioxide move through Earth’s atmosphere. With this high resolution model, scientists can see CO2 rising from sources like power plants, fires, and cities and watch how that carbon dioxide spreads via wind patterns and atmospheric circulation. Why does the map look like it’s pulsing? That’s the day-night cycle. ☀️🌖 Fires flare up daily and die down at night, and plants take up CO2 during the day as they photosynthesize and release it at night through respiration. Models like this one are important because humans can’t tackle climate change without understanding our carbon dioxide emissions. CO2 is a heat-trapping greenhouse gas and the primary reason for Earth’s rising temperature. Video description: Data visualization of a model showing carbon dioxide emissions. It starts by showing a glove showing mostly North and South America and zooms in on the U.S. Thin lines of bright orange pop up and mix into pale yellow-brown swirls in the atmosphere. The animation seems to blink, indicating the day-night cycles of carbon dioxide emissions. The animation zooms out and the globe spins, showing other continents. #Earth #NASA #Climate #CarbonDioxide #Science

layersDaily Sustainability Digest

Published about 2 hours ago



A £400m UK government loan to the Tropical Forests Forever Facility tightens the link between embodied carbon and real forest outcomes. Bio‑based and renewable building materials will now be judged on credible, deforestation‑free supply chains as much as on glossy lifecycle assessment or whole life carbon assessment outputs, driving wider use of environmental product declarations (EPDs), green building materials and green building products. Expect stronger traceability, circular construction strategies and end‑of‑life reuse in construction when specifying low embodied carbon materials and low carbon construction materials to cut the carbon footprint of construction and support the circular economy in construction.

Updated damp and mould guidance from the Chartered Institute of Building and the Chartered Institute of Housing reframes indoor environmental quality as a health obligation, pressing social landlords towards whole‑house ventilation, insulation upgrades and continuous monitoring. The shift embeds sustainable building design and energy‑efficient buildings as compliance issues, with implications for life cycle cost, building lifecycle performance and net zero whole life carbon pathways recognised by BREEAM and BREEAM v7.

A new retrofit procurement guide uses public spending to expand capacity, create local jobs and tackle skills shortages by baking training and labour targets into contracts. This gives sustainable construction and decarbonising the built environment delivery teeth, promoting life cycle thinking in construction, resource efficiency in construction and eco‑design for buildings, alongside sustainable material specification and low carbon building upgrades that support carbon neutral construction.

Escalating climate risks—from European wildfires to transboundary smoke and cascading Himalayan floods—are accelerating environmental sustainability in construction and sustainable urban development. Design for resilience is becoming core to net zero carbon buildings and green construction, with fire‑hardening, smoke filtration, heat‑safe interiors and green infrastructure specified to reduce the environmental impact of construction, deliver carbon footprint reduction over whole life carbon and strengthen eco‑friendly construction and sustainable architecture.

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