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Earth Hour 2024 Inspires Positive Action for Our Planet

Celebrity chef Ranveer Brar shares his inspiring journey towards embracing sustainable food practices and his ideas on avoiding food wastage. He has prepared a unique watermelon rind pickle recipe for Earth Hour, encouraging people to move towards sustainable zero-waste cooking…reports Asian Lite News

An annual event that provides a collective moment of optimism to celebrate our one shared home. And to raise awareness for addressing the dual biodiversity and climate challenges that the planet is facing. Earth Hour 2024 is scheduled to be celebrated worldwide on 23rd March from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm.

In a unique way to go beyond the campaign’s tagline “Switch Off” ” the Earth Hour India 2024 champions, Sudarsan Pattnaik, Ranveer Brar, Peepal Baba, Radhika Khandelwal and Shivang Mehta, encourage all to spend 60 minutes doing something positive for our planet– for people to reconnect, learn and inspire others to take care of the planet.

Celebrity chef Ranveer Brar shares his inspiring journey towards embracing sustainable food practices and his ideas on avoiding food wastage. He has prepared a unique watermelon rind pickle recipe for Earth Hour, encouraging people to move towards sustainable zero-waste cooking.

Sudarsan Pattnaik, a world-renowned Indian sand artist and Padma Shri Awardee, has been spreading the message of protecting the environment and nature, among many other social causes. As Earth Hour India 2024 Champion, he shares, “It is a great opportunity for all of us to join the global movement this Earth Hour and “Give an Hour for Earth, not only to switch off lights symbolically but also to commit an hour to sustainable actions. I urge you all to join me on 23rd March to spread the message far and beyond, to create the Biggest Hour for Earth.” 

Spend a thrilling hour on a virtual safari in Ranthambore, where award-winning photographer Shivang Mehta will demonstrate the art of photographing tigers and other wildlife creatures in action. This online masterclass will tackle various aspects of nature photography, from equipment preparation for a tiger safari to mastering morning and evening light, framing animals in their habitats, and effective post-production techniques. Catch the live class on the WWF-India YouTube channel.

Plant a tree with Peepal Baba to Give an hour to the planet. Community engagement in plantation drives means everyone helps plant trees together, which makes our neighbourhoods greener, and makes us feel connected and responsible for our planet. This Earth Hour, join Peepal Baba on a tree plantation drive in Jaunapur City Forest, Delhi, on 23rd March at 10:00 am.

Chef Radhika Khandelwal strives for zero-waste in the kitchen and finds innovative ways to use every part of the produce. Head to her restaurant, Fig & Maple, in the Greater Kailash 2 market any day of March 2024 for a specially curated Earth Hour meal. Give an hour for Earth at Fig & Maple by indulging in a curated dinner experience showcasing seasonal ingredients and rich biodiversity of indigenous grains sourced from small, local producers.

Karan Bhalla, COO, WWF-India said, “I thank our Earth Hour India 2024 Champions Sudarsan Pattnaik, Ranveer Brar, Shivang Mehta, Peepal Baba and Chef Radhika Khandelwal, for their valuable support to the cause. Through their specific mediums of expertise, their association with Earth Hour will help us inspire a variety of audiences to create the Biggest Hour for Earth.”

The Hour Bank, the new online interactive tool of Earth Hour, invites everyone, everywhere, to find the most enjoyable ways to give an hour for Earth. Whether it is a mindful walk through the woods, cooking a sustainable dish, learning to grow veggies, or engaging in a home scavenger hunt to identify and swap out unsustainable products with eco-friendly alternatives, there are myriad options to choose from. The Hour Bank provides a list of activities and events based on participants’ lifestyle interests and preferences, from food and fitness to art and entertainment.

ALSO READ-AI may help find life on Mars, other planets  

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-Top News Science Tech Lite

AI may help find life on Mars, other planets  

The innovative analytical method does not rely simply on identifying a specific molecule or group of compounds in a sample…reports Asian Lite News

Scientists have developed a novel Artificial Intelligence-based method that can test for signs of past or present life on Mars and other planets.

In the journal ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’ (PNAS), the team said their Artificial Intelligence (AI) -based method can distinguish modern and ancient biological samples from those of abiotic origin with 90 per cent accuracy.

“The search for extraterrestrial life remains one of the most tantalising endeavours in modern science,” said lead author Jim Cleaves of the Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC.

“The implications of this new research are many, but there are three big takeaways: First, at some deep level, biochemistry differs from abiotic organic chemistry; second, we can look at Mars and ancient Earth samples to tell if they were once alive; and third, it is likely this new method could distinguish alternative biospheres from those of Earth, with significant implications for future astrobiology missions,” Cleaves said.

The innovative analytical method does not rely simply on identifying a specific molecule or group of compounds in a sample.

Instead, the researchers demonstrated that AI can differentiate biotic from abiotic samples by detecting subtle differences within a sample’s molecular patterns as revealed by pyrolysis gas chromatography analysis (which separates and identifies a sample’s component parts), followed by mass spectrometry (which determines the molecular weights of those components).

Vast multidimensional data from the molecular analyses of 134 known abiotic or biotic carbon-rich samples were used to train AI to predict a new sample’s origin.

With approximately 90 per cent accuracy, AI successfully identified samples that had originated from: Living things, such as modern shells, teeth, bones, insects, leaves, rice, human hair, and cells preserved in fine-grained rock; remnants of ancient life altered by geological processing (e.g. coal, oil, amber, and carbon-rich fossils) or samples with abiotic origins, such as pure laboratory chemicals (e.g., amino acids) and carbon-rich meteorites.

The researchers said that until now the origins of many ancient carbon-bearing samples have been difficult to determine because collections of organic molecules, whether biotic or abiotic, tend to degrade over time.

Surprisingly, in spite of significant decay and alteration, the new analytical method detected signs of biology preserved in some instances over hundreds of millions of years.

“These results mean that we may be able to find a life form from another planet, another biosphere, even if it is very different from the life we know on Earth. And, if we do find signs of life elsewhere, we can tell if life on Earth and other planets derived from a common or different origin,” said Dr. Robert Hazen, from the laboratory.

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Australia Lite Blogs Science

Aussie astronomers in search of habitable planets

Chief executive Jason Held said Australians should be proud of the mission as it was “an exciting, bleeding-edge space telescope” that “will be a joy to fly.”…reports Asian Lite News.

Australian astronomers and space engineers are seeking to use a space telescope capable of discovering new planets in Earth’s “nearest neighbour”, Alpha Centauri.

In unveiling the project on Wednesday, Professor Peter Tuthill from the Sydney Institute for Astronomy at the University of Sydney said the telescope would open a “new window on the universe”.

In particular, the researchers, including teams from the US and Europe, will focus on Alpha Centauri more than four light years from Earth, which is the closest star system to our own solar system, Xinhua news agency reported.

“We want to concentrate our efforts on this one, very special star system – Earth’s nearest neighbour – rather than playing the odds with bigger populations of distant stars where lucky breaks can reveal planets to astronomers by other techniques,” Tuthill told Xinhua.

Astronomers know that Alpha Centauri consists of three stars, two of which are very much like the Sun, and these present a tantalizing possibility in the ultimate quest to find a planet capable of supporting life.

“These next-door planets are the ones where we have the best prospects for finding and analyzing atmospheres, surface chemistry and possibly even the fingerprints of a biosphere — the tentative signals of life,” Tuthill said.

The Telescope for Orbit Locus Interferometric Monitoring of the Astronomical Neighbourhood (TOLIMAN) would use a new technology called a “diffractive pupil” that helps with the exquisitely precise measurements on the captured starlight needed to detect rocky Earth-like planets around the system’s “Goldilocks zone”.

“If you’re too far away from your host star, you’re a frozen snowball,” Tuthill told the national broadcaster ABC. “If you’re too close, you get baked. So you want that ‘Goldilocks’ just-right orbit.”

The project has received guidance from Sydney-based space engineering company Saber Astronautics which will also provide operational support when the telescope is launched into orbit, most probably in 2023.

Chief executive Jason Held said Australians should be proud of the mission as it was “an exciting, bleeding-edge space telescope” that “will be a joy to fly.”

“In order for it to deliver the science we want, it will need to be in orbit above the Earth for a couple of years before we’ve accumulated good enough data to tell whether there’s a planet in the system or not,” Tuthill said.

Speaking to the ABC, Tuthill said if a habitable planet was discovered, it could ultimately lead to future space exploration.

“Four light years is a very long way away for our present technologies but if you allow us to dream a little bit and gaze into the future several generations… then humanity is going to want to leap those voids.”

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-Top News Europe

France going child-free to save planet

World Population Day, which was observed on July 11, serves as another reminder of the world’s ballooning population…reports Asian Lite News.

French nationals are going ‘childfree’ in order to control overpopulation and reverse global warming as the world’s population exceeds 7.8 billion people.

“Having a child would be totally against my principles. I’ve never wanted children and am more certain of this decision the older I get,” said Manon, 26. “I don’t see why I would impose another consumer on this world. In the Western world, we consume more than the resources available,” she added, reported France24.

Like Manon, more and more young adults are deciding not to have children for environmental reasons in order to help the planet.

Online they call themselves “childfree” or even “ginks” – short for “green inclinations, no kids” – and they staunchly defend their decision not to have children, reported France24.

World Population Day, which was observed on July 11, serves as another reminder of the world’s ballooning population.

“I have absolutely no desire to leave this planet to a child,” YouTuber Anna Bogen tells her more than 15,000 subscribers in a video on her channel. “When the planet has no resources left, I’ll be six feet under. But if I have a child, they and their children will have to live with it. I don’t want to inflict that on anybody.”

Denis Garnier, the president of Demographie Responsable (Responsible Demographics), an organisation founded in 2009 to promote a lower birth rate, said that over the past 10 years, talking about not having children has become a lot more common. “Young people are a lot more aware, thanks to the publication of studies about global warming and more public questioning about the destruction of biodiversity,” he explained.

A graphic on the organisation’s website counts in real-time the number of people alive on earth. The counter steadily ticks upwards. “We’re already at 7.8 billion. It’s already too much. We will hit 8 billion by 2022 or 2023,” says Garnier.

“Overpopulation has major environmental consequences. The calculation is simple: the more of us there are, the more CO2 we emit, and the worse climate change is,” said Jean-Loup Bertaux, a Director of studies at the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the author of “Demographics, climate, migration: the state of emergency”.

“In France, one less child represents 40 tonnes of carbon saved per year. In comparison, choosing to use an electric car only represents two tonnes saved”, reported France24.

Every year, the American NGO Global Footprint Network calculates Earth Overshoot Day, the day when the earth consumes more resources than it can regenerate that year. In 2020, that threshold was reached on August 22.

Those who have chosen to be childfree express anxiety about the future in online videos and comments, but also show a certain kind of defiance towards the previous generation, reported France24.

“I have never known an adult without children. For me, having kids was something mandatory, like getting up to go to school in the morning […] But we have to ask, what kind of world are we leaving to our kids? I don’t know if I want to leave them a world like this,” admits Clemence, a 27-year-old YouTuber. (ANI)

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