Phode News Hub

  Astronaut Ron Garan spent 178 aboard the ISS and came with a powerful realization that revealed how human beings were living a lie. His experience on space transformed his perspective, disclosing the interconnection of life and the need for global corperation. Ron Garan overview effect While in space, he noted that the Earth looks united, with a conspicuous glistening blue sphere devoid of borders nor divisions. However he perceived a fragile home floating in darkness. The irony down, humans live in separation by virtue of tribe, race, politics and nations. From the orbit, Garan saw a fragile atmosphere, with a narrow blue veil protecting living things, auroras dangling across the poles and lighting storms flashing like strobe lights.  According to Garan, humanity has placed its priorities upside down, where the economy is prioritized first. He argues that planet should come first, followed by society then economy. The Earth should be regarded as shared spaceship, where ever...

 Masai Mara wildebeest migration gets global recognition and enters the Guinness Book World Record. Narok Governor Patrick Ole Ntutu expressed his gratitude to the World Book of Records for the privileged recognition. “We are deeply honoured to receive this prestigious recognition from the World Book of Records, UK, officially certifying the Maasai Mara National Reserve as the home of the world’s greatest annual terrestrial wildlife migration,” Ole Ntutu stated. How spectacular Wildebeests migration is Ever desired to witness one of the elusive wonders of the world, then wildebeest migration is simply a breathtaking, fascinating view. Wildebeest migration is the most sought after experience for nature and wildlife enthusiasts.  It is one of the world's most thrilling and spectacular display of wildlife behaviour.  What month is the Great Wildebeest Migration in Kenya? The dramatic event that mostly happen in late July to September is occasioned by the crossing ov...

    Photo source : NASA Climate Kids The advent of the industrial revolution saw a surge in greenhouse gas emmisions. Greenhouse effect is sparked when long infrared radiation is absorbed and re-radiated by greenhouse gases. Planet Earth is now warming faster than any other time in recorded history.  Higher temperatures over a certain period of time are altering weather patterns and disrupting the normal balance of nature. How greenhouse gases cause global warming Greenhouse gas emissions occur when combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas release carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. As greenhouse gas emissions cover the Earth, they trap the sun's heat and prevent it from escaping to the space. This leads to global warming and climate change.  NASA climate kids observed that too much greenhouse gases cause the Earth's atmosphere to trap more heat that it causes it to warm up. Causes of Climate Change According to UN report , combustion of fossil fuels accou...

  Opposition Leader Raila Odinga stormed the Africa Climate Summit venue in presidential style. Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, who was at the VVIP entrance to usher in foreign Heads of States and top-notched dignitaries, was astounded when Raila Odinga alighted from his car just at the spot where foreign dignitaries were being received. The firebrand deputy president, and Raila's political nemesis, had no otherwise other than welcoming the ODM leader with a hearty handshake amid smiles. This prompted Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo to alter protocol of accessing the climate summit venue. The opposition chief has been a staunch critic of the government of Kenya, which in his view, is illegitimate. Raila Odinga came second in the last general election, where Ruto emerged the winner. He disputed the election results and filed a case at the Supreme Court of Kenya, which ruled in favor of Ruto and upheld the election results as had been declared by the Independent Elect...

  Green Growth and Climate Finance for African and the World formed the basis of the Africa Climate Week 2023 . Delegates from 136 countries stormed Nairobi's KICC to grace the occasion. Summit seek solutions to climate change for Africa and the world. Climate compensation, building resilience in mitigation efforts top on the agenda. Sectors sensitive to Climate Change include agriculture, tourism, fishing industry. Africa Climate Summit seeks to explore available natural resources in the continent to collaboration technological innovation in spurring incremental production and consumption of green energy. The inaugural Africa Climate Summit offer opportunity to showcase Africa's green growth potential, explore financial and development solutions for a climate-resilient Africa. Focus on renewable energy, carbon credits got priority attention in the inaugural Africa Climate Conference. What is Carbon Credit? Carbon credit or carbon offset is a removal or reduction ...

  Climate change is a global phenomenon and Africa, just like the rest of the world, wish to have the atmospheric temperatures reset to the level of the pre-industrial times. The inaugural Africa Climate Summit (ACS) seeks to address alternative ways to reduce global warming in order to avert a climate catastrophe. Kenya became the potential convenor of the first Africa Climate Summit by virtue of its leadership's advocacy for green energy. Kenya President William Ruto has endeavored to mitigate effects of climate change by championing tree planting activities, the systematic elimination of cooking using fossil fuel in government sponsored learning institutions and the introduction of electric motorcycles to reduce the consumption of petrol. Trees enhances a balanced ecosystem and assists in the carbon capture thus reducing the resultant effects of greenhouse gas emissions. Understanding the Greenhouse gas emissions. The Earth has a natural greenhouse effect due to tra...

The future of petrol and diesel investment might not be so rosy should ‘technoking’ Elon Musk   succeed in his endeavors to lobby for increased taxation on fossil fuel. Musk’s Tesla lobbied UK to increase taxes on diesel and petrol vehicles in order to fund huge subsidies for electric vehicles, alongside a prohibition on hybrids. According to a report published by the Guardian, the US electric car manufacturer called for an increase in fuel duty and a charge on diesel and petrol car acquisitions to fund tax breaks and grants. The proposal would automatically raise the cost of purchasing petrol or diesel cars, while reducing the cost of acquiring electric vehicles. Musk has been a pioneer of fighting climate change by supporting zero-carbon emissions. He advocates for the penalization of using fossil-fuelled vehicles. “Supporting zero-emissions vehicle uptake through mechanisms to make new fossil-fuelled cars pay for the damage they cause is entirely reasonable and logic...

Climate change has been a major global concern due to its adverse effects on the ecosystems. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained how advanced smart glasses could be used to ‘teleport’ and reduce physical traveling to attend meetings and conferences. Zuckerberg stated on Monday that in-person meetings will be substituted by headset-based digital devices.  “Obviously, there are going to keep on being cars and planes and all that. But the more that we can teleport around, not only are we personally eliminating commutes and stuff that’s kind of a drag for us personally, but I think that’s better for society and for the planet overall, too,” Zuckerberg stated. Most giant tech the likes of Google, Microsoft and Apple are adopting augmented reality technology that overlays computer-generated graphics on the images of the real world, which forms the basis of the next mega computer interface after touch screen and smartphone. Facebook is on the verge of launching its own smar...

Fresh water fish population is under threat of extinction. Study has indicated that the global population of migratory freshwater fish has plunged by 76 percent since 1970. Populations of larger fish species had declined by “catastrophic” 94%. The reduction of freshwater fish species is as a result overfishing, destructive fishing practices, invasive species, pollution, disruption of river ecologies and climate change . Irrigation and construction of dams was listed as a disruptive habitat that interfered with the existence of freshwater fish. A report that was published by 16 global conservation organizations, dubbed The World’s Forgotten Fishes indicated that 16 freshwater fish species were declared extinct in 2020. World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), which was part of the investigative team, revealed that only 15% of UK Rivers had decent ecological status. WWF further revealed that the leading damage was caused by sewage outflows and farm pollution. In UK waters, the burbo...

UNEP has warned the world over the negative impact of climate change and urged nations to take action to mitigate its effects.  The UN agency wants more action on climate as it noted that millions of people, animals and plants are at risk . In the launch of the event dubbed: “Making Peace with Nature Report”, UNEP published a scientific blueprint to tackle biodiversity, climate and pollution emergencies. As various parts of the world are struck by the impact of climate change, there’s an imperative desire to take great care of the environment. The report advocates the need for sustainable use of natural resources such land, air and water to avoid what has been termed in the report as “interlinked environmental crises.” Pollution, climate disruption and loss of biodiversity are great threats to living things, including humans. UNEP is pressing the world to transform its relationship with nature in order to tackle the interlinked environmental crises. The global body war...

Federated learning can help in the reduction of carbon emissions. Machine learning is among the biggest contributors of carbon emissions due to their substantial amount of energy consumption. Researchers drawn from universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Avignon sought to explore whether federated learning could help lower carbon emissions in comparison to traditional machine learning. Their research concluded that federated learning could help reduce carbon emissions, though not at substantial level. Federated learning allows mobile phones to collaboratively train from a shared prediction model while storing data on device. It is also referred as collaborative learning. The technique largely relies on machine learning that trains algorithms across various servers or edge devices. The technology permits multiple users to create a common, robust machine learning prototype without necessarily sharing data. The method addresses critical issues such as data security, data privacy...

The silent biggest global pandemic is global warming. Global problem deserves global attention; and that is why world moguls and leaders should use their influence to initiate change that can positively impact the world. Microsoft founder Bill Gates has consistently advocated for environment conservation and has been a key personality in the battle against climate change . Gates keen focus has been to increasing access to clean electricity in remote parts of the world. As a key defender of the environment, he is quoted by the Guardian saying that: “The idea of adding new electricity capacity- you can’t just go build coal plants.” The Guardian reported that Gates likes using private jets because he can get affordable fuel for flight. He revealed that he has already footed the bill of carbon footprint to a group dubbed Climeworks , a firm that captures up direct air in Iceland. Gates pointed out that the future of vehicles travels lie with electric cars; but excluded the el...

US President Joe Biden is seeking to reverse his predecessor’s policies on environment. As soon as he entered the White House, Biden led America back to the Paris Accord. Former president Donald trump had led US out of the agreement and went ahead to mock and castigate the fight against climate change. Just like many countries across the globe, United States of America has in the recent past been worst hit by erratic storms, gigantic wildfires and sweltering heat waves. Trump had dismantled policies aimed at cutting carbon emissions and opened a leeway for the development of fossil fuels. Biden regards climate change as the “existential threat of our time.” The US president is keen to protect the endangered species and their natural habitat, strengthening regulations on carbon emissions, protecting the land that was opened up to drilling, regulating the toxic substances, protecting waterways and drinking water and enforcing environmental regulations. Biden’s attempt to batt...

Analysts are running against time to unravel what really triggered India glacier tragedy. Questions are popping up on how to avert incidents of a similar nature. Preliminary reports indicate that the devastating glacial tragedy that occurred on Sunday was prompted by global warming . However, the exact cause of the initial glacial breakaway still remains unclear. According to Aljazeera, experts that were tasked by India’s Supreme Court to assess the impact of receding glaciers on dams had issued a warning to the government of India in 2014. Ravi Chopra, one of the contracted experts, saw a replication of what they had earlier warned the Indian government when the flood and wreckage banged downstream from the Himalayan glacier . The devastating glacial flood claimed at least 31 people while around 165 people are still unaccounted.  Chopra and his team warned that warming temperatures impacted from climate change was causing the melting of the Himalayan glaciers and advi...

Climate change continues to wreak havoc in most parts of the world, as marine life struggle to survive the impact of global warming. White sharks are migrating into new waters thus endangering the existence of other water creatures, study has indicated. The global heat reached a record high in 2020 resulting to the migration of white sharks. According to the Guardian, white sharks moved a record distance of about 600 Km towards the North off the California Coast. Documented reports showed that the migration of white sharks led to the killing of sea otters. The sharks have been escaping the waters that became warmer as a result of global heating. The sharks then moved towards the Polar Regions, thus upsetting ecosystems inhabited by fish . Kyle Van Houtan of The Monterey Bay Aquarium in California stated that: “The shifting species is not the problem – climate change is the problem. The sharks are telling us that the ocean is changing and it’s now time for us to do somet...

Tesla co-founder Elon Musk faces criticism from analysts and climate advocates over his $1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin . Tesla’s interest to make the world cleaner would be ‘stained’ by Bitcoin’s current environmental imprint.  Tesla’s crypto investment saw the company rise as one of the largest corporate holders of Bitcoin. From the clean energy perspective, Bitcoin mining is perceived as a ‘dirty business.’  Clients could, in the foreseeable future, purchase electric cars from Tesla using Bitcoin. Activists argue that Bitcoin mining consumes a lot of energy and would result to more carbon emissions to the atmosphere. Money managers, investors and analysts argue that Musk’s Bitcoin venture is ‘risky.’ Wall Street observers lambasted the company’s huge investment in Bitcoin. However, Bitcoin investors welcomed Tesla’s decision that sent their holding value rise by 18 percent within a day. Furthermore, analysts argue that Tesla’s plan for crypto-for-car paym...

Telsa co-founder Elon Musk pledges $100 million fund for innovations that would help remove carbon dioxide from the air or ocean. The world tycoon is seeking to finance teams with the ability to make substantial impact in the fight against climate change and rebalance world’s carbon cycle. While making the announcement, Musk said: “This is not a theoretical competition; we want teams that will build real systems that can make a measurable impact and scale to a gigation level.” The teams should be able to develop a solution that can eradicate “carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere or oceans and lock it away enduringly in an ecologically gentle way,” stated the X Prize Foundation . The announcement came in the wake of Tesla’s revelation about $1.5 billion investment in bitcoin. The fund will benefit 15 teams to be selected from the “Carbon Capture Competition.” $50 million award will go to the grand prize winner, $20 million will be for the second best team and the thir...

Former US President Donald Trump continues to be hounded, even after leaving White House. The alleged ghoul of incitement to insurrection still haunts him. Trump stares at the second impeachment trial which would probably bar him from ever vying as a president again. Unlike the first impeachment where Trump was acquitted, in the second charge the prosecutors managing the process are keen to conclude it as fast as possible and will heavily rely on fast-paced video presentations. Trump’s second impeachment trial comes days after president Joe Biden stated that he would not share with him classified information, a privilege that his predecessors enjoyed after leaving office. Biden described Trump’s behavior as “erratic.” When he entered office, Biden was too swift to reverse most of Trump’s policies. As soon as he set foot in the Oval Office, Biden reversed Trump’s policies on immigration and climate change . The US President led America back to the Paris Accord . He had p...

Scientists have warned that the discord of noise made by humans is harming marine species .  A comprehensive assessment revealed that large noise from human activities was as harmful as pollution, overfishing and climate change .  The study that was conducted by the Journal Science exposed how marine animals can hear from far distances than they can see or smell. According to a report published in the Guardian, most of the marine life uses sound to catch prey as well as attracting a mating partner.  Prof Carlos Duarte of King Abdullah University in Saudi Arabia argued that: “Marine animal can only sea up to around 10 meters, smell up to around a hundred meters, but they can hear across the entire ocean basins.” The research concluded that sound “is very important in the marine ecosystems, and noise is pervasive, affecting animals at all levels .” The increasing cacophony in the marine habitat is interfering with how marine animals respond to various survival...

The second deepest wetland in Africa and a critical source of water for Kenya’s populous capital is under the threat of extinction. Ondiri swamp is said to be the second largest wetland after another one that is situated in Douala Cameroon.  Human encroachment is one of the biggest threats to the existence of the wetland. Human activities such as greenhouse farming and planting eucalyptus trees close to the swamp is pulling a lot of water as argued by conservationists. Environmental activisits claim that about a half of the papyrus ecosystem was destroyed by fire thus killing and destroying unique birds habitat. The quaking bog’s ability to produce water is staring at a catastrophe. The swamp is the underground source of Kikuyu Springs and the headwater for Nyongera River which supplies water to Nairobi River. Therefore, the water that is used by most Nairobian’s has its original source from Ondiri. Ondiri attracted a number of visitors, both locally and abroad, who cam...