If the estimation of climate change is too overwhelming andit feels like we are already defend a losing battle , it helps to be able-bodied to see factual progression , result that prove that exchange our ways is actually doing something .
A newstudyby researchers from Stony Brook University , New York , shows that the reduction in burning coal between 2004 and 2012 result in a 19 per centum reduction in the amount of hydrargyrum found in Atlantic horse mackerel Anguilla sucklandii – a surprising drop in a comparatively poor period of time .
Mercury ( Hg ) , a toxic heavy metal , enter the ocean through carbon emissions from ember - burn off powerfulness industrial plant . Atlantic horse mackerel tuna , which can make around 2 meters ( 6.5 feet ) in distance and weigh on intermediate 250 kilograms ( 550 lb ) , are at the top of the solid food Ernst Boris Chain , so their mellow using up of smaller fish means they tend to have a high mercury concentration .
Although mercury was once considered medicinal , health officials have been warn people for decades that tuna fish can transport enough mercury to be a wellness risk of infection for humans , as it poisons the kidneys and nervous system . Mercury exposure is especially risky for vulnerable people like young children and significant woman , as it can interfere with psyche growing . The US Environmental Protection Agency puts the pattern at around75,000 babiesborn each year with a greater risk of memorise disabilities because of their mother ’ exposure to mercury .
accord to the study , published inEnvironmental Science and Technology , the decrease in mercury concentration levels in Atlantic bluefin tunny over the eight - year period mirror the reduction in anthropogenetic Hg emissions measured over the same period . Therefore , they propose this is “ the first evidence to suggest that emission reduction efforts have leave in humble Hg concentration in large , long - live on Pisces the Fishes . ”
“ We found it striking that this downslope in tissue assiduity of mercury was nearly identical to declines reported for atomic number 80 emissions from North America over the same time menstruum as well as declines in mercury concentration in North Atlantic airwave and in saltwater , ” senior generator Nicholas Fishersaid .
What they also found interesting was the grade of mercury found in much older tuna ( which had gamey levels ) go down at the same charge per unit as the layer of hydrargyrum discover in the brine , meaning the link is quite percipient and reducing Hg emission could top to reduce mercury concentrations in fish much quicker than expected .
The important message that we can take away from this study is that yes , as human race we have had a huge impact on the environment but it is also possible to reverse some of these impingement , and if we act fast , we can in reality see solution much sooner than we had thought .
[ H : TEcowatch ]
