From Guest Blogger Rebecca Vaxon: Ten Environmental Trends to Watch in 2017

As Earth’s climate and nature continue to change under the pressures of global economy and overpopulation, we face new challenges in terms of environmental conservation. Scientists continue updating the lists of the most daunting problems that will need to be resolved this year.  Let’s take a look at the most important environmental trends for 2017.

1. Coral preservation. The global temperature rise has hit coral-based bacteria, forcing them to leave their habitat. As a result, vast areas of coral population are wiped out. This, in turn, affects the fish that eat corals and many other neighboring species. Getting the bacteria to come back is one of the pressing challenges for marine biologists.

2. Bees endangerment. Bees population decrease continues to be a pressing issue. Without bees, many plants will no longer be pollinated, and many insects will increase in population. Such a disbalance is a highly undesirable consequence of bees’ extinction, which we urgently need to prevent.

3. Ocean bottom robots. A newly designed technological solution will combat parasites and invasive species down on the ocean floor. The devices will crawl along the bottom, detect and eliminate the invasive species with electric shock or poison. While seemingly cruel, this is a useful tool for species conservation and maintaining the ecological balance of the oceans.

4. Bumblebees. There has recently been a bumblebee invasion across Japan, New Zealand and Latin America. They are doing damage to the ecosystems, killing off useful insects and preventing bees from pollinating plants. New extermination ways are a challenge to the local environmental workers.

5. Construction of physical borders. As some governments are planning to build walls along their borders, the walls may keep animal populations from migrating, thus disrupting the local population balance and resulting in species decline.

6. Ocean power. Oceans are becoming increasingly fierce, with higher and stronger waves and more wind force. This negatively affects every animal and plant that resides in the oceans and along the coastline, including the birds that migrate across the oceans.

7. Floating turbines. Floating turbines are a new invention from Scotland and a substitute for windmills – a new trend in using wind energy on a global scale. The devices will float in the sky, and may be transportable.

8. Improved biofuels. Scientists have discovered enzymes that turn plants into biological fuel – a great alternative for nonrenewable fossil fuels. According to this research, biofuels may have a liquid form and be produced out of dead organic material.

9. Burying CO2. A group of scientists from Iceland has come up with a way of turning carbon dioxide into liquid, and then injecting it into stones.

10. Electronic sniffing devices. Gadgets that recognize scents are a new word in effective security measures. These devices can recognize the smell of endangered animals or plants that are being smuggled across the border, aiding security forces in preventing smuggling.

With the help of technology and fresh scientific inventions, there is hope that these environmental challenges will be tackled in the near future.