Green news of the week

Our selection of environmental news from here and elsewhere.

Eat insects? Yes, but…

Would you be willing to eat insects to reduce your grocery bill? A research team from Concordia University measured the openness of visitors to the Montreal Insectarium to eating insects. Result: 44% of the 252 people surveyed said they were ready to try them, but only 27% were willing to do so regularly. Disgust, fear of insects, uncertainty about safety and health concerns are among the obstacles observed. The vast majority of respondents indicated that they preferred products in which insects were not visible. Since the Insectarium is a place that attracts people interested in insects, it is possible that this choice influenced the results, note the study authors.

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The biggest methane leaks

The world’s worst mega-methane leaks have been detected by researchers at the Stop Methane Project at the University of California (UCLA), using satellite data. These leaks mainly come from oil and gas installations and each has as significant an impact on global warming as a coal-fired power plant. Fifteen of the twenty-five largest leaks are in Turkmenistan. The others are located in Iran, the United States, Venezuela and Pakistan. They often result from poor maintenance and can be easy to repair, the researchers noted, calling the situation “infuriating.”

With The Guardian

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Useful, beavers

Beavers help biodiversity, reduce flood risks and help fight droughts. A new study tells us that their hard work also increases carbon storage. The study, published in the journal Communication Earth and Environment (Nature), was carried out not in Canada, but in Switzerland, where the European beaver is making a comeback. It shows that wetlands developed by beavers allow significant accumulation of carbon. By projecting this data to the scale of Switzerland, the researchers estimate that recolonization by beavers could offset between 1.2% and 1.8% of the country’s annual carbon emissions, without direct cost.

Consult the study (in English)