Welcome to my new series…still an A-Z but with a difference …it’s not food-related!

In the meantime, the idea for this series came about because yes as my regular followers and commenters know I am passionate about the health of the world I am living in… however often when I am researching and reading articles I come across terms and have to look them up which spawned the idea for this…two-fold… it increases my knowledge and I hope yours…

The A-Z of the environment and Climate Change…the letter B

The best way to predict your future is to create it...Abraham Lincoln.

Benthic community :

Definition: 1: of, relating to, or occurring at the bottom of a body of water. 2: of, relating to, or occurring in the depths of the ocean.

Benthic communities are largely composed of macroinvertebrates, such as annelids, molluscs, and crustaceans. These organisms inhabit the bottom substrates of estuaries and play a vital role in maintaining sediment and water quality.

Bio seems to prefix many words now and I just see bio and not always the rest and just think it to do with the environment but not always sure how…the next few words start with bio and ai hope by the end you will know the difference like I do now…

Bio covers:

As the name suggests is something made out of environmental fabrics…something which is100% bio-based. 100% biodegradable and 100% compostable…this includes packaging..seed mats which are used by industry and maybe in our garden or allotments. It could be medical shoe covers, toilet seat covers, phone covers anything which covers something…a shower cap covers our hair…

It is something that comes from nature and goes back to nature.

Biodiversity:

Two words...” Biological” and “diversity” shortened to Biodiversity which is the variability among living organisms from all sources, including terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species, and of ecosystems.

Bioenergy:

Bioenergy is renewable energy created from naturally occurring biological sources, such as grasses and trees…Bioenergy is considered renewable because its source is inexhaustible, as plants obtain their energy from the sun through photosynthesis which can be replenished.

Biofilters:

Biofilters designed to remove odours from air emanating from livestock facilities might be a solution to decrease the level of MDV contamination in the air exiting poultry farms.

We can of course hep do away with the need for these by making sure the eggs we buy come from a good source and roam free and easy and also eat more plant-based meals even if we replace a few meals a week @ 3 meals a day that’s 21 without snacks by my reckoning…a few each would have an impact but not us unless we count our health …Food for thought 🙂

Biofuel:

Biofuel, any fuel that is derived from biomass—that is, plant or algae material or animal waste. Examples of biofuels include ethanol (often made from corn in the United States and sugarcane in Brazil), biodiesel (sourced from vegetable oils and liquid animal fats), green diesel (derived from algae and other plant sources), and biogas (methane derived from animal manure and other digested organic material).

Biomass:

Refers to electricity and gas that is generated from organic matter, known as biomass. Examples are… wood, energy crops and waste from forests, yards, or farms. Since biomass technically can be used as a fuel directly (e.g. wood logs), some people use the terms biomass and biofuel interchangeably.

By now it is quite clear to me how many of these are interlinked…

Biome: 

Is a collection of plants and animals that have common characteristics for the environment they exist in. They can be found over a range of continents. Biomes are distinct biological communities that have formed in response to a shared physical climate.

It is also interesting to note how species are adapting or migrating to the changes in climate.

Black Carbon:

Is especially dangerous to human health due to its small size it can be undetected at first…it is formed by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, wood and other fuels…It is quite simply soot…released into the air from gas and diesel engines, coal-fired power plants, and other sources that burn fossil fuel…an air pollutant…not only is it harmful to human health it harms ecosystems, but it is also accelerating global warming…

That’s all for today…I hope I have explained it in layman terms and made some things clearer as I believe we should all have a clearer picture in our minds as to what we can change and how…

See you in two weeks for the letter C…next Wednesday it will be Part 2 of the new A-Z on food and terms with the middle letter being B as in barmbrack.

Thank you for reading and please leave a comment if you feel a need… I love to chat it makes my day…Love Carol x