Tausi Insider

An ice-breaking tour boat pushes through drift ice on the Sea of Okhotsk on Feb. 24, in Abashiri, Japan. Carl Court/Getty Images Laurent Ramsey has been a managing partner of the Pictet Group since 2016. Humans are driving animal and plant species to extinction and destroying their habitats to feed an ever-increasing population. Biodiversity protection is now a priority that policy makers consider as urgent as halting global warming. At the UN COP15 biodiversity summit in Montreal in December, governments are expected to agree on groundbreaking targets to protect nature. But such discussion should not be confined to the policy arena. The financial industry, too, must play a more active role. As a steward of global capital, investors are uniquely positioned to help build an economy that works with, rather than against, nature. This is in line with investors’ interest, too. Of course, protecting our environment is important. But this is also an economic and financial issue. It’s called...

Photo : santypan ( Shutterstock ) Caring for houseplants might seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Repotting is a simple step you can take to keep your indoor plants healthy by reinvigorating the soil and boosting available nutrients. You can also repot to transition a plant into a larger pot if it’s showing signs that it’s overgrown the one it’s in. Follow these steps to repot with confidence and tend to your indoor plants like a pro. To start , you’ll need some newspaper or waxed paper, indoor potting mix , scissors , your plants, new pots where necessary, gloves, and a spade for scooping soil. How to tell when it’s time to repot your plant It’s time to repot your plants if it’s been more than a year since it’s last been repotted, if the soil looks crusty or has mineral or salt buildup, or if the roots are growing through the drainage holes in the bottom of the container, indicating that your plant needs more room to grow. You don’t need to transition to a larger contain...

Photo : Ostanina Anna ( Shutterstock ) Like humans, plants need certain nutrients in order to survive. So if you have a plant, and it doesn’t exactly look like it’s thriving, you may decide to give it a little nutritional boost. But does it need plant food, or fertilizer ? And what’s the difference between the two? Here’s what to know. The difference between plant food and fertilizer Although the terms are often used interchangeably, plant food and fertilizer are not the same thing. The biggest difference is that plant food is made by the plants themselves, while fertilizer is a synthetic or natural substance that is added to a plant’s soil. Here are a few more specifics: Plant food The easiest way to remember the difference between plant food and fertilizer is that only plants can make plant food : It’s not something that can be purchased (no matter what product labels say). To produce the simple sugar they use as food, plants convert water, carbon dioxide, and sunlight during ...

Police officers patrol outside the Palais de Congres, during the opening of COP15 on Dec. 6, the two-week U.N. biodiversity summit in Montreal. CHRISTINNE MUSCHI/Reuters Delegates have reached the starting line for COP15 in Montreal, the 15th United Nations conference on biodiversity, where work on a new international agreement to protect nature is set to commence on Wednesday. But participants say the road ahead is already looking like a steep, uphill climb. For representatives from 196 countries who are party to the UN Convention on Biodiversity, the central purpose of the meeting is to hammer out a new framework under the convention, with agreed targets to be met by 2030. The previous framework expired in 2020 with none of its targets met. COP15 was initially intended to take place that year in China, but its completion has been delayed two years by the COVID-19 pandemic and the venue shifted to Montreal. The conference, taking place at Montreal’s Palais des congrès, is surrounded...

Plants, insects and other animals are vanishing at an alarming rate. Seventy per cent of global biodiversity has been lost in the past 50 years. HAIDAR HAMDANI/AFP/Getty Images Emmanuel Nyirinkindi is vice president of cross-cutting solutions at the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group. Growing up in Uganda, I was always fond of the sounds of grey-crowned cranes, our national bird. Hearing their sounds grow fainter as their very existence is threatened saddens me. Some wetlands where the cranes go to breed are being contaminated by pesticides or drained for farmland. What I’ve noticed is not unique. Now I call Washington home, and it’s startling to think that almost three billion birds have disappeared in North America in the past half century, from forests, from grasslands, even from backyards. The natural world is growing quieter, as species silently disappear one by one. It is not only birds on the decline. Plants, insects and other animals are vani...

Photo : rSnapshotPhotos ( Shutterstock ) Snow days almost bring as much joy to a child as Christmas morning. And as kids and parents anxiously watch the news to see if the weather might cause a school day cancelation, there are two measurements you might hear that sound the same: snowfall and snow depth. But you might have different numbers for each. Let’s look at what makes these two measurements different, how to measure the difference between the two (if you want to venture out into the cold, that is), and what it takes to trigger a snow day. What is snowfall? According to Merriam-Webster, snowfall is defined as “the amount of snow that falls in a single storm or in a certain period.” Suppose you want to calculate how much snow fell during a single night. Because the grass and air at the bottom of the ground can interfere with your measurement, the National Weather Service (NWS) recommends using a snowboard (or any 16x16-inch piece of plywood) because it provides a hard, flat ...

Photo : Iryna Imago ( Shutterstock ) We all want to do our part to limit the catastrophic consequences of climate change , even if that’s as simple as making more environmentally conscious decisions when we buy our clothes, groceries, and cleaning supplies . Unfortunately, many companies know that consumers are looking for “eco-friendly” options these days, and are willing to spend more time marketing themselves as eco-friendly than they do on actually minimizing their environmental impact. This deceitful marketing tactic is known as “greenwashing.” Here’s how to recognize it when you encounter it. How to spot and avoid greenwashing G reenwashing is a marketing gimmick to make something seem environmentally conscious, when in reality, the product doesn’t live up to the claims of sustainability. According to Business News Daily , the term was coined by environmentalist Jay Westerveld in 1986 as a critique of the “save the towel” movement in hotels—a practice that had little impact...

People visit the immersive video experience hosted by the National Geographic Society at a press event during COP15 in Montreal on Dec. 7. ANDREJ IVANOV/Getty Images Anyone showing up to the United Nations biodiversity conference, known as COP15, will discover it takes time just getting in the door. Having first shown proof of vaccination in order to obtain a conference badge, the would-be attendee is then handed a box of KN95 masks and a two-week supply of COVID-19 test kits. The next stop is to show a negative result from a rapid test before being admitted. For the thousands of participants, it’s a fitting reminder that the pandemic is still with us – fitting because global pandemics are a risk we all face when wildlife is destroyed or harvested in ways that expose humans to the viruses of other species. But there is another way that the pandemic reveals what is at stake as countries work toward a pact to protect nature for future generations. At COP15, a movement grows to manage n...

Photo : Maks Ershov ( Shutterstock ) With more than 400 national parks scattered across the United States, it can get pricey to try to visit them all. While some are free, a bout a quarter of them charge from $10 to $20 per person to enter, which can add up for a family. But if you’re planning to hit up the parks next year, there are several days when everyone can get in for free. What days are free to go to National Parks in 2023? The following days will be free for everyone to go in any National Park in 2023 : As you plan your trips, keep in mind that these are the parks that charge entrance fees . To be extra strategic, visit one of these park s on the free days, and save the always-free parks for another time. Keep in mind, though, that the free days do not include extra activities you could partake once inside the park, such as camping, boat launches, transportation, or special tours. S ome people are also eligible for free or discounted National Park entrances all year ...

Photo : ArtBitz ( Shutterstock ) A huge winter storm is making its way across the country this week, bringing with it heavy snow, high winds, and single-digit temperatures as far south as Louisiana. Conditions are expected to significantly affect holiday travel , and similar storms have recently challenged power grids and other infrastructure even in states that are accustomed to winter weather . Remember how an arctic freeze went for Texas ( not accustomed to winter weather) in February 2021? So—especially if you live in a place that doesn’t often see extreme cold, ice, or snow—you should check the forecast and prepare your home and belongings accordingly . Here are the precautions to consider ahead of any winter storm. Bring your pets and plants inside This should be a no-brainer, but anything living is unlikely to weather an arctic freeze well. If you have outdoor pets, livestock, or plants, bring them inside or make arrangements for shelter until temperatures rise. For cold...

When making my Christmas (shopping) lists and checking them twice, I often forget to consider ice, which makes some amount of sense. Depending on where you are in the world, ice is probably not at the forefront of your mind in the days leading up to Christmas, especially if you’ve been shoveling snow, driving through snow, or just looking at snow. But you do need ice on Christmas (both day and eve). You need ice for shaking cocktails, making iced tea (or any other iced beverage), chilling champagne, filling coolers, or—if you’re fun and fancy—keeping your caviar or shrimp cocktail at the proper temperature. Unfortunately, there is no instant ice- making hack, and it takes several hours in the freezer for those water molecules to align themselves into a solid crystal. You could go buy ice, but many stores are closed for most or all of the day. But you know who (probably) isn’t closed? McDonald’s. I say “probably” because nearly all of the restaurants are franchises, so it’s not a gu...

Photo : Suzanne Tucker ( Shutterstock ) Black ice is a thin, barely visible layer of ice that often masquerades as water and can really ruin your day if you come across some unexpectedly. It usually shows up when there’s moisture in the air and the temperature drops below freezing quickly, creating an ice slick across the coldest surfaces. While black ice is a menace, it can be both avoided and dealt with when it does form. How to prevent black ice from forming Keeping an eye on the temperature outside is the first step to keeping black ice in check. If the temperature will be above freezing by the time you need to use your walks or driveway, you might not need to de-ice at all—y ou can just wait for the sun to do the work. As long as the surfaces you’re concerned about warm up above 32 degrees, you shouldn’t need to worry. One way to proactively keep black ice at bay is to s hovel regularly to prevent melting snow from running onto surfaces and refreezing. Of course, mel...