soil

The following content is sponsored by Global X ETFs.

The Briefing

• Land degradation is a long-term sustainability risk
• Vertical farms can grow food indoors with less land and water than traditional methods

Is Vertical Farming the Future?

Authored by Zaria Gorvett via The BBC,

During the Cold War, Vozrozhdeniya Island was a top-secret testing ground for deadly Soviet super-pathogens. Despite over two decades of abandonment, their legacy lives on...

On the Kazakh-Uzbek border, surrounded by miles of toxic desert, lies an island. Or at least, something that used to be an island.

Vozrozhdeniya was once home to a vibrant fishing village fringed by turquoise lagoons, back when the Aral Sea was the fourth-largest in the world and abundant with fish.

Five years after the Fukushima tragedy, TEPCO's chief of decommissioning Naohiro Masuda admits that the company still has no idea exactly where 600 tons of melted radioactive fuel from three nuclear reactors is located.

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At least 3,100 tons of unregistered radioactive waste is being stored in temporary depots across Japan The toxic waste lacks proper registration because local officials are reluctant to report it. RT reports: Tons of contaminated soil as well as other radioactive garbage are being stored at temporary depots across the country, Japanese NHK TV-Channel reports. The level of radiation at the storage sites is higher than 8,000 Becquerels per kilogram, while the norm is 10 Becquerels per kilogram.