Microplastics

Nature & Environment September 1, 2022

Virginia governor rolls back plastics phase-out, seeking to court recycling

At first whiff, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order centered on curbing food waste and boosting recycling across Virginia might pass an environmentalist’s sniff test….

Nature & Environment September 2, 2019

World-first West Aussie study examines Perth poo for microplastics

These researchers plan to use Perth poo to find out exactly how much plastic we eat and what we can do about it. How would…

Nature & Environment May 2, 2019

Microplastics have even been blown into a remote corner of the Pyrenees

Microplastics have been discovered in a remote area of the French Pyrenees mountains. The particles travelled through the atmosphere and were blown into the once…

Articles Climate Change Policy & Strategy

Progressing backwards

“I thought fossil fuel firms could change. I was wrong.” Christiana Figueres, the former Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, wrote recently for Al Jazeera. “I was convinced the global economy could not be decarbonised without…

Articles Climate Change

Soil, Fungi, Agriculture and Climate Change

What do ancient Sanskrit texts, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Franklin Roosevelt have in common? They recognized the importance of soil to humanity. Ancient Sanskrit texts from India written around 1500 BC state “Upon this handful of soil our…

Articles Hydrogen

Liquid hydrogen, is it really worth it?

One of the pillars of the energy transition will be hydrogen produced from renewable sources. However, for the green hydrogen economy to take off and become a sustainable alternative, the problem of storage and long-distance transportation must be fixed. Long-distance…

Articles Innovation

No Kiln in Making Soda

Sodium carbonate, known as soda or soda ash, has been made on an industrial scale since the 1790s. Annual production worldwide is well over fifty million tons, with a few plants making 500,000 tons each. However, much of the soda…

Articles Last Exit

Big Pit Blaenavon

Big Pit National Coal Museum is an industrial heritage museum in Blaenavon, Wales (United Kingdom). The Big Pit is part of a network of coal workings established in the first half of the nineteenth century by the Blaenavon Iron and…

Articles Nature & Environment Policy & Strategy

UN Provides Blueprint for 80% Cut to Global Plastic Pollution by 2040

Global plastic pollution can be reduced by 80% by 2040 if countries and companies make far-reaching changes using existing technologies, according to a report published Tuesday by the United Nations Environment Program. Turning Off the Tap: How the World Can…

Articles Climate Change

Urgent action needed in food sector to curb warming: Study

A study recently published in Nature Climate Change found that the global food sector alone, the way it is now, could add nearly 1 degree Celsius to global climate warming by the year 2100. But over half of this anticipated…

Articles Innovation

Beyond the bin: giving biowaste a second life

It’s hard to imagine a world without coffee given how many people enjoy kick-starting their day with a freshly brewed cup. Once the coffee beans are roasted and brewed, the leftover powder – coffee grounds – is often thrown away.…

Articles Fossil Fuels Oil

‘EU climate bank’ keeps back door open for fossil fuel giants

The European Investment Bank (EIB) made history with its decision to stop financing fossil fuel energy from 2022 onwards. By adopting the PATH Framework in October 2021, it seemed the EIB had finally set the conditions requiring its clients to…

Articles Climate Change

The challenges and promises of climate lawsuits

Even the temperate, mountainous country of Switzerland isn’t immune to climate change. Sizzling heat waves are melting alpine glaciers, killing trees and fish and, in the cities, likely causing an uptick in human deaths. Rosmarie Wydler-Wälti, who lives in Basel,…