Pollution

We Can’t go Carbon Neutral without Reducing Plastics: 1 ton of plastic creates 5 tons of CO2 emissions

By Benjamin Wehrmann | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – Avoiding and better managing plastic waste should receive much greater attention by the German government in its bid to achieve a climate neutral economy, economic research institute DIW said in an analysis. Producing and disposing of one tonne of plastic on average causes about […]

Climate Crisis

Why We cannot meet sustainable development goals with a sick ocean

The Conversation

By Josep Lluís Pelegrí Llopart | – The United Nations declared the start to the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development earlier this year. Its aim is to promote science-based ocean and coastal management, making healthy oceans one of the pillars of progress for all of humanity. Under the slogan “The science we need […]

Climate Crisis

Turkey’s Night of the Living Sea Snot: Global Heating, Industrial Pollution Endanger Marmara Sea

Global Voices

By Doga Celik | – ( GlobalVoices.org ) – The Marmara Sea is a pristine body of water, extending from the Dardanelles Strait to the Bosphorus. Since late May, the Marmara sea has been making international headlines for an unfortunate reason. ‘Sea snot’ and its causes A slimy, organic foam named “sea snot”, officially known […]

Climate Crisis

The Navajo and Hopi are Abandoning Coal, but need help with Clean-Up and Transition to Renewables

Cronkite News Arizona PBS

By Alyssa Marksz | – ( Cronkite News) – WASHINGTON – Navajo and Hopi witnesses agreed the region needs to move away from its economic dependence on coal, but specific proposals on how to get there remained elusive after a House hearing Tuesday. The tribal representatives joined witnesses from across coal country at a House […]

Climate Change

How Organizers can fight back against Corporate Greenwashing and Climate ‘Inactivism’

Waging Nonviolence

By Selina Gallo-Cruz | – ( Waging Nonviolence) – When communities around the country carried out annual clean-ups and tree-plantings in celebration of a now 51-year old Earth Day, industries, too, lined up to pledge their commitment to “go green.” But the savvy, often subtle deception of these market strategies to promote companies as engaging […]

Climate Crisis

On Top of Causing Deadly Global Heating, Fossil fuels cause 1 in 5 Adult deaths each year

Sustainability Times

( Sustainability Times) – Researchers at Harvard University in the United States, working with colleagues at the University of Birmingham, the University of Leicester and University College London in the United States, estimate in a new study that exposure to airborne fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from fossil fuel emissions resulted in nearly one in five […]

Mass Extinction

A common soil pesticide cut wild bee reproduction by 89% – here’s why scientists are worried

The Conversation

By Philip Donkersley | – When you think of bees, a hive humming with activity probably comes to mind. But most of the world’s 20,000 bee species don’t call a hive home. These wild species lead solitary lives instead, and around 70% of them build nests underground where they raise their offspring on the nectar […]

Oceans

Where does the 10 Million Tons of Plastic we put into the Oceans Annually actually go?

The Conversation

By Bruce Sutherland, Michelle DiBenedetto and Ton van den Bremer | – Of the hundreds of millions of tonnes of plastic waste we produce each year, it’s estimated that around ten million tonnes enters the ocean. Roughly half of the plastics produced are less dense than water, and so they float. But scientists estimate that […]

Oceans

The Plastic Plague: Fish are eating more Microplastics, and We are eating those Fish

The Conversation

By Alexandra McIntur and Matthew Savoca | – Trillions of barely visible pieces of plastic are floating in the world’s oceans, from surface waters to the deep seas. These particles, known as microplastics, typically form when larger plastic objects such as shopping bags and food containers break down. Researchers are concerned about microplastics because they […]