Surveys indicate that consumers are souring on the ubiquitous use of plastic packaging– at least in the UK. Yet these shifts alone won’t be sufficient to address the problem. Governments must up their regulatory game, and global action is necessary.
Read more...A drop-off in funding for vaccines for ‘diseases of poverty’ is another consequence of the financial crisis. A recent study laments bleak prospects for breakthroughs on malaria, tuberculosis, dengue, and other diseases. Climate change is expanding the range where these diseases may be contracted.
Read more...The first Ocean Cleanup Array is scheduled to launch from San Francisco Bay tomorrow. Target: the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a major ocean plastic accumulation zone more than three times the size of France.
Read more...In one small step toward reducing waste in the fashion industry, Burberry has announced it will cease burning unsold goods and using animal fur in its products, with immediate effect.
Read more...Talks kick off in New York on Tuesday to negotiate a UN treaty on the high seas by 2020; this would extend the existing law of the sea framework beyond each nation’s territorial waters.
Read more...Vanautu is in the vanguard of commonwealth states moving to ban single-use plastic items, which are choking marine life, slowly poisoning fish (and those who eat them), and negatively affecting tourism.
Read more...Groundwater contamination with endocrine distruptors from fracking, and its uneven distribution
Read more...American Academy of Pediatrics highlights health concerns for children from plastics, and recommends reducing use of plastics, and not microwaving them or placing them in the dishwasher.
Read more...Ninth Circuit orders EPA to implement a long overdue ban of chlorpyrifos, a pesticide linked to developmental delays in children and nervous system damage to people and animals exposed. Court previously had to order Obama EPA in 2015 to act on the issue; it’s unclear whether this decision will survive appeal.
Read more...The US Bureau of Land Management yesterday took first steps to opening 1.6 million acres public lands in California to fracking, ending a five-year moratorium on such practices.
Read more...Attempts by the New York Times to blame humanity as a whole for climate change let the real culprits off the hook.
Read more...The court ruled that the city’s ban on new fossil fuel terminals within its borders did not violate the Commerce Clause, which is the main argument the oil industry has used against bans like the ones in Portland, Oregon and other cities.
Read more...Climate change, aging cars, signals, and tunnels, plus looting by the political class and the bankers.
Read more...How to tell borderline sham fair trade certifications from the real deal.
Read more...Why on current trajectories, China (and the US) are toast.
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