Earlier this month the UK government announced a plan to ban the use of plastic in wet wipes to tackle water pollution. Much of the news surrounding the ban suggests that removing the plastic will unclog sewers. Whilst removing plastics from the environment is great, a simple ban is not going to unclog the sewage system. It needs to be combined with…
The idea that climate change constitutes a threat to national security is well established, with climate change first appearing as a debate in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) over 15 years ago, in 2007. The concept gained traction quickly, with a study undertaken 5 years after the inaugural UNSC discussion estimating that around 70% of countries who had released national security…
What’s going on here? A new study published in Nature Climate Change suggests that rewilding could have a bigger impact on climate change than previously thought. The study shows that protecting wild animals can act as a natural method for carbon capture and storage (CCS). What does this mean? The research shows that animals like whales, wolves, and sea otters can play…
Biomass energy (energy generated from organic material such as plants, wood, and waste) has long been a contentious issue amongst environmentalists, scientists, and governments. Interested parties claim it is a “carbon neutral, renewable” energy source, because the trees being burnt absorb carbon during their lifetime and during regrowth. However, this has been debunked on numerous occasions. Environmental campaigners continue to fight for biomass to be downgraded and for subsidies to be stopped.
Whatʼs going on here? The mammoth and the meatball. Sounds like it could be one of Aesop’s fables, right? Well, the life lesson you could pick up from this article is about your future food choices, based on how the meat industry is shifting; this is spotlighted by the recent creation of a meatball using cells that replicate that of the long-extinct…
It is easy to feel hopeless or powerless when reading news about issues of global challenges like climate change and social injustice. Or to feel that our individual roles and capabilities in tackling these crises are unimportant. However, we all have the power to make change happen. In fact, it has been argued that a small minority of citizens, 3.5%, “have the…
Earlier this month the signing of the ‘high seas treaty’ was heralded as a historic day for conservation and a sign that despite the current geopolitics at play, protecting nature and people can triumph. It was the culmination of a series of talks that began in 2004 and was a huge win for the Oceans. But what is the ‘high seas treaty’…
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Whatʼs going on here? The planet will likely reach 1.5C in the early 2030s but humanity has the tools to stay within that limit. The hurdle is a lack of political ambition. This is all according to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released on Monday. What does this mean? Going over 1.5C is dangerous because it may trigger…