How are we tackling the biggest issue the planet has ever faced?
A succession of record-breaking natural disasters have swept the globe in recent weeks. There have been serious floods in China and western Europe, heatwaves and drought in North America and wildfires in the sub-Arctic.An annual report on the UK’s weather indicates...
The target to limit global heating to 1.5°C by 2050, accepted by all major countries in the Paris Agreement, could be missed because of the carbon impact of just 100 companies in the oil and gas sector.A new comprehensive study from the World Benchmarking Alliance...
HALF of shoppers would make more environmentally-friendly choices if it was cheaper, a poll found. A huge 48 per cent said they wanted to do the right thing but cost often held them back.Researchers asked if Britain’s shoppers wanted to make different food choices...
If you subscribe to the notion that property is theft, then the shift to subscription-based living is perfect for you: we’re moving some way to a world where the concept of ownership is being fundamentally redefined.The last few years have seen a dramatic increase...
We're flushing away or binning an astonishing 11 billion wet wipes every year in the UK. Some 9.3 million of them head down the loo every day, accounting for a staggering 93% of all sewer blockages. That’s a real problem, as they can take up to 100 years to...
This year’s Earth Day was bigger than ever, with politicians, businesses, celebrities, NGOs and activists all using it as a moment to announce new initiatives addressing climate change.It would be an impossible task to summarise everything, but we’ve pulled...
It is no coincidence that President Joe Biden chose to hold his Leaders’ Summit on Climate on Earth Day. The initiative, now entering its second half century, has become a focal point for environmental action and activism around the world, and with climate change...
The world’s on fire, literally sometimes. Carbon is filling the atmosphere. There are massive spiders in some places. God it’s awful isn’t it? But hey ho, there’s still hope right?... Right…..? Guess what I’m badgering on about. Yeah that’s exactly correct, climate...
Microplastics are one of the biggest threats to our rivers and oceans – they're everywhere and hard to get rid of. So what can be done to tackle the problem?A couple of years ago an Irish teenager won a science prize worth £38,000 for inventing a way to extract...
The UN estimates that around 4 billion people experience severe water shortages for at least one month a year and around 1.6 billion people - almost a quarter of the world's population - have problems accessing a clean, safe water supply.The UN's Sustainable...
Beavers have been released into British countryside to combat the effects of climate changeThe image of a beaver gnawing on the bark of a tree in the wilderness seems a long way from the British countryside. Any likelihood of witnessing such a scene virtually...
It may not be too long before the familiar, droning diesel-engine roar of delivery trucks disappears from our city streets. Fully electric trucks have been seen as too costly and inefficient by many hauliers, but that is changing.A new study by the Stockholm...
OVER half of adults simply don’t understand the meaning of common recycling symbols found on everyday household products, researchers have found in a recent UK study.Eight key symbols appearing on thousands of supermarket items instructing buyers how to dispose of...
In 2019, the UK Parliament declared a Climate Emergency but a proposed Climate and Ecological Emergency (CEE) Bill is being delayed, with no firm timescale for debate.Drafted by scientists, legal experts, ecological economists and environmentalists, the CEE Bill...
As governments around the world roll out COVID-19 vaccine programmes and seek to kickstart their economies back to life, recovery seems to be within reach. However, hard questions must not be sidestepped. How did this pandemic happen? And how resilient are we to...
A fundamental change in how we think about and approach economics is needed if we are to reverse biodiversity loss and protect and enhance our prosperity, an independent, global review on the economics of biodiversity has found.Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta’s...
The UK is the largest plastic waste producer in Europe and one of the biggest producers of plastic waste in the world, second only to the US. The UK produces 99kg of plastic waste per person per year. And it exports about two-thirds of this waste to poorer...
Wood is an ancient material humans have been using for millions of years, for the construction of housing, ships and as a source of fuel for burning. It’s also a renewable source, and one way to capture excess carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere. Today, the...
If you’ve become more picky about which brands to buy from, you’re not alone. The trend towards conscious consumerism - where people make choices equally, or mostly, on the corporate behaviour of brand owners - has accelerated over the course of the last year. The...
“Care for what you have.” This was the little tagline I had printed on our first postcards for Fixup, the pop up repair shops I ran in New York City for the past seven years.The tagline was meant to be read in two ways. As an imperative: in the face of...
