plastic

By Dalia Saad, University of the Witwatersrand | – The Nile is one of the world’s most famous rivers. It’s also Africa’s most important freshwater system. About 300 million people live in the 11 countries it flows through. Many rely on its waters for agriculture and fishing to make a living. The Nile’s two main […]

plastic

How Microplastics are making their Way into our Farmland

The Conversation

By Branaavan Sivarajah, Carleton University; and Jesse Vermaire, Carleton University | – (The Conversation) – Microplastic pollution is a global environmental problem that is ubiquitous in all environments, including air, water and soils. Microplastics are readily found in treated wastewater sludge — also known as municipal biosolids — that eventually make their way to our […]

Corporations

Plastic Pollution: Campaigners around the World are using the Courts to Clean Up, but Manufacturers are Fighting Back

The Conversation

By Sam Varvastian, Cardiff University | – Plastic pollution has become such major problem that it’s threatening our human rights. That’s the view of two UN special rapporteurs (human rights advisers) who recently issued a joint statement, warning against the “overwhelming toxic tidal wave” of plastic endangering us and the environment “in a myriad of […]

Agriculture

Time to Dial it Back: We Humans have Exceeded the Boundaries of 80% of the Planet’s Key Systems

The Conversation

By Steven J Lade, Australian National University; Ben Stewart-Koster, Griffith University; Stuart Bunn, Griffith University; Syezlin Hasan, Griffith University; Xuemei Bai, Australian National University | – (The Conversation) – People once believed the planet could always accommodate us. That the resilience of the Earth system meant nature would always provide. But we now know this […]

Climate Crisis

Calls for a ‘Green’ Ramadan revive Islam’s long Tradition of Sustainability and Care for the Planet

The Conversation

By Noorzehra Zaidi, University of Maryland, Baltimore County | – For many Muslims breaking fast in mosques around the world this Ramadan, something will be missing: plastics. The communal experience of iftars – the after-sunset meal that brings people of the faith together during the holy month starting on March 22, 2023 – often necessitates […]

Oceans

“Plasticosis:” Seabirds that swallow Plastic Waste have Diseased, Scarred Stomachs

The Conversation

By Matthew Savoca, Stanford University | – As a conservation biologist who studies plastic ingestion by marine wildlife, I can count on the same question whenever I present research: “How does plastic affect the animals that eat it?” This is one of the biggest questions in this field, and the verdict is still out. However, […]

Corporations

Coca-Cola, the world’s largest plastic Polluter, is sponsoring COP27. Here’s why that’s a problem

Global Voices

By Sydney Allen | – In a massive feat of irony, Coca-Cola, the world’s largest plastic polluter, is sponsoring COP27, the world’s largest annual environmental conference, which will take place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, from November 6–18. While there is plenty to criticize about this year’s COP27 summit (such as Egypt’s human rights abuses […]

Corporations

The plastic Crisis has deep corporate Roots: to protect our Planet, they need to be exposed

The Conversation

By Alice Mah, University of Warwick | – This spring, I taught a new undergraduate course in environmental sociology. Most of my students took the course because they were curious to see what their desire to live more sustainably had to do with sociology. By the third week – after a deep dive into the […]

Climate Crisis

Is it possible to heal the damage we have already done to the Earth?

The Conversation

Scott Denning | – Sometimes it may seem that humans have altered the Earth beyond repair. But our planet is an incredible system in which energy, water, carbon and so much else flows and nurtures life. It is about 4.5 billion years old and has been through enormous changes. Is it possible to heal the […]