theconversation.com 
Plastic has gone from the greatest invention of the modern era to one of the most challenging materials to manage. Each year, up to 13 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean, the equivalent of one garbage truck of waste every minute. The world has responded with countless intiatives, campaigns and agreements to ban … Read more
COVID-19 shutdowns are clearing the air, but pollution will return as economies reopen Clear skies over Los Angeles, April 17, 2020. Araya Diaz/Getty Images Daniel Cohan, Rice University With many economies locked down to slow the spread of coronavirus, people from Beijing to Los Angeles have noticed bluer skies and less smog. Photos from Punjab … Read more
The first step in managing plastic waste is measuring it – here’s how we did it for one Caribbean country Plastic waste that started as packaging clogs tropical landfills. apomares/Getty Images Clyde Eiríkur Hull, Rochester Institute of Technology and Eric Williams, Rochester Institute of Technology Countries around the world throw away millions of tons of … Read more
CMU separates the waste in all buildings. We started last year with some hickups. But since 2019, January 1st we separate our waste at critical points at the campus. Paper, plastic and general waste are collected in separate bins – based on a color code. Stemming the tide of trash: 5 essential reads on recycling … Read more
Fight or switch? How the low-carbon transition is disrupting fossil fuel politics Commuters idle in rush-hour traffic outside Philadelphia. AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma Cara Daggett, Virginia Tech As the Trump administration works to weaken regulations on fossil fuel production and use, a larger struggle is playing out across multiple industries. Until recently, oil companies and their … Read more
Can environmental populism save the planet? Mark Beeson, University of Western Australia Populism and environmentalism are words seldom seen in the same sentence. One is associated predominantly with nationalists and charismatic leaders of “real people”, the other with broadly-based collective action to address the world’s single most pressing problem. Differences don’t get much starker, it … Read more
Climate change is affecting crop yields and reducing global food supplies Farm land near Holly Bluff, Miss., covered with backwater flooding, May 23, 2019. AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis Deepak Ray, University of Minnesota Farmers are used to dealing with weather, but climate change is making it harder by altering temperature and rainfall patterns, as in … Read more
High-tech fishing gear could help save critically endangered right whales Only about 411 North Atlantic right whales exist, so every animal lost is a blow to the species’ chance of surviving. (c) Nick Hawkins Michael Moore, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Hannah Myers, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Many fish, marine mammals and seabirds that inhabit … Read more
Sea creatures store carbon in the ocean – could protecting them help slow climate change? A sperm whale goes down for a dive off Kaikoura, New Zealand. Heidi Pearson, CC BY-ND Heidi Pearson, University of Alaska Southeast As the prospect of catastrophic effects from climate change becomes increasingly likely, a search is on for innovative … Read more
There’s no ‘garbage patch’ in the Southern Indian Ocean, so where does all the rubbish go? Plastic waste on a remote beach in Sri Lanka. Author provided Mirjam van der Mheen, University of Western Australia; Charitha Pattiaratchi, University of Western Australia, and Erik van Sebille, Utrecht University Great areas of our rubbish are known to … Read more