Tortilla chips and fresh salsa are tasty in themselves, but they could be even more appealing if you grow the ingredients in a sustainable way. Researchers report that cilantro, bell pepper and jalapeño can be cultivated in recycled glass from discarded, pulverized bottles like those from beer or soda. The pilot study found that partially...
environment
Climate Migration Comes Home
A review of Abrahm Lustgarden, “On the Move” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2024) The sky was burnt orange and the smoke was coming. If the fire advanced through the buffer zone, it would reach his California town and then his porch. He suddenly understood why Ellen from down the road was considering fleeing to somewhere like...
Climate Misinformation Is About More Than Denialism
Lies, misconceptions, and propaganda about intensifying climate change and policy responses will increasingly shape security and geopolitics. In May, southern Brazil experienced devastating flooding that killed more than 160 people, displaced 600,000 residents, and drew in the military for a lengthy recovery. It was another harbinger of our age of climate insecurity. But despite likely scientific explanations, recovery was complicated by...
More Black Americans Die from Effects of Air Pollution
Everyone knows that air pollution is bad for health, but how bad depends a lot on who you are. People of different races and ethnicities, education levels, locations and socioeconomic situations tend to be exposed to different degrees of air pollution. Even at the same exposure levels, people’s ability to cope with its effects —...
Escape the Vapes: Scientists Call for Global Shift to Curb Consumer Use of Disposable Technologies
Scientists have called for a concerted global effort to stem the tide of disposable electronic technologies – such as vapes – contributing to international waste accumulation and environmental degradation. Writing in the journal Science, researchers from across the UK have highlighted how disposable vape sales quadrupled in the UK between 2022 and 2023, with consumers now...
Can Bismuth Prevent Oil Leaks – (And Save Norwegians Billions)?
Over the next 25 years, as the world shifts away from fossil fuels, the oil and gas wells that have sustained the fossil fuel age will have to be plugged. No big deal, you might think, drilling those wells was the hard part. Plugging them should be no problem. But think again. The Norwegian Continental...
AI Writing, Illustration Emits Hundreds of Times Less Carbon Than Humans
With the evolution of artificial intelligence comes discussion of the technology’s environmental impact. A new study has found that for the tasks of writing and illustrating, AI emits hundreds of times less carbon than humans performing the same tasks. That does not mean, however, that AI can or should replace human writers and illustrators, the...
Companies Ignoring Climate Risks Get Punished by Markets, New Study Reveals
A pioneering study from the University of Florida has quantified corporations’ exposure to climate change risks like hurricanes, wildfires, and climate-related regulations and the extent to which climate risks are priced into their market valuations. The research also exposes a costly divide – companies that proactively manage climate risks fare much better than those that...
Reinforcing the Diverse Ways People Access Seafood Can Ensure Healthy Communities in the Face of Change
As climate change affects the oceans, coastal communities, particularly those at the front lines of ocean warming and sea level rise, are facing pressures that could threaten their access to aquatic foods. “Climate change and other economic shocks are impacting how people access seafood, and typically households that are most reliant on seafood, such as...
Sustainable Practices Can Save Mexico’s Blue Agave, Tequila and Bats
Many associate tequila with lime wedges, salt, and parties. But the popular drink also has a negative impact on biodiversity, both on the blue agave from which it is made and, perhaps more unexpectedly, on bats. Both are threatened by one-sided cultivation. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg, together with colleagues in Mexico and the...