By Christopher Thompson In a world of troubles, the battle against climate change must take priority. That is the clear message of the 28 leading global think tanks that together comprise the Council of Councils (CoC). The CoC’s 2018-2019 Report Card on International Cooperation, released today, designates global warming as the top international priority for […]

By Christopher Thompson A new material called PDK can be disassembled and reassembled at a molecular level. We’re drowning in plastics. That’s why the world’s brightest minds are trying to find a way we can effectively deal with plastic waste and make sure we don’t add more in the coming years. Now, researchers from the […]

By Christopher Thompson U.N. negotiations seek deal on trade in plastic waste * Norway proposal would require importer’s prior consent * U.S. is a leading major plastics exporter, but not in treaty By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA, May 7 – Countries are nearing agreement to tighten controls on trade in plastic waste, which would make it […]

By Ryan Johnson Most of our political evils may be traced to our commercial ones.” – James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 1786 When the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention convened in Philadelphia in 1787, foremost among their concerns was addressing the growing tendency among states to tax or inhibit their neighbors’ commercial trade. New […]

By Christopher Thompson From native species to Indigenous land management and water efficiency: Australia’s role in the extinction crisis A devastating new UN report shows the planet is in serious danger from the accelerating decline of the Earth’s natural life-support systems. Here we look at 10 of the key points from the report – and […]

By Ryan Johnson Whether conditions worsen or improve depends strongly on decisions by President Trump and his EPA administrator Air pollution kills. In the United States, 1 of every 25 deaths occurs prematurely because of exposure to outdoor air pollution. It kills more Americans than all transportation accidents and gun shootings combined. More than diabetes […]

By Christopher Thompson Sure, we all know there’s always more fish in the sea. But there’s also plenty more plastic garbage. Since 1957, scientific gear used to measure plankton in the north Atlantic Ocean has been clogged by plastic trash some 669 times. Almost all of those snarls have occurred since the late 1990s, showcasing […]

By Ryan Johnson Nobody, it seemed, had thought to look before. When two Austrian scientists discovered last year that it’s likely most people have plastic inside their bodies, it wasn’t because they had invented some new, complicated scientific method. It was because they were the first to check. Their approach was simple. They asked eight […]

By Christopher Thompson Top diplomats from the United States, Russia and other nations which border the Arctic meet in Finland on Monday to discuss policies governing the polar region, as tensions grow over how to deal with global warming and access to mineral wealth. Countries have been scrambling to claim territory or, like China, boost […]

By Ryan Johnson Scientists reveal one million species at risk of extinction in damning UN report Human society is in jeopardy from the accelerating decline of the Earth’s natural life-support systems, the world’s leading scientists have warned, as they announced the results of the most thorough planetary health check ever undertaken. From coral reefs flickering […]