McDonald’s is being called on to stop its roll out of paper straws in the UK and Ireland, amid claims that they “dissolve” in drinks. The fast food giant is switching from plastic to paper straws at their 1,361 restaurants after customer pressure. An online petition calling for a return to plastic straws has so […]

In a Comment in this issue of The Lancet Planetary Health, Jessica Bogard and colleagues discuss the role of fish and seafood in future sustainable diets. They highlight some of the benefits of consuming seafood as a major source of dietary protein, as well as the challenges involved in measuring its true sustainability. The UN […]

In January 2013, a suffocating, poisonous haze hung over Beijing for four days. The record high levels of fine particulate matter in the air caused airports to close and thousands of coughing, choking citizens to seek hospital care. Although the particulate matter that filled the winter skies resulted from both human and natural emissions, a […]

Hawaiian lawmakers are taking proactive measures to tackle the effects of climate change before it’s too late in a new bid to redevelop Honolulu’s famous Waikiki Beach to protect residents from projected future flooding. Hawaii has seen over half a foot (15 centimeters) rise in sea level over the last few decades and that rises […]

Turtles, seabirds, seals, and whales are well-documented victims of out of control plastic pollution, but when was the last time you saw a video of a person suffering in the grips of the global plastics crisis? You’d be forgiven if you believed humans were somehow immune to this tragedy, as their stories are so rarely […]

Washington blocked a coal terminal under the Clean Water Act. New rules could subvert that authority. At nearly 17 million acres, the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska is part of the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world. Meanwhile, about a thousand miles south in Longview, Washington, on the banks of the Columbia River, […]

Understand the purpose and importance of national parks and its impact on the environment. The National Park Day reminds us to stop and reflect on the importance of national parks in our day to day lives. National parks are a great source of entertainment for kids and adults alike today. That said, they serve a […]

Forty-three percent of Americans live in places where they’re breathing unsafe air, according to American Lung Association An increasing number of Americans live in places with unhealthy levels of smog or particulate air pollution – both of which are being made worse by climate change, according to a new report. Air quality in the US […]

Yesterday, New York governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags. It is estimated that New York uses 23 billion plastic bags every year with 50 percent of those plastic bags ending up in landfills and around the city and waterways. Governor Cuomo signed the legislation on Earth Day, which […]

A Global Pact for the Environment would lend coherence to international environmental law, give greater legal and political heft to existing environmental covenants, and safeguard the imperiled biosphere. With each successive Earth Day, the scale of the global environmental crisis becomes more disheartening. So too does the collective failure to respond to the planet’s plight. Over the […]