Ecology
McDonald’s Puts the Freeze on McFlurry Plastic Packaging
McDonald’s has announced it is to stop using single-use plastic to package its McFlurry ice creams and salad options. Once the environmentally-friendly change comes into effect in September, the brand expects it will reduce plastic waste by around 485 tonnes…
EU Aims to Tackle Climate Change With Newly Adopted ‘Green Finance’ Guidelines
Newly adopted guidelines set forth by the European Commission Tuesday aim to tackle climate change by way of the financial sector. The move comes to bolster the success of the Sustainable Action Plan published last year to reorient capital flows…
There Will Be 9.7 Billion on Earth by 2050, but the Growth Rate Is Slowing
“The World Population Prospects 2019: Highlights”, estimates that the next 30 years will see the global population add an extra 2 billion people to today’s figure of 7.7 billion, and, by the end of the century, the planet will have…
Palm Oil Importers Won’t Meet Zero Deforestation Goals by 2020
European palm oil importers are unlikely to be able to ensure that the products they sell are “deforestation-free” by the self-imposed goal of 2020, according to analysis by the Palm Oil Transparency Coalition. While about 98% of the palm oil…
Heatwave in 2018 ‘Could Not Have Occurred Without Human-Caused Climate Change’
The heatwave that swept the Northern Hemisphere for three months during the summer of 2018 could not have occurred without human-caused climate change. That’s the verdict from new scientific research published in the Earth’s Future journal, which suggests the three-month…
Wasting Food ‘Is Top Cause of Environmental Guilt Among Brits’, What Is Yours?
Wasting food is the top cause of environmental guilt among Brits. That’s according to a new survey of 2,001 people, conducted by Opinium research and commissioned by renewable energy supplier Pure Planet, which shows 35% of UK adults feel bad…
Nearly 600 Plant Species ‘Have Gone Extinct in the last 250 Years’
As many as 571 plant species have gone extinct in the last 250 years. That’s according to a new study conducted by researchers at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, which suggests this is more than twice the number of…