Ecology
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Plastic Straws and Cotton Buds Could Be Banned in England in a Year
Environment Secretary Michael Gove has launched a consultation on the proposals. Plastic straws, drink stirrers and cotton buds could be banned within a year in England under government plans to reduce pollution. Environment Secretary Michael Gove has launched a consultation…
Cherry Blossoms Are Blooming Across Japan: It’s October
Each year, Japan’s iconic cherry blossoms herald the arrival of spring. But after a bout of extreme weather, blooms are being reported several months early. The Japanese weather site Weathernews said it had received more than 350 reports of blossoms…
90% of Table Salt Is Contaminated with Mircroplastics
A year after researchers at a New York university discovered microplastics present in sea salt thanks to widespread plastic pollution, researchers in South Korea set out to find out how pervasive the problem is—and found that 90 percent of salt brands commonly…
I’m the Walrus … Suffering from Melting Ice
One of the most iconic images depicting the environmental impacts of climate change shows a forlorn polar bear being stranded, or so it appears, on a floating chunk of ice among melting sheets. As polar ice will carry on melting…
Study: Orangutans Are Facing a Form of Eco-Genocide
If people had been doing this to other people, we’d call it genocide. Yet that’s what people have been doing to Borneo’s orangutans: perpetrating a form of eco-genocide against them. In this new century alone as many as 100,000 of…
Taxing Carbon May Sound Like a Good Idea But Does It Work?
Exxon Mobil is backing a proposal to tax oil, gas and coal companies for the carbon they emit and redistribute the money raised that way to all Americans. It’s also giving a group urging Washington to enact a tax on…
UK Scientists Turn Coffee Industry Waste into Electricity
Fuel cell could help Colombian farmers by using microbes to eat waste and develop energy. Scientists have turned coffee waste into electricity for the first time, in research that could help farmers and curb pollution in the developing world. The…