Ecology
Columbia’s Highest Court Orders Government To Protect Amazon Rainforest From Rising Deforestation Rates
In a potentially very important legal decision, the top court in Columbia has ruled that the government there is required to take effective action to protect the Amazon rainforest from further deforestation. With deforestation of its portion of the Amazon…
Scientists Suggest a Giant Sunshade in the Sky Could Solve Global Warming
It sounds like the stuff of science fiction: the creation, using balloons or jets, of a manmade atmospheric sunshade to shield the most vulnerable countries in the global south against the worst effects of global warming. But amid mounting interest…
Microplastics Found in Fertilisers Being Applied to Gardens and Farmland
Many organic fertilisers being applied to gardens and farms contain tiny fragments of plastic, according to a new study. Widely considered a problem affecting the oceans, this work suggests microplastics may actually be far more pervasive. Having entered the soil,…
Victory! ‘InStyle’ Is First Major Fashion Magazine to Ban Fur
In another landmark victory for animals, InStyle has become the first major fashion magazine to ban fur from its pages. In an announcement posted to Instagram, Editor in Chief Laura Brown said that she has avoided photographing or advertising fur…
Air Pollution: UK Government’s Failed Legal Battles Cost Taxpayers £500,000
The UK government has spent more than half a million pounds on failed legal battles against clean air campaigners, according to newly released documents that underline the cost of weak action on pollution. The figures – obtained under a freedom…
Costa Rica’s New President Vows ‘Emancipation’ From Dirty Transport
Carlos Alvarado Quesada, the president-elect of Costa Rica, plans to continue the country’s extraordinary stewardship of the environment with a pledge to decarbonize its transportation sector. On Sunday, he promised that one day Costa Rica will “celebrate its emancipation from…
Climate Change and Invasive Milkweed Could Make Toxic Cocktail for Monarchs, Study Finds
Monarch butterflies are already in danger. Their numbers have decreased by 80 percent in the past 20 years, and this year’s count of the number of the black-and-orange butterflies wintering in Mexico was lower than 2017’s. Now, researched reported Tuesday…