In The News

Abandon Fast Fashion: McGill Tribune

Kennedy McKee-Braide October 23, 2019
Students question the wisdom of closets and drawers packed full of low-cost unusual clothing worn a few times. Consumers purchase more clothing than necessary, and so-called “fast fashion” has financial and environmental consequences. “Over the last five years in the fashion industry, an area dominated by gratuitous marketing, social media, and online shopping, consumers have increasingly...

Plastic Waste to Bricks in the Philippines: Xinhua

October 21, 2019
Plastic sachets are the plastic bags used to package and redistribute bulk supplies of all types of food and other small items. The Philippines, an economy that participates in such repackaging, uses about 60 billion plastic sachets each year, suggests the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. Engineers in the Philippines have developed a process that shreds and mixes such plastic waste...

US Ends Two Science Advisory Boards: Hill

Miranda Green October 6, 2019
Donald Trump issued an executive order in June, urging departments to consider eliminating a third of the country’s advisory panels. Steps have been taken to disband two: the Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Invasive Species Advisory Committee run by the Interior Department. Such panels are typically staffed by...

Not Disclosing ESG Data: Wall Street Journal

Maitane Sardon September 29, 2019
Investors prefer hearing about environmental, social and governance impacts from companies rather than surprise announcements from the media or government investigations. The term ESG investments was coined in 2005. “[W}hile companies that don’t disclose environmental and social data may not always lose investors, they are more often being passed over by new investors, in favor of firms with...

Ocean in a Changing Climate: IPCC

September 25, 2019
The ocean covers more than 70 percent of earth’s surface. “Human communities in close connection with coastal environments, small islands (including Small Island Developing States, SIDS), polar areas and high mountains are particularly exposed to ocean and cryosphere change, such as sea level rise, extreme sea level and shrinking cryosphere,” notes the recent 1,170-page IPCC report “The Ocean and...

“We’ll Be Watching You”: Thunberg’s UN Speech

September 23, 2019
Global leaders are failing youth, and 16-year-old activist Greta Thunberg addressed 60 world leaders at the UN Climate Action Summit about the need for urgent action on climate change, warning “we’ll be watching you.” Her assessment was concise, blunt and searing: “People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you...

Climate Strike Spans Continents: Financial Times

Sarah Provan, Philip Georgiadis, Camilla Hodgson, Myles McCormick, Adam Samson September 20, 2019
Millions of students and their supporters are protesting to demand immediate action from political leaders on climate change, ending the reliance on coal and other fossil fuels. Protests are scheduled in about 3,000 cities and more than 160 nations. Many businesses lend their support, with one group ringing fire alarms, responding to an early call of activist Greta Thunberg’s: “I want you to act...