Schadenfreude: noun : a feeling of enjoyment that comes from seeing or hearing about the troubles of other people In recent times, the world has witnessed quite the dramatic increase in climate-related natural disasters in the global West. The Amazon rainforest, once one of the world’s largest and most important carbon sinks, now produces more...
In just over two weeks, more than 100 world leaders will gather in the Scottish industrial city of Glasgow for United Nations climate change negotiations known as COP26. Their task, no less, is to decide the fate of our planet. This characterisation may sound dramatic. After all, UN climate talks are held every year, and...
In July, the European Union released what it calls its Roadmap to a sustainable future, a monumental progress especially in the wake of the G7 Summit which failed to make substantial climate progress. While the move was huge, it did not come totally unexpected. From EU elections to the Green Deal presented in December 2019,...
Keep Australia Beautiful week is now upon us. Launched in 1968, it is the first anti-litter campaign advocating for a litter-free and sustainable Australia. This year the campaign is putting a spotlight on eliminating single-use plastic waste to help protect the country’s biodiversity from the material’s harmful effects. According to a 2020 report by Boston...
A new initiative is offering financial support to farmers, orchardists and other primary producers to protect pollinators and provide pollinator habitat on their lands. Bee Friendly Farming® is offering up to $100,000 as tree grants to support tree plantings on BFF CERTIFIED farms. To launch the program, non-profit reforestation organisation One Tree Planted, and Flow...
Australia is experiencing widespread, rapid climate change not seen for thousands of years and may warm by 4? or more this century, according to a highly anticipated report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The assessment, released on Monday, also warns of unprecedented increases in climate extremes such as bushfires, floods and drought....
After much anticipation, the World Heritage Committee on Friday decided against listing the Great Barrier Reef as “in danger”. The decision ignored the recommendation of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the UNESCO World Heritage Centre — a recommendation based on analyses by Australian scientific experts of the reef’s declining condition. In...
NAIDOC week has just begun and, after several tumultuous years of disasters in Australia, the theme this year is Heal Country. In the last two years, Australia has suffered crippling drought that saw the Darling-Baaka run dry, catastrophic bushfires, and major flooding throughout coastal and inland areas of Australia’s east. Just two weeks ago, UNESCO’s...
The non-profit Plastic Free July Foundation behind the global movement Plastic Free July, a month-long challenge encouraging individuals to take small steps to eliminate plastic from their daily lives, has launched its ‘My Plastic Action Counts’ campaign to remind Australians that their actions count for more than just avoiding waste. Australians are the biggest consumers of single-use...
Plastic pollution has captured the world’s attention and with good reason. Every day, almost every person on the planet will come into contact with plastic. The world’s dependence on the cheap, versatile and lightweight material has led to plastic being released into the natural environment, causing significant harm to wildlife, habitats and human health. In...
The Australian government on Tuesday expressed shock at a draft decision to list the Great Barrier Reef as “in danger”. But the recommendation has been looming for some time. The recommendation, by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), acknowledges Australia’s commitment to implementing...
A report by non-profit organisation Break Free From Plastic ranked Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo and Nestlé as the world’s top plastic polluters for the third consecutive year. The organisation conducted 575 on the ground audit events in 55 countries across six continents with the help of 14,734 volunteer waste pickers and found that 63% of waste...