Plastic pollution to weigh 1.3 billion tonnes by 2040

An estimated 1.3 billion tonnes of plastic is destined for our environment - both on land and in the ocean - by 2040, unless worldwide action is taken.

That's according to a global model of the scale of the plastic problem over the next 20 years.

Dr Costas Velis from the University of Leeds said the number was "staggering" but that we had "the technology and the opportunity to stem the tide".

Full article here.


To save the EU, its leaders must first focus on saving the planet

he future of Europe depends on climate action. This is the resounding message that young Europeans have delivered to their leaders over the past two years. To be sure, the wave of young climate activists across the continent, from Fridays for Future to Extinction Rebellion, is part of a global response to the climate crisis. But for the EU in particular, it is also a warning from a new generation of Europeans to their leaders: our European identity hinges on your climate policies.

Full article here.


Responsibility or Ruin | by Joschka Fischer - Project Syndicate

“is not unreasonable to expect that future historians will remember 2020 as the beginning of an era of transformative change. This could be the moment when, having realized the consequences of how we have organized our economic systems and engaged with nature, we finally commit to a decisive shift toward sustainability.”

Responsibility or Ruin | by Joschka Fischer - Project Syndicate
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/transformation-of-human-relationship-with-nature-after-covid19-by-joschka-fischer-2020-07
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The Great Climate Migration has Begun

By 2070, the kind of extremely hot zones, like in the Sahara, that now cover less than 1 percent of the earth’s land surface could cover nearly a fifth of the land, potentially placing one of every three people alive outside the climate niche where humans have thrived for thousands of years.

Full article here.


Six Months on a Planet in Crisis: Greta Thunberg's Travel Diary from the U.S. to Davos

My message is – and has always been – listen to the science, listen to the scientists.

“Which scientists?” you could of course argue. Within all scientific fields there’s a constant and never-ending debate. That’s what science is about. And climate crisis deniers and delayers love this angle. To spread doubt about whether there’s actually consensus on the scientific grounds of the climate crisis.

Full article here.

Climate change: Summers could become 'too hot for humans'

Millions of people around the world could be exposed to dangerous levels of heat stress - a dangerous condition which can cause organs to shut down. Many live in developing countries, and do jobs that expose them to potentially life threatening conditions.These include being out in the open on farms and building sites or indoors in factories and hospitals. Global warming will increase the chances of summer conditions that may be "too hot for humans" to work in.

Full article here.

The end of the Arab world’s oil age is nigh

“But don’t be fooled. The world’s economies are moving away from fossil fuels. Oversupply and the increasing competitiveness of cleaner energy sources mean that oil may stay cheap for the foreseeable future. The recent turmoil in oil markets is not an aberration; it is a glimpse of the future. The world has entered an era of low prices—and no region will be more affected than the Middle East and north Africa.”

The end of the Arab world’s oil age is nigh
https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2020/07/18/the-end-of-the-arab-worlds-oil-age-is-nigh
via Instapaper