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Potato yarn may cut the fashion industry's environmental footprint

29 August 2024

Thread that contains the part of a potato plant that is normally thrown away could be a sustainable alternative to pure cotton
2MJA8ED FILE - In this Dec. 11, 2015, file photo, the slogan 1.5 DEGREES is projected on the Eiffel Tower as part of the COP21, United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. Next month's three-day U.N. climate summit will highlight the urgency of taking immediate actions to reduce global warming and focus on innovations that work, not wordy statements, the U.N. special envoy for the event said Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

The 1.5°C target is dead, but climate action needn't be

21 August 2024

For the first time, climate scientists have explicitly said it will be impossible to limit peak warming to 1.5°C. Now our focus should be on taking action, not meaningless platitudes and slogans
Fog lying over the Amazon

How 'forever chemicals' reached one of the world's most pristine areas

20 August 2024

Scientists have found significant concentrations of a type of PFAS chemical in the air deep in the Amazon rainforest, suggesting it travelled over 100 kilometres from an industrial hub
Lord Howe Island emits no plastic into the environment, yet its wildlife is drastically affected by marine plastic debris - a global problem with a chronic local impact

Photos of an island paradise reveal plastic threat for bird population

31 July 2024

Neal Haddaway's photographs show how flesh-footed shearwater chicks on a beautiful island in the Tasman Sea are in danger from mounting marine plastic pollution
London UK - Jun 22 2024: People protest against the conservative government at the Restore Nature Now March for environmental protection. Organisations present included the RSPB, W; Shutterstock ID 2479235175; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Voters everywhere back green policies. Politicians should take note

31 July 2024

The Conservative party's war on the environment cost them dearly in the UK election. Voters around the world – including in the US – want action on climate change, says Graham Lawton
Icebergs floating in the Labrador Sea, Nuuk Fjord, Sermersooq, Greenland; Shutterstock ID 1838040322; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Hundreds of Greenland's glacial lakes have burst since 2008

22 July 2024

Using satellite data, researchers identified hundreds of glacial lakes in Greenland that flooded their frozen shores over the past decade – helping speed up global sea level rise
What would Earth look like in 25 years? I asked the experts

What would Earth look like in 25 years? I asked the experts

10 July 2024

Exhausted by today's political and environmental instability, Annalee Newitz investigated what a future Earth might look like. Get ready for green mining, soft cities and robo-taxis
Taylor Roades: Rust River Earth Photo 2024 Shortlisted Entry 2023 was the hottest year on global record and the Arctic is disproportionately affected by these elevated temperatures. The remote Western Brooks Range of North West Alaska has recorded a 2.4 degree increase in temperature since 2006. Permafrost, the layer of soil that remains frozen throughout the year is thawing at an unprecedented rate, exposing the bedrock and all metals that have been frozen within it, to the elements. Tukpahlearick Creek and its tributaries are now flowing bright orange with oxidized iron and sulphuric acid. The change to water quality, and risks associated with metals in the water pose dire threats to ecosystems downstream that rely on these waters, and are symbolic of the far reaching consequences of climate change.

Photos of a rusting Alaskan river win New Scientist Editors Award

19 June 2024

Taylor Roades's images of a river in north-west Alaska that has turned orange because of global warming have won the New Scientist Editors Award at the Earth Photo competition
Marcadet Belv?d?re

Embrace wooden buildings for the sake of your health and the planet's

6 June 2024

The burgeoning use of wood as a building material is a path to more sustainable construction, and it may have psychological benefits too, finds Graham Lawton
2X4HHK9 extreme heat wave 2024

Don't be fooled by El Niño's end – net zero is more urgent than ever

29 May 2024

The El Niño climate pattern has contributed to a year of record-breaking temperatures. We must bend the curve of carbon emissions before the next one arrives

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