2018 was a year in which the threats facing our planet—from plastic pollution to climate change―became impossible to ignore. As scientists and journalists continued to sound the alarm, ordinary people stepped up to do something about it. Sometimes it can be hard to believe that one person’s action can make a difference in the face […]
Two days after World Food Day, an innovative nonprofit has launched a website to help you reduce the environmental impact of the food you eat. FoodPrint, designed by GRACE Communications Foundation, was created to educate consumers about everything that goes into common food items, from farm to fridge, so that they can make sustainable choices. […]
On World Food Day, observed every year on Oct. 16, we can all do our part to combat global hunger and malnutrition. The United Nations’ second Sustainable Development Goal calls for ending world hunger by 2030 and urges profound interventions from governments, businesses and individuals to help feed the growing number of hungry people in […]
By Dan Nosowitz Tesco, one of the UK’s biggest supermarket chains, announced this week that it will remove “best by” date labels from 116 fruit and vegetable items. The move builds on a smaller reduction in the label earlier this year. So why are those labels bad? The “best by” label, along with its siblings […]
By 2050, there will be 10 billion people on the earth, and global income will triple. Feeding more people with more money will increase the environmental pressures put on the planet by the global food system by between 50 and 92 percent. If nothing is done, those pressures will push Earth “beyond the planetary boundaries […]
By Rebecca Mackelprang A University of California, Berkeley professor stands at the front of the room, delivering her invited talk about the potential of genetic engineering. Her audience, full of organic farming advocates, listens uneasily. She notices a man get up from his seat and move toward the front of the room. Confused, the speaker […]
This week, the city of Austin, Texas implemented a new rule that prevents restaurants from tossing wasted food straight into the trash. Austin’s Universal Recycling Ordinance, enacted on Monday, requires all food-permitted businesses to divert discarded organic material, including food scraps and soiled paper, from landfills, according to the city government’s press release of the […]
By Edward Davey The world is vastly underestimating the benefits of acting on climate change. Recent research from the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate finds that bold climate action could deliver at least $26 trillion in economic benefits through 2030. This ground-breaking research, produced by the Global Commission and more than 200 experts, […]
Since 2015, all large stores in England have been required by law to charge five pence for single-use plastic bags in an attempt to reduce plastic pollution. Now, major UK supermarket chain the Co-op is taking that one step further by phasing out plastic bags entirely and replacing them with compostable alternatives, becoming the first […]