It is clear that the world’s pollinators are under threat. A 2019 study found that almost half of all insects have disappeared since 1970 and 41 percent of insect species are at risk of extinction. Further, one in six bee species have gone locally extinct in at least one area, as AFP pointed out. But […]
By Jeannette Cwienk From violets and pansies to kitchen herbs, the longer spring goes on in the northern hemisphere, the more diverse our options are for outdoor flowers and plants. According to the German environmental nonprofit BUND, about a billion garden and balcony plants are sold in the country each year. And those splashes of […]
During 18 months, Mongabay investigated allegations challenging the “sustainable” status of the Brazilian palm oil supply chain, revealing impacts including deforestation and water contamination, and what appears to be an industry-wide pattern of brazen disregard for Amazon conservation and for the rights of Indigenous people and traditional communities in northern Pará state. In this behind-the-scenes […]
Coffee has enormous cultural significance. It’s a staple of culture, cuisine, and everyday life for people all over the planet. Americans alone consume 400 million cups of coffee per day, and the crop is a highly traded commodity of huge importance to global economies. These millions of cups aren’t without consequence, however. The growing, processing, […]
By Jessica Corbett A study published Tuesday in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science bolsters alarm about the role that agricultural pesticides play in what scientists have dubbed the “bugpocalypse” and led authors to call for stricter regulations across the U.S. Researchers at the University of Maryland as well as the advocacy groups Friends of […]
By Jessica Corbett A coalition of 80 U.S. agricultural, consumer, environmental, public health, and worker groups sent a letter Thursday to key figures in the Biden administration calling for them to “respect Mexico’s sovereignty and refrain from interfering with its right to enact health-protective policies” — specifically, the phaseout of the herbicide glyphosate and the […]
By Jenna McGuire Commonly used herbicides across the U.S. contain highly toxic undisclosed “inert” ingredients that are lethal to bumblebees, according to a new study published Friday in the Journal of Applied Ecology. The study reviewed several herbicide products and found that most contained glyphosate, an ingredient best recognized from Roundup products and the most […]
A new study adds to the evidence that pesticides harm children’s health. The study, published in Environmental Research last week, found that children were more likely to develop central nervous system (CNS) tumors if their mothers had lived within 2.5 miles of land where pesticides were being sprayed when they were born. “This study is […]
By Andrea Germanos Despite lower applied amounts of pesticides in U.S. agriculture, their toxicity to non-target species including honeybees more than doubled in a decade, according to a new study. The findings by a team of researchers from Germany’s University Koblenz-Landau were published Friday in the journal Science. “We have taken a large body of […]