Today’s Solutions: May 20, 2024

Oceans

From tackling marine plastic pollution to coral reef restoration, learn about humanity’s latest efforts to protect ocean habitats and marine wildlife.

Big ashtray with cigarette butts. A smoker shakes off the ash in an ashtray.

Tobacco companies in Spain now fit the bill for cigarette butt clean-up

Tobacco businesses will be obliged to pay for the cleanup of millions of cigarette ends discarded by smokers each year under new environmental legislation in Spain. The decision, which went into effect last week, is part of a package of waste-reduction and recycling efforts. It calls for the Read More...

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

2022's most optimistic climate stories

These days, it’s easy to sink into feelings of climate anxiety and eco-grief. However, this past year brought us a number of good climate stories that encourage us not to lose hope! Renewables are expected to produce more energy than coal in the United States. Hydropower, wind, and solar Read More...

Underwater sculptures

Italian fisherman uses underwater sculptures to stop trawling

Italian fisherman Paolo Fanciulli had been fishing the waters of the Maremma coastline for almost 40 years. These sea habitats near Tuscany, and Fanciulli’s livelihood, came under threat, however, in the form of illegal trawling, dragging huge nets through the water to catch large amounts of Read More...

plastics

Canada outlines plan to ban single-use plastic

Canada has now become a world leader in environmental policy. On Monday, it laid out its final plans and regulations on how it intends to ban single-use plastics.  Federal health minister Jean-Yves Duclos said the country recycles “only 8 percent of the plastic [Canada] throws away” and Read More...

Plastic Recycling

Fast-acting enzyme breaks down plastics and changes recycling game

We’ve all wondered when we take out the recycling just how much of it will be recycled, remade, and repurposed into a new product as we hope. Sadly, only 10 percent of plastics globally are successfully recycled, and there’s a lot of work to do to ensure everything we put in the recycling bin Read More...

okra on a cutting board, some pieces whole others cut

Okra: the surprising hero in the fight against microplastics

According to new research from scientists at Tarleton State University in Texas, okra — you know, the green, finger-shaped pod that is often added to delicious dishes like gumbo and soup — is a valuable weapon in the fight to get microplastics out of our drinking water. What are Read More...

Floating rotating turnable solar panels. Large scale Sustainable energy solar system. The Netherlands.

These innovative solar panels stalk the sun across the sky

In order to get the most out of its energy, a Portuguese company's sustainable solution stalks the Sun as it journeys across the sky. SolarisFloat has created an innovative floating solar system that is unlike the many others that are currently stationed in bodies of water across the world. The Read More...

Tiger shark over sea grass at Fish Tales / Bahamas

How tiger sharks help researchers map the world’s largest seagrass system

Tiger sharks have a symbiotic connection with seagrass habitats, acting as the apex predator to prevent overgrazing by other species while patrolling the underwater meadows for food. Using cameras affixed to their backs, scientists investigating these species have used their free-roaming Read More...

Bristol college students and schoolchildren carrying climate change placards and signs are pictured taking part in a climate change protest

For the first time ever young people have a "seat at the table" at COP27

This year's United Nations Climate Change Conference in Egypt, more commonly referred to as COP27, is the first ever to give children an official platform: the Children and Youth Pavilion. Considering how young activists like Vanessa Nakate and Greta Thunberg have led the climate campaign in Read More...

Team volunteers with many plants in a planting campaign for climate protection.

Eco-anxiety and grief part II: how to cope

Part one of this two-part series discussed the differences between ecological grief and eco-anxiety, two relatively new terms used in reference to the feelings of sadness and distress that are related to the climate crisis. Now, let’s dive into how we can face them. How to cope with Read More...