Glenn Scherer

The concrete industry is a major carbon emitter and polluter, with severe human health impacts. But circular solutions, including electrifying cement plants, making low-carbon cement, and bio-architecture could offer relief.

Emerging research shows that plant-based plastics — just like petroleum-based plastics — contain many thousands of synthetic chemicals, with large numbers of them extremely toxic.

The biomass energy industry centered in the U.S. Southeast is now seeking expansion to California, with U.K. wood pellet maker Drax joining a state-funded nonprofit to increase pellet exports to Asia — a plan forest advocates oppose.

Representatives of 170 nations met in Ottawa, Canada, last week pushing a final U.N. plastic pollution treaty agreement closer to completion. But much remains to be done, with debate over plastic production limits and other barriers still unsettled.

Since 1950, humanity has produced more than 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic. Most has ended up in landfills or the environment.

Plastic is a remarkably versatile and durable material, which has made it indispensable in almost every area of modern life. But these same properties, amplified by our “take-make-waste” linear economy, have created a brewing environmental catastrophe. It’s hard to grasp the gigantic scale of our global plastic waste problem. Since 1950, humanity has produced more than 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic. Most has ended up in landfills or the environment, where it is harmful to wildlife, ecosystem functioning and human health. Once in the environment, plastic slowly breaks down into smaller and smaller fragments, known as micro- and nanoplastics. But it can take hundreds or even thousands of years for plastic, which itself contains thousands of chemicals, to degrade into its basic natural components. That’s because plastics are made up of repeating units of tightly bonded carbon-rich molecules, which makes them very difficult to break down. But nature brings cause for hope: scientists are working on a range of biological solutions to address the plastic pollution crisis at every stage of the material’s life cycle, from capturing waste before it enters the environment, to upcycling plastics into new, useful products. In the environment, plastic slowly breaks down into smaller and smaller fragments, known as micro- and nano-plastics, which are extremely challenging to clean up. Researchers are exploring bio-based filters that can capture these tiny plastic fragments from water. Image by Florida Sea Grant via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). Nature-based filters: Microplastics come to a sticky end Micro- and nanoplastic…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Fishing cats are uniquely adapted to life in wetlands, possessing a double-layered coat that serves as a water barrier and insulation, partially

Many cats despise mud and water, but not so the fishing cat. This enigmatic medium-sized cat species roams South and Southeast Asia and is uniquely adapted to life in wetlands — so much so that its call resembles the quack of a duck. Little known and underresearched, it faces an uphill battle against multiple threats, including loss of its wetland habitat to humanity’s incursions, and escalating climate change, as extreme drought and rising coastal waters disrupt aquatic ecosystems. Though in peril, the fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) has many champions fighting for its survival. A pioneer of that effort is Tiasa Adhya, co-founder of the Fishing Cat Project in India, the world’s first and longest-running conservation and research program dedicated to the species. Her journey to researching and becoming a voice for P. viverrinus began on a tiger survey in the Sundarbans of West Bengal, India, in 2010. “There was this miniature pugmark — [a footprint] like that of a small tiger — that the forest department ranger pointed me to,” she recounts. “They said it belonged to the fishing cat. It was the state animal of West Bengal. But I had no idea what a fishing cat was, and that was true for most people [living] in my state.” Adhya went on to co-found the Fishing Cat Project that same year. Over time, the group’s relentless awareness-raising efforts, community outreach, and government lobbying boosted the fishing cat’s visibility, she says. In 2022, she received the Future for Nature Award, in…This article was originally published on Mongabay

The Caribbean Basin is drowning in waste, especially plastic trash that's contaminating rivers and the surrounding sea, poisoning fish and turtles.

Scientists called for project ideas and scored them from reasonable to wild. While all agree cutting emissions needs action now, some of these methods of last resort could be tested, and one day be applied to save the polar region.