Latest Stories from Jamie
13 days out from COP26 China’s attendance remains in doubt
As the world’s biggest polluter, any success at COP26 all but hinges on China’s attendance. Yet with just 13 days to go until the conference, president Xi Jinping has still yet to commit. After close to two years of grandiose sustainable rhetoric, the world’s leaders are finally set convene in Glasgow this November. Marking the fifth UN climate summit since the Paris Agreement was made, 193 countries of an expected 200...
Carbon recycling creates physical goods from thin air
Everyday household items are now being created using sequestered carbon emissions, and the process is set to become increasingly common over the next 50 years. In the near future, many of our household items could quite literally be conjured from thin air. To date, carbon capture initiatives have predominantly searched for ways to conceal our harmful emissions. Sucked from the atmosphere, sequestered carbon is regularly pumped into industrial concrete mix, for...
New Instagram and Twitter updates target harmful online behaviours
The latest Twitter update will prompt users to reconsider the ‘vibe’ of a heated discussion, while an Instagram ‘nudge’ feature aims to steer teenagers away from harmful content. Despite a newfound urgency in recent years to finally address online hate and content tied to adverse mental health, the big social media platforms are still accused of being too reactionary and not proactive enough. When it comes to Gen Z specifically, the...
California oil spill renews pressure to ban offshore drilling
The Golden State had been a leader in blocking offshore oil expansions since the infamous 1969 spill of Santa Barbara. The latest spill in Huntington Beach, however, has renewed pressure to ban all existing projects. As you’ve most likely seen by now, yet another major oil spill is currently spewing into our oceans, this time courtesy of an offshore drill site in Huntington Beach. On Monday, it was revealed that a...
Domo reveals how the internet is used every minute in 2021
Domo has just released its annual infographic showing how we divide our time online every 60 seconds. With a pandemic-induced shift in digital trends, as well as a 10% rise in those with access to the internet, there are some notable changes from last year. Still reeling from the Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp blackout? Not as much as the conglomerates and billionaire entrepreneurs at their helm you’re not. They’ll be counting...
How humanity solved the crisis of Earth’s depleting ozone
In 1985, atmospheric scientists revealed humanity was on a path to wiping out our entire ozone layer within a few decades. Since then, a combination of scientific, economic, and diplomatic action has all but solved the crisis. After a 12-month delay, we’re finally closing in on COP26, yet rhetoric around climate change remains as disheartening as many of us can recall. Uttering the word ‘crisis’ directly after climate has all but...
Barbara Gollackner transforms food waste into design homeware
Viennese designer Barbara Gollackner has created a collection of abstract homeware items made from industrial and personal food waste. Ever considered that your food waste bin could be a treasure trove for abstract design materials… no? Fair enough. As part of an emerging and quirky artistic category, revered artist and sculptor Barbara Gollackner has developed a method of creating original homeware items from leftover food once destined to end up...
Protecting whales will help to stunt climate change
While reforestation is seen as the key to sequestering carbon dioxide, the facts show one whale is worth thousands of trees. The bulk of negotiations at Glasgow’s COP26 conference revolved around hefty financial packages and tech innovation to reduce carbon dioxide in our atmosphere – especially so on Forest Day. But what if we told you that we already have an effective and economical solution on hand to sequester emissions...
Colorado scientists grow first plants from Martian soil
In what’s being described as an extraordinary breakthrough in the aim of eventually colonising Mars, Colorado scientists have grown the first ever plants in Martian soil. We have definitive proof that the clover really is a lucky plant. Inside a research greenhouse at Colorado State University, agricultural biology student Franklin Harris and his colleagues have just grown the first ever plant from Martian soil – or ‘regolith’. In the aim of establishing...
Amazon launches ‘Future Engineer’ education program in India
Despite making up the second largest internet market globally, India is grossly underrepresented in the world of computer science. Amazon is attempting to rectify this by bringing its education program ‘Future Engineer’ to the nation’s students. The American e-commerce giant helmed by newbie astronaut Jeff Bezos is capable of some good, it would seem. Back in 2018, Amazon launched an education program called Future Engineer which continues to unearth aspiring young...
