Latest Stories from Jessica
Loud listening habits risk hearing loss for 1 billion young people
Take a walk outside and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone not wearing headphones. But could this everyday habit be detrimental to our hearing in the long run? Several recent studies say yes, if we’re not careful. Sorry, what was that? I couldn’t hear you over my LOUD taste in music. New studies suggest that over 1 billion young people globally are at risk of hearing loss due to poor music...
Brazil’s Amazon Fund has been revived thanks to new governance
After a decade of success, Brazil’s internationally-funded rainforest protection program was frozen in 2019 by President Jair Bolsonaro. Now, the nation’s Supreme Court has announced the Amazon Fund will continue operations by 2023. Fridays are for good news, and luckily, there have been some great developments happening in regard to the Amazon Rainforest. Following a close win by left-wing presidential candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s Supreme Court has announced...
Exclusive – COP27’s Biodiversity Day with Kasha Slavner
We spoke with award-winning filmmaker and activist Kasha Slavner about what it means to respect and protect our planet on COP’s Biodiversity Day. Yesterday’s theme at COP27 was Biodiversity Day. Leaders gathered to discuss nature and ecosystem-based solutions to climate mitigation and adaptation. They also built strategies to mobilise global action towards halting biodiversity loss by reducing key drivers of climate change. We sat down with Kasha Slavner, an award-winning Gen...
Tuvalu to preserve its culture in the metaverse
Climate change is affecting the Pacific Island of Tuvalu in a serious way. Anticipating its population will be forced into climate migration in the near future, the government is turning to the metaverse to preserve its unique culture. While COP27 isn’t over, betting on actual environmental policy implementation is risky, if previous summits are anything to go by. This is especially true for the Global South. The reality is that business...
Exclusive – COP27’s Water Day with Bodhi Patil & Nyombi Morris
Yesterday was Water Day at COP27. World leaders set out to discuss sustainable water resource management, as well as water scarcity, drought, cross-boundary cooperation, and improving water systems. Currently, 3.6 billion people face inadequate access to water for at least one month per year. By 2050, water scarcity is expected to affect more than 5 billion people. The climate crisis has disrupted natural water systems, in fact, UN Water says that...
UN will use satellites to track down methane gas leaks
At last year’s COP summit, methane was labelled the ‘lowest hanging fruit’ in the race to slow global heating. Now, the UN has announced it will use satellites to locate where methane leaks are and will be publishing the data on a public database. Those clued up on the human-driven process of planetary heating will know that carbon dioxide emissions are only one piece of the puzzle. Despite CO2 being worthy...
Exclusive – COP27’s Finance Day with Oluwaseyi Moejoh
We had the pleasure of speaking with U-Recycle Initiative’s co-founder, Oluwaseyi Moejoh, about one of the most daunting and misunderstood themes of COP27: finance.
Oluwaseyi Moejoh is a Nigerian environmentalist and global change-maker who is enthusiastic about sustainability and the protection of the oceans.
She is the co-founder of U-Recycle Initiative, a youth-led organisation focused on advancing a circular economy in Africa and beyond through reinforcing environmental sustainability and recycling culture.
Lab-grown blood cells administered to humans for the first time
In a world-first clinical trial, lab-grown red blood cells have been transfused into humans. If successful, its continuation will bolster supplies for those with rare blood types and improve treatment for people who require regular transfusions. You’ve heard of lab-grown meat, but what about lab-grown human blood? For the very first time, a couple of spoonfuls (5-10ml) of lab-grown blood have been injected into volunteers participating in the RESTORE randomised controlled...
New strategy for tackling homelessness trialling in UK
After notable success in the US and Europe, a surprisingly simple model for getting rough sleepers into safe housing is being tested in the UK. The approach was put forward by a psychologist in the 90s but has taken two decades to be implemented. According to Occam’s Razor, the most obvious answer is usually the correct one. Applying this to the homelessness crisis, the clearest solution would be to provide...
Tiny village becomes India’s first to run completely on solar power
Home to 6,500 residents, Modhera has become India’s first village to run entirely on solar energy. A government-funded project is raising the area’s living standards and boosting the local workforce. As the time margin for limiting global heating narrows, the race to implement renewable energy sources is intensifying. Not to mention, recent months have shown that depending on imported fossil fuels for power is risky business, as its availability can...
