The popularity of vapes is an environmental nightmare
New research has identified that two vapes are thrown away every second in the UK alone, ending up in landfill despite the fact they contain lithium, a valuable and increasingly scarce metal on which much of the high-tech economy depends. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know...
Current in Change
The Lionesses’ Euro triumph will change the face of women’s football
Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses have captured the hearts and minds of the country and the future of women’s football will be all the better for it. The celebrations are rightly still ongoing, but we can’t help but look to the future. If you’ve been living under a rock this weekend, Sarina Wiegman’s...
New spray-on coating could replace plastic food wrapping
Researchers at Harvard and Rutgers have developed a new plant-based antimicrobial coating to protect food. It has the potential to replace single-use plastic wrappers. As anybody who eats on-the-go knows, plastic wrapping and single-use packaging is a major environmental waste problem. We throw away tons of cardboard and plastic every...
What does a summer of heatwaves say about our climate?
From India to Europe and more, climate change is driving increasingly intense and damaging heatwaves as humans struggle to adapt. The world has been feeling the heat in 2022. India and Pakistan experienced their hottest March on record this year, exposing many to power and water shortages. Europe, meanwhile, is only...
Are past-focused approaches to therapy getting it wrong?
Traditional approaches to therapy tend to focus on unpacking difficult experiences from the past. Could incorporating a mindful, future-focused method be more practical? If you’ve ever been to therapy, you’ve probably been encouraged to tell your story and to ‘start from the beginning’. Our life experiences shape who we are, making...
Filmmaker Lu Ke arrested for exploiting Malawian children
A Chinese national filmmaker, Lu Ke, has been accused of manipulating Malawian village children into saying racist phrases as personalised greeting videos and selling footage on Chinese sites. Last week, Zambian authorities arrested Chinese national Mr. Lu Ke, who fled Malawi after viral videos of children saying racist phrases emerged...
Climate NGOs plea for Tesla to pull out of Indonesia nickel drive
Dozens of environmental NGOs have sent a joint letter to Elon Musk pleading with the Tesla chief to pull out of Indonesia’s nickel drive. Citing concerns around water pollution and deforestation, the cohort claim this isn’t the way to accelerate EV adoption. As we approach 2030 climate deadlines, the automobile industry is changing drastically each year. The common consensus is that we need electric vehicles (EVs) to succeed petrol cars, and...
The mission to improve sustainability and ethics in the gold industry
Banks store it, people wear it, and in times of trouble, the world’s wealthiest hoard it. But what are the social and environmental costs of gold? In light of global inflation, investors are flocking to gold as a ‘safe-haven asset’ to protect their wealth. Because unlike money, gold’s value is retained or even hightened in times of financial uncertainty. As fears of a recession loom due to the war in Ukraine...
Is the UK finally poised to close the gender health gap?
With the publication of the first ever government-led women’s health strategy, ministers have vowed to tackle decades of ‘systemic’ and ‘entrenched’ inequality in England. While women’s health has undergone a generational culture shift in recent years, prompting more open discourse around historically stigmatised concerns regarding our wombs, tales of dismissal by both male and female physicians remain rife. This issue is known as the gender health gap, whereby women are...
Mercedes becomes first sports outfit to invest in sustainable aviation fuel
Leading Formula 1 team Mercedes has committed a multi-million euro pledge to accelerate sustainable aviation fuel development. The wider sport is aiming for net zero by 2030 and Mercedes wants to play a central role in stemming its current criticism. When it comes to sustainability, Formula 1 and Motorsport in general has anything but a clean rap sheet. Only weeks ago we were reminded of this when campaigners from Just...
