Cities are becoming too hot for trees
According to a new study, climate change is threatening the health and survival of trees grown in urban areas to keep them cool, with more than half of the species already feeling the heat. If you spent your summer in a city, likelihood is you were forced to endure...
Current in Planet
How the climate crisis has changed perspectives on city design
Architectural innovation will be absolutely vital to help us withstand life in a warmer world. What will future buildings look like and how can we adapt the ones that currently stand? Cities are nothing without their multi-storey buildings and iconic, shiny, glass skyscrapers. We’ve become accustomed to gawking at their...
Ukraine’s valuable seed bank is at risk of being lost to war
Global food supplies have already been tightened due to the ongoing war, but the future of agriculture could also be at risk if Ukraine’s largest seed bank is destroyed by Russian attacks. Farmlands in Ukraine are some of the most fertile on Earth. The nation’s nutrient rich soil stores moisture for...
US Senate passes the nation’s first ever climate legislation
Getting the Inflation Reduction Act passed is one of Joe Biden’s most impactful moves as President yet. It will seek to avert global climate catastrophe by drastically reducing US greenhouse emissions, but also lower prescription drug costs for citizens, and increase taxes paid by large corporations. Environmentalists, climate activists, and...
Earth nearing multiple ‘irreversible’ climate tipping points
A major scientific reassessment has uncovered that five critical planetary systems are at risk of breaking beyond repair – even if nations restrain warming to 1.5°C, the lower threshold stipulated by the Paris Agreement. This time last year, a devastating report from the IPCC warned us that the world was...
Haarlem has banned meat adverts from public spaces
In an effort to reduce consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, Haarlem in the Netherlands has made the bold decision to outlaw ads for intensively farmed meat on buses, shelters, and screens. Acknowledging the link between animal exploitation and the worsening climate crisis, a Dutch city will become the first...
Are ‘best before’ dates on fresh produce necessary?
Every year, 88 million tons of food goes to waste in the EU. To tackle the problem, supermarkets are removing best before dates on fresh produce and encouraging customers to use their senses while shopping - literally. ‘Do you think this milk is still ok?’ my colleagues ask one another on Tuesday morning, reverting to the good old, trusty smell test on a past-dated carton before tucking into their morning...
Berlin switches off monument lighting to preserve energy
The lights on Berlin’s famous monuments and historic buildings are being shut off in order to save energy amidst Russian energy cuts. Other cities like Hanover are cutting hot water in city-run buildings. If you’re planning to visit Berlin this summer, don’t expect to see its impressive monuments lit up during the evenings. In light of the energy crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine, the city is switching off the...
Why the response to the monkeypox outbreak is problematic
Monkeypox was just declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation. Why are officials pushing the damaging narrative that it’s only a concern for men in the LGBTQ community? Although we’ve all experienced a heightened awareness towards contagious illnesses over the last few years, it appears that officials and the general public haven’t learned from our recent past. We’re still dealing with an ever-mutating COVID-19, but new strains of...
Modern pesticides are getting bees ‘drunk’
Scientists have warned that exposure to neonicotinoids – the worlds’ most commonly used insecticide – is damaging the vital pollinators’ brains, preventing them from walking in a straight line.
As we know, the world’s insects are hurtling towards extinction.
Among them – most alarming of all – are a species integral to our natural ecosystems and consequently, human life. I’m talking, of course, about bees, whose overall population has
