EcoWatch · Page 32

The U.S. has shifted its policy position and is now in favor of supporting limitations on global plastics, Reuters confirmed. As reported by Grist, the Biden administration announced in closed-door meetings this week that it supported global efforts to limit…

Quick Key Facts Aquaculture is the agricultural practice of cultivating livestocks of aquatic species for human consumption. Around half of the fish consumed around the world come from various aquaculture businesses, which cultivate and harvest hundreds of…

Governor of Massachusetts Maura Healey has signed a new law to phase out per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the protective gear firefighters wear. PFAS “forever chemicals” do not break down in the environment and have been associated with…

More than half of people on Earth — approximately 4 billion— lack access to safe drinking water, which is double the number estimated in 2020, a new study by REACH global research program has found. Launched by University of Nairobi and University of…

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory, the country has installed 20.2 gigawatts utility-scale electric generating capacity from January through June 2024. Of the newly…

The United States has a legacy of lead contamination that could be affecting the environment around your home. A new study found that moss in older neighborhoods in Portland, Oregon, had lead levels that were much higher than in nearby rural areas due to…

Billionaire Mark Attanasio, who owns the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team, has been accused of stealing sand from Malibu, California’s Broad Beach. A lawsuit was filed by James Kohlberg, Attanasio’s next-door neighbor, alleging that the billionaire…

If you’ve ever wondered what healthy soil sounds like, a new study has found that it emits the clicks, crackles and pops of worms and ants moving around underground. Barely audible to humans, the cacophony of sounds is “a bit like an underground rave…

From January through July of this year, wind and solar in the U.S. generated more net electricity than power from coal, according to recent data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). According to the EIA’s Monthly Energy Review for July…

More than 10,000 survivors and loved ones of survivors of “climate-driven disasters” have signed an open letter to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) urging an investigation into fossil fuel companies for “climate-related crimes.” Of the signatories,…

Abandoned farmlands in Europe — which make up nearly 25 percent of the continent’s landscape  — have the potential to be rewilded, according to a new study published in Current Biology. The researchers found that 289 million acres of European farmland…

Hurricane Ernesto left about a third of Puerto Rico’s residents without power on Thursday as it strengthened to become a Category 1 hurricane and barreled toward Bermuda, bringing heavy rain, strong winds and dangerous storm surge. On Thursday morning, the…

The U.S. Department of the Interior has announced $775 million in funding via the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and President Joe Biden’s Investing in America agenda for the purpose of plugging orphaned oil and gas wells. Orphaned oil and gas wells are…

If the idea of meticulously planning and caring for a garden brings you nothing but stress, this gardening trend might bring you nothing but joy.  Chaos gardening is a laid-back (and haphazard) approach to gardening, built on the notion that you can garden…

Last year’s record-breaking wildfires in Canada produced almost a decade’s worth of greenhouse gas emissions from wildfires in one season. According a new study co-led by University of East Anglia (UEA), the United Kingdom’s Met Office, the European…

Nearly half a billion children live in areas of the globe where there are twice as many or more “extremely hot days” each year than there were six decades ago, according to a new UNICEF analysis. The report, A Threat to Progress: Confronting the effects of…

In its latest impact report, the Global Foodbanking Network revealed that it provided food and groceries to 40 million people in 45 countries in 2023. The impact of these actions not only helped meet an increase in food relief demand, but it also reduced food…

Ofgem, the United Kingdom’s energy regulator, has approved a multi-billion-dollar low-carbon “electricity superhighway” to carry green power 300 miles from wind farms in northeast Scotland to northern England. The Eastern Green Link is the longest…

Puerto Rico has activated the National Guard as the Atlantic Ocean’s fifth named storm of 2024 — Tropical Storm Ernesto — barrels through the Caribbean toward the islands. Officials in the United States territory opened shelters, closed schools and moved…

The biggest cruise ships in the world today have more than doubled in size compared to the biggest cruiseliners in 2000, according to a new report by Transport & Environment. The report, “‘Cruisezillas’: How much bigger can cruise ships get?”…