Tag: environment

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Profit-driven plastic industry’s toxic pollution, turning a systemic problem to a personal one

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A compelling exposé of the industry flooding our world with plastic, the fundamental material for modern consumerism, spanning our daily lives. Although the oil and petrochemical companies making it are hiding in plain sight. Because for all the vivid coverage of where plastic ends up, there is remarkably little discussion of where it comes from. Today, industry is pouring billions of dollars into plans to double, or even triple, the amount it churns out, even as individuals concerned about plastic’s out-of-control proliferation try to use less. As Big Oil shares down a future of diminishing demand for fossil fuels, plastic … Continue reading Profit-driven plastic industry’s toxic pollution, turning a systemic problem to a personal one

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Shadow before bright future

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Writer-activist, Rebecca Solnit’s sequel to her enduring bestseller Hope in the Dark, offers a brilliant account of our immediate past and a thrilling account of the sheer breadth and scale of social, political, scientific, and cultural change over the past three quarters of a century.  Her survey of the world that has changed dramatically since the year 1960. Despite the forces seeking to turn back the clock on history, change is not a possibility; it is an inevitability. The changes amount to backlash drives individualism and isolation, this new world embraces antiracism, feminism, a more expansive understanding of gender, environmental thinking, … Continue reading Shadow before bright future

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Global push to power EVs, Smartphones and energy transition amid human and environmental costs

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Niarchos in The Elements of Power produces a tale of rapacious colonialism, cold war spy games and extractive capitalism”. Congo the war-torn African country lack basic infrastructure and after many decades of colonial occupation, its people are officially among the poorest in the world. But Congo is rich and hidden beneath the soil are vast quantities of cobalt, lithium, copper, tin, tantalum, tungsten and other treasures essential for the global energy transition- the plan for wealthy nations to wean themselves off fossil fuels by shifting to sustainable forms of energy such as solar and wind. The race to electrify the … Continue reading Global push to power EVs, Smartphones and energy transition amid human and environmental costs

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Supply of battery metals amid big business rivalry and geopolitics

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The Elements of Power is a tale of rapacious colonialism, Cold War spy games, dazzling technical innovation, big business rivalry, big power geopolitics. Nicholas Niarchos’s epic shocking story of the war for the global supply of battery metals- essential for the decarbonization of our economies- and the terrible, bloody human cost of this badly misunderstood industry. Swaths of war-torn Congo, the African country is rich but lack basic infrastructure, and after many decades of colonial occupation, its people are officially among the poorest in the world. But hidden beneath the soil are vast quantities of cobalt, lithium, copper, tin, tantalum, … Continue reading Supply of battery metals amid big business rivalry and geopolitics

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How water instilled a dream city

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Back in Nineteen Thirteen, William Mulholland completed the Los Angeles Aqueduct, a 233-mile engineering masterwork transporting water from the Owens Valley, a dry lake on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada across the desert to a barren south-western corner of California that would become the home of filmmaking, and transformed the land’s fertility. In Aqua, award winning, Italian filmmaker and writer Chiara Barzini gives insight into the founding of Hollywood, the building of great water systems. Her hometown Rome, abound with empty aqueducts and pipes, representing someone’s dream of turning dry soil into a fertile lucrative and fertile agricultural … Continue reading How water instilled a dream city

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Fight for a liveable planet for us, our children and future generations

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Scientists Peter Hotez, a vaccinologist and dean of National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College in Texas and Michael Mann, climatologist and professor of atmospheric science at Pennsylvania State University, may have gone over the top in their assessment of the threat. They claim “Science is indeed under siege, and that’s not good for any of us. It’s not too late to do something: It’s time to get things done”. Both endured frequent personal attacks and threats to themselves and their families, on social media and in person at lectures and even at home. Climate change deniers are encouraging … Continue reading Fight for a liveable planet for us, our children and future generations

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Our fate flows with that of rivers

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Rivers are not mere matter for human use, but living beings- who should be recognized as such in both imagination and law. Is a River Alive? is a a passionate, immersive and revelatory story which will open hearts, spark debates and lead us to the revelation that our fate flows with that of rivers – and always has. Renowned nature writer Robert Macfarlane takes us on several exhilarating journeys across the globe, including the Ecuadorean cloud forest and the head forest of Rio Los Cedros, onto the wounded creeks, lagoons and estuaries of the dying waters around the city of Chennai in … Continue reading Our fate flows with that of rivers

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Finding new love

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Marine and Michael, two protagonist find themselves together on a 190-mile  coast-to-coast walking trail across northern England, after being brought together through a mutual friend. A love story develops between the two divorcees as they battle the great British weather to find their way home, finding new love and second chances along the way, exploring the relationships in a way that reflects real life and the search for human connection.  At first Marine is interested in another group member, Conrad, but as he soon drops out along with the others, leaving Marine and Michael to continue to walk together, starting from … Continue reading Finding new love

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Lovelock’s technology that found the hole in the Ozone layer

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James Lovelock, the scientist who styled himself as an independent researcher and discovered the chemicals that were destroying the ozone layer, predicted the dangers of climate change, and even helped the British secret services to detect Irish Republican Army bombs. Lovelock known as the father of Gala Theory, the idea that life on Earth is a self-sustaining system in which organisms interact with their environments to maintain a habitable ecosystem. During the Second World War he worked at the National Medical Research Institute, where his life-long interest in chemical tracing began. In the 1960s he worked at NASA and for … Continue reading Lovelock’s technology that found the hole in the Ozone layer

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Harnessing business power for sustainability

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How pioneering business billionaires are resetting their companies’ relationship to nature, society, and our common future creating sustainable prosperity and reveals us how to balance business needs with impact on nature, shareholders with stockholders, and short-term vs Long-term profits. Strategies for addressing the negative externalities and trade-offs  that arise from doing business, identifying the right metrics and targets to deliver on your purpose, and accounting for human, social and natural capital, alongside financial capital. A must-read book for business leaders, entrepreneurs, and changemakers at companies around the world. Luc Hoffman, heir to the Roche Pharmaceutical group shows us how business … Continue reading Harnessing business power for sustainability