Big Oil and the plastics industry have deceptively promoted recycling as a solution to plastic waste management for more than 50 years, despite their long-standing knowledge that plastic recycling is not technically or economically viable at scale.
The Fraud of Plastic Recycling
Hang on till I have a cig and a spin around the block in my SUV to think on this.
Amazon was discarding vast quantities of perfectly usable goods. The report identified items such as laptops, shavers, headphones, smart TVs, as well as brand new books, jewellery and hygiene products. Almost all of these items, either returned or unsold, were thrown away in perfectly good condition by the company. …
The retail giant charges vendors that sell through its platform for shelf space in its warehouses. If the products are not sold within a short period of time, Amazon increases the storage costs, but also offers disposal as a fee-based service.
Amazon’s burning approach to unsold and returned products | Ethical Consumer
Economic success: pay to destroy your stock rather than pay more to store it before selling it.
Other retailers are available, e.g. Ethical Superstore
Or browse Ethical Consumer
A novel British satellite designed to map the heat signature of buildings has been launched.
The idea is to highlight those dwellings that are wasting energy and could benefit from better insulation.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-65775901
Not the week to start assessing heat loss from buildings as a bad thing.
Ministers have been vague on the reasons behind their exclusion of glass [from a Scottish deposit return scheme], but alluded to industry pressures.
Clearly ministers must not be stippled but toughened, and not lose their bottle.
Single people should be valued as much as couples and families, the Church of England has said in a major report that welcomes diversity in personal relationships.
The church should “not regard [singleness] as lesser than living in a couple relationship”, the report said, pointing out that Jesus was single.
I say potayto;
You say potahto;
I say pronatalism is bad for people and planet;
You say procreation is a blessing even if you don't plan it;
Let's call the whole thing off.
Some of the icebergs looming before us are literal. It is thought that the Titanic was sunk by one that calved off of Jacobshavn Isbrae, one of Greenland’s great glaciers. Today it is source of around 10% of icebergs plunging into the sea from Greenland, and one of the fastest moving on Earth. The rate doubled from 1996 to 2005. Freshening caused by melting icebergs diminishes the saltiness that causes Gulf Stream waters to sink, thus hindering the mechanism that drives the current. The North Atlantic circulation is now at its weakest point in at least 1,000 years, and scientists point to those calving icebergs as the source.
The collapse of the Gulf Stream would cause climate chaos across the world, intensifying extremes in Europe and storms in North America. Already the slowing is piling up warm water off the U.S. East Coast, where waters are heating faster than anywhere on Earth, adding to sea level rise already created by melting glaciers and threatening greater storms. In a supreme but predictable irony, one of the descendants of the Morgan trusts, J.P. Morgan & Chase, is the largest bank funder of fossil fuels since the Paris Climate Accords were signed in 2016, having invested $434 billion by 2022. J.P. Morgan financed the Titanic. J.P Morgan & Chase is financing the iceberg.
…it seems too many of us are comfortably sleeping in our cabins, believing that the captain has matters well in hand. When it is clear the captains of the world do not, with great power conflict escalating seemingly beyond control, and the climate crisis mounting even as it is shoved into the background.
There’s an environmental cost attached to maintaining a winter sports season in a snowless environment. … a reliance on fake snow will expand the carbon footprint of ski resorts and strain freshwater sources.
https://theconversation.com/four-ways-winter-heatwaves-affect-humans-and-nature-197365
Give the canary in the coal mine a gas mask and keep digging.
Fossil fuel companies and firms that work closely with them are among the biggest spenders on ads designed to look like Google search results … for 78 climate-related terms
Who’s fuelling your search engine?
The UK Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) is a state-owned body that was set up to “maximise economic recovery” of oil and gas resources. This mandate is enshrined in legislation, specifically the Petroleum Act.
By not including the significant tax breaks that oil and gas companies receive in its definition of “economic recoverability”, we are arguing that the OGA’s new Strategy, adopted in February, is unlawful and will encourage more oil and gas to be extracted, endangering our climate targets and the Government’s commitment to net zero emissions.
The spirit of the law here is petroleum vapour.
a group of industry associations including the International Meat Secretariat and International Poultry Council called for the UN to support increased meat consumption worldwide, arguing that “advances in intensive livestock systems” would “contribute to the preservation of planetary resources.”
https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2021/09/21/un-food-systems-summit-meat-climate/
Part of the current wave of inclusion, to ensure all voices are heard, especially those from crania filled with brawn.
The UN still wants to hear from the fish fraternity, the insect protein interest pressure faction, the lab-grown meat lobby, the game group, and any others you can construct.
Ecomical 