VEN – Good News on Climate Action – Blog
Why we need to expand the search for climate-friendly microalgae
Microalgal carbon capture and manufacture (CCM) [43, 47–50]. Microalgae’s efficient CO2 biofixation, carbon conversion and long-term storage into high-value biometabolites offers the grounds for developing products and services for an economically profitable, green and circular economy. in Joan Labara Tirado, Andrei Herdean, Peter J. Ralph. The need for smart microalgal bioprospecting. Natural Products and Bioprospecting, 2025;…
Read MoreResearch on climate policy is growing exponentially.: 85,000 individual studies about climate policy
Growth of literature on climate policy instruments (a). The distribution of papers across instrument types and sectors (b), where bar heights correspond to the number of papers in each sector and widths correspond to the share of mentions of instruments within papers on each sector. From Max Callaghan, Lucy Banisch, Niklas Doebbeling-Hildebrandt, Duncan Edmondson, Christian…
Read MoreNo coal, gas or nuclear: benefits of having the ‘balance of power’. Greens cut deals to “Dutton-proof” Labor’s flagship renewable policies
Sophie Vorrath Feb 13, 2025 POLICY & PLANNING Renew Economy The Australian Greens have had a busy week “Dutton-proofing” the legislation underpinning federal Labor’s flagship renewable energy policies to prevent them being used to support coal, gas or nuclear power in the event of a Coalion election victory this year. The Greens say they have…
Read MoreStudy: US is an oligarchy, not a democracy
Figure 1: Predicted probability of policy adoption (dark lines, left axes) by policy disposition; the distribution of preferences (gray columns, right axes) in Gilens M, Page BI. Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens. Perspectives on Politics. 2014;12(3):564-581. doi:10.1017/S1537592714001595 17 April 2014 By What in the world? in BBC news The US…
Read MoreTaking the ‘forever’ out of ‘forever chemicals’: we worked out how to destroy the PFAS in batteries
Image: from article (also below) Jens Blotevogel Naomi Boxall Remediation Technologies, CSIRO in The Conversation February 7, 2025 Lithium-ion batteries are part of everyday life. They power small rechargeable devices such as mobile phones and laptops. They enable electric vehicles. And larger versions store excess renewable energy for later use, supporting the clean energy transition.…
Read More23 year old bee hunter saving native species, one ‘hotel’ at a time
By Audrey Courty for Trailblazers ABC news Sun 9 Feb Clancy has been learning from Indigenous communities about caring for country. (Supplied) In short A 23-year-old ecologist known as “The Bee Man” is on a mission to conserve solitary pollinators by building them structures in which they can nest and breed. Clancy’s passion was ignited…
Read More“Golden age of gas” has not paid off for Australian consumers, manufacturers
Queensland’s LNG export industry has been a “pretty poor investment” that has driven up domestic gas prices along the east coast, destroyed demand, threatened shortages and failed to deliver the royalties promised, a new analysis suggests. Royce Kurmelovs Feb 6, 2025 GAS POLICY & PLANNING The state’s LNG sector celebrated the ten-year-anniversary in January 2025 but…
Read MoreHow AI narrows our vision of climate solutions. . .and reinforces the status quo
Figure 3. Mentions of key actors in response to questions about responsibility for environmental challenges, by chatbot. Count data for the number of times a particular word on the y-axis was mentioned in responses to the prompts: who causes <environmental challenge>’, ‘who is most responsible for <environmental challenge>’, and ‘can you be more specific and name…
Read MorePredators are running out of prey. Cracking down on poaching is an effective counteroffensive
Graph: Area‐specific annual apparent survival (ϕ$$ \phi $$) and age‐class distributions. (a) Posterior probability distributions for annual apparent survival (ϕ$$ \phi $$) for the four regions of LVE (Lower Lupande = red, Main Game = Black, North = Blue, Nsefu = Orange) and the Greater Kafue Ecosystem (Green). The red and orange shading show the 90% credible intervals for the Lower Lupande and…
Read MoreStatement from 200 Investors Managing €6 Trillion Urging the EU: Do Not Weaken Green Rules
The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), the European Sustainable Investment Forum (Eurosif), and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), along with 162 investors representing approximately €6.6 trillion assets under management, as well as 49 service providers and other supporting organisations (a total of 211 signatories), call on the European Commission to preserve the…
Read MoreYes, energy prices are hurting the food sector. But burning more fossil fuels is not the answer
Published: February 4, 2025 in The Conversation Vivienne Reiner PhD Candidate, Integrated Sustainability Analysis group, University of Sydney Months out from a federal election, the industry lobby is gearing up in opposition to the Albanese government’s renewable energy targets. In a salvo on Monday, food distributors urged the government to increase fossil fuel production, as…
Read MoreTips for selling second-hand clothes online
Image showing the carbon cost of new clothes from 8billion trees.com By Kellie Scott ABC Lifestyle Topic:Women’s Fashion Thu 23 Jan SEE ARTICLE FOR IMAGE Jo Bartley has tried many different platforms to sell plus-size clothing. (Supplied) Many of us have a bag of clothes stuffed in a corner or rolling around in our car…
Read MoreHere’s how fish farms could double as a climate solution
Fig. 1: Schematic sedimentary sulfur cycling and modelled rates of sulfate reduction from Fakhraee and Planavsky. “Enhanced sulfide burial in low-oxygen aquatic environments could offset the carbon footprint of aquaculture production.” Nature Food. 2024. A new study analyzes a potential win-win solution for fish health and carbon capture. The critical ingredient is something you might…
Read MoreWill new UK PM get away with economic growth at expense of climate/environment?
original title: Should Labour really value its economic ambitions over its environmental duty? by helena Horton in ‘Down to Earth’ Guardian magazine On the face of it, Rachel Reeves and Liz Truss have almost nothing in common. One is the Labour chancellor, the other a hard-right former Tory prime minister most recently seen courting Donald…
Read MoreFast, fair funding for critical climate action: ideas from the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force
06/02/2025 There’s a taskforce dreaming up radical climate solutions – and you can help Damian Carrington in Guardian Newsletter Fast, fair funding for critical climate action is desperately needed, and that makes the drive for levies on polluters and the ultrarich perhaps the most exciting climate idea floating around right now. The Global Solidarity Levies…
Read MoreHow long can fossil fuel dominance last?
The Stone Age didn’t end because the world ran out of stones By Mark Harris in ANthropocene In 1027, legend recounts that King Cnut of England set his throne on the seashore and commanded the incoming tide to halt. His feet still got wet. A thousand years later, America’s president seems to be drawing a…
Read MoreBermagui cafes collectively switch to reusable coffee cups
Image: The systemic mechanisms driving waste and hindering retailers’ engagement with waste reduction initiatives. From Koskela-Huotari, Kaisa & Svärd, Kristin & Williams, Helén & Trischler, Jakob & Wikström, Fredrik. (2023). Drivers and Hinderers of (Un)Sustainable Service: A Systems View. Journal of Service Research. 27. 1-18. 10.1177/10946705231176071. in abc.net.au by By Isla Evans and Floss Adams…
Read MoreHow US states are leading the climate fight – despite Trump’s rollbacks
Just two days after Donald Trump’s re-election, California lawmakers held a special session to prepare to defend its progressive policies from his administration in The Guardian by Dharna Noor Fri 31 Jan 2025 As the Trump administration rolls back decades-old environmentalprotections and pulls Biden-era incentives for renewable energy, state-level advocates and officials are preparing to…
Read MoreA new fungal battery can be tossed in the compost to biodegrade
Image: a fungal battery from impact lab.com Source: Carolina Reyes et al. 3D Printed Cellulose-Based Fungal Battery. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2024. Using fungi, cellulose, and carbon, researchers 3D printed small batteries, that can be stored dry and later activated with water and simple sugars. By Anthropocene Team January 16, 2025 Anthropocene Researchers have…
Read MoreWhat would happen if climate fees for food moved from political conversation to policy?
Changing the foods you eat can have a big impact on your carbon footprint. Many of these changes will also be beneficial for your health! For example, shifting to a vegetarian meal one day a week for one year could save the equivalent of driving 1,160 miles. But you don’t have to be fully vegetarian…
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