With every breath: A call for action on air pollution
Natalie Stevenson discusses the problems air pollution can cause for our health and the environment, and the measures needed to tackle the rising levels.
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The Secret Life of the Ocean’s Green Giants
By Joel Tester The title of Earth’s largest living organism may bring to mind classic examples like giant sequoias or blue whales. Yet, in a recently published paper, researchers at the University of Western Australia revealed an unexpected new winner of this accolade. The scientists studied a 180 km2 meadow of the seagrass Posidonia australis…
How to fight climate despair
While institutions across the world are accepting the need for climate action, for individuals who have read a constant stream of “climate doomism” for years it’s becoming too much. Nell Miles tells us how to fight this climate despair.
Extreme weather in the UK – will it become the norm?
Will storms like Eunice and Franklin become our normal weather? Emma M Ford writes about the impact of climate change on extreme weather events in the UK.
Is Boris Johnson’s 10-Point Climate Plan Up to Scratch?
By Evan Turner The environment is in crisis. The next few decades are crucial to mitigate catastrophic risks and next year the COP26 Climate Conference will be held in Glasgow. The world is looking to the UK to set the tone, and there is growing public and private sector support for green technologies and acknowledgment…
Engineering enzymes to recycle CO2
Oxbridge Varsity Sci Symposium. Talk Summary by Harry Crook. Recently the world reached the one-degree centigrade rise predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as the first step in irreparable global warming; this has led to much research into CO2 emissions reduction. Initially this involved methods such as sequestration underground or simply planting trees,…
Green Algorithms: Quantifying the Carbon Impact of Computations- Oxbridge Varsity Sci Symposium
Talk summary by Gemma Penson Climate change is one of the most critical emergencies humankind and our planet face on a daily basis. Amidst the current pandemic, the situation is not getting any better, with a severe reduction in recycling and mass production of disposable masks. For anyone determined to reduce their environmental damage and…
The Future of Plastic Pollution
When they first become widespread in the 1950s, plastics were heralded as a miracle material which can be used for almost everything. From life-saving medical devices to the clothes you’re wearing now, plastic has become integrated into every aspect of our daily lives. It’s hard to imagine a world without it. Images of so-called wildlife…
How will coronavirus impact the environment?
The COVID-19 pandemic is devastating. By the time it is over, millions of people will have lost loved ones and the economic repercussions are inevitably going to be huge. But recently, the state of the environment has also been brought up in discussion. How has the climate been affected by the coronavirus outbreak, and what…
The lasting benefits of the travel ban
On the 23rd March, the UK was put into lockdown due to the ever-growing threat of Covid-19. The lockdown has now been eased, with schools reopening, workers returning to their jobs and members of the public being allowed to meet within the two-meter guidelines. However, when imposed, the travel ban greatly impacted our daily lives,…