Focusing solely on CO2 will not be enough to keep temperature rises within sustainable limits compared with pre-industrial levels, warn scientists in a recent study. Other greenhouse gases also have a significant warming effect, and we mustn’t ignore them, which is why it’s crucial to drastically reduce methane now.
The former French Minister for Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, recently sent this message to French citizens: “Empty your mailboxes, that’ll be something”. Is it really relevant to insist on deleting emails as a consequent eco-gesture? Wouldn’t replacing planes with trains, cars with bicycles, eating less meat and insulating our homes be much more efficient?
With the aim of reducing global warming and offsetting rising fuel prices, a growing number of European countries, cities and regions are making public transport free of charge. The Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, has introduced a monthly travel card at 9 euros per month between June and August, allowing Germans to use regional public transport.
On May 31, the World Health Organization (WHO) dedicated its World No Tobacco Day to the effects of the tobacco industry on the environment and those who harvest it. Not only does it kill over eight million people a year, it also poisons our planet. Every year, it contributes nearly 84 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, equivalent to the total emissions of a country like Chile.
The Business of Fashion has published its second report on the sustainable commitments of the fashion industry. Although some brands are improving their social and environmental credentials, they need to do more to meet the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The report covers three categories: luxury, sportswear and mass-market fashion.
On the occasion of the graduation ceremony at Seton Hall University, one of the most prestigious in the USA, the head of the UN delivered a speech in which he explained to the students that it was time to act and choose their careers wisely, that they could become the generation that would succeed where his had failed by meeting the aspirations of the Sustainable Development Goals to “end disease and suffering”.
The project unveiled at the Cannes Film Festival aims to counter the “American way of life” promoted by American cinema, and “win the cultural battle” by promoting the emergence of an “Ecological way of life”. Newtopia aims to produce inspiring works that draw on the power of storytelling to imagine “new representations of the world or new visions of the future”, according to Cyril Dion, director of the film Demain.
A study by the Pesticide Action Network published last Tuesday reveals that almost a third of fruit produced in Europe is contaminated with toxic residues that should have been phased out since 2011. WWF tells us that the “cult of beauty” is responsible for significant food waste, pointing out that 330 kilos of food per person per year are wasted in Switzerland.
While politicians and celebrities are obvious targets when they travel by private jet, companies are far from exemplary in this respect. The organization “Transport et Environnement” has compiled a list of 230 companies based on their commitment to reducing emissions from business travel. Of these, only 3% have ambitious targets.
The Eacop project, which was approved last Wednesday at the oil giant’s annual general meeting, will criss-cross Uganda and Tanzania over 1,443 kilometers to transport oil to the Indian Ocean, where it can be shipped more easily. The project has provoked an outcry from environmental activists, who denounce its disastrous consequences for the climate and biodiversity.
