In the magazine "Dal cuore dello Stato", the government of the smallest state in the world lists 29 pages of advice from its specialised departments on how to live sustainably and conserve resources.

For example, we should not overload fridges and freezers in the home, use low temperatures in the dishwasher and washing machine and use pressure cookers and aluminium pans, which are 14 times more efficient at conducting heat than steel.

Standby switches and outdated or broken appliances should be taboo; instead, consumers are advised to use LED lamps, blackout curtains instead of air conditioning running at full speed and showers instead of baths with a maximum water temperature of 40 to 50 degrees. Continue reading

Every year, Waipa residents send the equivalent of 16 shipping containers full of clothes to landfills.

However, the Council's Waste Minimisation advisor Shelley Wilson says op shop bus tours offer punters the chance to check out some outlets they've never visited before - while reducing their environmental footprint and saving money.

A resident who went on a tour last year says it was a great day out and she picked up "second hand gems" and valuable tips from experts along the way.

Since then, she says she's been "inspired to do laundry and mending for a local op shop, which helps put funds back into the community".

Men also enjoy the fun as - like women - they also like collectable and vintage objects plus good-value clothes.

"In our teens we thought it was cool to dress from the Army Surplus stores and op shops - that hasn't changed" one says.

"I like jackets and am always on the hunt for a bargain.

"Eight of my 11 jackets are second-hand and I have two coats, one second-hand.

"Jeans are also good to hunt for, especially deals on Levis.

"In the vintage field, my treasures include a Levi shirt for $5 and a 1968 tie from a Kings Road, Chelsea, London fashion store owned by The Beatles for 50c." (sic)

Mounting clothes' mountains

Textiles from unwanted clothing are mounting enormously. To combat the dumping of clothes, the Council's "Slow Fashion September" contribution includes promoting sustainable fashion and offering free courses where people can get advice about how to curate a low-waste, low-cost wardrobe or take part in a sewing repair workshop.

Fast fashion impacts not only the environment but has created concerning consumer behaviour with alarming global statistics, says Wilson.

Globally:

• one in three women consider a garment "old" after one wear
• on average 80% of the items in our wardrobes are never worn
• the fashion industry is responsible for 40 million tonnes of textile items going to waste each year

"It's important we all do our part, even if it's just adding one or two new practices into our daily routines" Wilson says.

"These changes may seem small, but the collective impact is huge for our community and for passing sustainable behaviour to our kids."

Source

• NZ Herald

We wanted to study the effects of pharmaceutical pollution on freshwater fish.

Our new research shows even low levels of the antidepressant fluoxetine - sold under the brand name Prozac, among others - will harm male guppies over time.

In laboratory experiments, males exposed to fluoxetine at levels they would likely encounter in the wild suffered wide-ranging consequences.

As our reliance on medication grows, so too does the burden we place on natural systems. If we fail to understand the effects of pollution on wildlife, we risk compromising the health of our ecosystems and the services they provide.

Drugs in our waterways

When we take our medicine, only some is absorbed by our bodies. Most passes through largely unchanged, in urine.

Wastewater treatment plants weren't designed to remove these residues. So vast quantities of drugs are released into the environment, along with treated wastewater, worldwide.

This means organisms in waterways downstream from wastewater treatment plants are likely to be bathed in a cocktail of human medicines.

Over time, exposure to these contaminants can potentially disturb animal behaviour, physiology and reproduction.

Of particular concern are drugs such as antidepressants, which have been specifically designed to alter brain chemistry in humans.

In recent decades, antidepressants such as Prozac (fluoxetine) have been detected in rivers, lakes and streams across the globe.

Fluoxetine has become one of the most common pharmaceuticals found in our waterways worldwide, including here in Australia.

Fish on chill pills

Despite the obvious differences between humans and fish, we share remarkable similarities.

Pharmaceuticals designed for humans can affect fish and other species because they target receptors we have in common.

Prozac and other brands of fluoxetine increases levels of serotonin in the brain, which increases feelings of wellbeing and happiness. In fish, serotonin is also involved in reproduction, food intake and growth, stress, and multiple behaviours.

So it's not surprising fluoxetine can affect fish. Evidence suggests the effects can be specific to the life stages, or even the sex of the fish.

What's surprising is most studies focus on short-term exposure, even though drugs such as fluoxetine can be highly persistent in the environment and affect fish over long periods.

We collected 3600 wild guppies (Poecilia reticulata) from Alligator Creek in North Queensland. Water samples from the fish collection site showed no contamination with fluoxetine.

Back at the lab, we exposed 15 successive generations of these fish to fluoxetine over five years.

Fish were randomly assigned to one of three levels of exposure - no fluoxetine (control), "low" or "high". The "low" treatment level represents common surface water concentrations.

"High" represents levels typically found in bodies of water heavily dominated by human effluent.

Sex in contaminated water

We found male guppies exposed to low fluoxetine levels were in poor condition, using a measurement similar to body mass index (BMI) in humans.

The modified fin male guppies use to inseminate females (gonopodium) was also larger in these males.

Having longer gonopodia helps with mating. So exposure to fluoxetine seemed to trigger a trade-off between physical and reproductive health.

When the maintenance of body condition became too costly, the fish put more energy into growing a larger gonopodium.

Low levels of fluoxetine also decreased sperm motility. This means the sperm of exposed males were poor swimmers compared to the sperm of unexposed males.

Female guppies are capable of mating with multiple males. So sperm from different males can compete within the female to fertilise the eggs.

Lower sperm motility can therefore reduce the reproductive success of males exposed to fluoxetine.

Strangely, the low-fluoxetine treatment had stronger effects than the high-fluoxetine treatment.

But this type of dose-dependent relationship is often found for such drugs, and various mechanisms may be at play, such as desensitisation towards higher doses.

Under the influence

Aside from the effects on reproduction, we also studied how fluoxetine exposure affects the activity and hiding behaviour of guppies. Both behaviours are crucial to survival in the wild.

Male guppies exposed to fluoxetine became less capable of adjusting their behaviour in different contexts. They were repeatedly more consistent in their behaviour.

In the wild, this can reduce an individual's ability to respond to environmental changes. For example, consistent behaviour can make a fish an easy target for predators, while unpredictable behaviours can reduce their vulnerability.

Our findings add to a growing body of evidence showing similar behavioural disturbances in exposed wildlife. For example, other studies found antidepressants such as fluoxetine can make fish less active.

This could disrupt their ability to compete for food and mates.

Why this matters

Antidepressants can be life-saving for people, but pose problems when they find their way into the environment.

Our research has uncovered effects on fish that were largely under-appreciated and overlooked, until now. The effects of prolonged exposure to such pollutants demands further investigation.

This will be crucial if we're to develop effective strategies for protecting and managing sensitive aquatic ecosystems, such as better wastewater treatment processes.

• This article originally appeared in The Conversation and was republished by Monash University

Those who publish this information claim to be telling us what is happening in the world, but in our wiser moments we remember to question whether they are offering us the truth.

From experience, we know that the loudest voices belong to persons and institutions whose enormous wealth lets them fill the pages of newspapers, or radio and television channels.

Their stories enhance their own image and increase their profits.

Truth and lies

The daily news may give us the basic facts about a plane crash or a court trial, but when it comes to the truth about why a war is being fought, or about global warming, we need to be more cautious.

In fact we can identify several areas where the mainstream media in our "western" nations consistently distort the truth about our world.

Lie number one

One basic lie which is quietly promoted is that "White" people are of more value - are more important - than "people of colour".

More column-space and air-time is given to the death of a few "White" people than the death of hundreds or even thousands of Blacks, Asians or Palestinians.

Refugees from those populations are seen as a problem, usually treated callously.

They're not usually treated as the victims of wars provoked by our "White" nations, or of famines resulting from the global warming caused by centuries of our industrial activity.

We assume that we have a right to plunder "Third World" resources, as we earlier took the land of non-Whites.

We even justify that theft, whether it happened in North America during colonisation, across Australia after 1788, in Africa during the 19th century, or in Palestine since 1948.

In the latter case, mainstream media mostly ignore or conceal the genocide which now is completing that land theft, and demonises those - such as tertiary students - who dare protest against it.

Lie number two

Another fundamental untruth almost completely overlooked is that the "growth" of every nation's GDP cannot continue.

This is because every resource on earth - fresh water, iron, oil, gas, forests; even our capacity to capture sunlight - is limited.

Although some resources - coal - are more abundant than others, our civilisation will not survive unless we change to a world economy based on genuine re-cycling.

Lie number three

A third basic lie spread by (most) media is their denial of the rapidly approaching but unpredictable "tipping points" that will soon be triggered by the heating of our planet.

Resulting from several centuries of our burning fossil fuels and building cities, these tipping points may come in various ways.

They may involve the irreversible melting of ice-caps and glaciers; the sudden extinction of inter-dependent species - including rain forests; or the altered flow of ocean currents and jet-streams.

Although national leaders talk together regularly, and politicians make promises, none has so far had the will to stop the ruthless greed of fossil-fuel merchants.

They won't even admit the elephant in the room, the disaster that is rapidly approaching.

The Holy Spirit

But at Pentecost we reflect on the Holy Spirit, which is mentioned hundreds of times in the pages of the New Testament.

This Spirit moves people to speak in prophesy - Zechariah, Elizabeth, Simeon, Anna, John the Baptist.

The Spirit overwhelmed the adult Jesus at his baptism, driving him out into the desert and then leading him on his mission.

By the Spirit's power he healed people and drove out demons.

He told his followers that they can call on the Spirit within them when they were attacked for speaking the truth.

John's later gospel calls it the Spirit of Truth (14:17, 15:26, 16:13), and reflects how we can each receive this divine Spirit.

At our present time of grave world crisis, it must be obvious to anyone believing in God, that God's Spirit is not the exclusive property of any one faith tradition or clergy.

On the contrary, we each need urgently to call on this tremendous gift within us, using the Divine power it gives to unite our human family and to heal our fragile planet.

• First published in Finding the Treasure
• Peter Murnane O.P. is a Melbourne-based Dominican Friar, author and political activist. (Originally, CathNews was in error, saying Peter was New Zealand based.)

The latest drop is the biggest since climate change efforts began, according to New Zealand's latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory which covers 1990 to 2022.

Making the change

Several factors are contributing to the reduction in greenhouse gases in our environment.

Climate Minister Simon Watts attributes the achievement to clean energy use. We are burning less coal and gas to make electricity and we've had plenty of rain to keep our hydro dams operating.

Former minister Green MP James Shaw is wary that if there's another dry year, Huntly power station will need to increase coal use again.

More efficient vehicles also contributed, with road transport burning less fuel despite similar kilometres travelled.

Other factors included closing Marsden Point oil refinery and a slight reduction on farmers using sheep, beef cattle and fertiliser.

Analysing the reduction

Gross emissions fell to 78.4 million tonnes, four per cent lower than in 2021. Emissions also fell in 2022 as well as 2023.

The annual drop was 3.4 million tonnes - the biggest drop since the tally began officially in 1990, according to the Ministry for the Environment.

The energy sector provided 2.5 million tonnes of this saving. That's because it used more renewables and less fossil fuels to make electricity in 2022. Well-filled dams for hydro generation helped. So did increased wind power generation.

Forestry fluctuations meant trees removed less carbon dioxide than in 2022, but the long-term trend is towards more tree planting.

Tokolau different

The only sector of New Zealand's economy not to decrease gross emissions was the nation of Tokelau.

Its emissions, though small, are counted towards New Zealand's.

Source

• RNZ

Senior pupils from Trinity Catholic College and Taieri College spent the morning helping unpack donations at Shop on Carroll as part of an Enviroschools hui yesterday.

The secondary schools hui "YOUR VOICE!" focused on turning environmental ideas into action in schools and wider communities.

Pupils spent part of their day volunteering for local community groups including Trade Aid, Yours Cafe and Stitch Kitchen before networking with each other and hearing from inspirational environmental action experts.

Trinity environment prefect Joseph Brennan said it was great volunteering at Shop on Carroll because recycling clothes was environmentally friendly, and ensured they did not get wasted. Read more

"We must not forget that 735 million people are in a state of chronic hunger and more than 2 billion are in a state of food insecurity, while we produce enough to feed the entire planet."

So says French researcher Sébastien Abis, associated with the Institute of International and Strategic Relations.

He's also the author of the just published book Do we want to feed the world?: Crossing the food Everest in 2050 (Veut-on nourrir le monde?: Franchir l'Everest alimentaire en 2050) to understand what part of the future of the world is at stake.

"The equation is all the more delicate as we are in an unstable geopolitical context that also risks increasing the cost of food and restricting access to it," he told La Croix's Camille Richir in a recent interview.

La Croix: In recent weeks, we have witnessed significant protests from the agricultural sector. What does this say about the relationship between society and those who feed it?

Sébastien Abis: The issue of food has been neglected politically for too long and needs to regain strategic attention.

"Among the claims made by the agricultural world, few are completely new. They primarily reflect a lack of mutual trust. On one side, farmers feel that neither the state nor the European Union trusts them; at the same time, they themselves are wary of the ability of leaders and consumers to be consistent.

"The tensions are also related to the lack of consistency in policies.

"Agricultural time is a long time: when experimenting, it takes several months before results are seen and lessons can be learned, then tests must be conducted differently the following year.

"When new regulations are constantly introduced in the meantime, creating uncertainties, these standards are very poorly received.

But given the climate emergency and the rapid erosion of biodiversity, transitioning our food systems appears to be a necessity. Is a dialogue on the subject possible?

"The challenge will be to unite in order to change. While we are fortunate to be in a democracy, we struggle to accept disagreements and diversity of opinion.

"Those who defend the environment are accused of not believing in human development and the economy. And those who emphasise the issue of production and food security are labeled as enemies of the environment.

"would benefit from bringing these worlds together. We have lost a lot of time in recent years opposing systems and models. It's a constellation of solutions that needs to be implemented.

"The need to unite is also true at the European and international levels. Yet since the Covid crisis, then the war in Ukraine, and facing the climate challenge, we have entered an era of "every man for himself."

In your book, you warn of the risk of retrenchment at a time of a triple demographic, climate, and food security crisis.

"We must not forget that 735 million people are in a state of chronic hunger and more than 2 billion are in a state of food insecurity, while we produce enough to feed the entire planet.

"In the 21st century, humanity is challenged to reconcile ecology and food security, as demographic growth will reach an unprecedented peak in the second half of the century. The UN anticipates the population will grow from eight to 10.4 billion people on Earth by 2086, all of whom will need to be fed.

"At the same time, agriculture will have to face increasingly severe and frequent shocks related to climate change... The equation is all the more delicate as we are in an unstable geopolitical context that also risks increasing the cost of food and restricting access to it.

"In parallel, agriculture will have to decarbonise. It has its share of responsibility in climate change since it represents about 20% of greenhouse gas emissions.

"The challenge goes beyond the simple issue of CO2! For example, half of the agricultural soils are in a degraded state."

What are the implications in terms of free trade? Food production is extremely globalised, and these imports weigh heavily on our carbon footprint.

"During their mobilisation, European farmers were right to raise the issue of imports and free trade agreements. It's normal to import commodities that are not produced on European soil, otherwise, we wouldn't have coffee or chocolate!

"However, facilitating the importation of products with lower environmental and social standards than in the European Union is incomprehensible to farmers who are pushed to do better.

"Once again, it's a question of coherence! Leaders must understand that free trade agreements, like the one being negotiated with Mercosur countries, are no longer politically acceptable in this new context of fighting climate change, whereas they might have been a decade ago.

"At the same time, we also benefit from free trade. We export wine, cheese, cereals, and even milk powder... to the point of being accused of competing with certain local industries.

"That's why the answer is more complex than simply retreating into ourselves. In France, exports also allow some sectors to remain competitive at the national level.

"In the future, geopolitical and climate shocks will be such that we may sometimes have to rely on each other for food supplies. Europe cannot be in a bubble, separate from the rest of the world.

"When we consume imported products, let's not forget that we are also creating economic and social development abroad, provided that the supply chains are fair.

You also alert in your book to the necessity of thinking about the future of agricultural employment.

"I'm tired of hearing that farmers should be assured of a "minimum."

"Why such a miserabilist discourse? Farmers are entrepreneurs and must earn their living. If they do better, they should earn more, which seems to be taboo.

"Then, we must question what we want in terms of agriculture: we have lost 100,000 agricultural holdings in ten years.

"Should we replace all of them and find the necessary labour? Or accept having larger, more mechanised, and more competitive farms capable of producing on a large scale? Once again, the solution lies in the diversity of models."

Faced with climate change, what choices will the sector have to make? For example, will it be necessary to give up part of the yields to reduce emissions related to fertilisers, or reduce pressure on biodiversity?

"Agriculture has already made tremendous progress. Practices are modernising, technological innovation is advancing... Of course, there will be choices to make, such as which crops: what we can grow today in some regions may not be possible tomorrow.

"That said, we have already put a lot of pressure on the transition of the sector compared to others."

But the reduction of agriculture's emissions remains low, around 13 percent in thirty years, and is mainly due to the reduction in cattle stock. How to think about a real transition of the sector in this context?

"Agriculture cannot be compared with other economic and industrial sectors.

"In the environmental transition, we need to think in terms of priorities: is it better to have an industrial production - albeit partly decarbonised - of certain "unnecessary" products? Or a production of food, a bit more emitting, but vital?

"That being said, farmers are well aware that the sector needs to work on decarbonisation. But faced with the very ambitious objectives set at the European level, they note that they have neither a roadmap on how to get there, nor the means."

What is the responsibility of the consumer?

"It's an important lever: we cannot ask farmers to decarbonise if the demand is not there.

"Yet the inconsistency of consumers strikes the agricultural world. Neither the prices practiced nor our food expenses are in coherence with the values and injunctions we advocate in Europe.

"Ultimately, food inflation has had a positive aspect: it has given value back to food, and made people aware of the investment it represents. Even if at the same time it raises a real social issue."

What lessons can be drawn from the demonstrations of recent weeks, in the face of the challenges that await us?

"was missed in the narrative in recent years. The transition must be made with the farmers, not against them. We must be clear about the difficulties but continue to cultivate enthusiasm!

"Faced with the challenge ahead, we cannot afford to be fatalistic. Because food is an ecological issue but also one of pleasure, health, and, I insist, human security."

• First published in La Croix International. Republished with permission.
• Camille Richir is a journalist at La Croix whose focus is on the environment.

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin read the message on Francis's behalf on Sunday at the COP28 Faith Pavilion.

He passed on Francis's thanks to those in the new Pavilion. They included the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The Pavilion "is the first of its kind at the heart of a COP" Francis's message noted.

It shows all authentic religious beliefs are a source of encounter and action.

"It is important to see ourselves, beyond our differences, as brothers and sisters in the one human family and, as believers, to remind ourselves and the world that as sojourners on this earth we have a duty to protect our common home."

Religions remind us that humanity is finite and has limits, Francis' message noted.

Life must be protected, he stressed. This is done by "opposing the rapacious illusion of omnipotence that is devastating our planet.

"That insatiable desire for power wells up whenever we consider ourselves lords of the world, whenever we live as though God did not exist and, as a result, end up prey to passing things."

Humans have become "mere commodities, desensitised, incapable of sorrow and compassion, self-absorbed and, turning our backs on morality and prudence, we destroy the very sources of life" Parolin read from Francis's speech.

This "is why the problem of climate change is also a religious problem: its roots lie in the creature's presumption of self-sufficiency" Francis's continued.

Call to action

There is an urgent need to act "for the sake of the environment" Cop28 heard.

Increasing spending isn't enough, Francis's message said.

"We need to change our way of life and thus educate everyone to sober and fraternal lifestyles.

"This is an essential obligation for religions which are called to teach contemplation, since creation is not only an ecosystem to preserve, but also a gift to embrace.

"A world poor in contemplation will be a world polluted in soul, a world that will continue to discard people and produce waste."

Prayer ensures our words are not "bereft of compassion and tears" he said.

Peace and caring for creation "are interdependent.

"A home is liveable only when... peace reigns within" COP28 heard.

Religions have a specific role in peacekeeping.

"May our actions not contradict the words we speak; may we not merely speak about peace, but take a stand against those who claim to be believers yet fuel hatred and do not oppose violence."

Right now "the world needs alliances that are not against someone but in favour of everyone".

Religions must work together and set a good example. Two of the most important global issues are peace and the climate.

"With a loud voice, let us implore leaders of nations that our common home be preserved" the pope's message said.

Source

• Crux

The fires and floods in the Northern Hemisphere have emphasised the threat of climate change to people's lives throughout the world.

They foreshadow the future.

Less dramatically the gradual unrolling of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has also revealed its threat to the livelihood of many white collar workers and its potential for blurring the distinction between reality and illusion.

It is one of many developments in technology with the potential to reshape human life. Experience tells us that any negative effects will fall most heavily on people on the edges of society.

For that reason those concerned with building a more just society will need to reflect more deeply and broadly on social justice.

The Catholic Church, among many other institutions, has a long tradition of such reflection, having responded initially to the world shaped by the French and the Industrial Revolutions.

The latter and the laissez faire economic assumptions that accompanied it disempowered and alienated workers and disrupted their personal and religious relationships.

Like others, Catholic thinkers worked to advocate for just economic and political relationships between workers, employers and governments asking how they ought to be shaped if they are to contribute to decent human living.

Climate change: a new threat to human flourishing

The reach of reflection on social justice then expanded to meet new situations and ideologies.

Increasingly devastating wars, economic depression, the rise of totalitarian regimes, the challenge of preserving peace, decolonisation, population growth, inequality and neo-liberal economic assumptions have all involved complex changes in social and economic relationships.

They have demanded constant reflection to ensure that people who are most disadvantaged are protected and supported.

Under Pope Francis, the scope of Catholic reflection on Social Justice has expanded beyond the focus on the economy, migration and war to include the environment.

It responded to the threat of climate change.

The development recognizes that human beings can flourish only if our personal and institutional relationships to the environment of which we are part are respectful.

For this reason any commitment to social justice through policies and programmes needs to take into account the effects of climatic change on people who are disadvantaged.

This expansion of social justice to include the environment has prompted the adoption of the term Integral Justice.

The threat of climate change, however, is of a different order than the previous challenges to human flourishing.

Threatening human relationships and future generations

In the first place, if it is unchecked it will threaten the delicate network of relationships that constitute our human environment, and as a result will threaten human life as we know it.

It is a crisis that extends beyond the shape of relationships between human beings to affect their very possibility.

It is therefore integral to reflection on the justice of all those relationships. As with other sets of social relationships people living on the margins will be the canaries in the mine.

Second, the decisions and social structures which we now implement or neglect to make in response to climate change will inevitably and irrevocably shape the lives of our descendants.

If we put our profit and comfort above reducing emissions our children and grandchildren will pay the price.

Thinking about social justice and the relationships between social groups then needs to think about the effect of what we do on future generations and especially on the marginalised. Social justice must also be intergenerational.

The urgency of the challenge of climate change may seem to be far higher than that posed by the initial development of Artificial Intelligence. Appearances, however, are illusory.

Public concern about AI has so far focused on its economic effect on employment in industry, planning, in creative work and in publications.

It may also affect human flourishing, however, through its effect on planning and implementing ideas, on physical presence to others in work and in recreation, and on the privatisation of truth.

When it is joined to the project of a metaverse in which brains are adapted to computers in a virtual world of the user's choice, the pressures on people who are marginalized will be incalculable.

Society's disadvantaged will be increasingly vulnerable

AI is only one of many technologies with the potential to affect human flourishing. Advances in genetic and nano technology also have the potential to alter human lives according to our choice.

We can imagine the power of genetic engineering to prevent hereditary illnesses, to create designer babies, to create human beings and hybrids in a laboratory and to introduce genetic modifications into human beings with incalculable results.

All these developments, and the profit that stands to be made by the large companies which fund them, pose important questions about what it means for us to be social beings accountable to one another.

Communal reflection and regulation of these developments, which have potential for good as well as for harm, are threatened both by massive inequality that enables those who develop the technologies to do so for further profit and also by a popular culture that privileges individual choice over the common good.

In such a world, people who are disadvantaged will be increasingly vulnerable to deprivation of agency, of sociality and to be seen as objects to be dealt with by new technologies.

For this reason, reflection on social justice must include in its remit the effects of new technologies on persons and their economic, political and environmental relationships. Read more

• Andrew Hamilton SJ is writer at Jesuit Social Services in Melbourne (Australia) and consulting editor of Eureka Street.
• First published at Eureka Street. Republished with author's permission.

The scheme forces polluters to offset their emissions by buying carbon credits.

Planting trees creates those credits, which can then be traded. It's led to the creation of an industry of carbon farming which many Maori landowners rely on.

They say the Government's proposals could jeopardise the local carbon credit industry, which is worth an estimated $16 billion to the Maori economy.

Among those flying out to the UN is Penetaui Klescovic (Te Aupouri), who will be representing Te Aupouri landowners in the Far North.

The iwi is heavily invested in the planting of pine trees to earn money from carbon credits.

"The majority of that land is what you call marginal land and if we can't plant trees on there and realise that economic light then essentially, we're going to be condemned to poverty because the Government is making those changes to the ETS," he said. Continue reading

Green hydrogen offers a solution to decarbonising "hard-to-abate" industries such as steel and fertiliser production, heavy-duty transport and shipping.

Recent announcements by high-emitting countries suggest the switch to green hydrogen might be greater and come sooner than expected.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a US$2.3 billion green hydrogen mission, expected to increase 400% by 2050.

India's steel industry and heavy-duty transport will consume about half of this production.

According to its latest government plan, China would produce 100,000-200,000 tons of renewable-based hydrogen annually and have a fleet of 50,000 hydrogen-fuelled vehicles by 2025.

The Biden administration announced an investment of US$750 million in green hydrogen.

It's expected to generate 700,000 new jobs and leverage further investment of US$140 billion.

New Zealand's national grid is far more renewable than the Australian grid, which is still dependent on coal.

Nevertheless, both countries are investing in green hydrogen as a future fuel.

The Australian government has allocated A$2 billion in its 2023 budget to accelerate large-scale green hydrogen projects.

The proposed Southern Green Hydrogen project in New Zealand has moved to the development stage. Final investment decisions are expected later this year.

Green hydrogen transition

Green hydrogen is produced by using renewable energy sources to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, either through electrolysis or photolysis.

The former technology is more advanced at this stage.

At present, 98% of all hydrogen is produced using fossil fuels ("grey hydrogen" or "blue hydrogen" if carbon is scrubbed).

To meet Paris Agreement targets, hydrogen production needs to be decarbonised. Installed production capacity for green hydrogen will need to increase 75 times before 2030.

The good news is that green hydrogen costs are projected to fall to US$2-3 per kilogram by 2030 due to improved production methods and economies of scale.

The falling cost of renewables, the increasing demand for energy and the climate change emergency has created unprecedented momentum for clean hydrogen.

Grey and blue hydrogen have their existing industrial uses but will be transition fuels.

They'll eventually be replaced by green hydrogen, which will also meet a rapidly growing range of new uses, such as green steel.

Some hydrogen applications are well underway.

Airbus is involved in the development of electric planes that use a combination of hydrogen combustion for take-off power and hydrogen fuel cells for mid-flight power.

While most electric vehicles will continue to be powered by batteries, some car makers have had successful hydrogen-fuelled cars in commercial production.

The high cost of production is the main factor behind the low uptake of green hydrogen.

But a price of US$2/kg is considered a potential tipping point to make green hydrogen competitive against other fuel sources.

Once this tipping point has passed, projected for 2030, green hydrogen is expected to progressively displace fossil fuels across most sectors.

The cost of electrolysers has roughly halved over the past five years.

This trend is expected to continue.

The recent development of solid-oxide electrolysers that can deliver 100% efficiency at an elevated temperature range promises further growth.

Potential for developing countries

The immediate challenges for green hydrogen are that it will need to gain global acceptance and expand infrastructure urgently.

Future international hydrogen partnerships are expected to benefit both developing and developed economies.

An example is Africa, which is well positioned to develop green hydrogen projects given its renewable energy potential.

Africa also has rich platinum resources, which are needed for water-splitting catalysis.

North Africa's great potential to produce green hydrogen is linked to its exceptional solar radiation levels and large wind resource.

The World Bank estimates the total wind resource of Algeria is comparable to Europe's.

Global installations of electrolysers are set to expand by a factor of 120 from 2GW today to 242GW by 2030, according to analysis by BloombergNEF.

Major manufacturers include EvolOH, which plans to produce up to 3.75GW per year of electrolysers by 2025, and Plug Power gigafactory, which sources its power from hydroelectricity from the Niagara Falls.

Barriers to uptake

This new revolution in green hydrogen energy has some important residual barriers to resolve.

The first is that the water used in electrolysers must be free of contaminants. However, the increasing shortage of clean freshwater is a looming global problem.

To obviate this challenge, a research collaboration involving Australian and Chinese universities has demonstrated that seawater can be split using a commercial electrolyser.

This approach uses a non-precious catalyst with nearly 100% efficiency.

This technology needs further refinement, but it does seem to offer a viable solution.

A second problem is that hydrogen in the atmosphere behaves as an indirect greenhouse gas. Hydrogen reacts with OH radicals that would otherwise decompose the potent greenhouse gas methane.

The net effect is that methane persists longer in warming the atmosphere than if hydrogen were not present.

The quantification of hydrogen's indirect greenhouse gas effect hinges on the extent of leakage.

This urgently needs more detailed evaluation.

The remaining related problem is pipeline leakiness, estimated at between 2.9% and 5.6%. In an important pipeline test, China's Sinopec plans to build the first green hydrogen pipeline from Inner Mongolia to Beijing to test hydrogen leakiness under practical conditions.

In parallel developments, the conversion of green hydrogen to green ammonia via a Haber-Bosch type process is the key to using green ammonia as a more easily transported fuel for high-power transportation, as well as a green fertiliser.

In 2100 a person reviewing the emergence of hydrogen may see a link between the coal and steam revolution of the previous centuries that created the climate crisis and the hydrogen revolution that helped resolve it.

• Ralph Cooney is Professor Emeritus in Advanced Materials, University of Auckland.
• First published in The Conversation. Republished with permission.

Known to many as 'Pa Ropata', McGowan is this year's University of Waikato Medal recipient.

The award recognises community service at a local or regional level.

"Rob has made a significant and sustained contribution to regenerating degraded land and streams and to educating others in protecting Aotearoa's indigenous ecosystems," said Vice-Chancellor Professor Neil Quigley.

"For his long-standing contributions, I am very pleased to award him the University of Waikato Medal."

McGovern has spent his career "helping regenerate our biodiversity and educating others about our native ecosystems and how to protect them," Professor Alister Jones, representing Quigley, said at the award ceremony.

Learning about healing

McGowan wants all New Zealanders to be more connected to the land - the trees, plants, birds and animals. It's been his mission for decades.

Now more than ever, we need to pay attention to what we're doing to Mother Earth, he says.

"Heal the land, and you heal the people." He's known that since he was a nipper.

His Dalmatian immigrant mother used traditional plants and herbs for wellness and well-being. Watching her sparked his lifetime interest in the New Zealand bush and healing.

It also drew him to treat the whole person, the physical, mental and spiritual (wairua).

McGowan's first vocation as a priest also contributed to his career as a healer.

When the Catholic church sent him to Whanganui to learn te reo, with support from local Maori, McGowan was able to hone his skills in traditional Maori medicine.

While he could identify and name many plants, it took a while to "join the dots", and understand and learn Maori concepts involving mauri (life force) tikanga, wairua and rongoa.

"It's not just about fixing the sick, it's about giving them hope, and they will learn to be well," he says.

Service to others

Serving people and healing the land encapsulates McGovern's life's work to date. He

• is a Maori health strategy consultant for the Bay of Plenty District Health Board
• travels the country training people in rongoa Maori. He struggles to keep up with the hunger for the knowledge, but he is glad as it's "meeting people's needs," he says.
• is a co-founding member of Tane's Tree Trust (1999)
• is a long-standing member of DOCs Nga Whenua Rahui unit, protecting indigenous ecosystems on Maori-owned land
• has spent 30 years teaching rongoa Maori
• teaches people how to find the plants they need in the bush and collect them without damaging the plant
• teaches rongoa Maori tikanga
• planted a rongoa garden at home to help students learn plant identification
• helps run a small nursery for the Waitao Landcare Group.
• has written Rongoa Maori - a Practical Guide to Traditional Maori Medicine
• is a former chair of the Bay of Plenty Conservation Board, the Kaimai-Mamaku Catchments Forum founding chair and a New Zealand Association of Medical Herbalists life member
• championed Tiwaiwaka, six principles which create a philosophy for our approach to life and restoration of our natural world.

Source

• University of Waikato
• University of Waikato
• University of Waikato
• University of Waikato

Despite this, trucking accounts for nearly 80% of New Zealand's heavy goods transport, and a 94.5% share of the total emissions from heavy freight transport.

The dominance of trucking follows the expansion of the road network, which enables trucks to move relatively fast, travel to hard-to-reach locations and adjust routes to meet the flexibility required for just-in-time deliveries.

But despite its advantages, trucking is associated with external costs, including higher carbon emissions than other modes of transportation.

This study represents the most comprehensive comparison of freight emissions for different carriers to date for Aotearoa New Zealand.

Before we evaluate decarbonisation pathways, we need to have a solid understanding of the freight system. To this end, we have created a transport dashboard to visualise the carbon footprint of freight movements within New Zealand.

With decarbonisation commitments firmly locked into legislation, we have hard deadlines to cut emissions. Failure to do so will represent a risk to New Zealand's economy and likely require taxpayer money to buy expensive international carbon offsets.

We need to reconsider how we operate

A shift to less energy-intensive freight transport modes like coastal shipping and rail represents a possible pathway to reducing fossil-fuel dependency.

But despite the benefits of sea and rail transport, it remains unclear how to achieve the shift to new infrastructure and technologies. A key requirement is access to an efficient multi-modal network that integrates ports, inland terminals, distribution hubs, roads and railways.

Lyttelton Harbour is one of the starting points for freight shipping to other parts of New Zealand. Transport Dashboard, CC BY-ND

We can achieve economies of scale by transporting larger volumes of goods, which would lead to cheaper costs per unit. As the European Commission noted:

The challenge is to ensure structural change to enable rail to compete effectively and take a significantly greater proportion of medium and long-distance freight.

Our research was focused on creating a detailed understanding of New Zealand's current heavy-freight system. Emissions reporting extended beyond the direct combustion of fuels and accounted for vehicle-embedded emissions. We also consolidated data from multiple sources, which helped with calculating energy demand and direct and indirect emissions for every freight mode.

For example, we found the majority of a truck's lifetime emissions (almost 80%) come from the fuel it consumes. This is why it's important to prioritise operational aspects and switch to non-fossil propulsion technologies.

Where to from here?

It will take considerable investment to expand or upgrade transport networks and optimise freight corridors in terms of energy use and emissions. Beyond our research, we'll need complementary work to investigate the technical and economic feasibility of non-fossil propulsion technologies.

We'll have to take a holistic approach to map feasibility hurdles (technical challenges, material needs, system architecture and integration) that must be overcome.

The ultimate goal is to decrease fossil fuel demand and emissions while ensuring long-term economic and trading resilience.

Equally crucial is the participation and support from stakeholders. Freight transport is a complex system characterised by multiple interests (policymakers, shippers, freight forwarders, port and rail representatives) with sometimes conflicting views. Strategic planning must also acknowledge consumer preferences and their impacts on energy use.

The latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) elaborates on this:

Drawing on diverse knowledges and cultural values, meaningful participation and inclusive engagement processes—including Indigenous knowledge, local knowledge, and scientific knowledge—facilitates climate-resilient development, builds capacity and allows locally appropriate and socially acceptable solutions.

Beyond the focus on emissions cuts, we need to engineer freight systems with a high capacity to adapt to sustain trade and well-being while operating at much lower energy levels. The notion of adaptation also has to extend further than the current focus on physical protection against extreme weather events.

The tools and technologies to decarbonise freight transportation in New Zealand are available now. The problem lies in their integration and the understanding of the trade-offs at stake. Freight transport emissions can be reduced through cost-effective investments in multi-modal infrastructure and alternative propulsion technologies.

However, it is essential for future initiatives to operate within the biophysical limits of our planet, as emphasised in the IPCC's report:

Technological innovation can have trade-offs such as new and greater environmental impacts, social inequalities, overdependence on foreign knowledge and providers, distributional impacts and rebound effects, requiring appropriate governance and policies to enhance potential and reduce trade-offs.

• Patricio Gallardo - Researcher in Transition Engineering, University of Canterbury.
• First published in The Conversation. Republished with permission.

Consumer NZ, with support from Te Manatu Waka-Ministry of Transport, decided to investigate to see if these suggestions were true.

They assessed fuel use in five PHEVs and five hybrids from five brands, the subsequent Consumer magazine report says.

Their aim was to see how real-world fuel consumption compares with the manufacturers' claims.

"While it's a small sample, it has generated some useful insights," Consumer says.

Manufacturers' fuel efficiency figures come from laboratory tests conducted under controlled settings, they point out.

"However, in reality, fuel efficiency is likely to be lower - and lower still if you don't drive with efficiency in mind."

Crucial info

Consumer notes that in New Zealand, the Clean Car Discount Scheme uses the published fuel use to calculate fees and rebates for each car.

Having the fees and rebates set to the right level is crucial for encouraging people into the right sort of vehicles.

"We also tested the real-world fuel efficiency of hybrids, PHEVs and electric vehicles (EVs) in 2020.

"We uncovered that the price of running a Hyundai Ioniq PHEV for a week compared very similarly to the hybrid version.

"It was a surprising result - we expected the PHEV cost to be much lower," Consumer says.

Consumer's real world test

"Each vehicle we trial gets the same treatment: a week of commuting in rush hour from Lower Hutt to Consumer HQ (a round trip of 28km); a run to the supermarket; and a drive over the Remutaka Hill and back to see how it goes on a longer weekend trip. In total, one week's usage makes for about 270km of motoring.

"We record fuel use (both actual and on the trip computer) and measure electricity usage where appropriate, with PHEVs.

"The actual fuel use is measured by filling the tank to the brim at the start of the trial and then again at the end, and comparing numbers.

"It's an inexact science that doesn't use any specialist or calibrated equipment, but it's still a repeatable, real-world appraisal."

Drawing some conclusions

Consumer says a summary of their findings shows:

• PHEVs averaged 45 percent over their claimed fuel use on their trip computers and 73 percent over with the fuel measured at the pump.
• Hybrids averaged 10 percent over their claimed fuel use on their trip computers and 20 percent over with the fuel measured at the pump

Although Consumer has included a chart showing numerous vehicles' percentage difference from claimed fuel usage, it's urging readers to treat them with caution.

"It's important not to sensationalise those figures - it's not robust science," Consumer says.

"Rather, it's real-world driving with the percent gains blown out by the small numbers in the PHEV claims.

"Even so, it is quite telling in our sample that the figures were much higher than claimed."

Source

• Consumer magazine

Coming after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic and border closures, it was undoubtedly a momentous occasion.

But it's also an opportunity to examine the environmental and economic impacts of these massive ships and to ask how welcome they really are.

Criticism of the cruise industry is not new, and there have been calls for global monitoring and effective legislation because of its impact on environmental and human health.

Climate change has only amplified this.

Individual cruise liners emit more CO2 than any other kind of ship. Per passenger mile, they produce at least twice the CO2 emissions of a long-haul flight.

A single ship can use up to 150 tonnes of low-grade heavy fuel oil (HFO) every day of its voyage. Combusted in a ship's huge engines, this produces particulate matter (PM) - microscopic particles that can be inhaled and lodge in lung tissue or be carried in a bloodstream.

PM is linked to various environmental harms and health problems, including reduced lung function and worsening asthma and heart disease.

A single cruise ship can produce the same daily PM emissions as a million cars, with the global cruise fleet producing the emission equivalent of 323 million cars (but with a passenger capacity of only about 581,200single-occupancy cars).

Environmental impact

And it's not just the oceans the ships cross or the ports where the vessels dock that are affected. A recent study found that standing on the deck of a cruise ship exposed passengers to air quality equivalent to a city like Beijing.

Cruise ship fuel also contains sulphur. When combusted, it creates sulphur oxide, a direct contributor to smog at ground level, acid rain at the atmospheric level, and a host of health impacts for those who breathe in the pollutant.

Pressure from environmentalists and modern technology eventually led to the installation of "scrubbers" on cruise liner smokestacks which remove most sulphur from the ship's exhaust.

However, some or all of the collected sulphur is often later disposed of into the ocean, potentially harming reefs and marine life and contributing to ocean acidification.

Cruise ships are also allowed to dump untreated sewage and heavily contaminated grey water. Billions of litres of this wastewater is discharged into the oceans each year.

Industry under scrutiny

There will always be the argument that fuel can be made cleaner, engines more efficient, or older ships replaced with battery and solar-powered vessels. However, even moderate attempts at curbing ship emissions have reportedly been opposed by industry lobbyists.

Meanwhile, the ability to re-flag a vessel to countries with lower environmental standards, access to an abundance of cheap fuel, and the cost of replacing a single ship (upwards of NZ$2.6 billion) all mean the current fleet is probably around for some time.

Environmental impact isn't the only reason the cruise industry has come under scrutiny in the past. It has been cited for poor labour practices, including low wages and bad conditions, and contributing to over-tourism.

But despite having been responsible for higher rates of disease transmission at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry appears to be bouncing back after reducing vaccination requirements for passengers.

Economic doubts

The common argument, particularly in the case of a port city like Auckland, is that cruise ships bring valuable tourist dollars to a struggling CBD. But past studies of tourist spending behaviour show cruise tourists contribute little to local economies.

Cruise ships typically spend between five and nine hours in a port, giving tourists little time to shop or dine. Rather, they are often whisked away by bus to major tourist destinations.

They don't hire hotel rooms or eat at restaurants.

According to the NZ Cruise Association, 321,590 tourists spent around $368 million nationwide (about $1,144 each) during the last pre-pandemic season from 2018 to 2019.

Overall, cruise passengers contributed about 2% of the total $17.5 billion spent that season by international tourists.

Beginning in October, the cruise season will kick into high gear, with ships arriving in Auckland every few days.

Given the significant questions around their environmental and health impacts and their relatively small contribution to the economy, are lavish welcomes like what we saw earlier this month really justified?

• Timothy Welch is a Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, University of Auckland.
• First published in The Conversation. Republished with permission.

The electric vehicle was a Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX, a concept car that uses a combination of advanced aerodynamics, lightweight materials and state-of-the-art battery technology that is not currently available on production EVs.

The demonstration showed what might be possible in the near future, but for now, range anxiety remains a serious consideration for anyone considering buying or switching to an electric car.

The environmental benefits may be obvious, and even performance has caught up, and in some cases exceeded the gas-guzzling counterparts, but an under-developed charging infrastructure and relatively slow charge times remain a concern for any prospective buyers.

With that in mind, we've taken a look at how the range and charge time of different EVs compare.

When buying a fossil fuel-powered car, few people ask themselves how much range it has. This is partly because it has become standardised, but also because it never takes more than a few minutes to fill up.

Not only does it take a lot longer to fully charge an EV compared to its polluting rivals, but the charging stations are also far less ubiquitous.

The official numbers stated by automakers do not always tell the full story, though various comparison sites and channels have performed real-world tests in recent years. Here's how the best-selling models in the UK compare:

• Tesla Model 3: 272 miles (438km)*
• Kia e-Niro: 230 miles (370km)
• Volkswagon ID.3: 259 miles (416km)
• Nissan Leaf: 234 miles (378km)
• Audi E-tron: 252 miles (405km)
• Hyundai Kona Electric: 258 miles (415km)
• Mini Electric: 145 miles (233km)
• Renault Zoe: 238 miles (383km)
• Vauxhall Corsa-e: 222 miles (367km)

*All figures are the base models, with some upper range models offering up to 100 miles of extra range.

The time it takes to charge an electric vehicle can vary wildly depending on whether it is done at home or with fast charge technology at a designated station.

For example, a Tesla plugged into a wall socket at home will take between 10 and 11 hours to charge, but at a Supercharger station, it is possible to fully charge the car in about an hour and a half.

Charging is logarithmic, so while 20 minutes could get you from 0-50 per cent, getting from 90-10 per cent could also take 20 minutes.

It is also worth noting that charging speed will be impacted by the weather, with EVs taking longer to charge at lower temperatures.

As the Mercedes-Benz Vision demonstrated, the potential for EVs is enormous, especially with the introduction of new battery innovations like silicon anodes.

Within the next decade, the average ranges could easily double, and unlike fuel-powered cars, they are not limited by the size of the tank, but rather the density of the battery. Continue reading

The report finds the majority of pollution-related deaths today come from what it calls modern sources, such as lead and chemical exposure and ambient air pollution primarily through the burning of fossil fuels, what the authors refer to as "the unintended consequence of industrialization and urbanization."

The levels of pollution stemming from current economic models reflects "the throwaway culture" that Pope Francis has condemned and "certainly in no way constitutes good stewardship of our planet," said Philip Landrigan, co-lead author and the director of the Global Public Health Program and Global Pollution Observatory at Boston College.

"We're locked into this economic model, which is focused obsessively on short-term gain, on the gross domestic product," Landrigan told EarthBeat. "We ignore natural capital, the ecosystems. We ignore human capital, people. We just burn through natural resources, we burn through people with the goal of creating ever-greater profit margins."

Deaths from modern forms of pollution have risen 66% since 2000, the report stated, and have essentially wiped out gains in lowering mortality rates from water and household air pollution achieved through improved water and sanitation access and cleaner ways of household cooking and heating.

Overall, the death toll from pollution each year eclipses that from malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis combined is on par with smoking-related deaths and is more than the 6 million people who have died so far from the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 90% of pollution-related deaths are located in low- and middle-income countries.

The findings, based on data from the 2019 Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors study, were published May 17 in The Lancet Planetary Health, a subset of The Lancet medical journal, one of the world's oldest and most widely respected medical publications.

The report's authors said that despite its massive threat, pollution has been a largely "overlooked" problem and increasingly countries must work together in its mitigation.

"Pollution has typically been viewed as a local issue to be addressed through sub-national and national regulation or, occasionally, using regional policy in higher-income countries.

It is increasingly clear that pollution is a planetary threat, and that its drivers, its dispersion, and its effects on health transcend local boundaries and demand a global response," the report's authors said.

Landrigan, a pediatrician and epidemiologist, told EarthBeat that the world's religions can play an important role in reducing global pollution by raising the moral and ethical dimensions of polluting the planet and also speaking directly with industry and corporate leaders.

"I think religious leaders have an opportunity here to step up … and say, 'Hey, we simply can't go on this way. We've got to move to a more sustainable, more circular economy where it isn't just about more and more and more every day of the week.' Because what we're doing can't go on," he said. "There's going to come a point of no return."

In his 2015 encyclical, "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home," Francis bemoaned how "some forms of pollution are part of people's daily experience" and referenced the millions of premature deaths resulting from such conditions.

Last September, the pope said in a message to the Council of Europe that all people have a right to a "safe, healthy and sustainable environment."

The Lancet report follows up on a similar study in 2017, which also showed pollution responsible for 9 million annual deaths — a figure that has remained unchanged since 2015. What has changed are the sources driving mortality rates, with deaths from modern pollution sources having "increased substantially" over the past 20 years, the report said.

Overall, air pollution is responsible for 6.5 million deaths each year, with 4.5 million of those from ambient air pollution.

An estimated 1.3 million deaths are tied to water pollution; 1.8 million to lead and other chemical pollution, such as a group of chemicals known as PFAS and neonicotinoids, one of the most widely used types of insecticide; and 875,000 from occupational pollution. Modern sources account for roughly 5.8 million deaths, compared to 3.7 million from traditional sources that have historically been associated with extreme poverty.

The problem of pollution is most severe in low- and middle-income countries, according to the report, and especially acute in Asia and Africa, though in the latter historical forms of pollution are still the predominant causes of disease and death. More than 2 million people die annually from pollution in both China and India, though China has far fewer deaths (367,000) from household and water pollution than India (1.1 million). In terms of pollution deaths per 100,000 people, African nations of Chad (305), Central African Republic (299), Niger (241) and Somalia (237) are hit hardest, compared to the United States at 44 deaths per 100,000 people.

The report draws clear lines between pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss, calling them "the key global environmental issues of our time" whose solutions are "intricately linked" and mutually beneficial. One example it cites is to drastically cut emissions of short-lived climate pollutants, like methane, soot and hydrofluorocarbons that simultaneously pollute the air and capture heat in the atmosphere.

The report found that global chemical manufacturing has increased at a rate of roughly 3.5% per year, and will double by 2030. While gasoline and paint have been historical sources of lead exposure, people are encountering it more and more through poor recycling of car batteries, lead chromate added to spices and lead added to cookware and pots.

Rachel Kupka, a co-author of the report and executive director of the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution, said that lead exposure is especially harmful for children, with one in three children globally experiencing lead poisoning, which can hinder cognitive development.

"What we're finding now is that lead, even very low levels of exposure, are contributing to a much higher burden of disease than anticipated before," she told EarthBeat.

"It's very bad news for people and the planet that air pollution is getting worse and chemical pollution is getting worse," Landrigan said, adding, "We were hoping for better" results in the four years since the previous report.

One of the goals of that 2018 report was to persuade more countries to address what is widely seen as a neglected problem, especially in middle- and low-income countries. A major driver of pollution has been the industrialization and urbanization of nations, which as they rapidly work to build their economies predominantly have done so through burning fossil fuels.

"They're taking a very short-term view and they're making the mistake of investing in fossil fuels, which is, in my mind, a losing proposition because the costs of the pollution that fossil fuels produce outweigh any economic benefit that the fossil fuels produce," Landrigan said.

In Laudato Si', Francis urged countries that have developed through highly polluting sources to assist other nations to do so with cleaner energy sources.

"The same mindset which stands in the way of making radical decisions to reverse the trend of global warming also stands in the way of achieving the goal of eliminating poverty. A more responsible overall approach is needed to deal with both problems: the reduction of pollution and the development of poorer countries and regions," the pope wrote. Continue reading

• Brian Roewe is NCR environment correspondent

The Catholic Farmers Association (CFA) has developed an 'environmental conservation-type sustainable agriculture' and consumption method they call ‘life agriculture', the Gwangju Catholic Peace Broadcasting Company reported.

The term 'life agriculture' means life-saving agriculture employing eco-friendly farming methods to produce food safely.

"We do life agriculture because we must live, nature must live, and agriculture must continue for future generations. We say that it is for the preservation of the creative order but, in the end, humans must do life agriculture to survive," said Gyeongho Kim, vice president of the CFA, established in 1966 in Gwangju archdiocese.

A prolonged drought on the Korean Peninsula is viewed as an effect of climate change and is contributing, along with inflation, to soaring commodity prices and food shortages.

Eight cities were reported to be on the verge of serious drought and eleven cities were placed under cautionary alert by the government as per the National Drought Information Portal of Korea.

Neighbouring North Korea has also raised the alarm as it braced itself to face the worst expected drought in 40 years. Continue reading

The airport is looking to double its capacity by 2040.

Veteran councillors Iona Pannett and Sarah Free, along with three first time councillors Teri O'Neill, Tamatha Paul, and Laurie Foon, have put a motion asking the council to oppose the $1B expansion of the airport into the Miramar Golf Course.

"We want to see action on carbon zero. I haven't seen an ounce of good work for genuine climate justice from Wellington Airport," said O'Neill.

However Councillor Nicola Young is calling the move an abuse of council processes.

"Pannett and Free lost their Green Party endorsement this year and it is just a way to remind voters they're Green", she said.

Councillor Simon Woolf called the motion "inflammatory" and says it is "activism instead of governance."

He warns that the approach "causes instability and reputational damage."

Reinforcing the claims of the inflammatory motion, posturing and activism, Wellington's DomPost indicates its research suggests the motion will fail.

On Friday, Wellington Airport lost its case in the High Court for an interim injunction stopping the installation of a pedestrian crossing across State Highway 1, north of the airport.

O'Neill said the airport's suing Waka Kotahi over Let's Get Wellington Moving - a sustainability-focused transport project - went against climate action.

Source: DomPost

The Chip Packet Project (CPPNZ) was founded in September 2021 during lockdown, and was a spin-off of the UK-based organisation, Crisp Packet Project.

The organisation collects freshly-washed chip packets, or any foil-wrapped food item, before fusing them together with an iron to create a "survival sheet" for Aucklanders in need. Read more