Peru’s Castillo decrees major oil spill an environmental emergency

Peruvian President Pedro Castillo declared an environmental emergency on Thursday as clean-up teams struggled to contain a huge oil spill at the country’s biggest refinery, after rogue waves rocked a ship unloading crude there. The spill, blamed on unusual swells caused by a volcanic eruption… Read More

Indonesia aims to get mangrove restoration back on track in 2022

Indonesia aims to restore 150,000 hectares of degraded mangroves this year, after rehabilitating about a quarter of this total last year when funds had to be diverted from the state budget to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, officials said. The Southeast Asian nation, which has huge… Read More

Germany’s climate movement

In late November 2021, Germany’s new coalition government announced its aim to phase out coal power across the country by 2030, eight years ahead of schedule. Earlier that month, the government of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where activists have been protesting against coal mining,… Read More

Water crisis looms for tsunami-hit Tonga; New Zealand help on the way

Two New Zealand navy vessels will arrive in Tonga on Friday carrying critical water supplies for the Pacific island nation reeling from a volcanic eruption and tsunami and largely cut off from the outside world. Hundreds of homes in Tonga’s smaller outer islands have been destroyed, and at least three people… Read More

Hidden cost of our obsession with fish oil pills

Scanning the shelves and internet for fish oil is a dizzying task. There are dozens of brands available and, although the typical consideration for the popular supplement is that quality matters most, it is not the only factor. These prized products travel a long way… Read More

California’s fires threaten to ravage mighty sequoia forests

California’s giant sequoias are symbols of permanence – with some living for thousands of years. But the fierce wildfires ravaging the state threaten even these mighty trees, which are among the longest-lived organisms on Earth. There is something primeval about giant sequoias. Their weird, broccoli-like… Read More