While the United States continues to debate initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the European Union [EU] is making substantial headway toward its reduction goals. European Environmental Agency: "The European Union continued to record substantial greenhouse gas emissions reductions in 2020, posting an 11% drop compared to 2019, according to the latest official data published today by the European Environment Agency. The data confirms a 30-year downward trend which l

Happy Earth Day! The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, so this is the 52nd anniversary. We have made some progress since then. America's air, rivers and lakes are cleaner because of the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts, but we continue to face numerous environmental challenges like climate change, mass extinctions, over-fishing, ocean acidification, deforestation, mountains of plastic, and a global shortage of clean drinking water. So, adopting a sustainable lifestyle is

We recently reached two milestones in renewable energy production; one nationally, one globally. Nationally: The Energy Information Administration [EIA] reported that on Tuesday wind power surpassed both coal and nuclear as the 2nd largest source of electricity in the United States. Only natural gas provided us with more electricity on Tuesday. And, yes, it was for only one day, but it shows the potential that renewables have to replace fossil fuels in the United States. On a

We have written about the world's mountain of plastic waste before and researchers continue to document the harm it does to the environment. Illuminate: "Plastic waste is everywhere on our planet now, from the deepest parts of our oceans to the tops of the highest mountains on earth. We are literally drowning in the stuff. It's polluting our oceans and rivers, filling our landfills and spoiling our beaches, and it's responsible for killing over 1 million marine animals each y

Iceland is one of only three nations that still hunts whales commercially, along with Norway and Japan. However, the government has now announced that it will stop whaling at the end of 2023. The principal reason is that the demand for whale meat continues to decline globally. The Guardian: “There are few justifications to authorise the whale hunt beyond 2024,” when current quotas expire, Svandis Svavarsdóttir, a member of the Left Green party, wrote in Morgunblaðið newspaper

In Western nations there has always been a bias in favor of "property" or business interests within the law. That bias succumbed to workers' rights during the 20th Century and is now being chipped away as nations seek to protect their increasingly fragile environments. Italy took a big step in that direction this week when its Parliament approved an addition to their Constitution that requires the government to safeguard the environment, biodiversity and the ecosystem "in the