Environmental Science

Plastic Poisons in the Food Chain
Microscopic waste plastics are taken up by marine microbes to infiltrate and poison the entire food web in the oceans
Dr Mae-Wan Ho 2nd February 2015

Plastic Plague in Our Oceans
Plastics production has gone up 560-fold in just over 60 years to 280 million tonnes a year, less than half recycled or buried in landfills, the rest litter the oceans damaging marine life throughout the food chain; scientists call for the most toxic plastics to be classified hazardous waste, and ultimately for all plastics to be reused and recycled in closed-loop systems
Dr Mae-Wan Ho 28th January 2015

Waste Plastics into Fuel Oil?
One way to clear the existing mountains of waste plastics is to turn them into clean fuel oil; a company in New York appears to have done just that at a cost of 11 cents a gallon using unsorted, unwashed plastic wastes in a safe, environmentally friendly, and highly efficient process; but will this perpetuate our dependence on fossil fuel?
Dr Mae-Wan Ho 21st January 2015

Plants Warn One Another of Pest Attack through Mycorrhizal Fungal Network
Exquisite inter-species relationships between plants and fungi threatened by industrial farming
Dr Eva Sirinathsinghji 28th October 2013

Purple Root Water Hyacinth A Natural Remedy for Pollution
A weed that has spread from South America to many tropical and semi-tropical countries now developed by Chinese scientists into a variety that is far less invasive and very effective at cleaning heavily polluted lakes and rivers
Prof Peter Saunders 9th September 2013

Insecticide Blamed for Bee Decline also Lethal to Aquatic Organisms
Low chronic exposure to the soluble insecticide is lethal to fresh water shrimps
Dr Eva Sirinathsinghji 19th June 2013

Pharmaceutical Cocktails Anyone?
Widespread pollution of drinking water by unregulated discharges of pharmaceuticals is potentially damaging to health and the environment
Prof. Joe Cummins 2nd October 2012

Unintended Hazards of Geoengineering
Reducing the solar radiation that reaches Earth will have potentially significant consequences beyond limiting the mean temperature of the planet; it may reduce annual rainfall, especially in the Americas and northern Eurasia
Prof. Peter Saunders 23rd July 2012

Environmental Obesogens Make Children and Adults Fat
Persistent environmental pollutants responsible for obesity epidemic
Prof. Joe Cummins 29th February 2012

World Reached 25 % Renewable Energy Capacity
Renewable energies continued to climb in 2009, bucking the plummeting economic trend
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 25th October 2010

Atmospheric Geoengineering
Anonymous report confirms climate and weather manipulation experiments conducted by the US and its allies over the past decades Julian Rose
Julian Rose 20th September 2010

Organic Agriculture for Biodiversity and Pest Control
Scientists find organic fields have more even distribution of natural enemy species, thereby providing significantly better pest control than conventional fields and promoting plant growth
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 5th July 2010

Gulf of Mexico Oil Catastrophe Worst in History and What to Do Instead
An estimated 3.4 million gallons are spewing out daily with no end in sight while toxic oil and dispersants are killing all ocean life. Dr. Ilya Sandra Perlingieri interviews Ohio scientist Mike Castle on what can be done instead
Dr. Ilya Sandra Perlingieri 2nd June 2010

‘Land Rush’ as Threats to Food Security Intensify
Biofuels policies and the 2008 financial and food crisis ignited a worldwide ‘land rush’ that’s increasing world hunger without addressing the underlying long term threats to world food security
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 28th April 2010

Green Growth for Developing Nations
Developing nations can leapfrog to low carbon economies by improving energy efficiency, adopting organic agriculture, and installing affordable off-grid renewable power for the people, says United Nations agency
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 6th April 2010

Sustainable Agriculture, Green Energies and the Circular Economy
Sustainable organic agriculture could cut China’s greenhouse emissions and save fossil fuel use by more than 40 percent; decentralised, distributed green energies would do the rest for the circular economy
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 31st March 2010

China’s Soils Ruined by Overuse of Chemical Fertilizers
Cropland soils are turning acid from the overuse of nitrogen fertilizers, decreasing productivity, polluting the environment, and contributing huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions; researchers recommend reducing fertilizer use, but have not considered phasing it out altogether by adopting organic agriculture
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 30th March 2010

China's Pollution Census Triggers Green Five-Year Plan
China poised to launch next green five-year plan as national census finds wastewater runoff from farms a far greater source of pollution than industry; a holistic approach to greening food and energy is needed
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 24th March 2010

The Real Importance of the Amazon Rain Forest
Rain forests power atmospheric circulation that bring rain to continental land masses from the oceans; new theory explains why losing forests will cause catastrophic desertification Peter Bunyard
Peter Bunyard 15th March 2010

Warming Oceans Starved of Oxygen
Global warming is depleting oxygen from the ocean waters and threatening the survival of fisheries and the entire marine ecosystem.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 10th August 2009

Super-Toxic Cocktails
Concentrations of pesticides insufficient to cause harm individually become highly toxic in combinations that occur in our environment. Current testing regimes are failing to cope with such lethal cocktails
Prof. Peter Saunders 27th April 2009

GeoEngineering A Measure of Desperation
We have all the means to save the climate without risking the earth in unregulated geoengineering research
Prof. Peter Saunders & Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 4th February 2009

Saving the Climate Dangerously
Geoengineering experiments can lead to big disasters if things go wrong, which is why it must be strictly regulated. The German Governments decision to proceed with its ocean fertilisation experiment violates the recommendations of the Convention on Biological Diversity, but there is no law against it.
Prof. Peter Saunders 2nd February 2009

Old Growth Forests Are Carbon Sinks and Must Be Protected
A forest levy and other financial mechanisms within the Kyoto Protocol are appropriate measures for protecting natural forests.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 20th October 2008

Why the Planet is Sick
A review of 'Sick Planet' by Stan Cox
Prof. Peter Saunders 13th August 2008

Saving the World with Biodynamic Farming
The importance of marginal farmers in India using an emergent agricultural knowledge system against the corporate takeover of farms.
Sam Burcher 16th January 2008

Beware the New "Doubly Green Revolution"
The fake moral crusade to feed the world with genetically modified crops promoted as the second “Doubly Green Revolution” is doing even more damage than the first. The bad genetics involved in has failed the test in science and in the real world.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 14th January 2008

Greening the Desert
How Farmers in Sahel Confound Scientists. Scientists are catching up with farmers on how local knowledge and cooperation can work miracles.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho and Lim Li Ching 2nd January 2008

Bt Crops Threaten Aquatic Ecosystems
Scientists find wastes from transgenic Bt corn impair growth of common aquatic insect and call on future risk assessment to include aquatic ecosystems previously overlooked.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 30th October 2007

Mobile Phones & Vanishing Birds
Birds near mobile phone base stations do not breed well
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 29th May 2007

Cancer Risks from Microwaves Confirmed
Microwaves from wireless mobile phone transmitters may be more potent than lower frequency electromagnetic fields in promoting cancer
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 24th May 2007

The Economics of Climate Change
The Stern Report commissioned by the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown shows that doing nothing to mitigate climate change will cost us at least five times as much as if we start to act now, but will any government take heed?
Prof. Peter Saunders 16th January 2007

Beauty and the Beast – Flowers can Pollute
Launching the International Flower Campaign
Dr. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher 30th August 2006

Shutting Down the Oceans Act III: Global Warming and Plankton; Snuffing Out the Green Fuse
The oceans' plankton is about to give us the final curtain call in the greatest tragedy the human species has ever enacted unless we make determined efforts to stop burning fossil fuels right now. Numerous options for sustainable and renewable energies exist (Which Energy?) that will save our oceans and our planet
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 23rd August 2006

Shutting Down the Oceans. Act I: Acid Oceans
Global warming and acidification are damaging the phytoplankton at the basis of the oceans’ enormous food web, putting the entire biosphere in jeopardy
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 26th July 2006

Oceans and Global Warming
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho explains how oceans determine climate and influence climate change. Urgent need to shift away from fossil fuels to renewable options
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 21st July 2006

Oceans in Distress
Pollution, destructive overfishing and increasing commercial exploitation are threatening the planet’s cradle of life, warns the UN.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 20th July 2006

Dream Farm 2nd Announcement
How to turn "wastes" into energy and resources for local self-sufficiency in a post-fossil fuel economy
ISIS 10th January 2006

Redemption from the Plastics Wasteland
Plastic wastes that litter cities, parks, beaches and countryside look depressingly the same everywhere on earth. They have come to symbolise the mass throwaway culture: cheap, trashy, transient yet stubbornly non-degradable and inassimilable
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 24th November 2005

Food Miles and Sustainability
What's behind the statistics and what should be done?
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho and Rhea Gala 21st September 2005

Taking to the Wind
Peter Bunyard looks at the realities of wind power and answers its detractors
Peter Bunyard 12th July 2005

Sustainable World Launch Conferencen - FINAL ANNOUNCEMENT
A gathering of some of the world's top talents in science, politics and economics to focus on sustainable food systems, to provide food security for all and ameliorate the worst excesses of global warming
ISIS 4th July 2005

Sustainable World Global Initiative Update
World crops yields have been falling for three successive years as temperatures soar, and water and oil - on which industrial monoculture are heavily dependent - are both rapidly diminishing. The day of reckoning has come for the "environmental bubble economy" built on the unsustainable exploitation of our natural resources
Independent Science Panel 17th May 2005

Get Ready for Matrix
Electronic medical implants are at least 50 years old, but new devices are raising unforeseen ethical and social concerns. Dr. Mae-Wan Ho calls for thorough public debate and consultation before these devices are let loose on society
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 14th December 2004

Feeding the World under Climate Change
Industrial agriculture contributes enormously to global warming, it is increasingly unproductive and heavily dependent on oil that's fast running out. Nor can it feed us once climate change really gets going. A very different agriculture is needed.
Edward Goldsmith 6th October 2004

Low Lignin GM Trees and Forage Crops
Prof. Joe Cummins explains why genetically modifying trees and forage crops to reduce their lignin content could make them more susceptible to pests. Other issues related to the GM construct, such as genetic instability, the persistence of antibiotic resistance marker genes in the ecosystem and biosafety in general, have also not been sufficiently considered.
Prof. Joe Cummins 5th June 2004

Bio-remediation Without Caution
A bacterium living inside plants could be improved for cleaning up environmental pollutants without genetic modification. Prof. Joe Cummins and Dr. Mae-Wan Ho reveal that this seemingly beneficial development is beset with danger, as the bacterium concerned is a known pathogen
Prof. Joe Cummins and Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 25th May 2004

Methyl Bromide Ban
Prof. Peter Saunders gives timely warning for maintaining the ban on a powerful ozone depleter
Peter Saunders 21st January 2004

Transgenic Trees Spread Mercury Poisoning
Is moving mercury from place to place really remediation?
Joe Cummins 18th September 2003