Tag Archives: Climate

Food Without Agriculture

In a 2023 article published in Nature Sustainability, researchers write that food production can be more sustainable by focusing less on traditional agriculture and more on alternative methods, like chemical and biological processes.

The article highlights a specific example where dietary fats can be produced with significantly lower CO2 emissions compared to current methods used in palm oil production in Brazil or Indonesia. While acknowledging challenges like potential impacts on agricultural economies and the need for consumer acceptance, the abstract suggests that these new methods could greatly reduce the environmental impact of agriculture, especially in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, land, and water use in the next decade.

Behind The Green Lie of Sustainable Aviation Biofuel (SAF)

“Sustainable” Aviation Fuel (SAF) is a biofuel alternative to using fossil fuels for powering planes and cars. SAF is being aggressively marketed by multiple industries as a greener alternative to burning fossil fuels in cars and airplanes.

However, SAF is produced from food crops such as rapeseed, palm oil, soy and sugar cane. This requires vast swathes of land to grow. This also means mass deforestation of land that is rich in biodiversity, putting at risk already threatened animals and plants and indigenous peoples all over the world. Emissions from palm oil-derived biodiesel are three times higher than fossil fuel diesel. According to Transport & Environment EU food-based biodiesel leads to around 80% higher emissions than the fossil fuel diesel that it replaces. Read on to find out how you can take action.

Climate and extinction crises move too slowly for us to pay attention – here’s the answer

It seems we are having a hard time paying sufficient attention to the climate and extinction crises. This is because the causes for the most part move slowly, without the flashy drama that can focus our minds in the midst of 24-hour news cycles and social media distractions. The Netflix film Don’t Look Up cleverly captures our inability to focus on and come together to counter such a common threat. To change this, we must develop a “slow memory” that can help us care about and act on slow change. #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife

Op-Ed: A plan for preserving a habitable earth by Julian Cribb

Renowned and prolific science communicator and author Julian Cribb writes this op-ed piece for Palm Oil Detectives. He addresses the world’s most pressing needs for survival as we descend into the pointy end of the Anthropocene era.

Julian outlines a dozen direct and actionable solutions for preserving a healthy and habitable earth. These are taken from his interviews with the world’s brightest minds. For a more in-depth analysis, be sure to grab a copy of his most recent book, published this year – ‘How to Fix a Broken Planet’

Without tropical forests, global temperatures would be 1°c warmer

Lausanne, Switzerland (24 March)—New research released today offers the most comprehensive and detailed evidence to date that forests are more important to the climate (globally and locally) than we think due to the way in which they physically transform the atmosphere. The first-ever research to pinpoint the local, regional and global non-carbon dioxide benefits ofContinue reading “Without tropical forests, global temperatures would be 1°c warmer”

Insect decline in the Anthropocene: Death by a thousand cuts

Although conservation efforts have historically focused attention on protecting rare, charismatic, and endangered species, the “insect apocalypse” presents a different challenge. In addition to the loss of rare taxa, many reports mention sweeping declines of formerly abundant insects [e.g., Warren et al. (29)], raising concerns about ecosystem function.

Deforestation can raise local temperatures by up to 4.5℃ – and heat untouched areas 6km away

Sally Thompson, The University of Western Australia; Débora Corrêa, The University of Western Australia; John Duncan, The University of Western Australia, and Octavia Crompton, Duke University Forests directly cool the planet, like natural evaporative air conditioners. So what happens when you cut them down? In tropical countries such as Indonesia, Brazil and the Congo, rapidContinue reading “Deforestation can raise local temperatures by up to 4.5℃ – and heat untouched areas 6km away”