More than 10 years ago, Rockström et al. [2009] came up with a particularly chilling message. They proposed a new approach to global sustainability because they assumed that anthropogenic pressure on the Earth System had become so high that an abrupt global environmental change could no longer be excluded. The biggest contribution of their research
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Gorrasi et al. [2021] evidence that the chaos and urgency induced by the COVID-19 pandemic has led to massive fossil fuel-derived plastic production and utilisation, thereby largely ignoring the recent environmental policies. They conclude that society issues can no longer be solved by the “painkiller approach” [Lichtfouse et al. 2010], but require instead a new
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On January 30, the chief editor of the Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir [Delvaux 2021] published a striking article headed Parliament is the guarantor of democracy, not Twitter. I have translated the first paragraphs for you: We definitely do not need another Twitter “battle” between politicians and experts! The most recent exchange opposed the President
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Diets link environmental and human health Rising incomes and urbanisation are driving a global dietary transition, whereby traditional diets are replaced by diets higher in sugars, fats, oils and meats. If unchecked, these dietary trends will be a major contributor to the estimated 80 % increase in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. Global
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This title is a tribute to the famous French biologist and humanist, Jean Rostand. In 1967 he published Inquiétudes d’un biologiste (Concerns of a biologist). It is sometimes well for a blatant error to draw attention to overmodest truths! As long as 55 years ago, significant residues of DDT were found in Adélie penguins and
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A tree’s most important means of staying connected to other trees is a “wood wide web” of soil fungi that connects vegetation in an intimate network that allows the sharing of an enormous amount of information and goods. A few years ago, I bought a book by Peter Wohlleben, put it aside and forgot about
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At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees. Then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realise I am fighting for humanity (Chico Mendes) Although essential to the balance of the global ecosystem, forests are under severe strain. Slash and burn fires destroy large sections of forests. But, as we are all aware, forests play a
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Eleven billion metric tons of plastic are projected to accumulate in the environment by 2025. Because plastics are persistent, they fragment into pieces that are susceptible to wind entrainment [Brahney et al. 2020]. The presence of plastic in the environment can no longer be denied. It has become a very frightening and global problem. Plastics
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In March 2019, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published a note entitled EFSA adopts a specific methodology for assessing chemical mixtures. The new methodological framework will provide EFSA scientists with the tools that will enable them to adopt, where appropriate, a specific approach to address mixtures of chemical contaminants. This approach will complement the
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COVID-19, we are talking about nothing else! As the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 surges past 2.2 million globally and deaths surpass 150000, clinicians and pathologists are struggling to understand the damage wrought by the coronavirus as it tears through the body. They are realizing that although the lungs are ground zero, its reach
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