Toxic Coal Waste May Be A Source Of Rare Metals

There are currently millions of tons of coal ash left over from burning the planet’s dirtiest fossil fuel that are sitting in ponds and landfills. They usually end up leaking into waterways and pollute soil. But this toxic waste may also be a treasure trove for the rare earth elements needed to propel the world toward clean energy.

Scientists analyzed coal ash from power plants across the United States and found it could contain up to 11 million tons of rare earth elements — nearly eight times the amount the US has in domestic reserves — worth around US$ 8.4 billion, according to recent research led by the University of Texas at Austin.

LA County Files Lawsuit Against Coca-cola And Pepsi

According to the Associated Press, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are in hot water after Los Angeles County accused the soda giants of bottling up the truth about their plastic pollution. The suit alleges that the companies promoted a "circular economy" while their plastic bottles are largely unrecyclable after one use.

With Coca-Cola and PepsiCo ranked as top global plastic polluters, the county said these practices contribute significantly to environmental harm, including microplastic pollution.

The World Desertification Talks Have Started

The United Nations has started talks aimed at halting the degradation and desertification of vast swathes of land started in Saudi Arabia last 2 Deember after scientists fired a stark warning over unsustainable farming and deforestation.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called it a "moonshot moment": a 12-day meeting for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), looking to protect and restore land and respond to drought amid the onslaught of climate change.

No Agreed Treaty To Address Plastic Pollution Crisis

Different nations of the world has wrapped up the fifth UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) meeting intended to yield a legally binding global treaty in Busan, South Korea. It was meant to be the final one.

However, countries remained far apart on the basic scope of a treaty and could agree only to postpone key decisions and resume talks, dubbed INC 5.2, to a later date.

Shell Wins Appeal On Emission Ruling

Climate activists may gave won against Shell in 2021 when a Dutch court commanded the oil giant to reduce its carbon emissions by 45 percent by the end of 2030, but it did not last long.

Three years later, Shell managed to win its appeal against this ruling. In the court's view, Shell doesn’t have a "social standard of care" to curtail emissions, the BBC reports.

Desalination Using the Sun's Power

In order to extract potable liquid from seawater, distillation is required. It is basically boiling the water into steam and then cooling the purified vapor in condensation tubes.

Problem is, this method is incredibly power intensive with nearly half of the input energy going towards just boiling the water. But, a team of researchers from Rice University have developed a new technique that not only drastically reduces the amount of energy needed but can decouple the process from the power grid altogether.

Hurricane Resilient Homes Stood Tall In Florida

Some residents of a sustainable hurricane-proof community in Florida were glad that their homes survived major Hurricanes Helene and Milton — and kept the lights on the whole time. It was a tense moment, but their investments may have paid off.

As CNN reported, Hunters Point, a waterfront neighborhood in Cortez, Florida, is touted as the world's first residential development to attain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design net-zero credentials.

The Affordable and Portable Water Filter System

(This story was first published by Olivia Ho for The Straits Times, Singapore in 2015. This is a solutions-based story that can inspire change on a global level.)

It weighs no more than 300g, fits easily into a backpack and looks like any other plastic bag, but the simple device is a life-saver for people who have no access to clean, drinking water.

The bag, called Fieldtrate Lite, filters dirty water, such as river water, through a membrane and turns it into potable water in the same time it would take to run it from the tap.

One U.S. City Tries To Wage War Against Invasive Species

This will be the case of man versus nature as One Tennessee city tries to maintain the status quo and protect the environment from invasive species.

Last June, Knoxville received US 25,000 to get rid of bush honeysuckle, privet, and more, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported. The 100-acre project covers greenways, the Ijams Nature Center, and other locations around the city.

Extreme Drought Is Taking Place In Brazil

The increasing temperature and uncolntrolled deforestation has made for a dire drought situation in Brazil. Latin America's largest country is currently experiencing one of its most intense and widespread drought in history.

Brazil's worst drought on record has resulted to fuel wildfires in the Amazon rainforest. The Pantanal, a region that encompasses the world's largest tropical wetland area, in August experienced a 3,901 percent increase in its fires compared to August 2023, Greenpeace noted, based on reporting by the country's National Institute for Space Research.

Iron Silicate Could Be The Key In Developing Fusion Reactors

Using green energy at this time will encounter a lot of detractors and roadblocks. Moreso, when it involves building a nuclear fusion reactor capable of providing green energy for homes and industry, which is the goal of many physicists around the world.

While some of those hurdles have been overcome, building robust materials capable of surviving the hellish conditions inside tokamaks is the next frontier.

China Reached Its 2030 Clean Energy Goal

After all the sad and depressing news around the world, we all need some good news. And if this report from China is an indication, uplifting news are starting to filter through.

According to EndGadget, China has already reached a clean energy goal six years sooner than expected. In 2020, President Xi Jinping set a goal to have at least 1,200 gigawatts of clean energy sources by 2030. In a new statement, China's National Energy Administration claims the country has reached 1,206 gigawatts, thanks to 25 gigawatts of turbines and panels added last month, Bloomberg reports.

Cannes Film Festival Display Hypocrisy

Movie actors are always asking their followers and fans to save the environment for whatever reason. However, a fleet of energy-guzzling luxury yachts and private planes, kilos of gourmet food dumped, limousines driving stars just a few hundred metres in the Cannes film festival shows that they are also hypocrites.

"There is, without a doubt, a huge amount that needs to be done by the festival organizers to make it more environmentally friendly," said Cyril Dion, a filmmaker and climate activist.

Model For Countries with Stressed Supply of Water

With the expected drought that comes with the El Niño phenomenon, it worth everyone's while if they try to look and check what folks at Orange County, Fountain Valley, California are doing.

The natural water supplies on that county come from just three sources: limited rain, a single unreliable river and aquifers.

PHL Mayor Wants to Slaughter Whales, Dolphins & Sharks

The Mayor of Dumanjug, Cebu has his information completely wrong and may need a refresher’s course on marine biology and ecological balance after he said, "Dolphins, whales, sharks are parasites, some of them should be killed."

Mayor Nelson Gamaliel Garcia uttered those exactly words while addressing participants of the Tañon Strait Protected Seascape Stakeholders’ Summit in Cebu City last 11 February 2015.

McDo's Envi Strategy To Increase Customers

To encourage people to recycle trash and help protect the environment, you have to feed them. Not just feed them with ordinary food, but feed them with something that is worth their while.

This could be the reason why Golden Arches has launched a campaign in Sweden that lets people—young festival revelers in particular—swap empty cans for food. Bring in 10 cans and get a hamburger or a cheeseburger; haul in 40 and get rewarded with a Big Mac. To promote the program around parks and festival sites in Stockholm, McDonald’s installed billboards that double as trash bags that passersby can pull out and fill up with the recyclable litter.

Intense El Niño Appears Emminent

It’s not an end-of-the-world scenario, but it is better that everyone is aware that El Niño conditions appear to have been developing in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.

Data courtesy of NASA JPL Ocean Surface Topography Team which uses ocean-observing satellites and other ocean sensors indicate that El Niño conditions appear to be developing in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. They showed that conditions in May 2014 bear some similarities to those of May 1997, a year that brought one of the most potent El Niño events of the 20th century.

New Migration Theory in Southeast Asia

An international research team has discovered new DNA evidence to overturn conventional theories that suggest that the present-day populations of Island Southeast Asia (covering the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysian Borneo) came from Taiwan 4,000 years ago.

The researchers show that population dispersal came earlier, from within the region, and probably resulted from flooding.

Gov. Singson and Daughter Criticized by Netizens

The more they try to defend their actions, the more they get buried in their own mess. This is what is happening right now to former Ilocos Sur Governor Chavit Singson and his daughter Richelle.

Both father and daughter defended their hunting of the rare and endemic Philippine Ducks, which has drawn intense criticism from the birding community, by claiming in a statement sent to GMA News Online that the killings of the protected species occurred overseas.

Tubbataha Reef is Among the Best

If you are wondering if there is anything worth enjoying in the country, well, here's one reason why it really is more fun in the Philippines.

Palawan's Tubbataha reef has just been named the world's eight best dive site by CNN's travel news website CNNGo.com.