Category: Environment EN

“Did you know trees in cities can lower stress & boost our mental health? Trees and urban forests can make our cities greener, healthier & happier places to live. They can also help us to fight the climate crisis.” ~ UN Biodiversity Public Health and Social Benefits Clean air: Trees produce oxygen, intercept airborne particulates, and reduce smog, enhancing a community’s...

Penang's beaches and marine ecosystems face multiple challenges, including rampant reclamation projects, marine pollution and inadequate protection for coastal fisherfolk. The Penang Fisherfolk’s Association (Pen Mutiara) was established under the Fishermen’s Association Act 1971, over fifty years ago. It is an organisation that has the legal responsibility to represent and protect the...

Newer cars are not invented to save the world. They are invented to save the car industry. Let's shift our focus from NEWER cars to FEWER cars. Source: Cycling Professor  

If there’s one mantra that has anchored the environmental movement since its inception, it’s that trees are good. Good for the environment. Good for biodiversity. And definitely good for the climate. Trees remain one of the most reliable ways to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – to the tune of about 8 gigatons a year according to a 2023 study. A paper just published...

According to "Growing Greener Cities", a book published in 1992 by the American Forestry Association, trees have significant monetary benefits. They have found that a single tree provides $73 worth of air conditioning, $75 worth of erosion control, $75 worth of wildlife shelter, and $50 worth of air pollution reduction. Compounding this total of $273 for 50 years at 5% interest results in a tree...

A thriving urban forest can plant the seed of wellness in the minds and hearts of people navigating the dense brush of mental illness. Research shows that access to trees reduces rates of depression, lowers levels of the brain’s main stress hormone, cortisol, and improves cognitive function. This is especially true in cities and urban areas, where residents are significantly more likely to...

With temperatures rising and pressure on biodiversity growing, insects vital to our ecosystems are not only moving north and south, but up. Around the world, different species are shifting their habitats upwards, with potentially catastrophic results for our ecosystems. Bumblebees in the Pyrenees have moved upwards on average by more than a metre a year, with some species making significantly...

Adopting sustainable cooling strategies in daily life in the face of rising temperatures is important to mitigate climate change. What are the easy and environmentally-friendly ways to keep cool in extreme heat? Cooling the person instead of the surrounding air is more practical and this can be practised on the individual level. The Lancet infographic below outlines 8 such easy and eco-friendly...

They've brewed up a plastic alternative that is transparent, nonabsorbent (i.e., won’t get soggy) and disappears in two months—and for a bonus, it’s edible.   By Emma Bryce Packaging with all the strength and resilience of plastic, but without its environmental impacts: this would seem too good to be true. Yet a group of researchers say it’s exactly what they have created:...