While the intention behind buying preloved is often rooted in sustainability, I’m uncomfortable enabling our culture’s shopping addiction
Change by Degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprint
Got a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at [email protected]
I once fancied myself a savvy secondhand shopper, diving into thrift stores and online marketplaces with a sense of purpose. Armed with the goal of being eco-friendly, I was determined to give preloved clothes a new lease on life. It seemed like a win-win: unique pieces and a reduced environmental footprint. But after a few years of this pursuit, I faced an inconvenient truth: secondhand shopping wasn’t working for me.
First, let’s talk about the wardrobe explosion. My closet became a museum of mismatched pieces, each with a quirky backstory but collectively forming a chaotic narrative. The dream of a curated wardrobe quickly turned into clutter. Many of the clothes I bought were impulse buys, driven by the thrill of a bargain or the admirable notion of repurposing something old.
Continue reading...
08/16/2024 - 10:00
08/16/2024 - 10:00
Pilot whale that beached itself in 1973 was infested with thousands of parasitic nematodes that may have eaten away at its blowhole
Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast
A vial of white parasitic worms left for decades in a Tasmanian museum may help solve a timeless mystery: why do whales strand themselves on beaches?
The worms were collected from the blowhole of a pilot whale that beached itself in 1973 and then stored in Launceston’s Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup
Continue reading...
08/16/2024 - 09:00
DLA Piper seeking to recover costs in relation to injunctions it secured for National Highways and HS2, records show
Britain’s biggest law firm has sought more than £1m from climate protesters to cover the cost of court orders banning them from protesting, an investigation has found.
The multibillion-pound City law firm DLA Piper has been trying to recover costs from activists for work done on behalf of National Highways Limited (NHL) and HS2 Ltd – both public bodies – obtaining injunctions banning protests on their sites.
Continue reading...
08/16/2024 - 08:41
Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio accused by fellow billionaire of using public beach as ‘personal sandbox’
In the posh city of Malibu, Barbie and Ken rollerblade, homes sell for up to $210m – and a billionaire is digging up the beach.
In a lawsuit filed last week, the local resident James Kohlberg alleges that his neighbor, the billionaire businessman and baseball team owner Mark Attanasio, has been using construction equipment to excavate Malibu’s Broad Beach and move sand on to his private property.
Continue reading...
08/16/2024 - 07:00
Analysis of Inflation Reduction Act suggests working-class Americans missing out on renewable energy transition
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), passed exactly two years ago, was pitched as a policy that puts the “middle class first”. But the spending bill’s residential tax credits have so far disproportionately benefited wealthy families, new data indicates.
That’s a major challenge for the efforts to decarbonize the US economy in time to avert the worst consequences of the climate crisis.
Continue reading...
08/16/2024 - 07:00
Friederike Otto of World Weather Attribution says poor people and outdoor workers are dying around the world
Heat inequality is causing thousands of unreported deaths in poor countries and communities across the world, a leading analyst of climate impacts has warned, following global temperature records that may not have been seen in 120,000 years.
Sweltering conditions act as a stealthy killer that preys on the most economically fragile, said Friederike Otto, co-founder of World Weather Attribution, in an appeal for the media and authorities to pay more attention to the dangers.
Continue reading...
08/16/2024 - 06:54
People say they are determined and that prevention will be key to mitigating the effects of the climate crisis
“I used to talk to them every day.” Dimitris Petrou takes in the creatures that were once his fluffy chicks but now look like coals. The buckled cage with its carbonised birds is part of the cataclysmic scenery left behind by the fire that bore down on Athens after raging across the Attica plains consuming everything in its path.
The 72-year-old retiree and his wife, Frosso, though red-eyed and fatigued, are “somehow still going” but are profoundly shocked.
Continue reading...
08/16/2024 - 06:00
Compound used in refrigeration and air conditioning accumulates at much higher levels that other chemicals
Rain and air samples collected in metro Detroit that researchers checked for toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” showed the highest levels of TFA, an alarming finding because the compound is a potent greenhouse gas and more toxic than previously thought, but not well-studied.
While PFAS are a chemical class known to be ubiquitous in the environment, the new research is part of growing evidence around the globe that points to TFA, commonly used in refrigeration, air conditioning and clean energy technology, accumulating at much higher levels than other well-studied compounds.
Continue reading...
08/16/2024 - 05:38
An oarfish, which resembles a serpent, was found floating dead on the ocean surface off the San Diego coast and was brought ashore for study. Scientists say it is only the 20th time since 1901 an oarfish is known to have washed up in California
Stonehenge megalith came from Scotland, not Wales, ‘jaw-dropping’ study finds
Continue reading...
08/16/2024 - 04:17
In issuing the protection order, environment minister Tanya Plibersek said ‘protecting cultural heritage and development are not mutually exclusive’
Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter
Join the Rural Network group on Facebook to be part of the community
The federal government has made a rare protection order under Indigenous heritage legislation to protect a sacred site near Blayney in western New South Wales from becoming the site of a tailings dam for a goldmine.
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, made a partial declaration under section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection (ATSHIP) Act to protect part of the headwaters of the Belubula River on Kings Plains, which was the proposed site of a tailings dam for the McPhillamys goldmine.
Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter
Continue reading...