Pollution

Untangling the web of plastic bag bans
White plastic bag floating in a body of water.

(Brian Yurasits/Unsplash https://unsplash.com/license)

Ryan Bieber
Planet Forward Correspondent | Ithaca College
So Long, Single-Use | There’s plenty of confusion and debate around plastic bans on both the political and practical level. It’s easy to get lost in the logistics of it all –– but, at the heart of it, there’s one question: Are bag laws effective?
’It was never really just about plastic drinking straws’: Plastic elimination starts small
Yellow straws sit on the display case in front of a menu at a coffee shop.

Reusable "Simply Straws" for sale at Kahwa Coffee Roasting in St. Petersburg, Florida (Carter Weinhofer/Eckerd College).

Carter Weinhofer
Planet Forward Correspondent | Eckerd College
In the first piece in our "So Long, Single-Use?" series, St. Petersburg, Florida Councilmember Gina Driscoll said leading the way on single-use plastic started with "one simple object."
COP26 in Context: Wrapping up COP26 and coming to an agreement
A colorful sky warms up the landscape view of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China

A view of the Forbidden City from Jingshan Park in Beijing. (Daniel Mathis/Creative Commons 3.0)

Hannah Krantz
George Washington University
Today is the final day of COP26. How should we reflect on the conference? What discussions remain to be tackled?
COP26 in Context: From reducing methane emissions to packaging

Food scraps are turned into methane and other gases that are captured and turned into fuel in UC Davis' Renewable Energy Anaerobic Biodigester. (KQED Quest/Flickr/Creative Commons 2.0)

Hannah Krantz
George Washington University
There are only two days left at COP26, and while much progress has been made, there's still more to do. Today learn about how reducing methane could change our climate's course, and explore packaging challenges.