Tosca Ballerini

Marine biologist and scientific journalist, Tosca Ballerini is concerned with issues such as the climate crises, marine resources, pollution, citizen science, and data analysis.

United Nations: the environment is now a universal human right

In late July, the United Nations General Assembly recognized access to a clean and healthy environment as a universal human right. This new right will be critical in addressing the threefold planeta...

Measuring the impacts of companies on the ocean, for a sustainable Blue Economy

The ocean is the largest carbon sink on the planet, and if managed sustainably it can aid in climate change mitigation and adaptation. But its ability to regulate climate is weakened by the direct a...

Making Empties Count: Deposit Return Schemes Across The World

Many experts identify Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) as a key way of reducing the production of single-use packaging waste, especially in the food and drinks sector. The mechanism is simple: encourage...

Big Plastic’s Manual Of False Solutions For Plastic Waste

Delay, distract, and derail any law or action plan for reducing plastic waste, so business-as-usual can go on as long as possible. These are the three basic tactics that Big Plastic has successfully...

Plastic in the ocean: reducing pollution will have positive impacts on the economy

One of the most ambitious regulations in the world to tackle plastic pollution in the ocean, the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) will come into force on January 1, 2021. Even if the directiv...

Advanced Learning is the Key to Green Jobs

For over thirty years, the “European Capital of Culture” initiative has aimed to promote the contribution of culture to urban development. Matera, the capital of Italy’s Basilicata...

Intelligent Plastic Designed for Chemical Circularity

The Brett Helms Research Group, part of the California-based Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has synthesised a new type of plastic polymer – poly(diketoenamine)s or PDKs – that ca...

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