The most detailed life cycle analysis of food waste ever offers eye-popping revelations
Food waste contributes half of the annual carbon released by the entire global food system—a staggering 9.3 gigatons, double previous estimates
Mar 2023 24
Emma Bryce
Emma Bryce is a journalist based in London. As well as Anthropocene, her work has appeared in The Guardian, Wired Magazine UK, Audubon Magazine, The New York Times, Ensia, and Yale e360.
Mar 2023 17
To protect forests, sequester carbon, and produce protein, consider mushrooms on trees
New research weighs up the potential of mycoforestry: The only form of protein production that actually sequesters carbon
Mar 2023 10
A new discovery could unleash the full potential of switchgrass for making biofuel
The clue, researchers find, lies in the roots, where starch-storing rhizomes seem to control rates of photosynthesis.
Mar 2023 3
Until now, no one has mapped global fertilizer emissions—from manufacturing to runoff
Seeing the whole picture like this not only shows that most emissions occur directly on farms, it also points the way to huge tech-ready interventions.
Feb 2023 24
Chicken and salmon have equivalent—and surprisingly far-reaching—environmental impacts
What we feed chicken and salmon is remarkably similar and remarkably problematic. It’s also key to solving the problem.
Feb 2023 17
There’s an environmental rebound problem in the food-sharing economy
In a new study, researchers made a surprising discovery: the environment benefits of online food sharing are often undone by how consumers spend their saved cash.
Feb 2023 10
Researchers dig deep into the huge potential value of industrial food waste
Starch-heavy foods such as popcorn and old pizza can be used to make bioplastics and high fiber wastes like tomato peels and eggshells are excellent fillers for tires and other rubber products
Feb 2023 3
An overlooked opportunity for kelp farms to double as pollution cleanup sites
Macroalgae get a lot of attention for absorbing carbon. But a new study shows that select species are better at cleaning up nitrogen than carbon.
Jan 2023 27
Takeout has a plastic problem. But just how much do reusable containers really help?
A new, intensive lifecycle assessment compared the benefits of buy-and-return container schemes with the costs of their production and use. The takeaway wasn’t clean.
Jan 2023 20
A mixed tapestry of crops saves land and produces more protein than monocultures
A landmark analysis of 132 studies shows that greener farming methods needn’t cost yields, land, or profits.
