"We thought that the taboo was so firm that no one ever would even dare think of using anti-personnel mines," one source told me. "Much like chemical weapons or biological weapons.”

I usually cover environmental policy, but here's my first piece on global disarmament — and how one celebrated disarmament treaty that has protected countless civilian lives is now under threat.

Questionable incentives Why is the CEO of the world’s largest demining organisation defending banned landmines?

Why did the CEO of one of the world's largest demining charities The HALO Trust defend a shipment of banned landmines from the US to Ukraine? spoileralerts.substack.com/p/questionab...

Questionable incentives Why is the CEO of the world’s largest demining organisation defending banned landmines?

The story — written by journalist @emmaanne.bsky.social — raises tough questions about the perverse incentives at play in mine action.

Emma reached out @thehalotrust.bsky.social for comment. They declined.

Read the full story: spoileralerts.substack.com/p/questionab...

Why is the CEO of the world’s largest de-mining NGO defending landmines?

James Cowan of @thehalotrust.bsky.social has publicly supported the shipment of anti-personnel mines to Ukraine — even suggesting the Mine Ban Treaty should be revised 🧵

Indigenous Peoples fight to be heard at plastics treaty talks Though disproportionately affected by plastic pollution, Indigenous Peoples are struggling to shape a global treaty on it

The UN Human Rights Council has just officially recognised plastic pollution as a threat to human rights. Here's a look at how plastic disproportionately affects Indigenous Peoples - and how they're fighting back dialogue.earth/en/pollution... @dialogueearth.bsky.social

Indigenous Peoples fight to be heard at plastics treaty talks Though disproportionately affected by plastic pollution, Indigenous Peoples are struggling to shape a global treaty on it

✊ "We were completely being ignored. We were saying: ‘Chair, we need just two minutes. Chair, Indigenous Peoples are also here!’"
– Prem Singh Tharu, Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact

Indigenous Peoples fight to be heard at plastics treaty talks.

✍️ @emmaanne.bsky.social

loom.ly/7ACy-To

‘Plastics are awesome’: Inside the Energy Department’s partnership with the plastics industry Critics argue that the agency’s work with a lobbying group is a conflict of interest.

Super proud of this co-publication with @emdashsanders.bsky.social at ExxonKnews, about the DOE's unusual relationship with plastics industry lobbying groups. @gristnews.bsky.social grist.org/accountabili...

I, for one, chuckled in delight at this title, Alex!

What Happens When a Plastic City Burns Most modern couches are basically blocks of gasoline.

"Plastic, he added, is undeniably useful. But it comes with a clear risk. One day, if fire strikes, 'it will burn faster, and it will burn hotter.' The advantages will turn to threats." www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

Explainer: Why ocean temperatures are a growing concern Cleaner global shipping, El Niño and a subsea volcano have all been implicated, as scientists rush to understand record-breaking ocean heat

Lovely to wrap up the year (nearly) by publishing this piece from @oliveheffernan.bsky.social on @dialogueearth.bsky.social

dialogue.earth/en/ocean/exp...

How are these fires burning underground? - Emma Bryce YouTube video by TED-Ed

I don't think we talk nearly enough about the quiet wonders of #peat and what it does for our planet - or how frightening it is when it catches fire! Thanks to TED Ed for featuring this video, with beautiful animation by Ivana Volda, and expert insight from Guillermo Rein youtu.be/brdrOzVgZX0?...

BBC Radio Wales - Science Cafe, Christmas Waste Adam Walton explores the environmental impact of Christmas.

I spoke to BBC Radio Wales' Science Cafe about Christmas waste, listen:
🗓️ 17th December
⏰ 18.30
📍 BBC radio Wales

Or on demand : www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

@bangoruniversity.bsky.social
#Christmas #plasticwaste #plasticpollution

M for Majority BUSAN, MONDAY 2 DECEMBER 2024: Ambassador Luis Vayas had until the very last moment been unwilling to consider requests for extension…

When the history of the #PlasticsTreaty process is written, #INC5 in Busan 🇰🇷 will be remembered as the point where the large majority of countries in favour of a strong treaty discovered their capacity for collective action medium.com/points-of-or...

Thanks to @dpcressey.bsky.social and @dialogueearth.bsky.social for regularly making space for coverage on this fraught and fascinating topic, and @gridarendal.bsky.social for the funding to report from Busan!

The Busan talks were a disappointment for many. Yet some feel that they marked a turning point on the road to an ambitious global treaty. It's a mixed picture, but it's not over. And looking out to 2025, I wonder where all that optimism, energy, and raw emotion will take the process.

That collective hope also means that for those who have now dedicated years to the process, the lows feel really low - as one negotiator explained to me in Busan, beginning to cry as he contemplated returning to his island nation, whose shores are often awash with plastic, without a treaty in hand.

When countries first officially agreed to write a plastics treaty in 2022, I spoke with people who said they had literally wept with joy as that gavel came down!

The talks reached a stalemate and were not agreed by the December deadline, so the process will continue in 2025. It's been described as a 'failure'. But something that doesn't always get its due is the enormous optimism that is required to propel these multilateral processes into existence.

INC-5: ‘dark arts’, filibusters, and the final meeting that wasn’t Plastic treaty stalls despite 100 nations pushing for deal, as lobbyists outnumber larger delegations and negotiations spill over into ‘INC-5.2’

Late to post, but still thinking about the INC-5 plastics treaty talks in Busan, where 100+ countries stood up to support an ambitious agreement to tackle the escalating quantities of plastic that enter our lives each day dialogue.earth/en/pollution... @dialogueearth.bsky.social

À Busan, l’échec des négociations sur le traité plastiques promis deux ans plus tôt - Contexte Après sept jours de pourparlers, la communauté internationale a quitté la Corée du Sud, ce 2 décembre, sans l’accord qu’elle s’était engagée à conclure avant la fin de l’année 2024. Si la majorité en ...

#PlasticsTreaty: La communauté internationale quitte aujourd'hui Busan sans l’accord qu’elle était venue y chercher. Si la majorité en faveur d’un traité ambitieux repart renforcée, elle se heurte à la ferme opposition d’une minorité de pays. Partie remise en 2025.
www.contexte.com/article/envi...

Hope of breakthrough at international plastic treaty talks after two-year deadlock ‘Important shift’ made in global attempts to address plastic pollution though final treaty text yet to be agreed

"There’s a great lot of countries that want to see the betterment of this planet.” Fiji's Sivendra Michael on the 100+ nations who now want curbs on plastic production to be included in a global #plasticstreaty being debated in Busan www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th...

How (Not) To Make a Plastics Treaty - Part V: Things Get Circular Play How (Not) To Make a Plastics Treaty - Part V: Things Get Circular by Plastisphere Podcast on desktop and mobile. Play over 320 million tracks for free on SoundCloud.

What’s going on at the #PlasticsTreaty talks? Slightly jetlagged, I got together with the one and only @magnuslovold.bsky.social for an update last night. Listen to where we stand midway at #INC5:

m.soundcloud.com/plastisphere...

Plastics lobbyists make up biggest group at vital UN treaty talks Fossil fuel and chemical industry representatives outnumber those of the EU or host country South Korea

220 industry lobbyists here at the global #plasticstreaty talks in Busan, making it the largest delegation, outnumbering those of both Korea and the EU @cielorg.bsky.social www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th...

Hidden state inference requires abstract contextual representations in the ventral hippocampus The ability to use subjective, latent contextual representations to influence decision-making is crucial for everyday life. The hippocampus is hypothesized to bind together otherwise abstract combinat...

Huge congrats to @karyna-mi.bsky.social for her paper published today in Science! She found that the hippocampus is really important for a key strategy we use to make decisions called hidden state inference! 🧪 🧠https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq5874 1/7

INC-5: What to look out for at plastics treaty talks in Busan Nations gather in South Korea this month for a final meeting on curbing plastic pollution. Who are the key players – and is a deal likely?

Next week in Busan, South Korea a final meeting on a treaty to curb plastic pollution starts. @emmaanne.bsky.social outlines what to look out for at INC-5 for Dialogue Earth.

dialogue.earth/en/pollution...

South African Indigenous people fight Big Oil to defend ancestors’ spirits As Shell hopes to begin oil exploration off the Eastern Cape coast, communities fight to protect their sacred waters.

www.aljazeera.com/features/lon...

Cop29 live: calls grow to ban fossil fuel lobbyists at summit as numbers soar UK Greens say climate measures ‘being derailed by the fossil fuel lobby’ and that Trump’s victory underlines the need to reform Cop

New - At least 123 oil & gas company bosses and staff were invited to #cop29 as “guests” by the Azerbaijan and given host country badges - i.e. the red carpet treatment, inc
Aramco, Exxonmobil and BP CEOs

Post by me
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

with the final round of UN plastics treaty negotiations in two weeks, we have published a preprint paper on the risks and limits of 'plastic credits' as a solution to this planetary crisis

@melaniebergma18.bsky.social @emmaanne.bsky.social @lisalsong.bsky.social

zenodo.org/records/1411...

Cop29 jargon buster: key terms for this year’s climate conference in Azerbaijan Here are some of the phrases that are likely to crop up over the coming days in Baku

NDCs, Article 6 and finance: this is a very helpful guide on what to watch at #COP29 and the key terms to know www.theguardian.com/environment/...