Earth Day 2021 challenges us to restore our Earth
This year, Earth Day calls for us to restore damaged ecosystems, a challenge embraced by the UN through the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
The Kabwe lead mine, closed over 20 years ago, is poisoning thousands of children in Zambia
A century of lead mining in Kabwe, officially abandoned two decades ago, has poisoned millions of people and left the city with deadly concentrations of toxic lead in the soil and water.
India, conserving rainwater in subsurface soil to fight water scarcity
Indigenous communities in India’s Rayagada district mitigate the challenges of water scarcity by storing rainwater in subsurface soil. A cheap and concrete solution to a global problem.
17 June is the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
Desertification negatively affects the soil and ecosystems, with dire impacts on people due to the increased risk of food insecurity.
“The Soil Story”, told by Jason Mraz
The US singer Jason Mraz is the voice narrating the short film The Soil Story, movie that highlights the importance of a healthy soil for a healthy planet.
Up to 13 different pesticides in apple orchards according to Greenpeace
Intensive apple production in Europe uses too much chemicals. The most frequentlly found substance was a fungicide and there are also seven types of pesticides not approved by the EU.
China’s future? One, huge metropolis
Between 2011 and 2012 China has produced more cement than the United States throughout the 21st century. This is one of the most surprising figures of the report Vado a vivere in città: il boom dell’urbanizzazione in Cina (Going to live in cities: urbanisation boom in China), realised by Cecilia Attanasio Ghezzi and Nicola Longobardi for China
2015 is the International Year of Soils
Soil provides us with our livelihoods and protection. The United Nations declared it the protagonist of 2015 in order to spotlight risks threatening it.
Vetiver. The plant that prevents hydrogeological instability
This heavy metal tolerant plant is considered miraculous in many regions of the world. Thanks to its many thin roots it prevents soil erosion.