"As major corporations look to buy carbon credits to offset emissions, critics are questioning the value of “legacy” credits from green projects that are a decade or more old. What’s needed, experts say, is to reform the credit system so it delivers actual carbon reductions."

"Data shows that American exporters continue to ship plastic waste overseas, often to poorer countries, even though most of the world has agreed to not accept it."

"When more than 180 nations agreed last year to place strict limits on exports of plastic waste from richer countries to poorer ones, the move was seen as a major victory in the fight against plastic pollution.

"At least 22 countries enacted or proposed changes during the coronavirus pandemic that weaken environmental regulation, endangering protected areas around the globe, according to a research paper published on Thursday."

"Dozens of countries are backing an effort that would protect 30 percent of Earth’s land and water. Native people, often among the most effective stewards of nature, have been disregarded, or worse, in the past."

"The pandemic has meant very few diplomatic trips in the early days of the Biden administration. But this week brought an exception, as White House climate envoy John F. Kerry hopped a commercial flight to meet masked face to masked face with allies in London, Brussels and Paris."

"Each year the amount of plastic swirling in ocean gyres and surfing the tide toward coastal beaches seems to increase. So too does the amount of plastic particles being consumed by fish — including species that help feed billions of people around the world."

"Around the world, journalists are being targeted at record levels by despots, eager to silence the press."

"As global banking giants and investment firms vow to divest from polluting energy companies, they’re continuing to bankroll another major driver of the climate crisis: food and farming corporations that are responsible, directly or indirectly, for cutting down vast carbon-storing forests and spewing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere."

"The straw-headed bulbul doesn’t look like much. ... But this Southeast Asian native stands out in one notable way: It sings like an angel."