Technologies or projects promoted as sustainable solutions but ineffective in practice.
Sun Weimin, longtime village secretary of Village A in Hunan’s Dongting Lake area, has experienced the strictest straw-ban season of 2025: patrols and tower surveillance are constant, baled straw still cannot be sold, and people continue to set fires at night.
From American cockroach coffee to the bankruptcy of the European insect protein unicorn Ÿnsect, insect protein has been packaged by capital as low-carbon feed and the answer to the food crisis; the energy costs, research disputes, and regulatory easing in industrial farming are moving “eating insects” from science fiction toward the dining table.
From farm nitrogen fertilisers, ultra-processed foods, plastic packaging, the cold chain and home cooking, the food system uses fossil fuels at every stage. The International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems recommends eight actions, including agroecology, local supply chains and cutting ultra-processed foods.
After a short video about Zhejiang and Shanghai incineration plants ‘competing for rubbish’ went viral, incineration cannot replace waste sorting; dioxins, microplastics and waste reduction at source remain unavoidable issues.
From US military products to takeaway containers, plastic has penetrated everyday life through the oil industry and single-use consumption. Recycling and biodegradable solutions have limits; humanity must reconsider which products should be made from plastic and how to create less waste.
I. The Plastic Crisis: Regularly Updated “Microplastics have entered the human brain, and the weight of these particles can even exceed that of a plastic spoon.” Several friends sent me this message a few days ago. Since I started working for an environmental organisation a few years ago, I’ve become…
Sun Shan, Shanshui Nature Conservation Centre co-founder, and environmental advocate Ma Tianjie begin with Meituan-funded environmental organisations and the Asia Pulp & Paper deforestation scandal, discussing how companies use charitable funds, algorithms and rules to shape environmental agendas, and how non-profits can maintain oversight boundaries.
Foodthink’s Perspective Before the Spring Festival, Ren Yingying, a post-90s farmer from Lianxiang Farm in Chengde, Hebei, was invited by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture to attend the Global Forum for Agriculture and Food (GFFA) in Berlin, where she helped draft a position paper for young farmers.…
Recently, there has been much discussion surrounding a shift in attitude from delivery platforms, which have indicated they will pay social security for delivery riders. We shall see how many riders truly benefit from this and whether it leads to a genuine improvement in their working conditions. In the latest…
Starting with the 2,282-hectare community forest in Cambodia guarded by Bunong villager Long Heng, the report surveys global debates over REDD+, the voluntary carbon market and indigenous land rights, and asks whether emissions-reduction promises are credible.
