89 seconds to midnight, football’s footprint and the benefits of bidets

Want to get the ThinkLandscape digest in your inbox? Sign up here.

Donald Trump is back in the White House. So far, his second term is looking like it’ll be even more destructive to the planet than his first.

Luckily, there’s much more interesting – and even positive – news from elsewhere. Read on to find out.

This month on ThinkLandscape

Would you eat lab-grown meat? Here’s why you should at least consider it.

Seaweed isn’t just food: it’s now one of the hottest materials on the market. But is it good for the planet?

What can we learn from sustainable cities in the Global South? From trees in Freetown to public transport in Curitiba, here are five urban success stories you should know.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, women are often treated as a commodity. One man wants to change that.

The jackfruit is the world’s biggest tree fruit. It’s also massively improving women’s lives in Nigeria.

How much is the Earth worth? Here are four reasons why we shouldn’t put a price tag on nature.

What we’re reading

Climate

And there it is: global heating officially hit 1.5 degrees in 2024, and it could reach 2 degrees in the next 20 years.

We recently wrote about the fire feedback loop. Here’s how it’s currently playing out:

• The climate crisis made last month’s Los Angeles fires 35 percent more likely, and the carbon emitted by these fires will make the planet hotter still.
• The latest data shows that wildfires sent global carbon emissions soaring in 2024.

The Greenland ice sheet is cracking open more quickly than ever, while European cities will likely see a 50-percent increase in deaths from extreme temperatures by 2100.

So, who could benefit from a warmer planet? Rats, probably.

People

It’s officially 89 seconds to midnight. In other words, humanity is closer to destroying itself than it’s ever been.

If you live in the Global North, you probably use about 20 kg of toilet paper a year. Is it time to pick up a bum gun?

Veganuary may be over, but switching to a plant-based diet could have long-term benefits for your body.

Ever heard of the stewardship economy? All over Africa, local communities are sustainably managing their own landscapes – and doing a better job than many national parks.

Only women are allowed to enter this sacred forest in Western New Guinea, and they’ve won plaudits for their conservation work.

Microplastics are everywhere, and they could be accumulating in our brains faster than ever.

Planet

Birds are vanishing from the most remote parts of the Amazon where no humans live. Why?

Iraq’s wetlands spawned some of our most ancient civilizations. Today, those marshes are vanishing, taking thousands of years of history with them.

India’s tiger population has doubled over the last decade, but its camels have dwindled – thanks to a law that was supposed to protect them.

The climate crisis is making winters milder. Good news for wildlife, right? Not really.

Business

Is it time for degrowth in European aviation? A new report finds that the industry’s rapid growth is incompatible with the continent’s climate goals.

A new gold rush is poisoning Ghana’s water. Nigeria is hoping to restart oil production in the Niger Delta following Shell’s exit.

Here’s the ugly truth behind the beautiful game: each year, the football industry emits as much carbon as Austria.

Policy

Take a deep breath – this is grim stuff.

At the time of writing, Donald Trump has:

• Pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement again
• Withdrawn from the World Health Organization (WHO)
• Vastly expanded fossil fuel extraction, including in the Arctic, while suspending all renewable energy development on public lands
• Rolled back biodiversity protections under the Endangered Species Act
• Revoked a law affecting environmental impact assessments, while also eliminating any consideration of environmental justice
• Taken down pages about the climate crisis from the U.S. Department of Agriculture website
• Ordered an overhaul of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and threatened to eliminate it entirely
• Frozen almost all U.S. foreign aid and taken steps to shut down USAID

…among other controversial decisions that are beyond the scope of this digest.

Both Argentina and Indonesia are also considering exiting the Paris Agreement, the latter arguing it has no reason to comply with rules that don’t apply to the world’s second-largest emitter.

In more positive news, a Scottish court has struck down the U.K. government’s decision to approve the Rosebank oilfield, citing its impact on the climate.

Brazil has appointed a veteran climate diplomat to lead this year’s COP30 climate conference, but extortionate prices for accommodation could force many delegates to miss out.

Denmark is the world’s largest meat producer per capita. Here’s how it fell in love with plant-based food.