Read the full story at Anthropocene Magazine. See also: Zamborain-Mason, J., Cinner, J. E., MacNeil, M. A., Beger, M., Booth, D., Ferse, S. C. A., Golden, C. D., Graham, N. A. J., Hoey, A. S., Mouillot, D., & Connolly, S. R. (2025). Potential yield and food provisioning gains from rebuilding the world’s coral reef fish stocks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences…

Download the report. Some communities facing water scarcity are turning to water recycling as a strategy to replenish and conserve their existing water sources. Water recycling (reuse) involves treating wastewater or other unusable water so that it can be used by the public. In addition to replenishing and conserving existing water sources, water recycling can reduce the need to import water from other regions and improve resilience to droughts and other disasters, such as wildfires.

Read the full story at Capital B. In December, on a two-lane road not far from the ACE Basin, a protected ecosystem and wildlife refuge in South Carolina, Paul Black drove past St. Paul AME Church and the cemetery where his wife’s grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-grandmother are buried, then slowed as the trees opened onto the piney tract. ​Black is an environmental activist who has spent years fighting polluting projects across the South.

Read the full story at Smart Cities Dive. Developers broke ground last week on a project designed to bring seven middle-scale homes to the Chicago neighborhood of North Lawndale. The $5.4 million project is part of a larger city effort to fill city-owned vacant lots with “missing middle” housing, medium-density homes such as duplexes, triplexes and six-flats that offer affordable alternatives to single-family homes and high-rise apartments. The funds were made available through a $1.25 billion five-year housing and economic development bond.

Read the full story at Trellis. The decline in consumer concern and engagement around sustainability is closely linked to reduced brand communication, not just climate fatigue or economic uncertainty. There is growing skepticism and disengagement, with younger generations being particularly disengaged. To maintain relevance and impact, organizations must rethink their communications strategies.

Read the full story from the University of Sharjah. See also: Asim Nawab, Muhammad Tariq Khan, I. Ihsanullah, Mohammad Nafees, Aamir Mehmood Shah. From pollution to ocean warming: The climate impacts of marine microplastics. Journal of Hazardous Materials: Plastics, 2026; 2: 100032 DOI: 10.1016/j.hazmp.2025.100032 Tiny plastic particles drifting through the oceans may be quietly weakening one of Earth’s most powerful climate defenses.

Read the full story from UC Berkeley. See also: Kusumegi, K., Yang, X., Ginsparg, P., De Vaan, M., Stuart, T., & Yin, Y. (2025). Scientific production in the era of large language models. Science, 390(6779), 1240–1243.  A new study by researchers at UC Berkeley Haas and Cornell University, published in the journal Science, reveals that AI is rapidly reshaping scientific research.

Download the activity. In this interactive activity, students deepen their understanding of biomimicry and green chemistry by matching biological organisms to real-world technologies inspired by nature. Working collaboratively, students analyze how animals and plants solve challenges related to adhesion, energy efficiency, water capture, and materials performance without hazardous chemicals or excess waste. The activity explicitly connects biomimicry to the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry, reinforcing how nature-inspired design can lead to safer, more sustainable products and processes across multiple industries.

Read the full story at Packaging Dive. Looking back on business and industrywide highs and lows, numbers help capture the year that was. Packaging Dive rounded up highlights from extended producer responsibility news, M&A announcements, manufacturing and workforce developments and sustainability updates in 2025. What numbers will you be watching in 2026? Let us know at [email protected].

Read the full story at Inside Climate News. Many chronic pain patients cite the weather as a driver of their suffering, and climate change is making the torment more likely and harder to deal with. But research on the relationship is uncertain, and federal cuts could hold it back.

by James Salzman, University of California, Santa Barbara; University of California, Los Angeles Growing up in the 1970s, I took for granted the trash piles along the highway, tires washed up on beaches, and smog fouling city air. The famed “Crying Indian” commercial of 1971 became a symbol of widespread environmental damage across the United States. That’s why the…

Read the full story at Canary Media. Startup David Energy is giving batteries to its New York City customers to help them reduce hefty demand charges on their monthly utility bills.

Read the full story at Retail Dive. See also Why Levi’s is teaching high schoolers how to mend jeans from Trellis. Levi Strauss & Co. launched an initiative geared toward helping Gen Z consumers learn how to repair and refresh their own clothing. Developed in partnership with Discovery Education, the Levi’s Wear Longer Project provides free resources geared toward high school students, the company said last week.

Read the full story at Packaging Dive. Many stakeholders want to align aspects such as producer definitions and covered materials. But other areas must consider state individuality and await data from U.S. implementations, sources say.

Eaton fire survivors gather in Altadena, Calif., to talk about recovery six months after the LA fires. Sarah Reingewirtz/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images Elizabeth A. Logan, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and William Deverell, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences On Jan. 7, 2025, people across the Los Angeles area watched in horror as powerful winds began spreading wildfires through neighborhood after neighborhood.

Read the full story at Inside Climate News. The man-made wetlands and ponds can help prevent flooding in homes and buildings, and return cleaner water to the ocean. 

Read the full story at Anthropocene Magazine. See also: Yang, Y., Raman, G., & Peng, J. C.-H. (2025). Shaping residential electricity demand with negative pricing. Nature Energy, 11(1), 58–65.  Saving electricity is environmentally responsible – a fact so banal that it hardly needs stating. But one of the paradoxes of a decarbonizing grid is that sometimes renewable electricity is so abundant that it actually makes sense to pay people to consume it.

Read the full story at Canary Media. Ohio is letting the oil and gas industry put more toxic waste underground despite community concerns — even as the state defers to local opponents of clean energy.

Read the full story at Grist. Mining bitcoin throws off an enormous amount of heat. That’s because the “mining” in question refers to the energy-intensive computational process by which bitcoin transactions are verified. In a typical transaction, a boxy computer attempts to solve what’s essentially a very complex math problem. If it can do this before any of the other “miners” working on the problem across the world, the miner is rewarded with bitcoin of its own.

Read the full story at Trellis. U.S. companies that rely on a widely used but crude method for calculating Scope 3 inventories should prepare to see double-digit increases in supply-chain emissions estimates when switching to a more sophisticated version of the process, according to a recent study. Difficulties in obtaining primary data from suppliers often prompt companies to employ spend-based models, which use emissions factors to convert the amount spent on a product into an audit-friendly estimate of the emissions associated with that purchase.

Read the full story from the University of Leeds. See also: Wenguang Tang, Jefferson S. Hall, Oliver L. Phillips, Roel J. W. Brienen, S. Joseph Wright, Michelle Y. Wong, Lars O. Hedin, Michiel van Breugel, Joseph B. Yavitt, Phillip M. Hannam, Sarah A. Batterman. Tropical forest carbon sequestration accelerated by nitrogen. Nature Communications, 2026; 17 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-66825-2 New research shows tropical forests can recover twice as fast after deforestation when their soils contain enough nitrogen.

Read the full story at Inside Climate News. Technology from Chicago and around the world promises to clean up water. An effort in Illinois is trying to speed it to market while navigating new federal funding challenges.

Read the full story at Undark. American science is facing a looming collaboration crisis. Researchers around the world are deciding not to present at conferences taking place in the United States to avoid immigration issues. The timeline for obtaining student visas is stretching longer and longer for those from countries on unfriendly terms with President Donald Trump’s administration. Uncertainty over funding is causing many universities to act conservatively, prompting them to reduce or even freeze admissions and hiring.

Read the full story at Canary Media. A new 9.1-MW solar array will help residents of Waukegan, Illinois, reduce energy bills. State incentives for low-income solar made the project possible.

Read the full story at Trellis, which is updating the list regularly with new suggestions. Software, actionable reports, frameworks and other products designed to make your working life more impactful.