The world’s largest collection of rice is now permanently funded
Like the “doomsday” seed vault in Norway, the purpose of the IRRI gene bank is to ensure we never find ourselves in a position where our food supply isn’t secure and diverse.
Civil society
A team of US-based hospitals is launching a nonprofit drug company to combat high drug prices
Civica Rx is a joint effort by big names like Catholic Health Initiatives, HCA Healthcare, Intermountain Healthcare, Providence St. Joseph Health, the Mayo Clinic, SSM Health, and Trinity Health.
The world’s first ocean cleanup system launched from San Francisco
The cleanup system is heading to a location 240 nautical miles offshore for a two-week trial before continuing its journey toward the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Greenpeace reports decade of significant progress on sustainable seafood among U.S. retailers
Overall, 90 percent of the retailers profiled received passing scores, ten years after every single retailer failed the first assessment.
5,500 U.K. churches are now using renewable energy
Churches are also shunning the most polluting fossil fuels in their investment portfolios, which are typically used to fund the retirement of clergy and upkeep of church buildings.
The Belize Barrier Reef – the world’s second largest coral reef – is removed from endangered list
The World Heritage Committee credited Belize’s safeguarding measures as the cause for the historic conservational victory.
The Church of Scotland has voted to allow ministers to conduct same-sex marriages
The Church of Scotland has voted to draft new laws that would allow ministers to conduct same-sex marriages.
Church of Ireland to end investments in fossil fuel companies
The Church of Ireland has voted to exclude fully companies with a turnover of greater than 10 percent from fossil fuel production, by 2022.
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, dedicated to victims of American white supremacy, opens in Montgomery, Alabama
The Memorial overlooking the Alabama State Capitol demands a reckoning with one of the nation’s least recognized atrocities: the lynching of thousands of black people in a decades-long campaign of racist terror.
The South African Federation of Trade Unions presses ahead with nationwide protest over ‘poverty-level’ minimum wage
The South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) will go ahead with its planned nationwide mass mobilisation of workers to protest against the proposed “poverty-level” national minimum wage of R20 an hour and amendments to labour laws