Meatless burgers, hemp cocktails and pasta straws: 2019 eco-friendly food trends

ROME - From cockroach milk to beer made from waste water, a raft of eco-friendly food trends hit menus and supermarket shelves in 2019 vowing not to add to the world's carbon emissions.

Here are 7 ways to keep the seasonal revelry going while shrinking carbon footprint:

1. RISE OF THE FLEXITARIANS

Plant-based burgers went mainstream with fast food giants Burger King and McDonald's joining the fray. Burger King's Impossible Whopper was so successful there are multiple vegetarian options now being planned.

Fish substitutes are entering the market too, including tuna made from a blend of 6 legumes and algae oil. Such alternative proteins cut down greenhouse gas emissions associated with livestock farming and industrial-scale fishing.

2. BUGS TAKE CENTER STAGE

Grub granola, cockroach milk and silk worm vanilla ice-cream are just a few offerings to make insects less icky and more appealing to diners. Bugs are high in protein and vitamins, but low in emissions and require less land and water.

Some are even hoping farming insects could help clean up palm oil's tarnished image.

3. HEMP HITS A HIGH

With the 2018 Farm Bill legalizing farmers to grow industrial hemp in the United States, cannabidiol (CBD)-infused food and drinks are here to stay.

Proponents say hemp - from which CBD is derived - has many sustainable aspects as it can provide food, shelter, clothes and energy.

There is confusion over their safety and legality in both the United States and Britain, but that has not stopped companies like Ben & Jerry's from announcing plans for their own CBD-based products.

4. PASTA WITHOUT SAUCE

To use as straws, of course, as the world steps up efforts to combat plastic pollution.

A Thai supermarket turned to tradition, using banana leaves to wrap fresh produce while consumers are flocking to products such as re-usable beeswax wrappers.

5. ORPHANED PLANTS FIND HOME

Neglected plants rich in vitamins and can adapt to the changing climate, including babassu oil from Amazon, millet from India and Mayan spinach from Guatemala, made their way onto plates, championed by pioneering chefs and scientists.

With 75 percent of the world's foods coming from just 12 plants and five animal species, expanding the diet is also a good strategy for coping with climate-induced crop failures.

6. WASTE NOT, WANT NOT

Restaurants that use almost every part of the raw materials to cut down on food waste popped up in Helsinki, New York and Berlin - the last one also happened to be vegan.

There's also Trash Tiki, an "anti-waste" cocktail company that uses food scraps - leftover milk, discarded nut shells, coffee grounds, etc - to re-make beloved classics, bringing their ethos to Toronto, Amsterdam and Rome this year.

7. CHEERS!

Eco-friendly beers - brewed using recycled or waste water, doing away with the plastic 6-pack rings, or pledging part of the profits to conserve sea turtles - hit the shelves.

Natural wines, which proponents say are made with organic grapes and no chemical additives, thus purer and more environmentally-friendly, also gained major followings in Europe and the United States.

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London street bans petrol, diesel cars

LONDON -- Petrol and diesel vehicles will be banned from a street in central London in an innovative attempt to reduce pollution, local authorities said.

Officials said Beech Street, which runs underneath the Brutalist designed Barbican Estate, would become Britain's first "24-7 zero emission street."

During an 18-month trial starting next year, the area will be restricted to electric or hybrid vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists, the City of London Corporation announced on Monday.

However, access will be given for refuse collection and deliveries, for those using car parks off the street and emergency vehicles.

"Drastically reducing air pollution requires radical actions, and these plans will help us eliminate toxic air on our streets," said the chairman of the corporation's environment committee, Jeremy Simon.

Officials told AFP they expected a reduction of 90 to 95 percent in traffic on Beech Street, and an improvement in air quality around the immediate area, which includes two schools.

"The scheme aims to bring nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels within air quality guidelines set out by the European Union and World Health Organisation," a corporation statement said.

The trial is separate from the ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) introduced across the center of London earlier this year, for which motorists in older, more polluting vehicles must pay a charge to enter.

Agence France-Presse

Coldplay no-tour plan highlights growing climate awareness

LONDON, United Kingdom—British band Coldplay on Friday won plaudits for shelving a new album tour over environmental concerns, in the latest sign of climate change activism in the music industry.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) praised the move, as the group released its latest album—"Everyday Life"—with only 2 gigs, both in the Jordanian capital Amman.

The performances, staged at sunrise and sunset without an audience, were broadcast free on YouTube.

"It is fantastic to see world famous artists stepping up to protect the planet," said the head of climate change at WWF, Gareth Redmond-King.

"We all have a responsibility to lead by example in the face of this climate and nature crisis—inaction is not an option if we are to preserve our planet for future generations."

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin told the BBC they would not tour until they had figured out how concerts could be more "sustainable."

He listed the amount of flying required and the use of items such as plastic water bottles as the band's primary concerns over touring.

Activists say international music tours impact heavily on the environment, with concern about the amount of electricity used to power stadiums to waste generated by concertgoers.

Coldplay played 122 shows around the world across 8 legs as part of the tour for their last album, "A Head Full of Dreams."

Martin said if the band do eventually hit the road for the new release, they hope the tour could be entirely carbon neutral.

The band is set to perform another one-off concert next Monday at London's Natural History Museum, with the proceeds donated to an environmental charity.

CLEANING UP THEIR ACTS

Coldplay's decision is the latest example of bands and the wider entertainment industry responding to growing concern about the climate crisis.

US teenage sensation Billie Eilish revealed last month that she had tried to make her world tour "as green as possible" with the help of a non-profit consultancy.

The singer told chat-show host Jimmy Fallon she had banned plastic straws and urged fans to bring their own refillable water bottles and to utilize recycling bins at venues.

On her next world tour starting in March, every site will feature an "eco-village" where concert-goers can learn about environmentalism, she said.

Meanwhile, The 1975, another British band, which this year collaborated with Swedish climate change icon Greta Thunberg, are also trying to move towards carbon-neutral touring.

It pledged in September to plant a tree for every ticket sold ahead of their upcoming tour of Britain and Ireland.

Teenage activist Thunberg refuses to fly because of the carbon emissions involved. In September, she traveled to a UN climate conference in New York by boat. She is currently sailing back to Europe.

In Britain, live music events account for 405,000 tons of greenhouse emissions, according to the campaign group Global Citizen, which stages its own zero-waste festivals.

Powerful Thinking, a think-tank focused on the festival industry, estimates the events generate some 23,500 tons of waste each year in the country.

This has led dozens of Britain's biggest festivals to try to clean up their acts, initiating everything from bans on single-use plastic to using renewable energy sources.

The UK Music umbrella group representing the industry said 3.9 million people attended festivals in Britain in 2016.

Glastonbury Festival, staged every June on a farm in western England, is partnering with charities such as Greenpeace, Oxfam and WaterAid to improve its sustainability.

Organizers even deployed portable toilets that utilize technology to convert urine into electricity at this year's festival.

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Tesco vows to remove 1 bln pieces of plastic packaging by end-2020

LONDON - Britain's biggest retailer Tesco has pledged to remove one billion pieces of plastic packaging from products in its UK stores by the end of 2020, seeking to reduce its environmental impact and meet growing consumer demand for less waste.

Britons have become increasingly aware of the amount of plastic they use following David Attenborough's "Blue Planet II" documentary which highlighted the dangers of plastic pollution to marine life.

Last year Tesco said it wanted to remove hard-to-recycle materials from its business. It said on Friday it will have eliminated the hardest-to-recycle materials from its own brand products by the end of this year, removing over 4,000 tons of materials from 800 lines. It said it is also working with branded suppliers on this.

Tesco, which trades from 3,787 stores in Britain and Ireland, employing 340,000 people, now plans to remove the small plastic bags commonly used to pack loose fruit, vegetables and bakery items and replace them with paper ones.

It will remove plastic trays from ready meals, secondary lids on products such as cream, yogurts and cereals, and spoons, forks and straws from snack pots and drinks cartons. It also plans to remove 200 million pieces of plastic used to pack clothing and greetings cards.

Tesco has told more than 1,500 suppliers that packaging will be key to deciding which products are sold in its stores. It has informed them it reserves the right to no longer stock products that use excessive or hard-to-recycle materials.

“Our work to remove, reduce, reuse & recycle is already transforming our packaging," said Chief Executive Dave Lewis.

"By focusing on solutions that we can apply across all our UK stores and supply chain, we can make a significant difference and achieve real scale in our efforts to tackle plastic," he said.

In recent years Britain has slashed the use of plastic bags by introducing a 5 pence charge for each one. The government has also considered imposing a "latte levy" on disposable coffee cups which are hard to recycle.

Last month No. 2 supermarket Sainsbury's vowed to halve plastic packaging by 2025, promising to switch to alternative materials and refillable options.

Lewis, who announced last month he would step down next year after 6 years at the helm, repeated Tesco's call for the government to introduce a UK national infrastructure for recycling. 

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Delhi fights hazardous pollution after Diwali party

NEW DELHI - After India's biggest firework party of the year, Delhi awoke to a pollution hangover Monday with the capital forced to breathe hazardous levels of toxic particles.

A thick smog engulfed landmarks such as the capital's Red Fort and India Gate while drivers had visibility cut by the haze that built up after the Diwali holiday weekend.

With the pollution threat growing over the past decade, the Supreme Court banned most fireworks for the Hindu festival of lights. However, few revelers followed the order.

Firecrackers and rockets lit up the night sky and left clouds of smoke, adding to emissions from cars and trucks and stubble fires by farmers around Delhi that have made it the world's most polluted capital.

Tens of thousands of people set off firecrackers into the early hours of Monday, pushing the government air quality index beyond the top recordable level of 999.

While the pollution was less serious than previous years, the amount of the most harmful PM 2.5 pollutants was still more than 20 times international safe levels at several locations in the city of 20 million people during commuting hours.

The government monitoring system said air quality was "very poor" on Monday morning.

The 2.5 particulate matter (PM2.5) measures less than 2.5 microns and can penetrate the lungs through the blood system, causing serious respiratory and heart diseases.

Experts say the toxic cocktail that hits Delhi and other Indian cities each winter causes the premature deaths of more than one million people each year.

Weather officials said moderate winds will help clean the city's air but that increased fires on farms in Haryana and Punjab states was a particular threat.

Thousands of farmers in Haryana burn their rice and wheat stubble in between planting new crops sending clouds of smoke toward Delhi.

Experts say this contributes a fifth of the PM2.5 pollution that hits each year, while the millions of vehicles on the roads and unregulated construction and factory emissions are the major cause. 

The government has taken a slew of anti-pollution measures in recent years, including shutting down thermal power plants and banning construction during the pollution season.

In November, a bid to reduce road traffic will be introduced with odd and even registration plates allowed on Delhi roads on alternate days.

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Tel Aviv beaches fall foul in Israel's passion for plastic

TEL AVIV - In the early morning, when the only sound on Tel Aviv beach is the waves, Yosef Salman and his team pick up plastic debris left by bathers or cast up by the sea.

Working in heat and humidity with large rakes, they scoop plastic cups, cigarette ends, empty sunscreen tubes and soiled babies' nappies. 

Also present, but impossible to separate from the sand, are microplastics, tiny particles of plastic debris that have been broken down by sun and salt. 

"When it rains... you can see tons of plastic in the sand," says Ariel Shay, of the Plastic Free Israel movement, which organizes volunteer beach cleanups.

Despite the activities of environmental groups, Israel remains hooked on plastic.

A June report by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) ranked Tel Aviv's coastline as the third most polluted by plastic waste in the Mediterranean, behind Barcelona and southern Turkey.

Valencia, Alexandria, Algiers and Marseille were listed in fourth to seventh places.

With around four million inhabitants, Tel Aviv is Israel's most populous metropolitan area. 

"Every time I go to the beach now, I spend my time cleaning -- it's horrible!" complains Shani Zylbersztejn, with an eye on her nine-month-old daughter, who plays with a plastic fork freshly dug from the sand.

In the upper-crust town of Herzliya, just north of Tel Aviv, Limor Gorelik, of the environmental protection NGO Zalul, patrols the sands, offering beachgoers bamboo cups and reusable bags in a bid to wean them from single-use plastics.

BAD HABITS

Gorelik blames Israel's passion for plastic on a lack of education and on deeply ingrained habits, such as using disposable tableware for family picnics.

Observant Jews who want a beachfront lunch on Saturdays are forbidden from washing the dishes afterwards, because their faith bans them from working on the Sabbath. 

"They're not permitted to wash dishes so they use disposable plastic," Gorelik says.

Even plastic waste dumped in the bins that dot the beaches can end up in the sea, carried by the wind or by birds which rip open garbage bags in search of food.

Independent researcher Galia Pasternak has analysed coastal plastic pollution in Israel. 

According to her data, 60 percent of the waste on the beach comes from the bathers themselves.

Some is also borne by currents from Gaza and Egypt in the south or from Lebanon further north.

CASH FOR CLEANUPS

In 2005, Israel's environmental protection ministry launched a program offering local councils incentives for proven results in cleaning their beaches.

Subject to regular inspection, councils that meet requirements get funding, while failing authorities face cuts or even court, says Ran Amir, head of the environment ministry's marine division.

Amir cites the case of the popular Palmahim beach, south of Tel Aviv.

Palmahim municipal council was taken to court and fined over the state of the beach -- which has since become "one of the cleanest beaches in Israel today", he says.

The ministry's strategy in recent years has also included public service messages on radio and online, along with fines, recycling facilities and education, according to Amir.

"It think it has partially worked," says Pasternak, who helped set up some of those programs.

Zalul's Gorelik, however, says Israel is still trailing behind other countries. 

She says charges introduced in supermarkets in 2017 for plastic bags -- previously given away free -- are too low, at just 0.10 Israeli shekels (0.02 euros/ $0.03) each.

"It's not enough," Gorelik says, adding that even this modest measure does not apply to small grocery stores.

She points to new European Union restrictions on single-use plastics.

"Europeans are the leaders on the subject," she says.

"Here, we are very far away."

cmr/gl/scw/mjs/sw/par/kjm

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Water pollution can reduce economic growth by a third: World Bank

WASHINGTON -- Heavily polluted water is reducing economic growth by up to a third in some countries, a World Bank report said Tuesday, calling for action to address human and environmental harm.

The report relied on what the Bank said was the biggest-ever database assembled on global water quality using monitoring stations, satellite data and machine learning models.

"Clean water is a key factor for economic growth. Deteriorating water quality is stalling economic growth, worsening health conditions, reducing food production, and exacerbating poverty in many countries," said World Bank Group President David Malpass.

The report found that when Biological Oxygen Demand -- an index of the degree of organic pollution and a proxy for overall water pollution -- crosses a threshold of 8 milligrams per liter, GDP growth in downstream regions drops by 0.83 percentage points, about a third for the mean growth rate of 2.33 percent used in the study.

This is because of impacts on health, agriculture, and ecosystems and a "stark indication that there often trade-offs between benefits of economic production and environmental quality, and that the externalities... can be circular," the report said.

A key contributor to poor water quality is nitrogen, essential for agricultural production but which leaches into rivers and oceans where it creates hypoxia and dead zones, and in the air where it forms nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas.

The report said that early exposure of children to nitrates affects their growth and brain development, reducing their health and earning potential.

For every additional kilogram of nitrogen fertilizer per hectare, yields may rise up to five percent, but childhood stunting increases as much as 19 percent and future adult earnings fall by up to two percent compared to those not affected.

And increased salinity as a result of man-made pressures such as irrigation, storm water runoff, leaching of fertilizer, and urban wastewater discharge is pushing down agricultural yields.

The report estimated enough food is lost to saline water each year to feed 170 million people, about the population of Bangladesh.

The authors divided their recommendations into three main areas: information campaigns to raise awareness, prevention efforts to stem some of the worst problems and investments to treat pollution once it has occurred, with more modern technologies like reverse-osmosis offering new pathways.

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SE Asia should ban imports of foreign trash, environmentalists say

BANGKOK - Environmental groups called on Tuesday for Southeast Asian countries to ban waste imports from developed countries to help tackle a plastic pollution crisis, as regional leaders prepare to meet this week in Bangkok.

Southeast Asia has seen a staggering spike in imports of plastic and electronic waste from developed countries after the world's top recycler, China, banned imports, causing millions of tonnes of trash to be diverted to less-regulated countries.

Thailand will from Thursday host four days of meetings for leaders of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to discuss the region's most pressing issues, including plastic debris in the ocean.

"Greenpeace Southeast Asia demands that ASEAN leaders put this issue on the agenda during their summits this year and make a united declaration to address the region's plastic waste crisis," the group said in a statement.

"Declare an immediate ban on all imports of plastic waste," Greenpeace urged.

It was in the interests of ASEAN, whose meetings are being held under the theme of sustainability this year, to ban waste trading, said a Thai environmental group.

"Welcoming plastics and electronic waste from abroad in the name of development must urgently end," said Penchom Saetang, director of Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand (EARTH) Foundation.

Some Southeast Asian countries have in recent months been taking action to stem the flow of trash.

Indonesia was the latest to reject trash imports from Canada, following similar moves by Malaysia and the Philippines.

Thailand does not ban plastic waste imports, but it aims to end them by 2020. It imposes partial bans on electronic scrap.

Greenpeace also urged ASEAN countries to ratify amendments to the 30-year-old Basel Convention, a U.N. treaty on the movement and disposal of hazardous waste, to limit the flow of plastic scrap to developing countries.

"We have to ratify the Basel Ban Amendment ... to prevent ASEAN member states from becoming the world's dumping sites in the future, or actually as it is happening now," said Tara Buakamsri, Greenpeace Thailand's country director.

The group also urged Southeast Asian leaders to reduce the production of single-use plastic.

ASEAN will adopt a Bangkok Declaration on Combating Marine Debris during the summit, Junever Mahilum-West, a senior Philippine foreign ministry official, told a news conference in Manila earlier on Tuesday.

The leaders of Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand, four of the world's top marine plastic polluters, after China, are attending the ASEAN meeting.

Those five countries account for up to 60 percent of plastic waste leaking into oceans, the environmental group Ocean Conservancy and the McKinsey Center for Business and Environment said in a 2015 report.

Whales have been found dead in the region in recent years with large amounts of plastic rubbish in their stomachs. 

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10 facts about air pollution on World Environment Day

BARCELONA -- Nobody is safe from air pollution, the United Nations warned on World Environment Day, with 9 out of 10 people on the planet now breathing polluted air.

This has led to a growing, global health crisis, which already causes about 7 million deaths per year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Burning fossil fuels for power, transport and industry is a major contributor to air pollution as well as the main source of planet-warming carbon emissions - and tackling both problems together could bring substantial benefits for public health.

Here are some facts on the human impacts of air pollution and its links with climate change:

1. Air pollution kills 800 people every hour or 13 every minute, accounting for more than 3 times the amount of people who die from malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS combined each year.

2. Some of the same pollutants contribute to both climate change and local air pollution, including black carbon or soot - produced by inefficient combustion in sources like cookstoves and diesel engines - and methane.

3. The 5 main sources of air pollution are indoor burning of fossil fuels, wood and other biomass to cook, heat and light homes; industry, including power generation such as coal-fired plants and diesel generators; transport, especially vehicles with diesel engines; agriculture, including livestock, which produces methane and ammonia, rice paddies, which produce methane, and the burning of agricultural waste; and open waste burning and organic waste in landfills.

4. Household air pollution causes about 3.8 million premature deaths each year, the vast majority of them in the developing world, and about 60 percent of those deaths are among women and children.

5. 93 percent of children worldwide live in areas where air pollution exceeds WHO guidelines, with 600,000 children under 15 dying from respiratory tract infections in 2016.

6. Air pollution is responsible for 26 percent of deaths from ischemic heart disease, 24 percent of deaths from strokes, 43 percent from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 29 percent from lung cancer. In children, it is associated with low birth weight, asthma, childhood cancers, obesity, poor lung development and autism, among other health defects.

7. 97 percent of cities in low- and middle-income countries with more than 100,000 inhabitants do not meet the WHO minimum air quality levels, and in high-income countries, 29% of cities fall short of guidelines.

8. About 25 percent of urban ambient air pollution from fine particulate matter is contributed by traffic, 20 percent by domestic fuel burning and 15 percent by industrial activities including electricity generation.

9. Keeping global warming "well below" 2 degrees Celsius (3.6F), as governments have pledged to do under the 2015 Paris Agreement, could save about a million lives a year by 2050 through reducing air pollution alone.

10. In the 15 countries that emit the most planet-warming gases, the cost of air pollution for public health is estimated at more than 4 percent of GDP. In comparison, keeping warming to the Paris Agreement temperature limits would require investing about 1 percent of global GDP. Sources: UN Environment, World Health Organization, World Bank, Every Breath Matters campaign 

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US minorities consume less but suffer more from pollution - study

WASHINGTON - US air pollution is disproportionately caused by white consumers, while African-Americans and Hispanics are burdened most by the emissions, a peer-reviewed study showed on Monday.

On average, African-Americans are exposed to about 56 percent more fine particulate matter pollution than is caused by their consumption of goods and services, said the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Hispanics, on average, bear a burden of 63 percent excess exposure, it said.

Whites, on the other hand, experience a "pollution advantage," meaning they are exposed to 17 percent less pollution than is caused by their consumption.

"What surprised me the most was the magnitude of the discrepancy," said Jason Hill, a biosytems engineering professor at the University of Minnesota and co-author of the study. "It's surprisingly large."

The study was the first to quantify what it called "pollution inequity" and to track it over time.

Particulate matter pollution has a wide variety of sources including coal-fired power plants, agriculture, road dust, and industry. Blacks and Hispanics bear a higher proportion of the pollution because of where most of them live, compared with where most white people live, said the study, which tapped census data.

The problem occurs across the country, not just in industrial areas alongside major cities like Houston and New York, it said.

The study was paid for in part by a 5-year grant that included money from federal agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency and was launched when Barack Obama was president. The grant has continued to be funded by the administration of President Donald Trump.

Both racial minorities and whites have benefited from clean air regulations, the study found, with fine particulate pollution falling about 50 percent on average between 2003 and 2015.

But the pollution inequity remains stubborn, it said. Public-health advocates and environmentalists say the Trump administration's push to unravel regulations on power plants, industry, and vehicles while pursuing increased drilling and mining will make air pollution worse.

The study found that fine particulate pollution from domestic sources caused about 102,000 premature US deaths a year from heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer, and other diseases.

Julian Marshall, an engineering professor at the University of Washington and co-author of the study, said its approach could be extended to other pollutants.

"When it comes to determining who causes air pollution, and who breathes that pollution, this research is just the beginning."

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Off color: Pollution turns India's white marble Taj Mahal green

AGRA, India - India's white-marble Taj Mahal is turning yellow and green as the 17th century mausoleum weathers filthy air in the world's eighth-most polluted city.

One of the 7 Wonders of the World, the Taj Mahal flanks a garbage-strewn river and is often enveloped by dust and smog from belching smokestacks and vehicles in the northern city of Agra.

Tiny insects from the drying Yamuna River into which the city pours its sewage crawl into the Taj Mahal, their excrement further staining the marble, an environmental lawyer told India's Supreme Court.

The court slammed the government for not doing enough to preserve the monument, which was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz Mahal.

"If the Indian scientists and the (conservationists) can't do the things, they should be able to contact foreign experts or conservationists, those who can come and they will be readily happy to help," said lawyer M.C. Mehta, who has been fighting to save the Taj Mahal from pollution for three decades.

Restorers have been using a paste of a clay mineral to clean the marble. It pulls away impurities from the surface and can then be washed off with water.

Activists are also concerned that the falling water table in Agra may be weakening the wooden foundations. Other worries include roads clogged with polluting vehicles and rampant construction around the mausoleum.

Behind Taj's back, plastic bags and garbage pile up by the river as smoke billows from a chimney in the distance. Outside the Taj complex, a group of people gathered near a funeral pyre.

The change in color has not come out of the blue. Environmentalists and historians have long warned about the risk of soot and fumes from factories and tanneries dulling the ivory monument.

Tourists visiting the monument said they hoped steps will be taken to preserve it.

"I think the Taj Mahal is one of the biggest icons of India and I think the city would be better to be cleaner and for the government to do something about this," said Francesco, a tourist from Argentina. "Because it is a shame, you know. Yeah!" 

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Britain to ban sale of plastic straws in bid to fight waste

LONDON, England - Britain plans to ban the sale of plastic straws and other single use products and is pressing Commonwealth allies to also take action to tackle marine waste, the office of Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May said.

It said drink stirrers and cotton buds would also be banned under the plans.

May has pledged to eradicate avoidable plastic waste by 2042 as part of a "national plan of action".

"Plastic waste is one of the greatest environmental challenges facing the world, which is why protecting the marine environment is central to our agenda at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting," May said in a statement ahead of a Commonwealth summit on Thursday.

Leaders from the Commonwealth - a network of 53 countries, mostly former British colonies - are meeting in London this week.

May is looking to deepen ties to the Commonwealth as Britain seeks to boost trade and carve out a new role in the world ahead of the country's departure from the European Union in March next year.

Britain will commit 61.4 million pounds ($87.21 million) at the summit to develop new ways of tackling plastic waste and help Commonwealth countries limit how much plastic ends up in the ocean.

"We are rallying Commonwealth countries to join us in the fight against marine plastic," May said.

"Together we can effect real change so that future generations can enjoy a natural environment that is healthier than we currently find it."

The statement said environment minister Michael Gove would launch a consultation later this year into the plan to ban the plastic items. It gave no details who the consultation would be with.

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Volkswagen to pay $175 million to US lawyers suing over emissions

WASHINGTON - Volkswagen AG, in another step to move past its costly diesel emissions cheating scandal, has agreed to pay $175 million to US lawyers suing the German automaker on behalf of the owners of 475,000 polluting vehicles, two people briefed on the agreement said on Friday.

In August, the lawyers in the class action litigation sought up to $332.5 million in fees and costs for their work in a $10 billion settlement that gives US owners of 2.0 liter polluting cars the ability to sell back their vehicles to Volkswagen (VW).

The latest deal with the lawyers means VW now has agreed to spend up to $16.7 billion to compensate US owners and address claims from states, federal regulators and dealers arising from the "Dieselgate" scandal.

The amount to be paid out to lawyers was first reported by Reuters on Friday.

The resolution of legal fees clears another hurdle as the world's No. 2 automaker looks to resolve all of the outstanding aspects of a scandal that disrupted its global business, hurt its reputation and led to the ouster of its chief executive officer last year.

VW in September 2015 admitted using sophisticated secret software in its cars to cheat exhaust emissions tests, with millions of vehicles worldwide affected. The cheating allowed VW's US vehicles sold since 2009 to emit up to 40 times legally allowable pollution levels.

The $175 million includes attorneys' fees and other costs, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Lawyers for the owners of polluting vehicles and a spokeswoman for Volkswagen declined to comment.

Lead plaintiff lawyer Elizabeth Cabraser, who is part of a committee of 22 lawyers overseeing the owner suits, said in August the amount sought in attorneys fees was far less than the "judicially established benchmark" for class actions of approximately 25 percent of the settlement amount.

US District Judge Charles Breyer on Tuesday is set to hold a hearing in San Francisco on whether to grant final approval of the vehicle owners' settlement announced in June, which would be the largest-ever automotive buy-back offer in the United States. Breyer must also decide whether to approve the legal fee agreement.

VW has agreed to spend up to $10.033 billion to buy back the vehicles and compensate owners. It may also offer vehicle fixes if regulators approve. Under a timetable announced this summer, regulators could approve a fix for some 2015 VW diesel vehicles as early as next month.

In addition, VW has agreed to pay up to $1.21 billion to compensate US VW brand dealers, pay more than $600 million to 44 US states, spend $2 billion on zero-emission vehicle promotion and infrastructure, and another $2.7 billion to offset diesel pollution.

It still faces billions of dollars in potential fines from the US Justice Department in its criminal probe into VW's cheating scandal, and must resolve the fate of larger vehicles that were not part of the initial $10 billion settlement.

VW and US regulators are in continuing discussions over whether the automaker should agree to buy back 85,000 larger 3.0-liter Porsche, Audi and VW vehicles that also exceeded U.S. emission standards, and whether it should offer additional compensation to those owners.

VW may have to pay additional owner attorneys' fees as part of a separate potential 3.0-liter settlement, the sources said.

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Beijing slashes traffic in pollution red alert

BEIJING - Half of Beijing's private cars were ordered off the streets Tuesday and many construction sites and schools were closed under the Chinese capital's first-ever red alert for pollution.

A grey haze descended on the city of around 21.5 million people, with levels of PM2.5 -- harmful microscopic particles that penetrate deep into the lungs -- at one point above 300 micrograms per cubic meter according to the US embassy, which issues independent readings.

The World Health Organization's recommended maximum exposure is 25.

The alert coincided with global climate change talks in Paris, where Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed "action" on greenhouse gas emissions.

Most of China's greenhouse gas emissions come from the burning of coal for electricity and heating, which spikes when demand peaks in winter and is the main cause of smog.

It was the first time authorities declared a "red alert" since emergency air pollution plans were introduced two years ago, although levels were far from the city's worst.

It came a week after thick grey smog shrouded Beijing, cutting visibility severely and sending PM 2.5 levels as high as 634 micrograms per cubic metre.

Under the alert -- the highest in a four-tiered, colour-coded warning system -- an odd-even number plate system bans half the city's roughly 4.4 million private cars from the streets on alternate days.

Outdoor construction sites are ordered to close and some industrial plants told to cease or reduce operations.

Some schools are also urged to close, and several Beijing residents said their children had been told to stay at home.

Authorities in the capital were heavily criticized after only issuing an orange alert for last week's pollution.

“The red alert is a welcome sign of a different attitude from the Beijing government,” said Dong Liansai, climate and energy campaigner for environmental group Greenpeace.

“However, this, the latest of a series of airpocalypses to hit Beijing, is also a firm reminder of just how much more needs to be done to ensure safe air for all.”

Nonetheless some social media commenters said the measures were not enough.

"Can we apply to work at home? The air in our office is totally 'poison gas'", said one poster on Sina Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter.

The decision to issue the red alert despite relatively low numbers also provoked ridicule.

"Today wasn't as serious as the previous time," said one commenter. "How could they not issue a red alert then and issue a red alert now?"

An editorial in the government-published newspaper the China Daily on Tuesday said the move showed that "authorities have listened to residents' concerns."

"Of course," it added, "we don't expect the frequent issuance of a red alert, and we hope that we will be able to forget about it in the near future", when the government can "keep the air clean for good".

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Singapore smog breaches 'hazardous' level

Smog levels in Singapore from Indonesian forest fires hit the highest level on record Wednesday as the air pollutant index breached the "hazardous" level.

The index soared to 321 at 10:00 pm (1400 GMT), according the the website of the National Environment Agency (NEA), well past the 300-mark considered "hazardous".

Before Wednesday, Singapore's most severe haze reading was in September 1997 when the number peaked at 226.

Anything above 200 is considered "very unhealthy", particularly to the elderly, young children and people with heart and lung disease.

When levels hit hazardous, vulnerable people can experience "early onset of certain diseases in addition to significant aggravation of (already present) symptoms," the NEA said. Healthy people also find it harder to exercise in such conditions, the agency added.

Now that the pollution levels have topped the 300 threshold, elderly people with existing heart or lung diseases are advised to stay indoors and the general population to "avoid vigorous outdoor activity", according to government guidelines.

The smog, which had been worsening since Monday, triggered a run on medical masks and angry complaints from foreign tourists and locals.

"We are going to leave Singapore two days early because we are having trouble breathing," said Zac Kot, 40, a business owner from the United States who was on holiday with his wife and two young girls.

Indignant Singaporeans attacked their government on the web for its handling of the problem. Disposable medical masks flew off drugstores' shelves as consumers and companies bought them in bulk and placed orders for more.

Even tourists from Indonesia -- traditionally the largest source of visitors to Singapore -- protested about the smoky haze from Sumatra island, where some farmers and plantations deliberately set off fires to clear land for cultivation.

"It's not very good, and it's getting harder to breathe. I just don't know where to go," said Rangga Adisapoetra, 30, a risk management executive from Indonesia's main island Java attending a mobile communications and broadcasting expo.

"Maybe tomorrow, I'll visit Universal Studios," he told AFP, temporarily lifting a grey face mask to speak.

The pollution problem peaks during the June-September dry season, when monsoon winds transport thick clouds of smoke from Sumatra to neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com