"Humanity has become a weapon of mass extinction," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on the eve of the recent COP15 in Montreal . "It's time to forge a peace pact with nature and stop this orgy of destruction".

When Hans was a kid, he used to spend his afternoons in his grandmother’s shop, watching the fish swimming in the big tanks where she kept them, waiting for the clients to choose the best ones for dinner.

Even though people increasingly recognise the plastic pollution threat, we have used more plastic since the covid-19 pandemic began .

From businesses developing technological solutions to face the COVID-19 outbreak to companies producing biodegradable plastic products for hospitals and retail chains: many bio-based activities have proved to be crucial during the novel coronavirus pandemic and are coping better with the economic effects of lockdowns than others.

Surfing has a dirty secret: surfboard production techniques are often at odds with the sport’s eco-conscious image. Most modern surfboards are a sandwich-like construction: a polyurethane foam core – known as a blank – coated in a fibre-reinforced composite.

Urban green spaces provide several benefits beyond aesthetics. They offer shade, help to reduce pollution, offer habitat for birds and insects, a space to meet and socialise or for kids to play.

Using blockchain in food supply systems is quite a recent research field. Electronic giants and start-ups are testing this technology to enter the market with a new tool to get more trusted information about what arrives on our plate.

Bio-composites have become increasingly popular with car manufacturers because they can reduce vehicle weight, which improves performance and lowers CO 2 emissions .

A relatively recent interest in hemp as a building material responds to a global trend that encourages the development of bio-based products and the reduction of carbon emissions.

Hemp is getting more attention for its multiple uses in sustainable building . In the US, former Asheville mayor Russ Martin and his wife Karon Korp, built the first hemp house in 2010 using crop imported from the UK .