Environment News

Researchers at Cornell University have developed a simple, low-cost method to improve plastic recycling. By using a common organic peroxide, the team found a way to bind otherwise incompatible plastics—producing stronger, more versatile recycled materials. The breakthrough, led by Dr. Geoffrey Coates, offers a practical path to reducing plastic waste at scale. The findings were published May 19 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. “The dream is, if you can make a really rigid polymer that’s also really tough, then you can make packaging that uses less material, yet has the same sort of properties,” said Dr. Coates. “That’s one of the other big applications for this technology.”

Scientists forecast that the amount of plastic entering the ocean—approximately 11 million metric tons each year—could triple by 2040. To help find solutions, The Pew Charitable Trusts and Gerstner Philanthropies are launching fellowships to support innovative research exploring ways to reduce marine plastic pollution. Three Pew-Gerstner Fellows in Ocean Plastics Research will be selected over the next two years. Each fellow will lead a three-year project designed to produce solutions-oriented research related to this pressing environmental challenge. The Pew-Gerstner initiative will build upon the Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation, which for over three decades has supported more than 200 talented scientists from 44 countries pursuing a wide range of ocean conservation research. The first fellow will be announced in 2026. “We are thrilled to launch this new fellowship and take a significant step toward addressing the crisis of plastic pollution in our oceans,” said Dr. Elizabeth Gerstner, vice president of environment programs. “This partnership allows us to both expand our ability to support cutting-edge research on ocean plastics and equip a new generation of researchers with the means to create lasting, impactful solutions. The results will allow us to further protect marine ecosystems for years to come.”

The Global Methane Hub’s Enteric Fermentation R&D Accelerator has published its Research Strategy, marking a milestone in the fight to tackle livestock methane emissions. The accelerator was launched last year with support from Gerstner Philanthropies, the Bezos Earth Fund, High Tide Foundation, and several other private and public funders. Agriculture accounts for 40% of global methane emissions, with 70% of that coming from methane produced during livestock digestion. As methane is 86 times more potent than CO2, this marks a significant step in the fight to curb climate change. “The Accelerator’s research strategy will address key knowledge gaps in each of the identified focus areas,” says Hayden Montgomery, Program Director of Agriculture. “As new scientific information emerges, additional research areas will be incorporated in the research strategy, ensuring it remains up-to-date and responsive to the latest developments, to ultimately, develop cost-effective mitigation solutions to directly decrease livestock methane emissions.”

MIT researchers are developing a system for reducing emissions of the potent greenhouse gas at dairy farms and other sites. Methane traps much more heat per pound than carbon dioxide, making it a powerful contributor to climate change. “In fact, methane emission removal is the fastest way that we can ensure immediate results for reduced global warming,” says Audrey Parker, a graduate student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

The Mark Whittier and Lila Griswold Allam Associate Professor of Ruminant Nutrition, Dipti Pitta, PhD, at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) has received a $508,884 grant from Gerstner Philanthropies to support Pitta’s continuing work to imprint the rumen function and prevent methanogen colonization in dairy calves with the potential of permanently curbing methane emissions from dairy herds in the United States.