Coronavirus

Durability and inexpensiveness—two of plastic’s greatest assets—have made it the workhorse material of modern society. But they have also become its greatest curse by creating a global environmental and sustainability crisis.

 The Gazette spoke with John Holdren, Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and professor of environmental science and policy in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, about what the incoming Biden-Harris administration reinstalling science as a foundation for government policy means.

Arctic Innovator Abby Conyers writes that Greenland stands to benefit from a shift to online education — and to lead the way for the rest of the region.

Arctic Innovator Jenna Stark recommends closing the crisis-related collaboration gap in the polar region. Greater communication between emergency response specialists is needed both for the Arctic to weather the current coronavirus crisis and also to prepare for and mitigate future disasters, such as assuring food security for remote communities in the event of a wildlife disease outbreak.

Halla Hrund Logadóttir writes that an online education experiment which had been under development for years — at the speed of a medium-size turtle — became the new norm in an instant because of the COVID-19 disruption. 

Joel Clement, a Mainer by birth, offers some words of advice before Donald Trump's proposed visit to Guilford, located in Maine's 2nd Congressional District, on June 5, 2020: Don't get played by out-of-state money that is pouring into Maine to politicize mask wearing and organize protests.

Cristine Russell details how the seasonal scientific field work in the Arctic — from the Toolik Field Station on Alaska's North Slope to ice core drilling in Greenland — is being postponed or cancelled this year because of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 recovery response from the UK government should include increased and well-targeted R&D investments to foster the energy transition and a more sustainable economy.

Joel Clement appeared on CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront on April 23, 2020.  In this blog post for the Union of Concerned Scientists, he elaborates on what he wishes he had said during that interview.