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Changing Course, Honolulu Is Now Planting Food in Public Spaces

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Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Honolulu Skyline passengers may notice something different on their morning rail commute: more than half-a-dozen planter boxes full of growing tomatoes, eggplants, scallions and sweet potatoes, among other edible plants. Native ku‘uli, ’ākia, ’ohai, ʻākulikuli and kī can be found close by, planted on Thursday by a group of volunteers from the city and nonprofit sector as part of a nascent program aimed at making free food available in public spaces. The planting represents a paradigm shift for Honolulu, and possibly the state. Local authorities have long avoided growing edible plants and trees because of legal fears – mostly liability — over things like falling coconuts, fruit theft or slippery mangoes on the ground.But now Honolulu is vying for a $1 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to flip the script, as one of 50 cities globally identified as finalists of the Mayors Challenge, in which the organization calls on cities to reimagine the services they provide.For Honolulu, that means intermingling food, housing and transit by increasing food access for commuters in public spaces. The model is a prototype, one Honolulu Office of Economic Revitalization Director Amy Asselbaye says has been informed by public demand for more food trees and public gardens throughout Oʻahu.Government-sanctioned urban gardening and food tree planting had been nixed over concerns about who will oversee, tend to and harvest the plants, as well as who might be liable and who will benefit. County departments have welcomed the change, including the parks department, Asselbaye says. Ultimately, she said, the goal is to transform the transit stations into food hubs, where commuters could take an ʻulu or some kī leaves for dinner instead of worrying about the price of groceries. “We want to create that possibility,” Asselbaye said, “and see how residents respond to it.”Earth Innovation ’s Kima Wassel Hardy, a consultant for the city, says the project illustrates that food doesn’t have to be only grown by farmers in far-flung fields, but can be made readily accessible and available in different settings. And the plants have environmental benefits too. At the pilot stations in Kapolei and Waipahu, patches of grass and shrubs have now been replaced with native plants better adapted to West Oʻahu’s drier conditions. There’s going to be “less weed whackers, less leaf blowers, more harvesting and, hopefully, more community engagement,” Wassel Hardy said. “This is still the ʻāina, even if it’s covered in asphalt.” Meanwhile, the county has teamed up with westside feeding initiative ʻElepaio Social Services to run a mobile food pantry and will host a farmers market during peak commute times, to increase access to food among commuters. “People have been talking about this for years,” Asselbaye said. “We’re going to prototype how we do this and we’re not going to try to set too many rules while we figure it out.” Community-driven efforts to grow food in urban spaces are not new to the islands, though most have failed to take root due to concerns they would become unwieldy. The state has arrested people for planting food trees several times in the past, while other efforts on Oʻahu have resulted in community groups overseeing food forests on state lands, such as an ʻulu and coconut grove in Kahaluʻu led by Sen. Brenton Awa. But it has taken more than a decade for Honolulu to warm to the idea of planting food forests or having publicly available food for residents, with years of failed attempts to get official permission. Friends of Kamaliʻi Park in downtown Honolulu were among the first to try, as the Department of Parks and Recreation shut the idea down despite funding and support from then-Councilwoman Tulsi Gabbard. Hawaiʻi food systems planner Hunter Heaivilin, whose 2014 master’s thesis centered on urban agriculture, found in his research that a complex web of ideas and policy hurdles, including liability concerns and zoning restrictions, sat in the way of growing food on up to 10,000 acres of viable land in urban Honolulu. “The concern, in those conversations, was that the food trees would be ‘an attractive nuisance,’” Heaivilin said. The state has recognized the potential of urban agriculture, including in a 2013 bill encouraging state housing developers to include urban gardening programs into affordable housing projects. That law, Act 202, has largely been ignored, Heaivilin says.Since then, even with state and federal support, community-driven urban gardening initiatives have mostly misfired, including in Kakaʻako where a community garden project stalled in 2018.Despite the delay, Heaivilin is applauding the new development, hoping it will pave the way for more projects to increase access to food across urban Oʻahu. Year Of Our Community Forests Community organizations have meanwhile continued to find workarounds to increase access to food as well as cultural and community connection.One such initiative, run by Grow Good Hawaiʻi, has several projects centered on distributing and cultivating food trees statewide, including in people’s backyards, while also troubleshooting for residents across Oʻahu. The process is intended to help food security within communities while mitigating the effects of climate change.Gov. Josh Green in January dubbed 2025 the Year of Our Community Forests, a move intended to increase awareness of the need to promote the conservation and care of forests – both urban and rural – throughout the state.Lawmakers passed a bicameral resolution last session urging the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to work with the community to look after forests on public lands.Part of that, according to state urban forester Heather McMillen, has been workshopping solutions to longstanding concerns about liability and care for the trees and their fruit. A solution hasn’t been found yet, she said, but community buy-in will be central to any resolution.To be sure, state forest reserves already have wild food available for residents to forage after obtaining a free permit, and the state forestry division’s Kaulunani Urban and Community Forestry Program is promoting urban forests and forested areas on the urban-rural borders of Hawaiʻi.McMillen, who leads the program, hopes the resolution will lead to permanent funding moving forward that’s dedicated to urban forestry, perhaps from the state’s new green fee.The Kaulunani program calculated urban trees provided $90 in environmental benefits per tree. For every dollar spent on tree care, the tree provides about $3 in benefits — including pollution removal, rain interception, carbon storage and electricity savings. As of 2023, the program had injected $4.6 million into more than 450 forestry projects.Across the islands, municipal trees store over 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide, remove 3,340 tons of CO2 each year and mitigate 35 million gallons of stormwater runoff each year, while playing an important role in cooling the urban environment.“We know it’s going to get worse. We need more trees, more canopy and even shrubs,” Grow Good founder Paul Arinaga said. “None of this is rocket science.”This story was originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025

Honolulu Skyline passengers may notice something different on their morning rail commute: more than half-a-dozen planter boxes full of growing tomatoes, eggplants, scallions and sweet potatoes

Honolulu Skyline passengers may notice something different on their morning rail commute: more than half-a-dozen planter boxes full of growing tomatoes, eggplants, scallions and sweet potatoes, among other edible plants.

Native ku‘uli, ’ākia, ’ohai, ʻākulikuli and kī can be found close by, planted on Thursday by a group of volunteers from the city and nonprofit sector as part of a nascent program aimed at making free food available in public spaces.

The planting represents a paradigm shift for Honolulu, and possibly the state. Local authorities have long avoided growing edible plants and trees because of legal fears – mostly liability — over things like falling coconuts, fruit theft or slippery mangoes on the ground.

But now Honolulu is vying for a $1 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to flip the script, as one of 50 cities globally identified as finalists of the Mayors Challenge, in which the organization calls on cities to reimagine the services they provide.

For Honolulu, that means intermingling food, housing and transit by increasing food access for commuters in public spaces. The model is a prototype, one Honolulu Office of Economic Revitalization Director Amy Asselbaye says has been informed by public demand for more food trees and public gardens throughout Oʻahu.

Government-sanctioned urban gardening and food tree planting had been nixed over concerns about who will oversee, tend to and harvest the plants, as well as who might be liable and who will benefit.

County departments have welcomed the change, including the parks department, Asselbaye says. Ultimately, she said, the goal is to transform the transit stations into food hubs, where commuters could take an ʻulu or some kī leaves for dinner instead of worrying about the price of groceries.

“We want to create that possibility,” Asselbaye said, “and see how residents respond to it.”

Earth Innovation ’s Kima Wassel Hardy, a consultant for the city, says the project illustrates that food doesn’t have to be only grown by farmers in far-flung fields, but can be made readily accessible and available in different settings. And the plants have environmental benefits too.

At the pilot stations in Kapolei and Waipahu, patches of grass and shrubs have now been replaced with native plants better adapted to West Oʻahu’s drier conditions. There’s going to be “less weed whackers, less leaf blowers, more harvesting and, hopefully, more community engagement,” Wassel Hardy said. “This is still the ʻāina, even if it’s covered in asphalt.”

Meanwhile, the county has teamed up with westside feeding initiative ʻElepaio Social Services to run a mobile food pantry and will host a farmers market during peak commute times, to increase access to food among commuters.

“People have been talking about this for years,” Asselbaye said. “We’re going to prototype how we do this and we’re not going to try to set too many rules while we figure it out.”

Community-driven efforts to grow food in urban spaces are not new to the islands, though most have failed to take root due to concerns they would become unwieldy.

The state has arrested people for planting food trees several times in the past, while other efforts on Oʻahu have resulted in community groups overseeing food forests on state lands, such as an ʻulu and coconut grove in Kahaluʻu led by Sen. Brenton Awa.

But it has taken more than a decade for Honolulu to warm to the idea of planting food forests or having publicly available food for residents, with years of failed attempts to get official permission. Friends of Kamaliʻi Park in downtown Honolulu were among the first to try, as the Department of Parks and Recreation shut the idea down despite funding and support from then-Councilwoman Tulsi Gabbard.

Hawaiʻi food systems planner Hunter Heaivilin, whose 2014 master’s thesis centered on urban agriculture, found in his research that a complex web of ideas and policy hurdles, including liability concerns and zoning restrictions, sat in the way of growing food on up to 10,000 acres of viable land in urban Honolulu.

“The concern, in those conversations, was that the food trees would be ‘an attractive nuisance,’” Heaivilin said.

The state has recognized the potential of urban agriculture, including in a 2013 bill encouraging state housing developers to include urban gardening programs into affordable housing projects. That law, Act 202, has largely been ignored, Heaivilin says.

Since then, even with state and federal support, community-driven urban gardening initiatives have mostly misfired, including in Kakaʻako where a community garden project stalled in 2018.

Despite the delay, Heaivilin is applauding the new development, hoping it will pave the way for more projects to increase access to food across urban Oʻahu.

Year Of Our Community Forests

Community organizations have meanwhile continued to find workarounds to increase access to food as well as cultural and community connection.

One such initiative, run by Grow Good Hawaiʻi, has several projects centered on distributing and cultivating food trees statewide, including in people’s backyards, while also troubleshooting for residents across Oʻahu. The process is intended to help food security within communities while mitigating the effects of climate change.

Gov. Josh Green in January dubbed 2025 the Year of Our Community Forests, a move intended to increase awareness of the need to promote the conservation and care of forests – both urban and rural – throughout the state.

Lawmakers passed a bicameral resolution last session urging the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to work with the community to look after forests on public lands.

Part of that, according to state urban forester Heather McMillen, has been workshopping solutions to longstanding concerns about liability and care for the trees and their fruit. A solution hasn’t been found yet, she said, but community buy-in will be central to any resolution.

To be sure, state forest reserves already have wild food available for residents to forage after obtaining a free permit, and the state forestry division’s Kaulunani Urban and Community Forestry Program is promoting urban forests and forested areas on the urban-rural borders of Hawaiʻi.

McMillen, who leads the program, hopes the resolution will lead to permanent funding moving forward that’s dedicated to urban forestry, perhaps from the state’s new green fee.

The Kaulunani program calculated urban trees provided $90 in environmental benefits per tree. For every dollar spent on tree care, the tree provides about $3 in benefits — including pollution removal, rain interception, carbon storage and electricity savings. As of 2023, the program had injected $4.6 million into more than 450 forestry projects.

Across the islands, municipal trees store over 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide, remove 3,340 tons of CO2 each year and mitigate 35 million gallons of stormwater runoff each year, while playing an important role in cooling the urban environment.

“We know it’s going to get worse. We need more trees, more canopy and even shrubs,” Grow Good founder Paul Arinaga said. “None of this is rocket science.”

This story was originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025

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Op-ed: Let’s Preserve Our Communities Through Canning Food

“Anything you want cooked, I can cook. I can cook dirt,” jokes David, who has operated this community cannery for the last 30 years, guiding his neighbors through the steps of preserving their own food—from cooking the raw ingredients to sealing them into jars. Known as the “Moonshine Capital of the World” for its distilled […] The post Op-ed: Let’s Preserve Our Communities Through Canning Food appeared first on Civil Eats.

Set in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, surrounded by rolling farmlands and hardwood forests, Glade Hill Cannery often opens before the sun has risen. On one such early morning, expert canner Ronald David supervises the pots of apple butter that bubble on the stoves, fogging the windows with steam. “Anything you want cooked, I can cook. I can cook dirt,” jokes David, who has operated this community cannery for the last 30 years, guiding his neighbors through the steps of preserving their own food—from cooking the raw ingredients to sealing them into jars. Known as the “Moonshine Capital of the World” for its distilled alcohol production during Prohibition, Franklin County, Virginia, has a robust agriculture economy as well. Glade Hill stands as one of the oldest surviving canneries in the country, with more than 80 years of preserving, jarring, and steaming under its belt. The cannery operates in a 1940s-era masonry building behind Glade Hill Elementary School, and allows locals to can just about anything they want—though so far no one has taken David up on his dirt offer. Master canner Ronald David has worked at Glade Hill Cannery since the 1990s. (Photo credit: Rinne Allen)
 A community cannery is essentially a shared, public-access kitchen with commercial-grade equipment where anyone can process raw produce into shelf-stable goods. Commonly canned items include tomatoes, green beans, peaches, jams, pickles, and sauces. Across the U.S., the scale of community canneries ranges widely, from those operating out of small school kitchens to those that are industrial-size, like Glade Hill. Growing up in California’s Napa Valley, I was surrounded by examples of people enjoying fresh, homegrown food. One of my earliest memories is of learning to weed my dad’s backyard garden and helping him relocate snails. (I recall being more interested in befriending the creatures than moving them.) In addition to having a green thumb, my dad is an avid canner, meaning I have a year-round supply of jams, sauces, and stocks labeled with names like “Summer Lovin” and “Magic Mineral Broth” in his blocky uppercase handwriting. In an era when we often purchase food grown halfway across the world, community canneries are hanging on, allowing people to eat from sources closer to home. Canneries reduce reliance on industrial agriculture, help mitigate climate change, support small-scale farmers, build food sovereignty, and foster a sense of community where knowledge, recipes, and harvests can be shared. We need more of them. How Community Canneries Work Community canneries emerged alongside World War II victory gardens as a way for amateur gardeners to grow and preserve their own produce. A nationwide campaign sponsored by the U.S. government, the canneries were part of an effort to prevent food shortages and send more food overseas to American soldiers stationed there. The response was overwhelmingly positive: Canning peaked in 1943, with individuals producing over 4.1 billion jars of food in their homes and at community canning centers. As food processing industrialized, however, the number of community canneries dwindled from more than 3,800 facilities across the United States to fewer than a couple hundred. Steamed spinach, ready for canning at Glade Hill. (Photo credit: Rinne Allen)
 Canning centers have always been vital spaces for strengthening social bonds, reducing food waste, and increasing food security for rural farmers. David recalls whole church congregations coming together to make apple butter and neighbors canning food to raise money for buildings or first responders—an inseparable blend of love, community, and food. Every cannery functions differently, but at Glade Hill, work sometimes starts at 5 a.m. Hustling between pressure canners, 50-gallon kettles, and tin cans stacked on worktables, David says he helps up to 30 people each day cook down produce and seal jars, doling out advice along the way—and always leaving time for neighborly conversation. At any given time, the room may smell like sweet apples and cinnamon or savory, smoky slow-cooked pork with paprika. Putting Excess Produce to Good Use Skeptics may argue that community canneries don’t address the most pressing issues associated with local food movements, particularly access to fresh produce in low-income communities. But even so, canning has a number of environmental and social benefits that make it well worth the effort. First, it enables people to more easily preserve food from their own gardens and the farmers in their communities, making them less reliant on industrial agriculture—a major contributor to environmental destruction, responsible for approximately 80 percent of global deforestation and over 70 percent of terrestrial biodiversity loss. Additionally, preserving food offers a practical way to reduce the 30 to 40 percent of the U.S. food supply that is wasted each year, according to estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Beyond the carbon dioxide released during its production, transport, and processing, food is the single largest category of material found in most landfills, where it breaks down and releases methane, another potent greenhouse gas. Diverting food from the landfill through canning helps mitigate this. Canneries can help improve food access in their communities as well. They can partner with local farms, community gardens, food banks, and other organizations to preserve excess produce and distribute it. The Baxter Community Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for example, provides fresh produce, garden space, and canning workshops to community members at no cost to promote both local food production and preservation. At Glade Hill Cannery, cans of beans with chunks of hog jowl await their turn in the water bath. (Photo credit: Rinne Allen) Canneries can also play a role in increasing self-reliance for small farmers. They can help farmers convert unsold produce into value-added products such as jams, sauces, or pickles, reducing waste and generating alternate streams of income. Some community canneries, like Glade Hill, allow farmers to drop off produce for processing and pick it up later. By enabling individuals and communities to assume greater control over what they eat, community canning also weakens relationships of dependency and helps increase food sovereignty, a concept that Monica M. White, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explores in her research on D-Town Farm in Detroit. This can be especially important for marginalized communities. The Oneida Community Cannery in Oneida County, Wisconsin, for example, was established in the ’70s to help tribal and local community members reconnect with and learn to preserve traditional foods. The cannery’s success eventually led to the creation of a program to encourage self-reliance within the community, demonstrating that canning can be a tool for cultural preservation and community resilience. Lastly, canning builds community. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of being in the kitchen with my dad, learning to create his famous meatballs. Those moments weren’t just about the meal; they were about love, patience, and care. Community canneries provide the same opportunity: spaces to share recipes, preserve culinary traditions, and learn from other generations. Be a Community Canneries Advocate Community canning creates all kinds of benefits. It builds relationships, encourages people to grow and preserve their own food, and gives us healthy options to the processed foods so prevalent today. So how can you support it? Most community canneries operate as nonprofit organizations or are funded by local governments, supporting themselves through a combination of usage fees or public funding. Each one is unique, but they typically charge small fees based on hourly use of equipment, per batch or pounds processed, or through annual memberships. Prepping late-season tomatoes for canning at Glade Hill Cannery. (Photo credit: Rinne Allen) If possible, support a cannery near you. Virginia, Florida, and Georgia remain strongholds for community canneries, offering myriad models. Virginia alone has up to 11 seasonally operating community canneries, including Glade Hill. The Carroll County Cannery, for example, is open June through December, offering equipment and an on-site cannery specialist to help select recipes, acquire ingredients, and guide day-of canning. If you don’t have a cannery nearby, advocate for one. Most canneries are funded by local governments. Public investment increases their accessibility, keeping usage fees low. If you are interested in getting a cannery established in your area, attend city council meetings and make the case for these establishments. You might also consider working to establish a cannery within your local school district, to educate children on the importance of local food. The Eastanollee Cannery in Eastanollee, Georgia, for example, is owned by the Stephens County school system and focuses on both how to safely can food and increase engagement with local farmers. There’s something truly powerful about preparing food together. David tells me he’s formed friendships with many of the people who visit Glade Hill, often receiving a jar of apple butter as a thank-you gift. He and his regulars take care of each other. And that’s the essence of community canneries. Regardless of whether you have two cans to fill or 100, David says, “Come on in. I’ll make room for ya.” Jillian Fischer wrote this opinion as an undergraduate student in Liz Carlisle’s course, “Food, Agriculture, and the Environment,” offered this spring at the University of California Santa Barbara. Civil Eats partnered with Carlisle on writing and editing guidance for this story. The post Op-ed: Let’s Preserve Our Communities Through Canning Food appeared first on Civil Eats.

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Revealed: Europe losing 600 football pitches of nature and crop land a day

Investigation shows extent of green land lost across UK and mainland Europe to development from 2018 to 2023The Santa Claus effect: how expanding tourism ate into Lapland’s green spaceEurope is losing green space that once harboured wildlife, captured carbon and supplied food at the rate of 600 football pitches a day, an investigation by the Guardian and partners has revealed.Analysis of satellite imagery across the UK and mainland Europe over a five-year period shows the speed and scale with which green land is turning grey, consumed by tarmac for roads, bricks and mortar for luxury golf courses and housing developments. Continue reading...

Europe is losing green space that once harboured wildlife, captured carbon and supplied food at the rate of 600 football pitches a day, an investigation by the Guardian and partners has revealed.Analysis of satellite imagery across the UK and mainland Europe over a five-year period shows the speed and scale with which green land is turning grey, consumed by tarmac for roads, bricks and mortar for luxury golf courses and housing developments.The loss of the Amazon rainforest has been measured for years using satellite imagery and on-the-ground monitoring, but until now the scale of green land lost in Europe had never been captured in the same way.In the first investigation of its kind across Europe, the Green to Grey project, working with scientists from the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (Nina) to measure nature loss, reveals the scale of nature and farmland engulfed by human interventions.The cross-border project by the Guardian, Arena for Journalism in Europe (Arena), Nina, the Norwegian broadcaster NRK and other news outlets in 11 countries found that Europe loses about 1,500 sq km (580 sq miles) a year to construction. About 9,000 sq km of land – an area the size of Cyprus – was turned green to grey between 2018 and 2023, according to the data. That is the equivalent of almost 30 sq km a week, or 600 football pitches a day.Nature accounts for the majority of the losses, at about 900 sq km a year, but the research shows we are also building on agricultural land at a rate of about 600 sq km a year, with grave consequences for the continent’s food security and health.Steve Carver, a professor of wilderness at the University of Leeds, said: “Land lost to development is one of the primary drivers of wilderness loss and biodiversity decline. But we are also losing cropland and productive land as our cities expand into the green belt and on to agricultural land.”The most common developments, accounting for a quarter of all cases, were for housing and roads. But nature and farmland is also being destroyed to accommodate luxuries for the rich, tourism, consumerism and industry.Arena reveals that in Portugal, almost 300 hectares (740 acres) of the protected sand dunes at Galé Beach near Melides, an hour south of Lisbon, have been lost to create a new golf course at the CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club, where properties will sell for about £5.6mThe resort, which is still under construction, is a second home to Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, who works for the development. It is being built on Natura 2000 land, which is supposed to be protected under EU regulations.Satellite imagery shows the areas of protected dune land lost to the CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club in southern PortugalThe resort promises “the simple luxury of European living” on “the last untouched Atlantic coast in southern Europe”. Its 75-hectare golf course is estimated to consume as much as 800,000 litres of water a day to maintain the greens.Exceptions to development on Natura 2000 land can be granted if there is overriding public interest. The Portuguese authorities approved the resort, which is owned by the US property firm Discovery Land Company, on the grounds of economic benefit.Ioannis Agapakis, a lawyer for ClientEarth, an environmental law NGO, said a golf course did not fulfil these requirements. “It is obviously not overriding public interest,” he said. “The mere fact that you find economic benefits or some type of economic development from a project does not make it overriding public interest.”Discovery Land Company said in a statement: “We are developing CostaTerra to be a model for environmental stewardship and sustainability in the region.“Every aspect of the property – from the design of the golf course, to rainwater and waste management practices, to the development and preservation of wildlife habitat and corridors – was designed to meet or exceed EU standards, including the Natura 2000 framework.“We’ll continue to innovate and find solutions to make CostaTerra the most responsible property of its kind.”Brooksbank was approached by the Guardian but did not comment.In Turkey, the Çaltılıdere wetland in the İzmir province on the Aegean coast has been buried beneath more than a square kilometre of concrete foundations for a marina to repair and build luxury yachts, the investigation shows.Officially designated as a wetland by Turkey, Çaltılıdere was home to flamingos, pelicans, cormorants, sea bream and sea bass. It also served as a vital carbon store and natural flood defence.But local authorities overturned its protected status in 2017 after a tense and controversial local commission meeting. Satellite images show how the vital stopping point for migratory birds has been consumed by concrete foundations.Satellite imagery shows the wetland lost to the marina development at Çaltılıdere in TurkeyYatek, the industry cooperative developing the marina project, says it will bring huge economic growth and thousands of jobs to the area. “The richest people in Turkey and in the world will bring their big yachts here and repair them or have them built,” Yatek’s former director said in an interview in 2021. The cooperative foresees manufacturing as many as 132 luxury yachts a year.Yatek said in a statement that its project was “a fully compliant initiative that strictly follows all legal procedures, including the acquisition of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report”, a document detailing a project’s effects for permission to be granted under EU law.“The environmental impacts and other ecological aspects of the project have been thoroughly assessed by the competent authorities of our country, which have granted a positive EIA decision. Accordingly, the entire project process continues lawfully and in line with the relevant legislation,” the statement said.skip past newsletter promotionThe planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essentialPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionTurkey, the largest country in the analysis, ranked highest for the amount of green land lost between 2018 and 2023. It built on 1,860 sq km of nature and crop land, accounting for more than a fifth of the total loss in Europe.But the developments are across Europe. In the Vermio mountains in northern Greece, defined as a roadless area of wilderness in Greek law, a large windfarm is being developed across the western and central Macedonia regions.According to the Dublin-based Aer Soléir, the ultimate owner of the Vermio windfarms, the plans are fully aligned with applicable Greek and EU regulatory frameworks. It said the development had “secured, during a lengthy demanding design and licensing process, all required permits and approvals”, and added: “The project was reviewed twice by the supreme administrative court. In both cases, the relevant annulment actions were rejected, and the court confirmed full compliance of the project with the environmental and regulatory framework.”The company also said a series of reforestation works were being undertaken in parallel with construction.In Germany, half a million trees were felled near Berlin to build a Tesla gigafactory after the government approved a plan to expand the plant to double production to 1m cars a year. Tesla has been approached for comment.Satellite images show the woodland cleared to make way for the Tesla factory.The methodology used in the Green to Grey investigation is different from the official method used by the European Environment Agency (EEA), which excludes areas smaller than 50,000 sq metres, the equivalent of about five football pitches. The investigation identified small, piecemeal nature losses as well as construction in urban green spaces, resulting in estimates 1.5 times larger than the EEA’s calculations and showing the total impact of cumulative small-scale losses.“It’s a slow-burning issue,” said Jan-Erik Petersen of the EEA. “It just accumulates over time.”The Green MEP Lena Schilling said: “For years, the EU has promised to lead on climate and nature protection, but what this investigation shows is that we are literally cementing over our own future.“Every forest, fertile field and biodiversity hotspot destroyed for short-term profit is a betrayal of the promises we made to young people.”The construction site for Tesla’s gigafactory near Berlin pictured in September 2020. Photograph: Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty ImagesShe said that if nature continued to be treated as expendable, Europe would lose not only its climate goals, but also its food security, its health and the very places that made the continent worth living in.The analysis covered 30 countries, covering 96% of the EEA’s 39-country area. Every country examined is losing natural and agricultural areas, but some fare worse than others. The five countries with the highest green losses were Turkey, with more than 1800 sq km of nature and crop land lost between 2018 and 2023, Poland (more than 1,000 sq km), France (950 sq km), Germany (720 sq km) and the UK (604 sq km).Zander Venter of Nina is planning to scale up the project to establish a global vision of the impact humans have had on the planet. For anyone interested in helping, he will be launching a citizen science web app to try crowdsource the verifications.Additional reporting by Rachel Keenan, Raphael Boyd, Olivia Lee, Yassin El-Moudden, Gracie Daw, Matthew Holmes, Mariam Amini, Gabriel Smith, Dominic Kendrick and Emma RussellFor more, visit greentogrey.euThe next phase of this project will be planet-wide: join a crowdsourced citizen science initiative to measure global nature loss here

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A ‘coordinated campaign of deception’: Philly sues 2 companies over misleading recycling labels

The lawsuit targets SC Johnson, owner of Ziploc bags, and Bimbo Bakeries, the country's biggest bread and snack food manufacturer.

Look at the packaging of any food or consumer item in the U.S., and there’s a good chance you’ll see a black-and-white decal: the iconic “chasing arrows” recycling symbol, along with the web address how2recycle.info. As you might guess, the labels are meant to tell consumers how they can recycle the boxes, wrappers, and cans that they buy. They’re designed by an organization called How2Recycle, which sells its labels to hundreds of companies across the U.S. It’s not clear, however, whether products featuring the How2Recycle labels are actually recyclable in practice. This problem is at the center of a new lawsuit. On Wednesday, the city of Philadelphia sued two major companies that use the How2Recycle label and other recycling symbols on their plastic bags: SC Johnson, which owns Ziploc, and Bimbo Bakeries USA, the country’s largest commercial baking company and the owner of brands such as Oroweat and Sara Lee. According to the 47-page complaint, SC Johnson and Bimbo have engaged in a “coordinated campaign of deception” to convince consumers that their plastic bags are recyclable. The companies’ practices “violate the law, deceive consumers, and contribute to environmental pollution and the disruption of recycling operations, costing the city thousands of dollars every year in remediation,” Philadelphia’s city solicitor, Renee Garcia, said in a statement. Oroweat bread, a brand owned by Bimbo Bakeries USA, and Ziploc bags, owned by SC Johnson. Geri Lavrov / Getty Images; Kevin Carter / Getty Images The complaint is part of a recent surge in state-, city-, and county-level litigation related to plastics recycling claims. Right now there are pending lawsuits from  Baltimore; California; Connecticut; L.A. County; and New York state. A lawsuit from Minnesota against Walmart and the manufacturer of Hefty trash bags was settled last year. But Philadelphia’s suit is the first to name-check How2Recycle, whose labels often instruct consumers to deposit used plastic bags at “store drop-off” locations, like at Walmart and Target stores. According to the complaint, most or all Ziploc and Bimbo products sold in Philadelphia featured these labels as of 2024, sometimes in addition to other recycling indicators and instructions.  The city says these labels mislead consumers into thinking they can buy plastic bags without creating waste, as long as they try to recycle them. This allegedly contravenes a consumer protection ordinance that Philadelphia enacted in 2024, which empowers the city to investigate deceptive business practices without waiting for the Pennsylvania attorney general or district attorney to do so. What’s the connection between plastics and climate change?Plastics are made from fossil fuels and cause greenhouse gas emissions at every stage of their lifespan, including during the extraction of oil and gas, during processing at petrochemical refineries, and upon disposal — especially if they’re incinerated. If the plastics industry were a country, it would have the world’s fourth-largest climate footprint, based on data published last year by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Research suggests that plastics are responsible for about 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. But this is likely an underestimate due to significant data gaps: Most countries lack greenhouse gas information on their plastics use and disposal, and the data that is available tends to focus on plastic production and specific disposal methods. Scientists are beginning to explore other ways plastics may contribute to climate change. Research suggests that plastics release greenhouse gases when exposed to UV radiation, which means there could be a large, underappreciated amount of climate pollution emanating from existing plastic products and litter. Marine microplastics may also be inhibiting the ocean’s ability to store carbon. And plastic particles in the air and on the Earth’s surface could be trapping heat or reflecting it — more research is needed.Holly Kaufman, a senior fellow at the nonprofit World Resources Institute, said it’s obvious that plastics are using up more than their fair share of the carbon budget, the amount of carbon dioxide the world can emit without surpassing 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius (2.7 or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming. Plastics have “a major climate impact that has just not been incorporated anywhere,” she said — including the U.N.’s plastics treaty. In the context of plastics recycling lawsuits, “it’s the first time a city passed a law to give themselves the power to protect their citizens, protect their environment, from false claims,” said Jan Dell, who founded the nonprofit The Last Beach Cleanup and has launched many initiatives against misleading recycling labels. “They passed a law and now they’re enforcing the law.” Philadelphia’s lawsuit cites research showing that most Americans believe the chasing arrows label used in any context means that a product is recyclable, and that recyclable products can be placed in their curbside recycling bins. But this is not the case. Philadelphia’s curbside recycling program, like most cities’, does not accept plastic bags because it is not economically practical to separate them and process them using special machinery. According to a Department of Energy study published in 2022, only 2 percent of the U.S.’s low-density polyethylene, or LDPE — the type of filmy plastic used in bags — was recycled in 2019. The rate may be even lower for SC Johnson and Bimbo’s products: At an industry conference in 2018, an executive from SC Johnson said that only 0.2 percent of Ziploc bags are ever successfully turned into something new. There isn’t an end market for recycled plastic film because “it is perceived as inefficient and unprofitable,” the executive said. Instead, plastic film — a category that includes bags as well as other thin plastic wrappers — becomes a contaminant in recycling equipment. It can jam machinery multiple times per day, causing facility-wide shutdowns so that workers can cut the film out using machetes. Philadelphia says this problem has increased waste and operating costs for its recycling plants. The store drop-off labels provided by How2Recycle do not circumvent the shortcomings of curbside recycling, according to Philadelphia’s complaint. It says that drop-off boxes are “masquerading as recycling collection systems” but “actually function as trash cans in disguise.” Read Next Amazon says its plastic packaging can be recycled. An investigation finds it usually isn’t. Joseph Winters The complaint cites a 2023 investigation in which ABC News used tracking devices to follow bundles of plastic deposited in store drop-off bins across the U.S. The investigation found that only 4 of 46 trackers ended up at U.S. facilities that recycle plastic bags. Most of the rest went to landfills, incinerators, or transfer stations that don’t recycle plastic bags or send them to facilities that do. One of the trackers was dropped off at a Target location in Philadelphia. It went to a waste-management transfer station and was likely mixed with other trash to be burned or landfilled. Plastic in landfills breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces that leach chemicals and contaminate the environment. Other investigations from Bloomberg Green, Environment America, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, and The Last Beach Cleanup have shown similar results. In 2023, the CEO of a company that had compiled a directory of plastic film drop-off locations abruptly took it offline, citing a lack of “real commitment” from the plastics industry. “There’s more of an illusion of stuff getting recycled than there actually is,” she told ABC News. “I just couldn’t be a part of it anymore.” (Ziploc packaging continued to direct people to this “effectively abandoned domain,” according to the Philadelphia complaint.) Peter Blair, policy and advocacy director for the zero-waste nonprofit Just Zero, said Philadelphia’s lawsuit may be stronger than previous ones brought at the state or local level because it’s backed by the city’s consumer protection ordinance, and not just a set of green marketing guidelines from the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC. Claims made on the basis of the FTC guidelines usually require evidence of financial harm to consumers at the point of purchase — in other words, that they bought one product over another one explicitly because of its recycling labels. Philadelphia’s ordinance is broader, he said, and doesn’t rely on demonstrating that consumer connection.  Blair added that the Philadelphia lawsuit is the most direct challenge to the How2Recycle store drop-off label that he’s seen. “Let’s be clear,” he told Grist: “The How2Recycle label’s primary purpose is not to help consumers navigate recycling, but to protect the illusion that plastic recycling works.” How2Recycle did not respond to Grist’s request for comment. In a 2020 report, the organization said that store drop-off only had “limited” promise to deal with the waste produced by plastic film. It announced in July that it would soon roll out new designs for its store drop-off labels featuring a take-back receptacle instead of the chasing arrows, but the designs still include the web address how2recycle.info. The current version of How2Recycle’s store drop-off label, shown on the side of a box of Nature Valley granola bars. Courtesy of Jan Dell SC Johnson also did not respond to a request for comment. Bimbo said it had not yet been served the complaint but that the company is “committed to zero-waste across our operations, including consumer packaging, and to being a strong partner in every community we serve.”  Shortly before Philadelphia’s complaint was filed, Bimbo terminated a mail-in recycling program with a partner organization called TerraCycle, which was also named in the suit. TerraCycle said the lawsuit inaccurately described its program and that it “has always guaranteed that we recycle all the accepted waste sent to us.” The organization said its label, a stylized infinity sign, “was consciously designed to avoid confusion with the triangle recycling logo.”  Philadelphia’s lawsuit cites numerous other recycling claims made by SC Johnson and Bimbo, including web pages claiming that Ziploc bags are recyclable at “18,000-plus stores around the United States” and therefore “don’t need to end up in landfills,” and that recycling via a mail-in program would make “all” of Bimbo’s packaging “sustainable by 2025.” The city is requesting an injunction ordering Bimbo and SC Johnson to stop marketing their plastic film as recyclable, as well as civil penalties and other payments for harms that may have been caused by the companies’ recyclability claims. This could include, for example, cost increases to the municipal recycling program linked to contamination with plastic film. Dell said other government bodies should follow Philadelphia’s lead. She’s settled two plastics recycling-related lawsuits — one with TerraCycle and eight major consumer product brands, and another with a supermarket — but told Grist that “private litigation is hard” and “should not be relied upon to keep companies honest.”  The lawsuit will “hopefully motivate other cities to go, ‘We should do that too because it’s hurting our recycling systems,’” she added. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline A ‘coordinated campaign of deception’: Philly sues 2 companies over misleading recycling labels on Sep 26, 2025.

Food
Business
Climate

Study shows mucus contains molecules that block Salmonella infection

MIT researchers now hope to develop synthetic versions of these molecules, which could be used to treat or prevent foodborne illnesses.

Mucus is more than just a sticky substance: It contains a wealth of powerful molecules called mucins that help to tame microbes and prevent infection. In a new study, MIT researchers have identified mucins that defend against Salmonella and other bacteria that cause diarrhea.The researchers now hope to mimic this defense system to create synthetic mucins that could help prevent or treat illness in soldiers or other people at risk of exposure to Salmonella. It could also help prevent “traveler’s diarrhea,” a gastrointestinal infection caused by consuming contaminated food or water.Mucins are bottlebrush-shaped polymers made of complex sugar molecules known as glycans, which are tethered to a peptide backbone. In this study, the researchers discovered that a mucin called MUC2 turns off genes that Salmonella uses to enter and infect host cells.“By using and reformatting this motif from the natural innate immune system, we hope to develop strategies to preventing diarrhea before it even starts. This approach could provide a low-cost solution to a major global health challenge that costs billions annually in lost productivity, health care expenses, and human suffering,” says Katharina Ribbeck, the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Biological Engineering at MIT and the senior author of the study.MIT Research Scientist Kelsey Wheeler PhD ’21 and Michaela Gold PhD ’22 are the lead authors of the paper, which appeared Tuesday in the journal Cell Reports.Blocking infectionMucus lines much of the body, providing a physical barrier to infection, but that’s not all it does. Over the past decade, Ribbeck has identified mucins that can help to disarm Vibrio cholerae, as well as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can infect the lungs and other organs, and the yeast Candida albicans.In the new study, the researchers wanted to explore how mucins from the digestive tract might interact with Salmonella enterica, a foodborne pathogen that can cause illness after consuming raw or undercooked food, or contaminated water.To infect host cells, Salmonella must produce proteins that are part of the type 3 secretion system (T3SS), which helps bacteria form needle-like complexes that transfer bacterial proteins directly into host cells. These proteins are all encoded on a segment of DNA called Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI-1).The researchers found that when they exposed Salmonella to a mucin called MUC2, which is found in the intestines, the bacteria stopped producing the proteins encoded by SPI-1, and they were no longer able to infect cells.Further studies revealed that MUC2 achieves this by turning off a regulatory bacterial protein known as HilD. When this protein is blocked by mucins, it can no longer activate the T3SS genes.Using computational simulations, the researchers showed that certain monosaccharides found in glycans, including GlcNAc and GalNAc, can attach to a specific binding site of the HilD protein. However, their studies showed that these monosaccharides can’t turn off HilD on their own — the shutoff only occurs when the glycans are tethered to the peptide backbone of the mucin.The researchers also discovered that a similar mucin called MUC5AC, which is found in the stomach, can block HilD. And, both MUC2 and MUC5AC can turn off virulence genes in other foodborne pathogens that also use HilD as a gene regulator.Mucins as medicineRibbeck and her students now plan to explore ways to use synthetic versions of these mucins to help boost the body’s natural defenses and protect the GI tract from Salmonella and other infections.Studies from other labs have shown that in mice, Salmonella tends to infect portions of the GI tract that have a thin mucus barrier, or no barrier at all.“Part of Salmonella’s evasion strategy for this host defense is to find locations where mucus is absent and then infect there. So, one could imagine a strategy where we try to bolster mucus barriers to protect those areas with limited mucin,” Wheeler says.One way to deploy synthetic mucins could be to add them to oral rehydration salts — mixtures of electrolytes that are dissolved in water and used to treat dehydration caused by diarrhea and other gastrointestinal illnesses.Another potential application for synthetic mucins would be to incorporate them into a chewable tablet that could be consumed before traveling to areas where Salmonella and other diarrheal illnesses are common. This kind of “pre-exposure prophylaxis” could help prevent a great deal of suffering and lost productivity due to illness, the researchers say.“Mucin mimics would particularly shine as preventatives, because that’s how the body evolved mucus — as part of this innate immune system to prevent infection,” Wheeler says.The research was funded by the U.S. Army Research Office, the U.S. Army Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies, the U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. National Institute of Health and Environmental Sciences, the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and the German Research Foundation.

Food
Health
Water

Foraging Revival: How Wild Food Enthusiasts Are Reconnecting With Nature

Humans first began foraging for food some 12,000 years ago, long before they developed agricultural tools that overshadowed the ancient act that helped sustain early humans

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — Standing barefoot in a grassy patch of dandelions, Iris Phoebe Weaver excitedly begins listing the many ways the modest plant can be used medicinally and in cooking.“I just picked a bunch of dandelion flowers yesterday and threw them in vodka with some orange peel and some sugar, and that’s my dandelion aperitif,” Weaver said. “That will make a lovely mixed drink at some point.”A longtime herbalist and foraging instructor in Massachusetts, Weaver takes people on nature walks that transform their relationships with their surroundings. Lately, she's been encouraged by the uptick in interest in foraging, a trend she sees as benefiting the environment, community and people.“There is just an amazing amount of food that is around us,” Weaver said. “There is so much abundance that we don’t even understand.”Humans have been foraging long before they developed the agricultural tools some 12,000 years ago that quickly overshadowed the ancient act that helped sustain early humans. Yet foraging enthusiasts say the search for wild mushrooms, edible plants, shellfish and seaweed has grown more popular in recent years as people tout their rare finds. Others share knowledge on social media, and experienced foragers offer training to novices on safe and sustainable practices.The renewed interest ranges from those wanting to be budget-conscious — foraging is free after all — to those wanting to be more mindful of their environmental footprint. Some even use foraging as a creative outlet, using mushrooms they find to create spore prints and other art. The popularity is also helped by the hobby's accessibility. Foragers can look for wild food everywhere, from urban landscapes to abandoned farmlands to forests — they just need permission from a private landowner or to secure the right permit from a state or federal park. Some advocates have even launched a map highlighting where people can pick fruits and vegetables for free.Gina Buelow, a natural resources field specialist with the Iowa University Extension Program, says the university has had a backlog of folks eager to learn more about foraging mushrooms for the past two years. Buelow runs presentations and field guide days throughout the state, regularly meeting the attendance cap of 30 in both rural and urban counties.“Typically, I would get usually older women for a master gardener or pollinator garden class. That audience still shows up to these mushrooms programs, but they bring their husbands. And a lot of people between the ages of 20 and 30 years old are really interested in this topic, as well,” she said.Some creative chefs are also sparking interest in foraging as they expose patrons to exotic and surprisingly tasty ingredients found locally.“Foraging is an ancient concept,” said Evan Mallet, chef and owner of the Black Trumpet Bistro in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a popular historic New England destination. “Our culture has moved far away from foraging and is fortunately coming back into it now.”Mallet opened the restaurant nearly 20 years ago and uses foods foraged from around Portsmouth. He said he hopes more people will continue to learn about foraging, and encouraged those worried about picking something poisonous to find a mentor.“I think the dangers of foraging are baked into most people’s brains and souls,” he said. “We as an animal know that there are certain things that when they smell a certain way or look a certain way, they can be encoded with a message that we shouldn’t eat those things.”Mallet named his restaurant after the wild foraged mushroom as a reminder. Over the years, he's incorporated Black Trumpet mushrooms into dozens of dishes throughout the menu — even ice cream. Other menu items have included foraged sea kelp in lobster tamales, as well as using Ulva lactuca, a type of sea lettuce, in salads.“It’s nothing that I necessarily seek out, but I kind of love it when it’s on a menu,” said M.J. Blanchette, a longtime patron of Black Trumpet, speaking to the foraged dishes available at Black Trumpet and other restaurants.She recently ordered the meatballs with foraged sweet fern from Mallet's restaurant, a feature she says elevated both the taste and experience of consuming the dish. “I think it’s really cool and I think it’s also something that’s not only foraged, but also tends to be local, and I like that a lot,” she said.Kruesi reported from Providence, Rhode Island.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025

Food
Nature
Culture

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