When carbon dioxide (CO2) is released from a factory or power plant, the gas can be captured and permanently stored underground, preventing it from driving climate change. This is the idea underpinning carbon capture and storage (CCS), a technology that is at the heart of many nations’ net-zero plans. Influential organisations, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), describe CCS as “critical” for cutting emissions from key sectors – and for helping to avoid dangerous global warming. In particular, capturing CO2 is seen as one of the only viable options for decarbonising some of the world’s highest-emitting industries, such as cement production. 

When plastic burns, it releases particularly toxic air pollutants. Fine particles can penetrate deep into people’s bodies, along with gases that include carbon monoxide, styrene gas and hydrogen cyanide. It also releases persistent organic pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and dioxins. These particles and gases have been linked to health risks ranging from respiratory and cardiovascular disease to cancer and reproductive and neurological disorders.The ash from open burning can also contaminate soil and groundwater with persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals and other toxicants, creating more chances for people to be exposed to them through food and water.

The UK, for example, has committed to investing as much as £21.7bn over the coming decades in its nascent CCS industry, as part of the nation’s net-zero strategy. Yet, in the UK and elsewhere, there has been a backlash against plans for CCS. Citing high costs, ties to the fossil-fuel industry and a “history of poor performance”, critics describe CCS as a “dangerous distraction” or a “false climate solution”.  Time and again, the outlook for the roll-out of CCS has been scaled back, as the technology has failed to deliver as quickly as expected – and as policy support has wavered.Furthermore, critics state that the technology remains “unproven” on the scale required to make a meaningful impact on global emissions. In this Q&A, Carbon Brief explores the role CCS is expected to play in achieving net-zero, its record to date and the reasons it has been criticised, using the UK as an example.......read on, there's much much more   https://www.carbonbrief.org/qa-does-the-world-need-carbon-capture-and-storage-to-reach-net-zero?utm_source=cbnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2026-08-04&utm_campaign=Just+published+Does+the+world+need+carbon+capture+and+storage+to+reach+net-zero+#what-role-is-ccs-expected-to-play-in-reaching-net-zero 

Fungi take up more mass than people—see how they stretch across the Earth. Nat. Geo Bethany Brookshire June 11, 2026 Scientists created the first-ever map of this vast underground fungal network and found it could stretch to the sun and back more than a billion times. We might only think of fungi as the mold in our walls, the fleshy protrusions on rotting logs, or the button mushrooms for sale in the grocery store—but most fungal life takes place far out of human sight. The “roots” of the fungus under the soil form the organism’s mycelium. There, tiny filaments called hyphae form networks among plants and supply them with the essential nutrients they need to grow.                                                                                                                                                                              

Why fungi networks are essential.....Plants take in water and nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen through their roots. But most plants also have help absorbing these nutrients. They are in a symbiotic relationship—a type of partnership—with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.“Mycorrhizal symbiosis is a cooperation between plants and fungi that's quite ancient, about 450 million years old,” says Justin Stewart, an evolutionary biologist with SPUN, who is also a study author. “You have plants that take carbon dioxide in through photosynthesis, and then they feed this to these bodies of mycelium in soil,” Stewart, who’s also a study author, says. After a fungus receives carbon from a plant, it sends out “thin tubular threads. They’re super, super small, a tenth or a twentieth of a human hair,” they explain. “They go deep into soils and extract nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, and they trade it back to the plant.” In a way, Stewart says, it’s an economy: fungi give plants nutrients in exchange for carbon. Plants even grow larger when they have these partnerships, and it can help plants like wheat resist drought, supplied from below with extra water from fungi.It’s such a good arrangement that more than 70 percent of plants partner with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus—including crops such as wheat, corn, and rice. Fungi can provide up to 80 percent of the phosphorus these plants need, and up to 20 percent of the nitrogen.                                                                                                                                                                               

The partnership is deeply, physically intimate. It begins when plant roots send out chemicals to attract fungi and welcome them into the delicate tips of their roots. They “form this beautiful structure called an arbuscule, which looks like a mini tree inside the actual root cell,” says Kiers.In a way, Stewart says, it’s an economy: fungi give plants nutrients in exchange for carbon. Plants even grow larger when they have these partnerships, and it can help plants like wheat resist drought, supplied from below with extra water from fungi. It’s such a good arrangement that more than 70 percent of plants partner with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus—including crops such as wheat, corn, and rice. Fungi can provide up to 80 percent of the phosphorus these plants need, and up to 20 percent of the nitrogen. The partnership is deeply, physically intimate. It begins when plant roots send out chemicals to attract fungi and welcome them into the delicate tips of their roots.They “form this beautiful structure called an arbuscule, which looks like a mini tree inside the actual root cell,” says Kiers......check out the interactive map        Measuring the world’s mushrooms.......Even though arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are so critically important, scientists didn’t know how much mass they take up in the soil, or how much carbon they might take in......Fascinating!.....read on    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/arbuscular-mycorrhizal-fungi-networks-map

Why are microplastics and their filtration methods dangerous?...... Beyond the immediate health impacts of microplastics, which could be linked to cancer, heart attacks and reproductive problems, these tiny plastic particles – less than five millimetres in length – can absorb and transport other hazardous pollutants throughout ecosystems and into the food chain.Currently, European countries use both physical and chemical methods to remove microplastics from wastewater. Aluminum sulfate, often referred to as alum, is an inorganic salt commonly used as a coagulant in water treatment, separating microplastics and other contaminants for removal. While effective at purification, improper use can lead to raised aluminium levels in water, which have been linked to potential neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease. Alum also produces large volumes of sludge in the coagulation process, which is difficult to manage and dispose of – typically going to landfill, where it can leach toxins into soil and waterways. The production of alum is also harmful, requiring strip-mining for bauxite in tropical regions like Australia, Brazil, Guinea, Guyana and Jamaica, which can lead to deforestation and habitat loss. Refining and processing raw materials into the finished product requires significant thermal energy, releasing planet-heating emissions                                  

‘Miracle tree’ seed could remove 98% of microplastics from water.....read on  https://www.euronews.com/2026/04/21/miracle-tree-removes-98-of-microplastics-from-drinking-water-outperforming-chemical-altern.