Grocers Share Sustainability Highlights

Until a few years ago, farming in southern Iraq was “as lucrative as oil”, Qasim Abdul Wahad remembers, and his one-hectare farm plot in the governate of Basra produced enough to feed his family of eight. Now dust kicks up under his feet as he walks through his land, after worsening extreme heat and drought linked to climate change killed 90% of his winter crops, including all of his okra and eggplant.  “Only a few years ago I would be able to sit here and relax. It was very green and beautiful. When I look at it now, I feel like a member of my family is gone,” the 50-year-old said. Abdul Wahad, who has spent his life farming in the village of Abu Al-Khaseeb – the names means “father of the fertile” – thinks he will soon have to abandon his land, to try to seek more fertile ground elsewhere.

Mattel, the poster kid of plastic toys, has been shaking off this less-friendly association over the past years and now hopes to use 100% recycled, recyclable, or bio-based plastic materials across products by 2030. The toymaker’s latest launch is a significant step—it involves its first-ever carbon-neutral toys, as well as a Matchbox Tesla replica designed with 99% recycled materials.  Starting kids young on protecting our planet, Mattel has released a toy collection about living sustainably for ages one and up. The MEGA BLOKS Green Town range, it says, is also “the first-ever toy line available at mass retail to be certified CarbonNeutral.” In a timely fashion, these have been made available in the spirit of Earth Month.

The United Nations called on Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt on Tuesday to recommit to talks on the operation of a giant hydropower dam, urging them to avoid any unilateral action, a day after Ethiopia began filling the dam’s reservoir. The U.N. Security Council will likely discuss the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) this week after Arab states requested the 15-member body address the issue.