Environment News Trends: Sustainable Travel, Packaging Innovations and Wildlife Initiatives

A look at the environmental news from PR Newswire in January and February that you might have missed.

By Aaron Searle | Published March 14, 2024

PR Newswire distributed more than 1,500 environment-related press releases in January and February. Staying up-to-date with the news and trends can be challenging, so we have collected the top stories to identify key trends in the industry and how they tie together.

It’s true: it’s only early March. But if you’re like me and in the Northern Hemisphere, this means that you’re really itching to start traveling now that Old Man Winter is finally just about to leave us alone. That’s undoubtedly why we’ve seen plenty of releases tied to sustainable travel cross the wire over the past two months.

Our friends in the plastics and packaging industries have been upping their game of late as well, announcing plenty of innovations in both packaging and recycling, with a keen eye towards sustainability.

And for you animal lovers (which – let’s be real – is pretty much all of us, right?), we’ve been seeing plenty of news about recent conservation and wildlife initiatives aimed at making the earth just a little bit better for our fauna friends.

Let's dive into these trends as well as some of the most-read environment releases to begin 2024.

Popular Environment Releases

Over the past two months, these were some of the most popular environment press releases to cross the wire:

• SynthBio startup Light Bio Begins Selling Firefly Petunias to Consumers with USDA Approval
• United Airlines adds new corporate partners to its Sustainable Flight Fund, commits over $200 Million
• Global climate finance company Catona Climate to deliver 350,000 tons of carbon removal credits through Kenya agroforestry project to Microsoft
• Enpower Greentech unveils new EV battery with 73% greater range
• Sandow Lakes Energy Company announces agreement to construct a 1,200-megawatt combined cycle power plant at Sandow Lakes Ranch in the Texas Triangle

Environment News Trends

Here’s a look at a few of the top trends we noticed among environment press releases in January and February, with a few examples of each.

Sustainable Travel

Sure, Ralph Waldo Emerson told us that “Travelling is a fool's paradise” (in his timeless essay Self-Reliance). But that was before all these recent standout initiatives started making travel more environmentally friendly. (Okay, okay: maybe Emerson meant something else. But can we at least agree that maybe now traveling is a fool’s sustainable paradise?)

For example, during January’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trip.com’s CEO Ms. Jane Sun spoke about the challenges of overtourism and how we can make our adventures more sustainable. We’ve also seen several major travel and hospitality brands – such as Red Roof Inn and Carnival Corporation – report on the progress of their environmental goals.

Here are a few more of the major releases we’ve seen along these lines from the past couple of months:

• Exodus Adventure Travels, the international, award-winning leader in adventure travel, announced it has been certified as a B Corporation.
• Yosemite lodges celebrated the graduation of its 500th Youth Program Intern.
• America's first all-electric RV company, Lightship, completed a $34 million Series B financing to accelerate production of the Lightship L1.
• Luxury ecotourism in Saudi Arabia took a major step forward with the reveal of Zardun, an exclusive sanctuary resort developed by NEOM.

Innovations in Packaging & Recycling

According to a 2018 EPA study (the most recent year this information was made available), "containers and packaging make up a major portion of municipal solid waste (MSW), amounting to 82.2 million tons of generation in 2018.” That’s a ton of packaging waste – actually, that’s about 82 million tons of packaging waste. That’s why packaging companies such as Genpak are redefining the front end of creating paper and plastic products, and others – like Republic Services – are taking care of the back end with much-needed recycling projects and expansions.

Here are some more recent innovations and programs aimed at tackling this 82-million-ton-sized problem:

• Jason Momoa's Mananalu Water announced a partnership with the World Surf League.
• Cascades announced the launch of new produce baskets with flaps made from up to 100% recycled fibers, offering produce growers a sustainable alternative to replace more hard-to-recycle packaging.
• Keel Labs unveiled the first-ever T-Shirt made from seaweed-based Kelsun™ fiber.
• Certified Plastic Neutral company Print & Pack launched innovative sustainable packaging solutions, including products that are biodegradable, water-soluble, and/or compostable.

Conservation & Wildlife Initiatives

Let’s not forget our furry, scaly, feathery, and … well, all sorts of other -y friends who are at the mercy of humankind’s choices about how we treat the environment. The last two months have seen news about everything from Seaworld’s rehabilitation efforts to Age of Union Alliance’s new film series shining a light on some of the changemakers behind major global conservation projects.

Also in the news from January and February:

• Earth Rangers made its U.S. debut in Michigan schools with its environmental education assembly program.
• Global ocean exploration nonprofit OceanX embarked on a scientific research mission to the Seychelles islands in the Western Indian Ocean to develop a comprehensive understanding of the Seychelles ecosystem.
• The Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch of New Braunfels, Texas, welcomed the rare birth of a southern white rhinoceros, a near-threatened species native to South Africa.
• Jackery, maker of portable power and green energy solutions, continued its collaboration with WWF to help detect, track and protect endangered black-footed ferrets in their natural habitats.

Conclusion

These days, it’s easy to think of the news as being full of pessimism and fearmongering (and sure, maybe there’s some of that in there), but it’s releases like these that remind us about all the great things that people and companies are doing around the world. 2024 is already off to a great start with all of these (and many more!) environmentally-focused programs aimed at keeping the earth balanced and beautiful and keeping us accountable to our home.

As always, the PR Newswire team will continue to closely monitor both the ongoing and emerging trends in the environmental sector to help you stay up-to-date on the latest headlines.

About the Author

Aaron Searle is a Senior Editor with PR Newswire and just celebrated his 10-year anniversary with the company. When not on the clock, he spends most of his time with his wife and two kids. In the wee hours leftover, he also pursues various creative endeavors, particularly writing, music (he is roughly three-quarters of the band Dover Cloudbank), and photography. He even sleeps occasionally.