UK Think Tank Proposes Visas for Climate Migrants
The climate crisis could force more than one billion people from their homes by 2050, but how will they find a new one in a world of hardening borders?
The climate crisis could force more than one billion people from their homes by 2050, but how will they find a new one in a world of hardening borders? Conservative UK think tank Onward is proposing one solution: two new visas for people in climate-vulnerable nations to relocate legally to the country. “We cannot allow climate-related migration to become the defining crisis of the 21st Century,” Policy Fellow at Onward and co-author of the report Ted Christie-Miller said in a statement. “The Government needs to act now to build climate […]
U.S. grocery shoppers take note, it’s that time of year again. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) released on Wednesday its 2023 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce, with its annual Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists of the conventional fruits and vegetables most and least likely to be contaminated with pesticides, and this year’s lists have important new additions. In particular, blueberries and green beans were both added to the Dirty Dozen, with green beans even testing positive for a neurotoxic insecticide called acephate that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has already banned. “They actually took action on acephate for green beans [more than] a decade ago. Yet this most recent round of testing still shows that there’s levels above that EPA limit for acephate on green beans, which sort of highlights this broken […]
Read more…On Saturday, March 4, world leaders finally agreed on a treaty to protect the high seas. The accord reached by the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction establishes a mechanism for sharing the benefits of scientific discoveries from marine life, enforces environmental impact assessments for new human activities in international waters and makes it possible to create protected areas in the open ocean. “It’s going to provide first-time protections ever for half of the planet that has not ever had that,” Greenpeace USA senior oceans campaigner Arlo Hemphill told EcoWatch in an email. “And that makes it the largest conservation agreement in the history of the world.” It’s also not one that was reached easily. The final agreement is the work of more than a decade of formal negotiations and two […]
Read more…Negotiators working on a legally binding United Nations treaty to end plastic pollution will need to be as ambitious as possible with the final document. That’s the main takeaway from a new report from Back to Blue — a collaboration between Economist Impact and the Nippon Foundation — released Monday. The report modeled what would happen to plastic consumption in 19 G20 countries if three significant policy proposals were included in the treaty and found that they still were not enough to reduce consumption by 2050. “There is no single solution to the pollution problem,” report editor Gillian Parker told EcoWatch in an email. “We evaluated three solutions and while they had some impact on the consumption of plastic independently, they failed to make a significant dent in reducing plastic consumption.” More From EcoWatch What […]
Read more…Of the 8.3 metric tons of plastic produced in this world to date, 6.3 billion tons of that is trash, and less than 10% of it is recycled, which has created a global crisis, not just with the environment, but our health. Microplastics — tiny pieces of plastic debris, which result from the disposal and breakdown of consumer products and industrial waste — are now ever-present pollutants now found to be in most places in the world, from marine life to the top of Mt. Everest, and now our bloodstreams. Plastic pollution also disproportionately affects marginalized communities and communities living near plastic waste sites. According to a report from the United Nations, polluting facilities and industries — particularly the companies drilling for the oil that helps make plastic — are often placed in vulnerable communities, […]
Read more…Olivia Rosane is a freelance writer and reporter with a decade’s worth of experience. She has been contributing to EcoWatch daily since 2018 and has also covered environmental themes for Treehugger, The Trouble, YES! Magazine and Real Life. She holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Cambridge and a master’s in Art and Politics from Goldsmiths, University of London.
Tiffany is a writer, explorer and inspirational speaker. She holds degrees from UCLA and the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. She spent years as a renewable energy lawyer in L.A. before a scuba diving trip to the Galapagos inspired her to quit everything and revamp her life. She writes about the oceans, climate, and the environment from her slice of paradise.
Cristen is a writer of fiction and nonfiction. She holds a JD and an Ocean & Coastal Law Certificate from University of Oregon School of Law and an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London. She is the author of the short story collection The Smallest of Entryways, as well as the travel biography, Ernest’s Way: An International Journey Through Hemingway’s Life.
Linnea graduated from Skidmore College in 2019 with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Environmental Studies, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Along with her most recent position at Hunger Free America, she has interned with the Sierra Club in Washington, DC., Saratoga Living Magazine, and Philadelphia’s NPR Member Station, WHYY.
Based in Los Angeles, Paige is a writer who is passionate about sustainability. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Ohio University and holds a certificate in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. She also specialized in sustainable agriculture while pursuing her undergraduate degree.
Libby Leonard is a Hawaii-based journalist with work in National Geographic, SF Gate, Yes! Magazine, The Guardian, Civil Eats, and Modern Farmer. She is also a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists.
Bridget is a freelance reporter and newsletter writer based in the Washington, DC, area. She primarily writes about energy, conservation and the environment. Originally from Philadelphia, she graduated from Emerson College in 2016 with a degree in journalism and a minor in environmental studies. When she isn’t working on a story, she’s normally on a northern Maine lake or traveling abroad to practice speaking Spanish.
Kristina Zagame is a journalist, editor and content writer with expertise in solar and other energy-related topics. Before joining EcoWatch, Kristina was a TV news reporter and producer, covering a wide variety of topics including West Coast wildfires and hurricane relief efforts. Kristina’s reporting has taken her all over the U.S., as well as to Puerto Rico and Chile.
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The climate crisis impacts all of humanity. Here are some of our articles on key issues and topics related to climate.
The climate crisis could force more than one billion people from their homes by 2050, but how will they find a new one in a world of hardening borders?
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See moreA group of lawyers in England have signed a “Declaration of Conscience” saying they will refuse to participate in the prosecution of peaceful climate protesters like Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain. The group of about 120 lawyers, who go by the name “Lawyers are Responsible,” will also refuse to represent those participating […]