When we think about refugees, most of us probably think of war or people fleeing political repression. But this morning, the annual report of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) as part of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) revealed that in 2013, three times as many people were displaced by natural disaster as by conflict. […]
There are still doubts. The statistics might be proved wrong. But it looks as if China might be starting to wean itself off its coal consumption habit. A coal-fired power station at Yangzhou in China’s central Jiangsu province Photo credit: Vmenkov via Wikimedia Commons China produces and consumes nearly as much coal as the rest […]
Like maxxing out a credit card, Earth has spent its allocation of resources for the year as of today, according to international sustainability think tank Global Footprint Network. The Global Footprint Network estimates that Earth has spent its allotment of resources for the year by August 19. Photo credit: Global Footprint Network That’s the idea behind […]
Even as we watch the stunning footage of an overwhelmed Detroit drowning under massive rainfall, U.S. Drought Monitor shows other regions of the country parched and longing for more water. The organization releases weekly maps tracking the extent of drought in the U.S., ranking regions on five levels: “abnormally dry,” “moderate drought,” “severe drought,” “extreme […]
I was floored by this Saturday’s New York Times article, Seeing a Supersize Yacht as a Job Engine, Not a Self-Indulgence. I was amazed not only by how the subject of the article, Mr. Jones, rationalized his extraordinary consumption habits, but also by the mere fact that the article was published. The $34 million that […]
Thursday and Friday the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold the final in its series hearings on its proposed rule to clean up carbon pollution from coal fired power plants. There will be a lot of theater, and a lot of opposition as well as support. Some of the opposition comes from workers from […]
A spirited press conference in Times Square today launched the People’s Climate March, the largest climate action in world history. “The voice of youth is crucial in the People’s Climate March.” Photo credit: greenelent Scheduled for Sept. 21 in New York City, the People’s Climate March will coincide with September’s UN Climate Summit, where world […]
The mineral-stained canyon walls and the plunging water levels at Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, are the most visible signs of the driest 14-year period in the Colorado River Basin’s historical record. The Colorado River flows past irrigated fields in Arizona. During a dry decade, most of the water losses in the seven-state basin […]
American scientists have just confirmed that parts of Australia are being slowly parched because of greenhouse gas emissions, which means that the long-term decline in rainfall over south and south-west Australia is a consequence of fossil fuel burning and depletion of the ozone layer by human activity. Southern Australia has been experiencing declining rainfall since […]