climate change

Pope Francis Calls Destruction of Nature a Modern Sin

Pope Francis Calls Destruction of Nature a Modern Sin

Pope Francis called for more respect for nature in an address at the University of Molise, an agricultural region in southern Italy. Francis said the destruction of South America’s rain forests and other forms of environmental exploitation is a sin of modern times. The Earth should be allowed to give her fruits without being exploited, Pope […]

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    How Much Carbon Do Your State’s Coal Plants Emit?

    How Much Carbon Do Your State’s Coal Plants Emit?

    While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a goal of decreasing carbon emissions by 30 percent—compared to 2005 levels—by 2030, states will be given the flexibility to devise their own plans. Clearly, some will have more work to do than others. Coal-fired power plants are responsible for about 40 percent of the country’s emissions, and states like […]

    Geographers Identify Huge Sources of CO2 Buried in Soil of the Great Plains

    Geographers Identify Huge Sources of CO2 Buried in Soil of the Great Plains

    Geographers in the U.S. have found a new factor in the carbon cycle, and—all too ominously—a new potential source of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2). They have identified huge deposits of fossil soils, rich in organic carbon, buried beneath the Great Plains of America. Hidden menace: a vast store of organic carbon lies beneath the […]

    Demand Action on Climate Change in NYC on Sept. 20

    Demand Action on Climate Change in NYC on Sept. 20

    Earlier this spring the chaplain at Harvard joined students sitting-in outside the Harvard president’s office to demand climate action. He took the bullhorn for a minute, and thanked the organizers for “giving me the chance to be the person who I purport to be—a person who gives a damn.” We’re all going to get that […]

    Lasting Effects of the Polar Vortex on the Great Lakes

    Lasting Effects of the Polar Vortex on the Great Lakes

    This winter was brutal. Polar vortex brutal. My salt-caked boots and dry skin can attest to the frigid temperatures that covered more than 90 percent of the Great Lakes in ice. Much of that ice is still there—though some of it has run aground in an ice tsunami(!). Over the decades, ice coverage on the lakes has […]

    Rising CO2 Levels Will Make Staple Crops Less Nutritious

    Rising CO2 Levels Will Make Staple Crops Less Nutritious

    At the elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) anticipated by around 2050, crops that provide a large share of the global population with most of their dietary zinc and iron will have significantly reduced concentrations of those nutrients, according to a new study led by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). Given that an estimated 2 billion […]

    It’s Time To Double Down on Renewable Energy and Move Beyond Coal

    It’s Time To Double Down on Renewable Energy and Move Beyond Coal

    I would never argue that we should ignore the problems being caused by climate disruption around the world—we need to acknowledge and take responsibility for them. But I believe it’s equally important to tell some other parts of the story: That we are not powerless and that we have solutions we can start using now. […]

    Australians Divest From the ‘Big Four’ Banks That Fund Fossil Fuel Projects

    Australians Divest From the ‘Big Four’ Banks That Fund Fossil Fuel Projects

    Today and tomorrow hundreds of customers with Australia’s Big Four Banks will close their accounts in a statement against the banks’ investments in new coal and gas projects. These customers will be taking part in Australia’s first “National Days of Divestment Action” organized by Market Forces and 350.org Australia. Below, a slideshow of the first […]