One of global warming’s more colorful dangers is the possibility that melting permafrost will revive prehistoric diseases and trigger horrific pandemics. But the more immediate candidates for a disastrous, climate-fueled comeback are newer and man-made. A hotter and more chaotic atmosphere is making it harder to build nuclear weapons and store waste safely in an...
The biggest and dirtiest secret of the energy market is that most of it is lost in generating, transmitting, distributing, and using it. Solving this problem would be revolutionary, reducing competition for resources that contributes to conflict as well as climate change. Energy is one of the most valuable businesses in the world, worth trillions...
Petrochemicals are an environmental and public health disaster. What you need to know. As we move towards zero-emissions and 100% clean energy, the oil and gas industry is launching a last-ditch effort to protect its profit, betting big on petrochemicals: toxic chemicals made from oil and gas that are used to make plastics, industrial chemicals, and...
A recent study published in the journal Nature Geoscience presents evidence that shows that the burning of biomass fuel for cooking, heating, and lighting, the crude oil exploitation and coal mining industries, as well as old vehicles being shipped in from Europe are causing severe deterioration of air quality in African countries. According to the article, particulate matter concentration levels in many African...
Climate anxiety is very real, but these good news stories from throughout 2023 prove there is hope for our planet. Eco-anxiety, climate doom, environmental existential dread – as green journalists, we see these terms used a lot – and often feel them ourselves. While there’s a lot to be worried about when it comes to the...
As world leaders descend on Dubai for this year’s biggest climate conference COP28, the United Arab Emirates is pushing for a global commitment to triple renewable energy deployment by the end of the decade. It will also showcase its own investments in solar and wind power. But a closer look at the numbers shows the UAE’s...
More than 650 scientists signed a letter sent to President Biden today calling on him to commit to more ambitious U.S. climate actions in the lead-up to the annual U.N. climate talks—also called COP28—in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Nearing the end of a year in which the world witnessed devastating climate-fueled disasters, record-breaking global average temperatures, and...
Canada is among a group of top fossil fuel-producing countries on pace to extract more oil and gas than would be consistent with agreed-upon international targets designed to limit global warming, according to a new analysis. The report, released on Wednesday by the United Nations in collaboration with a team of international scientists, found that countries still plan to...
The world’s fossil fuel producers are planning expansions that would blow the planet’s carbon budget twice over, a UN report has found. Experts called the plans “insanity” which “throw humanity’s future into question”. The energy plans of the petrostates contradicted their climate policies and pledges, the report said. The plans would lead to 460% more coal production,...
The writer served as the first national climate adviser to the White House and is a former administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency.It is of course completely right that climate, economic and technical experts are included in every COP discussion, such as the one in the United Arab Emirates later this month. But only...