In The News

Radar to Detect Deforestation: ENS

April 29, 2020
Major palm oil producers and buyers – including Cargill, Mondelēz, Nestlé, Pepsico and Unilever – are supporting development of a radar system for monitoring deforestation in near real-time. “With this information, the companies say they can more quickly mobilize follow-up actions on the ground and work to improve the sustainability of commodity supply chains,” reports Environment News Service. “...

Microsoft to Build Planetary Computer: CBR

Ed Targett April 19, 2020
Microsoft is launching a program, Planetary Computer, to aggregate environmental data – mapping trillions of data points to monitor the Earth’s biodiversity, water tables, forestry data, carbon and waste to provide a searchable dataset. “The move is the company’s latest major environmental push, after promising in January to become “carbon negative” by the end of this decade,” reports Ed Targett...

COVID-19 and Nature? Project Syndicate

Robert Skidelsky April 17, 2020
Initial news reports on the COVID-19 pandemic focus on prevention, case totals and economic impact. Attention could soon turn to the crowding, lack of biodiversity and climate change that allows pathogens to emerge and spread around dense communities and a human population that approaches 8 billion. Some public health analysts contend that the world can anticipate more epidemics due to...

Climate Migrants Under Himalayas: New York Times

Bhadra Sharma and Kai Schultz April 12, 2020
Nepalese living under the Himalayas are suffering as the climate warms and must leave their homes to earn a living. Millions of South Asians who rely on agriculture in Bangladesh, India and Nepal are at risk with extreme weather, including glacial melt, droughts and erratic flooding. In addition, scientists have found that rising temperatures might allow malaria and dengue to spread at higher...

Australia's Burn-Me Cities: Sydney Morning Herald

Elizabeth Farrelly February 9, 2020
Heavy rain falling in eastern Australia has doused the bushfires but not the horrific memories of destruction. Australians must rethink how they build cities and prepare for a changing climate. “Cities have always been shaped by fire,” writes Elizabeth Farrelly for the Sydney Morning Herald, and she refers to the sturdy, stark architecture that followed the 1666 Great Fire of London that...

Murders at Monarch Sanctuary: Common Dreams

Julia Conley February 5, 2020
The murder of two activists dedicated to protecting monarch butterflies has turned attention to illegal logging in Mexico. “El Rosario sanctuary provides a home for millions of migrating monarch butterflies each year and draws thousands of tourists annually,” reports Julia Conley for Common Dreams. “But the reserve has also drawn the ire of illegal loggers in Mexico, who are banned from cutting...

Taal Volcano Magma Still Rising: Rappler

January 19, 2020
Taal Volcano began exploding on January 12, the 12th time since the year 1900. “State volcanologists maintained Alert Level 4 for Taal Volcano in the province of Batangas on Saturday, January 18, which means a hazardous eruption could still occur ‘within hours to days,’” reports Rappler. “The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said magma is still rising within Taal, as...