In The News

Indian Rapper “Overwhelmed” by Success of Protest Song Against Unilever

August 11, 2015
Indian rapper Sofia Ashraf performed a protest song alleging corporate mercury pollution, posted on YouTube, and quickly attracted near 2 million views. Hindustan Unilever operated a thermometer factory in the town of Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu until 2001. “More than 1,000 former workers are alleged to have been affected by mercury poisoning, which can cause skin problems, sensory impairment and a...

No Plastic Bags? It's Already the Law in Rwanda

Karen Louise Boothe Acharya August 7, 2015
Rwanda has taken the lead on striving for clean, litter-free communities. Visitors to the country quickly discover that plastic bags are prohibited. Since 2005, the country has designated the last Saturday of each month for Umuganda – with all able-bodied adults required to participate in a morning community-cleanup program, explains Karen Louise Boothe Acharya for the Star Tribune: “Of course, a...

Is Climate Change Now Its Own Industry?

August 7, 2015
The climate-change industry – especially consulting on preventing, avoiding and preparing for extreme-weather events – is fast growing, explains a $995 report by Climate Change Business Journal, as covered by Insurance Journal. Corporations are conducting risk assessments that cover the next decade or two. Climate-change consulting extends deep into supply chains to avoid disruptions. “The report...

What China Has Been Building in the South China Sea

Derek Watkins August 6, 2015
Sections of the South China Sea are under dispute. After literally shoring up some of its claims by expanding reefs and islets, China has announced an end to the reclamation work. “Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan have all expanded islands in the Spratlys as well, but at nowhere near the same scale as China,” reports Derek Watkins in a report for the New York Times. “So far China has...

Climate Future Could Be Decided in the Courts

Emily Schwartz Greco July 31, 2015
Over the past thirty years, most governments have been slow in responding to the threat of climate change. So environmentalists have increasingly turned to courts for results. Much like the anti-tobacco groups of the 1990s, advocacy groups are suing governments for failing to protect constituents – and have reported successes in Washington State and the Netherlands. South Pacific groups are...

Climate Change Brings Moral Change

Mary Evelyn Tucker July 14, 2015
The world’s major religions urge both respect for nature’s power and gratitude for Earth’s bounty. No one should have been surprised by the encyclical of Pope Francis, rallying believers and non-believers in a global call: “The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that...

Climate Changes May Eradicate Health Progress

Sandy Dechert June 24, 2015
A warming climate is not good for health. More than 700 died during a heat wave in Pakistan and hundreds more died in India during a previous heat wave. Rising temperatures also heighten risks of bacterial, viral and insect-borne disease; asthma; and respiratory and cardio failure. A commission convened by the medical journal Lancet identified climate change as the biggest global health threat of...