In The News

DW: EU Reaches Agreement on Single-Use Plastic Ban

December 19, 2018
Plastic is made of oil and consists of large polymers that do not break down quickly, adding to waste management challenges. Most plastic waste ends up in the world’s oceans with microbeads and other forms of plastics finding their way into the food chain and seafood consumed by humans. China ended accepting imports of plastic waste for recycling this year, with global implications, forcing major...

Guardian: Tackle Climate or Face Financial Crash

Damian Carrington December 11, 2018
Some of the world’s largest pension funds, insurers, rating agencies and asset managers are heeding warnings from climate researchers to demand phase-out on all coal burning, reduced carbon emissions and introduction of carbon taxes. As ministers arrive for a UN climate summit in Poland, more than 400 investors signed a Global Investor Statement describing refusal to acknowledge climate change as...

Reuters: Clean Coal Fails to Deliver Smog Cuts

Tim McLaughlin December 4, 2018
Coal producers insisted that chemical treatments could reduce emissions. US electric company Duke Energy reports that refined coal “regularly fails to deliver on its environmental promises,” releasing more nitrogen oxide, not less. “The utility also discovered that one of the chemicals used to refine the coal, calcium bromide, had reached a nearby river and lakes – raising levels of carcinogens...

Sierra: Global Warming Will Be Catastrophic

Jonathan Hahn December 3, 2018
Only foolish or superstitious societies ignore clear evidence of danger and take chances. The science on climate change and a warming world is overwhelming, yet a small, vocal minority insists that there is no need for humans to take precautions by reducing reliance on fossil fuels. US government scientists released the fourth National Climate Assessment, as required by Congress. “The report is...

DW: Far-Right Populists and Climate Policy

November 28, 2018
Virtually all climate researchers agree that the evidence reveals climate change spurred by human activities is underway. Yet right-wing skeptics reject the science as hoax, equating concern with “an irrational environmentalist religion,” reports Deutsche Welle. They obstinately compare themselves to Copernicus, the mathematician who angered religious leaders by proposing the sun was the center...

National Geographic: AI and Wildlife Research

Anne Casselman November 23, 2018
Numerous wildlife species are in rapid decline. New software, photography, remote-sensing and other technologies like Wildbook assist biologists to document the decline, allowing calculation of individual species counts, locations and population assessments in a few days rather than months. Wildbook is free and open source. “AI is well on the road to completing tasks typically done manually by...

New York Times: “Like a Terror Movie”

John Schwartz November 20, 2018
Societies delayed reducing reliance on fossil fuels, and must now prepare to handle multiple disasters related to climate change – hurricanes, wildfires, flooding that kill and destroy property. A paper for Nature Climate Change projects future trends. “In a scientific world marked by specialization and siloed research, this multidisciplinary effort by 23 authors reviewed more than 3,000 papers...