In The News

Thomson Reuters Foundation: World Needs “Carbon Sucking” Technology by 2030s, Scientists Warn

Laurie Goering October 11, 2017
The world is failing to reduce emissions fast enough to ease the consequences of climate change – extreme weather, rising seas, violent wildfires and loss of biodiversity. Some nations like the United States are defiant about recognizing the problem, taking responsibility and demonstrating leadership – promoting reliance on coal without investing in emission control. Scientists warn engineering...

The Economist: Another Earthquake Strikes Mexico

September 25, 2017
Mexico is reeling from the onslaught of at least two earthquakes and aftershocks with the span of a few weeks. More than 270 people are dead and numerous buildings in Mexico City are destroyed. Mexico City is one of the largest cities in the world, and the area around the city accounts for nearly 25 percent of Mexico's gross domestic product, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. Although...

El País: How Germany Is Leading Europe’s Organic Food Revolution

Laura Delle Femmine September 19, 2017
Some consumers take food for granted while others demand the utmost in safety and taste. Consumers in the latter group, joined by those who want to protect the environment, seek out organic products produced without chemical fertilizers, additives, antibiotics, pesticides and other unnatural treatments. The United States is the world’s leading organic market followed by Germany. Europe has had...

New Statesman: A World Without Animals

Simon Barnes September 8, 2017
Biodiversity is under threat. The Red Data Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature suggests that one third of wild-animal species are in danger; the Living Planet Index from the World Wildlife Foundation and the Zoological Society of London predicts that numbers of wild animals could decline by two-thirds before 2020. Writing for New Statesman, Simon Barnes reminds that a sixth...

Harvard Business Review: Prepare for Climate Change

Matthew E. Kahn, Brian Casey and Nolan Jones September 7, 2017
Flooding, wildfires and other risks associated with climate change are on the rise, and “and yet behavioral economics research argues that we are collectively underinvesting in protecting ourselves,” write Matthew E. Kahn, Brian Casey and Nolan Jones for Harvard Business Review. Reasons include a tendency to focus on short time frames, optimism on risk exposure and lack of preparation. The...

The Economist: Weather-Related Disasters Are Increasing

September 5, 2017
Texas, India and Niger confront record flooding, and in Houston, the fourth largest US city, nearly 50 inches of rain fell after Hurricane Harvey landed. According to the United Nations’s disaster-monitoring system, the United States “sits alongside China and India in suffering the greatest number of natural disasters globally between 1995 and 2015. These include earthquakes, storms, floods and...

The New York Times: More Than 1,000 Died in South Asia Floods This Summer

Jeffrey Gettleman September 1, 2017
South Asia is enduring severe flooding with the death toll this summer at more than 1000 and climbing. Monsoon rains pummeled the region since June and are expected to continue through the end of September. Jeffrey Gettleman for the New York Times describes relentless rain. “And while flooding in the Houston area has grabbed more attention, aid officials say a catastrophe is unfolding in South...