In The News

Natural Capital: What Is the True Cost of Food?

Anna Behrend April 8, 2016
Food prices may not reflect the full costs to the environment, including pesticides during the growing phase or wastewater after processing. The loss of clean water, fertile soil and other features of nature can exacerbate droughts, food shortages and wildfires. Trucost is using mathematical models and “attempting to identify the value lost when companies destroy or pollute the environment,”...

Climate Catastrophe, Coming Even Sooner?

Elizabeth Kolbert April 4, 2016
Climate change could deliver devastating effects to coastal communities sooner than once thought. Researchers, since 1968, have pointed out that warming oceans could seep around and underneath polar ice sheets, undermining them and causing sea levels to rise. New research and a new model from Penn State confirm the worst fears, suggesting that “just a few more decades of ‘unabated’ carbon...

Australia Climate R&D Spending Cut Bad News for Asia Pacific Region

A. Barrie Pittock March 16, 2016
Climate change caused by burning fossil fuels developed over many years, and finding alternatives to fossil fuels and ways to stem the warming will take time, too. Governments strapped for cash are cutting research and may have to muddle through in dealing with more intense storms, floods, droughts as well as rising seas. Australia’s CEO of the Australian Scientific and Industrial Research...

Study Reveals Stunning Acceleration of Sea Level Rise

John Upton February 23, 2016
The 20st century stands out for sudden rising sea levels, much more than any of the previous 27 centuries. “The new study, the culmination of a decade of work by three teams of farflung scientists, has charted what they called an ‘acceleration’ in sea level rise that’s triggering and worsening flooding in coastlines around the world,” reports John Upton for Climate Central. “The findings also...

Scientists Are Floored by What’s Happening in the Arctic Right Now

Chris Mooney February 19, 2016
The data from NASA is ominous: January is reported as the ninth straight month of record-breaking global warmth. The warmth is not evenly distributed around the globe though, but concentrated in the Arctic. “Global warming has long been known to be particularly intense in the Arctic – a phenomenon known as ‘Arctic amplification’ – but even so, lately the phenomenon has been extremely pronounced...

Opportunities, Not Oppression, to Stop Illegal Mining in the Peruvian Amazon

David J.X. Gonzalez February 18, 2016
Environmental degradation and human-rights abuses are often associated with small, illegal mining operations around the world. Peru, among the world's major gold producers, offers a case study on how local development could help solving a global problem. About 20 percent of Peru’s gold production comes from illegal and informal mines, and a crackdown on the small miners causes more problems...

Can We Stop Mosquitoes From Infecting the World?

Cheryl Katz February 15, 2016
The World Health Organization has declared Zika a global emergency, exploring links to mosquitoes and birth defects, though much is unknown. No vaccine or treatment is available, and immediate efforts focus on mosquito control. Researchers have linked the birth defects with Zika and mosquitoes, while some doctors in Argentina question if a larvicide could be the problem. Mosquitoes are “adapting...