In The News

Step on the Gas: What India Must Do for the Planet

Sunita Narain and Chandra Bhushan October 3, 2014
After the Montreal Protocol stipulated the phase-out of CFCs, countries could turn to two alternative chemicals used in refrigerants, air conditioners, aerosols and solvents: HCFC depletes ozone but to a lesser degree; HFC protects the ozone but contributes to climate change. To meet international CFC goals, industrialized countries have increased HFC output over the past decade, despite the...

Why Fighting Climate Change May Help the Economy, Not Hurt It

Michael Casey September 19, 2014
A common refrain among those who resist taking action on climate change is that costs and lost jobs from reducing reliance on coal and oil are too high. Studies from the University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute, the Center for American Progress and the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate suggest that reducing greenhouse gas emissions could boost economies...

China's Island Factory

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes September 9, 2014
Since 2012, China’s Communist Party has regarded the South China Sea as a “core national interest” – a list that has also included Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang. Using its large cash reserve, labor and skills, China is constructing new islands on at least five submerged reefs in the South China Sea to support its territorial claims, reports Rupert Wingfield-Hayes for BBC News. The Philippines Navy...

Study: Illegal Poaching Could Drive African Elephants to Extinction

Brad Plumer August 22, 2014
Demand in China for African elephant ivory drives illegal poaching and could push the creatures into extinction. “A kilogram of ivory can now fetch as much as $7,000 in China, where it's used for ornaments or ground up for use in traditional medicine,” explains Brad Plumer for Vox. The study examines the connections between poaching, China’s internal legal ivory market, the black market, and...

Global Warming Denial Rears Ugly Head Around the World, In English

Dana Nuccitelli August 21, 2014
Research overwhelmingly identifies global warming trends, pointing to humans as the leading cause. But a handful of corporations and politicians in advanced economies profit mightily from the status quo in energy. The US, UK, Australia, Russia, Poland, Japan and Canada have the highest percentages of climate skeptics, reports Dana Nuccitelli for the Guardian. The skeptics are small minorities in...

Beef Environment Cost 10 Times That of Other Livestock

Matt McGrath July 25, 2014
Beef cattle are tough for the environment, and now that has been quantified by researchers at Bard College. “Beef cattle need 28 times more land and 11 times more irrigation water than pork, poultry, eggs or dairy,” points out research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reported by Matt McGrath for BBC News. “As well as the effects on land and water, cattle release...

Climate Refugee Threat in Tropics Rises, International Action Lags

Roxane Horton July 23, 2014
There is no easy way to put it – the tropics can expect an apocalyptic future not of their making. Severe storms, droughts and rising seas will pose water and food shortages, unrest, conflicts over territory. More desperate refugees are anticipated from a region where more than two thirds of the world’s poor live. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees dismisses massive international migrations...