Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has called young Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg a “brat” after she expressed concern about the slayings of indigenous Brazilians in the Amazon. Bolsonaro questioned the coverage news media have given to the 16-year-old, who earlier tweeted a link to a story about the murder of two indigenous people in Brazil’s Maranhao state. In his
For years, Kim Cobb was the Indiana Jones of climate science. The Georgia Tech professor flew to the caves of Borneo to study ancient and current climate conditions. She jetted to a remote South Pacific island to see the effects of warming on coral. Add to that flights to Paris, Rome, Vancouver and elsewhere. All told, in the last three…
Successful reforestation programs take into account native plant species. They are managed by groups with a sustained commitment to monitoring forests, not just one-off tree planting events. And usually, they economically benefit the people who live nearby — for instance, by creating jobs, or reducing erosion that damages homes or crops.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg arrived Tuesday by catamaran in the port of Lisbon after a three-week voyage across the Atlantic Ocean from the United States. The Swedish teen sailed to the Portuguese capital before heading to neighboring Spain to attend the U.N. Climate Change Conference taking place in Madrid. Her arrival coincided with a new scientific report saying there
A group of U.S.-based scientists is rushing to document indigenous sites along Puerto Rico’s coast dating back a couple of thousand years before rising sea levels linked to climate change destroy a large chunk of the island’s heritage that is still being discovered. Scientists hope to use the 3D images they’ve taken so far to also help identify which historic
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres urged countries Monday not to lose hope in the fight against climate change, as representatives from nearly 200 countries gathered in Madrid for a two-week meeting on tackling global warming. In his opening speech to delegates, Guterres cited recent scientific data showing that levels of heat-trapping gases have hit a record high, reaching levels not seen
Since leaders first started talking about tackling the problem of climate change, the world has spewed more heat-trapping gases, gotten hotter and suffered hundreds of extreme weather disasters. Fires have burned, ice has melted and seas have grown. The first United Nations diplomatic conference to tackle climate change was in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Here’s what’s happened to Earth
Mass protests, a last-minute venue change and talk of climate tipping points are adding some unplanned drama to this year’s international talks on tackling global warming. Delegates from almost 200 countries had hoped to put the finishing touches to the rules governing the 2015 Paris accord, ironing out a few wrinkles left over from last year’s conference in Katowice, Poland,
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders discusses the dangerous realities of climate change, his comprehensive proposal to take on the fossil fuel industry to protect our planet and why his Medicare expansion plan makes sense.
A koala hospital in Australia posted a somber update on its Facebook page on Tuesday — that the koala rescued from a bushfire has died. The koala was pulled from a tree surrounded by fire by a shirtless woman last week in a now-viral video. The baby koala was named Ellenborough Lewis after the rescuer’s grandchild.
The concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere has reached a record high, according to a report released Monday by the World Meteorological Organization. The findings follow a trend that shows the planet is continuing to warm at an alarming pace, NBC News reported. In 2018, global average concentrations of the greenhouse gas, which is a byproduct of burning fossil
Criminal prosecution and convictions of polluters have fallen to quarter-century lows under the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency, deepening three years of overall enforcement declines, according to Justice Department statistics. And while the administration says it’s focusing on quality over quantity in pollution cases, using its enforcement resources to go after the biggest and worst offenders, an Associated Press analysis
Melting sea ice on its own presents plenty of challenges for Arctic marine mammals, from loss of habitat, to changing predator prey dynamics. Now there’s a new challenge present in a link between sea ice loss and the spread of disease between previously isolated marine life.
At least 60% of U.S. Superfund sites are in areas vulnerable to flooding or other worsening disasters of climate change, and the Trump administration’s reluctance to directly acknowledge global warming is deterring efforts to safeguard them, a congressional watchdog agency says. In a report being released Monday, the Government Accountability Office called on Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler to
Rising global temperatures are worrying truffle hunters around in the Italian town of Alba, where the most prized specimens can fetch twice the price of gold. This particularly warm October, eight out of 10 white truffles unearthed by Carlo Olivero with his trusty 3-year-old dog Steel were dark, withered and dried out. “They are clearly signs of the temperatures,’’ Olivero
Climate change is already damaging the health of children, and its impacts will harm the entire generation with serious health problems throughout their lives, according to a new report from the medical journal The Lancet. Scientists and health experts from 35 academic institutions and United Nations agencies said that children will suffer from a rise in infectious diseases, malnutrition and
Hector Muñoz owns a coffee farm in San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, and hurricanes aren’t the only natural disasters he’s worried about. “If a drought comes it could be catastrophic,” he said. He has reason to be concerned. Powerful El Niños are expected over the next decade and they typically bring drought conditions. Adding to the challenge is the possible impact
Ford Motor is expanding its iconic Mustang franchise to include the automaker’s first-ever, all-electric SUV: the Mustang Mach-E. The vehicle, which will make its global debut Sunday in Los Angeles, marks the first time the Mustang name and badge have been used on a vehicle other than the two-door pony car since it debuted in 1964. Ford, prior to announcing
