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With only hours remaining on the COP21 negotiations, there’s a good chance the draft we got to see yesterday will be final – with some small tweaks perhaps. Opinions have been mixed, but mostly negative about this particular draft; sure, it’s important that we get a final draft on which all parties agree, but it’s […]
If we want to tackle climate change, we have to fight it from all sides; one of the things I liked about the COP21 climate summit was that people from all around the world came to present their ideas for fighting climate change locally, with tailored solutions. The UN recently highlighted the projects in the Change […]
If we want to limit our emissions to an acceptable limit, then all aspects of human society have to come together – environmental, social, economic, and not least, technology. With this in mind, six projects were presented at COP21, highlighted as this year’s UN Momentum for Change ICT solutions winners. These are the winning projects: Fairphone […]
After hundreds of hours of negotiations and discourse, it seems that the parties involved are finally settled and can agree to a new draft for a binding climate agreement. But with one day left to go, is that enough – can we call it a success? The pact is a top-bottom approach; it’s an international agreement […]
You know something is down when the most important climate change event in history is sponsored by fossil fuel companies.
A very ambitious initiative could make Africa the cleanest continent – Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI) an African-led plan to add 10,000 MW of additional renewable energy on the continent by 2020, has received over $10 billion in funding from international sources at COP21. The mega-scale initiative wants to develop all sectors of African renewable energy by […]
Emissions flatlined in 2014 -- the first time in 15 years. There is still hope!
Researchers from the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment claim that plants aren't keeping up with CO2 levels.
With only three days left from the Paris Climate Summit, the time for populist talks has passed, and we're expecting concrete solutions.
This map shows what gun ownership on a per capita basis looks like around the world, based on data compiled by the Guardian. As you can see from the color codes, the United States tops the list being home to 88.8 guns per 100 people! The only country that marginally comes close is Yemen with 54.8 guns per 100 people.
An undercover investigation exposed how fossil fuel companies pay off academics to publish research sowing doubt about climate change and promote corporate interests.
While the climate talks in Paris are carrying on in full force, it’s important to keep in mind that most of climate change isn’t actually affecting the ones causing it. The polar regions, the south Pacific and small islands are the ones suffering the most. The governments of Nunavut (Canada) and Greenland (Denmark) and the Inuit […]
“I don’t give a damn if we agree about climate change” – this is how a post on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Facebook page opened up yesterday, one day before his talk at the COP21 climate summit. Fighting for climate We don’t have the time to debate and convince everyone, as every day, as 19,000 people die from […]
The full extent of Japan's 2011 Fukushima meltdown is still being uncovered, with measured levels of contamination increasing in previously identified sites throughout the North American coast. While it's still too low to threaten human or ocean life, this confirms that the power plant continues to leak radioactive isotopes researchers report.
Elon Musk - involved with cutting-edge tech companies like Tesla, SpaceX and Solar city - told youngsters gathered at an event at the University of Sorbonne, Paris that carbon pricing would accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to a renewable energy economy.
The climate talks in Paris have so far been surprisingly consistent and on track – right now, we’ve learned that the first draft for a global climate agreement is out! This unprecedented meeting has just yielded its first concrete results, and while there are still many brackets which mean that many things are still debatable, […]
Should dirty energy companies have a voice in climate talks? Can government figures, known to receive money from the oil and gas industry, be trusted to represent the best interests of the planet over those of the people that fund their campaigns? That was one of the key points that today's conference on great polluters debated on.
Today, at a press conference at COP21, a panel of scientists and chairmen from the IPCC said that they never suggested one or the other figures as a baseline for averting climate change. "The 2 degree goal is a political figure, not generated by scientific reports," the panel warned.
82 artists joined hands to create 600 artworks - modified ads placed around Pars to protest greenwashing done by the corporations involved in the climate summit.
All of the current Republican presidential candidates make a point of denying what scientists and the common folk have come to agree upon in much of the world, and of preserving the status quo in the energy sector. Why are these public figures, with aspirations of world leaders, basing so much of their policy on a fossil fuel-centric agenda that will only come back to bite us? In a revelation that shouldn't shock anyone who's even remotely aware of the concept of money, it's because they're being paid off.
As China’s cities struggle with smog more and more, one man has started an interesting project to raise awareness: he wandered the streets of Beijing with a vacuum cleaner gathering smog and turned it into a brick. Meet “Nut Brother,” a 34-year-old artist and activist from Shenzhen. Of course, he understands vacuuming smog will do nothing to change […]
Some 2,440 new coal fired plants are expected to come online by 2030 in eight countries like India, China, Indonesia and the European Union. Combined with already existing plants, their emissions make averting 2 degrees of warming past industrial levels impossible, and the respective countries' national pledges aimed at curbing emissions - the so-called INDCs - now sound completely ridiculous.
More than 500 institutions representing over $3.4 trillion chose to divest away from fossil fuels, $800 million of which only in the past 10 weeks.
While most of the world is trying to reach a climate agreement that would help preserve our planet’s climate for future generations, some of the US presidential candidates just don’t get it – or don’t want to get it. Despite an overwhelming scientific consensus (97% of climate scientists), despite obvious effects and forecasts, and despite […]
Warning alert: this will be extremely annoying for Republicans, Democrats, women, men, children… and pretty much anyone with common sense. While the whole world is trying to settle its differences and finally reach a climate agreement for the future of the planet, Donald Trump is being… Donald Trump. What is Obama thinking? A video posted […]
Income inequality and social stratification are hallmarks of today's economy, both in the context of a single country and on an international level. Even in traditionally rich, developed, industrialized countries where life quality is high and there are plenty of goods to go round, it's become apparent that the current way of doing things just isn't sustainable and that too much wealth is held by too few people.
Climate change and agriculture are so interrelated that you basically can't talk about addressing climate change without bringing agriculture into the mix. At COP21, the climate summit in Paris, governments, NGOs and private entities joined hands to announce several initiatives focusing on some of the most pressing issues in agriculture: soils in agriculture, the livestock sector, food losses and waste, and sustainable production methods and resilience of farmers.
President Obama voiced his concerns that any agreement made in Paris, COP21 will be ineffective if it lacks the force of treaties.
The island nation has recently announced that it will resume whaling operations in the Antarctic Ocean with the purpose of collecting "scientific data." The decision was met with outrage and heavy criticism by other countries and conservation groups.
A report released by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) found we are beyond the peak of coal consumption and demand. Effectively, the demand for coal has virtually dropped all over the world with few exceptions, most notably India. The news suggests we're well on our way to leave coal behind for good, and never turn back. Replacing coal are more efficient and energy friendly measures,including renewable energy, nuclear and gas.
According to a NY Times/CBS poll two out of three Americans support the signing of a global climate pact, but only one in five agrees to increasing taxes on electricity
A possible game changer – 120 country alliance spearheaded by India and supported by France has been announced, with the purpose of promoting solar energy in developing countries. Many developing countries enjoy sun-rich areas, but they lack the technology and financial capabilities to make full use of that potential. With that in mind, India’s prime […]
To make diamonds, the industry typically resorts to subjecting graphite to immense pressure and temperature, which makes production volumes low and costly. This paradigm is about to change, since researchers at North Carolina State University found a new phase for carbon called Q-carbon, produced at ambient temperatures and pressure. This is surprisingly close to diamond in structure, with the added benefit of exhibiting a couple of unique properties.
A massive, 200 million yuan (over $31 million) commercial animal cloning facility will be built in the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area with the sole purpose of cloning China's cattle.
Four European countries, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, have announced a new $500 million initiative to fight climate change, especially in developing countries. The entire initiative is supported by the World Bank. “We want to help developing countries find a credible pathway toward low carbon development,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. “This initiative is […]
Bill Gates and 27 other billionaires with a collective net worth of $350 billion have joined forces to launch the biggest private climate fund in history. The multi-billion dollar fund, called the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, will focus on cutting edge research and development to accelerate the growth of renewable energy and other sustainable technologies.
The eyes of the world are set on Paris, as the COP21 climate summit started today with the ambitious goal of achieving a legally binding and universal agreement on climate, from all the nations of the world. But while this dance sometimes paces close to the impossible, there are also reasons to be optimistic: world leaders […]
More and more people are greening their homes, and that’s definitely a good thing – whether it’s renewable energy or green walls, it can not only save you a lot of money and reduce your carbon footprint, but also increase your home’s appeal and make it more cozy. The latest trend that’s picking up steam […]
The wealthiest man in the world, Bill Gates, will announce on Monday a massive private-government partnership for a new clean energy research fund. This is reportedly the biggest research and development fund for clean energy ever, which will funnel billions to support innovation in this section. The precise details of the multi-billion partnership will be revealed once with the opening of the United Nations conference on climate change in Paris.
If you've heard the words "COP21", "Climate Summit" or "Paris Climate... thingy" but don't know what to make of them - this is what you need to read.
You know things are messed up when the head of the House committee that covers science doesn't really understand it. Or, worse even, chooses to bury it and persecute scientists. Such is the case of Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, who suspects of fraud a group of scientists that explained in a new paper that the global warming hiatus isn't actually thing. Seems like the world is warming at the same rate as in the 20th century - fast. That didn't bode well with an obviously biased conservative Republican, so Smith subpoenaed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to gain access to the private documents and emails of scientists involved in the study.
There's an inherent flaw in solar cells: the metal wiring that's quintessential to harnessing the electrons reflects the incoming light, acting like a mirror. Now, must people would brush off this issue and leave it like that. It's a necessary trade off. But a team at Stanford University devised an elegant chemical technique that basically hides the wiring with silicon, away from the light while preserving energy harnessing. Metal wires cover 5 to 10 percent of a solar cell's surface. Now, in the same area more light can be absorbed, hence more electricity generated which jumps the efficiency. Of course, this also means cheaper solar panels -- if only the chemical technique is covered by the recurring costs of increased efficiency.
The Climate Summit in Paris may or may not create a binding agreement for countries to limit their greenhouse gas emissions, but either way, the real work will begin after the talks. “When the meetings in Paris are done, the real business of decarbonization must begin,” write climate-policy experts David Victor and James Leape in […]
Agriculture is a big driver of climate change, with the meat industry standing out among the rest as a source of CO2 emissions and environmental damage; lowering demand for meat or ensuring that farms have as little environmental impact is possible, but costly. Would you be willing to eat less, if it was for the good of the planet? Pay more for your meat? A new study suggests that the idea isn't as controversial as you may believe on first glance.
Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have never been higher: the average global CO2 levels have reached the 400 parts per million (ppm) milestone in the spring of 2015, The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced in the first week of November. Secretary-General Michel Jarraud warns that it won't be long before even higher levels of the gas become a "permanent reality."
While in South Carolina last weekend, Democrat Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders reiterated a burn he's been feeling for decades: the vested interests of the fossil fuel industry. He told the crowd climate change “is already causing devastating problems all over this world,” and the fossil fuel industry, Koch brothers specifically, are doing everything they can do keep this out of the public's attention. At one point he directly called out Republican candidates to basically man up, grow a backbone and stop lying.
Philipp Pattberg, a professor of transnational environmental governance and policy at VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands, focuses on the study of global environmental politics, with a focus on climate change governance and biodiversity. Here, he gives a talk about more than 20 years of international climate change diplomacy, from the successful negotiation of the 1992 United Nations […]
The Danish capital of Copenhagen is known for its bike friendly culture but this time they’re taking it to the next level. Work is set to start on the new bike lane which will join two skyscrapers, 213 feet in the air (65 meters). The design was the winner of a competition to reinvigorate the […]
An University of Queensland study of mantis shrimp discovered a new form of light communication employed by the animals, the findings having potential applications in satellite remote sensing, biomedical imaging, cancer detection, and computer data storage.
Also known as the water bear, the tardigrade has a lot to be proud of -- this tiny organism is nigh-indestructible, known to have survived in extreme temperatures ( -272C to +151C / -457.6F to 303.8F) and to be the only animal that can brave the vacuum of space unprotected and live to tell the tale.
