Why it’s unclear when Puerto Rico will get power back – “The devastation of the island is really breathtaking”

By Jon Schuppe 23 September 2017 (NBC News) – A team of New York electricity-transmission workers and a pair of drone operators arrived in San Juan Friday to help the reeling government of Puerto Rico begin to measure the damage to the U.S. territory’s power grid. The entire island remained without electricity into the weekend, […]

Mining in the Amazon rainforest unleashed by Brazil president

By Philip Fearnside 15 September 2017 (Mongabay) – On 23 August 2017, Brazil’s president Michel Temer issued a decree revoking the RENCA (National Reserve of Copper and Associated Minerals), an area the size of Switzerland on the northern side of the Amazon River straddling the states of Pará and Amapá. The Ministry of Environment had […]

Climate change’s Southern salvo – “The southern U.S. is basically ground zero for climate change”

By Seth Cline 22 September 2017 (US News) – To some, climate change is a vague idea, a hazy future. In parts of the South, it’s become a devastating reality. “When you drive down the street there’s piles and piles of furniture, clothing, shoes, sound systems, just about anything you find inside a home,” Hilton […]

Seattle experienced warmest and driest summer ever recorded in 2017

By Christine Clarridge 22 September 2017 (The Seattle Times) – This summer in Seattle was the warmest and driest ever recorded.For those of us living in the Puget Sound region, it might not come as a surprise. In fact, it’s been a year full of extremes, with numerous daytime high records broken, one of the […]

Hurricane Irma topples NASA “Moon Tree” that flew on Apollo 14

By Emre Kelly 21 September 2017 (Florida Today) – A tiny tree seed that began its voyage in an Apollo command module and later sprouted to life at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex was lost to the winds of Hurricane Irma earlier this month. Known as a “Moon Tree,” the perennial plant once located […]

Climate change terms altered in another corner of EPA’s website

By Dino Grandoni 22 September 2017 (The Washington Post) – Numerous mentions of “climate change,” “greenhouse gasses” and other phrases related to global warming have been found to be altered or deleted from another portion of the Environmental Protection Agency’s website, according to a new environmental watchdog report.At the beginning of President Trump’s term, the […]

Justin Hofman’s viral sea horse photo shows the heartbreaking state of our polluted oceans

By Kelly Kasulis 15 September 2017 (Mic) – The world’s oceans are going to have more plastic in them than fish by 2050, according to World Economic Forum projections. But we don’t need to wait for the future to witness grim scenes of polluted waters.Just look at the photo below. Photographer Justin Hofman caught a […]

British headteacher murdered while canoeing along the Amazon “was sexually assaulted by gang who tried to cut off her head with a machete before dumping her body in the river”

By Gerard Couzens and Matt Roper 21 September 2017 (Daily Mail) – A British headteacher murdered while canoeing along the Amazon was tortured and sexually assaulted by a gang before being killed and dumped in the river, it has been claimed.Horrific new details of the last moments of Emma Kelty’s life were revealed in a […]

Hurricane scientist Kerry Emanuel: Why it’s time to stop calling these hurricane disasters “natural”

By Kerry Emanuel 19 September 2017 (The Washington Post) – As the United States struggles to recover from two back-to-back hurricanes, it would be wise to reflect on why we keep having such calamities and whether they are likely to get worse. We must first recognize the phrase “natural disaster” for what it is: a […]

Indigenous victory: Brazil’s Temer decrees 1.2 million hectare Amazon reserve

By Sue Branford 18 September 2017 (Mongabay) – The Temer government, widely criticized for its attacks on indigenous rights, has approved its first significant measure in favor of the country’s indigenous communities.Last week, Brazil’s official gazette published a decree, signed by Justice Minister Torquato Jardim, establishing the Indigenous Territory of Turubaxi-Téa along the middle reaches […]

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