“Children’s” constitutional climate lawsuit gets trial date in October – “The court clearly recognizes the urgency of the climate crisis”

EUGENE, Oregon, 12 April 2018 (Our Children’s Trust) – During a public case management conference today, U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Coffin set 29 October 2018 as the trial date for Juliana v. United States, the constitutional climate lawsuit brought by 21 young people and supported by Our Children’s Trust. The trial will be heard before […]

Why have we done so little to tackle climate change? “In the end I did nothing just the same. And the same went for most everyone I knew.”

By Meara Sharma 6 April 2018 (The Washington Post) – A decade ago, the environmental philosopher Timothy Morton invented a new word: hyperobject. It describes something so “massively distributed in time and space relative to humans” that it eludes our understanding. The best example of a hyperobject is climate change. Its scale confounds our perception. […]

Human role in global warming censored from official National Park Service science report – “Censorship of this kind is something you’d see in Russia or some totalitarian regime. It has no place in America.”

By Elizabeth Shogren 2 April 2018 (Reveal) – National Park Service officials have deleted every mention of humans’ role in causing climate change in drafts of a long-awaited report on sea level rise and storm surge, contradicting Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s vow to Congress that his department is not censoring science. The research for the […]

China is massively betting on coal outside its borders, even as investment falls globally

By Huileng Tan 6 April 2018 (CNBC) – Once globally vilified for extensive air pollution due to heavy coal usage, China now talks a big game about its environmental efforts after the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate pact.But, beyond its borders, the country has been the world’s biggest investor in coal power.”Chinese banks’ and […]

Mapping inequality: How U.S. cities are divided by income

By Tanvi Misra 27 February 2018 (CityLab) – In Philly’s Center City live its richest residents—those who can pay the premium for that walkable, amenity-rich, green neighborhood. But just across the river, blocks away from the lush, expanding campuses of the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University, the visual landscape of the city changes: Pawn […]

Global shadow banking assets hit highest level since at least 2002 – In 2016, shadow banking grew by 8 percent to $99 trillion and now represents 30 percent of world financial assets

5 Mar 2018 (Central Banking) – The assets of “other financial institutions” grew to their highest level since 2002 in 2016, the Financial Stability Board says. Total assets of OFIs increased by 8% to $99 trillion in 2016, the body says in its 2017 report on the global shadow banking sector, published today (March 5). […]

The looming epidemic threat – “We are not ready for a serious epidemic, an epidemic that would be more infectious and would spread faster than Ebola did”

Dr Jonathan D Quick 18 March 2018 (The Guardian) – Somewhere out there a dangerous virus is boiling up in the bloodstream of a bird, bat, monkey or pig, preparing to jump to a human being. It’s hard to comprehend the scope of such a threat, for it has the potential to wipe out millions […]

Particulate matter from California wildfires linked to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events – “It’s a local problem, but it’s also a national problem”

By L.A. McKeown 12 April 2018 (TCTMD) – New data show a surprising pattern of increased emergency department (ED) visits for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular problems on days when wildfires are burning in California. Researchers say the fine particulate matter created by the fires poses significant risk beyond the state’s borders, and in particular to people […]

Lloyd’s of London slumps to £2 billion loss over hurricanes and wildfires – 2017 was “the costliest year for a decade for natural catastrophes”

By Oliver Ralph 21 March 2018 (Financial Times) – Lloyd’s of London has reported its first loss in six years as a series of natural catastrophes took their toll on the insurance market.The underwriters at Lloyd’s faced claims for hurricanes in Florida and the Caribbean, earthquakes in Mexico and wildfires in California in what chief […]

Ocean heatwaves becoming longer and more frequent – “With more than 90 percent of the heat from human-caused global warming going into our oceans, it is likely marine heatwaves will continue to increase”

11 April 2018 (University of Tasmania) – An international study in Nature Communications co-authored by researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes and the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) reveals that marine heatwaves have increased globally over the past century in number, length and intensity as a direct result of […]

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