Only one-third of the world’s longest rivers remain free-flowing – Nearly 60,000 large dams exist worldwide, with more than 3,700 planned

Only one-third of the world’s longest rivers remain free-flowing – Nearly 60,000 large dams exist worldwide, with more than 3,700 planned

8 May 2019 (McGill University) – Just over one-third (37%) of the world’s 246 longest rivers remain free-flowing, according to a new study published in the scientific journal Nature. Dams and reservoirs are drastically reducing the diverse benefits that healthy rivers provide to people and nature across the globe. A team of 34 international researchers from McGill University, […]

The reason renewables can’t power modern civilization is because they were never meant to

The reason renewables can’t power modern civilization is because they were never meant to

By Michael Shellenberger 6 May 2019 (Forbes) – Over the last decade, journalists have held up Germany’s renewables energy transition, the Energiewende, as an environmental model for the world.  “Many poor countries, once intent on building coal-fired power plants to bring electricity to their people, are discussing whether they might leapfrog the fossil age and build […]

Going 100 percent renewable power means a lot of dirty mining – “If not managed responsibly, this has the potential for new adverse environmental and social impacts”

By Naveena Sadasivam 17 April 2019 (Grist) – For more than a decade, indigenous communities in Alaska have been fighting to prevent the mining of copper and gold at Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery and a crucial source of sustenance. The proposed mine, blocked under the Obama […]

Vietnam just observed its highest temperature ever recorded: 110 degrees, in April – “It is unbreathable outside in this heat”

Vietnam just observed its highest temperature ever recorded: 110 degrees, in April – “It is unbreathable outside in this heat”

By Matthew Cappucci 22 April 2019 (The Washington Post) – Vietnam broke its national high temperature record Saturday, the latest in a mounting list of records to fall as the world continues to warm. The scorcher set the mercury thermometer soaring to 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.4 Celsius) in the community of Huong Khe, a rural district in […]

Washington, New York will fight Trump order boosting coal, oil projects – “We will not allow this or any presidential administration to block us from exercising our authority lawfully and effectively”

By Joel Connelly 11 April 2019 (SeattlePI) – President Donald Trump has signed an executive order designed to block states from using a provision of the Clean Water Act to delay or prevent big oil and coal projects such as a proposed coal export terminal in Longview on the Columbia River. The states of Washington […]

In blow to climate, coal plants emitted more than ever in 2018 – “We are headed for disaster, and nobody seems to be able to slow things down”

By Chris Mooney and Brady Dennis 25 March 2019 (The Washington Post) – Global energy experts released grim findings Monday, saying that not only are planet-warming carbon-dioxide emissions still increasing, but the world’s growing thirst for energy has led to higher emissions from coal-fired power plants than ever before. Energy demand around the world grew […]

Global carbon emissions hit record high in 2018 – Global energy demand rose at fastest pace in last decade, driven by record temperature extremes

By Nina Chestney26 March 2019 LONDON (Reuters) – Global energy-related carbon emissions rose to a record high last year as energy demand and coal use increased, mainly in Asia, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday. Energy-related CO2 emissions rose by 1.7 percent to 33.1 billion tonnes from the previous year, the highest rate […]

Trump’s Aberdeenshire golf resort must pay Scottish government’s legal costs for wind power lawsuit

28 February 2019 (BBC News) – Donald Trump’s Aberdeenshire golf resort must pay the Scottish government’s legal costs following a court battle over a major North Sea wind power development. Mr Trump battled unsuccessfully in the courts to halt the project before he became US president. A total of 11 turbines make up the development […]

Mexican activist shot dead before vote on power project he opposed – Thousands protest murder of Samir Flores Soberanes in Mexico City

By David Agren20 February 2019 MEXICO CITY (The Guardian) – A Mexican environmental activist has been murdered before a referendum on a controversial thermal-electric plant and pipeline that he opposed. Samir Flores Soberanes, an indigenous Náhuatl, was killed in his home during the early hours of Wednesday in the town of Amilcingo in Morelos state, […]

Colombia’s disaster-ridden hydropower project runs second largest river dry – “The greatest environmental crime that has ever happened in Colombia”

By Taran Volckhausen 7 February 2019 (Mongabay) – Colombia’s environmentalists have declared an ecological disaster after the country’s second most important river, the Cauca, was reduced to less than 10 percent of normal flow after the country’s largest hydroelectric dam project Hidroituango took emergency measures earlier this week.Medellin energy company EPM took emergency measures to […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial