Washington, DC, 12 January 2017 (Human Rights Watch) – The rise of populist leaders in the United States and Europe poses a dangerous threat to basic rights protections while encouraging abuse by autocrats around the world, Human Rights Watch said today in launching its World Report 2017 [pdf]. Donald Trump’s election as US president after […]
5 January 2017 (United Nations) – If current trends continue and the world fails to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, nearly all of the world’s coral reefs will suffer severe bleaching – the gravest threat to one of the Earth’s most important ecosystems – on annual basis, the United Nations environment agency today reported. The finding […]
By Greg Jericho10 December 2016 (The Guardian) – This week was a prime example of how economics and, by extension, politics doesn’t cope very well with the issue of climate change. The news that Australia economy went backwards in the September quarter was greeted with alarm by politicians and then used as a reason to […]
29 November 2016 (AFP) – A mass bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef this year killed more corals than ever before, scientists said Tuesday, sounding the alarm over the delicate ecosystem. The 2,300-kilometre (1,400-mile) long reef—the world’s biggest—suffered its most severe bleaching in recorded history, due to warming sea temperatures during March and April, […]
By Tom McIlroy5 December 2016 (Sydney Morning Herald) – Australia’s environmental sector wants the Turnbull government to explain its plans for significant changes to major programs, including savings of more than $350 million from axing the Green Army – Tony Abbott’s much-hyped employment project. Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg all but confirmed reports on […]
By Sophie Vorrath24 November 2016 (RenewEconomy) – Australia’s top climate scientists have come out in support of their American counterparts, in response to news that the incoming Trump Administration will scrap climate research at the country’s top research facility, NASA. […] Here’s what Australia’s scientists are saying about Trump and NASA: “Just as we have […]
By Jordan Fermanis1 December 2016 (Crikey) – When One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts delivered his maiden speech to the Senate on September 13 of this year, he used the occasion to attack the science of climate change. In his speech, Roberts labelled climate change a “scam”, said it was prone to “hyperbolic predictions” and accused […]
By Sharon Livermore25 October 2016 (IFAW) – Today, at the second day of plenary meetings at the 66th International Whaling Commission in Portorož, Slovenia, a proposal from Latin American countries to form a South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary again failed to pass with the needed three-quarters majority vote. At the conclusion of the voting session, Matt […]
By Karl Mathieson 16 October 2016 (Mercury) – It was one of the world’s great marine ecosystems. Stretching hundreds of kilometres along the eastern coastline of Australia, it provided shelter to a multitude of fish, algae and crustaceans and for many divers was considered a must-see spectacular. But this year a massive underwater heatwave smashed […]
[Interestingly, the Australian Government’s Reef 2050 Plan for restoring the Great Barrier Reef doesn’t once mention the Carmichael coal mine. –Des] 15 October 2015 (BBC News) – Australia’s government has given its approval for one of the world’s biggest coal mines to be built by India’s Adani Mining in Queensland. In August, a court temporarily […]
