21 July 2015 (KidsCount.org) – The KIDS COUNT Data Book [pdf] is an annual publication that assesses child well-being nationally and across the 50 states, as well as in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Using an index of 16 indicators, the report ranks states on overall child well-being and in economic well-being, education, […]
22 July 2015 (Desdemona Despair) – The Kids Count project keeps track of lots of data relating to the health and well-being of children in the United States. Des whipped up this graph in no time using the graphing tool at the Kids Count Data Center. The percentage of children in extreme poverty was level […]
By Simon Evans21 July 2015 (Carbon Brief) – It is a truth almost universally acknowledged that the shale gas revolution has led to a fall in US emissions. But what if that wasn’t true? New research published in Nature Communications suggests it was the global financial crisis, not fracking, that has done most to reduce […]
By David Erickson19 July 2015 MISSOULA (Independent Record) – The length of wildfire seasons across the globe and the burnable areas of Earth’s surface have drastically increased in the past three decades due to climate change, according to a groundbreaking new study supported by years of research from the U.S. Forest Service’s Missoula Fire Sciences […]
By Shreya Dasgupta20 July 2015 (mongabay.com) – Your car tires may be treading over forests and wildlife in Southeast Asia. As the global demand for tires soars, so does the demand for natural rubber sourced from Hevea brasiliensis, the para-rubber tree. This rising demand is driving a rapid expansion of rubber plantations into biodiversity-rich forests […]
By Antônio Fonseca, Carlos Souza Jr., and Adalberto Veríssimo May 2015 (Imazon) – In May 2015, SAD detected 389 square kilometers of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon with a cloud cover of 39% over the territory. That represented an increase of 110% in relation to May 2014 when deforestation totaled 185 square kilometers and the […]
By Seth Borenstein20 July 2015 WASHINGTON (Associated Press) – Earth dialed the heat up in June, smashing warm temperature records for both the month and the first half of the year. Off-the-charts heat is “getting to be a monthly thing,” said Jessica Blunden, a climate scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “This is […]
By Robert Boos19 July 2015 (PRI) – Louisiana is in trouble. The Mississippi River Delta is disappearing into the Gulf of Mexico at the rate of 16 square miles a year, some of the fastest land loss on the planet. The bayou lands are crucial to the nation’s fisheries, as well as regional oil and […]
OAKLAND, CA, 14 July 2015 (Global Footprint Network) – Today marks the date the United States has busted its annual ecological budget, utilizing more resources and services than U.S. ecosystems can regenerate within the full year, according to a new report released by Global Footprint Network, an international sustainability think tank with offices in North […]
By James Hataway14 July 2015 Athens, Georgia (UGA) – Unless humans slow the destruction of Earth’s declining supply of plant life, civilization like it is now may become completely unsustainable, according to a paper published recently by University of Georgia researchers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “You can think of the […]
