Graph of the Day: Increase of airborne black carbon density in India from 2005 to 2016

By Kathryn Hansen 28 June 2018 (NASA) – In recent decades, northern India has been plagued by a double-dose of air pollution due to nearby sources of desert dust and increasing amounts of airborne particles from human activities. New research suggests that winds are spreading the problem, moving some of the pollution southward in ever-increasing […]

The human cost of climate change – “If no action is taken, there may be more than 140 million climate migrants by 2050”

By Felipe Calderón 29 June 2018 (Newsweek) – Home is a place of stability and security. It is a place where families come together to work towards and celebrate mutual prosperity. But as the human and economic toll of climate change continues to rise, we face legitimate risk of this sense of home being uprooted. […]

The Annapolis shooting is another reminder: Globally, it’s getting more dangerous to be a journalist – “The climate of hatred is steadily more visible”

By Ruby Mellen 28 June 2018 (The Washington Post) – On Thursday, 28 June 2018, a gunman stormed the office of a local newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, killing at least five people and injuring two others. According to my colleagues, the attack “likely is the deadliest involving journalists in the United States in decades.” Police […]

BP: Carbon emissions and coal consumption increased in 2017, reversing recent trends – “This should serve as a wake-up call for all of us”

By Spencer Dale 13 June 2018(BP) – At first blush, some of last year’s data might seem a little disappointing. Growth in overall energy demand is up; gains in energy intensity are down. Coal consumption grew for the first time in four years. And, perhaps most striking of all, carbon emissions are up after three […]

Anti-coal mine activist Suresh Oraon shot dead In Jharkhand, India

7 June 2018 (Countercurrents) – Suresh Oraon (27) of Purnadih Chatra Jharkhand was shot dead this morning. Suresh and his people were the owners of the land on which the state owned Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) built their Purnadih coal mines. Suresh kept fighting CCL and their mafia against land grabbing. When CCL bulldozed the […]

Weeks of extreme weather in India

By Kasha Patel 25 May 2018(NASA) – India has been hit by a streak of unusually intense thunderstorms, dust storms, and lightning so far in 2018. The events collapsed homes, destroyed crops, and claimed the lives of over a hundred people with even more casualties, calling for assistance by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.In late April, […]

Three recent studies challenge Indian government claim of increasing forest cover – “There is significant reduction in green cover in many natural forest and habitat types of India”

By T. V. Padma 23 May 2018 (Mongabay) – Natural forests across India are slowly disappearing, a set of new studies shows, contradicting recent government claims about increasing forest cover.The three studies, published over the past seven months, use a mix of satellite data, ground vegetation observations and historical maps. They show the Eastern Ghats, […]

WHO report: 90 per cent of world population breathes polluted air

2 May 2018 (UN News) – In a call for Member States to take action urgently, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus, warned that air pollution “threatens us all, but the poorest and most marginalized people bear the brunt of the burden.”According to WHO’s ambient air quality database, despite some improvements, pollution levels […]

Warmer winters increasing risk of avalanches in the Himalayas, studies find

By Neha Jain 4 May 2018 (Mongabay) – Winters in the Himalayas are getting warmer, which is increasing the risk of avalanches, two new studies suggest. The Himalayas, a massive 2,500-kilometre (1,553-mile) arc-shaped stretch of lofty mountains straddling Pakistan, China, India, Nepal, and Bhutan, are home to the largest concentration of glaciers outside of the […]

In China and India, 50 million excess males under age 20 – “In the future, there will be millions of men who can’t marry, and that could pose a very big risk to society”

By Simon Denyer and Annie Gowen 18 April 2018 (The Washington Post) – Nothing like this has happened in human history. A combination of cultural preferences, government decree and modern medical technology in the world’s two largest countries has created a gender imbalance on a continental scale. Men outnumber women by 70 million in China […]

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