If the world builds every coal plant that’s planned, climate change goals are doomed – “When we continue with the existing coal-fired power plants, and build the new ones, we are closing the door to the two-degree target”

By Chris Mooney 7 February 2018 (The Washington Post) – The much-heralded demise of the coal industry may be overstated, a new scientific analysis asserts — finding that if all planned plants were constructed, the world would have little chance of meeting its climate change goals. The new study, by Ottmar Edenhofer of the Mercator […]

New data reveals 197 land and environmental defenders murdered in 2017, nearly four per week – Agribusiness overtakes mining for most killings

By Jonathan Watts 2 February 2018 (The Guardian) – The slaughter of people defending their land or environment continued unabated in 2017, with new research showing almost four people a week were killed worldwide in struggles against mines, plantations, poachers and infrastructure projects.The toll of 197 in 2017 – which has risen fourfold since it […]

Phosphorus pollution reaching dangerous levels worldwide, new study finds

WASHINGTON D.C., 25 January 2018 (AGU) – Man-made phosphorus pollution is reaching dangerously high levels in freshwater basins around the world, according to new research. A new study published in Water Resources Research, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, estimated the global amount of phosphorus from human activities that entered Earth’s freshwater bodies from […]

2017 was a hard year for India – Air pollution and floods claimed many lives; failing public healthcare killed children; ministry predicted water scarcity by mid-century

30 December 2017 (IndiaSpend) – A bumper harvest crashing prices, pollution worsening in Delhi and other north Indian cities due to crop stubble burning and power plants, and the lack of infrastructure and manpower in public health centres leading to deaths of children across the country. These were the key points of worry for India […]

What was it like to be India in a warming world in 2017?

By Aruna Chandrasekhar 29 December 2017 (The Wire) – In 2017, weather reports were bumped up to the front page because the impact of climate change was becoming more visible than ever. Devastating cyclones, thousands lost to floods and drought in South Asia, thousands more displaced, infernal heat-waves sweeping cities, air pollution stealing hundreds of […]

Astronaut Mark Kelly: This year has been an unequivocal disaster for the future of the planet

By Mark Kelly 26 December 2017 (CNN) – In 2001, I flew my first flight into space aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour. Roughly a decade later, I commanded that same space shuttle on its final flight. That trip was my fourth journey — and at least for now, my final one — from this planet into […]

Photo gallery: Natural disasters and severe weather in 2017

The Eagle Creek wildfire burns as golfers play at the Beacon Rock Golf Course in North Bonneville, Washington, 4 September 2017. [more] Pictures of the year: Natural disasters Extreme heat in Indonesia: A freshly-scorched landscape in Pekanbaru, Indonesia in August 2017, after a fire caused by hot temperatures and lack of rain. [more] The impact […]

Delhi’s deadly air: How India is falling short on fighting pollution

By Santosh Harish 20 November 2017 (Forbes Asia) – For most of November, Delhi has been blanketed by dense smog. Doctors in the capital declared the crisis a public healthy emergency, while the chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, called it a “gas chamber.” Since the beginning of the month, average pollution levels in the city have […]

Delhi holds half marathon despite pollution warning – “My eyes are burning”

19 November 2017 (Agence France-Presse) – Tens of thousands of runners Sunday choked through smog for the Delhi half marathon, ignoring dire health warnings from doctors who fought for the controversial race in the heavily polluted capital to be postponed. More than 30,000 people, some sporting pollution masks, braved a hazy morning to run through […]

China’s sulfur dioxide emissions drop, India’s grow over last decade

By Irene Ying; Editing by Karl Hille 13 November 2017 (NASA) – A new study by researchers at NASA and the University of Maryland indicates that India may be the world’s top sulfur dioxide emitter. Sulfur dioxide is an air pollutant that causes acid rain, haze and many health-related problems. It is produced predominantly when […]

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