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 […]

FEMA says most of Puerto Rico has potable water. That can’t be true.

By Mekela Panditharatne 21 December 2017 (The Washington Post) – The weeks after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico brought remarkable images of people desperate to find clean water, drinking from hazardous Superfund sites and thrusting containers under makeshift spigots on the sides of mountains.According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, this particular problem has subsided […]

Fueling dissent: how the oil industry set out to undercut clean air

By Jie Jenny Zou 14 December 2017 (The Guardian) – On sunny days, when his classmates run out to play, Gabriel Rosales heads to the school nurse for a dose of Albuterol. The fine mist opens his airways, relaxing the muscles in his chest. Without it, recess could leave the nine-year-old gasping for breath. He […]

Uranium firm urged Trump officials to shrink Bears Ears National Monument in Utah – “There’s not a hunter or angler or outdoor recreationist who wants to be out and around an uranium mine”

By Juliet Eilperin 8 December 2017 (The Washington Post) – A uranium company launched a concerted lobbying campaign to scale back Bears Ears National Monument, saying such action would give it easier access to the area’s uranium deposits and help it operate a nearby processing mill, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.Interior Secretary […]

France stops large shipment of radioactive Belarus mushrooms

By Geert De Clercq 30 November 2017 PARIS (Reuters) – France has stopped a large shipment of Belarus mushrooms contaminated with low-level radioactivity probably from Chernobyl and not linked to a radioactive cloud that appeared in southern Russia last month, officials said on Thursday. Earlier, the head of French nuclear regulator ASN Pierre-Franck Chevet told […]

Smoke from Los Angeles-area wildfires makes way into Puget Sound region

By Scott Sistek 9 December 2017 SEATTLE (KOMO News) – Here we go again?The skies over Seattle were a bit of a hazy orange Saturday evening … reminiscent of the smoky days of this summer when it seemed no matter which way the wind was blowing, there was smoke from a wildfire either to our […]

Everything must go: our relentless consumption is trashing the planet

By George Monbiot 22 November 2017(The Guardian) – Everyone wants everything – how is that going to work? The promise of economic growth is that the poor can live like the rich and the rich can live like the oligarchs. But already we are bursting through the physical limits of the planet that sustains us. […]

The switch to outdoor LED lighting has increased light pollution and power consumption – “The migration to LED isn’t having the anticipated benefit in terms of global reductions in energy usage”

By George Dvorsky 22 November 2017 (Gizmodo) – To reduce energy consumption, many jurisdictions around the world are transitioning to outdoor LED lighting. But as new research shows, this solid-state solution hasn’t yielded the expected energy savings, and potentially worse, it’s resulted in more light pollution than ever before.Using satellite-based sensors, an international team of […]

Farewell to night? Light pollution reducing darkness worldwide

By Doyle Rice 22 November 2017 (USA Today) – For most of humanity’s history, the night has meant darkness. That’s no longer the case. Researchers report the artificially lit nighttime surface of our planet is growing —  in both size and brightness — in most of the world’s countries.In a study published Wednesday in the […]

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