There are more satellites than ever before, orbiting Earth and collecting data that’s crucial for scientists. Why do some nations choose not to share that data openly?
Hurricane Harvey flooded one-third of Houston and displaced more then 30,000 people in the region.
Janelle Rios
After disasters, communities often push to rebuild as quickly as possible. A public health expert says they should aim higher and fix problems that exist pre-storm.
John James Audubon’s ‘Carolina Parakeets.’
Wikimedia Commons
The last Carolina parakeet died in a zoo a century ago. A scientist tries to unravel some of this bird’s lasting mysteries.
Smart phones are rarely recycled and that’s just one reason tech devices are increasing our carbon footprints. Here Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, is seen in 2016 talking about new iPhones.
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
New research shows the impact of technology, especially smartphones, on carbon emissions. Encouraging consumers to get new phones every couple of years leads to extraordinary and unnecessary waste.
There is an environmentally friendly option.
from www.shutterstock.com
Despite scientists’ initial concerns, federal climate change data sets are still available. But other documents and web pages have changed over the last year.
Thelazia gulosa is an eyeworm parasite that infects cows. But an Oregon woman’s discovery of the worms in her own eye has raised concerns about parasites that jump from animals to humans.
(Shutterstock)
A stomach-churning viral video of an Oregon woman who describes removing cattle eyeworms from her eye has renewed interest in parasites that jump from animals to humans. Here’s all you need to know.
The increasingly bleached coral at Black Point on the Cobourg Peninsula is a worrying sign of what’s to come for other coral reefs in Australia.
Alan Withers
A heritage landscape researcher used the work of a Victorian aerial photographer to map a century of glacial loss in the Alps – and the results are staggering.
Politics has been disrupted by the financial crisis and the rise of new technologies. Rapid change suddenly looks a lot more possible.
The IPCC’s first cities conference revealed the challenges in bridging the gaps between scientific knowledge and policy practice, and between cities in developed and developing nations.
Cities IPCC/Twitter
The first IPCC conference on cities has highlighted the challenges of reconciling science, urban practices and politics. But it was an important recognition of cities’ leading role in climate action.
Canada has committed to cutting GHG emissions 30 per cent by 2030 from 2005 levels. Can Canada’s oil capital lead the charge? New research shows it’s within reach with bold actions on several fronts.
A fisherman at work in the White Nile. Half the river’s flow is lost to evaporation from the Sudd swamps, a large wetland.
Arne Hoel/World Bank/Flickr
Shale gas exploitation in the US has helped cut is greenhouse gas emissions by 11%. A study explores what would happen if this were expanded globally, and the findings challenge conventional wisdom.
The language that you speak may affect your approach to climate change.
from www.shutterstock.com
Research suggests that speakers of “present-tensed” languages such as German and Finnish - in which the future can be describe in the present tense - are more likely to support stronger climate policies.
MiMA: an open source way to model the climate.
Martin Jucker
The creation of climate models with open source code, available for anyone to use, has improved scientific collaboration and helped research get more efficient.
Despite strong evidence that human activities have altered the climate, not everyone sees the risks. New research explains why some people seem blind to the signs of climate change.
Politics Podcast: Jacinda Ardern on her political life
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Jacinda Ardern on the toughness of Australian politics, her ambitious policy plans, and the demands of being a young high-profile female leader that everyone wants to know about.
A family crosses a flooded street in Pakistan.
Asian Development Bank/Flickr
To address environmental degradation, including climate change, it is essential to take into account human rights and migration. Hybrid international law and regional thinking are both essential.
Long-term climate modelling may appear to focus on the impossibly far future. But the full impact of some climate processes won’t be apparent for centuries.
A trash truck discharges solid waste at the South East Reserve Recovery Facility’s refuse storage pit in Long Beach, California, August 24, 2010.
AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
Most Americans don’t want incinerators in their neighborhoods, so waste management companies are burning trash in other facilities such as cement kilns. Is this a sustainable way to deal with garbage?