More than 260 people have died, mostly in Pakistan, after a magnitude-7.5 earthquake hit north-eastern Afghanistan. The earthquake was centred in the mountainous Hindu Kush region, 76km (45 miles) south of Faizabad, the US Geological Survey reported. Tremors from the quake were also felt in northern India and Tajikistan. At least 12 of the victims were Afghan schoolgirls … [Read more...]
Hurricane Patricia a sign of things to come
Last week, Hurricane Patricia made landfall here in Mexico. It was the strongest hurricane ever recorded. At one point, Patricia would have been a “Category 7” hurricane, except that the measurement scale only goes up to Category 5. By the time you read this, the worst part of the storm will have passed us. Thankfully, early reports indicate that the damage has been … [Read more...]
Governments need to act fast to avoid climate chaos
Climate change will breed financial crises and plummeting living standards unless leading states force companies to be transparent about their true carbon emissions, governor of the Bank of England (BoE) Mark Carney has said. Speaking at a conference hosted by Lloyd’s of London on Tuesday, Carney warned insurers are heavily exposed to risks posed by climate change. He argued … [Read more...]
Climate change spurs raging wildfires from Indonesia to Brazil
There is “no way human intervention can put out the fires,” Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, Malaysia’s Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, to the Australian Broadcasting Company on the issue of Indonesian wildfires in a recent Weather Channel Report. Outbreaks of Equatorial wildfires. It’s something that can happen during strong El Ninos. These periods of warming in the … [Read more...]
Young scientists from Africa to meet Germany’s sustainability elite
Two South African winners are amongst a group of leading young scientists from 20 countries who are meeting Germany's sustainability research elite this month. South African PhD graduate Dr. Kapil Moothi, whose field of interest encompasses Sustainable Technology and Nanotechnology Waste Water Treatment, and PhD candidate Ms. Geraldine Brennan, whose area of expertise … [Read more...]
Join the Global Climate March chorus
The weekend before the biggest UN climate conference of the decade in Paris, the world will stand together in a weekend of global action in world-wide People's Climate March. This is to send a powerful message to governments meeting in Paris: keep fossil fuels in the ground and finance a just transition to 100% renewable energy by 2050. Last year, the People's Climate March … [Read more...]
Pakistan court rules ‘climate council’ needed to protect people
Pakistan was the second country in a matter of months to be compelled by a court to protect its citizens from the dangers of a warming climate. The high court of justice in the capital city of Pakistan’s Punjab province, Lahore, recently ruled that the country must do more to protect its citizens from climate change, ordering the creation of a “climate council” to ensure … [Read more...]
World will pass crucial 2C global warming limit, experts warn
Pledges by nations to cut carbon emissions will fall far short of those needed to prevent global temperatures rising by more than the crucial 2C by the end of the century. This is the stark conclusion of climate experts who have analysed submissions in the runup to the Paris climate talks later this year. A rise of 2C is considered the most the Earth could tolerate … [Read more...]
Big trees first to die in severe droughts
National forests whose names come from their large, majestic trees—such as Redwood National Park and Sequoia National Park in California—may need to rethink their brands as droughts increase in frequency and severity in many regions around the world due to climate change. New research published this week in the journal Nature Plants finds it’s the large trees that suffer most … [Read more...]
Climate hearings heat up with an eye on Paris
Many moving events are happening in the build up to the most important conference ever on the future of this planet. Last week parliament's Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs devoted one and a half days to holding Climate Hearings. Here was a bumper full hall of colourful people from our rainbow nation – from all sectors and walks of life – pleading with the … [Read more...]
Bangladeshi Prime Minister wins UN climate prize
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh has been announced as one of the winners of the United Nations Champions of the Earth award in recognition of her country’s initiatives to address climate change. “Serving as Prime Minister of Bangladesh – one of the world’s least-developed countries – Sheikh Hasina has proven that investing in climate change is conducive to … [Read more...]
A global tour of seven recent droughts
Every inhabited continent, to varying degrees, faces extremely high water stress. That means that in certain areas more than 80 percent of the local water supply is withdrawn by businesses, farmers, residents and other consumers every year. Not all of that water is consumed - it may flow back into a river after it’s used and be available again downstream - but the demand … [Read more...]
COP21 song for climate change
Just One Day is a song composed by Desert Rose to promote global awareness of the critical nature of Climate Change as the world prepares for COP21. This is the most crucial climate change conference in the history of mankind to be held in Paris, France, in Dec 2015. The song asks the inhabitants of our planet to start a new consciousness by giving one day of no drilling, … [Read more...]
