By Matt McDonald, The University of Queensland | – For 30 years, developing nations have fought to establish an international fund to pay for the “loss and damage” they suffer as a result of climate change. As the COP27 climate summit in Egypt wrapped up over the weekend, they finally succeeded. While it’s a historic […]
With Climate Crisis, Dust Storms are getting Bigger, and Wildfires are one Cause
By Matt Telfer, University of Plymouth | – (The Conversation) – Wildfires affect large areas of the Earth’s surface and many of their effects occur at an alarming speed. The fires that consumed half of Australia’s Kangaroo Island in 2019 left a trail of animal corpses in their wake. In 2021, wildfires burned over 2.5 […]
Ending Amazon Deforestation: The Future of the World’s largest Rainforest
By Jennifer Weeks, The Conversation | – Brazil’s president-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was greeted with applause and cheers when he addressed the U.N. climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Nov. 16, 2022. As he had in his campaign, Lula pledged to stop rampant deforestation in the Amazon, which his predecessor, Jair Bolsanaro, […]
France’s Plan for Solar Panels on all Car Parks is just the Start of an Urban Renewable Revolution
By Dylan Ryan, Edinburgh Napier University | – (The Conversation) – France has approved legislation that will require all car parks with more than 80 spaces to be covered over by solar panels. This is part of a wider programme that will see solar panels occupy derelict lots, vacant land alongside roads and railways, as […]
From Kanye to Trump: Antisemitism isn’t just Jew-hatred– it’s anti-Jewish racism
By Dov Waxman, University of California, Los Angeles | – (The Conversation) – Antisemitism has been in the news a lot lately. Hip-hop megastar Ye – formerly known as Kanye West – tweeted Oct. 8, 2022 that he would “go death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” and then made antisemitic comments during a series of […]
8 billion people: Four Ways Climate Change and Population Growth combine to threaten Public Health, with Global Consequences
By Maureen Lichtveld, University of Pittsburgh | – There are questions that worry me profoundly as a population- and environmental-health scientist. Will we have enough food for a growing global population? How will we take care of more people in the next pandemic? What will heat do to millions with hypertension? Will countries wage water […]
The Veil in Iran has been an enduring Symbol of Patriarchal Norms – but its Use has Changed depending on Who is in Power
By Amy Motlagh, University of California, Davis | – In images of the uprising that followed the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16, 2022, perhaps the most iconic ones, aside from that of Amini herself, are those of unveiled Iranian women photographed from behind, facing police barricades or raising a fist at the […]
How Images of veiled Muslim Women are used to justify War
By Sara Rahnama, Morgan State University | – Unusual Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching. Course Title: “Women and War” What prompted the idea for the course? (The Conversation) – When I was on a fellowship at the Library of Congress finishing my first book, “The Future […]
COP27: how young Climate Activists are changing International Human Rights Law
By Aoife Daly, University College Cork | – World leaders and climate scientists aren’t the only ones who have gathered in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, for the latest UN climate summit, COP27. Children and young people are also a big part of the conference. For the first time, COP will have a Youth Envoy, Omnia […]