Environment

With Emal Haidary | – Mazar-i-Sharif (Afghanistan) (AFP) – After his wheat crop failed and wells dried up, Ghulam Abbas sold his animals and joined thousands of other farmers migrating to cities as Afghanistan’s worst drought in living memory ravages the war-torn country. A huge shortfall in snow and rain across much of the country […]

Pollution

France to set Penalties on Plastic Waste, Ban Straws

Julien Dury

Paris (AFP) – France plans to introduce a penalty system next year that would increase the costs of consumer goods with packaging made of non-recycled plastic, part of a pledge to use only recycled plastic nationwide by 2025, an environment ministry official said Sunday. Brune Poirson, secretary of state for ecological transition, said the move […]

Pollution

US jury orders Monsanto pay $290mn to cancer patient in weed killer trial

Glenn Chapman

San Francisco (AFP) – A California jury on Friday ordered chemical giant Monsanto to pay nearly $290 million for failing to warn a dying groundskeeper that its weed killer Roundup might cause cancer. Jurors unanimously found that Monsanto — which vowed to appeal — acted with “malice” and that its weed killers Roundup and the […]

Climate Change

Burning Fossil Fuels risks Tipping Earth into ‘Hothouse’ State: Study

Kerry Sheridan

Tampa (AFP) – The planet urgently needs to transition to a green economy because fossil fuel pollution risks pushing the Earth into a lasting and dangerous “hothouse” state, researchers warned on Monday. If polar ice continues to melt, forests are slashed and greenhouse gases rise to new highs — as they currently do each year […]

Climate Change

“It’s Quite Scary”- Climate Scientists Alarmed as Europe Melts in Record Heat

AFP

In Lazio, the region where Rome is located, heatwaves have caused around 7,700 deaths since 2000

Climate Change

Heatwave Deaths to Rise 2,000% over next 60 Years in 1/3 of Earth

TeleSur

The researchers relied on historical data and used climate models to estimate future temperatures. Heatwave-related deaths could rise up to 2,000 percent by 2080, according to a new study, the Week Magazine has reported. The research published in PLOS Medicine Tuesday found that heatwaves which are a critical public health issue, will “increase in the […]

Climate Change

Today’s Abnormally hot Arctic Temperatures not observed since Time of Christ

Kerry Sheridan

Tampa (AFP) – Planet-warming greenhouse gases surged to new highs as abnormally hot temperatures swept the globe and ice melted at record levels in the Arctic last year due to climate change, a major US report said Wednesday. The annual State of the Climate Report, compiled by more than 450 scientists from over 60 countries, […]

Climate Change

Global Heat Wave made Twice as Likely by Humans Burning Coal, Oil & Gas

Juan Cole

You’ve seen the headlines. Dozens of people dead in Japan of heat stroke. Massive forest fires raging in Sweden. Dozens dead in Athens from wildfires. Record temperatures in Oman and Algeria. The world is suffering from heat waves on four continents all at once. Marina Pitofsky notes, “In the past 30 days, there have been […]

Climate Change

Is America Sclerotic or still Youthful Enough to take on Imperial Presidency and Climate Change?

Tom Engelhardt

There was a period in my later life when I used to say that, from the age of 20 to my late sixties, I was always 40 years old; I was, that is, an old young man and a young old one. Tell that to my legs now. Of course, there’s nothing faintly strange in […]