Environment

Baghdad (Niqash.org) – In Baghdad, locals have been fretting about dramatic falls in the level of the Tigris river. The government has a plan. Only problem is, that plan requires billions in funding that Iraq does not have. The passengers in the small bus all peer out anxiously as the vehicle crosses the Sanak bridge […]

Climate Change

US Leaks 60 Percent more Heat-Trapping Methane than Government Says

AFP

Tampa (AFP) – The US oil and gas industry leaks 60 percent more methane than official government estimates, a report said Thursday, warning of this potent greenhouse gas’s effect on the environment. US industry emits some 13 million metric tons each year, far more than the amount estimated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), […]

Climate Change

CO2 Catastrophe for Egypt: Rising Seas, Salinization to Displace 5 mn by 2025

Middle East Monitor

Cairo (Middle East Monitor) – The climate change on Egypt’s northern coast is expected to lead to the migration of at least five million people from the Nile Delta if appropriate measures are not taken. Climate changes on Egypt’s northern coast could force five million people to leave the country’s Nile Delta area, Egypt’s irrigation […]

Climate Change

Climate Terror Stalks us, and We Yawn– 3 Decades Later

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The American (and world) public was informed about the dangers of global heating 30 years ago this week, on June 23, 1988, by climate scientist James Hansen. It turns out that Big Oil and other hydrocarbon industries were convinced of the dangers privately even before that, but hid their scientists’ […]

Climate Change

$120 bn. in Coastal Property in Jeopardy from CO2-induced Sea-Level Rise

Kerry Sheridan

Sarasota (United States) (AFP) – Along sun-splashed shorelines in the US state of Florida, home prices are on the rise, developers are busy building new complexes, and listings just blocks from the beach describe homes that are “not in a flood zone,” meaning no flood insurance is required. But experts warn that ignoring sea level […]

Environment

Scott Pruitt at EPA isn’t just Corrupt; He is a Saboteur

Jill Richardson

Scott Pruitt’s abuse of our environment is far more dangerous than his abuse of taxpayer money. Madison, Wi. (Otherwords.org) – Did you hear that the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Scott Pruitt, is so corrupt that he spent $1,560 on 12 customized fountain pens? Or that he spent another $43,000 on a soundproof […]

Climate Change

Seas Surge as Pace of Antarctica Ice Loss Triples in 5 Yrs: 3 Trillion Tons Melted

AFP

Paris (AFP) – Antarctica has lost a staggering three trillion tonnes of ice since 1992, according to a landmark study published Wednesday that suggests the frozen continent could redraw Earth’s coastlines if global warming continues unchecked. Two-fifths of that ice loss occurred in the last five years, a three-fold increase in the pace at which […]

Climate Change

Shorter Pope Francis to Big Oil: You’re Going to Hell if You don’t Go Green

Juan Cole

Pope Francis on Saturday forthrightly reminded Big Oil that climate change is a moral issue. The Pontiff quoted his Encyclical, Laudato Si, to representatives of ExxonMobil, Total, BP and many others, saying, “There is no time to lose: We received the earth as a garden-home from the Creator; let us not pass it on to […]

Environment

Plastic Wasteland: Asia’s Ocean Pollution Crisis

Jenny Vaughan

(With Asia bureaus) Thanh Hoa (Vietnam) (AFP) – A Vietnamese mangrove draped with polythene, a whale killed after swallowing waste bags in Thai seas and clouds of underwater trash near Indonesian “paradise” islands — grim images of the plastic crisis that has gripped Asia. AFP/File / Nhac NGUYEN. A mangrove forest in Vietnam’s Thanh Hoa […]