Pollution

(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 […]

Green Energy

Our Dirty Air is Killing us, and dumping Coal, Diesel is the Cure

Melissa C. Lott

New research published this week in “The Lancet Planetary Health” reveals a promising path towards clean, healthy air: strong climate change policy, writes Dr. Melissa C. Lott. We are regularly horrified by the photos we see of air pollution in cities like Beijing and New Delhi, but the reality is that many are suffering from […]

China

China’s Climate Policies Could Save 94,000 People from Early Grave

contributors

Beijing (AFP) – China could avoid nearly 94,000 premature deaths and save a whopping $339 billion in health costs over the next 12 years by honoring its carbon reduction commitments under the Paris climate accord, a study showed Monday. The country has pledged to reach peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 at the latest and […]

Petroleum

Why Electric Cars are Better: Massive Keystone Pipeline Oil Leak Twice as bad as Thought

contributors

TeleSur | – – The spill gave further ammunition to environmental groups and other U.S. opponents of another pipeline the company has proposed, the long-delayed Keystone XL. The Keystone crude oil pipeline leak in November in rural South Dakota was nearly double the original estimate, making it one of the largest U.S. inland spills since […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel isn’t Just Occupying Palestinian West Bank, it is Polluting It

contributors

Ramona Wadi (@walzerscent) | (The Middle East Monitor) | – – Israel remains the only UN member state which has never declared where its borders are. In fact, it has refused to demarcate any borders due to the Zionist intention to colonise the whole of historic Palestine. For less desirable requirements, however, it does not […]

Denialism

Even conservatives are resisting Trump’s radical assault on the environment

contributors

By Tan Copsey | (ChinaDialogue) | – – President Trump has been in power for just over a year and has enjoyed few policy successes. But one area where his administration’s radical, deregulatory agenda has been successful is in dismantling environmental protections. The Trump administration has not quite fulfilled a campaign promise to abolish the […]

Environment

11 billion pieces of plastic bring disease threat to coral reefs

contributors

By Joleah Lamb | (The Conversation) | – – There are more than 11 billion pieces of plastic debris on coral reefs across the Asia-Pacific, according to our new research, which also found that contact with plastic can make corals more than 20 times more susceptible to disease. In our study, published today in Science, […]

Climate Change

European Parliament backs Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050

contributors

By Frédéric Simon | (EURACTIV.com) | – – Green lawmakers have hailed a “great victory for the climate” as a proposal to bring down to zero the amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted in the atmosphere by 2050 received unexpected backing from the European Parliament last Wednesday (17 January). Plenary session week 3 […]

Pentagon

Burn Pits and Toxins: Are 800 US Bases abroad Scofflaw Polluters?

contributors

H. Patricia Hynes | (Informed Comment) | – – My nephew, an Army veteran who spent most of his 20 plus years military service as an officer in South Korea, is now a civilian military contractor living on a base in Afghanistan. Our only conversation about US military pollution in South Korea was something of […]