Pollution

By Alice Mah, University of Warwick | – This spring, I taught a new undergraduate course in environmental sociology. Most of my students took the course because they were curious to see what their desire to live more sustainably had to do with sociology. By the third week – after a deep dive into the […]

Climate Crisis

Climate: Scientists Stunned to Find Atlantic Plankton 90% Gone; Marine Life, our Oxygen Imperiled

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – (Note: After publication, Jonathan Gitlin at Ars Technica took issue with the below on the grounds that it is based on a preprint and not a peer-reviewed academic journal article. He implies that Dryden’s study did not have enough data points to support his conclusions. I’ll let readers judge how […]

Climate Crisis

How Climate Solutions promoted by Western Governments avoid what needs to be Done

Waging Nonviolence

By Jenni Laiti and Florian Carl | – ( Waging Nonviolence) – “What local people?” This was the highly controversial question posed in 2014 by the former head of the British mining company Beowulf — to dismiss concerns over the impacts of a proposed iron-ore mine on the Indigenous Sámi people. The project is set […]

Climate Crisis

The Double Whammy of Industrial Waste and the Climate Crisis

Gregory A. Cade

Birmingham, Ala. (Special to Informed Comment) – According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) of the United States Congress, about one-third of chemical facilities in the United States that contain hazardous compounds are threatened by global warming and the climate changes that result from it. Flooding, storm surges, wildfires, and rising sea levels are just […]

Climate Crisis

Is it possible to heal the damage we have already done to the Earth?

The Conversation

Scott Denning | – Sometimes it may seem that humans have altered the Earth beyond repair. But our planet is an incredible system in which energy, water, carbon and so much else flows and nurtures life. It is about 4.5 billion years old and has been through enormous changes. Is it possible to heal the […]

Coal

In Victory against Coal, South African Court rules that clean Air is a Constitutional Right

The Conversation

By Rebecca Garland, University of Pretoria | – A court in South Africa has confirmed the constitutional right of the country’s citizens to an environment that isn’t harmful to their health. This includes the right to clean air, as exposure to air pollution affects human health. Air pollution also affects land and water systems, and […]

Environmentalism

Microplastics can enter our bloodstream, scientists find

Sustainability Times

By Daniel T Cross” ( Sustainability Times) – Microplastics have permeated the environment from mountain tops to the seafloor and are posing a threat to human health as well because we unwittingly ingest considerable quantities of it. It turns out that microplastics, which are minute particles often invisible to the naked eye, can even get […]

Climate Crisis

Harvard study links fracking to early death risk for seniors

Sustainability Times

By Laureen Fagan: ( Sustainability Times) – Most people know it as fracking, a process of drilling for gas and oil using methods like hydraulic fracturing to inject water or chemicals into rock layers so that the fossil fuels can be extracted. It’s long been opposed by climate activists, but now a new study suggests […]

Climate Crisis

IPCC report: Half the world is facing water scarcity, floods and dirty water — large investments are needed for effective solutions

The Conversation

By Balsher Singh Sidhu, University of British Columbia | – More than half the world’s population faces water scarcity for at least one month every year. Meanwhile, some people have to deal with too much water, while others have access to only poor water quality. That’s billions of people living with drought in Africa and […]