By Scott Edwards and Christian Bueger | At the time of writing at least 100 people have lost their lives and a further 4,000 have been wounded following an explosion in the Port of Beirut. While the actual cause remains uncertain, the tragedy calls to attention the tremendous consequences of a lack of port security. […]
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Pollution
Trump nearly provokes International Incident, Wrongly saying Beirut Explosion a “Bomb”
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A massive ammonium nitrate explosion rocked Beirut’s port on Tuesday, sending up a mushroom cloud that reminded some of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, damaging buildings, blowing out windows, overturning cars, wounding over 3,000 people at least, and leaving dozens dead. Flying glass and debris were responsible for many of the injuries. […]
“Never Seen a Decline of this Magnitude” – ExxonMobil, Crashed by Covid, gets taste of looming Electric Vehicle Crisis
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ashton Nichols at The Dallas Morning News reports that ExxonMobil lost over $1 billion in the second quarter, up from a $600 million lost in the first. Year on year, its revenues are down 33% for the first half of this year. It has been forced to close down half […]
Plastic Found Lining Seabird Nests on a Worrying Scale
By Tom Ovenden | – From the packaging our food comes in to the clothes we wear, plastic is everywhere. We know that seabirds eat it and get tangled in it, but we are only just beginning to explore the impacts this has on their health and survival. This is really important, particularly in the […]
Yemen: Houthi Stonewalling on Leaking Oil Supertanker endangers Red Sea Ecology, 30 Million Livelihoods
( Human Rights Watch) – Houthi authorities in Yemen should immediately permit United Nations experts access to a supertanker moored off Yemen’s coast that risks spilling over a million barrels of crude oil into the Red Sea, Human Rights Watch said today. The UN says a spill would have catastrophic environmental and humanitarian consequences, including […]
Actually, Mr Trump, it’s stronger environmental regulation that makes economic winners
By Ou Yang | – Donald Trump has ordered US federal agencies to bypass environmental protection laws and fast-track pipeline, highway and other infrastructure projects. Signing the executive order last month, the US president declared regulatory delays would hinder “our economic recovery from the national emergency”. Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Agreement for […]
Believe it or Not: Fighting the Coronavirus depends on Keeping our Oceans Healthy
By Torsten Thiele, Marie-Christine Imbert and Timothy Bouley |- ( China Dialogue ) – We must think about how we emerge in a new and more sustainable post-crisis world that places living resources at its heart. When thinking about life on Earth, there is no better place to start than the ocean. Life was born […]
Threat to Sea Life: Scientists find 1.9 mn. pieces of Microplastic from our Clothing on 3 Sq. ft. of Deep Ocean Floor
By Ian Kane and Michael Clare | – What if the “great ocean garbage patches” were just the tip of the iceberg? While more than ten million tonnes of plastic waste enters the sea each year, we actually see just 1% of it – the portion that floats on the ocean surface. What happens to […]
Skyrocketing Carbon Dioxide is Bad News, and, no, Trees won’t Save Us
By Sebastian Leuzinger | – If carbon dioxide levels were to double, how much increase in plant growth would this cause? How much of the world’s deserts would disappear due to plants’ increased drought tolerance in a high carbon dioxide environment? Compared to pre-industrial levels, the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere will […]