Worldcrunch
CERVERE — It hasn’t rained in two months. The corn has not grown. Six out of ten hectares of this plain field are completely parched. “It’s late now,” says Giovanni Bedino, running his dark fingers through the dry leaves of the corn. The farmer, now 59, has been working the land since he was 15. […]
Salento, the very southeastern tip of Italy, is a flat and shrubby land of farmers, stunning beaches and simple rural villages built around Baroque churches. Thousands of Italians and foreigners flock to this part of the Puglia region on the heel of the Italian boot every summer, lured by its promise of a rustic, idyllic […]
In case you missed it, the World Heritage Centre of UNESCO recently revealed its draft decision to list the Great Barrier Reef as “in danger” — a decision that appeared to shock the Australian government. In an opinion piece published June 30th in The Australian newspaper, Environment Minister Sussan Ley acknowledged climate change is the biggest threat to the Great Barrier Reef, and that it “has been through a few rough years.” She has also suggested, however, UNESCO’s draft in-danger decision is a surprise and was politically motivated. Neither of these claims is credible. So let’s look at Australia’s reaction […]
Professors Christian Jakob and Michael Reeder explain how heatwaves form … and why they weather is a part of climate change we should pay closer attention to.
Now 18 and officially an adult, the climate activist’s message isn’t changing. And what about our own grownup rationalizations?
Petrobras, the state-owned Brazilian oil and gas company, may post big numbers but it has a backward strategy.
While the pandemic has restricted people’s movement, climate change will increasingly do the opposite as populations move from the worst to less affected zones.
A new Greenpeace report warns that foreign fishing fleets, mostly from China, are gobbling up every bit of marine life they can into ‘stadium-sized’ nets.
Plastic pollution has contaminated our oceans to the point where a new ecological niche of anthropic origin has been coined: the ‘plastisphere’. The bacteria that proliferate there could lead to the next health crisis.
A global pandemic and weariness in many places of cheap, mass tourism may hasten a real paradigm shift in the travel sector. Or not.
If you hated greenwashing, you’ll be appalled by green colonialism.
SÃO PAULO — One of the world’s most important biodiversity regions is experiencing the worst drought and the worst series of wildfires in decades. Yes, the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland area, in western Brazil, is burning. So far this year, fires have scorched more than 1.2 million hectares of land, about eight times […]
Although the coronavirus pandemic is dominating global politics, Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg and her peers are hoping to turn their activism into tangible policy change.
Unless we question the socio-economic structures associated with the production of waste and waste management, we’ll never dig out of the waste crisis.
COURMAYEUR — When the alarm sounded last year, it was because the ice on the Mont Blanc, on the border between Italy and France, was moving too quickly. Its front had broken away from the rest of the ice lobe, separated by a huge crack, and descended three meters per day. Experts feared that 250 […]
The Amazon jungle provides benefits that extend well beyond the river basin itself. It stands to reason, therefore, that countries like Colombia be paid to protect it.
For areas like the Mediterranean basin, tourism is huge business. But it’s also an inordinate source of plastic pollution.
-OpEd- BOGOTÁ — Is there a relation between women and the environment? Is it necessary to view environmental policies through female eyes? Is there is a difference in the male and female relationship to the matter? The response to all these is a definite “yes.” Around the world, women are the most interactive with natural […]
The venerable old city needs to embrace innovation and stop putting all of its eggs in the tourism basket, writes Italian-born architect and MIT professor Carlo Ratti.
Careful cultivation of the Amazon’s curative fruits and plants could be far more profitable than destructive practices like soy or livestock farming.
Warmer temperatures and plastic waste lying about reminded an expedition to Svalbard that no part of Earth is untouched by the activities of its humans.
From climate change and migration, to tobacco deaths and exploitative business practices, governments and multilateral bodies are systematically failing to act.
It’s easy to fault Jair Bolsonaro for his apparent indifference to the unfolding environmental disaster in Brazil. But there’s plenty of blame to go around.
Some of the recent racist mass killers were also worried about the degradation of the environment. It’s part of a old twisted ideology that mixes love of nature and xenophobia.
It has become fashionable to blame the climate crisis on the economy, but it’s important to fight against this misconception, and the trivialization of the problem.
Record temperatures are likely to be broken this week as a brutal summer heatwave hits large swathes of the European continent. As mercury rises, so do our concerns about climate change, with France’s health minister Agnès Buzyn warning that “we are going to have to change our habits and stop thinking these episodes are exceptional.” From above, this OneShot captures these dog days — in the heat of the moment. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/embed/qoFkqb8db4w expand=1] Heatwave and Waves (©Hauke-Christian Dittrich/DPA/ZUMA) | OneShot OneShot is a new digital format to tell the story of a single photograph in an immersive one-minute video. Follow […]
A new study shows Germany must look for other ways to convince automobile buyers to switch to electric cars. Shall we say: quota?
The airline industry certainly has room for improvement, but dreaming of a rail-only future ignores some practical and even environmental realities.
Opposition to the planned Nord Stream 2 gas project had been limited to Europe. But now the Trump administration is challenging it too — with possible sanctions.
In northern Colombia, large-scale banana and palm oil estates have long used their clout to control land and water resources and leave peasant farmers high and dry.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/embed/IR3JN13nloA expand=1] Bertrand Piccard’s Selfie — © Solar Impulse | OneShot Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg accomplished a feat of aviation that few believed possible: the first Round-The-World flight, powered only by the sun, with no fuel or polluting emissions. The flight of Solar Impulse demonstrated not only that clean technologies are the future, […]
Bioplastic sounds like a welcome eco-alternative to the many plastic products we use daily. But the reality isn’t so simple.
Going all out on the autobahn may be part of the German way of life, but speed limits are necessary to limit road accidents and lower CO2 emissions.
Forget nylon!. Local clothing lines like Animaná are rediscovering all-natural fibers such as lama and linen, and even producing fabrics the old-fashioned way.
-Open Letter- PARIS — In the weeks since France’s popular environment minister, Nicolas Hulot resigned, after expressing disappointment with President Emmanuel Macron“s environmental record, newspapers have been filled with articles and opinion pieces sounding the alarm. Those in power are told to take vigorous and urgent ecological action to reduce consumption of polluting energies and […]
In some western states, utilities are flipping the script on waste-water treatment, transforming sewage facilities into attractive parks with streams, hiking trails and science museums.
Wind power has its drawbacks, especially in central German region of Hesse, where developers want to erect generators in wooded areas like the Reinhardswald, of Brothers Grimm fame.
Rescuing the planet from the ravages of capitalism may be just the thing our dominant economic system needs to save itself, columnist Jean-Marc Vittori argues.
A case study of Angul in Odisha highlights just how much urban centers rely on lower castes when it comes to sanitation.
Activists in Colombia are working with public and private entities, offline and online, to reduce and recycle every ounce of solid waste produced.