As concentrations of carbon dioxide reach record levels, climate change experts warn that hundreds of millions of people will find themselves displaced in the next century due to desertification, floods, and rising seas. [The Guardian] The geopolitics behind the Syrian conflict and the instability in the Arab world. [The Guardian] After severe conflict in northern [...]
Tag Archives: climate-change
Press Review: Labor laws changed in Bangladesh & Genocide in Guatemala
Bangladesh’s government votes to allow garment workers to form trade unions without approval from their bosses. [The Guardian] Rios Montt is found guilty of genocide in Guatemala and sentenced to 80 years in prison. [Huffington Post] Over 5,000 refugees displaced by violence in Myanmar have been evacuated to higher ground in preparation for Cyclone Mahasen. [...]
Press Review: Malaria in the UK & Preventing Landgrabs with Mobile Technology
Despite a statistical decrease in global poverty, the numbers aren’t as positive when China is removed from the picture. [CNN] Sexual violence in Syria is widespread, but international aid for the survivors of rape is non-existent. [Huffington Post] As the UK’s climate warms, health experts urge the British government to take immediate public health precautions [...]
Signs of the NY Times: Syria, Syria, Syria. The End of Diplomacy? Fracking after all?
In an uncharacteristically blunt Op-Ed contribution, the U.N. under secretary general for Humanitarian affairs, the executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the executive director of the U.N. Children’s Fund and the director general of the World Health Organization are pleading for help of any kind to stop [...]
Press Review: UNICEF forced to abandon Syrian refugee camps & Extreme weather harder to predict
The president of Refugees International assesses the situation at refugee camps on the Turkish border to Syria. [Huffington Post] Simple geolocation technology helps nonprofits reduce infant and maternal mortality. [The Guardian] Extreme weather caused by global warming is getting harder to predict. [The Guardian] After receiving less than 20% of the funds it requested, UNICEF [...]
Press Review: Mobile technology transforms Africa’s rural farms & Crop insurance stabilizes Kenyan farms
Mobile technology transforms farming in rural Africa. [Washington Post] The Obama administration’s role in funding and arming the Honduran police forces accused of human rights violations. [The Guardian] A new crop insurance program in Kenya that helps poor farmers overcome losses from drought and heavy rains hopes to stabilize incomes and make farming more attractive [...]
Press Review: Zimbabwe bans election observers & Indigenous land rights activist murdered in Venezuela
Zimbabwe announces its intention to bar Western observers during an upcoming constitutional referendum that would limit presidential powers as well as elections. [BBC] A protest movement in Cambodia hopes to overturn a 20-year jail sentence given to a 72-year old activist who helped villagers fight against land grabs. [The Guardian] Venezuela says it is investigating [...]
Press Review: Arctic resources need protection & Mongolia’s mineral boom
As melting ice makes the Arctic’s abundant mineral, energy, and wildlife resources easier to access, the United Nations’ Environmental Programme asks the Arctic Council to guard them from exploitation. [The Guardian] Protesting against religious authorities who oppose women’s rights, Lebanese women are demanding the approval of a new law that would protect women from domestic [...]
Press Review: Super-typhoons on the rise in Philippines & Wastefullness tours highlight corruption
Super-typhoons in the Philippines are on the rise, serving as another warning that climate change is changing the earth’s weather patterns. [The Guardian] India debates whether the end of British aid in 2015 is a welcome sign of national advancement or a blow to the country’s poorest citizens. [The Guardian] In countries like Spain, the [...]
Press Review: Tree census begins in Brazil & Nigeria takes action against lead poisoning
The Brazilian government will begin a four-year tree census to access how conservation, deforestation, and climate change impact the Amazon forest. [The Guardian] Nigeria will finally take action on a lead poisoning outbreak that killed 400 children and has endangered thousands more. [Reuters] Household air pollution caused by cooking fires causes four million premature deaths [...]
Press Review: Illegal logging on the rise in Greece & How big cities impact climate change
A new study about the effects of big cities on climate change finds a direct link between large North American cities and warming trends thousands of miles away. [The Guardian] The non-profit SOLD Project uses education and mentoring to help impoverished youth avoid Thailand’s sex trafficking industry. [Christian Science Monitor] Questions of military leadership have [...]
Signs of the NY Times: Not too late for Global Cooling? The Taliban of Timbuktu. Gold and the Environment.
Op-Ed contributor Thomas E. Lovejoy – who in 1980 introduced the scientific community to the term “biological diversity” – is another widely respected scholar screaming for more attention to be paid to global warming. But unlike authors of many recent articles on the subject, he still has hope. Although he claims that the pre-determined allowable [...]
