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: global-warming
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. [...]
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: First international arms treaty passed & Ecuador auctions rainforest to big oil companies
The U.N. General Assembly had voted to create the first international arms treaty, which will make it more difficult to sell weapons to governments and groups that engage in war crimes and genocide. [Washington Post] Three million hectares of untouched Amazonian rainforest in Ecuador are set to be auction off to Chinese oil companies. Indigenous [...]
Signs of the NY Times: Crowd-funding the future. Female farmers in crisis. Syrian refugees reach one million. End the Arab boycott of Israel.
Opinionator David Bornstein is touting a new strategy in the fight to solve global warming. As opposed to the most common approach – which is to attempt to scare people into consuming less, recycling and buying green by reminding us of all the horrible consequences that our grandchildren, children and even we will suffer if [...]
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 [...]
Press Review: Sexual violence in Syria & North Korea’s crimes against humanity
The International Rescue Committee is reporting widespread sexual violence against Syrian women and girls who have taken refuge in camps where there is no support to help them heal physically or mentally. [The Guardian] South African activists attempt to change its society’s ambivalent attitude towards rape. [BBC] A year after Kim Jong-un came to power [...]
Signs of the NY Times: Sex crime in Mogadishu. Anti-Semitism in Egypt. War in Mali.
Lisa Shannon reports from Mogadishu on the eve of Hillary Clinton’s visit with hopes that the U.S. Secretary of State will help cast light on the rape crisis there. It seems that not only is rape tolerated by the Somalian government, but uniformed government officials are oftentimes the perpetrators. Needless to say, this is strong [...]
Press Review: Deadly air pollution in Iran & China to reform labor camps
In its first steps towards changes to the legal system under new leader Xi Jinping, China plans to reform its controversial forced labor camp system. [Reuters] The longterm effects of global warming and its effects on poverty, inequality, and the global economy. [The Guardian] Air pollution in Iran is blamed for thousands of deaths over [...]
Press Review: Crisis in the Central African Republic & Chinese journalists protest censorship
Growing unrest in the Central African Republic is causing concern amongst humanitarian groups who say 300,000 people are caught in the middle of rebel fighting with no access to health care or basic shelter. [The Guardian] Journalists protesting censorship at a major Chinese newspaper may force China’s new leader Xi Jinping to act on the [...]
Press Review: Counterfeit medicine creates health crisis in Africa & Women in Egypt fight sexual harassment
Five-thousand residents of a Peruvian mining town are being forced from their homes after a Chinese company buys the mountain they live on and plans to remove its mineral-rich peak. The mountain, Toromocho, is valued at $50 billion. [The Guardian] A health crisis is taking shape in Africa as counterfeit medicine from China that contains [...]
