By Chris Hedges – The charade of the 21st United Nations climate summit will end, as past climate summits have ended, with lofty rhetoric and ineffectual cosmetic reforms. Since the first summit more than 20 years ago, carbon dioxide emissions have soared. Placing faith in our political and economic elites, who have mastered the arts…
Monthly Archives: December 2015
Hope and Change: Government’s Shrinking Toolkit
By Edgar Wilson – America’s political leaders are not agents of change. They campaign as thought-leaders and strategists, but they are really glorified marketers. Their primary wares for sale to the public? Overwhelmingly, incentives and punishments—typically financial in nature—that will supposedly herald a sea change in behavior, shepherding the country into the future. Everything from…
Climate Change Could Plunge 175 Million More People Into Hunger
US Department of Agriculture warns of danger of ‘business as usual’ approach – Rising temperatures to hit poor and those in tropics hardest – WASHINGTON, D.C., THE GUARDIAN – Unchecked climate change risks plunging a further 175 million people into hunger and undernourishment worldwide, undermining progress in reducing food insecurity, a U.S. government report warns.…
Study Says Habitat Loss is a Rising Threat to World’s Migratory Birds
By Will Dunham and Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Habitat destruction poses an increasing peril to migratory birds around the world, and not enough is being done to protect breeding grounds and other important feeding and resting areas along migration paths, according to a new study published in the journal Science. Scientists said they…
The World’s Rich Produce Half of All Carbon Emissions
While the Poorest Half Only Produce Ten Percent – LONDON (Reuters) – The richest tenth of the world’s people produce half of all carbon emissions, while the poorest half – most threatened by droughts and super storms linked to climate change – produce only one tenth, according to Oxfam, an international confederation of 17 organizations…
New Study Proves Coal is King Among Pollution that Causes Heart Disease
By Darryl Fears and Glynn Wilson – Exposure to emissions from coal-fired power plants over a long period of time is significantly more harmful to the heart than other forms of carbon pollution, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, released early Wednesday to coincide with the world climate talks…