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Discovering Global Environmental Interconnections
Updated: 12 hours 57 min ago
Carbon Life: Bacteria to President Barack Obama
Life survives miles below the Earth’s surface By Stephen Leahy UXBRIDGE, Canada, Mar 5 2013 (IPS) Every living thing from bacteria to President Barack Obama is made of carbon from exploding stars. Billions of years ago, motes of carbon and other stardust formed the Earth. Carbon is the basis of all life but most vanished […]
Help Wanted: 27 Planet Earths
This story was featured on the IPS wire and on the Al Jazeera network in 2011. It shows that national parks, conservation and protected areas do not and cannot halt the decline in biodiversity that is humanity’s life support system. It is hopeless without addressing the root causes: too many of us, taking too much and having too big of […]
Governments Fail to Take Steps to Steer Away From Looming Crisis
“Rio+20 should have been about life, about the future of our children” By Stephen Leahy RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 19 2012 (IPS) “Very disappointing.” That was the term business and non-governmental organisations used to describe the formal intergovernmental negotiations at the Rio+20 Earth Summit as of Tuesday. With overwhelming scientific evidence showing that the Earth’s […]
“We Should be Shaking in Our Boots” – UN Environment Official
Earth’s Ability to Support Us At Risk – An Indictment of Governments We Elected By Stephen Leahy RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 19 2012 (IPS) The science is crystal clear: humans are threatening Earth’s ability to support mankind, and a new world economy is urgently needed to prevent irreversible decline, said scientists and other experts at […]
Concrete Sustainable Development Goals the Only Recipe for Success
How to Secure a Viable Future for All By Stephen Leahy RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 16 (TerraViva) Goals drive action, and that’s why establishing a set of Sustainable Development Goals is so important to put the world on a sustainable pathway, experts said Saturday under the tropical fig and palm forest that covers much of […]
Poor Countries Need to Green, Low Carbon Economies to End Poverty
Low Carbon, Green Only Way Out of Poverty Trap RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 15 (TerraViva) Poor countries that green their economies will lift millions of their citizens out of poverty and generate higher incomes while protecting invaluable natural ecosystems, says a report released here in Rio Thursday. Some developing countries are actively pursuing a transition […]
Voice of Youth Ignored by Governments
Taking away the voice of the next generation By Stephen Leahy RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 17 (TerraViva) Youth and future generations do not deserve a voice in their own future, the Brazilian government appears to have arbitrarily decided here at the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development, where the theme is “The Future We Want”. Representatives […]
Protecting Rights of Future Generations – The Injustice of Climate Change
Who will speak for future generations? By Stephen Leahy UXBRIDGE, Canada, Jun 5, 2012 (Tierramérica) The theme of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) is “The Future We Want”, but there is no official role for youth nor a spokesperson for future generations who will inherit that futur Now there is a growing […]
24 Policies That Can End Our Earth Emergency
“Ecological literacy is vital for those in positions of power and influence” Never vote for anyone who isn’t literate By Stephen Leahy UXBRIDGE, Canada, Jun 7 2012 (IPS) Ecologically ignorant policies are largely responsible for the interlinked crises that are unraveling the planet’s life support system. The unintended consequences of such policies are climate change, […]
“We’re all scared…But we must tell the truth” — Experts Fear Collapse of Global Civilisation
By Stephen Leahy UXBRIDGE, Canada, Jan 11 2013 (IPS) Experts on the health of our planet are terrified of the future. They can clearly see the coming collapse of global civilisation from an array of interconnected environmental problems. “We’re all scared,” said Paul Ehrlich, president of the Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford University. “But […]
Fossil Energy Interests Buy Politicians – and they’re cheap says economist
[This interview with economist Robert Repetto (now at Yale) was published two years ago. It is more relevant than ever in showing how fossil fuel money influences politics and prevents real action on climate. -- Stephen] ‘What else can you do with coal except burn it? Railways make a lot of money shipping coal’ By [...]
The Most Important Number in Human History
That number was 52 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2012 Only when this number declines will we know we’re making the shift to climate protection By Stephen Leahy UXBRIDGE, Canada, Dec 17 2012 (IPS) The most important number in history is now the annual measure of carbon emissions. That number reveals humanity’s steady billion-tonne by [...]
Nuclear Energy and the ‘Mother of all Subsidies’
[The two year anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster is March 11. Little has changed from this 2011 article (except cleanup costs may be higher at $250 billion). Generations of Japanese taxpayers will have to cover those costs. Other countries also have liability caps which means the public provides 'free insurance' to the industry. As this article [...]
Canada and US Spending Billions to Create Climate Chaos
Welcome to Bizarro World [This is a 2011 repost about Keystone XL and expansion of fossil fuel production while world's nations are supposed to be reducing climate-wrecking emissions of carbon. -- Stephen] Analysis by Stephen Leahy UXBRIDGE, Canada, Aug 10, 2011 (IPS) Canada and the United States are now the centre of Bizarro World. This [...]
Climate Change B.S. Detector: Sorting Fact from Fiction
By Stephen Leahy Uxbridge Cosmos, Feb 2013 There is quite a bit of misinformation about climate science and climate change (global warming). This is the most important issue of our time but it can be a complex subject. Here are some tips to help sort fact from fiction based on my experience of writing about [...]
Why Our Weather is Weird ‘n Wild and Why It Is Getting Worse
Repost from 2011: More and more science reveals the not surprising connection between a warming planet and extreme weather. Won’t stop unless emissions of fossil fuels stop — Stephen (Bonus: How we can kick the fossil fuel addiction) By Stephen Leahy UXBRIDGE, Canada, Feb 16, 2011 (IPS) Human-induced heating of the planet has already made [...]
Costs $50-75 To Drive 100 Km (62 miles) – It’s not high gas prices
Smartest Thing You Can Do Is Dump Your Car By Stephen Leahy Uxbridge Cosmos, Feb 2013 Cars and trucks are extraordinarily expensive. The full cost of driving 100 km is between between $50 and $75 when fuel, wear and tear, insurance, depreciation, and repairs are included. The cost of owning and operating a car, van, [...]
Ice, Polar Bears & the Arctic Melt Down That's Changing the World
Reblogged from Stephen Leahy, International Environmental Journalist: Ice-free summer in the Arctic is just a matter of time - mostly likely within the next 5 years. Here's a "six-pack" of my recent articles on how global warming is transforming the Arctic: The Arctic — The Earth’s Freezer — Is Defrosting With Dire Results The rapidly [...]
Killer Heat Waves and Floods Linked to Climate Change
“The first law of humanity is not to kill your children.” By Stephen Leahy UXBRIDGE, Canada, Feb 27 2013 (IPS) Killer heat waves, floods and storms are increasingly caused by climate change, new research reveals. Scientists in Germany say they have found how greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels are helping to trap the jet [...]
Green Energy Solves Dual Crises of Poverty and Climate
Dirty fossil fuel energy leads to 350,000 premature deaths in Europe By Stephen Leahy UXBRIDGE, Canada, Feb 25 2013 (IPS) Green energy is the only way to bring billions of people out of energy poverty and prevent a climate disaster, a new study reveals. Conservative institutions like the World Bank, the International Energy Agency and [...]