When the US embassy in Beijing started tweeting figures from its rooftop air quality monitor it did not anticipate the far-reaching consequences.It started publishing hourly measurements of PM2.5 levels – the most dangerous small particles – on Twitter in March 2008 at a time when the city was choking on dense smog.The tweets eventually prompted the Chinese authorities to start releasing that data themselves after the US embassy readings started to appear on social media platforms such as Weibo…
There will be contrasting conditions weather-wise for both ends of the country this weekend – with a wet start to the weekend for much of the south and a cool but fine start for the north. An active ...
Department of forestry, fisheries and environment refuses to grant environmental authorisation for gas-to-power projects The post Karpowership environmental impact assessments thrown out appeared first on The Mail & Guardian.
Airborne particles in London still contain high levels of lead more than 20 years after the United Kingdom banned and phased out leaded gas. Air pollution experts say the same could be true for U.S. air.
Searing, unrelenting heat scorches large swathes of the Earth, killing millions who have no means to escape. Shade is useless, and shallow bodies of water are warmer than the blood coursing through people’s veins.This is a scene from a new sci-fi novel, but the suffocating horror it describes may be closer to science than fiction, according to a draft UN report that warns of dire consequences for billions if global warming continues unchecked.Earlier climate models suggested it would take…
AS Nestl� Anglo Dutch Caribbean continues its efforts to attain zero greenhouse gas emissions across its operations and to make its packaging either recyclable or reusable by the year 2025, the company highlighted some of its achievements on the heels of World Environment Day 2021, which was celebrated on June 5.In a release, Nestl� said, as at December 2020, it has achieved zero waste to landfill at its Trinidad and Jamaica sites. It was done through the reduction of waste output and conversion of all waste streams to 90 per cent recyclable material, the release continued. It said, too, that the remaining 10 per cent of non-recyclable material is sent for incineration with energy recovery - all performed by local waste management and recycling partners.New initiatives are already under way...
Scientists are on high alert that the Amazon is careening toward a destructive fire season. Parts of Brazil and its typically lush rainforest are parched by drought and loaded with fire-kindling fuel after a surge of deforestation in 2020.
[Central African Forest Initiative] Held from 17 to 21 May, the Annual Partnership review between Gabon and CAFI concluded with a high-level dialogue on results-based payments to high forest cover, low deforestation (HFLD) countries.
New electric plane fleets could arrive, thanks to Jet It and JetClub. These new aircraft could reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide.
Extreme weather phenomena take a rapid and often unpredictable course. Hazard information must therefore be accurate, fast, and legible. The Institute of Meteorology and Water Management – National Research Institute, based on the experience of the floods in 2010, developed and implemented a modern tool for operational work, which significantly improved and facilitated communication with public institutions. Nowadays, it is one of the essential elements of the national crisis management system and daily support for institutions performing various tasks in the field of water management....
The troubled Limetree Bay refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands will be closed "indefinitely," its owners said today, citing "extreme financial constraints" at the facility, which has been linked to numerous air pollution problems and environmental justice concerns.
[Egypt Online] Environment Minister Yasmin Fouad said on Friday the "concept of the environment" had been developed under the leadership of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, noting the environmental dimension had been integrated into various development sectors in line with Egypt Vision 2030.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Southwest U.S. continued to bake Saturday, and weather forecasters kept warnings in effect for excessive heat in Arizona, Nevada and desert areas, at least through the weekend.High temperature marks didn’t fall Saturday, but Phoenix reached a sweltering high of 115 degrees (46 C) for the day and Las Vegas hit 111 degrees (44 C). Both were 3 degrees shy of records for the date, forecasters said.Predicted highs on Sunday of 116 degrees (46.6 C) in Phoenix and 113 degrees (45 C) in Las Vegas were expected to fall short of high marks for June 20, the National Weather Service said.But Phoenix did set a record Saturday for consecutive 115-degree (46 C) days, meteorologist Isaac Smith said, and Sunday could extend the record to six days.Neither city was expected to reach record...
Getty Fast fashion has grown to saturate much of the fashion market. It made trends readily available to the masses at a fraction of the cost of designer items, and turned companies like Zara and H&M into multi-billion-dollar enterprises. Of course, with that level of mass production came many environmental costs ranging from pollution to supply chain issues, compounded by eco-related labor issues. Fast fashion proved itself to be ethically questionable, although companies have begun making amends for their past environmental missteps. Brands have begun using more sustainably sourced materials, creating clothing recycling programs, and reorganizing their supply chains to be eco-friendlier. As fast fashion has started cleaning up its act, a new frontier has emerged: fast beauty. Fast...
As Texas faces an energy shortage during a historic heat wave, residents say the temperature on their smart thermostats have been raised remotely without their knowledge.
It costs less than $10 to provide an individual with lifetime access to clean, safe and usable water The post World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought: Thursday 17 June 2021 appeared first on The Mail & Guardian.
Federal environment minister uses National Press Club speech to warn Australia's solar industry to get cracking on an industry-wide approach panel recycling. The post Solar industry put on notice for “landfill nightmare” by federal environment minister appeared first on RenewEconomy.
PHNOM PENH: The United States is ending a Cambodian aid programme aimed at protecting one its biggest wildlife sanctuaries, citing worsening deforestation and harassment of those who speak out about destruction of natural resources.
[Shabait] Message from Ministry of Agriculture
[New Dawn] The environmental nonprofit Conservation International has presented a map, which classifies and depicts Liberia's diverse ecosystem types to President George M. Weah as a gift.The map was presented to President Weah recently during the formal of a national conference on the environment and climate change held under the auspices of the Government of Liberia through the Environment Protection Agency (EPA).
Today is World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought , and the Greater Wellington Environment Committee meets this morning.
The lion’s share of Belt and Road Initiative investment should go to countries in southern and southeast Asia because they have fewer environmental issues to threaten economic development, according to a new study in China.The study led by Professor Fang Chuanglin argued that some countries in the land-based Eurasia economic belt such as Iran and Afghanistan were poor and in desperate need of economic development, but their fragile environment could collapse in rapid growth. Fang is a senior…
The global development organization cited "environmental and transparency shortcomings."
EPA has asked its staff for help as the agency readies to push out a high volume of grants for environmental justice, a top priority of the Biden administration.
[Daily News] ON World Environment Day, a clear message resonated across the globe: we must heal the planet, we must start now and we must work together because everyone has a role to play in reviving the world's ailing ecosystems.
[This Day] Chiemelie Ezeobi reports that to ensure proper plastic waste disposal, the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency has intensified its advocacy for sustainable waste management by instituting a cash reward system in exchange for plastic trash.
Thirty green groups are backing three candidates to lead EPA's Region 6 office, a politically complicated post that historically has had disputes with Texas officials.
Fox 26 A local Fox reporter interrupted her live on-air weather report on Monday evening to accuse the station’s parent company, Fox Corp., of “muzzling” her and announce that the far-right activist group Project Veritas will release her secret recordings on Tuesday. Ivory Hecker, a general assignment reporter for Fox 26 in Houston, was all set to do a live on-location hit to discuss how the recent heatwave in Texas has affected power outages across the viewing area. Before turning to the local weather, however, Hecker had a bombshell of her own for viewers and her colleagues. “Before we get to that story, I want to let you, the viewers, know that Fox Corp. has been muzzling me to keep certain information from you, the viewers,” Hecker casually declared. “And from what I’m gathering, I...
A fundamental change to the second largest cryptocurrency to slash its carbon footprint by 99 per cent is just six to nine months away, says its creator
[Daily Maverick] The environmental impact assessment approval process for the controversial Turkish emergency powerships deal in Saldanha Bay has been suspended by environment minister Barbara Creecy. This could trigger further delays and legal challenges for Karpowership's broader power plans in South Africa.
Streaming your favorite hourlong television show is the environmental equivalent of boiling a kettle for six minutes or popping four bags of popcorn in the microwave, according to an industry-backed study from climate group Carbon Trust.
global, global warming, warming Letters to the Editor: Reversing population growth is our only chance to fight global warming
"Early heat waves and more frequent heat waves this summer will exacerbate an already serious situation," one climatologist said.
How London Uses Road Fees to Tackle Air Pollution and Inequality kaitlyn.thayer… Fri, 06/11/2021 - 11:08 Half a century ago, a lethal haze of smoke and fog, otherwise known as the Great Smog of 1952, covered London and killed as many as 12,000 people. More recently, in 2013, Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah died at the hands of air pollution. “[Ella] was the first person in the world to have air pollution listed as the cause of her death,” says 17-year old co-founder of the organization... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
President Biden today unveiled his first sweeping regulatory plan, revealing plans to continue unraveling the Trump administration's environmental rollbacks on climate, air pollution, toxics and workplace safety.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a virtual high-level dialogue on desertification, land degradation and drought at the UN convened by the President of the General Assembly next week.
A government scientist investigating Hurricane Maria's destruction said yesterday that NASA satellites may underestimate precipitation during major storms, raising questions about using them to inform warning systems before and during disasters.
A fire broke out at Liberty Iron and Metal Recycling Plant on June 10, 2021, just 3.5 miles from a massive recycling plant fire just days earlier.
[Thomson Reuters Foundation] Military and security experts warn new international rules to deal with global warming-related threats are urgently needed
In this week's issue of our environment newsletter, we explore the idea of including environmental protections in the Constitution and where Canadians stand on plastic-bag use in grocery stores.
The European Union's climate chief pledged measures to protect the most vulnerable households during the transition to a cleaner economy, seeking to allay concerns about a potential expansion of the bloc's carbon market into transport and heating.
LOGANAIR is to be the first airline in the UK to introduce a mandatory £1 carbon offset charge for every passenger, starting next month.
Energy Environ. Sci. , 2021, Accepted Manuscript DOI : 10.1039/D1EE00740H, Review Article Xing Zhi, Anthony Vasileff, Yao Zheng, Yan Jiao, Shizhang Qiao The electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CRR) is intrinsically complex given the multiple possible reaction pathways and end products. Consequently, selectivity is a persistent challenge for the design and operation of... The content of this RSS Feed (c) The Royal Society of Chemistry
This article is part of IPS coverage of World Environment Day, celebrated June 5, whose theme this year is “ecosystem restoration”.
Business groups today mounted a last-ditch defense of Trump-era cost-and-benefit forecasting requirements for future Clean Air Act regulations while environmental and public health advocates urged the Biden administration to follow through with an initial decision to scrap them and then go further.
Wild weather across Australia's east is producing damaging winds, snow, heavy rain, flooding and warnings about dangerous driving conditions across a freezing NSW.
It's been almost 5 million years since CO2 levels were this high.
A new review of eight existing studies published in the journal Environmental Research Letters has found that livestock farms and feedlots in North America may be emitting far more methane than previously assumed. The researchers from New York University and Johns Hopkins University found that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — which estimates methane from […]
[Radio Dabanga] Khartoum -- World Environment Day 2021 was marked in Sudan on Saturday with a celebration in organised by the by the Ministry of Culture and Information in cooperation with the Sudanese Society for Afforestation. the Ambassadors of Sweden, Netherlands, Spain and the EU, representatives of organisations, and the residents of Tuti Island in Khartoum teamed up and participated in cleaning waste and litter from the beach and the market street.
Current levels are comparable to a period when the sea level was 23.5 meters higher than today and the average temperature was 4 degrees Celsius ...
Preliminary government data released on Friday has raised concern that the coming dry season will see even more deforestation of Brazil's Amazon than last year's surge of cutting.
If confirmed, environmental leader Tracy Stone-Manning would be the first permanent director of the Bureau of Land Management in four years.
The COVID-19 pandemic barely registered as a blip as humanity spewed carbon dioxide into Earth's atmosphere over the past year, scientists said.
The amount of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere reached 419 parts per million in May, its highest level in more than four million years, according to NOAA. Fossil fuel use is driving the increase.
Rotifers are small and squishy and do not look resilient, but one individual has endured about 24,000 years frozen in permafrost, and is now thriving
Phoenix fire crews made significant progress overnight putting out a huge blaze that swept through multiple recycling yards, destroying businesses and injuring one firefighter.
atmosphere, carbon, carbon dioxide Despite pandemic, level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hits historic levels
Finance ministers for the Group of Seven nations agreed this weekend that their coalition of wealthy democracies must do more to address the economic threat of global warming.
Air pollution in many parts of Hong Kong reached “serious” levels on Sunday under the influence of a high-pollution background airstream, the city’s environmental department said.On Sunday afternoon, the Air Quality Health Index reached the highest on the scale at six of the Environmental Protection Department’s 18 general and roadside air quality monitoring stations.Those general stations recording “very high” levels of pollution were mainly in the western parts of the city, namely in Yuen…
A fire that began in a South Phoenix recycling plant has consumed several commercial structures and flames and black smoke shoot up hundreds of feet.
EPA is planning to release data on toxic air pollution more frequently as the Biden administration makes environmental justice a centerpiece of its green agenda.
Heat records are being broken on a daily basis as European and Far Eastern Russia suffer from extreme summer temperatures.
[AIM] Maputo -- The Public Prosecutor's Office has charged a Chinese national with environmental crimes that carry a prison sentence of between 12 and 16 years, reports the independent television station, STV.
Species extinction, widespread disease, unliveable heat, ecosystem collapse, cities menaced by rising seas — these and other devastating impacts are accelerating, the report says.
Chemicals banned a decade ago are interacting with colder than usual polar vortexes above the Arctic and further depleting the ozone layer, University of Maryland researchers have said.
Fenghua International Transportation, a Guangzhou-based logistics company which ships tons of goods round the world for clients including chilli sauce, is getting ready to airlift 3 metric tonnes of bitcoin mining equipment as China continues to push operators out of the country.The company recently posted a video on its WeChat channel showing it loading hundreds of boxes of bitcoin mining machines onto a truck headed to an airport in China. In the video, it says the shipment will arrive in the…
Giant dams damage ecosystems, drive freshwater species to extinction, cause deltas to retreat and often emit more greenhouse gases than fossil-fuel power plants.
[Central African Forest Initiative] Gabon is the first country in Africa to receive results-based payments for reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. The first payment is part of the breakthrough agreement between Gabon and the multi-donor UN-hosted Central African Forest Initiative's (CAFI) in 2019 for a total of $150 million over ten years.
A sudden increase in atmospheric methane since 2007 has given scientists a new challenge: Pinpoint sources of this potent global warmer.
Deep Siberian permafrost layers survived multiple warming periods but deforestation can make them more vulnerable, scientists said.
[Tunis Afrique Presse] Tunis/Tunisia -- Nearly 53% of lands in Tunisia are vulnerable to a very high degree of desertification against 40% with medium vulnerability and 7% with low vulnerability, according to the Ministry of Local Affairs and Environment.
An Essex-based English winemaker has started selling its wares in paper bottles that have a carbon footprint 84 per cent lower than glass ones and hopes to scrap glass bottles completely by 2026.
LOS ANGELES, June 18 (Reuters) – The US waste-management industry has become a darling of environmentally minded investors for its work in recycling trash and harvesting gases from landfills as an alternative fuel. Leading firms Waste Management Inc (WM.N) and Republic Services Inc (RSG.N) are included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, a benchmark … The post Methane menace: Aerial survey spots ‘super-emitter’ landfills appeared first on Egypt Independent.
Scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have determined in new research that the Earth's atmosphere has been trapping an "unprecedented" amount of heat, with the planet's energy imbalance approximately doubling from 2005 to 2019.
[Govt of SA] The Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Ms Makhotso Sotyu has reiterated the urgency to invest on the land, enhance coherence and synergies to protect and restore natural ecosystems as part of the global recovery from Covid-19.
PORT MARIA, St Mary - A student in search of bottle caps to complete a project may not be able to find 100 bottle caps at home, but he or she would have found 167 at the Pagee Beach clean-up in Port Maria earlier this week. On Wednesday, in addition to the bottle caps, Recycling Partners of Jamaica also collected 85 plastic containers and 3,962 bottles during a drive initiated by a group called Earth Ambassadeurs who spruce up beaches that are not regularly cleaned."A beach clean-up is only one of the many ways that the Earth Ambassadeurs are working to improve our relationship with nature. It is not a solution to the problem of waste management [but], for a more sustainable approach, we combine community responses with behaviour change initiatives like community education," explained the group's...
A Southwark coroner ruled in December that air pollution contributed to the 2013 death of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, nine, who lived 80ft from the South Circular road in Lewisham, south-east London
EPA Administrator Michael Regan today announced a historically diverse slate of appointments to a powerful air quality advisory committee that includes two members whom he had previously fired.
[Govt of SA] Protecting and restoring our natural ecosystems will boost our economy
[The Conversation Africa] The United Nations (UN) recently launched the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide. It is a response to evidence that our current abuse of nature has accelerated global warming and degraded natural resources to a degree that threatens the wellbeing of people.
[Capital FM] Nairobi -- Kenya Electricity Generating Company PLC (KenGen) has joined the UN-backed global campaign to combat global warming, becoming the first public service agency in Kenya company to do so.
As the UN and communities worldwide mark Desertification and Drought Day, the Pacific Community’s Land Resources Division (LRD) is strengthening its support for the sustainable restoration and management of Pacific countries’ landscapes, keeping in line with this year’s theme “turning degraded land into healthy land”. This year’s Desertification and Drought Day takes on increasing significance […]
The World Health Organization has postponed the publication of new guidelines on lower limits for air pollution that are expected to influence how governments act on toxic air
Jun. 17 is World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. Amid reports that half of the earth’s agricultural land is degraded, countries are reporting on progress to revive arable land and restore biodiversity and ecosystem functions.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is planning to list blacktip reef sharks as a protected marine species, after a TikTok clip of five men using a firearm to kill the sharks in Krabi came to light on Monday.
[Daily Trust] The Environmental Management Association of Nigeria (EMAN) has urged the federal government to pass the bill on regulating the activities of environmental practices for sustainable usage of the environment.
Land degradation, if left unchecked, will erode foundations of our societies, economies, food security and health, PM Modi said. In his virtual address at a UN high-level meet on desertification, land degradation and drought, the Prime Minister stressed on the need to reduce pressure on land and its resources. India has increased its forest cover by around three million hectares over the last 10 years, he said.
The General Meteorological Authority predicts hot weather throughout Greater Cairo and the delta governorates, with moderate temperatures in the northern coasts, and very hot temperatures in southern Sinai and the southern Upper Egypt from Monday to Saturday. The weather will grow cold at night across the country. Active winds are expected for Greater Cairo, the … The post Warming weather across Egypt from Monday to Saturday appeared first on Egypt Independent.
A fight over a proposed compressor station in the majority Black Banister District of Virginia's Pittsylvania County could reveal the impact of a watershed court ruling last year on environmental justice.
Fires at recycling and other waste facilities have many different causes. Throwing away hazardous garbage at the right places can help prevent them.
President Biden will nominate an environmental law and justice expert to lead EPA's waste office, a significant statement as the agency emphasizes its commitment to prioritizing vulnerable communities.
In a do-over with potentially long-lasting implications for air quality and environmental justice goals, EPA will revisit the Trump administration's decision last year to leave national soot standards unchanged.
In a small consolation following the closing of the remaining holiday route to Portugal for fed-up Britons, a mini-heatwave could make Sunday the hottest day of the year so far.
PRIME Minister Andrew Holness has reiterated Jamaica's commitment to protecting the environment through the continuous strengthening of management policies that are designed to be comprehensive and sustainable."Over the last few years, the Government has undertaken extensive work on progressively strengthening our environmental governance framework. We have finalised several key national environmental policies, including, for example, a climate change policy framework, a forest policy, a water sector policy and action plan, an ocean and coastal zone management policy and a national policy on environmental management systems," he said.The prime minister, who was addressing a virtual World Oceans Day 2021 Panel Discussion on Wednesday, said Jamaica's environmental policy framework is designed...
The fire at Liberty Iron and Metal Recycling Plant comes days after Phoenix fire officials responded to a massive fire on June 5 at another recycling plant.
carbon, carbon footprint Letters to the Editor: Desert dwellers, stop voting for politicians who favor big carbon footprints
COVID-19 lockdown efforts played a key role in reducing air pollution in 2020, says NASA. Nitrogen oxides emissions fell globally by 15%, with local reductions were as high as 50%.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has fined the state's largest glass container recycler over $1 million for repeated air quality violations.
Opponents of geoengineering warned yesterday that humans could harm Earth by manipulating the atmosphere to reduce global warming.
B.C.'s Return-It program has begun recycling wine bottle corks at West Kelowna’s Boucherie Self Storage and Bottle Depot.
A new tool which can determine how much carbon emissions are released in the making of a given Cornish pasty has been developed by researchers from the University of Exeter.
The Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers said in a joint statement they had determined that the Trump administration’s rollback is “leading to significant environmental degradation.”
[HRW] SLast week, in a public letter, Human Rights Watch called on the leaders of the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, and Japan to take concrete and decisive action facing the unprecedented challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and global warming, as well as by worrying developments in China, Israel/Palestine, Belarus, Russia, and Myanmar, ahead of the G7 Summit on June 11-13. G7 members should use this Summit to collectively reaffirm and demonstrate their commitment to interna
The move will reduce the UK's CO2 emissions by 1.26million tons a year, equivalent to removing 500,000 cars from the roads, it is claimed.
Humans have explored the infinite abyss beyond Earth's atmosphere for over half a century.
NEXT TIME you take a swig of Steinlager you can rest easy knowing that Lion has paid one cent to offset the carbon emitted during its brewing.
[ANGOP] Uíge -- At least sixteen municipal heads of the Environment sector in Uíge province Monday started a training session on the legal framework of environmental management strategies aimed at improving management techniques and environment conservation.
The country's east and south will cop the brunt of the wild weather with some states expected to receive the heaviest amount of snow in six years.
The organism had been napping in permafrost before scientists found it. It was in a state of suspended animation in the Russian Arctic, but snapped back to life after being thawed.
It has taken only 42 years, from 1979 to 2021, to increase carbon dioxide by that same amount
Once thawed, the animal was able to reproduce asexually using a process called parthenogenesis.
Permafrost is melting. Yukon University's new permafrost institute, the first of its kind in North America, will hit the road this summer to learn more.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the average carbon dioxide level for May was 419.13 parts per million. That's 1.82 parts per million higher than May 2020 and 50 per cent higher than the stable pre-industrial levels of 280 parts per million, said NOAA climate scientist Pieter Tans.
Tipping points happen when global warming pushes temperatures beyond a critical, no-return threshold.
[Daily Trust] The Minister of Environment, Dr Mohammad Mahmood, yesterday said the rate of deforestation in Nigeria was alarming, stressing that the federal government has taken steps to bring the situation under control.
Firefighters were still at the scene of the recycling yard fire, extinguishing hot spots and dealing with 20 foot smoldering material.
Firefighters on a ladder high in the air continue to battle the recycling yard fire in West Phoenix on June 5, 2021.
"It's crazy" and "I hope everybody's safe" says Mike Knapp of Glendale as he watches a recycling yard fire burn in Phoenix on June 5, 2021.