A new study suggests that Earth’s ongoing mass extinction episode is more severe than generally perceived. Rather than focusing on the complete extinction of entire species, researchers analysed the losses and declines of populations in a sample of 27 600 vertebrate species. Population declines and losses are often a prelude to species extinctions. Researchers also…
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks on climate change, in New York on September 10: Dear friends of planet Earth, thank you for coming to the United Nations Headquarters today. I have asked you here to sound the alarm. Climate change is the defining issue of our time — and we are at a…
Caption: Data from NASA shows a decrease in the seasonal ozone hole above Antarctica over the last decade thanks to the phase-out of CFCs and other ozone-depleting chemicals as called for under 1987’s landmark Montreal Protocol. Credit: Katy Mersmann/NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Global warming is certainly a hot subject in the news right…
Finding may lead to a precision medicine approach in environmental health Asthma patients, with a specific genetic profile, exhibit more intense symptoms following exposure to traffic pollution, according to researchers at the National Institutes of Health and collaborators. The study appeared online in Scientific Reports. The research team, made up of scientists from the National…
As floods and droughts ravage communities and countries worldwide, a WWF report published today highlights the capacity of healthy rivers to help mitigate these natural disasters but warns that all these ‘hidden’ benefits of rivers could be lost if they continue to be undervalued and overlooked. The Valuing Rivers report, released on the opening day…
Study shows forest conservation is a powerful tool to improve nutrition in developing nations A first-of-its-kind global study shows that children in 27 developing countries have better nutrition–when they live near forests. The results turn on its head the common assumption that improving nutrition in poorer countries requires clearing forests for more farmland–and, instead,…
It certainly is hard to believe that anyone would be able to disregard the signs that human-induced climate change is starting to have a deleterious effect on our environment and our quality of life around the planet. Here in the United States, fully one-fifth of our land mass is currently sweating through record summer heat…
International report confirms 2017 was among the three warmest years on record A new State of the Climate report confirmed that 2017 was one of the three warmest years in records dating to the mid-1800s. Last year was one of the warmest years on record despite the lack of a short-term warming El Niño influence…
Each year, approximately $20 billion from government-backed financial institutions around the world flows to energy projects in Africa. According to a new analysis by Oil Change International, nearly 60 percent of this finance from 2014 through 2016 went to support fossil fuel development, compared to 18 percent for clean energy projects. Less than 2 percent…
New report calls for stronger federal food safety requirements and outlines ways families can limit exposure to chemicals used to process, package and preserve everyday foods that aren’t adequately proven safe With growing evidence that some chemicals found in food colorings, preservatives, and packaging materials may harm children’s health, a new American Academy of Pediatrics…
