April 22, 2020 marks 50 years of Earth Day. The first Earth Day sparked the passage in the U.S. of the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts, and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. The urgency has never been greater, and the stakes have never been higher – we are now in…
Amid the recent coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic, Earth Day Network, the global organizer of Earth Day, will mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day with the first Digital Earth Day, a global digital mobilization on April 22 to address the most urgent threats to people and the planet. “At Earth Day Network, the health and…
Sustained efforts to contain East Africa’s worst invasion of desert locusts in decades are forging ahead, despite limits on the flow of personnel and equipment stemming from the global COVID-19 pandemic – the UN food agency. The infestation remains alarming, particularly in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia where it poses an unprecedented threat to food security…
by: Earth Talk Coronavirus has killed thousands of people and sickened hundreds of thousands (if not millions) more around the world. It has also caused mass hysteria and public health officials are bracing for the worst. The situation is mostly bad news, but the “silver lining” for the environment might be a downturn in carbon…
Diseases passed from animals to humans are on the rise, as the world continues to see unprecedented destruction of wild habitats by human activity. Scientists suggest that degraded habitats may encourage more rapid evolutionary processes and diversification of diseases, as pathogens spread easily to livestock and humans. The World Health Organization reports that an animal…
On Saturday, 28 March at 8:30 p.m. local time, Earth Hour, one of the largest global grassroots movements for the environment, will bring people together around the world to show their commitment to the planet. With global biodiversity declining at an unprecedented and alarming rate, up to one million species threatened with extinction and the…
If the world doesn’t act urgently to address the nature and climate emergency, the world stands to see $10 trillion wiped off the global economy over the next 30 years A new report from World Wildlife Fund (WWF) reveals for the first time the countries whose economies would be worst affected over the next…
New Detections of ‘Forever Chemicals’ in New York, D.C., Other Major Cities By: Sydney Evans, David Andrews, Ph.D., Tasha Stoiber, Ph.D., and Olga Naidenko, Ph.D. Environmental Working Group www.ewg.org New laboratory tests commissioned by EWG have for the first time found the toxic fluorinated chemicals known as PFAS in the drinking water of dozens…
• Severe threats to our climate account for all of the Global Risks Report’s top long-term risks, with “economic confrontations” and “domestic political polarization” recognized as significant short-term risks in 2020 • It warns that geopolitical turbulence and the retreat from multilateralism threatens everyone’s ability to tackle shared, critical global risks • Without urgent attention…
Annual update charts ongoing impact of changing conditions on environment, communities NOAA’s 14th Arctic Report Card recounts the numerous geophysical and biological changes that occurred in the northern polar region during 2019, with near-record high air and ocean temperatures and melting of the Greenland ice sheet, low sea-ice extents, and shifts in the distribution…