Tag: Climate
Democrats seek progressive overhaul of the U.S. financial system
Now in control of Congress, Democrats are looking to give the U.S. financial system a progressive overhaul, incoming Senate Banking Chairman Sherrod Brown said Friday. It will be a tall task. What we’re hearing: “This committee in the past has…
Enjoy them while you can? The ecotourism challenge facing Australia’s favourite islands
I fell for Kangaroo Island from my first visit. I recall standing on a headland on the island’s southern coast, near Remarkable Rocks (a popular tourist site), and being awestruck by the Southern Ocean. The island (Australia’s third-largest after Tasmania…
Lake Poopó: why Bolivia’s second largest lake disappeared – and how to bring it back
A huge lake in Bolivia has almost entirely disappeared. Lake Poopó used to be the country’s second largest, after Lake Titicaca, and just a few decades ago in its wet season peak it would stretch almost 70km end to end…
Archaeologists Are Using Incredible Photographs From This Cold War-Era Spy Satellite to Unlock Secrets of World History
Satellite imagery from the Corona project, a Cold War spy program that acquired military intelligence about the Soviet Union for the US, is proving useful in ways its creators could have never imagined—including for archaeologists. “Corona is like a time…
After a record 22 billion-dollar disasters in 2020, it’s time to make US disaster policy more effective and equitable – here’s how
The year 2020 broke disaster records across the country in destructive and expensive ways. The Atlantic had so many hurricanes, meteorologists ran out of tropical storm names for only the second time. Across the Midwest, extreme storms flattened crops and…
Cities could get more than 4°C hotter by 2100. To keep cool in Australia, we urgently need a national planning policy
In cities around the world, temperatures could rise by more than 4℃ by 2100 under a high-emissions climate change scenario, suggests research published this week in Nature Climate Change. It comes as the Bureau of Meteorology’s annual climate statement, released…
Pikas are adapting to climate change remarkably well, contrary to many predictions
Climate change is harming many special places and iconic species around our planet, from Glacier National Park’s disappearing glaciers to California redwoods scorched by wildfires. But for the animal I study, the American pika (Ochotona princeps), there’s actually some good…
Coachella Officials Have Rejected a Proposal for an Ambitious Desert X Artwork, Claiming It Would ‘Exploit’ Local Plight for Tourism
Desert X, Southern California’s Coachella Valley art biennial, has always confronted environmental themes head on, using the harsh desert landscape to speak to global concerns about climate change. But during preparations for the event’s third edition, Coachella natives took umbrage…
2020 was a terrible year for climate disasters, but there are reasons for hope in 2021
Climate disasters started early in 2020 — and kept on coming. The catastrophic fires in Australia in early 2020 were actually a holdover from 2019, but they were soon followed by flooding in Indonesia, a super-cyclone hitting the coast of…
Can a future ban on gas-powered cars work? An economist explains
The U.S. transportation sector is one of the largest contributors of carbon dioxide, the potent driver of climate change. Transportation accounts for about 28% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and, since 1990, emissions in this sector have increased more…
The 10 Most Astonishing Archaeological Discoveries of 2020, From an Ancient Cat Carving to the Amazon Rock Paintings
Despite its many difficulties, 2020 gave us some incredible discoveries. Shortly after scientists confirmed that the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, owned Dead Sea Scroll forgeries, putting the authenticity of some 70 other known fragments in question, the…
What’s the best way to boost the economy? Invest in high-voltage transmission lines
When, in the midst of the pandemic, the Economic Society of Australia invited 150 of Australia’s keenest young thinkers to come up with “brief, specific and actionable” proposals to improve the economy, amid scores of ideas about improving job matching,…
Here’s a side-by-side look at Biden’s Cabinet so far vs. Trump’s debut Cabinet from 2017
Here’s a side-by-side look at President-elect Biden’s Cabinet so far, paired with President Trump’s debut Cabinet from 2017. Between the lines: Biden added a Cabinet-rank post Trump didn’t have: former Secretary of State John Kerry as Special Presidential Envoy for…
The Caspian Sea is set to fall by 9 metres or more this century – an ecocide is imminent
Imagine you are on the coast, looking out to sea. In front of you lies 100 metres of barren sand that looks like a beach at low tide with gentle waves beyond. And yet there are no tides. This is…
