Climate Action

Photo: More soldiers committed suicide last year than were killed in combat. A new study suggests that multiple concussions may be contributing to suicide risk. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Ending Our Suicidal War Against Nature

Viewpoint by John Scales Avery*

COPENHAGEN (IDN) – "Our planet is broken," the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has warned. Humanity is waging what he describes as a "suicidal" war on the natural world. "Nature always strikes back, and is doing so with gathering force and fury," he told a BBC special event on the environment. Mr Guterres wants to put tackling climate change at the heart of the UN's global mission, wrote BBC Chief Environment Correspondent Justin Rowlatt on December 2.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 06 January 2021

Ocean Threatened by Loss of Coral Reefs

Viewpoint by Vijay Prashad *

NORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts (IDN) – With a recent report titled “Projections of Future Coral Bleaching Conditions,” published by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in November, Leticia Carvalho—head of the Marine and Freshwater Branch of UNEP—said on December 21 that coral reefs are the “canary in the coalmine for climate’s impact on oceans.”

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 05 January 2021

Photo: A view of the Mabwepande Green Village. Credit: Kizito Makoye.

Mabwepande Green Village: Model for a Sustainable Future

The Watumishi Housing Company’s model estate harnesses clean energy technologies to improve lives and reduce the carbon footprint.

By Kizito Makoye

MABWEPANDE | Tanzania (IDN) – As a warm breeze blows from the Indian Ocean, two men in dazzling outfits show up on the balcony of a home with flower-filled pots to convey a message to their community members about the future plans of their green village.

“In order to achieve our goals of establishing a successful green village, it is important to come together and exchange our ideas,” says Reeves Ngalemwa, the chairman of the Mabwepande green village in Tanzania’s largest commercial city.

: Kizito Makoye; THE WORLD; Africa; 22 December 2020

Photo: Some constructions at Xinzhuang, China. Credit: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Welcome to the Anthropocene

Human Constructions Have the Same Mass as All Living Organisms

Viewpoint by Jan Zalasiewicz and Mark Williams*

LEICESTER, United Kingdom (IDN) – Our deficiencies have always driven us, even among our distant ancestors, back in the last Ice Age. Having neither the speed and strength to hunt large prey nor sharp teeth and claws to tear flesh, we improvised spears, flint knives, scrapers. Lacking a thick pelt, we took the fur of other animals.

As the ice receded, we devised more means of survival and comfort – stone dwellings, ploughs, wheeled vehicles. All these inventions allowed small oases of civilisation to be wrested from a natural wilderness that seemed endless.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 17 December 2020

Climate Action: UN Insists on Developed Countries Meeting 100 Billion Dollar Annual Pledge

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – A new report by independent experts has proposed urgent actions to meet the pledge by developed countries to mobilize at least US$100 billion a year to support developing countries in mitigating and adapting to climate change. The study released by the United Nations on December 11 accentuates that "COVID-19 pandemic has drastically altered the context for international climate finance".

: Santo D. Banerjee; COVID-19; 12 December 2020

Photo: Antarctic ocean waters are warming dramatically. Credit: Ceridwen Fraser [author provided]

The Southern Ocean an Ocean Like No Other

By Ceridwen Fraser, Christina Hulbe, Craig Stevens and Huw Griffiths*

In the run-up to the COP26 climate change conference scheduled for November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, The Conversation has prepared a five-part series entitled Oceans 21 examining the history and future of the world’s oceans. This is the fifth article in the series which looks into the Southern Ocean’s ecological richness and significance for global climate. Click here for the previous article.

DUNEDIN | AUCKLAND | CAMBRIDGE (IDN) – In 2018, a map named after an oceanographer went viral.

: Phil Harris; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 10 December 2020

Photo: Picture of Arctic sea ice with melt ponds. Credit: David Mark on Pixabay

Effects of Global Warming Dramatic in the Arctic

By Jørgen Berge, Carlos Duarte, Dorte Krause-Jensen, Karen Filbee-Dexter, Kimberly Howland and Philippe Archambault*

In the run-up to the COP26 climate change conference scheduled for November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, The Conversation has prepared a five-part series entitled Oceans 21 examining the history and future of the world’s oceans. This is the fourth article in the series which looks at the Arctic where warming is two to three times faster than any other place on Earth. Click here for the previous article.

: Phil Harris; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 10 December 2020

Photo: Atlantic Ocean currents influence the weather and sea levels. Credit: John Spade/Flickr

Disrupting the Atlantic’s Ecosystem Can Have Far-Reaching Effects

By Suzanne OConnell and Pascal Le Floc’h*

In the run-up to the COP26 climate change conference scheduled for November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, The Conversation has prepared a five-part series entitled Oceans 21 examining the history and future of the world’s oceans. This is the third article in the series which looks at the Atlantic Ocean, the driving force behind ocean circulation. Click here for the previous article.

MIDDLETOWN, Connecticut | BREST (IDN) – “Did the Atlantic close and then reopen?” That was the question posed in a 1966 paper by Canadian geophysicist J. Tuzo Wilson.

: Phil Harris; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 10 December 2020

Photo: Plastic waste on a beach in Hawaii. Credit: NOAA

Pacific Ocean’s Delicate Ecology Under Threat

By Jodie L Rummer, Bridie JM Allan, Charitha Pattiaratchi, Ian A Bouyoucos, Irfan Yulianto and Mirjam van der Mheen*

In the run-up to the COP26 climate change conference scheduled for November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, The Conversation has prepared a five-part series entitled Oceans 21 examining the history and future of the world’s oceans. This is the second article in the series which looks at the Pacific Ocean, an ocean so vast that it may seem invincible. Click here for the first article on the series.

: Phil Harris; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 09 December 2020

Photo: The Indian Ocean could play a major role in future climate change. Credit: Earth.com

The Rich Historical Archive That Is the Indian Ocean

By Isabel Hofmeyr and Charne Lavery*

In the run-up to the COP26 climate change conference scheduled for November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, The Conversation has prepared a five-part series entitled Oceans 21 examining the history and future of the world’s oceans. This is the first article in the series which looks into ancient Indian Ocean trade networks.

JOHANNESBURG | PRETORIA (IDN) – On many beaches around the Indian Ocean, keen observers may spot bits of broken pottery. Washed smooth by the ocean, these shards are in all likelihood hundreds of years old, from centres of ceramic production like the Middle Eastern Abbasid Caliphate and the Chinese Ming dynasty.