Environment

Deforestation + climate change = dead end for wildlife

by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — Climate change combined with galloping tropical deforestation is cutting off wildlife from life-saving cooler climes, heightening the risk of extinction, researchers said Monday. Less than two-fifths of forests across Latin America, Asia and Africa currently allow for animals and plants to avoid potentially intolerable increases in temperature, they reported in the journal Nature Climate Change. “The loss of tropical forests between 2000 and 2012 led to an area […]

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Electric scooters: not so eco-friendly after all?

by Catherine HOURS PARIS, France (AFP) — E-scooters touted as zero-carbon urban transport are flooding city streets worldwide, but just how green they remain an open question. The companies — from multinationals to local start-ups — distributing them insist the omnipresent two-wheel vehicles are a boon for the environment and a curb on global warming. “Bird was founded to help create a cleaner and the more hospitable world that prioritizes people over cars,” the American […]

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Almost 1,000 tree seedlings planted in La Mesa Dam watershed during “EBC Cares” activity

  Almost a thousand tree seedlings were planted during the latest activity of Eagle Broadcasting Corporation, entitled EBC Cares: “Planting Trees for Life.” The event which happened on Saturday, June 29, 2019 at the La Mesa Dam watershed, were participated in by various employees of EBC and members of their families. It is part of the EBC’s advocacy “Enabling a Better Community.” (Eagle News Service)  

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Antarctic sea ice in dizzying decline since 2014: study

by Ivan Couronne WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — After mysteriously expanding for decades, Antarctica’s sea ice cover melted by an area four times greater than France in just a few years and now stands at a record low, according to a study published Monday. Scientists already knew Antarctica was thawing at an increasing rate, like the Arctic, because of accelerating discharge from glaciers, the rivers of ice that push up slowly against the shore. But […]

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France prepares for new heat record, as Spain battles wildfire

PARIS, France (AFP) — Temperatures in France are expected to reach a record-breaking high on Friday, as Europe continues to endure a sweltering heatwave which sparked an out-of-control wildfire in Spain. Governments warned citizens to take extra precautions, with the week-long heatwave causing a build-up of pollution and fears of an increase in emergency calls across Europe. French meteorologists have forecast temperatures that may exceed 45 degrees Celsius on Friday, a high never seen in […]

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Searing heat across Europe sparks scramble for shade

by Joseph Schmid PARIS, France (AFP) — Fans flew off store shelves and water fountains offered relief from the heat as temperatures soared in Europe on Monday, with officials urging vigilance ahead of even hotter conditions forecast later in the week. Meteorologists blamed a blast of torrid air from the Sahara for the unusually early summer heatwave, which could send thermometers up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) across large swathes of the continent with […]

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With plastic straw ban, Washington turns its back on its own invention

by Sébastien DUVAL WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — “How do you drink a milkshake without a straw?” It is a question the city of Washington will soon face after deciding, in the interest of the environment, to ban plastic drinking straws — an almost sacrilegious act in the birthplace of this simple object, a seemingly indispensable part of daily American life. In the last century, millions of straws were produced in the Stone Straw Building, […]

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Himalayan glaciers melting twice as fast: study

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Himalayan glaciers are melting twice as fast now as they were before the turn of the century, according to a new study that relied on recently declassified Cold War-era satellite imagery. The study, which appeared in Science Advances on Wednesday, is the latest indication that climate change is eating the Himalayan glaciers, threatening water supplies for hundreds of millions of people downstream across South Asia. “This is the clearest picture […]

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Greenland ice sheet melting faster than thought: study

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Greenland’s ice sheet may have completely melted within the next millennium if greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current rate, according to a new study with implications for sea-level rise around the world. The Greenland ice sheet holds the equivalent of seven meters (yards) of sea level. “If we continue, as usual, Greenland will melt,” said lead author Andy Aschwanden, a research associate professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ […]

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Getting to zero: the Japan town trying to recycle all its waste

by Natsuko FUKUE Agence France Presse Kamikatsu, Japan (AFP) — Plastic, paper, metal? In Japan’s Kamikatsu, sorting rubbish isn’t that simple. Residents face a mind-boggling 45 separate categories for their garbage as the town aims to be “zero-waste” by 2020. And that’s not all: there isn’t even trash collection. The 1,500 residents of the town in western Japan have to transport their waste themselves to a local facility. “Yes, it’s complicated,” said Naoko Yokoyama, a […]

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Do you consume a credit card’s worth of plastic every week?

https://youtu.be/UznpIe5wKkg by Marlowe HOOD Agence France Presse Paris, France (AFP) — People worldwide could be ingesting five grammes of microscopic plastic particles every week, equivalent in weight to a credit card, researchers said Wednesday. Coming mostly from tap and especially bottled water, nearly invisible bits of polymer were also found in shellfish, beer and salt, scientists and the University of Newcastle in Australia reported. The findings, drawn from 52 peer-reviewed studies, are the first to […]

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Canada to ban single-use plastics from 2021

by Jacques LEMIEUX MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) —  Canada will ban single-use plastics from 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday, declaring it a “global challenge” to phase out the plastic bags, straws and cutlery clogging the world’s oceans. “I am very pleased to announce that as early as 2021, Canada will ban harmful, single-use plastics from coast to coast,” Trudeau said, arguing Canada has a unique chance to lead the fight against plastic pollution as […]

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