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How to follow the heat to the next disease; and how following the science got a researcher in trouble. The post The Climate Crisis Is a Health Crisis appeared first on .

Now Playing | The state of water in the world is critical, but the relationship between a man and a fish that are in story is more critical.

This story was originally published by the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Deepak Palakshappa became a pediatrician to give poor kids access to good medical care. Still, back in his residency days, the now-associate professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem was shocked to discover that a patient caring for two young […]

John Sterman brings workshops with management flight simulators to businesses working toward environmental sustainability.

Now Playing | A Simpler Way: Crisis as Opportunity is a feature-length documentary that follows a community in Australia who came together to explore and demonstrate a simpler way to live in response to global crises. Throughout the year the group built tiny houses, planted veggie gardens, practised simple living, and learned how to live in community. This film is the product of hours and hours of footage that I shot during that year-long experiment in simple living.

Plastic pollution costs the world up to $600 billion a year. A new UN report provides a road map for drastic action.

Now Playing | "It's really hard being a fire family. Every day it's getting worse." -Brett, wife of Marin County Battalion Chief in California.Every day, Americans who live close to the land and sea face the dangers of climate change—from a firefighter in California, to a beekeeper in Arizona, to a climate refugee losing her home in Florida. The changing climate affects our food systems, water and way of life. These American families are in the trenches sacrificing everything while facing depression, PTSD, and suicide—collateral damage of a crisis unchecked. Award-winning filmmaker, Peter Goetz, captures America's faces and voices, shot in 2020 leading up to the presidential election. Goetz and the Biden campaign made history, producing the first national climate spot to run during a presidential election. But this film dives deeper into the American climate crisis to explore the lives of the people who are sounding the alarm, worried about their grandchildren’s future, asking, "If not us, then who?" This is a story of the resilience, perseverance, and ingenuity of the American people. Ever hopeful, they collectively take on a common enemy. As the young, Navajo solar visionary Brett Issac insists, "We've got to turn this train around before it's too late."

A new article in Atlantic magazine lays bare the real reason California and other blue states have a homeless crisis while red states don't.

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Scientists have discovered a record number of dead fir trees in Oregon, in a foreboding sign of how drought and the climate crisis are ravaging the American west. A recent aerial survey found that more than a million acres of forest […]

Academics can do more to help disadvantaged communities in the U.S.

Vladimir Putin may be seeking military solutions to his country's demographic decline.

What could have been a dramatic showdown Thursday, orchestrated by Republican legislators demanding action on bills addressing California’s fentanyl crisis, was ultimately avoided with a deal for a special hearing next week. Let’s back up a moment: In March, the chairperson of the Assembly public safety committee, Los Angeles Democrat Reggie Jones-Sawyer, announced that the […]

The Ukraine war is pushing energy security to the top of the agenda for the West, prioritizing oil and natural gas production over climate change and environmental activism for the first time in decades. The reaction from Wall Street investors to the shift toward energy security has been positive.

A major new UN report says we’ve ignored the role of environmental degradation in fueling the superbugs that kill 1.27 million people each year.

While it appears committed to renewable energy goals, China’s international commitments fall short of what experts say is neededAfter decades of fossil fuel-driven economic growth and industrialisation, China is now the world’s biggest carbon emitter, contributing almost a third of the world’s greenhouse gases in 2020.It is also the most exposed to the impact of the climate crisis, in terms of its population size and number of environmental disasters, according to UN figures. Average temperatures and sea levels have risen faster than global averages, and in just one year since Cop26, China has experienced record-breaking floods and heatwaves, bringing with them severe energy crises. Continue reading...

Mississippi state officials accused of violating civil rights, actions that resulted in ‘persistently unsafe and unreliable drinking water’ The NAACP filed a federal complaint on Tuesday accusing Mississippi state officials of violating civil rights law by repeatedly diverting federal funds meant for ensuring safe drinking water away from the state’s predominantly-Black capital, Jackson, to smaller, white communities.Their actions amounted to racial discrimination and a devastating loss of access to drinking water for more than a month for residents in Jackson, where more than 80% of residents are Black and a quarter are in poverty. Continue reading...

Toyota has been criticized as a laggard when it comes to electric cars but the world’s biggest automaker says a blended strategy of EVs, plug-in hybrids and Prius-like hybrids can have a bigger impact on curbing carbon emissions in the near term.

A version of this article originally appeared in The Deep Dish, our members-only newsletter. Become a member today and get the next issue directly in your inbox. Even when water finally did return to the tap, it was unsafe to drink. In order to operate under the nine-week boil-water notice, Good had to buy bottled water for […] The post How the Jackson Water Crisis Is Hurting Its Restaurants appeared first on Civil Eats.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched a civil rights investigation into the water crisis that left residents of Jackson, Miss., without water earlier this year, the agency confirmed in a letter to the NAACP. The civil rights organization filed a complaint alleging a pattern of discrimination by the state in its predominantly Black capital,...

EPA investigating whether state agencies discriminated against majority-Black city of Jackson by refusing to fund improvementsThe US Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that it is investigating whether Mississippi state agencies discriminated against the state’s majority-Black capital city by refusing to fund improvements for its failing water system.The announcement came days after leaders of two congressional committees said they were starting a joint investigation into a crisis that left most homes and businesses in Jackson without running water for several days in late August and early September. Continue reading...

Significant strides are being made to alleviate load shedding by enhancing the performance of Eskom’s power stations. The country is faced with both an electricity crisis and a climate crisis, which we must tackle together. As we intensify our efforts to address the electricity shortfall, we remain committed to reduce our carbon emissions through a […] The post Power crisis and climate change: A sustainable path ahead appeared first on SAPeople - Worldwide South African News.

Melosira arctica has ten times higher concentration of plastic particles than surrounding seawater. The alga Melosira arctica, which grows under Arctic sea ice, contains ten times...

The Costa Rican government declared Thursday a state of emergency in several districts in the north of the country after the contamination of drinking water by mercury, a product of illegal mining in a nearby area. “Today I signed a declaration of emergency for the people of Crucitas that will allow us to use the […] The post Water Crisis Rocks Costa Rica’s North: State of Emergency Declared appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

City and Mississippi health department sign order agreeing to federal oversight of the failing water systemThe US justice department has taken drastic action regarding the crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, that has affected drinking water for its 150,000 residents for several months.On Tuesday, the city of Jackson and the Mississippi health department signed an order agreeing to federal oversight of the failing water system, in an attempt to restore clean and safe drinking water. Continue reading...

Ahead of December’s conference our writers select titles that explain the issues at stake, from animal extinction to marine degradation and loss of habitatChosen by Patrick Barkham Continue reading...

A circular bioeconomy can dramatically rein in the fast-growing plastic sector’s climate, pollution, and resource consumption impacts. Under current policies, global plastic production will likely...

Teresa Ribera said she was ‘hugely surprised’ and saddened by PM’s initial refusal to go to Cop27 summitThe Spanish government has urged Rishi Sunak to demonstrate a clear commitment to fighting the climate emergency, describing the British government’s flip-flopping over the prime minister’s attendance of the upcoming Cop27 summit as “sad” and “surprising”, given the UK’s global reputation and its current presidency of the conference.Spain’s environment minister, Teresa Ribera, also said the “absurd”, heel-dragging political debate over climate change in the UK was “surprising and disappointing”. Continue reading...

The federal government hopes to appoint an interim third party in charge of managing the problem with Jackson's water system.

A new wave of game makers are attempting to influence a generation of environmentally conscious players. Will it work, and is it enough?“It was scary. It made you realise how, despite all the sophistication of modern society, we’re still reliant on water falling from the sky.” Sam Alfred, the lead designer at Cape Town-based video game studio Free Lives, vividly remembers his city nearly running out of water. During 2018, the area surrounding South Africa’s second largest city suffered months of dwindling rainfall. Dams were unable to replenish themselves at the rate its inhabitants required. Water was rationed. Businesses shut. The situation even called for its own grim version of the Doomsday Clock: hour by hour, the city ticked ever closer to Day Zero, marking the end of its fresh water supply.Terra Nil, the video game that Alfred has been developing since 2019, is a response to these terrifying events. Dubbed a “city-builder in reverse”, it foregoes the consumption and expansion of genre classics such as Civilisation and SimCity to paint a picture of environmental restoration. Starting with arid desert, it’s up to the player to rewild a landscape using various technologies – a toxin scrubber, for example, or a beehive. At light-speed, and with eye-massaging flushes of emerald green and azure blue, the environment transforms into lush vegetation. Terra Nil’s simplicity is as beautiful as its visuals, offering the satisfaction of a colouring book while doling out a clear-eyed critique of environment-wrecking extraction. Continue reading...

For years, scientists across the world have gathered evidence showing declines in sperm quality. Now, new research compiling the results of those studies has found that sperm count has dropped dramatically around the world, and the rate of decline is accelerating. In a new analysis, researchers at Mount Sinai Medical Center, the University of Copenhagen, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, among others, found that sperm count globally dropped by more than half between 1973 and 2018, and that the decline is accelerating: Since 1972, sperm count has dropped by about 1% each year. Since 2000, the annual decrease has been, on average, more than 2.6%. The findings raise concerns that an increasing number of people will need assistance to reproduce, as well as concerns about the overall health of human society, since low sperm count is linked to higher rates of some diseases. And while scientists are still trying to tease out the reasons for the drop, chemical exposures, especially to pesticides, are a likely factor — and climate change may even play a role. Researchers are calling for urgent action to bolster more research into sperm count, determine the causes of the decline, and prevent further deterioration of male reproductive health. “We have clear evidence that there is a crisis in male reproduction,” Hagai Levine, lead author on the study and an epidemiologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told EHN. An “alarming” decline The study builds on the team’s previous research, which showed a decline in sperm count in North America, Europe, Australia, and parts of Asia of 28.5% between 1973 and 2011. Adding data from 38 studies to the new analysis has made the case for sperm decline stronger, Shanna Swan, an author on the paper and a leading reproductive epidemiologist at Mount Sinai, told EHN. “It’s really alarming,” said Swan, who is also an adjunct scientist with Environmental Health Sciences, which publishes EHN.org. Swan authored the book Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race. The research found that the average global sperm count in 2018 was 49 million per milliliter of semen. When a man’s sperm count drops below about 45 million per milliliter, his ability to cause a pregnancy starts dropping dramatically, said Swan. She said the results could mean that in the coming decades, large swaths of the global population of men could be subfertile or infertile, or could require assisted reproduction techniques, like in vitro fertilization (IVF), hormone treatment, or a technique called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), in which sperm are directly injected into an egg. In addition to the drop in average sperm count, Levine said it was surprising that the rate of decline was accelerating, rather than slowing down. “Is there a tipping point, that once you cross, you get an even worse situation?” he said. “That’s something to really pay attention to.” Environmental Health News · A conversation about infertility with Dr. Shanna Swan Overall, said Levine, the results indicate that “something is very wrong with our global modern environment.” Sperm count is not only a reproductive concern, but an indicator for other health problems in men, and is used as a predictor for male longevity. Men with poor sperm count tend to have higher rates of cardiovascular disease, certain cancers and even death, Michael Eisenberg, a professor of urology at Stanford University who was not involved in the research, told EHN. “This decline in sperm count could also suggest other health concerns,” he said. A 2016 study authored by Eisenberg found that diabetes and other diseases were associated with lower reproductive health. However, said Eisenberg, the reason why overall health is linked to sperm quality is still unknown. Eisenberg said the new study on sperm count decline is a “powerful addition” to previous evidence that sperm count across the globe has declined. Reasons for the trendThough the reasons for the drop were not discussed in the paper, scientists have known for decades that certain environmental factors, like exposures to pesticides (such as atrazine, alachlor, and diazinon) and other endocrine-disrupting chemicals, like phthalates, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), can have impacts on reproductive health. Nearly 20 years ago, for example, Swan and other researchers published an analysis of research into links between pesticide exposure and sperm quality, and found that 79% of studies indicated a decrease in sperm quality among those exposed to the chemicals. Diet, activity level, and stress may also play a role.Swan and Levine said exposures to chemicals in the environment and other factors likely all play a substantial role in the sperm count trend. And, the risk factors are related; for example, obesity is a risk factor for lower quality sperm, but certain endocrine-disrupting chemicals — which interfere with how hormones work — are thought to contribute to obesity, as well. Diet is hard to decouple from chemical exposures, too, since pesticide residues linger on much of the food we eat. Related: Count Down — The infertility crisisAdditionally, both Swan and Levine said climate change could be a factor, both due to climate-related stress and actual fluctuations in temperature, since heat waves are linked to decreases in sperm quality.Prenatal exposure may be a contributor, too. Chemical exposures during the male “programming window,” when reproductive traits are formed in utero, have an outsized effect on sperm quality later in life, said Swan. For example, she said, when a man smokes — a known endocrine-disrupting activity — he lowers his sperm count by about 20%. When a male is born to a woman who smokes, his sperm count is reduced by about 50%. Those effects may last for generations before subsequent children and grandchildren return to normal sperm counts.Protecting reproductive healthLevine is optimistic that scientists and policymakers can reverse the trend if they can determine the causes. Swan pointed to the sharp drop in cigarette smoking in the past 50 years as evidence that widespread lifestyle changes are possible, and said that any large-scale adoption of healthier habits, like better diets and more physical activity, can help improve reproductive health. Making individual lifestyle changes like choosing organic, pesticide-free produce and staying away from certain plastics and chemical products can help lower a person’s exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals, too. However, doing so can be difficult, especially for disadvantaged populations with less access to fresh foods, higher environmental exposures, and fewer means to purchase safer, non-toxic household goods. To truly tackle the problem, though, much more research is needed, said Swan. One thing she’d like to see would be better tracking of sperm count, similar to how the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracks obesity. Levine also said better surveillance tools will be crucial to understanding the problem more deeply. Once humankind “defines a problem and puts our resources and mind into it, we find solutions that we could not have thought about when we started,” said Levine. “It's always theoretically reversible.”

To preserve habitat for fish and benefits for humans, some scientists suggest we need to explore the need for assisted migration. The post Coral Reefs Are in Crisis. Could a Controversial Idea Help? appeared first on The Revelator.

The EPA is conducting a civil rights probe into the Jackson, Miss., water crisis. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is holding firm despite pushback from the U.S. over the OPEC+ decision to cut oil production, and the Biden administration prevailed in a court challenge to the “social costs” of greenhouse gases. This is Overnight Energy & Environment,...

By Daniel Trotta(Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday opened an investigation into Mississippi state agencies to...

As the climate change movement began moving beyond “Save the Planet” slogans and doom and gloom guilt messaging, a new breed of business oriented climate change activism emerged. With its overall impressive environmental credentials Costa Rica was in a good place to become a natural leader in this arena. This has brought important benefits to […] The post Facing the Climate Crisis with Resolve: Activist Solome Montero Solis Speaks appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

Between 2016 and 2018 Cape Town experienced the real possibility of "Day Zero," the day when the taps would run dry

“We are prepared to file an action... but would hope this matter could be resolved with an enforceable agreement," the department said in a letter to the city.

California, Arizona and Nevada's three-year agreement to cut use of Colorado River water, in a deal backed by federal funds, is only a temporary fix.

Marine Conservation Society reports sightings of species normally found in warmer watersBritain’s seas are becoming populated with large groups of unusual jellyfish owing to climate breakdown, a survey by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has found.In its first marine sightings report, which builds on 20 years of citizen science, the society has found an increased abundance of jellyfish types, including those normally found in warmer climes. Thousands of volunteers take part in the MCS report, telling the conservation group which species of jellyfish and turtles they have seen. Continue reading...

The Justice Department will appoint a third-party manager as part of its oversight of Jackson, Miss., following the city’s water crisis earlier in the year. The manager, who has not been named, would be responsible for stabilizing the drinking water system for the city, which saw its second crisis in as many years this August....

Asian elephant habitats across Asia have decreased by over 64% since 1700, equating to a loss of 3.3 million square kilometers. Researchers found that by...

Is the reliance on bottled water resulting in increased consumption of lower-quality water?

A growing number of healthcare centers are looking to achieve energy independence as environmental challenges increaseIt is not easy to rattle Rosa Vivian Fernandez. The chief executive of a California healthcare clinic, she sees the harsh realities that the low-income, largely Hispanic community served by the clinic faces every day.But when Fernandez traveled to Puerto Rico in 2017 to visit family, she was shocked to see how deeply Hurricane Maria had devastated the island. Continue reading...

Coverage of climate crisis solutions is slim in textbooks, with many references moving to the back pagesUS college-level biology textbooks miss the mark on offering solutions to the climate crisis, according to a new analysis of books over the last 50 years.Fewer than three pages in a typical 1,000-page biology textbook from recent decades address climate change, according to the new study, despite experts warning it is humankind’s biggest problem. Continue reading...

Eli Stokols is a White House correspondent and co-author of West Wing Playbook.

A study from the University of Colorado Boulder reveals that climate change is causing earlier snowmelt and increased rainfall in the mountain ranges of Western...

Droughts, fires, floods, heatwaves – they’re all contributing to our supply-chain problems and brutal inflationFamilies around the world are struggling with higher grocery costs and electricity and heating bills. What they may not realize is that rising inflation is increasingly driven by another global crisis: climate change.Last year, the United States incurred over $2bn in costs due to 20 climate-related extreme weather events, from Hurricane Ian to heatwaves and drought. Lumber, cotton, tomatoes, wheat, and energy – and the products they generate, from denim jeans to your Italian takeout dinner – were all affected by these events and are now more expensive than this time last year. Climate-driven extreme weather and disasters are now more frequently responsible for production shortages, supply chain disruptions, and labor issues that lead to higher costs of living.Suzi Kerr is the chief economist of the Environmental Defense Fund Continue reading...

On a daily basis, water managers in cities across the state move from crisis to crisis hoping to keep the water flowing to residents.

The National Department of Transport announced on Thursday that South Africa has granted Turkey’s Karpowership access to the three ports of Ngqura, Durban and Saldanha Bay for 20 years. The statement said the Minister approved the application on 26 February 2023, in consultation with and supported by the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA). The Turkish-owned […] The post South Africa grants Turkey’s Karpowership deal to ease the load shedding crisis appeared first on SAPeople - Worldwide South African News.

Backers say hydrogen projects should be first in line for almost $26bn in US taxpayer money – but should we believe the hype?Hydrogen is the smallest, lightest and most abundant molecule in the universe. On Earth, it does not occur by itself naturally, but can be separated from water (H2O) or hydrocarbon compounds (fossil fuels) like gas, coal and petroleum to be used as an energy source. It’s already used for rocket fuel, but it is now being pushed as a clean and safe alternative to oil and gas for heating and earthly modes of transport. Political support is mounting with almost $26bn of US taxpayer money available for hydrogen projects thanks to three recent laws – the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and the Chips Act. Hydrogen is politically hot, but is it the climate solution that its cheerleaders are claiming? Continue reading...

That may change soon. In addition to the historic water funding included in recent infrastructure bills, the farm bill that is currently being negotiated in Congress could support real progress in small towns across the country, thanks to the billions it includes for construction of rural water and sewer systems. We know firsthand what a […] The post Op-ed: How Federal Dollars Can Help Ease the Rural Water Crisis appeared first on Civil Eats.

Exclusive: Company accused of ‘lobbying and greenwashing’ for more fossil fuels despite knowing of risksThe Italian oil major Eni is facing the country’s first climate lawsuit, with environmental groups alleging the company used “lobbying and greenwashing” to push for more fossil fuels despite having known about the risks its product posed since 1970.Greenpeace Italy and the Italian advocacy group ReCommon aim to build on a similar case targeting the Anglo-Dutch oil major Royal Dutch Shell in the Netherlands to force Eni to slash its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030. Continue reading...

A new study recently published in Science reveals that the Amazon rainforest has been damaged to a much greater extent than previously thought, with over...

Critics said the $800-million green hydrogen plan could end up making the climate crisis worse, not better.

US president announces plan to cut methane emissions as he urges major economies to ‘step up’ efforts to keep global heating to 1.5CJoe Biden has implored countries to do more to tackle the climate emergency, telling the Cop27 summit that world leaders “can no longer plead ignorance” and that time to confront the crisis is running out.Biden told a large crowd of delegates at the talks, held in Egypt, that the “science is devastatingly clear – we have to make progress by the end of this decade.” The US president stated that America was taking action on cutting planet-heating emissions and that other major economies needed to “step up” to avoid a disastrous breach of 1.5C in global heating. Continue reading...

Planes, trains and a bipartisan torrent of criticism.

Broadcaster spoke as Save Our Wild Isles campaign launched in Scotland to halt destruction of nature in UKSir David Attenborough has warned that “nature is in crisis” as he urged people to unite behind action to save it.The natural historian, who has presented programmes including Planet Earth and The Blue Planet, spoke out as the charities RSPB Scotland and WWF Scotland launched a joint initiative aimed at halting the destruction of nature across the UK. Continue reading...