VEN Blog

Graph from The Economist Climate Change, Poor Planning Make India’s Monsoon Season Devastating October 01, 2023  Associated Press in VOA news FILE – A woman holds the hand of her relative as family members of people trapped under rubble wail after a landslide washed away houses in Raigad district, western Maharashtra state, India, July 20, […]

Fig. 3. Effects plot showing the predicted debris counts based on the generalized linear model. Star added to denote significant difference as per analysis of deviance. From original article. September 26, 2023 The Conversation Kay Critchell Lecturer in Oceanography, Deakin University Michael Traurig PhD Researcher, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Our beaches […]

Question: In your opinion, are schools in your region equipping students with the knowledge and skills to understand climate change and take appropriate action in their own lives Response from 1100 teachers in 36 countries. Survey in 2020 by School Education Gateway Green New Deal for Schools demands districts teach climate justice, update buildings and […]

The Climate Ambition Summit 2023, convened by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, aimed to accelerate action on climate change. Source: AAP / Sarah Yenesel / EPA The UN secretary-general developed the summit as a forum to discuss climate action, with only “movers and doers” invited to speak at the opening session. Australia did not make the […]

Image: Antibiotic resistance transmission can include transport on pollutant particles. Guardian Lancet Global study suggests connection has strengthened over time across every country and continent Andrew Gregory Health editor in The Guardian @andrewgregory Tue 8 Aug 2023 Air pollution is already the single largest environmental risk to public health. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images Air pollution […]

U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, projected emissions under current policy (red), and under the Inflation Reduction Act according to Princeton REPEAT, Energy Innovation, and Rhodium Group analyses. (Created by Dana Nuccitelli) How I learnt to stop worrying and love Biden’s IRA Nick O’Malley Environment and Climate Editor August 14, 2023 in The Age In the wonky […]

Change in coal consumption by country 2023, 2024 IEA China is going to use less coal, despite reports to the contrary Business & Technology in The China Project Hydro, wind, and solar power are stabilizing, and burning the dirtiest of fossil fuels is near the plateau it must reach before coal is dethroned. David Fishman […]

Social media groups step up action on hate speech. EU data show Facebook, YouTube and Twitter increasing reviews of content. The Financial Times Limited 2017 Inside the vast digital campaign by Hindu nationalists to inflame India By Gerry Shih September 26, 2023 at 10:00 p.m. EDT in Washington POst (Shubhadeep Mukherjee for The Washington Post; […]

This diagram of the fast carbon cycle shows the movement of carbon between land, atmosphere, and oceans. Yellow numbers are natural fluxes, and red are human contributions in gigatons of carbon per year. White numbers indicate stored carbon. (Diagram adapted from U.S. DOE, Biological and Environmental Research Information System.) Plants and animals are fast, ephemeral […]

Figure 1.1. Total cases over time, US and non-US, to 31 May 2021 from Source: Global Trends in Climate Litigation, London School of Economics, 2021 republished in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance Beyond politics: Why battle to rein in climate change can only be decided in our courts Insights by Dennis Atkins We are facing a summer when […]

Figure 1 a and b: Meta-analysis summary of potential pathways and effects of NBS to reduce urban carbon emissions. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01737-x Green infrastructure can set off a virtuous cycle of climate action A new study suggests that greener cities not only reduce carbon emissions, they also can absorb them. By Sarah DeWeerdt in Anthropocene magazine September […]

Figure 5 from study: Top 20 Planet Wrecker countries by capacity to fund a fast and fair transition relative to degree of economic dependence on oil and gas “All of this action must be global. It must be immediate. And it must start with the polluted heart of the climate crisis: the fossil fuel industry. […]

Source: The Environmental Performance of Blue Foods Most seafood is more climate-friendly than its terrestrial counterparts. But the latest controversies run deeper than simply wild-caught vs farmed. By Mark Harris in Anthropocene magazine Seafood production has quadrupled over the past 50 years, and almost all the extra fish have come from a rapidly growing aquaculture industry. Wild […]

A protester during an Extinction Rebellion demonstration in London in 2019. Photograph: SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images Link to climate activism is seven times stronger for anger than it is for hope, say Norwegian researchers Ajit Niranjan Tue 22 Aug 2023 in the Guardian Anger is by far the most powerful emotional predictor of whether somebody plans […]

The dam micro-PHES concept uses a single pipe with a pump that acts as a generator when run in reverse.(Supplied: Nicholas Gilmore/UNSW) ABC Science / By environment reporter Nick Kilvert Posted Thu 7 Sep 2023 ABC news There are over 30,000 paired dams across Australia that could produce power.(Getty Images: Kiara Bloom) At the Goudemand apartment […]

Super funds voice concerns over reaching 2030 green targets The superannuation industry can band together to help take action in addressing ‘the thorny problem’ of climate change, one of the biggest funds says. Megan Neil in Courier Mail August 30, 2023 – 5:10PM The Australian Business Network Big super funds have raised concern over Australia […]

In recent months, a resolution calling on the State of California to endorse the proposed Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty has gone through several legislative hurdles. Today, the resolution passed in a historic vote by the State Assembly, making California the largest global economy to support the proposal, which is gaining significant momentum across the world […]

Image: Ergon Energy Networks Queensland spends $28m to get four remote communities off diesel for good Rachel Williamson 29 August 2023 Renew Economy The Queensland government is spending $28 million to allow four remote communities to ditch fossil fuels for good by setting them up with solar and battery storage. State-owned energy network Ergon will […]

The agriculture sector is a priority sector for climate risk management, both due to its heightened vulnerability and its importance for Sri Lanka. Image by Dennis Mombauer. In a world of climate risks, Sri Lanka is finding ways to adapt by Dennis Mombauer on 31 August 2023 in MOnga Bay In a landscape of interconnected […]

Image: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has called on parliaments of its participating States to enshrine the concept of ecocide in national and international law. The global initiative to Stop Ecocide is seeing astounding progress. Domestic ecocide bills are being proposed or progressed in new countries every […]