Michael Bloomberg and Jerry Brown are Leading a Shadow US Delegation to the Big UN Climate Talks in Bonn John Light November 13, 2017 The Trump administration is at the climate conference in Bonn to tout America’s coal and natural gas reserves, but a separate delegation is there to remind diplomats that the US — or parts of it, at least — rem...
This year’s big UN climate conference starts today. Here’s what you need to know. John Light November 6, 2017 Last year, on November 7 in Marrakech, Morocco, representatives of the world’s governments gathered to discuss their plans for implementing the Paris Agreement on climate change. The conference was overshadowed...
The Fires in California, Portugal and Spain Share One Thing in Common John Light October 23, 2017 As wildfires raged in the Western United States this month, southern Europe was experiencing an intense wildfire season of its own. Last week, one tore through Portugal and northern Spain, killing at least 4...
Nicaragua will sign the Paris Agreement, leaving only the US and Syria on the sidelines John Light September 22, 2017 Soon, the US and war-torn Syria will be the only countries uninterested in participating in the Paris Agreement. This week, El Nuevo Diario, one of Managua’s major newspapers, reported that Nicaragua’s presi...
One year after promising to tackle Anti-Biotic Resistance, the UN assesses its progress John Light September 21, 2017 Tackling future threats is never easy. Last year, the UN launched a new initiative aimed at tackling a growing problem that could someday lead to catastrophe. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) essentially mean...
With the US Pulling Out of Climate Commitments, Two Key UN Bodies Face a Cash Crunch John Light September 15, 2017 With the US backing away — haltingly — from international climate negotiations, other countries are stepping up to fill a funding gap at a key international organization, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ...
This hurricane season shows why small islands pushed so hard for climate action John Light September 7, 2017 With Hurricane Irma battering much of the Caribbean, currently plowing its way past the Dominican Republic, toward Haiti, Cuba and onward to the US, two other hurricanes formed in the Atlantic. This phenomenon...
Map of the Day: Historic Flooding in South Asia Cuts a MUCH wider path than Harvey John Light August 31, 2017 As the US reels from the lasting affects of Hurricane Harvey, a historically powerful storm arriving at the peak of hurricane season, tens of millions of South Asians halfway around the world are also deep ...
The UN called for a “War on Plastic” and Kenya just went nuclear John Light August 29, 2017 In February 2017, the UN Environment Program called for a “war on ocean plastic” — a crackdown on things like bottles, plastic bags, and non-reusable packaging that pollute marine ecosystems, rivers and bea...
