The link between climate change and migration has gained both academic and public interest in recent years. Many studies have found that environmental hazards affect migration. But the links are nuanced and depend on the economic and sociopolitical conditions in the respective regions of origin. So what causes people to move and where do they...
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, space- and ground-based observations have shown that Earth’s atmosphere has seen significant reductions in some air pollutants. However, scientists wanted to know how much of that decline can be attributed to changes in human activity during pandemic-related shutdowns, versus how much would have occurred in a pandemic-free 2020. Using...
When air quality worsens, either from the smoke and ozone of summer or the inversion of winter, most of us stay indoors. But for individuals experiencing homelessness, that’s not always an option. In a new study, researchers from the University of Utah document the effect of air pollution on people experiencing homelessness, finding that nearly...
For decades, scientists have been warning about potential future effects of global climate change, including more frequent wildfires, longer periods of drought, and sharp increases in the number, duration, and intensity of tropical storms. And since the start of 2020, we’ve seen natural disasters in record-breaking numbers, from the wildfires that ravaged California and Colorado,...
Maintaining forest cover is an important natural climate solution, but new research shows that too often, communities lose out when local forest management is formalised. The new study published in Nature Sustainability, led by Dr. Johan Oldepkop at The University of Manchester and Reem Hajjar at Oregon State University, is based on 643 case studies...
Two of humanity’s biggest problems – the climate crisis and abysmal eating habits – can partly be solved by one healthy solution: eating more food from trees, specifically tropical ones. While global trends in agriculture and diets are not easily reversed, scientists say that creating incentives to grow and eat more mangos, avocados and Brazil...
Judge a book by its title and its cover; you’ll infer that the author has something powerful to convey. Book titles can be sensationalistic, and certainly How The Gringos Stole Tequila has a whiff of sensationalism, controversy, and cheekiness at the least. “Gringos”? “Stole”? Even the choice of the word “How” is sure to be...
Leopards are fascinating animals. In addition to being sublime hunters that will eat nearly anything and can survive in varied habitats from forests to deserts, they are able to withstand temperatures ranging from minus 40 degrees Celsius during winter to plus 40 degrees in summer. Despite their resilience, the majority of leopard species are endangered....
North and South, rural and urban–the United States is a complex mix of cultures, mindsets, and life experiences. And, as a new report by researchers at Stanford University, Resources for the Future, and ReconMR illustrates, those state-by-state differences affect climate attitudes and opinions. The report is the latest installment of Climate Insights 2020, a seven-part series...
The problem of waste management has become persistent. It is a challenge that is growing in bounds and depths as the world’s population surges. Are we at our wits’ end? Waste management would need a radical change. According to Beatrice Obule-Abila’s doctoral dissertation at the University of Vaasa, Finland, this change could be achieved through...
