climate crisis

I T STARTED WITH smoke settling so thick over the highway that Roger Romero slowed his car to a crawl, no longer able to see others on the road. It was April 2022, and he was making his way down northern New Mexico, from Raton to Mora County, a remote region nestled along the Santa Fe National Forest and among the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Seven generations of his family called it home before him, the land sustaining them in life and holding them in death, a family plot part of the sweeping acres Romero owns.…

A privately funded satellite is set to push methane tracking into a new era, once it launches into space on Monday.A collaborative mission between Environmental Defense Fund, Google, the Government of New Zealand and several other partners, MethaneSAT will track methane emissions around the globe in attempts to identify and quantify sources spewing the climate-heating greenhouse gas. For 20 years after its release into the atmosphere, methane gas is 80 times more harmful than carbon dioxide in its ability to increase…

The Current16:20Huge ancient city discovered in Amazon"Wow" was all archaeologist Stéphen Rostain could say when LiDAR (light detection and ranging) laser technology revealed several ancient cities hidden deep in the Amazon rainforest."It's a gift for an archaeologist," he told The Current's Matt Galloway. Using the laser-scanning technology, researchers have uncovered a complex network of farmland, roads and neighbourhoods in Ecuador's Upano River Valley.The cities are believed to be between 2,000 and 3,000 years old,…

As delegates at the 2023 COP28 UN Climate Change Conference work to identify global climate actions by the Dec. 12 deadline, the head of the OPEC oil cartel urged the group’s members to block any deal aimed at phasing out fossil fuels. In a letter dated Dec. 6, first reported by Reuters, Haitham Al-Ghais, secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, insisted producers “proactively reject any text or formula that targets energy i.e. fossil fuels rather than emissions.” “It seems…

Artificial intelligence has been a breakout star in the opening days of COP28, the United Nations climate summit in Dubai. Entrepreneurs and researchers have dazzled attendees with predictions that the fast-improving technology could accelerate the world's efforts to combat climate change and adapt to rising temperatures.But they have also voiced worries about AI's potential to devour energy, and harm humans and the planet.Elevate Your Tech Prowess with High-Value Skill CoursesOffering CollegeCourseWebsiteIIM LucknowIIML…

India's willingness to share climate-related technology will play a vital role in efforts to reverse the climate crisis facing the planet, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has said as the COP28 climate conference got underway in Dubai on Thursday. Baroness Scotland, who is leading the Commonwealth delegation from London at the 2023 Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, met Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav at India Global Forum's Climate for…

This story is part of CBC Health's Second Opinion, a weekly analysis of health and medical science news emailed to subscribers on Saturday mornings. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can do that by clicking here.The impacts of climate change hit Canada hard in recent years, from the deadly heat dome of 2021 to the country's worst-ever wildfire season last summer. And those devastating environmental disasters provoked a lot of anxiety among pregnant individuals."Pregnancy, even without heat and smoke, is a time when…

“On the afternoon of 17 March 1978, the weather took an odd turn in north Delhi… that day dark clouds appeared suddenly and there were squalls of rain. Then followed an even bigger surprise: a hailstorm”. In his book The Great Derangement:Climate Change and the Unthinkable, celebrated author and Jnanpith award winner, Amitav Ghosh writes about an afternoon in Delhi when the capital was hit by a hailstorm. The event took the nation by surprise — glass panes were shattered, unsuspecting people were severely wounded by…

Award-winning actor Jane Fonda is coming to San Francisco’s iconic Castro Theatre this week, and while her film career is on a hot streak — she stars in three movies released so far this year, “80 for Brady,” “Moving On” and “Book Club: The Next Chapter” — her fans should know that none of these films, or any others from her storied resume, will be the focus of this event. Fonda is coming not as an actress but as an activist who has lent her efforts to a variety of issues over the years, from the antiwar movement to civil…

In a question and answer session at the University of Rochester, author Amitav Ghosh quoted from his book, The Nutmeg’s Curse, “To look facts in the face is to recognise that it is a grave error to imagine that the world is not preparing for the disrupted world of the future. It’s just not preparing by taking mitigatory measures or by reducing emissions: Instead, it is preparing for war.” The acclaimed author has been taking up the topic of the many nature-related crises we confront, among them the climate crisis in its…