Environment

Climate change: Obsession with plastic pollution distracts attention from bigger environmental challenges

The Conversation

February 22, 2019

Plastic pollution — or more accurately, the response of governments and industry to addressing plastic pollution — provides a “convenient truth” that distracts from addressing the real environmental threats such as climate change.

Climate Change

Climate change is the overlooked driver of Central American migration

Living on Earth

February 06, 2019

Toward the end of 2018, Central American migrant groups of several thousands of people began journeys towards the United States. Many are fleeing a massive drought that has lasted for five years.

An unexpected challenge on Antarctica: Measuring snowfall

PRI's The World

January 29, 2019

The amount of snowfall is an important parameter used in modeling how the Antarctic continent’s mass of ice will change in the coming decades. As the planet warms, the margins of the continent are melting three times faster than just one decade ago.

Brazil dam collapse death toll rises to 60, hundreds still missing

Reuters

January 28, 2019

Firefighters in the state of Minas Gerais have confirmed 60 people dead in Friday's disaster, in which a tailings dam broke sending a torrent of sludge into the miner's offices and the town of Brumadinho. Nearly 300 other people are unaccounted for, and officials said it was unlikely that any would be found alive.