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Archive for July 7th, 2015
Avoiding a Climate Inferno
Posted by New York Times: Andrew C. Revkin on July 7th, 2015
New York Times: The current issue of Science features a short, but forceful editorial by the journal’s editor in chief, the geophysicist Marcia K. McNutt, calling for humanity, after decades of delay, to get serious about cutting greenhouse-gas emissions linked to global warming. “The time for debate has ended,” she writes. “Action is urgently needed.” McNutt (who was just elected the next president of the National Academy of Sciences) points to studies showing that nations’ emissions-cutting pledges made ahead...
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Pakistan’s climate policies are a ‘joke’, says Imran Khan
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 7th, 2015
Guardian: Pakistan’s commitment to tackling climate change is a “joke” lacking proper funding and support from government officials, says cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan.
In an exclusive interview with RTCC, Khan praised the creation of a national climate change ministry, but questioned the level of support allocated to it by prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s administration.
“They (the federal government) need to back it up with supportive funding and capacity, which are both missing,” he said. “The...
Scientists look to mosquito data to map spread of disease
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on July 7th, 2015
SciDevNet: Mosquitoes that carry the dengue and chikungunya viruses are more widespread than ever, believe scientists mapping the global spread of the insects.
There are no treatments or vaccines for these diseases, so knowing where the mosquitoes that transmit them occur and thrive can help focus research and public health resources, the scientists say.
A study, published in the journal eLife last week (30 June), focuses on two species of mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, which carry the...
Winds of climate change blast farmers’ hopes of sustaining a livelihood in Burkina Faso
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 7th, 2015
Guardian: One afternoon towards the end of May a violent wind howled through Bogandé, the main town in Gnagna province, in eastern Burkina Faso. Raising a storm of dust and sand, it plunged the streets into semi-darkness, driving roaming goats crazy. In villages across Gnagna people connect these extreme climate events with deteriorating living standards. They explain how these increasingly frequent “red” winds wreak havoc, burying their crops in sand, destroying their homes, and spreading disease among their...