Latest News
Canada is set to impose a nationwide carbon tax -
The government has announced that it will put together a plan this fall requiring all provinces to meet a federally established minimum price for fossil fuel pollution. The provinces will have the option of choosing either a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade program. The Globe and Mail
Last year's Indonesian forest fires may have killed more than 100,000 people -
A new study of the killer haze from fires sparked by illegal slash-and-burn agriculture estimates that in 2015, the dense smog contributed to 100,300 premature deaths in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. The number is far higher than the estimate of 19 given by authorities. Quite a discrepancy, indeed. The Guardian
Pipeline spill prompts states of emergency in Alabama and Georgia -
A major gasoline pipeline that usually transports 1.3 million barrels a day from Houston to New York has been shut down since last Friday after leaking about 250,000 gallons of gas south of Birmingham. The EPA says the spill is contained, but the state of emergency allows fuel delivery truck drivers to exceed their maximum allowed driving hours in order to prevent fuel shortages. Sounds...safe? AL.com
The United Nations expects 20 more countries to ratify climate agreement next week -
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon invited world leaders to join the landmark deal at an event on September 21, and so far at least 20 have agreed. That number will be added to the 27 countries that have ratified the Paris agreement thus far, bringing the world closer to putting it into action by the end of the year. Reuters
Glyphosate found in U.S. honey -
Records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show that the FDA found residues of the popular weed killer, the main ingredient in Roundup and a probable carcinogen, in honey. Some samples contained glyphosate in concentrations of 107 parts per billion—more than 50 ppb higher than the maximum allowed by the European Union. U.S. Right to Know
Humans are driving large marine species to extinction -
A new analysis of the previous five big extinction events as compared to the current "sixth extinction" finds a big difference between them: In the earlier events, either the smaller species were the ones to vanish or the wasn't a pattern to which marine species were lost; today, we're losing the sea's largest species—and that could have a disproportionate effect on ecosystems for millions of years. The Guardian