By Ryan Johnson New York state lawmakers could pass as early as Wednesday one of the nation’s most ambitious plans to slow climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050. That would make it the second U.S. state to aim for a carbon-neutral economy, following an executive order signed by former California […]

By Christopher Thompson The effect of climate change on economic growth is up to six times stronger in the world’s poorest countries. In a song that everybody knows, Leonard Cohen once famously sang “the poor stay poor, the rich get rich.” This statement has purchase beyond the realm of music – it holds true in global economics. Cross-country inequality […]

By Christopher Thompson My bagels come individually wrapped in sealed plastic bags. At the counter, if I’m not paying attention, they’re carefully packed together in another plastic bag, before being placed inside a third plastic with the rest of my shopping. Japan’s obsession with hygiene combined with its pride in “omotenashi,” or customer service, dictates […]

By Ryan Johnson The City of Philadelphia is investing about $8 million for young people to get paid to work this summer, and on Monday, Mayor Jim Kenney announced an additional $1 million to support paid summer jobs for young people, who are around 12-years-old to 24-years-old, through the WorkReady program. The additional support adds […]

By Christopher Thompson The latest global population report from the United Nations estimates the number of people on the planet will peak at 10.9 billion by the end of the century. The vast majority of population growth is expected to come from sub-Saharan Africa, with declining population growth predicted in Asia, Europe and Latin America […]

By Ryan Johnson Climate change may lead to unlikely illnesses in unexpected places, new research suggests: In the past two years, five cases of Vibrio vulnificus, a flesh-eating bacterial infection spread by handling or eating contaminated seafood, have been tied to Delaware Bay, where water temperatures have been on the rise in recent years, according […]

By Christopher Thompson In the recent standoff between the U.S. and Mexico, the Trump administration commingled the issues of trade and immigration. This is the wrong approach, and it ignores one of the root causes of the migration challenge: a rapidly warming planet. Climate change and immigration have become more inextricably linked than ever. As […]

By Ryan Johnson A new study of climate changes and their effects on past societies offers a sobering glimpse of social upheavals that might happen in the future. The prehistoric groups studied lived in the Amazon Basin of South America hundreds of years ago, before European contact, but the disruptions that occurred may carry lessons […]

By Ryan Johnson The incoming environment minister has a clear opportunity to tackle this debilitating disease. Wildlife carers and conservationists want it to be a priority Last month Grasso wasn’t doing well. The bare-nosed wombat, dubbed Fatso in Italian, was infected with mange. The devastating skin disease caused by parasitic mites had left his skin […]

By Christopher Thompson 1. Your coffee cup probably isn’t recyclable Items composed of different kinds of materials present a big challenge for recyclers. The billions of single-use coffee cups discarded each year are a classic example: a thin, plastic coating inside the cup may prevent leakage, but it’s extremely difficult to separate it from the […]