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In The Amazon's Fire Season, 'You Either Burn Or You Starve'

In the western state of Rondonia, a patch of the forest burns near a small farm. Kainaz Amaria/NPR

Image: In the western state of Rondonia, a patch of the forest burns near a small farm. Kainaz Amaria/NPR

npr.org - November 5th, 2015 - Lourdes Garcia-Navarro

They call it the "burning season" in the Amazon, and when we arrive in Brazil's western state of Rondonia, it's on fire.

A thick, acrid smoke permeates everything, making it difficult to see. Fire, people say in Rondonia, is part of the culture of the state: the ash from the burned trees is the only way to make the land fertile, argue some.

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How the Third Industrial Revolution Will Create a Green Economy

A photograph of a city skyline at dusk with lamps in the foreground that resemble stylized trees.

Image: A photograph of a city skyline at dusk with lamps in the foreground that resemble stylized trees.

huffingtonpost.com - October 20th, 2015 - Jeremy Rifkin

The global economy is slowing, productivity is waning in every region of the world and unemployment remains stubbornly high in every country. At the same time, economic inequality between the rich and the poor is at the highest point in human history. In 2010 the combined wealth of the 388 richest people in the world equaled the combined wealth of the poorest half of the human race.

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Dire Glimpses of What Pollution Is Doing in Bangladesh

Two women go back to their village after collecting garbage to sell to traders, Gazipur. PROBAL RASHID

Image: Two women go back to their village after collecting garbage to sell to traders, Gazipur. PROBAL RASHID

wired.com - October 14th 2015 - Laura Mallonee

Bangladesh is dominated by a vast river delta of rich, fertile and flat land no more than 40 feet above sea level. That makes it especially susceptible to climate change. Scientists estimate that rising sea levels will claim as much as 17 percent of the country by 2050, displacing as many as 18 million people.

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India announces plan to slow rate of greenhouse gas growth

Smoke rises from a chimney of a garbage processing plant on the outskirts of Chandigarh December 3, 2011. Reuters/Ajay Verma/Files

Image: Smoke rises from a chimney of a garbage processing plant on the outskirts of Chandigarh December 3, 2011. Reuters/Ajay Verma/Files

in.reuters.com - October 2nd, 2015 - Tommy Wilkes

India has promised to shave a third off the rate at which it emits greenhouse gases over the next 15 years, in a long-awaited contribution towards reaching a deal to slow global warming at a U.N. climate summit in December.

The world's third-largest emitter and last major economy to submit plans ahead of the Paris summit did not, however, commit to any absolute cuts in carbon emissions.

Of the top two polluters, China has promised its emissions will peak by around 2030, and the United States is already cutting, but India says its economy is too small and its people too poor to agree to absolute cuts in greenhouse gases now.

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The Global Goals

http://www.globalgoals.org/

World Leaders have committed to 17 Global Goals to achieve 3 extraordinary things in the next 15 years. End extreme poverty. Fight inequality & injustice. Fix climate change. The Global Goals for sustainable development could get these things done. In all countries. For all people. If the Goals are going to work, everyone needs to know about them. TELL EVERYONE.

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Watch: Home - What Does it Mean to You?

globalgoals.org - September 24, 2015

“Home" - Directed by Mark Grimmer, 59 Productions and produced by Richard Curtis in association with Global Citizen. Home is a reminder that the space we inhabit extends beyond our house, neighbourhood, country and even continent - and it’s up to us to take care of it.

http://www.globalgoals.org/

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India Bangalore lake of toxic snowy froth

The foam rises so high that it flows into the neighbourhoods around the lake.Image: The foam rises so high that it flows into the neighbourhoods around the lake. Photo: Debasish Ghosh

bbc.co.uk - September 28th, 2015

Is it snowing in India's tropical southern city of Bangalore?

The picture above would certainly make you think so.

Unfortunately, the reality is quite different: what looks like snow is actually harmful snow-white froth that floats up from the city's largest lake and spills over into neighbouring areas.

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Danger of Methane Explosions on Yamal Peninsula, Scientists Warn

      

Scientists from the respected Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics insist the process by which a series of craters formed was caused by the melting of gas hydrates and the emission of methane. Picture: Vladimir Olenchenko/Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics

More craters expected to form due to such eruptions as permafrost melts - and they ARE caused by global warming releasing methane gas.

siberiantimes.com - by Anna Liesowska - September 22, 2015

A new expedition to one of the mysterious Siberian giant holes found in recent years has concluded that it is a warning sign of a deadly threat to northern regions as the climate warms. . . .

. . . A pingo believed to be poised to explode 'at any moment' is now being constantly monitored by a Russian space satellite in an attempt to catch the moment when the eruption occurs. . . .

. . . The scientists also warn of a dire threat to both towns and cities in the extreme north, and natural gas exploration facilities and associated pipelines.

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Don't Take A Deep Breath: Outdoor Pollution Kills 3.3 Million A Year

A masked man walks past trees shrouded with pollution haze in Beijing, China. Andy Wong/AP

Image: A masked man walks past trees shrouded with pollution haze in Beijing, China. Andy Wong/AP

npr.org - September 16th, 2015 - Susan Brink

More people die prematurely because of the air they breathe than the 2.8 million who die each year of HIV/AIDS and malaria combined.

That's the startling statistic from a new study in this week's journal Nature. The annual global death toll from outdoor air pollution is 3.3 million. (Premature death is a medical term that means a usually preventable death that occurs before expected — for instance, earlier than the life expectancy of age 78 in the U.S.).

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Ocean Fish Populations Cut In Half Since The 1970s: Report

CLICK HERE - Living Blue Planet Report 2015

Populations of some commercial fish stocks, such as a group including tuna, mackerel and bonito, had fallen by almost 75 percent.

huffingtonpost.com - by Andy Campbell - September 16, 2015

A disturbing new report published by the World Wildlife Fund found that the world marine vertebrate population declined by 49 percent between 1970 and 2012.

The Living Blue Planet Report -- analyzed by the Zoological Society of London and issued as an update on our oceans' health -- also found that local and commercial fish populations have been cut in half, tropical reefs have lost nearly half of their reef-building coral, and there are 250,000 metric tons of plastic in our oceans.

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