These past two years have made the international community finally realize that complex global challenges and crises will not go away easily and are likely to become the norm rather than the exception in this turbulent 21st century. First, the COVID-19 pandemic is obviously far from over....
Take a look at the suited people at COP26. Some look inquisitively around as the bill is slipped across the table to them. Others pull out the inside of their empty pockets and shrug their shoulders. Some recall past promises and claim they are still owed money. Others point to someone else’s...
The Glasgow Climate Pact aims to reduce the worst impacts of climate change. Countries agreed to reduce the use of coal that is responsible for 40% of annual carbon dioxide emissions. But many believe that COP26 did not go far enough.
There is no question about it: Our planet is warming faster than ever before. Having plateaued around 280 parts per million for thousands of years, global CO2 emissions have shot past 400 ppm at the end of the last decade, an atmospheric rise set in motion by the 18th-century Industrial...
In life, we generally believe that words matter and that they are important. We also think promises and pledges expressed in words and made in public are really important. They show our intentions and commitment to people who matter to us. And that actions speak louder than words. Fiji’s...
There is an astonishing statistic in a Pew research study released in 2020 on perceptions of how different countries handled COVID-19. Only 15% of people in a dozen countries around the world thought the United States was doing a good job of addressing the pandemic. That sharply contrasted with...
On November 6, Brianna Fruean and other Pacific Islands representatives marched in Glasgow as all eyes are on the United Kingdom for the COP26 climate change summit happening this month. The chilly streets of Scotland and its winter are so far removed from the reality of the Pacific that we, in...
Senior editor David Knowles has been covering the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, for Yahoo News. He appears to be on a mission to celebrate the commitment of the US to lead the world in the noble goal of solving the climate crisis. His chief weapon is tossing softball questions to...
COP26! That is how many times the UN has assembled world leaders for the Conference of the Parties summit to try to tackle the climate crisis. But at the same time, the United States is producing more oil and natural gas than ever. The amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere and global...
In a column published by The Guardian concurrently with the Conference of the Parties (COP26) summit in Glasgow, the president of Malawi, Lazarus Chakwera, is left wondering what it means when people who speak with a voice of moral authority stand up to call for urgent action by others. In the...
For the vast majority of our very brief time on Earth, humans have lived in harmony with nature, following its laws and its rhythms, taking little more than we needed and leaving almost no footprint of our existence. Not so the new man, who gives his name to the Anthropocene Epoch we are...
