Global Warming

Our Ailing Earth

A new report says Earth has exceeded seven out of eight key ecological stability limits, pushing the planet into “the danger zone.” Writing in the journal Nature, the scientific group Earth Commission says it looked at climate, air pollution, groundwater, phosphorus and nitrogen contamination from fertilizer overuse, fresh surface water as well as the overall natural and human-built environments.

Comparing what it would be like if the planet had just gotten a medical exam, Earth Commission co-chair Joyeeta Gupta said, “our doctor would say that the Earth is really quite sick right now.”

But it could heal if carbon emissions are slashed and we are more careful with the world’s land and water.

Climate Change Funding Going to Strange Places

Wealthy countries have pledged $100 billion a year to help reduce the effects of global warming.

Italy helped a retailer open chocolate and gelato stores across Asia. The United States offered a loan for a coastal hotel expansion in Haiti. Belgium backed the film “La Tierra Roja,” a love story set in the Argentine rainforest. And Japan is financing a new coal plant in Bangladesh and an airport expansion in Egypt.

Funding for the five projects totaled $2.6 billion, and all four countries counted their backing as so-called “climate finance” – grants, loans, bonds, equity investments and other contributions meant to help developing nations reduce emissions and adapt to a warming world. Developed nations have pledged to funnel a combined total of $100 billion a year toward this goal, which they affirmed during climate talks in Paris in 2015. The funding helped crown Japan and the United States as two of the top five contributors.

In doing so, they broke no rules. That's because the $100 billion a year pledge came with no official guidelines for what activities count as climate finance!