News from the Earth

A green and fair recovery is able to create over 50 million jobs among the almost one hundred cities of the C40 network and their supply chain. About a third more than those that would be generated simply by maintaining the current polluting infrastructure. With accelerated reconstruction, on the other hand, it could reach 80 million. 

Millions of stacks and tailpipes in cities around the world send up 70% of the carbon dioxide ejected into the atmosphere by human beings. 461 mayors, including those of some of the U.S.'s largest cities, have joined Climate Mayors. They're pledging to uphold the goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

Globally, the EU is responsible for more than 10% of the destruction of forests through the consumption of products such as meat, dairy products, soya for animal feed, palm oil, coffee and cocoa. The European Union has therefore decided to open a public consultation procedure on the theme of forest protection: "Deforestation and forest degradation - reducing the impact of products placed on the EU market".

The August Complex Fire started when a series of dramatic lightning strikes caused several small fires that were increased by strong winds. The small fires joined together to form the gigafire that is still burning today.

The flowers have started to produce more pigments to protect themselves from UV rays. A phenomenon that is not visible to human eyes but affects pollination.

Earth's living systems as a whole are being compromised. And the more humanity exploits nature in unsustainable ways and undermines its contributions to people, the more we undermine our own wellbeing, security and prosperity.

From savannah to tundra, no ecosystem is immune to fire. Analysis of the data collected between 2000 and 2015 shows that 85% of the surface area bu...

The Overshoot Day is the day that indicates the official exhaustion of renewable resources that the Earth is able to regenerate within 365 days.  The Overshoot day 2020 corresponds to August 22, three weeks later than 2019, when it fell on July 29.

The European Commission has presented the Biodiversity Plan, a document that is part of the Green New Deal, the European Green Pact that aims to make Europe the first CO2-neutral continent by 2050. The new strategy proposes ambitious actions and commitments to halt the loss of biodiversity in Europe and the world and turn our food systems into global reference standards.

In Canada, the Milne ice shelf, an intact ice shelf for four thousand years, has collapsed due to temperatures 5 degrees C higher than average.

Arizona State University scientists on Monday presented their research on finding micro and nanoplastics in human organs to the American Chemical Society. Greenpeace UK responded to the reporting on the study by calling to massively reduce the amount of plastic produced and used worldwide.  Microplastics are plastics that are less than five millimeters in diameter and nanoplastics are less than 0.001 millimeters in diameter. Both are broken down bits of larger plastic pieces that were dumped into the environment.

Metro parks and city trees have nice cooling effects on nearby neighbourhoods. Several cities around the world have developed programs to increase urban green spaces.