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by Paula BUSTAMANTE Agence France-Presse ALTO HOSPICIO, Chile (AFP) – A mountain of discarded clothing including Christmas sweaters and ski boots cuts a strange sight in Chile’s Atacama, the driest desert in the world, which is increasingly suffering from pollution created by fast fashion. The social impact of rampant consumerism in the clothing industry — such as child labor in factories or derisory wages — is well-known, but the disastrous effect on the environment is […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Highways and school playgrounds in Beijing were closed Friday due to heavy pollution, as China ramps up coal production and faces scrutiny of its environmental record at make-or-break international climate talks. World leaders have gathered in Scotland this week for COP26 negotiations billed as one of the last chances to avert catastrophic climate change, though Chinese President Xi Jinping made a written address instead of attending in person. China — the […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) – China is targeting an ambitious clean energy goal of reducing fossil fuel use to under 20 percent by 2060, according to an official plan published by state media on Sunday. The cabinet document follows a pledge by President Xi Jinping to wean the world’s biggest polluter off coal, with a target of peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality 30 years later. But the country has been criticised for pushing […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) – Australia-based mining giant Rio Tinto on Wednesday announced plans to cut direct carbon emissions 50 percent by 2030, ramping up previous targets as the firm tries to green its highly polluting operations. Rio Tinto said it would spend around $7.5 billion from now until the end of the decade to cut so-called scope one and two emissions — from mining operations and power consumption. “Governments are setting more ambitious targets and […]
by Paula RAMON Agence France-Presse HUNTINGTON BEACH, United States (AFP) – Beaches normally thronged with the bronzed torsos of surfers are deserted as California races to clean up a huge oil spill. Up to 131,000 gallons of crude could have leaked into the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of the United States when a pipeline ruptured at the weekend. Authorities are investigating whether a ship’s anchor could have ripped open the pipe, dragging it […]
by Huw GRIFFITH LOS ANGELES, United State (AFP) — The US Coast Guard is investigating a possible anchor strike as the cause of a broken pipeline that has spewed tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil into the sea off California, media reported Tuesday. Emergency responders say up to 131,000 gallons of thick, sticky fuel have fouled waters that are home to seals, dolphins and whales since a pipeline ruptured at the weekend. A […]
by Margioni BERMÚDEZ Agence France-Presse VENEZUELA (AFP) – Congo Mirador was once an idyllic spot: a community of homes on stilts that seemed to float on the calm waters of a lagoon in western Venezuela. Now, the community is inundated with mud, a victim of silt generated by the Catatumbo river. Most of its residents have left, and Congo Mirador is slowly fading away. The river’s source is in Colombia, and it flows into Venezuela’s […]
by Robin MILLARD Agence France-Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) – The World Health Organization strengthened its air quality guidelines on Wednesday, saying air pollution was now one of the biggest environmental threats to human health, causing seven million premature deaths a year. Urgent action is needed to reduce exposure to air pollution, said the UN body, ranking its burden of disease on a par with smoking and unhealthy eating. “WHO has adjusted almost all the air […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — In a landmark victory for Indonesian environment campaigners, a court on Thursday ordered President Joko Widodo to clean up Jakarta’s notorious air pollution, ruling that the leader and other top officials had been negligent in protecting citizens. The capital and its surroundings form a megacity of about 30 million people, which routinely ranks among the most polluted cities in the world. Experts have warned for years about the threat posed by […]
by Akim Rezgui with Francoise Kadri in Tunis EZZAHRA, Tunisia (AFP) — Tahar Jaouebi looks out from a beach south of Tunis remembering the 1990s, when the water was still clean enough to bathe in. “Now I can’t swim any more, and neither can my son,” he says. Jaouebi, 47, is one of hundreds of protesters who formed a human chain over the weekend to highlight the pollution plaguing the coast south of the Tunisian […]
by Natalie HANDEL PARIS, France (AFP) — Even as air pollution shaves years off life expectancy, fossil fuel projects get more funding than clean air initiatives, a global report said Tuesday. An annual survey by the Clean Air Fund, which looks into how much money is given to the fight against air pollution by donor governments and philanthropic organisations, found that air quality is low on the list of funding priorities. Less than one percent […]
by Kelly MACNAMARA PARIS, France (AFP) — From endangered freshwater dolphins drowned by discarded fishing nets to elephants scavenging through rubbish, migratory species are among the most vulnerable to plastic pollution, a UN report on the Asia-Pacific region said Tuesday, calling for greater action to cut waste. Plastic particles have infiltrated even the most remote and seemingly-pristine regions of the planet, with tiny fragments discovered inside fish in the deepest recesses of the ocean and […]
