Shrinking the environmental footprint of mining
Almost every element in the periodic table has a use in modern society, and we are consuming them in larger volumes because of growing economies and technological innovations. Exotic elements from the periodic table like Neodymium, one of the rare
Climate Change: Too Late?
Will climate change and global warming eradicate humans? This summer, the worst scorcher to date, has become a season for panic: wildfires across the Western United States, Greece and Sweden, record temperatures in China, unprecedented floods in India and Japan,
What is Climate Resilience?
I work in climate resilience. And, when I tell people that, the next question they tend to ask is, “What is climate resilience?” It’s a fair question, and it deserves a fair answer. Let’s start with the facts, which I will state
WORLD OF WONDER, WORLD OF REASON
BOOK REVIEWS: The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt’s New World by Andrea Wulf, Knopf: New York, 2015, 496 pages; The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How they Communicate by Peter Wohlleben, translated by Jane Billinghurst, Greystone Books: Vancouver, 2016; Water Is…The Meaning of
Climate Action: The Foundation of Sustainable Development
The climate crisis is undoubtedly the single greatest threat to humanity. Despite the fierce debate in the United States surrounding the reality staring us square in the face, much of the rest of the world acknowledges the severity of this
Earth Day 2020: Celebrating 50 years of fighting for our Planet
The view from my hotel window was something out of a science fiction tale. A shroud of thick haze hung over New Delhi, blanketing India’s capital city and its more than 21 million people, and close to 8 million children,
Peat Swamps: The Forgotten Fix for Climate Change
“Drain the swamp!” It was Donald Trump’s campaign metaphor for purging everything bad in Washington DC. But he got his metaphor all wrong. Swamps are good. And, while Trump may not believe much in climate change, the UN climate conference
U.S. Action on Climate Change Will Continue
President Donald Trump’s announcement that he wants to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement was a mistake of historic proportions, not only because such a move is the antithesis of Sustainable Development Goal 13 — to “take urgent
A Perfect Match: Climate Action and Fair, Sustainable Development
In June of this year the former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres led a number of scientists to a call for deeper and faster action on climate change. The message she is sending is clear: if we want to avoid
Small-Scale Fisheries: Sustainable Coastal Development’s Urgent (and Unknown) Frontier
Last fall, Rare and photojournalist Jason Houston teamed up to create a photo series documenting the lives of people from the Caringo Island fishing community in the Philippines. We wanted to introduce American audiences to the fishing boats, markets, kitchens, and