When Albert Pati moved closer to the sea to open a beach bar overlooking the Mediterranean in Albania, he never imagined that the sea would also be moving closer to him, now eroding the soil around his restaurant floor. Even before the outbreak of Covid-19, families and businesses around the Adriatic Sea were faced with a serious threat. One of the countries hardest-hit by … [Read more...]
Civil Society calls on the African Development Bank to quit fossil fuels
Africa Day 2020: African Climate Reality Project along with 25 fellow civil society organisations, are calling on the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) to immediately put in place and publish on the AfDB website a fossil fuel finance exclusion policy that states that the Bank will not fund, provide financial services or capacity support to any coal project on the African … [Read more...]
India floods: Over 300 dead, millions affected and villagers in relief camps
At least 300 people have died in eastern and central India and more than 6 million others have been affected by floods that have submerged villages, washed away crops, destroyed roads and disrupted power and phone lines, officials say. Heavy monsoon rains have caused rivers, including the mighty Ganges and its tributaries, to burst their banks forcing people into relief … [Read more...]
Hong Kong beaches so full of trash it can be seen from space
An enormous—and unprecedented—amount of plastic waste and other marine debris has been washing up on Hong Kong's southern beaches in recent weeks. Local authorities have described the filth as a "glacier of trash," and that the rubbish from one island could even be seen from space, the Epoch Times wrote. From July 1 to 9 alone, government departments collected 78,000 … [Read more...]
Texas flooding: death toll rises to 24
Three more bodies have been found in the flooding in Texas, officials said Saturday, bringing the total to 24 in a state walloped this week by heavy rains and powerful storms. Another seven people have died in Oklahoma. The three latest deaths were announced by officials in Hays County, where a group of people got swept away while in a vacation house last weekend. The … [Read more...]
Our lonely home in nature
The tornadoes that have been devastating parts of the South and Midwest USA, just weeks after a deadly mudslide in Washington, demonstrate once again the unimaginable power of nature. After each disaster, we grieve over the human lives lost, the innocent people drowned or crushed without warning as they slept in their beds, worked in their fields or sat at their office … [Read more...]
Is your family prepared for a natural disaster?
In this modern era, technology has provided society with numerous means of predicting the natural and man-made hazards that are part and parcel of daily living. But it also makes sense to be prepared for any eventuality. The likelihood of recuperating from an emergency or hazard tomorrow almost always depends on the planning and preparation done today. The City of Cape … [Read more...]
Obama “backflips” on climate goal
Environment and development groups from around the world condemned the U.S. Climate Envoy Todd Stern's recent statement* at Dartmouth College renouncing a limit of 2°C temperature rise as a global goal for UN climate negotiations. Mr Stern said that agreeing to a framework to achieve the 2C goal would "only lead to deadlock" and that a new agreement should give countries … [Read more...]