Showing 1 - 10 of 18
Global coral collapse a neglected crisis
News, Imran Khalid, Published on 16/08/2025
» Before the crack of dawn on Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand, Somsak Chaisri paddles his wooden boat over waters that used to shimmer with life. A once-vibrant coral garden below the water surface now consists of dead skeleton-like structures. According to this fisherman, the bleached coral skeletons are the only things he pulls from the water after his father showed him how to fish in living coral reefs. "Now, I drag up ghosts," he murmured. His lament echoes across the tropics. From the Maldives to Mozambique, the once-thriving reefs of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans are being scoured of life.
Sudan's war and the Africa we don't see
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 19/04/2025
» Last Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: "Many have given up on Sudan, but that is wrong. It's morally wrong when we see so many civilians beheaded, infants as young as one subjected to sexual violence, more people facing famine than anywhere else in the world.... We simply cannot look away."
Climate crisis is also a costly one
Oped, Mónica Araya & Saliem Fakir, Published on 08/01/2025
» Global inflation in recent years has pushed the prices of food, energy, and basic goods to unprecedented levels. As a result, the rising cost of living has dominated political discussion around the world, but especially in G20 countries. Ahead of this year's presidential election in the United States, for example, 41% of Americans cited inflation as their top economic issue.
Zimbabwe and a dose of 'ruling party syndrome'
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 23/08/2023
» 'No one will stop us from ruling this country. You will be lost if you don't vote for Zanu-PF," said President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe. A bit more arrogant than the usual election pitch in most parts of the world, perhaps, but not unusual in Zimbabwe, one of the southern African countries suffering from "ruling party" syndrome.
The only way to eliminate polio
News, Florence Gyembuzie Wongnaah, Published on 23/05/2023
» When Jonas Salk's polio vaccine was found to be safe and effective in 1955, following a successful trial involving nearly two million American children, it marked a turning point in the fight against a highly infectious disease causing incurable paralysis or even death. Prior to Salk's discovery, between 25,000 and 50,000 cases were recorded each year in the United States alone, and little was known about how the virus spread.
IPCC report appeals to all to salvage 1.5C goal
News, Alister Doyle, Published on 28/03/2023
» Climate scientists on March 20 appealed directly to everyone on the planet to seize a dwindling chance to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius or risk harming people living today and their descendants for thousands of years.
Freddy and the Ice: Messages From the Future
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 19/03/2023
» Two new things on the climate front this week, both bad news. Typhoons used to be like drive-by shootings: one pass, one hit and then gone. Now they're starting to come back for a second hit.
Climate change is making us sick
Oped, Naveen Rao and Eloise Todd, Published on 27/12/2022
» A day before the latest United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) began, a group of global experts convened by The Lancet published a report about the adverse health effects of climate change. Their conclusion was as jarring as it was straightforward: human health is at the mercy of fossil fuels.
Climate change hits southern part of Africa
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 27/04/2022
» Tropical Storm Ana in January, Tropical Cyclone Batsirai in February, then Dumako, Emnati and Gombe in quick succession: three cyclones and two "tropical storms" in six weeks hitting the coasts of southeast Africa.
Shielding children from food crisis
Oped, Biniam Bedasso, Published on 06/04/2022
» Russia's invasion of Ukraine threatens to cause more disruption to the global food system by dramatically increasing the cost of staple foods and the energy required to transport them. The Black Sea region is responsible for the export of at least 12% of global food calories, so cutting off access to it will have far-reaching effects.