Mary Hoff – 15 Most Surprising Trends for 2017

What should we be thinking about when we think about the future of biodiversity, conservation and the environment? An international team of experts in horizon scanning, science communication and conservation recently asked that question as participants in the eighth annual Horizon Scan of Emerging Issues for Global Conservation and Biological Diversity. The answers they came up, just published in the …

Andrea Germanos – Sounding ‘Death Knell’ for Reef, Massive Australian Coal Project Heads Towards Completion

Indian energy giant Adani on Monday achieved a “key milestone” in completing its massive and controversial Carmichael coal mine project in Australia—a project, according to a marine conservation group, “that will super charge climate change and sound the death knell for our Reef.” The achievement comes thanks to Queensland’s Coordinator-General giving “the latest, and final, secondary approval” for a permanent …

Nika Knight – ‘The Coral Was Cooked’: 2016 Deadliest Year on Record for Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef suffered through the worst coral die-off in recorded history this year, scientists found, with unusually warm ocean water and record-setting bleaching eventskilling a stunning 90 percent of all coral in the worst-hit area. Those were the conclusions of a study published Monday by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. “One of the worst-hit areas …

BILL MCKIBBEN – Time to Declare a War (Literally) on Climate Change

In the North this summer, a devastating offensive is underway. Enemy forces have seized huge swaths of territory; with each passing week, another 22,000 square miles of Arctic ice disappears. Experts dispatched to the battlefield in July saw little cause for hope, especially since this siege is one of the oldest fronts in the war. “In 30 years, the area has …