Author: Ranveer Kumar

For the first time ever, scientists have shown that lakes on Greenland’s ice sheet can drain during the winter months, in a phenomenon that could accelerate the rate of glacial melt. The rate at which the second largest ice sheet in the world is draining into the northern Atlantic ocean may be occurring faster than we think, according to new research published in the Cryosphere on Wednesday. As the new paper shows, water that collects on the surface of the Greenland ice sheet during the summer can remain in a liquid state during the winter and leak through cracks that appear along…

Extreme weather events caused by the climate emergency are an existential threat to homeowners and industry alike It was the Monday after the Warragamba Dam overflowed that Dr Kim Loo began to understand the scale of what was happening. A patient had called in to her clinic in Riverstone in Sydney’s west to cancel an appointment to pick up a prescription as the bridge into town was out. Loo, chair of the New South Wales chapter of Doctors for the Environment, has lived and worked in western Sydney her whole life. Over the years she has watched the market gardens once run…

Researchers have confirmed for the first time that Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica could cross tipping points, leading to a rapid and irreversible retreat which would have significant consequences for global sea level. Pine Island Glacier is a region of fast-flowing ice draining an area of West Antarctica approximately two thirds the size of the UK. The glacier is a particular cause for concern as it is losing more ice than any other glacier in Antarctica. Currently, Pine Island Glacier together with its neighbouring Thwaites glacier are responsible for about 10% of the ongoing increase in global sea level. Scientists…

A new analysis shows how oil and mining businesses used tax changes in the CARES Act to improve cash flow and reward shareholders rather than maintain employment. When Congress looked to prop up a tanking economy and stanch its hemorrhaging of employment as the pandemic spread last year, the oil industry was among those that sought relief. Now, a new analysis shows that dozens of fossil fuel companies received billions of dollars in tax benefits in the coronavirus relief package, but slashed tens of thousands of jobs anyway. While Congress ended up sending billions in direct loans to small and…

Honolulu food vendors won’t be allowed to provide customers with plastic utensils under a new law that took effect Thursday. The city ordinance prohibits plastic forks, knives, spoons, straws, stir sticks, picks and sushi grass. The rules were originally due to kick in on Jan. 1, but were postponed for 90 days because of the hardship they would place on businesses during the pandemic and to allow for more public education. Other cities such as San Francisco and Seattle have already banned some single-use plastics. Advocates say the plastic becomes trash that pollutes the ocean and contributes to climate change…

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL If you are concerned about the growing impacts climate change is having on communities across the U.S. and the world, you probably breathed a sigh of relief when Joe Biden was elected president. After four years of inaction on climate, President Biden is finally pointing the United States in the right direction. In the first few months of his term, he’s reversed many of the previous administration’s climate rollbacks, rejoined the Paris Agreement and ordered all federal agencies to be part of the climate solution. This week Biden…

The Biden administration says it needs to restore trust in the agency by ‘resetting’ membership on two key science advisory panels. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan will purge more than 40 outside experts appointed under President Donald Trump from two key advisory panels, a move he says will help restore the role of science at the agency and reduce the heavy influence of industry over environmental regulations. The unusual decision, announced Wednesday, will sweep away outside researchers picked under the previous administration whose expert advice helped the agency craft regulations related to air pollution, the oil-and-gas extraction method known as fracking…

The actor and environmentalist says that shark populations “are critical to ocean health and resiliency.” He probably won’t be tuning in to public decision-making Tuesday on the measure, but one of Hollywood’s biggest stars backs a shark-protection measure that’s making its way through the Hawaii Legislature. Leonardo DiCaprio on Thursday tweeted his support of House Bill 553, which would establish as an offense intentionally and knowingly “capturing, entangling, or killing” a shark in state marine waters as well as impose penalties and fines. “Shark populations are in global decline and are critical to ocean health and resiliency,” DiCaprio said. “I support…

Sir Ivor Roberts says East Africa ‘critically undermined’ by extremist groups ISIS is “growing stronger” through its use of the illegal ivory and illicit sugar trades to fund terrorists in East Africa, according to a new report by a former British ambassador. Extremist fighters and terror campaigns are being paid for through the unlawful activities which are becoming “more sophisticated”, said Sir Ivor Roberts, a former British diplomat in Lebanon and head of counter-terrorism in the Foreign Office. He makes these claims in his report An Unholy Alliance: Links Between Extremism and Illicit Trade in East Africa, produced for non-government organisation the Counter Extremism…

Figures show 77 companies received $8.2bn under tax changes related to Covid relief and yet almost every one let workers go Fossil-fuel companies have received billions of dollars in tax benefits from the US government as part of coronavirus relief measures, only to lay off tens of thousands of their workers during the pandemic, new figures reveal. A group of 77 firms involved in the extraction of oil, gas and coal received $8.2bn under tax-code changes that formed part of a major pandemic stimulus bill passed by Congress last year. Five of these companies also got benefits from the paycheck…