Posts in the 'Climate Action' category
Earth Day at 50: Five Ways to Honor the Legacy and Change the World
Earth Day at 50: Five Ways to Honor the Legacy and Change the World
Fifty years ago, 20 million Americans (10% of the U.S. population at the time) took to the streets at the first Earth Day to demand a better future. Outraged by polluted air and water, by oil spills and the destruction ...
Combating the Coronavirus Without Clean Water
Combating the Coronavirus Without Clean Water
As the coronavirus crisis spreads throughout the world, it is increasingly clear that people with the least access to essential services like water will feel the most dramatic effects. Major health organizations advise washing hands more frequently – for at least ...
5 Strategies that Achieve Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Simultaneously
5 Strategies that Achieve Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Simultaneously
Climate actions have often fallen into one of two strategies: mitigation efforts to lower or remove greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere, and adaptation efforts to adjust systems and societies to withstand the impacts of climate change. The separation has led to ...
We’re Underestimating How Many People Lack Sanitation – and Ignoring the Best Solution for Many Cities
We’re Underestimating How Many People Lack Sanitation – and Ignoring the Best Solution for Many Cities
In the urban neighborhood known as Kosovo Village in Nairobi, Kenya, 95% of residents defecate in communal or shared facilities where untreated human waste drains directly into a nearby river. During a storm, fetid and polluted waters flood the riverbanks, ...
Coastal Flooding Impacts Millions of People. Urban Expansion Makes the Risk Worse.
Coastal Flooding Impacts Millions of People. Urban Expansion Makes the Risk Worse.
Among cities with the highest rates of outward expansion are coastal cities that are extremely vulnerable to flooding from sea level rise and storm surges. Map by Resource Watch Urban expansion and sea level rise are combining to increase the ...
Accelerating America's Pledge: How US States, Cities and Businesses Can Deliver Ambitious Climate Action
Accelerating America’s Pledge: How US States, Cities and Businesses Can Deliver Ambitious Climate Action
There’s been a dramatic groundswell of “bottom-up” climate leadership from U.S. states, cities and businesses in the face of a federal retreat on climate action. From state legislation mandating cleaner electricity sources to city policies encouraging all-electric buildings, these local ...
Chile’s Protests Offer Lessons on Social Inequality and Climate Action
Chile’s Protests Offer Lessons on Social Inequality and Climate Action
Chile withdrew as host of this year’s UN climate conference amid widespread unrest, but that doesn’t mean that fighting climate change should be pushed into second place behind addressing social inequality. On the contrary, the situation in Chile shows all countries that the social and climate ...
12 Reasons Climate Action Is Good for the United States Economy
12 Reasons Climate Action Is Good for the United States Economy
The United States is the only nation that doesn’t show up in the list of countries currently committed to the Paris Agreement. But that doesn’t mean most Americans aren’t trying to do their part. In fact, U.S. states, cities and ...
4 Priorities for the COP25 Climate Conference in Madrid
4 Priorities for the COP25 Climate Conference in Madrid
It has been a tumultuous time for the UN climate talks. The mass protests against social inequality in Chile prompted the country to give up its plan to host COP25 just a month before the annual talks were scheduled to begin in December. But ...
Responding to Day Zero Equitably: Water Crisis Lessons from Cape Town and Chennai
Responding to Day Zero Equitably: Water Crisis Lessons from Cape Town and Chennai
When Cape Town, South Africa, and Chennai, India nearly ran out of water, these two cities managed to avert Day Zero with solutions that were creative and effective but far from perfect. In Cape Town, there were mile-long queues of people waiting for hours for water. ...
As Trump Steps Away from Paris Climate Agreement, US States, Cities and Businesses Step Up
As Trump Steps Away from Paris Climate Agreement, US States, Cities and Businesses Step Up
U.S. states, cities and businesses are an essential part of the response to the global climate crisis – and their role is ever more crucial as the Trump administration moves to pull the United States from the historic Paris Agreement. ...
Meet the Startups Helping India’s Cities Save Water, Reduce Energy and Better Manage Waste
Meet the Startups Helping India’s Cities Save Water, Reduce Energy and Better Manage Waste
As cities across India contend with rapid outward expansion and growth, critical urban services are lagging behind, impacting long-term environmental sustainability, public health and quality of life. Rapid urbanization and the realities of climate change require the implementation of solutions ...
The 3 Key Tasks for World Leaders at the UN Climate Action Summit
The 3 Key Tasks for World Leaders at the UN Climate Action Summit
World leaders will soon gather in New York City for a summit on an urgent challenge that affects every aspect of our lives, from the economy to jobs, security and migration and our health. It is, of course, the climate crisis. The tens of thousands of fires recently afflicting the ...
A Tale of Two Cities in Brazil (and the Forest that Connects Them)
A Tale of Two Cities in Brazil (and the Forest that Connects Them)
What if you could send a WhatsApp message and a colorful green van would deliver free native tree seedlings directly to you? In Salvador, Brazil, the local government does just that. Painted with a picture of a biodiverse Brazilian forest, ...
We’re Grossly Underestimating the World’s Water Access Crisis
We’re Grossly Underestimating the World’s Water Access Crisis
In Cape Town, South Africa, and Chennai, India, “Day Zero” events where cities run out of water have drawn global media attention. But while these catastrophes seem like rare, temporary crises caused by droughts or mismanagement, life without ample water ...
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