By Suzanne York. This year is likely to be the planet’s warmest one on record, just beating 2023 as the hottest since at least the 19th century. Next month the climate negotiations will kick off in oil-rich Azerbaijan, following last year’s talks in oil-rich Dubai. The United Nations states humanity is currently on track to see between
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By Suzanne York. It feels like a moment of truth for humans and nature.  It’s obvious we are in ecological breakdown and need to change course, but will we do it? The weather is becoming increasingly erratic and harsh, from heatwaves in Europe to floods in South Asia.  Antarctica’s “doomsday” glacier is breaking. There are
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By Geoffrey Holland, guest writer for Transition Earth. I’m always happy when consequential people make consequential remarks about stuff that matters. One of the most influential people on Earth, the revered naturalist Jane Goodall, has just delivered a consequential whopper. If you’re paying attention, you have to recognize that humanity is on a dead-end course. I’m
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By Suzanne York. The new year kicked off with a lot of coverage of extinction, mostly due to the tragedy in Australia.  Television news programs, newspapers and social media are awash in reports of the devastating impact of Australia’s raging fires on its enigmatic species.  The images of koalas, kangaroos and wallabies burning are tragic
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By Suzanne York, Transition Earth. World Population Day (July 11th) is a special day of recognition that most people are either unaware of, or want to ignore.  After all, discussing population growth is still often considered taboo. Yet we are at the point where it needs to be made more of a major issue.  The terrible
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By Geoffrey Holland, guest writer for Transition Earth. [Editor’s Note: This article was originally published with The Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere] A thoughtful examination of human history, boils down, more or less, to two steps forward, one step back. There is no written record of our beginnings.  For most of our history,
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By Suzanne York. It’s the type of story that should lead the news headlines all week.  But a report of critical significance for the entire world barely elicited a whimper from media, much less governments. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services was compiled over the past three years by 145 expert authors from
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By Suzanne York. If you ever question whether or not the world is experiencing the Sixth Mass Extinction, as noted by many scientists, a glance at recent news headlines of species at risk should send convince you we are either in it, or on the precipice.  From monarch butterflies to tigers to bats, too many
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By Suzanne York. We humans, in general, pride ourselves on having such ingenious brains, but we’re not always that smart. We live in a society that is using up natural resources at an unsustainable rate – resources upon which our lives depend upon – yet we blithely continue with business as usual. Certainly there are
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By Suzanne York. There was some good news on the nature front, just in time for World Environment Day – the number of mountain gorillas in the Virunga Massif in central Africa has increased to above 1,000. This represents a rise of 25% since 2010 of a critically endangered species. It is a sign of hope
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