By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org It is the largest coral reef ecosystem on earth and one of the seven wonders of the natural world, but that isn’t enough to stop an effort to continue down the road of dirty fossil fuel energy. Last week, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMA) in Australia approved a
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org The U.S. Energy Information Administration just released a report showing that the carbon dioxide pollution emitted by Americans dropped 3.8 percent in 2012. Though U.S. CO2 emissions in 2012 amounted to 368,000 pounds of pollution per second, this is the lowest level since 1994. Ryan Koronowski of Climate Progress wrote that
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org We are well into summer 2013, and in the West temperatures are high, wildfires are raging, and droughts are in effect in many states. One state that has been hit particularly hard is New Mexico.  Nearly 90 percent of the state is experiencing extreme to exceptional drought conditions, and the Rio
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org At some point in early May, the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is expected to hit 400 parts per million (ppm).  It will fluctuate throughout the rest of the year, and for the next several years.  It is predicted to stabilize at the 400ppm mark by 2017, and
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org. India is a fast-developing nation with a population of 1.2 billion people, and by 2030 will likely be the most-populous in the world. India’s disparities and inequalities are staggering, with 32.7% of the population living on $1.25 per day. As the country continues to grow, the impacts on its citizens and
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By Suzanne York, HowMany.org, March 22, 2012  A study just released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is warning that climate change could exacerbate environmental disasters in Asia and result in a surge of migration by people fleeing crises. In its report, Addressing Climate Change and Migration in Asia and the Pacific, the ADB observed
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By Suzanne York, HowMany.org, January 12, 2012 A new study by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology predicts climate change will disrupt the delicate ecological balance between interdependent and often endangered plant and animal species. It will lead to reduced biodiversity and adversely affect the Earth’s water, energy, carbon and other
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(Comment: Another year and another round of UN climate talks where finger-pointing, feet dragging, and back-and-forth discussions is the norm. As reported by the New York Times, China signaled that it would be open to signing a formal treaty limiting emissions after 2020 but with conditions that make serious efforts unlikely to happen. The stumbling
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By Suzanne York, HowMany.org, Dec. 8, 2011  As global talks on climate change proceed at  the UN conference in Durban, South Africa,  it’s a pretty sure bet that population growth  won’t figure in any serious discussion.  Always the elephant in the room, we ignore  it at great cost to our communities and  environment. Our numbers
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By Suzanne York, HowMany.org, November 17, 2011 This week was the local premiere of the documentary film Growthbusters: Hooked on Growth. I have been anticipating this movie for awhile now, having been researching and writing on the world’s obsession with endless economic growth on a planet with finite resources. Growthbusters did a good job of
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