Tag - environment

 
 

ENVIRONMENT

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (left) and his minister of indigenous peoples, Sonia Guajajara, chat during the Amazon Summit IV Meeting of Presidents of States Parties to the Amazon Cooperation Treaty in Belem, Para State, Brazil, on Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 9, 2023
Brazil's Lula fosters regional unity in battle to save the Amazon
The Amazon Summit is taking place in Belem, the rainforest city slated to host the United Nations’ COP30 climate meetings in 2025.
A landscape worker from Mexico takes a break during a heat wave in Phoenix, Arizona, on July 27. A thermal camera registered surface temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius, with an air temperature of 42 C.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 8, 2023
Thermal camera captures record heat wave scorching Phoenix
The southwestern U.S. city has shattered its 1974 heat-wave record with temperatures above 43 degrees Celsius for 31 straight days.
The Azabudai Hills development in Tokyo on Tuesday
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 8, 2023
Mori Building to open Azabudai Hills complex in Tokyo in November
The company hopes the project will boost the capital’s competitive edge over metropolises overseas.
New Zealand already generates more than 80% of its electricity from renewable sources, and aspires to reach 100% by 2030.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 8, 2023
New Zealand ties up with BlackRock in drive for fully green power
The deal will supercharge efforts by New Zealand to become one of the first countries in the world to achieve a 100% renewable electricity supply.
Graphite, now deemed an essential mineral by the U.S., is the single biggest ingredient by weight in the batteries that go into electric vehicles and the power grid. It is also used in a variety of defense applications.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2023
Biden deploys Pentagon to beat climate change and China
A $37.5 million grant to Graphite One acts as a relaxed form of venture capital as the White House supports nascent parts of the domestic cleantech supply chain.
Masatoshi Akimoto at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Thursday
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 7, 2023
Scandal-hit ex-LDP member a major backer of renewable energy
Masatoshi Akimoto opposes building new nuclear reactors or replacing current ones, and has said that wind power in particular has much potential.
As synonymous with summer as fireworks and sweltering temperatures, mosquitoes are ubiquitous in Japan. However, will rising temperatures lead more dangerous species of the bug to call Japan home?
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / Longform
Aug 7, 2023
The mosquito: Summer’s unwelcome little bloodsucker
An outbreak of dengue in Yoyogi Park nine years ago could be a sign of things to come if the wrong mosquito makes it into Japan.
A camp of informal gold miners in Los Amigos, in the Madre de Dios region, Peru. The Peruvian government estimates that illegal miners dump about 180 metric tons of mercury in Madre de Dios annually.
WORLD
Aug 7, 2023
Gold mining in the Amazon poisoning scores of threatened species
Miners in southeast Peru use mercury to find gold — inadvertently contaminating hundreds of species native to the area.
A highway runs through Saudi Arabia's arid landscape. A new horticulture project marks the biggest food-tech investment for the country, whose extreme summer temperatures have long left it reliant on food imports.
WORLD
Aug 7, 2023
Saudi city of future enlists Dutch help to grow crops in desert
The Netherlands is now the world’s second-largest agricultural exporter after the U.S., despite being one of Europe’s smallest nations.
A man makes his way through a flooded road after the rains and floods brought by remnants of Typhoon Doksuri, in Zhuozhou, Hebei province, China, on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 4, 2023
China’s ‘sponge cities’ are not built for extreme flood events
China has invested billions of dollars in recent years to protect against extreme rainfall after a 2012 flood in Beijing killed 79 people.
BTS fans at an event in Seoul on June 17
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 3, 2023
K-pop fans fight big coal to protect beach made famous by BTS
Environmental groups are aiming to harness the immense influence that K-pop enthusiasts have to fight climate change.
Storage tanks for radioactive water at Tokyo Electric Power Co's tsunami-crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2023
No change in plan to release treated water, minister says
Japan's industry minister says there is no change to plan to start releasing treated water from Fukushima nuclear plant this summer.
A woman walks on the bottom of a dried pond on a hot day in Mauharia, India, in May 2022.
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 29, 2023
Warming world 'brutalizes' women as heat waves deepen gender divide
The impacts of rising heat are disproportionately dangerous and costly to women — be it at home or on the job — according to a new report.
Wind-catchers in Iran's central city of Yazd. The tall, chimney-like towers are just one of the engineering marvels inhabitants have developed to adapt to the harsh desert climate in central Iran.
WORLD
Jul 28, 2023
Iran's ancient 'wind catchers' beat the heat naturally
Unlike energy-guzzling air-conditioners, the tall, chimney-like towers are cost and carbon-free.
Danish ambassador Peter Taksoe-Jensen hopes for a "ketchup effect" in the development of Japan's offshore wind potential.
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 27, 2023
Unlocking Japan's offshore wind potential requires change in mindset
While Japan has made progress in expanding its offshore wind power, Denmark’s ambassador to Japan says that the pace of change is still too slow.
A man catches a fish along the bank overlooking the Singapore skyline shrouded by haze in 2015.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 27, 2023
As El Nino fuels fire risk, Southeast Asia faces haze crisis
Officials met in Singapore last month, where they vowed to work together to monitor fires and curb pollution.
Jingu Gaien is a famous landmark, park and sports center in Minato Ward, Tokyo. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 26, 2023
Tokyo's tree-razing drama shouldn't stymie transformation
Residents are raging over a redevelopment plan. But while other cities become stuck in time, Tokyo's best projects can combine the spirit of the past with the hope for the future.
A fire ant found at a container terminal in the Port of Tokyo
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2023
Japan to test fire ant sniffer dog for first time
The government has designated fire ants as an invasive species requiring emergency measures due to the insect's potential for damage.
School children walking on a road submerged by sea water at Timbulsloko village in Demak, Indonesia.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 24, 2023
'Slow disaster': Indonesians in sinking village forced to adapt
More than 200 people remain in one of Indonesia's fastest sinking areas, an alarming symbol of how climate change could upend coastal communities everywhere.
Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi waits ahead of a high-level meeting with Chinese Communist Party officials at Beijing's Great Hall of the People in December 2017.
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2023
Japan ruling bloc lawmakers facing hurdles to China visit plans
Trips to China by Komeito leader and senior LDP official both put on ice over Chinese anger at planned release of treated Fukushima water.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?