A new report in The Lancet medical journal titled The Lancet Countdown: tracking progress on health and climate change warns that climate change is already exposing humanity to a number of serious health risks. Furthermore, according to the report ambient air pollution …Continue reading
Battling to breathe
At the onset of winter in 2016, Lahore saw smog for the first time. Visually, the scene was similar to the usual fog the city experiences in winter season, and many thought that fog had arrived early. But soon, when residents of …Continue reading
Attack the sun to fight climate change, propose Ivy League researchers
Researchers at Harvard and Yale have proposed a novel and unorthodox method to combat global warming: spraying Sun dimming sulfates into the lower stratosphere. This technique is called stratospheric aerosol injection, and the scientists proposing it have said it could cut the …Continue reading
Time to act against biodiversity loss is running out, warns UN biodiversity chief
In an interview with The Guardian, the United Nations’ executive secretary of the convention on Biological Diversity Christiana Pașca Palmer has warned that humanity could face extinction if it is unable to stop the accelerating loss of earth’s biodiversity. Terming biodiversity loss …Continue reading
Restoring extinct or endangered species’ populations could decelerate climate change
Restoring the dwindling populations of large herbivores could protect forests, jungles and tundra from increasingly frequent wildfires and other disasters associated with global warming. This was the theme of the latest issue of the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. …Continue reading
Sea levels may rise by up to 10 inches by 2050, says new study
A study published in the Annual Review of Environment and Resources has revealed how much sea levels could rise over the next two centuries if humanity continues to falter in the fight against climate change, and glaciers continue to melt. The paper …Continue reading
Our time is running out, warns UN climate report
Following a week-long meeting of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in South Korea, a monumental 400-page report stressing the importance of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees celsius (°C) was released on Monday. The IPCC special report is …Continue reading
The days on Earth are getting longer – thanks to the moon
If you have ever wished there were more hours in the day, you’re in luck because scientists have discovered that our days are getting longer. A new study published in the international journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has reconstructed …Continue reading
The great Karachi heat trap
The emergency ward at Karachi’s Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) was full to capacity when Abida Noor, a resident of Gulistan-i-Rafi Colony in Malir Town, took her younger daughter Kulsoom there for treatment in June 2015. Temperatures in the coastal city had …Continue reading
Satellite study finds major shifts in global freshwater
In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists have combined an array of NASA satellite observations of Earth with data on human activities to map locations around the globe where freshwater is changing, says a statement released by NASA on Thursday. The study, published in …Continue reading