Inna Braverman understands the consequences of polluting energy sources. Born in Ukraine in 1986, she stopped breathing and nearly died when the Chernobyl nuclear plant exploded two weeks after she was born. “I grew up with a feeling I got a second chance at life, so I should do something good with it,” says Braverman,…
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The Amazon is still on fire. Conservation groups blame illegal logging and criminal networks.
As the Amazon continues to burn in a record fire season, experts say the problem is rooted in illegal logging and criminal networks exploiting the forests for its natural resources and agricultural potential. “The government doesn’t have any governance over what is going on,” Ane Alencar, science director for the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM),…
Teen girls strike for global action on climate change
LAUSANNE, Switzerland — It was the floodwaters brushing her jawline that convinced Theresa Sebastian it was time to get serious about climate change. The teen from Ireland was in Kerala, India, for a family wedding last summer when the region experienced 40 percent higher-than-average rainfall. More than 480 people died in the torrential rains that swept away…
How teen Greta Thunberg shifted world’s gaze to climate change
LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Staring through a swarm of photographers and television crews, self-described introvert Greta Thunberg took the stage at a Swiss university last week to pointedly reiterate a message that has captured the attention of leaders and like-minded young women around the globe: The world must take drastic action now to avert ecological and…
Trump’s foreign aid policies endanger women, experts say
LONDON — Caroline Nyandat will never forget the day she watched a 14-year-old girl die due to complications from an unsafe abortion. Nyandat, 36, was then completing her training as a nurse midwife in Kisumu, Kenya, when the teen was in need of surgery but suffered from sepsis before doctors in the hospital could react….
Up to 114 degrees in France: Record-breaking heat in Europe forces tourists to adapt
PARIS — Europeans aren’t breathing a sigh of relief just yet following a day of record-breaking heat, with temperatures soaring once again on Saturday. The unusual heat has left many struggling to cope in the French capital where homes and buildings are not designed for steamy conditions or equipped with air conditioning. “We were not expecting…
Workers, seniors face health risks amid extreme heat wave in Europe
PARIS — In clear view of the Eiffel Tower, Chaima Boutouil and her colleagues have no way of keeping cool while hovering over hot plates making crepes in the midst of a heat wave spreading across Europe on Thursday. “In the morning, I drank six or seven bottles of water,” Boutouil, 25, told NBC News while working…
Congo’s Ebola response threatened by conspiracy theories, rumors
People who have contracted Ebola are opting to die at home rather than seek treatment as conspiracy theories fuel distrust of the government and of health workers grappling with the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the workers and aid groups. Nearly 20 new cases of the deadly illness are being identified…
Tidal energy pioneers see vast potential in ocean currents’ ebb and flow
KIRKWALL, Scotland — Huddled inside what looks like a tanker ship anchored about two miles from shore, engineers from the Spanish company Magallanes Renovables monitor two giant rotors below the hull — but instead of driving the vessel, the rotors are capturing energy from the shifting tides. Here in the Orkney Islands, an archipelago north…
Climate change makes England’s vineyards perfect for sparkling wine
DORKING, England — The damp and cool English terrain hasn’t traditionally been known for producing quality wine. But vineyards are sprouting up all over the countryside as climate change makes England increasingly suitable for making sparkling wines to rival those of France’s Champagne region — winning prizes at international competitions. Last year, the combination of…
Mideast farmers who use pesticides often find no buyers abroad
AL-KARAMEH, Jordan — Farmers in the Middle East and North Africa are facing roadblocks exporting their crop to Western countries because of the pesticides they use. This is despite the fact many of these chemicals are manufactured by companies based in Europe and North America. Sameer Mahadin said he had to leave his tomatoes to…
Jordan to drill ‘fossil water’ wells a half-mile underground
AMMAN, Jordan — For the past decade, Khawla Qisi has trapped herself at home on Fridays. It’s the only day of the week her apartment building receives water, and she has to make the most of it. “I can’t do anything else but focus on the water,” she said. Jordan has struggled with its water…
The Dead Sea is dying. A $1.5 billion plan aims to resurrect it.
AMMAN, Jordan — At the southern tip of the Dead Sea, Sameer Mahadin recalls when the shoreline was visible from the shaded veranda of his farmhouse. The once 10-minute walk to the water’s edge now takes an hour trekking over cracked, salt-encrusted soil. The Dead Sea is dying rapidly. The biblical body of water lying…
Water scarcity fuels tensions across the Middle East
NORTH SHUNA, Jordan — A lush tract of land known as the Island of Peace has thrived in a sea of strife for the past quarter-century, its palm fields and date plantations a stark contrast to the Middle East’s arid conditions and tumultuous politics. But now the symbol of coexistence shared by Israel and Jordan…
Ireland takes aim at prenatal alcohol exposure
DUBLIN — Doctors in Ireland were once known to recommend a pint of Guinness as a source of iron for pregnant or nursing women. While that advice has been discredited, drinking remains so ingrained in Irish culture that many women still feel that swapping a beer or cocktail for something nonalcoholic at a social gathering isn’t an…
Bees are dying at an alarming rate. Amsterdam may have the answer.
AMSTERDAM — An unkempt stretch of tall grass, wildflowers and weeds in front of a train station doesn’t look like much — but it may be crucial to solving one of the world’s biggest environmental puzzles. While scientists around the globe have been sounding alarm bells over the decline of bees and pollinators crucial to…
Slaughter of starving wild horses divides the Netherlands
The future of a man-made wildlife reserve where nature was left to run its course is at the center of a legal battle.
Cyprus turns off taps to farmers as water levels drop
MARONI, Cyprus — The salty water of the Mediterranean in plain view from Charis Christoforou’s olive farm is no help to the cracked, white earth suffering from a third year of drought. A shortage of rain combined with clouds of dust carried over from the water-starved Middle East has slashed Christoforou’s olive production to a…
‘Learning how to be good allies’: Restoring relationships with Indigenous peoples for reconciliation
VANCOUVER — As Canada grapples with how to achieve reconciliation with Indigenous people, a group in British Columbia has come together to figure out how to restore relations person-to-person. About a dozen people meet once every three weeks at Kristi Lind’s house in the small community of Naramata south of Kelowna to discuss how to…
B.C. communities await marine spill compensation years after incidents
VANCOUVER — Despite “polluter pay” laws in Canada, local governments and agencies are still waiting to recover costs incurred during two significant fuel spills off British Columbia’s coast. The City of Vancouver and Vancouver Aquarium are collectively waiting on nearly $700,000 in losses related to a 2015 leak of bunker fuel, while the Heiltsuk Nation in Bella Bellla continues negotiating over $200,000…