Bloomberg (December 24)
“Some climate activists worry that Donald Trump’s presidential election will be the death knell for the global environment. That’s almost certainly untrue. Whatever Trump’s attitude toward climate science and energy policy, two big outside factors will be much more important — technological progress and policy in developing nations.
Tags: Activists, Climate, Developing nations, Election, Energy, Environment, Policy, Science, Technological progress, Trump
National Geographic (August 29)
While much focus is on surging tension with China, “another less publicized, also potentially disastrous, threat looms in the South China Sea: overfishing. This is one of the world’s most important fisheries, employing more than 3.7 million people and bringing in billions of dollars every year. But after decades of free-for-all fishing, dwindling stocks now threaten both the food security and economic growth of the rapidly developing nations that draw on them.”
Tags: China, Developing nations, Disastrous, Economic growth, Food security, Overfishing, South China Sea, Tension, Threat
Wall Street Journal (September 22)
“Global CO2 emissions increased to 35.1 billion metric tons in 2013, a new record and a 29% increase over a decade ago. Of the year-over-year carbon climb, China at 358 million metric tons jumped by more than the rest of the world combined and is responsible for 24.8% of emissions over the last five years.” Developing nations now account for nearly 60% of emissions, which means “that regardless of what the West does, poorer countries that are reluctant to sign agreements that impede economic progress hold the dominant carbon hand.”
Tags: Agreements, China, CO2, Developing nations, Economic progress, Emissions, Record, West
Washington Post (March 20)
“Our long economic winter is a pleasant summer in distant places.” Developed nations have battled economic insecurity over the past several years, but things have actually gotten better in much of the world. Extreme poverty “has been declining in every developing region” and, for the first time since 1981, the rate of extreme poverty is less than 50% in Africa. The UN’s first Millennium Development Goal was to halve the global rate of extreme poverty by 2015. That goal was accomplished in 2010. With these achievements in mind, things aren’t as bad as they might otherwise seem.
Tags: Africa, Developed nations, Developing nations, Extreme poverty, Millennium Development Goal, UN
