By Michael Bastasch Christiana Figueres, the outgoing head of the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat, has put out a video asking people to buy UN carbon offsets to help fight global warming — it’s so easy, she says, she’s bought offsets for herself and her family. “I’ve offset all my emissions for myself and my…
Michael Bastasch United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told The Washington Post why he’s so fixated on fighting global warming: He thought he could solve the world’s problems by forcing countries to cut carbon dioxide. “From day one, I made climate change the top priority,” Ki-moon told The Post. “There were many crises around the world,…
Russ Read North Korea’s provocative nuclear rhetoric has gotten so bad even the Kremlin has come out against the hermit kingdom, warning continued nuclear threats could justify an invasion. The warning was issued in the form of a written statement from the Russian foreign ministry. It follows North Korea’s threat it would engage in a…
Andrew Follett The European Union is set to emit 2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) more than it promised the United Nations due to an accounting problem. A note from the European Commission, which The Guardian saw Monday, stated that Europe gave out too many permits for CO2 emissions, which threatened December’s international agreement…
by Michael Bastasch The Obama administration has vowed to sign a United Nations global warming deal in April, despite intense opposition from the Senate and a Supreme Court ruling derailing the government’s green regulatory scheme. “We’re going to go ahead and sign the agreement this year,” Todd Stern, the U.S.’s climate envoy told reporters Tuesday, brushing…
Andrew Follett Environmentalists have warned global warming would mean more people being killed by natural disasters, but new United Nations data shows deaths from natural disasters declined by 70 percent in 2015 relative to the average number of deaths of the previous 10 years. “The U.N. reports that environmental disasters affected fewer people last year than…
By Russ Read The U.N. body charged with protecting the rights of children has told the government of Iran that its laws allowing sex with girls as young as 9-years-old and capital punishment of minors must be changed. The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child announced it’s condemnation of Iran’s practices Thursday after…
Andrew Follett The United Nations global warming deal could make another five million people homeless in the world’s poorest countries, for the express purpose of setting forest land aside to slow global warming through conservation. Millions who live in and depend on forests for their livelihoods could be evicted from their wooded homes, according to new…
Nearly 20,000 civilians were killed and 3.2 million displaced in Iraq in just under two years, a count the United Nations calls “staggering.” Their new report, released today, details the absolutely horrific toll which the battle with ISIS is taking on Iraq’s population– prompting some to call the crimes “genocide.” The numbers are grim: 18,802…
Michael Bastasch United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised former Republican President George W. Bush for kickstarting efforts to put together a global agreement to fight global warming. “That was the beginning of our success,” Ban told The Associated Press Saturday, referring to Bush’s attendance of U.N. global warming talks in 2007. After refusing to ratify…