Rising seas will displace millions of people – and Australia must be ready

Aug 24, 2018 03:55 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Sea-level rise is already threatening some communities around the world, particularly small island states, as it exacerbates disasters resulting from storm surges and flooding. If greenhouse gas emissions continue...

Tons of plastic trash enter the Great Lakes every year – where does it go?

Aug 21, 2018 16:23 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Awareness is rising worldwide about the scourge of ocean plastic pollution, from Earth Day 2018 events to the cover of National Geographic magazine. But few people realize that similar concentrations of plastic pollution...

What Australian states can learn from Trump dismantling climate change policy

Aug 21, 2018 16:00 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

The Trump administrations withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement was greeted with dismay around the world. Less well known, but probably just as damaging to emissions reductions, was freezing standards for carbon...

Indonesia earthquake: how scrap tyres could stop buildings collapsing

Aug 16, 2018 20:16 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

At the time of writing, 436 people have died following an earthquake in the Indonesian island of Lombok. A further 2,500 people have been hospitalised with serious injuries and over 270,000 people have been...

Hothouse Earth: our planet has been here before – here's what it looked like

Aug 14, 2018 14:01 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Even if carbon emissions are reduced to hold temperature rises at the 2C guardrail of the Paris Agreement, changes already afoot in the environment such as melting permafrost and forest die-back could accelerate warming...

Rohingya crisis: a year since it shocked the world, what's changed?

Aug 14, 2018 13:53 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

This August marks a full year since one of the 21st centurys worst refugee crises gripped the worlds attention. In 2017, an unprecedented number of Rohingya Muslim refugees began fleeing Myanmars Rakhine state for...

Woody plants on the march: trees and shrubs are encroaching across Africa

Aug 14, 2018 13:52 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Forests are being cleared by humans at an alarming rate. Since 2000, roughly 20% of Africas forests have been wiped out. This deforestation has serious consequences, among them a loss of biodiversity and the potential to...