Environment

• Monday, October 28th 2019 - 08:48 UTC

  California declares emergency as wildfires blaze across the state

  

  California's governor declared a state-wide emergency on Sunday as a huge wind-fuelled blaze forced evacuations and massive power blackouts, threatening tourist towns in the state's famed Sonoma wine region.

• Saturday, October 26th 2019 - 09:14 UTC

  AFP Photo of Brazilian boy with body smeared in oil goes viral

  

  A boy walks ashore in Brazil in filthy waist-high water with a look of exasperation and his body smeared in oil, a photographer takes a shot, and the image goes viral.

• Friday, October 25th 2019 - 09:45 UTC

  Alarming level of mercury contamination in Amazon dolphins: illegal gold mining

  

  Amazon river dolphins are showing alarming levels of contamination mainly because of illegal panning for gold, conservationists say. Researchers measured contamination levels in 46 of these large freshwater creatures known for long, bottle-like snouts in major basins of Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru.

• Friday, October 25th 2019 - 08:41 UTC

  Uncontrolled wildfire raging through wine territory in California

  

  About 50,000 people were ordered to flee their homes north of Los Angeles on Thursday as a fast-moving wildfire driven by high winds erupted and raged out of control. The so-called Tick Fire near Santa Clarita, about 55km north of Los Angeles, broke out in the early afternoon and quickly consumed 5,000 acres, fire officials said.

• Wednesday, October 23rd 2019 - 09:45 UTC

  Brazil has collected 600 tons of oil from the spill along northeastern beaches

  

  Brazil has collected more 600 tons of oil from its northeastern beaches since Sept. 12, the government said, more than double an estimate of oil and sand collected by state-run oil company Petrobras.

• Wednesday, October 23rd 2019 - 09:40 UTC

  German farmers protest new agricultural policy which promotes organic practices

  

  Thousands of farmers drove their tractors into German cities on Tuesday, in protest at the government's new agricultural policies which they say will hurt their livelihoods and make them scapegoats for climate change.

• Tuesday, October 22nd 2019 - 09:30 UTC

  Brazilian oil spill: Bolsonaro does not discard a “criminal act” designed to harm a major auction next month

  

  Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro questioned whether a far-reaching oil spill on the nation’s northeastern shore may have been a criminal act designed to harm a major oil auction scheduled for November.

• Tuesday, October 22nd 2019 - 09:29 UTC

  Climate change, greater threat than nuclear war, says ex Colombian president and Nobel peace laureate

  

  The threat of climate change has overtaken the prospect of nuclear war as the most pressing concern facing humanity, a former Colombian president and Nobel peace laureate warned on Monday.

• Monday, October 21st 2019 - 09:23 UTC

  Cruise operators agree to “Blue Charter” in French waters

  

  The main cruise ship operators in French waters have agreed on measures to limit pollution caused by their vessels, including hooking up to the power grid instead of keeping their engines running during stopovers.

• Monday, October 21st 2019 - 09:16 UTC

  Maritime industry trying to cut the use of heavy polluting fuels

  

  Ship-owners say they are trying to cut their heavy-polluting industry's impact on the environment by using cleaner energy - but some have stalled over limiting the speed of ships.