According to the IEA, just one country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), currently supplies more than 80% of the world’s cobalt, and another — China — 70% of its rare-earth elements. Similarly, lithium production is largely in two countries, Argentina and Chile, which jointly account for nearly 80% of world supply, while four… Read More MICHAEL KLARE: Lithium, Cobalt, and Rare Earths
I grew up and learned about caring for nature thanks to a pilot programme (Fatima Experimental Center) for the conservation of Amazonian fauna run by the Organization of Indigenous Peoples of Pastaza (OPIP). Today, Pastaza Kikin Kichwa Runakuna (Pakkiru – the current name for OPIP, my home organisation) consists of more than 180 grassroots communities and 13 associations,… Read More Andrés Tapia: Oil exploitation is threatening the Ecuadorian rainforest – and the planet
Global carbon dioxide emissions are set to surge dangerously this year as the global economy undergoes a huge recovery. In a new report, the International Energy Agency estimates that carbon emissions from energy use are on track to spike by 1.5 billion tonnes in 2021, as heavy coal consumption in Asia, and in China in particular,… Read More Dire warning for the planet: Coal is powering the economic recovery // Welcome that kind of activism: US climate envoy John Kerry on Disha Ravi
Jill Morrison has seen how the bust of oil and gas production can permanently scar a landscape. Near her land in north-east Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, where drilling started in 1889, more than 2,000 abandoned wells are seeping brine into the groundwater and leaking potent greenhouse gasses. The problem is getting worse. As the oil… Read More Heather Hansman: Who will clean up the 'billion-dollar mess' of abandoned US oilwells?
Ecuadorians voted for their next president on Sunday 7 February, but it wasn’t the only significant decision on ballots. Cuenca, the third largest city in the South American country, voted to ban mining projects within the nearby drainage basins of five rivers. There are over 4,000 large and small bodies of water in the sensitive… Read More Indigenous, green movement resists Ecuador’s pro-mining politics
Infrastructure megaprojects risk pushing the world’s remaining forests past a “dangerous tipping point” and making climate targets unachievable, a report says. Tens of thousands of miles of roads and railways are planned alongside mines and dams, opening up the forests of South America, south-east Asia and central Africa to destruction, according to the report by a… Read More Damian Carrington: Megaprojects risk pushing forests past tipping point
After the truth-shower 