Climate Change & Environment
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James Cameron Wants you to Fight Global Warming by Changing what you Eat

There are few films more environmentally infused than the highest grossing one in history, “Avatar” — in which a highly militarized mining company seeks to exploit the resources of the rich forest world of Pandora. But less known is how the film’s director, James Cameron, has also used some of the money made from “Avatar” to champion an array of green causes, even as he’s also using clean energy to power the film’s three planned sequels.

“We put in a 1 megawatt solar array on the roof of the soundstages where we’re doing the ‘Avatar’ sequels, so we’ll be net energy neutral there,” Cameron told The Washington Post recently. “We’ll sell back to the grid and it will balance back over the time when we’re working and when we’re not working.”

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Prince Charles Climate Change May have Helped Cause Syrian Civil War

Prince Charles has said that climate change may have been one of the causes of the civil war in Syria.

The heir to the throne has long been a passionate campaigner on environmental issues and linked drought in the Middle Eastern nation with the conflict which has left hundreds of thousands dead, created millions of refugees and seen the rise of Islamic State.

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More than 2,000 Academics Call on World Heads to do More to Limit Global Warming

More than 2,000 academics from over 80 countries – including linguist Noam Chomsky, climate scientist Michael E Mann, philosopher Peter Singer, and historian Naomi Oreskes – have called on world leaders to do more to limit global warming to a 1.5C rise.

In an open letter, they write that leaders meeting in Paris at a crunch UN climate summit next week should “be mustering planet-wide mobilization, at all societal levels” and call for citizens around the world to hold their leaders to account on the issue.

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Global Carbon Pricing Off Menu at Paris Climate Talks

Climate experts say the need to agree on a global carbon price to cut pollution and aid clean technologies is a no-brainer, and yet the topic will have no place at the upcoming Paris climate talks.

World leaders, captains of industry, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank had all expressed hope that the Paris meeting would welcome the idea.

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Tahiti Pearls, Mainstay of French Polynesian Economy, Endangered

The black pearl of Tahiti is at the heart of French Polynesia's economy but is now highly vulnerable to climate change, and its fragile existence underlines – in a small but exquisite way – what is at stake in U.N. climate talks starting in Paris this month.

"We would be much happier not to have to deal with climate warming," said Teva Rohfritsch, the minister in charge of what is dubbed the "blue economy".

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California at Forefront of U.S. Battle on Climate Change

Tim Krantz still remembers a time when the pollution in Los Angeles was so bad it turned the sky yellow, making it hard to breathe and irritating the eyes.

Today, the skies over the city are clear enough to see the Pacific Ocean from the Hollywood hills or the San Gabriel Mountains to the north.

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690 Million Children at Risk from Climate Change, Says UNICEF

Nearly 690 million of the world's 2.3 billion children live in areas most exposed to climate change, facing higher rates of death, poverty and disease from global warming, the UN children's agency said Tuesday.

Almost 530 million children live in countries hardest-hit by high floods and tropical storms, mostly in Asia.

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Paris Climate Summit: Huge Stakes, Deep Divides

Still reeling from the worst terrorist attacks in French history, Paris will host nearly 140 world leaders gathering next week to spearhead a climate pact tasked with keeping Earth livable for humanity.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday urged others to follow his example and come to the French capital to show that "a handful of killers does not stop the world from doing vital business."

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India Seeks 'Climate Justice' for Poor Nations at Paris Talks

India will urge rich nations to deliver "climate justice" for developing countries at a major environmental conference in Paris later this month, the environment minister has said in an interview with AFP.

Prakash Javadekar called on industrialized countries to commit to more stringent targets to free up "carbon space" for the developing world to generate emissions as a necessary byproduct of growth.

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Toxic Sludge from Deadly Brazil Mine Accident Reaches the Atlantic

The torrent of mud and toxic mineral waste that buried a Brazilian village earlier this month has reached the Atlantic Ocean after a long passage down the Doce river, officials said.

Environment Ministry officials told local media the sludge arrived Saturday at the mouth of the Doce River, and could extend some six miles (nine kilometers) into the ocean.

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