Maximpact Blog

Quieting the Oceans

Years of campaigning and courtroom battles by U.S. conservationists to limit the underwater noise that turns the oceans into hell for whales and dolphins are beginning to pay off.

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Climate Change Takes Its Toll

Climate Change – Monetary losses caused by natural disasters in the first half of 2016 were “significantly higher” than the corresponding figures for the previous year, although fewer people died in these events, according to a report by the German insurance and re-insurance firm Munich Re.

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Citizen Science Earns Respect

The Austrian Pollen Monitoring service at the Medical University of Vienna’s Department of Ear, Nose and Throat Diseases is founded upon active citizen participation and relies on continuing citizen monitoring every day.

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Bionic Leaf Makes Liquid Fuel From Sunlight

Scientists at Harvard have developed a technology that mimics the way leaves produce energy from sunlight, water and air. A device about the size of a credit card, the “bionic leaf” includes a solar panel. When placed in water, it uses energy from sunlight to split the water into hydrogen and oxygen.

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IUCN Conservation Congress: Planet at the Crossroads

“The IUCN Congress will set the course for using nature-based solutions to help move millions out of poverty, creating a more sustainable economy and restoring a healthier relationship with our planet,” said World Bank Group president Jim Kim, as the conference opened in Honolulu September 1.

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Investing in Water for Life

Water scarcity is a top risk to global prosperity and ecological integrity. But creative impact investment solutions, such as Water Sharing Investment Partnerships, can shift water back to the environment, while supporting irrigated agriculture and meeting urban needs, finds new research presented during World Water Week in Stockholm.

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Carbon Budgets Ignore Trees on Farms

Globally, 1.2 billion people depend on agroforestry farming systems, especially in developing countries, the World Bank calculates. Yet, trees on farms are not even considered in the greenhouse gas accounting framework of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

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At Age 100, U.S. National Park System Grows By Donation

To honor the anniversary of the National Park Service, 100 years old today, President Barack Obama has designated the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, the first national monument to preserve the landscape and honor the history and culture of Maine’s North Woods.

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Green Firms Outperform Fossil Fuelers 3: 1

A 21.82 percent return on investment over the past decade – that’s the proud record of The Carbon Clean 200 – a new list of 200 clean energy companies selected for this inaugural version of the list by the nonprofit groups As You Sow and Corporate Knights.

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Children Sue for Climate Justice

A pioneering constitutional climate change lawsuit is being brought by children, ages 8-19, against the federal government in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon in Eugene.

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Sustainability Takes Flight

Every day around the world, more than 100,000 civil aviation flights take off and land – safely for the most part. Now, the global agency responsible for overseeing civil aviation is working to improve the industry’s sustainability.

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Turning CO2 Into an Asset

As the climate heats up, scientists and engineers are finding new ways to lessen the impact of fossil fuel combustion on the climate – both by sequestering the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted and by producing electricity with this most prevalent greenhouse gas.

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Today Is Earth Overshoot Day 2016

Earth Overshoot Day this year falls on August 8. Today, humanity’s demands on nature this year exceed what the Earth can regenerate before year’s end calculates the international sustainability think tank Global Footprint Network, the international conservation group WWF and more than 30 other partners.

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