news;middle
Saudi Crown Prince launches zero-carbon city in NEOM business zone
Climate change gets first mention in G20 finance communique of Trump era
Finance officials from the world's 20 biggest economies on Sunday referenced climate change in their final communique for the first time in U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, but stopped short of calling it a major risk to the economy.
Under pressure: Governments urged to energize climate talks
Governments face a struggle at a United Nations summit in Spain next week to inject momentum into efforts to curb global warming, dogged by lack of consensus, U.S. scepticism and disruptive protests demanding more action.
Once Iraq's Venice, Basra's waters have now turned deadly
Once dubbed the "Venice of the Middle East" for its canals, Iraq's crumbling port city of Basra is slowly dying of thirst.
U.S. intel chief warns of devastating cyber threat to U.S. infrastructure.
How are cyber security and environmental health linked? Just look at the health mess – still! – in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria leveled the grid.
While at first glance this story would appear unrelated to environmental health, it actually covers a story of vital importance to the environment, health, and climate change.
Cybersecurity attacks could take down parts or all of the utility grid, or other important components of a country's infrastructure, including in the United States. A few days without grid would be tolerable, but some plausible scenarios involve weeks or months—or longer—down times. Check out Ted Koppel's book "Lights Out."
A few weeks without a functioning grid would be devastating. Consider what the Hurricane Maria did to health, water supply, food security and more on Puerto Rico.
From the Reuters story:
Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are launching daily cyber strikes on the computer networks of federal, state and local government agencies, U.S. corporations, and academic institutions, said Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats.
Of the four, "Russia has been the most aggressive foreign actor, no question," he said.
Read the full Reuters story here.