Environment

Pirarucu: Amazon's giant air-breathing fish in poachers' sights

A fish larger than a man, tasty as well as beautiful, the freshwater pirarucu is a favorite with poachers in a lawless part of the Amazon jungle where Brazil, Peru and Colombia meet.. - 'Cow of the Amazon' - For the Kanamari, the story of the pirarucu is that of "a tree leaf that fell into the water and became a giant fish," tribal chief Mauro da Silva Kanamari told AFP. "Arapaima gigas" by its scientific name, the pirarucu is one of the largest freshwater fish on the planet. 

Fri, Jun 9, 2023 3 mins read

Environment

Skies clear as New York's Gov Ball music fest kicks off

New York's Governors Ball kicked off Friday under clearer skies after days of wildfire-induced noxious smog blanketed the city and threatened to derail the annual music festival.. The three-day Governors Ball music festival is set to continue through Sunday, and along with the headliners will feature Lil Nas X, Haim, Lil Uzi Vert, Rina Sawayama, Omar Apollo and Ice Spice. mdo/mlm

Fri, Jun 9, 2023 2 mins read

Environment

Toxic smoke dissipates over northeastern US

Residents of northeastern United States were breathing more easily Friday as smoke from Canadian fires gradually cleared after blanketing several cities in a noxious haze this week.. More than 111 million people in the United States had been under air quality alerts on Thursday due to the fires.

Fri, Jun 9, 2023 2 mins read

Environment

Greta Thunberg: the school years

The torch-bearer for a new generation of climate campaigners, Greta Thunberg was a baby-faced 15-year-old when she led a protest movement by skipping school a day a week.. AFP looks back at some of the standout moments in her five years of activism: - Skipping school - In the beginning  -- 2018 -- was a diminutive teen with long plaits, sitting in protest outside the Swedish parliament every Friday with her "School Strike for the Climate" sign.

Fri, Jun 9, 2023 3 mins read

Environment

Greta Thunberg marks last 'school' strike as she graduates

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg said Friday she was marking her last "school strike" as she was graduating high school, but said she would continue partaking in weekly protests.. "I'll continue to protest on Fridays, even though it’s not technically 'school striking'.

Fri, Jun 9, 2023 1 mins read

Environment

UN says Myanmar junta halts humanitarian access to cyclone survivors

Myanmar's junta has suspended travel authorisations for aid workers trying to reach hundreds of thousands of people in the cyclone-ravaged Rakhine state, the UN's humanitarian affairs office said Friday.. Junta authorities this week suspended "existing travel authorizations... for humanitarian organizations," the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.

Fri, Jun 9, 2023 1 mins read

Environment

Smoke from Canadian wildfires detected in Norway

Smoke from Canadian wildfires has been detected thousands of kilometres away in Norway this week, the Scandinavian country's Climate and Environmental Research Institute NILU said on Friday.. Larger and more powerful wildfires than ever have scorched some 3.8 million hectares of Canadian forests and displaced tens of thousands of residents in recent weeks.

Fri, Jun 9, 2023 0 mins read

Environment

With bows and spears, Indigenous 'warriors' defend the Amazon

In a remote pocket of the Brazilian Amazon under siege from illegal fishermen, poachers, loggers and drug traffickers, Indigenous people have taken it upon themselves to defend the land and its resources.. "We are fighting to revive policies to protect Indigenous peoples and the Amazon," he said in a statement to The Guardian newspaper, to which Phillips was a contributor.

Fri, Jun 9, 2023 4 mins read

Environment

Canada wildfires spark 'ecoterrorist' conspiracy theory

As Canada hurtles towards its worst wildfire season in history, a conspiracy theory has taken off online claiming environmentalists intentionally set some of the blazes. . In California in 2021, arsonists were behind several wildfires -- but there is no evidence they were pushing a climate change agenda, as some people claimed online. 

Thu, Jun 8, 2023 3 mins read

Environment

Facing unprecedented fire season, Canada confronts logistical challenge

Larger and more powerful wildfires than ever have scorched millions of hectares of Canadian forests and displaced tens of thousands of residents.. In a typical year, about 7,500 wildfires burn more than 2.5 million hectares of forests in Canada.

Thu, Jun 8, 2023 3 mins read