Environment

Going on in the world this week

Artur Donaldson

30 Nov 2018

Brazil – This week Brazil’s government announced that it will no longer be hosting the UN global summit on climate change next year citing costs. The conference could cost Brazil up to $100 million. Brazil spent $4.6 billion on the 2015 Olympic games and it is expected that $33 trillion worth of damage worldwide will result from climate change by 2050 according to a 2016 report. Brazil’s prime minister, Mr. Bolsonaro, has called manmade climate change a plot by “Marxists” to stifle economic growth.

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Grinding to a halt – China bans imports of waste

Last year the UK exported two-thirds of its plastic waste to China. In 2018 it banned imports. What will happen?

Going on in the world

Monday sees the beginning of the COP 24 conference in Katowice, Poland. Previous conferences include 2015’s COP 21, in which 190 nations committed to limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. In other news, Felix sees the beginning of a new column on

Can a tiger change its stripes?

China has postponed previous plans to lift the 25-year-old ban on the sale and use of rhinoceros horn and tiger bone for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), following an international furore. This announcement comes two weeks after the State Council’s decision in October to reverse the 1993 ban on the

News

Teaching strikes continue into 2026

UCU says its current two-week strike shouldn’t affect exams.

News

Bye Bye BlackBoard

Imperial to roll out Canvas as a new unified learning management system.

Science

The silent threat of animal illness

Study identifies viruses with zoonotic potential in healthy pangolins.