Happy 1st Birthday, DeSmog UK – A Look Back Over the Year

One year ago today, DeSmog UK was launched to combat climate denial in Europe ahead of the Paris climate talks in December. We have certainly managed to come a long way since then. We’d like to thank all our readers for your continued support and engagement. And, a quick shout-out to our more high-profile followers: BBC, Bloomberg, […]

Will This Be Remembered as The Summer North Americans Woke Up to Climate Change?

Smokey haze, intense heat, encampments of evacuated residents next to the highway: these were the conditions that greeted Renee Lertzman when she recently drove through Oregon. It’s no wonder why the environmental psychology researcher and professor resorts to the term “apocalyptic” to describe the scene. “It was a surreal experience,” says Lertzman, who teaches at Victoria’s […]

On 10th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina Former New Orleans Resident Questions African-American Leaders Siding With Climate Deniers

This is a guest post by Evlondo Cooper, senior fellow with the Checks and Balances Project, cross-posted with permission.  New Orleans has many nicknames: The Crescent City, The Birthplace of Jazz, and The Big Easy. It’s also my hometown but Hurricane Katrina cast me out. In 2005, I was an investigator for the New Orleans district attorney’s […]

Obama Barely Touches on Climate Change In New Orleans Speech Marking the 10th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

President Obama briefly mentioned climate change during his remarks in New Orlean’s Lower 9th Ward during his visit to New Orleans to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Standing in the city’s Lower 9th Ward, Obama spoke instead of the inspiration he had drawn from the city’s “come back” and the resilience of its people. Obama’s on-off […]

Government Kills Off UK Solar Industry

This article has been re-posted from The Ecologist. The UK government is to cut support for domestic rooftop solar to 13% of current levels, with similar cuts for bigger systems, and end all support for small scale renewables by 2019. The likely result, and surely the intention, is to kill off the UK‘s solar industry […]

Scientists Not Surprised Climate Denialist Lawyer Christopher Horner Has Financial Ties to Alpha Coal Company

A lawyer who has used intimidating legal requests to try to gain access to the records and emails of climate scientists has a financial relationship with a major coal company, it has been revealed. Christopher Horner, who works with two groups to pursue scientists and environmental regulators, is listed in the bankruptcy papers filed by lawyers […]

B.C. Minister Bennett’s Visit Fails to Ease Alaskans’ Mining Concerns

Promises of a closer relationship between B.C. and Alaska and more consultation on B.C. mine applications are a good start, but, so far, Southeast Alaska has no more guarantees that those mines will not pollute salmon-bearing rivers than before this week’s visit by B.C.’s Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett, say Alaskan fishing and conservation groups. […]

Living Downstream of B.C.’s Gold Rush: Alaska’s Fishermen Fear End of ‘Last Wild Frontier’

No fish in the car, warned the rental car attendant at Juneau airport, with the weary tone of someone who had cleaned too many fish guts out of returned vehicles. It was a warning underlined by signs in hotels pleading with guests not to clean fish in the hotel bathrooms. Fishing is in the DNA of […]

Seismic Testing for Oil Reserves a Threat to Arctic Marine Life, Study Warns

Seismic airguns are being fired underwater off the east coast of Greenland to find new oil reserves in the Arctic Ocean. But this activity “could seriously injure” whales and other marine life, warns a new report conducted by Marine Conservation Research and commissioned by Greenpeace Nordic. The oil industry is increasingly looking towards the region, as […]

Norway Pushes Forward in the Arctic with First Offshore Oilfield and Subsea Gas Pipeline

With all eyes on Shell’s Arctic drilling these past weeks, many have failed to notice Norway’s Arctic push. Italian energy company Eni has announced it is preparing to start drilling for oil at its Goliat field in the Barents Sea after years of delay. This will be the first offshore oil development in Norway’s Arctic region […]