Umair Irfan

3 weeks ago | vox.com | Umair Irfan

Elon Musk and President Donald Trump — two of the most powerful, outspoken billionaires in America — are still tangled up in a messy breakup over a variety of issues. It’s no shock that these two men with huge egos would have friction, but it’s interesting to look at some of the specific things that seem to be causing trouble between them. In particular, Trump’s and Musk’s differing views on climate change and clean energy have evidently become an irritant again.

3 weeks ago | vox.com | Umair Irfan

Smoke from wildfires in Canada is once again shrouding parts of the United States — cities like Chicago and Milwaukee — with unhealthy air, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. Parts of the plume have reached as far as Europe. The bulk of the smoke is forecasted to drift eastward across North America and thin out.

3 weeks ago | vox.com | Umair Irfan

The world is hungry for more stuff: televisions, phones, motors, container ships, solar panels, satellites. That means the stuff required to make stuff is in high demand, and none more so than what are known as “critical minerals.” These are a handful of elements and minerals that are particularly important for making the modern devices that run the global economy. But “critical” here doesn’t mean rare so much as it means essential — and alarmingly vulnerable to supply chain shocks.

3 weeks ago | table.media | Umair Irfan

Schnell mit Verordnungen zur Hand: Donald Trump. Von In den USA formiert sich Widerstand gegen die Pläne der Trump-Regierung, die Umwelt- und Klimapolitik des Landes zu demontieren. Allerdings sind bereits nach drei Monaten Amtszeit bleibende Schäden für Umwelt- und Klimaschutz in den USA eingetreten. Denn die Gerichte sind viel langsamer als die Regierung.

1 month ago | motherjones.com | Umair Irfan

This story was originally published by Vox.com and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. China is the world’s largest single greenhouse gas emitter, spewing more than double the amount of heat-trapping chemicals as the next biggest climate polluter, the United States. For decades, China’s emissions soared ever higher as its economy grew, burning extraordinary volumes of coal, oil, and natural gas to light up cities, power factories, and fuel cars.