Climate

EcoWatch - President Donald Trump’s withdrawal of nearly all aid from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will significantly impact global climate finance to vulnerable nations, a new analysis by Carbon Brief has found.  The U.S. spent roughly $11 billion on foreign aid last year, with a similar amount slated for this year if plans by former President Joe Biden had been continued.

“The US retreat from its global climate finance commitments is a staggering blow to the chances of keeping global temperature rise to 1.5C [above preindustrial levels]. By abruptly axing nearly a tenth of the limited funds for climate protection in developing countries, it is effectively abandoning millions of communities who have done nothing to cause global heating but who are losing homes, livelihoods and lives because of it,” Anne Jellema, 350.org’s executive director, told The Guardian.

EcoWatch - 

Over the last decade, people living in the United States have become more aware that the climate crisis is harming their health, according to a new survey conducted by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University (GMU) Center for Climate Change Communication...

Among the report’s key findings was that 39 percent of Americans believe global warming is harming the country’s health “a great deal” or “a moderate amount,” which is an increase of eight percent since 2014. In contrast, just 16 percent believe their personal health is being impacted negatively by global heating to the same extent.  Meanwhile, 47 percent of Americans know that some groups are more likely to experience health harms from global warming, which is a 13 point increase from 2014.

Wash Post: ‘Trump withdraws from two key global climate funds’ – U.S. pulling out a UN climate finance program