How organizational change affects employees

"We are the most vulnerable, we are the least responsible but we will suffer the most," Seyni Nafo, spokesman of the African delegation at the World Climate Conference summed up in an interview with DW. The African continent is already experiencing the effects of climate change. In many places drought, torrential rainfall or flooding are regular occurrences. The damage done amounts to five and 10 percent of individual countries' Gross Domestic Product(GDP). "The person on the street does not see the impact of what is decided at the COP meetings. But people are seeing the real impact of global warming every day," said Nigerian environmental activist Nnimmo Bassey. Read more: Crunch time for the climate at COP24 Nnimmo Bassey was one of the recipients of the 2010 Right Livelihood Award Pledges must be fulfilled The worst is still to come, the UN warns. In 2020 up to 250 million people could be affected by serious water shortages as a result of rising … [Read more...] about COP24: Africans expect real action on climate change

Research suggests the magnitude 6.0 earthquake that rocked California wine country in 2014 may have been caused by an expansion of Earth's crust because of seasonally receding groundwater under the Napa and Sonoma valleys. The vineyard-filled valleys flank the West Napa Fault, which produced the quake that killed one person, injured several hundred and caused more than $500 million in losses. The study recently published in the American Geophysical Union's Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth suggests land between the valleys is stretched each summer as groundwater levels fall beneath the valleys and the ground in the valleys sinks and contracts. Scroll down for video  Bricks and debris surround the Alexandria Square building in Napa, California following the earthquake that left 15 to 16 buildings no longer inhabitable after the 6.0 tremor THE NAPA QUAKE The early morning Napa quake on Aug. 24, was the largest to hit the San Francisco Bay Area since the magnitude … [Read more...] about 2014 Napa quake that caused $500m in damages and killed one linked to changes in groundwater that caused Earth’s crust to expand

When Colin Rayner got a drone for his farm, he was initially just pleased that it could help him catch trespassers. As his 700 acres of land is spread out over several different sites in the south east of England, there was little he could do about them cutting holes in his fences and driving motorbikes on his fields. Yet now he says he "can use the drone to photograph the motorcyclists, get headshots and pass [the] info onto the police." However, the drone's primary purpose is for analyzing his crops. Rayner's neighbor William Abbots flies the unmanned aerial vehicle over the farmer's fields taking photos from the sky. These are then sent to his computer or phone where an app called Drone Deploy  shows the health of his crops. High contrast, colorized pictures highlight problem areas. Farmer Colin Rayner is benefits from using drones Rather than having to walk the fields to identify diseases, pests, fungus and weeds, Rayner can pick them out using his drone images and then … [Read more...] about Next generation farming: How drones are changing the face of British agriculture

Feeling low and anxious? Suffering from disrupted sleep? Could Brexit be damaging your mental health? A Britain Thinks poll of more than 2,000 people, the results of which were released this week, found that 83% of those surveyed were sick of hearing about Brexit, while 64% thought it was damaging their mental health. The poll found that the dominant words people use in relation to Brexit have changed: in 2017, it was “confusing” or “uncertain”; now, it is “broken” and “chaos”. No politician is singled out, because we’re blaming all of them equally; except for David Cameron, who has a special, individuated space in the nation’s psyche as the man who unleashed this hell. Wishing for the politics of a lost age is the last thing people do when they have given up: it isn’t an acceptance of the status quo, but rather frustration at not being able to put these hideous worms back in their can. Brexit hangs over so many … [Read more...] about ‘All I hear is anger and frustration’: how Brexit is affecting our mental health

With concerns about the environment a major theme in the election, what are the parties' plans on green issues?Here, we answer a selection of readers' questions.What is being done to stop the decline in UK wildlife? - Jet Janman, SeafordMore than a quarter of UK mammals - including the Scottish wildcat, the frosted green moth and the pine marten - are facing extinction, according to a report published in October 2019. It added that 97% of the UK's wildflower meadows have been lost in the last 100 years.In its environmental manifesto, Labour details how it will spend nearly £10bn over the next 10 years on restoring nature and protecting the environment. It also wants to create 10 new national parks.The Liberal Democrats will introduce a Nature Act to restore the natural environment. This will set targets for improving water, air, soil, and wildlife and its habitat. This will cost at least £18bn over five years.The Green Party has a raft of policies on wildlife. Among these are … [Read more...] about General election 2019: Your questions on climate change and the environment