ISLAMABAD – It is a painful irony of climate change that those least responsible for the problem are often the most exposed to its ravages. And if any country can claim to be the victim of this climate injustice, it is Pakistan. As world leaders prepare to meet at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, the country is reeling from the aftereffects of devastating floods that damaged buildings, destroyed crops, swept away bridges, and killed 238 people.
BERLIN – The diplomatic effort to forge an international agreement to mitigate climate change is undergoing a fundamental shift. The top-down approach that has guided the effort since 1992 is slowly being replaced by a bottom-up model.
BRUSSELS – Many Europeans feel like their countries are under assault, as huge numbers of migrants flow across their borders. Whether they are being exposed to refugees firsthand, or just seeing images of them splashed across newspaper pages, Europeans are well aware of the vast numbers of desperate people trying to enter European Union territory by any means possible. But this awareness has yet to translate into a unified response.
LONDON – To solve the problem of antimicrobial resistance, the world needs not only new drugs, but also new behavior – by all seven billion of us. Because of the misuse and overuse of antibiotics, common infections such as pneumonia and tuberculosis are becoming increasingly resistant to existing treatments; in some cases, they have become completely immune.
STONY BROOK – Whenever I hear about Islamic State militants bulldozing archaeological treasures and smashing sculptures and statues, I think about the assault on the scientific process being carried out by US politicians. Our scientific infrastructure – the principal means by which we understand the world, identify and ward off threats, and pursue a better future – is coming under attack by lawmakers who regard science as an obstacle to achieving their goals, and thus as a target that must be eliminated.