Global News & Policy

By Dia Aurora, McLean Highschool Climate change is a worldwide issue that affects countless lives in countless ways. However, Uganda has begun to suffer harder than other communities around the globe. The African country is experiencing catastrophic floods, as well as other natural disasters. According to the World Bank, “local media reported that the October floods [in 2018] … displaced another 8,000 others from … nine affected sub-counties” (World Bank, 2019). The consequences of these floods include lost loved ones, destroyed crops, and the death of livestock. Homes are drifting away into oblivion and schools are being crushed in soda cans.  The most prominent issue comes when buildings and shelters are not the only items taken away from the Ugandan community. BBC News explai...

By Quinn Patwardhan, Sidwell Friends School During the COP26 Summit held in early Nov., the United States, United Kingdom and the European Union announced a partnership with South Africa that would reduce the nation’s reliance on coal. South Africa is currently responsible for around 1.29% of global carbon dioxide emissions, making it the world’s 12th biggest emitter of CO2. Coal provides over 80% of South Africa’s energy and serves as one of the nation’s most important exports, explaining the country’s reliance on coal from both an energy and an economic standpoint. Furthermore, South Africa’s state utility company Eskom is in over $27 billion of debt, caused in part by its investments in coal power plants. All of this has led the U.S., U.K., and the E.U. to grant South Africa ...

By Kiran Bishop, Sidwell Friends School, and Kit Levy, Sidwell Friends School The recent rise in popularity of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum begs the question: “How environmentally friendly are cryptocurrencies really?” To understand their impact on the environment, one must first understand what a cryptocurrency is and the nuances between the different tokens and coins.   Cryptocurrencies are a form of payment that can be used online to buy goods or services. They are set by cryptography, which is the writing and solving of complex codes or algorithms.  This process allows cryptocurrencies to address the “double spending problem” --  the concern that the same crypto token could be used multiple times. To ensure that this reuse does not occur, cryptoc...

By Gwyn Field, Sidwell Friends School On April 22 and 23, the Biden Administration brought together 40 world leaders to discuss the climate crisis for the virtual 2021 Earth Day Summit. According to a press release on April 23 from the White House, President Biden convened the 17 Major Economies Forum (MEF), responsible for nearly 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and global GDP, who “were also joined by the leaders of countries that are especially vulnerable to climate impacts.”  Prior to the summit, the White House published a press release announcing the goals of the summit on climate change. These ambitions included “galvanizing efforts by the world’s major economies to reduce emissions during this critical decade to keep a limit to warming of 1.5 degree Celsius ...