In the face of a failed War on Drugs, a global commission composed mostly of former world leaders recommended on Tuesday that governments decriminalize and regulate the use of currently illicit drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, and psychedelics. “The international drug regime is broken,” reads the report from the Global Commission on Drug Policy, whose…

They are vanishing before our very eyes. Polar bears, monarch butterflies and the North Pacific right whale are among the list of 10 American species a conservation coalition warns that our children may never see. The reason why, the Endangered Species Coalition says in its new report, is us. From climate change to the declining…

TORONTO – Canada’s tar sands oil boom may be in jeopardy and it appears the ruling Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper does not have any plan B in its ambition to remake this resource-rich country into “an energy superpower.” “This is one of the sectors that creates some of the most jobs, not…

Kaci Hickox, the Maine nurse who was forced into Ebola quarantine in New Jersey last week after treating patients in West Africa, despite testing negative for the disease, said she would not comply with Maine officials’ instructions to isolate herself for another 21 days in her hometown of Fort Kent. “You know I truly believe…

As President Barack Obama appointed an ‘Ebola czar’ and contemplated imposing restrictions on travelers coming to the U.S. from West African countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) admitted that it dropped the ball in stemming the still-spiraling Ebola outbreak in West Africa, blaming factors ranging from internal politics to poor communication between infectious disease experts…

Four Freedom Industries owners and managers have been charged with federal violations for their part in the January chemical spill in West Virginia, which saw a large portion of the Elk River contaminated with more than 7,000 gallons of hazardous waste, contaminated the drinking water of 300,000 people. Dennis Farrell, William Tis, Charles Herzing, and…

After months of secret negotiations, a surprise joint announcement by U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jingping revealed the world’s two largest contributors to global warming have made a non-binding agreement to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions over the next fifteen years and stated their hope that such pledges will spur other nations…

“Even very ambitious mitigation” can’t change the fact that the world has already “locked in” mid-century warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial times, a new report from the World Bank Group finds. This warming brings increased threats to food and water security and jeopardizes poverty-reduction efforts, the study states. It “confirms what scientists have been saying—past…

Charging that the world has largely looked the other way, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Monday released a new report which concludes 2014 was one of the worst years on record for the overall welfare of children, with over 15 million young people directly harmed by the world’s worst conflicts and hundreds of…

On one of the busiest commercial days of the year, in one of the largest malls in the world, protesters interrupted business as usual to send a message: “While you’re on your shopping spree, black people cannot breathe.” An estimated 3,000 people on Saturday flooded the rotunda and partially shut down the Mall of America,…