What the US Forest Service once characterized as a four-month-long fire season starting in late summer and early autumn now stretches into six to eight months of the year. Wildfires are…Continue reading2021 wildfires in western U.S.
Author: Shane White
Almost half of Britain’s natural biodiversity has disappeared over the centuries, with farming and urban spread triggered by the industrial and agricultural revolutions being blamed as major factors for this loss.…Continue readingNearly half of Britain’s biodiversity has gone since industrial revolution
Unusually powerful sandstorms have left at least six people dead in Sao Paulo in recent weeks, local media said, as southeastern Brazil grapples with severe drought. Scenes of huge orange dust…Continue readingExtreme drought in Brazil triggers fatal sand storms
China’s promise to stop financing coal power abroad is a positive step, but researchers say the emissions savings pale in comparison to those from its domestic coal use. “China is a…Continue readingChina’s pledge on overseas coal — by the numbers
Rossiglione, Italy, ended up with a mind-boggling 34.8 inches (883.8 mm) of rainfall over the course of 24 hours. The annual rainfall total for the nearby city of Genoa itself tops…Continue reading34 inches of rain in 24 hours breaks continental record
Up to 14½ inches (368mm) fell in Al Khaburah, which is just to the west of where the storm came ashore. The city of about 40,000 people averages between three and…Continue readingTropical Cyclone Shaheen produced as much as four years’ worth of rain in Oman
In the nearly half-century since the U.S. Endangered Species Act came into force, only 11 other species have ever been delisted because they disappeared. A million plants and animals are in…Continue readingThe Anthropocene causes 23 species to be declared extinct
Russia has endured its worst forest fire season in the country’s modern history. Fires have destroyed more than 18.16 million hectares (45 million acres) of Russian forest in 2021, setting an…Continue readingRussia forest fire damage worst since records began
Koalas 30% decline of total population in 3 years; the state of New South Wales was worst with a 41% decline in 3 years. Now extinct in 47 electorates and only…Continue readingAustralian society devastating wildlife
Single-use plastics formed the majority of litter in this study. And in general, litter hotspots were associated with socioeconomic factors such as a concentration of built infrastructure, less national wealth, and…Continue readingData from 29,798 clean-ups around the world uncovers some of the worst litter hotspots
A severe drought, coupled with extreme temperatures, have sustained several major fires for much of August. As of 14 September, more than 7,000 wildfires have been recorded, burning over 900,000 hectares…Continue readingCalifornia continues to burn
Over the past 25 years, the transition to solid-state LED lighting has been accompanied by rapid increases in light pollution, by up to 270% globally, and 400% in some regions. “Without…Continue readingRapid increase in global light pollution
The world’s coral reef cover has halved since the 1950s, ravaged by global heating, overfishing, pollution and habitat destruction, a trend that is projected to continue as the planet continues to…Continue readingHalf of global coral cover destroyed since the 1950s
National net zero emission targets could, if fully implemented, reduce best estimates of projected global average temperature increase to 2.0–2.4 °C by 2100, bringing the Paris Agreement temperature goal within reach. A…Continue readingWave of net zero emission targets will still cause dangerous warming
260 Spanish troops are assisting firefighters battling a raging blaze that has emptied out villages and burned through forestland for days. “We have talked for a long time about the consequences…Continue readingMilitary deployed to fight fires in Spain
Efforts to halt decline of population & diversity of animals & plants have largely failed. 28% of the 138,000 species assessed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)…Continue readingHumans causing species to lurch towards extinction
Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, shown as the dashed line in the image below, was connected on September 10, 2021. The 1,230km (764 mile) long pipeline will double the capacity of…Continue readingRussia’s New Nord Stream 2 Gas Pipeline
The pollution, emissions and clean-up costs of plastic produced in 2019 alone exceeded the annual GDP of India. It estimated that unless there is concerted international action, this cost will double…Continue readingSocial cost of 2019’s plastic more than GDP of India
Climate change-induced warming in the Gulf of Maine has resulted in the population of the North Atlantic right whale to plummet, leaving the species critically endangered. Right whales have long been…Continue readingNorth Atlantic right whales critically endangered by the Anthropocene
Trillions of polymetallic nodules litter Earth’s ocean floors. Each is rich in manganese, nickel, cobalt and copper; some of the most important metals for manufacturing low carbon technology. Mining companies claim…Continue readingIs deep-sea mining a cure for the climate crisis or a curse?
Climate change is amplifying war, civil unrest, displacement, poverty, hunger and water scarcity in Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria and Mali. Noor Ahmad Akhundzadah, a professor of hydrology at Kabul University: “Now there…Continue readingWar and Warming
Maps of fossil-fueled power plants’ CO2 emissions. Taller spikes indicate that plants emit CO2 at higher levels. Colors signify plants’ primary fuels (blue = coal, yellow = natural gas, black =…Continue readingReducing CO₂ emissions by targeting the world’s hyper-polluting power plants
Russia’s forestry agency says fires this year have torn through more than 50 million acres (173,000 square kilometres, 67,000 square miles), making it the second-worst season since the turn of the…Continue readingWildfires in Russia spread to central regions
Carbon dioxide emissions from the global electric power sector rebounded in the first half of 2021 to above pre-pandemic levels, according to an analysis, signalling that the world has failed to…Continue readingGlobal electric power demand returns to pre-pandemic levels
The government said 200,000 hectares (495,000 acres) had burned in just two days.Continue readingWildfires devastate Bolivian nature reserves
“There is no place in the United States where you shouldn’t be resetting your expectations about Mother Nature disrupting your life,” said Roy Wright, president of the Insurance Institute for Business…Continue readingTennessee floods show a pressing climate danger across America: ‘Walls of water’
The wildfires in the American West are burning vast expanses of specially protected forests — those that are part of carbon-offset projects meant to counterbalance the carbon dioxide pollution being pumped…Continue readingWildfires are ravaging forests set aside to soak up greenhouse gases
It’s all part of an effort that started in 2015, when Imran Khan — then a provincial politician and now Pakistan’s prime minister — backed a program dubbed a “Billion Tree…Continue readingPakistan’s mission to plant 10 billion trees across the country
Area lost is 57% higher than in the previous year and is the worst since 2012. “Deforestation is still out of control,” Carlos Souza, a researcher at Imazon said. “Brazil is…Continue readingDeforestation in Brazilian Amazon hits highest annual level in a decade
Rain has fallen on the summit of Greenland’s huge ice cap for the first time on record. Temperatures are normally well below freezing on the 3,216-metre (10,551ft) peak, and the precipitation…Continue readingRain falls on peak of Greenland ice cap for first time on record
John Battles, a professor of forest ecology at the University of California, Berkeley, said the fires are behaving in ways not seen in the past as flames churn through trees and…Continue readingFires harming California’s efforts to curb climate change
The Dixie Fire has scorched more than 940 square miles (2,434 square kilometers, 602,000 acres) in the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades since it ignited on July 13 and eventually…Continue readingFueled by winds, largest wildfire moves near California city
Friday August 12: The heavy rainfall, expected to continue through Friday night, has brought about 20 inches (510mm) of rain to areas of Hubei since Wednesday, officials said. Four people were…Continue readingFlooding in China kills 21, as thousands escape to shelters
The Dixie fire raging through northern California has destroyed another 550 homes, becoming one of the most destructive in state history. The fire, the largest wildfire burning in the US, has all but leveled the town…Continue readingDixie fire burns 550 more homes, becoming one of most destructive in California history
The southern Murray-Darling Basin occupies the southern half of NSW and northern Victoria. It receives most of its water from rain in the cooler months that fills dams, with any overflow…Continue readingThe Murrumbidgee River’s wet season height has dropped by 30% since the 1990s, and the outlook is bleak
Global greenhouse gas emissions must peak in the next four years, coal and gas-fired power plants must close in the next decade and lifestyle and behavioural changes will be needed to…Continue readingGreenhouse gas emissions must peak within 4 years, says leaked UN report
The highest temperature in European history appears to have been recorded in Italy during a heatwave sweeping the country, with early reports suggesting a high of 48.8˚C (119.85˚F).Continue readingHighest recorded temperature of 48.8˚C in Europe apparently logged in Sicily
Rising sea levels and climate change are posing serious threats to the population and economy of several Asian coastal cities—Bangkok, Dhaka, Jakarta, Manila and Shanghai, among them. Threats come from a…Continue readingAs Asian cities sink, managed retreat must be tabled
“If we do not halt our emissions soon, our future climate could well become some kind of hell on Earth,” says Prof Tim Palmer at the University of Oxford. Governments that…Continue readingIPCC report’s verdict on climate crimes of humanity: guilty as hell
The comprehensive assessment of climate science published on Monday, the sixth such report from the IPCC since 1988, has been eight years in the making. It represents the world’s full knowledge to date of the physical basis…Continue readingMajor climate changes inevitable and irreversible – IPCC’s starkest warning yet
As of Friday, more than 100 large fires were burning across 14 states. Smoke from Oregon’s Bootleg Fire, one of the nation’s largest at more than 413,000 acres burned, has already…Continue readingIn a summer of smoke, a small town wonders: ‘How are we going to do better than survive?’
The Paraná River, one of the main commercial waterways in South America, has reached its lowest level in nearly 80 years due to a prolonged drought in Brazil that scientists attribute…Continue readingDrought hits South America river, threatening vast ecosystem
Earth’s temperature is projected to hit 1.5˚C or 1.6˚C around 2030 in all five scenarios—a full decade earlier than a similar prediction the IPCC made less than three years ago. The…Continue readingKeeping Earth cool: Is the 1.5˚C target ‘mission impossible’?
The Mediterranean will be hit by ever fiercer heatwaves, drought and fires supercharged by rising temperatures, according to a draft United Nations assessment that warns the region is a “climate change…Continue readingMediterranean faces fiercer heatwaves, drought, fires: UN draft report
The Andes mountain range is facing historically low snowfall this year during a decade-long drought that scientists link to global warming. “Here we are seeing a process of long-term decrease in precipitation,…Continue reading‘Mega-drought’ leaves many Andes mountains without snow cover
The fire is one of 100 active large blazes in the United States, mostly torching parts of Western states that have been plagued by exceptional heat and drought, exacerbated by climate change. Those…Continue readingDixie Fire destroys much of California town as officials warn: ‘You MUST leave now’
Since 28 July, 180 fires have broken out in Turkey, while more than 100 were still burning in Greece. In Italy, the number of large wildfires is estimated to have tripled this summer…Continue readingWildfires continue to rage across southern Europe
The Klamath Basin in the western U.S. was once a string of pristine wetlands but in the middle of the 19th century settlers began diverting the three big rivers feeding the system…Continue readingYoung farmers in Klamath Basin lose hope
If climate change continues at its current rate, more than 98% of emperor penguin colonies are expected to become quasi-extinct by the turn of the century. Scientists’ near-term predictions were equally grim: they…Continue readingVirtually all emperor penguins doomed for extinction by 2100 as climate change looms, study finds
“We find that there is a substantial mismatch between likely warming rates and research coverage. 1.5 °C and 2 °C scenarios are substantially overrepresented. More likely higher end warming scenarios of…Continue readingBetting on the best case: higher end warming is underrepresented in research
With more than a month to go in Siberia’s annual fire season, wildfires fuelled by summer heatwaves, have swept through more than 1.5 million hectares.Continue readingFighting Siberia’s wildfires – in pictures
The Great Barrier Reef, the size of Italy or Japan, is where global heating is a present-day catastrophe. It has suffered three mass coral bleaching events since 2015, killing up to 50% of…Continue readingThe lobbying push that killed off a fight to save the Great Barrier Reef
“There is growing evidence we are getting close to or have already gone beyond tipping points associated with important parts of the Earth system” The 5 hottest years on record have…Continue readingCritical measures of global heating reaching tipping point, study finds
A conservation group recorded the video after a heatwave in the Pacific north-west on a day when water temperatures breached 21˚C (71˚F).Continue readingVideo shows salmon injured by unlivable water temperatures after heatwave
Climate change is warming the Arabian Sea. The higher water temperatures are causing the air above to become warmer and hold more moisture. “We are seeing a three-fold rise in widespread extreme…Continue readingIndia monsoon death toll climbs
To meet an ambitious goal of carbon neutrality by 2045, California’s policymakers are relying in part on forests and shrublands to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere, but researchers warn that future climate change may…Continue readingCalifornia’s carbon mitigation efforts may be thwarted by climate change itself
British Columbia declared a state of emergency on Monday, with more than 5,700 people under an evacuation order. “I have been living here in Ashcroft for almost 25 years now and I…Continue readingMore residents flee as fires ravage western Canada
A year’s worth of rain – 640mm – fell in just three days.Continue readingDeath toll rises and thousands flee homes as floods hit China
The Siberian Times reported the first fire in the beginning of May outside Oymyakon in north-east Yakutia, which is known as “the pole of cold” for its record low temperatures. “Little by little,…Continue reading‘Airpocalypse’ hits Siberian city as heatwave sparks forest fires
“We saw damage almost everywhere, from the Bahamas to the Great Barrier Reef.“ Corals can become stressed when temperatures around them rise just 1˚C (1.8˚F) above their tolerance level. With water…Continue readingWorld’s coral scientists warn action is needed now to save even a few reefs from climate change
Carbon emissions are set to hit an all-time high by 2023 as just two percent of pandemic recovery finance is being spent on clean energy. “Not only is clean energy investment still…Continue readingCovid recovery to drive all-time emissions high: IEA
This backing for coal, oil and gas is “reckless” in the face of the escalating climate emergency, according to the report’s authors, and urgent action is needed to phase out the support. The…Continue reading‘Reckless’: G20 states subsidised fossil fuels by $3tn since 2015, says report
The world is facing unprecedented levels of drought.Continue readingThe current drought is worldwide. Here’s how different places are fighting it.
The intensity and scale of the floods in Germany this week have shocked climate scientists, who did not expect records to be broken this much, over such a wide area or…Continue readingClimate scientists shocked by scale of floods in Germany
“The positive feedback, where deforestation and climate change drive a release of carbon from the remaining forest that reinforces additional warming and more carbon loss is what scientists have feared would happen. Now…Continue readingAmazon rainforest now emitting more CO₂ than it absorbs
918,000 acres were burned by 67 large fires across the Western United States. So far this year, 2 million acres has been burned by 34,000 fires. In Canada, fires have burned more…Continue readingThe Bootleg Fire in Oregon is among more than 60 wildfires in the U.S.
In Siberia, 2 million acres of forest has been destroyed. The city of Yakutsk hit 35˚C at one point; and the region’s city of Verkhoyansk, seen as one of the coldest places on…Continue readingSiberia wildfires: Russian army planes and thousands of firefighters battle blazes
The intensity of the fires in California and Oregon is “not something you used to see” so early in the season.Continue readingAmerican west stuck in cycle of ‘heat, drought and fire’
“Every indication is they have no plans of actually fulfilling their campaign promise”.Continue readingUS drilling approvals increase despite Biden climate pledge
The figures are based on projections of a population growth of about 4.5 billion over the same period, and a temperature rise of about 3.7˚C by 2100.Continue readingClimate crisis ‘may put 8 billion at risk of malaria and dengue’ by 2080
Flooding in New York City “has already become more frequent than in the past, and as long as we continue to warm the planet, we can expect more of this, not less”.Continue readingNew York City warned ‘climate change is here’ as storm floods streets and subway
“Ecosystems are going to change in ways that are really difficult to predict. We don’t know where the tipping points are.”Continue reading‘Heat dome’ probably killed 1 billion marine animals on Canada coast
The French government said that it would drop its plans to enshrine the fight against climate change in the Constitution, effectively giving up on what was seen as a major step in the…Continue readingFrance Drops Plans to Enshrine Climate Fight in Constitution
“Egypt, which depends on the Nile for about 97% of its irrigation and drinking water, sees the dam as an existential threat.”Continue readingEthiopia begins second stage of filling mega-dam, angering Egypt
Kelp are essentially the ocean’s equivalent of trees, capturing up to 20 times more carbon per acre than land forests. They also provide a vital habitat for a broad range of marine life;…Continue readingThe scientists fighting to save the ocean’s most important carbon capture system
Five of the world’s leading reef and climate scientists have thanked Unesco for recommending the Great Barrier Reef be listed as world heritage “in danger”, saying it was the right decision in part…Continue readingGreat Barrier Reef: leading scientists praise Unesco’s ‘in danger’ warning
“Arctic warming is remarkably about 2°C (3.6˚F) in just this short period of time (15 years).”Continue readingJune 2021 Global Temperature Update
Total mean annual forest loss in Southeast Asia was 3.2 million hectares per year during 2001–2019, with 31% occurring on the mountains, and is accelerating.Continue readingUpward expansion and acceleration of forest clearance in the mountains of Southeast Asia
A 2017 study in Germany was one of the first to raise global alarm about the loss of insects. It found that the biomass of flying insects across German nature reserves…Continue readingGerman climate, insect protection laws cross finish line
Chair of CCAG, Sir David King said: “I believe we have five years left to get on top of this global problem. We began talking seriously about climate change in 1992, yet we…Continue readingReducing carbon emissions not enough, expert warns
Species extinction, more widespread disease, unliveable heat, ecosystem collapse, cities menaced by rising seas—these and other devastating climate impacts are accelerating and bound to become painfully obvious before a child born…Continue readingCrushing climate impacts to hit sooner than feared: draft UN report
“I cannot say that there was really any breakthrough in the consultations that took place here” said United Nations climate chief Patricia Espinosa.Continue readingNo breakthrough during ‘exhausting’ online climate talks
“We humans, we have to listen to the laws of nature and face up to the reality that we’re causing our own misery.”Continue readingOceanographer Sylvia Earle on the need for sea conservation
“We will supply energy to the world as long as the demand exists.”Continue readingNorway plans to continue oil exploration and drilling in coming decades
“Ice loss here could be catastrophic and irreversible on centennial time scales.”Continue readingThis melting glacier was already the biggest source of sea level rise. Then things got worse.