Water levels in the Caspian Sea—the world’s largest landlocked water body—are getting lower, as hotter temperatures cause more water to evaporate than is flowing in. Even if global warming is limited…Continue readingCaspian Sea’s rapid decline threatens endangered seals, coastal communities and industry, study warns
Tag: death
A dry winter is intensifying wildfires in Nepal, experts said Wednesday, as the capital Kathmandu continued to suffer from hazardous air quality that ranks it among the most polluted cities globally.…Continue readingNepal fights wildfires and pollution amidst drier winter
Wildfires driven by strong winds have devastated parts of South Korea’s southern regions, killing at least 24 people, destroying more than 200 structures, and forcing 27,000 people to evacuate. The wildfires,…Continue readingWildfires kill 24 and displace thousands in South Korea
Today, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) published its annual State of the Climate report, which found heat records kept being broken in 2024. It’s likely 2024 was the first year to…Continue readingSahara flooding, Amazon tributaries drying, warming tipping over 1.5°C—2024 broke all the wrong records
The WMO’s report on 2024, the hottest year on record, sets out a trail of destruction from extreme weather that took lives, demolished buildings and ravaged vital crops. More than 800,000…Continue readingMore than 150 ‘unprecedented’ climate disasters struck world in 2024, says UN
The study, published in The Journal of Climate Change and Health, reveals alarmingly high levels of anxiety, depression, and hopelessness among adolescents in one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions. In…Continue readingClimate change fueling mental health crisis in areas most affected by climate crisis
Analysis of young sable shearwaters, a migratory bird that travels between Australia’s Lord Howe Island and Japan, has found that plastic waste is causing damage to seabird chicks not apparent to…Continue readingPlastic pollution leaves seabirds with brain damage similar to Alzheimer’s, study shows
South Australia’s Environment Protection Authority did not open a formal investigation into what may have killed dozens of birds in Port Pirie, despite tests showing some of the animals had been…Continue readingDead and dying Port Pirie birds and bats exposed to lead at 3,000 times acceptable levels
Lahore’s 14 million residents spent six months breathing concentrations of PM2.5—tiny particles that can penetrate the lungs and bloodstream—at levels 20 times or more than recommended by the World Health Organization.…Continue reading‘Really suffocating’: Pakistan emerges from record smog season
SUVs and huge utes have become the most popular vehicles in Australia. Of the 1,220,607 new vehicles sold in 2024, most were SUVs, with about 57% market share. Light commercial vehicles…Continue readingAustralians are obsessed with SUVs and huge utes, but experts say they are making our roads deadlier
Argentina’s port city of Bahia Blanca has been “destroyed” after being pummeled by a year’s worth of rain in a matter of hours, killing 13 and driving hundreds from their homes.…Continue reading13 die in Argentina after 1 year’s worth of rain falls in 8 hours
Warm-water coral reefs are facing unprecedented human-driven threats to their continued existence as biodiverse functional ecosystems upon which hundreds of millions of people rely. These impacts may drive coral ecosystems past…Continue readingConsiderations for determining warm-water coral reef tipping points
An international group of scientists, led by King’s College London, has revealed how continued global warming will lead to more parts of the planet becoming too hot for the human body…Continue readingHalf a degree rise in global warming will triple area of Earth too hot for humans
Millions of tonnes of plastic waste are dumped in the environment and much is broken down into small fragments. Microplastics were already known to have polluted the entire planet, from the…Continue readingVehicle tyres found to be biggest source of nanoplastics in the high Alps
The human body is widely contaminated by microplastics. They have also been found in blood, semen, breast milk, placentas and bone marrow. The impact on human health is largely unknown, but…Continue readingLevels of microplastics in human brains may be rapidly rising, study suggests
Waters off WA have been affected by prolonged marine heatwaves since September. Regions off the north-west coast were hottest, with ocean temperatures 1.5˚C higher than average over a five-month period and…Continue readingDeaths of 30,000 fish off WA coast made more likely by climate change
In North America and Europe, scientists have long warned bird numbers are falling. As cities and farms expand, forests around them become fragments, animal habitats shrink, pollution contaminates rivers, pesticides and…Continue readingIn the most untouched, pristine parts of the Amazon, birds are dying. Scientists may finally know why.
A study has found microplastic and nanoplastic pollution to be significantly higher in placentas from premature births than in those from full-term births. Microplastics, broken down from plastic waste, have polluted…Continue readingMicroplastics in placentas linked to premature births, study suggests
Human-caused climate change increased the likelihood and intensity of the hot, dry and windy conditions that fanned the flames of the recent devastating Southern California wildfires, a scientific study found. But…Continue readingStudy says climate change made conditions that fed California wildfires more likely, more intense
Tens of thousands of fish have died off northwestern Australia, as a large and long-lasting marine heat wave intensifies. The fish kill at Gnoorea Beach near Karratha is concerning our team…Continue readingA marine heat wave in northwest Australia is killing huge numbers of fish—it’s heading south
Researchers surveying nests for the harmful chemical found in pet flea treatments found that it was present in every single nest. The scientists from the University of Sussex are now calling…Continue readingSongbirds being killed by pesticides found in pet fur flea treatments
Wildfires in Brazil last year consumed a total area larger than all of Italy, a monitor reported Wednesday, as the country continues to battle blazes often set by farmers and ranchers…Continue readingBrazil saw 79% jump in area burned by fires in 2024
More than 40% of individual corals monitored around a Great Barrier Reef island were killed last year in the most widespread coral bleaching outbreak to hit the reef system. Scientists tracked…Continue reading‘Catastrophic’: Great Barrier Reef hit by its most widespread coral bleaching
Twelve fires have ignited in the Los Angeles area since January 7, when a once-in-a-decade Santa Ana wind storm blew across Southern California’s drought-parched landscape. Since then, more than 60 square…Continue readingLA fires were larger and more intense because of planet-warming pollution, study suggests
Tropical storm Dikeledi barreled towards Mozambique on Monday after leaving three dead in Madagascar and triggering floods in the French territory of Mayotte, less than a month after the cyclone-battered region…Continue readingCyclone-battered region sees storm Dikeledi leave Mayotte for Mozambique
The 2024 Global Water Monitor Report was produced by an international team of researchers from universities in Australia, Saudi Arabia, China, Germany and elsewhere. The team used data from thousands of…Continue readingClimate crisis ‘wreaking havoc’ on Earth’s water cycle
By David Spratt at Climate Code Red If an unexpected leap in the global average temperature in 2023 was described by one scientist as “gobsmackingly bananas”, are there even words to…Continue readingA(nother) year of scientific shock and awe
Cyclone Chido was an “intense tropical cyclone”, equivalent to a category 4 hurricane in the Atlantic. It made landfall in Mayotte, a small island lying to the north-west of Madagascar on…Continue readingClimate, migration and conflict mix to create ‘deadly’ intense tropical storms like Chido
Our new research published in Nature Climate Change shows the upper limits of human heat tolerance were breached for a total of 43 hours over the six days of Hajj. During…Continue readingMore than 1,300 Hajj pilgrims died this year when humidity and heat pushed past survivable limits—it’s just the start
Before the two-year marine heat wave that ended in 2016, Alaska had an estimated 8 million common murres — a quarter of the world’s population — spread across abundant colonies in…Continue readingScientists just confirmed the largest bird-killing event in modern history
Delhi’s air pollution is so bad that it’s sometimes hard to discern anything more than a few meters in front of you. And it is affecting people’s health. Breathing is uncomfortable.…Continue readingDelhi’s annual air pollution has become a human-made calamity
Air pollution in Pakistan’s second biggest city Lahore soared on Saturday, with an official calling it a record high for the smog-choked mega city. For days, the city of 14 million…Continue readingPollution level in Pakistan megacity hits new high
Rescuers in Spain are battling to reach areas still cut off due to heavy rains as the death toll from catastrophic floods rose to 205 in Europe’s worst weather disaster in…Continue readingDeath toll from Spain floods passes 200
Microplastics have been found throughout the human body — including inside lungs, blood and brains — and while it is not yet clear how harmful they are to our health, some…Continue readingHow harmful are microplastics to human health?
Oxfam’s research shows that that the richest 1%, made up of 77 million people including billionaires, millionaires and those earning $310,000 ($140,000 PPP) or more a year, accounted for 16% of…Continue readingCarbon emissions of richest 1% increase hunger, poverty and deaths
Schoolchildren in Pakistan’s second-largest city of Lahore have been banned from outdoor exercise until January because of hazardous smog levels, officials said Friday. The eastern megacity near the border with India…Continue readingSmog in Pakistan megacity ends outdoor play for schoolkids
Human-caused climate change worsened floods that have killed hundreds of people and displaced millions in Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan this year, according to a study published on Wednesday. A…Continue readingClimate change worsened deadly Africa floods
Northvolt has been plagued by problems from incompetent management and poor safety standards to over-reliance on Chinese machinery, according to current and former workers at the cash-strapped Swedish battery maker. Ten…Continue readingHow Europe’s battery champion descended into crisis
At least eight people died after heavy rains in Brazil, authorities said Saturday, as storms swept parts of the country following a severe drought that fueled a record wave of wildfires.…Continue readingEight dead as heavy rain thrashes Brazil after long drought
A few weeks on from the flooding of 19 September, when the northern Italian region of Emilia Romagna was struck by its third devastating storm in less than 18 months, the…Continue reading‘It’s shameful and I won’t pay it’: flood-hit Italians rage against insurance call
More than half the world’s food production will be at risk of failure within the next 25 years as a rapidly accelerating water crisis grips the planet, unless urgent action is…Continue readingGlobal water crisis leaves half of world food production at risk in next 25 years
Hurricane Helene’s death toll has surpassed 150 as searchers use helicopters to get past washed-out bridges and hike through wilderness to reach isolated homes. Crews were still trudging through knee-deep muck…Continue readingMore than 150 dead after Hurricane Helene dumps over 40tn gallons of rain
Two people have died in a rugged mountainous area in central Greece while trying to help firefighters tackle a forest fire that has forced several villages to be evacuated, authorities have…Continue readingRaging wildfires in central Greece leave two people dead
Residents of Nepal’s flood-hit capital returned to their mud-caked homes on Sunday to survey the wreckage of devastating floods that have killed at least 104 people across the Himalayan republic. Deadly…Continue reading104 dead in Nepal floods after relentless monsoon rains
The shipping containers were a familiar sight to the villagers of northern Mozambique’s remote and troubled Afungi peninsula: a dozen steel boxes lined up end-to-end with a guarded gate in the…Continue reading“ALL MUST BE BEHEADED”
Northvolt is to be served with an investigation notice regarding suspicion of gross manslaughter in the coming weeks by Swedish prosecutors over the death of one of the battery manufacturer’s workers in an explosion…Continue readingNorthvolt to be served ‘suspicion of gross manslaughter’ notice over worker death
More than 16 million people in the US were under heat alerts on Friday, according to the National Weather Service, mostly clustered in the southern tips of Nevada, Arizona and California.…Continue readingGrim new death records amid brutal heat plaguing south-west US
Millions of people in my country, Malawi, face unprecedented existential crises driven by climate breakdown. The frequency of extreme weather events and the massive impact they have on communities have left…Continue readingPeople must understand: we in Malawi are paying for the climate crisis with our lives
The Czech Republic sat at the centre of a storm that has killed two dozen people across central Europe and prompted the EU to promise €10bn in aid to flood-stricken countries.…Continue reading‘We’re getting rid of everything’: floods destroy homes and lives in Czech Republic
Northvolt’s sub-Arctic battery factory in northern Sweden was meant to symbolise Europe’s green fightback against China and the US. Instead, the start-up is in danger of turning into an emblem of…Continue readingEurope’s great battery hope Northvolt fights for survival
Across Yemen in recent weeks, nearly 100 people have died in floods. And more than 560,000 people across the country have been affected since late July. Yemen’s central highlands, Red Sea…Continue reading‘Staggering’ destruction in Yemen after deadly flash flooding
Parts of Central and West Africa have seen heavy flooding over an unusually intense rainy season, unleashing a humanitarian crisis in which hundreds have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.…Continue readingFloods hit millions in West and Central Africa
The 2024 northern summer saw the highest global temperatures on record, beating 2023’s high and making this year likely Earth’s hottest ever recorded. The data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service…Continue readingJune-August 2024 were hottest ever recorded: EU monitor
Phoenix, Arizona, saw its 100th straight day of 100˚F (37.8˚C) heat this week. The hottest large city in the United States broke its previous record of 76 consecutive 100˚F days set…Continue readingPhoenix, Arizona, hits its 100th consecutive day of 100˚F (37.8˚C) weather
A climate assessment report published in November 2022 by the Centre for Science and Environment, a public-interest research and advocacy organization based in New Delhi, analysed the first nine months of…Continue readingThe climate disaster strikes: what the data say
The time has come to accept that climate policy has failed, and that the 2015 landmark Paris agreement is dead. We let it die by pretending that we could both continue…Continue readingThe overshoot myth: you can’t keep burning fossil fuels and expect scientists of the future to get us back to 1.5°C
Hot weather inflamed by carbon pollution killed nearly 50,000 people in Europe last year, with the continent warming at a much faster rate than other parts of the world. Heatwaves have…Continue readingHeat aggravated by carbon pollution killed 50,000 in Europe last year
As global temperatures continue to rise, India is grappling with increasingly severe heat waves. As early as April, many Indian cities, including New Delhi, the capital, have experienced record temperatures above…Continue readingExtreme heat in India: A crisis on the rise
Torrential rains in China have killed at least 30 people and left dozens more missing, state media said Thursday, as the country grinds through another summer of extreme weather. Confirmation of…Continue reading30 dead, dozens missing after torrential rain in central China
For the 2.3 million people who call this valley home, the dangerous elements are harder to ignore. When temperatures climb, shadeless streets are hot enough to cause second-degree burns in seconds.…Continue readingLife at 115˚F (46˚C): a sweltering summer pushes Las Vegas to the brink
Flash floods in northern and southwest China have killed at least 20 people and left dozens missing, state media said Saturday, after a week of deadly downpours across the country. Several…Continue readingFlash floods across China kill at least 20, dozens missing
“A likely harbinger of a hyperactive season” was how CSU researchers characterized Beryl, which set numerous records on the way to its Texas landfall, including the earliest category 5 hurricane, strongest…Continue readingAfter Hurricane Beryl’s destruction, climate scientists fear for what’s next
Flash flooding and landslides swept away cars and houses, with at least one person known to have died, alongside widespread damage to transport infrastructure. Unsettled conditions persisted around the Alpine region…Continue readingHeavy rain in Switzerland and Italy causes flooding
Nearly 2,000 children under five are dying every day from air pollution, which has overtaken poor sanitation and a lack of clean water to become the second biggest health risk factor…Continue readingAlmost 2,000 children die every day from air pollution, report finds
Authorities in India are investigating whether a faulty sensor may have been behind a reading that showed temperatures in Delhi soaring past 50 degrees for the first time, amid a scorching…Continue readingDelhi heatwave: officials investigating if temperature of 52.9˚C due to faulty sensor
Bangladeshi weather experts said Tuesday that a deadly cyclone that carved a swath of destruction was one of the quickest-forming and longest-lasting they’d experienced, blaming climate change for the shift. Cyclone…Continue readingDeadly Bangladesh cyclone one of longest seen
Waves wash over abandoned homes in a Mexican village slowly being swallowed by the sea—a symbol of the climate change effects being felt by the major fossil fuel producer. The school…Continue readingSubmerged homes, heat waves fuel Mexico climate angst
Hunger and disease are rising in Latin America after a year of record heat, floods and drought, a report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has shown. The continent, which is…Continue readingDisease and hunger soar in Latin America after floods and drought, study finds
The largest ever recorded leap in the amount of carbon dioxide laden in the world’s atmosphere has just occurred, according to researchers who monitor the relentless accumulation of the primary gas…Continue readingRecord-breaking increase in CO2 levels in world’s atmosphere
Hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists expect global temperatures to rise to at least 2.5˚C (4.5˚F) above preindustrial levels this century. Almost 80% of the respondents, all from the authoritative…Continue readingWorld’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5˚C target
The climate emergency is already here. Even just 1˚C of heating has supercharged the planet’s extreme weather, delivering searing heatwaves from the US to Europe to China that would have been…Continue reading‘Hopeless and broken’: why the world’s top climate scientists are in despair
Pakistan has experienced its “wettest April since 1961”, receiving more than twice as much rain as usual for the month, the country’s weather agency has said. April rainfall was recorded at…Continue readingPakistan records ‘wettest April’ in more than 60 years
Overpowering floods and mudslides caused by torrential rains are continuing to sweep southern Brazil, killing at least 56 people and forcing tens of thousands out of their homes, the government said.…Continue reading‘It’s going to be worse’: Brazil braces for more pain amid record flooding
Extreme heat has gripped much of south and south-east Asia over recent weeks, killing dozens of people, forcing millions of students to miss school and destroying crops. In Thailand, at least…Continue reading‘Inside an oven’: sweltering heat ravages crops and takes lives in south-east Asia
Europeans are suffering with unprecedented heat during the day and are stressed by uncomfortable warmth at night. The death rate from hot weather has risen 30% in Europe in two decades,…Continue readingEurope baked in ‘extreme heat stress’ pushing temperatures to record highs
From April 1 to April 5, temperatures in Mali exceeded 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) and peaked at a record 48.5˚C in the western city of Kayes. Ranked among the…Continue readingMalians struggle to cope after deadly heat wave
The deadly protracted heatwave that filled hospitals and mortuaries in the Sahel region of Africa earlier this month would have been impossible without human-caused climate disruption, a new analysis has revealed.…Continue readingLethal heatwave in Sahel worsened by fossil fuel burning
At least 65 people have died in storm-related incidents including lightning in Pakistan, officials said, with rain so far in April falling at nearly twice the historical average rate. “In April,…Continue readingLightning, downpours kill 65 in Pakistan, as April rain doubles historical average
Huge tailbacks snaked along six-lane expressways after up to 254 millimeters of rain—about two years’ worth—fell on the desert United Arab Emirates on Tuesday. The storms hit the UAE and Bahrain…Continue readingDubai reels from floods chaos after record rains
Rain used to be rare in most parts of the Arctic: the polar regions were, and still are, usually too cold and dry for clouds to form and absorb moisture. When…Continue readingRain Comes to the Arctic, With a Cascade of Troubling Changes
The temperature was minus 45 degrees F when Uuganaa, a 27-year-old nomad with a wife and two children, woke to the howling winds outside his “ger,” a felt-covered traditional Mongolian dwelling.…Continue readingIn Mongolia, a Killer Winter Is Ravaging Herds and a Way of Life
Dozens of koalas have been killed or injured and left for dead during logging of blue gum plantations in South Australia, according to former employees of the harvesting company and a…Continue readingDozens of koalas allegedly killed or injured during plantation logging on Kangaroo Island
Chile began two days of national mourning Monday for at least 122 victims of a raging wildfire, as the search continued for the missing and survivors picked through the scorched remains…Continue readingChile mourns 122 killed in wildfire inferno, searches for missing
The vast amount of electricity that India’s growing number of ACs will require presents a significant challenge. Already during peak summertime hours, ACs have accounted for 40% to 60% of total…Continue reading‘A matter of survival’: India’s unstoppable need for air conditioners
More than two million people across the Horn of Africa have been forced from their homes by torrential rains and floods, according to an AFP tally compiled Thursday from government and…Continue readingHorn of Africa floods displace more than two million
Cyclone Freddy lasted a record 38 days. The storm barrelled 5,000 miles across the Indian Ocean, pummelling Madagascar and Reunion before striking the African mainland. It swirled over southern Mozambique and…Continue readingAfter the Storm, Malawi’s Farmers Face a Precarious Future
Heat waves have always been part of summer, but the familiar short periods of oppressive conditions have grown into weeks to months of sweltering heat. Research has shown that heat waves…Continue readingHere are the places that could become too hot for humans due to climate change
Straight line winds result when rain and hail at high altitudes evaporate and cool the ambient air, which then plummets and, at the surface, spawns intense winds that rush outward. Climate…Continue readingDamaging thunderstorm winds rising in central US: Research finds five-fold increase
In the wake of the destructive Hurricane Otis, we find ourselves at a pivotal moment in the history of weather forecasting. The hurricane roared ashore with 165mph (266kph) winds and torrential…Continue readingExtreme weather is outpacing even the worst-case scenarios of our forecasting models