Last month, Parisians voted in a referendum to turn an additional 500 streets over to pedestrians. A year earlier, Paris had moved to sharply increase parking fees for SUVs, forcing drivers…Continue readingParis said au revoir to cars. Air pollution maps reveal a dramatic change.
Tag: health
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
A National Science and Technology Council and Ministry of Environment report projected that Taiwan could stop experiencing winters by 2060 due to climate change. Taiwan summers could extend to over 150…Continue readingClimate change could erase winters in Taiwan by 2060
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
The pollution of the planet by microplastics is significantly cutting food supplies by damaging the ability of plants to photosynthesise, according to a new assessment. The analysis estimates that between 4%…Continue readingMicroplastics hinder plant photosynthesis, study finds, threatening millions with starvation
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
Nearly every country on Earth has dirtier air than doctors recommend breathing, a report has found. Only seven countries met the World Health Organization’s guidelines for tiny toxic particles known as…Continue readingOnly seven countries worldwide meet WHO dirty air guidelines, study shows
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
Water is vital to a city’s growth and stability and is the backbone to healthy societies. But the threat of too much or too little water puts everything at risk. Right…Continue readingWater and climate: Rising risks for urban populations
The first section of London’s Ulez scheme was launched in 2019 in the central part of the city. The zone was expanded across inner London boroughs in 2021 and enlarged again…Continue readingDramatic fall in London’s levels of deadly pollutants after Ulez expansion
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
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
Air pollution in the Thai capital forced more than 350 schools to close on Friday, city authorities said, the highest number in five years. Air pollution hits the Southeast Asian nation…Continue readingBangkok air pollution forces 352 schools to close
Huge volumes of sewage sludge, also known as biosolids but which is essentially human excrement and industrial waste, are spread on UK fields every year. It is regulated by the Environment…Continue readingUK farmland being contaminated by ‘forever chemicals’ linked to cancers
The multibillion-dollar chemicals company 3M told customers its firefighting foams were harmless and biodegradable when it knew they contained toxic substances so persistent they are now known as “forever chemicals” and…Continue reading3M knew firefighting foams containing PFAS were toxic, documents show
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
The Air Quality Index (AQI) is a measure of pollution in the air, with higher numbers indicating greater health risks. Levels above 300 are considered dangerous. “Stuff I could never even…Continue reading‘Trapped inside’: The children suffocating in the smog of Lahore
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
The research, involving more than 200,000 people in Scotland, found an increase in exposure to nitrogen dioxide in particular was associated with a higher number of people being admitted to hospital…Continue readingPollution exposure linked to mental health hospital admissions
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
Some A$13 billion in taxpayer dollars and 30 years of policy reform have failed to arrest the devastating decline in the health of Australia’s most important river system, the Murray-Darling Basin,…Continue readingLandmark study reveals stark failure to halt Murray-Darling River decline
Land degradation is expanding worldwide at the rate of 1m sq km every year, undermining efforts to stabilise the climate, protect nature and ensure sustainable food supplies, a study has highlighted.…Continue readingLand degradation expanding by 1m sq km a year, study shows
Between 2000 and 2019, annual production of plastics doubled to 460 million tons. It is expected to reach 736 million tons by 2040, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and…Continue readingWhy is a global treaty on plastic pollution dividing the world?
BUSAN, South Korea — Global talks to forge a landmark treaty aimed at reducing plastic pollution broke down after negotiators from more than 170 countries remained deadlocked over how to curb…Continue readingDivided over whether to stop making plastic, U.N. treaty talks collapse
Every year, billions of vehicles worldwide shed an estimated 6 million tons of tire fragments. These tiny flakes of plastic, generated by the wear and tear of normal driving, eventually accumulate…Continue readingCar tires shed a quarter of all microplastics in the environment. Urgent action is needed
Australia’s richest person has won community backing to open a coal mine in Canada following a bitter five-year battle punctuated by allegations that the fossil fuel lobby secretly backed citizens’ groups…Continue readingAustralia’s richest woman wins vote for controversial Canadian coal mine
PFAS are a class of about 15,000 compounds typically used to make products that resist water, stains and heat. They are called “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down…Continue readingPFAS and microplastics become more toxic when combined, research shows
The world will be “unable to cope” with the sheer volume of plastic waste a decade from now unless countries agree to curbs on production, the co-chair of a coalition of…Continue readingWorld will be ‘unable to cope’ with volume of plastic waste in 10 years, warns expert
The fact that plastics pollute the environment and generate problems has been well-researched in many areas. However, there is little information on the impacts of plastics on climate and biodiversity. In…Continue readingPlastics contribute to ‘triple planetary crisis’ impacts
There are two main types of microplastics. One is primary microplastics, which are small to begin with, like the microbeads sometimes added to personal care products. Then there are secondary microplastics:…Continue readingExperts study where microplastics are winding up—and what risks they pose
A new study led by an international team of scientists highlights tire particles (TPs) as the leading contributor to microplastics and calls for urgent, targeted research to address their unique environmental…Continue readingResearchers call for recognition of tire particles as a distinct environmental threat
Residents of India’s capital New Delhi choked in a blanketing toxic smog Wednesday as worsening air pollution surged past 50 times the World Health Organization’s recommended daily maximum. Many in the…Continue readingToxic smog smothering India’s capital smashes WHO limit
Punjab with a population of 127 million has been struggling to combat smog since last month. “Over 1.8 million people visited hospitals and private clinics in the smog-hit districts in Punjab…Continue readingGrowing pollution in Pakistan has sickened 1.8M people in a month
“We’ve broken the water cycle, destroyed ecosystems and contaminated groundwater,” Antonio Guterres said at the three-day summit in New York, which gathers some 6,500 participants including a dozen heads of state…Continue readingHumanity has ‘broken the water cycle,’ UN chief warns
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?
Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe have all declared a state of national disaster in the past months as the drought has destroyed crops and livestock. Angola and Mozambique are also…Continue readingWorst drought in century devastates Southern Africa with millions at risk
Only about one-third of Europe’s surface water is in good health or better, a report has found, despite an EU target first set for 2015 to bring all bodies of water…Continue readingOnly one-third of Europe’s surface water qualifies as good or better
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
A year ago, Carlos Nobre, one of Brazil’s top climate scientists, was a rare voice of optimism about the future of the planet. The 73-year-old, one of the top experts on…Continue readingFires taking Amazon closer to ‘point of no return’: Expert
With as much as 80% of Brazil under a blanket of smoke from historic wild fires, face masks last used during the coronavirus pandemic are coming out again. South America’s biggest…Continue readingBrazilians choke as fire smoke blankets 80% of country
Climate change is dramatically reshaping life in Pacific Island nations, leaving them ever more vulnerable to storm surges, saltwater contamination, ruined crops, and relentless coastal erosion. “Every day it’s a constant…Continue readingStay or go? Pacific Islanders face climate’s grim choice
Colombian authorities said Sunday they were fighting forest fires across seven departments, as a scorching drought fanned blazes across Latin America. From Ecuador to Brazil, many Latin American nations are gripped…Continue readingColombia battles fires as drought fuels Latin American flames
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
Microplastics are widespread, accumulating in the remotest parts of our planet. There is evidence of their toxic effects at every level of biological organization, from tiny insects at the bottom of…Continue readingScientists reviewed 7,000 studies on microplastics. Their alarming conclusion puts humanity on notice.
More than 3,600 chemicals used in food packaging or preparation have been detected in human bodies, some of which are hazardous to health, while little is known about others, a study…Continue readingMore than 3,600 food packaging chemicals found in human bodies
Plastic pollution is a major problem in Nigeria. Recent research identified the country as a plastic pollution hotspot, second to India. India emits 9.3 million tons of plastic into the environment…Continue readingNigeria is the world’s second biggest plastic polluter
Microplastic particles turned up in the vast majority of waste samples taken from Hong Kong wildlife in a Greenpeace study, the group said Monday, suggesting that animals still ingest plastics even…Continue readingGreenpeace sounds alarm on microplastics ingested by Hong Kong wildlife
The world creates 57 million tons of plastic pollution every year and spreads it from the deepest oceans to the highest mountaintop to the inside of people’s bodies, according to a…Continue readingHumans are pumping out 57 million tons of plastic pollution a year
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
A world where global mean surface temperature has increased 3°C will be characterized by widespread and intense heat stress, extreme weather events, ruptured and unproductive marine and terrestrial ecosystems, broken food…Continue readingEarth at risk: An urgent call to end the age of destruction and forge a just & sustainable future
Minister of Transport Eamon Ryan today welcomed the publication of the new National Cycle Network (NCN) plan which sets out how Ireland will be criss-crossed with 3,500 km of safe, high…Continue readingNational Cycling Network will see 3,500km of safe bike corridors, connecting 2.8 million people in cities and towns
Wild boar in a European national park have been found to contain levels of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” nearly five-times higher than is allowed to be sold in meat for human…Continue readingNational park wild boar contain five-times more toxic PFAS than humans allowed to eat, study finds
An 80% reduction in sulfur dioxide shipping emissions observed in early 2020 could be associated with substantial atmospheric warming over some ocean regions, according to a modeling study published in Communications…Continue readingReduced sulfur content in shipping fuel associated with increased maritime atmospheric warming
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
Microplastics have been found in human testicles, with researchers saying the discovery might be linked to declining sperm counts in men. The scientists tested 23 human testes, as well as 47…Continue readingMicroplastics found in every human testicle in study
The study, published April 24 in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, builds on existing data models estimating how much microplastic humans unwittingly eat and inhale as a result of untreated…Continue readingStudy maps human uptake of microplastics across 109 countries
Dozens of rivers and streams in Alaska are turning rusty orange, a likely consequence of thawing permafrost, a new study finds. The Arctic is the fastest-warming region in the globe, and…Continue readingWarming climate is turning rivers rusty with toxic metals
Delhi city officials asked schools to shut with “immediate effect” due to the blistering heat, according to a government order quoted by the Hindustan Times Tuesday, cutting short the term by…Continue readingIndia shuts schools as temperatures soar
The air quality in San Pedro Sula, the second-largest city in Honduras, as been classified as the most polluted on the American continent due to forest fires and weather conditions aggravated…Continue readingHonduran city’s air pollution is almost 50 times higher than WHO guidelines
An international agreement to end plastic pollution is due to be sealed this year in Busan, South Korea. At the penultimate round of negotiations, held in Ottawa, Canada, Rwanda and Peru…Continue readingA global plastic treaty will only work if it caps production, modeling shows
Nanoplastics are a type of microplastic, distinguished by their extremely small size. Microplastics are usually less than 5 millimeters across; nanoplastics are between 1 and 1,000 nanometers across. For comparison, an…Continue readingWhat are nanoplastics? An engineer explains concerns about particles too small to see
This week, the fourth round of treaty talks by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution concluded in Ottawa, Canada. A major bone of contention between negotiators from 175 countries is…Continue readingInvisible plastic: Why banning plastic bags will never be enough
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
For decades, concerns about automobile pollution have focused on what comes out of the tailpipe. Now, researchers and regulators say, we need to pay more attention to toxic emissions from tires…Continue readingTire toxicity faces fresh scrutiny after salmon die-offs
The UK faces food shortages and price rises as extreme weather linked to climate breakdown causes low yields on farms locally and abroad. Record rainfall has meant farmers in many parts…Continue readingUK facing food shortages and price rises after extreme weather
Hundreds of Thai children strain to sing the national anthem, reedy voices and fragile lungs competing against eight lanes of belching traffic next to their school’s open atrium in central Bangkok.…Continue readingSmog and sick kids: Thai pupils endure air pollution
Vietnamese capital Hanoi was blanketed by a thick haze of pollution on Tuesday that obscured high-rise buildings and left the city’s nearly nine million people breathing toxic air. The city topped…Continue readingHanoi chokes as Vietnam capital tops most polluted cities list
The world generated 2.3 billion tonnes of municipal waste last year and the pile of trash is set to grow another two-thirds by 2050, the UN said Wednesday, warning of devastating…Continue readingWorld must act to stem surge of polluting trash, UN warns
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/FFS5AELJ2BP7LEX4NL7YNB44DA.jpg "Bangkok says work from home as pollution blankets city")
Bangkok city employees have been told to work from home to avoid harmful air pollution, as a layer of noxious haze blanketed the Thai capital on Thursday. City authorities asked for…Continue readingBangkok says work from home as pollution blankets city
The European Drought Observatory’s map of current droughts in Europe shows the entire Spanish Mediterranean coast in bad shape, with red areas indicating an alert similar to those in north Africa…Continue readingWhat will Spain look like when it runs out of water? Barcelona is giving us a glimpse
Fipronil and imidacloprid are highly toxic pesticides that are no longer approved for use in outdoor agriculture, but continue to be widely used in pet flea treatments, typically applied to the…Continue readingHandwashing is a major source of pet pesticide pollution in UK rivers
Located in West Bengal state in eastern India and neighbouring Bangladesh, the Sundarbans forest system is a cluster of low-lying islands and represents the largest mangrove ecosystem in the world. It…Continue readingThe Sundarbans dilemma: Islands swallowed by water, and nowhere else to go
Despite strict EU regulations on plastic recycling, there is little oversight on plastic waste shipped from the EU to Vietnam. About half of Europe’s plastic waste is exported to a number…Continue readingA large percentage of European plastic sent to Vietnam ends up in nature
The climate crisis turned the drought that struck the Amazon rainforest in 2023 into a devastating event, a study has found. The drought was the worst recorded in many places and…Continue readingDevastating drought in Amazon result of climate crisis
Rainfall has been lower than the average in Catalonia for the past three years, with the drought lasting more than twice as long as the previous dry spell of 2008, the…Continue readingHeavens remain shut over Catalonia as three-year drought persists
“Chronic arsenic poisoning from drinking water … is a real problem, not a theoretical exercise,” said the lead researcher, Dr Seth Frisbie, an emeritus professor of chemistry at Norwich University, in…Continue readingClimate crisis to increase cancer risk for tens of millions of people in Bangladesh
In recent years, there has been rising concern that tiny particles known as microplastics are showing up basically everywhere on Earth, from polar ice to soil, drinking water and food. Formed…Continue readingBottled water can contain hundreds of thousands of previously uncounted tiny plastic bits
A research study for the Bureau of Transportation Statistics focused on the number of daily trips taken in the United States. In 2021, 52% of all trips, including all modes of…Continue readingMore than Half of all Daily Trips in US Were Less than Three Miles in 2021
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
A new investigation by human rights experts appointed by the United Nations has expressed alarm at evidence of pollution from a North Carolina PFAS manufacturing plant, describing it as “alleged human…Continue readingUN human rights experts express alarm over PFAS pollution in North Carolina
Potentially toxic “forever chemicals” have been detected in the drinking water sources at 17 of 18 England’s water companies, with 11,853 samples testing positive, something experts say they are “extremely alarmed”…Continue reading‘Forever chemicals’ found in drinking water sources across England
Nearly half of the whales and dolphins found in UK waters over the past five years contained harmful concentrations of toxic chemicals banned decades ago, an investigation has found. Among orcas…Continue readingLevels of toxic PCB chemicals found at 30 times ‘safe’ limits in stranded whales