Scientists say human activity has so fundamentally altered the geology, atmosphere and biology of the earth that it has entered a new geologic epoch known as the Anthropocene. On Tuesday, members…Continue readingEvidence in Canada lake indicates start of new Anthropocene epoch
Tag: impact
At least 50 people, including eight children, have been killed by floods and landslides triggered by monsoon rains that have lashed Pakistan since last month, officials said Friday. The summer monsoon…Continue readingAt least 50 dead in Pakistan monsoon floods
With nine million hectares (22.2 million acres) already gone up in smoke—11 times the average for the last decade—the absolute annual record set in 1989 has been surpassed. Authorities tallied 677…Continue readingWildfires ‘off the charts’ in Canada as temperatures climb
A team of civil engineers, climate scientists and bioresource engineers has found that the number of people in the U.S. exposed to wildfires has doubled over the past 20 years. They…Continue readingStudy shows number of people in US exposed to wildfires over past 20 years has doubled
Extreme heat is fast becoming a public health crisis in India, with more than 150 people dying during the latest brutal heat wave in June. Prolonged heat waves, sometimes classified as…Continue readingIn rural India, summer’s heat can be deadly. Ambulance crews see the toll up close.
As of Wednesday, more than eight million hectares (20 million acres) of forests and grasslands had burned across Canada, breaking an annual record of 7.3 million hectares set in 1989. And…Continue readingCanada wildfire smoke chokes millions in North America
At least 13 people have died from the extreme heat wave that has been tormenting the southern United States for two weeks. In recent days, temperatures in some southern US cities…Continue readingAt least 13 die in extreme heat wave in US
More than 2,000 people suffered heat stress during the hajj pilgrimage, Saudi officials said on Thursday, after temperatures soared to 48˚C (118˚F). Over 1.8 million Muslim worshippers performed the days-long hajj,…Continue readingThousands suffer heat stress on hajj pilgrimage as temperatures reach 48˚C
Experts say the drought in the central U.S. is the worst since at least 2012, and in some areas, is drawing comparisons to the 1988 drought that devastated corn, wheat and…Continue readingCentral US is now getting worst of the drought. Corn crops are stressed, rivers are running low
France is being badly hit by climate change, is not prepared for its effects and is failing to sufficiently reduce its emissions, an independent climate body warned. The record heat and…Continue readingFrance badly hit by climate change and ill-prepared
Earth lost an area of carbon-absorbing rainforest larger than Switzerland or the Netherlands in 2022, most of it destroyed to make way for cattle and commodity crops. That is nearly a…Continue readingFootball pitch of tropical forest lost every 5 seconds
After an estimated 20 elephant deaths and countless other wild animals perishing due to single-use plastics in the past decade, officials say a law banning many such items is expected to…Continue readingJumbo problem: Sri Lanka’s battle with plastic pollution
Much of the ice lost in 2022 had been present since 2000, when high-quality records began. If this trend persists, the consequences for the climate and for Southern Ocean ecosystems could…Continue readingFractured foundations: How Antarctica’s ‘landfast’ ice is dwindling and why that’s bad news
Antarctic sea ice reached a record low for the month of June, increasing calls from scientists to intensify research and monitoring of the Earth’s polar ice caps. Since 2016, Antarctic sea…Continue readingRecord low Antarctic sea ice levels worry scientists
China issued its highest-level heat alert for northern parts of the country on Friday as the capital baked in temperatures hovering around 40˚C (104˚F). A day earlier Beijing logged its hottest…Continue readingBeijing issues highest heat alert as north China swelters
The French government is to shut down a climate protest group over a series of recent demonstrations citing risks to public safety, as the environmental activists called the decision “political and…Continue readingFrance to shut down climate protest group citing public safety risks
This year’s spring wildfire season has been the worst on record in Canada, with more than 5m hectares of land burned – a figure higher than the entire 2016, 2019, 2020…Continue readingCanada’s fires are getting fiercer – and rebuilding is becoming a challenge
All articles sourced from the Adelaide Advertiser, dated May 19, 2023.Continue readingNews Corp endorses the Australian gas industry
Ecowende is going to build a wind farm that will be in harmony with nature, with minimal impact on birds, bats and marine mammals, and with a thriving underwater world. Ecowende’s…Continue readingWind farms currently degrading nature
Twenty-three deaths were reported on Thursday and another 11 died on Friday, Ballia’s Chief Medical Officer Jayant Kumar said. “All the individuals were suffering from some ailments and their conditions worsened…Continue readingDozens die as northern India swelters under heatwave
After a series of heatwaves, including a record high in May, and an unprecedented drought, rivers and reservoirs in northern Vietnam are running dry, pulling locals who survive off the water…Continue reading‘There is nothing for me’: Vietnam drought dries up income
Temperatures in Beijing hit a record for mid-June of 39.4 degrees Celsius (103 Fahrenheit) on Friday, China’s meteorological authority said, warning the public to stay indoors. More than two million square…Continue readingBeijing roasts in record mid-June temperatures
The Australian federal environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has approved habitat clearing for a defence housing development in Darwin despite acknowledging there is a significant risk for what has been described as…Continue readingTanya Plibersek approves habitat clearing in Darwin despite risk to endangered bird
Trillions of dollars of subsidies for fossil fuels, farming and fishing are causing “environmental havoc”, according to the World Bank, severely harming people and the planet. The “toxic” subsidies total at…Continue readingVast fossil fuel and farming subsidies causing ‘environmental havoc’
The slow-down of the Southern Ocean circulation, a dramatic drop in the extent of sea ice and unprecedented heatwaves are all raising concerns that Antarctica may be approaching tipping points. The…Continue readingAntarctic tipping points: The irreversible changes to come if we fail to keep warming below 2˚C
The Arctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer by the 2030s, even if we do a good job of reducing emissions between now and then. That’s the worrying conclusion of a…Continue readingArctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer by 2030s, with global, damaging and dangerous consequences
Environmental groups are suing the US Environmental Protection Agency over pesticide-coated seeds they say have “devastating environmental impacts” and are spread largely without regulatory oversight. The suit alleges the neonicotinoid seeds…Continue readingEPA sued over pesticide-coated seeds’ ‘devastating impacts’ on US wildlife
Norway’s government is readying plans to open an area of ocean nearly the size of Germany to deep-sea mining as it seeks to become the first country to extract battery metals…Continue readingNorway seeks to open vast ocean area to deep-sea mining
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/VFHHDLGJVZPEVM24E2JZI4HZFA.jpg "Canada’s wildfires are part of our new climate reality, experts and officials say")
The country has already seen 1,400% of the normal amount of land burned for this time of year. More than 400 blazes were burning across Canada on Wednesday, following an unprecedentedly…Continue readingCanada’s wildfires are part of our new climate reality, experts and officials say
Temperatures in the South Asian nation’s capital of Dhaka have surged to around 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), with the poor bearing the brunt of the blazing sun. A study…Continue readingBangladesh shuts schools, cuts power in longest heatwave in decades
United Nations climate chief says while the rapid end of burning coal, oil, and natural gas is urgently needed, the topic may not even reach crucial COP28 negotiations.Continue readingWill fossil fuel phase-out make it onto the UN’s climate agenda?
It is now too late to save summer Arctic sea ice. The study also shows that if emissions decline slowly or continue to rise, the first ice-free summer could be in…Continue readingToo late now to save Arctic summer ice, climate scientists find
Concentrations of plastics in round-the-world race through remote ocean environments found to be up to 18 times higher than during previous event in 2017-18.Continue readingMicroplastics found in every sample of water taken during Ocean Race
To help extract oil, companies pump large quantities of water into the ground. For each barrel of oil, many of which are later exported to Europe, up to three barrels of…Continue readingIraq’s oil boom blamed for worsening water crisis in drought-hit south
Approximately 10,000 people have been ordered to leave a coastal city in the Canadian province of Quebec, marking the latest evacuation amid weeks of wildfires across the country. Bill Blair, the…Continue readingCanada wildfires spread to new areas, prompting more evacuations
More than 800m trees have been cut down in the Amazon rainforest in just six years to feed the world’s appetite for Brazilian beef, according to a new investigation, despite dire…Continue readingMore than 800m Amazon trees felled in six years to meet beef demand
Japan experienced its warmest spring on record this year, the national weather agency said Thursday, as greenhouse gasses and El Nino send temperatures soaring worldwide. Temperatures across March, April and May…Continue readingJapan reports warmest spring on record
Despite projections that the ozone layer would fully recover by mid-century, researchers found rising UV radiation levels in the tropics and northern mid-latitudes after 2010, posing risks to human health and…Continue readingOzone layer recovery delayed, surface UV radiation continues to rise, finds study
Parks in the city of eight million people are now plunged into total darkness after 11 pm, while two-thirds of street lights are also switched off at the same hour. In…Continue readingHeatwave prompts Hanoi to reduce street lights as power cuts loom
The temperature at the bustling station climbed to 36.7˚C later in the afternoon, Shanghai’s meteorological service said. Parts of India saw temperatures reach 44˚C (111˚F) in mid-April with at least 11…Continue readingShanghai records hottest day in May in 100 years
“Our data show the impacts of climate change are running ahead of schedule,” said lead author Kathryn Gunn, of the Australian Science agency CSIRO and Britain’s Southampton University. The implications could…Continue readingDangerous slowing of Antarctic ocean circulation sooner than expected
Analysis shows area includes 9,000 hectares where there was already active logging as pressure grows on government to end practice.Continue readingMore than 40,000 hectares of nationally vital koala habitat marked for potential logging in NSW
We found melting of Antarctic ice is disrupting the formation of Antarctic bottom water. The meltwater makes Antarctic surface waters fresher, less dense, and therefore less likely to sink. This puts…Continue readingAntarctic alarm bells: Observations reveal deep ocean currents are slowing earlier than predicted
The researchers were able to identify the country of origin for 232 objects, with the largest percentage being from Japan at 33.6%. China was next at 32.3% followed by South Korea…Continue readingMore than 90% of identifiable trash in North Pacific Garbage Patch comes from just six countries
Rapid economic growth, urbanisation and changing lifestyles in communist Vietnam have led to a “plastic pollution crisis”, according to the World Bank. A report in 2022 estimated 3.1 million tonnes of…Continue readingVietnam battles plastic blight in idyllic Ha Long Bay
It is the first time the previously unknown biodiversity of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), a mineral-rich area of the ocean floor that spans 1.7m sq miles between Hawaii and Mexico in…Continue readingMore than 5,000 new species discovered in Pacific deep-sea mining hotspot
A new study found that the feces of four primate species living in Uganda’s Kibale National Park, including chimpanzees and red colobus monkeys, contained significant levels of pesticides and flame retardants.…Continue readingEndangered chimpanzees contaminated with pesticides and flame retardants
Since the 1950s about 8bn tonnes of plastic has been produced. The Greenpeace report catalogues peer-reviewed research and international studies showing not only that just a tiny proportion (9%) of plastics…Continue readingRecycled plastic can be more toxic and is no fix for pollution, Greenpeace warns
Of 1,006 river and lake sites with data, 814 were found to have these toxic mixtures, according to analysis of data collected by the government’s Environment Agency. The data analysis, by…Continue readingChemical cocktails harmful to wildlife found in 81% of English rivers and lakes
Seventeen species that were once commonly found in pastures and meadows across 22 countries, including the small copper, common blue and meadow brown, declined by 36% on average between 2011 and…Continue readingEurope’s grassland butterfly population down more than a third in 10 years
Residents have watched ruefully for years as solar plants crept over the horizon, bringing noise and pollution that’s eroding a way of life in their desert refuge. Kevin Emmerich worked for…Continue readingHow solar farms took over the California desert: ‘An oasis has become a dead sea’
Micro and nanoplastics are pervasive in our food supply and may be affecting food safety and security on a global scale, a new study led by CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency,…Continue readingPlastic pervasive in food supply, says new study
There is a paradox at the heart of our changing climate. While the blanket of air close to the Earth’s surface is warming, most of the atmosphere above is becoming dramatically…Continue readingThe Upper Atmosphere Is Cooling, Prompting New Climate Concerns
Experts say extreme weather events are happening with increased frequency and intensity due to climate change—and Africa, which contributes the least to global warming, is bearing the brunt.Continue readingFlooding in Somalia displaces 200,000 people: official
50 researchers, 40 years, 28 countries, 550 million fewer birds.Continue readingIntensive farming is biggest cause of bird decline in Europe, study says
Earlier this year, researchers found that summertime fires in boreal forests had expanded since 2000, and contributed close to a quarter of total carbon emissions from wildfires in 2021, releasing a…Continue readingWildfires in forests of Canada and Russia put climate scientists on alert
Researchers complain that the oxygen problem doesn’t get the attention it deserves, with ocean acidification and warming grabbing the bulk of both news headlines and academic research. Just this April, for…Continue readingAs Ocean Oxygen Levels Dip, Fish Face an Uncertain Future
AR events impacted the country 596 times, 95% of which occurred during a monsoon season. They also found that 54% of the biggest AR events occurred over the past three decades,…Continue readingStudy shows warming planet is leading to an increase in ‘atmospheric river’-associated flooding in India
Diana Stralberg, a researcher in Edmonton for the Canadian Forest Service, explained that human-caused climate change is making the fire season longer and causing “extreme fire weather conditions” to occur more…Continue reading‘Perfect storm’ of heat, dryness fuel western Canada’s extreme wildfires
By most accounts, plastic recycling efforts have been a resounding failure. Prior research has shown that only 9% of plastic worldwide is recycled—in the U.S., it is only 5%. This is…Continue readingRecycling plastics might be making things worse
“The human fingerprints in temperature changes in the mid to upper stratosphere due to CO2 increases are truly exceptional because they are so large and so different from temperature changes there…Continue readingAtmospheric research provides clear evidence of human-caused climate change signal associated with CO₂ increases
“These ice-ocean interactions make the glaciers more sensitive to ocean warming,” said senior co-author Eric Rignot, UCI professor of Earth system science and NASA JPL research scientist. “These dynamics are not…Continue readingResearchers discover a cause of rapid ice melting in Greenland
The drought that has left some 4.35 million people in the Horn of Africa in dire need of humanitarian aid – with 43,000 in Somalia estimated to have died last year…Continue readingGlobal warming made Horn of Africa drought possible: WWA study
Life in the ocean’s “twilight zone” could decline dramatically due to climate change, new research suggests. The twilight zone (200m to 1,000m deep) gets very little light but is home to…Continue readingTwilight zone at risk from climate change
Large swathes of the world’s oceans are warm. Unusually warm. The heat this year is likely to break records. Since mid-March, the global average sea surface temperature is over 21℃—the highest…Continue readingIn hot water: here’s why ocean temperatures are the hottest on record
The ferocious temperatures, which have persisted across parts of Asia for more than a week, amounted to the “worst April heatwave in Asian history ongoing in more than a dozen countries”.Continue readingAsia’s prolonged April heatwave concerns scientists
About 2.4 million people in Thailand have sought hospital treatment for medical problems linked to air pollution since the start of the year, health officials said, as toxic smog chokes parts…Continue readingThailand air pollution leads millions to seek medical help
The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are now losing more than three times as much ice a year as they were 30 years ago, according to a new comprehensive international study.…Continue reading‘Devastating’ melt of Greenland, Antarctic ice sheets found
We analyzed fire danger trends in different elevation bands of the Western U.S. mountains from 1979 to 2020. Fire danger describes conditions that reflect the potential for a fire to ignite…Continue readingFire danger in the high mountains is intensifying, shows study of four decades of data
Extreme temperatures described as ‘worst April heatwave in Asian history’ as records threatened in India, China, Thailand and Laos.Continue readingSevere heatwave engulfs Asia causing deaths and forcing schools to close
Six months without notable cold spell was ‘amazing’ given record rainfall during same period, Bureau of Meteorology says.Continue readingCentury-old Sydney weather record broken with 184 days of 20˚C or higher
In 2022 the summer minimum was less than 2 million square km for the first time since satellite records began. This summer, the minimum was even lower—just 1.7 million square km.Continue readingAntarctica’s heart of ice has skipped a beat: Science briefing calls for action
The groundbreaking modeling study published by Australian and American researchers at the end of March for the first time includes a detailed assessment of the likely impact of melting ice, revealing…Continue readingNew Research Sparks Concerns That Ocean Circulation Will Collapse
The world’s glaciers melted at dramatic speed last year and saving them is effectively a lost cause, the United Nations reported Friday, as climate change indicators once again hit record highs.…Continue readingUN reports ‘off the charts’ melting of glaciers
The United States is Earth’s punching bag for nasty weather. Blame geography for the U.S. getting hit by stronger, costlier, more varied and frequent extreme weather than anywhere on the planet,…Continue reading“Buckle up. More extreme events are expected,” says head of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The race for high-tech metals has sparked a cobalt boom in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that has come at a steep human cost. In an e360 interview, author Siddharth…Continue readingFor Your Phone and EV, a Cobalt Supply Chain to a Hell on Earth
New research by Australian scientists suggests 40% slowdown in just three decades could alter world’s climate for centuries.Continue readingMelting Antarctic ice predicted to cause rapid slowdown of deep ocean current by 2050
More than 100,000 hectares burned in MacDonnell Ranges area, which has been declared a federal priority for threatened species conservation.Continue readingEnvironmental ‘tragedy’ as fires burn through one-fifth of Northern Territory national park in Australia
First analysis of plastics’ hazards over life cycle – from extraction to disposal – also shows ‘deep societal injustices’ of impact.Continue readingPlastics cause wide-ranging health issues from cancer to birth defects, landmark study finds
The fight for a healthy Darling-Baaka River is becoming a ‘recurring nightmare’ for the communities that depend on it.Continue readingAt Menindee, NSW, Australia, the lifeblood of the people has turned to bitter sludge
Ecologists say some bodies of water may already have passed the tipping points from which they may never recover.Continue reading‘Like you’re in a horror movie’: pollution leaves New Zealand wetlands irreversibly damaged
Report says 435,000 hectares have been degraded through logging since 2000, affecting 244 threatened species.Continue readingMore than half NSW forests lost since 1750 and logging ‘locking in’ species extinction, study finds
“If nothing is done, it will be a business-as-usual scenario—it will keep on being between 40 percent and 50 percent of the population of the world that does not have access…Continue reading‘Vampiric’ water use leading to ‘imminent’ global crisis, UN warns
Four straight years of flooding, an unprecedented phenomenon linked to climate change, has swamped two-thirds of South Sudan but nowhere more dramatically than Bentiu, a northern city besieged by water. One…Continue reading‘Uncharted territory’: South Sudan’s four years of flooding