Sweden’s recycling centers are overflowing with clothes after an EU-wide ban this year on throwing away textiles, leaving overwhelmed municipalities eager to have fast fashion giants take responsibility. The aim is…Continue readingSweden drowns in discarded fast fashion items
Tag: water supply
Morocco is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on tapping northern rivers to supply water to parched cities farther south but experts question the sustainability of the project in the face…Continue readingMorocco ‘water highway’ averts crisis in big cities but doubts over sustainability
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
An area of land nearly a third larger than India has turned from humid conditions to dryland in the past three decades. Drylands are areas where 90% of the rainfall is…Continue readingDrylands now make up 40% of land on Earth, excluding Antarctica
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
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
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
Donald Trump’s nomination for energy secretary has connections to fracking operations for gas in the Beetaloo basin in the Northern Territory. Chris Wright is the chief executive of Liberty Energy, a…Continue readingTrump’s new energy tsar linked to fracking in Australia’s Beetaloo basin
Every US state except Alaska and Kentucky is facing drought, an unprecedented number, according to the US Drought Monitor. A little more than 45% of the US and Puerto Rico is…Continue readingNearly all of US states are facing droughts, an unprecedented number
“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
A distinguished international team of scientists on Tuesday issued the starkest warning yet that human activity is pushing Earth into a climate crisis that could threaten the lives of up to…Continue reading‘We Are Afraid’: Scientists Issue New Warning As World Enters ‘Uncharted Climate Territory’
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
In July 2024, global temperatures reached unprecedented levels, breaking historical records with an average of 17.16°C. This extreme heat has led soil water to evaporate, leaving the vegetation and biodiversity more…Continue readingGlobal drought threatens food supplies and energy production
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
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.
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
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
A crushing drought in Sicily has withered fields of grain, deprived livestock of pasture land and fanned a spate of wildfires, causing damage already estimated at 2.7 billion euros this year.…Continue readingDrought in Sicily threatens grain fields, animal herds
Thunderstorms and torrential rain brought another wave of violent floods Tuesday that caved in roads, crushed vehicles, pushed homes off their foundations and led to dramatic boat rescues in north-eastern Vermont,…Continue reading‘Apocalyptic’ floods in Vermont destroy homes as two dozen rescued by boat
Last week, a strong typhoon left a trail of destruction across the Philippines, Taiwan and China. Super Typhoon Gaemi began as a tropical storm but intensified rapidly, leaving at least 65…Continue readingManila is reeling after a super typhoon—we must prepare fast-growing megacities for worsening disasters
Nickel has upended life on the Indonesian islands of Sulawesi, Halmahera and Obi. Over a decade the region has gone from modest ore exporter to the world’s foremost refiner of the…Continue readingCheap coal, cheap workers, Chinese money: Indonesia’s nickel success comes at a price
Deforestation at one of Indonesia’s largest nickel processing hubs is threatening an Indigenous group that is among the country’s last uncontacted tribes, rights groups allege. Deforestation is a longstanding problem in…Continue readingNickel hub ‘apocalyptic’ for uncontacted Indonesia tribe, say NGOs
Government scientists say rising seas driven by climate change are drowning Bangladesh’s densely populated coast at one of the fastest global rates, and at least a million people on the coast…Continue readingSea swamps Bangladesh at one of world’s fastest rates
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
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
Dr Stuart Rowland, a retired principal research scientist who worked for NSW Fisheries for 36 years and remains a mentor to scientists in the agency, says there is a conflict within…Continue reading‘The river has been destroyed’: expert says agriculture has overshadowed science in the Murray-Darling Basin
A blanket of smog covers Milan, empty reservoirs bake in Sicily and wine production is down in Piedmont as a lack of rain across Italy exacerbates pollution and sparks droughts. Gas-guzzling…Continue readingLack of rain leaves Italy gasping
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
Hundreds of thousands of people rely on the Amazon’s rivers and streams for food, transportation and income. But the historically low water levels have forced residents to reimagine their relationship to…Continue reading‘Everything is dead’: How record drought is wreaking havoc on the Amazon
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
US industry disposed of at least 60m pounds of PFAS “forever chemical” waste over the last five years, and did so with processes that probably pollute the environment around disposal sites,…Continue readingUS industry disposed of at least 60m pounds of PFAS waste in last five years
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the world Monday to “stop the madness” of climate change as he visited Himalayan regions struggling from rapidly melting glaciers to witness the devastating impact of…Continue readingUN chief urges world to ‘stop the madness’ of climate change
By Christoper Ketcham The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has assumed Nordhaus is to be trusted. The integrated assessment models used at the IPCC are based on Nordhausian visions of adaptation…Continue readingWhen Idiot Savants Do Climate Economics
From the Great Lakes in the north to Louisiana in the south, the majestic Mississippi is a shadow of its former self. For the second straight year, water levels in North…Continue readingThe mighty Mississippi, America’s water highway, is dangerously low
The Interconnected Disaster Risks Report identifies thresholds it calls “risk tipping points,” defined as “the moment at which a given socioecological system is no longer able to buffer risks and provide…Continue readingUN report warns of catastrophic risks to Earth systems
About 90% of water samples taken over the last 10 years from the Great Lakes contain microplastic levels that are unsafe for wildlife, a new peer-reviewed paper from the University of…Continue reading90% of Great Lakes water samples have unsafe microplastic levels
The water of as many as 26 million Americans is contaminated, according to an analysis of the new EPA data performed by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a Washington DC-based non-profit.…Continue readingDrinking water of millions of Americans contaminated with ‘forever chemicals’
The Colorado River Basin provides freshwater to more than 40 million people within the semi-arid southwestern United States, including major cities such as Las Vegas and Los Angeles. However, between 2000…Continue readingColorado River Basin megadrought caused by massive 86% decline in snowpack runoff
The Murray Darling Basin Plan is an historic deal between state and federal governments to save Australia’s most important river system. The A$13 billion plan, inked over a decade ago, was…Continue readingWith less than a year to go, the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is in a dreadful mess
In what is considered to be the nation’s first large-scale analysis of PFAS in tap water from private wells and public water supplies, researchers estimated that at least 45% of drinking…Continue readingRisk of tap water exposure to toxic PFAS chemicals higher in Southern California
Not far from Latin America’s biggest city, Sao Paulo, a river is covered in a white layer that resembles fresh snow but is in fact a smelly, toxic foam. The Tiete…Continue readingToxic foam blights river crucial to Brazil’s biggest city
The marshlands have shrunk from 20,000 square kilometers (7,700 square miles) in the early 1990s to 4,000 (1,500 square miles) by latest estimates—choked by dams on the great rivers upstream in…Continue readingIraq’s marshes are dying, and a civilization with them
Around 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year. But that is not the only water source where plastic represents a significant intrusion. “We found microplastics in…Continue readingGlobal study details microplastics contamination in lakes and reservoirs
Agricultural pesticides leach far from their original sources into the world’s waterways, according to new research which finds pesticides exceed safe levels in 13,000km of rivers globally. Analysing 92 of the…Continue readingPesticides from farming leach into world’s waterways at rate of 710 tonnes a year, UN research shows
Drinking water from nearly half of U.S. faucets likely contains “forever chemicals” that may cause cancer and other health problems, according to a government study released Wednesday. The synthetic compounds known…Continue readingStudy says drinking water from nearly half of US faucets contains potentially harmful chemicals
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
As far as is known, five of the compounds detected have never before been reported in groundwater anywhere in the world.Continue readingNew types of chemicals found in Danish drinking water
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
“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
It was the river that is said to have watered the biblical Garden of Eden and helped give birth to civilisation itself. The Tigris’s course through Iraq begins in the mountains…Continue readingCradle of civilisation dying
Iraq is known in Arabic as the Land of the Two Rivers, but it has seen water levels on the once mighty Tigris and Euphrates plummet. The Euphrates, which passes through…Continue readingBoiling heat and no water: taps run dry in southern Iraq
The accelerating melting of the Himalayan glaciers threatens the water supply of millions of people in Asia, new research warns. Himalayan glaciers have lost ice ten times more quickly over the…Continue readingHimalayan glaciers melting at ‘exceptional rate’
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
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