The Black Summer forest fires of 2019–2020 in Australia burned more than 24 million hectares (59 million acres), directly causing 33 deaths and almost 450 more from smoke inhalation. Nearly 3…Continue readingForest fires in Australia are worsening
Category: The Anthropocene
Climate change and warming waters are pushing black-browed albatross break-up rates higher. Typically after choosing a partner, only 1-3% would separate in search of greener romantic pastures. But in…Continue readingHuman emissions causing increasing rates of albatross break-ups
After the natural warming that followed the last Ice Age, there were repeated periods when masses of icebergs broke off from Antarctica into the Southern Ocean. A new data-model…Continue readingAntarctic ice sheet destabilized within a decade
The 13,235 square kilometers (5,110 square miles) of forest lost from August 2020 to July 2021 was the largest swath since 14,286 square kilometers were cleared in 2005-06. The…Continue readingBrazil Amazon deforestation up 22% in a year; a 15 year record
Sequoias are the largest trees by volume and are native in only about 70 groves scattered along the western side of the Sierra Nevada range. They were once considered…Continue readingUS wildfires have killed nearly 20% of world’s giant sequoias in 2 years
Three of British Columbia’s worst wildfire years have taken place in the last four years, and the widespread floods and mudslides last week took place after roughly a month’s…Continue readingFloods and wildfires are now normal life in small-town Canada
From a study published in 2019: Biodiversity of insects is threatened worldwide. Our work reveals dramatic rates of decline that may lead to the extinction of 40% of the…Continue readingOver 40% of insect species are threatened with extinction
Las Tablas de Daimiel is a unique wetland in the vast, almost treeless plains of Castilla-La Mancha in central Spain, but the park has had the life sucked out…Continue readingThe true cost of growing food in Spain’s arid south
One of every six birds – a net loss of 600 million breeding birds in total – have disappeared over less than four decades. The study by scientists from…Continue readingHumans kill off 1 in 6 birds in the EU and UK
The US and Canada have lost more than one in four birds – a total of three billion – between 1970 and 2019, culminating in what scientists who published…Continue readingHumans kill off 1 in 4 birds in the US and Canada
TotalEnergies & China’s CNOOC will drill more than 431 wells in Uganda and pump the crude in a pipeline heated to 50˚C 1,450km (900 miles) to a port in…Continue readingThe East African Pipeline
If global warming is kept to 1.5˚C, the mix of corals on the Barrier Reef will change but it could still thrive, said the study’s lead author Professor Terry…Continue readingAustralia’s Great Barrier Reef will survive if warming kept to 1.5˚C
The World Meteorological Organization reported Monday that greenhouse gas concentrations hit a new record high last year and increased at a faster rate than the annual average for the…Continue readingUN: Greenhouse gas concentrations hit a new record in 2020
The severity of possible future temperature extremes poses serious challenges for preparedness for future climatic change. The modelled Victoria and NSW extremes indicate the possibility that sites within major…Continue readingAustralia’s Unprecedented Future Temperature Extremes Under Paris Limits to Warming
Germany’s Garzweiler coal mine has already swallowed more than a dozen villages. Centuries-old churches and family homes have been razed and the land they were built on torn away.…Continue readingGermany portrays itself as a climate leader. But it’s still razing villages for coal mines.
Where civilization emerged between the Tigris and Euphrates, climate change is poisoning the land and emptying the villages.Continue readingAcross Iraq’s south, there is a sense of an ending
“We need drastic, radical emissions reductions, and on top of that we need some CDR,” said Glen Peters, research director at the Centre for International Climate Research. There are…Continue readingClimate: Removing CO₂ from the air no longer optional
Global warming has pushed what would’ve been a moderate drought in southwestern North America into megadrought territory. 2000–2018 was the driest 19 year period since the late 1500s. Climate…Continue readingLarge contribution from anthropogenic warming to an emerging North American megadrought
Earth now faces a global extinction crisis never witnessed by humankind. Scientists predict that more than 1 million species are on track for extinction in the coming decades. Every…Continue readingThe Extinction Crisis
Total Energies is leaving it to others to meet the carbon reduction goals in the Paris agreement, after the Paris-based colossal fossil predicted the world will hit peak oil…Continue readingColossal Fossil Total Projects Peak Oil by 2030, Still ‘Leaves it to Others’ to Meet Paris Targets
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A minority coalition of the Labour Party and the rural Centre Party will take power after defeating the Conservative-led government in last month’s election. “The Norwegian petroleum industry will…Continue readingNorway to keep searching for oil and gas
Hopes for a cleaner future have been fired by pledges from top coal consumer China and other countries to go carbon neutral, but much of the region is making…Continue reading‘Running out of time’: Asia struggles to kick coal addiction
The death toll from days of flooding and landslides in India and Nepal crossed 100 on Wednesday, including several families swept away or crushed in their homes by avalanches…Continue readingFloods, landslides kill 116 in India and Nepal
After Venice suffered the second-worst flood in its history in November 2019, it was inundated with four more exceptional tides within six weeks, shocking Venetians and triggering fears about…Continue readingFlooding in Venice worsens off-season amid climate change
In the largest city of Nicaragua’s sugar cane-growing region, agricultural workers – who have scant labour protection and usually come from poor families – see little option but to…Continue readingGlobal heating is having a deadly impact on Nicaragua’s sugar cane workers, who toil in temperatures of up to 45˚C
Nearly 21,000 monitored populations of mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians, encompassing almost 4,400 species around the world, have declined an average of 68% between 1970 and 2016, according…Continue readingAnimal populations worldwide have declined nearly 70% in just 50 years
Across the region, the price of historic dryness is being measured in lost crops, a slowdown in mining, surging transportation costs and shortages of energy in a region heavily…Continue readingIn South America, the climate future has arrived.
Nature is being destroyed at a rate never before seen in human history, that rate is accelerating and almost all of the destruction is caused by humans. Australia is ranked third…Continue readingBiodiversity loss caused by Australian society
Today’s emission reduction pledges cover less than 20% of the gap that needs to be closed by 2030 to keep a 1.5 °C path within reach. For all the…Continue readingA new global energy economy is emerging, but the transformation still has a long way to go
An international team of researchers has created a model that estimates the effects on the world’s oceans over the past century by fish and their excrement. The model showed…Continue readingModel suggests fish fecal carbon sequestering in the ocean has declined by half over the past century
Protecting trees is key to meeting ambitious climate goals, with tropical rainforest loss accounting for about eight percent of annual carbon dioxide emissions, according to monitoring platform Global Forest…Continue readingUN deforestation prevention scheme collapses
Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi, recorded rainfall of 185mm, about seven times the pre-2010 average for October. Shanxi is a land-locked province SW of Beijing. About 1.75 million people…Continue readingFloods in China
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.…Continue reading2021 wildfires in western U.S.
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…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…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…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…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…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…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,…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…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…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…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…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…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…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…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…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…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…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…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…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:…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,…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…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…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…Continue readingTennessee floods show a pressing climate danger across America: ‘Walls of water’