Millions of people have been hit by extreme weather events and prolonged heatwaves around the globe in recent weeks, events that scientists say are being exacerbated by climate change.…Continue readingStreets become rivers as Beijing records heaviest rain in 140 years
Category: The Anthropocene
Iran on Tuesday declared a two-day holiday for government workers and banks nationwide as searing temperatures sweep across the country, state media reported. The decision came after the meteorological…Continue readingTwo-day holiday in Iran over extreme heat
For centuries, wolves have roamed the mountain ranges of Andalucía in southern Spain, but after years of decline the creature has been officially declared extinct in the region. “This…Continue reading‘Shameful loss’: wolves declared extinct in Andalucía
A massive fire burning through the desert in California and southern Nevada has scorched tens of thousands of acres in a biodiverse national preserve and torched its iconic Joshua…Continue readingHuge wildfire explodes in southern California and spreads into Nevada
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,…Continue readingColorado River Basin megadrought caused by massive 86% decline in snowpack runoff
Beach Energy has signed an agreement to use the semi-submersible drilling rig the Transocean Equinox to carry out the drilling campaign, which would commence in 2025, and the project…Continue readingBeach Energy prepares to begin offshore drilling at Otway Basin, Australia
Using advanced statistical tools and ocean temperature data from the last 150 years, the researchers calculated that the ocean current, known as the Thermohaline Circulation or the Atlantic Meridional…Continue readingGloomy climate calculation: Scientists predict a collapse of the Atlantic ocean current to happen mid-century
Natural gas from the world’s second-largest shale gas reserve in Patagonia will reach Buenos Aires in the coming weeks through a new pipeline, marking a milestone in Argentina’s push…Continue readingArgentina hits milestone on path to gas export bonanza
Grant Shapps, energy minister, has insisted that the government will “max out” the UK’s remaining reserves of North Sea oil and gas, arguing this is compatible with Britain’s pledge…Continue readingGrant Shapps vows to ‘max out’ UK’s North Sea oil and gas reserves
Shallow waters off south Florida topped 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8˚C) for several hours on Monday, potentially setting a new world record with temperatures more commonly associated with hot tubs.…Continue readingFlorida ocean temperature topped 100˚F, setting potential record
If we look even farther back, to the previous interglacial period, which peaked around 125,000 years ago, we do find evidence of warmer temperatures. The evidence suggests the long-term…Continue readingIs it really hotter now than any time in 100,000 years?
The UK’s hottest year of 2022 — when temperatures rose to a record 40˚C in the summer — will be considered “average” by about 2060 if the world keeps…Continue readingUK’s record heatwave will be seen as ‘cool’ by 2100, Met Office warns
Algeria: At least 34 people were killed, where 8,000 firefighters battled blazes across the tinder-dry north. Fires burned in a total of 15 provinces, leading to the evacuation of…Continue readingMediterranean on fire as blazes spread across nine countries
Temperatures have consistently topped 40 degrees Celsius this week across southern and eastern European countries, and for some areas like Sicily there remains no respite. The Italian island was…Continue readingFrom scorching heat to deadly storms, Europe has no rest from ‘summer of hell’
A blistering heatwave that has engulfed the southern US over the past four weeks has spread to the Great Plains, midwest, mid-Atlantic and north-eastern regions, placing about 190 million…Continue readingBlistering US heatwave spreads from south and scorches 190m Americans
A little-known organization is meeting this week in a conference center in Jamaica. The rules the International Seabed Authority (ISA) are drafting could have immense impact. That’s because this…Continue readingMining the seabed for clean-tech minerals could destroy ecosystems. Will it get the green light?
More than $122 billion of economic activity—$81 billion in international trade—is at risk from the impact of extreme climate events, according to new research from Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute.Continue readingExploring the multi-billion-dollar risk to economic activity from climate extremes affecting ports
A mile-thick ice sheet in Greenland vanished around 416,000 years ago during a period of moderate natural warming, driving global sea rise to levels that would spell catastrophe for…Continue readingGreenland melted recently, says study that raises future sea level threat
Camp Century is 138 miles inland from the coast and only 800 miles from the North Pole; the new Science study shows that the region entirely melted and was…Continue readingGreenland melted some 416,000 years ago, shows high risk of causing sea level rise today
EasyJet’s strong third-quarter financial performance, which beat analysts’ expectations, was boosted by a 22 per cent rise in ticket yields year on year, as passengers continue to pay high…Continue readingEasyJet predicts record summer profits as travel boom continues
At least 97% of the blood samples contained a type of PFAS known as PFOS, associated with multiple serious health problems.Continue readingResearchers find evidence of ‘forever chemicals’ in blood of pregnant women
Beijing broke a 23-year-old record on Tuesday with 27 consecutive days of temperatures above 35˚C, the China Meteorological Administration said. The temperature recorded by Beijing’s benchmark weather station in…Continue readingBeijing swelters under record-breaking run of extreme heat
The world is shifting towards a superheated climate not seen in the past 1m years, prior to human existence, because “we are damned fools” for not acting upon warnings…Continue reading‘We are damned fools’: scientist who sounded climate alarm in 80s warns of worse to come
China Tourists flocked to a giant thermometer in China showing surface temperatures of 80 degrees Celsius (176 degress Fahrenheit) on Wednesday, the latest extreme weather sparking havoc and curiosity…Continue readingHeatwaves set more records across Europe, Asia and US
Algeria In Algeria, five states were listed as places with the highest temperatures in the world in recent days, according to El Dorado Weather, which keeps a log of…Continue readingFrom Algeria to Syria, heatwaves scorch Middle East, North Africa
A total of 130,000 healthy years of life are lost to noise pollution in the UK each year alone, according to data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA),…Continue readingLight and noise pollution are neglected hazards
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…Continue readingWith less than a year to go, the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is in a dreadful mess
The wetlands system processes about 60 percent of Kolkata’s sewage free of charge, saving the city over $64 million a year. Farms in the wetlands provide about 150 tons…Continue readingThe ‘kidneys of Kolkata’: Indian wetlands under threat
Extreme rainfall accompanied by deadly flooding hit the United States and several other countries over the weekend and last week. In the U.S., flooding claimed five lives in Upper…Continue readingDeadly flooding hit several countries at once. Scientists say this will only be more common
Swaths of the United States home to more than 80 million people were under heat warnings or advisories Sunday, as relentless, record-breaking temperatures continued to bake western and southern…Continue readingUS West and South bake under extended heat wave
Shell has signed a new agreement to supply Morocco six billion cubic metres of liquefied natural gas (LNG) over 12 years. Morocco Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development…Continue readingShell signs 12-year LNG supply deal with Morocco
Schools in Delhi closed after monsoon rains caused landslides and flash floods on Monday. More than 50 people died across northern India, including in the Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand…Continue readingGlobal warming is supercharging weather events, say scientists
A team of scientists has completed the most comprehensive study of (macro)plastic waste in the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench, a 2,250-kilometer-long deep-sea trench in the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean.…Continue readingJourney to the deep: Plastic pollution in the Pacific Kuril-Kamchatka Deep-Sea Trench
According to analysis of seabed ecology undertaken after drilling tests in 2020 in Japan – the country’s first successful extraction of cobalt crusts from deep-sea mountains – there was…Continue readingDeep-sea mining causes huge decreases in sealife across wide region, says study
Tourists collapse in Greece and Italy and worker killed near Milan amid heatwave worsened by carbon pollution.Continue readingHealth alerts issued as blistering heat scorches southern Europe
Arizona’s capital city is nicknamed “Valley of the Sun”, and residents are used to scorching heat. But by day 12 of a vicious heatwave that’s sent temperatures soaring into…Continue reading‘Hell on earth’: Phoenix’s extreme heatwave tests the limits of survival
Global warming and drastic deforestation could dry out the Amazon rainforest faster and enforce the risk of keeping it downright fire-trapped. A new study published in Communications Earth &…Continue readingAmazon in the firetrap: Deforestation and warming lock rainforest in dry and damaged grassland state
Published in Science of The Total Environment, the researchers collected and filtered samples of air from seven indoor environments on the Gold Coast where people spend most of their…Continue readingResearchers evaluate levels of indoor microplastics in Australia
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%…Continue readingRisk of tap water exposure to toxic PFAS chemicals higher in Southern California
PFAS is used in almost all industries and is found in many products such as textiles, carpets, shoes, food packaging, cosmetics, fire foam and pesticides. The hunting community in…Continue readingAlarmingly high PFAS levels found in the populations of Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Denmark and the UK
The beginning of July marked the planet’s hottest week in recorded history. Last month was the warmest-ever June. The arrival of a strong El Niño is likely to push…Continue readingScientists are freaking out about surging temperatures. Why aren’t politicians?
The water off South Florida is over 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) in mid-July, and scientists are already seeing signs of coral bleaching off Central and South America. Particularly…Continue readingCorals are starting to bleach as global ocean temperatures hit record highs
Phoenix will record its 15th straight day above 109 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius) on Friday, according to the National Weather Services (NWS). In Texas, the city of El…Continue readingSouthwest US roasts in devastating heat wave
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.…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…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…Continue readingGlobal study details microplastics contamination in lakes and reservoirs
Carbon emissions from China are growing faster now than before COVID-19 struck, data show, dashing hopes the pandemic may have put the world’s most polluting nation on a new…Continue readingChina is pumping out carbon emissions as if COVID never happened. That’s bad news for the climate crisis
Approximately 40% [25%] of the global ocean is currently experiencing MHWs, which ranks 1st [14th] among all months since 1991. Values include the effects of long-term warming. Values with…Continue readingCurrent marine heatwave (MHW) conditions
TotalEnergies has commenced production from the phase 1 development of the Absheron gas and condensate field in the Caspian Sea, off the coast of Azerbaijan. The French company is…Continue readingTotalEnergies begins production from Absheron gas and condensate field
Mud engulfs houses and cars as island of Kyushu bears brunt of annual rainy season that is worsening with climate change. Six people died and three others were missing…Continue reading‘Heaviest rain ever’ causes deadly floods and landslides in Japan
Volume of debris in the unexplored twilight zone is an ‘emerging threat’ to reefs already stressed by climate crisis, say scientists. The researchers noted that plastic can spread coral…Continue readingPlastic pollution on coral reefs gets worse the deeper you go, study finds
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…Continue readingPesticides from farming leach into world’s waterways at rate of 710 tonnes a year, UN research shows
Research shows 176 bird species have been found to build nests with human litter, including items that hurt them and their offspring. The scientists highlighted ways birds are at…Continue readingSafety concerns for chicks grow as birds build nests with rubbish, study shows
Seabirds are one of the world’s most threatened animal groups. They already contend with multiple issues, including climate change, accidental capture in fishing gear and being eaten by invasive…Continue readingPlastic pollution threatens birds far out at sea, according to new research
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…Continue readingStudy says drinking water from nearly half of US faucets contains potentially harmful chemicals
The sea is becoming greener due to changes in plankton populations, analysis of Nasa images finds. When comparing these changes in colour with those hypothesised from a computer model…Continue readingWorld’s oceans changing colour due to climate breakdown, study suggests
Soaring greenhouse gases, ubiquitous microplastics, pervasive “forever chemicals”, the global upheaval of animals, even old mobile phones and chicken bones—all have been put forward as evidence that the world…Continue readingSigns of the human era, from nuclear fallout to microplastics
“The world just had the hottest week on record, according to preliminary data,” the WMO said in a statement, after climate change and the early stages of the El…Continue readingLast week the hottest worldwide on record: UN
Farmers Insurance became the latest property insurer to pull out of Florida on Tuesday despite repeated efforts by the state’s legislature and its Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, to try…Continue reading‘Cascading impacts’ warning as Farmers becomes latest insurer to quit Florida
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…Continue readingEvidence in Canada lake indicates start of new Anthropocene epoch