Catastrophe Chronicle – 2022

Catastrophe Chronicle

“We are on the deathbed. Humanity cannot survive – the way it has been behaving with nature – for more than fifty years, sixty years, or, at the most, one hundred years, which is nothing. If the Third World War does not happen, then we will be committing a slow suicide. Within a hundred years, we will be gone. Not even a trace will be left.”1 Osho

See also: Osho, “Religion: The Crimes Against Nature and the Environment”

And: Priests & Politicians: The Mafia of the Soul

It is becoming increasingly clear that humanity just doesn’t have the consciousness to prevent the inexorable destruction of the only home it has.

Perhaps more fundamentally, this humanity – which is trashing out the land, the oceans, the atmosphere, and the space beyond the atmosphere – is simply being really trashy. We endlessly look outwards for solutions and almost no one is making it clear that unless we fix our trashiness, nothing can fundamentally change. Without this fundamental change in our trashy approach to the world around us, every “solution” we come up with will be deeply compromised by our trashiness!

While waiting for this obvious point to sink in, followed by a clear understanding of how to undo our trashiness, the OSHOTimes can only chronicle the inevitable resultant degeneration of Planet Earth, “and all who sail in her!”

Carbon Dioxide Levels in the Atmosphere

“Man-made carbon dioxide and the greenhouse effect” – was published by the journal Nature in 1972.

Levels of the greenhouse gas have not been as high as today for 3-5m years, when the global temperature was 2-3C warmer and the sea level was 10-20 metres higher: The Guardian

The C02 clock is ticking here: Bloomberg Green Carbon Clock

Human Population

The population clock is ticking here: Worldometre

The Emissions Gap Report 2020

“The world is still heading for a catastrophic temperature rise in excess of 3°C this century – far beyond the Paris Agreement goals of limiting global warming to well below 2°C and pursuing 1.5°C.” – UN Environment

The Unfolding Story – 2022 – Updated Regularly: 

Read 2021 Edition HERE

December 29, 2022
This year, I only needed to open my window in Brazil to witness the climate crisis
“My snapshot of 2022 shows the Amazon burning – but what it doesn’t communicate is the pain.”  – The Guardian

December 28, 2022
Microplastics can cross placenta into unborn babies, study shows
“Scientists warn it is impossible to stop children ingesting the tiny plastic particles as well as even smaller nanoplastics, which can be found almost everywhere. Microplastics have also been found in newborn children, the researchers add. Infants ingest microplastics from baby bottles, toys, textiles and food packaging. When microplastics end up in household dust, children can ingest them by playing and crawling on the floor. Microplastics contain other harmful chemicals as well as plastic, such as phthalates and metals added for colour, stabilisation or as a biocide.” – Independent

December 27, 2022
BP criticised over plan to spend billions more on fossil fuels than green energy
“BP has been accused of prioritising fossil fuels over green energy as it plans to spend as much as double the amount on oil and gas projects than on renewable investments next year. The FTSE 100 company has earmarked up to $7.5bn (£6.2bn) for oil and gas projects, compared with a range of $3bn to $5bn for green energy.” – The Guardian

December 27, 2022
Biggest climate toll in year of ‘devastating’ disasters revealed
“Most expensive storm cost $100bn while deadliest floods killed 1,700 and displaced 7 million, report finds. The 10 most expensive storms, floods and droughts in 2022 each cost at least $3bn (£2.5bn) in a “devastating” year on the frontline of the climate crisis, a report shows.” – The Guardian

December 24, 2022
El Niño Is Coming—and the World Isn’t Prepared
“According to NASA, 2022 was one of the hottest years ever recorded on Earth. This is extraordinary, because the recurrent climate pattern across the tropical Pacific—known as ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation)—was in its cool phase…. The scary thing is that this La Niña will end and eventually transition into the better-known El Niño, which sees the waters of the equatorial Pacific becoming much warmer. When it does, the extreme weather that has rampaged across our planet in 2021 and 2022 will pale into insignificance. ” – Wired

December 22, 2022
Microplastics deposited on the seafloor triple in 20 years ScienceDaily

December 22, 2022
Overshooting climate targets could significantly increase risk for tipping cascades
“Temporarily overshooting the climate targets of 1.5-2 degrees Celsius could increase the tipping risk of several Earth system elements by more than 70 percent compared to keeping global warming in line with the United Nations Paris Agreement range, a new risk analysis study by an international team of researchers shows. This tipping risk increases even if in the longer term the global temperature would stabilize within the Paris range.” – ScienceDaily

December 21, 2022
Climate-change content shrinks in US university textbooks
“Sections on climate change have become shorter and moved farther back in biology textbooks since the 2000s. University biology textbooks published in the United States in the 2010s contained less climate-change content than those published in the 2000s, despite the increasing urgency of the climate crisis1. That’s not the only shift. In a survey of dozens of widely used introductory biology textbooks from the past 50 years, researchers also found that passages on climate change moved farther back in the books, and that the amount of information about its impacts grew, whereas the space devoted to solutions shrank. The work was published on 21 December in PLoS ONE1.” – Nature

December 19, 2022
In the Horn of Africa, a Climate-Fueled Food Catastrophe Looms
“Climate change-induced drought is exposing cracks in the global food system and overwhelming humanitarian aid…. NEARLY 26 MILLION PEOPLE in the Horn of Africa are facing extreme hunger, with some areas already reaching catastrophic famine levels, according to the United Nations. The situation here is unfolding as a food crisis threatens a record number of people around the world, with nearly 345 million at acute levels of hunger and nearly 50 million people on the brink of famine. ‘We are on the way to a raging food catastrophe,’ U.N. Secretary General António Guterres tweeted recently.” – Undark

December 17, 2022
Disaster scenarios raise the stakes for Colorado River negotiations
“State and federal authorities say that years of overconsumption are colliding with the stark realities of climate change, pushing Colorado River reservoirs to such dangerously low levels that the major dams on the river could soon become obstacles to delivering water to millions in the Southwest.” – The Washington Post

December 16, 2022
Almost 8,000 US shootings attributed to unseasonable heat – study
“Research suggests climate crisis may contribute to increased gun violence by pushing temperatures beyond normal ranges.” – The Guardian

December 15, 2022
Whales could be a valuable carbon sink, say scientists
“Researchers explore how these marine giants can influence the amount of carbon in our air and waters and potentially contribute to the overall reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide.” – ScienceDaily

December 9, 2022
New study highlights urgent need to safeguard deep reefs — one of the largest and least protected ecosystems
“New study finds very few deep reefs have any form of protection, and face a multitude of threats, set only to escalate in the near future…. Deep reefs are biological hotspots, essential for climate change resilience, ocean health and food security, and a refuge for ocean life threatened in shallow waters.” – ScienceDaily

December 9, 2022
Rebel Farmers Are Pushing Back on Climate Action. This is Why
“From farm to fork, the food system generates about 31% of global greenhouse gas emissions…. Cows and sheep emit planet-warming methane simply by digesting food; their manure and urine is a source of nitrogen oxide which, in large volumes, throws ecosystems off kilter. Too many fertilizers and pesticides are poisoning soils and water, while farmers are clearing ever-larger expanses of rainforest for cattle or monoculture, destroying complex systems that shelter wildlife and regulate the Earth’s temperature. Agricultural emissions rose 14% between 2000 and 2018, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. If action isn’t taken fast, researchers estimate that food-related emissions alone would push the Earth past 1.5C of warming that world leaders set as a target in the 2015 Paris Agreement.” – Bloomberg

December 9, 2022
Big oil talks ‘transition’ but perpetuates petroleum, House documents say
“The committee say the industry is misleading the public by advertising a commitment to cleaner energy even as it disproportionately invests in fossil fuels. In a previous release of documents on Sept. 14, the committee accused oil companies of continued deception, following previous revelations about oil companies working to undermine the credibility of climate science. ‘Rather than outright deny global warming, the fossil fuel industry has ‘greenwashed’ its record through deceptive advertising and climate pledges — without meaningfully reducing emissions,’ the committee said in a memo.” – The Washington Post

December 8, 2022
India could become first country to get heatwaves that shatter human survivability limits, World Bank says
“The G20 Climate Risk Atlas that last year warned heatwaves across India are ‘likely to last 25 times longer by 2036-65 if carbon emissions remain high, as in the IPCC’s worst case emission scenario’ and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that has pointed to more frequent and intense heatwaves in the coming decade were also cited…. In a country where two-thirds of the population lives on less than $2 a day and where the average cost of an air-conditioning unit can vary between $260 and $500, air-cooling systems are a luxury. Only 8 per cent of Indian households owned air-conditioning units.” – Independent

December 8, 2022
Qatar’s gas output increase could cause catastrophic global heating, report says
“If Qatar exploits all its reserves it will add 50bn metric tons of CO2 to atmosphere, more than entire annual emissions of whole world…. ‘Fossil fuels are weapons of mass destruction, carbon bombs ticking against the time we have left to avert the very worst of the climate crisis,’ said Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at Climate Action Network International. ‘Fossil fuel companies, the banks that fund them and the governments that support them are complicit in the suffering of millions. It is time to strip them off their social and economic licenses and make them pay up for climate damages.’” – The Guardian

December 8, 2022
Warming seas’ negative impact on giant kelp starts in early life
“Kelp forests are one of the most diverse and productive natural ecosystems on the planet, but in the past 50 to 100 years significant swaths have been lost and many of the remaining systems show a declining trajectory.” – ScienceDaily

December 7, 2022
Soil in midwestern US is eroding 10 to 1,000 times faster than it forms, study finds
“In a discovery that has repercussions for everything from domestic agricultural policy to global food security and the plans to mitigate climate change, researchers recently announced that the rate of soil erosion in the Midwestern US is 10 to 1,000 times greater than pre-agricultural erosion rates. These newly discovered pre-agricultural rates, which reflect the rate at which soils form, are orders of magnitude lower than the upper allowable limit of erosion set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).” – ScienceDaily

December 7, 2022
Democratic senators warn UN secretary general of eroding public trust in Cop
“The highly unusual step comes a month after it was revealed that more than 630 fossil fuel lobbyists attended the 27th annual climate summit, Cop27, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Scores more delegates linked to the food industry, mining and the plastics sector – as well as financial institutions that prop up these polluting industries – also participated, despite years of warnings from campaigners about the growing influence of bad faith actors.” – The Guardian

December 7, 2022
UK OKs First Coal Mine in 30 Years, Weakening Climate Push
“The decision, made after two years of consideration by successive governments, is a blow to the momentum of British activists and comes after a UN climate assembly hosted in Scotland said a global agreement on “phasing down” the dirtiest fuel was a key step.” – Bloomberg

December 6, 2022
A dark tale of money corrupting politics — and destroying the climate
“In November 1959 Edward Teller, ‘the father of the hydrogen bomb,’ told a group of oil company executives and scientists gathered at Columbia University that continued burning of fossil fuels would warm the planet, potentially melting the ice caps and submerging New York and other coastal cities — posing a threat to civilization comparable to a global nuclear war.” – The Washington Post

December 6, 2022
‘We are at war with nature’: UN environment chief warns of biodiversity apocalypse
“’We’ve just welcomed the 8 billionth member of the human race on this planet. That’s a wonderful birth of a baby, of course. But we need to understand that the more people there are, the more we put the Earth under heavy pressure,’ said Inger Andersen, the executive director of the UN environment programme. ‘As far as biodiversity is concerned, we are at war with nature. We need to make peace with nature. Because nature is what sustains everything on Earth … the science is unequivocal.’” – The Guardian

December 6, 2022
Warming climate spurs harmful oxygen loss in lakes
“New research shows a continually warming world is leading to extended, late-summer weeks of water stratification in lakes, which prompts oxygen deprivation in the water — provoking conditions called hypoxia (low oxygen) and anoxia (no oxygen) — and negative consequences for fish and other species.” – ScienceDaily

December 5, 2022
Scientists thought carbon emissions had peaked. They’ve never been higher.
“According to a report released last month by the Global Carbon Project, carbon emissions from fossil fuels in 2022 are expected to reach 37.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide, the highest ever recorded. That means that despite the continued fallout from the coronavirus pandemic — which caused emissions to drop by over 5 percent in 2020 — CO2 emissions are back and stronger than ever.” – The Washington Post

December 5, 2022
The dirty road to clean energy: how China’s electric vehicle boom is ravaging the environment
“In neighboring Indonesia, nickel extraction is causing environmental and social devastation…. The nickel-processing factories spew out sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and coal ash, polluting the surrounding villages’ air.” – Rest of World

December 5, 2022
Fossil fuel industry dupes media, quietly funds non-profits to block renewable energy
“Nearly every story neglects to mention these groups are being funded by a far-right think tank that receives funding from fossil fuel companies and billionaires.” – Popular Information

December 2, 2022
#ClimateScam: denialism claims flooding Twitter have scientists worried
“Many researchers are fleeing the platform, unnerved by the surge in climate misinformation since Musk’s chaotic takeover. Twitter has proved a cherished forum for climate scientists to share research, as well as for activists seeking to rally action to halt oil pipelines or decry politicians’ failure to cut pollution. But many are now fleeing Twitter due to a surge in climate misinformation, spam and even threats that have upended their relationship with the platform.” – The Guardian

December 1, 2022
Officials fear ‘complete doomsday scenario’ for drought-stricken Colorado River
“Tom Buschatzke, director of Arizona’s Department of Water Resources… has also been raising the alarm about Lake Powell reaching dead pool — an elevation 120 feet below the threshold for producing power…. If that happens, ‘you’re not going to have a river,’ he added. ‘It would be a catastrophe for the entire system.’… ‘I think I’d probably bet we’ll go below 3,490,’ said Charles Yackulic, a research statistician with USGS who is part of a team that was tasked in August to study how power pool or dead pool would impact the Colorado River…. Ultimately, the Colorado River would ‘become less like a river,’ Yackulic said, ‘and more like an irrigation ditch.'” – The Washington Post

November 30, 2022
From the Amazon to Australia, why is your money funding Earth’s destruction?
“Fossil fuels, fisheries and farming: the world’s most destructive industries are protected – and subsidised – by governments.” – The Guardian

November 29, 2022
The Hidden Costs of Cheap Meat
“The animal rights activist Leah Garcés discusses how modern meat production harms animals, people and the environment.” – The New York Times

November 29, 2022
Air pollution linked to almost a million stillbirths a year
“First global analysis follows discovery of toxic pollution particles in lungs and brains of foetuses.” – The Guardian

November 29, 2022
Big polluters given almost €100bn in free carbon permits by EU
“Free allowances ‘in direct contradiction with the polluter pays principle’, WWF report says.” – The Guardian

November  29, 2022
Scientists Revive 48,500-Year-Old ‘Zombie Virus’ Buried in Ice
“The team of researchers from Russia, Germany and France said… ‘The potential revival of a virus that could infect animals or humans is much more problematic, they said, warning that their work can be extrapolated to show the danger is real. It is thus likely that ancient permafrost will release these unknown viruses upon thawing.'” – Bloomberg

November 26, 2022
The world can’t recycle its way out of the plastics crisis
“The International Energy Agency projects that by 2050, more than half of all oil and gas will be used to make plastics and petrochemicals. This has enormous climate impacts. While civil society voices struggled to be heard at the COP27 United Nations climate talks that ended Sunday in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, the fossil fuel industry faced no such challenge, sending a record 636 lobbyists to the talks. It is not surprising that the countries attending the talks failed to confront fossil fuels that are the primary cause of climate change despite urgent calls from more than 80 nations to do so. Governments and observers alike denounced the outcome as a ‘fiasco’ that did little to avert future climate disasters.”

November 25, 2022
Humans v nature: our long and destructive journey to the age of extinction
“The story of the damage done to the world’s biodiversity is a tale of decline spanning thousands of years. Can the world seize its chance to change the narrative?” – The Guardian

November 24, 2022
Embrace what may be the most important green technology ever. It could save us all
“Never mind the yuck factor: precision fermentation could produce new staple foods, and end our reliance on farming.” – The Guardian

November 22, 2022
Large parts of Europe are warming twice as fast as the planet on average
“As a consequence of human emissions of greenhouse gases, the climate across the continent has also become drier, particularly in southern Europe, leading to worse heat waves and an increased risk of fires.” – ScienceDaily

November 21, 2022
Inside the Saudi Strategy to Keep the World Hooked on Oil
“The kingdom is working to keep fossil fuels at the center of the world economy for decades to come by lobbying, funding research and using its diplomatic muscle to obstruct climate action.” – The New York Times

November 20, 2022
Cop27 deal leaves 1.5C global heating pledge ‘on life support’, says Alok Sharma
“Friends, I said in Glasgow that the pulse of 1.5 degrees was weak,” he said in a speech at the closing plenary session of the UN climate summit. “Unfortunately, it remains on life support.”… ‘Emissions peaking before 2025, as the science tells us is necessary. Not in this text. Clear follow-through on the phase-down of coal. Not in this text. A clear commitment to phase out all fossil fuels. Not in this text,’ he said in his speech.” Independent

November 18, 2022
Sea level rise to dramatically speed up erosion of rock coastlines by 2100
“Senior author Dr Dylan Rood, of Imperial’s Department of Earth Science said: ‘Coastal erosion is one of the greatest financial risks to society of any natural hazard. Some rock cliffs are already crumbling, and within the next century, rock coast erosion rates could increase tenfold. Even rock coasts that have been stable in the last hundred years will likely respond to sea level rise by 2030.’ Globally, coasts are home to hundreds of millions of people and hundreds of billions of dollars of infrastructure like homes, businesses, nuclear power stations, transport links, and agriculture.” – ScienceDaily

November 18, 2022
‘Alarm bell for humanity’: Amazon now ‘alarmingly close’ to critical tipping point of no return
“The worsening climate crisis, deforestation and degradation are all pushing the Amazon towards tipping into a permanently degraded state, with the WWF saying the forest as we know it and may die by 2030 – ‘risking catastrophic consequences for nature.'” – Independent

November 18, 2022
Antimicrobial Resistance Is Growing Because of COVID
“In 2019, the latest year for which data are available, antimicrobial resistance led to 4.95 million deaths globally, making it the third leading cause of death after cardiovascular diseases and cancer. After more than two years of COVID, with rampant and inappropriate antibiotic use arising from treatment protocols, public health and health care specialists say antimicrobial resistance is getting substantially worse in many countries.… At the same time, the pharmaceutical industry lacks sufficient interest in developing antibiotics, as the market for them is not lucrative. We stand to lose 10 million people each year worldwide by 2050 from diseases that we could once treat. Unfortunately, 90 percent of these deaths will happen in low- and middle-income countries.” – Scientific American

November 16, 2022
Study touting hydrogen — a technology favored by gas firms — was funded by gas interests, e-mails show
“In a paper published earlier this year in the peer reviewed journal Frontiers in Energy Research, the team offered an endorsement, recommending, among other things, that the state should consider adopting green hydrogen and blending it with natural gas to heat homes and fuel appliances like gas stoves. A similar recommendation wound up in a bill before the Legislature. The trouble is, like magic, not everything is as it seems…. Read the emails here.” – The Boston Globe

November 14, 2022
How has the world’s population grown since 1950?
“The number of people in the world has tripled in 70 years. In this visual explainer, we examine where the growth has been – and how it will change in the future. The world’s population is projected to reach 8 billion people on 15 November – more than three times larger than it was in 1950. Based on current trends, the UN estimates the population could grow to about 8.5 billion by 2030, 9.7 billion by 2050 and 10.4 billion by the end of the century.” – The Guardian

November 11, 2022
World has nine years to avert catastrophic warming, study shows
“Nations will likely burn through their remaining carbon budget in less than a decade if they do not significantly reduce greenhouse gas pollution, a new study shows, causing the world to blow past a critical warming threshold and triggering catastrophic climate impacts..” – The Washington Post

November 20, 2022
Carbon Dioxide Emissions Increased in 2022 as Crises Roiled Energy Markets
“Global emissions from fossil fuels are likely to reach record highs this year, new data shows, putting nations further off track from stopping global warming… and do not yet show signs of declining, researchers said Thursday.” – The New York Times

November 10, 2022
The twilight of Africa’s glaciers
“They’ve been a source of wonder for generations. A hike up Mount Kenya shows what’s being lost.” – The Washington Post

November 9, 2022
Breaking Birth Control Taboo in Africa
Fertility rates in parts of West Africa are as has high as seven children per mother…. At 5.2 children per woman, or twice the global average, Nigeria’s population is set to more than double by 2050, to 450 million, making it the world’s third most-populous country after China and India… a region where the International Planned Parenthood Federation’s Women’s Integrated Sexual Health (WISH) program also focuses its resources. Michael Olawuyi, of WISH, says both groups purposefully avoid words like ‘sexual’ or ‘family planning’ in their work. ‘When you say “family planning,” you strike a response in them: “only Allah should be planning the family,” he says. ‘So “childbirth spacing” is used instead.’” – Bloomberg

November 7, 2022
Climate change to impact mountains on a global scale
Under the threat of climate change, mountain landscapes all over the world have the risk of becoming more hazardous to communities surrounding them…. Research shows climate change will negatively impact mountain landscapes and human activity — including increasing risks such as avalanches, river floods, landslides, debris flows and lake outburst floods.” – ScienceDaily

November 7, 2022
Climate change is costing trillions — and low-income countries are paying the price
“The research, published on 28 October in Science Advances1, estimates that the global economy lost between US$5 trillion and $29 trillion from 1992 to 2013, as a result of human-driven global warming. But the effect was worst in low-income tropical nations, leading to a 6.7% reduction in their national income on average, whereas high-income countries experienced only a 1.5% average decrease.” – Nature

November 5, 2022
‘It was like an apocalyptic movie’: 20 climate photographs that changed the world
“They are the images that made us sit up and take notice. As world leaders gather for Cop27, these pictures prove that global heating isn’t a distant possibility – it’s already here.” – The Guardian

November 3, 2022
The First Biodegradable Water Bottle Is Coming, for Real This Time
“With backers including James Murdoch and Diplo, Cove says its sustainable water bottle will retail at $2.99 a pop…. Behind the Cove factory, Totterman showed off a storage warehouse stocked full of boxes with Cove’s bottles, ready to ship out when the time is right. ‘We kind of fought to get here, kicking and screaming this into existence,’ the CEO admitted. ‘We’re basically in striking distance now.’ He didn’t give a precise date.” – Bloomberg

November 3, 2022
Fossil fuel burning once caused a mass extinction – now we’re risking another
“The Devon coastline reveals that Earth was in a near-lifeless state for up to five million years after the last extinction event.” – The Guardian

November 2, 2022
Egypt’s Barren Fields Are Dire Bellwether for Climate Summit
‘The Nile Delta, the breadbasket of Egyptian civilization and where Abdel Salam farms, is gradually turning barren. ‘I’ve been working on this land for more than 50 years now. I saw wars, revolutions—big changes,’ he says. “’ut water is my biggest worry.’” – Bloomberg

November 2, 2022
Europe’s climate warming at twice rate of global average, says report
“Trend of faster warming over last 30 years likely to cause exceptional heat, wildfires and floods, warn scientists.” – The Guardian

November 2, 2022
Glaciers in Yosemite and Africa will disappear by 2050, U.N. warns
“Glaciers in at least one-third of World Heritage sites possessing them, including Yosemite National Park, will disappear by mid-century even if emissions are curbed, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization warned in a new report Thursday.
Even if global warming is limited to just 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), which now seems unlikely, all the glaciers in Yosemite and the ice patches in Yellowstone National Park, as well as the few glaciers left in Africa, will be lost.” – The Washington Post

November 1, 2022
Enormous emissions gap between top 1% and poorest, study highlights
“‘Polluting elite’ responsible for same amount of carbon dioxide in a year as poorest 10% are in more than two decades, data shows.” – The Guardian

October 31, 2022
Marine Life and Ocean Threats 101: Everything You Need to Know
“Our oceans are facing a number of serious threats that put aquatic life and even humans at risk. You’ve seen the images: sea turtles eating plastic, a seahorse tail wrapped around a cotton swab, a shimmering dark spot spreading across the water after an oil spill. From rising sea levels to plastic pollution to toxic waste dumping, human activity is threatening the health of marine environments and, in turn, putting humans around the world in danger.” – EcoWatch

October 28, 2022
Heat waves driven by climate change have cost global economy trillions since 1990s
“…with the world’s poorest and lowest carbon-emitting nations suffering the most. The researchers used newly available, in-depth economic data for regions worldwide to find that from 1992-2013, heat waves statistically coincided with variations in economic growth and that an estimated $16 trillion was lost to the effects of high temperatures on human health, productivity and agricultural output.” – ScienceDaily

October 26, 2022
40% of Likely Student Voters Say Climate Change Motivates Them in Midterms
“A BestColleges survey also reveals the majority of students think climate change threatens their personal safety — and that policymakers should do more to address it. An overwhelming majority (86%) of students experience some amount of climate grief or anxiety, and 60% agree that climate change is an urgent problem. The majority (53%) also believe climate change should be a top priority for policymakers. Only 5% of students agree that climate change is a hoax or fake news. A large majority (65%) disagree. A third (33%) of students think oil and gas companies are most responsible for taking climate change action…. Even so, 92% of students have personally taken actions to address climate change.” – BestColleges

October 26, 2022
Global collaboration saved countries $67 billion in solar panel production costs
“Now, a new study published in the journal Nature has calculated that the globalized supply chain saved countries $67 billion in solar panel production costs. The study also found that if strong nationalistic policies that limit the free flow of goods, talent and capital are implemented going forward, solar panel costs will be much higher by 2030.” – ScienceDaily

October 26, 2022
The New World Envisioning Life After Climate Change
“The I.P.C.C. estimates that more than three billion people live today in places “highly vulnerable” to climate change. How many will move? How many will adapt? How many will suffer? The range of estimates is huge, a sign of how much uncertainty about human response hangs over everything we think we know about the climate future.” – The New York Times

October 26, 2022
Climate warming methane emissions rising faster than ever, study says
“The WMO’s Greenhouse Gas Bulletin said that ‘global emissions have rebounded since the COVID-related lockdowns’ and that the increases in methane levels in 2020 and 2021 were the largest since systematic record keeping began in 1983.” – The Washington Post

October 26, 2022
Earth is ‘unequivocally’ in midst of climate emergency, scientists say
International coalition of researchers says in a new report that the Earth’s vital signs have worsened to the point that ‘humanity is unequivocally facing a climate emergency.'” – ScienceDaily

October 26, 2022
World is on crash course to 2.5C warming, UN warns ahead of Cop27
“With days to go until the Cop27 climate summit in Egypt, the UN has published a damning review of current global climate commitments and called for more ambitious action to halt ‘the devastating consequences of runaway climate change.’ Unless national governments significantly strengthen their plans and put them into action immediately, we remain on course for around 2.5C of warming, the UN said.” – Independent

October 25. 2022
Climate change threatens emperor penguins with extinction, officials say
“It is the only animal that dares to breed during the Antarctic winter. It endures gale-force winds and freezing temperatures to lay and protect a single egg. Now climate change threatens Antarctica’s emperor penguin with extinction, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared Tuesday, as melting sea ice upends the habitat it needs to breed, feed and protect itself from predators. ‘This listing reflects the growing extinction crisis,’ Martha Williams, the federal wildlife agency’s director, said in a statement, as the agency gave the iconic seabird protection under the Endangered Species Act. ‘Climate change is having a profound impact on species around the world.'” – The Washington Post

October 24, 2022
Immune system-evading hybrid virus observed for first time
“Researchers found the RSV and influenza viruses fused together to form a new type of virus pathogen.” – The Guardian

October 23, 2022
Climate crisis poses ‘growing threat’ to health in UK, says expert
“The climate crisis poses a ‘significant and growing threat’ to health in the UK, the country’s most senior public health expert has warned. Prof Dame Jenny Harries, the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, said there was a common misconception that a warmer climate would bring net health benefits due to milder winters. But the climate emergency would bring far wider-reaching health impacts, she said, with food security, flooding and mosquito-borne diseases posing threats.” – The Guardian

October 19, 2022
Oceans are warming faster than ever. Here’s what could come next.
“The world’s oceans have been warming for generations, a trend that is accelerating and threatens to fuel more supercharged storms, devastate marine ecosystems and upend the lives and livelihoods of millions of people, according to a new scientific analysis. Published this week in the journal Nature Reviews, it finds that the upper reaches of the oceans — roughly the top 2,000 meters, or just over a mile — have been heating up around the planet since at least the 1950s, with the most stark changes observed in the Atlantic and Southern oceans.” – The Washington Post

October 19, 2022
Next pandemic may come from melting glaciers, new data shows
“Genetic analysis of soil and lake sediments from Lake Hazen, the largest high Arctic freshwater lake in the world, suggests the risk of viral spillover – where a virus infects a new host for the first time – may be higher close to melting glaciers. The findings imply that as global temperatures rise owing to climate change, it becomes more likely that viruses and bacteria locked up in glaciers and permafrost could reawaken and infect local wildlife, particularly as their range also shifts closer to the poles. For instance, in 2016 an outbreak of anthrax in northern Siberia that killed a child and infected at least seven other people was attributed to a heatwave that melted permafrost and exposed an infected reindeer carcass. Before this, the last outbreak in the region had been in 1941…. However, other recent research has suggested that unknown viruses can, and do, loiter in glacier ice. For instance, last year, researchers at Ohio State University in the US announced they had found genetic material from 33 viruses – 28 of them novel – in ice samples taken from the Tibetan plateau in China. Based on their location, the viruses were estimated to be approximately 15,000 years old.” – The Guardian

October 18, 2022
Pesticide use around world almost doubles since 1990, report finds
Agricultural chemicals drive falls of 30% in populations of field birds and butterflies, says Pesticide Atlas. Global pesticide use has soared by 80% since 1990, with the world market set to hit $130bn next year, according to a new Pesticide Atlas. But pesticides are also responsible for an estimated 11,000 human fatalities and the poisoning of 385 million people every year, the report finds. – The Guardian

October 17, 2022
Future emissions from ‘country of permafrost’ significant, must be factored into global climate targets
“By the end of this century, permafrost in the rapidly warming Arctic will likely emit as much carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere as a large industrial nation, and potentially more than the U.S. has emitted since the start of the industrial revolution.” –ScienceDaily

October 14, 2022
East Antarctic glacier melting at 70.8bn tonnes a year due to warm sea water
“Sue Cook, an ice shelf glaciologist at the University of Tasmania, said until relatively recently east Antarctica was not considered likely to experience rapid ice loss because the water in that region was mainly cold. ‘But recently we’ve realised that in some locations relatively warm water can reach the east Antarctic ice sheet and this paper confirms that one of those locations is the Denman glacier,’ Cook said.” The Guardian

October 13, 2022
‘If nature can’t survive then neither can we’: Global wildlife populations plunge 70% since 1970
“Global wildlife populations have plummeted by nearly 70 per cent in less than 50 years, a landmark report has found…. ‘The warnings in this report are stark,” Tanya Steele, the UK chief executive of the WWF, told The Independent. ‘If wildlife and nature can’t survive then neither can we.’” – Independent

October 12, 2022
Researchers Report a Staggering Decline in Wildlife. Here’s How to Understand It.
“The assessment’s latest number, issued Wednesday by 89 authors from around the world, is its most alarming yet: From 1970 to 2018, monitored populations of vertebrates declined an average of 69 percent. That’s more than two-thirds in only 48 years. It’s a staggering figure with serious implications, especially as nations prepare to meet in Montreal this December in an effort to agree on a new global plan to protect biodiversity…. Some scientists think the report actually underestimates the global biodiversity crisis, in part because devastating declines in amphibians may be underrepresented in the data.” – The New York Times

October 11, 2022
Ian is 15th billion-dollar disaster this year so far
“September 2022 was the fifth warmest, 10th driest on record.” – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

October 11, 2022
Billion-Dollar Disasters in 2022
“The frequency of billion-dollar disasters has also increased. In the last five years (2017-2021), there were just 18 days on average between billion-dollar disasters—compared to 82 days in the 1980s.” – Climate Central

October 11, 2022
Extreme heat could make parts of Asia, Africa uninhabitable in decades
“By the year 2100, extreme heat events will make parts of Asia and Africa uninhabitable for up to 600 million people, the United Nations and the Red Cross said Monday. Projected death rates from heat waves are ‘staggeringly high,’ comparable to all cancers or all infectious diseases, according to a report released ahead of next month’s U.N. Climate Change Conference in Egypt.” – The Washington Post

October 11, 2022
Insects Are Feasting on Plants Like Never Before, And The Consequences Are Unknown
“For eons, plants and insects have lived in a delicate dance, of pollinators giving life to flowering plants and plants feeding the insect masses. But a new study suggests that insects are feasting on plants more so now than in the past 66.8 million years…. What’s clear already is that something has shifted in the seven decades since 1955, the briefest of windows compared to the geological eras that unfolded before we humans started reshaping the biosphere.” – ScienceAltert

October 6, 2022
Kathmandu Finally Got Tap Water. After a Climate Disaster, It Was Gone.
“A disaster that wiped out a decades-long project to bring pipe-borne water to Nepal’s capital shows the mismatch between slow-moving donor-financed efforts and rapid global warming.” – The New York Times

October 6, 2022
Professors call for more research into climate-change related threats to civilization
“An opinion piece published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences, urgently calls for more research into the specific pathways by which civilization could potentially collapse due to climate change. ‘Scientists have warned that climate change threatens the habitability of large regions of the Earth and even civilization itself, but surprisingly little research exists about how collapse could happen and what can be done to prevent it,’ says Dr. Daniel Steel of the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia.” – ScienceDaily

October 6, 2022
IMF chief warns world heading towards age of greater instability
The world faces growing recession risks and a “fundamental shift” away from relative stability to an age of breakdown in international relations and more frequent natural disasters, the head of the International Monetary Fund has warned. Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF’s managing director, said a succession of economic shocks had unleashed persistently high inflation, prompting a cost of living crisis in countries around the world.” – The Guardian

October 6, 2022
Weatherwatch: climate crisis causing tropical viruses to spread
“Infections such as dengue fever on rise in Europe as virus-transmitting mosquitoes expand habitats.” – The Guardian

October 4, 2022
The Monsoon Is Becoming More Extreme
“South Asia’s monsoon is inextricably linked, culturally and economically, to much of Asia. Climate change is making it increasingly violent and erratic…. Across South Asia, climate change is making the monsoon more erratic, less dependable and even dangerous, with more violent rainfall as well as worsening dry spells. For a region home to nearly one-quarter of the world’s population, the consequences are dire.” – The New York Times

October 1, 2022
Nearly Half Of The World’s Bird Species Are In Decline: Report
“Birds tell us about the health of our natural environment — we ignore their messages at our peril.” – HuffPost

September 30, 2022
Fate of Amazon rests on Brazil election, say experts
“Further destruction under Bolsonaro could push vital rainforest past irreversible tipping point.” – The Guardian

September 29, 2022
Scientists find link between fast-melting Arctic ice and ocean acidification
“An international team of researchers has found acidity levels increasing three to four times faster than ocean waters elsewhere and a strong correlation between the accelerated rate of melting ice in the region and the rate of ocean acidification. This threatens the Earth’s climate and the survival of plants, shellfish, coral reefs and other marine life.” – ScienceDaily

September 29, 2022
Observations confirm model predictions of sea-level change from Greenland melt
“Rising sea levels from melting glaciers and ice sheets pose an increasing threat to coastal communities worldwide…. The new study confirms the accuracy of the geophysical predictions of sea-level change and adds confidence to projections of sea level rise across the next decades and century. As Coulson says, ‘It’s a powerful and sensitive approach to monitoring ice sheets and glaciers in our warming world.'” – ScienceDaily

September 29, 2022
Mexico named deadliest country for environmental activists
“The attacks against activists are part of a broader region-wide pattern: A combination of rich natural resources, powerful international companies, violent criminal groups, and entrenched government corruption, including in some cases officials who play a role in killings, has made Latin America a hot spot for violence.” – Boston Globe

September 29, 2022
Over 1,700 environmental activists murdered in 10 years, investigation finds
“Report shows Brazil has been deadliest country for environmental defenders while over three-quarters of attacks in 2021 took place in Latin America.” – Independent

September 29, 2022
Ozone pollution threatens plant health and makes it harder for pollinators to find flowers
“Over the past decades, rising levels of ozone pollution have been interrupting pollination, impacting the livelihood of both plants and the animals that pollinate them. Researchers now explain how an excess of ground-level ozone can damage plant foliage, change plants’ flowering patterns, and act as a barrier to pollinators finding blooms.” – ScienceDaily

September 29, 2022
Methane Might Be a Bigger Climate Problem Than Thought, Study Finds
“Improving efficiency and ensuring that all flares remain lit would result in annual emissions reductions in the United States equal to taking nearly 3 million cars off the road each year, the scientists said.” – The New York Times

September 29, 2022
Scientists Discover Arctic Waters Are Rapidly Becoming Acidic in Dire Climate Warning
“The acidification of the world’s oceans—literally, becoming more acidic—is a concerning trend that’s closely watched by scientists. Indeed, acidification kills wildlife and has been implicated in past mass extinctions on Earth. In a new study, scientists have found that acidification in the western Arctic Ocean is occurring at a rate three to four times higher than in other oceans due to climate change—a finding that could spell trouble for global oceans as well.” – Vice

September 29, 2022
Climate change has come for the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter
“China just finished one of its most disastrous summers on record, with record-breaking heat, drought, and wildfires leading to water shortages even into the fall. More than 900 million people — or about 64 percent of China’s population — faced brutal heat waves alone, highlighting how much further the nation has to go to protect itself against worsening climate-related disasters. As weather historian Maximiliano Herrera told New Scientist magazine last month while the heat waves were ongoing, ‘There is nothing in world climatic history which is even minimally comparable to what is happening in China.’” – Vox

September 28, 2022
Switzerland’s Glaciers Are Melting Like Never Before, Says New Study
“Their ice volume declined by 6 percent in a ‘disastrous’ 2022 amid rising concerns about global warming and a summer heat wave that swept across Europe.” – HuffPost

September 28, 2022
Half of world’s bird species in decline as destruction of avian life intensifies
“State of the World’s Birds report warns human actions and climate crisis putting 49% in decline, with one in eight bird species under threat of extinction.” – The Guardian

September 27, 2022
Trees get overheated in a warmer rainforest
The ability of rainforests to store carbon can decrease in pace with climate change…. Increased heat threatens especially the species that store most carbon.” – ScienceDaily

September 22, 2022
Coastal cities in parts of Asia are sinking fastest, study finds
“Cities along the coasts of South and Southeast Asia are sinking — even faster than similar cities elsewhere — because of rapid, poorly controlled urbanization, scientists say, heightening risks already posed by rising sea levels.” – The Washington Post

September 22, 2022
World Bank Leader, Accused of Climate Denial, Offers a New Response
“David Malpass catapulted onto the international stage three years ago when he was nominated by President Donald J. Trump to become president of the World Bank. He was charged with improving the economies of poor nations, many of which are being battered by extreme weather fueled by climate change…. The uproar began on Tuesday when Mr. Malpass refused to say during a public event at The New York Times whether the burning of oil, gas and coal was driving climate change.” – The New York Times

September 20. 2022
Millions of farmers ‘replumb’ the world’s largest delta
“Collective groundwater pumping by millions of farmers in Bangladesh in the dry season each year has created vast natural reservoirs underground that, over a 30-year-period, rival the world’s largest dams – these sustain irrigation that has transformed this previously famine-prone country to a food-secure nation, according to a new study…. Through this process, which the authors describe as ‘The Bengal Water Machine,’ more than 75 cubic kilometres of freshwater was ‘captured’ over 30-years – a volume equivalent to the combined reservoir capacities of China’s Three Gorges Dam and the Hoover Dam in the US. They highlight this intervention as a sustainable alternative to conventional approaches to seasonal river flow storage for irrigation, including dams and reservoirs, which are challenging to construct in densely populated alluvial plains, like the Bengal Basin, that comprise extensive flat landforms of sand, silt and clay laid down by annual floodwaters.” – ScienceDaily

September 16, 2022
Criticism intensifies after big oil admits ‘gaslighting’ public over green aims
“Fury as ‘explosive’ files reveal largest oil companies contradicted public statements and wished bedbugs upon critical activists.” – The Guardian

September 16, 2022
Governments urged to act after oil giants accused of misleading public
“Documents suggest Shell and BP staff privately downplayed public commitments on climate crisis.” – The Guardian

September 15, 2020
Malthus Was Right
“‘Malthus observed that an increase in a nation’s food production improved the well-being of the population, but the improvement was temporary because it led to population growth, which in turn restored the original per capita production level. In other words, humans had a propensity to utilize abundance for population growth rather than for maintaining a high standard of living […] Populations had a tendency to grow until the lower class suffered hardship, want and greater susceptibility to famine and disease….’” – Medium

September 15, 2022
Climate crisis ‘threatens rule of law and civilisation’, lawyers warn, in call to end fossil fuel links
“Major British law firms are contributing to the climate crisis, the letter warns. More than 170 prominent lawyers have signed a letter warning that breaching the 1.5C temperature goal established by the Paris Agreement could cause mass loss of life and the breakdown of the rule of law…. The letter states: ‘The science is clear: continuing on current trajectories will lead us to breach the 1.5C temperature threshold and doing so presents intolerable risks.’ ‘The City is one of the largest global centres for financing fossil fuelprojects, assessed in 2019 as supporting at least 15 per cent of global emissions.'” – Independent

September 15, 2022
‘Existential catastrophe’ caused by AI is likely unavoidable, DeepMind researcher warns
“Researchers from the University of Oxford and Google’s artificial intelligence division DeepMind have claimed that there is a high probability of advanced forms of AI becoming ‘existentially dangerous to life on Earth.’ In a recent article in the peer-reviewed journal AI Magazine, the researchers warned that there would be ‘catastrophic consequences’ if the development of certain AI agents continues.” – Independent

September 14, 2022
Rich countries set to fail in providing $100bn climate finance in 2022 again, report says
“Countries like the US and UK contributed a fraction of their pledged climate finance goals in past years.” – Independent

September 14, 2022
Earth barrelling towards ‘uncharted territory of destruction,’ new climate report warns
“Weather, climate, and water-related disasters have increased by a factor of five over last 50 years, report says…. ‘Using the best estimate of warming since pre-industrial times, the likelihood of the annual mean global near-surface temperature temporarily exceeding 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels for at least one of the next five years is 48 per cent and is increasing with time,’ the WMO report warned.” – Independent

September 14, 2022
Are we missing a crucial component of sea-level rise?
“‘You can’t necessarily assume that everywhere that’s currently frozen will stay frozen,’ said senior study author Dustin Schroeder, an associate professor of geophysics at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. ‘These regions may be under-appreciated potential contributors.’… ‘When you consider the recent theoretical work showing that thermal processes at the bed can be easy to activate – even spontaneous – it makes near-term thawing of the ice-sheet bed seem like a far easier switch to flip than we’d thought.'” – ScienceDaily

September 14, 2022
Private equity still investing billions in dirty energy despite pledge to clean up
“Private equity firms pumping billions of dollars into dirty energy projects are exposing investors, including pensioners, to unknown financial risks as the planet burns and governments face escalating pressure to act, new research finds. The first-of-its-kind climate risks scorecard ranks Carlyle, Warburg Pincus and KKR as the worst offenders among eight major private equity companies with significant fossil fuel portfolios.” – The Guardian

September 12, 2022
TWO NEW CLIMATE REPORTS PAINT A DIRE PICTURE FOR THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY
We are rapidly approaching a number of ‘tipping points’ that will change our world forever.” – MIC

September 13, 2022
Switching to renewable energy could save trillions – study
“Switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy could save the world as much as $12tn (£10.2tn) by 2050, an Oxford University study says.” – BBC

September 13, 2022
Little Ice Age study reveals North Atlantic reached a tipping point
“‘Our latest analysis suggests that the system of ocean currents in the northern North Atlantic could be at risk of a tipping point again now due to global warming, leading once again to abrupt climate change over Europe,’ said Professor Tim Lenton, Director of the Global Systems Institute.” – ScienceDaily

September 13, 2022
World heading into ‘uncharted territory of destruction’, says climate report
“Governments and businesses failing to change fast enough, says United in Science report, as weather gets increasingly extreme.” – The Guardian

September 12, 2022
Megadrought in the American south-west: a climate disaster unseen in 1,200 yearsThe Guardian

September 9, 2022
‘A new way of life’: the Marxist, post-capitalist, green manifesto captivating Japan
“Kohei Saito’s book Capital in the Anthropocene has become an unlikely hit among young people and is about to be translated into English…. In practical terms, that means an end to mass production and the mass consumption of wasteful goods such as fast fashion. In Capital in the Anthropocene, Saito also advocates decarbonisation through shorter working hours and prioritising essential “labour-intensive” work such as caregiving.” – The Guardian

September 9, 2022
A breakthrough discovery in carbon capture conversion for ethylene production
“A team of rWeather, climate, and water-related disasters have increased by a factor of five over last 50 years, report saysesearchers has discovered a way to convert 100% of carbon dioxide captured from industrial exhaust into ethylene, a key building block for plastic products…. Ethylene is usually made in a process… [that] generates about 1.5 metric tons of carbon emissions per ton of ethylene created. On average, manufacturers produce around 160 million tons of ethylene each year, which results in more than 260 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide.” – ScienceDaily

September 8, 2022
World on brink of five ‘disastrous’ climate tipping points, study finds
“Giant ice sheets, ocean currents and permafrost regions may already have passed point of irreversible change.” – The Guardian

September 8, 2022
“Rising seas could swallow millions of U.S. acres within decades
“New research finds an estimated 25,000 properties in Louisiana could slip below tidal boundary lines by 2050. Florida, Texas and North Carolina also face profound economic risks.” – The Washington Post

September 7, 2022
Treasure our trees
“Nearly one-third of tree species are threatened with extinction. This is more than twice the number of threatened mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles combined.” – Nature

September 6, 2022
Overall warming of up to 5°C in this century projected for the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle EastScienceDaily

September 5, 2022
Bolsonaro’s war on the Amazon: examining evidence of crimes against Indigenous people– video
“A serial denier of human-driven climate breakdown, Jair Bolsonaro has been criticised in the past for failing to protect the Amazon rainforest and its native communities. Now, with less than a month before Brazilians cast their ballot in the country’s presidential elections on 2 October, using architectural techniques and satellite technologies, researchers at Forensic Architecture, in cooperation with the Climate Litigation Accelerator, have examined evidence of crimes against Indigenous people and the true impact of Bolsonaro’s policies as he seeks a second term.” – The Guardian

September 5, 2022
Faster in the Past: New seafloor images of West Antarctic Ice Sheet upend understanding of Thwaites Glacier retreat
“The Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica has been an elephant in the room for scientists trying to make global sea level rise predictions. This massive ice stream is already in a phase of fast retreat; a total loss of the glacier and surrounding icy basins could raise sea level from three to 10 feet…. ‘Our results suggest that pulses of very rapid retreat have occurred at Thwaites Glacier in the last two centuries, and possibly as recently as the mid-20th Century,’ Graham said. ‘Thwaites is really holding on today by its fingernails, and we should expect to see big changes over small timescales in the future-even from one year to the next-once the glacier retreats beyond a shallow ridge in its bed,” said marine geophysicist and study co-author Robert Larter from the British Antarctic Survey.’… According to the United Nations, roughly 40 percent of the human population lives within 60 miles of the coast.” – ScienceDaily

September 5, 2022
Burning forests for energy isn’t ‘renewable’ – now the EU must admit it
Greta Thunberg and others: The EU’s classification of wood fuels is accelerating the climate crisis. Next week, a key vote can change that.” – The Guardian

September 5, 2022
Large parts of Amazon may never recover, major study says
“Swathes of rainforest have reached tipping point, research by scientists and Indigenous organisations concludes. Environmental destruction in parts of the Amazon is so complete that swathes of the rainforest have reached tipping point and might never be able to recover, a major study carried out by scientists and Indigenous organisations has found. ‘The tipping point is not a future scenario but rather a stage already present in some areas of the region,’ the report concludes. ‘Brazil and Bolivia concentrate 90% of all combined deforestation and degradation. As a result, savannization is already taking place in both countries.’” – The Guardian

September 5, 2022
Over-consumption and drought reduce lake in vital Spanish wetland to puddle
“Experts and environmentalists say aquifer feeding Doñana national park, a Unesco heritage site, has been overexploited for tourism and to water fruit farms. The largest permanent lake in Spain’s Doñana national park, one of Europe’s biggest and most important wetlands, has shrivelled to a small puddle as years of drought and overexploitation take their toll on the aquifer that feeds the area and sustains millions of migrating birds.” – The Guardian

September 4, 2022
The super-rich ‘preppers’ planning to save themselves from the apocalypse
“Tech billionaires are buying up luxurious bunkers and hiring military security to survive a societal collapse they helped create, but like everything they do, it has unintended consequences.” – The Guardian

September 2, 2022
Prevent tree extinctions or face global ecological catastrophe, scientists warn
“Scientists have issued an urgent ‘warning to humanity’ about the global impact of tree extinctions…. ‘Without acting now, it will impact humanity, our economies and livelihoods. Ecologically, it will have a catastrophic impact on the planet.'” – The Guardian

September 2, 2022
‘Last-chance saloon’: race to wreck the Amazon as prospect of Bolsonaro defeat looms
“Activists suspect criminals are ramping up destruction in ‘last opportunity to deforest without having to pay the price.’… A chunk of the Amazon larger than Taiwan has already been torn down since Bolsonaro took office in January 2019, with an area nearly twice the size of Tokyo destroyed in the first half of this year.” –The Guardian

September

September 1, 2022
Global fish stocks can’t rebuild if nothing done to halt climate change and overfishing
“Their simulations suggest that climate change has reduced fish stocks in 103 of 226 marine regions studied, including Canada, from their historical levels. These stocks will struggle to rebuild their numbers under projected global warming levels in the 21st century.” – ScienceDaily

August 31, 2022
This Hot Summer Is One of the Coolest of the Rest of Our Lives
“Heat waves broke temperature records around the world this past summer, but it will still be one of the coolest summers of the next few decades.” – Scientific American

August 31, 2022
‘We’re going to pay in a big way’: a shocking new book on the climate crisis
“In An Inconvenient Apocalypse, authors Wes Jackson and Robert Jensen style themselves as heralds of some very bad news: societal collapse on a global scale is inevitable, and those who manage to survive the mass death and crumbling of the world as we know it will have to live in drastically transformed circumstances. According to Jackson and Jensen, there’s no averting this collapse – electric cars aren’t going to save us, and neither are global climate accords. The current way of things is doomed, and it’s up to us to prepare as best we can to ensure as soft a landing as possible when the inevitable apocalypse arrives.” – The Guardian

August 31, 2022
Global fossil fuel subsidies almost doubled in 2021, analysis finds
“Global public subsidies for fossil fuels almost doubled to $700bn in 2021, analysis has shown, representing a ‘roadblock’ to tackling the climate crisis.” – The Guardian

August 30, 2022
Arctic lakes are vanishing in surprise climate finding
“As the region warms nearly four times faster than the rest of the world, glaciers collapse, wildlife suffers and habitats continue to disappear at a record pace…. Now, a new threat has become apparent: Arctic lakes are drying up, according to research published in the journal Nature Climate Change. Webb’s research reveals that over the past 20 years, Arctic lakes have shrunk or dried completely across the pan-Arctic, a region spanning the northern parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, Scandinavia and Alaska. The findings offer clues about why the mass drying is happening and how the loss can be slowed.” – ScienceDaily

August 30, 2022
The Amazon, Undone – A Failure of Enforcement
“Deforesters Are Plundering the Amazon. Brazil Is Letting Them Get Away with It. A Failure of Enforcement.” – The Washington Post

August 30, 2022
A third of Pakistan is underwater from floods, climate chief says
“That would mean an area about the size of Colorado is underwater. Pakistan, home to about 220 million, has a land mass of 307,000 square miles. Flooding caused by eight consecutive weeks of rainfall has killed more than 1,100 people…. The floods could cost Pakistan, which had already been battling an economic crisis, more than $10 billion, the country’s finance minister said, according to Bloomberg News…. The floods have revived an old debate about whether developed, wealthier countries such as the United States — the largest historical emitter of carbon dioxide — should help cover the costs of climate change for poorer countries.” The Washington Post

August 29, 2022
Greenland ice sheet set to raise sea levels by nearly a foot, study finds
The findings in the journal Nature Climate Change project that it is now inevitable that 3.3 percent of the Greenland ice sheet will melt — equal to 110 trillion tons of ice, the researchers said. That will trigger nearly a foot of global sea-level rise…. The finding that 3.3 percent of Greenland is, in effect, already lost represents “a minimum, a lower bound,” Box said. It could be much worse than that, the study suggests, especially if the world continues to burn fossil fuels and if 2012, which set a record for Greenland ice loss, becomes more like the norm.” – The Washington Post

August 27, 2022
Time running out to protect world’s oceans, conservationists say as UN treaty talks stall
A fifth round of negotiations for a UN ocean treaty to protect and manage the high seas failed to reach an agreement on Friday in New York. The treaty has been described as “the most significant ocean protection agreement for four decades’…. ‘Time has all but run out,’ said Laura Meller of Greenpeace in a statement. ‘Failure to deliver a treaty at these talks jeopardises the livelihoods and food security of billions of people around the world.’” – The Guardian

August 25, 2022
Australia fires damaged ozone layer, caused major warming, study says
“Australia’s fire season in late 2019 and early 2020 was extreme. It blew smoke some 20 miles into the sky, not unlike what a nuclear blast might cause. Smoke from the fires circled the globe and hovered in plumes over the Pacific…. Lilly Damany-Pearce, a researcher at England’s University of Exeter who led the study, said that both the stratospheric warming and a sizable ozone hole that spread over most of the Antarctic continent in 2020 were likely to have been caused by the violent fire-induced thunderclouds, or ‘pyrocumulonimbus’ events, which injected enormous plumes of smoke into the lower stratosphere.” – The Washington Post

August 25, 2022
Threat of nuclear catastrophe in Ukraine adds to global energy chaos
“Russia’s invasion shows the immense danger nuclear power can pose in conflict. The largest nuclear power plant in Europe, Zaporizhzhia, lies in southeastern Ukraine. It has been held by Russian forces since March, but amplified fighting over recent weeks has led to an unprecedented fear of a nuclear catastrophe coinciding with a brutal war.” – The Washington Post

August 24, 2022
China heatwave: scorching temperatures and severe drought – in pictures
“Parts of China are enduring the worst heatwave in decades, affecting crops and power supplies as water levels reach record lows.” – The Guardian 

August 22, 2022
As many as one in six U.S. tree species is threatened with extinction
“Some 100 native tree species could die out amid an onslaught of invasive insects, a surge in deadly diseases and the all-encompassing peril of climate change.” – The Washington Post

August 22, 2022
A historical perspective on glacial retreat
“Researchers have now reconstructed the extent of Switzerland’s glacier ice loss in the 20th century. The researchers used historical imagery and conclude that the country’s glaciers lost half their volume between 1931 and 2016.” – ScienceDaily

August  19, 2022
A new strain of avian flu is decimating wild birds. Humans should worry
“In a pre-Covid 19 world, the deaths of 86mn birds would have been a global news story.” – Financial Times
(
Climate change increases cross-species viral transmission risk – Nature, 28, April, 2022)

August 19, 2022
Climate change likely to raise wheat prices in food-insecure regions and exacerbate economic inequality
“Wheat is a key source of nutrition for people across the globe, providing 20% of calories and protein for 3.4 billion people worldwide. Even if we meet climate mitigation targets and stay under 2°C of warming, climate change is projected to significantly alter the yield and price of wheat in the coming years.” – ScienceDaily 

Augusts 18, 2022
The century of climate migration: why we need to plan for the great upheaval
“People driven from their homes by climate disaster need protection. And aging nations need them. A great upheaval is coming. Climate-driven movement of people is adding to a massive migration already underway to the world’s cities. The number of migrants has doubled globally over the past decade, and the issue of what to do about rapidly increasing populations of displaced people will only become greater and more urgent. To survive climate breakdown will require a planned and deliberate migration of a kind humanity has never before undertaken.” – The Guardian

August 17, 2022
California urges residents to cut power use as searing heatwave grips US west
“A searing heatwave settles over the state and stretches power supplies to a breaking point, in the latest sign of extreme weather conditions in the US west.” – The Guardian

August 17, 2022
Huge volcanic eruptions: time to prepare
“More must be done to forecast and try to manage globally disruptive volcanic eruptions. The risks are greater than people think. The massive eruption of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha‘apai volcano this January in Tonga, in the south Pacific Ocean, was the volcanic equivalent of a ‘near miss’ asteroid whizzing by the Earth. The eruption was the largest since Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines blew in 1991, and the biggest explosion ever recorded by instruments…. The Tongan eruption should be a wake-up call. Recent data from ice cores suggest that the probability of an eruption with a magnitude of 7 (10 or 100 times larger than Tonga) or greater this century is 1 in 62. Eruptions of this size have, in the past, caused abrupt climate change and the collapse of civilizations, and have been associated with the rise of pandemics3.” – Nature

August 15, 2022
Nuclear war would cause a global famine and kill billions
“Even a nuclear conflict between new nuclear states would decimate crop production and result in widespread starvation. More than 5 billion people would die of hunger following a full-scale nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia, according to a global study led by climate scientists that estimates post-conflict crop production.” – ScoienceDaily

August 15, 2022
Irreversible declines in freshwater storage projected in parts of Asia by 2060
“A comprehensive study on water storage in Tibetan Plateau projects near-total loss of freshwater storage in parts of Asia by mid-century under modest climate policy scenario. The Tibetan Plateau, known as the ‘water tower’ of Asia, supplies freshwater for nearly two billion people who live downstream.” – ScienceDaily

August 15, 2022
Why Freya the Walrus is the perfect metaphor for our times
She lived, she laughed, she was cruelly euthanised.” – Dazed

August 12, 2022
Antarctica’s ice shelves could be melting faster than we thought
“A new model illustrates how meltwater from the Antarctic ice can trap heat under ice shelves, increasing melting in a feedback loop.” – ScienceDaily

August 11, 2022
Arctic now warming four times faster than rest of the world, scientists say
“The new research comes a day after staggering findings from the other side of the world. An international team of scientists published research on Wednesday that the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, known as the ‘sleeping giant,’ could singlehandedly raise sea levels by up to five metres (16ft) in the next few centuries if planetary heating continues apace.” – Independent

August 11, 2022
Climate change’s impact intensifies as U.S. prepares to take action
“Over the past 40 years, as the world’s largest historical emitter of greenhouses gases repeatedly failed to take significant action on the climate, the region surrounding Svalbard has warmed at least four times faster than the global average, according to significant new research published Thursday. The study suggests that warming in the Arctic is happening at a much faster rate than many scientists had expected. And while U.S. lawmakers this summer hashed out the details of a massive bill to speed their nation’s shift toward cleaner energy — the culmination of months of deliberations — the new findings were just the latest visceral reminder that the planet’s changing climate isn’t waiting around for human action.” – The Washington Post

August 10, 2022
Even modest climate change may lead to sweeping changes in northernmost forests
“Even relatively modest climate warming and associated precipitation shifts may dramatically alter Earth’s northernmost forests, which constitute one of the planet’s largest nearly intact forested ecosystems and are home to a big chunk of the planet’s terrestrial carbon.” – ScienceDaily

August 10, 2022
In the Amazon, a U.N. Agency Has a Green Mission, but Dirty Partners
“One of the world’s largest sustainable development agencies has worked with energy companies to quash opposition and keep oil flowing, even in sensitive areas…. In 2017, for example, two years after world leaders adopted the Paris climate agreement, the agency published a report on the positive role the oil and gas industry could play for the world. It listed an Exxon Mobil recycling initiative and Chevron’s promotion of engineering in classrooms.” – The New York Times

August 10, 2022
Fate of ‘sleeping giant’ East Antarctic ice sheet ‘in our hands’ – study
“The fate of the world’s biggest ice sheet rests in the hands of humanity, a new analysis has shown. If global heating is limited to 2C, the vast East Antarctic ice sheet should remain stable, but if the climate crisis drives temperatures higher, melting could drive up sea level by many metres. The East Antarctic ice sheet (EAIS) holds the vast majority of Earth’s glacier ice. Sea levels would rise by 52 metres if it all melted. It was thought to be stable, but is now showing signs of vulnerability, the scientists said.” – The Guardian

August 8, 2022
Climate Change Is Supercharging Most Infectious Diseases, New Study Finds
“More than half of all human infectious diseases in recorded history — Lyme, West Nile, hantavirus, typhoid, HIV and influenza, to name a few — have been exacerbated by the mounting impacts of greenhouse gas-driven climate change.” – HuffPost

August 6, 2022
Revealed: BP’s ‘greenwashing’ social media ads as anger over fuel costs rose
“BP has spent more than £800,000 on social media influence ads in the UK this year that champion the company’s investments in green energy, it can be revealed. On Tuesday, BP announced a 14-year high profit of £7bn for the second quarter of this year. In the previous eight days, the company paid about £570,000 to Facebook and Instagram for influence ads that reached tens of millions of viewers in the UK. ‘These ads are intended to create a clean warm glow about the companies concerned, giving them more social licence to operate,’ said Doug Parr, chief scientist for Greenpeace UK.” – The Guardian

August 5, 2022
How Republicans Are ‘Weaponizing’ Public Office Against Climate Action
“A Times investigation revealed a coordinated effort by state treasurers to use government muscle and public funds to punish companies trying to reduce greenhouse gases.” – The New York Times

August 5, 2022
Nuclear weapons a ‘loaded gun’, warns UN chief on Hiroshima anniversary
“’Tens of thousands of people were killed in this city in the blink of an eye. Women, children and men were incinerated in a hellish fire,’ he said. Survivors were ‘cursed with a radioactive legacy’ of cancer and other health problems. ‘We must ask: What have we learned from the mushroom cloud that swelled above this city?’ Around 140,000 people died when Hiroshima was bombed by the United States on August 6, 1945 – a toll that includes those who perished after the blast from radiation exposure. Today, ‘crises with grave nuclear undertones are spreading fast – the Middle East, to the Korean peninsula, to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,’ Guterres said, repeating warnings he made this week at a nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty conference in New York. ‘Humanity is playing with a loaded gun.'” – AFP

August 4, 2022
The lost nuclear bombs that no one can find
“The US has lost at least three nuclear bombs that have never been located – they’re still out there to this day….. ‘We don’t know as much about other countries. We don’t really know anything about the United Kingdom or France, or Russia or China,’ says Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Non-proliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Non-proliferation Studies, California. ‘So I don’t think we have anything like a full accounting.'” – BBC

August 4, 2022
‘They are not slowing down’: The rise of billion-dollar disastersThe Washington Post

August 4, 2022
Uniper Warns on German Power Output as Rhine River Dries Up
“Uniper SE warned it may have to cut output at two key coal-fired power plants in Germany as the company struggles to get fuel supplies along the Rhine River, exacerbating an energy crunch that has threatened to push the continent’s largest economies into recession. Water levels on the Rhine have fallen so low that the river may effectively close soon.” – Bloomberg

August 3, 2022
‘Grotesque greed’: immoral fossil fuel profits must be taxed, says UN chief
“Guterres said the ‘grotesque greed’ of the fossil fuel companies and their financial backers had led to the combined profits of the largest energy companies in the first quarter of this year hitting almost $100bn (£82bn). ‘It is immoral for oil and gas companies to be making record profits from this energy crisis on the backs of the poorest people and communities, at a massive cost to the climate,’ he said.” – The Guardian

August 2, 2022
World ‘one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation’, UN chief says
“Citing Ukraine, the Korean peninsula and Middle East, António Guterres says: ‘We have been extraordinarily lucky so far. But luck is not a strategy.’” – The Guardian

August 1, 2022
‘Climate endgame’: Potential for environmental crisis to end humanity ‘dangerously underexplored’
“Despite decades of warnings from the world’s best scientists that soaring greenhouse gas emissions are driving the planet ever closer to catastrophe, the magnitude of the perils ahead remain “dangerously underexplored”, experts have warned. An international team of researchers led by the University of Cambridge have said that “catastrophic” scenarios could be triggered by global heating worse than many have predicted, or by cascading impacts of events – or both at once. As a result, they have said the world must start preparing for the possibility of a ‘climate endgame’ for our species.”

August 1, 2022
The big idea: do nations really need borders?
“In an era of global heating, fixed boundaries may soon be unsustainable. What are the alternatives?” – The Guardian

July 30, 2022
‘Soon it will be unrecognisable’: total climate meltdown cannot be stopped, says expert
“The publication of Bill McGuire’s latest book, Hothouse Earth, could not be more timely…. The crucial point, he argues, is that there is now no chance of us avoiding a perilous, all-pervasive climate breakdown. We have passed the point of no return and can expect a future in which lethal heatwaves and temperatures in excess of 50C (120F) are common in the tropics; where summers at temperate latitudes will invariably be baking hot, and where our oceans are destined to become warm and acidic. ‘A child born in 2020 will face a far more hostile world that its grandparents did,’ McGuire insists.” – The Guardian

July 30, 2022
The Gas Industry Is Pumping Money Into A Tiny Local Race To Crush A Climate Champion
“Alex Ramel took the lead on electrifying buildings in Washington state — and fossil fuel interests want to make an example of him.” – HuffPost

July 29, 2022
Brazil approves major road through Amazon rainforest despite illegal logging fears
“A study estimated the project would result in a fivefold rise in deforestation by 2030, the equivalent of an area larger than the US state of Florida. Mr Bolsonaro’s weakening of environmental protections has already spurred soaring deforestation, with clearances of the Brazilian Amazon hitting a record high in 2022. Satellite images taken between January and June this year show 1,500 square miles of forest destroyed, more than in any six-month period in the seven years of record-keeping under the current methodology.” – Independent

July 29, 2022
A window of opportunity for methane to slip by nature’s filters
“Warmer oceans can lead to large amounts of methane being released from the seabeds, which may amplify climate warming.” – ScienceDaily

July 28, 2022
New Antarctic study shows levels of ‘forever chemicals’ reaching the remote continent have been increasing
“Toxic ‘fluorinated forever chemicals’ have increased markedly in the remote environment in recent decades and scientists believe CFC-replacements could be among likely sources.” – ScienceDaily

July 28, 2022
West Virginia punishes banks that it says don’t support coal
“The announcement, made by West Virginia’s treasurer, Riley Moore, is the first time a state has moved to sever banking relationships with major Wall Street firms over objections to their efforts to reduce dangerous planet-warming emissions.” – Boston Globe

July 28, 2022
‘It’s plunder’: Mexico desperate for water while drinks companies use billions of litres
“As drought grips cities like Monterrey, people queue with buckets for brackish water. But Coca-Cola and other firms are still extracting groundwater.” – The Guardian

July 27, 2022
THE AMAZON, UNDONE – THE GOD OF SÃO FÉLIX
“He’s been called a deforester and killer. Now he’s called mayor…. It’s not just that Mayor João Cleber Torres had aligned himself with the land grabbers…. Torres moved to São Félix do Xingu in 1981, when it was little more than dense forest. He is then alleged to have built what federal attorneys described in an internal memo as a large criminal organization that butchered the jungle — first extracting its precious wood, then stealing the land and selling it to be cleared for pasture. Torres, attorneys wrote in the memo, orchestrated ‘dozens of homicides,’ assembled a network of 100 gunslingers, and violently seized territory from the weak and the isolated, including in this very Indigenous territory. Police reports show that he was investigated for homicide in 2002. His criminal file links him to two cases of attempted homicide in 2003 and 2005. Records indicate that he has been charged with illegal deforestation, fined more than $2.4 million for deforestation and accused by federal attorneys, in 2016, of subjecting farmworkers to slavery-like conditions. The catchphrase that one Brazilian journalist and residents attribute to him: ‘Either you sell the land to me, or I’ll buy it from your widow.'” – The Washington Post

July 27, 2022
Destroying the Environment Is a War Crime, Too
“Beneath the human catastrophe Russia has inflicted on Ukraine is an array of environmental disasters that will impact generations to come.” – Foreign Policy

July 27, 2022
Risk of nuclear war from cutting off China and Russia, says security tsar
The west risks the initiation of nuclear conflict with China or Russia because of a “breakdown of communication” with the two countries, the UK’s national security adviser has warned.” – The Guardian

July 27, 2022
Looking for someone to blame for the extreme heat? Try Wall Street
“Banks’ financing of coal, oil, and gas was higher in 2021 than it was in 2016, the year after the Paris agreement was adopted.” – The Guardian

July 26, 2022
Hot on the trail of the causes of rapid ice sheet instabilities in climate history
“A thin freshwater lens lying atop millions of cubic kilometers of water during the Heinrich events is presently considered to be the cause of the disruption of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), or its complete shutdown, with profound regional and global climatic consequences…. A continuous warming of the ocean at this depth was critical for destabilizing the ice shelf from below, and eventually led to the accelerated shedding of icebergs – the Heinrich Events…. ‘If the overturning circulation should weaken in the future due to anthropogenic climate change,” suggests Cristiano Chiessi of the University of São Paulo, ‘we would expect an accelerated warming of the deeper subpolar North Atlantic that could negatively impact both the stability of the present-day Arctic glaciers and the freshwater budget of the North Atlantic.'” – ScienceDaily

July 25, 2022
‘Insect apocalypse’ may cause plants to battle for pollinators and ‘destabilise’ co-existence
“Three fourths of the crops on the face of this earth depend on insect pollinators, yet the insect abundance has dropped 50% worldwide and the number of species has dropped 27%…. We can’t feed seven and a half billion people without these insects…. The biggest problems are chemicals, pesticides, fertilizers… the warmer climate… deforestation.” – Independent

July 25, 2021
The insect apocalypse: ‘Our world will grind to a halt without them’
“Insects have declined by 75% in the past 50 years – and the consequences may soon be catastrophic.” – The Guardian

July 23, 2022
The audacious PR plot that seeded doubt about climate change
“Thirty years ago, a bold plan was cooked up to spread doubt and persuade the public that climate change was not a problem. The little-known meeting – between some of America’s biggest industrial players and a PR genius – forged a devastatingly successful strategy that endured for years, and the consequences of which are all around us…. ‘I think it’s the moral equivalent of a war crime,’ says former US Vice-President Al Gore of the big oil companies’ efforts to block action. ‘I think it is, in many ways, the most serious crime of the post-World War Two era, anywhere in the world. The consequences of what they’ve done are just almost unimaginable.'” – BBC & ScienceDirect

July 23, 2022
How Lyme Disease Became Unstoppable
“There was nothing inevitable about the Lyme epidemic. Then humans disrupted the environment and fueled an era of tick-borne diseases.” – The Nation

July 22, 2022
The bigger the temperature change, the larger the extinction event
“Scientists have unearthed evidence pointing to a strong relationship between the magnitude of mass extinctions and global temperature changes in geologic times.” – ScienceDaily

July 19, 2022
Europe is burning like it’s 2052
“The extraordinary heat wave in Europe is showing what’s possible already, and what lies ahead under climate change.” – Vox

July 19, 2022
Australia’s environment in ‘shocking’ decline, report findsBBC

July 18, 2022
Lakes in hot water, climate change creating a cauldron of issues
“Research shows consequences of climate change can affect any of the more than 100 million lakes in the world…. Warmer water temperatures lead to changes in stratification regimes, declines in dissolved oxygen, a higher risk of cyanobacterial algal blooms, as well as a loss of habitat for native cold-water fish. It can affect not only water quality and quantity, but also cultural and recreational activities, and local economies. ‘Climate change has far-reaching social and ecological repercussions, but the impacts of climate change, combined with other environmental pressures, are often little understood and the significance of them has not been appreciated at a global level,’ says Sharma of York’s Faculty of Science.” – ScienceDaily

July 18, 2022
Humanity faces ‘collective suicide’ over climate crisis, warns UN chief
“António Guterres tells governments ‘half of humanity is in danger zone’, as countries battle extreme heat.” – The Guardian

July 18, 2022
Water resources to become less predictable with climate change
“Water resources will fluctuate increasingly and become more difficult to predict in snow-dominated regions across the Northern Hemisphere by later this century, according to a comprehensive new climate change study. Even regions that keep receiving the same amount of precipitation will experience more variable and unpredictable streamflow as snowpack recedes.” – Science/Daily

July 18, 2022
This Isn’t Climate Change Anymore — It’s Climate Suicide
Three Facts Everyone Should Know About the Age of Extinction – Eudaimonia and Co

July 18, 2022
State of the environment: shocking report shows how Australia’s land and wildlife are being destroyed
“The health of Australia’s environment is poor and has deteriorated over the past five years due to pressures of climate change, habitat loss, invasive species, pollution and mining, according to a government report that warns the natural world holds the key to human wellbeing and survival. The state of the environment report – a review completed by scientists last year but held back by the Morrison government until after the federal election – found abrupt changes in some Australian ecosystems over the past five years, with at least 19 now showing signs of collapse or near collapse.” – The Guardian

July 18, 2022
How climate change will exacerbate China-India tensions
The two countries’ shared river systems are already a source of friction, which will only be worsened by flooding due to an increase in extreme rainfall and enhanced glacier melt. Rising temperatures in the Himalayan region will enable further militarisation of contested border areas. Their shared river systems, the Yarlung Tsangpo (known as the Brahmaputra in India) in the east and the River Indus in the west have become sources tension, as the effects of climate change, such as retreating glaciers, increased precipitation and glacial lake outburst floods, affect the distribution and movement of water in these rivers. The rise in temperature in the erstwhile inhabitable border regions of Ladakh…. These developments are feeding into the conflict dynamics between the rivals.” South China Morning Post

July 17, 2022
Hundreds die as heatwave grips Europe and temperatures soar above 40ºC
“At least 360 people have died in Spain’s scorching heat, while in neighbouring Portugal, 238 more deaths were recorded from July 7-13 than in previous years…. Firefighters in France, Portugal, Spain and Greece battled forest blazes that have ravaged thousands of hectares of land and killed several personnel since the start of the week.” – South China Morning Post

July 17, 2022
As the Planet Cooks, Climate Stalls as a Political Issue
“Joe Manchin’s rejection of a compromise climate bill tells a familiar story: Voters and politicians put a higher premium on immediate issues, such as inflation and the economy, giving politicians a pass on global warming.” – The New York Times

July 15, 2022
Heat emergency declared in England as temperature expected to hit 40C
“Heatwave arriving on Sunday expected to bring most extreme hot weather ever recorded in UK.” – The Guardian

July 13, 2022
As drought shrivels Lake Powell, millions face power crisis
“With water levels falling ‘lower than thought possible’ at Glen Canyon Dam, energy production could halt as soon as July 2023.” – The Guardian

July 12, 2022
Republicans threaten Wall Street over climate positions
“Republican officials across the country, tearing a page from the ongoing culture wars, are launching a broad assault on the movement by big financial firms to use their economic power to curb climate change.” – The Washington Post

July 12, 2022
Nearly $2tn of damage inflicted on other countries by US emissions
“Research puts US ahead of China, Russia, India and Brazil in terms of global damage as climate expert says numbers ‘very stark.’” – The Guardian

July 12, 2022
New Climate Promises, Same Old Global Warming
“Many of the world’s biggest and most polluting corporations have recently promised to stop adding carbon to the atmosphere, saying that they’ll reach ‘net zero’ emissions in the next few decades. These sweeping pledges envision a world where we can have it all: economic growth and global trade without the warming that usually comes with that. But while saving the planet demands something more ambitious than good old incremental change, these corporate fantasies of the future don’t stand up to scrutiny.” – New York Times

July 11, 2022
Pakistan has the largest reservoir of ice outside the polar regions
“Melting glaciers in northern Pakistan blamed for rising number of dangerous outburst floods…. Pakistan is home to more than 7,000 glaciers, more than anywhere else in the world. As ice sheets in northern Pakistan melt at a faster pace because of climate change, nearby areas are being caught up in potentially deadly outburst floods. Glacial lake outburst floods happen when water is suddenly released from a lake fed by glacier melt collecting at the side, front, within, beneath or even on top of the ice sheets. In the first six months of 2022, there were 16 outburst floods, compared with an average of 5-6 per year recorded in Pakistan in the past.” – South China Morning Post 

July 9, 2022
Earth Is On Track To Lose More Than 1,000 Wild Mammal Species, UN Report Says
“Overexploitation, climate change, pollution and deforestation are pushing 1 million species towards extinction, including 12% of the world’s wild tree species.” – HuffPost

July 8, 2022
Amazon deforestation hits new record in Brazil
Area cleared in the first six months this year is five times the size of New York City… the highest figure going back to at least 2016. Data from the agency also indicated fire activity last month was the highest for June in 15 years from farmers burning forest vegetation to clear land for crops and livestock.” – The Washington Post

July 7, 2022
How nuclear war would affect earth today
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought the threat of nuclear warfare to the forefront. But how would modern nuclear detonations impact the world today? A new study published today provides stark information on the global impact of nuclear war.” – ScienceDaily

July 7, 2022
Europe heating up faster than other ‘hot spots,’ study finds
“A new study confirms that Western Europe has become what the researchers call a heat wave hot spot over the past four decades, with events increasing in frequency and cumulative intensity (defined as heat in excess of a certain threshold). What’s more, the study found, the changes in frequency and intensity are happening faster in Europe than in many other parts of the world — including another hot spot, the Western United States.” – The Boston Globe

July 6. 2022
It’s democracy v plutocracy – this is the endgame for our planet
“The US supreme court is helping to destroy our climate. But it was a much smaller decision, closer to home, that was the final straw for me. ‘When I began work as an environmental journalist I never imagined we would one day confront what appears to be an ideological commitment to destroying life on Earth.’” – The Guardian

July 5, 2022
Methane much more sensitive to global heating than previously thought – study
“Greenhouse gas has undergone rapid acceleration and scientists say it may be due to atmospheric changes…. Their findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, suggest global heating is four times more influential in accelerating methane emissions than previously estimated, with rising temperatures helping to produce more methane (by speeding up microbe activity in wetlands for example), while at the same time slowing down the removal of methane from the atmosphere (with increasing numbers of wildfires reducing the availability of hydroxyl radicals in the upper atmosphere). ‘It was a really shocking result, and highlights that the effects of climate change can be even more extreme and dangerous than we thought,’ said Redfern.” – The Guardian

July 5, 2022
Arctic temperatures are increasing four times faster than global warming
“Analysis of observed temperatures finds two jumps over the past 50 years that were missed by most climate models” – ScienceDaily

July 5, 2022
Unchecked emissions could double heat-related child mortality
“If carbon emissions are limited to slow temperature rise, up to an estimated 6,000 child deaths could be prevented in Africa each year, according to new research…. It shows that thousands of heat-related child deaths could be prevented if temperature increases are limited to the Paris Agreement’s 1.5ºC target through to 2050. However, heat-related child deaths could double in sub-Saharan Africa by mid-century if high emissions continue.” – ScienceDaily

July 4, 2022
Spain and Portugal suffering driest climate for 1,200 years, research shows
“Effects of human-caused global heating are blocking vital winter rains, with severe implications for farming and tourism.” – The Guardian

July 3, 2022
Climate change: melting Tibetan glaciers could unleash potentially dangerous bacteria, scientists say
“Scientists have found nearly 1,000 species of bacteria – many of them new – in glacier samples taken from the Tibetan Plateau, which they say could pose health risks downstream if climate causes the ice to melt. More than 80 per cent of the microbes identified had not been seen before, according to the team from China, Australia and Denmark, led by scientists from Lanzhou University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.” – South China Morning Post

June 30, 2022
US supreme court rules against EPA and hobbles government power to limit harmful emissions
“The US supreme court has sided with Republican-led states to in effect hobble the federal government’s ability to tackle the climate crisis, in a ruling that will have profound implications for the government’s overall regulatory power. In a 6-3 decision that will seriously hinder America’s ability to stave off disastrous global heating,” – The Guardian

June 30, 2022
Powerful links between methane and climate change
“Findings show how climate drives dangerous increases in the greenhouse gas…. This impact could be four times greater than that estimated in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.” – ScienceDaily

June 30, 2022
Italy’s Drought Worsens as Salty Sea Creeps Further Into Vital River
“The lack of rain has already become a disaster for crops in northern Italy and now the Adriatic sea is raising the salinity of the region’s main irrigation source. Recent rain in Northern Italy has done little for the region’s worst drought in 70 years. At least 30% of this year’s rice crop has already been lost, and now the region’s irrigation sources are being threatened by the salty Adriatic sea, which has entered a record 30.6 kilometers (19 miles) into the Po river.” – Bloomberg

June 23, 2022
Most of the world’s grain is not eaten by humans
“Nearly half of all grain is either burned as fuel or eaten by animals.” – The Economist

June 23, 2022
There’s a carbon-capture gold rush. Some warn better solutions exist.
“To stem climate change, billionaires, politicians and philanthropists say sucking carbon out of the air and storing it underground could work. Critics fiercely disagree…. said Nikki Reisch, the director of climate programs at the Center for International Environmental Law. ‘It’s unfortunately an attractive myth by the oil industry to perpetuate the idea that we can … have our cake and eat it, too.’… ‘People want to believe there’s a quick fix — but there really isn’t,’ she said. ‘We need systemic, structural change.’” – The Washington Post

June 23, 2022
Marseille, Alexandria and Istanbul prepare for Mediterranean tsunami
“Risk of significant tsunami within next 30 years is nearly 100%, Unesco says, as it urges coastal cities to become ‘tsunami-ready.’” – The Guardian

June 19, 2022
Republican Drive to Tilt Courts Against Climate Action Reaches a Crucial Moment
“A Supreme Court environmental case being decided this month is the product of a coordinated, multiyear strategy by Republican attorneys general and conservative allies.” – The New York Times

June 18, 2022
The World Has a Choice: Work Together or Fall Apart
“Covid, climate change and now the specter of a global food crisis show clearly that the world’s problems are intimately linked, as are solutions…. More cooperation, not less, is required to navigate a path forward through other crises.” – The New York Times

June 17, 2022
UN climate talks end in stalemate and ‘hypocrisy’ allegation
“Adviser says European nations are sourcing fossil fuels abroad but failing to help developing countries.” – Guardian

June 17, 2022
Fossil fuel firms ‘have humanity by the throat’, says UN head in blistering attack
“António Guterres compares climate inaction to tobacco firms dismissing links between smoking and cancer.” – Guardian

June 16, 2022
Climate change is turning more of Central Asia into desert
“The rapid expansion will have significant impacts on ecosystems and the people and animals who rely on them.” – Nature

June 15, 2022
A Hotter, Poorer, and Less Free America
“For the past 18 months, Senate Democrats have been trying to find a climate deal acceptable to all 50 of their members. The main obstacles, so far, have been Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, the owner of a coal-trading company, who wants any deal to reduce the federal budget deficit, and Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who refuses to increase tax rates, the easiest way to satisfy Manchin’s deficit-reduction goal…. Senate Democrats could still hustle a deal together in the next week or two. But the outlook is not good. In retrospect, what might amaze our descendants is that there were so many ways to tackle climate change through policy. The problem was amenable to progressive and conservative values; whether you believed in conquering nature or mothering it, you could find a plausible remedy to the carbon problem. But our politicians chose none of them. They opted for perhaps the worst possible path of all—they bickered while the world burned.” – Atlantic

June 15, 2022
New data reveals extraordinary global heating in the Arctic
“Temperatures in the Barents Sea region are ‘off the scale’ and may affect extreme weather in the US and Europe.” – The Guardian

June 15, 2022
EPA warns toxic ‘forever chemicals’ more dangerous than once thought
“A group of human-made chemicals found in the drinking water, cosmetics and food packaging used by millions of Americans poses a greater danger to human health than regulators previously thought…. Linked to infertility, thyroid problems and several types of cancer, these ‘forever chemicals’ can persist in the environment for years without breaking down.” – The Washington Post

June 14, 2022
Millions face starvation in South Sudan as aid funds dry up
“At least 60pc of population grapple with severe food insecurity, fuelled by conflict, drought and soaring food prices.” – The Telegraph

June 14, 2022
On Climate Change’s Front Lines, Hard Lives Grow Even Harder
“Hundreds of millions of humanity’s most vulnerable live in South Asia, where rising temperatures make it more difficult to address poverty, food insecurity and health challenges.” – The New York Times

June 13, 2022
Plastitar: mix of tar and microplastics is new form of pollution, say scientist
“Researchers believe that its combination of hydrocarbons and microplastics means it will potentially leak toxic chemicals, causing conditions that could prove deadly for organisms such as algae. ‘In some way, it may be blocking and inhibiting the development of the ecosystem,’ Hernández Borges said.” – The Guardian

June 13, 2022
‘Heat Ages People’: As Temperatures Rise, Scientists Study How Humans React
“With severe heat waves now affecting swaths of the globe with frightening regularity, scientists are drilling down into the ways life in a hotter world will sicken and kill us…. Heat’s victims often die alone, in their own homes. Apart from heatstroke, it can cause cardiovascular collapse and kidney failure. It damages our organs and cells, even our DNA. Its harms are multiplied in the very old and very young, and in people with high blood pressure, asthma, multiple sclerosis and other conditions.” – The New York Times

June 11, 2022
Tundra Fire Raging Through Southwest Alaska Threatens Villages
“Based on records from the Alaska Fire Service dating back to the 1940s, this is the largest documented wildfire in the lower Yukon River valley…. Coupled with the warmest period on record in the region recently, it provided for the perfect storm for this fire that was started by lightning on May 31.” – HuffPost

June 11, 2022
Climate crisis is ‘battering our economy’ and driving inflation, new book says
“Climatenomics lays out how ‘supply chain disruptions’ has become a euphemism for the effects of climate change…. ‘I don’t think people have realized that climate change is an economic issue now because it’s always been seen as an environmental, health or social issue,’ says Keefe. ‘The fact of the matter is climate change is battering our economy.'” – The Guardian

June 11, 2022
‘Asian water tower’ is facing a worsening supply imbalance, study finds
“Caused by global warming and atmospheric circulation changes, it could lead to disputes between nations downstream of the Third Pole. The region – including the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding Hindu Kush Himalayan mountain ranges – delivers water to almost 2 billion people.” – SCMP

June 11, 2022
India water: Hundreds jostle to reach well
“People in Khadimal village in the western Indian state of Maharashtra have been forced to risk their lives every day for one bucket of water.” – BBC

June 10, 2022
Punishing heatwave expected across the US south-west this weekend
“Models indicate that there could be between 25 and 30 extreme events a year by mid-century” – The Guardian

June 9, 2022
Climate policy dragged into culture wars as a ‘delay’ tactic, finds study
“The research, released on Thursday, shows that the climate emergency – and the measures needed to deal with it – are in some cases being conflated with divisive issues such as critical race theory, LGBTQ+ rights, abortion access and anti-vaccine campaigns. The study found… found that although outright denials of the facts of the climate crisis were less common, opponents were now likely to focus on ‘delay, distraction and misinformation’ to hinder the rapid action required.” – The Guardian

June 9, 2022
Our entire civilisation depends on animals. It’s time we recognised their true valueThe Guardian

June 9, 2022
Antarctic glaciers losing ice at fastest rate for 5,500 yearsScienceDaily

June 8, 2022
‘Gold rush’ for gas production threatens to lock in global heating
“New dash for gas driven by energy disruption and rising prices spurns warnings to cease exploration to meet 1.5 heating limit.” – The Guardian

June 8, 2022
Bruno Pereira: the dedicated defender of Indigenous rights missing in Brazil
“Anthropologist last seen travelling with British journalist Dom Phillips was ousted from official role after Bolsonaro took office.” – The Guardian

June 8, 2022
Warned of ‘massive’ climate-led extinction, a US energy firm funded crisis denial ads
“Southern Company spent $62.1m over the years to deny the impact of fossil fuel combustion on climate crisis.” – The Guardian

June 7, 2022
As the Great Salt Lake Dries Up, Utah Faces An ‘Environmental Nuclear Bomb’The New York Times

June 7, 2022
Microplastics found in freshly fallen Antarctic snow for first timeThe Guardian

June 7, 2022
Data reveal 20-year transformation of Gulf of Maine
“‘These changes are the results of our actions, the grand experiment that we humans have run on this planet since the industrial age when we started burning fossil fuels,’ Balch said. ‘The future of the Gulf of Maine relies on us keeping our carbon dioxide emissions down, and that choice is completely under our control.'” – ScienceDaily

June 6, 2022
Including all types of emissions shortens timeline to reach Paris Agreement temperature targets
“The paper finds that if countries aim to achieve their goals of staying below 2 degrees Celsius of warming, then the total amount of carbon that humans can still emit, the remaining ‘carbon budget,’ is significantly smaller than previous estimates. ‘Our findings make it all the more pressing that we need to rapidly reduce emissions,’ Dvorak said.” – ScienceDaily

June 3, 2022
Carbon Dioxide Levels Are Highest in Human History
“Humans pumped 36 billion tons of the planet-warming gas into the atmosphere in 2021, more than in any previous year. It comes from burning oil, gas and coal.” – The New York Times

June 3, 2022
‘Apocalyptic skies’: the dust storms devastating Gulf states and Syria
“Rising frequency of storms due to climate crisis is causing more loss of life and more destruction, say experts.” – The Guardian

June 2,  2022
A 50% reduction in emissions by 2030 can be achieved. Here’s howScienceDaily

June 2, 2022
Current policies will bring ‘catastrophic’ climate breakdown, warn former UN leaders
“…as governments have failed to take the actions needed to fulfil their promises, three former UN climate leaders have warned. There is a stark gap between what governments have promised to do to protect the climate, and the measures and policies needed to achieve the targets.” – The Guardian

June 1, 2022
We cannot adapt our way out of climate crisis, warns leading scientist
“The world is heading for dangers people have not seen in 10,000 years of civilisation… counting on adaptation to limit damage is no substitute for urgently cutting greenhouse gases, a leading climate scientist has warned.” – The Guardian

May 31, 2022
Did Joe Manchin block climate action to benefit his financial interests?The Guardian

May 26, 2022
Why unprecedented bird flu outbreaks sweeping the world are concerning scientists
“Mass infections in wild birds pose a significant risk to vulnerable species, are hard to contain and increase the opportunity for the virus to spill over into people.” – Nature

May 25, 2022
Decline of diatoms due to ocean acidification
“Diatoms are the most important producers of plant biomass in the ocean and help to transport carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere into the deep ocean and thus regulate our climate.” – ScienceDaily

May 24, 2022
Exxon must go to trial over alleged climate crimes, court rulesThe Guardian

May 23, 2022
A record 100 million people have been forced from their homes
“The figure represents 1% of the world’s population and would be equivalent to the 14th most populous country, the U.N. said in its statement. At the end of 2021, 90 million had been displaced from their countries, including 14.4 million people displaced within their countries’ borders due to violence. An estimated 23.7 million people, mostly in the Asia-Pacific region, were displaced internally in 2021 due to natural disasters.” – NPR

May 23, 2022
Shell consultant quits, accusing firm of ‘extreme harms’ to environment
“Caroline Dennett tells staff in video she made decision because of ‘double-talk on climate’. A senior safety consultant has quit working with Shell after 11 years, accusing the fossil fuel producer in a bombshell public video of causing ‘extreme harms’ to the environment. Caroline Dennett claimed Shell had a “’isregard for climate change risks’ and urged others in the oil and gas industry to ‘walk away while there’s still time.’” – The Guardian

May 22, 2022
A Hot, Deadly Summer Is Coming With Frequent Blackouts
“There won’t be enough energy supplies to go around as sweltering heat boosts power demand in the months ahead, putting lives at risk.” – Bloomberg

May 22, 2022
Millions Displaced and Dozens Dead in Flooding in India and Bangladesh
“Heavy pre-monsoon rains in India and Bangladesh have washed away train stations, towns and villages, leaving millions of people homeless as extreme weather events, including heat waves, intense rainfall and floods, become more common in South Asia.” – New York Times

May 20, 2022
Global heating is cutting sleep across the world, study finds
“Data shows people finding it harder to sleep, especially women and older people, with serious health impacts. Lost sleep will increase further as the planet continues to heat.” – The Guardian

May 20, 2022
Could Google’s Carbon Emissions Have Effectively Doubled Overnight?
“A new report suggests that the money Big Tech companies keep in the banking system can do more climate damage than the products they sell.”  – The New Yorker

May 19, 2022
Suicides indicate wave of ‘doomerism’ over escalating climate crisis
“While alarm over wildfires, droughts, flooding and societal unrest is on the rise, not many of us talk about climate angst.”  – The Guardian

May 19, 2022
The banks collapsed in 2008 – and our food system is about to do the sameThe Guardian

May 19, 2022
Capturing the Climate crisis: the Evidence Project – in picturesThe Guardian

May 19, 2022
The destruction of Gran Chaco, forgotten sister of the Amazon rainforestpodcast

May 18, 2022
Critical climate indicators broke records in 2021, says UN
“Prof James Hansen, who warned the world about the climate crisis in testimony to the US Senate in 1988, said this week there was “a spectacular, continuing failure of governments to adopt effective long-term energy and climate policies.” – The Guardian

May 18, 2022
‘World is at boiling point’: humanity must redefine relationship with nature, says reportThe Guardian

May 18, 2022
Climate change swells odds of record India, Pakistan heatwaves
“Climate change makes record-breaking heatwaves in northwest India and Pakistan 100 times more likely, a Met Office study finds.” – BBC

May 18, 2022
Rainforest trees may have been dying faster since the 1980s because of climate change
“This research has found the death rates of tropical trees have doubled in the last 35 years, as global warming increases the drying power of the atmosphere.” – ScienceDaily

May 17, 2022
Pollution caused 1 in 6 deaths globally for five years, study says
“Deaths from fossil fuel burning and lead poisoning have risen by 66 percent in the past two decades.” – The Washington Post

May 16, 2022
Policymakers underestimate methane’s climate and air quality impacts
“Methane emissions have been increasing rapidly in recent years, contributing significantly to global warming. Despite this, methane is not adequately treated within existing national and international governance frameworks. Researchers now highlight the urgent need for action in a new study.” – ScienceDaily

May 13, 2022
‘On a vegan planet, Britain could feed 200 million people’The Guardian

May 13, 2022
Largest oil and gas producers made close to $100bn in first quarter of 2022
“The tumult of war and climate breakdown has proved lucrative for the world’s leading oil and gas companies, with financial records showing 28 of the largest producers made close to $100bn in combined profits in just the first three months of 2022.” – The Guardian

May 12, 2022
Want to prevent pandemics? Stop spillovers
“Spillover events, in which a pathogen that originates in animals jumps into people, have probably triggered every viral pandemic that’s occurred since the start of the twentieth century1. What’s more, an August 2021 analysis of disease outbreaks over the past four centuries indicates that the yearly probability of pandemics could increase several-fold in the coming decades, largely because of human-induced environmental changes2.” – Nature

May 12, 2022
US oil refineries spewing cancer-causing benzene into communities, report finds
“Among the 12 refineries that emitted above the maximum level for benzene, five were in Texas, four in Louisiana, and one each in Pennsylvania, Indiana and the US Virgin Islands, a new analysis by the Environmental Integrity Project revealed on Thursday. Benzene is a known carcinogen that is highly toxic and volatile when exposed to air. Much of the excess emissions come through leaks from valves, tanks, pumps and other means that are hard to detect.” – The Guardian

May 12, 2022
Baby fox in Minneapolis tests positive for BIRD FLU – first case of devastating avian flu detected in wild mammal in the USDaily Mail

May 12, 2022
Environment tipping points fast approaching in UK, says watchdogThe Guardian

May 11, 2022
The Biggest Potential Water Disaster in the United States
“In California, millions of residents and thousands of farmers depend on the Bay-Delta for fresh water—but they can’t agree on how to protect it.” – The New Yorker

May 11, 2022
Revealed: the ‘carbon bombs’ set to trigger catastrophic climate breakdown
“Oil and gas majors are planning scores of vast projects that threaten to shatter the 1.5C climate goal. If governments do not act, these firms will continue to cash in as the world burns.” – The Guardian

May 11, 2022
US fracking boom could tip world to edge of climate disaster
“140bn metric tons of planet-heating gases could be unleashed if fossil fuel extraction plans get green light, analysis shows.” – The Guardian

May 11, 2022
91% Of Surveyed Corals Bleached Along Great Barrier Reef, Australia Says
“It’s the first time that a mass bleaching has happened during a La Niña year, when the ocean is supposed to be cooler than usual.” – HuffPost

May 10, 2022
Oil Giants Sell Dirty Wells to Buyers With Looser Climate Goals, Study Finds
“The transactions can help major oil and gas companies clean up their own production by transferring polluting assets to a different firm, the analysis said.” – The New York Times

May 9, 2022
Future super cyclones would expose many in most vulnerable locations to extreme flooding
“A new study has revealed super cyclones, the most intense form of tropical storm, are likely to have a much more devastating impact on people in South Asia in future years.” – ScienceDaily

May 9, 2022
More difficult than expected for glaciers to recover from climate warming
“Ice shelves are floating extensions of glaciers. If Greenland’s second largest ice shelf breaks up, it may not recover unless Earth’s future climate cools considerably.” – ScienceDaily

May 9, 2022
Climate limit of 1.5C close to being broken, scientists warn
“The probability of one of the next five years surpassing the limit is now 50%, up from 20% in 2020.” – The Guardian

May 9, 2022
Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo Vote to Keep Financing Fossil Fuels
“The three banks have rejected shareholder resolutions to make their lending practices consistent with climate targets…. Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley even requested (unsuccessfully) that the Securities and Exchange Commission toss out the nonbinding resolution, arguing it would “impose inflexible and far-reaching restrictions” on the bank’s day-to-day business.” – The New Republic

May 9, 2022
India tries to adapt to extreme heat but is paying a heavy price
“Summer hasn’t arrived yet, but early heat waves have brought the country to a standstill.” – The Washington Post

May 8, 2022
‘Forever chemicals’ may have polluted 20m acres of US cropland, study says
“Known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t naturally break down, they have been linked to cancer, thyroid disruption, liver problems, birth defects, immunosuppression and more.” – The Guardian

May 7, 2022
‘Record after record’: Brazil’s Amazon deforestation hits April high, nearly double previous peak
“Climate analysts are astounded by such a high reading during the rainy season, and is the third monthly record this year.” – The Guardian

May 5, 2022
Water scarcity predicted to worsen in more than 80% of croplands globally this century
“In the last 100 years, the demand for water worldwide has grown twice as fast as the human population. Water scarcity is already an issue on every continent with agriculture, presenting a major threat to food security. Despite this, most water scarcity models have failed to take a comprehensive look at both blue and green water.” – ScienceDaily

May 5, 2022
Land-building marsh plants are champions of carbon capture
“Human activities such as marsh draining for agriculture are increasingly eating away at saltwater and freshwater wetlands that cover only 1% of Earth’s surface but store more than 20% of all carbon dioxide absorbed by ecosystems worldwide.” – ScienceDaily 

May 5, 2022
Flying insect numbers have plunged by 60% since 2004, GB survey finds
“Insects are critical in maintaining a healthy environment, by recycling organic matter, pollination and controlling pests. But scientists behind a recent volume of studies concluded they are undergoing a ‘frightening’ global deterioration that is ‘tearing apart the tapestry of life.’ A global scientific review in 2019 said widespread declines threatened to cause a ‘catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems.’” – The Guardian

May 3, 2022
The American West Is Sleepwalking Towards a Disaster
“The American west is careening towards a disaster of epic proportions…. The American west is dry — much drier than people initially realized. This poses an existential crisis for the millions of people who live in the American southwest and yet no one is really willing to talk about it.” – Medium.com

May 3, 2022
Obesity ‘epidemic’ leading to 1.2m deaths a year in Europe, says WHO
“Health body issues stark warning as report finds disease causing 200,000 cancer cases a year in region.”  – The Guardian

April 30, 2022
Climate Change Threatens Another California Forest, This One Underwater
“Like the redwoods, these forests are in danger. In less than a decade, these otherworldly undersea landscapes, lush with life, have all but disappeared along 200 miles of coast north of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. The warming climate has set in motion this disaster and it is unclear whether it can be reversed as greenhouse gas emissions continue to flood the atmosphere.” – The New York Times

April 29, 2022
‘Deep-sea gold rush’ for rare metals could cause irreversible harm
“Mining companies are planning to profit from the new industry, but environmental campaigners warn of disastrous consequences.” – The Guardian

April 29, 2022
THE AMAZON, UNDONE – DEVOURING THE RAINFOREST
“The pattern is clear: First, the forest is razed. Then the cattle are moved in. If the Amazon is to die, it will be beef that kills it.” – The Washington Post

April 29, 2022
Warning on Mass Extinction of Sea Life: ‘An Oh My God Moment’
“A new study finds that if fossil fuel emissions continue apace, the oceans could experience a mass extinction by 2300. There is still time to avoid it.” – The New York Times

April 28, 2022
Model pinpoints glaciers at risk of collapse due to climate change
“Meltwater seeping beneath Arctic glaciers puts thickest and fastest at risk of sudden collapse.” – ScienceDaily

April 28, 2022
‘Potentially devastating’: Climate crisis may fuel future pandemics
“There will be at least 15,000 instances of viruses leaping between species over the next 50 years, with the climate crisis helping fuel a “potentially devastating” spread of disease that will imperil animals and people and risk further pandemics, researchers have warned.” – The Guardian

April 28, 2022
Global warming risks most cataclysmic extinction of marine life in 250m yearsThe Guardian

April 28, 2022
Massive wildfires helped fuel global forest losses in 2021
“Fires accounted for more than a third of the world’s tree cover losses last year — the largest share on record.” – The Washington Post

April 27, 2022
Climate change will more than double the risk of intense tropical cyclones by 2050ScienceDaily

April 27, 2022
UN says up to 40% of world’s land now degraded
“Rising damage, caused mostly by food production, puts ability to feed planet’s growing population at risk.” – The Guardian

April 27, 2022
President Biden’s Climate Ambitions Are All But Dead
“At the center of this setback is an evenly split U.S. Senate that puts West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, a Democrat from a coal- and gas-rich state with a personal fortune tied to fossil fuel, in a position to make or break legislation.” – Bloomberg

April 26, 2022
Too many new coal-fired plants planned for 1.5C climate goal, report concludes
“The continuing use of coal comes despite ever starker warnings from scientists in the latest assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which concluded that the world would far exceed the 1.5C limit without rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.” – The Guardian

April 26, 2022
New climate modeling predicts increasing occurrences of flash flooding across most of the U.S.ScienceDaily

April 25, 2022
Meat consumption must fall by at least 75 percentScienceDaily

April 24, 2022
Global Military Spending Tops $2 Trillion for First Time as Europe Boosts Defenses – Bloomberg

Aprl 22, 2022
This Eminent Scientist Says Climate Activists Need to Get Real
“There are these billions of people who want to burn more fossil fuel. There is very little you can do about that. They will burn it unless you give them something different. But who will give them something different? You have to recognize the realities of the world, and the realities of the world tend to be unpleasant, discouraging and depressing.” – The New York Times

April 20, 2022
A megafire raged for 3 months. No one’s on the hook for its emissions.
“Over nearly three months… churning into the atmosphere an estimated 38 million tons of greenhouse gases — roughly a year’s worth of pollution from more than 8 million cars. But while Canada dutifully reports such figures, when it comes to formally accounting for its emissions as part of the Paris climate agreement, the Elephant Hill blaze and others like it aren’t part of the equation. On paper, at least, they don’t count. Canada and some other nations argue that events such as wildfires and insect infestations are “natural disturbances” that are mostly beyond human control.” – The Washington Post

April 8, 2022
A ‘New Era of Air Pollution’ in the Tropics Could Have a Huge Toll
“Increasingly bad air in big cities is expected to kill hundreds of thousands in coming years if stronger controls are not put in place.” – The New York Times

April 7, 2022
Methane Emissions Soared to a Record in 2021, Scientists Say
“For the second year in a row, concentrations of the potent planet-warming gas jumped by the largest amount since measurements began four decades ago…. The NOAA analysis published on Thursday indicates that levels of carbon dioxide also continued to rise rapidly in 2021.” – The New York Times

April 5, 2022
Why experts are terrified of a human-made pandemic — and what we can do to stop it
“As biology gets better, biosecurity gets harder. Here’s what the world can do to prepare.” – Vox

April 4, 2022
The Razor’s Edge of A Warming World
“As we hurtle toward an ever-hotter future, GQ spotlights eight places whose very identities depend on a simple calculation: If we limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, these places could be saved. In a 2-degree scenario, they would be irredeemably lost.” – GQ

April 4, 2022
Planet’s Breakneck Warming Likely to Pass 1.5°C, UN Scientists Warn
“The international goal to limit global heating to 1.5° Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit) is officially on life support. A United Nations-backed panel of climate scientists warned in a new report released Monday that the world may be on track to warm by more than 3°C — twice the Paris Agreement target —in a change that would painfully remake societies and life on the planet.” – Bloomberg

April 4, 2022
The world is running out of options to hit climate goals, U.N. report shows
“With the world on track to blaze past its climate goals, only immediate, sweeping societal transformation can stave off catastrophic warming.” – The Washington Post

April 3, 2022
In the Ocean, It’s Snowing Microplastics
“Tiny bits of plastic have infiltrated the deep sea’s main food source and could alter the ocean’s role in one of Earth’s ancient cooling processes, scientists say.” – The New York Times

April 1, 2022
Tropical forests have big climate benefits beyond carbon storage
“Study finds that trees cool the planet by one-third of a degree through biophysical mechanisms such as humidifying the air.” – Nature

April 1, 2022
‘Flash droughts’ coming on faster, global study shows
“Just like flash floods, flash droughts come on fast — drying out soil in a matter of days to weeks. These events can wipe out crops and cause huge economic losses. And according to scientists, the speed at which they dry out the landscape has increased.” – ScienceDaily

March 30, 2022
Bankers Are Still Standing Behind the Dirtiest Fossil Fuel
“The amount of financing going to coal-related projects may be running at a rate that’s double last year’s pace. The world’s 60 largest banks have helped raise about $4.6 trillion — in total —  for oil, gas and coal companies since the Paris climate agreement was announced at the end of 2015, according to Rainforest Action.” – Bloomberg Green

March 25, 2022
Indian forest loss ‘worse than feared’ due to climate change
“A national-scale study of the relationship between forest loss and rainfall and temperature trends in India reveals climate change may have contributed to huge declines during last two decades, countering official reports that suggest small losses, and adding to existing concerns over deforestation.” – ScienceDaily

March 25, 2022
Satellite data shows entire Conger ice shelf has collapsed in Antarctica
“Nasa scientist says complete collapse of ice shelf as big as Rome during unusually high temperatures is ‘sign of what might be coming’…. The record temperatures were the result of an atmospheric river that trapped heat over the continent…. Dr Catherine Colello Walker, an earth and planetary scientist at Nasa and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said though the Conger ice shelf was relatively small, ‘it is one of the most significant collapse events anywhere in Antarctica since the early 2000s when the Larsen B ice shelf disintegrated.’ ‘It won’t have huge effects, most likely, but it’s a sign of what might be coming,’ Walker said.”– The Guardian

March 24, 2022
The world’s forests do more than just store carbon, new research finds
“New data suggests forests help keep the Earth at least half of a degree cooler, protecting us from the effects of climate crisis.” – The Guardian

March 23, 2022
Tory MPs call the green transition ‘unaffordable’. Europe is proving that’s a lie
“While all eyes were on another horror, our war against the living world went nuclear. Over the weekend, temperatures at some weather stations in the Arctic rose to 30C above normal. Simultaneously, at certain weather stations in the Antarctic they hit 40C above normal. Two events, albeit off the scale, do not make a trend. But as part of a gathering record of extreme and chaotic weather, these unprecedented, simultaneous anomalies are terrifying.” – The Guardian

March 22, 2022
Infographic: Which countries have the safest drinking water?
“One in four people does not have access to safe water. In low-income countries, unsafe water accounts for six out of every 100 deaths. People across the globe observe March 22 as World Water Day – designated by the United Nations to raise awareness of the two billion people living without access to safe water. The theme this year is “Groundwater: making the invisible visible”.” – Aljazeera

March 21, 2022
It’s 70 degrees warmer than normal in eastern Antarctica. Scientists are flabbergasted.
“The coldest location on the planet has experienced an episode of warm weather this week unlike any ever observed, with temperatures over the eastern Antarctic ice sheet soaring 50 to 90 degrees above normal. The warmth has smashed records and shocked scientists.” – The Washington Post

March 21, 2022
Ukraine war threatens global heating goals, warns UN chief
“The war in Ukraine risks putting global targets on the climate out of reach, the UN secretary general has warned, if countries respond to Russia’s aggression by increasing their use of fossil fuels.” – The Guardian

March 17, 2022
A drowning world: Kenya’s quiet slide underwater
“Kenya’s great lakes are flooding, in a devastating and long-ignored environmental disaster that is displacing hundreds of thousands of people.” – The Guardian

March 14, 2022
Thawing permafrost peatlands ‘on the precipice’ of releasing billions of tonnes of carbon
“‘Magnitude of 21st century climate change likely to overwhelm’ critical carbon stores, new study warns. Global warming is pushing frozen peatlands in northern Europe and Siberia to the brink of a tipping point which could release 39 billion tonnes of carbon, researchers have warned.“Even with the strongest efforts” to slash global carbon emissions and limit rising temperature, by 2040 the climates of northern Europe will no longer be cold and dry enough to sustain peat permafrost, a new study by academics at the University of Leeds found.” – Independent

March 10, 2022
I was a nuclear missile operator. There have been more near-misses than the world knows
“As a 22-year-old I controlled a warhead that could vaporize a metropolis. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the public is waking up again to the existential dangers of nuclear weapons.” – The Guardian

March 9, 2022
On Top of Everything Else, Nuclear War Would Be a Climate Problem
“If you are worried about rapid, catastrophic changes to the planet’s climate, then you must be worried about nuclear war. That is because, on top of killing tens of millions of people, even a relatively “minor” exchange of nuclear weapons would wreck the planet’s climate in enormous and long-lasting ways.” – The Atlantic

March 8, 2022
Tons of COVID Medical Garbage Threaten Health
“Burning piles of used gloves, test kits and syringes release toxic pollutants. A recent report by the World Health Organization found the problem was global, but extreme in poorer countries where much of the refuse is simply burned in open pits and decrepit incinerators that lack pollution controls.” – Scientific American

March 8, 2022
Lead exposure in last century shrank IQ scores of half of Americans, study finds
“Lead exposure in last century shrank IQ scores of half of Americans, study finds. The findings, from Aaron Reuben, a PhD candidate in clinical psychology at Duke University, and colleagues at Florida State University, suggest that Americans born before 1996 may now be at greater risk for lead-related health problems, such as faster aging of the brain.” – Science Daily

March 7, 2022
Amazon Is Less Able to Recover From Droughts and Logging, Study Finds
“The region is nearing a threshold beyond which its forests may be replaced by grasslands, with huge repercussions for biodiversity and climate change.” – The New York Times

March 6, 2022
UK considers using Brexit ‘freedom’ to allow pesticides banned in EU on food
“American agricultural lobby groups had criticised some of the import bans. The government is considering using its new Brexit regulatory freedom to allow pesticides banned in the EU on food imported to the UK. Brussels announced it was banning 10 pesticides on imported fruit and veg in February last year and the UK was at the time widely expected in to follow suit.” – Independent

March 6, 2022
Xi Says China Can’t Rely on World Markets for Food Security
“Policy makers at the National People’s Congress, which runs concurrently with the CPPCC, have also stressed food security as a key issue for the nation this year, particularly after some crop prices rocketed in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.” – Bloomberg 

March 5, 2022
Argentina glacier collapse caught on cameraYouTube

March 5, 2022
Q&A: Has the IPCC’s bleak warning of climate breakdown been heard?
“The second of four parts of the IPCC’s sixth assessment report, the latest comprehensive review of our knowledge of the climate crisis, was termed by some scientists “the bleakest warning yet”. Half of the world’s people are “highly vulnerable” to serious impacts from the climate crisis, a billion people in coastal areas face inundation, mass die-offs of species including trees and coral have already begun, and close to a tenth of the world’s farmland is set to become unsuitable for agriculture.” – The Guardian

March 4, 2022
Sewage plants spreading millions of toxic plastic ‘nurdles’ across North Sea to the Netherlands, report findsThe Independent

March 2, 2022
World leaders agree to draw up ‘historic’ treaty on plastic waste
“Approximately 7bn of the estimated 9.2bn tonnes of plastics produced between 1950 and 2017 are now waste. About 75% of that waste is either deposited in landfills or accumulating in terrestrial and aquatic environments and ecosystems.” – The Guardian

February 28, 2022
Time Is Running Out to Avert a Harrowing Future, Climate Panel Warns
“The dangers of climate change are mounting so rapidly that they could soon overwhelm the ability of both nature and humanity to adapt, creating a harrowing future in which floods, fires and famine displace millions, species disappear and the planet is irreversibly damaged, a major new scientific report has concluded.” – The New York Times

February 28, 2022
Chemical link between wildfire smoke and ozone depletion
“If wildfires become larger and more frequent, they might stall ozone recovery for years.” – ScienceDaily

February 28, 2022
Supreme Court Considers Limiting E.P.A.’s Ability to Address Climate ChangeThe New York Times

February 28, 2022
Latest IPCC Report Says Impacts of Climate Change Are Irreversible and Widespread; Urges Efforts to Cut Emissions and AdaptThe National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

February 28, 2022
Seawalls alone won’t save coastal cities, major UN report says
“Adapting to climate change will require more ‘transformative changes’…. More than a billion people living in low-lying coastal areas around the world will be exposed to climate-related risks like frequent flooding or even permanent inundation by the middle of the century — which could force many to move to higher ground.” – The Verge

February 28, 2022
Global warming is Outrunning Efforts to Protect Human Life, Scientists Warn
“The breakneck speed of global warming exceeds the pace of efforts to protect billions of vulnerable people, according to a new report released Monday by the world’s top climate scientists. The report warns of a growing mismatch between rising temperatures and slow, fragmented efforts to adapt, leaving little time for catching up before “a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity” is sealed shut. – Bloomberg Green

February 25, 2022
Climate crisis will increase mental health emergencies, researchers warnIndependent

February 23, 2022
Likelihood of extreme autumn fire weather has increased 40 percent, modeling shows
“The likelihood of hot, dry, windy autumn weather that can set the stage for severe fires in California and western Oregon has increased 40 percent due to human-caused climate change, new computer models show.” – ScienceDaily

February 23, 2022
Global warming is amplifying our water cycle – and it’s happening much faster than we expected
“Between 1970 and 2014, at least two times more freshwater shifted from the equator to the poles than our climate models predicted…. Water is moving away from dry regions towards wet regions, causing droughts to worsen in parts of the globe, while intensifying rainfall events and flooding in others. In other words, wet areas are getting wetter, and dry areas are getting drier.” – ScienceDaily

February 23, 2022
Climate Scientists Warn of a ‘Global Wildfire Crisis’
“Worsening heat and dryness could lead to a 50 percent rise in off-the-charts fires, according to a United Nations report.” – The New York Times

February 22, 2022
Accelerating melt rate makes Greenland Ice Sheet world’s largest ‘dam’
“With a melt area that expands to nearly a million square kilometers at the height of summer, the Greenland Ice Sheet produces more hydropower than the world’s ten largest hydroelectric power stations combined.… Given what we are witnessing at the high latitudes in terms of climate change, this form of hydropower could easily double or triple, and we’re still not even including these numbers when we estimate the ice sheet’s contribution to sea level rise.” – Phys.org

February 22, 2022
Warming climate to result in reduced corn production; irrigation blunts effect
“No matter which of the widely accepted global circulation models ultimately comes closest to predicting the amount of warming caused by climate change, corn production will be reduced, according to a new study.” – ScienceDaily

February 21, 2022
Bacteria upcycle carbon waste into valuable chemicals
“Engineered bacteria convert captured carbon dioxide into chemicals for fuels, fabric and cosmetics…. The researchers selected, engineered and optimized a bacteria strain and then successfully demonstrated its ability to convert CO2 into acetone and isopropanol (IPA)…. Not only does this new gas fermentation process remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, it also avoids using fossil fuels, which are typically needed to generate acetone and IPA…. While these chemicals are incredibly useful, they are generated from fossil resources, leading to climate-warming CO emissions.” – ScienceDaily

February 20. 2022
London flooding poses ‘significant risk’ unless immediate action taken
“Expert report warns of dangers of relying on Victorian drainage system, lack of funding and awareness of risks…. For example 48.5mm of rain fell on Shepherd’s Bush in an hour on 12 July while its average rainfall for that month is 46.8mm. Across London, tube stations were flooded, hospitals closed, and more than 1,000 homes inundated. As deluges become more frequent as global warming takes hold, there is now a real risk that London could see far greater increases in devastation from surface water flooding.” – The Guardian

February 19, 2022
‘We are afraid’: Erin Brockovich pollutant linked to global electric car boom
“A Guardian investigation into nickel mining and the electric vehicle industry has found evidence that a source of drinking water close to one of Indonesia’s largest nickel mines is contaminated with unsafe levels of hexavalent chromium (Cr6), the cancer-causing chemical more widely known for its role in the Erin Brockovich story and film.” – The Guardian

February 17, 2022
London produces up to a third more methane than estimates suggest
“Study co-author Dr Giulia Zazzeri, from the Department of Physics at Imperial, said: “This is not just a London problem — cities such as Paris and Boston have shown similar results.” – ScienceDaily

February 17, 2022
How PR Firms Captured the Sustainability Agenda
“More than just ‘spin artists,’ consultancies have promoted economic growth and environmental protection as mutually reinforcing.” – Foreign Policy

February 17, 2022
World spends $1.8tn a year on subsidies that harm environment, study finds
“Research prompts warnings humanity is ‘financing its own extinction’ through subsidies damaging to the climate and wildlife…. Driving the annihilation of wildlife and a rise in global heating, according to a new study, prompting warnings that humanity is financing its own extinction.” – The Guardian

February 16, 2022
Ikea’s Race for the Last of Europe’s Old-Growth Forest
“The furniture giant is hungry for Romania’s famed trees. Little stands in its way…. Accidents of geography and history have left Romania with one of the largest old-growth forests remaining in the world. Since around the time the country joined the European Union, however, between one-half and two-thirds of its virgin forest has been logged — most of it illegally. Along with the environmental loss has come violence: forest rangers have been murdered and conservationists working in the area are putting their lives at risk.” – The New Republic

February 16, 2022
Prepare for mass migration to cities in climate crisis, UK mayors warn
“The World Bank has estimated that unless significant action is taken, 216 million people could be on the move by 2050. In 2020, 30 million people were displaced due to the climate crisis, and 70% of people internally displaced due to the climate crisis are living in urban areas. The World Bank predicts that more than 1 billion people are at risk of being driven from their homes for climate-related reasons.” – The Guardian

February 16, 2022
Yale, Stanford and MIT’s fossil fuel investments are illegal, students say
“Novel legal strategy argues that top schools including Princeton and Vanderbilt are legally obliged to put the public interest first…. The students from Yale, MIT, Princeton, Stanford and Vanderbilt wrote to the attorneys general of their respective states on Wednesday asking authorities to investigate breaches of the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act, which requires universities to invest in a manner consistent with their ‘charitable purposes.'” – The Guardian

February 15, 2022
Bolsonaro is pulling the plug on one of the world’s best deforestation monitoring systems
“From shutting down speed trap radars on the country’s deadly highways to hiding data on a surging pandemic death toll, no problem is too big for the Americas’ denialist in chief to try to bury…. In three years, his government has gutted spending on science and technology, left Amazon research in penury and pauperized the Environment Ministry. Yet Bolsonaro’s favorite target has been the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), which is tasked with tracking deforestation. In 2019, Bolsonaro summarily fired the institute’s director after he reported a surge in Amazon clear-cutting. Now the landmark Cerrado monitoring program is under assault.” – The Washington Post

February 15, 2022
Vast tracts of Amazon rainforest vanished in January
“Estimated 166 square miles of forest was cleared last month in one of the planet’s richest areas of biodiversity. Vast tracts of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest vanished in January, according to country officials, with more than five times the number of trees cut down as in the same period in 2021.” – Independent

February 15, 2022
Megadrought Plaguing Western U.S. Is the Worst in 1,200 Years
“New study shows human-caused climate change is contributing to dryness. “Without climate change, the past 22 years would have probably still been the driest period in 300 years,” University of California Los Angeles geographer Park Williams, the lead author, said Monday in a statement. “But it wouldn’t be holding a candle to the megadroughts of the 1500s, 1200s or 1100s.”” – Bloomberg

February 15, 2022
‘Biggest oil barons’: the US private equity firms funding dirty energy projects
“American private equity tycoons are profiteering from the global climate crisis by investing in fossil fuels which are driving greenhouse gas emissions, a new investigation reveals. Oil and gas pipelines, coal plants and offshore drilling sites linked to Indigenous land violations, toxic leaks and deadly air pollution are among the dirty energy projects financed by some of the country’s largest private equity firms, according to an investigation by the corporate accountability non-profits LittleSis and the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (Pesp).” – The Guardian

February 15, 2022
Sea level to rise one foot along U.S. coastlines by 2050, government report finds
“‘There will be water in the streets,’ said the nation’s top sea-level scientist. Kristina Dahl, a principal climate scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, said research she and colleagues have done suggest that 10 to 12 inches of sea-level rise by 2050 would put roughly 140,000 homes at risk of chronic inundation,’ or flooding every other week on average.” – The Washington Post

February 14, 2022
Ending the debate: New research solves longstanding Antarctic climate change mystery
“The research lends additional weight to evidence that the Antarctic Ice Sheet is sensitive to small changes in carbon dioxide levels and that, in the past, large portions of the ice sheet could have disappeared under carbon dioxide levels similar to today.” – ScienceDaily

February 11, 2022
The Great Climate Backslide: How Governments Are Regressing Worldwide
“From the U.S. to China, harsh economic realities mean the political will for painful choices is evaporating fast. At the conclusion of COP26 in November… Three months on, a toxic combination of political intransigence, an energy crisis and pandemic-driven economic realities has cast doubt on the progress made in Scotland. If 2021 was marked by optimism that the biggest polluters were finally willing to set ambitious net-zero targets, 2022 already threatens to be the year of global backsliding.” – Bloomberg

February 8, 2022
Scientists raise alarm over ‘dangerously fast’ growth in atmospheric methane
“As global methane concentrations soar over 1,900 parts per billion, some researchers fear that global warming itself is behind the rapid rise…. The spike has caused many researchers to worry that global warming is creating a feedback mechanism that will cause ever more methane to be released, making it even harder to rein in rising temperatures.” – Nature

February 8, 2022
What if, instead of a movie, I got flung in jail? This lawyer who fought Chevron was Erin Brockovich
“Chevron is accused of polluting the Amazon for 26 years. The only people who’ve paid the price are a human rights lawyer and those whose land was poisoned.” – The Guardian

February 7, 2022
New radar technology records Antarctic glaciers losing ice faster than ever documented before
“‘If all these glaciers melt, the sea water could raise rapidly. With 267 million people worldwide living on land less than 2 meters (6.6 feet) above sea level, an abrupt migration could result. Also, subsidence could eventually see large structures sinking in vulnerable locales, including Houston,’ Milillo said. ‘That’s why people should care about this issue. Even if doesn’t affect their life, it will affect their kid’s life and their grandkid’s life.'” – ScienceDaily

February 7, 2022
Biosecurity ‘as important as conventional defence’ to head off next pandemic
“Report calls for strengthened international treaty on biological warfare to neutralise threat from engineered pathogens…. The report warns that the ‘explosion in synthetic biology’ and the 3,000-plus biosecure laboratories around the world where pathogens are being studied ‘creates a massive vulnerability in this area.’… The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention is poorly funded and supported at the United Nations and has no organisation to regulate it or police it.” – The Telegraph

February 7, 2022
Climate pledges from top companies crumble under scrutiny
An analysis of publicly available corporate documents, such as annual sustainability reports, shows that 25 of those companies — which together are responsible for about 5% of global emissions — are actually committing to do far less.” – Nature

February 7, 2022
Water Supplies From Glaciers May Peak Sooner Than Anticipated
“The world’s glaciers may contain less water than previously believed, a new study has found, suggesting that freshwater supplies could peak sooner than anticipated for millions of people worldwide who depend on glacial melt for drinking water, crop irrigation and everyday use…. With 1.5 billion people benefiting from the water and other resources of the Himalayas, while also facing growing risks of severe floods, the region ‘is just waiting for a disaster to happen,’ Dr. Prakash said…. Said Regine Hock, a geoscientist at the University of Oslo in Norway: ‘There is only so much ice,’ she said, ‘and then it’s gone.'” – The New York Times

February 6, 2022
A Surging Population Brings Risks for Next Host of Global Climate Talks
“Every child comes with its blessing, the Egyptian saying goes. With the country’s population now soaring beyond 100 million, that adage is being put to the test like never before. In the past three decades, the number of Egyptians has quadrupled and, if unchecked, could nearly double again by 2050, threatening to tip the host of this year’s global climate summit into a future where ever-scarcer resources thwart ambitious development efforts.” – Bloomberg

February 4, 2022
US household air conditioning use could exceed electric capacity in next decade due to climate changeScienceDaily

February 4, 2022
Failure to prevent pandemics at source is ‘greatest folly’, say scientists
“Each year on average more than 3 million people die from zoonotic diseases, those that spill over from wildlife into humans, new analysis has calculated. Stopping the destruction of nature, which brings humans and wildlife into greater contact and results in spillover, would cost about $20bn a year, just 10% of the annual economic damage caused by zoonoses and 5% of the value of the lives lost…. The scientists heavily criticise approaches by global bodies and governments that focus only on preventing the spread of new viruses once they have infected humans, rather than tackling the root causes as well.” – The Guardian

February 3, 2022
Extreme weather has cost Europe about €500bn over 40 years
“Severe floods and other extreme weather have cost Europe about half a trillion euros in the past four decades, with Germany, France and Italy the worst-hit countries. Between 90,000 and 142,000 deaths were attributed to weather and climate-related events over the period 1980 to 2020, the overwhelming majority of them from heatwaves.” – The Guardian

February 3. 2022
Human-induced climate change impacts the highest reaches of the planet — Mount Everest
“The extreme sensitivity of the high-altitude Himalayan ice masses in rapid retreat forewarns of quickly emerging impacts that could range from increased incidence of avalanches and decreased capacity of the glacier stored water on which more than 1 billion people depend to provide melt for drinking water and irrigation.” – ScienceDaily

February 2, 2022
Ancient trees vital to long-term survival of forests, study finds
“Ancient trees help forests adapt in a way that is crucial to their long-term survival, according to new research. Their genetic resilience is passed onto other plants, which support the ecosystem to withstand environmental changes, the study found. Scientists said these ancient trees “must be protected” given their importance in forests, as they cannot be replaced for many centuries.” – Independent

February 2, 2022
New research shows that there are TOO MANY CHEMICALS ON EARTH
First Dog on the Moon – And so here we are doomed by another thing! – The Guardian

February 1, 2022
Big Oil groups regain swagger with largest profits in yearsFinancial Times

February 1, 2022
Climate change has likely begun to suffocate the world’s fisheries
“By 2080, around 70 percent of the world’s oceans could be suffocating from a lack of oxygen as a result of climate change, potentially impacting marine ecosystems worldwide, according to a new study. The new models find mid-ocean depths that support many fisheries worldwide are already losing oxygen at unnatural rates and passed a critical threshold of oxygen loss in 2021.” – ScienceDaily

February 1, 2022
Paris Agreement limits still catastrophic for coral reefs, research suggests
“Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels will still be catastrophic for coral reefs, new research suggests.  More than 90 percent of tropical coral reefs will suffer frequent heat stress — their number one threat — even under Paris Agreement climate warming limits.  The scale is even worse than predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which reported in 2018 that such a level would cause 70 percent to 90 percent of coral reefs to decline.” – ScienceDaily

February 1, 2022
Texas Butterfly Park To Close Indefinitely As Conspiracy Theorists Intensify Attacks
“Trump-allied operatives have baselessly accused the National Butterfly Center of being involved with child trafficking…. The butterfly conservatory, which pushed back against Trump administration efforts to erect sections of a U.S.-Mexico border wall near its 100-acre nature preserve in Mission, Texas, has been tied up in litigation for years with the former presidential administration and its allies at We Build The Wall, making it an ongoing target for harassment.” –  HuffPost

February 1, 2022
Extreme heat in oceans ‘passed point of no return’ in 2014
“Scientists analysed sea surface temperatures over the last 150 years, which have risen because of global heating. They found that extreme temperatures occurring just 2% of the time a century ago have occurred at least 50% of the time across the global ocean since 2014…. ‘Extreme climate change is here, it’s in the ocean, and the ocean underpins all life on Earth.’” – The Guardian

February 1, 2022
Meet the People Getting Paid to Kill Our Planet
“American agriculture is ravaging the air, soil and water. But a powerful lobby has cleverly concealed its damage.” – The New York Times

January 31, 2022
Rare and ancient trees are key to a healthy forest
“Two studies pinpoint the need for forest diversity both in age and species. About 800 years ago, a giant oak tree in England’s Sherwood Forest helped shelter Robin Hood from the corrupt sheriff of Nottingham. Though the tale is likely a myth, the tree is not: It still stands as one of the world’s oldest oaks. Such ancient trees—some dating back more than 3000 years—are key to the survival of their forests, new research shows. Rare trees—some so scarce scientists have yet to find them—are also critical to forest health, another new study reveals.” – Science

Jamaury 28, 2022
If everyone were vegan, only a quarter of current farmland would be needed
“Most is currently used to grow plants to feed animals.” – The Economist

January 28, 2022
Climate-Fueled Nor’easter Is Forecast to Become a Bomb Cyclone
Winter storms in the Northeast U.S. are getting boost from warming oceans… Oceans are doing their part to stoke contrast with the cold spell over land. Oceans absorb more than 90% of the heat that greenhouse gases trap in the Earth. In 2021 the world’s oceans were hotter than ever previously measured, according to an international analysis published earlier this month.” – Bloomberg Green

January 28, 2022
China Jails Almost 50 Steel Executives for Faking Emissions Data
China will jail forty-seven steel company officials for faking air pollution data, in a sign that Beijing’s crackdown on firms that are flouting environmental rules is intensifying.” – Bloomberg

January 28, 2022
‘The treeline is out of control’: how the climate crisis is turning the Arctic green
In northern Norway, trees are rapidly taking over the tundra and threatening an ancient way of life that depends on snow and ice.” – The Guardian

January 27, 2022
West accused of ‘climate hypocrisy’ as emissions dwarf those of poor countries
“In the first two days of January, the average Briton was already responsible for more carbon dioxide emissions than someone from the Democratic Republic of the Congo would produce in an entire year, according to analysis by the Center for Global Development (CGD).” – The Guardian

January 27, 2022
Coal-Loving Australia’s Pledge To Protect Great Barrier Reef ‘Utter Bulls**t,’ Detractors Say
“The funding doesn’t include any significant effort to address the root cause of the reef’s demise: climate change. The Australian government on Friday said it would invest $700 million to protect the Great Barrier Reef, a natural crown jewel rapidly deteriorating due to climate change, but the plan prompted swift backlash from scientists and environmentalists who say the effort does little to address our warming world.” – HuffPost

January 21, 2022
How Big Beef Is Fueling the Amazon’s Destruction
“Understanding how Brazil’s beef industry and rainforest destruction are inextricably intertwined reveals a truth that meatpacking giant, JBS, doesn’t acknowledge: As the region’s biggest beef producer, its supply chain is also among the biggest drivers of Amazon deforestation the world has ever known.” – Bloomberg

January 21, 2022
House panel broadens probe into climate disinformation by Big Oil
“The House Committee on Oversight and Reform has broadened its investigation into the role of fossil fuel companies in misleading the public about climate change, asking members of the boards of directors of ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron and Shell Oil to testify before Congress next month about their firms’ commitments to curbing global warming.” – The Washington Post

January 20, 2022
‘Stuck in perilous moment’: Doomsday Clock holds at 100 seconds to midnight
“The Doomsday Clock, established 75 years ago by scientists to illustrate the danger of human extinction, remains at 100 seconds to midnight according to a panel of experts. It is the third year in a row that the clock has been set at that time, which is closer to midnight than at any period during the cold war, including the Cuban missile crisis…. Continued drift towards the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the climate emergency, and the rise of biological threats.” – The Guardian

January 20, 2022
Antimicrobial resistance now a leading cause of death worldwide, study finds
“Antimicrobial resistance poses a significant threat to humanity, health leaders have warned, as a study reveals it has become a leading cause of death worldwide and is killing about 3,500 people every day. More than 1.2 million – and potentially millions more – died in 2019 as a direct result of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, according to the most comprehensive estimate to date of the global impact of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The stark analysis covering more than 200 countries and territories was published in the Lancet. It says AMR is killing more people than HIV/Aids or malaria.”– The Guardian

January 19, 2022
Biodiversity faces its make-or-break year, and research will be key
“Biodiversity is being lost at a rate not seen since the last mass extinction. But the United Nations decade-old plan to slow down and eventually stop the decline of species and ecosystems by 2020 has failed. Most of the plan’s 20 targets — known as the Aichi Biodiversity Targets — have not been met.” – Nature

January 19, 2022
Plastic crisis threatens planet as much as climate change, needs binding treaty, report warns
“By 2050, weight of plastic waste could ‘far exceed’ that of fish in all oceans, report says.” – Independent

January 18, 2022
Chemical pollution has passed safe limit for humanity, say scientists
“The cocktail of chemical pollution that pervades the planet now threatens the stability of global ecosystems upon which humanity depends, scientists have said.” – The Guardian

January 18, 2022
Study confirms sixth mass extinction is currently underway, caused by humans
“Since 1500, Earth may have lost about a tenth of its 2 million known species, say scientists.” – Independent

January 18, 2022
A hot year in North America … and the world
“In 2021, North America was at the epicenter of some of the most intense weather and climate extremes in recorded history…. The map shows heat records across the globe in 2021, overlaid on 2021 annual average temperature anomaly based on data from NASA’s GISS Surface Temperature Analysis, compared with the 1951-1980 average. (Scott Duncan/NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies).” – The Washington Post

January 14, 2022

World’s poorest bear brunt of climate crisis: 10 underreported emergencies
“Care International report highlights ‘deep injustice’ neglected by world’s media, as extreme weather along with Covid wipes out decades of progress. From Afghanistan to Ethiopia, about 235 million people worldwide needed assistance in 2021. But while some crises received global attention, others are lesser known.” – The Guardian

January 14, 2022
Gene discovered in Georgia water a possible global threat
“A gene that causes bacteria to be resistant to one of the world’s most important antibiotics, colistin, has been detected in sewer water in Georgia. The presence of the MCR-9 gene is a major concern for public health because it causes antimicrobial resistance, a problem that the World Health Organization has declared “one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity.”” – Phys.org

January 14, 2022
The World’s Troubling New Tempo of Temperature Records
“Record high average temperatures were set in 25 countries last year, even in a year that didn’t end up as the hottest on record…. Ten countries, mostly in the Mediterranean, Middle East and North America, set new national heat records. More than 100 nations registered a highest monthly mark, a rate 21 times higher than cold records.” – Bloomberg

January 13, 2022
Brazilian turtle breeders shot dead along with teenage daughter
“Activists mourn deaths in Amazon state of Pará as bodies of José Gomes, Márcia Nunes Lisboa and their daughter found by son…. Brazil was ranked the fourth-deadliest country for land and environmental defenders in 2020, according to a report released by the NGO Global Witness last year. Nearly three quarters of 20 killings recorded happened in Brazil’s nine Amazon states…. While murders of land and environmental defenders in Brazil have fallen since a peak in 2017, when Global Witness recorded 57 killings, the country’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has overseen a dramatic increase in deforestation in the Amazon, according to government data.” – The Guardian

January 13, 2022
The past seven years have been the hottest in recorded history, new data shows
“In the middle of a historically sweltering summer, a NASA researcher stood before Congress and declared the unvarnished, undeniable scientific truth: ‘The greenhouse effect has been detected,’ James Hansen said. ‘And it is changing our climate now’ The year was 1988. Global temperatures were about 0.6 degrees Celsius (1.1 degrees Fahrenheit) above the preindustrial average. It was, at the time, the hottest 12-month period scientists had ever seen. None of us will ever experience a year that cool again.” – The Washington Post

January 13,  2022
BATTERY BREAKTHROUGH QUINTUPLES ELECTRIC VEHICLE RANGE
“Scientists have developed a biologically-inspired membrane that could quintuple the charge capacity of electric car batteries, thereby massively increasing their range…. The anticipated lifespan of 1,000 cycles would mean the average car battery would need to be replaced roughly every 10 years, while the materials used are far more abundant and less environmentally damaging than those used in lithium-ion batteries.” – Independent

January 13, 2022
Nearly quarter of world’s population had record hot year in 2021, data showsThe Guardian

January 13, 2022
Ocean warmth sets record high in 2021 as a result of greenhouse gas emissions
“Since the late 1980s, Earth’s oceans warmed at a rate eight times faster than in the preceding decades. When you have this long-term upward trend, you’re getting records broken almost every year, and it’s this monotonous increase,’ said John Abraham, a co-author of the study and a professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. ‘We’ve built up so much greenhouse gas that the oceans have begun to take in an increasing amount of heat, compared to what they previously were.'” – The Washington Post

January 12, 2022
Thaw of permafrost has vast impact on built environment
“The thaw of permafrost is set to damage buildings and roads, leading to tens of billions of euros in additional costs in the near future, according to an international review.” – ScienceDaily

January 11, 2022
Another Record: Ocean Warming Continues through 2021 despite La Niña Conditions
“The world ocean, in 2021, was the hottest ever recorded by humans, and the 2021 annual OHC value is even higher than last year’s record value.” – Advances in Atmospheric Sciences

January 11, 2022
What to expect from the world’s sixth mass extinction
Humans alive today are witnessing the beginning of the first mass extinction in 65 million years. What does biodiversity loss mean for us and the environment?” – Deutsche Welle

January 11, 2022
How the speed of climate change is unbalancing the insect world
“The pace of global heating is forcing insect populations to move and adapt – and some aggressive species are thriving. The climate crisis is set to profoundly alter the world around us. Humans will not be the only species to suffer from the calamity. Huge waves of die-offs will be triggered across the animal kingdom as coral reefs turn ghostly white and tropical rainforests collapse.At 3.2C of warming… half of all insect species will lose more than half of their current habitable range.” – The Guardian

January 10, 2022
Stop blaming the climate for disasters
“Disasters occur when hazards meet vulnerability. We must acknowledge the human-made components of both vulnerability and hazard and emphasize human agency in order to proactively reduce disaster impacts.” – Nature

January 10, 2022
U.S. saw second-most billion-dollar weather disasters on record in 2021
“The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Monday that at least 20 individual billion-dollar disasters occurred in the United States in 2021, the second-most on record. From tornadoes to floods, fires and hurricanes, the year featured a number of catastrophes, many of which were made more severe by human-induced climate change. Racking up a price tag of more than $145 billion, the disasters of 2021 combined into the third-costliest year on record dating to 1980, according to NOAA. At least 688 people were killed. The only costlier years were 2005, which featured Hurricane Katrina, and 2017, during which hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria made landfall. – The Washington Post

January 10, 2022
The Great Siberian Thaw
“Permafrost contains microbes, mammoths, and twice as much carbon as Earth’s atmosphere. What happens when it starts to melt?… ‘It’s a natural process,’ he told me. ‘Which means that, unlike purely anthropogenic processes’—say, emissions from factories or automobiles—’once it starts, you can’t really stop it.'” – The New Yorker

January 10, 2022
Air pollution: Delhi’s smog problem is rooted in India’s water crisis
“Every winter, Indian capital Delhi’s toxic air is fuelled by farmers burning crop stubble. But the fires don’t stop. Why? The answer lies in water…. India loses an estimated $95bn (£70bn) to air pollution every year…. The toxic smog is but a visible symbol of India’s trainwreck of a relationship with its water…. But the time bomb – of depleting groundwater – ticks on. Once that runs out, the November air might be cleaner. But what will India do about food?” – BBC

January 10, 2022
‘The Fuse Has Been Blown,’ and the Doomsday Glacier Is Coming for Us All
“New data suggests a massive collapse of the ice shelf in as little as five years. ‘We are dealing with an event that no human has ever witnessed,’ says one scientist. ‘We have no analog for this’…. The trouble with Thwaites, which is one of the largest glaciers on the planet, is that it’s also what scientists call ‘a threshold system.’ That means instead of melting slowly like an ice cube on a summer day, it is more like a house of cards: It’s stable until it is pushed too far, then it collapses.” – Rolling Stones

January 6, 2022
The Lost Girls of Covid
“The pandemic is erasing decades of progress in young women’s health, education, and independence in developing nations…. The UNFPA estimates that 12 million women were left without reliable birth control, resulting in 1.4 million unwanted pregnancies. Pre-Covid, the World Bank projected that 31 million people would escape extreme poverty in 2020. Instead, because of the pandemic, as many as 124 million people slipped below this bar that year, and the bank estimates that up to 163 million more may have followed suit in 2021. Researchers at the University of Denver forecast that it will take until 2030 for the number of women and girls living in extreme poverty to return to pre-pandemic levels.” – Bloomberg

January  6, 2022
How the coronavirus pandemic set back the global push for gender equality in 2021
“Covid-19 continued to negatively impact virtually every aspect of women’s lives last year, from employment to health. Rather than shrinking, the global gender gap has widened, and it could now take more than 135 years for it to close. The coronavirus pandemic has made progress towards gender equality appear all the more bleak, slowing and even reversing efforts to expand women’s rights and opportunities. As we approach the two-year mark of the global health crisis, women remain disproportionately affected by the socio-economic fallout of the pandemic, experiencing loss of livelihood, disruption to education and an increase in unpaid care work.” – South China Morning Post

January 5, 2022
Health Risks of Smoke and Ozone Rise in the West as Wildfires Worsen
“Simultaneous high levels of the two pollutants, which harm human health, are occurring with increasing frequency, researchers say. Dangerous levels of two air pollutants, ozone and smoke, are occurring in tandem with increasing frequency over widespread parts of the Western United States where millions of people live, researchers said Wednesday. The two harmful pollutants are a result of worsening wildfires and extreme heat, and researchers suggest the increase is linked to climate change.” – The New York Times

January 5, 2022
More than 40 percent of Americans live in counties hit by climate disasters in 2021
“2021 ended as it began: with disaster. Twelve months after an atmospheric river deluged California, triggering mudslides in burned landscapes and leaving half a million people without power, a late-season wildfire destroyed hundreds of homes in the suburbs of Boulder, Colo. In between, Americans suffered blistering heat waves, merciless droughts and monstrous hurricanes. People collapsed in farm fields and drowned in basement apartments; entire communities were obliterated by surging seas and encroaching flames.” – Washington Post

January 5, 2022
How Bad are Plastics, Really?
“For decades, the industry has created the illusion that its problems are well under control, all while intensifying production and promotion. More plastics have been made over the past two decades than during the second half of the 20th century. Today, recycling is a flailing, failing system—and yet it is still touted as plastics’ panacea. No end-of-the-pipe fix can manage mass plastics’ volume, complex toxicity, or legacy of pollution, and the industry’s long-standing infractions against human health and rights.” – The Atlantic

January 4, 2022
Watching Don’t Look Up made me see my whole life of campaigning flash before me
“I’ve broken down on TV too, trying to explain the horror of the climate crisis to those who wield power and do nothing. No wonder journalists have slated it. They’ve produced a hundred excuses not to watch the climate breakdown satire Don’t Look Up: it’s “blunt”, it’s “shrill”, it’s “smug”. But they will not name the real problem: it’s about them. The movie is, in my view, a powerful demolition of the grotesque failures of public life. And the sector whose failures are most brutally exposed is the media.” – The Guardian

January 3, 2022
HOW BAD ARE PLASTICS, REALLY?
“They’re harmful to health, environment, and human rights—and now poised to dominate this century as an unchecked cause of climate change.” – The Atlantic 

December 31, 2021
The Fight to Slow the Global Fish Crash Has a Big Problem
“More than 30 million fishers worldwide—around 90% of the total, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)—are considered small-scale. Together, they bring in about half of the world’s catch. With human populations rising and developing nations getting wealthier, the demand for seafood is escalating. An accurate assessment of the shrinking global fish supply is thus crucial to planetary food security. Right now though, that’s impossible.” – Bloomberg

Read 2020 Edition HERE

Trademarks | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy | Contact Us
OSHO International Foundation | All Rights Reserved © 2024 Copyrights