South Sudan, one of the world’s youngest nations, is particularly vulnerable to the climate crisis. Heatwaves are common but rarely exceed 40C (104F). Civil conflict has plagued the East African country, which also suffers drought and flooding, making living conditions difficult.
The country is closing all schools starting Monday, i.e., 25th March 2024, in preparation for an extreme heatwave that is expected to last two weeks. Read More
Only seven countries globally are meeting an international air quality standard, with deadly air pollution worsening in places due to a rebound in economic activity and the toxic impact of wildfire smoke, a new report has found.
According to the report by IQAir, a Swiss air quality organization that draws data from more than 30,000 monitoring stations around the world, the vast majority of countries are failing to meet this standard for PM2.5, a type of microscopic speck of soot less than the width of a human hair that when inhaled can cause a myriad of health problems and deaths, risking severe implications for people. Read More
The head of the atmospheric science authority has highlighted the urgency for scientists to anticipate the consequences of geoengineering. As the potential necessity for such climate intervention technologies becomes increasingly plausible, Richard Spinrad, the NOAA administrator, emphasized the importance of understanding the impacts, particularly those related to oceanic techniques.
Spinrad advocates for comprehensive research to unravel the complexities of geoengineering’s effects, stating his belief in the technology’s critical role in curbing global warming and associated issues, such as ocean acidification. NOAA’s commitment to evaluating these emergent strategies reflects a proactive approach to navigating the intricacies of global climate solutions. Read More
In Salisbury, Massachusetts, an ambitious endeavour to safeguard oceanfront homes with a newly constructed dune has succumbed to the very force it was meant to shield against. Costing over $500,000, the dune—comprised of 15,000 tons of sand—stood as a bulwark against the relentless tides threatening the coastal town just 35 miles north of Boston. Yet, mere days after its completion in February, the dune was swept away, leaving the community to grapple with the temporary nature of their investment.
The homeowners, united under the Salisbury Beach Citizens for Change, faced the Atlantic’s wrath. Recent months brought a series of powerful storms intensified by rising sea levels and increasingly potent winds—a stark manifestation of the ongoing climate crisis. Despite the dune’s brief existence, the group maintains a resilient stance, expressing on social media that the dune served its purpose, albeit briefly, by absorbing the ocean’s assault that could have wrought even greater damage on their homes.
This episode stands as a testament to the challenges of coastal preservation in an era marked by environmental upheaval. Salisbury’s experience underscores the broader, global struggle of communities striving to adapt to a changing planet, where the rapid evolution of our climate is outpacing traditional methods of environmental defence. Read More
The government’s failure to insulate the UK’s cold and leaky homes is costing thousands of lives a year, according to analysis.
The report from Greenpeace reveals 58 people have died due to cold homes every day on average during the winter since David Cameron’s Conservative government decided to “cut the green crap” in 2013, drastically slashing support for home insulation.
Activists have pointed out that the UK had some of the least energy-efficient housing in Western Europe. Government figures released last month show that 3.17 million households live in fuel poverty in the UK. Poorly insulated homes also contribute to poor health and are estimated to cost the NHS more than 850 pounds a year in England.
Housing is directly responsible for about 14% of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions, driven in part by the large proportion of uninsulated or poorly insulated homes. Read More
Recent research highlights that Europe has seen significant improvements in air pollution levels over the past 20 years. Despite these advancements, a vast majority of Europeans still reside in areas with air quality levels that fall short of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidelines.
An alarming 98% of the European population is exposed to delicate particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations deemed unhealthy by the WHO, with 80% and 86% experiencing higher than recommended levels of PM10 and nitrogen dioxide, respectively.
Conducted by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), this comprehensive study analyzed pollution data across over 1,400 regions in 35 European countries, covering a demographic of 543 million individuals.
Zhao-Yue Chen, an ISGlobal researcher and the study’s lead author, emphasized the urgent need for targeted actions to combat elevated levels of PM2.5 and ozone. The study underscores the pressing challenges posed by climate change in Europe, calling for concerted efforts to mitigate pollution and protect public health. Read More
The US has just experienced its hottest winter ever, with record-breaking temperatures driving away snow and ice and making the coldest months feel bizarrely balmy in many parts of the country.
Swaths of the lower 48 states had a “lost winter”, with many of the coldest winter states – New York, Vermont, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan and New Hampshire – all setting new record heat levels for the season, which concluded at the end of February, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Overall, the winter was 5.4F (3C) hotter than the long-term average, a considerable 0.8F (0.4C) increase on the previous record set in the winter of 2015-2016. The US hasn’t had a warmer winter in 130 years of record keeping, and possibly before this, too. Read More
A review of the Queensland government’s Great Barrier Reef protection regulations has found that almost half the affected farmers still believe there is little or no scientific evidence to support pollution reduction rules.
The laws passed in 2019 were based on scientific advice that limits on sediment and chemical runoff were needed in the reef catchment amid concerns about water quality. Read More
The European Environment Agency (EEA) has said in its first risk assessment that Europe is not prepared for the rapidly growing climate risks it faces.
From wildfires burning down homes to violent weather straining public finances, more action is needed to address half of the 36 significant climate risks with potentially severe consequences that it identifies for Europe.
Further, the severity of climate threats and how well-prepared Europe is to deal with them. The most pressing risks—which are growing worse as fossil fuel pollution heats the planet—are heat stress, flash floods and river floods, the health of coastal and marine ecosystems, and the need for solidarity funds to recover from disasters. Read More
Restoring wolverines to the Centennial state could provide the threatened species with a buffer population at a time when the US Fish and Wildlife is facing low numbers of threats from climate change and habitat fragmentation.
Conservationists and state biologists have long pushed for the reintroduction, saying Colorado has plenty of unoccupied habitat and could support as many as 100 or even 180 wolverines, dramatically increasing the species’ North American population.
Wolverines are one of the largest members of the mustelid family and are known for small populations, big home ranges, and an apparent elusiveness that lends itself to human myths and storytelling. The Colorado proposal is part of a wolverine comeback after the species was largely trapped and poisoned out of the continental US a century ago. Read More
