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Climate
The week around the world in 20 pictures
War in Gaza, Russian attacks in Kyiv, voting in Mexico and D-day commemorations: the last seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists
• Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing
Continue reading...Wildfire smoke prematurely killed over 50,000 Californians over a decade – study
Exposure to toxic particles also led to $432bn in health expenses between 2008 and 2018
More than 50,000 people have died prematurely in California over a decade due to exposure to toxic particles in wildfire smoke, according to a new study.
Wildfires create smoke containing PM2.5, tiny particles roughly one-thirtieth of a human hair that can embed themselves deep in the lungs and enter the bloodstream. The particles have been linked to numerous health conditions and premature death. Previous research has found that the wildfire smoke is exposing millions of people in the US to the harmful pollutant.
Continue reading...Flood alerts at record level in Great Britain in first four months of 2024
Environment Agency figures show an average of 40 warnings and alerts a day were issued during period
A record number of flood alerts and warnings were issued in Great Britain in the first four months of 2024, averaging 40 a day, according to analysis of Environment Agency figures.
Round Our Way, a not-for-profit organisation supporting people in the UK affected by the climate crisis, obtained data from the agency under the Freedom of Information Act on the number of warnings and alerts issued across the country since records began in 2006.
Continue reading...Heat pumps: how to reduce your carbon footprint while saving money this winter
The rest of the world has already fallen in love with the ‘magic’ technology, but Australians are only just starting to catch on
- Change by Degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprint
- Got a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at changebydegrees@theguardian.com
As any Australian who has lived overseas knows, Australia’s houses are uniquely cold. Where residents of other nations enjoy the benefit of stable internal temperatures, Australians are mostly left to endure colder, leakier homes with no central heating that have more in common with open-air tents.
Sweden may have made double glazing on windows mandatory since 1960, and triple glazing may be common in many countries, but Australians have stuck with single. This has much to do with how Australian regulations have lagged – the country only got around to introducing energy efficiency standards into the building code in 2003. Even then, some states like South Australia have, at times, exempted developers from having to comply with national energy efficiency regulations on some projects – a decision that will cost residents more in the long run.
Continue reading...EMTs Get a New Way to Treat Heat Victims: Body-Sized Ice Cocoons
‘It’s just too big’: division over plans for UK’s biggest solar farm
Solar projects such as Botley West in Oxfordshire are latest net zero schemes bogged down by local disputes
A few hundred metres from her house, Rosemary Lewis stands at a clearing on a footpath overlooking a tract of rolling hills in the Oxfordshire countryside that could become home to UK’s largest solar farm. With plans to install 2.5m solar panels along an 11-mile (18km) stretch north of Oxford, the Botley West solar farm would be vast.
The proposal is one of 30 large-scale solar projects vying for approval, which could give the UK a much-needed shot in the arm to achieve its climate goals of generating 100% clean electricity by 2035 and reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Continue reading...‘All these problems are solvable’: Great Lakes shipping fights to cut emissions
A new, cleaner ship points way as US ports in the region are spending millions on upgrades in pursuit of net zero
It’s just after 9.30pm on a Thursday night in late May when a conveyor belt begins dumping 21,000 tons of road salt into the cavernous hull of the MV Mark M Barker at a dock in Cleveland.
As the first US-flagged freighter to be built on the Great Lakes in nearly 40 years, the 639ft (195-meter)-long ship – launched in 2022 – is the only vessel of its kind in the region powered by cleaner, “tier four” marine engines that meet the federal Environmental Protection Agency rules governing hydrocarbons and particle matter emissions.
Continue reading...News and tech media mostly quiet after UN chief calls for ban on ads for oil and gas
The Guardian contacted 11 major organizations that run fossil-fuel ads after Wednesday’s speech by António Guterres
Major news and tech media that have run fossil-fuel ads were largely staying quiet after the UN’s secretary general called for governments and companies to place bans on advertisements for coal, oil and gas.
“Stop taking fossil-fuel advertising,” António Guterres implored in a major speech on Wednesday after railing against energy companies for “distorting the truth, deceiving the public, and sowing doubt” about the climate crisis.
Continue reading...Commonwealth health ministries under pressure amid rise in climate-related illnesses
Heat stress and increase in insect-borne diseases particularly acute in smaller states, warns secretary general Lady Scotland
Climate change is now the biggest concern facing health ministers in Commonwealth countries, the organisation’s secretary general has warned.
Patricia Scotland said it was a “reality today” rather than a problem of the future, with impacts such as heat stress and increases in insect-borne diseases particularly acute in smaller states.
Continue reading...The World Heads to the Polls
An Oregon Forest Is in Trouble. Part of the Response: Logging.
Vermont Takes On Big Oil. Will Other States Follow?
How a Backlash Against Climate Action Is Reshaping Europe’s Election
More intense, frequent tropical cyclones may devastate seabird colonies – study
Up to 90% ‘lost in the blink of an eye’, say scientists studying Cyclone Ilsa’s effect on birds on Western Australian island
Increased tropical cyclones due to global heating could lead to dramatic declines in seabird populations, according to a new study.
Scientists found that after Cyclone Ilsa – a category-5 tropical cyclone – hit Bedout Island in Western Australia in April 2023, several seabird populations experienced a collapse of 80-90% due to the storm at the internationally important breeding site.
Continue reading...Un objetivo climático clave ‘pende de un hilo’, advierte el jefe de la ONU
Tornadoes strike Detroit and east coast as heatwave blankets US south-west
Child killed and mother critically injured in Michigan when twister uprooted a tree and sent it crashing into their home
A two-year-old boy was killed and his mother critically injured after a fast-developing tornado struck and caused a tree to fall on their home in the suburban Detroit city of Livonia on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, tornadoes also struck in Maryland on the east coast and a brutal heatwave affected the south-west and California as extreme weather continued to mark the start of summer in the US.
Continue reading...Dangerous heatwave hits US from Texas to California with grim records expected
Millions of Americans are sweltering as experts warn early heat could herald next record-smashing summer
With the official start of summer still weeks away, a potentially record-setting heatwave is cooking the south-western US, causing dangerous conditions far earlier than normal.
Excessive-heat warnings have been issued from the southern tip of Texas across Arizona and Nevada, and up through the center of California to the northern part of the state, as more than 36 million people across the country brace for days of potentially life-threatening temperatures. Affected areas of California could see conditions of 30F higher than normal for this time of year, as south-west cities, including Phoenix and Las Vegas, prepare to hit peaks above 110F.
Continue reading...Air-Conditioning Gives Us a False Sense of Security
Nine independent MPs and Greens back UN call for Australia to ban fossil fuel advertising
‘The industry is rapidly strangling our planet,’ says Andrew Wilkie, who joins Allegra Spender, Sophie Scamps, Zali Steggall and Monique Ryan in call for ban
At least nine independent MPs and the Greens have backed the UN secretary general’s call for the Australian government to ban fossil fuel advertising and for media companies to stop accepting money to promote coal, oil and gas companies.
Many described fossil fuel advertising as greenwashing that damaged the climate, the environment and people’s health, and compared its use to steps taken by “big tobacco” before cigarette advertising was banned in 1992.
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