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The Guardian Climate Change
Four kids left: The Thai school swallowed by the sea – video
Ban Khun Samut Chin, a coastal village in Samut Prakan province, Thailand, has been slowly swallowed by the sea over the past few decades. This has led to the relocation of the school and many homes, resulting in a dwindling population. Currently, there are only four students attending the school, often leaving just one in each classroom. The village has experienced severe coastal erosion, causing 1.1-2km (0.5-1.2 miles) of shoreline to disappear since the mid-1950s
Continue reading...Herd of 170 bison could help store CO2 equivalent of almost 2m cars, researchers say
Free-roaming animals reintroduced in Romania’s Țarcu mountains are stimulating plant growth and securing carbon stored in the soil while grazing
A herd of 170 bison reintroduced to Romania’s Țarcu mountains could help store CO2 emissions equivalent to removing almost 2m cars from the road for a year, research has found, demonstrating how the animals help mitigate the worst effects of the climate crisis.
European bison disappeared from Romania more than 200 years ago, but Rewilding Europe and WWF Romania reintroduced the species to the southern Carpathian mountains in 2014. Since then, more than 100 bison have been given new homes in the Țarcu mountains, growing to more than 170 animals today, one of the largest free-roaming populations in Europe. The landscape holds the potential for 350-450 bison.
Continue reading...MPs and peers urge Sunak to U-turn on oil and gas extraction plans
Cross-party group of 50 calls on prime minister to appoint climate envoy and back Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance
A cross-party group of MPs and peers has urged Rishi Sunak to make a U-turn on his oil and gas extraction plans as part of a broader plea to increase efforts to address the climate crisis.
The 50 politicians, including three Conservatives, wrote to the prime minister calling for the UK to regain its international leadership on the crisis by ending the licensing of new oil and gas fields, appointing a climate envoy, and backing the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance.
Continue reading...Plantwatch: Britain’s volunteer naturalists provide vital knowledge
The practice of recording firsthand observations about nature goes back centuries and provides an invaluable resource
Britain has a long tradition of volunteer naturalists dating back 250 years to the Rev Gilbert White in Selborne, Hampshire, best known for his classic book The Natural History of Selborne (1789).
In recent times, Rosemary Parslow has detailed the plants of the Isles of Scilly, many found nowhere else in Britain thanks to the sub-tropical climate of the islands.
Continue reading...‘Impossible’ heatwave struck Philippines in April, scientists find
Human-caused climate crisis brought soaring temperatures across Asia, from Gaza to Delhi to Manila
The record-breaking heatwave that scorched the Philippines in April would have been impossible without the climate crisis, scientists have found. Searing heat above 40C (104F) struck across Asia in April, causing deaths, water shortages, crop losses and widespread school closures.
The extreme heat was made 45 times more likely in India and five times more likely in Israel and Palestine, the study found. The scientists said the high temperatures compounded the already dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where displaced people are living in overcrowded shelters with little access to water.
Continue reading...House Democrats launch investigation into Trump’s alleged offers to oil executives
Democrats on the House oversight committee sent letters to oil executives asking about alleged $1bn quid pro quo offer
House Democrats have launched an investigation into a meeting between oil company executives and Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home and club last month, following reports that the former president offered to dismantle Biden’s environmental rules and requested $1bn in contributions to his presidential campaign.
Democrats on the House oversight committee late on Monday evening sent letters to nine oil executives requesting information on their companies’ participation in the meeting.
Continue reading...UK is failing to put climate crisis at centre of national security measures, MPs told
Experts say changing climate is ‘threat multiplier’ and that US and Germany already include it in planning
The US, Germany and other countries are putting the climate crisis at the heart of their national security plans but the UK is failing to do likewise, experts have told the government.
Extreme weather and heat are killing increasing numbers of people, damaging economies and forcing millions around the world to flee their homes, adding to an already unstable geopolitical situation, MPs were told on Tuesday at a select committee hearing.
Continue reading...Heat exposure of older people across world to double by 2050, finds study
Extra 270 million adults aged 69 or over will suffer dangerous heat levels of 37.5C amid global heating and ageing populations
The heat exposure of older people will at least double in all continents by 2050, according to a study that highlights the combined risk posed by a heating world and an ageing population.
Compared with today, there will be up to an extra 250 million people aged 69 or above who are exposed to dangerous levels of heat, defined as 37.5C. The paper warned this is likely to create biological and social vulnerability hotspots with increasing concentrations of older adults and high temperature extremes.
Continue reading...‘Magical thinking’: hopes for sustainable jet fuel not realistic, report finds
IPS report says replacement fuels well off track to replace kerosene within timeframe needed to avert climate disaster
Hopes that replacement fuels for airplanes will slash carbon pollution are misguided and support for these alternatives could even worsen the climate crisis, a new report has warned.
There is currently “no realistic or scalable alternative” to standard kerosene-based jet fuels, and touted “sustainable aviation fuels” are well off track to replace them in a timeframe needed to avert dangerous climate change, despite public subsidies, the report by the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive thinktank, found.
Continue reading...Fast fashion is wasteful, and thrifting is flawed. The solution: swap!
- Read more from the DIY Climate Changers, a new series on everyday people’s creative solutions to the climate crisis
Jannine Mancilla, 32, and Nicole Macias, 34, bonded over a shared love of DIY fashion and hand-me-downs, and frustrations with an environmentally-destructive industry and a throwaway culture that creates huge amounts of waste. So they came up with a radical idea: asking people to offer up their old clothes – for free. Their Los Angeles clothing swaps have grown from humble origins to “overwhelmingly” popular events that receive hundreds of pounds of clothing donations each month, helping attendees save the planet and keep money in their pockets.
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Continue reading...Why we’re publishing a series on DIY climate solutions
The climate crisis can seem intractable – especially in an election year. But the remarkable actions of individuals are reason for hope
The hottest year on record. Extreme drought, wildfires and flooding. Despairing scientists, wildlife loss and rampant waste. The sheer scale of the climate crisis can feel overwhelming.
And when it comes to taking serious action, politicians move at a glacial pace, and the very real possibility of another Donald Trump presidency could stymie progress even further.
If you would like to share your story, send us an email at diyclimate@theguardian.com. Tell us a bit about yourself, your project and why you started it, and the impact it’s had. Please leave contact details; one of our reporters will get in touch if we are interested in finding out more
Continue reading...Thousands evacuated in Canada as intense wildfire approaches town
British Columbia wildfire service says blaze is burning 2km from Fort Nelson and encourages remaining people to leave
An intense wildfire could hit a town in western Canada on Monday, based on forecasts of strong winds that have been fueling the out-of-control blaze which has already forced the evacuation of thousands, fire experts and officials warned.
The British Columbia wildfire service said the blaze is burning just 2km (1.2 miles) north-west of Fort Nelson, which has already seen about 3,500 people evacuated from there after an order to leave was issued on Friday.
Continue reading...Banks have given almost $7tn to fossil fuel firms since Paris deal, report reveals
Among world’s top 60 banks those in US are biggest fossil fuel financiers, while Barclays leads way in Europe
The world’s big banks have handed nearly $7tn (£5.6tn) in funding to the fossil fuel industry since the Paris agreement to limit carbon emissions, according to research.
In 2016, after talks in Paris, 196 countries signed an agreement to limit global heating as a result of carbon emissions to at most 2C above preindustrial levels, with an ideal limit of 1.5C to prevent the worst impacts of a drastically changed climate.
Continue reading...Afghanistan flash floods kill more than 300 as torrents of water and mud crash through villages
Survivors pick through debris-littered streets and damaged buildings as rescue workers dispatched amid warning some areas cut off by flooding
More than 300 people were killed in flash floods that ripped through multiple provinces in Afghanistan, the UN’s World Food Programme said, as authorities declared a state of emergency and rushed to rescue the injured.
Many people remained missing after heavy rains on Friday sent roaring rivers of water and mud crashing through villages and across agricultural land in several provinces, causing what one aid group described as a “major humanitarian emergency”.
Continue reading...Ministers consider making UK’s carbon targets easier to meet
Fears Climate Change Committee’s advice not to allow carryover from last carbon budget will be ignored
Ministers are considering plans to weaken the UK’s carbon-cutting plans by allowing the unused portion of the last carbon budget to be carried over to the next period.
This would go against the strong recommendation of the government’s statutory climate advisers, the Climate Change Committee.
Continue reading...Brutal heatwaves and submerged cities: what a 3C world would look like
Climate scientists have told the Guardian they expect catastrophic levels of global heating. Here’s what that would mean for the planet
- World is on edge of climate abyss, UN warns
- Climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target
Global heating is likely to soar past internationally agreed limits, according to a Guardian survey of hundreds of leading climate experts, bringing catastrophic heatwaves, floods and storms.
Only 6% of the respondents thought the 1.5C limit could be achieved, and this would require extraordinarily fast, radical action to halt and reverse the world’s rising emissions from fossil fuel burning.
Continue reading...At least 50 dead after flash flooding in northern Afghanistan
Death toll may rise as search continues for victims under mud and rubble and as more rain approaches
At least 50 people, mainly women and children, have been killed in flash flooding in the northern Afghanistan province of Baghlan.
The number was confirmed by Hedayatullah Hamdard, the head of the provincial natural disaster management department, who said it could increase in the coming days.
Continue reading...The week around the world in 20 pictures
War in Gaza, floods in Kenya and Brazil, the Olympic flame in Marseille and the Met Gala in New York: 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...It’s not all doom and gloom when it comes to the climate | Fiona Katauskas
You just need to know who to listen to
- See more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here
The climate crisis is no laughing matter, no matter what those on Radio 4’s Today programme think | Bill McGuire
As a scientist, I’m faced with indifference and a failure to understand the reality of the climate crisis every day. We must wake people up
- Bill McGuire is professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at UCL
Do you find climate breakdown funny? Do you think it’s a laughing matter that we are on track to bequeath to our children and their children a planet changed for the worse beyond all recognition? I don’t – and I’m sure the presenters of Radio 4’s Today programme don’t either. But I couldn’t help feeling we were having a bit of a Don’t Look Up moment yesterday, hearing them brush off predictions by top climate scientists that our world will end up at least 2.5C hotter as depressing and “gloomy”. This is not to say that laughter and grim news shouldn’t or can’t go together. I work with comedians to help get the climate crisis message across, but we use humour to aid understanding and to help cope, not to denigrate and mock.
The truth is that most people, including many professional journalists, and most politicians, don’t really “get” climate breakdown. Partly this reflects a heads-in-the-sand attitude, but mainly it flags a poor understanding of just how bad things are set to get.
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