The Guardian Climate Change

Smaller secondary systems that create hailstorms and tornadoes pack a punch that is causing billions of dollars in damages

This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration

The rising cost of homeowner’s insurance is now one of the most prominent symptoms of the climate crisis in the US. Major carriers such as State Farm and Allstate have pulled back from offering fire insurance in California, dropping thousands of homeowners from their books, and dozens of small insurance companies have collapsed or fled from Florida and Louisiana following recent large hurricanes.

Imports have risen since Brexit despite brick producers saying UK can make enough for its own use

The UK is importing more of its bricks than ever and the carbon cost of each brick is rising, research has shown.

The UK is the number one country in the world for brick importation, according to data from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Observatory of Economic Complexity.

Display at Chelsea flower show highlights work in UK and US to bring orchid habitats back to health

Scientists are racing against the clock to save the world’s orchids by discovering the soil fungi they need to thrive, breeding them and then, in a first for conservation, transplanting them into orchid habitats.

Among the showy blooms at Chelsea flower show this week was a moss-covered exhibit, sprouting from which were the types of rare, native flowers one does not normally see at horticultural exhibits.

Leadership now sees environment as core issue for voters and strong dividing line against the Tories

Labour is planning to make the climate a key focus for its election campaign, putting its net zero commitments “up in lights”, and drawing a clear link between the “chaos” of the Conservative government and the effects of the climate crisis.

Fears over the climate – exemplified by a sopping Rishi Sunak calling the general election in a downpour on the same day scientists warned about the increased likelihood of seemingly “never-ending” autumn and winter rain – will be tied strongly to what Labour will portray as a polluting and careless Tory vein of climate denial.

The 19th century, used as a baseline for global heating, may have been a quarter of a degree cooler than previously believed

Since 2015, when the world’s governments promised to work to try to keep global temperatures from rising 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, it has always seemed likely they would fail to keep their word. Scientific data now shows that last summer in the northern hemisphere this target was already being exceeded by quite a margin.

In an area including the whole of Europe, most of North America and Asia the average temperature last summer was 2.07C hotter than between 1850 and 1900, the period that scientists have been using as the “reference period” to measure the averages before the industrial revolution began to alter the climate.

WeatherZone predicts no significant snowfalls for five major downhill ski resorts in NSW and Victoria before season kicks off on June long weekend

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With winter just around the corner, temperatures are plunging but Australia’s ski slopes are looking bare, prompting fears that the country’s best snow spots are set for an underwhelming peak season.

The weather service WeatherZone has predicted there will be no significant snowfalls for Australia’s five major downhill ski resorts – all in New South Wales and Victoria – before the ski season kicks off on the King’s Birthday long weekend in June.

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Action against Letzte Generation could have ‘immense chilling effect’ on climate protest, campaigners say

Five members of Letzte Generation, Germany’s equivalent to Just Stop Oil, have been charged with “forming a criminal organisation”, a move civil rights campaigners say could in effect criminalise future support for the climate campaign.

Mirjam Herrmann, 27, Henning Jeschke, 22, Edmund Schulz, 60, Lukas Popp, 25, and Jakob Beyer, 30, were charged under section 129 of the German criminal code. It is believed to be the first time the law has been applied to a non-violent protest group.

Trials show spreading basalt on farmland helps capture CO2 from the atmosphere and improves crop yields

There is an urgent need for farming to curb its greenhouse gas emissions, with farmers also under pressure to be more sustainable. One suggestion could help with both problems: spreading crushed volcanic (basalt) rocks on fields to help capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

It is a sustainable fertiliser; basalt is rich in minerals, so the rock powder increases soil fertility by feeding nutrients needed for plant growth. Trials at the universities of Newcastle and Sheffield have shown that crop yields are improved, without any ill-effects on the environment or the plants.

The loss of the ecosystems, which are vast stores of carbon, would ‘be disastrous for nature and people across the globe’, says IUCN

Half of all the world’s mangrove forests are at risk of collapse, according to the first-ever expert assessment of these crucial ecosystems and carbon stores.

Human behaviour is the primary cause of their decline, according to the analysis by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), with mangroves in southern India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives most at risk.

As frozen ground below the surface melts, exposed minerals such as iron are giving streams a rusty color that pose a risk to wildlife

Dozens of rivers and streams in Alaska are turning rusty orange, a likely consequence of thawing permafrost, a new study finds.

The Arctic is the fastest-warming region in the globe, and as the frozen ground below the surface melts, minerals once locked away in that soil are now seeping into waterways.

Plaintiffs claim $38.7bn gas export project, which would triple state’s greenhouse gas emissions, infringes constitutional rights

Eight young people are suing the government of Alaska – the nation’s fastest-warming state – claiming a major new fossil fuel project violates their state constitutional rights.

The state-owned Alaska Gasline Development Corporation has proposed a $38.7bn gas export project that would roughly triple the state’s greenhouse gas emissions for decades, the lawsuit says. Scientists have long warned that fossil fuel extraction must be swiftly curbed to secure a livable future.

Older adults face a shortage of affordable and accessible homes as climate change worsens

From their hillside home above Barre, Vermont, Doug and Rhoda Mason thought they were safe. It was 11 July 2023, and record rains were flooding their small city.

Then, just before 5am, a landslide crashed into the Masons’ house. The mud hit with such force it pushed the structure 10ft off its foundation.

With heatwaves becoming more frequent in Bengaluru and other cities across the country, climate planning must look to people on the margins, experts say

Venkatachala starts his day early, neatly arranging jasmine, roses, chrysanthemums and crossandras on his pushcart. He then heads out on to the streets of Bengaluru, calling out to customers who use fresh flowers for religious rituals and daily prayers at home.

His goal this summer has been to sell most of his stock before 10am. Venkatachala knows that with each hour after that, his flowers will wilt, and the odds of selling them and the income he can expect will fall significantly.

Winter downpours also made 20% wetter and will occur every three years without urgent carbon cuts, experts warn

The seemingly “never-ending” rain last autumn and winter in the UK and Ireland was made 10 times more likely and 20% wetter by human-caused global heating, a study has found.

More than a dozen storms battered the region in quick succession between October and March, which was the second-wettest such period in nearly two centuries of records. The downpour led to severe floods, at least 20 deaths, severe damage to homes and infrastructure, power blackouts, travel cancellations, and heavy losses of crops and livestock.

Data from Colorado mountain rivers shows concentrations of copper, zinc and sulphate have doubled in 30 years

Mountain rivers in the US state of Colorado are going rusty and the warming climate is to blame, according to research. An increase in toxic heavy metals has also been observed in Arctic streams, leading to concern that this phenomenon may be more widespread.

From the Andes to the European Alps, researchers have seen an increase in heavy metals in mountain streams in recent decades, but it has not been clear what is driving the trend. Analysing 40 years of water chemistry data from 22 of Colorado’s mountain streams, researchers found that the concentrations of copper, zinc and sulphate had doubled over the past 30 years. The study, published in Water Resources Research, found that drier weather and reduced stream flow accounted for about half of the rise, but the remaining increase was most likely due to thawing of underground ice, exposing more rocks to groundwater and releasing the metals contained within them.

Steve MacLaughlin of WTVJ in Miami urges viewers to vote – because ‘there are candidates that believe in climate change’

A TV meteorologist condemned the Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s so-called “don’t say climate change” law on air and urged viewers to vote.

Steve MacLaughlin of WTVJ in Miami addressed viewers on Saturday amid rising heat records across the state, saying: “On Thursday, we reported … that the government of Florida was beginning to roll back really important climate-change legislation and really important climate-change language.”

Wealthy states must cut emissions faster than their developing peers, court says, in major step for climate justice

Greenhouse gases are pollutants that are wrecking the marine environment, and states have a legal responsibility to control them, an international court has stated in a landmark moment for climate justice.

Wealthy nations must cut their emissions faster than their developing peers, the court also decided.

To understand why some Olympians would go into bat for the mining magnate on a matter unrelated to the pool, one need only look at the financial hold she has over the sport

Many things have been said about Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, and not all of them positive. But in the world of Australian swimming, superlatives comes thick and fast. According to Cate Campbell, a four-time Olympic gold medallist, Rinehart “saved swimming”. Her sister, fellow Olympian Bronte Campbell, describes the billionaire as a “unique patron”. To Swimming Queensland’s chief executive, Kevin Hasemann, Rinehart is Australian sport’s greatest benefactor since “Santa Claus”.

And so the news that the Olympic gold medallist Kyle Chalmers and his colleagues had campaigned for Rinehart in relation to portraits she disliked by the artist Vincent Namatjira was not surprising, even if its timing – when all eyes are otherwise on preparations for Paris 2024 – was unexpected. To understand why Hasemann and some of Australia’s top swimmers would go into bat for Rinehart on a matter entirely unrelated to the pool, one need only look at the financial hold the mining magnate has over the sport.

Revealed: Four gas utilities have teamed up with Habitat for Humanity to build ‘zero-net energy homes’, investigation shows

US gas utilities are partnering with one of the nation’s most trusted non-profits as part of a “cynical PR stunt” to combat efforts to curb fossil fuel usage, a Guardian investigation has found.

Local Habitat for Humanity affiliates have teamed up with at least four utilities across 10 states to build “zero-net energy homes”, which are meant to produce more energy than they use.

Case alleges French company’s exploitation of fossil fuel contributed to deaths of victims in extreme weather disasters

A criminal case has been filed against the CEO and directors of the French oil company TotalEnergies, alleging its fossil fuel exploitation has contributed to the deaths of victims of climate-fuelled extreme weather disasters.

The case was filed in Paris by eight people harmed by extreme weather, and three NGOs. The plaintiffs believe it to be the first such criminal case filed against the individuals running a major oil company. The public prosecutor who received the file has three months to decide whether to open a judicial investigation or dismiss the complaint.