Category Archives: Climate change

What will our eco-friendly homes of the future look like?

Posted on by

The planet-saving innovations available, and which are most likely to be used in UK houses

As we argue over heat pumps and electric car charging sockets here in the UK, it is undeniable that most of our homes have a long way to go to be eco-friendly.

To reach net zero, we are going to have to change how we heat our houses. The way they are built will probably have to change, too. Perhaps the ubiquitous squat brick suburban house will become a thing of the past. Hopefully so will our Victorian pipe system and, for those of us who rent, our ancient boilers which make a disturbing noise.

Continue reading...

Blue whales returning to Spain’s Atlantic coast after 40-year absence

Posted on by

Some experts fear climate crisis is leading creatures back to area where they were hunted almost to extinction

Blue whales, the world’s largest mammals, are returning to Spain’s Atlantic coast after an absence of more than 40 years.

The first one was spotted off the coast of Galicia in north-west Spain in 2017 by Bruno Díaz, a marine biologist who is head of the Bottlenose Dolphin Research Institute in O Grove, Galicia.

Continue reading...

From 1m trees to a tree graveyard: how Dubai’s conservation plans went awry

Posted on by

Hundreds of thousands of trees have died after costly real estate projects thwarted attempts to halt desertification

It all began so beautifully, with the ruler of Dubai photographed planting the first tree of his ambitious environmental initiative, as smiling officials applauded around him.

In 2010, the One Million Trees initiative was announced by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai. The aim of the launch was to increase green areas in Dubai through afforestation, while contributing to overall beautification of the city.

Continue reading...

California Caldor fire burns thousands of hectares in weekend surge – video

Posted on by

The owner of a cabin which became surrounded by flames near Kyburz, California, managed to escape the Caldor fire after shooting the first part of this footage. The fire has burned more than 40,500 hectares (100,000 acres) in the north of the state since it started on 14 August, and more than 12,000 in just two days.

More than 500 structures were destroyed over the weekend by wildfire fuelled by warm winds and drought-stricken vegetation

Continue reading...

Climate crisis made deadly German floods ‘up to nine times more likely’

Posted on by

Study reinforces the hard evidence that carbon emissions are the main cause of worsening extreme weather

The record-shattering rainfall that caused deadly flooding across Germany and Belgium in July was made up to nine times more likely by the climate crisis, according to research.

The study also showed that human-caused global heating has made downpours in the region up to 20% heavier. The work reinforces the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s landmark report this month that there is “unequivocal” evidence that greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are the main cause of worsening extreme weather.

Continue reading...

Voters in Sydney’s Liberal ‘heartland’ more worried about climate than Covid, polling suggests

Posted on by

Delta may be gripping the city and dominating headlines but global warming is still the number one issue for many

Voters in three Liberal-held federal seats in metropolitan Sydney remain worried about climate change despite the pressing frustrations and uncertainties associated with the Delta outbreak, according to new electorate-level polling commissioned by an activist group.

New seat polls commissioned by Climate 200, an organisation supporting independent political candidates committed to achieving a science-based response to climate change, suggest global heating is the number one issue of concern for voters in the electorates of Wentworth and North Sydney.

Continue reading...

‘It’s just unbelievable’: Tennessee surveys wreckage after floods kill 22

Posted on by

Succession of thunderstorms deposited record-breaking 17in of rain in some parts of state

Tennesseans were surveying the mangled wreckage of towns and communities across the middle of the state on Monday, after a record-breaking deluge caused flash flooding that swept away houses, shattered lives and left at least 22 people dead and many more missing.

Related: A midwestern town moved uphill to survive climate crisis. Can others do the same?

Continue reading...

‘Nothing to eat’: Somalia hit by triple threat of climate crisis, Covid and conflict

Posted on by

Overlapping crises have pushed the fragile east African country to the ‘cusp of humanitarian catastrophe’, with one in four facing food insecurity

Such was the horror that erupted in her village earlier this year that Fadumo Ali Mohamed decided she had no choice but to leave. Through the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia, she walked for 30 kilometres, along with her nine children, eventually getting help to reach the capital by car.

Now in Mogadishu, she is one of more than 800,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in the capital living in cramped, informal settlements with limited access to food, water and healthcare. She doesn’t like to recall the violence she fled.

Continue reading...

Greece plans to name heatwaves in the same way as storms

Posted on by

Personalising the ‘silent killer’ hot spells could raise awareness in time to avert loss of life and property, say scientists

Spurred on by this summer’s record temperatures, Greek scientists have begun discussing the need to name and rank heatwaves, better known for their invisibility, before rampant wildfires made the realities of the climate crisis increasingly stark.

A preventative measure, the move would enable policymakers and affected populations to be more prepared for what are being described by experts as “silent killers.”

Continue reading...

Wrong to label Extinction Rebellion as extremists, says Home Office adviser

Posted on by

Peer at odds with Priti Patel over climate activists on eve of more protests

A government extremism adviser has admitted during a private meeting that it is wrong to label Extinction Rebellion (XR) supporters as “extreme”, despite the home secretary, Priti Patel, condemning the group as “criminals” who threaten the nation’s way of life.

John Woodcock, the former Labour MP who was asked by the Home Office this year to examine disruption and violence by extreme political groups, sought to reassure XR activists that he did not regard the movement as uniformly extreme during a Zoom video conference call last month. “You’re worried that I want to label everyone who supports XR as extremists and that is certainly not the case,” he said.

Continue reading...

Rain falls on peak of Greenland ice cap for first time on record

Posted on by

Precipitation was so unexpected, scientists had no gauges to measure it, and is stark sign of climate crisis

Rain has fallen on the summit of Greenland’s huge ice cap for the first time on record. Temperatures are normally well below freezing on the 3,216-metre (10,551ft) peak, and the precipitation is a stark sign of the climate crisis.

Scientists at the US National Science Foundation’s summit station saw rain falling throughout 14 August but had no gauges to measure the fall because the precipitation was so unexpected. Across Greenland, an estimated 7bn tonnes of water was released from the clouds.

Continue reading...

The climate science behind wildfires: why are they getting worse? – video explainer

Posted on by

We are in an emergency. Wildfires are raging across the world as scorching temperatures and dry conditions fuel the blazes that have cost lives and destroyed livelihoods.

The combination of extreme heat, changes in our ecosystem and prolonged drought have in many regions led to the worst fires in almost a decade, and come after the IPCC handed down a damning landmark report on the climate crisis.

But technically, there are fewer wildfires than in the past – the problem now is that they are worse than ever and we are running out of time to act, as the Guardian's global environment editor, Jonathan Watts, explains

Continue reading...

A billion children at ‘extreme risk’ from climate impacts – Unicef

Posted on by

Report launched with youth activists including Greta Thunberg paints ‘unimaginably dire’ picture

Almost half the world’s 2.2 billion children are already at “extremely high risk” from the impacts of the climate crisis and pollution, according to a report from Unicef. The UN agency’s head called the situation “unimaginably dire”.

Nearly every child around the world was at risk from at least one of these impacts today, including heatwaves, floods, cyclones, disease, drought, and air pollution, the report said. But 1 billion children live in 33 countries facing three or four impacts simultaneously. The countries include India, Nigeria and the Philippines, and much of sub-Saharan Africa.

Continue reading...

Saving ozone layer has given humans a chance in climate crisis – study

Posted on by

CFC chemicals once used in refrigerators would have driven 2.5C of extra warming by 2100 if they had not been outlawed, researchers claim

The ozone-wrecking chemicals once commonly used in refrigerators would have driven 2.5C of extra global heating by the end of the century if they had not been banned, research has found.

Modelling by climate scientists found that the 1987 Montreal protocol curbing chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) gave humans a fighting chance of limiting global heating to 1.5C as set out by the Paris agreement.

Continue reading...

‘Green steel’: Swedish company ships first batch made without using coal

Posted on by

Hybrit sends steel made with hydrogen production process to Volvo, which plans to use it in prototype vehicles and components

The world’s first customer delivery of “green steel” produced without using coal is taking place in Sweden, according to its manufacturer.

The Swedish venture Hybrit said it was delivering the steel to truck-maker Volvo AB as a trial run before full commercial production in 2026. Volvo has said it will start production in 2021 of prototype vehicles and components from the green steel.

Continue reading...

Caldor fire turns sky red in California and Nevada – video

Posted on by

The sky over parts of Nevada and California turned red and orange as the Caldor fire, which erupted over the weekend, exploded in size on Tuesday and ran through the town of Grizzly Flats, destroying many buildings and forcing residents to leave. Two were injured. Officials estimated that the blaze had blown through 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres)

Continue reading...

Swedish mountain shrinks by two metres in a year as glacier melts

Posted on by

Researchers say climate change is driving the melting, which has seen Kebnekaise lose more than 20 metres in height since the mid-1990s

Sweden’s only remaining mountaintop glacier, which until 2019 was also its highest peak, lost another two metres in height in the past year due to rising air temperatures driven by climate change, Stockholm University says.

In 2019, the south peak of the Kebnekaise massif was demoted to second in the rankings of Swedish mountains after a third of its glacier melted. Kebnekaise’s north peak, where there is no glacier, is now the highest in the Nordic country.

Continue reading...

Lake District in peril due to climate emergency and influx of pandemic walkers

Posted on by

Paths have eroded and wildlife at risk as crowds jostle for space amid social distancing

It was in the Lake District where William Wordsworth “wander’d lonely as a cloud” and the only crowd he saw was “a host of golden daffodils”.

Two centuries later, the park’s natural beauty is being eroded faster than ever before, ecologists are warning, as a result of the climate emergency and a huge influx of pandemic walkers.

Continue reading...

‘My animals burned alive’: the man putting his life back together after Greece’s wildfires – video

Posted on by

Shepherd Giannis Tsiboukas, 36, confronts  the ‘total destruction’ caused after a wildfire ravaged his land on the island of Evia in Greece. Tsiboukas lost more than 40 animals to the fire that destroyed more than 50,000 hectares. Peoples homes and livelihoods have been decimated. 

Hundreds of wildfires have torn through Greece this month on the heels of its most severe heatwave in decades, which left its forests tinder dry. Other Mediterranean countries – Turkey, Italy, Algeria and Spain among them – have suffered similar problems.

Scientists say there is little doubt that climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas is driving more extreme weather events. 

Continue reading...

Stop the east African oil pipeline now | Bill McKibben, Diana Nabiruma and Omar Elmawi

Posted on by

The fate of a planned line from Uganda to Tanzania will be the first test of whether anyone was listening to António Guterres’ call to end fossil fuels

If there is one world leader trying to look out for the planet as a whole, not just their own nation, it’s the UN secretary general. Last week, António Guterres was resolute in the wake of the damning report from the IPCC on the perilious climate crisis. It should, he said, sound “a death knell for coal and fossil fuels, before they destroy our planet”.

He called for an end to “all new fossil fuel exploration and production”, and told countries to shift fossil fuel subsidies into renewable energy.

Continue reading...