Officials say many people are still trapped in central areas of the country hit by Storm Daniel
Firefighters backed by the army have rescued hundreds of people from villages in central Greece cut off by floods that have claimed at least 10 lives.
“More than 2,850 people have been rescued since the beginning of the bad weather,” Yannis Artopios, a fire department spokesperson told the broadcaster Mega on Saturday.
Continue reading...Figures from NHS England reveal people seeking heat-related health advice as temperatures surpass 32C
Hot weather has led to a 552% increase in people seeking heat exhaustion advice from the NHS website this week, figures show.
There were 32,130 visits to the health advice page on heat exhaustion and heatstroke from Sunday to Thursday this week, according to figures released by NHS England, which runs the NHS website.
Consume plenty of cold drinks, especially when exercising.
Take cool baths or showers.
Wear light-coloured, loose clothing.
Sprinkle water over skin or clothes.
Avoid the sun between 11am and 3pm.
Avoid excess alcohol.
Avoid extreme exercise.
Continue reading...Greek PM tours crisis-hit area amid fears death toll could rise as water levels continue to rise in some places
Helicopters and lifeboats have been deployed to rescue hundreds of villagers stranded by flood waters in central Greece after rainstorms left at least 10 people dead.
Touring the crisis-hit area of Thessaly, 185 miles north of Athens, Greece’s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, vowed to do “whatever is humanly possibly” to assist residents in areas deluged by torrential rain that also hit neighbouring Bulgaria and Turkey. A total of 22 people have died across the three countries since Tuesday.
Continue reading...Small rise in global temperatures would affect hundreds of millions of people and could cause a sharp rise in deaths
Life-threatening periods of high heat and humidity will spread rapidly across the world with only a small increase in global temperatures, a study has found, which could cause a sharp acceleration in the number of deaths resulting from the climate crisis.
The extremes, which can be fatal to healthy people within six hours, could affect hundreds of millions of people unused to such conditions. As a result, heat deaths could rise quickly unless serious efforts to prepare populations were undertaken urgently, the researcher said.
Continue reading...Two climate scientists who recently left division tell inquiry former colleagues have been ‘directed to remain quiet’
Two long-term climate scientists have alleged staff at the Australian Antarctic Division have been told not to pass information to a Senate investigation into climate research cuts, drawing a warning from senators.
Dr Simon Wright and Dr Andrew Davidson, who both spent decades studying the impacts of climate change with the division, have told the inquiry that budget pressures are “devastating” and will have a long-term impact on research.
Continue reading...Liberal leader says Coalition ‘committed’ to policy after Barnaby Joyce labelled its cost ‘utterly untenable’
Peter Dutton has rejected a push within the Nationals to overturn the commitment to net zero by 2050, warning the Coalition “won’t be departing” from the policy after Barnaby Joyce labelled the cost “utterly untenable”.
The Liberal leader told Radio National on Friday he was not concerned by Joyce’s intervention because there is “strong support for net zero” within the Coalition for the policy he had “recommitted to”.
Continue reading...Countries forced to choose between climate resilience, fighting poverty and paying debts, says Ban Ki-moon
The flow of climate adaptation finance to Africa must increase up to tenfold by 2035 to meet the deepening effects of the climate crisis, according to research.
As the Africa Climate Summit continued in Nairobi, campaigners spoke of the desperate need to get funding to people who are already being affected by climate change. Africa, the region most impacted by the climate emergency, receives only 3% of global climate finance.
Continue reading...There will be pressure on rich countries to fulfil a commitment to provide climate finance to poorer nations
The run-up to this weekend’s G20 summit in Delhi has largely been dominated by two issues: the host’s efforts to project India as a superpower; and the intriguing decision of Xi Jinping not to attend. The substance of what world leaders will discuss during their two days together has struggled to surface.
Yet this year’s G20 – the 24th since the format was inaugurated in 1999 – is potentially a make or break moment for the organisation that includes the world’s 19 wealthiest nations plus the European Union as a bloc. With one part of the world increasingly gathering in the now expanded Brics format where China has a leading role, and the west comfortable with its annual G7 summitry, the G20 is the best remaining hope of keeping the principle of multilateralism alive. The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, spoke on Thursday of a real risk of fragmentation of the world order, while his own organisation is paralysed by the war in Ukraine.
Continue reading...Madeleine Finlay hears from the Guardian’s east Africa global development correspondent, Caroline Kimeu, about the challenges and tensions at play at the inaugural climate summit
Read more reporting from Caroline Kimeu here
Continue reading...Environmental and community groups have filed lawsuit as the water body shrinks from overuse, hastening its demise
Environmental and community groups have sued Utah officials over failures to save its iconic Great Salt Lake from irreversible collapse.
The largest saltwater lake in the western hemisphere has been steadily shrinking, as more and more water has been diverted away from the lake to irrigate farmland, feed industry and water lawns. A megadrought across the US south-west, accelerated by global heating, has hastened the lake’s demise.
Continue reading...Seven oil and gas leases canceled by interior department, which said sale during final days of Trump administration were flawed
The US interior department has canceled seven oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic national wildlife refuge that were part of a sale held in the waning days of the Trump administration, arguing the sale was legally flawed.
The interior secretary, Deb Haaland, said with her decision to cancel the remaining leases “no one will have rights to drill for oil in one of the most sensitive landscapes on earth”. However, a 2017 law mandates another lease sale by late 2024. Administration officials said they intend to comply with the law.
Continue reading...Nairobi Declaration, issued at first African Climate Summit, also includes call for global carbon taxes
African leaders have called for debt relief across the continent to allow countries to get on with responding to the climate crisis, as they publish the Nairobi Declaration at the end of the first African climate summit.
The declaration, which had a heavy focus on climate finance, also included a call for global carbon taxes, and for increased representation of African and other countries in the governance of multilateral banks.
Continue reading...Australia used twice as much electricity as China on a per capita basis and 48% of it came from coal plants, thinktank says
Australia still emits more greenhouse gas from burning coal on a per capita basis than other G20 countries despite a significant rise in solar and wind energy.
While Australia and South Korea have cut per person emissions from coal-fired electricity since 2015 – by 26% and 10% respectively – they continue to release more CO2 than other major economies, according to an analysis by the energy thinktank Ember.
Continue reading...Oil-producing African nations argue they should be able to use fossil fuel resources for economic growth
African leaders and campaigners are at odds over the way forward for the continent as a critical climate summit begins in Nairobi.
Some countries, such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Egypt and South Africa, have been expanding their renewable energy access and leading transition efforts on the continent, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.
Continue reading...This year’s heatwaves have been a huge challenge – and scientists predict 2024 will likely break records again
It’s been a record-breaking summer of heatwaves across large parts of the US and the world, and trying to stay cool and safe has been an unprecedented challenge.
There has been a rise in heat-related fatalities; companies and organizations have been under greater pressures to protect workers; and officials from small towns to the White House have been scrambling to respond.
Continue reading...Call for EU to match WHO’s air pollution regulatory limits as impact of climate emergency interlinks with human health
The climate crisis may pose the greatest risks to people with respiratory illnesses, with high temperatures and changing weather patterns exacerbating lung health problems, experts have said.
Respiratory experts have called on the EU to lower its regulatory limits for air pollution in line with the World Health Organization (WHO). In a European Respiratory Journal editorial, they said: “We need to do all we can to help alleviate patients’ suffering.”
Continue reading...Australia has to make the case it is an attractive place to live with a solid commitment to renewable energy to counter America’s Inflation Reduction Act, experts say
Australia’s rush to build renewable energy fast enough to replace ageing coal-fired power stations is being fettered by the US’s own clean energy push that is luring key talent, particularly engineers, industry officials say.
America’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), passed just over a year ago, will pour at least US$370bn (A$570bn) into clean energy programs. Groups such as the Clean Energy Council warn the program “has the potential to permanently tilt the scales toward the US and hamper our progress in Australia”.
Continue reading...Decision comes after Bureau of Meteorology confirmed the warmest winter since official records began
Perisher ski resort will stop operating lifts at two of its four areas on Sunday afternoon due to a lack of snow, signalling an early end to the season.
The decision to close Blue Cow and Guthega areas came as the Bureau of Meteorology confirmed the warmest winter since official records began in 1910, with average daily temperatures 1.53C above the long-term average.
Continue reading...Paintings from a climb that retraced an 1800s route on western Europe’s highest mountain reveals the extent of the peak’s melting ice
A British landscape artist who recreated a climb made 150 years ago to document the impact of the climate crisis on western Europe’s highest mountain says what he found was so grim it reminded him of the “dark paintings” of Francisco de Goya.
James Hart Dyke ascended Mont Blanc’s ancien passage north face, the route taken in 1786 by the first climbers to reach the summit. It was also the same one taken in August 1873 by French painter Gabriel Loppé, whose climb inspired Hart Dyke’s own.
Continue reading...Experts warn that global heating is exacerbating inherent dangers of high altitude mountaineering
Avalanches in the Himalayas are causing an increasing number of deaths and threatening the safety of climbers, research suggests.
While high-altitude mountaineering comes with an inherent avalanche risk, global heating is exacerbating the danger during the climbing season in the Himalayan mountain range, experts warn.
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