by Robin MILLARD The world’s glaciers melted at dramatic speed last year and saving them is effectively a lost cause, the United Nations reported Friday, as climate change indicators once again hit record highs. The last eight years have been the warmest ever recorded, while concentrations of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide hit new peaks, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization said. “Antarctic sea ice fell to its lowest extent on record and the melting […]
Environment
Fast-warming Europe risks more summer droughts: monitor
by Roland LLOYD PARRY Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — A fierce drought melted glaciers during Europe’s hottest recorded summer last year, a phenomenon that could repeat as the continent warms at nearly twice the global rate, the EU’s climate observatory said Thursday. Two-thirds of Europe’s rivers fell below average levels and five cubic kilometres (two cubic miles) of ice disappeared from Alpine glaciers, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said in its yearly update. […]
Water rationed in Catalonia as drought bites deeper
L’ Espluga de Francolí, Spain | AFP | by Rosa SULLEIRO For months, residents of L’Espluga de Francoli have been saving water in bottles and foregoing showers to cope with long hours of daily water rationing as northeastern Spain suffers one of its worst droughts in decades. While this small Catalan town has suffered supply problems for years due to the depleted state of its water table, the current drought has made things worse. […]
‘Big sponge’: new CO2 tech taps oceans to tackle global warming
by Romain FONSEGRIVES Agence France-Presse SAN PEDRO, United States (AFP) — Floating in the port of Los Angeles, a strange-looking barge covered with pipes and tanks contains a concept that scientists hope to make waves: a new way to use the ocean as a vast carbon dioxide sponge to tackle global warming. Scientists from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) have been working for two years on SeaChange — an ambitious project that could one […]
Mars CEO sees ‘moral’ duty in tackling climate change
by Marie-Morgane LE MOEL Agence France Presse Paris, France (AFP) — The new chief executive of Mars, maker of M&M’s sweets, chewing gum and pet food, says companies have a “moral” duty to reduce their environmental footprint as the world battles climate change. Poul Weihrauch, a Dane who took the reins of the US-based group in September, acknowledges that the food industry has a big impact on the environment, with its plastic wrappers and its […]
‘Flash drought’ frequency increasing due to climate change: study
by Lucie AUBOURG Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Dry-spells known as flash droughts, with a surprisingly rapid onset and often devastating impact, are becoming more frequent as human activity warms the planet, according to a study published Thursday. Though droughts are generally thought of as long-term phenomena, some can occur quite suddenly, in a matter of weeks, when the conditions are right. Global warming is a recipe for increasing those special conditions around […]
California bursts into ‘super bloom’ after wet winter
11153, United States (AFP) by Romain FONSEGRIVES An explosion of oranges, yellows, purples and whites has covered California’s hillsides, as a rare “super bloom” bursts into life in the wake of a very wet winter. Vast stretches of countryside that spend months of the year as a muted, dry brown have been transformed into a carpet of color that can be seen from space. “It almost feels like a painting,” says Triana Montserrat as she […]
Sun, wind power make record 12% of world electricity: survey
Paris, France | AFP | Wednesday 4/12/2023 Solar and wind energy surged to make a record 12 percent of the world’s electricity in 2022, a climate think tank calculated in a report Wednesday — though coal remained the leading source globally. The report provides the latest gauge of renewable energy growth as countries scramble to meet emissions targets to curb climate change and secure alternative power sources after gas-exporter Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February […]
Germany to switch off last remaining nuclear plants
by Sophie MAKRIS Agence France-Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany will shut down its three remaining nuclear plants on Saturday, betting that it can fulfil its green ambitions without atomic power despite the energy crisis caused by the Ukraine war. The cloud of white steam that has risen since 1989 over the river in Neckarwestheim, near Stuttgart, will soon be a distant memory, as will the Isar 2 complex in Bavaria and the Emsland plant […]
Easy, tiger: study maps big cats’ personalities
by Linnea Pedersen Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Ask any pet owner if their beloved companion has a personality and you’ll most often get an emphatic “yes”. But now tiger researchers can nod along too — a study published Wednesday reveals that the world’s largest felines have individual character traits. The behaviour of the 248 Siberian tigers observed through a personality test showed that the endangered cats had unique traits influencing both their success […]
Dry spell leads to wildfires across South Korea
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Firefighters were scrambling Monday to contain wildfires across South Korea as a dry spell led to blazes in multiple regions, including on a mountain popular with hikers in central Seoul. A fire broke out Sunday morning on Mount Inwang, a popular outdoor destination in Seoul’s Jongno district, and spread rapidly due to strong winds, the city government said in a statement. About 120 households were forced to evacuate, but no […]
Thai firefighters battle forest blaze
NAKHON NAYOK, Thailand (AFP) — Hundreds of Thai firefighters and soldiers battled a forest blaze less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Bangkok on Friday as the kingdom grapples with air pollution that has made more than 1.7 million people ill already this year. The fire has affected at least 800,000 square meters (200 acres) of forest across three hills in Nakhon Nayok province, to the northeast of the Thai capital, with two districts declared […]