In June Christiana Figueres, the UN’s former climate chief who helped broker the Paris agreement in 2015, warned that the world has “three years to safeguard our climate”. It was a hyperbolic claim, even then. New research makes it seem even more of one today. An analysis published in Nature Geoscience on September 18th, by Richard Millar of Oxford University and his … [Read more...]
Why empowering women is the best way to solve climate change
In April of this year, the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii recorded its first-ever carbon dioxide reading over 410 parts per million (ppm). This is a brand-new state of affairs, as humans have never existed on Earth with CO2 levels over 300 ppm. If carbon emissions continue their current trend, our atmosphere could get to a point it hasn’t been at in 50 million years—when … [Read more...]
Vietnam on red alert in anticipation of worst storm in years
Doksuri is forecast to hit Vietnam on Friday night with wind speeds of at least 118kph. Vietnam has been put on red alert as it braces for a giant tropical storm that is forecast to hit the country this week with wind speeds of at least 118 kilometers per hour. Officials said at a meeting on Wednesday that Doksuri, the 10th storm to form in the South China Sea (which … [Read more...]
Typhoon Talim bringing wind and floods to China and Taiwan
A strengthening tropical system has its eyes set on Taiwan and eastern China during the second half of this week. Talim is currently a typhoon about 400 miles east of Taiwan. Further intensification is expected as Talim tracks to the northwest towards Taiwan through late Wednesday. “Favorable environmental conditions along the path of Talim will allow the typhoon to … [Read more...]
Hurricane victims should be Trump’s wake-up call on climate change
On December 12, French President Emmanuel Macron is gathering in Paris all the world's leaders who concluded the COP21 climate agreement two years ago, when the world unanimously agreed for the first time that it was necessary to slash greenhouse gas emissions and restrain global warming if human life were to survive on Earth. Leaders of virtually every country who signed … [Read more...]
Global economy transition needed to avert catastrophic climate change
The global economy must urgently transition away from business as usual to avert catastrophic climate change, writes Christine Reddell, Centre for Environmental Rights. The Paris Agreement on climate change delivered consensus that the global economy must urgently transition away from business as usual to avert catastrophic climate change. It is particularly in the energy … [Read more...]
Nightmarish scenes in Houston: a global warning
Let there be no doubt: the horrific damage wrought by Hurricane Harvey was an almost entirely man-made catastrophe, one fingerprinted by all-too-human neglect, corruption and denial. If we needed a reminder of the power of water to destroy an American city, Hurricane Harvey provided it. In Houston, a fast-growing metropolis of more than 2 million people, it wasn't the wind that … [Read more...]
Tourists could run drought-crippled Knysna dry
With no proper rain in sight, authorities in Knysna are worried about the added pressure holidaymakers could put on the town’s limited water supply. Experts said the seaside town has only 26 days of usable water left. Thousands of tourists are expected to converge at the popular spots in the coming months. Due to the drought gripping the Western Cape, Knysna was … [Read more...]
Strongest ever Atlantic storm causes ‘major damage’ in Caribbean
The most powerful Atlantic Ocean hurricane in recorded history has destroyed buildings and caused major flooding on several Caribbean islands, as British tourists are evacuated from the region amid warnings the storm will be "potentially catastrophic". The island of Barbuda was the first to bear the brunt of Hurricane Irma - a category five storm with winds of 185mph - early … [Read more...]
How climate change will affect our favourite foods
In early June, President Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Accord, a controversial move that received broad opposition (and support). Since then, a growing number of US cities and states have created their own alliances to uphold commitments to the accord—voluntary agreements to focus on sustainable energy sources, commitments to carbon emission … [Read more...]
1,200 dead from monsoon rains in Bangladesh, India and Nepal
A month of severe monsoon rains, which peaked earlier this week, resulted in the deaths of at least 1, 200 people across India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, and left two thirds of Bangladesh underwater. According to the United Nations, around 41 million people have been affected by flooding and landslides that have ensued due to the monsoon across the subcontinent. They … [Read more...]
Sierra Leone mudslides: responding to the crisis
It was a strange thing to be supporting Street Child’s response to the mudslides in Sierra Leone from Maiduguri, the epicenter of the Boko Haram crisis in North-East Nigeria. As head of programmes for West Africa, I am normally based in Sierra Leone, in Freetown, where mudslides and floods killed at least 500 people in the early hours of Monday 14th August when an entire … [Read more...]
Houston submerged by ‘unprecedented’ flooding after Hurricane Harvey
Tropical Storm Harvey sent devastating floods pouring into the nation's fourth-largest city on Sunday as rising water chased thousands of people to rooftops or higher ground and overwhelmed rescuers who could not keep up with the constant calls for help. The incessant rain covered much of Houston in turbid, gray-green water and turned streets into rivers navigable only by … [Read more...]
