Environment

The amount of carbon dioxide that we can still emit while limiting global warming to a given target is called the “remaining carbon budget,” and it has become a powerful tool to inform climate policy goals and track progress towards net-zero emissions targets. This carbon budget is like a fixed financial budget: There is a

A new study suggests a potential change in tropical rain belt patterns could threaten the livelihoods and food security of billions of people. Today, the tropical rain belt brings with it heavy precipitation along the equator, but as different parts of Earth’s atmosphere heat up at different rates, this belt looks likely to become disrupted

A new technique using diamonds and titanium has the potential to help remove plastic microfibres before they enter the environment, by decomposing them into naturally occurring molecules. It’s a secret the fashion industry would prefer to keep under wraps – most of our synthetic clothes are made of plastic, and they’re contributing to a big problem, shedding microplastic

NASA announced Thursday that 2020 was likely the planet’s hottest year on record, edging out 2016 by one-tenth of a degree Celsius. The temperatures were close enough to fall within the scientists’ margin of error, so they considered it “a statistical tie.” Average global temperatures in 2020 were 1.84 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius) warmer

The end of the last ice age, around 12,000 years ago, was characterised by a final cold phase called the Younger Dryas. Scandinavia was still mostly covered in ice, and across Europe the mountains had many more, and larger, glaciers than today. There was a substantial icefield in the west of Scotland and glaciers could

Underwater seagrass in coastal areas appear to trap bits of plastic in natural bundles of fibre known as ‘Neptune balls’, researchers said Thursday. With no help from humans, the swaying plants – anchored to shallow seabeds – may collect nearly 900 million plastic items in the Mediterranean alone every year, they reported in the journal

Apocalypse or revolution? Depending on the study making headlines, insect numbers around the world are either in dramatic freefall or simply an alarming state of flux, with some species even benefiting from changes in climate. While researchers debate the details, most are in agreement that our existing lifestyle is fundamentally linked with insect numbers, and

Forests and other land ecosystems today absorb 30 percent of humanity’s CO2 pollution, but rapid global warming could transform these natural ‘sinks’ into carbon ‘sources’ within a few decades, opening another daunting front in the fight against climate change, alarmed researchers have said. Climate skeptics often describe CO2 as “plant food”, suggesting that increased greenhouse

The emergency is not invisible. But that doesn’t mean we can see it. After decades of inaction and ineffective action on biodiversity decline, climate change, and pollution, civilisation stands on the precipice of a “ghastly future” it has gravely underestimated, an international team of scientific experts warns in an unnerving new study published this week.

Microplastics are everywhere. These tiny plastic fragments can be found throughout the oceans, infiltrating the animals within it, the food we eat, and even our children. The proliferation extends from the highest peak in the world to the beginnings of life itself. Even the remoteness of Earth’s polar regions offers no shelter from the storm

2020 has tied 2016 as the hottest year on record, the European Union’s climate monitoring service said Friday, keeping Earth on a global warming fast track that could devastate large swathes of humanity. The six years since 2015 are the six warmest ever registered, as are 20 of the last 21, evidence of a persistent

Scientists are studying a major, once-in-a-century drought from Medieval Europe to better understand how extreme weather events indicate rapid climate changes. In the years leading up to the Little Ice Age, between 1302 and 1307, many regions on the European continent were facing exceptional heat and drought, according to historical records and data collected from

The stretch of Arctic ice between Greenland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago is known as ‘the Last Ice Area’, thought by scientists to have the best chance of surviving the climate crisis – but new research suggests it could be more vulnerable to disappearing than previously thought. It’s the oldest and the thickest stretch of

Every winter in the Northern Hemisphere, a cold wind circles the North Pole like water around a drain. It’s an annual weather pattern meteorologists keep an anxious eye on – any significant changes could suggest Europe is in for a serious cold snap. Right now, that wind is ripping in two. Researchers from the Universities of

For a few moments in late April of 2020, oil – normally the lifeblood of the world economy – became more expensive to store than to pay someone to take it away. Crude oil’s wildly fluctuating futures prices reflected the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, with record falls in greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel

Caught between rapidly expanding resource use and climate change-fuelled fires, the future of the Amazon rainforest and the stunning array of life teeming within it just keeps growing bleaker. In a new report for Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development geologist Robert Toovey Walker from University of Florida reviews recent research on the Amazon

Wind power accounted for more than half of Great Britain’s daily generated electricity on Saturday in the wake of Storm Bella, according to energy giant Drax. The percentage of wind power in the country’s energy mix hit a record 50.67 percent on Saturday, the company said over the weekend, beating the previous record of 50

The world’s (former) largest iceberg continues to break apart into smaller pieces on the doorstep of a major marine wildlife haven and home to millions of macaroni and king penguins in Antarctica.  This comes less than a week after the mammoth iceberg, known as A68a, first split in two, Live Science recently reported.  Scientists at the US National

Most people know the world’s oceans are on the rise, but further inland, the scales of climate change are tipping in the exact opposite direction. As melting glaciers feed fresh water to the oceans, heat and drought are draining our lakes and inland seas of precious liquid.  The largest inland body of water on Earth,

Close your eyes. What colour is a river? The perfect blue we can see in our imagination is not usually reflected in reality, where rivers can run green, brown, yellow, and more. These different hues are not superficial. The colour of rivers reflects the health of natural waterways, which means simply looking at a river

An iceberg the size of Delaware, which was on course to crash into an island populated by a penguin colony, has broken into two pieces, scientists tracking its journey said on Friday. In the last few weeks, the iceberg, dubbed A68a, came dangerously close to South Georgia Island in the south Atlantic, threatening to cut off

There are hidden costs to eating meat not included in the price tag.  If consumers in the western world were also charged for the greenhouse gas impacts of their hearty meal of protein, a new study estimates they would have to pay nearly 2.5 times – or 146 percent more – than today. If the meat

The best and most diverse forests are the ones that plant themselves. It’s something these amazing ecosystems have been doing for hundreds of millions of years, and some environmental advocates in the United Kingdom think we should simply get out of the way. A new report from the environmental non-profit Rewilding Britain argues trees should

The world’s largest iceberg might crash into an island populated by penguins and seals, which could cause mass starvation among the animals’ young. The iceberg, dubbed A68a, broke off from an Antarctic ice shelf in 2017. It has been drifting north ever since, and now it’s dangerously close to South Georgia Island. The area is

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundations Tuesday for what he said would be the world’s largest renewable energy park, set to produce a massive 30 gigawatts of electricity. The vast project in the Kutch region of western Gujarat state spread over an area of 72,600 hectares (180,000 acres) – the size of Singapore

Methane leaks from the environment and human activity are a serious greenhouse gas problem. Methane is many times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat, and scientists now say the Moon plays a key role in how much of the gas gets released. It’s all down to the tides and the tugging effect that

If the coral refuge of the Red Sea can survive local pollution, scientists think these reefs might be the last ones standing on a rapidly warming planet. But that’s a big ‘if’. Right now, life in this region is moored to the fate of a 45-year-old tanker, gradually rusting away off the western coast of

A soft snow fell as a clutch of visitors equipped with a Geiger counter wandered through the ghostly Ukrainian town of Pripyat, frozen in time since the world’s worst nuclear accident in 1986. More than three decades after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster forced thousands to evacuate, there is an influx of visitors to the area

​Earth is still on course to warm more than 3 degrees Celsius by the century’s end despite a dip in greenhouse gas emissions caused by the pandemic and pledges to curb pollution, the UN said on Wednesday. In its annual assessment of emissions levels, the UN’s Environment Programme found that 2020’s 7-percent fall in carbon

The palm oil industry is not good for the planet. Making room for these crops has inevitably led to deforestation, peatland draining, widespread burning, biodiversity losses, greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. But what greener options do we have?  With little research on the environmental impacts of alternative crops, some researchers think we could be

Global emissions are expected to decline by about 7 percent in 2020 (or 2.4 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide) compared to 2019 – an unprecedented drop due to the slowdown in economic activity associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. To put this into perspective, the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 saw a 1.5 percent drop in

All of the Amazon’s splendid greenery. Every fish in the Pacific. Every microbe underfoot. Every elephant on the plains, every flower, fungus, and fruit-fly in the fields, no longer outweighs the sheer amount of stuff humans have made. Estimates on the total mass of human-made material suggest 2020 is the year we overtake the combined

In the face of rising seas, low-lying islands appear to be entirely vulnerable. Surrounded by ocean on all sides – with tides growing ever taller over time – these isolated landforms look like they have no place to go. Unless they can grow bigger. Strangely enough, some islands seem to be doing just that. While it

Once upon a time, dinosaurs were a pretty ubiquitous lot. Even 66 million years after the last dinosaurs went extinct, the fossils they left behind have been found on every continent on Earth.   But bones don’t just fossilise anywhere – they’re most often found in sedimentary rocks. One particular area where there’s a distinct lack of dinosaur

This year is on course to be one of the three warmest ever recorded, the United Nations said Wednesday, as the UN chief warned the world was on the brink of “climate catastrophe”. The past six years, 2015 to 2020, are set to make up all six of the hottest years since modern records began

We’ve seen evidence that COVID-19 lockdowns have reduced at least some forms of pollution, temporarily – but the overall picture remains disturbingly grim, according to new figures from the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). The WMO says that there will be a reduction in global CO2 emissions for 2020 – but that it won’t

Microplastics of our own making are turning up in the rain, wind, soil, and snow of the most remote and mountainous regions on our planet. First they were found in the French Pyrenees. Then it was the North American Rocky Mountains. Now it’s Nepal’s Sagarmāthā National Park – home of Mount Everest, the tallest peak

Greenland is the largest island in the world and on it rests the largest ice mass in the Northern Hemisphere. If all that ice melted, the sea would rise by more than 7 metres. But that’s not going to happen, is it? Well, not any time soon, but understanding how much of the ice sheet

The clouds that hang low and thick in our sky, reflecting sunlight back out into space, are melting into thin air as the world warms. The loss will not only trigger greater climate changes than we expected, but new research suggests it could also undermine the potential of future geoengineering solutions.  The idea of seeding

A giant underground river fed by melting ice could be running in a state of perpetual darkness far below the surface of Greenland, according to new research. Nicknamed the ‘Dark River’, this hypothetical waterway – if it truly exists, that is – may stretch for 1,000 kilometres (620 miles), flowing from the deep interior of

With global travel curtailed during the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are finding comfort in planning future trips. But imagine that you finally arrive in Venice and the “floating city” is flooded. Would you stay anyway, walking through St. Mark’s Square on makeshift catwalks or elevated wooden passages – even if you couldn’t enter the Basilica or

Massive greenhouse gas reserves, frozen deep under the seabed, are alarmingly now starting to thaw. That’s according to an international team of scientists whose preliminary findings were recently reported in The Guardian. These deposits, technically called methane “gas hydrates”, are often described as “fiery ice” due to the parlour trick of burning atop a Bunsen burner

Even if humanity stopped emitting greenhouse gases tomorrow, Earth will warm for centuries to come and oceans will rise by metres, according to a controversial modelling study published Thursday. Natural drivers of global warming – more heat-trapping clouds, thawing permafrost, and shrinking sea ice – already set in motion by carbon pollution will take on

It appeared in 1973, seemingly out of nowhere: a hole in the sea ice off the coast of Antarctica. But this was no ordinary hole. It was so big it could swallow California. The mysterious opening remained in place for the following three winters. Then it seemed to largely disappear before emerging again in 2017,

This year’s hurricane season has seen a record 29 named tropical storms wreak havoc across the southeastern United States, the Caribbean and Central America, experts said on Tuesday. The cyclonic storms, which are given named status in the Atlantic when their wind speeds exceed 62 kilometres per hour (39 miles per hour), have already displaced

Shellfish such as scallops, mussels, and oysters – bivalve molluscs – readily take up tiny specs of metals into their tissues and shells. In sufficient concentrations, this can harm their growth and survival chances, and even threaten the health of any human who eats their contaminated meat. Such shellfish provide one-quarter of the world’s seafood,

Most of us know about the vast stores of carbon in our atmosphere, and yet beneath our feet, Earth’s soil contains nearly three times as much CO2, absorbing roughly a quarter of all human emissions each year. If the world warms by 2 °C or more, we risk turning that vital sink into a carbon

The world’s biggest iceberg is on a collision course with a remote South Atlantic island that is home to thousands of penguins and seals, and could impede their ability to gather food, scientists told AFP Wednesday. Icebergs naturally break off from Antarctica into the ocean, but climate change has accelerated the process – in this