But depending on which study you read, the annual carbon emissions from the electricity required to mine Bitcoin and process its transactions are equal to the amount emitted by all of New Zealand. Or Argentina.
From severe drought and fires to rising seas and eroding coastlines, warnings from decades ago have already become a reality. But experts say it's not too late to take action against the most devastating impacts of this phenomenon. What follows is an album of photos that illustrate the state of the planet and our climate over the past decade.
The shrinking stratosphere is a stark signal of the climate emergency and the planetary-scale influence that humanity now exerts, according to Juan Añel, at the University of Vigo, Ourense in Spain.
Posing as the international wind travel station, the Greek island of Antikythera stands where three sea’s converge and where African, American, Asian and European continental winds pass through. Antikythera is a climate scientist’s Disneyland, as the island accumulates dust from winds that span across the globe containing the data that tell today’s climate story. Read this fascinating BBC piece on how this research may change the way we think about the climate by the end of next year.
“The biggest challenges we face are not about science, they are about people.”
The world is facing a climate change problem, and climate change is facing a communication problem. The complexities and hypotheticals of climate science do not translate well to an audience who just wants to know whether the dress was blue or white. And yet, on TikTok, one of the world’s most active communication platforms, climate change is a rapidly growing topic.
The U.S. Senate has taken a step toward more vigorously regulating climate-warming methane leaks from the oil and gas industry, a move supporters say is key to achieving President Biden's ambitious climate goals.
The film shows the island of Rab and its peculiarities in two completely different climatic characteristics. The first part of the film shows the beauty of the landscape nature and the Mediterranean climate of the island in the period from April to October. The second part of the film shows the island from November to March. In these months, the Mediterranean climate changes into a completely different climate and shows its other face, i.e. the island of Rab then changes into a different beauty. It is up to the guests to experience the island in those months and feel the way of life on the island in those conditions and not just in the summer months.
That we cannot see all the way to the transformed society we need does not mean it is impossible. We will reach it by not one great leap but a long journey, step by step.
Three-quarters of cities surveyed by CDP were already working with businesses on sustainability issues, or had plans to do so within the next two years.
US climate change envoy John Kerry has urged the world's top 20 polluters which create 81% of emissions between them to reduce CO2 immediately.
"We must try to keep the Earth's temperature to an increase of 1.5C. The world beyond 1.5 degrees means more frequent and intense fires, floods, droughts, heatwaves and hurricanes - tearing through communities, ripping away lives and livelihoods."
Governments must halve emissions by 2030 if they intend the Earth to stay within the 1.5C “safe” threshold. But the latest set of national policies submitted to the UN shows emissions will merely be stabilised by 2030.
“US beef and dairy companies appear to act collectively in ways similar to the fossil fuel industry, which built an extensive climate change countermovement,” write the authors of the study, published in the journal Climatic Change.
Kiss the Ground reveals that, by regenerating the world’s soils, we can completely and rapidly stabilize Earth’s climate, restore lost ecosystems and create abundant food supplies. Using compelling graphics and visuals, along with striking NASA and NOAA footage, the film artfully illustrates how, by drawing down atmospheric carbon, soil is the missing piece of the climate puzzle. This movie is positioned to catalyze a movement to accomplish the impossible – to solve humanity’s greatest challenge, to balance the climate and secure our species future.
Kerry, the president’s special envoy for climate, also criticized Trump for pulling out of the Paris climate agreement “without any facts, without any science, without any rationale that would be considered reasonable".
Climate change may not be as gradual as scientists previously assumed. In fact, recent evidence points to an environmental "tipping point" that could drastically change the climate and appearance of the continents.
The impacts of the climate emergency are now so obvious, only the truly deluded still deny them. Instead, we are at the point where everyone agrees something must be done, but many are making only vague, distant promises of ineffective action. As a result, we are currently on track for a 0.5% cut in global emissions from 2010 levels by 2030, when a 45% drop is needed to avoid climate catastrophe.
Curtis Ravenel, a member of the TCFD's secretariat, said if the climate analytics advisers are to keep the confidence of their clients, they're going to have to open their processes for review.
"With dozens of countries struggling to manage both staggering debt and mounting climate disasters, some financial leaders are calling for green debt relief."
There have been many monumental changes since then, but for those of us who work as climate scientists this period has also brought some entirely new and sometimes unexpected insights.
“American climate pledges go beyond the word of Washington. Yes, Mr. Trump abandoned the Paris Agreement. But, he said, “our states and our cities and our businesses and our workers stayed in.”
“The countries that take decisive actions now” to tackle climate change, Mr. Biden said, “will be the ones that reap the clean energy benefits of the boom that’s coming.”
In a split from his past attitude toward climate change, Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro vowed to end illegal deforestation in the country by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
"Analysis finds 77% of directors on boards of seven US banks have ties to ‘climate-conflicted’ groups, as banks continue to finance projects like the Line 3 oil pipeline"
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) was even blunter in a tweet: "No climate, no deal," he wrote.
The move is one of several steps that the Biden administration has taken to push an agenda that looks to address the dangers posed by global climate change.
The fossil fuel industry is using the same playbook to fight city climate plans around the country
"The investment “will put a new, diverse generation of Americans to work conserving our public lands and waters, bolstering community resilience, and advancing environmental justice through a new Civilian Climate Corps, all while placing good-paying union jobs within reach for more Americans,” reads a lengthy fact sheet on the plan."
President Joe Biden and his team have said little, if anything, about old-growth forests — typically defined as those at least 150 years old and largely undisturbed by human activity. These forests sequester massive amounts of carbon in trees and soil, and scientists say protecting the few that remain intact will prove key to meeting climate and biodiversity targets.
To Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), that spending looks more like triage than investment. On Saturday, the first-term congressman is set to unveil a $1.16 trillion proposal to fund climate-friendly retrofits at every K-12 public school in the nation, hire and train more teachers, and beef up funding for low-income and disability-focused programs.
As Japan marks the 10th anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, the global conversation around the merits of using nuclear power to tackle the climate crisis remains hot. Many environmentalists are opposed, pointing to the risk of nuclear meltdowns and the difficulty of properly disposing of nuclear waste.
“There’s a natural tendency to find the single silver bullet to a problem, but with climate change it’s more like silver buckshot,” he said. “We need to deploy the heck out of renewables and electric cars and heat pumps and everything else today, like crazy. We don’t have time to only develop longer-term options.”
Google's latest feature, Timelapse, is an eye opening, technical feat that provides visual evidence of how the Earth has changed due to climate change and human behavior. The tool takes the platform's static imagery and turns it into a dynamic 4D experience, allowing users to click through timelapses that highlight melting ice caps, receding glaciers, massive urban growth and wildfires' impact on agriculture.
Heat is the deadliest of all the maladies spurred by the climate crisis, with more than 700 people on average now dying each year from its effects, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An independent study last year estimated this death toll is actually much higher, at about 5,600 fatalities a year.
In the aftermath of climate catastrophe, a lonely former environmental activist invites three strange guests over for dinner.
“It is my sense that most Floridians would live with the risk of water to preserve their lifestyle,” said Cynthia Barnett, a Gainesville-based environmental journalist who has published books about rain and the fate of the oceans. “This idea of working with water rather than always fighting against it is really the lesson of Florida history. If Florida history has taught us one thing, it’s that hardscaping this water that defines us will bring hardships to future generations.”
But we never had a rethink of our system of water rights, and how much of our limited water we should be spending on agriculture versus leaving in the natural ecosystem.
A steadily growing trend in investment went fully mainstream in 2020 as a record number of corporations pledged to go “net zero” and move to cancel out the carbon emissions they produce to halt a catastrophic rise in global temperatures.
Researchers have worked out a way to transform food scraps, used cooking oil, animal manure and wastewater sludge into jet fuel with a carbon footprint 165% lower than standard jet fuel, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Scientists say residents should expect to see more intense rainstorms more frequently as the planet warms
The Invisible Mammal (10 min) Animal Award Directed by Kristin Tieche. Bats are struggling to survive, specifically in North America, where white nose syndrome is causing a sharp decline of certain species. Pertinent issues: climate change, habitat destruction, what can humans must do to prevent extinction.
The report also suggests grants for Native American tribes to support tribal conservation priorities; expansion of fish and wildlife habitats and corridors; increased access for outdoor recreation; and creation of a “civilian climate corps” to work on conservation and restoration projects nationwide.
Life: Plastic Wrapped was filmed and edited during 2020 Quarantine. Did you know plastics are making a HUGE comeback due to COVID-19? The increase of plastic production and waste has been directly affected by this global pandemic. The poem, "I am a head in a plastic bag (for Sasha)" was written by collaborator Haley White in relation to my obsession with our plastic problem. Taking ownership of my own participation in our plastic world and climate catastrophe has allowed me to contemplate these issues on a deeper level.
On Monday, Baikal hosted a hockey match, called the "Last Game" intended to bring awareness to climate change and also how to safeguard the lake itself with its unique ecosystem.
"Glaciers are melting faster, losing 31% more snow and ice per year than they did 15 years earlier. Scientists blame human-caused climate change. "
“The climate emergency is not a game and we can’t just spin our way through it. We need to think about where our materials come from, how they’re made and interrogate the whole supply chain – from construction to demolition and reuse.”
Biden administration is set to unveil a new greenhouse gas reduction target at a climate meeting on 22 April, Earth Day
Voices of Transition An enthusiastic documentary on farmer- and community-led responses to food insecurity in a scenario of climate change, peak oil, and economic crisis. Concrete examples from Cuba, France, and the United Kingdom tell of a future society where our monoculture deserts will be restored to living soil, where fields will be introduced into our cities, and where independence from oil will help us live a richer, more fulfilling life.
I Want to Breathe Sweet Air, a film poem in three parts with acclaimed writer Lucy English, is a stunning and terribly beautiful visual indictment of careless land development and the impact of climate change on the natural environment, incorporating footage shot specifically for this project as well as footage from the vast library accumulated by Outlier Moving Pictures during six years of documenting environmental destruction.
The impact on Palau of Typhoon Surigae didn’t make headlines overseas and this might be the first you will have heard of it. Compared to other natural disasters and other cyclones or typhoons in the Pacific, it was a relatively “good” one. But it left me shaken, exhausted and our community rattled.
Biodiversity in the ecosystem is critical for the planet to survive. You want to see different plants and flowers in the fields, not rows and rows of corn or soya. We’re also losing diversity of seeds and plants because of climate change. We need to go back to our indigenous roots where diversity of mother nature has always been critical.
The demonstration is part of a 400-mile march led by the youth climate group Sunrise Movement, which began last week and traces the path of environmental disasters in the Gulf coast from New Orleans to Houston. Roughly 20 participants are on the trek as part of the group’s “Generation on Fire” campaign.
Vineyard Wind is the first of several massive offshore wind-farm proposals that could put more than 3,000 wind turbines in the Atlantic Ocean from Maine to North Carolina. The goal is part of the Biden administration’s effort to fight climate change by shifting away from fossil fuels.
"The New York Democratic representative spoke to NPR this week hours before final details on Biden's much-awaited infrastructure package were released. That plan would spend $2 trillion over eight years, much of it on mitigating the climate crisis. It is the first of a two-part push on an expansive array of infrastructure initiatives, green energy projects, as well as social programs that the administration refers to as "human infrastructure," that is estimated to be around $3 trillion to $4 trillion."
Alas, time has shown that the resources on this planet are not infinite, and it does not take much creativity to see how future generations will judge our mindless littering of oceans, the extinction of species after species or our still widespread indifference toward climate change.
A Low Carbon Future for China's Furnace Cities (United Kingdom [UK], 10 min). Directed by Monika Koeck. China’s economic development and rapid urbanization has led to a dramatic rise in energy consumption due to excessive heating and air-conditioning causing carbon emissions of immense proportions. China’s government has set the ambitious target of reducing CO2 emissions by 40–45% by 2020 against the 2005 baseline. A UK/China-funded team working on how to solve the problem in some of the most extreme climate regions in China. The team discovers groundbreaking solutions using computational-fluid-dynamics simulations.
“The climate movement’s problem is not a lack of solutions, it’s a lack of political power,” Stinnett told HuffPost this week. “We need to mobilize every day in every election in every state to amass so much political power that we’re impossible to ignore.”
The Protectors of the Wood Adventure Series is an illustrated story of a group of teenagers who save the world from climate change. Phoebe comes home from college to discover shocking changes threatening Middletown, her familiar childhood home. A gigantic corporation already owns many local businesses, and is threatening to destroy the lands, legends, and heritage of her family and friends. Mysteries arise as Phoebe unravels the secrets in her small town and realizes that they are connected to a global conflict. Together, Phoebe and her group of friends risk their lives to save the beautiful world around them called home.
The carbon footprint of U.S. food waste is greater than that of the airline industry. Globally, wasted food accounts for about 8 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. The environmental consequences of producing food that no one eats are massive.
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