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Pollution from power plants, vehicles and other sources accounted for one in five of all deaths that year, more detailed analysis reveals
Source : The Guardian
Our food system has been shaped over past decades by the ‘cheaper food’ paradigm.
Policies and economic structures have aimed to produce ever more food at ever
lower cost. Intensified agricultural production degrades soils and ecosystems,
driving down the productive capacity of land and necessitating even more intensive
food production to keep pace with demand. Growing global consumption
of cheaper calories and resource-intensive foods aggravates these pressures.
As a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, our food system is
also driving climate change, which further degrades habitats and causes species
to disperse to new locations. In turn, this brings new species into contact and
competition with each other, and creates new opportunities for the emergence
of infectious disease.
Source : Chatham House
Not all of the water from the planet’s melting glaciers is pouring into rivers and oceans. A surprising amount is building up behind unstable piles of rubble left behind by the retreating ice. As the Earth continues to warm, the swelling lakes threaten to burst through the glacial moraines holding them back and wash away the forests, towns and farms below.
Source : Inside Climate News
“The survey brings the voice of
the people to the forefront of the
climate debate. It signals ways in
which countries can move forward with
public support as we work together to
tackle this enormous challenge.”
Achim Steiner, Administrator,
United Nations Development Programme
With 1.2 million respondents, the Peoples’ Climate Vote is the largest survey of public opinion on
climate change ever conducted. Using a new and unconventional approach to polling, results
span 50 countries1
covering 56% of the world’s population
Source : UNDP
Earth was besieged by a record 50 billion-dollar weather disasters in 2020, the most such disasters ever recorded after adjusting for inflation, said insurance broker Aon (formerly called Aon Benfield) in its annual report issued January 25. The previous record was 46 billion-dollar weather disasters, set in 2010 and 2011. The annual average of billion-dollar weather disasters since records began in 1990 is 29.
Source : Yale Climate Connections
Earth’s ice is melting faster today than in the mid-1990s, new research suggests, as climate change nudges global temperatures ever higher. Altogether, an estimated 28 trillion metric tons of ice have melted away from the world’s sea ice, ice sheets and glaciers since the mid-1990s. And the annual melt rate is now about 57 percent faster than it was three decades ago.
Source : Reuters
Anyone with even a passing interest in the global environment knows all is not well. But just how bad is the situation? This new paper shows the outlook for life on Earth is more dire than is generally understood.
Source : The Conversation
New research suggests that, sooner than expected, trees may become carbon sources rather than carbon sinks, as a feedback loop of rising temperatures drives them to release more greenhouse gases.
Source : Inside Climate News
As the renewable energy sector grows, high-capacity long-life battery storage is fundamental to its success. How these batteries are designed and made will define their environmental impact for generations to come. Creating a circular economy for batteries is crucial to prevent one of the solutions to the current environmental crisis becoming the cause of another.
Source : Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Comment: The EU’s enthusiastic embrace of hydrogen risks undermining the clean energy transition and its newly-minted 2030 greenhouse gas target
Source : Climate Home News
Persistent and accelerating warming in the region is affecting local communities and ecosystems, as well as the rest of the global climate system.
Source : Inside Climate News
The finding counters scientists’ previous assumptions and indicates a reduction in the amount of carbon deciduous forests can remove from the atmosphere.
Source : Inside Climate News
Geneva, 23 November 2020 (WMO) - The industrial slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic has not curbed record levels of greenhouse gases which are trapping heat in the atmosphere, increasing temperatures and driving more extreme weather, ice melt, sea-level rise and ocean acidification, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
Source : World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Single-use items — long the target of ire from environmentalists — are having a moment in the era of COVID-19. From disposable cups and take-out packaging to gloves and masks, safety concerns are pushing consumers and institutions in the direction of disposables.
Source : GreenBiz
A new study shows a few degrees of warming can trigger abrupt thaws of vast frozen lands, releasing huge stores of greenhouse gases and collapsing landscapes.
Source : Insideclimate News
The company says it is studying three designs for commercial air travel, but a host of complex problems remain related to producing “clean” hydrogen fuel.
Source : New York Times
As the world's climate changes, plants and animals have adapted by expanding into new territory and even shifting their breeding seasons. Now, research suggests that over the past 75 years, flowers have also adapted to rising temperatures and declining ozone by altering ultraviolet pigments in their petals, Science Magazine reports
Source : Science Magazine
A new study reaffirms that contrail clouds—those straight, wispy white markings of a plane's path through the sky—produce more global warming than carbon dioxide emitted by the flights. Activists hope the finding will help spur the aviation industry to act more urgently to reduce their emissions as governments work to rebuild their pandemic-hit economies.
Source : insideclimatenews
The world's largest consumer goods companies have made progress towards increasing the amount of recycled plastic in their packaging, but are still largely failing to cut down on the amount of single-use packaging they generate.
Source : GreenBiz
Global warming is deepening blankets of warmer water that alter ocean currents, hinder absorption of carbon, intensify storms and disrupt biological cycles, a new study warns. And it's happening faster than scientists expected. "If anything, the impacts of climate change are proving to be worse than we predicted," said Michael Mann, a co-author of the study.
Source : InsideClimate News
