Latest news with #StateoftheClimate
Mint
23-05-2025
- Climate
- Mint
Four Die as Floods Hammer Area North of Sydney, More Rain Coming
(Bloomberg) -- At least four people died and thousands are without power as severe storms lashed Australia's most populous state. Large swaths of New South Wales state remain on high alert for floods and extreme weather. Heavy rainfall is expected to continue into the weekend in central and southern regions, and coastal areas are bracing for wind gusts of up to 80 kilometers an hour, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. The weather system is now moving south with heavy rains in Sydney on Friday. 'Flooding will likely continue through Friday, Saturday and even into Sunday for much of eastern New South Wales,' said Dean Narramore, a meteorologist at the bureau. Some areas have recorded as much as 600mm of rainfall over the last four days, he said. Global warming is making extreme weather such as torrential rain more frequent, putting lives, critical infrastructure and crops across the world at risk. The intensity of short and heavy rain events has increased by around 10% or more in some Australian regions, according to the government's most recent biennial State of the Climate report. The floods have already left at least 50,000 people isolated and four dead, with an one other person missing. Over 600 people have been rescued since the flooding began, Colin Malone, New South Wales emergency services assistant commissioner, said Friday morning. 'We'll be using boats and helicopters to help isolated people with food and medications, and also assist in transporting people to urgent medical appointments or other medical emergencies,' he said. More than 500 boats and nine helicopters have been deployed across the state. 'Yet again, devastating flooding, water over rooftops, and people being evacuated, the word 'unprecedented' becomes meaningless for how Australian society and policymakers need to respond to these increasingly prevalent events,' said Paula Jarzabkowski, a researcher at the University of Queensland, who specializes in insurance protection. More stories like this are available on
Business Times
23-05-2025
- Climate
- Business Times
Four die as floods hammer area north of Sydney, more rain coming
AT LEAST four people died and thousands are without power as severe storms lashed Australia's most populous state. Large swaths of New South Wales state remain on high alert for floods and extreme weather. Heavy rainfall is expected to continue into the weekend in central and southern regions, and coastal areas are bracing for wind gusts of up to 80 kmh, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. The weather system is now moving south with heavy rains in Sydney on Friday. 'Flooding will likely continue through Friday, Saturday and even into Sunday for much of eastern New South Wales,' said Dean Narramore, a meteorologist at the bureau. Some areas have recorded as much as 600mm of rainfall over the last four days, he said. Global warming is making extreme weather such as torrential rain more frequent, putting lives, critical infrastructure and crops across the world at risk. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up The intensity of short and heavy rain events has increased by around 10 per cent or more in some Australian regions, according to the government's most recent biennial State of the Climate report. The floods have already left at least 50,000 people isolated and four dead, with an one other person missing. Over 600 people have been rescued since the flooding began, Colin Malone, New South Wales emergency services assistant commissioner, said on Friday morning. 'We'll be using boats and helicopters to help isolated people with food and medications, and also assist in transporting people to urgent medical appointments or other medical emergencies,' he said. More than 500 boats and nine helicopters have been deployed across the state. 'Yet again, devastating flooding, water over rooftops, and people being evacuated, the word 'unprecedented' becomes meaningless for how Australian society and policymakers need to respond to these increasingly prevalent events,' said Paula Jarzabkowski, a researcher at the University of Queensland, who specialises in insurance protection. BLOOMBERG
Scottish Sun
27-04-2025
- Climate
- Scottish Sun
Scotland braced for 22C sunshine in days as weather map turns red
It's thought that weather records could be broken amid a hot spell FEELING THE HEAT Scotland braced for 22C sunshine in days as weather map turns red SCOTLAND is poised for its sunniest April on record with 22C sunshine forecast within days. With four days left to add to the current total, we need just over 28 hours of sunshine before midnight on Wednesday to eclipse the 214.5 weather record set in 2021. 3 Crowds flocked to Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh to enjoy the sunshine Credit: Alamy 3 Roasting hot weather brings the crowds out to Portobello Beach Credit: Andrew Barr And with long spells of blue sky weather forecast for the coming days, it's almost certain we'll smash the second-best record from 2020, of 203.7 hours. Should the records be broken, it would mean that the three sunniest Aprils in history have all happened since 2020. Forecaster Grahame Madge of the Met Office said: 'We are definitely noticing a trend towards more sunshine reaching the UK, though it is not an exact science.' Tomorrow should see an end to the showery weather which featured across Scotland at the weekend, with things really picking up by Tuesday, when the BBC Weather Service predicts sunshine and highs of 21C (70F). The Borders town of Kelso is expected to hit 22C (72F) on Wednesday, the final day of a very sunny April. Rather than holding global warming responsible, climate change experts believe Scotland's sunny Aprils could be down to pollution levels falling in the world's shipping lanes. Bob Ward, of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, said: 'I think we can put the increase in sunshine levels - in part - down to cleaner air in the UK and Northern Europe. 'The global shipping industry is now working towards cleaner standards and that could be having a major impact on our weather. 'There is less particulate matter in the atmosphere and we are seeing a trend in the UK to more sunshine all year round.' It may not be a coincidence, therefore, that the three sunniest Aprils have happened within the last five years. In 2020 and 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic brought to a halt much of the world's transport. Ships didn't sail, planes remained on the ground and people were unable to use their vehicles due to government-led restrictions. What followed in April 2020 was the second-sunniest April on record in Scotland, followed by the unprecedented 214.5 hours of sunshine a year later, when COVID restrictions were still in place. The Met Office State of the Climate report last summer said the decade between 2014 and 2023 had four per cent more hours of sunshine each year than the average between 1991 and 2020. Compared to the period 1961-1990, the sunshine hours increase was nine per cent.
IOL News
24-04-2025
- Science
- IOL News
Finding hope this Earth Day: innovations and recoveries in climate action
Polar bear fur could help scientists determine how to replace human-made fibers often treated with toxic 'forever chemicals Image: Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post Yes, the headlines are bleak. Yes, scientists are sounding the alarm. Yes, a growing pile of studies warn that the world is 'on the brink of irreversible climate disaster,' as a recent 'State of the Climate' report put it. It's easy to feel like the planet is on fire - because, well, sometimes it literally is. But even amid the floods, droughts and devastating forecasts, it's not all doom: Innovators are reimagining how we power our lives, nature is pulling off surprising comebacks, cities are cleaning their air, and nations are opening their wallets. This Earth Day, take a break from the doomscrolling. Here are five reasons to hope - and maybe even feel a flicker of optimism. New technology and clean-energy breakthroughs The future isn't just solar panels and wind turbines anymore. Innovations that sound like they're pulled from a sci-fi script are already hitting streets, factories and even seas. In Stockholm, the world's first electric flying ferry is now transporting commuters across the water - gliding above the surface to reduce drag, slash emissions and cut commute times in half. New electric-vehicle batteries made with abundant iron, instead of expensive nickel or cobalt, are making EVs cheaper, safer and less flammable. Some companies are scaling up 'flow batteries,' refrigerator-size units that store renewable energy and could eventually replace gas and coal as reliable backup power. Even concrete - one of the most polluting materials on Earth - is getting a green makeover, with start-ups using everything from carbon-infused mixes to construction waste to lower emissions. And for those facing longer wildfire seasons, an $85 DIY air purifier built from a box fan and a furnace filter is proving surprisingly effective at scrubbing indoor air. None of this on its own solves for climate change. But it's the kind of forward momentum that, multiplied at scale, could help reshape the energy economy. Nature's unexpected tools to fight climate change Not all climate solutions are made by people. Some are hiding in plain sight - buried in rocks, growing in the ocean or clinging to the fur of a polar bear. Scientists have found a way to supercharge ordinary rocks to trap carbon pollution. When heated to extreme temperatures, common minerals like olivine transform into materials that can soak up carbon dioxide from the air and transfer it deep into Earth's oceans - speeding up a natural geological process that would otherwise take millennia. In the Arctic, researchers have turned their attention to polar bear fur, which repels water and ice so efficiently that it's inspiring new materials that could one day replace the advanced human-made fibers often treated with toxic 'forever chemicals.' And in Greenland, teams are harvesting glacial 'rock flour' - fine sediment ground by ancient ice - to absorb carbon. Then there's seaweed - a fast-growing, carbon-hungry crop that could soon fertilize soil, replace plastic and fuel cars and power grids. In the Caribbean, where sargassum invasions are overwhelming beaches, entrepreneurs are racing to turn a problem into a planet-friendly product. They're not silver bullets. But these natural systems could become some of the most powerful - and least invasive - climate tools we have. Species bouncing back Not every climate headline ends in extinction. Around the world, animals once written off are making slow, determined comebacks - with help from scientists, conservationists and communities. Sea turtles, for one, are slowly swimming back from the brink. A sweeping global survey published this month found that more than half of the world's populations are showing signs of recovery, thanks to decades of conservation work and legal protections. In Brazil's Cerrado grassland, the great-billed seed finch has returned after more than 50 years. Nearly driven out of existence by the illegal pet trade, the bird species is breeding and nesting in the wild after conservationists released more than 300 captive-bred birds since 2018, conservation news outlet Mongabay reported. Further south in Brazil, giant anteaters were recently spotted in the state of Rio Grande do Sul for the first time in more than 130 years. Researchers see the sightings as a hopeful sign that rewilding efforts in nearby Argentina - where the species has been gradually reintroduced since 2007 - are beginning to pay off. They're not alone. The Iberian lynx, once down to a few dozen individuals, now roams Spain and Portugal in growing numbers. The scimitar-horned oryx, declared extinct in the wild, has returned to the African Sahel. The mountain chicken frog - yes, that's a real name - is hopping its way back in Dominica. And the greater one-horned rhino is making a slow but steady return in Nepal and India. None of these species are out of the woods yet. But their rebound is a reminder that with time, funding and fierce commitment, nature can heal - sometimes faster than we expect. Big moves to reduce pollution From sweeping legislation to car-free streets, some cities and states are taking aggressive - and effective - steps to clean up. In Paris, what started as a fight against traffic has turned into a blueprint for cleaner air. Since 1990, the city has cut car use by about 45 percent, Bloomberg reported. Pollution levels dropped alongside it: Fine particulate matter is down 55 percent, and nitrogen dioxide - a pollutant linked to asthma, heart disease and lung cancer - has fallen by half. The changes aren't just in the air. Paris has ripped out 50,000 parking spots, turned the banks of the Seine into car-free promenades, banned most traffic from the Rue de Rivoli and built miles of new bike lanes. Voters recently approved turning 500 more streets over to pedestrians. And if you drive an SUV? Expect to pay triple to park. Two decades ago, pollution maps glowed red across the city. Now, just a few major roads light up. In California, the chemical warning labels on coffee cups, parking garages and just about everything in between might actually be working - and encouraging manufacturers to reduce their products' toxic footprint. Under Proposition 65, companies have to warn consumers if their products contain certain harmful chemicals. Rather than slap on a scary label - or risk a lawsuit - many manufacturers are quietly reformulating instead. A recent study found that 78 percent of interviewed businesses had changed their product ingredients to avoid the label. The result? A reduction in the use of chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects and reproductive harm in everyday items like furniture, food packaging and personal care products. Countries are mobilizing Under President Donald Trump, the United States is withdrawing from the Paris climate accord as well as two global programs it had once deemed critical to reining in fossil fuels and the dealing with the consequences of climate change. Other countries have been stepping up. At COP29 - the latest United Nations climate summit - nearly 200 countries agreed to dramatically scale up financial support for developing nations facing the worst of the climate crisis. The deal calls for at least $300 billion a year by 2035 to help vulnerable countries adapt to rising seas, extreme heat and other growing threats. At COP16, the U.N. biodiversity conference, in October, negotiators struck a parallel deal to protect nature itself. Countries committed to investing $200 billion annually in preserving ecosystems and preventing species loss - a key step toward delivering on a global goal to protect 30 percent of the planet's land and water by 2030.
Arab News
21-03-2025
- Science
- Arab News
Make every hour Earth Hour to save the planet
Everywhere you look, Planet Earth seems to be changing: sea water getting warmer, glaciers melting, forests retreating, temperatures rising. All that is leading to ecosystems, creatures, and seasons changing, with more intense flooding, more extreme storms, irregular weather systems, hard-hit agricultural cycles and poorer staples, impacting humanity with higher prices and shortages and even pushing communities into the misery of displacement as they try to find food security and places to subsist and provide for loved ones. We should remember all this every time we mark Earth Hour, which has brought the world together once a year since 2007 to shine a spotlight on nature's loss and the climate crisis, and inspire millions to act and campaign for urgent change. This year's Earth Hour on Friday coincides with the UN revealing that in 2024 there were more than 150 unprecedented climate disasters ranging from floods, heatwaves and supercharged hurricanes, and scientists confirmed that it was the warmest year ever. In 2024 there were more than 150 unprecedented climate disasters ranging from floods, heatwaves and supercharged hurricanes. Mohamed Chebaro It is not an exaggeration to propose that maybe the world needs an earth hour every day to focus minds and push us all into action to preserve our fragile planet: particularly since geostrategic, political and economic considerations are reducing multilateralism and support for multiparty efforts to protect the planet through international cooperation. Earth Hour should be used to remind doubters and waverers of the need to embrace climate plans, harness links between science and artificial intelligence, society, government and businesses to mediate damage to the environment, and capitalize more on cheap and renewable energy where possible to save the planet before it is too late. In its annual State of the Climate report, the World Meteorological Organization laid bare all the signs of an increasingly warming world with oceans at record high temperatures, sea levels rising and glaciers retreating at record speed. The top 10 hottest years were all in the past decade, and planet-heating carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are also at an 800,000-year high. Warnings from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that 'our planet is issuing more distress signals' have become cliche in a world where such narratives have been drowned out, and not only by rollbacks on climate commitments by the US administration under Donald Trump. Skeptics cast doubt on all climate science, replacing it with a stance that surrenders us all to a sense of powerlessness, as if humanity were doomed and that the cost of protecting the environment as a priority impoverishes us all. The danger is that the US, the world's second biggest current polluter and the largest emitter of greenhouse gases historically, was also until recently one of the biggest enablers of the global technological and financial climate transition efforts. A US retreat would certainly lead other countries to become less ambitious, cancellng many of their green targets as a result. Many still believe that the international goal of limiting warming to 1.5C above the pre-industrial era is still possible if leaders step up and cooperate to make it happen through seizing the benefits of cheaper, cleaner renewable energy. The science is still clear despite all the distorting noises: the warming of the planet is man made, due to industry, lifestyle, and economic activity including the reliance on fossil fuel. The planet is fragile and its damage affects us all, rich and poor, old and young, powerful or weak. Mohamed Chebaro To better celebrate Earth Hour we should all do so on a daily basis: each committing according to their capacity to do something to mitigate the negative impact on the planet or to aid the transition to a more sustainable existence for all. The planet is fragile and its damage affects us all, rich and poor, old and young, powerful or weak, from the global south or the global north, the old Western industrialized world or the global ascending majority. In the uncertain world of today, with the increased geopolitical divide, the dangers of a weakened sense of a common world governance, and erosion of multilateral institutions, we should have an Earth Hour every hour every day, to remind us of the need not only to protect and preserve the planet, but also to celebrate its diversity and riches in the service and to the benefit of us all.
