The logo of Mexican petroleum company Pemex is seen at a gas station in Mexico City, 28 August 2014. Edgard Garrido / REUTERS

Scientists detect second “vast” methane leak at Pemex oil field in Mexico – “It’s really alarming what is happening. Pemex should be stripped of its rights to operate it.”

MEXICO CITY, 2 September 2022 (Reuters) – Satellites recorded another large methane leak at an offshore platform belonging to Mexico’s Pemex in August, according to exclusive data shared with Reuters, even as pressure mounts on the state oil company to reduce these emissions. Three satellites recorded images of methane plumes at the Ku-Maloob-Zaap oil field […]

Aerial view of Lake Powell in Page, Arizona on 5 April 2022, showing water levels at a historic low. Photo: RJ Sangosti / MediaNews Group / The Denver Post / Getty Images

A shrinking Lake Powell heralds an even worse water crisis in the Southwest’s future – “These trends are on a tragic collision course, underscoring the urgency once again of concerted action on climate”

By Matthew Rozsa 29 August 2022 (Salon) – As climate change worsens, Americans who live in the Southwest will be hit very, very hard: experts predict that large cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas are going to be uninhabitable within decades, as will the surrounding metropolitan areas in their home states of Arizona and Nevada. Those regions […]

U.S. life expectancy at birth, 1900-2021. Data: CDC. Graphic: Datawrapper

U.S. life expectancy plunged again in 2021, down nearly a year – Last comparable decrease was during height of World War II – “It’s a dismal situation. It was bad before and it’s gotten worse.”

By Mike Stobbe 30 August 2022 NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. life expectancy dropped for the second consecutive year in 2021, falling by nearly a year from 2020, according to a government report being released Wednesday [Provisional Life Expectancy Estimates for 2021 –Des]. In the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the estimated American […]

People spend time at the park at dusk during a summer heat wave, 21 July 2022, in Hoboken, N.J. The continental United States in July 2022 set a record for overnight warmth, providing little relief from the day’s sizzling heat for people, animals, plants and the electric grid, meteorologists said. Photo: Andres Kudacki / AP Photo

U.S. in July 2022 sets new record for overnight warmth

By Seth Borenstein 13 August 2022 (AP) – Talk about hot nights, America got some for the history books last month. The continental United States in July set a record for overnight warmth, providing little relief from the day’s sizzling heat for people, animals, plants, and the electric grid, meteorologists said. The average low temperature for the […]

Workers pull up ornamental grass in Southern Nevada. Photo: CBS News

Due to climate change, Nevada says goodbye to grass – “I’d like to think we can all band together and solve problems without killing ourselves”

By John D’Amelio 7 August 2022 (CBS News) – In Las Vegas, Nevada, it’s come to this: climate change has helped make water ever more scarce, so under a new Nevada law, the grass has got to go. “When we look at outdoor water use in Southern Nevada, landscaping far and away is the largest water […]

Insured losses linked to extreme weather in Canada, 1983-2021. Data: Insurance Bureau of Canada. Graphic: Reuters

Canada village razed by wildfire wrestles with climate-proofing its future – “I’m not expecting I’ll be rebuilding ever”

By Nia Williams 5 August 2022 REVELSTOKE, British Columbia (Reuters) – A year after a wildfire destroyed the western Canadian village of Lytton, residents, municipal leaders, and the British Columbia government are grappling with the slow and costly reality of future-proofing a community against climate change. The remote village sits at the confluence of the […]

Satellite view of Lake Mead on 6 July 2000 and 3 July 2022. Data: Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Photo: Lauren Dauphin / NASA Earth Observatory

Image of the Day: Satellite view of Lake Mead in 2000 and 2022 – “Declining water levels due to climate change and 20 years of ongoing drought have reshaped the park’s shorelines”

By Michael Carlowicz 20 July 2022 (NASA Earth Observatory) – Continuing a 22-year downward trend, water levels in Lake Mead stand at their lowest since April 1937, when the reservoir was still being filled for the first time. As of July 18, 2022, Lake Mead was filled to just 27 percent of capacity. The largest reservoir in the […]

Aerial view of a structure burning during a wildfire in Palo Pinto County, Texas on Monday, 18 July 2022. The 110-degree heat wave caused a record 24 wildfires in Texas this week. Two Texas wildfires consumed at least 21 homes amid the record heat wave. Photo: KDFW FOX 4 / AP

U.S. Central states, Texas break power use records again in heat wave – Texas Gov. Abbott’s inaction leads to huge electricity bills

20 July 2022 (Reuters) – Power use in Texas and other central states hit all-time highs Tuesday and could break that record again in Texas on Wednesday as homes and businesses crank up air conditioners to escape a brutal heat wave blanketing most of the country. Electric grid operators across the country said they have […]

Three-wheelers queue to buy petrol due to fuel shortage, amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 5 July 2022. Dinuka Liyanawatte / REUTERS

World Bank calls for sovereign debt changes ahead of looming crises – “There are more Sri Lankas on the way”

By Marc Jones 28 June 2022 LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) – A senior official at the World Bank has ramped up its calls for changes in sovereign debt laws so governments have more control when crises strike and they have to restructure their debt. World Bank economists estimate that low- and middle-income economies owe a […]

Esther Elaar, a pregnant mother living in Loima, Turkana County, Northern Kenya, fetches and carries 20 litres of water for her family to use every day. Photo: BBC Media Action

Is the world running out of freshwater? “A lot of women have miscarried in this area while going to look for water”

By Simge Eva Dogan 1 June 2022 (Wellcome) – More than half of the world’s population faces water scarcity for at least one month a year. Safe water is a basic human right and essential for our health, whether we use it for drinking, food production or hygiene. But it’s also a finite resource. Only […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial