Satellite view of the Valdecañas Reservoir in Spain, on 24 July 2013 and 25 July 2019. The record heatwave and extreme drought of 2019 revealed the lost “Spanish Stonehenge”, the Dolmen of Guadalperal. Photo: Lauren Dauphin / NASA Earth Observatory

Record heatwave and extreme drought reveal lost “Spanish Stonehenge”

By Kasha Patel 19 September 2019 (NASA) – In 1963, the Spanish government under Francisco Franco built the Valdecañas Reservoir in order to bring water and electricity to underdeveloped parts of western Spain. However, the creation of the reservoir flooded some inhabited areas as well as large stone (megalithic) monuments. After fifty years underwater, one […]

Logo for the Republican Climate Resolution. Graphic: CCL

Republican Climate Resolution: “If left unaddressed, the consequences of a changing climate have the potential to adversely impact all Americans”

24 September 2019 (Desdemona Despair) – After yesterday’s sad display by the governments of the U.S., Australia, and Canada at the U.N. Climate Action Summit 2019, it’s good to remember that not all U.S. Republicans are antiscience fanatics. Here’s the text of the Republican Climate Resolution (H.Res.195 Expressing the commitment of the House of Representatives […]

While speaking at the United Nations on 23 September 2019, climate activist Greta Thunberg delivered an impassioned speech during the Climate Action Summit 2019, where she spoke about the dangers of climate change. “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words,” climate activist Greta Thunberg has told world leaders, accusing them of ignoring the science behind the climate crisis: “We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth - how dare you?” Photo: United Nations / NBC News

Climate activist Greta Thunberg condemns world leaders in emotional speech at UN – “The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us I say we will never forgive you.”

By Oliver Milman 23 September 2019 UNITED NATIONS (The Guardian) – Greta Thunberg has excoriated world leaders for their “betrayal” of young people through their inertia over the climate crisis at a United Nations summit that failed to deliver ambitious new commitments to address dangerous global heating. In a stinging speech on Monday, the teenage […]

72-hour rainfall totals from Tropical Storm Imelda compared with Hurricane Claudette in 1979, Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, and Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Imelda covered an area as large as Claudette and bigger than Allison but fell short of Harvey. Graphic: Jesse Ferrell / WeatherMatrix

Imelda rainfall is now 7 times more likely than 30 years ago – Climate change is making flooding more frequent in southeast Texas

By Jeff Berardelli 22 September 2019 (CBS News) – Over 36 inches of rain fell in just 36 hours in parts of coastal Texas this week. Astronomical rain rates of 6 inches per hour were observed generating the equivalent of a month’s worth of rain in 60 minutes. Imelda’s immense rainfall is both amazing and […]

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, listens to the meeting introduction before delivering opening remarks while hosting a debate on key human rights issues in the country at ICS—Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa on 29 April 2019 in Lisbon, Portugal. Photo: Horacio Villalobos / Corbis / Getty Images

We are “burning up our future”, UN’s Bachelet tells Human Rights Council – “The world has never seen a threat to human rights of this scope”

9 September 2019 (UN News) – The Human Rights Council opened in Geneva on Monday with a warning from the UN’s top rights official that, with forest fires raging in the Amazon, “we are burning up our future, literally”. In a direct appeal to the forum’s 47 Member States to unite to tackle climate change, […]

Climate activist Greta Thunberg glares at Donald Trump arriving at the United Nations on 23 September 2019, after she scolded international politicians over inaction on global warming at Climate Action Summit 2019. Photo: The Independent

Trump drops by UN climate summit, skips Greta Thunberg’s speech, hurries off to talk faith and freedom – Standing ovation for Trump at religious freedom panel that never mentioned plight of Uighur Muslims

By Julian Borger 23 September 2019 NEW YORK (The Guardian) – In the UN general assembly chamber, the world’s leaders gathered to share the latest grim news of the planet’s climate crisis, but 100 metres away another meeting had been prepared: a summit of one. Donald Trump had booked a separate venue in the middle of the […]

Migration and food availability in Guatemala, 2016-2018. Data: U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Graphic: NBC News

Trump admin ignored its own evidence of climate change’s impact on migration from Central America

By Jacob Soboroff and Julia Ainsley 20 September 2019 GUATEMALA CITY (NBC News) – Research compiled one year ago by Customs and Border Protection pointed to an overwhelming factor driving record-setting migration to the U.S. from Guatemala: Crop shortages were leaving rural Guatemalans, especially in the country’s western highlands, in extreme poverty and starving. An […]

Homes lay in ruin in The Mudd neighborhood in the Marsh Harbour area of Abaco, Bahamas, on Monday, 9 September 2019, one week after Hurricane Dorian hit. Photo: Fernando Llano / AP Photo

Hurricane Dorian left 1.5 billion pounds of debris in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas – Total losses estimated at $7 billion – “We acknowledge that we are in a national climate crisis and the country is facing a national climate emergency”

By Jan Wesner Childs 21 September 2019 (The Weather Channel) – Officials are grappling with how to deal with 1.5 billion pounds of debris left behind in Marsh Harbour after Hurricane Dorian decimated the community in Abaco, Bahamas. The landscape was littered after Dorian with splintered homes and buildings, boats, cars and every sort of […]

Young people march to Parliament in Cape Town, South Africa during the Global Climate Strike on 20 September 2019. Photo: Brenton Geach / Gallo Images / Getty Images

How big was the global climate strike? 4 million people, activists estimate, likely the largest climate protest in history

By Eliza Barclay and Brian Resnick 21 September 2019 (Vox) – Friday was a truly historic day for the potent new social movement committed to sounding a global alarm about the climate crisis. The Global Climate Strikes, inspired by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, age 16, may end up being the largest mass protest for action […]

Satellite view of Gondwana rainforest fires, 4-15 September 2019. Photo: NASA Worldview

Drought exacerbates wildfires in Australia rainforest

By Michael Carlowicz 14 September 2019 (NASA) – Fire season in the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales got off to an early and ugly start in September 2019. Fueled by a long and deepening drought, more than 100 fires burned in forest and bush areas near the southeast coasts, including some subtropical […]

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