Smoke rises after Russian shelling near Kyiv, Ukraine, on 17 March 2022. Photo: Gleb Garanich / REUTERS

Russia’s war on Ukraine threatens climate goals, warns UN chief – “This is madness. Addiction to fossil fuels is mutually assured destruction.”

By Fiona Harvey 21 March 2022 (The Guardian) – The war in Ukraine risks putting global targets on the climate out of reach, the UN secretary general has warned, if countries respond to Russia’s aggression by increasing their use of fossil fuels. António Guterres said the aim of limiting global temperatures to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, […]

Regional Trends of Negative Affect and Stress, 2006-2021. Negative affect as a whole was highest and rising in MENA and South Asia, with the increase greatest in South Asia. All regions have more negative affect now than ten years ago, except for Eastern Europe. Graphic: SDSN World Happiness Report

Amid war and disease, World Happiness Report 2022 shows bright spot, but anger grows in South Asia

18 March 2022 (McGill University) – In this troubled time of war and pandemic, the World Happiness Report 2022 shows a bright light in dark times. According to the team of international researchers, including McGill University Professor Christopher Barrington-Leigh, the pandemic brought not only pain and suffering but also an increase in social support and benevolence. As the […]

Aerial view of a wildfire burning in a large swath of land west of Fort Worth, Texas on Friday, 18 March 2022, in what fire officials call the Eastland Complex. Photo: NBC 5 News

Texas wildfire kills 1, as officials worry extreme drought could worsen conditions – “In the wetter parts of Texas, there will be more fuel, and things will dry out more rapidly”

By Jack Douglas and Jacob Bogage 19 March 2022 CARBON, Texas (The Washington Post) – All Raquel Robles could do was watch the video on her phone, horrified and helpless, as first smoke, then fire, moved up her driveway and then destroyed the house she and her family had lived in for 13 years. Flames […]

Geographical distribution of the measured mass light absorption coefficient (at 365 nm, babs-365, Mm−1, M = 10−6) of water-soluble brown carbon (BrC) in the circum-Arctic. The data dots are plotted at the middle of each sample. The shading was interpolated based on the measurements using the Data-Interpolating Variational Analysis method in the software Ocean Data View. The color range is set as the 10th and 90th percentiles of babs-365. The observed babs-365 of water-soluble BrC at Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow) from August to September (2012) for PM10 samples (diamond) and at Alert from May to early June (1991) for total suspended samples (square) is also shown for comparison. Graphic: Yue, et al., 2022 / One Earth

Brown carbon from biomass burning imposes strong Arctic warming feedback – “We expect an increasing importance of brown carbon in the warming of the circum-arctic in the future”

18 March 2022 (Max Planck Institute for Chemistry) – Rapid warming in the Arctic and accelerated glacier and sea ice melting have a huge impact on the global environment. Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, and black carbon aerosols are well-known warming agents. In contrast, atmospheric, light absorbing brown carbon particles belong to the least […]

Changes in Amazon vegetation resilience since the 1990s and from 2003. (a) A map of the Kendall τ values of individual grid cells from 2003. (b) Histogram of the Kendall τ values for the Amazon rainforest, considering data from 2003 onwards. Of the grid cells, 76.2 percent have a positive Kendall τ value from 2003 onwards and 77.8 percent have this for the full time series. (c) Mean Vegetation Optical Depth (VOD) AR(1) time series (solid line) along with ±1 s.d. (dotted lines) created from grid cells that have BL fraction ≥80 percent in the Amazon basin and also contain no human land use (main text and Methods). The full AR(1) time series from 1991 (grey) has a Kendall τ value of 0.589 (P = 0.006) and from 2003 (black), a value of 0.913 (P 

The Amazon Rainforest is approaching a tipping point beyond which it would become savannah – “When it will be observable, it would likely be too late to stop it”

By Eric Shank 14 March 2022 (Salon) – A vast expanse of unique biological diversity hangs in the balance as the “lungs of the world” approach a tipping point from which there is no recovery. The Amazon Rainforest is losing its ability to regenerate, reported a peer-reviewed study, Monday, in Nature Climate Change. For 10% of all known species on […]

Simulation of 2m temperature anomaly centered over Antarctica on 18 March 2022. Parts of eastern Antarctica saw temperatures hover 70 degrees Fahrenheit (40 Celsius) above normal for more than three days. On 18 March 2022, the surface temperature in Vostok leaped to 0°F (-17.7 Celsius), the warmest it’s been there during March since record keeping began 65 years ago. It broke the previous monthly record by a staggering 27 degrees Fahrenheit (15 Celsius). Graphic: WeatherBell

It’s 70°F (40°C) warmer than normal in eastern Antarctica – “This event is completely unprecedented and upended our expectations about the Antarctic climate system”

By Jason Samenow and Kasha Patel 18 March 2022 (The Washington Post) – The coldest location on the planet has experienced an episode of warm weather this week unlike any ever observed, with temperatures over the eastern Antarctic ice sheet soaring 50 to 90 degrees above normal. The warmth has smashed records and shocked scientists. […]

Carbon emissions projected to 2050 in three scenarios: Accelerated, Net Zero, and New Momentum. BP’s Energy Outlook 2022 uses three main scenarios (Accelerated, Net Zero, and New Momentum) to explore the range of possible pathways for the global energy system to 2050 and help shape a resilient strategy for BP. Graphic: BP

BP Energy Outlook 2022 edition – The carbon budget is finite, and it is running out

By Spencer Dale 14 March 2022 (BP) – At the time of writing, the world’s attention is focussed on the terrible events taking place in Ukraine. Our thoughts and hopes are with all those affected. The scenarios included in Energy Outlook 2022 were largely prepared before the outbreak of the military action and do not include any […]

Aerial view of an area in the Amazon deforested for the expansion of livestock, in Lábrea, Amazonas state. The Amazon is still covered in smoke and torn by criminal and unrestrained destruction, according to overflights produced by the Amazon in Flames Alliance, organized by Amazon Watch, Greenpeace Brazil and the Brazilian Climate Observatory. The expedition took place between September 13th and 17th 2021, in the cities of Porto Velho (Rondônia state) and Lábrea (southern Amazonas state). Photo: Victor Moriyama / Amazônia em Chamas / Greenpeace

Brazil detects record Amazon deforestation in January and February 2022 – Forest destruction rate in 2021 was highest in ten years

By David Biller 11 March 2022 RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Detected deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon reached a record high for the month of February following a similar record the prior month. Satellite alerts of deforestation in February corresponded to 199 square kilometers (77 square miles), the highest indicator for that month in seven […]

Fisherman Walter de la Cruz sits on the shore of the oil-stained Cavero Beach, unable to fish after a spill in the Ventanilla district of Callao, Peru, 21 January 2022. De la Cruz, 60, is one of more than 2,500 fishermen whose livelihoods have been cast into doubt as a result of a large crude-oil spill by the Spanish-owned Repsol oil refinery on 15 January 2022. Photo: Martin Mejia / AP Photo

Peru’s “worst ecological disaster” slams small-scale fishing – “I saw the fruits of my livelihood destroyed. It’s like if you have a store and someone comes and sets it on fire.”

By Franklin Briceño 13 March 2022 CIUDAD PACHACUTEC, Perú (AP) – Walter de la Cruz scrambled down a large sand dune in the fog to reach a rock overlooking the Pacific Ocean, where he has fished for three decades. He cast a hook into the waters off Peru’s coast several times, with no luck. One […]

FAO Food Price Index, January 1961 - February 2022. In February 2022, the FAO Food Price Index (FFPI), averaged 140.7 points, up 5.3 points (3.9 percent) from January and as much as 24.1 points (20.7 percent) above its level a year ago. This represents a new all-time high, exceeding the previous top of February 2011 by 3.1 points. The February rise was led by large increases in vegetable oil and dairy price sub-indices. Cereals and meat prices were also up, while the sugar price sub-index fell for the third consecutive month. Graphic: FAO

FAO Food Price Index rose to new all-time high in February 2022

4 March 2022 (FAO) – The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) averaged 140.7 points in February 2022, up 5.3 points (3.9 percent) from January and as much as 24.1 points (20.7 percent) above its level a year ago. This represents a new all-time high, exceeding the previous top of February 2011 by 3.1 points. The […]

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